Re-Reading "The Dragon Reborn": "Chapter 3: News from the Plain," "Chapter 4: Shadows Sleeping," and "Chapter 5: Nightmares Walking"
The third volume of The Wheel of Time continues to be a slow burn, shedding further light on the inner workings of Perrin's mind.
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I continue to make my way through The Dragon Reborn, focusing on a trio of chapters focusing on Perrin as he grapples with both his identity as a wolfbrother and just how little agency he has to change the world around him. Of the central three male characters Perrin is arguably the one with the best and purest heart, which is precisely what makes his struggles so understandable and so heartbreaking. Like his peers he didn’t ask to be a part of any of this but, as he finds out again and again and again, that ultimately means nothing when the forces of the Dark are arrayed against you and the Wheel is determined to lay out your path for you.
Like Rand, Perrin has a gift and, also like Rand, he is decidedly ambivalent–indeed downright hostile–to said gift. Ever since those eerie moments in The Eye of the World when it became evident that Perrin, like Elyas, could commune with the wolves, he’s struggled with what this means and how it threatens to reshape every aspect of his personality. By this point, though, one would think that Perrin would have begun to make at least a measure of peace with the fact that he can talk to wolves. Then again, given how close he comes to being overwhelmed by then–essentially becoming one himself–one can perhaps be a little patient with him. The poor guy has a lot on his plate, and being a mere hairsbreadth from becoming a wolf in a man’s body would be a heavy burden for anyone to bear, let alone a blacksmith’s apprentice from the back end of nowhere.
Another particular highlight of these chapters is Perrin’s encounter with several of the Forsaken, including both Ishamael and Lanfear. Up to this point the latter has focused most of her efforts on bending Rand to her will, but her encounter with Perrin in the World of Dreams makes it clear that she sees all three of the young men from Emond’s Field as potential avenues to power. She quickly finds, though, that Perrin is even more unwilling to bend to his blandishments than Rand. We as readers aren’t particularly surprised by this, though, since we know that power and glory are the last things that Perrin of all people would seek to attain (she might have better luck with Mat in that regard).
As will become increasingly prevalent in subsequent chapters, there’s also quite a lot of mystery, particularly surrounding Perrin’s excursion into the World of Dreams and the little conclave of various Forsaken that he sees there. Given that as readers we’re sutured into his point of view, we don’t quite know what we’re seeing (though we have more of an idea than he does). Jordan is quite adept at playing these games with knowledge, giving us just enough to make us anxious about our beloved characters and the threats facing them without ever letting us see the entire picture.
These chapters, like so many others, have more than a few tragic moments, most notably when Leya is struck down by a Myrdrraal. We’ve known, thanks to Min’s vision, that she was doomed and that there was nothing that anyone–not Perrin, not Min, not even Moiraine–were going to be able to do to prevent it. Perrin, noble and gentle soul that he is, finds this almost too much to bear, and he harbors a lot of ill-will toward Moiraine, who takes her usual practical attitude about such matters. Whatever else you might say about the Aes Sedai, no one could ever accuse her of being sentimental or of letting emotions cloud her judgment (this is one of the things that the divine Rosamund Pike manages to capture extremely well in the series, in addition to, well, just everything else). You may not always like her–this is, after all, the same woman who says that she would gladly take Rand to Shayol Ghul itself and shed his blood there if it meant winning the Last Battle–but you can’t help but admire her steadfastness. She has a purpose, and she will let nothing stand in the way of that.
The battle with the Trollocs is a very disturbing sequence, mostly because the creatures themselves are just so foul and so obviously twisted. (A brief side note: one of the things I find genuinely disappointing about the Amazon series is their way of depicting these creatures, which feel too generically fantasy to capture the genuine body horror of their novel counterparts). The Myrddraal is likewise as deeply disturbing as its counterparts, with its serpentine grace and its unwillingness to die even when it has essentially been beheaded.
I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the fact that we also get treated to one of the many “I wish Mat and Rand were here because they’re so good with girls” moments. At this point it’s still a little cute, but it’s not going to be long before it starts to feel quite cloying and irritating, since Jordan leans on it so extensively in his attempts to give his characters some sort of interiority when it comes to matters of the opposite sex.
All in all, though, I enjoyed this trio of chapters. By this point in the saga it’s becoming clear that Jordan is still feeling his way forward in terms of the overall narrative, particularly since we’re already almost 100 pages into this book and we have yet to get any insight into what’s going on inside Rand’s head. Moreover, there are so many pieces in place–what with the Forsaken being loose, Padan Fain having taken up residence among the Children of the Light, and who knows what else–that it’s become clear already that there’s no way any of this is going to be wrapped up any time soon. Even so, there’s just so much to love about this volume, as there is to The Wheel of Time in general, that you can’t help but be absorbed.
Until next week!