Re-Reading "The Shadow Rising": "Chapter 7: Playing with Fire," "Chapter 8: Hard Heads," and "Chapter 9: Decisions"
Rand has a number of important conversations with women and learns that the beautiful Selene is far more dangerous than he would have thought possible.
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We resume making our way through The Shadow Rising this week with a trio of chapters focused on Rand and his changing relationships with those around him. In addition to a tense conversation with Egwene and Elayne–who both want to help him learn to use saidin and to essentially make sure that he starts a relationship with the latter–he also meets Lanfear and finally discovers the truth about the woman he’s known as Selene. At the same time, he also has to contend with the complications of ruling, as the High Lords of Tear attempt to rebel against his authority.
I’ve complained a lot in this newsletter about Jordan’s cloying prose when it comes to depicting relations between the sexes, and this is particularly true when it comes to Rand’s relationship with his “harem.” By this point we know that Elayne’s destiny is as bound to Rand’s as Min’s is and, for all that she tries to maintain her dignity, she can’t quite escape the fact that she becomes a simpering git around Rand (barf), and Rand is just as hamfisted when it comes to their burgeoning romantic bond. Equally exasperating is Perrin’s determination to send Faile away from all sorts of danger, without ever really considering whether this is what she wants. Jordan’s male characters are always driven by some sort of misguided sense of chivalry, and the longer that the series goes on, the more exasperating it becomes to read.
At the same time, there’s also something reductive about the relationship between saidar and saidin, particularly the idea that men and women can’t sense or see the weaves of the other (except for the fact that men feel a chill whenever a woman is channeling). There’s no question that it’s a bit regressive when you think about it. To my mind, it suggests that there is something mutually inscrutable about men and women’s essential nature, and don’t even get me started on the fact that saidar relies on submission in order for someone to be able to access it, while saidin must literally be wrestled into obedience.
Now, all of that isn’t to say that I also wasn’t touched by the care that Egwene continues to show for Rand. Yes, there is quite a gulf separating them now, and it’s clear to both of them that they can never pursue the romantic future that they’d once envisioned for one another. At the same time, it’s clear that Egwene still cares deeply for Rand, enough that she is willing to come close to a man who can channel, even though she can’t help but feel the same fear of a male channeler as anyone in this world. They manage to strike an accord of sorts–though not until Rand has a burst of channeling that terrifies him as much as it does Egwene and Elayne–and the whole thing reveals just how much Rand is feeling his way blindly forward.
This whole exchange is one of those moments that really brings home just how much has changed, not just for Rand but for everyone from Emond’s Field. They are all grappling with the fact that nothing will ever be the same now that Rand has fully proclaimed himself the Dragon Reborn, and this includes their relationships with one another. Though Egwene will never stop caring about Rand, and though she truly does want him to be happy–as much as the Dragon Reborn can ever be happy, that is–she is also coming to realize that what she wants is something very different. As we will see throughout The Wheel of Time, Egwene is someone who has a great deal of ambition, who isn’t going to let the past shackle her and keep her from pushing the boundaries. Along with Elayne and Nynaeve, she will show that this is the type of enterprising spirit that the Aes Sedai lack, and their actions will prove pivotal to both the winning of the Last Battle and the rebuilding of the world that comes after.
What’s particularly striking about the third of this week’s chapters is the extent to which it toggles so swiftly between the various characters, as they all try to contend with the various pressures continuing to hem them in. No one remains unchanged or unaffected by the actions that Rand has taken, and we as readers know that things are only going to get more and more complicated, and more and more dangerous, as the Dark One’s touch on the world continues to grow and his power increases. They have turned a corner in terms of their personal fortunes, and the burdens of leadership will weigh on them all. Rand, in particular, will only find his life being made more and more difficult by the recalcitrant High Lords of Tear, who are just waiting for an opportunity to pounce and destroy him. In that way, they’re not so different from the Forsaken, for all that they seek to distance themselves from anything having to do with the One Power.
All of which brings us to Rand’s fateful and terrifying conversation with Lanfear. We, of course, have known for some time that Selene has been one of the Forsaken all along but Rand, bless him, really seems to be quite shocked by this particular revelation. You can almost see the gears in his mind sliding into place as it all starts to make sense, and you can also feel his intense fear and hatred of this dangerous woman who has once again walked into his life, only to reveal that she is one of the most feared people in history.
Lanfear is terrifying precisely because she is driven, more than anything else, by her love of and desire for Lews Therin. Unlike Egwene and Elayne, who see Rand as Rand, Lanfear can only ever see him as the reincarnation of the man that she loved with such passion that she was willing to throw away her entire life so as to gain some small measure of revenge. Say what you will about her, though, at the very least Lanfear is someone who understands how the world works and is willing to change and take account of the situation on the ground. While Rand continues to flounder around trying to figure out how to use saidin–often channeling in ways that he can never quite determine or replicate–Lanfear recognizes that he needs training, desperately, if he is ever going to mature into the powerful and glorious man that she knows he can be and that she desperately wants him to become.
Lastly, it’s also worth noting Lanfear’s claim that the Dark One doesn’t want to destroy Rand; instead, he wants to enslave him and use him for his own ends. One can just imagine how someone like Ishamael–who was steadfastly opposed to Rand in whatever guise he came in and also loathed the idea of being reborn again and again–would make of that! This, though, shows just how subtle Lanfear is and how determined she is to bring Rand under her amorous dominion. For his part, Rand can’t bring himself to kill a woman, not even Lanfear, and this is the sort of hesitation that will come to define his character, for better and, far more often, for worse.
It’s fitting that “Decisions” ends with Rand stepping out into a nightmare. We won’t know for some time yet which of the Forsaken has decided to bring their power against him in an effort to remove him from the board, but there is no shortage of potential candidates and suspects. We’ve already seen plenty of other examples of the Forsaken working against one another, and it seems clear that this is going to be the case going forward.