Re-Reading "The Wheel of Time": "Chapter 4: The Gleeman"

In the fourth chapter, Jordan continues building out his world, adding new layers and complexities to both character and setting.

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In the fourth chapter of The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan continues more of his gorgeous and meticulous world-building and, as the title suggests, we finally get to meet the gleeman, whose presence has already set most of the town of Emond’s Field into an uproar. He proves to be somewhat of an irascible old man named Thom Merrilin, a man who will, in time, become one of the most important secondary characters in the series. At this moment, however, he is simply a grouchy elder who has relatively few kind things to say about the town in which he finds himself. 

At first glance, Merrilin is very much the stereotypical old man that is such a hallmark of epic fantasy (see also: Gandalf), with his busy brows and his blustery mustaches. He seems to take a particular delight in tweaking the noses of Rand and his friends, pointing out that, for all of their supposed worldliness, they are in fact a bunch of farm boys from the back of beyond. This whole episode doesn’t paint Thom in a particularly positive light, but at the very least he does admit that he sometimes lets his tongue get away with him, and it’s really quite charming the way that he manages to flatter Egwene (as we’ll learn subsequently, Thom has always had a way with the ladies, an aspect of his character that has gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion). 

Just as interesting, however, are the tales that he begins to tell, and it’s here that we get our first oblique hints that this world that Jordan has created bears at least some sort of relation with our own. Lenn and his eagle made of fire are, it’s safe to say, John Glenn and space travel, just as Elsbet is surely a bastardization of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and her conflict with Mosk is an evocation of the Cold War. It’s really quite a clever bit of wordplay on Jordan’s part, as he gives us just enough clues to piece together if we have a mind, while also maintaining some bit of plausible deniability.

Moreover, Thom’s stories are a sign of just how time works in this series. As its title suggests, it is all a constant set of cycles, revolving again and again and again, keeping all within its reach. This moment with Thom is also a sign of how easy it is for the truth to become distorted and changed as Ages pass and time sands away how things really happened. To my mind, there is something both comforting and disturbing about this conception of time. On the one hand, it reminds us that, no matter how terrible things might seem at any given moment, there is always the possibility of being reborn into a new and better life. On the other hand, it also demonstrates that there is no escaping the relentless cycle. Indeed, one of the most fascinating things about the Amazon series is the use of the latter as a motivation for Ishamael, who yearns to see the Wheel broken and to be allowed to rest at last, but I digress. 

Nevertheless, the most noteworthy thing about Thom at this point is his cynicism. This is a man who has seen much in the outside world, and while he may not exude the same kind of sinister energy as the peddler Padan Fain, it’s still clear that he doesn’t really think of those in Emond’s Field as being his peers. If there is one person who seems able to bring him down a peg or two it would be Moiraine. But then again, there are very few people–either in Emond’s Field or outside of it–who would be able to withstand the power that she wears like a cloak. 

Power is, indeed, a key part of this chapter, particularly when it comes to the government of the village of Emond’s Field. The fraught relationship between the stubborn men of the Village Council and the headstrong women of the Women’s Circle is a highlight, and it helps to lay the foundations for the battle of the sexes that will continue to be a part of the series going forward. It’s particularly delightful to see Nynaeve and Bran al’Vere lock horns with one another, and though the elder innkeeper clearly thinks he’s going to get the better of the argument, the young Wisdom isn’t so easily wrestled into submission. Though their scenes are played for humor, Jordan also makes it clear that there is something deeply amiss in the world, so much so that it can be felt even among the people of Emond’s Field. 

By the time that the chapter ends, we’ve got the stage set for much of the action to come. We have Rand and his father, Egwene, Mat, Perrin, and Nynaeve, as well as a whole host of outsiders whose motivations for being Emond’s Field are ambiguous at best and sinister at worst. And, of course, there’s still the black horseman that the young men all saw lurking in the forest, who casts a very long shadow. Even Tam, who at first was quite reluctant to believe the tales that his son was telling him, has come around. The world that they all thought they knew has begun to show signs of changing, but it won’t be until the next chapter that Rand realizes to what extent nothing about his life will ever be the same. 

Overall, I quite loved this chapter of The Eye of the World. As with the other introductory chapters not much happens to drive the plot forward, but it excels at both further delineating the contours of this world (and its cosmology) and deepens our understanding of the unrest that seems to be encroaching from every quarter. As Rand and his friends will soon discover to their sorrow, even the fact that they are in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean that they are safe from the Shadow. The land they live on has a deep history, and this works for both good and ill.

Until next time!