The Eye of the World: Chapter Twenty-Three

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: WOLFBROTHER

For some reason, I thought that the following chapters would alternate between Rand, Perrin, and Nynaeve until either the book ended they had cause to be reunited, but I guess we're still following Perrin here, same as last time. Oh well. I debated a bit on whether it'd be better or not to merge this chapter with the previous one, in that case, but I decided that they were fine as they were. After all, Perrin and Egwene's decision to not immediately seek out the rest of their traveling party is an event important enough to end a chapter on. Also, both this chapter and the last one have two distinct halves (Yes, this happens with only five pages.) and Jordan seems to be on a roll with that.

Whereas the last chapter consists of before and after Perrin happens to stumble upon Egwene, this one consists of before and after the two of them happen to stumble upon the titular wolfbrother. The first half deals with Perrin and Egwene dealing with the consequences of the one minor flaw in their plan to go around Whitebridge and the Caemlyn road: they have absolutely no idea what direction to go to get to Caemlyn that way. Oops!

• From the start Perrin knew the journey to Caemlyn was going to be far from comfortable, beginning with Egwene's insistence that they take turns riding Bela. They did not know how far it was, she said, but it was too far for her to be the only one who rode. Her jaw firmed, and her eyes stared at him unblinking.

The main theme of this blog (indecision on my part) crops up again here, as I wonder what to make of Perrin and Egwene arguing about what to do with their only horse (Perrin lost track of the one he was riding, which is only to be expected when Jordan didn't bother to give it a name.). I'm going to write a paragraph each expressing my conflicting thoughts on the matter before ultimately giving a reluctant edge to Egwene (spoiler warning).

PERRIN: Jesus Christ, girl, do you have to be so obnoxious? I mean, Perrin's just trying to help you and this is the thanks he gets? And why are you trying to get him to ride that little horse when he says he's too big for it? You're gonna screw up her spine or something, and even if you don't, don't you think a long journey would be made even longer by the horse carrying a heavy load like him even part of the time? And as much as I don't care for chivalry, is there really any evidence that that's what's going on here? Perrin's just worrying about the concerns I've brought up here, and besides, I'm getting annoyed of the female character bluntly insisting that she doesn't need any special treatment. It's just preachy is what it is! Pfah!

EGWENE: Then again, Egwene's got a point as well. Neither of them knows how long they'll be traveling to get to Caemlyn (assuming they're even going the right way), and I can't even imagine how hard on the caboose it would be to sit in the saddle the whole way. While she could stand to be more polite about it, she's still got a point. I mean, I've given Nynaeve a pass for being far more abrasive. As for the point about chivalry, even though the narration never really implies that this is Perrin's motivation for wanting to let Egwene have Bela all to herself, a lot of people who put women on a pedestal don't really think twice about it. As Mark would no doubt remind me, sexism and racism and other forms of denigrating the "other" don't have to be explicit. People can just do it without thinking or intending any malice because they don't know any better. I'm trying not to fall into this trap myself; I hold doors open for all my friends and family members, not just the women. Chivalry just seems silly and condescending to me now. And while at first I thought that society couldn't be that sexist with a powerful, all-female organization like the Aes Sedai running around, I remembered that they're not a unified organization and they're also hated and feared by almost everyone. So yeah, point for Egwene.

You could probably tell I was losing conviction in the Perrin side of the argument even as I was typing this, couldn't you?

They don't stop disagreeing there. When Egwene tries lighting a fire with her nascent magical abilities, Perrin freaks out a bit, though since she can barely do anything with it anyway, he needn't have bothered. I'm sure that there's more subtext of putting women on a pedestal to be found here, but I don't feel like following it right now.

For the most part, though, they get along pretty decently, because if there's one thing that brings people together, it's starvation! They lost most of their food, used up the rest, and they can scarcely find rabbits to hunt. But of course it would be indescribably disappointing if they ended up dying like this, so a lucky break naturally comes their way.

• He was not a Trolloc, but he was the strangest fellow Perrin had ever seen. For one thing, his clothes all seemed to be made from animal skins, with the fur still on, even his boots and the odd, flat-topped round cap on his head. His cloak was a crazy quilt of rabbit and squirrel; his trousers appeared to be made from the long-haired hide of a brown and white goat. Gathered at the back of his neck with a cord, his graying brown hair hung to his waist. A thick beard fanned across half his chest. A long knife hung at his belt, almost a sword, and a bow and quiver stood propped against a limb close at hand.
  
  The man leaned back with his eyes closed, apparently asleep, but Perrin did not stir from his concealment. Six sticks slanted over the fellow's fire, and on each stick a rabbit was skewered, roasted brown and now and then dripping juice that hissed in the flames. The smell of them, so close, made his mouth water.
  
  "You done drooling?" The man opened one eye and cocked it at Perrin's hiding place. "You and your friend might as well sit and have a bite. I haven't seen you eat much the last couple of days."

This is Elyas, a mountain man who not only lives with a pack of wolves, but has the ability to understand what they're feeling and thinking. As fate would have it, Perrin also has this ability. The new evidence of a special supernatural gift he possesses makes him giddy and gleeful, and he immediately asks Elyas how he can hone it and use it to its full potential.

Just kidding. That's what Egwene and I would do in his place. Perrin instead insists that he's nothing special even as he feels the emotions of the wolves around him. He even thinks of Elyas as a madman, which is a surefire way to get on Mark's bad side, if the earlier chivalry thing wasn't enough already.

After the wolves see right through the cover story Egwene tells Elyas (It's nigh impossible for Perrin to keep secrets from them, after all.) and he gets the real story, he makes the offer for the two of them to just stay with the pack, which is a pretty bad idea for multiple reasons. First of all, it would mean leaving Mat and Rand behind to fend for themselves, which is a dick move even if running with wolves was the sure way out Elyas thinks it is. But I seriously doubt that, too, since there are thousands of Trollocs out there and only a few dozen wolves. True, Trollocs may avoid wolves like the plague, but the same was true of Shadar Logoth and that didn't stop the Halfmen from forcing them inside, did it? What's that, Elyas? You say your pack can take down a Halfman even if half the pack dies in the process? Well, that's lovely, but what happens if they fight multiple Halfmen at once, or a Draghkar? Also, I would think that Perrin would just go stir-crazy living with wolves for the foreseeable future, even with his empathic powers. So naturally Egwene wouldn't stand a chance.

Hell, she's already struggling not to start a flame war with Elyas regarding the Aes Sedai. Elyas hates them because one sect, the Red Ajah, tried to "gentle" him for fear of his powers, which didn't comform to their view of how magic works. Egwene, as we've established, is jumping at the chance to become an Aes Sedai, and gets kind of defensive if they're impugned in any way. When Perrin admits that he wouldn't stick with the Aes Sedai if he had a choice in the matter, she shoots him a withering look. At first I was thinking that she was engaged in the sort of short-sighted, impulsive behavior I've criticized Mat for, but now that I think about it, I've been in her position before and reacted much the same way. I have been and still am a member of some certain demographics that don't exactly have the best reputation, and whenever those groups are generalized or maligned in my earshot, I choke back the urge to pick a fight a lot, too. I guess I'm apologizing for treating Egwene as annoying before, because we do actually have some common ground.

She and Perrin wisely decline Elyas's initial offer, and he compromises by offering to guide them back to civilization, a much better idea. They agree and prepare to leave, but not before some of the angrier pack members wash their paws of these strange humans and run off to go kick some Trolloc ass, Death Wish style. I was almost tempted to make an Inglourious Basterds comparison instead, but the Basterds just came off as sadistic, with no personal grudge against the Nazis, whereas Burn and his new splinter pack are consumed by hatred and bloodlust, as Perrin notes in the final paragraph.

NEXT TIME: Sailing down the river.