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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Stefan Raets</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-a-proposal-a-battle-and-a-rescue-in-the-gathering-storm-part-24/">https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-a-proposal-a-battle-and-a-rescue-in-the-gathering-storm-part-24/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=847546">https://reactormag.com/?p=847546</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal">
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<h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Reading The Wheel of Time: A Proposal, a Battle and a Rescue in <i>The Gathering Storm</i> (Part 24)</h2>
<div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">When the Seanchan attack the White Tower, Egwene meets the moment.</div>
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<p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/kjbarrett/" title="Posts by Sylas K Barrett" class="author url fn" rel="author">Sylas K Barrett</a></p>
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Published on May 5, 2026
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<p>Hello hello, and welcome once and again to Reading The Wheel of Time! This week we are covering chapter 40 and 41 of <em>The Gathering Storm</em>, in which the White Tower attempts to mount a defense against the Seanchan, Egwene is resplendent, and Siuan, Bryne, and Gawyn mount a rescue of their Amyrlin. Exciting stuff! Let’s get to recapping!</p>
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<p>After Egwene is pulled from <em>Tel’aran’rhiod</em>, Siuan wakes and tells Bryne that something is wrong, and that she is worried that Elaida has decided to execute Egwene after all.</p>
<p>A panicked call from outside the tent interrupts their conversation. A young soldier enters to describe strange happenings over the White Tower—bursts of light and dark shapes in the air. Siuan realizes that the Seanchan attack Egwene Dreamed of has begun. She decides to take matters into her own hands and get Egwene out. Bryne reminds her that Egwene forbade a rescue, and states that he will not go against Egwene’s orders. Siuan declares she will go find someone she knows will help her.</p>
<p>As the White Tower shakes under the Seanchan assault, Egwene urges Nicola towards self-control. Through a window she can see <em>to’raken</em> in the air, and the brilliant weaves spun by the <em>damane</em>. She can also see the <em>to’raken</em> landing on the Tower, hanging like bats, as their riders enter the Tower though the holes blown in the walls. She pushes down her terror, despite the fact that the forkroot she drank has not yet worn off enough for her to channel more than a trickle of <em>saidar</em>. She and Nicola find more novices, who are encouraged by the presence of the Amyrlin. Egwene begins to teach them to link, and once Egwene has a few novices linked with her, she has enough power to open a gateway.</p>
<p>She Travels to the 13th depository, where she finds a collection of <em>angreal</em>, <em>ter’angreal</em>, and <em>sa’angreal</em>. She finds what she is looking for, a fluted white rod that is one of the most powerful <em>sa’angreal</em> the White Tower possesses.</p>
<p>Gawyn is more than eager to help Siuan rescue Egwene. While Siuan waits for Gawyn to fetch horses, Bryne continues to try to talk her out of the rescue attempt. But when Siuan asks if he thinks he can stop her, Bryne reluctantly relents and agrees to come with her—on two conditions. The second he will hold for a later date, but the first is that Siuan take Bryne as a Warder.</p>
<p>Siuan hasn’t considered taking a Warder again, not wanting to experience the pain of losing one after Alric. But she can’t pass up the opportunity to have Gareth Bryne bonded to her, and to feel his emotions. Once the bond is made, she is shocked at the strength of his love and concern for her. Bryne remarks that he wishes he could give this kind of awareness to all his soldiers.</p>
<p>When Gawyn returns, Siuan is delighted to see that he has brought Bela. Accompanied by Bryne and a hundred guards, Siuan and Gawyn set out to enter the watergate through which Shemerin escaped Tar Valon.</p>
<p>In the White Tower, Adelorna Bastine, the Captain-General of the Green Ajah, flees through hallways and stairwells. She is ashamed and overwhelmed by how ineffectual the Green has been against the Seanchan attack. After eluding one attempt to shield her, she is successfully shielded, then caught by flows of air and hauled backwards. Two <em>sul’dam</em>–<em>damane</em> pairs have caught her. A third <em>sul’dam</em> puts the collar around Adelorna’s neck. She has a moment to feel disbelief and despair.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>Then, shockingly, the collar unclipped from Adelorna’s neck and fell to the floor. Gregana looked stunned for a moment before she was consumed in a blast of fire. Adelorna’s eyes opened wide, and she shied away from the sudden heat. A corpse in a blackened red and blue dress crumbled to the ground before her, smoking and reeking of burned flesh. It was then that Adelorna became aware of an extremely powerful source of channeling coming from behind.</p></blockquote></figure>
<p>The collars on the two <em>damane</em> are also unlocked by flows of air, and their <em>sul’dam</em> incinerated, one by lightning, the other by fire. The soldiers fall back, panicked, leaving only Egwene, surrounded by a halo of power, holding a <em>sa’angreal</em> Adelorna recognizes.</p>
<p>At Egwene’s direction, novices help Adelorna up and take control of the two <em>damane</em> while Egwene begins channeling, striking out through the hole in the tower to fell one of the flying beasts. When Adelorna asks about possible captives among the beasts’ riders, Egwene answers that they are better off dead than taken by the Seanchan.</p>
<p>Adelorna is further shocked to see Egwene use a gateway. Egwene admits that she is only letting Adelorna see the weaves because she has learned that Elaida has Traveling. That means that the Seanchan likely soon will too; all they have to do is capture one woman to whom Elaida has shown the weave. When Adelorna expresses surprise that Egwene could have fled the Tower at any time and chose not to, Egwene responds that leaving would not have been fleeing, but abandoning the Aes Sedai. She is the Amyrlin Seat, and she Dreamed this very attack.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“Come,” Egwene repeated. “We must be quick. This is just a raid; they’ll want to grab as many channelers as possible and be off with them. I intend to see that they lose more <em>damane</em> than they gain Aes Sedai.”</p></blockquote></figure>
<p>Siuan and her companions take boats out onto the river, underneath the blaze of fighting in the sky and in the White Tower. They find the watergate, and as Siuan and Bryne discuss the origins of the tunnel, Gawyn controls his breathing and thinks about how glad he is to finally be doing something to help Egwene.</p>
<p>Once they leave the tunnel, tying up their boats at a landing and ascending a set of stairs, Bryne dresses his soldiers in fake uniforms that mimic those of the Tower Guard, and has Siuan walk in front, with himself and Gawyn posing as Warders, so that they can travel the streets freely.</p>
<p>On the ground floor of the Tower, Saerin has taken over a center of operations that has been established by some of the sisters. Moradri, a Green, fills her in on the state of things, noting the location of some resistance groups on the ground floor and reporting that Elaida’s whereabouts are unknown. As she is issuing further orders, Saerin is interrupted by the arrival of four Reds, including Katerine, who attempts to take command. Saerin refuses to yield control to her, or to go on the offensive. She reminds Katerine that she is a Sitter, and also that Egwene predicted this attack. It is clearly a raid, and the best course of action is to fortify their defenses and protect themselves; the Seanchan will withdraw once the battle stops favoring them so strongly.</p>
<p>They begin to realize that some of the booming noises they are hearing are directed outward from the Tower, rather than the other way around. Just then a soldier comes running in to announce that there is a second rallying point for the defense, up where the Brown Ajah quarters used to be. Saerin realizes that there is only one reason for a successful defense coming from the novices’ quarters: Egwene is leading it.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>Each faceless Seanchan that Egwene struck down seemed to be Renna in her mind’s eye. Egwene stood at an open hole in the side of the White Tower, wind pulling at her white dress, tugging at her hair, howling as if in accompaniment to her rage.</p></blockquote></figure>
<p>Egwene’s anger is cold and calculated, not out of control. She stops herself from thinking about how much better the Tower might have done mounting a defense if Elaida had taken Egwene’s warning seriously and prepared for the attack. Her anger is the anger of justice, of the Amyrlin; it strikes down <em>raken</em> and <em>to’raken</em>, feeling like she is made of the One Power as she defends the Aes Sedai. The Seanchan forces try to attack or shield her, but she is too strong for them. Still, she knows that many <em>to’raken</em> have escaped, taking prisoners with them.</p>
<p>Down in the courtyard, Bryne narrowly avoids being crushed by a falling <em>raken</em> as he and his men engage fleeing Seanchan soldiers. After witnessing an astoundingly impressive bit of swordplay from Gawyn, Bryne’s attention is drawn to an Aes Sedai standing in one of the holes in the Tower, doing an incredible amount of channeling. Above her, Bryne can see captives being collected from the roof of the Tower and carried away by the flying beasts.</p>
<p>As the fighting ebbs, Bryne realizes that Siuan is nowhere to be seen. Fortunately the bond tells him that she is safe. As he is organizing his men—some wounded will retreat to the boats, while others must stay in the courtyard and hope that they are found and Healed by Tower Aes Sedai—Siuan returns, towing a novice named Hashala, who tells them Egwene’s current whereabouts. Hashala asks to come with them, declaring that she is loyal to the true Amyrlin.</p>
<p>When Siuan feels Bryne’s distress at leaving wounded men behind—three will not survive their wounds long enough to be found by Tower Aes Sedai—she insists on pausing and Healing the men herself. As she works, Bryne contemplates her skill and the damage done to the White Tower. Suddenly a shadow moves by the tree. Bryne moves without thinking, his years of training combining with the enhanced senses of the Warder bond, and puts his sword through the throat of Siuan’s would-be attacker.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>All was still. Siuan, shocked, looked up from the man she was Healing. Bryne’s sword extended directly over her shoulder and into the neck of a Seanchan soldier in pure black armor. The man silently dropped a wickedly barbed shortsword slathered with a viscous liquid. Twitching, he reached for Bryne’s sword, as if to push it free. His fingers gripped Bryne’s arm for a moment.</p></blockquote></figure>
<p>The Seanchan man falls to the ground, dead, and Siuan exclaims at how well the assassin had blended into the darkness. She also tells Bryne that Min told Siuan that if she didn’t stay close to Bryne, she would die. Then, suddenly, Siuan remembers that Min actually said that they needed to stay close <em>to each other</em>. She grabs Bryne, and he feels himself being Healed. Then she shows him a tiny black pin, which was lodged in his wrist. The assassin placed it there, and if Siuan hadn’t known to look for danger, Bryne would have died. Siuan tells Bryne they’ll have to thank Min when they see her, as she just saved both of their lives.</p>
<p>Up in the Tower, the Seanchan have finally retreated, and Egwene has sent all the novices with her to bed, as they are exhausted from having so much power drawn through them. Egwene is exhausted too, having pushed the limits of her capabilities.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>She’d fought. She’d been glorious and destructive, the Amyrlin of judgment and fury, Green Ajah to the core. And still, the Tower had burned. And still, more <em>to’raken</em> had escaped than had fallen. The count of wounded among those she’d gathered was somewhat encouraging. Only three novices and one Aes Sedai dead, while they’d gathered ten <em>damane</em> and killed dozens of soldiers. But what of the other floors? The White Tower would not come out ahead in this battle.</p></blockquote></figure>
<p>Her mind is already going over what must be done to secure the Tower and to keep the Aes Sedai from falling into despair. But she is so tired that she can’t get up from where she is sitting against the wall. When someone picks her up, she realizes sleepily that it is Gawyn.</p>
<p>She hears Gawyn, Siuan, and Bryne discussing how Egwene has been left defenseless in the hallway, and how surprising it is that she wasn’t captured. Siuan finds the fluted rod <em>sa’angreal</em>, which allows her to access enough of the One Power to Travel. Egwene tries to protest, but she is too weak even to speak, and is carried away through a gateway.</p>
<p>Elsewhere in the Tower, Saerin is accepting reports. She is astounded at the news of Egwene’s success, which make Saerin’s own efforts seem amateurish by comparison. An Accepted named Mair is brought to her, who reports that she witnessed Elaida being taken by the Seanchan.</p>
<p>Elaida wakes to a very strange sensation, unsure why her bed would be moving. She slowly becomes aware of her condition, tied to the back of a strange beast, looking down at the ground far below. When she tries to access the Source, she is struck by a terrible pain. There is a collar at her throat, and she is strangely aware of the woman riding near her.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“Now, now,” the voice said, patient, like a woman speaking to a very young child. “You must learn. Your name is Suffa. And Suffa will be a good <em>damane</em>. Yes she will. A very, very good <em>damane</em>.”</p></blockquote></figure>
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<p>Ugh, the way the <em>sul’dam</em> talk always makes me a little nauseous. If the kind of loss of free will/self-control experienced by those collared by the <em>a’dam</em> ever feels hard to imagine empathetically, the <em>sul’dam</em>’s language really makes me feel it under my skin. Personally, I wholeheartedly agree with Egwene’s desire to destroy them with prejudice during the battle, and with her assessment that those who have been captured are better off dead than in the hands of the Seanchan.</p>
<p>Once again we see a parallel with Rand, as he, too, recently killed quite a few people who were mentally enslaved by the One Power and seemingly beyond saving. Like Egwene, he was doing what he felt was necessary in order to defeat his enemy, but also because he believed the captives were better off dead than in their current state. What is interesting about Egwene in these chapters is that while Rand has decided he must put away and suppress his anger (and all his other emotions), Egwene is capable of using her anger, just as she has her other emotions.</p>
<p>In the description of her fighting the Seanchan, her anger is described as “cold and distilled,” “not out of control,” and “the anger of justice, the wrath of the Amyrlin.” Throughout both chapters, Egwene directs her anger, using it to her own purpose, rather than being directed or controlled by it, as Rand has alternatively feared to be, and has actually been. We have seen Egwene use her grief similarly, and her compassion, finding strength and motivation in her emotions, finding purpose in her pain. This is how she not only prevents herself from being crippled by her emotions or terrified by her love, but actively becomes stronger because of those feelings. </p>
<p>One can’t help but be impressed with Egwene’s strength in these chapters, and throughout the last few books. I keep thinking about how she easily could have become an Aiel Wise One, and how her personality is much more suited to the Aiel philosophical outlook than Rand’s is, despite the fact that he is the one with actual Aiel blood in his veins. It also reminds me of why, I think, Egwene and Rand were once romantically interested in each other. Their paths took them in different directions, which one could argue is the reason that their feelings for each other just gently faded, but Egwene is a lot like the women Rand did end up with: capable, self-determined, practical. And quite fierce. </p>
<p>In this Battle Ajah version of Egwene, this Amyrlin wielding a great <em>sa’angreal</em> and taking down her enemies with the wrath of justice, we see a glimpse of what Egwene will be like on the battlefield of Tarmon Gai’don. With any luck, Rand will find his way back to the core of himself and learn to harness the Light inside again. If so, he and Egwene may end up counterparts in truth, the Amyrlin and the Dragon, working together the way <em>saidin</em> and <em>saidar</em> work, two halves with different attributes but part of the same single Power.</p>
<p>I believe they can get there.</p>
<p>Speaking of working together, though I’ve never cared much for the relationship between Siuan and Bryne—it really doesn’t make sense, I don’t particularly care for the way Jordan wrote romance, plus the age gap/apparent age gap is really uncomfortably constructed—I have to admit, I’m the kind of romantic that’s always going to be a sucker for love across a Warder bond. Siuan’s realization of just how much Bryne cares for her was really sweet, and after everything she has been through, I’m really glad she can have not only love, but also all the support that the Warder bond gives, both physically and emotionally. I’m glad for Bryne, too; as we know from his conversation with Gawyn, he was deeply hurt by Morgase’s (seeming) betrayal, not only on an interpersonal level but also because it caused a sort of identity crisis for him. Finding love this way will not only help heal those scars, but having the Warder bond and being able to feel Siuan will probably help him feel more secure that such a betrayal will not and cannot happen a second time. I also find myself wondering if Siuan would have been as quick to devote her time and energy to Healing his men if she hadn’t felt his pain over having to abandon them to die. The two of them staying close together may have saved more lives than just the ones Min saw in her vision.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed the description of Siuan making the decision to accept Bryne’s conditions. I am incredibly fond of her character, and although Sanderson’s writing in <em>The Gathering Storm</em> isn’t quite what Jordan’s was, I do think he’s doing a great job with Siuan in particular.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>Feeling reverent, she stepped back up to Bryne, then laid a hand against his chest and wove the required weaves of Spirit and laid them over him. He breathed in sharply as new awareness blossomed inside of both of them, a new connection. She could feel his emotions, could sense his concern for her, which was shockingly powerful. It was ahead of his worry for Egwene and concern for his soldiers! Oh, Gareth, she thought, feeling herself smile at the sweetness of his love for her.</p></blockquote></figure>
<p>Another moment of Siuan’s that I really loved was when she was explaining her motivation for disregarding Egwene’s wishes and mounting the rescue anyway. Bryne tells her that Egwene can take care of herself, which is largely true (even more so than either Bryne or Siuan realizes), but Siuan responds “I thought I could care for myself too. And look where it got me.” She goes on to talk about Egwene’s experience with the Seanchan, and how even the Forsaken and the Dragon Reborn don’t upset her, but the Seanchan always do. Siuan knows what fate awaits any captured Aes Sedai, and will not leave Egwene to suffer it, no matter the cost.</p>
<p>Siuan shows us that sometimes loyalty means acting in someone’s best interest rather than according to their expressed wishes, and that even when you follow a leader you completely believe in, there is still room, and a need, to make decisions for yourself. She acts both as Egwene’s friend, and, as later conversations with Bryne address, for the good of the world. There is no doubt in my mind that, if Egwene <em>had</em> been captured by the Seanchan, it would have spelled disaster for the Aes Sedai, and therefore disaster for the Light’s success in the Last Battle. True, Egwene was able to protect herself, but Siuan could hardly be expected to trust to that chance, especially when she believed Egwene was still in a cell. In Siuan’s place, I would have felt the same.</p>
<p>This moral strength is what Bryne is responding to when he tells Siuan that he finally understands how it is so easy for her to break her oaths. He finally understands that she drives herself harder than any oath or any leader could. With the help of the Warder bond, he can understand empathetically what she has already explained to him in words: that she has given her life to the world, first and foremost, and that she cannot give herself to anything else, be it oath or marriage.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention in the recap that Bryne tells Siuan that he intends to use his second condition to demand that she marry him. But only after the world is safe, and she finally can take some time, some life, for herself. He shows that he understands her, and that he is willing to take her as she is, not to demand that she change, but to wait until such a time that she is ready for the life he wishes to have with her.</p>
<p>It’s a beautiful moment, and I really want Siuan’s happiness. I wonder if the Kin allow members to marry—or will allow, in whatever form they take on under Egwene’s new structure. Perhaps she could retire early from being an Aes Sedai and start a new life as a different kind of channeler, with a different job and different kinds of responsibilities. </p>
<p>I like that idea for her. But also, nothing makes me more nervous about her survival than the idea that love and happiness wait on the other side of Tarmon Gai’don. Seems a recipe for the kind of tragedy I expect to see during the Last Battle. There’s no way every beloved character survives it.</p>
<p>Of course, Min had a viewing that Siuan and Bryne would both die if they didn’t stay together, which makes the new connection between them physically protective as well as emotionally. When Siuan tells him about the viewing, Bryne points out that if he hadn’t come with Siuan on this mission (and therefore not stayed close to her) he wouldn’t have been in danger of dying by the assassin’s poison. Siuan counters by telling him not to apply logic to a Foretelling or viewing, which is fair enough, but I’d like to note that it isn’t so much that Foretellings and/or Min’s viewings are illogical as it is that it’s nearly impossible to have all the information needed to analyze them properly.</p>
<p>Take Elaida’s Foretelling about how the “royal line of Andor would be the key to defeating the Dark One in the Last Battle,” for example. Elaida took this to mean that Elayne was the important one, because she had no way of knowing what happened to Tigraine or that she gave birth to the Dragon Reborn. It was her bloodline, which was in power when Elaida had her Foretelling, not the one that was in power by the time Elaida made her way to becoming the advisor to the Queen.</p>
<p>Even without the extra ambiguity created by the fact that Foretellings are often delivered in riddles and metaphor, and that Min’s viewings often use visual symbolism rather than literal depictions, human beings cannot stand outside the Pattern and analyze it as a whole, and so understanding the full line of cause and effect is impossible. It may be that Bryne was destined to encounter danger either way, that some hidden disaster, be it attack or accident, also awaited him back in the camp if he did not stay with Siuan. Or, perhaps, Bryne was always going to go with Siuan on the rescue mission. After all, sometimes Min’s visions are of things that are guaranteed to come to pass, while other times she has visions of circumstances that appear to be in question, such as the question of whether Gawyn will kneel or Egwene or kill her.</p>
<p>These “either/or” and “if, then” visions are the closest thing to proof of free will that the series has given us. I have occasionally borrowed a concept from <em>Doctor Who</em> to analyze/explain how sometimes Min’s visions of the Pattern show things that will definitely happen, and sometimes the vision is of something that may happen, or of a moment where a decision will affect the outcome. In the worldbuilding of <em>Doctor Who</em>, it is presented that there are moments in time that are fixed points, moments that cannot be changed (0r, in some cases, such changes are technically possible but will result in great harm to, or even destruction of, spacetime itself). But the rest of time is fluid and can be affected by time travelers and other extra-temporal or extra-dimensional beings. Min’s visions would seem to suggest that the Pattern functions in a similar way.</p>
<p>Which makes sense, given the nature of <em>ta’veren</em>. They are agents of change that are created by the Wheel to influence the weaving, but perhaps they are not the only device the Wheel uses to affect the Pattern. Perhaps there are important moments that must happen in order for the Wheel to keep spinning and the cycle of the Ages to continue properly, and other moments that are intentionally woven to be mutable, so a thread can be course-corrected or the Pattern repaired.</p>
<p>After all, if the Dark One is capable of causing damage to the Pattern, and so is balefire, there needs to be a way to repair that damage. Otherwise the Dark One wouldn’t need to win any single conflict, only to keep scratching away at the bars of his prison until they become weak enough to break. Every conflict between humanity and the Dark One would bring him closer to this inevitable success. And as a timeless being, he could wait as long as he needed.</p>
<p>Herid Fel told Rand that the cyclical nature of time means that the Bore must be made whole, not patched or filled in, but returned to its pre-Age of Legends unmarred condition, in order for it to be in that state when the same moment in time rolled around again. This must also apply to any damage sustained by the Pattern during wars fought with balefire, or during Ages in which the Dark One was able to affect the Pattern to some degree. It may turn out to be Rand’s job to restore the Bore to its original condition, but it probably isn’t his purpose to repair everything else. I could be wrong, of course, but I wonder if the Pattern doesn’t do some of its own repairs through the use of other people, including non-<em>ta’veren</em>, and perhaps through time itself.</p>
<p>Anyway, I am certain Egwene is going to be very cross with her rescuers. I’m also concerned about how her absence will affect the White Tower’s recovery. If she isn’t in the Tower, who will take control over the situation, and who will be made the next Amyrlin? Presuming the Aes Sedai don’t try to mount a rescue of Elaida, of course, but I think even those who know little about the Seanchan will quickly see that such an action is doomed to failure, and would risk the capture of every Aes Sedai sent to rescue her.</p>
<p>Actually, it’s hard to imagine that there is anyone who would be capable of taking over the situation, never mind someone who would feel prepared to do so. Saerin might be a candidate, but that’s the only one I can think of. And even if Egwene is back in the rebel camp rather than to hand for the official Hall to deal with directly, she does present an answer to the problem of how to replace Elaida. She is already seen as Amyrlin by many Aes Sedai, including some Sisters and initiates in the Tower, and raising her officially would allow the White Tower to heal the rift between those who stayed with Elaida and those who fled after Siuan was deposed. The Tower is weaker than ever, and has lost many sisters, which will be strong motivation for those remaining to come to some kind of reconciliation.</p>
<p>Plus, it will be a lot easier for those who were on the fence or too scared to speak outright against Elaida to do so now that she is gone, and very clearly never coming back.</p>
<p>I find myself feeling sorry for Elaida. She did some horrible things and deserved to be pulled down and punished for them, but I would feel sorry for anyone, even a Darkfriend, who ended up collared by the <em>a’dam</em>. As Egwene herself points out, being broken by the <em>a’dam</em> is a fate worse than death. I had pity even for Galina’s imprisonment by Therava, which was functionally the same as imprisonment by an <em>a’dam</em>, and she was a worse person than Elaida. Especially when you consider that Elaida’s worst attributes were exacerbated by her exposure to Padan Fain, which also clearly had some negative effect on her sanity in general.</p>
<p>Finally, I would like to make notes of two moments I particularly enjoyed. The first is the reappearance of Bela, who we have not seen in some time. Welcome back to the narrative Bela!</p>
<p>The second is the moment when they find the entrance to the watergate and one of Bryne’s soldiers says “Well, tie a kerchief on my face and call me Aiel.” I found that incredibly amusing, and a nice bit of language worldbuilding. I wonder which part of this world has the American southern twang.</p>
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<p>Next week we will cover chapters 42 and 43, which I have not read yet, so I cannot preview them for you. But I am sure they will be exciting, after everything that has recently happened to both Rand and Egwene. See you next week![end-mark]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-a-proposal-a-battle-and-a-rescue-in-the-gathering-storm-part-24/">Reading The Wheel of Time: A Proposal, a Battle and a Rescue in <i>The Gathering Storm</i> (Part 24)</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-a-proposal-a-battle-and-a-rescue-in-the-gathering-storm-part-24/">https://reactormag.com/reading-the-wheel-of-time-a-proposal-a-battle-and-a-rescue-in-the-gathering-storm-part-24/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=847546">https://reactormag.com/?p=847546</a></p>
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