Rage Reads The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5)

On Rand vs. Women

There is great emphasis in Rand’s hesitance to hurt women throughout this book. I’m not sure where this specific lore came from—if it had a root, it definitely was not from his own memories. It very much seems like Lews Therin’s memories from when his actions caused Ilyena’s death somehow. Because Rand has killed a woman before, in a previous book where he had very little POV and we didn’t know what was going on in his head. Now he is deathly afraid to even hurt one, not the Maidens, not the Wise Ones, not Moiraine—not even if it means he could save the world.

This flaw is not convincing to me, it feels underdeveloped and came out of nowhere. What does he expect to happen? That other people fight women Forsaken for him? That Maidens all give up the spear and hide in safety? It feels performative, to be quite honest. And yes, maybe it is Lews Therin’s trauma talking, but I don’t get why Rand is so adamant to keep Lews Therin’s voice out of his head except this one.

On Aviendha and Rand

Rand and Aviendha finally happened. I was expecting it, but I still have my headcanons. (😇)

My headcanons aside, the fact that Aviendha is pretending she’s still “watching over Rand” for Elayne and denying her feelings for Rand could eventually bite her in the ass. The build up between them was dragged on too long, and I found myself cringing a little every time a scene comes up. I think it might have helped if we could see Aviendha’s POV instead of Rand’s throughout some of it, but I have a feeling it would have been much the same if it were Min’s or Elayne’s POV and would sound repetitive—none of them have spent as much time with Rand as Aviendha have so far though.

We already know Elayne is averse to “sharing” Rand, it could be really messy for her friendship with Aviendha if she knew what had transpired between Rand and the Aielwoman. It seems like Aviendha saw something in Rhuidean about her role in Rand’s future and was running away from it this whole time. Maybe it was a matter of pride to keep pretending she’s still “watching over Rand for Elayne,” maybe she thinks she needs Elayne’s permission more than Rand’s.

Also, there was an interesting callback to Rand saving Tam al’Thor back in Eye of the World. When he was dragging Tam on his back to run away from Trollocs and to get to safety towards Winespring Inn, his internal monologue was to keep moving or Tam dies. This was his same internal monologue when he was saving Aviendha from the snow, “Keep moving. If you quit, she dies. Keep moving, burn you!”

On Moiraine’s Sacrifice and Siuan’s Plans

I cannot believe that just happened. I was just saying how Moiraine was a blackbox hiding a Schrodinger’s plot—and she truly was. Until the moment happened, it had not been in my list of possible paths this plot could take. I did not see it coming at all. Does that mean Lanfear is out of the picture? I doubt that’s the last we’ll see of her.

I don’t know how to feel about Moiraine’s “death” (yes, by those quotation marks I do believe she isn’t truly dead—or maybe I’m just in denial because she just can’t go out like that). We didn’t see much of her POV in this book, and it felt a little bit like Mr. Author was deliberately weaning us off of her for a while now (thank you, Mr. Jordan, but it still hurt anyway). See, I only had an inkling that she would be gone soon because Rand was starting to like her and wanted to keep her around, and most of the crinkles in their relationship have been smoothed out. I knew something was going to happen that would break them apart, but I didn’t expect it to be this.

I don’t know what this will mean for Siuan, but whatever plans she had with Moiraine already went out the window anyway after she had been deposed and stilled. At the moment, it looks like Siuan is hatching a different plan with Leane: to influence who would sit on the Amyrlin Seat next.

On Nynaeve vs. Martyrdom

Yep, you know what it is. Of course I will talk about Nynaeve.

This book gave us a refresher about Nynaeve’s motivations and re-established her overarching goals. It looks like she is aiming to be a great Healer and even mentions she intends to Heal Thom’s broken leg and the wound on Rand’s side. Because of her origins as Emond’s Field’s Wisdom we already knew she has strong inclinations toward healing people, but the emphasis within this book was the greatest. I don’t know for sure if all those promises could be fulfilled, but Nynaeve is strong enough in the One Power that I am certain she will have some sort of breakthrough in Healing tech that the existing practices currently lack. In fact, I think there were some promises in this book that would be interesting if it paid off. Could she undo Siuan’s stilling and Logain’s gentling?

I really liked Nynaeve’s emotional journey so far, although it is slow going because Nynaeve is stubborn. Egwene has finally chipped away most of Nynaeve’s emotional shield, and Nynaeve is starting to doubt her abilities in ways that allow her to be less of a martyr and more of a team player. It feels a little bit like regression but I think it is necessary for Nynaeve’s survival. Birgitte plays a big part in this, too. I kind of adore Nynaeve’s relationship with Birgitte, because Birgitte knows how to be a hero who knows that strength doesn’t always look like staring at danger head on.

In line with this, Nynaeve also grapples a lot with cowardice and how that looks like for her. We get to see more of her reasoning out her actions and fighting against her fears and her first instinct to run away. It’s interesting that Nynaeve sees herself as a coward when she’s been consistently the one facing the biggest dangers (apart from Rand). The people around her rely on her more than anybody else. Elayne at one point even consoles herself during a moment of distress:

“No, Nynaeve would not give in. That was one of the things she admired in the other woman. Nynaeve’s head could have been on the chopping block and she would not give up.”

She describes very well one of the qualities I admire about Nynaeve.

Also, because Egwene has been apart from Nynaeve and Elayne for a while, it is starting to feel like Elayne has replaced Egwene in her previous position as Nynaeve’s #1 enemy (friendly). It seems like one of the things Nynaeve has to work on is how to be a pleasant companion who doesn’t turn her friend into her debate partner. But Elayne is quicker to pick up on how to work around Nynaeve’s attitude problems, unlike Egwene who had to have Tel’aran’rhiod as her shield to dish it out against Nynaeve. I say all of this with humor, I think it’s funny that Nynaeve drives everybody insane. I am sorry that her companions are subject to her attitude, but it is still kinda funny.

On Egwene’s Readiness for the Seat

I don’t think I paid particular attention on Egwene in this book, apart from her finally having the gall to stand up against Nynaeve and put the ex-Wisdom in her place. I am glad that it happened with Egwene and not any other character. She has a deep bond with Nynaeve.

It is noticeable that Egwene is progressing much deeper in matters of Dreaming and Aes Sedai/Wisdom politics than Nynaeve and Elayne (although Elayne is already politically inclined because of the mere fact she is heir to the Lion Throne). Both Mat and Rand acknowledge that she “left Emond’s Field further behind” than any of them. Rand also describes her a few times as looking more and more Aes Sedai.

I think we are getting close to Egwene becoming Amyrlin Seat. I cannot be sure that Siuan is referring to her when she said that the new Amyrlin must be someone who wasn’t in the Tower when Siuan was deposed and that she should be very strong in the Power. It could certainly point to Egwene, especially with Moiraine out of the picture.

On Mat vs. Fate

Mat is the last one in line to hold onto the “running away” phase. Much like Rand and Perrin who had to go though it, Mat is now trying to negotiate his role in all of this and wants more than anything to run away from it. It doesn’t look like he has accepted his fate and he keeps getting pulled back in however much he tries to put all of it behind him.

Like Rand, Mat also has memories that don’t belong to him. I wonder if it’s Gaidal Cain’s memories; I always thought Daughter of the Nine Moons fit Birgitte but I don’t believe Birgitte is of Seanchan origin.

Anyway, I digress. Mat has acquired a new skill that is very, very useful in battle tactics and I hate that he doesn’t think he can contribute anything useful for the cause, that he doesn’t want to. Man up, Mat. Rand has.

Other Notes

1. It looks like Elaida isn’t fully in control of the Tower quite like Siuan was. She could be on the same side of the battlefield as Rand, and it seems Alviarin is on the other. Regardless, it does not look like Elaida is having a good start in her reign as Amyrlin. She doesn’t seem to be as good as Moiraine in the Game of Houses, nor is she as commanding as Siuan.
2. Galad is a Whitecloak. Of course he is. I don’t know what to make of this development, but we did see it coming. He was reading Whitecloak literature in the previous book. However, it seems like Galad’s loyalties are not all black and white. He is still loyal to Elayne despite her ties to the Tower, but I don’t doubt he would be just as loyal to the Children.
3. Elayne has made Birgitte her Warder! Elayne’s brain is so big, guys. I’m so proud of her. Our first woman Warder in the series!
4. So balefire erases history and could mess with the Pattern, which is why use of it had been banned long ago. This is an interesting puzzle to sort out. It seems like history is being written over and over again because every Last Battle from previous Ages keep getting undone… is my best guess. Except some people persist through Ages, like the Heroes of Legends and the Forsaken—and the Dragon Reborn attempts to go back to his space, which Rand is now occupying? It certainly explains why he and Mat have memories they don’t own. It could also explain why they have missing history of old tech. Anyway, anything that bends time can be really confusing the more you think about it—I didn’t expect to see that in this series.
5. New heroes can be bound to the Pattern, like how Birgitte and Gaidal Cain are bound to the Pattern. I wonder who among our Emond’s Fielders will be added to the list?
6. No sign of Perrin! What has happened to our Wolfbrother?

Rainbow-colored glasses time! 🏳️‍🌈

Time to take a trip to rainbow land! It’s been said a few times, but I have my own headcanons for the women of Wheel of Time. In a different time, in another universe, these women would be considered at least a little queer. You can skip this part if you don’t care about non-canon.

So here are some outtakes from my notes, if you could call it that:

1. "I am careful," Nynaeve said in a tight voice. She had not come to be lectured by this sun-haired vixen of an Aiel. — And Nynaeve isn’t queer? LMAO. (I know vixen can also mean ill-tempered, but let me have this!)
2. "[...] When Egwene arrived with Aviendha up behind her on the gray mare, those full skirts pushed above their knees, they looked a matched pair despite their different coloring and Aviendha being tall enough to look over Egwene's shoulder without stretching, each with just one ivory bracelet and one necklace." — Am I reading a different story than anybody else? Also, throughout the book Aviendha wouldn’t say where the necklace came from (it’s from Egwene) when Rand insists to know (he was jealous). No, surely some people headcanon these women as queer.
3. "She and Siuan had apparently worked out that Siuan would deal with women, Leane with men, and so it had been ever since Lugard." — I know what you are, Siuan.
4. So in separate occasions Nynaeve has compared Birgitte to Lan (that they both face danger head on), and Birgitte has compared Nynaeve to Gaidal (that they both have little to no caution). Later on, Juilin makes a comment that Nynaeve is behaving like a woman who lost her husband (by her own hands) when Nynaeve was inconsolable after she caused Birgitte to almost die. And you expect me to just ignore those deliberate comparisons? I will not be silenced.
5. "And if I wanted you to lower the neck another inch?" — Birgitte to Nynaeve out of context. I love my little rainbow glasses. 😇
6. "I liked you, Nynaeve," she said as she laid everything out. "Thorns, warts, and all. I no longer do, as you are now... [...] I would like to like you again, whether you return the liking or not, but I cannot until you are yourself again." — No this was actually so cute. Tell her, Birgitte!

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