Before we begin this I have to give some context.
When I was a Teenage Clown (14ish) is when I really got onto the Internet (almost typed internet there..Null would have banned me). In school we were forced to take a computer typing class, and part of that was basic internet usage..and from there I was hooked by the concept of being able to talk to people all over the world.
I used my summer savings and bought an almost potato computer that could barely run the games at the time, and got lost into nerd culture, the forums I would go to at the time would discuss all sorts of older things including the Lord of the Rings.
Once I learned what Lord of the Rings was I went to the local Library and tried to get a copy of “Fellowship of the Ring”….which was currently checked out. The Old Dude that was the Librarian at the time suggested me something else instead something from the same sort of genre
A copy of a book that was older than I was by a couple of years. “The Eye of the World.” I was enraptured by the end of the Prologue. I am not trying to power level by giving this context but I want to explain why these books are precious to me. They are my Lord of the Rings, they are the first fantasy books I read and the ones I spent my formative years reading. They are my comfort books and they are still in the rotation of books I listen to when I sleep.
Anyways…
Book 1 The Eye of the World.
Prologue: Dragon Mount.
We begin our series with a castle that has been attacked. Dead dead bodies everywhere, scorch marks and warped stone walls, a complete slaughter, a man wanders around it looking for his wife, calling her name repeatedly..apparently completely oblivious to the destruction around him. Lews Therin Telamon sees himself in a mirror and begins laughing, calling to his wife again and into this scene teleports another man, who attempts to have a confrontation with Lews Therin..but it becomes very clear that Lews Therin is off his fucking rocker.
Lews Therin and the stranger, whose name is revealed as Elan Morin Tedronai and Lews Therin responds to the name with “Betrayer of Hope” after a few moments Lews Therin loses the moment of lucidity and begins treating Elan as a guest again. Elan heals Lews Therin of his insanity, using magic that makes the light itself dim and is quite painful, Lews Therin sees a corpse before him, his wife named Ilyena Moerelle Dalisardead, nicknamed Illyena Sunhair from an attack with Magic.
We learn that Elan serves a Dark Master and that Lews Therin and Elan have been at war for years, Lews Therin blames Elan for Ilyena’s death..however Elan retorts that it was Lews Therin that had done it because Lews Therin had been driven insane. Lews Therin struck at Elan’s Dark Master directly and The Dark One retaliated by tainting the source of Lews Therin’s magic which had driven Lews Therin’s magic. Lews Therin rightly flees the location where he had killed his Wife and entire extended family.
He reaches out to Saidin, the source of ale magic a now tainted source he draws it all in, calling out to be forgiven for his crimes, then he calls down a single bolt of pure magical energy blasting himself with enough of the tainted source of male magic that it bore deep enough into the earth to cause a Volcano to form and erupt one strong enough to create a mountain where Lews Therin, who had been nicknamed “The Dragon” had been standing.
In the Shadow of that new mountain a river has been split and around that river forms an island. Elan teleports to that island and looks upon the new mountain, claiming that “This war is not over Lews Therin.”
Then we get a summaries of the Breaking of the World from the 4th age where the Breaking has become Legend.
My thoughts
This is one of my 3 favorite parts of the book (I will label the other 2, you can make guesses as to what they are..though I think I mentioned one of them earlier in this thread but the third is probably surprising)
Opening with the ending of Lews Therin’s life and how his pride caused his own destruction is kind of genius. I think one of the biggest mistakes stories make in the “current year” is attempting to make every little thing a mystery, a Book today totally would have skipped this and gone straight to the first chapter because “Muh Mysterious Origins”
This sets up all the things we as readers need to know that the characters shouldn’t know.
Lews Therin did not serve the Dark One.
Using Magic drives men insane.
Elan used to be on the side of the light, and betrayed the light hard enough to earn the name “Betrayer of Hope.”
Elan has a VERY personal stake in this War.
I also love that we get early hints about the Magic created with the Dark One’s Essence (The True Power, as opposed to the One Power) Elan’s sanity spell dims the light nearbye...and it apparently hurts like hell.
I do want to point out this line.
“The shadow of the mountain almost reached the island, it reached Dark across the land like the Ominous Hand of Prophecy”
I love this line, its so foreboding.
There is a second Prologue in some versions of the Book, I don’t have that in my versions and have never really read it.
Chapter 1: A Lonely Road.
Summary :
We begin with the Traditional start of a Wheel of Time book.
“The Wheel of Time turns and ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend, legend fades to myth and even myth is long forgotten when the age that gave it birth comes again, In an age called The Third Age a wind rose..this wind was not a beginning because there are no beginnings to the wheel of time.”
The Wind blows across places we have not yet been introduced to in the series..and eventually catches the cloak of a boy called Rand Al’Thor, who is walking along a road with his father Tam Al’Thor. Rand and Tam travel along the forest road in what should be the end of Winter, however Winter is holding on hard this year.
“Where Sunlight did reach, it held neither strength or warmth”
Winter this year was very difficult, even the Wolves were feeling strained..being pushed down from the mountains where they would attack sheep and even men this year which is a rarity. Rand looks over his shoulder and sees a Horseman in a Black Cloak following them, and in surprise he stumbles. Which catches the attention of Tam and Bela the family horse. Rand explains that he saw somebody but the Dark Rider is gone as if he were not there in the first place.
Tam goes to examine for tracks but Rand stops him..Rand just shrugs it off as the dreariness of the day getting to him. We learn a bit of Rand’s personal life in the Village. His two best Friends, Mat Cauthon and Perrin Aybara and we learn of the Flame and the Void..a method of focus that Tam has taught Rand.
Soon they arrive at their destination, Emond’s Field to deliver the order of Apple Cider and Apple Brandy that Tam was fulfilling for the spring festival tomorrow. We are introduced to a few villagers and we learn a few things about how things in the Two Rivers are run.
Men have the office of Mayor and The Town Council
Women have the Wisdom and the Women’s Circle.
We learn that Tam and Rand both kind of want to get into the village without distraction because Tam as a widowed man with a solid farm is prime candidate for the women of the village to play matchmaker with...and that Rand is getting to the age where he is going to be thinking of marriage, of course Rand has someone set up for him already a girl named Egwene.
They take the cart to the local Inn, which is run by the Mayor..who also happens to be Egwene’s father. Bran. Bran greets Tam and Rand with the jolly cheer of a proper Innkeeper...until another local starts into the conversation. Cenn Buie..an old codger who starts to complain about The Wisdom..which is not the purview of the Town Council.
As the Adults talk Rand feels a tug on his shirt, here we first meet one of Rand’s close friends that were mentioned earlier. Mat Cauthon..a troublemaker at best. Mat tells Rand to sneak off before he gets caught up in helping take the barrel into the Inn..but the idea gets instantly derailed by Rand telling Mat about the Dark Rider. Mat has also seen the Rider, as have some of the other boys their age.
They speak about who the Rider might be, we hear the names of a few of the Male forsaken, magic users who swore to The Dark One, or that it might be “The Dragon” who (as far as they are aware) broke the world 3000 years ago.
The conversation gets cut off when Tam comes over and bluffs Mat into helping Rand because Mat is in Tam’s words “A responsible lad who gets his chores done quickly and is available to help” Tam also drops that there is a “Gleeman” in town, a Gleeman is a wandering Bard who goes from town to town performing for his supper.
Commentary:
I love this opening, I love that we get to the fact that Rand is the main character right from the start because things are from his point of view..that the Narrative does not try to trick the reader with the question “Who is the Dragon Reborn.”
We end the prologue with the Dragon dying and we start straight with Rand so it’s pretty clear who Rand is, you know what this gives us time to do? Let the characters wonder about that shit. It takes Rand basically 3 books to accept that he is the Dragon Reborn and having the readers skip the mystery means we can spend all 3 books focused on Rand’s journey to acceptance.
I don’t mind mysteries entirely, heck I am a huge fan of One Piece and a large part of the plot surrounds the question “What is on the Final Island, What is the One Piece?”. Now I am interested in the answer to that question because it will have an effect on the context of the plot. However as a whole I am not sure the actual answer to that mystery will matter. The main antagonists are already very much deserving of getting their ass kicked irrespective of any secrets the world may harbor.
You manage to get Tam’s entire character quickly just through Rand’s POV narration. He is the best Dad, I can’t think of many Father’s in fiction I would pick over Tam Al’Thor to be my dad. He is wholesome as fuck, also I am curious if Jordan has a note somewhere about the "Wolf and Bear" attacks actually being the Trollocs that have been brought into the Two Rivers.
Emon’s Field is very Shire like, but I like it a little more. Lord of the Rings kind of implies that Hobbits are a little retarded sometimes. The Two Rivers folk are intelligent and capable because they have been so isolated and untouched they have gotten really good at the things they are good at. They have been isolated for thousands of years so they have had practice at the thing they need to do to survive..like Woodcraft and Archery.
The Two River’s folk are all fun characters, including Cenn who is the exact kind of grumpy old man that should be around this kind of village. He is like Cranky Kong you wanna punch him in the face but it just wouldn’t be the same without him.
We meet Mat here for the first time, whose introduction exemplifies a lot of the core of his character, he is getting ready to do a prank. He sneaks up next to Rand trying to not be seen by the Adults so they can sneak off...and of course we get Tam having noticed Mat there without even trying because Tam is an absolute Chad 24/7.
Also lets have some bonus sperging, since it was linked I am gonna read the re-read of the Wheel of time from almost 2 decades ago.
We do find this out from a Con question, apparently they are Territorial Governors. Which is really weird because they series specifically calls out the Aes Sedai Oath Rod as being a Rod with a 3 on it I had always kind of assumed that the Oath Rods were the Rods of Dominion.
Does it really try to set up confusion as to who is the chosen one? We go straight from The Dragon..to Rand. You could kind of argue about Mat being teased during the fight at Shadar Logath..but Mat also outright vanishes as a character for large portions of the book.
