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- Aug 29, 2019
Chapter 5: Winternight.
Tam and Rand arrive home at Tam’s Farm, much like Tam himself the Al’Thor house does not look like much at first, but it is solid and well built. Tam checks the edge of the Farm’s fences for signs of the Black Cloaked visitor but finds none, and the Sheep do not seem to be disturbed so Tam relaxes a bit and the pair do some chores, however Tam’s spear is never far from where he is working.
As night falls, Tam prepares supper and calls Rand into the house. Rand begins to prepare tea for dinner, Tam goes upstairs and pulls something out of the old trunk that Rand had never seen Tam open. Tam returns with a sword belted around his waist, a sword with a Heron on the Seethe, one on the hilt and one etched into the blade.
Rand and Tam speak of the sword and where Tam had gotten it, Tam showing distaste for the blade, drawing it and examining it, despite presumably decades in storage the light still glimmers on a sharp edge.
Suddenly something thumps at the door, Rand panics for a moment thinking it is the Black Cloak Rider..then the lock on the door shatters and a giant goat horned figure bursts in..its arm going in front of it’s face as the sudden fire light blinds it.
Rand throws the tea kettle, full of boiling water at the beastly figure, however Tam strikes just as fast. Going from sitting in his favorite chair to slashing the beast across the chest in the time it takes the kettle to go across the room. As more of the beasts try to get past the corpse of their dead companion Tam lifts the Table and blockades the door with it, telling Rand to run.
Rand goes to exit the back door of the House, but more of the beasts are entering in from the back, Rand bursts out and yells to Tam that they are coming in from both sides of the house. Rand runs to the forest hearing the sounds of battle before he hears Tam burst out of a window as well, heading in another direction to pull the attackers away from Rand.
Having grown up in this forest Rand traverses it easily, though the Darkness is taking on a new foreboding with the Dark Rider and now Nightmare Beasts appearing. Soon Tam finds Rand and explains that the attackers are Trollocs, beasts that serve The Dark One. Tam suggests the pair sleep out in the forest, saying that the night is warming. This sets Rand to check Tam for fever because the night is still very cold.
Tam has a fever and a cut along his side, not a deep one nor a bad one but Tam is still very weak and hot to the touch. Rand decides to go to the House to get the Wagon, Bela and what little medical supplies they have.
He takes Tam’s sword and heads back to the house, which is empty of living Trollocs, but several dead ones litter the floor, along with almost everything in the house. Well except one Trolloc who apparently mains Hunter in World of Warcraft cause he has feign death as a skill.
The Trolloc (named Narg) tells Rand that the “Myrddraal wants to speak with him(Rand)” and charges at Rand..who manages to get Tam’s sword up as the Trolloc slams into him and kills the Shadowspawn. (Rand -1 : Tam like – 4)
Rand gathers the supplies he needs and heads to the barn to get the cart and Bela, Bela is gone and the Sheep have been slaughtered. Rand creates plan B, and hacks off the handles of the Cart intending to use them to make a liter for Tam to drag him to Emon’s Field. Once finished he notices that Tam’s sword had not been dulled at all by chopping through the thick cart handles.
With supplies in Tow Rand heads back to the forest to help Tam.
My Thoughts
The plot has Officially begun.
I like seeing a little bit of what Rand’s normal life is before the Trollocs attack, and I love the teasing of Tam’s history.
A poster earlier in the thread mentioned that they were sad that Tam’s full backstory was never really explored deeply. I think it helps the overall story that Tam’s full history is never really revealed in secondary materials.
The majority of Tam’s screen time is done through the point of view of Rand and Perrin, both of whom look up to Tam as..not exactly a Hero (well Rand does) but as someone very reliable and sturdy. We find out almost everything about Tam from contextual things about the setting.
I am going to spoiler this bit because it is talking about future things but I kind of want to discuss why I think Tam works.
We find out from Lan that the Heron is a Blade-master's mark.
We find out from Moraine and Siuan that Tam joined the army of Illian, which is implied to be an important place because the Horn of Valere is meant to go there.
We find out after Rand conquers Illian that the 100 Companions are the elite squad of Illian.
I think a danger of doing a prequel about Tam would be that he would end up coming across as a bit of a Mary Sue, seeing him from Rand and Perrin’s POV means that Tam being an absolute badass is natural.
Of course he would be a Blade-Master that was in the Elite Illian Guard, he is Tam Al’thor...if anyone is that bad ass it is Rand’s father. The Emon’s Field kids all discussed how they imagined going outside the Two Rivers..well Tam did that and survived to come back, and seeing Tam through the POV character’s eyes also just lets us kind of bake “Knows everything and can do anything” into our knowledge pool because the characters kind of already think that.
Sorry to derail with things that aren’t quite relevant yet. I just really like Tam as a character.
Anyways, the fact we view Tam as an absolute badass sells the Trollocs as a real danger here, after all they managed to put the invicinible Tam Al’Thor down.
Rand’s thoughts as he runs away really set up how brave it is for him to go back to the house later, Rand is scared to all hell, but as soon as it is for someone he cares about Rand is instantly willing to risk running into the beasts he was running from not to long ago.
The reveal of Tam’s wound is really slick too.
Tam: “We can stay out the night...at least it is getting warmer”
Rand’s inner thoughts: “Light it’s cold, I wish I had my clo...wait a second what did he just say?”
The Trollocs killed the Sheep! Poor Sheepies they legitimately Didndu nothing to deserve being killed. Sheep are an underrated animal, just look at one...its so fuzzy and has exactly zero IQ points in that head.
We get our only directly speaking Trolloc in the series, which is kind of just an excuse to sell how dangerous a Myrddraal is, The Trollocs could hurt Tam who is unfazed by Bears and Wolves..and Trollocs fear Myrddraal, it is a very tidy and clean way to tell us that Trollocs are bad..Myrddraal are catastrophic to run into.
We get shades of..how Rand’s Two Rivers raising interacts with Rand’s Aiel blood stubbornness, even when faced with no cart, no Bela...he just jumps to Plan B.
Chapter 6: The Westwood.
Summary
Rand checks Tam for wounds that would cause the fever but Tam only has a single cut the size of Rand’s palm. Rand tends to the wound and prepares the to pull Tam, who is murmuring about Kari, his dead wife.
Rand drags the litter through the forest, avoiding the road for fear of running into Trollocs or the Black Cloaked rider, which was a valid fear as part way through the night a squad of Trollocs marches down the road from the east, heading towards the farm. At their head is the Myrddraal. Rand hides hoping that he is deep enough in the forest and the monsters move on.
Rand prepares to start moving again but something tells him to stay in place, and moments later the Myrddraal returns without the Trollocs, it’s black horse silent as death, it stops every few feet and checks the forest and passes by Rand and Tam again.
Rand starts to move again, and Tam begins to mutter again. Speaking about a group of (((THEM))) coming over the Dragonwall, about a war that brought all the great nations together, about a place called Cairhein, and burning towers. He speaks of a King who cut down a tree called Avendoraldera and a war which caused the Nations of the continent to unite against a common enemy that had slaughtered their way to the Shining Walls.
Tam speaks of the aftermath of the battle, climbing a mountainside to escape the stench of death and finding a dead warrior woman, and a child almost frozen to death, and how He and Kari are going to name it Rand.
The Revelation shakes Rand to his core, but Rand doesn’t have time to deal with this, because he has to continue onto Emon’s Field or Tam will die.
Commentary
This is one of my favorite chapters in the book. There are 3 chapters that are effectively completely non action that I think are the 3 best in the book. we get to see some of what I was talking about with Rand’s view of Tam as badass, he considered Tam invincible until tonight, then we get the fun of Rand basically being a one man show this entire chapter, Rand is basically completely on his own in a life or death situation for the first time in his life.
We get another hint of Myrddraal’s ability to scare people with just a stare.
We also get Tam’s fever dreams, giving us an idea of how the Aiel War went, of just how one sided it was in favor of the Aiel and how it started, and we learn that Rand is adopted which begins one of Rand’s core story themes.
“What happens when you take someone and slice away everything that they were rooted to with nothing to replace it.”
This is one of my favorite reveals in all of fiction just for how it is done, Jordan puts Rand in an absolutely desperate situation and then while he is Hungry, Cold and Tired takes a metaphorical crowbar to Rand’s entire world.
Also my audio book version of this chapter is 18 Minutes.
18 Minutes.
Consider all the stupid shows in the past 20 years that spend hours and hours fucking around and doing nothing and this Chapter is 18 minutes long and accomplishes more than those show do in entire seasons.
From: Leigh Butler
I am not sure this is..really fair.
Like, sure Trollocs stop being a problem for most of our main cast who are epic level DND characters Artifact tier weapons, but even Lan* and Tam who are basically the most badass characters without Channeling or Ta'veren nature in the setting prefer to fight Trollocs with Lance and Bow and go to sword as a last resort.
*Remember for the record, in Book 14 a tired Lan is ambushed by 3 Myydraal at the same time and wins and he still would rather fight Trollocs on Horseback with a Lance as much as he can.
Tam and Rand arrive home at Tam’s Farm, much like Tam himself the Al’Thor house does not look like much at first, but it is solid and well built. Tam checks the edge of the Farm’s fences for signs of the Black Cloaked visitor but finds none, and the Sheep do not seem to be disturbed so Tam relaxes a bit and the pair do some chores, however Tam’s spear is never far from where he is working.
As night falls, Tam prepares supper and calls Rand into the house. Rand begins to prepare tea for dinner, Tam goes upstairs and pulls something out of the old trunk that Rand had never seen Tam open. Tam returns with a sword belted around his waist, a sword with a Heron on the Seethe, one on the hilt and one etched into the blade.
Rand and Tam speak of the sword and where Tam had gotten it, Tam showing distaste for the blade, drawing it and examining it, despite presumably decades in storage the light still glimmers on a sharp edge.
Suddenly something thumps at the door, Rand panics for a moment thinking it is the Black Cloak Rider..then the lock on the door shatters and a giant goat horned figure bursts in..its arm going in front of it’s face as the sudden fire light blinds it.
Rand throws the tea kettle, full of boiling water at the beastly figure, however Tam strikes just as fast. Going from sitting in his favorite chair to slashing the beast across the chest in the time it takes the kettle to go across the room. As more of the beasts try to get past the corpse of their dead companion Tam lifts the Table and blockades the door with it, telling Rand to run.
Rand goes to exit the back door of the House, but more of the beasts are entering in from the back, Rand bursts out and yells to Tam that they are coming in from both sides of the house. Rand runs to the forest hearing the sounds of battle before he hears Tam burst out of a window as well, heading in another direction to pull the attackers away from Rand.
Having grown up in this forest Rand traverses it easily, though the Darkness is taking on a new foreboding with the Dark Rider and now Nightmare Beasts appearing. Soon Tam finds Rand and explains that the attackers are Trollocs, beasts that serve The Dark One. Tam suggests the pair sleep out in the forest, saying that the night is warming. This sets Rand to check Tam for fever because the night is still very cold.
Tam has a fever and a cut along his side, not a deep one nor a bad one but Tam is still very weak and hot to the touch. Rand decides to go to the House to get the Wagon, Bela and what little medical supplies they have.
He takes Tam’s sword and heads back to the house, which is empty of living Trollocs, but several dead ones litter the floor, along with almost everything in the house. Well except one Trolloc who apparently mains Hunter in World of Warcraft cause he has feign death as a skill.
The Trolloc (named Narg) tells Rand that the “Myrddraal wants to speak with him(Rand)” and charges at Rand..who manages to get Tam’s sword up as the Trolloc slams into him and kills the Shadowspawn. (Rand -1 : Tam like – 4)
Rand gathers the supplies he needs and heads to the barn to get the cart and Bela, Bela is gone and the Sheep have been slaughtered. Rand creates plan B, and hacks off the handles of the Cart intending to use them to make a liter for Tam to drag him to Emon’s Field. Once finished he notices that Tam’s sword had not been dulled at all by chopping through the thick cart handles.
With supplies in Tow Rand heads back to the forest to help Tam.
My Thoughts
The plot has Officially begun.
I like seeing a little bit of what Rand’s normal life is before the Trollocs attack, and I love the teasing of Tam’s history.
A poster earlier in the thread mentioned that they were sad that Tam’s full backstory was never really explored deeply. I think it helps the overall story that Tam’s full history is never really revealed in secondary materials.
The majority of Tam’s screen time is done through the point of view of Rand and Perrin, both of whom look up to Tam as..not exactly a Hero (well Rand does) but as someone very reliable and sturdy. We find out almost everything about Tam from contextual things about the setting.
I am going to spoiler this bit because it is talking about future things but I kind of want to discuss why I think Tam works.
We find out from Lan that the Heron is a Blade-master's mark.
We find out from Moraine and Siuan that Tam joined the army of Illian, which is implied to be an important place because the Horn of Valere is meant to go there.
We find out after Rand conquers Illian that the 100 Companions are the elite squad of Illian.
I think a danger of doing a prequel about Tam would be that he would end up coming across as a bit of a Mary Sue, seeing him from Rand and Perrin’s POV means that Tam being an absolute badass is natural.
Of course he would be a Blade-Master that was in the Elite Illian Guard, he is Tam Al’thor...if anyone is that bad ass it is Rand’s father. The Emon’s Field kids all discussed how they imagined going outside the Two Rivers..well Tam did that and survived to come back, and seeing Tam through the POV character’s eyes also just lets us kind of bake “Knows everything and can do anything” into our knowledge pool because the characters kind of already think that.
Sorry to derail with things that aren’t quite relevant yet. I just really like Tam as a character.
Anyways, the fact we view Tam as an absolute badass sells the Trollocs as a real danger here, after all they managed to put the invicinible Tam Al’Thor down.
Rand’s thoughts as he runs away really set up how brave it is for him to go back to the house later, Rand is scared to all hell, but as soon as it is for someone he cares about Rand is instantly willing to risk running into the beasts he was running from not to long ago.
The reveal of Tam’s wound is really slick too.
Tam: “We can stay out the night...at least it is getting warmer”
Rand’s inner thoughts: “Light it’s cold, I wish I had my clo...wait a second what did he just say?”
The Trollocs killed the Sheep! Poor Sheepies they legitimately Didndu nothing to deserve being killed. Sheep are an underrated animal, just look at one...its so fuzzy and has exactly zero IQ points in that head.
We get our only directly speaking Trolloc in the series, which is kind of just an excuse to sell how dangerous a Myrddraal is, The Trollocs could hurt Tam who is unfazed by Bears and Wolves..and Trollocs fear Myrddraal, it is a very tidy and clean way to tell us that Trollocs are bad..Myrddraal are catastrophic to run into.
We get shades of..how Rand’s Two Rivers raising interacts with Rand’s Aiel blood stubbornness, even when faced with no cart, no Bela...he just jumps to Plan B.
Chapter 6: The Westwood.
Summary
Rand checks Tam for wounds that would cause the fever but Tam only has a single cut the size of Rand’s palm. Rand tends to the wound and prepares the to pull Tam, who is murmuring about Kari, his dead wife.
Rand drags the litter through the forest, avoiding the road for fear of running into Trollocs or the Black Cloaked rider, which was a valid fear as part way through the night a squad of Trollocs marches down the road from the east, heading towards the farm. At their head is the Myrddraal. Rand hides hoping that he is deep enough in the forest and the monsters move on.
Rand prepares to start moving again but something tells him to stay in place, and moments later the Myrddraal returns without the Trollocs, it’s black horse silent as death, it stops every few feet and checks the forest and passes by Rand and Tam again.
Rand starts to move again, and Tam begins to mutter again. Speaking about a group of (((THEM))) coming over the Dragonwall, about a war that brought all the great nations together, about a place called Cairhein, and burning towers. He speaks of a King who cut down a tree called Avendoraldera and a war which caused the Nations of the continent to unite against a common enemy that had slaughtered their way to the Shining Walls.
Tam speaks of the aftermath of the battle, climbing a mountainside to escape the stench of death and finding a dead warrior woman, and a child almost frozen to death, and how He and Kari are going to name it Rand.
The Revelation shakes Rand to his core, but Rand doesn’t have time to deal with this, because he has to continue onto Emon’s Field or Tam will die.
Commentary
This is one of my favorite chapters in the book. There are 3 chapters that are effectively completely non action that I think are the 3 best in the book. we get to see some of what I was talking about with Rand’s view of Tam as badass, he considered Tam invincible until tonight, then we get the fun of Rand basically being a one man show this entire chapter, Rand is basically completely on his own in a life or death situation for the first time in his life.
We get another hint of Myrddraal’s ability to scare people with just a stare.
We also get Tam’s fever dreams, giving us an idea of how the Aiel War went, of just how one sided it was in favor of the Aiel and how it started, and we learn that Rand is adopted which begins one of Rand’s core story themes.
“What happens when you take someone and slice away everything that they were rooted to with nothing to replace it.”
This is one of my favorite reveals in all of fiction just for how it is done, Jordan puts Rand in an absolutely desperate situation and then while he is Hungry, Cold and Tired takes a metaphorical crowbar to Rand’s entire world.
Also my audio book version of this chapter is 18 Minutes.
18 Minutes.
Consider all the stupid shows in the past 20 years that spend hours and hours fucking around and doing nothing and this Chapter is 18 minutes long and accomplishes more than those show do in entire seasons.
From: Leigh Butler
I am not sure this is..really fair.
Like, sure Trollocs stop being a problem for most of our main cast who are epic level DND characters Artifact tier weapons, but even Lan* and Tam who are basically the most badass characters without Channeling or Ta'veren nature in the setting prefer to fight Trollocs with Lance and Bow and go to sword as a last resort.
*Remember for the record, in Book 14 a tired Lan is ambushed by 3 Myydraal at the same time and wins and he still would rather fight Trollocs on Horseback with a Lance as much as he can.
