I actually tried to just read this chapter and not take notes - I read, I read a lot, and I needed something to just read - but I couldn't do it. My hand kept reaching for my pen. Details, especially in this chapter, kept jumping out at me. I mean, c'mon, Padan Fain, how could I miss a chance to get in my character details from the first time Rand sees him this Spring? Yeah, I didn't even past the first page of the chapter; I won't try to do that again. Heck, yesterday afternoon I was getting my hair done and I was sitting with my notebook in my lap, scribbling my half legible notes into it. Couldn't waste sitting around for 35 minutes reading a magazine instead.
The tone Jordan writes for Padan Fain, is it deliberately intending for the reader to not quite like nor trust him? Fain basically has the villagers begging for news - and as Rand observes, Fain "strutted around like an undersized rooster." I don't yet remember his other interactions with the village, but I remember upon first meet, not liking him, just as I instantly knew and liked Moraine (and just as instantly disliked Nynaeve, but more on that later). And then Fain drops the bomb, war in Ghaeldan.
A lot of this chapter is an info dump - like Fain explaining where the "boundaries" are - the Great Blight to the North; Sea of Storms, South; Aryth Ocean, West and Aiel Waste, East. Also mentions of False Dragons, "Time of Madness" "Prophesies" first mention of channeling, but the reader also has some interaction from the villagers that make it interesting - Cenn Buie speaks up, but my favorite two are Haral Luhan showing that not all of the villagers are ignorant when he growls "The Dragon's not the Dark One." Hmm…I like the balance that Jordan shows in this - not everyone is mindless. I also like Ewin blurting out the first mention of "he'll go mad and die!" A boy-child speaking that which every man might fear to put to voice.
And then Rand, Perin and Mat get to be boys and speculate about the news that was just dropped on them when the Village Council takes Padan Fain into the inn to stop panic. The stories and talk show that the boys are familiar with tales of the Aes Sedai (if not accurate tales) and Mat also tells an interesting foreshadowing story - that "the Dragon will be reborn in mankind's greatest hour of need and save us all." Side note - I love Mat's first "Burn me!" in this chapter.
Okay, back to Nynaeve - no, I don’t mention everything that happened in a chapter, but when I write my thoughts on it, my thought process works better chronologically - wow, did I remember why I really had mixed and/or very harsh feelings towards, and perhaps still do, Nynaeve. This dialogue sets me off every time "The Council is questioning the peddler about what's happening in Ghealdan are they? If I know them, they're asking all the wrong questions and none of the right ones. It will take the Women's Circle to find out anything useful." I'm not sure that line set me off as badly the first time I read it, I think I was more curious - but that line just sets the tone for the entire series, and it was meant to do so. In my opinion, Jordan went too far for too long. I'm female, but I judge a person based on their character, not their gender.
And tell me - I found it almost cute the first time when Rand and Egwene just couldn't manage to speak the same language. Now, I just go, really??? and then say "thank you" when the white haired man arrives on the scene.
End note: Perrin also receiving the coin from Moriane and seeing the "rider"…how many stories are told in three parts, here Jordan solidifies that it will be Perrin, as the third. I've heard that Jordan originally tried to buck the "threes" system, but couldn't, I think this story proves that while a trope, there's a reason many of them work.
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