Chapter 20 (Dust on the Wind)

This chapter starts out with action and never quite settles down - so much changes in one chapter that it's almost like right here is where the real story is supposed to start.  The rest was just background, just getting the reader going and now Jordan is ready to take off.

For the first time in the book, also making it standard practice, the characters split up and the reader is getting more than just Rand's Point of View (POV).  In this chapter, Jordan introduces Perrin.  It's a very short piece, but it's all his as he waits at the gate to go through and then he and Egwene team up.  The breaking up of the group, and this short piece shows that Rand is not going to be the sole voice in the series nor the only focal point of the series.

How the group was broken up into their smaller groups has often made me ponder.  Why did Jordan decide to put Perrin with Egwene?  Why did Rand and Mat go with Thom?  Why out of everyone did Nynaeve end up with Moraine and Lan and of all things, how did Jordan make those decisions?  Obviously, reading the book answers some of those questions, but Jordan was deciding these things before writing it.  This one split here had ramifications far down the line.  Of course, as the writer, Jordan just would have written the future differently so it's not like he was a prophet, just had an amazing ability to map things out far in advance. 

The reader also meets new characters at the end of the chapter, probably not realizing that Jordan liked to keep his world small.  I'd love the real statistics on this - it feels like one out of every five or so characters that the reader is introduced to in The Wheel of Time, they meet again.  Some of it makes sense, like the people from Two Rivers, it wouldn't be unusual to meet any of them again.  Some of them are more random, like the first time the reader meets the secondary character is a chance happening on a city street, and they're forgotten about by the reader, until the next time, and then the character takes on his or her own personality. 

Interesting, when I sat down to write about this chapter I didn't think I had a lot to say.  This wasn't "a lot" but it was more than I expected.  Once again, Jordan manages to surprise me.  Listen to the Wind is next, I'm excited for it.  Also, all credits for the art (the chapter icon) go to The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan, etc...Until next time!

Oh, and a quote from the chapter (probably over done, but I still like it):

"Every word true," Thom said blandly, "from one who lived it."