Best Scenes of The Wheel of Time - January 2018

Author: Elanda Tonil, January 2018

**This article contains specific spoilers for The Eye of the World as well as very non-specific spoilers for the basic plot line of the later series at the end of the article.**

I’m excited to take a look at some of the scenes from The Wheel of Time which are either my favorite or which I think are significant events in the series! I will include some of the big scenes, but I am going to place a little more weight on the smaller scenes that were big moments or awesome moments, but weren’t so earth-shattering that we know them backwards and forwards. This list definitely won’t be exhaustive, I don’t think anyone wants me to review the majority of the series and I don’t have that kind of time, but I hope it will be fun regardless.

With no further delay, the first Best Scene of The Wheel of Time is the one in which Perrin meets Elyas and the wolves, including Hopper, and is told he can speak to wolves! It is found in The Eye of the World, chapter 23, Wolfbrother. The scene comprises most of the chapter, beginning a few pages in. All page numbers for this article come from the first mass market edition of The Eye of the World, page numbers in other versions may differ.

Important Characteristics of this Scene

• Significant character turning point
• We discover a new type of “magic” in the world, humans communicating with animal
• We meet Hopper, a unique, important, secondary character
• We are introduced to the idea of wolves having personalities

Background

Remember, our band of heroes leaves the Two Rivers with the plan of travelling along the road from Baerlon, through Whitebridge, to Caemlyn, at which time they were to head north to continue on to Tar Valon. Unfortunately, the trip wasn’t that smooth. After being pursued by trollocs they decided to take shelter in Shadar Logoth for a night since trollocs and myrddraal have always been unwilling to enter the city due to the evil that waits therein.

After the boys have an adventure where Mat demonstrates his incredible resemblance to a 5-year-old when it comes to listening to instructions (“He didn’t give it to me, I took it!”), they discover that the trollocs and myrddraal have followed them into the city and they must make a hasty retreat.

On their way out of the city, they run across Mashadar, the tendrils of fog which drift through the city at night and for all intents and purposes kill anything they touch, and they are split up. They now must make their way to Tar Valon on their own, with only a promise from Moiraine that she will find them.

The Scene

After the group is split, Perrin and Egwene are together and trying to continue on. They decide to stay north of the road in order to try to avoid detection, they figure they will come across villages and ask directions on their way. Unfortunately, they both failed their Introductory Geography of Randland classes as they don’t realize there are no villages between them and the Spine of the World along their chosen path. They are already tired and hungry.

They are travelling through what can only be described as the middle of nowhere and come across a strange fellow named Elyas Machera. He seems to be alone, and is not at all surprised by a couple of strangers wandering into his solitary camp. Not only is he not surprised, he says he has been watching them for two days and he gives enough evidence that Perrin believes him. They are hungry enough that they gratefully, join him for a meal. The conversation is a bit stilted as Perrin and Egwene are not at all convinced that he is sane, let alone a friend. After a few minutes, his friends return and the fun begins!

The first wolves we meet are Dapple, Hopper, Burn, and Wind. It is here that we get our first glimpse of what I have dubbed Wolfese, which is, the mental language of the wolves.

“It isn’t exactly talking,” Elyas replied slowly. “The words don’t matter, and they aren’t exactly right, either. Her name isn’t Dapple. It’s something that means the way shadows play on a forest pool at a midwinter dawn, with the breeze rippling the surface, and the tang of ice when the water touches the tongue, and a hint of snow before nightfall in the air. But that isn’t quite it, either. You can’t say it in words. It’s more of a feeling. That’s the way wolves talk.” (The Eye of the World, 341)

I love this description! We learn that wolves with feelings, not sounds, but those feelings include all of their senses, not just sound. Their names are filled with vivid imagery, sensations, and sounds. If feels like an incredibly rich language that hosts satisfying conversation and diminishes the chance of miscommunication. Rather than the wolves speaking in a simplified language, their language almost feels richer, deeper, than the spoken languages of Randland.

Next Elyas tells them how he came to speak with wolves, that it wasn’t something he learned how to do, rather it developed on its own. It cannot be taught, it is just something that either is or is not. He then drops a delightful bombshell on Perrin, who hates the idea of being different, or even of being noticed. “‘It can’t be taught. Some can do it, some can’t. They say he can.’ He pointed at Perrin.” Perrin is understandably horrified at the thought. While he isn’t particularly biased against wolves, for the most part he simply wants to be normal, keep low until the danger to Emond’s Field has passed, and then return home to pick up his blacksmithing where he left off. The ability to speak to wolves would pretty seriously derail those plans.

Elyas tells them the story of how the wolves found him and he began communicating with them. As a result, he was shunned by humankind for being touched by the Dark One. That shunning has been universal and consistent enough that he avoids humans now, stay away from not only cities and towns by farms and travelers too. In fact, he decided to speak to our Drifting Duo because their looked so pathetic he didn’t have the heart to leave them to their own devices.

When Elyas asks their story, they tell him their invented story of being from Saldaea with all the accompanying details. Elyas is not impressed by their story and the wolves are really not impressed as they could “smell” trollocs and myrddraal in their minds while they told their fabricated story and wolves hate shadowspawn. Burn in particular is of the opinion they should get rid of the two newcomers as he had a bad experience with trollocs as a cub.

Giving in when Elyas confronts him about it, Perrin then explains their real history, about Winternight and fleeing the Two Rivers, of their need to reach Tar Valon and the trollocs and fades chasing them. In the end, Burn and Dapple have a discussion and it is decided that Burn and those who agree with him will leave the pack, and the rest, including Elyas, will help Perrin and Egwene.

Why I Love It

I have a soft spot for Perrin and Hopper so this scene was one of the first ones that came to mind when thinking about my favorite scenes. Any scene with Hopper in it is a good scene in my mind!

I love seeing the individual wolves and how they interact with Perrin and Perrin’s desperate attempt at denying his ability. In this scene we get some wonderful interactions with the wolves, one of my favorites being, not surprisingly, between Hopper and Perrin.

Elyas was silent for a time, looking at the wolves, most often at Dapple or Burn. Perrin shifted nervously and tried not to watch. When he watched he had the feeling that he could almost hear what Elyas and the wolves were saying to one another. Even if it had nothing to do with the Power, he wanted no part of it. He had to be making some crazy joke. I can’t talk to wolves. One of the wolves - Hopper, he thought - looked at him and seemed to grin. He wondered how he had put a name to him. (The Eye of the World, 345)

I can just imagine Hopper’s grin as he listens to Perrin’s frantic denial which Perrin is unknowingly broadcasting!

I also like seeing how the pack works. They can all express their opinions, but unless they’re willing to challenge the leader, they can either follow or they can leave. There is no compromise, the leader makes the choice. End of story. It might not be the best system of government for humankind, but I like seeing this from the wolves, it makes their culture feel more authentic. It also sets us up for some interesting culture shock moments as Perrin gets more involved.

Meeting Elyas and starting to get to know him is another part of this scene that I particularly enjoy. Over the course of this part of the book, I became surprisingly attached to Elyas so any other mentions or meetings with him later on were a bit nostalgic for me. How would Perrin’s life have been different if he’d just said “Forget it,” and ran off with Elyas in this book?

In this scene we also learn of what amounts to a new branch of magic in this world. To this point we have pretty much encountered “normal” folk, and channelers, but here we discover another difference between our world and the world of The Wheel of Time. This discovery opens up the realm of possibilities dramatically by showing us that not only do we have people who can use magic and people who cannot, but significant different capabilities which aren't related to channeling. After this, what else do we expect to behave one way that, in fact, won't?

Lastly, we get some classic Robert Jordan foreshadowing going on. When Perrin asks Elyas if speaking to wolves is related to the One Power, Elyas explains that it is not.

“Of course not,” Elyas growled[...] “This is an old thing, boy. Older than Aes Sedai. Older than anybody using the One Power. Old as humankind. Old as wolves. They don’t like that either, Aes Sedai. Old things coming again. I’m not the only one. There are other things, other folk. Makes Aes Sedai nervous, makes them mutter about ancient barriers weakening. Things are breaking apart, they say. They’re afraid the Dark One will get loose, is what.” (The Eye of the World, 345)

Without going too heavily into spoilers, this not only gives us some very interesting hints about Elyas’ background and experience, but it also gives a good idea of what to expect as the series continues and where we’ll end up when all is said and done.

Your Thoughts!

• What do you think Hopper was thinking while Perrin was trying to convince himself Elyas was joking about him being able to speak with the wolves too?
• What are some of your favorite scenes from the series?