Our travelers make their way east in this episode, still separated.
Egwene and Perrin have the easiest journey with the Tinkers they've fallen in with. They get a chance to think about where they've been and where they're going.
The Tinkers no longer seem suspicious to me, but as peaceful in their ways as they are, I now fear there will be an attack by some dark forces and these kind people will be decimated.
Mat and Rand now travel with Thom Merrilin, escaping they hope, the darkfriends and other dark dwellers.
At a small farm where they stop for a night, Thom tells Rand he thinks Mat may be beginning to channel the One power, and that it is drawing him into madness. The real problem is that the Ruby Blade picked up by Mat in Shadar Logoth is in fact driving him mad.
When Rand wakes in the barn from a nightmare to find Mat gone, he finds him in the farmhouse with the entire family dead. Mat is speaking eerily to a shadow and wielding the dagger. Has it made him do this?
Suddenly a Fade (the faceless rider in an unmoving black cloak) leaps out from behind a curtain and attacks. Rand and Mat flee, leaving Thom to fight it. Was this some agreement they had?
Moiraine is healed by one of her sister Aes Sedai in their encampment. We're introduced to two other types of Aes Sedai here.
The Reds seek to find all of the false Dragons and take away their powers. They are a group who do not have Warders.
The Greens are warriors and protectors. They have Warders.
Nynaeve spends time talking with Liandrin who she instinctively dislikes and distrusts.
She sees a bit more of Lan and finds he's more complex than she thought. She spends the evening with the Warders at their fire and they're far more human and likeable than she would have guessed.
It appears she is coming to like Lan, and since his relationship with Moiraine isn't a romantic one, you wonder if they will grudgingly come to like one another.
In a cave, the self proclaimed Dragon Logain Ablar bides his time in a containment field kept up by the Aes Sedai taking turns.
Logain's followers find the encampments and there's a great battle showcasing the Green Ajah's fighting skills and the complementary fighting skills of their Wardens. Even Nynaeve is caught up in the battle though all she has is a small dagger.
As his followers attack, Logain uses his full powers to take down his prison. One of the Green Ajahs is killed in his attack.
When the full complement of Green Ajah's reach the cave to help, the Warder of the dead Green Ajah attacks Logain with his axe. It's splintered, injuring everyone. Nynaeve kneels over Lan who has blood spurting from a wound in his neck. Putting her hands over the wound she tries to staunch the flow of blood but it's useless. In her anger and helplessness she screams Noooo! and unleashes a wave of white light that heals him and everyone in the cave.
The Sisters immediately group to pull Logaine's powers from him, ending his claims.
I'm reading the book Eye of the World for the first time as well as watching the show. I'm up to page 200 of 820. Our heroes haven't reached the silent city of Shadar Logoth yet. Otherwise, events are much the same, but fleshed out quite a bit.
I love the characters in the show and they are very true to the characters of the book. They've tinkered with Perrin's and Mat's backstories a bit, and Egwene is the same girl who is ambitious and anxious to see the world. Nynaeve is a strong Wisdom, the town healer who also wants a say in decisions made by the Council.
The gleeman Thom Merrilin traveled with the group from the beginning in the book, as he was there in Two Rivers for the festival as a performer. I completely like him now and am concerned about his being left behind to face the Fade alone in tonight's episode of the show.
Rand and his father have the best relationship, and you see more of that in the book. Instead of just putting his father on the back of a horse after he's injured to get him to town, he's forced to create a litter for him and it takes him all night to work his way quietly through the woods to town.
The book is well written, with engaging characters and a fascinating world.
The show is one of my favorites this year. Memorable.
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