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Showdown in Tanchico
Elayne, Nynaeve, Thom, and Julin infiltrate the Panarch's Palace in Tanchico looking for a ter'angreal that means bad mojo for Rand as it would allow a woman (of the Foresaken or Black Ajah flavor) to control him, much in the same way that sul'dam control damane through the a'dam. Damn, that's a lot of dams.
What's interesting here is we get the first instance of a Foresaken being taken on by anybody other than Rand without just pulling the now classic "balefire ambush" (I don't even want to get into the discussion of paradox here so I won't). Nynaeve goes toe to toe, or more accurately, power for power, against Mogehdien, and proves, at the very least, to be her match in the One Power. Nynaeve has been channeling for some time, so we don't really know if this is her full potential or not, but we do know through various character comments that Nynaeve is grossly powerful, easily the most powerful contemporary Aes Sedai (even if she isn't one yet) of the female variety.
I don't recall where in the power scale Mogehdien falls among her fellow Foresaken chicks except that Lanfear was believed the most powerful of them. At a bare minimum this means that Nynaeve is probably in the top 10 or top 5 all time most powerful female channelers; not too shabby, and we know that she's on the Light side. Go us!
Unfortunately the Foresaken escapes, as do all the Black Ajah sisters, but the heroes manage to secure one of the 7 seals and the ter'angreal which is given to Bayle Domon to dump into the deep ocean. When you can't destroy it, dump it, which makes one wonder why there isn't just a fuckton of cuendillar and old ter'angreal from ages past (and past, and past, and past ...) cluttering up Randland. Maybe we'll get a nice little reason for that, we know after all that the seals are breaking down, so maybe cuendillar isn't all that after all.
The Battle of the Two Rivers, a.k.a. The Second Battle of Amon's/Emond's Field
As far as I'm concerned this is when RJ proves he can write a kickass massive battle. Yeah, I know, Falme was pretty cool, but it has nothing on this which is just a preview for the awesomesauce that is Dumai's Wells (yeah, yeah, I'm getting way ahead of myself). Two Aes Sedai, two Warders, three Aiel, one Wolfbrother ta'veren, a Hunter for the Horn, and Blademaster (inferred) and a whole bunch of really stubborn farmers and villagers. Naturally the thousands of Trollocs never stood a chance.
Emond's Field is fortified about as well as they can manage, and after a number of probing assaults the full body of the Shadowspawn army attacks on two fronts in full force. The Whitecloaks, black hats that they are, and perpetual annoying shitstain on Randland, just sit back and watch the carnage because they believed Perrin to be a darkfriend, and thusly decided that the whole of the Two Rivers must be as well.
Which is lame. I mean I get that Bornhald, and Byar, both zealotous revenge and hate filled psychos are blinded by their emotions, but I find it hard to believe that the other 398 men at Emond's Field all felt the same way or were so duty bound that they wouldn't lift a finger to help. It strain credibility, and in the end makes the Children of the Light into a flat, one dimensional mockery of a proper antagonist.
Not that it matters, because without the Whitecloaks to back them up the farmers begin to fall and the lines start to crumble. The Trollocs would have broken through if not for all the women coming to the aid of their menfolk, wielding pitchforks, cleavers, knives, and what-all else, they bolster the lines just long enough for the men from Watch Hill and Devon Ride to arrive. The tide is turned, the battle won. The Two Rivers stands victorious over a massive army of Trollocs on its own, all thanks to the workings of a single ta'veren. That they all seem to be proclaiming Perrin their lord now is almost incidental at this point in the story, and yet I imagine that this will lead somewhere, and prove an eventual boon for Perrin and Rand as the Last Battle approaches.
Tinker with a Sword
The other meaningful event to come out of that chaos is Aram, the Tinker we met way back in The Eye of the World, picking up a sword and abandoning the Way of the Leaf. There's a lot of significance in that act, and I think in part it's a mirror to later events in the book that see Aiel throwing down their spears. More ta'veren at work to be sure.
Schooled
Rand gets the last two chapters, and drops a heap of planned, and unplanned awesome on us. Arriving at Alcair Dar, where the Aiel do all their big events it seems, he proclaims himself the Car'a'carn, Chief of Chiefs, and the de facto leader of the Aiel. Not that it goes smoothly. By means that we don't find out (and I don't recall) Couladin, the Shaido douche bag, reveals his own twin dragons and proclaims himself at the same time. In order to prove his station Rand reveals the true history of the Aiel, for all those assembled to hear. The clan Chiefs proclaim him, but the Aiel people break, some join the Shaido, who refuse to follow Rand, and the rest throw down their spears. What remains (presumably the first of "a fraction of a fraction") is loyal to Rand, and becomes the first of his armies.
After making it rain, because he can, and maybe because he needed some other sign (which I doubt), Rand is off to chase after Asmodean who is making for Rhuidean like a bat outta hell because he wants the male key to the Choedan Kal. Their running battle (literally) very nearly levels the city before they both get hands on the acess key statue, at which point they very nearly level the area, and destroy the protection bubble that surrounds Rhuidean. Rand wins by using his little fat man angreal to sever Asmodean from the Dark One, and making him vulnerable to the taint. Lanfear, who is playing her own angle, and still seeks to somehow get Rand to love her, shields Asmodean almost completely, just enough to allow him to still teach Rand, but not so much that he could challenge Rand. With his new teacher in tow, and finally assured that he will be able to learn enough of the power to not kill himself, or be killed by his ineptitude, Rand returns to the Aiel.
Having a turncoat Foresaken to act as Rand's teacher is a nice trick. RJ could have relied on Rand simply using the power instinctively until such time as the Lews Therin brain doppelganger showed up, but I think that allowing Rand to learn properly, and to do so by turning one of his enemies back to his side is a better element to add to the story (for as long as it lasts, which isn't long). During his prior battles Rand won by means of being ta'veren and having an instinctive control over the power, but he was always at a disadvantage, never fully able to take a proper offense because he didn't know what he was doing, or what he could do. With an opportunity to learn to use his power, and his capabilities, Rand becomes a more dynamic force, one who can act on his own and follow his own plans, and, most importantly, one around whom the story can tell itself without falling back to dues ex machina situations like in Dragon Reborn, or chasing after MacGuffin's of questionable worth (not that this ceases entirely, but at least it gets diluted by other things).
Elayne, Nynaeve, Thom, and Julin infiltrate the Panarch's Palace in Tanchico looking for a ter'angreal that means bad mojo for Rand as it would allow a woman (of the Foresaken or Black Ajah flavor) to control him, much in the same way that sul'dam control damane through the a'dam. Damn, that's a lot of dams.
What's interesting here is we get the first instance of a Foresaken being taken on by anybody other than Rand without just pulling the now classic "balefire ambush" (I don't even want to get into the discussion of paradox here so I won't). Nynaeve goes toe to toe, or more accurately, power for power, against Mogehdien, and proves, at the very least, to be her match in the One Power. Nynaeve has been channeling for some time, so we don't really know if this is her full potential or not, but we do know through various character comments that Nynaeve is grossly powerful, easily the most powerful contemporary Aes Sedai (even if she isn't one yet) of the female variety.
I don't recall where in the power scale Mogehdien falls among her fellow Foresaken chicks except that Lanfear was believed the most powerful of them. At a bare minimum this means that Nynaeve is probably in the top 10 or top 5 all time most powerful female channelers; not too shabby, and we know that she's on the Light side. Go us!
Unfortunately the Foresaken escapes, as do all the Black Ajah sisters, but the heroes manage to secure one of the 7 seals and the ter'angreal which is given to Bayle Domon to dump into the deep ocean. When you can't destroy it, dump it, which makes one wonder why there isn't just a fuckton of cuendillar and old ter'angreal from ages past (and past, and past, and past ...) cluttering up Randland. Maybe we'll get a nice little reason for that, we know after all that the seals are breaking down, so maybe cuendillar isn't all that after all.
The Battle of the Two Rivers, a.k.a. The Second Battle of Amon's/Emond's Field
As far as I'm concerned this is when RJ proves he can write a kickass massive battle. Yeah, I know, Falme was pretty cool, but it has nothing on this which is just a preview for the awesomesauce that is Dumai's Wells (yeah, yeah, I'm getting way ahead of myself). Two Aes Sedai, two Warders, three Aiel, one Wolfbrother ta'veren, a Hunter for the Horn, and Blademaster (inferred) and a whole bunch of really stubborn farmers and villagers. Naturally the thousands of Trollocs never stood a chance.
Emond's Field is fortified about as well as they can manage, and after a number of probing assaults the full body of the Shadowspawn army attacks on two fronts in full force. The Whitecloaks, black hats that they are, and perpetual annoying shitstain on Randland, just sit back and watch the carnage because they believed Perrin to be a darkfriend, and thusly decided that the whole of the Two Rivers must be as well.
Which is lame. I mean I get that Bornhald, and Byar, both zealotous revenge and hate filled psychos are blinded by their emotions, but I find it hard to believe that the other 398 men at Emond's Field all felt the same way or were so duty bound that they wouldn't lift a finger to help. It strain credibility, and in the end makes the Children of the Light into a flat, one dimensional mockery of a proper antagonist.
Not that it matters, because without the Whitecloaks to back them up the farmers begin to fall and the lines start to crumble. The Trollocs would have broken through if not for all the women coming to the aid of their menfolk, wielding pitchforks, cleavers, knives, and what-all else, they bolster the lines just long enough for the men from Watch Hill and Devon Ride to arrive. The tide is turned, the battle won. The Two Rivers stands victorious over a massive army of Trollocs on its own, all thanks to the workings of a single ta'veren. That they all seem to be proclaiming Perrin their lord now is almost incidental at this point in the story, and yet I imagine that this will lead somewhere, and prove an eventual boon for Perrin and Rand as the Last Battle approaches.
Tinker with a Sword
The other meaningful event to come out of that chaos is Aram, the Tinker we met way back in The Eye of the World, picking up a sword and abandoning the Way of the Leaf. There's a lot of significance in that act, and I think in part it's a mirror to later events in the book that see Aiel throwing down their spears. More ta'veren at work to be sure.
Schooled
Rand gets the last two chapters, and drops a heap of planned, and unplanned awesome on us. Arriving at Alcair Dar, where the Aiel do all their big events it seems, he proclaims himself the Car'a'carn, Chief of Chiefs, and the de facto leader of the Aiel. Not that it goes smoothly. By means that we don't find out (and I don't recall) Couladin, the Shaido douche bag, reveals his own twin dragons and proclaims himself at the same time. In order to prove his station Rand reveals the true history of the Aiel, for all those assembled to hear. The clan Chiefs proclaim him, but the Aiel people break, some join the Shaido, who refuse to follow Rand, and the rest throw down their spears. What remains (presumably the first of "a fraction of a fraction") is loyal to Rand, and becomes the first of his armies.
After making it rain, because he can, and maybe because he needed some other sign (which I doubt), Rand is off to chase after Asmodean who is making for Rhuidean like a bat outta hell because he wants the male key to the Choedan Kal. Their running battle (literally) very nearly levels the city before they both get hands on the acess key statue, at which point they very nearly level the area, and destroy the protection bubble that surrounds Rhuidean. Rand wins by using his little fat man angreal to sever Asmodean from the Dark One, and making him vulnerable to the taint. Lanfear, who is playing her own angle, and still seeks to somehow get Rand to love her, shields Asmodean almost completely, just enough to allow him to still teach Rand, but not so much that he could challenge Rand. With his new teacher in tow, and finally assured that he will be able to learn enough of the power to not kill himself, or be killed by his ineptitude, Rand returns to the Aiel.
Having a turncoat Foresaken to act as Rand's teacher is a nice trick. RJ could have relied on Rand simply using the power instinctively until such time as the Lews Therin brain doppelganger showed up, but I think that allowing Rand to learn properly, and to do so by turning one of his enemies back to his side is a better element to add to the story (for as long as it lasts, which isn't long). During his prior battles Rand won by means of being ta'veren and having an instinctive control over the power, but he was always at a disadvantage, never fully able to take a proper offense because he didn't know what he was doing, or what he could do. With an opportunity to learn to use his power, and his capabilities, Rand becomes a more dynamic force, one who can act on his own and follow his own plans, and, most importantly, one around whom the story can tell itself without falling back to dues ex machina situations like in Dragon Reborn, or chasing after MacGuffin's of questionable worth (not that this ceases entirely, but at least it gets diluted by other things).
I may have to stop fact and spell checking entirely, or run the risk of spoiling the newer books even more than I already have.
Moghedien is on the low end of the scale, power-wise among the Forsaken (I think only Mesaana the Evil Professor at Hogwarts - I mean the White Tower - is inferred as being the weakest). And eventually, another woman shows up - who isn't Aes Sedai, nor Forsaken - who is even stronger than Nyneave, but she is certainly top ten.
The Battle of the Two Rivers is indeed a great scene. I especially love it when the women step in, a reflection of the fall of Manetheren, which also ended in Emond's/Aemon's Field.
And thanks a lot Jim! Now I'm just starting the series over again too.