Lord of chaos

Praise for The Wheel of Time® “The Wheel of Time [is] rapidly becoming the definitive American fantasy saga It is a fantasy tale seldom equaled and still less often surpassed in English.” —Chicago Sun-Times “Jordan’s multivolume epic [is] a feast for fantasy aficionados.” —Library Journal “The most ambitious American fantasy saga [may] also be the finest.” —Booklist “For those who like to keep themselves in a fantasy world, it’s hard to beat the complex, detailed world created here.” —Locus Praise for Lord of Chaos “Jordan’s talent for sustaining the difficult combination of suspense and resolution, so necessary in a multivolume series such as this one, is nothing short of remarkable.” —Library Journal “A great read Some surprising new developments A spectacular kidnapping and rescue bring this volume to a (temporarily) satisfying conclusion This series is so complex, I can’t recommend starting anywhere but at the beginning, but the volumes only get richer as they go along.” —Locus THE WHEEL OF TIME® by Robert Jordan The Eye of the World The Great Hunt The Dragon Reborn The Shadow Rising The Fires of Heaven Lord of Chaos A Crown of Swords The Path of Daggers Winter’s Heart Crossroads of Twilight Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson The Gathering Storm LORD OF CHAOS ROBERT JORDAN A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK NEW YORK This is a work of fiction All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously LORD OF CHAOS Copyright © 1994 by The Bandersnatch Group, Inc The phrases “The Wheel of Time®” and “The Dragon Reborn™,” and the snake-wheel symbol, are trademarks of Robert Jordan All rights reserved Frontispiece by Gregory Manchess Maps by Ellisa Mitchell Interior illustrations by Matthew C Nielsen and Ellisa Mitchell A Tor Book Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC 175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010 www.tor-forge.com Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC ISBN 978-1-4299-6053-3 First Edition: November 1994 First E-book Edition: March 2010 Manufactured in the United States of America For Betsy CONTENTS 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 MAPS PROLOGUE: The First Message Lion on the Hill A New Arrival A Woman’s Eyes A Sense of Humor A Different Dance Threads Woven of Shadow A Matter of Thought The Storm Gathers Plans A Saying in the Borderlands Lessons and Teachers Questions and Answers Under the Dust Dreams and Nightmares A Pile of Sand Tellings of the Wheel The Wheel of a Life A Taste of Solitude Matters of Toh From the Stedding To Shadar Logoth Heading South To Understand a Message An Embassy Like Lightning and Rain Connecting Lines Gifts Letters Fire and Spirit To Heal Again Red Wax 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Summoned in Haste Courage to Strengthen Journey to Salidar In the Hall of the Sitters The Amyrlin Is Raised When Battle Begins A Sudden Chill Possibilities Unexpected Laughter A Threat The Black Tower The Crown of Roses The Color of Trust A Bitter Thought Beyond the Gate The Wandering Woman Leaning on the Knife The Mirror of Mists Thorns The Taking Weaves of the Power The Feast of Lights The Sending Dumai’s Wells EPILOGUE: The Answer GLOSSARY The lions sing and the hills take flight The moon by day, and the sun by night Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool Let the Lord of Chaos rule —chant from a children’s game heard in Great Arvalon, the Fourth Age PROLOGUE The First Message Demandred stepped out onto the black slopes of Shayol Ghul, and the gateway, a hole in reality’s fabric, winked out of existence Above, roiling gray clouds hid the sky, an inverted sea of sluggish ashen waves crashing around the mountain’s hidden peak Below, odd lights flashed across the barren valley, washed-out blues and reds, failing to dispel the dusky murk that shrouded their source Lightning streaked up at the clouds, and slow thunder rolled Across the slope steam and smoke rose from scattered vents, some holes as small as a man’s hand and some large enough to swallow ten men He released the One Power immediately, and with the vanished sweetness went the heightened senses that made everything sharper, clearer The absence of saidin left him hollow, yet here only a fool would even appear ready to channel Besides, here only a fool would want to see or smell or feel too clearly In what was now called the Age of Legends, this had been an idyllic island in a cool sea, a favorite of those who enjoyed the rustic Despite the steam it was bitter cold, now; he did not allow himself to feel it, but instinct made him pull his fur-lined velvet cloak closer Feathery mist marked his breath, barely visible before the air drank it A few hundred leagues north the world was pure ice, but Thakan’dar was always dry as any desert, though always wrapped in winter There was water, of a sort, an inky rivulet oozing down the rocky slope beside a gray-roofed forge Hammers rang inside, and with every ring, white light flared in the cramped windows A ragged woman crouched in a hopeless heap against the forge’s rough stone wall, clutching a babe in her arms, and a spindly girl buried her face in the woman’s skirts Prisoners from a raid down into the Borderlands, no doubt But so few; the Myrddraal must be gnashing their teeth Their blades failed after a time and had to be replaced, no matter that raids into the Borderlands had been curtailed One of the forgers emerged, a thick slow-moving man shape that seemed hacked out of the mountain The forgers were not truly alive; carried any distance from Shayol Ghul, they turned to stone, or dust Nor were they smiths as such; they made nothing but the swords This one’s two hands held a sword blade in long tongs, a blade already quenched, pale like moonlit snow Alive or not, the forger took care as it dipped the gleaming metal into from the Green Ajah in 1251 AB Personally leading the Tower armies, she won innumerable victories, most notably Kaisin Pass, the Soralle Step, Larapelle, Tel Norwin and Maighande, where she died in 1301 AB Her body was discovered after the battle surrounded by her five Warders and a vast wall of Trollocs and Myrddraal which contained the corpses of no fewer than nine Dreadlords See also Aes Sedai; Ajah; Amyrlin Seat; Dreadlords; Warders Rhuidean (RHUY-dee-ahn): A great city, the only one in the Aiel Waste and totally unknown to the outside world Abandoned for nearly three thousand years Once men among the Aiel were allowed to enter Rhuidean only once, in order to be tested inside a great ter’angreal for fitness to become clan chief (only one in three survived), and women only twice, for testing to become Wise Ones, the second time in the same ter’angreal, though with a considerably higher survival rate than the men Now the city is inhabited again, by Aiel, and a great lake occupies one end of the valley of Rhuidean, fed by an underground ocean of fresh water and in turn feeding the only river in the Waste See also Aiel sa’angreal (SAH-ahn-GREE-ahl): Remnants of the Age of Legends that allow channeling much more of the One Power than is otherwise possible or safe A sa’angreal is similar to, but more powerful than, an angreal The amount of the Power that can be wielded with a sa’angreal compares to the amount that can be handled with an angreal as the Power wielded with the aid of an angreal does to the amount that can be handled unaided The making of them is no longer known As with angreal, there are male and female sa’angreal Only a handful remain, far fewer even than angreal saidar (sah-ih-DAHR); saidin (sah-ih-DEEN): See True Source Sea Folk: More properly, the Atha’an Miere, the People of the Sea A secretive people Inhabitants of islands in the Aryth (AHrihth) Ocean and the Sea of Storms, they spend little time ashore, living most of their lives on their ships Most seaborne trade is carried by Sea Folk ships Seanchan (SHAWN-CHAN): (1) Descendants of the armies Artur Hawkwing sent across the Aryth Ocean, who conquered the lands there They believe that any woman who can channel must be controlled for the safety of everyone else, and any man who can channel must be killed for the same reason (2) The land from which the Seanchan come Shayol Ghul (SHAY-ol GHOOL): A mountain in the Blasted Lands, beyond the Great Blight Site of the Dark One’s prison sister-wife: Aiel kinship term Aielwomen who are nearsisters or first-sisters who discover they love the same man, or who simply not want a man to come between them, will both marry him, thus becoming sister-wives Women who love the same man will sometimes try to find out whether they can become near-sisters and adopted first-sisters, a first step to becoming sister-wives Sorilea (soh-rih-LEE-ah): The Wise One of Shende Hold, a Jarra Chareen Barely able to channel, she is the oldest living Wise One, though not by as much as many think Spine of the World: A towering mountain range, with few passes, which separates the Aiel Waste from the lands to the west Also called the Dragonwall stedding (STEHD-ding): An Ogier (OH-gehr) homeland Many stedding have been abandoned since the Breaking of the World They are shielded in some way, no longer understood, so that within them no Aes Sedai can channel the One Power, nor even sense the True Source Attempts to wield the One Power from outside a stedding have no effect inside the stedding boundary No Trolloc will enter a stedding unless driven, and even Myrddraal will so only at the greatest need and with the greatest reluctance Even Darkfriends, if truly dedicated, feel uncomfortable within a stedding stilling: The removal of a woman’s ability to channel A woman who has been stilled can sense but not touch the True Source Officially, stilling is the result of trial and sentence for a crime Novices in the White Tower are required to learn the name and crimes of all women who have suffered stilling When the ability to channel is lost accidentally, it is called being burned out, though “stilling” is often used for that also Women who are stilled, however it occurs, seldom survive long; they seem to simply give up and die unless they find something to replace the emptiness left by the One Power Stone of Tear: A great fortress in the city of Tear, said to have been made with the One Power soon after the Breaking of the World Attacked and besieged unsuccessfully countless times, it fell in a single night to the Dragon Reborn and a few hundred Aiel, thus fulfilling two parts of the Prophecies of the Dragon See also Dragon, Prophecies of the Talents: Abilities in the use of the One Power in specific areas Aptitude in various Talents varies widely from individual to individual and is seldom related to the strength of the individual’s ability to channel There are major Talents, the best known and most widespread of which is Healing Other examples are Cloud Dancing, the control of weather, and Earth Singing, which involves controlling movements of the earth—for example, preventing, or causing, earthquakes or avalanches There are also minor Talents, seldom given a name, such as the ability to see ta’veren or to duplicate the chance-twisting effect of ta’veren, though in a very small and localized area rarely covering more than a few square feet Many Talents are now known only by their names and sometimes vague descriptions Some, such as Traveling (the ability to shift from one place to another without crossing the intervening space) are only now being re-discovered Others, such as Foretelling (the ability to foretell future events, but in a general way) and Delving (the location of ores and possibly their removal from the ground), are found rarely Another Talent long thought lost is Dreaming, interpreting the Dreamer’s dreams to foretell future events in more specific fashion than Foretelling Some Dreamers had the ability to enter Tel’aran’rhiod, the World of Dreams, and (it is said) even other people’s dreams The last acknowledged Dreamer previously was Corianin Nedeal (coh-reeAHN-ihn neh-dee-AHL), who died in 526 NE, but there is now another See also Tel’aran’rhiod Tallanvor, Martyn (TAL-lahn-vohr, mahr-TEEN): Guardsman-Lieutenant of the Queen’s Guards who loves his queen more than life or honor Tam al’Thor (TAM al-THOR): A farmer and shepherd in the Two Rivers As a young man, he left to become a soldier, returning with a wife (Kari, now deceased) and a child (Rand) Tarabon (TAH-rah-BON): Nation on the Aryth Ocean Once a great trading nation, a source of rugs, dyes and fireworks produced by the Guild of Illuminators, among other things Little news has come out of Tarabon since the land became racked by anarchy and civil war compounded by simultaneous wars against Arad Doman and the Dragonsworn, people who have sworn to follow the Dragon Reborn Tarmon Gai’don (TAHR-mohn GAY-dohn): The Last Battle See also Dragon, Prophecies of the; Horn of Valere ta’veren (tah-VEER-ehn): A person around whom the Wheel of Time weaves all surrounding life-threads, perhaps ALL lifethreads See also Pattern of an Age Tear (TEER): A nation on the Sea of Storms Also the capital city of that nation, a great seaport The banner of Tear is three white crescent moons slanting across a field half-red, half-gold See also Stone of Tear Telamon, Lews Therin (TEHL-ah-mon, LOOZ THEH-rihn): See Dragon, the Tel’aran’rhiod (tel-AYE-rahn-rhee-ODD): In the Old Tongue, “the Unseen World,” or “the World of Dreams.” A world or place, glimpsed in dreams, which was believed by the ancients to permeate and surround all other possible worlds Many can touch Tel’aran’rhiod for a few moments in their dreams, but few have ever had the ability to enter it at will, though some ter’angreal confer that ability Unlike other dreams, what happens to living things in the World of Dreams is real; a wound taken there will still exist on awakening, and one who dies there does not wake at all Otherwise, though, nothing done there affects the waking world in any way See also ter’angreal ter’angreal (TEER-ahn-GREE-ahl): Remnants of the Age of Legends that use the One Power Unlike angreal and sa’angreal, each ter’angreal was made to a particular thing Some ter’angreal are used by Aes Sedai, but the original purposes of many are unknown Some require channeling, while others may be used by anyone Some will kill or destroy the ability to channel of any woman who uses them Like angreal and sa’angreal, the making of them has been lost since the Breaking of the World See also angreal; sa’angreal Thom Merrilin (TOM MER-rih-lihn): A not-so-simple gleeman and traveler See also Game of Houses; gleeman Tinkers: Properly, the Tuatha’an (too-AH-thah-AHN), also called the Traveling People A wandering folk who live in brightly painted wagons and follow a totally pacifist philosophy called the Way of the Leaf They are among the few who can cross the Aiel Waste unmolested, for the Aiel strictly avoid all contact with them Very few people even suspect that the Tuatha’an are descended from Aiel who broke away during the Breaking of the World in an attempt to find a way back to the time of peace See also Aiel Trollocs (TRAHL-lohks): Creatures of the Dark One, created during the War of the Shadow Huge of stature, they are a twisted blend of animal and human stock Vicious by nature, they kill for the pure pleasure of killing Deceitful in the extreme, they cannot be trusted unless coerced by fear They will eat anything—or anyone See also Trolloc Wars Trolloc Wars: A series of wars, beginning about 1000 AB and lasting more than three hundred years, during which Trolloc armies ravaged the world under the command of Myrddraal and Dreadlords Eventually the Trollocs were driven back into the Great Blight, but some nations ceased to exist, and others that survived were almost depopulated All records of the time are fragmentary See also Dreadlords; Myrddraal; Trollocs True Source: The driving force of the universe, which turns the Wheel of Time Divided into a male half (saidin) and a female half (saidar), which work at the same time with and against each other Only a man can draw on saidin, only a woman on saidar For more than three thousand years, saidin has been tainted by the Dark One’s touch See also One Power Warder: A warrior bonded to an Aes Sedai The bonding is a thing of the One Power: by it he gains such gifts as quick healing, the ability to go long periods without food, water, or rest and the ability to sense the taint of the Dark One at a distance So long as a Warder lives, the Aes Sedai to whom he is bonded knows he is alive however far away he is, and when he dies she will know the moment and manner of his death While most Ajahs believe an Aes Sedai may have one Warder bonded to her at a time, the Red Ajah refuses to bond any Warders at all, and the Green Ajah believes an Aes Sedai may bond as many as she wishes Ethically the Warder must accede to the bonding voluntarily, but it has been known to be done against the Warder’s will What the Aes Sedai gain from the bonding is a closely held secret See also Aes Sedai War of Power: See War of the Shadow War of the Hundred Years (FY 994–FY 1117): A series of overlapping wars among constantly shifting alliances, precipitated by the death of Artur Hawkwing and the resulting struggle for his empire The War of the Hundred Years depopulated large parts of the lands between the Aryth Ocean and the Aiel Waste, from the Sea of Storms to the Great Blight So great was the destruction that only fragmentary records of the time remain The empire of Artur Hawkwing was pulled apart, and the nations of the present day were formed See also Hawkwing, Artur War of the Shadow: Also known as the War of Power Began shortly after the attempt to free the Dark One, and soon involved the whole world In a world where even the memory of war had been forgotten, every facet of war was rediscovered, often twisted by the Dark One’s touch on the world, and the One Power was used as a weapon The war was ended by the resealing of the Dark One into his prison in a strike led by Lews Therin Telamon, the Dragon, and one hundred male Aes Sedai called the Hundred Companions The Dark One’s counterstroke tainted saidin and drove Lews Therin and the Hundred Companions insane, thus beginning the Time of Madness and the Breaking of the World See also Dragon, the; One Power, the weight, units of: 10 ounces = pound; 10 pounds = stone; 10 stone = hundredweight; 10 hundredweight = ton Wheel of Time, the: Time is a wheel with seven spokes, each spoke an Age As the Wheel turns, Ages come and go, each leaving memories that fade to legend, then to myth, and are forgotten by the time that Age comes again The Pattern of an Age is slightly different each time an Age comes, and each time it is subject to greater change Whitecloaks: See Children of the Light White Tower: The center and heart of Aes Sedai power, located in the heart of the great island city of Tar Valon wilder: A woman who has learned to channel the One Power on her own; only one in four survive this Such women usually build barriers against knowing what it is they are doing, but if these can be broken down, wilders are among the most powerful of channelers The term is often used in derogatory fashion Wisdom: In villages, a woman chosen by the Women’s Circle for her knowledge of such things as healing and foretelling the weather, as well as common good sense Generally considered the equal of the Mayor, and in some villages his superior She is chosen for life, and it is very rare for a Wisdom to be removed from office before her death Depending on the land, she may instead have another title, such as Guide, Healer, Wise Woman or Seeker, among others Wise One: Among the Aiel, Wise Ones are women chosen by other Wise Ones and trained in healing, herbs and other things, much like Wisdoms They have great authority and responsibility, as well as great influence with sept and clan chiefs, though these men often accuse them of meddling A good many Wise Ones can channel to one degree or another; they find every Aiel woman born with the spark in her and most of those who can learn The fact that Wise Ones can channel is not spoken of among Aiel, by custom Also by custom, Wise Ones avoid all contact with Aes Sedai, even more so than other Aiel Wise Ones stand outside all feuds and battle, and according to ji’e’toh may not be harmed or impeded in any way For a Wise One to take part in a battle would be a great violation of custom and tradition Three Wise Ones now living are dreamwalkers, with the ability to enter Tel’aran’rhiod and to speak to other people in their dreams among other things See also dreamwalker; Tel’aran’rhiod About the Author Robert Jordan was born in 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina He taught himself to read when he was four with the incidental aid of a twelveyears-older brother, and was tackling Mark Twain and Jules Verne by five He was a graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, with a degree in physics He served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S Army; among his decorations are the Distinguished Flying Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with “V” and bronze oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with Palm A history buff, he also wrote dance and theater criticism He enjoyed the outdoor sports of hunting, fishing, and sailing, and the indoor sports of poker, chess, pool, and pipe collecting He began writing in 1977 and continued until his death on September 16, 2007 Table of Contents MAPS PROLOGUE: The First Message Lion on the Hill A New Arrival A Woman’s Eyes A Sense of Humor A Different Dance Threads Woven of Shadow A Matter of Thought The Storm Gathers Plans 10 A Saying in the Borderlands 11 Lessons and Teachers 12 Questions and Answers 13 Under the Dust 14 Dreams and Nightmares 15 A Pile of Sand 16 Tellings of the Wheel 17 The Wheel of a Life 18 A Taste of Solitude 19 Matters of Toh 20 From the Stedding 21 To Shadar Logoth 22 Heading South 23 To Understand a Message 24 An Embassy 25 Like Lightning and Rain 26 Connecting Lines 27 Gifts 28 Letters 29 Fire and Spirit 30 To Heal Again 31 Red Wax 32 Summoned in Haste 33 Courage to Strengthen 34 Journey to Salidar 35 In the Hall of the Sitters 36 The Amyrlin Is Raised 37 When Battle Begins 38 A Sudden Chill 39 Possibilities 40 Unexpected Laughter 41 A Threat 42 The Black Tower 43 The Crown of Roses 44 The Color of Trust 45 A Bitter Thought 46 Beyond the Gate 47 The Wandering Woman 48 Leaning on the Knife 49 The Mirror of Mists 50 Thorns 51 The Taking 52 Weaves of the Power 53 The Feast of Lights 54 The Sending 55 Dumai’s Wells EPILOGUE: The Answer GLOSSARY Table of Contents MAPS PROLOGUE: The First Message Lion on the Hill A New Arrival A Woman’s Eyes A Sense of Humor A Different Dance Threads Woven of Shadow A Matter of Thought The Storm Gathers Plans 10 A Saying in the Borderlands 11 Lessons and Teachers 12 Questions and Answers 13 Under the Dust 14 Dreams and Nightmares 15 A Pile of Sand 16 Tellings of the Wheel 17 The Wheel of a Life 18 A Taste of Solitude 19 Matters of Toh 20 From the Stedding 21 To Shadar Logoth 22 Heading South 23 To Understand a Message 24 An Embassy 25 Like Lightning and Rain 26 Connecting Lines 27 Gifts 28 Letters 29 Fire and Spirit 30 To Heal Again 31 Red Wax 32 Summoned in Haste 33 Courage to Strengthen 34 Journey to Salidar 35 In the Hall of the Sitters 36 The Amyrlin Is Raised 37 When Battle Begins 38 A Sudden Chill 39 Possibilities 40 Unexpected Laughter 41 A Threat 42 The Black Tower 43 The Crown of Roses 44 The Color of Trust 45 A Bitter Thought 46 Beyond the Gate 47 The Wandering Woman 48 Leaning on the Knife 49 The Mirror of Mists 50 Thorns 51 The Taking 52 Weaves of the Power 53 The Feast of Lights 54 The Sending 55 Dumai’s Wells EPILOGUE: The Answer GLOSSARY Table of Contents MAPS PROLOGUE: The First Message Lion on the Hill A New Arrival A Woman’s Eyes A Sense of Humor A Different Dance Threads Woven of Shadow A Matter of Thought The Storm Gathers Plans 10 A Saying in the Borderlands 11 Lessons and Teachers 12 Questions and Answers 13 Under the Dust 14 Dreams and Nightmares 15 A Pile of Sand 16 Tellings of the Wheel 17 The Wheel of a Life 18 A Taste of Solitude 19 Matters of Toh 20 From the Stedding 21 To Shadar Logoth 22 Heading South 23 To Understand a Message 24 An Embassy 25 Like Lightning and Rain 26 Connecting Lines 27 Gifts 28 Letters 29 Fire and Spirit 30 To Heal Again 31 Red Wax 32 Summoned in Haste 33 Courage to Strengthen 34 Journey to Salidar 35 In the Hall of the Sitters 36 The Amyrlin Is Raised 37 When Battle Begins 38 A Sudden Chill 39 Possibilities 40 Unexpected Laughter 41 A Threat 42 The Black Tower 43 The Crown of Roses 44 The Color of Trust 45 A Bitter Thought 46 Beyond the Gate 47 The Wandering Woman 48 Leaning on the Knife 49 The Mirror of Mists 50 Thorns 51 The Taking 52 Weaves of the Power 53 The Feast of Lights 54 The Sending 55 Dumai’s Wells EPILOGUE: The Answer GLOSSARY ... —Locus THE WHEEL OF TIME® by Robert Jordan The Eye of the World The Great Hunt The Dragon Reborn The Shadow Rising The Fires of Heaven Lord of Chaos A Crown of Swords The Path of Daggers Winter’s... Crossroads of Twilight Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson The Gathering Storm LORD OF CHAOS ROBERT JORDAN A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK NEW YORK This is a work of fiction All of the... Praise for Lord of Chaos “Jordan’s talent for sustaining the difficult combination of suspense and resolution, so necessary in a multivolume series such as this one, is nothing short of remarkable.”