After a few pages justifying why Rand and Mat can’t go to anyone in authority with this, which is always appreciated, Mat gets in a snit and refuses to leave the room Gill gives them. So Rand goes down alone, and we finally meet an Ogier. And…well, they’re Ents. They don’t look the same (I guess even Jordan has his limits on how obvious something can be) but they’re huge, green, plant trees all over the place, and chide all other races as being “hasty.” Yeah, Ents.
This one is named Loial (yeah, I saw it), and we get enough detail on his life that I’m sure he’s going to continue in the story to some level. He’s quite The Woobie, wanting to see the world but forced away from people, since the Ogier haven’t left their home for so long. He mistakes Rand for an Aiel apparently on some physical feature, so I’m calling that those are the people Tam was fighting when he found him. And after hearing the whole story, he declares that Rand and maybe all the other seven are ta’veren, people fated to make some huge change in the Wheel of Time’s pattern. Like being a Kwisatz Haderach without any of the perks. Finally, he asks to join Rand and Mat, though Rand turns him down as he’d be too big to hide. Still, they’ll be staying here a bit longer, so we’ll definitely be seeing more of him.
Well, I wanted to know about the Ogier, and boy did I get it. They may be yet another “inspiration” from Tolkien, but Loial himself is an instantly engaging character that I’m happy will be sticking around for at least a bit longer. Beyond that, boy have we spent a lot of time on this one group. We know Perrin and Egwene are at least close to Caemlyn, but I hope we get an update soon on Nynaeve, Moiraine, and Lan.
Comments
