The White Tower experiences a hostile takeover as Elaida deposes Siuan Sanche in a coup that Siuan really should have seen coming. Siuan and Leane are stilled and thrown into a dungeon, only to be rescued by Min and a very well-connected cook in a jailbreak that was almost embarrassingly easy. Gawyn Trakand solidifies his status as a world-class “twat” by helping the coup-leaders, though he does help the women escape the city. The chapter ends with Siuan Sanche officially starting her “Revenge Tour.”
This chapter takes us back to the White Tower. Assuming the title refers to how Min’s visions always come to pass, shit is about to get real. And yet, for how long the chapter is, remarkably little happens. In retrospect, I think Jordan likes to pad chapters with overly-descriptive paragraphs when something monumental is happening, just to show how monumental it is! And the Amyrlin Seat being deposed qualifies as monumental.
Elaida and her posse burst into Siuan Sanche’s study. Elaida announces that Siuan is no longer the Amyrlin Seat. It seems Siuan has been accused, tried, and convicted all behind her back. It’s weird for this to happen without warning — you always got the feeling like Siuan always had eyes and ears everywhere, and that makes this intelligence failure all the more spectacular.
We cut directly to Siuan waking up naked in a deep, dark prison cell alongside Leane. The women have been stilled, a fresh horror that will take some time to get used to. It’s said that stilled women lose their will to live, but it’s a relatively unstudied phenomenon, as stilling as a punishment is exceedingly rare.
The lock turns, and in walks… Min! Why, yes, you’re right! That was suspiciously easy. Min just happens to know the cook well, and the cook just happens to know exactly where Siuan and Leane are, and how to bust them out. Min provides the women with plain clothes, and they walk right past Elaida and her cronies without being noticed. Granted, Siuan and Leane have lost their “ageless” look and appear younger. But still, the amount of thought villains give to security in Wheel of Time is criminal.
In the forested Tower grounds, horses are waiting for the women… and so is Gawyn. From the sound of things, Gawyn has been behaving an awful lot like his half-brother Galad during this coup. He seems to support — well, whoever has the upper hand, I guess? Before she was deposed, Siuan commanded his loyalty. Now? Long live Elaida! The only thing saving him from being a complete and utter twat is his willingness to help them out of the Tower grounds and out of the city.
As she passes through the gates, Siuan’s only thought is of rallying the scattered Aes Sedai who are loyal to her, and to make Elaida pay.