A Memory of Light is the 14th and final volume of the Wheel of Time book series. It is one of the longest fantasy series ever, telling a single story that covers approximately two years. The journey through the world created by Robert Jordan was an incredible one.
I read The Eye of the World for the first time in 1990. I’ve read many of the early books at least six times, and most of the middle books four or five times. I’ve read the whole series, from start to finish, twice now. The characters in these books have been a part of my life for 35 years.
This series means a lot to me, and as I read through it again over the past few months, now knowing the outcome, I found myself tearing up at the mention of certain characters and plotlines, knowing how they would eventually play out. It seems too strange to get so emotional about characters in books, but I have known these particular people longer than my wife and son, and longer than many of my friends.
There was a definite feeling of sadness as I turned the last page, knowing there was no more to this story. It is over forever. I can always revisit these literary friends in the future, and I am sure I will, but the journey is always bittersweet, knowing there is no more.
If you’re interested, here are the links to all of the other book club discussions for the previous 13 books:
- 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 Patch of Daggers
- Winter's Heart
- Crossroads of Twilight
- Knife of Dreams
- The Gathering Storm
- Towers of Midnight
Points of view in A Memory of Light
According to A Wheel of Time Wiki, this book has at least one point of view for a whopping 49 characters, which in itself is an amazing stat and literary feat. Jordan always had a lot of points of view in these books, and Brandon Sanderson carried on the tradition in the three installments in penned after Jordan’s death.
Unsurprisingly, Rand gets the most attention in the final volume, with 14.3 percent of the story told from his point of view. Mat was next with 9.7 percent, then Perrin and Egwene, both at 7.8 percent, followed by Elayne at 6.2 percent, and Lan with 5 percent.
These six characters accounted for approximately half the book. The other 43 characters provided the rest of the points of view.
A note of interest is that two characters were barely represented in the final book. Nyneave had 4 points of view for about 1.5 percent, and Moiraine had none. 49 characters had a point of view in the last book, but Moiraine was not one of them.
How Nyneave and Moiraine are pushed to the background, or in the latter’s case, disappear from the narrative, in the second half of the series, is confounding. It is a topic for discussion on another day.
The Last Battle
This book is about the Last Battle. The previous 13 installments are merely the groundwork for this culminating event. It is what the whole series was building toward for the very first pages. It was so important that it took up 200 pages in one chapter, titled “The Last Battle.”
All of the other books were preparing the characters for the role they would play in The Last Battle. Rand’s role as the Dragon Reborn was obvious; he had to fight the Dark One. Mat had to become a great general who could see the whole battlefield and know when to gamble and when to walk away.
Perrin’s was to learn the world dreams and protect Rand from attacks from that plane of existence, to learn Tel’aran’rhoid. Egwene to unite and prepare the White Tower for the Last Battle, and Elayne to use her royal diplomatic skills to unite armies from different backgrounds and organize a last defense.
The Last Battle starts on four fronts with Elaine overseeing all operations. Lan and one of the great captains, Lord Agelmar Jagad, are holding back the Trolloc swarm at Tarwin’s Gap in Shienar with the warriors of Malkieri blood, whom Lan accumulated on his trek across the borderlands.
Another of the great captains, Gareth Byrne, is with Egwene and the sisters of the White Tower, commanding an army in Kandor. A third great captain, Rodel Ituralde, leads the forces around Shayol Ghul to protect Rand as the Dragon Reborn battles the Dark One. The last great captain, Davram Bashere, commands the troops with Elayne near Caemlyn.
On these four fronts, the battle proceeds. From the start, the allies of the Light are pushed back on every front but at Shayol Ghul. Lan and Lord Agelmar are pushed south through Shienar, using scorched earth tactics to prevent the army of Trollocs from sustaining themselves.
The Aes Sedai and Black Tower channelers are surprised by the Forsaken Demandred, whose army is made up of Trollocs and the forces from the kingdom of Shara, from far to the east. Dreadlords, former Black Ajah Aes Sedai and turned male Aes Sedai, reinforced his troops. Other dreadlords are attached to the Dark One’s forces on all fronts. Demandred and his channelers ambush Egwene’s and Bryne’s forces and push them south.
Elayne’s troops draw the Trollocs out of the fallen city of Caemlyn. Eventually, she leads the Trolloc army east to Cairhein, where a second Trolloc army is approaching.
On all four fronts, the allies suffer huge losses, and the allies discover that Graendal, now known as Hesselam, has used Compulsion to control all four great captains, and they are forced from leadership.
The allies of the Light decide that the armies cannot maintain all four fronts any longer, and all of the Light’s armies withdraw to the field of Merrilor and plan a last stand, except for those at Shayol Ghul, who protect Rand during his fight with the Dark One.
Meanwhile, Rand is locked in a mental battle with the Dark One, with Nyneave, Moiraine, and Thom watching his back within the Pit of Doom. A horrible battle is taking place around Shayol Ghul as Ituralde’s army holds off the Dark One’s forces.
Meanwhile, Perrin is in Tel’aran’rhoid, searching for and fighting Slayer who has been tasked to enter the Pit of Doom in the world of dreams and kill Rand. Perrin, with the help of Gaul and all of the wolves of the world, fights his nemesis across the dreamscape battlefield for days.
As with most of Perrin’s storylines, this one is the weakest. It was never made clear who exactly Slayer/Luc/Isam was or why he was trusted to kill Rand from the World of Dreams. His role in the books just seems like a diversion, and it was even more so in this final volume.
The battle sequences, which encompass much of this book, are fast-paced. The narrative jumps from character to character, giving readers as many perspectives from all of the different parts of the battle.
Many fan favorites fall in battle, and some aren’t given much of a hero’s farewell. This is disappointing in many ways. Fans love these characters, and it seemed a poor payoff as many died matter-of-factly, with mere mention of their deaths and little fanfare. This battle was the culmination of 14 books of skirmishes, and casualties were always going to be part of the ending. However, more tribute should have been paid to many important characters who fell.
Does Rand break the Wheel of Time?
Throughout the books, the concept of the Wheel of Time was hammered home to the readers in every book. Each Age was an age long past and forgotten, and one far into the future. The Wheel turns, no matter what.
As The Last Battle approaches, it becomes clear that Rand wants to break the Wheel. He doesn’t just want to imprison the Dark One again, where he can eventually escape. His goal is to kill the Dark One and free the world from evil.
During his personal war against the Dark One, however, Rand comes to realize that evil will manifest itself on its own, with or without the Dark One’s influence. If he succeeds in killing the Dark One and breaks the Wheel of Time, he would leave a void, and evil would rise again in another guise.
Finally, Rand realizes he must imprison the Dark One and, with Moraine and Nyneave’s help (their only purpose across all of the books, evidently), Rand does so. The Wheel of Time is intact, and the Pattern continues to weave, though at significant cost to Rand.
The Light wins out as Mat and his allies destroy the Dark One’s legions. Order is restored at great cost in lives and resources.
The end and thank you
All in all, A Memory of Light is a fitting end to the Wheel of Time series. The book is magnificent in its scope and storytelling. It is not perfect, but it is hard to attain perfection in anything, let alone in the last of a 14-book series.
It would have been nice to get a brief look into the future, say, 10 to 20 years after the battle. It would have been nice to see how our favorite characters’ lives played out. Instead, readers have to imagine the happily ever after.
A special thanks to Robert Jordan for his incredible talent and vision, and for giving our world these amazing characters. Thanks to Jordan for his dedication to his story and his fans, and to him and his family for making sure the story was completed. Lastly, thanks to Brandon Sanderson, who did the impossible in filling Jordan’s shoes seamlessly and finishing the series for the fans.
For many of us, Rand, Mat, Egwene, Elayne, Perin, Nyneave, Aviendha, Moraine, Faile, Lan, Thom, Loial, and many, many other characters will live on in our hearts and memories forever. The Wheel of Time will never stop weaving the Pattern in our minds and imaginations.
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