The Path of Daggers is the eighth book in The Wheel of Time series and the first to hit no. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. This clearly indicates that at the time of this book’s release in 1998, the series was gaining in popularity and readership.
The book itself features four clear plotlines involving several of the main characters. However, sometimes there is too much time between check-ins with each storyline, which causes each to lose some momentum.
Still, each storyline has a purpose that drives toward the eventual climax of the series. These stories must be told, and readers will lose out if they do not pay proper attention to what is going on in each.
Points of view in The Path of Daggers
The four main plotlines are for Egwene, Perrin, Elayne, and Rand. These four make up 64 percent of the viewpoints in The Path of Daggers. Another 12 percent is consumed by Min, Faile, and Aviendha, three top-tier secondary characters. The remaining 24 percent is seen through the eyes of 26 other characters. WOW!
One of the more interesting sub-plots is seen through the eyes of Seine Hermon, a sister of the White Ajah, in the White Tower. She is set to the unenviable task of ferreting out Black Ajah sisters in the White Tower by the Amyrlin Seat in Tar Valon, Elaida. This storyline plays out in interesting ways down the road.
This is an example of how author Robert Jordan used the points of view from minor characters throughout the series to show readers all of the story's moving parts.
Perrin’s Mission
Perrin’s journey is one of my personal favorites. In this book, Rand sends him to track down Masema Dagar, the fanatical self-proclaimed Prophet of the Dragon. Rand burdens Rand with Berelain, the First of Mayene, who seems set to possess Perrin despite his marriage to Faile. The triangle is a constant headache for Perrin and a confusing sub-plot for readers.
Two Aes Sedai under the command of Aiel Wise Ones accompany Perrin. Soldiers from Mayene, Cairhien, and the Two Rivers make up his force. He quickly adds Alliandre, the Queen of Ghealdan and her troops to his entourage.
Morgase, the former queen of Andor and Elayne’s mother, thought dead by most of the world, also joins Perrin’s group, though she is disguised. Faile takes Morgase and her small group in as personal servants, adding to the drama.
Perrin locates Masema and meets with the crazed fanatic, who agrees to let Perrin take him to Rand, though not by Travelling. While at his meeting with the Prophet, Faile, Morgase, and Alliandre are all captured by a group of Shaido who happen to be in the area. This, of course, will send Perrin off on another adventure in the next book.
The Bowl of the Winds
With the Bowl of the Winds in hand, Elayne, Nynaeve, and Aviendha, along with the rest of the Aes Sedai that had been in Ebou Dar, a contingent of Sea Folk, and several of the Kin escape the Altaran capitol to the countryside using a gateway.
Once outside the city, women from all three groups link to activate the bowl to alter the weather, which has been hot and dry for many months. Once finished using the bowl, the entire group is forced to flee to Andor by Gateway as Seanchan attack.
Once everyone is through the gateway and safely away, Elayne lets it collapse in a highly destructive way. Elayne and Aviendha are nearly killed, and the landscape in both Andor and Altara is destroyed for hundreds of yards around the gateway in both locations.
Elayne now heads for Caemlyn, hoping to claim Andor's throne.
Egwene’s bid for power
Egwene knows she was named Amyrlin for the Little Tower because she wasn’t in the White Tower when Elaida took the Seat away from Siuan Sanche and had her stilled. Egwene was also a good candidate because of her ties to Rand, as well as her youth and inexperience. Numerous sisters thought she would be easy to control.
Egwene makes her bid for power by tricking the Hall of Sitters into proclaiming that the Little Tower was at war with the White Tower. With that proclamation, the Amyrlin Seat is given complete control of all matters pertaining to that war. It's a brilliant move by the underestimated Egwene, immediately putting her in control.
Her grand plan is to wait a month, then open gateways to Tar Valon and bring her war directly to Elaida's doorstep, with the force of the Little Tower behind her.
Rand goes to war
Elayne, Nynaeve, and Aviendha and their large group of women who can channel escape Ebou Dar just in time, just ahead of a Seanchan invasion.
The Seanchan quickly increase their power base, stretching east into the mountains between Altara and Illian. Rand leads a force into those mountains and lays numerous ambushes for the Seanchan, using Asha’man to open gateways so his undermanned force can move quickly and unexpectedly.
Rand had Callandor retrieved from Tear and he uses it in battle, but it causes him sickness, leaving him vulnerable. When the Bowl of the Winds was used, it contained elements of saidan that were activated, and it tainted the area. It affected both the saidan of the Asha’man and the saidar of the Seanchan damane.
Rand’s coalition pushes the Seanchan back to Ebou Dar, and he returnes to Cairhein. Once there, several Asha’man try to assassinate him. Though they fail, Rand understands he must hide himself for the time being.
Verdict
One character that is missing from this book is Mat. In A Crown Of Swords, Mat adopts a young lad named Olver. The boy accompanies Mat to Ebou Dar but disappears just as they need to leave the city. Mat, Thom and Julian, stay behind to look for Olver, and this storyline is not picked up in The Path of Daggers.
Jordan did this with both Rand and Perrin in other books; he pauses their stories or at least sets them aside temporarily so he can concentrate on other characters and their plotlines. It is odd to see primary characters put aside, but that is the luxury Jordan has because of the sheer size of the series.
The Path of Daggers is one of the shorter books in the series, and it could have been a bit longer. It’s not that things don't advance, but just as soon as you get into one storyline, it bounces to another, and it's a long time before it returns.
- Book 1: The Eye of the World
- Book 2: The Great Hunt
- Book 3: The Dragon Reborn
- Book 4: The Shadow Rising
- Book 5: The Fires of Heaven
- Book 6: Lord of Chaos
- Book 7: A Crown of Swords
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