The Great Hunt - Chapter 19 : Beneath the Dagger

              

 

Ch19

Before I Read!

Symbol Meaning: The Horn of Valere. This symbol probably is referring to the fact they either encounter Fain and his Darkfriends or they  find the Horn of Valere and Mat’s Dagger.  

Chapter Title Meaning: Beneath the Dagger probably is representing that they find the dagger and the Horn and not only that they take the Horn and the dagger from Fain and his Darkfriends when they’re least expecting it or they may create a diversion to get the Darkfriends and Fain away from the objects so a member can snag the goods without Fain or the Darkfriends knowing until long after the group is gone. 

Floatie’s Chapter Predictions:

What Just Happened? (My Chapter Notes)

Italicize quote.  Floatie Thoughts.

•  they made camp for the night at Kinslayer’s Dagger waiting for someone to show up

• 
  

• first Rand thought if no one came after another day they’d leave but Selene convinced them to stay an extra day before they went on ( I believe Selene knows they’ll come on the extra day 

• 239 “If Egwene saw that, she'd shear me for a sheep, and Selene, too. Egwene could already be in Tar Valon by now, learning to be an Aes Sedai. The next time she sees me, she’ll probably try to gentle me.” 

• 240 Selene comes to Rand in the middle of the night , Rand thought this, “How can my life depend on keeping it [the banner] ? If anybody sees it and knows what it is, I’ll die for having it.” This made me think no wonder RAnd tried so hard to get rid of the banner; it’s practically a death sentence in a sense. 

• Why did Selene want to wear one of Rand’s shirts when her dress looked perfectly clean? Was she worried she’d mess it up? I later realized she was similar to Egwene but in this case Selene had another option to avoid having to clean her dress. 

• Why does Selene say if Rand marries anyone would be unproper? 

• Selene seemed determined to find them; this makes me find her more sketchy and I think she wants the Horn of Valere for herself or be other unknown means 

• On the extra day Selene insists they will then take her back to Cairhein, if something doesn’t happen first. 

• “Maybe we were wrong. Maybe they are not coming here at all. Hurin says there are a number of passes through Kinslayer’s Dagger. If they went only a little further west, they do not have to come into the mountains at all.” 

241 -Selene is very sure they’ll get the Horn back where they are. 

• the shirt Selene borrowed from Rand seems like a dress on her, “It was not as if he had never seen a girl’s legs before ; to ponds 

• Selene is sure Rand will find the Horn and could be a king, another “Arthur Hawkwing” so to speak. 

• They took turns to watch during the night. 

• They think they see Fain nearby, “‘A fire, my lord, down in the hills. I didn’t see it at first. They made it small, and hid it, but they hid it from somebody following them, not somebody ahead, and up above.”’ “‘It must be Fain.”’ 

• Now they are thinking it might not be Fain if he’s a few miles from the group.

• But does Fain think Rand’s group is behind or does he not know that Rand’s group isn’t really following him anymore and just waiting at this point? I find it ironic that Fain thinks he has to hide the campfire when Rand’s group is a few miles ahead of Fain’s group. 

• Prediction : I think they actually saw Fain at the small campfire and are second guessing themselves since they think he’d not be this close to them. 

242 - Selene wants the man who finds the Horn and tells Rand you don’t know if it’s really Fain and Rand has decided to go alone with the alantin. Hurin and Loial are standing watch for Rand. Also Selene thinks she can defend herself till Rand comes back. 

• Hurin shows Rand the fire they think Fain is at in the distance. 

• Rand’s last words till he gets back were that Hurin and Loial are to protect Selene and Rand is off to see if Fain is actually at the campfire. 

243 - alantin =Brother and tia avende alantin = Tree Brother 

-Loial is with Rand helping him navigate to the camp.

Saidin is no joke, “Saidin  shone  at him, beckoned to him. He gritted his teeth and ignored it; it was like ignoring a burning coal inside his head, but at least he could hold it at bay.” 

-The moonlight and the shadows ahead of them made them nervous since Fain could appear at any time.

244 -  they made it to the camp  and came across the Trollocs and Fain sleeping and came across a glimmer of gold and silver on the ground, “They finally found the horn and the dagger, “The chest. The Horn. And something atop it, a point of red flashing in the moonbeam. The dagger! Why would Fain put…?”

• The Trollocs are just rolling over in their sleep and occasionally sniffing the air for possible disturbances in the camp along with Darkfriends to the left and right of them. 

245 - Rand gears somebody else’s thoughts about going mad. He found the chest with the horn and he touched the dagger on the lid. And Fain is somehow still asleep. 

-Rand  takes the dagger and puts it on his belt to minimize time it touches his bare skin so something doesn’t happen to Rand perhaps. 

245 -He finds the chest but doesn’t know how to open it and is too heavy for him to lift on his own. 

• Fain wakes up and notices someone stole the chest with the horn and dagger and seems to try waking everyone up.    

•  Seems like now he’s the one that’ll be following Rand now. This could be bad. 

• 246 Fain has ordered the Darkfriends and Trollocs to find Rand since they possess the horn and dagger. This reminds me from The Wizard of OZ when the Wicked Witch orders the winged monkeys to find Dorthy to try and get the ruby slippers from her. 

• Rand wishes he was dead so it’ll all be done with and in the camp Fain, Darkfriends and more Trollocs are there. 

•  247 Rand decides not to fight the Trollocs and got to the horses and the minions haven’t found anything yet and Hurin has the chest tied to the saddle and he’s running. This seems very creative. They lost the Trollocs and Darkfriends in the distance. 

• Selene is thrilled they retrieved the horn and Hurin suggests they move fast in case they were followed. I don’t understand why Selene is back in her white dress. Why didn’t she stay in Rand’s silk shirt and all of a sudden wanting to wear the dress and it get dirty and then Selene would have to clean it? 

• 248 Selene got the chest open and Rand took out the Horn of Valere, “A curled golden horn, gleaming in the faint light, with inlaid silver  script flowing around the mouth of the bell.” How was Selene magically able to open the gold chest with the Horn when Rand couldn’t and he’s the Dragon Reborn after all? What did she know about the chest that they didn’t know about, or is Selene working for Ba’alzamon in secret? 

• Selene has been telling him to think of glory and greatness, because she wants him to be someone who is interested in those things. She values those things, and she wants him to value them, too.

But Rand isn't interested in glory or greatness, so he tells her, "No." She wants him to keep the Horn, and he won't. He puts it back in the chest with the intention of returning it to Shienar, because that's where it was when it was stolen. But while he was taking it back, he was having a lot of crazy thoughts. And he really wants to bone her, so she makes him think crazy thoughts, here's an example “‘Better to be dead, “‘ he murmured. So when he puts the horn away, he can't help but stare at it. It's shiny in the moonlight, drawing the eye. 

Rand would never say that he wants to fuck Selene to himself in that kind of manner because he's too much of a prude. But he's thinking about marriage because for Two Rivers people you can't have sex without marriage. 

• Rand feels the letters with his fingers and we get the same riddle they found when they first got the horn, “‘The grave is no bar to my call.”’ - I’m starting to think the inscription is saying that the horn can awaken undead soldiers and the person with the horn can instruct them to kill or whatever the person wants. 

• Rand feels he doesn't deserve either the dagger or the Horn and Rand feels he should return the Horn . They see a fire and think they haven’t come up the mountain yet and if Rams can’t find a way to destroy the minions Tand can’t go back to Shienar even if he wanted to. 

• Selene is like me , staying a little longer a big deal. To Rand he’s like let her stay as long as she wants since I’ve wanted to fuck her. 

   

249- this description of the dagger is pretty stunningly amazing, “The bare blade curved like a horn, and the quillons were golden serpents. Set in the hilt, a ruby as big as his thumbnail winked like an evil eye in the moonlight. Ornate as it was, tainted as he knew it was, it felt no different from any other knife.” 

• I wonder what being cut with the dagger would do to you.

• Loial now learns what is wrong with Mat. 

• They still have a string on him, quote 

• Rand puts the dagger in the chest with the horn and Selene is sure the chest will shield then from the dagger’s taint. 

250 - Rand wants to be as far away from Fain’s group as possible by morning and Fain can sometimes find Rand somehow. 

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- Fain is basically saying y’all [the Trollocs and Darkfriends] are worthless and useless helping defend the horn and dagger. Fain is so mean to the Trollocs and Darkfriends. I feel bad for them right now. 

What’s Next?

Future Predictions for POV Character: 

• It’ll be from Rand’s POV most likely and maybe a small Fain POV at the end of the chapter seems most likely, if we even get a bit from his POV would be a great addition to see what is going through Fain's Head. 

• Rand at this point wants to stay away from Fain’s group as much as possible. I fear that wish is too good to actually come true.

• We get a Fain POV at the end of the chapter. He is basically yelling at his minions and wants them to get the horn and dagger back essentially. 

Whats next?

I think Selene wants the Horn of Valere for herself and then she will blow it and order the Heroes of the Horn to kill Rand in front of everybody. 

I believe that when Rand put the dagger in the chest  and unlike what Selene said, the taint will eventually seep out from the dagger and cling to Rand but not as severely as it attached to Mat. I believe this because I can’t tell when I can trust Selene and wen not to trust her.

Is saidin the same thing as the force that powers the void or the oneness ? 

I’m starting to think Selene is a Darkfriend and has been taken taken by the Taint and is somehow connected to  Mordeth from Shadar Logoth and i believe Seene was the woman in white and has been keeping tabs on Rand for a very long time through the Mirror world somehow and was waiting for a foolish person like Rand to fall for her and agree to help get her out of the Mirror World and unleash her monstrosity and evil will onto the real world without anyone knowing it’s here causing the mayhem in the near future. 

I’m thinking Selene has been working with Mordeth this whole time since we met Mordeth in book one behind the scenes and I feel she uses the white dress to make people not be weary around her and puts them under her spell of immense beauty.

What’s Next?

Future Predictions for POV Character: It’ll be from Rand’s POV most likely and maybe a small Fain POV at the end of the chapter seems most likely, if we even get a bit from his POV would be a great addition to see what is going through Fain's Head.