Mat Cauthon
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Matrim "Mat" Cauthon is one of the main characters of the Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan. Many of his changes through the story reflect a strong connection to the Norse god Odin.
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[edit] Description
Mat has a wiry body and brown eyes. He is about 5'11" or 6' and about 180 pounds (as described by Robert Jordan).
[edit] Youth
Mat was something of a black sheep in Emond's Field. Though he, Rand al'Thor, and Perrin Aybara got into trouble quite a bit, Mat was generally the force behind it. A joker and prankster, he can be very charming with women and people of authority when he wants to be, and is fond of drinking and gambling; he also swears a lot. He was led away on Winternight with Moiraine Damodred and his friends, and it was revealed that he, Rand and Perrin were all ta'veren, the focal points around which the Wheel of Time weaves. On their journey, they stopped in Shadar Logoth to lose the Trollocs chasing them. While the three explored the city, Mat's greed got the best of him and he took a jeweled dagger, not knowing everything in the damned city was tainted, even the pebbles on the ground.
[edit] Tainted
Later, in Fal Dara, Padan Fain stole the Horn of Valere and Mat's dagger, having become tainted by Shadar Logoth's evil himself. Mat needed the dagger to rid himself of its taint, but also to survive until the Aes Sedai could cure him. He journeyed with Rand, Perrin, Verin, Loial, and Ingtar to Falme. On his journey, he discovered that Rand was the Dragon Reborn, and felt estranged from his old friend. In Falme, about to be overrun by the Seanchan, he blew the Horn of Valere, summoning Heroes from beyond the grave to fight for him. He is now bound to the Horn; it will work for no other as long as he is alive. He is destined to blow the Horn at Tarmon Gai'don. He journeyed to Tar Valon with Verin, Nynaeve al'Meara, Egwene al'Vere, and Elayne Trakand. When he reached the White Tower he was almost dead from the dagger's taint, but the Aes Sedai broke the bond between him and the dagger, though Mat almost died in the Healing. When he awoke, he found that he had many holes in his memory.
[edit] Death and Rebirth
He left Tar Valon soon after his healing and went with Thom Merrilin to Caemlyn, where he happened to overhear Rahvin, disguised as Lord Gaebril, plotting to kill Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve in Tear. He and Thom left for Tear, aided Rand in taking the Stone of Tear, and saved the three girls from the Black Ajah. After Rand had secured Tear, Mat, wandering through the Stone's collection of angreal and ter'angreal, went through a freestanding red stone doorway, which took him to the land of the Aelfinn, snakelike creatures with oracular powers. They prophesized he would: a) die and live once more as a part of what once was, b) marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons and c) give up half the light of the world, to save the world. A bit unnerved, he followed Rand to Rhuidean along with Egwene, Moiraine and Lan. In the valley of Rhuidean, while Rand discovered his Aiel heritage, Mat found another red stone doorway, which brought him to the land of the Eelfinn, who resemble foxes. He was expecting to get answers to more questions from Aelfinn, so when the Eelfinn offered him wishes instead, he rather squandered them: he wished to a) have the holes in his memories filled, b) be free from Aes Sedai channeling and c) to be returned to Rhuidean. All this came true. Mat now has the memories of countless historical military leaders and is thus privy to over a thousand years of cultural and military knowledge; he has a foxhead medallion that causes flows of the One Power to simply dissolve when applied to him; and Mat was found by Rand hanging by the neck in Rhuidean, suspended from a black-hafted spear set across two tree branches. Rand managed to revive Mat, although it's not clear if he was actually dead for a time (thus breaking the link with the Horn of Valere), though Mat still has a scar around his neck. Mat is also thought to have fulfilled the "Death and Rebirth" portion of the prophesy when he is killed by Rahvin during the battle for Andor. He is later returned to life when Rand kills Rahvin with Balefire, erasing a portion of recent history revolving around Rahvin's existence. While it is never made clear that Mat's link with the Horn of Valere was broken at the time of his death, it is unlikely. Due to the nature of Balefire, the incident of Mat's death technically never came to pass. He also decided to keep the spear, actually a naginata-like weapon called an ashandarei in the Old Tongue, and it has been his signature weapon ever since.
[edit] General
Despite having a substantial aversion to being a warrior, Mat is now a consummate general because of his filled in memories; he remembers battles and strategies that have been lost for centuries. He is also extremely lucky at random chance. At games like dice or cards, he wins almost all of the time. For his luck to hold out, it must be a game of random chance, though; for games of skill, like Stones, he must rely on his memories for help. Also, anytime things are left to absolute random chance, things seem to favor him. If he walks into a building randomly, for instance, he usually finds people or information he was looking for. Rand and Perrin are also known to alter chance as ta'veren, but the effect is not so consistently to their favor; a man near Rand may fall out a fourth-story window and land without a scratch, but another may trip on a tuft of grass and break his neck. Mat's memories raise questions as to the nature of reincarnation through the Wheel; Mat remembers dying, "more times than he could count" (The Fires of Heaven), due to his memories being from many individual lives of adventurers that went to the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, whether through the doorways or the Tower of Ghenjei (Tor Q&A).
[edit] Band of the Red Hand
Just before the Battle of Cairhien against the Shaido, Mat attempted to leave Rand's company permanently; but luck, chance and (alarmingly) a sense of responsibility drew him increasingly and unwittingly into the fight; in the end, his luck and battle lore took him to the forefront of the conflict, where he personally slew Couladin, the Shaido leader, and helped bring victory to the Dragon Reborn. He also gained the allegiance of a number of soldiers who would follow him into the Pit of Doom if he led them. This new army is known as Shen an Calhar, the Band of the Red Hand, and is personally loyal to Mat, believing that with his luck at their head, they cannot be beaten.
Since his departure to Ebou Dar and his activities there, the Band of the Red Hand had significantly grown in number, doubled by his trusted general Talmanes. It numbers around 12,000 men.
[edit] Daughter of the Nine Moons
Mat traveled to Ebou Dar with Elayne, Nynaeve and Aviendha. Queen Tylin quite enjoyed Mat's "company", although the feeling was not exactly mutual. He escaped Ebou Dar after it was conquered by the Seanchan, with Thom, Egeanin and Bayle Domon. For use as a hostage, he managed to obtain a Seanchan High Lady named Tuon—finding out too late that she was the Daughter of the Nine Moons, the woman he is fated to marry. Mat and his coterie escape Seanchan territory by means of Valan Luca's Travelling Menagerie, and during their journey Mat began to court Tuon in earnest, seeming to finally accept his fate. Her responses were never anything less than opaque, though, and when they finally did marry during Knife of Dreams, just before her return to Ebou Dar, it seemed almost entirely a political match. As the prince-consort of the heir to the Crystal Throne of Seanchan, Mat is now known amongst the Seanchan as the Prince of Ravens.
[edit] Importance
Rand may be the central character of the story, but Mat and Perrin are only slightly less important. They are critical parts of Rand's battle against the Shadow and should not be underestimated. For this reason, it should not be surprising that the books have begun to follow Mat's and Perrin's adventures independently of Rand's; at the time of Book 10, the three ta'veren all run their own major plotlines and campaigns. Mat, like Rand, has changed enormously over the course of the story. Originally the quintessential charming rogue, he has found himself in situations of more and more responsibility, most notably in the Battle of Cairhien where, attempting to simply leave the area and strike out on his own, he eventually becomes the field general and singlehandedly secures victory for Rand's forces. He has discovered what Rand and Perrin already know--that the three of them must lead, and that the Wheel will push them into positions of authority no matter what they themselves want. He is now more comfortable with responsibility, and although initially irritated by her, Mat marries Tuon at the conclusion of Knife of Dreams. This earns him the title of Prince of Ravens and making him what he always professed to despise, a noble. The events during Knife of Dreams also confirm what many readers had speculated from previous novels, that Mat would be crucial to the introduction of firearms to the world of the Wheel of Time via gunpowder used in the making of fireworks. Also during KoD he agreed to help Thom in his quest to save Moiraine.
[edit] Odin References
- According to prophecy, Mat will give up "half the light of the world to save the world", and in Egwene al'Vere's dreams has been seen to place his eye on a balance scale. Odin was half-blind, giving up his eye for knowledge.
- Mat was hanged after bargaining to replace the holes in his memory; he says he was, "hanged for knowledge". Odin did the same to gain the knowledge of death.
- Mat is a general, and one of Odin's divine domains is war.
- The Aelfinn called Mat "Gambler" and "Son of Battles." Odin was known as the Gambler and was called Father of Battles.
- Written on Mat's ashandarei is a poem bracketed by two ravens; the poem includes the line " ...thought is the arrow of time, memory never fades." Odin had two ravens, named Hugin and Munin: Thought and Memory.
- Odin was often portrayed as wearing a wide brimmed hat, and carrying a spear, the same as Mat.
- Odin's hall of Valhalla was filled with honored dead heroes who waited there to fight for him in the last battle, Ragnarok; Mat is the sounder of the Horn of Valere, which calls long dead heroes back to fight for him.
- Odin's battle horse, Sleipnir, had, depending on the translation, six or eight legs. Mat's horse is named Pips (after the dots on a die), which could refer to a high roll of six or eight pips.
- The symbol of the Seanchan, to whom Mat is now connected through marriage, is a pair of Ravens; just as Odin had. Also, Odin's Ravens were named Hugin and Munin, "thought" and "memory", respectively. The poem on the haft of Mat's ashandarei reads: "Thought is the arrow of time, Memory never fades, What was asked is given, The price is paid"
