The Great Hunt

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Title The Great Hunt

Original cover of The Great Hunt, showing Rand al'Thor holding the Horn of Valere in front of Selene and Loial
Author	Robert Jordan
Cover artist	Darrell K. Sweet
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Wheel of Time
Genre(s)	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Tor Books (U.S.)
Released	November 15, 1990
Media type	Print (Hardback and Paperback)
Pages	600 pp (U.S. hardback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-312-85140-5 (US hardback edition)
Preceded by	The Eye of the World
Followed by	The Dragon Reborn

The Great Hunt (abbreviated as tGH by fans) is the second book of The Wheel of Time fantasy series written by American author Robert Jordan. It was published by Tor Books and released on November 15, 1990.

In 2004 The Great Hunt was re-released as two separate books, The Hunt Begins and New Threads in the Pattern.

[edit] Plot introduction

The Great Hunt consists of a prologue and 50 chapters. The main story is about a group of young heroes, namely Rand al'Thor, Mat Cauthon, and Perrin Aybara, ta'veren all, who join Shienaren soldiers in a quest to get the Horn of Valere out of enemy hands. At the same time, Egwene al'Vere, Nynaeve al'Meara, and Elayne Trakand go to the White Tower in Tar Valon to begin learning the ways of the Aes Sedai. And finally, in a distant land, a strange group of people start an invasion of the western coast.

[edit] Plot summary

Following the events in The Eye of the World, the book opens with the major characters united at the city-fortress of Fal Dara in Shienar, to where the Amyrlin Seat is traveling. Shortly after her arrival, the fortress at Fal Dara is attacked by Trollocs and Myrddraal. The evil, twisted prisoner Padan Fain, Mat's mysterious and powerful but tainted dagger without which he would slowly die, and the Horn of Valere are all taken. In the wake of the attack, Rand al'Thor has an audience with the Amyrlin Seat and is told that he is the Dragon Reborn.

Seeking to recover the Horn, Ingtar, a brave Shienaran soldier, leads a small army including Rand, Mat Cauthon, and Perrin Aybara after the thieves, a band of Shadowspawn and Darkfriends. To track them, they enlist Hurin, a middle aged Shienaran with the strange ability to 'smell' things that other people can't, such as being able to smell where there was a battle, even if there is no trace of it. Using this 'sniffing' ability, Hurin is able to follow the scent of their quarry across the land. However, it is not long before Rand, Loial and Hurin are accidentally separated from the party and transported to another world via a portal stone that they unknowingly slept beside, and somehow activated. In the other world, Rand meets Ba'alzamon and has a heron branded into his palm in a fight. Later, having determined that the portal stone transported them to a parallel world that essentially is the same but with a different time-line, they eventually find another portal stone with the help of Selene, a mysterious woman dressed in white whom they meet there, and Rand is able to use it to return to their own world, albeit much farther ahead of the rest of their group and even the Darkfriends and Shadowspawn. Shortly after, they recover the Horn and the dagger by sneaking into their enemy's camp, which they found simply by waiting for them to catch up.

Ingtar's group had earlier been mystified and confused at the disappearance of Rand and the other two but they had managed to continue tracking the Darkfriends, however, as Perrin pretends to be another sniffer like Hurin, but secretly is using his wolf sense, his ability to talk to wolves, to ask nearby wolves which way the Darkfriends and Shadowspawn went.

Egwene al'Vere and Nynaeve al'Meara leave Fal Dara at the same time as Ingtar's party. Along with the Amyrlin and Moiraine Damodred, they head for Tar Valon. At the White Tower, Nynaeve passes the test to become Accepted by walking through three rings, each of which takes her to a vision that could deter her from going on and becoming an Aes Sedai. The first ring tranports her to a giant maze, where she battles Aginor, the Forsaken, and almost wins, but leaves the vision before finishing him. The next two of her visions are painful because she knows that they are fake and she has to leave them, but she doesen't want to abandon them. One of those visions is of herself in her hometown, Emond's Field, which is in trouble and needs her help, but she has to leave the vision by leaving the village, which makes herself feel as if she truly had left Emond's Field to its fate. Another vision is of herself in the future, married with children to the man she loves, Lan Mandragoran, but once again she must leave the vision by running away from Lan, the last thing she wants to do. After this, she is made an Accepted, a rank in the White Tower just below Aes Sedai and above novice, the lowest.

Rand and his group travel through Cairhien, along with Selene, who keeps mysteriously disappearing. After reaching the capital at Cairhien, Rand finds Thom Merrilin, an entertainer, or gleeman, whom he thought dead, killed by a Myrddraal, but who had actually survived the encounter. Thom is with his girlfriend/apprentice Dena in Cairhien. In the city, Rand and Loial are attacked by Trollocs and, during their escape, destroy the chapterhouse of the Illuminator's Guild, a secretive society of people who make fireworks and set them off during celebrations. The Horn and dagger, unfortunately, are once again lost. Later on, Dena is murdered for Thom's involvement with Rand.

Meanwhile, the wolves tell Perrin about Rand's location. Ingtar's group is reunited with Rand. They learn that the Horn has been taken to Toman Head, at the port city of Falme. Hoping to get there faster, Rand tries to lead them through a portal stone, but it malfunctions and the group loses time by traveling by way of stone.

As these events unfold, action also takes place on the other side of the continent, where the Seanchan have occupied the city of Falme. Geofram Bornhald, of the Children of the Light, is preparing forces to take against the Seanchan.

At the White Tower, Liandrin tells Egwene and Nynaeve that they must travel to Toman Head because the Emond's Field boys are in danger there. Elayne and Min, also at the Tower, join the group and they travel by Waygate to Falme. Once there, Min and Egwene are captured by the Seanchan. Egwene is collared with an a'dam, a device used by the Seanchan to control women who can channel, who they call damane, or "Leashed Ones". Nynaeve and Elayne lay low for a bit.

Rand, Ingtar, and the others arrive at Falme, where they send forth five of their number to reclaim the horn and dagger. The five chosen to go are Ingtar, Hurin, because of his sniffing, Rand, Perrin, and Mat, who looks sickly and pale having been separated from the dagger so long, but has all of his physical strength and stamina. In the city, Rand sneaks into the building where the horn is being kept, but is found out and gets into a swordfight with the blademaster High Lord Turak of the Seanchan. Rand manages to defeat Turak and escapes with the horn and dagger.

At the same time, Elayne and Nynaeve rescue Egwene from the Seanchan then try to get away from the city. Unfortunately, the Whitecloaks choose this time to attack as well, and the heroes are trapped between the Seanchan and the Children. In a last desperate chance, Mat blows the Horn of Valere, summoning forth the heroes of the horn, led by Artur Hawkwing himself, and including Birgitte Silverbow. The Children are easily defeated by the damane, but the Heroes of the Horn then overwhelm the Seanchan, who retreat in haste back to their ships and sail away.

The climax of the book is an epic sword battle between Rand and Ba'alzamon, an image of which appears in the sky, drawing the attention of all. In the fight, Rand is unable to penetrate the defense of Ba'alzamon, and is forced to let his enemy strike a blow to his side in order to himself make an offensive lunge which becomes a fatal hit, again seemingly beating his opponent, just like it seemed he had at the end of The Eye of the World.

After the battle, Rand gives in to fate and proclaims himself the Dragon Reborn for the first time.

[edit] External links

• Detailed chapter summaries of each chapter from http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org
• Review at http://www.sfreviews.net/
• ISBN 0-312-85140-5 (hardcover)
• ISBN 0-8125-1772-5 (paperback)
• The Great Hunt publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• The Great Hunt publication history at the Internet Book List
• The Great Hunt publication history at The Internet Book Database of Fiction