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Interview #36: Twitter 2011 (WoT), Entry #65

Brandon Sanderson (10 January 2011)

Pop quiz: What is the first thing that makes Perrin hate his axe? (It’s something I’ve always found very interesting about him.)

BRANDON SANDERSON

It’s not Whitecloaks, though that’s a good guess. Perrin thinks if the ravens attack, he’ll kill Egwene & save her from a worse death.

LORI ELENA MELE

Ah, I’d forgotten about that. Elyas goading him about it didn’t help either, as I recall.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes, Elyas all but taunted the truth out of him.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Regarding how Elyas goads Perrin in that scene: I’m sure he knew exactly what Perrin was thinking, and wanted to make him confront it.

TEREZ

Well, yeah. Perrin didn’t say anything about what he was thinking. Elyas said it all, exactly what he was thinking.

TEREZ

Both his true motivations—choosing her death—and the motivations he feared (which were stupid, of course).

BRANDON SANDERSON

No. Elyas claims that he thinks Perrin hates Egwene. Which is dead wrong, and Elyas knew it.

TEREZ

Right, that’s what I was saying. Both his true motivations and the stupid ones. Elyas mocks him for the latter.

TEREZ

And then spells out what he really wanted: ‘One clean blow of your axe, or the way the animals we saw today died?’

TEREZ

It’s not that Perrin was thinking he hated her. He was hating himself for wanting to help her, which was dumb.

TEREZ

Which of course led to a philosophical conversation similar to Second Amendment debates. Which was ongoing, of course.

TEREZ

Did the axe make Perrin more likely to kill? Than before? Than with the hammer? What about the sword, and the spear?

TEREZ

I see it as Elyas very blatantly pointing out the flaw in Perrin’s logic. He didn’t hate her—that was exactly the flaw.

TEREZ

Didn’t hate her, but he hated the axe, and that was a good thing. Never stopped. (Another good cover @torbooks)

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