Mat's Dagger on a Stick...

Hello and welcome back, Amber here, and today  I’m going to talk about something that might be considered a bit controversial and that’s Mat’s  Ashandarei in The Wheel of Time television show. Now a lot of book fans were confused or adamant  that the dagger on a stick won’t replace his famous ashandarei from the books and some people  think the change was a bad choice. I was recently discussing this topic with someone on my discord  server and decided, I have a lot of thoughts about it, so why n

ot make a video about it? Because I’m in the camp of people who actually think that the change isn’t really a  big deal, and narratively there are some big book examples that make it kind of cool,  when you explore Mat’s character and the way he employs tactics throughout the series. Now this isn’t to tell you, well actually you should like the change because of X Y Z but  just a topic that I think is really interesting, and I just want to talk about it. So let's get into the details. I think th

e most famous person who really disliked the  change was Brandon Sanderson who publicly stated “I’m sorry, using the dagger on a spear is the  same thing as using it. You’re touching it…it’s a metaphor for using the darkness and accepting it.  It’s a metaphor for turning to the Dark Side…it misses the whole point. Mat’s arc is not about  weaponizing his darkness. That’s Perrin’s arc, and finding that balance. Mat’s arc is very  different from that, and doing this just bothers me. I don’t feel it

was built up through the  season that his arc would be about weaponizing his own darkness, and walking that line." And this is where things get kind of cool, because obviously everyone has their own  interpretations of the book text. There’s a literary theory called “The Death of the Author”  which argues that the meaning of a text is not determined by the author's intention, but rather  by the reader's interpretation. So I really understand why Mr. Sanderson was so frustrated by  a change that

didn’t match up with his perception of what the Ruby Hilted Dagger symbolizes  and I’m not here to tell him he’s wrong. His head canon was that the dagger represents  giving in to darkness. Personally I never saw that dagger that way. To me it was a plot device  to give Mat’s story a challenge to overcome, and more of a parable teaching a lesson about  the dangers of impulsivity. The dagger itself isn't of the Shadow and it doesn’t have  a connection to the Dark One. Its origin stems from somet

hing entirely different. The  dagger itself in my eyes was never evil. It’s like an infection. A non-sentient virus. It  doesn't think or feel, it has no intentions. If I had to simplify its existence into a  metaphor, it would be overcoming corruption. So to make the connection about weaponizing  darkness, I have to go on a bit of a Wheel of Time history tangent, because in  this case, all roads lead to Aridhol and Mordeth’s theory that to defeat the  Shadow, one had to fight fire with fire. No

w The Wheel of Time Wiki page describes  Mordeth as “originally a good man devoted to destroying the Shadow. He went in search of  many powers, including the Finn. Unfortunately, he found a number of dark things, including  the power of Mashadar, which would ultimately corrupt him and define the rest of his life.” And to put you into the mindset of what things were like during his time, Mordeth lived during  the Trolloc Wars, which was essentially 350 years of sheer carnage where nations were  f

alling left and right to Shadowspawn and other forces of the Dark One. Humanity was  desperate, and the King of Aridhol needed a solution. So when Mordeth walked himself into the  gates requesting an audience with King Balwen, he presented his theory, that to win in a war  against the Shadow, evil was required to fight evil and King Balwen decides to go along with it. But soon things get dark. The nation and its inhabitants start to succumb to Mordeth’s fantical  overzealousness, and become craz

ed. They adopt a new battle cry that “The victory of the light is  all” and then the nation just kind of vanishes into smoke. No one knows exactly what happened but  it is believed the city was poisoned by Mordeth, and turned on one another leaving nothing behind  besides Mordeth, trapped there, and Mashadar, a soul consuming entity that hunts anyone who  enters. The ruins of the nation are currently called Shadar Logoth, which is where Mat  finds the dagger and the rest is history. But this who

le story raises the question of  whether or not it's possible to successfully employ Mordeth’s tactic of fighting evil  with evil. Because in the television show, Mat does exactly that. He uses the Ruby  Hilted Shadar Logoth Dagger, as a weapon. He weaponizes darkness to fight the army at Falme. So why should Mat Caution succeed where Mordeth and the entire nation of Aridhol failed?  What makes him so special? I think the big difference is that Mat is no longer tempted  by the corruption of the

Dagger, he’s changed, he’s now a better version of himself. I think  it’s possible that the moment he crafted the ashandarei, was the moment where his luck  really changed. Which is something that Mordeth and the citizens of Aridhol didn’t have.  They didn’t have the in-world plot armor device of tavern nature or luck like Mat Cauthon does. And in the books, there is a pretty great example of Mat weaponizing darkness to fight the Dark  One that feels like a really good indication that this is so

mething Mat could and should  be doing in the television show. It might even be a subtle nod of foreshadowing done  by the television writers paying some homage to that specific plot in the last book. But before I go any deeper, just a heads up that this will cover a section from “A Memory  of Light” so if you haven't read it, I’ll leave a timestamp on the screen so you can skip ahead. In this segment of the books, Mat has had a nightmarish encounter in a town called Hinderstap,  where a phenome

non called “Bubbles of Evil” takes place and strange otherworldly occurrences keep  popping up. At Hinderstap, the residences seem friendly and welcoming, but each evening at  sunset, every man woman and child who resides in the town goes completely feral, picking  up farm equipment, knives, and weapons, where they slaughter and kill anyone they encounter,  friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, only to wake up the next morning in their beds  respawned and alive like nothing happened.

When we fast forward to the Last Battle, Mat  uses Asha’man to transport the townspeople of Hinderstap into the thick of battle,  where they can die over and over again, but wake up each morning unharmed to repeat  the process. It’s actually brilliant. And it’s a prime example of Mat’s outside the  box thinking, where he uses the Dark One’s evil, weaponizing it for the side of the Light.  I really love this moment because it comes so close to the end of the story, and you  can see how far Mat h

as come, but it also shows that he’s still a quick witted scamp,  who has a talent for outsmarting the Shadow. Ironically, this storyline didn’t come from Robert  Jordan or his notes, Sanderson is quoted saying “[this] was my creation, devised after Harriet  asked me to be more disturbing and horrifying”. And I’m glad that it was included because it's  one of my favorite moments within the last book. And when Sanderson also says “Mat’s arc isn't  about weaponizing Darkness” I’d agree. I think hi

s arc is more about going from a reckless dagger  corrupted unwilling hero, to a dutiful tactician willing to accept and embrace his destiny. But it  also shows that this idea stemming from Mordeth and Aridhol, carries over within the book series,  to the television show and it's honestly kind of funny, that Sanderson didn’t make the connection. The dagger on a stick or Ashandarei or whatever you want to call it symbolizes and really  pinpoint Mat’s cleverness and growth. In the television show,

when he is healed of  the Shadow Logoth corruption by Moiraine, it's not by his own hands. So there is no internal  growth here. He doesn’t make a conscious decision to be better or to do better but when he crafts  the Ashandarei from objects in the room he was held captive in, and escapes Padan Fain, it  shows intent and a chance for him to overcome the things in his past that have been holding  him back. It’s a continuation of his healing, only this time with agency in the matter. And of cour

se I would have liked to see some things handled a little differently. Is it  logical that Mat can tie a dagger to a stick and it holds together for an extended battle?  Probably not. But his luck typically tends to carry him through unscathed. I can forgive it as  long as it's permanently attached at some point. He is traveling with a blacksmith afterall. Another thing that I think really solidifies the debate for me is that the dagger on a  stick can do everything his ashandarei can do, only t

his time, it came from his own two hands,  versus it coming from an accidental wish given to an extra dimensional fairy fox man. It wasn't just  luck that he finds a way to protect himself in the show, which makes it more representative  to his internal growth. The Ashandarei symbolizes so many things like leadership,  responsibility, the echoes of his past life, but specifically his adaptability and versatility.  It's a little bit of an unorthodox weapon, so I don’t mind it having an unorthodox

origin in the  television show. It focuses more on him maturing, and less on his luck and I think that's ok,  there is still a lot of his story to see, that can come in later. But it also doesn’t mean  other interpretations of the events aren’t valid. So let me know what you think. I know this  is a bit of a touchy subject so please remain considerate in the comment section. A very  special thanks to my channel members and patreon members. If you enjoyed this video,  please show it some love by

giving it a like and subscribe to the channel. I don’t often  do character weapon examinations, but this was just too much fun to pass up on. Thanks  for watching and I’ll see you back next time.