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[[Category:Main Characters]]
 
[[Category:Heroes of the Horn]]
 
[[Category:Heroes of the Horn]]
 
[[Category:Archers]]
 
[[Category:Archers]]
 
[[Category:Warders]]
 
[[Category:Warders]]
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[[Category:Women]]

Revision as of 20:39, 9 March 2008

[[Category:Andoran]]

Birgitte Silverbow is a legendary heroine and archer, and one of the Heroes of the Horn.

Appearance

Typically described as having a long braid of blonde hair down her back, wearing a man's coat and trousers, and being deadly with a bow and arrow, Birgitte Silverbow is the heroine of many hundreds of gleemen's tales and legends. Like many of the great heroes of the Wheel of Time, she has been "spun out" into the Pattern many times, taking a different name but always following the same pattern: an archer, sometimes a soldier, who is linked to a lump-faced man who fights with two swords (most famously known as Gaidal Cain), whom she at first hates but eventually falls for. She is also one of the Heroes of the Horn of Valere, and, like Artur Hawkwing, Gaidal Cain and a hundred other heroes, can be summoned to fight for he who blows the Horn.

Tel'aran'rhiod

When not being woven into the Pattern, or fighting in spectral form, she and all the other heroes of the Wheel reside in Tel'aran'rhiod, and it was there that Birgitte first made her acquaintance with Perrin Aybara, Elayne Trakand and Nynaeve al'Meara. The latter two were hunting Darkfriends in the World of Dreams, and despite ancient injunctions to the contrary, and the ridicule of Gaidal, she insisted on stepping in to help them. This led, eventually, to a confrontation with Moghedien in which Birgitte was ripped bodily from Tel'aran'rhiod and expelled directly into the waking world, instead of being reborn (re-incarnated) into it normally. When Nynaeve and Elayne found her, she was dying, a condition not even Nynaeve could Heal. With no other recourse, Elayne bonded Birgitte as her Warder, saving her life, and Birgitte has served in this capacity ever since.

Maerion

It was necessary to conceal Birgitte's identity, as her presence in the world would raise too many questions about Elayne's and Nynaeve's activities prior to joining the Salidar Aes Sedai. Birgitte herself assumed the name Maerion, saying "I was called that once" - indicating this was the name of one of her prior incarnations.

Deadly and of unmatched competence with a bow, she is also by far the most raucous of Elayne's entourage; she and Mat Cauthon share a fondness for drink, carousing and foul language, and their friendship is strengthened by Mat's past-life memories and the fact that he is the Hornsounder.

In her current incarnation, Birgitte is an oddity in several respects:

  • She is the world's only female Warder - Aes Sedai have never bonded a woman at any time in history. Both she and Elayne have discovered at first hand that the bond of their shared gender increases the empathic link of the Warder bond to sometimes unacceptable levels (when Birgitte gets drunk, Elayne gets tipsy, and likewise when Elayne and Rand spend time alone, Birgitte shares a degree of Elayne's arousal.
  • She is the first Hero of the Horn to have been expelled from Tel'aran'rhiod: while initially retaining the memories of all her past lives they are starting to blur together and fade as time passes. What this means for Birgitte's future and status as a recurring Hero of the Horn is unclear.

Gaidal Cain

Just before Moghedien expelled her from Tel'aran'rhiod, Birgitte indicated that Gaidal had left to be naturally reborn into the Pattern. Shortly after, one of Min Farshaw's viewings indicate that Birgitte is linked romantically to a man who is simultaneously ten years older and ten years younger[verify] than Birgitte herself. This is almost certainly Gaidal reincarnated, but who he has been reincarnated as is the much more pertinent question.

Other incarnations

  • Teadra
  • Joana
  • Maerion