Jak O' the Shadows

Jak O' the Shadows

Jak O' the Shadows is a song in the Wheel of Time series. The author's name is James Oliver Rigney, Jr., although his pen name for WoT(the commonly used abbreviation for the series) is Robert Jordan.

The first verse, sung by Mat Cauthon, appears in The Fires of Heaven Chapter 3: Pale Shadows:

"We'll drink the wine till the cup is dry,
And kiss the girls so they'll not cry,
And toss the dice until we fly,
To dance with Jak o' the Shadows."

To Mat's surprise a stranger, a peddler who turns out to be a Darkfriend, knows the song and comments that it is strange Mat was singing AbOUT death. After consideration, Mat realizes that Jak O' the Shadows is death. This verse appears to come from Mat's memory of other people's lives.

This second verse was made by The Band of the Red Hand, a group of soldiers who follow Mat Cauthon, in inmitation of their leader's performance of the first verse stated above. This verse was sang in Lord of Chaos Chapter 5: A Different Dance:

"We'll dance all night while the moon runs free,
And dandle the lasses upon our knee,
And then you'll ride along with me,
To dance with Jak o' the Shadows."

This second verse was made by soldiers, and thus, fits the soldier's life. These two verses set an interesting pattern. Both follow an A, A, A, B rhyme scheme. Also the first three lines of each verse are in Iambic Tetrameter, four sets of alternating unstressted then stressed syllables. The last line then is "To dance with Jak O' the Shadows".

External links

Wotmania1

Official2