Ashandarei
From A Wheel of Time Wiki
Ashandarei are polearm weapons with a short sword blade on top. They can be used as for either stabbing or slashing.
Ashandarei : sword spear[edit] Mat Cauthon's
In Rhuidean Mat obtained an ashandarei from the Eelfinn in an unusual way: when he asked to be free from their territory they left him to hang from one across two branches of Avendesora. After being cut down by Rand, Mat decided to keep the unique weapon.
Mat's ashandarei is power-wrought, black, and has dark ravens inset on the blade. There is an Old Tongue inscription along the haft:
“Thus is our treaty written; thus is agreement made.
Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades.
What was asked is given. The price is paid.”
Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades.
What was asked is given. The price is paid.”
Since obtaining the weapon Mat has demonstrated that he is proficient in its usage, in part from his own familiarity with quarterstaves and more critically the familiarity contained in the memories granted by the Eelfinn.[1]
[edit] Notes
- Birgitte tells Mat the proper name for his spear sometime before ACOS 37.
- ashandarei seem to be based on Japanese naginatas or the european medieval glaive or halberd.
- Matt has written on the spear in the Old Tongue
