Pronunciation: GAY-dahl KAIN

One of the Heroes of the Horn. He is commonly associated with Birgitte.

Physical Description#

He is swarthy. (TGH,Ch47) He is dark and strongly muscled. His face is wide and flat. His heavy nose is too big and his mouth is a too broad gash. He is shorter than Birgitte. He has a harsh voice. (TSR,Ch54)

Chronology#

• Mat blows the Horn of Valere and calls forth the Heroes of the Horn including Gaidal Cain. (TGH,Ch47)
• Gaidal Cain appears behind Perrin in the wolf dream and tells Birgitte it is time to leave. (TSR,Ch28)
• Gaidal Cain appears beside Birgitte while she is talking to Nynaeve in the Panarch's Palace. He tells Birgitte she is breaking the precepts by helping. (TSR,Ch52)
• Gaidal disappears from Tel'aran'rhiod. He has been reborn. (TFoH,Ch14)

Other References#

1. In The Eye of the World
   1. TEotW,Ch17 - Thom tells stories related to the Great Hunt of the Horn including stories about Gaidal Cain's Sword.
2. In The Great Hunt
   1. TGH,Ch26 - Thom tells stories about Gaidal Cain.
   2. TGH,Ch47 - Gaidal Cain wears two swords across his back and fights with both.
3. In The Shadow Rising
   1. TSR,Ch52 - Gaidal Cain and Birgitte are usually linked romantically. He is usually spun out by the Wheel first. Birgitte knows her time is coming when she can no longer find Gaidal in Tel'aran'rhiod.
4. In The Fires of Heaven
   1. TFoH,Ch24 - In The Flame, the Blade and the Heart, Egwene reads about Birgitte and Gaidal Cain.
   2. TFoH,Ch34 - Gaidal hates to dance.
   3. TFoH,Ch36 - Birgitte cries as she thinks of Gaidal wandering the world looking for her.
5. In A Crown of Swords
   1. ACoS,Ch21 - When Birgitte learns how Mat rescued Elayne and Nynaeve from the Stone of Tear she says she would not have done that for anyone short of Gaidal.
   2. WH,Ch12 - Min has a viewing of Birgitte - Auras danced around her and images flickered, more than Min had ever seen around anyone, thousands it seemed, cascading over one another. Those multitude of images and auras flashed by too quickly for her to make out any clearly, but she was certain they indicated more adventures than a woman could have in one lifetime. Strangely, some were connected to an ugly man who was older that she, and others to an ugly man who was much younger, yet somehow Min knew they were the same man.
6. In Knife of Dreams
   1. KoD,Ch17 - Birgitte is depressed because she fears losing her memories of Gaidal Cain.
   2. KoD,Ch23 - Romanda reads about Birgitte and Gaidal Cain in The Flame, the Blade and the Heart.
   3. KoD,Ch32 - Birgitte is thinking of Gaidal when she feels Elayne spasm.
   4. KoD,Ch35 - Birgitte had been drinking too much because of the loss of Gaidal but now she has stopped.
7. In Towers of Midnight
   1. ToM,Ch22 - Birgitte recalls how, as Jethari Moondancer, she entered the Tower of Ghenjei with Gaidal Cain to get him healed. They wandered for two months before they were killed.