New

[Guest Briggzy]

Hey guys,

Huge wot fan.... HUGE... one thing I've struggled with is the turning of the wheel. The story goes at the beginning of time the dark one was sealed in his prison and that prison is what was bored into the released his ability to touch the world. OK.... so does that make this battle the FIRST battle or just one story of the hundreds of battles. One of the forsaken claim that even Lew's Theron was a rebirth of the dragon before him. I would luv to talk or hear your guys thoughts on this as I think the vastness of this is to much for my small mind but imagine the stories and battles that took place during previous ages that are long forgotten!!! 

Briggzy

[SinisterDeath]

The way I understand it, is the wheel, and ages are quite literally cyclical. 

 

In our world, science, physics, we have big-bang, hundreds of millions of years, evolution, bringing us to the point in time we are now.

In RJ's world, Time is literally a circle. It is non-linear. 

If every age were 10,000 years, after a full turn of the wheel, the first age, would look just like the prior first age. There would obviously minor differences. Little things here and there. But if you were somehow able to time-travel into the far off future, and arrive during your time-frame in the age you currently are, you may not know the difference. Names probably change. Small details are different. But Rand would be reborn as Rand, on Dragonmount in this 3rd age, and the next 3rd age.

 

This is a quote from an interview RJ gave, that was archived over at theoryland.

https://www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kw=ages

Quote

 

AAN'ALLEIN

In this same Age, in a different Turning of the Wheel of Time, could it be possible that it wouldn't be Rand's soul that was spun out as the Dragon, but for a different, female soul to take on this role?

ROBERT JORDAN

Jordan said "Yes" then maybe a few more words and only then did I remember to actually put the recorder on again. If I remember correctly Avaeus taped those first few words on his digital camera however, so I'll see if I can add those exact words here.

(transcription) ...it would have to be. Err, in the differences between the same Age in different turnings of the Wheel, are that.. as for an analogy: imagine two tapestries hanging on a wall, and you look at them from the back of the room to the front of the store. And to look at them, they look identical to you. But as you get closer, you begin to see differences. And if you get close enough, they don't look anything at all alike. That is the difference between the Ages. Between the Age in one Turning and the Age in another. So it's quite possible that someone other than Rand could be the reborn soul of the Dragon Reborn. [And that's the phrase that ended my jubilation.]

AAN'ALLEIN

It would be the same soul, or it would be a different soul?

ROBERT JORDAN

It would be the same soul. That is, that is the belief of the world that I've set up, that it's the same soul. It's a soul of someone bound to the Wheel, which is spun out for the purposes, for the Wheel's purposes really, to attempt to re-balance the Weaving of the Pattern.

AAN'ALLEIN

But the soul would always be male. Souls don't change gender, so ...

ROBERT JORDAN

...so the soul of the Dragon Reborn is always going to be male, just as Birgitte's soul is always born as a woman, just as Ameresu's soul is always born as a woman. There are divisions here, and they are not interchangeable.

AAN'ALLEIN

[He actually pronounced this as Amatherisu. Anyone else find it curious that Jordan would place her on equal footing with Rand and Birgitte? The way he said this reminded me of Mother Therese, just like "Materese the Healer" (The Eye of the World, Chapter 4). Ameresu could most definitely be the same person as Materese. And the "The Healer" tag suddenly gets a lot more meaning, when thinking about how important she is to Jordan...]

TAGS

circular time, dragon soul, heroes of the horn,

 

We don't know exactly how long ages are, whether his universe is like ours with a Big Bang, millions of years of evolution followed by a entropy & a big crunch. Or if his universe is similar to the biblical one, where the earth was created 13,000ish years ago.

 

I like to think of it like this.

 

[jibJAB]

I kinda wonder also if the Flame of Tar Valon weave becomes more well known and helps to fix balefire effects to some degree. So the things that've been burned out aren't the same, but there's something replacing the gaps when, say, the 2nd Age comes back around. E.g., no Bel'al, but someone in a similar role.