'Wheel of Time' in Real-Life History - A Ucronia/Alternative History

[I_love_Rand]

So this idea I created in broad strokes when I was high (of course...) and would ask of you to contribute to it – to have us imagine how human civilization would have developed if a primitive tribe received 'Wheel of Time'.

 

So this is the scenario:

 

A person (we will call him tge Reader) who knows English travels back in time with many, many copies of ALL 15 books with him. The Reader comes to a tribe/society (we will imagine one in Europe) on the brink of agricultural revolution. He spends his entire remaining life with this tribe, teaching them English and writing and sharing the books with them, along with any knowledge he posseses of the modern world. The Reader has brought all these many copies of the books in containable, safe boxes and suitcases that can survive many more generations if guarded properly. 

He spends decades with them and then dies. This tribe remains with many copies of the books and with at least dozens, if not hundreds of people who know the English language.

 

What happens to this tribe? How does their technology develop? How does their art and storytelling develop? Their religion, philosophy and morality? How does their existence affect the rest of the world?

 

A few key facts to remember:

 

1. Except time-travel, there is no supernatural element here. The channeling does not exist, and the world (as far as we know, unless we are wrong🤔) is not cyclical. These people simply receive the books as they are and knowledge of English. 

 

2. This happens in regards to the tribe that received the books. The further away geographically a human society exist from this tribe, their history remains untouched (e.g. Americas, unless the discovery of the books somehow pushes to become conquerors and colonizers much sooner than our calendar's counterpart of 1492).

 

3. But also, the closer it is, more it is affected. I imagine Greek or Roman history could be fundamentally different.

 

4. The books describe a society at a late medieval/early Renaissance level. Many, many objects described in it would be revolutionary from the point of view of this tribe.

 

5. It also describes moral, philosophical and religious concepts that would be far more complex.

 

 

Do have (educated, of course) fun with this, give any considerations you have, serious or funny!

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

And what would the reader teach the tribe about the book? That it is just a story? Is it meant to be a foundational myth such as the Iliad and Odyssee? Is it mean to be a divine revelation? 

 

It is difficult to anticipate the effect it could have. Would the tribe for example adopt Aiel battle tactics as described the books which are to the best of knowledge based on very effective Zulu tactics. Would the industrial revolution come quicker as they have a pathway mapped out of what is possible with steam engines? Would they spend all their resources trying to find the One Power or even turn to the Shadow in search of power.

 

If the story did not help them significantly, much less derail their development into dead ends, likely they would just be destroyed by competing civilisations. Having one story will not ensure survival in a brutal world. 

 

I wonder if they would emulate Jordan and write their own stories or it would be treated as something unique. Would written copies in those times be more resilient or less than the oral traditions of other tribes where bards memorised their entire history, mythology and cultural epics. Would the decentralisation of that knowledge be a good thing, or bad? Would WoT's lack of centralised, organised religion shape the future of churches in Europe? Would literacy reach modern levels meaning among other things the end of prehistory. Would they be able to differentiate between such things as books and ships and the fantastical elements? 

 

It is an interesting thought experiment as on one hand it is so insignificant to daily life and survival of culture, yet on the other it would fundamentally change so many things for that culture, depending on how they treated it. 

 

And what about the bosoms, the spanking, the smoking, the drinking, the gambling, or any of the other questionable, controversial or negative aspects of the story? Though in that respect the vast majority of fantasy stories would be much much worse.