New member from the cold North

[magnutz]

Hi there!

 

I'm a 34 year young man from Sweden. I first started to read R.J.'s The Wheel of Time novels back in 1995 and I have re-read them three or four times. The latest re-read is taking place right now. It's like reading them for the first time since it was about 4 years since I read them last.

 

Anyway, had a hard time getting through Crossroads of Twilight and I failed. I coulnd't even make myself read through the 100 pages long intro. I will give the book a second go now and persevere, this time.

 

Good to be here! Sad that Mr James Oliver Rigney Jr isn't.

[Winterwinds]

But he is here, in all of us, as long as we read the stories he wrote and continue to enjoy them, then he truly hasn't left us.  ;D

 

Anyway, allow me to be the first to welcome you to Dragon Mount, the place were the wheel spins and stories are told (Atleast on the RP boards).

 

Since you talked about the books in your introduction I will say go check out the book discusion forums, it might help you to get though Crossroads of Twilight. But there is more then just that around these parts, if you are feeling like branching out into more area's check out the Orgs half way down the forums, they cover just about everything known to man (And sometimes trollocs too) and are friendly to boot.

 

But, if you are feeling more on the writing/RPish side then head down to the Div at the bottom of the Forums, they give a diffrent spin on the Wheel of Time plotline and you can be part of it  :P

 

Anyway if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask or PM me and I will try and give an answer, or pass it along to someone who might know it in the case I do not.

 

Have fun storming he Mount.  ;D

[Raena]

Greetings from a fellow Swede! :D Where in Sweden are you from? I'm from Umeå myself and I have yet to encounter someone from my part of the country. Well, there was someone a while back but he had moved to the south I think.

 

Anyway, welcome to DM, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun here.  :)

 

I failed getting through Crossroads of Twilight the first time as well, by the way.

[magnutz]

Thanks for the welcome and the good info! I'm not sure how I will "use" this forum but I think it will be mostly plot related. To talk about the story and such, but who knows?!

 

It is true, as you said Winterwinds, that RJ never leaves as long as his stories are remembered. That is good to know. ;)

 

I live south of Umeå, in Nyköping, and that is fine. A bit wet at the moment but OK. ;)

 

Now I must get back to my re-read of "Fires of Heaven"... I re-read quickly and hope that I can keep the momentum up as I get to CoT. *fingers crossed*

[Loreina]

:)  Hello and welcome to DM, magnutz!

[magnutz]

:)  Hello and welcome to DM, magnutz!

 

Thanks! I am currentky browsing the general and structured WoT discussion sections but not too closely.. I am re-reading the books now and I don't want to be "contaminated" before I am through them all. ;)

 

LoC is the book I am reading now. For the 4th time in 13 years.  :o

[magnutz]

I just felt an overpowering need to share this piece of silly information..

 

The Aiel name for the Dragon Reborn is car 'a' carn - in Swedish that means (at least the way you pronunce it) "the man of all men" in a comical ironic sense. I thought that was really funny!  :D

[Loreina]

:D That is funny.  I wonder if RJ knew that when he wrote it.

[Raeyn]

 

I wouldn't be surprised... a lot of authors borrow from foreign languages to spice up their work.  I'm pretty sure I recall some Russian words having snuck into the WoT books as well, though I'm not clearly remembering what they are now. :)

[magnutz]

If he knew he must have giggled in his beard as he incorporated the word. ;)

[Blodeuedd]

No way how could I have missed that  :o

It makes so much sense now when I say it out loud  ;)

[magnutz]

No way how could I have missed that  :o

It makes so much sense now when I say it out loud  ;)

 

Yeah.. I now how you feel. I have read the books since 1995 and only durng the current re-reading session have I seen it. ;) Made me laugh!

[Cleopatra Narisse]

Welcome Mag!

[magnutz]

Welcome Mag!

 

Thanks! I am, right now, reading Lord of Chaos and drinking red wine. Not an unpleasant way to spend your time! On Monday I will get books 7-11 in the mail (got my hardbacks stored away). Until then I have approximately 200 pages left of LoC and almost as many (or few) pages left of New Spring (which I haven't read before).

 

Lovely times ahead! Too bad I can't seem to enjoy the character Perrin as much as I did "back in the good old days". He keeps on being woody. The rest s brilliant, most of the time eventhough I would have liked it if Rand had fried Mazrim Taim early on.. Oh well.. Looking forward to the paperbacks and especially book 11 which I haven't read yet. ;)

 

Edited for typos.

[Loreina]

The impatient silk-clad woman in front of her might have been a beauty if not for an unfortunate nose. - New Spring p. 81

 

Yea, I know what he means by that. I was walking down the hall one day at work, and in front of me was a gorgeous figure. I was green with envy until she turned around to say something to someone behind me. Bless her, she had more than an unfortunate nose. I'm so glad I have such a good poker face. It was quite a shock. Some of life's jokes just aren't funny.  :-\

 

And I agree about Perrin, if by woody you mean mentally dense. Though he's still a favorite of mine, I do sometimes want to slap him. Or Faile.

 

Raeyn, he did use some, and some Japanese, but mostly they were just 'like' words in those languages. Has anyone done a linguistic analysis of WoT languages?

 

 

[magnutz]

Yea, I know what he means by that. I was walking down the hall one day at work, and in front of me was a gorgeous figure. I was green with envy until she turned around to say something to someone behind me. Bless her, she had more than an unfortunate nose. I'm so glad I have such a good poker face. It was quite a shock. Some of life's jokes just aren't funny. 

 

I found that paragraph really hysterically funny and I, again, could almost see J.O.R Jr (R.J.) chuckling as he penned that. Perhaps even bouncing a little in his office chair.

 

I am a sucker for "jokes" like that and that is one of the reasons I love David Eddings' work, eventhough he writes for a younger audience. It surprised me to find one in J.O.R Jr's novels but if read closely there are some really good jokes in the WoT novels as well. ;) Well, that was unfair I guess. You don't have to read all that carefully to find the fun parts in WoT.  ;D

 

About the linguistics. I think most fantasy writers use words, phrases and idiomatic expressions from foreign languages in their work. To make the story/characters more exotic. R.J. does it very well and so does Raymond E. Feist, especially in the Empire trilogy. What separates the pros from the amateurs is the balance involved. You can't, in my opinion, riddle your story with exotic words and such because it the turns into .. crap. ;) You have to incorporate the foreign language influences with feeling. ;) R.J. did that so well, I think.

 

About doing research on the subject. It might be hard since the man with all the answers is sheltering in the Creator's hand. It would have been interesting to sit down with R.J. and talk about the linguistics involved, and also about the different cultures he used in the series. Over a cup of (insert favorite beverage here).

 

Oh well, I have to go back to my reading session. New Spring demands that I finish it ASAP! And on Monday I continue my re-reading of the WoT novels (if the new batch of paperbacks has come by then, that is.)  ;)

 

Magnutz out.

[Loreina]

About doing research on the subject. It might be hard since the man with all the answers is sheltering in the Creator's hand. It would have been interesting to sit down with R.J. and talk about the linguistics involved, and also about the different cultures he used in the series. Over a cup of (insert favorite beverage here).

 

Alas, too sadly true. But what I had in mind was an attempt to trace the words he used back to their parent languages. Much of it would have to be guesswork by necessity, but it could be informed guesswork, based on linguistic knowledge.  :)

 

May your reading go well! *waves bye*

[Winterwinds]

If I may say so, the answers are never far if one truly strives to find the answers. Though RJ has passed into the hall of heroes that is the next plain of existance, the answers were passed down in the form of his writing, in the form of his notes, and in those who were privileged to of heard him tell the stories in person. Perhaps, you may one day find yourself at a Wheel of Time convention, and by chance or a toss of the dice sit down next to someone who has those answers. Guesswork is the start, but in the end it comes down to who you might meet I think, for if you are looking for something, chances are, fate may spin it towards you.

My two cents on that I guess. 

[magnutz]

About doing research on the subject. It might be hard since the man with all the answers is sheltering in the Creator's hand. It would have been interesting to sit down with R.J. and talk about the linguistics involved, and also about the different cultures he used in the series. Over a cup of (insert favorite beverage here).

 

Alas, too sadly true. But what I had in mind was an attempt to trace the words he used back to their parent languages. Much of it would have to be guesswork by necessity, but it could be informed guesswork, based on linguistic knowledge.  :)

 

May your reading go well! *waves bye*

 

;) You are right. There can be work done with the text and it would be part guesswork and part research, tracing the words and expressions. That is how I would analyze Edgar Allan Poe's work (as I have done ;) ) or Shakespeare's (which I have done as well.. :) ) - The analysis (both of them) were based on the original texts and other people's research. So I agree, it can be done! ;) I would have liked to talk to the Source though, but we can't always get what we want!

 

Finished New Spring last night. That book surely left me "knowing" that there would be more prequels following NS since it left off just after Moiraine had bonded Lan. Oh well. Back to work for me.

 

Magnutz out

[magnutz]

If I may say so, the answers are never far if one truly strives to find the answers. Though RJ has passed into the hall of heroes that is the next plain of existance, the answers were passed down in the form of his writing, in the form of his notes, and in those who were privileged to of heard him tell the stories in person. Perhaps, you may one day find yourself at a Wheel of Time convention, and by chance or a toss of the dice sit down next to someone who has those answers. Guesswork is the start, but in the end it comes down to who you might meet I think, for if you are looking for something, chances are, fate may spin it towards you.

My two cents on that I guess. 

 

You are right, like Loreina! I won't repeat myself but see that post for my reply. :)

[magnutz]

Oh the horror!!  :o The postal service has proven to be a... Darkfriend!!! I am bookless tonight. The books didn't arrive as planned (as I planned) and I must re-read a few chapters from TFoH. Quite Ok though as I skipped parts when I read it last. ;)

[Cleopatra Narisse]

They are in my radar as part of my conpiracy theory... Watch out for "them."

 

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*squinty*

[magnutz]

Alas! The parcel containing the five books have arrived and I am reading already. ACoS: Love to read about Elaida being utterly stupid! ;)

[Corki]

It looks like I am jumping into an interesting convo, but welcome to DM! :)

 

I am sure if I had my books with me here in London I could see if RJ used any Latin or Ancient Greek words. I do know he used Selene, which means "moon" in ancient Greek.

[magnutz]

It looks like I am jumping into an interesting convo, but welcome to DM! :)

 

I am sure if I had my books with me here in London I could see if RJ used any Latin or Ancient Greek words. I do know he used Selene, which means "moon" in ancient Greek.

 

Thanks!

 

It feels like RJ borrowed from almost every language known to man, and also mixed some to make new! The arabic influences are many and I've come across serveral Russian sounding place names/names. It would be interesting to search the complete works and list all languages used/altered but that is a daunting task, to say the least.

 

I have now finished ACoS and am currently re-reading APoD. The books are better than I remember, which absolutely thrills me. ;) Can't wait to get off work so that I can go bak to Randland for a while. The stories do keep me up nights, when I probably should sleep but.. the yarn is way to compelling. ;)