Questions about a Theory in Time

[hardlyaaron]

Robert Jordan stated that one of his influences for the workings of Time in the Wheel of Time was the idea behind Hindu/Buddhist beliefs that time is circular. He clearly portrayed this throughout the series, dead heroes coming back, the Dragon Reborn, and Ishamael talking of their countless fights throughout time.

 

Now what I ask is this, if time is circular and this has happened before and will again, then why? Why tell this particular story out of all of them? Was RJ supporting the idea or is he in fact in his own way going to disprove Time being a wheel for his universe by perhaps this being the true "Last Battle"? I would like to think that the end would not just be sealing off the portal from the Dark One, but perhaps the death of him altogether. Perhaps disproving the way many people believe their world is shaped, maybe they'll finally realize that the world is not flat(That is a metaphor, I'm sure they don't actually believe their world is flat -.-).

 

Comments please...

[Luckers]

My understanding is that the Wheel is more akin to the concept of kalpass than it is to a cycle--effecivelly that it is a spyral, each circle encompasses what happened befor, and mirrors it, yet grows from it with slight change allowing for evolution between each turning.

[hardlyaaron]

I'm merely going by what I heard in an interview from Robert Jordan and supporting clues from the series(Heroes being rolled out throughout time and the Dark One attempting to break free and being resealed numerous times being the best examples). He said that time was circular and that it would repeat itself, granted yes there are slight changes to the pattern, but things are still basically the same The Dark One tries to break free, the Dragon stands against him(I do remember sometimes he doesn't but it doesn't necessarily clarify how they overcame that, betrayal to the Dark One by the Dragon perhaps?) nevertheless each time the Dragon defeats them, I'd assume with help from the heroes of the horn.

 

I'd assume the Kalpa(I believe that is what you are talking about as I could find nothing on "Kalpass") is what Jordan got this from. His ideas came from various Eastern and Western Ideals and Mythologies as I'm sure everyone knows already. The Kalpa is from the Buddhist belief of time and how time actually works. All I suggest is the possibility that the reason that we are being told this story is because this cycle, this spiral as you called it, is going to change dramatically. I believe that the end will be something that causes their belief in the Wheel to falter, perhaps leading them to believe what much of our world believes that time is actually linear.

[MatsLuck]

RJ said in the interview that in circular time real change is impossible, and that it was the Greeks who gave us the "gift" of linear time where we can affect real change. I have speculated on the possibility of Rand or the DO breaking the wheel at the end. I suppose anything is possible, and I think it would eliminate channelling from the picture. But I doubt it. I would be pretty surprised if that happened. I think, while the wheel might seem endlessly oppressive, it works for the story and I'd be surprised if that changed. Another thing he said in that interview was that he wanted to work in that type of world to explore his ideas about the truth behind myths, legends, etc. How things change over time and space. So that our history is the basis of Randland legends and vice versa. One of my favorite concepts of the series.

 

As far as why tell this story, probably just because its a damn good one and the one that was in his head. Don't think you need to look any deeper than that.

[hardlyaaron]

RJ said in the interview that in circular time real change is impossible, and that it was the Greeks who gave us the "gift" of linear time where we can affect real change. I have speculated on the possibility of Rand or the DO breaking the wheel at the end. I suppose anything is possible, and I think it would eliminate channelling from the picture. But I doubt it. I would be pretty surprised if that happened. I think, while the wheel might seem endlessly oppressive, it works for the story and I'd be surprised if that changed. Another thing he said in that interview was that he wanted to work in that type of world to explore his ideas about the truth behind myths, legends, etc. How things change over time and space. So that our history is the basis of Randland legends and vice versa. One of my favorite concepts of the series.

 

As far as why tell this story, probably just because its a damn good one and the one that was in his head. Don't think you need to look any deeper than that.

 

Haha well at least you remembered the whole quote, I just moved and couldn't find my Audiobooks anywhere so I couldn't remember all of it. I just remember being intrigued as to whether or not he would be trying to break the wheel, but you cleared that up for me pretty well. TBH I think I also would be surprised and slightly disappointed to see it end that way, was just something I had been thinking over once I'd heard it. To have it end with the DO destroyed and all would make it seem like a fairy tale and hooray the good guys win, but one thing I think RJ wanted was to differ himself from stuff like Lord of the Rings. He has thus far in the series done a good job of having his events and characters feel very much real, as though this has happened before. I admit actually that I'm hoping it's something, while not exactly the same, but very close to Lucker's idea about how events will unfold.