What does it Look like in your Mind?

[Arc]

I was cleaning the other day and stumbled across some old scetches of mine. I know these 5min.-instant-drawings are nothing compared to some great pics and portrays which are found across the web and on various fan sites. Still, I was wondering what other readers see while reading, so I posted some of my scetches. I think it's suposed to be a street in Bandar Eban, an Impression of an Aiel settlement, the Andoran Palace, Sunpalace and a view of WT.

Anyway, They're just some pencil strokes on a sheet of paper, so I figured anybody could do that, feel free to share your own .

 

Most of the time, readers associate things they already know, or things they've already seen with the stuff they're reading. that's why my White tower looks quite a bit like the Tower of 'The Imperial city' from the RPG game 'Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion', and it suprises me every time when I see fan art with a square tower, it just doesn't seem right to me.

So the purpose of this topic is to gather opinions on what specific places, buildings, etc. look like in their minds. I'm especially curious about the WT, since it is so often described as, magnific and such. It also has inner-courtyards (like the one in the novice quarter), training grounds, ... it can't just be one tower right? Have people already tried creating a groundplan for the WT?

Or what about the Palace in Caemlyn or Carhien? There is so much corridor and hallway walking I wonder how you would visualize the building.

Since RJ had such a great descriptive style this shouldn't be to hard.

 

be my guest,

 

[htarcan]

nice idea. I draw terrible, but I will try to visualize my ideas of the places when I have time and post them here.

[Canis Rufus]

I had always thought of it a round too until I saw a pic that had it as a square. I am not sure if it was WOT supported or not but it just looked weird to me. When they are discribing the inside I swear the say Spiral Stairs and curved walls and the like. Though I can't support this with a quote right now it is how I seem to remember it.

[blazetheearth]

There is a picture that is supposed to be of the WT on pg 93 in the BBoBA (BWB, or The World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time) and in it the WT is depicted as squareish. And since his name is on the cover, I have to think that RJ agreed with the various images used in it.

 

But there is a fan pic of Tar Valon here which shows the WT as round.

 

The really funny part is if you look at the original map of TV, there is a part of the city that is clearly supposed to be the WT grounds, and in the center of those grounds there is a circle that is obviously meant to represent the WT. here's a pic of the map.

[mb]

These things have some influence on how I see places of the books::

-the published maps

-the paperback covers

-the guide

 

White Tower, I think I agree with the guide's picture (page 93 in my copy).

[Beidomon]

I'm pretty sure in one of the early books, maybe TDR when the girls are in the Tower, it talks about the hallways curving upward or spiraling. It's also drawn as a circle on the published map. It's circular.

[Canis Rufus]

Yeah the BBoBA (BWB, or The World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time), was done with RJ's permission not by RJ and clearly states that it is an interpretation in which some things may be wrong. I don't think that makes that pic 'Law.' but rather one interpretation of it. I’ll grant that it give the argument heavy credence but there is still a margin for error.

 

However, with that said I find it odd that they would represent the interior with spirals and curves, have a wheel as the overall theme and then turn around and have one of the most important structures Square. Just doesn’t make sense to me.

[thevillagecouncil]

I'm probably one in a million here. I play this video game called age of wonders, and cities can be upgraded with a wizard tower and ever since that's the image that's come to my mind when I think of the white tower.

 

http://aow.heavengames.com/pics/aow2caps/FreezeWater_lg.jpg

[htarcan]

the link is broken village council.

 

today I read a chapter of ToM (yes a little spoiler here).

It was describing cairhien as with square shaped buildings and a square tower in the city.

At the same times it mentions that this city is not beautiful like caemlyn or tar valon.

 

well, not a proof but a hint at least..

[thevillagecouncil]

the link is broken village council.

 

today I read a chapter of ToM (yes a little spoiler here).

It was describing cairhien as with square shaped buildings and a square tower in the city.

At the same times it mentions that this city is not beautiful like caemlyn or tar valon.

 

well, not a proof but a hint at least..

 

just fixed the link

[Ananta]

the link is broken village council.

 

today I read a chapter of ToM (yes a little spoiler here).

It was describing cairhien as with square shaped buildings and a square tower in the city.

At the same times it mentions that this city is not beautiful like caemlyn or tar valon.

 

well, not a proof but a hint at least..

 

just fixed the link

 

All I get from the link is:

 

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /pics/aow2caps/FreezeWater_lg.jpg on this server."

 

 

EDIT: In my mind, White Tower is round.

[Canis Rufus]

the link is broken village council.

 

today I read a chapter of ToM (yes a little spoiler here).

It was describing cairhien as with square shaped buildings and a square tower in the city.

At the same times it mentions that this city is not beautiful like caemlyn or tar valon.

 

well, not a proof but a hint at least..

 

just fixed the link

 

All I get from the link is:

 

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /pics/aow2caps/FreezeWater_lg.jpg on this server."

 

 

EDIT: In my mind, White Tower is round.

 

 

Someone is using a work PC... (this is likely a security setting for your companies servers.)

[htarcan]

same message for me too. I dont have any security settings to prevent anything.

anyway I think a mod should bump in and delete these messages which have begun to make an irrelevant mess here :))

[Toad]

I've always imagined the White Tower to look like a gigantic white rook in chess. A square White Tower just seems really weird to me.

[coolpool]

I have always imagined it as squarish, like a tower with not broken peaks but side towers an almost streched out, jaged pyrimid-like streached catherdral or a square quarts crystal with lots of powerful intimidateing straight lines and bright white walls. This way, the amirliyn has her own privet viewing garden. Round seems very odd to me, and makes me think of a ripunsle (excuss my spelling) tower and that just seems wrong...

 

I imagine a tower a bit like a mixture of these two pictures though the second picture looks nothing like the white tower, but it has that raising muliti-tower look about it...

 

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs27/f/2008/147/d/b/Crystal_Tower_by_m_comfort.jpg&imgrefurl=http://m-comfort.deviantart.com/art/Crystal-Tower-86777752&usg=__H7gONQuEG-MQ6jLr3P19TfMoebI=&h=544&w=405&sz=42&hl=en&start=147&zoom=1&tbnid=vHfjYlQCEtEYxM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=111&ei=U19NTZWxEOOS4gabn6SoCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcrystal%2Btower%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1272%26bih%3D719%26tbs%3Disch:11%2C2575&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=379&oei=qF5NTZyiLMyAhQey8NykDg&esq=24&page=6&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:147&tx=65&ty=12&biw=1272&bih=719

 

 

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.innerhealingtherapies.co.uk/assets/images/crystal-tower.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.innerhealingtherapies.co.uk/html/atlantis.html&usg=__jilJcYTGGvzxC9PFxlgrG8ohC2A=&h=768&w=1024&sz=107&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=7eVD_RfUyOVwKM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=181&ei=lF9NTb-TJoat4QbVjNCnCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcrystal%2Btower%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1272%26bih%3D719%26tbs%3Disch:11%2C0&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=820&oei=qF5NTZyiLMyAhQey8NykDg&esq=26&page=1&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=91&ty=73&biw=1272&bih=719

[htarcan]

I have always imagined it as squarish, like a tower with not broken peaks but side towers an almost streched out, jaged pyrimid-like streached catherdral or a square quarts crystal with lots of powerful intimidateing straight lines and bright white walls. This way, the amirliyn has her own privet viewing garden. Round seems very odd to me, and makes me think of a ripunsle (excuss my spelling) tower and that just seems wrong...

 

I imagine a tower a bit like a mixture of these two pictures though the second picture looks nothing like the white tower, but it has that raising muliti-tower look about it...

 

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs27/f/2008/147/d/b/Crystal_Tower_by_m_comfort.jpg&imgrefurl=http://m-comfort.deviantart.com/art/Crystal-Tower-86777752&usg=__H7gONQuEG-MQ6jLr3P19TfMoebI=&h=544&w=405&sz=42&hl=en&start=147&zoom=1&tbnid=vHfjYlQCEtEYxM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=111&ei=U19NTZWxEOOS4gabn6SoCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcrystal%2Btower%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1272%26bih%3D719%26tbs%3Disch:11%2C2575&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=379&oei=qF5NTZyiLMyAhQey8NykDg&esq=24&page=6&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:147&tx=65&ty=12&biw=1272&bih=719

 

 

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.innerhealingtherapies.co.uk/assets/images/crystal-tower.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.innerhealingtherapies.co.uk/html/atlantis.html&usg=__jilJcYTGGvzxC9PFxlgrG8ohC2A=&h=768&w=1024&sz=107&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=7eVD_RfUyOVwKM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=181&ei=lF9NTb-TJoat4QbVjNCnCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcrystal%2Btower%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1272%26bih%3D719%26tbs%3Disch:11%2C0&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=820&oei=qF5NTZyiLMyAhQey8NykDg&esq=26&page=1&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=91&ty=73&biw=1272&bih=719

 

 

White Tower is a symbol of unity. Thus, it must be of one piece, unlike the first picture.

[mpk22]

This is hardly dispositive, but I found my old copy of the Wheel of Time PC game (who knew it would still run?) and the Tower is round with a point at the top, with an "outrigger" on the side. Whether or not that's what it really is supposed to look like, I always figured round for the same reason as others here: the spiral staircases and such.

[Twitchy]

Always thought of the WT as a giant cylinder with a Taj Mahal (sp) like dome on the top.

[Beidomon]

Again, it's a round tower. Several references in the books to spiraling, continuous hallways. That means round.

 

Also, we know it's got a flat, open top because there are at least a few scenes or occurences on top of the tower.

[Rahien]

 

 

Most of the time, readers associate things they already know, or things they've already seen with the stuff they're reading. that's why my White tower looks quite a bit like the Tower of 'The Imperial city' from the RPG game 'Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion', and it suprises me every time when I see fan art with a square tower, it just doesn't seem right to me.

 

 

 

 

I totally agree about Oblivion influencing how I view Randland although it goes a bit further than the Tower . Even though RJ described all the cities in such detail I can't but help slip into picturing them in a similar way to the different environments from the game. Throw a few more colourful buildings in et voila!

 

I've always wanted to try put down on paper what I imagined everything to look like so maybe now's the time. Thanks for the inspiration boost!