Another beginner's question

[Everybody Loves Hypnotoad]

Does the Wheel of Time universe have a name? I'm currently halfway through The Shadow Rising and I haven't seen any name given to the world. Is it named later or does it remain unnamed throughout the series?

[Blood and Ashes]

It's never really named. It's commonly called Randland though.

[jemron]

Earth.

 

RJ said that the 3rd Age is just one of the seven turnings of the Wheel, and that our current time is just one of those ages. The WoT is supposed to be taking place on Earth.

[Everybody Loves Hypnotoad]

Earth.

 

RJ said that the 3rd Age is just one of the seven turnings of the Wheel, and that our current time is just one of those ages. The WoT is supposed to be taking place on Earth.

 

 

That would explain why so many of their legends are based on (or the basis for?) our own. I always liked this theory but I didn't know if it was the official interpretation.

[Dakota]

Earth.

 

RJ said that the 3rd Age is just one of the seven turnings of the Wheel, and that our current time is just one of those ages. The WoT is supposed to be taking place on Earth.

 

 

That would explain why so many of their legends are based on (or the basis for?) our own. I always liked this theory but I didn't know if it was the official interpretation.

 

Having said that, the inhabitants of 'Randland' do have a name for their continent (essentially, the known world prior to the discovery of Seandar). I remember hearing somewhere that this name will be revealed before the end of the series

[Sid]

The continent where all the action happens is called the Westlands.

[Red2111]

Sid, that sounds more like A Song of Fire & Ice tbh. i can't recall that term being used. i'm on re-read of the series so i'll keep a watch out if there is one. i suspect if there is one, it would come froma convo with a Seanchan.

[Mongoose]

I'm not sure where it gets mentioned, but I too recall it being referred to as the Westlands at one poing.

 

As for the world being Earth, if RJ says so, it must be so.. but to me it makes absolutely no sense at all.

[Agitel]

Well, the story we're reading is supposed to be the inspiration for many of the old religious mythologies. The Norse mythology is there the strongest, perhaps. But the Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions are represented as well (old War in Heaven stuff). Also, at the same time, this story is about the Apocalypse and Ragnarok and the final confrontation between the good and the bad. The idea makes sense. You just have to take off your science-hat when it comes to things like evolution and linear time while reading.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Well, the story we're reading is supposed to be the inspiration for many of the old religious mythologies.

 

vice versa, i think

[Sid]

Sid, that sounds more like A Song of Fire & Ice tbh. i can't recall that term being used. i'm on re-read of the series so i'll keep a watch out if there is one. i suspect if there is one, it would come froma convo with a Seanchan.

It was never used in the books, but I remember someone saying that's what RJ called the continent (or their part of the continent) in an interview or Q/A. Of course now that I'm trying to find a quote I can't...

 

ASoIaF takes place in Westeros.

[jemron]

Where's Terez when we need her?

[Mongoose]

Well I mean of course I see all the similarities. Through it's pretty clear there's no One Power turning our universe, and while civilizations rise and fall and we have had a few different 'Ages', we pretty distinctly have linear rather than cyclical time.

 

 

Maybe we're a Portal Stone World.

 

 

[Agitel]

Well, the story we're reading is supposed to be the inspiration for many of the old religious mythologies.

 

vice versa, i think

 

 

Both ways are right, given circular time and all.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

i think time can be circular and linear at the same time, and in the WOT, i think it is.

 

the wheels on the bus go round and round, but the bus started somewhere and will stop somewhere.

 

i think the allusions to modern history among the WOT's ancient myths indicate that the age written of in the WOT is far in the future from our own.

 

i don't believe WOT time just keeps repeating itself in an infinite loop. i think time cylces through similar ages over and over, but the specific events do not simply repeat themselves. rather, similar events occur, in similar ways, at similar stages, and ages, of the wheel's revolution.

 

um, there are people with better words for this. i know what i mean, but i'm not sure i can express it well enough for you to know what i mean, sorry.

[Agitel]

i think time can be circular and linear at the same time, and in the WOT, i think it is.

 

the wheels on the bus go round and round, but the bus started somewhere and will stop somewhere.

 

i think the allusions to modern history among the WOT's ancient myths indicate that the age written of in the WOT is far in the future from our own.

 

i don't believe WOT time just keeps repeating itself in an infinite loop. i think time cylces through similar ages over and over, but the specific events do not simply repeat themselves. rather, similar events occur, in similar ways, at similar stages, and ages, of the wheel's revolution.

 

um, there are people with better words for this. i know what i mean, but i'm not sure i can express it well enough for you to know what i mean, sorry.

 

Oh, I agree with you. I don't hold that every turning is a carbon-copy of the previous turning. It's the very broad strokes of an Age that the Wheel aims for, not the minute ones.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

and i see your point about it working both ways, now that i think of it.

 

it makes me cross-eyed to think of it, though.

[Timp13]

This is probably getting way too literal, but. . . if this is supposed to be happening on Earth, the continent that looks most like Randland is Australia, right? See this picture

[Cillian]

This is probably getting way too literal, but. . . if this is supposed to be happening on Earth, the continent that looks most like Randland is Australia, right? See this picture

 

It would be Europe actually, with Seanchan being the Americas, Shara would be Asia & Africa & India are completely gone. The Land of Madmen would be Australia or maybe Antarctica.

 

Keep in mind events like the Breaking where mountain ranges rose, oceans disappeared, etc,..

 

There was actually a poster on here who overlayed the WoT map with a real world map, I'll see if I can find it.

 

 

EDIT: That map overlay thing must have been the website change over, can't find it.

 

This is the best WoT world map I can find.

[Agitel]

This is probably getting way too literal, but. . . if this is supposed to be happening on Earth, the continent that looks most like Randland is Australia, right? See this picture

 

It would be Europe actually, with Seanchan being the Americas, Shara would be Asia & Africa & India are completely gone. The Land of Madmen would be Australia or maybe Antarctica.

 

Keep in mind events like the Breaking where mountain ranges rose, oceans disappeared, etc,..

 

There was actually a poster on here who overlayed the WoT map with a real world map, I'll see if I can find it.

 

 

EDIT: That map overlay thing must have been the website change over, can't find it.

 

This is the best WoT world map I can find.

I think you're referring to one of my old posts. It still exists, I linked to it the other day. When I'm not posting from my phone I'll find it again.

[Senexx]

i think time can be circular and linear at the same time, and in the WOT, i think it is.

 

 

 

It's a small thing for me to add but I believe we call that a spiral.

[UGAShadow]

It's Earth. RJ even included some of our famous events/people as legends. See Mosk and Merc.

[Agitel]

Is this the post with the map comparisons mentioned?

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/41579-the-wot-world-compared-to-the-world-of-the-first-age-our-world/page__p__1206540__fromsearch__1#entry1206540

 

I suggest looking through the whole topic. I'd like to do a more thorough analysis at some point. I feel it could be greatly improved upon and some things corrected.

[Mongoose]

i think time can be circular and linear at the same time, and in the WOT, i think it is.

 

the wheels on the bus go round and round, but the bus started somewhere and will stop somewhere.

 

I just don't really feel we've had distinct Ages like Randland has.

 

Unless you believe ina cycle of Big Crunch-Big Bang in which case the universe is destroyed over and over and an Earth is made every time

 

The matter from one Age would be converrted to energy and back into matter again..

 

It's Earth. RJ even included some of our famous events/people as legends. See Mosk and Merc.

 

I've never heard of Mosk and Merc, though Perrin, Mat and Rand were all arguably based on various dieties, and the Heroes of the Horn were ostensibly supposed to be based on legends or more properly archetypes of our own world).

 

But lots of fantasy series do this, or rather Tolkien based his stories on Norse and British legends and myths, and while some fantasy authors have tried in varying measure to stray from this, it is arguably the root of fantasy.

 

I'm really not trying to be argumentative, or a stick in the mud, I guess I just have a lower threshold of disbelief. I can see how WoT is supposed to be Earth or more precisely a Prtal Stone variant.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

i think time can be circular and linear at the same time, and in the WOT, i think it is.

 

the wheels on the bus go round and round, but the bus started somewhere and will stop somewhere.

 

I just don't really feel we've had distinct Ages like Randland has.

 

Unless you believe ina cycle of Big Crunch-Big Bang in which case the universe is destroyed over and over and an Earth is made every time

 

The matter from one Age would be converrted to energy and back into matter again..

 

It's Earth. RJ even included some of our famous events/people as legends. See Mosk and Merc.

 

I've never heard of Mosk and Merc, though Perrin, Mat and Rand were all arguably based on various dieties, and the Heroes of the Horn were ostensibly supposed to be based on legends or more properly archetypes of our own world).

 

But lots of fantasy series do this, or rather Tolkien based his stories on Norse and British legends and myths, and while some fantasy authors have tried in varying measure to stray from this, it is arguably the root of fantasy.

 

I'm really not trying to be argumentative, or a stick in the mud, I guess I just have a lower threshold of disbelief. I can see how WoT is supposed to be Earth or more precisely a Prtal Stone variant.

 

 

re distinct ages - i think the idea is the series of dark ages we have punctuated by times of apparent enlightenment, like, say, JC, darkness, arthur, darkness, modern industrial society, impending apocalypse, darkness.

 

mosk and merc, fighting with lances of fire, are moscow and america, fighting with ICBMs. there are refernces to lenn (glenn, get it?) who went to the moon via eagle (which does mix up some of the details of the space program, to be expected thousands of years in the future, but which can refer to nothing else). and sally ride. and ann landers (anla, wise counselor) etc. these bits, i have found, are compiled elsewhere on the interwebz (someone helpful will provide a link, i am being attacked by cats on the keyboard, sorry), but i saw them plainly from my first read.

 

i'm pretty sure someone will dig you up a quote or two where RJ confirmed this all.

 

no energy to argue, here. there are 70 faces to the torah, and at least that many to the WOT, so you see it your way, and i'll still see it mine.