Stuff Brandon says

[FarShainMael]

It's in TPoD27, but Min doesn't give any further details. 'Dying in bed' usually signifies a death from old age, but then again, he could die of some kind of disease which would confine him to bed.

[Feral]

Or he could get stabbed in bed... Or poisoned...

 

Basically it doesn't give us any certainties.

[Random Man]

Well, I've got nothing. Will keep rereading those chapters. Not sure if I can rule out "the Dark One's own luck" seieng as RJ commented on how it isn't just a saying, even though it's mentioned again in TFoH when Mat is tossing daggers blindfolded while drunk. Hm. Back to the pages.

[michael.clinton83]

So Brandon posted a few lines today on Twitter, WARNING THIS MAY BE CONSIDERED SPOILER (though I'm guessing if you're reading this thread, you're ok with him hinting at events that play out in AMoL).

 

This is what he said:

I find myself thinking "It's been forever since I wrote Perrin. I'll be glad to get back to him." Then I realize his sequence is done. Note that this isn't because Perrin isn't in the book much. (He is.) It's because I wrote his chapters first. It's odd, knowing that some characters have had their stories told, that no more will be written about them. You'll feel this next year.

 

I had to read this over a few times. After the first time through, my immediate reaction was "he just told us Perrin is only in the beginning of the book, and given his drifting thoughts I'd say it's pretty unlikely Perrin ends up dying. If you can't wait to get back to someone, they probably aren't dead, and if their story is done, they probably don't die."

 

That being said, I guess his quote could indicate that he's been writing chapters out of order, or that he simply meant he missed writing a chapter from Perrin's POV (he could be in chapters just from say Rand's POV). But he did say 'his story has been told', which brings me back to my initial point... I dunno, what do you guys think? Did anyone even really think RJ would stray from his traditional style and kill off one of our main characters anyways?

 

A side note, Brandon said within the last week or so that he was starting writing on the final climax of WoT. If Perrin's story has been told and he hasn't written Perrin in awhile, this makes me think Perrin doesn't have much to do with the final wrap-up. Perrin was one of my favorite characters in the first few books (then Faile happened) and I just always assumed the end would be a massive epic series of events and POV swaps (think the Cleansing or Dumai's Wells) of non-stop action with everyone coming together.

[Suttree]

Fairly certain I recall Brandon writes each characters chapters straight through and then pieces them together later...

[michael.clinton83]

Fairly certain I recall Brandon writes each characters chapters straight through and then pieces them together later...

 

Even still, the way I read it:

 

-He said he's writing the end of the book now

-He hasn't written Perrin in awhile

-Perrin's story is done

[Suttree]

Fairly certain I recall Brandon writes each characters chapters straight through and then pieces them together later...

 

Even still, the way I read it:

 

-He said he's writing the end of the book now

-He hasn't written Perrin in awhile

-Perrin's story is done

 

But we know the end was already written by RJ. Brandon's end isn't necessarily the end of the book. He may be approaching the finish for all that he has to write.

[sVieira151]

- 'Mat being followed by a man who was not there.' It is assumed that this is a Gray Man, but what if it isn't...? Particularly because Egwene thought Gray Man after the fact and didn't "just know" the answer.

 

I'm fairly sure this could mean the Gholam(sp? been a while since I've read)?

[Orderofolde]

I have to wonder if the CG has something to do with Perrin killing the Whitecloaks when he freed Gaul. It wasn't even a thought when Perrin was facing the trial that I could remember and I found it quite odd. He'd not only killed the Whitecloaks when Hopper was killed and him and Egwene were hiding from them, but in the town Remen (sp?) when they encounter the Hunters of the Horn and Faile watches him free Gaul from the crude iron cage even though Gaul killed most of them. Maybe that's one of the dropped details needed for wrapping the book up, Perrin didn't need all the internal struggle with thinking of withholding that info eating away at him, or maybe he thought of it and I just can't remember. I had this thought while half asleep listening to it in TDR.

[michael.clinton83]

But we know the end was already written by RJ. Brandon's end isn't necessarily the end of the book. He may be approaching the finish for all that he has to write.

 

First of all, RJ only wrote the last scene, not the entire end of the book. Second, the above quotes were from Oct 28th. That being said:

 

"Been coordinating heavily with Alan R. from Team Jordan on Last Battle tactics" (Oct 25) and "Okay, over the next two weeks, I'll write the final climatic scenes of the entire Wheel of Time. All save the last scene, which RJ did." (Oct 17)

 

I'd say that's about as clear as it gets that he's not merely approaching the last battle. He's writing it.

[Bob T Dwarf]

"Been coordinating heavily with Alan R. from Team Jordan on Last Battle tactics" (Oct 25) and "Okay, over the next two weeks, I'll write the final climatic scenes of the entire Wheel of Time. All save the last scene, which RJ did." (Oct 17)

 

I'd say that's about as clear as it gets that he's not merely approaching the last battle. He's writing it.

 

More like choreographing the dance so that all the right people are in all the right places for what Jordan already wrote.

 

Tricky stuff. Kinda like drilling a tunnel from both ends at once and getting both halves to meet perfectly. All he told us for sure is that Perrin is already in his assigned place on the dance floor. Whether that's horizontal or vertical, being still or dancing like mad...

[mbuehner]

I'd argue he means Perrin's story arc as a character is complete- he grew and struggled and learned and now he is who he is supposed to be. That doesn't mean he's dead, but it means he's done with the majority of his maturing from boy to man. I think if you met Perrin in 10 years (or 30) he'd be the same man you find at the end of TOM as far as his beliefs and sense of self (if he lives that long). Perrin's story was about coming to terms with the Wolves and with his role as a leader, he's now done both. Live or die in TG, it will be as that man.

 

And I just chuckled to myself remembering the White Cloaks Perrin killed rescuing Gaul- imagine having to explain that to Galad at some point 'Oh, btw, does your pardon extend to other dead whitecloaks? cuz ive been around for like 13 books now and it kinda just happens sometimes'.

[Leyrann]

*breaks in the discussion*

 

BS said this some time ago (10 days):

 

Joff Brown, I drew your name next. I made you into a city, actually.

 

I think this means we'll see another city. Where do you think it can be? I can only think of Seanchan (not so likely) or the Blight (which has been some discussion about, concerning the red-veiled Aiel).

[Leyrann]

And I just chuckled to myself remembering the White Cloaks Perrin killed rescuing Gaul- imagine having to explain that to Galad at some point 'Oh, btw, does your pardon extend to other dead whitecloaks? cuz ive been around for like 13 books now and it kinda just happens sometimes'.

 

I must say this is really funny.

 

Made me ROFL.

[michael.clinton83]

*breaks in the discussion*

 

BS said this some time ago (10 days):

 

Joff Brown, I drew your name next. I made you into a city, actually.

 

I think this means we'll see another city. Where do you think it can be? I can only think of Seanchan (not so likely) or the Blight (which has been some discussion about, concerning the red-veiled Aiel).

 

Not sure if it was this name or not, but there was a Tweet were he elaborated on a name he turned into a city and he said it was going to be in the Blight.

[michael.clinton83]

More like choreographing the dance so that all the right people are in all the right places for what Jordan already wrote.

 

Tricky stuff. Kinda like drilling a tunnel from both ends at once and getting both halves to meet perfectly. All he told us for sure is that Perrin is already in his assigned place on the dance floor. Whether that's horizontal or vertical, being still or dancing like mad...

 

Let me highlight a few lines from the original quote again.

 

It's been forever since I wrote Perrin... his sequence is done... some characters have had their stories told... no more will be written about them...

 

It's really hard for me to interpret this as "this just means he is who he is as a character now" or "it just means he's where he's supposed to be for when he gets included in the last battle".

 

He didn't dance around it. He said it flat out.

[Suttree]

First of all, RJ only wrote the last scene, not the entire end of the book.

 

Right and he very well could mean Perrin's arc is done up until that point as he writes each character separately.

 

 

He didn't dance around it. He said it flat out.

 

Regardless you are the only person interpreting it that way so it's not as clear cut as you would like to think.

[MarkDiLillo]

All it means is that all of the chapters from Perrin's POV are finished. It does not mean Perrin will not be in the story from someone elses POV.

[Finnssss22]

But we know the end was already written by RJ. Brandon's end isn't necessarily the end of the book. He may be approaching the finish for all that he has to write.

 

First of all, RJ only wrote the last scene, not the entire end of the book. Second, the above quotes were from Oct 28th. That being said:

 

"Been coordinating heavily with Alan R. from Team Jordan on Last Battle tactics" (Oct 25) and "Okay, over the next two weeks, I'll write the final climatic scenes of the entire Wheel of Time. All save the last scene, which RJ did." (Oct 17)

 

I'd say that's about as clear as it gets that he's not merely approaching the last battle. He's writing it.

 

Not true, BS said that RJ wrote the last 15-20% in whole as a rough draft. He is re-writing most of it except the last scene which he is leaving alone.

He had already been quoted as saying that once he gets to about the 80-85% mark, the rest will fly by because RJ already had that pretty much drafted.

 

It's been that way through out. Sometimes BS has only had outlines to go on and sometimes he has had full scenes to re-write, usually not more than a chapter or partial chapter here and there.

Like in ToM for example, BS said he had a lot of material and drafts of Mat's scenes but almost nothing but outlines for Perrin's.

The difference is that the last 15-20% was a completely done rough draft by RJ and all BS has to do is put it down in his style for the final draft.

[Sid]

It's pretty obvious that Brandon's done writing from Perrin's PoV, since he wrote Perrin's stuff first regardless of chronology. That's the way he writes. That isn't saying that Perrin dies early in the book or that he even dies at all.

 

'RJ's ending' was estimated by Brandon as approximately 10% of the book, or 30k words by his own 300k word estimate for AMoL. I took that to mean he could, for the most part, just dump that much into the end without much changes to it, or minor editing at most. 30k words is about the size of the Prologue of Lord of Chaos, so that's a good deal more than any typical scene. I suppose the last scene of WoT would be anything but typical, but it still seems like way too much for one scene.

[Randommer]

So, going way back in this thread, when BS mentioned that GRRM-esque death that was both awesome and sad, did Mierin spring to anyone else's mind? Like that maybe Rand finally has to kill her? That would be both awesome and sad, imo.

[Rcurran]

Not for me! Olver falling to his death, yes.

[b3arz3rg3r]

So, going way back in this thread, when BS mentioned that GRRM-esque death that was both awesome and sad, did Mierin spring to anyone else's mind? Like that maybe Rand finally has to kill her? That would be both awesome and sad, imo.

 

 

Mierin's death really wouldn't be very sad for most of us. Even if Rand is the one who does the mercy-killing, which it no doubt would be.

 

If I were to make a list of characters capable of dying in an awesome and sad way and who do not have any plot protection preventing them from doing so it would be full of people like Gawyn, Min, Gareth and Siuan, Moiraine and Thom or even Lan and Nynaeve. The greatest tearjerker is to watch a character who has struggled long and who finally overcame hardship to get a chance at happiness die prematurely. So all those fresh couples we were given in the last few books are the ones most at risk in my opinion. And Min, cause she could never see her own future.

[Bob T Dwarf]

So, going way back in this thread, when BS mentioned that GRRM-esque death that was both awesome and sad, did Mierin spring to anyone else's mind? Like that maybe Rand finally has to kill her? That would be both awesome and sad, imo.

 

 

Mierin's death really wouldn't be very sad for most of us. Even if Rand is the one who does the mercy-killing, which it no doubt would be.

 

If I were to make a list of characters capable of dying in an awesome and sad way and who do not have any plot protection preventing them from doing so it would be full of people like Gawyn, Min, Gareth and Siuan, Moiraine and Thom or even Lan and Nynaeve. The greatest tearjerker is to watch a character who has struggled long and who finally overcame hardship to get a chance at happiness die prematurely. So all those fresh couples we were given in the last few books are the ones most at risk in my opinion. And Min, cause she could never see her own future.

 

Apologies. All I know about George R. R. Martin is that he is another author with a seemingly unending series underway, and that he likes to kill off characters just as the reader becomes fond of them.

 

Therefore my impression about what may be "GRRMesque" about any upcoming deaths may be way off - but - one of the things that just happened is that dear, sweet Olver, who everybody seems so fond of just revealed himself to be a total sociopath. So my guess is that it won't be so much who gets killed but who ( Olver ) does the killing, or at least tries to. If he should happen to choose Mat as his target - something that was in his thoughts, I believe - then it may be Olver who does the dying.

 

Despite how fond so many are of Mat, he's still very selfish and very wet behind the ears. Being forced to kill Olver may finally finish growing him up, something that has been needed for a very long time now. Sad if that's what it takes, but the harder Mat tries to remain Peter Pan the harsher his introduction to reality is going to be.

[Sid]

Interesting Tweets from Brandon:

 

'Wheel of time fans. Big news for you. We are going to do a great hunt this tour. Details to come on my website soon.'

2 hours ago

 

'I will give out the first Great Hunt Code at the midnight release tonight. I will tweet how you can get it soon.'

1 hour ago