Shara

[Guest Nic_S72]

There is one question I've had about this book since the beginning... what's the deal with Shara?? Please comment.

[Goramier]

Here is my take on Shara:

 

RJ added it as a land of mystery so to speak. He could reference it for different purposes but the basic idea was that it was a land clouded in mystery. It was also meant to intrigue the reader and keep them guessing. RJ had said that he never intended to dive to deeply into the lands and as you have read in the story, he affectively walled it off from the reader. We get a few glimpses here and there but it is meant to captivate the reader, nothing more. If your good, and pay attention you will notice several references in the books about Shara's people coming into Randland.

 

There is one scene where a guy discusses silk coming from worms. He is from Shara. If your not paying attention you will miss it. Everyone in Randland thinks silk comes from trees and it was stated earlier that silk came from Shara...the silk path.

 

I think Shara is basically just meant to give more weight to RJ's world, to add a few tidbits of info meant to be mysterious and to keep the reader interested. It also expands the world. We know there is more in the world then what is on the map but RJ spends so much time just in Randland he purposefully left Shara and the lands beyond to our own thoughts and imagination.

 

I think the Land of Madmen is even cooler than Shara.

[mb]

what's the deal with Shara?

That is a vague question.

 

 

This page talks about the place::

http://encyclopaedia-wot.org/geography/shara/index.html

[kght22]

i find it funny that the game moridin is playing has a very similar name. but based on what both jordan and sanderson have said, shara wont play an important role in the last battle.

[mb]

Robert Jordan told that there would be no visits to Shara.

There are no plans to visit Seanchan in any greater extent than it already has been visited, and there are not going to be any visits to Shara either.

http://13depository.blogspot.com/2009/03/plots-characters-and-wheel-of-time.html

 

Could you provide (link to & quote) the Sanderson comment?

[Bromo Sapien]

Shara just fills out the world. All of the countries of Randland are based on modern day European (Plus Two Rivers=American South) countries (obviously) and I think Jordan added Shara and the Land of the Madmen simply to show that there is more to the world and that those countries connect to the world we know as well. Shara is meant to represent China around the 12th centrury or so. Both are isolated and mysterious to the world, separated from the mainland by a large mountain range on the edge of continent and then a large desert (Aiel Waste/Middle East). I think the silk speaks for itself.

 

The Land of the Madmen is a reference to the Australian penal colonies, I believe.

 

More connections can be seen in the WOTFAQ