Robert Jordan wrote many words in all of his books, but did you know he wrote blog posts too?

Dragonmount was the home to Robert Jordan's blog when he was alive, sharing his thoughts as he proceeded through the creation of the series. 

Who knew that here in 2025 we would be honored to host additional unpublished words that he wrote.

Today is a very special day because it is Tom Doherty and TOR's birthday! TOR is the publishing house that has published all of Robert Jordan's books and Tom Doherty is the founder of TOR.

As a birthday present, we have been gifted a previously unpublished letter to Tom Doherty from Robert Jordan written in 2005.

And we gift this to you, dear reader, to celebrate Tom's 90th birthday.

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With the exception of one book with Dell, and one with Popham Press, my wife’s imprint, all my books have been published by Tom Doherty.  Come to think of it, Popham Press was distributed by Ace when Tom was publisher there, so he was (at the least) the distributor of that one, too.   And he reprinted both of those books later, at Tor.  In fact, I guess you could say it’s been a clean sweep.  Excluding a handful of short pieces, Tom has published everything I’ve ever written.  That isn’t by accident.

 

I first met Tom in offices that very much resembled the publishing office in Kavalier and Clay.  Yes, they did.  The old Zazy Building, in Manhattan, with its old-fashioned, wall-less freight elevator that we used about as often as we used the main elevator because that was only intermittently in service.  But then, the freight elevator had a habit of getting stuck between floors, too.  Of course, sometimes you got to ride up with models on their way to a garment business that occupied one floor.  There was a doorman, or at least a guy who sat in the lobby wearing a jacket and tie, and on several occasions he decided to go out to lunch and lock the lobby, leaving anybody who was outside at the time to wait on the street for his return.  There were a number of greasy spoons, or very nearly, in the area, but the best food was actually at a strip club about a block away.  That should tell you something.  Who says you can always find a good restaurant in New York?

 

The offices were tiny.  Of course, when the people filming the Jack Nicholson movie “Wolf” came to look at Tom’s current office in the Flat Iron Building so they could make Jack’s office in the movie look “real,” they were shocked.  It is MUCH bigger than that first office I saw him in, where you walked in the door and took one step to reach the chair in front of his desk, with just room behind it for his chair and some bookshelves, but it seems that in Hollywood, the fourth assistant to the second assistant best boy has larger, so you know how small that original office was.  Real Kavalier and Clay stuff.  The bookshelves often fell off the walls, too.

 

Tom ran an open office.  Not open in the sense used today of no walls, but a place where writers were welcome to drop by any time and hang around as long as they wanted to, chat with the editors, drink coffee and shmooze.  He still does.  You’d be surprised how few publishers – or editors! – want writers around any more than they absolutely have to put up with, but Tom likes writers, likes to be around them.  There are reasons that every writer I know likes Tom in return and enjoys working with him more than working with any other publisher in the business.  Of course, if you hung around the office long enough, you’d end up reading slush.  That’s unagented submissions, for the three of you who don’t already know, and a more dire task than reading slush cannot be envisioned short of Dante’s seventh circle.  But we liked to hang around, so we read.  Hey, maybe you’d find a diamond in all that dross.  Then again, no way.  That’s how I met John M. Ford, Mike Ford, who became a close friend.  We were reading slush for Tom.  I met some other friends there that way.  There were always three or four of us, sometimes eight or ten.  A mini-con for writers only.  I wouldn’t be surprised if writers who hang around the present Tor offices find themselves doing the same.

 

There was one other thing about those old offices that I, and every writer I know who visited them, liked immensely.  You could walk into Tom’s office, pitch a book, and if he liked your idea, the two of you would walk down to the contracts department – one woman, a door down from Tom – where you signed the contract, then walked one more door down to get the check cut for your signature money.  I remember pitching The Wheel of Time to him in that office.  He scribbled a number on a piece of paper, asked me what I thought of that, and we walked down the hall.  I doubt it could be done that way today, but Tom has kept the feel such that you believe it could.  There are reasons every writer I know....

 

From the beginning, I liked Tom.  He is always smiling, always upbeat.  I have never seen him frown, never seen him angry.  “Life is too short for that,” he tells me.  He laughs at my jokes, and always did.  That is an endearing trait in anybody.  He knows more about publishing than anybody I’ve ever met, including my wife, and that’s saying something since Harriet has forgotten more about publishing than most people in the industry know.  He’s always willing to try something new, new ways of marketing, new kinds of books.  It was Tom who came up with the idea of printing nearly the first half of The Eye of the World and giving it away for free.  Not free with the purchase of another Tor book.  Not a few sample chapters.  Almost the entire first half of the book, stacked beside the cash register, pick one up and take it away.  Any other publisher hearing me pitch, not a trilogy, but something that would run to five or maybe six volumes – that’s how long I thought it would be back then – would have tossed me out on my ear, or maybe said, “I’ll take the first book, and we’ll see what comes of it.”  Tom said, “I’ll make it a contract for six books.  If it comes in at five, you can do something else for the sixth book.  I like the way you write.”

 

Barry Sadler, of “Ballad of the Green Beret” fame and author of a number of adventure novels, once said to me, “Tom Doherty is best of breed.”  It’s true.  I cannot imagine a better publisher, or a better friend.  It has been nearly twenty-five years that we have worked together.  I hope there will be that many more.  At least.

 

– Robert Jordan

Happy Birthday, Mr. Doherty. Thank you for everything you have done for The Wheel of Time. And thank you to Robert from Tor for sharing this letter with us and to Harriet for allowing us to publish this.

I Rolled a 20 on the Random Article table.

Ah, the Wheel of Time, a tapestry of epic proportions spun by the brilliant Robert Jordan. It's a world we've all come to adore, one that has touched our souls with its grandeur. But I have never entered it so deeply as when I first played a RPG session set in the lands of the Dragon Reborn. 

Bienvenidos, my fellow travelers, to an article about the Wizards of the Coast Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game, a forgotten game that has recently resurfaced into my mind and that I believe both old aficionados and curious newcomers will find just as amusing as myself.

Why write about it now?

Personally, I find it intriguing to see how different people deal with Jordan's work, just as Rafe is doing and Brandon has done in the past. Some things in this book are just as interesting to analyze. Whether you're an old fan or a curious newcomer, the Wheel of Time RPG offers a chance to experience Jordan's world in a different way. Even if this way is through the lens of 2000s game designers not as well versed in Jordan’s universe as us diehard fans.

As I revisit this unique RPG, I realize that some of the first images and art from the series I saw came from it, something I didn't remember at all. The first image of an Ogier that I experienced came from this book, and I only realize it now by revisiting it. Maybe that's also the case for some of you. This alone is another reason to go through it once more. Something I catch myself doing from time to time since I grabbed a copy of this book in Auckland when I was visiting my uncle. 

In my opinion, every adaptation is interesting. And it's even cooler to look at them after a new one comes out. No matter how different the media are, it's something that always catches my attention. As we can see on the internet every day: No one would do things the same way and everyone has their own perfect adaptation in mind. So why don't we collectively step into the minds of those who made this game over two decades ago?

The Creators of the System.

Crafted during the heyday of the D20 movement in tabletop RPGs, and at a time when fresh Wheel of Time content was in short supply, this publication undeniably satisfied the cravings of series enthusiasts. Nevertheless, it falls short in terms of the depth and replayability that could have transformed it from a mere novelty.

The 300+-page rulebook featured new and original art throughout, bringing the world of The Wheel of Time to the tabletop. As a short book, it does its best at trying to condense the vast world of Robert Jordan into a few pages, sometimes making its depiction of the setting feel broad and lacking in detail.

The game was based on the D20 rules system used by the third edition of Dungeons and Dragons, following a similar layout and format to the D&D core rulebooks despite all the setting differences.

It was penned by a veteran designer team, including Charles Ryan, Steven Long, Christian Moore, and Owen K.C. Stephens. It's noteworthy that Robert Jordan himself provided a foreword for the game, revealing his own connection to the world of tabletop gaming and his excitement for the Wheel of Time RPG.

The Wheel of Time RPG incorporated the talents of Darrell K. Sweet, the artist for the novels, who provided the cover artwork. It is so cool to see two additional paintings from him in the world of WoT that are not covers of the novels. It evokes a feeling of something familiar, but new at the same time, since not everyone has had contact with these illustrations.

A large number of Wizards of the Coast artists contributed additional illustrations throughout the book, adding depth to the gaming experience. Ellisa Mitchell, known for providing cartographic services on the novels, created several new maps for the rulebook. Again, some of them that I had no idea were created specifically for this.

D&D or not to be?

This game made a lot of changes to the core D&D mechanics. The standard D&D character classes were replaced by new ones, such as Aiel spear-carriers, Armsman, Initiate (in the Aes Sedai or Asha'man), Noble, Wanderer, Wilder, and Woodsman. Multiclassing was also an option since this was a d20 system.

Much like D&D 3rd Edition, feats played a significant role in character creation. Specialist feats for the use of the absolutely game breaking One Power were introduced, along with Feats that allowed players to replicate unique abilities from the books.

The rulebook delved into the setting and history of The Wheel of Time, drawing from the novels that were published at the time. It offered somewhat comprehensive information, including the founding circumstances of countries like the Borderlands, Cairhien, Illian, Tarabon, and Tear during the War of the Hundred Years. But it went out of its way to avoid topics that would be discussed in future books written by Jordan.

Later in his blog, Robert Jordan talked about the process of helping in the concept of the game, wanting to do more but with no time because of the books. And how he managed to avoid items 

The book featured re-drawn, full-color, and larger-scaled maps of cities like Ebou Dar, Caemlyn, Cairhien, and Tar Valon, adding a visual dimension to the gaming experience. An introductory adventure titled 'What Follows in Shadow' was included, set during the events of "The Eye of the World," offering players an immersive starting point for their own Wheel of Time adventures.

It's always a challenge to create a game that takes place during the events of an ongoing story, but sometimes it's difficult to take agency away from the players because they're doing something that conflicts with the original canon or that wouldn't make sense in the world. 

The Lord of the Rings RPG, The One Ring, fails greatly in this aspect, where adventurers can only do the minimum without entering territory that threatens the original story of the books. Fortunately, this is not something that happens in the Wheel of Time RPG. Adventures offer options and stories that don't affect the book arcs and still have meaning for players.

An expansion was created for the game called "The Prophecies of the Dragon," which is the only expansion to The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game that was published. Again, cartography was handled by Ellisa Mitchell, and a new cover was produced by Darrell K. Sweet. Robert Jordan is listed as a creative consultant.

Photos by: @manetheren_miniatures

An invitation 

This is not a review (although if there is enough interest it might as well be in the future), but an invitation for fans to take a closer look at this material and appreciate its unique aspects. It's a journey through the past, a chance to rediscover something that may have been forgotten in the midst of new adaptations. As a fan, I felt compelled to revisit this piece of Wheel of Time history and share its significance. Even if my only conclusion is: Maybe it's time to try again.

In the same vein, I plan to explore other forgotten media and adaptations related to the Wheel of Time universe, like for instance the PC first-person boomershooter reminiscent of Quake and any other turning of the wheel that I can lay my nerdy hands on.

But what now?

The recent television adaptation of The Wheel of Time series on Amazon Prime has reignited interest in this classic RPG. As fans of the TV series dive deeper into the lore, some are discovering the tabletop game and finding themselves drawn into the enchanting world of Aes Sedai and Trollocs. Which poses the question: Is it time for a new Wheel of Time Tabletop RPG?

Some fans believe so. As part of the show's 1st and 2nd season promotional material, Prime Video Brazil conducted two different RPG sessions with YouTubers from the country. But these sessions were based on existing systems and seemed more like a patchwork than something designed for WoT. We also had fan adaptations for D&D 5e, but nothing official has been released since these two books in the early 2000s. Perhaps it's time for new materials to come. 

With numerous RPGs emerging every year and new design philosophies being introduced, such as in games like Mörk Borg, Knave, Shadowdark and many others, and with RPGs making a comeback in mainstream media with shows like Stranger Things, I see no reason not to have a new adaptation of Jordan's world for tabletops. Certainly, fans would love it, especially now that the hobby is more popular than ever.

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found catalogued at his website.

Around the time The Shadow Rising was published, a friend turned me on to Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time by raving about the Easter eggs. It was epic fantasy like The Lord of the Rings, he said, but throughout, there were veiled references to mythology, legends, and history from all around the world. This was during a time when the internet was still text terminals and UNIX command lines, and he wanted his friends to read along and help catch all the references. Soon enough, I was on dial-up Compuserve and Usenet with all the other amateur scholars, not only trying to decode the real-world tales in Jordan’s Pattern, but trying to predict the shapes the Pattern would take with the next book. And the next.

Now, The Wheel of Time is complete, an accessible internet has crowd-sourced an enormous volume of amateur scholarship, and professional scholar Michael Livingston has written an official version of our Easter egg hunt in Origins of the Wheel of Time. For the nerdiest segment of fandom (myself included), it’s a delight. Livingston parses out the multitude of references with evidence from Robert Jordan’s own notes and known influences. But even for fans and admirers of Jordan’s world building craft, Livingston sheds light on the themes and writing process that garnered so much love and acclaim. He also shows why the Easter egg hunt is central to understanding what Jordan was trying to achieve, and perhaps even why Rand could light his pipe in the end.

Origins contains a concise biography of Robert Jordan, a contextualization with J.R.R. Tolkien’s methods behind The Lord of the Rings, and a look at Jordan’s practices as a writer. It concludes with a large section, similar to the glossaries at the end of The Wheel’s books, that go through names and terms from the story. Here, Livingston provides insights into what those names reference, and even reveals some lingering mysteries. Origins is probably not for the casual reader. But if you’ve ever engaged with The Wheel of Time on a deeper level, hunted for literary Easter eggs, studied how writers build an imaginary world, or pondered how epic fantasy--like the Wheel--spins a myriad variations on eternal themes, Origins may spark beautiful revelations. It’s also an illustration of how meeting your heroes can be a wonderful thing.

Mortality and Change

Through Jordan’s own writings and stories from “Team Jordan,” Livingston reveals a Robert Jordan who was vigorously physical, endlessly curious, and a lover of stories real and imagined. He was also a man profoundly affected by his military service in the Vietnam War, a subsequent accident in civilian life that didn’t kill him only by luck, and finally a disease that ultimately ended his life. Awareness of mortality weighed on Jordan’s entire adult life. As he wrote:

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“Perhaps maturity is the knowledge that everything is going to change, that neither you nor anything you see is going to go on forever.”

-- “The Wheelwright: The Life of Robert Jordan,” Origins of the Wheel of Time

 

And more succinctly, “Life changes. Deal.”

Though Jordan was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, his attitude was far less nostalgic. The inevitability of global change was a theme in his first fantasy novel, Warrior of the Altaii, and ran strong in The Wheel of Time, where the world fundamentally changed in the process of being saved. Returning from home, you have changed, and so has the place you left. You can’t go home again. And maybe that’s for the best.

As a veteran and a scholar of military history, Robert Jordan based many of his fictional battles on historical ones. In the glossary-style final section, Michael Livingston also gives references to the military references Jordan uses to inform the tactics and movements he describes so well. 

Books, Lists, and Ramblings

As an amateur fiction writer myself, I was especially interested in Robert Jordan’s writing process. Through Jordan’s notes and interviews, Michael Livingston gives us a look at the writing process that created The Wheel of Time. Jordan was a voracious reader, and Livingston makes several references to Jordan’s collection of more than a thousand books. Jordan was inspired to write by an irony that many writers will recognize: he wanted more from what he read.

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“I remember picking up a book by an author I knew I liked, reading a few paragraphs and tossing it across the room and saying, ‘Oh God, I could do better than that,’ Then I thought, ‘All right son, it’s time to put up or shut up.’”

-- “The Wheelwright: The Life of Robert Jordan,” Origins of the Wheel of Time

 

This is a sentiment echoed by the great Alan Moore, who actively encourages aspiring writers to consume the dreck along with the greats.

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“As a prospective writer, I would urge you to not only read good books; read terrible books as well. Because they can be more inspiring than the good books.”

-- Alan Moore on Storytelling, BBC Maestro

 

Robert Jordan set out to build his world by compiling lists from what he read and elsewhere. Of character and place names, certainly, but also “of vegetation, of jobs, of songs, of idioms and sayings.” He would annotate these lists with the aspects of their meaning that captured him, and connect them--physically, with lines--to combine them into new ideas or acknowledge possible connections. A list of names became a cast of characters with interesting attributes, and the interactions in various combinations suggested plots. And once he had an idea for a character or scene, he would just start writing, interrogating the ideas on paper as he went.

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“[Jordan] never wrote from a strict outline. Instead, he wrote through a state of constant dialogue with his developing story. In this process his preferred mode of creativity was brainstorming in what he called ‘ramblings’: opening a fresh document, he would begin writing what he then knew about a character, sequence, or scene. Along the way, he would ask questions of himself, even raise objections against himself, all within a written stream of consciousness.”

-- “The Wheel Turns: Jordan at Work,” Origins of the Wheel of Time

 

As an occasional fiction writer, I recognize this sort of brainstorming as a wonderfully creative, generative technique, where a strict plan-then-execute approach usually fails to produce results as deep and rich.

But it is his starting point, the lists of proper nouns culled from stories and the world around him, that reveals that Jordan was stitching together ideas from disparate sources into something ambitiously coherent. He was weaving a sort of conspiracy theory, implying that all the stories we know are rooted in this story, the one Robert Jordan was telling, with echoes that go backward and forward in cyclic time.

Syncretism, the Grand Conspiracy Theory

While I’d gleefully engaged in the great Easter egg hunt for veiled allusions to other stories across many fan properties, I only found a name for the practice in the last few years, reading Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum: syncretism.

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"But in its loftiest sense syncretism is the acknowledgement that a single Tradition runs through and nurtures all religion, all learning, all philosophy." 

-- Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco

 

Both Tolkien and Jordan were syncretics in the same way as the three conspiracy theorists in Foucault’s Pendulum: they connected real details to imagine a common source underlying them. Tolkien explored this through linguistic vectors. Jordan’s vectors were stories. “The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.” All the stories were true, and shall be again.

Michael Livingston names three primary influences on Robert Jordan: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings; Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, his canon for the legends of King Arthur; and Robert Graves’ The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth. This last book, recommended to him by his wife and editor Harriet, was itself syncretic, claiming that the legends and myths we know were patriarchal stories pasted over the real stories of a primordial matriarchy that featured a tripartite goddess: the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. This goddess could be glimpsed in the background of every story that tried to draw focus to a newer, male god or hero. But the palimpsest was never fully cleared. Hints of the real story still showed through. Jordan not only culled many names for his lists from The White Goddess, he was inspired by the premise that there was a single myth that underpinned all others.

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“Whereas Tolkien built from the nitty-gritty of words and languages both real and invented, Jordan built from the larger scope of our cultural inheritance. Where Tolkien is said to have aimed to create a ‘mythology for England,’ Jordan aimed for something even more daring and profound: a ‘mythology for humanity.’”

-- “The Axle and the Wheel: Tolkien and Jordan,” Origins of the Wheel of Time

 

Fan excitement in hunting for Easter eggs is the tracing of a diaspora of tales, of recognizing the secret origin of something familiar. Of course, Michael Livingston warns us not to take it too far. Jordan allowed himself to be inspired by these tales, but did not feel himself bound to them. Sometimes similarity is coincidence. Or as the narrator of Foucault’s Pendulum puts it (echoing my thoughts when I try to speculate on the Marvel Cinematic Universe):

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“I was clinging stubbornly to an elegant but false hypothesis.”

-- Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco

 

Mysteries Revealed

While Origins of the Wheel of Time is a book that mainly tackles issues that inform Robert Jordan’s story rather than the issues in the story, Michael Livingston gives us a few interesting revelations from the notes.

If you speculate about the Prime Video adaptation of The Wheel of Time, this detail may interest you when you consider how showrunner Rafe Judson reimagined the Eye of the World.

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“Samma N’Sei. Jordan originally imagined that there was not just one Eye of the World, but seven. Each of these would be associated with a seal of the Bore, and the Dark One had tasked a group of red-veiled former Aiel to destroy them. His concept of having multiple “eyes” was abandoned, but the idea of these secret Aiel was not.”

-- “The Real World in the Wheel of Time,” Origins of the Wheel of Time

 

We know of the Ring of Tamyrlin from the prologue of The Eye of the World, but that artifact, and the term “Tamyrlin” remained things we could only speculate about. Jordan’s notes reveal that it was not only a sign of office, but Tamyrlin was a person.

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“The Aes Sedai first came into being under the direction of Tamyrlin, the first person to learn how to channel the One Power. As they organized themselves, their leader took Tamyrlin’s name as a title.”

-- “The Real World in the Wheel of Time,” Origins of the Wheel of Time

 

One of the big mysteries is the character Nakomi. Most of us who’ve speculated on her hit close to the truth, but Brandon Sanderson provides some interesting details about her background. I think there’s an opportunity for Rafe Judkins to weave her into the Prime Video adaptation as a recurring cameo.

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“I decided that this woman was the Creator’s version of Shaidar Haran, something Jordan had explained a little in the notes. A vessel, kind of an avatar, but not quite. Shaidar Haran for the Dark One, Nakomi for the Creator. But again, not actually the Creator. … As many have guessed, her birth is Jenn Aiel. Yes, they’re still around. A few of them. And providing the vessel who was the counterpart to Shaidar Haran was part of their purpose, lore, and identity. Nakomi (which is her birth name among them) is the latest in this line.”

-- “The Real World in the Wheel of Time,” Origins of the Wheel of Time

 

Finally, there is the mystery of Rand’s pipe.

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“One of the questions that Maria never got to ask Jordan--the next one on her list on that Friday before he passed--was about the final moment in the series: ‘How did Rand light his pipe?’”

-- “The Wheelwright: The Life of Robert Jordan,” Origins of the Wheel of Time

 

The notes contain no answers, and Brandon Sanderson cites this as one of the things he will never reveal. Perhaps it’s for the best. Some things ought to remain in the realm of mystery.

For my part, I think the answer reaches back to Hindu mythology, one of the mythologies Jordan incorporates into his syncretism. Consider this, from Livingston’s entry for the Amayar.

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“Hindu belief suggests that this world is not as it appears to be, that what we see is Maya (often translated to mean “illusion”). In The Wheel of Time, the Amayar similarly believe that the world in which they live is “Illusion.” When Rand destroyed the Choedan Kal on their island of Tremalking, the Amayar understood this as an indication that the “end of the Illusion” had come and so committed mass suicide.”

-- “The Real World in the Wheel of Time,” Origins of the Wheel of Time

 

“Maya” is the divine illusion that is the world we perceive. It veils the ultimate truth of what is, and enlightenment is the process of piercing that veil. In Hinduism, we are not separate from the divine, but continuous with it. It is Maya that prevents us from realizing this.

In Jordan’s epic, the Amayar people awaited the end of illusions, just as the Aiel expected to “wake from the dream.” When Rand fought the Dark One, he stopped weaving the One Power and True Power, and started weaving the threads of the Pattern itself, his visions of reality competing with the Dark One’s. He and the Dark One vied to remake the universe. When Rand returned, perhaps it wasn’t that he could no longer touch saidin, but he now saw through its illusion. For all that everyone reminded Rand that he wasn’t the Creator, in the end, he re-wove the universe, human free will intact, and excluded the Dark One outside the Pattern. As it was once, at the moment of Creation, so it was again. Rand, who was once a character in the story, transcended to become the Creator, the storyteller. This is the ultimate enlightenment in a world created from a gleeman’s patchwork cloak of stories: awareness of being in a story. In his new body, Rand’s first desire is to follow his curiosity and see the rest of the world. Unshackled from being ta’veren, he can enjoy the free will he won for the rest of the world. The creation, the story, had a life of its own, and the free will of its characters must be respected. But much like Nakomi, Rand could give the story a nudge. He is now the author of his own story.

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“He regarded his pipe, riding up a little incline to the side of Thakan’dar, now covered in plants. No way to light the tabac. He inspected it for a moment in the darkness, then thought of the pipe being lit. And it was.”

-- “Epilogue: To See the Answer,” A Memory of Light

 

It fits, doesn’t it?

Today is the release date for Origins of The Wheel of Time: The Legends and Mythologies that Inspired Robert Jordan by Michael Livingston. The book explores Robert Jordan's inspiration for the epic The Wheel of Time series. 

Here's the book description: 

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Explore never-before-seen insights into the Wheel of Time, including:

 

• A brand-new, redrawn world map by Ellisa Mitchell using change requests discovered in Robert Jordan’s unpublished notes
• An alternate scene from an early draft of The Eye of the World

 

Take a deep dive into the real-world history and mythology that inspired the world of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time®. Origins of The Wheel of Time is written by Michael Livingston, Secretary-General of the United States Commission on Military History and professor of medieval literature at The Citadel, with a Foreword by Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan’s editor, widow, and executor of his estate.

 

This companion to the internationally bestselling series will delve into the creation of Robert Jordan’s masterpiece, drawing from interviews and an unprecedented examination of his unpublished notes. Michael Livingston tells the behind-the-scenes story of who Jordan was, how he worked, and why he holds such an important place in modern literature.

 

The second part of the book is a glossary to the “real world” in The Wheel of Time. King Arthur is in The Wheel of Time. Merlin, too. But so are Alexander the Great and the Apollo Space Program, the Norse gods and Napoleon’s greatest victory—and so much more.

 

Origins of The Wheel of Time will provide exciting knowledge and insights to both new and longtime fans looking to either expand their understanding of the series or unearth the real-life influences that Jordan utilized in his world building—all in one, accessible text.

Fans are also anticipating the reveal of Nakomi's backstory, one of the remaining mysteries from The Wheel of Time. The book also includes a new world map with changes to the Seanchan continent from Robert Jordan's edits that were never before incorporated. 

Origins of The Wheel of Time is available for order in ebook format from the Dragonmount store. You can also order print and ebook copies from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or your local independent bookseller. The audiobook is available from Macmillan Audio. There's also special UK editions from Broken Binding and Inkstone Books. 

If you missed our interview with Michael Livingston check it out:

Who's looking forward to reading this book? Please let us know what you think in the comments below (but please avoid spoilers for now). 

Katy is a news contributor for Dragonmount. You can follow her as she shares her thoughts on The Wheel of Time TV Show on Instagram and Twitter @KatySedai

Orbit Books, the UK publisher for The Wheel of Time will be publishing a limited number of leather-bound editions for The Eye of the World. Only 1,000 copies will be sold worldwide. The hardback book comes with gold foiled illustrations by Stephen Player on the slip-case and book cover. It also features green and yellow head and tail bands, dark green sprayed edges, and a gold ribbon. The 1,000 copies are hand numbered. It's definitely a special book to add to your collection! 

Feast your eyes on the Deluxe Limited Edition of The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan! Out on 8th December and available exclusively through the Orbit UK store, pre-order it now for just £85.

Secure yours today: https://t.co/jKYzwxgteM

*Not available in the US or Canada pic.twitter.com/nwtHGBRbws

— Orbit Books (@orbitbooks) October 28, 2022

The book also features gorgeous new front endpaper illustration from Martyn Pick depicting the iconic flight from the Two Rivers scene. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Martyn Pick (@martynpick)

According to Orbit's announcement, the UK retail price will be £100, or £85 if you preorder. The publication date is December 8th, 2022. These limited editions will not be available in the United States or Canada. The edition is an Orbit website exclusive and is ONLY available via the Orbit store.

Everyone here at Dragonmount is excited for tomorrow's release of Michael Livingston's Origins of The Wheel of Time. Thom interviewed Michael Livingston back in April 2022 while at JordanCon and we are finally able to share it!

The Origins of The Wheel of Time comes out November 8th, 2022 and explores Robert Jordan's inspirations while writing The Wheel of Time.  Livingston wrote an article for Dragonmount about holding the first copies of his book. The Origins of The Wheel of Time features a new map drawn specifically for Livingston's books, using Robert Jordan's notes and Livingston's updates. Along with the physical versions of the book, there will be an audiobook version published by Macmillan Audio.

The audiobook versions will include some very special pieces that were recently revealed. There will be a foreword written and read by Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan’s widow and editor, a letter read by Michael Livingston, and an interview with Rosamund Pike about her inspiration for Moiraine on the Prime Video TV series. In addition, Kate Reading and Michael Kramer will be reading parts of the audiobook as well. 

Origins of The Wheel of Time is available for pre-order in ebook format from the Dragonmount store. You can also pre-order print and ebook copies from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or your local independent bookseller.

Make sure to share your thoughts over on the YouTube video or in the comments below. 

Thirty years ago, I fell in love with Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time.

Today, I opened a box.

As I’ve said before, it has been the honor of a lifetime to write ORIGINS OF THE WHEEL OF TIME, to put my thoughts beside Jordan’s, to touch in my very small way the thing that he built. 

I’ll write later about what it feels like to have worked on this — honestly, I’m still trying to get my head around it — but as I’m seeing the book and holding it today I want to point something out. 

When you pick up your copy, you’ll want to look inside the covers, front and back. This is where you’ll find what’s called the “end papers.” In most Wheel of Time books, they feature a glorious map of the Westlands. 

We could have done that in ORIGINS, too, but we didn’t. (And, no, we didn’t use the new map of Randland that appears in this book, either.)

What we used instead is a glorious image of the symbol of the Wheel of Time: the interwoven snake and wheel. I tried not to make many requests in the production of this book, but using this imagery was very definitely one of them. 

It’s for Harriet. 

In 2013, you see, Harriet — Jordan’s editor and widow — gave an interview with Tom Doherty, then the publisher of Tor Books. Talk turned to many things — it’s a great interview — but among them was the Wheel of Time. Towards the end of the conversation, Harriet said there was something she’d always wished she could do in the Wheel of Time books but never did:

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HARRIET: I would have loved a book that had the Snake Wheel in the front of the book, the big one, and one in the back of the book, so you could really hold them like that to reinforce “There are neither beginnings nor endings—
DOHERTY: —in the Wheel of Time.” Practically, to do that right you would have had to put it on the end papers. We had such nice end papers.
McDOUGAL: Oh, yeah. Well, the map was more important.
DOHERTY: Exactly.

The simple truth is that the Wheel of Time does not exist — this world we love would not exist — without Harriet. And neither would ORIGINS OF THE WHEEL OF TIME. She gave the book her blessing. She read it and checked it. She was supportive from the beginning to the end and back again. 

And no one needs me to tell them that aside from being one of the greatest editors in the history of science fiction and fantasy, Harriet is also a truly wonderful human being. 

So when I read this interview, when I saw that she’d had this dream unfulfilled … well, by the Light, I was determined to fulfill it for her. 

When you get your copy of ORIGINS on November 8, go ahead and open that front cover and look at the Snake Wheel on the end papers. Then, for good measure, do the same with the back cover. It’s there, too. Now hold them both open, like so:

There are neither beginnings nor endings in the Wheel of Time. 

And so it is. 

I’ll have more to say about ORIGINS as the weeks pass. As I look at it now, for instance, I see how my words are framed by this image, how my book “fits” within the Wheel of Time, how I’m a part of it now. 

It’s a lot to think about it.

So for now, I’ll focus on this:

Today I opened a box. I opened my book. For me, it was full of cherished words and a promise fulfilled.

Soon, very soon, you‘ll open yours, too. Perhaps you will come to Charleston for the book-signing with me and Harriet and Jordan’s amazing assistant, Maria, on November 8. If so, we’ll read a few of those words together. 

But wherever you are, wherever I am, those words will still connect us. To me, that’s the greatest gift of the Wheel of Time, after all: that across time and space and even the spans of existence that might separate us, we can open our books and be there together, you and I, with Rand and Egwene and all the rest — and with Jordan and Harriet, too. 

It’s magic. And it’s real. 

I can’t wait. 

Visit Michael Livingston's website or follow him on Twitter. 

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found catalogued at his website.

The New York Times published an article, “Hobbits and the Hard Right: How Fantasy Inspires Italy’s Potential New Leader,” about how Italy’s fascist movement has used J.R.R. Tolkien’s work as their core myths.
 

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“Tolkien’s agrarian universe, full of virtuous good guys defending their idyllic, wooded kingdoms from hordes of dark and violent orcs, has for decades prompted scholarly, and convention center, debate over the author’s racial and ideological biases, his view of modernity and globalization. More recently, his works have also provided a fertile shire for nationalists who see themselves in his heroic archetypes.”

 

 

 

 

Author and neuroscientist Benjamin C. Kinney noted in a Tweet:
 

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“We are not the only ones who have noticed the fundamental layers of conservatism in Tolkien & his literary descendants. Fascism isn’t what T wanted, but “the past was better” has far too many uses.”

 

 

 

 

Of course, many social and political movements present a romanticized past as a nostalgic ideal, all the way back to the major religions. In the Old Testament, humankind’s purest state of grace was in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve were exiled for their Original Sin, humanity’s long road took them further and further from God. Time and distance from Eden was a vector of corruption.

Hinduism has a similar view in its great cycle of ages. The first age of the cycle that begins with creation is the Satya Yuga, or Krita Yuga. It is considered a Golden Age. It degrades through three subsequent ages, and the last, the Kali Yuga, is an age of darkness. At this stage, the universe must be destroyed before being created again in a new Golden Age. Again, the further from the original divine action the universe moves, the worse off it is, and the best times of any given cycle are in its past. (I wrote a story published in Translunar Travelers Lounge, “Don’t Make Me Come Down There,” where the Hindu gods challenge this cycle.)

Tolkien, like his friend C.S. Lewis, crafted fantasy with Christian themes. It’s not hard to see the Shire, a place of innocence and pastoral bliss, as a thematic representation of the Garden of Eden. Factoring in The Silmarillion, Tolkien’s world stretches along a moral West-East axis, with Valinor in the absolute west, the blessed realm of the angelic, undying Valar; to Mordor in the east, stronghold of the diabolical Sauron and the corrupt races who serve him. The “fundamental layers of conservatism” in Tolkien look very Christian--the King who returns to Gondor is a blood descendent of the Men of Númenor, who lived halfway between Middle-Earth and angelic Valinor. Those closest to the source of creation--physically, temporally, or spiritually--are the world’s salvation from evil. The final reward, reserved for the holiest, is leaving Middle-Earth altogether to reunite with the divine source in the ultimate West.

I call these stories “Entropic Myths.” They’re tales that cast the primordial state as morally closest to the divine. Perhaps there is an inciting incident, a fall from grace or a Big Bang, or perhaps it’s simply the grind of time and human nature, but humanity drifts away from the divine ideal and thus diminishes. Humanity can redeem itself, but it needs to look backward, to the past.

Entropic Myths, and the conservatism that uses them, rely on a concept coined by The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, “anemoia,” a nostalgia for a time one never experienced. The world of simplicity, innocence, and bliss that we yearn for was in a mythical past. We can find our way back if we stop recklessly moving forward. We can go back to the Garden. It’s a fantasy that captures hearts and minds with its long cultural history.

Progressive SFF writers, of course, responded to the New York Times article by warning their peers that conservative fantasy tropes need to be interrogated and challenged. In my terminology, progressives are calling for “Enthalpic Myths” where the future can be better than past or present. Where the best is yet to come. The future is usually the domain of science fiction more than fantasy, and utopian futures like that in the Star Trek franchise do a great job of painting futures that progressives would like to live in.

In fantasy, The Wheel of Time transforms a story that began as Tolkien-esque into an Enthalpic Myth. I’ve written about the contrast Robert Jordan makes between the Wheel’s conception of “home” compared to Tolkien’s. In Jordan’s epic, you can’t go back to the Garden, and you won’t want to. All the promise lies in the world before you, the world you can have a hand in creating. Jordan also put a twist on the Chosen One trope, where it was never about a single savior, but the world having the will to move forward and together. 

If there is a single, overarching theme to The Wheel of Time, it can be summarized by Rand al’Thor’s epiphany at the summit of Dragonmount.

 

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Maybe… Lews Therin said, shockingly lucid, not a hint of madness to him. He spoke softly, reverently. Why? Could it be… Maybe it’s so that we can have a second chance.
Why? Rand thought with wonder. Because each time we live, we get to love again.
That was the answer. It all swept over him, lives lived, mistakes made, love changing everything.
I fight because last time, I failed. I fight because I want to fix what I did wrong.
I want to do it right this time.
“Veins of Gold,” The Gathering Storm

 

 

 

 

The past remains important in The Wheel of Time, but not as something to embrace uncritically. We learn from the past so we can forge a better future. The Golden Age is always ahead. That’s a great mythology to embrace.

Tor books, posted a blog post from author Michael Livingston discussing the brand new world map. The map will be included in Livingston’s upcoming book Origins of the Wheel of Time. Livingston used notes from Robert Jordan and worked with artist Ellisa Mitchell to create a map incorporating Jordan’s original vision for the world.

Credit: Ellisa Mitchell

The original version of the world map was published in The World of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time (also known as the Big White Book) in 1997.

In the blog post on Tor’s website, Livingston explains that while going through Robert Jordan’s notes in preparation for the new book, he found notes marking errors in the previously published version of the world map. The two main errors were a name change, and a change to the shape and size of the continent of Seanchan.

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This wasn’t just a label problem. This would be a truly world-altering change.

        -- Michael Livingston Tor Books Blog

Credit: Thomas Canty

Livingston proposed to Tor books & the Jordan estate a new map incorporating Robert Jordan’s edits. Tor and the Jordan estate gave Livingston permission to oversee the changes himself.

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And so I sat—at Jordan’s desk, surrounded by Jordan’s notes—and sketched out the changes that I thought should be made. As with everything else in Origins, my sole determination was to get it how Jordan would have wanted it.

      -- Michael Livingston Tor Books Blog

The new map was drawn by the same artist who drew the first map of the Westlands included in the Eye of the World in 1990 - Ellisa Mitchell. Livingston worked with Mitchell to include Robert Jordan’s suggestions and create a map closer to Jordan’s vision for the world.

The updated map will be published in Livingston’s upcoming book, Origins of The Wheel of Time: The Legends and Mythologies that Inspired Robert Jordan.

Origins of The Wheel of Time is available for pre-order from Tor books for print and ebook, as audiobook and in the EU only Broken Binding is publishing a special edition. Inkstand books also has a limited edition.

What do you think of the updated map? Let us know in the comments below. 

Macmillan Audio announced today that Rosamund Pike, who plays Moiraine in Prime Video's TV show, will narrate new versions of Robert Jordan's second and third Wheel of Time novels, The Great Hunt, and The Dragon Reborn. The new version of The Great Hunt will be available August 2, 2022, and The Dragon Reborn will arrive sometime in 2023. 

The most well-known of versions of these audiobooks were recorded by the real-life husband and wife duo of Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Prior to them, during the early 1990's, actor Mark Rolstrom recorded both abridged and unabridged versions.

Long-time fans can be rest assured that the older versions of both audiobooks from Michael Kramer and Kate Reading will remain available along with these new versions from Rosamund Pike. 

It is unknown whether Rosamund Pike will narrate all books in The Wheel of Time series. For now it seems as though she is keeping pace with the story adaptation presented by Prime Video's series.  Season 2 of The Wheel of Time is expected to adapt many of the events in these two novels. 

Here's the full tree release from Macmillan Audio:

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July 25, 2022 New York, NY — Macmillan Audio has announced that Oscar & BAFTA-nominated, and Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Rosamund Pike will now narrate new audiobook versions of Robert Jordan’s The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn. These audiobooks will follow the November 2021 version of The Eye of the World narrated by Pike. Pike has also narrated blockbuster audiobooks such as A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming and Restless by William Boyd.

 

“It is such an honour to go back into the series and record these next two books,” remarks Pike, “The deeper I dive into the world of the Wheel of Time, the more I love it. Anyone discovering these books for the first time has a treat in store... there is so much passion and detail in every character. I love the narration process and am in awe of this man’s imagination!”

 

The new audiobook editions are published in connection with the Prime Video series The Wheel of Time. Pike stars as Moiraine Damodred in the show, which concluded its first season on December 24, 2021. Macmillan Audio's editions of The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading will continue to be available.

 

The new audiobooks will be for sale on Audible, Apple Books, Libro.FM, Google Play Books, Audiobooks.com and more, and are available for preorder now.

 

Macmillan Audio was founded in 1987 as Audio Renaissance and published its first programs in 1988. Audio Renaissance was acquired by Holtzbrinck in 2001 and changed its name to Macmillan Audio in 2007. Macmillan Audio records the best fiction and nonfiction available for both adults and children from Macmillan’s publishers, in addition to publishing original productions and titles from other publishers. The company’s line of products also includes the language-learning series Behind the Wheel. Macmillan Audio narrators include Meryl Streep, Ben Miles, Lorelei King, Stanley Tucci, Simon Vance, Gwyneth Paltrow, Holter Graham, and Cynthia Nixon, as well as President Jimmy Carter, Billy Crystal, and Rob Lowe, who have read their own audiobooks. Macmillan Audio productions have been nominated for six Grammy Awards and have won numerous Audie Awards and Earphones Awards. Macmillan audio titles are available digitally as well as on CD.

 

Rosamund Pike is an international stage and screen actress, who is widely known for her work as Amy Dunne in David Fincher’s Gone Girl, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. She also received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as Marie Colvin in A Private War and won an Emmy for the short form series State of the Union. She was most recently seen playing the iconic Moiraine Damodred in Amazon Studios’ adaptation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Last year, Rosamund won a Best Actress Golden Globe Award for her performance in the dark comedy I Care A Lot . Other notable roles have included Jane in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice, Rosalee Quaid in Scott Cooper’s Hostiles and Marie Curie in Marjane’s Satrapi’s Radioactive. Rosamund Pike is represented by United Agents (UK), CAA (USA) and Magnolia Entertainment (USA).

The new audiobook can be pre-ordered here on Audible. It's also available on Libro.FM, Apple Books, Google Play Books, and more. 

Tell us what you think in the comments, and be sure to join us on our forums and on social media.  

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found catalogued at his website.

J.R.R. Tolkien said “all stories are ultimately about the fall,” and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time certainly fits that description. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time, but much like the Hindu cosmology on which the Wheel’s cyclical history is based, there is an Age that represents the apex of human civilization (the Age of Legends), and an Age that falls into the nadir, where the Dark One casts his shadow on the world. Apocalyptic stories chronicle the fall. The stakes are whether there is hope of a subsequent rise.

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“Savior syndrome and cults flourish during the unstable period before autocratic consolidation. People are so frightened, they don’t know who to trust. They want to follow. They don’t want to think.”

-- Sarah Kendzior, Gaslit Nation podcast

 

While Robert Jordan’s take on the fall of civilization centered around the rise of an evil Dark Lord, it manifested in recognizably political ways. Our own world history shows war and strife following the rise of cults of personality around authoritarian leaders, fanning the flames of a society’s worst impulses. In the story, the road to Tarmon Gai’don was filled with such cults and despots, many of them familiar. Let’s look at a few.

The Children of the Light

The Children (or Whitecloaks as they’re called when not in earshot) are a military organization answerable to no authority but themselves. Though based in the nation of Amadicia, their Lord Captain Commander holds more power than the Amadician king, and they boast that their authority extends wherever the Light shines. Robert Jordan claimed that religion didn’t exist in his world, because the Creator and the Dark One were evident to all, but the Children are religious zealots, complete with a holy text, The Way of the Light, and an inquisitorial body, the Hand of the Light (or Questioners).

We don’t know much about the group’s founder, Lothair Mantelar, but he wrote The Way of the Light and organized the Children during the War of the Hundred Years. It was a brutal, bloody period of chaos following the disintegration of Artur Hawkwing’s empire. During such eras, charismatic leaders offering certainty, purpose, a banner, and an enemy tend to flourish. The Children’s enemies were Darkfriends, but Mantelar also had a useful target in the Aes Sedai. During Hawkwing’s final years (and possibly under Ishamael’s influence), the High King waged war against the White Tower, and his distrust of Aes Sedai was so great he even tried to build a capital around an Ogier stedding, where the One Power could not be used. Given the Dark One’s taint on saidin and Hawkwing’s hatred of Aes Sedai, it would have been easy for Mantelar to harness historical and legendary animosity toward those who wielded the One Power.

The glass columns of Rhuidean revealed the willingness to scapegoat and lynch suspected Darkfriends even before the Breaking of the World. The attitude carried forward through centuries, and is reminiscent of the Whitecloak ways.

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The townsman spat at him. “The Forsaken are dead. Dead, do you hear? Lanfear will not protect you anymore. We will root out all of you who served the Forsaken while pretending to be on our side, and treat the lot of you as we treated that crazy old man.”

… Something made Coumin look up. Charn’s white-haired body hung from a rope pulled over the ridgepole, one foot bare where he had kicked his boot off, the fingers of one hand caught at his neck where he had tried to pull the rope free.

-- “The Dedicated,” The Shadow Rising

 

The White Tower

While their name translates to “Servant to All” (“public servant?”), the Aes Sedai were a rarified class who lived centuries longer than ordinary people and, of course, could wield the magic power that drove the universe. What we know of the Age of Legends reinforces the idea that they were elites whose status was conferred by an inborn trait, the ability to touch the One Power. The White Tower was founded after the Breaking of the World, during a time of great strife. The Aes Sedai themselves became an even more exclusive group, as all the male Aes Sedai were driven mad by the Dark One’s taint.

Since its founding, the White Tower’s mission has been to spread its influence and consolidate its authority. Each Aes Sedai is treated in most nations with the status of a ruler, and the Tower’s premier, the Amyrlin Seat, has been known to command kings and queens. The Tower reinforces its authority by suppressing its failures. Moiraine won Lan’s trust by revealing one of the Tower’s secrets.

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The answer he wanted was Sealed to the Tower, taught to Accepted in history lessons yet forbidden to any except initiates of the Tower. … “Over a hundred sisters were ordered to Malkier,” she said more calmly than she felt. … “Even Aes Sedai cannot fly, however. They were too late.” … “That was before I was born, but I regret it deeply. And I regret that the Tower decided to keep their effort secret.” Better that the Tower be thought to have done nothing than to have it known Aes Sedai had tried and failed. Failure was a blow to stature, and mystery an armor the Tower needed.

-- “An Answer,” New Spring

 

Into this atmosphere of elitism, arrogance, and secrecy comes the Dragon Reborn. When the Amyrlin Seat Siuan Sanche’s secret dealings with the Dragon Reborn were revealed, a faction of Aes Sedai led by Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan staged a coup and deposed Siuan. Elaida was strong in the One Power among Aes Sedai, which conferred standing. She was also steel-hard, determined, and sporadically possessed of the ability to Foretell the future, if not necessarily understand it, which gave her a disastrous false certainty. She was also almost laughably narcissistic. (I have since been disabused of the notion that someone so self-preoccupied could never achieve such a position of power in the real world.)

Mesaana and the Black Ajah couldn’t have picked a better leader to tear the White Tower apart. Elaida reigned through intimidation, threats, and bullying. She seemed incapable of building consensus or coalitions except through appeals to fear or greed. And she devoted a great deal of time and resources to self-aggrandizement, like building a personal palace to rival the White Tower itself. Elaida’s coup broke the Tower into its first open schism that became an all-out civil war.

In the context of current events, Robert Jordan’s take on the White Tower’s schism may have been optimistic. While Elaida’s unhinged leadership, and coterie of cronies and secret Darkfriends caused significant damage, Jordan showed that the institution of the Hall of the Tower, as well as backchannel activities of serious-minded Aes Sedai acting for the good of the Tower (and the world), were capable of healing the break. Egwene was instrumental in bringing the White Tower to Tarmon Gai’don on the side of the Light, but she did not act alone.

The Dragonsworn

If the Children of the Light brought elements of quasi-religious fundamentalism to the world of the Wheel, the Dragonsworn brought full-on, militant, religious extremism. It’s fitting. Rand al’Thor is a figure of religious prophecy, a messianic avatar of the Creator sent to save the world from humanity’s great adversary, the Dark One. The crumbling of nations was foretold; the Dragon’s appearance signaled the End Times, a new global purpose, and an open, literal war between Light and Dark. And in this cosmology, it’s absolutely, beyond-any-doubt true.

When Masema Dagar, a soldier who has guarded against the Blight all his life, saw Rand al’Thor in the sky, battling what appeared to be the Dark One, it was a religious experience that filled him with awe and zeal of purpose. In this world, that is a reasonable reaction to the arrival of the actual messiah. But as the Prophet, Masema amassed madmen around him, and became a crazed fanatic. How much of that was due to the disguised Forsaken (probably the proxy-loving Demandred) manipulating him? It’s unknown. Some people are just fanatics in search of a focus.

What’s interesting is that the Prophet, much like the Children of the Light’s Lothair Mantelar, invented his own moral code to rally his followers. For the Dragonsworn, extreme austerity, a detachment from worldly concerns, and devotion to nothing but the Dragon Reborn were the hallmarks of their beliefs. None of this came from Rand al’Thor. It became critical to his victory that Rand wasn’t the sort to dictate what was in people’s hearts, but as a religious figure, his refusal to do so created a moral vacuum for those who saw all old ties and purpose burned by the coming of the Dragon. That allowed others--Masema and the Forsaken manipulating him--to fill that void in a way that served the Shadow.

The Shaido Aiel

Just as the White Tower was sundered by news of the Dragon’s rebirth, the Aiel suffered an identity crisis when Rand proved himself their Car’a’carn by revealing their secret history. Even today, in the real world, people fight bitterly over the history they reveal about their own society. Identity is the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and to learn that identity is a lie invites a crisis.

When Rand revealed that the Aiel, proud, honor-bound warriors, began as sworn pacifists whose honor was to serve, he revealed that every one of them was one of the worst things an Aiel could be: an oathbreaker. The Tuatha’an, whom they called “lost,” were actually the keepers of the true faith. Some of the Aiel killed themselves to expiate their shame. Some permanently became gai’shain, a temporary status that contained an echo of what the Aiel once were. The Shaido Aiel doubled down on the lie of their identity, rejecting the revelations about their history as falsehoods designed to break them. Their clan chief Couladin claimed to be the Car’a’carn who would lead the Aiel to glory, a lie that many of his people would want to believe over the shame that Rand offered. Couladin offered to Make the Aiel Great Again.

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“I am not afraid!” Couladin shouted. “No man can call me afraid! I, too, saw with my ancestors’ eyes! I saw our coming to the Three-fold Land! I saw our glory! The glory I will bring back to us!”

“I saw the Age of Legends,” Rand announced, “and the beginning of the Aiel journey to the Three-fold Land. … “I saw the Aiel when they were called the Da’shain Aiel, and followed the Way of the Leaf.” …

“Liar!” The canyon’s shape carried Couladin’s bellow, wrath mixed with triumph over the shouts of the gathering. … “He proves himself a fraud from his own mouth! We have always been warriors! Always! To the beginning of time!”

-- “A Breaking,” The Shadow Rising

 

Militant fundamentalists, arrogant out-of-touch elites, unhinged narcissist heads of state, religious fanatics, historical revisionists, violent secessionists. If Robert Jordan’s depictions of an apocalyptic age seem prophetic, it’s because he was a lover of history. The Wheel of Time repeats its patterns, and so do world events.

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found catalogued at his website.

As the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rampage across the news headlines, there is a trend in fiction circles gaining traction with those who seek respite in imaginary worlds. “Cozy fantasy” is a sort of comfort food genre where conflict is minimal, the stakes are low, and endings (if not beginnings and middles) are, well, cozy. Travis Baldree’s Legends and Lattes is about an Orc barbarian who retires to open a coffee shop. Wyngraf, a new, online fantasy magazine is devoted to cozy fantasy and explains the genre’s parameters and inspiration on their site. An upcoming fantasy magazine, Tales & Feathers, plans on publishing “slice of life” fantasy to “luxuriate in the vignette and celebrate quiet beauty.”

Fans of the fantasy genre know that the quiet moments have long been a secret pleasure in even the most high-stakes, battle-to-save-the-world stories. The journey is long, hard, and dangerous, but there are places of safety and comfort--however temporary--along the way. It’s usually when our heroes have time to reflect and gather themselves that they find the courage and stamina to press on. Other Dragonmount articles discuss treatments of home and how prologues and epilogues help address the smaller, beloved plot beats. (I have a cozy, quiet story published in Wyngraf #1 called “Epilogue” that explores the themes in those two Dragonmount articles.)

“Cozy” often works in a story as an antidote for hardship. It is the contrasting texture that keeps an otherwise grim tale from numbing the reader. We, like the characters, require rest and solace, a chance to give our adrenal glands a break. We need a reminder of the good in the world worth fighting for. Samwise Gamgee said it best in the movie adaptation of The Two Towers.

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“It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something. That there is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.”

It remains to be seen if a purely cozy fantasy can stand on its own without a contrasting aesthetic to “earn” it--in the story itself or in the reader’s real life. But in a rich, textured story, the quiet parts are often the ones that stay with us and reveal the most about our favorite characters.

The Wheel of Time has many quiet, cozy moments that remain among my favorite scenes. It’s interesting to examine them to figure out why they’re so effective, so I’m going to put one such scene under the lens for each of our major protagonists.

Rand al’Thor

One of my favorite sequences in The Eye of the World, if not the entire Wheel of Time, is where Rand and Mat are on the road to Caemlyn, surviving on their wits, modest skills, and sheer luck. A Myrddraal is in pursuit. It has seemingly killed their protector and mentor, Thom. Darkfriends are everywhere. A stop along the way is the Grinwell farm, which the Amazon Prime adaptation rendered as a horror sequence, but the book rendered rather cozy. In exchange for a day’s labor, the farm became a place of safety and comfort, but only temporarily.

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After supper they all settled in front of the fireplace, with Master Grinwell in his favorite chair thumbing his pipe full of tabac and Mistress Grinwell fussing with her sewing box and the shirts she had washed for him and Mat. Mat dug out Thom’s colored balls and began to juggle. He never did that unless there were children. The children laughed when he pretended to be dropping the balls, snatching them at the last minute, and they clapped for fountains and figure-eights and a six-ball circle that he really did almost drop. But they took it in good part, Master Grinwell and his wife applauding as hard as their children. When Mat was done, bowing around the room with as many flourishes as Thom might have made, Rand took Thom’s flute from its case.

He could never handle the instrument without a pang of sadness. Touching its gold-and-silver scrollwork was like touching Thom’s memory. Whenever a farmer allowed them to stay, he always played one tune on the flute after supper. It was just a little something extra to pay the farmer, and maybe a way of keeping Thom’s memory fresh.

With a laughing mood already set by Mat’s juggling, he played “Three Girls in the Meadow.” Master and Mistress Grinwell clapped along, and the smaller children danced around the floor, even the smallest boy, who could barely walk, stomping his feet in time. He knew he would win no prizes at Bel Tine, but after Thom’s teaching he would not be embarrassed to enter.

Else was sitting cross-legged in front of the fire, and as he lowered the flute after the last note, she leaned forward with a long sigh and smiled at him. “You play so beautifully. I never heard anything so beautiful.”

Mistress Grinwell suddenly paused in her sewing and raised an eyebrow at her daughter, then gave Rand a long, appraising look.

-- “Chapter 31 Play for Your Supper,” The Eye of the World

 

Rand and Mat, through hard work and new skills they’ve learned from Thom, manage to earn a hot meal and a bed, but Mistress Grinwell is firm that they get an early start the next day. The stakes--food, shelter, and safety--are basic. The threats--an amorous farmer’s daughter and her protective mother--are gentle. Still, there are moments of healing, mourning, joy, romantic tension, and resignation to the danger yet to be faced. It gives us a look at Rand’s proper upbringing, and a sense of how he’s growing as an independent man under his own steam.

I’ll give Rand two scenes, on account of Lews Therin. Near the end of the series, this scene is a different kind of quiet: a fascinating encounter with his Ages-old enemy.

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“The Great Lord can grant you sanity, you know,” Moridin said.

“Your last gift of sanity brought me no comfort,” Rand said, surprising himself with the words. That had been Lews Therin’s memory, not his own. Yet Lews Therin was gone from his mind. Oddly, Rand felt more stable--somehow--here in this place where all else appeared fluid. The pieces of himself fit together better.

Moridin snorted softly but said nothing. Rand turned back to the flames, watching them twist and flick er. Rand watched that fire for a time, thinking. One might have thought that they were two old friends, enjoying the warmth of a winter hearth. Except that the flames gave no heat, and Rand would someday kill this man again. Or die at his hands.

“I feel so tired,” Moridin continued, closing his eyes. “Is that you, or is it me? I could throttle Semirhage for what she did.”

Rand frowned. Was Moridin mad? Ishamael had certainly seemed crazy, at the end.

“It is not time for us to fight,” Moridin said, waving a hand at Rand. “Go. Leave me in peace. I do not know what would happen to us if we killed one another. The Great Lord will have you soon enough. His victory is assured.”

“He has failed before and will fail again,” Rand said. “I will defeat him.”

Moridin laughed again, the same heartless laugh as before. “Perhaps you will,” he said. “But do you think that matters? Consider it. The Wheel turns, time and time again. Over and over the Ages turn, and men fight the Great Lord. But someday, he will win, and when he does, the Wheel will stop.

“That is why his victory is assured. I think it will be this Age, but if not, then in another. When you are victorious, it only leads to another battle. When he is victorious, all things will end. Can you not see that there is no hope for you?”

“Is that what made you turn to his side?” Rand asked. “You were always so full of thoughts, Elan. Your logic destroyed you, didn’t it.?”

“There is no path to victory,” Moridin said. “The only path is to follow the Great Lord and rule for a time before all things end. The others are fools. They look for grand rewards in the eternities, but there will be no eternities. Only the now, the last days.”

-- “Chapter 15 A Place to Begin,” The Gathering Storm

 

No threats, temptation, or bullying from the Betrayer of Hope this time around. All that remains is the Last Battle. Moridin/Ishamael/Elan Morin Tedronai is tired, and has nothing left but despair and nihilism. The hope that Ishamael betrayed first was his own. There is no reconciliation or sympathy here: Rand and Moridin remain enemies bent on each other’s destruction. But it’s still a moment of understanding more than open conflict. The scene quietly reveals what the Dragon and the Nae’blis represent: hope vs. despair.

Perrin Aybara

Quiet moments are where Perrin shines, and he has many beautiful ones. His return home in The Shadow Rising, and his marriage to Faile, are what made Perrin my favorite character of the series. But the moment I chose is earlier, in The Dragon Reborn, when he takes some time to work in a smithy, and Faile sees him for who he truly is.

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So much in Tear looked odd that it was a relief to walk into the smithy. The ground floor was all one large room with no back wall except for two long doors that stood open on a yard for shoeing horses and oxen, complete with an ox sling. Hammers stood in their stands, tongs of various kinds and sizes hung on the exposed joists of the walls, buttresses and hoof knives and other farrier’s tools lay neatly arranged on wooden benches with chisels and beak irons and swages and all the implements of the blacksmith’s craft. The forge-fire smelled like home. The hot iron smelled like home.

The smith turned to thrust the piece he was working back into the coals, and Perrin stepped over to work the bellows for him. The man glanced at him, but said nothing. Perrin pulled the bellows handle up and down with slow, steady, even strokes, keeping the coals at the right heat. The smith went back to working the hot iron, on the rounded horn of the anvil, this time.

The man spoke without looking up from his work. “Apprentice?” was all he said.

“Yes,” Perrin replied just as simply.

Setting his hammer down, just for a moment, the smith picked up a short length of thick, square stock and pushed it into Perrin’s hand, then picked up his hammer again and resumed work.

“See what you can do with that,” he said.

Perrin lost himself in the work, for a time forgetting everything but the heat of the metal, the ring of his hammer, and the smell of the forge. All the light came from the forge and a pair of lamps. And Zarine was sitting on an anvil by one of the cold forges, watching him.

“So you really are a blacksmith, blacksmith,” she said.

-- “Chapter 50 The Hammer,” The Dragon Reborn

 

The scene (edited for length, as are all of them) is full of blacksmithy details, from the perspective of a young man who wanted this life. It reveals so much about his character through point of view and action. One of my favorite ways for characters to be revealed is to show them operating inside their expertise, even (or especially) when that expertise is tangential to their destiny. The world and the Wheel have chosen a different path for Perrin, but here we see Perrin take a rest by immersing himself in the work he loves, and being the man he is. Best of all, Faile sees Perrin for what he is, at his core--the hidden stakes of this scene. Not only did Perrin acquire a hammer to counterbalance his axe, but he gained a person who understood what he was, apart from what he must be. This is the scene that cemented Perrin’s character in my mind, and made him my favorite.

Mat Cauthon

Trouble and conflict always seems to follow Mat, even when he’s out trying to enjoy himself. Mat is often the comic relief as he drinks and gambles with his friends, especially Birgitte, but the most “Mat” moment for me was when he and his men indulged in a night of dancing.

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Shaking her head, Betse pursed her lips. “That sounds like it is supposed to be witty, Mat. Lordlings say witty things all the time, but you say you are not a lord. Besides, I am a simple woman; wit goes right over my head. I think simple words are best. Since you are not a lord, you should speak simply, or else some might think you were playing at being a lord. No woman likes a man pretending to be what he is not. Maybe you could explain what you were trying to say?”

Maintaining his smile was an effort. Bandying words with her was not going at all the way he wanted. He could not tell whether she was a complete nit or just managing to make him trip over his ears trying to keep up. Either way, she was still pretty, and she still smelled of lavender, not sweat. Daerid and Nalesean seemed to be choking to death. Talmanes was humming “A Frog on the Ice.” So he was skidding about with his feet in the air, was he?”

Mat put down his winecup and rose, bowing over Betse’s hand. “I am who I am and no more, but your face drives words right out of my head.” That made her blink; whatever they said, women always like flowery talk. “Will you dance?”

Not waiting for an answer, he led her toward where a clear floor stretched the length of the common room through the tables. With luck, dancing would slow her tongue a little, and he was lucky, after all. Besides, he had never heard of a woman whose heart was not softened by dancing. Dance with her, and she will forgive much; dance well, and she will forgive anything. That was a very old saying. Very old.

“Follow me,” he told her. “The steps are simple to start.” In time to the music he began, dip and a gliding sidestep to the right, left foot sliding after. Dip and a gliding step and slide, with arms outstretched.

Betse caught on quickly, and she was light on her feet. When they reached the musicians, he smoothly lifted her hands overhead and spun himself and her back to back. Then it was dip and sidestep, twirl face-to-face, dip, sidestep and twirl, again and again, all the way back to where they began. She fell into that just as swiftly, smiling up at him in delight whenever the turns allowed. She truly was pretty.

“A little more complicated now,” he murmured, turning so they faced the musicians side by side, wrists crossed and hands linked in front of them. Right knee up, slight kick left, then glide forward and right. Left knee up, slight kick right, then glide forward and left. Betse laughed as they wove their way to the performers once more. The steps became more intricate with each passage, but she needed only one demonstration to match him, light as a feather in his hands with each twist and turn and spin. Best of all, she did not say a word.

He and Betse reached the end of the clear space for the final time, and she collapsed against his chest laughing when he stopped. “Oh, that was wonderful. I felt like I was in a royal palace somewhere. Can we do it again? Oh, can we? Can we?”

-- “Chapter 5 A Different Dance,” Lord of Chaos

 

The only stakes here are Mat’s pride in front of his men with a woman who can talk circles around him. In this kind of “battle,” Mat manages it so everyone wins. It’s a fun scene that takes care of a lot of exposition about Mat’s memories from other men’s lives and the results of his encounters with the Aelfinn and Eelfinn. But it’s also about Mat flirting and having fun, being thrown off balance by a savvy barmaid, and evening the scales by dancing with her well. It sets up Mat, the military genius, the master of shifting tactics, in a light, joyful scene. This is another scene of a character operating inside their expertise: Mat intuitively uses all his knowledge and luck to change the dynamic to his advantage. It manifests later in his courtship of the Daughter of the Nine Moons, and in every battle he leads.

Egwene al’Vere

Before she became burdened with duty and politics, Egwene had some wonderful scenes with her friends in the White Tower, supporting each other, conspiring together, and having each other’s backs. But I always return to Egwene from The Eye of the World, having her first taste of independence away from home by the Tinkers’ fires. There are parallels with Rand’s time on the road--indeed, Rand and Egwene are on parallel journeys--but Egwene embraces the world, and learns anything and everything she can from the cultures she encounters.

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Then Egwene began learning the dance. Two of the girls who had danced that first night taught her, clapping the rhythm while she repeated the shuffling steps with a borrowed shawl swaying behind her. Perrin started to say something, then decided it was wiser not to crack his teeth. When the girls added the hip movements Egwene started laughing, and the three girls fell giggling into one another’s arms. But Egwene persevered, with her eyes glistening and bright spots of color in her cheeks.

Aram watched her dancing with a hot, hungry gaze. The handsome young Tuatha’an had given her a string of blue beads that she wore all the time. Worried frowns now replaced the smiles Ila had worn when she first noticed her grandson’s interest in Egwene. Perrin resolved to keep a close eye on young Master Aram.

Once he managed to get Egwene alone, beside a wagon painted in green and yellow. “Enjoying yourself, aren’t you?” he said.

“Why shouldn’t I?” She fingered the blue beads around her neck, smiling at them. “We don’t all have to work at being miserable, the way you do. Don’t we deserve a little chance to enjoy ourselves?”

Her hand trembled on the beads. She lowered it and took a deep breath. “Whatever is going to happen will happen whether we leave today or next week. That is what I believe now. Enjoy yourself, Perrin. It might be the last chance we have.”

She brushed his cheek sadly with her fingers. Then Aram held out his hand to her, and she darted to him, already laughing again.

-- “Chapter 27 Shelter From the Storm,” The Eye of the World

 

Egwene was the one member of the Emond’s Field Five eager to go out into the world. At this point, she is all but betrothed to Perrin’s best friend Rand, and they don’t even know if Rand is alive. Perrin sees what Rand saw, interpreting her eagerness for the wider world as a rejection of the smaller one they cling to, and it hurts. But Egwene won’t be constrained by sentiment. Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey may require the hero to be initially reluctant, but Egwene’s Heroine’s Journey has her answering the call to adventure without a backward glance.

Nynaeve al’Maera

While Nynaeve mustering the Borderlanders in preparation for Lan’s journey to Tarwin’s Gap was quietly epic, the scene that made me understand (and love) Nynaeve was in The Dragon Reborn, where she matched her knowledge of “the craft” with an herb woman to win her trust.

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Mother Guenna closed the door after them, and as she was crossing the kitchen to her cupboards, Nynaeve said, “Which tea will you give me? Chainleaf? Or bluewort?”

“I would if I had any of either.” Mother Guenna rooted in the shelves a moment and came out with a stone jar. “Since I’ve had no time to glean of late, I will give you a brew of marshwhite leaves.”

“I am not familiar with that,” Nynaeve said slowly.

“It works as well as chainleaf, but it has a bite to the taste some don’t care for.” The big woman sprinkled dried and broken leaves into a blue teapot and carried it over to the fireplace to add hot water. “Do you follow the craft, then? Sit.” She gestured to the table with a hand holding two blue-glazed cups she had taken from the mantel. “Sit, and we’ll talk.”

The gray-haired woman poured out a cup of dark liquid for Nynaeve, then sat across the table from her. “I made enough for two, but marshwhite tea keeps longer than salted fish. It works better the longer it sits, too, but it also grows more bitter. Makes a race between how much you need your stomach settled and what your tongue can stand. Drink, girl.” After a moment, she filled the second cup and took a sip. “You see? It will not hurt you.”

Nynaeve raised her own cup, making a small sound of displeasure at the first taste. When she lowered the cup again, though, her face was smooth. “It is just a little bitter perhaps. Tell me, Mother Guenna, will we have to put up with this rain and mud much longer?”

The older woman frowned, parceling displeasure among the three of them before she settled on Nynaeve. “I am not a Sea Folk Windfinder, girl,” she said quietly. “If I could tell the weather, I’d sooner stick live silverpike down my dress than admit it. The Defenders take that sort of thing for next to Aes Sedai work. Now, do you follow the craft or not? You loo as if you have been traveling. What is good for fatigue?” she barked suddenly.

“Flatwort tea,” Nynaeve said calmly, “or andilay root. Since you ask questions, what would you do to ease birthing?”

Mother Guenna snorted. “Apply warm towels, child, and perhaps give her a little whitefennel if it was an especially hard birth. A woman needs no more than that, and a soothing hand. Can’t you think of a question any country farmwife could not answer? What do you gie for pains in the heart? The killing kind.”

“Powdered gheandin blossom on the tongue,” Nynaeve said crisply. “If a woman has biting pains in her belly and spits up blood, what do you do?”

They settled down as if testing each other, tossing questions and answers back and forth faster and faster. Sometimes the questioning lagged a moment when one spoke of a plant the other knew only by another name, but they picked up speed again, arguing the merits of tinctures against teas, salves against poultices, and when one was better than another. Slowly, all the quick questions began shifting toward the herbs and roots one knew that the other did not, digging for knowledge.

-- “Chapter 48 Following the Craft,” The Dragon Reborn

 

This scene is another example of characters operating within their expertise, and it’s especially poignant with Nynaeve, because her pride in her expertise as a Wisdom blocks her from starting as a beginner in the Aes Sedai arts. It’s harder because she gets a lot of mileage out of what she already knows. She can gain Mother Guenna’s trust, she can speak in coded language in a country where women are persecuted for being connected with the Power, and she’s confident enough in her knowledge to admit ignorance on certain details (which confirms her expertise). The stakes are not only gaining an ally and place to stay in Tear, but Nynaeve’s own self image and confidence. Ironically, the more she wins as Nynaeve the Wisdom, the farther she gets from Nynaeve Aes Sedai, and the realization that she has much to learn to reach her potential.

What are your favorite quiet moments in epic fantasy?

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found catalogued at his website.

Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction C.C. Finlay noted that the stories submitted to his magazine had shifted away from the common themes of finding or returning home. He reasoned that writers were getting cabin fever, and the idea of “home” had lost its romance during the extended lockdown. (Finlay also noted that loneliness had become more of a thematic motivation in the stories he received, and more stories were culminating in a kiss.)

It’s an interesting shift for fantasy fiction. For those of us whose introduction to epic fantasy was J.R.R. Tolkien, “home” has a powerful resonance in the genre. “There and back again” is almost a structural expectation for a story. In Tolkien’s world (and in Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey), “home” is the beginning and end of the adventure. Preserving home forms the ultimate, most personal stakes, and the return illustrates how much the protagonists have grown. “The Scouring of the Shire” is perhaps the truest of the many endings of The Return of the King. It shows that, for the Hobbits, the War of the Ring was basically preparation for the battle for the once and future pastoral paradise of the Shire.

When I read and reread The Wheel of Time, I often think of the New York Times blurb about the series.
 

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“Mr. Jordan has come to dominate the world Tolkien began to reveal.”

 

 

 

I like that quotation for the comparison, but I think it misses the mark. The Wheel of Time isn’t an extension of The Lord of the Rings, even a spiritual one, but it is certainly in conversation with it. Robert Jordan’s Emond’s Field was a pastoral paradise just like Tolkien’s Shire, but Jordan used it to say very different things about “home.” Where British Tolkien, writing in an era of waning empire, saw the War of the Ring (and the Scouring of the Shire) as a restoration of old glory and monarchical status quo, American Jordan, writing at the cusp of a new millennium, saw the end of the Third Age as a time of technological progress, cultural intermixing, and unpredictable change, for good and ill. In The Wheel of Time, you can never go home.

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“You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, back home to romantic love, back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame, back home to exile, to escape to Europe and some foreign land, back home to lyricism, to singing just for singing's sake, back home to aestheticism, to one's youthful idea of 'the artist' and the all-sufficiency of 'art' and 'beauty' and 'love,' back home to the ivory tower, back home to places in the country, to the cottage in Bermude, away from all the strife and conflict of the world, back home to the father you have lost and have been looking for, back home to someone who can help you, save you, ease the burden for you, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time--back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.”
-- Thomas Wolfe

Even in his pre-Wheel swords and sorcery novel, Warrior of the Altaii, Robert Jordan was interested in themes of a rapidly changing world, where people needed to adapt or go extinct. There is no going back to past glory, there is only going forward into something new. In The Eye of the World, Emond’s Field is portrayed as cozy and idyllic, and the young protagonists (except Egwene) leave it with reluctance. But where The Lord of the Rings was a story about going off to war to protect one’s home, The Wheel of Time is a bildungsroman, forging maturity and power from youth and innocence. “Home” is the nest that the fledglings must leave. Most make a place for themselves in the larger world. Of the Emond’s Field Five, only Perrin returns. His chapters, reminiscent of “The Scouring of the Shire,” are not about restoring home to its old status quo, it’s about transforming it into something suited to the times. After evicting the Whitecloaks and eradicating the Trollocs, Perrin musters the Two Rivers and leads them to war. The beard Perrin grows is the not-so-subtle symbol of him becoming a man.

Egwene does briefly return home in the World of Dreams, looking for a place of safety, and even in that reflection of Emond’s Field she sees that it is changing.

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“[Egwene] was reluctant to leave, though. Home. Emond’s Field. The last place that she had really felt safe. More than a year and a half had passed since she last saw it, yet everything seemed as she remembered. Not quite everything. On the Green stood two tall poles with large banners, one a red eagle, the other an equally red wolf’s head. Had Perrin anything to do with those?”
-- “Dreams of Galad,” The Fires of Heaven

The Two Rivers is on its way to transforming from a forgotten district of Andor to a nation of its own, with banners, an army, a manor house, and a lord.

For all the moral starkness in Robert Jordan’s cosmology, change is not a fork in the road, with one path leading into darkness, and the other into light. Change is chaos, everything moving at once, with three unintended consequences for every intended one. But as a world view, it means that there will always be new opportunities for growth and wonder. As a story, it means the tale is never over. There is always another adventure beyond the final page, something more to discover. On this, Jordan and Tolkien agree: the road goes ever on.
 

Tor Books announced today the forthcoming release of Origins of The Wheel of Time: The Legends and Mythologies that Inspired Robert Jordan by Michael Livingston. The book is scheduled for publication on November 8, 2022. 

Here's the book description:

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Explore never-before-seen insights into the Wheel of Time, including:

 

• A brand-new, redrawn world map by Ellisa Mitchell using change requests discovered in Robert Jordan’s unpublished notes
• An alternate scene from an early draft of The Eye of the World

 

Take a deep dive into the real-world history and mythology that inspired the world of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time®. Origins of The Wheel of Time is written by Michael Livingston, Secretary-General of the United States Commission on Military History and professor of medieval literature at The Citadel, with a Foreword by Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan’s editor, widow, and executor of his estate.

 

This companion to the internationally bestselling series will delve into the creation of Robert Jordan’s masterpiece, drawing from interviews and an unprecedented examination of his unpublished notes. Michael Livingston tells the behind-the-scenes story of who Jordan was, how he worked, and why he holds such an important place in modern literature.

 

The second part of the book is a glossary to the “real world” in The Wheel of Time. King Arthur is in The Wheel of Time. Merlin, too. But so are Alexander the Great and the Apollo Space Program, the Norse gods and Napoleon’s greatest victory—and so much more.

 

Origins of The Wheel of Time will provide exciting knowledge and insights to both new and longtime fans looking to either expand their understanding of the series or unearth the real-life influences that Jordan utilized in his world building—all in one, accessible text.

 

We'll provide early previews and a review, and possibly some give aways. 

Origins of The Wheel of Time is available for pre-order in ebook format from the Dragonmount store. You can also pre-order print and ebook copies from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or your local independent bookseller. 

Macmillan Audio has released an 8-minute sample of Rosamund Pike reading The Eye of the World. It can be listened to now on Soundcloud:

As previously reported, this new recording from Rosamund Pike (who plays Moiraine in the upcoming Amazon Prime Video TV show) will become available on November 16. 

This new performance of The Eye of the World does not replace the older, more familiar versions read by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Those recording will also remain available.  The clear intent behind this new performance is to bring in a new audience of readers to experience the story for the first time.  Roasmund Pike is an experienced and accomplished audiobook reader, having recorded over a dozen titles before this. 

The new audiobook can be pre-ordered here on Audible. It's also available on Libro.FM, Apple Books, Google Play Books, and more. 

Tell us what you think in the comments, and be sure to join us on our forums and on social media.  

Macmillan Audio announced today that Rosamund Pike, who plays Moiraine in Amazon Prime's upcoming TV show, will narrate a new version of Robert Jordan's first Wheel of Time novel, The Eye of the World. the new version will be available November 16, 2021, which is just a few days before season 1 of the TV show airs. 

The most well-known of version of the audiobook was recorded by the real-life husband and wife duo of Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Prior to them, during the early 1990's, actor Mark Rolstrom recorded both an abridged and an unabridged version.

Long-time fans can be rest assured that the older version of the audiobook from Michael Kramer and Kate Reading will remain available along with this new version from Rosamund Pike. 

Here's the full tree release from Macmillan Audio:

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October 21, 2021, New York, NY — Macmillan Audio has announced that acclaimed actor and audiobook narrator Rosamund Pike will narrate a new audiobook version of Robert Jordan’s fantasy epic, The Eye of the World, which will be published on November 16.

 

Rosamund Pike, who will also star as Moiraine Damodred in the much anticipated The Wheel of Time series on Prime Video, has previously recorded blockbuster audiobooks such as A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins and Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. 

 

Of this new narration, Pike remarks, "It is such an honor to be narrating a brand new audiobook version of The Eye of the World. I’m excited to bring The Wheel of Time series to life in a different way once again. The Wheel of Time is an especially great series for audiobook listeners to immerse themselves in, and I reveled in voicing the robust collection of unique characters."

 

The audiobook, epic in scale, will be 30 hours long and contains not only a vast list of pronunciations, but also scores of distinctive character voices. As Rosamund Pike attests, “the magnitude of Robert Jordan’s imagination in creating this incredible series is simply astonishing.”   

 

The Eye of the World audiobook, narrated by Rosamund Pike, is available for pre-order on Audible HERE now, and will be available on Audible, Apple Books, Libro.FM, Google Play Books, and more on November 16, 2021. The original audiobook version of The Eye of the World, narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, will continue to be available for purchase at retailers.

 

This new version of the audiobook will be a fantastic way of helping new readers enjoy Robert Jordan's books for the first time while preserving the version already familiar to fans. Rosamund Pike is an experienced audiobook narrator with currently over a dozen titles to her name. 

The new audiobook can be pre-ordered here on Audible. It's also available on Libro.FM, Apple Books, Google Play Books, and more. 

Tell us what you think in the comments, and be sure to join us on our forums and on social media.  

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found catalogued at his website.
 

I love metafiction: stories that say something about the nature of stories. Stories that are aware of themselves as stories, but still manage to pull us into their reality. Recently in Marvel Studios’ Loki on Disney+, the Norse god of mischief was yanked outside of space and time by the mysterious Time Variance Authority, an organization that made sure characters don’t stray beyond a preordained plot called “The Sacred Timeline.” The TVA bureaucrats and stormtroopers violently edited the story when characters tried to deviate. The ensuing metafictional adventure explored the virtues of predestination versus free will, order versus chaos, a universe versus a multiverse--and who gets to control the narrative.

It reminded me of The Wheel of Time. Robert Jordan’s epic builds a universe of cyclic history, without beginning or end, that encompasses all the stories that were and could be, and sets the parameters for how its characters must behave.

All Stories Are Part of the Pattern

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"But in its loftiest sense syncretism is the acknowledgement that a single Tradition runs through and nurtures all religion, all learning, all philosophy." -- Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco

In Umberto Eco’s novel about a conspiracy theory that took on a life of its own, syncretic thinking drives the impulse to see similarities in stories and legends as proof of an occult, underlying connection. It is fuel for cork boards of evidence joined by colored string and push-pins, and the rapturous feeling that one is delving into arcana to find the true, hidden source of what the uninitiated see as coincidence. Syncretism is meta-storytelling: an irresistible urge to see cohesion in unconnected stories.

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“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.” The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan

The Wheel of Time’s ambitious conceit is that its story is in conversation with all stories. History, legends, and mythology are echoes of each other in a great cycle. Comparing elements of the story with other myths, legends, history, or current events feeds the notion that it’s all one big pattern of recurring motifs--history that rhymes, as Mark Twain supposedly said.

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“I have stories, and I will give them to you. I will make them come alive before your eyes… Tales of Artur Paendrag Tanreall, Artur Hawkwing, Artur the High King, who once ruled all the lands from the Aiel Waste to the Aryth Ocean, and even beyond. Wondrous stories of strange people and strange lands, of the Green Man, of Warders and Trollocs, of Ogier and Aiel. The Thousand Tales of Anla, the Wise Counselor. ‘Jaem and the Giant-Slayer.’ How Susa Tamed Jain Farstrider. ‘Mara and the Three Foolish Kings.’”

 

“Tell us about Lenn,” Egwene called. “How he flew to the moon in the belly of an eagle made of fire. Tell about his daughter Salya walking among the stars.”

 

“Old stories, those,” Thom Merrilin said… “Stories from the Age before the Age of Legends, some say. Perhaps even older. But I have all stories, mind you now, of Ages that were and will be. Ages when men ruled the heavens and the stars, and Ages when man roamed as brother to the animals. Ages of wonder, and Ages of horror. Ages ended by fire raining from the skies, and Ages doomed by snow and ice covering land and sea. I have all the stories, and I will tell all stories. Tales of Mosk the Giant, with his Lance of fire that could reach around the world, and his wars with Elsbet, the Queen of All. Tales of Materese, the Healer, Mother of the Wondrous Ind.” -- “The Gleeman,” The Eye of the World

 

Ann Landers, John Glenn, Sally Ride, nuclear annihilation, climate catastrophe, Moscow and its ICBMs, Queen Elizabeth, Mother Theresa--they all become Gleeman’s tales in the Third Age, where the legend of King Arthur is historical fact. The land abounds with ancient artifacts, from a Mercedes hood ornament to a radioactive spire, pointing to continuity between our real world and the story world. With enough turnings of the Wheel of Time, all stories are real.

The Wheel Is the Storyteller

In Robert Jordan’s cosmology, the Wheel is the ultimate storyteller. It spins out character threads to weave the Pattern of the plot in recurring motifs. And while Jordan created no multiversal bureaucracy to manage his Sacred Timeline, he does have the concept of ta’veren.

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“You see, the Wheel of Time weaves the Pattern of the Ages, and the threads it uses are lives. It is not fixed, the Pattern, not always. If a man tries to change the direction of his life and the Pattern has room for it, the Wheel just weaves on and takes it in. There is always room for small changes, but sometimes the Pattern simply won’t accept a big change, no matter how hard you try.”

 

“But sometimes the change chooses you, or the Wheel chooses it for you. And sometimes the Wheel bends a life-thread, or several threads, in such a way that all the surrounding threads are forced to swirl around it, and those force other threads, and those still others, and on and on. That first bending to make the Web, that is ta’veren, and there is nothing you can do to change it, not until the Pattern itself changes. The Web--ta’maral’ailen, it’s called--can last for weeks, or for years. It can take in a town, or even the whole Pattern.” -- “Web of the Pattern,” The Eye of the World

 

Just as the author puts the main characters on a journey, pulling a widening blast radius of other characters and events in their wake, the Wheel spins ta’veren to set the story in motion. The protagonists seem to have an awareness of entering the plot of a story. They contrast what “real life” is, compared with stories. They self-deprecatingly chide themselves for playing the hero in some gleeman’s tale right before doing exactly that.

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Briefly he wondered how Master Luhhan knew the creatures were Trollocs, but it was a fleeting thought. If Tam could recognize them, there was no reason why Haral Luhhan could not.

 

“All the stories are real,” he muttered.

 

“So it seems, lad,” the blacksmith said. “So it seems.” -- “Out of the Woods,” The Eye of the World

 

“Heroes in the stories never had to sleep in haystacks, or under hedges. But it was not easy to pretend, anymore, that he was a hero in a story, even for a little while.” -- “The Last Village,” The Eye of the World

 

The Dharma of the Wheel

But what of free will, in a universe where a cosmic author is spinning out the plot? As Loial’s description implies, the Wheel tolerates minor variations, but prevents large deviations. Those who are ta’veren have less freedom than others, and we see characters like Cadsuane and Tuon resisting ta’veren effects with great effort. But predestination abounds in The Wheel of Time. There are prophecies, Foretellings, prophetic dreams, true answers from dangerous fae-folk, and of course Min’s visions. All are glimmers of the Pattern, and none can be averted.

Many of the character arcs revolve around the characters’ struggle with predestination. Rand, Mat, and Perrin each rail in their own way against what they must become. Min is a Cassandra, who can see the approach of doom, but can do nothing to avert it. Aviendha resists first a personal destiny to love Rand, and later the ultimate, tragic fate of her entire people. Moiraine is the heroic exemplar of someone who courageously faces whatever fate decrees, no matter the personal cost, and Lan is an example of someone who resigns himself to what he believes is his doom, but should really have more faith in the benevolence of the Wheel. Nynaeve is someone who cannot reach her potential while she resists the role spun for her, but once she surrenders to it, becomes one of the most powerful characters in the epic.

While there is no “religion” in The Wheel of Time, there is a moral law to the universe: align thyself to the Pattern. This is similar to the Hindu concept of dharma, where the cosmic Truth is made manifest through proper behavior in the social order.

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“You’re not one of my soldiers. But you need to make some decisions. In the days coming, you’ll need to have a side and you’ll need to know why you’ve chosen it. That’s all I’ll say on the matter.” -- "Old Advice," The Gathering Storm

 

“The choice isn’t always about what you do, son, but why you do it. When I was a soldier, there were some men who fought simply for the money. There were others who fought for loyalty—loyalty to their comrades, or to the crown, or to whatever. The soldier who dies for money and the soldier who dies for loyalty are both dead, but there’s a difference between them. One death meant something. The other didn’t.

 

I can’t imagine that the Pattern won’t give you some peace, considering the service you’re doing for us all. But you’re a soldier going to war, and the first thing a soldier learns is that you might die. You may not be able to choose the duties you’re given. But you can choose why you fulfill them. Why do you go to battle, Rand?” -- "The One He Lost," The Gathering Storm

 

There are echoes in these scenes of the Bhagavad Gita, where just before the great battle against kin and former teachers, the warrior Arjun despairs of his purpose. The Lord Krishna reveals his divinity to Arjun, and teaches him to align himself to his dharma, which is both duty and fate, through which he will know both peace of mind and singularity of purpose. Those who submit to the will of the Wheel become aligned with a benevolent cosmos. Ta’veren who do so become unstoppable.

There is a delightful parallel between Mat embracing his ta’veren-hood and Lloyd Alexander’s character Taran, who learns a lesson from Llonio, the luckiest man in Prydain.

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“Coincidence is how being ta’veren works,” Verin said. “You find a discarded object that is of great use to you, or happen to meet an individual at just the right time. Random chance randomly works in your favor. Or haven’t you noticed?” She smiled. “Care to throw some dice on it?” -- “The Death of Tuon,” The Gathering Storm

 

“Secret?” replied Llonio. “Have you not already guessed? Why, my luck’s no greater than yours or any man’s. You need only sharpen your eyes to see your luck when it comes, and sharpen your wits to use what falls into your hands… Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don’t forget to put out your nets!” -- “The Weir,” Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander

 

“He pulled out a knife, flipping it. Then, on a whim, he tossed it behind him without looking. He heard a soft screech, then turned to see a rabbit slump to the ground, speared by the idly thrown knife. He smiled, then turned back to the river. There, he noticed something caught between two large river stones along the shore. It was an overturned cooking pot, with a copper bottom, barely used, only dinged on the sides a couple of times.” -- “A Rabbit for Supper,” Towers of Midnight

 

On the other side, the Dark One seeks to corrupt the Pattern and break the Wheel of Time. The Darkfriends see the Wheel's predestination as tyranny, and believe the Dark One will weave them new fates of power and stature. To the servants of the Shadow, the Pattern can be rewritten if their master wins.

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“I might have been the one. How could I be sure otherwise? I can channel; I’m strong. What said I was not the Dragon Reborn? All I had to do was fulfill just one of the Prophecies.”

 

“Like managing to be born on the slopes of Dragonmount?” Rand said coldly. “That was the first Prophecy to be met.”

 

Taim’s mouth quirked again… “Victors write history. Had I taken the Stone of Tear, history would have shown I was born on Dragonmount, of a woman never touched by a man, and the heavens opened up in radiance to herald my coming. The sort of thing they say about you, now.” -- “A New Arrival,” Lord of Chaos

 

The Hands on the Wheel

Understanding the cosmology of The Wheel of Time as both metafiction and a benevolent force in the story world, gives us insight into one of the epic’s most mysterious characters. Nakomi appears as a middle-aged Aiel woman who has two scenes in the entire story. The first time, she shares Aviendha’s fire and tea as the younger woman makes her way to Rhuidean for her final test as a Wise One. She asks seemingly innocent questions about the fate of the Aiel in this new, changed world, something Aviendha ponders deeply when Rhuidean reveals that clinging to the old ways leads the Aiel to ignominy and extinction. The second time Nakomi appears is to make sure that Rand carries Moridin’s body down from Shayol Ghul, the act that allows Rand to live on beyond the Last Battle.

Both of Nakomi’s appearances involve decisions pivotal to the Fourth Age, the Age after the Dark One is locked safely away until the Age of Legends comes again. The Pattern is not threatened by the Fourth Age fates of the Aiel or Rand al’Thor. But there is a point of decision between suffering or grace, and Nakomi tips the balance to the latter. If the Creator set everything in motion, but takes no part in the events of the world, and the Wheel spins an endlessly rhyming Pattern, then perhaps Nakomi is the compassionate principle in this divine trinity. Perhaps Nakomi is the lone Norn at the spinning wheel, who makes sure the story has a happy ending.

Katy is a news contributor for Dragonmount. You can follow her as she shares her thoughts on The Wheel of Time TV Show on Instagram and Twitter @KatySedai

Orbit Books revealed the newest UK covers for The Wheel of Time book series to be published ahead of Amazon Prime's The Wheel of Time TV show. The new covers feature a variety of stunning landscapes from forested mountains to stormy seas. Each book has a prominent seal that announces the book series is now an original series on prime video. Duncan Spilling from @studio_of_ideas designed the covers.

Would you look at those covers.

Our Wheel of Time reissues are out this September, leaving you plenty of time to read The Eye of the World ahead of the Amazon Prime series, coming this November! @thewheeloftimehttps://t.co/36jKaQzsnu
Design by Duncan Spilling @studio_of_ideas pic.twitter.com/Cm4XGiJFOF

— Orbit Books (@orbitbooks) July 27, 2021

The books go on sale September 16th 2021 in the UK, just in time for folks to read The Eye of the World before the TV show is released in November. These book covers seem like they are made to appeal to a wider audience who might not pick up a book with a traditional fantasy cover. Can’t wait to see folks reading these books on the tube.

There's another version of the Eye of the World from Orbit expected November 4th 2021. It’s possible that version will have art directly pulled from the new TV show.

To celebrate the new covers Orbit released a promotional video to Instagram with music from heavy metal band Blind Guardian. It’s always fun to see different parts of the fandom combine forces! Definitely go check out their fantasy book inspired music. 

 

 

 

 

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Who’s planning to pick up the set!? Which cover is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount's book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he's not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found cataloged at his website.

SPOILERS for all things related to Demandred.

One of the most dramatic and exciting single-book plot arcs in The Wheel of Time was in Lord of Chaos. Rand al’Thor announces an amnesty for men who can channel the One Power, and a rag-tag group of untrained men, young and old, answer the call. The amnesty also attracts Mazrim Taim, a False Dragon who is cool and confident enough in the face of the Dragon Reborn to propose an equal partnership. Instead, Rand puts him in charge of training the assembled men, and over the course of the book, those men acquire skill, uniforms, ranks, the name “Asha’man,” and an institution: the Black Tower. By the end of Lord of Chaos, they become an elite military unit, rescuing Rand from captivity and crushing both renegade Aiel and Aes Sedai. The balance of power shifts, and the world suddenly becomes more unpredictable and dangerous.

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Demandred knelt in the Pit of Doom, and for once he did not care that Shaidar Haran watched his trembling with that eyeless, impassive gaze “Have I not done well, Great Lord?” The Great Lord’s laughter filled Demandred’s head.

-- “Epilogue: The Answer,” Lord of Chaos

The novel is bookended by our first point-of-view sequences from the mysterious Forsaken Demandred. At the beginning, the Dark One summons him to Shayol Ghul to receive secret instructions, and at the end, revels in his apparent success. This framing, along with the details of Mazrim Taim’s mannerisms, made it clear to readers that Demandred had replaced Mazrim Taim and was now in command of Rand’s most powerful army. Robert Jordan’s notes (24:00) confirm that this was the original plan. But sometime before Winter’s Heart, Jordan changed his mind. The details that were originally foreshadowing became red herrings. There’s a burden when using red herrings to mislead readers. The eventual payoff has to be more satisfying than what readers were led to believe. That was a challenge Brandon Sanderson had to take up when he finished the series.

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We knew Demandred was in Shara, and we knew some of what he’d been up to. I wanted to show a glimpse of this. However Robert Jordan--in interviews--had said that the stories were never going to show Shara, at least not in any significant way.

-- Brandon Sanderson, in the foreword to “River of Souls”

When Demandred, calling himself Bao the Wyld, explodes onto the stage in A Memory of Light, he is the most formidable--and most prepared--of the Forsaken. His army of Sharans has the same sort of loyalty as Rand’s Aiel. Their use of the One Power reflects their leader’s long experience of Powered warfare. He wields a sa’angreal mightier even than Callandor. He shows the discipline and focus of a master martial artist, and the skill of the world’s greatest swordsman who does not underestimate an opponent. The rest of the Forsaken look positively frivolous compared to him. What’s better than Demandred in control of Rand’s Asha’man army, disguised as Mazrim Taim? Demandred in control of Rand’s Asha’man through his protégé Mazrim Taim, while bringing into battle another army nobody had foreseen.

Fans of The Wheel of Time should consider “River of Souls,” published in the Unfettered charity anthology, essential reading. The short story is a deleted sequence from A Memory of Light set in Shara. It establishes Demandred’s leadership of the Sharans by putting him on a quest to win a missing part of D’jedt, a sa’angreal second only to the Choden Kal. It hints how Demandred became the Sharan’s foretold savior: the Wy-eld. The Dragonslayer. The Demandred pivot from Mazrim Taim to Bao raised questions. How did he command real loyalty, instead of the Compulsion- and deception-based obedience for which his colleagues settled? How did he mobilize the secretive, isolationist Sharans into an army willing to march on a foreign land under the banner of the Shadow? What has this man been up to for the last two years that made him so different from all the other Forsaken?

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Two years ago he had started on this course when he had decided to impersonate a slave among the Sharans. After that had come the revolution, which he had led almost by accident. Through it all, he had sought one thing. Through earning the allegiance of the Ayyad--won at a terrible price--and gaining the fervent loyalty of the Freed. Through the chaos of revolution and vanished monarchs, through the solidification of a kingdom beneath him. Finally, Lews Therin… Finally I have the power to destroy you.

-- “River of Souls”, Unfettered

 

“River of Souls” is an amazing piece of craft. In the space of a short story, it sketches--through allusion and parallels to Rand’s story--an entire epic fantasy running concurrent to The Wheel of Time. As Bao, Demandred had a heroic epic of his own.

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Demandred had been building himself up in Shara for months and months, overthrowing the government (Graendal helped with that, unwittingly) and securing his place as a figure of prophecy and power. He had his own story, which could have filled the pages of his own Wheel-of-Time-like series. He had allies and enemies, companions who had been with him for years, much as Rand, Egwene, and company had found during their adventures in the west.

-- Brandon Sanderson, in the foreword to “River of Souls”

 

Demandred nearly falls in love, nearly has friends, and nearly has an arc similar to Rand’s. But instead of learning the hard lesson of reclaiming his humanity by embracing “laughter and tears,” he allowed darkness and hardness to rule him. In his foreword, Brandon Sanderson says that “River of Souls” accomplished its goals too well by introducing too many new elements at the end of a story, and giving a taste of something that will never be sated, setting up too many unfulfilled promises. Bao the Wyld would never get the epic teased by “River of Souls.”

It’s a fascinating and insightful calculus. A series has a structure, just as a novel does, and there are things you can’t do when you’re closing a series compared to when you’re opening one. Just as the end must pay off promises made in the beginning, revelations in the end that were never raised as earlier questions feel superfluous, no matter how entertaining. “River of Souls” offered a glimpse at a culture that has a fundamentally different view of the Pattern (the Tapestry, in their parlance) and the Dark One. To Sharans, fate was a shackle, and a victory of the Shadow meant liberation from the repeating destinies that the Wheel wove into the Pattern. The Wheel of Time gives few convincing reasons for a person to pledge themselves to the Dark One, but the Sharans offer a look at a belief system that values self determination over fate, which is the Father of Lies’ promise. But up until A Memory of Light, there was never a question of why an entire culture would follow the Shadow.

“River of Souls” sets up Demandred as the most developed and complex of Rand’s adversaries, a more direct opposite number to Rand than Ishamael/Moridin. Perhaps in this, it also succeeded too well. The idea of an anti-Rand, fulfilling prophecies, changing societies, and nearly being a hero on his way to the Last Battle is compelling symmetry. The Wheel of Time contained enough chapters entitled “Threads Woven of Shadow” that it’s not hard to imagine an anti-ta’veren in the Wheel’s cosmology. But Team Jordan’s mission was to finish a story, not launch new directions.  The epic of Bao the Wyld must remain apocryphal. “River of Souls” was a great story that came at the wrong time.

Recently, as has become tradition, along with the Wednesday Wheel of Time TV show teaser, Rafe Judkins answered some fan questions about the show. In amongst his answers was one that, while I fully anticipated his answer, I was still pleased to see.  A fan asked him if there would be LGBT representation in the show, and in response Rafe said “there is rep in the books and the show”, and alongside his response, he included both the gay flag emoji and the trans flag emoji. 

This was a very heartening response, in particular the inclusion of the trans flag.  As some of you may know if you watch my videos, I have long said that I think the show will need to include trans characters, not only because more diversity that reflects reality will only serve to deepen the world that Robert Jordan created, but I think the very nature of the magic system practically begs the question of where and how trans people fit into this world. 

But when I read Rafe’s response, I couldn’t help but think about the queer representation that exists in the book and how… lacking it is.  And I mean that more than numerically, although simply statistically speaking, the number of characters that are canonically queer is way lower than they should be if the story is actually reflecting reality.  And it is noteworthy that of the queer characters that Robert Jordan himself included, not a single male queer character exists.  The gay male characters were written in Brandon Sanderson’s final three books of the series. 

When people talk about queer characters in the books, the term “pillow friends” gets mentioned quite a bit.  But, for the most part, the pillow friends that Robert Jordan wrote about were not particularly queer. Their time of having romantic/sexual relationships with people of the same gender (again, exclusively between women) does not read to me as truly queer.  It reads to me as the “just a phase” that often gets thrown in the faces of queer people when we come out. These women have sexual encounters with each other during times when men are not available to them, but when they are once again able to interact with men, they naturally move away from their relationships with women to the more ‘mature’ relationships with the opposite sex.

In fact, it is rather explicitly hinted at in the narrative, that these ‘pillow friend’ relationships are an expression of an immature sexuality – something I can tell you from firsthand experience is a real thing that used to be said (perhaps still is).  That everyone goes through a homosexual phase of attraction, but you’re supposed to mature out of that. Gay people are supposedly stuck in that immaturity.  I do not know if Robert Jordan actually believed it, but he did include this very odd and inaccurate narrative about queer people in his books.

And this is not even speaking of the women who, in canon, are shown to be exclusively attracted to other women.  Recently, when discussing these women with a friend, I described it as “his representation of lesbians reads like a man who has heard tell of lesbians via legend and myth”, an analogy I was quite proud of, given the themes of myth and legend that run through these books.  The lesbians in these books are angry, cruel women who hate men and/or want to be just like men.  Their desires seem more focused on what they don’t like than what they like… it is lesbianism defined by its relationship to men, and how it is perceived by men.  I do not expect every queer woman in these books to be a paragon of virtue, far from it, but when every example of a specific group of people is painted with the same brush, it ceases to be a personality trait, and instead is a stereotype that should be examined.

And of course, this isn’t even touching on the “trans representation” that exists within the books.  I put that in quotes because whenever I bring this topic up, the character Halima is mentioned, but I feel that Halima is evidence that Robert Jordan was…ill-informed, to put it mildly, on the subject of the transgender experience.  I, myself, do not think I am an expert by any means, but it is easy to see how Halima is almost a personification of the very 90s (and probably decades earlier, but I remember this from the 90s) fear that straight men had that transgender women were going to somehow ‘trick’ them.  Halima’s whole plotline revolves around deception, and they revel in the knowledge that they are fooling people, despite the fact that being in a female body is a punishment for them.  Additionally, many things in Halima’s narrative indicate that Robert Jordan appeared to think he was describing the experience of a trans woman.  While there are many trans people who reject the ‘born into the wrong body’ narrative, the experience of being a female soul forced into a male body would be more akin to the experience of many trans men, not trans women; something I know from multiple conversations on this topic is a point of confusion among fans.   If, in fact, Halima was Robert Jordan’s attempt at trans inclusion, then, much like the lesbian representation, Halima is a character created by someone who seemed to not understand the group they were attempting to represent.  

All of this to say that yes, there is queer representation in the books, but I am hoping for more from the show.
But, beyond the queer characters in the books, I think that there are queer themes layered throughout the story.   I don’t think it is possible to know if these themes and moments are intentional, but I know that as a queer person reading this series, there are moments that likely resonate with me differently than they would a straight person. 

The first of these moments for me comes in Eye of the World.  Our party has been separated by Mashadar at Shadar Logoth, and Nynaeve has found herself joining with Moiraine and Lan.  And at this moment, Moiraine reveals that Nynaeve can channel. And here we get to see Nynaeve stripped of the mask that she wears to protect herself, and she is vulnerable for the first time.  Moiraine has exposed this truth that Nynaeve desperately wants to not be true.

That desperation that Nynaeve feels, the way she wrestles with it, sees the obvious truth in it, all while hating it and trying to deny it.   That moment feels so familiar to me. And when she quietly asks Moiraine to not tell anyone, my heart breaks for her.  The shame that Nynaeve feels in that moment, I know that feeling, I wore that feeling for so much of my life. 

And then there is Egwene.  It never occurred to me to read a queer theme into Egwene’s storyline until I had a chance to interview Enn and Matt from the Cool Story Podcast (A Wheel of Time New Reader podcast), and Enn spoke of reading queerness in Egwene.  Egwene is, to me, the inverse of Nynaeve.   Nynaeve reflects my early journey, I was a person with a secret that was so deep, I sometimes was able to hide it from myself, and when it came to the surface, I tried so hard to suppress it.  I was prepared to live my entire life denying this part of who I was, or at least I thought I was prepared to do that. 

Egwene, on the other hand, her story reflects the story of the brave kids that know and accept who they are, and know that if people don’t accept them, that’s their problem.  Egwene does not know that she can channel until Moiraine reveals it to her, but from the moment we meet her, she knows that the Two Rivers is not enough for her, that she is destined for more.  It is the story of so many gay kids growing up in places where they not accepted, and they are eager to strike out on their own, move to ‘the big city’, where they can finally be their full and complete selves and come into their own. 

In that same interview; Matt, the other host of the Cool Story Podcast, mentioned seeing queerness in Perrin’s storyline, something that feels so obvious to me now that I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.  One of the most frustrating things, to me, in Perrin’s character arc, is his indecisiveness when it comes to his relationship with the wolves.  He will accept them, and then block them out, and then embrace them, and then suppress them.  As a reader, I find myself so frustrated that he can’t commit to moving forward with this part of his identity.  But when Matt brought this up, I couldn’t help but look back on my own journey with accepting myself as a gay woman, and the multiple times I came out and then went back into the closet.  I imagine that if anyone had been reading my story as a narrative, they would have been equally frustrated. 

Now, when I think of this aspect of Perrin’s character arc, I identify with it.  It is realistic.  There are beats in there that are, once again, depressingly familiar.  When Perrin “comes out” to Ingtar, he expects rejection, or even to be accused of being a darkfriend.  Ingtar’s reaction is not rejection, but it is not full acceptance either.  He urges Perrin to pretend to be something other than his true self, because the others will not understand.  This is, almost verbatim, what I heard from several members of my family when I began to come out to them. 

There is also, for me, one of the biggest ways I see queerness in the story – the ability to channel itself.  Often, when talked about, the ability to channel is said to be akin to an addiction. I do think that this is an accurate analogy for channeling as described in the books, but I personally see it as more akin to sexuality.  I do not mean that in a salacious way at all, I am not likening channeling to the act of sex, but instead to sexuality as a part of one’s identity.

Part of this, I do feel, is very deliberate in the narrative. The way the ‘spark’ is discussed as happening earlier in women than men, the steady growth rate of ability in women versus the sporadic nature of the increase in strength in the power with men, it is an obvious parallel to physical puberty.  However, it is more than this parallel that strikes me with the ability to channel.  In fact, for me the aspect of channeling that most resembles sexuality is the fact that once you start channeling, you will continue to channel, it is inevitable.  This feels like a reflection of the truth that you cannot deny who you are.  As I mentioned previously, I came out multiple times before finally fully embracing who I was.  Each time I went back in the closet, I was determined to be straight.  I was certain that I could do it.  But it was impossible.  Experiencing even the briefest moments of being honest with myself and others made living in the closet impossible. 

There is also the way that people react to being gentled or stilled - they lose their will to live.  Again, this is a feeling I am well acquainted with.  When something so central to who we are as people is being buried, and you are expending so much energy lying to yourself and everyone around you, it is exhausting, and it can make it hard to see any beauty in the world.  So, when I read these books, and see Logain, walking around the Tower grounds, dejected and empty, I understand what he is feeling and it resonates with me. 

And finally, there is Rand.  I think it is impossible to talk about queer themes in these books and ignore this aspect of his storyline.  Rand, much like Perrin, has a part of himself that he wants to reject and hide.  But, unlike Perrin, Rand has no choice.  He cannot reject his ability to channel because he has ‘the spark’, and he cannot hide because he is the Dragon Reborn.  And he knows that men like him hurt and kill people around them, and if they aren’t stopped, they rot to death.  It is a horrible fate.

This aspect of his story very much mirrors the experience of living through the AIDS epidemic, the stigma that people living with HIV/AIDS had at the time - and in many places still do.    The fear that just by existing, these men would cause harm to those around them, and eventually die in a very undignified way.  And unlike the previous moments or story arcs I mentioned, I feel fairly confident that this one is intentional.  Given when Robert Jordan started writing this series, the fact that the taint and its effects are very gender specific, and knowing that, at the time HIV/AIDS was thought to be a gay male disease, the parallel is almost too perfect to be accidental. 

Earlier, I criticized Robert Jordan’s portrayal of queer characters, but I do very much believe that his missteps were borne out of ignorance rather than malice.  I always want to acknowledge his good intent, and I do very much believe his intent was good.  And in this part of Rand’s story, and the story of male channelers in the Wheel of Time, I see this good intent.   I see Robert Jordan exploring the journey of a character who, through no fault of their own, finds themselves “infected” with something that everyone fears, and no one understands.  No one can help him, many won’t even try, and he has to figure it out on his own. And in light of this interpretation of this aspect of Rand’s story, I think it is beautiful and hopeful that part of his journey includes the cleansing of the taint, and the ultimate acceptance of men who can channel.

So, while the queer representation in the books may have fallen short for me, these are the moments where I was able to read queerness into this series and find my story and the story of those like me in this world that I love. 
Are there moments for you that resonate in a way that may not be common among the fandom?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Most Wheel of Time fans begin their experience with The Eye of the World. But there are several other places a person could begin the series. In our latest episode The Wheel of Time Community Show, Kitty describes all the possible entry points for Robert Jordan's epic masterpiece. Check out the video below, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. 

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount's book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he's not managing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found cataloged at his website.

The Disney+ show WandaVision just ended, and I’m coming down from a high. It’s not that the Marvel Studios program paid off its every promise--the high had little to do with the ending at all. WandaVision set up a model of intense engagement that reminded me of some of my favorite stories, including The Wheel of Time.

I watched, re-watched, theorized, discussed, dissected, and thoroughly immersed myself in WandaVision. There are a few story similarities with Robert Jordan’s epic--a history that spans centuries, pocket realities, glimmers of a multiverse, witches with a prejudice against Wilders--but there’s a recipe both tales have in common that fires all my taste buds and draws me in completely, always chasing that next bite.

It goes without saying that a good story, with characters I care about, are prerequisites. But I watched each new episode of WandaVision the way I read each new volume of The Wheel of Time--by revisiting previous installments, asking questions, and speculating what those answers would be. For both I found a community of the like-minded to go deep, to challenge the story and each other. When you do it alone, it’s an obsession; when an entire community does it, it’s a fandom. But what is the recipe that elicits this behavior?

Mysteries and Prophecies

WandaVision started with the question “why did they make a show with two superheroes starring in a Dick Van Dyke/Bewitched remake?” Each episode added layers, until Agent Jimmy Woo helpfully started listing the pertinent questions on a whiteboard. He hung a lampshade on the show as a puzzle box. We should be asking these questions. The show promised answers.

I remember reading the “Dragonmount” prologue in The Eye of the World with the same off-kilter sense of being dropped into something unexpected. It was the aftermath of a cataclysmic war, with a hero taken by madness and a tooth-gnashing villain. They slung around titles and names without explanation, mentioned artifacts like the Ring of Tamyrlin, and then declared that no matter who lived and who died, their battle would rage on until the end of time. It was a lot. Then we got an excerpt from a history, or a prophecy, before we found ourselves in, if not quite the Shire, then a place with enough similarities that we could ground ourselves. Slowly, we found out how Lews Therin Telamon and Elan Morin Tedronai connected to this story, and what it meant for their fight to continue until the end of time.

Questions led to answers, that led to more questions. The Wheel of Time hung its own lampshades using symbolic prophecies, dreams, visions, and foretellings. They were promises about the story. Figuring out how they would be fulfilled (or whether they had already been fulfilled) became an intellectual game to play between books.

Replay Value

In WandaVision, there was an episode that stepped out of the show-within-the-show where it started, to focus on the characters trying to understand the inner show. We watched them react to the scenes we’d already seen, recontextualizing them and inviting us to go back and watch again with our new knowledge. Later, there was an episode that revealed someone pulling strings behind the scenes. Then, yet another episode took us through the parts of the main character’s backstory that informed the show-within-the-show (and its commercials). We saw previous episodes--and even earlier movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe--in new ways. (Avengers: Age of Ultron and Doctor Strange both became more interesting in light of WandaVision.) Some of us even wondered if movies outside of Marvel Studios were being recontextualized.

I started reading The Wheel of Time when the fourth book, The Shadow Rising, came out. Thereafter, I reread the series before each new book’s release. Robert Jordan rewarded the rereading. He used third-person limited, and confined the early chapters to the perspective of the hicks from the Two Rivers, so what we learned about the world through their eyes was usually wrong, especially when they encountered new cultures, complicated politics, or the metaphysical underpinnings of reality. We realized that Aes Sedai, under their outward serenity, were as uncertain and desperate as everyone else, and not at all monolithic in their motives. We learned that nine of ten parts of folk wisdom about the Dragon, the One Power, and the Forsaken were myth and superstition, and that the nature of the so-called Last Battle was not what we’d believed. And rereading uncovered so much foreshadowing in the most innocuous passages, a reassurance that this story was carefully planned, and paying attention would be rewarded.

A Rich Story World

What makes this continual recontextualization work, of course, is having a rich and detailed world for the story. WandaVision had the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as the decades of comic books and even a different movie studio’s franchise to draw from. Sometimes that knowledge was a benefit (like knowing who the comic book characters Agatha Harkness and Monica Rambeau were), and sometimes that knowledge led down false paths (the astrophysics engineer and Evan Peters). But it created a “scholarly” space to answer the questions raised by the show, and to understand the meaning of the many details. There was satisfaction in guessing right. And sometimes disgruntlement in being wrong.

Fans of The Wheel of Time are no strangers to a rich story world. While it’s possible to spot inconsistencies, strange one-offs, and missed opportunities, for the most part the Wheel’s cosmology is coherent and even predictive--a hallmark of solid construction. If a technology exists in one place, like a foxhead medallion or an Ogier stedding, it’s likely to be found elsewhere, like a gholam or the city of Far Madding. If there’s a discrepancy in details, like Aes Sedai achieving an ageless look from using the One Power, but not Wise Ones, Windfinders, or damane, there’s probably a discoverable explanation, like the use of the Oath Rod. Healing weaves can be modified to do harm, and Pattern-destroying balefire suggests a Pattern-strengthening Flame of Tar Valon. A trip backwards through the generations of Aiel history not only helps to understand their culture, but the Tuatha’an, the Green Man, the Whitecloaks, Warder cloaks, and even Lanfear’s role in freeing the Dark One. (But yes, I felt miffed that Adeleas’s murderer was not the one who flinched when someone mentioned that a woman could not be brought into a circle against her will, because the Black Ajah know about involuntary rings, after all...) The Wheel of Time lends itself to scholarship--and the wistful sense that if we could apply this much brain power to things that pay the bills, we’d be much better off.

Refractory Periods

WandaVision released on a weekly cadence. It was not amenable to binge watching, especially for people who wanted to avoid spoilers online. Marvel Studios was excellent about locking down leaks about the show before it aired, which meant that I had a week to think about the latest episode, and speculate about its cliffhangers and mysteries. It turns out that having that time to think is immensely enjoyable and intellectually engaging. Deciphering mysteries, reviewing recontextualized episodes, and the scholarly mining of a rich story world makes engaging with the story an active pursuit, where binge-watching is passive consumption. Given this time, I became a participant in the storytelling, not just a recipient of it. I began writing blog posts to refine my latest theories, and regularly engaged with friends (something I’m normally bad at) to theorize and discuss the pressing matters of the latest episode. It was joyful, and it only happened because I had time between each installment.

The pause between books in The Wheel of Time was much longer than a week, and afforded a similar pleasure. Back then, I found like-minded folks on Usenet, and an old friend and I, who had moved to separate cities, carried on an old-fashioned correspondence about The Wheel of Time. When the last few books came out, we booked hotel rooms between our cities, left our families at home, and went on retreats together, reading a chapter, discussing, and then reading the next. It became a pursuit both intellectual and social, and remains among my fondest memories.

I’m convinced that a story world can appear to be far richer than it actually is, given a dedicated fandom and time. The Star Wars saga built a galaxy by dropping casual mention of events, places, and characters that became fodder for head-canon and volumes of fan fiction, both paid and unpaid. It’s hard to find a corner of the Star Wars universe that hasn’t been thoroughly explored, and even the nonsensical-sounding “made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs” found a canonical explanation. A few details go a long way for pattern-hungry brains.

Sticking the Landing

Inevitably, a story--by definition--comes to an end. Well, this isn’t strictly true for comic books and franchises, but as we know from The Wheel of Time, if it isn’t the ending, then there must be an ending. “Sticking the landing” is a matter of paying off the level of engagement the work elicited. Attention and engagement is currency on credit, and the ending is when the bill comes due. The work doesn’t need to validate every wild theory, but it needs to emphasize which details were important, and how they came together for a surprising-yet-inevitable conclusion. An ending works in competition with each fan’s head-canon. Did WandaVision’s series finale stick the landing? A Memory of Light? The answers will vary, and may even change with time. Both are topics beyond the scope of this discussion, because if anything, the recipe for joyfully obsessive engagement truly is about the journey.

I occasionally write fiction, and though my current discretionary time means it’s short stories, my daydream is to someday write a world that could give readers the sort of joy The Wheel of Time gave me. It’s instructive to draw parallels with other properties that have sparked similar joy, be they epic fantasy series, long-form television shows, movie or comic book franchises, or computer games. It starts with the story, but by no means ends there. The world building must imply so much more beyond the scope of the story. There should be secrets that have a payoff if uncovered by intrepid fan-sleuths. New information should recontextualize what came before. If possible, it should be doled out in doses, feeding the fans without sating them. Create something that’s the fodder for endless daydreams, something that lives on after the last page is turned, or the credits roll.

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount's book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he's not managing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found cataloged at his website.

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“You’re in love with her.” He stared at her. “I can tell that even without seeing any images. She loves you, too, but she’s not for you, or you for her. Not in the way you both want.”
--“Strangers and Friends”, The Eye of the World

First time readers of The Wheel of Time can be forgiven for thinking that Rand and Egwene will end up together as a couple at the end of the story. Robert Jordan introduced the two with a well-worn trope that fantasy readers recognize. In the eyes of their village, they’re all but betrothed. Rand is tongue-tied and awkward around Egwene. Egwene says and does things that challenge Rand’s entire world view. They bicker, Rand expressing a clumsy protectiveness, and Egwene chafing against it. But underneath, we know that they really care for each other.

All they need is to go their separate ways for a while, grow up some, and realize that despite how they’ve changed, they remain meant for each other. Reading The Eye of the World, I remember feeling the vibes of Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain, with its coming-of-age romance between Taran the farm boy and Eilonwy the nascent sorceress. Confusion, bickering, then love. Expectations led me to overlook details as obvious as Min’s prophetic warning (shown above), so I was shocked when Egwene told Rand, in The Shadow Rising, that she didn’t love him, and he told her the same.

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“Please try to understand,” she said in a gentler voice. “People change, Rand. Feelings change. When people are apart, sometimes they grow apart. I love you as I would a brother, perhaps more than a brother, but not to marry. Can you understand that?”

He managed a rueful grin. “I really am a fool. I didn’t really believe you might change, too. Egwene, I do not want to marry you, either. I did not want to change, I didn’t try to, but it happened. If you knew how much this means to me. Not having to pretend. Not being afraid I’ll hurt you. I never wanted to do that, Egwene. Never to hurt you.”
--“Playing With Fire”, The Shadow Rising

 

Both Rand and Egwene have atypical heroes’ journeys. Unlike “there and back again” fantasy epics, Rand and Egwene never return to Emond’s Field. Theirs is not a story about the promise of young love fulfilled. Their story--along with a great deal of The Wheel of Time’s--is about leaving old things behind and embracing new ways. Growth is forward, not circling back. Egwene telegraphs her intent in an additional prologue at the age of nine, and also when we first meet her in the first book.

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“She wanted to see those lands that Jain Farstrider had written about. How would a husband feel about that? About his wife going off to see strange lands. Nobody ever left the Two Rivers, as far as she knew.
I will, she vowed silently.”
--“Ravens”, From the Two Rivers

 

“A Wisdom almost never marries. Nynaeve has been teaching me, you know. She says I have a talent, that I can learn to listen to the wind. Nynaeve says not all Wisdoms can, even if they say they do.”
--“The Peddler”, The Eye of the World

 

While the rest of the Emond’s Fielders are reluctant heroes, dutifully refusing Joseph Campbell’s Call to Adventure, Egwene is fueled by curiosity and ambition from the very beginning. The heart of the bickering between Egwene and Rand is Egwene’s eagerness to surpass the boundaries life set for her, and Rand interpreting her rejection of old ties as a rejection of him. Correctly so. In the world of The Wheel of Time, gender essentialism is a reality, and though men and women can both rise to high positions of authority, their paths and spheres of influence are separate. There are Wisdoms and mayors, Wise Ones and Clan Chiefs, Amyrlins and the Dragon Reborn.

During Egwene’s test for Accepted in The Dragon Reborn, Egwene sees glimpses of other possible lives. The test is designed to wash her clean of crimes committed and suffered in the past, false pride and ambition, and false ties that bind her to the world. Each of the three trials requires her to reject Rand: as a husband and father to her daughter, as a friend desperate for help, and as a prisoner needing her merciful judgment. To be Aes Sedai, fate and the Wheel demanded Egwene walk away from Rand and pledge her loyalty to the White Tower.

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“Is that all there is for me?” she demanded. “To abandon him again and again. To betray him, fail him, again and again? Is that what there is for me?” 

--“Sealed”, The Dragon Reborn

Sadly, that is precisely what the Pattern demands, at least until the very end. In every other alternate world, the Dark One won. Rand saw those other realities, those other failures, as he flickered through the mirror worlds connected by the Portal Stones.

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“Egwene married him; Egwene, stern-faced in the stole of the Amyrlin Seat, led the Aes Sedai who gentled him; Egwene, with tears in her eyes, plunged a dagger into his heart, and he thanked her as he died.”
--”What Might Be”, The Great Hunt

Only in the fullness of a series re-read did I see that, by the time they reunite in The Shadow Rising, Rand and Egwene have both seen that they literally have no future together. Rand was the Dragon Reborn. Egwene’s path lay toward the Amyrlin Seat who would unite the White Tower to oppose the Dark One. If Rand represented saidin, Egwene represented saidar, the opposing principle that pushed against Rand and was pushed by him, like the black and white parts of the ancient symbol of the Aes Sedai. They were forces in dynamic opposition, keeping the Wheel turning.

There was a parallel dynamic in the Age of Legends, between the previous Dragon, Lews Therin Telamon, and a powerful and influential woman named Latra Posae Decume, also known as Shadar Nor, or “the Slicer of the Shadow.”

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“Support for the use of the great sa’angreal [against the Dark One] and opposition to attempting to implant the seals centered around a woman named Latra Posae Decume. Apparently a speaker of considerable force and persuasion, she gathered a large bloc around her, but what assured her victory was an agreement she reached with every female Aes Sedai of significant strength on the side of the Light. (In the manuscript, this agreement is called “the Fateful Concord,” though it was doubtful that this was the name it was generally known.) Lews Therin’s plan was too rash, too dangerous, and no woman who agreed to the Concord would take part in it. As precise placement of the seals was widely thought to require a circle, that apparently killed the plan, since men cannot create a circle, but can only be brought into one created by women.”
--“The Strike at Shayol Ghul”, The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time

While there’s no definitive evidence that Egwene is Latra Posae reborn, there’s a symmetry in the tipping point as Rand attempted to negotiate The Dragon’s Peace before he went to Shayol Ghul. As Amyrlin Seat, Egwene was Rand’s equal in stature, just as Latra Posae was an equal of Lews Therin’s, and Egwene was prepared to oppose Rand’s plans to break the ancient seals on the Dark One’s prison. Only Moiraine’s intervention made this turning of the Wheel one where men and women worked in concert.

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“You still insist that you must break the seals?” Egwene said.
“Do not worry, Egwene,” Moiraine said, smiling. “He is not going to break the seals.”
Rand’s face darkened.
Egwene smiled.
“You are going to break them,” Moiraine said to Egwene.
“What? Of course I’m not!”
“You are the Watcher of the Seals, Mother,” Moiraine said. “Did you not hear what I said earlier? ‘It shall come to pass that what men made shall be shattered, and the Shadow shall lie across the Pattern of the Age, and the Dark One shall once more lay his hand upon the world of man…’ It must happen. … You know the truth of this one. It does need to be done, and the seals are yours. You will break them, when the time is right. Rand, Lord Dragon Reborn, it is time to give them to her.”
--”A Knack”, A Memory of Light

If the original sin in The Wheel of Time cosmology was the schism between the genders enacted by Lews Therin and Latra Posae, the eleventh hour accord between Rand and Egwne grants the world absolution, and heals the rift. And as Rand realized in his long, dark night of the soul atop Dragonmount, this was the entire point. To try again, and do better.

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“Why do we live again? Lew Therin asked, suddenly. His voice was crisp and distinct.
Yes, Rand said, pleading. Tell me. Why?

Maybe… Lews Therin said, shockingly lucid, not a hint of madness to him. He spoke softly, reverently. Why? Could it be… Maybe it’s so that we can have a second chance.

Why? Rand thought with wonder. Because each time we live, we get to love again.

That’s why he fought. That’s why he lived again, and that was the answer to Tam’s question. I fight because last time, I failed. I fight because I want to fix what I did wrong.

I want to do it right this time.”
--”Veins of Gold”, The Gathering Storm

 

Lezbi Nerdy is a Wheel of Time content creator who recently realized that she has been reading and re-reading the Wheel of Time for more than half of her life, which freaked her out a little bit.  When not obsessing over Wheel of Time and other nerdy pursuits, she works at a language therapy center in South Korea and enjoys long, socially distanced walks while wearing a mask and listening to podcasts. 

You can check out her youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/lezbinerdy and if you are so inclined, you can support her on patreon. http://www.patreon.com/lezbinerdy

The Wheel of Time changed the way I read.  So much so that I have in the past claimed that it is the first fantasy series I ever read, which in retrospect is just not true.  I have also said that The Eye of the World was the first “real adult book” I ever read, which… also, in retrospect, has turned out to not be true.  But it definitely feels true, and when trying to figure out why, I think I have landed on an answer.  The Wheel of Time changed how I read books. It turned me into an active reader in a way that just makes it feel like a turning point in my reading life.  This may simply be a by-product of the fact that I am an old-school fan, I was reading before the series was finished, and am among those who had to wait years between books, and wait over a decade to have the story finished.  So, in the time I was waiting, I thought about these books, and about where the story was going, I made guesses and had theories.  This is something I had never done prior to these books because I hadn’t needed to.  The stories I had read before were just… there.  I didn’t have to guess because if I just kept going, I’d find the answer. 

But I think it was more than just the wait for more books that caused this change in me.  The story, the world that Robert Jordan crafted just lends itself to theorizing.  The world is so wide in scope, that even with the story finished, there are still questions left.  And there is such depth to the world building that even if there are no canonical answers, it feels like there are. 

And so, when reading and re-reading this series before it was complete, my head was full of theories.  And there is one theory that, while it didn’t bear out in the end, I think it is worth examining. 

The world of Wheel of Time is a world that has fractured along gender lines.  It is a world in which gender essentialism is… well, it’s true.  We have a magic system that divides things along very binary gender lines.  All male channelers must use saidin, and all female channelers must use saidar.  And those two sources of power are inherently different.  It is gender essentialism written into the foundational magic system that turns the eponymous Wheel of Time. 

Characters in the books often muse at the nature of members of the opposite sex.  Men are spoken of by women in absolutes, and vice versa.  Women undertake actions and understand ideas that men don’t seem to know much about (for example, that a Two Rivers good wife would change the curtains in a house depending on the season), and men do things that women can’t seem to understand or dismiss as illogical.  It happens to such a degree that it can become frustrating to readers, even annoying, to hear these characters lump all members of the opposite gender into one group, to paint them all with broad brush strokes as all being the same.

But as I read, and re-read, I came to the conclusion that this was intentional, it had to be.  It had to be a symptom of something that was wrong and broken in their fictional world.  And it was a symptom that made sense to me.  If the foundational magic system of the world seemingly tells people that men and women are fundamentally different, and in fact, unknowable to each other, then why wouldn’t people just accept this as fact and not examine it further?   As Moiraine says in The Great Hunt, “A bird cannot teach a fish to fly, nor a fish teach a bird to swim.”

But of course, the fact that these differences between genders lean into very common and frustrating gender stereotypes was… well, as a woman, it was frustrating.  In order to use the male half of the source, men have to approach it directly, from the front, dominate it through force.  In order to use the female half of the source, women have to surrender to it, submit, and control subtly from within, or underneath the power. 

We see this play out in the way men and women use and gain power in the world of The Wheel of Time.  Men, for the most part; battle, conquer, or negotiate directly by saying what they want clearly.  The women, on the other hand, the women in power in the books are mostly seen as manipulators, they pull the strings behind the scenes.  There are, of course, exceptions to these ‘rules’, but in general, this is how things work in this world.  And because of our cultural biases, these two methods are not viewed equally.  Battling, conquering, being direct… most readers see these as noble characteristics, brave even.  Manipulating, pulling strings… most readers will see these as sneaky, underhanded methods. Even if both of these methods are used to achieve the same goals, they are not view equally. These factors color how characters and organizations are viewed. 

But again, this divide, this break between genders is literally baked into the foundation of this world.  Men must be dominant, because if they aren’t and they are a channeler, they literally won’t be able to channel.  And women must be surrendering, because if they are not able to surrender, then they literally won’t be able to channel.  If they do not conform, then they must learn to conform in order to fully grow into who they are meant to be.  Gender essentialism is enforced by how things work.

But gender essentialism is wrong.  Gender essentialism says that there are universal, immutable, intrinsic qualities to being male or female, and anyone with any sense knows that this is not true. I can tell you that in my over 20 years of teaching experience, there isn’t a single quality, hobby, or personality type that I could say universally applies to all the boys I’ve taught or all the girls.  There are numerous exceptions to every gender rule I can think of.  Even in that same conversation I previously mentioned in The Great Hunt, Verin comments on the faulty logic of the fish metaphor.  “There are birds that dive and swim. And in the Sea of Storms are fish that fly…” These universal generalities about “all women” and “all men” only serve to divide us and to make anyone who doesn’t fit feel like an outsider. To read more about gender essentialism, you can read this piece on Gender Essentialism Theory by Dr. E. Boskey.  

And as I said, as I was re-reading these books, I began to think that this was the point Robert Jordan was trying to make, or it was one of them.  That the characters were wrong about the nature of masculinity and femininity because they were fundamentally wrong about the nature of saidar and saidin.  And the reason I began to think this was because of Nynaeve.

If you know my YouTube channel, then you probably know that Nynaeve is my girl.  She is my favourite character, hands down, and so she is the person I have thought the most about, and so yeah… on my re-reads it started to dawn on me that it didn’t make any sense that Nynaeve, for the first part of the series, can only channel when angry.  It goes against everything we know about the nature of saidar and female channeling.  Women are only supposed to be able to channel when calm, but that is out the window with Nynaeve, because she has to be livid to be able to ‘embrace the source’.  And secondly, women are supposed to only be able to channel through surrendering to the vastness of the One Power – literally are only able to use power by surrendering to power.  Now, maybe this is me, but anger is not a surrendering emotion in my book.  And from what we read and know of Nynaeve, it isn’t one for her too.  When she is angry, she bowls over people, she takes charge, she is blunt and direct, violent even.  She is displaying very characteristically masculine traits.  Theodrin even comments that she doesn’t understand how Nynaeve can channel in the first place because it goes against everything she knows about how the female half of the source works. 

And I honestly thought that this was the point.  That Nynaeve was going to prove that everything that everyone has assumed about saidar – and saidin as well – was wrong.  That Nynaeve was going to show that women don’t have to surrender, women don’t have to conform to these old and tired stereotypes about how women are manipulative and submissive.  And through this we would also learn that men don’t have to conform to male stereotypes either, they don’t have to be violent, to conquer and dominate.  That while maybe these old ways are easiest for most, they are not essential.  That the male half and female halves of the Source aren’t as unknowable to each other as originally thought, and through that that the world would come to understand that men and women aren’t as foreign to each other as well.  I thought it was going to be a part of the healing that this world was going to go through because of our main characters. 

I held out hope for this theory until the final book, even after she surrendered to the source at the bottom of that river.  But it didn’t happen.  I suppose, with the world continuing as it does, that this could be something that happened in the post-book era, but I think I have to accept that this wasn’t a part of Robert Jordan’s original plan.  And, if I’m honest, it is one of the very few things in The Wheel of Time that I’m disappointed with. 

I’ve said before that I always assume good intent with Robert Jordan, and even in this area this still stands.  I think that it was his intent to show the value in both ‘sides’ of the coin, to show that men and women must work together, that equality and cooperation are goals worth striving for.  But gender essentialism is an inherently limiting philosophy.   And when there are strict lines drawn between two sides, it practically invites people to make judgements about which is better. 

But with the show coming out, I think that there is a new opportunity to address this issue in the world of Wheel of Time in a way that doesn’t lock men and women into outdated stereotypes that were never universally true in the first place.  Obviously, I am attached to my personal theory about how this could be addressed; but regardless of how it is done, I think it would be in keeping with Robert Jordan’s vision of healing the divide between genders to not stick to the fundamentally flawed principle of gender essentialism. 

But these, of course, are only my thoughts.  What are yours? How do you feel about the role gender essentialism plays in The Wheel of Time?

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount's book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he's not managing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found cataloged at his website.

For the son to rise, the father must fall. From mythology to Marvel Comics, from Shakespeare to Star Wars, and in almost every Disney story, the parental figure must die before the heir can fulfill their role. The trope is so familiar that participants of Amazon Prime’s book club for new readers of The Eye of the World were sure that Tamlin al’Thor was a goner after Winternight, when Rand was torn between leaving with Moiraine for Tar Valon and staying to take care of his father. Narratively speaking, good parents are obstacles to children facing real danger. They prevent the story from getting started. Clearly, Tam should have gone the way of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, following convention.

Happily, Robert Jordan had a different story in mind. Tam al’Thor is no obstacle to his son. While the plot contrived to keep Tam and Rand separated until a pivotal encounter in The Gathering Storm, Tam had more interesting things to do than opening the farm gate for Rand by succumbing to his wounds.

I started reading The Wheel of Time in college, as a young man preparing to set out into the world to make something of himself. I read about Rand and Mat playing for their supper, surviving by their wits, and getting out of scrapes with a sense of romance. Everything was potential. What could be. The open road, man. When I finished reading The Wheel of Time, I was a dad. I started looking at Tam with the sense of association I once had for his son. Strong. Solid. Stable. A man whose job was to raise a hero, but had some heroics of his own left to do. Tam was the kind of dad I wanted to be. I’d become a supporting character in a story that belonged to my daughter, but my own story wasn’t yet done. The two facts were not at odds. Tam al’Thor embodied that truth.

Tam's “N-shaped” story arc has two volumes. The first, told through flashback and exposition, took him from the Two Rivers seeking adventure, and then back again with a wife and child. The second unfolded in the 14 books of the main series, taking him out of retirement and back into military life, as a warrior and leader of men. But still--most importantly--as a father.

Tam left the Two Rivers as a youth, and joined the army in Illian. He fought in the Whitecloak War, two wars against Tear, and the Aiel War, learning a blademaster’s skill under a mentor named Kimtin. He received a Power-wrought, heron-marked sword from King Mattin Steppaneos himself, and rose to the distinguished rank of Second Captain of the Illianer Companions. But the Aiel War was a turning point for Tam in his career. 
 

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“They came over the Dragonwall like a flood,” Tam said suddenly, in a strong, angry voice, “and washed the land with blood. How many died for Laman’s sin?”

The Eye of the World, Chapter 6, “The Westwood”

 

Tam understood that the political machinations of King Laman of Cairhien caused the Aiel to invade, and the bloodshed was prolonged by the nations slow in their arrogance to unite. In the war’s final battle, Tam sought escape from the heat of battle and stink of death on the slopes of Dragonmount, where the Wheel would have him find the newborn baby Rand. Tam was at the pinnacle of his career, but disillusionment, weariness, and fatherhood led him to quit the Companions and take his wife and child to the obscurity and pastoral life of the Two Rivers.

Back home, Tam became a man of secrets and silence. None but his wife knew the story of their son, nor did he talk much of his career. His heron-marked sword remained locked in a chest under the bed until a Winternight 19 years later, when the Trollocs attacked Emond’s Field. Teaching Rand the “flame and the void” exercise, rescuing him from the Trollocs, and giving him his sword would have been enough of an ending for most epic fantasy dads. But The Wheel of Time is vast, and can accommodate the rise of many characters, including a comeback for a veteren sword master who retired to raise his son.

When Tam recovered from his injuries at Winternight, he and Abell Cauthon journeyed to Tar Valon to find their sons, where they were stonewalled by the Aes Sedai. They returned to the Two Rivers to find that the Whitecloaks used the Trollocs as an excuse to occupy their land and abuse their people. Tam coordinated the underground resistance until Perrin Aybarra returned. Then, something remarkable happened. He ceded leadership to the younger man. (This does indeed seem a fantasy to Americans looking to choose new blood for leadership.) Tam not only stepped aside, but he remained a part of Perrin’s active resistance, training village men to be soldiers and lending experienced advice. Call it ta’veren, or call it character, but there was no power struggle, no internal conflict. Tam, a military man, knew when to lead and when to follow. Under Lord Perrin, Tam became the First Captain of the Two Rivers army, leading them to defeat the Shaido Aiel at the battle of Malden. Tam folded in and trained refugees, amassing a mighty Two Rivers army that fought in the Last Battle. Tam enters the Fourth Age the military leader of a large and powerful nation.

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“But no, it was Tam. There was no mistaking the man’s kindly eyes. Though he was a head shorter than Rand, Tam had always seemed more solid than the world around him. His broad chest and steady legs could not be moved, not because he was strong--Rand had met many men of greater strength during his travels. Strength was fleeting. Tam was real. Certain and stable. Just looking at him brought comfort.”

 

The Gathering Storm, Chapter 47, “The One He Lost”

 

In DC Comics, Superman has the power of a demigod, but was raised by good parents with humble, Midwestern values. Superman’s moral upbringing makes him the incorruptible hero he is. Since leaving the Two Rivers, Rand al’Thor shouldered the weight of the world’s hope, as the Dark One sought to tear down that hope with tragedy and pain. Tam al’Thor’s most critical contribution came as Rand was nearly consumed by a darkness born of the need to be hard, at the expense of his humanity. Tam reminded Rand of who he was, and though he nearly died at his son’s hand in that confrontation, he triggered a crisis that reached down through the suspicion and hurt, allowing the good son underneath to climb out. When Rand returned from Dragonmount, he was healed, whole, and an avatar of the Light. He was the man who, remembering who he once was, could win the battle of wills against the Dark One.

On his return, when Rand introduced Min to Tam, it was not just the loving rite between a father and his adult son. It was a healing of the wound that had opened back in the Westwood, so long before, when Rand believed that he didn’t have a real father. He had one in every way that mattered. Tam did more than just set the hero on his journey. He kept him true.