*chills*

First off, I think the cover art looks great! But I have a few qualms about the text on the cover. What is "the final volme of TWOT" doing in the upper right corner of the book? It makes the book look kind of odd. Secondly why does it say the final volume of TWOT? Why not just put book fourteen of TWOT, though that is a minor issue and is something I could live with. Finally where is the synopsis on the inside of the dust jacket? Again I think the cover art looks great but the first qualm is my major complaint! I am sure we will see what the synopsis is like eventually. Thanks for the info dragonmount!

not to be all "mr negative"... but wasnt there a prophecy about rands blood on the rocks of the slopes of mt doom? whats he doing down in the cave?

and as for the "two woman who've been with rand since the biginning"... ive always felt that moraine and lanfear have been nearly identical characters... and theyve both been around since the biginning...

still :) a very nice picture, but i still hope they put sweets picture on the backside of the cover slip...

I am not certain, but is that the dagger from Shadar Logoth on his belt. There seems to be a largish ball (or gem) on the end of it! I wonder what that signifies?

Also noticed he isnt wearing his brown coat from the last novel which seemed to be mentioned a lot

This is exciting! Ever since my father introduced me to the Wheel of Time, I've been glued to it ever since. I can't read other books because they're completely ruined beside the glory of WoT. Waiting for the last book is AGONIZING. Who are the women accompanying Rand? That has to be Moiraine in the blue but who's the girl with the short hair?

@aviendha theres several theories about who the woman in yellow is...

1) nyaneve... in the last book, her hair got burnt shorter...

2) cyndane/lanfear/meirin... it seems to fit(to my mind)

im sure there are others :)

tor said that the two women were "around since the biggining of the series"... ive always seen lanfear and moraine as nearly identical characters... equal and opposite... which imo, would make an excellent pair to be in the circle with rand...

tho thats complete conjecture :) we'll have to wait till january to be certain...

For the most part I like this cover. However, the way Rand is holding his sword is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen. It's fairly common place in fantasy art, I suppose, but I do wish that they would portray how someone would actually hold a sword in fantasy art instead of holding it in a way that looks "cool". Those types of very un-realistic things have a tendency to bring me out of my suspension of disbelief, which annoys me.

 

I agree though that it is Morainne and Nynaeve though. Things are coming full circle baby! It's time to end this! In EPIC fashion.

it is kinda funky, but atleast in this case it is a sword that is not a sword, so holding it like that may have nothing to do with using it as a sword.

About the two women: the description says two things about them:

1. They were with Rand from the beginning.

2. They are Aes Sedai

To my knowledge Lanfear/Cyndane is NOT Aes Sedai! She once was, but hasn't been anymore for thousands of years.

Only Moiraine, Nynaeve and Egwene fit that description. One might argue to add Elayne to the list, but that's it. I can't imagine Egwene to be there and they certainly aren't Elayne, so they must be Moiraine and Nynaeve.

Whelan can draw people much better than Sweet. The full cover especially looks great. Any ideas about where Rand is?

I would say the entrance to Shayol Ghul

All Glory be to the Creator, and to the Light, and to he who shall be born again.

@fikkie77,

in my humble opinion lanfear is more aes sedai than egwene,elayne,moiraine

and nynaeve put together,she just lost her way.

in the towers of midnight,rand tells cadsuane that she can call him rand sedai,and like lanfear he hasn't been one for the same amount of time.

i completely agree with mark that moiraine and lanfear are almost identical

characters,and both of them guarded rand(lanfear saved rand's life at the

end of the great hunt,an acounter that min never told anyone).

true,their motives were vastly different...and again,the same.

so back to michael whelan wonderful cover,i believe that the two women are moiraine and lanfear 2.0.

@jack thanks! :D even moreso, lanfear and moraine have literally swapped power levels... cyndanes power is about as moraines was, and moraine(with the angreal) is as powerful as lanfear was... they both played with rands strings from the getgo... moraine leading to the light, lanfear to the shadow... they "killed eachother"... i could go on and on...

i still believe that the two women to circle with rand, are moraine and meirin... they are the only two who make sense for rj to have planned for this to my mind... they are equal, and opposite...

add that meirin was the one who drilled the bore... she'd be the most qualified one to know how to fix it...

The cover is absolutely amazing!!! It is soo detailed. All I have to say is that Michael Whelan is an amazing artist! I don't think I would have wanted anyone else to do the cover art!

Love it.

I must be one of the few people who don't like it. Rand's stupid dancing pose ruins it.

... and wasnt rands wound on the right side? that picture shows it bleeding on the left...

... and it looks like his whole belts is made of dragons... instead of just the buckle...

Anyone else think that's Moiraine and Nynaaeve in the back there? I can't wait to find out what Rand's reaction to her coming back is going to be like. Even though this is a different artist going the final cover, I do have to say I think this is the best rendition of Rand that I've seen so far. Great work!

To the people still thinking the woman to (our) right is Mierin/Cyndane: she didn't arrive until TGH. She was not with Rand from the beginning. And when she was, she was against him.

@moonstar i think its settled that the woman in blue is moraine... the woman in green/yellow tho... its either nyaneve, or mierin... nyaneve id say, is more likely, but mierin makes more sense(to my mind)...

as for the picture of rand, id agree, one of the best ive yet seen... but his face seems too hard... more TGS hardness... not the calm aes sedai we saw in ToM... and theres a few other issues i have with it(belt, dagger, cave, wound) still :) its up there :D

To Mark. Cyndane is most powerful female channeler, at the moment. Not sure how you came to conclusion that she is as strong as what Moiraine used to be.

One of the woman in picture is Moiraine. Another one DOESN"T look to have dark hair, short or long. My first guess was Cyndane. Alivia? NYn surely has dark hair.

To Mark. Cyndane is most powerful female channeler, at the moment. Not sure how you came to conclusion that she is as strong as what Moiraine used to be.

 

One of the woman in picture is Moiraine. Another one DOESN"T look to have dark hair, short or long. My first guess was Cyndane. Alivia? NYn surely has dark hair.

nice catch, the woman in yellow appears to be blonde. and her hair does look short, at least in comparison to nyn's braid that went to her waist, but nyn had dark brown hair, moir also had dark brown even black hair. i still think it is moir and nyn, but i think that was a nice catch, i've just never seen a completely accurate cover on any book.

There is a definitive dot/mark on the woman in yellow's forehead, and while there are stronger female channeler's Nynaeve has the advantage of having worked with Rand in momentous tasks before, as well as having perhaps the best "intuitive" grasp of channeling of all the women close to Rand. Drawing a bit further on the less plausible side; Rand is attempting to rebuild the prison holding the DO and that could be considered being a "healing" of sorts (after all, we are not merely talking brick and mortar here, but a breakage of the more "metaphysical" - prolly wrong word there - sense).

On the negative evidence side; Lanfear/Mierin/Cyndane last we've seen her has been quite firmly and squarely set against Rand for him spurning her. Granted, she's a passionate creature from what we've seen her, but even assuming she'd change her mind it just doesn't tick as many emotional boxes for me as does it being Nynaeve.

And of course Egwene has other duties and never was a likely candidate there in any case.

Min could be an option but that to me feels a bit more up in the air. Yes, her ability to see things perhaps could in some way unknown manifest itself in a useful way here but it seems more far fetched and unplausible, and aside from that she simply has less to contribute with in the midst of combat.

It is to me overwhelmingly likely that we are seeing Moiraine and Nynaeve accompanying Rand here.

Like the art btw, wrt Rand's hardness - well, he's probably come through fire and blood to get here to begin with, and he's entering a fight that (he believes) will kill him even in the best of cases and in the worst; end the world. That's likely to make any of us a bit stern-faced :P

To Mark. Cyndane is most powerful female channeler, at the moment. Not sure how you came to conclusion that she is as strong as what Moiraine used to be.

 

One of the woman in picture is Moiraine. Another one DOESN"T look to have dark hair, short or long. My first guess was Cyndane. Alivia? NYn surely has dark hair.

lanfear WAS the most powerful... when both moraine and lanfear fell into finnland(haha) they both got drastically decreased in power... cyndane is powerful, but nowhere near the most powerful anymore... seemingly moraine+angreal, makes her about as powerful as lanfear was... and cyndane has slipped down to moraine's level...

and im not saying its not nyaneve... it very well could be... but as for lanfear setting herself against rand, i think we've only seen her do so, once.. just before she died... every other time she's interacted with rand, she acted with rand, but to end up in the shadow... she played with rands strings just as much as moraine... just her target was different...

to me, the picture looks to be nynaeve... but it could be either...