DRAGONMOUNT

Tai’shar Dragonmount!   Herein is the Memory Keeper report from the San Diego visit on the A Memory of Light   book-signing tour, 6 February, 2013. Faithfully submitted by Freelancer.   Before getting to the event itself, a little bit about the location.     Mysterious Galaxy is a wonderful independent bookstore in the heart of San Diego, focusing on Sci-fi, Fantasy, Mystery and Horror literature, run by a dedicated and knowledgeable staff of fantasy fans. The store manager, Patrick Heffernan, coordinates author signing events each and every week, as many popular authors wouldn’t consider a promotional tour complete without a visit there. You can learn more at http://www.mystgalaxy.com/     As for the Memory Keepers, there were eight selected by the Dragonmount staff, but unfortunately one, Eric, was transferred by his military command prior to the event. There rest of us included Justin, our “First Among Equals”, Alexei, Chris, Christopher, Lindsey, Manuel, and Tim. All were able to be on hand early and assist the store with rearranging bookshelves, setting chairs, and whatever other setup needs the store required.   Fans began arriving as much as an hour and a half prior to the scheduled start time of 7PM, and not long after 6PM all of the chairs were occupied. The mingling crowd wasted no time in chatting each other up about the series, speculating on what questions would and would not be asked or answered. At that time we began passing out copies of a fan-created Wheel of Time crossword puzzle (thank you, Wetlandernw!), and a logic puzzle designed by Memory Keeper Justin. Attendees dove right into these while waiting, and in spite of our best attempts to keep folks “honest”, many smart phones and tablets were put into action hunting answers from numerous Wheel of Time resource sites.   Brandon and Harriet arrived around 6:15 and went directly to work signing store stock books for almost twenty minutes. Brandon then broke away and pulled the Memory Keepers outside of the store while Harriet continued. He greeted us all, thanked us for volunteering and offered his congratulations on being selected. He then explained that Harriet’s travel schedule still had her on Eastern Time, and she wouldn’t be able to remain for the entire event, so the sequence would have to be adjusted, and the usual sit-down time with the Memory Keepers would unfortunately fall victim, but that Harriet would spend some time with us on site before leaving. Next he asked if we had all finished A Memory of Light, and with seven nodding heads, said that we were free to ask any questions, even AMoL spoilers, before going back in with the crowd. The non-spoiler questions will be included at the end of this report.   After we re-entered the store, Harriet turned around while in the midst of signing books, and got the crowd’s attention. She pointed out a photo of Robert Jordan which has hung on the wall of the store for as long as I’ve known of the place(and is the feature photo on his Wikipedia page), and said that it was taken in this very store during the 2005 tour for Knife of Dreams, his last book release tour. She asked if anybody there might know who took the photo, for she had always treasured it. Lo and behold, two hands shot up, belonging to people known to the tor.com re-read as BaboKathy and insectoid. A close family friend had taken the photo, and they were there as well at that time. Harriet then produced a DVD of photos from that day’s event, and asked if they would get it to the woman who had taken the photo. It was a very lovely gesture, and a moving moment.     A bit after this, a few moments of getting people and things settled, and Christine, one of the store employees, delivered a formal introduction for Brandon and Harriet. Harriet expressed her thanks for the great support of the fandom, and then began stating numbers:     23 ~ Years since the publication of The Eye of the World. Brandon broke in on this and asked how many others began reading the series in 1990 as he had. Still a fanboy after all these years! There were more than a handful, and more on that later.   9,995 ~ Pages in the first edition hardcovers of the series proper (excludes New Spring)   14 ~ Volumes in the main series   Brandon spoke briefly about finishing the series, and then began the Q & A session.     Q:  About Androl and Pevara, the dynamic and internal dialogues were right on, and his unique skills made for some of the most remarkable scenes since the cleansing. I know that RJ had some things lined out for many of the characters, but you sort of took Androl on as your guy, can you speak to that?   Brandon:  (Prefaced his answer by reminding everyone to avoid spoiler questions, and made it clear that this one did not cross that line) When I began to work on the books, I felt that with each book, it seemed that Robert Jordan usually took a side character and made them more of a main character. As I was outlining the series, I decided I wanted to take a side character and make them into more of a main character, but there wasn’t a specific person in the notes designated to do that with. But I felt that we really needed somebody at the Black Tower, because of all the things going on at that time in the notes, and we needed another viewpoint there. During my second trip to Charleston, this would be April/May of 2008, we used big sheets of butcher paper, outlining what was going on with these as a visual aid. I wanted an Asha’man to have a sequence of major viewpoints. Maria and Alan, who were Robert Jordan’s assistants, and are now Harriet’s assistants, chatted about it a moment and said you should use Androl, because there’s not a lot about him, he’s pretty much a blank slate and you can go wherever you want with him, which was really exciting for me. I then pitched the Talent of gateways for him, and they liked that. Shortly after I got home, I got in the mail a printout or photocopies, of magazine or book pages from Harriet about leatherworking, and she had written on it, “I know that Jim had planned to use this in the book somewhere, is there anywhere that you can fit it in”. Well I’m developing this character, let’s make him a leatherworker. So I used that in building the personality of who this character was, and in that way, there was some of Robert Jordan in the character, even though I was taking a blank slate and going my own way with him. And that’s where Androl came from for the last three books.   Q:  Did the Dark One make the True Power available to Rand, or did he find it himself? Brandon:  (After staring at me for several seconds (long story) and taking a sip of water, he pulled out a RAFO card) First RAFO of the night, and it’s yours! It might be in the encyclopedia. Yes, I can still RAFO.   Q:  Which character’s contribution to A Memory of Light did you enjoy most? Brandon:  This book was supposed to be about Rand, and so Rand’s contribution is the most important to me. So much so, that in the revising process we felt several times we needed to bring out more. One of the big elements of revision was, we needed to make sure that Rand remains the focus of this book, and even though things are going where there are lots of different sections and regions where Rand is not involved, we needed Rand to be at least the heart of the book.   Q:  Harriet, will you speak to how you came to choose Brandon to finish the series, and Brandon, how it was to be selected?   Harriet:  Well, I don’t know that this isn’t all over the Web, so most of you probably already know the story. (In the interest of space, I agree, and the details of this can be found among Brandon’s own blog entries on www.brandonsanderson.com, an interview on tor.com, and other places. I feel Compelled, however, to provide a verbatim transcript of a piece of her commentary) Harriet:  (After having read Mistborn and feeling that Brandon was the right fit for the work) And then, in a very unprofessional way, I called information for Provo, Utah, and asked for Brandon Sanderson’s phone number. And I got it!. So a woman picked up the phone, and I said “Hello, is this Brandon Sanderson’s number?”, she said “Yes it is”. And I said “Well, I’m the widow of Robert Jordan, and I’m calling to ask whether Brandon Sanderson would like to be considered on the short list we’re compiling”, and it was a short list (holding up a single finger) “to finish Robert Jordan’s fantasy series.” She said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” And guess what? Provo, Utah has at least two Brandon Sandersons. So then I remembered that I was a publishing professional, called Tor, and said “what is Brandon’s number?” Q:  Can you talk a little bit about the River of Souls sequence? Brandon:  Yeah, I can totally talk about this. So, River of Souls is about a specific character, and in the drafting process this is not something I actually pitched to Harriet early on, but in the later meetings I got together with them and pitched something which was a deviation from things Robert Jordan had said. Harriet told me from the get-go, Look you’ve got the notes, you’ve got the outline, you’ve got to be a writer, not a transcriber. Robert Jordan would not have kept this the way it is, that’s not how we work, and in a lot of places he said I’m thinking of doing this, OR this, and you’ll have to decide which of those to do, or to do a third. And so I pitched one of these kind of audacious sequences to her; sometimes these work, sometimes they don’t. It’s the sort of thing you need to do to create fiction, that I feel is daring, and you need to take these chances. But a lot of times you don’t know if it’s going to work until the book is done, and you can look at it together. And this was taking place in a region of the Wheel of Time world that Robert Jordan said I really don’t think we’re ever going to visit. Which is the part that was deviated, by doing this sequence. And it’s not that long, only about 7,000 words, so it’s like a novelette. I sent it to Harriet, and she said “I really like this, but we’re going to cut it”. The reason being, that it broke up the flow of the novel, and it was introducing too many new elements at the beginning of the volume that was supposed to be wrapping up elements. And those who do storytelling know that can be a really dangerous thing to do.   Harriet:  That was the reason. It was a big additional segment, and this is not what you call a slim volume anyway. So as a reader, it was not fun. Not that there was anything wrong with the sequence, but it was not what my antennae said we needed. We needed to get on with it.   Brandon:  Yes, instead of going sideways, when we needed to go forward. Q:  I was wondering what inspired you to write your own things, and what were some of the first steps you took?   Brandon:  That’s an enormous question. Listen to Writing Excuses, I’ll talk about that later. What started me? I was kind of a lost boy in school in middle school. I didn’t do bad, I got Bs and Cs. I didn’t have passion about anything, I was just kind of wandering. And then, I discovered fantasy novels. And it’s dumb to say, but fantasy novels changed my life. I don’t know why. Now, as a 37-year-old, I can look back and say “Well, obviously, it was THIS” But I don’t know what it was. I discovered specifically Dragonsbane, the works of Anne McCaffrey, and the works of Melanie Rawn. Which were right after one another in the card catalog, and they all three had Michael Whelan covers. And I don’t know why, but those three things grabbed me, and then I realized this is what I wanted to do. I realized this is a job people do, and it’s awesome. So I told my Mom, and she said “Well, you better get better grades, then.” That’s what my Mom does, she’s an accountant. And I got straight A’s in 9th grade. I did. Because I’m like, I now know why I’m doing this, and I have to be literate if I’m going to be an author. So it’s hokey to say “Fantasy novels saved my life”. They didn’t save my life, but they sure changed my life. Q:  Of Rand’s three girls, who is your favorite? Brandon:  Aviendha. Easy answer there, definitely Aviendha. Q:  Can you talk more about (deleted) in the Blight? Harriet:  No. Brandon:  No. Spoiler! No spoilers please. Q:  Two  questions. One, who killed Asmodean? And the second one, the Aviendha scene with the rings (sic), going back in time, and then into the future, was that part of the original intention with Robert Jordan, or is that something you kind of improvised. Harriet:  Can I take the first question? Brandon:  Yes, go for the first one.   Here's a youtube clip of Harriet's answer:     Harriet:  The first question, simply illustrates the importance, as every sister of the Brown Ajah knows, of reading the glossaries.   Brandon:  I’m not going to give you a very good answer on the other one either. The reason being, we try to keep away from saying too much about what Robert Jordan did, and what I did. Particularly while there are people who haven’t read the books yet. Maybe in a year or two we can start being more open about these things, but right now, I don’t want people reading the books and focusing on “Was this Jim, was that Brandon?” and things like that. The only answer I can give to questions like that is every scene is 100% Robert Jordan, and 100% me.   Q:  Are Robert Jordan’s notes going to be included in that encyclopedia/anthology you’re working on? Harriet:  The notes? The notes are more words than have been published in the entire series. Brandon:  Harriet, did you hear that I tried to make one file out of the notes? Did Maria tell you? Earlier this week, I actually said people ask this all the time, I’m going to have an exact word count for them. So I took every one of the notes, and I compiled them into one Word document. It got to 32,000 pages, and Microsoft Word said ‘I can’t count any further’, and my computer crashed. Thirty-two thousand pages. Harriet:  So the answer is no!   Brandon:  The whole series is ten thousand, ok? And this was thirty two thousands pages. It crashed my computer, Harriet, it was hilarious. It was at four million words plus counting, it was continuing to go, and then it couldn’t go any further.   Q:  A compliment to you, Harriet and the entire team that put this together, but the really stunning thing about the last book was how many characters had a role in this book, down to multiple dozens of people, secondary characters and below. How did one do that? How does one create that continuity? Obviously some of it comes from Jordan’s original work, but how does one pull that all together? Harriet:  Someone in the audience said “magic”. I don’t know that there’s a better answer. Brandon:  It was the biggest challenge of this last book. I’ve said for years, even before I was involved in the project, once you hit book seven in the Wheel of Time as a reader, you have to realize something that I realized. The series itself is not about Rand. The series is about all of these people facing the end of the world. Rand of course is at the center, and there are other figures close to the center, but the series is about all of these people. And going into the last book we all felt that the last book needed to evoke that. Rand needed to be the heart, but it needed to be about the world, all of these people facing the end of times. That was something we struggled with, went back and forth on. The creative process is a mysterious thing, even to us involved. I’m glad that you felt that, because when I went into it that was one of the things I said, this is what we need to do, it needs to feel like this, and if we are successful, that’s what it will feel like. Q:  There was some little inconsistencies in the lengths of chapters, especially kind of in the last book… Brandon:  Oh, you’re talking about the several hundred page chapter, and then the five page chapter? Q (cont’d):  …was that sort of picked to try to break up things specifically, or was that more in how it fell out?   Brandon:  The chapter lengths, in this book in particular, were very consciously chosen. Under Harriet’s direction, through the first two books Harriet came to me a lot and said “No, this chapter needs to be these viewpoints, and this chapter needs to be those viewpoints”, and she actually taught me, I don’t know if she realized that she was doing it, and then in the last book, she didn’t have to do any of that. There was no changing of viewpoints between chapters. (Meaning via revision) Harriet had trained me better in chapter breaks and things like that, so I broke up the chapters. (To Harriet) I don’t know if you even noticed that, in the previous two you did a lot of that, and this one you didn’t. The very long chapter, a very, very long chapter, you can see it in the Table of Contents, the purpose of that is, I wanted you to feel like the characters do in that chapter. They can’t put down their weapons and go to sleep. I don’t want you to be able to put down the book and go to sleep. I want you to hit that chapter at 1AM, and be like “I gotta to be at work at seven, and I’ll read just one more chapter”. One of the things Harriet unconsciously showed me that I picked up on, was the use of chapters for that kind of narrative structure in a better way, so that was done very intentionally. Q:  I’ve really enjoyed it, I’ve read book twelve and thirteen, it’s always kind of difficult to get a transition between voices of different authors, but I’ve really enjoyed the last two books. Was there a particular character that was difficult for you to write? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Brandon:  No, no, I can answer, I’ve answered this before. I would say that the toughest character to get right was Mat. His voice, he has the most distinctive voice in the entire Wheel of Time. Robert Jordan had perfected that voice, and if you read the series, Mat as a character evolves to the point that in book ten he’s just this majestic  . . . piece of work. Piece of work used as, yeah. And he’s just amazing, and to go from like book ten and eleven, Robert Jordan at the height of his skill, telling of this character that’s very difficult to tell, and me then trying to do it, I think is also the most jarring. So he was tough, and I’d say the other tough one was Aviendha. Getting the Aiel right, because Robert Jordan had a lot of experience with the cultures he was basing the Aiel off of, and I don’t have much experience with them, I have experience with the Aiel only, if that makes any sense. And the first time I wrote Aviendha, Harriet sent me the chapter back and said “You’ve written an almost perfect Elayne”. And I’m like “Oh, great!” Well, I know I’ve got Elayne down then. I got her on the third try, and she said “Ahh, you’ve got it”. But it took me several tries to get Avi right. Q:  In the Mistborn series, I read on one of your posts online that you had a rough outline of how the series would have gone if a major death in the first book hadn’t happened? I was just curious how that would have progressed if he was still alive? Brandon:  He would have taken over, because that character doesn’t not take over. And it would have been a very different series, it would have been more heist focused, and not so much epic fantasy focused. Q:  Would he have finished everything up a heck of a lot faster than Vin and Elend did? Brandon:  Worse, but yes. Things would have gone very differently, how about that? The reason I decided it couldn’t go that way was because I think the series just wouldn’t have worked. Q:  Are there any discussions in place to convert these books to audio books? Brandon:  They are already all on audio book. (The man was actually standing very close to the rack full of audio volumes) Q:  So you don’t want to answer questions about which scenes you wrote and what scenes Robert Jordan wrote, but has anybody come up to you and said like “I think you wrote this scene”, but actually Robert Jordan wrote that? Brandon:  All the time. And it’s awesome. I’ve released a few things, and if you come up to me later I’ll tell you exactly what scene it is, so I’m not spoiling it for others. But there’s one that everyone’s like “I can so see Sanderson’s hand in this, look at this and look at this” and one of the things they say is “Sanderson uses contractions, and Robert Jordan doesn’t use contractions, for the character POVs”. But Robert Jordan did in his notes, he just took out the contractions later on. And that was a scene I posted in exactly out of the notes, and it was hilarious to me.     That was all the time available for questions. Brandon then said “We are going to do a very short reading, and what we’re going to do is have Harriet read to you one paragraph.” To which Harriet replied “I was afraid that’s what ‘we’ meant”.      So Harriet read the first paragraph of the first chapter of the last volume of the Wheel of Time. It is verbatim identical to the same paragraph in the Eye of the World, because the wind rises out of the Mountains of Mist. When she came to the final phrase, she invited the crowd to recite with her, “But it was a beginning”, which drew a huge ovation.         And with that, we finally arrived at the book signing portion of the event. Brandon gave instructions, that with the first pass through the line no personalizations would be done, only basic signatures on no more than three books. Any more books, or any personalizations, meant waiting for a second pass through the line. This was primarily so that Harriet wouldn’t be kept there any later than necessary.     A fair estimate is that around 350 people were in attendance, with 214 ticket numbers issued by the store for the purchase of A Memory of Light. While the signing line progressed, the Memory Keepers got busy again, handing out WoT postcards and pamphlets, as well as games of hangman and asking random trivia questions of the fans, and offering the nifty WoT swag provided by Tor for the event. Everyone was patient, kind, and enjoyable. Folks with high numbers left to grab a meal instead of standing still, and some of the folks with low numbers just hung around awhile longer chatting and checking out all of our various trivia items.   Once the first pass through the line was completed, the Memory Keepers got a turn. First for a group photo with Harriet and Brandon, and then to get our books signed, and to ask a few more questions, including AMoL spoilers, as long as nobody else was able to hear. Harriet was gracious, funny, and effervescent, in spite of the time (about 10:15PM by then, or 1:15AM in Charleston). Then off she went back to the hotel, while the die-hards came back through the line to get more books signed or personalized.   Well, that was about it. Brandon stayed until just after 11:30PM, signing personal and store books, including some bought online or over the phone while he was there. He was, as always, just as happy to be around the fans as we are to be around him. On behalf of the San Diego Memory Keepers, special thanks to Dragonmount for selecting us, Mysterious Galaxy for hosting another excellent event, Tor books for sponsoring the tour. We had a blast. Following are some questions asked and answered at the signing line, and from the Memory Keepers. Q:  Regarding the cache of ter’angreal recovered from Ebou Dar, and identified by Aviendha, were no more of them employed than we’d seen due to space or continuity constraints, or were they never intended to be used? Brandon:  We used what was given to be used in Robert Jordan's outline and notes. It may be that he would have found a use for more of them, but we stuck to what he had prepared. Q:  Was Verin involved in the attack on Demira Sedai in Caemlyn? If not, was it on orders from the Tower Aes Sedai, or Daved Hanlon, or?? Brandon:  RAFO. There are plenty of “loose ends” that may end up in the encyclopedia, and this is just the sort that I don’t want to spoil. There will certainly be some details about Verin in there. Q:  In The Shadow Rising, in the Stone of Tear, Moiraine tells Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne that she knows the face of her husband. She hasn’t been to Rhuidean, or even to visit the Aelfinn yet. Does she have this knowledge from a vision of Min’s, and if not, where? Brandon: No, she had been through the twisted doorway, hadn’t she? You’re sure? Then I don’t know, perhaps that one can be asked of Maria. Q:  Regarding Gawyn and Elayne, among many readers they are two of the least liked characters on the Light side. Do you believe that Robert Jordan intended for them to be viewed with such negative reactions? Brandon:  Elayne, no not really. Gawyn, though, he’s the Fallen Prince archetype. Everything he does comes up short, which leads him to just be trying too hard.

Hello, everyone! Below is the report and Q&A from the Salt Lake City Signing!   February 1, 2013 was a rare sunny winter day in Salt Lake City when we assembled at Weller Book Works to meet Brandon Sanderson and more than 150 of his amazing fans.  Brandon has often shared that the owners of this bookstore were so supportive in his early years as an author, before most Wheel of Time fans even knew his name, that it was terrific to have such a large crowd, especially with the January 8th Midnight Release Party in Provo having happened only about 45 minutes away from Salt Lake.   The gathering crowd included people of all ages, young and old. There were even infants and children hanging out–-future fans, their parents called them. Soon the seating section was overflowing, and people started staking out spots in the mezzanine, the stairs, and anywhere they could get a good view of the as yet empty lectern bearing a wonderfully large poster of the A Memory of Light cover.     We Memory Keepers handed out a variety of games and trivia to entertain the fans while they waited (some almost three hours) for their chance to get the book signed. Memory Keeper Marc T. went around taking photos of the whole event. Many of the pictures are here in the report, and the rest are in the Dragonmount Gallery. We shared four different sets of trivia questions, a quote match, and a crossword (thanks, Wetlander!). We thought we’d made a good sampling of easy and tough questions, and we were right about the tough ones–-we didn’t see any (that I know of) completely correct answer sheets. But people tried and worked together and we gave them hints, and eventually we started seeing completed trivia come back. We gave out extra raffle tickets to anyone who turned in the sheets, which meant some people ended up with lots of extra tickets for doing all that fun “work.”     The crowd was nice and thick even before the scheduled start time of 7:00 p.m., so Memory Keeper Deb N. went around with an activity she created. People pulled out a random slip of paper that contained their Wheel of Time “profession”. There were Gleemen and Aes Sedai, Atha’an Miere and Darkfriends–-fans had a lot of fun finding out the role the Pattern wove for them. Finally, after we Memory Keepers had a few private minutes with Brandon to get our own books signed, the man himself appeared to thunderous applause. He wore his signature leather jacket and looked surprisingly well rested considering he has a newborn at home! He jumped right in with the reading and Q&A, which is included below as recorded by Memory Keeper Chris W.: ********************************************************************   Brandon started the event by reading the scene of Talmanes riding to the rescue of Caemlyn. He mentioned that he has always appreciated the relationship between Talmanes and Mat, and so he was excited to see so much from Talmanes in Robert Jordan's prologue. He said Talmanes' prologue appearance is one of his favorites.     He chose to read the Wind scene at the beginning of Chapter One as well, because the wind followed the route of the three ta’veren on their journey. It is a scene that is symbolic of the series, and very special to him just as it is to the fans. After the short reading, we moved on to the Q&A. Q: If Gaidal Cain is born again and it isn’t Olver, who is it? A: It’s not Olver. I know who it is, but I’m not allowed to tell you. (paraphrased) Q: First, how do you feel doing this, and finishing it? Is there going to be a followup? A: It’s hard to pin it down to one emotion, there were so many. RJ’s books were among my favorites growing up, books I studied teaching myself how to write. In a lot of ways, it was just a deep honor. My favorite author, finishing his journey, and I got to walk along supporting him. That’s how I regard it. It’s been amazing. Me being the journeyman writer, being able to apprentice under RJ, in his workshop, looking at his things and taking them, working with them, polishing them, finishing the last sequence, has been incredible for me as an artist to gain an understanding of the writer that he was. For the second question, there will be no more. He’d planned to write two more prequels and then a trilogy of outriggers, but we can’t do them. One reason is because he didn’t leave enough notes about them. As I wrote these, I had specific direction in the notes and could relay everything back to RJ. In the outriggers, I wouldn’t be able to do that. It would be more me than him. I don’t think he would’ve wanted any more to be done, so out of respect for him, even though many would like to see these, I think we need to say “let’s let it end where he wanted it to end”. If we keep going, where do we stop? Do we want 80 more Wheel of Time books? I think we’re better off just saying “we know he wanted this done, let’s end on a high note”.   Q: Is there a confirmed killer for Asmodean?   A: It’s listed in the Appendix of Towers of Midnight. It’s in there. Go find it. I found it by way of a post-it note listed on top of the notes. I don’t know any more than who did it, as far as why or how. There’s only a name. Q: Is the Flame of Tar Valon weave going to be learned by others?   A: It was witnessed. That’s it.   Note: There was a little more to the question above, but I left it out of this log for two reasons: One, I had a really hard time keeping up with the person asking the question, not to mention Brandon trying to answer, and two, the guy who asked the question broke the “no spoilers in the Q&A rule”.   Q: What about the encyclopedia? A: They’re looking to turn it in about a year from now and have it come out that fall. It’s an alphabetical encyclopedia where you can look up a character and learn a lot about them.   Q: What kind of research did you have to do to make the battle tactics so believable? A: The AMoL tactics were the things I was most worried about getting right. RJ was more of a military historian than me and he was a soldier, so we went looking for help. Harriet knows a man named Bernard Cornwall who writes a lot of military fiction, so he helped us, and Alan Fermachna is a war historian who was able to help us a lot. He built the battle plan for the entire war, as far as troop movements and the tactical portion of the Last Battle. Connecting them and making it meld into the story with the characters was my job. We went rounds about “this is tactically sound” or “no, it’s not”, so Alan was a big help making it believable. I did research, but my feeling is that I can get to 70-80% of knowledge on a subject pretty quickly through a month or two of research, but getting that last 20% is something that takes 10 years of work. My goal is to get to 70-80, and then give it to someone who knows their stuff and have them help me from there. Note: The names of the people Brandon referenced here were probably butchered. I was just trying to keep up with him so I could record the main parts of his response instead of focusing on the names of his references. Q: What happens with the Green Man? A: I have no answer for you. It is not spoken of by RJ, so you will have to extrapolate yourself. I could make something up, but I don’t do that anymore. If it was for the books, I could say “this needs to happen” with my creative freedom I was given, but at this point, with it done, that’s no longer my job. So my answer is, I don’t know! We know that the Nym must come back as the Ages turn, but we don’t know when they will be “reinvented”. Q: So what were some of the holes that you filled in with that creative freedom? A: I tried to avoid talking about this much before because I don’t want you to focus on what’s Brandon and what’s RJ, but now that it’s all out, I do have a little more freedom. One thing is that early when I went to Charleston, I felt RJ was always adding characters, so I didn’t want to add too many. I wanted to show something happening at the Black Tower, so Androl became my character that I took and expanded on from minor to main character. Androl himself and his relationship with Pevara was me. I felt the series needed it, and I’ve always wanted an Asha’man to play with, so to speak. More generally, for TGS I have said RJ worked a lot on Egwene’s viewpoints. Not as much on Rand. Rand was more me, Elayne was more RJ. In ToM, RJ worked a lot on Mat and not much on Perrin. So if it’s Mat, it’s more likely to be RJ. If it’s Perrin, it’s more likely to be me. In AMoL he worked mostly on beginning and end, not much on the middle. Merrilor and the last few chapters are a lot of RJ. In between, it’s a lot more me.   Q: You work on four or five series at a time; how do you keep them from leaking?   A: It’s a challenge. Being a writer is a lot like a juggler, keeping the balls in the air. One of the things I worry about is repeating myself. It’s a valid thing, making sure you don’t do that and keep them separate. I use an extensive wiki for myself and my books. A lot of my children's series are breather novels, and things I do between big epics where I don’t have to worry so much about continuity. There’s a lot of continuity with The Way of Kings and books like that, so it can be very in depth and intensive, so to keep my sanity, every once in a while I’ll take a breather. At this point,Brandon took a moment to introduce Badali Jewelry. He mentioned that though there were tons of knockoffs of The One Ring from Lord of the Rings, Badali was the first jeweler to actually license an official One Ring. They had been doing Wheel of Time since before Brandon got involved, and have now expanded on his own books as well.     Q: What was the hardest part about writing in RJ’s universe? A: Probably keeping track of all the side characters. There were so many. I’d be reading a scene and be like “there’s seven wise ones, now who are they again?” Now, as the writer, I need to know who they are exactly, as well as each of their distinct voices. When I get them wrong, people notice and I hear about it. Q: When you read the books, did you have an affinity for a character, and as you wrote, did you change?   A: When I read it was mostly Perrin. I’ll admit I had a fondness for Mat later on, but it never became my supportive Perrin, even when he was down in the dumps. I didn’t stop being a Perrin fan because he moped a little. He was my favorite all along. When it came time to write the books, Perrin remained my favorite. He was among my favorite viewpoints to write as well. I was very excited by the prospect of being able to do a lot of Perrin in ToM, and having a lot of freedom with his sequences was a real pleasure. When I finished the rough draft of AMoL, there was a lot of, like 20% more Perrin than Rand, so that didn’t turn out right. It’s really Rand’s series, it needs more Rand, so when I sent it to Team Jordan, they said there was a lot of Perrin, so we upped the Rand count. There was a Perrin sequence that didn’t really feel right for the book that was about 20,000 words, so we cut that out and added a Rand sequence that was about the same length which I had already been working on, and that helped restore the balance. When I started AMoL I was fresh off ToM and in a Perrin mindset, so I was like PERRIN IS AWESOME, did his stuff, then moved on to the other characters’ arcs in succession. Q: How do you think finishing the RJ series will affect the Stormlight Archive? A: One of the things is that it has influenced and taught me to juggle viewpoints much better. When I first tried to write Way of Kings, the viewpoint juggling was off and when I rewrote it, it was better. I also really liked RJ’s subtlety. His foreshadowing has a light, gentle touch and I’m not always so light. I kinda punch you in the face with it. So those two things are something I learned a lot of. In general, something a lot of fantasy writers have problems with is side characters going out of control. It happens to about everyone. I have the advantage that I got to read RJ. He said he wouldn’t do it again if he had to do it over, so I can learn from that and be able to keep the tighter focus for the story. I like The Wheel of Time and the side characters, but RJ said he wished he did Book 10 differently than he did.   Q: Do you know what the Tinkers meant in the third book, as they were dying and they said “tell the Dragon Reborn”?   A: I don’t know. It might be in the notes. When I say “RJ’s notes”, it means one of two things. It is either a pile that his assistants collected, or the things he wrote for himself about the world. I’d ask Harriet and Maria a question, and they’d act like Google. Reading it all myself would’ve taken months, and the majority is about stuff already written and known. But really, I have no idea what you’re talking about.   Q: Androl is like your character, so as far as that, how much of that was kinda fought by the rest of Team Jordan as far as his gateway talent and stuff?   A: Let me start by saying that if they hadn’t been happy, it wouldn’t be in the book. But anything where you work with an editorial team, you’d show them a scene, and they may say that’s great, or they may say that it doesn’t feel right or wouldn’t be a good fit for the story. And sometimes you’ll say “I’ll change it” or “let me finish this draft, and we’ll see what it looks like at the end”. As far as the gateways, I felt it wouldn’t be realistic otherwise. I’ve wanted to do things with gateways since I was a kid, doing things like I showed in the book. If I had them, what would I do with them? I asked this when I was a kid, so there was a lot that I wanted to do with gateways that were in my own notes that I wanted to do that I couldn’t do in my own books, so I stayed away from things that the WoT had done. So when I got to write WoT I broke out those files. The gloves were off, it’s time to do things that I wanted to do but didn’t want to rip off The Wheel of Time. At the end of the day, I convinced them to do it. They kept saying ‘they’re all over the place!” so I said “if you could use them, you’d use them a lot”.  I didn’t intend it to be a shout out of any kind, it’s things I’ve wanted to do with gateways for like 15 years. It wasn’t a shout out to the fandom. It’s been an interesting experience. A lot of people think that I just wrote what the fans thought, but it’s things that I felt the characters and the world would do, and if the fans happened to have talked about it, it’s because it’s what I thought would happen. In fact, as I wrote the books, I read very little of the fandom in order to prevent those exact thoughts from taking root.   During and after the signing, we had the discussion with Brandon about Dannil Lewin. Originally, Dannil had actually gone with Rand, Perrin, and Mat from the Two Rivers on their journey, and played a major role in events of book three or four. In the end, Harriet convinced RJ that it may be better without Dannil, so some of Dannil’s comments in AMoL are a shout out to that of sorts. Just a fun story I thought you all might find interesting. ********************************************************************     The signing line wrapped around the perimeter of the bookstore, which gave fans the chance to peruse Weller Book Works' amazing and unique collection of books. Seriously, if you’re ever in Salt Lake, go to this store. Brandon, in his remarks, reminded everyone to support bookstores like these; there would be no good place to have book signings without bookstores, and it’s a bit difficult to sign books at the web stores.   Memory Keeper Brigitte went through the line playing WoT Hangman with fans who were waiting. Brandon took his time with each fan answering their unique (or spoilery) questions.  One guy, who is a shoe-in for Perrin’s body double, asked Brandon to sign his bicep. That happened.     As a special treat for all of us, the fantastic folks from Badali Jewelry were also at the signing, and they brought great serpent rings, WoT character signet rings, a couple fox head medallions, and much more. They sold more than just WoT items; they also sold items inspired by some of Tor's other series. We saw jewelry from Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller series and Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. They also generously donated an Asha'man dragon pin, which we auctioned off benefiting the Waygate Foundation, and gave us two items to give away: Moiraine's headpiece and a Mistborn metal alphabet.     Thanks to Tor Books and Badali Jewelry, the giveaways were really stellar. We paired AMoL messenger bags with a WoT trivia booklet and a paperback of Way of Kings or AMoL iPhone case. We had so much to share with fans that if we had done it all separately, we wouldn't have gotten through it all! Everyone had raffle tickets, and many people stuck around for the giveaways after their books were signed, which created a nice cluster of excited fans getting to know each other while they waited. We were raffling off every five minutes or so, and kept going until 10:00 p.m. The bookstore let us take that large book cover poster from the lectern, and we gave that away too with Brandon's signature on it. The fans were thrilled at that one.   The evening drew to a close and we Memory Keepers stuck around to visit and help Brandon as he signed and personalized pre-ordered books for the store. We had all wished for a little more time with him (who wouldn’t?), so used the time to pester him with more questions in between books.  We had a discussion about the swords of WoT and learned that most blademaster swords in the books were katanas, much to our surprise, as many of us had imagined them being larger weapons.   We all had an amazing time being part of this experience, this moment in WoT history, and it’s not an event we’ll soon forget. Our sincere thanks to Dragonmount for giving us this opportunity!   Signed, The SLC Memory Keepers: Marc, Brigitte, Michael, Charlotte, Chris, Deb and Taylor

The book tour gap is officially over!  On February 1st, Brandon Sanderson resumed his travels for the A Memory of Light signing tour.  There are still plenty of opportunities for you to get your books signed.   Book Tour Information for the Remaining Cities:   Friday, February 1st - 7 PM Salt Lake City, UT Weller Book Works   Wednesday, February 6th - 7 PM San Diego, CA Mysterious Galaxy with Harriet   Thursday, February 7th - 7 PM Los Angeles (Huntington Beach), CA B&N with Harriet   Friday, February 8th - 7 PM Sacramento (Citrus Heights), CA B&N with Harriet and Jason Denzel   Saturday, February 9th - 3 PM San Francisco, CA Borderlands with Harriet   Monday, February 11th - 7 PM Portland, OR Powell's (Beaverton store) with Harriet   Tuesday, February 12th - 7 PM Seattle, WA University Books (off-site; University Temple United Methodist Church) with Harriet   Thursday, February 14th - 7 PM Vancouver, Canada Chapters Metrotown   Friday, February 15th - 7 PM Toronto, Canada Bakka-Phoenix Books (off-site; Lillian H. Smith Library)   Saturday, February 16th - 2 PM Milford, NH The Toadstool Bookshop (off-site; The Amato Center for the Performing Arts)   Monday, February 18th - 7 PM Baltimore (Hanover), MD Books-A-Million with Harriet   Tuesday, February 19th - 7:30 PM Philadelphia, PA Free Library with Harriet   Wednesday, February 20th - 7:30 PM Raleigh, NC Quail Ridge Books with Harriet   Thursday, February 21st - 7:15 PM Atlanta, (Norcross), GA Eagle Eye Books (off-site; Norcross Cultural Arts Center in conjunction with the Gwinnett County Library system) with Harriet and Jennifer Liang   Friday, February 22nd - 7 PM Birmingham, AL Books-A-Million with Harriet and Jennifer Liang  

Welcome back to this special edition of "WoT If?".  Why is it special?  Because we're allowed to include A Memory of Light spoilers!  So, I'd like to take a look at all my past theories and cry over how far off they were from what actually happened.   SPOILER WARNING.  THIS WILL INCLUDE CONTENT FROM A MEMORY OF LIGHT.  PLEASE DON'T READ THIS POST IF YOU HAVEN'T COMPLETED THE BOOK.   Let's start backwards and work our way to the beginning.  I'll try to organize my thoughts as best I can.   1. The Aiel   The Aiel didn't submit to the Seanchan; I was totally wrong on that one.  They did give up their hatred, though.  They did agree that they would have to let the collared Wise Ones go.  In that, I was semi-right.  Of course, with the deal Egwene made with Tuon, all the Wise Ones will be released, so the Aiel won't have to suffer the a'dam for much longer.   2. Moridin   Moridin didn't turn out to be a double agent.  None of the Forsaken returned to the Light.  I thought for a moment it would be Lanfear, since Rand opened himself up to her, showing her his true feelings and intentions (A Memory of Light, Chapter 12, "A Shard of a Moment").  Instead, that made her even more bitter.  Perhaps it could be argued that Moghedien or Graendal could come back to the Light.  The a'dam might reform Moghedien, and Graendal's Compulsion could lead her back if Aviendha wishes it of her.   3. Gawyn and Egwene   A few of the deaths I predicted were right: Gawyn, Birgitte, Rhuarc, Tenobia, and Bashere.  In all honesty, I never, ever expected Egwene to die.  It was the most shocking part of the book for me, possibly even in the whole series.  But, looking back, there are some hints that this will come to pass.  There are dreams she has where she sees the possibility of her own death:       The first might be her trying to get to Gawyn.  She ran to him and he ran to her, but neither made it in time.  Because of that, the "axe" descends on her.  With the loss of Gawyn, Egwene fought harder than she should have, bringing her own downfall.    The same could be said about the second dream.  With Gawyn closing the door (dying), Egwene also dies.   4. Fain   I was wrong about Rand killing Fain.  I think every theory I've seen on Fain has been wrong.  I made five different predictions that were likely to happen.  None of them were fulfilled in A Memory of Light.  There was such a build-up for Fain, but he turned out to be a red herring of sorts.  His presence—and his death—at the Last Battle were completely pointless.  They added nothing, one way or the other, that I saw.   I'm on my second read-through of the book, and it's a bit more obvious to pick out the literary logic of Fain.  Rand is occupied at Shayol Ghul, and there are two entities trying to kill him: Slayer and Fain.  Naturally, Slayer is dealt with by Perrin, so logically Mat should handle the other.  Makes sense.  I'll admit, my heart lurched when Mashadar touched Mat.  I had a moment of panic before I remembered Mat couldn't possibly die (because of the possibility of the outrigger novel).  Though this scene felt a bit rushed and anti-climactic, I really enjoyed the irony of it.   5. Cadsuane   I was wrong about Cadsuane dying as well.  I guess I overanalyzed the foreshadowing on that one.  I also enjoyed the irony of that scene.  Cadsuane left the White Tower to avoid being raised Amyrlin (according to Robert Jordan's notes), so it's funny that they catch her off guard right after the Last Battle is finished.  I believe since the words were spoken, she has no choice but to answer the summons of the Hall.   6. Alivia   Alivia: not evil.  Wow.  This was a complete shock to me.  I really thought all the signs were there for her to turn out to be a Darkfriend, at the very least, or some high-up Shadow Official.  Not so.  She turned out to be what she said she was—as far as we know.  And she did "help" Rand die.  Of course, there are still some ways we can speculate about Alivia.  Someone did theorize that she could be part of the royal family of Seanchan.  I'm sure we can continue the discussion of her as the theory blog continues in March.   7. Galad   What of Elaida's "The Royal line of Andor would be the key to defeating the Dark One in the Last Battle" (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 1, "Seeds of Shadow")?  You could say it was Rand all along, but what about the efforts of Galad?  He was given the copied foxhead medallion and went to fight Demandred.  He didn't win, but he was responsible for the ter'angreal finding its way into the hands of Lan, who did defeat Demandred, causing the battle at Merrilor to be won.  It's arguable.   8. Mat   Mat's role in the Last Battle was probably expected of most people, but not me.  I really expected him to do no more than sound the Horn.  That whole plotline smacked me right in the face!  Mat almost single-handedly won the battle at Merrilor.  And it was an incredible battle!  It was right for Mat to be in charge.  Having the Great Captains lead, like I assumed they would, lead to near defeat.  I guess the Shadow thinks like I do.   Also in regards to Mat, I never expected that he wasn't still bound to the Horn (and I gave some proof as to why).  Still, I loved the way it played out, especially Olver's sweetly sad reunion with Jain:     This scene is what The Wheel of Time is all about.  Touching and emotional and just perfect.  One of my favorites in the whole book.   9. Rand   So, what did we learn about the voice at the end of The Eye of the World?  I guess the answer was it belonged to the Creator.  Looking at the return of that voice, Rand seems to think that's who it was.     Rand, because of his thanks and his hope, assumes it is the Creator, that the Creator is giving him permission to continue.  It makes sense.  I don't know if the Dark One would really welcome the Dragon Reborn into his lair.  He knows Rand must come, but he probably wouldn't give consent to the timing.    However, here, the capital voice isn't italicized too, like it is in The Eye of the World.  That's a bit curious.   Besides that answer about Rand's encounters at the Eye, no more is revealed.  We are still left wondering about the true power of the Eye and what effect it did have on Rand.   For the blog I wrote about Nicola's "The Dragon Reborn will do nine impossible things" (Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 17, "Secrets"), only one prediction was correct!  He survived the Last Battle, which most of us knew he would do anyway.  I wonder if there are other impossible things he did that would count, rather than the ones I came up with.   10. Logain   I will admit to total failure in my prediction about everything related to Logain and the Black Tower.  The Asha'man never came to Caemlyn's aid, nor did Logain go off on a secret recruiting mission.  I'm so glad that the resolution in the Black Tower was able to be squeezed into this book, and I love Logian's character development and flaws, despite that nothing happened the way I thought it would.     11. Nynaeve   And one of my biggest predictions, the one I thought had to be right, Nynaeve Healing death: WRONG.  While I really liked the idea of Nynaeve accomplishing this feat, I understand it wouldn't work in the context of this world.  If she did it once, she could do it again, and would do it again.  A world full of immortals isn't a good thing.    Am I embarrassed that I got so much wrong?  A bit.  But at the same time, I'm glad I tried to think outside the box (and outside of theories that had already been circulating).  I think this just shows that Robert Jordan was a genius.  Look how much he kept us guessing.  Look how much we still got wrong!  There's no denying he was a master storyteller and a very skilled writer.  A Memory of Light is a fitting end to his legacy.   That's all for this special edition.  Join us in March for new theories.  I kept a notebook beside me and jotted down tons of notes.  There are still many topics we can discuss as the Wheel keeps turning.  Thanks for reading!

Artist Paul Bielaczyc has already amazed fans with his artwork for the Special Edition "Ravens" and "Wolf King" shirts from Ta'veren Tees.  Now, the ta'veren trio is complete, and you can wear the stunning "Dragon Reborn" tee as well.  Check out the press release:   DRAGON REBORN SHIRT AVAILABLE FOR SALE "Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us,  yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle,  and his blood shall give us the Light." - Prophecies of the Dragon   Ta’veren Tees has completed its trio of ta’veren silhouette tees with the “Dragon Reborn” shirt by guest artist Paul Bielaczyc. The new addition is a companion to the “Ravens” and “Wolf King” shirts in the Special Edition collection of TaverenTees.com. Rather than a particular scene in the book, the design contains symbols that make up the character of Rand al’Thor, an homage to the shepherd and savior as he is depicted in various ways throughout the series.     The “Dragon Reborn” tee comes in both men’s and ladies’ styles and is on sale now at www.taverentees.com/dragonreborn and www.taverentees.com/ladiesdragonreborn.  Men’s shirts are available in S-5XL and ladies shirts are available in S-2XL. All Special Edition shirts have the Snake/Wheel logo on the left sleeve.   $7 off a print from Aradani Studios Since everyone needs more WoT art on their walls, Ta’veren Tees and Paul Bielaczyc have partnered up to give you a deal. Through January 31, 2013, when you buy a “Dragon Reborn” shirt, you will receive a coupon code for $7 off either the “Ravens,” “Wolf King” or “Dragon Reborn” 11 x 14 print from AradaniCostumes.com.  You can read more at www.TaverenTees.com/specials.    Paul Bielaczyc Paul Bielaczyc is an avid Wheel of Time® fan and costumer. He created his first Rand al’Thor costume in 2003 and has been making WoT costumes ever since. Paul co-owns Aradani Studios with his siblings, where they sell art and costumes. To read more about Paul, visit www.taverentees.com/artists.      

Jason D. - @Dragonmount   A Memory of Light is out. The Wheel of Time turns on, but this story has reached its ending.   The podcast hasn't, though! With the final book out, we have all the more to discuss and debate. And we won't be doing it alone.   Instead, we will be inviting two of our listeners to join us for a discussion of all that has happened in A Memory of Light.   That's right: you have the opportunity to join us for for a recording of The 4th Age Podcast.   Before you start commenting below, keep reading to find out how you can join us.   If you are interested, please make a 1-2 minute recording of yourself and your reactions to just the prologue of A Memory of Light. Send that recording, in .mp3 format, to podcast@dragonmount.com. Based on the recordings we receive, we will choose two (2) listeners to join us for an episode of The 4th Age Podcast.   Please get all submissions into us by Noon PST Friday, January 18th, 2013. Any submissions received after that time will not be considered.   Also, please only submit if you can commit to being available for the recording session that will take place at 6pm PST on Saturday, January 19th, 2013. We plan to have a quick turnaround on this one. We will contact those who are chosen to join us early Saturday morning, so if you submit something, make sure to check your email throughout the day.   Important! You are not auditioning for a place on The 4th Age Podcast. This is simply to join us for a special "Listener's Viewpoint" episode.   Thank you, and we look forward to all your submissions.   May you find water and shade.   Spencer

Thank you to Lara, one of my fellow Memory Keepers, for writing this post!   Book Signing Lexington, KY with Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal Rigney January 11, 2013   As I was talking with fans as they were waiting to have their books signed, one of them asked me if I was the Loial of the Memory Keepers. I liked it, so I said yes. So consider this Loial’s report of the signing.   The Wheel of Time books were front and center as one entered Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington. The barista at Bronte’s Bistro said the managers were worried about running out of everything with the volume of people they were expecting. People began to file in, one or two in costume or pieces of costume, several in Ta’veren Tees t-shirts. There were whole families with small children in hand. One proud father said all of his children were “future fans” (he hoped).   By the time Brandon and Harriet appeared, there was standing room only. The bookstore was still open for regular business, but the top floor was filled with people holding A Memory of Light. There’s one fantastic picture in particular that you should be sure to check out on www.josephbeth.com (the Lexington Store). You’ll know it when you see it, I promise.             The Q&A Session was as follows (as I have not yet read The Book, I guarantee that this will be spoiler free):   Question: If there are three people, and person 1 balefires person 2, then person 3 balefires person 1, does person 2 come back to life? Answer: Brandon reminded the fan that when someone asked Robert Jordan this question, Mr. Jordan responded by saying the asker needed the love of a man, woman, or schnauzer of his choice. There is actually a correct answer: balefire removes a thread from the Pattern, and, once removed, that thread cannot be replaced.   Question: How did Brandon feel when he was chosen to complete the work? Answer: “Dumbfounded stupefaction.” Brandon repeated the story of how Harriet found Brandon and hired him to finish the series. It’s been stated several times, so I won’t repeat it here.   Question: Which character is most like you? Answer: Brandon said he identified with Perrin. Harriet stated, “Verin, minus her wrong turn, but I still want her owl.”   Question: There was a new weave used by someone in book 14; did anyone else see it? Answer: Yes, and that’s all that was spoken about it, since it contained spoilers.   Question: Did Brandon question himself when he was chosen? Answer: Apparently, Brandon was unable to sleep that night after saying yes, because he knew that he would fail. Anyone who took on this project would fail, because no one could tell the story as good as Robert Jordan would have. Brandon had only published two novels at the time, so it was a huge risk for him, and it was a risk for Harriet to ask him. However, he knew that he was a fan of the series, and that, if he didn’t say yes, and it went to someone who wasn’t a fan of the series and they messed it up, it would be his fault. He decided that in the Venn Diagram that consists of Wheel of Time fans in one circle, and pretty good writers in another circle, he was the person in the middle. “I’ll screw it up the least,” he said.   Question: Will the prequels be written? Answer: The answer, directly quoted from Harriet, is, “This is it. Except for the Encyclopedia, this is it.” There are not enough notes to write them, and Robert Jordan didn’t want any sharecropping, once stating he would “run over his hard disks three times in a semi” before he’d let that happen (which makes Tom Doherty sad). Robert Jordan left two sentences about the outriggers. Later, someone asked what the two sentences were. Harriet stated they contained spoilers, but they would be released at a later time, possibly six to seven months, possibly included in the Encyclopedia.   Question: With now having the new series on top of Brandon’s other work, is he concerned that he’s spreading himself too thin? Answer: “That is a worry.” Brandon is a compulsive writer; he does side projects to keep himself fresh and able to write.   Question: Does he have any advice for new writers? Answer: He suggests listening to his podcast, Writing Excuses, published weekly. In addition to this, someone recorded Brandon’s lectures in his writing Science Fiction and Fantasy class at BYU, and published them online at www.writeaboutdragons.com. It’s like taking his class. Harriet’s advice was to attend sci-fi conventions, which are quite frequent in this country. Editors and agents troll for talent, so attend often and collect as many business cards as you can.   Question: What is your writing regiment? Answer: His goal is to write 2,000 words, but there are days when he writes a half a page, and days when he gets 20 pages. His biggest piece of advice: If it’s not flowing, work on it anyway. Do it wrong, commit it to the page poorly, and change it tomorrow.   Question: Are there any updates to a potential TV series or movie? Answer: “It is, at present, under development at Universal Pictures, but the dates are mysterious to me.” --Harriet   Question: Will anything be done specially for those who won the contest to have their names in the book? Answer: In The Gathering Storm, many fans stated that the names felt off, and Brandon agreed. Robert Jordan’s character names were inspired by the real world, such as Ogier St. in Charleston, his stove, medications he was taking, etc. There had been a fundraiser for one person to have his name included in one of the books, and that was being continued. Brandon decided to increase this, and put many people in the final two books. The short answer: Nope, the name in the book is the something special. (Note: Later, I happened to be sitting up front when the person who asked this question came to the front, with his wife and an absolutely adorable two-year-old little girl. Turns out, he had his daughter’s name placed in the book instead of his own. Brandon signed the book at the place where she was mentioned.)             Question: What was Brandon given to start his work? Answer: He received one scene from each prologue--the first scene from The Gathering Storm that was dictated, the Kandori tower scene from Towers of Midnight, and one scene from A Memory of Light that I will not state since it contains a spoiler. There were large chunks of the ending, including the entire epilogue. He received fragments of Egwene’s visit from her “special visitor” in TGS, and a proposal at the end of ToM. There were also discussions of scenes, and answers from Team Jordan.             Either my hand was cramping up or I missed a segue, but somehow a discussion of Brandon’s writing style commenced. He stated that he works from an outline, and that Robert Jordan grew and nurtured scenes over time. Brandon did not try to imitate Robert Jordan’s writing style, and left the blending of the two writing styles up to Harriet. Harriet was Tor Books’ original editor, discovering Mr. Rigney and editing the two best-selling series in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Harriet was in charge of blending the voices together.   Harriet gave a shout-out to a relative of hers from Kentucky named Martha Bennet Styles (I hope this is spelled correctly), author of the book Sailing to Freedom. The state of Kentucky chose this book to be included on the National Mall in Washington, DC.   Brandon and Harriet both thanked bookstores in general, saying that they provide a service that is difficult to find elsewhere. “Bookstores are a great treasure.”- Harriet   That concluded the Q&A portion, and they moved on to some housekeeping. While people were waiting in line to have their books signed, I began talking with the fans. I was curious to know what some favorite scenes were, how far they traveled, favorite characters, etc. One fan I met lived almost right across the street from the bookstore, while another family drove 5 hours. Most lived about 1.5-2 hours away.   One fan waited around for personalization for...I have no idea how long. The last book came out on his birthday, and he wanted Brandon to write Happy Birthday in it.   The question of favorite character came out overwhelmingly in favor of Mat, with one fan saying his favorite character was Noal. However, in the question of favorite scene, I figured Dumai’s Wells would be the overwhelming favorite (not my favorite part, but it seems to be quite popular). No one I asked said the same scene as another person. Dumai’s Wells, Rand’s bonding, Moiraine meeting Lan, Rand’s epiphany on Dragonmount, Lan admitting he loved Nynaeve, Lan finding Nynaeve after their separation, Moiraine describing the fall of Manetheren, even Mat cursing at Moiraine and Thom after leaving the Tower of Ghenjei were all mentioned as favorites, along with countless others.            The most remarkable and heartwarming experience for me at this signing was that everyone had a story. Each person had a tale to tell about how this book changed and impacted their lives. Marriages have happened and babies have been born because of this series. We’re all sad to see its end. I started reading this series at 11 years old, and I am now 31. The past 20 years of my life have been, in part, defined by The Wheel of Time. I would turn to my friends Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Egwene when I literally had no other friends, and many others I’ve met did the same thing. Many of us don’t know what to do next, but, there are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel. This is a beginning.     Pictures of this event can be found here.

A Memory of Light, the final book in the Wheel of Time series, has debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. This is the seventh straight book in the series to debut at #1.   Congratulations to Brandon, Harriet, Team Jordan, and everyone at Tor Books. This is a fitting and appropriate accomplishment for the end of the series.   AMOL also debuted at #1 on the USA Today bestseller list, as well as #1 on the Ingram, National Indie, and Amazon.com lists.   Buy the book & support Dragonmount          Interviews http://www.goodreads.com/interviews/show/836.Brandon_Sanderson">Goodreads http://www.npr.org/2013/01/06/168627939/for-wheel-of-time-fans-the-last-battle-is-at-hand'>http://www.npr.org/2013/01/06/168627939/for-wheel-of-time-fans-the-last-battle-is-at-hand">NPR http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2013/01/interview-brandon-sanderson-on-wheel-of.html">Nethspace http://blogs.citypages.com/dressingroom/2013/01/brandon_sanderson_i_was_absolutely_stunned_when_asked_to_finish_the_wheel_of_time.php">City Pages http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/1136/Its-finally-out.">Brandon's blog (he answers FAQ's)   Reviews http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/amol/dear-robert-jordan">"Dear Robert Jordan", Jason Denzel's response to the book http://www.theoryland.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=7653'>http://www.theoryland.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=7653">Matt Hatch (Theoryland.com) http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/12/the-wheel-of-time-a-memory-of-light-spoiler-free-review">Leigh Butler (non-spoiler) http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/01/the-wheel-of-time-a-memory-of-light-spoiler-review">Leigh Butler (Spoilers!) http://13depository.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-review-of-towers-of-midnight.html">Linda (Thirteenth Depository) http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2013/01/review-memory-of-light-by-robert-jordan.html">Nethspace http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-memory-of-light-by-robert-jordan-and.html">The Wertzone http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bryan-maygers/a-memory-of-light-wheel-of-time_b_2429397.html">Huffington Post NPR http://www.avclub.com/articles/robert-jordan-brandon-sanderson-a-memory-of-light,90562/">The Onion AV Club http://io9.com/5975831/the-wheel-of-time-rolls-to-a-stop-io9s-review-of-a-memory-of-light">io9   Discuss the book http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/forum/364-a-memory-of-light-non-spoiler-discussion/">AMOL discussion NO SPOILERS http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/forum/382-a-memory-of-light-full-spoiler-discussion/">AMOL Full Spoiler Forum Theoryland.com http://www.tarvalon.net/">TarValon.net Book Tour Info Dates and times about the AMOL book tour:   Monday, January 7th - 8 PM Provo, UT (pre-release Q&A) Provo High School auditorium with Harriet   Tuesday, January 8th - Midnight Provo, UT (midnight signing) BYU Bookstore with Jason Denzel   Tuesday, January 8th - 7 PM Minneapolis (Roseville), MN B&N with Harriet   Wednesday, January 9th - 7 PM Chicago (Skokie), IL B&N with Harriet   Thursday, January 10th - 7 PM Dayton, OH Books & Co with Harriet   Friday, January 11th - 7 PM Lexington, KY Joseph-Beth Booksellers with Harriet   Saturday, January 12th - 2 PM Charleston, SC B&N @ 2pm (off-site @ Addlestone Library/ College of Charleston) with Harriet and Jennifer Liang   Friday, February 1st - 7 PM Salt Lake City, UT Weller Book Works   Wednesday, February 6th - 7 PM San Diego, CA Mysterious Galaxy   Thursday, February 7th - 7 PM Los Angeles (Huntington Beach), CA B&N   Friday, February 8th - 7 PM Sacramento (Citrus Heights), CA B&N with Jason Denzel   Saturday, February 9th - 3 PM San Francisco, CA Borderlands   Monday, February 11th - 7 PM Portland, OR Powell's (Beaverton store)   Tuesday, February 12th - 7 PM Seattle, WA University Books (off-site; University Temple United Methodist Church)   Thursday, February 14th - 7 PM Vancouver, Canada Chapters Metrotown   Friday, February 15th - 7 PM Toronto, Canada Bakka-Phoenix Books (off-site; Lillian H. Smith Library)   Saturday, February 16th - 2 PM Milford, NH The Toadstool Bookshop (off-site; The Amato Center for the Performing Arts)   Monday, February 18th - 7 PM Baltimore (Hanover), MD Books-A-Million with Harriet   Tuesday, February 19th - 7:30 PM Philadelphia, PA Free Library with Harriet   Wednesday, February 20th - 7:30 PM Raleigh, NC Quail Ridge Books with Harriet   Thursday, February 21st - 7:15 PM Atlanta, (Norcross), GA Eagle Eye Books (off-site; Norcross Cultural Arts Center in conjunction with the Gwinnett County Library system) with Harriet and Jennifer Liang   Friday, February 22nd - 7 PM Birmingham, AL Books-A-Million with Harriet and Jennifer Liang     Videos        

Bittersweet. That word seemed to be the common answer from Team Jordan as they talked about the completion of A Memory of Light. After 23 years since the first publishing of The Eye of the World in 1990, the long journey has come to a completion. Harriet McDougal, widow of the late Robert Jordan, and Brandon Sanderson, who has completed the last three books of the series with the help of notes, were joined by the other two members of Team Jordan, Maria Simons and Alan Romanczuk. While Harriet continued to edit the series as Brandon wrote it, Maria worked on continuity, and Alan worked on the great battles and commanders. The entire team was present for the Q&A and signing, and answered a number of questions for those present. Truly, it was bittersweet, listening to Harriet reading the first paragraph of Chapter One in AMOL...or TEotW. That first paragraph, which has stayed with us for a generation, elicited silence from the entire crowd as they simply sat, watched, and listened. It was truly emotional, hearing those words.   Ta'veren Tees was on site, selling T-shirts, playing cards, posters, and giving away Wheel of Time and Dragon temporary tattoos. Across from them, the last three books of the series were for sale from Barnes & Noble. The entire event was hosted by the College of Charleston Addlestone Library. While most of the action was downstairs, Wheel of Timers flocked to all three levels to look down from the balcony at the Q&A and signing below. Special Collections for the College had a number of displays available, containing other works by Robert Jordan, the books in various languages, and even first draft copies of The Eye of the World, along with pencil markings.       Hunter Wentworth showed parts of his documentary on the life of Robert Jordan, The Wit of the Staircase, while also recording over three hours of video to help complete the work. Karen Campbell spoke about the Waygate Foundation, which brings together fantasy and science fiction authors and fans to help on global philanthropic endeavors. Jennifer Liang spoke about the upcoming JordanCon in Atlanta, which Brandon Sanderson will be attending this year. The theme is Tar VaCon. Seventeen questions were asked at the Q&A from fans, eliciting a number of responses and laughter from the crowd. The entire event was a spoiler free zone, making it safe for anyone reading this report to continue reading and enjoying all of the Questions and Answers listed below. Around three hundred people participated in the signing, and the Team signed for almost three hours, including taking photos and personalizing books. Backpacks and paperback copies of The Way of Kings were given away to the crowd, along with some bumper stickers and iPhone covers.   Given that the doors to the library opened at 10:00 and the event didn't start until 3:00, the library was filled with fans reading their new copy of AMoL or just chit chatting with other fans. New friends were made, along with making plans for JordanCon. It was rather exciting and people enjoyed getting to hang out with other fans. All in all, it was a wonderfully successful event that went smoothly. Each of the Memory Keepers wanted to share a few thoughts on what they loved the most about the day: "Getting to listen to Harriet read [the first paragraph from the EotW/AMoL]" -Brandie     "Getting to see Team Jordan" -Suzanne "Talking with Harriet [while she was signing books]" -Billie Jo "The fan girl freakout" -Megan "Meeting Christine [He was the serious one of the group]" -Perry "Being the flapper... err...flapping for Brandon and Harriet..." -Kate     "Giving them a gift from the Wolfkin Social Group" -Christine   Jennifer Liang and Ta'veren Tees also had an exciting day, and shared their best moments: "Brandon writing in my AMoL" -Jenn     "Selling the Loial shirts" -Kiley from Ta'veren Tees Even Team Jordan had a little something to say to all of Dragonmount! "My Love, Hugs, and Kisses" -Harriet "Hi, Dragonmount!" -Maria "Extra Extra! Read all about it! We love you guys! Thanks for your support over all the years." -Alan *smiles* -Brandon All in all, everyone was very happy! If you are interested in more pictures from the event, you can find them here in the Gallery. Listed below are all of the Questions (and Answers) from the signing. Thanks everyone that attended and made our day awesome! Signed, Christine - Memory Keeper and Wolfkin SGL   Q1 : What happened to the fourth boy from the Two Rivers? Harriet: Jim originally had good plans for him later on, but when convinced to eliminate him, he realized how easy it was to kill off that story line. Q2: How does it feel now that you are done with the series? Brandon: Bittersweet. Has been reading the series longer than he has had some friends! Harriet: It was truly done well. Maria: Bittersweet. And wow! Alan: Brain Dead. Q3: Writing Life: How did you sell Elantris? Brandon: It was hard, but it gets easier as you go. An editor can see in one page who has been training for years on their writing. You have to practice for years, and have good writing habits. For example, I was working on book 13 when I sold book 6. Just learn, adapt, and network. Q4: How should a writer get their work in with an editor? Harriet: Turn off the mad pleasure of creation, and turn on the rational brain. Q5: To Alan : Which of the great captains do you identify with? Alan : Bela (lots of laughter from everyone). They are all really great. Q6: What is the official land name? Is there anything? Harriet: Nope. Maria: No real need. Q7: Will you be continuing the comic books? Harriet: Yes! Q8: What do you like most and least working on the novels? Brandon: Liked Perrin, and misses writing some of the PoVs. Had to constantly research things to make certain it was accurate, but won't miss fulfilling everything that was foreshadowed...lots of the foreshadowing will be mentioned in the encyclopedia in a year and a half. Harriet: Two years. Q9: How many volumes will there be for the encyclopedia? Harriet: One, but it will be fat, and hoping for a disk. Q10: Do pregnancies that occur in the dream world carry over? Maria: If injuries carry over, then why not? Q11: Did Charleston have a lot of influence on the Ogier? Harriet: The Two Rivers? Ogier Street? Maria: Actually, it was later revealed that Ogier was a subconscious thing, as Jim wanted something close to the term "ogre". Harriet: And, Jim grew up in a small town, much the same as the Two Rivers in their treatment of strangers. Q12: Will the encyclopedia include only facts, or also speculations? Maria: Everything will be things already known, or else more notes on the characters. And a few other goodies, like the Aes Sedai power scale. Q13: Why is the Last Battle chapter so long? Brandon: It is two hundred pages, and takes place for almost 24 hours, but the goal was for the reader to feel as exhausted after as the characters themselves did. Fan: It worked! Q14: Will more prequels happen? Harriet: No. One prequel is enough. Q15: Any of the characters you got caught into? Brandon: Yes, so lots of trimming and pruning, and had to write some others back in. Q16: Seems like RJ was a King Arthur fan? Names seem so familiar. Harriet: It was consciously done. Q17: Do we find out who killed Asmodean? Brandon: *laughs* It is in the ToM glossary.   More Pictures : http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/gallery/album/281-charleston-amol-book-signing/ Interested in more random video?  Check Christine's Blog http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/blog/183/entry-1821-charleston-amol-video/

On Wednesday, January 9, 2013 in Chicago, we were lucky enough to have Brandon, Harriet, and Maria come to visit us, chat, answer questions, and of course sign A Memory of Light. For so many, it was a bittersweet moment, knowing that something we have been a part of for so long is now over. That said, this was an incredibly successful, simply wonderful event, and one in which I am incredibly proud to have taken part.      With this signing taking place at the beginning of the tour only the day after release, it made things more interesting in a lot of ways. Of the Memory Keepers, I was only one to have finished the book upon arrival. Some had not yet even started. The group of Memory Keepers we had was also incredibly diverse, coming from all over. One came all the way from St. Louis, another from Milwaukee, and another from Indiana to go along with those who were closer. We had lots of different backgrounds, working experiences, and different experiences in reading The Wheel of Time. One first read the books in Turkish, some had only started recently, while some of us have been reading for over twenty years. They were all great to work with, and made the entire experience more enjoyable for me.   The event started for me when the other Memory Keepers began to trickle in around 3:00 p.m. By 5:30, four of the seven had arrived. We were expecting Brandon, Harriet, and Maria at 6:00, but Harriet and Maria decided to arrive a bit earlier (at 5:30), which ended up being an incredible gift for us. When the Barnes & Noble CRM told us that Harriet had arrived, I felt my heart start beating a little faster, and I remembered what it was like to be genuinely nervous for the first time in quite a while. I was about to meet the woman that helped guide the creation of one of my favorite things in the world! We met her at the top of the stairs, and then escorted her and Maria to the room where we would get to hang out. For the next hour and a half, that’s what we did. We really just hung out. There was a little talk about the book, but not much, since most people hadn’t finished reading yet. Harriet asked if any had finished, and when I said I had, she asked for my opinion. I gave it openly and honestly, telling her of my love for this book, as well as the entire series. I expressed my gratitude to her, Brandon, Maria, and of course forever to Robert Jordan, for what they brought to us. But most of the time, we just talked about life. Harriet talked about South Carolina. We heard stories about their lives there, about the “Night Hell Froze Over” as Harriet called it, and so much more. Brandon talked about what Magic decks he likes to play. We literally talked about the weather, comparing Chicago to Charleston. In so many ways I find myself grateful that we were so early and that most people hadn’t finished reading yet. If they had, the entire time would have been spent discussing specifics of the book. Instead, we were able to spend time with these three incredible and amazing people who have touched our lives, and to do so just as regular people, as friends, sitting around the table and trading stories. It was mesmerizing.     After that, we had the event for everyone else. The group was huge, filling up the entire bookstore, both the ground level where Brandon, Harriet, and Maria were, and also the stairways and balconies above. We ended up with around 350 people at the event, and every one of them was great. There was no reading for this, but they did have a Q&A, which I tweeted live as it happened. I have since transcribed and expanded on the 140 character limit from Twitter. Here is what was asked and the answers given:   Q: How do you keep track of all those characters? A: Lots of use of online resources. Also, Maria and Alan are invaluable assets for that. Brandon told a funny story about trying to figure out who was with Perrin, and Maria pulled out some notes from Robert Jordan that had a list of every single person from the Two Rivers that came with Perrin! Brandon also said he thinks there are more than 2800 named characters throughout the entire series.   Q: Is there a character you took in a different direction from what Jordan had intended? A: In terms of a character, and what would happen to them ultimately, no, not really. However, there were times when some things had to be adjusted, specifically some plot points, in order to make the narrative as a whole flow better. Brandon did mention that he wanted a character that he felt was his own, which he got to do the most development on. That character became Androl. A lot of what Androl did were things which Jordan said had to happen. Brandon picked Androl to do them, and gave the character his own touch more than any other.   Q: Did Brandon insert a character in the story based on himself? A: No. He did however mention two items, one for Robert Jordan, one for him. In the ter'angreal cache found in Ebou Dar, there is a man with a beard statue. The power of the item is to be like an easily movable library. [MY NOTE: We see this in AMoL.] This was Robert Jordan. Brandon then told the story of how he got his sword, with the dragon scabbard, while in Mr. Jordan's home in South Carolina, and meeting with Wilson. That sword appears in the book, and is the one which Rand gives to Tam in AMoL. So Brandon's sword is in the book, but not Brandon himself.   Q: [side note: One person almost got himself lynched by asking a somewhat spoilery question, regardless of what people had been instructed...] Some characters die in AMoL. How do you choose which characters to kill and which to keep alive? A: [My note: Brandon tried to keep this out of spoilers and make it more general about writing and dealing with killing characters off in general.] In this book, Robert Jordan had left very specific instructions regarding the fates of some characters. He left a lot of notes, and some of those determined their fate. In general, characters have to be allowed to take risks in order to create a compelling story. There has to be a real danger for them, or the characters fall flat. Sometimes, that means characters are going to die. (Brandon added a nice bit that made the crowd laugh: "Which character can I kill off that will really piss everyone off and which no one expects?")   Q: We know the Aes Sedai don't use a lot of the ter'angreal they have in their possession in the manner in which they are meant to be used. Specifically, what are the correct uses for the ter'angreal used to raise a novice to Accepted and an Accepted to Aes Sedai? A: I have no idea.   Q: Who was the Aiel woman that Aviendha met on her trip to Rhuidean? A: Nakomi. Also, RAFO, there's a hint in AMoL. (Later in the evening, he said that hint can be found between the chapter "The Last Battle" and the end of the book. He also said she came from deep in Jordan's notes, and he did not feel like he could give more information than that. Also, she might be explained in the encyclopedia, but no promises regarding that.)   Q: How much was already completed when you took over the series? A: Brandon referred to what Tom Doherty had previously said on the issue. He said there were about 200 pages when he took over. Also, the Epilogue in AMoL was almost entirely written by Jordan with Brandon trying to bring everything else to that point.   Q: How was the Old Tongue created? A: Harriet: Jim had books on almost every language in the world in his study. He drew inspiration from those. Maria: A lot of it comes from those and at the same time a lot was just his own creativity in adapting that into this world which he has created.   Q: In a charity drive, a lot of people were chosen to have their names inserted into AMoL; specifically, we were told a large group would consist of these people. Who are they in the book?  A: The Dragonsworn. Aes Sedai have joined this group, and many others. That's where they were added.   Q: Harriet: How did you choose Brandon to finish this series? A: A friend had provided the eulogy which Brandon wrote for Robert Jordan on his website, and it was moving. So, Harriet called Tom Doherty and asked for one of Brandon's books. He sent her the first Mistborn book. She then told how she can't stop reading a book, can't fall asleep if she starts, if she doesn't know yet if those characters are "in good hands". After 47 pages, she fell asleep, not because she was bored, but because she knew that Brandon's characters were in good hands. She called Tom Doherty and told him this was the man to finish The Wheel of Time.   There was just the one semi-spoiler question, and Brandon did a masterful job of side-stepping it.   After the Q&A, it was a rush to get people in line and start the signing. With that many people, we knew it was going to take a lot of time and work to make things run smoothly. Thankfully, the staff at Barnes & Noble was very well organized, and we were able to help with flapping book covers and taking pictures for people, as well as moving through the crowd, talking with people, getting to know them, and sharing our love for this world.     Tor had also very kindly provided us and the store with lots of great swag to give away. We wanted to come up with something that would be fair to everyone, while not being totally random. We decided on a trivia contest. Ticket numbers were drawn, and those people had a chance to answer a trivia question and win a messenger bag, iPhone case, and a paperback copy of The Way of Kings. Some thought some of our questions were too difficult, but when it was all said and done, all the prizes were given out, and those who won them seemed pleased not only with having gotten something extra, but also satisfied at having been able to answer their question. After the giveaways were done, a group of ten or fifteen people hung out and wanted me to go through more trivia with them. This was one of the coolest parts of the evening for me. I was brought back to my days at Dragon*Con just going through random pieces of WoT trivia with a group of people just as deeply passionate about it as I am.   As the line continued to shrink and the clock drew closer to midnight, we all withdrew together to the signing area. We had more discussions with fans about the series, making certain to keep the conversation spoiler-free. Brandon talked about the other things he has coming out, including Steelheart, and the new Stormlight Archive book (due in November!). We named the AMAZING Trolloc doll he was given (Narg Jr.) and congratulated him on the upcoming birth of his third child. We watched people come through the line with nearly thirty books to be signed (this was at the end, when Brandon would sign any number), and the joy on their faces was great.     I’d like to close with something one of the other Memory Keepers sent to me. It was very touching and a feeling that I personally share:   “I am not the oldest of the series, or the youngest one. I wasn’t the first to read it and sure as sky I won’t be the last. What I am is your average Wheel of Time fan. And I had a bittersweet taste in my mouth after the event. I didn’t know what it was at first but it was a realization that I was with hundreds of people who waited just as I waited for this day, to finally get closure to a story that we love so much, to finally finish what I have started nine years ago. And during all that time, never once I needed a fake smile. I was happy. The drive home, however, was sad for the very same reason. Knowing that this was it. Wheel of Time. No more. In the Wheel of Time there are no beginnings or endings, but this is an end.”