DRAGONMOUNT

The final book in the Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light, will be released on January 8, 2013. This date also marks the beginning of Brandon Sanderson's A Memory of Light book tour. You can find the list of dates, locations, and venues here.   Dragonmount will be recruiting approximately 5-7 Memory Keepers for each book signing event. The Memory Keepers will get the coveted opportunity to meet with Brandon (and in some cases, Harriet McDougal Rigney) in a casual setting before the actual book signing. This usually involves meeting for a meal at a location near the signing venue. Memory Keepers will have the chance to get their books signed without having to wait in line with the crowds. They will also receive a free Memory Keepers tee shirt to commemorate their involvement with the book tour.   In return for this opportunity, we're going to put you to work. Each Memory Keeper will be asked to help document the event in different ways. Some will take photos. Others will take notes and do a blog write-up for Dragonmount to share with the wider community. Some will hand out promotional materials to people standing in line. If the bookstore needs help organizing lines, one of the Memory Keepers will be there to help. If Harriet needs a glass of water, the Memory Keepers will be there to take care of that.   Another important task for some of the Memory Keepers will be to get involved on our message boards and on our Facebook group to help promote the event. We'll probably ask that each "regiment" of the Memory Keepers get together in person at the bookstore once before the event in order to work out logistics and delegate tasks. You'll be provided with a packet of more detailed guidelines once the teams are assembled.   How to Apply:   We are currently accepting applications. Click here and fill out the form to apply. You cannot apply more than once. You cannot serve as a Memory Keeper for more than one event in this tour, and we regret that we cannot choose you again if you were chosen as a Storm Leader or Tower Guard in previous years.   The deadline for applications is 11:59 PM (Pacific Standard Time) on December 7th. We will be contacting everyone via e-mail within a week of the deadline to let you know if you have been selected or not.

Hey, guys! I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this will be my final Fan Art Friday blog post. I've loved sharing all my favorite Wheel of Time art with you, plus I'm going to miss all the perks of being Dragonmount staff. (No, they didn't let me read an advance copy of A Memory of Light, but they did let me interview a personal hero...but more on this later. You haven't quite seen the end of me yet.) Most importantly, I had the honor of getting to know our incomparable Front Page Admin, Dwyn, and all our other awesome front page bloggers.   The engineer in me couldn't resist doing a bit of statistical analysis before waving goodbye, so I'm afraid we'll be ending on a very mathematical note.   It's been a good run, with a total of 30 posts, 191 featured artworks, and 241 comments. Interestingly, there is no correlation between the number of works featured in a given week and the number of comments received (correlation coefficient = 0.056). The average number of works featured has been increasing with time (see trendline in figure below) such that, if I were to keep posting, I could expect to be featuring 26 posts per week by week 100 (though the R2 value is only 0.34, so I would not call time a strong predictor...). In case you missed it, this was my most popular post.   Here's a figure mapping comments and works featured over time. As a point of curiosity, the lull in July coincides with Tynaal leaving her post as Rotating Features Blogger and Mashi, Ire, and EP coming on board to fill the void. I guess we're better together!     Now that we're beyond that little bit of silliness, I wanted to wrap up with a shout-out to the Wheel of Time group on deviantART and its awesome founder ~Gorgaidon. If you're craving more Wheel of Time fan art, her group is THE place to go.   And, of course, it wouldn't be Fan Art Friday without some fan art. Here are a whole bunch of artworks that I've collected over the years which, in spite of being awesome, never found their way into a previous post.     The Raven Lord by ~ToranekoStudios       Rhuidean by ~mandersen       Andoran Pride by *fee-absinthe       Birgitte Trahelion by ~livska       Siuan Sanche by ~str4yk1tt3n       Perrin, Rand, and Mat by ~minniearts       Rand and Perrin by *hamdiggy       Balefire by ~Seeshi-suin       Rand al'Thor by ~hevial       WoT: Elayne Trakand by ~Manweri       Escape the Dancing Cartman by ~Forbis       WoT--Rand and Matrim by ~aiconx (Hey, it's my last week, I'll feature what I want! And what I want is some more Rand/Mat...)       Wheel of Time by ~nattfrost     And that's all, folks! See you around the forums!

I have another Admin interview for you this week. This time, I got to chat with Taymist, the Admin in charge of our DR PSW role play boards.       Q: When did you start reading The Wheel of Time?   A: I started reading the series in the early 90's when I was at university, around '91. Someone had given me book tokens as a birthday present, I bought The Eye of the World, and the rest is history.     Q: How did you find Dragonmount and get involved with the Admin/staff?   A: Wow, that's rather a long process. I'll try to condense it lol. I was a member of an online book club back in 2006. Someone there mentioned WoT related sites which had me following a series of links out of sheer curiosity. I ended up at Dragonmount an hour or so later and immediately registered. I then spent some time on the general boards, eventually taking the plunge into the Social Groups by joining the Wolfkin. I hadn't been there very long when I met Goldeneyes, and through him met Twinflower and Auld Manriva. They jointly kidnapped me and carried me off to the Band of the Red Hand Social Group. That was what really hooked me and where my Staff involvement began.   By early 2007, I was involved with all but a couple of the Social Groups and held Staff positions in all of them, most notably as Corki's second in command at the Band. I was always a sucker for punishment though and I plucked up the courage to join the PSW too, thanks to Winter Mist. I started to role play as a Wolfkin and was very quickly offered the position of Division Leader for the Wolfkin by the then RP Admin, Whitewolf. From there, it was a short jump to becoming Assistant Admin and, much to my dismay, an even shorter one to taking over the reins entirely. Being so busy, I gradually divested myself of the majority of my Social Group involvement and focused on the PSW.     Q: Can you share a bit about yourself?   A: I'm an English language/literature graduate. I've been an avid reader all my life and only became an equally avid computer user within the last 11 years or so. I recently became a Grandmother for the first time and I'll be turning 40 in November. It's hard to believe that I've been reading one series of books for 20 of those years. My other hobbies were rather shoved aside when I discovered the seemingly infinite world of the internet but when I'm offline I like cross stitching, paper crafts and genealogy and when I'm online, I play Runescape and have a dreadful addiction to social media. I also have two insane cats, a Maine Coon and a Scottish Wildcat, both of whom I adore.     Q: You are in charge of the DR PSW role play boards. What is that like?   A: Rewarding and frustrating in equal measure. Rewarding to watch the relationships that grow through writing, both in and out of character, and also to see people develop their techniques as writers. When you follow the actual story arcs that members write, you can see them becoming more confident in their craft, particularly those who arrive with very basic skills. I think our members who have English as their second language are especially awesome. I couldn't write as fluently as they do if I had to write in another language, that's for sure.   On the other hand it can be very frustrating in trying to keep activity going. People often fit their writing in between their offline commitments and their other interests. Writing is fairly time consuming which means that RP threads can get delayed or indefinitely stalled when people's lives get hectic. We also tend to have people joining out of curiosity and when they discover it takes a fair amount of commitment, that can be off putting and they don't stay. Unfortunately, although these things may only apply to one individual, their actions, or lack of action, has a knock on effect for every other person they were writing alongside.   Overall, though, it's a fun position to be in 95% of the time and when it gets rough, I have a great team of Staff to back me up and help out.     Q: What are your favorite RP threads?   A: The main plotline threads are always entertaining, but I actually enjoy those which give insight into individual characters and their lives far more than those directly related to the book events.   "Through the Fire and the Flame", a solo RP written by Quibby, is at the top of my favourites list, closely followed by "A time to hunt...again.", written by Rasheta, Rekinu, and Arinth.     Q: Do you actively RP?   A: Yes, I have 3 active characters in the PSW at present. A Wolfkin, an Accepted in the White Tower, and a Band recruit. There's also a 4th in the works who will hopefully be in The Kin.     Q: What faction would you join in Randland if you had to choose only one?   A: I'd be Wolfkin, just like Perrin. Joining the Wolfkin first out of all the Social Groups and then out of all the RP Groups may have given that away lol.     Q: Who is your favorite character in The Wheel of Time?   A: I have a tough time choosing just one. It'd have to be a tie between Aviendha and Verin, both of whom I've loved reading about through the entire series.     Q: What is the most memorable moment for you in The Wheel of Time?   A: It's most definitely Nynaeve's ride to raise support for Lan as he rides for Tarwin's Gap. The way she dumped him in Saldaea, in a typically Aes Sedai fashion, made me laugh, and the heartfelt response of his countrymen when she "requested" their support made me cry. Any scene that raises such emotion in the reader is epic in my opinion.     Q: Is there anything else you'd like to share?   A: Simply this. Being a member of Dragonmount will open up a multitude of possibilities and opportunities for anyone willing to put into the experience as much as they take out. Make the most of it, have fun, and cherish the friendships you will unavoidably make.

Our friends at Ta'veren Tees have some goodies in store for you this week!  First of all, it's time for their annual Black (Ajah) Friday sale.  Second, they have a stunning new shirt available for pre-order.  Here's what they have to say:  

It's time for another giveaway! Here are the rules again for those who aren't familiar with them:           This time, we will be giving away a copy of The Gathering Storm. I haven't received the audio clip from Macmillan yet, but will add it here if/when I do.   This giveaway's question is: Who do you hope will survive the Last Battle? You have until Wednesday, November 28th to answer in the comments section. Good luck!

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Welcome back to "WoT If?". This will be a continuation of theories regarding who will survive, or not survive, the Last Battle. We will be looking at Perrin and Faile. As always:   Spoiler warning! This will include content from many books in the series, including Towers of Midnight, and speculation about A Memory of Light. Please read at your own risk.   Also, this WILL NOT contain spoilers from A Memory of Light's Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, or Chapter 11. Please refrain from posting any spoilers from A Memory of Light in the comments section. The A Memory of Light spoiler discussion board can be found here.   There are a lot of fans who got…impatient…with Perrin and Faile's plotlines from Winter's Heart and all the way to Knife of Dreams. Because of this, there is some resentment towards the two, and many hope one or the other will die in the Last Battle. So, we'll look at evidence on both sides and see where their fate may lie.   First, let's look at Perrin. He's important, one of the three ta'veren necessary to ensure victory at Tarmon Gai'don. It's stated several places that he and Mat are both needed to give aid to Rand. Last week's post talked about this a bit, so I won't go into detail about the possible roles Perrin will have. Suffice to say, he has to be there. And if he's taking part in the battle, there is a chance he won't survive.   However, it's pretty simple to determine that Perrin will survive. In The Eye of the World, Min had a viewing about him:     Tenobia, Shield of the North and Sword of the Blightborder, is the current bearer of the Broken Crown, but there's foreshadowing that she might die during the Last Battle (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 51, "A Testing"), or at least before producing an heir (Path of Daggers, Prologue). Because of this, Davram Bashere will succeed her to the throne of Saldaea. And, as there's foreshadowing that Bashere will die during the Last Battle (Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 24, "A Strengthening Storm"), his heir, Faile, will inherit. Saldaea might be a nation in which an outlander married to the ruler becomes equal—that is, Faile would be Queen, but Perrin could be King—so Perrin would be the wearer of the Broken Crown.   If Tenobia and Bashere die during the Last Battle, Perrin must survive it in order to receive the Broken Crown. I doubt he would be considered the King of Saldaea the exact moment the current ruler dies, so there must be a coronation, and that would certainly take place after the Last Battle.   There are a few other things to mention about Perrin. He's got a Power-wrought hammer that's going to come in handy during the Last Battle. I don't think it will make him invincible, but it did do more damage to Trollocs than a normal hammer would (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 41, "An Unexpected Ally"). He's also a very skilled Dreamwalker, so if the Battle does go into Tel'aran'rhiod, as many people believe, he will be almost invincible there, too.   My last piece of evidence might be a bit of a stretch, but I'll bring it up, just in case. When Perrin and Elayne speak of Perrin's "rebellion," they reach an agreement, naming him Steward of the Two Rivers, and saying they will encourage their children to wed (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 47, "A Teaching Chamber"). In Aviendha's second trip through the glass-column ter'angreal, she sees her grandchild, Oncala, and Elayne's grandchild, Talana. If Perrin's and Elayne's children marry, Talana could be Perrin's grandchild as well. I think that would explain the "not very pretty, but very regal" (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 49, "Court of the Sun") comment by Oncala. The mix of Two Rivers blood and Saldaean blood in one of Talana's parents, and Aiel and Andoran in the other, will probably equal something that's not very pretty.   So, Perrin must survive to get the Broken Crown and to father the child who becomes the parent of Talana.   Now, let's discuss Faile. I think most of the same arguments hold for her as for Perrin, especially the part about him fathering a child. But she will also need to be alive for him to take the Broken Crown. I think they'll have to be crowned together. However, this might be a point against her surviving. Perhaps that is why Perrin has the Broken Crown, not because they are equal rulers, but because Faile has died, leaving him to rule Saldaea alone. There is the chance that simply being her husband gives him the right even if she dies, too.   Another point for her survival: I don't think Faile will be doing much fighting during the Last Battle. Perrin has finally learned Saldaean ways, and he's become more comfortable with proving he's "stronger" than her. He'll tell her she can't fight, and she won't.   On top of that, we had three books worth of plotlines in which Faile's life was in danger. One thing I've learned from literature is authors don't repeat plotlines with the same characters. Even looking at the three times Rand fought Ba'alzamon, each scene was different: the first time, Rand simply cut the black cord; the second, Rand and Ba'alzamon dueled with swords in Falme; and the third, they fought with the One Power. So, even though the theme is the same, the execution is different. Faile spent so much time with a vague sense of danger that I don't believe she will face too much in the Last Battle.   I think that is sufficient proof for Perrin's survival, and just enough that I will say Faile will live too. With the quickly approaching arrival of A Memory of Light, I'll try to squeeze in a few more of these predictions. Next week, we'll examine the Royal Line of Andor—everyone from Elayne to Galad—and see if they're likely to live or die. Thanks for reading.

It's getting closer and closer to the release date of A Memory of Light, so Tor.com has a special treat for us. They just announced that they will be offering daily previews of the final book starting next week and ending when the book comes out. Read their press release below for more details:     About A Memory of Light Dragonmount features complete coverage of AMOL. Check back regularly for updates! Visit our complete AMOL info page. Read our spoiler-free review of the book. Purchase the prologue and support our website Read the opening portion of the AMOL prologue for free. Read the opening portion of Chapter 1 for free. Listen to Chapter 2 for free. (Tor.com) Read the opening portion of Chapter 11 for free. Discuss A Memory of Light on our forums.  Follow us on Twitter or "Like" us on Facebook. Please consider pre-ordering the full book through one of our international Amazon affiliates, and help support our website.

Welcome back to another edition of our weekly roundup! Although we have some news here, the most exciting announcement for today will appear on our front page in just a few hours. Stay tuned!   Sometimes, we come across scenes in books that make us want to hurl those tomes across the room in frustration. Plenty of us have had those feelings while reading The Wheel of Time. Visit our General Wheel of Time Discussion forum and tell us about those most infuriating moments.   It's time for the November Clan Wars at the Aiel Social Group! They've got several activities for you this month, including trivia, an obstacle course design contest, and more. Be sure to check it out.   It's Gameshow Week, courtesy of the Warders, at the White Tower & Warders Social Group. In addition to games, participants will have the chance to bid in an auction to "own" an Aes Sedai or Warder for the week. You could even earn the chance to own me for the week, as I'm one of the Aes Sedai up for auction. Join us!   The Wolfkin Social Group just posted the November edition of their newsletter, PawPrints. Come see what this fun-loving group has been up to lately.   Badali Jewelry has recently announced another creative contest! This time, the challenge is to create your best fantasy inspired edible treat. If you're confident that you can cook better than a Trolloc, show us what you've got! You can find all the rules here.

The world of the Wheel is as much defined by objects, symbols, and clothing as it is by characters. Unfortunately for you all, I'm a pretty poor craftsman. This inability to create decent crafts has convinced me that I probably can't tell good crafts from bad crafts, and that I probably shouldn't try. So, I've been avoiding them.   This week, I hope to fix that. My goal today is to show the best of the best--craftsmanship so lovely that even I couldn't mistake it for anything other than the product of exceptional talent and painstaking effort.   The first half of the post is dedicated to objects and depictions of objects, while the second half is dedicated to cosplay and costuming. (I know, I know, depictions of objects are really works of art, not craft, and cosplay really deserves its own week. The theme today is a little tangled. Somehow, I think we'll muddle through.)     Dagger from Shadar Logoth by peregrine al thor   This is a beautifully detailed replica of one of the most interesting objects in Randland, done by a Dragonmount member with (if I do say so myself) exquisite taste in Internet handles. Check out his Dragonmount gallery for more Wheel of Time woodwork, including Mat's ashandarei!         Wheel of Time Map by Dragonmount member SuperScotty's wife, Janna   Oh my gosh, it's a giant oil painting of Randland. There is really no limit to the awesomeness and creativity of Wheel of Time fans, is there?         Great Serpent Ring by Corella Studios (deviantART gallery, personal site)   Corella Studios creates amazing 3-D art (including a lot more great Wheel of Time art). It's worth checking out their gallery if you have time. They are currently open for commissions.         Tarmon Gai'don 14 by ^Elandria   This is a stock image. To the best of my knowledge, this means it was created as a reference for other digital artists, traditional artists, and photomanipulators. I think it stands beautifully on its own. (I don't recognize the flag. I think this was inspired by The Wheel of Time, rather than directly adapted from it.)         Wheel of Time--Lily and Boar (Elayne and Gawyn) by ~DreaminBlood Models: ~DreaminBlood and her twin (?) sister ~Wany-Waldnymphe. Photography by *chiisaiSaku.   A rare combination (for The Wheel of Time, at least) of beautiful cosplay and beautiful photography.         Star Wars meets WoT by ~more2lookfwd2 (Alex Molk)   Okay, I admit it. I'm not sharing this one because the costuming is awesome, even though it is, and I'm not sharing it just because it's a fun crossover. I'm sharing it because this guy looks exactly like the version of Mat in my head. Maybe it's because of his resemblance to versions of Mat drawn by ~Forbis and ~solitarium, which for me have always defined the character. What do you think?         Lanfear: Look to the Stars by ~TnSabregirl   Not being a cosplayer myself, I have not to date paid nearly enough attention to ~TnSabregirl's beautiful costumery. This dress is my favorite of her Wheel of Time costumes. The detail is just incredible.