DRAGONMOUNT

On this day in 1948, one of the greatest storytellers who ever lived, Robert Jordan, was born. I felt kind of inadequate when we were asked if one of the front page bloggers wanted to write the tribute article for Robert Jordan's birthday. I finally decided I would do it after Jennifer Liang posted the link to Richard Fife's 2011 JordanCon speech. Not only did I read the speech, I also watched the entire opening ceremony of JordanCon 3. Knowing as little as I do about the people Robert Jordan had around him and the people that lead the fandom, I was pleasantly surprised that Harriet, Alan, and Maria all actively took part in the opening antics.   Regretfully, I didn't find The Wheel of Time until late 2010 or early 2011. I devoured the series, though, when I did find it. My first read, from New Spring to Towers of Midnight, took six months. My introduction to the fandom happened by stumbling across tWoTcast when I was searching for information on the next book. Through tWoTcast, I found Dragonmount back in November 2011. That is where I first started to learn about the man we know as Robert Jordan, the man who re-ignited my own desire to write. It saddened me to find out I would never get to meet the man in person, to see the kind of man who could take an idea and turn it into such a magnificent piece of work.   Although I never got to meet him, by reading his work, I felt like I got to understand the man behind the words. To me, he seemed the type that loved a good story, whether he was telling the story or just listening. I get the impression that if he were in a crowded room of noisy people, he'd only have to say, "I have a story to tell" at normal volume and he would have everyone's attention until he finished, no matter the length of the tale. From this and the short bit I learned of the people he kept closest to him, I realized something. Robert Jordan wasn't merely a writer. He was a storyteller, which is so much more. A writer writes for fame, money, or other similar reasons, but a storyteller writes because he enjoys telling the stories he has. I was guilty of wanting to be a writer when I started my own project back in high school. After entering the Wheel of Time community and seeing how other fans view Robert Jordan in comparison to other authors, I realized I was writing for all the wrong reasons. I know it may sound cliche, but I want to be like Robert Jordan. It's not so much that I want to write like him, but I want to be able to bring people all over the world together to share a common interest. Since November last year, I've talked to people from Africa, England, Israel, Norway, Canada, and so many other places, and it blows my mind that it's all because of one man. One storyteller who has told one of the most amazing stories ever written. So to you, Robert Jordan, I say thank you, and happy birthday. Whatever adventures you've found in the great beyond, I'm sure you'll have plenty of new stories to tell us when we join you.

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?". This week, I want to examine Min's viewings, what they actually consist of, and different ways they can be interpreted. I feel that some of what she sees hints at answers with regards to Lan and Birgitte, in particular. But before we begin:   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, 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.   I think we need to come to the harsh reality that some of our beloved characters will die in the last book. As much as I don't want that to happen, it needs to. And even though Rand will die, I'm convinced he will be Healed, or his soul will be reclaimed. He doesn't count as one of the characters who will die, in my opinion.   But there is one who most believe will die during the Last Battle: Lan. As my favorite male character, I'm hoping he won't. So, naturally, I'm going to point out all the clues—mostly from Min's viewings—that suggest he might survive Tarmon Gai'don.   First, let's look at this interview with Robert Jordan to see what he has to say about Min's viewings.     I think this is so interesting, because I assumed this viewing was of the past, too. Let's see exactly what Min said before we go into it more.     We learn later (Chapter 47, "More Tales of the Wheel"), that Lan is the last Lord of the Seven Towers. And his parents placed a sword in his infant hands, and consecrated him the next Malkieri king. I think our first instinct at this point is to think back to Min's viewing and say, "Oh, there are the Seven Towers, and the babe with a sword." Pretty simple.   But, taking that quote from Robert Jordan into consideration, especially because the asker points out the viewings in The Eye of the World, we know these are future events. And if these events are in the future, I think it's safe to assume that Lan will bear a child with Nynaeve.   Looking at the timeline for The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight, we see that it took Lan 100 days to ride from World's End, in Saldaea, to Tarwin's Gap, in Shienar. That's 100 days he's been apart from Nynaeve. That's more than three months, which would be plenty of time for Nynaeve to start showing if she was pregnant. We've seen her take the test for Aes Sedai, and know she swore on the Oath Rod; both things she wouldn't do if she was pregnant. So, I'm going to conclude that, at this point, Nynaeve is not pregnant.   There is a viewing Min has about Nynaeve that might put a damper on this theory, in some people's opinions.     Nynaeve is a very kind soul—despite her bullying. We saw in her test for Aes Sedai that they constantly made her walk away from sick children because it hurt her the most. She is a natural healer, wanting to cure anyone and everyone. So, her bent over in a posture of grief doesn't necessarily mean it's Lan she's mourning.   Also, notice how Min can't interpret it. Nynaeve mourning the loss of her husband is pretty straightforward. Not much to interpret there. I think it more likely that it's Rand's body she's bent over. And it's this scene where she will Heal him, or grab onto his soul.   My conclusion: Lan has to survive the Last Battle.   Let's move on to Birgitte. Many wonder if she is still bound to the Horn after being ripped out of Tel'aran'rhiod. There are a few reasons I believe this is so.   Now, this might not count as proof, but I want to point it out. After Mat recognizes Birgitte in A Crown of Swords, they speak in the Old Tongue and she calls Mat "Horn Sounder" (Chapter 21, "Swovan Night"). I think this definitely shows that Mat is still bound to the Horn, because Birgitte was in Tel'aran'rhiod after he was killed and brought back to life (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 54, "To Caemlyn"). I feel Birgitte, being a Hero, would feel if the connection to Mat had been broken by his death and rebirth. Again, that's not really about Birgitte, but I think the parallels are similar. Birgitte is still bound after her strange rebirth too.   And the main reason Birgitte is still bound to the Horn is Min's first viewings of her.     Remember that all these viewings are in the future. She has so many of them, more so than Rand, even—and he's also bound to the Horn. This is probably due to Birgitte being ripped out. But she still has a thousand more lives to live, and all of them connected to Gaidal Cain. I think her rebirth threw off their cycle—hence his being younger or older—but there's no doubt she's still bound to him.   And if Birgitte is bound to Gaidal, I don't think her connection to the Horn has been broken either.   I have one last thing to point out about Min's viewings.     This shows that everything—viewings, dreamwalker's prophecies, foretellings—are less true today than yesterday. And probably will continue to be less likely. We know Rand's use of balefire on Natrin's Barrow caused a great loosening of the Pattern (The Gathering Storm, Chapter 37, "A Force of Light"). Plus, we know Demandred was commanded to unleash balefire on the world by the Dark One (Lord of Chaos, Prologue). With the Pattern taking so much damage, I'm not sure how far we can trust any recent viewings.   And that's all we have time for today. Next week, I want to look at the end of The Great Hunt and try to answer lingering questions about events at Falme. Thanks for reading!

Welcome back, everyone!   Are you looking for other good fantasy series to tide yourself over until the last Wheel of Time book comes out? If so, come get recommendations from others and impart suggestions of your own in our General Discussion forum.   The Black Tower Social Group recently posted the October edition of their Tainted Times newsletter. Come catch up with the members and see what they've been up to lately.   The Ogier Social Group would like to know what your favorite horror book is. What book would you like to curl up with on Halloween night?   Come play a game with the Wolfkin Social Group! The person running the game will post zoomed in pictures of animals in the thread. All you have to do is guess what those animals are. Have fun!   A Black Sister escorts a Dreadlord to his homeland to announce that he's gentled and ready to reintegrate into society. What madness is this? Find out in the role play The Darker Path.

Silly me. I expended all my creativity and energy on a presentation for my PhD qualifying exams this week, and now I've got none left over for Fan Art Friday. Well, here are three mind-blowing recent Wheel of Time fan works to hold you over until I get my groove back.   Verin Mathwin in Emond's Field by ~Jieroque (Benjamin Roque)       To Dance with Jack of the Shadows by ~KaylaWoodside       Heartlines by ~unefleur         In other news (warning: shameless self-promotion), I did actually finish that sketch of Eldrene I posted a while back for the staff feature. I thought I'd share, in case anyone was interested.

It's time for more wallpaper from Tor.com! This time, the featured eBook wallpaper is for Knife of Dreams. The artwork is by Michael Komarck. Here is the image:     Go here to download different sizes of the wallpaper and to read more about how this art was created. How do you like the art for this eBook?

I would like to try something new this week. I am going to do my personal take on certain events or characters in the series. This week, I will be talking about Moiraine. I will cover stuff from New Spring through Towers of Midnight, so there will be spoilers.   I wanted to start with Moiraine for two reasons. The first is that she is one of my favorite characters. The second is that I probably would have lumped her in with Cadsuane had I not started with New Spring.   Moiraine is one of the few Aes Sedai that you get to see interact with people on a personal level without keeping up that serene mask, and it's quite refreshing to see. In New Spring, you get to see some of the childish actions in which Moiraine partakes, as well as why she is so serious about her mission throughout the series. For those of you who started with The Eye of the World, Moiraine was really the only true Aes Sedai you got to experience. Although she wasn't so bad, you sympathize with Rand, Mat, and Perrin about having to deal with a dreadful Aes Sedai. Then you get a couple of pages of Elaida right near the end and start to realize that things could be so much worse. As the series progresses, you get to see things from Moiraine's viewpoint and understand her more. I had a literal "oh, thank goodness" moment when she was rescued in Towers of Midnight; getting to see one of the most pivotal Aes Sedai return after thinking she was dead for so long is just awesome for lack of a better word. I am excited about the possible reunions that we may see occur in the last book.

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Hello, all! Welcome back to "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog. Today's topic is a little speculative, but I'm convinced I'm on the right track to how Rand's "to live you must die" riddle will be solved. 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, 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.   Let's start with a little background information about the Nym. This might seem off topic, but I'll tie everything together. According to The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, Nym are artificial constructs, like Trollocs (Chapter 21, "The Ogier"). The Nym were created to aid the Da'shain Aiel in seed singing.     In the actual series, we see the Green Man, the last Nym, in The Eye of the World (Chapters 49 and 50). He teases us with knowledge (using phrases like "Child of the Dragon" in reference to Rand, and "wolfbrother" to Perrin), but his memory's not what it used to be due to the wound he suffered in the Age of Legends. This scene really piques our curiosity with all the tantalizing information we're almost given. And it makes us want to know more about what the Nym did before the Breaking.   We see the same Nym, Someshta, in the glass-column ter'angreal in Rhuidean (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 26, "The Dedicated"). In this scene, we see him given the task of protecting the Eye of the World. Going back further, we see an actual seed singing, with Someshta, Ogier, and male Aiel. This is the important part:     Seed singing uses the One Power to strengthen the crops. Ogier can't channel. The Aiel can't channel (those who can are taken to be Aes Sedai). Is Someshta the one who is channeling? It does say Someshta takes the threads and weaves them.   If the Nym are artificial constructs, how are they able to access the One Power?   Well, last week I talked about how Myrddraal might be able to access the True Power, and they are artificial. It's not too far of a stretch to apply the same logic to the Nym. Let's look at a quote from Robert Jordan in regards to constructs and souls:     So many things leapt out at me from this statement.   1. "One of the best questions I've ever gotten!"   I think Robert Jordan's enthusiasm for the question suggests the importance of it. Why would he get so excited about the concept of Nym souls unless it has some bearing on the future plotlines? Of course, his typical RAFO answer is used for really important things, but perhaps he thought he could disguise something important in this statement?   2. Pure construct vs. animal/human hybrid construct   Trollocs, made from animal and human mixtures, are not pure constructs. They are organic, made from living things, but morphed into something else. Nym are pure constructs, completely artificial—they are made from plants, but not sentient beings. If that's correct, why are they attuned to plants and growth? I'd say it's because of the soul inside them; the soul is able to amplify their nature. Since they are constructed from plants, when the soul is added, those plants are given sentient life.   3. A Nym's soul is a human soul   Wolves are always reborn as wolves, Trollocs are always Trollocs, but Nym aren't always Nym. That is such a strange concept, which leads me to the conclusion that Nym would be reborn as humans. And the only reason I can think of to explain it is, that since Nym are filled with a soul artificially, the souls come from the Pattern's pile of waiting, human threads.   4. "Borrowed…from the supply of souls"   This makes my eyes pop! Only the Dark One seems to have the ability to snatch a soul after it's dead and place it inside a body (a dead body, which is like a construct!). But this quote seems to imply that the Aes Sedai had access to souls that they could store inside the Nym bodies.   Anyone could sit around and make constructs all day. Make a body out of clay, make a body out of snow, make a body out of grass and leaves and vines. But something has to be done to the body to make it alive. Someone needs to give it a soul. The Creator wouldn't say, "Oh, here's a construct that looks okay, I'm going to send the next waiting soul into it." That's taking too much action, and the Creator doesn't get involved. Also, why would the Creator fill the Nym, and not a snowman?   That means it is the Aes Sedai. There's no other way it could work. And if Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends found a way to access the "souls awaiting rebirth," there's no reason one of the channelers of this time (Nynaeve) couldn't figure out how to do it too!   If Rand dies, as we all know he must, it seems plausible that someone will simply grab his soul and place it back inside his body. I speculated in my first post that Nynaeve might learn how to Heal death, but I think it's just as likely she will learn how to grab a soul that's outside the Pattern.   That's my prediction for this week. It's not too different from other theories already circulating, but I like to back it up with plausible proof. Post your thoughts, whether you agree or disagree. We won't have too long to wait until we find out.   That's all for this edition. Next time, we'll take a close look at some of Min's later viewings. Thanks for reading.

It's October, when visions of pumpkins, candy, and costumes dance in people's heads. Let's see how the denizens of our forums are kicking off this month.   "To live, you must die." It seems everyone is trying to solve this riddle nowadays. What implications does this have for the Last Battle? Come discuss it in our A Memory of Light Spoiler Discussion forum. As usual, please read the forum rules before posting.   The Aiel Social Group would like to hear all about your harvest traditions. How do you typically celebrate this time of year? Do you have any special autumn traditions or family rituals?   It's time for the Black Tower Social Group's Shadow vs. Light One Power Tournament! Come sign up if you want to join a bunch of zany Asha'man in destroying their opponents. You don't have to be a member of this Social Group to play, but you do need to learn the rules.   The Red Ajah from the White Tower & Warders Social Group just posted several event threads for their annual Autumn Festival. Follow this forum to keep up with all the activities as they are posted.   Calling all Wheel of Time costumers! Badali Jewelry is holding a Halloween Costume Contest on Facebook. The prizes look really neat! Go here for more information.

Ten years ago, fan art of Fortuona was few and far between. Now that she's the Empress and Mat "I am not a bloody lord" Cauthon is First Prince of the Ravens, she's finally gotten her share of the spotlight. Who am I to deny her more?   Daughter of the Nine Moons by *Astriex     Empress Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag (formerly High Lady Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag, Daughter of the Nine Moons) is the second daughter of the late Empress Radhanan. As heiress to the Crystal Throne, she was in charge of leading the Return. She declared herself Empress after Semirhage slaughtered her entire family, and has since established Altara as the seat of Seanchan power in the Westlands. Her homeland is now mired in civil war.   Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag by ~StarOfAstaroth (Noah Sheldon) (Pointillism! This took 40 hours of work.)     Fortuona's childhood was sad and difficult. She saw her mother only twice a year before her sixteenth naming day (Winter's Heart, Chapter 14). We know only that her father "died of a bad wager" (Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 28), ostensibly in one of the deadly plots she and her siblings were forced to execute to prove themselves worthy of one day ruling the Empire (a struggle in which two of her siblings were made da'covale, and in which she herself had a brother and a sister killed). She is a skilled fighter and wrestler, in spite of her tiny stature. She has survived many assassination attempts, the earliest of which occurred the year she was born. Twice, she has intentionally vanished and been presumed dead, down to the arrangement of her funeral rites (Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 4). Her closest companion is her bodyguard, Voice, and Truthspeaker Selucia, who is also the closest thing to a mother she has ever known. Although hardened by the events of her childhood, she has a good heart and a deep-rooted sense of justice (albeit a Seanchan sense of justice). For this, she has earned the undying loyalty and love of those who serve and protect her.   Tuon by ~vild (Anna Ekman)     In many ways, she is as hard as Rand. I am still struck by the scene in Knife of Dreams (Chapter 11), in which she casually drives a blade into the chest of an assassin that Mat (haunted by memories of Melindhra, Tylin, and Renna) shows clemency. But the ultimate proof of her willpower is her ability to defy Rand's will.   Tuon by J. Seamas Gallagher (blog)     Fortuona has the ability to learn to channel. Although she chooses not to learn, she is trained as a sul'dam and takes great pleasure in training both damane and horses. Early on in her relationship with Mat, she views him as property as well--in their very first encounter, she tries to buy him from Tylin (Winter's Heart, Chapter 17). Soon after he kidnaps her, she expresses an interest in taking him on as a cupbearer. Even shortly before she completes the marriage ceremony, she still isn't entirely convinced she doesn't want to break him.   Above: WoT Doodles by *RoseMuse Below: Reasons for Kissing--Tuon by ~Evil-is-Relative     Her feelings for him have clearly deepened since. Although their odd relationship is endearing and funny, I find their partnership unsettling. Mat's mercilessness as a military commander and his role in sparking the invention (or reinvention) of firearms pair strangely with Tuon's determination to conquer the Westlands. They may be an odd couple, but underestimating either of them is likely to be the last thing their enemies ever do.   WoT--card teasers 1 by Ariel Burgess (deviantART, personal website, Facebook page for the Wheel of Time poker deck) (In the interest of fitting with the theme, I didn't include Olver. The full version is a triptych and can be found here.)