DRAGONMOUNT

Hello all! I'm back from Dragon*Con and slightly more together than I have been for the last month. And as promised, I have a special treat to make up for being as flaky as I've been recently.   As previously covered on Dragonmount, Tor Books has been re-releasing the series as eBooks. The original plan was to release all the main series books, along with the prequel novel New Spring AND the young adult editions as eBooks complete with new cover art. For the young adult editions, they also commissioned new interior art.   To catch everyone up who might not know, The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt were each split into two books and marketed as young adult editions. Not only was new cover art painted by Charles Keegan, but interior art was commissioned as well.   Unfortunately, Tor has decided not to publish these editions as eBooks after all. Luckily for us though, Charles Vess and Tor Books have graciously given permission for Dragonmount to host these images in our gallery for fans to enjoy. I've selected a few to highlight for Fan Art Friday this week.     This is what would have been the "cover" of the eBook. It looks like it features all three ta'veren plus Egwene fighting Trollocs. One of the things I like about these images is the very old fashioned fairy-tale illustration quality they have. I'm not sure if it's as good a fit for the tone of the story, but it's very striking and distinctive. I particularly like the contrast between the brightly colored figures in the foreground, and the more drab Trollocs in the background. It makes things really pop.     This one looks like Trollocs attacking Emond's Field or the al'Thor farmhouse. The expression on the Trolloc's face is adorable. "Come back!" he says. "I just want to snuggle!" The detail of shading and line on this is just amazing. I keep stopping to look at it again.     Rand eavesdropping on Moiraine and Egwene. I love how it manages to be detailed and yet ethereal at once.     Ahhh! Moiraine! Scary, spooky Moiraine! This one is my favorite. I love her "This is totally no thing, guys. I do it all the time." half smile.   To see the other images (there are eleven total) please visit our gallery. http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/gallery/album/137-charles-vess-album/

Hello again, everyone!   So, I've been having a great time telling you about various odds and ends in the Wheel of Time fandom. This week, I'm turning back to our home base, Dragonmount. I will be guiding you to a new place on Dragonmount every other week.   There is a lot more to this board than just information about The Wheel of Time. It's a fantastic platform through which fans can meet their fellow fandom members. Dragonmount offers a variety of features with which fans can interact on our forums. There are discussion boards, boards for creative-minded artists, writers, and crafters, and even game boards. Besides those, a large part of the forums is dedicated to Social and Role Playing Groups. Both base their structure on the various organizations that are found in the Wheel of Time books, but the Social Groups--as the name implies--are for social interaction of members. The Role Playing Groups concentrate on exactly that, role playing characters as though they were present in Randland.   This week, I'll bring closer to you a place that is a frequent first stop for new members. The discussion boards are a great place for people to voice their opinions--in a peaceful, non-flaming way, of course. There is a great variety of discussion topics available. We have entire boards for the discussion of individual topics, be it to discuss theories about our favorite series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson or to discuss other literary works in our General Discussion forum. For those needing a break from book-related matters, we have a Debates and Discussions board on which you do exactly that--debate. We also have Entertainment boards in which you can discuss games, tv shows, movies and sports.   So, next time you have some time on your hands and nothing to do, why don't you pop over and add your voice to the fray?

<p>Old World Parallels is the topic for the 105th Episode of The 4th Age Podcast. Your hosts for this episode are Andrew, Virginia, Spencer, and Carrie.</p><p>(This episode, like most of our talks, is chock full of spoilers if you haven’t read Towers of Midnight yet!) <span style="color: #800000;">Warning: SPOILER ALERT!</span></p><p>Be sure to check out <a href="http://www.dragonmount.com">Dragonmount.com</a> for forums, comments, and all the latest news in the Wheel of Time world.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>ATTENTION! THERE ARE TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT SPOILERS in this podcast!</strong> </span><em>Also, spoilers on ALL the other books are VERY likely!</em> If you haven’t read all the way through the Wheel of Time, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS of all previous books! There also may be spoilers of other book series, tv series, and movies as well, too, or anything ELSE we can think of in the known and unknown universe…. We will try to give warning. We can give no guarantees, however.</p><p>Hosts: Andrew, Virginia, Spencer, and Carrie</p><h6>Editor for this episode: Richard F. Editor-in-Chief: Spencer</p><p><strong><a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-105.mp3">Download'>http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-105.mp3">Download this Episode now</a> </strong></h6><h5>A HUGE thanks to all our editors, past and present, from all of us here! We couldn’t make this happen without your help and technical expertise. We are usually in need of editing help – please, contact Spencer at <a href="mailto:podcast@dragonmount.com" target="_blank">podcast@dragonmount.com</a> if you are interested in volunteering.</h5><h5>Music by: Josh Needleman. His website is at <a href="http://www.joshneedleman.net/">www.joshneedleman.net</a> and he has the music available to hear on his MySpace page at <a href="http://www.myspace.com/joshneedleman">www.myspace.com/joshneedleman</a>. Its title is <em>Floodgate</em>. Thanks, Josh!</h5><div><strong><a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-105.mp3">Download this Episode now</a></strong></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/4thAge/~4/kshjIjgNZzI" height="1" width="1"/>

It's almost time for Dragon*Con! This means that some of your friendly neighborhood Dragonmount Admins, including me, won't be able to post things on our front page for a few days because we will be busy representing our fandom at the convention. You'll still see some of your favorite features during that time, but we won't have a Fan Art Friday this Friday or a Weekly Roundup next Tuesday. Everything will be back and better than ever after Dragon*Con, though!   I always enjoy it when our theory blog inspires people to post in our forums. If yesterday's blog made you hungry for more discussion of who the Broken Wolf might be, head to our A Memory of Light Non Spoiler Discussion forum and fill up with some hearty theories.   Whether you call them wizards, sorcerers, or something else, their magic is still fascinating. Who are your favorite magic-wielding characters in the fantasy genre? Come share your picks in our General Discussion forum.   It looks like the Ogier Social Group has some new entries in their haiku thread. Let's hear some of yours!   The White Tower & Warders Social Group wants to know everyone's thoughts about why a man would choose to be a Warder. It seems like they are having a riveting discussion so far!   More than just a nice story of an Aes Sedai and her Warder, Dancing Among Golden Leopards is a well-written role play that even features some original poetry. Come check it out!   If you checked our Twitter account today, you may have noticed that we posted a link to an amusing comic featuring Rand and Lanfear. Did it make you chuckle?   That's all I have for you today! Keep your eyes on this page, because we'll have plenty of exciting updates for you after Dragon*Con.

Salutations, my savvy sojourners of Dragonmount! Welcome to another weekly installment of "It Works in Theory", the new theory blog this gentleman has the giddy pleasure to write. I hope everyone's had fun so far in picking my brain apart; I know I've had plenty of fun (not as much sleep, however). I have enjoyed your comments so much, in fact, that I was inspired with what I think might be a great idea. Many of you who have left comments or have posted on our forums have very good theories of your own that often have my head nodding and my mind thinking of all the implications they would entail. So, I thought it would be serendipitous if some of you could send in some of your ideas, and I could pick one idea once a month (or perhaps several if they can fit) and elucidate on all the ins and outs on my blog. Just to clarify: I more than likely wouldn't pick one out that I disagree with just to pick it apart. It's more than likely I'll go with one I find to be interesting or provocative, and try to expound in other ways that the theory could be significant.   If this sounds like a good idea, or if you had any other suggestions or possible topics for my blog, you can either PM me here on Dragonmount or e-mail me at hazelkrs110@hotmail.com. If you think this is me being lazy and you don't feel like doing my work for me, feel free to pretend your computer monitor is my face and dash it, dash it good. Now, on to our weekly disclaimer:   WARNING!!! Spoiler Alert!!! WARNING!!! This blog is based on theories that will include facts and material from the latest books in the series, so if you have not read through Towers of Midnight, continue reading at your own risk! "It Works in Theory" is not intended for human consumption. Should any hypothesis or presupposition come into contact with your skin or eyes, flush the affected area with a tepid saline solution for at least 10 minutes. Should a rash or itching persist, consult a physician or visit the forums.   I figured we'd go with something slightly different this week, both to give my fingers and my readers' eyes a rest. Instead of breaking down another one of my wacky, convoluted theories for umpteen paragraphs, I thought it might be nice to highlight an individual set of prophecies or viewings every now and again. We already have a great resource for general Wheel of Time questions in our Wheel of Time FAQ, and there you can find an explanation of what the prophecies might be referring to, so this is just another take on it. Today, we are going to examine the Dark Prophecies.   There's some uncertainty over one of the prophecies--the one introduced to us when Padan Fain escapes from the dungeons in Fal Dara, towards the end of The Great Hunt. It was written in blood on the walls of the dungeon, and we were lucky enough to have Verin record it down for us so that she could study it and give her thoughts on it. It was verified later to be a Myrddraal, possibly influenced by Ishamael, who actually wrote the prophecy on the wall. When asked about whether or not the Fal Dara prophecy was a true dark prophecy, Robert Jordan gave us a Read And Find Out response, leading us to believe that even if it's not true prophecy, there's still something we can gain from studying it.     The Daughter of Night is obviously Lanfear, and she walks again in the world after being released from the prison containing the Dark One. She fights his ancient war against the Light. I will say there might be subtle foreshadowing in the phrasing of "yet fights" relating to her capture and "death" in the land of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, which she survives to fight yet again.   I talked about the next line last week in my blog when I spoke of the possibility of Lanfear gaining control of Rand through Callandor (here's the link in case you missed it). I think Rand is her new lover--new because he's not quite the same person she remembers from the Age of Legends--but others have brought up the possibility of her falling for someone else. I'm still not quite sure how Rand might serve her after dying, though, but I've got a theory (not to be revealed this week, however).   The last couple of lines are fairly important because part of them might be overlooked. "Who shall stand against her coming" could possibly be a reference to Moiraine, who stood up against Lanfear in The Fires of Heaven, but could also be foreshadowing of a future event. Then we come to "The Shining Walls shall kneel", which many take to mean that the White Tower (Shining Walls) will defer to someone else's authority, most likely Rand's. I contend that the line is both a metaphor and not one at the same time. "Shining Walls" refers to the White Tower, but when it says the "walls" shall "kneel", I take that to mean the shining walls and towers of the White Tower will fall.   We know the Seanchan are gearing up for a second attack on Tar Valon, and that the White Tower is lightly defended because so many forces are currently gathered at the Fields of Merrilor. There isn't any indication, however, that the Seanchan would want to hold the White Tower. They just want to capture as many marath'damane as possible, so it could very well come to pass that they simply demolish the Tower after they pillage it for whatever resources and treasures they can find.     This is the refrain from the prophecy we're currently reviewing, and I just wanted to address some things I felt were relevant. We have a good amount of references to the Dragon's blood having something to do with mankind's salvation, but nothing indicates why we might specifically need his blood for the Dark One to be defeated. I also have a theory on that (yes, I'm saving that one too), but I feel the last line of the refrain might be hinting at something. Blood is--Rand is the Dragon Reborn, and the Champion of the Light. Blood was--Lews Therin was the Dragon and helped seal the Dark One away for three millenia. Blood shall ever be--either the Dragon will always be reborn to fight the Dark One, or perhaps that Rand survives Tarmon Gai'don using his "blood"?     The channeling man is Rand, and the second line is referring to the callus way in which Rand uses those around him to get what he thinks he needs. He puts Mat and Perrin, as well as countless others he meets, directly in harm's way with little hesitation. The next part is very interesting because it can be interpreted in two completely different ways. The first way is from the perspective of Darkfriends: one path leads him to "death beyond dying" because either he's balefired, the Dark One grabs his soul, or his soul is destroyed in Tel'aran'rhiod; the second path leads him to life eternal, for that is what is promised by the Dark One should he come to rule the land.   The alternate way of looking at it is that Rand can either end up destroying the Pattern, which leads to "death beyond dying", or he can take the other path and seal the Dark One away. The last line is also very significant because it is ominous foreshadowing to both the hand that he lost when he captured Semirhage and to Rand's internal conflict as he wonders which hand was destroyed, the one that shelters, or the one that slays.     This whole stanza involves the origins of one of our most mysterious bad guys, Slayer. Perrin knows there is some relationship between Slayer and Lord Luc, who he met when he went to the defense of the Two Rivers in The Shadow Rising, because their smells are somewhat similar. One of the most interesting aspects of Slayer is the fact that both halves of his makeup have very interesting lineages that could have many possible outcomes in the last book: Lord Luc is Tigraine's brother, making him Rand's uncle; Isam is the son of Breyan, the woman known for having a large part in Malkier's betrayal, and through this line he is Lan Mandragoran's cousin. This is better than daytime soap operas, huh? The last bit we can glean from this particular passage is the reference to the Darkhounds' hunt, which Slayer is at least involved in, and more than likely leading. He's also been referenced as being given the task of hunting Padan Fain down, so he has plenty of possible confrontations in his future. The "time of change" simply refers to the last days before Tarmon Gai'don and the possibility of the Pattern being unraveled.     The "Watchers" are clearly the "Watchers over the waves", who wait for the return of Artur Hawkwing's armies from across the ocean. The "seed of the Hammer" refers to Hawkwing's descendants, the Seanchan, where he was known as "The Hammer of the Light". The Seanchan burned the ancient tree when they defeated Tarabon because Tarabon's sigil is a tree, which is supposed to be a sapling of Avendesora, the Tree of Life. The middle two lines are pretty cryptic and hard to discern, but the next line is somewhat enticing to me. One way to look at the "seed" slaying ancient wrong is by correlating the Seanchan with the earlier mention of seed. The ancient wrong that they would slay could potentially be the practice of leashing channelers as damane, or possibly even slavery in general. Another way to look at it is switching Rand out with the Seanchan, and his ancient wrong could be the Dark One himself. I see this possibility and other obscure references as hints to Rand's possible re-altering of the Pattern itself, in which he replaces the cyclical expression of time in his universe with a linear expression of time. This is very iffy, but I'll probably explore that idea further some other day.   Next, we have the grade "A" approved Dark Prophecy, found at the end of Towers of Midnight. This prophecy is misinterpreted earlier in the same book by Graendal, when she attempts to set a trap for Perrin and his army.     The seals holding the Dark One's prison are weakening, and the "limbs" more than likely refer to the the ancestry of the male channelers who created his prison, and how the skill and ability to use the One Power is being culled out of humanity. Channelers today aren't able to complete anywhere near the same type of feats as they were able to in the Age of Legends. The rest of the excerpt goes on to elaborate on how awful and dark things will get as the Dark One's influence grows.     The one-eyed fool is Mat, and the halls of mourning could possibly be when he went into the realm of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn to rescue Moiraine. The Aelfinn and Eelfinn feed on emotion, and it seems the particularly delectable morsels are the emotions drawn from those suffering and in agony. It also seems pretty clear that many have died in its halls, which is another reference to mourning. Lastly, they describe themselves as "the warriors of final regret".   The "first among vermin" is most likely Rand because it's a good play on the wording of Lews Therin's title in the Age of Legends: First Among Servants. There's other ideas relating the first among vermin to either Fain, Perrin, Moridin, or possibly Slayer, but Rand is the best option because he's the one who will be most directly responsible for freeing the Dark One when he breaks the seals.   As for the "fallen blacksmith", that most definitely is Perrin, but the fallen part might be more ominous than we realize. There is a chance that Perrin might be one of the characters who don't survive the Last Battle. Don't start throwing things at me yet! The great thing is that even after he died, he could still have a hand in shaping things, especially concerning his abilities in Tel'aran'rhiod. Many would say, though, that the part concerning "the fallen blacksmith's pride" was fulfilled when he quit trying to deny the mantle of leadership, which is a reasonable enough conclusion.   One idea I thought of, though, could be the possibility that the pride here refers to his wolf friends. We've had an image ready to visualize for a long time of Perrin riding into battle with thousands of wolves running with him and burning through the hordes of Trollocs like a brush fire in west Texas. They're his pack, not a pride as we normally think of with lions, and his connection to the wolves is where he gets a big source of strength, individuality, force of will, and pride. So, the line could refer to Perrin leading a very large number of wolves to their death, which would be heartbreaking because it would be the second time Perrin will have been responsible for that many wolf deaths (the first being Dumai's Wells). Wow, I really like theorizing about deaths of characters and races, don't I?   The way you interpret the last part of the passage depends on your idea of what "broken wolf" means. Some might think this would be Perrin, or a bunch of other alternatives that make less and less sense, but there's a much stronger case for Rand. There are a couple of comparisons made between Rand and wolves in the books, and he even has his own wolf-name, Shadowkiller. The point is that Perrin isn't the only one in the series who could be connected with wolves somehow. A much more thorough and elaborate argument is made by Terez in the Wheel of Time FAQ; she pretty much lays it all out very well.   Still, after all that, there is one line which is usually interpreted one way but could easily mean something else.   "His destruction" is generally considered to be his death, but it is very possible it could be referring to the destruction he will cause. There's still only one person who truly could be said to cause enough destruction that it could shake the very will of men. That's right, you guessed it, Dark Rand 2.0 came back to rear his giant, ugly, prophetic head. I actually meant to make this connection last week, but forgot in my sleep deprived, zombie-like state of mind. Imagine Rand going to the Midnight Towers to be used like a puppet, wreaking a wild, destructive force across the countryside, balefiring friend and foe alike. Yeah, that would shake the will of men alright.     The Lord of the Evening more than likely refers to Moridin, in that as Rand is known as the Lord of the Morning, Moridin as his arch nemesis would be the opposite. Being that the Lord of Morning will face the Broken Champion, it stands to reason that Rand would be the Broken Champion for a few reasons. No one else could really face Moridin and have a chance, unless they had some kind of sa'angreal or something, which would probably be referenced in the prophecy. Rand is the Light's Champion, and he refers to himself as being broken several times in the books.   Then we come to the last part of the prophecy, another reference to the spilling of Rand's blood possibly being a necessary catalyst for the freeing of the Dark One/defeat of the Dark One. I definitely want to contemplate this "Blood" issue hopefully in the weeks to come, so I might need a little more time for dramatic build up and eager anticipation to occur. You might or might not be seeing a blog from me next week, as the site will be busy handling the Dragonmount duties at Dragon*Con this coming weekend (plus it's my birthday next Monday), so it might be a good idea to emotionally, mentally, and physically prepare for a possible week of no theory blog. I'm sure you'll manage!

Next weekend is the 25th anniversary of Dragon*Con, the largest fan run pop arts convention in the world. It also marks the 11th year of Wheel of Time programming at Dragon*Con. Here's some helpful links for Wheel of Time fans attending the convention.   Official Wheel of Time track website Tentative Wheel of Time track schedule Tentative convention schedule grid Official Dragon*Con App   If you're planning on attending, please stop by our forums and let us know.

You asked, they listened! Ta'veren Tees now has a Wolfsister shirt available to be pre-ordered from their website. Here's what they had to say about the shirt:  

Alright, so I've been busy lately. I'm teaching again, which obviously keeps me busy all day. I'm also in my final semester of grad school (I'm getting my M. Ed. in Special Education), I just got home from WorldCon and I'm running the Wheel of Time track at Dragon*Con next week. So hopefully, you all can excuse my slackerness here recently.   To make up for it, I am working on something super cool that you'll get to see after Dragon*Con.   Anyways, I still don't have time to update here, but I didn't want to leave you hanging. So consider this an open fan art thread. Have an awesome piece of art (yours or someone else's)? Post it in the comments for all to see. I'll probably end up mining this thread later for ideas, so if you've ever wanted me to feature something, now's a good time to post it.   See you at Dragon*Con!

So, we Wheel of Time fans might start searching for a new epic once the Wheel of Time has finally come to a conclusion. Well, we need not go very far. Our very own Brandon Sanderson has recently published a novel by the name of The Way of Kings. The good news doesn’t end there, though, since it’s not a stand-alone novel or even a trilogy. It’s planned that it will be a 10-book series. I, for one, am very excited.   From the back cover of the novel: I have found that there is nothing more disappointing than reading a book which was surrounded by great hype and excitement, then finding that you painted it to be so much more in your mind. AnyWheel of Time fan who thinks Brandon Sanderson has done a good job of finishing the last few books will agree that they expect a lot from the poor man.   Luckily, I can say that this was not the case with The Way Of Kings. I was immediately ensnared into the world that Brandon Sanderson created despite at first having a bit of a hard time imagining all the animals to be some adaptation of the crabs we commonly know. The world creation was so well-rounded and deep, and that's not all. We get to know the world through the eyes of the characters, its history, and the thoughts and beliefs that the people hold.   The leading protagonists are flawed characters. In this case, it makes it easier for us to relate to them. You howl and cry in frustration for their mistakes and rejoice in their victories.   The plot of the story could have been better, in my opinion. I found it slightly predictable at times, and then it caught me completely by surprise at other times. It was still great and a definite attention-gripping narrative.   All in all, it is a book that I recommend you definitely should read. You will come to love the world and the people in it.

<p>Nakomi, the mysterious Aiel woman Aviendha met in the Waste on her way to Rhuidean, and other oddities found is our topic for the 104th Episode of The 4th Age Podcast. Your hosts for this episode are Andrew, Virginia, Spencer, and Carrie.</p><p>(This episode, like most of our talks, is chock full of spoilers if you haven’t read Towers of Midnight yet!) <span style="color: #800000;">Warning: SPOILER ALERT!</span></p><p>Be sure to check out <a href="http://www.dragonmount.com">Dragonmount.com</a> for forums, comments and all the latest news in the Wheel of Time world.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>ATTENTION! THERE ARE TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT SPOILERS in this podcast!</strong> </span><em>Also, spoilers on ALL the other books are VERY likely!</em> If you haven’t read all the way through the Wheel of Time, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS of all previous books! There may be spoilers of other book series, tv series, and movies as well, too, or anything ELSE we can think of in the known and unknown universe…. We will try to give warning. There will be no guarantees, however.</p><p>Hosts: Andrew, Virginia, Spencer, and Carrie</p><h6>Editor for this episode: Ken S. Editor-in-Chief: Spencer</p><p><strong><a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-104.mp3">Download'>http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-104.mp3">Download this Episode now</a> </strong></h6><h5>A HUGE thanks to all our editors, past and present, from all of us here! We couldn’t make this happen without your help and technical expertise. We are usually in need of editing help – please, contact Spencer at <a href="mailto:podcast@dragonmount.com" target="_blank">podcast@dragonmount.com</a> if you are interested in volunteering.</h5><h5>Music by: Josh Needleman. His website is at <a href="http://www.joshneedleman.net/">www.joshneedleman.net</a> and he has the music available to hear on his MySpace page at <a href="http://www.myspace.com/joshneedleman">www.myspace.com/joshneedleman</a>. Its title is <em>Floodgate</em>. Thanks, Josh!</h5><div><strong><a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-104.mp3">Download this Episode now</a></strong></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/4thAge/~4/uQRxdXXCrAE" height="1" width="1"/>