Today, Dragonmount turns seventeen!  The site has evolved a lot over the years--as webmaster Jason Denzel is quick to talk about his cease and desist letter from Robert Jordan, on account of a fan-made animated video which helped launch the website.  What started off as a small project eventually grew into the website we know and love today.  

With so many people coming and going over the years, we have a lot of memories about different aspects of the site.  I asked some of our staff members to share their favorite Dragonmount memories.

Mashiara Sedai

My Wheel of Time journey has a strange start.  My younger sister was going through a "dragon phase," and snatching up any book at the library that had a dragon on the cover or in the title.  She happened to stumble across The Dragon Reborn.  Upon realizing it was the third book, she got the first and started the series.  She finished up to Path of Daggers (the latest book released at the time).  She talked about the series all the time to me, and it sounded interesting, but I wasn't a fan of reading and I didn't want to invest so much time.  She told me that I should read just one page a day.  So, I started The Eye of the World.  And of course, by the third day, I was reading more than just one page.  I blew through the book.  And got the second.  Then the third.  It didn't take me more than a few months to get to Path of Daggers.  I was hooked for life.

 

I became a member of Dragonmount in 1999, right around the time we were celebrating our first birthday.  I joined the White Tower Org (as it was called then) and participated in a lot of role playing.  But it wasn't until recently that I really got involved.  In 2012, I became the Theory Blogger for Dragonmount's Front Page.  It really opened a new door for me.  From there, I began to take a very active role in The Wheel of Time community.  I've gone to the past three JordanCons, I've seen Brandon Sanderson at six book signings (even being on a panel with him at the Phoenix Comicon), I've gotten to speak with Maria Simon, Alan Romanczuk, and Harriet McDougal multiple times.  And I'm also a Dragonmount Administrator, working behind the scenes to give back to a website that I've loved for the past sixteen years.

 

My favorite Dragonmount memory is probably when I was chosen to be a Storm Leader for the Scottsdale, Arizona signing of The Gathering Storm.  I, of course, turned in my application with bated breath, hoping I'd be selected out of hundreds and hundreds of people.  When I got the confirmation email saying I was chosen, I was ecstatic!  It may have been one of the happiest moments in my life.  And the actual event was phenomenal!  I got to eat a meal with Brandon Sanderson, and other Wheel of Time fans.  It was an amazing experience, and I owe it all to Dragonmount.  This website strives so hard to give back to the community, to impact fans, and to make lasting memories.  I'm so glad I'm able to be a part of it.

Aiel Heart

There are three primary reasons I love The Wheel of Time:
 

1) it's just an awesome book series which explores a full and captivating world.
2) that captivating world and its facets helped me through my dark days
3) It lead me to Dragonmount.

I joined Dragonmount on July 6, 2011. Picking a favorite memory out of the time that has passed since has been difficult. I think it's because life isn't always made up of these huge defining moments, but rather it's a series of small moments that create something big. For my first year here, I spent most of my free time on the site, getting involved in various activities and enjoying the world of freedom I'd found there. During those first few months on Dragonmount, there were many strong little moments. I fell in love with the shenanigans of the Wolfkin. The boys in the Warders Guild made me laugh and frustrated me and somehow made their way to my heart. I spent hours spamming in the Black Tower. I became a staff member of the Aiel almost instantly. I started talking to people from all over the world, and was surprised by how quickly ties to them were formed. In the midst of all of this laughter and light, I found myself starting to heal from the difficult year I had just experienced, and found myself trusting these friends I was spending time with online. If I had to choose a favorite moment, it's one that encompassed all of that.

One night, as I sat in the darkness staring at my computer screen, I felt the need to share my "sad little story" on Dragonmount. The only other person I'd told the story to up until that point was my priest. I didn't trust people back then; didn't trust them to care about me and certainly didn't want to show them any of my weaknesses. But... somehow, I felt safe here. So I shared it. That moment, the way I felt then, would be my favorite memory. At last, I'd found someplace safe, and it was here. A lot of my growth since that moment has been witnessed by Dragonmount.

For me, Dragonmount has been more than a fan site with fluctuating activity levels. It's a place where bonds have been struck, and good memories are held. Even though there are some whom are no longer around, I can remember them fondly, smile as I look back on the conversations we had, and wish them well now in whatever life has brought them. I can look back on who I once was, the trials I went through both off site and on, and see just how far I've come. Dragonmount helps me remember, helps me smile, and it continues to help me grow.

Happy birthday, Dragonmount!

Graendal's favourite

I got up with The Wheel of Time community, before I had access to Helsinki University of Technology. It is nowaday know as Aalto University, however I'd read the books, no mean feat despite being top A in English, it might have been more complicated than that.  I think I was stubborn in my beliefs, but I got Lord of Chaos and started from the beginning, I didn't understand who this Egwene was. I read loads of other books too, The Recluce Saga, and reading C. I. Cherryth's saga, I started to wonder about the magic. I must admit I have not read much high literature since--deferring that to the Browns--I became intrigued by the social forum side of Dragonmount. This is of course only half the truth, as I now, a full fledged White will attest to, I became involved because the ongoing Asmodean debate. You might not know, but I was the one who presented the solution online. I dare you, ask a minutiae about The Wheel of Time and I will know the answer. But I must let others discuss things, learn it anew, certainly without an overbearing presence. I will still match them one on one, I think.

 

My best moments at Dragonmount must have been learning I got it right about Asmodean, and defending the situation. Never was it more intense, certainly. Later I've moved to the Debates and Discussions Forum; let others discuss The Wheel of Time who are fresher to it.

Red2111

Most of my favorite memories off of Dragonmount center around Mafia.  I think my favorite game has to be Ray's Caesar game that was ran in the Black Tower on DM 7.0.  It was back when Mafia was still fun, everyone had thick skins, and many of my favorite oldies still played (Lily, Tayla, Kiv, Pete, Mynd, Ed, Womby, ect).  It was also my first time being scum, and I had a blast.  We had a Lie Detector (played by Pete) and they used the role to entrap the majority of the scum team with a certain phrasing combined with peer pressure on anyone who refused to say the sentence.  At first my team was in a tizzy over it, but it ended up that my teammates were able to maneuver the loss of Lily by taking out both the Lie Detector and the Cop.   Another of my favorite Mafia memories was Kivam's Police Academy game ...  where everyone one was a cop.  Just the sheer insanity that ensued with the claims and counterclaims and how it made you approach the game was differently worth it.  Then of course there was Krak's Monty Python game where I was branded vanilla and decided to have fun by trolling the entire game by acting out different characters from the movie each game phase.  I don’t know how much fun it was for other players in that game, but I had a blast.

Outside of Mafia, my favorite memory pre-DM 8.0 was the Org wide raid that happened, where Mother Ducky (Claire for those who don’t know her) was captured and the Orgs worked together to either rescue her with the White Tower or prevent the White Tower from rescuing her.  Post-DM 8.0 has to be, hands down, the April Fools joke where the "Staff Board" was made public and Verb and Barm "merged" a few Orgs together.

There are so many aspects of the website, from discussions, to Social Groups, to articles and blogs.  Over the last seventeen years, we’ve seen a lot of change.  Some of our old features, like the “Ask the Chosen” column, have gone away, but new things have always popped up to take their place.

What's your favorite Dragonmount memory?  What do you think makes this site worth visiting?