I don't think you can completely discount the influences of western theology. Calvinist predetermination permeates the entire narrative. Characters are constantly saying, "the Wheel weaves what the Wheel wills," more or less resigned to whatever fate the Pattern has set for them.

And in cases like Elayne, she just takes a prophecy about her children being born as a sign that she can do whatever she wants without any negative consequences.

But that's kind of my point. People discuss this stuff like it should be rational or at least internally consistent. But it's not. Because it's make believe.

 

All good modern fantasy and science fiction is internally consistent. To be "rational" only means that it coherently follows certain rules. WOT does this. Moroever, to label something not rational because its "make believe" is the hight of idiocy. You eqate "rationality is with "scientific proof" but forget that science is based on observation. Observation of facts (phenomina) is not the same as observation of "reality" since as any Kantian or Quantum Mechanic would tell you the act of observation itself changes reality.

I'm not really sure what most of this has to do with the holes in RJ's cosmology. But I'll concede that I wasn't quite clear when I said WoT isn't internally consistent. It is UNTIL you try to connect to the real world.

If Randland was just some parallel, alternative universe, I'd say RJ does a pretty good job of not contradicting himself. I actually think he deserves a lot of credit for creating a "magic" system that has its capabilities and limitations fairly well laid out.

But as soon as you try to connect Randland to our world, then it has to be consistent with that, too. And it's not. So when RJ dropped cute little hints about our own world being a different age in the WoT universe, he essentially ruined his own internal consistency.

Again, the narrative is excellent, so I really don't have a problem with little inconsistencies in the cosmology. But all the people that are trying to figure it out as if it can be figured out are just wasting their time. They're like the Star Wars fans who try to make being a Jedi a real religion.

Santa Claus doesn't exist. A fairy won't leave you a dollar under your pillow if you put a tooth there. The universe isn't really ordered around a Wheel of Time.

But that's kind of my point. People discuss this stuff like it should be rational or at least internally consistent. But it's not. Because it's make believe.

It's just like any other myth or religion. It kind of sounds good at a glance, but it doesn't really make any sense if you study it too closely.

But in all fairness to RJ, he wasn't trying to sell a new religion. Rand's universe is sufficient to lay out the WoT narrative, and that's all it needs to be. Trying to make it be more is a waste of energy.

I think Ephemeral is right, though, about people over analyzing this stuff. RJ knew his cosmology was horse crap, so he provided vague explanations in the actual books and ducked fan questions with answers like, "It's the past and the future."

The most you could do to make any kind of sense of it is to read up on eastern philosophies that view time a circular, but even that doesn't really apply to the WoT universe. Not completely.

I think saying the series takes place in the past AND the future is kind of a cop out. Maybe the wheel will get back to out age eventually, but Ishamael mentions thousands and thousands of ages, so it's probably going to be a while.

On the other hand, our age is close enough in the past that the WoT characters know "legends" about things we view as historical fact. Examples are the Cold War and the moon landing. If our age was too many ages in the past, it's doubtful if even the legends would still exist.

I also hear the audiobook names in my head, but even some of those changed from book to book.

In the earlier books, Moghedien was MOH-ga-dene, but later it was Moh-GED-i-an.

So maybe someone told the voice actors the right way to say it between the two books, or maybe they just forgot how they had pronounced it before and guessed a different way the second time.

Rand's Tavern'ness only turned on slightly before Moir+Lan arrived at the two rivers. So it couldn't be Rand.

 

Might be Lan. Doubt it though, probably be revealed before now. Unless it's building to something huge, but it would probably be more obvious if it was foreshadowing.

Like Lan showing up with about 100,000 soldiers at the eastern end of the Borderlands after disappearing for two books?

Because I'm pretty sure that's what's going to happen.

I'm not saying he's as Taverene as the main three, but he definitely has a big part in the pattern.

MINOR GATHERING STORM SPOILERS

Edit. Minor, major, does not matter. No spoilers allowed here.

In New Spring, several references are made to Lan having unnaturally good luck. Plus, there's an instance where the prince falls 50 feet from a balcony and only gets a few bruises.

So I'm wondering if Lan himself is ta'veren or if Rand's ta'vereness is so strong that it starts working on Lan before Rand is even born, just to make sure Lan is there to help Rand survive.

I'm leaning toward the former, since Rand wouldn't have any effect on the falling kid. But even though Lan is ta'veren, he's just overshadowed by Rand, Mat and Perrin.

I'm almost certain Galad can channel, pretty sure Gawyn can channel and even willing to entertain the possibility that Mat can. After all, Mat's sister can channel.