And what would the reader teach the tribe about the book? That it is just a story? Is it meant to be a foundational myth such as the Iliad and Odyssee? Is it mean to be a divine revelation? It is difficult to anticipate the effect it could have. Would the tribe for example adopt Aiel battle tactics as described the books which are to the best of knowledge based on very effective Zulu tactics. Would the industrial revolution come quicker as they have a pathway mapped out of what is possible with steam engines? Would they spend all their resources trying to find the One Power or even turn to the Shadow in search of power. If the story did not help them significantly, much less derail their development into dead ends, likely they would just be destroyed by competing civilisations. Having one story will not ensure survival in a brutal world. I wonder if they would emulate Jordan and write their own stories or it would be treated as something unique. Would written copies in those times be more resilient or less than the oral traditions of other tribes where bards memorised their entire history, mythology and cultural epics. Would the decentralisation of that knowledge be a good thing, or bad? Would WoT's lack of centralised, organised religion shape the future of churches in Europe? Would literacy reach modern levels meaning among other things the end of prehistory. Would they be able to differentiate between such things as books and ships and the fantastical elements? It is an interesting thought experiment as on one hand it is so insignificant to daily life and survival of culture, yet on the other it would fundamentally change so many things for that culture, depending on how they treated it. And what about the bosoms, the spanking, the smoking, the drinking, the gambling, or any of the other questionable, controversial or negative aspects of the story? Though in that respect the vast majority of fantasy stories would be much much worse.

Asmodean choosing immortality to hear music in the future.

Remember though that Sheriam joined largely for personal political reasons, not because she was a true believer. So to me it seems joining with an ulterior motive is definitely possible.

She could talk around the Oaths perhaps, paltering details and making relative statements. The fact she took the Black Oaths rather than trying to escape could be seen as proof of her intent, and then she also could lie freely to back up her story after. It is rather convenient, but it could simply be that the Black Sisters did not anticipate that anyone would swear to the Shadow without meaning it, or that if they did, that they wouldn't get fully on board, their immortal soul and chances of rebirth now wholly depending on the Dark One.

I think it was not a "sign up or die" but more Verin was poking somewhere because of her curiosity and then would have been killed when caught except she convinced them she wanted to join, which was why she was poking about. About Tomás, not sure. That always seemed a little convenient to me, too, unless Tomás became her Warder after her oaths, but then how would she know he wanted out? Or did she meet a Darkfriend with regrets and was so curious that she bonded him to study his predicament further. I guess that would be in character. Sorry for an answer so lacking in details or insight 🙂

Congratulations 🙂 Yes, the Logain story arc kind of petered out. I thought he would have a showdown with Taim and remain a rather uncommitted fully to the Dragon Reborn, an ambiguous character driven by a personal agenda and survival. But no. And did not like Egwene's end at all, even if she was kind of annoying. Your tying off of loose ends could have worked well, imho.

Happy birthday, Thom 🥳 Hope you are having a great day 🙂

The Seal over the Bore was always going to be temporary - I don't remember if this was known from the outset of the attempt by the Hundred Companions, especially as it was saidin only, or if this was one of the many things that Foretelling made explicit. Remember it is canon that the Pattern forms the Age Lace - the Bore is always made at the end of the Second Age and repaired at the end of the Third. Time is cyclical - the Bore must be made as it as already been repaired, and it must be repaired so it can be made again. What causes it? I'd guess at something hand-wavy like the evil of the Dark One seeping into Seal. Nasty stuff, liquid evil. The books don't go into a lot of "why". The Dark One is just one of their universal constants. I guess it must be necessary for the Creation of the Universe. The Creator does appear, rather bizarrely at the end of the Eye of the World, not really sure why Jordan included that as he never seemed to build on it or explain it at all. I could guess that maybe Rand was going to be much more literally the Creator's Champion at some point, but that is pure speculation. Outside of that the Creator is just the classic omnipotent creator god that moves in mysterious ways. Not to be questioned by us mere mortals. There are no beginnings or ending in the Wheel of Time. There have been an infinite number of Dragons before and will an infinite number after. If you mean, is he reborn as the Creator's Champion in Ages other than the Second and Third - no idea. I don't believe canon even slightly touches upon this. The songs of Growing (probably not actually called that, lol) that the Aiel sang in the fields with Nym and Ogiers in the Age of Legends. The closest thing that remained would be the Ogier treesong, and it was a near pain for me that not a single Tuatha'an was ever told that. An infinite amount of searching and suffering throughout endless Third Ages, and no one ever tells them. So frustrating. He accepted his fate rather than fighting it, iirc. Not sure - I'm not a great fan of the attempts at philosophy in the book and I may have glossed over the whole top of Dragonmount as his conclusions, to me at least, make zero sense in a cyclical time line. Doing better then next time means nothing when you always have to come back to the same spot. No matter what you do, everything is going to end up the same regardless. Rand's madness tends to come and go as the plot needs, for me it worse in the Dragon Reborn where Rand goes totally feral and barely seems to have a grip on himself at all then reverts to being completely sane when he reaches Tear. Can't say I know the specifics, but like magic, dude. If you mean literally - they are both alive at the same time so they cannot be the same soul. I have seen people speculating, maybe about the show, I cannot remember, that Lews Therin, Lanfear, Ishamael, and others were comparable to Third Age Team Rand, and the reason that Lews Therin failed was that they failed, not him. But in canon, they could not literally be the same people (or at least reborn souls like Lews Therin/Rand), though I guess the Pattern could be using them as analogues or some such. It of course also gets a bit more confusing when you consider that Rand is the Creator's Champion, but the Pattern is interested in balance, not the victory of the Light. So it seems like counting ta'veren as only forces for good would wrong - if the Light was too strong, the Pattern would even things up - perhaps with a Shadow aligned Mat. Welcome to Dragonmount, Hero 🙂 (sorry where are my manners?) Hope you have a great time here. Though the only thing I'd like to point out that many people that love the books also loved the show, many also couldn't care less and many hated it. But it would be wrong to assume that any one group's subjective opinion is somehow better than another's.

Welcome to Dragonmount, ShockExit 🙂 I hope that everything is going well with your knee There should somewhere be a list of characters per chapter so you could home in on their descriptions but I have failed to find one. I did see some stuff on reddit when I was searching but did not quite feel up to that site at the moment. Perhaps someone with the ducks more in a row than me will be able to point you to a suitable resource. The artwork is amazing 🤎And total props for including the real star of the books, Bela 🙂

Welcome, Andrew 🙂 That was an incredibly detailed intro post 🙂 sounds like you will fit right in here. Look forward to seeing you about.

I'm afraid not. I would guess that it is something specific to the producers of the audiobook, which appears to be Audiorenaissance if my ears are hearing right but no idea how you would go about identifying it.

Were they not staying/traveling together? So they just assumed that they were married, obviously putting the same stock in marriage as patriarchal societies do. If I remember correctly at least.

I think also for the ta'veren is that they pull and enmesh each other. If everyone in the party from the Two Rivers had been a ta'veren they would have been locked into the deep gravity well that is the Dragon. You could look at the doubts and willfulness and denial of responsibility (Mat) or the overcommitment to responsibility (Perrin) not being the cause of the ta'veren status but being necessary to survive being a ta'veren (especially around Rand) and still get the stuff that needed to be done done. Like if Perrin had not been so dead set on killing himself for his family, he wouldn't have been there to accidentally cause a revolution in the Two Rivers which would have huge impact later on when they march to the Fields of Merrilor. Just like the Band would never have been formed if Mat wasn't trying to run away. If they had not resisted being ta'veren and the pull of Rand, none of that would have happened. Unless of course the ta'veren works on a deeper level and everything was fated to happen exactly like that, but then there would be no point discussing it at all then. Also it means that Nynaeve and Egwene achieved what they did through their own grit and determination without the help of the Pattern smoothing their way.

Good morning, Tanchico 🙂 I love the smell of Balefire in the morning. Er, not sure where that came from. It is awesome to have you on Dragonmount and hope you have a fantastic time here. Plus all the things Ithi said. We also have things like a Discord server where people talk and whatever people get up to on Discord. Look forward to seeing you about 🙂

As I remember it, she originally left the Two Rivers and then chose to pursue the One Power solely because of her desire to protect the Emond's Fielders who were her responsibility. Lan was a later and much more secondary reason for her rivalry with Moiraine. It may have provided her with additional motivation for learning to channel, but it wasn't why she ripped up her life, nor was it why she enrolled in the Tower. As I remember it anyway.