Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

I talked personally to Brandon today (September 18) at a book signing at the Orem Barnes & Noble.

I asked him two questions, both about "The Seven-Striped Lass." He "accused" me of working for Dragonmount or Theoryland, but said that I could report back to them on what he said. Sadly, I didn't have a recording device with me, so his answers aren't verbatim, but the words in quotations are the words that he used and the content is what I remember him saying. If there are mistakes they are probably mine, not his, as I am only human and cannot fully reproduce a spoken conversation word for word hours after the fact (despite the notes I jotted down).

Why did he choose to release Chapter 8 [of Towers of Midnight]?

He said it was strategic, because he knew that the prologue would be up for sale, and chapters 1 and 2 would be up for free on Tor's site. As well, chapters 3, 4 etc. wouldn't have worked "because they build upon each other. Chapter 1 builds on the Prologue, Chapter 2 on Chapter 1, etc." And thus, chapter 8 was the earliest chapter that would work as a teaser without spoiling earlier things or getting in the way of the other early releases. He also confirmed that, yes, chapter 8 is the first Mat POV in the book.

brandon on publishing

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towers of midnight

I said something to the effect that many on the forums have challenged (I think the exact words I used were "giving him crap") about the chronology, especially with regards to Mat. I guess it wasn't a question as much as an interrogative lilt to my voice…

He responded by saying that he has a "detailed and precise" chronology off of which he works. He admitted however that he is not the real "chronology person" on Team Jordan, but those people assure him that "I am right on" with regards to the chronology. He then addressed a number of the concerns:

-first- Rumors: he said that rumors are just rumors. About Trolloc attacks, specifically, he said that "Trollocs have been attacking, or invading in various places for months" and that rumors abound in all sorts of forms about them.

With regard to the White Tower attack—I prompted this one a little, and he said that they are simply rumors which have coalesced from multiple rumors together, nothing related specifically to the real attack adding that "in the Wheel of Time rumors sometimes have a tendency to double back on themselves" turning into truth eventually.

As for the horse riding in Caemlyn, I asked him specifically about Rand seeing Mat and Thom on horses in Caemlyn, but Mat in Chapter 8 was not taking his horse into the city, and he responded by saying that Rand didn't see Mat in this specific scene and assured me that all that would work out in the rest of the book.

He did admit that there has been one "hitch" found in The Gathering Storm as per chronology that will be changed in upcoming editions. If I remember correctly he said Mat is roughly two weeks behind where he was meant to be and explained that Mat's position in time at the end of The Gathering Storm was supposed to be two weeks earlier than it was portrayed as being.

Matt Hatch

Well—this is something I'd like to understand better—and hear it verbatim. I'm not sure I understand what is being said by the reporter.

Peter Ahlstrom

This means that something currently in The Gathering Storm needed to be retconned to get the timeline to work and will be changed in future editions of The Gathering Storm. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to get it changed in the paperback that's coming out this month. I'm guessing the change will affect only a sentence or two.

Retconning was a last resort that they really didn't want to have to take, but it was unavoidable.

Team Jordan has a very detailed chronology that looks in many respects similar to Steven Cooper's chronology, but Steven's is a bit off in a few areas. Certain beta readers helped verify it was nailed down.

And Terez: It doesn't have to do with Sulin. Actually, they decided Sulin needed to be retconned earlier. You can find out in the paperback of The Gathering Storm how that was worked out.

chronology

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errors

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sulin

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the gathering storm

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towers of midnight

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mat

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rand

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shadowspawn

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trollocs

I have to admit that I failed while on the spot and should have asked a number of follow-up questions.