Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

The Dark One has been attempting for untold millennia to escape his prison. Why has he failed? Does he have a chance to succeed? What are his tools? What are his plans? This theory will attempt to show how the Dark One has been experimenting to bring about a way to unmake the pattern and free himself.

Note: I put quotes at the end of the theory as footnotes, for readability.

When the Seals weakened enough for the Forsaken to escape, they were dispatched throughout the world with specific orders. However, their main purpose was to be pawns and generals, and direct the Dark One’s forces and plans, since he has no physical presence in the Pattern. The Chosen themselves aren’t very relevant, since even while they have been ...

You don’t remember who Valeria is? Let me tell you of the days of high adventure...

In a 2003 interview the Creator said:

"when Tom Doherty got the rights to do the Conan novels, he needed the first one very fast so that it would come out the same time the movie came out. And he knew that I had once written a 98,000 word novel in 13 days. So he thought I could write something fast, and he was right, and I liked it. It was fun writing something completely over the top, full of purple prose, and in a weak moment I agreed to do five more and the novelization of the second Conan movie."

Robert Jordan was what I would call committed to the Conan franchise, even developing a timeline of every known Conan work, much as we Theorylanders h...

Note: There is one small Towers of Midnight spoiler in this theory regarding the content of the first chapter that was released by TOR weeks ago. If you do not want to know, do not read this theory.

There are many theories and suppositions regarding the Last Battle, including those by characters in the books. It is stated by Ishamael that they misunderstand the nature of the conflict, and I believe that the same goes for most of us. Robert Jordan did not simply invent this world, he believed in it, and I expect that in the end, he will reveal his beliefs regarding the flaws in humanity and the world, and share his most precious belief - what he offers the world as what-could-be.

From the begin...

Here is a Theory I started 2 years ago on a reread preparing for the release of "The Gathering Storm". I only wrote half of it and then Wotmania closed down and since I never went to any of the other WoT sites it got shelved. So since now Towers of Midnight may perhaps raise or ruin my theory I thought why not finish it now and actually check out the other Sites in the World of the Wheel.

It is all based on Egwene's dream in CoT:Ch20. I’ll put the Dream up First then go into the Detail.

She was struggling up a narrow, rocky path along the face of a towering cliff. Clouds surrounded her, hiding the ground below and the crest above, yet she knew that both were very far away. She had to place her feet very carefully. The path was a cracked ledge bar...

Ok, in this thread I'm going to try to offer an answer for two mysteries. Who is the Fake Rand who appears to Masema in tGS, and who are Masuri and Annoura meeting with in Masema's camp throughout KoD. It's somewhat convuluted, so bear with me.

Who are Masuri and Annoura Meeting With?

In KoD Masuri and Annoura (and Masuri's Warder) are seen within Masema's camp by Havier, one of the Cha Faile. The question is--who were they going to meet, and why?

Masema

Perrin believes they went to meet Masema himself, which stands to reason given that (to Perrin) he is the only figure in that camp worth an Aes Sedai's attention--the rest all being rag tag zealots. Yet this ...

Warning: longtheory is long. However, if you are familiar with the passages that I have quoted from the books, then the theory itself isn't all that long. For those who are less familiar with those passages, I have bolded what I think are some particularly important bits for easy skimming. I do recommend reading all of the quotes in full, though...there are good tidbits in all of them. I will give my interpretation of the quotes, but for the most part, I like to let RJ's words speak for themselves. And Brandon's too, of course. I feel a bit like I am going great lengths to state the obvious here; I have been surprised since Knife of Dreams that the old hats of the fandom are in general so resistant to this idea. Since The Gathering Storm, that resistance is even mor...

CONTENT
1. Introduction
1. 2 Guidelines for interpretation
2. What's up with all the blood?
3. Can Rand survive the Last Battle?
4. Rands funeral
5. Conclusion
6. What is to come
7. A note about babies

1. INTRODUCTION

For me it does not really make sense to write a synopsis, but those who want to know what my conclusion is can read section 5 and section 6 first.

Prophecies & foretellings can obviously be interpreted in many different ways. RJ wrote the prophecies based on what he decided will happen. So the more prophecies relate to the same event, the more likely it is to understand how the event will unfold if you combine different prophe...

My theory explains how Verin delicately guided Egwene to contact the person in the Tower who Verin trusted with the knowledge of the location of the Horn of Valere.

Verin hid the Horn cleverly even to get it to the Tower:

"The Horn of Valere" she (Siuan) gasped. "You brought that all the way here, across hundreds of leagues, with the Hunters looking everywhere for it? Light, woman, it was to be left with Rand al'Thor."
"I know, Mother," Verin said calmly, "but the Hunters all expect to find the Horn in some great adventure, not in a sack with four women escorting a sick youth.

- The Dragon Reborn, The Amyrlin Seat

So when Siuan told Verin to hide it away without telling anyone:

"For the mo...

This is not my theory - the idea was first mentioned on the 13th Depository forums after the release of The Gathering Storm - but I thought it would be a good idea to get all of the evidence for the theory together in one place for easy linking, and to introduce the theory to those who follow Theoryland but might not have considered it.

I didn't consider it, even after reading the book (and apparently, neither did Cadsuane), but now that the idea has been brought to my attention, I realize that it's probably true. If it is true, then Sorilea is probably the most powerful of the unrevealed Darkfriends; her influence among the Wise Ones is almost unchallenged.

Sorilea is first intr...

Sorry if it's not as detailed as I'd like it to be, but it's my first one :p

Okay, I've been thinking for a while about that damn prophecy I found so cool I learned it :p

Twice and twice shall he be marked.
Twice to live, and twice to die.
Once the heron, to set his path.
Twice the hero, to mark him true.
Once the dragon, for rememberance lost.
Twice the dragon, for the price he must pay.

Even though I never really understood how the first heron set his path, the 2nd and 3rd part are mostly explicit. But there comes the price he must pay.

The most interesting part is that the hand Rand lost is on his left arm, which is the arm other clan chiefs are marked on. Which led me to believe that the p...

Do I have your attention? Do you think I'm crazy? Well, take a trip down this rabbit hole with me, then. A few weeks ago was JordanCon, where I was hanging out and talking with Team Jordan one-on-one quite a bit, and collecting interviews that shed light on information in ways that simple Q&A sessions don't. If you haven't checked out the official interviews I did over on Tor.com, you might want to. There is insight to be gleaned by those who would dig.

Anyway, so I have all this rumbling around in my head, and then one day not long ago, I am looking at my car's bumper, where I have the Wheel-and-Serpent bumper sticker I got at the Charleston The Gathering Storm signing. As I look at it, my eyes start tracing the Great S...

The title might seem rather random and strange to some people. Maybe most people. But I was writing a post on 'dead yet lives', because I'm pretty confident about my theory on that subject (though it might be a red herring to detract from....something), and that led me to write about the Battle of Caemlyn, because according to Nicola's Foretelling, it all seems to tie in together (and many thanks to Dominic and Linda of 13th Depository - the former formerly so - for bringing the Battle of Camlann to my attention, or my brain would certainly never have gone here).

In the process of writing those two, this little the...

Hello all - First time poster. Maybe someone has already suggested the following theory, but if so, I haven't come across it.

Also: *SPOILER ALERT* This theory draws on facts revealed in the Gathering Storm.

This theory is very long, so I will provide quick synopsis so you can decide if you want to keep reading:

In a nutshell, my theory about how the books will end is this: Rand will gather the Aiel, the Tinkers and the Ogier around Shayol Ghul. After breaking the remaining seals, he will lead these groups in a giant Seed Singing (as seen in tSR) that will begin regrowing the Pattern over the Bore. His armies, the Asha'man, the Aes Sedai and the Seanchan will defend the Singers from the Trolloc hordes. When the Bore is nearly shut, Rand himsel...

My theory concerns the true nature of Ishamael. I will start off by quoting Moghedien.

"The other sounds like Ishamael, to me. All his pride at being only half-caught, whatever the price - there was always was less human left in him than any of us when I saw him again; I think he half believed he was the Great Lord of the Dark - all his three thousand years of machinations, and it comes to an untaught boy hunting him down."

- The Shadow Rising, ch 46. p771

My main concern highlighted here is: 'all his pride at being only half-caught, whatever the price.' This just showing a generally recognised fact that Ishmael is only 'half-caught'. Now we know that Ishamael has been roaming around since the breaking and was not fully sealed in th...

The Wheel of Time. It is driven by the two halves of the one power. In other words the two opposites abiding in the same moment and location in space time generates the momentum that causes the Wheel to spin out its will which is reflective of its nature or in fact the creator's nature.

The name of the series is the Wheel of Time because the story is about its turnings. It's not about Dragons and Aes Sedai and the Dark One. They are all players on a bigger stage. Just as a main character in a play is not the entire play. In LoC ch 18, RJ reveals some clues as to how the final chapters will end, sort of a vague outline of it all. In this chapter Herid Fel explains that the Prison has to be returned to its original state before it was drilled. In essence, returned to the state w...

Mazrim Taim, M'Hael (self-titled), and the man in charge of the Black tower, has been behaving strangely ever since he came on the scene.

He first appeared in Lord of Chaos, suspiciously in possession of one of the seven seals on the Dark One's prison.

Lord of Chaos
Chapter 2, a New Arrival

Rand studied Taim as the man and his escort crossed the courtyard. At least fifteen years older than himself; thirty-five, then, or a few years more at most... since the Breaking, most men who channeled had the ability born in them, ready to spring out as they grew into manhood. Some managed to keep madness at bay for years before Aes Sedai found and gentled them; others were already hopelessly mad when found, at times less than a year after first touchin...

1) Nym - Giant plant-like beings numerous during the Age of Legends and used to facilitate growing crops.

2) Someshta dies, and then 'transfers' his life essence into an acorn as follows

Title : The Eye Of The World
Chapter : Meeting at the Eye

With a groan like a limb breaking under too great a weight, the Green Man crashed to the ground. Half his head was charred black. Tendrils of smoke still rose from him, like gray creepers. Burned leaves fell from his arm as he painful stretched out his blackened arm to gently cup an acorn.

The earth rumbled as an oak seedling pushed up between his fingers. The Green Man's head fell, but the seedling reached for the sun, straining. Roots shot out and thickened, delved beneath the ground and...

Okay heres my first full blown theory.

I haven't read all the theories, but in the relevant sections I haven't found this one, but if its there my apologies.

Basic principles;

The seals must all be broken

The prison holding the DO must be destroyed

A new prison must be constructed around the DO

Starting with the seals.

We know that the weakening seals are allowing the DO to touch the world more and more as more seals are broken. Witness the drought, ghosts, the thinning of the pattern allowing hallways to vanish like in the WT and Tear / Andor Caemlyn, the lessening of the ability of Saidar in keepings.

Title : Knife of Dream, Chapter : Honey in the Tea

"There was one thing she could do for them: comfort them. Impossible a...

Throughout the series are countless references to Rand's tragic death. (There's no reason to quote them just check any other theory.)

We also have references that hint at Rand's possible survival or resurrection. (Also no reason to quote.)

I find it hilarious reading the different arguments, theories, and stubborn insistence on what is correct, since both views are completely ignoring the parts of the books that don't agree with their view, but I don't want to open up that debate again, I want to explore a new option that I don't think anyone else has put to writing yet.

I believe that normally what happens in the WoT over and over again, because it is endlessly repeating itself, is that the Dragon is Reborn, Arrives at Shayol Ghul, Dies in victory over the Shad...

Hi (again) after four years. (My previous theory is here). Recently remembered about WoT, read CoT and KoD and thought up what I think is a valid justification for going over to the dark side.

This is a rather long theory so let us break it up into several parts, which we will consider separately.

1) What is the Wheel of Time?

a) it doesn't exist

b) it is finite

c) it is infinite

2) Can the DO break free in principle?

a) yes

b) no

3) What will happen if he does?

a) destruction of the Wheel and total oblivion

b) 'Dark Ages' where the world is full of evil and a good 'Creator' figure takes the DO's place, while the DO becomes non-interventi...

First off I want to say this concerns only Tarmon Gaiden itself. Not the events leading up to it. Not the rushing for more troops. Just the battle itself.

As for where it occurs. most likely in and along the Blight. By my count the humans have Trollocs so HUGELY outnumbered the only way it can be a fair fight is if its in the blight where a touch can kill and the Trollocs have all the advantages.

As for tactics the blights mostly hostile so maps are sketchy at best and frankly everyone knows where they're going.

Step A) get in the blight

Step B) Head North

Step C) Arrive at an unholy Bastion of Darkness where:

1: you're late we've already won join the celebrations

or 2: Your not late, get slaughtered by Shaidar Haran.

Now then we c...

Hello, everyone. This is my first theory.

The reason for this theory is to try and figure out what exactly is going to happen at the event that this whole book series has been gunning towards since the first line of The Eye Of The World: Tarmon Gai’don. To do this, I am dividing this theory into three parts. Part One will be about what gets Tarmon Gai’don rolling. Part Two will be Tarmon Gai’don itself, and Part Three will be what happens after Tarmon Gai’don.

Part One – Pre Tarmon Gai’don

One of the major problems people have with Rand is he is hard to get moving, especially since Moiraine died. So the question becomes, how does he get moving, into Tarmon Gai’don mode? And, just as important, how is he going to figure out how to...

Lews Therin and Dragonmount

WARNING: This is my first theory (indeed the only reason I joined was so I could post this theory) so please bear with me.

I thought of this while rereading the prologue to teotw. This prologue has always stood out to me as having lots of hidden information. It is before the current age, the only time Lews Therin is actually alive, and RJ has always said he knew how it would end before he started writing. This (especially the last part) has always made me figure that a hint of the end would be hidden in the beginning.

So in the prologue you have Lews Therin, crazy, just destroyed his home and his entire family. Then you have Elan Morin Tedronai, Betrayer of Hope, Ishmael, and later Moridin (anybody else notice the middle name? Morin –> Mo...

It seems to me that a big part of the answer to this mystery hinges on chronology.

Who knew what when?

Who was where when?

First, some background:

-Lanfear devises a plan to capture Rand with a small linked circle of other Forsaken by luring him into attacking Sammael. This plan is proposed and ( more or less ) agreed to in the Prologue to FoH.

But, how was it supposed to work?

Enough clues were to be planted and enough information was to be leaked that even a simple farmboy from the sticks would be sure to realize that Sammael had taken over Illian.

Okay, so Rand attacks, then what? Things are likely to get really messy once that happens.

It seems obvious that Sam didn't go to all the trouble of building his powerbase someplace ju...

Bonds, links and the Dragon Reborn.

As the finale draws nearer, i believe we ought to have an understanding and concensus on issues central to the series. In putting this together, i have reduced quotes to the barest minimum to keep it short and readable.The topic itself is common throughout the series and i believe most of us need only a few reminders. However it is a theory, and up to each TLer to decide what to accept and what not. Whatever your views, have fun. My thanks to Tam for his assist.

There are many types of links among channelers in the series. Some are bonds, others not. They include;

(1) Rings or circles (R) :these are the oldest known as far back as AOL.. (2) Warder bond(WB). (3) Ashaman bond (AshB) (3) Aiel sister bond (asb) (4) The suldam/adam/daman...

White Tower Reformation Theory

This theory has more holes than lace, and most of it is just speculation, but hey, we all have to amuse ourselves somehow, no? So, I decided to think on just what will become of the White Tower after Tarmon Gaidon and any form of another breaking of the world…

First, Egwene will be Amyrlin, because while Elaida doesn’t lack intelligence, she’s a terrible leader with little common sense… that and I don’t like her, and it’s my theory, no nya! Egwene will have to rebuild the White Tower almost from the ground up do to the current split, the coming Seanchan attack she dreamed, and the Last Battle, and any other factor I may have forgotten. She will likely rid the tower of its obsession with tradition, if only to make room for the inno...

From the first book, we have have heard mention of black lines or wires, connections to the Dark One. Aginor and Balthamel possess it, or possessed them, since they’re dead, and we hear of if several more times, between Be’lal and Asmodean in their respective encounters with Rand. The commonly accepted fact is that these lines are a connection to the Dark One and a shield against the Taint. However, it is my purpose here to show that this is untrue and most likely impossible, at least in the sense that these wires are a shield against the taint.

I know that Rand says the wires are a connection to the Dark One, but I don’t see this being the case. Rand is often wrong and speaks in ignorance, maybe not nearly so much as characters like Nyn, Elayne, or Egwene, but enough non...

Ok, this is my first theory.

I think that Rand will win the Last Battle and survive, though he will be badly injured. He will get better/be healed, then go as a beggar to Tar Valon where he will be brought to the Tower and gentled by Egwene. He will probably die soon after.

First, Rand will win the Last Battle and survive.

There are 6 references to Rand’s blood in the Karaethon Cycle.

“Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light.”

"Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed.

Once for mourning, once for birth.

Red on black, the Dragon's blood stains the rock of Shayol Ghul.

In the Pit of Doom shall his blood fr...

I've been a lurker here on and off for quite a while,finally decided to join after re-reading Cholly's post on Rand living beyond the LB. Its funny how I can read all of the same quotes that he listed and come up with such a different opinion of what I expect will happen,though I do have a shadow of a doubt, and that's why I will read when R.J. writes.

So thanks to Cholly for all of the research, but here's my spin on it:

**Theory: Rand al'Thor will die at Tarmon Gai'don, but his soul will live on in Moridin's body. Logain will rise up as the "General" in Rand's absence and will earn his glory. Alivia will kill Rand's body when Rand's soul is transferred to Moridin's body,and thus will Ishamael finally be destroyed.

I also think that only Alivia and Rand wi...

The Great Purge

During Egwene's Accepted test, we see some fascinating bits of foreshadowing. Not the least among those bits is the fact that Egwene has somehow been raised to the Amyrlin Seat without having taken the Oaths:

TITLE: The Dragon Reborn, CHAPTER: 22 - The Price of The Ring

"What can you do, Mother?" Beldeine cried. "What can you do?" It was not clear whether she meant for Rand or for herself.

"More than anyone suspects," Egwene said. "I never held the Oath Rod, Beldeine." Beldeine's gasp followed her from the room.

Egwene's memory still played hide-and-seek with her. She knew no woman could achieve the shawl and the ring without pledging the Three Oaths with the Oath Rod firmly in hand, the ter'angreal sealing her to keep ...