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Interviews: TGS Midnight Release - Matt Hatch
Summary:
Entries
21
Date
Oct 27th, 2009
Type
Verbatim
Location
Provo, UT
TourCon
The Gathering Storm Book Tour
Bookstore
BYU
Reporter
Matt Hatch
Links
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1
Matt Hatch
Note, I did not transcribe all of the Q&A questions. There were many repeats from many other signings and tours, etc. -
2
Question
How do you and Robert Jordan’s widow feel while working on Robert Jordan’s legacy?Brandon Sanderson
I would say there is a healthy amount of reverence going on. It’s a solemn experience working with these notes. In her case it’s her husband’s legacy. In my case it is my hero’s legacy. And so, we’ve been very careful and very solemn. It has been an amazing experience for me, indescribable really. It’s like walking being the first one to walk into Davinci’s workshop after he had walked out of it and left everything there. That’s what I am. I am walking into the master’s workshop and I get to see everything before even the dust is settled. As a writer and someone who has loved these books that’s surreal and awe inspiring and daunting at the same time. And there are so many weird emotions going on connected to this that it is actually hard to explain, but yeah reverence. It’s a reverent sort of thing to work on this book.Tags
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3
Matt Hatch
—Skipped question about A Memory of Light titling and explanation— -
4
Question
Robert Jordan uses a great deal of mythology and lore in his books.Brandon Sanderson
My answer is, I’m doing my darndest. One thing I love and always have loved about the Wheel of Time is Robert Jordan’s use of mythology. He doesn’t use mythology in kind of almost, how should I say, the bubble gum pop version of it that you see in some other fantasy works. There is a depth and a reality to his mythology that has always amazed me. One of the greatest concepts is what he says in that first paragraph: an Age long past, an Age yet to come. I didn’t get these things the first read through, I was a fifteen-year-old kid I didn’t know what’s going on. I didn’t notice the first time I was reading it that Buzz Aldren and the Cold War are referenced as mythological events in The Eye of the World. [...] I love how he’s used mythology as his history and just how Mat in particular but a lot of them are founding myths that become our mythology. I don’t know if you guys have read up on Odin and Locke. Go read up on the mythology of Odin and Locke. They were actually thought to be one person in all of the original myths. See the things attributed to them, including things like ravens and the spear of Odin and things like this. And then see what Mat is doing. The idea is that Mat is actually founding these myths and by the time our Age comes we remember Mat but we have all of this other mythology associated with him and we’ve forgotten that he was even known as Mat. That’s just genius So, I’m doing my best to continue that. It would be very easy to over do it in fan sort of a way. I have to be very careful to not put a reference to something like that in every chapter just because it’s fun. But if you search through The Gathering Storm you should be able to find a few things that are happening. Particularly, I don’t want to give any hints, but the things happening in Hinderstap were intended as things that through a lot of mythology later on become myths in our time. There are references to writers from our world being referenced in The Gathering Storm among books people are studying.Tags
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5
Question
Are you studying up on military tactics?Brandon Sanderson
Yes, Harriet has sent me multiple large volumes of military tactics which she said Robert Jordan had been using and that I should reference, even specific battles, historical battles that he had talked about as references for battles. The answer is yes, I have a lot of reading to do, specifically for the last battle.Tags
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6
Question
How do you think working on these books will influence your future books?Brandon Sanderson
That’s a good question...It has had a couple of effects. One thing, partially Harriet’s pushing me on concrete details has helped me a lot. Harriet is very good at that as an editor. She is one of the best editors in the field. I don’t know if you guys are familiar and aware of Harriet’s history. Editors don’t get a lot of fame, it all kind of goes to the authors but she was the first person Tom Doherty hired when he founded Tor, she was his Editorial Director which means she was in charge of all of the editorial side. She edited some of the greatest books in the field over the last thirty years. She edited Ender’s Game for instance. If you have ever read that book, that was brought to us through the efforts of Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan’s wife, before she even met him (rest of the answer cut off).Tags
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7
Matt Hatch
—Missed a few questions when the video feed cut— -
8
Question
Which characters did you find the easiest to write and which ones did you find were the hardest to write?Brandon Sanderson
Easy and hard? I would say the most natural ones for me to write were Rand and Egwene. I’m not sure why. Perrin was very natural for me as well. The Two Rivers folk, the kids from Two Rivers that I’ve grown up with as my friends from high school that just feel like my buddies and think kind of...well Rand doesn’t think like I do anymore but you know what I mean. The hardest single person to write was Aviendha because Aiel are so odd and they think so strangely and getting her right I actually had to throw away two chapters. I wrote one from her perspective threw it away. Wrote another one, it wasn’t right, sent it to Charleston and said what am I doing wrong and they are like you are doing it wrong and I said I know, what am I doing wrong and Harriet gave me some pointers I tossed that one and wrote a third one and that is when it started to work. Tuon was not terribly easy either, but I had a little more practice by the time I wrote Tuon and so I got her on the first try but it was after a lot of research. So, there you go, Aviendha, hard to write, she’s crazy. She would say that she isn’t because she would say she acts the most normal of everyone.Tags
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9
Matt Hatch
—skipped question of how he keeps track of all of the characters and plots...it’s a very involved answer—Brandon Sanderson
Note: Brandon said that he wrote seventeen drafts of The Gathering Storm trying to get it right.Tags
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10
Question
Slayer, is he going to be in the thirteen or fourteenth book?Brandon Sanderson
He has a role to play in both, you will see him in both, probably. Unless you know he dies in the thirteenth, because he very well might. So, he has a role to play, yet.Tags
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11
Matt Hatch
—skipped a few repetitive questions...Padan Fain will show up at some point in the next two books—Tags
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12
Question
Are you going to discuss Moiraine in the future?Brandon Sanderson
Way to give me a great out. Moiraine will be mentioned in future books. [...] In future books there will certainly be references. Her name will at least be mentioned, at the very least in the Appendix. In fact, I think in The Gathering Storm the entire letter to Thom is in the Appendix.Tags
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13
Question
Was Ishamael partially, or was he responsible for the initiation of the Three Oaths? Was he a part of what brought them about?Brandon Sanderson
That’s a MAFO. Type that one out. That’s a MAFO.
MARIA SIMONS (VIA LUCKERS)
No. What is now the second oath (To make no weapon with which one man may kill another) was the first one that the Aes Sedai adopted. “It grew from an impulse within the Aes Sedai themselves coming from tales passed down regarding the War of the Shadow. The other two oaths certainly grew out of the suspicion of ordinary people towards these Aes Sedai.” (That’s a quote from the notes, btw). Sometimes things happen without an agent of the Dark One’s involvement, and sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
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14
Question
When Perrin is chasing Slayer in Tel'aran'rhiod, does Slayer actually disappear into the Tower of Ghenjei or does he disappear from the Dream?Brandon Sanderson
That’s actually something I wondered and I asked and that’s a RAFO. Both Slayer and the Tower of Ghenjei are things that are reserved for Towers of Midnight.Footnote
RJ said that you cannot enter the Tower of Ghenjei in Tel'aran'rhiod at all. Most fans conclude that Slayer must have stepped out.Tags
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15
Question
Do the Finns care whether or not the Dark One wins?Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.Tags
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16
Question
Why do the Aiel revere and protect blacksmiths?Brandon Sanderson
It has a lot to do with the fact that without the blacksmiths there can be no warriors. The blacksmiths are the ones who make the spears and who keep them going. But, in a way the blacksmiths are among those who sacrifice being able to go and fight themselves so that others can and that’s kind of a holy calling to the Aiel. There is also a lot of spirituality to it related to where they live, being in the desolate wasteland and the whole concept of being forged. [...] There is a spiritual aspect to a blacksmith forging something because of the place that they live. Those are the two of the main reasons. It’s cultural which means there is going to be more than one reason that it is deeply ingrained, but those are two big ones that roll of the top that are in the notes.Tags
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17
Question
We know that The Karaethon Cycle and The Essanik Cycle are different. Is that because there were different contributors to each, or some other reason (like tampering by Ishamael)? Which is more correct?Brandon Sanderson
The Essanik Cycle is had only in Seanchan and there were different contributors. Which is more correct? I’m not going to say which is more correct. There has been tampering...QUESTION
In both?BRANDON SANDERSON
People are not perfect, alright? Let’s just say that and there are lots of forces at work. The Essanik Cycle, they have tried to preserve it as perfectly as they can. If the Outriggers ever get written there will be more information about what The Essanik Cycle is. It is had only in Seanchan. It was given by damane in Seanchan, so nobody knows about it on the main continent.Tags
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18
Question
Is the Court of Nine Moons something that moves with the Empress? In other words, wherever the Empress is holding court is that the Court of Nine Moons?Brandon Sanderson
I think that would be subject of debate, depending on what...I think that if the Empress were to declare herself on a different continent she would expect that it would and I think there would be those that would argue with her and wouldn’t expect that it would. Does that make sense? So, my answer would be that it would move with the Empress, but there are those that would disagree with me and with the Empress, may she live forever.Footnote
This was asked in reference to the Karaethon prophecy stating that Rand will 'bind the nine moons to serve him'. A similar question might have been asked about the Crystal Throne.Tags
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19
Matt Hatch
There is a character in the book that appears to die on page 574...[reads page]..there is a woman that actually dies here...[couldn't decipher for certain if this was a statement or a moving question/comment.]MATT HATCH
Did this character actually die?BRANDON SANDERSON
Let’s go on record with this, I am not going to say until after Towers of Midnight, but I will...they are looking for a “toast” comment, and I am not going to give the “toast” comment yet. The scene that I’m talking about, there will be things related to it in the next book, so I don’t want to say yet. Corner me after Towers of Midnight and I will give you a definitive answer, but Towers of Midnight may in itself give a definitive answer.Tags
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20
Matt Hatch
Is it an assumption that we haven’t seen the last of these individuals right here (I was pointing at the Seanchan assassins)?Brandon Sanderson
There were five sent. We know one is dead. The other four, they may have lived or died through the assault, it was pretty chaotic, but they are expert warriors with ter’angreal focused on letting them hide.QUESTION
How long does that affect last? Days?BRANDON SANDERSON
That effect can be stretched if they take it off, for several weeks. It is going to kill them eventually. If they are wearing it straight, it’s not going to last long, a matter of days, but if they take it off they can hide for a matter of weeks. So, there are four unaccounted for, who have orders to kill as many Aes Sedai as they can.Tags
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21
Matt Hatch
You had a quote that we all talked about just recently, that there is a small detail with this secret thing. There were two quotes we put together where you told somebody from Chicago where you say this detail first comes out between books 4-6. Is that verified?Brandon Sanderson
It’s been going for a long time. Somewhere in four and six the first hints of it are mentioned.MATT HATCH
But that’s not the only time it’s ever mentioned?BRANDON SANDERSON
It’s not the only time it’s ever mentioned. It is…hints about this hidden thing appear in pretty much...in several of the books. It first, somewhere in one of those three is the beginning of where it shows up. The first hint that you get. [...] I mean, it’s a small thing that means something large, that sort of thing...and you guys are very good at finding things and I’m not going to say whether you hit it or not.Tags
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