Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

This is a combination of two reports made by the same person on the same event. The report at Thirteenth Depository almost makes the Stormleader report obsolete, but not quite, so those extra tidbits are recorded here. The redundant questions have only been entered once; all of them were reported in more detail at Thirteenth Depository. Some of them are further repeated in Ted Herman's report.

I’m a lucky man. Not only did I get chosen to be a StormLeader, but I also got to be chosen to be one for the NYC signing. New York City, location of the Tor HQ. Not only would Harriet be at the signing, but I’d also get to meet Maria Simons, RJ’s assistant and fact checker, what she doesn’t know about WoT doesn’t exist…literally. Not only did I get to meet Harriet and Maria, but the StormLeaders were invited to a pre-signing party put on by Tor. I got to meet many of the people behind WoT. I even got to meet and talk to Tom Doherty, the head of Tor. Like I said, I’m a lucky guy.

Maria Simons is quiet and self effacing. But she starts to get quite animated when the subject swings around to Wot. Her face lights up and she speaks more quickly and with great authority. I wish I had had a couple of hours to speak with her, but alas, time was tight and the events were strictly scripted.

Maria, (pointing finger) Tom Doherty and Harriet (also pointing finger) having fun at a Tor staffers expense. Brandon in the black leather jacket with his back to the camera.

Maria models her Brown Ajah Shawl.

maria

I also said I got the chance to talk with Tom Doherty. What a treat that was! I get the feeling that parts of Tam al’Thor and Gareth Bryne are modeled after him. A lot of life, very good sense of humor, and it doesn’t seem that anything much bothers him. We got talking about the ‘earlier days’ of Fantasy/SciFi. He’s of an age with me and we reminisced about the likes of the double back to back novels, authors like L. Sprague DeCamp and H. Beam Piper.

Maria, Tom Doherty, Harriet and Tor staff, Brandon peeking in from the upper right.

I wish I could say that I got to spend some time with Harriet also but alas as the photographer, I had work to do and time was tight. I can say that the other StormLeaders who did get a chance to talk with her were impressed with her friendliness, dedication and general joy of life.

Harriet with a few StormLeaders.

tom doherty

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harriet

The party was lots of fun. There was even a Dragon cake.

After the party there was a small catered dinner for us StormLeaders and team Jordan. This is what I was really waiting for, a chance to pepper Brandon, Harriet and Maria with questions about Wot in general and The Gathering Storm in particular. I only and a few questions…two pages in #10 font single spaced! Of course everyone else had questions too so as we ate we asked him questions. It was a Wot geek’s dream come true. Since most of you are waiting for this part I’ll get to it without further ado.

Brandon is a very funny guy. First of all he said he would reveal Asmodean’s killer
then there was a perfectly timed pause…

“Asmodean’s killer is Robert Jordan!”

It got a good laugh. Brandon’s sense of comedic timing is very good.

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
Note that some of the following questions and answers entail plot points from The Gathering Storm if you haven’t read it and don’t want to know what happens stop here.

We will most probably not be seeing any actual dragons in the series—the naming of Aludra's cannons is not because of the shared fire breathing, but simply a general association with power.

dragons

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illuminators

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aludra

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wot influences

It was mentioned that a fight between Egwene and Cadsuane would be totally awesome. I concur.

Brandon initially got hooked for the series because of the hero's journey—and the size of the books (he was on a budget). It changed as he grew up, and he mentions how much he enjoyed the prologue by contrasting it with generic fantasy prologues that are long and drawn out. What kept him reading was the depth of world building and the secrets embedded within secrets.

brandon on reading

Brandon apparently likes writing so much he would continue putting out a book a year even if they went unpublished. He never even submitted his first five books and jokingly referred to them as sub par.

He avoids bad reviews like the plague, but when he does stumble across them he then proceeds to read one star reviews of great works of literature, like Shakespeare.

brandon on writing

Writing The Gathering Storm, Brandon admits he received input from numerous sources. He was, however, uncomfortable discussing the amount of input and the amount of freedom he had in writing The Gathering Storm. He says maybe after A Memory of Light he will reveal a bit more about what specifically was RJ's. Generally though, he was unrestricted in his writing, and Harriet, as editor, was there to perfect what he had done.

the gathering storm

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amol:wip

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harriet

When asked about the number of years between the Breaking and current day Brandon replied that it was well known and referred us to Encyclopaedia WoT, which is accurate except for a year here or there.

When asked if the timeline will ever be published, Brandon referred to a couple admirable efforts by fans, and Maria added that she tracks it with an Excel spreadsheet, but it would take a lot of effort to get it into a publishable format. Also, RJ was uncomfortable showing anyone his unpublished work and would go through a number of drafts, even if it was just for Harriet.

chronology

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breaking

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ewot

Regarding the notorious clue that everyone has missed, Brandon pinned it down to somewhere between books 4-6 (reread time!). He reiterated how astonished we would be when we found it...but won't get any more specific for fear of ruining our surprise. Also, the "never mentioned" aspect of the clue might not be entirely true, but Brandon himself has never come across it. Maria had a knowing smile at the time, suggesting maybe it has been mentioned. Time will tell.

BUT

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maria

Brandon reiterated how satisfied he was with RJ's ending to the series but danced around the question of what he imagined the ending to be before he read it. RJ's ending "satisfied the promise of the books".

rj's notes

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how will it end?

The Q&A that followed was filled with interesting tidbits from both Brandon's work and the WoT series. More bullet points!

When asked to briefly describe The Way of Kings (Brandon's forthcoming epic fantasy series) he said he is not good at short descriptions. Harriet humorously interjected that is precisely the reason that he was hired. He went on for a bit about The Way of Kings (WoK?!). What sets it apart from other epic fantasy, which is done in a setting where magic is in decline and the world has lost much of the splendor it once held, is that The Way of Kings is about a "renaissance of magic".

stormlight archive

Harriet commented that she browses fan boards sometimes and that she had looked at people saying: this part is Brandon and this part is RJ. She laughed and said that most of the time they were totally wrong.

harriet

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fandom

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the gathering storm

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who wrote what?

When asked if his religion played a part in his books, Brandon replied that it was a part of him, and that as a consequence it did.

brandon on writing

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brandon's influences

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lds

When asked if he knows who killed Asmodean, he replied, "Yes, I do."

asmodean

When asked why Justice (Artur Hawkwing's sword) was introduced at this point in the series, Brandon refused to answer, saying it was not even certain that Justice had been introduced, and thus he could not say either way without spoilering.

It was confirmed by Brandon in an email that Rand's new sword is Justice.

hawkwing

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justice

The above tidbits were reported with the official Stormleader report. The below were reported on Thirteenth Depository. Some of the redundant questions in the Stormleader report were not included on this page; some were included despite redundancy if the wording was different enough.

Was Mat’s blank dice bit taken from Guys and Dolls?

I’ve never seen Guys and Dolls.

mat

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wot influences

The next question was about the criteria that the Ajah Heads used to determine which sitters they sent to the rebels in Salidar.

Basically the Ajah heads had a small selection pool to start with. Their primary criteria were: a) loyalty to the Ajah Heads, would they do as they were told? b) would they be acceptable to the Aes Sedai in Salidar? c) finally did the Ajah Heads think they could be persuasive?

A comment was made about age, Brandon’s answer was to reiterate the limited nature of the Ajah Heads selection pool, the fact that most of the Aes Sedai Sitters that were sent were young was coincidental. He did go on to mention that the “too young Sitters” was a completely different matter.

He then went on to say which Sitters remain in power after reunification will be dealt with quietly. The most likely default will be who was Sitter/Head before the split.

None of the Ajah plants in Salidar were notably young; this seems to have been a matter of confusion on the part of the questioner.

white tower

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hall of the tower

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ajahs

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salidar

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aes sedai

The Sea Folk, and the Aiel both have prophecies regarding the Dragon Reborn. Do the Tinkers have one also?

If the Tinkers had a prophecy we most likely (and the emphasis was definitely there) would have heard about it by now.

prophecies

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tinkers

There was a question about the Dragon Gates on the Rigney house.

They had the gates made after several of the books had been published.

harriet

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charleston

Harine appears once just after she arrives from the Sea Folk. What happened to her?

Harine has not been forgotten. There hasn’t been a lot for her to do, and Rand is not keeping his side of the Bargain of keeping her close.

harine

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sea folk

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rand

What first hooked you on (WoT)?

As a young teen it was the Hero’s Journey. He also mentioned that the Eye of the World prologue was special, much different than the usual for that time which were “talky” overly drawn out. What kept him reading in later years was the depth of world building and all the embedded secrets.

brandon on reading

What gave you the confidence to write? What kept you sticking with it after being turned down all those times?

“I fell in love with the process of writing. I would write even if I couldn’t sell any of it. Of course it makes it easier that it does sell.” (Laughter)

He then went on to describe that Elantris was the first thing he had ever sold, the thirteenth piece that he had submitted and the sixth novel. He went on to say that he doesn’t read any bad reviews of his work. “If it has a low star count I pass it by.” He said that there could be thousands of rave reviews and only one negative one but he would focus on the negative and ignore all the raves, so he has learned to only read the “good” reviews. He also said that when he needs encouragement he will find a book he really likes and thinks is absolutely stellar and he will then read a one star review of it. “You can always find a one star review, no matter what it is. Even Hamlet has gotten one star reviews.” (laughter)

He went on to talk about how the fans comment on that “you are not RJ.” He agrees with them. “I’m not RJ and they have every right to be angry that I’m not.” He then said that they need to finish their grieving process and get over with it. He agrees that the book isn’t as good as what RJ would have done but he is happy with it.

brandon on writing

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brandon on writing wot

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elantris

How much leeway were you given when writing the book?

He was given complete freedom to write, but that he was in constant contact with Maria and Alan about details. He compared it to a broken vase, much of it could be glued together but there were places where there were holes that needed to be filled in.

Maria Simons

Maria interjected with the fact that there are well over 1200 files that are at least several sentences long and many many more that are shorter than that.

Harriet McDougal

There was some back and forth with Harriet and Brandon about the writing/editing process. Harriet said a good editor never tells an author how to write. Brandon said that he actually writes the book for Harriet and it’s Harriet’s job to perfect it.

brandon on writing wot

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harriet

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maria

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alan

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team jordan

How much of The Gathering Storm is yours and how much is RJ’s?

“I’m not going to break it down at this time. Maybe after all three books are finished I’ll go into that. For now I can say that 100% of the book is RJ’s and 100% of the book is mine.” (He later repeated this at the signing with the added comment that if that didn’t add up correctly he didn’t care because he was an English major…to much laughter.)

the gathering storm

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brandon on writing wot

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who wrote what?

It came up at this time that Maria is writing a WoT encyclopedia, to be published shortly after A Memory of Light.

Harriet interjected that it will be a “real encyclopedia” not like the “World of the Wheel of Time”; her exact words were “Think Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition”.

encyclopedia

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maria

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harriet

Will there be either prequels or outrigger novels?

Brandon said that he didn’t know but he hoped that the answer would be no. His reasoning was that WoT was RJ’s universe and that after A Memory of Light and the encyclopedia it should be “allowed to go to rest” however he did say that the final decision was Harriet’s.

Harriet McDougal

Harriet said there was a Kenny Rogers song that fit perfectly here. “Know when to hold them and know when to fold them”. She said that she hadn’t made up her mind yet and would not until after A Memory of Light and the Encyclopedia were published. [From Peter's other report: "It is something they will get into once the A Memory of Light is in the bag, but the tone of their replies seemed to suggest that is was not even close to a done deal."

prequels

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outriggers

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harriet

Do Rand and Egwene’s timelines end up at the same time at the end of The Gathering Storm? Secondly, can you give us some idea as to when that is?

"Yes they end up at the same time. I’ll have to give you a MAFO for an exact date for the second, but basically it is sometime in late June early July." In addition Tuon’s scene with Rand was about 3 or 4 weeks before her last scene in the book.

A relatively long discussion of timelines followed. Basically RJ would have the timeline within a story arc follow chronologically but “Jim was crafty” when it came to the overall timeline. Maria has a huge spreadsheet of a timeline but it is not publishable because it is very rough and unintelligible unless you’ve been working with it for a long time.

chronology

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the gathering storm

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rand

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egwene

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tuon

Is there a Perrin wolf dream/vision that is fulfilled in the time from when Rand almost kills Tam to his epiphany at the top of Dragonmount?

If you mean Perrin’s dream with the bandage over his eyes, and dressed like a beggar than yes, that dream was fulfilled by Rand’s actions from Tear to Ebou Dar to Dragonmount.

perrin

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rand

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prophecies

You mentioned a clue that occurred in books 4-6. What can you tell us about that?

Brandon mentioned that he isn’t on the web constantly so he can’t state for certain whether or not it has been discussed. However he doubts very strongly that it has ever been discussed at length. That being said he did say that he was ‘very surprised’ that it hasn’t been discussed. Basically he thought it more important than ‘who killed Asmodean”.

BUT

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towers of midnight

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ashandarei

What did you think would happen at the end before you read the ‘real ending’?

Brandon talked a long time about how the first place he ever went on the web was rec.arts.rj. He talked about how RJ stood on the shoulders of giants, mentioning JRR Tolkien by name and he also said that he was surprised that RJ’s genius hadn’t crushed the giants beneath him. When he finally read the ending that RJ wrote he felt the ending was right, perfect and satisfied the promise of the books. He went on to say that aspects of the ending surprised him but that they made perfect sense.

how will it end?

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tolkien

The final question of the night was asked to Harriet:

Was Jim surprised by the massive fan base the series has generated?

Oh yes. He even refused to do readings because “that would be showing off and egotistical”. However he enjoyed the anonymity of a pen name.

rj on fame

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harriet

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pseudonyms

After that question it was time to get our stuff together and walk down the Barnes and Noble on 17th St. for the signing. Well, most of us walked Harriet and Brandon took a cab appropriately enough.

As you can see our questions ranged all over the place but Harriet and Brandon and Maria were very gracious in answering all of them.