Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

Abbreviated signing report:

I had a great time, started out meeting my fellow Storm Leaders at Tor. The reception area had shelves full of books and the person who we met there, Paul (who was also at JordanCon) invited us to take (almost) any books we wanted. Unfortunately, I did not have a lot of storage space to carry books, so ended up taking one hardcover, Ender's Game, but that was very cool.

We then went to a Tor office party and chatted with everyone there, including Tom Doherty, before our private dinner with Brandon, Harriet and Maria. I didn't get to ask a lot of questions, however.

I did ask about the so-called mistake with Harine and the Cleansing, and Brandon confirmed that Harine was basically being cautious when speaking to Rand, and didn't want to get caught between Rand and the Wavemistresses.

This question concerns Harine in The Gathering Storm 5 appearing to act as if she did not believe saidin had been cleansed, yet she was there when it happened.

the gathering storm

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errors

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rand

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sea folk

Also, I asked a follow up question about the big clue in books 4-6, asking if the clue became more relevant due to events in the later books, and he said that it didn't, and that it's something we should have picked up on when it appeared. He also issued a caveat (that is basically common sense) that it is possible someone discussed this issue at some point on one of the boards and that he didn't see that, but that he has never seen it raised in his lurkings, and that this issue is more important than who killed you-know-who.

BUT

Ted Herman

tinkers

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prophecies

At the signing, I had a recorder going at his table, which I haven't had a chance to listen to yet. I was mostly taking pictures and videos, handing out bookmarks to the crowd of about 250 people, and talking to Maria, who said that she has the best job in the world, and I would certainly not disagree.

maria

She also answered a few questions as follows: about symbology, she said that RJ had some notes on that, and that the posts on 13th Depository are pretty accurate regarding this.

maria

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wot influences

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fandom

About Gawyn's duel with Sleete, and the usage of real swords, she said she would have to look into that, since I had believed that normally practice swords are used. She said that perhaps sometimes they have to use real swords to keep their edge, so to speak, but will look into that.

MARIA SIMONS (VIA LUCKERS)

With novice swordsmen, the practice sword is very good because they can swing away with abandon and be swung at and at worse get a bruise. But there comes a time when a person must practice with a real sword, and not just shadow fencing. How does a sword feel when it hits another sword? How quickly can you come back from that? Practice with the weapon you are going to use in real combat is necessary. This is especially true if you are with an army in the field; you’re not playing at keeping in shape, you’re trying to make sure that you are at your absolute top form to keep from being killed when you come up against someone else with a pointy blade. These Warders are very, very good; they trust themselves to fight with real swords without damaging each other.

So, often they practiced with practice swords, but sometimes they practiced with real swords. There is a type of practice with real swords in the books. We see it in New Spring: the Novel, where Bukama “took the other two a little distance away with talk of some game called “sevens.” A strange game it seemed to be, and more than dangerous in the failing daylight. Lan and Ryne sat cross-legged facing one another, their swords sheathed, then without warning drew, each blade flashing toward the other man’s throat, stopping just short of flesh. The older man pointed to Ryne, they sheathed swords, and then did it again. For as long as she watched, that was how it went. Perhaps Ryne had not been so over-confident as he seemed.”

It’s not the same as when Gawyn faced Sleete and Marlesh, but it is experienced swordsmen practicing with real swords.

the gathering storm

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gawyn

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weapons

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blademasters

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warders

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errors

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mafo

She RAFO'd me when I asked if the Towers of Midnight are dungeons.

towers of midnight

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seanchan

I will do a more complete write up for my Dragonmount.com report later today, after I go through the recordings.