Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

There was an early rush of signees (an hour and a half or so), followed by about half an hour of questions and answers with little plot-related info, but a lot of other interesting tidbits. Someone asked about the cover art and got a surprisingly informative answer. There are some pretty substantial sections for Flavio and the rest of the military buffs, too.

I was able to ask a few questions, and listen in to a few others. We got three of the "it should be intuitively obvious to the intelligent reader" answers, and one other that told us a bit more...but not much. The Creator was pretty tight with his plot information this time around, according to him, because "certain readers have built up these huge logic trees," and "can figure out way too much if I say anything at all."

The first "intuitively obvious" question was from someone else: The old standby, "Who killed Asmodean?"

Matthew Hunter

asmodean

The second was mine: "Do you consider the identities of Moridin and Cyndane to be intuitively obvious?"

He said yes, they should be fairly obvious by now, in many more words. To me, this means Ishamael and Lanfear, respectively.

moridin

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cyndane

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ishamael

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lanfear

The third was someone else again, and I didn't hear the question clearly, but I think it was about the weird Power effects. Assuming I heard correctly, this should support the Bowl theory, due to the lack of effects in Andor despite the gateway detonation and the timing of the effect first showing up. Of course, he didn't say so explicitly, but that is what would seem to be the intuitively obvious explanation.

bowl of the winds

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one power

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gateways

Robert Jordan

Matthew Hunter

Matthew is probably referring to the theory that Lanfear had been put into Cabriana Mecandes' body, which was later debunked by Maria. Cabriana wasn't described as short, though, so if he was referring to Moiraine, then of course this was debunked in Towers of Midnight at the latest (not that there was ever much resemblance there aside from height).

cyndane

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lanfear

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finns

My last question concerned the glossary—the bit about "speculation is futile." I asked, "Do you really expect that to stop us?"

He said of course not.

glossary

After the early rush of signees was over with (there were 162 people with tickets, and quite a few without), about 20 people settled in for a bit of discussion without the pressure of signers. Plot-related information was sparse, and there were relatively few questions, because the answers were long. There were a few tidbits thrown to the slavering hounds, and a lot of exposition.

Matthew Hunter

aiel

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wot influences

The Path of Daggers was finished August 25th, and published in less than 60 days.

The usual "at least three more books" was mentioned several times in an increasingly loud voice.

how many more books?

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the path of daggers

Who killed Asmodean?

Matthew Hunter

asmodean

There were some jokes about the sheer mass of the books—"There will be a boxed set when the series is complete...on wheels."

The Museum Replica weapons are good. The design work (some of it at least) was done by the same person who did the maps, for a somewhat unusual price. I don't quite recall their name, and can't decipher my handwriting now.

merchandise

I grew up around strong women; weak men were pickled and salted. The women wouldn't waste time raising a weak boy.

wot influences

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rj on life

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rj's family

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gender

Evidently, Jordan didn't like being taught cursive, but showed otherwise by a teacher at a young age. "A gentleman's handwriting is always round and legible, always clear, no matter how drunk, how tired, or how busy he may be. This I require of you." Being "required" to do something by that particular teacher was evidently a big deal.

rj on life

Matthew Hunter

fandom

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lol

Book timings:

—Four years to write The Eye of the World; the next five took 14-16 months each.

—A Crown of Swords took 22-23 months to write.

—The Guide to the Wheel of Time took 5-6 months; there was a lot of work he had to do on it that he didn't expect to need to do. I think he expected a few weeks of work from him directly, with it mostly being done by others.

—New Spring took 2-3 months.

—The Strike At Shayol Ghul was written from the perspective of a scholar trying to attract funding for a more complete version (i.e., grant money) and was his first piece of short fiction.

rj on writing

Where did ideas come from?

What if you were tapped on the shoulder and told you had to save the world?

What are the sources of myths? "Reverse-engineered" legends.

The game of "telephone". (He calls it "whisper").

Proud of the little things that slip up on you, like Callandor being "the Sword in the Stone."

rj on writing

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genesis

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wot themes

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callandor

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wot influences

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chinese whispers

The Path of Daggers could have been longer, but he had to take out events he had intended to include because including them would have required another month of Randland time, and that would have made the book "twice as fat."

the path of daggers

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rj on writing

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plotting

Jordan likes his fans, because:

—We don't ask for autographs in blood (his, or theirs).

—We have never given him a gift of a dead cat's head on a stake. At least not in public.

fandom

On Pronunciation:

—Aes Sedai: "I said eye."

—Nynaeve: "Nine eve".

—Faile: "FAI-eel".

—Tear: not "tire".

pronunciation

Robert Jordan

fandom

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bela

He started off thinking there were at least 3-4 books. By the time he got to the third, he knew it would be at least six.

how many more books?

It seems Jordan learned to read by having his father read to him constantly (when he was being read to, he wasn't messing around with expensive "toys" that broke easily). They started out with children's books, until Dad found out that it didn't matter whether Jordan really understood or not, and started reading books that Dad wanted to read instead. This went on for a while, until the night Dad put a book away before it was finished, so Jordan grabbed it and struggled through it on his own, figuring out what he didn't understand through context. (The Maltese Falcon was mentioned, but I don't recall how, other than as one of the books that he liked.)

When Jordan was six, he got a library card—like "the keys to the city". The librarians didn't want to let him out of the kids section, so he learned tricks. If you shelved books in the reading room, they would stay there, so you could pick them up again later, whether they belonged there or not. And kids could go to the reference section. "I discovered the encyclopedia."

The library at the time was in a mansion—the "Miskelle house", I think. He spelled it for me (without being asked; by that time there had been more than one comment about the lunatic scribbling notes on everything), but my notes were rather cramped by that time.

"Reading is like breathing. If you take it away, first I become antsy, then violent."

rj on life

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rj on reading

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rj's family

Other favored authors:

I missed quite a few of these while I tried to scribble it all down.

—CS Friedman
—Hughart
—Guy Gavriel Kay
—Turtledove
—Most Recommended: Guns, Germs, and Steel

rj on reading

Robert Jordan

Matthew Hunter

wot influences

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shara

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seanchan

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rj on history

Someone asked how he chose the cover artist, and we got a nice long spiel with some previously unknown information. Jordan and his wife went through bookstores picking out books based on their (if they liked it) cover art and finding out who did the cover. It came down to two artists, Darrell K. Sweet and Michael Whelan. The deciding factor was that Whelan wants the manuscript to read for a year before he will deliver a cover, and they just couldn't wait that long.

They are apparently considering a later reissue of the entire series with different covers, perhaps by Whelan, once it is complete.

Some stores simply won't carry fantasy, so all the books have been issued without cover art to expand the market. This came up in response to the A Crown of Swords paperback being artless. Why we haven't seen any of these others without art, I don't know.

Sweet Criticism and General Commentary:

—Rand is NOT tall enough.

—The Path of Daggers details are mostly right, at least.

—Rand has a different face on each cover.

—DKS has never done the Trollocs right: "They are NOT hairy men with animal-like helmets."

—Detail problems with Sweet are due to communication difficulties; there is not much time or opportunity for input.

—The Path of Daggers: "The Elvis cover."

—A Crown of Swords: "The pugilist cover."

—Lord of Chaos: "Take my room key, please!"

cover art

The signing was held at Hawley-Cooke Booksellers (a locally-owned store, very nice), and lasted about two hours. The official plan was to head on to Cincinnati immediately afterward in preparation for the next day's signing. As noted before, Jordan's wife was not present (she had to leave earlier on the tour for unspecified reasons). There was at least one person from Tor (a publicist IIRC) and perhaps two, both women. Jordan travels in a stretch limo, with what looked like a chase car, but that could be coincidence.

Matthew Hunter

harriet