Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

Is the True Power used by any other creatures or beings within Parallel or Perpendicular worlds or other dimensions?

Ok, see answering that actually gets us begging the question because let’s step back, the question that people should be asking is does the Dark One exist in all of these Parallels...

Matt Hatch

...ok, so yeah this is the question I’ll ask, you make a good point. Are there worlds and dimensions that exist outside of the Pattern?

Brandon Sanderson

Ok, see that’s the question you should be asking. I mean, you should be asking it, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to answer it. [laughter] But that’s at the core of the question. I’m going to discuss it without giving you the answer. I like to do this because I think it frames the question without giving you too much information that I have that I don’t think is appropriate to share right now. Extrapolations of this question get us to: is there one Dragon for all different Parallels or are they all different Dragons? Traveling through the Portal Stone seems to indicate that there are many different lives Rand could have led. The same thing happens with several of the ter’angreal that people go through. The question then is, are those all separate Universes? Do we have a multi-verse sort of concept? Or are they possibilities and do these worlds all exist or could exist, what is the difference. In some of those Rand failed. So, is Rand the Dragon in all of them or is Rand not the Dragon in some of them? What happens in the ones where Rand failed? Are they real worlds? Are those different worlds where there is a different Dark One who then takes over and destroys that world or maybe not, maybe he makes it has he wishes. Or are those just possibilities, reflections of this world that don’t really exist except when we touch them? Those are all very good questions. Robert Jordan said that Tel'aran'rhiod is a reflection of all different worlds, which implies other worlds continue to exist. The World of the Finns is something different...

Matt Hatch

...he called it a Parallel World...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, the Parallel World, that one and also the one Rand and Lanfear visited are persistent regardless of someone from this world visiting. Yet, many of those seem almost shadowy and reflections of the real world, some of them seem as real just strange when visiting them. What happens in these different world, that sort of thing, those were never questions that Robert Jordan answered...

Matt Hatch

...the answers exist?

Brandon Sanderson

The answers exist, but are there many parallel Patterns or is there one Pattern?

Matt Hatch

Yeah, that’s...are there many Wheels or just one Wheel?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s not a question, I’m afraid, that I can answer because I don’t think it’s within the scope of the books and I don’t think that the characters...that there are people that could know. You will find Browns arguing all of these different things among themselves, and it’s not my place to step in and end the discussion.

This is also from one of Brandon's hash outs with Matt from Theoryland. In it Brandon speaks of the nature of Parallel Worlds.

Brandon: Extrapolations of this question get us to: is there one Dragon for all different Parallels or are they all different Dragons? Traveling through the Portal Stone seems to indicate that there are many different lives Rand could have led. The same thing happens with several of the ter'angreal that people go through. The question then is, are those all separate universes? Do we have a multi-verse sort of concept? Or are they possibilities and do these worlds all exist or could exist, what is the difference. In some of those Rand failed. So, is Rand the Dragon in all of them or is Rand not the Dragon in some of them? What happens in the ones where Rand failed? Are they real worlds? Are those different worlds where there is a different Dark One who then takes over and destroys that world or maybe not, maybe he makes it has he wishes. Or are those just possibilities, reflections of this world that don't really exist except when we touch them? Those are all very good questions. Robert Jordan said that Tel'aran'rhiod is a reflection of all different worlds, which implies other worlds continue to exist. The World of the Finns is something different...

Matt: ...he called it a Parallel World...

Brandon: Yes, the Parallel World, that one and also the one Rand and Lanfear visited are persistent regardless of someone from this world visiting. Yet, many of those seem almost shadowy and reflections of the real world, some of them seem as real just strange when visiting them. What happens in these different world, that sort of thing, those were never questions that Robert Jordan answered...

Ok, my request for clarification is mainly concerned with that last paragraph—specifically it left me confused about whether Brandon is speaking about Parallel Worlds or Mirror Worlds. Brandon seems to lump both in together, describing some as shadowy, some as solid. Brandon describes the Finn world as THE Parallel World (we also know the Ogier world is a Parallel World), but in the same paragraph Brandon seems to define it as a persistent Mirror World of some form, and grants that same allocation to the world Rand and Lanfear visited in The Great Hunt.

Luckers

On RJ's Q&A on the Mirror/Parallel Worlds from DragonCon '05.

Q53: Are Parallel Worlds and Mirror Worlds the same thing?
RJ: No, they are different.
Q54: Do Parallel Worlds have their own reflections?
RJ: Possibly.
Q55: Do Portal Stones lead to Parallel Worlds, Mirror Worlds, or both?
RJ: They lead to Mirror Worlds, the Portal Stones can take you to Mirror Worlds, not to Parallels, which are separate.

My thought was always that Mirror Worlds are reflections no matter how solid, whilst Parallel Worlds were completely distinct universes. As real and vital as our own. That was how Rand could lose in the Mirror Worlds and it not result in the Dark One winning. But that's all my thoughts, I was mainly just wondering at the distinctions between the two, and whether the world Rand visited was special, or if that's just my own stupidity in play.

A couple of other curious events involving Verin occur in The Great Hunt, such as her discussion of Portal Stones with Rand.

Was Verin lying to Rand when she said his use of a Portal Stone was more recent than hers as she had never traveled by one?

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

Did the Ogier come from the same world as the grolm and other Seanchan creatures?

I do not believe that they did.

Question

But did they come from a different world?

Brandon Sanderson

[laughs] Hey, hey, That I will RAFO!