Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

TGS Signing Report - kcf (Paraphrased)

Did Graendal use compulsion on Ituralde when they met previously in Lord of Chaos? Is it still there?

MARIA SIMONS

RAFO.

kcf

Brandon Sanderson

kcf

Dom's theory: "Graendal Compelled Ituralde playing on his loyalty to his friend Alsalam, only increasing it to the point he would obey any of his orders without question, even if he rationally knew the orders made less and less sense. This is why he jumped to obey the order to go after the Seanchan even if he’s known all along this was crazy and would end with his own destruction and that of Arad Doman. To the very end, he stuck to his loyalty no matter what. Rand bypassed this because he convinced Ituralde that Alsalam was either braindead or dead, so the Compulsion remained, but it’s stopped being effective as Ituralde believed the man he had to obey was dead."

graendal, ituralde, alsalam, compulsion,

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: Interview with Brandon Sanderson (Verbatim)

Rodel Ituralde and especially Gareth Bryne being blademasters seemed a surprise. Do we know why this information didn't come up before? In addition, Bryne mentions only being an under-captain during the Aiel War when The Eye of the World states he was Captain-General back to Queen Modrellen's day. But then the Big White Book also says that Andor had a different Captain-General during the Aiel War. A case of Robert Jordan changing his mind?

Number one, let's talk about the blademaster issue. I'm not at liberty right now to say what's in the notes and what isn't, but I can tell you I'm drawing from the notes when I'm writing. I don't know why certain things weren't mentioned before in the series.

Maintaining the Wheel of Time continuity is an enormous task. There are so many questions like "What was Bryne's rank during the Aiel war?" where I ask Maria and Alan and just trust their instincts. There are other ones where they're not even sure.

Much of the time, when we run into issues like this, it's just me making a mistake. I do apologize for that. I promise you, I have read these books a number of times, but I don't have the type of mind that memorizes facts and repeats them back offhandedly. I have to do a lot of reading each time I write a chapter, and I often make mistakes. A lot of the time, these mistakes come because I HAVE been reading the series for so long. I've got these long-seated impressions of characters and events in my head that go back all the way to my teenage days. And they're not always right. (I didn't learn to pronounce some character names until I was well into my 20s.) Sometimes, I just assume I know something when I've been wrong about it all along. Those are the dangerous ones, since I don't think to look up items like that.

Anyway, with every printing of the books, Maria goes back in and fixes continuity. It happened when Robert Jordan was writing the books (though not nearly as often as it will when I'm writing them, I suspect). So what can I say about that? Well, Harriet is putting together a comprehensive encyclopedia that will become the definitive answer to these sorts of questions. Until then, I'm letting Team Jordan handle it.

errors, blademasters, ituralde, bryne, andor, aiel war, maria, alan, harriet, encyclopedia,

NY ComicCon Report - Ted Herman (Paraphrased)

Why didn't the Seanchan invade Ghealdan?

MAFO. Brandon replied that it may be due to all the problems caused by Ituralde's raids, and possibly the issue with Galad's desertion as well.

Alan Romanczuk

Their plan was to push east quickly through Illian and eventually sweep north into Andor and beyond. Ghealdan was not a military threat to them for the time being, and it would fall easily to them once they had consolidated control of the southeast. There are only so many fronts on which an army wishes, or should wish, to fight simultaneously, even an army of great strength. History is littered with the corpses of generals who made that mistake.

seanchan, ghealdan, ituralde, galad, mafo, alan,

Memories of Light (Verbatim)

"Nobody travels the Ways," Ituralde said, aghast. (p. 190)

memories of light, ituralde, the ways,

Waygate Foundation Q&A (Verbatim)

Just to clear it up, cause I really dislike arguing with people: just to have it out there, in big BOLD letters: Brandon did confirm in his January 2013 Twitter chat that Hopper was "the Broken Wolf, whom Death has known", yes? ("The Broken Wolf was Perrin’s spirit guide.") Because this one aggravates me almost as much as Olver/Gaidal Cain and Taimandred, especially when people insist it was Rodel Ituralde.

Yes, Hopper was "the Broken Wolf, whom Death has known."

dark prophecy, hopper, perrin, ituralde, towers of midnight,

Phoenix ComicCon Report - KakitaOCU (Paraphrased)

The idea of Compelling the Great Captains was one he and Harriet worked up. The notes apparently just stated that several of the Great Captains died and then everything was given to Mat. Since it was so vague, they had to come up with a reason for WHY the world would trust Mat like that.

a memory of light, rj's notes, harriet, ituralde, bashere, agelmar, bryne, compulsion,