Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

Since you said at an earlier signing that the Dark One couldn't have brought back Asmodean if he wanted, was that at the time of Asmodean's death, or after that?

The Dark One couldn't bring back Asmodean because of the combination of two factors: HOW HE DIED and WHERE HE DIED. Not one or the other, both factors.

The referred to earlier question was asked at the NYC Barnes & Noble signing on the Crossroads of Twilight tour.

BRANDON SANDERSON

RHABELLA

BRANDON SANDERSON (12 APRIL)

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

Paul Ward

After the Breaking, men were viewed as destroyers. Also, almost all the male leadership of the world were Aes Sedai who were now dead. Add to that the dominant political force in the world for three thousand years being the all female White Tower. It's a natural consequence for women to be more dominant than not in the rest of the world.

A side note—he brought up the story thread where he introduced a misogynist (Agni Neres, the boat captain on the trip from Samara to Salidar). Instead of being angered by his attitudes, Elayne and Nynaeve are puzzled and can't understand him at all.

For Phil Reborn, Lanfear climbed onto the wagon to get the angreal. Rand was occupying her to the extent that she couldn't afford to just use flows of Air to bring it to her. And Lanfear being Lanfear, there was a touch of the dramatic in it. She was always a drama queen.

Here are a few short responses to The Fires of Heaven. This isn't very long, I'm afraid. I finished the book last week and am now much of the way through Lord of Chaos. The demands of the convention, however, kept me from being able to do a response to book five until now. (And forgive me if I spell any names wrong below. I wrote this rather quickly. I think I got them all right, but didn't have time to check them all.)

As I've said before, reading through the WHEEL OF TIME this time, now that I'm a writer, has been very interesting. It seems to me that this series—particularly staring with Books four and five—were always intended to be read straight through as one. Though there are climaxes in each book, I also get a sense that each ending isn't really the end and each beginning isn't really the beginning. (Which, of course, is part of the overarching theme of the series in the first place.) I like how the books blend together, each having their own theme, but each also feeling like a continuation of what came before.

Book five has a lot of very interesting events. I'm curious how Egwene's character is changing, in particular, and I find myself empathizing with her less and less—but find myself liking Nynaeve and Elayne (not to mention Aviendha) quite a bit more. Nynaeve, in particular, is growing quite quickly as a character as she realizes she can't use hatred of Moiraine as a motivation, and shifts more toward her desires to heal and protect. It is interesting to me that Perrin disappears in this book, much as Rand disappeared in Book Three. The series really begins to expand here, moving more and more toward an exploration of a wide variety of characters.

Reading and expecting this to happen, I find myself very interested in what is happening with the "side" characters. I use quotes because if there's one thing this series has taught me, it's that there aren't really side characters and main characters in this series. It's about everyone. True, the ta'veren form the focus for what is happening to the others, but Siuan and Morgase's stories are in many ways as important to the pattern as those of Egwene and Elayne. My second favorite storyline in this one, actually, was indeed Siuan's story. We've had a lot of tales in this series about common people becoming important. It's nice to see that reversed and look at the lives of important people who are suddenly forced to become common.

My favorite storyline in this book, however, is Mat's. He finally starts to shine. Almost against his will, it seems—which makes it all the more interesting. Those moments in the battle near the end where he keeps trying to escape, but ends up unable to abandon the soldiers were quite powerful and meaningful. I find it interesting—as many others have noted—that the final fight between Mat and Couladin happens off-screen. This seems an indication to me that Mr. Jordan felt that the affect of conflict upon the characters was more important than the conflict itself. Getting to sit with Mat as he works through in his head what had just happened proved for a very interesting scene, and allowed us flashbacks to the fight with Couladin itself. Obviously, this isn't a plot structure to use all of the time, but I felt that it was quite adeptly employed here.

I'm eagerly awaiting the moment when the Wise Ones discover that Egwene isn't a full Aes Sedai. She needs to be brought down a notch or two.

Oh, you mean the fat man with... no, wait that was Rand....

LUCKERS

Yeah, Moiraine’s one was an ivory woman.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yeah, yeah. You know, that’s a good question, because it’s odd, the notes specifically said she got the angreal as one of her wishes...

LUCKERS

Ah, so it’s definitely not the angreal Lanfear had? People have asked, I think because both were bracelets.

BRANDON SANDERSON

No, it’s definitely a different angreal. But yes, if she had another angreal, why would she ask for one?

LUCKERS

Maybe the Finns took her original one. I mean she was naked when they found her, so they took...

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yeah, maybe *looks dubious*.

LUCKERS

Or maybe it’s still in Cairhien with the rest of her stuff.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yeah, but it would still be odd, that she’d ask, if she had another. Yeah, so, I don’t know, sorry.