Search the most comprehensive database of interviews and book signings from Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson and the rest of Team Jordan.
2012-04-30: I had the great pleasure of speaking with Harriet McDougal Rigney about her life. She's an amazing talent and person and it will take you less than an hour to agree.
2012-04-24: Some thoughts I had during JordanCon4 and the upcoming conclusion of "The Wheel of Time."
Members: 7653
Logged In (0):
Newest Members:johnroserking, petermorris, johnadanbvv, AndrewHB, jofwu, Salemcat1, Dhakatimesnews, amazingz, Sasooner, Hasib123,
30
Feb 22nd, 2013
Verbatim
Birmingham, AL
AMOL Book Tour
Books-A-Million
Terez
1
2
I brought my friend Dick for company since it was roughly a five-hour drive one way. I think I have mentioned him before; he and I have been friends for more than ten years, though I used to be closer to his brother whom I lived and worked with in Baton Rouge for about six months (along with Hoda, who actually made it to Elder at Theoryland but is probably remembered by few).
Dick and I didn't see each other for several years, and then I happened to go to his house one day (this was after RJ died) and I noticed A Crown of Swords on his coffee table. He was reading it for the first time, and he had no idea any of his friends had read it, so I told him and Hoda and I had read it and that I had more than read it (insert long explanation of Theoryland here). So between that and the fact that he told me he played Tetris Attack (the only video game I love), he and I started hanging out regularly. He finished the series in time to read Towers of Midnight when it came out. Then he started reading Brandon's books, and has decided to name his as-yet-unborn son Kaladin, which resulted in a funny moment (paraphrased):
(Brandon is signing Dick's book which is addressed to Kaladin.)
(Says something appreciative.)
I told Peter about that, and he said "That's like the tenth Kaladin I've heard of." (Okay, so I exaggerated; I think he actually said fifth.)
*sighs* That sounds like the kind of thing Peter would say...
(to Dick) Yeah, Peter is not as unfailingly courteous as Brandon...
*hilarious smirk*
...which is why I like him.
3
There were no personalizations the first time through because they wanted to get Harriet out of there. I did manage to ask her a question, though (paraphrased):
What did RJ like to read (fiction or non-fiction) on the Civil War?
He read non-fiction, no fiction.
Not even Gone With the Wind?
No.
So nothing in particular?
No, I can't remember anything in particular.
I know he liked Jane Austen from that general period...
(big smile) Yes, he did.
The line was long, and she had someone else, so I had to leave it there. I didn't realize until later that Jane Austen died well before the Civil War began; I wasn't sure exactly when she lived.
4
The second time through I made sure I was last in line. There was one guy who tried to be last until I convinced him I had more questions than he did. He was asking stuff on behalf of his friend David who was ill and couldn't be there. He video-recorded it and asked Brandon to address David personally because it would 'make his world'.
Robert Jordan...did he lay out all the war tactics for you, because he is a war historian, or was...
Actually, David, no he didn't; he didn't have an opportunity to do that. He indicated that it was supposed to be a big, long battle for the last book—basically all battle—but he didn't give us much of the tactics. There are a few things that he put in there, that he told us to do. But what we did is, we went to several experts that Harriet knows, and asked them for suggestions, and then we relied on Alan Romanczuk, who is part of Team Jordan, and we had him outline the battle tactics, which I then used to tell the story.
Okay, good. Thank you. And another question:
When you got his notes, were they digitized or was it a big stack of papers?
It was both. I got them in digital form—the bulk of it was in digital form—but they had printed off about 200 pages of them for me, which were ones that were relevant specifically to the last book, which turned into three.
Okay, and the final question is:
Are there any—and I'm sure you get this question a lot—are there any plans for any aspect of the Wheel of Time universe to keep going, maybe in another story?
No, we are not doing any more books. Robert Jordan specifically didn't want more books being written, so we feel it's best to both respect his wishes and stop while we're ahead. That doesn't preclude video games from being made, and so we perhaps may see films or video games or sort of things like that that will tell some of these other stories, but as for fiction, it is done. So, thank you for the questions, David, and thank you for reading.
A movie would be irritating, because it would just ruin it. They could never capture it.
5
Then Kiley had a question. She's very soft-spoken so I'm not sure I got it all down right.
So how much, either consciously or unconsciously, do the diary entries from the Lord Ruler reflect the Rand-type characters?
That's the pitch to myself for Mistborn, years ago: "What if Rand failed, and decided to take over the world instead?" basically. It's more than that, though; it's, you know" "What if Frodo kept the ring? What if the hero from the monomyth failed, and instead became the tyrant?" And so, I consciously evoked that.
So did you ever see in that through the end, so that Rand didn't go....like, this is really similar, ever?
Not specifically, but you know, I was basing the idea off of that, yeah.
It was like, "This could be Rand's diary," you know.
6
At this point, Brandon started signing my books. I recorded the conversation while he was doing it, so from here on out it's transcribed. I always ask for something unique, but this time around bossman insisted the HCFFs should ask for a unique personalization—probably because Brandalization kind of decreases the value of signed books!—so Brandon took it as a matter of course. I asked for Zombie's infamous love pentagram.
(start transcript)
....you have to draw a pentagram....and then, you know, you can start with Moiraine on one tip, and then just follow it around, right?
Uh-huh. Okay, yeah, that is...I do remember that. Okay. So.... (draws two lines) Can I even draw a pentagram?
Now, they go up to the middle...
Yeah, now they go up like this...
...right...
...like that, and then across.
(laughs) Yes. It's perfect.
And then Thom...
No, nonononono! Because, like, Moiraine connects to Thom here...
Oh, it goes like that! I see what it is...
Right, right. Yeah.
I see.
And then Thom connects to...
...to Morgase.
Right.
Is this like the hook-up quadrilateral?
It's a love pentagram. (laughs)
Okay, and then Morgase is not going to be Tallanvor....
Gareth...
Morgase is going to be Gareth Bryne, and then Bryne is going to be Siuan....
And then...
Oh, Siuan and Moiraine, pillow-friends! Right, yeah....
...and then Siuan comes back to Moiraine! Yeah!
Yeah, yeah, okay.
It works perfectly.
Yeah, the Wheel of Time is basically one big hook-up chain. (laughter)
Well, I thought this was special, cause it's like...it's not a love triangle; it's a love pentagram.
Yep.
Yeah, okay. Again, sorry for my handwriting.
And then you have to draw a heart.
(draws heart and sparklies)
(laughs) That's great. Now for the questions!
Alright, now for the questions.
Alright.
7
You said that the balescreams in Knife of Dreams were because Demandred was balefiring whole cities...
I did not say that.
You did not say that.
No!
That was reported! (on a private Facebook group)
That was reported; that's not what I said.
What did you say then?
I told them...they said, "What caused these?" And I said, "Ah, that's very interesting. By the way, Demandred was balefiring whole cities.
But you didn't say that's what caused them. Okay.
Yes.
Good answer, because that gets rid of my next question. Okay.
Mmhmm. They asked about balefire and things like that, and it was...
...and they connected it...
...and I thought they might, but I specifically said, "BY THE WAY..." This is not....
(laughs) ...Well, we're recording now.
So there you go.
Okay, good.
8
Now, are Graendal's actions in Shara mentioned at all in "River of Souls"?
I don't think we talk about them.
I was just curious as to how that interacted... (crosstalk)
I mean, I considered...Yeah, it certainly helped with what he was doing.
Right, right.
But I mean...yeah. It's...
Because she totally didn't know he was there, so....
Yeah. It certainly helped, and if I had been able to go back, and do—which I wouldn't have done—but if, you can imagine, there's a very cool interaction there, where he's there, and she's doing stuff, and he's taking advantage of it, but she's not seeing him and things like that. Like, the whole Demandred In Shara thing is awesome, because there's like twelve books worth of coolness of him being the hero...
Because all this stuff is in the notes, right?
What's that? Oh, some of it is, not all of it.
Oh, well yeah, because I know you said you had to kind of....you know, extrapolate a little bit...
I had to extrapolate a lot of the Sharan culture and things, which is where "River of Souls" came from. At the end of the day, because I was extrapolating these things, that's what made them distracting from the main plotline, if that makes sense.
Mmm, yeah.
And so, a lot of what I was doing was like, it you know...all of Demandred's flunkies. Jim didn't name those; they're not in the notes...but I put them in because, you know, we have to evoke this entire two years of awesomeness....
Yeah, it can't just come out of nowhere, and be nothing.
Yeah, so there's that. But yeah, it was too much me, also.
Yeah...gotcha.
9
Okay, so, Grady has multiple children.... (pauses for confirmation)
(gets this gleefully smug look on his face that knocks about a quarter century off his age)
What is that look for? I mean, come on. You've been, like, dancing around the bush...(crosstalk)
I've dodged this one so well, Terez! (crosstalk)
...on this one for like two years, I'm not gonna let you dodge any more! Just tell me if he has multiple children.
(stubbornly reluctant) Grady. Has. Multiple. Children.
Thank you. (Someone is laughing, I don't know who.)
10
Was Luc a Darkfriend when he went to the Blight?
I'm going to have to MAFO this one, because this is one that I can never remember, and I've had to ask Maria like three times—the whole Luc thing—because I had it spelled out for me several times, but since Jim did a lot of the Luc scenes, I didn't need to remember it, if that makes sense. So go ahead and ask Maria. She's...there's a lot of stuff on that in there—and hopefully that'll end up in the encyclopedia—but there's a lot of cool stuff on Luc and Isam in the notes. It's one of the areas that isn't as sparse. But I can't remember. I want to say no, that neither of them were, but I can't remember when it happened, you know...
Well, I mean...Isam was a baby, you know?
Yeah, uh-huh. Yeah, and so....
So...I mean obviously he wasn't a Darkfriend when he went to the Blight...
Right, but he grew up on the streets....
Right, he grew up under that influence, right?
Yeah, it's like he was...always...or was he? And when did they...when they...I want to say that Luc wasn't, but you'll have to ask Maria.
Okay.
11
Was the Shadow able to track down or intercept any of Verin's letters after she died?
Um...(laughs)...
You can answer that vaguely if you want.
....(laughs, coughs)...I'm (ahem) really good at answering things vaguely, but I can say that at least one of them did not find its mark.
Okay. That's good.
12
Have we seen Nakomi in any other guise? Is she somebody we would know?
No, we haven't. Good question.
That's a good answer.
I can kill the Nakomi-Verin theory.
Yeah, well you already did that.
Yeah, okay.
Yeah. I pay attention, you know.
Mmmhmm.
(laughs)
13
Fain says that the thinning of reality around Shayol Ghul would make it easier for him to anchor himself there, and Dom wants to know if the proximity of the Tower of Ghenjei had anything to do with the fate of Aridhol.
I honestly don't know. That would make logical sense...
Yeah, it would...
But...we could look in the notes. That's one I suspect is not in there.
Okay.
But you can say there's a good chance that's the sort of thing that would make sense...
Yeah, okay.
Good question.
14
Um...did you notice...(in a louder voice)...has everybody standing around me read the book?
Okay, spoiler! Just warning you.
Spoilers! Okay, did you notice any good foreshadowings for Egwene's death aside from Guinevere and the Year of the Four Amyrlins?
Um...(laughs, looks at Jenn)....those are very good. I mean, it's mostly, you know, the Guinevere myth and things like that, but there's...(to Jenn)...there's others, aren't there?
The Year of the Four Amyrlins is the only, like, really nice one that I've latched on to, you know? Because it's like, she's talking about, "It's almost like now..." and it's like, "Everybody came to grief in the end...." And it's like...yeah.
Mmmhmm.
(laughs)
15
Um, was there any connection between Mat's luck and the dagger?
Um, not that I know of. Good question, but we can MAFO that one, but you can give the, "not that I know of". I'm still kind of...you know, the Mat's luck being beyond him being ta'veren, is one that's very interesting to me, because everything that I know says that his luck does extend beyond his ta'verenness, but...
Well, it's like his whole plotline seems kinda designed as like this revenge story for Manetheren against Aridhol, you know?
Yeah, uh-huh. Yep.
And, you know, he starts speaking the Old Tongue right before they go into Shadar Logoth; that's the first time he speaks it...
Uh-huh. Yep.
...you know, and then as soon as he wakes up from the Healing, he's got memories, he's got this luck, you know?
Yeah. Mmmhmm.
So...yeah.
16
Was Alanna captured in Tear?
No. She managed to get away from Tear.
Okay. Good answer. (crosstalk)
Good question.
What happened to her Warder, Ihvon?
Her Warder Ihvon um, met...
...(laughs)
It is not happy.
Unpleasant fate, okay.
17
About—if you can estimate—how many Aiel were in the Town?
Oh, boy. I think there is an estimate in the notes.
There is?
Yes, so ask Maria, and if I say it, I will get it wrong because Jim has an estimate of how many Sightblinders were going to be in the Last Battle.
Okay.
And that would include, you know, ones born there and ones captured, and...yeah.
18
The next one is something that somebody asked for me—on my behalf—before, but did Perrin bind his soul to the hammer? Or...
Did Perrin bind his soul to the hammer? That's an interesting question. Why are they asking this?
Because I asked before, was it Hopper? It's because of what Slayer said about his ability to step in and out....
Right, was based on having two souls in one body...
Yeah, and he said, "It's just like you," right?
Mmmhmm.
You know, so it has to be something.
Yeah, it's a good question. (with an air of finality) That's a very good question.
(sighs loudly) (people around laugh)
I would say...how about this: I would say the relationship between Perrin and Hopper is...part of the reason that...Hopper may not...have suffered as dire a fate...(crosstalk)
That's what I was hoping for...
...as wolves would normally suffer when killed where Hopper was killed. How about that?
Yeah, that's what I was hoping for, but your answer to the last one kind of drew me on the path of the hammer, which was somebody else's idea, right?
Mmmhmm.
But yeah. Good!
So there you go.
That makes me happy.
19
Were the Aes Sedai at the Silver Swan still there when Caemlyn was attacked?
I.....don't....know.
Don't know. Okay.
20
Why didn't the bond protect Bryne's dreams?
Why didn't the bond protect Bryne's dreams!
The Warder Bond...
Yes! Um....(pauses to think)
Is it an active thing?
What's that?
Is it an active thing, like...she has to....Moiraine kind of phrased it like it wasn't...
Yeah. No, no no.
...like, because of the bond, he's protected.
Yeah. (long pause) Why don't I MAFO this one so I don't say it wrong, because I had to go to Maria on this one.
Right. Yeah, okay.
...if that makes sense. And so, I will tell you wrong. I will MAFO it, because it's one I had to talk to her about. So we'll go back to the source of me being...or me working these things out in the first place.
Okay.
21
How many more do we have? I just got curious.
Just a few; just a few.
Okay.
Just a few! Like, 15 or 20...
22
Do you know about how many Aes Sedai are left after the Last Battle?
Um, Harriet said "many".
Many? (laughs) Yeah...
(laughs, coughs) Boy they lost a lot.
23
The name...how do you pronounce it? Is it no-tay, or no-tie?
Oh, it's...you pronounce the K.
Oh, you pronounce the K!
....according to Alan, who is the Old Tongue expert, who corrected me on it even though I named him.
So say it!
k'no-tie. But Alan can correct me, because Alan is the expert.
Does it have any mythological basis that you know of?
No, it does not that I know of, because that one, as most of the names—not all of them, but most of them that I named, because I named him—came from me writing something in English, and saying, "Alan, give me the Old Tongue."
Okay.
And so, there are times where he'll find something, and I'll be like, "Oh, that sounds like this! Let's use it. Oh, this sounds like this; let's use it." Most of the time, it's...he comes up with the direct translation.
Like, Shaisam, actually...
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean that's easy to figure out for us, right?
Yeah. And there are some where I say, "Let's find something that feels like this..." and then, you know, of course, Perrin's hammer, right?
Yeah.
That's one where you're like, you know, let's find an Old Tongue translation that works for what the mythological symbolism is.
And that works well. It's hard to pronounce though.
Yeah, it is a little hard to pronounce though.
Can you pronounce it?
MAH-HAHL-in-ear? Eh...ask Alan.
(laughs) Okay.
24
Alright, is Cadsuane's lesson to the Asha'man yet to come?
To the Asha'man? It is the same lesson that Rand learned, but they....they started to learn it.....
Yeah...
I would say that they have not completely learned it yet. Not until they have spent years...um...growing...
Well the distinction in Min's viewing is that none of them would like learning it from Cadsuane.
Yes. Mmmhmm.
Yeah, so that's where everybody gets a little bit confused.
Yeah.
But yeah, I got you.
25
Was the "innocent" foreshadowing in early The Great Hunt—that you mentioned on Twitter when you were doing your reread—do you remember that?
Yeah, I do remember it, and people have asked me this, and I can't remember what it was! (crosstalk)
And you don't remember what it was. And then there's the one in The Dragon Reborn Chapter 27.
Yeah. Oh, I can probably remember that one.
Can I email you about those two?
Yeah, you can email me about that one, because I can find that one. Because I know which one that one was, but I can't remember the other one. I feel so bad! It's like...
Well, was it Leane and Perrin, with the crown and the High Chant?
Mayyy-beee.....
Like, she said something about, "Next the blacksmith is gonna be wearing a crown and speaking in High Chant..."
Ohhhhh, yeah! I bet it's that one, because...yeah.....
It's kind of an innocent foreshadowing....
...No, you're right.
I think you kind of avoided my question, and then you later kind of...
Yeah, I think it's that one, because it's Perrin becoming king.
Right. Okay.
Which finally happened in this book.
26
Can you tell us one scene that RJ worked on outside of the prologue and epilogue?
Yes. He wrote Moiraine's dialogue at the, um....
...at the Merrilor meeting?
At the Merrilor meeting.
Okay.
27
Was it actually Egwene talking to Rand, after...
Oh, I've left this one intentionally ambiguous.
I figured that's what you did.
That, and whether Lan actually died or not, are both ones that I'm not going to answer.
Yeah, and whether Perrin actually died or not, because he's in the dark prophecy too.
Yes, but do remember that the dark prophecy people are misinterpreting that one a little bit, by intention.
Yeah... [Amusingly, Brandon is talking about the dark prophecy in Towers of Midnight, and I'm talking about the one in The Great Hunt.]
You know, they're supposed to misinterpret it, but one of the lines doesn't refer to Perrin; it refers to Hopper, and then the next line...
Well, not her new lover!
Yeah, yeah...
That's not Hopper, is it? (laughter behind)
Uh, no...
She's not into...okay. Good. (laughs)
28
Was Min's "three ships sailing" inspired by the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María?
I don't believe so. Wow, but I don't know, so I can't say on that one...
Oh, it wasn't yours?
Uh, no....ah...
It was in the last book: three ships sailing, insect in the darkness, red lights....
Yeah. It's not the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María....
Yeah, well I thought it might have been inspired by that...
We'll have to dig into the notes on that one.
Allllll-right.
29
Okay. I hope I didn't say anything too wrong.
I think you did a good job of avoiding that.
As always Terez, you are awesome...
You are awesome...
...and we really do appreciate you.
I appreciate you too.
30