Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

By and large, each cell of Darkfriends recruits people it thinks are likely candidates, though they need to do so very carefully, studying them, sounding them out slowly. Darkfriends are always on the lookout for new members, since they feel very much like an oppressed minority and want to increase their numbers. Once a move to recruit is made, though, either it succeeds or the failed candidate dies.

For someone seeking actively to become a Darkfriend, generally one begins by trying to attract the attention of those who already are Darkfriends. One fairly safe way is to let comments drop that indicate that you don't think the Light is all it's cracked up to be, that praying to the Creator seems useless etc. If this comes to the wrong ears, you might be in varying degrees of trouble depending on what country you are in and who it is that overhears, but you are unlikely to get worse than a flogging from the authorities and possibly only a stern warning to watch your talk from somebody in a tavern, perhaps accompanied by a clout on the ear. Although someone might decide to slip a knife into you in some rougher areas of some towns. It's only relatively safe. By the by, claiming not to believe in the Creator is a good way to avoid recruitment by the Darkfriends. After all, if there is no Creator, how can the Dark One be imprisoned, and if he isn't, then why hasn't he taken over and rewarded the faithful? One of the fastest ways to attract attention is to show yourself willing to kill to advance yourself or simply for gain. That doesn't mean that every strongarm who's willing to slit a throat to steal a purse is a Darkfriend. Some of those might well be horrified by the suggestion. This method has its drawbacks, of course, since if you attract the attention of the authorities first, you are very likely to end up with a noose around your neck or a trip to the headsman's block.

In the White Tower, Black sisters watch novices and Accepted closely for any indication that they might be leaning toward the Shadow or susceptible to the promises of the Shadow. They also watch other sisters, since people do change. Not every Black sister was recruited on the day she gained the shawl nor soon after. Merean had a fine position for watching novices and Accepted, but many sisters teach. Some do little else, but others take turns at it for various periods, so Merean was not necessarily the primary recruiter during her time as Mistress of Novices, not even among those in her charge.

I arrived about 50 minutes early, and immediately proceeded to complete my collection of hardcovers. Got the last copy of The Eye of the World and although it's not first edition, it's autographed; along with the other five! The Tor representatives were handing out book marks and postcards with the cover art from The Fires of Heaven depicted on them. In any case, by arriving 40 minutes early, I was number 16, and it took about an hour to get to me. I saw numbers in the high 60s, so I'm not sure if RJ was going to make an effort to get through everyone or not. He took the time to answer questions from each person, signed the books "For first_name, Best Wishes ... Robert Jordan" on the flip side of the page with edition information. He also signed maps and "The Wheel of Time" sampler, which SF&M was giving out.

I met up with the original FAQ creator (sorry, I didn't catch/remember your name, but I'm sure she's quite well known!) and I posed a couple of questions for her (she was in the high 50s and wasn't sure whether she'd get a chance). She was taking notes, so I'll let her post the "official" Q&A from tonight.

Terez

Terez

Brandon Sanderson

Maria Simons

I can’t find anything to clarify this, either. I will just offer up anecdote: I have been reading WoT for 22 years, and went to work for its creator over 17 years ago. I could be said to live and breathe The Wheel of Time. But Terez has taught me much about WoT. It could be a TEOTWism, or Lan could have been thinking of some very specific things that Elyas shared that he found helpful.

Footnote—Terez

I thought about asking how Elyas could teach Lan anything about the sword, too, but I figured the Blight bit was the most incredible. TEOTWism: this was stolen from the fandom for Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. The first book of that series is called Gardens of the Moon, and in that fandom, details that are particular to the first book—details that cause continuity issues later in the series—are referred to as GOTMisms.

I received a few tidbits of wisdom from the Creator at the signing.

Specifically:

FELIX PAX

BRANDON SANDERSON

DOVI JOEL

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BONZI

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON (11 JANUARY)

BRANDON SANDERSON

MICHAEL REYNOLDS

BRANDON SANDERSON

MICHAEL REYNOLDS

BRANDON SANDERSON

JAMES POWELL

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

FELIX PAX

BRANDON SANDERSON

FELIX PAX (17 JANUARY)

BRANDON SANDERSON

THOMAS GROSSNICKLE

THOMAS GROSSNICKLE

The signing in Cincinnati was actually quite successful—very little crowd, which made me happy (lots of time to get to know The Creator) and him happy (150+ people showed up in Lexington the day or so before, which he said was draining). The hat and cane were there...

The bookstore was also passing out the poster-size maps to the first couple of people who showed up... I was late, and didn't get one, but they said they'd order one... :)

Here's what I got out of him:

Well, we met the Creator tonight. Very nice, etc etc etc. What everyone else said.

I did not have to say where I got the books. Whew.

Being in a New Place, Warder was worried about me, and suggested I hire a temp Warder to fill in. He said "like that Chad fellow". So I temporarily bonded Chad, who kept me safe throughout the signing. I severed his bond as soon as I got home. Being Aes Sedai of the Teal Ajah (half Blue, half Green), I am permitted to occasionally bond other Warders temporarily for safety's sake.

Mike—your book is signed. Chad did it, since he was getting just one book signed, and I was getting six signed. We had to write on a stickum what we wanted it addressed to—a book helper wrote it down on the stickum. I said, "To Sir" "Sir? Like, ... sir?" "Yes, sir... MPS Mike". She looked at me like I was a loon, but Chad rescued me and said, "You kinda had to be there". I think Jordan signed it no questions asked. I have it now, and if you'll just pay me $1453, I'll give it back to you . :)

I got there about 20 minutes early, perused their SF selections (got Briar Rose by Jane Yolen and Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia Wrede), bought The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt in hardback, and got in line. I also saw in line Chad, Corwin (Jim Folsom) and a lurker named Russ (friends with Bob Gibson).

I had a list of questions to ask, most from Erica, Twin of my Heart. I got up there and asked:

Herewith a sort of transcription of RJ's interview on the Sci-Fi channel. As you can see, very little that's new. For more interesting stuff, see Pam Korda's recent posting, heh-heh.

---Interview with Robert Jordan on the Sci-Fi Channel, evening, 23 April 1995. I = Interviewer, RJ = The Creator. Some minor stammers omitted.

Robert Jordan is one of the most popular story-tellers today. His multi-volume books The Wheel of Time have created a phenomenon with over two million copies in print. Not only is Jordan one of the most read and talked-about authors today but he is one of the hotter topics on the internet computer network.

The Creator Spoke. I was there.

Robert Jordan was the Guest of Honor at Balticon XXX, April 5-7, 1996. During the convention, he participated in a few discussion panels, answered questions at book-signings, gave a (short) speech as Guest of Honor, and read a passage (less than a chapter, I think) from A Crown of Swords. This page summarizes what Jordan said at the convention.

Straight Answers

At the book-signings and after his reading from A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan answered lots of questions about the series so far. Here's a summary of what he said. These are not spoilers.

Well...Sunday afternoon in Victoria saw RJ risking life and wallet speeding past the photo radar on the Pat. Bay Highway That's right...not even the Creator himself can catch the 10 o'clock ferry from Vancouver. Lara never showed up (she must have overslept).

ObTrix: Silly Lara...hibernation is for bears!

So all alone (Rob didn't show up either), I stood in the huge line (Way huger than in Vancouver). The line conversation sucked and the wait grew longer as we were told that RJ would be late. Finally at 1:20 I saw a familiar face walk through the door and head straight for the back room. RJ emerged some minutes later sans hat and stick and took his place at the signing table.

Soon ('cause I got there so early) it was my turn to confront the Great L^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Creator and attempt to wrest answers from him:

The Creator's "Inability" To Act On His Creation

Having encountered a similar "theology" in Donaldson's Covenant series, I have been quite curious why the Creator can't act on His own world. It didn't seem to make sense, except as a plot device.

MICHAEL MARTIN

The VOICE At Tarwin's Gap (The Eye of the World)

Since the Creator cannot or will not act in creation, we can reasonably surmise that it wasn't the Creator's voice Rand heard when chasing Ishamael (I had hoped it was). So, then whose was it? The Dark One's "voice" is written in all caps in Lord of Chaos, but the voice in The Eye of the World is caps and italics. This may just be a change in how RJ wrote the Dark One's voice, but it may signify a different speaker.

I don't see anyone else doing this, and while it's still fresh in my mind...well, here's a report.

Of sorts.

[disclaimer] Further down I discuss some Q&A with the Creator that may inevitably lead to spoilers for The Path of Daggers.[/disclaimer]

I was drinking most of the time, so my recollection of details may be a little fuzzy. My Wheel of Time was definitely wobbling.

I got to the Bay Area in time for the book signing. In fact, I got to Bill and Hawk's place in time to make Hot Monkey Love with a few people before we went to the book signing. Not that Hot Monkey Love was made, just that there would have been time for it if we had so chosen.

Anyway, we got to Future Fantasy at 2:30. Chris Mullins, Michael Steeves, Batya and I all rode with Hawk, and we met up with Noell Milota at the bookstore. Bill wasn't feeling well and stayed at home. Wuss. (We missed you, Bill.) Future Fantasy had a policy in place in which if you had not bought the book at their store then you had to wait until everybody that had bought a book and wished to have it signed went through before you. Fortunately, there weren't many people willing to spend full price at some rinky-dink bookstore and the number of people who were in front of us was rather short.

Also there at the bookstore were Eric Fulton and Brian-Something-Or-Other, Dave H-Someone and a couple of lurkers. Others in attendance at that time were a lot of people whose names I don't remember as I stood in line with Chris discussing some plot points with a lurker. Actually, that's a lie. We spent most of the time in line trying to figure out how we could get Jordan to sign a Terry Pratchett book, or a Goodkind. I can't remember which. Maybe it was both.

We also discussed what questions to ask. Most were discarded as frivolous, or obvious RAFO answers. I hadn't thought about it too much, but fortunately Chris had, and he had a few that he let me borrow.

The answer was "Yes, among other things."...

...Another interesting point that may just be my interpretation of things, is that someone asked if Lanfear had been raped as well, right on top of the Moghedien question, and he answered right away with a "No". It could be any number of explanations, but it seemed to me that it was a given that Cyndane was Lanfear from the context of the conversation.

Like I said, just my interpretation.

Someone else who was paying more attention could fill in here.

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."

A bunch of us in line also debated whether Rand was nuts. Most of the females said he was nuts [including me] and most of the guys said he was paranoid with good reason—"Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after me."

Another amusing remark when someone said something to the fact that RJ was dragging the books out and that he could easily end the books by Rand picking up most of the important main characters (Nynaeve, Egwene, Mat, etc.), pick up the big ass sa'angreal, then go to Shayol Ghul and beat the crap out of the Dark One. The most amusing part was when the person said that the Creator (or Rand, can't remember which) would smack Mat and Nynaeve in the process for being such annoying characters. (Before the Nynaeve Defense league tries to hurt me with the tugging braid, I'm just the messenger, don't hurt me :-) )

I had a lot of fun, especially since it was my first signing for any author. Next time I'll get there a lot earlier and come prepared with my questions, so I can give them out to the other people I talk to in line. ;-)

Rachel K. Warren

Paul Ward

Isabel

ROBERT JORDAN

GONZO THE GREAT

Kurafire

Robert Jordan

Kurafire

Robert Jordan

Kurafire

Robert Jordan

Comment

Robert Jordan

Comment

Robert Jordan

KuraFire

Robert Jordan

KuraFire

Isabel

Robert Jordan

When he said he was aiming for two more books, someone from the crowd yelled out "Make it 15 or 20!" meaning, I think, 15 or 20 books total for the series. RJ dramatically looked to the ceiling and abjured the Creator to not listen. He then said he was Anglican, and was therefore allowed to talk to God. Has anyone ever read or heard anything about his religious background? Just curious.

Tallis

Tom Schaad

Robert Jordan

Tom Schaad

Robert Jordan

Footnote

Rhynn

Robert Jordan

Mort

Robert Jordan

Sequoia

Robert Jordan

Mort

Robert Jordan

Question

Robert Jordan

Question

Robert Jordan

Wood Sun

Robert Jordan

Question

Robert Jordan

Wood Sun

Robert Jordan

"The biggest single political power in their world is the great city of Tar Valon, home to the White Tower, which is the headquarters of the Aes Sedai, women who can tap into the power that drives the universe and turns the Wheel of Time, the One Power."

Men are not able to manipulate the power like women can, the dual nature of the power is often too much for them. "Men can't do that safely. A man who channels the One Power, which has a male half, saidin, and a female half, saidar, will eventually go mad and die," Jordan explained. "Only until he dies, he's a madman who can do horrific things with the Power. The fly in the buttermilk is this. Prophecy says that a boychild will be born who is humanity's only chance to win the Last Battle, when the Dark One breaks free of the prison where he was confined by the Creator at the moment of creation. And that boychild will be able to channel the One Power."

For Mike Hopessorrow, it took me aback a little the first time I saw myself named as the Creator, but I don't really mind. So long as you don't start believing I deserve the cap. Now when a very pretty roughly twenty-year old girl, trembling mind, said to me, "You're a god!", that I liked a lot.

Basri

Well friends, I've been [lurking] here for literally years, but never felt a reason to post until now. I assume that many of you would probably be wondering how the signing in Lexington, KY, at the honorable Joseph-Beth Booksellers went this evening.

I arrived a few minutes to 7pm, 30 minutes early...or so I thought. Turns out, it really started at 7pm and I found such a lovely place to stand in the very back of the crowd. No fear, for the speakers were loud enough to hear Jordan in the parking lot, much less the 50 feet from me he was.

Judging by the lettering on the signing slips, each had a letter starting with 'A' and the latest letter I saw being 'J', with 25 of each slip, leads me to believe there were maybe 200+ people in attendance. Quite a few more than at my last signing, nine years ago, at the same location.

At around 10 after the hour, I noticed a familiar bearded face exiting the coffee shop and being led to the podium. I believe that Harriet was with him, but I quickly lost her during the cheering as the Creator, may his light shine on us all, took the stage.

His opening remarks were remarkably similar to those given during the West Chester signing. Did I say remarkably? I commented to the gentleman next to me that I think he had memorized it. Well, no worries, it was definitely worth hearing in person. No tape recorder do I own, thus no .wav file for me to let you hear.

I can't remember what, now, but some guy asked about something that RJ RAFO'd, and the guy just left after that!! I can't understand that, I was more than happy to be RAFO'd by the Creator himself!

There were a few other questions, but I don't remember them all now, and I apologize. But then he signed books, and I was the second in line for that. I left afterwards, since I didn't have any more hardcover books to be signed by the man.

Jeremiah.

During Dragon Con in Atlanta last week rumors flew about that my brother/cousin was gravely ill, wasn't eating and had in fact had "Last Rites" administered. I just got off the telephone with him and he's surrounded by laughing friends and relatives and is about to enjoy a shrimp-based bowl of gumbo. He got a chuckle out of news of his impending departure.

Go back and reread RJ's blog entries and you'll know exactly what is going on. Armed with those medical facts, if any of you have shared time with very ill relatives you'll know what person looked like and felt like during the ordeal. RJ looks and feels just like that. So, we're not taking any family photos at the moment.

Fact: He is ill, very ill. He has shared that with you in medical jargon. He has told you the prognosis of his physicians and told you that he plans to beat their predictions. I pray that he will. But should it not be in the cards, he'll manage that phase of his life as he has every step he has taken thus far. So, should you hear another "rumor" it's just that. Until you hear it from RJ, Harriet or from me, it's just a rumor.

Fact: He's told you that his appetite comes and goes. It does. He's taking a handful of medications everyday to help him in the fight. Unfortunately some of them have adverse affects on the appetite. Pretty much like a kid in that regard right now. He eats when he feels up to it, and says "No Thanks!" when he doesn't. When I visited a couple of weeks back he had a hankering for Cream of Mushroom soup served with rice and a dash of tabasco. RJ and Harriet were busy in the parlor, so I whipped up the soup. He told me it was good, but not as good as when Harriet prepares it. Duh!?!?

Fact: The deacon from his church visits their home for weekly worship services and to bring communion. RJ doesn't feel up to sitting on two hundred year old wooden pews for an hour. Painful even for someone in the peak of health, which you know RJ is not. These visits are to share communion, which is a weekly (at least) part of RJ and Harriet's lives. Same goes for Janet and me. When RJ is physically stronger, he'll be back on the hard pews. I hope that whatever your faith that you are able to "Commune" with God often.

Bottom line guys, he's been completely forthcoming with you from the very beginning of this ordeal. He intends to continue that dialog. When he and I spoke a few minutes ago, I asked if he wanted to end this rumor or for me to do it? I then reminded him that the last time he wrote you he was feeling as he put it "a bit viperish" and that his posting had kicked over a huge ant hill. He allowed that perhaps I should write you guys this time. Calmer heads and all.

Keep the prayer lines open please. He's a stubborn old cuss but welcomes, appreciates, yes even needs your collective petitions to our God. I'll be seeing RJ and Harriet in a week and will give them a hug and an "I Love You" from each and every one of you.

Thanks for caring.

Peace be with each of you,

Wilson Brother/Cousin 4th of 3

Epilog: Yes he is continuing to work through all of this medical calamity. A Memory of Light is going into the word processor and onto audio tapes almost daily. Not every day mind you, because the medical fight takes first priority. But, he told you he'd finish and he will. Fact is that it has been finished in his head for years. During a recent family sit around, he became the Gleeman and told the bones of it ALL to Harriet and me. You read that right, I did say ALL. Don't ask, ain't telling. Two and a half hours of story telling by the Creator himself went by in the twinkling of an eye. Truly magical. All I can say is WOW! Best stuff he's ever done. A Memory of Light is going to knock your socks off! That's a promise.

To be honest, I don't exactly remember what my first reaction to that gut-wrenching statement was. I remember being worried for Harriet, and I remember being sad for Wilson because I could hear how upset he was on the phone, but in that infinitesimal moment when the words first sink in, I think I felt a wide array of emotions. There was sadness, of course, and shock, because we had just received good news in the previous blog entry, but there was also ... what? Disappointment? It would be a lie to say that I wasn't heartsick at the thought that RJ wouldn't be finishing the final volume in The Wheel of Time. Most of you I'm sure, felt it too. Just as he was honest with us until the end, so I will be honest here. I think we're all sad, and at least a tiny bit frustrated, by not having A Memory of Light completed in the way we wanted and hoped for.

Before you think poorly of me, hear me out. Obviously, we can't blame RJ for that. To do so is to show a lack of understanding of the way he worked and the way he fought this disease. Amyloidosis is a brutal disease and nobody could fight as hard as Jim Rigney. His blog is a testament to his fight and his dedication. He proved to us, right here, that he was Aiel to the core: "Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the Last Day." I don't think there could be a stronger statement that defined RJ's fight with the disease. When I say I was frustrated, it lasted only a fraction a second. It is, in part, our ability to overcome our negative emotions that makes us human to begin with. I took that frustration and fed it to the flame, and let the void surround me. There was work to be done, fans to be notified, and questions to be answered.

Thus began a three-day adventure that I'll never forget.

A quick note: For those of you who may not know, Robert Jordan was a pen name used by James ("Jim") Rigney. Jim is survived by his wife Harriet, his step-son Will, his brother Reynolds, and a full host of cousins, nephews, nieces, second-cousins-twice-removed, and more. A few people have asked me who Wilson is, and what a "Brother/Cousin, 4th of 3" means. Indeed, it sounds like a bizarre mix of the Borg, southern genealogy, and the even stranger Aiel relationships, but it's actually quite simple. Wilson is Jim's first cousin and they have always been very close, so close in fact that they considered one another brothers. So, that's where Wilson's use of the term "Brother/Cousin" comes from. The "4th of 3" refers to the fact that Jim was one of 3 brothers (Ted, the third brother, passed away a few years ago) and Wilson was considered the "4th" brother in that family.

Jim lived in Charleston, South Carolina, in a beautiful old home that's been in Harriet's family since the 1930's. One of the kindest gestures I received this week was having Wilson say that I would be welcome there, and at Jim's funeral.

On Sunday evening, I posted the news of RJ's passing several hours after it occurred. Wilson sent me the brief write up that you've all read by now. Within minutes, the Dragonmount.com server began to see an unusually large increase in traffic. Within an hour, the site had slowed to a crawl. By the following morning, it was nearly impossible to get to RJ's blog. Initial reports run by the DM admins on the server at the time suggested an increase of traffic of about 250-300 times the normal amount. We estimated that it would take about 120 extra CPU's to fully handle all of the requests coming in at every moment. The DM server is brand-new, still cutting edge, but with the kind of numbers we were seeing, all we could do was try to keep the website stable.

The next morning I found myself on a plane flying from California to South Carolina. I grabbed a rental car and set off to drive to Robert Jordan's house. Let me pause here a moment and say that again: I was driving to Robert Jordan's house! If you're as much of a fan-boy as I am (and I know there are A LOT of you who are AT LEAST as big a fan as I am of his books), it would be a wild and crazy thing to think of going to the Creator's house and seeing where the books were written. Less than a week ago, such a thing would have seemed ridiculous to me. South Carolina is so far away. The closest I had ever come to visiting the Deep South before this trip was watching Gone with the Wind, and attending DragonCon in downtown Atlanta a few years ago, a decidedly different experience than visiting Charleston.

Jim once told me that he lived in the Two Rivers and suggested I check a map. I never had his mailing address though, and I couldn't exactly Google it, could I? But now, having been there, I can tell you that he wasn't kidding. He lives in the Two Rivers! Charleston proper is situated on a peninsula. The two bodies of water on either side of the peninsula are rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper. Jim and Harriet are very near the tip of the peninsula where these two rivers collide. They're deep in the Two Rivers. You might say they live as deep into their Two Rivers district as Emond's Field is in its own.

All of the homes in this area are old historical buildings, usually three, maybe four stories tall, with the well-known pillars and balconies that define the architecture of the southern United States. Jim and Harriet's home was completed in 1795. As I drove up their street, looking for the right house number, I saw a large white gate, and knew that I'd arrived. Carved into the gates are two large, sinuous creatures with five fingers on each claw. The symbol of the Dragon used in the books. I had found it.

FOOTNOTE

JASON DENZEL

That Tuesday evening when I arrived was filled with so many amazing memories. I'll never forget it. First, I want you all to know that I found Harriet very quickly (or rather, she found me) and I let her know (on behalf of myself and all of you) that I was sincerely sorry for her loss. Her way of replying was to give me a warm smile, look me in the eyes, and say, "For you as well." Harriet is an amazing woman. You've heard RJ say it over and over again, but this week I saw it for myself. A southern lady to the core, Harriet is the essence of grace, with an easy manner that makes you feel like an old friend the moment you meet her, and an air of poise that belied her grief as she comforted others. Her eyes are warm and gentle, and sparkling with intelligence and wit. Oftentimes, I saw her with tears glistening in those lovely eyes, but she had just as many smiles to give to the rest of us. More, actually. She sang and clapped her heart out. She laughed with, and hugged, and kissed everyone who came to visit. I was welcomed into her home as part of the family this week, and cannot find the words to express how humbled and honored I am to have been included. By welcoming me, she and the rest of Jim's family welcomed us all as a unified collection of fans. Have no doubt that you were all there with us that evening.

A bit about RJ's home. God, where to begin? Every wall is covered in artwork, most of it paintings. There are some photographs, but by and large those were only present at desks or set in a frame under a lamp. The parlor has several floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with nothing except all the various editions of The Wheel of Time. It seemed as though every edition for each book was there and all of the translations. I'm six and a half feet tall and I would need a ladder to get to the upper shelves. If you have seen the book [?], then you've seen the large, antique dragon chair that RJ owned. It's pretty darn scary up close. It sits near the bookcases like a guardian ready to spring at the unwary critic. The effect, however, was a bit ruined by the fluffy pillows and blankets draped across it. :)

As wondrous as the house itself is, the most exciting place to visit is, of course, the place where it all happened, the carriage house. This is where RJ wrote all of his books. Inside is a library of over 16,000 books (yes, you read that right) and at least several hundred bladed weapons. Swords, axes, spears, and knives of all shapes and sizes line the walls and shelves of his office. Both the upstairs and downstairs areas are jam-packed with this stuff. It was like walking into a used bookstore that also happened to sell weapons, smoking pipes, and funky hats. I guess RJ liked to wear different hats when he wrote. Not just the ones you saw him wear on tour or in publicity photos, but wacky Viking helmets or jester hats. Who knew? Maybe it helped him get into all the different characters. Maria, one of his assistants, seemed to think he did it just to keep them all laughing, or guessing about his sanity.

One other thing about the carriage house is that it was filled with gifts sent to him by fans. There were sketches, paintings, sculptures, plaques, and other memorabilia that he had received over the years from people who loved his work. It was pretty clear that he treasured those things. So, if you were ever a fan who sent in letters or gifts, be assured that he received them. I also received confirmation that he read every single letter written to him over the years. Clearly, he did not always have time to reply to them all, but he read every one and it meant a lot to him.

Okay, one last carriage house story, then I'll move on. While I was there, the temptation to sit down at his desk, in his chair, at his computer, became overwhelming. I noted at the time how strange it was to be feeling as though this act were sacrilegious. Of course, I meant no disrespect. I just wanted to sit at the place where these books had been written. As I eased myself into the chair, I was overcome by a profound sense of excitement and sadness. I could feel his presence and his eyes on me in this place where he poured out so much of himself through his writing. The screen was dark as my fingers hovered over the keyboard, aching to touch the letters. I typed the word "RAND", just a silly attempt to mimic the strokes that keyboard had seen countless times before. The computer screen, which a moment before had been a dark sentinel guarding its Master's desk, suddenly sprang to life from sleep mode and beeped loudly at me. I damn near jumped out of my skin! I vaulted from that chair as if the Dark One himself were in pursuit and fled with the distinct realization that there were a lot of sharp swords and scary masks watching my hasty retreat!

That same Tuesday night while we were outside, Wilson pointed out to me that even though we were in the downtown area of a major city, if you closed your eyes and listened, all you could hear were crickets. Our beloved RJ lived in a slice of heaven, my friends. You probably have heard him speak of how much he loved that city, and I can now see why. Look at these photos and the lush jungle of greenery that surrounded him. I have little doubt that the trees and landscape of his home helped him to imagine the Green Man and the Nym, the Ogier Groves, and the eternal forests in dreams where wolves hunt and dreamwalkers dwell. It was here in his Stedding, beneath the trees and a canopy of stars that I stayed late into the night, sharing stories with Jim's friends and family and letting the peace of the warm southern evening pass through me.

The following morning I arrived back at the house early. Even after the warm welcome the night before, I was amazed to find myself seated at the breakfast table with the members of his immediate family. (Somebody invited me to sit in Jim's chair, but I hastily declined because of my last adventure with one of his chairs. The walls of the dining room were covered in paintings of Jim and I felt them "giving me the eye.") The newspaper reports were rolling in and we all read them. One of them... the London Times, perhaps?... even used the term "Randland". Ha ha ha! I got a great chuckle from seeing that term used in a major newspaper.

Shortly after breakfast, I found myself helping out by doing dishes. Washing dishes is a soothing task for me, so I find that I do it quite often. (My wife thinks I'm crazy, but she never complains.) Also, I figured that, had any of you been there, you probably would have done the same thing. Jim has given so much to us that doing a simple chore like washing plates on the day of his funeral was an easy task to do. It also helped pass a little time before going to the church.

The funeral took place at St. Stephen's in Charleston. It's a small church with a simple and glorious beauty. Jim's ashes were on a pedestal in front of the altar. In addition to family and friends, I saw some fans who had come to pay their respects. Among them was Melissa Craib, the founder of TarValon.net. I was glad for her presence as she was someone I knew well, but more than that, I was glad she was there because she was another fan. Jim would have wanted her there. Melissa has already written up a report on the funeral. You can read it here.

Tom Doherty, the founder and president of Tor Books, gave the eulogy. He said Jim was one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th century, and that he believed time would show the same was true for the 21st century. I couldn't agree more. Whether or not you like the books, regardless if you're frustrated by their size or pace, I think we could all agree that the sheer majesty and scope of the Wheel of Time series is unparalleled. Simply put, it's the longest, and perhaps the most accessible, epic fantasy saga today.

By the way, I had the amazing fortune to be able to talk at length with Tom D. over the course of my visit. Tom is a man whose experience and insight into publishing is eclipsed only by his warmth and kindness, and his love for Jim and Harriet. If that sounds overly sugary, I assure you it isn't. I would be hard pressed to meet another man as kind and attentive as Tom.

Harriet's son, Will, Jim's brother, Reynolds, and Wilson all spoke at the funeral. Wilson read a truly moving essay that touched me deeply. I'll post a copy of it soon.

In the end, the most amazing part of the funeral was the singing. Now, I won't claim that we had the most talented vocalists in attendance, but what the congregation might have lacked in talent, it more than made up for in spirit. And that is what we sang, spirituals. Songs with roots that run deeply through the southern experience and blossom at need to replenish the hearts of the grieving and remind them of the hope that lays in faith. At one point, the church was bursting with song. I remember looking up as we raised our voices to heaven, and I thought of all of you fans who were not present. I thought of how, with the people above in upper balconies and the white walls, this must be a little what it's like to be in the White Tower for assemblies. The songs rose into the air, and together we sang Jim's spirit into heaven, and into one another, and around the world.

I should mention that Harriet wore one of Jim's hats to church. You know those wide-brimmed hats he wore on tour? (Not at all dissimilar to a hat worn by a certain ta'veren gambler.) Well, Harriet was sporting one of those very stylishly and it choked me up to see her wearing it.

Following the funeral was a reception where everyone could mingle and chat. I had met many of the people there the night before, but this became an opportunity to meet even more folks, and go deeper into conversation with those I had already spoken with. Many fond memories of Jim were shared. Aside from being a famous author, the fact that so many people would attend his funeral and have nothing but good things to say about him speaks volumes about the kind of man he was. I had come to Charleston for Robert Jordan's funeral, seeking a chance to say good-bye to a well-beloved author. What I actually found after three days with his family and friends was so much more than I could ever have imagined. I was gifted with the opportunity to learn about Jim Rigney, the man, a far more fascinating person than Robert Jordan could ever be.

I spent the few hours between the funeral and the burial touring downtown Charleston and mingling at the reception. Harriet's cousin, Harriet (yes, another Harriet), and her husband George were gracious and gave me a tour of downtown Charleston. I was able to learn a bit about the city and places Jim used to frequent. Most notably, I saw the Yacht Club where he was a member. One thing that strikes me about a place like Charleston is how much HISTORY there is everywhere you go, and how people here know their ancestry back multiple generations. Harriet and George told me that they were instructed when they were young to "know the maiden name of all four of your great-grandmothers." I was only able to come up with one of them. I promised George that I'd research the other three and get back to him! Many of you are wiser than I am and already know this lesson, but for those who don't know it yet, I humbly offer it here. Take the time to learn about your roots! Know who your family was and how you ultimately came to be. Most of our personal histories are still passed through oral tradition. So, take the time at some point in your life to know those who came before you and pass the information on to those who follow. This is clearly a lesson Jim learned early in his life, or maybe had bred into him from the start. These histories will help complete you and may even spark creativity or insight that you didn't know was there before.

The final stage of Jim's funeral was his burial. Once again I was humbled by the family's invitation to attend this very private affair. We buried him out in the country, and I say "we" now because it was made clear to me numerous times by different people that I was an honorary member of the family, a distinction that I kindly extended to all of you in spirit. Harriet dropped rose petals into the grave with her son Will by her side. At one point, she was presented with a folded United States flag as is traditional at the burial of a U.S. veteran. The men in Jim's family; Reynolds, Will, Tom Jones, and Wilson, all placed the dirt on top of him; an eternal blanket to keep him for the Ages.

The church where he was buried was completed in 1785 and has had continuous services since then. Jim and Harriet were married there. His grave is next to that of several family members who preceded him and Harriet told me that one day she would rest next to him at the same site. Prayers were read, songs were sung, and tears were shed. This was, by far, the hardest moment for me personally. Despite the sadness of those present, you could see the deep bonds of family coming together to support each other. The Rigneys, like your family, like mine... are just that: a group of people who have discovered that together they are greater than the sum of their individual members. I saw Jim's family brought together by his life. Like any other family, I'm sure they have problems and disagreements, but the strength in their love for one another is evident when they gather together. These were the people who loved him, and I'm proud to have stood with them as your representative.

While the tears flowed, and the bagpiper from the Citadel played his mournful tune, I saw something radiant which made me smile. A little baby, only a few months old with beautiful eyes, was looking directly at me. I snapped a photo of her because here was a sign of new life and promise among the cold stones and the earth. Here was someone that Jim probably cherished in his last months and would have wanted the world for. The Wheel of Time turns...

Towards the end, when most of the family was finished with their farewells, I took a moment to sit before Jim's grave. I tried to recall that first excitement I had when I read The Eye of the World thirteen years ago. I offered a bit of that feeling to him, so that the joy of having read his books might stay with him for a while as he rests. Once again I thought of all of you and told him how much we all loved him. I thanked him for the gift of his books, and I bade him farewell.

I remembered the previous times I met Jim (when he was on book tour). I would always see him and think "Wow! That man right there is Perrin and Mat and Elayne and Loial, and Asmodean and Elaida and everyone else all made flesh." I would imagine that by shaking his hand I would be shaking all of their hands. As the burial approached, I had expected to feel a similar thing when he was buried. I expected to feel as though we were laying all of those characters into the ground, but that never happened. I realized that these characters and events are very much alive and present. Go into any bookstore and Mat is as alive and witty as ever. Rand will always be his charming and...uh...moody... self. The Forsaken will always be a threat. Jim gave these characters life, but we sustain them, and that is what I truly believe applies to the living as well. We live life in order to interact and be with others. By sharing a bit of yourself with another person you connect with them on a deeper level. There is energy within and between us all. Life, God, or the True Source, whatever you want to call it, is what I think we're here for, or so I felt at that particular moment at the foot of Robert Jordan's grave.

Jim had wanted a certain song to be played at his funeral, Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. For some reason it wasn't possible to do it, so after most people had left the burial ground, Mary, Harriet's cousin whom Jim had treated and loved like a daughter, loaded the CD up in Jim's Porsche and cranked it up. The music evoked a sense of sadness laced with hope and the promise of salvation.

Oh, and, by the way, I got to ride in that Porsche on the way home. Jim bought it for himself when he became the New York Times #1 best-seller for the first time. (Book 8, I think). He told me a couple of years back via e-mail that "it handles like it's on rails." Indeed, it did.

The rest of Wednesday was spent back at the house. Once again, I walked through the carriage house, this time taking photos. (The swords and hats no longer seemed angry with me for sitting in his chair.) Wilson took me upstairs in the main house where I saw the original painting of the cover from The Dragon Reborn. This is the one for which Harriet asked the painter to remove Ishamael's face. I also was able to see Jim's numerous war medals, and those of his father.

The evening went on, and night fell. My flight for home left the next morning at 6 AM (yuck). Making my farewells was hard, as I had genuinely come to enjoy everyone's company so much. I felt like I was leaving the Winespring Inn in the Two Rivers. Several of the ladies wanted to make sure I had had enough to eat, and a few of the gentlemen wanted to be certain I had all my travel arrangements in place. On both of my back-to-back nights leaving Jim's house, I walked away with a plate full of food. I now know what the term "southern hospitality" means.

I could not possibly write about all of the conversations I had during my time in Charleston. There were so many of them, and much of what was said was somewhat private in nature. Mostly, conversations were about everyday things, but the WoT geek in me was curious, and so I poked around. I can tell you this much: nothing about the plot of the final novel was revealed to me. I'm no closer to the identity of Asmodean's killer than you are. (Although, come on people, it's been 15 years. You should know by now. Go read the WoT FAQ. When I suggested to Maria who I thought it was she gave me a "Don't-even-go-there" look.) What I do know about A Memory of Light is that we need to give everyone time to figure out what's going to happen with it next. Wilson has already revealed previously on RJ's blog that Jim left some pretty detailed notes on what would happen. He, Harriet, and presumably Maria and the other assistants, all know the endings and secrets. There are both written notes and audio recordings of Jim saying what happened. (Wouldn't it be cool to have that audio published with the final novel someday? Tor, are you listening?) How or when we'll see A Memory of Light in published form needs to be worked out. Jim's death is too recent and the wounds it left too raw to his family to say when the last volume will be completed. Time will provide us with the book we want, and the conclusion the series deserves. We just have to be patient.

Speaking of conclusions, so ends my adventure. Although, as Jim has told us eleven times before, there are no beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel. I hope this gave you even a little taste of what it was like. I'll never forget those days at Jim and Harriet's house. I am saddened by our loss, and at the same time, overjoyed by the opportunity I was given. I wish each of you could have seen the bookshelves, felt the grip of the swords, and heard the crickets. And the music. Wow... the music especially will stay with me forever. The Tinkers and Ogier need look no further for their songs than the ones we sang to Jim Rigney when we gave him to the earth.

I'll end with this beautiful quote that was printed on the back of Jim's prayer card at the funeral. I have a bunch of them and I'll figure out a way to give them away to some of you. The other fans at the funeral may have already posted them. The quote reads as follows. I have it burned into my memory.

"He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone."

Thank you Jim, for touching my life, and the lives of all those reading this and beyond. We will miss you so.

In loving memory, and on behalf of all those reading this, I remain,

Your Friend,

Jason

Jason@dragonmount.com

On 8 March 2008, James Oliver Rigney, Jr. was inducted as the 47th member of the South Carolina Academy of Authors (SCAA) Hall of Fame. The setting was perfect, The Citadel, The Military College of S.C. The man most of you only knew by his nom de plume, Robert Jordan was a graduate of the Citadel and adored his alma mater. Jim would have loved the attention and been embarrassed by it. You see, he wrote not for acclaim. He wrote because that's what he loved to do. But every one of us likes a pat on the back and a "well done" from time to time. This ceremony was exactly that, a public affirmation of what we fans of Robert Jordan already know. Jim, aka Robert Jordan, has taken the world of fantasy to a level that was only a dream before. The long narrative is possible because of Jim. A writer in his genre was quoted recently for having said that we owe the likes of Harry Potter to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Jim did not live to hear that line, he did however know that the SC Authors had named him to the Hall. He was informed of it at the beginning of September 2007. Jim's response, "I'll be there", for the ceremony. He lost his fight only two weeks later, but he left knowing that he'd had that pat on the back from his peers. For that, I am eternally grateful. Well done, bubba.

The evening was a celebration of Jim the man and RJ the writer. Mike Livingston, a Professor of English at the Citadel was asked to speak about Robert Jordan. He began with the first three lines from Beowulf. He detailed how fantasy has always been an important art, inspiring us all to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, to aspire for greatness and not settle for mediocrity. He wove a brilliant tapestry of fantasy through the ages landing upon our own Jim. R.J.'s impact on the genre will be felt for as long as man pens fantasy.

Marjory Wentworth, the Poet Laureate of South Carolina, was asked to speak of the man, Jim Rigney. She told of his mentoring of promising students. She recalled how he had seemed even more excited than she when she was named Poet Laureate. She talked at length of his generosity of education and his community. She remembered fondly his story telling, his singing and his most thunderous laughter. Marjory counted herself blessed for having had Jim as a friend.

The official words inducting Jim into the Hall were pronounced by D. Oliver Bowman, Chair of the 2008 SCAA Induction Committee. Our Harriet was radiant, a smile ever present. She worked her way through the crowd of over 150 making sure that she spoke with everyone. A special treat for her and all of us gathered were the "1st Graders", a group of 14 ladies with whom Harriet had begun school, that's right, in the 1st grade. There were 8 of them in attendance. They gather at least monthly to chat over lunch or tea. By way of acknowledging them, Harriet gave a Robert Jordanish, "Hoot Hoot", which brought laughter and an encore call. So, she did it again.

Linda Ferguson and Ellen Hyatt, SCAA board members, presented Harriet with a Memorial Gift, a clock. All felt it most appropriate for the Creator of the Wheel of Time.

The mood of the evening was light. Still as people talked of my Brother/Cousin, I was transported back to that horrible time in September. Perhaps the wound is like that in Rand's side, it may never heal. I do hope that it does, for I am sure that Jim would rather I remember the laughter, not the pain. That goes for all of us really. This night in Charleston, the Two Rivers made terra firma, the people gathered under the large oaks of Stedding Citadel, to sing the songs of praise to one of our own, James Oliver Rigney, Jr., who though passed will live in our hearts forever.

Wilson...

Brother/Cousin of the warrior god...

4th of 3

Update: Some additional comments from Wilson:

I was a Jordan fan before he was Jordan. The Warrior God was my childhood idol, the big brother I didn't have. Love is too weak a word to describe my feelings for Jim. I would do anything for him and would defend him with my life. That includes defending his work. Saying that, I could not be more pleased with the work done by Team Jordan: Harriet, Brandon, Maria and Alan. The Gathering Storm masterfully continues Jim's story in a manner that would be pleasing to the creator himself. There are countless "oh my!" moments. The pace is staggering. I fear that there will be many WOT fans who will lose sleep on the 27th because they just won't be able to find a stopping point.

I said before on this blog, that I loved Jim for bringing Harriet into my life. A grander lady there is not. Still what she has done in orchestrating and beautifully completing Jim's work has raised her stock even more. Love you sis. The Warrior Angel is surely smiling.

Congratulations to Team Jordan. Can't wait till next year.

Wilson
Brother/Cousin
4th of 3

I’m going to ask you a lot of questions about the Dark One and the Creator...

You are going to get a lot of RAFOs on this, because Robert Jordan often stayed away from, and in the notes I get the sense, the direction to stay away from questions that couldn’t be answered from someone in the world. Does that make sense? When he would like to answer the question, somebody knew that, even if they were dead, somebody in world knew the answer. When you would ask him questions nobody knows the answers to except the Dark One or the Creator themselves, he did not answer very often and that is why you don’t know very much.

MATT HATCH

Ok, that is absolutely fair, so you probably will RAFO, I would say, 90% of these...

MATT HATCH

Did the Creator or does the Creator use the One Power to create?

BRANDON SANDERSON

RAFO.

I know you’ll RAFO this one but I’ll ask it anyway. Does the Creator, for a lack of a better word, weave the One Power?

RAFO.

Matt Hatch

Ok. I’ll jump off the Creator for the moment...

Brandon Sanderson

How about this, I do know...Robert Jordan...there are answers to these things that you are wanting to know...

Matt Hatch

Do you believe they ever will be discussed, like Encyclopedia type of things or do you believe..

Brandon Sanderson

...he did not want to leave explicit answers about a lot of these things. There will be hints. So, they are a double RAFO because they are the sort of things Robert Jordan did not like to answer and they could spoil things [...] Double RAFO.

Matt Hatch

[Hah—I got a DRAFO]

Ok, so, what is then the nature of the Dark One’s relationship with the True Power? In other words, is the Power...is he the Power or it is separate like the One Power?

When people bored into his prison they were searching for a new source of power, they found him. Alright? Now, that leaves a strong implication that the True Power is the essence of the Dark One. The True Power when it is used rips apart the Pattern to rebuild it as it desires. The True Power is very destructive to the Pattern. It leaves scars on the Pattern. Robert Jordan said in an interview or maybe it was actually in the books, when you make a gateway with the True Power you are actually ripping a whole in the Pattern and going somewhere else. When you are using the True Power that is what you are doing, it is contrary to the Pattern. That is not a direct answer to your question but I think there are enough implications in there that certain things can be discussed.

MATT HATCH

[I realize now, after listening to Brandon’s answer that I was making an assumption about the One Power too, that it is separate from the Creator because of what we have been given in the books and the BWB, but I should have asked if instead the One Power is the essence of the Creator...]

Ok. This is a fun one that I don’t think I’ve heard before, can the Creator use the True Power?

RAFO.

I frequently encounter things that make me laugh out loud. WoT fans are an extremely clever bunch. Once, at Wotmania, someone joined using Harriet's name. That person made a lovely post that included the (false) info that Talmanes was a Darkfriend (I have a crush on Talmanes. Not as big as the Mat crush, but . . .). There have also been many posts regarding Bela that tickled my funnybone (Is she the Creator? A Darkfriend? The Neigh'blis?). And somewhere recently I saw someone aver that it stated flat-out in the text who murdered Asmodean; it had just been transcribed inaccurately. According to this poster, Asmodean didn't say "You? No!"; he said "Uno!" And Leigh Butler's reread posts generally make me laugh out loud as well. It's rare for me to go a-lurking and not lol at some point.

LUCKERS

'YouNo' lol. That's brilliant. And I guess it means I don't have to ask the tedious 'who killed Asmodean' question and we can just move on into the fan stuff.

One thing that strikes me is people's perception of the Wheel of Time. The Wheel of Time is just a structural device: it has seven spokes which represent the seven Ages. The Wheel turns; people forget about the previous Age and a new Age is entered. It goes around seven times and it starts again from square one. Very similar patterns of events occur in each Age, but they are changed, just as two people can have very similar personalities but still be very different people in many other respects. The same way with the different Ages.

So the Wheel does not have a specific purpose. It does not have a motivation. It is not a conscious being. The Wheel is just there, operating as an organizing principle of the world. Jim played down the religious aspects of all this. There is a creator, but there is not even a notion that the creator is God. The creator, of course, is God, but it is the creator. And the creator is not given much of a personality in these books. The creator is a stand-back kind of entity, less so than the Dark One, which opposes the creator and everything the creator has created, which is mankind.

And so, that's all I'm saying: don't read too much into the Wheel of Time. I think the Wheel of Time is also drawn in part from the Buddhist concept of the Wheel of Life. The Wheel of Life is something that we are on. In creation, we are created in who knows what form, evolve through many, many lifetimes, until we no longer have to be on the wheel. We have reached our goal, which in Eastern Thought is being one with God, part of the infinite ocean. In Jim's world, it is not so cut and dried. As far as we know, individuals stay on the Wheel of Time forever.

How can I describe a dream come true? With this report,I'll give it my best try. My day started with my son waking me up saying..It's today! Yes, I admit it,even my eight year old knew how special a day this particular Sunday was going to be for me.

After going to church and offering prayers for the success of the whole Tour with special Trisagion Prayers of Mercy being said for the repose of the Soul of our beloved Departed Creator "Robert Jordan" and for the continued health of Harriet. I drove to Cambridge loaded with books, instructions and questions.

I also had all the the Tower Guard T-shirts. Since the Tower Guards and I did not get to meet prior to the Book Signing, I wouldn't wear my t-shirt until each of the other Tower Guard's had theirs. I wanted so badly to show it off, but felt honor bound not to..so I waited.

All the Tower Guards met at the Harvard Coop where there were lovely displays of the whole of the Wheel of Time Series as well as all of Brandon's books. I was pleased to see that Karen Porter from the bookstore was able to have all the books in time because last year I was unable to obtain even one full set of Brandon's books. This year, they were well stocked.

If one were to guess the amount of people planning to attend the book signing from the facebook page, they would have been surprised. I think we had over fifty people waiting in line at the time the Tower Guards arrived, and we arrived at least three hours prior to the Signing. We got ourselves set up and Dennis got started right away asking people questions from his specially prepared list. I will include the questions at the end of this report. I must say that the people who "WON" the prizes deserved them. These were no easy questions. In the meantime, I had my cell phone on and was patiently waiting for a call from Brandon and Harriet's driver's to tell us they arrived, when all of a sudden, in walks Brandon. It was like, HE's here..OMG...he's here.

One of the fan's went up and introduced himself to Brandon, reminding him that they met before and Brandon being the gentleman that he is, started to get involved in the conversation. We,. the Tower Guards being jealous of our personal time with Brandon and feeling it dwindle away, rushed him off to the fourth floor where the Coop kindly brought up a light lunch for us all. One of the Guards met with Harriet and we all sat down for our books to be signed, receive special instructions and ask questions.

We're not allowed to "discuss" spoilers but suffice it to say that most of our questions were met with "RAFO". I needed to be told what RAFO stood for. (Read and Found Out). Brandon told us that this was one of +Robert Jordan's favorite answers. I can see why. After our time for which I and I'm certain the other Tower Guards are forever grateful for, we went to the book signing area where it seemed that the amount of people tripled. The first thing evident other than the size of the crowd was the diversity of the crowd. We had people from all over the world, Brazil, Portugal, India, China, Korea, Japan, Israel and Lebanon. Children, infant's and parents all were together to show support and love for the Wheel of Time Series and for their new favorite author.

I met many people there who actually found out about the Wheel of Time because of Brandon's Sanderson's books and vice versa. While listening to many of the conversations the majority of people echoed the grateful feelings that Brandon is the one finishing the Series and that he is doing a "bang up job" of it. (bang up job-not being my words). I don't remember her name, sorry, but when I was asked by a young lady who the woman was sitting next to Brandon and I told her that it was Harriet, +Robert Jordan's widow, she was in awe almost to the point of tears.

Brandon was introduced by Richard, a member of the Harvard Coop who was incredible. He compared the Wheel of Time with Mahabaharat both in size and complexity and really "blew it out the of the ballpark"! Brandon said a few words and made his plea for everyone to patronize the book store and thanked the Harvard Coop for hosting us. He then introduced Harriet who read from my book! Squee!! Brandon had chosen to read from my book last year and HE mentioned that Harriet should read from my book this year so I would have a set. Isn't he Super Fantastic??!! Silly question I know.

Harriet read the Prologue and the few dry eyes that were in the crowd were probably hiding their tears well. I hope that my Tower Guard who had to step away for a moment doesn't get angry at me for writing this. What passion! What a Blessing to have had Harriet with us!

After the Reading, which I do have on video and will post here, the actual signing took place. On a sidenote, my Red Sister, Kaths made me a shawl so that I could have it in time for the signing, and Harriet LOVED it. Kaths, you did good! I draped the shawl over the chair that Harriet or Brandon were going to sit in and there it stayed!

Venkat and Andrea, who is the Mistress of Novices at theoryland.net, immediately started taking pictures, Bob and Dennis organized the people and started asking questions, I was standing there to make sure that everything was going well and if Brandon or Harriet needed anything, I was there to get it . The line went quickly with many surprise gifts for Brandon, Peter, his assistant, and Harriet.

We actually finished half an hour prior to Brandon's deadline and got to spend an extra half an hour of quality time with the small group that remained. There were many people that made great impressions on us. The Wolf Brother was one, Kalyani, who made special t-shirts for Brandon and Harriet and a special one for Peter, because he answers all her questions. Kalyana was promised to be a Trooper/Guard next year and it struck a chord because the first thing out of her mouth was, "I hope I am in the US next year." I will go anywhere." It's fair to say that all who heard her heartfelt wish also want her to be in the US for the next Signing. Kalyani, I hope to see you next year!

The little babies who were at the signing were a treasure but the young 13 year old who asked Brendan a question to which he was answered.."RAFO" was adorable. Okay,so I'm showing my age..but he was. Last but not least was the Pi Lanningham. who insisted that he be the "last" in line. Check out his t-shirt. I want one of those!

After everyone had their books signed, extra books signed for the Coop, we presented Harriet and Brandon with our gifts to them. We got "Dark Magic Cards" for Brandon and a Harvard Sweatshirt for him and for Harriet. My trooper decided to get some small gifts for Brandon's children because as he said, parents love to buy gifts for their children and it didn't look like Brandon would have any time to do much shopping. I agree, great job!

After the signing a small group of us,not wanting to end this magical day went to Grendel's Den and had dinner. Thank you Alric, it was a perfect place to talk, eat, have a drink and re-hash the events of the day.

I would like to end this report by mentioning the dedication of the Towers of Midnight. What a tribute!

I offer my sincere Thanks to Brandon, Harriet and all of you who work behind the scenes. This was a great signing because of all your hard work and dedication and the Troopers and I thank you so much for this opportunity.

May your Memory Be Eternal Creator!
respectfully submitted on behalf of the Boston Tower Guards
by Helane Hilwa Katir
Sister of the Red Ajah

SciFi.bg speaks with a world-known writer. The creator of Mistborn tells his Bulgarian fans more about himself and his work.

Brandon Sanderson is a fantasy writer of top class. He's relatively young for his fame—only 36 years old, he's already known for his Mistborn book series. The word of his success reached Harriet McDougal, the wife and editor of the late Roberd Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time book series. His widow chose Sanderson to finish the work of Jordan. In 2009 Sanderson announced that he accepts the challenge and will finish the saga in three additional books, but will remain faithful to the plans of the original author. Two are already on the market and the last book has yet to come.

SciFi.bg spoke with the writer and told him that he has many fans in Bulgaria. Brandon himself, as a fan of the genre, knows how they feel and decided to please his readers with an interview, where he'd thank them, reveal more about himself and his future projects.

We're releasing the original text of the interview due to the high interest from Brandon Sanderson's fans abroad.

"Creator shelter us," she whispered.

Mat scowled. "You know, that's what Tuon said." (p. 624)

[The next piece of conversation was between RJ and a guy from Russia. He started off asking how he liked Russia (since RJ went there before), and this whooooole thing got rolling. For the first part, I’ll just say that RJ has met some rather dangerous Russian mafia types (heh). Robert Jordan, a white-knuckled translator ready to wet himself, and a Godfather-type guy. “How do you know what you know?” Interesting picture there.

Second part: What everyone wants to know: RJ’s drinking habits.
When he was in Russia, he was surprised by the drinking there. Everyone says that Russians can and do drink a lot, he said, but he was amused that people kept telling HIM to slow down and eat before drinking. The man can handle a good deal. I mean, ****, he said vodka was like mother’s milk.

“When I was young, when I really used to drink”—Imagine if you will, the Creator himself, sitting at a table with a bunch of drunken buddies. There’s $4700 dollars on the table. Yes, this is a drinking game. At any point, someone can say ‘stand’. The drinkers have to stand up, hold their hands above their heads, spin around three times, and sit back down. If you become unable to do that, you lose. After TWO QUARTS of Russian vodka, everyone else is floored, and our man wins. Not only that, but he drags his drunken friend back to their room. He mentioned that he didn’t get undressed for bed that night (as if admitting some weakness from the alcohol).

He used to know all of 7 words of useful Russian, most of them curses (he repeated two of them, to the amusement of the guy he was talking to).]

This entry is a collection of tweets by Brandon announcing the names of the fans who won the charity contest to get their names in Towers of Midnight. Also named in the book were Matt Hatch, webmaster of Theoryland (innkeeper at The Dusty Wheel); Melissa Craib, webmaster of Tar Valon (innkeeper at The Seven-Striped Lass); and Jason Denzel, webmaster of Dragonmount (innkeeper at The Happy Throng). Also included were Kate Nepveu, an old rasfwrj fan and blogger for Tor.com, and Anthony Aziz of TarValon.net, who won the JordanCon 2010 auction. According to Linda's article on the subject, Padra was named after Tricia Erikson, a JordanCon publicist who passed away recently from cancer.

I missed these tweets by Brandon (date unknown), but Linda kindly shared them with me:

BRANDON SANDERSON

Oh, one more. Joel Derby, you're dead too.

Also, Nick Okamoto, I used your name in Towers of Midnight this morning. Congrats.

Need to name two men who die gruesome deaths in Towers of Midnight. Tim Riddell, William Reeves, RIP.

Also, John Sloan, you survive.

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Matt Peck

For Rand to be Aemon reborn, Rand would have to be the same height as Aemon if Lanfear was correct in The Shadow Rising that Rand is always the same height in each of his lives.

RJ stated that Aemon was 6'1" tall, but when I asked if Lanfear was correct, RJ stated that she was not. Normally this would not say either way if Rand was Aemon.

RJ knew immediately where I was heading (this is one very intelligent man). RJ confirmed that Rand is NOT Aemon. :-(

MAHIRO

*sighs*. He stated that it was like an author's prerogative to dangle "bait" in front of people and snatch it away. That's cruel and twisted. :-)

This not just torpedoes my theory out of the water, but just nukes it completely.

Thanks to Adrian for letting me use you as a sounding board for my theory.

If anyone wants his exact words, I can post a transcript later.

Here's what I got...

MAHIRO

Mr. Jordan...

The Creator

Yeah.

MAHIRO

How tall was the last king of Manetheren?

The Creator

The last king of Manetheren...?

MAHIRO

Uh-huh.

The Creator

The last king of... Height?

MAHIRO

Yes.

The Creator

Ummm...He'd be about 6'1" [six feet one inch].

MAHIRO

6'1"? Okay. And was Lanfear correct that Rand is always the same height in each of his lives?

The Creator

Ahhh, no.

MAHIRO

No... okay. Thank you.

The Creator

Rand uhhh, Rand was not the last King of Manetheren.

MAHIRO

Thank you.

The Creator

I very rarely come out and tell you guys something like that. It's much more intriguing to simply dangle a bit of "bait" in front of you and snatch it away. But, ahh no. That's that's that's definitely a "blue sky" direction.

MAHIRO

Aan'allein, there it is nervous statements and all. You should have been there. "you can... hear him. You can... bathe in his presence...words cannot even begin to describe it. You must experience it to know. You must."

I told him Asmodean was my favorite character, and he said "Oh, I would have thought Semirhage."

KEITH CASNER

Yow! The Creator takes me for an inhumanly cruel guy on first sight—I need to change my image.

Hey guys, long time no chat.. been a few months since I posted and a few years since I was active. Anyways...totally back into it so maybe you'll see me around more/again.

Tonight I dropped in at the Coop for a signing by Robert Jordan and I was really surprised with how he totally didn't fit the perception I'd had of him. Amazing guy, he really was. Shook his hand, he spoke fantastically, just overwhelmed to have met the Creator.

A few things to note of interest:

Reporter

Robert Jordan

Reporter

Robert Jordan

Reporter

On the question on the "alignment" of the characters, he said that there are no completely good character in the books, as he thought such a character would be completely boring (right—Galad is boring!—my comment), and would probably be killed rather quickly, like other fully good persons in the world. He took Jesus as example of this. Instead, every person struggles with the good and bad sides of his/her personality.

Another point he pressed was that "no one's going to rescue you", there are not going to happen any miracles. The Creator shaped the world and set the rules, but does not interfere. Humankind messed things up, and have to fix it too, as well as finding the truth themselves.

So you must be (of) the guys that asked me about my question about Axies the Creator:

I asked if Axies could regrow limbs, and he stated that he could do 'some interesting things', and that the two species of Aimian (whom Axies is of) each do different interesting things.

Let's flip the conceptual pancake a little bit in terms of collaboration, and let's think about the idea of you coming up with the concept, you creating the world, and then turning that over to other people to write short stories about.

Right. Yeah, I've considered that. I know that Eric Flint has had a lot of success with that, and created an entire community based around—what's it, the...1632? Is that the name? It's a number, so [?]—it's his big alternate history line where the community has essentially created a short story magazine based in this world almost without his involvement—he's of course been involved, but it's [?], and it's fascinating how the fans have jumped into this world and really created something where it's essentially sanctioned fanfic by Eric, which becomes canon because they all work together and create this story together. It's very interesting. I've considered doing that with novel ideas—and you see this happening sometimes with writers—I've got, now with the Wheel of Time that takes so much of my dedication and time—and, you know, rightly so; I want these books to be fantasticvI can't work on all the side projects I used to, which is a little bit sad to me, so I've considered getting some authors that I know and respect who are wanting to break in, writing out a 20,000-word outline and saying, "Okay, take this and make it 90,000 words; let's see what it turns into. I've considered doing that; I don't know if I'll ever actually do it, but I've considered seeing what that would do.

BILL CUNNINGHAM

Well, it does have its roots in the old pulp publishing model, where the editor would assign a story concept or a character to a writer, and also, in the 60s there was a gentleman by the name of—and he's somebody I've been researching lately, so he's on my mind as I say this—his name was Lyle Kenyon Engel, and he was a gentleman who gave John Jakes one of his major breaks, and James Reasoner, who was a huge Western author—some of their breaks, and several other very well-known authors of mysteries and genre fiction—their breaks—but he was, in essence, a "book packager". He would come up with the concept; he would pitch the publisher, and say "We're going to create a series of books based around this central character. I will have my writers write it, but this is basically what you're going to get." You know, "Can we put you down for," you know, "this series of eight books, and then we'll go from there." You know, and then he would hire the writers to write for that. Being as you're, you know, in the Wheel of Time now, you know...tremendous opportunity...

BRANDON SANDERSON

Mmhmm.

BILL CUNNINGHAM

The drawbacks are that you're working in somebody else's wheelhouse.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yep.

BILL CUNNINGHAM

But is that really a drawback?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Well, for this particular project, no. But it's very specific. There are a couple of things going on here. First of all, I read Eye of the World in 1990 in paperback when it first came out and have been reading these books as they came out ever since. I read them through numerous times. One of my favorite authors of all time, if not my favorite author, is Robert Jordan. And so, the chance on the fanboy side...heh. To be perfectly honest, to work on this, to take this master who's inspired me, and then be part of it, is incredible.

BILL CUNNINGHAM

I can hear the glee from here.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yeah. It's amazing. I don't know that I would have said yes to anyone else, because of some of the limitations. Now, another limitation that I don't have to deal with in this that you do have to in other shared worlds is...Harriet, the editor and wife of Robert Jordan, handed me the project and essentially gave me carte blanche, said "Okay, this is your project now. You write this project as you feel you need to write it. Here are the notes." You know, "Don't throw out anything from the notes unless you've got a really good reason, but you're in charge." I'm not just the writer; I'm the project manager and the story developer and all these things wrapped up in one, which is what you're not if you're writing for something like Star Wars. You are one of many; you have to be micro-managed quite a bit, as I understand, when you're writing for one of these type of properties.

BILL CUNNINGHAM

[Something about Wikipedia]

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yeah. I don't have to do that. Now I do have to make sure I'm being consistent with the world and things, but I've got lots of continuity experts in-house who can help me to make sure that that happens, but really, I've got creative control. The final say is with Harriet, but I've got a lot of creative power. And I'm using that to actually not use it very often. Whenever Robert Jordan has something in the notes, I'm using what he said—I'm not taking this and trying to make it my own—but it is incredibly liberating to work on a project like this and also have, at the same time, this creative control. So that's another aspect of it.

Now, the big limitation is, it doesn't belong to me—which is fine, for this project—but that's the thing you have to get into. Like, when that "book packager" is pitching a series of books, he's gonna own that story from the copyright, which makes me very wary as a writer. The other great thing about being an author as opposed to being in film, or being in television, or even being in music a lot of times is that you, as the writer, own the whole thing. You generally don't sign away characters, worlds, setting, or anything—it's all yours. You have complete control over your story. A publisher like Tor buys the rights generally to publish it in English in North America. That's what they do. They get to package it how they want, they have control over the art and things like that, but the words are mine, and I retain control. The copyright is mine, which is fantastically different than if you're working in the video game industry, for instance. If you're working for a company and you come up with this brilliant, wonderful story, and you've developed it, and you work on it, and you have this amazing video game come out, the company then owns rights to all that, and can do whatever they want with it. The same thing generally with comic books—not always, but a lot of the time—and, you know, what you get instead is a regular paycheck, which for an artist is a pretty nice thing, but you trade off on that creative control, and creative ownership. And in novels you still have that creative ownership. It's the only major entertainment medium where the creator retains ownership so wholly.

And so, that's the biggest thing that worries me about collaborations and things like that is, you know, who has ownership? This is the last, so-to-speak, line of defense in that. Some other industry executives' minds when they find out... If something gets really big like Harry Potter, Scholastic or Bloomsbury doesn't own that; J. K. Rowling does. And by the corporate-think, that's really ridiculous; they shouldn't be allowing that to happen. But for the artist, it's what's best for the series, I think, and the story, and it allows the artist to be in control. So, yeah. That's the big line of defense, and we are very, very wary in science fiction and fantasy in particular, about letting any sort of contract language slip in which would infringe on that.

CHRISTIAN LINDKE

One of the challenges of the translation of Terry Goodkind's novels to the television is the fact that, here you have of these long epic novels that advance, in Terry's case, a particular philosophic position, and you end up with a pretty good [?]—I'm not disparaging the show; I actually really like Legend of the Seeker—but it's very different to watch that kind of slapsticky, samurai-y moment in the middle of Terry Goodkind's story. So I know exactly what you're saying; I think it's a perfect example.

BRANDON SANDERSON

And just think if they'd been able to do Wizard's First Rule as a complete, one-season epic arc, rather than having to worry about slapstick and things like this.

Mike Steeves

Robert Jordan

My pal Larry Correia, author of the Monster Hunter International series, is running a kickstarter for a MHI world book/tabletop roleplaying game. The kickstarter is actually already funded, but it looks cool. If you like shooting monsters with accurately described guns, this might be for you.

The most recent Writing Excuses episode is another live episode recorded at GenCon Indy. We spoke with James L Sutter about writing tie-in fantasy fiction. He's the co-creator of the Pathfinder RPG system and is the editor of all Pathfinder fiction, so if you've ever been interested in writing in a universe like that, check it out!

He began all his books with the wind blowing. Breath, to instill life into his characters. In the Bible, Job 33:4 says, "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." When other writers would talk of their characters taking on life of their own, and controlling the story, he said, "I am an Old Testament creator: My fist is in the middle of my characters' lives."

Oh, dear, dear man. And what a creator he was! And, as Scott Card said of The Eye of the World, what a powerful vision of good and evil.

On January 8 you will see the final turning of his powerful vision. It comes to you with his love. And mine.

Brandon Sanderson was a rising star in the fantasy field when in 2007, he was chosen to complete The Wheel of Time, a massive, landmark series that had legions of dedicated fans waiting for the finale. The series' creator Jim Rigney (writing as Robert Jordan) had died with the series unfinished, leaving behind a couple hundred pages of notes for what he had thought would be the final volume.

In the end, it took Sanderson three volumes to wrap up the series. The eagerly anticipated final book, A Memory of Light, arrives on bookshelves this week. Sanderson and series editor, Harriet McDougal (who is also Rigney's widow), will be at the Har Mar Barnes and Noble this Tuesday for a talk and signing.

The author took some time from his busy schedule to answer a few questions about coming to the end of the task, and what fans can expect in A Memory of Light.

Fantasy and science fiction fans have every reason to be skeptical about the endings of long-running sagas, many of which never materialize or prove resoundingly disappointing, but Sanderson hopes A Memory of Light will be the exception. Certainly fans have high expectations, with some lining up at Sanderson’s first signing as much as two weeks in advance.

Geek's Guide to the Galaxy

If there are three people, and person 1 balefires person 2, then person 3 balefires person 1, does person 2 come back to life?

Brandon reminded the fan that when someone asked Robert Jordan this question, Mr. Jordan responded by saying the asker needed the love of a man, woman, or schnauzer of his choice. There is actually a correct answer: balefire removes a thread from the Pattern, and, once removed, that thread cannot be replaced.

RJ gave an answer to this question in Australia in 1999 that contradicts Brandon's answer here. RJ said that person 2 would come back to life; this was confirmed by another report at the same signing. Furthermore, there is an unattributed Q&A from Thus Spake the Creator in which RJ states (more specifically, perhaps) that it depends on the strength of the balefire, presumably because a very small amount would not burn person 1's thread back far enough to bring person 2 back to life. [Brandon later said it was his mistake, and Maria said that the 'depends on strength' answer is probably the correct one.]

Finally, it was in response to a question about opening a gateway behind yourself and then using balefire that RJ told the person to get a life, not the question asked here (and he actually referred to a German Shepherd, not a schnauzer).

(split from another question) ...And a question chosen vicariously for another friend: has the Creator been very intimately and directly connected to the story, or is he kind of like the absent god, where he set things in motion and left?

(split from another question) ...And then, the question of the role of the Creator, by which you mean God, not the writer?

Paul Williams

Yes, exactly. [laughter]

Harriet McDougal

As you know, he said he didn't believe writers who said, "I just work to a certain point and then the characters take it over." He said, "I don't believe that for a minute." [laughter] Actually, what he said was, "I am Old Testament god, and my fist is in the middle of my characters' lives." But the way he envisions the Light in these books is that they have a very immediate sense of the Creator, which is—they don't need churches, because he's right there for them. Not that they don't believe; they believe so deeply that they live their lives in a sense of God, the Creator.

Paul Williams

And the question is also, has the Creator been intimately connected to Rand's journey? Did the Creator purposefully set Rand up to be the Dragon Reborn?

Harriet McDougal

I think only in the sense that the Creator is perceived by the characters as being pretty intimately involved in all their lives.

Paul Williams

Thank you. Tai'shar!

I put it in as RJ instructed, and I know nothing more about it than fandom does, I'm afraid.

James Starke

Popular theory is that from his time with the Dark One/Creator/Pattern, he's able to manipulate The Pattern a bit.

Brandon Sanderson

This is a good theory.

Jonathan B

What's your opinion on how pipe lighting was or could have been done even if we don't have RJ's answer?

Brandon Sanderson

Ha. I agree with some of the fan discussions.

Andrew Mudge

Is Rand the missing link between the Pattern and the Creator himself, possibly even the balancer of light/dark?

Brandon Sanderson

That's one possible theory.

Mike Ball

How did Rand light the pipe at the end of A Memory of Light?

Brandon Sanderson

I know no more on this than fandom does, I'm afraid. RJ did not explain.

Terry Benton

I still can't figure it out...how did Rand light his pipe? Is he in Tel'aran'rhioid? Is everybody??

Dan Zambito

Can you explain how Rand lit his pipe in the last scene? Did he discover a new power? Is he a new power?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm afraid I don't know anything more than fandom does about this. RJ did not leave notes on the matter.

I have been advised to RAFO questions regarding most everything from there on.

Brandon Sanderson

It's funny to say RAFO when there is no more to read, but what that term means is "This is supposed to be ambiguous."

David Catherine

With all of the homages to global myths/legends, is Nakomi the Wandering Jew/Jenn?

Brandon Sanderson

That's a very clever question that nobody has yet asked me. I'm not going to say more, however.

Ryan Lee

I gotta ask, is Nakomi / the Woman at the End a Shard of Adonalsium? Perhaps Balance?

Brandon Sanderson

No. There is not crossover between my shared world and the Wheel of Time. (Sorry.)

kcf

Who helped Rand out of the Shayol Ghul after the fight with the Dark One and told him he knew what he needed to do?

Brandon Sanderson

Hi, Neth. This is one I'm not answering, but if you track me down in person, you might be able to beat it out of me.

Terez

Is Nakomi the avatar of the Creator?

Werthead

SIFADFOE (Scream In Frustration And Don't Find Out, Ever) :-)

Terez

Yay, that means I can officially not give a shit about Nakomi. :)

Brandon Sanderson

You are allowed that right officially. She's becoming the Asmodean kill of this sequence of books.

Brandon Sanderson

I, of course, should have realized she'd become so big a thing as she did—but that wasn't the intention.

Melissa Houghton

I want to know what the heck was with Nakomi—who/what she is. Also was that her at the end of A Memory of Light?

Brandon Sanderson

Just answered this. Have a look below. (Sorry. It's a RAFO, I'm afraid.)

Peter Wikberg

Who/What is Nakomi?

Brandon Sanderson

That is a good question, but not one I'm planning to answer any time soon. (sorry.)

Arran Cook

Who was Nakomi? How did the body swap happen? How did Rand light the pipe?

Brandon Sanderson

You've asked all three of the big questions I'm not allowed or unable to answer, I'm afraid.

Lachie Stoller

Who was the old Aiel lady at the end of Rand's battle?

James Starke

Is Nakomi the person that Rand encountered at the mouth of Shayol Ghul? And is she the embodiment of The Creator?

Brandon Sanderson

This is one that I'm not answering, I'm afraid. RJ wanted some things about the ending to remain ambiguous.

There are far more reasons, worldbuilding wise, to believe it was real than to believe it was illusion.

TJ

Is Rand's soul in Moridin's body?

Brandon Sanderson

Ha. Right to the point, are you? Let's just say that trickery is not likely in this case.

TJ

Can you confirm that Rand's body was burned at the end of A Memory of Light?

Brandon Sanderson

Okay, fine. Yes, I will confirm that Rand's body was indeed the one that was burned. :)

Jonathan MacAlpine

Why didn't anybody notice when a supposedly-dead Moridin got up and walked away?

Brandon Sanderson

I'd say coincidence. But there aren't many of those in the WoT world.

Siraaj

Seems like a conversation between the Creator and Rand was missing where "switch" and Alivia's role in it are laid out—thoughts?

Brandon Sanderson

I believe that RJ included everything he wanted in this sequence.

Jason Cassidy

Why did Rand switch bodies at the end and why is he going incognito now? Did not understand that part.

Brandon Sanderson

RJ wrote these scenes, and intended to leave them as is. I don't think me delving into explanations is what he'd want.

El Brian

Did the bonding between Rand, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Min transfer over to the new body?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, though I don't know how or why.

Kamarile Sedai

Why did the bond survive the body switch at the end of A Memory of Light?

Brandon Sanderson

I don't know. RJ did not explain this one to me.

J Crosby

How were Rand/Elan able to switch bodies?

Sean Duffy

How did Rand wind up with Moridin's body?

James Starke

Could you explain further about the body switch and how it was possible?

Brandon Sanderson

This is one that I'm not answering, I'm afraid. RJ wanted some things about the ending to remain ambiguous.

"That was exactly as Jim wrote it."
"He wanted to leave you feeling that the next Age will be even stranger than the last."

Asha'Gerard

I asked if Rand now had some powers of the Creator & she again reiterated (maybe clarified?) that the next Age will be profoundly different.

So I then asked if that ability is going to be exclusively Rand's & she spread her hands to give me a look that said "maybe, maybe not".

The vibe I got from her is that she didn't really know what her husband meant for that to mean and she didn't want to say one way or another, but that is just my opinion so take it for what it's worth.

The Dark One seems to be conscious and aware of the events in the world. Is the Creator also conscious of world events?

Brandon said that's left up to the reader. He then said that many people think the voice in all caps in The Eye of the World is the Creator, which might indicate the Creator was, but stated it really wasn't known even in-world.

But that was all ephemera. In each town, fans ask the same questions, and Sanderson, with incredible class and a humble nature, answers as if it was the first time he'd ever been asked the question. In our conversation beforehand, we talked about how the signature was really irrelevant next to the chance to shake hands, to whisper thanks, to have the eye to eye link between creator and fan. That is what makes the wait worth it.

My real joy of the evening came in waiting in the line, folding the pages to offer to Brandon. Being able to be a fly on the wall of those meetings, those links between author and fan, was incredible. It was energizing and vibrant. Each time, Sanderson would take a book, shake a hand, and ask politely if there were any questions. Many people said "No, this book speaks for itself, but I just wanted to thank you for seeing it through." Of those questions asked, the overwhelming number asked about the Tinkers' Song, which I began to link to the Buddha's sense of enlightenment—If someone hands you enlightenment, it is not worth anything at all.

A young woman came up with a beaten and bruised Wheel of Time book and Mistborn hardback. She said that she loved these books, and it was incredibly difficult to find them in her village back in India. Another woman drove five hours to be here. Yet another stumbled in seeing the Memory Keeper shirts, because her boyfriend was a huge fan and had no idea the signing was happening.

A young man brought in copper etched plates with maps from Mistborn that he had made himself. Sanderson's jaw dropped then.

And through it all, Sanderson sat there, smiled, and signed. Every person was met with patience and pleasure, and allowed as much time as it took to say whatever was weighing on their heart. And Harriet, the quintessence of class.

Harriet, do you have any insight on this one?

Harriet McDougal

Well, this may sound silly, but I think the real answer for you is to be found in the Book of Job, where there is a tremendously hands-off Creator. And I personally have always had a lot of trouble with the Book of Job. But Robert Jordan was brought up Baptist, and was brought up in the belief that the Bible in one man's hands is enough to get that man to heaven, to the presence of God, in the long run. And I think that there are no churches in the Wheel of Time, they're very aware of goodness. They know what the Light is, even though they're not talking to it. If that helps.

Question

Yes, thank you.

Harriet joined in the storytelling when it came to the point where Brandon was offered the gig to finish writing the series.

Harriet also told of how she realized Brandon would be "The Guy" (or as I've sometimes thought, the proverbial Rand al'Thor tapped on the shoulder by the creator to take up the tale). She also relayed her conversation with Tom Doherty, after being handed a printout of Brandon's eulogy for Robert Jordan. Doherty was concerned that maybe Harriet didn't connect with Brandon's writing because Harriet fell asleep after reading a small portion of Mistborn: The Final Empire. Harriet said because she didn't want to (a) correct everything in the book due to her editor's mindset or (b) throw the book across the room in frustration, she felt comfortable with the story he was telling. She also told Doherty, "Besides, I'm not hiring him to write a Mistborn novel, I'm hiring him to write a Wheel of Time novel."

Harriet mentioned that when she called information for Provo, Utah, she was given Brandon Sanderson's phone number, but the person with whom she spoke on the phone had no idea about what she was talking. As it turned out, another Brandon Sanderson lives in Provo, UT but he's a professional wrestler. When she called Brandon after getting his number from Tor, she told him he was on the short list and held up one finger for the audience. Brandon, after thinking about it, said yes. Again, he didn't let Joshua do any negotiating, Brandon simply said yes.

I somehow ended up mentioning that I answered the trick trivia question on Nakomi, I told him I said my personal theory and that Brandon wasn't allowed to answer any questions about her.

He then asked what my theory was (-with an obvious poker face on-), I said that I found it obvious that Nakomi is the Creator (he goes mmmhmm). Then one of the Memory Keepers remarks "But Bela is the Creator!" to which I came up with the new theory that Nakomi is the Creator because Rand wouldn't be able to handle a talking horse.

Oh by the way, there are also no edits.

Oh, good. Okay.

John Hartness

Hey y'all. Welcome back to Literate Liquors. I'm John Hartness. I'm your host, and I am still here at LibertyCon. I would say, thus the same t-shirt. But since I had t-shirts printed for the show, I'm probably always going to be wearing a "Read Recklessly" t-shirt from here on out. So get used to it. I do have two and I wash them a lot.

Brandon Sanderson

(laughs)

John Hartness

I also have more than one pair of black jeans. Just sayin'. I know I go to cons, but I'm not one of those scary gamer guys. Anyway, here with me . . .

Brandon Sanderson

You're actually pretty scary. I don't know . . .

John Hartness

But I'm not much of a gamer guy . . .

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah . . . There you go. I guess that was a truthful statement.

John Hartness

Yeah. So, here with me this evening is New York Times best-selling author, Parsec award winning Podcaster, all-around cool dude, writing instructor to the masses, Wheel of Time finisher-upper, Mistborn creator . . .

Brandon Sanderson

Secret assassin of JFK. Oh wait, we aren't supposed to say that. Nevermind.

John Hartness

Shit. I told you no edits. Brandon Sanderson, folks.

Brandon Sanderson

Hi.

John Hartness

Out there somewhere there are people applauding.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, good. Okay. Hi. Yes, I'm Brandon. I write books and stuff.

Did the Creator ever manifest in the books? And I don't mean the VOICES IN CAPS.

RAFO!

Question

Did the Creator speak in ALL CAPS at least once or twice?

Brandon Sanderson

The same voice spoke in all caps in the series.

Have you heard the rumors about Bela being the Creator?

I have indeed, and I find them very amusing.

Hey Brandon! I'm the redheaded dude who was helping at the last two Midnight Release parties, and I am actually at BYU right now. I have two questions:

I know you've said you can't answer these directly, so, rather than give the "official" answer, I was wondering if you could give us your "fan theory" on the answer, as if you weren't the writer.

What do you think about Mat, Rand, and Perrin keeping certain "abilities"? I know you've said that they may or may not still be ta'veren, and Perrin thinks they aren't, but can Perrin still talk to wolves? Is Mat still lucky? Does Mat still have his memories?

In your opinion, who do you think Nakomi was? Do you like the "Nakomi is the avatar of the Creator theory"? Do you think of her as the third member of the Christian godhead?

Finally, Harriet was quoted as saying that she thinks Rand's special ability at the end was a "new magic"? Do you agree? Or do you think it is something else?

Thanks for being awesome!

1. Perrin can still talk to wolves. That is certain. Also, Mat keeps his memories. These two are official, not theories on my part. What I can't give official on is the ta'veren-ness of the guys. I don't think RJ ever even says in the notes. Me? I think they aren't.

2. I'm too close to this one. I can't say, unfortunately. I can answer as a fan for things I don't know because it's not in the notes, or for things I could theorize about before I came onto the project. For things I learned about while working, I don't have a "fan" perspective, only a writer perspective. Sorry.

3. Harriet is more likely to be right than I am, but I don't believe it is a new magic. I think it is a result of Rand touching the Pattern directly.

iwasazombie

Awesome! So, I'm still unsure about Mat's luck. Would you say that's part of his "ta'veren-ness?"

Thanks for the great answers. I'm more at peace now with some of the previous answers you've given.

Brandon Sanderson

My gut tells me Mat still has his luck, but not to the extent he once had. But I have no foundation for this in the notes.

I know this post is 12 hours old but I really hope you get a chance to answer my question. You did a fine job finishing the series, Brandon. This is coming from a 17 year fan.

RJ once mentioned that, during previous iterations of the Wheel, the Dragon turned (or was turned, I can't recall) to the Shadow. Now, it's somewhat apparent that the Dragon, as a stabilising force on the Pattern, is more than a simple mortal who can channel, which makes me wonder what would happen to a Dragon/Creator avatar if its essence became that of the Shadow. I imagine it would be something akin to the Dark One's evil, but still opposite in nature.

So is Mordeth/Ordeith/Fain the roaming essence of a Dragon who never had his Dragonmount Moment?

That's a very interesting theory about Fain. I don't believe that the books specifically rule it out. However, I don't have any special information that can confirm it for you. (Sorry.)

shrevid

Thank you!

Could you explain what the deal is with the Great Serpent? I was half-expecting it to appear in the middle of the big showdown at the end of A Memory of Light. Is it just a different metaphor for the Wheel?

Did we ever meet the Creator in the series? If so, who?

I'll preface this with a warning. Even though the series is done, and I can speak more freely, some things are intended to be vague by RJ's own intention. This allows dreaming and thinking about the world to continue. For example, I can't answer question 2 for these reasons. For question one, I think RJ himself was vague. (Maybe a Theorylander can speak here.) This isn't one I'm capable of answering, because I don't want to make an answer canon one way or another, as I don't think RJ wanted that.

How are you seeing the internet impact the industry?

One thing it's really changed is allowing authors to have a lot more direct interaction with fans, which is wonderful because we are directly supported by readers. Even though there are editors and people, there are very few middlemen even in fantasy, even in writing. To the point that, when you interact with me, what I mean is you're interacting with the content creator directly, which is fun. It's awesome. It allows me to actually get feedback from fans, to talk to fans, to thank the people who are supporting me. And like I said, there's very few layers between, but in the old days there was that buffer. You know, people used to send letters to the publisher, and then the publisher would send to the author, right? And granted, the publisher's not opening them and stuff. It's not like there's a big buffer there, but it's taking time, and there's just that step. And that step has vanished, which I like.

It is changing publishing. It's democratizing publishing. I really think this is a good thing for particularly our genre, where you will have a lot of things in sci-fi/fantasy that are not even the mainstream of sci-fi and fantasy. And sci-fi/fantasy alone is already not the mainstream. So when you go a couple niches down, you can find these things that a certain core audience would love, but it's very hard to market nationally. And this helps a lot more variety come into the genre. And that whole connecting directly with fans helps with people building a brand and breaking in, even if they aren't going traditional. The whole self-publishing has been a great boon, I think, specifically to science fiction and fantasy, in helping to add variety.

Ebooks mean that when I write 400,000 word novels, I don't have to apologize quite so much. Because people can buy it in ebook, and I say it weighs the same amount. So there is that. Otherwise, there are so many things changing.

In the Wheel of Time books, did the Creator have a power, similar to the True Power that the Dark One had?

I'm afraid I don't have the answer for this, not for certain. I think that readers of the text could argue both ways. For example, a certain event in the epilogue of AMOL could be interpreted this way—though everyone in Team Jordan seems to have a different opinion on what is going on, and RJ didn't leave an explanation.