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Interviews: Letter to Pam Korda
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Pam Korda
Several months ago, I sent RJ the WOTFAQ, and I wrote a letter. (The first fan letter I have ever written, btw.) I asked 3 questions, and they were all answered. (This is due to the type of questions I asked—nothing plot-related.) So, anyway, RJ gave me permission to share the responses, so here goes:
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Pam Korda
When Fades use their swords, we often see blue flashes when the Fade blade hits another weapon. Is this an interaction between the Fade blade and a specific sort of weapon (such as other Fade blades, or Aes Sedai-forged swords), or an interaction between the Fade blade and any iron, or is it just a special effect with no special basis?
Robert Jordan
The reaction is specific. The Fade's sword striking Power-wrought metal.Pam Korda
(Since we've seen the sparks when two Fade blades meet, does this mean Fade blades are One Power-wrought?)Tags
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3
Pam Korda
With respect to Aes Sedai-forged weapons, like Lan's sword that never needs sharpening: was the Power just used in the manufacturing process, to change the structure of the steel to make it extra-strong, or was a flow of the Power somehow incorporated into the steel?
(If you'll recall, this was a big argument a few months ago, related to the Fade blade thing.)
Robert Jordan
The Power was used in blending the metals (and other materials...) and altering the structure. There is no source of the Power in these weapons, nor do they draw on the Power like angreal.Tags
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Pam Korda
And for the final one, the requisite "dirty question." Compare the length of this answer to the length of the previous two. I think he LIKES dirty questions. *sniff*
WARNING—NOT FAMILY NEWSFROUP MATERIAL. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.
Question
Where do Trollocs come from? Are there male and female Trollocs that mate? Are there only male Trollocs that mate with animals and/or humans to reproduce? Are Trollocs neuter, grown in a big vat at Shayol Ghul? Inquiring minds want to know!
Robert Jordan
You know the original source, of course...a blending of human and animal genetic material in an effort to produce the "perfect" soldier, though as envisioned by somebody who had never seen combat. Yes, there are female Trollocs, though you don't want to know more than that...there was a clear statement of this actually—that Trollocs breed—when where Myrddraal come from was explained. Sometimes a Trolloc off-spring is a throwback, but not all the way back to human, and twisted. Thus, eyeless but with keen vision, very strong indeed though not in Trolloc-class, able to vanish into shadows & reappear in other shadows.
There are no female Myrddraal; not even the laddie who made the Trollocs in the first place knew why...Myrddraal must have their "pleasures" with captured human women...there is no possibility of cross-breeding—it was tested, during the War of the Power, in the crudest sort of way; the Myrddraal isn't sterile, but its sperm kills both human and Trolloc ova—and the sex practices and other attributes of Myrddraal are such that a very strong woman might retain her sanity for six months, but very few do.
Pam Korda
(Did I ask about the sex practices of Myrddraal? No, I didn't think so.)Robert Jordan
For the record, a Trolloc could also have sex with a human...they are now two completely incompatible species, so there isn't any possibility of offspring—the Forsaken tested that out too... Trollocs are just not interested in human women sexually; to them, humans are just another food animal... Trollocs are of fairly low intelligence (I told you the designer was never in combat), so they would think of it about as we would having sex with sheep, though they would do it if ordered to. They'd just like it better if they could eat her afterwards.Pam Korda
I really, really, really did not want to know about the sexual practices of various Shadowspawn. So, be warned, anybody who thinks to ask a "dirty question."Tags
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