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Your search for the tag 'graendal' yielded 45 results

  • 1

    Interview: Jan 25th, 2005

    Week 12 Question

    In Winters Heart, you mention that back in the Age of Legends, there were several other Forsaken that the Dark One had killed because he suspected they would betray him. What's their story? Were those people ever as high ranking as the 13 survivors, or where they more like high-ranking Dreadlords then actual Forsaken?

    Robert Jordan

    First off, Dreadlords was the name given to men and women who could channel and sided with the Shadow in the Trolloc Wars. Yes, the women were called Dreadlords, too. They might have liked to call themselves "the Chosen," like the Forsaken, but feared to. The real Forsaken might not have appreciated it when they returned, as prophecies of the Shadow foretold would happen. Some of the Dreadlords had authority and responsibility equivalent to that of the Forsaken in the War of the Shadow, however. They ran the Shadow's side of the Trolloc Wars, though without the inherent ability to command the Myrddraal that the Forsaken possess, meaning they had to negotiate with them. Overall command at the beginning was in another's hands.

    Forsaken was the name given to Aes Sedai who went over to the Shadow in the War of the Shadow at the end of the Age of Legends, though of course, they called themselves the Chosen, and despite the tales of the "current" Age, there were many more than a few of them. Since they occupied all sorts of levels, you might say that many were equivalent to some of the lesser Dreadlords, but it would be incorrect to call them so. At the time, they were all Forsaken—or Chosen—from the greatest to the least.

    Some of those Forsaken the Dark One killed were every bit as high-ranking as the thirteen who were remembered, and who you might say constituted a large part of the Dark One's General Staff at the time of the sealing. With the Forsaken, where treachery and backstabbing were an acceptable way of getting ahead, the turnover in the upper ranks was fairly high, though Ishamael, Demandred, Lanfear, Graendal, Semirhage, and later Sammael, were always at the top end of the pyramid. They were very skilled at personal survival, politically and physically.

    In large part the thirteen were remembered because they were trapped at Shayol Ghul, and so their names became part of that story, though it turned out that details of them, stories of them, survived wide-spread knowledge of the tale of the actual sealing itself. Just that they had been sealed away. Other Forsaken were left behind, so to speak, free but in a world that was rapidly sliding down the tube. The men eventually went mad and died from the same taint that killed off the other male Aes Sedai. They had no access to the Dark One's protective filters. The women died, too, though from age or in battle or from natural disasters created by insane male Aes Sedai or from diseases that could no longer be controlled because civilization itself had been destroyed and access to those who were skilled in Healing was all but gone. And soon after their deaths, their names were forgotten, except for what might possibly be discovered in some ancient manuscript fragment that survived the Breaking. A bleak story of people who deserved no better, and not worth telling in any detail.

    Footnote

    The 'another' mentioned at the end of the first paragraph probably refers to Ishamael; there are hints in the BWB that he began the Trolloc Wars during one of the periods where he was free from the Bore.

    Tags

  • 2

    Interview: Jan 25th, 2005

    Week 15 Question

    At the risk of being RAFO'd: Mesaana was punished for ignoring her orders to go to stop Rand from cleansing saidin. Was Semirhage also punished for ignoring orders, or did she have special exemption? (If you're going to RAFO us, consider giving us some other little tidbit instead?)

    Robert Jordan

    Semirhage was present at Shadar Logoth, though not seen. You didn't see Graendal, either, though admittedly Moghedien thought of her, thinking it would be good if she or Cyndane died. If I always tried to show everyone who was present at a battle or the like, the books would be a LOT longer than they are now. And those battles would get rather boring, a list of names. Go down the checklist and make sure everyone gets mentioned. Boring. Anyway, Mesaana was the only one who tried to sit it out. By the way, Moridin also was not present, for reasons that will become self-evident as you read on.

    By the by, Rand and his companions very likely would have been killed or captured if the Forsaken were not who they are, if they had been willing to form links and coordinate their attacks. But they suffer from a combination of arrogance toward the "ignorant peasants" of the current Age and distrust of one another. Forming a link is all very well, but who leads? Which of them would be willing to give up control over their own ability and put it completely under the control of another of them? Who are you willing to let get behind your back in a fight? Moghedien? Semirhage? I didn't think so.

    Footnote

    We did see Graendal at the Cleansing, actually; Verin's group encountered her. As for the 'self-evident' reasons why Moridin was not there, it likely has to do with the sickness caused by his link with Rand (we saw in Knife of Dreams that Moridin also suffers from it). Short of that, it almost surely has something to do with the link between them.

    Tags

  • 3

    Interview: Oct 11th, 2005

    Robert Jordan

    Re: The Path of Daggers, Graendal would have to be using her angreal in order for another female to notice the difference in her strength. Just wearing it does not change how others would perceive her strength.

    Tags

  • 4

    Interview: 2010

    Austin Moore (10 August 2010)

    One thing that confuses me about Asmodean's murder is that RJ said most people who emailed him were wrong. Surprising?

    Brandon Sanderson (10 August 2010)

    No, not surprising. Even if one of the common theories is right, then most people emailing are wrong.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    For sake of argument, suppose a popular theory is correct. The fact that there are hundreds of theories...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    ...means that even if 1/3 of people choose the right theory, 2/3 pick one of the other many theories.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    So whether it's a common theory or an obscure one, most people emailing are wrong.

    TEREZ

    Hundreds? There are less than 10 viable suspects I think, LOL. Maybe 15 if you stretch it.

    TEREZ

    You are probably aware that RJ was willing to eliminate a suspect for Asmodean at two times: in 2001 and in 2005.

    TEREZ

    In 2001 he eliminated Rand on a general question; in 2005 at DragonCon he eliminated Fain from a list of suspects.

    TEREZ

    I think it is time for one more! With only 1.5 years to go, it would be nice to have it narrowed down one more time.

    TEREZ

    This with knowledge that you'd probably have to ask permission, and that it would be the last time before the reveal.

    TEREZ

    The new list should probably be: Lanfear, Graendal, Aviendha, Taim, Slayer, Moiraine, Sammael, Moridin.

    TEREZ

    I don't think anyone seriously argues anyone else, though I could be wrong.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (11 August)

    I will ask if I can eliminate one, just for you.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Lol. Well, I guess there IS a faction that doesn't care: http://bit.ly/cTGbqQ

    AUSTIN MOORE

    For Asmodean's killer revelation, will it just be an outright name or will it be explained how it happened and such?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Afraid that's a RAFO.

    Isabel

    @Brandon Sanderson and Team Jordan: please don't rule out anyone who could have killed Asmodean.

    BRANDON SANDERSON (12 August)

    Ha. But so many are begging for an elimination. And it has been years.

    Footnote

    He never did eliminate a suspect because it was revealed in Towers of Midnight, which he was of course not at liberty to tell us before the book came out. (We knew he wouldn't do an elimination in that case; we only wanted one if we were going to have to wait until A Memory of Light came out to find out who killed him.)

    Tags

  • 5

    Interview: 2010

    Ted Herman (29 September 2010)

    Was Rand's super balefire beam palace sized or a narrow beam?

    Brandon Sanderson (29 September 2010)

    Not palace sized.

    Tags

  • 6

    Interview: 2010

    Matt Hatch (8 November 2010)

    Was Asmodean killed with balefire?

    Brandon Sanderson (8 November 2010)

    I will see if I can give additional details. I'll ask Maria and Harriet for their read.

    Tags

  • 7

    Interview: 2010

    Ty Margheim (8 November 2010)

    What did we miss that would have told us who killed Asmodean?

    Brandon Sanderson (8 November 2010)

    I don't think people missed it. RJ said it was obvious, and many guessed it correctly. So I'd say they got it.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    If you ask on a fan site, they can get you the 'Sherlock Holmes' style investigation of the subject. It is right.

    Footnote

    RJ was joking when he said it was 'intuitively obvious'.

    Tags

  • 8

    Interview: Jan 14th, 1997

    Thomas Howard

    What does Maisia mean? In case you don't remember, Sammael called Graendal this when they were messing with the Shaido.

    Robert Jordan

    Mr. Jordan stated that it was a name for pets in the Age of Legends, "like Fido or Fluffy".

    Footnote

    Sammael called Graendal by the name Maisia in A Crown of Swords Chapter 20 when he was posing as Caddar.

    Tags

  • 9

    Interview: Dec 12th, 2000

    CNN Chat (Verbatim)

    Vercingetorix

    Why do you think everyone has a hard time figuring out who killed Asmodean? Graendal killed him.

    Robert Jordan

    I don't know why people have a hard time figuring that out. To me it seems intuitively obvious even to the most casual observer. The reason I won't tell people though is that I am enjoying watching them squirm entirely too much. It's probably bad for me.

    Tags

  • 10

    Interview: Apr 8th, 2001

    Aan'allein

    Do you ever talk to any other fantasy authors outside of work?

    Robert Jordan

    Well, sometimes... not often. They're a good distance apart. John M. Ford...

    Aan'allein

    Then he looked very closely at the card I had him sign...

    Me: It's supposed to be Graendal.

    Robert Jordan

    Yeah, well, it is...I just never knew that Graendal had nipple-rings, that's all. Now for once, it's just a thing I hadn't realized about a character in my book, that's all.

    I see fantasy writers sometimes at conventions. And no, we don't sit around talking about fantasy. We sit around drinking beer, talking about contracts, mainly. And John M. Ford comes to visit me almost every Christmas, he's a close friend of me, uhm, almost as long as I've been married. [I think that was what he said.] And no, we don't talk about fantasy either. We talk about other writers, and contracts. When...has his book finished, that sort of thing.

    Footnote

    RJ has often said that the common notion of your characters self-developing is a ridiculous notion, which adds a bit of extra humor to this quote.

    Tags

  • 11

    Interview: Jul 22nd, 2004

    Jason Denzel

    We talked about the Forsaken and how they know how to speak the current language.

    Robert Jordan

    He said that if you can speak the Old Tongue, learning to understand and speak the new "Vulgar" tongue is not that difficult. When the Forsaken are together having their meetings, they speak in the Old Tongue. (RJ: "But I translate it for you guys.")

    Another very interesting note: Modern-day Sharans speak a form of the Old Tongue in their everyday speech. The exact analogy he used was a Roman landing in modern day Italy and having to figure out Italian from Latin. For someone extremely bright and well-educated like the Forsaken it wouldn't be that hard. This is also consistent with information in the books. The Old Tongue is more complex, so learning the Vulgar from Old Tongue is much easier than vice versa. It also gibes with Graendal's thought while she is writing a letter that the modern script was so easy to learn and duplicate.

    He also went on at length about his thoughts on language drift and the impact of the printing press on continuity.

    Tags

  • 12

    Interview: Oct 27th, 2009

    Matt Hatch

    There is a character in the book that appears to die on page 574...

    [reads page]..there is a woman that actually dies here...[couldn't decipher for certain if this was a statement or a moving question/comment.]

    MATT HATCH

    Did this character actually die?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Let’s go on record with this, I am not going to say until after Towers of Midnight, but I will...they are looking for a “toast” comment, and I am not going to give the “toast” comment yet. The scene that I’m talking about, there will be things related to it in the next book, so I don’t want to say yet. Corner me after Towers of Midnight and I will give you a definitive answer, but Towers of Midnight may in itself give a definitive answer.

    Tags

  • 13

    Interview: Oct 27th, 2009

    Matt Hatch

    We know that in the Age of Legends that the Forsaken/Chosen, everyone agreed to stop using balefire because of its effects on the Pattern. Is it unrealistic then to say that a great amount of power could burn someone’s thread back a year or six months? Is that an unrealistic thing to say that there is enough power available to either one or multiple people to burn somebody back that far?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I see what you are getting at you are trying to figure out if killed Graendal with a whole lot of balefire would bring Asmodean back to life.

    MATT HATCH

    ...like that could ever happen...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    That’s what you are digging for isn’t it?

    MATT HATCH

    Let’s say, if a Forsaken was responsible for killing another Forsaken...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Uh huh...

    MATT HATCH

    And said Forsaken was balefired...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    You are under the assumption...You are trying to figure out who killed Asmodean again. That’s what you are trying to do and I’m not going to get caught and let you know...

    MATT HATCH

    It’s a legit question...and I’m sure whatever is said at this table stays at this table...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    I’m sure, the leader of Theoryland and the guy taping this... [much laughter] Let’s divorce it. Rand balefires Rahvin as hardcore as he could and Rand is one of the most powerful people to live and he got us—what have you determined?—from the lightning killing Mat until balefire killed Rahvin, I’d guess fifteen minutes.

    MATT HATCH

    Well, he at least got us fifteen minutes. We don’t know how far back, we just know up to that moment.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Well, we do know because if it had been too much further than that we would have noticed a lot of discrepancies in the Pattern from things he’d done...

    MATT HATCH

    Let’s say thirty minutes to an hour, at the most...

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Alright, thirty minutes to an hour. Okay, let’s say the Choedan Kal amplifies his abilities 100-fold...let’s say it’s a 100 times more powerful than Rand. That’s giving us, lets say he got an hour, we’ve got four days, from the most powerful, one of the most powerful sa’angreal ever created. I think it is unrealistic to assume you can get back a year, but that’s not saying it is impossible. I think that if you did that to the Pattern the ramifications would be so dramatic you’d see the Pattern unraveling hardcore at that point, it’s like balefiring an entire city. When I first read that guess I just laughed, I’m like guys c’mon lets run the math on this.

    MATT HATCH

    Like I said to Jennifer, it is my job at Theoryland to entertain these ideas.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes it is, it is your job to entertain them. But in the terms of Mythbusters let’s go ahead and call that one “Busted” in the realistic world. I’ve got to give you at least something, so I’ll at least give you that...If it were possible to do things like that, we’d have the Dark One just going and balefiring you know Tam so Rand never gets picked up off the mountain. [...] I think it is more loose guidelines than it is a formula.

    Tags

  • 14

    Interview: Nov 6th, 2009

    Question

    Another fan asked if the balefiring of Graendal could bring back Asmodean, if in fact Graendal was the person who killed him.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Brandon essentially said no, because it happened much too long ago. At best balefire burns someone out of the Pattern three days to a week at the absolute most. But usually more like five minutes.

    Tags

  • 15

    Interview: Nov 10th, 2009

    Brandon Sanderson

    Brandon admitted there would be overlapping chronology between The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight and that Graendal's name will be mentioned a few times.

    Brandon said the progress of book completion is sometimes edited down and then up depending on the subtraction or addition of submitted content.

    Tags

  • 16

    Interview: Nov 16th, 2009

    Question

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

    Brandon Sanderson

    MAFO.

    MARIA SIMONS

    RAFO.

    kcf

    This lead to quite a bit of discussion. Basically, Graendal pretty much uses compulsion on everyone she interacts with. He also asked if it had been revealed that King Alsalam's letters were revealed to be fake. I went into our discussion here and Dom's interpretation in particular. Brandon seemed to like it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He also said that if Ituralde was compelled, that it's still there—Rand's ta’veren [nature] does not have the power to break compulsion. And he said that it's certain that Ituralde was under the influence of Graendal.

    kcf

    My interpretation: He was compelled. It's still there, but since Alsalam is dead, it most likely doesn't matter anymore.

    Footnote

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

    Tags

  • 17

    Interview: Nov 15th, 2009

    Question

    Has Graendal's death in any way acquitted her as a suspect in Asmodean's death?

    Brandon Sanderson

    (short pause) No. (longer pause) For that matter, I'm not saying definitively that she's dead.

    Freelancer

    (I followed up on this, describing my logic regarding Ramshalan, and got a strong nod, but no more words.)

    Tags

  • 18

    Interview: Jun 10th, 2010

    Luckers

    Is the old man we see serving Graendal in an earlier book Alsalam?

    Maria Simons

    RAFO.

    Footnote

    Maria verified at JordanCon 2012 that it was Farstrider.

    Tags

  • 19

    Interview: Oct 19th, 2010

    John Ottinger

    Anything else on your mind you would like to say to potential readers of Towers of Midnight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A few early reviewers have noticed that there is a spoiler in the glossary. There are always little spoilers in the glossary, so that's nothing new. But in this case, it's really best not to read the glossary until you've finished the book.

    I hope readers enjoy the book. Check out the sample chapters—Chapter One is available on Tor.com and Chapter Eight is available on my website.

    John Ottinger

    Editor’s Note: Chapter 2 is now live at Tor.com.

    Tags

  • 20

    Interview: Nov 8th, 2010

    Lord Mordeth

    I was at this one too, asked Brandon as he signed my book who the old man in Natrin's Barrow in The Fires of Heaven was.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He said he knew but wanted to check and that I should email him about it, so I'll do that tomorrow and hopefully he'll fill us all in once he gets back from France.

    Footnote

    Maria said it was Farstrider.

    Tags

  • 21

    Interview: Dec, 2010

    Jon

    I was a bit shocked when I started reading Towers of Midnight. The Prologue included a Graendal scene. I went to the glossary to refresh my memory concerning that Forsaken and discovered a huge spoiler...

    Brandon Sanderson

    The glossary, remember, was begun as a tradition before there were internet wiki sites, and it's limited by size in what it can contain. I don't do the glossary; that's all on Team Jordan. Maria handles it.

    As for why the big secret was included in the glossary, I've said before that Harriet made the decision where it would go. I actually did suggest it, though I later changed my mind and thought I would put it in somewhere else, but she said, "No, I love this idea of the glossary." The reason I think that we like the glossary location so much is because the instruction I received from Robert Jordan was just a Post-It note that had written on it, "This is right," attached to a sheet of paper that was an explanation, one of the many, printed off from the internet, talking about who killed Asmodean. That Post-It note saying "This is right" was all there was—I didn't know the how, the why, the circumstances, any more than you know. So we felt that rather than extrapolate all of that ourselves, the best thing to do, as frustrating as it might be, was to give you the information much in the same way that we got it, as simply a "This is the person." That still allows a bit of theorizing on how this person was involved in the event, whether it was by her hand directly, or whether a servant was involved, or that sort of thing. That allows for theorizing.

    Dawn

    After that, I kept expecting to see that information revealed somewhere in the actual book, but as far as I can tell it wasn't there! Will it be revisited in the last book, or was the glossary the way of answering that question?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The glossary was the way of answering that question. Though in the epilogue, I had originally included a more specific line that Harriet edited out and said, "No, I like the glossary entry. We'll let it stand." There's still a hint, but it was actually spelled out in that same sentence.

    Tags

  • 22

    Interview: Dec, 2010

    Lordjuss

    Was Byar a Darkfriend or was he Compelled by Graendal? If so, when?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO. I may answer that someday, but I need to decide how I should answer it.

    Footnote

    Brandon went into more detail here.

    Tags

  • 23

    Interview: Apr 17th, 2011

    Terez (herid)

    What exactly did Graendal see when Aran'gar put Compulsion on Ramshalan?

    Brandon Sanderson

    She doesn’t see it. We talked about this in editing when we were looking at it. It’s Graendal’s viewpoint; she’s summarizing; she doesn’t actually see it. We actually didn’t change it, because I just thought that was, ‘That’s what’s going on; it’s in her viewpoint; she doesn’t see the weaves.’ So, that isn’t an error. Maybe it’s not the clearest writing around, but I felt it was sufficiently clear when I looked at the passage. It got flagged by Maria.

    Maria Simons

    Actually, we did asked for this to be changed for e- and future editions. It should now read "Aran'gar shrugged, but focused as if laying down a thick and complex Compulsion on the unfortunate Ramshalan's mind." The answer is the same, though, really; she saw nothing.

    Tags

  • 24

    Interview: Apr 17th, 2011

    Terez

    Will we learn about the information exchange between Graendal and Mesaana?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Considering what's happened to Mesaana, I’m going to say that’s unlikely. No, that depends on what you mean by 'learn of'. If you wiggle it out of us, then perhaps some day.

    Tags

  • 25

    Interview: Nov 16th, 2010

    Question

    Someone asked if the Seanchan taking over the entire world would be a victory for the Light or the Dark.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Brandon said it would be a victory for the Light because the Dark One would not have won. He said that the Forsaken have different visions of what a victory for the Dark would mean. Ishamael thinks it will mean the destruction of everything and the end of time whereas Graendal thinks that he will remake the world.

    Tags

  • 26

    Interview: Aug 31st, 2011

    Reddit AMA 2011 (Verbatim)

    relevant_rule34 ()

    No questions Mr. Sanderson, just wanted to let you know that as a long time WoT fan I enjoyed your continuation of series and am looking forward to A Memory of Light.

    With that said, this is a picture of Graendal and her large breasts in a black see-through gown—NSFW

    Brandon Sanderson

    Wow. I don't know what to say. I never thought, being who I am, I'd get RR34'd. (That's not a challenge, mind you.)

    Glad you like the books. I hope you don't mind that I've basically never clicked on one of your links... I'm pretty sure the one you're linking to here is one of Seamus's works, though, so let me point everyone to his print gallery. He has done some of my favorite all-time character portraits for the series. His Perrin, Faile, and Tuon—for example—are exactly as I imagine the characters.

    Tags

  • 27

    Interview: Dec 2nd, 2010

    Virginia

    Okay. Well…I guess we'll just go into the pronunciations.

    SPENCER POWELL

    Well, our next little bit needs a little bit of a lead-in for our listeners who don't have access to our huge list of questions like we do. As part of our interview questions, we have a list of words, and we asked, "How do you pronounce each of these words?" And there are about 43 of them. There are probably some on here that don't need to be on here, and I know that there aren't some on here that should be, but these are the 43 that we came up with.

    VIRGINIA

    Yeah, Spencer got mad at me because I went and annotated the list, like…I gotta be exact, and he's like "No…"

    SPENCER POWELL

    I didn't get mad at you! I just took 'em off; I'm like, "Oh yeah, you're right; take that one off." Anyway. And so Maria, Alan…would you please go through the list and tell us how to pronounce these names and places?

    Maria Simons

    Okay, here we go. And I may, you know, be wrong on some. But others, I'm pretty sure of.

    VIRGINIA

    And feel free to add some in if something occurs to you as you're going.

    MARIA SIMONS

    O-kay. We have add-uh-LAY-us. (Adeleas) el-FINN. (Aelfinn) eyes-DEYE-shar. (Aesdaishar) (RJ used EYE to rhyme with the word 'eye') ahm-uh-DEE-see-uh. (Amadicia) [glossary: ah-mah-DEE-see-ah] (ah=ahhh sound, uh=schwa) ERR-id doe-MAHN. (Arad Doman) [glossary: AH-rad do-MAHN] arr-uh-FELL. (Arafel) [glossary: AH-rah-fehl] brr-GEE-tuh. (Birgitte) (hard G) [glossary: ber-GEET-teh] Brenn. (Bryne) [glossary: BRIHN, GAH-rehth] KEYE-ree-enn. (Cairhien) [glossary: KEYE-ree-EHN] CHA fah-EEL. (Cha Faile) (mid ch) drag-car. (Draghkar) [glossary: DRAGH-kahr] EEL-finn. (Eelfinn) guh-LAHD. (Galad) [glossary: gah-LAHD] GAH-win. (Gawyn) [glossary: GAH-wihn] GALE-donn. (Ghealdan) [glossary: GHEL-dahn] I'm not sure if it's huh-REEN or huh-REEN-uh. (Harine) din toe-GAHR-uh Two Winds. ILL-ee-in. (Illian) [glossary: IHL-lee-ahn] ill-ee-AY-nuh. (? - AY is long A) CAN-door. (Kandor) (door like the word) lee-AH-nuh. (Leane) [glossary: lee-AHN-eh shah-REEF] mall-KEER. (Malkier) [glossary: mahl-KEER] my-EEN. (Mayene) [glossary: may-EHN] myur-an-DEE. (Murandy) [glossary: MEW-ran-dee] MEER-drahl. (Myrddraal) [glossary: MUHRD-draal] NEIGH-bliss. Sorry. NAY-bliss. [laughter] (Nae'blis) NEFF. (Naeff?) nee-AHM Passes (Niamh Passes) nigh-NEEV. (Nynaeve) [glossary: NIGH-neev al-MEER-ah] Plains of mah-REE-doh. (Plains of Maredo) ree-AH-nuh. (Reanne) seye-DAR. (saidar). [glossary: sah-ih-DAHR] seye-DEEN. (saidin) [glossary: sah-ih-DEEN] sall-DAY-uh. (Saldaea) [glossary: sahl-DAY-ee-ya] see-AEN. (Seaine?) Alan…

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    SHE-nar.

    MARIA SIMONS

    SHE-nar. (Shienar) [glossary: shy-NAHR] Swan. (Siuan) [glossary: SWAHN SAHN-chay] sor-uh-LEE-uh. (Sorilea) [glossary: soh-rih-LEE-ah] terra-BONN. (Tarabon) [glossary: TAH-rah-BON] TAR-win's Gap. (Tarwin's Gap) tell-uh-RON-ree-odd. (Tel'aran'rhiod) [glossary: tel-AYE-rahn-rhee-ODD] Tower of genn-JEYE. (Ghenjei) (hard G) truh-MALL-king. (Tremalking) [glossary: treh-MAL-king] too-AH-thuh-AHN. (Tuatha'an) [glossary: too-AH-thah-AHN]

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    Do you want to go over the saidar/saidin thing we talked about?

    MARIA SIMONS

    In the glossaries of the books, Jim has it sah-ih-DEEN and sah-ih-DAHR, but I swear, I don't think he pronounced it that way; I mean you kind of give a little hint of the i but not much: sah-ee-DEEN, sah-ee-DAHR.

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    Yeah, he always seemed to be saying seye-DEEN and seye-DAHR.

    SPENCER POWELL

    I'm surprised at how many of those I thought I knew, but I didn't.

    JENNIFER LIANG

    Yeah. That's like, "Waait a second, that's not…but oh, I guess it is."

    MARK

    How do you pronounce the Traveling people again?

    MARIA SIMONS

    too-AH-thah-AHN.

    VIRGINIA

    There's something else with the double A there…

    MARIA SIMONS

    ah-tha-AHN mee-AIR. (Atha'an Miere)

    VIRGINIA

    Okay, great. Any others you can think of that are commonly mangled, that would have driven Jim crazy?

    MARIA SIMONS

    I think I've mentioned tah-EEM before, and egg-ee-AH-nin…

    VIRGINIA

    dee-MAN-dred? dee-MAHN-dred? DEE-man-dred?

    MARIA SIMONS

    Ehh...dee-MAHN-dred, I think…but I wouldn't swear dee-MAHN-dred. [glossary: DEE-man-drehd]

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    Pretty straightforward.

    VIRGINIA

    How about all of the Forsaken? A lot of them often get mangled, or a few. GRIN-doll?

    MARIA SIMONS

    Grindle, is how I say it. [glossary: GREHN-dahl] And it's interesting, just looking at a thing, and I pronounce CADD-in-soar (cadin'sor) wrong. [glossary: KAH-dihn-sohr]

    JENNIFER LIANG

    Oh really?

    MARIA SIMONS

    Yeah, because it's supposed to be cah-DIN-soar. [It's not, according to the glossary.]

    JENNIFER LIANG

    Okay, because I say it the way you say it.

    VIRGINIA

    Yeah, I think… [inaudible] so that makes sense.

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    Oh! ish-AH-may-el, and SAM-may-el. [glossary: ih-SHAH-may-EHL, SAHM-may-EHL] [When RJ said it, the 'may' part was more like the German 'Mai'.]

    JENNIFER LIANG

    Yes. Those are really common mistakes; I hear that a lot.

    VIRGINIA

    Ben [?] was right; we had that famous tagline from the original podcast, and we had this thing…I think, "Sammael was pretty buff!" [laughter] We used that a lot, and it sort of went away when he did, I guess.

    SPENCER POWELL

    Another one that I have lots of problems with—and I can't believe I didn't get it on the list—but is the GOLL-um (gholam), or the…I can't even pronounce it right now.

    MARK

    GO-lem?

    SPENCER POWELL

    Yeah, the GO-lem, that's chasing Mat.

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    Yeah.

    MARIA SIMONS

    Gollum.

    SPENCER POWELL

    Gollum?

    VIRGINIA

    Oh, it's Gollum! [crosstalk]

    MARIA SIMONS

    I am not absolutely sure, but that's how I say it, so…

    VIRGINIA

    What about some of the other Seanchan beasts that made me think of, the grolm, then there were two of the others that…

    MARIA SIMONS

    ROCK-in (raken), and TOE-rock-in. (to'raken)

    VIRGINIA

    Yeah, and then there was another one, the um…

    MARIA SIMONS

    Torm…the book is right in front of me…

    VIRGINIA

    Oh, maybe it was the name of that…oh, Suroth's pet!

    MARK

    S'redit?

    MARIA SIMONS

    Oh yes, that thing. I can't remember… [crosstalk]

    VIRGINIA

    Mandra…Mandragal?…Almandragal.

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    The LOW-par (lopar)?

    VIRGINIA

    Yeah, the lopar. Almandaragal was his name, or something like that?

    MARIA SIMONS

    Something like that. I would have to look it up.

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    It was a LOW-par (lopar), wasn't it?

    VIRGINIA

    Yeah, lopar. I think there was another one that I couldn't…maybe I'm just hallucinating. [laughs]

    MARIA SIMONS

    Let's see…

    VIRGINIA

    I'm sure there's a zillion others I'll think of after you're off the air here with us…

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    Oh, s'RED-dit (s'redit) is another one. Remember the elephant-like creature?

    MARIA SIMONS

    Corlm, C-O-R-L-M (I like that word). Torm…that's all I can find.

    VIRGINIA

    What about Tuon's new name as Empress?

    MARIA SIMONS

    for-too-OH-nah?

    VIRGINIA

    Fortuona, okay. I'm not sure how else you could pronounce that, but I've been wrong before, so...

    MARIA SIMONS

    That, I'm assuming is right; I'm pretty sure I heard Jim pronounce it that way, because that was his choice of name.

    VIRGINIA

    There must be something else; there seems like a million things, and that I didn't add enough to the list.

    MARIA SIMONS

    OH-geer…

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    moe-TIE? (???)

    VIRGINIA

    Oh! What about—speaking of historical figures—LAH-tra…poe-SAI? Or poe-SAY? deh-KYU-meh? (Latra Posae Decume)

    ALAN ROMANCZUK

    Oh yeah, LA-tra (LA rhymes with laugh)…

    VIRGINIA

    I got the Latra, but I'm not sure about the second and third names.

    MARIA SIMONS

    Boy.

    VIRGINIA

    It's P-O-S-A-E, and then D-E-C-U-M-E.

    MARIA SIMONS

    po-SAY-uh deh-COO-may.

    VIRGINIA

    deh-COO-may, okay. [crosstalk]

    MARIA SIMONS

    That's totally off the top of my head. I see it (?) and think it, anyway. po-SAY-uh deh-COO-may, yeah.

    Tags

  • 28

    Interview: Jul, 2009

    Graendal

    Did you ever notice how similar Graendal and Blushweaver are in personality?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I didn’t until I started work on the WoT book. I wrote Warbreaker years before I was offered the WoT. I noticed and laughed. RJ’s books are dug pretty deeply into my subconscious. I think they’re very different as characters, but Graendal was obviously an influence on Blushweaver.

    Tags

  • 29

    Interview: Dec 17th, 2011

    Loialson

    In Towers of Midnight it was mentioned that Mesaana had traded Graendal an angreal in exchange for information. Did Mesaana put that information to use yet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I believe that she...she did what she could with it. It wasn't as useful to her as she had hoped it would be. I mean, I wanna give you more, because Mesaana's basically out of the picture at this point....

    Tags

  • 30

    Interview: Apr, 2012

    Luckers

    Sammael claims to have a truce with Rand, even though we see Rand turn him down. Was Sammael lying, or did...

    Brandon Sanderson

    I’m fairly sure he was lying. As in, I’ve seen something in the notes at one point, and I’m pretty sure it was... but my memory being what it is, I will say you can MAFO that. But I’m pretty sure he was lying.

    Maria Simons

    Sammael was lying in an attempt to manipulate Graendal.

    Tags

  • 31

    Interview: Apr, 2012

    Brandon Sanderson

    When we were in the Green Room Brandon broached a subject of his own, in Asmodean, stating he wanted to explain how that happened. Basically, Jim left a note saying ‘fit it in’, and when they were initially discussing how to do it Brandon threw out as more of a joke than anything else ‘just put it in the glossary’. Harriet apparently loved that idea, and when it came time for Brandon to write, he did lay it out in a Graendal POV [note: I can’t remember if he said it was in an outline for a POV, or whether he actually wrote it] Harriet wrote back in her notes ‘no, no, we’re going to put that in the glossary.’ Brandon himself definitely seemed to have wanted the information laid out in scene, and said there were actually a couple of scenes he thought he could have done it in.

    LUCKERS

    They still argue about it anyway, you know.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    *laughs* Yeah, well, you know Jim himself never wrote it out. There was just that email a fan had sent him, you know the...

    LUCKERS

    The Sherlock Holmes one?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yeah, just that with a note saying 'this is it'. Everything else...

    LUCKERS

    Hah. Yeah, I never really cared about Asmodean.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Me either, really. Until I went on the boards, and everyone was discussing it.

    LUCKERS

    Yeah, now they have the debate about whether Tam and Cadsuane are going to get married.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    *shudders* Yeah, I’ve... ah... heard that one.

    Tags

  • 32

    Interview: Apr 18th, 2012

    dicetosser

    Brandon Sanderson

    Also the idea of putting Asmodean's killer's identity in the glossary was his...kinda. RJ left a print-out of a reader's theory with a sticky note on it saying "this is right". That's it; nothing else. They tried figuring out how to get it in the story, then Brandon being a bit of a smartypants suggested the glossary. Apparently Harriet LOVED the idea so much that later when he tried to write it into the story she crossed it out and wrote "IT'S IN THE GLOSSARY!"

    Tags

  • 33

    Interview: Apr 21st, 2012

    Ishara

    There has been some discussion lately on the identity of the old man seen in Graendal's palace. Many of us believe that it was Jain Farstrider, the same man who wandered into the stedding all those years ago. But some have recently begun to think it could be Alsalam, as the descriptors are similar: older man, long hair etc. Can you confirm that the old man from the stedding and Graendal's palace are the same person: Jain Farstrider?

    Alan Romanczuk and Maria Simons

    (They whispered to each other for a bit before they answered, we offered to put our fingers in our ears and hum...) It can't hurt to tell you all—yes. It was Jain Farstrider.

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  • 34

    Interview: Aug 8th, 2009

    WorldCon 2009 - Dom (Paraphrased)

    Dom

    Brandon Sanderson

    About Asmodean, he gave a few more details but no huge news. When he decided that after all he would reveal the killer in the books (which he originally didn't intend) then got sick, Jim took no chance and took time to write down an extensive note about the murder, explaining very precisely and in many details what happened and what led to it. He had not decided where this could go (or even if it really would be in the book or he would publish the note after the paperback of A Memory of Light was out), so it was left up to Brandon and Harriet to decide on the character who could reveal some of this, and how and where in the book. Brandon denied to me having told anyone (someone mistakenly reported having read the opposite recently) in which book the murder is revealed. He said Harriet and him agreed long before the book split (soon after he read the outline, in fact) which scene seemed the best spot for the revelation. There was one that felt natural and obvious for this and it's the one they chose. Their choice hasn't changed because of the split, so the revelation is in whichever of the three books this scene happens and that's that.

    Footnote

    This report is also contradicted by many later reports indicating that all Brandon got was a Sherlock Holmes write-up from a fan with a note saying 'this is right', though the fan write-up was detailed.

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  • 35

    Interview: Nov 6th, 2009

    gammahunter

    I asked about the controversy over Graendal and if he thought it was obvious as to her fate when writing it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He said no, and he knew the community would debate it. He said he won't answer anything about her until the next book because she will be mentioned at least in some POVs.

    Tags

  • 36

    Interview: Nov 6th, 2009

    gammahunter

    I asked if Graendal were dead and had she killed Asmodean could he pop back up in Caemlyn.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He said no. He said that Rand only took Rahvin out of the Pattern for 15 minutes to an hour. So, even if the Choedan Kal were 1000 times stronger than Rand with the fat man it would only be like 9 days at most. More interesting, however, is that he said that we have not seen anyone who could burn someone out of the Pattern that long, however, it was possible for someone to be that strong!—Who or what could this be?

    Tags

  • 37

    Interview: Jun 4th, 2011

    ValMar

    I asked him on the difference in Tuon/Fortuona's character we see between Knife of Dreams/The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Basically, it is to do mainly with her environment whilst with Mat. For the first time she was with someone close to her who she can trust. We know how they do things in the Imperial family. After Thanksgiving gatherings they have to do a roll call for the survivors.

    Back amongst the Seanchan she is home to chaos and a totally different situation. She will have much different mindset. Also, in Towers of Midnight she is dealing with the White Tower—an issue which makes the most placid Seanchan go rabid.

    When I pushed Brandon regarding possible involvement of Greandal, he refuted it. Or at least said that if I am "digging" for something—there is nothing I can find. Something to that effect.

    Tags

  • 38

    Interview: Nov 21st, 2009

    Jason Wolfbrother

    ...and the second one I asked as he was signing my book "To Jason Wolfbrother Graendal (might have) killed Asmodean". I had to try.

    Tags

  • 39

    Interview: 2013

    Twitter 2013 (WoT) (Verbatim)

    Jared Garrett (23 January 2013)

    How did it feel to be one of the only humans who knew who killed Asmodean?

    Brandon Sanderson (23 January 2013)

    Fun, but also annoying, since I couldn't tell anyone.

    Kevin Cantrell

    Did Graendal kill Asmodean? Huge fan of yours and WOT, first read The Eye of the World when I was 13, 15 years ago.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, she did. And thanks!

    Tags

  • 40

    Interview: Feb 6th, 2013

    Freelancer

    Who summoned Slayer to the Town and met him there?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ok, I'm not sure I should give an answer to this one. Who do you think it is, what are you basing it on?

    Freelancer

    I'm pretty sure it's Lanfear. Several things. She's wearing red and black, and she doesn't have a Cour'souvra around her neck. Her appearance is unknown to Slayer, and she's pretty, though she isn't comfortable with her own reflection. She expresses disgust at having to use him. This eliminates Moghedien and Graendal.

    Brandon Sanderson

    But she's ordering Slayer to kill Rand.

    Freelancer

    This will lead into the next question, but I don't think she believes that Slayer can succeed, she's using him as a distraction, and to give her options, because she's playing a deep game.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ok, here's your answer. Your case is very, very, very solid, and you can stand by it.

    Tags

  • 41

    Interview: Feb 22nd, 2013

    Terez

    Now, are Graendal's actions in Shara mentioned at all in "River of Souls"?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't think we talk about them.

    Terez

    I was just curious as to how that interacted... (crosstalk)

    Brandon Sanderson

    I mean, I considered...Yeah, it certainly helped with what he was doing.

    Terez

    Right, right.

    Brandon Sanderson

    But I mean...yeah. It's...

    Terez

    Because she totally didn't know he was there, so....

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. It certainly helped, and if I had been able to go back, and do—which I wouldn't have done—but if, you can imagine, there's a very cool interaction there, where he's there, and she's doing stuff, and he's taking advantage of it, but she's not seeing him and things like that. Like, the whole Demandred In Shara thing is awesome, because there's like twelve books worth of coolness of him being the hero...

    Terez

    Because all this stuff is in the notes, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What's that? Oh, some of it is, not all of it.

    Terez

    Oh, well yeah, because I know you said you had to kind of....you know, extrapolate a little bit...

    Brandon Sanderson

    I had to extrapolate a lot of the Sharan culture and things, which is where "River of Souls" came from. At the end of the day, because I was extrapolating these things, that's what made them distracting from the main plotline, if that makes sense.

    Terez

    Mmm, yeah.

    Brandon Sanderson

    And so, a lot of what I was doing was like, it you know...all of Demandred's flunkies. Jim didn't name those; they're not in the notes...but I put them in because, you know, we have to evoke this entire two years of awesomeness....

    Terez

    Yeah, it can't just come out of nowhere, and be nothing.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, so there's that. But yeah, it was too much me, also.

    Terez

    Yeah...gotcha.

    Tags

  • 42

    Interview: Feb 22nd, 2013

    Question

    Is the Town, the only human settlement in the Blight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I believe so.

    Question

    And was the Town the same cluster of building that was seen by Graendal in Towers of Midnight from Moridin's...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Tags

  • 43

    Interview: Apr, 2013

    Question

    Did Jain Charin become a servant of the Shadow in part due to Moiraine having bonded Lan? He must have felt it a huge betrayal, the last Malkieri king submitting to being Bonded after the White Tower failed to help Malkier. Was he the one to train Isam once he became a Darkfriend?

    Maria Simons

    No, he didn't become a servant of the Shadow because Moiraine bonded Lan. He did not become a servant of the Shadow of his own free will. The Shadow used him and Graendal Compelled him. He did not train Isam.

    Tags

  • 44

    Interview: May 24th, 2013

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    He acknowledged why Asmodean's killer was revealed the way it was. Apparently when he got the "Notes" from Harriet there was a sticky note on the top that just said "Graendal killed Asmodean" with no further explanation or notes. So they thought it'd be fun to provide the same type of blank answer to the rest of the community.

    Tags