hardcore fan freaks of the wheel of time

art by Jake Johnson
Minimize Maximize

Theoryland Resources

WoT Interview Search

Search the most comprehensive database of interviews and book signings from Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson and the rest of Team Jordan.

Wheel of Time News

An Hour With Harriet

2012-04-30: I had the great pleasure of speaking with Harriet McDougal Rigney about her life. She's an amazing talent and person and it will take you less than an hour to agree.

Read the interview

The Bell Tolls

2012-04-24: Some thoughts I had during JordanCon4 and the upcoming conclusion of "The Wheel of Time."

Read More

Theoryland Community

Members: 7653

Logged In (0):

Newest Members:johnroserking, petermorris, johnadanbvv, AndrewHB, jofwu, Salemcat1, Dhakatimesnews, amazingz, Sasooner, Hasib123,

Theoryland Tweets

WoT Interview Search

Home | Interview Database

Your search for the tag 'machin shin' yielded 12 results

  • 1

    Interview: Jun 16th, 1995

    Robert Jordan

    The check made by Verin on the Ogier that had his soul consumed by Machin Shin in The Great Hunt he commented with "Read and Find Out".

    Tags

  • 2

    Interview: Aug 23rd, 1996

    Robert Jordan

    How Verin could determine the Ogier had no mind inside a stedding: We're going to find out something in the next few books about people without souls and characteristics of them. (He started out saying that we're going to find out something significant about Verin, then stopped.)

    Footnote

    RJ worked in an explanation in the next book, TPOD5, when Perrin wakes in Berelain's tent. Berelain tells him: "[Annoura] said you almost felt like someone who had lost his soul, cold no matter how many blankets were piled on you. I felt it, as well, when I touched you."

    Tags

  • 3

    Interview: Aug 23rd, 1996

    Robert Jordan

    Machin Shin eats the souls and memories of the people it catches.

    Tags

  • 4

    Interview: Oct 9th, 1996

    Question

    What is Fain?

    Robert Jordan

    Mordeth + person. Mordeth is a human-made evil. The Black Wind gets along with Mordeth because of professional courtesy. Fain is anti-Forsaken as well as anti-Rand. He has a lot of skills and abilities outside of channeling. He can not channel.

    QUESTION

    Is this the "Another Power"?

    ROBERT JORDAN

    [laugh] I don't know.

    Tags

  • 5

    Interview: Nov 10th, 2000

    Brandon Downey

    After that, my friend got to ask his question, which was the one about Machin Shin and the Ways.

    QUESTION

    Is Machin Shin a result of the Dark One's taint on saidin being used in the creation of the Ways, or a result of some portion of the corruption of Shadar Logoth creeping into the Ways via the Waygate there? Or is it something completely orthogonal to both these powers, merely being a parasite that showed up once the place began to grow dim?

    Robert Jordan

    "Machin Shin is a function of the Dark One's taint on the male side of the force... er...source" [we all chuckled, and he mentioned how much he'd been traveling. :)] The corruption on Shadar Logoth is a result of an evil specifically designed to combat the Dark One's taint. This is why Rand experiences a resonance while channeling in Shadar Logoth—the Dark One's taint is reacting to the corruption of Shadar Logoth.

    Tags

  • 6

    Interview: Apr 5th, 2001

    Aan'allein

    In The Great Hunt, you showed us Trayal, the Ogier without a soul. And he could still walk. Barely, but he could still walk. So, the body retains some skill without the soul. How...how's that...divided?

    Robert Jordan

    Think of it as...ah, as what is autonomic, nervous-system really, autonomic nerve reflexes. You still breathe, you still move, but I would not...I would not ask him to play the flute.

    Aan'allin

    Language skills?

    Robert Jordan

    Ehm...no.

    Aan'allin

    Absolutely nothing at all?

    Robert Jordan

    Absolutely nothing. Unless it's done in the form of a Gray Man. Which is a voluntary ahh...rejection of your own soul. In that case, there are other skills, higher function. That's a matter of making a deal with the Dark One, and there are other prices to be paid from that.

    Aan'allin

    (Yup, that was me again. Olver-Cain suddenly begins to look dim to me. Kudos to Rando for not being swayed on this point. I always thought it a likely possibility that Cain's soul would be reborn naturally, but that in the last instance the Pattern gave him a yank to make him be reborn in an older body. Rando however pointed out that Olver had a lot of skills, while a newly reborn soul should be as a blank slate. I argued that the body of Olver could very well have retained the language skills from the previous soul, which could then quickly be acquired by Cain...That doesn't hold though, so I'm going to have to find a different explanation. How possible is that a one-year old soul, given input on and above the level of that of a 9-11 year old boy would rise to the challenge and acquire knowledge and skills fast enough to stay alive and become experienced enough to be this 9-11 year old boy? Actually, I think that's very possible. And it would explain why Olver now is developing so rapidly. He has 'learned' to mature far faster than normal people...There, my belief in the theory is saved.)

    Tags

  • 7

    Interview: Sep 2nd, 2005

    Question

    Someone had a question about Machin Shin in the Ways. Since it seems to absorb the creatures that pass through there, could you regard it as a servant of the Dark One or perhaps almost as a Forsaken?

    Robert Jordan

    It's not a servant of the Dark One. It will kill Trollocs or anything else. You can say it's a parasite that grew in the Ways because of the taint on the One Power that was used to initially create the Ways. The talisman of growing that was used to extend the Ways. So it's not a servant of the Dark One, but it's definitely on the evil side.

    Question

    Would it be cleaned with the Cleansing of saidin?

    Robert Jordan

    No. Its like a bacteria breed. Just by cleaning up the chemicals that caused the bacteria to come into existence, unless it's feeding on that, those chemicals, you are not going to destroy the bacteria. You simply cut off what helped to create it.

    Tags

  • 8

    Interview: Sep 2nd, 2005

    Question

    In The Great Hunt when Rand, Mat and Perrin are trying to enter the Ways, Machin Shin is waiting there for them. It seems like Padan Fain has been waiting there for them. Is Machin Shin in any way related to the evil of Shadar Logoth?

    Robert Jordan

    In some ways. Machin Shin is linked or you might say drawn to that. It's not a matter of linked, but more attracted by. In much the same ways as I spoke about the evils being attracted to one another due to opposite polarities. (Shadar Logoth and the taint)

    In the same way there is an attraction because Machin Shin was created in effect by the taint. It grew out. You can see is at a fungus that was constructed with the wrong type of materials. If you think about it as that way you get a more idea about its true nature.

    Tags

  • 9

    Interview: Apr, 2012

    Brandon Sanderson

    PRK (7 APRIL 2012)

    The Padan Fain / Mordeth hybrid will be in A Memory of Light.

    PRK

    Got a RAFO on how the Mordeth/Fain Hybrid influences the Black Wind.

    Tags

  • 10

    Interview: Feb 22nd, 2013

    Question

    What created the Black Wind in the Ways?

    Harriet McDougal

    I have no idea.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I believe Robert Jordan may have answered some questions about this at certain times, so if you look at the fan archives of questions, people have asked a lot of questions about this one, you may be able to get some clues there.

    Footnote

    RJ said that the Black Wind (Machin Shin) grew in the Ways like a parasite as a result of the taint on saidin.

    Tags

  • 11

    Interview: Feb 20th, 2015

    Question

    So what about the things you left out when you finished-- What was the one thing you wish you could have gotten in there most?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Most that I wish I could have gotten into the Wheel of Time? My favorite sequence that got cut, writing-wise, was the sequence where Perrin travels in the Ways and defeats Machin Shin with the Ogier. It’s a beautiful sequence, it came out really well. The problem is reading the book you don’t miss it because it was a big deviation. So I’m not sure if I wish that one would have made it into the book. I tried to get Rand engaged, and that one I think-- I think as a whole a lot of people are confused when they come to me and wish that they could have known a little bit more about that relationship and I tried to have the three-- I tried to write a scene where the three women weave a bridal wreath together to give to him and Harriet did not like that scene because she thought it might contradict Rand later wondering if any of them would follow him, which is a scene that Robert Jordan wrote. I didn’t think it contradicted but since we had that scene from Robert Jordan and since Harriet-- she’s the boss, I was happy to cut it according to her wishes. I miss that one.

    Tags