Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

AOL Chat 1 (Verbatim)

What did Rand see in the sky in the alternate world in The Great Hunt? (Shadowspawn don't use sho-wings, and Forsaken don't need them.)

Read and find out. :)

mirror worlds, the great hunt,

DragonCon Report - Isabel (Verbatim)

A couple of related questions on souls. Can they be split? Is it true you can meet yourself in the Worlds of If, is that a copy of the soul, a reflection, or the same soul living in different worlds?

I think I will have to give you a RAFO on this, except for the part, souls cannot be split, but the other, I think I will have to give you a RAFO because I may be doing something with that.

souls, mirror worlds,

DragonCon Signing Reports - Matt Hatch (Verbatim)

The Finns reside in a Parallel World, is that correct?

Matt Hatch

Robert Jordan

Matt Hatch

Robert Jordan

finns, aelfinn, eelfinn, parallel worlds, mirror worlds, finnland,

DragonCon Report - Matt Hatch (Paraphrased)

I was interested in the physics like with the Mirror Worlds, the Worlds of If?

The Mirror Worlds of course come right out of physics, and the possibility of (mumble) universes and all of the rest of it. But frankly while I don't follow the literature, I haven't for a number of years, I occasionally get stuck on panels with physicists and I am supposed to discuss physics, which I am twenty-five years out of date. But I find that I can hold my own, although I do not have a doctorate or did I ever intend to get one, I went to work instead. I can hold my own with the PhDs in physics when they are talking theoretical physics if I stop talking physics, at least from my point of view, and start talking theology, and this troubles me.

wot influences, physics, religion, mirror worlds,

DragonCon Report - Matt Hatch (Paraphrased)

This is in reference to a previous question I asked you about Parallel Worlds and Mirror Worlds, today I believe, and you mentioned they are different. And the question I had about Portal Stones was do Portal Stones lead to Parallel Worlds, Mirror Worlds, or both?

They lead to Mirror Worlds, the Portal Stones can take you to Mirror Worlds, not to Parallels, which are separate.

portal stones, mirror worlds, parallel worlds,

Plot Related Q&A With Maria Simons + New MAFO by Luckers (Verbatim)

Another curiosity would be that in Rand's Portal Stone experience in The Great Hunt Ch. 37, "What Might Be", Rand sees versions of Egwene who are better at Healing than Nynaeve. The Egwene of the story can barely Heal. Are then the Egwene's of the Mirror Worlds different souls with different abilities and Talents? Or would this again be evidence that experience can temper Talent?

This one I have no clue on. I lean towards the first explanation, but have no evidence to back it up, other than Jim's assertion that Talents are something one is born with and cannot be learned.

talents, healing, mirror worlds,

Plot Related Q&A With Maria Simons + New MAFO by Luckers (Verbatim)

This is also from one of Brandon's hash outs with Matt from Theoryland. In it Brandon speaks of the nature of Parallel Worlds.

Brandon: Extrapolations of this question get us to: is there one Dragon for all different Parallels or are they all different Dragons? Traveling through the Portal Stone seems to indicate that there are many different lives Rand could have led. The same thing happens with several of the ter'angreal that people go through. The question then is, are those all separate universes? Do we have a multi-verse sort of concept? Or are they possibilities and do these worlds all exist or could exist, what is the difference. In some of those Rand failed. So, is Rand the Dragon in all of them or is Rand not the Dragon in some of them? What happens in the ones where Rand failed? Are they real worlds? Are those different worlds where there is a different Dark One who then takes over and destroys that world or maybe not, maybe he makes it has he wishes. Or are those just possibilities, reflections of this world that don't really exist except when we touch them? Those are all very good questions. Robert Jordan said that Tel'aran'rhiod is a reflection of all different worlds, which implies other worlds continue to exist. The World of the Finns is something different...

Matt: ...he called it a Parallel World...

Brandon: Yes, the Parallel World, that one and also the one Rand and Lanfear visited are persistent regardless of someone from this world visiting. Yet, many of those seem almost shadowy and reflections of the real world, some of them seem as real just strange when visiting them. What happens in these different world, that sort of thing, those were never questions that Robert Jordan answered...

Ok, my request for clarification is mainly concerned with that last paragraph—specifically it left me confused about whether Brandon is speaking about Parallel Worlds or Mirror Worlds. Brandon seems to lump both in together, describing some as shadowy, some as solid. Brandon describes the Finn world as THE Parallel World (we also know the Ogier world is a Parallel World), but in the same paragraph Brandon seems to define it as a persistent Mirror World of some form, and grants that same allocation to the world Rand and Lanfear visited in The Great Hunt.

Luckers

finns, aelfinn, eelfinn, parallel worlds, mirror worlds, finnland, ogier, portal stones,

Plot Related Q&A With Maria Simons + New MAFO by Luckers (Verbatim)

On RJ's Q&A on the Mirror/Parallel Worlds from DragonCon '05.

Q53: Are Parallel Worlds and Mirror Worlds the same thing?
RJ: No, they are different.
Q54: Do Parallel Worlds have their own reflections?
RJ: Possibly.
Q55: Do Portal Stones lead to Parallel Worlds, Mirror Worlds, or both?
RJ: They lead to Mirror Worlds, the Portal Stones can take you to Mirror Worlds, not to Parallels, which are separate.

My thought was always that Mirror Worlds are reflections no matter how solid, whilst Parallel Worlds were completely distinct universes. As real and vital as our own. That was how Rand could lose in the Mirror Worlds and it not result in the Dark One winning. But that's all my thoughts, I was mainly just wondering at the distinctions between the two, and whether the world Rand visited was special, or if that's just my own stupidity in play.

I think that you are correct, but I can't back it up.

mirror worlds, parallel worlds, portal stones,

TOM Signing Report - Ted Herman (Paraphrased)

Paraphrased since it is a long question (though I did read it right from my iPhone as it was worded): Are the ghost sightings and strange window seen in Tel'aran'rhiod (flame and fang) due to the Mirror Worlds merging?

They are both due to the Pattern unraveling.

tel'aran'rhiod, mirror worlds, the pattern, towers of midnight, egwene, balefire,

Verin Q&A with Maria Simons (Verbatim)

A couple of other curious events involving Verin occur in The Great Hunt, such as her discussion of Portal Stones with Rand.

Was Verin lying to Rand when she said his use of a Portal Stone was more recent than hers as she had never traveled by one?

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

Question

Maria Simons

verin, portal stones, mirror worlds,

Thus Spake the Creator (Paraphrased)

Were the Seanchan animals created before or after the Shadowspawn?

They are the 'exotics'. They were brought to Randland from parallel dimensions (like in the Portal Stones). When Rand saw grolm in the Portal Stone world, he was seeing them in the native 'land'.

This answer is a bit puzzling in that later questions to RJ about Portal Stones indicate that they connect to Mirror Worlds, not Parallel Worlds. In addition, the BWB indicates that the Seanchan exotics were brought back from Parallel Worlds via Portal Stones.

seanchan, portal stones, mirror worlds, parallel worlds,

Alloy of Law Signing Report - Loialson (Verbatim)

Was the stone Aviendha slept near during Towers of Midnight a portal stone?

No. Nice try! That's eliminating one theory, I'll give you that one.

LOIALSON

Was Aviendha in Tel'aran'rhiod or in a mirror/portal world when she met Nakomi?

BRANDON SANDERSON

RAFO.

LOIALSON

Is Nakomi Jenn Aiel?

BRANDON SANDERSON

[laughs and grins] I should RAFO that shouldn't I?

LOIALSON

I'd appreciate it if you didn't.

BRANDON SANDERSON

[laughs] I want Nakomi....We're gonna RAFO that for now. Nakomi needs...there's gotta be a few things I don't answer. I'm so bad, I answer everything Robert Jordan put an answer [for, to?] [bunch of people laugh]. Track me down another time, after A Memory of Light is out.

aviendha, nakomi, towers of midnight, portal stones, mirror worlds, aiel, unsolved mysteries, a memory of light,

TOM Signing Report - Seafolk Sedai (Paraphrased)

Before the Cincinnati signing, I asked Brandon if Lanfear wrote Mirrors of the Wheel.

His response was "RAFO" and then when I looked surprised that it was actually that important an answer he changed it to mean that he had to look it up. :D

lanfear, portal stones, mirror worlds, age of legends,

AMOL Signing Report - JaimieKrycho (Paraphrased)

Did the Ogier come from the same world as the grolm and other Seanchan creatures?

I do not believe that they did.

Question

But did they come from a different world?

Brandon Sanderson

[laughs] Hey, hey, That I will RAFO!

Maria confirmed that Ogier are from a Parallel World. On the other hand, RJ apparently indicated the Seanchan exotics such as grolm were brought back from Mirror Worlds via the Portal Stones.

ogier, parallel worlds, mirror worlds, seanchan,