Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

TOR Questions of the Week Part I (Verbatim)

You stated in another interview that Mat's memories came from adventurers who traveled through the ter'angreal. However several of Mat's memories end with the adventurer dying. Since adventurers probably didn't go through the ter'angreal after they died, how could the 'Finns have obtained these memories?

A good question. I was wondering when someone would ask that. I expected it as soon as Mat started revealing those old memories. At least a partial answer will be coming up in the next main sequence book, so I guess you could say this is a RAFO. But I will say that if I said those adventurers all entered through the two ter'angreal, I misspoke. A good many entered through the Tower of Ghenjei, which was more widely known in earlier years, if never exactly a household name.

The misstatement in question comes from the Crossroads of Twilight prologue ebook interview.

eelfinn, finns, ghenjei, mat, rhuidean, ter'angreal,

COT: 'Glimmers' Ebook Q&A (Verbatim)

Are all of Mat’s memories from his past lives?

No, Mat’s “old” memories are not from his past lives at all. The “sickness” he got from the Shadar Logoth dagger resulted in holes in his memory. He found whole stretches of his life that seemed to be missing. When he passed through the “doorframe” ter’angreal in Rhuidean, one of the things he said – not knowing that the rules here were different than in the other ter’angreal he had used – was that he wanted the holes in his memory filled up, meaning that he wanted to recover his own memories. In this place, however, it was not a matter of asking questions and receiving answers, but of striking bargains for what you want. What he received for that particular demand was memories gathered by the people on that side of the ter’angreal, memories from many men, all long dead, from many cultures. And since not everyone passing by has the nerve to journey through a ter’angreal to some other world, the memories he received were those of adventurers and soldiers and men of daring.

RJ is obviously talking about the memories Mat received from the Eelfinn, so this quote does not rule out past life memories as an explanation for the Aemon memories in The Dragon Reborn Chapter 19 (before Mat ever visited the Aelfinn or the Eelfinn), nor does the Dromen and Demonen chat rule out the Old Blood as an explanation. Also, RJ meant to say that most of the men who provided the memories went through the Tower of Ghenjei; he corrected himself later in the TOR Questions of the Week.

mat, rhuidean, ter'angreal, ghenjei, eelfinn, finns,

COT: 'Glimmers' Ebook Q&A (Verbatim)

Rhuarc indicates that an Aiel in Rhuidean sees the past through the eyes of one of his ancestors. Is this true for the women as well? What would a non-Aiel see, if anything?

Yes, a woman would also see through the eyes of her ancestors, at least in the "forest of crystal spires" ter'angreal, and she, too, would live the history of the Aiel, in effect. Someone who wasn't Aiel could wander through those spires forever and never see a thing except the spires. He or she might think it was a monument, or maybe a work of art. Just for a reminder, women who are chosen out to be Wise Ones have to go to Rhuidean twice, the second time for the spires and the first for another ter'angreal, one that makes her see all of the possible paths her life could take all the way to their conclusion. She can't possibly remember all of them, of course, but some things she will remember and know that it would be very bad for her to make that particular choice when it comes, or alternatively, very good. This is the ter'angreal that Moiraine went through.

aiel, rhuidean, ter'angreal,

Compuserve Chat (Verbatim)

Greetings! From Rand's Rhuidean vision: If the Sharom is the Dark One's prison, why would it be floating in on place above a city and not in some transcendent plain? Why didn't Rand see it there?

Joe Rosenman

Robert Jordan

age of legends, dark one, rand, rhuidean, ter'angreal, the bore, lanfear,

Twitter 2009-2010 (WoT) (Verbatim)

[Towers of Midnight] Chapters 48-49.—was that all in Jordan's notes? So so sad and dark!

SHIVAM BHATT

BRANDON SANDERSON

aviendha, aiel, rhuidean, ter'angreal, towers of midnight, prophecies, rj's notes,

East of the Sun Con - Karl-Johan Norén (Paraphrased)

The invasion of iron-clad men into the Aiel Waste as reflected on in the ancestor-memory ter'angreal he said did not refer to Artur Hawkwing, but to a much earlier event.

aiel, rhuidean, ter'angreal, hawkwing,

Barnes and Noble Chat (Verbatim)

Mr. Jordan, were either of the Aes Sedai seen at Rhuidean in The Shadow Rising Deindre, the Aes Sedai from the beginning of the Breaking? Is Deindre responsible for Foretelling the entire Prophecies of the Dragon? Thank you for taking time to respond to our questions this evening.

No, she wasn't, and you're welcome.

the shadow rising, rhuidean, foretelling, prophecies, aes sedai, breaking of the world,

TPOD Signing Report - Michael Martin (Paraphrased)

My first question: "Was the Aes Sedai who initiated the Pact of Rhuidean from the Age of Legends?" (From The Shadow Rising).

Michael Martin

age of legends, rhuidean, the shadow rising, aes sedai,

COT Signing Report - Tim Kington (Paraphrased)

My friend Josh and I had been talking about how Rand and Mat spent a week in Rhuidean, and so he asked how long Mat was hanging.

Long enough.

JOSH

Long enough for what?

ROBERT JORDAN

Long enough to be ALMOST dead.

TIM KINGTON

(Emphasis mine) I was pretty sure this was where Mat died and lived again, but I guess that's out of the question now.

mat, the shadow rising, aelfinn, eelfinn, finns, prophecies, rhuidean,

ComicCon Wrap-Up - Jason Denzel (Verbatim)

Somebody asked what his favorite action scene in the series was.

RJ replied that although it wasn't necessarily an ACTION scene, his favorite scene in the series, and the one which represents the best of his writing, is where Rand goes into Rhuidean to view the history of the Aiel through the eyes of his ancestors.

rj on writing, favorites, rand, aiel, the shadow rising, rhuidean,

TGS Signing Report - Robert Moreau (Verbatim)

I got the impression from somewhere that the Aiel were a result of tampering, to some degree, with the One Power. Am I insane, or is that based in reality?

Question

Brandon Sanderson

aiel, one power, aes sedai, age of legends, rhuidean,

DragonCon 2010 Q&A Report - Marie Curie (Verbatim)

In Book 5, we have all of those wagons filled with ter'angreal from the Waste. Are we ever going to see that again?

RAFO.

ter'angreal, rhuidean,

TOM Signing Report - Sarayne (Paraphrased)

Is Aviendha the only one to go forward in time through the ter'angreal?

As far as we know, yes.

aviendha, rhuidean, ter'angreal, prophecies,

Goodreads ToM Fantasy Book Club Q&A with Brandon Sanderson (Verbatim)

Aviendha's scene in the columns at Rhuidean was wonderful. Will the columns always do that now, or has Aviendha broken them for good?

RAFO.

aviendha, rhuidean, ter'angreal, towers of midnight,

Melbourne Film Festival - Steven Cooper (Paraphrased)

Seriously, though, any bets on whether the Tinkers will ever find the Song? I bet it's the harvest song from Rand's Aiel memories.

STEVEN COOPER

I asked RJ about this when he was in Melbourne last week, and (amazingly) got a straight answer.

The Song the Tinkers are seeking is the song Rand heard in Rhuidean—or, to be exact, the memories of that song and others like it have become merged, over the years, into the concept of one mystical Song.

STEVEN COOPER

As to whether the Tinkers will find "the Song", I suspect they will—at least, they will be brought to understand their true history just as the Aiel were. RJ seems to intend showing an upheaval affecting every nation and society in Randland during the course of the series. I doubt the Tinkers will survive unchanged into the next Age. Unless they all get wiped out, I think "the Song" will be found at some point.

rand, tinkers, aiel, rhuidean, the song,

Alloy of Law Signing Report - Loialson (Verbatim)

Aviendha told Rand in Lord of Chaos that ji'e'toh was who the Aiel were, at their core. Do the Aiel need to find some other purpose/faith besides ji'e'toh to avoid the calamitous future that Aviendha saw in the Way-forward ter'angreal?

I would say that...a half yes. They don't need to abandon ji'e'toh or find a new ji'e'toh but they may have to adapt ji'e'toh to certain other things....

aiel, ji'e'toh, ter'angreal, rhuidean, towers of midnight, prophecies,

JordanCon 2012 - Terez (Paraphrased)

Has Verin ever been to the 'Finns or through the Rhuidean rings?

Not that I know of.

verin, finns, rhuidean,

JordanCon 2012 - Terez (Paraphrased)

Was Aviendha's usage of the crystal columns to see the future something only she could do, or something anyone could do?

RAFO.

aviendha, rhuidean, ter'angreal, aiel,

Reddit: If you had a make-a-wish and for some reason chose Brandon Sanderson to answer one question, what would your question be? (Verbatim)

Who wrote the scene in which Aviendha flash-forwards to the future in the glass towers? The scene was beautifully epic because of how it shows the transition of the post–Last Battle Randland, and every time I read it, I feel well and truly sad that I will never see stories set in that time.

(Having said that, what you did with the Mistborn series and the Wax/Wayne novels is a pretty good substitute for reading Fourth Age stories, so there is that. Thanks a lot!)

The glass pillars was me, as I believe some fans have already figured out. One of my big pitches to Harriet and company was that we needed to take risks and chances with these stories, because that's what RJ would have done. If we played it exactly safe, we would have a bland ending to the story.

We couldn't always take the same risks that RJ would have, but we needed to have a dynamic plot where characters, and the world, grew and became something different. They were very scared of this sequence during my pitch, but it's one that—when they read it—they were sold on it very quickly.

As for Wax and Wayne, just wait until we get the Mistborn space opera books.

brandon on writing wot, towers of midnight, aviendha, rhuidean, ter'angreal, fourth age, who wrote what?,