The Wheel of Time Database

49 interviews available

Interviews

Interview Questions from America Online Chat

Question	Action(s)
How do you explain Liah being in Shadar Logoth for so long? She became absorbed into the city. She was left there and she is, after all, an Aiel, one of the people better at surviving under harsh circumstances than anyone else in the world. And also her corruption by Shadar Logoth gave her some protection.	View More Details
First off, I'd like to say thanks Mr. Jordan for providing my family and I countless hours of reading enjoyment, and I'd like to ask you something about the Aiel, well, who are they? You're welcome. And they are the descendants of the pacifists who were in service to the Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends. If on the other hand, you mean the source of the culture in my mind, they contain some elements of the Apache, some of the Zulu, some of the Bedouin, and some elements of my own including that I rather liked the fact of making the desert dwellers blue-eyed and fair instead of the usual dark-eyed, dark-complected desert people.	View More Details
There's been some question about how the Aiel sustain their vast numbers east and west of the Dragonwall. How can millions of Aiel live on grubs in the Waste and why don't they scavenge the land clean in Illian, Cairhien, and Caemlyn? They can live in the same ways that the Bedouin manage to live in a desert where you or I would die, and the Apache did so. They make very efficient use of what they find. And if they stay in one place for too long in too great a number they would indeed strip the land bare. But there certainly aren't millions of them in Illian.	View More Details
How do Wise Ones get gai'shain? (they don't fight, right?) They can be traded, though. Besides which, there are other ways, if you read Lord of Chaos, to become gai'shain.	View More Details
Could Aviendha be pregnant...inquiring minds want to know! RAFO	View More Details
If Rand's mother isn't Aiel, was she formerly Queen of Andor? RAFO	View More Details
Are you ever going to expand the existing map and perhaps open up the lands east of the Spine of the World? There are no known maps of the Aiel Waste. That has been established.	View More Details
According to several of AOL's members in our discussion forum, you stated at a Balticon conference that Verin Sedai had never held the Oath Rod, or had circumvented the Oaths. I was wondering if that was true, and if so, has Cadsuane also done so? No, I did not say that Verin had never held the Oath Rod...Cadsuane has also held the Oath Rod.	View More Details
Rand recovered very quickly from his dual Healing...is this because of the way men Heal or because of the Warder bond...or both? Partly the Warder bond and partly the kind of Healing that was used on him. It should be obvious that Damer Flinn has discovered the same method of Healing that Nynaeve uses and of course, he still is not completely Healed, remember.	View More Details
Does using the Oath Rod shorten one's lifespan? Read and find out :) You guys have to know by now that I like to leave you hanging if I can!	View More Details
How do you explain the longevity of the Kin? Read and find out! :) The clues are there.	View More Details
Why is Myrelle so heartless? She nearly let Lan die. Why? She's dealing with a man capable of taking her head off before even she could blink and a man who's in a mental state where she can't be sure he won't.	View More Details
How did the White Tower form after the Breaking? Aes Sedai slowly got together.	View More Details
I'm curious, what happened to the Black Ajah's Warders? Did they kill them? Those who did not die on the night that Liandrin and the others left, died not long thereafter. Not all of them had warders, remember. And not just the Reds.	View More Details
Well, you write that Lews Therin ends the Age of Legends, that time repeats itself, and... I would think that Rand would in turn be ending the repeated Age of Legends, but... It doesn't appear to BE a repeated Age of Legends. It doesn't follow that simply because the Age that Lews Therin ended is now called the Age of Legends, that this age which Rand lives in in any way is a repeat of that particular age. What is/was the Age of Legends will repeat eventually, but not until the Wheel turns considerably further.	View More Details
ADMIT IT!!!!!! DASHIVA IS OSAN'GAR!!!!!! On the advice of my lawyer, I never admit anything. :) Not even to my wife!	View More Details
What is going to happen with Elayne, Min, Rand and Aviendha in their relationship? Will they all get along? "Read and find out!" he chuckled richly. ;)	View More Details
What went on with Egwene, Mat and Fain in the dungeon of The Great Hunt? Most of it is fairly obvious, I would think. For the rest, you'll have to read and find out.	View More Details
What is Padan Fain's overall role in the Wheel of Time (besides hating Rand with a passion)? Read and find out...except you should be able to figure out most of it by now. Think a little bit -- it's all there, really.	View More Details
There is a mystery man who helps Rand in the last chapter of A Crown of Swords, my Question: Is this a new character, or have we seen him elsewhere? Well, we've certainly seen him earlier in A Crown of Swords. Otherwise, read and find out. :)	View More Details
Will Moiraine come back from the dead since Lanfear and Asmodean apparently have? Read and find out -- in fact, I really suggest you read and find out.	View More Details
Is Aran'gar really Lanfear? If she is, how did she come back? Read and find out	View More Details
What happens to Birgitte if the Horn of Valere is sounded again? Read and find out, my children, read and find out. :)	View More Details
Will you write any books about characters from the distant past, such as Artur Hawkwing? No.	View More Details
What is there to Lan's [cousin], in the Waste [Blight]. . .is he a Darkfriend, or more? Read and find out.	View More Details
Was Mat right about the "snakelike" guy being a gholam, and if so, are we to assume that the bad guys are going to have as much trouble stopping one as the good guys? Yes, he was right. Because after all, his source for the information was Birgitte, who has some memories of the War of the Power. And yes, if a gholam decided to turn against one of the Forsaken, the Forsaken would certainly have as much difficulty in stopping the attack as any other person would. They were, after all, created for the sole purpose of assassinating Aes Sedai.	View More Details
Hello, RJ. Just out of curiosity, do your predictions (Foretellings and Min's viewings) have a well, Delphic quality by accident, or by choice? And did you ever think of writing a copy of the Prophecies of the Dragon? There's very little in the books that's by accident--very little. And no, I've never thought of writing out the complete Prophecies of the Dragon. As already stated in a previous book, they would comprise a volume of some 300 to 400 pages.	View More Details
All of Min's viewing have come true except one...does this mean she is no longer infallible? No, it doesn't. And actually, that's not quite true, that all of her viewings have come true but one.	View More Details
Will we learn what happened to Jain Charin "Farstrider" after his disappearance? Possibly.	View More Details
Have you ever thought of writing the Travels of Jain Farstrider? No.	View More Details
Exactly how tall is Rand? Six foot five to six foot six	View More Details
Are you ever going to expand the existing map and perhaps open up the lands east of the Spine of the World? There are no known maps of the Aiel Waste. That has been established.	View More Details
I enjoy the many nations and peoples in the Wheel of Time and how richly their societies are detailed! What was your inspiration for the Ogier? It's really impossible to say here. The Ogier came from a dozen different sources, at least.	View More Details
Mr. Jordan, you've outdone yourself with A Crown of Swords. My question concerns the True Power. How is it distinguishable from the One Power? It's fairly self-evident from the book. What can be done with the True Power is very similar to what can be done with the One Power. Except that where the One Power is drawn from the True Source and is the force that drives the Wheel of Time and powers the universe, the so-called True Power is drawn from the Dark One. There are limits in the same ways there are limits to the One Power. It would be very long if I went into it too much, but some of those limits and costs of drawing on the Dark One are shown in A Crown of Swords.	View More Details
Can gateways be created at non-right angles to the ground? If not, why not? If yes, why haven't we seen them? They can be, and you haven't seen it because there's been no need to do it. And also some of the people who can make gateways don't know how to do it.	View More Details
Cuendillar grows stronger when the One Power is directed into it, but can the One Power be drawn out of it, causing it to break? Read and find out! :) That's something I may or may not use in a future book, but it's information that I don't want you to have yet. And that's the reason why I say "Read and find out" when I say it. :)	View More Details
What was the process through which cuendillar was made? Entirely too complex for me to go into here. If there's anyone out there who can channel on the level of a Forsaken I would be happy to enter into a correspondence with them on the making of cuendillar. :)	View More Details
Can you clarify who can tell when one is using the True Power? No one can tell if you're using the True Power except the Dark One, of course.	View More Details
And also is the Dark One the only source of the True Power? Yes, the Dark One is the only source of the True Power.	View More Details
Where did you get the idea for Perrin? Out of my head.	View More Details
Why was Perrin not in The Fires of Heaven? He had a lot of things to do back home, and they were all pretty boring.	View More Details
From what sources did you develop the concept of Wolf Brothers and the "powers" Perrin has developed in the series? Any number of myths from Europe, North American Indians, and the Australian aborigines.	View More Details
Why is Perrin's horse in Lord of Chaos called Stayer and not Stepper? Because it's a different horse.	View More Details
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. :)	View More Details
In your future Wheel of Time books will we start to see things from the Seanchan perspective? It's quite possible, but the only real answer I can give is RAFO.	View More Details
I was wondering if the Dark One is ever going to be manifested into a single person, and was also wondering where you went to college? I graduated from The Citadel and, for the rest, read and find out! That is neither to say yes nor no; just read and find out.	View More Details
How about, I've noticed that the history of Rand's "parents" hasn't really been developed. We know a bit about Tam (and the original correlation with Rand's character) could you tell us something about Kari? Not really at this point. We'll find out a little bit more later.	View More Details
Did you base any of the Wheel of Time characters on real life friends, or acquaintances? No, with one exception. All of the major female characters have some part of my wife in them.	View More Details
Are the men and women ever going to understand each other? I don't see the characters growing much that way... They're going to try. We'll see how far they get. I've spent forty-odd years trying myself, and I'm not certain how far I've gotten.	View More Details