The Wheel of Time Database

133 interviews available

Interviews

Interview Questions from The Gathering Storm Book Tour

Question	Action(s)
Will Rand eventually be united with his father Tam? RAFO	View More Details
Would the True Source beat the True Power? Okay. My gut instinct is going to say, yes. My gut instinct says yes, but that is not coming from the notes. If I was actually going to have to write it out I would have to go to Charleston and I would have to look in the notes but from what I’ve read I’d say yes. But that is not canon because I’m not remembering specifically, does that make sense? I’ll tell you if it’s canon or it isn’t, but that one is just my instinct.	View More Details
Was Taim turned by a circle of thirteen? RAFO. I will say that he was never a very nice guy.	View More Details
Slayer made a gateway in Far Madding when he tried to kill Rand and Min. Does this mean he uses the True Power to make his gateways? Slayer does not channel. His powers come from somewhere other than the Source. Slayer is not affected by the Guardian in much the same way that Perrin wouldn’t be.	View More Details
Do the Seanchan consider the raid on the White Tower a success? Yes, they consider it a success, but they’re disappointed that they didn’t get their hands on the Aes Sedai superweapon.	View More Details
Will Moiraine be rescued in the next book? You're assuming that Moiraine will be rescued.	View More Details
Will Moiraine’s rescue attempt be in the next book? You’re assuming that Thom and Mat will attempt to rescue Moiraine.	View More Details
What will be the focus of the next book [Towers of Midnight]? This book [The Gathering Storm] really needed to focus on Egwene and Rand, and get their stories moving. There was also a nice contrast between their arcs in this book, with Egwene’s going upwards and Rand’s downward. The next book will be much broader in scope — we need to see what’s going on with a lot of different parts of the story. There will be a lot more Mat and Perrin than in this one. I suppose you could say that if there was going to be a rescue attempt, the logic place to put it would be in a book with a lot of Mat .	View More Details
Will we see what’s going on at the Black Tower [in Towers of Midnight]? We'll see whether that fits in or not	View More Details
Will Fain be in the next book [Towers of Midnight]? Padan Fain will be seen again. He’s a mixture of two things — Mordeth’s power, which he got by seeking out all of the evil things that weren’t related to the Shadow, and the Dark One’s Hound. Fain’s number one goal is to kill Rand, and a close second is to kill the Dark One. Now that Shadar Logoth has been destroyed, all of the Mordeth power that remains in the world is in Fain.	View More Details
It’s pretty clear now that Moridin and Rand are linked because of the balefire incident. Since Rand used saidin to create the balefire, and now he gets sick when channeling saidin, does that mean Moridin gets sick when he tries to use the True Power? You’re assuming that Rand’s channeling sickness comes from crossing the streams.	View More Details
After Rand has channeled the True Power, he has a dark cloud around him. When he meets with Tuon after this, she manages to resist his ta’veren pull. Is this because the True Power has reduced his ta’veren mojo? The reason she manages to resist is that she has a lot of willpower. Rand is just as ta’veren as ever.	View More Details
How about the food going bad in Bandar Eban? Was that caused by Rand being nearby with his cloud of evil? We’ve heard earlier in the books that the Dragon is one with the land, and the land is one with the Dragon. This is an old belief — many kingdoms believed that the wellness of the King was directly tied to the wellness of the land. In WoT, this is quite literally true.	View More Details
In Falme we saw Rand fighting Ishamael and the Heroes of the Horn and the Seanchan were mirroring the progress of the battle. Does this mean that there is something inherently evil about the Seanchan Empire? Nobody in WoT is inherently evil, except for Shadowspawn. At the time, the Seanchan were being led by a Darkfriend.	View More Details
Was the Domination Band made of cuendillar? The original one is made of cuendillar. The one that was destroyed was a copy, but one would assume that the copies are made of cuendillar too. The True Power works by destroying the Pattern. Everything that is done with it involves damage to the Pattern. For example, when we see Ishamael Travel, he does so by poking a hole in the Pattern. Cuendillar can be destroyed using the True Power. There is another way to destroy cuendillar, too.	View More Details
Is Mesaana still in the Tower? Egwene makes some deductions about this at the end of the book. Egwene is not incorrect.	View More Details
[Mesaana] could swear that she’s not a Darkfriend on the Oath Rod, right? As long as she believed it to be true. Every remaining Aes Sedai in the Tower has retaken the three oaths. You should be thinking about ways to defeat the Oath Rod. There is a way to do it.	View More Details
At the darkfriend social, Carridin is given orders by Ishamael that he can’t remember. Later on in Ebou Dar, he sees Mat out the window and he sort of goes into a trance, sees more imagery, and when he snaps out of it, time is stopped and Sammael is in the room. How did this happen? Was Sammael paged somehow when Carridin’s orders were triggered? MAFO — Maria and find out. (This means he will answer the question, but he wants to check with Maria first to make sure he has the details straight.)	View More Details
After Moiraine uses balefire on the Darkhounds in TDR, she says something about how she’s much more dangerous now than when she met Perrin in Emond’s Field. How did she become more dangerous? There are a couple of ways she might mean that she has become more dangerous. Think about this — when she went to Emond’s Field, she thought Rand was the Dragon. Now she knows that he’s the Dragon. That in itself, combined with the fact that she’s Blue makes her much more dangerous.	View More Details
How do you and Robert Jordan’s widow feel while working on Robert Jordan’s legacy? I would say there is a healthy amount of reverence going on. It’s a solemn experience working with these notes. In her case it’s her husband’s legacy. In my case it is my hero’s legacy. And so, we’ve been very careful and very solemn. It has been an amazing experience for me, indescribable really. It’s like walking being the first one to walk into Davinci’s workshop after he had walked out of it and left everything there. That’s what I am. I am walking into the master’s workshop and I get to see everything before even the dust is settled. As a writer and someone who has loved these books that’s surreal and awe inspiring and daunting at the same time. And there are so many weird emotions going on connected to this that it is actually hard to explain, but yeah reverence. It’s a reverent sort of thing to work on this book.	View More Details
Robert Jordan uses a great deal of mythology and lore in his books. How are you handling that? My answer is, I’m doing my darndest. One thing I love and always have loved about the Wheel of Time is Robert Jordan’s use of mythology. He doesn’t use mythology in kind of almost, how should I say, the bubble gum pop version of it that you see in some other fantasy works. There is a depth and a reality to his mythology that has always amazed me. One of the greatest concepts is what he says in that first paragraph: an Age long past, an Age yet to come. I didn’t get these things the first read through, I was a fifteen-year-old kid I didn’t know what’s going on. I didn’t notice the first time I was reading it that Buzz Aldren and the Cold War are referenced as mythological events in the Eye of the World. […] I love how he’s used mythology as his history and just how Mat in particular but a lot of them are founding myths that become our mythology. I don’t know if you guys have read up on Odin and Locke. Go read up on the mythology of Odin and Locke. They were actually thought to be one person in all of the original myths. See the things attributed to them, including things like ravens and the spear of Odin and things like thi. And then see what Mat is doing. The idea is that Mat is actually founding these myths and by the time our Age comes we remember Mat but we have all of this other mythology associated with him and we’ve forgotten that he was even known as Mat. That’s just genius So, I’m doing my best to continue that. It would be very easy to over do it in fan sort of a way. I have to be very careful to not put a reference to something like that in every chapter just because it’s fun. But if you search through The Gathering Storm you should be able to find a few things that are happening. Particularly, I don’t want to give any hints, but the things happening in Hinderstap were intended as things that through a lot of mythology later on become myths in our time. There are references to writers from our world being referenced in The Gathering Storm among books people are studying.	View More Details
Are you studying up on military tactics? Yes, Harriet has sent me multiple large volumes of military tactics which she said Robert Jordan had been using and that I should reference, even specific battles, historical battles that he had talked about as references for battles. The answer is yes, I have a lot of reading to do, specifically for the last battle.	View More Details
How do you think working on these books will influence your future books. That’s a good question…It has had a couple of effects. One thing, partially Harriet’s pushing me on concrete details has helped me a lot. Harriet is very good at that as an editor. She is one of the best editors in the field. I don’t know if you guys are familiar and aware of Harriet’s history. Editors don’t get a lot of fame, it all kind of goes to the authors but she was the first person Tom Daugherty hired when he founded Tor, she was his Editorial Director which means she was in charge of all of the editorial side. She edited some of the greatest books in the field over the last thirty years. She edited Ender’s Game for instance. If you have ever read that book, that was brought to us through the efforts of Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan’s wife, before she even met him (rest of the answer cut off).	View More Details
Which characters did you find the easiest to write and which ones did you find were the hardest to write? Easy and hard? I would say the most natural ones for me to write were Rand and Egwene. I’m not sure why. Perrin was very natural for me as well. The Two Rivers folk, the kids from Two Rivers that I’ve grown up with as my friends from high school that just feel like my buddies and think kind of…well Rand doesn’t think like I do anymore but you know what I mean. The hardest single person to write was Aviendha because Aiel are so odd and they think so strangely and getting her right I actually had to throw away two chapters. I wrote one from her perspective threw it away. Wrote another one, it wasn’t right, sent it to Charleston and said what am I doing wrong and they are like you are doing it wrong and I said I know, what am I doing wrong and Harriet gave me some pointers I tossed that one and wrote a third one and that is when it started to work. Tuon was not terribly easy either, but I had a little more practice by the time I wrote Tuon and so I got her on the first try but it was after a lot of research. So, there you go, Aviendha, hard to write, she’s crazy. She would say that she isn’t because she would say she acts the most normal of everyone.	View More Details
Slayer, is he going to be in the thirteen or fourteenth book? He has a role to play in both, you will see him in both, probably. Unless, you know, he dies in the thirteenth, because he very well might. So he has a role to play, yet.	View More Details
Are you going to discuss Moiraine in the future? Way to give me a great out. Moiraine will be mentioned in future books. […] In future books there will certainly be references. Her name will at least be mentioned, at the very least in the Appendix. In fact, I think in The Gathering Storm the entire letter to Thom is in the Appendix.	View More Details
Was Ishamael partially, or was he responsible for the initiation of the three oaths. Was he a part of what brought them about? That’s a MAFO. Type that one out. That’s a MAFO.	View More Details
Perrin is chasing Slayer in T’A’R, does Slayer actually disappear into the Tower of Ghenjei or does he disappear from the Dream? That’s actually something I wondered and I asked and that’s a RAFO. Both Slayer and the Tower of Ghenjei are things that are reserved for the Towers of Midnight.	View More Details
Do the Finns care whether or not the Dark One wins? RAFO	View More Details
Why do the Aiel revere and protect blacksmiths? It has a lot to do with the fact that without the blacksmiths there can be no warriors. The blacksmiths are the ones who make the spears and who keep them going. But, in a way the blacksmiths are among those who sacrifice being able to go and fight themselves so that others can and that’s kind of a holy calling to the Aiel. There is also a lot of spirituality to it related to where they live, being in the desolate wasteland and the whole concept of being forged. […] There is a spiritual aspect to a blacksmith forging something because of the place that they live. Those are the two of the main reasons. It’s cultural which means there is going to be more than one reason that it is deeply ingrained, but those are two big ones that roll of the top that are in the notes.	View More Details
We know that the Karaethon Cycle and the Essanik Cycle are different. Is that because there were different contributors to each, or some other reason (like tampering by Ishy)? Which is more correct? The Essanik cycle had only in Seanchan and there were different contributors. Which is more correct? I’m not going to say which is more correct. There has been tampering… People are not perfect, alright? Let’s just say that and there are lots of forces at work. The Essanik cycle, they have tried to preserve it as perfectly as they can. If the Outriggers ever get written there will be more information about what the Essanik cycle is. It is had only in Seanchan. It was given by damane in Seanchan, so nobody knows about it on the main continent.	View More Details
Is the Court of Nine Moons something that moves with the Empress. In other words, wherever the Empress is holding court is that the Court of Nine Moons? I think that would be subject of debate, depending on what…I think that if the Empress were to declare herself on a different continent she would expect that it would and I think there would be those that would argue with her and wouldn’t expect that it would. Does that make sense? So, my answer would be that it would move with the Empress, but there are those that would disagree with me and with the Empress, may she live forever.	View More Details
Did [Graendal] really die? 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.	View More Details
Is it an assumption that we haven’t seen the last of these individuals right here (I was pointing at the Seanchan assassins)? There were five sent. We know one is dead. The other four, they may have lived or died through the assault, it was pretty chaotic, but they are expert warriors with ter’angreal focused on letting them hide.	View More Details
How long does [the Seanchan assassin] effect last? Days? That affect can be stretched if they take it off, for several weeks. It is going to kill them eventually. If they are wearing it straight, it’s not going to last long, a matter of days, but if they take it off they can hide for a matter of weeks. So, there are four unaccounted for, who have orders to kill as many Aes Sedai as they can.	View More Details
You had a quote that we all talked about just recently, that there is a small detail with this secret thing. There were two quotes we put together where you told somebody from Chicago where you say this detail first comes out between books 4-6. Is that verified? It’s been going for a long time. Somewhere in four and six the first hints of it are mentioned.	View More Details
Heroes of the Horn, are they corrective mechanisms by themselves, or are they corrective mechanisms by virtue of being Ta'veren? Heroes are not always Ta'veren. So, yes, they are corrective mechanisms by themselves.	View More Details
Have the visions and other such prophecies about Egwene and the Seanchan (such as the running one and the one with the sword) have they been fulfilled yet? No, none of those have been fulfilled other than the attack on the White Tower. She still has more to go.	View More Details
There have been rumors that you have said that Mr. Jordan did not have anything in his notes about the voice of Lews Therin, whether it was a construct or not. That or that you had sai--[cut off] I would like to clarify this, thanks for asking. I will NOT say that it was not in the notes. However, Mr. Jordan did NOT want to reveal this information, and therefore I shall not ever either. Mr. Jordan did not want to reveal it.<br/>Harriet: What Brandon said.	View More Details
Does Elayne know that Alanna bonded Rand? Uh...well... I'll have to check that. MAFO. Good question.	View More Details
Is there any chance that Cadsuane might be Ilyena reborn? I...wha?...First of all, I'm not going to answer that. Second of all...EWW! ... And you can quote me on that!	View More Details
Did the meeting between Rand and Moridin for sure happen in TAR or could it have happened in a Vacuole? I...well. I'm going to partially RAFO this. I will not say it for sure happened in TAR, and I'm not sure whether the other instances of this were TAR either.	View More Details
Can you elaborate on why the voice of Lews Therin was not speaking when Rand and Isha--I mean Moridin were talking? Is it becau-- Ah. Yes, well, I'm going to have to RAFO that one...too close to dealing with the specifics of the voice, sorry.	View More Details
Was Sulin really with Rand or--? (Referring to an apparent inconsistency in The Gathering Storm about the location of Sulin) RAFO. I will tell you when there are typos or not. This is a RAFO.	View More Details
Are we going to learn more about the Sea Folk clans background in future books? RAFO	View More Details
Did the Da'shain Aiel have first-sisters, second-mothers, second-fathers in the Age of Legends? MAFO and/or tweet his assistant Peter for further information.	View More Details
Have any characters we’ve seen been converted to the Shadow via the 13 Myrddraal/13 channelers method? Has this method been used at the BT? RAFO	View More Details
What’s up with Rand’s sword? Was it LTT’s? There are some really good theories out there on the message boards and I don’t have anything to add on this.	View More Details
Did Graendal use compulsion on Ituralde when they met previously in LOC? Is it still there? MAFO	View More Details
How does Nynaeve compare with Semirhage in OP strength? I’m pretty sure she’s stronger, but they are very close. RJ has a list of all the channeler’s strengths. On that list, only 6 people are stronger than Nynaeve. It’s such a rare event that pretty much anytime we meet someone stronger than her, it’s explicitly said. There are two OP strength scales — an ‘old’ and a ‘new’. Nynaeve was the top of the female list for the ‘old’ list. Six are stronger on the ‘new’ list.	View More Details
Tell me what you can about Laras’ backstory. Is she an agent of the Kin? RAFO	View More Details
Are there any circumstances of death that could prevent the DO from resurrecting someone (other than balefire)? Yes, but I’m not going to tell you what.	View More Details
Did Rand directly have the DO’s permission to channel the TP? It’s very difficult (but not impossible) to channel the TP without the DO’s direct permission.	View More Details
You mention that Shadar Haran has quite a few limitations on his power. Can you give us a few concrete examples of these limitations? Shadar Haran needs a minion to most of his work for him. Elza was essential to Shadar Haran in getting things done.	View More Details
Where did Cyndane’s new body come from? Where have any of the new bodies come from?	View More Details
Whatever happened to the kidnapped King of Illian — Matin Stepanos? He's still in the White Tower	View More Details
Did Verin have anything to do with the attack on Demira Sedai in Caemlyn? RAFO+. Even though Verin's gone now, so much Verin discussion remains that it shouldn't be disturbed.	View More Details
Has Narishma fulfilled the prophecy regarding Callandor and "who draws it out shall follow after"? RAFO	View More Details
Will Elaida ever learn how badly she has misinterpreted her Foretellings? RAFO+	View More Details
Does Tam al'Thor have a romantic interest in his future, and if so, has he recently encountered the object of this interest? RAFO	View More Details
Were the references to Galad, both from Rand's technicolor scrying of Perrin and Tam's mention, intentionally left in place as teasers, or an accidental artifact of the book division? Intentional	View More Details
Has Cadsuane met Min's vision regarding the lesson she must teach Rand and the Asha'man, which they won't like one bit? Part of it.	View More Details
Has Graendal's death in any way acquitted her as a suspect in Asmodean's death? (short pause) No. (longer pause) For that matter, I'm not saying definitively that she's dead.	View More Details
Is Rand's access to the True Power via his link with Moridin, created at Shadar Logoth? No one may channel the True Power without the Dark One's permission, and Rand doesn't have that.	View More Details
Did Ishamael have a hand in how the Seanchan prophecies have come to differ from those of the westlands? RAFO	View More Details
Is Tuon's new name, Fortuona, an intentional play on the Latin Fortuna? Many see this as a semantic trick for calling her Lady Luck, which fits being Mat's wife. Good question, and I'm going to allow you to say yes, as I don't think anything of that nature was done without a purpose, but it was Jim's (Robert Jordan) choice, which Maria dug out for me when I realized I needed to create a new name for her upon ascending as Empress.	View More Details
Mr. Jordan stated that the Seanchan only know how to make one kind of ter'angreal. Then there are the Bloodknives' rings. Is this a departure from Jordan's notes, or a discrepancy in a past answer? Neither. The Seanchan only know how to make a'dam.	View More Details
It has been noted that Sulin is incorrectly referred to in a scene with Rand's group in Arad Doman. Who should have been named in the text there? Sulin	View More Details
Was the Compulsion which Elza told Semirhage about, Verin's work from after Dumai's Wells, and was it Shaidar Haran who told her about it and to ask Semirhage to remove it? Yes	View More Details
How did Elza defeat the wards on Cadsuane's plain wooden box? Elza had been given knowledge of several rarely known weaves, and in other ways made into a tool of Shaidar Haran. Not all of it was pleasant for her.	View More Details
Is the ter'angreal which Aviendha identifies as related to holes, and requiring a song to activate, the Talisman of Growing for the Ways? RAFO	View More Details
Some commenters (AMW) have noted a seeming discrepancy regarding Egwene's accounting for captured, missing, dead, and present sisters. Is this true, and can it be explained? RAFO	View More Details
Did you enjoy Tam calling Cadsuane a bully? Immensely! She needed to hear it.	View More Details
Will there be reciprocity for Cadsuane's treatment of Semirhage? If I have anything to say about it.	View More Details
Was the Warder bond originally created to control male channelers? RAFO	View More Details
Do the Forsaken consider themselves Darkfriends? Oooh, you are tricky! I know what you’re doing. I would say that, in general, yes they do consider themselves Darkfriends, though there are ways somebody would be able to get around that. I would say, yes, that that is not the sort of mental gymnastics that…it is very easy to convince yourself that you are not a Darkfriend.	View More Details
Will we see Nynaeve Heal the darkness that it in some of the male channelers before the Cleansing? Nynaeve has said before, and believes, that everything can and should be able to be Healed, except for maybe death, and she certainly believes that it is possible. I’m not going to say whether or not it will happen.	View More Details
Rand is bonded to four people. If one of them was to die, what would be the effect on him? We know that immediate bonding to someone else helps with the ‘Warder rage’ — it doesn’t completely get rid of it. I would say that your instincts are right, that it would help. I don’t think that it would negate everything.	View More Details
Are the Aiel linked in some way to the Ogier, in that they both have that capability in making things grow, and that they and the Nym all worked together in the scene from the Age of Legends. Well, everybody is connected in the Pattern, and certainly the Aiel would have threads connecting them to the Ogier. I can’t really say anything too specific about it.	View More Details
If someone were to use balefire as a weapon, could they redirect it through a gateway, or would it destroy the weave and keep going? Well, I happen to know that someone asked Robert Jordan this at a signing, and he gave a kind of glib answer that didn't answer anything. So, I'm going to RAFO that, and we'll see. There will be a lot of balefire in the future of these books. much laughter	View More Details
Can someone besides Rand be taught to see the black cords that are seen on other Forsaken? Robert Jordan is kind of dodgy on the black cords. A lot of people tried to pin him down on those. I think that yes, others could be trained to see the black cords.	View More Details
If the Forsaken were in a bubble all by themselves, who would win? Ishamael. He's got the True Power.	View More Details
Does Mat's medallion work against all types of Power, or just against saidar? Because you know he said in the book, something to be free of Aes Sedai. Yes, that is what he said specifically, but you know, Aes Sedai were both male and female once, and so we don't know yet, and I will have to RAFO that. .. Was it in book six? ....Oh, that's right; it did happen. You see, I know a lot of stuff....but I get in trouble if I say too much, because at one of the early signings....no, it wasn't even one of the signings; it was JordanCon. I was talking about....someone asked me a question, and I started answering, talking about, 'Do you remember that scene, where this happened, and this happened, and this happened....' and everyone started staring at me blankly. And I'm like, 'What? No...' and I argued with them that this scene existed. I promised them. No one remembered it! And about a month later, I realized as I was looking through it, 'Oh, it was a deleted scene from book seven.' Which now, in my head, is in book seven! And so I'm very careful not saying things I know, but you're right; that was proven in the books.	View More Details
Will Rand eventually be united with his father Tam? RAFO	View More Details
Would the True Source beat the True Power? Okay. My gut instinct is going to say, yes. My gut instinct says yes, but that is not coming from the notes. If I was actually going to have to write it out I would have to go to Charleston and I would have to look in the notes but from what I’ve read I’d say yes. But that is not canon because I’m not remembering specifically, does that make sense? I’ll tell you if it’s canon or it isn’t, but that one is just my instinct.	View More Details
How extensive were RJ’s notes about Lews Therin? His notes about Lews Therin, I would say are about middle extensive, comparatively of different things that he has notes on. Less than some, more than others. They were extensive enough that I know enough things you don’t know to make me excited, but not so extensive that you know, you are ever going to see a book about Lews Therin or anything like that.	View More Details
As a followup question, are the notes about Lews Therin the same notes about the voice of Lews Therin’s? You know I think that’s enough of a spoiler because there is still confusion or not confusion, wondering from people whether or not Lews Therin is the voice, I mean, of course Semirhage said that it is… Robert Jordan never really made that explicit himself. What I think and what you think may be different and so we’ll just leave it. There are things about this in the book.	View More Details
What was your reaction when you finished The Gathering Storm? It was an enormous sigh of relief, followed by a, how should I say it, a curiosity about what kinds of screams I would get when people read the last chapter of the book.	View More Details
When will the book be released in New Zealand and South Africa? New Zealand and South Africa I think are both part of the World English market which is the UK publishers job to get books shipped there. So it all depends on how quickly the UK publisher gets their edition out and how quickly they can get to shipping them. Austrailia should be very soon, how ever long it takes them, but it’s not going to be a long time because I thought UK was releasing today. Alright? And South Africa should be the same.	View More Details
Why did you choose to be so open with your writing process? It’s because when I was trying to break into this business and learn to be a writer, the whole process seemed opaque to me. And I think that’s because I was doing it before the era of the Internet really hit and now that we have this opportunity I figure I’ll throw it out there and maybe what I’m talking about will really help other writers who are aspiring. And also on the other end of it, it gets a little frustrating waiting for books to come out and you never know what’s going to happen and you never know what’s going on. I figure with the Internet we have such a great opportunity to keep people in the loop to let people know what’s going on. We don’t have to be so shadowed anymore, so I want to make as best use of it as I can.	View More Details
If you could choose an Ajah, which Ajah would you choose? If there were Ajahs for guys, I would definitely be a Brown.	View More Details
Do you have any books coming out between the next two Wheel of Time books? I have been working very hard on a book called “The Way of Kings” for about ten years now. It is the beginning of a large epic and I’ve always wanted to write one. I think it’s almost ready. If the revisions work it will come out next fall. I don’t think I will have one the year after that because the Wheel of Time is first priority. So, either between this one and the next one or between “The Towers of Midnight” and “A Memory of Light”.	View More Details
Since you are Brown Ajah, will we learn more about the 12 (13) Depositories in the White Tower? They are mentioned in “The Gathering Storm”.	View More Details
Has anyone ever had the same ability as Min? And do you know how it is caused or how the ability works? The ability works quite explicitly from her being able to see glimmers in the Pattern. She is seeing what is being woven in the future and that is how most of the Foretelling powers work. He was actually pretty explicit in the notes about that. Though some of them of course, there are ones that are strict, meaning they see the Pattern, some of them you see how the Pattern might be. She sees the Pattern as it will be. Has anyone ever had it before? Yeah, from what I read it never said it explicitly, but it implied that this is a power that could exist again and has existed before, but there are no lists of anyone that’s had it before. It’s definitely open that somebody could have had it before, but he doesn’t actually say specificially.	View More Details
How much writing do you think you’ll get done during the Tour? I bought a brand new Netbook just yesterday…the goal being to do writing on the plane rides and in the car while the driver is driving me around. How much do I think I’ll get done? My goal is to get up to about 90%…I’m not sure if I’ll make that…we’ll see…get to the 90%. What am I at right now? 70? (pause while he signs a book) Okay, let’s not say 90%, I just added that up. Let’s say 80%. Thirty thousand words is going to be tough to get. As I was thinking about that, wait a minute, fifty thousand words is a good month on its own, so if on tour I get half that I’m going to be happy.	View More Details
Will we see the Land of Madmen in any of the last books? RAFO	View More Details
Will you be coming to Canada? Will any previously unknown Black Ajah members be revealed? I have spoken with my Canadian publisher and they have offered to send me on a tour. We are looking at having me go sometime next summer? I will yes that. Yes there will be Black Ajah members revealed in The Gathering Storm.	View More Details
Is Mat’s humor changing [in the Gathering Storm]? His world turned upside down. Usually, he’s the guy who leaves, he doesn’t know how to handle someone he loves leaving him.	View More Details
If you could kill one character gruesomely (without regard to plot) who would it be? Cadsuane	View More Details
Did the Creator or does the Creator use the One Power to create? RAFO	View More Details
Can it be said that the Pattern was created by and infused with the One Power? RAFO	View More Details
I know you’ll RAFO this one but I’ll ask it anyway. Does the creator for a lack of a better word, weave the One Power? RAFO	View More Details
Ok, so, what is then the nature of the Dark One’s relationship with the True Power? In other words, is the power…is he the Power or it is separate like the One Power? When people bored into his prison they were searching for a new source of power, they found him. Alright? Now, that leaves a strong implication that the True Power is the essence of the Dark One. The True Power when it is used rips apart the Pattern to rebuild it as it desires. The True Power is very destructive to the Pattern. It leaves scars on the Pattern. Robert Jordan said in an interview or maybe it was actually in the books, when you make a gateway with the True Power you are actually ripping a whole in the Pattern and going somewhere else. When you are using the True Power that is what you are doing, it is contrary to the Pattern. That is not a direct answer to your question but I think there are enough implications in there that certain things can be discussed.	View More Details
does the Dark One weave the True Power? I will RAFO that.	View More Details
Is the True Power used by any other creatures or beings within Parallel or Perpendicular worlds or other dimensions? Ok, see answering that actually gets us a begging the question because let’s step back, the question that people should be asking is does the Dark One exist in all of these Parallels…	View More Details
Are there worlds and dimensions that exist outside of the Pattern? Ok, see that’s the question you should be asking. I mean, you should be asking it, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to answer it. [laughter] But that’s at the core of the question. I’m going to discuss it without giving you the answer. I like to do this because I think it frames the question without giving you too much information that I have that I don’t think is appropriate to share right now. 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 T’A’R is a reflection of all different worlds, which implies other worlds continue to exist. The World of the Finns is something different… 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…	View More Details
are there many Wheels or just one Wheel? That’s not a question, I’m afraid, that I can answer because I don’t think it’s within the scope of the books and I don’t think that the characters…that there are people that could know. You will find Brown arguing all of these different things among themselves, and it’s not my place to step in and end the discussion.	View More Details
Ok. This is a fun one that I don’t think I’ve heard before, can the Creator use the True Power? RAFO	View More Details
Can the Dark One use the One Power? RAFO	View More Details
Are there any other sources of Powers either within the Pattern or outside of the Wheel? Are there any sources like [the One Power and the True Power]? I will have to RAFO that.	View More Details
You mentioned that Mordeth was a man that had "power". You are reported as saying that his power was that "which he got by seeking out all of the evil things that weren’t related to the Shadow"… ...he was seeking things that were related to the Shadow. I think that that might be a misquote. He was looking into the power of the Shadow in order to defeat it, was his goal. He was looking into everything. He was looking into things that were not necessarily related to the Dark One as well. He was looking for everything that he could get…	View More Details
Before he went to the King and became the counselor, Mordeth was this guy that went around searching for Power? Yeah, he wanted to defeat the Dark One and he felt that he could find other ways to do it […] He originally was good. He did not…he wasn’t this terrible person to begin with but he was looking to defeat the Dark One, to find a way to defeat the Shadow. And he looked into a lot of things he shouldn’t have looked into. There are evils that are not necessarily directly related to the Dark One, though everything evil kind of has…just as there are goods that are not related necessarily to the One Power…we are talking much as Perrin runs with wolves. This is a thing older than…there are other evils things that are old in a similar way…	View More Details
is the assumption then that Mordeth found one of these [ancient evils]? He did.	View More Details
[Mordeth] found one or multiple [evil powers]? He found many things of darkness. There is one in specific that is driving him but he knew too much. He found things he should not have gotten into and that is what turned him into…when he got there he was already corrupt. He still thought he was doing a good work. He still thought we are going to raise this Kingdom up and it is going to become this bastion against the Shadow, but he was already by then corrupted.	View More Details
Is this same corrupting influence [that corrupted Mordeth] what corrupts everyone through the dagger itself? Yeah. Through him. yes. And even through his presence.	View More Details
So, [Fain's] influence, how long for example…wasn’t Egwene exposed to Padan Fain? Are there still effects that Egwene has on people because of him? Remember the idea that people have, generally, a choice. There are ways to turn people to the Shadow against their will, but when that happens the person is no longer the person. What is happening with Padan Fain is, naturally tendencies can be exacerbated or they can be fought off...	View More Details
so Elaida’s paranoia fed [Padan Fain's influence]? With someone like Egwene she might have fought it off, so it’s not going to be… right. exactly, or someone like Rand who continues to fight it off. He has become very paranoid. And the wound in his side, certainly someone could make the connection that that might have an influence. I won’t say for certain but…	View More Details
Is Mordeth’s power, this evil power, comparable to the One Power and True Power? Is it a power that can be woven? No, it’s more something along the lines of Perrin’s wolf power, something more natural, you couldn’t weave Mordeth.	View More Details
because Jordan was really particular about…he tried to have a logic-based system as it pertained to the One Power. Is [Mordeth's] power more supernatural in sense than it is based on physics? Let’s say more instinctual, alright?	View More Details
Is the Wheel responsible for giving or weaving in Talents and Abilities to a particular life, or are they like channeling, attached to the soul? That’s an excellent question. I’m going to have to RAFO that…it’s actually more of a MAFO. What’s your asking is would someone who is reborn into the Pattern will have the same talents again?	View More Details
the Wheel, we obviously know it is very capable of affecting the Pattern, so the question is does it give and take when it comes to abilities and talents it needs? Yeah, right, I will have to MAFO that.	View More Details
Ok, so can the Wheel give an individual life the ability to channel, if the soul does not come to that life with an inborn ability to learn or a spark? Can the Wheel give them that? Again, I will have to MAFO this whole thing. I will have to go and look. I don’t know if someone is necessarily always born with the ability to channel, if they are in every Age...	View More Details
here is a quote I brought that we asked at DragonCon, Jordan said: “I dont think I have said if you are born with the spark you would have the have the spark again. I have said if you were born with the ability to channel, to learn or with the spark, you will, when your soul is born again, you will have the ability again, whether with the spark or without….” So, in essence he said it’s inherent you have the ability. Whether or not you Spark or you can learn it that depends on the life. My instinct knowing how Jim wrote and knowing the parallels in the notes would be that he would parallel the other talents along the same lines. A wolf brother then would always have the ability to become a wolf brother and other things along those lines. I’m going off of instinct so that is an asterisked answer. I can MAFO that and look it up and we can see what we can find, but he did like to parallel a lot of these things...	View More Details
At the end of that answer he said this…we were asking a specific question about stilling and burning out…he said, “And neither burning out or stilling affects that except in this lifetime, your current lifetime”. In other words, it doesn’t affect your souls ability, your soul’s connection. So stilling and burning out do not affect the ability to channel, which seems to be integral to the soul as it pertains to a new life. That being said, Aran'gar and Osan'gar, they were transmigrated and we see that they can channel in their new bodies, which makes sense because the ability comes with the soul. He was transmigrated into a different body, but still channeling the same power the soul inherits. So considering Jordan's statement about stilling and burning out not affecting the channeling ability of the new life of a soul, is the same for the new life of a soul transmigrated? I’m going to say that transmigrated…if you were burned out and transmigrated you would still be burned out, is my guess.	View More Details
Cyndane and her alter ego have never been under any shenanigans? (The shenanigans refer to her apparent disparities in power level over the last few books) I’m not going to say never been under any shenanigans, but when you see her creating a gateway she is legitimately powerful enough to do it, which I did not believe that she was. Does that make sense? This is all digging into my read of the notes versus and Maria’s read of the notes and Maria was right. She was able to provide information to me that I had not seen which is nice because it was stuff that was very pertinent for what I am working on right now. It would have come out eventually when I would have sent her the scenes I’m working on, but it came out earlier, which is nice. Once I found out what was going on it all made perfect sense.	View More Details
So, we will understand then in the next book or so why there is a decrease in [Cyndane's] power but not a significant decrease? Yes	View More Details
would the Finns have the ability to accentuate someone’s beauty and/or quantity or access to the One Power through their own capabilities and talents? Yes, but it might involve third party Ter’angreal, Angreal, this sort of thing…	View More Details
[The Finns] don’t have power to affect the soul's capability of increasing its total channeling? Certainly not permanently, as far I understand, that is outside the realm of their ability…	View More Details
so the obvious question, where did the Finns get great stores of Ter’angreal, Angreal, and is that part of the Pact they made? RAFO…but if you just think about it, we don’t even have to go to the notes for this if you think about it logically, we know of them providing certain items of power to certain individuals that they were able to match very nicely with certain requests very easily. If you run the statistics on that its either a huge coincidence or they have very many to choose from.	View More Details
So, how many Finns are there? RAFO. I’m going to RAFO a lot of Finn stuff just so you know.	View More Details
Were male channelers across Randland able to feel Rand's use of the male CK when he destroyed it atop Dragonmount? I would certainly think they would have been able to, consistent with what has happened before.	View More Details
But did they know that it was destroyed? Is that what they felt, or was it just the use of? I do not believe the destruction of a Sa’angreal would be the type of event that you would be able to notice. It is not consistent with what we have seen before.	View More Details
There was some confusion about Rand and the DO’s permission, so for clarification’s sake, did Rand have the DO’s permission to use the True Power? I have not answered that. If anyone says that I have, I have not. What I have said specifically is, this is recording: generally one must have the DO’s permission to use the True Power. Semirhage believed that the DO had betrayed her by letting Rand use it. […] It is good that you have asked this so I can make sure on the record that is the answer I have given.	View More Details