Search the most comprehensive database of interviews and book signings from Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson and the rest of Team Jordan.
Q: I understand there would be a person in The Eye of the World, but that he was cut out or something. Who was he?
A: One of the characters who I have brought in later was a fellow named Daniell in TEOTW, and I brought him out because I realized he didn't have anything to do there. I reintroduced hiim later. At that point, he was simply taking up space.
Q: In The Great Hunt it was mentioned that a Aes Sedai with gray hair was very old indeed. How old does a Aes Sedai typically have to be for her hair to start turning gray?
A: It varies. But usually they would expect to have grey hair by oh, 200 years of age. Some grey hair at least. Just like anyone else, some have grey hair at 150, or even 100, but that would be considered prematurely grey for an Aes Sedai.
Q: I love your books. If a person begins to channel at an old age, e.g. Sharina, will she begin to physically look younger when she slows, or will she remain the same and pick up from there?
A: She remains the same. It's not the same as having been stilled or burnt out. She's going to have a very long life, still, just not as a youthful person.
Q: Were the 9 Rods of Dominion mentioned in the Eye of The World prologue sa'angreal? Do they or will they play any role in the series? Was the sa'angreal used to heal Mat one of these Rods?
A: Read And Find Out.
Q: How much do you believe in WOT?
A: Well, I suppose I believe in the world I made as much as any writer believes in the world he or she creates -- I can see it, feel it, smell it. But I certainly have no difficulties stepping outside the world in my head into the REAL world.
Q: In the chat before PoD, you said that you felt 3 more books were needed to complete the series. Are we down to 2 more books now, or has the series been pushed back to another book?
A: It still sits at 3 more books to finish, but I've always said from the time I began using the 3 books that it would be AT LEAST 3 books -- that I'd try to finish in at least 3 books, but I couldn't promise. I know that I couldn't possibly finish in fewer than 3. If I can finish in 3, I will. But that's what I'm hoping for, what I'm trying for. NOT a promise.
Q: Do you ever feel under alot of pressure to finish the books due to their popularity?
A: Well, sometimes. But I know where I'm going, I know how I want to finish it, I do not intend to speed up the pace to get there faster. In truth, the greatest pressure to finish it, I think, comes from ME. I won't really have done it until I finish it.
Q: Do you have a Languages education? Where did you get the idea for the Old Tongue?
A: Well, I got the idea for the Old Tongue simply because the core beginnings of this story lie 3000 years in the past -- and I've never heard of a language remaining unchanged over that length of time. We could not understand the English spoken by an Englishman from 1000 years ago, and we'd have difficulty understanding him from 500 years ago, and the same holds true for a Frenchman with his language or a German with his.
Q: Is there any chance whatsoever that you could explain to us the full set of rules for the game 'Snakes and Foxes'? I would really like to try playing it.
A: (laughs) Not tonight! There's a fair description in one of the books, though -- perhaps someday I'll put it down in print somewhere. Really, it is a child's game.
Q: Out of all the 'evil' characters you've created in the 8, now 9 books of the Wheel of Time series, which character is the most dangerous to Rand?
A: Hmmm. Actually, I think the most dangerous character to Rand is Rand -- but among the others, each of them has their own particular danger toward Rand.
Q: What's your opinion of e-books?
A: I feel that it's a very new format, and that we have at present no idea whatsoever in what direction it is going to develop, or how widely it will be accepted. At the moment, relatively few people buy ebooks, unless they are by Stephen King, say, or if they are self-help or business. Even then, the numbers are not very big as compared to actual books on paper.
Q: What sort of things caused the Wheel of Time series to be so much longer than you originally anticipated? Culture description, character development, new plot developments, etc.? Or something else?
A: Not new plot, certainly. But I have been over-optimistic from the beginning about how much of the story I could get into each book. And in each case, I've found that I had to leave out things that I wanted to put into this book -- or in any given book -- and do them later.
Q: Why do all the WOT women have a superiority complex?
A: Both. I'm not certain that I have a women-looking-down-their-nose at men theme; I simply have women that consider themselves competent in and of themselves.
Q: Is there an afterlife? Can someone decide not to be a Hero of the Horn?
A: In answer to the first question, yes, there is an ordinary afterlife. In answer to the second, no. You cannot decide NOT to be a hero linked to the Wheel.
Q: How do you pronounce Egwene, Cyndane, Semirhage, Aiel?
A: Alright, I'm not going to be answering questions for any bloody 20 minutes. And of course, any question I don't answer here, I'm sure to answer at the signing. But first off, its Nynaeve. Audience: (Laughter) RJ: It's Egwene. Not Eegwene, not Egweenee, Egwene. Audience: (Laughter) RJ: Cyndane, Semirhage, Aiel, (etc.)
Q: Who killed Asmodean?
A: There is enough evidence in the books to put together to find out who killed Asmodean. Think! Think! Some of you are Harvard folk! Think! Someone has found out, actually, but I will not tell you.
Q: What exactly is the Bore?
A: Well, it is at No, I shouldn't say that. It is a thinness in the pattern that you can feel the most at Shayol Ghul. (don't remember what else he said.)
Q: Who do you base your female characters on?
A: I take some of the characteristics from my wife, and I distribute them through all of the female characters. I am, however, being very mean and I won't tell her which characteristics those are.
Q: Who is Messana?
A: Who is Messana? Think! You have enough evidence to know that by now, I would suspect, and you certainly will have enough after reading Crossroads of Twilight.
Q: How do you create the names for the characters?
A: (He said a really long answer, and I will summarize it. He basically takes names from legends and twists them, mainly King Arthur. The two characters that are based after King Arthur are Artur Hawkwing, obviously, and Rand. For example, the "sword in the stone." He says that the Wheel of Time could kind of be known as the bases of where all of the legends and myths come from. He said he tried to bury King Arthur very deeply, because if people thought that the Eye of the World was just another King Arthur book, nobody would buy it.)