<p>I think this theory will either seem to be common sense or completely insane, but my case begins as follows...<strong>I believe that the perpendicular worlds described by Verin are in fact identical to the parallel worlds mentioned by Robert Jordan.</strong></p> <br/> <p><strong><em>First: The <em>only</em> mention of Perpendicular Worlds by Jordan that I know of is below, and it isn't even Jordan using the term...</em></strong></p> <blockquote><p><strong>WinespringBrother:</strong> Do the Finns inhabit a perpendicular world? </p></blockquote> <blockquote><p><strong>Jordan:</strong> No, it is a parallel world.</p></blockquote> <p>There is no explicit evidence for the existence of anything called perpendicular worlds.</p> <p><strong><em>Second: The closest thing to a mention of perpendicular worlds (including a rough definition) in the books themselves is in the following quote...</em></strong></p> <blockquote><p><strong>The Dragon Reborn Chapter 21: A World of Dreams</strong> “That is only part of what a Dreamer does, child. Perhaps the least part. Anaiya believes in bringing girls along too slowly, in my opinion. Look here.” With one finger, Verin drew a number of parallel lines across the area she had cleared, lines clear in dust atop the old beeswax. “Let these represent worlds that might exist if different choices had been made, if major turning points in the Pattern had gone another way.”</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p><em>“The worlds reached by the Portal Stones,” Egwene said, to show she had listened to Verin’s lectures on the journey from Toman Head.</em> What could this possibly have to do with whether or not she was a Dreamer?</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>“Very good. But the Pattern may be even more complex than that, child. The Wheel weaves our lives to make the Pattern of an Age, but the Ages themselves are woven into the Age Lace, the Great Pattern. Who can know if this is even the tenth part of the weaving, though? Some in the Age of Legends apparently believe that <em>there were still other worlds—even harder to reach than the worlds of the Portal Stones</em>, if that can be believed—lying like this.” She drew more lines, cross-hatching the first set. For a moment she stared at them. “The warp and the woof of the weave. Perhaps the Wheel of Time weaves a still greater Pattern from worlds.” Straightening, she dusted her hands. “Well, that is neither here nor there. In all of these worlds, whatever their other variations, a few things are constant. One is that the Dark One is imprisoned in all of them.”</p></blockquote> <p>Taking that quote in consideration with the following:</p> <blockquote><p><strong>Tamyrlin:</strong> 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? </p></blockquote> <blockquote><p><strong>Jordan:</strong> They lead to Mirror Worlds, the Portal Stones can take you to Mirror Worlds, not to Parallels, which are separate.</p></blockquote> <p>It becomes clear that the worlds Verin show as parallel are generally reachable by Portal Stone, and all represent the possible worlds of the given true world, (in this case the world commonly known as Randland).</p> <p>So what are the worlds drawn as perpendicular by Verin? The only thing we know of them is that they are more difficult to access than mirror worlds.</p> <p><strong><em>Third: Parallel worlds are difficult to access.</em></strong></p> <p>In fact, interworld travel has only been indicated to be possible through the use of four artifacts: the Tower of Ghenjei, the Book of Translation, and the two doorframe ter'angreal. Each presumably leads to a fixed target parallel world. Considering the rarity of such items, Portal Stones (and the means to access mirror worlds) are common in comparison.</p> <p>From an opportunity standpoint Parallel Worlds are far more difficult to access than Mirror Worlds, and navigation between them is far more restrictive than navigation between Mirror Worlds.</p> <p><strong><em>Fourth: However rare knowledge of the origins of the Ogier or the nature of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn has become in the Third Age, it is known by the reader that such beings originated in Parallel Worlds, and likely known by scholars of the Age of Legends as well. These beings give further insight into the nature of Parallel Worlds.</em></strong></p> <p>It is clear that Ogier have done reasonably well under the physical laws of Randland. They have served as warriors and masons (both tightly regulated by natural law), and have few weaknesses related to their foreign origins. If the 'exotics' also originated in a Parallel World, they serve as another example of foreign beings functioning well within Randland. But the Aelfinn and Eelfinn are another case entirely. Consider the following quotes:</p> <blockquote><p><strong>Knife of Dreams Chapter 8: Dragon's Eggs</strong> He was thinking so furiously he had nothing left for motion. Somehow only the Light knew, the Eelfinn had gathered the memories they had planted in his head, but how could they harvest memory from a corpse? A corpse in the world of men, at that. He was certain they never came to this side of that twisted doorframe ter'angreal for longer than minutes at a time. A way occurred to him, one he did not like, not a scrap. Maybe they created some sort of link to any human who visited them, a link that allowed them to copy all of a man's memories after that right up to the moment he died. In some of those memories from other men he was white-haired, in some only a few years older than he really was, and everything in between, but there were none of childhood or growing up. What were the odds of that, if they had just stuffed him with random bits and pieces, likely things they considered rubbish or had done with? What did they do with memories, anyway? They had to have some reason for gathering them beyond giving them away again. No, he was just trying to avoid where this led. Burn him, the bloody foxes were inside his head right then! They had to be. It was the only explanation that made sense.</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p><strong>RJ:</strong> "When Moiraine and Lanfear went through the ter'angreal, it burned in part because both were channeling, and the world on the other side of the doorway has a radically different set of natural laws. The odd optical effects witnessed in that other world are not artificially produced artifacts."</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p><strong>Towers of Midnight Chapter 22: The End of a Legend</strong> Birgitte snorted. They’d talked about the memories he had. She should have put it together. “If you go in the other way, they’ll probably try that as well. Shedding blood in their kingdom can have strange effects. They’ll try to break your bones with a fall or drug you to sleep. And they will win, Mat. It’s their world.”</p></blockquote> <p>Clearly there are issues with the first quote, namely: 1. How would Mat know if the Aelfinn or Eelfinn came into Randland? 2. Assuming (reasonably) that there <em>is</em> a link, the Aelfinn and Eelfinn may see no need to travel to Randland</p> <p>But taking the other two quotes into account, it is reasonable to conclude that Finnland and Randland are radically different, and that any being from one visiting the other would be severely out of place, and at a distinct physical disadvantage.</p> <br/> <p>To conclude: Nowhere is there an explicit mention of Perpendicular Worlds. From Verin, we know only that they are more difficult to access than Mirror Worlds, and that the writers in the Age of Legends knew of them. Parallel Worlds meet both of those requirements. <em>If the perpendicular lines refer to anything other than Parallel Worlds (which the writers in the Age of Legends knew of), the omission of a mention of Parallel Worlds is more than merely bizarre</em>. There is no reason to assume that a Parallel World more bizarre than Finnland does not exist, as there appears to be a wide variation in natural laws between Parallel Worlds. <strong>While none of this absolutely precludes the existence of another class of worlds, it does severely undercut any evidence provided by any canon source. Therefore, within the scope of the books, I can say with confidence that Perpendicular Worlds do not exist, and Verin was describing the two classes of worlds seen in the books.</strong></p>