I will probably use this blog to post random musings on WoT-related things, but it should always be easy to use this index for the theories I post. Also, if I do happen to get a following, I will take requests for discussion threads, and keep them indexed here also.
WOTRR Index
FAQ Index
WOTRR Recap Index
TEOTW Part 1 (Prologue-Chapter 5)
TEOTW Part 2 (Chapters 6-10)
TEOTW Part 3 (Chapters 11-15)
TEOTW Part 4 (Chapters 16-20)
TEOTW Part 5 (Chapters 21-25) Coming soon!
FAQ Index
Blood on the Rocks
The Black Tower
Demandred
Rand's New Sword
Lews Therin
Aviendha's Babies
Seanchan Prophecies
The Dark Prophecies
Mirror Worlds
Can Tuon Channel? Has she already?
The Red-Veiled 'Aiel'
The Right to Kill Rand
The Gholam
Gaidal Cain For Noobs
Blog Info
I have wanted to have a place to call my own for some time, a place to put my theories and such for people that are actually interested in reading them (as opposed to the average person). Something like my own WoT NSFAQ. Like most people, I am most comfortable in my territory, which means that I will probably be in general easier to get along with here than normal. I expect that there will be people who are both interested in reading my ideas and inclined to disagree with me from time to time. Contrary to popular belief, I do not have a problem with this.
I do have a problem with people who enjoy provoking me because they know I have a temper and it entertains them, but I am hoping to avoid that sort of thing here. Another thing that tends to bother me is strong belief that is unsupported by evidence. And of course, we all have disagreements on what is supported by evidence and what is not, but I am mostly interested in arguments that are supported by both evidence from the books and logic. We may disagree on whose evidence and logic are superior, but so long as everyone is polite, then everything should be fine. I promise to be nice to everyone, and I ask that everyone else do the same.
A little history on me:
I began reading WoT when Winter's Heart was not yet out in paperback. I do remember feeling slightly cheated when finishing Crossroads of Twilight, but I was still very much hyped by the first nine books at that point, so the slow book didn't bother me much. The cliffhanger made me more excited for the next one. I re-read the series a few times, including New Spring which came out in the interim - before joining Theoryland in October 2004.
When I first joined Theoryland, I mostly hung around in the home page section that Tamyrlin designed, doing a good bit more reading than posting, and I was almost completely oblivious to the forums, which was where most of the action was. I joined the forums in June 2005, right after another re-read. In August 2005, I got diverted a little bit by Hurricane Katrina, which I rode out in Gulfport, MS. In October, I drove an hour north to find an intact brick-and-mortar bookstore with Knife of Dreams.
In early 2006 I did another re-read and considered myself to be one of the experts at that point. Far from perfect, but way better at remembering what happened and finding relevant quotes than the average bear. I have encountered a number of people over the years that are at least as good or better, and I have really enjoyed reading their ideas. All of us have different ways of approaching our theorizing and research, and there are those whose contributions to the research aspect of the fandom are far greater than mine (the interview database, and a few other piddly things). Even the newest members of the internet fandom often have words of wisdom to offer.
It has become a point of pride for me over the years to be one of those experts, but one of my proudest moments since I joined Theoryland was at JordanCon 2010, when Theoryland's three teams dominated the team trivia competition. We all tied for first place, and the tie-breaker was to guess the word count of The Eye of the World. My team didn't win, but it was still more exciting than winning the individual trivia competition the day before (and the best part of that was that there were three Theorylanders in the final four). Most of the rest of the Theorylanders were probably more interested in other things - not all of them are quite so gung-ho as I am - but they showed that we are a community of people who care about the details, even though the care factor ranges from casual to hard core.
It's probably at least a little bit socially unacceptable to be so obsessed with an epic fantasy series. I have a hard time seeing it that way, and maybe it's because I am a musician at heart. I have studied music at university for five years, and it's perfectly acceptable there to have an obsession with Johann Sebastian Bach, or Frederic Chopin. If I want to talk about little else, that is perfectly healthy and normal and fine. They are established artists, and I could make a career out of doing nothing but researching one or the other. I often wish that I could do the same for WoT...but even though I can't, I'm still compelled to dig deeper into RJ's work. It's an artistic masterpiece that deserves attention better than I can give it, but I am too fascinated by it to turn away for very long.
I get passionate about the theories more than anything at this point, especially now that the end of the series is less than two years away, and our time to solve the mysteries of the series is running short. And though I have been known to say that I only care about being right, that's not precisely true. Of course I will be happy on the things I've managed to get right (I know there are some), I will be happy with whatever RJ has planned. I'm a Hard Core Fan Freak™ because I love the way RJ writes, and I love the way he plots.
5 comments:
I feel very similar about WoT as what you described. I also began reading WoT around Winter's Heart. I can't seem to leave it alone, I'm just pulled back to it all the time.
I've never really been very active in Theory making because I enjoy reading others ideas too much. I never liked the format of message boards too much, therefore never participated much. I did write a couple of theories back in the good ol' WotMania days though. I am still mainly a lurker though.
Only now, that I'm almost finished with college have I been able to think deeper and complete re-reads of the series as I've wanted to. I am on my 3rd read through of the series and hope to finish a 4th before AMoL. I too claim to be a HCFF, although I would say "in training." I hope to contribute more and join the elite someday... too bad the series is ending so soon.
P.S. I noticed that you are a musician as well. What do you play? I've played the cello since 2nd grade. I'm a Tchaikovsky nut myself... blew out my car speakers in high school listening to Tchaik's 4th.
I'm a pianist (which at least partly explains the Chopin obsession). Also, there's plenty of time to contribute before AMOL comes out! This blog will be aimed at people who are looking for a little extra insight to help along the way, and also at familiarizing them with the various theories as the evidence for them comes up.
As far as pianists go, I'm a Rachmaninoff fan. Looking forward to future posts.
It's very interesting. I've been following Leigh Butler's reread and enjoyed your comments there.
I have the same reaction to Sorilea that I had to Verin: I hope she's not a dark friend. So she probably is.
I never thought through all the implication of Fain's POV in Caemlyn. That's very interesting. His sending the trollocs to Tear does make sense.
I always figured the trollocs that attacked Tylee Khirgan had gotten lost in the ways and came out at Ebu Dar. They didn't have a a Fade with them - at least none was reported. I thought when they reported to Tuon that that would have been mentioned. I would have expected a Fade to be in command of a mission.
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