A Memory of Light Post Mortem

Two years ago, Jan. 19, 2010, I wrote a note in Google Reader making some general statements and vague predictions of the end of The Wheel of Time. In the original post I mentioned that I'd come back and see how well I did.

Spoiler alert.

As a preliminary matter, obviously everybody has access to umpteen bazillion pages of WoT and could have made similar "predictions" or notes or whatever without actually contributing an original thought to the un-indexed corpus representing the collective thoughts of humanity. But I had enough courage to put some thoughts on paper, so I can take credit where it is due and laugh at my mistakes.

The original list can be found somewhere here:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/13074852588128028138?c=CNWjgIfDu58C

I've cut and pasted the bullet items with my current responses interlaced:
The Gathering Storm (by Sanderson) made me interested in WoT again. TGS is pretty good, reads quickly (contrast with Knife of Dreams, which should be named Sweet Dreams Dear Reader), and is fun.

I'm not here to put Jordan down. Overall, I liked his work. My enjoyment for TGS was probably due entirely to Jordan's setup. Here's how I see it: Jordan spent the last 20 years lining up dominoes and Sanderson shows up to make them all fall down.

I have some predictions too. Lots of stuff that I want to see happen the way that I think they should. I don't have a reputation for predicting the future, and most of my predictions will probably prove incorrect, but you can stop reading if you are afraid of spoilers.

1. The wheel of time turns and ages come and go... We're going to see stuff from the first book brought back again.

Too vague to respond to, miss. I think I was leaning toward The Eye of the World (the pool of saidin, not the book), but I'll address that soon.

2. Kinslayer knew that the hundred companions screwed up when they touched the bore with saidin. Well, he probably knew once Elan/Ishmael/Moridin brought him back to sanity.

Close enough to a hit. Lesson learned, don't touch the DO with saidin.

3. The pool of saidin at the Eye of the World is the key to sealing the bore. If taint cannot transfer from general saidin to TEoTW, then it should not travel from TEoTW to general saidin. Remake The Eye of the World and use that power to seal the bore. TEoTW cannot be tainted once it is drained.

Not right, but the motivation is similar to the right answer. Half credit? Instead of using TEoTW, Rand used the True Power.

4. There has always been some background desire for Rand to use the choden kal at tarmon gaidon. Ignoring the developments in TGS, callendor is more appropriate for a smaller pooled source like TEoTW.

Miss, no pool was used.

5. "Smaller pool" is relative, TEoTW had enough to nearly burn-out Rand while either Balthamel or Aginor (I forget) was also draining the source.

The True Power, through Callandor, was bigger.

6. Jordan said that Taim is not Demandred. I think this is a red herring, because of course Taim is Demandred.

Wrong.

7. Shadar Logoth was created to fight the shadow, and the events of the cleansing show that it could be effectively used to destroy the shadow. I think we'll see a gollum moment when Padan Fain (who was twisted by Mashadar, Shadar Logoth, associations with the dark one, and a close friendship Michael Jackson) ultimately finding relief when he falls into a volcano with the ring.

Withered on the vine.

8. Moirane will be saved from the tower of Genji in the next book (obvious). I think Lanfear will be saved too.

Cyndane did a BSG reboot via the DO.

9. Lanfear will turn against the shadow. She's offered before, she'll offer again.

Miss. I forget her plea to the Dragon in AMoL, whether she offered to turn or not, but when the chips were down she would have served the DO.

10. Lanfear and Alanna will be Rand's callendor buddies. Alanna will help Lews and Mierin die together. Alanna will also bring Rand back. She is also secondary enough to die during the process.

Wrong, thought Alanna was secondary enough to die.

11. Elan turned to the shadow when he deduced that the shadow would prevail at tarmon gaidon. If he can be convinced that the shadow could be removed from the pattern, and therefore the light can prevail for eternity, then I think he could change teams again.

Moridin was too exhausted to be convinced of anything.

12. Moridin is exhausted. He doesn't have much to live for. When he switches, he brings the True Power with him. This might be useful for excising the shadow.

He didn't so much switch as be tricked, but he did bring the True Power to help excise the shadow.

13. The link between Moridin and Lews is bizarre, and I don't know what to make of it. But it does give Sanderson another option for killing Lews without killing Rand. I prefer the callendor method because it is more consistent with Min's viewing, but I think both are possible and that Rand will survive.

Full credit, and the Alivia thing was a copout made unassailable because it was in the Epilogue written by RJ before his death.

14. Rand will marry all of his lady friends. Elayne, Min, and Aviendha will all get rings. Sanderson obviously cares about the topic—Rand's conflicted inner dialog demonstrates this—and it is super cheesy. I think that given the average LDS, polygamy is preferred to pimpin.

Rand gets all the girls, and they are OK with that.

15. I stopped caring about Old Perrin long ago. B-O-R-I-N-G. There was that horrible book where Perrin chased Faile, and I can't remember anything except when he waterboarded that brown-skinned chap.

ToM had one of the best scenes in the series starring Perrin, redeeming him as a likable character following that one awful book.

16. I've stopped caring about New Mat ever since his personality changed and he started daydreaming about 9-moons. I'd rather see Olver play snakes and ladders than Mat reenter the tower.

TGS Mat was pretty bad, but he got better in ToM and AMoL. FoH better, too.

It has been a month since I read the book, so I've forgotten most of what I wanted to predict. We'll check back in two years to see how close I was.

Overally, not terrible, could have been worse. I think I was relatively close to the mark with the method of resealing the bore. If I had known that Callandor provided for statutory non-consentual channelling assault then I may have been closer to the target.