Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - dfchang

Pages: [1]
1
Brandon Sanderson / Re: A Memory of Light
« on: February 28, 2009, 07:34:20 AM »
Quote from: Ferrin on February 25, 2009, 05:25:13 AM
REALLY late to this discussion and not sure if my theory is someone elses or not (read upto page 8 before posting this).

Rand is meant to live and too die, Logain gains glory by walking over Rand's body, three women are crying over Rand's body and the Seanchen women who's name slips my mind is to help Rand die.

My theory is this.

Mazrim Taim confronts Rand and the Seanchen women, he attacks the Seanchen women and Rand cannot grasp Saidin, he dies because he can't have another women dead because of him. Logain proceeds to fight Taim, Aviendha, Elayne and Min are all crying over Rand's dead body during this time.

Logain eventually uses balefire and kills Taim thus resurrecting Rand though minus LTT. That would explain in my mind how all of Min's viewings happen. Just occurred to me reading this thread, and it wouldn't really surprise me to see something along those lines occur. As Rand dies and lives, Logain gains glory, the Seanchen women helps Rand die, and the three women over Rand's body all happen.

This idea is nice in that it does include a lot of what NEEDS to happen from prophecies/visions etc.

BUT I don't like it because I think the whole "living, dying, living" thing would be SOOOOO cheap if Balefire was used again.

We've already seen it done multiple times . . . especially in Fires of Heaven when Rand balefires the Dark Hounds to save Matt and then balefires Rahvin to save his forces.

It's just too easy and too pat I feel.

And Rand's death should come in the final confrontation with the Dark One, not some Dreadlord flunkie like Mazrim Taim.  I think he WILL die but it will be a lot more clever twist with him coming back.

The key and I've been harping on this for close to 20 years now is that LEWS THERIN must die and WANTS to die.  Right now, there is really no hope here for Rand as the situation exists because even if he wins and kicks hiney he is still stuck with Lews Therin in his head.

For him to have a happy ending, he HAS to get rid of Lews Therin.  For the prophecies to be fulfilled and for ultimate victory, Lews Therin needs to go and I think the only way to do it is for Rand . . . perhaps controlled by Lews Therin's soul to "die." 

This will seemingly give the Dark One and the forces of evil ultimate victory.  THEN, in a great twist no ones sees coming (except us of course) The Dragon RETURNS, this time with Rand's soul and victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat.

Remember that the stakes in this one should be very, very high unless Jordan changed his mind in the writing of the series (which is very possible of course).  The Dark One and Ishamael DOES NOT want the cycle to be replayed again and again and again.  From Eye of the World, the goal here is to BREAK the Wheel of Time, SLAY the Great Serpent.  They want to WIN FOR GOOD. 

This is a key, key, key statement because the ONLY way to win for good is to change things up somehow so that things don't repeat.  But in doing so, by definition, the Dark One and Ishamael also open up the possibility that they can be destroyed permanently as well. 

I would personally be a bit disappointed if A Memory of Light simply presents the Dark One being defeated and then we do it all again in 7 Ages, etc, etc, etc.  It reeks too much of Stephen King's The DArk Tower when we learn that Roland just loops back to The Gunslinger again over and over and over again.  Even there though, the final end hints that that repetitious cycle will eventually be broken.

I want the same for the ending to The Wheel of Time.  That's why I think the last book is going to be so long and so complicated.  There needs to be a LOT of metaphysical explanation for this Tarmon Gaidon to be any different from the 8 billion previous Tarmon Gaidons that's been replayed before with the spinning of the Wheel . . .

Dennis

2
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Brandon To Write Wheel of Time Book 12
« on: February 28, 2009, 07:18:05 AM »
I think reading between the lines, there is absolutely no doubt that the first half of Memory of Light will be published first and this  year.

Brandon has gone on record stating that the final completed volume will probably check in at around 700,000 words or so.  That will place it at 175% on the progress bar.

Obviously, it is impossible to publish a 700,000 word book on many levels.  A split is going to be mandatory no matter what.

At this point, the BEST thing to do is to probably continue writing, revising, working, polishing until the WHOLE books is finished and then it can be released either as a 2 volume book or published at 6 month intervals . . . whatever Tor and Harriet decides is best both to honor Jordan's wishes and legacy and also what makes financial sense in what is one of the worst recessions in our lifetimes.

This way, if Brandon or Harriet feels the need to either revise or rewrite earlier parts of aMoL, they can do so easily.

Unfortunately, I'm now sure this will NOT be done.

Right now, Brandon is quite obviously spending ALL his time working on edits for the first 400,000 or so words of aMoL and has in fact confirmed that is what Harriet wants him to do.  All of this work should be done by April.  Why the hurry?  And why the focus now on those edits?  The obvious conclusion is that a decision has been made to get the first half of the book ready to go and release this year.  If the line edits are done and the manuscript sent off to the publisher, we can conceivably see volume one of A Memory of Light in bookshelves by September of 2009.  It can CONCEIVABLY to be done to push manuscript into publication in THREE months but this usually turns out poorly with multiple grammar and spelling errors as well as name switches and errors as well.  This had been done before with Lord of Chaos and a few subsequent Wheel of Time books with poor results.  In fact, the decision was made with the last few to "slow it down" and take the full 6 months for better proofing with noticeably better quality.

From April/May on, Brandon can then work on the last 250,000 to 300,000 words of aMoL and probably have the manuscript ready by December 2009 or January 2010 with publication in summer of 2010.

This makes sense on MULTIPLE levels.  The economy is bad and book publishers have been hit as hard if not harder than any other business in America right now.  Publishing a GARGANTUAN book in two volumes with the necessary slipcases would cost a great deal.  It would also be intimidating and unwieldy.  Despite Jordan's proclamations of Tor needing to invent "new binding" common sense has to somehow prevail here. 

In addition, it makes sense to introduce Robert Jordan and keep him in the limelight and in the hearts and minds of the fans.  You don't want to pull a George RR Martin and make people wait 5 years between books.  The readers are fickle and may move on.

This is the concluding volume of what is the greatest epic fantasy of our generation and one that will not be matched in length and scope for many decades . . . perhaps generations.  A release in 2009 would generate an instant New York Times #1 bestseller which would benefit Tor tremendously.  Momentum could then be built up for Volume 2  which should be another #1.  There would be about 6-8 months between Volumes which is perfect.

Jordan-Con is April 17th to 19th.  Tom Doherty of Tor books will be in attendance and I think this event would be a natural and obvious time to announce the completion of the first half of the manuscript with a publication date.  Would be great either as an opening or closing announcement to really make the Con special.

No concrete evidence and I have NO insider information but I think reading between the lines and applying a little logic and reasoning shows this to be the most likely course of action.

I don't really agree with it because even though I appreciate the reasons for doing it, I think it really takes a lot of creative flexibility away from Harriet and Brandon.  But it could very well be that Tor REALLY needs a #1 this year in today's economy and there could be some other big deals (like movie and T.V. options) that hang in the balance and would undoubtedly be helped by a big splash.  A Memory of Light is literally a once in a lifetime lottery ticket for the publishers and they want to make the most of it.  Also, the story of A Memory of Light could already to so well planned and locked in that complete rewrites and edits are extremely unlikely.  It looks like Jordan had essentially planned the entire novel, chapter by chapter, viewpoint by viewpoint in a very precise order and Brandon is merely filling in the blanks, rewriting some parts, and integrating everthing into a whole.  If that's the case, it may very well be feasible to release the first half of the book with no serious repercussions on the second half.

For better or worse, I think we're going to get part of A Memory of Light in 2009 . . .

Thoughts?

Dennis

Pages: [1]