WOT Help

[Patriotic Kaz]

Random facts about WoT names:

Shai Tan is the name for devil in Indian (or the approximate area, asia not america) folklore

Sammael means venom / poison of god and is the angelic name of Satan (which is a title) when he loses his name as Lucifer in Judeo-Christian mythology...

[Shaggy]

That was random. But cool.  Did you just type the names into Google?

[melbatoast]

That was random. But cool.  Did you just type the names into Google?

@Shaggy-here's a link with a lot of sources RJ took material from:
http://linuxmafia.com/jordan/3_sources/index.html
(May not be safe for Joe, didn't check).

I noted you didn't ask but I wanted to save  you any frustation but Sammeal is dead. The sooner you know that the better, Mashadar btw was what got him and no the book will not tell you that.

How do you know? The WOT encyclopedia? It seems odd that RJ would leave such an important death so vague. Thanks for telling me though, I would have been expecting Sammael around every corner LOL.

From WOT FAQ:

Killed by Mashadar during his battle with Rand in Shadar Logoth at the end of ACOS; this was confirmed by RJ during the CNN chat on December 12, 2000: "Mashadar killed Sammael. Sammael is toast!" (reported by Erica Sadun and Patrick Cotrona)

Yeah, it was kind of weird that he didn't make it more obvious in the book. But it is definitely fact.

[Shard]

RJ was asked in his Question a Week faq, which you can't read just yet. However there WAS alot of questions if Sam was dead or not so they asked him and RJ answered yes. So I am also guessing that Sammeal is on the DO's crap list and is not going to be re-cycled. Though I have to admit that's more of a hope at this point *sigh*

Speaking of which you can now read the Big White Book aka The Wheel of Time Encyclopedia. It's a little odd that it was made just after aCoS but it contains mostly information on area's that Jordan wasn't going to explore IE The Seachan homeland, Shara and the Land of Madmen. It does contain alot of information on the nations plus alot of history as well.

Also maybe I should say that Mat isn't going to be appearing in PoD...

[douglas]

Sammael could be out of favor with the Dark One, or it could be that Mashadar's nature is such that it can keep the souls it kills out of the Dark One's grasp.  Mashadar was born of hatred and mistrust, but that hatred was directed above all else at the Dark One and all his servants, and it is clearly supernatural.

I agree, we probably should settle the suspense in this matter early for JoeC.  It's no fun constantly looking and waiting for a character that never appears, and he may enjoy the book more without that.  So: Mat does not appear again until Winter's Heart.

[Shard]

*nods* I had a friend who loved Mat and was glad to be told so he didn't have to constantly wonder where Mat was. I guess we can tell JoeC that Mat is in bed recovering from his wounds, having a wall fall on you will do that. BTW that's a paraphrasing what RJ said to the question of where is Mat. I think that may have upset people with PoD as well expecting him to be there and having to wait another two years to see him again.

[Patriotic Kaz]

@Shaggy i was into angelology and demonology at one point in time and i just remembered that so i posted it

[achren99]

Um...careful with the spoilers guys--Joe obviously had no way of knowing about Elayne.  As for the Mat in book 8 part, I guess it might be better to find out before hand...but it's kind of up to him.  I, of course, read ahead to find the Mat parts and didn't find any. 

Book 8 has other good parts, so I enjoyed it overall.

[Shard]

Considering it was one of the biggest reasons I think people hated on PoD I decided it was a good idea to let him know NOW.

[achren99]

Understandably, as Mat IS the best character.  But, yes, I see your point.

[Renoard]

Mat is a great Character, but I think Perrin is better.  He's level headed. He has no special powers beyond wolf talk and taveren.  But he shows wit and intellect and he works out sound strategy without magical memories telling him the answers.  Still he has worked his way into the office of Warlord and Married his way into Royalty.

[Reaves]

Mat is really the only character I actually like reading

At times, Egwene is fun to read, and at times, Elayne is fun to read.

[Shaggy]

Mat is a great Character, but I think Perrin is better.  He's level headed. He has no special powers beyond wolf talk and taveren.

You make it sound like his wolf powers consist only of talking to other wolves. It's a  bit more than that.

[Renoard]

It's a bit more, but unlike Rand and Mat, it isn't a magical trove of unearned knowledge that makes him an unbeatable commander.  All of his skills are talent or learning, and the wisdom to use his advisers to good advantage.  This is a more impressive ability than having it handed to you by a reincarnation or a malicious curse turned to good advantage.

I saw somewhere that someone commented that Mat was not the reincarnation of someone but had lot's of memories, but most reincarnation beliefs involve multiple lives.  It's quite likely that Mat is experiencing memories of past lives, but many more of them than Rand.  That is an even more powerful resource than Lews therin becuase the memory is not accompanied by a full blown psychotic alter ego.  By slowly integrating the memories he gets the benifit of the experience without the baggage of Lew's Theron.

[Shard]

Perrin also has the developed ability to smell people's moods so he has a bit of mind reading going on, on a empathic level.

Mat has the collected memories of people who have come into contact with the Finns, it is possible some are past lives or even just related to him but the majority are just people who came into contact with the Finns.