Synopsis and Books

SO JUST WHAT IS THIS WHEEL OF TIME?

Robert Jordan created a complex world for his Wheel of Time series. The first book in the series is The Eye of the World (TEotW). You can’t pick up in the middle of the series and expect to know what’s going on. No, this is currently a 10+ book commitment. But here’s a quick overview of the world you will find…

Time and Place: The time is called the Third Age. The previous age is known now as the Age of Legends (AoL). That Age ended with the Breaking of the world, where madmen wielding the One Power (see below) changed the very geography of the earth in their madness following the War of the Shadow. This is supposed to be our past and our future. On the Wheel of Time, you can look both ways. The place itself is referred to by fans of the series as Randland, though there is no specific name given to the continent within the series, except perhaps vaguely as the Westlands. There is an unvisited portion of the continent known as Shara, and a separate continent known as Seanchan. The northern part of the known world is the Blight, a land twisted by the Dark One. The eastern border of the Westlands is alternately known as the Aiel Waste and the Three-Fold Land, which is in turn bordered on the east by Shara. To the south are the islands of the Sea Folk.

The One Power: The One Power is the WoT world’s version of magic. The “magic” wielders are called channelers, and the act of using the Power is called channeling. Some people are born with the spark to channel inside them. Others are able to learn. There are two halves of the One Power. Saidar is the female half, which can be touched only by women, and saidin is the male half, which can only be touched by men. Instead of magic spells, channelers create weaves from Air, Fire, Water, Earth, and Spirit. Only women who can channel (and have been trained or have trained themselves in the ability) can see weaves of saidar Only men who can channel (and have been trained or have trained themselves in the ability) can see weaves of saidin. Women who can channel train at the White Tower in Tar Valon to become Aes Sedai, which are variously respected, feared, or condemned as witches. Aes Sedai take Three Oaths to never speak a word that is untrue, never to make a weapon with the Power for one man to harm another, and never to use the Power as a weapon except against Shadowspawn or as a last defense against her life, the life of her Warder, or the life of another Sister. A Warder is a soldier or armsman that is bonded to the Aes Sedai for protection and service. Men who can channel are feared and condemned to go mad and eventually die. At the end of the War of the Shadow, Lews Therin Telamon (LTT) and his Hundred Companions sealed up the Dark One and the 13 Forsaken (Darkfriends who could channel) into a prison at Shayol Ghul. The Dark One’s last counterstroke was to taint the male half of the Power, saidin. Because of this, every man channeler went mad, and these men were the ones who caused the Breaking of the world. Today, men who can channeler are still doomed to suffer the same fate, but once they are found, these men are brought to the White Tower to be “gentled” by the Aes Sedai, which means that they will no longer be able to touch saidin. Men who are gentled lose the will to live and generally live no more than a year or so. If a woman is “stilled,” where she is cut off from saidar intentionally, or “burned out,” where the loss of saidar is accidental, they will also lose the will to live and die.

Prophecy: At the time of TEotW, war is brewing. People start to whisper about the Dragon. LTT was known as the Dragon during the AoL. He went mad, just as the other men did, and the details of his madness are described in the prologue to TEotW, so I will not spoil it here, except to say that his death caused the creation of an enormous solitary mountain outside present day Tar Valon known as Dragonmount. Prophecy says that the Dragon will be reborn, and that he is destined to fight the Dark one at the Last Battle, Tarmon Gai’don. People speak of this fearfully because, although the Dragon Reborn is meant to fight the Dark One, he did go quite mad and kill a lot of people before his death. Prophecy says that the Dragon will Break the world again. It is understandable that many people do not see this as a fair price for fighting the Dark one in the Last Battle.

So you’ve ventured all this way and still don’t own all the books? Or perhaps you’ve put your copy of The Shadow Rising through enough misery from multiple readings and need to replace it. From The Eye of the World to Crossroads of Twilight, as well as the Big White Book and the first prequel, New Spring. Have no fear… They’re all available here!