The Wheel of Time

This is a warning for possible spoilers.

If you didn’t guess from the previous post’s hint, today I am writing about The Wheel of Time. For those of you that were wondering…

“Οι υφάνσεις ροδών ως διαθήκες ροδών,” means “The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.”

...though it didn’t say that exactly if you bring it back to English, it just says something about “tyres”. This is a quote that appears quite often in The Wheel of Time.

The Wheel of Time is a very good fantasy book (Of course it’s fantasy…) about a young boy of about 17 named Rand, and his two friends the same age, Matrim (Mat) and Perrin, as well as many other characters.

Image courtesy of this site.

There is magic in The Wheel of Time, but instead of casting, it is known as channeling. I will try to explain this better than I did to my friend, who had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. The reason that it is called this is because magic itself is called the One Power. It is mainly thought of as contained in a limitless well known as the True Source. Certain people have a spark within them to channel automatically, others can learn. As in other languages like Spanish, there is a feminine half of the One Power, saidar, and a masculine half, saidin. As you would expect, the gender of the person decides what half they call upon.

The female half is normal, as it always was, but the male half was tainted by darkness. Like a pond, there is clear water below, but there is a layer of scum above, making it impossible to touch the water without touching the scum. In that analogy, the water would be saidin and the scum is the taint. Because of the taint, any male that attempts to touch the One Power will be tainted themselves, eventually ending in madness, rage, and death.

Those who can channel in The Wheel of Time are known as Aes Sedai. In past ages, there were both male and female Aes Sedai, but because of the taint, there are only female. That is not good, for female Aes Sedai working with male Aes Sedai is much stronger than not.

The legends in The Wheel of Time say that in ages past, in The Age of Legends, there was a man named Lews Therin Telamon, the Dragon. He did something horrible, he was a normal channeler, much like any other, but he was tainted by the darkness. He ended up killing his friends and family, so he was named Lews Therin Kinslayer. He was killed, and throughout the ages has been reborn many times. Rand is the latest of the reincarnations, though sometimes, especially in the beginning, he doubts the validity of that fact.

Image courtesy of this site.

The main antagonist is the... lord of darkness... or whatever… The list of names is quite long: the Dark One, Father of Lies, Ba’alzamon, Shai’tan, Ishamael, Moridin, and many others. (Actually, Ba’alzamon, Ishamael, and Moridin are the same person, not the true Shai’tan, however some people believe that he/they are the same person as the Dark One.) He is basically the godlike being of darkness for all things evil. >:D He was locked in Shayol Ghul, bound by seals of unbreakable material.

Image courtesy of this site.

The conflict in the story? Those unbreakable seals… are breaking. The main characters find them somewhat infrequently, and many are shattered.

There are also allies of the Dark One that have escaped Shayol Ghul, called the Forsaken. These are basically the lackeys or sidekicks of the Dark One. The barons compared to the king. Governors to the president. They were locked in Shayol Ghul, however, with the seals breaking, they have ESCAPED! Ishamael, the most powerful and the leader of the Forsaken, was actually Ba’alzamon the whole time. Everyone thought that Ba’alzamon was the real dark one, but really he was taking the place while the real Dark One was locked in Shayol Ghul. And also, Rand kills Ishamael with Callandor.

Callandor is The Sword That Cannot be Touched. A sword that was locked in an enchantment, creating an invisible wall surrounding it, that only the real Dragon can pass through. Rand, the Dragon Reborn, grabbed the sword and stabbed Ba’alzamon/Ishamael, killing him. (I haven’t gotten to this part yet, but I guess that the Dark One catches Ishamael’s soul and reincarnates him as Moridin…)

The books follow Rand, Mat, Perrin, and all of the other characters as they travel the world fulfilling prophecies, fighting Trollocs (Beast-men) and Myrddraal (EVIL CREATURES!), and of course, there is a fair amount of magic and fantasy, with a small amount of romance. Yes, unlike most males, I believe that most of the time, romance makes books, movies, and TV shows a bit more interesting.

Anyways, I’ve put way too much information in here, and most of it was not even necessary, so I guess I’ll stop. If you have ever, want to, or don’t want to read these books, tell me in the comments! See you next time!