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One Way or the Other Their WoT Origin Must Be the Stories We Know (Slight Spoiler Alert.) The Name With No Man Send a noteboard - 08/12/2009 03:18:30 PM
RJ's use of the diverse character parallels isn't meant to make this story evoke those older tales, rather, it is using the circular time of the Wheel as an explanation for their origins.

They're all the same stories, only changed by the passing of time and turned into myth and legend, or the same core from a different turning of the Wheel.

Unless we take Jordan's conceit of a past/future tale literally. Perhaps that's plausible in a "million monkeys" version of branching timelines, but I don't think that's what you're suggesting. If you simply mean Jordan's saying the stories have no true origin because "there are neither beginnings nor endings" a strong argument could be made. I'm not convinced, however, how much Jordan actually means to support cyclic time in the real world and how much that's just a conceit framing the other things he wishes to say. The concept of breaking the Wheel is prominent throughout the series, and in TGS we finally see Rand explicitly say something similar in type if not goal to what Ishy has: He not only wishes to defeat the DO, but, if possible, to destroy him. One can't help but wonder if, without the Creator's antithesis, that would break the Wheel as effectively as anything Ishy or the DO could do.

It's certainly a rich area for discussion, and I think arguments can be made both ways that Jordan is endorsing the concept of cyclic time. It's very fortunate there are no deep themes in the mere story or we would run the dire risk of a serious discussion.
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The Wheel of Time's Great Themes, Edited to Include Those I See. - 06/12/2009 05:58:08 AM 825 Views
So, What Are They? - 06/12/2009 09:36:56 AM 557 Views
Putting names into a blender isn't the same as weaving together great themes. - 06/12/2009 03:17:05 PM 487 Views
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Oh my God...trying to use agape in context of this series is overkill to the nth degree. - 07/12/2009 04:12:56 AM 394 Views
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Read what Larry's Short History of Fantasy says about Jordan. - 07/12/2009 05:56:03 PM 464 Views
Oh some book says it, so it must be true! - 08/12/2009 05:57:14 AM 346 Views
I Have to Agree With Fionwe's View the Characters Are Deeper. - 08/12/2009 04:19:07 PM 455 Views
I'm done with this thread. - 08/12/2009 06:21:41 PM 367 Views
Goodbye then! *NM* - 08/12/2009 06:45:25 PM 132 Views
Fair Enough. - 08/12/2009 07:02:04 PM 742 Views
Louis La'mour said about himself he wasn't an author so much as a storyteller... - 06/12/2009 03:41:09 PM 402 Views
It's a Popular, If Perhaps Suspicious, Claim. - 06/12/2009 04:55:25 PM 450 Views
Ha. Funny, I feel the same way, and come to the opposite conclusion. - 08/12/2009 08:42:41 AM 385 Views
Amen to that. Lord of the Rings rules! - 08/12/2009 09:03:33 AM 351 Views
I've never been able to finish the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Too boring, with fairy tale characters - 09/12/2009 12:28:26 PM 345 Views
That Is a Great Shame. - 09/12/2009 01:27:44 PM 346 Views
I enjoyed the Silmarrilion though...the part about the Valar and their comparative strengths... - 09/12/2009 01:39:47 PM 338 Views
Tulkas Was All Brute Force. - 09/12/2009 02:48:46 PM 493 Views
That's.. too bad, I guess? - 09/12/2009 08:40:49 PM 335 Views
Arya Stark, yes... - 10/12/2009 08:48:32 AM 342 Views
Re: Arya Stark, yes... - 10/12/2009 04:56:07 PM 372 Views
Seems to me you've inverted it. - 08/12/2009 08:48:07 AM 334 Views
One Way or the Other Their WoT Origin Must Be the Stories We Know (Slight Spoiler Alert.) - 08/12/2009 03:18:30 PM 418 Views
I have no idea what you are trying to say, sorry. - 08/12/2009 08:12:35 PM 342 Views
I'll Try to Rephrase Then (Including the Spoiler. ) - 09/12/2009 12:49:55 PM 335 Views
I don't really see any "great" themes per se, just an enjoyable story, like the pulp serials. - 07/12/2009 03:32:43 PM 363 Views
*Agrees 100%* - 07/12/2009 06:04:31 PM 339 Views
I Think He Set Out to Write Epic Fantasy, Yes. - 08/12/2009 04:25:36 PM 323 Views
Re: I Think He Set Out to Write Epic Fantasy, Yes. - 08/12/2009 07:26:30 PM 334 Views
True, and That Can Be Very Hard to Separate. - 09/12/2009 01:14:57 PM 424 Views

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