The Wheel of Time sidenotes: This is not the beginning.

[Disputatious]

And by the end of Heart of Winter, you will get a passage of literary montage, in which RJ shifts POV almost with every paragraph. GRRM's rigid one pov per chapter format prevents him from doing something like that. He could have made the Battle of the Blackwater somewhat more intense, I suspect, with that sort of technique. But it can wear a bit on an extended scale. Vide John dos Passos' 1919 trilogy.

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

Or, we don't even know.

Which also is implying!

And by the end of Heart of Winter, you will get a passage of literary montage, in which RJ shifts POV almost with every paragraph. GRRM's rigid one pov per chapter format prevents him from doing something like that. He could have made the Battle of the Blackwater somewhat more intense, I suspect, with that sort of technique. But it can wear a bit on an extended scale. Vide John dos Passos' 1919 trilogy.

Personally I suppose I prefer situation with either clear POV or omniscent narrator that doesn't care about POVs. Quick changing of POV's can be good if they are clearly divided with some *** and you don't have to wonder each paragraph is this sentence is still A POV, or maybe author shifted it to B without giving us a sign. I don't know how RJ did it, I can only hope he made it clear.

I suppose personal perspective of battle is more interesting and intense for me than quickly changing videoclip, but we'll see.

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

Wicked Woodpecker of the West's Special Awards

Bran Stark's award for most fucked up childhood - for al'Lan Mandragoran. His family is dead, his country was totally destroyed, he spent entire childhood learning how to survive in Satan's personal Australia while killing as many demonic mosquitos as he can. Also he was molested by local variation of Cersei Lannister. Honorable mention for prince Diryk but he was lucky enough to die.

Arya Stark's award for sticking them with a pointy end - for Moiraine Damodred. Because who needs magic, when she could use cold steel, huh?

Eddard Stark's award for beng too honorable for his own sake - for Bukama. Man, at least Lan was smart enough to try escape.

Khal's Drogo bellied braid - for Ryne. Now he has three, but he's still dead.

Cersei Lannister's award for taking lion metaphore much to seriously - for Edeyn. Damn, she was truly too similar to Cersei.

Stannis Baratheon's award for passionate afair with justice and duty - for Lord Varan Marcasiev, Lord of Canluum. He even has red stag in his sigil. I hope we gonna met him personally in main books.

Sansa Stark's award for a girl with shattered dreams. - For Iselle. She shattered literally with her dreams, which Sansa really should do with Joffrey in the finale of A Game of Thrones.

Albus Dumbledore's spare socks - to Tamra Ospenya, for being well respected authority figure whose death puts main character on a right path to victory.

Cedric Diggory's award for being such a spare - to Iselle. Obviously.

Martin Luter's award for creepy image of female convent - to the White Tower. Srsly.

Special Golden Celery from Lemmings of Discord - to all Borderlanders. Because they are commie death-choosers to their very bones.

[Disputatious]

No award for Elaida? Tsk, tsk. Well, you will be giving her one soon enough :) Likewise for Lan, and probably before Elaida is given hers.

Also the White Lion is the sigil of Andor, but I am having a hard time coming up with anyone from Andor who deserves Cersei's Award.

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

Elaida could get Severus Snape's herbal shampoo for her immense additions to White Tower education system...

[fionwe1987]

Elaida, I firmly believe, is the "love" child of an unholy union between Severus Snape and Cersei Lannister.

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

No, first I was like, no it's impossible.

But now I think, that we all know Severus Snape was a bitch over pair of good green eyes, and Cersei has certain fondness for Kettlebacks... And after all Snape as a Potion's Master is an expert of those...

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

And here for the finale of The Wheel of Time prequel round the last of prequel stories (that has basically no story to talk about), which is teoretically second prologue (!) of The Eye of the World written years later for special kid edition. God, I hope GRRM will never think about such thing as special second prologues for children. Anyway I count it as part of prequel.

Here come:

RAVENS

- Corn, corn, corn...

She was not here to play. At nine, she was carrying water for the first time, but she was going to be the best water-carrier ever.

- Meet Egwene. She's a woman... eh, girl of unlimited ambitions.

Why did you have to keep doing something just because it had always, been done that way?

- Careful Egwene, Cersei Lannister started exactly the same way.

- Oh, look. Raven!

She had heard people say that ravens and crows were the Dark One's eyes.

- So The Dark One also has thousand and one eye?

- Also: so the ravens are evil. That sucks!

It was a silly idea. What would the Dark One want to see in the Two Rivers? Nothing ever happened in the Two Rivers.

- Well, in TDO's place I would be extremely curious about this situation. After all things happen all the time, all around the world, just not in Two Rivers. Unusual, don't you think.

She gave him a level look, but it did not work as well as she hoped.

- It's hard to make proper level look when your eyes are on a lower level.

Large stones stuck out of the ground here and there, a few almost as tall as a man, but they did not interfere with the activity in the meadow.

- Bloody isolationists!

Many of the women wore shawls draped loosely over their arms and flowers in their hair, for the formality and so did some of the older girls, though their hair was not in the long braid the women had.

- Shawls? Are this some kind of Aes Sedai village?

Big, wooden-railed pens at the far end of the meadow held sheep already sheared, and others held those waiting to be washed, all watched by boys of twelve and up. The sheepdogs sprawled around the pens were no good for this work.

- Sheepdogs as we all know suck in watching sheep.

- Also: damn you English grammar. Who thought to make this ridiculous singular/plural exceptions about sheep (and fish). They are clearly countable animals. It should be sheeps! And fishes!

If she did the best job ever, no one would ever be able to call her a baby again.

- THIS.

- Egwene is not looking for any particular boy. Obviously. Ambitions and self-denial.

- More really unimportant walking around.

That was Perrin Aybara, a stocky boy taller than most his age. And he was a friend of Rand.

- Oh, dear Light! You have a friends of Rand in this village! And you let them live? Light save us! Yeard is coming!

- Also: Perrin Aybara was taller than most of boys his age, but some boys were taller than him.

Anyway, Perrin was not even a whole year older than Cilia. Three or four years older was best. Egwene's sisters might have no time to talk to her, but she listened to other girls old enough to know. Some said more, but most thought three or four.

- Yeah, equal age relationships, so yucky.

The raven was up there, and it still seemed to be watching. And there was a raven in that tall pine tree, too, and one in the next, and in that hickory, and.... Nine or ten ravens that she could see, and they all seemed to be watching. It had to be her imagination. Just her−.

- Oh, yeah. Thousand eyes and one.

Everybody says you'll marry Rand al'Thor. When you're older, I mean, and have your hair in a braid.

- Ah, no more interesting subjects for village gossip than possible marriage of nine-year old girl.

- Also: so Egwene is potential bride of the Dragon. Yeah, yeah I know Rand al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn. It's hardly a secret you could avoid if you want to learn anything about those books. Count it as no spoiler.

This time she did not pause to look at the men washing sheep, and she very carefully did not look for a raven.

- Because if you stare into raven, raven can... dammit.

Most of the time, Alene had her nose in a book, reading and re-reading their father's library. He had almost forty books! Egwene's favorite was The Travels of Jain Farstrider. She dreamed of seeing all those strange lands he wrote about. But if she was reading a book and Alene wanted it, she always said it was much too 'complex' for Egwene and just took it! Drat all four of them!

- Sheepherding farmers in some land forgotten by The Dark One have libraries? Like really? Forty books? Winterfell had barely hundred!

- Also: and please don't talk about miraculous survival of HP Laserjets from Breaking of the World.

- Also: Drat! as terrible curse is still losing tournament with BSG's "frak!".

- Doral Barran is female name in this universe.

- Also: Baran is Polish world for ram.

- So, is there gonna be some Hitchcock action with ravens slaughtering this poor people, or we just gonna wander around till we met everybody on this drat meadow?

[Beathag]

So glad I stopped reading this series, and haven't regretted it at all. ***Snif**** Twitches skirt

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

Ravens II: Hitchcock's Evil Laugh

More ravens dotted the trees around the meadow now. Dozens and dozens of them, and all watching. She knew they were. Not one made a try to steal anything from the tables of food. That was just unnatural. Come to think of it, the birds were not looking at the trestle tables at all. Or at the tables where women were working with the wool. They were watching the boys herding sheep. And the men shearing sheep and carrying wool. And the boys carrying water, too. Not the girls, or the women, just the men and boys.

- So apparently the ravens are looking for Dragon Reborn. It would be funny, if it turns to be some Moiraine animal mind-bending trick.

- Aye, and Egwene's potential for self-deception seems infinite.

Elisa often worried aloud about why the Women's Circle still thought she was too young.

- Probably because she's not smart enough to avoid publicly doubting in high authorities.

They were talking and laughing and punching one another on the shoulder. Why did boys do that?

- Talking? Because among us men talking is considered to be highly effective way of communication. Much better than creepy kid stalking.

- It's not Peeta or Snape level of creepy stalking but still it's disturbing.

She wanted to see those lands that Jain Farstrider had written about. How would a husband feel about that? About his wife going off to see strange lands.

- Well, lucky you. I'm quite sure in few years that gonna be the least of his problems.

Nobody ever left the Two Rivers, as far as she knew.

- We interrupt The Wheel of Time to give you The Village.

I will, she vowed silently.

- Careful what you wish for.

She saw him every time he and his father came in from their farm, but she did not really know him. She hardly knew anything about him. Now was as good a time as any to start learning. She eased back to the cornerpost and peeked around it again.

- Girl, I don't know why whole village is gossiping your future marriage (really, that's even creepy along Westeros standards), but stalking won't resolve your problems. It will only redouble amount of general creepiness around.

“I'd like to a be a king,” Rand was saying. “That's what I'd like to be.”

- Meet Rand. He is a boy of unlitmited ambitions.

- Also: it's kinda funny that's the first words of Dragon Reborn we can hear.

His eyes were blue. No, gray. They seemed to change, while you watched. Nobody else in the Two Rivers had blue eyes.

- He's kinda... Other, don't you think?

“A king of sheep!” Mat hooted. He was smaller than the others, always bouncing on his toes. One glance at his face, and you knew he was looking for mischief. He always looked for mischief. And usually found it. “Rand al'Thor, King of the Sheep.”

- Never enough of Messiah metaphores.

“Of course.” Rand laughed. “But where do I find an adventure in the Two Rivers?”

- Emmm... look up?

- Also: ya, bloody ravens aren't it bloody time for some bloody feast down there. At least eat some sheep eyeballs!

- Brandelwyn al'Vere is male name in this universe.

“I don't understand it,” Mat grumbled as they came near the line of men shearing. “Sometimes the Mayor knows what I'm doing as soon as I do it. My mother does it, too. But how?”

- Well, the whole area is under security cameras. You live inb dystopian future, goverment is selling your life in TV-show and all your family and friends are just bunch of digital dogs.

Bodewhin and Eldrin wore almost identical smiles, and they watched Mat twice as hard as his mother did. Bode was not quite old enough to carry water, yet, and it would be two years before Eldrin could. Rand and the others must be blind! Egwene thought. Anyone with eyes could see how Mistress Cauthon always knew.

- Under total surveilance of goverment and two droids pretending to be your sisters.

[jagilki]

See, now I've never read the special kids editions and had no real clue of them......

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

So now you know, my friend. It's like classical Hitchcock-like bird horror only without any eyeball picking. (With a bit of 1984 though.)

Ravens III: It's Woodpeckers You Should Be Scared Of

- Tam al'Thor and his Forbidden Tales.

- Also if Mayor doesn't know any stories about famous wars then what kind of story he expected this bunch of teenager would like to hear?

“Some stories shouldn't be told,” Master Buie insisted. “Some stories shouldn't be known! It isn't decent, I say. I don't like it.

- Yeah, better just forget everything and wait patiently till Apocalypse gonna pick your eyeballs out.

If they need to hear about wars, give them something about the War of the Hundred Years, or Trolloc Wars. That'll give them Aes Sedai and Trollocs, if you have to talk about such things. Or the Aiel War.

- Or, Hunger Games!

- Sorry... just, sorry.

Master Buie subsided with a bad grace, muttering under his breath. Scowling at Rand's father, he bent back to his sheep. Egwene shook her head in surprise. She had often heard Master Buie telling people how important he was on the Council, and how all the other men always listened to him.

- So I will ask again: who the hell voted for Sierin Vayu!?

There were great cities full of buildings taller that the White Tower, and that's taller than anything but a mountain.

- And some taller species of trees.

Machines that used the One Power carried people across the ground faster than a horse can run, and some say machines carried people through the air, too.

- So, you're saying that One Power is basically... gasoline?

There was no sickness anywhere. No hunger. No war. And then the Dark One touched the World.

- Well, just in time. Few more years without famine, hunger and war, and those people would go totally nuts!

Aes Sedai went over to the Shadow, too. They were called the Forsaken.

- That should be a moment where I am surprised that Forsaken are renegade Aes Sedai not some kind of demonic champions, but thank you spoilerfolk. Don't do it again!

Mothers used the Forsaken to frighten their children when they were bad. If you keep lying, Semirhage will come and get you. Lanfear waits for children who steal.

- I'm not exactly Mr. Spock's fan, but... ugh.

- So we can add Semirhage and Lanfear to Forsaken list. There are 13 of them. With Sammael, Bel'al and Demandred we've got 5 now. Lanfear is obviously Lucifer, but I've no idea what's Semirhage means.

Wait. The Forsaken had been Aes Sedai? She hoped Master al'Thor did not say that too freely, or the Women's Circle would come calling on him. Anyway, some of the Forsaken were men, so he had to be wrong.

- Ah, those lacks of basic historical knowledge.

Egwene was too busy goggling to see who. She forgot even to pretend that she was offering water. The Dragon was the man who had destroyed everything!

- Life is full of this little ironies.

- The Strike at Shayol Ghul rewritten in more fairy tale fashion.

Only, if the Dragon had saved the world, how had he destroyed it?

- Never heard about collateral damage, huh?

The Dragon. It surely sounds fierce, though, now doesn't it?

- Unless you are Hungarian, I guess.

But it all happened long ago and far away, and it doesn't have anything to do with us.

- Obviously.

There are plenty of lads here from the farms I don't think any of you know, yet. It's always good to know your neighbors, so you should acquaint yourselves with them. I don't want any of you working together today; you already know one another.

- But those guys from the farms were visting village 5 times a year, during this big festivals, and Rand's from farm too. So, how could they possibly don't know each other.

Abruptly she became aware of ravens, many more than there had been before, flapping out of the trees, flying away west, toward the Mountains of Mist. She shifted her shoulders. She felt as if someone were staring at her back. Someone, or...

- No Hitchcock then, I guess? Then why were those ravens even here? To give this story some much cooler title than "Sheep Story"? To listen to Tam's tale?

Midway up a tall pine, a solitary raven stood on a branch. Staring at her. Right at her! She felt cold right down to her middle. The only thing she wanted to do was run. Instead, she made herself stare back, trying to copy Nynaeve's level look. After a moment the raven gave a harsh cry and threw itself off the branch, black wings carrying it west after the others.

- Ravens have apparently more common sense that teenagers. Or less balls. Both can be truth.

Egwene had to carry water again the next year, which was a great disappointment to her, but once again she tried to be the best. If you were going to do a thing, you might as well do the best you could. It must have worked, because the year after that she was allowed to help with the food, a year early! She set herself a new goal, then: to be allowed to braid her hair younger than anybody ever. She did not really think the Women's Circle would allow it, but a goal that was easy was no goal at all.

- Ah, her unlimited ambitions!

She stopped wanting to hear stories from the grownups, though she would have liked to hear a gleeman, but she still liked to read of distant lands with strange ways, and dreamed of seeing them. The boys stopped wanting stories, too. She did not think they even read very much. They all grew older, thinking their world would never change, and many of those stories faded to fond memories while others were forgotten, or half so.

- The Ring was lost, and things that should be remembered was forgotten...

And if they learned that some of those stories really had been more than stories, well... The War of the Shadow? The Breaking of the World? Lews Therin Telamon? How could it matter now?

- Those who don't learn from their history are doomed to repeat it over and over again. Of course in your world you are dooomed to do it anyway, so nevermind.

- Why this story even exist? What's the point? What was about this ravens? Yeah, so we met some Dragon's folk and friends but... why? Is it some kind of kid!fanfiction?

- OK now it's time for The Eye of the World but as I said before that have to wait till I'd make ASOIAF tournament for Breivikon. So see you in May!

[Disputatious]

You might as well do the prologue proper for the Eye of the World. That takes place at the time of the breaking---about 3000 years before the main story. Characters: Lews Therin Telemon and Elan Morin Tedronai---the good guy (head of Hall of Servants) and the bad guy (chief Forsaken).

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

I read and recaped Prologue and Chapter 1 of The Eye of the World. But because of mine convent duty I would have limited time to read Jordan next month and half. And typing recaps on forum also takes time. So I will read slowly first chapters of Book 01, but I will put them here only after I finish making ASOIAF competition.

Also, I kinda know that Lews Therin Telamon is a good guy (although I've no idea what's this HoS is about) and the original Dragon.
But although I get that EMT is the bad guy I didn't know he is chief of Forsaken. Shouldn't he be closed with rest of them in HELL? Anyway no more spoilers please.

[sToNED_CAT]

- Sheepherding farmers in some land forgotten by The Dark One have libraries? Like really? Forty books? Winterfell had barely hundred!

- Also: and please don't talk about miraculous survival of HP Laserjets from Breaking of the World.

Whole WOT society is quite literate. The technology is medieval, but literacy and education is comparable more to Roman Empire or China, than medieval Europe.

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

Whole WOT society is quite literate. The technology is medieval, but literacy and education is comparable more to Roman Empire or China, than medieval Europe.

I have no idea what was literacy level in Roman Empire or China, but still we are talking about some small land of sheepherders that seems to be quite isolated from big, bad, modern world. I mean maybe they can read but their world seems to close in four villages!

[sToNED_CAT]

They are not as isolated as it looks like. For example 2 Rivers tobacco is well know all around WOTland so they definitely have significant commercial tries with other people. They don't travel a lot, but that's pretty normal fo rural society without railroads and sea access. Maybe it's better to compare 2 Rivers to some parts of northern preindustrial America. The taxes are low, no wars, no aristocracy to force peasants to work too much, so they have enough time for things like reading books. I'm not sure, but I believe WOT world has printing press too, so those books aren't that rare or expensive.

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

For example 2 Rivers tobacco is well know all around WOTland so they definitely have significant commercial tries with other people.

Oh, dear Light, they're selling pipeweed to Saruman, aren't they?

They don't travel a lot, but that's pretty normal fo rural society without railroads and sea access. Maybe it's better to compare 2 Rivers to some parts of northern preindustrial America. The taxes are low, no wars, no aristocracy to force peasants to work too much, so they have enough time for things like reading books. I'm not sure, but I believe WOT world has printing press too, so those books aren't that rare or expensive.

So... my Hunger Games thoughts were valid ;) Appalachia!

[fionwe1987]

The printing press has been around for more than 3000 years. So books are available in large numbers, and soon. The Travels of Jain Farstrider, that Egwene mentions, is well below half a century old, and already there are multiple copies in the Two Rivers. Gives you an idea of how much books spread in this world.

[Gwydden]

Oh, dear Light, they're selling pipeweed to Saruman, aren't they?

So... my Hunger Games thoughts were valid ;) Appalachia!

WoT's world is not strictly medieval, since it is based on the 17th century. Yes, even technologically, although as usual is not a perfect equivalency. Two Rivers doesn't have an actual library. Rather, the mayor has a sizable collection of books he gets from the many merchants that pass by to buy tobacco. Considering the latter is a luxury product throughout the world and Two Rivers is a virtually independent region (but still part of a very powerful kingdom that makes sure no one else annexes it) it is not a surprise those farmers are fairly well off.

WoT used to be a favorite series of mine when I was young(er), and I still remember it with fondness, so I've got my head packed with all these little details xD.

Also, here you can find images of old printing presses, that make perfect sense in a 17th century inspired world.