Towers of Midnight synopsis

[Liadin]

Here are the hobbits:

http://en.risingshadow.net/images/stories/zoom/image_bank/fake-tom.jpg

Eeeek. Thanks!

[Usotsuki]

Either way, the first draft of Towers of Midnight is done. We are now confirmed for an on-time release late October or Early November 2010.

Yay. :stunned:

He's a lean mean writing machine.

[Myrddin]

An epic fantasy installment being delivered on time? I think I just wet myself.

No kidding. Wow. Maybe we should reassess the beard requirement for fantasy writers. Maybe it's facial hair that is holding up the current series in progress. :pimp:

As someone trying to finish my own "10% cut" of my manuscript, I'm in awe of Sanderson's ability to churn out words.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

When they said they'd have the three books out in 3 years, I thought they were setting themselves up for tragedy, ala. the various authors who made promises on when a book will be released.

Sanderson seems to be bucking the trend, though. Good for him!

The third book, however, probably won't be out until early 2012. Brandon needs a break is not going to start the major writing on it until January 2011. Whereas with TOWERS, by January it was more than half written.

[Werthead]

The third book, however, probably won't be out until early 2012. Brandon needs a break is not going to start the major writing on it until January 2011. Whereas with TOWERS, by January it was more than half written.

Interesting. Is it still the plan for Brandon not to start work on Way of Kings #2 until AMoL is completed?

(btw for those who don't know, Peter is Brandon's assistant and knows about these things)

[fionwe1987]

The third book, however, probably won't be out until early 2012. Brandon needs a break is not going to start the major writing on it until January 2011. Whereas with TOWERS, by January it was more than half written.

I see. But isn't it also true that RJ left the most material for the final book?

[Peter Ahlstrom]

RJ left the most finished or near-finished material for the beginning and the end. I don't know more specifics than that. I expect what Brandon will be working from for most of AMoL will be similar to what he's worked from for TGS and TofM. (I'll be doing very little assistant-type stuff on the Wheel of Time. RJ's assistants Maria and Alan handle that, and having worked like crazy on THE WAY OF KINGS makes me appreciate them so much more.)

It's still the plan for Brandon not to start the second Stormlight Archive book until AMoL is done. Before January he'll work on a relaxing project such as a (short!) YA novel.

[Rhom]

I've said it before in other threads, but I stand in awe of the fan accesability of Brandon Sanderson.

[Humble Asskicker]

So it most likely will be 320,000 words after all? Roughly the size of Knife, then. I'm pumped. I should be finished with my re-read of the series by then.

Anyway, I found this Twitter bit interesting:

[RJ] did it because the wot world is our world, in another time. Thom, Mat, Elayne, etc.

Which has been speculated about here, and which I figured was probably the case, but I believe this is the first time it has been confirmed.

This creates new facets to consider, such as how saidin/saidar diminished or was lost from the existence of our reality (if our time post-dates Randland) or was discovered (if we antedate Randland). If the former is the case, I wonder if there will be some repercussion during the Last Battle that affects channeling or the One Power in some fundamental way?

It's also interesting to consider that there have been several epigrams quoted from the Forth Age regarding the Third Age, so obviously things will go on. I don't know why I didn't notice that until this read-through.

[Shryke]

I thought it was confirmed like ... in the first book when they mention stories that are obviously corrupted versions of our history.

[Poobah]

I'm pretty sure that a) randland is, if not said right out, but very clearly intended to be our world, B) the present is the first age. Point B is far more contentious than point A, but I think things like the Mercedes hood ornament and the corrupted but still known stories make it more likely that the third age is chronologically not super distant from 'our age' and I don't think that anything like that would survive whatever calamity is so devastating at the end of the seventh age that they lose count of the ages and have to start again from "the first age (of man presumably, or whatever?)".

[Maltaran]

I thought it was confirmed like ... in the first book when they mention stories that are obviously corrupted versions of our history.

Yep, that was my thought - present time is the First Age, i.e. before the Age of Legends.

[Werthead]

My idea is that we are in the First Age, which ends a couple of centuries hence with the discovery of the One Power through genetic engineering. After being harnessed as weapons, the channelers rebel, form the Aes Sedai and bring about the age of peace we see in the Age of Legends, with technology and the Power coexisting. The Age of Legends lasts for a long time, maybe 5,000-10,000 years, and then the War of the Shadow takes place.

That period of time between now and Rand's time seems about right for the corrupted legends and the various artifacts that show up (such as the Mercedes-Benz hood ornament and the frieze in Tanchico which shows extinct animals like giraffes).

[fionwe1987]

My idea is that we are in the First Age, which ends a couple of centuries hence with the discovery of the One Power through genetic engineering. After being harnessed as weapons, the channelers rebel, form the Aes Sedai and bring about the age of peace we see in the Age of Legends, with technology and the Power coexisting. The Age of Legends lasts for a long time, maybe 5,000-10,000 years, and then the War of the Shadow takes place.

That period of time between now and Rand's time seems about right for the corrupted legends and the various artifacts that show up (such as the Mercedes-Benz hood ornament and the frieze in Tanchico which shows extinct animals like giraffes).

The problem with this is that abilities like talking to wolves, smelling out evil, Min's ability to read auras, etc. are supposed to be remnants of the First Age. Even if we can say these were early manifestations of the OP, how can we explain the Portal Stones? These are either advanced technology/non-OP magic that is supposed to be from the first Age, and was lost before the AoL began.

For myself, I think the circular nature of time, and the ambiguity of the naming of this Age as the Third (remember, this is only called the Third Age by some), makes me think our Age may be more than a few Ages behind the Third Age.

[Humble Asskicker]

I thought it was confirmed like ... in the first book when they mention stories that are obviously corrupted versions of our history.

I didn't note the deliberate connection, as in, because these are derivative of well known real world mythology, that was a hint that this world is our world in a different time.

WoT is not the first fantasy story that has myths that parallels our own, but in other fantasy stories it's not the case that this is indicative that the fantasy world is actually our world.

But I guess in retrospect, now that it has been confirmed, it should have been obvious.

[Rhom]

Well, there are the derivative myths like the Arthurian things. But the major factors are the aforementioned Mercedes Benz hood ornament and the references to a myriad of 20th century stories like Merc and Mosk (America and Moscow) as well as flying to the moon in the belly of an eagle and references to John Glenn and Sally Ride.

[Werthead]

The problem with this is that abilities like talking to wolves, smelling out evil, Min's ability to read auras, etc. are supposed to be remnants of the First Age. Even if we can say these were early manifestations of the OP, how can we explain the Portal Stones? These are either advanced technology/non-OP magic that is supposed to be from the first Age, and was lost before the AoL began.

I didn't suggest that the First Age/our age ends tomorrow, it would probably continue for another century, maybe several. This gives time for the Portal Stones to be built, used and then forgotten before AoL even begins.

In addition, the skills like reading auras, detecting evil and talking to animals I always took as formerly mythical abilities that people claim in our time or earlier (there are people who claim to read auras, read the future in Tarot cards etc right now) which have somehow been made 'real', maybe by the OP or some other source.

For myself, I think the circular nature of time, and the ambiguity of the naming of this Age as the Third (remember, this is only called the Third Age by some), makes me think our Age may be more than a few Ages behind the Third Age.

I can't see how it is possible for artifacts from our age (the hood ornament, the stories and legends, the possibly-ruined satellite dish in the Black Hills, etc) to have survived more than a few thousand years. Moving the time between our age and Rand's time from 5,000-10,000 years to radically more than that makes it less and less likely that either artifacts or stories would survive that gap in any recognisable form.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Robert Jordan confirmed it at least as early as 2003. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcjspjqg_82hd463gcf (scroll down to Budapest Q&A, April 2003)

RJ: But that’s the whole thing, in these books: it’s giving you hints, really, and it was the way it was giving you hints, clearly, as to the way things are working in the books, that these are the source of legends, but it’s not in any way a straightforward retelling. What two or three men have done will be compressed to make one story, or what one man has done may be split up into two different men – this part’s given to somebody else, and that part’s given to that one - and he himself is completely forgotten. I put these things there in a way as a clue, a hint to you: this is the way things are working in these books, this is what has come of things that are somewhat recognizable from our time. What myths have risen out of them? So, you see how the distortion has happened. What myths are going to arise out of the events of these books? It’s not going to be just another telling of what happens in these books – it’s all going to be twisted and woven together in ways that nobody who was there at the events would ever recognize.

[Humble Asskicker]

Huh. And I thought I was being thorough about my reading. I completely missed that. RJ was one canny dude.

[Original Ned's Bones]

I was on the plane last weekend with Gathering Storm and actually thought about taking the dust jacket off because it was so bad.

Thought about it? I have those suckers in the trash can before I even bring the book into my house. I'm embarassed when I plop it onto the book store check-out counter.