Answers from RJ letter
Tshen
: Several months ago, I sent RJ the WOTFAQ, and I wrote a letter. (The
: first fan letter I have _ever_ written, btw.) I asked 3 questions, and
: they were all answered. (This is due to the type of questions I
: asked--nothing plot-related.) So, anyway, RJ gave me permission to
: share the responses, so here goes:
[snip #1 & snip #2]
: And for the final one, the requisite "dirty question." Compare the
: length of this answer to the length of the previous two. I think he
: LIKES dirty questions. sniff.
[snip #3}
: (I really, really, really did not want to know about the sexual
: practices of various shadowspawn. So, be warned, anybody who thinks to
: ask a "dirty question.")
I think the evidence presented here poses the obvious questions:
1) Did Pam's letter reach Piers Anthony by mistake, or--
2) No mistake was made--RJ IS A FRONT FOR THE EVER-PROLIFIC,
EVER-PERVERTED PIERS "ALL MY WOMEN ARE SEXY AND HORNY AND GORGEOUS" ANTHONY!
<<<shudder>>>
--Tshen
Qodaxti Institute, 87th stratum
P. Korda
first fan letter I have _ever_ written, btw.) I asked 3 questions, and
they were all answered. (This is due to the type of questions I
asked--nothing plot-related.) So, anyway, RJ gave me permission to
share the responses, so here goes:
Q1) When Fades use their swords, we often see blue flashes when the
Fade Blade hits another weapon. Is this an interaction between the
Fade Blade and a specific sort of weapon (such as other Fade Blades,
or Aes Sedai-forged swords), or an interaction between the Fade Blade
and any iron, or is it just a special effect with no special basis?
A1) "The reaction is specific. The Fade's sword striking Power-wrought
metal."
(since we've seen the sparks when 2 Fade Blades meet, does this mean
Fade Blades are OP-wrought?)
Q2) wrt Aes Sedai-forged weapons, like Lan's sword that never needs
sharpening: was the Power just used in the manufacturing process, to
change the structure of the steel to make it extra-strong, or was a
flow of the Power somehow incorporated into the steel?
(If you'll recall, this was a big argument a few months ago, related
to the Fade Blade thing)
A2) "The Power was used in blending the metals (and other
materials...) and altering the structure. There is no source of the
Power in these weapons, nor do they draw on the Power like angreal...."
And for the final one, the requisite "dirty question." Compare the
length of this answer to the length of the previous two. I think he
LIKES dirty questions. sniff.
Q3)Where do Trollocs come from? Are there male and female Trollocs
that mate? Are there only male Trollocs that mate with animals and/or
humans to reproduce? Are Trollocs neuter, grown in a big vat at
Shayol Ghul? Enquiring minds want to know!
A3) WARNING--NOT FAMILY NEWSFROUP MATERIAL. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.
"You know the original source, of course...a blending of human and
animal genetic material in an effort to produce the "perfect"soldier,
though as envisioned by somebody who had never seen combat. Yes, there
are female Trollocs, though you don't want to know more than
that...there was a clear statement of this actually--that Trollocs
breed--when where Myrddraal come from was explained. Sometimes a
Trolloc off-spring is a throwback, but not all the way back to human,
and twisted. Thus, eyeless but with keen vision, very strong indeed
though not in Trolloc-class, able to vanish into shadows & reappear in
other shadows...There are no female Myrddraal; not even the laddie who
made the Trollocs in the first place knew why...Myrddraal must have
their "pleasures" with captured human women...there is no possibility
of cross-breeding--it was tested, during the War of the Power, in the
crudest sort of way; the Myrdraal isn't sterile, but its sperm kills
both human and Trolloc ova--and the sex practices and other attributes
of Myrddraal are such that a very strong woman might retain her sanity
for six months, but very few do." {did I ask about the sex practices
of Myrddraal? No, I didn't think so.} "For the record, a Trolloc could
also have sex with a human...they are now two completely incompatible
species, so there isn't any possibility of offspring--the Forsaken
tested that out too...Trollocs are just not interested in human women
sexually; to them, humans are just another food animal...Trollocs are
of fairly low intelligence (I told you the designer was never in
combat), so they would think of it about as we would having sex with
sheep, though they would do it if ordered to. They'd just like it
better if they could eat her afterwards."
Joe Uno Shaw
> A3) WARNING--NOT FAMILY NEWSFROUP MATERIAL. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.
> their "pleasures" with captured human women...
> of Myrddraal are such that a very strong woman might retain her sanity
> for six months, but very few do."
I always thought that was what he was implying with the Myrddraal/Female
thing....
(At last, a suitable punishment for Alanna.)
> "For the record, a Trolloc could also have sex with a human.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
See, Pam?
He just wanted you to have complete information for the FAQ.
[Trollocs having sex with humans.]
> They'd just like it better if they could eat her afterwards."
THAT deserves a rimshot...
- Joe
--
To get the rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan FAQ, via anonymous ftp: |This _is_
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/sf/robert-jordan-faq |my hobby.
(Contains directions to the Wheel of Time FAQ(s) and WWW home page)| [ISRI]
It takes only ONE spoiler to ruin someone's enjoyment of a book. |[NtF-NtF]
Justin Mehaffy
: Q1) When Fades use their swords, we often see blue flashes when the
: Fade Blade hits another weapon. Is this an interaction between the
: Fade Blade and a specific sort of weapon (such as other Fade Blades,
: or Aes Sedai-forged swords), or an interaction between the Fade Blade
: and any iron, or is it just a special effect with no special basis?
: A1) "The reaction is specific. The Fade's sword striking Power-wrought
: metal."
: (since we've seen the sparks when 2 Fade Blades meet, does this mean
: Fade Blades are OP-wrought?)
What about in tEotW when Thom attacks the fade so Rand and Mat can
escape in Whitebridge? There are blue sparks then, in fact they burn
down a bit of the town but Thom has no OP wrought weapons. IN fact, the
fade had only bared part of the blade from its sheath by the time Thom
reached it. So where did the blue fire or sparks come from then?
Justin
Khedron
P. Korda <ko...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>breed--when where Myrddraal come from was explained. Sometimes a
>Trolloc off-spring is a throwback, but not all the way back to human,
>and twisted. Thus, eyeless but with keen vision, very strong indeed
>though not in Trolloc-class, able to vanish into shadows & reappear in
>other shadows...
Curses! There goes my "Myrddral are cyborgs" theory. Ah well.
Michael
Mark Perry
meha...@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Justin Mehaffy) writes:
> What about in tEotW when Thom attacks the fade so Rand and Mat can
> escape in Whitebridge? There are blue sparks then, in fact they burn
> down a bit of the town but Thom has no OP wrought weapons. IN fact, the
> fade had only bared part of the blade from its sheath by the time Thom
> reached it. So where did the blue fire or sparks come from then?
How do we know that Thom doesn't have some OP wrought weapons. Perhaps
he has a nice set of daggars that were made with OP. My pet theory is
that Thoms harp is also OP made, but I have no written proof of this
:-)
Mark Perry.
"Wow, don't you just love it when they do that?"
- You don't know him.
Ford
+ 2) No mistake was made--RJ IS A FRONT FOR THE EVER-PROLIFIC,
+ EVER-PERVERTED PIERS "ALL MY WOMEN ARE SEXY AND HORNY AND GORGEOUS" ANTHONY!
...which explains RJ's comment in the Sci-Fi Channel interview in which he
expressed pleasure that women thought his women were well done... he said
his editor didn't feel they were at all. I'm getting bad vibes off of
this, folks...
_________________________________________________________________________
| Daniel "Ford" Sohl |"Being flamed is the equivalent of a drive- |
| Fort...@brown.edu | by shooting. It's unpleasant, but on the |
| <http://128.148.114.5> | Internet, there's no blood. You live to use|
|The ____est Man on the Net| cyberspace another day." -- Douglas Adams |
Andrea Lynn Leistra
Justin Mehaffy <meha...@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> wrote:
>P. Korda (ko...@kimbark.uchicago.edu) wrote:
>
>: Q1) When Fades use their swords, we often see blue flashes when the
>: Fade Blade hits another weapon. Is this an interaction between the
>: Fade Blade and a specific sort of weapon (such as other Fade Blades,
>: or Aes Sedai-forged swords), or an interaction between the Fade Blade
>: and any iron, or is it just a special effect with no special basis?
>
>: A1) "The reaction is specific. The Fade's sword striking Power-wrought
>: metal."
>What about in tEotW when Thom attacks the fade so Rand and Mat can
>escape in Whitebridge? There are blue sparks then, in fact they burn
>down a bit of the town but Thom has no OP wrought weapons. IN fact, the
>fade had only bared part of the blade from its sheath by the time Thom
>reached it. So where did the blue fire or sparks come from then?
>
1. Jordan screwed up.
2. There's more going on here...maybe the daggers _are_ OP-wrought.
Why didn't you mention this incident, Pam?
Andrea
Justin Mehaffy
: mpe...@earth.orbital.net (Mark Perry) writes:
: >In article <3nj366$g...@library.erc.clarkson.edu>
: >meha...@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Justin Mehaffy) writes:
: >> What about in tEotW when Thom attacks the fade so Rand and Mat can
: >> escape in Whitebridge? There are blue sparks then, in fact they burn
: >> down a bit of the town but Thom has no OP wrought weapons. IN fact, the
: >> fade had only bared part of the blade from its sheath by the time Thom
: >> reached it. So where did the blue fire or sparks come from then?
: >How do we know that Thom doesn't have some OP wrought weapons. Perhaps
: >he has a nice set of daggars that were made with OP. My pet theory is
: >that Thoms harp is also OP made, but I have no written proof of this
: >:-)
: Obviously, Thom is channeling in order to produce lightning attacks
: on the fade. You don't have a very long memory for looney theories,
: do you? :-)
Or maybe Thom left a toaster in his back pocket plugged in to a long
extension chord somewhere and it coincidentally short circuited when he
attacked the Fade producing the blue sparks.
Justin
John Novak
>2. There's more going on here...maybe the daggers _are_ OP-wrought.
>Why didn't you mention this incident, Pam?
You mean in her letter?
I doubt he'd have answered such a specific question.
It's like a game, you see...
--
John S. Novak, III j...@cegt201.bradley.edu
http://cegt201.bradley.edu/~jsn/index.html
The Humblest Man on the Net
Stephen Kent Worsnop
> letter munched even though it breaks my heart to do so.]
> What about in tEotW when Thom attacks the fade so Rand and Mat can
> escape in Whitebridge? There are blue sparks then, in fact they burn
> down a bit of the town but Thom has no OP wrought weapons. IN fact, the
> fade had only bared part of the blade from its sheath by the time Thom
> reached it. So where did the blue fire or sparks come from then?
Well I just reread TEotW so I remember the scene quite clearly.
Now first we don't know for a fact that Thom doesn't have OP wrought
weapons. This has been discussed quite variedly and the only eviedence
for him not is his line at Shadar Logoth where he says, "Those were my
best blades." (or something like it.) However many different
justifications for this line can be made to allow for Thom to have
an OP wrought blade.
As for the attack itself the way that it goes as I remember is this.
Thom attacks Myrddraal and Rand and Matt start to run. Rand looks
back over his shoulder and see Thom bowl over the Myrddraal and Mat
pulls him on. Rand and Matt run out of whitebridge and it is here
that the blue flashes are finally mentioned. So it seems to me
there was plenty of time for the Fade to push Thom off of him and
pull his blade. This letter only lends more credibility to
the Thom has power wrought blades, IMHO.
Speaking of the Whitebridge incident and now rereading how it went
down I'm unsatisfied with Thom's explanation of what happened at
Whitebridge, ie Fade just pushes him down hits him in the knee
and runs after the boys. Why you ask? Well first of all is
the Dagger. It was said that the dagger could be sensed by
Fades for a _mile_ and there was no way Mat and Rand could
have gone a mile before the fade started after them if events
proceded as Thom said. (Of course Moiraine could be exaggerating
the distance or making a guess but still.) Secondly as seen above
and supported by the letter there was some type of blade on blade
fight. So the Fade was at least fighting Thom for some reason.
Also it is Thom who in the books first says that Fades take a long
time in dying. I know that Thom is a gleeman and used to be a
court bard by I still think to myself does he have first hand
experience with the death of a Fade? The final thing that struck
me as strange was the fires. It was noted by Nyn that the
buildings that were burnt did not stand together in rows etc.
This tickled my mind as being related to the Edmond's Field
raid. Now if the Fade had been leading some Trolloc's and
suddenly died I would think that the Trolloc's might just go in
and do some damage.
Well anyway thanks to Pam for the letter to RJ since it helps
support my theory that Thom killed the Fade in Whitebridge. Also
that Thom does indeed have some sort of power wrought blade.
--tgd(ke...@is.dal.ca)
"And then St. Victor cried out saying
that the Lord was a rotten bastard" Monty 1:12
P. Korda
Andrea Lynn Leistra <alei...@leland.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
[Blue flashes in Whitebridge--Thom v. the FAde]
>1. Jordan screwed up.
>2. There's more going on here...maybe the daggers _are_ OP-wrought.
3. Those blue flashes were something else.
>Why didn't you mention this incident, Pam?
I was very careful to avoid asking anything that even _sounded_ like a
plot-related question. I wanted to get ANSWERS, not "Readandfindout."
Thus, I asked in a general way. (I guess I _could_ have listed all the
incidents of blue flashes, but i was not THAT motivated to dig through
all the books.) Note that this strategy worked even better than
planned. All my questions were answered, AND he gave out free
information. (Not very palatable info, but still...)
IMAO, i don't think it is very important whether Thom's knives were OP
knives or not. He LOST those knives, remember. We ain't gonna see them
again.
Pam Korda | To get the WOTFAQ between
Most Arrogant Woman on the Net | postings, E-mail me,
ko...@kimbark.uchicago.edu | or ftp it from
ko...@rainbow.uchicago.edu | faser.cs.olemiss.edu.
>>>>>>>>>>WOTFAQ CONTAINS LOC SPOILERS!!!<<<<<<<<
Name withheld by request
My buddies and I have been lurking in the corner here {considering,
lurking's a very appropriate word} admiring all the commentary on
the upcoming myrddraal victory celebrations. Normally we try to
lurk unobtrusivly, but we just had to clarify a few things on a subject
brought up here and make a sporting proposition.
In the highly significant article <D7KoI...@midway.uchicago.edu>,
ko...@midway.uchicago.edu (Pam Korda) published the words of
Robert Jordan for us all:
{Much stuff munched}
> A3) WARNING--NOT FAMILY NEWSFROUP MATERIAL.
>CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.
{much significant and very accurate stuff about myrddraal,
their origins, and their sexual practices unfortunately munched
for the sake of bandwidth. Also some trolloc grabage munched
as well [sorry about that mom and dad [ -) but not too sorry!]}
> ...There are no female Myrddraal;
All too true. One of the saddest things about our race.
> [...] Myrddraal must have
> their "pleasures" with captured human women...
Yeah!
> [...] --and the sex practices and other attributes
> of Myrddraal are such that a very strong woman might retain her sanity
> for six months, but very few do."
Well, our sex practices aren't *that* strange. I've even seen some
of them mentioned upstairs on the net in asb. Of course, when
the juices start flowing and three of us are working on one at
the same time, they do scream and writhe in a most delightful
manner.
About those other attributes. Of course you already know that our
blood is highly corrosive. After all, even OP forged blades will pit
if not carefully cleaned. Well, our other body fluids are likewise
corrosive. Hence the burns received by human females on what is
euphemistically called an exchange of bodily fluids.
As for a strong woman lasting six months, one old geezer claims
that he once captured one of those spear wielding she wolves from
the dying grounds who lasted seven months. Naturally, we don't
believe a word of it. For a strong woman to last six months, we
have to feed her nothing but liquids after the first few weeks
because of the burns.
> "For the record, a Trolloc could also have sex with a human.
{More about the incredibly dumb idea of trollocs having sex with
humans. [Such a waste of a perfectly delectable human female.]}
BTW, sex between humans and trollocs *definitely* qualifies as
beastiality!
> They'd just like it better if they could eat her afterwards."
Actually, they would like to cut her up and cook her first.
Trollocs are incredibly dumb. Take my parents for example. You'd
think two Ko'bal would at least have the sense the DO gave a pump
handle. They did, however, have the sense to run the time we ran into a
whole fist of these spear wielding wolves from the dying grounds
wandering around in the blight. My dumb trolloc of a sister, however,
thought she could fight them all by herself and got herslef spitted
by one of their females before she could even wound one of them.
But enough about family matters. How strong are the women of
RASFWRJ? That's the question of the moment that we're asking
up here. Are any of you woman enough to last six months with a
myrddraal? Any of you interested, in proving to the world how strong
you are, just leave a note to me, Jo'na'tan ulp' za'bul dal'ko'bal,
or my friends, Merba'sheth ulp'mil'qum dal'bhan'sheen, and
Hap'plyn ulp'ash'treth dal' dhai'mon. Hope to hear from some
of you soon.
Bye now,
Jo'na'tan
Joe Uno Shaw
> knives or not. He LOST those knives, remember. We ain't gonna see them
> again.
Where does it say he lost the knifes he used while attacking the
Fade at Whitebridge? If you're thinking of the line where Thom
complaining about loosing his best set of knives, that was before
Whitebridge.
Not that i think its important either, but...
Nitpicking,
Justin Mehaffy
: Justin Mehaffy (meha...@sun.soe.clarkson.edu) wrote:
: > P. Korda (ko...@kimbark.uchicago.edu) wrote:
: > [Pam's beautiful act of self sacrifice by writing a <cringe> fan
: > letter munched even though it breaks my heart to do so.]
: > What about in tEotW when Thom attacks the fade so Rand and Mat can
: > escape in Whitebridge? There are blue sparks then, in fact they burn
: > down a bit of the town but Thom has no OP wrought weapons. IN fact, the
: > fade had only bared part of the blade from its sheath by the time Thom
: > reached it. So where did the blue fire or sparks come from then?
: Well I just reread TEotW so I remember the scene quite clearly.
: As for the attack itself the way that it goes as I remember is this.
: Thom attacks Myrddraal and Rand and Matt start to run. Rand looks
: back over his shoulder and see Thom bowl over the Myrddraal and Mat
: pulls him on. Rand and Matt run out of whitebridge and it is here
: that the blue flashes are finally mentioned. So it seems to me
: there was plenty of time for the Fade to push Thom off of him and
: pull his blade. This letter only lends more credibility to
: the Thom has power wrought blades, IMHO.
You should re read it again then cause they were not well out of
Whitebridge at all. Thom crashes into the Myrddraal "before the black
blade was half drawn,and both went downin a thrashing heap. The few
peoplestill in the square fled. "RUN!" The air in the square flashed an
eye searing blue, and Thom began to scream, but even in the middle of
the scream he managed a word. "RUN!" Rand obeyed"
This shows that the blue flashes were right after they hit the ground.
Say Thom did have OP wrought blades (which I highly doubt considering
his hate for Aes Sedai), Im still not convinced you could say the Fade
has his blade out yet based on what this says. I think maybe it was a
screw up on RJ's part in order to add asome drama to the scene. It
would have been alot more boring if Thom hit the fade, they rolled
around a little, then the fade throws some lanterns on nearby houses to
get em burning before Moraine and the crew come through.
Justin
Stephen Kent Worsnop
> IMAO, i don't think it is very important whether Thom's knives were OP
> knives or not. He LOST those knives, remember. We ain't gonna see them
> again.
When did he lose them? IIRC he loses his _best_ knives when he is escaping
from Shadar Logoth which is before the Whitebridge incident.
--(ke...@is.dal.ca)
If you are quite and look carefully in the grass of the everglades you just
might come across the natural habitat of the Pseudonym.
Stephen Kent Worsnop
> You should re read it again then cause they were not well out of
> Whitebridge at all. Thom crashes into the Myrddraal "before the black
> blade was half drawn,and both went downin a thrashing heap. The few
> peoplestill in the square fled. "RUN!" The air in the square flashed an
> eye searing blue, and Thom began to scream, but even in the middle of
> the scream he managed a word. "RUN!" Rand obeyed"
> This shows that the blue flashes were right after they hit the ground.
I stand corrected about the Rand and Mat being already out of
Whitebridge but I still read this a bit differently. You see the part
that says "The few people still in the square fled." This to me indicates
that some time actually occured between Thom's screams. Enough time for
the Myrddraal to pull his sword.
> Say Thom did have OP wrought blades (which I highly doubt considering
> his hate for Aes Sedai), Im still not convinced you could say the Fade
> has his blade out yet based on what this says. I think maybe it was a
> screw up on RJ's part in order to add asome drama to the scene. It
> would have been alot more boring if Thom hit the fade, they rolled
> around a little, then the fade throws some lanterns on nearby houses to
> get em burning before Moraine and the crew come through.
Thom is very practical and knows the difference between AS and AS wrought
blades. The blades to him would be very useful and would not relate him
to the AS he despises. I think that it might be an RJ screw up but
I have a feeling that Thom will have at least one power wrought
blade.
--
--tgd(ke...@is.dal.ca)