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In the following thread I hope to show evidence of why WoT is an important piece of American literature. Much like Mark Twain or Zane Gray, Robert Jordan is an American author who produced an great work of literature that teaches a greater moral lesson. More important and relevant today than Tolkien, or other new authors dedicated to glorifying violence (GRRM), Robert Jordan's message is a timeless.
I recommend starting with the first book, The Eye of the World, but stopping when you get to the books written by Brandon Sanderson.
it's like reading poetry written by your biology teacher.
it's like eating honey, only to end up licking sand paper between delicate bites
it's like reading a important tale of good and evil, only to have it finished by someone confused by basic morals and values.
Look, I hear the objections, but I maintain my position. Brandon Sanderson had no clue what he was doing with the final books. Championing Demandred is no different than champion Stalin - both stoic guys, who rarely smiled, both the second best (Roosevelt), but they do not need to be glorified. That's wrong, and doesn't need to be in WoT, no wonder the editor's cut it.
Now that I've become older and wiser, and more knowledgeable in history and civilization, I know Robert Jordan had an intention with his work. WoT had a very purposeful intent that needs someone who see's it's intent, to be written correctly. Sanderon has shown enough to me, to think him incapable of achieving that goal. He is/was not knowledge enough in WoT, and he seems to be a moral relativist.
Fantasy work isn't written all the time just to be interesting to read, it's often to read for deeper meanings. It's not a tabloid, rather a series of books to engage the reader in a deeper meaning. This is often the case epic fantasy, of which Jordan shares the stage with Tolkien.
Recall, if you have read Tolkien's work, the Lord of the Rings, from the understanding of the allegories he used. Middle Earth is Europe and North Africa, if you didn't know. The dwarfs, the Scots. The men are the Britons. The hobbits are the Irish. The Orcs and dark skinned men (yes, Tolkien used those exact words in his books) are the Muslims and native people of Northern Africa.
Is that racist? Many people think so.
What you may not know is that the Elfs are considered, to be a reference, to the Jews. Destined to leave Middle Earth for the time of Men (the Britons) to arrive (English empire). It was a slight saying it was time for the Jews to leave Europe. This is the sad, tragic hidden meaning in the Lord of the Rings that gets uncommented upon when it's driving sales at the box office. As a Jew, I find it sad that it has become so glorified, compared to much better, deeper, works, such as the Wheel of Time.
I'm not sure how many people know that, but there are better, deeper, meanings hidden in WoT. So if you have a few moments, let me tell you some important things you should know about WoT, from the perspective of someone who is an avid history buff and believer in the Jewish/Christian faith.
1 - The beginnings of the Wheel
The Wheel of Time is a misnomer of a title. You picked up the books probably thinking it was a Buddhist World, but it's not.
Time repeats, so do the months in the Judiac calendar, but time is linear. One gift of the Jews to modern civilization has been the understanding that there was a beginning of creation, and there may be an end. The books bear that out, given the Dragon, or chosen one/Deliverer/Messiah/Christos, decides to end the Wheel.
In that that regard, the world is perfectly in conjunction with Judeo/Christian philosophy. The reason the story ends up repeating into 7 Ages is because human kind is bound to repeat forgetting it's own history, and therefore bound to repeat a loop that returns grand civilizations to the stone age and back to grandeur once again. And endless cycle, but it can end. It can end, if the Dragon chooses. So it's not as I once thought at all, but rather a way of looking at the cycle of civilization and it's collapses under it's own imperfections.
2 - Apocalypse Now
The End of our Age (according to WoT) is the beginning of the discovery of the One Power. This phenomena is known by the discovery of two equal, and opposite powers, Saidin and Saidar. These powers could be channeled, drawn upon the move or change objects. This cult disappears, lost to time, but is evidenced by an sole Angrael. This lost artifact is an object for magnification in the One Power, being created in the image of Robert Jordan himself. He sat, almost Buddha like, with his sword upon his lap. The implication is clear : Don't try to follow me, or you will end up lost to history. A warning to those that would want to worship Jordan, instead of G-D.
The great feats of Channeling would of course challenge established religions. If one could theoretically prove this "magic" in a laboratory, what need is there for religion of faith? One could prove this "magic" existed, even if it had no moral purpose. You can see the obvious implications. "Organized Religion" fell away. What was left was a cult of the One Power, and the remaining society of secularist.
What happened next is lost to the history of WoT. But much like the Egyptians scrubbed the name of Moses and the Hebrews off their walls, so too did the winners of this hidden battle. The winners, the secularists, and moral relativists, won. Call them, believers in just science and wisdom.
They forced the most powerful of the cult, those who dealt directly with Channeling into subservience. They called them Aes Sedai, or Servants of All. They were the Servants, forced to kneel before Science and Wisdom. The best evidence for this is in the ring they are forced to wear, the Great Serpent ring.
A good student of history, I know this well. Not just from the Bible story, of which the serpent inhabits the Tree of Knowledge and Wisdom (could have named it the tree of "Inner Beauty", same thing), but from many ancient cultures, from Sumeria to the Greek isles, most notably the Egyptians.
The serpent represented wisdom. The Pharaohs of Egypt would wear a dual crown, a combination representing the joining of the Upper and Lower Nile into Egypt. This crown had upon it two serpents, representing once again, knowledge and wisdom. This is once again referenced in the bible, when Pharaoh's priests drop two snakes to fight Moses's one snake. Serpents appear throughout Egypt, in art, pottery, and of course, Architecture. Watch the Charleston Heston movie, the 10 Commandments, in which the balconies have snakes repeated throughout their designs.
So the Cult of "Wisdom" won. They forced the Aes Sedai, channelers, into bondage. Servants of all.
The Cult, like many liberal states, felt threatened by history, and so erased everything. The meaning of war, murder, religion, everything was wiped away. The general rule : be nice.
And so set the stage for the wheel to loop back around. Civilization was full of people with no moral compass, no religion to bind them or help them resist real evil. Civilization was weak, self-absorbed, a perfect liberal state. Civilization had peaked at the end of the 1st Age, and now began it's decent into madness, eugenics, and eventually, a scientific discovery of the Devil himself, using channeling. One good example of this is how the village's introduce their wild channelers, as Wisdom's.
3 - Evil
The whole point of knowing history is to know when to head it's warnings. A brief history of the Second World War would show that the Nazi's did two things:
Eliminated competing thought
Eliminated competing people
Thus, WoT is a story retelling World War II, in some degree. The Nazi's, flush with ideas born of Darwinism and Evolution, felt right to act upon the concept of survival of the fittest. They thought, only by eliminating opposing religion and people, could they become their true, Aryan, super evolved people. This lead the Nazi scientists to experiment on Jews, Gypsies, Catholics or Protestants who didn't convert, anyone the regime didn't like, in what is known as eugenics.
Eugenics is a dangerous concept. I think Jordan used it well when he lead the Age of Legends, the 2nd Age, to it's end. Much like Germany 1938, the highly advanced, secular society had lost it's past, it's religion and moral compass, and was experimenting with what it shouldn't. In that same vein, the experiments that lead to the Bore, take that same scientific tone.
The implication by Jordan is clear - mindless moral relativism and secularism leads to the self-destruction of society. This is a common theme in many great works, including the great Islamic philosopher, Al-Ghazali. Before the collapse of the scientific Islamic world, he predicted it with his usual adeptness, by calling it much like civilization that would given into a feast of appetites.
Luckily, LTT was there, and had the ability to at least postponed the battle to a future date.
LTT, had two main rivals.
Ishamael
and Demandred
Ishamael, as one may notice, is one letter off from the Ishmael, son of Abraham. This son is commonly referred to by many people of the middle east, including Islam.
Demandred, on the other hand, was the "second" greatest man of his age. He was quiet, rarely laughed, much like Stalin. Stalin, much to his own chagrin, is famous for being second to Roosevelt in the alliance to win World War II. This is why I do not like Sanderson glorifying this character. It's also telling that the country he takes over and leads during the last battle is Shara, a word similar to Sharia. Sharia law, as some may know, is Islam's law of purity - and by purity - it means killing anyone that isn't a Muslim. This is an interesting situation, for Demandred to lead such a country in the Last Battle.
4 - Nietzsche
"To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering." - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...1UoOMaIEFu7.99
I think this quote sums up a very interesting dialogue that begins after the temporary sealing of the Dark One.
The People of the Dragon, the Aiel, soon find themselves with the task of the prophetic Aes Sedai. Unfortunately, real life emerges with the collapse of civilization. Brigands and murders now rove freely. The Aiel are forced with a choice.
One group, splinters off. It can't see the point of following the Aes Sedai's orders, and so instead looks to return to it's past, to find the song it once sung. They become travelers, using painted wagons as homes. If you didn't recognize these people, it's the Gypies. I believe they are refereed to in the book as tinkers, and legends of them being thief's are widespread myths. They employ large dogs for defense, instead of defending themselves. These parallels are so obvious, there is no question.
The rest of the Aiel split into two groups later, after an incident in which a part of the group breaks the Way of the Leaf, committing violence, even "killing" in the act of returning a family member back to the tribe. The two groups become the Aiel, ones wishing to defend themselves, and the Jenn Aiel, the truly dedicated, who stay true to the way of the Leaf.
So why the Nietzsche quote?
Think about what happens over the course of the series. The Tinkers, Gypies, are still alive searching for their song. They still have a reason to keep going. The Jenn served their purpose, building the pathway to memory. Once done, they had no purpose, and fell away. Jordan's world worked using very real world concepts, and a real world back story.
The other sec, the ones continued to be called Aiel, break up into 12 tribes. This number is similar to the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 sons of Jacob. Numbers are important in Judiasm. This people maintains it's unique status as the "people of the Dragon," a rather arrogant stance to some, but Jews take a similar stance in claiming they are the chosen people of G-D. I forgive all, because it's not a crime to be proud of who you are. The Aiel also practice unique customs, including veiling before killing (reference to blindness) and disgust of killing (rather capture short term indentured servants like was the customer under the laws given in Deuteronomy and Leviticus).
5 - Role Models
So this get's back to the characters. Many of the characters and places have historical, or biblical references that should be talked about more.
The Two Rivers :
A reference to the ancient civilization of Babylon, that lie between the Two Rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates.
Tar Valon :
Avalon. That was easy.
Rand :
George Washington.
George Washington was, before military fame, a farmer. Even after the end of the American Revolutionary War, when Washington returned to Mt. Vernon, they begged him to come back from farmer. All Washington really wanted to do was farm, and smoke his pipe. So Jordan's Environment was one in which he was building a complex world, full of layers of meaning, but one in which our world transformed realistically into the one in which he described.
Arthur.
The Once and Future King. Because the Dragon is spun out over and over, he fits this legend in a loose sense. He also has 3 women preside over his funeral, his symbol of course is a mythological creature of legend, and he removes the Sword from the Stone.
Jewish Justice
Jewish Justice is blinded by it's inability to see Christianity or Jesus. In Her hand, lies a sword.
Rand becomes that. Blinded by Semirhage's attack, he finds the sword Justice, all in time for the last battle.
Egwene :
Joan of Arc.
Her visions lead to her self-confidence. Much like Joan, who came from peasants, so too did Egwene. Her battle ultimately was with the leader of the modern Dreadlords, the M'Hael, Mazrim Taim. A name eerily similar to Hitler's salute.
Verin :
The supposed "historian"
Brown sister. Much like some claim today, those in charge of the History books are those most likely to abuse them to favor their own agenda's. Much like conservatives accuse the American teacher's unions and government employees of removing bits and pieces of our own history, to suit their own agendas. In fact, if you look at the history of the Black Ajah, it's much like the modern american school system.
"The position of teachers of the novices and the Accepted makes it easier for the Black Ajah to know every student very well before they even become Aes Sedai. Thus are women groomed for the Black Ajah, or perhaps singled out as possible candidates, from very early on in their training.[verify] As the Black Ajah does not recruit from among Tower initiates, having a Black sister as Mistress of Novices is a very handy way of keeping tabs on those girls when they are raised to the shawl. Previous Mistresses of Novices who were also Black Ajah include Merean Redhill, Sheriam Bayanar, and Katerine Alruddin."
Corruption starts at the beginnings of the education system for the most powerful sect of people on the planet. The Dark seemingly had a good grasp of what it was doing.
Moiraine :
The one in touch with the world
Blue sister. A color one would enjoy if one lived in say, the state of Israel. Stays true even under the worse torture.
Alviarin Freidhen :
Head of the Great Counsel of the Black Ajah.
White sister. Irony is not lost here that the one that be at the center of betrayal would be someone who poses as a white sister, supposedly the ajah of logic and wisdom. A complete up-side-down flip of the supposedly relevance of color to interpretation of "good and evil."
6 - The end of the story
There of course is still more to know, but this one last bit I will leave you with.
I, predicted the body swap concept, many years prior to the series ended. I saw, in my mind, what Robert Jordan was going to do. I knew that Rand would end up in Ishamael's body, and Ishamael would end up in the broken body that was Rand. The Souls would swap. One needs to believe in Souls just to understand or predict this, I would imagine.
What I find interesting in this is that Rand's body is burnt. As I mentioned in another thread, Jews believe not in the Xorastrian concept of Heaven and Hell, rather in a concept of the righteous Soul rising to Hashem from the body after 3 days. If you are not righteous, that's it, you are done. But you need the body to be buried. That is why the Nazi's burnt the Jews, btw. It wasn't because it was more efficient (than bullets or bombs? Who believes that garabage?) In that, it's against Jewish law to cremate a body. So this is why it's interesting that in the end, Ishamael's body is burnt, meaning his soul could not revive, but would end.
And then they grew up. They learned from the real world that there is right and wrong, good and evil, there really was a Dark One, and people are really out to hurt you. These kids were oblivious of half-men and Trollocs - only knowing of them in tales, but that changed through the course of the books. It's called character development.
Rand came to the realization that it's about doing it better the next time around, i.e. doing it better for the children. A very Jewish concept which he had upon Dragonmount itself. Similiar to the moment when Moses climbed Mount Sinai and disappeared from the people, to which they sinned and built the Golden Calf. Le'Dor Va'Dor. Generation to generation, teach your children these things so they understand why they do it. Jews teach these things so that the next time around, it will be better. Jews read the torah every year, year after year. Generation to generation. So no Jew will ever forget the past.
Mat is indeed interesting. Mat is interesting because he is much like many mythical characters. He is Loki, the joker. He is the Monkey-King, if you know that legend. In it, the Monkey-King would turn himself into different creatures, including the raven. He uses a wishing staff that he got from the Dragon King of the Oceans as his favorite weapon. He was said to be indestructible. Unfortunately, the Monkey-King never learned, and soon caused too much trouble for Heaven, and his punishment ended up in his eyes being permanently burnt red. Mat never fulfilled that fate, because he found Tuon. A reason to live in the madness.
Speaking of Tuon, think about the Seanchaen and their ultimate reveal that the Blood have the potential to channel. Talk about a totalitarian state propped up by a lie. All that time the Blood were turning their own people into slaves to pursue their empire.
Perrin was indeed a brute in strength, but he was also a deeper character than that, was always conflicted between the hammer (construction) and axe (destruction). He didn't know better until he found Faile. A reason to live in the madness. Then he grew up and became a wise Lord, respected by his people, dedicated to rebuilding. He stood up against evil and railed to the Dragon's cause.
Lastly,
Like George Washington, after the American Revolution, George Washington just wanted to return to his passion, farming. And that is what Rand wanted to do. To be free, to farm, to smoke his pipe.
How did Rand lite that pipe?
He made it so. At least, that is what I believe. I don't buy the argument that he could simply do it via the void. The World of Dreams had merged with Reality in the vicinity of Shayol Ghul. They were one in the same. Remember the ferns appearing upon the side of the mountain as the Aiel slinked along the ground? It came from their own minds, their own imaginations. And so they formed. In that same way, Rand lite his pipe. From his own imagination, with the power of the Creator behind him.
Genius. Start to finish. There are plenty of other references to other religions, other countries, and other people, but Jordan mastered so many in such depth, it's hard to see his work as anything else but an American Masterpiece.
I recommend starting with the first book, The Eye of the World, but stopping when you get to the books written by Brandon Sanderson.
it's like reading poetry written by your biology teacher.
it's like eating honey, only to end up licking sand paper between delicate bites
it's like reading a important tale of good and evil, only to have it finished by someone confused by basic morals and values.
Look, I hear the objections, but I maintain my position. Brandon Sanderson had no clue what he was doing with the final books. Championing Demandred is no different than champion Stalin - both stoic guys, who rarely smiled, both the second best (Roosevelt), but they do not need to be glorified. That's wrong, and doesn't need to be in WoT, no wonder the editor's cut it.
Now that I've become older and wiser, and more knowledgeable in history and civilization, I know Robert Jordan had an intention with his work. WoT had a very purposeful intent that needs someone who see's it's intent, to be written correctly. Sanderon has shown enough to me, to think him incapable of achieving that goal. He is/was not knowledge enough in WoT, and he seems to be a moral relativist.
Fantasy work isn't written all the time just to be interesting to read, it's often to read for deeper meanings. It's not a tabloid, rather a series of books to engage the reader in a deeper meaning. This is often the case epic fantasy, of which Jordan shares the stage with Tolkien.
Recall, if you have read Tolkien's work, the Lord of the Rings, from the understanding of the allegories he used. Middle Earth is Europe and North Africa, if you didn't know. The dwarfs, the Scots. The men are the Britons. The hobbits are the Irish. The Orcs and dark skinned men (yes, Tolkien used those exact words in his books) are the Muslims and native people of Northern Africa.
Is that racist? Many people think so.
What you may not know is that the Elfs are considered, to be a reference, to the Jews. Destined to leave Middle Earth for the time of Men (the Britons) to arrive (English empire). It was a slight saying it was time for the Jews to leave Europe. This is the sad, tragic hidden meaning in the Lord of the Rings that gets uncommented upon when it's driving sales at the box office. As a Jew, I find it sad that it has become so glorified, compared to much better, deeper, works, such as the Wheel of Time.
I'm not sure how many people know that, but there are better, deeper, meanings hidden in WoT. So if you have a few moments, let me tell you some important things you should know about WoT, from the perspective of someone who is an avid history buff and believer in the Jewish/Christian faith.
1 - The beginnings of the Wheel
The Wheel of Time is a misnomer of a title. You picked up the books probably thinking it was a Buddhist World, but it's not.
Time repeats, so do the months in the Judiac calendar, but time is linear. One gift of the Jews to modern civilization has been the understanding that there was a beginning of creation, and there may be an end. The books bear that out, given the Dragon, or chosen one/Deliverer/Messiah/Christos, decides to end the Wheel.
In that that regard, the world is perfectly in conjunction with Judeo/Christian philosophy. The reason the story ends up repeating into 7 Ages is because human kind is bound to repeat forgetting it's own history, and therefore bound to repeat a loop that returns grand civilizations to the stone age and back to grandeur once again. And endless cycle, but it can end. It can end, if the Dragon chooses. So it's not as I once thought at all, but rather a way of looking at the cycle of civilization and it's collapses under it's own imperfections.
2 - Apocalypse Now
The End of our Age (according to WoT) is the beginning of the discovery of the One Power. This phenomena is known by the discovery of two equal, and opposite powers, Saidin and Saidar. These powers could be channeled, drawn upon the move or change objects. This cult disappears, lost to time, but is evidenced by an sole Angrael. This lost artifact is an object for magnification in the One Power, being created in the image of Robert Jordan himself. He sat, almost Buddha like, with his sword upon his lap. The implication is clear : Don't try to follow me, or you will end up lost to history. A warning to those that would want to worship Jordan, instead of G-D.
The great feats of Channeling would of course challenge established religions. If one could theoretically prove this "magic" in a laboratory, what need is there for religion of faith? One could prove this "magic" existed, even if it had no moral purpose. You can see the obvious implications. "Organized Religion" fell away. What was left was a cult of the One Power, and the remaining society of secularist.
What happened next is lost to the history of WoT. But much like the Egyptians scrubbed the name of Moses and the Hebrews off their walls, so too did the winners of this hidden battle. The winners, the secularists, and moral relativists, won. Call them, believers in just science and wisdom.
They forced the most powerful of the cult, those who dealt directly with Channeling into subservience. They called them Aes Sedai, or Servants of All. They were the Servants, forced to kneel before Science and Wisdom. The best evidence for this is in the ring they are forced to wear, the Great Serpent ring.
A good student of history, I know this well. Not just from the Bible story, of which the serpent inhabits the Tree of Knowledge and Wisdom (could have named it the tree of "Inner Beauty", same thing), but from many ancient cultures, from Sumeria to the Greek isles, most notably the Egyptians.
The serpent represented wisdom. The Pharaohs of Egypt would wear a dual crown, a combination representing the joining of the Upper and Lower Nile into Egypt. This crown had upon it two serpents, representing once again, knowledge and wisdom. This is once again referenced in the bible, when Pharaoh's priests drop two snakes to fight Moses's one snake. Serpents appear throughout Egypt, in art, pottery, and of course, Architecture. Watch the Charleston Heston movie, the 10 Commandments, in which the balconies have snakes repeated throughout their designs.
So the Cult of "Wisdom" won. They forced the Aes Sedai, channelers, into bondage. Servants of all.
The Cult, like many liberal states, felt threatened by history, and so erased everything. The meaning of war, murder, religion, everything was wiped away. The general rule : be nice.
And so set the stage for the wheel to loop back around. Civilization was full of people with no moral compass, no religion to bind them or help them resist real evil. Civilization was weak, self-absorbed, a perfect liberal state. Civilization had peaked at the end of the 1st Age, and now began it's decent into madness, eugenics, and eventually, a scientific discovery of the Devil himself, using channeling. One good example of this is how the village's introduce their wild channelers, as Wisdom's.
3 - Evil
The whole point of knowing history is to know when to head it's warnings. A brief history of the Second World War would show that the Nazi's did two things:
Eliminated competing thought
Eliminated competing people
Thus, WoT is a story retelling World War II, in some degree. The Nazi's, flush with ideas born of Darwinism and Evolution, felt right to act upon the concept of survival of the fittest. They thought, only by eliminating opposing religion and people, could they become their true, Aryan, super evolved people. This lead the Nazi scientists to experiment on Jews, Gypsies, Catholics or Protestants who didn't convert, anyone the regime didn't like, in what is known as eugenics.
Eugenics is a dangerous concept. I think Jordan used it well when he lead the Age of Legends, the 2nd Age, to it's end. Much like Germany 1938, the highly advanced, secular society had lost it's past, it's religion and moral compass, and was experimenting with what it shouldn't. In that same vein, the experiments that lead to the Bore, take that same scientific tone.
The implication by Jordan is clear - mindless moral relativism and secularism leads to the self-destruction of society. This is a common theme in many great works, including the great Islamic philosopher, Al-Ghazali. Before the collapse of the scientific Islamic world, he predicted it with his usual adeptness, by calling it much like civilization that would given into a feast of appetites.
Luckily, LTT was there, and had the ability to at least postponed the battle to a future date.
LTT, had two main rivals.
Ishamael
and Demandred
Ishamael, as one may notice, is one letter off from the Ishmael, son of Abraham. This son is commonly referred to by many people of the middle east, including Islam.
Demandred, on the other hand, was the "second" greatest man of his age. He was quiet, rarely laughed, much like Stalin. Stalin, much to his own chagrin, is famous for being second to Roosevelt in the alliance to win World War II. This is why I do not like Sanderson glorifying this character. It's also telling that the country he takes over and leads during the last battle is Shara, a word similar to Sharia. Sharia law, as some may know, is Islam's law of purity - and by purity - it means killing anyone that isn't a Muslim. This is an interesting situation, for Demandred to lead such a country in the Last Battle.
4 - Nietzsche
"To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering." - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...1UoOMaIEFu7.99
I think this quote sums up a very interesting dialogue that begins after the temporary sealing of the Dark One.
The People of the Dragon, the Aiel, soon find themselves with the task of the prophetic Aes Sedai. Unfortunately, real life emerges with the collapse of civilization. Brigands and murders now rove freely. The Aiel are forced with a choice.
One group, splinters off. It can't see the point of following the Aes Sedai's orders, and so instead looks to return to it's past, to find the song it once sung. They become travelers, using painted wagons as homes. If you didn't recognize these people, it's the Gypies. I believe they are refereed to in the book as tinkers, and legends of them being thief's are widespread myths. They employ large dogs for defense, instead of defending themselves. These parallels are so obvious, there is no question.
The rest of the Aiel split into two groups later, after an incident in which a part of the group breaks the Way of the Leaf, committing violence, even "killing" in the act of returning a family member back to the tribe. The two groups become the Aiel, ones wishing to defend themselves, and the Jenn Aiel, the truly dedicated, who stay true to the way of the Leaf.
So why the Nietzsche quote?
Think about what happens over the course of the series. The Tinkers, Gypies, are still alive searching for their song. They still have a reason to keep going. The Jenn served their purpose, building the pathway to memory. Once done, they had no purpose, and fell away. Jordan's world worked using very real world concepts, and a real world back story.
The other sec, the ones continued to be called Aiel, break up into 12 tribes. This number is similar to the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 sons of Jacob. Numbers are important in Judiasm. This people maintains it's unique status as the "people of the Dragon," a rather arrogant stance to some, but Jews take a similar stance in claiming they are the chosen people of G-D. I forgive all, because it's not a crime to be proud of who you are. The Aiel also practice unique customs, including veiling before killing (reference to blindness) and disgust of killing (rather capture short term indentured servants like was the customer under the laws given in Deuteronomy and Leviticus).
5 - Role Models
So this get's back to the characters. Many of the characters and places have historical, or biblical references that should be talked about more.
The Two Rivers :
A reference to the ancient civilization of Babylon, that lie between the Two Rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates.
Tar Valon :
Avalon. That was easy.
Rand :
George Washington.
George Washington was, before military fame, a farmer. Even after the end of the American Revolutionary War, when Washington returned to Mt. Vernon, they begged him to come back from farmer. All Washington really wanted to do was farm, and smoke his pipe. So Jordan's Environment was one in which he was building a complex world, full of layers of meaning, but one in which our world transformed realistically into the one in which he described.
Arthur.
The Once and Future King. Because the Dragon is spun out over and over, he fits this legend in a loose sense. He also has 3 women preside over his funeral, his symbol of course is a mythological creature of legend, and he removes the Sword from the Stone.
Jewish Justice
Jewish Justice is blinded by it's inability to see Christianity or Jesus. In Her hand, lies a sword.
Rand becomes that. Blinded by Semirhage's attack, he finds the sword Justice, all in time for the last battle.
Egwene :
Joan of Arc.
Her visions lead to her self-confidence. Much like Joan, who came from peasants, so too did Egwene. Her battle ultimately was with the leader of the modern Dreadlords, the M'Hael, Mazrim Taim. A name eerily similar to Hitler's salute.
Verin :
The supposed "historian"
Brown sister. Much like some claim today, those in charge of the History books are those most likely to abuse them to favor their own agenda's. Much like conservatives accuse the American teacher's unions and government employees of removing bits and pieces of our own history, to suit their own agendas. In fact, if you look at the history of the Black Ajah, it's much like the modern american school system.
"The position of teachers of the novices and the Accepted makes it easier for the Black Ajah to know every student very well before they even become Aes Sedai. Thus are women groomed for the Black Ajah, or perhaps singled out as possible candidates, from very early on in their training.[verify] As the Black Ajah does not recruit from among Tower initiates, having a Black sister as Mistress of Novices is a very handy way of keeping tabs on those girls when they are raised to the shawl. Previous Mistresses of Novices who were also Black Ajah include Merean Redhill, Sheriam Bayanar, and Katerine Alruddin."
Corruption starts at the beginnings of the education system for the most powerful sect of people on the planet. The Dark seemingly had a good grasp of what it was doing.
Moiraine :
The one in touch with the world
Blue sister. A color one would enjoy if one lived in say, the state of Israel. Stays true even under the worse torture.
Alviarin Freidhen :
Head of the Great Counsel of the Black Ajah.
White sister. Irony is not lost here that the one that be at the center of betrayal would be someone who poses as a white sister, supposedly the ajah of logic and wisdom. A complete up-side-down flip of the supposedly relevance of color to interpretation of "good and evil."
6 - The end of the story
There of course is still more to know, but this one last bit I will leave you with.
I, predicted the body swap concept, many years prior to the series ended. I saw, in my mind, what Robert Jordan was going to do. I knew that Rand would end up in Ishamael's body, and Ishamael would end up in the broken body that was Rand. The Souls would swap. One needs to believe in Souls just to understand or predict this, I would imagine.
What I find interesting in this is that Rand's body is burnt. As I mentioned in another thread, Jews believe not in the Xorastrian concept of Heaven and Hell, rather in a concept of the righteous Soul rising to Hashem from the body after 3 days. If you are not righteous, that's it, you are done. But you need the body to be buried. That is why the Nazi's burnt the Jews, btw. It wasn't because it was more efficient (than bullets or bombs? Who believes that garabage?) In that, it's against Jewish law to cremate a body. So this is why it's interesting that in the end, Ishamael's body is burnt, meaning his soul could not revive, but would end.
And then they grew up. They learned from the real world that there is right and wrong, good and evil, there really was a Dark One, and people are really out to hurt you. These kids were oblivious of half-men and Trollocs - only knowing of them in tales, but that changed through the course of the books. It's called character development.
Rand came to the realization that it's about doing it better the next time around, i.e. doing it better for the children. A very Jewish concept which he had upon Dragonmount itself. Similiar to the moment when Moses climbed Mount Sinai and disappeared from the people, to which they sinned and built the Golden Calf. Le'Dor Va'Dor. Generation to generation, teach your children these things so they understand why they do it. Jews teach these things so that the next time around, it will be better. Jews read the torah every year, year after year. Generation to generation. So no Jew will ever forget the past.
Mat is indeed interesting. Mat is interesting because he is much like many mythical characters. He is Loki, the joker. He is the Monkey-King, if you know that legend. In it, the Monkey-King would turn himself into different creatures, including the raven. He uses a wishing staff that he got from the Dragon King of the Oceans as his favorite weapon. He was said to be indestructible. Unfortunately, the Monkey-King never learned, and soon caused too much trouble for Heaven, and his punishment ended up in his eyes being permanently burnt red. Mat never fulfilled that fate, because he found Tuon. A reason to live in the madness.
Speaking of Tuon, think about the Seanchaen and their ultimate reveal that the Blood have the potential to channel. Talk about a totalitarian state propped up by a lie. All that time the Blood were turning their own people into slaves to pursue their empire.
Perrin was indeed a brute in strength, but he was also a deeper character than that, was always conflicted between the hammer (construction) and axe (destruction). He didn't know better until he found Faile. A reason to live in the madness. Then he grew up and became a wise Lord, respected by his people, dedicated to rebuilding. He stood up against evil and railed to the Dragon's cause.
Lastly,
Like George Washington, after the American Revolution, George Washington just wanted to return to his passion, farming. And that is what Rand wanted to do. To be free, to farm, to smoke his pipe.
How did Rand lite that pipe?
He made it so. At least, that is what I believe. I don't buy the argument that he could simply do it via the void. The World of Dreams had merged with Reality in the vicinity of Shayol Ghul. They were one in the same. Remember the ferns appearing upon the side of the mountain as the Aiel slinked along the ground? It came from their own minds, their own imaginations. And so they formed. In that same way, Rand lite his pipe. From his own imagination, with the power of the Creator behind him.
Genius. Start to finish. There are plenty of other references to other religions, other countries, and other people, but Jordan mastered so many in such depth, it's hard to see his work as anything else but an American Masterpiece.
