| Thus Spake The Creator The Forsaken Q: We have been speculating regarding Demandred's
current doings and his possible location/appearance care
to comment? Q: Will Moiraine come back from the dead since Lanfear
and Asmodean apparently have? Q: Is Aran'gar really Lanfear? If she is, how did she
come back? Q: ADMIT IT!!!!!! DASHIVA IS OSAN'GAR111111 Q: On the discussion boards in the SF/F area, one of
the hottest topics of debate is the queston of who killed
Asmodean. Can you shed any light on the subject? Q: There is a mystery man who helps Rand in the last
chapter of ACoS, my Question: Is this a new character, or
have we seen him elsewhere. Q: Were Ba'alzamon's burning eyes and mouth caused by
being zapped by Eldrene at the Fall of Manetheren? Q: Mr Jordan, please forgive if this is redundant, as
I just recently joined the conference. Is Moiraine well
and truly dead? or could her and Mierin/Lanfear reappear
at some later venue? Q: I know you've said we have enough information to
figure it out for ourselves, but, are you ever going to
come right out and say who(or what)killed Asmodaen? Q: Is their any particular inspiration for the
forsaken, and the other antagonists in your series, as
their are for the women characters. Demandred and how he
was always an inch behind Lews Therin (in the power, in
swordsmanship etc...), for example, was their a
particular inspiration for that? Q:
When it says at the end of THE FIRES OF HEAVEN, "death
took him," in Asmodean's last scene, do you mean
that he died? There has been much speculation as to
whether or not "death" refers to Moridin, whose
name in the Old Tongue means "death." Many
think that Moridin's second Mindtrap is for Asmodean, but
"death" was not capitalized in the scene where
Asmodean made his last appearance. Can you tell me
whether or not he was taken by Moridin? Q:
It has been alleged that you've said we already have
enough information to determine who killed Asmodean.
However, this is still a mystery to most of your readers.
Will there be more clues, or perhaps an all-out
revelation of the answer to this whodunit? Q:
Please, please, please! End it here! Who killed
Asmodean? C'mon! Just tell us, and then we will never
bother you again! (If you say "read and find out"
you will have full responsibility for my suicide and/or
damaged psyche.) Q:
Who offed Asmodean? Q: Was Ishamael ever REALLY
sealed in Shayol Ghul with the DO and the rest of the
Forsaken/Chosen? Q: You once said that all the
info needed for solving Asmo was there by the end of tFoH.
Does this eliminate a Gholam from being a suspect? It's
generally believed that a gholam was responsible for the
murder of Lord Barthanes in TGH and the two black sisters
in TSR, but I don't think it mentions a name.
Q: Who killed Asmodean? (Right. Like he'll tell us).
Anyway ask if the clues to figure it out are all included
<= TFOH Q: Was Else always Lanfear? Q: Ask how it was that Moggy got to SG intstantly...was
it the DO using his twisty powers or was it a function of
being all a dream. Q: What are those black threads on the male Forsaken?
Q: "Have we seen Osan'gar anywhere else since his first appearance?" (No doubt a RAFO) A: RAFO. Q: Is Dashiva Osan'gar? Q: Could you please give finally "reveal
all" about who killed asmodean at the end of the
fifth book of your series? Much speculation has been
bandied about, and you have said yourself you have given
us enough clues, so could you put said speculation to
rest? Thanks for your great series, it's been a really
good read so far! Q: Did you get inspiration for Be'lal's name from
Paradise Lost? (ie, the fallen angel Belial) Q: What inspired the Forsaken? Q: For any of the mysteries, i.e. Moridin's identity
and Asmodean's death, would you tell us where to look for
clues we probably missed? Or just mention some clues that
we all probably didn't see? Q: What was Lews Therin's age at the time of the
sealilng of the bore, and was his prowness with the sword
(and sammael's) comparable to modern blademasters? Q: There's a suggestion in the books that Lanfear was
believed to be as strong as any female channeler could
ever become. What was the reason for that belief? Q: Why do you think everyone has a hard time
figuring out who killed Asmodean? Graendal killed him. Q: It has been reported that you have confirmed that
Sammael died at the end of Crown of Swords. Could you
confirm that you have said this and elaborate on whether
Rand was correct? Q: When you started writing the series, were Osan'gar
and Aran'gar in the original plotline, or were they added
in as you went along? Q: In 'The Shadow Rising,' Lanfear mentioned two
sa'angreal stronger than Callandor that a male could use.
Is the second one ever going to appear? Q: An Asmodean question... [Yup, we really were
that far gone. Who cared anyway, we could always get back
in line for the next round. Although I now did regret I
didn't print out every single question I received from
you guys, but only went for one paper with those most
important / least likely to get RAFOd questions.
Especially because I couldn't remember what went before
the 'pepsy monkey' question, so was incapable of making
Jordan recall his line of thought there.] Q (by Emma): Did Slayer meet Asmodean before he was
killed? Q: Is Sammael dead dead, or 'he will never return
dead'? Q: Question: we haven't seen much about Mesaana and
Semirhage. I assume they're going to feature somewhere in
the future books? Q: Question Everyone is uncertain about: Will we ever
find out definitively who killed Asmodean? *snicker* Reports from signings Ishy/Moridin/SH - RAFO. Asmodean: Rand thinks Asm has run away back to the DO, and will try to sneak back in through the Asha'man. Someone asked Jordan about the 'gars, and mentioned that he'd seen theories that Lanfear was one of the 'gars. I was expecting a RAFO, but RJ gave the guy a disgusted look, and said that "No, Osan'gar and Aran'gar are Aginor and Balthamel." The guy said (I'm paraphrasing here), "You're confirming this, and not hinting about it?" RJ replied (more paraphrasing), "I'm confirming. After all, it's pretty obvious in the books that it's those two. After all, that's what Aginor thought was so funny; Balthamel, the lecher, was stuck in a female body." Jordan then went on to give the standard disclaimer that a lot of the clues are already in the books, and reasonably intelligent people should be able to figure a lot of this out. His job, he said, was to make sure you're still guessing about some stuff at the end of the story. It's fairly safe to say that this was Jordan's version of thwacking the guy with a clue stick... The Forsaken, for example, weren't exactly a stellar bunch to begin with. Semirhage, for example, was a sadist. (I'll skip his description of what a sadist is.) She went into her profession (the equivalent of a surgeon) because it provided an outlet for her sadism. (He then cited some studies that showed that there were more people with sadist tendencies in the medical profession, and surgeons in particular, to support his point.) Aginor (whom he said after some prompting had several elements of the classic mad scientist type) was a biological scientist who never considered the consequences of his actions. Aginor would say, "I wonder what would happen if I took the ebola virus and altered it to be an airborne virus." He'd go ahead and do just that, all without realizing he'd be creating a potentially unstoppable plague. All Aginor would reply to that was, "Hmm. Interesting." (Jordan then mentioned Aginor's creation of the Trollocs, their defects, "It was strong, big, tough to kill, and......stupid," and that it was the birth of the first Myrddral that saved the Trollocs from being a complete failure.) (Jordan had also mentioned Asmodean, and the fact that Asmodean was a child prodigy who in adulthood could never equal or come to grips with what he did as a child. He always felt that if he could live just a little bit longer, he could surpass what musical feats he performed in the past.) Halima is a man in a woman's body. I got Jordan to 'fess up to this one when he was talking about the new books-on-tape that will be coming out soon. He said that a male voice will read the parts that are from a man's point of view and a female voice will read the parts that are from a female character's point of view. "So, which one will read the passage from Halima's point of view?" I asked. Jordan sighed and said, "Halima's just weird." He went on to confirm that he/she is a male spirit inside a female body and suggested that he/she will change personality over time since the body affects the spirit (and vice-versa). Next, I believe, was the aforementioned big mouth. In the interests of not getting banned, we will simply call him Cranially Undernourished Bozo. He was asking something about Ishy and about him being the only one to use the True Power therefore he is Mordin. RJ started explaining that he didn't necessarily have to be Mordin to which CUB declared that he was avoiding the question. RJ then gives a complicated explanation about the watcher watching the events unfurling (this is all from memory and unfortunately I can't remember everything) which ended in a question if that is what he meant. CUB with a confused look on his face was obviously in over his head, and started planning how he could become a bigger nuisance. Anyways, after scaring the people around me for a little bit, I went up to the books and decided to ask Jordan about Asmodean. In particular, I asked whether "death" was just a pun on "Moridin". He said "oh, god no" quite disgustedly. This made me feel much better and should hopefully put the issue to rest. He also said that by the end of this book, (POD) it should be obvious who killed Asmodean and that it is definitely possible to figure it out the instant he dies. I asked RJ, at the Palo Alto signing, if Moggy was raped by Shadar Haran in ACOS. His reply was, "Yes. Amongst other things." Chris used his moment with the Creator to open himself
up to a huge RAFO, but *his* question was answered.
Chris asked if Moghedien had been raped by Shaidar Haran.
The answer was "Yes, among other things." As Paul mentioned, RJ mumbled something about Sammael. My interpretation is simply that he meant "right, he's dead, whatever you say", but I can see how one might take it more seriously. I'll believe my favorite male character died when I see him come back in a new body sucking up to Moridin, at which point I'll go looking for a new favorite male character (Mat or Demandred, probably). I was able to ask a few questions, and listen in to a
few others. We got three of the "it should be
intuitively obvious to the intelligent reader"
answers, and one other that told us a bit more...
but not much. The Creator was pretty tight with his
plot information this time around, according to him,
because "certain readers have built up these huge
logic trees," and "can figure out way too much
if I say anything at all." I chimed in later on to ask if "there was a physical resemblance between Cyndane and a certain height-challenged Aes Sedai". He said "We don't know yet." I think that means yes, which is interesting. If there hadn't been one, he could have said no, and he has written the descriptions of Cyndane ambiguously enough to prevent any proof either way. My last question concerned the glossary -- the bit about "speculation is futile." I asked, "Do you really expect that to stop us?" He said of course not. Who killed Asmo? One of the regular contributors to the group--I don't recall whom--suggested asking whether Moridin came into existence before or after the 'gars. That one earned a quick glance and an RAFO. At one point, he looked at me and added (with no prompting or questioning) that no, Mat is not Cyndane. He explained that at another Signing, he had a string of ten or so people in a row ask him about Mat, and he got frustrated and belted out, "What if Mat is Cyndane?" He claimed he then recanted, but couldn't tell if the guy he told that to believed that he was joking. I admitted that I had heard the story, but it was okay-- we got the joke. He then added that while he likes Chalker's and Varley's works, he does not intend to emulate them. "Not at all like Balthamel becoming Aran'gar?" I quipped. He retorted to the effect that was one character, not a whole host of characters. Asmodean is, and I quote, road-kill. And he still claims there are many indirect clues from tFoH on about who killed him. He also claims that very, very few of the fan letters he gets are correct about it. Ok, I got my book signed in Vroman's in
Pasadena, CA, today. RJ was extremely friendly, and
talked to everyone, laughing and even teasing a bit. One
could say he was "jolly". *FAQ: Who killed Asmodean?—Should be intuitively
obvious to the most casual observer. [yeah, uh huh…]
Ok, we know that. But he also said that we should know
based on where everyone was, what they were thinking,
what they were doing. Duh, right? But he made a point of
mentioning where. For people thinking it was a Traveller,
would ‘where’ be important? Dunno… Q13: [Someone was nitpicking about the EotW prologue,
when Ishamael suddenly pops in. It was a ripple or a
shimmer or something of the sort, not a ‘gateway’.
So, this guys asks what was up with that? Creative
license? Had not established the magic of the realm yet?]
Yes, Sammael is really dead [, and so is Asmodean. Asmodean's killer should be] intuitively obvious to the most casual observer. [He won't answer who it was, but he has] been trying to sprinkle around a few more clues, but I refuse to put up big neon signs saying 'here!' [sprinkling clues could point to Slayer, although the WH evidence (if that would be that) would be more like a neon sign, so I think this actually points to Graendal or another similar candidate. Have there been minor points pointing towards anyone in WH?] KuraFire asked about... I don't precisely remember what Kura asked. Oh, but I do. Doing Nogling a favor, he talked about Ishamael's belief that Rand had fought him for time without end, and asked if it was perhaps not Rand's goal to take on the DO, but to only take on the DO's Nae'blis. Jordan gleefully answered "Read And Find Out." While he was still signing my books, I decided to
sneak in another question: "Do Sarene and Corele
have ageless faces? Q: When Damen Flinn and Sarene and Corele attacked
Demandred, how far away were they? In yards, meters, ...?
Well, It was the second time this week
I got to get my book signed and talk to the great RJ. The
first time was in Leiden and I didn't prepare anything so
I asked something lame about what he thought of the cover
art. This time I forgot to think it over again so at the
last minute I had to come up with something. It turned
out quite funny: Ah yes, KuraFire asked about the prologue of TEotW,
where Ishamael traveled, but with a different description
than that of usual Traveling. Hrm, but that wasn't all. I distinctly remember
someone asking 'Did Demandred recognize Flinn?', getting
answered RAFO, followed by a question 'Would Taim
recognize Flinn in a similar circumstance?', getting an
evasive answer... Something about him knowing Flinn from
the BT, but also something about the distance. But then I
mentioned that the distance wasn't all that great, just a
couple of meters, and he looked at me in a way that said
'you know all you need to know about this, I'm not going
to make it any more obvious.' |