WoTaLong (Wheel of Time Readalong) discussion

Remember these are spoilery discussions - so stay away unless you've finished this section! Also, please keep spoilers to the things we know in this section of the book.

Need a reminder? Here are the chapter summaries.

What are your thoughts on this section of Lord of Chaos?

The prologue is insanely long but also has some really interesting things going on it it. I'm particularly interested in the Aes Sedai from Elaida meeting with the Shaido Wise Ones. Taim arriving and actually knowing how to test for the ability was pretty cool. The Salidar Aes Sedai getting pulled into a nightmare in the World of Dreams is a scene I remembered long after reading it.

Happy reading!

In some of the dialog between the forsaken in this section I see mention of 'Shock Lances' and comments that they no longer exist. I wonder if this would be some sort of SCI-FI type weapon that is no longer available in the 3rd age setting of the book. There have been other references in the previous books to other technology that no longer exists ...

Most of the references to age of legends tech has parallels to our current world which is clearly meant to be the first age.

I always guessed that shock lances were some type of energy beam weapon. I forget where but it was once mentioned that Lews Therin and Be'lal basically rediscovered sword fighting in the age of legends. My assumption is that it was a period of peace and prosperity that had likely banned all forms of weaponry. When the war of power started they had to start inventing and building weapons. The war itself severely hampered the industrial capacity to the point where building advanced weapons was difficult, so they mostly resorted to low tech solutions.

That is my take on it anyway.

I agree Scott, the Age of Legends seems to have some hi-tech stuff, although for some reason I've always imagined it was all magic based versus technology based. I love reading about worlds that are "regressed" worlds but until this read of the series I hadn't realized that this world was probably my first one like that I had ever read!

More recently I have heard people say that our current world is meant to be tied to the series, like Donald mentions, but it's not a conclusion I had ever come to on my own previously. It definitely makes me think about these descriptions of the Age of Legends differently!

PS - sorry I'm a bit behind on chapter summaries of this book, I've been behind on my reading as well. It will be a race to the finish for the rest of the week :)

I love that idea! It never occurred to me, that the age of legends could have been technologically more advanced, I interpreted the Shock-lances simply as some kind of magical tool. A former technologically advanced Society that regressed to a "medieval time" is a theory some people also have about "A song of ice and fire", and it's plausible to me there (given the other books of G.R.R. Martin) but that it could also be true for the Wheel of time is very interesting.
Are there any other hints in the books about this (that I missed so far)? The only other thing that comes to my mind is, that Rand in a later chapter (I hope this is not too spoilery) notes that all knowledge was lost during the breaking of the world and that he would like to prevent this from happening again.

I did read comments from a previous book that the United States and Russia were referenced related to rockets and the space race. Apparently Robert Jordan did confirm it. Along with that being the first age which is before the age with Lewis Theron

So, part of me loves the idea that the first age is our current time... but what about the magic?? That part doesn't make sense to me.

Science and magic what’s the difference. Go back in time and give some body an iPhone and they would think it’s magic.

Somebody could probably come up with an explanation for the magic based on particle fields and such.

Not that I’m implying the magic in the series is actual real just could be science fiction

While I agree that some magical system could be explained by science fiction...I'm not sure about the Wheel of time. The whole premise of creator and dark one, with prophecies, people being reborn, the one power being divided and each half only useful to one sex...I'm not sure how this all could be explained by science - even crazy imaginative science-fiction type of science (but maybe I'm just not imaginative enough :). I also would wonder however, how it comes that there was no trace of that magic (or science) in the technologically more advanced first age (i.e. "our" world).

So in The Shadow Rising chapter 24... Thom recounts some stories that have been passed down from the 1st age.

"Did Mosk and Merk really fight with spears of fire, and were they even giants?""

This is clearly a cold war reference with Moscow, Russia being Mosk and Merk is a joke regarding how many people in the US essentially say "Merica". Spears of fire are most likely ICBMs.

The most common theory regarding the transition from the 1st age to the 2nd age is that some humans evolved the ability to touch tap into what powers the universe. Some people believe this was due to a war in which genetic engineering was employed. Other people believe it happened naturally over time.

Also some believe that touching the fabric of reality was something that some humans could do before the 1st age, but lost the ability. This concept is not entirely unique in the Sci Fi genre. Just think of this similarly to how you would view Jedi, or Psionics.

I kind of think the flows of air, wind etc could be put together in a science fiction explanation that combines Ancient Greek with modern quantum field theory or string theory.

Scott wrote: "I kind of think the flows of air, wind etc could be put together in a science fiction explanation that combines Ancient Greek with modern quantum field theory or string theory."

If you really think about it... the difference between Harry Potter and most Marvel Superheroes is the setting. Super powers are magic. Magic as you pointed out earlier is undiscovered science.

I always thought that even though we don't know that people in our time(1st age) have magic...as in proved by science, We have plenty of legends, myths that claim that some people have it.

K. wrote: "I always thought that even though we don't know that people in our time(1st age) have magic...as in proved by science, We have plenty of legends, myths that claim that some people have it."

“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.”

― Robert Jordan