Date: 2005-10-28
Type: Paraphrased
Location: San Jose, CA
Reporter: Jason Wolfbrother
Just got back from the book signing in San Jose. Got to meet Frenzy and Jason from Dragonmount. Both very nice people in person. Frenzy isn’t as scary as she would like you to think although I refrained from discussing Asmodean with her as she is the Faction Champion of the Apathy for Asmodean faction.
Yes Isabel I handed RJ your letter and 63 page dissertation on Asmodean. I told him that Isabel says hi and that she asked me to deliver this to him since she was grounded and couldn’t make it.
He made a note on the front letter at the top and underlined it “Grounded”.
I begged him not to kill the messenger and he did notice my shirt, “You? No!” but did not comment.
Frenzy had some friends that took our picture with RJ and we got our books signed. The Q&A was pretty much nonexistent as there were a lot of people waiting to have books signed. However, I stuck around til the line thinned out and was able to ask 11 questions and get 10 answers and a RAFO.
So here goes, the questions I asked and the answers RJ gave. Note these are not direct quotes (I didn’t have a tape recorder), but I wrote down his answer as he said it. Most are short answers, only a couple were more than a few sentence explanations.
Was the “Don’t Kill Rand” order ever lifted between Lord of Chaos and Knife of Dreams , or was it always in effect?
Yes, for a short while.
Does it take a lot of concentration, strength and effort to weave inverted/reversed weaves?
Not easy but not difficult either. Just need to learn the trick.
Can everyone, no matter how weak they are, use inverted weaves?
Anyone can do it once he/she learns the trick.
Can you shield dreams for someone else?
No.
Was Callandor constructed during the War of Power?
Yes.
Was it used in the War of Power?
Yes, that is how the flaw was discovered.
Why didn’t they ward/buffer Callandor ?
The flaw with Callandor is simply a manufacturing flaw. He went on to talk about how they were at the end of their tech age with only a few sho-wings and jo-cars left. A couple of shocklances were still around but they were not as prevalent as they had been. Anyway they had been mass producing ter’angreal , angreal , and sa’angreal , and there are bound to be flaws with the products. The flaw with Callandor is simply one such flaw.
This is specifically referring to the lack of a buffer.
What is the second most powerful sa’angreal for men? Will it make an appearance?
RAFO.
I should clarify this. RJ said that many misinterpret RAFO. When he says RAFO, all he is saying is that the information might already be in the book and you need to read more carefully, or that it might be something he wants to use at a future point and doesn’t want to give away at this point in time. It does not mean that it will show up later for certain. People are making assumptions and guesses and adding things to what RAFO actually means.
Is “Second Captain” of the Illianer Companions held by only one person at a time, aka The Second Captain?
One person. Only one Second Captain and he is the second in command.
Can a channeler fly without any ter’angreal or equipment (like sho-wings) if he or she knows the right weave?
No. Flat out, no hesitation, no thinking. Simply put, NO.
Is it possible to for two channelers to lift each other simultaneously so that they can hover, and “fly” that way? Because he answered the previous question as he did I did not ask this one as it is obviously, to me at least a ‘No’ also.
Bonus question: Since there was still time and he was still sitting, I decided to chance a second RAFO and ask my question.
Is the One Power finite or infinite?
He sat and thought for a minute, still signing the book, pondered, then answered.
The One Power is finite but cannot be used up. When the weave is done, it returns to the Source. The way he put is was finite but infinitely reusable.
He was very nice and friendly. He wasn’t personalizing any of the signings though since there were so many people. There were a couple of people dressed as Whitecloaks. RJ saw them when they came up, “not my favorite people, but the costumes look good”.
I tried to catch some questions others asked while having their books signed but didn’t hear any that were relevant to the plot of WoT.
Their will possibly two or three “outrigger” novels if he can get the right stories. He has to kick the ideas around for a few years to be sure the story is worth telling. He doesn’t want to write in this universe simply to be writing in this universe.
If you are viewing this on github.io, you can see that this site is open source. Please do not try to improve this page. It is auto-generated by a python script. If you have suggestions for improvements, please start a discussion on the github repo or the Discord.