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Interview #36: Twitter 2011 (WoT), Entry #11

Brandon Sanderson (3 January 2011)

Reading the start of The Eye of the World reminds me that there’s an extra person in the cover art. (More obvious in the secondary, inside piece, I think.)

RINA

In the cover of The Eye of the World there’s only Moraine, Lan, and one boy to the side. Am I looking at the wrong one?

BRANDON SANDERSON

There are two covers. One ended up on the inside flaps. The outer one wraps around, though, and I think he’s in both.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Here’s the secondary cover: http://bit.ly/hZu0Uw

BRANDON SANDERSON

HCFFs already know who that person is, but it’s a fun Easter egg to know that there’s a story behind that extra figure.

BRANDON SANDERSON

By the way, HCFF stands for “Hard Core Fan Freak” for those asking. They’re self named. It’s what many uber-wot-geeks call themselves.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Mr. Jordan wrote a large chunk of The Eye of the World with a fourth Two Rivers lad going along with Perrin, Mat, and Rand. Was to be a major character.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Harriet talked him out of it, pointing out that the fourth lad never did anything useful. @theoryland, do you guys have a good thread on him?

TEREZ

Nah, nothing to talk about really. But here is RJ saying that: http://bit.ly/RJ-BN2000

BRANDON SANDERSON

I’ve asked Harriet if she could dig up any of the old manuscript with the fourth ta’veren in it, but she’s not certain they have any.

BRANDON SANDERSON

She said she thinks he was Dannil, but couldn’t remember for certain. Many think he was Ewin—a good guess and a possibility.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Cover art was commissioned when he was still a main character, and it was too late to change it when he was removed.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Looks like the fourth ta’veren was Dannil, in another form: http://bit.ly/h0iDIO (Look for Liandra’s question.)

BRANDON SANDERSON

Jason from @dragonmount says: “RJ once told me that Daniell’s heroics ended up being done by the other Two Rivers boys.”

AZRAL HANAN

What role would the so-called ‘Fourth’ ta’veren have played if he had been written into the story? Could you elaborate?

BRANDON SANDERSON

I’d like to see the original drafts if I could. I do know RJ said his part was split among the other three.

RINA

Is the fourth boy (Dannil)’s name pronounced [dan-nil] or [daniel]?

BRANDON SANDERSON

I say the first.

Footnote

Some fans think this is a BS story made up as an inside joke between RJ and Harriet about the cover art, mostly because the concept of three heroes seems to work better with the mythology that RJ used to develop them.

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