Date: 1994-10-27
Type: Paraphrased
Location: Concord, CA
Reporter: Tom Burke
Spoilers follow (I am not sure for what).
Very minor, but it is your choice if you continue.
I arrived late at the book signing and it appeared that Robert had already been drained by two questioners to the point where he was responding to all their questions with, “Read the books”.
I introduced myself as an internet user. I told him that some on the net seemed to think that every other person was a Darkfriend. He replied, “I’ve heard”. I told him that my feeling was that the number of Darkfriends in Randland were probably between 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 100,000.
He replied, “Closer to the later, of course we see more of them because of the ta’veren .”
I asked if there were fewer amongst the Aiel than in the great cities.
He responded, “Yes, of course.”
I asked if the Aiel attacks were done by the Shaido and their allies.
He responded, “If someone thinks otherwise, they should read the books.”
I stated that twenty Darkfriends would be a heavy investment to lose all at once. Jordan replied, “Not at all. It’s very easy for me to make some more. It is their trustworthiness that is more of a problem.”
I asked him to confirm that he had said that Rand will physically lose his hand and that Mat will physically lose his eye.
He stated, “If I have said something similar to that, I may have misspoken.”
[How is that for being enigmatic?]
We talked a bit about the Aiel culture. Robert constantly referred to the Amer-Indian, Arab, and African cultures. In particular, how come they don’t show signs of being malnourished? “Belly dancers live in the desert and yet, have been known to be full bodied. It is the people who have had their fields burned that might be a little malnourished.”
Since he had read a lot of what the net had to say, I asked if the 50% of our discussion that was way off came under the heading of looney ideas. He responded, “Read the books.”
His last comment to me was, “I am going to leave you guys up in the air in regards to Bela.” Since I hadn’t brought up the subject of the B-one, I found this very suspicious.
—Tom Burke
PS This is from memory, not from tape.
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