I have a question for all four of you; it’s one that I always like asking you. I think that Robert Jordan really liked to surprise his readers, and went to extraordinary lengths to do so. And I truly will have many, many surprises in this upcoming book, but speaking of books past, can you tell us an example of when you were surprised when you read what we’ve read now. I know you have a good one, Harriet.
I’ve generally written most of the flap copies on all the books. The flap copy is what’s on the inner side of the cover of the hardcover, on the dust jacket, the stuff that says “So-and-so…” I remember one of my favorite ones was when I went and…“Siuan Sanche is suspected of barn-burning, in her tattered straw hat.” But I was writing the flap copy for The Dragon Reborn , and at the end of the flap copy, I said he is pulling the sword from the Stone… “You son of a gun, you’ve done it again!” (laughter) But I honestly hadn’t figured out it was the sword in the stone . And it really did surprise me, even though I’d been all the way through it, and had edited it, and was writing that flap copy.
Do you have one Maria?
Yeah. It’s not a huge one, but we were working on Knife of Dreams —I almost said Knife of Daggers , and I was like, “I know that’s wrong.” (laughter)—and I got to the part at the end, where Perrin whacks Rolan, and I went running downstairs…“Oh my god! You killed Rolan! I can’t believe you killed Rolan!” And Robert Jordan says, “What? He was toast from the start!” (laughter)
Do you have one Alan?
No, I’ve pretty much nailed it all along. (laughter)
We all tell the truth, all the time.
One of the scenes I keep coming back to that very much impressed me was when Perrin cut off the limb of the captured Shaido, which was a scene…it was surprising, because this was a fellow who had been resisting his lower urges, if you will, all along, but his love for his wife was so great that we saw the degree to which he would push himself to save her, and it’s the first inkling we had of what kind of stuff Perrin was made of, up to that point, I think.
Peter, do you have one?
When Demandred was revealed to be… (laughter) (applause)
That’s not nice!
Um…sorry, I got nothing.
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