Wheel Of Time Book Club Eye Of The World Prologue: Dragonmount

Wheel of Time Book Club Eye of the World Prologue: Dragonmount

Let’s start at the beginning! (A very good place to start)

Full disclosure: my first read I didn’t finish the series. I got through a good chunk (a little over halfway) and then a friend spoiled the rest for me... extensively. I started doing my own research afterwards so that we could have actual conversations, but starting around book 8 or 9, it’ll sort of be and not be new territory for me. It’s definitely gotten to the point where I’m a little unsure what I’ve read and what I’ve not, so I might suddenly (in those books) say “oh! I don’t remember this!”.

In the meantime, let’s talk the prologue to the Eye of the World. I think I’ve decided on spoilers, because I want to discuss the foreshadowing in the series so SPOILER WARNING.

I think I ended up reading the prologue about three times because it’s just so good. I think it definitely exemplifies what I enjoy about Jordan’s writing and gives the reader a taste of what is to come. Not only does it set the tone with the descriptions (a very visceral tone), but it also introduces us to two major characters: Lews Therin Telamon and ‘Elan Morin Tedronai’.

I absolutely love their interactions and how we can juxtapose them with their interactions later in the series (technically?). It definitely sets up Lews Therin’s madness, not to mention it works really well with Rand’s own issues later and his fear of killing those he cares about and when he almost does. 

One thing that I didn’t notice before was the implication from Elan (since that is what he is referred to as, that is what I will call him here) that Lews Therin was named Dragon and did not embrace it, so it wasn’t a celebrated title even then. Maybe it was addressed later in the series than I read and was never discussed or maybe I just don’t remember that plot point. Either way, he was probably named such by his enemies instead of it being a title to show admiration for his power. Naturally, Elan starts listing off all of Lews Therin’s titles and accomplishments, which I’ll admit struck me as a bit of weird exposition first time around, but it fits with what we know of Elan’s personality, so it doesn’t bother me on reread. He’s so grandiose.

I love the early glimpse we get of Elan’s morality and what lead him to the dark. “This war has not lasted ten years, but since the beginning of time. You and I have fought a thousand battles with the turning of the Wheel, a thousand times a thousand, and we will fight until time dies and the Shadow is triumphant!” It definitely sounds like an evil “you may have won this round, but I’ll get you eventually,” but upon reread it’s more like he’s explaining his logic. 

Also just “What hand slew Ilyena Sunhair, Kinslayer? Not mine. Not mine. What hand struck down every life that bore a drop of your blood, everyone who loved you, everyone you loved? Not mine, Kinslayer. Not mine. Remember, and know the price of opposing Shai’tan!” Just. My heart. Especially with the awful way he responds. Then we have the creation of Dragonmount and two excerpts from texts from the fourth age (which is the age AFTER the series and thus would also reflect the knowledge gained in that time) discussing what happened afterwards. The two are The Breaking of the World (alternate title Aleth nin Taerin alta Camora) and The Cycle of the Dragon (Charal Drianaan te Calamon). If anyone remembers what those languages are supposed to be, please let me know. I’m curious.

Please leave replies or comments so that we can discuss this chapter or anything I missed, be it foreshadowing or small details that interest you. I have a friend that’s read the books, but there’s only so often/much that I can inflict my hyperfixation on her.

AO3/FFN: You have a new comment on your fic

Me (to myself): This is great. I’m going to get a good grade in fic writing, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve,

I had a very long conversation last week with a couple of friends that I play Call of Cthulu with (there’s literally just the three of us). One has read all of the books and the other has never touched them, but we explained the basics of the ajahs without book spoilers (while also trying to make the reds sound reasonable). We argued the non-book reader would be Red if it was just evil channelers, but otherwise would 100% be green. My friend who has read all of them would be white, blue, or brown, but we settled on blue. She’s far too passionate about causes for her to be content with white and far too angry about injustice to just do nerd stuff. The real argument began on whether or not I would be yellow, grey, or brown (and I felt really proud that it was an actual debate). I also put in white, but they both said I didn’t argue enough for it. By the end of it, we settled on grey, but we’re putting it to a vote with the larger group (although I’m pretty sure at this point it’s just yellow or grey).

\I’d like to be brown ajah, but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna lose this.

Also I am aware that you pick your Ajahs, but we’re treating this as a “which one best fits your personality” thing.

A Brief Overview of the Ajahs

One of the long-term entertainments of WOT fandom is deciding which Ajah you’d be in (long before Hogwarts Houses were a glint in anybody’s eye) so, for the benefit of new show people, here is a brief summary of the seven Ajahs Aes Sedai can belong to, sans any other plot or character spoilers. However I guess by definition these are worldbuilding spoilers since we haven’t heard of all of them in the show yet. (This is, in case it’s not obvious, somewhat satirical but I hope not inaccurate in terms of ~vibes~.) 

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Not exclusively wheel of time, but I’m about to be tagging it a lot more often. I use wheel of time book spoilers and wot book spoilers

i want to follow more wheel of time blogs but i haven't read the books, so rb this if you tag for book spoilers and maybe tell me in the tags what you tag book spoilers as so i (and maybe other non-readers) can filter it? 🥺

Me: Hey brain?

Brain: yeah bitch what's up?

Me: I'm just wondering, things should be going pretty well, so why are you in a funk and keeping me from doing anything?

Brain: well uh you see-

Emily Is Away <3

I started playing this game months ago when I just marathoned the first two and then short after the third came out. I only finished the first chapter and then had to step away for a while.

I was lucky enough to get a decent ending in the second game (despite the fact that it felt bittersweet), but god did the first one break my heart. Went the Emily route for my first playthrough of this game and I just finished. I feel kind of numb. It was… rough.

In a good way though. A bit too real, even for my AroAce ass. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone that might want to play it so I’ll keep it there. To anyone reading this, you definitely should.