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Mis-Steps

The errors along the way


NB: Typographical errors are, in general not listed. There are too damn many of them, and they are often corrected in later editions.


The Eye of the World

In TEotW, Thom teaches Mat and Rand to juggle. By the time they reach Caemlyn Mat can perform "six ball circles", which I interpreted as a six-ball shower. No way. You could probably count the number of people in the world today who can shower six balls to a performance standard on the fingers of one hand. Assuming there are any. I've only twice seen a five ball shower done well. (David Mortman and others)

Q: What about those Warders in Caemlyn around Logain in tEotW? Didn't Moiraine say that they were all Red sisters? Reds don't have Warders! (TEotW: 42, 637-8, Remembrance of Dreams, 535)

RJ answer, as reported by Tony Z: Moiraine never mentioned the sisters escorting Logain (not all of whom were Red). The ones with Logain weren't in Caemlyn at the time [evidently they stayed with the army, which stayed outside the city--TZ]. Moiraine was referring to those that were in Caemlyn.


The Great Hunt

Ba'alzamon's goals

"But this time I will destroy you to your very soul, destroy you utterly and forever." -- TGH: 47, 665, The Grave Is No Bar To My Call, 563

Maybe he forgot "Fool! You will destroy yourself!" -- TGH: 41, 588, Disagreements, 497 where he stopped Rand from burning himself out. Ba'alzamon is either forgetful, confused, or trying to appear so. -- Morgan Donald Scott

Moiraine's Ring

Why does Moiraine wear her great serpent ring on her left hand in TEotW: 2, 27, Strangers, 22-3 and TDR: 3, 58, News from the Plain, 26 and on her right hand in TGH: 4, 46, Summoned, 39?

I can think of four possible reasons -- Damien Cole

  1. A cunning plan by Jordan to make us believe sweet, innocent Moiraine was at the Darkfriend social.
  2. Moiraine has an evil, identical twin sister who wears her ring on the other hand.
  3. It's Moiraine's ring and she can wear it on whatever hand she damn well pleases.
  4. None of the above.

When Rand returns Thom's harp and flute to the gleeman in Cairhien, Thom grumbles: "You could at least have kept it (the harp) in tune" (TGH: 26, 384, Discord, 323). For travel, harps (and many other stringed instruments) are ALWAYS detuned -- the tension on the strings is reduced to prevent string wear and possible snapping. (Erica Sadun)

Verin and the art of Stedding Channeling

In TGH: 29, Among the Elders, 435, REF?, she inspects an Ogier who lost his mind to Machin Shin in the Ways. For all intents and purposes, it looks like she's doing whatever AS do when they inspect a person using the OP. However, she is in a stedding, where touching the OP is impossible. Even more, nobody thinks this is weird!

A possible explanation is that she didn't do the OP thing; she did something else to see if there was anybody home. Maybe she spat in his eye, or something. RJ's answer: "Read and find out."


The Dragon Reborn

In TDR: 6, 99, The Hunt Begins, 63, the beginning at-camp scene, Perrin tells Min that he loves her like a sister--and that he has no sisters of his own. In TSR: 29, 466, Homecoming, 333, his two sisters and his brother are killed. (Erica Sadun)

Perrin is remembering a confrontation between Moiraine and Zarine (TDR: 41, 477, A Hunter's Oath, 388):
"Once she learned the girl thought they would lead her to the Horn of Valere, ...then her cold blue stare had taken on a quality that made him feel he had been packed ..."

Which left me wondering whose cold blue stare? Both Moir. and Zarine have dark eyes. (Aline Thompson)

The quote continues "The Aes Sedai said nothing, but she stared too often and too hard for any comfort.", implying that it refers to Moiraine. (Joe Shaw)

Cites for Moiraine being dark-eyed:

Cites for Faile having dark eyes:

Metallurgy Mistake, from John Palmer and Don Harlow

Maybe others have noted this metallurgy mistake, as a engineer this bugged me. In the Dragon Reborn, when Perrin takes a day at the Smithy, he notes the three quenching media: "As soon as he had made the hot-cut, he tossed the glowing metal into the salted quenching barrel. Unsalted gave a harder quench, for the hardest metal, while the oil gave the softest, for good knives." -- TDR: 50, 595, The Hammer, 506

Wrong.

In order of resultant hardness, it goes Oil, Water, Salt Water. With salt water yielding the hardest blade because of best heat transfer and higher boiling point than plain water. Oil is softer because of slower heat transfer but is commonly used for cutlery because it causes less thermal stresses and a tougher blade. (won't break from shock) Salt water quench is definitely a harder quench than fresh water. Its due to the higher boiling point of salt water precluding the formation of an insulating vapor layer over the steel which slows heat transfer from the steel to the water.

Shadowman Steel

Hey, what's the scoop with Shadowman steel? First, Thom Merrilin runs into a Fade and it left him "a little present of a stiff leg."

Then after the fight where the Aiel come to the rescue of the girls (TDR: 39, 455, Threads in the Pattern, 382):
"Shadowman steel kills," Aviendha said, "it does not wound."

Finally, Rand's thought while fighting a Fade (TSR: 10, 188, The Stone Stands, 132):
"That black metal could make wounds that festered, almost as hard to heal as the one that ached in his side now."

Is there something that I'm missing, like it just kills Aiel, or does this qualify as a Jordan mis-step? -- Dash Wendrzyk

Note: the obvious explanation is that the Fade did not stick Thom with its sword; the Fade just hit him, or something. (Pam Korda)


The Shadow Rising

Siuan's Warder

Contributed by Courtenay Footman

During the Tower Coup, Siuan's Warder gets killed. She doesn't notice until she sees his dead body. (TSR: 47, The Trust of a Viewing, 531, from Michael Hanneman)

This cannot be because she was shielded, because in LOC, Cabriana and her warder are being tortured by Semirhage in different rooms. Cabriana is shielded, but she still feels it when her warder dies. (Lars Kremers)

The consensus has come down to three possibilities:

IMHO, this last is refuted because Jordan gives a different explanation (LoC, 30, To Heal Again, 427):
Siuan was distracted by other things going on at that moment. "Alric, her Warder. Her dead Warder, murdered when Elaida deposed her. She could lie -- the Three Oaths were still gone -- but some part of her bond to Alric, a bond flesh to flesh and mind to mind, had been resurrected. The pain of his death, the pain first masked by the shock of what Elaida intended and then buried by stilling, that pain filled her to the brim."

It seems to me that there is no choice but to accept this statement. Whether one believes that Jordan meant this all the time, or that this is just an after-the-fact rationalization of a mistake, seems to me to be a matter of personal opinion, and should not affect how we think the story will go.


The Fires of Heaven

Something very strange happened between 10 and 20 years ago. In TGH: 4, 58, Summoned, 49 the Amyrlin says to Moiraine "I am the fifth in a row raised to the Amyrlin Seat from the Blue." Two pages earlier, we learn that Siuan Sanche has been Amyrlin for ten years. In TFoH: 15, 301, What Can Be Learned in Dreams, 214, Moiraine says to Egwene: "In a few months it will be twenty-one years since we began the search for the Dragon Reborn. Sieren Vayu was raised to Amyrlin shortly after, a Gray with more than a touch of Red in her." (C. Footman) This has been admitted by RJ as an error.

The correct sequence is:

The correction is being made in the body of The Great Hunt and in the glossary. (Robert Jordan, courtesy of Carolyn F)

The quick succession of Amyrlins prior to SS is discussed in further detail in ACOS.

In TFoH: 36, 578, A New Name, 409, Birgitte tells Elayne "You saved my life, Daughter-Heir of Andor. I will keep your secret and serve you as Warder." But later in TFoH: 47, 775-6, The Price of a Ship, 550 Birgitte verbally scolds Elayne for telling Cerandin she was heir to a throne, and doesn't believe it until Nynaeve makes an offhand comment in TFoH: 49, 803, To Boannda, 570.

Rand balefires Rahvin, erasing his actions, etc. However, none of Rand's injuries, all sustained at the hands of Rahvin, disappear -- they were instead Healed by Nynaeve afterwards. TFoH: 55, 949, The Threads Burn, 672-3 from Sean Hillyard

[Arguably an effect of either Tel'aran'rhiod or balefire.]


Lord of Chaos

In previous glossaries, it says that the AS cannot sense in what direction her Warder is. In Lord Of Chaos, Alanna does just that. What gives? Edward Liu says that, at a signing, RJ said that the ability is not exact, but something like they can only sense distance (and I guess) direction in that the feeling of the other person becomes stronger or weaker.

Tony Z. said RJ said the Glossaries are in error, and that there are references in other books to AS sensing the direction of their Warders.

Anybody find such a thing? I can't think of one. Joe thinks RJ changed his mind, to put it charitably.

In the Lord of Chaos Glossary, under linking, it says that in mixed circles less than 13, a man must control the flow, and that there must be more women than men in circles greater than 2. However, In The Fires of Heaven, Nynaeve overhears Lanfear, Graendal, Sammael, and Rahvin discussing their plan against Rand. In particular Sammael is to tempt Rand into attacking and the other three would link to overwhelm him. (TFOH: 34, A Silver Arrow, 390 from Emma Pease)

At a signing, RJ said that the LOC glossary entry is wrong. It is certainly different in the ACOS entry: 43 vs 34, and the numbers where men can equal or exceed women are changed. Still doesn't explain the tFoH gaffe. (John Novak)

Aes Sedai certainly are Ageless! In LoC: 7, A Matter of Thought, 149, Myrelle is the youngest Sitter of the Salidar Hall. In LoC: 35, In the Hall of the Sitters, 473 ref?, Kwamesa is the youngest Sitter. (Rienk Tychon)


A Crown of Swords

We encounter more closely two of Liandrin's 13 in this book: Falion Bhoda and Ispan Shefar and learn Falion was white and Ispan blue. We also have a mention that Rianna was also white (which had been mentioned in earlier books). However, Joiya Byir was also white which means we now have three former whites among Liandrin's 13, yet we are told that two and only two of each ajah except red went with Liandrin. What gives? First could it be a simple typo? I don't think so as both Falion and Joiya acted as I would expect whites and because Rianna is mention several times as being white. Second could it be a Jordan error. Possible but I would think it a fairly major blunder as I would hope he would have who is who in Liandrin's group clearly marked from the beginning. Third could it be deliberate. If so this means either Verin is mistaken about who was from which ajah and I can't see Verin making this mistake, or, she deliberately gave the girls misinformation. (Emma Pease)

In ACOS: 13, The Bowl of the Winds, 263, Aviendha introduces herself as "Aviendha of the Nine Valleys sept of the Taardad Aiel." She's previously been from the Bitter Water sept, from when we first meet her TDR: 38, Maidens of the Spear, 361 onwards. Now here's the interesting bit. The Maiden that Nynaeve heals in TDR, 38, Maidens of the Spear, 368 (Dailin) is first referred to as being from Aviendha's sept and clan; i.e., the Bitter Water Taardad. Later, she's referred to as being from the Nine Valleys sept. So what gives? Two errors that are fortuitously similar, or a particularly odd attempt at retconning an old error? (Andrea Leistra)

{Maybe the Nine Valleys sept and the Bitter Water sept are the same? :) -pam}


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