70 Fun Facts About Wheel of Time

Who wrote the first eleven Wheel of Time novels?

He died in 2007 while working on what he intended to be the twelfth and final volume.

Which author completed the final three volumes after the original author's death?

He was a longtime fan of the series, and a eulogy he wrote for its creator helped persuade the widow to choose him.

How many main volumes does the finished series contain, not counting the prequel?

There is also a prequel novel and three companion books, and the eighth through fourteenth volumes each hit number one on the New York Times list.

What is the title of the first novel in the series?

It was released as a large paperback in January 1990 and later split into two illustrated volumes for younger readers.

In which year was the first book in the series published?

The author had started writing it back in 1984 and reworked it heavily, at one point centring it on an older man who discovered his destiny late in life.

What is the title of the fourteenth and final novel?

It was the working title the original author had chosen for his planned single final volume, which grew into three books.

Which of these was the FIRST of the three co-written volumes that concluded the series?

It came out in October 2009, with the other two following in 2010 and 2013.

How was the series originally planned, according to its co-author?

Writing sped up once the author decided to make his characters younger and closer in tone to Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring.

Which publisher has released the series since 1990?

Its publisher, Tom Doherty, had earlier hired the author to write Conan novels because he could write quickly.

What is the title of the prequel novel, expanded from a 1998 novella?

Fans grumbled at the detour, so the author shelved two further planned prequels to concentrate on finishing the main series.

Roughly how many copies had the series sold worldwide as of 2021?

That makes it one of the best-selling epic fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings.

The magical force that turns the Wheel and can be 'channeled' is called what?

Only women can channel it safely; men who touch its tainted male half eventually go mad.

What is the male half of the One Power called?

The Dark One tainted it at the moment of his sealing, which is why male channelers go insane.

People around whom the Pattern bends, such as Rand, Mat and Perrin, are called what?

Even they can only push history as far as the Pattern being woven by the Wheel permits.

What title is held by the leader of the Aes Sedai?

She rules from the White Tower; Siuan Sanche holds the office when the story begins.

In which city does the White Tower stand?

It is one of four major city-states in the Westlands alongside Falme, Far Madding and Mayene.

Which of the seven Ajahs of the White Tower hunts down male channelers and cuts them off from the One Power?

Its sisters are the only Aes Sedai who traditionally do not bond a male protector.

What is the secret eighth sisterhood whose members serve the Dark One while posing as ordinary sisters?

In the TV series Liandrin Guirale is revealed to belong to it despite wearing red.

An Aes Sedai's magically bonded male protector is called what?

The bond gives him heightened senses, strength, stamina and resistance to injury.

Emond's Field, home village of Rand, Mat and Perrin, lies in which region of Andor?

The author deliberately modelled these opening chapters on the Shire in The Lord of the Rings.

Which brutal humanoid Shadowspawn, eaters of any meat including humans, attack Emond's Field?

They are led by the eyeless Myrddraal, which the villagers know as Fades.

Which eyeless creatures can vanish into shadow but will not cross running water?

They are also called Fades or Halfmen and act as the officers of the Dark One's armies.

How many Forsaken were sealed away with the Dark One at the end of the Age of Legends?

They called themselves 'Those Chosen to Rule the World Forever' and compete to become the Dark One's nae'blis.

Rand al'Thor is the reincarnation of which Dragon from the Age of Legends?

After the Dark One's counterstroke drove him mad, he killed his family and himself, and the Breaking of the World followed.

The Seven Seals on the Dark One's prison are made of which unbreakable substance?

By the sixth book only three seals remain intact, and Egwene is eventually persuaded to break the last of them herself.

Which weapon of the One Power erases its target from existence backwards through time?

It is the only thing that can permanently destroy a Darkhound, which otherwise regenerates from any wound.

Rand claims which crystal sword, a powerful sa'angreal, from the Stone of Tear?

The Forsaken Be'lal lured him there, knowing only the Dragon Reborn could take it.

At Falme, Mat summons legendary heroes back from the dead by blowing what?

The heroes drive off the invading Seanchan, and the artefact had earlier been guarded at the Eye of the World.

In which cursed, abandoned city does Mat steal the dagger that poisons him?

The city's malevolent evil, Mashadar, is separate from the Dark One's, and the Aes Sedai in Tar Valon later cleanse Mat of the taint.

Perrin learns from Elyas Machera that he can communicate telepathically with which animals?

Men with the gift are called wolfbrothers, and Perrin later kills two Whitecloaks who slaughtered one of the pack.

What was Perrin Aybara's trade in Emond's Field?

Rand was the shepherd of the group and Mat the gambler, and Perrin marries Faile in The Shadow Rising.

Lan Mandragoran is the uncrowned king of which nation, lost to the Shadow in his childhood?

Called the greatest swordsman of the Third Age, he eventually marries Nynaeve.

What title does Nynaeve al'Meara hold in Emond's Field at the start of the story?

It is the village healer's office; she only discovers she can channel after leaving home with Moiraine.

In Caemlyn, Rand meets which Daughter-Heir of Andor for the first time?

Her brothers Gawyn and Galad are there too, and Galad turns out to be Rand's half-brother through their mother.

Mat kidnaps which Seanchan heir, known as the Daughter of the Nine Moons, in Winter's Heart?

He does so in Ebou Dar, and she later becomes his wife and Empress.

Which Forsaken visits Rand and Mat in the World of Dreams under the name Selene?

She is the most powerful of the female Forsaken and effectively omnipotent in Tel'aran'rhiod.

The Forsaken who appears in the early books as Ba'alzamon is really which of them?

The Dark One later reincarnates him as Moridin; he is the only man said to equal the Dragon in power.

The Seanchan control captured female channelers with a collar called what?

The collared women are damane; the women who hold the leash are sul'dam.

What do the Aiel call the desert that outsiders know as the Aiel Waste?

Twelve clans live there, and they await a prophesied Chief of Chiefs they call the Car'a'carn.

Which city, built by the extinct Jenn Aiel, holds the record of Aiel history?

Aiel women who can channel do not join the Aes Sedai but become Wise Ones instead.

What is the name of the Ogier gift for stimulating the growth and healing of trees?

The Ogier live in steddings, where the One Power cannot be touched at all.

What is the malevolent force, also called the Black Wind, that corrupted the Ogier Ways?

The Ways were a gift from male channelers who sheltered with the Ogier after the Breaking, linking steddings through another dimension.

The pacifist Tuatha'an, or Tinkers, follow which philosophy?

They travel in brightly coloured wagons searching for a lost Song, and once split from the Aiel over their refusal to fight.

The cyclical concept of time at the heart of the series was drawn from which religions?

The author also borrowed balance and duality from Taoism, and the Aes Sedai symbol resembles the yin and yang.

The author deliberately modelled the opening chapters on which part of Tolkien's Middle-earth?

Critics noted the resemblance to The Lord of the Rings with both praise and complaint, though the two works treat power very differently.

The series' author wrote under a pen name; what was his real name?

He used several pen names for different genres, including Reagan O'Neal for historical fiction.

In which South Carolina city was the series' author born?

He later studied physics at The Citadel there and worked as a nuclear engineer for the US Navy.

In what role did the author serve two tours in the Vietnam War?

He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and a Bronze Star, and survived a helicopter crash at 19.

Before his own series, the author wrote seven novels in the 1980s about which pulp hero?

Fans of that character rate them among the best not written by creator Robert E. Howard.

Which editor, later the author's wife, chose the writer who would finish the series?

She had published his first novel through her own imprint, and a Dungeons & Dragons game with her son helped inspire the series.

The author died in 2007 from which rare disease?

Diagnosed in December 2005, he began dictating notes so that someone could finish the last book 'the way I want it to end'.

Which actress plays Moiraine Damodred in the television series?

She also serves as a producer and narrates a later unabridged audiobook of the first novel.

On which streaming service did the TV adaptation premiere in November 2021?

Amazon renewed it for a second season before the first even aired, then cancelled it after three.

Who developed the TV series and served as its showrunner?

Sony Pictures Television made the show with Red Eagle Entertainment and Radar Pictures before Amazon joined in 2018.

How many seasons had aired when Amazon cancelled the show in May 2025?

The final season had a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating, the highest of the run.

In which European city was Jordan Studios, the show's main production base, built?

More than 500 of the 600 crew were locals, and the production qualified for a Czech Film Fund incentive.

Which actor plays Rand al'Thor in the TV series?

He was announced in August 2019 alongside most of the young Emond's Field cast.

Which actor took over the role of Mat Cauthon from Barney Harris in season 2?

The recast was announced in September 2021, two months before the show premiered.

Who plays Siuan Sanche, leader of the Aes Sedai, in the TV series?

Her casting was announced in August 2020 along with Kae Alexander as Min Farshaw.

Which actor plays the Forsaken known as the Father of Lies in the show?

In the season 1 finale Rand and Moiraine mistake his character for the Dark One himself.

Who composed the score for the TV series?

He described the sound as 'a big hot pot' of Balinese, Celtic, Southern and Cajun styles rather than medieval folk.

Which Titanic star played the Forsaken villain in the 2015 rights-preserving pilot Winter Dragon?

It ran with no publicity, and the author's widow said she had not been told about it, sparking a short-lived slander lawsuit.

The original unabridged audiobooks are narrated by Kate Reading and which male narrator?

The pair also narrate Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive audiobooks.

JordanCon, the series' annual fan convention, has been held since 2009 in which city?

Dragon Con had run a dedicated Wheel of Time track from 2001 to 2012 before the fans got a convention of their own.

How many male channelers joined Lews Therin in the strike that sealed the Forsaken away?

At the moment of victory the Dark One tainted saidin, driving the men mad and setting off the Breaking of the World.

Which company released The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game in 2001 using the d20 rules?

Only one adventure module, Prophecies of the Dragon, followed before the line was dropped; Jordan complained it contradicted the books.

Which massive mountain range separates the Aiel Waste from the Westlands?

Far to the east beyond the Waste lies Shara, cut off by the Cliffs of the Dawn and the Great Rift.

The Sea Folk's prized porcelain is secretly made by which island people under their protection?

Guarding them has been a solemn duty of the Atha'an Miere since the Breaking of the World.

The Aiel await a prophesied 'Chief of Chiefs' known by what title?

There are 12 Aiel clans to unite, plus the extinct Jenn Aiel who built Rhuidean.

Which of the books was the first to reach number one on the New York Times Best Seller list?

The eighth book, published in 1998, is also the shortest in the main series; every volume from it onward topped the list.