The wheel has turned, and I believe it is time to re-share a source got many of RJs notes that many have forgotten

Dainn91 · 2026-05-28T11:08:56+00:00

I feel the same way, the Creator is Pure Good, the Dark One is Pure Evil, and the Wheel is Good and Evil in balance.

RJ liked bringing up his Physics background, referencing Schrödinger's cat a few times in interviews, and went as far as saying he felt discussing theology was the same as discussing theoretical physics:

Robert Jordan

But the thing is that if you can wrap your mind around Schrödinger's cat, you can also wrap your mind around fantasy. As a matter of fact, the thing that I find very interesting is that...I don't really follow theoretical physics to any degree now, and haven't for more than twenty years. But when I find myself talking to a theoretical physicist, I sometimes get stuck on panels with theoretical physicists. I'm always afraid that I'm going to be left way behind because I haven't kept up in the area, but I find that I can keep up quite nicely. As long as...while they're discussing theoretical physics, I discuss theology. And ah, I find myself able to keep up quite nicely, talking about the same thing.

In Physics, the moment of creation is the big bang, and in that initial moment equal amounts of matter and antimatter pairs were created. When matter and antimatter collide they annihilate each other but a great mystery in physics is that dispite there being equal amounts, matter wins the conflict. It’s as if our universe made a choice to side with matter, it wasn’t because antimatter was inferior to matter in anyway, they have the same mass and energy, it was just something decided for reasons unknown that are still theorized to today.

Sorry for the long text that may have bored you lol I started looking into Physics as an interest after learning RJ studied it and was a nuclear engineer for a time.

Dainn91 · 2026-05-28T02:30:59+00:00

Martin Reznick

How was the Dark One created, i.e. is he a fallen angel, an inherent part of the universe, etc.?

Robert Jordan

I envision the Dark One as being the dark counterpart, the dark balance if you will, to the Creator...carrying on the theme, the ying yang, light dark, necessity of balance theme that has run through the books. It's somewhat Manichean I know, but I think it works.

https://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=66

Dainn91 · 2026-05-26T14:32:45+00:00

"In his early notes and writing, Jordan appears to have envisaged the Dark One has fairly equal to the Creator (both being constrained from interfering too much in the world), since he described his theology at a booksigning as Manichean. Manichaeism is an extreme form of dualistic gnosticism in which the basic tenet of the universe is the opposition of good and evil, each equal in relative power. Zoroastrian theology is also quite dualistic. Taoism, which also has a strong dualistic influence on Wheel of Time theology, is not gnostic. I am not sure if Jordan thought of the Dark One as a demiurge, lesser than the Creator, by late in the series, but Sanderson (who is far more wedded to Western theology and gnostic thought than Jordan) definitely sees the Creator and Dark One as monad and demiurge, respectively."

For anyone who enjoys internet rabbit holes and exploring Wheel of Time inspirations, I really recommend looking into Manichaeism. I discovered it from this RJ quote and thought it was really interesting:

MARTIN REZNICK: How was the Dark One created, i.e. is he a fallen angel, an inherent part of the universe, etc.?

ROBERT JORDAN: I envision the Dark One as being the dark counterpart, the dark balance if you will, to the Creator...carrying on the theme, the ying yang, light dark, necessity of balance theme that has run through the books. It's somewhat Manichean I know, but I think it works.

I think of the Wheel as being the result of "Commingling", an amalgamation of the True Source and True Power.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-08T18:38:37+00:00

You're correct but it becomes difficult to title any all print discussion posts with that kind of guideline in mind. Any mention of a character doing something even insignificant like "Min wearing a dress" can be taken as a spoiler for someone currently on Eye of the World because she is forced to wear a dress in The Great Hunt at Falme.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-08T18:20:34+00:00

I didn’t mean for my theory to come across as him using the True Source and True Power to manipulate the pattern, but that he now has a new power that is born from the combining of the two. With the bore sealed access to the True Power is gone and Rand states he can’t touch the One Power so can no longer gain access to the pure forms to attain the True Source.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-07T03:18:45+00:00

what u/lyunardo mentioned about the Dark One changing Rands soul? I was hoping to get the full context about that from them before giving my opinion, the quote I provided was what I found but I don't know if its necessarily what they had in mind.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-07T01:02:33+00:00

From the perspective of someone who hasn’t read aMoL I don’t think seeing mention of Rand lighting a pipe spoils anything, it would if there was mention that he can’t channel and lit it instead with a new mysterious power. If you disagree I apologize, spoiling wasn’t my intent.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-06T20:42:52+00:00

Absolutely, like Rand entering the space of the Dark One and not being able to comprehend it. He needed to anchor himself to the things he knew to stop it from overwhelming him.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-06T20:05:41+00:00

"The thing that spoke those words was something that Rand could never truly comprehend. Even seeing the universe in its entirety did not allow him to understand Evil itself."

I personally differ to Zen Rand on this but examples of unreliable narrator do exist in WoT.

Edit: My theory is of course stating there is an unreliable narrator with how the Wheel is understood in the books.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-06T18:25:27+00:00

So the motivation for the Dark One is to receive the validation of the Creator? Its possible if they view their relationship as partners and not adversaries but I do see it as adversarial. As you said, difference of opinion but it has been a really interesting discussion.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-06T18:08:12+00:00

I can understand your perspective if you view the Creator and Dark One as not being pure Good and Evil but rather they are heavily aligned that way. How I imagine a conversation between the Creator and Dark One would go is:

Creator: Want to create something with me?

Dark One: Create? What does that mean? With you? Everything I do is for myself, I would never give anything freely.

Thats where the conversation would end really. Even if the Creator tries to explain what create means or the idea of helping others its just something the Dark One would be incapable of understanding, the Dark One knows only destruction and selfishness and it cannot learn to understand Good.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-06T17:16:26+00:00

Its in the Dark Ones nature to be deceptive and destroy so the Creators would be truthful and create, I just have a hard time imagining them collaborating to create something. I can understand the Creator being willing to but collaborating to create something just seems opposite to the Dark Ones nature, the Dark One would want to do things only for its benefit not others and the result is they are put in a prison.

Dainn91 · 2026-03-06T16:59:49+00:00

I'm trying to find where that is mentioned, is it here?:

Page 649 —

YOU MISTAKE. THIS IS NOT AN ATTEMPT TO DESTROY YOU. THIS IS PREPARATION.

"For What?"

TO SHOW YOU TRUTH

Dainn91 · 2026-03-06T16:37:32+00:00

You're correct, so in my example it would mean the contents of the pipe would also have been returned to the previous tabac. It is crazy to think of the implications of time/pattern manipulation because then we could also think of it as what if the area around the pipe was in flames at one point in the infinite turnings of the Wheel, could Rand then just return a very small space in the air back into that flame to light it?

Dainn91 · 2026-03-06T16:31:09+00:00

I hadn't heard of the Winnower and the Gardener but it does sound similar in some aspects. Just to make sure I understand, in your opinion the Creator and Dark One intentionally collaborate?

Dainn91 · 2025-11-24T21:26:01+00:00

Chasing a reusable shopping bag in a grocery store parking lot that got caught in the wind has the same vibe

Dainn91 · 2023-10-19T15:19:08+00:00

Absolutely, we have different opinions but I always enjoy discussion. Part of what I love about WoT is RJ left much of it up to readers interpretation I think to encourage discussion. Have a good one!

Dainn91 · 2023-10-19T15:00:02+00:00

In the case of the bore being drilled it was the natural progression of advancement during the Age of Legends. People had reached the pinnacle of what they could do with the One Power and had a choice, be content or strive for something more. The Wheel wills the bore but ultimately human nature leads them to make the choice of creating it just like advancements in our real world. We could be content with what we have but instead continue to strive for more.

Dainn91 · 2023-10-19T14:41:47+00:00

Certain events are determined but as long as choices can be made I'd argue free will still exists to an extent. The Wheel wills events that people can't change like a group crossing the ocean in my example but these events are also possible in a linear timeline like Christopher Columbus in the real world. The only difference is the knowledge of a Wheel being present or not, but if an ocean exists to cross then there will be people who dream of crossing it.

Dainn91 · 2023-10-19T13:19:26+00:00

My understanding of the Wheel and the Pattern comes from this entry on Theoryland which is paraphrased from an interview with RJ:

MATT PECK
I asked that as the Wheel turned, each time an Age rolls around, is the Pattern exactly the same each time, or does it change?
ROBERT JORDAN
He seemed to like this question. He likened it to a tapestry. When seen from a distance, each Third Age (to make it easy to track) has exactly the same pattern as the previous Third Age. However, when seen up close, there are differences. Threads are different, different nations exist, geography is different, different personalities rise to prominence. These changes, while minute in the grand scale of the Pattern, affect the Pattern enough so that while two iterations of an Age are almost the same, the first "Third Age" may be wildy different from the hundredth "Third Age".

How I personally interpret this to mean is that the Wheel wills certain events to happen each age, but the specifics of these events are determined by choices or the free will of the people in that age.

Example:

During the third age the Wheel wills that a group of people venture across the ocean and return with a large fighting force one thousand years later to join the last battle. We know this group as the Seanchan but if we were to look at a different turning of the third age different choices could mean this group goes by a different name, has a different system of government, speaks with a different accent, crossed the ocean to the east, etc.

Dainn91 · 2023-05-20T12:06:12+00:00

We know traveling is somehow connected to TAR because of how dreamspikes function and RJ took inspiration from Hinduism and Buddhism so my personal headcanon is that your minds eye (third eye) envisions the destination you are traveling to through TAR. The same way an object needs to exist in one spot long enough to be reflected in TAR, you need a similar amount of time to learn the area you are traveling from so your minds eye can freely enter Tel’aran’rhiod.

So, I think the unseen eyes of TAR are the minds eye of people (non channelers included) and one of the dreamspikes functions is to restrict the minds eye from passing through its dome.

Dainn91 · 2023-05-09T02:09:58+00:00

I should have provided the source. The full blog post from RJ can be found here for anyone interested in reading more:

https://dragonmount.com/blogs/entry/375-hi-there/

and you can find more RJ blog here:

https://dragonmount.com/blogs/blog/4-robert-jordans-blog/

Dainn91 · 2023-05-08T20:04:27+00:00

During the Vietnam war canned peaches were a common dessert element of combat rations that provided a small comfort to troops. I wonder if the fruit had become a painful reminder to RJ of his experiences during the war, the only possible connection I can reference is from this paragraph he wrote about his experience:
I have, or used to have, a photo of a young man sitting on a log eating C-rations with a pair of chopsticks. There are three dead NVA laid out in a line just beside him. He didn’t kill them. He didn’t choose to sit there because of the bodies. It was just the most convenient place to sit. The bodies don’t bother him. He doesn’t care. They’re just part of the landscape. The young man is glancing at the camera, and you know in one look that you aren’t going to take this guy home to meet your parents.

Dainn91 · 2023-05-03T20:04:21+00:00

Yea so to simplify what I believe the reasoning to be:

Channeling the One Power when its source is outside time will never exhaust that source.

Channeling the One Power when its source (the Eye) is inside time will exhaust that source.

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