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3.11: Miscellaneous References

1) Aes Sedai: In Celtic myth, there are beings known as the Sidhe (pronounced 'shee'), which literally means "people of the (fairy) hills". It is the Gaelic name for the fairies in both Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. Specifically, the Aes Sidhe were 'the people of the hills', collective name for the old Irish gods who dwell in hills. According to the Encyclopedia Mythica, they "still live as invisible beings… In a just battle, they will fight beside mortals. When they fight, they go armed with lances of blue flame and shields of pure white". [Scott Dwiggins]

2) Aelfinn/Eelfinn: The Elves/Faerie/Sidhe of Celtic mythology. The Sidhe were vulnerable to iron ("iron to bind"), and liked music ("music to daze"). There were two subgroups of Faeries, as Matthew Hunter elaborates: "The Seelie and Unseelie courts, of which one the Seelie were comparatively "nice" and honorable, although tricksters and inhumanly magical, while the Unseelie were essentially their evil counterparts -- delighting in tormenting and the kind of pranks that have nasty consequences. The spelling is phonetic, and the real spelling is somewhat different... I think 'Seighlie' is closer but still not right."

3) Asha'man: It has been pointed out that there are many similarities between the Asha'man and the Nazi SS. SS stands for Schutzstaffel (Guardian Group) and was originally created to protect Hitler. Asha'man means Guardians, and one of their functions is (nominally) to protect Rand. Both organizations use black as their color. The leader of the Asha'man is called "M'Hael," which is "leader" in the Old Tongue. The leader of the SS was the "FŸhrer," which is "leader" in German. There were 12 officer and 9 enlisted ranks in the Waffen-SS; of these, 5 officer and 1 enlisted rank(s) contained the two words Sturm (storm) and FŸhrer (e.g. SturmbannfŸhrer, ObersturmfŸhrer, SturmscharfŸhrer). This is also seen within the Asha'man in the Tsorovan'm'hael (Gedwyn's title, from [TPOD: 21, Answering the Summons, 407]). Julius T. Thiele observes, "The SS was organised into 12 main departments with the according department heads. Outranking all of these was the ReichsfŸhrer SS (in this case Himmler). Reading this, I was put in mind of a constellation consisting of Taim + 12 of his trusted lieutenants, which represents a convenient number for applying the classic 'convert-to-Darkfriend' method." Also, the SS was nominally created to fight Communism (color = red). The dedicated enemy of the AM is the Red Ajah. [Jimmy Sjšberg] The name itself, "Asha'man" may be a play on "shaman."

4) Another Celtic Connection: [TSR: 6, Doorways, 95] wrt the Snakes Doorway: "Elayne's first thought was for the children's tale Bili Under the Hill, but only because of the three answers." Compare to various tales of common humans visiting some Sidhe under a hill, and having various mystical experiences.

5) Birgitte in Conversation: Mentions a past life named "Maerion." Maid Marion?

6) Heron: The phoenix legend appears in many mythologies; in most it is depicted as an eagle-like bird with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage, and its self-immolation and rise from its own ashes is symbolic of immortality, rebirth, the cycle of the seasons, and the sun, which always sets only to rise again. The Christians associated it with the Resurrection; in Egyptian mythology the phoenix was closely associated with Ra, the sun god. What is interesting is the Islamic version of the phoenix legend, in which it is described as a large heron that was originally created perfect, but became a plague that had to be destroyed [Encyclopedia Brittanica].

7) Ji'e'toh: Bushido, literally the "Way of the Warrior", is the starting point for all martial arts. Bushi means "Warrior" and Do "the Way". Bushido was the Code, the Way of life of the Samurai. The code of the Bushido was summarized by five main requirements:
(a) Fidelity (Chûgi) - towards master (lord) and Fatherland, respect towards parents, brothers and sisters
(b) Politeness (reigi) - respect and love, modesty and correct etiquette (formality)
(c) Virility - valour, courage and bravery, self-control, patience and endurance, readiness to fight
(d) Truthfulness/Veracity (Makoto) - sincerity and straightforwardness, sense of honour and justice
(e) Simplicity - simplicity and purity
[David Chapman]

8) Millennarianism: Well, our world didn't end in 2000 or 2001, but the belief that it would is a recurring and powerful superstition that crops up at the turn of every century or millennium. The year in Randland used to be roughly concurrent with our own, but has fallen behind over the last few books. The Feast of Lights that scandalized Perrin so much in LOC marks the last day of 999 NE, and approximately 74 days have passed between then and the end of WH, so Randland's date is still early 1000 NE. [Don Harlow & Leigh Butler]

9) Nae'blis: Iblis, Another name for the devil in Muslim circles. Iblis, formerly called Azazel, was a jinn when captured by angels and carried off as their prisoner. He grew up among them and became an archangel. He was cast down when refusing to prostrate before the man Adam. Since he has roamed the earth, his domain, seeking to capture the souls of men. [Encyclopedia Mythica]

10) Ogier Rhyme: The lines of the Ogier rhyme recalled by one if the Sea Folk ("Here comes an Aelfinn to steal all your bread, Here comes an Ogier to chop off your head") are similar to the last two lines of "The Bells of St Clements."

The lyrics are:
"Oranges and lemons", say the bells of St Clements
"You owe me five farthings", say the bells of St Martin's
"When will you pay me", say the bells of Old Bailey
"When I am rich", say the bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?", say the bells of Stepney
"I'm sure I don't know", says the great bell of Bow

Here comes a candle to light you to bed
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head.

[David Chapman, Young Blandford]

11) Sammael = Napoleon? Sammael is described as a great general. He is short. Illian's symbol is nine golden bees; Napoleon's symbol was a golden bee.

12) Soe'feia: Sophia, the Greek word for wisdom. The Greeks personified wisdom as a woman, as did the Hebrews. [Maccabeus Epimanes]

13) Stones: The game of Stones is based on the Asian game Go.

14) The sword forms: It's research (books, not doing), and the forms come from Japanese sword fighting and some European fencing, before the advent of well-designed and well-made guns made swords obsolete. [Matthew Hunter at a signing, also mentioned by others]

15) Tel'aran'rhiod: In Celtic myth the Goddess has three aspects, the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. The names of the aspects change from myth to myth, but in some versions the Mother aspect is called Arianrhod. "Arian" means "silver", while "rhod" is "wheel" or "circle". Arianrhod appears in the Mabinogian as the sister of Gwydion (or his wife, or both), and is associated with the moon, fertility, the stars, the aurora borealis, and time. [Kathy Putnam, Sonja Pieper]

16) Time of Illusions:

• Marcel Parent proposes the idea that RJ is borrowing from Indian mythology and creating a 'Time of Illusions' in his own cosmology. When the Time of Illusions comes to an end (ie. the Third Age), a new Age will arise. If the Age of Legends (the Second Age) was a period of creation, then the Third Age would be an age of decay, or instead an age of Illusion. In South Asian thought, there is a pan-Indian idea that the conventional world is maya (maayaa, or Illusion) and lending strength to this theory is that the symbol of the "wheel of time" is decidedly Indian (Buddhist in particular) enmeshed with the snake biting its own tail (something Western I believe). Furthermore, the endless realm of rebirth and death, the continual churning out of beings into the world is South Asian, ie. samsara. As well, there is the idea that there is a contual, endless waning and waxing of samsara (the cycle of birth and death) so that you get a period of great creation, production, creativity, happiness and civilization followed by a period of decay, destruction, corruption, and immorality. These periods were expressed in an endless cycle of aeons.
• John Novak observes that "'Age of Illusions' or 'World of Illusions' is a very Gnostic catchphrase, about as much so as "Trinity" is Christian. In the Gnostic tradition, everyone leads their lives in an illusion, or in a dream, or as drugged, or some similar metaphor, until they are Enlightened from without. Then they wake up, see the world for the prison that it really is, and hopefully the next time they die, they escape the world rather than being dragged deeper into it."

17) Tolkien

• "The only deliberate connection between WOT and any other modern fantasy was giving the first 100-odd pages of TEOTW a Lord of the Rings-esque flavor, to start people off in familiar territory." [from Dublin talk, 11/93, Emmet O'Brien]
• The Nine Rings Inn [TGH: 21, The Nine Rings, 258]
• On reading Elayne's thought about the Snaky folk: "Elayne's first thought was for the children's tale Bili Under the Hill, but only because of the three answers" [TSR: 6, Doorways, 95], did anyone else think of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, playing the riddle game underground with Gollum?

18) Tower of Ghenjei: There is a Japanese novel called The Tale of Genji. It is generally considered the first piece of work which qualifies as a novel, as the genre is defined today. Note the name's similarity to the Tower of Ghenjei in WOT. It was written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu in the early 10th century, during the Heian Period of Japanese history. [Jeff Han]

19) Tuon's Sigil and Title: Tuon's personal sigil is "an ancient war-cart being driven by two lions." The Titaness Rhea, wife of Chronus and mother of Zeus, was described as driving a chariot being driven by lions. Karl-Johan Norén mentions that the Norse Goddess Freyja was also known to drive a war-cart driven by cats, and further was said to have been a lover of Odin. There are attributes of Odin, mostly the fact that he traded an eye to gain wisdom and insight, which are found in Mat, so this meshes nicely with Tuon filling the Freyja role. Additionally, Freyja was known to have a fondness for jewelry (one of her names was Menglöd - "fond of necklaces" ); Tuon is always described as adorned with gems and jewelry. Lastly, both Rhea and Freyja were fertility goddesses, and as such were linked to the moon and its cycle. Tuon's title "Daughter of the Nine Moons" can be interpreted as referring to the nine months of pregnancy, as well as matching, generally, the symbolic tie between a woman's fertility and the moon.

20) Wolf-brother: a moosh of various myths from Europe, Native Americans, and Australian Aborigines. [America OnLine conference, 10/94]

21) Yin-Yang symbol/Ancient Aes Sedai symbol: He (RJ) also spoke for quite some time on the splitting of the One Power into male and female halves, and on the disharmony produced when they don't work together.. this came across as one of the core elements in the origin of WOT. [re: Yin/Yang - leaving out the little dots in the symbol is an intentional representation of the lack of harmony between male/female Power in Randland] [Emmet O'Brien, Dublin talk, 11/93]

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