Thus the Creator (Robert Jordan) speaks:
"There are elements from Norse, Chinese, Japanese, and American
Indian mythologies, to name just a few. I think it adds resonance to the
story, although I've taken great care not to follow the older material in
any slavish way. Occasionally, I will add in details here or there, and
then discover that I have done something that is absolutely authentic to
the myth I was working from." [From Waldenbooks 'zine Hailing
Frequencies, issue #4, courtesy of Edmund Wong]
Moiraine Morgaine/Morgan De Fay
Morgase Morgause
Tigraine Ygrainne
Egwene Guinevere
Artur Arthur
Callandor Sword in stone
Galad Galahad or Mordred
Gawyn Gawain
Green Man Green Knight or Green Man (worshiped by Celts)
Sa'angreal San Greal (Holy Grail) or Sang Real (Holy Blood).
Wound in side Fisher King (via Bible)
Nynaeve Nyvian/Vivian/Nemesis of Merlin
Perrin Parcival
Merrilin Merlin
Lan Lancelot
Damodred Mordred
Elayne ?Elaine? (Lancelot's Wife)
Luthair Paendrag Uther Pendragon (Now Artur's son vs. hisFather)
Tar Valon Avalon
Elyas, Aram and Demandred's names are all similar to names of
Arthurian knights, but I do not remember the actual names.
Min's vision of Rand's funeral bier:
in the Arthur legend (or at least the version I've read) Arthur is severely
wounded and on his deathbed and Bedivere witnesses his being taken away on a
funeral boat and ferried to Avalon to await the time when he is needed again.
the only others on the ship are three women:
And, of course, the fabulous Sword in the Stone
[TEotW: Glossary, 798, entry "Trollocs", 668]
Survey says: Is Jordan's world under the Wheel our future earth? Yes: 52, No: 28
"Time is a wheel. If you look in one direction, you are looking at the past. If you just turn around and look in the other direction, you are looking at the future. The books are set in our future and in our past, depending on which way you look..."[RJ, second America On-line conference, 10/20/94]
John Glenn:
"Tell us about Lenn," Egwene called. "How he flew to the moon
in the belly of an eagle made of fire. Tell about his daughter
Salya walking among the stars." (Eagle has landed.../Lenn may be
a merger of LEM (lunar module) and Glenn)
Salya: Salyut (Russian for star) OR Sally Ride
Moscow, ICBMS:
Mosk the Giant, with his Lance of Fire that could reach around
the world.
America: Merk the other giant.
Queen Elizabeth:
Alsbet, queen of all. (Remains of British Empire/Commonwealth?)
Mother Theresa: Materese the Healer, Mother of the Wondrous Ind
Anne Landers: Anla, the wise counselor?
Gautama Buddha: Ghoetam under the tree of life
In Tanchico Museum at the Panarch's Palace:
Loial is reading 'To Sail Beyond the Sunset'
"Michael instead of Mikel. Patrick instead of Paedrig. Oscar instead of Otarin." St. Michael and St. Patrick? I don't know of a St. Oscar....
Bayle Domon (yes him again) mentions a "mountain hollowed into a bowl, and in its center, a silver spike a hundred spans high, and any who comes within a mile of it, dies." This could possibly be a big radio telescope, or maybe the Age of Legends equivalent.
(Compare) the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve clans of the Aiel. In fact, Jordan mentions that there is (maybe) a thirteenth clan. This clan is credited with building Rhuidean - the holy place (temple if you will) of the Aiel. The Israelites also had a people charged with taking care of the Ark of the Covenant as well as the religious ceremonies within the temple (especially within the Holy of Holies) and those people were the Levites. A tribe not counted among the twelve, so in effect a thirteenth tribe also.
Craig Levin points out that the Levites are counted in the 12 Tribes. It's just that Joseph's descendants split into 2 tribes later on, and the Levites don't get land, it is our job theoretically to care for the Lord's Temple and other altars across Israel. Which is even better, since there was the Jenn/other Aiel split, and the Jenns' job was to take care of Rhuidean/the temple.
Rebirth/Reborn notion of the Savior.(Although this savior is going to do major damage before defeating the evil one). The blood of the lamb versus Rand's blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul.Wound in the side a la the Cross. Sea Folk saying Aes Sedai would wash Dragon's feet with their hair
Masema = Saul/Paul: Anti-Rand to rabidly pro-Rand. Also, Masema = John the Baptist - the "voice crying out in the wilderness" proclaiming the coming of the savior and all that.
Seven Seals = Seven Seals of Solomon? (revelation)
"Peace be on you always," Elyas replied, "and on all the People." He
hesitated, then added, "I will find the song, or another will find
the song, but the song will be sung, this year or in a year to come.
As it once was so shall it be again, world without
end."..."Peace be on you," Elyas said. "And on you," Raen
said sadly.
[TEotW: 27, 412, Shelter from the Storm, 346]
The former reminds me of the Catholic (maybe Christian in general -
I'm not sure) prayer called the Glory Be. It goes: "Glory be to the
Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is
now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." The latter quotes are
reminiscent of the closing of a Catholic Mass, where the priest pronounces
"Peace be with you" and the people respond "And also with you." - J.Vessey
At Easter mass this past spring, I saw an adult baptized for the first time in the Catholic faith. They get the person to kneel, pour water over their head, and say something like "Now you are sealed". I don't recall the exact words, but "sealed" was in it for sure and I recall thinking Jordan must be Catholic. Sounds a lot like becoming Accepted to me. - Judy G.
In [TGH: 26, 387, Discord, 326] we have the prophecy: "twice dawns the day when his blood is shed. once for mourning, once for rebirth." This is very similar to the darkening of the sun when Christ is crucified: from [Luke 23, verse 44-5]: "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst." - Pam Korda
Zach Simpson:
[Matthew 10:34-36 (TEV)] "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers......a man's worst enemies will be the members of his own family." cf: TFOH trailer prophecy: "And what was once did come again-in fire and in storm splitting all in twain. For his peace...was the peace...of the sword."
In LOC, some of the rumors about Rand say that he was born of a woman touched by no man. [REF?]
Ba'alzamon : Ba'al or Baelzebub
Sammael : Either a member of Lucifer's host, or another name for
Lucifer himself.
Graendal : Grendal from Beowulf
Rahvin : Raven harbinger of evil (Native American Loki figure?)
Lanfear : French l'enfer-name for hell.
Shai... : (well you KNOW who this is) : Satan [Will
Baird notes:Shai... is the Muslim name for Satan literally.]
Be'la :l Belial, Biblical demon, Old Testament
Asmodean : Asmodeus, Biblical demon, Old Testament
Tarmon Gai'don : Armageddon, Book of Apocalypse
Paaren Disen : Paradise, Biblical Genesis
Wild Hunt : Wild Hunt, of Christian or Celtic legend
Bel Tine : Beltane, a Druidic holiday
Shayol Ghul : Sheol, Hebrew for hell; Ghul->Gol or Gul, Arabic
for Demon.
Semirhage : Legendary Assyrian queen Semiramis, noted for her
depravity (see Herodotus) [thanks Tony Z!]
LTT/Lord of The Morning : Lucifer-the morning star
Myrdraal : ?Murder All?
Lothair Mantelar : (Founder of Children of Light)= ?MARTIN
LUTHER?
Aginor : "Recently, a friend of mine had to read the _Iliad_.
(Homer's story of the Trojan War) In Book 21,
a character named Agenor attacks Hektor, and is
defeated. Not much is said about him (Agenor) other
than that he is "blameless and powerful", and knew
that Hektor was stronger than he was. He attacked
anyway, figuring that while Hektor was much more
combat-capable, Agenor had the gods on his
side, not to mention the fact that even the powerful
make mistakes. In a few minutes, Hektor defeats
Agenor, and Apollo surrounds the loser "in a thick
mist", and transports him back to Troy. Some
interesting parallels between this an TEotW's final
battle: Both Aginors knew that his opponent was more
powerful Both were full of pride Both attacked
anyway." - Mike O'Malley
Birgitte : Brigit/Brigid, Celtic goddess of fire,poetry,
smithing, and/or healing.
Ishamael : Ishmael: In Genesis, Abraham's eldest son (to an Egyptian
serving girl Hagar) was called Ishmael. Apparently
Abraham's wife took a disliking to young Ishmael and
pressured Big Ab into exiling Ish and Hagar into the
desert. There is a quote about "every hand raised against
him" some-where but I can't remember it.
Mesaana : Possibly from Messalina, the notorious third wife of
Tiberius Cladius Drusus Nero Germanicus, Emperor of Rome.
Selene : Selena, a Greek goddess of the moon.
by Randy Cerveny
Taken from Man, Myth and Magic (volume 5, pages 693-4):
"The most striking of these is that the dragon in China is not, as in the West, a representative or symbol of the powers of evil. On the contrary, according to the old Chinese Book of Rites, the dragon as the chief of all scaly animals is one of the four benevolent spiritual animals. This reflects the general principle stated by Jung that 'every psychological extreme secretly contains its own opposite,' which is expressed in Chinese thought through the classical doctrine of Yang and Yin.
That this principle underlies the dragon's transformation into a beneficent being is confirmed by Wang Fu's statement that the dragon's scales number 117, of which 81 are imbued with Yang and 36 with Yin, because the dragon is partly a preserver and partly a destroyer. Yang is also the male element and, as its representative, the dragon also became at an early period a symbol of the Emperor, and appeared on the Chinese flag. During the Manchu dynasty, the dragon was held in especial esteem, and everything used by the Emperor was described in terms of it: there was the dragon throne, dragon bed and so on."
"Although Chinese dragons appeared at favorable moments to presage periods of prosperity, and had been known to emit foam which had supernatural powers of fertilization, they could also, when offended or disturbed, cause a drought by gathering up all the water of a district in baskets, or they could eclipse the sun. To propitiate them, the Chinese flew dragon kites, especially at the mumming parade in the New Year."
Contributions from Greg Wheatley, Chad Orzel, Jonathan Vessey, Erica Sadun, Pam Korda
RJ said at a signing in Atlanta that he deliberately made Mat like Odin and Rand like Tew/Chew.
The Ogier seem to have named their steddings after places in China:
Shangtai: Shanghai, or Taishan (one of the sacred mountains)
backwards.
Cantonine: Canton (But "Canton" is not really "Canton" - it's
"Guangzhou".)
Taijing: Beijing, or some combination of any number of places whose
names start with Tai (Taishan - see above - Taiyuan, etc.) and any
number of capitols/ former capitols (Beijing, Nanjing ...)
(Above two stedding mentioned in
[TGH: 36, 520, Among the Elders, 439]
Tsofu: ??? An unfortunate tasteless high protein food?
Emmet O'Brien
Wolfbrother--partly derived from the Coyote trickster/hero figure, of whom both Mat & Perrin reflect aspects.
The history of the da'shain Aiel is based on the history of the Cheyenne Indians during their several-generation migration from east of the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains -- a period in which every man's hand was raised against them. Similarity between words 'shain' and 'Cheyenne' noted by me after hearing this.Don Harlow at a signing
Maerion: Maid Marion
Mathena: Athena/Artemis
Zheres: Teiresias? Orion?
Actually, it was the goddess Artemis who turned the hunter into a stag so he
would be killed by his dogs, after he saw her bathing. Athena was also
surprised by Teiresias while bathing, but she blinded him and gave him the
gift of second sight in return.
seems straight out of Greek Mythology. Artemis had a silver bow, to match her brother Apollo's golden one.
Sammael is described as a great militarist. He is short. His symbol is the golden bee, same as Napoleon.
a king in the legend of Parsival who had an unhealable wound corresponding to the woes of his land. cf Rand's side wound which is not Healable.
He 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.
It's research (books, not doing), and the forms come from Japanese swordfighting and some European fencing, before the advent of well-designed and well-made guns made swords obsolete. He mentioned one book in particular, but I can't remember the title. [matthew hunter at a signing, also mentioned by others]
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, Emmet O'Brien]
a moosh of various myths from Europe, Native Americans, and Australian Aborigines. [America OnLine conference, 10/94]
The game of Stones is based on the Asian game Go.
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 Genjhei in tWoT. It was written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu in the 11th century Japan.
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