Errors in THE WHEEL OF TIME

Let's face it:  I'm a critic.  When I see such an intricate, detailed story, I try especially hard to pick it apart and find errors and inconsistencies.  Numbers don't add up!  Names change!  Facts are contradicted!  Fortunately, the following errors are minor.  Only geeks like me pick them up after reading the series fifty times and taking notes.

(pb = paperback version, hc = hard cover version)

TYPOS

• Volume 2, p.507 pb:  When Rand is seeking the void inside Stedding Tsofu:  The glow of saidar was not there. Note the use of saidar instead of saidin.
• Volume 4, p.339 pb:  On the bottom of the page it says untouchable by any hand but that of the Dragon Reborn. Then, on the next page, the first line repeats that sentence.
• Volume 7, p.463 pb:  Thomas and Justin ....  There's an obvious typo.


• Who spoke the Old Tongue?  If it was spoken during the Age of Legends, then why doesn't Rand (as Lews Therin) spout it, along with the Forsaken?  If it was spoken during Artur Hawkwing's Empire, then why don't the Seanchan speak it?

Robert Jordan says that the Old Tongue was spoken during the Age of Legends.  The modern "Vulgar" tongue is a simple derivative of the Old Tongue, and thus easy for the Forsaken (and presumably the Seanchan) to decipher.  Here's my source of information. However, this doesn't explain how characters such as Perrin and Nynaeve can overhear the Forsaken speaking to each other, and understand it.

Inconsistencies with POV in Randland

• Volume 1, p.120 pb:  In Rand's first dream involving Shai'tan, he compares something to the ocean.  "Steamy mists covered the canyon floor, their thick gray surface rolling in grim waves, rolling and breaking against the cliff beneath him, but more slowly than any ocean wave had ever moved."
  Rand has never seen the ocean at this point in his life. He's dreaming this while he sits at Tam's bedside in Emond's Field.  Of course, one might argue that this is a very early Lews Therin memory seeping in.
• Volume 4:  Nynaeve and Elayne try to sync up their meetings with Egwene according to the time difference between Tanchico and the Aiel Waste. How can people in a pseudo-medieval society (where travel is limited to horses and boats, and pigeons are the fastest means of carrying messages) know about time differences? This seems like something people would have to re-discover, along with Dreamwalking and Traveling.
  
  

What are the rules for channeling in Tel'aran'rhiod?

• Volume 6:  During the sequence when Elayne and Suian rescue Aes Sedai from a Trolloc nightmare, it is stated that channeling in Tel'aran'rhiod is impossible. This is stated a few times in the book, but it ignores numerous examples that contradict it. See a few below:
• Volume 3:  Egwene channels Earth in Tel'aran'rhiod to tear open metal cell doors in the Stone of Tear.
• Volume 5:  Nynaeve (linked with Moghedien) channels in Tel'aran'rhiod to burn Rahvin to a crisp.
• Volume 8:  Elayne channels in Tel'aran'rhiod to etch a message for Egwene on a desk in Salidar.



Inconsistency about survival in Tel'aran'rhiod

• Volume 3:  When Perrin is in the wolf dream, Rand balefires him. Perrin wakes up with a small burn on his skin. If whatever happens in the wolf dream (Tel'aran'rhiod) is real--as Hopper told Perrin, and as Amys told Egwene--then Perrin shouldn't have survived.



Does Lan have a power-wrought sword, or not?

• Volume 2, p.678 pb:  "...Lan sat under a tree sharpening his sword; the Warder gave Rand a careful look, and then a nod."  But Lan explained earlier that Aes Sedai power-wrought swords never need to be sharpened, and those who do sharpen them just wear down the sharpening stones they use.
• Volume 3:  Lan's sword is described as Aes Sedai power-wrought when he battles a myrdraal in the Mountains of Mist.



Inconsistency about Aes Sedai sensing power in each other

• Volume 3:  During Egwene's third time through the test for Accepted, Beldeine reveals that she was stilled three nights ago, but Egwene (as Amyrlin) never sensed her Keeper's lack of power, despite having hung out with the stilled Keeper for three days. This doesn't fit with later books.



What happened to the darkhounds tracking Rand in Book 3?

• Volume 3, p.375 pb:  As far back as the town of Remen (on the Manetherendrelle), Perrin saw a newly made Darkhound pawprint.  This is nowhere near Illian or Sammael, who sent a pack after Moiraine.



Did Rand's battle with Asmodean destroy Avendesora, or not?

• Volume 4, p.971 pb:  "...and though a few trefoil leaves littered the pavement beneath Avendesora, only one branch on the great tree hung unbroken.  But the rest of Rhuidean..."
• Volume 5, p.79 pb:  "In the center of the plaza, near the burned remains of a great tree a hundred feet high..." and on p.80:  "The burned tree mocked him. Avendesora...Moiraine said that it still lived, that it would put out shoots again, but so far he saw only blackened bark and bare branches."
  Maybe Robert Jordan forgot to consult his notes or reread Book 4.
  
  

Inconsistency about Snakes and Foxes

• Volume 4:  Birgitte tells Perrin in Tel'aran'rhiod about the Tower of Genjii, and Perrin mentions that every child in the Two Rivers played Snakes and Foxes.
• Volume 6:  During a scene where Mat plays Snakes and Foxes with Olver, Mat thinks that he'd never heard of the game, and it comes from his ancient memories.



Inconsistencies about the Seanchan Seeker

• Volume 4, ch.38:  The Seeker (blonde man with raven tattoos) hangs out in Tanchico for the same reason as Egeanin; he seeks runaway sul'dam and other deserters. When he follows Egeanin and sees her in company with two supposed Aes Sedai (Nynaeve and Elayne), he gets conked on the head by Thom and Juilin.
• Volume 9:  Why doesn't he arrest Bethamin when he speaks to her? He must know she's one of the former deserters.  And why doesn't he go after Thom and Juilin, whom he must remember conked him on the head?



The Aes Sedai council in Salidar forgets the one a'dam in their possession.

• Volume 5:  When Nynaeve and Elayne arrive in Salidar, they show the council of Aes Sedai the a'dam collar and bracelet, and explain how it works. Elayne goes so far as to remark that she can reproduce one. The Aes Sedai are disgusted and outaged by her claim.
• Volume 6:  None of the Aes Sedai recognize the a'dam collar and bracelet when "Marigan" (Moghedien) wears the collar, with Elayne and Nynaeve taking turns wearing the bracelet.



What percentage of Aiel Wise Ones can channel?
How do their numbers compare to Aes Sedai?

• Volume 5:  From Egwene's POV (while she is in the sweat tent): Not many Wise Ones can channel. This is stated twice in the book. Further evidence supports this theory since none of the wise Ones volunteer to help Aviendha and Egwene throw fireballs against the Shaido during their attack on Cairhien.
• Volume 8, p.247 hc:  "There were over three hundred Wise Ones with the Jumai...", and it was stated that all of the Shaido Wise Ones went with Sevanna's Jumai sept.  But later, it's stated that the Shaido have four hundred channelers among them.
  If the Shaido have three or four hundred, then the eleven Aiel clans with Rand should have eleven times that many Wise One channelers.
• Volume 10 or 11:  From Egwene's POV, there are only about one thousand Aes Sedai living. She thinks the Kin have twice that number. Mazrim Taim also tells Rand that he can equal the White Tower in a year, and Rand thinks this is about a thousand channelers.
• Volume 8 & 9:  Aes Sedai can't use the One Power as a weapon, so why does Suroth use them in damane patrols, or take them with her for security?
• Volume 9:  One of the Aes Sedai in Cadsuane's party, Erian Boroleos, disappeared without a trace somewhere between Far Madding and the end of the book.
  
  

  Robert Jordan was quoted as saying that he forgot to mention that she stayed in Far Madding.

This content was last updated January 2010