New Article Released: Character Parallels - Rand al'Thor

A new article is now available in the Reference Library: in the Character Parallels series, Rand al'Thor

À tout seigneur, tout honneur, as we say in French... as the central protagonist of the Wheel of Time series, and with Christian Easter just on the horizon, it seemed fitting to give you the illustrated Thirteenth Depository edition of Linda's 2007 essay about the messianic figure of the series, Rand al'Thor.

As he developed a central theme of the series, History fading to Legends and Legends becoming Myth before being forgotten as the Wheel of Time weaves the cyclical Lace of the Ages, Robert Jordan has delved into a massive amount of mythological, legendary and occasionally historical sources to give his characters a myriad of parallels to figures from the Ages long gone and the Ages yet to come, anchoring this way his concept that echoes of our Age are still palpable in the series's world, while dim and distorted memories of the series' events and characters will divide or aggregate to become our own myths when our Age comes again in a future turning of the Wheel. The more important the character, the richer and more intricate the web of myth and legends Jordan wove around them.

In the Rand al'Thor Essay, Linda is your guide on a journey through the figures which are either most likely to have been used by Robert Jordan in the creation of Rand or which, and such is the universal and interconnected nature of world mythology, resonate the most strongly with the character and role of the Dragon Reborn.

It's an exploration of the messianic figure, from the better known like Jesus Christ to the more obscure from ancient myth or vanished religions. It's also a survey of many gods and heroes from world mythology, again the better known from Classical Greek or Norse mythology or the Arthurian legends - and the less obvious figures from Irish, Meso-American or Egyptian or Chinese Mythology, lesser known but often fascinating to discover.

With the release of this article, the Real Life Parallels and Symbolism Index has been greatly augmented, and you can now find listings organized by domain in the main index - just look under the keywords Greek, Irish & Celtic, Meso-American, Egyptian Mythology and under the Matter of Britain for everything 'Arthuriana', as well as under the entries for the great religions.

This article will be followed in the coming weeks and months by many more entries in the same series from Linda's archives from Wotmania, covering most of the major protagonists and villains - as well as new articles in preparation for characters that she had not yet explored.

Good reading, and as always we welcome your comments.