Towers of Midnight: Wheel of Time book 13
The thirteenth (and second-last) book in the Wheel of Time series will be formally titled Towers of Midnight, the series’ new author Brandon Sanderson revealed last week, with the fourteenth and last to retain its original title A Memory of Light.
The last three books in The Wheel of Time are being written by established fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, who was selected by Harriet McDougal, the widow of the original author, Robert Jordan, after tragically passed away in September 2007 to finish Jordan’s masterpiece. The first book, The Gathering Storm, has already been finished and will be published internationally on October 27.
Last week Sanderson wrote on his blog:
“After a long round of conversations with Tor and Harriet, we settled on TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT as the title. There are various reasons for this, which I’ll go into more once the book is out next year. I’m pleased, however, as this was the title I suggested. It’s actually appropriate in an interesting way. Harriet was the one who came up with the name for the first of the three, and the second one gets the title I proposed. And so, we will (as I’ve been saying for a while) use Mr. Jordan’s title for the final of the three, A MEMORY OF LIGHT.”
Towers of Midnight's working title had been Shifting Winds, but Sanderson had stated several times that it wasn’t the book’s final name. Before he passed away, Jordan had passed on a desire for the final book to be called “A Memory of Light”, although once the book was split into three, a debate began between Tor, McDougal and Sanderson about the exact titles of the three.
The final book, A Memory of Light, for example, had a working title of Tarmon Gai’don, referring to the final battle planned in The Wheel of Time universe.
Speculation has already begun online (more here) about what the title Towers of Midnight refers to, with some highlighting the fact that there is an action location in the Seanchan Empire named The Towers of Midnight, and others wondering if the title refers to a possible corruption of various towers in the books; for example the Aes Sedai White Tower and the Asha’man Black Tower.
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I love this series, i have been reading it since i was in 7th grade and i haven’t continued it until now—i’m in my senior year—i’m really exited for this to come out! This is a truly genius creation Mr. Jordan has started. thank you for finishing it!
Hehe me too Kyoko, I’m pretty excited!
hehe, got you beat, i started reading the series when i was in 9th grade, and now i’m 31 years old. RJ took his time putting out a new book.
Lol. He sure did!
Preach it, Eric! My mom and brother got me hooked when I was 12. Now I am going on 31. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve read and re-read the whole series. I’m looking forward to the last two books, but it is with a bitter-sweet longing. When it is over, I won’t know what to look forward to any longer (in a literary sense, anyway). I have spent more than half my life with this series.
I think Sanderson did a fine job with TGS. I’ve read it twice now. I’m very impressed.
what date do we hope to have book 13 as i cant seem to find it on any site.
i think that a ps3 game would be grate then you could be rand or matt and be apart of Robert’s world.
Have you any clue as to when the expected release date will be for the 13th book?
No release date has yet been announced, but likely late in 2010.
Well, my interpretation of The Towers of Midnight. There are a few “Towers” in the series: Tower of Ghenji (not worried bout spelling, and there are, as far as i believe, three separate towers in The Towers of Ghenji =P) The White Tower and The Black Tower. Now in the Age of Legends basically the White Tower included male and female Aes Sedai, as is now separated by The White and Black Towers. Also I never really thought about what may be in the Seanchan Lands. My personal interpretation would be the merging of the White and Black Tower, since now Rand seems to be himself again he may take on the role of the dragon as was in the Age of Legends, I think it was still one step below that of the Amyrlin, if not equal. Although its been a while since I read up on the Histories. Also the fact that Mat is on his way to the Tower of Ghenji to rescue Moiraine who was the main supporter of Rand, or the Dragon Reborn. Another philosophical view would be what would the Forsaken call there head of operations? If there is such a thing as they are more individual then a group, even if they do have a common goal they are more worried about there own standing and probably dont care at all if they are the last one standing among the “Chosen”. Although how do they command all the Darkfriends? Lol, sorry for the long post but there really is no short way to explain even one topic in this series =) Well I’ve burnt myself out with this explanation, any questions or additions are welcome ^^
the head of the forsaken is called nebilus and there was no white tower during the age of legends there was only the hall of servants there was no amyrlin in the age of legends
It could also be that the “Towers” referred to are the seven towers of dead Malkier, Lan’s home that has been cast into darkness. Lan is also on his way across the blight collecting an army to fight against the shadow. He is planning to enter the blight from Tarwin”s gap, which is just south of Malkier. The possibility for an engagement of some kind on his way seems likely. I have to say to me the likeliest explanation is the Tower of Ghenji, But i thought I would give another possibility.
The towers of midnight are in seanchan, they are mentioned the first time we meet eaganin ( misspelled) in the 3rd or 4th book as the place they send people to be questioned/ tortured for the empress.
Eaganin says that the seanchan send the people too the tower of ravens ot be questioned if i remember correctly. But on the other hand the seanchan are a null issue now i believe (other than the ones already on that side of the ocean). due to events that occur in the l
ater books.
I also feel the title refers to the towers of ghenji
If i focus really hard, i think i can channel saiden.
Maybe im the dragon reborn on earth?
I feel that way to but i think i would like to be matt with his gun pouder he will rock in the last book as the witches cant touch him.there for he will be king. (long live me ahem i mean Matt)
haha dont count on it mat. if anyone is the dragon reborn its me.
personally i think the tower of ghenji is what the title refers to. i mean theres been this whole build up with the snakes and foxes and the fact that moiraine is being held there no doubt against her will. The white tower and black tower have had their rivalries in previous books and in the 12th its pretty much come to an end as the white tower is re united, a whole.
they better friken free moiraine.. she’s the coolest character in the book along with mat
Well actually, the rivalries between the white and black tower have not been fixed. The white tower has been reunited yes, but they are still skeptical about the male channelers, even with the “rumours” they have heard about saidin being cleansed. I dont think there just going to let go of their tradition just like that, although Egwene was talking about a new task for the Reds, I think that uniting the white and black tower may be one of the main focus’s on the next book.
i love this serious. i wonder is there a computer game based on these books becuase i was searching one time and came accross a short clip of an animation about aes sedai and the black ajah… i forget where i saw it, but it didnt seem to interpret any part of the books.. which i read religiously…
oops i ment i love this series.. hahaha
There are in fact several games based on WOT. A might and magic type action game which came out in 1999 and was actually pretty decent in its own right, then there was a fan built “mud” game that I never really looked into, and Red Eagle Software is in the process of making a MMO game along the lines of warhammer online, should be released at the same time as the first of the three WOT movies being made by Universal :)
Lets not forget that the M’Hael has been replaced by Sammael, or that 48 sisters were sent the the black tower from the rebels to make the number of asha’man bound to sisters equal to the reverse and subsequently disappeared, and of course the black tower has yet to be rent in flame as Elaida foresaw. I’m guessing the black n white towers are far from done with eachother, but the towers of midnight were spoken of during chapter 40 of book 12 during the explanation of the history of the a’dam. It’s in Seanchan somewhere and I got the sense it was some kind of holding/training center for marath’damane, it could also be another name for the tower of ravens… also in Seanchan. Can’t wait to find out!
“M’Hael has been replaced by Sammael”
What? Sammael is dead — a direct quote from the Creator (RJ) said “Sammael is toast!” He also denied directly that Taim was Demandred.
Indeed he is. Burnt out by balefire.
Whats happened to Taim? You don’t hear of him in the Gathering Storm and i’m looking into the previous ones but cant find anything.
Is he still around?
Hmm, didnt catch RJ saying sammael was dead, just assumed it was him since Rand couldn’t confirm that he hit Sammy with the balefire and the last thing we hear Taim say is “let the lord of chaos rule”, something only Sammael said previously.
Just reread the fight between rand and Sammael since I didn’t remember balefire being used, and it was not. Sammael gets surrounded by mashadar in shadar logoth and Rand just assumes he’s dead, not long after that is the scene where Taim throws out Sammaels catch phrase. To me it would make sense the dark lord either respawned Sammy or protected him from mashadar, and now he’s taken over as the M’hael. Found a conversation online where RJ said Taim is definitely not Demandred but nothing about Sammael, nothing saying “Sammael is toast” either.
oh yea sorry. i was thinking about Rahvin when i said balefire.
But as lol Uberpoodle said RJ stated Sammael was gone and toast.
Seeing as he shares some connection with Taim its a good idea though I dont think it could be as RJ planned out the whole book before beginning to write it and he wouldnt have stated the fact if it wasnt true..
my thoughts on Sammael is that he was affected by Mashadar the same way Padan Fain was. Something to think about anyway.
Ok, so the “Sammael is toast” comment was apparently in a Nov 2000 interview, but it’s not in either of the 11/00 interviews I was able to find transcripts of. If anyone could link to it I’d greatly appreciate being able to see the context. RJ said in a few other Q & A sessions that Lanfear and Ishamael were dead and then of course brought them back as Moridin and Cyndane. He confirms that it was Mashadar alone that killed Sammael, so he could theoretically be brought back the same way. Unless RJ specifcally said that Sammy died the true death and was never coming back, I’d be hard pressed to believe it given the similarites between Taim and Sammy… RJ liked to play with words and “toast” could have a number of meanings.
I was wondering about the Seanchan issue in book twelve. How can Rand come to bound the nine moons now, when first af all they each have their own interpretation of prophecies and secondly things get even more messy with the Seanchan attack on the Tower. Not to mention Traveling that will probably fall in the hands of the Seanchan.
Sorry in advance if you notice any mistakes, this is not my native language.
Hmm, well Tuon is now bound to Mat through marriage, and Mat is already bound to Rand as a friend and more strongly by the effects of Ta’veren, so in a sense he has already bound the nine moons to him as the prophecy said. I’m guessing that there will be more involved though, the Seanchan prophecy regarding Rand is mentioned several times via Tuon saying that the Dragon Reborn will bow before her, but in book twelve she begins to wonder if the prophecy had been misinterpreted… I would bet that there will be another confrontation between Rand/Egwene and Tuon after Rand/Egwene get their towers under control, with the end result being Tuon and the Seanchan coming under Rand’s hand just in time for the final battle. Or it could be done more diplomatically via Rand and Mat’s combined Ta’veren effect pulling an agreement out of her, she was barely able to resist Rand alone in their last talk. Just have to RAFO!
WHAT!!!!! there making a movie this is the first i have heard of it. hopefully its decent and they dont butcher the story to much like they did with the sword of truth tv series (legend of the seeker). not bad books those, nowhere near as good as wot but not to bad. but the tv series sucked. any idea of when they might be starting with the movies? i have always thought that if wot was made into a movie and done right it would surpass lord of the rings.
I started reading these books when i was 10 years old and I am now 21. These books are simply amazing. I have grown lost and loved with all of these characters. I wish it could go on forever. Thank you for finishing the books. Number 12 was fabulous.
Just finished book 12 and it was SUPER!!! :)
Will be a very sad moment when I finish the last book as it will be the end of one of the greatest series EVER.
This is also the first I heard about the movies. Just hope that they will be a near to the books as possible. I know they will leave out a bunch of stuff, but I just hope they don’t change anything.
I mean this could be some of the best movies ever if done right.
Now I will have to look for some new series to read while I wait for the next book.
As for the title Towers of Midnight. Couldn’t it be the fortress that Moridin is stying in in the blight? That could be a tower/towers and the said that it is made of black stone.
Anyway, those are my thoughts :)
I don’t think it refers to the Tower of Ghengi. I honestly don’t think it’s an important enough event to name the book after. Sanderson did say that ToM will focus more on Mat and Perrin as TGS needed to focus on Rand and Egwene, so it is a possibility that Moraine’s rescue will be the most significant event in the book, but I can’t see it being so, with TG being so close. But then again, it could be highly important since in one of the earlier books ( don’t ask me for a reference, it has been while ) a viewing of Min’s says that Rand would fail to win without her. It could be, it could not be. We must RAFO.
accordin to hints in wot 12 .in wot 13 rand the aes sedai and the tuon will join forces and matt will free moiraine while perrin will find his hawk and also make an alliance wid cotl(children of the light) since galad already knows his mother wasnt killed by rand .and aviendha elayne and min will marry rand.i m sure my analysis will be 90% correct
ummm @ ■Anonymous isn’t it called the tower of ravens? And I think that the title dosen’t actually refer to the tower of Ghenji. I think that it refers to Shayol Gaul*, as if you place it side by side to Dragonmount, one is of light, and one is of darkness. But this is just my oppinion, and I’m also curious about the Land of Madmen, and Shara. What role will they play in the novel besides being merely metioned in an absent state? Glad if someone will reply to this.
no shayol ghol & bragonmount arent towers . Wot 13 will deal with joining of white & black towers with crystal thorne
While mat frees moirene from tower of genji
if BRADON SANDERSON u r readin this blog or whateverit is called ,then please please hurry wid completin the WOT series A.S.A.P
As soon as possible we hav already waited 2long 4 this 2 get completed WOT 13 staus bar at web site hardly moves please reply
And on reply leave ur e-mail id 4 us
Thank you and MAY YOU WALK IN LIGHT
ERIC=====>Sammael is dead 4 good .Bcoz sammael might hav been a forshaken but was still a human while padan fain was completely changed by shai’tan 2 mashadar he was as same as himself.so that makes big difference Eric so sammael is nothing 2 worry about now,on the other hand Rand should worry about graendal because she was defeatd/quite eaisly ,from wat i know deafeating graendal should be more difficult than it was shown ………..REPLY
I think the title Towers of Midnight might refer to the rising factions in the Black Tower following Taim and Logain. I think that it will come to a conflict between the two in the next book. And as ToM will also probably have the rescuing of Moiraine from the Tower of Ghenji, ToM seems pretty appropriate.
i think that the tower of mid night might refer to the place where the forsaken met when rand was planing to make peace with the senchan in arad domain
I’ve discovered supreme Universe of WOT in 2008 and ever since I am reading and re-reading each and every book …. and will do so until I cannot read any longer and I take my place with the mists ….
I envy you guys who read the book for over two decades for “walking under the Light” longer …. but I will follow in your steps …
Brandon did a great job on the Book 12, but I just can’t WAIT (!!) to get my hands on the next and, of course, the final book …
May you all walk in the Light!
i am 18 the 1st novel that i read was wot in may 2009
Well i think that i am more lucky than those who are readin it from over 2 decades bcoz
I got to read all 12 including new spring at a strech of 6 months its a exellent series
I grade it best among
Inheritance cycle
Narnia
Twlight
Harry potter
LOTR
Since its long and much more detailed series
Brandon sanderson did a good job writing 12 book i specially like last chapter i.e
Veins of gold
though couldnt another tower be the one that mat has to go through to save moiraine?
Shadow’sBane, Graendal probably should have been harder to kill, but I think at the time Rand was dangerously close to becoming insane and merging completely with Lews Therin. At that time he had decided that he would cut all ties with any emotional purpose to better take on his enemy, as he would be very dangerous indeed. He could probably take on all the forsaken with that frame of mind. Although, luckily, he eventually decided to go back to his old self and actually care.
And WOT Fan, there the tower of the Raven is in the seanchan but they also have Towers of Midnight. I believe it is maybe a place of torture there, or for their male channelers or marath damane or something, its not mentioned much, i think like once, but it is in the land of the seanchan.
When in the land of the snakes and foxes isnt their some Towers seen out of the windows as Mat gets taken to see the snake people and again when he sees the fox people?
Zena, there are actually three towers in the land of the snakes and foxes. The tower he saw was either the one he has already been to or the one he hasnt been to im not sure.
it’s taken me four days to read the 12th book, and i think that brandons done a fine job, i’m not going to speculate on things that are left hanging.
the scope of the stories been way to big for that, you could go mad trying.
i can’t wait for the next two, but i wonder how i’ll feel when it’s all done, when the dust settles and the story ends.
like so many of you, i felt at a loss when mr jordan died, making my own embelishments, carrying the story on in my mind, what will i do when there’s no more???????
elsid — I will b happy bcoz after Mr.Jordan’s
Death we atleast got the story completed I think it has been dragged 2 much , by which i mean addition of New Spring and WOT 10 ,its not that i didnt like the 2 books but it would hav been better if he completed the story .
älskar den här serien. vet nån när 13 boken kommer?
English Please
Must obtain next book asap. finish finish finish. more than half of my literary life has been vested in this. i will weep when done, but i must finish finish finish. good job Sanderson. carry the light. hurry, take me to the last turn.
i understand what you’re saying about needing to have it finnished, but it’s just that there are so many loose ends, can they all be tied up in the last two books?
i thought new spring was a bit of a poor stop gap as well.
i so desperatley want to know but at the same time don’t want it to end.
Elsid—Can u name the loose ends?
Accordin 2 me tey are as follows
1.matt 2 rescue moirene
2.tie up betwn black and white tower & Cotl(children of the light)
3.dragon seanchan deal
4.borderlander talk wid dragon
5.reunity of the three ta’veren
These can be done in the 13th book
While 14th book can deal with only the fight against the Dark One
if i hav missed any loose threads then please mention it
shadow’sbane
you’ve forgotten the gholem for one, plus the land which is closed off to outsiders the name of which escapes me at the mo.
there’s also luc lan’s cousin who was probably the guy hunting in the wolf dream.
i’m pretty sure that min is supposed to figure out what the guy in cairhein was about to tell rand before he was killed, also perrin and mat have to fulfill min’s viewings not to mention others such as galad logain ond the rest.
i’d need to reread the series to remember the rest, but i’m sure there’s another couple.
ELSID
There are 7 Gho’lams 1 of them is after matt
accordin 2 me matt will deal wid him in book 13.
As for the rest of gho’lams they will be kept as a secret weapon for the time of return
2 fight against the aes sedai & asha’man
by ”guy in cairhein” do u mean the philosopher in one of rands school ,
Then rand has figured it out in wot 12 last chapter’s ”Veins of Gold’’second last and last page.
As for luc (Isam) perrin has defeated him once and can do it again,he is nothin 2 worry about he not a main character.
as 4 town closed 4 outsiders (Hinderstrap)
It must have been created due 2 a Bubble of evil.
Logain and marzaim taim comes under asha man.black towers which has dark friends in it is remaining to be cleansed .
While u rember white tower was cleansed in book 12.
Perrin ,Rand & Matt hav completed almost all of mins viewings .
Elsid can u give ur e-mail id its eaiser 2 talk dat way
your forgetting padan fain bud, although i’m not talking about the town hinderstrap, i’m talking about the land that has aes sedai who rule for seven years at a time, but i just can’t rmember the name.
where still waiting for the wheel to spin the hero’s back out of the pattern.
although i think olver will be giadal cain the legendary swordsman.
my e-mail address is elsid1975@hotmail.co.uk
RJ stated that Gaidal Cain is not the infamously ugly boy Olver O_O
though who else it could be i havnt got a clue. We also need the birth of Elaynes twins to be included in this discussion xD
Bout time we had a few little dragon reborns running around o_o
Hi Elsid,
This is Shadow’sBane,
Yeah u ver right i seemed 2 hav forgotten
Padan fain ,but i he will directly fight in the last battle
I hav no idea of this place u r takin about
As 4 the heroes frm age of legends 2 spin out
I dont think it will happen
Because it dat happens wat will be the use of horn of al vere .
Accordin robert jordan olver is not gaidal cain