spb/wp30_uqo

1{2  "document_id": "lb_hotpotqa_c47c8d3b1917f017cafaecbb4cddd6b92171854247957c08",3  "family": "public_hotpotqa",4  "split": "test",5  "text": "Passage 1:\nRed Branch (novel)\nRed Branch (ISBN 080410591X, 1989), by the Irish-American author Morgan Llywelyn, is a novel about the life of the Irish hero Cú Chulainn.  Red Branch novelizes several stories from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, including the well-known Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) and Deirdre (of the Sorrows).\nPassage 2:\nRobert Jordan\nJames Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan, was an American author of epic fantasy. He is known best for his series  The Wheel of Time (finished by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan's death) which comprises 14 books and a prequel novel. He is one of several writers to have written original Conan the Barbarian novels; his are considered by fans to be some of the best of the non-Robert E. Howard efforts. Jordan also published historical fiction using the pseudonym Reagan O'Neal, a western as Jackson O'Reilly, and dance criticism as Chang Lung. Jordan claimed to have ghostwritten an \"international thriller\" that is still believed to have been written by someone else.\n\nEarly life\nJordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He went to Clemson University after high school, but dropped out after one year and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War as a helicopter gunner. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with \"V\" and oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm.After returning from Vietnam in 1970, Jordan studied physics at The Citadel. He graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science degree and began working for the U.S. Navy as a nuclear engineer. He began writing in 1977.\n\nPersonal life\nRobert Jordan was a history buff and enjoyed hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool, and pipe-collecting. He described himself as a \"High church\" Episcopalian and received communion more than once a week. Politically, he described himself as a \"libertarian monarchist\". He lived with his wife, Harriet McDougal, who works as a book editor (currently with Tor Books; she was also Jordan's editor) in a house built in 1797. He listed John D. MacDonald, Jane Austen, Louis L'Amour, Charles Dickens, Robert A. Heinlein, Mark Twain and Montaigne as his favorite authors.\n\nIllness and death\nOn March 23, 2006, Jordan disclosed that he had been diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis and that, with treatment, his median life expectancy was four years. In a separate weblog post, he encouraged his fans not to worry about him and stated that he intended to have a long and creative life.He began chemotherapy at Mayo Clinic during early April 2006. He participated in a study of the drug Revlimid, which had been approved recently for multiple myeloma but not yet tested for primary amyloidosis.Jordan died on September 16, 2007, from complications stemming from Multiple Myeloma. His funeral service was on September 19, 2007. He was cremated and his ashes buried in the churchyard of St. James Church in Goose Creek, outside Charleston, South Carolina.Jordan's papers can be found in the special collections of the College of Charleston.\n\nSelected works\nThe Wheel of Time\nJordan published 11 books of 14 in the main sequence of the Wheel of Time series. Reviewers and fans of the earlier books noted a slowing of the pace of events in the last few installments written solely by Jordan owing to the expansion of the scale of the series as a whole. Because of his health problems, Jordan did not work at full force on the final installment A Memory of Light (later split into three volumes beginning with The Gathering Storm), but blog entries confirmed that he continued work on it until his death, and he shared all of the significant plot details with his family not long before he died. He maintained that in doing so the book would get published even if \"the worst actually happens\". On December 7, 2007, Tor Books announced that Brandon Sanderson had been chosen to finish the Wheel of Time series. Harriet McDougal, Jordan's widow, chose him after reading Mistborn: The Final Empire.\nAll paperback (PB) page totals given are for the most widely available mass-market paperback editions. The page count for the hardback (HB) editions does not include glossary or appendix page counts.\nThe World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time is an encyclopedia for the series about the unnamed world where the plot takes place, which is often referred to by fans of the series as the World of the Wheel. It is published in the United States by Tor Books and in the United Kingdom by Orbit Books. The bulk of the text was written by Teresa Patterson based on notes and information provided by Jordan, who also served as the overall editor on the project. While the information in the guide is broadly canonical, the book is deliberately written with vague, biased, or even downright false (or guessed) information in places, as Patterson felt this would reflect a key theme of the series (the mutability of knowledge across time and distance).\n\nConan the Barbarian\nJordan was one of several writers who has written Conan the Barbarian stories. When Tom Doherty obtained the rights, he needed a novel very quickly, so Jordan's wife Harriet McDougal recommended him because she knew he had written his first novel, Warriors of the Altaii, in thirteen days.\n\nSo he thought I could write something fast, and he was right, and I liked it. It was fun writing something completely over the top, full of purple prose, and in a weak moment I agreed to do five more and the novelization of the second Conan movie. I've decided that those things were very good discipline for me. I had to work with a character and a world that had already been created and yet find a way to say something new about the character and the world. That was a very good exercise.\nConan the Invincible (1982)\nConan the Defender (1982)\nConan the Unconquered (1983)\nConan the Triumphant (1983)\nConan the Magnificent (1984)\nConan the Destroyer (1984) (adaptation of the movie of the same title)\nConan the Victorious (1984)They were packed into two separate volumes par Conan the Destroyer:\n\nThe Conan Chronicles\nThe Further Chronicles of Conan (The Conan Chronicles II in the UK, different contents)Jordan also compiled a well-known Conan Chronology.\nPassage 3:\nLion of Ireland\nLion of Ireland, by the American-Irish author Morgan Llywelyn, is a novel about the life of the Irish hero and High King Brian Boru.\n\nPlot summary\nThe story begins with Brian as a child of around 8 or 9 and it ends with him as an 88-year-old man. The book shows his rise to power and his struggle to maintain it. His personal life is an important part of the plot, because Brian's war against Máel Mórda (leader of the Leinstermen) and Sihtric (king of Dublin) was to be inextricably connected with his complicated marital relations, in particular his marriage to Gormlaith, Máel Mórda's sister and Sihtric's mother, who had been in turn the wife of Amlaíb Cuarán, king of Dublin and York, then of Máel Sechnaill. Even though the book is based on a historical figure, most of it is fiction.\n\nFilm adaptation\nIn 2003, Ireland based RiverFilms proposed a film adaptation of the book as Braveheart and El Cid meet The Vikings.On March 4, 2019, it was announced in Deadline that a new movie adaptation was in the works. The series would be created by Irish author Michael Scott. The article was subsequently picked up the Sunday Times, and Irish Central who listed both Scott and BCDF Pictures as producers.\nPassage 4:\nList of locations in The Wheel of Time\nThe Wheel of Time is a series of high fantasy novels by American author Robert Jordan, with Brandon Sanderson as a co-author for the final three novels. Originally planned as a six-book series at its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time came to span 14 volumes, in addition to a prequel novel and two companion books. Jordan died in 2007 while working on what was planned to be the final volume in the series. He prepared extensive notes which enabled fellow fantasy author Brandon Sanderson to complete the final book, which grew into three volumes: The Gathering Storm (2009), Towers of Midnight (2010), and A Memory of Light (2013).\nThe series draws on numerous elements of both European and Asian mythology, most notably the cyclical nature of time found in Buddhism and Hinduism; the metaphysical concepts of balance, duality, and a respect for nature found in Taoism; the Abrahamic concepts of God and Satan; and Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.The Wheel of Time is notable for its length, detailed imaginary world, and magic system, and its large cast of characters. The eighth through fourteenth books each reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list. After its completion, the series was nominated for a Hugo Award. As of 2021, the series has sold over 90 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling epic fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings. Its popularity has spawned a collectible card game, a video game, a roleplaying game, and a soundtrack album. A TV series adaptation produced by Sony Pictures and Amazon Studios premiered in 2021.\n\nSetting\nThe series is set in a future unnamed world and that, due to the cyclical nature of time as depicted in the series, is simultaneously the distant past and the distant future Earth. Fans have come to refer to this world as Randland (from the name of the central character) or the World of the Wheel (cf. a section of the companion book The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time).\n\nPremise\nAt the dawn of time, a deity known as the Creator forged the universe and the Wheel of Time, which spins the Pattern of the Ages using the lives of men and women as its threads. The Wheel has seven spokes, each representing an age, and it is rotated by the One Power, which flows from the True Source. The One Power is divided into male and female halves, saidin and saidar, which work in opposition and in unison to drive the Wheel. Humans who can use its power are known as channelers; their principal organization is called the Aes Sedai or \"Servants of All\" in the Old Tongue.\nThe Creator imprisoned its antithesis, \"Shai'tan\", the Dark One, at the moment of creation, sealing him away from the Wheel. However, in a time called the Age of Legends, an Aes Sedai experiment inadvertently breached the Dark One's prison, allowing his influence to seep back into the world. He rallied the proud, the corrupt, and the ambitious to his cause and these servants began an effort to fully free the Dark One from his prison, so he might remake time and reality in his own image. In response to this threat, the Wheel spun out the Dragon, a channeler of immense power, to be a champion for the Light. In the Age of Legends, the Dragon was a man named Lews Therin Telamon, who eventually rose to command the Aes Sedai and their allies in the struggle against the Dark One's forces. After a grueling 10-year war, Lews Therin led his forces to victory in a daring assault on the volcano of Shayol Ghul (the site of the earthly link to the Dark One's prison) and was able to reseal the prison. However, at the moment of victory, the Dark One was able to taint saidin, driving male channelers of the One Power insane. Lews Therin killed his friends and family and then, by intentionally overloading himself with the One Power, killed himself. The other male channelers devastated the world with the One Power, unleashing earthquakes and tidal waves that reshaped the world. Eventually, the last male channeler was killed or cut off from the One Power, leaving the human race all but destroyed and only women able to wield the One Power safely. The Aes Sedai reconstituted and guided humanity out of this dark time. Mankind now lived under the shadow of a prophecy that the Dark One would break free from his prison and the Dragon would be reborn to fight him once more, and although he is humanity's only hope against the Dark One, he would devastate the world a second time in the process.\nAfter a span of three thousand years, the human race has rebuilt a level of technology roughly comparable to that of the Late Middle Ages or Early Modern Era, though with a higher level of general education and understanding of hygiene and anatomy, but nevertheless an almost complete lack of formal science, industrial production, and academic institutions. This can be traced to the post-apocalyptic nature of the world, where much knowledge has survived, but the structures and institutions that made that knowledge possible were destroyed. One major difference from our history is that women enjoy full equality with men in most societies, and are superior in some. This is attributed to the power and prestige of the female-only Aes Sedai influencing the larger society.\nSeveral major wars have ravaged the main continent since the defeat of the Dark One, such as the Trolloc Wars, when the surviving servants of the Dark One tried to destroy civilization once more but were defeated by an alliance of nations led by the Aes Sedai; and the War of the Hundred Years, a devastating civil war that followed the fall of a continent-spanning empire ruled by the high king, Artur Hawkwing. These wars have prevented the human race from regaining the power and high technology of the Age of Legends and also left humanity divided. Even the prestige of the Aes Sedai has fallen, with their shrinking numbers and the emergence of rival organizations such as the Children of the Light, a military order who believe that all who channel the One Power are servants of the Shadow. The nations of the modern era are able to unite in defense against the warrior-clans of the Aiel, who cross into the western kingdoms on a mission of vengeance after they suffer a grievous insult, but are too divided to work effectively together in other areas.\n\nPlot summary\nThe prequel novel, New Spring, takes place during the Aiel War and chronicles the end of the conflict. The Aes Sedai discover that the Prophecies of the Dragon have been fulfilled and the Dragon has been Reborn. Aes Sedai agents are dispatched to try to find the newborn child before servants of the Shadow can do the same.\nThe series proper commences almost 20 years later in the Two Rivers district of the kingdom of Andor, a near-forgotten backwater place. A young sheep herder named Rand al’Thor (the series protagonist) and his father Tam al’Thor travel to the nearby town of Emond's Field to deliver cider. Rand, keen to further explore his romance with the mayor's daughter, Egwene al’Vere, becomes caught up with an Aes Sedai called Moiraine Damodred, and her Warder, Lan, after his father sustains a serious wound. Rand and his friends, Matrim \"Mat\" Cauthon and Perrin Aybara discover from Moiraine that servants of the Dark One are searching for one particular young man living in the area. Unfortunately, Moiraine is unable to determine which of three men it is: Rand himself, Mat, or Perrin, and so takes all three of them out of the Two Rivers district along with his romantic interest Egwene (whom Moiraine has determined can channel the One Power and would teach to be Aes Sedai) and the village \"Wisdom\" (a local healer) Nynaeve al'Meara after a terrible battle with creatures created by The Dark One. The first novel depicts their flight from various agents of the Shadow and their attempts to escape to the Aes Sedai city of Tar Valon.\nFrom then, the story expands and protagonist Rand, as well as the other characters, are frequently split into different groups, pursuing different missions or agendas aimed at furthering the cause of the Dragon Reborn, sometimes thousands of miles apart. Broadly speaking, the original group of characters from the Two Rivers make new allies, gain experience, and become figures of some influence and authority. As they struggle to unite the western kingdoms against the Dark One's forces, their task is complicated by rulers of the nations who refuse to give up their authority and by factions such as the Children of the Light, who do not believe in the prophecies, and the Seanchan, the people of a long-lost colony of Artur Hawkwing's empire across the western ocean who have returned, believing it is their destiny to conquer the world. The Aes Sedai also become divided between those who believe the Dragon Reborn should be strictly controlled and those who believe he must lead them into battle as he did in the earlier war. As the story expands, new characters representing different factions are introduced; although this expansion of the narrative allows the sheer scale of the growing struggle to be effectively depicted, it has been criticized for slowing the pace of the novels and sometimes reducing the appearances of the original or main cast to extended cameos.\nBy the sixth novel, it has become clear that the Last Battle, caused when the Dark One is able to exert its influence directly on the world once more, is imminent, as only three Seals (keys to the Dark One's prison) are intact. Once the remaining Seals break, the Dark One will be free to touch the world. The Last Battle, Tarmon Gai'don, is depicted in the fourteenth and final novel in the series, A Memory of Light.\n\nBooks in the series\nAll paperback (PB) page totals given are for the most widely available mass-market paperback editions. The page count for the hardback (HB) editions does not include a glossary or appendix, page counts.\nIn 2002 the first book, The Eye of the World, was repackaged as two volumes with new illustrations for younger readers: From the Two Rivers, including an extra chapter (Ravens) before the existing prologue, and To the Blight with an expanded glossary. In 2004 the same was done with The Great Hunt, with the two parts being The Hunt Begins and New Threads in the Pattern.\n\nPrologue eBooks\nOn several occasions, chapters from various books in the series were released several months in advance of publication. These were released in eBook format as promotional tools for the then-upcoming release.\nThe prologue eBook releases included:\n\nSnow: The Prologue to Winter's Heart (September 2000)\nGlimmers: The Prologue to Crossroads of Twilight (July 17, 2002)\nEmbers Falling on Dry Grass: The Prologue to Knife of Dreams (July 22, 2005).\nWhat the Storm Means: The Prologue to The Gathering Storm (September 17, 2009).\nChapter 1 of The Gathering Storm, Tears from Steel, was released free on Friday September 4, 2009 on Tor.com\nChapter 2 of The Gathering Storm, The Nature of Pain, was released in Audio form free on Thursday September 24, 2009 on Tor.com\nDistinctions: The Prologue to Towers of Midnight (Tuesday September 21, 2010).\nChapter 1 of Towers of Midnight, Apples First, was released free on Friday October 1, 2010 on Tor.com\nChapter 2 of Towers of Midnight, Questions of Leadership was released in Audio form free on Tuesday October 19, 2010\nChapter 8 of Towers of Midnight, The Seven-Striped Lass (on September 16, 2010, Chapter 8, The Seven-Striped Lass, was revealed as part of The Great Hunt scavenger hunt setup by Brandon on his website beginning August 30, 2010 in relation to his new book: The Way of Kings).\nBy Grace And Banners Fallen: The Prologue to A Memory Of Light (Wednesday September 19, 2012).\nA segment of chapter 1 of A Memory Of Light was released in mid-2012 on Dragonmount.com\nA segment of chapter 11 of A Memory Of Light was similarly released publicly in mid-2012 on Dragonmount.com\n\nShort stories\nJordan wrote two short stories within the franchise in the late 1990s. The first, The Strike at Shayol Ghul, predates the main series by several thousand years. It was made available on the Internet and was later published in The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. Jordan also wrote a short story entitled New Spring, for the 1998 Legends anthology edited by Robert Silverberg. Jordan later expanded this into the stand-alone novel New Spring that was published in January 2004.\nDuring Brandon Sanderson's work on A Memory of Light, two sections of the book were cut and later published as short stories in anthologies. The first, River of Souls, was published in Unfettered: Tales by Masters of Fantasy (2013). The second, A Fire Within the Ways was published in Unfettered III in 2019. Unlike \"River of Souls\", \"A Fire Within the Ways\" is not considered canon.\n\nEncyclopedic works\nTor Books published a companion book to the series, entitled The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, in November 1997, which contains much hitherto unrevealed background information about the series including the first maps of the entire world and the Seanchan home continent. Jordan co-authored the book with Teresa Patterson. Jordan ruled the book broadly canonical but stated that it was written from the perspective of an historian within The Wheel of Time universe and was prone to errors of bias and guesswork.On November 3, 2015, The Wheel of Time Companion: The People, Places, and History of the Bestselling Series was released in hardback format, written by Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons from Tor Books. Alan Romanczuk and Maria Simons were Robert Jordan's editorial assistants. The book is an encapsulating glossary of the entire series. The authors began compiling material for the volume as early as 2005, and the final book was released after the series' conclusion.Origins of The Wheel of Time by Michael Livingston was released on November 8, 2022.\n\nDevelopment\nWriting and conception\nThe novel proved extremely difficult to write because characters and storylines changed considerably during the writing process. The series was originally centered on an older man who discovered relatively late in life that he was the 'chosen one' who had to save the world. However, Jordan deliberately decided to move closer to the tone and style of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and made the characters younger and less experienced. Once this decision had been made, writing proceeded much more easily and Jordan completed the second volume, The Great Hunt, at roughly the same time the first book was published.Jordan wrote full-time at breakneck speed for the next several years until he completed the seventh volume, A Crown of Swords, at which point he slowed down, delivering a book every two years. Fans objected when he took some time off to expand a short story into a prequel novel called New Spring, so he decided to shelve his plans for additional prequels in favor of finishing off the last two volumes in the series. He rejected criticisms of the later volumes of the series slowing down in pace in order to concentrate on minor secondary characters at the expense of the main characters from the opening volumes but acknowledged that his structure for the tenth volume, Crossroads of Twilight (where he showed a major scene from the prior book, Winter's Heart, from the perspective of the main characters that were not involved in the scene), had not worked out as he had planned. Knife of Dreams, the eleventh volume, had a much more positive reception from critics and fans alike and Jordan announced the twelfth volume, which he had previously announced would have the working title A Memory of Light, would conclude the series. According to Forbes, Jordan had intended for it to be the final book \"even if it reaches 2,000 pages.\"\n\nJordan's death, and completion by Sanderson\nJordan was diagnosed with the terminal heart disease primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy in December 2005, and while he intended to finish at least A Memory of Light even if the \"worse comes to worst,\" he made preparations in case he was not able to complete the book: \"I'm getting out notes, so if the worst actually happens, someone could finish A Memory of Light and have it end the way I want it to end.\"With Jordan's death on September 16, 2007, the conclusion of the series was in question. On December 7, of that year the publisher Tor Books announced that fantasy author Brandon Sanderson was to finish A Memory of Light. Sanderson, a longtime fan of the series, was chosen by Jordan's widow Harriet McDougal partly because she liked Sanderson's novels and partly because of a eulogy he had written for Jordan.On March 30, 2009, Tor Books announced that A Memory of Light would be split into three volumes, with Brandon Sanderson citing timing and continuity reasons. By his estimate in early 2009, the book would have taken several years to write and would have reached 800,000 words. McDougal doubted that Jordan could have concluded it in a single volume. The three volumes were published from 2009 to 2013,  as The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light, with the last book using Jordan's title.\n\nAfter A Memory of Light\nPrior to his death, Jordan had often discussed adding an additional two prequels and an 'outrigger' sequel trilogy. In a Q&A following the release of A Memory of Light, Sanderson ruled out the completion of these works; Jordan had left very little in the way of notes for these additional novels – only two sentences in the case of the sequel trilogy.Sanderson went on to release two cut portions of A Memory of Light as short stories. These were released in Unfettered anthologies, part of a charitable endeavour to support authors and artists with medical debt. River of Souls, a canonical segment removed from the published book due to pacing, was released in the first volume in 2013. A Fire in the Ways, a non-canon alternate sequence of events around the climax of the final book, was included in the third volume in 2019. A glossary to the series, The Wheel of Time Companion was released in 2015.\n\nThemes and influences\nThe Wheel of Time is a novel from the modern fantasy genre, specifically high fantasy. The book is set in a world that is simultaneously the distant past and distant future of the real world, as a result of time being cyclical rather than linear. The opening of the first book establishes the concept:\n\nThe Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose...Jordan acknowledged the influence of J. R. R. Tolkien, including deliberately modelling the setting of the first chapters on the Shire in The Lord of the Rings. Concepts drawn from Abrahamic religions include the duality between good and evil and between \"Creator\" (Light) and Shai'tan, \"The Dark One\" (Shaitan is an Arabic word that, in Islamic contexts, is used as a name for the Devil or Satan). Other influences include Arthurian legends, Norse mythology and Irish mythology, as well as real life history.In addition, Jordan also drew influences from Eastern mythology, which was rare for a Western fantasy series. The concept of a wheel of time was drawn from Hinduism. Versions of the concept include the Yuga cycle in Hinduism and Kalachakra in Buddhism. The series was also influenced by the concepts of reincarnation and balance, and the symbol of the Aes Sedai resembles the yin and yang.\nFate is an important theme to the series. The series explores in great detail the implications of a common fantasy premise, in which an ordinary boy on the verge of adulthood discovers he is fated to lead a major struggle. It also deals with the divide between fate and free will. Some major characters are ta'veren, who have exceptional abilities to influence the course of history in a tumultuous period, but even they can only go so far as permitted by \"The Pattern\" that is being set by the Wheel of Time.\nThe series also featured alternative portrayals of the role of gender in society. The nature of magic in its world means that only women can safely use it. This disparity influences the power dynamics at multiple levels of its societies, including familial, communal and political levels; many of its societies are ruled by women.\n\nAdaptations\nComic books\nIn 2004, Jordan sold the film, television, video game, and comic rights to the series to production company Red Eagle Entertainment. Dabel Brothers began adapting the series in comic book form, starting with the prequel New Spring in July 2005. The series initially ran on a monthly schedule, but then went on a three-year hiatus after the fifth issue. Red Eagle cited delays and changes to the creative team on the DB Pro end. The final three issues were ultimately completed and published in 2009–10.\nIn 2009 Dabel moved on to their adaptation of the first book of the series proper, The Eye of the World. On March 17, 2009, they showcased ten pages of art from the prelude to the series \"The Wheel of Time: Eye of the World #0 – Dragonmount\" on their website. Dynamite Entertainment published 35 issues of Robert Jordon's The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World comic book series, which concluded in March 2013.When asked in a 2013 interview about whether the comics would continue their run, Harriet McDougal replied \"Well, eventually, [we'll] do the whole thing, unless it stops selling in a dreadful way. In other words, I don't really know.\" The 43 New Spring and Eye of the World comics were later collected together and released as a series of six graphic novels, the last of which was released in February 2015.\n\nGames\nThere is a Wheel of Time MUD, identified as such or by the initialism WoTMUD, which is based on a world like that of the Wheel of Time but set in a time frame around 30 world years prior.  It has been in operation almost continuously since 1993. Notably, the WoTMUD had gained written permission from the author to use his creation including all but major characters.A Wheel of Time computer game was released in 1999. Over the course of the game, Aes Sedai must track down a robber following an assault on the White Tower, and prevent the Dark One from being released prematurely. She eventually learns of and executes a long-forgotten ritual at Shayol Ghul to ensure the Dark Lord remains sealed within the prison. While Robert Jordan was consulted in the creation of the game, he did not write the storyline himself, and the game is not considered canon.The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game was released in 2001 from Wizards of the Coast using the d20 rules developed for the third edition of the Dungeons and Dragons game. The game had a single adventure module published in 2002, Prophecies of the Dragon. Shortly after the release of the adventure book Wizards of the Coast announced they would not be releasing any further products for the game. Robert Jordan cited some problems with the roleplaying game, such as storyline details in the adventure module that contradicted the books.In early 2009 EA Games announced that they had bought the rights for a MMORPG, with the plan to publish it through the EA Partners-Program. The following year Obsidian Entertainment announced that they would be working on the project, for a PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC release. However, the project was seemingly dropped around 2014.\n\nMusic\nIn 1999, A Soundtrack for the Wheel of Time was released, featuring music by Robert Berry and inspired by the books.\nThe German power metal band Blind Guardian have written two songs dedicated to the Wheel of Time series as part of their 2010 album At the Edge of Time: \"Ride into Obsession\" and \"Wheel of Time\". Swedish heavy metal band Katana also wrote a song, entitled \"The Wisdom of Emond's Field\", on their 2012 album Storms of War. The American power metal band Noble Beast, on their 2014 album of the same name, wrote a song entitled \"The Dragon Reborn\", in reference to Rand al'Thor. The American black metal band Shaidar Logoth takes its name from an adaptation of the city of Shadar Logoth, and lyrically expands on the character Padan Fain. The Austrian metal band Dragony, on their 2018 album \"Masters of the Multiverse\", released the song \"Flame of Tar Valon\", referencing the Amyrlin Seat. The Swedish metal band Freternia, on their 2019 album \"The Gathering\", released the song \"Reborn\", referencing the Dragon Reborn, Rand al'Thor. The American band Lyra wrote the song \"The Sword That Could Not Be Broken\", about the history of Manetheren, as well as the song \"Betrayer of Hope\", in reference to Ishamael. The Dread Crew of Oddwood produced the song \"The Gleeman\", which refers to Thom's battle with a Myrddraal in Whitebridge. The Scottish metal band Farseer, on their 2016 album \"Fall Before the Dawn\", released the song \"Luck of the Joker\", which references the most important events that happen to Matrim Cauthon during the whole series.In the tradition of the literature-inspired symphonic poem, American composer Seth Stewart produced a full-scale orchestral work entitled \"Age of Legends\", inspired by the eponymous era of myth and magic described throughout the Wheel of Time series. The orchestral piece was premiered and recorded in 2011 at the Beall Concert Hall.\n\nTelevision and film\nIn a 2000 chat on CNN.com, Robert Jordan mentioned that NBC had purchased an option to do a miniseries of The Eye of the World. But he expressed doubts that the series would be made stating \"key people involved in getting that contract together have left NBC.\" The series was optioned by Universal Pictures in 2008 for film adaptations, with plans to adapt The Eye of the World as the first film. Neither project ultimately emerged.\nIn February 2015, Red Eagle Entertainment paid air time to cable network FXX to air Winter Dragon, a  low-budget 22-minute pilot for a potential The Wheel of Time series that allowed Red Eagle to hold on to the rights to the series. The pilot, based on the prologue to The Eye of the World, starred Max Ryan as Lews Therin Thelamon and Billy Zane as Ishamael and aired after Midnight with no announcements or publicity. Harriet McDougal initially stated she was unaware of the show ahead of time, and that the film rights to The Wheel of Time were set to revert to the Bandersnatch Group, her company, a few days later on February 11, 2015. Her comments triggered a slander lawsuit with Red Eagle, which was ultimately dismissed during settlement talks that July. In an interview with io9, Red Eagle Entertainment's CEO Rick Selvage stated \"it was more of an [issue of] getting it on the air.\"  A spokesman for FXX stated that the channel was paid to air the show, but Selvage hinted that it was indeed produced with a future series in mind. \"We think there's huge demand for the television series internationally, and we're looking forward to producing it and getting it out in the marketplace.\"On April 29, 2016, Harriet McDougal confirmed that the legal issues had been resolved and that a TV series was in development. Further details emerged on 20 April 2017, when it was announced that Sony Pictures Television would be handling the adaptation, with Rafe Judkins as writer and executive producer. In February 2018, Amazon Studios revealed that it had struck a deal with Sony Pictures Television to co-develop the series for distribution on Amazon's video streaming service. The series was formally greenlit in October 2018. Production began in late 2019, but was hindered in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series premiered on 19 November 2021.\n\nFan culture\nMany fans of The Wheel of Time attend Dragon Con, which had an exclusive Wheel of Time content track from 2001 through 2012. The Wheel of Time now has its own annual convention, JordanCon, which has been held annually in Atlanta, Georgia, since 2009. The 2020 convention was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, it took place over the Internet, some aspects being held through the use of the Zoom platform. The 2023 convention in April was the 15th anniversary of the founding of JordanCon.\nIn 2022, a new convention titled WoT Con, took place in Dublin, OH. This convention was created to be dedicated to the world of the Wheel of Time in all media aspects: novels, social media, and the television show. The second convention will take place July 14-16, 2023.\nPassage 5:\nThe World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time\nThe World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time is an encyclopedia for the bestselling The Wheel of Time epic fantasy series of novels by Robert Jordan about the unnamed world where the plot takes place, which is often referred by fans of the series as the World of the Wheel. It is published in the United States by Tor Books and in the United Kingdom by Orbit Books. The bulk of the text was written by Teresa Patterson based on notes and information provided by Jordan, who also serves as overall editor on the project. While the information in the guide is broadly canonical, the book is deliberately written with vague, biased, or even downright false (or guessed) information in places, as Patterson felt this would reflect a key theme of the series (the mutability of knowledge across time and distance).\n\nPublication history\nThe book has been printed in several formats. The original release on 6 November 1997 was a large-format hardback with a predominantly white cover. This led to the book being dubbed 'The Big White Book' by fans. Some additional fans, citing poor quality of the internal illustrations, have dubbed the volume \"The Big Book With Bad Art\". This edition of the book runs to 304 pages. The book was reprinted in a slightly different edition of the same size a year later. This edition has a different cover (a map of the Westlands) and the gallery has been expanded to include the cover of the eighth novel, The Path of Daggers, which was released at the same time. A large-format paperback edition followed in November 1999. On 6 June 2002 Orbit re-released the book as a 461-page mass-market paperback, stripped of all illustrations apart from the maps. This is the 'current' UK edition.\n\nDescription\nThe book is an attempt to fill in the enormous backstory of The Wheel of Time novels and also serves as 'guidebook' to the world presented in the books. The original large-editions of the book were presented with full-colour art by Todd Cameron Hamilton and includes maps by Ellisa Mitchell, John M. Ford and Thomas Canty. The covers of the novels, painted by Darrell K. Sweet, were also included. The mass-market paperback editions only include the Mitchell, Ford, and Canty maps, however. The original artwork by Hamilton was fiercely criticised on release.The book consists of six sections, outlined as follows:\n\nThe Wheel and the Power: a description and explanation of The Wheel of Time, the True Source and the One Power, the relationships between the three, and how they are tapped and used.\nThe Age of Legends: a historical overview of the Age of Legends, the War of the Shadow and the Breaking of the World. Includes biographies and character studies of the thirteen Forsaken and information on the Friends of the Dark and Shadowspawn.\nThe World Since the Breaking: a historical overview of events since the Breaking, including the founding of the White Tower and the rise of the Ten Nations, the Trolloc Wars, the rise of Artur Hawkwing in the War of the Second Dragon, the colonisation of Seanchan, the War of the Hundred Years, the start of the New Era, the Whitecloak War, and the Aiel War.\nNarrative Paintings: the cover artwork for the first seven (expanded to eight in later editions) novels in the series. This section is missing from mass-market paperback editions of the book.\nThe World of the Wheel: a gazetteer to the world of the novels, including information on Shara, Seanchan, the Aiel Waste, the Land of the Madmen, and the Ogier. A map of the whole world is shown, along with a more detailed map of Shara and the Aiel Waste, and another of the Seanchan home continent. Information on history, customs, and the Seanchan exotic animals is also included.\nWithin the Land: focuses on the fourteen nations and the major city-states that make up the main continent shown in the books, featuring information on holidays, prophecies, military forces, governments, trade, and the influence of the Aes Sedai.\nPassage 6:\nMorgan Llywelyn\nMorgan Llywelyn (born December 3, 1937) is an American-Irish historical interpretation author of historical and mythological fiction and historical non-fiction. Her interpretation of mythology and history has received several awards and has sold more than 40 million copies, and she herself is recipient of the 1999 Exceptional Celtic Woman of the Year Award from Celtic Women International.\n\nBiography\nLlywelyn was born Sally Snyder in New York in 1937. She was the daughter of Joseph John (an attorney) and she attended high school in Dallas. In her teens, Llywelyn moved to the Dallas area, where she developed a love of horses. By the age of 16, Llywelyn was competing in professional horse shows across the United States. By age 18, she modeled for Neiman Marcus and Arthur Murray. After 15 years of experience as a horse trainer and instructor, she tried out for and narrowly missed making the 1976 United States Olympic Team in dressage. She was instead shortlisted, missing the cut off score by .05 percent.With her mother's encouragement and a successfully published article on horse training, she refocused her efforts in tracing the Llywelyn family history and eventually made a career out of writing historical novels that allowed the exploration of her Celtic roots. In reference to this career change, Llywelyn had this to say:\n\nI have a strong strain of Welsh on my mother's side, which does indeed go back to Llywelyn ap Iorwerth. And Llywelyn the Great! (We have the proven genealogy from the College of Heralds.) She was very proud of her royal Welsh connection. That is why she was so interested in genealogy in the first place, and inspired me to get involved as well ... leading in turn to THE WIND FROM HASTINGS. But both my parents were predominantly Irish – my father totally so – and I spent half the years of my childhood here. So I have always been much more interested in Ireland and its history and legends.\nLlywelyn has received several awards for her works. She received the Novel of the Year Award from the National League of American Penwomen for her novel, The Horse Goddess, as well as the Woman of the Year Award from the Irish-American Heritage Committee for Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish. The latter award was presented to her by Ed Koch, then-mayor of New York City.Although Llywelyn's grandparents have their roots in Ireland, it was only after the death of her parents and her husband in 1985 that she relocated to Ireland. Llywelyn now lives outside Dublin and has become an Irish citizen.In 1990, Llywelyn began her focus on writing books geared for younger readers. These works started with Brian Boru: Emperor of the Irish, for which she won an Irish Children's Book Trust Bisto Award in 1991, and includes other titles, such as Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife, for which she won a Bisto Award in the Historical Fiction category, 1993 and the Reading Association of Ireland Award, 1993, and Star Dancer, which departed from her usual Celtic topic and was centered on her experiences with dressage. Further works include The Vikings in Ireland, an exploration of when the Norsemen arrived in Ireland, and Pirate Queen, a younger reader's version of the story of Grace O'Malley, told through letters from Granuaile to her beloved son.\n\nBibliography\nNovels and short fiction collections\n1978 The Wind from Hastings, Tor Books, ISBN 9781429983563\n1980 Lion of Ireland, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765302571\n1983 The Horse Goddess, Tor Books, ISBN 9781429983464\n1984 Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish, Tor Books, ISBN 9780765334886 \n1984 Personal Habits, Doubleday\n1986 Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas, Forge Books, ISBN 9781429920636\n1987 Xerxes, Chelsea House Publications, ISBN 0877544476\n1989 The Isles of the Blest, Olmstead Press, ISBN 9781587541131\n1989 Red Branch, Ivy Books, ISBN 9780804105910\n1990 Brian Boru: Emperor of the Irish, Tor Books, ISBN 9780812544619\n1989 On Raven's Wing, Mandarin, ISBN 9780749302054\n1991 Druids, Del Rey, ISBN 9780804108447\n1992 The Last Prince of Ireland: A Novel, W. Morrow, ISBN 9780688107949\n1992 O'Sullivan's March\n1993 The Elementals, Tor Books, ISBN 9780312855680\n1993 Star Dancer, The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9780862783310\n1994 Finn Mac Cool, Forge Books, ISBN 9781250754226  \n1995 Cold Places\n1995 Ireland: A Graphic History (with Michael Scott)\n1995 Silverhand (Arcana, Book 1; with Michael Scott), Baen, ISBN 9780671877286\n1996 19 Railway Street (with Michael Scott), Poolbeg Press Ltd, ISBN 9781853716423\n1996 The Vikings in Ireland\n1996 Strongbow: The Story of Richard & Aoife, The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9780862782740\n1996 Silverlight (Arcana, Book 2; with Michael Scott)\n1996 Pride of Lions\n1998 1916, A Novel Of the Irish Rebellion, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765386144 \n1999 The Essential Library for Irish Americans\n2000 Etruscans (with Michael Scott), Tor Books, ISBN 9780312875510\n2000 A Pocket History of Irish Rebels\n2000 The Earth Is Made Of Stardust, Borgo Press, ISBN 9781587151590\n2001 1921, The War for Independence, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765326935 \n2001 Granuaile, The Pirate Queen (republished as Pirate Queen in 2006), The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9780862789749\n2003 1949, The Irish Republic, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765381347\n2005 1972, A Novel of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765381330\n2006 The Greener Shore: A Novel of the Druids of Hibernia, Del Rey, ISBN 9780345477675, 0345477677\n2006 The Young Rebels, The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9780862785796\n2006 The History of Irish Rebels\n2006 The Vikings in Ireland\n2008 1999 - A Novel of the Celtic Tiger and the Search for Peace, Forge Books, ISBN 9781429927062\n2010 Brendan - The Remarkable Life and Voyage of Brendan of Clonfert, Forge Books, ISBN 9780312860998\n2012 Cave of Secrets, The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9781847172075\n2013 After Rome, Forge Books, ISBN 9781429987400 \n2014 1014: Brian Boru & the Battle for Ireland, Dover Publications, ISBN 9780486842004\n2016 Only the Stones Survive, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765337931 \n2018 Drop by Drop, Tor Books, ISBN 9781250245311 \n2019 Step by Step\n2020 Inch by Inch, Tor Books, ISBN 9781250245328 \n2021 Breath by Breath, Tor Books, ISBN 9780765388728\n\nAwards\nPassage 7:\nGrania: She-King of the Irish Seas\nGrania: She-King of the Irish Seas is a 1986 historical fiction novel about Grace O'Malley (Irish: Gráinne Ní Mháille), the so-called \"Sea Queen of Connemara\", by American-born Irish author Morgan Llywelyn. Llywelyn's novel is a heavily fictionalized account of O'Malley's life, with the author having created characters as needed for the plot of the story. The novel was the basis for the 2007 Broadway musical The Pirate Queen.\nPassage 8:\nPride of Lions (novel)\nPride of Lions (ISBN 9780812536508, 1996), by the American-Irish author Morgan Llywelyn, is a novel about the lives of the children of Irish hero and High King Brian Boru, particularly his son, Donough, after the Battle of Clontarf. It is a sequel to Lion of Ireland published in 1980.\nPassage 9:\nBard: The Odyssey of the Irish\nBard: The Odyssey of the Irish is a 1984 historical fantasy novel by Morgan Llywelyn. It depicts the migration of Galicians to Ireland, led by Amergin the bard and the Sons of the Mil. It is loosely based on the Early Irish Lebor Gabála Érenn or The Book of Invasions found in several medieval manuscripts.\n\nPlot summary\nOfficial tagline: \"The sweeping historical tale of the coming of the Irish to Ireland, and of the men and women who made the Emerald Isle their own.\"\nIn the 4th century BC a group of Gaelic speaking people living in the northwest of Iberia, the Galicians, are waning in prosperity. A group of Phoenician traders unexpectedly arrives and gives hope to the tribe.\nThe story follows Amergin, druid and chief bard of the Galicians, and his brothers; Éremón, Colptha, Éber Finn, Donn, and Ír - all sons of Milesios. After years of declining prosperity, the Gaelicians hope that the Phoenician traders, led by Age-Nor, will help bring them back. Unfortunately, neither side has anything of much worth to trade.\nAt a reception in the Heroes' Hall, Age-Nor is attacked by Ír, while Milesios is asleep and unaware. Amergin uses his bardic talent to entrance Ír, thus saving Age-Nor.\nLater in the novel, Age-Nor rewards Amergin, despite the bard's vehement protests, by giving him a servant, a shipwright named Sakkar, and regaling him with a tale of a fabled land to the north, Ierne. After a series of mishaps and bad decisions, it is eventually decided that a group of the Gaelicians, led by the Sons of the Mil, will settle this land.\nThe tribe builds a series of ships with the help of Sakkar, and set sail.\nWhen they arrive on Ierne, they are confronted by the mysterious Tuatha Dé Danann, People of the Goddess Danu. After a battle, the Dananns vanish with no trace, leaving Ierne for the Milesians after Éiru (A Goddess of the Tuatha De Dannan) hands over Ireland to Amergin for it was foretold.\n\nExternal links\nMorgan Llywelyn\nPassage 10:\nFinn Mac Cool (novel)\nFinn Mac Cool is a 1994 novel by the Irish-American author Morgan Llywelyn. It is based on the Fenian Cycle about the Irish hero Finn Mac Cool and the fianna. Terri Windling described it as \"a skilfully crafted Irish novel . . . in the shadowy realm between history and mythology\".",6  "char_len": 49479,7  "document_hash": "5a8276f632600eb03de10e0557fcfae1628fb08efc77d44051acbde058366a0d",8  "questions": [9    {10      "question_id": "q00",11      "qtype": "hotpotqa",12      "question": "Who was born first,  Morgan Llywelyn or Robert Jordan?"13    }14  ]15}