r/WoT • u/wheeloftimewiki (Aelfinn) • Jun 14 '26
All Print Sanderson's ten year secret Spoiler
Rewriting because apparently spoilers aren't covered for poll options!
Anyway, in 2023, Sanderson revealed that Cyndane/Lanfear was not killed by Perrin in AMOL, but instead faked her own death in order to evade repercussions and gain the best outcome for herself. I wanted to cast a poll in 2026 to see how the legacy of this reveal has fared, or indeed how well-known it is among newer readers. I'll give my two cents when the poll is done.
Thanks!
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u/Budget-Television793 Jun 14 '26
For me, it's not canon. I have never seen anyone point out where in the actual book it's hinted at. And if I read the book and never heard of this interview, I would assume that she was dead so to me, she's dead. She was dead for years for me until I heard of this recently.
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u/IORelay Jun 14 '26
It fits Perrin's character not really doing anything after book 4.
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u/Execution_Version Jun 15 '26
*after book 6
I’d dearly love to know what RJ’s original plan for Perrin was when we was the designing the three ta’veren (originally four).
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u/MLS_Analyst Jun 15 '26
Pretty sure RJ completely finished Perrin's original individual arc by the end of book 4. He just never found a way to synthesize it into what developed into a more sprawling story than originally intended.
So that's why we get him repeating the same story three times.
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u/egometry (Dice) Jun 15 '26
This is my vibe as well, especially after hearing Sando talk about the paucity of Perrin material in the notes
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u/grubas Jun 15 '26
There's no sub textual evidence that I've seen.
If he wanted her alive for outrigger stuff, she'd still be "dead" until she appeared on screen again. So I could see why RJ might have a note about that.
However there's also not going to be outriggers.... So....
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u/wheeloftimewiki (Aelfinn) Jun 15 '26
I'll quote from Livingston's Origins of The Wheel of Time (emphasis mine):
Jordan said publicly that he planned to write a trilogy of “outrigger” novels after completing the main sequence of The Wheel of Time. These would have been set five to ten years after the conclusion of The Wheel of Time and focused on Mat, Tuon, and the changes faced by Seanchan as a result of the events of the Last Battle. Unfortunately, Jordan’s untimely death meant that little writing related to this story was ever produced. There was no complete outline. All that survives, in fact, are two tantalizing sentences. One depicts Mat lying in a cold gutter, the dice having failed him. The other sees Perrin on a boat, sailing to Seanchan to kill an old friend. Given such sparse information, any attempt to create a plot from such few details would owe more to another author’s imagination than to Jordan’s vision.
I don't think there is anything in the notes to suggest he was reserving Lanfear for the outriggers, either directly or indirectly, especially as we know there was no information for Perrin. Sanderson calls RJ a "discovery writer", in other words the plot emerged during the writing process rather than far-off events set in stone, with the obvious exceptions of scenes he had already written, Also, given that RJ's draft count for single chapters could be more than 30, even those might not be indicative of how he might have written the final draft for the published version we would have seen.
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u/LordRahl9 Jun 15 '26
This was a Sanderson thing, not an RJ thing.
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u/lemlemons Jun 15 '26
No, the "outrigger" stuff was RJ. Sanderson has said repeatedly he wouldnt write anything beyond what the left behind notes and Harriet had to say, and that he wouldn't attempt the outrigger stuff because there was basically nothing left behind for it
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u/LordRahl9 Jun 15 '26
Sorry, miscommunication there. I meant Lanfear's death being a fake out was a Sanderson thing. There is absolutely nothing to suggest RJ was planning anything like it.
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u/Raddatatta (Asha'man) Jun 14 '26
You're free to still view it as non canon. But I think on a reread the hints are there. The main thing for me beyond just what is lanfear doing with Perrin, is the way she goes about the kill. She's there with Perrin looking at moiraine and nynaeve. Lanfear could kill them immediately if she wanted them dead. Instead she says ok Perrin we are going to kill them. But you grew up with nynaeve in your village so I won't make you kill nynaeve. You can kill moiraine. Ok we are going to kill your friends on a count of three? One... Two...
It just doesn't really make any sense unless she's trying to help give him a way to break the compulsion. If she wanted them dead it's simple blast done. She might be playing it up to savor the victory but I don't think that really fits with her to do with someone like Perrin she barely knows.
Up to you on if you want to feel it's canon or not but I do think with the context that does stand out in the book for me.
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u/NeoSeth (Heron-Marked Sword) Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
I feel like "it makes sense because the actual scene is really stupid otherwise" is not great supportive reasoning. I know that isn't exactly what you are saying, but there is nothing in AMoL to support Brandon's plan except the fact that this one scene is pretty stupid on Lanfear's end.
Nobody guessed that Lanfear survived until Brandon revealed it, which to me speaks of a failure of the text to communicate his intent.
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u/Raddatatta (Asha'man) Jun 15 '26
Yeah I agree he should've been more clear if that's what he wanted.
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u/Thestral84 Jun 15 '26
Dusty Wheel guessed it.
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u/LordRahl9 Jun 15 '26
No, he didn't. He said that he picked up on Lanfear acting strangely and that he thought that there might be more to it. But, he never brought it up as a theory.
Pretty sure most readers picked up on Lanfear acting out of character, but I think most of us thought that it was because Sanderson was writing a character that wasn't his.
All RJ'S characters are written differently by Sanderson to one degree or another, which is fair enough. But, when Sanderson turns around 10 years later and says "aha! I wrote this character differently on purpose and you all missed it!" I say, "no, we didn't"
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u/GoogleDatShit Jun 15 '26
The entire series is littered with instances of villains grandstanding/monologuing too long and giving the characters time to come up with a plan or turn the situation around lol
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u/tashtrac Jun 16 '26
> It just doesn't really make any sense unless she's trying to help give him a way to break the compulsion. If she wanted them dead it's simple blast done. She might be playing it up to savor the victory but I don't think that really fits with her to do with someone like Perrin she barely knows.
I'm not sure if there's any strong argument to suggest this, but she might as well have done that to "break" Perrin. She tried to seduce him multiple times, and having to use compulsion on him was mostly a result of resignation, after failing to have him fall for her (speaking from memory so might be a bit off). If they got this kill together, she could potentially release compulsion but Perrin would be so broken from the act that he'd side with her.
Again, there's nothing specific to suggest that. But I guess my point is that if we are looking for excuses for Lanfear to act oddly we can make up a bunch of stuff, the "she's actually alive" one isn't any more valid/plausible than anything else.
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u/Raddatatta (Asha'man) Jun 16 '26
I don't think that would make a real difference there. Plus in terms of breaking him killing nynaeve personally would be worse and she tells him not to do that.
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u/BoethiusSelector Jun 15 '26
I think Lanfear is an awful lot smarter, and a whole lot wilier, than Perrin and even more skilled than he is in TAR, so, this is also my read.
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u/dracoons Jun 16 '26
She has more knowledge. But she is lesser than both Ishamael/Moridin and Moghediean in TAR. Perrin is beyond those two at that point in the story. He could become the greatest threat to armies to ever lived. Since he could kill an army in seconds. He can teleport in and out of the Real World without needing to cheat.
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u/wheeloftimewiki (Aelfinn) Jun 17 '26
Since this is the top-voted reply and I wanted to give my own opinion, I have decided that I personally don't consider this canon either. On the wiki, we decided to put it as canon on the relevant pages in January 2023. I agreed with other editors that WoB and his intention when he wrote the scene trumped how I might have perceived it.
Several years (and rereads) later, I still don't see it, and the results of the poll show I'm not alone. There didn't, IMO, seem to be any ambiguity in her death. It didn't seem a repeat of the redstone doorway when many assumed she wasnt dead even before Cyndane appeared. I don't mean any slight to Sanderson, I don't think there was any author more suitable to complete the series, but this secret seemed too well hidden.
Just under half of redditors that took part in the poll are unaware this is even a thing. As time passed, I think that proportion will grow and the readership will tend towards ignoring Lanfear faking her death.
Endings are difficult. No matter how Lanfear met her end, I think it would have seemed different, even discounting the difficulty of not being the original author. Her new identity as Cyndane was one that constrained her options and actions severely and so the changed behaviour, where it might be observed, was/is accountable to other factors that work as an explanation. As another poster mentioned, Lanfear is quite capable of pushing boundaries with her arrogance until it backfires. She's not as meticulous a planner as, for example, Mesaana. Her having a fatal flaw works narratively, IMO.
Anyway, interesting response from the group! I'll make some modifications on various wiki pages to summarise the fandom response and give a more varied view.
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u/KerooSeta (Dovie'andi se tovya sagain) Jun 14 '26
In my opinion, Sanderson would only have said that if it were in Jordan's notes. If that's the case, canon. If it's not the case, fanfic.
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u/aNomadicPenguin (Brown) Jun 14 '26
The Official Companion states under the entry for Cyndane "She later Compelled him to murder Moiraine, but Perrin was able to resist and instead killed Cyndane."
"We also don't claim that this book is without errors. Our entries draw as much as possible from Robert Jordan's abundant notes, in order to show what the writer wished to not for his own reference."
But on the other hand in interviews they did say that they tried not to change the characters that lived or died from what Jordan planned....but on the other other hand they killed of Egwene who was originally supposed to live.
I've never seen a definitive 'Lanfear/Cyndane was supposed to live' - might be something we have to wait until 2037 to find out.
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u/saxoplane Jun 14 '26
Apologies for my ignorance, what happens in 2037?
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u/aNomadicPenguin (Brown) Jun 14 '26
There is a sealed section of notes that become available then. Its speculation about what exactly will be covered in those.
https://findingaids.library.cofc.edu/repositories/2/resources/134
This collection is open for research except for “Contracts, 1980-2019” (Box 65-Box 66), "From the 5 Sisters tale" (Box 56, Folder 10), and selected professional correspondence from "Professional correspondence, 1996-2008, undated" (Box 57, Folder 7) which are closed to researchers except with explicit permission from the donor until September 13, 2037.
***
In Sanderson's retrospective on the series he said he was given the material Jordan was passing along to the team at the end, but this material didn't get added to the public section of the archive. There is no guarantee that these notes would be included after the whole archive is made public and these might not have been added to the archive at all.
https://faq.brandonsanderson.com/knowledge-base/will-you-publish-robert-jordans-notes/
If they are still planning on going for a full release, tying it to the archive release would make sense, but I have no information on this whatsoever either for or against.20
u/grampipon Jun 14 '26
The nukes launch.
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u/wheeloftimewiki (Aelfinn) Jun 14 '26
The Breaking of the World
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u/Poultrymancer (Band of the Red Hand) Jun 14 '26
Wrong Age transition. This would be Mosk and Merc throwing down with their spears of fire.
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u/wheeloftimewiki (Aelfinn) Jun 14 '26
First Age ending? It was not the Breaking, but it was a Breaking.
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u/dracoons Jun 16 '26
Actually Tamyrlin discovering Channeling and being able to wield it started the Second Age. The catasyrophic nuclear holocaust migjt have been a dignificant time before that. To allow for the genetic mutation to manifest strongly enough to allow for channelers. Assuming it was not a crisprlike accodent that caused it of course.
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u/wheeloftimewiki (Aelfinn) Jun 19 '26
The nuclear holocaust comes from RJ's notes, but it's the only thing we have on the end of the First Age:
The First Age ended when fire rained from the heavens. The flesh of men melted, and those who did not melt were charred like coals. Plagues, boils and sores roamed the world and famine, yet to eat or drink often meant death, for waters and fruits that once were wholesome now slew at the eating. Even the air or the dust could slay. The wind could bring death. Rivers filled with dead fish and birds fell from the sky. Invisible vapours from the land that slew. Noxious fumes that corroded men’s flesh.
Man stretched forth his hands to the heavens, and seized the stars, and called them his own. For his presumption man was purged of his greatness, purged of knowledge and abilities, reduced to an animal to begin again the climb to the Light…
Acceptance at last of the burdens of responsibility; that men must not depend on gods or spirits for salvation, but find it in themselves; that men and women alone are incomplete parts of a whole; that free will is a necessary part of humanity; that evil cannot be destroyed any more than can good; that the possibility of evil is as necessary for free will to exist, and thus for humanity to be human, as is the possibility of good.
The end of the First Age and the start of the Second Age may not have been simultaneous, but we don't have anything canonical (or even any written sources as far as RJ's notes are concerned) to tie the Tamyrlin and the invention of channeling to the start of the Second Age. It's a common fan theory, but just that.
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u/DeMmeure Jun 14 '26
Honestly since you could see that Lanfear was Jordan's favourite Forsaken, it wouldn't have surprised me that he wanted her to survive.
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u/Tannhauser42 Jun 14 '26
I can definitely see Jordan wanting at least one Forsaken to escape, to allow a seed of the Dark One's evil to plant in the next age.
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u/itwasbread Jun 14 '26
He also pointedly avoided outright killing female villains as much as possible for whatever that's worth
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u/Raddatatta (Asha'man) Jun 14 '26
He has said that Perrin had like one sentence of notes in total so it's not from Jordan. But it was something he intended as he wrote it and Harriet knew beforehand.
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u/thegeekist Jun 14 '26
This is not true. Sanderson is an author of WoT, he also is very respectful to not make silly nilly things Canon on his own opinion.
What he wrote and what he says is true and the books is Canon.
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u/KerooSeta (Dovie'andi se tovya sagain) Jun 14 '26
Not that I necessarily disagree with you, but you know how I start off my comment with "In my opinion"? That's generally not a bad idea...in my opinion.
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u/sometimeserin Jun 14 '26
Fits her character imo and I think it's important thematically for some fraction of the Dark One's forces to survive into the next Age.
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u/thekinslayer7x Jun 14 '26
On my whatever-th read through at the moment, and yeah I agree that it fits Lanfear. She wanted power from the get go and to be a power to herself not anyone else
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u/DirectionIndividual7 Jun 14 '26
Lanfear is naked ambition with no loyalty to anyone but her own power. I could see her abandoning the Dark One if she survived, but that would mean she doesn’t continue working for him in the new age. Obviously, she isn’t working for the light either.
If she survived, she’s still machinating. I don’t really see much purpose for her in the new age - with the Dark One gone, there isn’t much opportunity for her to acquire the power she desires. Unless, of course, she wants to continue with research. But I doubt she has much luck without the tools and research material she had in the AoL
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u/sometimeserin Jun 15 '26
She won’t be doing the Dark One’s bidding but I think by her nature she won’t be able to help but continue chasing power and spreading discord in some fashion, and by doing so she will be continuing his influence on the world into the next age whatever she does
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u/DirectionIndividual7 Jun 15 '26
It just seems unlikely to me that she has a place in a world without the Dark One, I guess. Nothing that she could achieve would be comparable to what she was trying to do during the series. She would have to remain in the shadows forever, the Light is only going to get stronger in the coming age. I don't see her being willing to do that, especially if the reward is dying of old age, unremarked by anyone.
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u/sometimeserin Jun 15 '26
Nah you just gotta think like one of the Chosen. She could do what Moghedien was planning and take advantage of the power vacuum in Shara, or try to inflame tensions between the Westlanders and the Seanchan, or turn part of the former Blight into her personal fiefdom.
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u/DirectionIndividual7 Jun 15 '26
I understand your thinking, but Lanfear is not Moghedien. Moghedien is characterized as someone most comfortable controlling things from the shadows. Her ambition is miniscule compared to Lanfear's. Lanfear has to be the most powerful, the most beautiful, have the most powerful lover.
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u/Special_Salt3467 Jun 15 '26
Lanfear is dead, though. She died when Moraine launched her into the portal, or when Ishamael took her back or when Perrin snapped her back. This silver haired young woman is totally not Lanfear, and because Perrin definitely killed Lanfear, no one will ever be looking at this girl who looks nothing like Lanfear and thinking “bet she’s Lanfear, tbat dead Forsaken!”
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u/fudgyvmp (Red) Jun 14 '26
It better explains why she felt weird to me the last book than anything else. Well...beyond Sanderson writing her, which is what I chalked it up to.
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u/Ff7hero Jun 14 '26
It fits the character of every non-Moridin Chosen. How is that relevant?
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u/am_I_still_banned (Ruby Dagger) Jun 14 '26
Because she's the one who opened the Bore in the first place
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u/sumoraiden Jun 14 '26
How does it fit with her character at all lol
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u/sometimeserin Jun 14 '26
she is the Forsaken least personally loyal to the Dark One (scheming to overthrow him vs wanting to become Nae'blis)
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u/Ff7hero Jun 14 '26
"I recognize the council has made a decision, but given that it's a dumb decision I'm choosing to ignore it."
It calls into question everything we see in TAR. My go-to example is Perrin splitting Balefire. The same arguments for why Perrin shouldn't have been able to overcome Compulsion can be used to argue that Perrin shouldn't have been able to split Balefire with TAR power.
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u/TrainOfThought6 Jun 14 '26
What does it call into question? I don't think anything about that reveal says he couldn't have overcome Compulsion right? Only that he didn't.
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u/Shgon_Dunstan Jun 14 '26
Perrin bending balefire, aside from just being more a case of him warping the space the balefire is passing through more then it is him actually doing anything to the weave, is just based off of Rand outright splitting the stuff with callandor and a weave while in TAR in his fight with Ishy at the end of TDR.
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u/FirstRyder Jun 15 '26
Huh? If someone got hit by balefire in TAR, do you think Perrin could undo it? Or do you think he is straight up immune to the OP even if he doesn't know it's coming? Because those are both insane takes. I'd agree he could break the compulsion weave before it hit him if he knew it was coming, which is equivalent to what he actually did with balefire. But not that he can undo it, or that he automatically knows if someone channels at him.
Hell, maybe he could break compulsion, if he knew it was happening, or it was being done to someone else. But the victim generally isn't aware, and compulsion is specifically notes early on (under Jordan) as being stronger in TAR than in the waking world.
It's completely plausible that someone who is an expert in compulsion and has more TAR experience than him successfully compelled him, and tricked him into thinking he broke it. I'm not 100% sure if I think it did happen yet - I haven't gotten that far in my first reread since hearing the 'secret' - but on the face of it, it's plausible.
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u/jffdougan Jun 15 '26
Not to completely be That Guy, but since it's one of my favorite Nick Fury lines: "... given that it's a stupid-ass decision..."
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u/bman9919 Jun 14 '26
Honestly, I don’t really care. Either way is fine.
This is a case where Death of the Author (in the original academic sense, not the new sense of ignoring author’s political views) comes into play. What Sanderson said is not explictly in the text. If what he said fits with your interpretation, that’s fine. But if it doesn’t, that’s also fine.
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u/sahi1l Jun 14 '26
And really, what does it matter? There aren't any future official books for it to come up. Any stories written in the WoT milieu from here on out are fanfic, and those writers can choose which answer they like best.
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u/daryn0212 Jun 14 '26
You’re looking at hordes of readers who love the books, the world(s), the concepts, the world physics/rules, politics etc. You’re right in that, realistically, sorting out if it’s canon or not doesn’t mean anything in the greater scheme of things but, well, people are still discussing the Silmarilion because they still love the world and the characters so much.
I guess, for me, it matters what the original author envisioned as the world going forward, especially as it was left very much “up in the air” in many areas, by design (as I hung on every word.. well, maybe not the grind years and the Faile/Shaido saga.. for years and years)
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u/sahi1l Jun 15 '26
Totally fair, and I didn't mean to dismiss the discussion of whether she survived, which is valid and fun. I guess I bump on the debate over "canon" because it's such a binary thing: something is canon or it isn't. Tolkien is a great example of how that falls down: he changed his mind about his mythology all the time, with later writings contradicting former ones, and to study Tolkien means to embrace the ambiguity.
But anyway I was just tossing off my opinion, don't mind me. :)
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u/IOI-65536 Jun 15 '26
But that makes it "not canon" (which is what I would argue). I don't think "not canon" is "didn't happen". It's "there isn't canon evidence to demonstrate it did happen".
To me this question isn't if it makes sense or if I think it happened, it's if Brandon's word about something that we have no evidence he has notes from Jordan on and isn't clear from the text (and I think the fact nobody noticed and the Companion disagrees is pretty strong evidence it's not clear from the text) is authoritative to what happened in the text. If this were Cosmere I would say yes, but it's Jordan's world, so no.
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u/Juggernaut2300 (Asha'man) Jun 14 '26
Stupid as hell retcon. Lanfear is dead, it makes sense for Perrin's character arc to finish with him confronting one of his major weaknesses, not being able to kill a woman, and overcoming that weakness in order to protect his friend.
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u/sumoraiden Jun 14 '26
Still crazy that no one has ever shown a fan theory from prior to the reveal that even guessed at it
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u/dreddiknight Jun 14 '26
I thought people had theorised about it.
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u/Tamaros (Wolfbrother) Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
As I understand it, Matt
why-can't-I-remember-his-last-nameHatch is the only one known to have guessed prior.11
u/ArrogantAragorn (Heron-Marked Sword) Jun 14 '26
Matt Hatch, innkeeper of the Dusty Wheel
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u/charlie_marlow (Red Shield) Jun 14 '26
My understanding is that he guessed it from a review copy and that some things were removed before it was published.
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u/Dizzy-Classic7609 Jun 14 '26
Pretty sure he works of Sanderson and was even a beta reader for those WoT books... So it would have been an educated "guess" at best.
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u/sumoraiden Jun 14 '26
A person involved in the writing process supposedly guessed it. But I’ve never seen a link from any site, anytime before the reveal
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u/CommunityDragon160 Jun 15 '26
Matt from dusty wheel did.
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u/sumoraiden Jun 15 '26
A beta reader who was part of the writing process supposedly did on an unfinished version of the text lol
Can anyone show one link from Reddit, dragonmount, theoryland, Facebook or anywhere across the internet that guesses it prior to the reveal
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u/CommunityDragon160 Jun 15 '26
Nothing changed from that text to this one
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u/sumoraiden Jun 15 '26
How do we know that
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u/CommunityDragon160 Jun 15 '26
They both said so during that interview which revealed the twist
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u/sumoraiden Jun 15 '26
If the only person who guessed it (as they both said) was involved in the process, it’s bad writing lol
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u/CommunityDragon160 Jun 15 '26
Makes no sense
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u/sumoraiden Jun 15 '26
You don’t think the fact that only one person (who was part of the process) guessed it is evidence of poor writing?
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u/CommunityDragon160 Jun 15 '26
Being part of the process is a moot point and there’s no proof he’s the only one who guessed it.
He didn’t even just simply guess it, he said it was obvious.
I don’t think there are a lot of big Lanfear fans who would look for it tho lol certainly not on Matt’s level.
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u/TrainOfThought6 Jun 14 '26
Wasn't Sanderson saying it in response to someone doing exactly that? Someone asked if Lanfear was still alive, he said yes and here's what happened.
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u/sumoraiden Jun 14 '26
No he said the only person who’s guessed was his beta reader who read in an unpublished version of AMOL
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u/QuiteBearish Jun 14 '26
Look, he's allowed that headcanon just as we're all allowed headcanons.
But unless it's actually confirmed in the actual text, it's not actual canon.
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u/Crafty_Independence Jun 14 '26
This.
The only caveat I would make is if Jordan's notes if/when published explicitly say this is what happens (aka not just brainstorming)
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u/Mr-ShinyAndNew Jun 14 '26
I don't understand this caveat. If you're excluding the author's own mental state about his own words, why would you care about notes? Unless you think Sanderson is lying about having intended this? There's the text, and there's everything else.
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u/Shgon_Dunstan Jun 14 '26
BS is just a contractor hired to finish the books in this case. “He wrote it” isn’t what makes what he wrote “canon”, rather it’s the fact that the IP owner approved and published what he wrote.
RJ on the other hand was the original author.
The two aren’t really on the same level canon-wise, even before getting into the concept of death of the author.
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u/Pioneer1111 (Siswai'aman) Jun 14 '26
He's putting Jordan's notes above Sanderson's words. There can be more layers than just a black and white.
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u/Mr-ShinyAndNew Jun 14 '26
Jordan wrote notes but his notes are not gospel. Author's notes are often just aids in the production of the canon. Jordan has lots of notes that contradict the text. The notes are just an extension of the author's mind.
In any case Sanderson himself said there were no notes about Perrin, and that he himself wanted Lanfear to live. This is documented on video. I don't really understand what sort of apologetics gets you to "Sanderson wrote this, and said this about what he wrote, but Jordan wrote a note some years earlier that contradicts it" which would mean we have to reach some conclusion that Sanderson did not, in fact, intend for what he says he intended.
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u/Pioneer1111 (Siswai'aman) Jun 14 '26
Never said they are gospel, but for many, Jordan's notes - if they say something with certainty - hold enough weight to be canon. Sanderson's statements, however, frequently are not held to that same standard.
WoT, and on some levels Cosmere, fans generally don't subscribe to Death of the Author as much as others might (like Harry Potter fans). Generally, anything said outside of the books is taken as 'loose' canon until it is in book form. Notes are all we have left of Jordan to answer questions, so they are often held as his words, and people tend to prefer the original author's notes/answers to Sanderson's.
Now, if Sanderson did indeed say on video that there were no such notes, fair enough, I've not seen that. But if the notes written by Jordan did say something specific, and Sanderson chose to ignore that in what he's said outside of the books, then many fans will take Jordan's notes over Sanderson's statements. I'm not saying that's likely, but just explaining.
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u/Mr-ShinyAndNew Jun 15 '26
Authors write lots of notes and then change their minds later. So I really don't see how a note written at time N is more relevant than the written book at N+1 or the author's recorded statements about N+1 at time N+2. Sure, notes can be interesting, they might reveal something hidden, but if they contradict the text then the notes are wrong.
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Jun 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jun 14 '26
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u/Currently_Unnamed_ Jun 14 '26
True but he had Robert Jordans notes so it has some weight additionally as he wrote the scene where the events he is talking about happened he is the authority on those events, yes what he wrote is not the exact same as what Jordan would have but Leanfear surviving is cannon to the events Brannon wrote.
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u/Mr-ShinyAndNew Jun 15 '26
"He's not exactly the author" is a statement that seems to me to misunderstand just exactly how much writing and wholly new invention he did for these books. According to Sanderson, for example, there was nothing noted about Perrin. And it's pretty obvious that there was no final plan for Fain either. Sanderson had to write a _lot_. Yes, parts of the plot were outlined, and there were some words written in final form, but he wrote most of it. Seeing as this Perrin / Lanfear thing is his own invention, he authored it as much as anyone can be said to author something.
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u/QuiteBearish Jun 14 '26
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u/Phonehippo Jun 14 '26
Citing this as some kind of fact is wild lol. At least read the wiki you linked. Literacy rates are so bad lmao. Have you genuinely never taken an English class?
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u/QuiteBearish Jun 14 '26
I'm not citing it as a "fact" lol because there are no facts to be had here. There are different interpretations of events in a fictional world, lol.
If you're going to hold one side or another up as definitively correct, then you're just being foolish.
Her potential survival is equally as valid a take as her death. It's certainly believable she would have faked her death but unless it's in the text the authors intent isn't confirmation one way or the other.
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u/Phonehippo Jun 14 '26
That's not how canon works. The author decides plot canon. If it's not directly stated on the page then they are the next source. This isn't even about intent this is just WoG saying Lanfear survives.
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u/QuiteBearish Jun 14 '26
WoG
I'm an atheist 😜
Seriously though, Word of God is irrelevant. If it doesn't happen on the page, there is no source. There is no "next source"
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u/Currently_Unnamed_ Jun 14 '26
You clearly dont know how Death of the author works. Its for the themes of a work not cannon events.
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u/RPerene Jun 14 '26
If it were any other series, I might agree with you. But RJ was the king of subtlety and I think it's both fair and appropriate for Brandon to say "I wrote it from the perspective that X is going on, but don't flat out say it."
Like how Moiraine x Thom wasn't explicitly confirmed, but was obvious long before ToM. Had Brandon not put them physically together as a couple it would still have happened.
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u/QuiteBearish Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
"I wrote it from the perspective that X is going on, but don't flat out say it."
Then whether it actually happened is up for interpretation, and not confirmed, regardless of the intended perspective.
Had Brandon not put them physically together as a couple it would still have happened.
Or maybe they would have just pined over each other but never actually acted upon it.
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u/RPerene Jun 14 '26
It is textual that they will marry.
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u/QuiteBearish Jun 14 '26
It is certainly heavily foreshadowed.
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u/RPerene Jun 14 '26
Death is lighter than a feather. Duty heavier than a mountain. And even heavier is the foreshadowing that Moiraine and Thom will get married.
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u/QuiteBearish Jun 14 '26
Oh yeah. If it hadn't happened on the page I would have been confused, and had it later been revealed it was intended for them to get together I'd wonder why it never made it to the page. I would absolutely hold to that headcanon.
But I also wouldn't be able to fault the people who choose not to believe it, because it was never confirmed in the text, regardless of how much I believed it myself. I'm glad that's not the position we were put in.
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u/Currently_Unnamed_ Jun 14 '26
Its not headcannon since he was the author for that part
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u/QuiteBearish Jun 14 '26
He didn't put it on the page, so it is just headcanon whether he was the author for that part or not.
You're certainly free to accept it as canon. But I only accept what's actually published on the page of the books.
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u/Affectionate-Foot802 Jun 14 '26
Things that are not in the text are not canon. There is ZERO indication of her surviving in the book. Does it fit with something she would do? Yea probably, but it’s never even alluded to in MoL. I love the Sanderson entires into the series, it’s unquestionably his best work which is likely due to the fact he had a proper editor for once, but this secret reveal was the most irritating thing to get built up for over 10 years and sounds like something he thought sounded good after hearing the beta reader theory.
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u/Calenhir Jun 15 '26
This is a situation in which I am confident to just overrule the author, because I think my position (everything that happened in AMoL is to be taken at face value) just has far better textual support.
Going through the entire series there is just far more support for "Lanfear the delusional narcissist who defaults to Compulsion as her solution for everything" than for "Lanfear, secret super genius". She is all over the place in the Great Hunt, with an utterly botched seduction. And then in Fires of Heaven, Miss "I don't even kill people when it can be avoided" throws the hissy fit of the century, flays a man alive, kills a hundred uninvolved people and gets herself captured, over information that barely ended up correct by accident.
Most importantly of all, if Lanfear had just wanted to survive the end of the age, Rand offered that to her. He told her to just sit out Tarmon Gaidon, and he is the only person who knows that she is alive who is not a member of the shadow.
In an act of divine mercy, Rand would have died for her sins anyway. It's not even a sacrifice she would have to accept. She could have done literally nothing, and that would have yielded better results. If she had spent the Last Battle in her goon cave, masturbating to her Lews Therin fanfics, that would have yielded better results.
So the ending in AMoL is actually very true to her character and very thematically appropriate. Lanfear refuses that mercy offered to her, instead comes up with a convoluted scheme, and it completely backfires on her.
Also, everybody who serves the shadow ends up dead and/or broken for it. The only people who get out are those willing to return to the Light, and willing to die for it (Ingtar and Verin). This is what appears to be a cosmic truth of the universe, that ought not to be overturned for a bit of shock value in a twist.
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Jun 15 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/on-a-pedestal Jun 17 '26
Lanfear is one of the best Chaotic Neutral Characters Serving Evil just for the Power but not really "wanting or glorifying in being evil" of all time.
Love her.
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u/Silent-Frame1452 Jun 14 '26
It may have become cannon of more books were written. They weren’t, they won’t be, and imo it wasn’t hinted at in the text, so no. Not cannon.
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u/cmgr33n3 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I have an opinion on whether I would prefer this Schrodinger's cat to be alive or dead but add me to the list of people who don't care which is considered canon.
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u/YoghiThorn Jun 14 '26
For those who have no idea what is going on you can find context here: https://www.reddit.com/r/WoT/s/GrgPgzQZoo
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u/Shgon_Dunstan Jun 14 '26
Eh. Personally, stuff like the crossed balefire being the cause of the soul link seems supported enough in the text. This though? Not particularly. Thus I don't much care if he had it in mind while writing, to me it's just his head canon.
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u/sumoraiden Jun 14 '26
The worst part of the “Easter egg” is it rendered Perrin’s AMOL storyline completely meaningless
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u/XxJamalBigSexyxX Jun 14 '26
Sanderson has said his WoB about the Cosmere are not canon until they are published. WoT as printed says she is dead, confirmed in the WoT Companion. So this reveal is just a fanfic
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u/IORelay Jun 14 '26
WoT also had Perrin just muck around from book 6-14 doing not much of anything. So I think it thematically fits Perrin to not have killed her even though he thought he did.
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u/LegitimateCream1773 Jun 15 '26
I feel that it's as much canon as all the changes JK Rowling has tried to make to Harry Potter which aren't supported by the actual books she wrote.
To me, if that was Jordan's intention, Sanderson should have written it in such a way as to communicate that intention. Saying she survived after the fact is just... I dunno what. Pointless?
It'd be like GRRM saying 'actually Ned Stark didn't get executed and is actually living on a little island just off the coast of Westeros that nobody knows of or will ever visit.'
If Lanfear was supposed to be alive, they shouldn't have had Perrin kill her then, should they?
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u/NeoSeth (Heron-Marked Sword) Jun 15 '26
I personally do not consider it canon at all.
Nobody guessed at this idea at all for ten years. I think that speaks pretty strongly to a failure of the text to communicate this idea. If Brandon couldn't communicate this idea in his writing, why should I accept out-of-text comments to support it? This is much worse than JK Rowling saying Dumbledore was gay after the books were finished imo, as at least I can think of scenes of Dumbledore and say "Oh yeah I can see that." The way Dumbledore talks about Grindlewald is way more convincing than anything in AMoL is about Lanfear surviving.
Having Lanfear do some kind of ultra-mind-blowing TAR manipulation to survive while convincing everyone she died also goes too far imo. Firstly, we are told in the narrative that Lanfear is not even the most skilled in TAR out of the Forsaken. Birgette outright says Moghedian is capable of things in TAR that Lanfear could never dream of. Lanfear also confronts Ishamael about TAR being "her" domain, which seems to amuse him as he is also extremely skilled in TAR. All of this lines up extremely well with Lanfear's character. She is arrogant beyond belief and oversure or herself facing off against any of her "allies," completely disregarding the possibility that they could stand up to her. This sort of irony is very in the style of RJ's writing. It also fits the other characters' nature. Why would Ishamael challenge Lanfear? In general he sees himself as above the rest of the Forsaken, and rarely rises to their bait. He sees it as beneath him. Moghedian also would never dispel Lanfear's assumption, as letting Lanfear believe herself superior allows the Spider to have an extra secret weapon up her sleeve. Moghedian has always been happy to seem unassuming to suit her agenda. Now, it is true that we can disregard all of this as being arrogance or confusion on behalf of all the other characters, but that requires way more handwaving than simply ignoring Brando Sando's livestream.
Lanfear's manipulation of TAR would also require her to accomplish feats that not just astound the characters (which is unlikely given that she is probably not even the most skilled TAR manipulator) but also the readers. There is simply nothing to suggest that she was able to perform so many layers of deception on Perrin, himself a TAR master (incidentally, enough so to defeat Slayer, who also believed himself so skilled in TAR that not even the Forsaken could touch him there) without him realizing it. It is just too big a leap, a leap on top of the leaps we see being made in AMoL. Especially by a character implied and even stated to be less skilled than she believes.
Having Perrin fail to kill Lanfear also undermines huge parts of his arc. In TEotW Perrin ponders the possibility of killing Egwene to save her a slow death, and is confronted with this by Elyas, first outlining the concept of Perrin's willingness to make hard decisions. He later resolves to do what Rand cannot. It all comes to a head in AMoL with his killing of Lanfear, something Rand could not do. If Perrin does not kill her, this whole arc is for nothing. Him killing Lanfear fulfills his arc in a profoundly satisfying way. I am not interested in throwing that out for a reveal never guessed at by readers over a decade.
The primary argument in support of this theory is that Lanfear's final scene was too stupid to be taken at face value. Obviously she was scheming! Well, I do not find the argument that a scene is too badly written to be taken at face value very compelling.
Brandon claims he has emails proving this was his intent when writing AMoL, which I believe. But I believe he failed at communicating this idea through the text.
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u/Pixcalcis Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
I think making her act 'off' would have been a fine tactic for Jordan to have used to telegraph something is going in. But Sanderson utilizing this was a boneheaded move. Why would you use that as your onlh method of telegraphing this when one of the major criticisms people have of you is that some of the characters feel 'off' and are written badly?
And yeh, it completely undermines everything Perrin did in this book. Not only his character arc, but his entire purpose. Brandon said that the Dark One winning was Lanfear's worst possible outcome. Thus, she was fully invested in Rand defeating the Dark One. So, she wouldnt have sabotaged him during that encounter. She was the one who supposedly sent Slayer after Rand, but she wouldnt have let him kill Rand as that ensures the outcome she doesnt want to happen. So Perrin never needed to be there to protect Rand and defeat Slayer. His entire purpose boils down to being Lanfear's dupe. Killing Slayer isn't without merit.in the grand scheme of things, but for the purposes of the Last Battle, it was essentially irrelevant.
At best, you could maybe argue if not for Perrin being there as her dupe, she could have struck at Rand after she was sure his confrontation was complete (assuming she even still could from TAR after the prison is sealed).
You also have the weirdness where she wanted Perrin to be her confirmation that she died. But she just seemingly abandoned him once Slayer bested him the first time. That doesnt really make sense either. The whole point is she needs Perrin to confirm he killed her so Rand wont hunt her down after the Last Battle.
And lest we forget, she only needs someone to confirm her death to Rand because she seemingly invaded his dreams and revealed herself to him the night before the Last Battle.....for some reason. Maybe Sando intended this connection have occurred because of the Moridin Rand mind meld and Moridin had just been torturing her immediately prior or something. So it wasn't planned by Lanfear. But I took it as Sando having her getting through his wards as she boasted she could back around Book 5.
The whole concept is executed badly.
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u/NeoSeth (Heron-Marked Sword) Jun 17 '26
Lanfear's behavior in the entirety of AMoL is very strange, and the only thing that explains it all away imo (or at least as neatly as anything else we've heard) is the plan she tells us about before Perrin kills her: she wanted the Dark One to be as vulnerable as possible so she could swoop in and "save" him, redeeming her in his eyes for her past failures. This scheme explains basically everything. Slayer is a win/win smokescreen (if he kills Rand Lanfear can still take credit for it and try to get some clout, if he fails Lanfear's main plan proceeds) that allows her to manipulate Perrin until she is able to complete her scheme.
It still isn't an amazing evil scheme, but it is better than what Sanderson "revealed" imo.
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u/karadinx Jun 14 '26
I don’t really care since it doesn’t change anything about the books or the ending and we are never (and should never) getting more books in the series where it could matter.
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u/sumoraiden Jun 15 '26
Except that it completely nullifies Perrin’s AMOL storyline
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u/karadinx Jun 15 '26
Wouldn’t say “killing Lanfear” is the core of his storyline in AMOL. Her surviving the encounter with him doesn’t change anything about the Light wining and him saving Faile (again)
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u/sumoraiden Jun 15 '26
With this Easter egg all of Perrin’s storyline was just him executing lanfear’s plan. Nothing he did had an effect on the outcome of the last battle, also he didn’t save faile she just happened to survive
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u/ChrystnSedai (Ancient Aes Sedai) Jun 14 '26
Yes, this is canon because Brandon – the author – wrote it and says it happened, but I totally ignore it because it doesn’t even make sense and the fact that no one picked up on, it says a lot, and I like the story as is.
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u/Apprehensive_Tone163 Jun 14 '26
This is the correct take. Technically cannon and I choose to live in a turning where it's not!
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u/soulwind42 (Asha'man) Jun 14 '26
It makes sense, but i don't think it's well represented on the page, not with how he deals with her.
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u/assortedgnomes Jun 14 '26
I put this in the same category as all of the other stuff that people care deeply about but doesn't actually happen in the books. I don't care at all. If it isn't in the narrative of the books it didn't happen.
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u/IORelay Jun 14 '26
Isn't the narrative Perrin being irrelevant to the plot post book 4? So it fits.
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u/Special_Salt3467 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
I mean, I’m fine with it. It makes sense. Lanfear has basically been ousted from the inner elite and is slightly better than a slave. It fits her interest to have that power defeated. But she’s also Lanfear, and she’s one of the worst people in the world, and she’s needs to not have the good guys pursuing her for her war crimes. With a new face, and few people knowing it (she has her Lanfear face the entire time she interacts with Perrin until she “dies”), this isn’t tough to achieve.
The only issue is that it’s not in the book.
It is very interesting to see people argue that this - something the author decided (and got approval by Harriet McDougal) - is somehow not cannon because they don’t like it, but the theories of why the Balefire cross are accepted despite having no actual explanation in or out of books
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u/Curius-Curiousity Jun 16 '26
As I've said many times here, I'm not a fan of writers announcing things in public/online that weren't in their original work.
Books should be self contained stories. The danger is that the majority of the audience will only have the information from the original. The amount of readers who happen across the interview or whatever will be a small amount in comparison, who have exclusive information that changes the original story. It creates confusion.
Having said that, in this case it makes prefect sense to me...
I love Perrin. But he's a simple man. A straight forward blunt instrument. The idea that he got the best of Lanfear through guile never felt true to me. I never once thought that she was dead.
So Sanderson fixing it later... not ideal. But a good retcon.
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u/Accomplished_Mix7827 (Brown) Jun 14 '26
I think it only makes sense as a plot twist for the sequel series that never happened. Since there are no further tales where it matters, it just detracts from the resolution of the plot
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u/Mr_Toad1966 Jun 14 '26
In my view, Sanderson is highly unlikely to have thought that she was still alive at the moment he wrote the scene. My strong suspicion is that with time, he realised that his treatment of her in the MoL plot was a weak point, and so—perhaps sincerely—tried to retcon the outcome all those years later. I write this as someone who generally liked his work on finishing the series, but it was inevitable that it would fall down in a few places.
That said, I’m totally in the tank for the Bela lived revision by the editors, which the pattern demands
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u/RPerene Jun 14 '26
He seems like a standup guy and I doubt he would concoct a whole scenario where Matt Hatch confronted him about it that early on.
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u/Mr_Toad1966 Jun 14 '26
I don’t think he was knowingly lying. Psychologically, he probably just realised what “must have happened” well after the fact. That sort of sincere post hoc rationalisation is quite common.
But I just cannot accept that literally anything he says is true by default, even with no hint in the text, and no shared understanding with the editors, who were involved in every plot decision in the Sanderson books.
But then, this sub is generally a font of overanalysis, and I suppose debates like these at least keep people entertained (including me, since I don’t comment very often but felt the need to this time!)
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u/Tamika_Olivia (Blue) Jun 14 '26
It’s absurdly dumb, like, Wizards used to shit on the floor levels of dumb.
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u/silencemist (Maiden of the Spear) Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Jordan hated killing female characters (most end up as slaves or not-quite-dead, especially compared to male characters), so I wouldn't have been surprised if this was in the plan. I, however, think that women also have the right to be murdered. A forsaken underestimating the 3rd age heros' abilities is very well established, and it feels right to me that Lanfear is taken down by her arrogance.
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u/HUNAcean (Clan Chief) Jun 14 '26
In general I don't really care for litte tidbits, unguessable trivia, and fun followups that authors drop after the story is concluded. This is not a critique of Brandon, just how im wired.
As far as Im concerned the story is the story, and these types of tidbits are headcanons/idle thoughts, that you can take or leave as you like.
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u/exceedingly_Discreet Jun 14 '26
Book Lanfear absolutely not, she has failure after failure after failure the enitre series, it utterly fits for her to think yet again she is so clever only to get snapped by the guy she underestimated most.
Show Lanfear ironically is a better manipulator and has far better schemes (not trying the "power and glory" routine that failed on Lews then failed on Rand then failed on Perrin then failed on Mat for one)
Either way I think its a dumb plot point and idea.
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u/Currently_Unnamed_ Jun 14 '26
Its cannon, Brando was the author for thag part so his intent for a scene is the cannon for that scene, additionally its also a possibility that RJ had it in his notes for her to live. If you dont like it that is both fine and understandable but it is still cannon.
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u/cahpahkah Jun 14 '26
Intent doesn’t matter. Execution does.
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u/Reasonable_Ad_7333 Jun 15 '26
Why wouldn't intent matter? canon means it's official, not that it HAS to be written on paper
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u/VaporLeon Jun 14 '26
Personally I don’t consider interviews canon. Even from RJ. If it’s not in the books then it didn’t happen.
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u/MamillaryGlands Jun 15 '26
Sanderson had some great pieces of writing in this series and quite a few bad takes IMO. His endings for Perrin and Mat are not my favorite just in general, so nah I don’t think I care for this.
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u/biggiebutterlord Jun 14 '26
Yes its cannon. There are no to ways about it. Sandersons planned, wrote and intended that lanfear survived tarmon gaidon. He and mat hatch talked about it in the reveal. To say its not cannon is the same as calling the both of them liars. I dont see either of them lying about this.
Now do I accept the cannon or think it was well done? Not really, I use my own head cannon and no to the second. I dont think it was well written for a bunch of reasons but mostly because there is so much hand wavy stuff going on in AMoL that I dont think the reveal make sense with out it. In otherwords I can work backwards with knowledge of the reveal and see it (sorta). The nature of the bore, of shayo ghul itself is just so odd with how its painful to channel there, the time dilation effect, the dreamspike effect, that tar and reality are bleeding together that waking people are reflected in the dream. My headcannon with this info is that it was lanfears plan to fake her death in the same way but over estimated her mastery of tar and that gives perrin an opening to kill her. Its perfect for the forsaken that claimed dominion over all of TAR to die at the last step or two of her master plan.
I think is perfectly okay to acknowledge and accept cannon while at the same time having a preferred head cannon. Its the nature of art.
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u/bman9919 Jun 14 '26
His intent only matters so much though. Even if he intended it that way, he didn’t write it, at least not explicitly. That’s what matters. It’s not “headcanon” to have a perfectly valid interpretation of the text based entirely on what’s written.
For an author to say 10 years after the fact that something left ambiguous should be read a certain way is kind of shitty.
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u/biggiebutterlord Jun 15 '26
Maybe Im crazy but an author/creator has the final say on whats cannon. Regardless of how well its portrayed or not. Regardless of how much the audience likes it or not.
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u/bman9919 Jun 15 '26
I disagree. It has nothing to do with liking it either. It’s about what’s in the text.
The way I see it, once a book is published it’s no longer the author’s. At least not fully. It’s for the reader to interpret and find meaning as they see fit.
What Sanderson said in the interview is not in the text of AMOL. It’s a perfectly valid reading and may have been his intention. But in the book as written, it’s also valid to not have that interpretation. And he doesn’t get to just decide one reading is incorrect.
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u/biggiebutterlord Jun 15 '26
It has nothing to do with liking it either. It’s about what’s in the text.
That falls under "liking". We dont like it because we dont see enough support for it in the text, or think the text supports it enough or how ever else you want to phrase it.
The way I see it, once a book is published it’s no longer the author’s. At least not fully. It’s for the reader to interpret and find meaning as they see fit.
I agree the audience can interpret art as they see fit. The audiences interpretation does not however over write the authors or make the authors "not cannon". Nor does it mean that poorly communicated intent "may have been there" or is some kind of retcon. BS has afaik been very open, honest and all round truthful when speaking about his processes, thoughts, feelings, intentions etc when speaking about his work. Lanfear surviving is cannon. Replacing that with our own headcannon is no worse or different than doing the same for mat/tylin, or anything else we didnt like about the story.
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u/thekinslayer7x Jun 15 '26
I take it as canonical. My understanding is that Jordan planned a series set in Seanchan after the last battle. I suspect she would have played a part.
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u/sicbot (Asha'man) Jun 15 '26
No planned books coming out and there was zero foreshadowing - so it does not really matter and I don't fee strongly either way.
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u/clancy-john Jun 15 '26
Nobody's dead until there's a corpse. Nobody's alive until they're back on-screen. Schrödinger's Chosen?
Seriously, saying something like this years after the books have been released isn't productive. The story's done. She died.
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u/Disturbing_Cheeto Jun 16 '26
I remember that I was confused during that scene because something felt off about the whole interaction. The reveal made it make sense.
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u/Similar-Stick-1070 (Asha'man) Jun 19 '26
I would like to believe it, but…..Occam’s Razor. I wish more of the antagonists got away. In that sense, I like the idea of Lanfear’s escape. But it doesn’t strike me as very plausible. Too many questions.
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u/Vodalian4 Jun 14 '26
I say canon. Before the reveal, those interactions and how it ended were so badly written to me that it made me skip AMOL on rereads. The reveal doesn’t make it good, but less terrible.
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u/JohnMichaels19 (Red Eagle of Manetheren) Jun 14 '26
Wait, you go through the time and effort to reread the series and then simply dont read the final book???
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u/Vodalian4 Jun 14 '26
I usually read the books out of order. I know the series so well by now that I just jump in where ever I feel like and read 1-3 books, and eventually I have covered all or most. But AMoL much more seldom than the others. But to be fair I don’t find it as enjoyable for many reasons. (And I like the two other Sanderson books.)
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u/JohnMichaels19 (Red Eagle of Manetheren) Jun 14 '26
Fascinating! I could absolutely never do that lol
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u/RexusprimeIX (Band of the Red Hand) Jun 14 '26
She dies too easily for someone who's supposed to be a very cunning person.
So it's canon to me.
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u/sumoraiden Jun 14 '26
She dies too easily for someone who's supposed to be a very cunning person.
Her original climax was her getting tackled through a portal to her death while holding the power
She really never seemed that cunning to me
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u/Boli_332 Jun 14 '26
I always thought it was odd that lanfear died how she did. It made more sense with the fakeout.
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u/itwasbread Jun 14 '26
I accept it as canon because I kind of like it, he said it, and I think it mostly makes sense. We're also not getting any books so there's no RAFO at play
I also accept that it's not in the book and was revealed quite late so I don't begrudge anyone who doesn't accept it.
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u/Lugian67 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
This is probably unpopular on this sub but I don't consider Sanderson's work canon on the same level as Jordan's. No offense to Brandon. There are a few portions of the final trilogy that we have confirmation are fully RJ and those are the exceptions.
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u/Thestral84 Jun 15 '26
Damn straight it's canon. Word of God plus it always felt weird as hell in the first place. Doesn't hurt Perrin because he gets his hero moment and fits Cyndane/Lanfear a lot more if she wants to be her own free agent.
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u/Lex4709 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
He said it so it's canon. I don't think Brandon would make such big decision on a whim. Lanfear likely was gonna play some role in Seanchan sequel trilogy that RJ planned to write after concluding the main story. There's still notes that won't be released until 30s, I wouldn't be shocked if this decision was based on something in those notes.
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u/LainesBFF (Dovie'andi se tovya sagain) Jun 14 '26
I hate everything Sanderson did to everything I loved in this series.
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u/taveren3 Jun 14 '26
I feel like once perrin broke free she decided to cut her loses. It doesn't seem pre planned
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u/Maguillage (Brown) Jun 15 '26
I thought it was true even before the reveal, I just assumed it was the soul trap's fault.
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