"And his paths shall be many, and who shall know his name, for he shall be born among us many times, in many guises, as he has been and ever will be, time without end. His coming shall be like the sharp edge of the plow, turning our lives in furrows from out of the places where we lie in our silence. The breaker of bonds; the forger of chains. The maker of futures; the unshaper of destiny.”
—from Commentaries on the Prophecies of the Dragon,
by Jurith Dorine, Right Hand to the
Queen of Almoren, 742 AB, the Third Age
As always in the series, the novel commences with a quote from an ancient text which exists only within the fictional construct of the imaginary world in which this fantasy series takes place. It is treated with the dignity and respect that any actual ancient text would be from the history of our own civilization. While all the novels in the series begun thusly, most of the quotes tend to be a little more direct in their implication of what is to come. Of course, this is a quote from a prophetic book and our own ancient texts are more than enough evidence to prove that such content most successful when it is most ambiguous. This particular passage has all the explicit quality of the Book of Revelation in the Bible which even after more failed predictions of the end of the world than can be remembered still manages to convince millions it holds such secrets. It seems to be a truism no matter which world one occupies: the longest-lasting prophetic literature is the most ambiguously worded.
If I am the Dragon Reborn. If I am not just some half mad man cursed with the ability to channel, a puppet dancing for Moiraine and the White Tower.
The thing about being the Chosen One who shall fulfill an ancient prophecy is that if it is a tricky situation to be in. If one accepts it without any doubts, that creates a possible chasm between the reader and character based on simple identification. We all know doubt even when we know we are the best suited for any certain job. Can anyone really accept without question that they are the best suited for the job of fulfilling an ancient prophecy upon which the balance of the world hangs? The point being that such a character must absolutely be filled with doubt, but at the same time must avoid becoming too overwhelmed by it. Just as nobody wants a narcissistic lunatic as their Chosen One, so does one want to avoid their Chosen One turning out to be a weenie. Well, unless the weenie is named Luke and then people don’t seem to mind too terribly much. But that’s a whole other galaxy.
"I am Rand al'Thor!" he called, so his voice rang through the chamber. "I am the Dragon Reborn!" Callandor shone in his grasp.
One by one, veiled men and helmeted, they knelt to him, crying, “The Dragon is Reborn! The Dragon is Reborn!”
There are not many examples of the books in The Wheel of Time fantasy series drawing to a close on a genuine series-turning climax such as this. Not that it is a plot twist of course, since it is clearly foreshadowed right there in the title. If the book were not to end with Rand’s doubts being assuaged once and for all with the proof of the pudding that he is the Dragon Reborn, that would have been a real plot twist. Still, a genuine climax is a genuine climax and while the other volumes may come to their own small-scale narrative resolutions, this remains another example of the books ending with a series-wide resolution. Which is, all in all, in a pretty remarkable feat to pull: giving readers the climax they’ve been waiting for while still keeping them on the hook for almost a dozen more.
