The Wheel of Time Series (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Jordan
- Type of Work: Novels
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—heroic fantasy
- Time of Work: Undefined
- Setting: Aryth, a continent on an imagined world
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Magic or magicians, Other worlds, Good and evil, Heroes or heroism, Hunting or hunters, Quest, Swords
- Locales: Mythical lands
The Plot
The concept underlying the Wheel of Time is nothing less than the cyclical struggle of good and evil. The turning of the wheel involves the ascendance of a young shepherd, Rand, to a position of eldritch power. Although not explicit, the events easily fit Joseph Campbell’s paradigm of the heroic quest outlined in his classic The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949): a call to adventure, helpers and obstacles, descent, a contest with self- identity, an elixir to restore the world, and return.
The Eye of the World begins with an attack on a small...
[The entire page is 1472 words long]
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