Wheel of Time and Philosophy

JACOB M. HELD is Professor of Philosophy and Assistant Provost for Academic Assessment and General Education at the University of Central Arkansas. His work primarily explores the intersection of philosophy and popular culture. He has edited several volumes, including Wonder Woman and Philosophy, Stephen King and Philosophy, and Dr. Seuss and Philosophy.

• List of Contributors viiAcknowledgments xiIntroduction: “A Part of What We Know” xiiStories Have Power 11 Tolkien’s Influence and the World of The Wheel of Time 3Michel- Antoine Xhignesse2 The Wheel of Time and Authorship: The French Connection 17Roderick Cooke3 “We Call Ourselves Gleeman Because a Silly Name Makes Us Less Frightening:” Artists, Marginality, and Epistemic Privilege 27Traci PhillipsonAlive, Gloriously Alive, Today 354 The Anti- Natalist and the Aes Sedai: Should Rand al’Thor Save the World? 37Kenneth R. Pike Copyrighted Material5 Nietzsche’s Test of Time: The Wheel as an Existential Imperative 47Steven Michels6 A World Without Shai’tan: The Significance of Free Will in The Wheel of Time 55Kenneth Silver7 Revelations from Rhuidean: Messianism and Philosophy of History in The Wheel of Time 65Andrew D. ThrasherThe Web Can Be Woven Many Ways 738 The (Re)Birth of Sovereignty in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time 75Jeremy Christensen and Eric Holmes9 Eyes Without Pity “… To Have Grown Up Thinking You Were a Person …” 85Tim Jones10 Glimpsing the Pattern and Salvaging a Semblance of Choice 95Dean A. Kowalski11 Their Choice to Make: Rand’s Vision of Free Will and Evil 107Jacob M. HeldOne Rule, Above All Others … 11712 Kantian Commentary on the Three Oaths: “It Just May Not Be the Truth You Think You’ll Hear” 119Dean A. Kowalski13 On the Supposed Right to Slay Dragons Because of Philanthropic Concerns: The Mysterious Ethics of the Aes Sedai 131Steve Bein14 Asha’man, Kill On “Making Weapons” and the Ethics of War 141Tobias T. Gibson15 The Way of the Leaf: Pacifism in the Third Age 149Jacob M. HeldHumankind Is Made for Uncertainty 16116 Un/Common Bonds: Ethics and Polyamory in The Wheel of Time 163Benjamin B. DeVan17 Fear of the Beast Within: Perrin, Hopper, and Human– Animal Relationships 175Maja Griem18 Gendered Souls and Bodies: Hylomorphism and the Saidin/Saidar Distinction 181Julie Loveland Swanstrom and Caitlynn FletcherEpilogue: A Portion of Courage 191Index of Terms and Names 199

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