![[Sunburst]](pics/whitecloaks.gif)
TRIVIA: How many POV characters?
TRIVIA: How many POV characters?Written by Steven Cooper: <sacooper@ozemail.com.au>
Conversion to HTML and some additions by Karl-Johan Norén: <kjnoren@hem3.passagen.se>
Ole Anders Bae has written The Wheel of Time Point of View Compendium [40k], with considerably more information than this listing. It's that much larger as well, though.
As at the end of book 7, the total number of point-of-view characters used in The Wheel of Time stands at... eighty-three. Yep, that's right, in the course of the series we've seen out through the eyes of 83 different people (all right, 82 pairs of eyes and one of whatever Shaidar Haran uses to see) -- plus the odd passage from the omniscient third-person narrator, too.
Of course, quite a few of those characters are strictly bit-players. I divided the POVs into minor and major characters, where a minor character has only one POV in the entire series. It's a bit arbitrary, I know -- is Asmodean more of a minor character than, say, Dain Bornhald? Anyway, here is the book-by-book breakdown:
----- New POVs ------ Used Total Minor Major Total Before POVs EOW 1 4 5 0 5 TGH 1 8 9 4 13 TDR 0 4 4 5 9 TSR 9 7 16 11 27 FOH 6 4 10 11 21 LOC 16 14 30 15 45 COS 7 2 9 20 29 ----- ----- ----- 40 43 83 ----- ----- -----
LOC kind of sticks out like a sore thumb, doesn't it? I think this is the explanation for the way it can seem so slow-paced or sprawling. When was the last time you read a book written from forty-five different points of view (two-thirds of which had not been used in the series before)? There was definitely an effort made in COS to gather the plot threads together and clamp down on the ever-expanding cast of characters (I remember RJ saying somewhere that part of the reason COS took so long to write was the extra effort he had to make to cut stuff out). Note, BTW, that the figure of seven "minor" characters for COS will probably turn out to be an overestimate: we can expect to see more from Cadsuane, or Seaine, or even Shaidar Haran, later on.
It's also interesting to see that the first four books had very few POVs from minor characters (nearly all of the ones in TSR are from Rand's Aiel ancestors in the Rhuidean vision). From FOH on, the side-trips and minor characters get much more numerous. This is no doubt due to the fact that in the first four books we see the story almost entirely through the eyes of Our Heroes as they grow up and find their places in the world. In the last three books, they have now become important enough (especially Rand) that they are affecting the lives of a lot of people, and we need to see how others react to them.
If we define a minor character as one who only has POVs in one book (of course, this is even more unfair to characters introduced in COS), then the table now looks like this:
-- New Characters --- Seen Total Minor Major Total Before POVs EOW 1 4 5 0 5 TGH 3 6 9 4 13 TDR 0 4 4 5 9 TSR 12 4 16 11 27 FOH 8 2 10 11 21 LOC 22 8 30 15 45 COS 9 0 9 20 29 ----- ----- ----- 55 28 83 ----- ----- -----
Now LOC looks even more of a mess of incidental viewpoints and side-tracking, especially if you subtract out the eight minor characters in TSR that represent Rand's Aiel ancestors...
So, here is the complete list of POV characters so far. Any additions or corrections will be gratefully received. I'm not sure I've caught all the early appearances of some of the characters who only get a POV later in the series (shown with a "-" in the table).
EOW TGH TDR TSR TFH LOC COS
=======================================
1. Lews Therin Telamon + - - - -
2. Rand al'Thor * * * * * * *
3. Perrin Aybara * * * * * *
4. Nynaeve al'Meara * * * * * * *
5. Moiraine Damodred * * - * *
EOW TGH TDR TSR TFH LOC COS
=======================================
6. Jaichim Carridin [aka Bors] * * * *
7. Geofram Bornhald - *
8. Liandrin * * *
9. Padan Fain [aka Ordeith] - * * * * -
10. Egwene al'Vere - * * * * * *
11. Bayle Domon - * -
12. Min Farshaw - * - * * * *
13. Thom Merrilin - * - * - - -
14. Jaret Byar - + -
EOW TGH TDR TSR TFH LOC COS
=======================================
15. Pedron Niall * * *
16. Siuan Sanche - * * * * -
17. Matrim Cauthon - - * * * * *
18. Verin Mathwin - * - * -
EOW TGH TDR TSR TFH LOC COS
=======================================
19. Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan - - * * *
20. Dain Bornhald - *
21. Suroth - +
22. Elayne Trakand - - - * * * *
23. Faile [Zarine Bashere] - * * -
24. Sahra Covenry +
25. [Rand as] Mandein +
26. [Rand as] Rhodric +
27. [Rand as] Jeordam +
28. [Rand as] Lewin +
29. [Rand as] Adan +
30. [Rand as] Jonai *
31. [Rand as] Coumin +
32. [Rand as] Charn +
33. Egeanin - *
34. [Seanchan spy] * *
EOW TGH TDR TSR TFH LOC COS
=======================================
35. Rahvin [aka Lord Gaebril] - +
36. Gareth Bryne - * -
37. Alteima - +
38. Morgase Trakand - - * * *
39. Therin Lugay +
40. Ronde Macura +
41. Avi Shendar +
42. Moghedien - * * *
43. Hadnan Kadere - *
44. Asmodean [aka Jasin Natael] - +
EOW TGH TDR TSR TFH LOC COS
=======================================
45. Demandred *
46. Gawyn Trakand - - - * *
47. Katerine Alruddin *
48. Sevanna - * *
49. Mesaana + -
50. Osan'gar +
51. Sammael * -
52. Graendal * *
53. Semirhage +
54. Sheriam Bayanar - - - + -
55. Sulin - + -
56. Aviendha - - - * *
57. Nesune Bihara * -
58. Sarene Nemdahl +
59. Delana Mosalaine *
60. Eamon Valda * *
61. Radham Asunawa + -
62. Romanda Cassin + -
63. Lelaine Akashi + -
64. Merana Ambrey * *
65. Dyelin +
66. Luan +
67. Ellorien +
68. Vilnar +
69. Demira Eriff *
70. Bain - - +
71. Sorilea - - +
72. Myrelle + -
73. Galina Casban * *
74. Falion Bhoda * *
EOW TGH TDR TSR TFH LOC COS
=======================================
75. Alviarin Freidhen - - - *
76. Joline +
77. [old man] +
78. Cadsuane Melaidhrin +
79. [watcher] +
80. Reanne Corly *
81. Seaine +
82. Maeric +
83. Shaidar Haran - +
Of course, the cast of TWOT is so huge that there are still some long-standing characters who haven't been given a POV, who I'm hoping will get one in the future, namely Lan (of course!), Lanfear (there's no way she won't be back), and Tam al'Thor. What with the new characters that are certain to be introduced in the future, I'd say it's pretty certain we'll have over a hundred different POVs by the time the series is done.
The Whitecloak icon is copyright © Tor Books and used with permission.
Karl-Johan Norén,
kjnoren@hem3.passagen.se