WMG / The Wheel Of Time Jossed

This page is for Wheel of Time loony theories that turned out to be be false. Beware of spoilers!

The Last Battle

Rand will be mortally wounded at Caemlyn. The last battle might even take place there

With all the King Arthur parallelism, I'd be surprised if Jordan had let that one slip. In every story about King Arthur he gets mortally wounded at Camlann, also called (you guessed it) The Last Battle. Since Rand plans on attacking the DO at Shayol Ghul, it makes me doubt that the Last Battle would truly take place in the city, but then again, nothing guarantees that Rand actually gets to the Shayol Ghul.For all we know, the DO might actually manifest in Caemlyn and lay waste to the city. Rand gates there, gets wounded very badly (showing the three women weeping on his bier, which reminds me of another scene from the King Arthur legends, with the three women weeping over his wounded body on the boat trip to Avalon.) Then the DO withdraws back to Shayol Ghul then, because Caemlyn is too far from the Bore for him to manifest there for long (maybe he manifests before Rand breaks the three seals, so he's still being held back a bit, but not enough to keep him from manifesting somewhat), which would give more time for the weeping over the bier vision to occur. Rand later resurrects somehow and attack him in Shayol Ghul once he's healed.

Balefire must be channeled to seal (Or rather, un-unseal) the bore

At one point, Rand and Hegrid Fel have a conversation about the Bore, that, when the wheel of time turns and the Bore is drilled again, the Bore must not exist, which is different from simply sealing the bore. So, it seems like if the bore is going be undone, somehow the bore must be prevented from happening in the first place. It seems like balefire may be the only way to do this.

• Alternatively, especially if The Wheel really does go on forever, the Dark One has to get free at some point, and then eventually be resealed.

Rand will actually become a Dragon

This one's really out there, I know, but it has a strange appeal. Somehow, Rand will be transformed into a Dragon for his final battle with the Dark One, maybe permanently. This could also involve, Elayne, Min, and Aviendha also choosing to become them as well to be with Rand. This could be supported by Min's viewing that Aviendha would have five of Rand's children at once, but there would be something odd about them.

• The oddity about Aviendha's children is revealed to be that the children are born embracing the source, and hold it all the time naturally. They are also all human.
  • Actually it never mentions that they all can. Also; four children, not five.

Rand, Mat, and Perrin will lose their Ta'veren status right before Tarmon Gaidon

It has been mentioned that people are not always Ta'veren for their whole life. So, Rand, Mat, and Perrin will all lose their Ta'veren status right before the Last Battle and they will have to "Go It Alone" without their Ta'veren condition to back them up.

Rand succeeds in killing the Dark One. Padan Fain becomes the new one.

(This doesn't even seem like a particularly wild guess, but it's not here yet, so it might as well be added.) Rand has said he plans to truly kill the Dark One. Maybe that's just ego speaking, or maybe he really does have a plan. It seems implausible, but who knows? Even if he does, though, history is cyclical, and something will become a Big Bad. Well, there's Padan Fain. He's already incredibly evil and in every book he becomes more and more powerful.

• Looking at it, Padan Fain has power over death, is definitely not human, and is super evil and super powered. Who is to say that, with the cyclical time, the Creator imprisoning the Dark One is not re-played through eternity using things that are more than human, the new incarnations of the Dragon and Mashadar?
• This ones fun, but seriously, it's pretty much set in stone that the Dark One can't be killed.

Ishamael (Moridin, whatever) will have a Heel–Face Turn and maybe even be the one that actually seals the Dark One.

Rand's been in his head since they crossed the streams. Just imagine what effect Jesus!Rand's brain must be having on him — he probably hasn't slept properly in weeks. Rand would still indirectly be the one responsible.

After the end/the fourth age

The fourth line of the Dragon will be descended from Lanfear.

The other three lines of Rand's descent are fairly obvious: Elayne, Min, and Aviendha. Barring Ilyena being reborn as someone other than Elayne, Lanfear is the most likely person to receive Rand's "affections" in the modern age.

When Rand encountered her in the Cyndane body, he felt, among other things, lust. She's been chasing him for hundreds of years (not counting the thousands of years they both spent in limbo and Tel'Aran'Rhiod). It's unlikely that she will stay on the side of Shai'tan if someone frees her from the vacuole. Being beaten (or worse) to the brink of death and then healed in a place where time may have no meaning just might be what it takes to make her genuinely seek to change sides.

Her current circumstances also play into the "can't hurt a woman" sentiments that the three main characters cling to.

The Horn of Valere

The Horn won't summon anyone at the Last Battle

All the legendary heroes will be there already! We'll get to see Mat do a spit-take, it'll be great.

Rand will die before the series ends and be called back by the Horn.

• We know that Rand has to die somehow to defeat the Shadow. We also know that he "must die in order to live" and have seen visions indicating mourning over his death when he is not precisely gone.
• We know Rand isn't powerful enough to beat the Dark One all by himself; the Dark One is basically Anti-God, and Rand is just a powerful human. But the Heroes of the Horn are invulnerable while called back, and seem to have other powers above their normal abilities. (Note Birgitte's arrow that sets the Seanchan ship aflame in her first appearance.)
• The Heroes are stated by Moiraine to follow whoever sounds the Horn, even a Darkfriend. But the Heroes themselves state that they cannot fight without the Dragon, and his banner, to lead them. This makes sense only if the Dragon is himself a Hero and would normally be called with the rest; it's only when he happens to be incarnate that this is an inconvenience. Otherwise, it would be essentially impossible to know the Heroes would follow whoever calls them.
  • It should be noted here that while Moiraine can't lie, she can be wrong. It's possible that the Horn can only be used by whichever side the Dragon is on, only Moiraine doesn't know that.
• Interestingly enough, This theory pans out for other characters besides Rand: Noal and Birgitte are both summoned by the horn at a critical moment.

Asmodean

Lanfear killed Asmodean

We know the following things about the conditions of Asmodean's death:

• It was instantaneous, he didn't have enough time to even try and defend himself.
• No traces of his body remained.
• Asmodean recognized the killer, and his last words were "You? NO!"
• According to RJ, it should have been obvious at the time the book was released (damn liar), which rules out a number of characters we had yet to meet, including Mazrim Taim, Moridin, Shaidar Haran, the gholam and Aran'gar/Osan'gar.

Additionally, Lanfear said in The Shadow Rising that she would kill Asmodean once she felt he had taught Rand enough. The docks incident would probably qualify as "enough". Of all the Forsaken, Lanfear was the one Asmodean feared the most, though Unreliable Narrator may be an issue (this was Lanfear telling Rand from what she saw in Asmo's dreams). Additionally, Asmodean was thinking to himself how happy he was that she was dead literally a few pages before getting torched. That would be easily enough to make a guy shout "You? NO!"

Of course, Lanfear happened to be in another dimension after getting tackled into it by Moiraine, but could have used her wish by the Finn to appear in the normal dimension to exact her revenge.

• Since Lanfear is re-incarnated by the Dark One, wouldn't that mean she died in the portal?
  • The Finn exact a price for the wishes they grant. I have a theory about two of the wishes Lanfear may have had granted. One, she wanted to kill Asmodean, and the price was a reduction in her channeling ability. Two, she wanted to escape the Finn, so they killed her.
• Also, to answer a point many who decry the Lanfear theory make, how could she have killed him the very day she fell through the doorway: the Finn can read the thread of a human life, past present and future (or else they couldn't receive people's own memories of dying) and we know things work differently in Finnland (the laws of space, if nothing else). So why not the laws of time? Like the World of Dreams, time runs differently there, so they could have sent Lanfear back (for the duration of her wish) the very day she left. As to how she knew to go to Caemlyn, she could have asked around while in disguise, guessed Rand would go after Rahvin, or been told by the Finn.

Asmodean is alive again

This assumes one of the more popular, not so wild theories- that it was Graendal who killed Asmodean. TGS Spoliers: Now, Rand appears to have quite thoroughly eliminated Graendal's thread with his Choeden Kal powered balefire nuke. If there was enough power in that attack, might her thread have been burned out far enough back for Asmodean to be resurrected? But then, if Graendal had originally killed him with balefire as well, then the Pattern itself might be in for a major headache trying to figure out the consequences.

• Now that is an interesting theory. Robert Jordan did say that Asmodean was dead, but I do not think he said he would stay dead. Asmodean himself will appear again near the end of the series and confirm himself it was Graendal that killed him!
• Word of God gave us the maths. Even the Choedan Kal balefire nuke would only reverse time by hours at most. Asmodean died months ago. If Graendal did it, and if she died at Natrin's Barrow, it still wouldn't bring Asmodean back.
  • To be completely accurate Word of God says that with the Choedan Kal even the strongest channeler could undo events by a couple of days at best. Brandon Sanderson went on to say that longer periods would be theoretically possible but the damage to the pattern would be so great that it would simply unravel altogether. Very creative thinking but thoroughly Jossed.

Asmodean is Moridin

Think about this for a moment. Asmodean is described as the least powerful of the Forsaken in the One Power. Moridin almost exclusively relies on the True Power. Moridin only really showed up after Asmodean kicked it. Cyndane (aka Lanfear) has a deep hatred for him, which could be more than just being made his servant. My theory is this: After meeting his end at the end of book 5, Asmodean is ressurected as Moridin in secret, then sent to organise the rest of the Forsaken into an organised force, rather than a squabbling bunch of ninnies by whatever means possible. It's mentioned that the Dark One has a cruel sense of humour, so why not have the one perceived as the weakest Forsaken made into the leader?

• Well, Rand (who knew all the Forsaken as Lews Therin Telamon) believes that Moridin is Ishamael, though I suppose that could be a deliberate false lead on either the Dark One's or Moridin's part. Also, Asmodean died a traitor- why would the Dark One want him back, much less in a position of authority? He even seemed somewhat repentant at the end, while the DO has always favored the monster.
• Also, the Forsaken say that Moridin is as insane as he was in his old incarnation and thought Moridin believed he was the Dark Lord. Ishamael called himself Ba'alzamon and later books after his death have the Forsaken commenting on him, saying he actually believed this. However, Moridin showing up at the same time Asmodean died could mean he's the killer.

Asmodean is a Hero of the Horn

I'm sure many will read that and think "but he didn't do anything heroic!" That's true... but I'm not asserting that his actions in his most recent life made him a Hero. I'm asserting that he already was one, and was spun out in the Age of Legends. However, much as how the Dragon can turn to the Shadow, so too can a Hero. Joar Addam Nesossim was born a Hero of the Horn, and had things gone as expected, he would have gone on to compose songs comparable to The Song that the Tuatha'an are seeking.

Note that, even as a Forsaken, Asmodean was not nearly as bad as the rest of the Forsaken - his only real atrocity was mutilation of artists (especially musicians and composers), whereas the rest undertook much grander acts of atrocity. Indeed, it is possible that Thom Merrilin was produced by the pattern because the soul of Joar Addam Nesossim was still in use elsewhere, when it was supposed to be available - note that Thom is also a musician who is likely to be a Hero after the events of the series. Another thing to note is that his final acts before death were somewhat honourable, suggesting that most of his evil behaviour were a result of his connection to the Dark One.

The Dark One and the Shadow

The Dark One is a Well-Intentioned Extremist

The Dark One wants to break the Wheel because the Wheel is a manipulative entity that costs many people their lives because of how it "corrects" itself. The Wheel is not necessary for life in the world to continue. The Dark One just has to use extreme methods to combat the Wheel. He was imprisoned because he is the only one who could possibly destroy it.

There is no Dark One

This troper's stepfather believes that there isn't and never was a Dark One. Rand kills several Dark One impostors, and who's to say that that doesn't stretch all the way back. His idea is that the Dark side and the Light side are non-sentient, and people simply attribute personalities to them.

• The biggest problem with this is that something that's obviously sentient and extremely powerful is talking through Shayol Ghul and controlling Shaidair Haran. The Dark One at least has a personality, although I suppose it's possible that it/he started out as a nonsentient force of chaos and destruction but acquired a personality through interacting with humans (or, like Brandon Sanderson's shard gods, was a nonsentient force merged with a humanlike intelligence)...
• Read any part in the series where someone actually says his name.

Taim is actually not a Darkfriend.

He's just a power-hungry bastard who's learned/created more than a few weaves of questionable morality.

• Doesn't explain how he knows the phrase "Let the Lord of Chaos Rule!", which so far as we know has only been said by the Dark One to the Forsaken, strongly suggesting Taim either is a Forsaken himself (probably Moridin, since Demandred's out) or at least has had contact with them- and his fondness for red and black decorating suggests, but doesn't confirm, a Moridin connection, since those are Moridin's colors. He's also clearly using a circle of Dreadlords and Myrddraal to turn Asha'man and Aes Sedai to the Shadow as of Towers of Midnight. Even if he's not a card-carrying Darkfriend, he's plainly working with them at the very least.

Taimandred was Jossed because Taim is actually Bel'al

Bel'al's Informed Ability is being behind everything. He might have actually sent an impostor to grab Callandor and give him it. Something that somewhat supports this is that in Lord Of Chaos, Shaidar Hain mentions Rahvin is lost to the flow of time, but not Bel'al. Taim has knowledge only Forsaken have, but since Taimandred was Jossed the only Forsaken it could be is Moridin. However, Taim was around before Moridin. Meanwhile, Bel'al was free to step in anywhere he wanted. Besides, the poor guy deserves some screen time.

• That is...a rather fascinating possibility. And perhaps in support of it, recall the sigil of the gauntlet clutching the lightning bolt which we see Taim using in the Black Tower—while that also appeared on the back of Sammael's throne in the World of Dreams, the first place we saw it was...on the coach Liandrin and her coven used to take Nynaeve, Elayne, and Egwene to the Stone of Tear, which belonged to High Lord Samon, Be'lal...
  • It was also Liandrin and her coven who came up with the idea to free Mazrim Taim, presumably while they were at the Stone so that Be'lal would have known about it. He pulled Alviarin into the World of Dreams (an unnecessary act since Mesaana and Lanfear had already dispatched the coven and the Supergirls to Tear as bait for the trap for Rand)—perhaps to send the Black Ajah to free Taim? In which case perhaps the real Taim was the impostor sent in to get Callandor, and whom Moiraine balefired. Then she gets knocked out, Ishamael chases Rand into the World of Dreams, and Be'lal makes a Villain: Exit, Stage Left, using the info he got from Taim to assume his identity with a Mirror of Mists. Or...he actually did get balefired, but because the amount was so small (Moiraine could only burn a thread back by "a few seconds", and Jordan said the Dark One could resurrect someone killed by balefire if the amount was small) the Dark One was able to catch his soul in time. Then he was put into Taim's old body, or a new Saldaean one. And Be'lal being another guy who hated and envied Lews Therin would explain all the things about Taim that made him seem to be Demandred...unless Be'lal was imitating Demandred on purpose, to throw both Rand and the readers off...

The world exists because the Pattern exists, and the Pattern exists for the sole purpose of trapping an incredibly powerful sorcerer: the Dark One.

Shai'tan is not in fact a world-destroying Eldritch Abomination, just a very powerful, very power-hungry sorcerer who tried to... I dunno, take over the world or something else unforgivable. The Creator was his arch-nemesis. Eventually, the latter triumphed over the former, but for some reason couldn't or wouldn't kill him, and so instead devised an ingenious prison: Shai'tan would be imprisoned within his own mind, his own most dangerous weapon. The enchantment/device/whatever, the Wheel of Time, would force him to, essentially, keep writing and re-writing a story, always with the same characters, in which he was the villain trying to destroy the world (i.e. break free of his prison). This is why there's so much Dramatic Irony and Mars and Venus Gender Contrast in the world created by the Pattern: Shai'tan, like many evil sorcerers, is a bit of Nietzsche Wannabe, and the humans written by his imagination are his caricature of humanity in general. Of course, the truly ingenious part of the prison is the fact that Shai'tan is actually a character in it, who must conform to a role that is just similar enough to his actual personality but different enough to include an important caveat: when he wins, he will re-make the world. In short, even if the Dark One ever succeeds and destroys the world, in theory freeing him, he will actually re-make his own prison. Hence, it's nigh impossible for him to truly escape.

Note that this would also explain why the Creator is so absent in the series: the Creator is just another human being and, well, he has a life! He doesn't want to spend all his days watching over that Big Bad he defeated centuries ago. Heck, he may well be dead by now, and he died in peace, knowing that he'd saved the world from such a horrible monster. Those little figme

The Dark One is not the first Dark One

Per the creation myth of the setting, the Dark One is the antithesis of the Creator and was bound by him at the beginning of Time. In the Second Age, he was partially freed by human channelers, and the Third Age has been building to an apocalyptic showdown with him. Now, having this end with the DO simply being re-bound and vowing to try again next time the Wheel rolls around to these particular Ages could easily be anticlimactic- perhaps at the Last Battle, the Dragon, champion of the Creator, will actually succeed (and has succeeded in previous turnings) in "killing" the DO, only for the DO's power to survive and latch onto a nearby human, resulting in that person being sucked into the Bore and becoming a new DO? In brief, the current Dark One is not the entity imprisoned by the Creator, but rather, his successor. After Rand kills him, who'll take his place? Ishamael/Moridin(if he survives) and Padan Fain/Mordeth both seem like possibilities, particularly the latter...nts of imagination in his 'creation' can take care of themselves. After all, it's not as if they're real or anything...

Secret identities

Ishamael is the Dark One.

Essentially an unfortunate human who somehow recovered his memories of previous cycles of time,the exposure to eternal recurrence drove him really really reaalllly crazy. He wants his ceaseless existence to end, but looking into future past only promises failure. Obviously, he plans to destroy all creation to Screw Destiny.

Olver is Gaidal Cain

We've been told that time in the Dreamworld isn't linear, and doesn't always really match up with the real world. We also know that Gaidal Cain always re-enters the real world prior to Birgitte. Gaidal Cain is also a remarkably ugly man.

Olver appears after Birgitte notes Cain's disappearance from the Dreamworld, and is a very ugly boy. Also, being raised by Matt & Co. are setting him solidly on a path towards becoming a soldier and talented swordsman, not to mention gifting him with some chick-magnet powers.

Also, It's possible that he wasn't born, raised, and orphaned in the normal sense. The pattern anticipated Birgitte's being removed from the normal sequence of events, and so it brought Cain into the world in an abnormal fashion to heal the damage done to the Pattern with Birgitte was removed. Thus, even though Birgitte is older than Cain in a biological sense, he remains older than her in a chronological sense, preserving the pattern.

Taim is Moridin.

We've all been saying Demandred is the most likely candidate because Demandred is always second to Lews Therin, just like Taim, and is The Resenter as well. (Plus, we don't know who he's hiding as.) Well, the thing about Moridin is that he's strongest on the bad-guy side, which means he's stronger than Demandred and is likely to be bettered only by Rand. Additionally, if there's one thing we know about Ishamael, it's that he likes to play Evil Chancellor and subvert good people's efforts to bad ends from behind the scenes. If there's anything Taim is doing, it's that. Finally, Moridin is the only remaining Forsaken who could be Taim.

The Wheel and the Pattern

The Wheel of Time series will never be finished.

In each book, less and less time passes. In Towers of Midnight it was less than week. As we get closer and closer to the end of the series, the amount of time covered in each book will grow closer and closer to zero.

• Through Fridge Logic this Troper believes that the slowing of time is actually a kind of measuring rod to how much control the Dark One is possessing over the Pattern. The closer we get to the Last Battle, the more time will slow, to the point where it actually stands still during a total solar eclipse, fulfilling the prophecy of twice dawns the day. When the good guys when, back to standard time zones.
  • Through normal logic, how exactly can you truly "finish" a series where life goes in a continuous circle, forever?
    • This was not the end. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel Of Time. But it is ''an'' end

The Ways

Machin Shin will be destroyed by Mashadar

With the series's tendencies to tie objects and beings of similar power together, two inscrutable evil entities that are/were confined to specific locals should be the ones to destroy each other. See the taint on saidin and Aridhol/Shadar Logoth's shadowlike-but-not-of-the-shadow evil; Rand and Ishamael/Moridin, the two strongest channelers; and Luc Mantear/Isam Mandragoran's fusion into Slayer for more possible examples.

• Alternate theory: Machin Shin will be absorbed by Mashadar. Padan Fain was telling Machin Shin what to do since the first book. ...wait a second, does Mashadar even exist any more? I thought it was destroyed along with Shadar Logoth...
• Alternate theory 2: In connection with the next WMG, Machin Shin is actually a result of the Taint interacting with Mashadar bleeding into the Ways through the Shadar Logoth waygate. Much as happened in the case of Padan Fain, who was a creature of the Dark One before entering Shadar Logoth, Machin Shin is insane because it is in a turmoil as its Dark One taint and Shadar Logoth taint fight even as they find a common cause (also explaining Fain's "kinship" with it). The effect of this interaction is decay in such a way that it is gradual and painful, just as with the wounds in Rand's side. With Shadar Logoth and the taint both gone, Machin Shin will have begun to dissipate.

The Ways are tainted not by Saidin, but by Shadar Logoth

There is a waygate inside Shadar Logoth. Waygates are grown, suggesting the Ways are a living thing, which can be tainted by the corruption of Shadar Logoth. When the group is about to leave the Ways in book one, Mat (still heavily bound to his evil dagger) yells "I can feel it! Light, I can bloody feel it!". Contrarily, Egwene, Nyaeve, and Moiraine can feel the taint, whereas elsewhere in the series it's been shown that women can feel absolutely nothing of saidin.

This also explains why the Ways are so hostile to Trollocs and other Darkspawn; Shadar Logoth was no friend to the dark.

• According to Loial/Moiraine in tEotW, the anti-trolloc traps were built-in by the Aes Sedai who grew the Ways.

• To further support this theory: Aridhol fell to Mashadar and became Shadar Logoth sometime during the Trolloc Wars (a legion of Shadowspawn camped there and was never seen again near the end of the wars), while the Ways began growing dark during the War of the Hundred Years. This would indicate the magic and sentience of the Ways took some time to become tainted and darkened by Mashadar, and also puts the darkening of the Ways and its cause much closer together than it would be if the tainting of saidin caused it.
  • This is fairly well debunked by Word of God, which explicitly refers to Machin Shin as a product of the Taint. Presumably, anyone can feel the corruption because it's so strong, and the Ways were such a complex and massive creation that it took awhile for the corruption to visibly set in. Apparently the effects of Machin Shin and Mashadar are similar enough for it to recognize Fain as "kin", though.

Misc.

The whole series is about the battle between Verin and Moridin

Both are Chessmasters and both are very mysterious. It would not be surprising if the entire series was really about these two pitting their pawns off against each other.

• Pretty well debunked by The Gathering Storm
  • Not if Verin's final move was a Thanatos Gambit in the match, establishing the final checkmate. Mind you, even if Verin isn't the true chessmaster, she still went for a Thanatos Gambit.

Moiraine had a second Warder: Thom

He inexplicably got all depressed right at the same time as she died. He's able to take down a Myrddraal in single combat and walk away from it. He's got incredible healing abilities. He was always able to find his way back to the party as long as Moiraine was with them. And that letter she wrote to him seemed a bit more personal in tone than what we knew of their relationship would justify...

• But, you say, "He didn't 'take down' the Myrddraal." It decided he was Not Worth Killing. And whose word do we have for that? Just Thom's. Given how much Thom refuses to talk about himself, and throwing in what appears to be a Warder reticence, it makes perfect sense that he wouldn't tell them he could deal with a Myrddraal, especially when he's trying to both get rid of the ta'veren and get them to be careful.

Perrin's going to lose a leg at some point

Based entirely on the fact that Mat's lost something up high and Rand has lost something in the middle. It's plausible, especially considering that he's about to participate in a massive war.

• Unlikely, as Thor did not receive such a wound. Rand and Mat's losses have been long expected, being Tyr/Tiw and Odin, respectively. Well, unless Perrin's leg is poisoned, maybe by Black Ajah (serpents)...
  • If anyone's going to be a Thor analogue, wouldn't it be Rand al-Thor?
    • No, it'd be the guy who kills people with a GIANT HAMMER.
• AMOL Spoiler: Nope, though he does get hit by multiple arrows, with wounds that don't seem to heal quite right.

Our modern times are actually the early part of the second age

Ok hear me out here. We have been told (At least I seem to remember reading this somewhere, someone feel free to correct me if they have contradicting proof) that not all of the ages need to end in a cataclysm of some sort. That sometimes the ages just kind of merge together. But if the books are anything to go by while they might not always end in cataclysm, they do always seem to end in some sort of epic struggle between good and evil. So my theory is that The first age ended at the end of world war two. While this wasn't a society resetting cataclysmic battle it was a subtler fight between the creator and dark one in a more cat's paw type battle as it had to be since neither side had channelers. Now that the more light aligned forces seemingly won the world will increase in peace and prosperity leading into the age of legends, sped up when in the next few decades or centuries channeling is rediscovered leading into the high second age that we know from the books.

• Actually Word of God on this one is that our own age is the First age. For example, the old legend about giants fighting in the sky with lances of fire is allegory for the cold war, and the story of men who flew to the moon in the belly of an eagle is a reference to the moon landing("the eagle has landed"), and both of those legends date back to the Age of Dreams(the first age).