Broiler

nevermind. I found it. It is in the first one. However, on Audible, Brandon isn't listed as an author.

Does anyone know which Unfettered Anthology this appears in? I assume it isn't 1, because Brandon isn't listed as an author. It may be 2, which he is or it may be 3 which list he and Robert Jordan as contributors.

Read New Spring after Lord of Chaos or later. It is a pretty good story, and I like it. It does build on some of the main characters in an "Origin Story" way. If you skip anything, skip Crossroads of Twilight, except that one chapter in Tuon's voice near the end. (I really think it is CoT, if not it is in KoD, in which case skip CoT all together)

I think I read a Jordan interview once that he made it because when he was younger, he dated two girls at the same time and thought his main character could date three! I don't think he ever intended more than that.

I don't think there are spoilers here, other than writing names of characters in books that are later in the series. If that is considered a spoiler, then I'm sorry. I've re-read the first 7-8 books at least 9 times (well read twice, listened to seven times). By the time I get to the Path of Daggers, things really slow down and I usually either stop at book 7, or do some heavy skipping on the rest of the books. I think I re-read Brandon's contribution 3 times, and to be honest the story picks back up on Knife of Dreams. If you were a new reader, I think you could skip Crossroads of Twilight altogether and not miss a whole lot (I think there is one chapter in there that I really liked, the one written in Tuon's voice, if that is even in Crossroads of Twilight, it might be in Knife of Dreams.) Every time I start a re-read I love the books. I always pick up new things. Brandon did as good of a job finishing it as anyone could have, but I still cringe at his writing of Mat and Perrin. Although Perrin get better in A Memory of Light, Mat never recovers. I think if you want to see Mat the way Jordan wanted Mat to be, you have to read Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams to see his peak. By the end of Knife of Dreams, Tuon knows Matt to be a great general and there is no need for her to rediscover that in A Memory of Light. Also, the General of the Deathwatch Guards basically disappears after Knife of Dreams. Don't get me wrong, I love Brandon's work, and the way he was able to tie the series off as well as he did is a great accomplishment and one I'll be forever thankful for, but in the Wheel of Time, he is not Robert Jordan. I think he'd agree. BTW, if you liked WoT, you should read The Warrior of the Altaii. Jordan's widow released it late last year. It was written prior to the WoT, but you can see some of the WoT in its early stages. It is an entertaining read, if unpolished.

I think Thom plays the role more of Dalinar than Hoid/Wit. Crusty old guy with a past that you slowly get to know about. Sure Dalinar grows into much more (and will continue to grow) than Thom did, but Thom didn't have that sense of "knowing more than any person has a right to know, almost divine like" that Nakomi/Hoid has. The world hopper is as close to divine intervention that we get (well other then the whole spren thing) in the Cosmere. Even the spren are pretty much just on the one world (two if you count Shadesmar as a seperate world) and really have fallen characteristics that show them to be a different type of human. But Nakomi, is a Hoid like vision for Avienda. Not in the comic/foil sort of way, but I'm sure all World Hoppers have their own personality. She leads Avienda to some conclusions that make her come to self realizations that make her a better person. Basically, the same role that Hoid plays in the Stormlight Archive.

Nakomi still bugs me. I don't see her one chapter and minor mentions advancing the story or even Avienda's character all that much. While I've not read Brandon as much as Jordan, I don't think he would spend a whole chapter investing in introducing Nakomi and then abandoning her. So to what purpose? i think Brandon has a couple chapters in other books that are similar. Dialog between a mainish character and a specific "class" of character. The world traveler. The best example, is the chapter with Kaladin and Wit (Hoid) on the shattered plains. So, my theory is that Nakomi's purpose is that she allows Brandon to pull Randland into the Cosmere in an honorary way. The rules of the Cosmere aren't pressed into Randland, but is Brandon's little signature into what he always says is Jordan's work.