I am struck dumb.

Absolutely flabbergasted.

I'm surprised at the emotion this is able to evoke in me, all of 15 years since I first joined an online Wheel of Time forum, specifically driven to get involved in it all by my overwhelming and enduring view that Demandred was Taim.

It was so clear, I never doubted it, and I still maintained it long after RJ denied it. To have it confirmed as true, I honestly don't know how to express my feelings.

It has been a part of my thoughts for so long in my life that I almost need to sit down, having it confirmed as a side revelation from his notes after all thsee years.

It is obvious in Lord of Chaos. Utterly obvious.

In addition, Graendal's killing of Asmodean always felt hollow, like it served no purpose and was a monumental waste of a good storyline. Now, with Taimandred confirmed, Demandred killing Asmodean makes perfect plot sense. Now there was a purpose to the death of Asmodean, namely so that he could not reveald to Rand who Taim truly was.

And lastly, this snippet calls into significant question whether the entire Shara storyline would ever have existed if RJ had not tried to cover up Demandred's original placing as Taim.

Truth be told, Demandred as Taim would have been a far more powerful and emotionally fulfilling story than Demandred arriving in the last book like some comic book supervillain at the head of an army of foreigners (think Loki in the Thor movie with his army of aliens).

Demandred as Taim was a great storyline. And RJ's series was the poorer for him abandoning it sometime after Lord of Chaos.

in short: We were not mad. The signs WERE obvious. I am off to read Lord of Chaos again, this time KNOWING it is Demandred I am seeing in all the Taim scenes. It will change the entire feel of the book.

Wow. What a revelation. The biggest ever from the WOT universe, as far as I am concerned. Almost two decades of being part of the fandom has finally provided its reward, if long after the party has ended.