Eniara Kisharad

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Eniara Kisharad
Real Name Shannon
Location Wellington, New Zealand
Birthday August 10
TarValon.Net Information
Affiliation Brown Ajah
Rank Aes Sedai
Title
Join Date September 7, 2002
Bonded to Ciaran al'Trystan
Link to Forum Profile

Tower History

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Tower Relationships

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Official Event Attendance

Tower Sworn Interview

Updated October 31, 2024

  • What is your Tower name?

Eniara Kisharad

  • When were you raised to Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah?

August 11, 2003...donkeys years ago!

  • Why did you choose Brown?

I'm a historian at heart so Brown is a natural fit, but I initially picked the Ajah because I was a brown-noser as a teenager (pun intended) and was trying to get into the good books of a Brown at another site. By the time I joined TarValon.net I thoroughly identified with the Ajah, so I never considered joining anything else. That said, I am an individual with large stripes and Rainbow Ajah fists me best (in more ways that one!); Brown stripe is foremost, closely followed by Gray and others.

  • Are you like the Browns in the books?

A lot of the time, yes. I've always been a voracious reader and am addicted to history and learning. While at uni I worked for the Michigan State University Library and after moving to New Zealand I spent seven years working on a very Brown project where I digitized NZ's national archive of 25,000 heritage maps. Now I'm a public servant looking after NZ's primary collection of historical aerial imagery, helping to update our current topographic map series, and other very Brown things.

  • Do you love books and do you daydream a lot?

Yes and yes. I once wanted to write my own insanely complicated book series, but awesome as it may be in my head, I don't have the patience and focus to finish a book. Instead I channel that energy into DIY projects and building things.

  • Do you have a favorite Brown Ajah character from the novels?

This is a no-brainer, I think. Verin Mathwin totally wins the Brown Ajah Award of the Age for Awesomeness. If this includes former Browns, however, then Martine Janata (Setalle Anan) runs a very close second.

  • How was your time as Citizen/Novice/Accepted?

I'm enough of an oldie that I remember when we decided it was time to create the city. Once upon a time it was going to be this massive, interactive, graphic interface..but that never fully materialized. As I joined long before the city existed, I was never a citizen. I honestly don't remember much about being a novice or Accepted, either. At the time I was splitting my energy between several communities and it took almost a year to be raised to Aes Sedai here because the Hall didn't think I was posting enough. I fixed that!

  • How long have you been a member of TV.net?

I first met Eleyan and company at Dragon*Con 2002 and joined the following week.

  • What things do you do for TV.net?

My time commitments these days are mostly reserved for my work and processional commitments here in NZ (plus the DIY that keeps me sane!). For many years I served as the Assistant to the Director of Research and Records and for a shorter period as Events Historian. I've also been Treasurer, an Events Committee head, and a three-term Sitter for the Browns. Occasionally I've contributed to the fandom in some very obscure ways. One summer I convinced my mother to sew 3x5' flags of the 15 Westlands nations for the WoT track at Dragon*Con; to my great pleasure I still seem them on occasion at JordanCon. In the back of my mind I also still want to document the history of the Wheel of Time online fandom (Annals of the Ages @ TheGreatHall.org).

  • How long have you been a fan of The Wheel of Time and how did you get to read the Series?

In the spring of 1998 I was a lonely freshman who ran to the school library and grabbed the fattest fiction book I could find for our final book report. That book was a beat-up copy of The Eye of the World. My fantasy experience was limited to Narnia and the Chronicles of Prydain at that point, but the plot synopsis looked interesting so I figured why not. I devoured The Eye of the World and went back for The Great Hunt before the week was out. The look on everyone's faces when I plunked down two 700-page paperbacks and proceeded to do a report on both was priceless. The rest is history. I quit counting series re-reads after 13, and that was probably 20 years ago. I didn't finish reading A Memory of Light until 2016, though, because I simply wasn't emotionally ready for the journey to end.

  • Who is your favorite hero?

Moiraine has been my hero and crush since I was fourteen, and she likely always will be. It was agony waiting more than a decade for her to come back! Siuan runs a close second. My biggest disappointment with the series was not seeing their reunion in A Memory of Light...that and Siuan's footnote of an ending. We were cheated!!

  • Favorite bad guy/gal?

This is tougher. I think I'll have to pick Graendal. There's a tiny piece of me that would love to not care and be totally hedonistic and power hungry. Especially if I could get away with it.

  • Favorite book and scene?

Book is a toss up between New Spring and The Fires of Heaven. My favorite scene used to be when Rand reads the letter from Moiraine after she sacrificed herself fighting Lanfear. I'm always a sucker for the greater good, giving up everything to protect someone else scenarios. Now I think my favorite scene is Moiraine, Thom, and Mat at the campfire immediately after her rescue.

  • If you were set down in Randland, who/what would you see yourself as? An Aes Sedai? Innkeeper? Seanchan Captain?

I think after so many real life years spent as an Aes Sedai, there would be no other path for me besides the White Tower. If not that I would've been Aiel, probably Far Dareis Mai turned Wise One.

  • How did you find TarValon.Net and what convinced you to stay and become a Tower Sworn?

I was first exposed to TarValon.net when a small group of members attended Dragon*Con 2002 and I was co-presenting on an Amyrlins panel with Eleyan (I was running my own roleplay community at that time). After I'd met her there was no way I couldn't join, and I quickly found a family with all the other amazing people at this community.

  • To whom are you bonded, if you're bonded?

I've been bonded to Ciaran al'Trystan since 2006. He and I originally met in chat and connected over our mutual love of highland cows. It's only gotten weirder through the years and I don't know what I would do without him. He's probably better known in the fandom these days than I am because of his work with gaming at Jordan Con.

  • Who is your mentee, if you have one?

Alas, I've never had an official mentee at TarValon.net. I've trained a couple of sidekicks, though, and been a big sister to at least one Brown-guesting Accepted.

  • Have you ever attended any Real Life Functions? Did you like them if you did, and why?

I'm going to assume this is just official functions so I don't have to list all of the minor parties I've attended and/or hosted. I was at every Dragon*Con between 2002 and 2008. I was also at the inaugural JordanCon in 2009, JordanCon 2016, JordanCon 2024, and Comic Con 2005 (the year Robert Jordan attended to promote New Spring). Add to the list Fall Ball '04 (Albuquerque), 5th Anni (Corpus Christi), Fall Ball '06 (Toronto), 10th Anni (Charleston), 15th Anni (Placerville), Fall Ball '17, and 21st Anni (Chattanooga). I have yet to go to a party that I regretted attending. Some have been completely fantastic, some have had major drama, and at some I've had emotional meltdowns. They're like big family reunions and I love going and will continue to attend any opportunity I can. Now that I'm in New Zealand my US attendance is mostly limited to the five-year milestone anniversaries, but I'm hoping we have a South Pacific party soon.

  • What kind of music do you enjoy listening to?

I'm an eclectic audiophile and like pretty much everything, with the exception of heavy metal and most gangsta rap.

  • What do you do in "real life?"

I do lots of things. Professionally I'm a historical imagery specialist, cartographer, and conference director. I build stuff for fun, such as my currently underway octagonal outdoor table for BBQs. I'm also a full-time wife to Ayendra Sedai, gamer, webmaster, cat herder, and outdoors enthusiast.

  • What is the craziest/stupidest thing you've ever done?

I work really hard to not do stupid stuff so I'm not sure how to answer this. Does dedicating the bulk of the last 20 years to living and breathing a fantasy book series and its associated communities count? Or maybe more crazy would be embracing my inner wanderlust and moving to foreign countries?

  • Do you have a pet?

Yes, we have four adorable rescue cats, plus a semi-feral outdoor cat (Mama Kitty) who we feed and I built a house for. Egwene, a very dainty tortoiseshell, is our bossy old lady who spends most of her time sleeping but also loves waking me up by patting my lips with her paw (which is equally adorable and obnoxious). Sometimes she'll just sit there staring as me for ages with this creepy look of rapture on her face...and then demand cuddles without taking no for an answer. After her we have Matrim (Matty), who is a massive chonk of a grey tabby and, while afraid of everything, is also the sweetest boy. Unfortunately, he wakes up in a new world every morning and is actually a raccoon trapped in a cat suit. The other two are Rand and Perrin (aka "the twins"), a pair of grey tabbies who showed up on our doorstep with their mama at four weeks old and never left (total freeloaders those two). They're three now but still think they're kittens and get into ALL THE TROUBLE. Too smart and too cute for their own good and they know it! Perrin's favourite trick is turning on the robot vacuum in the middle of the night.

  • What languages do you speak?

Alas, only English. I'd love an intensive course in Scottish Gaelic, but that's hard to find if you can't relocate to Scotland or Nova Scotia for a year or two. I have tried teaching myself piecemeal over the years but never got very far.

  • Aside from The Wheel of Time, what are a few of your favorite books/series?

Let's see...a very small sampling would be A Song of Ice and Fire, Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel/Naamah sagas, anything Brent Weeks or Bernard Cornwell, and Outlander. I'm also very fond of Brian May, who writes mystery/suspense stories set on the Isle of Lewis (Scotland).

  • What profession did you want to have when you were a kid?

When I was little I wanted to be pharaoh. When it became clear that wouldn't happen, I wanted to be a mythologist, Egyptologist, and veterinarian, in that order. When my math grades and a trans-oceanic engagement made Vet School a long shot, I switched gears to Fisheries & Wildlife and GIS instead. Maps are my profession now, but it's history that's my passion.

  • Seanchan or Shara?

Considering both are pretty hard on channelers, how about neither? Instead I'll choose to spend time with Shara Sedai.

  • Board games or computer games?

I love both. PS5 and computer games win out most of the time because I can play those solo, and I always have an online jigsaw puzzle going, but nothing beats a rainy day with a pot of hot tea and a good board game or D&D session with friends. I have a friend from work who we get together with semi-regularly to try out new board games.

  • Coke or Pepsi?

Let's go with neither. I don't drink soda except the occasional diet of whatever. My vote lies with a nice scotch, beer, sauvignon blanc, or unsweet iced tea!

  • A short bio about yourself.

I'm Michiganian by birth, Texan by marriage, and Kiwi by choice (dual citizen whoop!). I currently live in Wellington, New Zealand, and am happily married to Ayendra Sedai, also of the Brown Ajah. I hold degrees from Michigan State University and the University of Auckland. I've lived and studied on three continents, once lost a cassette tape between my teeth, and I make a sun-dried tomato dip to die for.



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