Changes in the paradigm...

[Selden]

Originally posted by cheshire:
when writing a series,the author can't very well go back to the previous bks and change the details she decided to change...

A quibble: of course the author can change them!

For example, DD rewrote parts of the earlier books in the "Tale of the Five" series so they'd fit together better as the series got longer.

A second example is T.H. White's revision of "The Sword in the Stone" and its sequels when they were combined to become "The Once and Future King".

Another example (although not in a series) was the rewriting by Arthur C. Clarke of one of his books about the far future. People have been arguing for a long time about which of the two versions is better: "The City and the Stars" or "Against the Fall of Night". An amusing legend is that a psychiatrist who had read one of the books psychoanalyzed someone based on their memories of the story, not realizing they had read different versions.

Selden

[Rysade]

[Birdhead]

Well, you do get new editions of lots of books, YW included- aren't the new covers edited to make them more up-to-date? (No comments on whether that was a good or a bad thing please... )

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
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[PK]

It's possible, but it's... disorienting, I guess.

I'd add to Selden's examples Tolkien's story of how Bilbo originally got the ring from Gollum -- I didn't realize it at first, but the passage where it's mentioned that Bilbo originally lied about the process and wrote it down that way refers (unless I'm misinformed) to an earlier version of The Hobbit.

For the changes in how wizardry appears to work in YW, however, it seems to me that in most cases it can be explained within the series by increased experience and changes in how the characters think about and perceive what they're doing, and how much they know. But that's partly just my inclination, I think....