During the San Diego ComicCon in 2005, just a few months before the publication of Knife of Dreams, Jordan had dinner with a group of fans. Jason Denzel reports that Jordan made the following statement: "Something that has previously happened in the series is going to be revealed to have a terrible cost. When you read it your reaction will be, 'Gasp. How horrible!'
So what was the Gasp Moment? Many fans after reading KOD claimed to not find it, or when we they did read it, to find it underwhelming. Jordan felt strongly enough about the reaction (or lack thereof) to comment about it in a blog entry:
No, I'm not going to reveal what the "gasp" moment is. I certainly won't be putting any spoilers here. But I have read the reviews, both spoiler and non-spoiler. For those who have read the book and believe you have identified the "gasp" moment, congratulations. For those who have read the book and still don't know what the "gasp" moment is, my sympathies. I mean that in all truth. You failed to see something that really should have made you gasp. I think I am fairly hardened, but occasionally something happens that makes me mutter, "Where are you, God? Are you sleeping? Are you blind?" This is fiction, but even so, I had to pause a couple of times in writing about it. Of course, I get deeply immersed in my work so that it becomes real to me while I am writing, but I hope to pull the reader into that level of realness, too. Either I failed completely in this instance, or some of you have become way too hardened. Too much on the evening news, I suppose. It's just today's hurricane, today's tsunami, today's Armageddon. I wonder what's coming up at eleven?
[...]
Take care, guys. And remember, if you can look at absolutely anything without at least a desire to weep, then you've lost part of your humanity.
RJ
I think we'll just leave it at that.