Hey I am re-reading the series again for the third time trying to get ready for the upcoming releases and I find myself absorbing alot more interesting little side details this time through. Being a musicina I have always loved the emphasis Jordan placed on the characters musical pursuits and the recurring ideas of folk songs by different names and different tunes etc. But anywasy I noticed today in chapter twelve of the Fires of Heaven in the second page he remarks about an instrument called the 12 string bittern. Coincedentally enough I play pretty much exclusively 12 stering acoustic guitar so my interest was piqued. However upon searching wikipedia and google and whatnot, I cannot find any mention of this instrument or pictures or anything. Does anyone know if this is a real existing folk or cultural instrument or something Jordan created?

Hard to even guess without more description than the number of strings. Itend to picture it as something similar to an oud, or a lute, though the number of strings does not quite match.

From the context, it could be like a real world cittern.  That was a wire strung instrument popular in the renaissance, with a varying number of strings, in pairs, usually tuned in octaves, similar to a large flat backed mandolin. A bittern in the real world is a water bird, related to herons.

@gleeman58,

agreed,it is a renaissance instrument and the number of strings varies between 4-14.

I also am in my third time through the series; am at Knife of Dreams (towards the end of the book).

before reading this thread, I remembered 2 instruments; flute, harp.

It could be a tribal instrument from anywhere in the world, or as simple as a double necked guitar, sitar, or maybe an old ukelin or a steel guitar.  

this instrument also occurs in Knife of Dreams; Elayne's last POV of that book.