It is with a heavy heart that I report that Robert Jordan died yesterday, September 16th at 2:45 pm. He was 58 years old, and most of you should know him as the author of the very popular Wheel of Time series. I was particularly sad to see this news because my wife and I have frequently discussed how hopeful she was that he would survive long enough to finish the series, as she can only be described as an avid fan of his work whereas I have only read the first two books (Eye of the World & The Great Hunt). Needless to say I was not looking forward to giving her the news.
You can read about it over at Slashdot, or at WoTmania where the following was said:
I talked with Jason about this. He said that Jordan has been dictating outlines and plot lines and everything else related to the final book. He used the phrase “army of writers” to talk about the people that were converting those tapes into written form.
It would appear that the final book will still be published, I’m sure details regarding that will work themselves out. So please be patient (as challenging as that might be), and for now let’s focus on Jordan’s life, writing, and the joy he brought to us.
The final book is titled A Memory of Light, and hopefully it can be faithfully finished in a way that satisfies fans as the series deserves at least that. The Wheel of Time books are well known as some of the best modern fantasy written, successfully building upon the works of Tolkien as well as taking a lot from a wide range of mythology, Jordan crafted a rich world filled with intriguing characters experiencing a very epic story. Having read a good amount of both of these first, and then checking out WoT, I was incredibly surprised by the way he built upon common Fantasy themes, elements, and devices to create an immersing world that felt both familiar and new at the same time. At first glance I’d pegged his work as cliche but his style of writing, especially for combat, really drew me in. I am quite sad that he will never be able to finish the series, but thankfully I still have thousands of pages of his writing that I haven’t gotten to yet.
God I hope the final book is published. I’m so pot-committed to the series (Crossroads at Twilight was abominable, but I kept on trucking) I would read it no matter what. It is sad that he died, but he was reported to have blood cancer some years ago. I’m sure that now that he’s dead he’ll be hailed as a genius in mainstream circles and that WOT movies will be dragged out of development hell…
I had heard that he was recovered from his condition and things were progressing nicely. It’s very sad to hear, not just for the stories he won’t be around to tell and the mysteries never to be revealed, but for his family, friends, and fans that knew him.
“There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of time.”
There’s a great memorial by George R.R. Martin here: http://grrm.livejournal.com/21250.html
especially for those of us whose fantasy reading for the past few years has primarily consisted of those two men.
I’m very sorry to hear this. I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything by him but I’m well-acquainted with his wife, Harriet, who was/is an editor at Tor Books. She was always very nice to me, even offering to give up her room at a con when the hotel lost our reservation (we made them “find” it).
He was too damn young to die.
A sad day for everyone who knew him, and for everyone who became engrossed in the series. Will the series ever be finished, and even if it is, will it be satisfactory? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I wonder how his death will affect the future popularity of his series. I wouldn’t go as far to say that he’ll be hailed as a genius in mainstream circles (o.k., maybe some of them). The real question is, I think, whether this will deter new readers from beginning his (very) long series, when they know that it will never be finished by the same man who began it.
Just think about how the Lord of the Rings would have been if JRRT had died before he finished it, and Christopher Tolkien had written the Return of the King. LOTR wouldn’t be quite as popular or recognized. Who knows what that would have done to the popularity of LOTR, but it probably wouldn’t encourage more people to read it than if JRRT himself had written it (which, fortunately for us, he did).
While Wheel of Time is by no means Lord of the Rings, and at times is downright bad, it is, on the whole a good fantasy series worth reading if you can spare the time. It would be a shame if future generations shy away from it just because it’s author wasn’t able to finish his work.