Will the Wheel of Time roll on for Jordan?

[Alatar]

Well, I did think of that, but the difference is, he had written most of it. Several times in fact and in different styles. Whereas, if he'd died between TTT and RotK, how much was actually written? Would Frodo have pushed Gollum? I seem to remember Tolkien had various ideas about this. Maybe they were all in his head and we would have had no idea at all what he intended!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yes, I do agree with the distinction (I was being flippant yet again, which really isn't appropriate here). Hopefully, Jordan left a detailed enough outline so that his intentions will largely be actualized. At least there won't be the complicated muddle that Tolkien left for Christopher to deal with.

[Inanna]

Someone needs a hug!

more flippancy

[Wildwood]

Hey all! I was sad to hear of Jordan's passing. It is so sad for him, his family, his fans, etc. My next feeling was "but how does it end?"! I got roped into Wheel Of Time almost against my will. I checked the first three out of the library, assuming - incorrectly - that since I had found three books (book 1, 2 3), that was all there was.

Thne - I found books 4, and 5, and 6...and then I had a coronary when I realized there were so many more to read! Now we're down to the last one, he has passed, and even though he left copious notes and directions, the last book will not be his voice. That makes me sad. But I am anxious to see how it all ends up. I don't think I have ever heard of a story that took twelve huge books to unfold a single telling. I have to know what happens in the end. But I wish, very fervently, that it had been written by Jordan himself. A writer has a "voice"; a very distinctive voice. They may be able to mimic it, but they won't be it. <sigh>

I hope the best for his surviving family. They seem like good, good folks. And i hope whoever gets the huge task of putting his ideas on paper can pull it off. But I'll always regret that he couldn't do it himself, and that he could not beat that awful disease and live on to not only finish WOT, but write all kinds of other stuff too!

Hey - today is Thanksgiving! We had left over marachino cherries, so I made some dipping chocolate, and dipped cherries in it. So chocolate covered marachino cherries to everybody, whether they like his stories or not.

(By the by, while I love WoT, in the main, there are some books that drag and drag and drag, and nothing but sheer hobbit tenacity got me through them. Later books made up for it. If you've been thinking of giving his books a read, go for it. Just be prepared to be very very patient! As for the similarities to LOTR, I always consider that a compliment to the Prof; a testament to how wonderful LOTR really is!)

Happy Turkey DAy!

[superwizard]

I'm so sorry to hear that Jordan's dead. I really liked his books (though honestly I've only read 6) and I'm extremely saddened that he passed away before he could finish his series...

[Elentári]

I'm a big fan of Jordan's epic series, although I must admit the wait for each book to be published meant it was hard to remember the action from volume to volume, and I must go back and re-read at some point!

Here is the latest on Book 12, the final volume, A Memory of Light from Jordan's own fansite 'Dragonmount'

http://www.dragonmount.com/Books/Memory_of_Light/

About this Book
As we all know, Robert Jordan passed away in September, 2007. A Memory of Light, the twelth and final novel in The Wheel of Time series, was incomplete at the time of his passing. He left behind a staggering amount of notes on the world, as well as some written chapters for the final book. In addition, for the parts of the story he did not have documented in written form, he passed on in the good, old fashioned way: he told people the story.
In his last days he told the story to his friends and family, who recorded it onto tape. In the months that followed his death, Harriet, Robert Jordan's beloved wife and editor, put together a comprehensive outline of this final book.

Brandon Sanderson, an up-and-coming fantasy writer (and long-time fan of Robert Jordans's) was chosen by Harriet to bring the outline to life in the form of a published novel. Harriet will edit this book, just as she did the rest of the series.

When will it be published?
The manuscript for A Memory of Light is expected to be completed by December, 2008. From there it will undergo further editing and preparation. It is currently expected to be published in the Fall of 2009. If this timeframe changes, we will report it here on the website.

Will the prologue be published early?
It's still too early to tell. Robert Jordan released the prolgues to the previous three books several months ahead of the book itself being published. Although it seems likely they'll follow this trend again for this final novel, we won't know until much more time has passed.

What will happen in this book?
We have, of course, no idea! Dragonmount will soon publish a list of unresolved questions and plot threads that we know of. Most of those are likely to be resolved, but both Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson are known for their suprise twists.

Brandon Sanderson said the following about the contents of A Memory of Light:


[A Memory of Light] WILL finish the series. I've read the outline, and I am confident that I can do it in a single book. This won't go five more novels. It will end here.
Note that I'm not saying there won't be more Wheel of Time material released. That's not up to me. There were notes for prequels (Mr. Jordan wrote one of a planned three) and some notes on what happened to certain characters after the end of book 12. However, those are all intended as extra information and separate books outside the Wheel of Time main series.

Book 12 will deal with the final battle and give resolution to the story started in EYE OF THE WORLD. It will be one volume if it's within my power to make it so.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Thanks for sharing that, Elentári.

[Alatar]

Any word on the Movies yet Elentári?