The Wheel of Time turns...
...and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend.
Robert Jordan died today. His official site is down at the moment.
The Eye of the World was one of the first fantasy books I ever read. I think I was 13, and for some reason I remember the sequence where Rand al'Thor and his friends flee the Two Rivers more clearly than I remember the hobbits fleeing the Shire in LotR (which I'd read the previous year), although Robert Jordan meant it to be a shoutout to LotR. I also remember the incredible prologue where Lews Therin kills himself and creates Dragonmount, and I remember the dead city of Shadar Logoth and the horrifying mist, and I remember Rand falling into a garden and meeting a princess.
Lots of things come to mind when I think of The Wheel of Time. The concept of ta'veren. The creepy eyeless Myrddraal. Moiraine and Lanfear's awesome duel. Rand and Aviendha doing it in the middle of a blizzard. The eternal question: WHO KILLED ASMODEAN? The battle of Dumai's Wells. In a way, WoT was my first fandom - I bought the reference book, I drew fan art of the Forsaken, and when I got my first computer and an Internet connection, the first thing I did was find a WoT message board.
After Lord of Chaos, the books started to slow down. The fandom began to grumble. He's dragging the story out, people complained. He's milking the cow and it's all going sour. How long until he's finally done? What if he dies before that?
Although I haven't been back to that message board since, well, the turn of the century, and although the most recent books left me disappointed, I was still looking forward to the last volume in the series. Rand and Mat and Perrin and Egwene and yes, even Nynaeve: they're like old friends that you stop hanging out with, but mention their names and it all comes rushing back and you realize that they live in your memory.
Thanks for all the memories, RJ.
There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time.
Robert Jordan died today. His official site is down at the moment.
The Eye of the World was one of the first fantasy books I ever read. I think I was 13, and for some reason I remember the sequence where Rand al'Thor and his friends flee the Two Rivers more clearly than I remember the hobbits fleeing the Shire in LotR (which I'd read the previous year), although Robert Jordan meant it to be a shoutout to LotR. I also remember the incredible prologue where Lews Therin kills himself and creates Dragonmount, and I remember the dead city of Shadar Logoth and the horrifying mist, and I remember Rand falling into a garden and meeting a princess.
Lots of things come to mind when I think of The Wheel of Time. The concept of ta'veren. The creepy eyeless Myrddraal. Moiraine and Lanfear's awesome duel. Rand and Aviendha doing it in the middle of a blizzard. The eternal question: WHO KILLED ASMODEAN? The battle of Dumai's Wells. In a way, WoT was my first fandom - I bought the reference book, I drew fan art of the Forsaken, and when I got my first computer and an Internet connection, the first thing I did was find a WoT message board.
After Lord of Chaos, the books started to slow down. The fandom began to grumble. He's dragging the story out, people complained. He's milking the cow and it's all going sour. How long until he's finally done? What if he dies before that?
Although I haven't been back to that message board since, well, the turn of the century, and although the most recent books left me disappointed, I was still looking forward to the last volume in the series. Rand and Mat and Perrin and Egwene and yes, even Nynaeve: they're like old friends that you stop hanging out with, but mention their names and it all comes rushing back and you realize that they live in your memory.
Thanks for all the memories, RJ.
There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time.