Hard to believe that it actually happened. . .
It should come as no surprise that James Oliver Rigney, jr., aka Robert Jordan, succumbed to the terrible and insidious illness that afflicted him. The author had such a positive mindset that we all believed he could beat this thing. Sadly, after a long and arduous struggle, he finally passed away.
Jordan's approach to his daily combat against his illness reminded me of two WoT quotes:
"Death comes to us all. We can only choose how to face it when it comes."
The other one is the popular Aiel oath:
"Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit into Sightblinder's eye on the Last Day."
Say what you will, Jordan never stopped believing that he would beat this thing, and his attitude made everyone believe that he would come out on top. He never gave up, even during the most difficult episodes. He had the heart of a true champion, and he went down swinging, fighting every step of the way.
There is very little I can say that can possibly do justice to the man and the writer he was. Many have done so already, most more eloquently than I could ever hope to be. Jordan's death leaves me numb. I never thought it would have that sort of impact on me. . .
I'm not surprised by the outpouring of love he's been receiving from around the world. Few authors can claim to have touched as many lives as Jordan. The legacy he leaves behind is a testimony to the sort of person he was. All who knew him say that he was a gracious and unassuming man. In spite of his immense success, he remained an affable individual till the very end, a great friend to those around him, and, more importantly, a loving husband.
Words are inadequate to pay tribute to him. After all, what can I possibly say that has not already been said? I guess the only thing I can do it tell you how it all began for me. . .
I started reading The Wheel of Time in the fall of 1991, which means that the saga has been a part of me for nearly half of my life. I was only 17 years old, beginning my first semester of college. Authors such as David Eddings, Terry Brooks, Raymond E. Feist and Margaret and Tracy Hickman were fantasy's biggest draws at the time. The Dragon Reborn had just been released.
Oh, I had heard of Robert Jordan before that, mind you. There was a buzz surrounding the release of both The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt in 1990. We're talking about a pre-internet buzz here, which was quite something, considering that it was all word of mouth. And yet, from the height of my 16 years, as well as the wisdom or lack thereof that could be attributed to the adolescent dumbass that I used to be, I opined that this "Conan guy" couldn't be that good.
Oh, I had heard of Robert Jordan before that, mind you. There was a buzz surrounding the release of both The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt in 1990. We're talking about a pre-internet buzz here, which was quite something, considering that it was all word of mouth. And yet, from the height of my 16 years, as well as the wisdom or lack thereof that could be attributed to the adolescent dumbass that I used to be, I opined that this "Conan guy" couldn't be that good.
But when The Dragon Reborn hit the NYT bestseller list, I decided that I would give Jordan a shot. In retrospect, I must admit that The Eye of the World didn't quite do it for me. It showed a lot of promise, but I felt that it fell a little flat. Re-reads showed me how good and how deep the story was, have no fear. So it's a good thing I had a paperback copy of The Great Hunt to read immediately afterward. That book blew me away! Jumped into The Dragon Reborn right after that, and the series blew my mind!
In less than two years, Robert Jordan had redefined the genre. The Wheel of Time was so vast in scope and details, it dwarfed everything else on the market and made those bestselling writers (my favorite fantasy authors at the time) look like a bunch of amateurs. In the wake of the following WoT volumes, Jordan took epic fantasy to new heights, demonstrating that there was something beyond Feist, Brooks, Donaldson, Eddings, Kurtz, and the rest. Robert Jordan's popularity helped paved the way for other multivolume fantasy epics. Without Jordan, there's no George R. R. Martin, no Steven Erikson, no Scott Lynch. There would have been no Terry Goodkind (he did "borrow" several ideas from Jordan, after all), either, which would be no great loss to the genre. . .
Somehow, The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven and Lord of Chaos raised the bar even higher. Like most, I agree that the series peaked with that 6th volume. I mean, what an ending! "Fuck me" moments are few and far between, especially for someone who's read as much SFF as I have. But Rand's kidnapping, with Perrin going after him, and the battle that ensued made for one terrific ending. And then Mazrim Taim materializing on the battlefield with the Asha'man, thus engendering a veritable carnage, made me close the book and shake my head in wonder. Reading, I felt quite certain, was not supposed to be this much fun. And when the Aes Sedai tried to give shit to my man Rand, my favorite line of the series so far came from Taim, an unlikely source: "Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt." I feel giddy just to think about it and what it meant at the time!
It was inevitable that such a big saga would require a number of transition books to bridge the "opening" of the series with the ending sequence. Like most, I never expected that this transition phase would require four volumes. And yet, I could live with that. After all, at that point Rand, Mat, Perrin, Lan, Nynaeve, Egwene and the others were like old friends. All I wanted was for the story to move forward. And we were always learning new things about the Forsaken, so I was more or less satisfied.
It was around that period of time that publishers realized that the internet could be a great tool if utilized properly. Do you guys remember those early AOL live chats with Jordan!?! For Christ's sake, I changed ISP just so I could attend those chats! One hour with our favorite author, with everyone groaning in the comment section when an idiot went ahead and asked a stupid RAFO question! Man, it feels like a lifetime ago. . . People posting transcripts of book signings, so that we could debate what Jordan had revealed, made for hours of discussion online. Those were the good old days of the internet, when I used to make a hobby of heckling Mercedes Lackey and R. A. Salvatore. . .
A Crown of Swords was delayed twice, raising the interest level for the 7th volume to a frenzy. Why the hell did Tor decide to scrap the cover on which Rand had his sword? I can still remember when Tor put the cover blurb on the internet! Brief, of course, but no one cared. Heck, we had just learned that Rand would go mano-a-mano against Sammael, in Shadar Logoth of all places! People were speculating on message boards like crazy. And then the prologue was posted online the following spring, driving us all out of our minds!
The Path of Daggers, Winter's Heart and Crossroads of Twilight are easily the weakest volumes in the saga, and the author's decision to explore many of the less interesting subplots instead of concentrating on the main storylines alienated some fans. Still, important events such as the Dragon Reborn driving the Seanchan back and defeating them, the cleansing of saidin, Mat meeting the Daughter of the Nine Moons, and many others maintained my interest in the series. The story was moving forward, even though Jordan took his own sweet time.
Knife of Dream was the best book since Lord of Chaos. We could sense that the end was near, and boy was it cool to read. I had to drive 25 miles to get this one on the pub date, because the staff at my local bookstore were too anal retentive to get the novel out of the boxes in the back store and "could I please come back later this week, it should be available then!" Reading that book filled me with excitement, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on A Memory of Light. . .
There's a selfish part of me who's happy that the author, on his death bed, took the time to record everything, so that A Memory of Light will one day see the light. Because, like it or not, I'm buying this, even if Robert Stanek writes the damned thing. I would ask people to please stop with the Kevin J. Anderson jokes, as they're not funny. At this juncture, we have no idea just how far along Jordan was with this final WoT volume. It might take a while for us to find out. . .
Countless people are wondering and bitching about that fact. As for me, I simply wish to say thank you. Thanks for the countless hours of unadulterated reading and re-reading pleasure your books provided for nearly two decades. Thanks for creating something that became a living and breathing entity, something that elicited countless hours of debating and speculating on hundreds of message board. Thanks for remaining accessible, even though your popularity attained a level that made this well nigh impossible. And thanks for letting me be a part of it. As I said, WoT has been a part of my life for 16 years now. Robert Jordan touched the lives of many different people, in a myriad of different ways. I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now if it weren't for him.
When my fantasy debut is ultimately published, there were two people who have had such a big influence on my writing that I wanted to send a finished copy to: George Lucas and Robert Jordan. It didn't matter if my agent/editor/publicist/etc wanted to or not, these two were getting a copy, even if I had to pay for them and ship them myself. A simple package with a brief note thanking them and letting them know how much their creations meant to me, and my hope that the book they held could possibly entertain them for a few hours. I can never repay them for the positive influence they've had on me. They were such an inspiration to me, and I could only hope that they'd enjoy the novel. Unfortunately, I'll never get to send that little note to Jordan. Which is a shame, really. . .
James Rigney: Thanks for the memories, my friend. As I mentioned before, I'll be eternally grateful for what you have done and what you leave behind. However, it saddens me that you couldn't complete your life's work. As was the case with Frank Herbert, this is as big an injustice as I cant think of.
The adventure began 16 years ago for me in Emond's Field, with trouble brewing in the Two Rivers and Moiraine and Lan showing up to set in motion events that would reshape the world, and I'm looking forward to see how it will end. Your death is a great loss to the genre. You will be missed. . .
You've had your share of haters and detractors, of course. But in this house you will always be respected. Your books will forever hold a special place in my heart and on my shelves. In spite of what anyone claims, like Tiger Woods, at his best Robert Jordan was almost untouchable, as demonstrated by The Great Hunt through Lord of Chaos.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family. James Oliver Rigney, jr., may you rest in peace. I can almost see you smirk when you realize that you never did tell us who killed Asmodean!
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