WoT we will miss...

My thoughts and prayers are with Harriet McDougal for her loss.

Robert Jordan has always been somewhat of an enigma to me; often the source of much debate and laughter around the fantasy tables. The discussion always came back to the same question; Who is Robert Jordan? Every new fantastic author was reputed to be the enigmatic Jordan and with Harriet working for Tor books the possibility of a grand conspiracy always seemed a real possibility. However, I will not dwell on this point. Instead I will tell what I will miss.

Robert Jordan was an American Hero having served two tours in Vietnam and earning the Bronze Star and Distinguished Flying Cross and continuing to serve his country as a nuclear engineer after his undergraduate years at the Citadel. Men like him continue to make this world a better place by their courage and valor and I know his books have been bunkmates of several fine soldiers in the United States Armed Forces.

My first experience with Robert Jordan came in the early eighties while reading the Conan series. Later, I picked up the Conan Chronicles and enjoyed the entire collection of work that included Jordan's. His novelization of Conan the Destroyer was always the standard by which all other novelizations would be compared. The scene where Conan fights Bombaata is one of my favorite fight scenes ever written and was better than the visual of the movie.

Later the Wheel of Time came along and the fantasy world has never been the same. Neither would my living room either since I needed to get a new oak bookshelf to hold the massive volumes. When Mr. Jordan announced he had amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, there was great concern about the final book in the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light. I have little doubt this book will be published and complete the Wheel of Time Series and the movies will ensue. And that is Robert Jordan's power; to hold us waiting for the next story. There are very few authors who can say that.

This is important because the Wheel of Time has left a legacy that will impact fantasy and fantasy authors for decades to come. I imagine that is not what James Rigney Jr. hoped for when he wrote the Wheel of Time but it will be the case. I only hope his legacy will include his life and I am sure Mr. Jordan's spirit lives on...

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning."

Thank you, Robert Jordan, for what you have given us.