Robert Jordan died yesterday.

[Surgo]

Some of you may not know who he is; if that's the case, I'm sorry for you, and I will explain.

Robert Jordan is, as far as I'm concerned, the greatest writer of epic fantasy, the equal of Tolkien. His work, the Wheel of Time series, was amazing, epic, and now incomplete. He was working on the last book at the time of his death.

It is strange, because I grew up with the series. I had first started reading it around 4th grade, and now I am a junior in college. The last book was to come out in early 2009, when I would be exiting college.

My condolences to Robert Jordan's family, most especially his wife.

 

[Glen]

this is so eerie, a coworker of mine mentioned his love for fantasy books today at work, and mentioned the wheel of time series (i had never heard of it, as ashamed as i am to admit it), and how sad he was that the author would likely die before he finished the series.

truly sad. my condolences to his family, and also to his readers; this must be heartbreaking for fans.

 

[DownShift]

May he rest in peace.

What did he die of?

 

[Hyra]

NOOOOOO!!!!!!

This is horrible. I've been waiting for him to finish since forever. I've also grown up with him (3rd-10th grade). His books were amazing. A lot on the log side, but the plot was so complex. I can't believe he died before finishing this. Please tell me he had some manuscript detailing the ending or something. It is not right for this story to go unfinished.

 

[Ecnemalas]

died of amyloidosis, it seems.

i never knew about him but knowing that an author that died and hasn't even completed a book series that he must have worked very hard on is saddening. i hate to feel what fans of the series must be thinking about this.

 

[Glalie]

I read the first book in the series and I thought to myself (however bad this may be) "I'll wait until the series is done before I read it, what if the guy dies or something". And behold.

That said, this sucks a lot, I was really looking forward to reading the series and I probably won't now unless the last book does get finished from notes/manuscripts.

 

[Vagabond Aeon]

Hopefully it will, because I really don't want to be left on a massive cliffhanger.

Sad, really. Reminds me of Douglas Adams in a way, since I know he wanted to have the Hitchhiker's series finish on a more upbeat note.

 

[monkfish]

I'm sure someone will be dedicated enough to finish it, it's a pretty honorable task

 

[Vagabond Aeon]

Heh, maybe we can get Christopher Tolkien to finish it...

 

[Elminster12]

I was very sad when I heard about it. I had actually just recommended Wheel of Time to some one over at Libelldra the day before. Something like what he and Tolkien wrote, IMO, is truly a life's work, and it truly needs rich experience, wit, intelligence, and vision to pull it off, and I am saddened to learn we will probably never know exactly what his intended ending was, even if he had notes about it...

 

[flashfox]

A pity. I read the first book and fell in love, I was hoping to catch up sometime...

He will be sorely missed.