The Wheel of Time

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This article concerns
The Wheel of Time
by Robert Jordan
Prequel: New Spring
Book 1: The Eye of the World
Book 2: The Great Hunt
Book 3: The Dragon Reborn
Book 4: The Shadow Rising
Book 5: The Fires of Heaven
Book 6: Lord of Chaos
Book 7: A Crown of Swords
Book 8: The Path of Daggers
Book 9: Winter's Heart
Book 10: Crossroads of Twilight
Book 11: Knife of Dreams
Book 12: A Memory of Light
This article is about a fantasy series. For other uses, see Wheel of time (disambiguation).

The Wheel of Time (abbreviated by fans to WoT) is a bestselling fantasy book series written by Robert Jordan. It establishes its own detailed imaginary world, and a complex cast of characters. Eleven books have been published in the series, not counting the prequel to the series. A twelfth book, expected to be the final book of the series, is currently being prepared. Books 8-11 have each reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list[1]. As of 18 September 2007 the series has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.[2] The series has spawned several games and a soundtrack.

Contents

[edit] Premise

In the beginning, the Creator made the Wheel of Time, which spins the Pattern of the Ages using the lives of men and women as its threads. The Wheel has seven spokes, each representing an age, and it is rotated by the One Power, which flows from the True Source. The One Power is divided into male and female halves, saidin and saidar, which work in opposition and in unison to drive the Wheel. Those who can use this power are known as channelers; one organization of such channelers is the Aes Sedai.

The Creator imprisoned Shai'tan, known as the Dark One, a powerful, evil being, at the moment of creation, sealing him away from the Wheel. However, in a time called the Age of Legends, the Dark One was given purchase in the world through the machinations of people who opened his prison, and began his efforts to conquer the world, creation, and even the Wheel itself. In response to this, the Wheel spun out the Dragon, a channeler of immense power, to be a champion for the Light. Due to the cyclical nature of the Wheel, there has been no definitive victory for the forces of the Light; the war has been fought innumerable times since the dawn of Creation. The Dragon would defeat Shai'tan and seal him from the Wheel, only to have him come close to breaking out (or being released) several millennia later, forcing the Dragon to be reborn and repeat the entire process.

Jordan's novels concern themselves with one particular incarnation of the Dragon. About 3000 years have passed since the last war between Shadow and Light. This war ended when the Dragon, then born as Lews Therin Telamon, led a daring raid to Shayol Ghul and sealed the breach in the Dark One's prison with the help of a group of other male channelers known as the Hundred Companions (female channelers, due to recent gender politics and the extreme risk of the strike, refused to assist). Though Lews Therin succeeded, the Dark One managed to spread a taint on saidin itself, bringing madness and a wasting sickness to any who channeled it. The taint quickly overcame nearly every male channeler in the world, including Lews Therin and his companions, with catastrophic results that radically changed the face of the earth. From then onwards, Lews Therin was also called the "Kinslayer", as one of the last results of his madness was to destroy everyone who carried his blood as well as everyone he loved.

For these reasons, the return of the Dragon is a cause for both hope and fear amongst the populace. On the one hand, the Dragon Reborn is the only person capable of defeating Shai'tan, who will inevitably begin to escape his prison. On the other, the Dragon Reborn will still be prey to the madness caused by the taint of evil in saidin, and is a harbinger of the horrifying fact that Shai'tan is once more breaking free. The only man who can save the world is also the man most likely to destroy it. He must not only work to unite the civilized world against the Dark One, but struggle to stay alive—for, while prophecy indicates he will be reborn, it says nothing as to whether he will succeed...

[edit] Eternity or infinity motif

Jordan's Wheel of Time concept and art, while fictional, recalls common circular motifs from world religions and folklore. Buddhism has the Wheel of Rebirth, Hinduism the Wheel of Law. Taoism and other major and minor religions make use of the wheel symbol, in the round or twisted, to symbolize eternity. The snake or dragon swallowing its tail is found in folklore as a hoop snake and in fiction and elsewhere as an oroborus. The symbol for the One Power is similar to the taijitu, a Taoist icon representing the harmony of opposites.

[edit] Books in the series

# Title Pgs. Chs. Words 1st Edition Notes
0. New Spring 332 26 121,815 January 2004
1. The Eye of the World 832 53 305,902 15 January 1990
2. The Great Hunt 736 50 267,078 15 November 1990
3. The Dragon Reborn 704 56 251,392 15 October 1991
4. The Shadow Rising 1008 58 393,823 15 September 1992 No Prologue
5. The Fires of Heaven 992 56 354,109 15 October 1993
6. Lord of Chaos 1024 55 389,264 15 October 1994 First with an Epilogue
7. A Crown of Swords 896 41 295,028 15 May 1996
8. The Path of Daggers 704 31 226,687 20 October 1998
9. Winter's Heart 800 35 238,789 7 November 2000
10. Crossroads of Twilight 864 30 271,632 7 January 2003 Also has an Epilogue
11. Knife of Dreams 793 37 315,163 11 October 2005 Also has an Epilogue
12. A Memory of Light (working title) due Fall 2009 To be completed by Brandon Sanderson

All page totals given are for the most widely available paperback editions.

There is also a prequel novella, New Spring in the Legends anthology edited by Robert Silverberg. Jordan expanded this into the standalone novel New Spring that was published in January 2004.

In 2002 the first book, The Eye of the World, was repackaged as two volumes with new illustrations for younger readers: From the Two Rivers, including an extra chapter (Ravens) before the existing prologue, and To the Blight with an expanded glossary. In 2004 the same was done with The Great Hunt, with the two parts being The Hunt Begins and New Threads in the Pattern.

There is a short story available on the web, "The Strike at Shayol Ghul", which predates the main series by several thousand years. That story is also found in The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time (ISBN 0-312-86219-9), an official guide to The Wheel of Time published in November 1997.

Prologue ebooks

  • Snow: The Prologue to Winter's Heart (September 2000)
  • Glimmers: The Prologue to Crossroads of Twilight (July 17, 2002)
  • Embers Falling on Dry Grass: The Prologue to Knife of Dreams (July 22, 2005).

[edit] Offshoots

The online game Wheel of Time Multi-User Dungeon (WoTMUD for short) is the oldest authorized game based on the series (started 1993), and various commercial game adaptations have also been spawned, including a video game released by Atari for the personal computer, and a role-playing game based on d20 rules released by Wizards of the Coast. There is also a soundtrack album. There was a collectible card game based on the books, but it has been out of print since 2002.

[edit] Miniseries

In a 2000 chat on CNN.com, Robert Jordan mentioned that NBC had purchased an option to do a miniseries of "The Eye of the World." [3]

[edit] Author's death

Jordan had repeatedly said that the main sequence would conclude with the twelfth book, with a working title of A Memory of Light. Numerous times, including most recently on ComicCon 2006, he said he would hold to this statement even if it has to be 1500 pages long. Before his death Jordan had planned to write two more short prequel novels, an encyclopedia, and possibly two or three other side-plot novels. [4]

With Jordan's death on September 16, 2007, the conclusion of the series was in question. On December 7 the publisher, Tor Books, announced that fantasy author Brandon Sanderson would finish A Memory of Light.[5]

Sanderson has said on his website he has begun writing the final book in the series.[6] He also stated that he wants to finish the series in the final book as planned.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Final Wheel of Time Novel to be completed by Brandon Sanderson (html). www.fantasybookspot.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-21.
  2. ^ Fox, Margalit (2007-10-18). James O. Rigney Jr., Who Wrote as Robert Jordan, Dies at 58. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.
  3. ^ CNN Interactive Chat Transcript
  4. ^ `Dragonmount` | Robert Jordan's Blog
  5. ^ Andriani, Lynn (2007-12-10). Sanderson to Complete Final Novel in Jordan Fantasy Series. Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
  6. ^ Sanderson, Brandon (2008-03-27). Crossroads of Twilight. Brandon Sanderson's Blog. Retrieved on 2007-04-01.

[edit] External links

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