Writing and conception
In the early 1980s Robert Jordan wrote several Conan the Barbarian novels for Tor Books,
including a novelization of the movie Conan the Destroyer. These proved
successful and in 1984 he proposed an idea for an epic fantasy series of three
books to Tom Doherty, the head of Tor Books. Doherty
approved the idea; however, knowing that Jordan had a tendency to go long, put
Jordan on contract for six books just in case. Jordan began writing the novel
that became The Eye of the World.
The novel proved extremely difficult to write and characters
and storylines changed considerably during the writing process. The series was
originally centered on an older man who discovered relatively late in life that
he was the 'chosen one' who had to save the world. However, Jordan deliberately
decided to move closer to the tone and style of J.
R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and
made the characters younger and less experienced. Once
this decision had been made, writing proceeded much more easily and Jordan
completed the second volume,The
Great Hunt, at roughly the same time the first book was published.
Tom Doherty enjoyed The Eye of the World so
much that he declared it would be the biggest fantasy series since Tolkien, and
took the unprecedented steps of sending free review copies to every bookstore
in the United States to generate interest. The combined hardcover and trade
paperback run of the novel sold out of its initial 40,000-strong print run.
Sales then doubled with the publication of the second novel just eight months
later generating more interest in the first book.
Jordan wrote full-time at breakneck speed for the next
several years until he completed the seventh volume, A
Crown of Swords, at which point he slowed down, delivering a book every
two years. Fans objected when he took some time off to expand a short story
into a prequel novel called New Spring, so he decided to shelve his
plans for additional prequels in favor of finishing off the last two volumes in
the series. He rejected criticisms of the later volumes of the series slowing
down in pace in order to concentrate on minor secondary characters at the
expense of the main characters from the opening volumes, but acknowledged that
his structure for the tenth volume, Crossroads of Twilight (where he
showed a major scene from the prior book, Winter's
Heart, from the perspective of the main characters that were not
involved in the scene), had not worked out as he had planned. Knife
of Dreams, the eleventh volume, had a much more positive reception from
critics and fans alike and Jordan announced the twelfth volume, which he had
previously announced would have the working title A Memory of Light,
would conclude the series.
Author's death
and final books
Jordan had stated that the main sequence would conclude with
the twelfth book, A Memory of Light. According to Forbes, Jordan had
intended for it to be the final book "even if it reaches 2,000
pages."
Jordan was diagnosed with the terminal heart disease primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy in December
2005, and
while he intended to finish at least A Memory of Light even if
the "worse comes to worst," he
made preparations in case he was not able to complete the book: "I'm
getting out notes, so if the worst actually happens, someone could finish A
Memory of Light and have it end the way I want it to end."
With Jordan's death on 16 September 2007, the conclusion of
the series was in question. On December 7 of that year the publisher Tor Books announced
that fantasy author Brandon
Sanderson was to finish A Memory of Light. Sanderson,
a long time fan of the series, was
chosen by Jordan's widow Harriet McDougal partly because she liked Sanderson's
novels and partly because of a eulogy he had written for Jordan.
On 30 March 2009 Tor Books announced that A Memory
of Light would be split into three volumes. The first volume, The Gathering Storm, was
released on October 27, 2009.The
second,Towers of Midnight, was published on
November 2, 2010. The final book of the series uses Jordan's original
title, A Memory of Light. The book was published
on January 8, 2013.
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