The Wheel of Time

So here we go, my first retrospective conclusion. Took me over 2 years to get here, but I finally made it. For these conclusions, I figured I'd do a few things. First, I'll do a couple of lists. These are always fun and ripe for discussion. Then I'll provide some references around the web for all your Wheel of Time needs. Finally, closing thoughts... of which I don't really have much, everything I had to say was said in the previous 20 (if you count the A Memory of Light reaction) blog posts on the series.

Before You Continue

This blog is part of my The Wheel of Time Retrospective
See this blog post for an overview of the Retrospective
These blogs are not plot recaps—they are most effective in conjunction with your own re-read of the series
Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

The Lists

Book Rankings (Vol)

The Shadow Rising (4)
A Memory of Light (14)
The Dragon Reborn (3)
Lord of Chaos (6)
The Fires of Heaven (5)
Towers of Midnight (13)
The Eye of the World (1)
The Gathering Storm (12)
The Great Hunt (2)
Knife of Dreams (11)
The Path of Daggers (8)
A Crown of Swords (7)
Winter's Heart (9)
Crossroads of Twilight (10)

The Shadow Rising will always be my favorite. As good as A Memory of Light was, it would have not dethroned TSR. That book is where everything blows open wide, the story becomes very complex and our first real glimpses of the Age of Legends appear, illustrating the true scope of the story. A Memory of Light gets second place because of its epicness.

Before the series finished, Books 1-6 were generally the best in the series for me. Now that it has been completed, however, Books 12-14 have been inserted between them. Sanderson did a great job and jumpstarted the flagging storyline, taking us into the last lap for a superb finish.

While I understand the purpose of Books 7-10 in the overall storyline, and Book 8 is pretty decent in retrospect, I feel Jordan let the story get away from him a bit and he lost his focus on the audience during that 4-book stretch. It's one thing to tell the story the way you want to tell it, but it's another to tell it in a way that people will want to read. There has to be a compromise there. It's easier to deal with now that the series is complete, but back in the day, it was a hellish 9-year stretch of waiting and grumbling.

Favorite Scenes / Moments

In order of my most favorite.

Dumai's Wells
Demandred's reveal at the Last Battle
Rand in the columns at Rhuidean
Rescue of Moiraine from the Tower of Ghenjei
Olver blowing the Horn of Valere
Mat's first journey into the Tower of Ghenjei
Nynaeve Heals stilling / gentling
Seanchan attack on the White Tower
Perrin forges Mah'alleinir
Egwene's sacrifice at the Last Battle
Aviendha's second trip through the columns at Rhuidean
The Cleansing of saidin
Rand taking Callandor
Egwene defeating Mesaana

Dumai's Wells gets the top spot because it was truly the first time the existing power in the land (Aes Sedai) were broken. The White Tower had split, of course, and Rand had take the Stone of Tear and brought the Aiel into the land, but the Aes Sedai still tentatively maintained their power and authority all throughout that time, even with the split. But with Dumai's Wells, the first Aes Sedai swear to the Dragon Reborn and as the end of the last chapter in Lord of Chaos says:

The first nine Aes Sedai swore fealty to the Dragon Reborn, and the world was changed forever.

One of my favorite lines in the entire series. I get chills every time I read it.

For the other top ones:

Demandred's reveal is simply awesome. As someone who didn't read many theories online in the last 10-15 years, it was a complete surprise to me. Rand's trip through the columns at Rhuidean is arguably the best sequence in the entire series. As mentioned in the post for The Shadow Rising, many (including myself) consider it Jordan's best work.

Moiraine's rescue is up there because it was an event we'd been waiting for for a long time, it didn't disappoint and there were some great moments (Noal's sacrifice, the secret of Mat's ashandarei). And, of course, Olver blowing the Horn of Valere and the return of Noal as a Hero of the Horn brought tears to my eyes. It was great to see that Olver made a difference in the end.

Character Groupings

There are only a handful of characters I dislike in the series... you'll find them at the bottom of my character "rankings," which instead of being numbered or ranked will simply be grouped into categories.

I will say that my favorite character is Lan. If you've read the entire series yet don't understand why, then I don't know what to tell you. Mat used to be my favorite, but his relationship with the Seanchan got a little too weird in the end for me.

So here are my groupings based on each character's overall arc and fate in the story, listed alphabetically in each group. If a character isn't listed, I didn't care about them enough to bother grouping them.

Cool

Asmodean
Aviendha
Birgitte Silverbow
Demandred
Egwene al'Vere
Lan Mandragoran
Loial
Min Farshaw
Moiraine Damodred
Olver
Rand al'Thor
Thom Merrilin
Verin Mathwin

Okay

Faile Bashere
Fain / Ordeith / Mordeth / Shaisam / too many names
Galad Damodred
Gareth Bryne
Graendal
Ishamael / Moridin
Logain Ablar
Mat Cauthon
Mazrim Taim
Nynaeve al'Meara
Siuan Sanche
Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag

Annoying

Cadsuane Melaidhrin
Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan
Elayne Trakand
Gawyn Trakand
Lanfear
Moghedien
Perrin Aybara
Slayer / Luc

The James O. Rigney Papers

Note: These are no longer available online, and the links have been removed.

After Jordan's death, Harriet McDougall (for the thousandth time, Jordan's widow and editor, stop asking!) donated his papers and various effects to the College of Charleston, where they will be processed and made available for students and researchers. These include drafts of the WoT novels, along with notes and drafts / materials for the other novels he wrote prior to WoT.

As they are being processed, occasionally someone at the College will blog about a particular item, and most of them are quite fascinating.

There's one letter he wrote to Bantam, asking for a signed copy of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Another letter asks Tom Doherty (President of Tor) not to force the title of "The Lord of Chaos" on the 6th book of WoT.

It's fascinating stuff, I only wish they would post more of it in the blog. Maybe someday I can visit it after it's been processed. Charleston is a city I've wanted to visit for a long time anyway.

WoT Resources

If you've actually read through my blogs, you'll note that I reference many different sites throughout. When the internet began to truly blossom in the late 90's, WoT fansites were popping up everywhere. I don't know if this is true anymore, but at the time there were more fansites for WoT than any other fiction work (even LotR). Many don't exist anymore (like Wotmania). But quite a few still do. Here's a list of the ones I find most useful today and feel are worth visiting:

Encyclopaedia WOT = This one is in need of a serious design overhaul, but it's my #1 go-to reference if I can't remember specific details or what happens when. They are taking a while to get it updated for A Memory of Light, though.
Dragonmount = Clearly the biggest and most popular community. Jordan essentially sanctioned it as the official site of the series when he put his blog on there. If you want to chat about the series in a forum, this is probably the best place to do that.
Wheel of Time Wiki = A newer site in the popular wiki format you see on Wikipedia, etc. Good resources for pictures / fan art. Not entirely complete, but getting there.
Theoryland = A great resource for all interviews and Q&As with Jordan and Sanderson. Also a lot of theories, which I didn't really read until after the series was over.
The Thirteenth Depository = An extremely insightful and detailed blog that analyzes every nook and cranny of the series. Hardcore fans only.
Composite Glossary = All the entries from every book glossary combined in one place.

The Official Encyclopedia

Now, technically this isn't all finished. Harriet and Team Jordan are putting together an official, be-all-end-all encyclopedia for The Wheel of Time. It's supposedly going to have everything we'd ever want to know about the world, drawn from Jordan's copious notes.

When that's coming out, I have no idea. Last I heard it would be 2014 sometime. Either way, I will buy it when it comes out. And I'll most likely do a blog entry about it, to review it if nothing else. So stay tuned. But for now, this Retrospective is done.

So, once again: thank you, Robert Jordan, for creating this world. It's been a fun ride.