Fantasy Author Robert Jordan Passes Away 571
Posted
by
Zonk
from the doff-our-helms dept.
from the doff-our-helms dept.
willith writes "James Oliver Rigney Jr, author of the long-running fantasy series The Wheel of Time and better known to millions of fans by the pen name Robert Jordan, died on 16 Sept 2007 from cardiac amyloidosis. Jordan announced he had been diagnosed with the disease in March 2006 and vowed to beat the odds, but determination and gumption sometimes just aren't enough in the face of a disease with a median survival time of just over two years. Jordan was in the process of writing the twelfth and final book in the Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light, but the book was not slated for release until 2009 and is still incomplete. While there is hope that the book will still be finished from Jordan's notes, this is devastating news to all of us who have been reading the series since 1990."
age (Score:3, Informative)
*sad* (Score:1, Informative)
I've only had a chance to meet the man on two occasions, but that was enough to make me know that (regardless what you personally think of his writing), the world has lost another Great One here. :( Farewell, Robert Jordan. You will be missed.
Site has been slashdotted... (Score:5, Informative)
The Google cache is old.
Rather than overwhelm the dragonmount.com servers with slashdotters (let other fans have a chance to see it), here's the full text from the blog post. I hope that I'm not overstepping by reprinting it here.
Sunday, September 16th, 2007
It is with great sadness that I tell you that the Dragon is gone. RJ left us today at 2:45 PM. He fought a valiant fight against this most horrid disease. In the end, he left peacefully and in no pain. In the years he had fought this, he taught me much about living and about facing death. He never waivered in his faith, nor questioned our God's timing. I could not possibly be more proud of anyone. I am eternally grateful for the time that I had with him on this earth and look forward to our reunion, though as I told him this afternoon, not yet. I love you bubba.
Our beloved Harriet was at his side through the entire fight and to the end. The last words from his mouth were to tell her that he loved her.
Thank each and everyone of you for your prayers and support through this ordeal. He knew you were there. Harriet reminded him today that she was very proud of the many lives he had touched through his work. We've all felt the love that you've been sending my brother/cousin. Please keep it coming as our Harriet could use the support.
Jason will be posting funeral arrangements.
My sincerest thanks.
Peace and Light be with each of you,
Wilson
Brother/Cousin
4th of 3
To Catalyst: Never, never loose faith. RJ did not. Harriet hasn't. I haven't. Going through what we have, our faith is only strengthened. Besides, if God didn't exist, we would have never had Jim. We did. God does. Remember my Brother/Cousin, my friend, think of him fondly and glorify God's name.
Editor's Note:
The entire staff of Dragonmount.com would like to extend its most deepest sympathies to Robert Jordan's family. He touched all of our lives in some way and we wish him the rest and peace he deserves. We will be posting information in the near future about where you can send condolences. Please check the News Section for these updates.
The series WILL go on (Score:4, Informative)
As for the story, the author may change, but book twelve will come out, and have exactly the content that he originally intended. If the storytelling style changes a little bit, it may be a refreshing end to a fantastic saga.
Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time (Score:5, Informative)
Yeeeeeep. The first three are pretty good, they probably could have stood on their own as a quite decent, though incomplete, trilogy. The fourth one is usually when people feel it starts to dip in quality, and the nadir is about the ninth book. I understand that the eleventh book is something of an improvement, but then you've got to get through the increasing amounts of filler from four through ten.
Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time (Score:4, Informative)
The Lord of the Rings is a book I can reread every decade and it grows on me each time, I learn knew words, passages that I skimmed over or thought were boring become my favorites, old characters I thought I knew appear in a different light, some subtlties take on new meaning for me, I come to enjoy this poem or that.
I believe now that the Lord of the Rings is a truly incredible feat of literature. Despite many surface similarities, it is wholy different than any other fantasy I have read, almost none of which could be called great literature.
Re:Site has been slashdotted... (Score:5, Informative)