Why 12 books?

[boonetp]

Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but in a search I performed before starting this topic I was unable to find a previous posting.

 

Why will the WOT series stop at 12?  The death of Robert Jordan aside, there are more references to the number 13 in the Series that I think it is more fitting to have the series end at 13 than at 12.

 

13 Forsaken (original)

13 Aiel Clans (including the Jenn)

13 months on the Farede Calendar

13 nations at the current time

 

 

[Jonn]

Technically, if you include New Spring, it will in fact be 13 novels dedicated to the current timeline.

[Majsju]

Because the story RJ wanted to tell us in his eyes fits better with 12 books than 13.

[Corbett]

Technically it would havew been 15 because there were supposed to be 2 more books that took place before TEoTW. And I've also heard rumors about ones taking place after the 12th book so there is no way to make it 13.

[Kadere]

Robert Jordan said there wasn't enough story left to make two more coherent main sequence novels. That he could make one coherent and one incoherent, or two incoherent, but couldn't possibly make two coherent novels. So he wanted to do it all in one book. Not to mention he'd been writing this book for 20 years at that point and wanted to get it finished and could see a way to do that.

 

Also with all 3 prequals you get 15 novels like Corbett said, and with the outrigger novels we would have had 17 or 18. Quite the series.  ;)

[Leopoled Boothe]

Simpley because that's how many books it took to get the story told.  RJ origionally set out to write a trilogy (if you can believe that), but he repeatedly said throught the series that there really was not predetermined number, but rather he would write as many book as were necessary to complete the story.  That number just turned out to be 12.

 

And Frankly I will not argue, as much as I love the series I'm ready to have it finished, to finally see where all this is going.  Don't even suggest a 13th book because I don't want to wait an additional two years to see how it all ends.  Fall of 2009 seems far enough away as it is.

[Corbett]

I think we would all lose our minds waiting for a 13th book. I also cant imagine how the beauty that is The Wheel of Time would fit into a trilogy, and obviously in the end Mr. Jordan didnt either. I think that it is extremely funny that what would have been probably a pretty good trilogy evelved into this wonderful land that we all love.

[trakand_01]

I like to think that 13 is enough to bring Rand down (13 AS), but 12 isnt.

 

Meaning Rand will win  ;D

 

In all reality though, I think that RJ had to know that by book 9 we were all likely to be thinking "for goodness' sakes, stop talking about Elayne, get back onto Rand!" and realised he'd best rein it in.

 

Currently trawling my way through book 10, I think that by the end of book 12, I will be so exhausted (in a good way, but still exhausted) that the thought of another book (albeit the final tome) would be enough to mean that book 13 doesnt have the necessary impact - because the story has been drawn out just that bit too far.

[Darth_Andrea]

If I remember correctly, RJ originaly planned to have only 6 books in the series. By book 3 he realized he couldn't finish all he wanted in just 6 so he uped it to 9. When he reached book 6 however he realized it was not enought room so went to 12.

 

 

 

[glow=green,1,500]Darth_Andrea[/glow]          

[Corbett]

I thought that it was intended as a trilogy and eventually worked up o 12 because he had so much more story to tell than 3 books

 

[Angel of Death]

Robert Jordan said there wasn't enough story left to make two more coherent main sequence novels. That he could make one coherent and one incoherent, or two incoherent, but couldn't possibly make two coherent novels. So he wanted to do it all in one book. Not to mention he'd been writing this book for 20 years at that point and wanted to get it finished and could see a way to do that.

 

Also with all 3 prequals you get 15 novels like Corbett said, and with the outrigger novels we would have had 17 or 18. Quite the series.  ;)

 

Yeah exatcly. I presumed he ment not all of the arcs (or none of them) had a good place to end. If you look back on the other books, something usually happens right before the end to each character.

[Luthine]

With all the material that is left, all the storylines (that we know of) that need untying I could totally picture a 13th novel.

The 12 would be the deep breath before the plunge, and how the whole world readies itself for TG. And the 13 would be TG itself and the aftermath. Of course, I always picture TG as a War of Shadow bis, which it obviously won't be.

 

Even so, and while I can't wait to see the series come to an end, I will be sad come the last page, knowing there's no more to come.

[aussie_ashaman123]

With all the material that is left, all the storylines (that we know of) that need untying I could totally picture a 13th novel.

The 12 would be the deep breath before the plunge, and how the whole world readies itself for TG. And the 13 would be TG itself and the aftermath. Of course, I always picture TG as a War of Shadow bis, which it obviously won't be.

 

Possibly

 

I think there are 12 so the are 4 sets of trilogies. the first trilogy ends with the Fall of the Stone, momentous event. The second trilogy ends with the battle of Dumai Wells, another momentous event (Ashaman make their first mark on the world, first time since the War of Shadow than much one power has been used in battle, and the Aes Sedai kneeling to Rand). The Third trilogy ended with the cleansing of the Taint. the fourth will be TG

[benr]

It seemed to me that RJ fell in love with his characters, and couldn't bear to end their stories. Me too, although I had nothing to do with creating them. So many of you out there are so familiar with all of this; have you ever considered an "abridged" version?  In an effort to make the books "stand alone", if necessary, we get alot of repetition of events, character quirks and traits, etc.  I feel guilty for skimming this each time through (and go back sometimes, in case some clue or event is hidden in there), but you all know what I mean.  Thoughts?