Robert Jordan planned it all wrong

[True Source Creator]

I'd love a prequel trilogy set in the Age of Legends. Lanfear/Lews Therin would be awesome to read about; the Forsaken becoming the Forsaken would be fascinating. Ishamael (Elan) and Lews Therin. Semirhage being captured and escaping because she scares the guards too much. Mesaana making children into puppets that do the Shadow's deeds. And, of course, Aginor making the Shadowspawn. We'd get to see the Gardens, too.

 

...yes, so much that could be put into a prequel trilogy. Too bad Robert Jordan died. UNLESS, he's just pulling our legs; he's not really dead and is secretly working on a prequel trilogy as we speak.

[Lama Chemist Ho]

UNLESS, he's just pulling our legs; he's not really dead and is secretly working on a prequel trilogy as we speak.

he's not really dead, he just grew bored of working on the same series his whole life and wanted to do other things with his last decades so he had them announce the death of his pen name and give the project to another author so he could enjoy his retirement, or maybe do other work under a different name. that's why 8 - 10 began to drag so much, artist-burnout (you can't manufacture inspirado)

 

[/conspiracy theory]

[Elan Tedronai]

I'd love a prequel trilogy set in the Age of Legends. Lanfear/Lews Therin would be awesome to read about; the Forsaken becoming the Forsaken would be fascinating. Ishamael (Elan) and Lews Therin. Semirhage being captured and escaping because she scares the guards too much. Mesaana making children into puppets that do the Shadow's deeds. And, of course, Aginor making the Shadowspawn. We'd get to see the Gardens, too.

 

...yes, so much that could be put into a prequel trilogy. Too bad Robert Jordan died. UNLESS, he's just pulling our legs; he's not really dead and is secretly working on a prequel trilogy as we speak.

 

 

tell me about it. I would have loved to read elan's proclamation/speech in the hall of servants. The reactions of the aes sedai would have been amusing to watch. His battle with LTT at paaran disen too would be something to read as well.

 

 

such a wasted oppurtunity. instead we got faile kidnapping and bowl of the winds storyline that just went on and on

[Thor]

No. Tolkien didn't publish Simarilion before Lord of the Rings, why should RJ have needed to write about AoL first?

[Levek]

I would love to see more books about the AoL, but only after this series is done. If it was done first it would have ruined alot of the best parts of this series. Per-q is really the only way to get anything else out of this story after the dragons peace. Other then maybe a Mat & Tuon series of going back to seachen and regaining order which at best could be maybe 2-3 books.

 

I also hear alot of people crying about the lenth of these books and to much fluff. The rescue seems to take alot of heat from fans but, I think it was a very important part of the series. Really it had very little to do with Falie. It was more about showing the changes of Perrin. Change happens slow not over night and RJ laid out these changes slowly for all the charcters as it should be. The bowl of winds is another that takes alot of heat, yet it played an important part tieing The Kin & the Windfinders to the WT. A story line that I personally think would have been expanded upon and should have been but, I believe the crying fans actually got to RJ and he began to rush the series. Now we get to see the grandest battle ever along with the Black tower issues and many other things wrapped up in one book.... I hope your happy, the LB alone should have been two books atleast.The last book I'm guessing will prolly have around a 2-3 month spand. Thats like saying that WWII started and ended in 3 months and compared to what the LB is going to be WWII was a much smaller war. I'm not sure about the numbers but, I think the WoP last around 20 yrs and that was when LTT was on the top of his game from the start. Rand has just now risen to the top of his game.

 

Some of these post are correct you will never really get to see the forsaken score major wins because now the writer just does not have the time to make the battles go back a forth a bit.I'm guessing either a deadlock were niether side is really pushing one way or the other. Or the shadow just completely destroying the light and Rand along with a few others jumping in and either slaying the DO or sealing the bore for good. There will be more to it then that but in a nutshell I think thats about it. I just don't see BS being able to do awhole lot more with one book to tie up so many lose ends along with the LB. Kind of sad really.

 

To get back to the topic though. I think RJ laid this story out the best way it could have been done. Starting with the AoL would have taken from this series with a doubt. That being said I think the poster has a great point a series about the AoL would be great! I know what started the WoP and I know how it ended and even some things inbetween. But from the drilling of the bore to the death of LTT there is alot of material. You could make another epic series out of that stroy line for the WoT.

[True Source Creator]

If Star Wars could have a prequel trilogy, Wheel of Time (which is much more enjoyable) should. Too bad Jordan passed away so soon.

[Mr Ares]

 

RJ knew what he was doing. It shouldn't bug me, but it does when people say he did it wrong. It's his story, not ours. Let him tell it the way he intended.

well he certainly knew what he was doing by giving us COT, WH and PODs. The series took a dive after LOC. Such wasted potential.

 

In my opinion the series could have been the greatest series of all. One of the biggest issues with WOT is the plot armoured characters and the lack of casualties. the lack of despair. the lack of trully terrifying villains who are extremely ruthless.

 

All that could have been solved if the first chapter of the first book was about the story of LTT.

How does making the first chapter of the book about LTT solve any of those points? Hell, the first chapter of the first book was about LTT, and we still got plot armoured characters, villains who weren't truly terrifying or extremely ruthless and a lack of casualties. I don't see how it is a good idea, on any level, to spend too much time on something only important as backstory. Yes, we get some interesting glimpses of the AoL. When we have to read a whole book, only for it to end and we fast forward a few thousand years, don't you think that looks a little odd? WoT is a great fantasy series, despite its flaws - this does nothing to address those flaws. It's simply an exercise in wasting time.

the last strike at shayol ghul was only what a prologue chapter in a normal book? even less? and yet it contained more despair, more desperation, more setbacks for the forces of light than the entire 13 books of WOT series.

It contained significantly less emotional involvement than many chapters of the series. Claims of "more despair, more desperation and more setbacks for the forces of the Light" don't have any real substance from where I'm sitting. SaSG is an interesting piece of background material, not a blueprint for the series.

[Deadsy]

How on earth would the AOL make a better story? It's okay to be interested in it, but saying it's a better story... I can't understand that. A bunch of super powerful people chilling with no problems whatsoever, airplanes and cars, hypercolor hoodies and ipods. One day Angelina Jolie decides she wants something that is better than the One Power and the Dark One starts doing bad things and then all of the good guys go insane and there are earthquakes and almost everyone dies.

 

Give me the farmer-turned-hero story any day over that.

[SylvanFox]

I'd love a prequel trilogy set in the Age of Legends. Lanfear/Lews Therin would be awesome to read about; the Forsaken becoming the Forsaken would be fascinating. Ishamael (Elan) and Lews Therin. Semirhage being captured and escaping because she scares the guards too much. Mesaana making children into puppets that do the Shadow's deeds. And, of course, Aginor making the Shadowspawn. We'd get to see the Gardens, too.

 

...yes, so much that could be put into a prequel trilogy. Too bad Robert Jordan died. UNLESS, he's just pulling our legs; he's not really dead and is secretly working on a prequel trilogy as we speak.

 

 

tell me about it. I would have loved to read elan's proclamation/speech in the hall of servants. The reactions of the aes sedai would have been amusing to watch. His battle with LTT at paaran disen too would be something to read as well.

 

 

such a wasted oppurtunity. instead we got faile kidnapping and bowl of the winds storyline that just went on and on

 

A trilogy would have been nice, but I think I could have settled with one book. I think seeing the Forsaken all turn would be cool as hell, and I also would like to see Elan Morin declaring for the DO and all of LTT's battles with him... And also Sammael and Graendal going to Shayol Ghul. Why did they travel together? Since the series made the Forsaken look like buffoons, maybe a prequel could beef 'em up a little bit by showcasing their Dark accomplishments in the AoL.

[WilsonC]

There's a sense of wonder in the series right from the beginning when we meet Moiraine and Lan. From Rand's perspective, they seem larger than life even before we reallize that they're anything more than a Lady and her bodyguard. When we learn of their actions defending the two-rivers, they become legendary. They seem infallible, all-knowing and all-powerful. Along with Rand, we come to see that they are, in fact, human, and they can make mistakes.

 

If you start with the AoL, by the time we get to Rand, there would be no wonder about the world. We'd have just finished a series about a man who's a blademaster like Lan while also being many times more capable a channeler as Moiraine. We'd have read about a setting where virtually every single important character in the story could channel to make Moiraine seem like an uneducated, talentless child. We'd lose the sense of discovery and mystery we get when something that's 'common knowledge' turns out to be false. The revealing of the Aiel history would become nothing more than a rehashing of what we already knew.

 

It would also essentially require a shift from sci-fi to fantasy mid-stream, which would draw in a different audience, and alienate some of the readers who started it.

 

I think the AoL would make an interesting prequel, or perhaps a series of short stories, largely because we're already invested in it. As a stand alone book or series, I don't think it would be that compelling. You'd either have to waddle through hundreds of year of politics in a utopian society (think there's not enough despair or death in WoT? There'd be next to none until after the drilling of the Bore), or you'd go into the series with the main characters already at the height of their power, limitting the potential for character growth. We've come to know LTT, through Rand, enough that we'd care about him, but it would be a lot harder to develop reader sympathy for a character we don't know who happens to be the most powerful man in the world from the outset. How the Fosaken turned could make for a good short story for each of them now that we know a little about them, but in a AoL novel without that knowledge, few of them could get enough screentime for those scenes to have an impact.

[True Source Creator]

I'm definitely down for a good 13-part short story series for each of the Forsaken, as long as the good ones get like "extended" short stories.

 

 

...but I'd rather they just prequel it and feature as much of the Forsaken and their betrayals as possible. Some of them aren't really that important to carry more than a couple pages anyways (Be'lal, for instance), so there would be room for more interesting things among them (Lanfear and Lews Therin's "romance", everything they can fit about Elan (Ishamael), and Demandred's turn, most prominently those three).

[Ashlyn]

I'm definitely down for a good 13-part short story series for each of the Forsaken, as long as the good ones get like "extended" short stories.

 

 

...but I'd rather they just prequel it and feature as much of the Forsaken and their betrayals as possible. Some of them aren't really that important to carry more than a couple pages anyways (Be'lal, for instance), so there would be room for more interesting things among them (Lanfear and Lews Therin's "romance", everything they can fit about Elan (Ishamael), and Demandred's turn, most prominently those three).

 

This! I suggested somewhere else that short stories may be the way to go - they can be written around specific events or characters to give us the info we want. I'd definitely buy those books!

[Joshua Hendrickson]

The Age of Legends is best left largely legendary.

 

However, I love the hints at our own Age that we find in "Lenn flew to the moon in the belly of an eagle made of fire" and "the giant Mosk with his lance of fire that could reach around the world." And especially the Mercedes-Benz hood ornament in that museum!

[Elan Tedronai]

I'd love a prequel trilogy set in the Age of Legends. Lanfear/Lews Therin would be awesome to read about; the Forsaken becoming the Forsaken would be fascinating. Ishamael (Elan) and Lews Therin. Semirhage being captured and escaping because she scares the guards too much. Mesaana making children into puppets that do the Shadow's deeds. And, of course, Aginor making the Shadowspawn. We'd get to see the Gardens, too.

 

...yes, so much that could be put into a prequel trilogy. Too bad Robert Jordan died. UNLESS, he's just pulling our legs; he's not really dead and is secretly working on a prequel trilogy as we speak.

 

 

tell me about it. I would have loved to read elan's proclamation/speech in the hall of servants. The reactions of the aes sedai would have been amusing to watch. His battle with LTT at paaran disen too would be something to read as well.

 

 

such a wasted oppurtunity. instead we got faile kidnapping and bowl of the winds storyline that just went on and on

 

A trilogy would have been nice, but I think I could have settled with one book. I think seeing the Forsaken all turn would be cool as hell, and I also would like to see Elan Morin declaring for the DO and all of LTT's battles with him... And also Sammael and Graendal going to Shayol Ghul. Why did they travel together? Since the series made the Forsaken look like buffoons, maybe a prequel could beef 'em up a little bit by showcasing their Dark accomplishments in the AoL.

 

The sad thing is if RJ was still alive there was always the possibility of having AOL books. But right now i doubt sanderson can do it any justice if harriet decides to go for it.

[Suttree]

The sad thing is if RJ was still alive there was always the possibility of having AOL books. But right now i doubt sanderson can do it any justice if harriet decides to go for it.

 

I guess there was a possibility in a "anything can happen" type way but RJ spoke out a number of times on the topic and was strongly against writing anything from the AoL.

 

Shadow Rising book tour 1992 - John Brannick reporting

Q: Do you plan to write any more series about Hawkwing or the Age of Legends?

RJ: No. readers will get all the information about those ages that they need in the WoT books.

 

Second AOL Chat October 1994

Q: Are you going to write about the Age of Legends?

RJ: No.

 

Q: Are you considering chronicling the latter part of the Age of Legends?

RJ: No.

 

First AOL Chat October 1994

Drayken: I was wondering if you will ever write a book based on the Age of Legends?

RJ: No.

 

DragonCon 3 September 2005 - Emma reporting

Q: Did you have the intention to explore what happened before the Breaking of the World?

RJ: No: anything I would do there would have a sense of inevitability. You know what's going to happen.

 

I tend to agree...

[Elan Tedronai]

I really don't understand the inevitability part.

 

The soulforge and first king of shannara were all prequels and yet it was one the best books in dragonlance and shannara series.

[W_A]

If it were entirely up to me, and RJ would live forever and be able to write at the pace of books 1-6, here's what I would want him to write, in order:

 

The normal WoT series: Cut out a bit from 7-10 to get the whole series back down to 12 books.

The New Spring prequel Trilogy

The Outrigger Novels

The AoL trilogy:

Book 1- Short description of life in the AoL for a few chapter, following LTT and Mierin. Mierin starts investigating, LTT tries to discourage her, etc. the book ends with the bore opening

Book 2- The war begins, the Light is unprepared and the Shadow gets some big victory, killing some character introduced in the first book. LTT mobilizes the world against the newly formed Blight. Demandred goes over after he is passed over for leadership of a major battle. At the end of the book, EMT gives a 60 page speech about free capitalism and goes over to the shadow.

Book 3- In the first couple chapters, that big floating orb thing breaks and the people start preparing last ditch efforts. The book mainly focuses on the conflict between LTT and Latra Posae, with some battles scattered throughout. About 2/3 through, the access ter'angreals are taken, the Fateful Concord happens, LTT leads the hundred companions, fights at the bore and seals it, there's a description of the destruction and it ends with the prologue of tEotW

One book on Artur Hawkwing: Basically divided into thirds, with the first third being the fight against Amalasan, the Second being the rise to power and the third being one Ishamael coming and ruining everything, and the book ends with his last words. It would probably be a really long book.

One book on the fall of Malkier: I think we all know how this happened, but it would be a good book.

One book on the Creation of the Sharan Empire: First the channelers openly take control then are kicked out by people who are scared of them, so they manipulate the rulers into the current system.

[baalsmistress]

To my mind, the only thing RJ really did wrong with this series, was dying before he finished it.

[Guest PiotrekS]

Well, the inevitability argument did not stop RJ from writing New Spring.

 

However, I tend to agree with the thesis that AoL works best when most of it is left to our imagination and we learn only bits and pieces. I wouldn't like to see the glorious vision of AoL that I have destroyed the same way as the image of the Aes Sedai was in later books, when the inner workings of the White Tower were dissected and most of the sisters were shown as idiots in order to allow our heroes to shine.

[Elan Tedronai]

When you do a reread of the series and stumble upon chapter upon chapters of non existent plot and lack of action from books 7 to 10 it just angers me to see such a waste of time and ink and paper by jordan

[LeeM.Erickson]

I love WoT as much as the next guy around here but I've always respected and agreed with his desire not to let it become a "franchise". I think a much greater tragedy than not being able to read WoT books about the Age of Legends or Hawkwing's empire is not ever being able to read Infinity of Heaven.

[skyost]

Writing about the AoL before giving us the current story would not be nearly as cool as it seems. It would just be a totally different story (probably also good, since it would have been written by RJ) but we wouldn't come pre-armed with this sense of wanting to know all about the AoL so it wouldn't be half as great as it seems like it would be now. A prequel/trilogy/stories would be great, it would be like the Silmarillion after the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Anyone who hasn't read the main books would probably read the Silmarillion and wonder why anyone liked it, while anyone who has read the books probably loves the bits of the legendary past it provides. Plus, if the series had been written about the 2nd age, it would probably have contained glimpses of the first age. Then we would have this same thread going about how he should have started with the First Age wawawa...

 

As for a bunch of the books being a waste of time/ink/paper etc. it's really too bad RJ didn't consult with people to decide how to write his epic masterpiece and tailor the story according to their interests. Me specifically, I would have liked some dragons (like firebreathing flying monsters, not people with a nickname) because I think they're badass and would like to see them fight channelers or have the DO have a crazy channeling dragon that serves him and Rand has to defeat it or something. And that would probably have made the books worse for a lot of other people who don't necessarily like dragons enough to squeeze them into everything. If you don't like part of the books, the great thing about them is that you can just flip pages to get to a part you do like in mere seconds. Problem solved. I didn't find Faile's storyline interesting, and reading about Elayne makes me want to drill a hole in my head, so I just skip past those parts.

 

Crossroads of Twilight is the only book I don't think is awesome, and I would still rather have that than cut the series by a book. My least favorite thing about the series is that the end is coming soon.