what has The Wheel of Time series meant to you?

[muddasssir]

well guys it has been an absolute pleasure and an honor to know all of you. it would not have been possible without RJ. I do not know whether GRRM or others are better writers than RJ as I am not a fantasy fan myself. Honestly, only other modern fantasy work that I liked and by modern I mean post LotR were Thomas Covenant chronicles first and second as I am still to read third. I did try to read GRRM's A song of Ice and Fire, but could not go past the game of thrones. So, I do not think that he has added anything to the genre. As for my story I have repeated it often enough here. I picked up the story at the ripe old age of 23 and I am 41 now. What this story means to me? I'll just tell you a short story. I live in Lahore, Pakistan. Until recently, you could only find book 3,4,5 and 6 here. That is why I started coming to DM as it had chapter summaries and I wanted to read the rest of the series that was not available in Pakistan. So I went to my daughter's school for her admission. She went into the classroom to give her entrance test. Me, my wife and my younger twins were walking towards the school park so my twins can go play there and I was talking to my wife when I passed a man who was gathering books and stacking them together so that he can pack them in cartons, It was a book fair in the school and they were gathering things to take everything back to their shop. I just glanced went forward, stopped and told my wife ."There was a WoT book in that stack. She started laughing and said "Aap ko tu raat ko Khawab main bhi wot ki kitabain nazar aati hain" which translate literally as "You see Wot books in your dreams". Of course, we turned around and went back there was The book 9 the Winter's Heart sitting second or third last from the bottom. Of course I bought that book and since than I have got the entire series and I have bought at least three copies of each book that has been published so far. I have as many as 8 copies of Lord of Chaos. I just love this series. It has been an inspiration to me. It has helped me through many a depressing moments. I only wish RJ had been the one to write the ending of this epic. unfortunately, that is not going to happen. still. I am grateful to Harriet, Brandon and team Jordan that we are getting a closure of kind. 

[Ozzie_aiel]

@Hagazussa: I was meaning the part of the Aiel ceremony that involves the two families in a general melee while you beat your nw husband around the head with the bouquet.

 

@Muddasssir: I know what you mean, I've had to buy multiple copies of some of the books. Its got me through a few tough patches myself, so I get that. Its been an honour for me as well.

[Hagazussa]

@Hagazussa: I was meaning the part of the Aiel ceremony that involves the two families in a general melee while you beat your nw husband around the head with the bouquet.

 

I think that would be a very one sided brawl since I only have one close relative and he have dozens. Hitting him around with the bouquet however might be fun. :P

[Morsker]

The main effect of WoT on me (unfortunately) was to make me hate feminists. It took many years before the Internet was as big as it was today, and I could go read feminist blogs and see that feminists say all sorts of things, and have all sorts of perspectives, and aren't like the Red Ajah, or the Two Rivers women when they shamelessly talk down to men. (I encountered some feminism in college too, but mostly in the form of deliberately provocative and offensive posters about how all men are rapists. The misguided undergraduates responsible for that can share in the blame, I guess, but even then I likely would not have run out of patience, if WoT hadn't used up so much of that patience.) So WoT's damage to my view of feminists wasn't permanent, but it was lasting.

 

There have been positive effects too. I enjoy the theories, and WoT was my introduction to shamelessly speculative fan theories.

[Suttree]

Wow, reading these it seems that RJ really did his job well on quite a number of levels.

[Hagazussa]

Well I think it is more that the attitudes of some women in WoT more put the finger on why some types of rabid feminism is wrong. I think that feminism, and in fighting for equality is great, there should be equality between genders, however if one look down on another gender and consider oneself to be superior it is no better to do that if you are a woman than if you are a man. It is no better to consider all men inferior than to consider all women inferior. I think that WoT point this out and might make some people think about their attitudes to the gender and quality question.

[Viperswhip]

For me it has mirrored a real relationship, including love, frustration, anger and apathy. I got the Eye of the World in trade paperback for Christmas the year it was released from my Mother. I had read Shogun, The Godfather, Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion before that, but I still fell in love (the Silmarillion is my favourite ever book).

 

Later, when the books slowed down and Perrin and Faile left on their big adventure, frustration came along, with spikes of hate, apathy developed at some point in there, with my interest fully renewed by news of RJ's illness and Brandon's involvement. I am quite positive that RJ would have finished the series by now had he lived, and that I would have loved it, but at least BS has put the books out at a decent pace.

 

I had the most fun with the series back in the rec.arts newsgroup days, there were some awesome discussions back then when we were still guessing about a lot of things. After that went poof, apathy kind of took over.

[WhiskyJack]

Bunch of cool tees!

[Torome]

It was definitely the first epic fantasy that I was able to get into.  I doubt I would be as prolific a reader had I never picked it up.  Though my favorite single book will always be Watership Down.  I am glad I had to wait so long for the series to finish in a lot of ways.  I almost pity the people who will get into the series after AMoL is released, because they won't be part of it all; yes they will get to read, but they will have missed out on the anticipation.

[JavnaGolina]

I've often dwelt on this very question and I have to say I'm very glad I came to the WoT at a young age. It was my "first love" if you will reading larger books and as such will always have a special place. RJ has cemented his legend within fantasy and he was a titan for certain. I'm sure he will be receiving a ton of praise as the last book is released but I also feel it is important to keep things in perspective. Fantasy as a genre has changed drastically to the point that these books almost feel quaint at times and their tone can be overly juvenile. I know that had I came to them later in life they might not have had nearly the same impact.

 

I disagree entirely. I came to WOT well into adulthood, and I appreciate it a lot. It may not be the most sophisticated series with it's frequent cliches and weird gender binaries, but the series is damn capitvating. I don't need the writer killing people off left right and center to try and prove how 'hardcore' he is - I care about the characters and I care about the world, and that is a feat in itself.

 

So I'm glad the whole series is a bit juvenile. The real world is bleak and serious enough as it is to have to read this to have it come across in our fiction as well.