Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness - A Very Nostalgic Time

[brujah]

Wow. What can I say. I'm not good at being able to convey what I'm feeling, but I'd like to try.

 

Let me start by saying that I have NOT read AMoL, just yet. I've had some health issues, and I've just been able to get back around to catching up on certain hobbies.

 

The fact that I HAVEN'T yet read the book is where my heart is, at the moment. I just wanted to say that WoT has been some part of my life for 20+ years now. I started reading it as an early teenager. And last year, when this last installment that would finally wrap up our great story was set to finally come out, I wasn't really feeling anything but excitement. But now that It's finally here, now that the book is within hand, I'm feeling quite sad.

 

It feels like a certain era is ending, and I almost don't want to read this book. Because then it WILL be over. We can look back on our lives, and think of certain points in time by remembering a certain movie. I can often remember how old i was when I first saw some great films, and what was going on in my life at the time. Well this extremely long collection of books dots the map of time throughout the greater part of my life.

 

I really am sad to know that this story is finally ending. It often seemed like it would never end. I remember loving the first 4 books sooo much. I remember feelig that the story bogged down at times in the middle to later half of the books, but how it only got better as the story grew ever closer to the end. Of course I remember the sadness when the story lost it's true General, and Mr. Jordan's own great story came to an end. I remember thinking there was no way Sanderson, or anyone really, would be able to finish things when we lost our Great Captain. But I was still impressed with the story, in another authors hands.

 

It speaks of just how great these characters were, that someone else could take up the reigns, and still we would read, still behind those characters, still backing the fight against Darkness. I was extremely impressed, indeed, especially knowing that Jordans notes would guide the rest of the story to completion.

 

And here I am. Thinking back on the times in my life when I first read Eye of the Storm as a lanky teenager in high school. How I remember receiving the newest WoT books as wedding anniversary gifts from my wife, or on birthdays from my father. These books have been in part of my life for so long, that I can remember actually seeing the story in very differently lights as I grew much older, and as things vastly changed in my life, as I grew up.

 

So here I sit, happy to be able to read another, new chapter in this great story, but also with infinite sadness that I know it's finally going to end. You may not know it yet, but once you get older, or as you grow older, life itself becomes a giant, nostalgic story of it's own. And you can relate the passage of time to many things important to you throughout. So take it from me. You'll begin to miss the great things in life when their own time has passed.

 

So I guess what I'm really saying is this. I've really enjoyed reading this series. This Wheel of Time. And I'm very sad to know that it's over. And I wanted to share that with other fans before I finished the series. Before I read the last book in the story of The Wheel of Time.

 

I hope you always find a way to overcome the Dark Times of your lives.

 

Goodbye.

[Guest bigwil0024]

I felt the exact same way. My twin brother and i were 12-13 when we first saw the great hunt in a book store. Just looking at it we both knew right away we wanted to read it and when we were purchasing it the man behind the counter suggested we buy the eye of the world and read it first.

All i talked about the last few months is wanting to know how the story ends with my wife, when the book came out i got up and went to the book store that day. I didnt open the book for two days after i bought it, when my wife asked me why i wasn't reading it I just said cause i dont want it to end.

Over the course of the last 19 years so many things have happened. I've been in the military since i was 17, my twin brother as well, both deploying to overseas multiple times.

My twin was KIA in 2009, and as i was holding the book in the bookstore i sat down and thought back on how him and me would discuss every little thing about these books after we read a new one. That insight is what im missing terribly right now from him. I can't count the times that i got away from the troubles of this world by losing myself in Robert Jordans.

When you get the chance to read it i'd be more than happy to discuss what we both thought about it.

 

 

[peregrine al thor]

    I understand completely. I picked up EotW at random in '90 or '91 when I was in my early 20s. I'd read fantasy almost exclusively since the age of 13. I've re-read the WoT more times than I can count over the years. I did a re-read before every new book after TSR, I think. It did not take long for Jordan to become the greatest fantasy writer in my own personal ranking, surpassing even Tolkien. The WoT has been in my life longer than my wife of almost 17 years and my 2 kids. It's been a best friend all the way through. I would usually say that music has been the "soundtrack" of my life; I can always recall where I was and what was going on in my life when I hear different songs/albums etc. I know WoT has affected my life greatly, but it's so woven in that I don't know that I could ever explain exactly how. I've known for a long time that I'd be crying my eyes out no matter what the ending was. I wasn't even all that excited when the release date was announced because I knew once I read it, things would never be the same. But as the new year turned and I finished my re-read leading up to it, I found I couldn't resist. I finished AMoL last week (won't say a word about it here) and was incredibly depressed afterwards. Not anything to do with the book itself, just sorrow  that it's over now to a great extent. It feels like losing a great friend of half my lifetime. It also feels (to me) like we've lost RJ for a 2nd time; his final words have truly been spoken now. I only know one other person (my sister-in-law, whom I turned on to WoT and fantasy in general) who reads the WoT so I've been very grateful for Dragonmount, a place to go commiserate with others who love these books as I do. I will continue reading fantasy and hoping (in vain, I'm afraid) for something else to come close to the WoT in the future. I don't think I'll be doing a WoT re-read any time soon. I'm going with Erikson's Malazan series next, when I'm ready to read again, I believe. It seems different enough from WoT that I won't be making mental comparisons all the time. I hope.

[randalthorr]

I am starting AMoL tonight.

 

I was going through the same emotions that you are. I wanted to make a thread to share the feeling, but I simply couldn't find the words to express what I felt when I picked up the book to start reading. I sat staring at the map on the first page. I remembered all the times I lost myself in that world, all those hours I have sat fantasising belonging somewhere on that map. This series has been the crutch to deal with the disappointment my life turned out to be.

 

Anyway, Ive put off starting the book until tomorrow. I feel so unbelievably overwhelmed starting the final book in the series. I'm glad that I was able to share this with others of a similar mind.

 

 

 

The one quote that gets me up EVERY morning, and steels me to plod through yet another day in this endless cycle:

Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain.

 

Taishar Malkier