Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (October 17, 1948–September 16, 2007), under which he was best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also wrote under the name Reagan O'Neal. He died September 16, 2007 from complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (cardiac amyloidosis).

There goes that book series.

HA! I always knew that people silly enough to buy into WoT would never see it end.

It'll get finished, probably. He dug out all his notes and outlines to prepare for the worst, which inevitably did happen. He's left it up to his wife and his publisher(I think at least) to decide whether or not to finish the book.

Do you only exist to stomp on things other people like? Don't you have any particular degree of empathy? Not many people are going to do anything but be a little sad since their favorite series isn't going to be finished, but they're not going to turn up at his funeral and dance in white coat tails on his grave, either, as you seem to be straining at the bit to do.

Actually, I think anyone who has been with these books for as long as he's been writing them will feel a lot closer to him than they ever realized.

And I agree, this is about the passing of a Master of the art, he changed the face of Fantasy forever.

Rest in Peace.

May his shade find solace wherever it wanders. He was an impressive storyteller and inspirational voice to the theater of the mind.

Wasn't Wheel of Time neverending? Would he die 10 years from now, it would probably still not be finished, there would just be more books.

No. The next one was going to be the last one of the main story, which is really just salt in the wound.

I see... that's unlucky turn of events.

Wait, people liked Wheel of Time? O_o

Mhm. Yes, I'm a heartless monster who feeds on your despair. Yum yum yum yum yum.

PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONFIG ROOMDESC VERBOSE, READ: That explains the self esteem issues. Years of thoughtless indulgence on the misery and despair of mankind (no doubt fattening fare) have taken their toll and the consequence is not only your physical appearance, but also your health and sense of self worth, perpetuating the cycle of misery and ensuring that you'll continue on in an increasingly cyclical nature until your eventual death.

PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONFIG ROOMDESC BRIEF, READ: You're fat.

Damn, I would have sworn I'd read "Robert Johnson". If this man was half as talented or interesting, I offer my most sincere condolences all the same.

Indeed this was quite an unfortunate event.

Not at all what I was saying. Do I speak with an accent on here too? >.>

I was saying that I don't know who this person is personally, and read about the sad news on false pretenses... but still offer my sympathy under the assumption that he was talented.

The current fad of being too cool for WoT trend among fantasy enthusiasts notwithstanding Robert Jordan was a phenomenally successful writer. Aside from the AD&D (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms) subset Mr. Jordan carried modern fantasy on his back for quite sometime. Mr. Martin even credited Mr. Jordan for clearing the path for ASoFaI in his recent blog on Mr. Jordan's passing. He was a multiple times bestseller, and not just purely on the sci-fi/fantasy lists, as well as a decorated combat veteran. By all accounts he was a genuinely decent human being. I recieved his first WoT book as a gift from my older sister when I was in middle school. I will always cherish the love of reading my sister instilled in me and the part WoT played in that.

It came across a little awkward but I took your meaning.

Yeah, I completely misunderstood. Edited my post accordingly.

I loved WoT. I played WoT themed muds for years on end in the 90's. It was one of the best stories I had ever read, and I read a lot of high fantasy. He was also known for authoring quite a few Conan the Barbarian novels.

On the other side of the fence, RJ was really screwing around with the WoT universe towards the end. One of his books literally took place in the timeline of the last chapter of his previous book. Without spoilering, the whole book was basically "MEANWHILE, WHILE X WAS DOING Y..." And the never-ending white tower siege, etc.

He still took a little too much from Herbert, in my opinion, when all is said and done.