The Wheel of Time stops turning

R.I.P. Robert Jordan.

I hadn’t read any of Robert Jordan’s books when Glen Dahlgren contacted me in 1997 about working on The Wheel of Time computer game. But I was intent on doing my research, so I immediately went to Baedeker to buy the first volume of the series. In English, of course, because the game was going to be in English.

E3 1997 happened right around that time. I’d made contacts with several other game companies in America and I had potential job prospects (Legend could only offer me a remote position from Germany), so several regulars on the #level_design IRC channel were encouraging me to fly to Atlanta to mingle with the crowd and maybe make something happen. My parents were on vacation, so I borrowed some money from my late grandmother and bought an improptu plane ticket to America.

It was during the four-hour train ride to the Frankfurt airport that I started reading The Eye of the World. My English was still rather bad and I didn’t understand every word in the book, but the writing was so good that I was captivated anyway. Sure, when it really came down to it, Jordan was treading familiar territory: black riders, a wide-eyed farmboy goes out into the big world to fulfill his destiny, mysterious mentors accompany him… But Jordan did everything in a wildly imaginative and evocative way. The characters and world felt very alive, and everything was relatable.

Of course I ended up working for Legend and on Wheel of Time anyway. By that time, I’d already read all available novels even though I hadn’t been working on the game (as had Charlie Wiederhold, another potential WoT level designer who ended up working elsewhere). And I can guarantee you that every designer involved with the game cared about and was a huge fan of the books.

I’ll be the first to admit that the series eventually died on me and I only ever made it to book 7. That wasn’t necessarily because the story had become less interesting. It just seemed like there was no end in sight!
I think I’ll read all those remaining books now. It sounds like the final volume will be finished in one form or another, and I want to be ready for that. Thank you, Robert Jordan, for all that you’ve given us!

P.S.: The trip to E3 1997 didn’t actually happen after all because of a snafu at the airport. I spent four additional hours riding back home (and reading).