Wheel of Time Discussion - Spoilers(with book spoilers)

[Parmandur]

To be fair, Martin didn't finish his work. Weis and Benioff did for the TV series (working from an outline? not 100% sure).

Jordan expressed a huge fear of his was "pulling a Lost," ie not sticking the landing/finale of the series, so it's sad that's exactly what happened (well IMO and many other people's).

I mean, Jordan did nail the landing, with a bit of help: the amazing climax was his work, fire sure.

The shows ending is Martin's ending, particularly in the parts that disappointed people.

 

[Maxperson]

Sanderson was not selected to finish WOT until after RJ died, when RJ's widow selected him in part due to his tribute/eulogy to RJ, so I don't know where this 'sitting with Jordan and going over the books' stuff comes from. Sanderson may have met RJ (I don't really know), but if he did it was more in the setting of at a fan convention or some such. What Sanderson did have is access to RJ's notes, assistants, and editors (including RJ's wife). And I would second that Sanderson is not as good at writing characters or dialog as either RJ or Martin. He can move along an action scene like no one else though.

I clearly misremembered what happened. Whoops! Thanks for the correction.

I disagree about characters, though. Sanderson does characters better than Jordan did, while perhaps not quite as well as Martin. Sanderson is also getting better. His characters in the Stormlight Archives have much more depth and are much more complete than the characters in his Mistborn novels.

 

[Maxperson]

Big difference is that the ending is great. Like, really great. Everything pays off. The anti-GoT.

Well, the GoT books may have a fantastic ending as well. We're just never going to see it.

 

[Maxperson]

To be fair, Martin didn't finish his work. Weis and Benioff did for the TV series (working from an outline? not 100% sure).

Jordan expressed a huge fear of his was "pulling a Lost," ie not sticking the landing/finale of the series, so it's sad that's exactly what happened (well IMO and many other people's).

Yeah. I didn't like how the last book ended. The second breaking was barely more than a few hills being leveled or raised, and I didn't care for what Rand did at the end. It seemed like a cop-out.

 

[Mort]

I mean, Jordan did nail the landing, with a bit of help: the amazing climax was his work, fire sure.

The shows ending is Martin's ending, particularly in the parts that disappointed people.

Meant Martin not Jordan, Ack!

 

[Mort]

I mean, Jordan did nail the landing, with a bit of help: the amazing climax was his work, fire sure.

The shows ending is Martin's ending, particularly in the parts that disappointed people.

Sort of, the shows ending was incredibly rushed - and I suspect, even then, not all of it was Martins (just the high points).

How you tell (or show) it is as or even more important than what you say (or show).

 

[Parmandur]

Sort of, the shows ending was incredibly rushed - and I suspect, even then, not all of it was Martins (just the high points).

How you tell (or show) it is as or even more important than what you say (or show).

Yeah, and there was the issue that characters and plot lines from the books were streamlined, which had downstream effects.

Still, the major highlights that are pretty clear in hindsight that the books are building towards seem to be what most irritated fans.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah. I didn't like how the last book ended. The second breaking was barely more than a few hills being leveled or raised, and I didn't care for what Rand did at the end. It seemed like a cop-out.

The very end with Rand is, at the very least, odd: it seems to set him up fir the 4th age as the opposite of what Ismael was doing through 3rd age.

His actual final confrontation, with the metaphysical revelations? Magnificent. As good as the elaborate war game scenario Jordan spent two million words setting up.

 

[Mort]

Yeah, and there was the issue that characters and plot lines from the books were streamlined, which had downstream effects.

Still, the major highlights that are pretty clear in hindsight that the books are building towards seem to be what most irritated fans.

Well, the benefit to Wheel of Time is that it's completed in addition to Sanderson being a producer.

Though, apparently he (Sanderson) wasn't always listened to. He objected to and tried to change the Perrin's wife angle in the first episode - but was ignored.

 

[Parmandur]

I clearly misremembered what happened. Whoops! Thanks for the correction.

I disagree about characters, though. Sanderson does characters better than Jordan did, while perhaps not quite as well as Martin. Sanderson is also getting better. His characters in the Stormlight Archives have much more depth and are much more complete than the characters in his Mistborn novels.

Sanderson is more technically capable at writing character and dialog, but Jordan had a deeper knowledge of the dark corners of the human psyche. It was pretty apparent when Sanderson wrote a chapter with a Mat POV and it wasn't Jordan.