Robert Jordan | |
|---|---|
 Jordan in 2005 | |
| Born | James Oliver Rigney Jr. (1948-10-17)October 17, 1948 |
| Died | September 16, 2007(2007-09-16) (aged 58) Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Education | The Citadel (BS) |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Years active | 1977-2007 |
| Notable works | The Wheel of Time |
| Spouse | |
| Signature | |
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James Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), known by his pen nameRobert Jordan,[1] was an American author ofepic fantasy. He is best known as the author ofThe Wheel of Time series, which comprises 14 books and aprequel novel. The series is among the highest selling book series of all time, with 90 million copies sold.[2] In his earlier career he became one of several writers to produce originalConan the Barbarian novels; his are considered by fans to be some of the best of the non-Robert E. Howard efforts. Robert Jordan was the most well known of severalpen names he used, adopting different monikers for different genres.[3]
Jordan was born inCharleston, South Carolina, on October 17, 1948, to James and Eva Rigney (nee Grooms). James Rigney was aWorld War II veteran and served as a police officer before working at theCharleston Naval Shipyard.[4] He taught himself to read at the age of four years, because his older brother did not finish readingWhite Fang to him and Jordan "wanted to know what happened," and at five was readingMark Twain andJules Verne.[5][6] He went toClemson University, where he playedfootball as alineman, but dropped out after one year and enlisted in theU.S. Army.[7][8][9]
He served two tours of duty during theVietnam War as a helicopter gunner, from 1968 to 1970.[10][11] He supportedBell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters, and was deployed toSaigon and laterBien Hoa. Asked about his experiences in 2003, he stated that they flew in "Zone C, ThePhu Rieng Rubber Plantation, down toCu Chi in the delta, over toNui Ba Dinh, Black Virgin Mountain, and we were flying intoCambodia long before theParrot's Beak".[12] He survived a helicopter crash aged 19, which affected his views on mortality.[13] During his time in the military one of his nicknames was "Iceman", in reference to an incident in which he intercepted a number ofPAVN troops crossing a river. Jordan strongly disliked the nickname. In a 2007 blog post, he stated that he "strangled that SOB, drove a stake through his heart, and buried him face down under a crossroad outside Saigon before coming home, because I knew that guy wasn't made to survive in a civilian environment." He preferred the nickname Ganesha he attained, as "the remover of obstacles".[14] He was awarded theDistinguished Flying Cross withoak leaf cluster, theBronze Star with "V" and oak leaf cluster, and twoVietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm.[15]
After returning from Vietnam in 1970, Jordan studiedphysics atThe Citadel Military College of South Carolina. He graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science degree and began working for theU.S. Navy as anuclear engineer.[16] He designed tests and overhaulednuclear reactors for US naval vessels. In 1977 he fell during a walk between thedry dock and his office and faced a serious knee injury and an extended hospital stay. He found that he was bored by the work of other writers while in hospital, and believing he could do better, decided to begin writing himself.[17][18] According to McDougal, Jordan physically threw the book across the room and said "I can do better than that."[19]
Jordan began writing in 1977. His first writing project was a fantasy novel entitledWarriors of the Altaii, writing by hand over three and a half months and typing it up when he returned to work. He contactedDonald A. Wolheim atDAW Books and immediately received an offer, but after attempting to negotiate a minor detail the offer was rejected, citing his "excessive demands". Despite the lack of a publishing deal, he tendered his resignation from his nuclear engineering job, confident that he could write full time.[18][17][20]
A local bookstore owner put Jordan in touch with the editorHarriet McDougal, who readAltaii. Instead of editing this early work she asked for a new story, which led Jordan to writeThe Fallon Blood, published in 1980 by McDougal's personal imprint, Popham Press. Jordan began dating McDougal and his late-1970sDungeons & Dragons game with her son Will would serve as inspiration forThe Wheel of Time.[21][22]
Jordan wrote three books in the Fallon saga and planned it to be a longer series chronicling thehistory of the United States from the time of theCivil War to the Vietnam War. While the works sold fairly well, Jordan became bored after the third one and decided to explore other avenues.[23] Jordan stopped using Popham Press in the early 1980s as he was aware that it was owned by McDougal and he was about to marry his "only source of income". With this in mind, his future books would be published by other companies while McDougal would continue to edit his works.[24] He also wrote the westernCheyenne Raiders around this time, his only book to use a different editor.
Tom Doherty atTor Books obtained the rights toConan the Barbarian and needed a novel very quickly. McDougal recommended Jordan because she knew he had written his first novel,Warriors of the Altaii, in a very short timespan. Jordan initially turned down the offer because he was concerned about writing in an established fictional universe from another author. He later accepted and enjoyed the project, though he found it difficult to be creative within the strict format rules of the books.[18] According to McDougal, Jordan was "brooding" at the time about theSoviet–Afghan War and these thoughts were present in his writing.[25] He would go on to write seven of these from 1982 to 1984.
So he thought I could write something fast, and he was right, and I liked it. It was fun writing something completely over the top, full ofpurple prose, and in a weak moment I agreed to do five more and thenovelization of thesecond Conan movie. I've decided that those things were very good discipline for me. I had to work with acharacter and aworld that had already been created and yet find a way to say something new about the character and the world. That was a very good exercise.
— Robert Jordan, 2003[26]
On the back of the successful Conan books, Doherty asked if he had any other book ideas, and Jordan discussed his plans for an epic fantasy series, of up to three books in length.[27] Jordan's work onThe Wheel of Time began in 1984 and ballooned in scope from the initial three book vision.[27] The series would occupy much of his writing time for the remainder of his life. He completed 12 books in his lifetime, including the prequelNew Spring. Reviewers and fans of the earlier books noted a slowing of the pace of events in the last few installments written solely by Jordan owing to the expansion of the scale of the series as a whole.[28]
Diagnosed with a terminal heart condition in the mid-2000s, he became concerned that he might not live to complete the series and compiled additional notes beyond those he already had so that another could finish the "final" book,A Memory of Light.[29] He shared all of the significant plot details with his family not long before he died with this in mind.[30] He maintained that in doing so the book would get published even if "the worst actually happens".[31] After Jordan's death in September 2007,Brandon Sanderson took on that role, splitting the final book into three volumes, and completed the series in 2013.[32]
Robert Jordan was a history enthusiast and enjoyed hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool, and pipe-collecting. He described himself as a "high church"Episcopalian[16] and receivedcommunion more than once a week.[33] Politically, he described himself as a "libertarianmonarchist".[34]
Jordan's favorite authors wereJohn D. MacDonald,Jane Austen,Louis L'Amour,Charles Dickens,Robert A. Heinlein,Mark Twain andMontaigne.[35] He was a prodigious reader, reading around 400 books a year in the early 1990s, and his home library had over 14,000 books at the time of his death.[36][37]
As a younger man, Jordan was in a consensualnon-monogamous relationship with two women. D’Silva, an academic writing forReactor, compared Jordan's experiences to modernpolyamory.[38][39] This inspired the relationships seen in his writing, and he was open about the topic in interviews.[40][41][42]
I had two girlfriends simultaneously, who arranged my dating schedule between them, who was going to date me on which night. They chipped in together to buy me birthday presents and Christmas presents. You know, they just sort of shared me between them, you know. And they had been friends before, and I am not quite sure whether or not they made the decision they were both going to date me or not, on their own, before they first met me, it just came about.
— Robert Jordan, speaking atDragon Con, September 4, 2005
Jordan later entered into a monogamous relationship with his editorHarriet McDougal, whom he married in 1981.[5][40] Given the two lived together, rather than presenting McDougal with a completed manuscript, he would present the books chapter by chapter for revisions in a process she termed "curb-side editing". She did not feel that their romantic relationship conflicted with their relationship as editor and writer.[43] The two were together for the remainder of his life, and McDougal is today seen as the authority on the subject of Jordan's writing.[44]
On March 23, 2006, Jordan revealed that he had been diagnosed withcardiac amyloidosis and that, with treatment, hismedianlife expectancy was four years.[45] In a separate weblog post, he encouraged his fans not to worry about him and stated that he intended to have a long and creative life.[46] He beganchemotherapy atMayo Clinic during early April 2006.[47] He participated in a study of the drugRevlimid, which had been approved recently formultiple myeloma but not yet tested for primaryamyloidosis.[48]
Jordan died on September 16, 2007.[49] His funeral service was on September 19, 2007.[50] He was cremated and his ashes buried in the churchyard ofSt. James Church inGoose Creek, outsideCharleston, South Carolina.[51]
Some of Jordan's work was published posthumously. Using Jordan's notes,The Wheel of Time wascompleted by Brandon Sanderson in the form of three final books, ending withA Memory of Light in 2013. An encyclopedia for the series, based on Jordan's notes as well as the books themselves, was released asThe Wheel of Time Companion in 2015. Jordan's first novelWarrior of Altaii- which he wrote in the late 1970s and discarded at the time- was ultimately edited by McDougal and published in 2019. McDougal considers the book prototypical toThe Wheel of Time, with some themes and elements present in the much earlier work.[52]
Jordan's papers- including his writing notes and some unpublished manuscripts- were donated to theCollege of Charleston in 2012 by McDougal, where they are held as part of aspecial collection.[53] A ceremony was held at the college in January 2013 to mark the occasion, with Brandon Sanderson attending as part of the signing tour forA Memory of Light. The collection is extensive, and includes replica swords and costumes from the series.[54] As part of the collection, the library is in possession of unpublished Jordan works includingJohn One-Eye,Morgan,April the 15th andYou're a Nice Man or What Did I Do to Deserve That. Access to some records including Jordan's correspondence papers is restricted, and will not be available for viewing until thirty years after his death (September 2037).[55] One folder in the unpublished collection, "From the Tale of Five Sisters", is marked with such a restriction.[56] The collection was studied byMichael Livingston while writing Origins of the Wheel of Time: The Legends and Mythologies that Inspired Robert Jordan in 2022.[57]
Jordan had discussed severalother book projects before his illness, including side books forThe Wheel of Time. He left no notes for these and did not intend for another to write them after his death, and both Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal have ruled out these works.[58][59] He also planned other writing projects outside of the franchise, including another fantasy series namedInfinity of Heaven[60] and a book about his experiences in the Vietnam War,[61] but these were never written.
Jordan was posthumously inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2008, in an event which included many of his friends and family.[62] ForA Memory of Light, Jordan and Sanderson were both nominated for aHugo award in 2014.[63] Jordan has been cited as an influence byGeorge R. R. Martin. Martin doubted thatA Song of Ice and Fire would have been published were it not for Jordan breaking down the trilogy format for fantasy and enabling the publication of longer series.[64] Jordan's works remain popular and in 2009 a convention circuit namedJordanCon was inaugurated to celebrate his writings as well as that of other authors. It continues to run as of 2025.[65]
Born Rigney jr., he published his works under pseudonyms or "pen names", of which Robert Jordan was his best known. He used different titles for different genres:[3]
Jordan never published any books under his actual name. This was reserved for a hypothetical book about his experiences in the Vietnam War which he never wrote.[66] He also claimed to haveghostwritten an "international thriller" that as of 2005 was still believed to have been written by someone else.
