this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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The first thought that runs through my mind anytime I see George RR Martin’s name in a headline is “Shit, he died!”.
And I don’t know if I’ll even be disappointed or not, which is sad, since it seems he’s never going to finish his books anyway. Unless he’s pulling the ultimate troll and already has the entire series finished, but is refusing to release it until his death.
I'm a huge Wheel of Time fan. If you're not, or for those that aren't, Robert Jordan, the author, died before he could finish the series. He had some rough notes, a few important scenes written out, but the man was diagnosed with a terminal disease. Despite best efforts, he didn't make it to the finish line.
The last three books were written, with the blessing and cooperation of Jordan's widow and estate, by Brandon Sanderson.
Jordan's death was a huge blow to the story. We didn't know, really, what was going to happen. The story and world were epic, and we knew Jordan had a plan, and that there were "notes", but no one save a handful of people, knew more.
When Sanderson stepped in to finish the series, there was an obvious shift in how the story was written. He is, after all, a different author. But he did an absolute amazing job. If there's one thing Sanderson is good at it's the "Sanderlanche", where the last chunk of the book is full of insane, crazy, over-the-top exciting things happening one after another. It's no secret that the entire series is building up to "The Last Battle", and there is a (cough, 200-page-long) chapter in the last book titled "The Last Battle" and it is, I shit you not, non-stop action, revelation, emotion, and more happening in rapid fire.
Sanderson took the build-up from 14 books and slammed it all down at once in a "...holy shit" moment. He couldn't have done what he did (well, after reading Stormlight Archive so far.. maybe he could've) without Jordan laying the groundwork.
What I'm trying to say: If GRR Martin has built a world that works, even if he dies, they'll find someone to finish it and leave us with a complete story. And if we're lucky, it'll be someone like Sanderson.
I feel like you're downplaying it a bit. Robert Jordan spent the last year of his life dictating the final novel (which was ultimately split into 3 novels because it was so large) to his editor, who was also his wife and a stenographer, including detailed notes of the world itself so that someone could finish the series after him. It was much much more than some rough notes.
Fair.
I'm going off what I heard and what was said at the time by Jordan. Like the Forbes quickie (linked from the Wikipedia, I'm not some sort of weird bookmark crazy) https://www.forbes.com/2006/11/30/robert-jordan-illness-tech-media_cx_hc_books06_1201jordan.html
He said he was "getting out notes" and generally acknowledged the books weren't done.
I won't speak for Sanderson, but I seem to recall him saying Jordan provided an outline, notes for major events, and even some parts fleshed out and written in full (Rand in the cave comes to mind), but pulling all together was Sanderson.
It was absolutely a posthumous collaboration between the two.
GRRM has already said that if he dies, he doesn't want another author to finish his series. So no, this is not going to happen.
I've been a believer in the posthumous publication conspiracy since the backlash from the show ending. I wouldn't want to hear from the gaggle of fans that think they could have written a better ending either. Leaving "unfinished" works for the estate to hand over to the publisher to "finish" editing seems like a nice way to never have to answer antagonistic questions in a comic con panel ever again.
That would actually be a baller move to troll everyone and leave the fished books to be his final message to the world. I doubt that's his plan though.
No his plan is far worse. This is a literal quote from him in like the 80s.
"If I were really cynical...I wouldn't write what I'm writing now, these novels. I would start some sort of medieval sword-and-sorcery thing and say it's a trilogy...and then keep writing it for the rest of my life."
He doesn't even plan to end them. And now that there's an ending via the TV series I'm sure he's even less motivated. He just wants money and fame.
If this is true I would laugh like crazy after he died that would be god level trolling at its best