The Wheel of Time is a series of 14 high fantasy novels written by Robert Jordan, with Brandon Sanderson as co-author for the final three books in the series. There is also a prequel novel and two companion books.

The Wheel of Time series has sold over 90 million copies worldwide, and the books 8-14 all reached the top spot of the New York Times Best Seller list.

The Wheel of Time series is set on Earth, where time is cyclical and the events, therefore, takes place both in the distant past and in the distant future. Throughout the books, Jordan created a detailed imaginary world filled with a very large and varies cast of characters.

The series is inspired by elements from both European and Asian mythology, including the concept of cyclical time as proposed in Hinduism and Buddhism. Leo Tolstoy´s epic 1869 novel War and Peace was another source of inspiration for Jordan while writing the series.

The books have been used as inspiration for various other creations, including a role-playing game, a video game, a soundtrack album, and a TV-series. Since 2009, The Wheel of Time has had its own annual convention in Atlanta, Georgia named JordanCon.

Books in The Wheel of Time series

Robert Jordan began writing The Eye of the World in 1984, but it would take until early 1990 before it was published. Before 1990 was over, the second book in the series – The Great Hunt – was published too. After this, a new book was published each year in 1991-1994, followed by a new book roughly every other year in 1996-2005.

Jordan died of heart disease in 2007, while working on what was planned to be the final book in the series. Well aware of his poor health, he had left behind extensive notes to make it possible for another author to complete the book in accordance with his plan for the series.

The fantasy author Brandon Sanderson was assigned to complete the series based on Jordan´s notes. While working on the project, he realized that in order to fully carry out Jordan´s ideas one book would not be enough – unless it was an exceedingly thick one. It was decided that instead of one book, three volumes would be published.

The Wheel of Time premise

• The universe and the Wheel of Time were forged by the Creator at the dawn of time.
• The antithesis of the Creator is Shai´tan (the Dark One). At the moment of creation, the Creator imprisoned Shai´tan.
• The Wheel of Time has seven spokes, each representing an age, and it spins the Pattern of the Ages, using the lives of humans as its threads. The power source for the wheel is the One Power, which flows from the True Source. The One Power consists of a male half (saidin) and a female half (saidar) which work in both opposition and unison.
• Humans who can use the power of the wheel are known as channelers. Aes Sedai (Servants of All) is the main organization for channelers. In a time called Age of Legends, an experiment carried out by Aes Sedai accidentally breached the prison holding Shai´tan, which allowed his influence to come into the world. Eventually, servants of Shai´tan began work to free him from the prison. In response, the Wheel of Time spun an exceedingly powerful channeler called the Dragon to be a force against Shai´tan.