
Origins of The Wheel of Time
The Legends and Mythologies That Inspired Robert Jordan
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Narrated by:
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Harriet McDougal
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Kate Reading
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Michael Kramer
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Michael Livingston
This program includes a bonus interview with Rosamund Pike.
“Jordan has come to dominate the world Tolkien began to reveal.”—The New York Times on The Wheel of Time® series
Explore never-before-seen insights into the Wheel of Time, including:
—An alternate scene from an early draft of The Eye of the World
—The long-awaited backstory of Nakomi
Take a deep dive into the real-world history and mythology that inspired the world of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time®. Origins of The Wheel of Time is written by Michael Livingston, Secretary-General of the United States Commission on Military History and professor of medieval literature at The Citadel, with a Foreword by Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan's editor, widow, and executor of his estate.
This companion to the internationally bestselling series will delve into the creation of Robert Jordan’s masterpiece, drawing from interviews and an unprecedented examination of his unpublished notes. Michael Livingston tells the behind-the-scenes story of who Jordan was, how he worked, and why he holds such an important place in modern literature.
The second part of the book is a glossary to the “real world” in The Wheel of Time. King Arthur is in The Wheel of Time. Merlin, too. But so are Alexander the Great and the Apollo Space Program, the Norse gods and Napoleon’s greatest defeat—and so much more.
Origins of The Wheel of Time will provide exciting knowledge and insights to both new and longtime fans looking to either expand their understanding of the series or unearth the real-life influences that Jordan utilized in his world building—all in one, accessible audiobook.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 Michael Livingston (P)2022 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















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If you read The Wheel of Time, this is a must-read!
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Historical basis for writing The Wheel of Time
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It also includes a chapter on Robert Jordan’s personal history that’s really interesting.
The book is full spoilers so don’t read even the biography if you haven’t finished the series. Major secrets are discussed without warning.
A fan’s delight
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The subtitle reads “The Legends and Mythologies that inspired RJ”. That sounds really interesting to me. I want to know about them. Problem is: In this book you don’t get to know about them. You get to know of them. At its core, it is a listing of which word or name or occasionally theme was inspired by either which real life (personal or general) or literary/mythological correspondant. While that is fine and probably a ton of research work, it is not interesting to read. I.e. the rather obvious fact that almost all the names of our main characters are derived from Arthurian legend, remains hollow and somewhat irrelevant without further elaboration on how the in-book character’s arc is also inspired by or is a foil of that original character or simply how it connects thematically. For without this it is simply a I-heard-a-name-somewhere-and-kinda-liked it sort of thing. And why should a reader care for that?
I did quite like the biographical parts about his life experiences and his writing process. This part is the reason I give a second star. I thought that was interesting. It just wasn’t what I bought this book for…
The rather lengthy introduction on why this author was chosen for this task and how he personally connects to RJ and his work I didn’t much care for.
The final interview with Rosamund Pike is fine, but is really about the newly recorded audiobooks and not about this book at all.
So the big chunk of this by no means long book is the Thesaurus-style alphabetical listing of names, that I found very dull. Additional problem with the audiobook here: This medium is not suited to leafe through this part and look up a given name that interests you.
Sidenote: The chapters on this recording don’t always correspond with the in-book chapters.
To sum it up: It was a disappointing read with - to me, personally - lots of promise and poor delivery.
Not what I expected
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Revelatory!
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listening to the producer of the show talk about it however is exactly what Brandon was afraid of when he mentioned not wanting someone to write the books that wasn't both a good writer and a fan. somehow the wrong people got in charge of the show and don't want to make something that actually brings Robert Jordan's vision to life.
very interesting and in-depth dive into the WoT
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use with physical copy
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Origins of The Wheel of Time
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Listened for Nakomi, but learned a lot more
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Very informative
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