# Robert Jordan - Maker: Novelist - Date: 1948–2007 - Houses: Tor Books - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/robert-jordan/ > The Vietnam helicopter gunner turned nuclear engineer who wrote Conan pastiches for Tor, then spent the rest of his life on The Wheel of Time, a fourteen-volume epic finished after his death by Brandon Sanderson. **Why it matters:** Jordan's Wheel of Time broke fantasy out of the trilogy mold and defined the 1990s mega-series, and its roots reach back to a Dungeons & Dragons game he ran for his stepson. ## Quick answers **Who was Robert Jordan?** The Vietnam helicopter gunner turned nuclear engineer who wrote Conan pastiches for Tor, then spent the rest of his life on The Wheel of Time, a fourteen-volume epic finished after his death by Brandon Sanderson. **When was Robert Jordan born?** Robert Jordan was born in 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina and died in 2007. **What is Robert Jordan known for?** Robert Jordan is best known for The Wheel of Time and Conan the Cimmerian. **Why does Robert Jordan matter to fantasy and games?** Jordan's Wheel of Time broke fantasy out of the trilogy mold and defined the 1990s mega-series, and its roots reach back to a Dungeons & Dragons game he ran for his stepson. ## Life James Oliver Rigney Jr. was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on October 17, 1948. He taught himself to read at four because his older brother would not finish reading *White Fang* aloud. After a year at Clemson, where he played on the line, he enlisted in the Army and served two tours in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970 as a helicopter gunner. He survived a crash at nineteen and came home with the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with "V," and two Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry. He then earned a physics degree at The Citadel in 1974 and worked as a nuclear engineer for the U.S. Navy, testing and overhauling reactors on naval vessels. In 1977, laid up with a knee injury and a dangerous blood clot, he grew so bored with the novels he was reading that he decided he could do better. His first manuscript, *Warriors of the Altaii*, drew an offer from [Donald A. Wollheim](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/donald-a-wollheim/) of DAW Books, which was withdrawn when Jordan asked to change a contract detail; he resigned his engineering job anyway. A Charleston bookseller introduced him to the editor Harriet McDougal, whom he married in 1981 and who edited nearly everything he wrote. He described himself as a high-church Episcopalian, collected pipes, and owned more than 14,000 books. In March 2006 Jordan announced that he had cardiac amyloidosis. He died on September 16, 2007, and is buried at St. James Church in Goose Creek, outside Charleston. ## Work Jordan wrote in several genres under several names: Reagan O'Neal for the Fallon historical novels, published from 1980 by McDougal's Popham Press, and Jackson O'Reilly for a western. The name Robert Jordan arrived with fantasy. When Tom Doherty of [Tor Books](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/tor-books/) acquired the rights to [Robert E. Howard](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/robert-e-howard/)'s [Conan](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/conan-the-cimmerian/) and needed a novel fast, McDougal recommended him. Jordan wrote seven Conan books between 1982 and 1984, including the novelization of *Conan the Destroyer*, the sequel to the 1982 [Conan the Barbarian](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/conan-the-barbarian-film/) film. He called it fun, "completely over the top," and good discipline for working in someone else's world. He began [The Wheel of Time](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-wheel-of-time/) in 1984, pitching it to Doherty as a series of up to three books. *The Eye of the World* appeared from Tor in 1990, and the story swelled far beyond the plan. Its farm-boy hero, Rand al'Thor, discovers he is the Dragon Reborn, fated to save and possibly break the world again in its last battle with the [Dark One](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/dark-lord/). The opening chapters knowingly echo [The Lord of the Rings](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-lord-of-the-rings/), but Jordan's world is his own: a turning cosmology of ages borrowed from Hindu and Buddhist thought, a detailed [Hard & soft magic systems](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/magic-system/) in which the One Power has male and female halves, the formidable Aes Sedai sisterhood, and dozens of cultures drawn from world history. Jordan completed eleven main volumes and the prequel *New Spring* (2004) in his lifetime. Readers noted the middle books slowing as the cast and scale expanded, even as each new volume topped bestseller lists. ## Legacy Aware he might not live to finish, Jordan dictated and compiled extensive notes for the final book, *A Memory of Light*. After his death McDougal chose [Brandon Sanderson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/brandon-sanderson/) to complete it; Sanderson expanded the ending into three volumes (2009–13), and in 2014 the complete series was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. [George R. R. Martin](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/george-r-r-martin/) has said he doubted [A Song of Ice and Fire](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/a-song-of-ice-and-fire/) would have been published had Jordan not broken the trilogy format for fantasy. The Wheel of Time has a gaming bloodline of its own. Jordan's late-1970s Dungeons & Dragons sessions with McDougal's son Will helped seed the series. Legend Entertainment's *The Wheel of Time* (1999), published by GT Interactive, was an Unreal Engine shooter with strategy elements whose multiplayer mode let players take the role of one of the Forsaken. [Wizards of the Coast](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/wizards-of-the-coast/) published *The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game* (2001), built by the Last Unicorn Games team on the [d20 System](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-3rd-edition/), and a supplement in 2002. On screen, Amazon's *The Wheel of Time*, starring Rosamund Pike, premiered in November 2021 and was canceled in May 2025 after three seasons. JordanCon, founded in 2009, still gathers his readers, and Jordan's papers are held at the College of Charleston. ## Facts - He flew two tours in Vietnam (1968–70) as a helicopter door gunner and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze Star with "V". - A late-1970s Dungeons & Dragons game he ran for his future stepson, Will McDougal, fed into The Wheel of Time. - Donald A. Wollheim of DAW offered for his first novel, then withdrew when Jordan tried to negotiate a detail; Jordan quit his engineering job anyway. - He wrote seven Conan novels for Tor from 1982 to 1984, including the novelization of Conan the Destroyer. - He wrote under several names: Reagan O'Neal for historical fiction, Jackson O'Reilly for a western, Chang Lung for dance criticism. - The Wheel of Time comprises 14 main novels plus the prequel New Spring and has been credited with around 90 million copies sold. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan) - [The Wheel of Time (video game) on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time_(video_game)) - [The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time_Roleplaying_Game) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.