If you’ve been with me any length of time, you know the answer to this one: I would change the ending of The Wheel of Time. Of all the books I have ever read, this is the only ending that gags me. If The Wheel of Time were a single book, it wouldn’t matter. I’d do the same thing I always do with books that have unforgivable endings — forget them and never read them again.
The Wheel of Time is different. A lot of it is utterly brilliant. As with any novel of four million words, most of those words are banal — some are unimportant, some are fill, and some are storylines that could easily be edited out. But it’s the brilliance that keeps me coming back.
If you don’t know, The Wheel of Time is a series of fourteen books that comprise what is, in effect, a single novel. The first eleven books were written by Robert Jordan, the last three by a substitute author who is so bad I can’t even mention his name. Oddly, a huge percentage of fans prefer those last three books. But then, I’m not a fan. As with everything in my life, I am a student, a truth seeker, a pattern recognizer, and The Wheel of Time happens to be the literary focus of those traits and has been for a long time. I first read the books about ten years ago and have read them several times since. In fact, on this very day, in 2020, I did another blog about these books.
Although I’ve figured out in my own mind what the ending should be, it no longer matters. To me, since I’ve mentally erased the last three books from the series, it’s a series without an ending. Which is as it should be since Robert Jordan’s writing ended when he did.
It’s funny when I think about it — the only two series of books I ever study are both unended. One because the author died and I refuse to acknowledge the ending by the substitute, and the other because he . . . I don’t know what happened, but he (Patrick Rothfuss) never managed to finish the third book of his trilogy.
Still, it’s the written words that count, and an ending (or not) doesn’t change their legacy.
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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One.
Bertram's Blog 
June 28, 2026 at 7:44 am
I knew your answer the moment I saw the blog prompt.
June 28, 2026 at 8:09 am
Of course!!