One of the greatest fantasy sagas of our time began in 1984 when the writer James Oliver Rigney asked himself,Thus began his journey of writing what would become,, written under the pen name

The complete book series consists of 14 main-sequence novels, all of which continue the same story, weaving towards an ultimate climax. A prequel novel,, was also published, along with other supplementary material.

Robert Jordan passed away from a rare blood disease, amyloidosis, in 2007, beforeseries was complete.

As a result, the final 3 books in the series, (Books 12-14) were completed by fantasy author Brandon Sanderson , who was selected for the job by Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan's wife and editor, after he passed away. Robert Jordan left behind an abundance of notes and audio recordings, which allowed his family and Brandon to tie up the series in a way that very closely matches his original vision.

The first book in the series,was published in 1990 by Tor Books and has been in continuous print ever since. It is published in the United Kingdom by Orbit Books . Each book the series has appeared on thebest-seller list, and each one since the eighth ( The Path of Daggers ) debuted at #1.