The Wheel Of Time

• Multiple POV structure following numerous protagonists across the world.
• Epic scope with thousands of years of recorded history shaping the present.
• Ancient legendary orders return after centuries of decline (Aes Sedai/Warders → Knights Radiant).
• Lost civilizations whose relics and knowledge influence current events.
• A looming apocalyptic conflict rooted in ancient history (Last Battle → Desolation).
• Complex political struggles between kingdoms alongside the larger existential threat.
• Prophecies and visions that guide but do not fully determine events.
• Magic users occupy important social and political roles.
• Detailed cultures with distinct customs, clothing, religions, and languages.
• Characters uncover forgotten truths that overturn accepted history.
• Gradual revelation of the world's mythology over multiple books.
• Interludes and secondary viewpoints used to expand the world's scale.
• Long-term foreshadowing with payoffs across several novels.
• Large ensemble cast where no single protagonist dominates the narrative.
• Themes of duty, leadership, sacrifice, and bearing impossible burdens.
• - Sanderson has cited Robert Jordan as a major influence on his approach to epic fantasy and later completed the final three Wheel of Time novels, giving him direct exposure to Jordan's storytelling methods.

Robert Jordan may be the strongest influence on the overall feel of the series. Weeks has admitted that his first novel as a teenager was "perilously close to plagiarizing" Jordan before he found his own voice. Similarities include:

• Detailed magic systems
• Politics intertwined with magic
• Large ensemble casts
• Military campaigns
• Prophecies and chosen figures

Its importance lies partly in the model of a classic epic-fantasy quest expanding into a much larger world. It provides a bridge between traditional quest fantasy and the broader, more elaborate secondary world that The Forgetting Moon inhabits.

• Multiple POV structure following characters across the world.
• Large ensemble cast with no single permanent protagonist.
• Vast secondary world divided into numerous kingdoms and cultures.
• Deep, internally consistent history spanning thousands of years.
• Noble houses with complex political alliances and rivalries.
• Ancient threats returning after being dismissed as legend.
• Magic tied to forgotten ages and gradually returning to prominence.
• Prophecies and visions shaping characters' decisions.
• A northern frontier guarding against an ancient supernatural enemy.
• Detailed maps, histories, genealogies, and invented lore.
• Frequent shifts between political intrigue and large-scale warfare.
• Characters' journeys used to gradually reveal the world.
• Long-running mysteries rooted in the distant past.
• Martin acknowledged Jordan's importance in shaping modern epic fantasy.

Rafe Judkins's Amazon series adapts Robert Jordan's novels, with Harriet McDougal, Jordan's widow and editor, as consulting producer. It reorders and compresses heavily: the first season covers The Eye of the World while withholding which of five villagers is the Dragon Reborn, a question the novel answers much earlier.

The Wheel of Time was heavily influenced by The Lord of the Rings, especially in its opening: a group of young villagers flee their home with a mysterious mentor while pursued by servants of an ancient evil. Robert Jordan deliberately used this familiar Tolkien framework, then expanded it into a much larger story with cyclical history, complex politics, and a detailed magic system that set it apart from Tolkien's work.