However, unaffiliated fans can follow Special Collections on social media (Twitter: and Instagram: for peeks at the items in the exhibit. Addlestone Library is currently open only to CofC students, faculty, staff and alumni with an alumni access card. Visitors can expect to see costumes and prop weapons as well as an early draft of The Eye of the World. The Wheel of Time exhibit is made possible by gifts to the College Libraries. 19, 2021, through the spring 2022 semester. Next to the main staircase on the third floor of the Addlestone Library, Special Collections has created an exhibit dedicated to the Rigney collection, which will run from Nov. And the actress Rosamund Pike is a Golden Globe winner … and the rest of the cast is stellar.” “Rafe Judkins, the showrunner, grew up with the books and he loves them – and that bodes well.
“It is very exciting! I hope it’s wonderful and I have every reason to believe it will be,” says McDougal of the TV series. Joshua Stradowski plays Rand al’Thor, the protagonist prophesied to either save or destroy their world.Īnd with the TV series sure to reach a brand-new audience, McDougal is hopeful the show will capture the essence of Rigney’s elaborate world. Rosamund Pike plays Moiraine, an Aes Sedai, a member of the group of women who can practice magic. Since the first Wheel of Time book’s debut more than 30 years ago, the series, which is considered one of the bestselling epic fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings, has exploded in popularity, inspiring video games, trading cards, a soundtrack and now a television series. What was intended to be one final book turned into three – with the last installment, A Memory of Light, published in 2013.Īn original printed version of an outline of the first book of the ‘Wheel of Time’ series ‘The Eye of the World.’ Then, McDougal gave those notes and recordings to young fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, whom she selected to write the final pieces of her late husband’s epic tale.
With the hope of leaving his dedicated fans with the ending they had waited so long to read, Rigney recorded as much of the remaining Wheel of Time story as he could by hand and through voice recordings before he died. The expansive story chronicles an eternal battle between good and evil, set in an unnamed world existing both in the past and the future.
In 1990, Rigney, who was born in Charleston in 1948 and worked as a nuclear engineer prior to his career as a writer, published The Eye of the World, the first of 15 books in the Wheel of Time series. “The College has been a wonderful steward, taking care of Jim’s voluminous drafts and notes,” says McDougal. But it’s the assortment of 3D reproductions inspired by the books – everything from shields, daggers, swords and an axe to costumes worn by the main characters, including Rand al’Thor’s long red coat – that really brings the series to life. The collection holds both the expected and the fantastical – there are boxes and boxes of Rigney’s unpublished notes on the expansive “World of the Wheel,” promotional sketches from future card and roleplaying games and correspondence between Jordan and other authors. Rigney’s wife, Harriet McDougal, donated the computer, Rigney’s papers and some memorabilia to Special Collections following his death in 2007 from a rare blood disease. Writer James Rigney, known under the pen name Robert Jordan, worked on drafts and outlines of various books and projects on this Apple III computer, which is housed in the College’s Special Collections.