I find this to be strange and oddly entitled thinking.
Any time someone discusses a series that is unfinished, many people are immediately insisting that Sanderson should finish it, or that he’d be the perfect choice to do so if another author took over these series.
I’ve seen these moments happen in panel discussions in which Brandon Sanderson is present…. Much to his rightful annoyance, and to the clear annoyance of every other person there.
Yes, he finished Wheel of Time… this makes him the best option for every other fantasy/sci fi series?
There’s so many options out there… so many brilliant authors who would be far better decisions. Depending on the series.
When talking with these people, I find two common things…
Malazan, Cosmere, Wheel of a time, First Law, Realm of the Elderlings… and a couple others…
- They’re entitled and demanding.
There’s a series I won’t name, (the bots who run this sub will remove my post if I do, regardless of context) it’s gone unfinished for almost 15 years… and all I hear is that Sanderson could/should finish it…
Sanderson himself has responded to this idea.. saying something like *”I’m not the one for the job.”*
This is a very good stance…
I can think of so many other authors whose work more closely align with this unfinished series.
Daniel Abraham
Guy Gavriel Kay
R. Scott Bakker
Bernard Cornwell
Ken Follett
L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Kate Elliot
Most people that have this Sanderson Savior Complex don’t even know who these authors are..
by Sunbather-
12 Comments
They don’t. It’s just a joke. He’s a terrible tone match for the unfinished fantasy out there.
We need him to finish the Cosmere first and he’s going to be at that another 30 years.
When they’re being serious, I think a lot of people say it because 1) he’s popular and 2) he’d actually finish it since he writes a lot.
It’s a joke that you’re taking seriously.
He’s absolutely right to say he’s often likely not the right guy for the job.
>”Yes, he finished Wheel of Time… this makes him the best option for every other fantasy/sci fi series?”
It’s so very rare for an author to successfully pull off something like that: finishing a series and leaving most fans with the feeling they actually did it justice.
I suspect in that case it was because he was actually a fan of WoT.
I can understand people who saw him tie up a good ending to one series they loved seeing him as an option. Being able to write well in another authors world without converting it into your own is genuinely a somewhat rare skill.
There’s a lot of stories where fans never got an ending and people **hate** that.
Personally the pitiful hate boner for Sanderson some literature fans constantly stroke themselves into out of the blue is far weirder to me.
Plenty of fans of his work enjoy it casually, people who dislike him do so with an almost religious zeal.
As an answer to your question tone aside, it’s almost always a meme because he has consistent output.
He’s well known, so he’s likely to come to mind when you ask “who‘s a fantasy author who I know is definitely capable of big long books?”.
He’s also really, really productive. **Famously** productive. He writes a lot, and he does it relatively quickly – the Stormlight Archive series grew to 5 full length novels and two novellas in 15 years, and that’s without including Mistborn, or his WOT work, or anything else he’s been doing. If a fanbase has been waiting on unfinished books, and they know of an author who’s good for a new book every year or two like clockwork…
You see the appeal.
It’s a stupid meme.
It’s clearly a joke born from the fact that Sanderson is an extremely prolific writer. His YouTube videos are full of comments stating things like “if you look closely, you can see him writing xyz book with his left hand under the desk” and similar things. No one is seriously implying that he should be finishing every unfinished series ever.
It’s generally a joke. A joke made because he did it once and does a great job at just keeping on writing.
The few people who are serious are just frustrated and know it will never be finished (it is highly uncommon for authors to pass on finishing a series to another author) so they just wish someone who is so dedicated to writing and finishing things would pickup the project they long to see completed.
1. He did it once
2. He writes real fast
3. Issa joke
Just noting right off the bat that I don’t think he should finish ASOIAF or anything of the like, but to answer your question I think there are two reasons people bring him up when talking about finishing unfinished series.
1. He’s done it before, like you mentioned with Wheel of Time.
2. He’s prolific. He finished books in a timely manner, and puts a lot out there. People really want to see an end to their favorite unfinished series, so they look to someone who has finished series, and can do it in a timely fashion
Because they know if he took it on hed actually finish it, And for some of the series, like the one you didn’t mention, at this point people are basically at ” I don’t care what the ending is, just finish the goddamn thing” as their one and only criteria.