It’s taken me a long time to decide how I want to say the things I feel. It always feels both not enough and too much. Not enough because I can—and do—go on endlessly about Wheel of Time. Too much because no matter how many words a person uses, there is no way to capture the heart, the essence, of what these things mean both to me and to all of my fellow fans and friends.

I first began to read Wheel of Time when I was in high school. It was one of the first fantasy stories I had tried, and it really set a new bar for what I was looking for in a book (or books). There was a weight to it, a depth, a world that existed not to tell a story, but a story that existed to let us explore a world.

I remained a fan of Wheel of Time in my 20s and 30s but I moved on to other things as well. When it was announced there would be a TV show adaptation, I was excited for sure but I was also skeptical. Showing us Wheel of Time on screen sounded impossible.

When the series premiered it far exceeded what I had expected. In only those first three episodes, what I saw was Wheel of Time. I didn’t expect that. The world was there, that depth, and the actors the show had found to bring these characters to life were stunning.

The next week, the fourth episode of season one aired and I was completely blown away. It was (and remains) one of the best episodes of television I have ever seen. This is when I felt compelled to seek out other fans of the show because I simply had to talk about it.

And I found them. By the grace of fate and one particularly cherished podcast, I found a family I could never have expected. A community of amazing people with their attention all pointed in a single direction together. I started going to conventions. JordanCon and WotCon are magical weekends for me every year now. To my friends, I love you. To this show, thank you.

Rafe Judkins. Rosamund Pike. Sarah Nakamura. Daniel Henny. Josha Stradowski. Madeleine Madden. Barney Harris. Dónal Finn. Marcus Rutherford. Zoë Robins. Ceara Coveney. Sophie Okonedo. Kate Fleetwood. Álvaro Morte. Fares Fares. Natasha O’Keeffe. Priyanka Bose. Taylor Napier. Emmanuel Imani. Anthony Kaye. Hammed Animashaun. Ayoola Smart. Kae Alexander. Jennifer Cheon Garcia. Meera Syal. Guy Roberts. Sharon Gilham. Lorne Balfe. Sanaa Hamri. Marta Cunningham. Ciaran Donnelly. And hundreds more, maybe thousands, who came together to make this thing real, make it exist.

I’ve never met you (most of you), but I know your names and your work has meant so much to me. Thank you. Your creation has permanently altered my life, and it will be with me always. I hope you get to continue to do what you’ve been doing. I hope the people who can make it happen might understand what it means. Thank you so much.

Ryan