Jordan started accelerating the pace toward the finale after the poor reception of COT - though only him could really tell if he accelerated anything, or just finally got out of his structural problems (I believe it's the later, for myself - the pace in KOD didn't really altered, some resolution came because that point was reached, that's all. Some events that happened in TGS/TOM had been long planned.. some were set up in WH/COT, many others in KOD). Jordan's problems largely came out of the fact he had gone too fast with Rand and Egwene up to WH, and put the "endgame" in motion too early for Elayne and Perrin. He slowed down the pace for Egwene - making her appear less, largely - and started advancing Rand minimally and then made the mistake of stretching out Perrin and Elayne's stories in COT to serve as "filler" to have the space to develop Mat's storyline, the one he had much to tell about. Part of the problem also comes from the fact the fans were pissed when Jordan didn't include a character. They complained about Perrin in book 5 (which Jordan at the time defended by saying: it's because nothing of interest happened with Perrin during that timeline...), and, alas, far more louldy about Mat in book 8 and this influenced Jordan not to make those ellipses again, to create episodes so he would have everyone in each novel from now on - which was a bad idea.

In hindsight, and his own comments about COT point to that, he should not have made all the storylines start so far back and on the same day. Perrin and Elayne didn't need to go as far back time, only Mat did, and to make them start as far back, Jordan had to created developments he could easily have skipped but by including them, especially with Elayne, he just made the resolution of that storyline more complex and longer... He should have developped Mat at the pace he did, but cut to the chase with Elayne and Perrin, in effect combining COT and KOD as one longer book (which I think was probably his original hope - he commented it was far into the writing of COT he realised he had screwed up with the timelines, that his idea to have all storyline go through the Cleansing had not worked as he thought and would not be able to tell as much as he hoped in that book as a result. He decided he was too advanced to rewrite everything, and went on.)

But that the next book after KOD would bring the series to a close was a decision taken long before Jordan got diagnosed, and Jordan probably had a very good idea it would be like that perhaps as far back as the writing of COT. He probably hoped he could write it in two more books after WH, but his problems with COT turned it into three.

By the time he got diagnosed, he had already decided to put Doherty's prequels project on the backburner to concentrate on "the last main WOT book" first. He had also sold his new series to Tor and was planning to start writing it as soon as AMOL was done, he has also got a new deal for his Mat-Tuon trilogy after his diagnosis. His doctor had deemed him "healthy as a bull" early in 2005, when suddenly in spring after finishing KOD he started having alarming symptoms. That there would be "one more book" after KOD was annnounced before those. It first showed up in the Tor trade catalogue for bookstores in early 2005. It called the upcoming KOD "The penultimate book in the WOT series". That was carried over to the retail advertisting in summer/fall. Jordan started talking about that in his blog in 2005, and in far more details during the KOD tour in late 2005. The whole "it's gonna be very big" comments began because when KOD was labelled "penultimate" many fans freaked (forgetting he had estimated 3-4 more books since book 8 or so...): how RJ could possibly plan to finish in a single book. Jordan stepped in to reassure people it would be a very big book (and on the tour started exagerrating about its potential size), but also pointing out it had to be one book because he couldn't see how to make two good novels out of what was left to tell, that it had to be told as one novel! It's the fans who were afraid it wouldn't be enough, Jordan was the one saying "all there is left to tell will fit in one book".

That everything would suddenly accelerate and all come together in a somewhat rushed way shouldn't surprise anyone who bothered to analyse his novels a bit... Jordan always did that... very long first acts, very very long and often slow second acts and then bang - a huge rush to a finale, often sparked by a sudden plot twist. Most of his novels are structured like this - it's hardly surprising his finale was planned this way too.... many things would turn red herrings, but virtually all the rest would come together, a bit too cleanly, the Jordan way.

I know you have issues about Jordan's writing and I respect that, but implications about his integrity are rather gratuitous and even insulting seing how dedicated he remained to his work until his very last days, literally. Say what you want about his writing flaws, but don't go say Jordan didn't really care and was milking a cow... that's delusional. It's the other way around. The success of WOT gave Jordan that complete freedom to indulge in writing WOT just the way he wished, and make it as long as he wished (and yeah, it's too long). Say what you wish about the writing, but Jordan's universe inhabited him much the same way it was the case with Tolkien. For Jordan himself, it was also a far more personal story than it looks - at the core of WOT are his experiences in Vietnam he never liked to talk about but put in the books. Someone close to RJ has confirmed to me personally it was in the last months of his life he slowed down and altered his work methods, and started making audio narratives and outlines in case he wouldn't make it. Originally, he started using tapes because he was too weak to write but wanted to keep writing at the hospital, so he dictated chapters instead.

His success allowed him all his storytelling indulgences (and no doubt brought some about...). Tor didn't care how long he made it - Doherty is actually the one who tried to convince Jordan to write side stories and prequels (in part for the money probably - he's a publisher - but at Tor he's always been RJ's biggest fan too, and a genuine one... he's still the one trying to convince Harriet those novels and the Mat-Tuon trilogy must be written, by the way, and the reason he's invoked is that he wants to read those himself and believes the fans will too if they knew what Jordan has planned. And this is what he's telling Harriet.. some of it even happened in public on a panel - and Harriet cut him short with a joke). As for Tor liking or not the book split I wonder where you got that idea. It has nothing to do with that. Harriet is the one who set a deadline for the last book, not Tor, and Harriet was always the one most insistant to give something to the fans early. At some point Team Jordan and Tor realised Sanderson just wouldn't be done with the book in time - nowhere close to it in fact - and that Harriet/Sanderson had grossly underestimated its total length based on the partial outline. Sanderson, Harriet analysed the situation and brought in Doherty hismelf, and Harriet/Doherty were concluding there was nothing to do but wait for Sanderson to finish, and divide the material afterward, as obviously it would be too long for one volume. Sanderson himself is the one who proposed a last minute alternative to use the two storylines he had brought to the "reunion" mark for a first novel by altering the timing of certain events, and how he could deal with the rest of the material in two more books. Harriet and Doherty looked at it and finally greenlit the idea, and Sanderson focussed on tweaking what was written and writing scenes they wish to include in it from clusters he had not worked on yet (incl. those fairly bad and purely "filling" Mat and Perrin chapters). Tor had a role in the split, but it was in the end secondary to Harriet's own desires to have something out as she promised the fans.