I was wondering was I the only one who thought that some of the way loial was written was a not do RJ's struggle against his ilness? I recall an iterview where RJ was asked what character he thought he was most like. He said he would like to be like Lan but that people who knew him including his wife said he was like Loial.

In AMoL we get a pov from Loial where he is fighting very long odds against the shadow but he want's to fight on so that he can finish his book and I think he even says that the story deserves an ending. When I read that section I was put in mind of RJ still trying to work on the story even when he was sick and that he wanted to keep going to give an ending, a bit like how Loial was shown in the book.