Ken Jennings just dropped a fascinating fact about his personal life, and fans can’t get enough. “This is the most random lore drop of all time,” commented one fan on social media—and we have to agree. It turns out that in college, Ken Jennings had a now-famous roommate.
Who was it? Fantasy fans will recognize the name instantly: none other than one of the biggest authors in epic fantasy, Brandon Sanderson. He’s sold over 50 million copies of his books as the author of the Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series; he also finished the final books in The Wheel of Time series after the original author, Robert Jordan, died. He has over 70 books to his name and just signed a huge deal with Apple TV+ to adapt his extended universe that stretches between his epic novels.
Today, Brandon Sanderson is a giant of the fantasy genre. But when he and Ken Jennings first met, they were roommates at Brigham Young University, where they both majored in English.
“At the time, Brandon was just working at the Best Western near our house. He was the night shift desk clerk, which I guess leaves you lots of time to write 1200-page novels with 78 characters in them,” Jennings recalled, referencing Sanderson’s famously long page counts and extensive universe-building. “He would come home from work every morning, and if I was making breakfast, he would be standing in the kitchen reading us the next event of King whatever and Sir whoever killing whatever dragon.”
There was another benefit to having a writer in the room, beyond the storytelling: “Well, at least I’m not the nerdiest guy in the apartment for a change!” Jennings joked.
The two keep in touch to this day, with Jennings referencing a trip he took to Salt Lake City, where Sanderson lives.
“I learned last time I was in South Lake City, Brandon now has a plane,” Jennings said. “Brandon doesn’t fly commercial anymore. That’s how many books that guy has sold. So I’m also the second-most successful person in the apartment!” he joked.
Ken Jennings is an author as well, although none of his children’s books or nonfiction titles have taken off the way Sanderson’s epics have. In fairness, with over 50 million copies of Sanderson’s books sold, it’s a nearly impossible bar to meet! Will Brandon Sanderson ever try his hand at Celebrity Jeopardy? We don’t know, but we would love to see it.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.goodhousekeeping.com ’
