Spoiler: I’m a dude. But, I’ve read all of the Wheel of Time books. So while I may not feel fundamentally equipped to wax poetic about feminism at large, I do feel qualified to talk about Wheel of Time and its upcoming TV series. And what I want to talk about, what is to me the greatest strength of the WoT series, is women. The women in the WoT are fantastic. They are also, at times, terribly written.
A wonderful Tor blog last month brought to light the exceptional work of redditors who tracked one of the endearing phenomena known to WoT fans: the braid-tugging and skirt-smoothing ways of our heroines. They sniff, too. And cross their arms under their breasts an obscene number of times. It comes across as lazy, cookie-cutter writing attached to characters that are among the most powerful women in any fantasy epic this side of The Wall.
The crux of the WoT story revolves around women regulating access to magic because men who dabble eventually go crazy and some even try to destroy the world.
I started the WoT series when I was 22 years old, the middle of my peak bro-years. But it was so refreshing to read a fantasy epic where women were more powerful than men. Not because of some deep-seeded Women’s Studies fetish I had, but because it felt different. It felt unique and original and compelling in a way the usual casts of bearded Norsey dudes in fantasy epics do not. So I am especially hopeful that Sony Pictures adaptation finds a good TV home with a good cast of women who wield character depth equal to their arcane prowess.
If handled right, the WoT series can inspire. If handled wrong, prepare to see a lot of sniffing, braid-tugging, skirt-smoothing, arms-crossed-under-breastsing style petulance from fans like me.
Why is this series regarded as so good? I see people excited about it and then immediately turn around and complain non stop about the terrible middle books and all the braid tugging. I don't get it.
Cooper Stewart
You copied-and-pasted this from some article, didn't you.
Jayden Wright
I'm on book six and I've yet to figure out if I like it yet.
I think it was the actual use of the word "reddit."
Christopher Flores
This is reddit spacing. I'm tired of redditors trying to claim that paragraph breaks are reddit spacing when that is NOT the meme. Which I invented, btw.
Austin Ward
Did ya?
Dylan Scott
>Spoiler: I’m a dude. But, I’ve read all of the Wheel of Time books.
Those are mutually exclusive statements.
Brandon Diaz
>hurr durr wheel of time if this is ever actually made into a live action television series i will eat my fedora on twitch
Hudson Parker
I have to shit really bad but I'm holding it in until I can start a decent sized download on Steam so it can get going while I drop this bomb and I can't decide which game to queue up and anyway long story short, your post really wasn't that funny but I actually nearly shit myself when I 'heh"ed at it
Cooper Perez
I don't know what braid tugging is but I'm not sure why you'd consider women running a shit-test cabal lording over betas until an alpha develops and forces them into a harem to be some kind of representation of feminism. It's a pretty basic male fantasy that appeals to nerdy, beta type guys presumably with certain mommy issues.
Landon Thompson
>he doesn't shit Japanese-style it literally only takes 20 seconds
Kayden Thompson
You are the author of the article
James Martin
Nah. I'm just not afraid to call out my nerd subculture tropes when I see them. Harem-style fantasies have a few cliche settings and one of them is a world dominated primarily by women with intermittent bouts of male ascendancy. It allows the male reader to simultaneously dominate both the females and the males in the story. It's contrasted by harem fantasies where males are already in control and the hero has to compel or earn the females through a variety of tasks, and convince men to respect him through actions - not some random contrived blessing like being the "dragon reborn" or whatever.
Julian Jones
Yeah you wrote that shit alright.
Nathaniel Collins
>But it was so refreshing to read a fantasy epic where women were more powerful than men
y'all need to read Dune, bro.
Adam Perry
and how do YOU know so much about reddit spacing, eh?
HE'S A REDDITOR! BURN HIM!
Josiah Peterson
we don't need you, we already have tvtropes, the world's most highly concentrated source of autistic cross-examination ever conceived.
i can assure you they have already dissected this thoroughly before sitting back with a smug grin and thinking "there. that's destroyed THAT."
