The Women in the Book.

[TedM]

It seems so many of you hate the women in this book. You hate them with a passion.

 

I for one, read the books, and, quite frankly, agreed.

 

Then in the last two months I listened to the audiobooks.

 

The Audiobooks make everything so much richer, so much more detailed. I think we lose a lot of the book but reading and rushing through, honestly, pick up one of the audiobooks and listen to it. Robert Jordan himself said that he listened to the audiobooks instead of re-reading his books because he wanted to see how things came together.

 

And as for the women, I'll say this now:

 

My favorite characters are in this order:

 

Moiraine,

Perrin,

Mat,

Nynaeve,

Elayne,

Egwene,

Verin,

Tuan,

Rand,

 

And those are my favorite list.

[Avery]

Lan is by far my favorite character. He never enters a room normally, he's always "appearing" and "vanishing." Thom is a close second; he's almost as dangerous as Lan in his own way.

[RAND AL THOR]

It seems so many of you hate the women in this book. You hate them with a passion.

 

Its just that some of their behaviour is unrealistic and downright annoying and what's worse is that the men put up with it. Next, Randland is going to need Men's rights groups! The Light help us!

[Mysterious]

All of my female friends who have read Wot abhor most of the female characters.

 

"Only a man could write this ..."

 

This comment being one of the nicer criticisms of the female characters they dislike.

 

Myself, I just take laugh at their antics. When you can laugh, get angry or cry: I laugh ;D

 

 

 

 

Mysterious

 

[maximuswynn]

Jordan uderstood women and depicted them great!I never understood my cousin for instance and she's a nut!The women in this series are detailed and respected by all.

[Mysterious]

Then maybe it's cultural differences...

 

Is this because he depicted mainly American women? Specifically southern?

 

I don't believe the stuff they put on TV is an accurate depiction of America or of American society.

 

I'm Australian and can be considered in the "middle-class" (whatever that is nowadays) as are most of my male and female friends and family. All of the people whom I socialise with are very level-headed and though all of us get into some trouble now and again, none of us have the attitude problems depicted in WoT.

 

Culturally for my society, what has always has been a current theme is egalitarianism. The god-complexes that various characters seem to have can be instinctively abhorrent to myself and my friends even if it is really funny ;).

 

 

 

 

Mysterious

[Bob T Dwarf]

Scratch anybody in any society and you'll uncover some of what we see in the characters.

 

You just won't uncover quite as much of it as Jordan depicted.  It's overblown and makes most of the characters one-dimensional.

 

I think it's that overblown one-dimensionality that people find repulsive.

 

Somebody over on the Structured Board ( sig an incomprehensible combination of letters I won't try to reproduce ) summed it up better than I ever could -

"too much faffing about with frocks."

[Elgee]

LMAO! That IS the best summary of it I've seen to date, Bob T Dwarf!

 

Though to be fair, most of the characters in the books DO grow up, somewhat. I've even found myself grudgingly starting to gain a small amount of ... less dislike ... for Nynaeve, in the last book.

 

 

[Mysterious]

"too much faffing about with frocks."

  ;D

 

How quaint.

 

LMAO! That IS the best summary of it I've seen to date, Bob T Dwarf!

 

Though to be fair, most of the characters in the books DO grow up, somewhat. I've even found myself grudgingly starting to gain a small amount of ... less dislike ... for Nynaeve, in the last book.

 

 

 

I also agree that Nynaeve and a lot of other characters, most notably Mat, have grown up. Like iron thrown into the forge tempered into steel. It's also only been 3 years since TEotW. Start 998 NE - KoD 1000 NE.

 

 

 

 

Mysterious

[Guest Dreadlord]

QUOTE

Though to be fair, most of the characters in the books DO grow up, somewhat. I've even found myself grudgingly starting to gain a small amount of ... less dislike ... for Nynaeve, in the last book.

UNQUOTE

 

I have always liked Nynaeve. She is like the other women in the sense that she is bossy and stubborn, and thinks she is always right. Yet she has a better reason to be ike that than all the others. She was Wisdom of the Two Rivers, and the youngest Wisdom they ever had, so it stands to reason that she would be bossy because its the way she learned to make people do what she thinks is best as Wisdom. Elayne, on the other hand, has been raised specifically to rule, and still manages to be so immature and annoying. Min is just pointless beyond her viewings I think, I really think RJ purely put her there to give us glimpses of what is still to come and made her and Rand fall in love to mask her real purpose. Faile... dont make me go there.

 

Aside from those, the only main female character I dislike is Moghedien. SHE DOESNT LEARN FROM HER MISTAKES. How many times has she been about to finsih Nynaeve off and just babbled on for long enough for something to happen to stop her. GRRR! IF YOURE GOING TO KILL SOMEONE JUST GET ON WITH IT

[Yurian]

The female characters are often a joke to me.  I've always like Nynaeve better than the others, but even she is frustrating.  She's bossy and stubborn and it's amusing, but to use one example from LoC (as that's where I am in my fiftieth re-read) Mat only needed to loom and threaten a bit.  Mat, who she has probably spanked and paddled and switched until her arm was leaden.  And after that she avoided him like the plague.  Elayne is snotty, true, but it's to be expected.  Nynaeve even admits as much when she sees the Palace for the first time in T'A'R.  Min annoys me the most.  It's like she had her viewing of loving Rand and, POOF, she loves him.  Sometimes I think that all the main women characters are just the multiple personalities of one real-life average woman.  Do I understand my wife? Ha ha.  She has as many characters in her head as a freaking library.

 

P.S. I'm apologize in advance if that offends any female members.  Nothing personal.

[runner1]

I don't mind some of the female characters.

My favorites are:

 

Moiraine

Nynaeve

Aviendha

 

I do get annoyed with:

 

Egwene

Elyane

Faile

 

The reason why I like Moiraine, she is so cool and calm, and ladylike plus she's very intelligent. :D

I find Nynaeve hilarious.

I laugh at how she always seems to be in a temper or scowling, I don't know why, but she doesn't get on my nerves like Elayne or Egwene does.

 

I like Aviendha because she is strong, not the usual woman (being a former Maiden, she can fight too!woohoo!), and she doesn't seem as bitchy to me as some (Egwene or Faile) nor haughty and stuck-up (Elayne).

Of all the women in Rand's life, he should have just picked her and stuck with her instead of also being with Min and Elayne.

I also can't see the point in Min, she doesn't seem to play any role except to give viewings for Rand.

 

I never like Egwene much, even in the beginning (her pushy ways with Rand, her stupidity in visiting Fain in the dungeon in TGH...stoopid! :P).

Then as Amyrlin she seems so...I dunno, I don't like her as much later either.

Elayne seems like a ridiculous character to me, her mooning after Rand in The Shadow Rising (eye rolling moment!), like any woman would be so pathetic. ;D

Faile I never liked the first time she was introduced and she never grew on me later.

 

 

[Safia al-Maaz]

I'm surprised no one has said Min.  I personally love her and think she acts more realistically than most of the other characters.  She's loving and devoted to Rand, but she still has a temper that can make even him, the most powerful channeler, back up.  Yet she is extremely intelligent, as she so proves from her reading of Fel's books and her ability to predict what Rand is thinking or going to do.  I also like Aviendha for her strength and loyalty.  Tuon I like as a character but not as a "person" just because of her Seanchan beliefs, like damane, etc.  So I can't say I hate all female characters... although Nynaeve's temper and braid-tugging are really getting on my nerves...

[Yurian]

I realized that my comment on the multiple personalities thing left out Moiraine, who is my favorite of the women characters, Aviendha, who I love reading about, and Tuon.  Some readers don't like Tuon because of her Seanchan upbringing, but I compare her with Elayne in that regard.  Yes, her beliefs are wrong, without a doubt.  But when you are taught something from the cradle it is part of you, and very hard to change.  Likewise Elayne--she can be a snooty-snoot.  But like Nynaeve admitted in T'A'R, it's no surprise she thinks her every wish will be carried out when she was raised in a world where her every wish was carried out.  Things like that don't change easy, but it's not impossible. 

 

On a similar note, my favorite scenes involving the female characters are:

When Rand bonds his wives and they ask how he can live with the pain of his old half-healed wound. Aviendha is proud that her husband, the Car'a'carn, is strong enough to live with it, and

 

When Mat and Tuon reach the Band, Tuon thinks that the lion in the menagerie may be amusing to watch, but the lion in the plains is a much different creature.  (Sorry I didn't search for the exact quotes)

 

Anyone else have favorite female scenes?

[RAND AL THOR]

I just came across a discussion on another site. A member stated that tugging on braids causes them to unravel and hence persons possissing such hairstyles do not do that.

 

Is that actually true? I mean, RJ's world is so perfect and everything is practically in harmony and I don't think he would have made such an obvious mistake. Lacking a braid myself, I cannot answer that.

 

 

 

I guess I like Moiraine because I am a bit like her. She doesn't like to explain anythink unnecessarily. Me too. It has gotten me into many a tight corner.

[anamul]

Most of my favourite Character is female in WOT series.

 

Rand

Aviendha

Moraine

Min

Melain

Mat

Sulin

Nynave

 

My most hated character is:

Egwene

Faile

Perrin

 

I am surprised to see Perrin there.  ;D ;)

 

As for Elayne, apart from her flirting with Thom, I find her ok. A bit over bearing but ok. And she will change, if not by anything else, Aviendha and Min will change her. We already saw the effect Aviendha was having on her. If she spends more time with Aviendha, she is bound to change.

[runner1]

I just came across a discussion on another site. A member stated that tugging on braids causes them to unravel and hence persons possissing such hairstyles do not do that.

 

Is that actually true? I mean, RJ's world is so perfect and everything is practically in harmony and I don't think he would have made such an obvious mistake. Lacking a braid myself, I cannot answer that.

 

 

 

I guess I like Moiraine because I am a bit like her. She doesn't like to explain anythink unnecessarily. Me too. It has gotten me into many a tight corner.

 

I've had my hair in a braid a few times, and if it's braided tight enough it won't unravel.

I suppose it depends on the braid style and the type of hair you have whether it would easily unravel from tugging on it.

 

 

[Safia al-Maaz]

Yeah, when I wear my hair in braids they generally don't come out when tugged unless the braid is a loose style or something. 

 

Let's see, my favourite characters...

 

Rand

Galad

Min

Mat

Logain

Lan

Gaul

Rhuark

Aviendha

Egwene

 

Those are my top ten, the rest fall in under them in a random order that I don't care much about...

 

Characters I hate the most...

 

Taim (Oh how I HATE him!!!!)

 

He is the only one that matters.... but:

 

Any of the Seafolk (I hate them too...)

Fain I hate

Perrin and Faile (just because their whole situation in the later books, it  bugs me...)

Nynaeve when she does not control herself...

 

 

 

[trakand_01]

I've never had my hair long enough for plaits (english word for braids - read it as "platt") but in those days there was no conditioner or even shampoo. Nynaeve's hair would be quite coarse probably, and more than a little greasy. I doubt she'd loosen it with even the most ferocious tug! Plus it's stated that she grips it VERY hard - most likely all the stress is on her scalp and not the hair.

 

To answer the thread, I like most of the women.

 

Yes they're 'matriarchal' but that is how a lot of household run. Maybe it's a cultural thing - as an English woman I find it quite acceptable and normal.

[cheyjade]

... tugging on braids causes them to unravel and hence persons possissing such hairstyles do not do that. Is that actually true?

 

I have long hair, which I wear in a 'Two Rivers braid' quite often. In fact, I'm wearing one now.  At work, I'm constantly bending over, lifting, reaching, and flipping the braid over my shoulder.  No unravelling from all that activity.

 

However, I've never had the urge to continually tug at my braid. I'll try to remember to tug repeatedly at it tonight, and if anyone cares enough to ask, I'll post the results of my experiment.

 

Note however, that I have extremely thick, yet frizzy, hair.  I've always had a mental image of Nynaeve with pin-straight hair...