What would you change if you were writing WoT?

[Haran]

I’d also make the shadow more evil. Take illian for example, it has been under the control of the forsaken for a long time yet when Rand steps in and kills him the city itself is fine. Where are the shackles, the indoctrination and compulsion, the gas chambers and the evil? Sammael gave all the food to his armies? Wooah, he must be one mean forsaken.

 

He has to keep his armies well-fed if he expects to make any use out of them. Unfed army = army dies. It's bad for the Light, but the damage is very limited. Well-fed army = army can be sent to fight evil wars on false pretenses, causing much more death and devastation. Also, the Forsaken at that stage were still operating mostly undercover, building up their bases and power, so doing a lot of evil would probably not have been the best way to remain discreet. But you do have a point - the Forsaken are not as efficient as they could be, everyone seems to agree on that.

 

I’d also give Myrrdraal a bigger role. They come off pretty good in the first book as the “man in the cloak”, but after a while they are just not scary anymore. These guys are excellent bad-guys who have in the later books been overlooked and/or dumbed down. I would remove the gholam all together and instead give all Myrdraal its abilities. The gholams role can be picked up by Shaidar Haran or something.

 

If the Myrdraal had the gholam's abilities, the Shadow might have already won! The gholam is a very powerful creature. The Myrdraal are numerous. You can't have both at the same time, or the Light would lose - the heroes would probably never have escaped the Two Rivers in the first place (or their escape would be much, much harder to believe).

 

I understand what you mean by the Myrdraal being dumbed down as the series progresses but it's really more about the main characters powering up and the world getting its ass in gear for TG. It makes sense that enemies that seem awesome and deadly to 3 country bumpkins blindly running away for their life at the beginning of the series turn into dangerous but not-so-impressive enemies as the heroes are bumpkins no longer but instead the Dragon Reborn, Lord Goldeneyes and the Prince of the bloody Ravens

 

Yeah I see your point about the gholam. But still, say myrdraal were immune to the one power or resistant to it. this would make warders much more important and shift the relationship between channelers and non-channelers towards greater equality. I agree that Myrdraal shouldnt be unkillable plastic men though, that would indeed be insane.

I guess I just loved the first myrdraal so much and i kinda miss him.

[batbird]

To start off, the biggest thing I would do to make WoT better would be to cut episodes that have nothing to do with advancing the plot. A couple of examples would be (1) Faile's kidnapping and subsequent rescue. The entire epic story simply stops moving forward here. And (2) the indroction of the Seanchan. How in bloody ashes do you pronounce that, anyway? I guess another episode I would cut would be the search for the bowl of the winds. Can't the Windfinders already channel winds? There are so many side quests in this story that bring the whole plot to a screeching halt, I cannot list them all. So, this adventure could have been told in 6 books or less.

 

The next thing I would cut is a whole plethera of characters that have nothing to do with the plot, starting with Cadsuane. Here's a list of characters and situations that have nothing to do with the plot that could all be balefired:

 

Aviendha; Cadsuanne; Tuon (Have Matt get involved with Elayne instead of her with Rand. Makes just as much sense.); all the Seanchan (Egwena could have been collared by a Forsaken); this Lord, that Lady, ...on and on ad nauseum; Rand gets Min pregnant instead of Elayne ...look, I have first hand experience with two-timing and having Rand's gfs swoon over each other is soooo wrong; Perrin could have come to grips with his wolfness five books ago, and only used a paragraph or two instead of chapter after chapter; one last thing off the top of my head - there have been way too many failures for this to be a truly enjoyable adventure. I read along and read along and then boom, an attack happens and nothing really satisfying comes of it. The bad guy gets away, or some other such buzz kill. Gripes me. Makes the story way too long.

 

And it has been ...way too long. BUT, now the end is near I am happy.

[Mats Spare Hat]

All this talk of people wanting to cut elements they think are boring and slow, to compress plotlines into a shorter series packed with nonstop action make me think of people who hire hookers and use the microwave as their cooking device of choice...<tic>

[Talmanes]

LMAO! Nice. Hahaha. I agree though, there are some things that were a bit drawn out, but people do whine a little too much.

[batbird]

All this talk of people wanting to cut elements they think are boring and slow, to compress plotlines into a shorter series packed with nonstop action make me think of people who hire hookers and use the microwave as their cooking device of choice...<tic>

 

You have to admit that the WoT series doesn't exactly fit the bill of cover-to-cover action. It's good now, but it would be a much better series if it were more concise.

[blazetheearth]

...and having Rand's gfs swoon over each other is soooo wrong.

 

Personally, this is one of the parts I like best. Because it showcases that it is okay to shun the expectations of society and move forward in a way that makes all parties involved happy (and Avi and Min do not swoon over each other at all), and to Shayol Ghul with what any of the rest of Randland thinks. That's a very powerful sentiment, and one we could use many more examples of in real life.

 

But I do agree that a lot of secondary plot lines could have been cut, but on the whole I have always wanted more of the World of WoT, instead of less of it. Yes many of the subplots seemed pointless at the time and even boring in parts (ie Faile's time with the Shaido) but I think that they will pay off in the end. After all, if it had been only six books, I'm sure people would have complained about it seeming rushed and the world incomplete.

[Tom Sawyer]

... but I think that they will pay off in the end. After all, if it had been only six books, I'm sure people would have complained about it seeming rushed and the world incomplete.

 

But there's a lot of world building and story telling which can be done after the Last Battle. For instance, Rand defeats the DO, but there's still a massive Empire across the ocean that chains channellers and is run by Semirhage which needs to be dealt with. The DO's gone, but he up the weather while he was here and someone needs to find a ter'angreal which will fix it. With the imminent destruction of the world no longer an immediate concern, people find they can spend as much time sitting in the bath as they please. It's a good series, but there are too many side plots jammed into it which end up being wrapped up in a truncated manner.

 

The world only ends after the Last Battle if Rand loses - which he won't, so there's more than enough opportunity to tell this story without the tangents and then go back to them later.

[Shimmer]

I probably would just wrap up the whole Faile/Aiel storyline in one book and as for the rest, leave it as it is so that we all have something we can have a love/hate relationship with.

[GaseousAnomaly]

No bowl of the winds story arc.

No sea folk, Atha'an Mier.

No Egwene as Amyrlin.

The Shaido are done with at Dumai's well.

Rand hands over a united Andor to Elayne.

[Exy]

Also the whole men vs female plotline is ridiculous. I can understand female channelers vs male channeleres, but personally i dislike that this extends so far as to the women circle vs the mens council in a backwater village. These men and women are adults, married adults, I personally can’t see how for example Eggys mother has more trust in a foreign Aes Sedai than her husband.

Yeah, my number one thing (well, maybe after condensing books 8 to 10 into a single book) would be changing the way gender relations work. A lot. The childish "boys versus girls" attitude that seems so universal in the Westlands is just irritating as hell.

 

Along the same lines, I'd like it a lot better if there were at least a few instances of men and women working together as equals -- the books frequently place women in positions of power but the pervasive tendency for men and women to be "separate but equal" annoys me. Why does every village apparently have a separate Village Council and Women's Circle? The author made such a point of making a pseudo-medieval (or pseudo-Renaissance-era) society where women are equal in stature to men, but he undermines it completely by making them virtually never interact as equals.

 

I'd also change the fact that women channelers are almost all weaker in the power than men. There just doesn't seem to be any purpose to that in the story that I can see and it just basically have the effect of depicting women as inherently weaker than men.

 

Finally, in the gender department, it annoys me that lesbian romance is mentioned pretty frequently but there seem to be no gay men in Randland. I'm sure the author has more interest in two ladies getting it on than two gents, but it's just kinda ridiculous that among the seemingly 1000+ named characters, there's no gay dudes at all.

 

 

To start off' date=' the biggest thing I would do to make WoT better would be to cut episodes that have nothing to do with advancing the plot. A couple of examples would be (1) Faile's kidnapping and subsequent rescue. The entire epic story simply stops moving forward here. And (2) the indroction of the Seanchan. How in bloody ashes do you pronounce that, anyway? I guess another episode I would cut would be the search for the bowl of the winds. Can't the Windfinders already channel winds? There are so many side quests in this story that bring the whole plot to a screeching halt, I cannot list them all. So, this adventure could have been told in 6 books or less.[/quote']

Yeah, on balance, the kidnapping and the Bowl of the winds were boring and useless. They would actually both have been interesting plot lines had they lasted for, say, several chapters, rather than several books. He did other short side plots that were interesting and not drawn out the same way -- Perrin's defense of the Two Rivers, Rand and Mat performing at inns in the first book, and maybe the kidnapping of Rand by the Aes Sedai. I don't know why RJ drew the stupid Bowl and Faile's kidnapping out so long.

 

There's a lot of side plots (and tertiary characters) that could probably be pulled out, but I mostly enjoy how meandering the plot is; it makes the story seem more like it's taking place in the real world. I just wish some of the meanders didn't last so damn long.

 

 

Personally' date=' this is one of the parts I like best. Because it showcases that it is okay to shun the expectations of society and move forward in a way that makes all parties involved happy (and Avi and Min do not swoon over each other at all), and to Shayol Ghul with what any of the rest of Randland thinks. That's a very powerful sentiment, and one we could use many more examples of in real life.[/quote']

I'd agree with you about depicting people throwing off societal standards if it weren't in this context. The four-way marriage just seems like adolescent wish-fulfillment fantasy to me.

[Ananta]

All this talk of people wanting to cut elements they think are boring and slow, to compress plotlines into a shorter series packed with nonstop action make me think of people who hire hookers and use the microwave as their cooking device of choice...<tic>

 

You have to admit that the WoT series doesn't exactly fit the bill of cover-to-cover action. It's good now, but it would be a much better series if it were more concise.

 

I sort of agree. WoT could have been made more into like, say, Forgotten Realms. Several authors writing several stories all based on the same world.

 

Make the main story in less books, and spit out way more spin offs. And, have the spin offs tied into the main plot if necessary.

 

 

 

 

Anyhow, I also love the way WoT is as it is, so no real complaints here. Other than Forsaken being idiots.

[T00thbrush]

I'd also change the fact that women channelers are almost all weaker in the power than men. There just doesn't seem to be any purpose to that in the story that I can see and it just basically have the effect of depicting women as inherently weaker than men.

 

Agreed. I do have to say I thought WoT was great for bringing women characters to the fore and making them the equals of men... except after a while I started feeling this is partly an illusion. I do feel RJ must have been fairly "conservative" himself, because it seems to me that in many ways men remain the stronger characters in WoT, including because of their superior strength in the One Power. This is a problem that is also apparent in many romantic relationships (strong women suddenly losing power/status and falling head over heels for a man - i.e. Siuan and Gareth, Moiraine and Thom, Morgase and Tallanvor...).

 

Finally, in the gender department, it annoys me that lesbian romance is mentioned pretty frequently but there seem to be no gay men in Randland. I'm sure the author has more interest in two ladies getting it on than two gents, but it's just kinda ridiculous that among the seemingly 1000+ named characters, there's no gay dudes at all.

 

Agreed. Even on the lesbian front, it's hinted at a fair bit (pillow friends - yeah right!) but it's always vague and far away, never part of the life and feelings of ANY main or important characters. There are no gay dudes, and as far as I'm concerned there are no lesbians either. Not really.

[Areopagitican]

I'd also change the fact that women channelers are almost all weaker in the power than men. There just doesn't seem to be any purpose to that in the story that I can see and it just basically have the effect of depicting women as inherently weaker than men.

 

Agreed. I do have to say I thought WoT was great for bringing women characters to the fore and making them the equals of men... except after a while I started feeling this is partly an illusion. I do feel RJ must have been fairly "conservative" himself, because it seems to me that in many ways men remain the stronger characters in WoT, including because of their superior strength in the One Power. This is a problem that is also apparent in many romantic relationships (strong women suddenly losing power/status and falling head over heels for a man - i.e. Siuan and Gareth, Moiraine and Thom, Morgase and Tallanvor...).

 

Hmm, I was considering that but should we really be judging the women's position based on how much 'power' they have? I hate to divide into absolutes, but it seems that we're judging the strong women characters within the book along masculine comparisons. Instead of asking if they're happy, if they've found self-fulfillment or if they've told the ruling hierarchy that they can go shove off we're using very masculine measurements of "do they command armies?" or "can they hurt a lot of people, easily?" We're missing something vital in evaluating the female characters from the WoT if we don't consider that, in those three examples at any rate, what the women are losing ('power,' be it political or the One Power) is definitely compensated by finding the inner strength to love someone they shouldn't (or couldn't) before.

 

For instance, in Morgase's example especially, the person she loves is the symbol of rebelling against her former condition (i.e. emotional rape through compulsion). Thom is Moiraine's answer to a life that is, frankly, without purpose now that the Dragon Reborn is well on his way to the last battle, while Gareth is Siuan's answer (and solution) to the realization that her life was broken by her distrust of other people.

 

Certainly they sacrificed but what they gained seems to be of invaluable benefit.

 

Even if the consensus is that whatever they gained doesn't balance out their losses... There are many examples of the reverse happening. Elayne, Nynaeve, Egwene, Aviendha, Fain, Min ect ect...

[Exy]

Hmm, I was considering that but should we really be judging the women's position based on how much 'power' they have? I hate to divide into absolutes, but it seems that we're judging the strong women characters within the book along masculine comparisons. Instead of asking if they're happy, if they've found self-fulfillment or if they've told the ruling hierarchy that they can go shove off we're using very masculine measurements of "do they command armies?" or "can they hurt a lot of people, easily?" We're missing something vital in evaluating the female characters from the WoT if we don't consider that, in those three examples at any rate, what the women are losing ('power,' be it political or the One Power) is definitely compensated by finding the inner strength to love someone they shouldn't (or couldn't) before.

Uh, I don't think it's "masculine" to be a powerful person. In fact, I think it's really problematic to decide that being in power is "masculine" and that women are only really happy once they find a good man to make a home for.

[Ananta]

Hmm, I was considering that but should we really be judging the women's position based on how much 'power' they have? I hate to divide into absolutes, but it seems that we're judging the strong women characters within the book along masculine comparisons. Instead of asking if they're happy, if they've found self-fulfillment or if they've told the ruling hierarchy that they can go shove off we're using very masculine measurements of "do they command armies?" or "can they hurt a lot of people, easily?" We're missing something vital in evaluating the female characters from the WoT if we don't consider that, in those three examples at any rate, what the women are losing ('power,' be it political or the One Power) is definitely compensated by finding the inner strength to love someone they shouldn't (or couldn't) before.

Uh, I don't think it's "masculine" to be a powerful person. In fact, I think it's really problematic to decide that being in power is "masculine" and that women are only really happy once they find a good man to make a home for.

 

Men are generally stronger in real life. I mean physically.

 

Does that mean women are inferior to men? No. (I'd love to say 'yes' just to mess with all the ladies on the board)

 

 

 

I see the same thing applying to WoT. Men in general are stronger in OP, but that doesn't make women inferior to them.

[GaseousAnomaly]

I'd also change the fact that women channelers are almost all weaker in the power than men. There just doesn't seem to be any purpose to that in the story that I can see and it just basically have the effect of depicting women as inherently weaker than men.

 

Agreed. I do have to say I thought WoT was great for bringing women characters to the fore and making them the equals of men... except after a while I started feeling this is partly an illusion. I do feel RJ must have been fairly "conservative" himself, because it seems to me that in many ways men remain the stronger characters in WoT, including because of their superior strength in the One Power. This is a problem that is also apparent in many romantic relationships (strong women suddenly losing power/status and falling head over heels for a man - i.e. Siuan and Gareth, Moiraine and Thom, Morgase and Tallanvor...).

 

I guess it could also be explained by Saidin it's self being more of a wild beast. Yes you might be more powerful but it's riskier and deadlier.

[Majsju]

I'd also change the fact that women channelers are almost all weaker in the power than men. There just doesn't seem to be any purpose to that in the story that I can see and it just basically have the effect of depicting women as inherently weaker than men.

 

Agreed. I do have to say I thought WoT was great for bringing women characters to the fore and making them the equals of men... except after a while I started feeling this is partly an illusion. I do feel RJ must have been fairly "conservative" himself, because it seems to me that in many ways men remain the stronger characters in WoT, including because of their superior strength in the One Power. This is a problem that is also apparent in many romantic relationships (strong women suddenly losing power/status and falling head over heels for a man - i.e. Siuan and Gareth, Moiraine and Thom, Morgase and Tallanvor...).

 

 

 

 

While women generally are weaker than men, that is balanced by them being able to weave more deftly, ie being superior at making more complicated weaves.

As for the romance part, that is generally a weak point for RJ, regardless of gender. everyone in the books seems to fall head over heels in love. The main difference is that we have not had any major male characters lose power/status, so they fall from a higher point. The exception being Garerth Bryne, who was exiled when he met Siuan (and in that relationship).

 

So it is a lot more balanced than many people want to think. Funny thng is, because it is quite balanced, many people seem to consider most women in the books as overpowered bullies. go figure...

 

 

[ranjitb]

@Majsju - I must disagree with you. If you can follow my convoluted reasoning for a second, I wouldn't mind reading a book that was written in a truly matriarchial society since that would provide an interesting subversion of the fantasy genre.

The problem with WoT in this regard is that while it aspires to this, it never really reaches this level since all the women have in essence been written by a man who grew up in a nominally patriarchal society and thus act that way.

 

Consider this - most people would agree that (despite all the societal changes) in the real world men are "more dominant" than women - this is of course more evident in some places than others.

Yet I don't see all men everywhere constantly whining and sniffing about how all the women are "woolheads" and must be bullied and manipulated. Rather, they tend to go about their business and expect the women to fall in line - if you inherently believe you are superior, you don't need to exert a zillion joules of effort to get the perceived weaker party in line with you.

 

Consider also Rands "Ah mah gah I must not let a woman die" idiocy. Leaving aside its stupidity as face value, why on earth would a male who has grown up in Randland feel the need to "protect" a woman ? As the perceived stronger gender, it should be the other way around i.e. you SHOULD see a lot more women falling on their swords as they try to protect the "men & children"

 

As to Rand's three wives/womyn what have you - again, it could have been an interesting subversion of popular moraes to read but it comes across as infantile wish-fulfillment since the three women show little or more dimension than being the "tomboy brunette", "buxom girly blonde" and "fiery athletic redhead". This is about as stereotypical as you can get.

Also in almost every polyamorous relationship we have seen its ALWAYS multiple women who agree to be sisters and "share" one man. The only exception I can think off is Myrelle and she is a sub-sub-sub-sub character. This also ties into the portrayal of "pillow friends" and lack of male homosexuality, i.e. it is just a reflection of what seems to be very immature male fantasy fulfillment.

 

And finally - the worst aspect - is the claim that by providing "one for you and one for me" gender specific roles we are somehow reaching gender equality. No, you are getting as far away from it as possible. The claim that "oh the sea folk don't discriminate, because for every sailmistress you have a master-of-swords (or whatever they are callled)" is total bullshit. An egalitarian society is one where people reach position INDEPENDENT of gender, not BECAUSE of it.

[Exy]

While women generally are weaker than men, that is balanced by them being able to weave more deftly, ie being superior at making more complicated weaves.

So Jordan said once, but somehow it's never actually shown up or affected anything in the story.

[ranjitb]

Exy, that's because we have shown a flawed sample set.

The only male channelers we have spent time with are Rand + the Forsaken (and Logain and Taim, only by hearsay).

There just happen to be the most powerful 10 or so men in the whole world.

 

In contrast all the women we have spent time with are the "rank and file" AS - even the wondrous wondergirls aren't THAT strong.

Alivia, Talaan din Geylin, Sharina etc. have been introduced and we never see them again.

 

On the flip side of things -

The only female of significant strength we reguraly see is Nynaeve and she is discovering a new weave/ability in every single chapter these days.

The Asha'men with Perrin are frequently exhausted and limited by their strength and are not serving as "kill all DeM Nukes" as you might expect.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we just *happen* to (as the plot requires) spend a lot more time with uber-Male channelers and ordinary female channelers, and not the other way around, and so the strength differential seems to be glaring. If on the other hand we spent (GOD DON"T GET ANY IDEAS) the next three books dealing with Pevara and Androl we would no doubt see her "superior deftness" come into play.

[GaseousAnomaly]

@Majsju - I must disagree with you. If you can follow my convoluted reasoning for a second, I wouldn't mind reading a book that was written in a truly matriarchial society since that would provide an interesting subversion of the fantasy genre.

The problem with WoT in this regard is that while it aspires to this, it never really reaches this level since all the women have in essence been written by a man who grew up in a nominally patriarchal society and thus act that way.

 

Consider this - most people would agree that (despite all the societal changes) in the real world men are "more dominant" than women - this is of course more evident in some places than others.

Yet I don't see all men everywhere constantly whining and sniffing about how all the women are "woolheads" and must be bullied and manipulated. Rather, they tend to go about their business and expect the women to fall in line - if you inherently believe you are superior, you don't need to exert a zillion joules of effort to get the perceived weaker party in line with you.

 

Consider also Rands "Ah mah gah I must not let a woman die" idiocy. Leaving aside its stupidity as face value, why on earth would a male who has grown up in Randland feel the need to "protect" a woman ? As the perceived stronger gender, it should be the other way around i.e. you SHOULD see a lot more women falling on their swords as they try to protect the "men & children"

 

As to Rand's three wives/womyn what have you - again, it could have been an interesting subversion of popular moraes to read but it comes across as infantile wish-fulfillment since the three women show little or more dimension than being the "tomboy brunette", "buxom girly blonde" and "fiery athletic redhead". This is about as stereotypical as you can get.

Also in almost every polyamorous relationship we have seen its ALWAYS multiple women who agree to be sisters and "share" one man. The only exception I can think off is Myrelle and she is a sub-sub-sub-sub character. This also ties into the portrayal of "pillow friends" and lack of male homosexuality, i.e. it is just a reflection of what seems to be very immature male fantasy fulfillment.

 

And finally - the worst aspect - is the claim that by providing "one for you and one for me" gender specific roles we are somehow reaching gender equality. No, you are getting as far away from it as possible. The claim that "oh the sea folk don't discriminate, because for every sailmistress you have a master-of-swords (or whatever they are callled)" is total bullshit. An egalitarian society is one where people reach position INDEPENDENT of gender, not BECAUSE of it.

 

It's quite normal for men to want to protect women. It's been like that for ages. When a boat sinks its women and children first.

 

You seem to ignore the Aeil. Wiseones are pretty much the boss. I might be confused but cant Aiel women have multiple husbands?

The Aes sedai have supposedly pretty much controlled politics in Randland for ever and have been stilling men left and right ever since the breaking.

Some Places are ruled by Queens not kings.

 

But in the end I'm not quite sure what you are looking for. Where I think RJ was poor is when doing things from the POW of women. It tends to be a caricature.

[ranjitb]

It's quite normal for men to want to protect women. It's been like that for ages. When a boat sinks its women and children first.

 

Yes, as I said, in "The Real World" where everyone perceives Men > Women.

I though Randland was meant to turn this on it's head ?

 

The Aiel may let women marry more than one man, but I can't think of an example of this. The only ones I can think of are Rhuarc, and whichever clan chief is with Perrin (don't care what his name is), both of whom are men with multiple wives.

[GaseousAnomaly]

It's quite normal for men to want to protect women. It's been like that for ages. When a boat sinks its women and children first.

 

Yes, as I said, in "The Real World" where everyone perceives Men > Women.

I though Randland was meant to turn this on it's head ?

 

The Aiel may let women marry more than one man, but I can't think of an example of this. The only ones I can think of are Rhuarc, and whichever clan chief is with Perrin (don't care what his name is), both of whom are men with multiple wives.

There is an inherent difficulty to this.

-Strenght (usualy) means men are more adapted to the "fighting" job. And also women carry the babies and raise them in their early lives so this is an other big handicap to women being those that lead the charge. One way to mitigate this it to have some sort of communal way to raise kids kid of like the Aiel. I think it's only natural that armies and such are mostly made of men while the women appear to be in positions where they can pull the strings. I think it's more natural fit with feudal type cultures we see in Randland if that makes any sense.

[T00thbrush]

Uh, I don't think it's "masculine" to be a powerful person. In fact, I think it's really problematic to decide that being in power is "masculine" and that women are only really happy once they find a good man to make a home for.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Men are generally stronger in real life. I mean physically.

Does that mean women are inferior to men? No. (I'd love to say 'yes' just to mess with all the ladies on the board)

I see the same thing applying to WoT. Men in general are stronger in OP, but that doesn't make women inferior to them.

 

But that's just the thing - WoT is supposed to reverse the power situation between men and women, and yet even in the OP (which should bear no link to your physical strength) men are naturally more powerful. There is something very patriarchal and conservative in this idea. Men and women could have been equals in the OP - but no. Why? What is the point of that, really? It only serves to reinforce traditional gender divisions and roles.

 

I guess it could also be explained by Saidin it's self being more of a wild beast. Yes you might be more powerful but it's riskier and deadlier.

 

You could say that. Except 1. making saidin a wild beast and thus more powerful is still the author's choice, 2. apart from the taint issue (now fixed) men don't actually seem to have such a harder or more dangerous time channeling than women.

 

While women generally are weaker than men, that is balanced by them being able to weave more deftly, ie being superior at making more complicated weaves.

As for the romance part, that is generally a weak point for RJ, regardless of gender. everyone in the books seems to fall head over heels in love. The main difference is that we have not had any major male characters lose power/status, so they fall from a higher point. The exception being Garerth Bryne, who was exiled when he met Siuan (and in that relationship).

 

Agree on the romance front, but as pointed out before, the "yes but women are more deft" is a lot more of a theory never really put in practice in the book. Again, this is the same problem as the pillow friends, the gay dudes or the idea of several men sharing the one woman - theoritically, this is all happening in WoT, but strangely we never ever see it, or if we do it's only some hearsay or a vague glimpse of a tertiary character. And I do think that's too bad - WoT would have been richer, more original and in a way more "faithful" to its premise if all of these issues were put under the spotlight.

[Majsju]

 

Agree on the romance front, but as pointed out before, the "yes but women are more deft" is a lot more of a theory never really put in practice in the book. Again, this is the same problem as the pillow friends, the gay dudes or the idea of several men sharing the one woman - theoritically, this is all happening in WoT, but strangely we never ever see it, or if we do it's only some hearsay or a vague glimpse of a tertiary character. And I do think that's too bad - WoT would have been richer, more original and in a way more "faithful" to its premise if all of these issues were put under the spotlight.

 

On the other hand, there has been few confrontations between men and women to really give us an opportunity to see this. If we exclude Rand, who is the strongest channeler in the world, along with Moridin, the only real example of a fight between men and women where in TPOD, when asha'man battled damane. Granted, we did not see the actual fighting, but we learned the result, which was pretty much a draw. (I do not count Dumais Wells, since the asha'man there had a serious advantage in numbers. I am also excluding when logain and his merry bunch shielded and bonded the aes sedai sent to attack the BT, since they had the element of surprise, which changed the game quite a bit.)