are you a male but your favorite character is a female?

[Fains nose]

ive noticed so much hate against female characters in this series by people on these forums, presumably male people. so im wondering is there any males who whos favorite character is female, or in your top three favorite characters? since reading tGS and ToM, Nynaeve is probably my favorite character, shes just hardcore. anyone else?

[buckeyebull64]

Sorelia is without question one of my favorites. Avi and Min are a lot of fun too.

 

I wouldn't say I rank the characters. My feelings just change so much depending on what each one is doing at the time.

[randsc]

Of the major characters, my favorites are Aviendha, Nynaeve, and Perrin.

 

Aviendha I've like since we first met her. Nynaeve was (intentionally, I'm sure) amazingly irritating early on, but has shown by far the most growth of any character. Perrin was pretty great early, descended into hell (spelled, "Faile" in Andoran) and seems on the path to redemption.

 

I would challenge the general premise of your post. I don't think there is a lot of hate for "female characters" as such. I think that there is a lot of hate for characters who have, intentionally or not, been drawn as arrogant, entitled and chauvinistic. And especially for characters who have not yet grown out of or begun to grow out of those characteristics.

 

For example, I quite like Min, Dyelin, Lini, Berelain, Setele, Sulin and Aludra. I'm not fond of Elayne or Morgase, and I despise Egwene. And in addition to Nynaeve, Moraine grew on me as time went on. And I never hated even Faile (not her fault her husband became a dork) or Tuon.

 

What I do see a lot of is rationalizing of bad behavior on the part of certain female characters by people unwilling to criticize any female character.

[Jon Paul]

I don't have a single absolute favourite. The place is held by both Nynaeve and Rand evenly. Not one one bit further than the other. Even the Nynaeve from books 1-11 ! Another character I really like is Setalle.

 

I have no problem with strong female characters. However, just because a woman is the CEO of some multi-national company, raking in millions a year.. well it does not automatically make her a strong person.

[Shard]

My favorite female characters are Min, Moriane, Nynaeve, Brigitte.

 

I don't really hate any of the Good female characters, I may get angry or frustrated with Elyane and Egwene but I don't hate them.

[dovien]

I don't know why people hate Egwene so much. I really like how she was built into the epitome of an Aes Sedai and therefore the perfect Amyrlin. Also the amount of coordination of events leading to her appointment by both Towers is staggering.

[Lynchgrinch]

well I do love Nynaeve, Aviendha and Min. Oh and Birgitte too, she's pretty damn awesome. My fave character are still male though, Rand and Mat, Rhuarc and Gaul...Loial...yeah they're awesome.

[OptimusPrime]

Nynaeve has been among my favorite few women for a long time, but her involvement in KoD and TGS made her my favorite. But my favorite characters overall are Rand/Lews Therin and Moridin/Ishamael. So Id say out of everyone Nynaeve would be third place for me

 

And Im male, 25

[blazetheearth]

I don't know why people hate Egwene so much. I really like how she was built into the epitome of an Aes Sedai and therefore the perfect Amyrlin. Also the amount of coordination of events leading to her appointment by both Towers is staggering.

 

I would think that you started the reason in your post....she has become the "epitome of Aes Sedai". And many people dislike the AS intensely. My own reasons go to what we see of her reasons for doing many of the things she does. She tortured Nyn in TAR just so that Nyn would not find out she was lying, she treats the people she calls friends like something you would scrape off you boots just to serve her own ends and expect them to continue to be her friend. She is also the largest hypocrite in the entire series, continuously calling down others (even punishing them) for things that she herself does. The example above is a good one of that (torture someone else and make them admit to lying, just to cover her own lies).

 

But back to the topic. My top 3 fav characters are Nyn, Mat, and Avi in that order, but to get a better sampling I will give my top 10

1. Nynaeve

2. Matrim Cauthon

3. Aviendha

4. Amys

5. Perrin Aybara

6. Moiraine

7. Brigette

8. Jur Grady

9. Min Farshaw

10. Setalle Anan

 

Least fav - Egwene, Elayne, and Olver.

 

And yes, I am male.

[Darth Krewl]

Yes, I am a male. No, none of Jordan's female characters is my favorite. Closest would be Lanfear and she doesn't even make my top 5.

 

But I do have female faves in other stories (Daenerys Targaryen in Martin's ASoI&F, for example) so, IMO, this has nothing to do with misogyny, sexism or male chauvinism. I'm just one of many (including some women) who happens to think that the profile of the majority of Jordan's female characters makes them extremely unlikable. To me, that's all there is to it.

[JordanRutherford]

Male, 23.

 

I do like a lot of the female characters in the series. I've never really hated any of the characters the way some people really seem to burst with anger over Egwene or Elayne.. actually the one character I hate the most is Ran bloody Al'thor. I've read all of it now and my favourite characters in order would look something like this: (Something like, because things change so often.)

 

1. Perrin Aybara (GOLDENEYE! GOLDENEYES! TAI'SHAR MANETHEREN!)

2. Moiraine Damodred

3. Logain Ablar

4. A'Lan Mandragoran

5. Thom Merrillin

6. Elmindreda Farshaw (Min)

7. Zarine ni Bashere t'Aybara (Faile)

8. Matrim Cauthon

9. Talmanes Delovinde

10. Aviendha

 

 

Perrin, Moiraine, Logain, Lan, Thom, Mat (post-Sanderson)

[Davin Richmond]

I find reading through the books and the forums personal opinions change while reading through them. In the EoW I found Nynaeve so annoying and liked Moraine and Egwene but now I'm just starting the 6th book and Nynaeve is my favorite female and Egwene has been very whinny and Moraine seems arrogant.

[Agelmar]

Yes. I would probably have to go with Rand, Mat, and Nynaeve as my three favorite major characters. I really, really like Egwene at times and really don't like her at other times.

 

Elayne may be my least favorite major character, but Gawyn is close behind. They share many of the same traits. (Perhaps there is hope with seasoning--I quite like their mentors Morgase and, in particular, Bryne.)

 

There aren't many of the "good" female main and secondary characters I don't like. I didn't much care for any of them early in the series, but most of them grew and became much more likeable as the series went on. The newer female characters have also been more likeable.

 

The tertiary female characters, on the other hand, are borderline deplorable as a whole. This is perhaps a result of a society laced with sexism and full of powerful women, with the attendant corrupting influence of said power. Also, many of the nastiest villains in the series are women--Moghedien, Semirhage, Lanfear, Elaida, Sevanna, Therava, Galina, Liandrin, etc.

[moratcorlm]

What's wrong with Moghedien? She's got to be one of the most likable people in the series from my perspective.

Moghedien had spent the night hiding under her bed, untouched and, because she was well hidden, without picking up one single stick of rubbish. She had even gotten a good night’s sleep once the first commotion died down.

[Jblaylock]

My favorite female charecters in order are

 

Moraine

Lanfear

Graendal

Min

Birgitte

Nyneave

Egwene

Verin

 

The rest all tie for the "not really all that into them" spot. Re: Verin. Okay, I know that may seem odd to have her on the list. But, her dying conversation with Egwene in TGS completely changed my viewpoint of her. Turns out, she was pretty cool.

[Haran]

Im male and my fav characters are:

 

Nynaeve, Min, Mat, Talmanes, Birgitte, all Myrdraal (they are male right?) and Lanfear.

 

 

 

Its more that I seem dislike many of the female characters rather than liking all the male ones.

the ones above are awsome though, even Lanfear. I wish she was more prominent as herself and not that weird Cyndiane(?).

 

Edit: Talmanes and the Myrdraal are at the top of the list though.

[Senexx]

I don't know how anyone can like Nynaeve, she's just a bitch.

 

And I like Egwene and Moiraine of course.

[mb]

I tend to favor characters of both genders; in any series I read.

[Jon Paul]

I don't know how anyone can like Nynaeve, she's just a bitch.

 

How is she "just a bitch"?

[username13]

What I do see a lot of is rationalizing of bad behavior on the part of certain female characters by people unwilling to criticize any female character.

 

I see that a lot also, in fact, pretty sure I've done it....

 

I don't know how anyone can like Nynaeve, she's just a bitch.

 

Nynaeve's a character you go through a fair chunk of the series bouncing back from hating to liking. In the later books, particularly ToM she redeems herself to the audience to such astonishing levels that it's hard to dislike her.

 

Among females chars I really like Nynaeve, Min, Moiraine, Setalle, as well as a few characters such as Teslyn and Pevara - both of whom I hope will have some Crowning Moments of Awesome sooner or later

[moratcorlm]

I don't know how anyone can like Nynaeve, she's just a bitch.

Well, no, it takes a very loose reading of her chapters to come to the conclusion that she's just a bitch, but it is her very "bitchiness" that makes her so entertaining and likable. At least for those people who didn't dislike her before "The Golden Crane," which is a rather telling dynamic, really.

[Senexx]

Her way or the high way. Usually she's got good motives if inappropriate methods. That and she reminds me a lot of someone very close to me.

[Taura-Tierno]

I'm a guy and I like Cadsuane, Nynaeve, Sorilea, Alviarin, Morgase, probably some others I've forgotten about right now ... I don't like Egwene very much, but it's a good dislike. You can hate characters shallowly, or you can hate them because you really don't like what they're doing in the story and how they're behaving, etc. I've started disliking her for the latter reason, which I think is a "good" dislike. I do love reading her PoV though, because I've always like the Aes Sedai parts of the story. She's got one of the best PoV's.

[David Selig]

I don't know how anyone can like Nynaeve, she's just a bitch.

 

And I like Egwene and Moiraine of course.

So you think Nynaeve is just a bitch and can't understand anyone liking her, but you like Egwene? The words pot, kettle and black come to mind. ;)

 

I am a guy, and Mat and Elayne are my favourites among the main characters. I really dislike Egwene, but this has nothing to do with her gender.

[randsc]

I don't know how anyone can like Nynaeve, she's just a bitch.

Well, no, it takes a very loose reading of her chapters to come to the conclusion that she's just a bitch, but it is her very "bitchiness" that makes her so entertaining and likable. At least for those people who didn't dislike her before "The Golden Crane," which is a rather telling dynamic, really.

 

 

Telling how?

 

I think most people (at least those who like Nynaeve) would like her more and more throughout the course of the series. But it certainly isn't unusual for people to change their views of characters after what I have come to understand is a, "Crowning moment of Awesome."

 

Just look at how people have responded to Zen Rand. Or even to Gawyn.