A Question of Age and Sex

[Wandering Channeler]

Robert Jordan did an amazing job of creating a world that varies so much based on the eyes of the character we see it through for any given chapter. We all have characters we like and that we dislike. I am curious to know how the likes and dislikes vary with age and gender.

 

If you do not mind giving this information please state your age (feel free to put adult or something like that if you do not want to put the number) and gender and then the characters you like and dislike with a brief explanation.

 

Please do not post without this information.

 

Also this is not to become a hate thread. Its really not even about the characters, it is more about us as people and how our personal characteristics affect the way we view the Wheel of Time.

 

I did a quick search and did not find anything, but if this has been done I apologize and lock it up.

 

My opinion:

 

Age: 23 Gender: Male

 

Like: Mat, Thom, Logain, Moiraine, Nynaeve, Lan, Rhurac

 

Mat & Thom - Fun guys that always have interesting things happen to them. They know how to work as a team and sacrifice for the ones they care about. They enjoy hanging out in pubs and taverns and know how to enjoy a good board game.

 

Moiraine & Nynaeve - Caring women that at first tried to bully some of the other characters but seem to have grown into understanding they cannot control everything. Genuinely seem to be concerned for other characters.

 

Lan & Rhurac - Badass fighters that know how to respect women and know when to conecede and when to stand their ground.

 

 

Dislike: I don't really dislike anyone. However, I do dislike the same quality in Elayne, Egwene, and Tuon: Control Freaks

 

Control freaks - I like all three of these characters other then their unwillingness to listen to what other characters have to say and actually consider that it might be a better option than what they think.

[Aulduron]

45 Male

 

I like all the characters.

[RandA lThor]

14 Male (Please tell me there is someone younger than me who is active on DM)

 

Instead of listing likes since I like so many I will list dislikes only

 

Faile - She ruins Perrin and only looks towards things in a political way.

[condonmc]

25 Male

 

 

Like. Everyone but cadsuane...

 

Dislike. cadsuane, she almost ruined WoT, and despite the couple of cadsuane supporters, she's a drag...

[Arisilde]

37 Male-

 

Like- Mat, Cadsuane, Graendal, Balwer, Thom, Shaidar Haran, Padan Fain, Loial, Hopper, Moridin

 

Dislike- Aviendha, Galad, Gawyn, most Aes Sedai, Moghedien

[jwood01]

30 male

 

Currently on my 3rd re-read: I like almost all the characters. Originally I didn't like a lot of the female characters, but on subsequent rereads I have grown to understand them, and now I like most of them.

 

There are two characters that get on my nerves: Egwene and Gawyn

 

I think Egwene is an incredibly well developed, and well written character. She just gets on my nerves for some reason. i think it is because she has bought into Aes Sedai ideology to the extreme. This may or may not be fair, but she just reminds me of people I know who are very involved members of political parties and will defend the party line in public no matter if they agree privately or not. But i guess that's what the Amyrlin is; a very successful politician.

 

I think I dislike Gawyn mainly because he has an irrational hatred of Rand. I find his character incredibly poorly developed, and his internal dialogue plainly simple and annoying. We get it that he has competing loyalties, but does he really have to be such a whiner about it.

[jwood01]

Dislike- most Aes Sedai

 

Amen brother!

[Devinlee003]

16 male Like mat rand Perrin lan egwene nynave thom Loial elayne forsaken Lews Therin Asha'man Aviendha and all of the army leaders Dislike faile Aes Sedai Sea Folk Seanchan Wise ones basically any woman who can channel. But I am only on the 9th book so it could change

[safwd]

45 Male

 

I like the 3 farm boys the best in the order of Mat, Perrin then Rand. Thom, Lan, Rhurc, Gaul and Min

 

The only character I really dislike is Elayne. The early books i straight hated her character. In the last few books i think she has gotten a little better. Less Chin Raises.

[TLHansum]

32M

 

LIke: Mat, Rand, Nyn, Logain, Egwene(hah!), Cadsuane, Verin, Moridin, SH

 

Dislike: Faile, Elaida, Faile, Norry, Faile, Gawyn, Faile, Bridgette, Faile,

[DaoineSidhe]

29 Male

 

I don't necessarily dislike any character, and really enjoy all for the roles that they must play for the story, but if you twisted my arm...

 

 

Like: Matt, Perrin, Rand, Thom, Loial, Min, Nynaeve, Verin, Moridin, Osan'gar, Egwene

 

Matt - Look above - every poster who has listed a favorite so far has listed Matt first. Shouldn't really have to explain that one. He just pwns. Nuff said.

 

Perrin - Kinda love/hate to be honest. The Shadow Rising is one of my favorite books still mainly because of Perrin's story line in the Two Rivers. But then Faile got kidnapped, and he kinda stalled for three books... But then he got back to the forge again (both scenes in the series of him working the forge are among of my favorites), and started not acting emo, he's back in my good graces

 

Thom - In a world where magic runs rampant all over the place, I love that the "Merlin" archetype of this series doesn't use magic at all.

 

Nynaeve - In my opinion, probably the best major female character in the series. She's the only female Aes Sedai of this age be able to go toe-to-toe with a Forsaken one-on-one with the One Power. While she seems to fly off the handle during normal situations, whenever the sheep's swallop hits the fan, she typically keeps her head better than most.

 

Verin - Ah, Verin, will we ever know the answers to all your secrets?

 

Osan'gar - He's an Evil Nerd. Plus I really love the Dashiva scenes whenever I re-read the series. So many little hints dropped all over about him being Forsaken, in addition to added hilarity at times.

 

Egwene - Love/Hate as well. Up through the Seanchan attack, I really liked her. Post-reunification... not so much. I like the fact that whatever Egwene Al'Vere decides to do, she does completely with her whole heart. From acting mature enough to get her hair braided younger than most girls, to deciding to become an Aes Sedai, to studying dreamwalking, to being Amyrlin, she does it with her whole heart. But post re-unification, she seems to be the most arrogant character in the entire series. From her anger at Suian and Gawyn for the rescue, to her inner dialogue on Rand, she seem's to have lost touch with her empathy, one of the traits I liked most about the early Egwene.

 

Dislike - Egwene & Perrin, at times.

[Radrian]

28 male

 

Likes: Nynaeve!!! Verin!!! Moiraine, Lan, Cadsuane, Graendal, Moghedien, Mat, Thom, Elaida, Gareth, Siuan

 

I could go on and on about the reasons I love the people on my like list...

 

I don't dislike any of the others but there are some that annoy me.

 

Rand- Sad to say but there were times when his chapters came up and I wanted to skip them. The new Rand however, after his dragonmount revelation, is great!

 

Perrin- I could say the same exact thing I said about Rand for Perrin... Except he never got better for me only less annoying.

 

Egwene- I felt like she was the least fleshed out in the earlier books. I don't remember her much. When she was Amyrlin outside of Tar Valon and during her capture and her slaying the Seanchan was great! I felt like I finally knew her and liked her. Then it all fell apart after the reunification and she became an old fashioned Aes Sedai that she worked so hard to not be.

 

Male Forsaken- none of them were dynamic or memorable. I love bad guys and all the male forsaken fell short for me and paled in comparison to the female forsaken.

 

Other dislikes: Elayne, Gawyn, Min, Aviendha

[Wolf505]

I'm male, and 37 now. When I started reading the books I was.... 16 I think?

 

The three ta'veran have always been my favorite, but I really like all the POV characters to an extent. Perrin and Rand both have had some rough patches where they kind of annoyed me, but never for long. Mat's the only character I consistantly love.

 

I wasn't a huge Nynaeve fan in the beginning (I didn't hate her, but she annoyed me a bit), but now she's one of my favorite characters.

 

I think the only POV character I never really enjoyed reading was Morgase. I honestly don't know what her story arc has contributed to the overall story except to fill pages. She manages to get Faile rescued from that collapsed building, but that's about it. It's not that I don't like the character, I just don't get what her purpose is. I suppose my opinion could change if she does something monumental in AMoL, but I'm not holding my breath.

[condonmc]

Post of the month award goes to Wandering Channeler, bunch of good stuff...........well done!

[Luckers]

24, Male

 

I like pretty much all the characters, except Therava. You know you have to be a piece of work to get me to feel sorry for Galina.

 

So, I guess, Love: Mat, Thom, Cadsuane, Moiraine, Graendal, Verin

 

Mat - because he's fun, and because he's such a complex and at times contradictory character--he's noble when he should be glib, glib when he should be polite, bold when he should be cautious, and cautious... almost never. The difference between his thoughts and his actions/words are always gold.

 

Thom - who doesn't love the grey fox. The scene between him and Moiraine in the Stone is one of my favourites in the series.

 

Cadsuane - no matter what you say about her, when push comes to shove she has always had Rand's back.

 

Moiraine - as much as I love badass, suave, dignified Moiraine, the part about her that I love best is when her childish streak comes out--like when she, Perrin and Loial are fishing.

 

Graendal - the only Forsaken pre-TofM who wasn't a complete fool. Don't talk to me about TofM-Graendal.

 

Verin - She's so sneaky. And the way she dresses down Beldeine in her thoughts in the tPoD prologue--not to mention the way she tricks the Salidar embassy into the disastrous confrontation with Rand, compels the Tower embassy to serve Rand, and even back in tGH, pay attention to the way she disrupts Siuan and Moiraine to give Rand time to recover, and later specifically raises him being gentled with them and shoots it in the foot--it all illuminates for me that of all Aes Sedai (including my beloved Cadsuane) she alone has a true perception of what is wrong with modern Aes Sedai, and has actively worked to prevent the Tower from ruining things by sticking their noses where they don't belong (one may note to that of all the Aes Sedai the one she doesn't mess with, and actually talks up to Rand, is Cadsuane, but meh...:))

[thom_merrilin]

47, Male

 

Like - Mat (Fun guy, enjoys life), Thom(Crafty, and deadly), Lan(death on two legs), Min(there to save Rand and to figure out the books), Birgette(clever, deadly with the bow), Moiraine(Charismatic, clever, and sexy)

 

Dislike - Perrin, Nynaeve, Egwene, Most Aes Sedai (most truly believe the world owes them everything)

 

Hate - Cadsuane (smug, smug, arrogant, believes she knows it all), Faile (she ruined Perrin's character, her capture and rescue came close to ruining the entire series), Elaida (insane!), ALL Sea Folk (way too smug and arrogant, they have to have what they want)

[Wandering Channeler]

Thank you Jarlaxle.

 

The bulk of the responses have been from males age 25-45, so there is very little diversity so far. However, I did a run through of the likes and dislikes and there are some interesting results:

 

Obviously the most loves character: Mat 10 likes - everyone either liked mat or liked all characters, 0 dislikes

Second highest: Thom 8 likes, 0 dislikes

 

So those two were pretty easy, moving on:

 

Third highest and highest female: Nynaeve 6 likes, 1 dislike - interesting to see a female get 3rd when its been all male responses and being above rand and perrin

 

Highest bad guy: Tie between Graendal and Moridin both had 3 likes, 0 dislikes - Moridin is pretty obvious but Graendal scores above SH and PF

 

Lowest of the three farmboys: Perrin 4 likes, 2 dislikes - not a big surprise but of note he falls behind Moiraine, Verin, Min, Moridin, Loial, and in line with Cads

 

Most disliked: (not faile!!) Gawyn 0 likes, 4 dislikes - very interesting to see this groups strong dislike of gawyn

 

Ewgene came in with 4 dislikes tieing Gawyn but had 3 likes. Faile had 3 dislikes and 0 likes.

 

 

Very intereting results so far. Hopefully a few people outside of male 25-45 will weigh in and bring a different perspective, but if you fall in that catagory your input is still very important so do not hesitate to post.

 

Just a reminder this is not a thread to bash individual characters, it is to see how different people feel about different characters.

[Terez]

This has been done before on this forum, and recently enough that it probably still exists. (That is, the age/gender/faves comparison.) Yes, most Egwene- and Faile-haters are male. Most Cadsuane-haters, too, but less starkly than with Egwene I think. I like almost all the characters; the exceptions are ones like Aram who just weren't developed very well. Or Guybon, whom RJ seems to have had problems with; nearly every passage touching him is bad writing (for RJ). Of the main characters, I think Perrin is the most boring. He has his moments, though, and he was pretty awesome in TSR (and not just because of what he was doing...his thoughts are actually funny sometimes).

 

Edit: female, 34

[Barid Bel Medar]

Male 21

 

Favourites: (In order, I suppose) Rand, Moiraine, Nynaeve, Mat, Demandred, Narishma Lanfear.

 

Dislike: Galina, Thevera Sammael Moggy

 

Rand - Respect for not saying "screw you ungrateful people, glory to the Great Lord." Nobody has suffered half as much as he has, and come out the other end.

 

Moiraine - No messing around with Moiraine, the perfect soldier against the Shadow. Who really cares about people.

 

Nynaeve - So much amusement out of the middle books, she was awesome in EotW, tGH then WH, KoD, tGS, ToM. Again, she cares about people, and won't mess around just to make people happy.

 

Mat - In a way, he is like male-Nynaeve. He is there when it counts, for all his complaining.

 

Demandred: Can't explain in a sentence, will have to wait for aMoL for simple answer, but many things that make him awesome.

 

Narishma - I understand the character, I donno, just always resonated with me. Not to mention the things that he has done, his affair with Callandor etc..

 

Lanfear - One word. Enigma. Everything she does is interesting, even when it is petty and foolish.

 

 

Galina Thevera - Both are not just evil, I like a good villain, but terrible in every way, there is no reason for them being so annoying, even Semirhage has her own reasons for being like she is.

 

Sammael - He reminds me of that large (heh) stupid bully in the 90's american early teen films. RJ said it best, Sammael is a louse.

 

Moggy - Such a pathetic excuse for a person. If you are going to be one of the chosen, at least act like one. Cowardly wretch...

[Radrian]

I don't understand how people can hate Cadsuane. She is never being "Aes Sedai" just for the sake of being one she has always been herself and without apology. Plus, who didn't love when she spanked Semirhage?!

[Suttree]

I don't understand how people can hate Cadsuane. She is never being "Aes Sedai" just for the sake of being one she has always been herself and without apology. Plus, who didn't love when she spanked Semirhage?!

 

Indeed. Radrian have you ever seen RJ's notes detailing how awesome she is.

 

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=652

 

There are very few people on the side of the light that have been more successful than she.

[Terez]

I don't understand how people can hate Cadsuane. She is never being "Aes Sedai" just for the sake of being one she has always been herself and without apology. Plus, who didn't love when she spanked Semirhage?!

 

Brandon.

[Niel an' Tyomn]

too muc

14 Male (Please tell me there is someone younger than me who is active on DM)

 

Instead of listing likes since I like so many I will list dislikes only

 

Faile - She ruins Perrin and only looks towards things in a political way.

 

It's ok Rand I'm 13 and my main favorites are Egwewne and Aviendha and after them it's Rand and Perrin don't like Mat too much he's a GREAT character but just don't like him as much

[Kamin_Majere]

32 Male

 

Likes: Most all the characters really they all have interesting things about them

 

Indifferent: Aes Sedai - Most of them seem lame to me, not sure why but its like a bunch of 150 year old's with rules that make no sense trying to pretend the world and its problems dont exist.

 

Dislike... Taim. I mean come on, if there has ever been an Evil "i'll twist my waxed mustache at you" villian that is so obvious a villian its Taim... and what does Rand do... gives him his own little mini assassian factory to pump out Dreadlords. I mean i know Rand was already going mad at that point but geez. RJ could have called him Baddy McEvilpuppykicker and it couldnt have been more blatant a hint to NOT give him his own assassin factory to pump out Dreadlords.

[Apples First]

15 Male

 

Like:

LTT - 'cos he's crazy and has crazy thoughts that are like crazily cool

Mat - out of interest, has anyone ever met someone who doesn't like him?

Min - for persevering with Rand

Asmodean - he's just an awesome character

Moridin - he's right

Moiraine and Nynaeve - they both started out annoying, but now... they're right up with my favourite characters.

The Dark One - he tries so hard, for so long, and fails, every time... it's hard not to feel sorry for the guy. Oh, and he's evil.

 

There are many others.

 

 

Dislike:

Apart from the usual (e.g. Egwene and Faile)...

Shadar Haran - I have no idea why he's here, I just find him irritaing.

The Creator - he could have solved the problem of the DO a while back, instead, ONLY THE CHOSEN ONE CAN DO WHAT MUST BE DONE (why don't you go choose Your Light-blinded self). I guess, if it weren't for His/Her indifference, we would have no WoT (Oh God, that is a reality too horrible to comprehend). Or perhaps the DO is a necessity for the world of the continued existence of the Wheel of Time and it's inhabitants.

Bayle Domon - there be no liking between the two of us here.

Egeanin - I could understand a thing she says.

 

The list probably doesn't end there, but it's 2 a.m.

 

Sleep well and wake.