The Wheel of Time season three is firing on all cylinders, giving us new locations and raising the stakes. The series has continued to expand its world and the cultures shown within it, giving us a taste of Robert Jordan’s sprawling lore. The show has remained a consistent adaptation, choosing to keep the primary plot focused on Rand’s quest to master his power. What the show has also done particularly well is adapting is the revision of its women characters and its diversity.
The cast members of the series have attested to the power of the women in the books and the series. They especially praise how much more diverse the show is than the books. The women characters benefit from better writing, and the show’s world also looks a bit more like our own. Shohreh Aghdashloo, who portrays the ever-scheming Elaida, talked to us about the importance of the diversity of the show:
“Being a part of these shows gives me a chance to prove to all the little girls around the globe, in Asia, Africa, Middle East or elsewhere – when they see me in this series, they would think, ‘Wait a second. If they made it, I would be able to make it too,’ and that’s the message I personally would send out, to not to be afraid to pursue what you believe in, what you love.”
The Wheel of Time women in the novels are strong characters, but the books are and have always been a product of their time. They think about their appearance a lot, are often folding their arms in anger over their “bosoms”, and spend far too much time thinking about the men.
The books mostly come from Rand’s point of view. He spends a lot of his time suspicious of everyone around him, especially the women of the Aes Sedai. Moving away from Rand’s occasionally unreliable narration to Moiraine in season one allows the show to push past some of the more one-dimensional depictions of the women around Rand.
The Aes Sedai in The Wheel of Time are highly skilled and powerful women. But in the books, much of their accumulated power stems from pure manipulation of the people around them. Moiraine, in particular, is always calculating and three steps ahead of everyone else. This is still true for the show. But she is also gets to be something more than that through her relationship with Siuan.
Their relationship potentially jeopardizing Moiraine’s search for the Dragon and Siuan’s preparation of the White Tower to serve him makes Moiraine’s secrecy much more compelling than just her hoping to manipulate Rand. It would be lovely to see Siuan and Moiraine happily together. But at least this version of their relationship allows them to be more than just master manipulators, which is often the description for the Aes Sedai.
As Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne also join the Aes Sedai in the books, Rand feels that he has lost trust in them almost entirely. According to his point of view, they are constantly conversing about him. Or they are making plans to use him in one way or the other. Rand’s mind is tainted by the madness from the male power, Saidin. So it is understandable that he would be paranoid. However, this paranoia is only truly expressed towards the women and not to his mentor figures Lan and Thom Merrilin.
One of my biggest issues with the books is that three women are in love with Rand. This is for no apparent reason other than the fact that he is ta’veren and the Dragon, someone who has a particularly strong influence on the way the Wheel turns. These three women are Elayne, Aviendha, and Min.
In the books, they mutually agree to continue their relationships with Rand (which is definitely weird). Obviously, it is quite different in the series. And this is for the better. Min only briefly meets Rand in the books before seeing a vision of her and two other women around him. And she knows that she will have a connection to him forever. It doesn’t take very long for her to realize that she is in love with Rand, but she is as confused about this development as the readers.
Min is an intriguing character who struggles with the darkness of her visions, but is often ready with a quip and a great sense of humor. However, her pining over Rand constantly overshadows any of this. She even goes so far as to change her preferred outfit of shirt and pants in favor of dresses to impress him. Tying her to Rand in such a way tragically reduces her agency, but the series wisely avoids this. In seasons two and three, we see Min and Mat develop a great friendship. They trade banter at lightning speed, and it is far more interesting than Min’s constant pining over Rand.
The show’s writers have also moved to instead capitalize on the obvious romantic subtext between Elayne and Aviendha. This connection between them has long been apparent to fans. Aviendha spends a lot of time with Rand in the Aiel Waste with the task of protecting him. In the books, especially book four, The Shadow Rising, Aviendha is forced to be at Rand’s side at all times. And because of that time, she falls in love with Rand. Readers have always seen through the subtext in Jordan’s books. To make it canon in the series was a much better choice than tying Elayne and Aviendha closely to Rand.
This growth beyond connections to Rand for the women in the series is also true for Egwene. Despite her romance with Rand, she’s now one of the most powerful wielders of Saidar. Egwene is one of the most powerful women to come to the White Tower. The series has shown this very clearly, as she has already faced off (albeit briefly) against a Forsaken.
One of the most frustrating characters to many Wheel of Time fans has always been Nynaeve. Some fans are more annoyed by her general angry demeanor. But what bothers me most is how long it takes for her to overcome her block. She is only able to wield her power under extreme duress. And this often reduces her character to having problems handling her emotions. What a tired trope. We hear a lot about how powerful Nynaeve is, and how she could be one of the most powerful Aes Sedai to ever live, but we don’t really see a lot of it in the books. This gets an improvement in the series, as we do see wield her power a few times.
Like many other women in the show, Nynaeve is able to grow beyond her romantic relationship—or lack thereof—with Lan Mandragoran, who is Moiraine’s Warder. Lan does a rather frustrating routine of “I can’t be with you, even though I love you, because I’m not good enough for you” in the books, and Nynaeve thus spends a lot of time pining for him too. Nynaeve is fierce and takes no prisoners, so the choice to have her pine so deeply for Lan confounded me. But the show sidesteps this deftly. As one of the strongest women in the series, the revision to her character is definitely welcome.
While The Wheel of Time books are often hailed for their many strong female characters, the books reduce these women to one dimension. Those stories make their lives revolve too often around their romantic relationships. The series rectifies this by making these women have fuller lives and stories outside their romantic relationships, focusing on their own power and friendships too.
Content shared from nerdist.com.