So… I’ve just finished rereading the entire Wheel of Time series. The first time, I got through Book 10, Crossroads of Twilight, and then fell off the map of reading. Not because I was bored with it, in fact, I was chomping at the bit for more. That was somewhere around 2007. For those familiar with Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time series, they’ll know that was right about when he passed away from his long battle with cardiac amyloidosis.
As most of his fans were, I was heartbroken. About that time also, my life got a lot more hectic. I never ended up reading Knife of Dreams, Jordan’s last book in the series, especially since I knew that that wasn’t the end of the story. Even if I hadn’t been too busy, I wasn’t sure I could read another series that just wasn’t going to get an ending (Looking at you, Melanie Rawn). Fortunately, Brandon Sanderson took up took up the reins and finished out the series through book 14.
Anyway, back to the point of this article.
So in my rereading, I’ve noticed a few things. One of which is the interesting perspective Jordan took with women in the world of the Wheel.
First off, Jordan makes it quite clear throughout the story that women are certainly not a lesser sex. Between the powerful and commanding Moiraine to the Aiel Maidens, it’s very clear that women are fully capable and often dominant. There are even places where Jordan took the traditional patriarchal fantasy setting and turned it on its head by making it extremely matriarchal. Far Madding is one of those places. In Far Madding, women rule, they handle the business and make everything happen. Men, even husbands, are expected to be subservient or at least deferential to women.
In many instances, women are not even excluded from combat, a concept that the three main male protagonists have a huge issue with. The Aiel Maidens of the Spear are considered some of the most legendary fighters in the world. But they’re not the only ones. Even in the rest of the world, there are the Hunters for the Horn, many of whom are women. And, by a quirk of cultural appropriation, the Maidens inspire a whole new group of women soldiers/fighters.
But, of course, not everything is hunky dory equality. As I said, the three main characters, Rand, Matt and Perin, all have serious issues with women fighting. Not necessarily because they think they’re not capable, but rather, because they were raised in what we consider conservative and chivalrous homes. They’re basically taught not to hit a woman, to treat women with respect and that a man should protect the women.
This is even an issue that these characters don’t get to work through on their own. The women in their lives are constant reminders that women may not always be physically as strong, but that does not make them less capable.
Speaking of strength. This is a point where Jordan takes another interesting twist. In reality, (I believe) males have evolved to be physically stronger (on average, but certainly not absolutely) to act as protectors, because females bear the children. This is a relationship that exists outside of equality and is irrelevant to how we treat each other. In reality, this happens with physical strength pretty much exclusively. But in the world of the Wheel, it also happens with Jordan’s version of magic, called the One Power. While not absolutely true, on average, men are stronger in the power than women. I would see, from Jordan’s perspective, that this is more or less also an evolutionary function.
The One Power also brings up another interesting fact about how Jordan set up his world. In the world of the Wheel, the One Power is used differently by men and women. Many times, they seem like different sources of magic altogether. Men have to seize control of their power, called saidin while women must surrender to their version, saidar. Of course, one could easily make the assumption that this is a bit sexist in of itself. But, Jordan never lets us assume that this means women should surrender or be subservient to men.
If we consider that his personal views impacted how he created the world of the Wheel, then I think we can assume that he views a person’s gender to be connected to a person’s soul rather than their body. Think about that for a second. For a series that was started in 1990, 26 years ago, Jordan was saying that a person’s gender was separate from their physical body, an idea that is VERY controversial today.
How did he say this? Through his use of characters wielding the One Power. Several of the Antagonists in the story are killed off fairly early on. But to keep the pressure on, the Dark Lord brings them back in new bodies. What makes this most interesting, is that multiple of these characters are brought back into the bodies of opposite sex. And yet, an originally male character maintains the use of saidin when he is put into a female body. One of the characters even remarks about how the One Power is not connected to the physical body.
But, what does this mean? This means that a person could feasibly be a man in the body of a woman or visa versa. Now, Jordan’s world is at least partially controlled or influenced by their “Creator,” though most characters’ opinions point more to the Weave of the Pattern (more or less their fabric of reality) as the guiding force. So from that perspective, souls are put in the correct bodies at the get go.
Jordan’s view does not take into account for other concepts of gender, and this is not really a surprise. The idea of gender fluidity in the mainstream is pretty recent, so this is a concept he may not have even been exposed to. As the story is, though, I believe he’s actually quite progressive and open minded.
My point, through all this rambling, is that after reading a different series (or trying to) that seemed very much anathema to what I consider progressive and equal, Jordan’s Wheel of Time is pretty refreshing.