In fact, I remember thinking Jordan’s depiction of women was pretty dismal – he might have packed in far more female characters than Tolkien ever did, but they’re constantly objectified, forever hoisting their bosoms around, adjusting their skirts – even getting spanked as punishment.
I wasn’t sure if my memories of Jordan’s heaving bosoms and generally rather irritating women characters were exaggerated, so I decided to give the series another go.
Bosom aside women are always thinking about how they look and what they’re wearing – or frequently what they’re not wearing – in Jordan’s vision.
This means that only women can use magic in the present-day world – so far, so feminist – but their half is called saidar, and while men must master saidin to channel it, women must submit to saidar.
Moiraine, who is actually one of Jordan’s better characters, is looking for the Dragon Reborn, a reincarnation of the male sorcerer who took on Shai’tan generations earlier.
It seems the adaptation won’t be quite as focused on these three teenage boys and their various paramours as Jordan was; the blurb has it that Moiraine “embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women, one of whom is prophesied to be the Dragon Reborn, who will either save or destroy humanity”.
“I think what’s exciting about in the 90s is that they opened up a conversation about gender and how gender is represented in all of these different cultures within the world of Wheel of Time,” showrunner Rafe Judkins told Gizmodo.
Perhaps someone did read the books after all, and saw that Jordan’s world view – which also lacks LGBTQ+ representation – needed a bit of a shake-up.
The actress also called The Wheel of Time “a monumental piece of work”, adding that “it’s so magnificent what can achieve with it”.
I mean the whole kit-and-caboodle: the overall structure, and the narrative, the pacing and focalisation, the characterisation, the dialogue, the tone.
There is so much fantastic, well-written, strongly plotted fantasy out there that would have been a richer seam to mine: Robin Hobb’s adventures of Fitz and the Fool, for example, which contains magic, dragons, talking to animals, persecution, unrequited love … and bosoms all relegated to their appropriate places.