#iirc there were maybe two whole other unnamed background characters who were women

[lookingforcactus]

My opinion on Brandon Sanderson was formed when I was reading Mistborn back when I was in college

I was happy about the potential of having a really prolific, established, mostly well-regarded new SFF author to read! Cautiously happy, because SFF Has Burned Me Before, but hopeful

I liked the beginning of Mistborn! I really did. I liked the protagonist a lot, and went ahead and dug in

here's the thing though: my first loyalty is almost always to female characters, esp in SFF, because way too much SFF (especially older SFF) has treated female characters so poorly

And as I kept reading Mistborn, I started noticing that...there weren't really any female characters besides the protagonist

And I kept going, "Well, maybe in the next group of characters that get introduced!"

And that kept just...not happening

Eventually, maybe half to two thirds of the way through the book, a second female character was introduced! Nice! Finally!

She ended up, iirc, being a maid or a servant with a bit part at one of the locations (a noble house), and was then never mentioned again

And look, it's been a while since I read Mistborn, and I wasn't inclined (though I was tempted) to go through the whole book to double check, so I can't swear by this

But iirc? That servant and/or maid was the only other named female character in the entire 600+ page book

So, yeah, that's right about when I lost interest in what Brandon Sanderson had to say

#emphasis on named female character #iirc there were maybe two whole other unnamed background characters who were women #two whole characters! #I also kept waiting for him to address the gender divide in the worldbuilding and that kept...basically not happening? #besides generic “sexism is a problem for the female lead” #after much thinking I ended up pretty convinced that he actually had no idea that there were so few female characters in his book #like how all those studies show that men think women talk an equal amount in meetings #when women are in fact doing only a third of the talking #and that men think women getting equal speaking time is actually them dominating it completely #bc the brain is terrible at accuracy when any bias is involved #so like. I just assumed having a female lead felt like So Much Women to him #that he just never introduced another significant female character #in the entire 672 page book #yes I did just look that up #presumably/hopefully there are more female characters introduced later in the series #but like...too little too late imho #color me unimpressed #so his wheel of time comments feel pretty in line with my impression of him #and his narrative judgment capabilities #suffice to say #wheel of time #wheel of time s2 #brandon sanderson #also he's wrong s2's character arc resolutions were FANTASTIC #which he might know if he bothered watching any of the other episodes! #then again #to be petty for a hot sec #maybe he would just go “oh wow way too much time with women” #wot on prime