Saidin and Saidar: An Overview of Gender Division in Robert Jordan's "The Eye of The World"

One of the most interesting aspects of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" is his depiction of the balance of power between the sexes, both in interpersonal relationships and society at large. I don't think I've ever read a story that handles this topic quite the way this series does; and I really appreciate the the level of thought and consideration that must have gone into it. It really made me consider femininity and masculinity as concepts in a way I hadn't before.

I kind of have the feeling that a lot of people today might take issue with this series because the story itself, even down to the worldbuilding, does convey a very strong distinction between a masculine identity and a feminine identity. But I think it's something you could learn from even if you feel like it doesn't capture the entire spectrum of gender identity.

The story starts out in this small town called Emond's Field, which is run by two governing branches: The Town Council (comprised of men) and The Women's Circle (made up of...ya know...). Even though it seems a bit like these two groups kinda bicker and don't always see eye to eye, you get the sense that they're keeping each other accountable. Like there is tension, but it's the kind of tension that is supposed to be there in a balanced society so that everyone is represented fairly.

Anyway...

In the story, the people of Emond's Field are about to celebrate their annual spring festival: Bel Tine (Which is Medieval Fun-Time Land's version of the Celtic festival Beltine...May Day...which commemorates the mystical union between the male and female aspects of divinity. They never go into this in the story, but it stuck out to me as pretty significant symbolism...) 

So far, everything seems fairly balanced between men and women...

Then Moraine comes into town:

(With her beefy bodyguard/personal assistant, Lan, in tow.)

Moraine is a member of an order of very powerful female magicians who are generally distrusted by rural folk due to their penchant for enchanting men and taking them as their Warders (personal assistant/bodyguards). 

Men are apparently defenseless toward these magic users, because 1) most men a can't use magic and 2) Men who can use magic are "tainted" or corrupted in some horrible way, causing them to be systematically hunted down and imprisoned by those in power. Eventually they have their power (along with their will to live) severed from them and most of them end up committing suicide. 

(Interestingly, this is not presented as oppression

 but as an unfortunate necessity.) 

So slowly we start to gather that life out there in the wide world is not nearly as balanced as it would at first appear to be. Generally speaking, the balance of power in the world at large is slanted to favor women. (Now, this is not unanimously the case... The world is a pretty big place and every country and culture kind of deals with the situation a bit differently, but in general this holds true.) The country Emond's Field is nominally a part of is lead by a matriarchy: Women are Queens, men are their consorts. This is the way the world works, and it's the way the world is meant to work, and the main characters, 3/5 of whom are male, do not question any of this.

Not surprisingly, the Bel Tine celebrations are disrupted and order within the community devolves into chaos when they are attacked by the NOT ORCS. And it emerges that the male 3/5ths of the POV characters are magic-destiny boys who are fated to change the world in some significant way. And so the Emond's Field boys (Rand, Mat and Perrin) are ushered off on to their adventure.

I think it's interesting that the female Emond's Fielders are actually the ones who are who are given agency in this scenario: Nynaeve and Egwene (the female 2/5ths of the MC's) go along on the adventure of their own free will (out of a moral imperative and as an opportunist, respectively), while the Male MC's are forced into it.

I don't think it would be quite fair to think of Rand, Mat, and Perrin as passive figures, but they are being manipulated by forces outside of their understanding and control. This, compounded by their "Special" status, kinda makes them seem a bit like an inverted princess archetype with Nynaeve and Egwene as the traditional adventurers. 

Towards the end of their adventure in this book, Rand meets a NOT ENT called "The Green Man". who's this kind of male nature-guardian, holding the last bit of uncorrupted Saidin (male-magic), which Rand gets to experience before it is extinguished. 

Overall I think it's a really clever inversion of gender inequality as we normally think of it. You get to see this kind of benevolent sexism, and the rationalization for it, as well as an inkling of what a genuinely feminist culture might look like in Andor. The exploration continues in the subsequent books where we see a fuller exploration of female hierarchy, female leadership, as well as the power of a well-balanced relationship.