OC [Spoilers All] Am I the only one who unironically likes all of the characters??? A list of my unpopular opinions.

Figured I would start moving over some of my high effort posts to the fediverse. This is a post I originally made on the /r/wot subreddit.

Original Post

I feel like so many posts on this sub are about how much people hate certain characters. But I really love all of them? Sure, there are some characters who I would despise in real life, but as characters I really like them.

Unpopular opinion: all the "Hero" characters are, while deeply flawed, fundamentally good people, and I enjoy all of them.

Here is a collection of all my unpopular opinions defending hate-magnet characters:

Egwene: As a career-oriented person myself I get Egwene. She wants to do something meaningful and important and be the best of the best at doing it. Every time she sees something even more exciting she dives into it with no hesitation and isn't precious about her current endeavor. She's a total sponge, learning everything she can from the Aes Sedai and Wise Ones. She's everything the Aes Sedai say they are: poised, cunning, politically savvy, and forward thinking. Watching her best Elaida by turning setting a better example into a weapon is one of my favorite plotlines in the series. She's the paragon of an Aes Sedai, but also a visionary for their future. She wants to rip down centuries of Dogma to strengthen the tower by adopting the best practices of the Wise Ones, Sea Folk, and Kin. Does she do some shitty things? Sure, but she's a fucking teenager. Her frontal cortex is still in the process of developing when it gets turned into jewelry.

Cadsuane: An arrogant, unrepentant asshole who just wants to help the Light by getting all the fucking children around her in line. You know who else is an arrogant, unrepentant asshole when Cadsuane rolls onto the scene: Rand. Our boy is constantly screaming at people, using them as tools, and generally being a giant dick to everyone around him who doesn't act like a sycophant. There's a reason we call this version of Rand Darth Rand. Cadsuane realizes that having an unstable, unfeeling God Emperor is probably, on the whole, a bad idea, and tries to fix it. And yeah, she starts off by trying to give him an ego check, by not acting like a cowed underling, and forcing him to mind his manners a bit in an attempt to break him out of his pattern. I honestly think that just like many people with mental health issues, Rand had to hit rock bottom before he could right the ship, and Cadsuane provided Tam for him to hit rock bottom with and provide a moral center. And yeah, she fucks up along the way, is a little too curmudgeonly in her approach, but that shit is compelling. Here's a woman who can handle a false Dragon before breakfast, and even she is out of her depth with Rand. But she keeps trying anyway because she knows that she fundamentally has the right of it. Keeps trying to save the world post-battle from Rand, risking her own life after he exiles her by doing so, and eventually succeeds. So many other characters only get the right of it in the final play when their back is against the wall, so why do we hold the same thing against Cadsuane? For the world to not be broken again, Rand needed to hit rock bottom and have a crisis of conscience.

Elayne: Compassionate, brave, and just. Constantly sleeps on the ground, does chores, and lets others take the lead without complaint dispite being raised as a Noble. She even offers to throw her support to Dylan if the other woman wants because it would be best for Andor. Does she often take risks with her own life? Yes, just like every other character. Rand makes a point of ditching his bodyguards all the goddamn time. Elayne doesn't become emboldened by believing Min's prophesy about her babes, she just finally has an excuse to give others (and herself) to let her fight the Shadow, you know, like a goddamn hero. Nothing about her actions materially change, even though people act like she suddenly becomes a loose cannon. It just allows her to be what she already is with less roadblocks.

Gawyn:

Faile: Girl comes from a totally different culture than her husband and is trying to make the best of it, especially when her husband treats her in a way that she has been taught to believe is disrespectful. She is constantly keeping her baser emotions in check and never wavers in her loyalty to Perrin, always managing to give him the benefit of the doubt when her messed up instincts are telling her the worst. We only know what she's feeling deep down because of Perrin's super invasive smell-o-vision. In a lot of ways, girl has waaaay better mastery of her emotions than 90% of the cast, because we know she often overrides them to do the right thing in action by Perrin, even when she has negative feelings welling up inside. Top that off with finding herself living a life she swore to herself she would never live (a noble) for the love of her husband, and applying herself 100% to it, and I just can't do anything but admire her immensely. Does she have a few slip ups like some sort of actual human here and there? Yes. Can I forgive them? Yes.