Christie Golden Can't Write Powerful Women

[Cardboard Fox]

It's a problem I see in a lot of literature unfortunately; where an author has trouble writing a powerful woman, they either write them like a man or like a petulant child. Thinking back on the three powerful women Christie Golden has had the honor of writing for, they all behave relatively the same and it's all pretty unbecoming. And now that she's working for Blizzard as a writer for the game and not just the novels, a lot of the characters have gone downhill.

#1: Tyrande Whisperwind
She was a main character in War Crimes, acting as the Alliance's prosecution against Garrosh Hellscream in his trial. She lost her temper easily, over-reacted to not getting her way, and did not at all come off as a thousands-of-years-old priestess. I'm surprised she didn't stomp her feet and slam doors, to be honest.

#2: Jaina
Jaina's had it rough for a long time, but she's always taken her duties with the Kirin Tor and Dalaran very seriously. Up until she didn't get her way in Legion and the other council members out-voted her. So she threw a fit and ran away. Can't get what I want? Then I don't want anything at all!

#3: Sylvanas
Arguably one of the most intelligent leaders (devious too!) She's also undead, and the undead have trouble feeling emotions, Sylvanas included if you read her bits in War Crimes. But suddenly she can be angered to the point of burning down her political advantage? It just seems too out-of-character for her.


Are there any other characters that have been turned into emotion-fueled children that lash out when they don't get their way? Or am I seeing patterns where there aren't any?

[Nynax]

insert sexist comment about all woman are emotional.

[Thalassian Bob]

Don't forget having Sylvanas slaughter her own people for the first time all for wanting to be with their living families.

[Venziir]

Tyrande has always been one to act without thinking. She's always been a zealot, just go play Warcraft 3 again.

[Deleted]

I guess fiction is not her thing.

[Smallfruitbat]

Very few writers write powerful women well. They are either end up as men in dresses or as unstable.

[Cardboard Fox]

Tyrande has always been one to act without thinking. She's always been a zealot, just go play Warcraft 3 again.

You're right. I agree with this. But you can be impulsive without being childish.

[cparle87]

It's a problem I see in a lot of literature unfortunately; where an author has trouble writing a powerful woman, they either write them like a man or like a petulant child. Thinking back on the three powerful women Christie Golden has had the honor of writing for, they all behave relatively the same and it's all pretty unbecoming. And now that she's working for Blizzard as a writer for the game and not just the novels, a lot of the characters have gone downhill.

#1: Tyrande Whisperwind
She was a main character in War Crimes, acting as the Alliance's prosecution against Garrosh Hellscream in his trial. She lost her temper easily, over-reacted to not getting her way, and did not at all come off as a thousands-of-years-old priestess. I'm surprised she didn't stomp her feet and slam doors, to be honest.

#2: Jaina
Jaina's had it rough for a long time, but she's always taken her duties with the Kirin Tor and Dalaran very seriously. Up until she didn't get her way in Legion and the other council members out-voted her. So she threw a fit and ran away. Can't get what I want? Then I don't want anything at all!

#3: Sylvanas
Arguably one of the most intelligent leaders (devious too!) She's also undead, and the undead have trouble feeling emotions, Sylvanas included if you read her bits in War Crimes. But suddenly she can be angered to the point of burning down her political advantage? It just seems too out-of-character for her.


Are there any other characters that have been turned into emotion-fueled children that lash out when they don't get their way? Or am I seeing patterns where there aren't any?

Tyrande has always been hotheaded and emotional from day one? Remember in WC3 when she and Malfurion were travelling in the tunnels beneath Hyjal and came near Illidan's prison? She wants to free him so she can use him to fight the Scourge. Malfurion tells you no. She comes back with "No one but the Goddess can forbid me anything." Then proceeds to slaughter all the night elf and other guardians who were her own people to get her own way.

I'd strongly suggest you go read the novella excerpts. It explains quite well Sylvanas' thinking. Personally I think she was pissed that Malfurion wasn't enough to break the night elves and that she was left with little choice but to burn it. It's like "damn you for making me do this, you should've surrendered."

[Deleted]

It just seems too out-of-character for her.

No, it's not. Also, it wasn't because she was angry. But because she realized capturing tree is not enough to broke NE spirit.

[Deleted]

Go apply for her job then if you think you can do better?

[Orby]

It's a problem I see in a lot of literature unfortunately; where an author has trouble writing a powerful woman, they either write them like a man or like a petulant child. Thinking back on the three powerful women Christie Golden has had the honor of writing for, they all behave relatively the same and it's all pretty unbecoming. And now that she's working for Blizzard as a writer for the game and not just the novels, a lot of the characters have gone downhill.

#1: Tyrande Whisperwind
She was a main character in War Crimes, acting as the Alliance's prosecution against Garrosh Hellscream in his trial. She lost her temper easily, over-reacted to not getting her way, and did not at all come off as a thousands-of-years-old priestess. I'm surprised she didn't stomp her feet and slam doors, to be honest.

#2: Jaina
Jaina's had it rough for a long time, but she's always taken her duties with the Kirin Tor and Dalaran very seriously. Up until she didn't get her way in Legion and the other council members out-voted her. So she threw a fit and ran away. Can't get what I want? Then I don't want anything at all!

#3: Sylvanas
Arguably one of the most intelligent leaders (devious too!) She's also undead, and the undead have trouble feeling emotions, Sylvanas included if you read her bits in War Crimes. But suddenly she can be angered to the point of burning down her political advantage? It just seems too out-of-character for her.


Are there any other characters that have been turned into emotion-fueled children that lash out when they don't get their way? Or am I seeing patterns where there aren't any?

Who says all these women have got to be powerful? And who says Golden is writing them all? The story department is more than just Golden, there is a number of people who work on the lore.

But to be fair Jaina is more interesting now than she has ever been. IF there's one person I give Golden credit for changing (after reading Tides of War) it's Jaina. Maybe she isnt 'powerful' but she is a damaged women who is haunted by the ghosts of her past, she has hatred but is justified for that hatred. I think she is one of the better written characters in WoW.

Tyrande hasn't been written well since Warcraft 3, we can hardly put the blame on Golden for that one. every writers who has touched her has made her a horrible character, her voice acting doesn't help either. Is it even the same actor from warcraft 3? Let's not forget this is the women who murders many watchers to free Illidan and paid no price for it. So don't tell me she was never a hot headed rash women before hand.

And Sylvanas was always a Kerrigan knockoff anyway I never liked her, so not much to ruin in my opinion. :P

[Smallfruitbat]

It's a problem I see in a lot of literature unfortunately; where an author has trouble writing a powerful woman, they either write them like a man or like a petulant child. Thinking back on the three powerful women Christie Golden has had the honor of writing for, they all behave relatively the same and it's all pretty unbecoming. And now that she's working for Blizzard as a writer for the game and not just the novels, a lot of the characters have gone downhill.

#1: Tyrande Whisperwind
She was a main character in War Crimes, acting as the Alliance's prosecution against Garrosh Hellscream in his trial. She lost her temper easily, over-reacted to not getting her way, and did not at all come off as a thousands-of-years-old priestess. I'm surprised she didn't stomp her feet and slam doors, to be honest.

#2: Jaina
Jaina's had it rough for a long time, but she's always taken her duties with the Kirin Tor and Dalaran very seriously. Up until she didn't get her way in Legion and the other council members out-voted her. So she threw a fit and ran away. Can't get what I want? Then I don't want anything at all!

#3: Sylvanas
Arguably one of the most intelligent leaders (devious too!) She's also undead, and the undead have trouble feeling emotions, Sylvanas included if you read her bits in War Crimes. But suddenly she can be angered to the point of burning down her political advantage? It just seems too out-of-character for her.


Are there any other characters that have been turned into emotion-fueled children that lash out when they don't get their way? Or am I seeing patterns where there aren't any?

Re: Tyrande -While I'm critical of the character development, I don't think the style of Warcrimes played to Christies strengths.

Re: Jaina -I think Christie did a better job of writing Jaina than we have seen in game. Its not really fair to blame her for that.


Re: Sylvanas -You need to separate story and character development. You can have a well developed character in a shit story.

[Deleted]

Because women should not try to be portrayed as heroes of the battle. I Imagine a powerful women as a great Priestess of Elune who can heal up her lesser soldiers and giving them lots of energy and power, so she would be in a battle indirectly, but everyone would know where is the origin of the soldiers main source of power. That would be more believable than seeing her fight in the front lines of battle.

But I won't complain about current story. I'm fine with it, I like it. The problem is that it's all over the place and someone would have to compile everything together and tell the story from start to end.

[Zubacz]

It's difficult to write powerful leaders who are female because they hardly exist in the real world. The ones who are always quoted to have been well designed in fiction, like Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor or Lara Croft, basically behaved like men with boobs.

Female traits are emotion, kindness, compassion, caring. Those are not traits that make leaders though. I honestly can't think of a way to make a fictional leader behave like what we expect a woman to behave like. I guess they can keep designing men in a hot female body, because that seems to get praised.

[Astalnar]

Truth be told, Golden doesn't have the creative authority, Blizzard has it. She has to work with the directions they give her. And Blizzard's narrative ever since they started slowly but surely replacing the old guard is in shambles.

They can't decide what to do with their cast of characters and instead only know that they want "strong female characters". That's why Jaina is not a villain even if she's couple of expansion past that point. That's why Sylvanas is doing decisions on a whim even though she is supposed to be a great strategist and tactican. That's why Tyrande is left doing nothing, because they don't really know what they want to do with her.

That said, Warcrimes was a trainwreck. The whole plot was such idiotism I still wonder who even thought this would be a good idea.

[Suluhu]

But to be fair Jaina is more interesting now than she has ever been. IF there's one person I give Golden credit for changing (after reading Tides of War) it's Jaina. Maybe she isnt 'powerful' but she is a damaged women who is haunted by the ghosts of her past, she has hatred but is justified for that hatred. I think she is one of the better written characters in WoW.

I was thinking the same thing. Jaina was always a bit of a male dependent character, but after Tides of War that started to shift. I like where her character is going now. She's definitely growing.

All women can't be strong all the time. Neither can men, for that matter. You have start somewhere and grow into a strong person.

[bloodmoth13]

It's a problem I see in a lot of literature unfortunately; where an author has trouble writing a powerful woman, they either write them like a man or like a petulant child. Thinking back on the three powerful women Christie Golden has had the honor of writing for, they all behave relatively the same and it's all pretty unbecoming. And now that she's working for Blizzard as a writer for the game and not just the novels, a lot of the characters have gone downhill.

Give examples of well written female characters then, lets see it. not that it fixes any issues blizz has but you might just be holding blizz up to a standard nobody meets.

[evertonbelmontt]

I guess fiction is not her thing.

/close thread.

[Super Kami Dende]

Give examples of well written female characters then, lets see it. not that it fixes any issues blizz has but you might just be holding blizz up to a standard nobody meets.

Ciri in Witcher 3 is an amazing Character as are Yennefer, Triss and Keira.

[Torto]

It's hard for people to agree what a 'powerful woman' looks like, so it's very difficult to write one that appeals to everyone. What's the point of having a female character if you are just going to have them act like a man?