Robert Jordan was progressive
Robert Jordan was gender essentialist
These thoughts aren't mutually exclusive
Robert Jordan was a man of his time
Examining people without context is bad
The Wheel of Time was the first important American Fantasy Series
The Wheel of Time is actually Very Quite Good
The Wheel of Time has well written female characters BECAUSE it treats men and women as the same (being... very flawed internally)
The Aes Sedai being corrupt is Good Actually because Matriarchy is also bad; power will corrupt, it is human nature - thinking otherwise is gender essentialist in the Other Way
The Wheel of Time is good because it treats everyone equally... being flawed
The Wheel of Time is good because it shows all humans as dealing with incomplete information as best they can: selfishly/flawed/wrong/right/randomly.
The Wheel of Time is good because it's complicated and life is complicated
The Wheel of Time is good because it shows trauma from many many many points of view. And never from an overt point of view
The Wheel of Time is good because it doesn't shy from uncomfortable truths about humanity
The Wheel of Time is good because it was written by a smart man who was raised poor, suffered PTSD, went to war, suffered PTSD, was hypervigilant, was reflective, and wanted to capture all of that
The Wheel of Time is good because it is complicated
The Wheel of Time is good
People who think the Wheel of Time is bad or shallow are shallow
(Also Verin Sedai is GOAT)