I love Siuan, full stop. I didn't start loving her because I watched the show first and then read the books, and was excited to read about a queer magic pope.
I was intrigued and charmed by show Siuan, but I fell in love with book Siuan, head over heels. Her intelligence, her brashness, her spirit, her strength, her utter lack of self-consciousness, her doubts, her pedagogy, her ridiculousness, her rage. I thought she was an amazing character, larger than life, the kind of characters who are teachers or mentors and change your life.
And that's before we get to the Coup and understand just how strong and indomitable she is. How inspiring and complicated. How immutable and changing. How human. How Wheel of Time of her. Her arc means a lot to me. Her book arc, that is. To pretend the writers didn't make a series of decisions that fundamentally betray her character is disconcerting to me. It's plain damaging to the very ethos of the books.
I love Siuan, full stop.
