this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2025
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Television
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I tried really hard a few times with the first book and I just couldn't do it. Mat it just so fucking dumb with every single decision. I understand characters needing conflict but jfc it's so, so bad in the first book. I really can't get past it. Wolf boy or whatever was cool for a bit but every 15 minutes the book has to go back to mat and him whining about how every stupid thing he does rightfully fucks him over. I couldn't stand it by halfway through the book.
Mat is objectively the best character, hands down.
Mat sucks donkey balls before they get the dagger away from him. But, he's also eventually the best character, so...
"Eventually" doesn't cover it when we're talking 30 hours a book on audiobook. Mat sucks for as much of the wheel of time as I'm prepared to tolerate.
No skin of my balls, just sayin'. You do you.
There are over 400hrs for the entire audiobook series, most of which Mat is the baddest of baddasses.
Sometimes the best story arcs come from drastic changes in the character, like going from super annoying to completely awesome. You thinking of him as making terrible decisions, being whiny and annoying may be a testament to the quality of writing since that was the foundation for his drastic change. He had to represent those characteristics to make his outcome that much more impactful.
You not liking him at that point of his story arc was the intention of the author.
Intentionally making your MC unlikeable while having a very weak cast for the first 60+ hours of your book series is certainly a choice as a writer.
That choice seems to have worked out well for Robert Jordan as Mat is the most beloved character from a cast of hundreds in his internationally acclaimed book series many claim to be some of the best fantasy written and was also adapted into a TV show.
It is hard to argue with results, which is what you are doing after only completing less than 15% of the entire series. You have every right to your opinion and also to stay willfully ignorant about the other 85% of the story you have missed. It’s not your cup of tea, I get it; but your opinion is easily dismissed because of that and rightfully so.
To me this is like someone only watching the first 30mins of the LotR trilogy and turning it off because I didn’t like Merry & Pippen’s hijinks. Or not liking Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album because I didn’t like the first few minutes of the first song. You have every right to your opinion but your lack of exposure to the content invalidates that opinion for many people.