Quote Originally Posted by Murk View Post
Oh, I would never argue the story needs to be ABOUT trans issues.

But issues of gender, gender expectations and gender roles are pretty essential to the story, and that's why people are left with questions about trans people. I completely agree simplified answers work fine.
For me it seems only reasonable that one of the hundreds of Aes Sedai we see in the tower is a trans woman.
If someone wants a simple answer, this would be the simplest of answers: Egwene walks through the tower and sees an Aes Sedai that looks like man but channels Saidar. She if confused but someone explains the Aes Sedai is a woman who just happens to have a male-looking body.
This takes maybe four sentences, or five seconds of screen time? It acknowledges that - like intended - humans work the same in Randland as in the real world, trans people exist, they channel according to their gender, no issues whatsoever.

If you don't like the idea of the Aes Sedai being so tolerant and nonchalant, have the transwoman pop up among the Kinswomen. Those are used to criticise the Aes Sedai anyway. "Even though I channel Saidar I wasn't allowed into the tower because I look like a guy."
Three sentences top, fits the narrative of Kinswomen complaining about the Tower, done.

I'm sure some people would complain about wokeness and tokenism, but hey.
That kind of begs a lot of other changes. Like making any of the existing Channeler groups tolerant people.

Which...is probably a good change in general now I think of it. Having almost every major female character being wholly unreasonable because "women, amiright?" is one of the bigger hurdles to adapting the series.