To celebrate the new season of The Wheel Of Time, join us on a trip down memory lane
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGES BY UNIVERSAL TELEVISION, 20TH CENTURY FOX, FREEFORM
The Wheel Of Time is officially back. Amazon Prime’s hit fantasy show starring a very sapphic Rosamund Pike has returned for season three.
The show centres around Moiraine, a member of a magical organization, who leads a group of individuals on a perilous journey, guided by prophecy, magic, and destiny, as they seek the Dragon Reborn — humanity’s only hope against a rising darkness. This new season will see Moiraine on a mission to protect Rand al’Thor and begin their journey to the Aiel Wast. It’s safe to say that we can’t wait!
While our screens seem to be brimming with sapphic witches, vampires, goblins and more these days, that wasn’t always the case. Despite our seemingly innate sapphic love for all things magical, it was hard to find an LGBTQIA character fighting dragons or telling prophecies until recently.
As we get ready to drool over Rosamund Pike for yet another season of The Wheel Of Time, let’s take a look at how far we’ve come.
1980s
If you were a child of the 80s, chances are that you also swooned over Adora in the action series She-Ra: Princess Of Power. As a spin-off of the wildly popular series He-Man, She-Ra followed the story of Princess Adora who led the fight to free most of Etheria from the tyrannical rule of Hordak and the Evil Horde.
While there was no explicit sapphic storyline in the original show – it was the 80s – fans quickly read her relationship with Catra as being something very queer. Fast forward to 2018, Netflix’s reboot of the iconic story finally gave us a canonically sapphic Adora.
1990s
We can’t talk about sapphic fantasy rep without mentioning the legendary series Xena. There’s quite literally nothing more gay than a warrior princess with a sword. The show followed Xena who sought redemption for her dark past, battled gods, warlords, and mythical creatures alongside her loyal “companion”, Gabrielle.
Again, while there wasn’t any explicit mention that Xena or Gabrielle were LGBTQIA, fans were quick to read their relationship as such. A full-on snog would probably imply some kind of romantic relationship – surely?
It wasn’t long after Xena that audiences were introduced to one of the most recognisable sapphic shows of all time: Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Through the show’s portrayal of Tara and Willow, sapphics everywhere were able to see themselves on screen. It’s hard to understate how important this representation would be, marking one of the first times a mainstream show had a recurring lesbian couple on screen.
2010s
As the decades went on, more and more fantasy shows were making our dreams come true. Canadian supernatural show Lost Girl gave us the iconic character of Bo – a bisexual, polyamorous Succubus.
Fast forward six years, Wynonna Earp quickly became one of the most game-changing shows around. “WayHaught” – the ship name lovingly coined by fans for the show’s couple Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught – provided not only visibility but sexy, fun, and (importantly) accurate lesbian representation on screen.
Whether it was apocalyptic futures in The Carmilla Movie or fighting demonic armies in The Shannara Chronicles, the fantasy genre was proving itself to be a safe haven for sapphic viewers.
2020s
And that brings us to now. There are almost too many shows and films for us to mention here. Fans have been captivated by action-packed fantasy series like Warrior Nun and Motherland: Fort Salem. We’ve fallen in love with magical worlds in Willow and The Owl House. Hell, we’ve even gone steampunk with the release of Netflix’s series Arcane. Whether you’re more of a First Kill streamer or a die-hard Agatha All Along stan, there have never been so many fantasy series for us to choose from.
While The Wheel Of Time is showing time and time again that queer female protagonists in fantasy are not only compelling but commercial, it’s still not enough. The #CancelYourGays trend has taken a number of beloved fantasy series from viewers. Although some have been saved – like Warrior Nun – it’s still imperative that we keep banging our drum about how much we enjoy seeing ourselves on screen.
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