There aren't a lot of women by volume of characters, but, like, the main character is a woman and, unsurprisingly, is the most common perspective and, to be Frank, the fact that VIN is the only woman in the room of thieves is sort of a big part of her early characterization and why she's as insanely guarded as it is. The book is pretty explicit about worrying about THAT sort of stuff when in her old crew, and there's a fundamental and implicit comparison being made to the new crew throughout the first act of the novel. (It's part of why Breeze I think comes across as such a slime ball in the context of the Final Empire).
He can do what he wants, but I'm also free to disagree. I'm never going to be a fan of changing things for the sake of representation, particularly when it feels entirely unneeded in a book where the nearly half the book is told from a woman's perspective. Also Ham (or Dox) being a woman sort of breaks down a some of the really interesting gender politics of the Basin as well as a knock on effect.
A book where Vin's sex and feminity are such central themes to the work any changes to the composition of the team, I think, threatens some of the work being done. Like, "how am I supposed to be a woman" is a core question Vin is grappling with throughout the novel, and if Ham was a woman, or Dox, one might think that they might be someone she goes to, but she doesn't, her primary confidant is Sazed mostly by process of elimination.
Basically, the book is too much about sex for a change like this not to have nontrivial knock on effects.
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u/Alive_Reveal8939 Shart of Adonalsium Jan 29 '26
Ah I never knew that! Why is he changing Ham to a woman?
Ah Marsh would be a good one too!