I thought the diversity in Wheel of Time was forced, and I generally dislike the term forced diversity.

One of the main plot points for the tiny town it start in is that they're some backcountry town everyone has forgotten about and aside from our main character, nearly everyone is close to inbred with ancient bloodlines, like the Shire.

It's like if Lords of the Ring started in the Shire but had dwarves, humans, and elves live there. But like they still pretend it's an isolated untouched idyllic village. And the main character is a human, not a hobbit, but everyone thinks they're a hobbit even though they don't look like the other hobbits.

They should have removed his backstory or not made it central to the plot but they just kept it and said fuck it the isolated village can look like people from 3 continents who speak 4 different accents, but for some reason this guy is special because he is different.