Why is Hyperion's Meina Gladstone? 

It's kinda weird to look at, because Meina doesn't really feel like a main character, despite having such a domineering force on the wider narrative. Just goes to show how much is going on in Fall I suppose; Meina just becomes another part of the puzzle

"The woman with sad brown eyes". She is a very strong & fascinating character, wonderfully composed by Simmons!

Yeah, I think that's a fair critique. Though, I feel like the book approaches her more as an icon as opposed to a fully fledged character, so that's more of what I wanted to examine. From what little we do get, the "woman with the sad, brown eyes" seems like a decent enough human being. Like, she's ambitious, sure, but she seems to care about the people around her. We know she has friends, we know she's torn apart by the loss of her mentor, but I think all of that has to be secondary in our examination when we consider the level of power she holds. The woman can give a single order and watch an entire planet be engulfed in flames after all. That's the main reason I refer to her as categorically evil; she seems like a friend you would want to have on a personal level, but almost all of her actions as a political figure create suffering on a scale unheard if in the present day, including the destruction of the web. All in all, 6 out of 10 as a person, 2 out of 10 as a President. Only reason she's not lower on my political score is because the other option in universe is literal undying bondage. Lesser of 2 evils, ya know? I'd love to hear your examination of her though