That answer could have been totally compressed into "two words: wish fulfillment." The merchant of venice example doesn't work because that's not an issue of evading a physical fight that's been built up. Heck, she introduced so many new characters anyhow that 90% of their side could have been killed off with only one or two main chara deaths.

I think my main complaint, issues about feminism and other thematic ones aside, is that the narrative is poorly structured and just boring at parts, and that the fights seem tacked on in terms of the structure, That probably does have something to do with the lack of conflict.