epic is full of political intrigue.

Sunjata’s father is Maghan Kung Fatta, the king of the Mandinka, who has several wives. The principal female characters include these wives, especially Sunjata’s mother, Sukulung, who embodies the buffalo spirit. The first wife, whom the king rejected, is the mother of Dankaran Tuma, the half-brother who becomes Sunjata’s rival for the throne. Sunjata’s sister also figures importantly in the story; after the sorcerer Sumanguru illegally takes over as ruler of the Mandinka, she helps her brother by as a spy who gains information through a sexual relationship with Sumanguru.

A later version of the epic, Sundiata, uses different spellings of the characters’ names and further elaborates the women’s roles. Sukulung, rendered as Sogolon, is described as an “ugly hunchback” whom King Maghan Kon Fatta marries because it was prophesied that his heir would be an ugly woman’s son. She is known as Buffalo Woman. The first wife is consistently engaged in evil deeds, as she tries to kill Sundiata so her son will instead become king. Kolonkan, Sundiata's sister, has another key function when an encounter with another woman in the market connects her with the Malinke people who are searching for the exiled prince in hopes he will return.