#saidin

[vexwerewolf]

If you want a really good example of how "treating gender as way more fundamental to the universe than it actually is" makes for shitty worldbuilding, look at Saidin and Saidar in Wheel of Time.

(This post will upset transphobic WoT nerds and that is intentional.)

Saidin and Saidar make no fucking sense. Why are fundamental forces of the universe that may or may not even be sentient gendered? Why is the magic pink and blue flavoured? Why, why, why tho Like, not even "what purpose does it serve in the story," WHYYYYYYYY

How did this happen? Like how did the Creator just wake up one timeless aeon and decide "yeah hmmm okay gonna just make this extremely arbitrary distinction between who gets to do what type of elemental magic better, and it is based on whether or not they have dicks or boobs." So FIRE and EARTH are MANLY elements so Saidin is better at manipulating them and AIR and WATER are WOMANLY elements so Saidar is better with them BUT THERE'S ALSO A GENDERLESS FIFTH ELEMENT CALLED "SPIRIT" THAT BOTH HANDLE EQUALLY SO IT ALREADY UNDERMINES ITS OWN PREMISE

BUT ACTUALLY the distinction isn't even based on the gender of your body, it's based upon the gender of your soul, because in the 9th book the Dark One puts a dude's soul into a woman's body as a prank BUT HE STILL DOES DUDE MAGIC so the distinction is based on your soul??? But that's even more fucked because it implies gendered souls, which is even more weird and arbitrary because like, did the Creator make an exact amount of girl souls and boy souls in the soul factory at the dawn of time and somehow there's always enough girl bodies and boy bodies to put them in?

The only logical explanation is that Robert Jordan had a catastrophic failure of worldbuilding from mistakenly thinking - due to social conditioning - that gender is actually a way bigger deal in the universe than it actually is.

[wot-tidbits]

[ofthebrownajah]

[lucklongjones]

[utilitycaster]

I've started imagining the Aes Sedai calling the Amyrlin "Mother" to be in the voice of people talking about divas although given how they feel about Egwene perhaps not

[asha-mage]

Here's a conundrum for everyone that defiantly isn't inspired/found it's way into the most recent Sworn Chapter: is Rand's reliance on the 'flame and the void' to channel just him using a concentration technique, no different then the White Tower's 'flower and light' or 'river contained by the bank' concentration techniques, or is it an active block the same as Nynaeve's anger, a mental barrier meant to shield himself from the implications of using the Power?

[ruinikaidoexplodedbadly]

the lgbtq community has forgiven yano

[aidenwaites]

That reminds me: wheel of time but Rand is trans and when he first manifests his ability to touch the one power he doesn't believe it's proof of him being the Dragon until Moiraine, with all the heaviness in her heart, tells him she couldn't sense his use of it, because he was pulling from saidin (the masculine half) rather than Saidar (the feminine)

[alectology-archive]

The egwene is arrogant posts are so funny because. Are you sure rand is any less arrogant than her. Are you quite sure. Are you sure that the arguments for her arrogance are based on her characterisation in rj's books or are you thinking of brandon's books where he wrecked every character's characterisation anyway. Lol.

[killldeer]

rereading in need of a bellfounder is either going to fix me or make me worse and i’m very excited to find out which

[wot-tidbits]

[southeastasianarchaeology]

Lembah Bujang's Rich History Marred by Inadequate Site Management

via Scoop.my, 31 October 2023: Lembah Bujang's rich archaeological history is at risk due to poor site management and lack of effective archaeotourism initiatives.

via Scoop.my, 31 October 2023: The Bujang Valley is rich in ancient Buddhist stupas and Hindu temples but suffers from poor site management and interpretation. Despite its historical significance and the discovery of 97 archaeological sites, the area is not adequately developed for archaeotourism. Former Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR) director…

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Magic Systems

[at Unicorn Fuck Club] Brandon Sanderson: hey robert what kind of magic rules do you have Sanderson: in my fantasy world, there's 18 laws of magic Sanderson: sorted into 23 categories and 65 sub-directories Robert Jordan: huh Jordan: well in my world, girls do girl magic and boys do boy magic

Sanderson: wait what? Jordan: girls do girl magic and boys do boy magic Sanderson: how does that work Jordan: saidin is stored in the balls

Jordan: why, how does your magic work Sanderson: ah well if you experience an emotion in my fantasy world Sanderson: then a sprite representing that emotion with physically appear and dance around Jordan: is that like Big Mouth then Sanderson: what Jordan: its a cartoon show Sanderson:

Sanderson: oh idk maybe Sanderson: i haven't seen it Sanderson: i only watch saturday's warrior on loop Jordan: look, i just think it makes sense Jordan: that the fundamental mystery powers of the universe would bisect neatly along binary gender lines JK Rowling: goddamnit!!! Rowling: why didn't i think of that

Rowling: ugh, inssstead i only have magic dividing people into uebermensssches and untermensssches Rowling: it could have been sssso much more!

Rowling: sssso in my world Rowling: the sssuperior wizard raccce issss sssimply born knowing magic Sanderson: right, right Rowling: then they have to go to sssschool Rowling: you know, to learn Rowling: Rowling: magic Rowling: alssso there are bad wizardsss who want to exterminate non-wizardssss Rowling: the bad wizardsss represssent queer people now Rowling: that's why we need to get them before they get us Rowling: anyway if you're an elected repressentative writing eliminationalisssst lawsss, feel free to reference my fictional booksss for jussstification Tolkien: Martin: Rowling: i don't get it, that alwaysss getsss a big hand on mumsnet Diane Duane: in my world, anyone can learn magic Rowling: SHUT UP DUANE Duane: from a book Rowling: SHUT UP Duane: you can get it at the library John Bellairs: oh yeah i think i've seen that book

[gikairan]

Slowly making my way back into my wheel of time re-read and I can't help but wonder how much shorter the series would be if you cut out all the "men are from mars, women are from venus" stuff......

It just feels like every other paragraph is about how the female characters don't understand men, or how the male characters don't understand women....

Like, this series has better female characters than a lot of fantasy, especially for its time period. But not only is this mindset Bad, it's repeated SO often? 😮‍💨

And I think now that women are treated way better in fantasy, it's harder for me to gloss over this as I did on my original read. Like, I can pick up almost anything else and find well written women nowadays. WoT no longer stands out for that....

[daisyachain]

Had a draft going about how the saidin/saidar split might impact transgender people in Randland, little did I suspect Jordan would actually address it (unwittingly). When Balthamel is put in the body of a dead Borderlands woman, he can still channel saidin, meaning that the One Power fully bypasses agab and is based off of the channeller’s spirit—which makes sense, as channelling is governed by Spirit flows.

[spynorth]

@caracarnn​ s.c

  “ Some of the worst moments in history came about through good intentions. Chosen or not, no man is infallible. All it takes is the blink of an eye, one indrawn breath, and you’re as much a hero as the rest of us.”