Rockobar

"Death, in that we desperately want to live and keep on living, for the second driving factor: sex. We want to pass on our genes in the most efficient manner possible, whether that be through having lots of sex or staying in a committed relationship to make sure your offspring survive to maturity to continue passing your genes along. In the modern era, we can psuedo-fulfil the idea of passing on our genes without the complications of pregnancy in the form of contraception. The orgasm is the reward our instincts offer for passing on our genes, but now we can do it without children." Anyway, I advise we save the discussion of the philosophies of the human mind for someone to make an Off Topic thread, unless we directly link in context to the books. I fear we'll just go in circles disagreeing otherwise. I'm not quite sure where we are at moment as in who there is to reply to, but I'll wait for any responses following this post.

Actually indeed most of these actions, semantically opposite one another, can be related back to the pursuit of sex and fear of death. Generally, when men cheat it is due to a lack of sexual attention, when women cheat from a lack of emotional attention. If the husband perceives he is not getting enough opportunities to mate, he seeks other sources; if a woman feels emotionally ignored by her spouse, it could result in a potential lack of care for a child in the future and so finding another male provides a potential back up and at the same time re-establishes self worth as a reproducer. As for an ordinary person killing their wife, it would need a dissection of the anger required to murder someone. Shame, betrayal our self worth offended. In a moment of rage, the long term implications are ignored and the murderer seeks to re-establish self worth by removing the cause of the anger. As for more horrific and harder to understand acts, it is where chance genetic mutation/environmental factors in your formative years shunt your mental development slightly off kilter from genetic formula. The result are a plethora of personality disorders whose motives I am not informed enough to explain.

Hello, thank you for your reply. I am sorry, but I've read your reply through a couple times and cannot see the refutation against the fact that we are animals driven by sex and death. I cannot see the second clause against "while", in the third paragraph, which continues to reinforce my idea of rear offspring, die so your genes survive and all complicated appearing decisions of human really are broken down to animal instincts. Indeed, it reflects the scientific process: biological interactions can be broken down into chemical reactions, those into the movements of atoms, the theory of matter in complicated maths. Thus psychologists dissect our apparently complex motives into primal hardwiring. As for the free will experiment, all that I got out of that was that humans are animals very susceptible to the opinions of others - to acede and fit in order to survive and move up in the group. EDIT: This is not meant to be a personal attack on you or your argument, just I failed to get the gist of your rebuttal.

Hello, thank you for your reply. It might simply be that we have differing philosophies of human psychology. I am by no means a psychologist who would be able to adequately be able to describe the theories of human evolution of the mind, nor would I know the most popular consensus among scientists as to how the human brain functions. However, I can state that ultimately I believe all our advanced interactions and emotions can be relayed down to two simple ideas: sex and death. Death, in that we desperately want to live and keep on living, for the second driving factor: sex. We want to pass on our genes in the most efficient manner possible, whether that be through having lots of sex or staying in a committed relationship to make sure your offspring survive to maturity to continue passing your genes along. In the modern era, we can psuedo-fulfil the idea of passing on our genes without the complications of pregnancy in the form of contraception. The orgasm is the reward our instincts offer for passing on our genes, but now we can do it without children. If that sounds quite basic, even animalistic, then yes: we are highly intelligent animals. To put these unconscious action into your context: playing strategy games, reading fantasy books - a way to forget about impeding death. Playing chess - a way to prove to yourself that yourself that that you are worth something in the vastness of the world before death takes you, a way to prove to yourself to your rival that you are intelligent, worthy of passing on your genes and seek the subconscious elevation in society that you are a more attractive candidate to share genes with. Etc etc. At this moment in our stage of evolution, we have not outgrown these notions. We are not elves that live so long that sex becomes irrelevant and death meaningless. Hi, cheers +1 + @Cognizantastic Indeed, it is not a distressing issue for me, not something that would ever make me stop reading his books. Just in the examples I give concerning sexuality and I felt Sanderson held himself back is a "Oh common" kind of moment. Although I touch on a number of topics, I feel they are more tweaks, as I said in my letter that I did not want Sanderson to go to the extremes of GRRM. I could still very easily recognise Sanderson with some of the changes; his style, his plotting, overall character development, worldbuilding etc. If we continue in the metaphor of dating, perhaps I'm doing the unconventional: I'm a girl who sees a guy she likes the look of, listens in on him talking to some friends and goes to him and says 'Hey, I really believe I like you, let's go on a date right now and I'll probably have sex with you at the end of it if all things go well". Perhaps some people will still judge her for that, but it all would have come out in actions at some point, we're just avoiding the small talk. In the same way I could have sent the aforementioned letter of praise to Brandon, maybe it would have made him or Peter Ahlstrom smile, just as a thousand fan letters have. I believe the criticism will prove more useful if any of these ideas trickle back to them. Indeed I am aware, as I mentioned to strumienpola: "As we know there was a basis for a near omnipotent (in the balanced sense) god in Adonalsium, religion of course deserves its place in the world. However, as we have seen with Jasnah, that does not mean it has to take the lead role in governing the charge of the heroes. In worlds were Shards are actually 'dead' or absent such Threnody, we can expect agnostic/atheist ideas to be more commonplace. Although Hoid's complete motives are largely up for debate, I admire his interventionist attitude. His scorn for the Shardholders as consciousnesses of the people he once used to know are refreshing when most worlds in the genre have a respect for at least one overarching figure e.g. Eru Iluvatar, the Light. In this regard, he shares something of Jasnah." Indeed, polite-rude words can trigger greater outrage. Sometimes they can get to the point more directly. Perhaps the greater emotional impact will have the side effect of sticking longer in the minds of people in Brandon's team/fanbase. Anyway, that was not my intention, but I should leave the following here again: "I agree that the letter does look to be as if coming from a lecturer and so people might respond to the content more heatedly than the content itself might warrant. It was not my mission in writing this letter to set demands towards Brandon, but to let him know that there is an opinion that is open to changes within his work. The instructing quality of it might come about from me attempting to prove that there is a way to write sexuality without creating a guilty conscience. To add to that, Brandon's work will be ever changing, as no artist can remain static as they journey throughout life. Offering my opinions to Sanderson I think more as some source material that he might read, a perspective from yet another individual. Maybe he might mull these ideas over, develop or reject the ideas that would strengthen his resolve that what he is doing is right." As for the Blushweaver/Lightsong cell sex scene, it would have been awkward to fit in amid the action so the consummation might happen the night before Lightsong finds her bound by the Pahn Kahl. On the other hand, if you think you're going to be murdered shortly, you might just admit your feelings and do it. As I said, I am still not sure if it would have been more tragic, Blushweaver dying as she did without knowing Lightsong reciprocated or dying just as they begin a romantic relationship.

Hello, thank you for replying. I felt it best to leave the letter without summary so that we might not miss each other's points that have been stated within the missive. Although I can see that you might have portrayed my letter as a bit simplistic and do not agree with my thoughts, I hope that people will just read the section(s) that they wish to take the time to discuss. Hello, thank you for your reply, I am glad that you welcome some conflicting ideas that we can discuss. It may look like a lot of criticism, but as I mentioned in the letter, I would have a letter of praise twice as long, but I fear I would only be retreading old ground that Sanderson has already received from the forum. Sexuality: Thank you, I appreciate your views. I welcome talking with people of all backgrounds and environmental upbringings. As I hope to convey in the letter, the sexuality I talk of hopes to inject not the smut of strange fanfiction, but as another element of Sanderson's art. "What you put into your book is pushing your artform and your art is capturing the human nature. If you want to see under the skin of what makes a human graceful, an artist draws nude pictures; if you want to see beneath the skin of what really makes a human tick, you write in their deepest primal urges." Religion: To be more specific, what I mean is that the side of good tends to connect to a religious aspect e.g. Mistborn the Church of the Survivor, Saze/Preservation, Elantris: Elantrians/Shu-Koreth, Stormlight Archives: the Almighty/Honor. The only character on the side of good that I can see not a part of this is Jasnah which is why I love her so. Yet she still is only a side character at the moment and one we have not seen for some time. Death: Again, just a differing of perspective that we have, thank you though. Genre: I agree with you that there are conventional fantasy themes that are overdone (one of them is sexual modesty but we have covered that), Sanderson rebelling and exploring alternatives is what drew me to his cosmology. I would have to disagree that traditional fantasy that things just worse with time and the world does not progress from its era. Brandon himself acknowledged this when commenting on Elantris: Lord of the Rings has the elves leaving for the West and the time of Men coming about, WoT progresses into technological advancement etc. Elantris was interesting as it did the opposite, it was the resurgence of magic to a near magic-less world. Hi, it's is understandable to be emotional, we all care deeply about these books and invest much of ourselves in them. Sexuality: I think it might be a bit cruel to label GRRM as a perverted creep - while his sexual scenes might be a shock to the average consumer base of fantasy, the political intrigue set within a fantasy world is what drives the story forward and keeps readers interested. I recognise and thank you for clarifying your position on GRRM in a later post. As I mentioned, "While in the last 15 years sex has been rising to the pages, it just seems to be making a big splash when surrounded in an ocean of meekness. I’m not asking you to go as visceral in sexual details as GRRM, for that is his style and how he plays with sexuality. If I wanted to see more of that kind, I would go read more GRRM.". On the contrary, I believe if Sanderson wanted to create a feeling of disgust or pity at a horrible situation, he might well have a scene with someone defecating. It is less of a taboo subject and so one he can broach with less fear. Black humour such as Tyrion Lannister shooting his father with a crossbow while the old man is on the toilet is a contemporary example. Religion: As we know there was a basis for a near omnipotent (in the balanced sense) god in Adonalsium, religion of course deserves its place in the world. However, as we have seen with Jasnah, that does not mean it has to take the lead role in governing the charge of the heroes. In worlds were Shards are actually 'dead' or absent such Threnody, we can expect agnostic/atheist ideas to be more commonplace. As for Dalinar, he can be seen as the born again theist, for when we come to him in the current timeline of the books he is staunchly in the ideas of preserving the tenets of the Heralds and deceased Almighty. I do not expect his role in the Archive to end with him not leading from this theological basis. I hope not to impose my thoughts upon people - I hope to discuss as we are now and if I make some people think and compare a different viewpoint to their own, it is just a happy side effect. Thank you very much for the welcome and openness, I look forward to talking with people of all different beliefs on Sanderson's work. Hi there, thank you for your comment. I agree that the letter does look to be as if coming from a lecturer and so people might respond to the content more heatedly than the content itself might warrant. It was not my mission in writing this letter to set demands towards Brandon, but to let him know that there is an opinion that is open to changes within his work. The instructing quality of it might come about from me attempting to prove that there is a way to write sexuality without creating a guilty conscience. Thank you again for your words and advice. Hello, thank you for your comments. I too am hoping that the scope of an epic series such as Stormlight will encourage Brandon to space his deaths more widely. As I mentioned "I’m not asking you to go as visceral in sexual details as GRRM, for that is his style and how he plays with sexuality. If I wanted to see more of that kind, I would go read more GRRM." However, GRRM does not claim the monopoly on sexuality of characters in fantasy. He would be at the extreme end of the scale which would never work with Sanderson's works. I can feel the potential that Sanderson has for working with sexuality, as we saw with sexuality in Warbreaker where Sanderson played with our the fear and creating endearment. I hoped to offer any encouragement if he might be tempted to take those steps. Hello, thank you for your kind words. As I mentioned above with Binnut: I agree that the letter does look to be as if coming from a lecturer and so people might respond to the content more heatedly than the content itself might warrant. It was not my mission in writing this letter to set demands towards Brandon, but to let him know that there is an opinion that is open to changes within his work. The instructing quality of it might come about from me attempting to prove that there is a way to write sexuality without creating a guilty conscience. Indeed, I too appreciate GRRM for more than his depiction of sexuality as I hoped to express to strumienpola: I think it might be a bit cruel to label GRRM as a perverted creep - while his sexual scenes might be a shock to the average consumer base of fantasy, the political intrigue set within a fantasy world is what drives the story forward and keeps readers interested. Religion: As I mentioned to strumienpola: As we know there was a basis for a near omnipotent (in the balanced sense) god in Adonalsium, religion of course deserves its place in the world. However, as we have seen with Jasnah, that does not mean it has to take the lead role in governing the charge of the heroes. In worlds were Shards are actually 'dead' or absent such Threnody, we can expect agnostic/atheist ideas to be more commonplace. Although Hoid's complete motives are largely up for debate, I admire his interventionist attitude. His scorn for the Shardholders as consciousnesses of the people he once used to know are refreshing when most worlds in the genre have a respect for at least one overarching figure e.g. Eru Iluvatar, the Light. In this regard, he shares something of Jasnah. Hi, thank you for your welcome and understanding. Please feel free to voice any opinions on the topics if you wish to and I would be happy to talk about any fresh points. Hi, thank you for your reply. However, I would hope that it is not the end of the discussion as there are many replies below. I agree wholeheartedly about making demands of writers, as I mentioned to Binnut: I agree that the letter does look to be as if coming from a lecturer and so people might respond to the content more heatedly than the content itself might warrant. It was not my mission in writing this letter to set demands towards Brandon, but to let him know that there is an opinion that is open to changes within his work. The instructing quality of it might come about from me attempting to prove that there is a way to write sexuality without creating a guilty conscience. However, as to the first clause of that tricolon, I do disagree. As an artist, I feel there is a creative integrity to hold to yourself to keep pushing what you know and are capable of. As Sanderson has expressed that he wants to reverse and push the bounds of what has been done in the genre. I hope to convey to him a way of fulfilling might be a diversity of sexual and religious experiences. Realism: As there is already a healthy dose of violence within his books, a proportional amount of sexuality would not be amiss. Part of it is that I view of all these three factors an inevitable part of life. I would mark it as strange to censor any one of them out. Hello, thank you for your welcome and understanding. As to the matter of what his task is as an artist is, the definition is always up for contention. However, I do believe that to relate and expound emotions is a kernel of truth in writing. What may be more accurate is that it is part of his overall task, but a large part at that. As a novelist, interaction between characters is paramount. You could write a book detailing the biogeography of Roshar and I would read it, but that is not an epic story nor a novel; it is a reference book. The 'expounding' is all the more important in fantastical fiction, as fantasy is escapism. We look for that burst of emotions, whether it be excitement or dismay, in the time we set aside for reading. Sanderson is already an expert at this as is clear in our fond reception to character pairs he has created. However, even an expert looks to do more and I hope my suggestion to him might stir some more ideas. On the hypothetical moral question of killing the rest of the world instead of killing your family, it is an interesting question. However, that is all it is, a moral quandry for characters and readers to ponder. I would certainly believe that some parents would make that devasting sacrifice of turning the gun on their own children, yet again some people would regretfully say goodbye to all the strangers of the world to live on earth with their family for the rest of their days. What I hoped to illustrate was that Sanderson leans more heavily on favouring the deontological decision for his heroes. Religion as a social construct: Not at all, religion has been very useful beyond sexuality, whether that be in the organisation and governing of society, advancing artistic and technological endeavour or giving a structure of morals to follow, etc. To look at the issue of sexuality from a theist's view, the question would be why did God command that sex should be within a devoted relationship, specifically for married couples. God wanted it so children could be raised in a stable environment, you can have twice as much time to raise a child than an accidental pregnancy outside of marriage; if you have said marriage vows, the likelihood of catching an STD would go down dramatically, preventing infertility or affected children that would not be able to spread out across the world and spread God's message, etc. As for a sci-fi fantasy blend, as I expressed in my worries, there will be a point where this plausible but then will inevitably progress into a recognisable sci-fi world. Hi, thank you for your reply. I direct to my response to Twi, but also would add that in human history there has never been a perfect artist. Sanderson is a master, Michelango was a master yet as we are only an individual, we will never reach objective perfection. Offering my opinions to Sanderson I think more as some source material that he might read, a perspective from yet another individual. Maybe he might mull these ideas over, develop or reject the ideas that would strengthen his resolve that what he is doing is right. As we might discuss a theory amongst each other as friends arguing the finer moments of a TV show so we increase our involvement and enjoyment of said universe further, I live in the hope that I might gain some perspective on these ideas from the master source, Sanderson himself. Hey, thank you for covering new ground from the letter. Religion seems to be the first paragraph of choice. I am glad indeed to share your love of Jasnah, she is refreshing. As with Lightsong, he is another of my favourite characters, as he is for many drawn by his his cynical humour and wit. What did disappoint me and reflects back to my point was I felt it unnecessary for Sanderson in the end to prove that Lightsong really is a god by his predictions of viewing the paintings are true and justify the Returned as figures in the Hallandren pantheon. Lightsong proves noble and true which in my opinion has been done already often. Dalinar I mentioned in response to stumienpola. Fantasy as a phenomenon: Indeed, fantasy is a global phenomenon and Asian influences are obvious. Fantasy is global as the need to explain and the desire for escapism are intrinsic part of the human psyche since time immemorial. Just as in the same way sexuality is intrinsic part of the human psyche since time immemorial which was the point that I was addressing here. The majority of Sanderson's societies come from the West (the notable exception The Emperor's Soul), the same as much of the genre. Asian influences are underlying to the basis of Western medieval/renaissance society. Still, I can apply the example that you gave and it compounds on my points that sexuality is a thick thread woven throughout the tapestry of all societies: the premise of One Thousand and One Nights is a ruler who has sex with a virgin every night only to execute her in the morning and although I am not familiar with Chinese literature, I imagine we would be able to recognise elements of sexuality even within a supposedly reserved society. Sexual Personal Experience: Dalinar and Navani are a couple that do have the potential to do interesting - the relationship is considered taboo and I hope that they do not need to marry to consummate their relationship. However, from the outside world looking in, there are factors that do downplay the excitement of the relationship. Both are widowed and both have done their duty to produce children. In a way, it gives a free pass to do more than anyone else in the novels. Their role in sexuality is assumed to be done, much as Navani feels ignored by society as she is a relic of past royal tenure. So society is meant to just ignore their sexuality. Dalinar and Navani both declare to each other when they kiss they don't care what people think of their relationship from now on, but after Dalinar declares to Elhokar he is courting his mother, society supposedly forgets that it was meant to be a big taboo. I think that there would have been real opportunity for Brandon to milk the scandalous possibility of sex in a country where high necks and covered left hand are the norm. In reality, crude pictures of Dalinar and Navani naked and humping each other would have been among the circulated papers, whores dressing up to match Navani as funded by Sadeas. Instead there is the campaign to slander Dalinar's person with criticism of his visions swamps the chance to explore the sexual scandal over multiple books. I feel like Sanderson might have held back here. On another point, I think we can presume that Dalinar and Navani have not actually had sex yet, due to Dalinar's embarrassment when Navani pushes for them to share rooms in Dalinar's quarters. As for MeLaan and Wax, as indeed I did state in my letter, the two are just meant to be kissing, which in reality would turn out to be unlikely. Blushweaver and Lightsong: The reference to Lightsong having a sexual relationship with Calmseer makes it all the more disappointing that we did not see the relationship consummated between two in book characters whose chemistry and natures we have actually seen acted out on page. Genre: The problem with making Scadrial eventually a sci-fi world is that eventually the entire Cosmere has to become a sci-fi universe e.g. flying cars on Roshar. The hinted at visitation between planets in Sixth of the Dusk and the nature of Worldhoppers just make it a countdown until technology from Scadrial infects all worlds. The ideal solution would have been to have Scadrial outside of the Cosmere. Hello, thank you for your words. I will refer you to my response to CaptainRyan: Not at all, religion has been very useful beyond sexuality, whether that be in the organisation and governing of society, advancing artistic and technological endeavour or giving a structure of morals to follow, etc. To look at the issue of sexuality from a theist's view, the question would be why did God command that sex should be within a devoted relationship, specifically for married couples. God wanted it so children could be raised in a stable environment, you can have twice as much time to raise a child than an accidental pregnancy outside of marriage; if you have said marriage vows, the likelihood of catching an STD would go down dramatically, preventing infertility or affected children that would not be able to spread out across the world and spread God's message, etc. In short, I cannot see in the letter that I say the definition of religion is to suppress STIs. It would be silly of me to say. Hello, thank you for the reply. I was considering whether keeping the letter to myself, but it seems unlikely Brandon would be unable to reply to a letter and topic of this length when he is so prolific in his writing and some time has passed since I sent it to him. I think it does make for interesting reading here though as it generates a good deal of discussion and exploring opposing ideas. As for the demanding nature of the letter, I will refer you to the response I give to Binnut: I agree that the letter does look to be as if coming from a lecturer and so people might respond to the content more heatedly than the content itself might warrant. It was not my mission in writing this letter to set demands towards Brandon, but to let him know that there is an opinion that is open to changes within his work. The instructing quality of it might come about from me attempting to prove that there is a way to write sexuality without creating a guilty conscience. As for the moral quandry, I will refer you to the response I give to CaptainRyan: On the hypothetical moral question of killing the rest of the world instead of killing your family, it is an interesting question. However, that is all it is, a moral quandry for characters and readers to ponder. I would certainly believe that some parents would make that devasting sacrifice of turning the gun on their own children, yet again some people would regretfully say goodbye to all the strangers of the world to live on earth with their family for the rest of their days. What I hoped to illustrate was that Sanderson leans more heavily on favouring the deontological decision for his heroes. Sexuality: Thank you for raising some new points here. I suppose it starts with my premise that this an adult series and is marketed to adults, given their label on the back. The violence in them is indicative of this. Reading books of the young adult variety might be more appropriate if you would wish to share fantasy with younger relatives if they are not ready to know about sex. With Elend and Vin, as I mentioned in the letter, it is pointedly made known that they have not had sex before marriage as they sleep in separate rooms despite a year or two in a relationship clearly desiring each other. Sex is mentioned after marriage as in the tent. In regards to nobles raping skaa, this is one of the details that makes up the gritty world that is Mistborn. Unfortunately, it feels only like a passing mention, another detail to paint a grey world. Dealing with the implications of the trauma that these instances of sexual violence causes would have been interesting. From a character viewpoint, that does not mean them being raped as that would be obscene. But talking through the fact that you are a product of rape, the self hate that it must cause, I would welcome for Sanderson to explore. Religion: I will refer you to the reponse I give to CaptainRyan and Oversleep: "Not at all, religion has been very useful beyond sexuality, whether that be in the organisation and governing of society, advancing artistic and technological endeavour or giving a structure of morals to follow, etc. To look at the issue of sexuality from a theist's view, the question would be why did God command that sex should be within a devoted relationship, specifically for married couples. God wanted it so children could be raised in a stable environment, you can have twice as much time to raise a child than an accidental pregnancy outside of marriage; if you have said marriage vows, the likelihood of catching an STD would go down dramatically, preventing infertility or affected children that would not be able to spread out across the world and spread God's message, etc. In short, I cannot see in the letter that I say the definition of religion is to suppress STIs. It would be silly of me to say." In regards to Hrathen, I will now play the devil's advocate for the sake of discussion. Hrathen's religion is complicated, as it can be divided into what the consensual orthodoxy is vs his personal beliefs. For the first half of the novel he follows his task in the general modern mindset of Shu-Dereth that is common to Wyrm, the Dakhor and Fjorden - work to reason, dominate etc. He then wrestles with these ideas until the end of the book and ultimately develops a 'purer' idea of Shu-Dereth that he can convince himself to follow and still call Shu-Dereth. By adopting this now 'morally good' version of Shu-Dereth does he become a hero and therefore can let himself save Sarene, one of the leading figures of Shu-Korath. He did not need to become a hero as Sarene proclaims him to be, a sudden realisation does not have to mean 'coming to the light side'. On a personal level, I enjoyed Hrathen's redemptive arch. As for death, I believe the points to be covered in my letter just that we have separate viewpoints. Hello, thank you for your reply. As for the demanding nature of the letter, I will refer you to the response I give to Binnut: "I agree that the letter does look to be as if coming from a lecturer and so people might respond to the content more heatedly than the content itself might warrant. It was not my mission in writing this letter to set demands towards Brandon, but to let him know that there is an opinion that is open to changes within his work. The instructing quality of it might come about from me attempting to prove that there is a way to write sexuality without creating a guilty conscience." To add to that, Brandon's work will be ever changing, as no artist can remain static as they journey throughout life. Offering my opinions to Sanderson I think more as some source material that he might read, a perspective from yet another individual. Maybe he might mull these ideas over, develop or reject the ideas that would strengthen his resolve that what he is doing is right. Hello, thank you for your words. For the first part of your reply, I will refer you to the well used response I give further in this post: "I agree that the letter does look to be as if coming from a lecturer and so people might respond to the content more heatedly than the content itself might warrant. It was not my mission in writing this letter to set demands towards Brandon, but to let him know that there is an opinion that is open to changes within his work. The instructing quality of it might come about from me attempting to prove that there is a way to write sexuality without creating a guilty conscience. To add to that, Brandon's work will be ever changing, as no artist can remain static as they journey throughout life. Offering my opinions to Sanderson I think more as some source material that he might read, a perspective from yet another individual. Maybe he might mull these ideas over, develop or reject the ideas that would strengthen his resolve that what he is doing is right." I admire your opinion on finding someone being sexually inexperienced before marriage an interesting comparision to the majority of today's youth. However, I would find it more revolutionary if it came from not from Brandon's familiarity with the situation itself. This is no fault of his own, just his happenstance. That is why I would find it so interesting to see Brandon attempt the challenge to write a fully fledged pre-marital sexual relationship. However, the main point I would address is that fantasy writing has not first caught up to exhibiting what the sexuality of today is in the West. GRRM went in the extreme end of this direction, sexual licentiousness that is not realistic beyond lifestyle of celebrities (his nobles) or the unwholesome quirks (incest). I had not given thought if Adolin is a virgin. I see that there are two notable threads, on from here and one on reddit that have a spectrum of conflicting opinions: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/4ss9pm/wor_how_far_has_adolin_gone_with_his_many/ After I have skimmed through these, I come down on the side that in all likeliness Adolin would not be a virgin. The amount of opportunity, his high status and his inability to be tethered throughout his dozens of flings, would lead to some ladies employing more direct tactics in an attempt to seduce and hold him. Due to the appearance of Vorin propriety, such attempts would be done well behind closed doors. Hence his blushing when having to kiss Shallan outside. By the age of 22 with the number of his potential partners, the 'reputation' the soldiers give him seems warranted. Further, he did seem to consider or at least be willing for the rescued whore's offer of sex despite his father's Codes making him need to decline. Renarin seems better placed as the shy, less desirable second son. @StormyQueen 's reply: "Welcome to the Shard @Rockobar *waves*. I must say, you have certainly entered with bang. Also, upvote because I don't think you deserve all those downvotes, you stated your opinion, and, even though I don't agree with it, I can respect the fact that you did so in a respectful manner. Anyway, welcome! Now onwards to my points (this sounds like a debate now...) which turned out waaay longer than I expected. Whoops. Overall, I would say that you are asking Brandon to be un-Brandon. Every artist has a hallmark to their art, and I think that if Brandon were to do some of the things you talk about, it would ultimately diverge his writing from his personality in his writing, as well as the story that he wants to tell. You refer to the upbringing and how it resulted in this view which is obviously misguided, but if we did not have authors of different upbringings and views, what would be the point in reading. If every story was the same in the outlook it presents, would you be interested in reading it? I know that I wouldn't. Firstly, on the topic of sexuality. I am personally very grateful for the fact that there is very little sexual scenes in the Cosmere. As an asexual myself, I find it refreshing to see a modern, adult fantasy series that doesn't involve some kind of explicit sex. Half the time when it occurs in a book, I'll roll my eyes skim the section to see if there is anything important and move on (I skipped pages and pages of Game of Thrones, rolling my eyes as I did). I would personally prefer to read about something that actually influences story and character in books (which are already getting very, very long) rather than a sex scene for the sake of a sex scene. "Raw primal desire" as you put it, is not the sole form of what makes us human. Humans are a complex being, as you have pointed out, and while it is a factor in who we are, I personally believe that humans are so, so much more than lust that they feel, and not every part of human life can, or indeed should be included in a book, simply because it does not have enough relevance to the story to warrant being included. Also, I would say that doing this makes the books more accessible to people of younger years On your point on religion now. Religion is something that has been a foundation of human society for milenia, and has had a profound impact in culture throughout much of the world, from creating the backbone of morality, to societal structure. Violence and peace can both result from religion, and it is a vital part of a culture. I would also say, particularly on your points on the diagram is to wait and see, because I think it will be an interesting ride, because we're only 2 books in. Now, onto genre. I must say, we have highly different opinions on this, because the mish-mash of genres is something that really appeals to me. Fantasy owes a lot to Grandpa Tolkien, but far too often, I believe, authors get stuck in a rut of making very fantasy fantasy (hopefully that makes sense). I know very few fantasy trilogies that show an obvious growth of society, over time, as culture is not static, but is a very fluid concept that is always changing, as does technology. I find that it is extremely refreshing to see this in a fantasy book. Also, on a bit of a side note, I love how I have no idea what genre Mistborn era 2 (1.5?) in that it's a strange cross between fantasy, sci-fi, western, crime, thriller and probably a few more chucked in there. Life is rarely so black and white. So, whilst I disagree with many of the points that you have made, I think it is great that you put your ideas out there, even though they might not be very popular ideas (especially on your first post). I hope I didn't sound too aggressive in my writing (sorry if I did), but I would love your thoughts on my thoughts on your thoughts (yay for overly confusing sentence). See you round the shard!" Thank you for your thoughtful reply StormyQueen. Sexuality: It is indeed an unusual position you have and would make for one of the most insightful into the topic of sexuality in fantasy. I would be interested in hearing more on your perspective of reading fantasy as someone who does not have the "raw primal desire". I am not hugely familiar with asexuality, but I can only presume it is sexuality 'turned off' from birth. I can only say that when I say "realistically", that I hope to cover as wide an area as possible. I would not be able to add much more on the topic than what I have in the letter would be my guess, but for what I mentioned in this post earlier on reading with younger children: I suppose it starts with my premise that this an adult series and is marketed to adults, given their label on the back. The violence in them is indicative of this. Reading books of the young adult variety might be more appropriate if you would wish to share fantasy with younger relatives if they are not ready to know about sex. Religion: I will refer you to the reponse I give to CaptainRyan and Oversleep: "Not at all, religion has been very useful beyond sexuality, whether that be in the organisation and governing of society, advancing artistic and technological endeavour or giving a structure of morals to follow, etc. To look at the issue of sexuality from a theist's view, the question would be why did God command that sex should be within a devoted relationship, specifically for married couples. God wanted it so children could be raised in a stable environment, you can have twice as much time to raise a child than an accidental pregnancy outside of marriage; if you have said marriage vows, the likelihood of catching an STD would go down dramatically, preventing infertility or affected children that would not be able to spread out across the world and spread God's message, etc. In short, I cannot see in the letter that I say the definition of religion is to suppress STIs. It would be silly of me to say." @Stark 's reply: @Rockobar Welcome to the shard. I think that there is a lot of value to the opinions you have expressed. I think what is causing the majority of the backlash against you is the tone you have taken in expressing it, and that you have shared what seems like the opener to a private conversation in a very public forum. I did take the time to read your full letter, which I fully admit is not something I usually do. No offense to many of the wordsmiths on the site, but many of us, myself included, tend to get overly verbose and lengthy in our replies. I personally found your tone to be overly condescending, and maybe a little pretentious. In other situations, it may have qualified as what is currently being called Man-splaining. Telling an artist who has been successfully hitting some of the top laurels in their field that they are not doing it the way you like, and that you have some pointers for how they could do better is not, well, very diplomatic. I know it would put me on the defensive, and from the numerous reactions you've received, a lot of people seem to feel this was more an attack than a conversation opener. I think you may have been better served to open a topic along the lines of "Things I'd like to see explored in more depth in the Cosmere" If you had posted there a few topics you'd like to see Brandon explore or expand on, like sexuality, or meaningful death (I'll give you, after a few of the latest entries in the Cosmere, I have been questioning whether death has lost all meaning in the Cosmere) or the place of religion, you may have ended up with a far more positive discussion. It definitely does not help that some of these topics are sensitive, hot-button type subjects. But at the end of the day, I think the core of the reaction you've received comes down to this: Unless you are the mentor/teacher of a given artist, or a contemporary colleague who has been asked specifically for advice, telling an artist how to art is not cool. Whether it be a writer writing, a sculptor, painter or actor. That said, I really do hope to see some more of your thoughts and opinions in the future. 3 Hello Stark, thank you for your reply, I shall forward you to my response to others concerning the demanding tone: "I agree that the letter does look to be as if coming from a lecturer and so people might respond to the content more heatedly than the content itself might warrant. It was not my mission in writing this letter to set demands towards Brandon, but to let him know that there is an opinion that is open to changes within his work. The instructing quality of it might come about from me attempting to prove that there is a way to write sexuality without creating a guilty conscience. To add to that, Brandon's work will be ever changing, as no artist can remain static as they journey throughout life. Offering my opinions to Sanderson I think more as some source material that he might read, a perspective from yet another individual. Maybe he might mull these ideas over, develop or reject the ideas that would strengthen his resolve that what he is doing is right."

Hi, I sent this letter to Brandon, but I think it unlikely that I might get a reply. I would not expect you to read all of it, but I thought some of you might be be interested in the Sexuality section of it in reference for his future work. A heads up, it discusses all of Brandon's published works: Dear Brandon, I came to you having finished the Wheel of Time series and was feeling a hollow space within me that needed to be filled by more fantasy. Therefore, let me make it clear that I owe you a huge debt of thanks for your work on WoT and the Cosmere. There were a few topics that I’d like to discuss - in the same way how you feel the need to get a story down on paper, I would like these thoughts out of my head. Sexuality: The main point that I’d like to focus on is the heterosexual relationships of characters. I admire the romantic bonds that your characters forge whether they come from hardship or circumstance and personally I dismiss much of the claim that they are passionless or platonic. However, I would urge you against skirting around when sex actually does happen. It does not matter whether you claim to be a bit of a prude, you yourself mentioned in your Dumbledore EUOlogy that writing characters having a jovial time from is a natural part of any believable world; sex is much the same. The need for relaxation and good cheer amongst friends is as human an experience as two sweaty people lying in bed pleasuring each other - either from passionate love, casual abandon or respect founded on pressured times. Fantasy is primarily drawn from Western medieval-renaissance influence which itself was frequented by the casualness of farmhands with milk maids, easy lovers’ induced by Mediterranean festivities or young nobles dallying with maidens keeping secret from their father that they may not have an intact hymen anymore. Sex extends down to more disquieting interactions between noble and peasant girl that then need to portrayed in a negative light. Despite the control of the Church, people were just better at hiding it. It is one of the only drawbacks that I see in organised religion today: it clings to the dregs of social acceptability from centuries past. It was useful as a social construct when rural families had little knowledge of contraception to stop diseases when they could not afford multiple partners over a lifetime, however, with how far we have advanced in technology the prohibition now seems outdated. Raw primal desire is just something we cannot get rid of - as anyone who has gone through teenage years well knows. This may be prying, but I feel that some of your reluctance on this topic may come from what you have shared of your upbringing, in that was a sexual conservative one. You had to wait, of course by church and choice, until you could share with your wife something that you never let out. As such, it is a very personal and closeted topic for you to broach fully as it stirs too many feelings close to your home. However, you have said that you want to push the boundaries of what is expected in writing. We know that epic fantasy was weighed down by the preconception of Tolkien and Jordan of no sex. It seems only natural that if you want to push you and your books to new places, expanding that sexuality is the logical way to go. It may not reflect with your personal views or you may worry that it will reflect badly in your community. So what. What you put into your book is pushing your artform and your art is capturing the human nature. If you want to see under the skin of what makes a human graceful, an artist draws nude pictures; if you want to see beneath the skin of what really makes a human tick, you write in their deepest primal urges. You may say ‘All my batch of fantasy contemporaries are doing this, so I don’t want to do what they’re doing’. Yes and no. While in the last 15 years sex has been rising to the pages, it just seems to be making a big splash when surrounded in an ocean of meekness. I’m not asking you to go as visceral in sexual details as GRRM, for that is his style and how he plays with sexuality. If I wanted to see more of that kind, I would go read more GRRM. In fact, you started to move in a more positive direction with Warbreaker; it should not matter if the novel’s concept concerned was trying to get with child. However, that withstanding, every other novel feels like a Drab: a incredibly complex biological organism with divine proportions of engineering living an intricate life yet it fails to look quite right - it is missing its Breath. There are numerous examples I am sure you are familiar with, the most popularised one that of Vin and Elend sleeping in separate rooms before they are married, despite having been in a relationship for years and that you hint at their desire for each other’s body parts. Only after they are married is it mentioned that Vin will wear a top off in a tent. Again, I think this is an issue that stems from your personal life, that you never allow characters to engage in sexual matters before marriage. As I have mentioned in previous paragraphs, there are reasons for this hesitance and why it is limiting. Perhaps removing this limitation is the first step to opening yourself to your characters previously unseen natures. Start by creating a mere sentence that notes a main character coming out of a door tucking their shirt in. All the while, we can see inside the room where a random/side character is laying in bed with the sheet pulled over their chest. A simple casual occurrence, with no need to make a big deal out of it. Warbreaker was approaching this yet was still tamer. As you have claimed in the past, writers draw out their material from their own lives. This does not mean you have to jump in a time machine back to your college years and experiment with one night stands. But by talking with people of different life experience, sexual morality, a woman outside your community and your author friends who have written sexual passages will prepare you to slowly progress into writing sexual nature. As I have said, your task as an artist is to relate and expound the emotions that are in our lives. It means when a character describes the love of his life, there should be descriptive language of how the light of her eye dances with flashes of white and violet, the reddening of her cheeks as she runs to meet him in breathless excitement and the soft slope of the marble white skin down her back. The aim is to emote the perception of grace and beauty to the readers, the same feeling they would have when looking upon a master artwork. Moments such as these you know are excellent in order to slow the pace of the story. But similarly, one must be able to deal with eros, something which is so common between the butting heads of young and vibrant characters. Let us say, for example, Renarin grew jealous of Adolin for having an exotic and beautiful girlfriend (I avoid using Kaladin as I imagine that he has grown to like Shallan through their shared experience and then realises her outward attractiveness later on. Therefore, his is a merging of love and lust). The young prince on guard duty would notice the way Adolin caresses Shallan by circling the point underneath her wrist, the drop and swell of the breast due to a lower cut dress as Shallan unconsciously leans in towards Adolin across the table. Then there is lust of a minor noble character meeting his barmaid interest for a weekend morning vigorous and enthusiastic coupling. Slightly more challenging is a more domineering relationship such as that I might relate below between Jasnah and Shallan. When writing of lust, the danger to avoid from a lack of sexual experience before marriage is that you do not create the sense that the reader should be joining in on some gigglish teenager ignorance of a taboo. The less dangerous yet still important caution is to avoid making females incapable of displaying lustful actions - to do otherwise is to debase them to the traditional Victorian roles of ‘stiffly lie there and take it’. Your stories are known to have grit in them, whether it be the harsh world of Mistborn, the gruesome imagery of Bloody Tan’s menagerie or strong and broken characters like Kaladin. This realistic aspect would only be compounded with a realistic representation of sex. Just as violence needs to be shown in an oppressive regime, a high stress situation may likely bring people closer together. An unconventional relationship that blossoms out of respect is likely the undone challenge that you would relish, yet I would only appreciate if you are willing to commit to showing its full romantic development. Below are some more encounters from the Cosmere were this issue cropped up: With Wayne and MeLaan, I was getting slightly excited that you had written your first sexual premarital experience. And yes, well done that they managed to get their tops off, but it is a little simple-minded that Wayne and MeLaan were just kissing under there. When I first saw the words ‘neckin’ and ‘snogging’ I thought it was a joke, that others characters were trying to pass off a euphemism to protect Marasi or Steris’ innocence. But no, all parties seriously believed the two were just touching lips. Firstly, the amount of time that it took the train to travel to Ironstand and its protracted fight sequence gave plenty of time for foreplay then a passionate rebound shag reaching at least third base. Wayne’s personality and environment leave him with little inhibitions; the same for an immortal being who has had centuries to try every trick in the book. I thought it unlikely, but I had a faint thought that for the first time a lesbian relationship between main characters might occur. This possibility came to me from the gradual respect that Shallan and Jasnah grew for each other as two capable scholars. There is also the Shallan’s adoration of Jasnah in the student-teacher position that many fans were quick to wonder if it represented bisexual feelings. Jasnah herself finds herself seems so free from men and previous attachments that once we start to see cracks that mark her as a human, we can wonder if she might allow Shallan’s attentions to become something more. It would create a perverse moral quandary to explore if Jasnah were to take it up: if it is an abuse of the pedagogy relationship and would it require secrecy. I am not disappointed that this did not occur, maybe the opposite as Jasnah is one of my favourite characters. You would have received an angry email about how you did not know what to do with a strong atheist character if she had turned out to be dead. Fortunately, once Shallan failed to stumble over her corpse, I suspected that she lived, as I suspect that mere assassins could not kill Jasnah - even if the encounter tempts the dangerous waters of character resurrection. I thought Jasnah’s disappearance might have been unnecessary so that Shallan would be all alone, as I did so enjoy Jasnah and what she could have added to Navani and in the Shattered Plains by taking command of the royal court. For the first book and a bit, the dynamic between the two was what made Shallan interesting, compared to the second book when it focused on Shallan’s past. In the end, I do appreciate the growth that Shallan underwent. To bring it back to the point, you have said that you do not concern yourself with whatever orientation that characters have. I agree that making a big deal out of it would be the wrong direction. Yet you do not abstain from romantic relationships in your books. It makes it a perfectly acceptable precedent to trial other kinds of relationships. Please do not make Adolin into another Gawyn. The Trakand prince, despite his struggle to find his position in relation to Egwene, died still not able to reconcile that his love for Egwene needed him to put aside his pride and be her shadow. His selfishness lead to his death and failure, thus letting Egwene sacrifice her life so freely. That inability earned Gawyn one of the most hated positions among WoT fans. I fear that I can see you setting Adolin on that same tangent. He worries that his place will be overshadowed by having a Knight Radiant for a wife. However, I hope that I am mistaken. Although Adolin is boastful and proud, he does seem a better rounded person than Gawyn. Adolin was drawn to Shallan because she was something unconventional and exotic to him. I hope their dynamic leads to the couple working together as a fighting duo rather than the diametrically opposed Jordan couple. Blushweaver and Lightsong. God I was sad that they never got to consummate their relationship. Again, I hope that your personal stance had nothing to do with that they did not get to have sex because they were decadent unmarried gods. Blushweaver was set well to be one of your most erotically entrancing characters in your entire cosmology. I do admire the two’s articulate flirting - it does represent the most realistic building towards a relationship that I have so far. Blushweaver’s reproach to Siri, “Find someone else’s bed to climb into, you little slut”, left me laughing for quite some time and endeared her to me. I wonder if it would have been more tragic if Blushweaver and Lightsong ended up in a cell together in the end, Lightsong reciprocates Blushweaver’s desires in the face of the situation and they end up having sex on the cell floor or if as it happened, Blushweaver never really knowing that Lightsong really did care for her in the way that she wished. Hopefully they are up there in the Beyond, making up for all that lost time. In conclusion, I feel that you have come some way since the innocence in Elantris and Mistborn and are spreading your wings. Mr Jordan started incorporating more sexual influences too before his passing. It is only a matter of time before this challenge takes you, but I would much prefer it now when you writing so much good and prolific work. Religion: On a different point, I have noticed that it does seem that the characters that hold true to religious beliefs come out on top. Do not get me wrong, I love a good pantheon in fantasy, but I hope this is not a permanent fixture. Sazed did not deserve to Ascend because he went through a crisis of faith and back, but because he was one of the few characters that has gone through trials and we still believe is morally good. That trial did not have to be a religious one and there were plenty of morally grey characters that fill the quota to hold both Ruin and Preservation. Preservation set up someone who cared about the world and this is the person who Saze is. In this, I feel the resolution of characters is sometimes too simple: religious characters are true and the simple good of deontology wins the day. Someone like Dalinar seems a little too pure for what is to come. I hope that when Jasnah confronts her uncle on the whole quandary of if time is worth praying to a Shard, especially if by the end of the Stormlight Archives Cultivation dies. As for The Diagram, the tone of their passages perpetuates that they are the bad guys, but really in the face of an apocalypse, I hope utilitarianism will be shown for its ideological worth. What would you do to save your own wife and children? A sociopathic force has a gun to their heads, do you deny that you would choose the random stranger to die instead. What if it were four random strangers’ lives, five? I think I know which you still would pick. At what number do you let the gunman pull the trigger. It is likely that you never would, not for all the other six billion of us. To protect what is your world, you would give anything. Death: I am sorry to compare you to GRRM again, but I feel the death of characters is sometimes muted because you save them all towards the ends of your books. You might be relying the deaths as ending bombs to give closure to the novel. Valued characters’ deaths spaced sporadically throughout the structure is part of the formula which makes GRRM’s deaths so well received and emotional. As you say, characters have to take risks and their consequences, but one of those big risks should end in the ultimate consequence in Act 1, perhaps our main viewpoint character. Perhaps Dox and Clubs’ deaths didn’t hit as hard as they were meant to, but the only other time can think of a character death midway through the plot is Parlin and you yourself admitted that he needed more done to him to give his departure justice, yet still he is not a primary character. When Karata died, the outrage at her demise was not the event itself, but that not enough attention was given to it. Simply her head gets cut off while running. Even an extra sentence of Raoden acknowledging the light going out of her eyes would have left the audience much happier with the departure of an invested character. Genre: I must say that I am not keen on Mistborn advancing technology to the later end of the 1800’s. I am a diehard fantasy fan and am not of that more common breed that can also stomach sci-fi as well. Give me the setting of magic, medieval times and curious creatures and you can sell me a story of whatever concept you want. However, I start to get discomforted by technology further late Renaissance/Galileo times. It starts to drift from high fantasy. I know of the pitched Mistborn ‘trilogy of trilogies’, but with the Wild West/Victorian feel of Wax and Wayne, we already are into low fantasy territory. The novel use of Allomancy still as a magic kept me through the prologue concerning guns and then the partners’ chemistry, but the magic is starting slip away from the story’s control (machine guns being chief among them). I occasionally appreciate an urban low fantasy such as Skulduggery Pleasant, but only if follows its own rules and genre. By the time we reach modern day and then sci-fi plasma guns and artificial intelligence, I fear that all will be lost that was the spirit of Mistborn. It may be a clever idea to transition a series from fantasy to sci-fi, but I worry if I’ll stick around for it. The implications that it has for the Cosmere are too great, as our shiny technology will inevitably reach the other Shardworlds and turn your anthology into a sci-fi collection. This narrative danger is seen in Sixth of the Dusk. And that worries me because when you started writing you said to yourself that you were going to be a fantasy writer. I would not be particularly interested in a war between the futuristic Scadrial versus high fantasy era societies - it would just seem cheesy. The only hope I can see is that all the future scientific discoveries on Scadrial will come Allomantic innovation, much as the Southerners have, as opposed to electrical currents and telephones. Even still, I can just see our own ideas of the future such as flying cars being excused by Allomancy while losing the feel of fantasy. That said, here’s a suggestion for a potential death in the Wax and Wayne series: a Hemalurgist could die via accidental electrocution through their Hemalurgic spikes, Tesla style, courtesy of Wayne’s beneficiary Sophi Tarcsel. This letter may appear a scathing criticism, but I love your books - these opinions may simply be more useful than the praise that would needed to fill another correspondence. I am hugely looking forward to more Stormlight and have pre-ordered Oathbringer. The cultures and biogeography of Roshar are a world unlike anything I have seen before in fantasy. Blue skin and crystalline fingernails, I’m looking forward to seeing to seeing a cross breed of Thaylen eyebrows and whatever eccentricities that you conjure. Best of luck,