Representation in the Cosmere

[CosmereValerie]

Hi all! I hope we're having a lovely day.  

Really I just wanted to make this post to share my thoughts and feelings. And to share that I was honestly very pleasantly surprised with the level of representation in the cosmere from the LGBT+ community and different cultures. After reading Lotr and the Witcher (they are both really good ofc) I was basically expecting no rep in the cosmere and was on board mainly from what I'd heard about the magic systems. But wow I was so happy to see on page in Canon stuff. So that's very cool

[celerrima]

Yes! This is one of the things that elevates the cosmere over older fantasy for me. It's clear that Brandon made efforts to be inclusive starting from Elantris and he improved at it in a more or less linear fashion. In particular, I'm glad I can recommend Stormlight Archive to disabled and trans people with a clean conscience. I'd give my left arm for a canon trans woman in the cosmere though -- a Returned for instance.

All-time favorite WoB (Dawnshard):

 

Spoiler

LegoGunnar13

And as a transgender woman, thank you so much. To see that little detail of the Reshi king transitioning using Stormlight made me so happy.

Brandon Sanderson

I wanted to make sure I got the Reshi king another cameo at some point because it feels to me there would be a disproportionately large number of trans people among the Knights Radiant, considering the journey of self-discovery they go on in their lives.

 

 

[The Sibling]

I think that representation of queer people in the cosmere has definitely improved in more recent books. The Reshi king for one, also Renarin and Rlain. It's so much more powerful to have two POV characters who are plot relevant be queer. Like remember Drehy? Who basically didn't have a character? Having three dimensional characters like Rlain being queer is way cool.  Although I do have one complaint. And it's with the Sibling.

Yes, fine, I see the irony. But why is the one non-binary person/entity in the cosmere not human. Or even humanoid. The Sibling makes it seem like gender is a human thing so it's okay to not fit into the gender binary as long as you aren't, in fact, human. Non-binary people exist! And it would be nice to have a non-binary person in the cosmere, that's all.