StormDad Posted August 24, 2024 Posted August 24, 2024 (edited) I am currently reading DragonSteel Prime and have a theory on where the safe-hand custom began on Roshar. mild Dragonsteel prime spoilers, if that is even a thing since it isn’t cannon. Spoiler Hoid, keeps a glove on his left hand to cover his topaz. Some characters note when he takes it off that they have never seen him with it off. I wonder if sometime in the past on Roshar, Hoid still has his topaz and wears a glove on his left hand and somehow influenced the culture to do likewise. Edited August 25, 2024 by StormDad
Treamayne Posted August 25, 2024 Posted August 25, 2024 1 hour ago, StormDad said: I am currently reading DragonSteel Prime and have a theory on where the safe-hand custom began on Roshar. mild Dragonsteel prime spoilers, if that is even a thing since it isn’t cannon. It is a thing - All non-Canon works should only be discussed in their respective sections. At the least, since this is outside that location, the thread title should mention "[Prime spoilers]" so people avoiding it don;t even open the thread. If you are unsure how to edit a thread title, please see the Sharder FAQ. All-that-said. . . We already know the origin of the Safehand. It started with Arts and Majesty separating what activities were acceptable between women and men, and evolved into covering the left hand to ensure women primarily used their right hand (left handed Lighteyes are forcibly retrained - as still happens in some places, like Korea, IRL) WoBs: Spoiler Quote Questioner With covering the safehand for women, how does that affect how left-handed women are treated or perceived? Brandon Sanderson Left-handed you are trained- Well it's not a big deal for darkeyes because they wear gloves. Lighteyed women are trained to use the right hand, even if they're left-handed; which does cause some problems, but that's how they are trained. Words of Radiance Seattle signing (March 8, 2014) Quote Amaowin So men cannot write, it is a feminine art. Women do all the writing and reading while also covering their left hand with a sensible long sleeve (not godless whores). But what if a proper Vorin woman is born left-handed? Would she be forced to wear a glove in order to write? Or would she do her best to write with her right hand to avoid her sinful nature as a lefty? I wonder if these women write in secret, away from the lecherous eyes of others, and expose her safe hand to write freely. These thoughts keep me up at night. I pity these left-handed Vorins for the rough life they must live. Brandon Sanderson This isn't as big a deal as you might think, because for a lot of the population, they just wear a glove and use their left hand. It gets interesting when you are upper class, female, and left-handed. Part of the inspiration for the safehand was the way that the left hand is regarded as unclean in some of our cultures on Earth. You might be curious to read about what left-handed people did, historically, in some middle eastern cultures. The short answer is "They learn to be ambidextrous" but the long answer is that it can be quite a pain, and very embarrassing. So yes, you are right to feel sorry for those left-handed Vorin women. General Reddit 2018 (Dec. 1, 2018) Dragonsteel Spoilers: Spoiler Topaz, and his glove, were pre-Shattering and about 4000 years before humans came to Roshar, so 7-8000 years before Vorins adopted the safe-hand. Hope that helps
StormDad Posted August 25, 2024 Author Posted August 25, 2024 7 hours ago, Treamayne said: It is a thing - All non-Canon works should only be discussed in their respective sections. At the least, since this is outside that location, the thread title should mention "[Prime spoilers]" so people avoiding it don;t even open the thread. If you are unsure how to edit a thread title, please see the Sharder FAQ. All-that-said. . . We already know the origin of the Safehand. It started with Arts and Majesty separating what activities were acceptable between women and men, and evolved into covering the left hand to ensure women primarily used their right hand (left handed Lighteyes are forcibly retrained - as still happens in some places, like Korea, IRL) WoBs: Reveal hidden contents Dragonsteel Spoilers: Reveal hidden contents Topaz, and his glove, were pre-Shattering and about 4000 years before humans came to Roshar, so 7-8000 years before Vorins adopted the safe-hand. Hope that helps Sorry 1
Treamayne Posted August 25, 2024 Posted August 25, 2024 2 hours ago, StormDad said: Sorry No worries, no ire. You can't know until you either ask or learn the hard way (or take the very very long road like me, who lurked for 3 years learning from reading other's mistakes and only posting in one thread the whole time; and still I managed to screw up and learn the hard way for a few things). Welcome to the Shard. Please consider an Intro Thread (or your profile) to let us know what you have (or have-not) read so that spoilers can be avoided, if necessary (whichever list is shorter). Have a great day. 1
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