Do You Feel Represented in WaT, and If So How Well?

[Returned he/him]

One of the most striking things, to me, in the earlier Stormlight books (especially WoK and WoR) was the representation of Kaladin's depression. Depression is used often in fiction, often enough to have some well-defined tropes and patterns that reliably appear, but I find them shallow and usually uninteresting. The external view (especially prevalent on television and in movies) tends to be someone who withdraws from everything, refusing/declining/unable to interact with other characters, settings, or events. Even though that's not an inaccurate representation I find it tends to make characters and events seem the same: a fugue which is more boring the more time is spent describing it because, from a plot perspective, it's inert. There is rarely much context around it.

I felt differently about Kaladin. His inner dialogue, the way that the tone, content, perspective, and direction of his thoughts changed during a depressive episode, the despair and fatalism and anhedonia, the way it was attendant to other things he was doing and experiencing rather than a discrete item that could just lift out of the story-- it all landed for me. Very recognizable, accurate, well-described, and thoughtfully expressed, or at least that's how I feel about it. I was less excited about the next three books' treatment of it, though I wouldn't condemn them for it or anything.

It seems clear that representation and inclusion were goals Sanderson had in these books, perhaps especially in WaT. I didn't feel like other things got as much depth as Kaladin's depression, but I lack the personal experience and context to assess how successful he was in those other areas. I'm specifically thinking about autism, sexuality, sexual identity, gender, abandonment, physical disability, and surviving trauma, but I don't want to limit responses.

So if anyone here would be open to answering: if you identify with elements of the books, especially if they are less commonly represented in stories, are you happy with the representations in WaT? Do you care about the effort, do you feel well-represented, and do you feel that the topic itself was handled well? If so, were there pieces that you thought were especially good, and if not, what might you have liked to see that you did not?

[scottos]

I feel like Brandon did an excellent job of addressing scrupulosity with Szeth's arc. He also did a great job of addressing this in Nightmare Painter. I think this is particularly interesting coming from Brandon Sanderson specifically.

[who_slew_aicirtap she/they]

I don't think Renarin is bad autism representation necessarily, but it just felt kind of heavy-handed at times. I related to Szeth much more in that regard, and I'm not sure if Sanderson even wrote him that way intentionally. Him not knowing why people dislike him, getting in trouble when he doesn't think he did anything wrong, the black and white thinking, etc. It was all things I've personally experienced and I appreciated seeing that represented.

[therunner he/him]

I do, in two characters:

• Flashback Szeth and his intense desire to do the 'right' thing, and fear of making a mistake/wrong thing.
  • That is something I have somewhat grown out of, but sometimes is still there.
• Renarin and his social anxiety
  • That one hit exactly on the spot. Some of his internal monologues on how people know what to do, what to say; or trying to frantically figure out their body language so he know what to expect...Yeah, that was spot on for my experience.

So altogether, on 'functionally autistic' front, I think he did well, at least for some presentations.

Edited January 7, 2025 by therunner

[Geoffray]

1 hour ago, therunner said:

Renarin and his social anxiety

• That one hit exactly on the spot. Some of his internal monologues on how people know what to do, what to say; or trying to frantically figure out their body language so he know what to expect...Yeah, that was spot on for my experience.

 

For me  too. Renarin is my favorite character, because i'm finding myself in him, so i'm not objective at all. But my feeling and emotions were as is.

 

Same with the feelling of Kaladin's depression. Spot on.

Edited January 7, 2025 by Geoffray