Airhawk360 Posted June 26, 2017 Report Share Posted June 26, 2017 I'm rereading Way of Kings and I've noticed something peculiar. Writing, reading and academic fields are thought of as feminine arts, yet men seem to rule everything. Is their pull toward militarism really that strong (Being the highest calling a man can receive) or is it something else? Sanderson usually does a good job in this area, so I was curious about this particular example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calderis Posted June 26, 2017 Report Share Posted June 26, 2017 Yes it is, but it's not quite that simple. It's pointed out later that an officer and his wife tend to work together as a team, with the man working on strategies and combat training and command, with the woman handling administration and scribe duties. The society is structured in a way that, though the male half is dominant, it is still completely reliant on both halves working in tandem. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The One Who Connects Posted June 26, 2017 Report Share Posted June 26, 2017 5 minutes ago, Airhawk360 said: I'm rereading Way of Kings and I've noticed something peculiar. Writing, reading and academic fields are thought of as feminine arts, yet men seem to rule everything. Is their pull toward militarism really that strong (Being the highest calling a man can receive) or is it something else? Sanderson usually does a good job in this area, so I was curious about this particular example. There's this in-world book (Arts and Majesty, i think..) which was used to shape what later became the Masculine and Feminine Arts. It's also the source of the men's only for Shardblades, because feminine activities are ones that can be done with one hand(Safehand), while men use both. Also, men don't rule as absolutely as you think(just ninja'd by Calderis about that) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airhawk360 Posted June 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2017 ah, the book would make sense then. And yea, I suppose between Navani being Navani and how Elhokar's wife is back in Alethkar doing the administrative stuff, it is more a team thing, everyone just seems to pay more attention to the King than the Queen. Thanks.- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Extesian Posted June 27, 2017 Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 Here are some useful WoBz Quote LEINTON Oh something I forgot to mention when I went over my Q/A session with Brandon. Someone else's question was about the safehand and Brandon gave new information on it. BRANDON SANDERSON So that essay he told us about? The one that defined masculine arts as being ones with two hands and feminineneeding only one? That was in order to let men secure power over Shardblades Quote QUESTION Why can only women write? BRANDON SANDERSON It has to with a lot of cultural [???], spraying out of a certain sort of essay written a long ago (Arts and Majesty) that divided masculine arts and feminine arts, and some cultural things sort of went along with that ended up gaining momentum. Quote THE_ARCHDUKE Why can only women read in Stormlight Archive? BRANDON SANDERSON Immediately after the Recreance an old book was used to argue for the idea that only men should be picking up the blades and plate, fighting was a masculine art. Over a period of 20 or so years this became established and some women used the same argument to take back some power by taking literacy for themselves as a feminine art. Quote RURO272 Is there a reason why shadows go toward the light in Shadesmar, or is it just worldbuilding flavor? BRANDON SANDERSON There is a reason, but its not super important. It's like a cultural thing, things have reasons but they aren't always super relevant to the story. It's like safehands--do you know how safehands came to be? It's a cultural thing but it came from somewhere. This is something you probably won't read in the books but I can tell you. The idea of the safehand has to do with one-handed arts being feminine but two handed are masculine, and it all started after the Knights Radiant cast down their Shardblades. There was a huge power grab for these weapons and people quickly realized that the differences between men and women didn't matter when they had power armor, so the idea of one-handed arts being feminine and the safehand arose from that over many years of cultural evolution. FOOTNOTE Obviously this is very much paraphrased since it was a long answer and my notes and memory are not perfect, but I think I captured the important points without adding any of my own thoughts. Interesting that the safehands arose from the power grab after the Recreance as a way to maintain the division between men and women. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airhawk360 Posted June 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 Whoa, thanks for the quote barrage. Loads of useful information, very helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The One Who Connects Posted June 27, 2017 Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Extesian said: Here are some useful WoBz yay, I remembered most everything correctly Didn't know the book was as old as the Recreance though, neat fact. Edited June 27, 2017 by The One Who Connects 1,600 Posts! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airhawk360 Posted June 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 (edited) Oh yea, its always cool to learn how old some of these things are. Also, kind of crazy that their culture goes back four and a half thousand years at least, like, they're almost as old as Egyptian civilization. Edited June 27, 2017 by Airhawk360 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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