lord ruler Gender-bent Lord Ruler!

[Rashek's PR Manager she/her]

I've commissioned an artist to paint me a female Lord Ruler, and here's the outcome! Considering that the artist hadn't read Mistborn, I think she did a great job presenting the spear scene according to my description

[Rashek's PR Manager she/her]

It's interesting to imagine a female version of Rashek (Rachette?). Some of my friends believe that TLR's gender has little to no effect on the storyline, while others think maybe Rachette will treat skaa women less harshly. Either way, I find the idea of Rachette intriguing

[Mage he/him]

I would read that fanfic. And that is a cool picture.

[TheWanderer he/him]

Equally terrifying in my opinion. 

[Rashek's PR Manager she/her]

14 hours ago, Mage said:

I would read that fanfic. And that is a cool picture.

Yes the picture is fantastic, I can't wait to tell the artist that you like it. She is one of my friends actually and is kind enough to accept my commission, despite the fact that she is a little concerned about painting a scene from a book she hasn't read before. 

[Rashek's PR Manager she/her]

4 hours ago, TheWanderer said:

Equally terrifying in my opinion. 

Well, initially I supposed that as a woman, TLR wouldn't have sanctioned rape. However, being born a Terris man didn't stop Rashek from enslaving his own people. So yeah, I agree, Rachette will be equally terrifying

[TheWanderer he/him]

For someone who hated his people's oppressor's Rashek was quite the hypocrite.  

[+robardin he/him]

On 8/2/2021 at 8:27 AM, Rashek's PR Manager said:

It's interesting to imagine a female version of Rashek (Rachette?). Some of my friends believe that TLR's gender has little to no effect on the storyline, while others think maybe Rachette will treat skaa women less harshly. Either way, I find the idea of Rachette intriguing

I dunno. For someone who was himself Terris and was originally motivated by a desire for the Terris to be "dominant" over the other nations due to their Feruchemy...

...he sure did a heel turn in making it a mission to eliminate Feruchemy and instituting first vicious genocidal operations and then a brutal breeding program on the Terris.

Similarly, the reason skaa women were legally required to be, ah, "single use" by noblemen was not out of mere cruelty, but to control the access to Allomancy by the underclass, to keep them as an underclass. If anything, the fact that such interbreeding over hundreds of years happened anyway, and there being so many skaa Allomancers for the Ministry to hunt for (and to harvest for spikes), speaks to how hard it is even for people born and raised to such a "noble" culture to be quite so brutal to someone they've found attractive enough to engage in that manner.

For every Straff Venture type person, or Tevidian, there must have been several more "don't ask, don't tell, don't care" type liaisons... Not to mention what we saw with Beldre's noble parents, and probably several times in Cett's ancestry, where a House otherwise on the brink of extinction turned to a skaa source of fertility on the down low.

IMO genderbending TLR is a neat idea for artistic purposes, but from a plot POV it would weaken the "aha moment" Sazed has at the end of WoA about how the ancient Terris prophecies about the "Hero of Ages", which Kwaan had declared Alendi to be and then which claim Rashek later usurped, "could equally refer to a woman" (Vin) due to the careful use of a grammatical neutral. If Rachette had been able to claim the title over Alendi, that thought should have occurred to him (and maybe the reader) much sooner.

Making the character of Marsh into a woman is my personal favorite, BTW (to "Marsha", LOL... though as a fictional name it could just be retained, as Ham officially is in the serial adaptation Brandon's been working on). Even making "Marsha" a twin sibling to Kelsier.

Edited August 5, 2021 by robardin

[Rashek's PR Manager she/her]

3 hours ago, robardin said:

I dunno. For someone who was himself Terris and was originally motivated by a desire for the Terris to be "dominant" over the other nations due to their Feruchemy...

...he sure did a heel turn in making it a mission to eliminate Feruchemy and instituting first vicious genocidal operations and then a brutal breeding program on the Terris.

Similarly, the reason skaa women were legally required to be, ah, "single use" by noblemen was not out of mere cruelty, but to control the access to Allomancy by the underclass, to keep them as an underclass. If anything, the fact that such interbreeding over hundreds of years happened anyway, and there being so many skaa Allomancers for the Ministry to hunt for (and to harvest for spikes), speaks to how hard it is even for people born and raised to such a "noble" culture to be quite so brutal to someone they've found attractive enough to engage in that manner.

For every Straff Venture type person, or Tevidian, there must have been several more "don't ask, don't tell, don't care" type liaisons... Not to mention what we saw with Beldre's noble parents, and probably several times in Cett's ancestry, where a House otherwise on the brink of extinction turned to a skaa source of fertility on the down low.

IMO genderbending TLR is a neat idea for artistic purposes, but from a plot POV it would weaken the "aha moment" Sazed has at the end of WoA about how the ancient Terris prophecies about the "Hero of Ages", which Kwaan had declared Alendi to be and then which claim Rashek later usurped, "could equally refer to a woman" (Vin) due to the careful use of a grammatical neutral. If Rachette had been able to claim the title over Alendi, that thought should have occurred to him (and maybe the reader) much sooner.

Making the character of Marsh into a woman is my personal favorite, BTW (to "Marsha", LOL... though as a fictional name it could just be retained, as Ham officially is in the serial adaptation Brandon's been working on). Even making "Marsha" a twin sibling to Kelsier.

Totally. It's unlikely that Rachette would find other women's suffering worthy of her empathy. I mean, from the TLR's point of view, she is the Hero of Ages, far above ( feeling ) anything. Whatever she does is justified for she is trying to save the freaking world.

As for the plot, well, I'm only imagining a female Lord Ruler for artistic purpose now, though I won't rule out the possibility of future fanfics that focus on Rachette's early years, her cynicism, her anger, her pettiness, and eventually, her rise to power. There's no denying the fact that genderbending TLR will weaken Sazed's aha moment. Yet I think the moment itself is, from a certain perspective, a cliche. Besides, it's kind of ironic that despite that moment, Sazed, a man, not Vin, ended up as the prophesied hero. Soooo……

And yes, I love the idea of Marsha as well!!! Marsha, the female leader of skaa rebellion who *hates* her trouble-making little brother Kelsier… Hey, why am I getting Leia & Luke vibe from this

[+robardin he/him]

2 minutes ago, Rashek's PR Manager said:

Totally. It's unlikely that Rachette would find other women's suffering worthy of her empathy. I mean, from the TLR's point of view, she is the Hero of Ages, far above ( feeling ) anything. Whatever she does is justified for she is trying to save the freaking world.

As for the plot, well, I'm only imagining a female Lord Ruler for artistic purpose now, though I won't rule out the possibility of future fanfics that focus on Rachette's early years, her cynicism, her anger, her pettiness, and eventually, her rise to power. There's no denying the fact that genderbending TLR will weaken Sazed's aha moment. Yet I think the moment itself is, from a certain perspective, a cliche. Besides, it's kind of ironic that despite that moment, Sazed, a man, not Vin, ended up as the prophesied hero. Soooo……

And yes, I love the idea of Marsha as well!!! Marsha, the female leader of skaa rebellion who *hates* her trouble-making little brother Kelsier… Hey, why am I getting Leia & Luke vibe from this

That is one of the reasons I loved the original Mistborn trilogy so much.

At the conclusion of each book was a twist I could have, but did not see coming!

Rashek was The Lord Ruler, not Alendi! IT WAS ALL THERE!

...Vin must be the true Hero of Ages! IT ALL FITS! But Oh noes what did she just do?!

...Vin... Died? Sazed... The fate of the world on his arms... Wait... THE CHAPTER HEADING IN THE FIRST BOOK...?!

As for Marsha, not only does it work on a big sis/little bro level, it also makes the eventual turning into an Inquisitor and becoming Ruin's chief agent extra chilling.

"You spent the last few years teaching, Sazed, but I spent them killing. Killing so many people..."

[Rashek's PR Manager she/her]

21 hours ago, robardin said:

As for Marsha, not only does it work on a big sis/little bro level, it also makes the eventual turning into an Inquisitor and becoming Ruin's chief agent extra chilling.

"You spent the last few years teaching, Sazed, but I spent them killing. Killing so many people..."

Wow now I'm thinking that genderbending Rashek will actually make Marsha's turning into an Inquisitor more reasonable. In the original plot, all ten Inquisitors stationed at TLR's palace were male. Maybe, just maybe, a female Lord Ruler would be more inclined to have female Inquisitors around herself

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

13 hours ago, Rashek's PR Manager said:

Wow now I'm thinking that genderbending Rashek will actually make Marsha's turning into an Inquisitor more reasonable. In the original plot, all ten Inquisitors stationed at TLR's palace were male. Maybe, just maybe, a female Lord Ruler would be more inclined to have female Inquisitors around herself

Considering the changes Brandon has made to the movieverse society, it’s not that unlikely to have Marsh be a female Inquisitor.

Side note: I see my idea is gaining traction. Excellent. (Rubs hands gleefully) Now to convince Brandon...

[+robardin he/him]

In addition to lessening or removing the "careful use of the neutral" aha moment from Sazed that "gets him religious" about Vin being the HoA, another knock-on effect of making Rashek->ette into a woman is that it also requires making Alendi into a woman. Otherwise the whole thing about assuming the logbook is the Diary of Pre-Ascension Lord Ruler falls apart.

And the group of "packmen" that Alendi hires on to guide him through the Terris Mountains to the Well of Ascension would have to be, if not all women, then at least a gender-mixed group of guides/bearers, lest Rashek/ette stand out and come more quickly to mind as a spiteful usurper.

Not saying this is undoable; just pointing out that genderflipping Rashek has more strings attached to it than may first appear (which is not the case with Ham or Marsh), to a degree where I don't think it's a good one.

Having a few of the Inquisitors be female is easy enough, though - especially since Mistborn would make the best Inquisitors, and we've already got Shan Elariel and Vin as examples of how there's no reason a woman wouldn't be a highly valued and effective Mistborn in the Final Empire. "Kar", for example (the one who subdued Vin in the throne room).

[Malim he/him]

There are in fact female Inquisitors that we have seen on screen, it just wasn't very noticeable.  Of course this is after TLR had gone beyond.

Quote

Chaos (paraphrased)

Does being female alter the spiritual overlays on a person, so that a Hemalurgically imbued spike would need to be placed differently than in a male body?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

No. In fact, there are female inquisitors in the huge fight when Vin goes blasting through them, but he felt like bringing that out would have been distracting.

Ancient 17S Q&A (May 1, 2010)

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by Malim

[Aspiring Writer]

It's offical. The Lord Ruler is hot no matter the gender. Also, The Lord Ruler did nothing wrong.

@Rashek's PR Manager Also, send the artist my compliments, this is a great depiction.

Edited August 6, 2021 by Aspiring Writer

[Rashek's PR Manager she/her]

On 2021/8/5 at 9:37 PM, robardin said:

In addition to lessening or removing the "careful use of the neutral" aha moment from Sazed that "gets him religious" about Vin being the HoA, another knock-on effect of making Rashek->ette into a woman is that it also requires making Alendi into a woman. Otherwise the whole thing about assuming the logbook is the Diary of Pre-Ascension Lord Ruler falls apart.

And the group of "packmen" that Alendi hires on to guide him through the Terris Mountains to the Well of Ascension would have to be, if not all women, then at least a gender-mixed group of guides/bearers, lest Rashek/ette stand out and come more quickly to mind as a spiteful usurper.

Not saying this is undoable; just pointing out that genderflipping Rashek has more strings attached to it than may first appear (which is not the case with Ham or Marsh), to a degree where I don't think it's a good one.

Yeah, I see the problem now. You are absolutely right. It'll mess with the whole plot twist.

However, what motivates me to genderbend TLR is not to insert this female version into the mistborn storyline. It's the character concept itself that interests me. Someone who, despite their madness, managed to pull off a plan through one thousand years and continued to fight ( although in a increasingly twisted and condemned way ) till their dying day. Perhaps I'll base my own book's heroine on it, with some modifications of course.

Edited August 6, 2021 by Rashek's PR Manager

[Rashek's PR Manager she/her]

12 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said:

It's offical. The Lord Ruler is hot no matter the gender. Also, The Lord Ruler did nothing wrong.

@Rashek's PR Manager Also, send the artist my compliments, this is a great depiction.

Of course he is hot. It's a universally recognized fact! Both Alendi and Vin have confirmed this, calling our beloved Rashek handsome. And don't forget that their times are one thousand years apart. 

But I'm afraid that I can't agree with you on the nothing wrong part ( unless you're joking  )

Aaaaand I've sent the artist your compliments. She is very happy to learn that you appreciate her work.