Say what you will, but the fact that people from Syhl Shallow say “women and men”—as opposed to “men and women”—is phenomenally subtle but effective worldbuilding, considering the way women are culturally above men in the matriarchal hierarchy of Syhl Shallow
in this essay I will
i’ve always found the idea of Syhl Shallow having a matriarchal hierarchy interesting, but i think BK could have developed that worldbuilding much further
for me, it stays very superficial
and there are moments that feel inconsistent with that narrative, like when in Sparking Fire Callyn says something about being tired of men telling her what to do, when that was never really a recurring situation for her…? like, it would’ve made sense (and even been kind of empowering) in a different context
I think the issue with that specific line is that Brigid realized that she made Alek—and by association, Callyn—too unlikable, so she tried to give Callyn a line reminiscent of Harper (who the line would have made WAY more sense for), without considering that “girl power” doesn’t work in a society where women already hold all the power. I agree with you though; that line felt really out of place, and like something that I think should have been offensive in universe, especially considering how close Cal is with Jax, who’s a man.
Speaking of Jax, I would’ve also LOVED to see more of his relationship with his masculinity, especially upon moving from matriarchy to patriarchy. That said, I would’ve liked if Brigid explored the matriarchy thing further, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily lacking. A few examples are the “women and men” phrasing I previously mentioned, how Callyn describes her mother as being the stereotypical breadwinner while her father stayed home with the kids, the whole “fell siralla/stupid man” thing, the way people consider Lia Mara a lesser queen in Vow for having a king to rule with her, the expression “men are best suited for hard labor and dying in battle”, and so forth. (Also consider how Lia Mara seemed so much faster to trust Callyn than to trust Jax at the end of FSIS, even though Callyn was just as, if not more, guilty for the Truthbringer thing than Jax was.)
i completely agree that Brigid tried to give Callyn many of Harper’s traits and failed. even her “enemies to lovers” thing with Alek feels like a bad copy of Rhen and Harper’s dynamic.
and i also agree it would’ve been really interesting to explore Jax’s relationship with his masculinity in a patriarchy like Emberfall’s, which doesn’t seem that rigid in its structure.
what i mean when i say Syhl Shallow’s matriarchal hierarchy feels superficial is that it seems to be structured from a very patriarchal perspective, which is ironic. even this idea that “men are best suited for hard labor and dying in battle” is quite patriarchal when you think about it.
even though it’s a matrilineal society, traits like kindness and compassion, associated with femininity, are still viewed as inferior. i know that’s part of lia mara’s arc, but i think it would be interesting to know when this matriarchy began and why the rulers before her governed from a perspective that, within this same universe, is considered “masculine”: aggressive and ruthless.
In theory, there’s nothing wrong with using the same character traits for different characters, but Harper’s traits being reused for Callyn feels strange, since Callyn’s motivations and challenges are so different from Harper’s. This problem is made more obvious by Jax, since his primary character arc of learning how to be strong in spite of physical limitations is so similar to Harper’s.
I wouldn’t call it patriarchal, but I think the “men are best suited for hard labor and dying is battle” seeks to acknowledge that on average, men’s bodies are generally built with more physical strength than women’s (which isn’t necessarily sexist, just a statistic), and so people from Syhl Shallow consider physical strength the singular ideal trait in a man. Women have more leeway, as their ideal traits range from lithe and athletic to smart and calculated. I’d argue against the kindness and compassion thing, since while they’re associated with femininity in our society, they don’t seem to be associated with either gender in Syhl Shallow at all, since mercy and kindness aren’t idealized traits in Syhl Shallow. The way it reads to me is that in Syhl Shallow’s culture, everyone is expected to be ruthless and cruel, but different genders just tend to approach that differently: men through strength and women through strategy.
Small tangent: This would also be a really interesting talking point regarding how their upbringing subconsciously affected Callyn’s and Jax’s differing tastes in men, and why Callyn (who’s more traditional) likes Alek, even when he’s a cruel jerk, following Syssal culture—while Jax (who’s more oppressed, both bc of his gender and his disability) likes Tycho, who is probably the most compassionate person in the entire Cursebreakers universe, contradicting Syssal culture.
curiously, i think Jax and Harper approach their disabilities in different ways. i would’ve loved to see more interactions between them.
”it’s just a statistic”… huh, okay.
anyway… yeah, traits like kindness are associated with femininity in our society, but also in the world of these nations. it’s clearly not as globalized as ours, but even Syhl Shallow’s neighboring country works that way. the way i see it, their matriarchy replicates traits of a patriarchy, and my conclusion is that it has to do with the influence of other nations. i would’ve been interesting if Syhl Shallow’s whole social structure had been built differently at its core.
