lots of essays about whatever strikes me (neutral)
first rule: love!
kind of a fanblog and kind of not. I focus mostly on critical reading/
media analysis and occasionally gushing about books/art I love.
current subject of analysis is the stormlight archive.
this means a lot of heavy criticism. spoilers are tagged.
szeth holding a rose icon by me!
Hello :) This is blog is part random-interests and part vent-critique/ media analysis.
My current subject of analysis is The Stormlight Archive. I deeply enjoyed a lot about it, and still do. But my main problem with this series that inspired me to make the long posts I do were the messages/morals of the story. There strangely isn't enough discussion of this in a lot of online spaces, and I think it's just because people don't notice the issues. That, or they trust the author's handling on weighty subjects like war, racism, colonization, and genocide.
So, I've been compiling my long held thoughts into essays and not-essays so that hopefully more readers engage with this series and its author critically. And to get this off my chest lol. I'm doing this project out of love and frenzied optimism. I plan to be done with it forever at some point in the future, God willing. I would just like to leave a record for posterity (and for the inevitable reader who, like me, would end up looking for something like this).
An ongoing list of my longer essays (#in this essay i did):
A shortened rant on the chasm scenes because I could go on forever: an essay
Oathbringer: the colonizer's fever dream in novel form
A long rant on the dog and the dragon
Was Kaladin... on purpose?
Anything I write is generally under (#my post). There are a bunch of other posts in line with this theme of critique from other readers under (#sanderson critical). There are some insightful discussions with other readers with similar critiques/questions under the (#a response) tag.
and a second thing ☀️
Another project I've been doing is a long fanfic that is an attempt at addressing the issues I had since the beginning. I came back out of a 14 year long ffn retirement for this looool. I do it because it is therapeutic. And righteous 😌 The working summary for it is:
"Kaladin and Moash have been right the whole time (because let's be serious. They were) and it's time to cause more problems in the Alethi government. The fuel of revolution is building in Alethkar as Bridge Four continues to stoke tension among the highprinces and as class stratification grows among the Alethi people. Unfortunately the apocalypse is happening, and even more unfortunately, Kaladin and Moash have differing ideas on how to fight for justice.
And strangely... everything they've learned about Radiants has been a lie? Perpetuated by the monarchy?"
Anything related to that I keep under #HA/TROS 🌟 (contains redone scenes or posts I've found that remind me of it). I hope to post it eventually, God willing.
I also love and am interested in lot of random stuff that I've already reposted here (art, other books/authors, manga, random essays, media literacy discourse, religion, etc.), but I think that's always tagged.
my knight you have to live you have to get up you have to put your hand over your wound and hold it there. you have to keep walking and walking and walking because you cannot lay down yet, it’s not time. wipe the blood off your breastplate and look up into the sun. lean on your sword if you need to. lift one foot after another. get up. get up. this would be a pitiful grave.
every day it just concerns me how little compassion people have. no compassion for those living in the global south. no compassion for immigrants. no compassion for disabled ppl. no compassion for addicts. no compassion for prisoners. no compassion for children. like holy shit ...
i made a separate post about this but actually there are plenty of people cough white people who care about animals more than they ever do human people . not what i'm talking about make your own post
I think what made me the happiest about the Kendrick v Drake beef was that for a moment there, we were all listening to rap as rap is meant to be listened to. Active listening, media comprehension, focused, fun, and all to the sound of the spilled blood of a man's career being curb stomped. Generational experience. 10/10 would experience for the first time again.
I am so tired of short-attention-span, trim-the-fat culture.
All writing advice these days is for how to write like Chuck Palahniuk. "Cut 'think', cut 'feel', cut 'wonder' - only action, only pushing forward, show and move and move and move." What if I could emulate this style, and still don't want to? What if I want to write like Henry James, with three paragraphs of introspective musings between each dialogue line?
The music advice is, "make it shortform, make it Tik-Tok compatible, make it punchy, hit the refrain as soon as possible." What if I want that 10-minute prog rock piece? What if I want that symphony? What if I want it slow and luxurious and lazy?
Movies. Series. Poetry. Bodies. Everything is "trimmed trimmed trimmed trimmed, stripped bare, you have three seconds to win me over, make it airport chic." I don't want to win you over, then, I guess.
I want the fat left it.
I want the pleasure and the indolence and the indulgence.
Fuck this art-advice that's always "your art needs Ozempic."
writing isnt even like a hobby to me anymore its just that theres images trapped in my head and if i dont get them out fast enough they start rotting in there and stinking up the place
I finished the first book of the Stormlight Archive and, honestly? Didn't understand what the big deal is.
But I thought: well maybe it gets better in the second book?
Hint: it did not get better.
Not only do we learn that the war against the Listeners is explicitly genocidal but the in-universe morality fairy is just fine with it!?
Sure, being complicit in the genocide of 80,000 Listeners is perfectly fine! But killing one of the men responsible? That's where this so-called "honor" spren draws the line.
I didn't understand why people never mention how bad it is at fantasy racism.
Sure one of the main characters was betrayed, imprisoned and enslaved but he's a darkeyes!
Kaladin should just be grateful!
After all didn't the king's uncle free him? Hasn't he been treated with respect? (For a darkeyes).
Isn't this "good man's" plan to better coordinate their extermination of the Listener's worth more than Kaladin's petty need to bring justice to the lighteyes that betrayed and enslaved him!?
"Oh, but the Listeners rejected the peace envoy!"
AND THAT JUSTIFIES GENOCIDE!?
It's been repeatedly established that the Listeners never leave their territory in the canyons. They could literally stop having their men die at any time. But, y'know, gotta exploit those natural resources!
"But they're Voidbringers!"
I don't have the patience to explain why making an indigenous coded people Fantasy Devil Worshippers is bad and also racist, actually.
No, making them mind controlled doesn't make it better.
There were parts I liked!
Shallan infiltrating a secret organization is fun. As is her learning how to con people... And then she meets Kaladin and, oh, right, these people are racist.
And the narrative never pushes back on their entitlement to the labor and deference of darkeyes the way it constantly pushes back against Kaladin's belief that lighteyes are selfish, self-centered bigots who see darkeyes as ungrateful, "odious" brutes and would never place the life of a darkeyes over their own comfort...
WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE!
Kaladin still has multiple slave brands on his forehead and Shallan has the audacity to bitch about him being "rude"!?
Y'know, because she feels entitled to his emotional labor.
I knew this was coming when the built-in morality system started whining about killing a racist.
Y'know how you can tell what's author bias and what's just character dialogue?
Whoever gets to justify themselves more.
Shallan comes from an abusive household. There's no doubt about that. But the narrative seems to think that's somehow equivalent to Kaladin's little brother being "volunteered" by the ruling brightlord from his hometown out of vindictiveness.
The audience is expected to sympathize with Shallan over Kaladin because the author doesn't understand how privilege works.
Shallan didn't have an easy life because she was brighteyes. But you know what she did have? Access to education, the ability to enter into tutelage with arguably the most powerful princess on the continent, and more money than any regular darkeyes could earn in their entire life.
Hell, she was just shipwrecked! And the only thing keeping the slaver she stumbled on from throwing her in with the rest of his merchandise was that she was a brighteyes!
Kaladin just got pardoned for the unspeakable crime of accusing a brightlord of doing something he absolutely did!
And that's when I realized.
There was a reason why the muggers in the city could be killed and subsequently used as a lesson in ethics. While so much as contemplating killing a genocidal racist is treated like losing your soul.
There's a reason why most people never talk about this.
And it's because it doesn't expect anything of them.
Doesn't push their boundaries or make them uncomfortable. Doesn't ask them to reexamine how they treat minorities or what privileges they might take for granted. What systems are in place that make life harder for people who don't look like you. And if those systems break people and murder their family, well, it's not your fault is it?
Nope.
Instead they're fed the comforting lie that oppressed people just need to get over themselves and not be so gosh darn rude.
Y'know, because caste systems are inherently racist.
The different castes of India weren't "Hindu" until the British decided to lump them all together as one "race". They were each their own people and I would absolutely describe what the higher castes do to the lower ones as racism.
Oh, is it hard for you? Are you so privileged that you can go outside without worrying that a Shallan is going to lie to the cops about you threatening her?
Well good for you!
Did you not read my post at all? Them being racist isn't the problem. The problem is that they're never expected to grapple with their racism.
Meanwhile, the universe itself is telling a former slave that Not All Brighteyes are bad! Like that changes fucking anything about the systemic oppression they benefit from. Or stops his brother from being dead.
"Otherwise good people" I don't care? I don't give a shit? I'm already expected to humanize real life people who see me as subhuman so why would I extend that to fake people who can't be bothered to unlearn their prejudice?
If all the named characters died so the darkeyes could break free of their subjugation I would fucking cheer?
I don't actually care how the narrative justifies an entire minority of Fantasy Devil Worshippers. If you wanted Fantasy Devil Worshippers in your fantasy settings then they shouldn't be a separate species/nation/ethnicity.
I'm not continuing this book. I've already read the first Mistborn trilogy. I don't need another series about how it's actually the oppressed group that need to unlearn their hatred of their oppressors.
I feel so insane about ai. I've had face-to-face conversations with people who use it for therapy, who use it to calculate the safety of pill interactions, who use it for all their emails and grant applications and legal documents and academic papers and finance sheets and for every single question they have about the world, and if you tell them about the ecological costs they just laugh and say "I guess I've used a lot of water." and I've been in multiple gatherings of 10+ people where I'm THE ONLY PERSON who doesn't use chatgpt. it's turning me into a ranting raving pariah, because how don't you people see??? why don't you understand??????? this bullshit didn't exist five years ago, you absolutely do not need it, and it is destroying everything
I will not forgive anyone who sees this post and ignores us.
I am writing these words with tears streaming down my face. I can no longer bear this pain. My wife is suffering from a severe deficiency in vitamins, especially vitamin D, and she urgently needs surgery to save her life. Her body is growing weaker day by day, malnutrition is stealing her strength, and I stand helpless watching her suffer.
All I wish for is to see her alive and healthy. Please help us provide healthy food, her medications, and fund the surgery that could save her life.
Even if you cannot donate, please share this post. Every support, every word, could be the difference between her life and death.
the "is kaladin...on purpose" post isn't showing up in the right tag so I'm reposting it. if there is any funky business happening on your dashboard please excuse me
the "is kaladin...on purpose" post isn't showing up in the right tag so I'm reposting it. if there is any funky business happening on your dashboard please excuse me
I’ve been thinking a lot about how Branderson writes Kaladin. I feel like what we got with him may have been unintentional. Especially when we take into consideration the fact that he was an entirely different character in The Way of Kings Prime, which is the first “version” of the story.
In that first version, Kaladin is some guy named Merin, and Merin becomes nobility pretty much instantly. The problem was that, according to Sanderson, this wasn’t an interesting story. So, in order for it to work, he changed it so Merin is betrayed and doesn’t get the Shards (or whatever they were in that first iteration). Now the story is about Merin getting the Shards back and getting justice for himself. Also, his name is Kaladin now. Except, this isn’t why Kaladin, for me at least, was interesting to follow.
The most interesting parts of his journey are when he has nothing and learning why he has nothing. It was when he was in the bridge crews fighting for his life, and when he was in the chasms realizing how the world sees people like him. When he was forcing the other bridgemen to start seeing themselves as human. In his POV, we got to see a lot of the inner workings of the systems that govern their society and how bad they are. We learn that actually, he hates Shardblades, because they represent lighteyed tyranny. I wasn’t as curious about him getting Shards and becoming royalty, because after following his journey in that first book, those things seemed to be part of the larger problems ailing their world (which we see him express). Instead, I wanted to know more about how he would respond to all this injustice.
I think it’s safe to say that most people who like Kaladin like him because of his commitment to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Except, the interesting thing with Kaladin, and with Sanderson’s storytelling in general, is that his character runs counter to a lot of the messages that Sanderson normally writes. Kaladin openly hates class inequality, systemic discrimination, social injustices, etc, and he fights against these things. He is heavily flawed in his own approaches to these problems and has his own bigoted beliefs about parshmen, but this just makes him an interesting character to follow.
This clash between storyteller and character becomes apparent when considering his oath: "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves."
When we’re following Kaladin’s POV, we can assume that those who can’t protect themselves includes those disenfranchised by the system. Think: darkeyes, slaves, the poor; because this is who we saw being mistreated in the books. (This does not yet extend to parshmen.)
But the author shows he has a different conception of who falls under this oath in Book 2. Here, Kaladin is roped into an assassination plot against the King for the various things he sucks at.
Let’s make it clear: Kaladin is dead-set on helping Moash assassinate the King since the moment he leaves the prison. Why? Elhokar’s bad leadership has resulted in the harm of those who can’t protect themselves. Up until the climax, Kaladin is firm on this belief, and it makes sense for his character. Things are evolving naturally. But the problem is that, as I said before, the direction his character is going runs counter to the kind of story that the author may still want to tell, which is just Merin getting his Shards and titles back.
That said, I have noticed from observing Sanderson’s work that it generally takes on an American conservative perspective (really good post on it here). Systems of violence, discrimination, and exploitation aren’t the issue. A couple of mean guys working in the system are the issue. And sometimes, there are nice guys running the baby crushing machine.
It is with the clashing of this perspective and with characters like Kaladin that we end up with lines like: The King was Dalinar’s Tien. A discordant, awkward line of music in an otherwise decent song. (very good analysis here) And because the King is supposedly Dalinar's Tien, then Kaladin has to save him.
This line compares Elhokar and Tien by saying they both couldn’t protect themselves. Sure, technically that's true, but this falls apart when we add any context at all. Because I don’t consider the King of a powerful country to have anything in common with a conscripted child soldier from the lower caste, other than having the same nationality. And honestly, I don’t think Kaladin would either. I think it’s a matter of inconsistent characterization.
When we get to Book 3, we have a new systemic problem to address: parshmen are fighting back. And in this book, Kaladin has a scene where he’s arguing with Syl, asking her: why is it okay that he can kill all those Parshendi, but it’s not okay to kill the King? This is what I wanted to see explored more with them. But we never get insight into the weight or meaning of any of those decisions, and I’m convinced it’s because if we did, we’d see that Kaladin was right to doubt what they were all doing and question Syl. This can’t happen in accordance with the philosophy of The Stormlight Archive, because that would mean challenging the status quo. So instead, you have scenes where he’s defending the lighteyed class because not all of them are bad, violent people (his debate with Sah); scenes where bridgemen are defending lighteyes because not all of them are bad evil royalty--I mean come on. If we really think about it, only Sadeas was the real evil bad guy. He’s this series' sin eater of sorts.
Book 3, which introduces us to all sorts of horrific violent histories and truths of their world, focuses mostly on redemption stories for the royalty who benefitted the most from these atrocities. We get a redemption story that centers Dalinar and Elhokar, while shafting the the victims of war and genocide off to the side, if not portraying them as the villains in the first place. That is also how we end up with lines like “I forgive you.” Because it’s not enough that Dalinar said he’s sorry, more or less. Evi accepts the apology because he's tryinggg. (Personally I think if he deluded himself into hearing her say it, that would be kinda neat.)
By the way, this isn’t to diss anyone for liking OB, I’m just pointing out what storylines it chooses to focus on and emphasize in the context of genocide and social collapse, and what it chooses to argue with those storylines.
Overall, this was just a little reflection on where Branderson as a writer clashes with writing Kaladin and other oppressed characters, because it seems to me that their philosophies are entirely different. And because they’re so different, there are only two options: either Sanderson allows the character to speak for themself, or he has to figure out a way for Kaladin to do certain things without the audience raising an eyebrow and going OOC!! OOC!! (even though a bunch of us did anyway </3)
It’s certainly possible to have Kaladin be a character that willingly cooperates with the warmongering royalty, like in ROW. I think an arc where he’s deradicalized would be super interesting to follow (if not sad </3). But the problem is that what one person considers ‘deradicalization’ is another person’s ‘becoming civilized.’ And I think that’s what happened with Kaladin.
