#tortall

[ellewantsrevenge]

my favorite fantasy world is tortall

[readingworldwanderer]

You may think the phrase "He's just a little guy" comes from internet memes, but you would be wrong.

The true origin of the phrase belongs to celebrated author Tamora Pierce, in her 1983 novel Alanna: The First Adventure, when Gary says, "Still—what can Alan do for you? He's just a little guy"(49).

Thus, whenever we say of someone or some creature that they are "just a little guy," what we are really saying is that they are a short redheaded knight-in-training with some sort of Gender going on who will kick your butt given half a chance.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. May we all be the little guys we wish to see in the world.

Pierce, Tamora. Alanna: The First Adventure. New York, Random House, 1983.

[chief-cook-and-librarian]

If you've ever wanted Tamora Pierce Tortall book covers on your wall, now's your chance! Joyce Patti just launched her website where you can buy prints of her work. Yes, I spent way too much money.

She has 11 covers for sale, First Test isn't available because the original copy was sold to a gallery years ago, but she mentioned possibly tracking it down or recreating it.

Right now I think she's just shipping in the US, but she's looking at international options.

It seems like a one woman operation, so it might take some time to actually get shipped.

She's been working on this for a long time, so give her some love if you can!

[onetobeamupart]

Daine the Wild Mage of the Immortals quartet, the original blorbo.

[minuiko]

In the Hand of the Goddess-era SOTL crew

[aladygrieve]

Obviously Alanna and Kel face vastly different challenges in pretending to be a boy vs. openly training as a girl, but what I find even more interesting is the difference in their motivations. Alanna became a knight because she didn't want to become a lady. She wanted Glory and Adventure and Grand Heroism, but in a remote and almost abstract sense.

Which is cool. But Kel became a knight because she really wanted to be a knight, with all the day-to-day drudgery that entails. I mean, look at Squire: she spends most of that book head to toe in mud helping poor people in crisis and she loves it and I think that's kind of amazing.

[preserving-tiktok]

[thenerdyindividual]

The Tortall books are for horse girls, girls who wish they could talk with their pets, and girls who picked up as many chairs as their little bodies could lift when their teacher said “I need some strong boys to help me move these chairs”.