#wokp

[stormfaced]

WoK: Prime Chapter 74

[stormfaced]

So I’m reading WoK: Prime and did Aredor (aka the more relaxed version of Adolin) instantly take Merin (aka Kaladin without trauma/ bad dad) under his wing the second he was so much as vaguely asked to? He just instantly started giving him fashion, dating and life advice, as well as hanging 24/7 with him...

I can’t help but imagine that would Adolin meet Kaladin under different circumstances, say, if Kaladin had accepted the shards and Adolin was asked to look after the new shardbearer at the shattered plains... I can very well imagine Adolin being enthusiastically involved and fussy from day one >:)

[renarinkholin]

kogiopsis reblogged your post “WHAT IS IT WHAT IS IT WHAT IS IT *hops up and down excitedly*”

#stormlight archive, #ooooh, #hmm I wonder how much of this has been carried through to current Renarin, #since prime!Renarin was supposed to create the Diagram and that's not him anymore, #but it's so cool that peter put that in for you.

Renarin here is doing math problems for fun, and is writing number glyphs. We see this kind of behavior mirrored in Shallan’s brother Wikim in canon, but I get a similar sense of the scene here. Yes, in both cases, men are allowed to do math and write numbers, yet I would wager that it’s meant to be used in the context of business or somethingl like that. Practical math. Wikim and Prime!Renarin’s habits of “math for math’s sake” seem to edge too close to scholarship and femininity. Even when confronted over it here, Renarin is on the defensive. He “hedges” that it’s okay for men to write numbers, but it’s definitely something that Merin was uncomfortable finding.

I feel like this represents a lot of the differences between canon!Renarin and Prime!Renarin too. I called it (I freaking called it) that Renarin would be interested in persuits that are more traditionally feminine in Vorin culture, like we see here, though I think canon Renarin is drawn more towards engineering than math.

See, canon Renarin feels he needs to hide, deny, and suppress those parts of himself. He already sees himself as not masculine enough to be the son a Highprince deserves, and so he suppresses his interests in these things, and denies that they exist. He hates seeming weak, and I’m guessing this is due to his ‘blood weakness’ which Prime!Renarin seems to lack. Renarin would never dare follow is more feminine interests (and also, I theorize, would never enter the ardentia) because it would be a sign that he truly has failed and isn’t masculine at all.

Prime!Renarin is already ostracized by the court and doesn’t feel this kind of pressure to conform. He seems a lot more comfortable in his place as the odd one out. Not that he’s happy there, but he’s accepted it more. Up until Elhokar disinherited him, he was a warrior and a tactician, he just wasn’t terribly good at it. He doesn’t feel left out or like a failure to the degree that canon!Renarin does. I think the lack of ‘blood weakness’ is a major part of this. He’s already seen as eccentric, so he’s not as worried about being caught doing something like this.