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WoT Interview Search
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1
Interview: 2011
Twitter 2011 (WoT) (Verbatim)Luckers (10 January 2011)
By the way about my question re: Moridin's sexuality, my friend now thinks Moridin is in love with the Dark One... :SBrandon Sanderson (10 January 2011)
I didn't catch the Moridin question first time around. Would you ask again?TEREZ
He asked if Moridin was gay since he's evil but doesn't appear to be interested in taking advantage of his pets.LUCKERS
What she said. He seems very asexual in general. The thought came after reading the Moghedien/Shaidar Haran/Moridin scene.LUCKERS
It's also not just that I think he should be raping them because he's evil, it's just there is a complete lack of interest.BRANDON SANDERSON
As for your Moridin question, it is a good one. I'll look into it as well. I haven't seen anything either way in the notes.Tags
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2
Interview: 2011
Twitter 2011 (WoT) (Verbatim)NOTE—TEREZ
This conversation starts off with some of Brandon's thoughts on the lack of female ta'veren in the story, which apparently inspired some knee-jerk posts on Twitter and Facebook about sexism in WoT. Which inspired a mild overreaction on Brandon's part, and so on, which led to a lot of discussion on semantic distinctions and the like. But it was fun. The greater (and latter) part of the conversation took place when Brandon happened to be on an airplane with a choice between reading WoT and hanging out on Twitter where some HCFFs happened to be online. [That is, people who have spent the last ten years or more (in this case) thinking about WoT more than most things, and who in this case included a gay man and a (quasi? pseudo?)-feminist.] It is, for the most part, what some might perceive to be politically biased, so I offer an apology on behalf of all of us for what might appear to be PC-ness and conservative-bashing.Brandon Sanderson (11 March 2011)
I remember the first time I heard the Egwene/Nynaeve/Elayne trio called the "Wondergirls." I'm pretty sure I was in Korea at the time.BRANDON SANDERSON
I've often gotten questions from people asking if Egwene was ta'veren. Obviously not, as Siuan would have seen the glow of it.BRANDON SANDERSON
People seem to wonder why all three boys, and not a single one of the girls, are ta'veren. I've assumed this was to confuse the Shadow.BRANDON SANDERSON
To make it difficult to track down Rand and kill him before he grew powerful, the Pattern made three ta'veren to keep everyone guessing.BRANDON SANDERSON
Of course, it can be argued that the Pattern doesn't do such things—it simply IS. Still, I've liked that as part of the explanation.JONAS MUILWIJK
Why the hell would the Wheel want to confuse the Shadow? :S The Wheel is good nor bad, so it won't choose a side.BRANDON SANDERSON
Think of it this way—yes, the Pattern simply IS. But evolution simply IS as well. And some times, species evolve to...BRANDON SANDERSON
...have many offspring in order to increase the chances of survival. Likewise, we have three ta'veren. A survival mechanism.TIM MARGHEIM
Weak analogy? If evolution==Pattern, you'd need "Evolution IS, and evolution itself has DMs." Pattern doesn't have species.BRANDON SANDERSON
Ha ha. I didn't say Evolution==the Pattern. I was showing an amoral, natural function could create something similar to three ta'veren.BRANDON SANDERSON
Man, people sure are quick to accuse RJ of sexism on my Twitter feed & Facebook. I think any who do this are blatantly wrong.BRANDON SANDERSON
It's okay to not like the books, or to think RJ did a bad job with characterizations. I disagree, but everyone's tastes are different.BRANDON SANDERSON
But he took great pains to create many strong female protagonists with a variety of strengths, and gave them their own stories.KATELYN HECKETT
I've picked up some funny male bias in the books (lots of "breasts", no male equivalent, etc.) but wouldn't say RJ's sexist.BRANDON SANDERSON
Yes, I've noticed a few of those too.BRANDON SANDERSON
Yes, there are (More than a few) sexist people in the WoT. And the culture has been influenced by the male/female interactions of the Power.BRANDON SANDERSON
However, if you look at the time devoted to female viewpoints—and the plots of those characters—the "RJ is sexist" theory erodes.BRANDON SANDERSON
Warning: Long update on this topic. As a nod to those who truly know feminist literary theory, I'll make a less "Twitter friendly" argument. Robert Jordan, by creating a world where the women and men are very aware of gender roles, spent a lot of time delving into these topics. I'm convinced he was aware of male privilege, and though biased—as all of us are—sought very hard to overcome his own biases by creating evocative female characters with plot lines that do not center around the obtaining of favor or romantic interest from male characters. He also sought to create a world where women were not defined by how they were viewed by men, but were instead defined by their intelligence, determination, and accomplishments. In this way, though he exposes some small masculine biases in various areas, he was extremely progressive as a dominant male writer of his era, and should be regarded as anything other than "sexist" for his efforts. /Scholarly BrandonBRANDON BALLENGER
Agreed. Hey, how much more "Scholarly Brandon" is online? Seen your postmodernism in fantasy essay, besides that?BRANDON SANDERSON
Not a ton. I've had to walk a fine line, as I'm not enough of a scholar to trust myself digging too deeply.BRANDON SANDERSON
I've got a Master's, so I can talk the talk—but when others spent their time in research, I spent it practicing writing.BRANDON SANDERSON
I think I have an essay or two on my website. Search for "Sanderson's First Law" and my religion essay regarding Elantris.TEREZ
I didn't read all of the conversations you had about it on Twitter and Facebook, and I didn't really have gender roles in mind so much as other things. I understand what you're saying about how his world requires certain gender imbalances—I addressed that sort of offhandedly in my post by saying that the 'in practice' roles in WoT are often not what you would theoretically expect considering the circumstances. And while RJ often made comparisons to various time periods in the real world in reference to technology in particular, I'm not talking about that—I'm talking about the theoretical result of the history of the WoT world. Many of the gender imbalances are logical, but many are not, which is why they don't feel realistic at all to many readers.
The main problem I had with your comments is that you said that anyone who accused RJ of sexism for whatever reason was 'blatantly wrong'. You sort of trivialize those things that we are 'left with' after cutting away the complex and subjective debate over gender roles, but those things we are left with are so pervasive in the novels that they give an overall impression of an old-fashioned and often casually sexist man behind the curtain. This is a big turn-off for some people, and while I feel that those who cannot overlook it are missing out on one of the greatest stories of all time, I understand that it is a legitimate complaint.
As for the female nudity...just no. :p I mean, I know you read all the interviews at one point. 'No Male Nudity' (NMN) was not quite as popular as RAFO, but it was definitely one of his favorite stock answers (especially in reference to movie questions—it was his 'one rule') for a good few years. He was pretty blatant about his preferences there, and while I'm sure he had several cultural influences in mind, in the end it's pretty clear that he just enjoyed writing about naked women more than he enjoyed writing about naked men.
I agree that it's wrong to judge RJ as a person anachronistically, but at the same time, I think it's wrong to make such a blanket statement about the veracity of our claims of sexism in WoT. It's there, and it's real. I agree that some people take the criticism too far without considering certain things—I've had these debates (on non-WoT forums especially) many times over the years—but it seems to me more constructive to criticize the exaggerations, or to criticize each argument on its own merits, than to denounce any and all claims of sexism in WoT in one fell swoop.
BRANDON SANDERSON (14 MARCH)
The "Blatantly Wrong" comment was for those who don't really know feminist theory or gender studies, and who were commenting that sexist characters and culture implied a sexist Robert Jordan. I thought better of it later, however, for the people who actually know what they're talking about. Hence the more scholarly comment directed toward people like yourself. I do not deny that there are things to talk about here. Remember, just like with the word "Racism," there are two meanings of the word "Sexist." There is the knee-jerk usage by people who intend it as an insult. And then there is the more thoughtful, careful usage by people who make a study of such things. In their hands, 'sexist' means showing one's biases and a lack of awareness of certain aspects of male privilege or gender sensitivity—using this word to describe someone is not an insult, but a description of bias. (The types of biases that we all have, and can't totally expunge—though we be aware of and try to compensate for them.) My first comment was directed at the first crowd; my second comment at the second crowd.FOOTNOTE—TEREZ
For the record, I'm hardly well-read in feminist theory. I've read far more in queer theory (and most of it since then, for unrelated reasons), and queer theory is often tied up with feminist theory, but even there I'm far from an expert, and so my familiarity with feminist theory is along the lines of a vague acquaintance. I understand the distinction Brandon is making, and it's a good one, but I don't think of it as having much to do with feminist theory.BRANDON SANDERSON (20 MARCH)
And, looks like I have Twitter on my flight again this time. So much for getting anything useful done...BRANDON SANDERSON
Re: NMN. I'll give you this point in regards to Rhuidean. No good reason for Aviendha to be nude when Rand/Mat don't have to be.BRANDON SANDERSON
As for the Aes Sedai ceremonies, they still feel very similar to sacred feminine ceremonies I've read before.TEREZ
Sure, but most of the female nudity comes in the sweat tents and baths, etc. Though the baths in Fal Dara were egalitarian.TEREZ
The descriptions of how Aviendha squats in the sweat tent, for instance, are really quite vulgar if you think about it.TEREZ
But you don't see anything like that in the bath scene at Baerlon, for example. And even ritual nudity can get vulgar...TEREZ
...like Amys at the sister-bonding ceremony in Winter's Heart. I mean, come on.JAMES POWELL
There's certainly lots o female iffy WoT nudity, but also quite a lot of male nudity—especially Rand being ogled.TEREZ
Yeah, Rand does get ogled once at least. But it's a matter of balance in my opinion.TEREZ
Greatest Cadsuane line ever: 'I’ve already seen more of your hairless bottomcheeks than I wish to...'TEREZ
'....but if you want to flaunt them in front of all six of us, perhaps someone will enjoy the show.' :)JAMES POWELL
I'm not saying that the nudity issue is balanced—clearly, it's not. But at least some effort was being made.TEREZ
Yeah, @BrandSanderson and I have gone round a bit on this already. We all recognize that some effort was made. Just saying...TEREZ
...that these things were the product of RJ's heterosexual male preferences, and therefore inherently sexist.SETH BAKER
Based largely upon the male characters being prudes. Doesn't that cut the other way for M/F sexual experience?TEREZ
Not really, since the root cause is still RJ's brain. And Mat. Is far from a prude.TEREZ
But we're at the same time not trying to make RJ out to be particularly sexist. He wasn't, especially for his Age.JAMES POWELL
*nods* I'm more saddened by the almost complete lack of gay WoT characters—but that's just my personal bias.TEREZ
No, it's not just your personal bias. It was RJ's. If there hadn't been lesbians you probably wouldn't care, eh?JAMES POWELL
I actually found the whole issue of some women being "pillow friends", but then growing out of it and mooning over men, quite off.TEREZ
Right, and the fact that the ones who don't grow out of it are for the most part evil bitches.LIRA LEIRNER
There are SOME implications of being gay being equally as normal, as outlined here http://ow.ly/4imXSTEREZ
Oh, we know. But it's a half-hearted implication. Not even close to half really...BRANDON SANDERSON
Well, at least there wasn't the "Gay=pedophile" implication that some fantasy of the era made...BRANDON SANDERSON
Of course, being Mormon, perhaps I'm not the best qualified to speak of someone's treatment of LGBT issues.LUCKERS
Are you sure the nudity doesn't play a practical role in the ter'angreal? I note that in both the...LUCKERS
...Accepted rings and the final test the woman must be nude. Strange, two separate rituals taking the same form.LIRA
And Moiraine, too. I think it's probably the rings. The other testing ter'angreal all require nakedness.LIRA LEIRNER
Aviendha doesn't have to be naked when she goes through the columns. Although I thought they could have told...LIRA LEIRNER
...them to take off their clothes once they're in Rhuidean; don't see needing to taking them off before.TEREZ
It's not a requirement of the ter'angreal according to them, but a sign of station (humbling).TEREZ
Also, with Aviendha, there was the practical aspect of giving up her cadin'sor.TEREZ
It's the same with the raisings at the Tower—they never wear those clothes again if I remember correctly.FOOTNOTE—TEREZ
I suspected I was half wrong when I posted this, and I was—the Accepted get their new dresses right after the test, but in New Spring, Moiraine and Siuan wore their Accepted dresses to swear the Oaths.BRANDON SANDERSON
I think Terez's argument is that women end up in these situations suspiciously more often than men.TEREZ
Essentially yes. And that the description is more gratuitous. RJ could have chosen to write male nudity rituals.LUCKERS
Mmm. True, but as I've argued in the past re: lack of gay men—we've been more exposed to all female...LUCKERS
...organisations and rituals. the one exception, I suppose, is the sweat tents, but again that occurred...LUCKERS
...organically. The Wise Ones were planning, and the sweat tents provided a social medium.LUCKERS
By the way, my original point was simply that Moiraine and Aviendha's nudity may have served a practical purpose...LUCKERS
...when going through the ter'angreal—Mat and Rand didn't go through that ter'angreal after all.LUCKERS
It's strange that the Aes Sedai and Wise Ones separately built nudity rituals around similar ter'angreal. Necessary?TEREZ
Organically? You say that as if the scene wrote itself. RJ chose to use female sweat tent scenes, female nudity.TEREZ
Even if the nudity does have a practical purpose that doesn't change the fact that he chose to write it that way.TEREZ
He chose to develop the female organizations, and he chose to show lesbians outside those organizations rather than men.LUCKERS
He chose to write the scene with Rand naked and being eyed by a dozen women too. So what?TEREZ
Again, it's about balance. The 'suspiciously more often' bit. I feel you are being overly defensive about it.LUCKERS
Are we to presume he did it lasciviously? To titillate? This is what I meant by it happening organically.LUCKERS
I'm not being defensive—rather I don't see the problem. The female nudity was never vulgar... it just was.TEREZ
As I said, it's clear enough he just enjoyed writing about naked women and lesbians more than he enjoyed...TEREZ
....writing about naked men and gay men. It's fanservice, but I don't think he thought of it like that.BRANDON SANDERSON
I've got to side with Terez on this one. It IS there. RJ did a LOT of things with great equality, but...BRANDON SANDERSON
...when it came to nudity, he liked showing naked women more than men. I don't think it was vulgar, though.TEREZ
Depends on your definition of vulgar. RJ was very good at avoiding vulgarity on the surface, but hinting at it.FOOTNOTE—TEREZ
I had this scene from The Fires of Heaven in mind, and it sums up many tweets I made on the subject which were omitted:
Moiraine, seeming slight and small beside the others, also looked unruffled, although sweat rolled down her pale nudity and slicked her dark hair to her scalp, with a regal refusal to acknowledge that she had no clothes on. The Wise Ones were using slim, curved pieces of bronze, called staera, to scrape off sweat and the day's dirt.
Aviendha was squatting sweatily beside the big black kettle of hot, sooty rocks in the middle of the tent, carefully using a pair of tongs to move a last stone from a smaller kettle to the larger. That done, she sprinkled water onto the rocks from a gourd, adding to the steam. If she let the steam fall too far, she would be spoken to sharply at the very least. The next time the Wise Ones met in the sweat tent, it would be Egwene's turn to tend the rocks.
Egwene cautiously sat down cross-legged next to Bair—instead of layered rugs, there was only rocky ground, unpleasantly hot, lumpy and damp—and realized with a shock that Aviendha had been switched, and recently. When the Aiel woman gingerly took her own place, beside Egwene, she did so with a face as stony as the ground, but a face that could not hide her flinch.
To call these descriptions 'gratuitous' is, of course, only in comparison to RJ's (incredibly rare) treatments of male nudity (and not in comparison to, say, GRRM).
LUCKERS
@BrandSanderson I still think that implies a little too much premeditation in the depiction, but I'm happy with your description.LUCKERS
I'm not denying its presence, I'm denying the implications that the depiction is wrong. It flowed naturally...LUCKERS
...from the plot, and wasn't lascivious. I certainly don't think RJ worked to include it.LUCKERS
Besides... if you wanna have a gay male character in A Memory of Light I'd not complain. :)TEREZ
Okay then. Do you think that RJ's insistence that there be no male nudity in the films was 'organic'?Footnote—Terez
I was wrong about the film distinction, though I do believe there is an older report somewhere mentioning this that I am missing. However, there is a 'no male nudity' tag for all the times RJ mentioned it at signings; it was a running joke for him.
TEREZ
That is where this little debate started, because it is essentially the proof of the point.BRANDON SANDERSON
Ha. Well (though I'm on your side) it could be argued that's a marketing decision.TEREZ
LOL. Many things could be argued. Some arguments are more logical than others, though. :)LUCKERS
I didn't know about this insistence. That's a little... weird, honestly. No, ok, a lot weird.TEREZ
See, if you had actually read my debate with @BrandSanderson we wouldn't have to catch you up. ;)BRANDON SANDERSON
It's cultural, unfortunately. You can have female nudity and get a PG-13. But not male. Of course, that...BRANDON SANDERSON
...leads us to the whole topfreedom debate, which ISN'T something I really want to get into.TEREZ
It doesn't necessarily lead there. Again, I bring it up mostly for cultural awareness reasons.LUCKERS
That's really stupid—but does make some sense. Also, I don't know if you remember Terez but for a while there were...LUCKERS
...some fairly rampant pockets of homophobia amongst the fandom—I had this discussion with @zemaille at WorldCon.FOOTNOTE—TEREZ
I had the same discussion with Linda before Luckers did, at the previous JordanCon. I think she was a little shocked by the number of people at tor.com who refuse to even recognize that pillow friends are lesbians.TEREZ
There still are. It's mostly visible at tor.com—some staunch conservatives there.LINDA TAGLIERI
Oh yeah!TEREZ
Which is unfortunate considering Leigh's views. There is a ruckus every time she brings it up.LUCKERS
*nods* And as sad as it is to think that RJ was wary of this—it's reasonable to avoid alienating your fans.TEREZ
Well, if he was trying to avoid alienating THOSE fans he wouldn't have included lesbians either.LUCKERS
Mmm. Lesbians have always been the safer homosexual depiction—which says a lot about our society.SETH BAKER
In the end, you're indicting modern Western society, not RJ himself. He knew what you can't do and sell.TEREZ
The first bit, yes. The second bit...I don't think that marketing was his only motive.SETH BAKER
There're people who are not morally opposed to homosexuality, are fine with reading FF, but not MM for what it's worth.TEREZ
And that is exactly the problem that is being addressed. Not judging RJ so much as ourselves.LUCKERS
I hesitate to ask—but what's topfreedom? My mind went to an icky place. :STEREZ
LOL. I imagine it has to do with the fact that men can go shirtless but women can't.LUCKERS
OH! That's... much nicer than what I was thinking. Hehe.LUCKERS
I will say this, though—the complete lack of any sort of hetero-normative assumption in WoT gets RJ my vote.BRANDON SANDERSON
I wish this plane would let me use Tweetlonger to jump into this with more teeth.TEREZ
Feel free to jump in with teeth later. We're not going anywhere. :)LUCKERS
Yes. More teeth would be awesome! But we aren't going anywhere.BRANDON SANDERSON
This whole issue—homosexuality, conservatism, and the WoT—deserves a serious, thoughtful post.BRANDON SANDERSON
I just can't do that in 100 character bursts.TEREZ
Cool. I am looking forward to it.LUCKERS
I respect that Brandon. Still, post what you want—we understand it's not your full argument.BRANDON SANDERSON
I will say that there IS a gay male in Towers of Midnight, placed there on my part as I felt similar to you on this issue.BRANDON SANDERSON
I was going to tell you who it was, but figuring this out is the sort of thing you guys love, isn't it?TEREZ
YAY! But of course, then you have to be careful not to make him too throw-away....TEREZ
I considered Androl earlier, when I considered you might do this. lol. But I will think on it some more.LUCKERS
Oh. Hey! Awesome. Ok, now we have to figure it out.LUCKERS
Hopefully not Denezel or Hatch—their wives would be furious. :DFOOTNOTE
Jason Denzel and Matt Hatch, webmasters of Dragonmount and Theoryland respectively—they were recognized as innkeepers in Towers of Midnight.BRANDON SANDERSON
I'll note that references to his sexuality were cut merely because I moved the chapter with mention to A Memory of Light.BRANDON SANDERSON
I won't say if it's a new character or one I made a decision on, since there weren't notes either way.TEREZ
And he seems to have ruled out Moridin, alas. But that would be sort of Dumbledore-y anyway.TEREZ
(And yes, I have read @BrandSanderson's thoughts on Dumbledore. Just saying. And we're not talking kids' books here.)LUCKERS
I'm beginning to think it somewhat strange that I'm the one defending RJ the heaviest given your points...LUCKERS
... and the fact that I'm gay. Does that mean my loyalty to RJ defies reason, or that I'm so used to accepting...LUCKERS
...the dribbles that are depictions of homosexuality in fantasy? A disturbing thought.TEREZ
Nah, not weird at all. You're pretty anti-activist in a lot of ways. Overcompensation, of course. ;)TEREZ
I believe you are sensitive to the right-wing idea of the Gay Agenda.TEREZ
So you seem to have a reluctance to champion your own causes too loudly, internally as well as externally.TEREZ
In some ways it's a healthy reluctance. In some ways, it's sad that it is necessary.LUCKERS
Well the gays are plotting world domination—we discussed this in our last High Council. But that's another conversation.BRANDON SANDERSON
You have good reason to defend him, Luckers. There ARE good examples. Arrela is one.TEREZ
Seonid isn't bad either. Right? :D I think they might have been responses to the criticism.LUCKERS
*nods* Arrela's love was beautiful. And your scene in The Gathering Storm was heartbreaking.BRANDON SANDERSON
Yes, gay men are few and far between. But it could be much worse. See: Eddings, or worse, Goodkind and Newcomb.SETH BAKER
I'm with you on that. I got bored reading Goodkind because of how annoyingly ANTI-PC it was.SETH BAKER
In the end, I want my stories to refrain from editorializing. Tell the story, and tell it to your audience.BRANDON
Goodkind is...well, let's not go there. It's good, sometimes, to be anti-PC, as the world isn't PC.BRANDON
But if you're going to delve in and editorialize, I believe it important to look at the other side too.TEREZ
I haven't read Newcomb, but yes, Goodkind's inclusion was of the worst sort.TEREZ
Again, few people think RJ is all bad on this. But the fact that we are so appreciative of his rather biased...TEREZ
...and gratuitous inclusion shows how far behind we are as a society.BRANDON
Ha. Terez, you NEED to read Newcomb. If only because I want to see your head explode when you do.TEREZ
LOL. Well, I will bring it along to JordanCon then, so you can observe. ;)BRANDON
It is an incredible experience. Goodkind times 1000 in the anti-feminist department. And it seems unconscious.LUCKERS
Goodkind disturbs me on more levels than that, but I do take your point—it was what I meant by accepting dribbles.BRANDON
The thing is, [RJ] tried. And in the end, that's the most important thing can ask. The second is that they listen.BRANDON
And I do think RJ listened. I think he grew more sensitive on this subject as time passed.FOOTNOTE—TEREZ
RJ was in many ways very responsive to fan criticism, but he seemed to play the Eelfinn in that he liked to make jokes out of granting our wishes. A good example: Fans complained that characters never had to use a privy while in POV. RJ added a couple of references (including an 'if you must know' from Tuon), and he even threw in urine-tasting in Crossroads of Twilight. Clearly that was RJ getting a laugh on us. He made passing mention of male homosexuality in a couple of the later books (including New Spring), and while it wasn't quite a balance for his lesbians, it was an improvement. He also made public statements that homosexuality was all around not a big deal in Randland, for either gender. He made it clear that, in general, writing about male sexuality was just a squick for him, but he tended to be rather open and modern about his sexuality (even in the family-friendly context of WoT) and so the gender bias sticks out to many modern readers.TEREZ
Agreed, as I noted before re: the response to criticism. Again, it's more about us than about him.LUCKERS
Interesting thought—about listening and changing. Kind of beautiful as well—that fans can give back to authors.LUCKERS
That RJ touched on it at all was good—especially when we remember when he was writing these books.LUCKERS
It does well to remember just how much the degree to which homosexuality is depicted has changed recently.TEREZ
This is true. I just feel that now is the time to blow it out of the water, for that very reason.BRANDON SANDERSON
I'm curious if either of you read Rose of the Prophet, and what you thought of it. (Because of the gay male character.)TEREZ
hmm, nope, haven't heard of it. I was told Deathgate was the only thing by [Weis and Hickman] worth reading.FOOTNOTE—TEREZ
To explain, I rarely find myself overly desirous of reading new books since WoT occupies so much of my time these days, so I tend to go by friend recommendations and not worry much about whether or not I would actually agree.LUCKERS
Do you guys realise how much Rand's early arc resonates with a gay teenager?LUCKERS
A young man who—through no choice of his own—finds himself to be something hated and feared.LUCKERS
Something judged to be morally wrong though no moral choice has been made on his part.LUCKERS
The whole arc—the 'men's pride, men's sin' resonated very heavily with me.BRANDON SANDERSON
That's FASCINATING, honestly. I'd never thought of that.TEREZ
I bet RJ never thought of it either. :D But yes, it's a good comparison in many ways.LUCKERS
All of this is why I never liked Mat in my first readings (when i was like 13). His reaction to Rand was...LUCKERS
...a little to close to home. And no I haven't read [Rose of the Prophet]—I will now though. (sorry for going on this tangent).LUCKERS
It doesn't really matter to me if RJ meant the comparison—that he depicted something similar with such...LUCKERS
...visceral realism is the value of a great writer, because then the fans can take what they need from it.LUCKERS
And in truth Rand's arc in dealing with it taught me how to. In fact its one of the reasons I love Cadsuane...TEREZ
Because Cadsuane was Rand's faghag? No wait, that was Min! No, she was his beard...LUCKERS
She doesn't feel sorry for Rand, or try to coddle him—she treats him like she would any other person...LUCKERS
Her refusal to let Rand allow circumstance to victimize him was a powerful and subtle theme.TEREZ
Indeed, that's why I like her. And why most people hate her. Because she should respect his authoritay!LUCKERS
And I think it is the greatest service anyone in the books has done him. Even if Rand couldn't appreciate it.LUCKERS
Re: Parallels between Rand's early arc and being gay...[from The Great Hunt]
"No, I can't. I mean . . . I didn't do it on purpose. It just happened. I don't want to—to channel the Power. I won't ever do it again. I swear it."
"You don't want to," the Amyrlin Seat said. "Well, that's wise of you. And foolish, too. Some can be taught to channel; most cannot. A few, though, have the seed in them at birth. Sooner or later, they wield the One Power whether they want to or not, as surely as roe makes fish. You will continue to channel, boy. You can't help it. And you had better learn to channel, learn to control it, or you will not live long enough to go mad. The One Power kills those who cannot control its flow."
"How am I supposed to learn?" he demanded. Moiraine and Verin just sat there, unruffled, watching him. Like spiders. "How? Moiraine claims she can't teach me anything, and I don't know how to learn, or what. I don't want to, anyway. I want to stop. Can't you understand that? To stop!"—Chapter 8, 'The Dragon Reborn'
That desperation is something I remember. Then this...
He paused, frowning, thinking things through. Finally, he said quietly, "Rand, can you channel?" Mat gave a strangled gasp. Rand let the banner drop; he hesitated only a moment before nodding wearily. "I did not ask for it. I don't want it. But. . . . But I do not think I know how to stop it."
—and finally...
Mat hesitated, looking sideways at Rand. "Look, I know you came along to help me, and I am grateful. I really am. But you just are not the same anymore. You understand that, don't you?" He waited as if he expected an answer. None came. Finally he vanished into the trees, back toward the camp.—Chapter 11, 'Glimmers of the Pattern'
Potent scenes. Especially Mat's last lines. *shrug*
TEREZ
Yeah, I knew exactly what you were talking about as soon as you mentioned it. Perrin isn't much better.TEREZ
Perrin is just not as thoughtlessly hurtful as Mat is. He's more the silent disapproval type.LUCKERS
Though Perrin does realise the hypocrisy, and feel bad, so I didn't mind so much. :)LINDA TAGLIERI
Yes, I appreciated Perrin's sympathy and tact—like when he said Rand is now a dreaded figure.LINDA TAGLIERI
For instance he suggested that while running was understandable, it might not be possible.LINDA TAGLIERI
Of course, Perrin is coming to terms with being a werewolf, so understandable he knows how Rand feels.LUCKERS
And with Perrin the parallel stops—Rand is a genuine threat, whereas homosexuality isn't.LINDA TAGLIERI
Both Perrin and Rand loathe themselves because they feel they are a threat to society.LUCKERS
Just got a rather abrupt tweet from someone who I think thought I was implying Rand was gay.LUCKERS
Which clearly is accurate. The Harem are the red herring to end all red herrings.TEREZ
LOL. Yeah, well...ignorance and prejudice go hand in hand (or so they say). ;)TEREZ
You know you're gay when you need THREE beards to maintain your cover.LUCKERS
Lol!BRANDON SANDERSON
And...half of my in-flight WoT reread time was sucked up by a great Twitter conversation about gender and LGBT issues in the WoT.TEREZ
Ohhhh, blame it on us will you! :p You knew as soon as you saw you had Twitter you weren't getting any work done. ;)LUCKERS
Haha. Yeah—I've written a hundred and fifty words in three hours. Today was gonna be my productive day too. *sigh*/BRANDON SANDERSON
I have a new goal: to get Terez and Leigh Butler to do a feminist review of Newcomb's Fifth Sorceress for Tor.com. How can I make this happen?PETER AHLSTROM
Sadist.TEREZ
LOL. If you can talk Leigh into it, I'm so down with that.LUCKERS
Lol. A gay, a feminist and a Mormon walk into a bar—whereupon they have a deep and meaningful conversation about sexuality in WoT. #NoJokesTEREZ
LMAO. It's funny, though...I don't really think of myself as a feminist. Just an equalist.LUCKERS
I was just being funny with the no jokes thing—the reality of us three having that conversation struck me.TEREZ
Not to mention, you were raised Catholic, and I was raised Southern Baptist. Now we need a Muslim...Tags
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3
Interview: 2011
Twitter 2011 (WoT) (Verbatim)Brandon Sanderson (14 April 2011)
Yes, Delta has free twitter again on this flight. I will try my best to get work done. Why is it so much more tempting while flying?LUCKERS
Wanna have a detailed conversation about something? We already did sexuality in the Wheel.LUCKERS
Seriously, its 4am here, I'm feeling loopy and sad not to be at JordanCon... I'm go for anything.LUCKERS
Reverse the normal vibe. Ask me questions. :PJENNIFER LIANG
Bad Luckers. Go to sleep, let him work.LUCKERS
Hush.BRANDON SANDERSON
Well, we could get into how timid a lot of us fantasy writers are about writing black viewpoint protagonists.BRANDON SANDERSON
It is noticeable to me. I don't think it's intentional bias, and if it is, it's worry about doing something wrong.BRANDON SANDERSON
But you see a lot of black side characters (in film too) but few black leading men.LUCKERS
Interesting point actually... a form of reverse-racism. The fear that you are going to step wrong.BRANDON SANDERSON
Yes. You can read up on something called "Racefail" in the sff community from a few years back, if you want.BRANDON SANDERSON
Google it. You'll find some interesting points along these lines.LUCKERS
I did so, and yeah I see what you mean.BRANDON SANDERSON
I do wonder if it also has to do with not having racially integrated kingdoms (as makes sense) in fantasy.BRANDON SANDERSON
So, if you want to tell a story about one kingdom, it naturally follows that you end up with a lot of people of the same race.BRANDON SANDERSON
Then, you add someone else to be racially diverse—but that person you add becomes, by nature, the outsider.BRANDON SANDERSON
Which, of course, only reinforces the bias, despite attempts at being diverse. It's a tough nut to crack.LUCKERS
That does make sense—though I like RJ's futuristic blending of races. Sharan, Tairen, Seanchan—the blend has no meaning.FOOTNOTE—TEREZ
I'm not so sure this is completely true; it's probably quite significant that the Empress of Seanchan, an empire despised mostly because of slavery, is a black woman (not because it's significant in the WoT world, but because it isn't). It might also be significant that the only other known slavery of the WoT world is in Shara, which parallels Africa in many ways, including the dark-skinned natives. The dark-skinned Tairens are unique in Randland proper for their feudalistic serfdom.LUCKERS
For myself, I write fantasy set in modern times—I touch on race heavily but have avoided aboriginal issues.LUCKERS
Which wasn't intentional.JAMES POWELL
Often, when reading a book, I don't know what colour a character's skin is—it's rarely described.JAMES POWELL
I suspect this is to do with "white" = "default". The best exception I've seen is @neilhimself's Anansi Boys.LUCKERS
I don't think it's white=default so much as caution about giving offense...at least on my part.JAMES POWELL
I often wonder if having one black character (amid a load of white characters) is worse than having none.LUCKERS
It's funny, I never realised but I have no black characters in my book, and thinking about it it's likely...LUCKERS
...because I've no idea how to write an aboriginal viewpoint. I lack the insight—though that's wrong in itself...LUCKERS
...because there will be many black and aboriginal people with an upbringing similar to mine.LUCKERS
Tokenism, and the perception thereof, is an issue. Brandon's revelation of a gay character in Towers of Midnight received...LUCKERS
...some very... heated... attention based on this.JAMES POWELL
Yeah, but the revelation of a gay anything causes heated attention somewhere ;)LUCKERS
This is true. My high school graduation was no exception. :PJAMES POWELL
Oh aye? Did you ask for a Gay Diploma? ;)LUCKERS
Made out with a guy on the dance floor... it was rather dramatic, but easier than explaining.BRANDON SANDERSON
Yes. Tokenism is a real danger. And it's tough to do these things without stepping into this trap.BRANDON SANDERSON
On one side, you have GLBT readers emailing me and asking sincerely to be better represented.BRANDON SANDERSON
Then, you have RJ saying to fans "Yes, there are gay characters. It just hasn't been right to mention it yet."BRANDON SANDERSON
However, when the time is right to mention one, how do you keep it from feeling just like a token nod?LUCKERS
On the other hand, from the perspective of a minority that has only very recently received airtime...LUCKERS
...seeing anything is kind of... well, nice. I can remember being young and avidly watching Dawson's Creek...LUCKERS
...for the characters who, by today's standards, are very much tokens.LUCKERS
Avoiding a token nod: by not making it the main point. But even so, if he's the only one, he'll be seen that way.LUCKERS
For all that she's a bad guy, Galina's lesbianism was the perfect non-token introduction.LUCKERS
Lord of Chaos Chapter 53, her attentions to Erian....BRANDON SANDERSON
I'm curious. Did you ever read Rose of the Prophet? If so, what did you think of the gay character?LUCKERS
Haha... you asked me this last time—but no. It's on my list now, but hard to find in Australia.LUCKERS
She's also Mormon, no?BRANDON SANDERSON
I liked them as a teenager, but haven't read them in years. If I remember right, however, the gay character...BRANDON SANDERSON
...falls into the "safe gay friend" category that you see used so often in film, though he has a lot more depth.BRANDON SANDERSON
The gay man is a major viewpoint protagonist, but his sexuality is very subtle. [Tracy] Hickman is LDS, but not Margaret [Weis].PETER AHLSTROM
And Tracy Hickman is a guy.LUCKERS
Really? *goes red in the face* I've been referring to him as a her for YEARS.LUCKERS
Have you read R. Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing?BRANDON SANDERSON
I keep meaning to read it. I think I even bought a copy. But I haven't yet.LUCKERS
It's awesome. I raised it because it has a very poignant depiction character confused about his sexuality.LUCKERS
Here's a question based on 'subtlety'—like the depiction of the black character, can an overly camp character work?LUCKERS
In one of my early drafts I had a camp gay man, and I was accused of homophobia... it's kind of the same point...BRANDON SANDERSON
As an aside, I really wish "homophobia" hadn't stuck as the term of choice in these matters.BRANDON SANDERSON
I guess "homoinsensitivitia" didn't have the right ring to it.LUCKERS
Fear of singularity in sexuality. Sounds like Star Trek jargon.FOOTNOTE—TEREZ
This point came up in the flamewar that followed Brandon's revelation about the gay man on Dragonmount (referenced earlier by Luckers). I think that the connotations of the word are independent of the word itself, and would have likely stuck to whatever word we might have used instead of 'homophobia' (because 'phobia' itself doesn't always have connotations of hatred). In reality, there are many degrees of homophobia ranging from squick to hate, but those on the squick side tend to resent the word being applied to them as it implies a socially unacceptable prejudice.RI SCOTT
On the gay character question, why do you think fantasy, in general, so badly underrepresents the LGBT community?RI SCOTT
It's one thing that deeply bothers me about a genre I love so dearly.BRANDON SANDERSON
If I had to say, I'd guess it's not intentional. It has more to do with what I posted earlier—authors not wanting to do it wrong.BRANDON SANDERSON
That, mixed with the desire to create sympathetic characters—and the most simple way to do that is create someone like yourself.RI SCOTT
I always wondered if there was any marketability concern—that books would sell less with major gay characters.BRANDON SANDERSON
Maybe. But most writers/editors I know don't think that way. They write the book they want to, then figure out how to market it.LUCKERS
I've had so much fun hanging out with you tonight, but its 5:30 in the morning and I need sleep.LUCKERS
Have a blast a JordanCon. I'm really sorry I'm not there to meet you in person.BRANDON SANDERSON
Ha. Good night, then. Sorry I've been a little distracted this time.BRANDON SANDERSON
Remind me again. You're over in Australia, right? If so, what city?LUCKERS
Sydney. Same as Linda.BRANDON SANDERSON
I'll be there next year, if I haven't mentioned. You, me, and Linda need to hang out when I come.LUCKERS
We will do this. I'm definitely going to be at JordanCon 2012 as well. Still, sad... have fun on my behalf.FOOTNOTE—TEREZ
It turned out that Brandon was planning on going to Australia during JordanCon 2012 (so of course Luckers changed his plans).Tags
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Interview: Aug 30th, 1999
Sydney Independent Theatre Q&A (Verbatim)Question
I see the books, in a way you separate the sexes quite distinctly. Have you had much feminist critique of the way you treat the male characters and the way you treat the female characters, and how, in a way the male characters seem to be... have the upper edge?Robert Jordan
You think the male characters have the upper edge? I like this, no, no, I like this one. I've had women come up to me before anyone knew who Robert Jordan was. I've had women come up to me at signings and tell me that until they saw me they thought that Robert Jordan was a pen-name of a woman, because they assumed that no man could write women that well. I thought, okay, that's the best compliment I received on my writing that I was able to get inside the skin of women well enough to fool women. You know, it's pretty good. I have seen feminist critiques, I've seen other sorts of critiques. Some of them made my hair stand on end. I had a woman stand up and point something out to me just down in Melbourne a couple of days ago about how all my women are very eager and ready to take charge, take the adventure, do what has to be done and all of my guys are trying to slide out the back door. You know, I don't want any part of this, and I haven't realized quite that it was that heavy. I don't think that I've had any really bad critiques. There may have, that haven't come to my attention. Just as I say a few that had been supposedly writing things that god knows I didn't intend to write or have any meanings I didn't intend to have. Does that answer your question or come close?Question
It does answer my question. I think, to me, you certainly stimulate and challenge our imagination in your work. However I don't necessarily think you challenge our concepts of sexuality in the same sense. I believe that in your writing you very much distinctly keep the females in the female roles and the males in the male roles. And I think in our society, in today's society we're starting to get very challenged in the separation between the sexes—Robert Jordan
Would you like to tell an Aiel Maiden that she's in a traditional female role? Forget about Aes Sedai, I'd love to see you go up to Nynaeve before she met any of these people and tell her she's in a traditional female role. I don't think I've got anybody in a particular traditional role. And no, I'm not challenging gender stereotypes. I'm doing a lot of things here and there's only so much I can do. There are other threads, other questions, other things that would be great write about, to put into these books. The only trouble is, would you really stick around if it was twenty-two books and they were twice as thick as this? All right, if so... Not only that, I'm not sure you could stand the strain. I have notes on characters, on countries, cultures, customs, all sorts of things. Aes Sedai—I have two files of two megabytes or so on each. One's just lists of individual Aes Sedai and information about them. The other is the founding of the White Tower—the customs, the cultures, the sexual relationships among Aes Sedai in training, the whole nine yards. Everything I could think of that might be useful about them. The story isn't there. None of it is on a file anywhere, there are no charts. One of my cousins asked us, "What are your critical path charts? You gotta have critical path charts for something this complex." And I said, "Yes I do have to have critical path charts," but even putting them on a computer in 3D it looks like a mess of spaghetti. If I pull in close enough to be able to see what's happening, I am so tight on that one particular area that the rest of it becomes meaningless. The only way I can do it is keep it up here. So the charts are all up here, the stories all up here. And I'm not sure how much more complex I can make it and how many more threads I can add and still hang onto it. So if I'm going to go into gender stereotypes I'm going to have to drop some of the things from the prophecies.(Later) Robert Jordan
Oh, I wanted to add something here because of gender stereotypes and so forth. Somebody asked me why didn't I have any, in another question and answer session, asked me why didn't I have any gay characters in the books. I do, but that's not my bag to bring out the question of gender stereotypes and the whole nine yards. And they're just running around doing the things that they do and you can figure out who some of them are. If you want to help them, I don't care. It's not the point if they're gay or not gay, okay?Tags
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5
Interview: Oct 5th, 2005
Robert Jordan
If I seem to be posting a lot, it's because the tour is coming up. I want to get in some of these things before I go away and the blog goes on hiatus. We'll be flying to New York on Saturday to take care of some business before the tour begins, on Tuesday. I'm a little worried about the first signing, I'll admit. I know I can pull a good evening crowd in NYC; I've done it before. But 12:30 on a Tuesday? That's the slot where they put politicians, movies stars and celebrities. Yes, I'm a little concerned.
I will try to post again tomorrow or Friday, but I can't guarantee. We've been housing relatives from New Orleans, you see. My younger brother Reynolds has already gone back and begun teaching high school again, and his son Rey, a NO cop who was at the precinct they dubbed Fort Apache until he was told off to drive a sick officer to Shreveport for medical aid, has also returned to duty after fighting off bronchitis. Rey's wife Heather, who has a masters in disaster relief management, is hoping to head back today or tomorrow with infant son David, while Reynolds' wife Barbara Gay will be heading back tomorrow or the next day with son Jim III. Can you spell hectic? I knew that you could.
Well, let's get on with it. By the way, I don't favor women in my answers. I just answer what seem like interesting questions where answering won't give away too much.
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6
Interview: Oct 6th, 2005
Robert Jordan
For jofraz, I have gay and lesbian characters in my books, but the only time it has really come into the open is with the Aes Sedai because I haven't been inside the heads of any other characters who are either gay or bi. For the most part, in this world such things are taken as a matter of course. Remember, Cadsuane is surprised that Shalon and Ailil were so hot to hide that they had been sharing a bed even knowing how prim and proper Cairhienin are on the surface. Well, for many it is just on the surface.
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7
Interview: Jan 10th, 2011
Tor Q&A with Brandon Sanderson (Verbatim)W. Heus ()
How do you feel about the lack of prominent gay characters within the epic fantasy as a genre and do you ever include (or will ever include) gay or lesbian characters in your own work?Brandon Sanderson ()
That's an issue that I feel I should speak about delicately, because it's one of those charged issues that can create a lot of division. But my basic feeling is that a character should not be any more or less sympathetic, or more or less evil, or anything like that, because of sexual orientation or because of basic beliefs or philosophy on things like religion. So there are gay characters in my books, though so far they have been side characters. I don't make a big deal of it, because I tend not to make a big deal of the sexuality of side characters in general. For instance, in The Way of Kings, Drehy, a member of Bridge Four, is gay. He's based on a good friend of mine who is gay. There is a lesbian character in Alloy of Law; again I don't make a big deal of it though it's a little more obvious.
Basically, I just try to write characters and try to have different makeups of characters. I feel gay characters should be included, and I'm annoyed that sometimes there seems to be an association between including gay characters and using that as a means of making them seem like a reprehensible character. You may know what I'm talking about; I've seen it in books before and it bugs me. Just like it bugs me if an author makes a character religious and the tone of the book implies, "Well, obviously, religious people are all idiots, so I'm not going to make this character actively an idiot, I'm just going to represent them as being religious," which by the tone of the book indicates that they're an idiot. That's not to say that there can't be social structures like religions that will push people toward doing things that are questionable or morally reprehensible—there can, of course, and it will happen—but I'm talking about the individuals. I don't know that I have strong feelings on the subject other than that I think people should be represented as people.
I wrote a bit more about the subject in my essay on Dumbledore.
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8
Interview: Apr 21st, 2012
Matt Hatch
Can you tell us a little bit more about your mother? What she did, how she influenced you?
Harriet McDougal
Louisa McCord Popham
Yeah. She was a beauty, and she sang and whistled, sort of like the Irish song about the Whistling Gypsy. She was quite an irresistible character; tremendous charm. She was a wonderful cook and hostess. She wasn't much on intimate warmth, but she was great really, in every way. She sewed. They never had a whole lot of money. We had a grand house at the Navy Yard, and I remember going with her—I was getting on, like, five at this point—to Woolworth's to buy great lengths of some horrible rayon for her to make curtains for the huge windows. But as somebody said to me later who came to visit, he said, "I bet when your father married her, his career took off like a rocket!" And I think it did! That was of course so many years before I was born. But she was a charmer and a half—just darling.
Matt Hatch
How old were they when they got married?
Harriet McDougal
Daddy was in I guess his mid-twenties, and she was eighteen.
Matt Hatch
In what way do you think she influenced you the most?
Harriet McDougal
Well, I don't know; I've never really thought about it. I know that I never really thought I was pretty—not next to her. And she also had a very...she had a great way of turning her hand to what needed to be done. There was no stuff about,"Oh, I don't know how to do this." She would pick up a hammer—do a poor job of hammering in the nails, but she'd do it. And also, a sense of "Housekeeping is really important as a form of stage management." She said—somebody said—"Weeza!"—her name was Louisa but she was called "Weeza", or "Gay", in the earlier sense, and apparently—I've been told that came about in her childhood because she was said to look like some politician of the day named John Gary Evans. It was not about her gaiety, but that was really inborn. And on her tombstone, my sister and I chose "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine," and she had one. So I've forgotten what you asked me.
Teri Hatch
That's beautiful.
Matt Hatch
No, the influence...what you said, that she would just pick up a hammer...
Harriet McDougal
Yeah! She sewed all the time; she did cross-stitch. I have some table mats she made for me, which she did for brides—she made them a set of linen table mats with their initials stamped inside—and also camisoles, which people used to wear.
Matt Hatch
Sounds like she was very productive.
Harriet McDougal
Yes, she believed in that.
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9
Interview: 2012
Twitter 2012 (WoT) (Verbatim)Daniel Shepherd (13 July 2012)
@Terez27 Trying to figure out who the gay character was that @BrandSanderson put in Towers of Midnight. Was it Androl?
Terez
That is my best guess. I wonder if we scared him away from going through with that...'twas very controversial.
Brandon Sanderson (13 July 2012)
The place wasn't right in Towers of Midnight. Gay character is in A Memory of Light. It's really not a big deal; just a small mention.
Brandon Sanderson
I will say, at this point, that it is a character RJ mentioned was gay in the notes, so I noted it in the text.
Terez
[Links to following tweet from this conversation.]
Brandon Sanderson (20 March 2011)
I won't say if it's a new character or one I made a decision on, since there weren't notes either way.
Terez (13 July 2012)
I'm guessing that's a product of Twitter being a bad place for trying to say things clearly. The older tweet was confusing anyway.
Brandon Sanderson
Wow, that was indeed confusing. I don't even know what I was trying to say.
Brandon Sanderson
What I remember typing was "I won't tell you if it's something RJ had in notes or not."
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10
Interview: Sep, 2012
Cosmere Q&A - 17th Shard (Verbatim)XFER
Are you planning to include a gay character in the second book of the Stormlight Archive? I know there is that bridge guy, but I mean a character with some weight on the book. Would be cool.Brandon Sanderson
I've tried to be more GLBT aware in recent years, but I want to be careful. Doing it poorly could be more insulting than doing it not at all. Having Ryan, the real world Drehy from Bridge Four, as a friend does at least give me access to someone who can give early feedback and tell me where I might be going wrong. So let's just say maybe.Tags
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11
Interview: 2011
Reddit 2011 (Non-WoT) (Verbatim)Alfredo_BE (February 2011)
Mormons and polygamy, question from a non-Mormon.
There are only a handful of (officially registered) Mormons in my country, so I know very little about the religion. Wanting to know more, I've been spending some time on the mormon.org and lds.org websites. It surprised me when I came across a part on polygamy, which stated it was practiced by Mormons before 1890, but no longer allowed now. The reason it was allowed before, is because God commanded Joseph Smith to have multiple wives. Then in 1890, Woodruff had a revelation where he was told to stop the practice of polygamy (you probably already know all of this, but I just want to make sure my views can be corrected if I'm wrong). Whether or not it was actually related to Utah becoming a state isn't relevant to me, I'm just quoting what it says on the site.
Now for my question... I actually asked this on the mormon.org chat as well, but was called a troll and subsequently banned.
What if I or a member of your church has a revelation which commands him to have multiple wives? Would you believe that person, knowing that according to your church it has been commanded in the past? Would you support that person? Or would he, when following God's will, be excommunicated?
Brandon Sanderson ()
It's a valid question. I don't know why you'd be called a troll for it.
There are a few principles at work here, and if you don't mind, I'll build to an answer to your question. I might get a little long winded here; if so, I'm very sorry.
We believe strongly in the concept of personal revelation—in fact, it was a cornerstone of Joseph Smith's ministry. Basically, if God does exist, we feel that the only way to know that is for Him to tell you personally. Otherwise, it's all hearsay.
A lot of that is in line with what was believed by other Christian religions of the time. Even still, in a lot of sects, a 'calling' to teach is an individual thing. To become a preacher or pastor, one needs only a witness from God that you should.
That, however, is one of the points where LDS theology deviates. While we believe in personal witness and revelation, we believe the scope of what you can get a witness for is limited to your sphere of responsibility. In other words, while you can pray and seek direct guidance from God on your life, you cannot go to your neighbor and say "I've had a witness that you should do X, Y, or Z." We don't think God works that way.
There are, however, people who can get guidance for others. It depends on your sphere of responsibility. A parent can get guidance for their children, a bishop for the members of their congregation. (Note: this is within reason. He has responsibility for people's spiritual welfare, but not for other aspects of their lives.)
The prophet—president of the Church—is given responsibility for all members of the Church, and is the only one who has the ability and authority to speak for the church as a whole. We believe he is directly God's mouthpiece on the Earth. And so, he can set Church policy.
So, the answer to your question is this: we believe that God works through organized means. Revelation from God comes in line with things that you have responsibility for. Now, the argument becomes: "In terms of marriage, don't you have responsibility for your own choices?" Yes, you do. However, the prophet has spoken for Church policy, renouncing polygamy as a practice.
An individual doesn't have the right or authority to go against Church policy. (Well, they have the right—they may do as they wish, and anyone may make their own choices.) However, God will not send revelation that contradicts Church doctrine. If He did, there would be total chaos—and no purpose for a Church in the first place.
So if you were to claim God told you to marry multiple wives, it would be the same as if you claimed God told you to start stealing, start your own church, or do anything else expressly against previous commandments. I would not speak on your personal relationship with God, and that is your business. But the Church is within its authority to excommunicate you for such actions, and we would believe what you are doing not to be God's will. (If it were a friend of mine that I trusted, I'd look to God and see what he had to say on the matter.)
On a personal note, personal revelation is a tricky thing, and must be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. It is an essential part of the Church. As I said, logic dictates (to me, at least) that if there is a God, and he does want you to follow him, he will respond and tell you that directly. But that is basically the purpose of personal revelation, to let an individual know that God is real and to guide in choosing one's philosophy, religion, and goals in life.
Anything beyond that starts to get us into questionable areas. I'm not saying it doesn't happen—it does. But at these points, you have to start asking yourself, "Am I just doing what I want, and pretending I have a divine mandate? Do I REALLY feel this is God's will?" In this, like in all things in life, there's a distinct need to follow the great law of the universe: Be reasonable.
Alfredo_BE
Probably because some people think it's funny to abuse the online chat, which in turn causes false-positives for genuine questions.
The concept of personal revelation is certainly something I can appreciate. These days, religion has often become more a form of indoctrination than something spiritual. I don't know nearly enough about LDS to have an educated opinion on the subject, but still.
Would you say the LDS's views mature over time and are perhaps even culturally bound? It's the only religion I know of that has living prophets, so practices that were acceptable in the past (polygamy, exclusion of black people from priesthood, ...) but are now considered immoral and wrong, may be changed over time. Do you think that in 20-30-40 years, when gay people are perhaps (hopefully) fully accepted by society, LDS will accept them as well? Or maybe even let women become priests?
And thanks for the detailed response. It looks like there's a distinct hierarchy involved, which is understandable, though something I am very skeptical of. Especially in combination with personal revelations. Too often have I seen that position of power been abused (in the name of God of course). But again, I don't know enough about LDS to make any claims, nor am I here to turn this into an anti-Mormonism thread.Brandon Sanderson
I'm very sorry to take so long to reply to this, Alfredo_BE. I've been off doing some revisions on a book that is due...well, let's just say I'm late on it. But I did want to reply to this because your questions were so insightful.
I do think it is possible that the LDS Church's views on things like this are culturally bound, and that God is simply waiting for the right time to mainstream gay marriage into the Church. There are some who believe this strongly. I think the chances of it being that way are slim, considering statements released and the such, but it could happen.
There are examples of this all through the history of religion. The apostles telling a slave to return to his master in the New Testament when it is pretty clear that slavery is not a good institution. Blacks being denied the priesthood in the LDS church is another; there are implications that the biases of church members were part of the reason this happened. (Joseph Smith, for example, ordained a black priest—but Brigham Young stopped the practice.)
If you're really interested about how the Church works and who Joseph Smith was, look up the book Rough Stone Rolling on Google book search. It gives a free preview, and you can read through the chapters 12 and 13. This is a biography of Joseph Smith done by a Colombia professor (who is also a church member) which is generally considered—by both LDS and non-LDS sources—the best biography of him.
It's a thick read, though in its favor, a lot of LDS activists think it goes too far in delving into the controversial aspects of his life. While many anti-LDS activists think it doesn't go far enough. It sits happily in the middle, and I found that it didn't pull punches, but was still respectful.
Sorry again for the late reply.
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Interview: 2011
Reddit 2011 (Non-WoT) (Verbatim)Chino_Blanco (February 2013)
Negative_Gravitas
"I know my church has good intentions in this legal debate." Sorry Melanie, but no, they do not. YOU have good intentions and want to believe the best of others, especially those you have known and trusted all your life . . . but no. Their intentions are far, far from good.
Brandon Sanderson ()
I'm not sure I want to stumble into this one. These discussions turn out to be a mess, a lot of the time.
However, I've found that Reddit is often populated by those curious about both sides of an argument. For the record, here are some official statements from the Church regarding Gay Marriage.
Some highlights: "We join our voice with others in unreserved condemnation of acts of cruelty, or attempts to belittle or mock any group or individual that is different—whether those differences arise from race, religion, mental challenges, social status, sexual orientation, or for any other reason. Such actions simply have no place in our society.
This church has felt the bitter sting of persecution and marginalization early in our history, when we were too few in numbers to adequately protect ourselves and when society's leaders often seemed disinclined to help. Our parents, our young adults, teens and children should therefore, of all people, be especially sensitive to the vulnerable in society and be willing to speak out against bullying or intimidation whenever it occurs, including unkindness towards those who are attracted to others of the same sex. This is particularly so in our own Latter-day Saint congregations. Each Latter-day Saint family and individual should carefully consider whether their attitudes and actions to others properly reflect Jesus Christ's second great commandment—to love one another."
And also: "This is much bigger than just a question of whether or not society should be more tolerant of the homosexual lifestyle. Over past years we have seen unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal, and to characterize those who disagree as narrow-minded, bigoted and unreasonable. Such advocates are quick to demand freedom of speech and thought for themselves, but equally quick to criticize those with a different view and, if possible, to silence them by applying labels like "homophobic". In at least one country where homosexual activists have won major concessions, we have even seen a church pastor threatened with prison for preaching from the pulpit that homosexual behavior is sinful. Given these trends, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must take a stand on doctrine and principle. This is more than a social issue—ultimately it may be a test of our most basic religious freedoms to teach what we know our Father in Heaven wants us to teach."
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Interview: Jan 8th, 2015
Firefight Signing Report - Fletchershair (Paraphrased)fletchershair
Is there any chance of queer characters later on?Brandon Sanderson
There already are some; Drehy the bridge man is gay and Ranette is some form of queer[he specified it, but I couldn't tell what he said and I had already asked loads of questions and the line was long]. There will definitely be more.Footnote
Brandon has previously mentioned that there is a lesbian in The Alloy of Law, presumably Ranette. -
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Interview: Jan 6th, 2015
Firefight Signing Line Audio (Paraphrased)Question
Do you have any, or will you ever write a gay character into any of your books?Brandon Sanderson
There are several. Drehy, in The Stormlight Archive, the bridgeman is gay, because he's based off a good friend of mine who's gay. Ranette in the Wax & Wayne books, the woman that Wayne's in love with, she's gay, and it's hinted at in the first book. By the second book, they're like "Dude, she's gay, just leave her alone." So yes, I have written gay characters. I've never written a gay main viewpoint character, maybe someday I will, it's not something I've done yet.Footnote
Note from Wetlander: "At this point I asked about Jasnah, and I'll summarize our conversation; Brandon specifically asked me not to transcribe it directly. He'd momentarily forgotten that he had actually written Jasnah viewpoints, so his 'I've never written a gay main viewpoint character' comment wasn't intended to quell the speculation about her either way. He clearly didn't intend to say that she's not gay, but he didn't want to rephrase in such a way as to say that she is, either; at this point, he really doesn't want to give a WoB about her either way. He'll deal with that if/as it becomes relevant to the story—and he refused to give any indication whether that was if or as. We are to continue our speculation if we're interested in the question."Tags
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Interview: Nov 10th, 2017
Justin Carmony
As an example, and a follow-up question I have is, I've noticed you try to include characters with very diverse backgrounds, and you even have in some of your books LGBTQ characters. How do you approach the sensitivity of these issues when writing these characters?Brandon Sanderson
… In the real world, all of these different voices are represented, and it's about trying to write a story where the real world is, where the real world breathes and if I were to take one group and erase them from the fiction, that would be untrue. That would be violating a fundamental thing I believe in, and that is that we shouldn't be trying to erase people. That's a major evil that can happen in the world.
And so when I put in characters who are LGBTQ, I do have to be really aware that I am likely a person to get that experience wrong. If you're going to find somebody who is going to get that wrong, I am at the top of the list. So … I go to my friends who are gay and ask, "OK, guys, how am I screwing up here?"
… It's kind of interesting, in some ways, writing those characters are easier than writing other characters I have no experience with. For instance, there is a scene in Oathbringer (with a character) who has not been around strong drink very much, goes out drinking, and has all kinds of preconceptions about what'll happen and then gets drunk, and my first write of that was terrible.
I gave it to some people and they were like "Oh man, Brandon, you have no idea what it's like to have this happen." You're right, I don't, I have no idea whatsoever.
Granted, I cannot ever accurately replicate the experience of being gay or transgendered. But feeling like an outsider, growing up as the only Mormon kid in a school, at least I can know what it's like to be an outsider, to feel like I can't talk about certain things about myself without being subjected to ridicule. There are certain things I can approach, so I can get it a little bit right and then go to people who have that life experience and they can give me some pointers.
There is a character in this book that is a drug addict. Now, we're making the book sound like something it's not. The book isn't about drug addiction; it's not about living as a gay person; it's not about any of these things. But it is about people who feel real, and I want to approach all of their experiences accurately. If I'm going to put them in the book, I want them to be right. I went to a person who was incarcerated — who also was a fan — for heroin addiction. I said, "will you let me interview you? Will you read these scenes and point me in the right direction?"
Part of what makes writing a Stormlight book so difficult is I do try to approach all of these different walks of life. People might ask "why are you putting this in a fantasy book? Why is this here?" My answer is all great fiction is a reflection of our lives and trying to say something about it or the people that we meet or the experience of being human.
That's what this is about. That's why we write.
And I do it through the form of really fun, action adventure fantasy novels. But at the end of the day, it's still this art trying to reflect the world around me and say interesting things about it. The reason it's there — I think the core concept as created by J.R.R. Tolkien, who was really the father of this medium — is to create a really immersive experience. … That's how we achieve what we do in the stories is by looking at realism first, looking at a sense of immersion is what we call it. I often say that the difference between science fiction and fantasy is that science fiction tries to take what we have now and extrapolate plausible futures from it, whereas fantasy takes something completely impossible and tries to make it feel plausible while you're reading the story. We both use this for the device of "we're going to try to say something about the world." … I don't sit down and say, "what's the moral of this story," but I sit down and say "OK, what am I interested in right now, how is this a reflection of who I am?" This is all there for immersion.
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