#Robert Jordan

[dndspellgifs]

look, I know I've talked about this essay (?) before but like,

If you ever needed a good demonstration of the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", have I got an exercise for you.

Somebody made a small article explaining the basics of atomic theory but it's written in Anglish. Anglish is basically a made-up version of English where they remove any elements (words, prefixes, etc) that were originally borrowed from romance languages like french and latin, as well as greek and other foreign loanwords, keeping only those of germanic origin.

What happens is an english which is for the most part intelligible, but since a lot everyday english, and especially the scientific vocabulary, has has heavy latin and greek influence, they have to make up new words from the existing germanic-english vocabulary. For me it kind of reads super viking-ey.

Anyway when you read this article on atomic theory, in Anglish called Uncleftish Beholding, you get this text which kind of reads like a fantasy novel. Like in my mind it feels like it recontextualizes advanced scientific concepts to explain it to a viking audience from ancient times.

Even though you're familiar with the scientific ideas, because it bypasses the normal language we use for these concepts, you get a chance to examine these ideas as if you were a visitor from another civilization - and guess what, it does feel like it's about magic. It has a mythical quality to it, like it feels like a book about magic written during viking times. For me this has the same vibe as reading deep magic lore from a Robert Jordan book.

[torpublishinggroup]

TOR WRAPPED 2023

Books for every Spotify Wrapped listener class! 

VAMPIRE

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Mordew by Alex Pheby

HYPNOTIST

The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu

Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald

Spring’s Arcana by Lilith Saintcrow

ALCHEMIST

The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

SHAPESHIFTER

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

The Warden by Daniel M. Ford

Wolfsong by TJ Klune

FANATIC

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab

TIME TRAVELER

Kinning by Nisi Shawl

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

MASTERMIND

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow

Exadelic by Jon Evans

COLLECTOR

The Wolfe at the Door by Gene Wolfe

Cassiel’s Servant by Jacqueline Carey

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Magic Systems

[at Unicorn Fuck Club] Brandon Sanderson: hey robert what kind of magic rules do you have Sanderson: in my fantasy world, there's 18 laws of magic Sanderson: sorted into 23 categories and 65 sub-directories Robert Jordan: huh Jordan: well in my world, girls do girl magic and boys do boy magic

Sanderson: wait what? Jordan: girls do girl magic and boys do boy magic Sanderson: how does that work Jordan: saidin is stored in the balls

Jordan: why, how does your magic work Sanderson: ah well if you experience an emotion in my fantasy world Sanderson: then a sprite representing that emotion with physically appear and dance around Jordan: is that like Big Mouth then Sanderson: what Jordan: its a cartoon show Sanderson:

Sanderson: oh idk maybe Sanderson: i haven't seen it Sanderson: i only watch saturday's warrior on loop Jordan: look, i just think it makes sense Jordan: that the fundamental mystery powers of the universe would bisect neatly along binary gender lines JK Rowling: goddamnit!!! Rowling: why didn't i think of that

Rowling: ugh, inssstead i only have magic dividing people into uebermensssches and untermensssches Rowling: it could have been sssso much more!

Rowling: sssso in my world Rowling: the sssuperior wizard raccce issss sssimply born knowing magic Sanderson: right, right Rowling: then they have to go to sssschool Rowling: you know, to learn Rowling: Rowling: magic Rowling: alssso there are bad wizardsss who want to exterminate non-wizardssss Rowling: the bad wizardsss represssent queer people now Rowling: that's why we need to get them before they get us Rowling: anyway if you're an elected repressentative writing eliminationalisssst lawsss, feel free to reference my fictional booksss for jussstification Tolkien: Martin: Rowling: i don't get it, that alwaysss getsss a big hand on mumsnet Diane Duane: in my world, anyone can learn magic Rowling: SHUT UP DUANE Duane: from a book Rowling: SHUT UP Duane: you can get it at the library John Bellairs: oh yeah i think i've seen that book

[the-dichotomy-of-forests]

We keep fighting.

[alverelover]

[ladyalysoftheblueajah]

When your bestie gets you without you having to speak a word 🥹

[knight--error]

I love how for Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan decided to go with arguably the least dramatic/tragic romance path for Egwene possible. Like. Here are your options:

Option 1. Rand, essentially her betrothed/intended from birth, her childhood friend—who also goes through The Horrors constantly as he at first resists and then accepts the mantle of the Dragon. Now imagine the Dragon in love with The Amyrlin Seat. The drama. The stakes. The tension. Opposing loyalties, opposing goals, political considerations, all wrapped up and rooted in their simple, intimate knowledge of each other from their youth. Wow.

Option 2. Galad, the chivalrous, lawful prince, who becomes the leader of the Whitecloaks, an organization directly opposed to the Aes Sedai and essentially at war with it. So now you have stolen moments via Gateway, longing glances across the horizon towards where the enemy is camped, even more political maneuvering and the threat of discovery hanging over Galad's head at every second. Will their love persevere? Also, imagine the drama at discovering the Lord Captain of the Whitecloaks is a Warder.

And option 3. Gawain, AKA That Guy Over There With Nothing Better To Do, AKA That Guy With One (1) Useful Skill Which Is Stabbery, AKA The Most Normal Man In The Cast At This Point.

And Egwene surveys her options and says, "Oh yeah, I'll take one order of That Guy Over There, please."

Amazing.

[necarion]

I'm curious the extent to which Robert Jordan intended this (I think he probably did), but the in-universe narrative of "men and women cannot possibly understand each other" is deeply undermined by the fact that you, the reader, are extremely likely to identify as male or female, and are capable of understanding the motivations of both male and female characters.

The reason I think Jordan knew this was not only the effort made to have the characters motives be explicable when you're in their heads, but to have these communication difficulties go away the second the characters talked to each other and explained what was going on with them.

I think more than that, Jordan feels like he thought a lot of culture around masculine/feminine mystique was silly and harmful. Not only because it hinders good communication (Jordan does not agree that "not explaining stuff" is generally a good thing), but also because it leads to other harmful behaviors being swept up in the umbrella. Think of the number of times Elayne, Nynaeve, and the Aes Sedai are being awful to Mat, who treats it as "this is women being awful and inscrutible" when it's really them just being arrogant and awful. Or Mat being flippant and a jerk (in part as a defensive thing) being generalized to an "all men are like this" when it's really "Nynaeve and Mat get along like two cats in a sack that is on fire".

Does Jordan have some weird gender essentialism in his books? Definitely. But he also has far less than people credit to him, if you listen to the characters and not the subtext (or even text).

[samkuchingdraws]

DOVIE'ANDI SE TOVYA SAGAIN

Painted this because I wanted a specific wallpaper of Mat for my phone. Thought I'd try the colours I have used in my EVENING DINOS series, too. Might try this with more WoT characters.

(I will be back with more dinos)

Postcard | RedBubble Shop

(For some reason, this was too small for a proper art print, but somehow not for a T-shirt... interesting... Anyways got it as postcards and stickers and more.)

[sixth-light]

truly the most underrated thing that makes the (RJ-authored) WoT books great is the combination of how good he is at inhabiting the narrative headspace of one character at a time, and how dedicated he is as a writer to the idea that people can have different, even contradictory points of view and cultural expectations without someone being wrong and someone being right. he truly writes like someone who understands that everybody is human and everybody is pretty much trying to do the right thing as they see it, and that all human cultures are the result of people living their lives under a specific set of circumstances. (the exceptions, his truly villainous villains, are always people who put themselves first outside of matters of survival - and they aren't limited to one culture or background.)

if there's a flaw in this approach, it's that he is so good at inhabiting one PoV at a time that people confuse 'things the characters think' for 'things the narrative is saying are true about the world', because a protagonist is thinking and/or saying them, when in fact 90% of the comedy and commentary in WoT falls in the space between what PoV characters think or understand and what is actually happening. alternatively, that space is used as evidence that X character is bad in some way instead of being a narrative technique to emphasise that everybody's worldview is limited by their experience and upbringing, and the 'truth' of the world exists somewhere at the intersection of all those worldviews. it's not a skill that's unique to him as a writer but in epic fantasy, especially of his time, I think it's rarer than it should be.

[fishalthor]

Ajah is the name given to one of the seven different groups of Aes Sedai.

[nobeerreviews]

There's always a balance, you know. Good and evil. Light and shadow. We would not be human if there wasn't a balance.

-- Robert Jordan

[cryptidcharnel]

A quick doodle of Nynaeve and Lan to celebrate finishing Eye of the World after a year of trying to get through it

[tiredmoonslut]

The way Robert Jordan writes queer people into his world is such an interesting time capsule of how different things were in fantasy media just twenty years ago. Casually, almost every Aes Sedai on the page is probably bisexual. One of the Forsaken is a transgender woman. Many of the White Tower's male servants are gay men. But it's all so unobtrusive that it's kind of blink and you miss it---but catching it seems almost revolutionary. It's not anywhere near what we'd call "progressive" in today's world but somehow it still is, to see the attempt made. It'd have been just as easy not to include at all.

Idk it's just interesting

[alverelover]