Haruchai women

[Ahanna]

Skyweir mentioned Haruchai women in the "who's hot" thread.

I always wondered what they'd be like. We know very little about them, other than that the bond between men & women is strong and that they bear many children (a hot-loined prolific people, offspring is abundant). Do Haruchai women play a subservient role, where their main duty is to produce as many sons as possible and to serve and please their men? Or perhaps the Haruchai society function as a "beehive" community, where men are warriors and protectors of the clan and women cultivate and rule the homes and villages? In any case it seems to be a segregated society, where men fight and travel and women do not. Still, the Haruchai had no problems serving female Lords, or fighting alongside the female warriors of the Land.

As far as I understand, the Haruchai originally came to fight and conquer the Land, but were so awestruck by the power and generosity of High Lord Kevin that they chose servitude instead of fighting. But what is there to serve now (after WGW)? They are bound to "keep Revelstone", but what's to stop them from bringing their women and settle down? Judging the few remaining people of the Land to be weak (probably justly so), why shouldn't they rule? Consider the presumed growth of Haruchai population compared to the growth of "the native population" and the fact that Haruchai don't seem to interbreed with other races. All demographic rules would indicate that 2-3000 yrs. later (probable era of the third chronicles), we would face a Haruchai-Land, with perhaps a remnant of natives living in the reservation of Andelain. We could very well find a Haruchai Overlord (Shogun) in Revelstone, or why not a Haruchai Empress?

BTW: "Haru" is Japanese for "spring (the season)", and "chairo" means "light brown or tawny". This choice of words may of course be coincidental and of no special import.

[Landwaster]

I reckon they'd not be all that keen on settling in Revelstone or in the Land. It seemed that the Haruchai very much valued the harshness of their homelands, as if they prided themselves on existing in it, and perhaps attributed their strength and fealties upon such honest habitat.

Great call on the Japanese breakdown of 'Haruchai'. Possibly coincidence, but a darn fine coincidence, if you ask me!

[duchess of malfi]

I have to say that the answer to the Huruchai feeling about Revelstone (and the artistic "meaning" of Revelstone) are made quite clear in Gildenfire. I don't want to do a spoiler, but it's a great story, and I would really highly recommend it!
I've always had this impression that the men are off doing manly things like practicing their fighting, while the women are home taking care of the food, the kids, etc. Someone has to do it...
I think that all of the Hurachai are going to come to the Land proper, and that they probably will be the dominate race by the time the Third Chronicles roll around. They have that high childbirth rate because they lose so many kids due to the harsh homelands. Down in the Land they will still have that high childbirth rate, because it's biologically hotwired into them, but won't be losing their children anymore. Should be quite a population exposion.

[Guest]

Think of the way Brinn and co. described them in TOT. Sounds pretty hot to me!

[Landwaster]

It seemed more to me that the Haruchai blokes like Brinn were just darned horny.

[Guest]

you Aussies always are so straightforward and honest

[Landwaster]

... like a guzzle and a belch at a mountain stream

[Fist and Faith]

I'm with Landwaster on this one. (Quoted below) I will be more dissapointed than I can say if the Haruchai come down from their mountains and go soft and weak. They've never said it, but I think Landwaster's right about the pride and attributing those characteristics to the mountains.

True, they originally came to the land to conquer and take over. If that had happened, they would have diminished. Instead, they were so effected by the people and Lords that they became the Bloodguard. But I think it's important that, in the 4,000 years after they gave up being the Bloodguard, they did not come back to the land as either conquerers or settlers. They were so changed by their experiences that they stayed in the Westron Mountains. They must have also realized that they and the mountains were inseperable. (Yes, possibly because they couldn't help but notice that they were so superior in various ways, and figured it had to do with where they lived.)

So I hope they stay there. Does anyone want to see them end up like the Fremen did? Duncan opened the one guy's shirt to see that the stillsuit was fake. The guy said, "You should never touch a Fremen like this!" Duncan replied, "Fremen? I've known Fremen, and you're not it!" (Sorry for probably butchering that. It's not nearly an exact quote. I read it many years ago, and I'm just doing that from memory.) The Haruchai are the only race that I think could take the Fremen. I'd hate to see BOTH races fall.


[quote="Landwaster"]I reckon they'd not be all that keen on settling in Revelstone or in the Land. It seemed that the Haruchai very much valued the harshness of their homelands, as if they prided themselves on existing in it, and perhaps attributed their strength and fealties upon such honest habitat.

[Landwaster]

Perhaps there'd be a story in that, some for of failing the Haruchai develope due to 1) leaving the home that bears there's strength and 2) taking over a place without fighting for it.

Maybe they could become the heart of the bad guys, and the biggest cause for depression in TC or whoever would be the relevant bleeding yet bloodhouse heart.

Hellfire and bloodguard damnation

[[Syl]]

The Bloodguard become Corruption (without some kind of Illearth Stone)? Man, few things could be worse than that.

[kelly]

I think the Haruchai are the most interesting part of the Chronicles. When I wonder why no film has been made about the Chronicles, I think it is because who could you cast to be Bannor?! People have suggested Russell Crowe, Please! Not hardly good enough. Maybe Mel Gibson before he became a caricature....

I'm curious about the mental communication they have with each other. And the fact that when he spoke in his own language Linden thought Brinn sounded poetic. Perhaps it isn't the Haruchai that are terse, but speaking the common language limits their ability to express themselves fully.

But on-topic, I just read this part of TOT, where Brinn describes the women as being passionate about "fire, seed, and offspring". Seed and offspring are obvious. And I took the "fire" part to mean not just warmth in a cold environment, but also "hearth". So my impression is that the women enjoy being homemakers and keeping the home fires burning in more ways than one. And the men and women seem happy with their roles in society.

But if the bond between husband and wife is so strong. Why don't we see the women come after their men (excluding the Bloodguard, of course)? And I'm sorry but you can't tell me that not one Haruchai girl wanted to go off and fight.

I hope in the Third Chronicles we get to see the Haruchai homeland and meet some of the women...and of course, more of the men!

And no, I don't have a crush on Bannor. Honest. Really. I mean it. I don't. Oh, ok, just a little one.

Kelly

[Reisheiruhime]

Okay, don't beat me in the head with a Staff or a coffee-table (lol), but I always thought that there were other things in those mountains, like Ice-Nymphs and Tiger women. Or maybe it's just my strange and polluted imagination. ::shrugs::

[Fist and Faith]

I'm curious about the mental communication they have with each other. And the fact that when he spoke in his own language Linden thought Brinn sounded poetic. Perhaps it isn't the Haruchai that are terse, but speaking the common language limits their ability to express themselves fully.

That's a fantastic thought! Even their own spoken language might seem inadequate to them. The times we actually hear them talking telepathically appear to be typical verbal conversation. But I guess SRD couldn't possibly have written a true melding of minds.

But on-topic, I just read this part of TOT, where Brinn describes the women as being passionate about "fire, seed, and offspring". Seed and offspring are obvious. And I took the "fire" part to mean not just warmth in a cold environment, but also "hearth". So my impression is that the women enjoy being homemakers and keeping the home fires burning in more ways than one. And the men and women seem happy with their roles in society.

... I can't say whether I agree or not. The <I>Haruchai</I> are so damned hard to read. It's difficult to know why they do what they do until they explain it. Grieving by beating the snot out of each other is a good example. I just can't read them well enough to guess what the women are like, or the relationship between the sexes.

But if the bond between husband and wife is so strong. Why don't we see the women come after their men (excluding the Bloodguard, of course)?

There have been human cultures where the women would not have done that, but I imagine they loved each other. The Spartans maybe? Maybe rescuing their husbands would shame the men beyond endurance, and maybe the women would rather be proud of their dead husbands than be with live ones they rescued. Love that is defined and expressed in ways other than my way might, nevertheless, be as valid.

And I'm sorry but you can't tell me that not one Haruchai girl wanted to go off and fight.

You would think so, wouldn't you. Dare I suggest that some of the <I>Haruchai</I> we met WERE women? If their voices are higher than the men's, they would have to remain silent when around any non-<I>Haruchai</I>. Not really a problem there. Maybe a couple were just a little prettier than the rest? LOL

I hope in the Third Chronicles we get to see the Haruchai homeland and meet some of the women...and of course, more of the men!

Tan Haruchai!

[Revan]

It makes sense to me that they are just really horny.
To me it seems that they are naturally hard. also they are not affected by the cold, so they don't have to worry about being shrunk or small. they also excel in things that are impossible for normal humans, so when they are alone with their women, the climax is obviously sooooo amazing that they are just naturally horny, and i also think that being they are so strong they need an outlet for the strength they have. So they either serve until they die or nail their women for the outlet they need.
except it was a bit different with the bloodguard, because how long can any man handle not getting some, i can't manage it for four months let alone two thousand years. so eventally their horniness caught up (or down so to speak) and they couldn't go on.
poor guys.................

[ceallaighq]

First Mark Tuvor... I get the humor of your post but seriously... if it were just horniness, why doesn't it to extend to non-Haruchai women? Even when they fell under the merewives' spell, they did it for the whiteness of their wives/women, something like that, not for any type of attraction to the merewives. And that is the ONLY time (so far, haven't finished WGW yet) we see them display outright hormonal passion.

And I do get the impression that they are one-woman men. Wishful thinking on my part, probably.

Fist and Faith... it is a fantastic thought, isn't it? I like yours even better, that they can only truly express themselves fully with their telepathic language. I felt so sorry for Cail being all alone.

You wrote:

Maybe rescuing their husbands would shame the men beyond endurance

This I hadn't considered. But based on the little information we have, I think you are right. Especially when you consider how judgmental they are, the women aren't likely to be any different.

What was duchess of malfi talking about? What is Gildenfire?

Kelly

[Ryzel]

The Haruchai are an interesting people, although I hold with the Giants as my favorite people in the chronicles.

What strikes me, when reading about the haruchai is that the haruchai which travel to the Land (and beyond) are somehow special.

Leaving aside the fact that those who became the Bloodguard had wives that they left behind I find that the haruchai in the second chronicles come across as a kind of warrior monks (think: kung-fu movie monks) on some kind of seeking quest. It is never actually quite clear to me what they are seeking though.

I believe that the haruchai are struggling to keep their emotions under control, and possibly this is what they are seeking. Another possibility is that they are seeking redemption from some real or imagined crime which they want to atone for.

Would it not be an incredible twist if the original Bloodguard actually were outlaws from the mountains which Kevin took in? This would certainly give them a motivation for swearing the vow.

[Fist and Faith]

What was duchess of malfi talking about? What is Gildenfire?

It is a chapter of TIW that SRD took out. He wrote it too long, and had to cut.

Spoiler

He cut Gilden-Fire because it was told primarily from Korik's pov. He didn't know if he should do that, since it would sort of tell us that the Land was, indeed, real. After all, if Covenant wasn't there dreaming what was happening, how could it be happening?

It's an extremely good thing to read! So go find it. It is apparently in some editions of Daughter Of Regals, and you might find a used copy of it by itself.

The Haruchai are an interesting people, although I hold with the Giants as my favorite people in the chronicles.

Despite my nick, I agree. They are more well-rounded. And they like to laugh!!! You can't over-value laughter! But the <I>Haruchai</I> are intriguing in their discipline and faith, all of which gives them their extraordinary strength and skill.

[Damelon]

The Haruchai are an interesting people, although I hold with the Giants as my favorite people in the chronicles.

Despite my nick, I agree. They are more well-rounded. And they like to laugh!!! You can't over-value laughter! But the <I>Haruchai</I> are intriguing in their discipline and faith, all of which gives them their extraordinary strength and skill.

The Haruchai are all about honor through duty, the Giants about honor though fidelity.

Both were broken by the power of the stone. The Giants slumping into suicide, the Haruchai into giving up their duty.

[ceallaighq]

Ryzel wrote:

Leaving aside the fact that those who became the Bloodguard had wives that they left behind I find that the haruchai in the second chronicles come across as a kind of warrior monks (think: kung-fu movie monks) on some kind of seeking quest. It is never actually quite clear to me what they are seeking though.

I don't think they were seeking anything. They pledged themselves to Covenant because he had just saved hundreds of Haruchai from the being food for the Sunbane. A situation that a couple of thousand years ago would have made them pledge The Vow. My memory is failing me here and I don't have the book here... But no way would Covenant had allowed them to pledge The Vow again. But I think what the second chronicles taught them was that they _should_ never pledge The Vow again.

I am running, not walking, to the bookstore, website to find this Gildenfire! How did I miss this?

I love the Giants too! --Kelly

[Fist and Faith]

I am running, not walking, to the bookstore, website to find this Gildenfire! How did I miss this?

You go girl! There are several used copies listed at amazon.com.

I love the Giants too! --Kelly