No gays in the land?

A place to discuss the books in the FC and SC. *Please Note* No LC spoilers allowed in this forum. Do so in the forum below.

Moderators: Orlion, kevinswatch

User avatar
jackgiantkiller
Elohim
Posts: 117
Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2009 1:47 pm

No gays in the land?

Post by jackgiantkiller »

This is a serious qustion and covers a lot of fantacy fiction, Im not gay but gayness in the real world is a part of the fabric of life, yet not in the land or fantacy, unless in a lewd way. im not talking about actual physical acts but love and attraction
User avatar
Vader
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 4:03 pm
Location: On the lam
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact:

Post by Vader »

Like the homo-erotic tension between Frodo and Sam?
Functionless art is vandalism. I am the vandal.
User avatar
wayfriend
.
Posts: 20957
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 12:34 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 6 times

Post by wayfriend »

.
User avatar
[Syl]
Unfettered One
Posts: 13021
Joined: Sat Oct 26, 2002 12:36 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by [Syl] »

Not a whole lot of gay characters in fiction as a whole before the 80s.

If I were doing a queer theory critical analysis of Covenant, though, I'd spend a lot of time talking about the Findail/Vain relationship.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
User avatar
drew
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 7877
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2004 4:20 pm
Location: Canada
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Post by drew »

I gues Mhorham could have been gay...in the same way the Dumbledore was gay in Harry Potter....you know; not actually gay, until the author decided at an interview that he was!!
I thought you were a ripe grape
a cabernet sauvignon
a bottle in the cellar
the kind you keep for a really long time
User avatar
Vader
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 4:03 pm
Location: On the lam
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact:

Post by Vader »

The Elohim.
Functionless art is vandalism. I am the vandal.
User avatar
DukkhaWaynhim
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 9195
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2003 8:35 pm
Location: Deep in thought

Post by DukkhaWaynhim »

The Elohim aren't gay - they're just European.
:lol:

dw
"God is real, unless declared integer." - Unknown
Image
User avatar
peter
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 12203
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:08 am
Location: Another time. Another place.
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 10 times

Post by peter »

No gays in the land - Who cares. This is a fantasy story. It doesn't need to mirror real life - Hell, most of us read it because it doesn't.
President of Peace? You fucking idiots!

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
User avatar
Kevin164
Giantfriend
Posts: 346
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2008 5:57 am
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
Contact:

Post by Kevin164 »

though a gay character could be a great comedy relief. I could see a gay guy cheekily telling Lord Foul that he loves what he did with his decor in his fortress of doom.
Last edited by Kevin164 on Sun Jan 03, 2010 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
jackgiantkiller
Elohim
Posts: 117
Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2009 1:47 pm

Post by jackgiantkiller »

It does give the frase ' fist and faith' a new meaning you would need both i think
User avatar
Relayer
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1365
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:36 am
Location: Wasatch Stonedown

Post by Relayer »

What about Amok? ;-)
"History is a myth men have agreed upon." - Napoleon

Image
User avatar
Ur Dead
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 2295
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:17 am

Post by Ur Dead »

Syl wrote:If I were doing a queer theory critical analysis of Covenant, though, I'd spend a lot of time talking about the Findail/Vain relationship.
:lol:

Love/hate bonding... fusion..
What's this silver looking ring doing on my finger?
User avatar
aTOMiC
Lord
Posts: 24961
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 6:48 am
Location: Tampa, Florida
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 13 times
Contact:

Post by aTOMiC »

I'm guessing there could be gay characters in every work of fiction however a character's intimate personal preferences aren't always explored. You don't know every character's favorite color or favorite food or whether they are left handed or not or if they color their hair or if they have irritable bowel syndrome or a third nipple or had a nose job or suffered a broken leg as a kid or many other personal bits and bobs. Which may mean something like sexual preference is frequently unimportant in the context of the story.
"If you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?"
Image

"There is tic and toc in atomic" - Neil Peart
User avatar
dANdeLION
Lord
Posts: 23836
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2003 3:22 am
Location: In the jungle, the mighty jungle
Contact:

Post by dANdeLION »

That's odd, I could have swore that Hile Troy asked Covenant if he'd ever visited a Turkish prison.....and we all remember how Hile kept asking Covenant for his ring. Not to mention how Cail kept finishing Brinn's sentences; the secret glances between those two.....and, of course, who could forget the aptly named giant, Oakrod Bumthruster? Then there's all those times Birinair asked Lord Mhoram if he could "touch his staff". Also, though it's not well documented, most Lords agree that the sixth ward mainly consisted of Kevin's 8-track tape collection of Wham, Culture Club, Indigo Girls, and Milli Vanilli.
Dandelion don't tell no lies
Dandelion will make you wise
Tell me if she laughs or cries
Blow away dandelion


I'm afraid there's no denying
I'm just a dandelion
a fate I don't deserve.


High priest of THOOOTP

:hobbes: *

* This post carries Jay's seal of approval
User avatar
Krazy Kat
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1664
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 2:44 am
Location: Sky Blue City England

Post by Krazy Kat »

Didn't Baradakas invite Covenant back to his place to spend the night. He couldn't take his eyes off Covenant, and I seem to remember he sat on his bed and polished his rod with a soft cloth.
User avatar
dANdeLION
Lord
Posts: 23836
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2003 3:22 am
Location: In the jungle, the mighty jungle
Contact:

Post by dANdeLION »

And what about that time Covenant rode Vain?


Giddyap!! :yeehaa:
Dandelion don't tell no lies
Dandelion will make you wise
Tell me if she laughs or cries
Blow away dandelion


I'm afraid there's no denying
I'm just a dandelion
a fate I don't deserve.


High priest of THOOOTP

:hobbes: *

* This post carries Jay's seal of approval
User avatar
soft one
Ramen
Posts: 82
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:07 pm
Location: Broken Arrow, OK

Post by soft one »

It depends... were there closets in The Land?
Covenant turned in time to see a short figure detach itself from the burning mud, step queasily onto the hard ground.

The figure was scarcely taller than the skest, and shaped like them, a misborn child without eyes or any other features. But it was made of mud. Flames flickered over it as it climbed from the fire, then died away, leaving a dull brown creature like a sculpture poorly wrought in clay. Reddish pockets embedded in its form glowed dully.
hyarmion
Stonedownor
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:39 am
Location: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Post by hyarmion »

No gays in the Land? You are right. I had noticed that one myself. But really, Oakrod Bumthruster! Heaven forbid! I would rather catch Bannor and Korik in a passionate embrace.

Still, you make a good point that the subject does not occur in any fantasy. Yes, there are fools who claim such a relationship for Frodo and Sam in the Lord of the Rings, but that is no different to those who claim such as the relationship between C-3PO and R2-D2 in Star Wars (yes! some people really do - it was reported in Time magazine, so it must be true).

But, there is precious little sex in the Lord of the Rings of any kind (would you really expect there to be in a book written by an unhappily married prudish old Catholic?). There is an awful lot of sex in Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile (rather too much for a book written by a woman, I would have thought) but it all strictly heterosexual.

George R. R. Martin gives us a leso scene between Queen Cersei and some other woman in the most recent volume of his Song of Ice and Fire.
But female homosexuality is the easy way out, it is male homosexuality that really upsets the punters.

Is there a gay fantasy? One in which the hero is a gay male?
User avatar
Orlion
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 6666
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:30 am
Location: Getting there...
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by Orlion »

You know what I wonder sometime? If a fantasy that is well-written with a homosexual male protaginist would be really dinstigiushable from other fantasy novels? I mean, how much of a relationship, hetero, homo, bi, or animal, is necesary for a story? Sure, we'd be swipping Ardan for Arwen, but other then that, has anything principally changed?
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville

I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!

"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
User avatar
[Syl]
Unfettered One
Posts: 13021
Joined: Sat Oct 26, 2002 12:36 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by [Syl] »

Is there a gay fantasy? One in which the hero is a gay male?
Mieville's Iron Council, IIRC.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
Post Reply

Return to “The First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”