Portrayal of Women in TCOTC

Post by **na-ring wielder** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:35 pm

HI

I was wondeing if there had been any discussions on the portrayal of women in the discussion forum (I'm a newbie)

It seems to me that the female characters are much better defined than in other fantasy books (particularly LOTR)

As a man I find the female characters quite believable.....reflecting the characteristics of women I have met throughout my life. Do any women have any views on this subject?....or on the portrayal of men....TC himself is the perfect Anti-hero as there is a little of him in all of us.

Contradiction is the essence of life!

J

Post by **variol son** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 12:33 pm

I love the female characters in all of Donaldson's works. Elena, Osondrea, Tamarantha, Shetra, Loerya, Amatin, Atiaran, Lena, Linden, Morn, Mikka, Min, Koina, Sorus, the list goes on. I don't want to rubbish the journeys of Covenant or Angus or Davies, but I have always found the female chaacters to be much fuller.

Sum sui generis
Vs

Post by **duchess of malfi** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:11 am

Donaldson has wonderful female characters -- for example, I have long thought that Princess Myste functions as sort of a personal mouthpiece for the author's idealism in his Mordant duology. She has these wonderful lines about the nature of people.

He is not afraid to show women as both strong and as fragile -- and everything in between, as with Terisa, Morn, and Linden.

Post by **fightingmyinstincts** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 5:18 am

yes, it's decidedly nice to see women as something other than, "Oh, look, it's our token female badass" or "Ooh, a tavern wence!" I have always had that problem with fantasy...

Post by **duchess of malfi** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:15 am

fightingmyinstincts wrote:yes, it's decidedly nice to see women as something other than, "Oh, look, it's our token female badass" or "Ooh, a tavern wence!" I have always had that problem with fantasy...

Yes, or the spoiled, headstrong, bratty princess...or the powerful female magic user with terminal PMS

And its great to see you back, FMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tue Oct 05, 2004 12:40 am

*bows* Yes, I am indeed back! And this time, with a COMPUTER!
Wow, my previous post on this thread should have been more detailed...but it was late and I was tired...

Wed Oct 06, 2004 5:24 pm

I've only read mordant's need and the first two chronicles, but from what I saw there I thought SRD did a fairly good job with female characters in general, but specifically Linden Avery was a really great character. In most of the other female characters I saw a specific ideal or quality personified, but in Linden he managed to make a character who was convincingly female and ALSO convincingly disturbed. It shows great skill IMHO to make a character different from yourself, and then work with that character at such a personal level. She is a great representation of a woman who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome acquired at an early age.

Post by **CovenantJr** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:18 pm

JemCheeta wrote:specifically Linden Avery was a really great character

Argh! We already have enough Linden lovers, without another one swelling the ranks

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:28 pm

Jem - if you haven't already, you should watch the SRD clip regarding favorite characters (located on the SRD website.) He tells a great story about why Linden is so important to him.

Post by **CovenantJr** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:43 pm

Yes...on that basis I had to cancel my plans to tell him how awful Linden is when I see him

Post by **W.B.** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 4:56 am

I think he writes TCOTC women much like he writes his other characters in the series. They're not dominated by their being women (which I felt a little of in Mordant's Need), but by their "issues" (to use psychobabble terminology). And a lot of the characters in TCOTC are most definable by their psychological scars/problems, not necesarily the cliche categories they might fall into (mysterious wizard, brave knight, general-purpose damsel etc.). Just a quick reaction while surfing late at night.

Post by **Ylva Kresh** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 6:59 pm

I love the way SRD portrait the women in TCTC! With most characters it almost feels like gender was determined a long time after the character had developed.

I like that kind of writing: not letting the gender determine what kind of character it will be and thereby not falling into a lot of sexistic traps (which exists everywhere and are almost impossible to avoid since we are/were raised in a rather sexistic environment and probably have rather weird values. That is if we compare ourselves to future generations (I hope

))

Fri Oct 08, 2004 2:37 pm

Right, I think it's excellent that it starts with a character concept, and the flaws therein... where I think SRD excells is that he can take a pile of flaws and strengths that ignore gender bounderies, and then view it through a lense of gender to alter it in the subtle ways that reflect femininity without resorting to stereotypes.

Post by **CovenantJr** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 2:41 pm

Well said.

Linden's still a gitette though

Post by **aliantha** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 3:23 pm

She is not!

(Didn't we have a razzberry emoticon? Why can't I find it??? Arrgh!)

Anyhow. I agree with the earlier posters. SRD's women characters aren't just window-dressing -- they're actual people. It's very refreshing. Particularly in genre fiction.

Post by **CovenantJr** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 7:41 pm

I think the emoticon you're looking for is

Post by **The Dreaming** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 7:50 pm

Well, I guess I will just take your word on it. (after all, how would I know, I am concave) SRD's Girls are unusual in a genre dominated by men. (It's not just main characters, he puts girls everywhere in The Land. Think of Shetra, Veremont, that warhaft chick, etc.)

In books like Lord of the Rings, the only time you ever see a chick is when she has the hots for Aragorn. (Which makes sense for what he was doing. Are there any chicks in Beowulf?)

P.S. My literary spider sense is going crazy, too many damn parenthesis. Oh well.

Post by **CovenantJr** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 7:54 pm

The Dreaming wrote:Veremont

Verement was a man

Post by **The Dreaming** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 8:02 pm

CovenantJr wrote:
The Dreaming wrote:Veremont
Verement was a man

Oh crap... That’s right, he was Shetra's husband right? There *was* another female lord though wasn't there? The one with the Daughters... Can't remember...

Post by **I'm Murrin** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 8:20 pm

Osondrea? Loerya? Amatin?

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Portrayal of Women in TCOTC

Portrayal of Women in TCOTC

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