Marris Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 This may have already been discussed, if it was I apologize for missing it when I searched. Back in January Brandon was asked what the likelihood of having a gay character appear in his work. Tue Jan 04@BrandonSandrson Having listened to the last Writing Excuses podcast, I have to ask: how likely are we to see a gay character in your work? @feelieking I've already written some, but I haven't made a big deal of it. Alloy of Law has a lesbian woman, for example. SourceI'm making several assumptions and I may be completely off base. Seven sample chapters have been released, I estimate that's probably about 10-15% of the book. Brandon's last stand alone novel (Warbreaker) was 60 chapters long. The odds are that this character has already been introduced. Who is it? A quick reread of the released chapters has given me the names of seven different women. Lessie Lady Aving Cett Lady Armal Miss Grimes Lady Mic'helle Ostlin (Mispelled her name, sorry, couldn't find the correct spelling when I was looking for it) Lady Steris Lady Marasi We can probably safely eliminate Lessie and Lady Ostlin. The later, just married to a man and the former was as good as married to Wax. Lady Cett and Miss Grimes are seemingly too minor of characters to warrant much back story. Steris or Marasi are the obvious candidates. I didn't see much supporting evidence either way in the narrative though. Really the only thing that stood out to me was Steris was very visibly upset about her "cousin" that was taken hostage (Armal). Her father and her other "cousin" Marasi barely reacted to it. Lets hear any ideas, speculation, or observations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstRainbowRose she/her Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 I won't spoil the fun of guessing who it is, but I will say it's not obvious. So not obvious in fact that you could read her as a straight character if you are not open to such orientations. (Such as I'm sure some of my family would be.) Also, it's Mi'chelle, not Mic'helle. Think beatles songs. *nods* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad_Scientist he/him Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 (edited) Hmm. I'd say it's highly unlikely to be Steris, given her comments regarding coachmen in chapter 2. She seems like the type of person who is very blunt and honest, at least in her dealings with those close to her. I could see her easily agreeing to a marriage for political and financial reasons even if she was a lesbian, but I couldn't see her hiding the fact that she was a lesbian or making up things about dalliances with coachmen. I think that when Wayne asked her if she planned to take a mistress, she would have answered honestly. I could be wrong though, I suppose. EDIT: Oh, and I see this is your first post, so welcome to 17th Shard! Edited August 25, 2011 by Mad_Scientist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterAhlstrom he/him Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 The character who it is doesn't appear in the preview chapters. So what Mi'chelle says above is a bit confusing. Personally, I found it to be fairly obvious, if only due to the law of minimal characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marris Posted August 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 Also, it's Mi'chelle, not Mic'helle. Think beatles songs. *nods* Curses, put the hyphen in the wrong spot! EDIT: Oh, and I see this is your first post, so welcome to 17th Shard! Thanks The character who it is doesn't appear in the preview chapters. So what Mi'chelle says above is a bit confusing. Personally, I found it to be fairly obvious, if only due to the law of minimal characters. Well, at least the person not appearing in the preview chapters means we'll have more awesome characters to read about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos he/him Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 The character who it is doesn't appear in the preview chapters. So what Mi'chelle says above is a bit confusing. Personally, I found it to be fairly obvious, if only due to the law of minimal characters. I think Mi'ch enjoys being excessively cryptic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkthinker Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 The character who it is doesn't appear in the preview chapters. So what Mi'chelle says above is a bit confusing. Personally, I found it to be fairly obvious, if only due to the law of minimal characters. I actually didn't peg her as a lesbian, until this interview was mentioned. I mean, I can see it now, but I didn't think it was obvious if you didn't know to look for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiccupGreyjoy Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 It might be enough for certairn SF/F author to sharpen his pitchforks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyman he/him Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 I actually didn't peg her as a lesbian, until this interview was mentioned. I mean, I can see it now, but I didn't think it was obvious if you didn't know to look for it. I haven't read the book in any way, shape or form, but this seems to me the way it should be. After all, there are lots of contexts in which sexual orientation would not be remotely obvious, and if one of those is where the character shows up, it would seem rather artificial to insert it. I've had friends and colleagues at work that I've thought might be gay, but never seeing them in a context where it mattered or was likely to come up, I never bothered to confirm or deny it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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