{"id":42037,"date":"2024-03-21T06:30:44","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T17:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=42037"},"modified":"2024-03-20T20:58:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T07:58:17","slug":"qa-thursdays-17-janes-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2024\/03\/21\/qa-thursdays-17-janes-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A Thursdays #17: Jane’s Question"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some time now, I\u2019ve been reprising a Daughter of Blood<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (and by extension The Wall Of Night<\/strong><\/a>) Q&A series that featured in 2019. As noted in the most recent instalment on January 18<\/a>, we are nearing the end — but I aim to enjoy it while it lasts. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

Today I’m refeaturing Jane’s Question, which is about the female characters’ exercise of “hard” and “soft” power. I thought it was an interesting question and one that remains very relevant. And would have been awesome on March 8, International Women’s Day, if only I had thought about it at the time!<\/p>\n

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UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n

Jane: <\/strong>In Game Of Thrones<\/em>, people talked about Daenerys having \u201chard power\u201d and Sansa \u201csoft power.\u201d Would you say that\u2019s the difference between Malian and Myr in Daughter of Blood<\/em>?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Helen: <\/strong>I have read some of those discussions, enough to understand the context anyway, including that Daenerys \u201chard power\u201d is because she commands armies and dragons in her own right and also claims the Iron Throne by right as the Targaryen heir. Whereas Sansa\u2019s \u201csoft power\u201d is said to be because she works through and with others, and is awarded her command and status, chiefly by more powerful men. (I hope I\u2019ve gotten that right from the discussions, because I haven\u2019t watched the TV series, only read the books (to date.)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

With that context established,\u00a0 I think there may be some overlaps with Malian and Myr but it\u2019s not absolutely clearcut. I also think that while \u201chard power\u201d and \u201csoft power\u201d may be good summary phrases for each, it\u2019s not for the same reasons as in<\/em> Game Of Thrones (GoT.)<\/span><\/p>\n

So if we take Malian, she definitely has magical power of her own in spades, which gets used in a \u201chard power\u201d way. She\u2019s also the chosen champion and the Heir (crown prince\/princess) of Night, so makes a claim to leadership of the Derai on both those grounds. Her \u201chard power\u201d also includes learning the assassin\u2019s arts through the Shadow Band of Ar. Plus she wields the chosen champion\u2019s weapons of power, which are another aspect of hard power. BUT although Malian may make a claim to lead the Derai, she\u2019s still an exile so doesn\u2019t lead anyone yet. And although she\u2019s made a strategic military alliance, the army that\u2019s brought her isn\u2019t actually hers. So the power she has comes from her personal magical strength, including the personal weapons of power, but not directly from commanding armies. (Alas, too, she has no dragons!)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On to Myr, who is definitely the \u201csofter\u201d character, in personality as well as power. She has no magical powers and isn\u2019t interested in weapons and fighting although she\u2019s been taught both. In terms of standing in her society, she\u2019s a disregarded youngest daughter, albeit of a ruling house \u2014 ALTHOUGH she does claim a leadership role as Daughter of Blood during the siege, which is hers by right. She has to remind others present of that fact, but it\u2019s not the same as them giving her the rights. Overall, though, her power in the story stems from personal integrity and moral suasion, a far \u201csofter\u201d power than Malian wields. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I think, in the best Elven fashion from<\/em> The Lord of the Rings, I have now said both \u201cyes\u201d and \u201cno\u201d\u2014which is a different thing entirely from a Kiwi \u201cYeahNah\u201d, which is really just \u201cNah.\u201d Whereas I think in this case it\u2019s a \u201cYes\u201d, overall, but not quite in the Daenerys\/Sansa mould.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"daughter-of-blood-by-helen-lowe\"

USA<\/p><\/div>\n

Previous Thursday Q&A Refeatures:<\/h3>\n

2022:<\/strong><\/em>
\nMarch 31 \u2014 #1 Phoebe\u2019s Question on Book Planning<\/a><\/p>\n

April 21 \u2014 #2 Sam\u2019s Question on Deleted Scenes<\/a><\/p>\n

April 28 \u2014 #3 Sandy\u2019s Question on Characters That Take Charge<\/a><\/p>\n

May 19 \u2014 #4 Lindsay\u2019s Question on Research<\/a><\/p>\n

June 23 \u2014 #5 Chris\u2019s Question on Tirael & \u201cWhat Would Have Happened If\u2026\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

June 30 \u2014 #6 Rosie\u2019s Question on the Web of Mayanne<\/a><\/p>\n

September 8 \u2014 #7 Jason\u2019s Question on Weapons & Names<\/a><\/p>\n

October 6 \u2014 #8 Robin\u2019s Question on Tuckerization Characters<\/a><\/p>\n

November 24 \u2014 #9 Josh\u2019s Question on Whether I Have A Favourite Moment in Daughter of Blood<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

December 15 \u2014 #10 Shannon\u2019s Question re Sections or Characters that were Hard to Write<\/a><\/p>\n

2023
\n<\/strong><\/em>March 30 \u2014 #11 Jenny\u2019s Question re Inspiration and Keeping Going<\/a><\/p>\n

May 18 \u2014 #12 Tom\u2019s Question re Food and Feasts<\/a><\/p>\n

June 15 \u2014 #13 Ashley\u2019s Question on Writing Through the Christchurch Earthquakes<\/a><\/p>\n

August 10 \u2014 #14 Bethany\u2019s Question On A Villain<\/a><\/p>\n

September 28 \u2014 #15 Andrew\u2019s Question on Black Blades<\/a><\/p>\n

2024<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

January 18 \u2014 #16 Forrest’s Question on Research<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some time now, I\u2019ve been reprising a Daughter of Blood (and by extension The Wall Of Night) Q&A series that featured in 2019. As noted in the most recent instalment on January 18, we are nearing the end — but I aim to enjoy it while it lasts. \ud83d\ude00 Today I’m refeaturing Jane’s Question, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,50,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-my-books","category-about-writing","category-funstuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42037"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42040,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42037\/revisions\/42040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}