I’ve
covered a lot of different topics relating to women and war, but today I’d like
to talk about a book series that got me started down the path that I’m on
today. My grade school friends (whom I’m fortunate to still count among my
friends, they currently study at Truman University) got me started on Tamora Pierce when I was fairly young. As in, young enough that I didn’t understand
that the books included a sexual coming of age as well and had to get
clarification as to what “making love” meant and why that had anything to do
with the girl going into the boy’s room at night. Ah, the good old days. Anyway
(I realized I really have a problem using that word to get back on track when I
unwittingly used it 3-4 times in one discussion in a novel I was writing and
had to turn it into a joke), the majority (I won’t say all because to be
perfectly honest, I haven’t read some of her newer work) of her books take
place in a fictional world called Tortall that is similar to our own medieval (I
will never spell that word right the first time. Or the fourth.) times. That
was a long sentence, wow. There are four series that I’m going to discuss in
this, those following Alanna, Daine, Keladry, and Alianne. Fun side story, in
middle school my best friends and I dressed up as them. I was Kel. We were
dedicated fans. I’d include a picture, but I don’t want to embarrass myself.
Unfortunately, my bookshelf did not look like this as a child. But my best friend's did.
The
Song of the Lioness quartet follows Alanna, a girl who wanted to be a knight
during a time when knights were only boys. The first book lays all the
groundwork to a universe that becomes amazingly detailed through the novels.
Girls are expected to be wives, competent noblewomen. Fortunately for Alanna,
she has a twin brother who wants to be a mage, so they trade places. Alanna
disguises herself as a boy to become a knight, and her brother goes to learn
magic. By time Alanna is revealed to be a girl (first to her friends, then eventually
everyone), she has already proven herself. She is never dismissed as the madwoman
that comes often in literature’s cautionary tales. The series ends with Alanna’s
acceptance of a marriage proposal. As is shown in later novels, she never
becomes the typical noblewoman, but remains a knight for her close friend the
King.
Daine
(who I’ve always called Diane in my head) is the star of The Immortals quartet. She was my hero coming out of a child when I
played puppies instead of babies (no judgment, okay?) as her special brand of
magic allowed her to communicate with animals and eventually even shape-shift
into animals. Her magic is a type that many people dismissed early in the
series, branding her with the insanity plea often given to those who are
different in early times. Her unique magic allows her to do all kinds of crazy
things that most women can’t, giving her special opportunities such as
traveling with a group of delegates to foreign countries (Emperor Mage, the book I checked out about a hundred times because
it was the only one of that series my library ever had). While Daine was in
battles, she had a different method of warfare than most stereotypical fighting
women, using the animals in the surrounding world to help them or hinder the
enemy. My friends and I played dollhouse enacting one of those final battles
when we were babysitting once. Man, I’m having all kinds of good long-forgotten
memories resurface writing this.
Wow, go Tumblr. That looks legit.
Daine
was my favorite for years, but Keladry stole the show when I read the Protector of the Small quartet. After
Alanna, a law was passed allowing women to be knights. But while it is
mentioned that the king’s daughters wanted to be knights, no women followed in
Alanna’s footsteps for years (the king wouldn’t allow his daughters). Kel was
the first woman after Alanna, and the first woman not in disguise, to become a
knight. She faced all the same trails that Alanna and every male knight faced,
only she did it while getting mercilessly teased and pressured harder by many
around her who thought that Alanna was just a fluke. She did it all, though,
and became a female knight, inspiring many others to do the same. It’s worth
noting that Kel is the only one of the four that I’m discussing here who did
not end up with a man at the end of her series. While she had romantic trysts
(and the end of Lady Knight suggests
that there is a special someone out there), her story didn’t have the happily
ever after ending that the others did, and it wasn’t necessary. Kel didn’t need
a man. She came into her own, ending up exactly where she wanted: as a knight,
respected for who she was and not just looked down on for her sex. Although,
arguments between my friends and I ensued over who was better for her, Dom or
Cleon. (If you went with Dom, you, my friend, are correct.)
I must have read this book a hundred times.
The
final duology (which is apparently a word, thanks Wikipedia) that I mentioned
earlier centers around Aliane, Alanna’s daughter. The point is made early on
that Aly is vastly different from her mother and doesn’t get along well with
her parents. Unlike the other characters, she doesn’t engage in direct warfare,
but is a spy much like her father. Her gender never really plays a huge role in
the story, as she has many of the same freedoms as the men around her.
It really bothers me that those don't line up.
Pierce
also has written Provost’s Dog, set
200 years before the Song of the Lioness
series, about a girl training to become part of the equivalent of Tortall’s
police force. Even 200 years before Alanna had to disguise herself as a boy to
become a knight, women wanted to do the same jobs as men. The Circle of Magic series is set in this
universe as well, though in a different country, about a quartet of young mages
with magic different than most.
Yeah, that's from deviantart. That looks super legit.
I'd love to give credit, but can't find the source... It's just a dead lead to deviantart.
The
fun thing for me was that I was born at the right time. The books seemed to
grow up with me. By the time Will of theEmpress (the conclusion book to the Circle
of Magic series) came out, I was old enough to appreciate the deeper themes
present that hadn’t been there from the start. Tamora Pierce’s books are wildly
popular, all about women stepping outside their “place in society” to work and
fight alongside men.
That
leads me back to the question that I started the blog with: Why? Why, even as a
young girl, were these themes so powerful? In a time where men and women have a
lot of equality, why are these women fighting as men so compelling?
Until next time.
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