Arts and Majesty
Arts and Majesty | |
---|---|
World of Origin | Roshar |
Universe | Cosmere |
Arts and Majesty is an ancient work of Rosharan literature that has come to define the Vorin ideas of masculine and feminine arts.[1] It defines certain topics and practices as feminine or masculine; the feminine arts are generally those that can be practiced with a single hand, while the masculine arts involve both hands, associating delicacy with women and brute force with men.[2] The idea of the safehand comes from this distinction between one-handed and two-handed arts.[1] In modern Vorin culture, practices that are not explicitly mentioned in the book (and are distinct from those that are included) may be properly performed by anybody.[3]
History
Arts and Majesty was written by a female artist[1][2] well before the Day of Recreance.[4] It may not have had much influence on culture before the Recreance; soon afterward, however, some men in power came across it and began emphasizing it to justify keeping Shardblades and Shardplate away from women.[5][6] As retaliation, a movement of women caused writing and literacy to move into the domain of women.[1]
The division between masculine and feminine arts became part of Vorin culture over the next few decades[4] and remained solidly in place thousands of years later, with the safehand and the femininity of writing being especially prominent in day-to-day life. Arts and Majesty itself also stayed well-known despite its age, at least among upper-class lighteyes.[3] In some cases, the distinction between the arts moved beyond a mere cultural norm and gained religious overtones; men who could write, for example, could actually be seen as blasphemous and not just strange.[7]
Arts
Unspecified
Feminine
- reading and writing[10]
- painting and drawing[11]
- science[10] (e.g., zoology, botany, and natural history[12])
- logic[10]
- playing musical instruments[9]
Masculine
Trivia
- The idea of the safehand and the division between one-handed and two-handed arts arose from Brandon's fascination with different taboos across real-life cultures.[5]
- LEGO building would probably be considered a feminine art; since it is difficult to do one-handed, though, it might end up being mostly done with two hands behind the scenes anyway.[19]
Notes
- ↑ a b c d Words of Radiance Seattle signing
— Arcanum - 2014-03-08# - ↑ a b Goodreads WoK Fantasy Book Club Q&A
— Arcanum - 2010-12-01# - ↑ a b c Words of Radiance chapter 25#
- ↑ a b Firefight Phoenix signing
— Arcanum - 2015-01-21# - ↑ a b Arcanum Unbounded Seattle signing
— Arcanum - 2016-12-01# - ↑ FanX Spring 2019
— Arcanum - 2019-04-19# - ↑ Words of Radiance chapter 12#
- ↑ Calamity Chicago signing
— Arcanum - 2016-02-22# - ↑ a b The Way of Kings chapter 57#
- ↑ a b c The Way of Kings chapter 3#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 5#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 7#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 26#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 28#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 39#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 65#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 31#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 8#
- ↑ General Reddit 2019
— Arcanum - 2019-10-11#