Why, part two
May. 16th, 2007 11:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kippurbirdMwahaha... I remembered what else I wanted to say in the "Why" essay.
Culture! Culture is a big, big thing that needs Why asked a lot. First there are things that are transplanted from our cultures that must be examined. Cultural biases are one of those things. Why does a group of people do or believe the things that you do? For example slavery is bad in our culture, but why does it have to be bad in another world? They could have different rules for it. In Judaism, back when slavery was legal or a normal thing, a person could only be kept as a slave for seven years. Once those seven years were up, they were set free. This is something that could be transplanted into another world's culture. Slavery in most fantasy worlds is generally considered a bad thing because it is in our world. But this is only a recent development, now that we've had both the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution that allowed people to get more work done with less effort. Most fantasy worlds aren't in a place that would allow labor to be that free. They need the crops planted and harvested. They can have serfs do it, but they were practically slaves tied to the land. So, if slavery is going to be "bad" in a fantasy world, the people who believe this better have a better economic way of getting things done. This isn't to say that slavery that treats its slaves poorly has to be tolerated, this could be something that the protagonist stands against, but the actual institution of slavery could be kept intact.
Another thing to think about is culture for culture's sake. What do I mean by this? Well it's when you give a culture a unique feature just to make it stand out. Robert Jordan does this a lot in his Wheel of Time books. The people of Altara are an example of this. One of their identifying characteristics is that they often have duels over the most trivial matters and that a woman has the right to kill a man over any sort of reason. This culture should be a completely lawless place, after all people are supposed to be killing each other over any sort of insult. Theoretically they could duel the Queen if they felt insulted by something she did. Or one of the guards. How can you have order where there is no rules for duels and they can happen at any sort of place for any sort of reason? There is no place in such a society for a judicial component because everyone takes the law into their own hands. There isn't a way for someone to prove that they are right or wrong, just who ever wins the duel is right. So the question is why would Robert Jordan put in such an unsustainable culture? Because he wanted something different than all the other cultures that he had created. He wanted something that would make this city - this land- stick out from all the other lands and cultures that he created. However he forgot to ask why would a culture do this? Why is this culture even still around when they should have killed themselves off a long time ago? Such rules of dueling is better suited to a barbaric civilization than one within a city or the trappings of advanced society. In an effort to make the culture unique he forgot to logically look at the consequences of such a culture. We don't even know why this idea even started in this culture. It just is. Which is never, as stated before, a good reason.
Culture needs to grow organically from the beliefs and needs of the people living in it. In a society that has a high magic population, magic would be important and they would have a lot of things that regard magic, but it may be considered an every day thing since everyone could do it. Another culture that depends on a certain thing such as sheep to make their livelihood would have sheep as an important part of their culture. A good example of this from Robert Jordan (he of the many different cultures) is the Aeil. They live in the desert where there is very little water, so they consider water to be sacred. A good part of their culture is derived around water and the finding of it. They have water oaths that are considered to be the most important of all oaths. Things like this work to make a good culture. Why do the Aiel consider water sacred? Because they live in a desert where it is scarce.
If you can answer such a question, then you know that you're doing something right. Another question, however, that could be applied to the Aiel that wouldn't make as much sense is why is having the women wear their hair in braids considered something only children do? The answer to this is because the women of Two Rivers consider it something that an adult can only do and Jordan wanted to have a cultural conflict. That doesn't make any sense. There is no reason here for the hair to be up or down. In regards to hair, for another cultural example, in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, women in the Midlands use hair to denote status. The longer a woman's hair is, the more important. The reasoning for this is that a noble woman would have more time to devote to taking care of her hair than a commoner. This isn't the best of reasons, but it can and does sort of make sense. At least it makes more sense than the Aeil/Two Rivers reason.
As long as "Why" is capable of being answered with a reasonable explanation for the differences in beliefs or the customs of a world, for character motivations and for other things that make a world different from all other worlds, then things are on the right track. It means that things in the world makes sense or have a reason for being there even if it isn't obvious to the characters that live there.
Culture! Culture is a big, big thing that needs Why asked a lot. First there are things that are transplanted from our cultures that must be examined. Cultural biases are one of those things. Why does a group of people do or believe the things that you do? For example slavery is bad in our culture, but why does it have to be bad in another world? They could have different rules for it. In Judaism, back when slavery was legal or a normal thing, a person could only be kept as a slave for seven years. Once those seven years were up, they were set free. This is something that could be transplanted into another world's culture. Slavery in most fantasy worlds is generally considered a bad thing because it is in our world. But this is only a recent development, now that we've had both the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution that allowed people to get more work done with less effort. Most fantasy worlds aren't in a place that would allow labor to be that free. They need the crops planted and harvested. They can have serfs do it, but they were practically slaves tied to the land. So, if slavery is going to be "bad" in a fantasy world, the people who believe this better have a better economic way of getting things done. This isn't to say that slavery that treats its slaves poorly has to be tolerated, this could be something that the protagonist stands against, but the actual institution of slavery could be kept intact.
Another thing to think about is culture for culture's sake. What do I mean by this? Well it's when you give a culture a unique feature just to make it stand out. Robert Jordan does this a lot in his Wheel of Time books. The people of Altara are an example of this. One of their identifying characteristics is that they often have duels over the most trivial matters and that a woman has the right to kill a man over any sort of reason. This culture should be a completely lawless place, after all people are supposed to be killing each other over any sort of insult. Theoretically they could duel the Queen if they felt insulted by something she did. Or one of the guards. How can you have order where there is no rules for duels and they can happen at any sort of place for any sort of reason? There is no place in such a society for a judicial component because everyone takes the law into their own hands. There isn't a way for someone to prove that they are right or wrong, just who ever wins the duel is right. So the question is why would Robert Jordan put in such an unsustainable culture? Because he wanted something different than all the other cultures that he had created. He wanted something that would make this city - this land- stick out from all the other lands and cultures that he created. However he forgot to ask why would a culture do this? Why is this culture even still around when they should have killed themselves off a long time ago? Such rules of dueling is better suited to a barbaric civilization than one within a city or the trappings of advanced society. In an effort to make the culture unique he forgot to logically look at the consequences of such a culture. We don't even know why this idea even started in this culture. It just is. Which is never, as stated before, a good reason.
Culture needs to grow organically from the beliefs and needs of the people living in it. In a society that has a high magic population, magic would be important and they would have a lot of things that regard magic, but it may be considered an every day thing since everyone could do it. Another culture that depends on a certain thing such as sheep to make their livelihood would have sheep as an important part of their culture. A good example of this from Robert Jordan (he of the many different cultures) is the Aeil. They live in the desert where there is very little water, so they consider water to be sacred. A good part of their culture is derived around water and the finding of it. They have water oaths that are considered to be the most important of all oaths. Things like this work to make a good culture. Why do the Aiel consider water sacred? Because they live in a desert where it is scarce.
If you can answer such a question, then you know that you're doing something right. Another question, however, that could be applied to the Aiel that wouldn't make as much sense is why is having the women wear their hair in braids considered something only children do? The answer to this is because the women of Two Rivers consider it something that an adult can only do and Jordan wanted to have a cultural conflict. That doesn't make any sense. There is no reason here for the hair to be up or down. In regards to hair, for another cultural example, in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, women in the Midlands use hair to denote status. The longer a woman's hair is, the more important. The reasoning for this is that a noble woman would have more time to devote to taking care of her hair than a commoner. This isn't the best of reasons, but it can and does sort of make sense. At least it makes more sense than the Aeil/Two Rivers reason.
As long as "Why" is capable of being answered with a reasonable explanation for the differences in beliefs or the customs of a world, for character motivations and for other things that make a world different from all other worlds, then things are on the right track. It means that things in the world makes sense or have a reason for being there even if it isn't obvious to the characters that live there.
