Gender in Tamrielic Faith: Prelude to ALMSIVI

Good day.

Last month I got a lot of great feedback from many of you on my feminist series, "Femininity in Tamrielic Faith" where I discussed the Nordic versions of Mara, Kyne, and Dibella as analyzed in Shor son of Shor and taken beyond.

I was later inspired partway through to do a series on ALMSIVI and their respective Anticipations (Boethiah, Azura and Mephala). But I was struck with a conundrum. It was easy to stick to the feminine when reading Shor son of Shor, because the masculine and feminine spheres and characters were very clearly and traditionally delineated.

This is a bigger challenge when it comes to ALMSIVI, because theirs is not a story of manhood and womanhood, but a story of their blending, the mixing and fuzzing of the traditional spheres. I had no choice but to expand the topic slightly to encompass gender in general.

I will still use the feminist lens mostly, because there is a huge amount of overlap between feminist issues and broader issues of gender and identity, but you may see more discussion of masculine aspects than what I have done before.

Those essays will likely be a bit longer than the Nordic ones, as I will be discussing two core personalities instead of one per post. I am going to try to be as focused and concise as possible, so I am telling you now, these are not going to be comprehensive analyses of the personalities. If you think I am missing some aspect, it's because for the sake of brevity I am deliberately ignoring it. But I am more than happy to discuss the parts I missed in the comments, and that is how I got inspired to do this series, so I welcome such inspiration.

I will also be relying on several primary sources, such as The 36 Lessons of Vivec, C0DA, the various Red Mountain accounts available at TIL, and various pieces of art I have seen on the subjects on reddit and while creeping the artists online for their portrayals of the characters and their settings. This may mean longer between posts, and/or simply less in-depth analysis of each source.

Kyne, Mara and Dibella tell one side of the story of the feminine mystique. ALMSIVI and their Anticipations add another dimension to this discussion and also tell a broader story about identity and sexuality, which despite being extremely complex, is more accessible to a broader population, as it includes more non-heteronormative and non-traditional portrayals.

The series will begin with Almalexia and Boethiah, followed by Sotha Sil and Azura, and finally the infamous Vivec and Mephala, all with a smattering of Nerevar(ine/s).

The ultimate goal is to better understand the imagery surrounding the characters, which can hopefully shed some light on their behaviours and social contexts. I am excited to see how my perceptions of them change as I explore their motives and actions in context.

I will see you all soon, and welcome any suggestions you have now for the series or sources you think I should also be looking at.