I’ve never quite understood the criticism for Mistborn that Vin is a “not like other girls” girl.
When literally her entire character arc is that she eventually learns that she can embrace her femininity in her own way and that it’s okay to be “like other girls” when she wants to be.
Even if she starts out a “not like other girls” girl (which I don’t really think she qualifies as in the first place), that’s the whole point.
I think Brandon Sanderson did an excellent job of dealing with the struggle that a lot of women face. Do I take on “masculine” traits because that is what gets me the outcome I desire? Do I embrace my femininity even if it earns me the scorn of my peers? Can I do both? Can I be a feminine woman who also is a leader?
Vin grapples with these questions through the whole series. That final ball scene in Hero of Ages was her really understanding that she is perfectly okay with being the warrior who also likes balls and dresses and that she doesn’t need to be one or the other to be herself.
Idk about the rest of you but I think that is a MASSIVELY important message for women to read.
So whenever I run across a BookTok girl talking about how they only read Mistborn and didn’t like how Vin was written I can’t help but think that by not finishing the series you didn’t understand that that was the whole point. It is unfair to judge how Vin fits into a feminist lens if you only read The Final Empire.
Her arc across the three books is SO important to me and it just doesn’t at all fit the typical “not like other girls” character.
"They would reach out to me if they really cared-" Well if that's the logic we're using, then what are you expecting them to conclude about your level of interest and investment if you never text first yourself? Maintaining a relationship is supposed to be a team effort. You also gotta prove that YOU care about THEM on occasion, because I promise you they got their insecurities too
my friends and I were trying to do the honor mode of Baldur's Gate 3 and it was going kind of well, and we made it to the underdark without any toooo close shaves.
and then we did grymforge.
and I had this feeling that this might be it...and it was.
Grym is SO much worse on Honor Mode. His greatest weakness in all the other modes is that he's really slow, and you can wrangle him onto the area where the hammer comes down, and you can kill him with a few hits.
But in Honor Mode?
He has a legendary new move that not only lets him use a THUNDERWAVE attack for like, up to 32 damage, and also possibly KNOCKING YOU INTO LAVA.
but it also LETS HIM MOVE TWICE AS FAST.
so there is no wrangling him. he can just sprint at your ass.
We did our best, but he's too fast, he can use that bullshit quake move of his, and hit everyone at once.
I am mourning all the last hours we put into that run...but it was over before it even began.
*sighing*
But I'm obsessed, guys.
I want to beat Honor Mode so badly. I need to.
I'm going to keep trying, even when my friends have given up...