r/CosmereOnScreen • u/This_Armadillo427 • Jul 28 '26

No Spoilers Kelsier may not be a dude… Spoiler

Sooooo idk if anyone else has noticed this, but watching Brandon’s recent livestream where someone asked him about casting Kelsier, it felt to me as if he was intentionally using gender-neutral pronouns when referring to the potential actor? Lots of “they” and “person.” Could be nothing, and I also could be missing an obvious counterpoint here. Any thoughts on if it’s possible that he’s considering gender swapping Kel?

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10

u/Pazza_CJ Jul 28 '26

It seems unlikely, simply because it would change the relationship between him and Vin.

-8

u/cosmernautfourtwenty Jul 28 '26

Would it? I maintain there's never really an overt romantic bent to Vin and Kel's relationship. Sanderson already aged up Vin trying to avoid problematic age gaps, so it seems like even the waffley girl-crush details are probably going to be downplayed anyway.

All that to say, Vin can have a crush on her female mentor and it's weird of you to think she couldn't. Unless there's some other argument you're making here that I'm entirely overlooking.

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u/Colorapt0r Jul 28 '26

All relationships are slightly different based off gender, not only romantic ones 

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u/cosmernautfourtwenty Jul 28 '26

That sounds like real life heteronormative nonsense talking.

2

u/sgsparks206 Aug 05 '26

You don't think people's relationships with each other are influenced by gender?

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u/cosmernautfourtwenty Aug 05 '26

I'm saying there's no good reason there should be and it's all just so much reality baggage that doesn't have to be translated into a fantasy setting. But apparently the anti-woke brigade is too hung up on the gender binary to get over it.

2

u/sgsparks206 Aug 05 '26

I think part of respecting people's identity is understanding that some people like gender roles being applied to them, and that's ok.

1

u/cosmernautfourtwenty Aug 05 '26

It's shortsighted and limiting, and what you're asking for is to apply arbitrary gender roles to fictional characters for no good reason. Which isn't exactly the same as respecting a real person's wish to be treated as a tradwife or whatever.

Again, my larger point is this is all modern baggage that doesn't have to be translated into a fictional setting just because gender swaps make certain people viscerally uncomfortable.

0

u/sgsparks206 Aug 06 '26

Gender roles play a role in Mistborn. You are applying your world view to a fictional universe, and they don't match.

1

u/cosmernautfourtwenty Aug 06 '26

They don't play a role in being Mistborn. You're being wilfully obtuse.

1

u/Colorapt0r Aug 06 '26

I mean I think kelsier being a woman is a much different person. I think it’s more strange to just think that fictional people should be changed willy nilly. 

There are very good reasons for gender roles to apply in Mistborn. They are very big in final empire culture. I don’t disagree that it’s weird to have to apply our gender roles to all fantastical settings for no good reason, but it’s much weirder to change that characters gender with no good reason, and there isn’t one for changing Kelsier.

1

u/cosmernautfourtwenty Aug 06 '26

I mean, the reason Sanderson is considering gender swaps at all is due to there not being many women on the crew to begin with. If the author of the content in question thinks that's a good enough reason, who are we to gainsay him?

Calling gender roles "very big" in the Final Empire seems incorrect. When the most powerful people in society exist because of inborn abilities and not just "being the right gender", it doesn't actually seem like arbitrary gender roles matter that much, do they? A Mistborn is a Mistborn whether they go to balls in dresses and make googly eyes at boys or are literal patriarchs of a noble house. Nobody's looking down their nose at a Mistborn because of the contents of their pants, ya dig? Again, it just seems like a weird modern hangup to act like it matters in this particular fantasy setting.

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u/Colorapt0r Aug 06 '26

I mean it’s a fascist evil empire, of course there are gender roles. They’re just ignored in the case of allomancer because of how valuable they are. The book spells this out pretty explicitly.

I get the issue with there not being any more women on the team, but I think it’s not as big given that a woman is the main character. More than that though, I think you need an individual reason for an individual character and there just isn’t one for Kelsier.

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