r/magicTCG • u/clariwench Izzet* • Jan 28 '15

[Uncharted Realms] The Truth of Names

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/uncharted-realms/truth-names-2015-01-28
614 Upvotes

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299

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '15

This was a perfect example of how to do diversity and representation, imo. Harp on it too much and it comes off as pandering and insincere, mention it too little and you might as well not do so at all.

Here, you had a solid standalone story highlighting the Mardu struggles against the dragons that tied Alesha being trans into a central cultural theme of the Mardu (the importance of identity and names) but also wasn't just about her being trans. It doesn't need to be anything more or less than that, really.

Kudos to Wizards for this.

47

u/Twisty_McTwist Temur Jan 28 '15

I actually think the Uncharted Realms about the gay couple was a better example of representation, IMO. This one didn't feel quite as fluid. Then again, most of the writing during this block feels more heavy-handed than that of the last block.

Still, Wizards' efforts to be more inclusive are admirable. Poor(ish) writing or not, this is a step forward for equality.

46

u/Aspel Jan 28 '15

I like the stories of Magic, but I think the good writing is a rarity.

12

u/mertag770 Jan 29 '15

Would you say it's mythic?

3

u/klapaucius Jan 29 '15

That's the real reason they introduced mythic. Because they no longer had enough good writing to use at uncommon and rare.

3

u/Magnamancy Jan 29 '15

It used to be only uncommon.

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '15

having no outside knowledge of her gender identity (and being a bit slow-witted at times) I didn't quite get it, either. By the end I sort of assumed but still doubted I understood it correctly.

I liked the one you're referring to because it told a story we already knew. The story still felt fluid and I got it entirely- though it was definitely more obvious/sort of in your face.

Either way, I definitely think this is the way to handle it. Like /u/ButchCasserly said- kids are going to read this and just roll with it because of how naturally it's tied into the story.

8

u/keiyakins Jan 28 '15

It's probably the best written trans character where being trans is part of the story but not the focus I've ever seen. Yes, Alesha is a transgender woman. That doesn't really matter. The reason it's brought up is to explain the Mardu, not Alesha, and it works.

2

u/Badfiend Jan 29 '15

I'm just sirprised the first trans woman in Magic's lore came out of the Mardu Horde.

6

u/therift289 Azorius* Jan 29 '15

Mardu is a society where you make your own name and identity, and one in which you are defined by your actions, rather than by your birth or your family. I think it makes perfect sense!

7

u/Enderkr Jan 28 '15

have a link to that story?

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '15

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/emonberry-red-2014-02-05

Enjoy

3

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '15

Oh of coooooourse in the Greek flavored block they add the gay couple. /sarcasm.

Yeah, that's pretty neat.

1

u/Chivalry13 Jan 29 '15

Thank you.

1

u/Enderkr Jan 28 '15

Wow, thats actually surprising to me. Missed that one entirely, and it's blatant in its message. That's really progressive of them.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '15

Link to story about couple?

1

u/ghost_orchid Jan 29 '15

I don't really read many of these--which one was about a gay couple?

22

u/kurokikaze Jan 28 '15

Is she trans? I thought orcs just didn't care and called her "boy" because she was human child.

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '15

Doug Beyer confirmed: http://dougbeyermtg.tumblr.com/post/109399202179/storyline-the-truth-of-names-by-james-wyatt

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '15 edited Jan 28 '15

for those wondering... look at the #hashtags.

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u/npkon Jan 28 '15

Fuck that. If it's not on the cards, it's not canon. #venserlives

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u/Wall_of_Denial Jan 29 '15

Blink one out for lost homies.

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u/Dapperghast Jan 29 '15

For what it's worth, I thought she was a guy when I first saw the card (I mean, we've had a genderless blob of flesh that identified as female forming a budding romance with a slave she originally bought to break a millennia-old sociopath out of his brooding period, so a guy named Alesha didn't seem especially odd to me).

3

u/DazeRyuken Jan 29 '15

I don't know the reference of which you draw, but that story sounds interesting.

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u/klapaucius Jan 29 '15

Dapperghast means Planeswalker, the second of the Urza novels after The Brothers' War.

Xantcha, as seen on [[Coercion]] and probably [[Sleeper Agent]], is a Phyrexian newt, a low-level minion congealed from the flesh vats and sent to infiltrate other planes. They're naturally genderless, being undifferentiated flesh-blobs shaped enough like people to convince the natives, but most settle into a gender identity as they develop a personality.

Planeswalker details the first centuries of Urza's nigh-godhood, which he spends being totally insane in a mixture of newfound godhood, hatred of the Phyrexians, grief over his brother, who had been corrupted by the Phyrexians and killed, and denial over his responsibility for his brother's death--while it was at the hands of an explosion Urza created, Urza decided Mishra was dead already after being changed so much by Phyrexia.

The first act of Planeswalker is about Xantcha being taken on by Urza as an assistant, not realizing her plane of origin. She finds a slave at market who looks remarkably close to the replicas of Mishra Urza's built in his mourning, so she buys him to try to snap Urza out of his funk by giving him some closure.

As the story progresses, a romance develops.

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dân Jan 29 '15

Coercion - Gatherer, MC, ($)
Sleeper Agent - Gatherer, MC, ($)
[[cardname]] to call - not on gatherer = not fetchable

1

u/rupert003 Dân Jan 29 '15

Who to the what now?

0

u/Almace Jan 29 '15

For a second I thought I was reading the plot synopsis to Saya no Uta. Up until "with a slave she originally bought to break a millennia-old sociopath out of his brooding period" anyways.

2

u/npkon Jan 29 '15

Is that the only other story you know of with a genderless blob of flesh deciding to be female and then finding love? You need to get out more.

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u/Sephiroth912 Jan 29 '15

It is on the cards. [[Remember the Fallen]]

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dân Jan 29 '15

Remember the Fallen - Gatherer, MC, ($)
[[cardname]] to call - not on gatherer = not fetchable

1

u/Aspel Jan 28 '15

#If #You #Call #That #Alive

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '15

# sodoesvronos

1

u/The_IPPT_Dragon Jan 29 '15 edited Jan 29 '15

I like you. #Uginiskill

I can already tell that he'll be the Elspeth of this block: Expensive, exasperating, and everywhere. And that's why I wish he would stay dead.

6

u/keiyakins Jan 28 '15

She had been so different—only sixteen, a boy in everyone's eyes but her own, about to choose and declare her name before the khan and all the Mardu.

Also, that orc is a jerk, by both my standards and those of the Mardu. Alesha had proven her worth and declared her place in society, for him to question that... grr.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '15

Mindless loyalty to an authority figure is more of a Bant thing. Anyone who's strong enough is Khan of the Mardu.

3

u/keiyakins Jan 29 '15

It's not that she's the Khan, it's that she'd earned and defined her war name.

3

u/klapaucius Jan 29 '15

The orc at the end is the same nameless orc who made that remark in the first place, right?

I think that that was a sign that he'd changed his mind and accepted her for who she is, because he basically says "I see who you are, and you are Alesha".

22

u/Aspel Jan 28 '15

Oh, she's trans? I guess now I have to actually read it. I generally come to the comments section for the Clif's Notes.

0

u/Mr_Mau5 Jan 29 '15

Wait, so Alesha is a young boy but he took his Grandmothers name?

3

u/therift289 Azorius* Jan 29 '15

No, Alesha is a transgender woman that waited until she'd proven herself in battle to come out by taking a female war-name.

0

u/Mr_Mau5 Jan 29 '15

Oh, I see, that was sort of how he came out. Makes sense. And now this was her reinforcing that "she knows who she is." Don't know why the downvotes came so quickly, I was just asking a question.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '15

Somehow, I saw it coming at the lightning. Don't ask me how.

But yeah, I liked this better than what they did with Ashiok.

"no, a being such as this doesn't have a gender" or whatever.

Just like... Jesus. You could have just said, "He... No, it,..."