Dragonstone 25

**Chapter 25**

And now Samurai Chick tells her sad story about her sad past and it's sad.

She was Mulan. End story.

Okay, in *slightly* more detail, her father was a big-shot Armsmaster who wanted a son but only had inferior, non-penis-bearing offspring. He trained her to fight with a wide variety of weapons, including *“shiruken.”* I wonder if McKiernan meant “shuriken.” I also wonder why *“shiruken”* is not italicized when every other Japanese word is. \~/

So Samurai Chick joined the army at age 16, keeping her face covered with a mask, which was the custom so rookie soldiers wouldn't dishonor their families if they failed to distinguish themselves. Surprise surprise, Samurai Chick was eight different flavors of awesome, but she refused to reveal her face. She was eventually *“named”* to the Order of the Red Tiger, and her liege, Lord Yodama, was surprised that she refused to reveal her face even then. There's also reference to the *“historical past,”* which is redundant and means the same thing. \~/

This honor requires Samurai Chick to get a red tiger tattooed on her chest, but conveniently enough, the tattoo artist is a *“witch”* who is *“ancient,”* and who tattoos Samurai Chick's chest and does not reveal her secret. Girl power, I guess.

More battles, more of Samurai Chick being the deadliest thing on two legs, more *“no mercy was shown,”* because that's always a positive and heroic trait. Yodama is killed, and his son Yoranaga – you're a naga? – insists on seeing Samurai Chick's face. This reveals her scandalous lack of a Y chromosome, so her father is disgraced and stripped of his title, and she herself is banished from Not-Japan.

Back in the present – no, wait; back in Flashback One – Samurai Chick is ashamed and so on. Arin comforts her, saying *“'Twas but an outmoded custom thou didst break.”*

One of the Generic Elves – the female one – chimes in with *“Aye. A custom we Elves abandoned long past. If females bearing arms and engaging in combat is dishonorable, than nearly half of all Elves are so disgraced. Here's to the sisterhood of such dishonor – long may we reign!”*

All the other Generic Elves congratulate each other, although Samurai Chick does not react, and the chapter ends.

Well.

Let's talk about cultural differences, shall we?

First off, I'm a product of 20th century America, and a liberal by choice. I see no problem with women learning to fight, any more than I do with men choosing more domestic lifestyles. I do, however, see a problem with completely dismissing someone else's values because they're from another culture. In Samurai Chick's culture, women don't fight. It may not be right in the absolute, moral sense, but there it is. Arin comforting her is well and good, but nothing we've seen suggests that Samurai Chick herself is hostile to her birth culture, or enjoys seeing it mocked.

And that's exactly what the Generic Elves are doing: they're mocking and dismissing Not-Japanese culture as *“outmoded”* and wrong, while congratulating themselves on being progressive and superior. This sort of behavior is grating at the best of times, and makes the elves seem to be a superior Sue Species, whose culture is inherently better than that of we smelly, backward humans. The fact that this is clearly McKiernan's intention does not actually make it any better.

So that's a couple of drinks. \~/\~/

Drinks: 4

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