Opinions wanted: hair color genetics in Southeast Asia

[lisefrac]

I recently had one of the pals I made through Pitch Wars (@VlosAri, another writer of adult fantasy) reading Gods and Fathers. She had things to say about something I'd never thought too much about before--Serevic's hair color

Comments

[sovay]

What would be a rare-ish genetic variation you might find in Southeast Asians (or Central Asians, possibly?) that would make someone stand out?

I was going to suggest red hair, but that only works if your protagonist is Central Asian. Could you do something with hair texture-he's still dark-haired, but it's wildly curly or kinky where nearly everyone around him is straight-haired?

[lisefrac]

That's an option I'm considering. He's sometimes described as having a "halo" of hair, which certainly suggests a curlier or more unruly hair than the very straight black hair I'm thinking of.

[sovay]

He's sometimes described as having a "halo" of hair, which certainly suggests a curlier or more unruly hair than the very straight black hair I'm thinking of.

It would distinguish him visually and it would avoid the problem of accidentally coding his "unusual" looks as white default.

What kind of god has he got riding him?

[lisefrac]

What kind of god has he got riding him?

That's rather the crux of the book! Ruksha, the god in Serevic's head, is revered in his province as the god of language, poetry, and beasts. The other provinces see him... less positively, calling him a demon. They're both right, and wrong. Gods are complex, and contain multiples.

[lisefrac]

Also, coming back to the Central Asian thing... I mentioned that because I think of the Venimari as being Mongol-like. (Although the blond hair aspect really isn't).

Wasn't Genghis Khan supposed to have been red-haired? And in the short story about Serevic's mom, who was a Venimari chieftain, I do make Genghis Khan references (she's called Flintcatcher because in legend she was born clutching an arrowhead that was meant to kill her, very much a reference to the "born clutching a giant blood clot" myth about Genghis Khan). So that's something to consider...

Of course, damn you, Pat Rothfuss, now I can't think of red-haired protagonists without thinking of Kvothe and his ultimate Gary Stu-ness.

[sovay]

I mentioned that because I think of the Venimari as being Mongol-like. (Although the blond hair aspect really isn't).

There are light-haired and light-eyed Mongols (I believe it's attributed to historical intermarriage with ethnic groups like the Kyrgyz, but I'd double-check that detail before using it as the basis for anything). So Serevic's mother could very well have fair hair while still being future-ethnically Central Asian. I just agree with your beta-reader that making your hero blond-haired and blue-eyed against a supporting cast of brown people, even awesome brown people, is problematic.

Wasn't Genghis Khan supposed to have been red-haired?

He is in a children's book about Mongol falconry I read as a child, Rita Ritchie's The Golden Hawks of Genghis Khan (1958). I don't know if that's supported by Mongol traditions or just outside depictions.

While we're on the subject, though, I saw Sergei Bodrov's Mongol (2007) a few years ago and really loved it. The actress who plays Borte is amazing and the gods are-as they should

[lisefrac]

Well, a lot of real-life people are red-haired and probably want to be the protagonists of their own stories, so I don't think Patrick Rothfuss should be allowed to have the last word.

Amen to that.

I'll have to consider my options -- I have a lot of good ones now.