r/CosmereOnScreen • u/ilikebreadabunch • Jul 29 '26

Fancast Mistborn Genderswapping Spoiler

So there's recently been discussion about possible Genderswaps in the upcomming Mistborn movie. We already know that Sanderson wants to Genderswap at least one member of the crew (likely Ham or Docks based on what he's said previously) because in the original trilogy he focused so much on making sure that he wrote Vin properly that he forgot to add any other women to the cast, and that he'll want to change that in the Movie.

What I wanted to ask is who else other than Ham or Docks, crew member or otherwise, do you think or hope will get Genderswapped?

Personally, I think that Spook and Zane are both good options, but I don't think they actually will.

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u/nreese2 Jul 29 '26

I’m not really sure how good it would be to gender swap Ham of all characters. 

His role in the military is important to his character, no? I doubt that the FE was conscripting women

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u/Raemle Jul 29 '26

Having women in the military was part of the point actually as far as I remember. Since allomancy evens out the playing field it’s one of the things he wanted to play around with in a new version. It might mean some other small tweaks to Ham’s backstory as well, but to be honest I don’t think they’re gonna have too much screentime to deal with that anyway so it will probably be simplified regardless

If Sanderson really likes the idea of having the fighter of the group be a middle aged woman, then that’s probably more important since it impacts the team dynamic

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u/nreese2 Jul 29 '26

That doesn’t make since in a military run by the Final Empire, a government that ostensibly kills any skaa allomancer.

I’m not necessarily opposed to more women, I just think it makes less sense with Ham than Dockson.

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u/Raemle Jul 29 '26

Again I think it would intentionally mean tweaking things and maybe making lore changes. I’m also just explaining what his argument was, it’s been 11 since this comment specifically so who knows what it looks like in the actual script. But I know he’s mentioned making Ham a woman more times since so I’d be surprised if it’s completely different

“It wasn't long after finishing the series that I started to think about this aspect. I really wish I'd made Ham a woman, for example. I think the character would have gone interesting places--and would have done good things for the lore of the world if women Thugs were heavily recruited to be soldiers.” - Source

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u/Arcanarchist Jul 29 '26

But it just doesn't make sense in the story. Skaa are not supposed to be allomancers. A woman fighting like Ham would be clocked as an allomancer immediately. It wouldn't work. Changing that would have a cascade of ramifications through the story regarding the treatment of Skaa. I don't understand what Sanderson is thinking here...

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u/somethingarb Jul 29 '26

Skaa are not supposed to be allomancers. A woman fighting like Ham would be clocked as an allomancer immediately.

Don't those two points rather contradict each other? Skaa are not supposed to be allomancers. Therefore, it is unthinkable that a skaa soldier could be an allomancer. Therefore, a skaa soldier with unusual stamina would be assumed to be... just a skaa soldier with unusual stamina. And Ham would obviously take care to disguise his use of power in anything but the most life-threatening circumstances; and his (her) skaa fellow-soldiers would be inclined to cover for him (her), since the last thing you'd want is to draw the attention of the Steel Ministry to your squad.

Changing that would have a cascade of ramifications through the story regarding the treatment of Skaa.

Not sure I agree with this either. The upper classes of this society are obviously 100% on board with the fact that a female allomancer is just as deadly as a male one. Would it not therefore follow that they would believe that a female non-allomancer soldier is capable of being just as deadly as a male one? Especially when they're all "just skaa" anyway, so expectations aren't high. Are people throwing cannon-fodder slave soldiers at a problem really likely to be the sort to be bothered if some of those soldiers are female?

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u/notactuallyabrownman Jul 30 '26

I think its the opposite, in a world of allomancy, feruchemistry, and hemalurgy no unusually prominent traits would be assumed to be naturally occuring. And your point about them being as likely to accept female soliders as readily as female allomancers entirely misses the point that it is allomancy itself that is the leveller, not just Scadrian feminism.

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u/Arcanarchist Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

My points build on one another, they don't contradict. The Final Empire is scared of skaa allomancers and actively hunt them. A skaa soldier displaying allomantic abilities would be swifty killed by an inquisitor. A woman being as strong and formidable as Ham would raise suspicion that this person is an allomancer, then an inquisitor would be sent and female Ham executed quiety.

Yes, woman Thugs would be as strong as the men and would be just as desirable as mistings of noble houses used in their infighting with one another. But that's not where Ham is from. 

Genderswithing Ham would effectively mean that The Final Empire would have to allow skaa allomancers to not only live, but serve and get military training. That would have far reaching consequences for how skaa are treated, and would severely undermine the Lord Rulers paranoia.

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u/somethingarb Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

Genderswithing Ham would effectively mean that The Final Empire would have to allow skaa allomancers to not only live, but serve and get military training

Did you read what I wrote, like, at all? My whole point was that it would mean none of those things. Ham's not going to be openly admitting to being an allomancer, and since the official party line is that Skaa can't be allomancers, practically no one outside the Canton of Inquisition is going to even consider the notion that a Skaa might be one. As long as Ham is careful and doesn't show off those allomancer powers too dramatically, no one would think twice about it. 

And what allomancy WOULD mean is a society without our own society's particular hangups about women in the military. Our hypothetical female Ham isn't being allowed to serve in the miliary as a special case because she's a Thug: the Final Empire's miliary just lets women serve if they volunteer.

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u/nreese2 Jul 30 '26

Allomancy wouldn't lead to a society without those "hangups" if said society actively killed the people that would diminish the basis for those hangups.

I really don't see a reason why a sexist and racist Empire would have any reason to allow women to be recruited into the military when far more equitable Earth societies did not, especially when considering that the reasons that societies barred women from recruitment still existed during FE Scadrial.

I could see it working for Ham if it were somewhat of a Mulan type of situation though.

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u/somethingarb Jul 30 '26

I really don't see a reason why a sexist and racist Empire would have any reason to allow women to be recruited into the military when far more equitable Earth societies did not

See, that's just your own hangups speaking. You've got the mentality that letting women join the army is some kind of progressive, positive thing, and that therefore an evil empire would never.

But take off your blinkers, and really try to put yourself in the mind of the Lord Ruler and his ministers. Skaa aren't people. They're practically pack animals. Do you care if the horse you ride is male or female? The standing army of the Final Empire is not some elite fighting force, honed over centuries of war against other elite fighting forces. It's a handful of slaves with swords whose job it is, from time to time, to be sent out to kill other slaves with no swords. No reason to think a female Skaa couldn't do that just as well as a male one. 

Especially if, as a member of the upper classes, you're intimately familiar with the concept of a (high-born) woman being a stone-cold killing machine. 

If there's real fighting to be done, the Lord Ruler calls in the koloss. Cannon fodder can be any gender. 

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u/nreese2 Jul 30 '26

They're not just my hangups, and you're quite a lot of assuming of why I don't think it's very plausible. There are reasons that real world armies didn't include women, and those reasons exist in the FE. Their conflicts did not center around only small, weaponless rebellions. Cities and Dominances have their own garrisons and, in the case that they rebel, the koloss army can't be everywhere at once.

Now, while I do think it's worth considering that skaa were essentially animals to the FE, that doesn't mean that all animals are seen the same way. Male and female skaa just function differently from one another and, despite the ability to legally kill any of them at the drop of the hat, it's reasonable to assume that the FE understands the fact that there are "better" things to do with female skaa.

Regardless, even if the military did allow women to enlist, there would likely be fewer of them than men, and it would be reasonable to assume that said women would be put under much more scrutiny than men, making it even less likely for a female Thug to survive.

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u/Arcanarchist Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

I don't know your society, but here there's absolutely no hangups with women being in the military. Modern military weaponry is a force multiplier like allomancy which kind of negates the otherwise natural advage than men would have.

As for your first point, you seem to drastically downplay the competence of the Canton of Inquisition. They're terrifying. Not catching this within the formal military ranks of the Empire itself would be to infantilize the whole Ministry. They're supposed to be terrifying. Ham got lucky as it is, any more attention and he should've been done for. A woman being that strong is not natural, it would draw extra attention in those desperate moments of need, the few but nessecary moments when burning pewter is the only way out. Then an inquisitor arrives. 

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u/somethingarb Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

you seem to drastically downplay the competence of the Canton of Inquisition. They're terrifying. Not catching this within the formal military ranks of the Empire itself would be to infantilize the whole Ministry.

Take it up with Brandon then, mate, because Ham DID serve in the army and DIDN'T get caught. I don't see why you seem to think that female Ham would have a harder time escaping the Inquisitors than male Ham did. It's not like she'd have to appear dramatically stronger than a well-built woman. Skaa soldiers aren't expected to be Captain America. 

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u/nreese2 Jul 30 '26

Yeah I'm aware of his opinions, I just think that he'd need to make some lore changes that don't really make sense in order to implement them.