Line #61 Literature/TheLeftHandOfDarkness


1	[[quoteright:277:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eballefthandofdarkness5ix3_6498.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Light is the left hand of darkness\
4	and darkness is the right hand of light.\
5	Two are one, life and death, lying\
6	together like lovers in kemmer, \
7	like hands joined together,\
8	like the end and the way."''
9
10	A 1969 Science fiction novel from Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin and the most famous work of the Literature/{{Hainish}} Cycle. ''Darkness'' tells the story of Genly Ai of Earth, the Envoy of the [[TheFederation Ekumen]], to the planet Gethen. Gethen is far from the rest of the planets on which the ancient [[{{Precursors}} Hain]] settled much of humanity. Gethen, which has been nicknamed 'Winter' by the Terrans, is a cold, glacial planet, but its real peculiarity is in the people: Gethenians are [[GenderBender Gender Benders]], and it has a profound effect on their society.
11
12	Genly Ai's task is to persuade Gethenians to join the Ekumen, but they're unreceptive, while tensions between the nations of Orgoreyn and Karhide grow and the first war ever on Gethen is looming on the horizon...
13
14	In April 2015, as part of the "Ursula Le Guin at 85" Month, BBC Radio 4 created [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05pkpgg a two-part]] {{radio drama}} adaptation of the novel.
15	----
16	!!Tropes appearing in ''The Left Hand of Darkness'':
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18	* AlienGenderConfusion: Earthlings have profound difficulty understanding Gethenian genders, and Gethenians have difficulty understanding Genly's permanent maleness.
19	* AlternativeCalendar: Karhide uses a calendar in which the current year is always "Year One", with only years before and after being numerated. It ''is'' a bit problematic, thus they refer to well-known events (like kings' ascension to throne) to record history. The followers of Yomeshta religion, however, have a calendar of the usual type.
20	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Estraven, proposing the long trek through the wilderness back to Karhide, warns Genly that they will either have good luck or they will die. Genly's response is that he prefers dying on the ice to whatever fate awaits him in [[PoliceState Orgoreyn]].
21	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Estraven is killed in a last act of vengeance by Tibe, ordering his execution by border guards.]] However, Tibe is deposed and replaced as the Prime Minister, and Ai succeeds in his mission to bring Gethen into the Ekumen. [[spoiler:At the end of the book he visits Estraven's Hearth. He is asked to tell them the story of the circumstances that led to his death, which is implied to be the content of the book.]]
22	* BizarreAlienReproduction: Gethenians are usually asexual and [[NoBiologicalSex genderless]], but go through a stage each month called kemmer. While in kemmer a Gethenian will become either male or female with no control over which sex they take, unless they use certain chemicals. The Gethen have no sibling incest taboo, although if a child is conceived from incest those relatives are expected to never mate again. While in kemmer Gethenians are male or female as we would recognise them, and children are conceived through regular sex.
23	* BloodForMortar: In the very first scene Genly notices all the bridges in Karhide have keystones set with pinkish mortar. Turns out they believe an arch will fall without a bloodbond. They used to mix the mortar with human blood and bones, but these days, animal substitutes are used.
24	* BrotherSisterIncest: Along with some other sexual taboos, sibling incest is much less stigmatized on Gethen — siblings are forbidden from becoming life partners, but can remain lovers until they have a single child together. The mythical figure Getheren was exiled after his sibling committed suicide rather than be separated from him after their child was born. Similarly, [[spoiler:Estraven was exiled from his hearth after having a child and trying to vow kemmering with his sibling, who subsequently died.]]
25	* DeliberateValuesDissonance:
26	** Gethenians see no problem with [[BrotherSisterIncest sibling-sibling incest]] -- (though [[SingleTargetSexuality monogamous incest]] is seen just as we see it, and the lovers are expected to part ways when the first kid appears). On the other hand, theft is a horrible crime, since on an IceWorld you may just be sentencing someone to death by starvation, and a suicide is seen with distaste as a kind of cowardice, an act of refusal to face reality.
27	** On a personal level, Genly considering some things feminine in a rather derogatory way (see for example MultitaskedConversation below). Le Guin is a well-known feminist, and the main character remains sympathetic rather than being a StrawMisogynist.
28	* DirectLineToTheAuthor: The book is written as the protagonist's combination of his recollections, and the deuteragonist's mission log.
29	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Tibe's heavily broadcast [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler rants against foreigners]] etc., and his [[UsefulNotes/JosephStalin sneaky ascent]] against Estraven.
30	* EvilChancellor: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zigzagged]]. At first, Estraven the Chancellor is a decent person serving the insane King, but is soon replaced by a properly evil advisor. Of course, both the insane king and Genly initially think Estraven is evil.
31	* EnigmaticMinion: Genly's view of Estraven is pretty close to this for most of the book. Ironically, Estraven actually supports Genly and acts as forthright towards him as Gethenian etiquette permits.
32	* EveryoneIsBi: Gethenians not only think it's strange to prefer loving one sex over the other, but that it's strange to prefer ''being'' one sex over the other.
33	* {{Exposition}}: Done through {{fictional document}}s on Gethenian society or transcripts of local legends, and {{inner monologue}} of Genly.
34	* FantasticRacism: The Gethenians' reaction to Genly's permanent maleness, and, conversely, his reaction to their gender bending. Some Gethenians ''are'' permanently male or female, but this is regarded much as intersex conditions typically are in our society - worse, in fact, since generally more obvious.
35	** Such "perverts" do however play an essential role in the Handdara religion due to their role in foretelling, as do the mentally ill: a Handdaran foretelling is made by a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits group of nine]] which includes "perverts", celibates, "zanies", at least one person in kemmer, and the "weaver", who joins their psychic energy together.
36	** King Argaven also makes a point of asking if all aliens are as 'black' as their envoy. Genly notes that he's seen several Gethenians with skin almost as dark as his, but wisely keeps this to himself.
37	* FireForgedFriends: Genly and Estraven come to trust each other absolutely during their trek across the ice.
38	* FirstContact: Genly is not the first alien on Gethen (the Ekumen always sends explorers first, where possible), but he ''is'' the first official one, and the first envoy, complete with, yes, IComeInPeace and TakeMeToYourLeader, both of which get rather... complicated by the local reception.
39	* ForcedAddiction: Genly is repeatedly drugged as [[spoiler:a political prisoner in TheGulag]]. He assumes it was a TruthSerum with unpleasant side effects, but Estraven speculates that they were giving him addictive mind-altering drugs to "domesticate" him into docility. Either way, he recovers after a short time away.
40	* GenderBender: Gethenians have a 26-day long cycle of going into heat ("kemmer") and spending the rest as asexuals. Which sex they assume is beyond their control, though the use of artificial chemical means is implied to be on the rise.
41	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: With a few twists, quite apart from the [[GenderBender obvious one]]; Argaven is also, for the most part, sufficiently bonkers to qualify as a version of TheCaligula. A noteworthy aspect is that Agraven is trying to become a mother, because only a "child in the flesh" can inherit the throne.
42	%%* GreatEscape
43	* TheGulag: Orgoreyn runs several of them, called Voluntary Farms. The chapter in which [[spoiler: Genly is sent there]] reads just like a real first-person account of being sent to Siberia, complete with inexplicable stops on the way (the viewpoint character can tell when his captors are stopping for technical reasons).
44	* HaveAGayOldTime: The use of the term "bisexual" to describe regular human societies may come as that today.
45	* [[HerHeartWillGoOn His/Her Heart Will Go On]]: It's complicated.
46	* HeroicSacrifice: Particularly notable as Gethenians very much frown on suicidal behaviour.
47	* HumansArePsychicInTheFuture: Ekumenians have managed to gain telepathy (the story of that is in another book). And can teach others.
48	* IceWorld: Gethen is currently in its Ice Age.
49	* IkeaErotica: Most of the discussion of Gethenian sexuality; justified in that these are generally anthropological in intent. Also Genly's speculation about the possibility of intercourse with a Gethenian.
50	** The short story "Coming of Age in Karhide" is more erotic. At least, if you're not freaked out by the word 'clitopenis'.
51	* IncestStandardsAreRelative: {{Downplayed\|Trope}} with the HumanSubspecies on Gethen as a side effect of their monthly heat cycles and historically isolated communities. It's not considered incestuous for [[BrotherSisterIncest siblings]] to have a sexual relationship and even have one child together. However, they're required to break things off at that point -- anything more is strictly taboo.
52	* InfoDump: The [[{{Exposition}} expository chapters]] may feel like one.
53	* LanguageOfTruth: Mindspeak. Supposedly it cannot be used to "say" a conscious lie, and Genly explains it was even banned for decades by the powers-that-be frightened of a way of communication that enforced truthfulness. Apparently it also has weird side-effects, as Estraven perceives it in the voice of his dead brother, which is highly disturbing to him.
54	* MarryForLove: Gethenians "vow kemmer" to one another, but never for political purposes -- all such vows are made purely for love. That said, to vow kemmer is a much rarer act than marriage is on Earth. Most people are happy enough to go to the kemmerhouses, couple freely, and go back to normal life. "Keeping kemmer" (the equivalent of having a live-in significant other) is more common, but such a kemmering can be dissolved at any time with no repercussions. And vowing kemmer is something done only once in a lifetime -- even if death do ye part.
55	* MateOrDie: Gethenians when not in kemmer are not only sex/gender-neutral, but also effectively asexual - and only about 1/4 of (adult) life is spent in kemmer. Kemmer, on the other hand, is a rather more desperate state than humans normally experience, to the point where it automatically gets you off work.
56	* MathematiciansAnswer: Some of the drawbacks of Handdaran foretelling. Apparently, this is the ''point''. Some questions simply cannot be answered, though, and it's important to know which.
57	* TheMeaningOfLife: It is mentioned that some person once asked a group of seers "what's the meaning of life". Some seers went mad, some died, one killed the guy who asked the question, and the leader went on to found his own religion, claiming that during his attempts, he saw everything that was, is and shall be. If an actual answer was ever provided, Genly does not hear it.
58	* MedievalStasis: Gethenians have known radio and electric automobiles for two thousand years, and they still use them. It's discussed in-universe whether it's the need to survive in harsh environment that uses up all the innovativeness. On the other hand, it is mentioned that the Gethenians have progressed slowly over the centuries (a bad harvest no longer condemns an entire province to famine), in addition they have never had a war, events that in real life accelerate scientific progress and technical.
59	* MercyLead: In Karhide, exiles have three days to get past the border before their lives are forfeit, a nod to the ancient tradition of SacredHospitality. Furthermore, it's customary to warn them in advance of the actual sentencing so they have time to get their affairs in order -- a courtesy the paranoid monarch does not extend to Estraven.
60	* MulticulturalAlienPlanet: Gethen presents two main countries, Orgoreyn and Karhide, with different languages, different state religions (although both main religions on Gethern have followers in Karhide, Handdara is at least frowned upon in Orgoreyn), different customs and foods and different form of government, Karhide is a monarchy with elements of feudalism, while Orgoreyn is a PoliceState. There are more lands, like the Antarctic continent of Perunter, but the protagonist and main narrator did not visit them.
61	* MultitaskedConversation: The Karhideans do this a lot, largely due to their complicated ''shifgrethor'' status system, much to Genly's frustration, since he finds the DoubleSpeak involved troublingly feminine and shifty. The Orgota for their part tend towards this because they live in a police state.
62	* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Zig-zagged. All populated worlds are the results of experiments run long ago to see how humans would develop in different environments, so by definition they're all roughly suitable for any human. However, that doesn't mean ''everything'' is compatible with Genly's biology. When he's imprisoned and forced to take a course of anti-kemmer drugs (his jailers don't believe he's an alien), it nearly kills him.
63	* NoBiologicalSex: The Gethenians, when they're not in kemmer.
64	* NonHeteronormativeSociety: Gethenians don't experience sexual orientation remotely like Earthlings do because the cycle of kemmer shifts them regularly through male-like, female-like, and sexless bodies.
65	* OhMyGods: Yomeshta tend to use expletives involving their prophet, Meshe.
66	* PerfectPacifistPeople: Sort of. Gethenians do kill each other by murders or clan feuds, but have never had a war. Like in the MedievalStasis example, it's discussed if it's the harsh weather, or the lack of male-female -- the most primal kind of "us versus them" -- distinction. [[spoiler: But a war is brewing and later short stories reveal that it eventually does happen.]]
67	** Genly has some interesting musings on this trope once he ends up in Orgoreyn. When the person he asks about "sarf", a word he had heard a few times before, is oddly evasive about the topic, he figures out it's a secret police -- and that he probably wouldn't have figured it out if he came from Hain or Chiffewar, worlds with a lot less of a cultural memory of violence than Earth.
68	* PlausibleDeniability: When Genly and Estraven receive SacredHospitality from a remote village, they and their hosts have an oblique conversation about how an honorable man could become outlawed for irrelevant reasons, never giving their names. The hosts obviously accept that they're fugitives, but to know that Estraven is an infamous exile would make them legally culpable.
69	* PoorCommunicationKills: A very large mess could have been avoided if Estraven had been more straightforward with Genly as to what his goals were. {{Justified\|Trope}}, since in Gethenian culture advice is considered an insult, and Estraven was trying to avoid damaging Genly's honor; only later did he realize his mistake.
70	* TheRepublic: Orgoreyn, but it is a PoliceState.
71	* SacredHospitality: The practice of "guesting" on Gethen of providing food and shelter for three days to any visitors, no questions asked. Referenced also in [[spoiler: Estraven's exile, when he is given three days' grace to leave the country or he will be executed.]]
72	* SchizoTech: The inhabitants of the planet Gethen have radios, electric vehicles, sonic rifles that can paralyze without killing, and extremely light stoves whose batteries do not need recharging for months. But they do not have any type of flying apparatus and no war technology except primitive arquebuses (which they call "looting weapons").
73	* ShownTheirWork: Le Guin's interest in Taoism fairly clearly colours the descriptions of Gethenian religion, at least as far as Handdara is concerned: it is less clear what the breakaway Yomeshta group (dominant in Orgoreyn, and increasingly in Karhide) corresponds to, but this one is a founder religion like Islam or Buddhism.
74	* SignificantNameShift: Genly and Estraven use [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs honorifics]] for each other in the first part, as Genly is unsubtle about disliking Estraven, but shift to LastNameBasis when they cross the polar ice together. A combination of {{Fire Forged Friends}}hip and the intimacy of {{Telepath\|y}}ic communication make them switch to FirstNameBasis. The first shift is {{Discussed\|Trope}} as Estraven pointedly acknowledges that they're allies, ''not'' friends.
75	* SingleBiomePlanet: Gethen is often referred to as "Winter," and the climate's outstanding feature is cold, snow, and ice. It's actually more Earth-like than it seems, it just so happens to be in the middle of an ice age.
76	* SmugSnake: Argaven's PerpetualSmiler evil cousin Tibe, with a side of TheStarscream (though s/he finds it convenient to leave Argaven officially in charge).
77	* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: It's complicated. [[spoiler: At the end of the book, Genly meets Estraven's son by his own brother, and is comforted to know him.]]
78	* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: Gethen's analogue of LGBT's (and about as common as real life LGBT's) are people who tend to be a particular gender for longer than usual. One can guess this creates some problems when they encounter an Earthman.
79	* SubspaceAnsible: The Hainish Cycle, of which ''The Left Hand of Darkness'' is the most acclaimed part, is the TropeNamer, if not the TropeMaker.
80	* SuddenlyEthnicity: It can take a while to register that Genly is Black, but it is called out with, when Genly is questioned on Ekumenians:
81	--> "Are they all black as you?"\
82	Gethenians are yellow-brown or red-brown, generally.
83	* SuicideIsShameful: Suicide is considered particularly egregious on Gethen--being responsible for someone's suicide is seen as worse than being a murderer.
84	* SuperMode: The Handdara faith teaches its acolytes how to induce and control ''dothe'', what Genly translates as "hysterical strength." ''Dothe'', properly used, can increase stamina and strength many times over, but it's also very dangerous -- the user must know what "stage" of ''dothe'' they are in (going too long is deadly), and must spend a long time recovering afterward. (The "''thangen'' sleep" after a ''dothe'' session is described as more like a low-level coma.)
85	* {{Telepathy}}: The peoples of the Ekumen have learnt to use this (which makes them TelepathicSpacemen to the Gethenians). The Gethenians have not, though it's clear they are capable of learning (as are all humans, such as Genly).
86	* TragicVillain: Downplayed with Estraven. From his own moral and cultural point of view, he's crossed multiple taboos and boundaries by the story's end. He keeps most of them secret, but it's possible to read his later actions as increasing desperation as he sees himself as more and more of a pariah. [[spoiler: To wit, he's vowed kemmering twice in his life, once to his own full-blooded sibling, he's failed in the game of politics and shifgrethor, resulting in exile, and he steals food and supplies from an isolated outpost.]]
87	* {{UST}}: Genly and Estraven, [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] in-universe.
88	-->"For it seemed to me, and I think to him, that it was from that [[{{UST}} sexual tension]] between us, admitted now and understood, but not assuaged, that the great and sudden assurance of friendship between us rose: a friendship so much needed by us both in our exile, and [[FireForgedFriends already so well proved in the days and nights of our bitter journey]], that it might as well be called, now as later, [[LoveEpiphany love]]. But it was from the [[InterspeciesRomance differences between us]], not from the affinities and likenesses, but from the difference, that that love came: and it was itself the bridge, the only bridge, across what divided us. For us to meet sexually would be for us to [[BoldlyComing meet once more as aliens]]. We had touched, in the only way we could touch. We left it at that. [[TearJerker I do not know if we were right.]]"
89	* TheVamp: Orgota SecretPolice agent Gaum, complete with attempted HoneyTrap.
90	* WinterOfStarvation: While outlawed, Genly and Estraven resort to an 81-day, 800-mile trek across the polar ice in winter on starvation rations, a [[{{Mythopoeia}} literally legendary]] feat of endurance. Estraven's careful planning and survival expertise see them through, even though their food runs out three days before they reach safety.

Context Literature / TheLeftHandOfDarkness