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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Citations: Tallbear, Kim. “Making Love and Relations Beyond Settler Sex and Family.” Making Kin Not Population, Prickly Paridigm Press, 2018, pp. 145-64.

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Citations: Jemisin, N. K. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Orbit, 2010. Muñoz, José Esteban. “Queerness as Horizon: Utopian Hermeneutics in the Face of Gay Pragmatism.” Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity, New York University Press, 2019, pp. 19-32.

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

This future is the same one that Yeine and Nahadoth long for, with Itempas representing the rigidity of “straight time”. These systems cannot change overnight, which is why the ending of the novel is only a temporary solution and not the ultimate balance that Yeine strives to create. 6/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

He calls this system “straight time”, a belief that tells us “there is no future but the here and now of our everyday life” (22). Queer temporality argues the exact opposite. There is so much more we can imagine, different ways we can live our life outside of heteronormativity. 5/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

José Muñoz writes about queer temporality in his chapter, “Queerness as Horizon”, and the possibility of creating a queer utopia. He argues that in order to create this utopia, we must resist the systems that shape our everyday life, ways of living that seem unbreaking or unchanging. 4/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

When their fighting ceased, she describes a new feeling. “Balance: I felt its return like the setting of a dislocated joint” (384). Assuming the true power of Enefa, she and Nahadoth collaborate to punish Itempas, turning him mortal, until hopefully there can be a true balance in the future. 3/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

After being reborn through the power of Enefa’s soul within Yeine’s body, she witnesses the ultimate might and passion between Nahadoth and Itempas that she had only just heard of before. 2/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Yeine and Nahadoth’s Resolve Against Itempas Queer temporality focuses on the ways in which queer lives differ in terms of time, space, and experience. This can be seen metaphorically in many ways throughout Jemisin’s novel, including the ending. Spoilers ahead! 1/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Fanart of The Three Artist - Neondragonart Found from ca.pinterest.com/pin/17212201...

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Once again, Itempas represents the rigid systems in place, with Nahadoth representing pure fluidity, and Yeine/Enefa representing a way both can exist. This is the goal of reimagining the system; a way to experience the benefits of family and connection, but not be restrained by them. 6/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Tallbear explains, “both the church and state evangelized marriage, nuclear family, and monogamy” (147). These systems become very restrictive especially when forced under a particular world-view. Queer temporality seeks to both dismantle and reimagine these concepts in a more fluid way. 5/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

The Three’s relationship may not be the best example of polyamory, but it still represents queer temporality through its fluidness and ever-changing dynamic. Dr. Kim Tallbear exposes ideas of restrictive monogamy in her writing by breaking down the systems of marriage within a settler society. 4/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

With the birth of Enefa, their relationship became more complex as the three are intertwined together. Although they all loved each other, Itempas did not like change, and was jealous of Enefa. But they were still a family, as Yeine narrates, “For a time, they were all happy with that” (144). 3/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

One example is polyamory, as it is one of the most explicitly clear examples of queerness in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Nahadoth and Itempas’ relationship is inherently queer, as they both use masculine pronouns and Nahadoth is also described as genderless. 2/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

The Polyamorous Dynamic of The Three Queer temporality, while its focus is on time and the futurity of queerness, can also reflect the spacial and relational dynamics that resist the binary, especially if it does so in a way that helps create a queer future. 1/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Fanart of Yeine Artist - Professor Evelyn Found from inheritance-trilogy.fandom.com/wiki/Yeine

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

In summary, Yeine’s journey in the novel represents queer temporality since she is able to dictate her own future by defying the cyclical nature of history and its resistance to change. Her transformation is one of queer euphoria, as she becomes the very thing that Itempas tries to prevent. 6/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Although Yeine’s rebirth is obviously not identical to the trans experience, the metaphors representing self-actualization and the self-agency to create a stronger sense of personhood can be used to inspire trans and other queer individuals, which emphasizes the importance of queer theory. 5/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Ace Eckstein writes on the queer temporality that exists in trans YouTubers uploading videos documenting their transitions. Eckstein writes, “Transition marches forward in a particular direction, whatever that direction might be”. (24-5). The act of transition represents a form of progress. 4/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

As opposed to living out her final days as a pawn for Dekarta and Itempas, Yeine becomes something greater. Her transformation is also queer in itself, as is the opportunity to become something not dictated by oppressive forces, which is perhaps a metaphor for a trans identity and experience. 3/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

In an article on queer temporality, Jordan Stein explains how history can be “cyclical, circular, recursive, or reincarnated” (857). Although history can repeat itself in negative ways, each rebirth is a chance for something new. Stein argues that history is not something that has to be linear. 2/6

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Queer Temporality in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms @queerfantasyproj.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Yeine’s Rebirth and Transformation After being murdered, Yeine exists in liminal and perhaps temporal space between life and death. Itempas’ plan to kill her backfires as the power of Enefa within her allows her to be reborn, and extend her life and opportunities indefinitely. 1/6

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