Thoughts that should not be distracting me from work:

[tiamatschild]

How does the whole The Daemon is Always The Opposite Gender thing work with animals that don't have binary sex?

I mean, clearly it doesn't take into account people who are non-binary, but there are so many potential daemonic forms that would also be non-binary - - -

*wanders off into daydreaming about how pretty slugs are again*

Comments

[lotesse]

Maybe non-cispeople get non-binary daemons? idk, but I really appreciate this question!

[caiusmajor]

A daemon's gender seems to be separate from its shape, though. Like, a child's daemon takes all sorts of shapes but always has the same gender (and apparently all of the animals are of the sex that matches the daemonic gender but I don't know if we have enough data to be sure).

So if a daemon wanted to take the form of an animal that didn't have binary sex, I guess either it wouldn't be able to because there wouldn't be an appropriately-gendered form, or it would keep its original gender in the non-binary-sexed form.

*fanwanks about a series I haven't read in years*

[ilthit]

I'm going to assume daemons are only usually a different sex. Also, since I think their physical bodies are in part mind constructs, their forms are somewhat limited by human imagination, hence no aquatic daemons, since people realise that would be silly.

[holyschist]

Canonically, they are only usually a different sex, and there's no canonical "explanation" for those that aren't (fannish speculation has generally been that those people are gay or trans, but I kind of think that may be overly simplistic; I kind of like it not meaning anything specific, just being a thing that happens sometimes).

Also, I'd agree about the human imagination thing as a limit--plus I don't think people ever have daemons that take forms they wouldn't know about?

[ilthit]

Yep, yep. The daemon isn't an actual animal, it's a soul given physical form, and the form is determined by human expectation. /my interpretation

[jack_of_none]

Daemons aren't always the opposite gender -- I only read the first book, but I remember they met someone whose daemon was the same gender and mentioned that it was rare.

It's also, I guess, possible that daemons could end up with a gender identity that's different from their actual physical sex, since they seem to be about as complex as humans.