To me, the epitome of positive masculinity is Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings movies (and also the book). Gentle, caring, not afraid to show emotion, cries, kisses his friends on the forehead, and yet a total badass, and Viggo just looks like a masculine dude. I don’t think even the most conservative Christian nationalist could argue that he’s feminine. If I had a son (who chose to identify as a man) and he turned out to be like Aragorn, I don’t think I could be a prouder parent.
Fantasy has a number of good examples of positive masculinity. Tam al’Thor, Thom Merrilin, Loail, and others in Wheel of Time are all good examples, though that series has its own issues with gender (author had little LGBT rep even though he accidentally wrote a great trans allegory, and has stated in interviews he accidentally wrote all the women to be his wife), Storm light Archive has Numuhukumakiaki’aialunamor, Ninth Tomb has Palamedes, and Dungeon Meshi has Senshi
Modern fantasy is kind of spoiled for choice in that regard.
To me, the epitome of positive masculinity is Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings movies (and also the book). Gentle, caring, not afraid to show emotion, cries, kisses his friends on the forehead, and yet a total badass, and Viggo just looks like a masculine dude. I don’t think even the most conservative Christian nationalist could argue that he’s feminine. If I had a son (who chose to identify as a man) and he turned out to be like Aragorn, I don’t think I could be a prouder parent.
Fantasy has a number of good examples of positive masculinity. Tam al’Thor, Thom Merrilin, Loail, and others in Wheel of Time are all good examples, though that series has its own issues with gender (author had little LGBT rep even though he accidentally wrote a great trans allegory, and has stated in interviews he accidentally wrote all the women to be his wife), Storm light Archive has Numuhukumakiaki’aialunamor, Ninth Tomb has Palamedes, and Dungeon Meshi has Senshi
Modern fantasy is kind of spoiled for choice in that regard.