Can I Use “Ser” as an Honorific in My Fantasy Novel?

I recently worked with a French author who used the title “Ser” to roughly mean “Sir” in their fantasy novel. This opened up gender and Game of Thrones-shaped cans of worms.

First up, the basic answer to the question is that you can use whatever honorifics you like, as long as you make it clear what they mean to the reader (e.g. through how you use them, or how you define them).

Now, in English-language fantasy, G.R.R. Martin famously used Ser as an honorific, probably to sound archaic and ye olde worldy, which makes for compelling worldbuilding by sounding archaic but specific to Westeros.

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Thing is, this term has been used in other fantasy works too, and has become somewhat popular recently. Here's a few questions you might have:

Is this term historically accurate?

Well, spellings weren't standardized in middle English and early modern English, so it’s possible that this spelling was in use then, but it wasn’t that common (any medieval historians out there who can weigh in on this, let me know!). It came from the French sieur, which later gave us monsieur.

Is the term gender neutral?

Recently, there's been a movement to use Ser as a gender-neutral honorific, as Sir has a strong masculine connotation, which Ser doesn't have. This could be a good reason to choose it, and the author I collaborated confirmed that it doesn't have a strong masculine connotation in French either.

Will my novel sound like a Game of Thrones ripoff?

If your story takes place in a very Games of Throne-style universe, then this could be an issue in English because of the strong GOT connotation.

Ser as an honorific: Summary

In short, you'll have to balance between the relative importance of the Game of Thrones connotation and choosing a more gender netural term (which may or may not be an issue for your story).

I'll update this post when I have more detailed information on its usage in French. And check out this cool interactive/visual novel (which has retained use of "Ser" ...)

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