#as justification for the British colonisation of Ireland because ‘you colonised us first’

[ordon-shield]

I think a lot of the arguments I’m seeing here on the question of TotK and imperialism comes down to a sort of Doylist/Watsonian divide. I don’t think there’s anyone who’s seriously accusing Rauru of secretly being evil or committing genocide or whatever — the fact is that the story of TotK presents a world in which a more technologically advanced nation came to rule over surrounding nations because they all agreed it was the best decision, and the only guy who disagreed is pure evil and becomes hated by his own people. The issue with TotK is that it follows the exact narrative that imperialism and neo-colonialism use to justify themselves — that the nations they control wanted it, that they benefit from it, that it’s possible for someone to be born in a position that makes them an innately good leader due to their ancestry. Arguing against that with things like Rauru being a good leader and Ganondorf being evil doesn’t make sense because that’s the point. If both characters were portrayed with a bit more complexity, this wouldn’t be an argument at all, because the story wouldn’t be following an imperialist narrative.