#fantasy racism

[kiragecko]

The Husband is reading Feet of Clay to nq (our eldest) and me. I last read it over a decade ago. What's hitting me this time is how Pratchett likes hammering his point home through multiple channels.

-

This is a book about respectability politics, discrimination, and privilege. The golems are the A-plot, loosely standing in for trafficked people/undocumented immigrants. (They also share some similarities to disabled experiences.)

But the book has SO MANY subplots, all sending the same message!

-

Cheri is constantly kicking down - trying to figure out how to survive as a dwarf in a human-centric city, while badmouthing the undead. It has echoes both of assimilated immigrants turning on newer, less acceptable ones AND 'normal' gays trying to distance themselves from the 'weird' queers.

The key to Vetinari's poisoning is recognizing the classist forces acting on the palace servants/the residents of Cockbill Street. How their desire to stay respectable holds them down, keeps them hungry and meek. How a healthy powerful man can survive, but a poor baby and old woman are vulnerable. And we see how they kick down as well - tormenting William Scuggins, who seems to have been either mentally disabled or mentally ill, for entertainment.

And the royal plot is contrasted with Vimes' mutterings about how the common people suffered under royalty but are still attracted to it. How they seem to WANT someone above them. Sure, some people might suffer, but nobody thinks it will be THEM, so it's fine.

-

Reading it again makes it almost unbelievable that people were trying to suggest Pratchett would be anti-trans. Right after Cheri comes out, Angua takes her to an undead bar, where it's repeatedly mentioned that people who "can't pass" can "be themself." When she chooses her new name, Angua thinks about how most people wouldn't have associated that name with someone with a full beard, but now they're going to have to. It's not subtle.

(There's also a woman with dementia there, in one of the books examples of how NOT to kick down. Pratchett doesn't DIRECTLY focus on disability this book, but there are a lot of little moments. (All the golems use AAC!))

-

I don't know. I'm just struck by how intersectionalist Pratchett's politics were. How this story can have 4 very different plots going on at the same time, but all of them have the same message.

He was a really great writer.

[childofearthandstarryheaven]

Continuing from this post. With the newest Arachne dialogue in which Mel absolutely refuses to acknowledge Hecate's evildoing, and with her nasty attitude towards Prometheus in general, a new light can be shed on some of her old lines.

1.

When Melinoe says Arachne's suffering is entirely deserved, she means it, literally.

Hecate brewing poisons for the Olympians to use at will is a totally reasonable act in Mel's eyes. Athena having the power to ruin any mortal' life is a natural part of Mel's idea of world order. Just like Zeus torturing Prometheus eternally is okay to Mel.

Prometheus protesting, however, is not okay.

2.

When Mel is low HP, Hecate does not cure Mel's injuries, and Mel responds with a masochist glee.

Her masochism ties in with her sadism towards Prometheus, Chronos and Arachne. As a third party, Moros confirms that Prometheus does not enjoy violence.

Mel, on the other hand, does.

She longs to traumatize Prometheus, an already traumatized victim of political violence, again and again. Just like she traumatizes Arachne even more by defending Hecate in front of Arachne.

Melinoe doesn't have to do that, but Melinoe does it anyway.

3.

And it all comes back to Mel's first win against Chronos, when she first shows her sadism.

Just like her conversation with Athena, Melinoe is also being literal here. Melinoe does value her mission of killing Chronos more than the actual well-being of her real family. She wants to be the Aetos to Chronos, not the Jesus to the Greek world. She brings nightmares, not salvation.

Why is it so? Because by completing the mission, she can gain praise and recognition from Hecate, who is the most important person to her in the world. More important than her real mother, more important than any sense of morality, and certainly more important than any mortal's human rights.

If Hecate decides to let her suffer her injuries, then Hecate must be right, pain is a teaching. Since pain is a teaching, then Zeus surely is right to teach Prometheus a lesson, Athena of course is right to teach Arachne and Medusa a lesson, and herself even righter to kill Chronos again and again.

Hecate raised Melinoe to be a weapon, but in her eagerness to please Hecate, Melinoe became much more than that.

Through her own choice, by consciously ignoring Arachne and Prometheus's pain, by refusing to listen to Nemesis and Moros's sensible commentary on divine injustice, she became a dedicated authoritarian. Now she is more loyal to Olympus than actual Olympian Dionysos ever could be, and more defensive of Hades's absolutist rule than Hades himself.

When she flies out into the world, she bows to the authority of the gods, and picks out everybody else's liver. She breaks the Titans' bodies, just like she breaks Arachne's heart, just like Hecate breaks her soul.

Nightmare incarnate indeed.

[cats-and-confusion]

I think this would have happened at some point yeah. ignore how shitty this is

+10 respect from Chilchuck

[ridreamir]

Nebarra has no romancing option. This isn't an accident. That man has years of Dominion-brainwashing and race purity education behind him, and it's not going anywhere. Well that's too bad. Watch him go through the five stages of grief as he realizes that he likes a bumfuck nobody from out in the middle of the boonies that is supposedly the ever-glorious mortal reincarnation of a false man-god. Worse yet, liking you is essentially liking an overpowered -overgrown- lizard. You might not be an Argonian (unless you *are*) but you're for all intents and purposes just a dragon with arms and legs and an annoying voice to boot. He is melting inside and he will not outwardly express it as he is so staunch on his morals that he wakes up every day in a cold sweat.

If he even sleeps. The helmet hides the fact that he's got eyebags darker than oblivion because of you.

[nekropsii]

One of the weakest Homestuck criticisms I see pop up every now and then is that the Hemoloyalty system is bad because “it’s not a clear-cut metaphor for any one specific real-world bigotry.” Acting as if it is a poorly made example of Sci-Fi/Fantasy Racism since it’s used to cover and express Racism, Classism, Xenophobia, Misogyny, etc.

It always makes me wonder if they’re new to fiction that contains Fantasy Racism, because Fantasy Racism systems covering multiple bigotries is entirely normal. It’s the standard, even.

You know.

Because that’s how actual real world bigotry operates?

For example… Racism does not stop at a judgment of skin color. It never just affects how your race is perceived and then stops before it dips into any other bigotry. Racism is almost never “Oh, ew, you’re brown,” with no other follow up. It’s a long series of assumptions and judgments made on your (perceived) race. Racism is deeply entangled with- you guessed it!- Classism, Xenophobia, Misogyny, all kinds of things.

Classic examples of Racism include:

Having your expressions of femininity and womanhood denied or fetishized based on your race, which happens quite regularly to Black and East Asian women in particular,

Suspicions towards Black people in middle class-rich suburban neighborhoods/gated communities, based on the assumption that “they could never legitimately afford to live there” so they “must be trespassing and/or a criminal”,

… And nutjobs screaming at people who are Latino or Arabic, or they perceive as Latino or Arabic, to “go back to their country” whether or not they were actually born there.

Are these all derived from Racism? Yes! But are they also combining forces with a different bigotry to help strengthen that racism? Yes! This is how it works! Fantasy Racism often has their fictional bigotry cast a wide net of judgments and assumptions that wind up making it all look very messy and unclear and containing multiple bigotries because that’s how it works in real life! You cannot in earnest say that a fictionalized bigotry system is bad because it “isn’t one clear cut thing” without looking like a moron. Are you sheltered? Have you only put one lone dying brain cell into this? Have you never experienced bigotry before, or thought about how it operates? I fear that you may need to do some reflecting!

[infernumequinomin]

"Kipperlily hates Riz because she's got a crush on him," this, "Kipperlily hates Riz because he somehow snubbed her," that... First of all, this boy imprinted instantly in a bully throwing him in a trash can thinking they could be friends, Riz wouldn't just forget someone he met in any sort of positive or negative way for zero reason. If they met, even if she didn't make a huge impression, Riz was SO desperate for companionship in Freshman year I don't think he'd have forgotten or ignored her.

I think a lot of people are forgetting the complexity of Riz's story as a poor kid who is of a "monster race" going to somewhere like Augefort through sheer working really fucking hard on the part of both him and his mom, and that they have explicitly in canon faced adversity both for their financial class and race. One of Riz's driving forces to do really well this year is so he can even GO to college. Sklonda EXPLICITLY lost her pension from YEARS of sleepless nights working as a detective and working her way up through the ranks this year (and I don't think it's something to overlook that Kipperlily's mom works as a county clerk and may have had some say there). I think Kipperlily may just be a graden variety privileged bigot who thinks some "gutter scum goblin shouldn't be in classes with normal people." And that a lot of her work with Jawbone has probably been unpacking these internalized biases.

Like, from the outside, the Bad Kids were ressurected by the principal the very first day of school, throwing the whole school into chaos and got DETENTION for it. Riz not only killed, but ATE the vice principal, after they defeated Kalvaxis! They were all on the verge of failing if they didn't complete their Sophmore year spring break project (it was 70% of their grade or some insane shit!), and while most of them may still have passed, Fig and Kristen DEFINITELY needed that credit and that is mentioned in the season, Adaine is insanely stressed about them completing their quest for "school credit".

If Kipperlily grew up rich and entitled, with all the biases about poor people that can grow (especially if her dad's real estate office owns Strong Arm Apts and she thinks of it as a slum, because it's kind of described as low income public housing lbr here) and saw that some lower class goblin was EATING PEOPLE after defeating them (you know, like a monster does, clearly not taking any time to understand his motivation OR culture), and getting preffered treatment because the principal just happened to LIKE HIM and his party (because they took the time to become closer to him over the years and Augefort clearly values students who will absolutely kick his teeth in bc adventurers are "insane violent psychopaths" citation: the Seven), and breezing through his classes without doing ANY of the work (because she doesn't SEE the work or the sleepless nights or all the stress he's taking on for others) it absolutely tracks for her to grow this huge chip on her shoulder about it and for it to reinforce these biases she may have already had about goblins and esp abt POOR goblins like Riz.

I don't think Riz did anything wrong. I think Kipperlily just has shit to fucking work thru in regards to how she views the kinds of people she doesn't know or has had no opportunity to associate with. Even among her party, they're all rich to middle class for the ones we know the class of. She's 17 and has a bunch of internalized biases, likely from her upper middle class upbringing, and major anger management issues. Idk it just makes sense to me. I met all kinds of girls like her in college who were type A to all shit who resented me for seeming to "have it easy" despite how hard my life should have been coming from a poorer background than them.

[master-jarrus]

Real debate that should be happening with ColexGeo

Also what's with the writers doing any food made by a non human as sludge/mud?

[ciderjacks]

this manga really doesn’t play sometimes

[animentality]

I saw Elemental and while it was far better than it looked, I had some issues.

First off, fantasy racism is hard to do properly because most writers make the fatal error of making the oppressed people too powerful.

Like X men. Oh, it's a metaphor for racism against black people in America...except black people don't shoot fucking death killing laserbeams from their buttholes every time they take a fart.

Or say, Zootopia. A well meaning allegory, but it still implies people of color are actually a threat to the rest of the population???

Like I don't care if a "bunny can go savage."

You still present the oppressed race, of predators, as being scarier and bigger and more easily able to hurt others.

So Elemental had the same issues.

It basically said, well, the fire people are the last wave of immigrants. They are discriminated against the most because they are new. They speak another language and no one likes them because they burn things and they can hurt the rest of us, so we keep them in these segregated communities, that are more fire safe.

Now here's the issue with that, if you haven't already noticed...

Once again, we get a race of people who are a thinly veiled metaphor for immigrants...but the issue is...

The fire people ARE a legitimate threat to the earthy, leafy people. They can literally kill them. They literally burn off pieces of their bodies in the damn film.

Now technically the wind and water people are less in danger, but we literally see in the movie that the fire people are WAY more of a threat than any other people. The main character literally blows the fuck up.

She destroys several plot important things when she can't control her temper!!! She destroys her own father's shop. Several times.

It's implied that fire people can also EVAPORATE the water people too.

So therein lies the issue.

If we saw the water people being more destructive, I could forgive it! If we saw more equal distrust between all the people, then maybe I could buy it. There ARE hints that the wind people have an affinity for lightning, which you would think could be a destructive force too, just as much a threat to water! And water can douse fire, right? So that's also bad, and that at least has some basis in the film?

But the problem is that the larger society only sees fire as bad...and the metaphor doesn't come across, when you focus on just fire and show us the many, many bad things fire can and does do to the other elements.

Now here's the thing that really annoys me.

The racism/discrimination against immigrants metaphor was okay. It had some nuance, at least. I enjoyed some of the very thoughtful discussions of what it means to be a second generation immigrant and the stresses of trying to live up to your parents' expectations of you.

I actually enjoyed the romance too. They were oddly sweet, and the heroic sacrifice in the end was genuinely touching.

But the movie's racism metaphor was too strong, and it has bad implications, given how much of a threat all of the races are to each other, whether it's equally divided between them or not.

This is not at all applicable to real life. Our differences are not so fucking fundamental. They are cultural and only very, very slightly biological. Our DNA is not so fucking different that this metaphor works, at all.

These kind of movies make the unintentional point that races are cut and dry categories, and all we need to do is accept these alien creatures so different from us into our society.

This is not true.

Like what the fuck. This is so not true. Every single race on earth can and does reproduce with one another, plus we've all been intermixed since the beginning of fucking time.

So that metaphor just breaks itself, in my opinion.

Now here's my suggestion.

This movie should've been a metaphor for disability accomodations.

And hear me out, right?

The fire people CANNOT go to several places. Places entirely underwater, or partially submerged, places covered in foliage, where they might burn things. It is a central theme, that fire people are barred from certain places because they simply haven't bothered to make those places accessible to them.

See, that's a much more palatable and less problematic theme/metaphor to draw from!

The main character wants to see this plant that only grows underwater, but she's never gotten to see it because it's in this weird stadium that's underwater, and they simply haven't tried to make it accessible to fire people.

Plus, water people trains are constantly throwing water down on fire town, and water is a huge threat to fire people, and the whole city seems to run on water transport, and i think, but im not sure, it's stated that water people came first, and that's why elemental city is mostly catered to them?

But there's a great moral there!

There's no reason fire people can't be in certain public spaces! There should be laws forcing all earth spaces to have fire safe accommodations, like metal or clay flooring in all necessary areas!

That museum should've had some kind of tunnel for fire people to walk through!

It should be required for all public areas that there be metal or clay or glass crossing certain areas, so that fire people can still reasonably access everything that the other people can access!

Like ramps and elevator and railings, in real life!

And it's such a shame, because the protagonist has a talent for shaping glass. For making art.

It's implied she might end up working for her boyfriend's mom, who's an architect!!!

The protagonist should've been a fucking architect, who EXPLICITLY dedicates herself to making the rest of the city accessible to her own people!!! So they can get out of fire town and live amongst the rest of them!

At the end, it's implied more people are coming to fire town...but for no fucking reason. They just go there now.

But the protagonist, Ember, really needed to be a driving force.

She needed to be a metaphor for accessibility in public spaces, because that's a much better parallel than just racism itself.

If you toned down the "destructiveness" of fire and explained that fire people are unfairly excluded from public life simply because it's easier for the other people to ignore them and not care about their needs...then you have a far less problematic story, with a much more sensitive and interesting take on disability discrimination.

Ember needed to be an advocate, someone who tries to bring her people into the wider world, and not the wider people into her world.

There is NO reason fire people could not be allowed to participate in public life.

And there was no reason fire people had to be pitted so hard against every other race.

Elemental was a really fun movie, with beautiful animation and some very well thought out ideas for how the city worked.

But it failed as a racism/immigration allegory.

It could've been far more nuanced and complex, if it had bothered to talk more about how fire people need accomodations, rather than just, fire people hate everyone else, and everyone else hates fire people.

[cinnamonsikwate]

i still hate how the onus was on zon and his people to "prove" that orcs were capable of more than violence meanwhile marcille didn't do a goddamn thing to change their minds about elves being raging bigots. funny how she thinks elves (a long-lived race with powerful magic) and orcs (a short-lived race with no magic as far as we can see) are on a level playing field when it comes to securing land and resources!

and having bahai, zon's child, be the one to go "why can't we all just get along" like ooh ryoko kui some crimes cannot be forgiven

[clickerflight]

The Price of War - Part 1: Field Medicine

Author's note: New storyyyyyyy! Below I have tagged all of my active whump story taglists including the story I just finished so people can see if they're interested in reading this story. If you want to be added to the tag list, let me know in the comments or sending in an ask. You will not be tagged in future parts unless you tell me you want to be.

Masterlist

Content: Elf whumpee, minotaur carewhumper, manhandling, abdomen injury, fantasy racism, passing out

.......................................

Alo’ad huffed, falling back behind the other members of his war party. He wasn’t as big as them, so keeping up with them was harder after hours of trekking through the thick woods while the elves attacked them over and over again, trying to get them surrounded. 

Due to the leader of the party, Underar, having superior wood lore under his belt, they had made it this far relatively unscathed. In fact, they had the elves on the run now which was the only reason Alo’ad allowed himself to slow down. That and any other minotaur that was hurt could slow down and get some healing from the half-taur now that it was safer to do so. 

Alo’ad stretched his arms, looking for Taurs that had fallen behind or collapsed because of an unnoticed injury. 

He smelled blood in the air and snuffled, trying to find it quickly. It smelled dangerous, whatever wound it came from. 

He ducked his head a little, his short horns brushing under a branch as he stepped through the last of the tall grass in the clearing. 

The tree the branch belonged to loomed overhead, and at the roots sat a man. A small elf, thin and willowy though as short as any of his kind, clutching at a deep wound in his abdomen. 

The elf’s eyes went wide, long ears tipping down and pinning in his long pale hair as he drew in a short breath. 

Alo’ad moved quickly, grabbing the elf by the face and gently pinned his head to the tree. The elf whimpered, Alo’ad’s hand, while smaller than a full Taur’s hand, was still big enough to almost entirely cover the elf’s face. 

Alo’ad looked over his shoulder, making sure he was crouched far enough that no one in the war party would be able to see him. If the elf was heard or spotted they would take him back to camp to interrogate him. They wouldn’t torture him, but it would be torture as his wounds  would be left unattended. And he would die before he could tell them anything interesting. 

No, that would be a waste of life, and Alo’ad had been taught by his human father, against Taur culture, that life was endlessly valuable. Even that of the enemy. His mother had rolled her eyes at such claims, but she never stopped old Hesikaia from teaching their son such things, a soft look in her eyes as she watched her husband do so. 

Alo’ad reached into his pack, ignoring the elf’s scrambling fingers, slick with blood, on his wrist. 

He pulled out a small satchel full of poultice soaked pads and pulled one out, gently tugging the elf’s war tunic up out of his belt before applying the pad to the wound. 

The elf tensed under his fingers, small hands grabbing at his wrist, though he was no longer fighting back. 

Alo’ad didn’t dare make much noise, so he leaned in and whispered, “Please be quiet. If they hear you, you will be taken prisoner. Understand?”

The elf sat there frozen before tapping twice, the common sign for yes. 

Alo’ad released the elf’s face, who took a deep breath, eyes wide, but he did not scream. 

Alo’ad nodded and turned his attention to the wound, lifting the pad to check the damage. It was deep, but it did not smell of bile like it would if any organs had been ruptured. 

The half-taur grunted, happy enough as he replaced the pad, grabbing the elf by the upper arm to lift him away from the tree, reaching into his pack for bandages to wrap around the elf’s stomach. 

The elf squirmed a little, opening his mouth, but one stern look from Alo’ad quieted him. 

The elf stilled as Alo’ad finished wrapping the bandages, pinning it with a long thorn from a plant in the underbrush near the tree. 

The elf looked very strange indeed, sitting there with the bulky bandages meant for a minotaur wrapped around his middle. 

“Why?” the elf whispered in accented common. 

Alo’ad tilted his head a little. He just gave a little shrug. “Stay here,” he whispered. “I will find you a staff.”

He got up to hunt quickly through the forest for a stick for the small elf, looking up at branches with his knife in hand to cut one if he found a sturdy enough branch within his reach. 

………………………….

Bettelenian watched in amazement as the half-taur left to look for a staff. He rested a hand on his bandaged stomach, still trembling in the aftershocks of fear. He had been certain he was going to die when he looked up from his wound to see the enemy standing in front of him. Laying wounded, out of energy entirely to cast any spells, far away from the horses he trained and cursing the reckless decisions of his peers that brought him here, he thought he was going to die. 

When the half-taur had moved, quicker than a horse striking out with its back hooves, Bettelenian was sure he would wake up on the other side, wrapped in the robes of the dead, but instead he had only been slightly smothered as the half-taur messed with his wound. 

Bettelenian had been stupidly lucky. So very very lucky. He should have died, really. He had been thrown from his horse, upset by the attacking Taurs and difficult terrain and some Taur had managed to stick him, leaving for dead in the grass, a sneering face imprinted in Bettelenian’s head. He’d crawled to the tree before he’d run out of energy entirely. 

And here he was, patched up by a half-taur. It looked as though it were true that the human blood in any species made them softer. Maybe even foolish. 

Bettlenian shuddered at that thought. Now was not the time for blood snobbery. Really, he should be on his hands and knees thanking whatever human helped create this man who had come to save him. 

He heard a cracking of branches behind him and he turned his head to see the half-taur coming back, a sturdy branch in hand, tucking a huge knife away. 

His huge hand encompassed Bettelenian’s whole shoulder, hauling him up more than helping, giving him the staff and holding him until the dizziness had passed from him. 

“That way should be safe,” the half-taur said, pointing into the woods. “I will make sure they do not search this way for a while. Here.”

He pulled out a small bottle with something white and pearly inside. “Take a sip of this.”

“What is it?” Bettelenian asked, trying to hide his disgust. 

“It will give you energy to get back to an elven camp,” the half-taur said. “Take only a sip. It’ll feel like a kick to the chest.”

“I’ll do without,” Bettelenian said, trying to take a step away, but he was so tired his hands slipped on the staff, sending him to his knees. 

The huge enemy crouched by him, a huge hand on Bettelenian’s lower back, clearly able to grab him all the way around if he wanted to. The bottle was shoved under Bettelenian’s nose. “Take it.”

“No! I won’t have a barbarian’s brew! I-”

Something angry flashed through the half-taur’s eyes and he grabbed Bettelenian by his long hair, pulling him back and putting the bottle to his lips. 

The potion dribbled like honey into Bettelenian’s mouth - a bitter, numbing honey - sticking to his molars as he haltingly swallowed, and then the bottle was ripped away again. 

“Go,” the half-taur said darkly, pushing Bettelenian back up and shoving the staff into his hands. 

Bettelenian gasped as energy slammed into his body, indeed feeling like a kick to the chest as his heart pumped quicker and his urge to run kicked in as powerfully as it did when he found himself at the end of a spear. 

“Go,” the half-taur growled again. “May my father’s brewing knowledge carry you from here after the insult you gave to it. You are lucky I chose to let you go to live with your people instead of dying among mine.”

Bettelenian stumbled away before turning and fleeing as fast as he could, heavily using the staff as he did so. 

…………………………………………

“Alo’ad!” Underar called as the healer came back to meet with the other Taurs. They were setting up camp, laughing and singing together as they celebrated their victory and even Underar’s blood swam with the alcohol he had allowed himself to share in. “There you are! Where were you?”

“Likely finding a river to clean off in!” another Taur called. Kiadhi grinned at Alo’ad in a friendly, teasing way. “Just like your father, hey?”

Alo’ad rolled his eyes, though it was clear he had found a water source of some sort to clean off as he was somewhat damp and no longer smelled of the chase or war. “Perhaps, but you want your healer’s hands clean if he’s going to be digging around in your organs.”

“Only if the healer is in camp in the first place,” Underar said, a little bite in his tone now. “You were gone for a long time.”

Alo’ad shrugged, muscled shoulders rolling in a sleeveless tunic. “I was tired,” he admitted.

Underar scowled, stepping forward and putting a large hand on Alo’ad’s small shoulder, leading him away from camp as the Taurs who had been paying attention went back to their celebration. 

“Alo’ad,” the leader said softly. “You told me that you could keep up with us. If you have lied for the glory of running with the herd, I can understand that, but-”

“No, it’s fine. I can keep up. I just need longer breaks,” Alo’ad said firmly. “I have not slowed you down yet, and I do not intend on slowing you down in the future.”

Underar looked Alo’ad up and down, judging the small half-taur’s words before nodding. “I believe you, Alo’ad. Try to rest closer to the camp, understand?”

“I understand,” Alo’ad replied, nostrils flaring with some relief. 

“Good. Come join the celebration. We will need your voice to sing the victory chorus.”

……………………………………….

Bettelenian stumbled into an elven camp as the moon began to rise, the potion worn off now. He had no idea who’s camp he was in, but he wanted to cry in relief. 

He called out in pain, falling to his knees, his staff clattering to the ground. 

A tent near him lit up with mage light and soon elves were running to him, helping him up and calling for a healer. 

Bettelenian forced himself to stay conscious through pride alone as he was taken into a tent, a healer, wearing the symbols of the second highest order, pulled back his tunic only as far as necessary to deal with the injury. 

“These aren’t elven,” he said, confused. “What happened out there?”

Bettelenian opened his mouth to answer, but the Lord of sleep was already coming for him, taking his vision before carrying him to rest. 

Part 2

Let me know if you want to be on the tag list

[childofearthandstarryheaven]

In case what Melinoe is defending here is not obvious enough, this is how Ovid describe Arachne's ordeal:

Melinoe is justifying this. She thinks it's perfectly okay for Hecate to brew stuff that can make people's hair, ears and nose fall off and hand it to an Olympian to ruin anyone they choose.

If it wasn't Arachne's nose then Mel would care even less. But even if it was Arachne's nose, Mel still defends Hecate eagerly.

For Mel, it is Hecate and Athena's divine right to ruin random mortals. Why would Arachne - why would anyone - be dissatisfied with this natural hierarchy of the world?

Mel doesn't understand. Nor does she want to.

[nerves-nebula]

I got commissioned by @insomniac-dormouse to make a 2 page comic about my OC, Misha Mistaka, I haven't drawn him this much since high school so this was a blast! the thing with Misha is that I'm only allowed to draw him with my non dominant hand, so you can see he's a bit more wobbly than other stuff here haha. I think I was, like, 15 when I made him and it was mostly a way to cope with a lot of intrusive thoughts and trauma about abuse, particularly sexual and racial abuse. So his story is pretty rough, at least at first.

[ozthedm]

I love Astarion to death, I really do. He has some of the best moments in the game, and is probably my favorite of the origin companions...

Which is why I have to say as an Astarion-enjoyer that it is deeply concerning to me how his racism is brushed to the side so easily both in-game and in fandom.

And yes, he is canonically racist. I'm not going to go into his gnome comments or what early drafts of the character indicated about his past, since those are slippery slopes. But trust me, his in-game attitude towards the Gur (who are stand-ins for Roma, a real-life minority ethnic group) is enough.

"But it makes sense that he would be prejudiced against the Gur because of his backstory." Yes, it does. It's understandable, even. But that does not mean it shouldn't be called out and condemned beyond one optional line about not holding a grudge against an entire ethnic group because of his tragic backstory.

Also, it's possible he may have had this mindset even before his death. Astarion has a line indicating that, when he was a magistrate he'd made some sort of ruling against the Gur that angered some of them enough to attack him in the street.

Now to be fair, Astarion's history before Cazador is deliberately kept vague, so at a certain point this becomes conjecture. I still think this is worth mentioning because if we take his words at face value, then that goes beyond benign ignorance into the active participation of subjugating a minority group.

I want to be clear that I'm not saying Larian and Astarion fans are condoning racism. Again, I am an Astarion fan. I totally understand that saying "my blorbo is a racist" is deeply uncomfortable. I know that the idea of an amoral character is more fun than actually addressing that amorality is, in fact, bad.

But maybe that's the point of Astarion. In a choose-your-adventure game, he illustrates how easy it is to do and excuse terrible things while brushing them off as not a big deal.

It's just very weird to me that the narrative goes all in on addressing actions which Astarion had little to no control over, but hardly even acknowledges the harm he's done of his own free will. Especially when a major part of his arc is about how to move forward when you are responsible for others' suffering.

TLDR;

If a character (who isn't an antagonist) is intentionally written to be bigoted, that isn't something that should be easily glossed over by the writer or reader/viewer/player/etc.

[thenixkat]

[ID: A page from the Dungeon Meshi World Guide showing a comic in which Kabru (brown-skinned humanoid with dark hair), Falin (pale-skinned humanoid with pale neck length hair), and Laios (pale-skinned humanoid with short pale hair) talk about Kobolds (anthropomorphic dog people).

Text in the comic:

Panel 1: Laios: So there's a country of kobolds in the desert? Falin: I want to go! Kabru: There is, but you really can't expect to interact with them.

Panel 2: Kabru (narrating off-panel): The long-lived races took all the world's most fertile regions. All that's left is poor land.

Panel 3: Kabru continues: Short-lived races and demihumans fight over limited resources.

Panel 4: Kabru continues: The kobold here seems gentle... ...but as a rule, they're a cruel and aggressive race.

Panel 5: Kabru (now on panel): It's best to assume that communication is impossible. (Haah...)They are only demihumans.

Panel 6: Laios: (Maaan...) I guess they're like our mountain people, then. Falin: Mmhmm. It's just no use. Kabru: !?

Panel 7: Kabru: Mountain people? Are they a type of demihuman? Laios & Falin: Nope Laios: They're nomads who settled in the mountains nearby.

Panel 8: Laios: They're savage and you can't talk to them, so if they show up near the village, we have to kill them. Falin: If we let them go, they just cause trouble. Laios: Exactly Falin: Animals would be better. At least you can eat them. Kabru: Wha...?

Panel 9: Kabru: Enough! Don't talk about humans that way! I should have never started it!! /End ID]

Me when creators canonically make the protags racist:

[GD: A Black person looks disappointed at someone, blinks, and grabs their bag to leave. /End GD]

[neonazaleas]

new jersey dad in his mid 50s voice: Hey there Paulie how ya doing? Oh me? Never better. I hope you don't mind me stopping by right before the dinner rush. So anyways the funniest thing just happened. So Louise comes to me last night crying her eyes out. And she's sobbing uncontrollably and I'm here like what's wrong sweetheart? and she tells me that her and her future fiancé were out at an establishment last night to have a lovely evening. And she says to me, she says dad somebody called johnny a clanker last night.

Now I'm confused why anybody would do such a horrible thing to my lovely daughter so I ask her who? and she tells me it was the owner of the joint. And I'm asking her and asking her and finally she tells me which establishment.

And you see that's funny Paulie because she said it was this restaurant. That we are standing in right now and correct if I'm wrong but you own this place don't ya Paulie.

Now you know that you would never do something like that. I mean clanker please I thought to myself it's 2054. Paulie would never be a robophobe. And especially not to my future son in law. and especially not in front of my darling little girl that you've known since she was yay big. You wouldn't do that... right Paulie.

I'm going to need you to step outside.