#like i do have many qualms with rice but her vampires at least reminded you constantly that they are not human

[maxellminidisc]

As much as a do like a good vampire romance, I think the watering down of the horror element of the vampire in recent years has been an absolute bummer. There is of course, much to be said about the rather awful antisemitic history of how the modern idea of the vampire came to be and how that in itself is at the root of far too much of the vampiric horror element itself. There have been interesting attempts to kind of rewrite that or even give vampires better origins rooted in different cultures outside the European antisemtic lense, such as Silvia Moreno Garcia's Mexican vampires in Certain Dark Things being based on Maya mythology (which is a personal fave in my years at looking at global vampiric entities).

But I havent seen anybody in recent years really combine a smart rewrite of vampiric origin with genuine and potent horror and violence. The appeal and the scary bit of vampires to me is that they are seductive and that seduction is a marker of violent bloody doom. There is something sexy about courting death and danger yes, but I miss how courting said death and danger is in fact fucking DANGEROUS LMAOO like I miss the monstrous in the monster you know? I dont like how vampires of more contemporary literature are just broody and tortured. I want more vampires that lavish in their monstrosity and violence!!!!

[thenightling]

The several times protagonists have secretly kept slaves

Please note:  This is not a “Call out” post.  It is not meant to shame anyone or tell anyone that their favorite characters are problematic.  Many of these characters come from cultures that are slave based (Ancient Greece / Ancient Nordic / Medical Fantasy) and realistically many of these characters simply would not know any better, in regard to what they do, even though, yes, there were people even in those eras and cultures that were anti-slavery.  

This post is partly to remind us that even otherwise good characters can be seriously flawed and also show how often film and TV writers have written slave portrayals while making careful effort to not call it slavery...

Now on with the list...

1.     Faeries:

Sorry to spoil your view of sparkling pretty pixies but faeries (in folklore) are usually a slave culture.  In most folklore faeries will lure away humans (often children) and promise them immortality as one of them, at the price of their freedom.  Fae have a caste system and usually these humans turned into fae are kept as slaves.

A.   Mab currently owns Harry Dresden in The Dresden Files novels.

B.  In Lost Girl, the character of Lauren was literally owned by the Light Fae, and made to wear a pendant that showed her status as a slave of the Light Faeries.

C.   In the original folklore Puck was actually Oberon’s slave and this is how he is usually portrayed in pop culture.  In some lore he is the bastard son of Oberon and a human woman and Oberon decided to keep him as his slave.  

D.  in Disney’s Gargoyles Puck IS portrayed as Oberon’s slave.  The word “servant” is a favorite stand in for slave in Disney properties but it’s very clear he is a slave.  He wears manacle bracer cuffs similar to the Genie’s in Aladdin, which were the physical representation of the Genie’s enslavement.  

And Oberon literally says (in the Gargoyles episode called The Gathering) “My queen comes and goes as she pleases.   Puck is another matter.  He forgets that he is MINE to command.”  

E.   In the original Midsummer Night’s Dream play by William Shakespeare, Titania and Oberon are arguing over who gets a certain boy and what they intend to do with him.

F.   In Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, Titania seduces Shakepseare’s son into eating faery fruit and later takes him as her slave.  

G.  Also in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, Titania gives Nuala (a faery woman) to Morpheus to use as a slave.  Morpheus is very reluctant to accept this gift as he does not condone slavery.  

F.  Rumplestiltskin has no qualms about slavery in the TV show Once Upon a Time.  Granted The Enchanted Forest does appear to be a slave culture and Rumplestiltskin is a kind of imp.   So there may be some faery-like instincts even though he dislikes faeries.

G.  The Black Faery in Once Upon a Time keeps child slaves for the duration of their lives.     

H.   The poem The Stolen Child by William Butler Yeats is about a child being enticed away to be a faery.  The fae honestly think it is better to serve as a faery slave for all eternity than to be human.

I. The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti depicts goblins trying to entice human girls with their enchanted fruit, which ensnare you to them.

J.   In the movie Maleficent, the shapeshifter (formerly just raven) named Diaval promises to be Maleficent’s servant in return for her having saved his life.   Disney has a habit of using the word “Servant” in place of slave, as we established with Puck.  Welcome to another “servant” of Disney lore where the word “servant” is being used in place of another s word.  Much like Puck in Disney’s Gargoyles this “servant” isn’t paid and is seen, by all the characters, as being owned by Maleficent.  Granted, Diaval’s enslavement does seem to be willing.  

He also seems to be in love with Maleficent so this could delve into a whole different kind of enslavement besides the “unpaid servant” version.  

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2.    The slavery in Once Upon a Time:

The Disney Fairy Tale / Soap Opera (It was a prime time drama but that WAS a soap opera.  Don’t be offended by the term.  It was a decent one) aired on ABC from 2011 until 2018.     

A.  There is one off-handed scene where a castle guard mistakes Hook (who is in disguise) as a common slave.  This makes it clear that The Enchanted Forest (at last in Regina’s castle is a slave culture.   

B.  When Rumplestiltskin agrees to help Belle’s father deal with the war in episode 12 of season 1 (Skin Deep), it’s in exchange for his daughter.  Rumple considers her his property. The word “servant” is used repeatedly but this is very blatantly a slave situation until he releases her.    The only argument against calling it a slave culture is that she volunteered for it and her father was paid in the aid in the war.  But that can arguably be semi-willing enslavement and that her father was paid for her.  She was purchased.  Note: He does ultimately release her though.  And he falls in love with her.

Note: Rumplestiltskin, himself, is a slave to whomever possesses the magical dagger that gave him his powers. 

C.   Regina kept Graham (the sheriff of season 1 of Once Upon a Time) as her slave.  Regina genuinely held his heart and could kill him at her whim if he didn’t obey her.  And she did ultimately kill him. The writers downplayed this heavily later when they wanted the audience to see Regina as reformed and heroic.

D.  During the Once Upon a Time musical episode in season 6, Snow White and Charming agree to pay Hook for transportation to Regina’s castle (which they never needed before...)  That payment?  They would give him Rumplestiltskin, whom they held prisoner at the time. 

 Not only is this enslavement, it’s amplified to far, far worse since they were standing right there while Hook was literally singing about planning to skin him alive.  They were giving away someone at their mercy, for transportation they don’t need, knowing perfectly well that he would be killed slowly and painfully.  And they didn’t even falter for a second or think twice about their own plan or have a moment of conscience.  (God, I hate those later seasons...)

E.   The Black Faery keeps child slaves that she raises into enslavement.  Granted she was a villain so this is kind of predictable.  

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3.  Aquaman:

A.  Aquaman is an interesting one.  Thanks to Crisis of Infinite Earths in the mid-1980s this was reconned but there was a storyline in the Aquaman comics where a coup rose up against Aquaman and wanted to instigate a war with another underwater kingdom.  Aquaman thwarted this coup and then... gave all the men involved (and there were a lot!) to the kingdom they almost went to war with, to use at their leisure as slaves...

B.   Atlantis’s culture is based on Ancient Greece with some medieval attributes.  It’s glossed over but this entails slavery.

C.   In DC Universe online, the MMORPG, when you play out “Story mode” there is a mission where The Atlantians are trying to enslave humans in the Suicide Slum in Metropolis. It is true that this is the direct result of Circe manipulating Arthur (Aquaman) but he already had slavers and magical equipment specifically for transforming humans into water breathing merpeople so that they cannot escape their underwater captivity.   

Just imagine the awkward conversations in The Watchtower when the other DC heroes like Wonder Woman and Superman confront him on having an elaborate and obviously long-ready plan for enslaving humans. 

 Note: Another gloomy fact, you never can rescue everyone who gets enslaved and there are simply too many NPCs scattered around the slum.   So you know at least some got taken.

Wonder Woman’s own culture is based on Ancient Greece but as far as I can tell Themyscira does not have slavery whereas Atlantis does.

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4.  Thor:

Let’s be blunt.  Vikings were a slave culture.  Asgard in Marvel comics and in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) seems to have evolved to medieval Europe but it is still a culture of slavery.

1.  According to Marvel comics lore, all the myths are true. There is myth where (after one of the children is tricked into accidentally laming one of Thor’s goats) two farm children are taken as Thor’s “servants” (slaves).  They are made immortal servants of the Aesir (Asgardians) but they’re still slaves.   

2.   In the comics it’s much more blunt that there are slaves in Asgard.

3. There is a deleted scene in Thor (the first movie) where Loki messes with a castle “servant.”  Note: Norse Viking culture almost never had actual paid servants.  Even the Skalds (storytellers) were slaves.)

(Image of a viking Skald AKA a Storyteller.   

4.   In Thor: Tales of Asgard, the character of Algrim (A Drow AKA a Dark Elf), was the tutor of young Thor and Loki.  He is a ‘servant” of Odin and deeply resents his status of unwilling / unpaid “servant” as the Asgardians spin the situation that he was essentially shown mercy and given shelter and position within Asgard (be it an inescapable one.)   This is probably one of the first instances of Marvel dancing around the word slave, which gets poked fun at in Thor: Ragnarok.   

5.  Loki (who is the protagonist of this particular story) sleeps with a concubine slave in Marvel Knights: Blood Brothers.

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5.  The Vampire Marius:

Anne Rice’s writing is no stranger to slavery.   

A.  Armand was purchased by Marius by slavers in the late middle ages / early renaissance period and though he served as apprentice he was owned by Marius, whom he casually referred to as his master.

B. Later, in Interview with the vampire, Armand kept a slave boy of his own, whom slept in a literal gilded cage, and was often used as a snack by the theatre vampires.   It’s believed the boy eventually died. 

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5.   Aladdin:

This one is pretty obvious.  Anyone who owns the magick lamp has the genie as their slave.  This one is actually addressed, more or less, in story.  But the only character who actually uses the word “slave” to describe the situation is the villain Jafar.  Well, at least he’s honest...

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6.   Stardust:

In the novel Stardust (and film adaptation) the protagonist, Tristran (Tristan) attempts to capture the anthropomorphisized star to give to the woman he is infatuated with, as a giftl.  

Even after he learned the star was a sentient human-like being he still wanted to deliver her as a gift.   Fortunately things ultimately turned out very different.  

Tristan’s own mother had been enslaved by a witch.  

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7.  Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

A. Though Morpheus is firmly against slavery he has many subjects who identify as his servants and I do not think there is a method of payment in The Dreaming.  And it’s not as if they can quit.

B.   Titania takes Shakespeare’s son to be her personal slave.

C.  Puck was Oberon’s slave and he escapes from his master during a performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream during an issue of Sandman. 

D.   During the storyline, Sandman: Season of Mists, Titania gives Nuala (a faery woman) to Morpheus as a gift.  Morpheus is against slavery and Titania knows it.  The implication is she hopes he will not accept the gift as an excuse for the faeries to see this as a slight against them, as an excuse for retaliation - as at the time various supernatural beings wanted the key to Hell, which Morpheus had just obtained.

Morpheus refused to give Nuala any commands and simply allowed her to stay in the castle.   Later when the faeries came to reclaim her in Sandman: The Kindly Ones, Morpheus enchanted her necklace so that she could call to him for a boon of any kind as payment for her service to him, as a means to make the situation not enslavement.

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 8.   Dracula:

This should be a no brainer but since there are some stories where Dracula is the protagonist people tend to forget Dracula has slaves.  Historically Vlad III of Wallachia did NOT like the idea of the Ottomans taking his own people as slaves but as a vampire he keeps the occasional personal slave, such as Renfield.

Renfield is semi-willing even though he fears his master.  He was promised immortality in exchange for his eternal service as Dracula’s slaves and in some depictions such as Love at First Bite, this clearly is the case.

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