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OK. Let's talk about the f'ed-upness that is racialized evil in fantasy settings. (& neutral & positive racial essentialism as well). #fantasy
A while back now, I saw some cute sketches from an in-progress fantasy graphic novel and was like “Oh, I’ll retweet that.” Then I read the text. Big mistake. Huge. #fantasy
The text was along the lines of “This race is good and moral, unlike this other evil race. We don’t like [this other evil race]. Basically, a pure distillation of what bothers me about the Tolkien/D&D approach to fantasy races. #fantasy
In Tolkien’s work, we get the good races: hobbits, elves, dwarves, etc. Sure, they have flaws, but they’re all fundamentally good. #fantasy
Then you get the bad races: orcs, dragons, trolls, etc. They are B-A-D bad. #fantasy
Interestingly, humans are the only ones Tolkien grants free will to be good or evil. So now we know which race is the superior one. #fantasy
In D&D, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created a world with an alignment system, so now you could explicitly label entire sentient races like goblins and kobolds as evil. #dnd #rpg #tabletop
In the Redwall series (which I loved as a kid), Brian Jacques narrowly defines characters based on their species. Each species has its own dialect, culture, morality, with very little variation. #fantasy
Each creature’s identity is defined entirely by its species. There are no good weasels, there are no evil mice, there are no civilized shrews. It is super, super racist. #fantasy
Beyond the problems with letting race define everything about a person, most of these worlds are pretty deeply segregated, although this is somewhat less true in D&D, I’ve found. #fantasy
Orcs live over here and Elves live over there. “Good” races might ally with other “good” races and “bad” with “bad” when greed or crisis come into play, but mostly they don’t mingle. #fantasy
I don’t know enough about Tolkien, Gygax, Arneson, Jaques, or this graphic novelist to know if they had/have conscious racist beliefs, but that’s not really relevant, since their work reinforces racist ways of thinking. #dnd #rpg #tabletop #fantasy
In America, it’s easy to find people, including in positions of high power, who openly profess to believe certain groups of people are lesser and/or evil because of their race.
It’s also easy to find people, again in positions of high power, who hate certain religious groups, in large part because they have obviously racialized idea about certain religions, usually Judaism and/or Islam.
In the real world, racial essentialists are monsters. In fantasy they’re too often the heroes who are justified in their genocidal slaughter of goblins. #dnd #rpg #tabletop #fantasy
Racial essentialism in fiction normalizes it in the real world. It gives bigots stories where they can see themselves as heroes and the races they hate as inhuman monsters.
I love fantasy. I play Pathfinder, a D&D offshoot w/ the ugly racial essentialism of its progenitor. I’d probably still love the first few Redwall books if I reread them. I’m not saying scrap all trad fantasy, but do question it. #dnd #rpg #tabletop #fantasy
If you read Tolkien or authors he’s influenced, be aware of the worldview that is being put forward. Don’t unconsciously accept and internalize the racism of the setting. #fantasy
If you’re building a new fantasy world, don’t repeat the standard racism of Tolkien fantasy. Allow your creatures and races to be as rich, diverse, and multifaceted as people are in the real world. #fantasy
If you’re working within a fantasy world that is built around racial essentialism, push against that. Find ways to challenge, address, or overcome the inherent racism of the setting. #fantasy
Have a tribe of good ogres or a village of evil halflings pop up, or even better have people be a mix within their society. Good people and evil people can live on the same city block in America. Why not your world? #fantasy
PS, if you’re looking for fantasy without all that baggage, @saladinahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon is an excellent place to start, as is @ursulaleguin’s Wiizard of Earthsea series. #fantasy
For fantasy in a modern setting, there’s @djolder’s Shadowshaper series, Madeleine L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series, and Susan Cooper’s Dark Is Rising series. #fantasy
For games that push back, at least to some extent, against the notion that monster races are inherently evil, there’s No Country for Old Kobolds within a DND/Tolkien-ish world https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197677/No-Country-For-Old-Kobolds #dnd #rpg #tabletop #pbta
There’s probably more games & stories that don't propagate the racial essentialism of Tolkien or D&D. Happy to retweet suggestions. #fantasy #rpg #dnd #tabletop
Thought of another good source for #fantasy fiction: @PodCastle_org. Diverse worlds & stories from diverse authors.
Gaming suggestions from other folks D&D's Eberron setting & Spire https://rowanrookanddecard.com/product/spire-rpg/
Fiction suggestions from other folks: Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. (Not sure how I forgot to add Pratchett.)
An #rpg option for modern fantasy: Urban Shadows. http://www.magpiegames.com/our-games/urban-shadows/
For a furry #rpg that doesn't Redwall its races, the sci-fi Hc Svnt Dracones has been recommended. https://twitter.com/CatofManyFaces/status/1031224409791651841?s=19
For a #tabletop game, @wizards_magic has been recommended. https://twitter.com/Micorku/status/1031263805488209920
Another fiction recommendation: City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty https://twitter.com/CorriveauKip/status/1031268276599283712?s=19
Just FYI, for folks as ignorant as myself about Tolkien's politics, I've been told a couple times he was at least somewhat anti-racist, which seems to check out. He had no love for Nazis, so good start there.
