Western fantasy as a whole has always had an issue with racial coding and it is not something limited to Orcs, D&D, or Lord of the Rings.

It is a symptom of a pervasive and systematic issue.

I ain& #39;t black, but I am no stranger to monstrous coding as an Indigenous man.

I know new world narratives, lost cities of gold, cannibalism and seeing them attached to messes of feather, fringe, and bone.

I know the word "primative" being attached to things clearly supposed to represent me.

I know being told were supposed to be stupid, but wise.

I know that there is always some van painting idea about sacred things. Lot of spirit animals and totems put to cultures far removed from those cultures. You know, if they didn& #39;t do the blood magic thing

I know too many narratives justifying genocide as "progress" or "uplifting" people and saying it was justified because the monsters were defending their home.

You know what I almost never see?
Us as people. Telling our own stories. Being told we& #39;re allowed to exist in this space as ourselves.

That& #39;d be "unrealistic" . So I am the monster, sometimes "the good one".