Thulean Archives

Yesterday I talked about Dungeons and Dragons and political correctness in Dungeons and Dragons. And a few commenters said that, well, just because they don't show everybody as white or stuff like that, doesn't mean that they are, you know, having an agenda. Are they correct? Let's find out. I'm going to give you a little quote from this book that I'm currently reading with very little enthusiasm. Agents of Mordor, "brackets", evil men. These wicked men have been sent forth from Mordor to procure horses for their dark master. Their clothing and curved swords mark them plainly as hailing from the south. So if you're in Rohan, where everybody have straw colored hair and look like nords, and you see someone from Far Harad, which is like the equivalent of the Middle East or Africa, you immediately, you're going to identify them as coming from the south, right? By their clothes and their curved swords. That's how you identify people from Africa and from Far Harad, right? No.^[1][2] And you also have some pre-generated character sheets in these modern role-playing games.^[3] There you have Aelfilda. It's a woman, right? Because women are famous for being adventurers in Tolkien's Middle-earth. Next page, down here, I think it's supposed to be a guy, I can't really be sure.^[4] Maybe it's saying something in between. Don't know. And here we have a guy, writers of Rohan. Herubrand. And then you have another woman, Saewara of Starkhorn. And then you have the last one, Thuna, another woman.^[5] Yeah, because Tolkien was steeped in female warriors and female adventurers, right? Actually, I would say that Tolkien made a big point with Eowyn about the fact that women are not warriors in Middle-earth. And that women being warriors is a very rare event, something really strange in Middle-earth.^[6] In this game, though, 50% of all adventurers are women. The leader of the scouts of Rohan chasing some bandits, some ruffians, it's a woman.^[7] At least half of all the heroes, all the warriors in this game, are women. If you're a woman and you want to play a roleplaying game and you want to be a warrior, fine, be one. But if you are, you're an exception, you're something special, you're something out of the ordinary. It wasn't the case in history or prehistory that women were warriors. And it wasn't the case in Tolkien's Middle-earth either. So if you want to make a game that is supposed to be about that setting, why aren't you following Tolkien's view in that context? Why are you making up stuff in that context? This is not about Tolkien's world. This is some social justice warrior bullshit version of Middle-earth. I'm sorry to say so. Naturally also, there are no differences between men and women when you create the characters.^[8] None whatsoever. They have exact same abilities, strengths and weaknesses or whatever. They're identical. Just like in real life, right? We're identical. This little boy can obviously only be identified as a Nordic person from the clothes he's wearing and the bird he's waching. So no, it's not by chance that in Dungeons and Dragons, the only image of a white male you can find in the list of classes is one that has a negative overtone. Or undertone, I don't know. Everything else, woman or colored person. Not by chance.^[9][10]

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1. Ah yes, I can see from their clothes and spears, that these riders are from Rohan. if they had worn other clothes and carried other arms, I would NEVER know from whence they came.
2. Ah yes, I can see from their clothes and curved swords, that these men are from Far Harad if they had worn other clothes and carried other arms, I would NEVER know from whence they came.
3. Because we are all the same. There is only one human race. Right?
4. Transgender?
5. Actually that is not the last one. There is another guy at the back. 50% women.
6. If they were who would raise the children? Or make children?
7. Women didn't even ride horses like men do, in the past, because it was bad for them. They would rather have children and stay healthy.
8. In ANY of these 'modern' RPGs.
9. I am sure you understand WHY they are doing this. If not, please do some thinking.
10. 100% "politically incorrect"