Levi
[XIV, but also fandom in general] Gettin' real tired of people who want to call a piece of media out on something so badly, but there's nothing to call them out on so they make something up that's insane
Levi
Like every 2 months I have the misfortune of someone trying to call FFXIV racist over Tural or Thavnair
Levi
like, I ran into someone the other day claiming that FFXIV was racist against Native Americans because "the devs hate the Hhetsarro"
Levi
and when asked on why the "devs hate the Hhetsarro" the answer they gave is "because it felt like whenever we have anything with the Hhetsarro the devs are trying to rush through it so the don't have to deal with it" which is a complete nonsense answer
Levi
if the devs didn't want anything to do with Hhetsarro and by extension, Native Americans, they would simply just not put them in the game at all or not give them MSQ focus
Levi
Koana having conflicted feelings towards them doesn't mean he's reflecting someone's racist views
Levi
Koana himself even acknowledges that it's irrational
Levi
Speaking of Koana, the way he's become a lightning rod for the worst fans kinda sucks
Levi
"Koana should have been the main character of Dawntrail instead of shitty Wuk Lamat" is an incredibly common L take I keep seeing
Levi
like, I think "[Fictional Character] would hate you" is kind of stupid and cringe, but, this really is a case of "[Fictional Character] would hate you"
Levi
People who prop up Koana as the only "good" part of Dawntrail are so fucking transparent lmao
Levi
anyway also a few weeks ago, and this interaction has been living rent free in my head ever since, a person on bsky really tried to argue that Thavnair is racist because it had no history of colonization, therefore it just wasn't possible for it to be so advanced
Levi
like, they really thought they were going to bat for Indians here
Levi
also they were mad that there was "no Dancer lore" despite the fact that there's an entire temple dedicated to the Dancer job in the actual middle of the map
Levi
and the MSQ even makes you detour there briefly to tell you about it
Levi
like it's not optional. Nidhana makes you go there and makes you learn about Kadjaya
EsperBot
Lmao what re: that Thavnair take
Levi
they really were like "I'm struggling to understand how they could become so advanced without colonization"
Levi
and like, even if you believed that interaction with "white" cultures was required to become advanced
EsperBot
So anti racist they overflowed and wrapped right around to being straightforwardly racist
Levi
Thavnair is the biggest and most important nation for international trade
Levi
It's so important that even the Garleans didn't try to take it over
Levi
Thavnair is arguably the most "advanced" civilization in the game it's insane
Levi
They're the only nation that Sharlyan truly respected pre Endwalker and you could argue that Sharlayan's isolationist policies held them back and made them lag behind Thavnair
Levi
Also like, back when the Racist Ishgardian RP group was the scandal of the day, one of them said something along the lines of "I was hoping Zoraal Ja would try to invade, because it would be hilarious to see his forces slaughtered by Ishgardian cannons"
Levi
like
Levi
did u forget Zoraal Ja had lasers
Levi
and huge dropships that airdrop mechanical soldiers wherever and whenever he wants
Levi
Anyway the broader point is, a lot of people only think proper ethnic representation "counts" is if those characters come from white backgrounds and have white upbringings
Levi
Koana is good because he was Sharlayan-pilled, but every other Turali character is racist because they're Turali
Levi
Thavnair is an almost ideal country that produced the single most important technological innovation in the entire story (Warding Scales) but it's racist because the Hannish characters have accents
Levi
like it's important to call out when things are bad, but "I just feel like it's racist" (a phrase I have seen MULTIPLE TIMES regarding these topics) is not a valid reason
FISH CITIZEN
I’ve seen several people be like “thavnair is orientalist except for the dragon” and I genuinely don’t know if I’m not academically in the know enough or if it’s just like “well it WAS orientalist in the past”
FISH CITIZEN
Which like, before actually going there yeah all the Thavnair stuff was orientalist as hell
FISH CITIZEN
I don’t know I feel like they actually tried to do better
FISH CITIZEN
As far as Xak Tural goes I did see someone of indigenous background criticize it for leaning harder on Western tropes that are the result of colonization than indigenous culture, which I did kind of feel myself
FISH CITIZEN
It’s kind of tough for me to analyze simply because I am not of those cultures and outside of a few instances where like, one person of South Asian background was really happy with how Thavnair was improved from past portrayals of that culture and the indigenous American person who was critical of it, I don’t know the backgrounds of the people complaining
Levi
The Rroneek saga being left unresolved in 7.0 and waiting until 7.1 to resolve it was certainly a choice
Levi
But yeah like, if someone can actually provide a solid, concrete reasoning sure
Levi
but most of what I see around is "it's racist because of vibes" or "the devs are Japanese of course it's racist"
FISH CITIZEN
Yeah definitely
doomed 🤖 yaoi
Ewwww "Koana should have been the lead" is L level take
doomed 🤖 yaoi
also i do think there's a lot of lore and care tucked into side content
FISH CITIZEN
i do feel like it's weird that koana has literally never engaged with solution 9 even though he's the tech guy
doomed 🤖 yaoi
It's just not served up in the main story for you
doomed 🤖 yaoi
So ironically I think people who complain about this stuff kind of out themselves as people who do the exact same thing of not trying to explore/get to know the places they're visitjng
FISH CITIZEN
i remember doing the pointing guys meme when i wandered onto the wikipedia for a mayan city and it was like "there's some evidence they noticed fossilized fish and put them on display" when there was a sidequest in dawntrail about the yok huy finding fossilized sea creatures and having a religious ritual around them