Post #1631221
2026-04-24 00:58 UTC
Replies (3)
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@corbin@awful.systems 2026-04-24 13:53
Tassadar’s probably the most telling. For those not in the know, the Protoss are noble savages modeled after samurai, templar, and Native Americans. Tassadar in particular is modeled after the stories of legendary Hiawatha and real person Geronimo, first uniting the Protoss under a single banner and then sacrificing himself in a cutscene at the end of a big battle before repeatedly re-appearing as a ghost in later titles. On one hand, Tassadar’s the most influential Protoss in the entire setting; after his death, everybody switches in-game from a greeting revering ancient hero Adun (“in taro Adun”) to a greeting mentioning new hero Tassadar (“in taro Tassadar”). But on the other hand, he’s a general and warrior deeply enmeshed in a military tradition which demands his unwavering total sacrifice in order to achieve any progress. Tassadar is a racist stereotype embodying the idea of stoic acceptance; when Protoss say “it is a good day to die” they are echoing tropes about Native American beliefs. Not gonna touch the Undertale reference today.
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@YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 2026-04-25 04:02
Given the Star Wars discussion alluded to in the next paragraph, I think we’re looking at “try rereading your first book while being less of a self-important dumbass.” Like, I get it, Revan is one of the best characters in that canon, and where Vader fell for very human if selfish reasons Revan pushes even farther and was using the dark side to conquer the galaxy in order to try and save it from… being conquered by a sith empire that drew great and terrible power from the dark side of the force. What happened to Vader again? Oh yeah, he sought the dark side for the power to save his wife and became a great and terrible warlord by calling on his rage and despair over… killing his wife. Like, the fact that trying to gain power through the dark side is at best a self-,destructive shortcut that will undermine your actual goals is pretty goddamn consistent, and this is Star Wars Legends, a canon not exactly known for being internally consistent. I’m not saying you need to “agree” with that premise, and I think the franchise as a whole is usually too conservative, with the passivity of the light sife being a big part of that. It’s just deeply absurd to me for that to be the takeaway from that movie. Like all the people who’s main takeaway from Jurassic Park was “man, wouldn’t it be cool if we had real dinosaurs?” who then went on to be the victims and villains of Jurassic World.
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@istewart@awful.systems 2026-04-24 17:56
I'll have you know there's lots of important WoW lore in the novels!!!!