D&D General RA Salvatore Wants To Correct Drizzt’s Racist Tropes

In an interview with Polygon, the author talks about how the drow are currently being redefined in D&D, and how he wants to be part of that process.

”But on the other hand, if the drow are being portrayed as evil, that’s a trope that has to go away, be buried under the deepest pit, and never brought out again. I was unaware of that. I admit it. I was oblivious.

Drow are now split into (at least) three types — the familiar Udadrow of Menzoberranzan, the arctic-themed Aevendrow, and the jungle-themed Lorendrow. Salvatore's new novel, Starlight Enclave, helps to expand the drows' role in the narrative.

D&D’s Drizzt books were built on racist tropes. R.A. Salvatore wants to change that

‘If the drow are being portrayed as evil, that’s a trope that has to go away’

www.polygon.com

In 2020 WotC made a public statement about how they would be treating drow and orcs going forward -- "Throughout the 50-year history of D&D, some of the peoples in the game—orcs and drow being two of the prime examples—have been characterized as monstrous and evil, using descriptions that are painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups have been and continue to be denigrated. That’s just not right, and it’s not something we believe in. "

Commitment to Diversity | Dungeons & Dragons

D&D continues to be made as diverse as possible with the reminder that only a diverse group of adventurers can overcome obstacles.

dnd.wizards.com

 

[Steampunkette]

Well I get that. But she's arguing that 1) we should study ancient attitudes about ethnicity and 2) they were not the same as modern ones.

No one has disputed that.

Zard suggested Africans in Rome were second class citizens implying widespread systemic racism.

Which these nine professors (and assistant professors) all flatly dispute.

 

[Zardnaar]

Pretty accurate, yeah. They had social biases based on race and ethnicity. But it didn't reach the level of modern Racism with a capital R.

One flaw is you're living now and didn't experience Rome.

No modern state any of us live in sends in the legions to salt the earth, destroy the city and sell the inhabitants into slavery.

The Romans outright destroyed various cultures. Most of us haven't experienced anything remotely equivalent.

Over here on social media everyone is convinced everything is terrible. They don't realize everywhere else is worse with very similar problems.

 

[Flamestrike]

"Okay but will he backpedal on Cattie-Brie’s whole “it’s good, actually, to murder children” thing?"

I have a much easier time believing children are inherently evil than Drow.

The rest of the people she said that to were pretty shocked and appalled though.

To be fair, it's not known if she meant it or it was just a stupid prejudiced thing she said.

Not many of us are immune to saying stupid naughty word.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

One flaw is you're living now and didn't experience Rome.

You can see the complete and utter hypocrisy of making this statement, right?

No modern state any of us live in sends in the legions to salt the earth, destroy the city and sell the inhabitants into slavery.

The Romans outright destroyed various cultures. Most of us haven't experienced anything remotely equivalent.

Over here on social media everyone is convinced everything is terrible. They don't realize everywhere else is worse with very similar problems.

 

[Charlaquin]

When did Thundercats end?
*asks Google
*gets answer: 1988
*thanks Google
*does a bit of mental math
I guess that I was -33 then. No wonder I didn't get the reference.

Wait, that can’t be right. That would mean you were born this year…

also, I thought it ended in 89.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Wait, that can’t be right. That would mean you were born this year…

Yeah, just caught that. Fixed it as you were posting this.

 

[Zardnaar]

Zard suggested Africans in Rome were second class citizens implying widespread systemic racism.

Which these nine professors (and assistant professors) all flatly dispute.

They effectively had a caste system kind if similar to say y the Ottomans.

You may not be directly persecuted (after the conquest that's debatable) but you didn't have the same legal rights as a citizen.

And that situation could last decades or centuries. It mattered when it came to legal recourse.

Technically you weren't second class citizen. You didn't have universal citizenship until the 3rd century. We're talking about a 600 year period of time things changed just like 2021 is different to 1421.

 

[Don Durito]

Pretty accurate, yeah. They had social biases based on race and ethnicity. But it didn't reach the level of modern Racism with a capital R.

That's circular though. People now want to define racism as a particular modern ideology.

If we do that, then of course, by definition it wasn't present in the ancient world.

But the average person would almost certainly look at the interaction between Severus and the Ethiopian soldier and recognise it as racist (and not just because they don't know the context - even then with context explained, it would still meet most people's understanding of racism).

Personally, while I think it's important to recognise there are particular modern ideologies at work, treating racism as if it were just that is flawed and dangerous. Dangerous because it fails to account for the basic tendency of people to stereotype people who they consider other, and because skin colour is always going to be one obvious way of marking people as other. We can't defeat racism just by undoing an ideology and reparing ongoing systematic effects. We also have to guard against it arising anew.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah, just caught that. Fixed it as you were posting this.

Haha that makes more sense. You’re still a baby though.

 

[MGibster]

also, I thought it ended in 89.

Oh, you just don't quit!