where are all the black people

[Sam 19]

i mean, ok, so the first queen of andor was black but there arent any black andorans and none of andors neighbors are dark either. tarians are suppose to be dark and blue eyes rare and yet every one we meet from there seems to have blue eyes: siuan, that other blond aes seda, darlin, etc.

 

i cant tell if the sea folk are suppose to be black with their ever changing hair textures.

 

so then we are left with the "baddies" like tuon of the seanchan or the crazy folks across the waste. idk it all feels very lord of the rings and not in a good way.

[Vertex 23]

I think we've's talked about this before? I don't remember any specifics from WoT but fantasy tends to contain elves and dwarves and fairies rather than colorful humans, and I'm glad it isn't that pronounced in WoT.

 

I recently theorized that Star Trek is pleasing to people with not high EQ because the characters are split into different, clearly defined races with easily understood emotions. Klingons are aggressive and Vulcans are...Spock-ish, and so on. WoT has some simplifications like that too, with simple color codes for the Aes Sedai and clearly defined factions and bad guys.

 

On the other hand, a big theme in Star Trek is that the different races are more alike than not. Wot is moral like that too...except that men and women are fundamentally different in the brain, I guess.

 

Anyhow, hurrah for not lots of fantasy races in WoT, not hurrah for the gender issues and factions, and somewhere in between on ethnicity?

[Sam 19]

even star trek had black people

[Vertex 23]

Yes...Star Trek has been very good that way from the start.

[AshSnow 0]

Anyhow, hurrah for not lots of fantasy races in WoT, not hurrah for the gender issues and factions, and somewhere in between on ethnicity?

 

I'm also glad there's not a whole lot of different fantasy races.

 

I was never really aware of the different ethnicity's in the book. I still don't notice it...I guess I just read over it (Not that important to me I guess? Or I have an uncreative mind in this area, lol). Would have never noticed until MW pointed it out.

Edited June 11, 2010 by AshSnow

[Kaitlin 22]

You know, when RJ described this or that person as being "dark" in the books I thought he meant brown or black. But he meant it in the white "dark haired" way, I realized. It's pretty white, but I'm really glad like Nakie Thom that it isn't Star Treked out with different races of aliens representing different ethnicities and cultures.

 

Although original Trek had Uhura as a main character and LoTR was much much worse than that. The elves were just supposed to be like the "master race" and everybody was white except the bad guys.

 

I'm glad wot's not that bad either, though it does piss me off with that Tairen blue-eyed thing supposedly being rare, and the bad guys or the groups of people not central to the plot having more diversity. He had the chance too to make it not like every other fantasy book that way.

Edited June 12, 2010 by Sad Lan

[Marie 73]

You know, when RJ described this or that person as being "dark" in the books I thought he meant brown or black. But he meant it in the white "dark haired" way, I realized.

Except sometimes they really are black or brown which makes it really hard. It feels like some damn detective game trying to figure out what people look like.

[Kaitlin 22]

Except sometimes they really are black or brown which makes it really hard. It feels like some damn detective game trying to figure out what people look like.

 

Yeah, that's true. :/ It's like he expects us to intuitively understand which way he meant it. Bah!

[Vertex 23]

Well, the subject of skin coloring is kinda infected so whatever you say on the subject is bound to not please someone. So, keeping it vague is wise. *nods* Politics is really clever at it

[Kaitlin 22]

Wisdom and politics go together like naked scrabble played in the vacuum of space.

[Deadsy 19]

when he says someone is dark that is what he means. Not sure why you (Katie) changed your mind and decided he meant dark hair.

 

Tuon is black, and she's not evil, whatever people say . But Seanchan aren't all black. The majority are white. All Sea Folk are black. Semirhage and Ravhin are black. Every other Forsaken is white. I think there are Aes Sedai who are black (other than the 3 Sea Folk) but I can't remember which.

 

The reason we don't have a lot of black main characters is that most of the early story took place in Andor, and Andor is supposed to be based on England.

Edited September 13, 2010 by Deadsy

[Erika 4]

There are blacks they just are not pointed out as being "different".