Is it?
Backwater essentially means an isolated place, which the Darkspear had been for some time before joining the Horde.
It could also mean a place in which no development is taking place. The Darkspear really have no major cities, no real technology compared to their neighbors.
And they literally do live in huts.
How is it racist and who is it racist too?
It’s racist to assume “backwater people who live in huts.” can’t read. There are countries where people live in huts, and can read. “Backwater” is a pejorative term, as well.
Also, the way you’ve described the Darkspear yourself is not much better.
It depends how it is used. Erevien has expressed multiple times that Trolls are his favorite race, so I don’t think he was using the term to express any contempt. But I suppose I can’t speak on his behalf.
In the modern era, sure. But would you say that people who live in less developed parts of the world are more or less likely to be literate than people who live in highly developed urban centers?
And what language am I using to describe the Darkspear that you find problematic?
Trolls are my favorite race. You won’t see me talking trash about them. However. From all the tribes there are, the Darkspear are the smallest and least developed one. So, I personally have no problem with having Blizzard portray them as such. If the Horde wants Troll allies who can write and read, they should have lend a hand to the Amani and Gurubashi. You know the big tribes who actually build massive temple cities. Who project mesoamerican culture like no others.
Or to have a better projection of what scales we are talking about here.
Darkspear are Polynesians.
Gurubashi are Aztecs.
Better for you to understand now?
Well
Darkspear are trolls
Gurubashi are also trolls
There is culture inspiration, but they aren’t any one irl ethnic group.
Polynesians lived in straw huts villages mostly. Aztecs built cities all over the mexican highlands. That is the difference I want to portray. If you are looking for “civilised” trolls then you maybe should stop slaughter the ruling tribes in their respective home turfs. The fall of Troll civilisation can be faulted to the Horde here since it was Vol’jin who lead the major assaults against them back in Cataclysm.
So? That’s still racist terminology.
Yikes, assuming less developed parts of the world don’t have highly developed urban centers. This isn’t even relevant to the issue.
Lots of the reasons you’ve given about why you think the Darkspear would be mostly illiterate apply to people in the real world.
No it’s not. It’s just a word used to refer to a less developed part of the world.
… That’s what a “less developed” place is. You have highly developed, metropolitan cities… and less developed rural areas. It is relevant, because highly developed areas have the infrastructure that supports literacy. This is just civics.
Care to explain?
Classical Troll Civilization went into decline thousands of years before the Horde ever showed up on the scene. The only piece of it still truly shining is Zandalar. All the other empires are basically collapsed with scattered tribes of their descent. There isn’t really any proof they lost the ability to write/read Zandali but there isn’t proof the other way, either.
A lot of this would be cleaned up if they would just give a lore book on the races of Azeroth. We are stumbling about blind and arguing over if we are all in fact touching the same elephant, otherwise.
They still had their hubs before the Horde came. But now Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub are empty. And that is due to the Horde attack on them. The Horde doomed the remainders of troll civilisation.
I don’t know if anyone noticed but Christie Golden pulled all her promo for her new WoW book off her Twitter.
It’s an insult. Nobody says that in a neutral manner.
You said less developed “parts of the world,” which implies countries, and assumed they didn’t have urban centers.
Your justifications about them needing to prioritize survival skills instead of reading or writing seem to rely on assumptions about real-world people.
That is not true. You can say “Little backwater town” as a means of describing a little, out of the way, sleepy place. Some of my older relatives have retired to backwater towns.
Does it?
Which people would those be?
The article implies that it was delayed because of publication issues not because of anything that’s in the book.
Or because it contains spoilers which shouldn’t come out until patch 9.2 is released.
Can someone please explain how Orcs are “African American” coded?
Short answer is they aren’t. Orcish society is based on general tribal society independent of race. Many people though see tribal society and automatically think “African” because 99% of modern depictions of tribalism come from Africa where it is still visibly extant.
Digital editions were pulled too, and publication issues wouldn’t affect them.
Another delay, perhaps?
Even if you don’t consider stuff in the book racist, it’s still an absolute trashfire in terms of lore. Even if it’s ‘oh look the nice fantasy elf is teaching the nice fantasy troll how to read in this fantasy world’, it’s absolutely pants on head and bereft of any sort of prior lore connections or coherence.
Zekhan is a Shaman, and he’s not a novice either. Shaman are the spiritual leaders of the Horde, they are the diplomats and the advisors. The more powerful a Shaman is, the more educated and experienced you can ascertain they are, because their abilities are linked directly to their diplomacy and education. To gain the favor of the local elements a Shaman needs to commune with them, know the local culture, and negotiate. This is especially true on the Horde.
The Shaman was and is meant to be the Horde’s equivalent to the Paladin, with the latter generally being educated leaders of men and women, a balance of the cerebral nature of the Priest and the martial nature of the Warrior. Zekhan would have been trained, educated, and exposed to a variety of cultures within the Horde from the moment he showed aptitude for the elements. His very first appearance we see him crack the earth open like an egg, he is not a novice Shaman at all.
The idea that he would need to be taught how to read and write, by anyone, at this point, is absurd.
Because they’re essentially “work for hire” agents. Blizzard Inc. is the true “author” when it comes to rights. Kind of how like William Shatner is the “author” of his books even though he didn’t put one single word to paper.
To be fair, shamanic traditions are generally passed orally in a master to apprentice tradition. in most cases, they come from cultures without writing.
The Shaman is meant to be the Paladin’s equivalent in game mechanic PVP balance terms only. They’re not meant to be cultural clones.