Might as well not have anyone at all on Azeroth teaching or being taught a language that did not originate from their people.
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Is it wrong that I’m more annoyed at the inconsistences / inaccuracies of the lore than the racial stereotype stuff?
We all know the stereotypes have been in Warcraft for a long while, but I also know that those stereotypes aren’t an actual reflection of the real life cultures that Blizzard may or may not be referencing. So as a result, I’ve always sort of just rolled with it.
Now if Blizzard wanted to do right by those cultures, then I don’t see an issue with that, but they have get it right for that to work.
Or else Exploring Kalimdor happens.
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Respectfully, I’d put forward that they are definitely somewhat based on the European elf archetype—that’s undeniable—but nowhere near wholly; and I think that matters, IF we’re going to turn these fictional races into representatives of the culture(s) their creators drew upon to make them INSTEAD of just homages that are seperate and stand alone. Much of their culture is very ottoman-inspired, too, and one can also say that there is an eastern influence as well—it’s not just European. We should all be careful not to cherry pick parts to prove an assertion.
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That’s the thing some people here aren’t getting.
No. No, it’s not wrong.
I’m not upset by the mild racism, just acknowledging it. I’m more upset that this book, intended to give us an updated Kalimdor, gave us Cataclysm with a side order of inaccuracies, BfA with tasteless night elf blaming, and yes, a light racism sauce.
The only ones acting like the racism is the end-all, be-all of criticism are the ones denying racism (again mild, especially for Blizzard) ever existed.
Be more upset that the Dark Portal existed 10k years ago and night elves are bad for wanting vengeance because Saurfang’s friend thinks they are.
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It really smacks of under-editing.
Lots of things that should have been caught – including, yes, the eyegrabbing unfortunate implications, but also Gazlowe’s personality transplant and no survivors from Taurajo.
And if they HAD to reset it to Cata baseline, they could have been more interesting about it. Particularly with the Shatterspear. A lot of things have happened to those guys in the past decade.
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I saw an article explaining the racism bit, using goblins depiction as being anti-Semitic. But the writer seemed to overlook the fact that goblins in warcraft are so over-the-top capitalistic, that it crosses over to absurdity.
I don’t think any normal person would view these goblins as being meant to depict Jewish people or any other real life culture. They’re more Looney Tunes than anything else.
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If they had to set it to the Cataclysm baseline, they could of focused on things that you dont have to put on the map directly. Lots of rumors and other stuff like that.
Also getting your basic facts right… that be nice. IF facts are intended to be wrong, frame things in a way that make it clear it is the in world author who is unsure rather than the real world one.
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Not gonna lie, the Goblin-Jew comparison was immediate for me, but only because I lived in NJ with a few Jewish neighbors. Without that exposure, I don’t know if I would have seen it as quickly.
The Zekham and Lor’themar went past me until it was pointed out the connotations of it. My initial reaction was more “uhg. Why this guy as the writer? Why not anyone else? Oh, and of course the naive trollboi has to be illiterate too, on top of his Talaji crush. Why Blizz gotta make him more annoying each time? Can we get a nuance please?”
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I certainly agree that is a valid point to raise. I am not entirely seeing the ottoman aspects of their culture, care to elaborate? Not trying to be obtuse, but I generally see an overall basic High Elven archetype with the (Sin/Quel)'dorei.
I would argue that the Kaldorei are far more strongly rooted in eastern identity, largely Japanese with a dash of Korean. You see this both Culturally in their Shinto-like animistic belief structure (where Elune takes the place of Amaterasu) and symbology (such as sacred trees tied with Shimenawa ropes). You also see it architecturally—Moongates are basically Torii Gates, full stop.
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I like Zekhan…
But it’s mostly because I refuse to let anyone ruin the Darkspear for me, including Blizzard.
I like my tall blue oddballs.
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I don’t know about Ottoman influences, specifically, but Blood Elves have Middle Eastern influence, with their architecture, for example. The Silvermoon inns are also filled with hookahs.
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Ah I had forgotten the hookahs! That is fair. I had never considered that their buildings were middle eastern influenced, they always seemed very art nouveau stylized to me.
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The ottoman-period’s influence—or to perhaps be more general, the middle-eastern influence—can be seen in parts of their architecture, but perhaps more overtly in how they decorate space and themselves through fashion. The most obvious thing to point to are the shisha (hookah) you can find all over the place. You’ll also note that several spaces provide ornate cushions and rugs as opposed to chairs and tables. These examples are primarily superficial, sure, but they are no doubt a strong part of the visual story—identity—of the blood/high elves.
Consider, too, one of the key minds behind the fleshing-out—the development—of the blood elves: Af-he-who-should-not-be-named-frasiabi. His heritage, I am willing to wager, was a strong influence on him when creating the blood elves entry into BC.
I’d also add that there’s a Roman influence in Silvermoon’s design. For example, you don’t just move through a large gap to enter another district; you must go around a central pillar. It’s a great strategic design, from a defender perspective.
So, in my mind, for one to insinuate—or outright state—that ‘the European-influenced Elves are talking down to the Afro-Caribbean-influenced trolls’… It’s just cherry picking. The fact is that these fictional races have many real world cultural influences.
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I certainly see and concede your points on ottoman influences. I have not been in Silvermoon in awhile, so I forgot they had cushions all over the place. The Roman influence is something I’d expect a bit, as the Kaldorei Highborn had very bluntly roman coded architecture before they redid it in Legion. It is still there to a degree if you look, though.
I would say, however, that the forward foot of the white elf teaching the PoC coded troll in this instance gives bad optics even if it is an unfair assertion. Blizzard should have been more conscientious of how such things may come across and written accordingly. They tend to, as I have said, step on rakes they sit in their own yard.
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2021, everyone. 
Again: Is there any other instance where Trolls as a whole are painted as illiterate? Or is there just the one example of Zekhan being taught by Lor’themar? 
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Sorry for the late reply. I as at work and wanted to give this the time I felt it deserves.
Currently, there’s no details about how wide-spread troll illiteracy is; whether it’s limited to Zekhan, whether it’s wide-spread, whether it’s a substantial minority; nothing. This is the only time, as far as I know, that illiteracy has been attributed to trolls, a race frequently seen using tablets, scrolls and other forms of written communication.
However, we do know Zekhan has had close contact with Talanji. He’s from Orgrimmar. He’s hung out with Saurfang, serves as Thrall’s page, and has some degree of familiarity with Rokhan. His ties with Lor’themar are… Not really in existence. On top of that, Lor’themar has already been depicted as very busy with Silvermoon, such that he protested going on his not-quite-a-date because he had so much to do.
It is unlikely that anything was intentionally done. However, the first known illiterate troll, one whose illiteracy seemingly did not interfere with his duties as Thrall’s page, is suddenly taught reading and writing by the one prominent character in the Horde depicted as a wise white male (elf) he has minimal contact with.
It is just ONE young troll. But it’s one young troll whose position (with Thrall) makes illiteracy an odd choice, whose illiteracy apparently went unnoticed and unaddressed by multiple characters who would have made more logical sense as his teachers, and only was addressed by the one white male character present.
Once more, it’s unlikely any willful choices were made here. Likely Sean thought it would be “cute” to have Zekhan, Thrall’s aide in the Horde Council, to be illiterate. And he thought it would be nice to have the very busy Lor’themar forget how busy he was to teach Zekhan. I fully accept Mr. Copeland didn’t see himself writing a coded BIPOC character being enlightened by a wise white man.
But there it is anyway; a situation that makes no internal sense for either character was inserted, and it fits perfectly into past racist stereotypes and tropes; e.g. White Savior.
Is accidental racism still racism, or is it okay if it’s an accident?
Zekhan talks about the goblins poisoning rivers, which some have argued to match up with Jewish stereotypes of poisoning wells.
I haven’t been as vocal about this, beyond (after your post) pointing out the depiction of goblins in WoW did strike me as catering to antisemetic Jewish stereotypes (greedy, big nosed, materialistic, loyal only to themselves, etc).
But as I also pointed out (again, in a post after you’d written this one, so you couldn’t have known at the time), I saw those things because of exposure. You might not see those same connections due to different exposure, which is why I’ve otherwise been silent on the “goblin scandal”.
See, this is where I disagree. I absolutely can expect modern values in my fantasy, especially a fantasy story that has plenty of modern moralism. We see monarchs in WoW behaving far more benevolently than historical ones, because modern sensibilities would make more accurate portrayals distasteful. Similarly, the developers have ensured their depiction of Azeroth lacks the gender divide of a more historical setting. We see women in positions of power equal to men across the board. While the developers may stumble with this presentation at times (and stumble hard at others), the intent is clear. Even when they present a character as clearly racist, they generally present such characters as clear villains.
Of course I expect the writers of Warcraft to use modern sensibilities. They’ve gone out of their way to try to do so.
This specific issue, with Zekhan, is (as I’ve said before) a minor issue of racism. It’s a trope the author at most unconsciously used, but just as likely wasn’t aware to any degree he was making use of. He saw the young, naive character and thought it’d be “cute” if he were illiterate and got taught to read. It’s an unfortunate choice that rather than the many other characters he could have chosen, in some cases much more logical ones, he chose the one who would make for bad optics. Especially when writing for a company being sued/investigated for racial discrimination. It was, most likely, an accident.
So, as I’ve asked previously in this thread; is accidental racism okay? Should we pretend that unwittingly invoking a very harmful trope is just an oopsy, or should it still be pointed out in the hopes the writer or the company (or the secret racist editor Sean’s wife alleges was responsible) can learn from it and not repeat it in the future?
Or should we accept what some here believe; fantasy media cannot ever be racist, because fantasy?
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To start with, kindly do not quote what I said out of context. In this specific instance the troll in question says he owes most of his reading and writing skills to the regent lord. It isnt like he is getting literary pointers. Its the ability to write well enough to do the report he was tasked with doing—Which sort of makes it weird he was chosen to begin with…
Plainly put, we do not know about azerothian literacy levels in general. WoW has always had a weird thing with language where they ignore limitations that might otherwise canonically exist in service to gameplay. However, it has been an ongoing thing in WoW since Vanilla to depict trolls as backwards cannibalistic savages which we kill off with impunity. A depiction of Zekhan being illiterate, and overall coming across as just a bit dumb throughout the book just feeds into an overall larger depiction issue.
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On the topic of Zekhan. He is a Darkspear. They are backwater people who live in huts. It is just logical that they most likley can’t write or read.
On the topic of Goblins. Gallywix should have never left. HE is the perfect embodiement of all their racial traits. Gazlowe is a sore loser. He Should have died in Bfa.
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This is so racist, and I didn’t see it until I saw it on Twitter.
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The biggest tribes of the trolls are usually those who built the civilisations.
Farraki
Drakkari
Amani
and Gurubashi.
These are the big guns. Darkspear doesn’t even come close. They are still living in the dark ages most likley.