I turned into a Troll main after Kael’thas remained in the shadowlands and Bob turned into a c.uck.
Disgusting comparison. Elementals are not a race based on real world peoples’ who had their land stolen by supposedly good guys. You’re trying to belittle the idea that trolls deserve reparations, and real-world cultures were disrespected.
And yeah the elementals were definitely wronged too and need more development.
You mean people who will tell you “Yes, exploiting our culture is totally fine.”
That is, only when this personality is active.
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There’s a joke about asking a real aging metalhead about orc representation in there that I’m not quite going to go to all the trouble of digging for.
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Good, cause it would be dumb joke making fun of people for pointing out racism. Furthermore, Orcs have plenty of irl racial inspiration.
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When have I EVER given the impression I’m too proud to make a dumb joke?
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Dumb jokes are okay sometimes, but if you really want to make fun of people complaining about really messed stuff, then that kinda gives the impression you really mean it.
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Interesting implication.
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I only look at people’s words and the context around them. 
The point is that trolls do not own Azeroth. Nothing more nothing less
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Yeah sure thing.
This is why I have issues with this particular line of thought – because as soon as you treat fictional species as direct analogies to the real cultures they are a mangled blend of inspiration roughly from… You get a mess.
There was never a great dwarf potato famine because of the greed of a land owning class of foreigners.
Night elves were never used in a proxy war between great powers that split their culture in two.
And orcs never had to watch one of their great cultural icons lose his bloody mind and go full facis…
Okay, orcs are special.
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Rest assured, I wouldn’t want Blizzard touching any of that stuff with a 10 foot pole.
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That’s basically my point.
This is not a game praised for its grasp of nuance and complexity. MMOs probably aren’t a great vector for conversation about big topics in general, besides those friendly to being discussed in broad strokes in three month increments.
Trolls stand out amongst the plethora of horrible gremlin pastiche species because a lot of what was lifted was done pretty directly, without changing names or slapping a fresh coat of fantasy paint over it, and because some of what was stolen fro- inspired by real life was some very negative stereotypes.
Bliz has been doing better, but there’s a lot of work left to be done. And I’d love to see the Amani treated with some dignity and grace, as well as their grievances acknowledged (but not with a hideous this is the 2020s plaque lipservice moment) going forward.
However, because they’re not actual people or a direct analogue to actual people, they absolutely got up to some dodgy things and as much as I love dunking on blood elves… well, not everything they did was unreasonable either.
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Ok, then what would make them not a direct analogue to real world people? Especially since we know they’re inspired by them.
Honestly?
At no time in the history of Earth have we had a species of 8 foot tall humanoids with regenerative powers and moss (or fur, or none of the above, data unclear) growing on their skin who have beef with magic refugees who can’t stop poking everything.
As soon as you try to shoehorn a real culture into the Amani, it doesn’t work.
Why, what particular real life culture do you think the Amani are?
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I mean they don’t look human, but they definitely have a human culture slapped onto them. That should be enough to call them an analogue The actual humans in this game, at least most kingdoms, are culturally a stereotypical medieval europe analogue, and mixed with US influences. Sure they can look nonwhite , but that’s not their culture.
The same cultures all trolls are based on, various South American and African cultures. I’m not an expert so I won’t even try to name specific ones in the Amani’s case.
And they are apparently a bit cuban too according to some Wowpedia editor.
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So that’s, again, my point.
They’re more of a pastiche then a direct analogue. With different historical experiences from each other. And none of those experiences are directly analogous to a pack of magic refugees/war criminals showing up, huffing a leyline, and starting slapping arcane golems everywhere.
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I’m saying that the fact that they’re clearly based on those people irl, and their history is copied too, minus all the magic of course, really does make them an analogue. And many players who belong to those groups identify with them because of that. I know plenty.
Trolls in general embody old school Hollywood voodoo cannibal tropes for good and ill. They are a fantasy caricature or something which was itself an (arguably racist) caricature of an actual culture.
Except the Zandalari, who became a blatant Wakanda reference in BFA because someone was watching a bit too much Marvel apparently.
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Don’t know if it’s part of voodoo, some cultures and tribes have practiced cannibalism. This fact is unpopular with current ideologues trying to rewrite history about ancient cultures, especially since it involves admitting some of the cultures on the losing side of colonialism were just as bad if not worse than the colonizers.
In fact, some of the more notable practitioners of cannibalism were the Aztecs and the Iroquois and Comanche Native American peoples (for the latter read the book " 21 Months a Captive: Rachel Plummer and the Fort Parker Massacre").
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