Dammit. I triggered romance with Lae'zel and now Shadowheart’s broken up with me without even giving me a chance. Can’t we poly folk have anything? Polyamory is a thing, is fucking valid dammit, why the fuck can I not have it in game?
Sure but not everyone is into polyamory. It make sense that some characters arent into polyamory.
So you can have it in thia game…just not all the characters are cool with it.
This is fantasy. Sure it’s not for everyone in reality, but there’s no reason not to allow polyamory for everyone in a game. Players who don’t want it won’t use it, but it’s there for players who do want it.
Also, there was zero warning that entering a romance with Lae'zel would be monogamous only. She said nothing about it, and I didn’t find out until AFTER when Shadowheart broke up with me. I didn’t even get the chance to pick between Shadowheart and Lae'zel, Shadowheart just straight up broke up. No choices offered, no warning before it happened, just. Bam, done, no options, nada. If you’re not going to allow polyamory, that is not the way to do it.
Just because its fantasy doesnt mean characters cant be written to have certain preferences regarding relationship-style. Every character could be polyamorous, and it can be your preference that they were writgen that way, but there’s nothing wrong with writing these NPCs to be monogamous.
The thing about there being no warning is thag BG3 in tends to have unexpected consequences be a thing that the player experiences. Like, just in general. For example: Long Rest too many times at a certain point in the game and bam, NPCs are gone and you cant complete a quest.
And I’m not saying you gotta like any of these design and writing choices Larian made. But I am saying that these writing and design choices are pretty consistant and not inherently bad.
Not everyone’s into tentacle sex either but fuck if it isn’t in there.
Fuck man, bear sex, vampire sex, vampire sex slaves, astral sex, tentacle sex… but polyamory is The Line you can’t see crossing? lmfao
Anonymous asked: I wonder what you mean with "Loki’s Jewish-coding". Loki is a Norse god, of Scandinavian origin, not Jewish/middle-eastern. I hope I just misunderstood your fandom tropes because making him a Jew all of a sudden seems extremely weird. Scandinavians can also have VERY curly hair and straighten it because we don't like it.
Um… I’m sort of confused by the assumption that I’m an idiot that seems to be underlying this question. Pretty clearly, I hope, I was talking about Marvel’s Loki, not the original Loki of Norse myth. In fact, in the post you’re talking about, I referred to it as “[MCU] Loki’s Jewish-coding.” The reason “MCU” is in brackets is that I didn’t want to exclude the Loki of the classic Marvel comics—who, I think I recall @fuckyeahrichardiii telling me, is even more intensely and problematically Jewish-coded than MCU Loki. I read and write fanfiction about MCU Loki primarily; writers do draw on the myths that inspired the comics and films, but for the most part the more recent fictional representations are the basis.
Because I am not an idiot, I do know that Loki is a Norse god of Scandinavian origin, and it would be absurd to claim that the Loki of myth has Jewish or Middle Eastern characteristics. I have read, in connection with the controversy about the origin of Loki’s name, that he may be a holdover from an earlier, perhaps pre-Indo-European pantheon that was replaced by the Norse one. The Jotnar in Norse myth, like the Titans of Greek myth, do seem to play the role of “old gods” that might represent the gods of the pre-Indo-European populations that were conquered and/or displaced by Indo-European settlers just as the Jotnar/Titans are conquered and displaced by the Aesir/Olympians. Loki is unusual in being a Jotun who is accepted into the community of the Aesir – perhaps an older native god being borrowed into the invaders’ religion? So Loki is already an Other, an outsider relative to the rest of the Norse pantheon.
Despite the fact that Marvel was using Norse gods as the basis for their Asgardian characters, the comics originated in 20th-century America, which was, ineluctably, subject to a number of other cultural influences. Mainstream American culture has been primarily shaped by Christian European culture, and the Other par excellence of Christian Europe has always been the Jew. In European culture, Jewish men have been feminized and, especially around the turn of the 20th century, have been compared to or associated with gay men in light of their shared status as outsiders, as an alien and inscrutable Other, and presumed untrustworthiness. (This is brought out in an especially poignant way by Marcel Proust, a gay man and the son of a Jewish woman, in In Search of Lost Time, particularly in his treatment of the Dreyfus Affair, which was THE political event of the 1890s and left a deep scar on French society that still hadn’t healed when Proust’s books were published 20-30 years later.)
Marvel’s Loki hits many of the points associated with the figure of the Jew in European culture. He is the eternal foreigner in Asgard, his loyalties constantly in question. He is portrayed as sly and manipulative, always pulling strings from behind the scenes, forever plotting to take power from the rightful rulers of Asgard. He does tend to be queer- or feminine-coded, which on its own isn’t necessarily evidence of Jewish-coding, but reinforces the rest of the image. Aside from having dark hair while most Asgardians are blond/golden-haired—a standard trope for emphasizing the “Oriental” origins of European Jews, though many (like myself) are blond or (like my mother and grandmother) red-haired—the Loki of the classic comics also tends to have a hooked nose. (Which is pretty common among cartoon villains, especially sly and conniving ones…)
I first became aware of the implicit Jewish-coding of MCU Loki—which might have been unintentional, or just a consequence of the adaptation from the comics—when I happened across a couple of videos setting footage from Thor and The Avengers to songs from The Prince of Egypt, including “All I Ever Wanted” and “The Plagues.” I realized that Loki’s position as member of a foreign enemy group, rescued from death as a baby and raised, in ignorance of his heritage, as the second prince of the society that conquered the society of his origin, was very similar to that of Moses in The Prince of Egypt. (That movie doesn’t adhere exactly to Moses’s story in Exodus; Moses did actually know where he came from because his sister Miriam volunteered his birth mother as a wet nurse for him. But then, in some versions of the comics, Loki does know that he’s either adopted or Odin’s bastard, so that doesn’t necessarily spoil the parallel.) Then I noticed some of the other characteristics that set Loki apart from Asgardian society at large and his adoptive family in particular… I actually had Loki comment on it in my first Thorki fic, Desert Flowers, which takes place after Loki visits Berlin in the 1920s. (I doubt Antagonistic Anon will care, but some of my other followers might be interested.) It’s easiest for me just to quote that passage. Here Loki is explaining Midgardian racism, including antisemitism, to Thor:
“There are a few characteristic physical traits, though they’re not consistent. Long, arched nose; dark curly hair.” Loki stopped short, his lips pressed tightly together. “In general, they don’t look any more different from other Europeans than I do from you,” he forced himself to say good-humoredly. “In fact, I was given rather shoddy service at a few restaurants—and even turned away from one inn that I was certain still had vacancies—which was very puzzling until I realized that they thought I was Jewish… a member of this group, I mean.”
“Huh,” said Thor disgustedly […]
Loki cleared his throat. “At any rate,” he continued, “the animus toward them centers on their supposed character: greedy, ambitious, deceitful; physically weak, but clever and devious enough to gain power through indirect means.” Me again. Too interested in scholarly pursuits, not enough in manly physical activities; prone to neurosis. All too quickly, the list of antisemitic stereotypes that he had heard tossed around in Berlin had turned into a catalogue of Loki’s own inadequacies. While Thor is the very embodiment of the ‘Aryan ideal.’
Pretty obviously MCU Loki’s hair is naturally curly because Tom Hiddleston’s hair is naturally curly and they can’t always keep it under control. But in combination with its unusual color, the unusual texture and his apparently intense desire to slick it into submission spoke to me. I’ve struggled with the frizzy texture of my own hair, and a lot of other Jews I know try to tame it in various ways, while others go natural and embrace the “Jew-fro.” I’m sure Scandinavian people can have curly hair, and I’m not ruling out an interpretation of Loki’s dislike of his curly hair that has nothing at all to do with his status as Other. But for me it just fits in with everything else that I’ve mentioned.
Jeez, I kind of can’t believe I wrote that much in response to what clearly was not a friendly question. I’m honestly kind of puzzled as to why Anon was so bothered by an offhand comment about Loki being Jewish-coded. (Like, is there a problem with Jews “appropriating” Scandinavian culture…? Don’t worry, folks, Jews have absolutely no interest in replacing you.) Actually, this is the second hostile anonymous “question” I’ve received in the past two weeks, both with decently good grammar (unusual for anon hate) but premised on a wildly uncharitable, deliberately obtuse interpretation of something I wrote (my response to the first is here). If the second didn’t regard a pretty widely shared post of mine, I might suspect a single unfriendly blog-stalker. This is kind of weird, since I never used to get obnoxious anonymous comments; I guess the cost of gradually increasing exposure is assholes.
I do know that Loki is a Norse god of Scandinavian origin, and it would be absurd to claim that the Loki of myth has Jewish or Middle Eastern characteristics.
Not as absurd as you might think …
The vikings did trade with the mediterranean.
Exchanging furs, amber an slaves, for gold, silver, spices, silks etc …
You can‘t tell me that they did not also bring home some assumptions and prejudices … aaaaand of course stories …
For example Lokis wager has some interesting parallels to the Qādīs prayer which I know as a Turkish fairytale but is probably a staple in a lot of middle eastern storyteller repertoires
(It is also rather antisemitic in that the villain/antagonist is an Armenian money lender … but that is a different discussion)
In both we have a young man that desperately tries to get out of a contract and does so by being extremely smart and pointing out a loophole in the contract …
The dwarfs said nothing about injuring the neck and the contract says nothing about how much blood is to be spilled
However in one the young man is framed as in the wrong and in the other the young man is not just framed as in the right but also win the attention and patronage of the titular Qādī for being a smart cookie …
Now, same as the vikings put hammer and fire to the gold they had trade to fashion it in to things they found pleasing, they would probably have put the metaphorical hammer and fire to stories they brought home until they satisfied their norse sensibilities …
And as the significance of an Armenian moneylender would probably be lost on them they decided to put the young man in the slot of villain … because surely contracts have to be honored …
And voila …
When I was on the island of Gotland in Sweden, I was at the Viking museum there and started talking to one of the museum staff and joked that I was the only Jew on the island.
And she was like, “Maybe at the moment, but there were Radhanite (Jewish) traders that came here in the Middle Ages.”
The Vikings had contact with Jews!
Loki being Jewish-coded does kind of make Joss Whedon’s implicit comparison of him to Hitler extra gross.
Yep. Growing up, most of the adults I knew had jobs and lived in homes, not projects. It’s funny because when certain Whites claim we’re on welfare, etc., they describe the majority of WHITE families in the small town I grew up in.
Being an ADHD adult is fun when people seem to get… personally offended when you are aware that you’ve failed, forgotten, or neglected something before, and plan your life with that awareness in mind. Like how does that work, that being able to plan and prepare for things not working out as intended is mature and responsible, acknowledging your own faults and flaws is mature and responsible, but somehow it’s childish and immature to acknowledge that you are the liability in every situation, and prepare accordingly?
Like they’ll look at you like you just called their dog a slur and just go “don’t just already assume that you’re going to [have a symptom], just don’t [have the symptom] in the first place!” Like oh shit right damn. Titanic only sank because of the lifeboats. If there had been zero lifeboats on the ship, the crew would have been more motivated to do their jobs perfectly and everything would have been fine. Failsafe plans are demons that summon failure, the only sensible thing is to only plan for perfection and naturally assume that everything can only go flawlessly.
“If I had time travel I’d kill Hitler” “If I had time travel I’d stop my favourite politician getting assassinated” you’re all thinking way too small. If I had time travel I’d stop Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin from dying on the moon due to Soviet sabotage, kicking off the Great Nuclear War and devastating half of the planet.
“If I had time travel I’d kill Hitler” “If I had time travel I’d stop my favourite politician getting assassinated” you’re all thinking way too small. If I had time travel I’d stop OP from making this post.
When i came back from the mental hospital in high school i told my ap psych teacher i was on a psychology field trip knowing that she knew where i was and she didnt laugh or smile and im still :/
