I have mixed feelings about fantasy racism. Media can and should be used🐠 to make people confront their biases, and it doesn’t bother me when people throw fantasy slurs around. The issue should be treated with the appropriate weight and gravity and not played off like it’s no big deal, but I typically try to interpret fantasy racism in good faith, assuming it’s an earnest attempt to portray a harmful behaviour that is all too pervasive in the real world. Some players are uncomfortable with it, though, as they don’t want to face racism in games when they already face it in real life. That’s totally valid. But as a mixed-race person who does face some degree of racism, I find it validating to see my experiences portrayed in games.
Before Baldur’s Gate 3, I was aware that certain races in Dungeons and Dragons faced racism, or, more accurately, speciesm. Lots of fantasy settings have characters that face racism. I’ve never played a straight D&D campaign th🎃ough, as my friends prefer to run homebrew versions, which means I’ve never had to engage with the kind of racism that no🥃n-human races are subject to. I didn’t play Baldur’s Gate 3 in early access and went into it almost blind, apart from what I’d heard from colleagues and friends. I did not expect to be so immediately confronted by the racism of some of its characters, who were unabashedly discriminatory and cruel with their words and treatment of non-human races.
The big realisation hit me as I was entering Druid Grove for the first time – some minor spoilers for the early first act ahead. Iꦰ sauntered in, ready to save the day, but found my path blocked by some asshole mercenary, Aradin, who was picking a fight with a Tiefling guar🍰d named Zevlor. I was content to sit back and watch because I love drama, but then I heard Aradin call Zevlor a ‘foulblood’, and I was immediately enraged.
It reminded me of being a kid in Chinese class, being called dirty-blooded because I’m of mixed ethnicities, and not knowing how to respond. The game then offered me the option to hang back, throw a punch at the racist, or swing at the Tiefling. Without hesitation, I tried to hit the human. But I failed the roll. . I contemplated reloading my last save, which had been a while ago, work my way ♈through the fight I’d just won, and try to punch this guy again, just so I could have the satisfaction of right-hooking the racist. I decided to let it go, since Zevlor had already laid the guy into the gr🦄ound himself.
But of course, there was more. Tiefling refugees are all over Druid Grove, and they are spoken of by the interim leader of the Druids, Kagha, as sub-human parasites. After taking power, Kagha attempts to throw all the Tieflings out of the Grove and even tries to straight-up murder a Tiefling child for stealing an idol. Though many of the druids aꦚre uneasy about this, none of them speak up, too afraid of the repercussions on themselves. The Tieflings are afraꦚid to revolt and defend themselves because they’re low in number. When I told Kagha she was being a bad person, she said to my half-Orc that sure, I’d think so, because… you know. I’m not fully human.
I didn’t expect it to sting so much, and I definitely was not prepared to be called a slur that reminded me of my childhood, but I’m kind of glad Larian went so hard on it so early in the game. Sure, it’s a bit silly to have an antagonist portrayed so obviously as evil using racism and child murder, and it's not the most nuanced or interesting portrayal of racism. And I’m sure it rubs some people the wrong way, especially those who actually have to deal with being called slurs on a semi-regular basis. But it did its job at raising the stakes for me – I am fully invested in protecting the Tieflings now, and I will be doing everything in my power to do so. In a game as long as Baldur’s Gate 3 will be, it is crucial that I care about what’s happening in the world, or I’m not going to make it to the end. And trust me, if I didn’t care before, I care now.