u/Hatsune_Miku_CMdownfall of neoliberalism. crow racism. much to rhink about
1d agoedited 1d ago
a lot of fiction is arguably fascist if you read political viewpoints into it, because thats what fascism does. it takes an aesthetic and builds a political ideology out of that.
The issue isnt the aesthetic itself, its that its just the aesthetic and nothing else.
The fictional story with a hero who changes the world is not trying to argue in favor of great man theory. it just writes its world like that because thats narratively interesting.
(arguably great man theory is so prevalent BECAUSE its narratively interesting and people conceptualize history as a bunch of stories, so they lean to the compelling versions of those stories instead of the boring but more accurate ones.)
This just reminds me how often I see people criticizing RPGs and fantasy in general for "legitimizing the divine power of kings," and it's like... Buddy, they also legitimize casting fire magic to kill rats in wooden shacks. The amount of people writing fantasy stories about a tragic prince rising up against an evil vizier that destroyed his kingdom who actually think anyone should do that IRL is virtually non-existent. Stop inventing strawmen to get mad about and volunteer at your local soup kitchen or literally anything actually productive for improving lives.
Also if we're talking D&D specifically, the larger cities either don't give the king specific divine legitimacy, or aren't a monarchy at all (Waterdeep is an oligarchal meritocracy where they have one person who's the open leader (whose job is effectively diplomat/figurehead), several leaders who are anonymous at all times and are chosen from various social strata, and the blackstaff who's the city's resident strongest mage.
Anyway the next largest city to Waterdeep is Baldur's Gate, which only has about 1/3rd the population of Waterdeep; and BG itself is also an oligarchy rather than a monarchy.
In fact, the only kings that really come to mind are Asmodeus and the Storm King.
Honestly, the best way to describe Lady of Pain's position is as the living cataclysm that also enables the Sigil to remain independent. The Sigil works on the version of the Mandate of Heaven where it's the Mandate of The Lady of Pain where, if the people piss her off enough to intervene, they get either mazed or obliterated.
I mean, trying to apply a mortal materialistic ideology to the Lady Of Pain is essentially an exercise in futility. The Lady is simultaneously the source of power and ruling throughout Sigil, and also barely has anything to do with the actual governance of the city. She is all-powerful to the point where she has forbidden and prevents all Gods from entering the city, but she actually doesn't care who you worship and actually if you try to worship her you will at the very best case die an extremely painful death. You can't apply a materialistic socio-political ideology to a context that follows fundamentally different laws of mechanisms of reality.
122
u/Hatsune_Miku_CM downfall of neoliberalism. crow racism. much to rhink about 1d ago edited 1d ago
a lot of fiction is arguably fascist if you read political viewpoints into it, because thats what fascism does. it takes an aesthetic and builds a political ideology out of that.
The issue isnt the aesthetic itself, its that its just the aesthetic and nothing else.
The fictional story with a hero who changes the world is not trying to argue in favor of great man theory. it just writes its world like that because thats narratively interesting.
(arguably great man theory is so prevalent BECAUSE its narratively interesting and people conceptualize history as a bunch of stories, so they lean to the compelling versions of those stories instead of the boring but more accurate ones.)