Keeping Magic magical
Lore forum
Posted on Aug. 21, 2021, 4:49 p.m. by Oof_Magic
This is a reaction to another thread I recently engaged in. I will not be making mention of the thread nor the commenters on that thread. Those commenters are certainly welcome to engage in this thread without fear of being labeled as trolls. This is all my own opinion and is to be understood as subjective.
The thread I’m responding to was putting the question to the community as to which groups they would like to see get more representation in Magic. On level one, I concede that the post did not explicitly state characteristic groups but from the conversation generated, it definitely went that way quickly. It would seem a shallow exercise to relate to a character based on race, gender, sexuality, or other physical or mental attributes. I completely understand that characters need vessels to channel their motivations, ideations, decisions, and machinations. Just as I don’t find the vehicle I drive across country to be a meaningful aspect of that journey, so too are these attributes to their characters. There is a lot of discussion about identity based on characteristics. But I think it’s healthier to see identity as a culmination of a character’s choices and the journey that their motivations take them on. That’s what gives their motivations meaning. Gideon being a resolute character doesn’t mean anything if we don’t see how that manifests in the story. Bolas’s ambition is meaningless if it doesn’t drive his decision making.
It is well known to novelists, screenplay writers, and story makers that conflict is the heartbeat of a functional story. Ravnica and Tarkir are good examples of motivations shared by different characteristic groups versus differing motivations shared by similar characteristic groups. On Ravnica, guilds are made up of a multitude of species but each conforms to a discrete ideology, methodology, motivation, and machination. Members of each guild may differ in their appearance but can relate to one another by their shared guild ideology. If there was only one guild on Ravnica, you wouldn’t have much of a story. It is where these guilds (and by extension their ideologies) run into one another that a conflict is seeded that blossoms into a functional story. Tarkir is a plane with five clans, each predominantly made up of humans. Despite their shared characteristics, it is their differing ideologies that generates the conflict that gives us a story. Clearly ideology and motivations are paramount in how these characters relate to one another. We can see that characters are defined by what they do, not what they are. I would extend that into saying that a character is what they choose to do. Their identity is a culmination of choices. Relating to a character based on their choices and motivations is how we understand, connect, and relate to them. Nissa is great as her ideology of a love of nature drives her to despair after the eldrazi effectively ruin Zendikar. Nahiri is great as her despair over lost Zendikar drives her to seek vengeance on Sorin. Bolas is a fantastic example of how a shared motivation can bring together characters of differing walks of life, species, and planes. The threat of Emrakul is what ultimately pushes Liliana to align with the Gatewatch. Motivations and they manifest is what truly rules over a story.
So why do we find ourselves in a an era where some seek shallow characteristics to relate to these characters when the characters themselves don’t see things that way? Have we moved so far away from looking to the traits of heroes and villains as defined by motivations and decisions? Do we care about being heroes or villains? Do we even make that distinction? Or have we peeled those titles away from motivation to be reapplied to characteristics? This is all very intriguing to me and hopefully we can get back to what’s meaningful in storytelling. Heroes and villains and the mix of motivations that creates conflict to produce a story. Why do we need to invade fantasy with reality on a crusade to make stories more relatable and meaningful? If we made Liliana a man from the beginning but that character was given all the motivations that Liliana has, it would do virtually nothing to change the story. While some might say this shows it to be harmless to have different earthly groups represented, this argument proves the equivocation of harmless with meaningless. Vice is a crutch that ultimately doesn’t solve problems. Invading fantasy with reality just for the sake of representation is a vice that is equally is as hollow. Let’s keep motivation and conflict paramount as that’s what makes Magic so magical.
Let me know what your thoughts are. Do you want more reality in Magic? Do you want Magic to be fantastical? Do you relate more to a character’s characteristics or their motivations? Does Magic have too many humans? Hit it below.
I think there's a little bit of oversimplification here. In my understanding, people relate to characters who share a notable characteristic with them. The problem arises when a poorly-written and underdeveloped character has that as their only characteristic.
Let's assume for our purposes that I have red hair. Many characters across all media do not have red hair, so it's notable when one shows up. Let's call this character Redd. The problem arises when Redd's entire personality, development, and everything about them is "this person has red hair." Redd is mistaken for a clown because of their red hair. People assume that Redd is an angry or short tempered person because that's what people with red hair are like. It's a shocking twist when Redd shows up with green hair. There's a storyline where Redd joins the Red Hair Society. Does this sound like an interesting character?
People don't want one-dimensional characters. They want well-rounded, meaningful characters who happen to have a certain characteristic or feature that they share and can identify with. Unfortunately, it seems like too many weak writers mistake controversy or inclusiveness for personality, and fail to develop a character beyond "the one with red hair." Now, if Redd had a functional social life, appropriate emotional reactions, and a defined role in the story, and also incidentally had red hair, that's someone worth following.
Replace red hair with the character definition of your choice, and you have my views on why people want to see more about characters they have some life in common with, but not want a flat, one-note stereotype.
August 21, 2021 6:16 p.m.
Necrosis24 says... #5
I do think representation is important as it influences our biases when we ourselves are uneducated about certain groups.
As legendofa said the problem arises when their sole identity is that they have such a characteristic or there is a misrepresentation of the culture/struggles.
It is important for these characters to have their own defining beliefs and personality traits that influence their decisions beyond belonging to a minority/marginalized group.
I am all for representation the only issue I see is when people push for it and it does not come from the company itself the character we end up getting is just a token to say “Look we are Inclusive”. I feel like the recent planeswalker Niko Aris is such a case where the backstory is not well written or thought out just very basic and bland. Niko Aris is just a token character to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community and tries to use the “Decide my own fate” as relation to the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community but doesn’t do it justice. Not to mention the character design for Niko Aris is what I feel media uses as the stereotypical and easily recognizable “queer” character. This design is just used as a cop-out so the audience knows they are nonbinary instead of building a relatable personality, beliefs, and struggles for the character.
To be fair I also hate the art style used for their card so I am more bias towards WOTC’s incompetence on Niko Aris.
August 21, 2021 6:46 p.m.
To more directly answer the final questions here, I want enough reality for each plane to have internal cohesion, and I don't mind a few more down-to-earth planes. But I do want planes mixed in that are more heavily magical and fantastical. And I do think too many main characters are humanoid.
Balaam__ inspired by The Red-Headed League, one of Sherlock Holmes' adventures.
August 21, 2021 8:31 p.m.
I agree with a lot of what’s being said. I don’t mind variety in characters. I just don’t think it adds anything meaningful when that’s the extent of their character. That does come down to poor development.
I’m seeing a lot of ‘people want well developed character who happen to share characteristics with them’. This sounds like a statement reversal. People want characters who share characteristics that happen to be well developed. Share characteristics are gravy but I don’t order gravy. Gravy is bonus.
August 21, 2021 10:22 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #8
I’ve never paid a ton of attention to the stories, to be honest. Especially in the earlier times, if you didn’t get on the right mailing list or find the right physical book to read you were totally reliant on word of mouth. This is probably why I’m so inclined to just build my own themes and stories out of what I can see on the cards; primarily in the art and the flavor text. Whatever direction things go on this, it will have little impact on me. Nothing can save my decks from their collective semi-ineffective doom ;p
August 21, 2021 10:30 p.m.
Oof_Magic Did anyone actually claim that they want variety only for the sake of variety, with presence being the only thing that matters?
I don't want that question to come across as hostile, because it's not intended that way. It's strictly a face-value question. But I'm not sure what's being reversed. I don't think people want stereotypes or undeveloped meme characters. They do want developed characters who they can identify with in some way.
August 21, 2021 10:33 p.m.
I think the real tragedy is having a great concept (or something that seems like a great idea on paper/preview) turn out being hollow because of lackluster story or character development because too much focus and emphasis on .... for lack of a better phrase "western/American identity politics."
Fantasy from my personal point of view is an Avenue for escaping reality... I like stories about power hungry dragons... but if too much attention/drama surrounds the fact that it's a vegetarian dragon kinda takes away what I thought I was gonna read/watch.... then again some people might be all about this dragon's quest for power and salad idk.
August 21, 2021 10:51 p.m.
Now that I have time to read this, I am going to close this thread down. TappedOut has a rather large LGBT+ community and I would rather no one feels uncomfortable--particularly since you rudely dismiss elements of diversity as "shallow characteristics" and believe anyone who desires to see their own characteristics reflected in the game as engaging in "a shallow exercise". Given how phrases like this permeate your entire thread, I do not see how any productive conversation can grow from such a tainted seed.
I know you are not actually trying to learn to view others' perspective, nor do you have any intention of changing your own. Since I do not particularly wish to engage in conversation that will go nowhere, I will let Wizards speak for itself, using the below two links:
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Here is an article about the making of Niko Aris, an androgynous planeswalker. Read the entire thing--you will see why Niko's identity was important to the LGBT+ creators of the character. You will also see what Wizards is trying to do. Niko was created so his story paralleled the LGBT+ experience, but did not directly recreated it. Just as many LGBT+ are raised to a lifestyle that does not fit them, Niko was raised to the lifestyle of an athlete, and rebelled against his fate. This is how storytelling should work--you both increase representation and make a point through analogy and character work.
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Here is a link to Kaldheim's side story which follows Niko. If you read the entire story, Niko's asexuality is literally a non-issue.
Whatever it is you are afraid of happening to the lore, Wizards already has made it clear they are not just going to increase representation for representation's sake. They are trying to make new, interesting characters with realistic motivations--just characters who also happen to reflect a more diverse world.
Caerwyn says... #2
This thread was moved to a more appropriate forum (auto-generated comment)
August 21, 2021 5:06 p.m.