Avoiding Racism in Fantasy Races

By Clarissa Janeen

Speculative fiction is unique in that by separating ourselves from the real world, we have the tools to examine our reality from a perspective that is otherwise unobtainable. Fantasy in particular is known for portraying a multitude of fictional races; it can be concerning for fans of the genre to see this asset used in problematic ways as the portrayal of these ideas in fiction can negatively contribute to real-world ideas of race. Award-winning writer, game designer, and cultural consultant James Mendez Hodes refers to this concept as “hate laundering,” arguing that fantasy draws from real-life prejudice, swapping out “Oriental” or “Mongol” for “orc” or “goblin.” Then new fans read these works and, while they may not consciously understand or acknowledge where their bias comes from, practice dehumanizing intelligent beings.

Fantasy races often conflate race, culture, and ability. For example, Alex Kostrzewa points out in his thesis on “Racial Essentialism in High Fantasy” that the fictional race of Hobbits—created by foundational fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien—are known for being better at being stealthy than other races. According to the text, this is due to a combination of hereditary traits and cultural practices. Race in fantasy is often an objectively real thing rather than a socially constructed concept. Though we usually define race through skin color in the United States, in reality, the only humanoid race we are home to on Earth is the human race. Fantasy historically follows a line of logic between these two definitions in which there are species such as elves, men, and dwarves; but within those species, there are races that conform to 19th-century race theory, as Kostrzewa points out, in that their physical characteristics are associated with non-physical characteristics that are both personal and cultural. 

Tolkien described in an interview in 1964 how he took inspiration from Jewish people for his dwarves, which he initially portrays as greedy in The Hobbit. While dwarves are also portrayed as greedy in Nordic folklore, the way this trait matches up with Tolkien’s Jewish inspirations and portrays the race as being largely excluded from the mainstream culture (as the dwarves primarily live underground and in a diaspora) resembles real-life antisemitic beliefs as pointed out by Rebecca Brackmann, Associate Professor of English at Lincoln Memorial University, in her article “ ‘Dwarves Are Not Heroes’: Antisemitism and the Dwarves in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Writing.” After WWII, however, Brackmann concludes that Tolkien did attempt to alter his portrayal of the dwarves through the character of Gimli, whom he shows to be steadfast and courageous. Tolkien also suggests in the appendixes of The Lord of the Rings that the dwarves’ greed was actually due to the power of the rings rather than being an innate racial trait. 

When discussing race in fantasy, it’s imperative that we mention the “monster races” such as trolls, ogres, and most notably, orcs, who are commonly portrayed as being ugly, violent, evil, uncivilized, and generally acceptable to kill on sight. Kostrzewa argues that in fantasy, it’s important to consider what we’re fantasizing about. If that fantasy is of a world where it’s acceptable to kill based on race, we should question why we’re fantasizing genocide. Tolkien describes his orcs to be the result of racial degeneration, being corrupted elves who afterwards became their mortal enemies. While WWII may have affected Tolkien’s portrayal of the dwarves, the war also led to a renewed sense of “us vs them” in popular culture which can be seen in Tolkien’s orcs. Kostrzewa points out that the land of Mordor where the orcs live lies on the eastern edge of Middle Earth, far enough to not be part of the in-group, but close enough to pose a threat to it. The orcish horde that threatens civilization parallels traditional narratives about Atilla the Hun and Chinggis Khan who threaten to sweep over “civilized” society from the East. In recent years, some fantasy creators have attempted to portray orcs more sympathetically and heroically, often by swapping out their depictions as savage, dumb brutes in favor of a “martial race” aesthetic similar to dwarves. However, this just exchanges negative stereotypes for positive ones and continues to depict orcs as being innately predisposed to violence.

But what of races that are characterized as superhuman with “positive” stereotypes? One such race that exemplifies this are the elves, as popularized once again by Tolkien. The idea of elves of course existed long before Tolkien. But the way Tolkien crafted his brand of elves has impacted fantasy through the current day as elves are routinely portrayed as a “noble” race, known for being innately beautiful, pure, and intellectual. Though giving elves positive traits in light of the harmful portrayal of other races may seem like an improvement, Kostrzewa claims this depiction leads to the notion that elves are the “superior” race—paralleling myths of the “Aryan master race.” Elves are also commonly portrayed as having notably fair skin and straight hair. In much of Tolkien’s work, the elves are revered and almost worshiped by other races like the Hobbits, which appears more sinister in light of how races like the orcs are portrayed with primarily negative traits. And while the orcs are meant to be corrupted elves, the elves themselves are divinely created in Tolkien’s writing. Being the “Elder Children of Illúvatar” associates Elven nobility with their ancient origins, which Kostrzewa suggests is much like the hypothetical nature of the Aryans as the “Urvolk,” which stems from the Nazi racial theory that all Indo-European peoples were related to the Germans via a Nordic-Indogermanic Urvolk (meaning “primordial people”) of the Nordic race. While Tolkien’s alteration of his dwarves might suggest that he did not fully agree with the notion of white supremacy, he still internalized the cultural ideas which were commonplace to his time and location, ones which we can learn from today. 

J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world of Harry Potter is such a popular series that it has reshaped children’s literature. But when we look at race in the series, Kristina Zirdum says in “Social issues in J. K. Rowling´s Harry Potter Series” that we see the non-human races such as giants and centaurs generally get a mixed reception even from many of the supposedly “good” and “heroic” characters. Carin Möller argues in her thesis “Mudbloods, Purebloods and Halfbloods – The Issues of Racism and Race Discrimination in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter,” that Rowling’s portrayal of the house-elves also echoes stereotypes which were perpetuated about enslaved Black people in the Americas with the house-elves’ simple, childlike nature and enjoyment in serving their masters. 

Rowling’s goblins have likewise been a source of contention for years with their parallels to antisemitic stereotypes.  Even though they run the wizarding bank, Gringotts, and demonstrate great magical ability, they are considered unequal to the wizards. Rowling’s goblins line up with the myth of Jewish control of the Federal Reserve and that they dominate the world economy, both of which stem from centuries of Jewish discrimination throughout Europe. Their onscreen depictions are also uncannily similar to antisemitic propaganda from the early 20th century with their long noses and beady eyes, as pointed out by Jewish actor and comedian Jon Stewart in an episode of The Problem with Jon Stewart Podcast titled “The Problem with Goblins: J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter, & Jews.” Some fans have come to Rowling’s defense since folkloric goblins are also known to be greedy, untrustworthy, and villainous. But folkloric dwarves didn’t engage in the coin-minting and money-lending that Rowling’s goblins do, as pointed out in a Forbes article by Dani Di Placido titled “The Harry Potter Anti-Semitism Controversy, Explained.” 

Unlike Tolkien, however, it seems that Rowling and her franchise did not adjust their antisemitic representation and instead doubled down in the 2023 video game based in the wizarding world titled Hogwarts Legacy, whose plot revolves around crushing a rebellion led by the oppressed goblins. Issy van der Velde explores in his article for TheGamer titled “Hogwarts Legacy Draws Further Complaints of Antisemitism” how the game features a goblin rebellion meant to take place in the year 1612. Meanwhile, in Germany, 1612 (in the real world, not the Harry Potter books) there was a pogrom (an organized massacre of Jews) in Frankfurt. The game also includes a goblin artifact from the goblin rebellion of 1612 which looks just like the Jewish shofars—ancient musical horns typically made of a ram’s horn, used for Jewish religious purposes—which were used during a Jewish rebellion in 1612. The goblin artifact’s description also states that it “generally annoyed” wizards. While some might argue that the negative connections between Rowling’s goblins and Jewish people were nothing more than happenstance by folklore, it’s worth considering what antisemitic stereotypes inspired such European folklore of a long-nosed race depicted as greedy and untrustworthy. But the specific parallels in the game display the dangers fantasy still faces today of permitting bigoted stereotypes in fantasy races. 

Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series is another wildly popular YA fantasy series which suffers from racist depictions of its fantasy creatures. The vampires, as argued by Briley Welch in “Vampires, Werewolves, and the Racialized Other,” are similar to Tolkien’s elves in how they align with ideas of white supremacy, being described as exceedingly pale and likewise are all “devastatingly, inhumanely beautiful.” Even the vampires’ eyes correlate color with morality: golden eyes indicate those that only consume animal blood versus the red eyes of those that drink human blood. And black eyes mean the vampires thirst for human blood and are therefore a greater threat. Meanwhile, the werewolves are explicitly said to be Quileute tribe members, which is a real tribe of Native Americans. This immediately poses the problematic imagery of insinuating a real-life marginalized group are inhuman. The werewolves are repeatedly othered and referred to as outsiders. They are also constantly referred to as “the wolf pack,” while the vampires are usually referred to on an individual basis, furthering the idea that werewolves are all one and the same. The werewolves are also commonly characterized more as near-human intelligent animals rather than humans, with one head vampire suggesting that the werewolves would make great guard dogs. Welch points out that while the “white and perfect” vampire family of Cullens are portrayed as civilized, with Edward even being able to date a human girl and control his blood thirst, the werewolf Quileutes are portrayed as savage and vicious, furthering the idea of the racialized Other. 

Another popular and more recent fantasy series that has come under fire for its problematic depictions of fantasy races is A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) by Sarah J. Maas. Grace Lapointe claimed in an article for Medium that the world-building of ACOTAR is misguided at best and offensive at worst. The series features a system of High Fae versus Low Fae (immediately questionable) with the Low Fae Illyrians expressing self-hatred and experiencing cruelty for being lesser than the High Fae. The High Fae are also portrayed as innately purer with the Illyrians being less pure and more brutal; yet, the main character is friends with a few of them anyway because he considers these particular ones his “brothers.” Some readers have suspected the Illyrians are meant to be people of color with the narrative tip-toeing around ways to describe their race, unlike the High Fae. Rhys, a half-Illyrian character, is described as becoming notably pale, and yet people are still able to recognize him as being part-Illyrian despite his lack of Illyrian wings, which would imply some other physical characteristic such as skin color or facial features that note his Illyrian race. Maas has likewise been criticized for other racial stereotypes in her work, such as the Viper Queen (a snake shifter) in her Crescent City series who embodies many traits of the Asian dragon lady stereotype with her being the ruler of an underground drug ring and association with snakes. 

So, what then can fantasy authors do today that authors such as Rowling, Meyer, and Maas refuse to do? John Henry Rumsby explores in his thesis “Otherworldly Others : Racial Representation in Fantasy Literature” how some authors have attempted to instead use fantasy for good, such as John Gardner, whose book Grendel retells Beowulf from Grendel’s perspective, humanizing the otherwise inhuman beast, and highlighting the nationalistic, discriminatory side of the English classic. Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea trilogy was one of the first works of Western fantasy where a deconstruction of race and racism is crucial to the story and world. Charles R. Saunders’ Imaro is a swords-and-sorcery story featuring a black hero in a non-exploitative tribal Africa-inspired fantasy world, whilst Samuel R. Delany’s Return to Nevèrÿon series is closer to a brick-by-brick deconstruction of swords-and-sorcery from a more multi-ethnic angle. These authors, Rumsby argues, use the genre to create new interpretations of racial representation and identity in a way that allows them to deconstruct the real-world racism so often found in the genre. 

To avoid writing racism into our fantasy, we must do more than just paint over issues of real-world racism with kobolds, wyverns, and pixies. And any racism featured in the story should never be based on actual in-universe differences that make one race objectively better or worse, lest we perpetuate the idea that racism is a logical matter of biology. Fantasy that seeks to address issues of race should compel the reader to re-examine their preconceived notions by dismantling and recontextualizing social, political, and ideological traditions. By considering race from unconventional angles, Rumsby concludes, we can work to dismantle ideas of real-world racism by using the fantasy version as a lens. 

Each fantasy race should be as diverse as our own human race. Only when we stop imagining all orcs as violent and all goblins as greedy and all elves as beautiful can we begin to deconstruct this line of thinking. But if any genre has the capability to re-imagine in such a way, it’s fantasy.

Author Bio

Clarissa Janeen is an author, illustrator, and editor from San Diego, CA. She has a BFA in Creative Writing with a minor in Illustration from California Baptist University. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing at Emerson College. Her writing and illustration have been published across a handful of journals and magazines in addition to PTM, including Alethia and multiple issues of The Dazed Starling. She is the illustrator of the picture book The Squirrel and the Moon (2023). You can find her online at clarissajaneen.com.