In Witcher 3, Size Matters

[Casual Shinji]

Furthermore, humans have only been in this world for 500 years. Therefore, restricted chances for evolution to make significant changes. And as Yossarian said, in the one known area in the world of W3 that does have a desert environment, there are darker skin hues, as seen in one of the main villains from the first game.

Yeah, see that's the bit I'm not really taken with. I remember reading that in the little bonus booklet and thinking 'Why'. Again, it's because this is a grounded setting, so when I hear that humans only came to this world 500 years ago my brain is just stuck thinking 'Well where the hell did they come from? Do they have memories of where the came from? Were they just whisked into being? Did they already know language or were they taught by the elves and dwarves?'

I'll gladly admit I just don't really get this universe. Just as I didn't get why Witchers are so reviled when Geralt is the biggest dickwavinest dude around.

 

[EternallyBored]

The only explanation I've seen thus far that makes sense is that it's a Polish game and Poland just isn't very multicultural, which reflects itself in art, but that hardly makes sense in the game universe.

How? As far as I can tell, the particular area where the Witcher stories take place seem to be a fantasy version of medieval Poland.

Maybe black humans, elves or whatever do exist in the universe, but they're somewhere else, far away and extremely rare in the particular part of the world where The Witcher takes place.

You know, just like the actual Poland on the actual Earth.

Thanks to the previous posters answering my question, and a little research on my own, it seems like there aren't actually any non-white people in the Witcher universe. Zerrikania is vague and canon doesn't really indicate if they are non-White or just supposed to represent darker skinned Southern European White people. Zerrikanian culture doesn't seem to have any obvious cultural influences beyond being far away and mysterious, maybe there's more out there, I don't speak Polish so maybe I'm missing something.

It is slightly amusing as an American to see a universe entirely populated by White people coming in from another dimension to create European Medieval fantasy land. I am having way too much fun imagining a regular Earth just having all the White people vanish off the face of the planet one day to go fuck off in another dimension and confusing the hell out of a medieval era Middle East and North Africa moving into the region scratching their heads at where all the Europeans went.

Spoiler

Given ciri's powers though, you could technically get any race of person or even species into the setting with her dimension crossing ability, she could theoretically bring whole armies of extra-dimensional people and things especially since she implies at one point in the story that she hid out in a world that sounds suspiciously like CDPR's other project Cyberpunk 2077. It would be awesome to see ciri pop up as an easter egg in Cyberpunk 2077

 

[Dornedas]

As a matter of fact, I can't recall seeing any elves or dwarves getting beaten or murdered for being non-human in The Witcher 3. So however bad this racism is there must've been a lull in the time period that this game takes place in.

Than you clearly haven't played enough of Witcher 3 because there are numerous instances where Elves get beaten up simply for being elves.
The reward once you save them: A nice little "Plough yourself".
Apart from the very first side quest you get where someone burns down the forge of a dwarf because he is a dwarf.
And there is the Doppler who gets burned once you enter Novigrad. But I was never sure if that was because they believe him to use magic or because he is not human.
And I don't know how far you are in 3 currently so I will just say that most people in Novigrad are directing their hate against the mages.

And in the first game the Non-Humans live in their own ghetto in Wizima or how it is written. But you already said you haven't played it so I won't hold it against you. Much.

 

[EternallyBored]

Furthermore, humans have only been in this world for 500 years. Therefore, restricted chances for evolution to make significant changes. And as Yossarian said, in the one known area in the world of W3 that does have a desert environment, there are darker skin hues, as seen in one of the main villains from the first game.

Yeah, see that's the bit I'm not really taken with. I remember reading that in the little bonus booklet and thinking 'Why'. Again, it's because this is a grounded setting, so when I hear that humans only came to this world 500 years ago my brain is just stuck thinking 'Well where the hell did they come from? Do they have memories of where the came from? Were they just whisked into being? Did they already know language or were they taught by the elves and dwarves?'

I'll gladly admit I just don't really get this universe. Just as I didn't get why Witchers are so reviled when Geralt is the biggest dickwavinest dude around.

The whole thing comes off as a little convoluted, the wikis I've read seem to indicate that humans arrived and basically took the land occupied by the other races, but those older races also immigrated from another world or across the sea or something like that. There's also 2 types of elves the ones that arrived on ships and another group that lives in another world and travels to the Witcher world through portals.

So basically at some point in time a bunch of parallel universes collided, which brought monsters, other species, magic, and even supposedly humans to this world and its all basically just been one giant clusterfuck since then. There's apparently also this thing where the medieval human society knows humans evolved whereas the elves believe they had a creator, so I have no idea what that's all about.

I can't find anything about what world the humans came from, the history stuff seems very vague about everything other than basically it seems to be a medieval European version of Bioshock Infinite with alternate universes getting together to dump all their trash into the Witcher world every so often, and Ciri is that multiverses version of Elizabeth

 

[Casual Shinji]

Than you clearly haven't played enough of Witcher 3 because there are numerous instances where Elves get beaten up simply for being elves.
The reward once you save them: A nice little "Plough yourself".
Apart from the very first side quest you get where someone burns down the forge of a dwarf because he is a dwarf.
And there is the Doppler who gets burned once you enter Novigrad. But I was never sure if that was because they believe him to use magic or because he is not human.
And I don't know how far you are in 3 currently so I will just say that most people in Novigrad are directing their hate against the mages.

And in the first game the Non-Humans live in their own ghetto in Wizima or how it is written. But you already said you haven't played it so I won't hold it against you. Much.

I've been playing it for the last three weeks straight, though I won't deny I haven't remembered every bit of the story since there's so fucking much of it.

As for the dwarf's forge burning down... I think that had more to do with him making weapons for Nilgaardian soldiers and less with him being a dwarf. Just like that lady who got her face smashed into the counter of her own bar because she replaced the Temerian banner with a Nilfgardian one.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Spoiler

Given ciri's powers though, you could technically get any race of person or even species into the setting with her dimension crossing ability, she could theoretically bring whole armies of extra-dimensional people and things especially since she implies at one point in the story that she hid out in a world that sounds suspiciously like CDPR's other project Cyberpunk 2077. It would be awesome to see ciri pop up as an easter egg in Cyberpunk 2077

Yeah, I caught that, too.

Either that was just CDPR giving us a little nudge in anticipation for their "future" titles... or The Witcher universe is in reality just somebody's fan dream. Or maybe it's like Last Action Hero, but with the entire white demographic.

...

This is starting to sound too awesome now.

 

[Dornedas]

I've been playing it for the last three weeks straight, though I won't deny I haven't remembered every bit of the story since there's so fucking much of it.

As for the dwarf's forge burning down... I think that had more to do with him making weapons for Nilgaardian soldiers and less with him being a dwarf. Just like that lady who got her face smashed into the counter of her own bar because she replaced the Temerian banner with a Nilfgardian one.

3 weeks straight and still not finished now this is what I call a dirty casual

For the dwarf: I think you might be right and he only believed that it was because he is a non-human.
I think he says something about " blah blah thought I was finally being accepted after 50 years of living here. blah blah"

And for the other elves that are being beaten up. They are not exactly part of some larger story. Which makes sense since beating up elves is just something that happens because of racism. You just get the "quest" when you are riding nearby and suddenly there is an exclamation mark on your compass because some elf gets beaten up. I had that happen 4 or 5 times I think. Once it was elves beating up a human .

 

[Casual Shinji]

3 weeks straight and still not finished now this is what I call a dirty casual

I started over when I was like 30 hours in. That's my usual routine with RPGs; Play the shit out of it completely blind for like half of the game. Then start from scratch and actually play the competently with my previously aquired knowledge. I did that twice with Bloodborne.

 

[EternallyBored]

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I dunno if either of you have made it far enough in the game but you are missing:

Spoiler: minor non-plot critical spoilers for the third act

When you return to Novigrad later in the game, you find out that if you helped Triss evacuate the mages, the Witch hunters have started burning non-humans at the stake, Geralt makes the comment that this is humans returning to an old favorite scapegoat before they started persecuting mages in the north

 

[Dornedas]

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snip

I dunno if either of you have made it far enough in the game but you are missing:

Spoiler: minor non-plot critical spoilers for the third act

When you return to Novigrad later in the game, you find out that if you helped Triss evacuate the mages, the Witch hunters have started burning non-humans at the stake, Geralt makes the comment that this is humans returning to an old favorite scapegoat before they started persecuting mages in the north

That was exactly what I meant.
But I really have to wonder how Radovid managed to explain that. I mean he is totally crazy.
But there seemed to be a little bit of logic behind his witch barbecues for him to rationalise them. With everything that happened in Witcher 2 and his history with Phillippa.
It is the logic of a lunatic sure but it is still logic. But I can't see how he rationalises the spoiler.

 

[Crimson Cade]

Here is the reason why they have fantasy creatures being the butt end of racism: They wanted to show how really evil actual, gritty racial persecution could be in a time of feudal lords. And if they hung and burnt black people for being "lesser, subhuman, inferior" etc... well, we all know how that would go.

 

[EternallyBored]

snip

snip

I dunno if either of you have made it far enough in the game but you are missing:

Spoiler: minor non-plot critical spoilers for the third act

When you return to Novigrad later in the game, you find out that if you helped Triss evacuate the mages, the Witch hunters have started burning non-humans at the stake, Geralt makes the comment that this is humans returning to an old favorite scapegoat before they started persecuting mages in the north

That was exactly what I meant.
But I really have to wonder how Radovid managed to explain that. I mean he is totally crazy.
But there seemed to be a little bit of logic behind his witch barbecues for him to rationalise them. With everything that happened in Witcher 2 and his history with Phillippa.
It is the logic of a lunatic sure but it is still logic. But I can't see how he rationalises the spoiler.

I don't think the change is so much Radovid in this case as it is the Church of the Eternal Flame, you hear throughout the game that the church is human first, and they pretty much spell it out for you when you first enter Novigrad that the church will likely turn on non-humans as soon as the mages are dealt with. In this case it seems to be religious fanatics using the nonhumans as a convenient target to keep the human populace in line by giving them an easy target to blame for all their problems.

 

[freakonaleash]

Could... could we not do this? For once? Please?

When actual racists call the lack of black people a victory, that's a problem

No. Its a low fantasy setting, in a handful of lands based loosely on the slavic places of europe. Witchers job is NOT to satisfy your idiotic need for diversity, it is to represent the setting its based upon. At which it succeeds greatly. And thats the only thing I have to say about that.

OT: I absolutely agree with you Shamus, it is a MASSIVE game...but I dont mind having to play if for months before finishing it...the game is just that great.

10/10. Anyone not playing it is missing out on some seriously good game.

Yet, it doesn't seem to have any black people.

No black people in a fantasy game modeled after medieval Europe?! I'm shocked, simply shocked. I'm sure the real medieval Europe had LOADS of black people in it, right?

How about Poland, the country where this game was developed? Surely Poland has a racially diverse culture that wasn't in any way nearly entirely homogenized by the Holocaust in a way still impacting diversity today. Surely Poland isn't mostly entirely one big marshmellow country.[/sarcasm]

You see, I just don't buy this. There were black people in medieval Europe, you know that right? Not all that many, but they were there. I don't see it as being an especially big deal but it did strike me some ways in that I hadn't encountered a single non-white character save for one succubus in a game that has so many NPCs. It's just kinda weird.

I know right? I played Yakuza 4 the other day, and there was like nothing but Asians in it. And I know there's white people living there, as I know one of them. It's fucking racist, man.

I think I love you a bit.

So the want for diversity is idiotic?

 

[freakonaleash]

Yet, it doesn't seem to have any black people.

How do you expect to me feel about that? This is a Polish game representing Polish culture based on very Polish books. I do not mind there are no black faces. I won't condemn them or try and insinuate bad motives to the developers. If you want to take the game to task for something it did, fine. Did the game glorify racism or sexism? Did it espouse hatred clearly and unequivocally against trans people? No. But if it had at least you would have something to complain about.

Complaining that a game from a non-American culture doesn't represent American culture seems way out of line to me.

Why does it have to go back to him being from America? Is the desire to have more diversity in a game solely an American desire?

 

[Excludos]

I read an article about the scale of Witcher 3 and somehow found myself in the comments field of ethnical diversity (Not even ethnical..just black people apparently. They're the only ones that matter after all)

Anyways Shamus, I really do hope you cover this game in Spoiler Warning. Its probably going to be your longest series, but unlike certain other games *cough hitman cough* we're hopefully not going to be completely sick of it by the end (not to mention angry enough to punch small kittens..what an atrocity!)

 

[infohippie]

So the want for diversity is idiotic?

The thing is, there's already plenty of diversity. You're just not seeing it because you're looking at it through an American cultural lens.

 

[SnakeTrousers]

We are just being ugly Americans here. Being mad at another nation for not exclusively catering to us and our own population. Shame on us and our pseudo-equal rights crusade. It is just one of ignorance in this case.

I said it seemed "a little weird" not that it was a fucking travesty, Christ. It's true, living in Canada has skewed my perspective on this, seeing as I'm the only white guy on my block and work mostly with immigrants or the descendants of such at my job. It was just kinda noticeable, that's all.

 

[freakonaleash]

So the want for diversity is idiotic?

The thing is, there's already plenty of diversity. You're just not seeing it because you're looking at it through an American cultural lens.

I didn't say whether I thought there should be more diversity or not, I just wanted to know why you said the want for diversity is "idiotic".

 

[infohippie]

So the want for diversity is idiotic?

The thing is, there's already plenty of diversity. You're just not seeing it because you're looking at it through an American cultural lens.

I didn't say whether I thought there should be more diversity or not, I just wanted to know why you said the want for diversity is "idiotic".

Well, I'm not the one who said it. However, my answer still stands. People asking for diversity are doing so because they are not seeing the diversity that is already there. They have a narrow definition of "diversity" that only means "the kinds of people I see in real life in my own country".

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I have been living on this earth for over 27 years (in Romania) and the only time I actually saw a black person in real life was when I went to Belgium to visit my father.

Poland's population is 98% white. Don't expect diversity, because in some countries there is none.