Writing a fantasy story with a goblin in it and consciously trying to avoid Jew-coding said goblin is going to be more difficult than I expected, isn't it?Goblin tropes are so sodding transparent.
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Riley S. Faelanreplied to Juliet Merida on last edited by
@julie Goblins are not quite as standardised as many other fantasy species. There's a variety of ways in which goblins have been depicted in old tales, and in various modern media as well. Goblins being all green is one classic way to avoid stereotypes relating to humans. While I don't think it's previously attested, you could make your goblins reptilian, with stump noses and a cute forked tongue regularly showing up to smell stuff. And if it's a fantasy story, a cowl or a hood makes for an excellent headwear fitting into many quasi-mediæval settings and without strong modern associations. (There were associations in the original mediæval world, though, but they might not apply to your case; for example, cowls were fairly common parts of monastic orders' uniforms, especially in the colder climates. It seems that they were, at least for a while, seen as practical but not fashionable, so people who cared about looking fashionable avoided them, and monks of several religious orders adopted them to be conspicuously un-fashionable. But they might also serve well, say, a rogue or a traveller trying to not attract attention. And if your mediæval setting should have computer hackers in them, they might also wear hoodies of some sort.)
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Riley S. Faelanreplied to Riley S. Faelan on last edited by [email protected]
@julie Maybe your goblins are related to gnolls and have hyaena-like noses.
If you want to make the stereotype avoidance so conspicuous that it might as well lampshaded, you could borrow a page out of the reflection-less vampires' book, and make it so that your goblins have no echoes. (I apologise in advance to any bats who might accidentally run into the insonarable goblins.)
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Juliet Merida, Dum Tran Elf 🏳️⚧️replied to Riley S. Faelan on last edited by
@[email protected] She's a bard who plays the ukulele and she fancies herself a rockstar. The tiny top had she currently wears was intended to be a really stupid fashion statement but I really don't know how that would read to a larger audience.
Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely explore some of those and see how they go! -
Riley S. Faelanreplied to Juliet Merida on last edited by
@julie In German fairy tales, a popular goblin pastime is playing some sort of bowling (Kegeln in German). Maybe she could be into bowler hats? In the real world, these are a relatively new invention, and haven't taken on strong negative associations, except perhaps having become old-fashioned.
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Riley S. Faelanreplied to Riley S. Faelan on last edited by
@julie Wikipedia says that in UK, girl bobbies wear bowler hats as part of the uniform. I don't know if it would be a problem for your context.
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Christopher M0YNGreplied to Riley S. Faelan on last edited by
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Juliet Merida, Dum Tran Elf 🏳️⚧️replied to Christopher M0YNG on last edited by
@[email protected] @[email protected] I'm less worried that a particular type of hat would be a problem and more worried that my goblin wearing a stupid tiny hat would be viewed as a Jewish stereotype (because goblin) wearing a fucked up kippah.
The inspiration was Rachel Bloom wearing tiny hats at the Tony awards. (Rachel Bloom is Jewish but is, in fact, probably not a goblin.) -
Riley S. Faelanreplied to Juliet Merida on last edited by
@julie FWIW, some subcultures of Islam also wear small sort-of-religious hats. They're sort-of-religious in that there's a lot of Muslims who think Islam don't require wearing them, but many who wear them would argue that they do it for Islam. Look up 'tubeteika' (no relation to any tubes; the word is of Turkic origin and entirely different etymology). And, of course, they have been on-again off-again fashionable among the not-particularly-religious people who live near many tubetey-wearers.
Funny hats are the second best thing about religions, coming in just after architecture.
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Juliet Merida, Dum Tran Elf 🏳️⚧️replied to Riley S. Faelan on last edited by
@[email protected] @[email protected] I have a feeling I'm over thinking this, aren't I?
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Riley S. Faelanreplied to Juliet Merida last edited by