Comments on: The Black Norn

By: xetir

xetir — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:17:32 +0000

Well It’s just a game not the black panthers
I see what you’re saying about the racism
but I also would not complain if their was
a race of characters made from african lore
who were able to be created white, I would
just be happy I could create a character
through my image and play. The game is not
supposed to be a textbook of written lore
it is a new vision only based from these similar
real life cultures. As I would imagine their
were no light skinned people in the Elonian based
“lore” no one complained. It didn’t start any arguments
even if they were to make a race based off african culture
should you be able to make the character appear white?
I say yes. People get touchy when it comes to making a
light skinned culture dark. The Are based off Aztec culture
as far as I can tell. Were the Aztecs short alien like people? The bottom line I’m trying to get to here is that there are alot of variables at play here. The best course of action would be to let players character be a representation of what they’re idea of a hero looks like without bending the rules completely.

By: Nerik

Nerik — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:40:02 +0000

The problem is: Black norn just don’t make sense in GW2′s LORE. You can see HUMANS in all colors in GW1, but NORN ARENT HUMANS, they are ANOTHER RACE.

Anyway, it’s like Heimdall in Thor’s movie. Come on… that’s just ridiculous…

For me, a racist attitude is CHANGE the way things was made by the artist/creator, just to include every race in the history.

That’s the real racism! “let’s just put a black guy there, because if we dont, people will think we are racist.”

It’s like put a white guy in the center of the history of the black panther’s comic.

I really hope A.net dont do anything out of the lore just to make everyone happy…
If they include a explanation IN THE LORE it’s ok for me, but I just hope they dont give us that option of color without the “why” in the lore.
I hope they dont change their awesome creation just because others see racist problems in every single thing.

That’s not about racism, thats just the way things was created.
It’s like to ask to put a White color man in a old african based race.

People really need to stop to see racist problem in everything.

And NO you don’t see any black people coming from northern countrys (not talking about today), you can see people with TAN skins but not black so dont come here to talk about skimmos or tibetans, its totally different!
At least, as I said, they arent humans, they are norn.

By: Xetir

Xetir — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 21:43:56 +0000

I see where the first guy is going with the Norse Mythology and light skinned dark elves? We must also remember that this is only “based” off mythology and that this game is in the hands of the creators. It is also in there best interest for them to make the game as flexible as possible since they want to make this game more involved and make it your personal story. The Norn seem to be highly capable of mixing with humans and probably would so it’s possible for there to be dark skinned and even any Norn human mix that would keep most of the Norn traits… just saying.

By: nugget

nugget — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:09:30 +0000

Hrm… I think the whole racist/not racist problem only arises if there is a lack of choice. (Same like the whole sexist, not sexist thing… Sure the GW elementalist girlies have the harem look… but they can also cover up, if you want to!)

Racially, GW certainly doesn’t suffer from a lack of choice.

I have a whole spectrum of skin-colours and facial features for my characters, and that makes me a happy nugget, since I like having lots of different flavoured nomnoms!

…so why is black or not black Norn even vaguely a racist problem?

I r confoozed. :(

By: Random Stuff « Guild Wars 2 Slovenija

Random Stuff « Guild Wars 2 Slovenija — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 06:33:37 +0000

[...] Ten Rats] The Black Norn About Tr0nGuild Wars 2 Slovenija Admin Kategorija: Novice Napisi komentar Komentarji (2) [...]

By: Sheolissar

Sheolissar — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 02:51:38 +0000

I think many people have just assumed the “reason for them being white” in this post/discussion.

For example: “They are white because they are based on Norse mythology.” Has that ever been said? Sure, the *influence* could be there, but has it officially been said that they are in fact *based directly on* Norse mythology? The difference there between “based on” and “influenced by” is that in the former, you directly and openly acknowledge that “yes, we patterned A off of B”, whereas in the latter, correlations can be argued and drawn between A and B without it being officially stated. I didn’t see anywhere where there is a definite basis defined for the Norns (see the many *possible influences* here, none of which are certain: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Norn)

Another example: “They are white because they live in cold, icy climate and therefore not much sun, and therefore scientifically white.” Wait a minute, so you *know for a fact* that blood and skin and biology in a fictional race works the same as our human blood and physiology in this world? No, that conclusion cannot be made with any sort seriousness, but here you are, applying your real world passing knowledge of skin pigment to a completely fictional race that obviously doesn’t obey other physical limitations such as body structure and mass! (Look up what would/does happen if a human being were 9 feet tall, geniuses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantism.)

It’s fiction. It’s a game. Let it be a game without importing all of your real world assumptions into a world that is anything but real.

By: Somnipherum

Somnipherum — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:11:34 +0000

There should not be black norns ? I mean… why ? If norns are based on norse mythology and scandinavian people why the hell do they have to be black ?

I hate this racism issue ! it annoys me… “oh lawd I can’t make a black norn pimp!” They’re white and that’s it, cause they live in icy cold mountains and have little or no contact with the sun… of course they’re white. If you want to be black just pick an elonian…god.

And yes I’m racist, cause blacks are always bitchin’ about everything… -.-’

By: Shaun

Shaun — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:18:58 +0000

Norn are not human, they are norn. Your comparison with other fantasy species such as row and orcs is a good one, and is good enough to settle this issue. World creators made a species with pale skin and fair hair, just like they made the asura with grey skin and big ears.

By: Yeebo

Yeebo — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:56:39 +0000

It really depends on the lore around them. If they live in a wide variety of environments, there’s no real reason a variety of skin tones shouldn’t be available. In many fantasy settings giants have skin tones ranging from human skin tones like flesh and brown to more exotic colors like red, green, and blue.

Regardless, as this is a made up race in a fantasy game, I don’t see that it has any implications beyond the lore of the game. It’s not as if all humans in the game will be of a single ethnic appearance.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:07:46 +0000

For what it’s worth you can create Ascalons with dark skin and dreads in Prophecies, Asianesque characters in Nightfall, etc. I suspect Arena will allow “black” norn and no one will complain.

Why? “Never anger a norn.”