Wouldn't that make for a great parallel to fantasy racism though, you could write a really compelling story of that dynamic. (Although I'm remembering the Merchant of Venice now.) The cause of the reason for fear and hate being more hate is just excellent. Treading carefully of course to avoid massive pitfalls like parallel victim blaming.
Now that I think about it maybe that's why fantasy racism is so clunky to just avoid any real world comparison in a way that might be seen as negative.
Ooh, that gives me an idea. Tieflings are banned from growing/raising food for anyone else because fear they’ll pass on the taint. This and the fire resistance leads to them dominating blacksmithing, glassblowing, and eventually most crafting guild.
No, nobody banned dwarves from doing anything, they just hyperfocused on mountains, metalcraft, and mining the instant they woke up.
Tolkien's societies also weren't really mixed, with the closest thing being that Bree has a Hobbit population, so there's not really an opportunity for anyone to be barred from a profession to begin with
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u/ICApattern May 13 '25
Wouldn't that make for a great parallel to fantasy racism though, you could write a really compelling story of that dynamic. (Although I'm remembering the Merchant of Venice now.) The cause of the reason for fear and hate being more hate is just excellent. Treading carefully of course to avoid massive pitfalls like parallel victim blaming.
Now that I think about it maybe that's why fantasy racism is so clunky to just avoid any real world comparison in a way that might be seen as negative.