Lit Ignorance is Bias: The Diversity Manifesto

KotOR should get a mention. Apparently it is a bad thing because it is customizable, but the ability to play as a female character who is Darth Revan seemed really cool to me.

I still think the worst thing the Legends EU did was confine those games in canon by making Revan male - but that isn't the fault of the game itself.

 

I don't think character customizers are bad. I love the choices a good one gives you, I played through Saints Row 2 through 4 with the same character: an Amanda Waller-type black woman who took no crap and destroyed everything in her path. I'm just not counting them as dedicated female protagonists, since you can just as just as easily play as a man or woman (or a humanoid abomination with only the vaguest of gender, depending on the game).

And yeah, making Revan a canonical male was a wasted opportunity. I love the contrast of seeing the towering Malak being subservient to a woman of average height, with Revan completely overmatching him in basically every way, intelligence, martial ability, cunning, foresight, Force affinity, etc. The games did a good job of rolling with whatever you chose to do, I especially liked how there were options for all four outcomes in KotOR 2 (lightside male Revan, lightside female, darkside male, darkside female) and each one changed the game's story. Really, post KotOR 2, the more that Revan was "explained", the less interesting *sigh* he became.

 

But unlike Bioshock they are actually fun to play and at least let you do something other than walk down a corridor and kill everything.

 

Yeah -- my first Revan was female and I had assumed the Big Bad Revan everyone was talking about was a dude up until the twist. The way the flashbacks were done and how Malak was behaving, it never crossed my mind it could be anything otherwise.

 

Which is why that game was genius.

 

And at the same time, the game spells it all out for you from the beginning (especially if you like conversations), and you just don't see it.

 

The real reason the game is genius, IMO, is that it tells the story of how Darth Sidious got a bump on the head and went on to save the galaxy from the evil fallen hero Darth Vader, who in his final moments wonders if he could have gone back to the light, as Sidious did.

Not so much the case if you're playing a female character. Yes, the dialogue is identical, but the fact Revan is always referred to as "Lord" conditions you to think "Oh, he was a dude".

I had suspicions about the connection between the PC and Revan very early on, and went back to play a female character to see if the opening crawl changed to "the Dark Lady Revan". The fact it didn't made me think, "Oh, guess I was wrong. Maybe I'm just a clone or something."

Being English, the idea that "Lord" could be gender-neutral didn't even cross my mind.

 

I did play as female, but I thought it still worked. Then again, I sorta knew the plot twist anyway.

 

Which is why England is dumb. #diversitythread

 

I don't get it? Lord is for males, lady for females.

 

"Sith Lord", however, has generally been used as a gender-neutral term.

Not sure what the American/English difference is supposed to be. Is it just that the latter are going to be more familiar with correct aristocratic titles or something?

 

Even in England, there are female Lords - Lord Mayors - and the Queen is the Lord of Mann.

 

In Avatar, Azula and her niece Izumi were both referred to as "Fire Lord."

Maybe it is a bit of an American thing, but I have trouble seeing Lady being equivalent to Lord the way I see King and Queen being related. If anything, I associate lady more with gentleman.

 

On a related note, I did notice that everyone in LotS calls Mors "sir"--I can't remember if that's typical in the Empire or new.

 

In TCW, the clones call the Jedi generals -- including Ahsoka -- "sir." I'm fine with it but it keep reminding me of Marcie from Peanuts.

 

So anyway, major recurring female antagonist next season of Rebels. That's good, I think the only one we've had on screen before is Ventress? Maybe Talzin? (But she was more of a wild card than a straight up antagonist.)

 

They should be calling her Excellency, she is a Governor after all.

 

Yeah. I rolled a male Revan first so I was fine with the canonization, but I completely understand why some would want Revan to have been a female. Like you said, this average woman is indisputably the boss of this huge monster of a Sith Lord? Pretty cool. And I absolutely agree that KOTOR 2 did a great job with it; in fact, KOTOR 2 for me made Revan a deeper, more meaningful character than (s)he was in the first game. Game 1: action hero who went bad and then became good again. Game 2: brilliant military strategist who apparently chose the dark side for pragmatic reasons, only to turn back through the power of love and redemption. That is a pretty sick character arc.

 

(Game 3: Turns out that a cheap expy of Palps brainwashed him or whatever, I don't even know, let's make him a raid boss and then two versions??? I lost track what were we talking about???)

 

Which is exactly why whenever anyone says TOR is KotOR 3 I want to punch them in the face.

 

I won't go into LotS spoilers but suffice to say Moff Mors' character and outlook is well-handled, with excellent use of subtlety.

 

Sure. I know that, now. This was in 2003. KotOR is largely what got me into the EU in the first place.

 

lol n00b