Dwarven accents and skin color?

[danielxcutter]

I could certainly be wrong, but it appears in general, the lighter-skinned dwarfs such as Hilgya and Minrah don't have one, but darker-skinned ones such as Durkon and his mom do.

...Am I right? And if I am, I wonder why?

[Morquard]

See also here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?565953-Dwarven-Accent

[martianmister]

I could certainly be wrong, but it appears in general, the lighter-skinned dwarfs such as Hilgya and Minrah don't have one, but darker-skinned ones such as Durkon and his mom do.?

That seems to be the case.

...Am I right? And if I am, I wonder why?

A twist on readers' expectations.

[hroþila]

I ran some haphazard non-exhaustive calculations and it would seem that ~15% of white dwarves and ~62% of dwarvish POC have the accent.

[Psyren]

I personally doubt it was intentional. (Or to put it more pithily: "Sometimes a stick figure is just a stick figure.")

[Mad Humanist]

One thing I have noticed is that when you look at the skin-colour of couples, the two partners seem to match skin colour perfectly.

The only counter-examples I can think of are Roy/Celia, Roy/Miko and potentially Elan/Therkla. , Belkar/???. All of these apart from Roy/Miko are inter-species and that one failed terribly.

In a society with no skin-colour prejudice I find this unrealistic so I wondered why this would be the case. I am guessing the Giant just wanted skin colour to be something that people accepted as being diverse without fretting about every colour shade.

[hamishspence]

One thing I have noticed is that when you look at the skin-colour of couples, the two partners seem to match skin colour perfectly.



Bandana's parents:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0959.html

and Durkon's parents:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1129.html

have noticably different skin colours.

[Mad Humanist]

Bandana is a good catch. I looked at Durkon's parents and I could not see a difference. Now I look again and maybe there is one but it's not big.

[Auguries]

In a society with no skin-colour prejudice I find this unrealistic so I wondered why this would be the case. I am guessing the Giant just wanted skin colour to be something that people accepted as being diverse without fretting about every colour shade.

In a world with such a vibrant variety of sentient races, I doubt that anyone would give a lick about something like skin color.

[Mad Humanist]

In a world with such a vibrant variety of sentient races, I doubt that anyone would give a lick about something like skin color.

I thought it was well-known that in OOTS noone cares about skin colour. (Though I am not convinced by your explanation of it.) That is not what I was questioning. I just thought the art did not quite reflect that.

I am reminded of a comment I once heard.


The day a cartoonist can make a Judge Black, without anybody commenting on it, is the day racism will have been defeated in America.

I suspect the Giant is trying to do his bit towards that. I was just quibbling over a detail.

[GreyTraveller]

Jiminy's parents (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0942.html) also have noticeably different skin color.

[Mad Humanist]

Jiminy's parents (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0942.html) also have noticeably different skin color.

Ah thanks. This is good.

[Devils_Advocate]

I could certainly be wrong, but it appears in general, the lighter-skinned dwarfs such as Hilgya and Minrah don't have one, but darker-skinned ones such as Durkon and his mom do.

...Am I right? And if I am, I wonder why?
Presumably because accent and skin color both vary with the same factors, like region of origin. No disrespect intended, but is that not a concept that you're already familiar with from the real world? I don't see anything weird about it.

Since we're talking about subterranean people, it may well be that accents shift as one heads further down, rather than north, south, east, or west. Probably the dwarves who sound less distinctively dwarven generally live closer to the surface and have more contact with the other races.

So: Dwarves, as a rule, live underground. Some live further underground than others, and thus are even dorfier. Makes perfect sense. And as the drow can attest, the tendency of real subterranean species towards albinism means nothing to a fantasy setting. One might speculate that darker skin serves as a form of natural camouflage, and can range from dark grey to brown because darkvision is in black and white. See? It all fits.


One thing I have noticed is that when you look at the skin-colour of couples, the two partners seem to match skin colour perfectly.

In a society with no skin-colour prejudice I find this unrealistic so I wondered why this would be the case.
1. Has it been established that any society in this setting lacks skin-color prejudice?
2. Has it been established that every society that each member of each couple comes from lacks skin color prejudice? I rather doubt that it has.
3. Would you find it equally unrealistic to mostly see couples with contrasting gender presentation in a setting ostensibly without gender-based prejudice? If not, why not?

[Mad Humanist]

1. Has it been established that any society in this setting lacks skin-color prejudice?


If there was skin colour prejudice Roy or some member of his family surely would have received some by now. His sister is the most popular girl in school. Noone bats an eyelid at Roy having "Sir" in his title (though I am not clear how correct that is and how much it is just V). He might have been bullied at school but it did not appear to be over skin colour. Absence of evidence of ski colour prejudice is evidence of absence of skin colour prejudice. Also the plot has been largely premised on there being an equivalent prejudice against goblinoids - though a prejudice that has more basis to it (namely divine preference). There is also a prejudice against trees in some quarters which have just learnt lacks that basis.

[Rrmcklin]

One thing I have noticed is that when you look at the skin-colour of couples, the two partners seem to match skin colour perfectly.

The only counter-examples I can think of are Roy/Celia, Roy/Miko and potentially Elan/Therkla. , Belkar/???. All of these apart from Roy/Miko are inter-species and that one failed terribly.

In a society with no skin-colour prejudice I find this unrealistic so I wondered why this would be the case. I am guessing the Giant just wanted skin colour to be something that people accepted as being diverse without fretting about every colour shade.

I mean, you pick some pretty terrible examples there. Roy and Miko, Elan and Therkla, and Belkar and whatshername where never in romantic relationships to begin with, even if one person (at least at one point) wanted there to be.

If you want to talk about relationships failing you should use examples that even got to that point in the first place.

[Mad Humanist]

If you want to talk about relationships failing you should use examples that even got to that point in the first place.

I was not talking about relationships failing. I had not strayed that far from the original subject matter of the thread.

Anyway several people pointed out some solid counter examples to my original point so I'm not desperate to continue this thread.

[Rrmcklin]

I was not talking about relationships failing. I had not strayed that far from the original subject matter of the thread.

Anyway several people pointed out some solid counter examples to my original point so I'm not desperate to continue this thread.

You were talking about skin color correlating to failed relationships. That is also talking about relationships failing. I didn't say you strayed from the topic of the thread, my point was the point you made was poorly founded.

Which you yourself have admitted, so there should be no issue.

[Chronos]

People from different parts of the world mostly have different skin tones, hair colors, and other ethnic markers. Most folk don't travel much, and so when they enter into relationships, it's mostly with people from their own region, who therefore have a similar appearance. Adventurers do travel a lot, including even to other planes, and so they can end up in relationships with just about anyone.