OOTS #1234 - The Discussion Thread

[Frozenstep]

I think the problem is that the reported oppression has only been talked about rather than really shown in comic.
We have seen hobgoblins whipping human slaves, including the old and infirm, in Azure City/Gobbotopia.
We have not seen a goblin merchant try to peacefully enter a human town and then be mobbed and killed for having green skin and tusks.

I'm seeing quite a few of these opinions about being unsure how disadvantaged goblins are. The problem is, of course, we see the story from only a few perspectives. It can be really easy to miss the issues others are dealing with when we're not looking through the eyes of everyday people. But besides that, we've seen some serious stuff, even with that limited prespective.

Redcloak states a few of the issues that make them unequal in 1208, but we also see a bit of it in Good Deeds Gone Unpunished, with the sapphire guard just casually destroying a town full of hobgoblins, and being fully prepared to do it again without any remorse. And of course, the slaughter of Redcloak's village. Even Roy, usually the talker, just kills and kills in the first book without really questioning why. That kind of attitude towards goblins doesn't really fill me with confidence that they're treated well. Of course, a few of those examples come from books outside the main comic, but that's kind of what happens when you get to look at more perspectives, you see more of the problem.

This is kind of falling flat for me. One, I still don't get how the goblins are so disadvantaged. The main argument is they were given poor land, but the dwarves got literal mountain caves, which are a magnitude worse. Two, in RL discussions of ethnic and racial privilege, the disadvantaged people generally aren't about to cause the apocalypse.

Another race having hardships to deal with as well doesn't invalidate the goblin's issues. We also don't know exactly what the dwarves have, besides very good mining resources.

As for the apocalypse, it's taken quite a lot for it to get to this point, and it wouldn't have been possible without Xykon.