Because diversity for the sake of diversity is stupid and boring.
If I were to watch a movie or play a game based in pre colonial era Africa should I demand more whites people there? No that’s pathetic and it’s just me trying to pretend I actually care. The same goes for writing in LGBT characters for the sake of having them.
A lot of people want a token black character or token gay person. I find that boring, their entire personality defined by only that one trait that most of us ignore anyways? Booooorrriiinnnggg.
Want to see a well developed gay character that wasn’t added in for the sake of diversity?
Renly Baratheon from Game of Thrones. One of my favorite tv shows. (Just going to put a spoiler warning here for any GOT watchers or potential watchers in the future).
He was a good example. Him being gay was only part of his character. But it also brought an interesting aspect into the series. Him being gay and being a king wouldn’t be accepted, the consequences of being caught could be catastrophic. Something in the later seasons you can see.
Another character that was written in well. She had personality besides being black and a woman. And she was one of my favorite characters from Deadpool 2 and I hope she reappears in 3.
A lot of times with fantasy you don’t see diversity is because it’s based off of a European mythology. Like Norse mythology or polish. Sometimes a hybrid. It makes sense for the characters to be white in that sense. Especially since they’ll probably be wandering around in a European kind of landscape.
If you want to write in a black guy, write him in well. Maybe he’s with a group trying to set up a colony in that area. Or maybe he’s a merchant. Or maybe he’s a soldier for hire with legendary status.
Diversity should not be forced or be a goal. Add characters as you see fit to fantasy. Also if you’re adding a character that’s different than the rest like being black or gay or whatever, make sure they more than 2 jokes about being black or gay or whatever. An occasional joke about that is funny but when that’s all they have it really ruins the character.
Diversity can be good but make sure it makes sense and the characters are not defined by their skin colors or sexual orientation.
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