Characterization for South Asian-coded characters
I am considering writing a novel that takes place in a fantasy setting, and while I am content with most of my characters, there are two where I keep hitting a snag in regards to cultural context. They are a pair of step-sisters with parents who are hell bound to climb the social and economic ladder no matter the cost. They do genuinely care about each other, but are also very jealous of each other. The older sister wants to be a refined, pampered, and adored lady who is married off to a loving husband, but after inadvertently revealing herself to be a prodigy at taming (and later fighting) magical beasts, her parents milked her for all she was worth while she could still be considered a āchild prodigyā before pressuring her into more or less joining a militia. (After all, they may have been the ones to push her in that direction, but having a daughter as rough and tumble as her around was unsightly.) She and her parents also happen to be playing a long-con in that while they are passing her off as a human with gifts that are normally seen in fae, she is actually a (even rarer, but also seen as highly distrustful) fae with the ability to lie. The younger sister is a normal human who is very beautiful and pretty dim on an intellectual level, but also incredibly emotionally intelligent. She does value knowledge (and admires how well her sister can memorize facts) and enjoys learning, but is a slow learner by traditional methods. She desperately wants to feel useful and like she is capable of making a difference in the world, but their parents only value her for her appearance, try to keep her from doing anything that might ājeopardizeā it, and want her to marry into a nobleman and become a beautiful and obedient wife. Sheās grown up being told that it doesnāt matter that she isnāt intelligent because girls like her donāt need to think, and really, itās better if she stay quiet anyway. This has caused her to be skittish, distrusting, and even cynical despite her kind nature. Itās also given her a ton of self-esteem issues, made her deeply uncomfortable with her appearance, and adverse to comments regarding it. The sisters both want what the other has and feels a little resentful of the fact that /they/ donāt want it.
My question is this. I havenāt come up with physical designs yet and am thinking that I want them to have south asian characteristics. However, Iām not certain if the cultural context would fit well with the issues they face in regards to gender, expectations, and societal stereotypes. (I will note that I havenāt designed the in-universe cultures yet, since aside from some initial character concepts, Iām largely going to be writing by the seat of my pants. But I also figure that regardless of in-universe context, the audience will inevitably connect characters to real-world cultures and want to be sensitive and understanding in that regard.) How do I make sure it all clicks together, when I am largely only familiar with the experiences of American (primarily white) women in that regard? Or is this a situation where it would be better to just make them white rather than making them PoC and risk making a mistake?
(My apologies if this is a rubber stamp question. I donāt think so, but Iām not entirely sure either. But on the chance that it isnāt, I figured that in the time it would take me to ask if itās a rubber stamp, I might as well go ahead and send it in. Do me a favor and message me if it does count as one, so I know for future reference?)
What Are āSouth Asian Characteristicsā?
Thank you for taking the time to flesh out your story so thoroughly. I think this ask will benefit from you doing some more initial research as to what kind of background you want these characters to have. As I hope recent WWC posts on South Asia have made clear, South Asia is a very large, diverse place, so saying you plan to code your characters as physically South Asian doesnāt help us. Pick any human being on the planet. Now look at South Asia. You will probably find people who resemble that individual physically somewhere within the subcontinent. Similarly, from a cultural perspective, South Asia is very broad. It is home to over 1.5 billion people, 70 distinct ethnic groups, several hundred languages, and all major world religions. If this is not you have come across in your research, I would say your research is very much in the premature stage.
WWC has a great guide for describing skin tones and facial features of non-white individuals. If you have no South Asian cultural coding you wish to impart to these characters, I think your first order of business is deciding on the setting of your universe and what kind of world-building you wish to engage in. Donāt let the theoretical assumptions and biases of your readers trip you up. I look forward to hearing from you again after your world-building has progressed. There are many religions in South Asia with a wide variety of folklore involving otherworldly beings, but not all of them are can be viewed as equivalent to fae. Jaya has some great comments for you on Hindu-specific dimensions of cultural coding if you plan to use the fae in your story, which I think are important to keep in mind should you plan to culturally code your characters using any South Asian culture that draws on Hindu influences.
Cultural Dimensions: Fae versus Hinduism
I can say that we South Indian Hindus donāt necessarily have fae. (That hasnāt stopped me from adding them to some stories with Indian protagonists.) We have otherworldly beings like Gandharvas and apsaras. You may want to do more research if mixing the fae with Hindu mythology, assuming youāre going with that.Ā
To elaborate, the fae in European society have their own rules and codes of morality separate from ours. This is attributed to the fact that the Folk lack souls. Ergo, they lack the means to realize that a decision is morally wrong. That is why the Folk steal babies and replace them with mischievous changelings, or try to trick humans into eating Fairy food when the latter are visitors to mounds under the hill or fantastic castles. Itās all for entertainment, and laughs.
That doesnāt mean the fae are bad or will always harm people. You can ward them away by getting cold iron bars for your house, and holly for protection in the winter. Some Celtic folklore advises that you accept a fairy gift if you receive one, even if itās feeding milk to your cows. Other lore says NEVER accept a gift, because you will be expected to do a great favor in turn. For the same reason, you donāt say āthank-youā or offer nice clothes to them, since it may insult them. Everyone agrees, however, that you never give your full name to the fae, because one of them will use it to lord power over you.Ā
In contrast, most magical beings in Hindu mythology abide by the same codes of honor and dharma. Everyone has a soul, thus the right to earn their way to either heaven, a good reincarnation, or nirvana. This means you can reason with them, and they are responsible for their actions. The asura and rakshasa demons have co-existed with the gods despite dethroning them a few times, while the humanoid monkeys say theyāll ally with the humans to fight important battles. Everyone agrees to a social contract where a king protects his people, the sages regardless of their shape pray for the common good, and you try not to be murderous or rude. Even if you are a tyrant, like Duryodhana or Ravana, you can still go to heaven if youāve fulfilled your life duties, which is also called dharma, and remained honorable. Or if you are a bastard father like Hiranyakashipu, you may at least get purification in death if your son vouches for you and begs for your soul from the gods.Ā Ā
Are there cases where the beings break this rule? Heck yes; there are always going to be a few demons, humans, and even a monkey or two that let the power trip get to their head. Thatās when the gods intervene by sending a special human or reincarnation to handle the lack of honor. The new warrior restores the balance and gets rid of that dangerous bit of ego, usually by killing the would-be tyrant in question.Ā
The fair folk have none of this honor. If you put any being from Hindu mythology and a member of the Fair Folk in the same room, they would get into an argument of wills for hours. Few beings in Hindu mythology would steal a baby for laughs, and the fae would likely not understand the concept of sacred duty. Your story may not work for that reason so Iād advise figuring out how much Hindu mythology you want to add.
