My opinion of Morella (as a single Irish woman)
So if the username doesn't make it obvious, I've been a lurker/nervous spectator in the Nevermore fandom for a while and I only really made this account to post this because I don't see a lot of Irish fans of the series on here and its like 8am and I didn't sleep so I actually feel confident enough to post.
DISCLAIMER: I'm obviously in no position to talk about how I feel about representation of other nationalities/ethnicities. This is about Irish rep and Morella only. Also I apologise for any historical inaccuracies this is mostly based off of my history classes in school but I did fact check anything I wasn't sure about. I am only one Irish person and I can't speak for all of us, only me.
So what do I think about Morella as Irish representation?
I think she's great! I like the way she's written! I relate to her as someone who really just wants people to get along! (and also as someone with a lot of Catholic religious guilt lmao)
I see some people complaining about how her nationality isn't referenced a lot in the comic but like, her specter design has a celtic cross for a shield and her last meal was shepard's pie and alcohol (I'm on my phone so I can't check and I don't remember what kind but I'm fairly sure it was some sort of beer). I think she has an good amount of culture, especially considering she can't actually remember a lot of her life. Like there could be more but i dont really think there has to be? The only thing I do wish she could have is a stronger written dialect, like Montresor or Will, but that's really only because I find a good Irish accent very aesthetically pleasing, lots of us don't have strong accents irl (myself included).
I go back and forth on whether I would want her to slip Irish phrases into conversation like Duke does with his French but that's like a little cringe nowadays (things like nicknames and simple phrases are fine and so is actually just speaking Irish but saying something like "that's a 'donn' cow" or "Dun an doras mais é do thoil é!" always seems kinda try-hard to me) (Also fuck you im not checking if my fadas are right its too early for ts) and Irish was probably even less spoken in an abby in the 1920's so I'm kinda glad she doesn't 'cause it would be a little forced lol.
Nitpick, but the people I see talking about this mostly say they're disappointed as a person "of Irish descent" and like I'm not trying to gatekeep our culture but also 😬
The other complaint I see is that the depiction of Irish history in her flashback is inaccurate or wrong somehow which like ??? No??? Not really??
Morella asking Maeve why she has to fight makes sense. I would be more surprised to see such naiveté from a priest or older nun, but Morella is young and clearly quite sheltered. And the Catholic Church, of which she is a member, was officially against Irish independence through military tradition, because it involved a whole lot of violence.
Another thing people tend to forget is that military tradition was not the only method through which Ireland attempted to gain independence. There was also Parliamentary tradition, where Irish politicians would get elected but refuse to sit in parliament and discuss with British politicians to try and convince them to give Ireland the right to govern itself. Of course it might sound a little silly, but it had the distinct advantage of not causing damage and fatalities like rebellion did, and famous politicians such as DO'C and CSP had made great progress before. Also, a lot of people saw fighting for independence as asking for unnecessary trouble from the British, and I imagine Morella would hear a lot of that from the other nuns. So of course, to a young, kind-hearted, pacifist nun, it would seem like fighting and violence was unnecessary when there was a peaceful, if less effective path.
Also Maeve (Meabh?) has that sense of Irishness in her dialogue that I so long for.
So in summary, I think that when my only criticism of an Irish character is that I wish they spoke more Irish-ly, I think that character is some pretty good representation, and while Nevermore definitely has issues with representation and historical accuracy in other characters and critism on those fronts is absolutely valid, Morella is (in my humble opinion) not one of those characters.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk ig? Slán??? Whatever, see ya around.
(or not if the ghosts get u)