Witcher Time ⏰ @realwitchertime - Tumblr Blog

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We’re fucking begging yt queers on this website to stop writing off racism as something that is specific to “dudebros” as it fandom racism is pertpetuated by yt queers and women aren’t immune either. Distancing urself from racism doesn’t make it vanish fml

#wtf

b-a-pigeon

Listen, I think if you’re white and a writer, it’s important to be aware of how incredibly white the publishing industry is.

This NY Times article, published in December, provides some pretty bleak statistics on published authors. They chose a sample of 8,000 English-language books, based on their publishers & distribution, and found that - of the authors for whom they could find demographic information - 95% were white.

95 percent!!

This study is larger than the US, but just as a point of reference - 60% of the US is white. And yet, an incredibly, disproportionately high percentage of English-language mainstream books (published by major publishing houses, and widely distributed) were written by white people.

I bring this up because I think it’s incredibly valuable for writers, especially white writers, to consider the effects of this overwhelming whiteness! I think it matters that, unless you’ve intentionally sought out books by POC, most or maybe all of the writers you’ve read, admired, and wanted to emulate are white people. I think there’s value in considering how your writing has been shaped by this, and how it has affected the writing communities you exist in, and the ways you navigate them.

Also, while you’re thinking this through, consider buying a book by an author of color - being in an industry in which you are a small minority is no easy task, & you (the reader) will only benefit by exposing yourself to good art made by people whose experiences differ from your own! :)

b-a-pigeon

Every time I reblog this post again I lose several followers (I think I lost 5 or 6 yesterday after sharing this) & I always wonder, like, how fragile do you have to be for this to upset you? I don’t know if I could have phrased this any more gently if I tried, lol.

I’m not upset that those people unfollowed - I’d rather they didn’t interact with me, tbh - but I think this also serves as a good illustration of how white a lot of online communities based on reading/writing can be & how determined people are to avoid the subject. Even the acknowledgement of the role white supremacy plays in publishing (and, in turn, our reading habits) and the gentle encouragement to question this is too much, somehow.

ultimatedirk

younger anakin doodles :-)

murcielagatito

punks of color bc this website is slacking

chewbacca

EUPHORIA SEASON 2 january 9. hbo max.

witcherladies

The Voleth Meir trio

fioblah

chaos could never be done with the likes of you

tip jar

inber

Thinking about how Yen lost something after Sodden - she thought it was her chaos - but:

"Fire is a forbidden source because it usually consumes those that draw from it. Unless you’re very talented. Then the body can withstand it. But it consumes the soul."

- Rience, S2 E05

and then:

"My wounds wouldn’t heal… because magic wasn’t what I was missing."

- Yennefer, S2 E08

When Yen realised she would sacrifice anything for Ciri, even her own life. That's when she got her magic back; when she found the missing piece of her soul. Ciri completes her.

tree-woven

tbh the greatest thing I ever read was Yennefer’s response to Geralt’s “Dear Friend…”-letter.

tree-woven

“Dear friend,

your unexpected letter – which I received not quite three years after we last saw each other – has given me much joy. My joy is all the greater as various rumours have been circulating about your sudden and violent death. It is a good thing that you have decided to disclaim them by writing to me; it is a good thing, too, that you are doing so so soon. From your letter it appears that you have lived a peaceful, wonderfully boring life, devoid of all sensation. These days such a life is a real privilege, dear friend, and I am happy that you have managed to achieve it. I was touched by the sudden concern which you deigned to show as to my health, dear friend. I hasten with the news that, yes, I now feel well; the period of indisposition is behind me, I have dealt with the difficulties, the description of which I shall not bore you with. It worries and troubles me very much that the unexpected present you received from Fate brings you worries. Your supposition that this requires professional help is absolutely correct. Although your description of the difficulty – quite understandably – is enigmatic, I am sure I know the source of the problem. And I agree with your opinion that the help of yet another magician is absolutely necessary. I feel honoured to be the second to whom you turn. What have I done to deserve to be so high on your list? Rest assured, my dear friend; and if you had the intention of supplicating the help of additional magicians, abandon it because there is no need. I leave without delay, and go to the place which you indicated in an oblique yet, to me, understandable way. It goes without saying that I leave in absolute secrecy and with great caution. I will surmise the nature of the trouble on the spot and will do all that is in my power to calm the gushing source. I shall try, in so doing, not to appear any worse than other ladies to whom you have turned, are turning or usually turn with your supplications. I am, after all, your dear friend. Your valuable friendship is too important to me to disappoint you, dear friend. Should you, in the next few years, wish to write to me, do not hesitate for a moment. Your letters invariably give me boundless pleasure. Your friend Yennefer“

dadralt

“When I was 12, I was shot in my left eye and had several complicated surgeries and as a result, I learned that I would be partially blind in that eye for the rest of my life. Coën was the same age I was when going through his own life changing mutation so I found myself naturally empathetic towards him.”

YASEN ATOUR for Viewties Magazine

hobbart-art

Sometimes a flower is just a flower, and the best thing it can do for us is die.

some-stars

having now seen a photo of the actor who plays francesca, i gotta say the evidence is strongly pointing to TWN’s approach to actors of color being “change their hair and eyes so they can pass for white, unless they’re dark-skinned and then let people pat us on the back for keeping their natural hair (but still make their eyes blue sometimes)” and that’s REAL fucked up, y’all. really really fucked up.

(francesca actor photo in question:

like holy shit, they whitewashed the FUCK out of her, i had NO IDEA)

(the notion that “istredd’s eyes are blue bc he’s a mage” does not hold up when plenty of other mages have brown eyes, so let’s not even start with that. not to mention it was a CHOICE in the first place, not an immutable law of reality)

some-stars

I’m really glad this is getting some traction so I wanted to reblog it one more time (and add, since it was only implied in the original post, that yes I am talking about Triss & Anna too).

I really really hope this issue gets enough attention that someone official addresses it, not bc I trust their intentions but bc I would really fucking love to hear what they scramble to come up with (and ideally so that next season they’ll FUCKING STOP). So feel free to tweet this post, or you can make your own tweet or tiktok or whatever people under 30 do now, just keep talking about it.

realwitchertime

Wanted to thank OP for making this post since it inspired my own and say that we both have racists in the reblogs trying to say that this is why all the characters should be white/poc don’t exist in Poland which

A) good thing The Witcher doesn’t take place in Poland? The Continent is not real? It has dragons it can have poc. And the show isn’t a copy of the books. poc should be allowed to exist in fantasy without having their existence questioned

B) People keep trying to distance themselves from this by saying “they are pandering to toxic gamebros” but it’s also the fans on tumblr who ignore every woc and it’s fans who use original translation and “I’m Slavic” to excuse racially harassing people who bring up genuine points. Slavic does not mean white and being European is not an excuse for racism? Poland was ranked one of the most antisemetic countries in the world and institutionalized racism is very prevalent in Nordic countries?

Fuck Netflix for this and fuck fans who try to excuse it

#did not know until this happened how comfortable people were being racist with the excuse of I’m Slavic it’s weird #I’m not even fully American and I know racism isn’t an American only problem #but BLESS OP #Netflix fucked up #and we have to let them know #the Witcher #racism #fuck Netflix

Hello! Fandom lurker and POC here. I mostly use this account for liking posts and normally I don’t do this but I have some thoughts I’d like to share.

I’ve seen some conversations about how TWN is using wigs/contacts to make the features of many of their actors of color look more Eurocentric. And they are absolutely right.

Francesca’s actress Mecia Simson is mixed (Jamaican and English) but you couldn’t tell based on the makeup they gave her on the show.

Triss’s hair this season is a red wig which wouldn’t be problematic except they made the wig a much looser texture than her natural hair. (We actually find her hair in S1 to be plenty red enough but MANY fans thought otherwise)

Even with dark skin characters like Dara and Fringilla, they could have been much more creative with their hairstyles. Dara has a basically a copy of Véa’s hair from S1 and Fringilla had sloppy braiding that wasn’t even dipped properly, resulting in jagged braids at the ends. I’ve done better end braids at 2am in my kitchen. For a show with creative design, they did not put in the same amount of effort for their hair as say Calanthe’s hair.

But we can’t ignore how fan reactions and what fans are interested in has played a role in a lot of these changes.

When the first season’s trailers came out forums were bombarded with racist remarks about every actor of color and once Season 1 came out Anna Schaffer had to face an high amount of racism for her portrayal of Triss. Many people here on tumblr would use Game Triss and erase Anna’s portrayal entirely. People would constantly talk about her hair being the wrong color and how this ruined the character.

Fandom largely ignored characters that weren’t white men. We don’t interact with fandom but I consume a lot of content. I found people would pour their hearts into side character white men from the games, create elaborate headcanons and backstories about random witchers, and mostly leave out any women of color entirely. Yennefer if lucky would be Ciri’s mom and relegated to the Geraskier matchmaker. At worst she would be demonized, exaggerating things she did in canon or making up new reasons entirely to hate her. Triss and Fringilla were outright ignored.

Yes. Hollywood has a racism problem. Yes. Hollywood has a whitewashing problem. Yes. They have a eurocentrisme problem. But we the fans are directly contributing to it by letting them know that women of color and characters of color don’t have a place in fandom. That we don’t want them here.

Fandom is no longer relegated to a dark corner of the Internet no one sees. Lauren Hissrich (no matter how much we might not like it) regularly interacts with fandom on twitter and so do many other people who work on The Witcher. They see us. And when we perpetuate erasure of woc and when we send the statement we don’t have a place for poc we are not helping the situation.

And some of the people I’ve seen commenting on how this eurocentrisme is being perpetuated on The Witcher don’t even seem to be invested in these characters. I’ve outright seen many of these people in the past hate these characters and even reblog posts about Triss’ hair or ignore the characters in favor of white men. It’s hypocrisy at its finest.

If you only critique the portrayal of poc in media but do nothing to support diversity in fandom you are part of the problem. And I’m tired of the hypocrisy. I’m tired of feeling like fandom isn’t a safe space for people like me. I’m tired of feeling like every poc has to scream to be heard in fandom.

And I know this won’t change much. I know white mlm will still dominate the Witcher fandom. People will critique any inch of diversity while having 99% of their content based around white men. But maybe this might change one person’s mind. And that would be enough for me.

For the people who support diversity in fandom ILY and I cannot thank you enough. I’m a lurker but I love all your work and sometimes it’s the only thing that makes me feel like this fandom is worth anything.

We have to bring attention to these issues in Hollywood AND support diversity in fandom. If you don’t do both. You are part of the problem.

#the Witcher #racism #the Witcher netflix #Triss #Francesca #Triss merigold #twn #francesca findabair #jaskier #Geraskier #Geralt #fandom #fandom crit #tried to use I pronouns as much as possible because I don’t want people bringing plurality into this #I don’t even know if anyone will see this #it’s a long read but an important one #this account isn’t active but we pay attention

So we rarely post on this account because we feel very nervous about it but we wrote a new fic and we thought that --- someone might like it?

Keeping it Together, keeping it apart

It’s about Geralt and Triss both having DiD and it’s based on some of our own experiences so it’s very personal to us

Also we can’t find other fics in the fandom or anyone else who has Dissociative identity Disorder so if you know anyone, please send them our way or comment on this post :)