#jewish coding

[writingwithcolor]

The protagonist of my story is pressured into killing, should I refrain from making her Jewish to avoid stereotyping?

@run-remi-run asks:

Hello, I'm developing a teen character living in Michigan and have been considering making her/her family Jewish; however I'm worried they'll fall into the evil Jewish person stereotype. The teen is the protagonist of her story, but she is pressured into killing at least one person. I understand that villains in media being portrayed as Jewish or with Jewish features has furthered antisemitism, and I understand my character isn't exempt from this just because I see her in a positive light. Should I refrain from making her Jewish?

This doesn't fit the stereotype

If the whole idea is that she’s pressured into doing bad things, that doesn’t fit the stereotype or trope at all because the trope has us as evil masterminds but in your scenario she’s the one being manipulated. The negative trope isn’t just “Jewish person does something bad” it’s a lot more specific than that. -Shira

Any Michigan influences?

Commenting strictly as a Michigan resident: is there any reason why you included the character’s Michigander origins in your question? Is there something about Michigan that’s influencing how you think a Jewish character might be depicted or viewed by others in your story? I’m asking not to be interrogatory, but out of curiosity and need for clarification.

–Jess

Evil Jewish person stereotype

Shira’s answer speaks directly to this and a lot more concisely, but I wanted to take a minute and go deeper into the phrase “Evil Jewish person stereotype,” for the sake of helping break down what’s actually happening and why it works the ways that it does.

There are two forces at work here, not unrelated to each other but not identical either. One is the portrayal of evil characters using tropes that suggest Jewish coding, and the other is a cultural suspicion of Jewish people’s motives and actions. They’re two sides of the same coin, perhaps, but I’d like to look at them separately, since the difference--that one refers to fictional characters and the other to actual people--matters in the context of reading and writing fiction.

Jewish coding in Villain characters

There are aspects of a character’s physical appearance that can suggest Jewishness even as we acknowledge that Jewish individuals don’t necessarily match those looks. Those might include a hooked nose, hair that is curly or red, a sallow complexion, an angular face. These attributes are not inherently bad: a text portraying them is antisemitic when these attributes are a visual signal of bad motives or are only present in bad characters and not good ones. Although not at issue here, it’s worth noting that these attributes can also raise questions in settings where all Jewish characters have them, because the flip side of these attributes being used to denote Jewishness is the erasure of Jewish people who don’t have these looks. 

 There are also aspects of a character’s personality that are repetitions of historical accusations against Jews, justifications for violence or persecution rather than reflections of genuine events. These might include greed, arrogance, bloodthirstiness, and a willingness to hurt or kill children for personal gain. These tropes have accrued over centuries in spite of the fact that every single one of them runs counter to any genuine Jewish values because ultimately, they’re not based on real-world actions by real-life Jewish people, but a product of leader after leader over time riling up their followers into dehumanizing a minority population, for the usual reasons people have for dehumanizing minority populations. 

Jewish coding in villain characters is not necessarily the same as stereotyping Jewish people as being evil. It does however support and maintain unconscious antisemitic biases. That is to say, when you meet someone who is Jewish, you’re not necessarily thinking “Mother Gothel was coded with Jewish tropes so this Jewish person probably is evil,” but if someone shows you a picture of a person with a hooked nose and curly hair and says “this person is greedy and hurts children,” exposure to Mother Gothel and other fictional villains on the same model might make you less likely to say “That doesn’t sound right.” 

Meanwhile, back in Michigan

Like Shira said, your character is not the mastermind of the murder she’s being forced into. Rather, she’s a victim of whatever character or circumstance is forcing her into it. As long as that’s apparent in your narrative, you’re not supporting an existing harmful trope or stereotype. I would treat the concept differently if this were, for instance, a dark narrative of a remorseless killer. In the current climate I would also advise against any imagery of a Jewish person of any age or agency killing a child or person of color of any kind, as that is the latest iteration of the medieval blood libel in modern times.  I would even have pause in this situation, where she’s not the author of her own act but does commit it, if she does not experience remorse or if she enjoys doing it. What matters here is her motive. 

If this character is Jewish, then that’s going to affect her approach to the incident in certain ways. While Christian and Christian-influenced secular culture regard “good” and “bad” as the ultimate thing to worry about, even at the cost of martyrdom or murder, Judaism places life as the highest value. There are very few of the laws and customs of Jewish life that one is not expected to break in order to avoid death, but one of those is murder. Now, Jewish characters make choices that aren’t perfectly consistent with Jewish law all the time, so what I’m asking is not to not write this, but to write it on purpose.

What does it do to your character?

Who is she before and after?

How many of us could truly choose to die rather than kill in her situation?

Does she own perhaps a necklace or decor item with the word “חי” on it?

What does seeing it do to her?

In what other ways does her Jewishness make her interesting and relevant as a character?

If it’s just curly hair and matzah ball soup on an otherwise Christian character, why bother. But if you’re willing to put in the time to research Jewish attitudes toward life and death and how they differ--even and especially in a teenager’s schema--from the Christian and Christian-influenced majority conception, then there’s room for an interesting narrative here. 

-Meir 

[tzipporahs-well]

Why I see the Dark Kingdom, Quirin, and Varian as Jewish:

So I promised a post or so again to expand on my Jewish Varian headcanons, and I wanted to explain my rationale for my headcanon.

Names:

Adira’s name is Hebrew: אַדִּירָה. It means “strong” or “mighty.” Notably no one else in the series has a Hebrew name except Ruth, which is a common name used more widely. Adira however is a much rarer name and i have not seen it used beyond Star Trek and Hebrew. Given this is a world in the renaissance to the late 1700s (personally, I interpret it in the late 1700s), it also means that the modern state of Israel does not exist yet. Which leads me to my next point.

The Dark Kingdom: Exile and Return

Within Tanakh, there is this major theme of exile (galut) and return as well as the “promised land.” The Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) expanded on this significantly. The Jewish people experienced two major exiles from the destruction of both of their Temples, something commemorated on Tisha B’av. These exiles were also preceded by environmental disasters because Hashem withdrew His protection. The land itself is described as a “land of milk and honey” and incredibly fruitful. However, in times of trouble, the land fails to yield to the Israelites and sees drought, famine, and fire.

The Dark Kingdom sees something similar. The land itself has become infested with near indestructible black rocks. Any attempt to destroy these black rocks has led to severe illness and death. Ultimately, all the kingdom’s inhabitants are forced away from their home to survive even as the black rocks spread from other people’s unwise actions (*cough* Fred *cough*). This leads to my next point.

The Parallel to Court Jews: Quirin

So Quirin’s role is very interesting. Reading between the lines, it seems that King Frederic swore Quirin to secrecy. Quirin has to communicate to the king in code when talking in front of other people about the black rocks. Even when it appears that he lied in front of his son. Quirin warns Varian to stop talking about what occurred (“That’s enough, Varian.”) which contrasts with his usual patient but exasperated behavior. This matter suggests a life or death matter and something that he could not even talk to his own family about.

There are parallels in Jewish history with this too: court Jews were a fixture in the Central Europe from the 16th century onwards (about the time period when Tangled the Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure takes place). They were in a precarious position often wearing multiple hats as banker and protector of the Jewish community. Court Jews got certain privileges in exchange for their services and wealth. Court Jews had personal relationships to the people in power usually a prince. this relationship proved very risky to many court Jews (see Joseph Suess Oppenheimer). One wrong move and the entire Jewish community could be forced to leave or less charitably, killed.

Now whether Rapunzel takes place in Central Europe is debatable. The location of the finale shot is somewhere in modern day France. However, certain parts of modern France (Alsace) were part of the Holy Roman Empire depending on the time period. A lot of names used are German/Central European or used frequently in the region: Rapunzel, Frederic, Quirin (which is only used as a Roman name otherwise according to behind the name), Mother Gothel, Edmund etc.

We see some evidence of wealth or at least past wealth in Varian’s household. First, the family lives in a castle rather than a shack or a cottage. Second, the amount of red clothing in Quirin’s household. Quirin wears a dark red shirt, Varian owns a red scarf, and his mother is seen wearing a lot of red. Red was one of the more expensive dyes with madder being the cheapest version. There is also use of furs in Varian’s coat and Quirin’s vest, which was not cheap either. However, Quirin and Varian also straddle the line with being commoners. We see Quirin farming pumpkins and they are clearly inferior to the king. In addition, Old Corona appears to be impoverished, which only worsened from the black rocks.

Jewish Values: Education and Promises

Education is a major Jewish value. We believe in questioning and wrestling with Hashem. Literacy was of major importance to us and Jewish communities often had high literacy rates often higher than the rest of the population. Part of the reason is because we’re people of the book. The other reason is because literacy and knowledge are mobile skills that can be taken with us when we got kicked out again. Varian owns many books, and we see him read and write on the regular. Books weren’t. Education expanded in Western and central Europe during the enlightenment but schooling as a system was still in its early stages. Books were expensive, yet it is likely that those who place a higher value on education would invest in such.

The idea of a promised land forms a major ideological core for Judaism because it provided hope. Hope allowed the long-suffering Jewish people as a whole to keep going even during Egyptian enslavement, massacres, and pogroms. There’s a reason Israel’s national anthem is named Hatikvah (“the hope”). Some of our biggest quarrels come from when covenants and promises are broken. Vows in the biblical era were taken extremely seriously.

Within the show, Varian emphasizes the promises that Rapunzel made but ultimately broke. It may not just “bad behavior” or massive hurt but a major breach in values. Rapunzel broke the agreement between subject and ruler: a ruler was to protect their subjects.

Appearances

Varian, Quirin, Hector, and Edmund all have dark hair. Both Quirin and Edmund have aquiline noses, which are common Mediterranean features. Corona is nowhere near the Mediterranean 🤨.

Varian’s mother also has red hair. Red hair is a polygenic trait that often occurs in a recessive fashion. That means two parents with other hair colors can carry red hair traits and pass them to their children. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Jews were often believed to red hair. Judas and Shylock from the Merchant of Venice were often depicted with red hair. This stereotype has some grains of truth as certain Tanakh figures like Esau and David have red hair or are described as ruddy and red. Because most Jews especially in the premodern age married within the tribe, a lot of traits that are rarer among the general population have been seen more frequently in Jewish populations including red hair and genetic conditions.

The Ham Sandwich Paradox: Obscure Jewish Food History

But wait! What about Varian’s ham sandwiches? Ham is made of pig and pigs aren’t kosher. Therefore, they can’t be Jewish.

Ah, this is where I talk about Jewish ham. Ham made of pork is indeed not kosher at all. However, Sephardic Jews and the Jews of Italy have made “Jewish ham” and “Jewish prosciutto” since about the Renaissance era. It came from curing goose or duck, which were kosher birds. I have tasted cured duck at a restaurant, and it takes remarkably like pork. One could interpret Varian talking about pork ham but Varian doesn’t say what kind of ham and he could just as easily be referring to “Jewish ham.”

Why Jewish representation matters

Tangled the Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure is a piece of media that I wrestle with a lot. The series did a lot of great things but it and the original movie did a piss poor job at handling Jews (in the movie and series) and Romani (definitively in the series). Here I will discuss the Jewish aspect since I am Jewish, not Romani.

Mother Gothel’s character resembles the very definition of old blood libels common in Europe that “Jews kidnap gentile children (especially blondes) and use them for ritualistic purposes.” Her design was changed from gothic romantic to something more “Jewish-coded” and thus more villainous. This is very much a problem especially as we consider the rise of antisemitism. It became worse in the series when we found out that Cass was Gothel’s daughter and that Cass was abandoned in favor of kidnapping Rapunzel. Cass then became a villain because of this. Media depictions like Gothel actively harm our community by reinforcing old dangerous stereotypes. Given these strong negative representations of Jews, I wanted to dilute the pool through making positive Jewish representation. I wanted to make space for myself and other Jews within this piece of media that has harmed our community.

These hints may simply be coincidental if taken in isolation. In stringing them together, we can construct a space where Jews can be represented positively and accurately in the tangled universe.

[spottheantisemitism]

Lizards and Goblins are not neccesarily antisemitic

Jewitches overview

Goblins, Jews, and Antisemitism

Content warning: extreme antisemitism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia Conversations on the Internet can have a frustrating undercurrent; w

Jewitches already provides examples of goblins and in Tolkien as being these villanious creatures with no Jewish coding and in Shakespeare Goblins are seen more like fairies and are shown positively so off to a good start for team “Goblins aren’t always antisemitic”

Goblins in Final Fantasy

Echoes Down The Corridor

Hello I would like to hear your thoughts on the alexander raids 👁👁 Okay well first thing is-I actually really like them. Secondly, I'm NOT

Goblins are hit or miss in Final Fantasy at least according to this summary by a mutual

they have their own culture and focus on invention and hard work which aren’t negative (if arguably positive Jew coding) but they have a faction called the Illuminati (hello new world order conspiracy) which want to take over the world and worships a machine messiah named Alexander that when awakened tries to destroy the goblins that helped wake him to create a better world. Horrified the other goblins then helps the players fight this Alexander

“The Illuminati could be seen as Christians, with Quickthinx being Jesus. Shanoa could be seen as being akin to an angel, as could possibly Alexander Prime. You could be seen as having wrestled God/a God. Or I could be completely full of shit overthinking things.

I do think there's something to be said on how data gained from Alexander and later Omega, would be combined to send G'raha to the First from the Doomed Timeline, saving you and the future”

@arandomshotinthedark remarks in last paragraphs of the above link

while that’s a fascinating analysis, I find the focus on the development of Goblin Christianity out of Goblin Judaism a bit uncomfortable and supersessionist but fascinating plot point nonetheless

Goblins in Harry Potter

Harry Potter’s goblins are greedy bankers who care only for their in-group and their goods. No matter how charitably you slice it that Griphook is just reclaiming a sacred artifact and helps the heroes he still betrays them for the artifact and his hatred of wizards and muggles is treated as his problem and not trauma or paranoia. Rowling truly believes you should shrug off oppression as her essays on house elves show

The video game Hogwarts: Legacy that was written by a literal neo nazi goes further elaborates on this by having the plot center on quelling a goblin revolt. Regardless of your actions and the revelations that the goblins were merely pawns of an evil wizard, you cannot change the way people view goblins even in the more compassionate ending and it implies the only good goblins are two who don’t fight for their rights as those movements with inevitably be corrupted by bad actors. More subtly, goblins artifacts look like judaica, notably you can recover a ceremonial ram’s horn that’s oddly like a shofar. Why a race of beings that live underground and have never kept livestock use a ram’s horn and not the silver or gold they are famed for is never explained. The only explanation is the writer wanted to mock jews

I will disagree with a common criticism of the game being blood libel as there is no child kidnapping. The ‘child’ being kidnapped is the teenage player character and you very much foil the goblins attempt to kidnap you. The fact that the goblins are willing to kidnap a child to keep you from unraveling their plot is bad enough but it’s not blood libel

Goblincore

Goblincore is not antisemitic at all. It’s basically combining being a collector of shiny trinkets and not caring about appearance. Behind the fantasy name is a straight forward aesthetic that opens up “the hoodie and jeans, messy hair don’t care, I collect pop vinyls and old nintendos” aesthetic to people who aren’t cishet men.

I judge movements by their actions and not by what they claim to be hence gamergate is a hate movement, cottagecore is tradwifery for leftist women and goblincore is a -core for queer nerds who want to a less bigoted version of nerd culture or cottagecore without the misogyny. They’re linking goblins to jews they’re enbodying and empathizing with the goblins. If you movement is using the fantasy creature to promote empathy instead of xenophobia then more power to you

Lizards for David Icke

David Icke decided to use science fiction to stoke his antisemitism. Icke believes all major institutions are run by shapeshifting Lizards (aka reptilians) from the moon here to colonize humanity and enslave us. Icke also believed the all popes , all presidents and prime minister and every Zionist was actually a reptilian shapeshifter. Since the overlap between Zionist and jew is significant, Icke all but admitted he sees most jews as subhuman shapeshiftering lizards. Even the staunchest antizionists laugh this nonsense off (Alice Walker not included) and his theories are more popular with Nazis. Considering original Nazis stole from Blavatsky’s mysticism of the aryan descendants of the hypeborean race from antarctica that’s just tradition at this point

Lizards in Dracula

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Count Dracula is compared to lizard when he crawls up a wall that a human like the narrator Jonathan Harker cannot (until Jonathan manages to do just that rendering the point moot). This a non issue since it was written before the reptilian was a concept. It is however used to dehumanize the count as other not code him as specifically Jewish. It’s xenophobia, not antisemitism. So maybe the people in making lizard jokes and the people smugly accusing them of antisemitism should both cut that shit out

Lizards in she-ra

I was told Double Trouble was an antisemitic stereotype because they only care about money and being good at infiltration and lack morals (same could be said of Marc Spector and yet no one calls him an antisemitic stereotype). Oh and they’re a Lizard creature like the Reptilians in Icke’s screed.

this is so patently ludicrous to the point where I believe this was a psyop to push Jews out of the She-Ra fandom, because oh my G-D this could not be made in good faith.

TL;DR

Goblins often antisemitic but not necessarily, Lizards almost never antisemitic unless Reptilian is used

[princesssarisa]

@ariel-seagull-wings post about the Jewish presence in Little Shop of Horrors makes me want to see the three Menken/Ashman Disney movies, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, analyzed through the lens of Menken and Ashman's Jewishness too.

I've seen them analyzed through the lens of Ashman's gayness many times, but doesn't their recurring theme of misfits and underdogs make sense through a Jewish lens too? To begin with, The Little Mermaid takes its heroine, who in earlier adaptations was usually blonde and given names like Naïda (Greek), Marina (Latin) or Pearl (English), and instead gives her red hair (a trait once considered so typically Jewish that most actors who played Shylock in The Merchant of Venice wore red wigs) and the Hebrew name of Ariel.

[autisticmysticsarah]

This is SUPER annoying because here's what you get when you look up "green skin Antisemitic"

And no, the wikipedia article does not say anything about green skin. If you are going to argue that something like green skin is specifically an Antisemitic red flag you need to cite articles written by Jewish scholars.

[koshercosplay]

Which Jewish-coded but not explicitly canonically Jewish character is your favorite?

Hermione. Freakin. Granger.

[aro-ace-from-outer-space22]

Is Empror Palpitine actually a Jewish-coded space Nazi, or am I just reading too much into his hook nose?

[writingwithcolor]

Hello there, thank you for creating this wonderful resource! Your post about lizard people really opened my eyes, as I was not aware of it being an antisemitic trope specifically until now. I absolutely love making reptile heroes and villains alike, but I'm not Jewish myself and I’m now concerned about a dragon character I have as a main antagonist for one of my stories. Your other posts regarding this topic do point out that having one aspect of the trope does not guarantee that it will evoke the trope itself, but I'm afraid that this character has several aspects of it without me realizing prior to now, and I'm looking for advice on what to do with him. I did not intend to make him Jewish at all, but if I were to use other ways to specifically show that he isn’t Jewish/a Jewish equivalent in this fantasy world (and I definitely will when I reach the scripting/panelling phase), I’m still concerned that even the base idea for this character will read as such regardless. (I also apologize for the length of this ask, feel free to cut it down as needed when posting it) Dragons, lizards, and other reptiles are not considered evil or vile in this universe, in fact there is an entire kingdom that worships a dragon god to the point where things like their clothing and architecture resemble them. Having even a fabricated appearance of a reptile (or any other animal for that matter) is encouraged and celebrated across all the kingdoms, so this isn’t meant to be a “humans vs reptiles” or “humans vs non-humans” story, even if humans are still a dominant species. That said, this character is still an outsider to the monarchy (in fact his and the protagonist's status as non-royal is deliberate), and his appearance as a dragon man is the reason he is able to sway this particular kingdom so easily. The general populace views him as a second coming of their god, even more so than its current royalty, so I’m not sure if that makes his case better or worse here. (I know this isn't a visual design blog necessarily but if it helps, this is the most recent design I have for him. If you have any critiques about the visuals as well then I'm all ears) He is not motivated by greed as I thought the “dragon hoarding treasure” angle was overused already, but he does intend to overthrow and abolish the monarchy of all of the kingdoms in a “burn them to the ground” kind of way, so I’m concerned that his conquest of this and the other non-dragon kingdoms will still read poorly from the manipulation/government takeover perspective. The protagonists that ultimately defeat him are each from different parts of this world, one of whom is the princess of the dragon kingdom and is fighting to get it back from him, though she resembles a bat more than a dragon visually (they share the same wing type). Would adding more scaly/lizard characters on the side of good help matters? This antagonist’s own cohorts are also from various parts of this world as well (i.e. not a group of lizard people), which is intended to create a parallel between them and the group of protagonists thematically, but he’s still the leader and mastermind of his group's schemes. So with all that in mind, do you think this concept could still be used/reworked or should it be scrapped entirely? Do you have any advice on writing lizard folk villains specifically when it comes to avoiding antisemitism? Are there questions I’m not asking myself about this particular story concept that I should be? I'm happy to clarify any further questions about the world building as needed, though admittedly there are a lot of details that need ironing out regardless. In any case, thank you for your time, I appreciate it!

Dragon antagonist trying to overthrow a kingdom

Having him be an anomaly in dragonkind, and having the good guys be more dragonlike, will help. Because then it shows that reptilian-ness, in your world, is not the reason he’s a bad guy. So yes, you’re right that adding more good lizard characters would help.

How do you feel about switching his character design with the bat princess character? Or even making her more dragonlike (without making him less so necessarily?) Just some thoughts.

--Shira

I’d like to gently move you away from looking at this as “am I inadvertently checking a box that I don’t want to check?” and toward “What are the ways in which I am and am not playing into a constellation of tropes that might or might not add up to something I don’t want to say?” Dragon = reptilian = antisemitic is a decent start, and it’s good that it got your attention. Taking a deeper look will help you evaluate what’s happening with your character development.

“Lizard people,” as in the accusation of literally being reptilian, or the use of “Lizard people” as a dog whistle to imply “Jewish” without saying it, grew into significance in the 90s, but it builds on tropes that had been established in art and literature for the span of Western history. “Lizard people” works as a dog whistle because of how many of the tropes for negatively portraying Jewish characters also work for negatively portraying humanoid reptilians. So instead of simply giving the sign-off on whether “dragon-man” is a subset of “lizard person” and therefore antisemitic, let’s look at the various components of the trope and how a writer might find themselves upholding, bypassing, or directly counteracting any selection of them. 

Here’s a short list of character design elements often linked with negative Jewish coding in male characters (the tropes for non-men Jewish characters can overlap with these but will also have their own components). 

Note that a lot of them are only negative if the context establishes them as negative:

Skinny and nerdy, not physically strong or imposing, gaining power through trickery rather than force;

Fat and lazy, not physically strong, gaining power through financial pressure or tricky contract language;

Narrow, pointy nose and chin, close-set eyes, high forehead, black or red curly hair, olive undertones to complexion; portrayed as negative in contrast to the fair and square or rounded features portrayed on non-Jewish-coded characters;

Cowardly in a setting where physical violence is a virtue, violent toward family members or politically bloodthirsty in a setting where the virtue is pacifism, but never personally a warrior and never willing to take personal safety risks;

Never shown wearing armor or holding weapons except in 20th-21st century settings;

Elements of autistic coding including monotonous, robotic, cracking, or otherwise “unmasculine” voice;

Failure to dominate women, romantically or in his own family, but also failure to respect women who are outside of his family. Pursues women who have made it clear that they are not interested. Not a supportive or attentive partner;

Dismissive of others’ boundaries, whether sexual/romantic or just personal space;

Excels in careers that don’t require charisma, especially in math and technology fields. 

Lacks loyalty to the group that includes them: that is, lacks a sense of noble patriotism in settings where patriotism is noble; lacks loyalty to the revolution or resistance movement where those are the heroes; even when an antagonist will show disloyalty to the other antagonists. This will be the case either because he values nothing above personal gain or because he has a stronger loyalty to another group or nationality than the one he is betraying.

Unpleasant, unlikeable, unappealing: even people who work for him find him repulsive and follow him because they have been manipulated out of other options or are villainous themselves.

Right off the bat, we see that some of these are contradictory. Your character--and any other character we hold up to it--might wind up upholding one of these elements specifically by intending to counteract another. Some of them are only understood as negative when placed in a context that specifically extolls a different virtue. Historically, Jews have been a handy all-purpose antagonist: to capitalists, Jews are communist, to communists Jews are capitalists. To radical Leftists Jews are faking being marginalized and to racists Jews are faking whiteness. In the face of this, a checklist attempting to encode tropes to avoid would quickly become too sprawling and unwieldy to use. Since “vibes” are hard to convey in text, though, let’s do our best to figure out what applies here.

Your character is an antagonist who gains power through trickery, by using his draconic appearance to gain the trust of a people who revere dragons. He’s also red-toned, armored, and motivated by something other than greed, characteristics which generally run counter to negative Jewish coding. You have a two-sided task: to make it clear that he isn’t intended as a dog whistle, and to avoid implying that the actions he takes that make him an antagonist are inherently results of his Jewish-coded aspects. 

What are his other attributes?

Do people follow him because he offers them kindness or because he tricks them into contracts or maneuvers them out of options? 

Does he respect and listen to his allies? Is he loyal to them? 

Does your story frame his motives as noble even if his methods are misguided? 

What would it take to get him to sell out his allies? 

Would he do it for money? To save their lives?

Is he heroic on the battlefield, a formidable foe, or does he send others to take risks he wouldn’t take? 

Does he have romantic relationships? If so, how does he treat his partners? 

Is he loyal to a long-term spouse? Is he predatory and coercive? 

Does he have genuine friendships and loving familial relationships, or only yes-men? 

I’m not saying that your bad guy has to be a good person; rather these are some openers to considering what the coding of villainy consists of, and how one codes for evil without employing antisemitic coding as a handy shorthand. 

- Meir