# Racism in writing fantasy: Does it exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-in-writing-fantasy-does-it-exist/680019 "2014-01-29T06:13:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 13
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-in-writing-fantasy-does-it-exist/680019/13 "2014-01-29T14:04:21Z")
How about more fantasies built on old tales from areas other than Northern Europe? Tolkien had made a lifelong study of those languages–can’t somebody pick another area & do the homework? Of course, somebody using a fake-Celtic name probably won’t. J Gregory Keyes wrote two books in his “Chosen of the Changeling” series. In the continent of the fantasy world we visited, there was a great Egyptian/Mesopotamian civilization & a sophisticated Mongol/Comanche nomadic culture. The male protagonist was the only “white guy”–member of a humble farming people who lived far to the North; the female was a civilized (dark skinned) princess. Pretty good–but didn’t become a hit. Tolkien ripoffs are easier to write–and to read. By the way, Tolkien’s dwarves weren’t villains…and Tolkien gave a rude answer to Nazi enquiries about his own racial “purity.” --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-in-writing-fantasy-does-it-exist/680019)._