(06-21-2017, 09:39 AM)SapphireSkylines Wrote: Hey! So I saw a discussion on tumblr the other day about half breeds. It seems like most people think that they could exist so I have some questions. Is calling someone a half breed considered racist? and Are half breeds looked down upon in society?Â
By half breed I mean something like a half elezen, half hyur or it could be something like a person who has a parent from Garlemald but another from Aldernard. What do you guys think?
Touching on your latter point, in universe, the Hyur/Elezen hybrid known as Hilda was looked down upon and discriminated against by the highborn of Ishgard. Ishgard being Ishgard, it's dificult to draw a conclusion of whether such discrimination is reflective in Eorzea as a whole. There's evidence to suggest that interracial couples are also discriminated against, the male Miqo'te and... I believe he was a Highlander male involved in Wanderer's Palace (Hard) were forced to leave their home due to their respective races (noteworthy in that they specify race and not homosexuality). These are, however, somewhat isolated cases, not indicative of a realmwide attitude. The lore team hasn't expanded further on such things in Eorzea, so far as I know, outside of those instances.
There are some unknown details in Arenvald's case that would serve to better understand if er... illegitimate children born of rape during foreign occupation face discrimination. For instance, I believe he says that he left his mother so that she'd stop being reminded of her trauma, but I don't believe we know what age he ended up leaving her. It could, in theory, be possible that his was a self-perceived stigma at most, since he was fairly grown, if implied to be young, by the time he ended up at the Waking Sands; the horror of learning the circumstances of one's birth through such a traumatic experience might conceivably drive a person to flee out of a sense of profound shame/guilt, after all. On the flip side, it's possible that he was thoroughly neglected or abused throughout his childhood, his mother seeing him as nothing but a reminder of his father. The only thing that's known for certain in his case is that he is ashamed of his Garlean heritage for whatever reason.
In short, in my opinion, there's insufficient data to conclusively determine whether there's a societal, realmwide oppression of "halfbreed" individuals.There might be, on some level, but there may also be not.
In regards to your former point, it depends entirely on the context of the conversation and intent of the speaker and indeed, that of the hearer as well. It could be used in a racially offensive manner, or it could simply be used as a way to denote heritage. Context and intent are key, something that folks on tumblr often seem to forget in their zeal to find offense in anything and everything. Arenvald referring to himself as a halfbreed isn't born of some racial hate. He's simply stating the fact that he is of mixed descent. There might have been nervousness in his tone, but given the organisation he was introducing himself to, it's understandable.
