D&D, racism
is there a way to reclaim drow from being purely a racist caricature?
i don't really think so personally
orcs have been kinda recovered a little bit but LOTR orcs were definitely racist stereotypes
the thing about drow is they can also be said to be effectively dwarves of norse mythos - the svartalfar, which do match their descriptions in many ways - but i haven't studied it enough to know if that mythic creature was *also* borne of racial stereotypes
D&D, racism
@lizardsquid i'm so glad you're doing this
a lot of stuff about monsters in mythos are about putting a name and a story into fears about the world
for a lot of creatures, especially humanoids, unfortunately that's manifested in "these creatures are a stand-in for a particular people we don't like"
drow are like the most emblematic of this - an organized race of underground matriarchs who worship spiders sounds very much like the background of some african mythos i've read