In the wake of Dragon Age Veilguard, I have been thinking on the question of DEI. Can it be done correctly? The answer is yes, but the problem is that I think it’s like the old quote. If you go for Freedom and Equality, but put Equality first, you will get neither. If you put Inclusion above Character, you will get neither. Character must come first and must be the priority.
Let’s take the most generous view of DEI. There’s a lot of baggage around the term, but let’s take the best term and look at what could be argued the best example of this. Now of course I don’t really see anyone from the DEI crowd talking about this but that’s how it goes sometimes.
Let’s say that the goal of inclusion is to introduce a marginalized trait and make others appreciate their unique difficulties. Again, bear with me, let’s say this is the goal. The best example is Tyrion Lannister.
I remember reading a reddit thread and someone was asking little people if others treated them better after game of thrones, highlighting Tyrion’s character. There were responses and a number of responses said yes, absolutely. I got to thinking for myself and I had to agree for myself. First and foremost, I honestly forgot Tyrion was a dwarf at times, mainly in the book, that when others called him the monster or the a non-human dwarf, it was jarring. It showed how little these other characters understood.
How did GRRM get us there? He set it up very well. The Starks are the heroes, and Joffrey is as annoying and evil as it gets, and so we hate him. We hate Joffrey early on to the point where we think we can’t hate him more, and oh how wrong we are. And Jaime and Cercei are off trying to murder children and have sex, and what on earth could make us like a Lannister?
Maybe one who puts Joffrey in his place, and is hated by Tywin and Cercei Lannister, and Jaime is a bit more caring, but is utterly selfish and ultimitaley only looks after himself. This isolation and unjustificed hatred from what the audience can only see as an evil and despicable family, makes us sympathize with him. But this is not enough. We can sympathize with Theon when he’s being tortured by Ramsey Bolton, but it still doesn’t mean we like him.
Tyrion is incredibly smart and witty. We get to see this. He plays the game of thrones incredibly well and outsmarts Varys and Littlefinger and continually stands up, and is the only one who stands up to Joffrey. Remember, everyone else in the kingdom simply goes along with Joffrey and hopes it all works out. Even Tywin goes along with it because he knows he can control him, but even he doesn’t really care to curb his cruelty.
Tyrion beds a whore and falls in love with her, because that’s his understanding of love. Transaction. It’s all transaction. He can’t believe that any woman would truly fall in love with him, so he goes to what he understands. Money. He knows whores, and knows they love money, so if an unlovable monster wants love, you pay a whore for it. This is his view and it’s tragic. It’s terrible, but seeing Tywin as a father, you understand what it’s about. You get where it comes from.
No one loves a pity party. It’s just a fact. If Tyrion spent all his time lecturing others on the proper term or how to treat him, it wouldn’t work. It would feel completely out of place, because no matter how little people know about the middle ages, most are pretty sure that political correctness and anti harrasment HR training is a bit out of place. The story doesn’t feel real, which means the characters can’t really be real, which means their problems aren’t real. Which is the opposite of what any writer should be doing.
GRRM understands this which is why we have a dynamic character who doesn’t bemoan or lecture anyone on how to treat him better. He plays their game and beats them to it. Others insult him and he laughs, and at his trial when he finally has every card stacked against him, when his lover betrays him, when his father sells him out, when his brother says nothing. Everyone in the world is against him. He fights back. He lashes out. He throws it in their faces that this evil dwarf whom they hated saved their lives, and was the only one to stand against Joffrey, and who’s own father wishes he were dead. This is what makes Tyrion such a great character and the injustice of it all means that no one watching the show can help but get pulled in. Which, as I am told, is the point of all this DEI. To make the world a better place by showing the audience the struggles of others, but it all begins with good characters first or else nothing else can follow.
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