I'm frankly amazed GRRM had the restraint to not create his own fantasy world version of Jews in ASOIAF. He just took different antisemitic tropes and grafted them to his various racist caricatures of black and brown people in Essos instead.
Did he?
I'm honestly always open to assuming GRRM wrote something messed up, but I personally don't really see it. I guess the Iron Bank could be interpreted that way, but it's also pretty clearly supposed to be Venice and an Italian city state Bank
I'm thinking less Braavos and more like some of the other free cities and further east like Qarth and the various Ghiscari cities. Things like greedy merchants, large noses, lack of fighting ability, being underhanded and untrustworthy; it's like Jewish stereotypes were shattered and scattered to the winds. Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but taken as a whole it feels a little suspicious.
are you taking multiple different groups as a whole? that seems weird. all those things are normal shit people could be, have, or do as long as they're not stacked up on one caricature
Ghiscar was pretty clearly carricature of Rome, Volantis was kinda-like Byzantium and Quartheni were straight up described as the whitest of whites, just the show cast them as black.
I'm frankly amazed GRRM had the restraint to not create his own fantasy world version of Jews in ASOIAF. He just took different antisemitic tropes and grafted them to his various racist caricatures of black and brown people in Essos instead.
Did he? I'm honestly always open to assuming GRRM wrote something messed up, but I personally don't really see it. I guess the Iron Bank could be interpreted that way, but it's also pretty clearly supposed to be Venice and an Italian city state Bank
I'm thinking less Braavos and more like some of the other free cities and further east like Qarth and the various Ghiscari cities. Things like greedy merchants, large noses, lack of fighting ability, being underhanded and untrustworthy; it's like Jewish stereotypes were shattered and scattered to the winds. Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but taken as a whole it feels a little suspicious.
are you taking multiple different groups as a whole? that seems weird. all those things are normal shit people could be, have, or do as long as they're not stacked up on one caricature
I took it as more orientalism than anti-Semitic. The unruly dangerous and treacherous east.
Ghiscar was pretty clearly carricature of Rome, Volantis was kinda-like Byzantium and Quartheni were straight up described as the whitest of whites, just the show cast them as black.