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Topic | How do you feel about a religious group being an antagonist in fantasy? |
Gaawa_chan 04/27/24 5:18:07 AM #13: | Depends on the individual example. Sometimes I get the feeling that writers pick the evil religious organization because that somehow makes it more palatable to audiences when it comes to political themes. They can fall back to discrediting any political position the organization has just by showing that the religion is false, which means they don't have to worry if the story doesn't properly make its case for why a given position is wrong; its source is wrong, ergo, the position can be dismissed out of hand. This can get particularly poorly executed if there are multiple religions in the setting.
That doesn't always happen, though. One of my favorite examples of a religious organization in video games is the Order of Lorelei from Tales of the Abyss. The Order venerates a highly detailed and accurate prophecy, but even within the Order, people have different priorities and interpretations of the prophecy, and what ought to be done in relation to it. Ultimately, the Order as a *cultural entity* is an antagonist, not due to any inherent malice, but rather due to the ultimate nature of the prophecy itself. Spoilers: --- Hi ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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