[Hocknose]

Hi All,

Finished RG last week and have decided to read RotCG before TtH. But my question is not related to any book in particular but as a whole series.

Many times in the books characters are recognised by where they are from in the Malazan world, especially from the continent of Quan Tali and and it's surrounding islands. If you were to compare their ethnicity with that of real life, what would you suggest. Obviously some haven't got any comparisons i.e. Napan...as they have blue skin but others such as:

dal Hon,
Kanese,
Falari,
Letherii,
Genebackan,
etc..etc...

Or should I not try to compare as it is a fantasy world, and there are no equivalants...

[Night Hawk]

As a sociology major and a reader I would suggest to you not to compare them to real life ethnic groups, but instead to how real life ethnicities interact within their own group and with members of other groups. I found this really intriguing, and realistic in ES' writing.

[Hocknose]

Thank you for the suggestion Night Hawk, I like the sound of that.

[Aptorian]

I know we had a good discussion on this subject in a thread somewhere. I would suggest you did a search, but I can't really figure out what you should be searching for besides "race" which I think would get a you a thousand hits you weren't interested in.

[Thelomen Toblerone]

If you do search race, be sure to keep the Discussion boards out of your search or you'll end up with a host of rubbish arguments that have nothing to do with the books. I do recall a thread like Apt says, I think we mentioned 7Cs people being like the north africa/arabia area?

And Falari's got to be Irish or Scottish. I mean, come on - gingers!

This post has been edited by Thelomen Toblerone: 22 June 2009 - 02:38 PM

[Hocknose]

yeah I tried a search but came back with loads of results, I'll see if I can find one. If you find one first can you post a link. Cheers

[D'rek]

Here's what I can remember from what we concluded last time. Anyone else feel free to contradict me or fill in my blanks. Of course, these are just similarities in physical descriptions, doesn't mean the accents or stereotypes are the same.


dal Honese -> There was some particular sub-culture in Africa that was really, really dark-skinned, more so than any other and we compared them to them. Not sure if the living-in-a-savannah was comparable...
Kanese - Central asianish, like mongolian or west-chinese. Not as oriental as Han-chinese or Japanese
Falari - gaelic of some sort

Letherii - Caucasian?

Elingarthian - coastal north African, like Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, etc
Daru -
Rhivi -
northern Genebackan -

Most 7C tribes - african or middle-eastern
Nemil -
Perish -

[Imperial Historian]

Check out these two topics for some good discussion on physical descriptions: here
and here

[T'renn]

Falari - Germanic as in more Scandinavian, Northern German, Dutch above the Rhine, English, but without the Norman influences, A.K.A. the germanic invadres who brought Rome to its knees

Letheri - Seems like the Kievnan Rus to me, were invaders and kolonists from viking descend who settled in Rusland, around Novgorod, Moscow and Kiev. Were known for their blond and reddish hair, reddish being "Rus" in that language, Russia is actuallly named after those people....

Daru- Mediterranean, short, a bit darker skin

Rhivi.... Bedouïn or Berber seems most likely

[Kryphon]

Once again I love SE for his anthropolgy background. The depth he can add to cultures, races, everything astounds me. I think that, almost as much as the character related aspects of these books, is what holds me. There are very clear differences between each race, and each region where they originate from. Unfortunately I lack the appropriate words to express my thanks for this series and SE as an author. But you all get the idea.

[Alexi]

"Rhivi.... Bedouïn or Berber seems most likely"

Rhivi seem much more of a cross between Saami/Siberian and Plains Indian

[Dolorous Menhir]

Apsalar is Itko Kanese, and clearly has an Asian appearance.

[ISTN4249]

I always thought of the Perish as more Scandinavian. Do in part to their mastery of the sea, their hard demeanor, discipline and warrior aspect. Not to mention the whole worshipping the gods of war thing.