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Devdan is a fascinating character to me


Dr. C
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In the real world you have the Irish slavery awareness movement which is this group of people that are essentially of Irish descent and want to talk about the segregation they dealt with in Europe as well as their exile to North America alongside African slaves.

Now you take a black man and throw him in the world where he is now the token beorc slave in a world of laguz slavery and suddenly... the role of the token Irish slave will he played by a dark skinned man! 

I will always maintain that Path of Radiance has one of the best ensemble casts where almost every character feels like they have a reason for joining and has real motivations except for Calill, Largo and to a lesser extent, Illyana. 

With all factions represented Devdan plays a interesting role not only as dark skinned character in a light skinned human cast but also the sole representation of human slavery in the game.

I think it’s kind of beautiful when a dark skin character can fill out the role of Martin Luther King’s Speech about being all about the content of his character.

Edited by Dr. C
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Don't Calill and Largo join for pay?

Is it ever explained why Devdan is literally the only black man in Tellius? Where would he even be from if not from Tellius consider we never hear about any other place other than perhaps Hatari. 

Edited by Vince777
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41 minutes ago, Vince777 said:

Don't Calill and Largo join for pay?

Is it ever explained why Devdan is literally the only black man in Tellius? Where would he even be from if not from Tellius consider we never hear about any other place other than perhaps Hatari. 

What I mean is they don't have much of a motivation from a plot stamdpoint. 

Doing it for money is all well and good but it does not differentiate themselves from say Beowolf and Farina as examples. It could fit into any Fire Emblem myths but when I say ensemble I mean plot relevant reasons for joining that fit with the mythos of the story.

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3 hours ago, Vince777 said:

Don't Calill and Largo join for pay?

Is it ever explained why Devdan is literally the only black man in Tellius? Where would he even be from if not from Tellius consider we never hear about any other place other than perhaps Hatari. 

Well, there's also Fiona, who's from Daein. 

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45 minutes ago, Fire Brand said:

Well, there's also Fiona, who's from Daein. 

Yeah, I suppose but it doesn’t feel the same.

They didn’t exaggerate facial features and bone structure so she just looks like most other characters with slightly darker skin.

 

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7 hours ago, Dr. C said:

the token beorc slave

I'm pretty sure it was said in-game that he was arrested for trespassing in Oliver's Mansion and was sentenced to guard duty as punishment. So he's more of a prisoner than a slave.

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3 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said:

I'm pretty sure it was said in-game that he was arrested for trespassing in Oliver's Mansion and was sentenced to guard duty as punishment. So he's more of a prisoner than a slave.

Let me clarify. 

There are three kinds of slaves.

There is a slave who is bound for a lifetime.

There is a slave that is bound until a debt is paid but since the people under this kind of arrangement are usually poor the amount of time is quite prolonged m.

Devdan would be this category because his guard duty is in payment of a debt but he is not getting substantial wages for his service.. This is so contentious that there are abolitionists debate prison indentured labor as legalized slavery but the suspension of civil rights in prison is what most use to justify it.

The third kind is in Jewish Law, the bondservant which is a slave who, after working off the debt, pledges himself to his master BY CHOICE to his master because he lives his master and his household. People with bondservants were highly respected because it was a testament to being humane to your servants.  

While not relevant here, I feel it is necessary to fully understand the nature of slavery as a whole.

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16 hours ago, Fire Brand said:

Well, there's also Fiona, who's from Daein. 

I feel like I didn’t make it clear I meant Path of Radiance.

Radiant Dawn has character development problems and mainly due to having two whole maps dedicated to developing  her character, she is actually pretty well developed compared to other new characters in that game.

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