i think that's kinda what the story is about, the whole romance between leah and ishakan is there to show her that the kurkans arent as terrible as they are written out to be. and the sovari, they're supposed to be gypsies, who practiced witchcraft and occultism in this story
It is still part of the story, besides the stereotypes in universe, that the Kurkans are animal like, somewhat primitive in ways. It's a trope always used with brown ethnicities. Whether or not they're terrible, they're still less/different than the average humans.
And yes, the Sovari are based on Roma people, as I said in my comment. The witchcraft and occultists thing is an old Roma stereotype, which is the problem I have with these stories.
Maybe the writer was trying to make a story about racism and prejudice, but it's still playing into those prejudices with aspects of the story it's not critiquing.
Yeah, they weren't subtle about the undertones at all. When they actually got to the backstory of things it got worse bc they stopped calling them Sovari and used "Rom" instead. We could already tell they been trying to allude to Romani people but when they literally call them that its no longer an allusion. Then the translator called them "g****s" in the notes to seal the deal. The issue here is that the artist relies on xenophobic presumptions about Roma people to move the story forward, framing them as evil, conniving, greedy, power hungry, mysterious and manipulative, and they even make the big bad villain one as well to further mystify and exaggerate the magicks everyone has been so scared of Roma people wielding irl historically. so its not a matter of "oh its just a part of a story", theyre actively using harmful stereotypes about real people to push the story forward and thats just not cute, ESP with all the other undertones about brown-skinned people being like animals and whatnot
like idk why the white people in Estia literally engage in torturous forms of slavery, misogyny, racism, colorism, abuse, neglect and alladat as the foundation of this novels plot, but for some reason the Big Bads in the story arent the white people committing crimes against humanity but the Romani nomads wanting to get revenge for their constant rejection, oppression, and humiliation? and the author justified the readers building disdain for Roma people in the story by making them the og creators of the Kurkhans? Setting the two oppressed groups (in Estia) against each other so we would pick a side and join in on the anti-Roma sentiments as the readers naturally side with the Kurkhans... just a curious plot device lol idk idk idk it def feels insidious to me
As a fellow POC I also immediately clocked this. The nice art was all that kept me going until ch. 25. The animalistic characteristics and making the woman of colour hyper masculine... it's this typical bullshit that I'm SO over. Then they started to explain "the gypsies", calling them lawless etc. so I stopped and came here. Glad not to be the only one who saw this embarrassing stuff for what it is
THANK YOU! I thought I was losing it when I was explaining myself in the second comment, but that's just how microaggresions work. They make you look overly sensitive and crazy to the people who aren't aware or the targets of it. Definitely makes the title of this worse... "Predatory Marriage" with an animalistic brown man taking the dainty kind hearted white woman
Yes! I had started reading this a while ago, but I kept getting distracted so I didn't get far. Just the other day, while I was going through my tabs to finish reading comics or closing ones I'm not interested in, I decided to try to finish this one. I already felt weird about the Kurkans, but I was hoping that there was gonna be some kinda thing where they aren't animalistic or something and that was just the stereotypes. But the next page I went to started talking about the "Nomads" and how the Kurkans HATE them, and when the ML said that, he was made to look like a ferocious animal. God, I'm glad im not finishing this story.
Yeah, I understand that. It sucks cause the art is so good
Definitely, I hope I can find another with similar beautiful artwork
It seems from what I've read, I think past page 13, there is anti-Roma sentiment. At first they just call them Nomads and I think Sovia or something, but they later switch to referring to them by the Roma Slur. Kinda disappointing, but thinking about the premise of the story, not surprising. I wouldn't recommend it if you are someone like me who can read between the lines (not actually subtle at all lol) and see the dichotomy of the ethnicities. The white skinned and light haired people/princess is dainty and kind and demure and the brown people/king is animalistic and their people are savages. Not very fun to read and realize as a POC. （￣へ￣）