There is something bitterly ironic when a game where you are incentivised to murder, then steal the victims possessions, would propagate a culture of protecting the player from being triggered during the murdering. Let’s discuss triggering in Dragonlance and Dungeons & Dragons.
Transcript
Cold Open
From the beginning TSR was trying to get Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman to lower the readability of their Dragons of Autumn Twilight novel so it could appeal to a younger audience. The authors were proven right by history to stand their ground and expect more out of a reader.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about why Dragonlance and Dungeons & Dragons in general should trigger you. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to this channel, ring the bell, and you can further help this channel, by becoming a patron and pick up Dragonlance Gaming materials, using my Patreon and affiliate links in the description below. My goal with this video is to share my thoughts on our modern sensibilities and how we are avoiding personal responsibility and growth, rather than facing it head on.
Discussion
I was watching the live stream of Dungeons & Dragons, Black Dice Society’s Ravenloft campaign and I was struck by a note their Dungeon Master made. He stated that due to the nature of Ravenloft, some of the events may be disturbing and he has spoken with the cast about their lines, veils and boundaries. So that if the story stops or changes directions immediately, we all know someone was uncomfortable. All I could think of is to ask myself why someone would play a game world where they would be triggered? Then, why would someone be triggered at all by a game?
When did Dungeons & Dragons change from a game of adventure, growth and consequences, to a game of hand holding and pearl clutching? Make no mistake, that is what is being done here. This seemingly new approach to life and society in general is dangerous at worst and unnecessary at best. Let me explain.
I was reading Dragons of Autumn Twilight, again, and I never even flinched when topics of bigotry & racism, rape & sexual violence, murder & physical or emotional violence, even theivery are brought up. These are topics that a modern mind would consider trigger warnings for some readers. But when it was written, our society understood the difference between fantasy and reality. Let’s not forget that contextually, these topics are common in a fantasy game. And I need to break some news to you here, they are common in reality as well.
Western society is veering into treating reality as its own fantasy world where ideas or actions that are not commonly accepted regionally or socially, are simply ignored in the spirit of protecting its members from being triggered. But is it truly protecting them at all?
In H.G. Wells’ Time Machine the protagonist of the book travels forward through time and meets the evolved human species called the Eloi. They are a peaceful, loving species who are tormented by the Morlocks who abduct and even consume them. The Eloi do nothing to prevent these abductions, going so far as to accept them as part of their reality and forgetting the abducted, rather than stand up to the villains themselves and stop the problem. They evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to this state. Simply by focusing on pleasures of life over the realities of it. I can’t help but see some small connection here.
We as a human species have evolved over time because we are more than capable of overcoming the odds reality throws at us. We work together in tribes and we work on ourselves individually to process the traumas and experiences our reality presents. And it is precisely because of this act of facing those realities that hold us back, that hurt us, which affords us the opportunity of self-actualization, becoming the best versions of ourselves.
This modern sensibility of hiding from reality, even when presented in fantasy actually prevents you from individual growth. It perpetuates the problems that you are experiencing by blinding you to their resolutions, or acceptance.
When Fred Rogers wanted to talk about war, death and divorce with his audience of children on his Mr. Rogers Neighborhood program in the 1980’s, it was a taboo approach to communication. Adults were perceived to have their view of reality and children had fantasy. The problem with this approach is that children live in reality and see and hear and experience it just as vividly as adults. Regionally, children have grown up in war, with drones dropping on them and their families, suicide bombers terrorising their communities or they may suffer from crippling physical and or emotional abuse. This is the reality of life. It’s not easy, it’s not protected, it is simply in your face. We have to choose whether we succumb to the traumas of life, or rather to put in the hard work of processing, accepting that they happened and hopefully working to overcome them.
It all stems from how you choose to define yourself. Are we defined by our traumas and experiences or do we take ownership of our lives and use those experiences as opportunities to work on ourselves. And the scary side of this all, is the reality that an individual may not be able to overcome their traumas. But we can try, as we have always done from the beginning of our species.
Not even our most popular fantasy storytellers hide difficult reality from it’s youth based audience. Sleeping Beauty was poisoned. Bambi’s mother was murdered. Their stories were based on even more horrific children’s tales, the Brothers Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Stories that were meant to be life lessons and warnings to youth. Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out is a perfect example about how hiding from your emotions, even the ones that are scary and challenging can lead to self destructive behavior. We as human animals need to experience and accept the full range of our emotions in order to be healthy, and as happy as we are capable of being.
Now let’s get back to Dragonlance. In Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Tika Waylan is seemingly in love with Caramon Majere. She is not sexually active, but she is willing to do whatever Caramon wants, in order to make him happy. This is a self destructive act but she believes it is what should be done. Enter Goldmoon, who speaks with Tika, then confronts Caramon about the situation. She shares the knowledge that Cameron has been sexually active, and Tika has not. If he is to respect her, he will not try and rush Tike into bed, even though she would, but rather let her arrive at the act in her own time, without the pressure some young women feel and many young men put on them.
Tanis Half Elven is the result of his mothers violent rape. Is he defined by this early trauma? Well if he stayed in Qualinesti where his foster family and fellow citizens constantly reminded him of his perceived flaw, being half human, then yes it would have defined him. But instead he struck off on his own, to define himself by his own actions and his own choices. He is a study of how one may not overcome their life’s trauma, but they can accept the reality, process the experience and redirect their productive focus.
These are just a couple of very surface level examples. Dragonlance is ripe with reality, and hiding from it because it makes us uncomfortable would prevent the hard work and struggle that is needed to be done to overcome it as best we can. Women’s Rights and Racism is not an issue of the past, but we have made progress regionally in western societies. That wouldn never have happened if we simply didn’t talk about it because it triggered us.
At it’s best, fantasy mirrors our reality. It offers us an avenue to see our world through a different lens, one that may be more palatable than visceral reality and it is desperately needed for some of us to use in our processing. When Wizards of the Coast pushed back on Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s new Dragonlance trilogy to be more inclusive and safe, they are actively destroying what makes Dragonlance great. Reality. Some people are racist. Some people murder. Some people rape. Some people engage in horrific acts of violence. We should not accept that it should happen, but rather that it does. Accepting that it does happen, while being fervently against it means you are a present, healthy and productive human who is in a perpetual state of change and growth.
Our species is stronger than our current society gives it credit for. This is proven by our own history and progression as a society. Let’s not hide from it, but rather accept it, in our own lives and even in our fantasy escapes.
Outro
I hope that helps clarify my perspective on trigger warnings and personal growth. Do you have any thoughts you would like to share? Have you suffered trauma and refused to let it define you? Are you currently processing the trauma? And are fantasy novels helpful to you in any way? Leave a comment below, subscribe to the channel and like this video. You can support this channel by becoming a patron and pick up Dragonlance Gaming materials, using my Patreon and affiliate links in the description below.
This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I hope you will join me in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
Weep, Palin. Weep as I wept once, long, long ago. Then you will realize, as I did, that it does no good. No one hears you, sobbing in the night alone.
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