Kier-ke-gaard!

A summary of my thoughts on fantasy races and their reflections of humanity

If it can be said that I’m “famous” for anything, it would be my take on fantasy races and how they reflect various aspects of humanity. Many of you who follow me now remember my series of Twitter threads from March 2023 where I outlined my views on each of the major fantasy races. It’s been nearly two years since I wrote those threads and, because Twitter is hard to search, I felt the need to consolidate and elaborate on those thoughts here where they will be easier to read and easier to find later. That’s what this article is today. Since it’s been almost three years since I originally elucidated these ideas, I’m sure my thoughts have changed in a few ways. With that said, these are my complete thoughts on the most common fantasy races in RPGs.

To start, we have to talk about Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. In his seminal work Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard discusses the concept of faith through the illustration of Abraham’s binding of his son Isaac. Kierkegaard examines the scenario through multiple different interpretations and ultimately tells the story as it is presented in the book of Genesis and how it demonstrates Abraham’s faith. Abraham dutifully carries out God’s instructions to bind his only son, place him on an altar and sacrifice him as an offering to God only for God to stay his hand at the last second and provide a ram for the sacrifice. In carrying out this action assured that God would spare his son somehow, Abraham embodies a persona that Kierkegaard calls The Knight of Faith. Kierkegaard contrasts the Knight of Faith with two other personae, The Toad in the Swamp and The Knight of Infinite Resignation. It is my firm belief that the classical fantasy races we see in D&D and other RPGs map onto these three personae. Halflings and Dwarves embody The Toad. Elves embody The Knight of Infinite Resignation and Humans are The Knight of Faith.

Kierkegaard’s Toad in the Swamp is a purely materialistic being. He is low to the ground and the upper world is obscured by the foliage and fog of the swamp to the point that it might as well not exist at all. It matters not what lies beyond the swamp to the Toad because the swamp is here and now. This outlook is expressed in two different ways by the Dwarves and the Halflings. Dwarves take the pessimistic approach. The world is hard and brutal and must be dominated by labor. It is a raw material to be forged into what you will make of it. If you are weak though, it will destroy you. Work harder and you will overcome the shackles of this existence. By contrast, Halflings are hedonistic pleasure seekers. The material world is all we have, so why not maximize our comfort while we’re here? There’s something of Jeremy Bentham in their outlook as they largely seek to do little harm and live their lives of comfort and pleasure. Tolkein’s Hobbits exhibit these behaviors with their love of food, ale and tobacco and their desire to keep the affairs of the world far from their Shire. In both the Dwarf and the Halfling, you see a similar acknowledgement of only the material. All that exists, or rather all that matters, is what we see around us, what we can touch, what we can perceive, etc. To go on an adventure is to shirk your duty or to put unnecessary burden on yourself. It’s best to work the forge or tend your garden while digesting second breakfast.

From there we come to the Elves who embody the persona of The Knight of Infinite Resignation. The Elves are the longest-living of all the other races in most fantasy settings and therefore are all-too-aware of how fleeting the material world is. When a century is perceived in the same way a year is, one tends to take the long view of things. Kierkegaard’s Knight of Infinite Resignation has given up entirely on the material. Whatever he longs for, he believes he will only have in some distant paradise that awaits for him in the future, most likely the afterlife. Elves are, by nature, aloof to the concerns of mortals. They focus more on the magical energies of distant powers and of what the future will hold for them. They are patient to a fault, falling into negligence of the present time. Elves are slow to spur into action, which can be good as it promotes temperance and conservatism, but it can also lead to inaction, cultural stagnation and other related problems. To adventure is to squander the gift of longevity and involve yourself in irrelevant problems of the mere mortals. Stay in your home among your people and wait out the resolution.

This leads us to the humans. In my original assessment, I said that humans were The Knight of Faith. Before explaining how that has changed, I should first explain The Knight of Faith. Kierkegaard explains that the Knight of Faith is someone who is able to occupy and freely move between the physical world and the spiritual world. The Knight of Faith is not resigned to the fact that his desires will never be met in the physical world, but knows for certain that he will attain what he desires here and now. This comes with associated action, such as Abraham preparing his son Isaac to be sacrificed firmly believing that God would deliver him. Do Humans embody this spirit? They do, more so than the other races, but that’s not the complete picture. Dwarves and Halflings are predisposed to be The Toad and rarely break the mold. Elves are likewise predisposed to be The Knight of Infinite Resignation. Humans have no set predisposition. They cover the entire spectrum and it is this diversity of outlooks that makes the Human more likely to become The Knight of Faith. The overriding spirit of humanity in fantasy is that of The Knight of Faith because it is only The Knight of Faith that would forsake all else to pursue the dream of fame and fortune. Any adventurer would need to embody this spirit, including an Elf, Halfling or Dwarf. This spirit, however, is most common in Humans and it is because of this that fantasy is inherently humanocentric.

All races, both those that make up player choices and those that make up the monsters they fight, are defined by their contrast with humans. Dwarves and Halflings are small, stout and materialistic living slightly longer and in isolated communities. Elves are taller, more graceful, longer-living and equally isolated. Humans span the entire spectrum of size, temperament and outlook. Their fate is not sealed and their path not set in stone. They, uniquely, are free to forge their own destiny. They are the eternal new world men, the ascendant generation contrasting the older, more established peoples. Humanity also has the capacity to be monstrous though and the monster races represent that darkness in physical form. I will reiterate my thoughts on monster races in next week’s article though. For now, we end on the final point that Humans are the center of fantasy. They are not a monolith like the other races. They possess limitless potential and, as such, they moreso than the other races are most likely to produce a Knight of Faith.