Are there Native American characters in fiction/fantasy that don't come off as stereotype?

Moody P·2/11/2019, 11:56:56 AM·1 votes·829 views

I was talking about the new Mortal Kombat with someone and how I wanted to see Nightwolf returning. Nightwolf is a Native American who uses a lot of spirit-stuff (magic tomahawks and bows and arrows ) and talks about his ancestors a lot. Someone else said he was a stereotype character and shouldn't return but I believe that he only comes across that way because of his lack of screen time to be fleshed out more.

But that got me thinking on other Native characters in similar media. Superheroes or fantasy characters and so on, maybe even normal fiction. Are there any Natives you know about that wouldn't give the same impression and could be pointed to as reference for a good character?

Thanks.

6 Comments

Jaspers2/11/2019, 12:31:21 PM2 votes

A lot of native american characters start off that way, mainly because of the era they were created. 1970-80s where people didn't really care about stereotypes and were just happy that they had such characters in these works of fiction. Forge, a mutant who can build any kind of machine he wants and it just works, uses native american magic. Thunderbird and Warpath's original costume. Dani Moonster. They all have something about them.

Over time these characters (other than Thunderbird, dude's dead) have long since changed from stereotypes, Forge is a master machines, stays out of combat because of his Nam history and who is probably in love with Storm. Dani is a Valkyrie. Warpath is a (morally questionable, god that X-force team that just went around killing people was awful) fighter.

Yet in games like MK or Killer Instinct, fighters basically, stereotypes are needed to help characterisation as sometimes in those types of games, it's hardly there at all (Ah Chief Thunder). The only British person in Tekken just so happens to be a boxer and has outfit options with the Union Flag on it. I'm fine with that because at least he's in there.

Busty Kunoichi2/11/2019, 12:08:42 PM1 votes

No reason why he shouldn't return as a fan favorite. Being stereotypical shouldn't prevent a character from returning.

Jamaree2/11/2019, 12:34:45 PM1 votes

Not that I can think of, though to be fair, it would be difficult to have a Native American that wouldn’t be misclassifed as another race without those overtones. Like what really showcases Native Americans apart besides that concept of spiritually that the media has placed upon them? Do they have any truly distinctive trait beyond that where they wouldn’t be confused by say a similar skin tone Mexican without hearing their voice of course.

(Writing this makes this come off as a bit racist huh?)

Hypochondria92/11/2019, 1:27:31 PM1 votes

The main character from Prey is Native American.

Edit: The 2006 Prey.