Why Are People Mad At Hestia's Design In 'Hades 2'? The Character And Her Controversy Explained
Stop us if you've heard this before: a new video game is coming out and people are mad at the design of a fictional character.
Yes, the old 'woke' design controversy has come for indie roguelike darling Hades, specifically the design of the character Hestia in the game's upcoming sequel. Here's what you need to know about the backlash to Hestia's design in Hades 2.
Who Is Hestia?
Hestia is the Greek Goddess the hearth and the home. As a mythical figure, she does not have a canonical figure, but she has historically been portrayed as A sweet, modestly dressed young woman… often is shown wearing a veil..
Still, media properties have taken liberties with portrayals of Hestia. Notably, the anime Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon portrays Hestia as a petit anime girl.
Why Is Hestia In Hades 2 Controversial?
On May 6th, Hades 2 players got their first look at the Greek mythology-based game's portrayal of Hestia.
In Hades 2, Hestia is a larger black woman with vitiligo, a condition that causes skin cells to lose their pigment. That day, Twitter user @_rarwell posted a "Which way, western man?" tweet that compared a traditional Hestia statue, the anime version of Hestia, and Hades 2 Hestia.
The tweet went viral, as it seemed to become the site of the latest frontier in the ongoing culture war. Currently, a large subset of gamers are on the alert of anything appearing too "woke," specifically in the wake of the Sweet Baby Inc controversy. That Hestia was portrayed as a Black woman with a specific skin condition was a bridge too far for some gamers, who voiced their outrage over the character's portrayal.
In essence, the Hades 2 Hestia controversy is the same as multiple other controversies in which a character who is not traditionally portrayed as Black is drawn as Black in a new property. Previous examples have included the HBO Max Velma series, which turned the title character Indian, and a recent animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie which made the character April O'Neil Black.
As in previous cases, the outrage stems from the idea that changing the established race of a character into that of a minority amounts to inserting progressive politics into the game (although in this case, Hestia had no established race). Others have argued that the race of Hestia is not proof of any sort of political agenda, and yet again, the sides don't seem close to agreeing on the issue.
For the full history of "_Hades 2 Hestia backlash":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/hades-2-hestia-backlash, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information._
Share Pin
Cimyr
I dont care about race swapping.
I care that the design is absolute hot dog water.
hipnox
In Hades, Athena was black, Zagreus was bi, and there was a gay questline, so this isn't that far off from the previous game.
With that said, I think the addition of Vitiglio on top of everything else is the one thing that form me tips this from "very liberal artistic reinterpretation" to straight up current year box ticking.
It's like they made all the gods but somebody pointed out they didn't have enough minorities, body types and medical conditions, so they made Hestia and dumped all that into a single one.
bmxbandit
need a wheelchair thou
UtterlyInsignificantClod
Hades already had Ares and Athena as dark-skinned, a quest where you help a gay couple get back together, and Zagreus has no trouble wooing guys either. But sure, this particular character is proof of Hades 2 being much more woke. It's totally not someone trolling by holding up a big tiddy anime girl and going "SUPERIOR" while everyone gleefully jumps on the bandwagon.
I don't love the design but that's more because I think putting a brazier on her head (because she's the goddess of the hearth, geddit) is a little much, and I think the corset thing on her skirt looks weird.
HardcoreHunter
I didn't think it was a race switch I just thought she was made of coal and flame because she's goddess of the hearth.
GamerDLM
I thought basically the same thing. As emphasized by the literal bowl of burning coals on her head. Or that her skin was dark because she worked with coal and that was why it had patches.
HardcoreHunter
yeah you're right, if you zoom in on her face around the eyes you can see patches of white skin. I'd say the bigger greek tragedy is she has the face of a troll compared to the other gods. Hephaestus didn't even get this bad of a treatment.
DooDooSlayer
In my honest opinion, both designs are lame. One is another attempt at ticking a few boxes with little regard for the culture and mythology it draws inspiration from; the other is a generic cute anime girl with a completely interchangeable look that does little to nothing to reflect her namesake. Feel free to disagree.
katakis
That's cool, however I feel obliged to point out that anime Hestia was absolutely iconic way back, sparking a whole persistent trend on her own and gifs with her were literally everywhere.
katakis
Like I said before, it's their game, they're free to do whatever they want.
However I'm also free to point out that it's pretty much a horrid racist caricature from the 50s, one step away from shouting the mastas, lawdies, deys and whatever else were the mammies supposed to say in a servile manner.
madadder
To me,the race switching doesn't bothers me as much as it's always in one direction that this happens.
If there was a game based on the myths of varying African tribes and racial characteristics of said characters were swapped, how would people feel? Offended I'm sure and the backlash would force change/ forever tarnish the reputation of the makers.
Mythical figures ought to be portrayed like those that originally worshiped them envisioned. Greek pantheon with Greeks, Shinto gods with east Asians, African deities with African tribes, etc.
popcornfest
I get what you're saying but this is a silly over the top videogame that uses the gods as a thematically and aesthetically interesting setting, not some kind of faithful adaptation that pays respect to worshipping these gods.
It's already taking some liberties, partly because greek myths have been done to death and there needs to be some variation. For media referencing African mythology it would be different because that's not something that has been done nine thousand trillion times already.
madadder
yes and if the same treatment were to occur to african myths there would be riots. I'm not saying they shouldn't take some liberties, but this isn't the way.
bmxbandit
No. GTFO
noot4
She looks like a mammy and is the Goddess of Hearth and Home?
OH LAWDY