Goblin Racism in Speculative Fiction

Public project summary

Goblins are increasingly an integral part of fantasy media. Historic goblin depictions were often used as antisemitic propaganda. Due to this, goblins receive many of their core characteristics from these antisemitic roots. Fantasy holistically as a genre has been plagued with intelligent non-humans (aka elves, dwarves, goblins) having these consistent traits often without intention or nuance. This wouldn't be the biggest problem for fantasy stories since most look towards the genre for escapism more than anything else. Science fiction was the genre that often attempted to predict future outcomes and provide social commentary. However, since technology has increased quicker than ever, science fiction can quickly become outdated. This has led authors and readers to turn towards fantasy to fit the role of social commentary. The purpose of this research is to analyze contemporary works of fantasy that include goblins and decipher if they simply repeat old characteristics of goblins that were problematic from their time or if they add nuance by "humanizing" goblin characters and using world architecture to craft reason behind the goblin's status.