this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2026
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One thing I noticed while playing Pillars of Eternity was how many boxes it checks.
Opens with a strong female warrior character. Has a very even gender and race distribution in every region and faction. Challenges all the assumptions and tropes about race. Has a culture where the gender roles are entirely flipped. Has an allegory of England and an allegory of America, both of which are portrayed as repressive and ultra-chauvinistic in their own way. Anti-colonial resistance is normalized. There are no prominent "good guys". All the gods are either evil or chaotic and selfish. Devotees of these gods are shown as being narrow-minded. The god who starts out being coded as the good god ends up seeming very suspicious; the religious revival in support of him becomes a bloodbath between two nations that results in status quo ante. The precursor/model ancient civilizations did extensive ritual human sacrifice. There is a "retvrn to tradition" faction and they steal the souls out of babies. None of the character quests have a satisfying positive resolution. The player has to act against hereditary land ownership. There are several points where you can slaughter a community of sentient nonhuman beings, and the game massively guilt-trips you for it. The only truly good thing in the world is the all-recycling Earth itself.
And Durance. I'll hear no slander of my favourite little oppenhiemer but if he was cool priest.
The warcrimes are Ethosian propaganda
Maybe the original Durance. Thank you for reminding me what I was forgetting, that there is a fascist that can join your party, you have a very awkward dynamic with him, and he ends up deconstructed and morally defeated in the end.
Having an Eothazn invazn is maybe a bit corny.
It's been so long I can't remember any specifics, I thought he was more raging fantatic than fascist though. I remember enjoying the writing in his arc realising that his god sucked and maybe he should chill the fuck out.
The other character written by the same author, the psychic chime lady, also had standout character writing.
"I would purify you too, Watcher..."
I don't remember the full quote but that convo about "purifying" the Dyrwood is where the Nietzscheanism of the Magran cult gives way to someone who just wants to slaughter minorities (especially Glanfathans).
I think there's important differences between religious fanaticism, which has propped up purges and genocides, and fascism which is uses fantaticism and fanatics but which is state centered and a sort of anti-politics/rejection of beliefs and institutions.
He's a true believer who actually worked with a real god and is now shunned by it, desperately trying to prove his genocidal faith. He doesn't really believe in a state or any sort of greater order except his god, hence his lone wanderings.
Is the apocalyptic, Siege-type, sleeper cells and lone wolves style of fascism not still fascism?
If someone has a vehement disgust and intolerance for foreigners and colonized peoples and religious minorities and experimental science (animancy) and "undesirables", mixed with an ethos of the strong dominating the weak, I think that clearly refers to fascism as much as any allegory in the game.
I'd have to replay it and see if my interpretation has changed over the years.