New Lessons from a Video Game that Defined my Childhood

There are three video games I played frequently as a child that could easily be described by this title, but of the three, one of them really stands out.  As a child, there were quite a few things I got out of the game that I will spend this post describing.  9/11 was still fresh in my mind and the plot of this game gave me a lot to think about in regards to Al Quida, but now as an adult, there is so much more to observe as I can really understand the many many elements of racism that make up the incredibly complex plot.

The game I am speaking of is Tales of Symphonia.  A game that not only defined my childhood, but also helped define my writing.

When I was young, I became fascinated with the idea of angels being evil and religion being used to deceive and control the world.  But that was not all that fascinated me about the game at the time.  9/11 had just happened a few years prior, and the idea that the Desians (who to me represented Al Quida) and Cruxis (who to me represents the establishment) were really the same group and use fear to keep the world under their control by ensuring there is always conflict.

After my life was changed forever by terrorism, this idea really resonated with me, and my lack of trust in the world certainly was helped along by this game.  But now as an adult, I am able to understand more about the other theme of the game, racism, and every single one of its facets.

There are 4 mortal races in Tales of Symphonia:  Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Half Elves.

The racism stems from Humanities discrimination of Half Elves.  In the back story of the game, Half Elves were targeted by hate crimes.  This is turn forced many Half Elves to become inherently hateful of Humans until they returned the hate crimes in kind.

Coming into the main game, most of the villains in the game are Half Elves still holding hatred of Humans in their hearts and declaring their superiority at every given moment.

On the flip side, the Half Elves that are not part of Cruxis and the Desians are treated with intense hatred in Sylvarant and in Tethealla they are treated even worse.  In that country, they are considered below slaves even.  They are executed without question of they are found guilt of any crime no matter how petty.

The ones who are scientists are locked in labs never allowed to see the sun and forced to work without much sleep for unrealistic expectations for their Human masters.

This perpetration of racism going back and forth making the hatred intensify for every party involved is exactly what one of the greatest issues facing our society today.  People hold on to the past and even though they are justified for their hatreds, keeping the hatred alive, ensures that the world will never move forward from the past.

Instead of learning from the past, we are instead just letting it happen again and again.  More lives will continue to be lost in this war that can have no winner until all sides are willing to be the bigger man and move on.