Evil looking Muslims

[Knotz]

They all have sinister undertones. The Muslim one is a few years old and this game's art style has not been entirely consistent over the years so blame (in this order) 1) no one since they all imply something bad 2) art style not staying consistent in an iterative, several year old game 3) implicit bias.

 

[pauli133]

Is there a console command to force Absolute Rule? I'm curious about the art for other cultures.

 

[TomosCaerllion]

I actually love the Muslim lunatic picture. He looks badass. The Christian one looks depressingly bleak and authoritarian too, but I can see your point. I think it's just that they don't have dedicated images for non-Christian government types so reuse them from elsewhere.

 

[Phibs]

To me, the one in the picture isn't a freaking sword licking sultan, but a shadowy figure (maybe an assassin, a spy, whatever else...) putting a sword on a man's throat.

If you look closely to the picture, you can see that the arms have a different style then the sultan head....

In this way, the picture acquires a lot of sense representing a despotic and autoritary government.

This. I really don't see how people can arrive at the 'sword licking' interpretation.

 

[Secret Master]

I'm not sure it looks more evil than the Norse one. The dead bodies hanging from the trees has a real menace to it.

Then again, I think it looks silly, and not evil. The sword licking has a kind of B-movie quality to it. Which is why it looks a bit like sword licking and not the slashing of someone's throat like it really is.

 

[TurtleShroom]

Oh come on, the Muslim one is my favorite! Don't change it, that's the best one!

Honestly, though, the tree-gallows one, assumably representative of human sacrifice where they tear their heart out, seems far more evil than the Muslim ruler doing what Muslim rulers do best: living by the sword and dying by it.
I'm surprised that the Norse one is not the one bothering you, because it's the reason I don't play Norse/Germanic Pagans.

 

[Kapitalisti]

I'm not sure it looks more evil than the Norse one. The dead bodies hanging from the trees has a real menace to it.

True enough, but in my opinion those bodies look menacing in a "general" way while the Muslim one looks menacing in a "personal" way. Now if that Norse picture were a viking guy making a Blood Eagle...

 

[TurtleShroom]

True enough, but in my opinion those bodies look menacing in a "general" way while the Muslim one looks menacing in a "personal" way. Now if that Norse picture were a viking guy making a Blood Eagle...

Those bodies are hanged from a tree: according to the Events, that's because of human sacrifice, which is the ultimate evil. There is nothing, NOTHING more evil than human sacrifice (except maybe genocide a la Holocaust).

The reason they don't do the Blood Eagle is obvious: this game is rated "T", not "M".

 

[Caspoi]

To me, the one in the picture isn't a freaking sword licking sultan, but a shadowy figure (maybe an assassin, a spy, whatever else...) putting a sword on a man's throat.

If you look closely to the picture, you can see that the arms have a different style then the sultan head....

In this way, the picture acquires a lot of sense representing a despotic and autoritary government.

No you can see his arm going to the sword, it is just the arms of the throne that are confusing.

 

[Red Earth]

This. I really don't see how people can arrive at the 'sword licking' interpretation.

I think I noticed that before and forgot. The shoulder position doesn't line up with the guy in the foreground.

 

[Tapio]

So it's a decadent looking guy and another one with the sword?

 

[deserk]

I don't mind that it looks sinister, but I don't like the grainy artstyle. The colourful Viking and Christian ones looks much better.

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

It's King_lunatic_muslim.dds and it is part of the game files since,....well at least since 1.06b as i just checked.
I'd agree that the government window needs its own picture, as it stands out it in its style.

Tough it reminds me of Iznogud (aka Isnogud) and he is indeed evil, but also rather incomepotent in it, constantly fails in becoming caliph/sultan and thus funny.

 

[Kapitalisti]

Tough it reminds me of Iznogud (aka Isnogud) and he is indeed evil, but also rather incomepotent in it, constantly fails in becoming caliph/sultan and thus funny.

He's also the reason I can never, ever trust a Grand Vizier. Well him and Jafar.

 

[Teije]

How have I never heard of this Iznogud? Asterix is one of my all-time favourites and yet I've never heard of this other creation of Goscinny. They must not be easily available in English I guess.

 

[Chamboozer]

For me the norse one is much worse I mean whats worse a man who bites his own sword or a tree with hanging people from it?

The Norse one depicts executed people on display. This was pretty standard stuff in the premodern era, when empires and kingdoms used public displays of violence to serve as a warning to would-be criminals and traitors. It's a completely historically-appropriate representation of the kind of thing which would have happened in every realm in this era.

The Muslim one depicts an insane ruler. The implication being that insane and decadent rulers were in some way a standard feature of Muslim government. That's the problem.

 

[Tapio]

How have I never heard of this Iznogud? Asterix is one of my all-time favourites and yet I've never heard of this other creation of Goscinny. They must not be easily available in English I guess.

I grew up reading those. As a fellow Asterix fan, you've been missing out and should rectify this terrible injustice by reading Iznogud!

 

[frolix42]

[
ahahahaha. imagine getting on a plane with that guy?

I am a muslim and i dont find this offensive at all. I think its brilliant art.

I am a sword and I find this offensive.

 

[Audoucet]

The Norse one depicts executed people on display. This was pretty standard stuff in the premodern era, when empires and kingdoms used public displays of violence to serve as a warning to would-be criminals and traitors. It's a completely historically-appropriate representation of the kind of thing which would have happened in every realm in this era.

The Muslim one depicts an insane ruler. The implication being that insane and decadent rulers were in some way a standard feature of Muslim government. That's the problem.

No, the implication being that insane and decadent rulers were a standard feature of Muslim Absolute Imperial Autocracy. Which kind of is what the entire system of decadence is all about anyway.

Islam is based on a very strict and clearly established set of laws, because there is no separation of state and church, unlike the other European religions of the time period. Arbitrary dictature was more common in the European mindset, it was "normal". In Islam, the big autocratic dictators ignoring the Quran were indeed batshit crazy most of the time. The second Caliph even believed that Allah actually took example from him.

So no, the implication isn't that every Muzz leader is crazy, just that the absolute ones were.

 

[Tapio]

I highly doubt the artist is implying any of that!