Update: Latest rumor shows casting for a white Ciri | Original: Netflix looking for non-white actress to play Ciri in the Witcher tv series

[Runa216]

WolfpackN64 said:

Just going to throw my two cents in.

I know why people get upset when they do these kind of things. And most people are not upset because of some "SJW" stuff (although that seems to be present, but that's beside the point). People's backgrounds matter, and so does the color of your skin.

You don't cast a white woman to play Mulan, you don't pick an east-asian man to play Black Panther, you don't cast a black woman as Hermoine and you don't cast someone from a minority as Ciri just because.

Why? Because if creators have so little regard for one of the most basic parts of a fictional characters identity, namely, how the character looks, it feels like they don't care for the character at all. People cosy up in a fantasy world, just for someone to pull the rug from under our feet because something is going to be changed that didn't need to be.

And this is not a call against diversity because there supposedly where no minority people in a medieval European setting. For the Witcher does have people of color who travel from distant lands, just like we had minority groups in medieval Europe (like the Turkopoles). This just feels like they want an empowering character for minorities, which is totally fine, but these characters already exist in the Witcher universe or if you want to be creative, just make a totally new character.

All this would do is create a needless media storm and I don't want to see that happen to the Witcher.

Okay, this is sort of exactly why debate on this topic is so volatile. The bolded part here, upon initial reading, is 100% correct and a compelling argument. At least until you read a bit deeper and realizing this is a false equivalence. 

You don't make Mulan white because Mulan is based in the real world, where the characters chinese heritage is important. You don't cast an east asian as Black Panther because Black Panther as a character and as a comic is deeply rooted in race relations and takes place in Africa. However, this is where your logic breaks down. 

Both with Hermoine and Ciri, you have characters whos skin color isn't important. JK Rowling said that the important features of Hermoine was her personality, intelligence, and tenacity, not her skin color. Likewise, Ciri is a fantasy character in a fantasy world, she has so much more to her character than her skin color. You're falsely considering two vastly different situations as equal when they're not, which is why you might truly believe that your stance is correct when it is not. It's a fair logical fallacy and I won't begrudge you for it, but I refer you to my other post: 

Adaptations will always make some changes to the source material. some things don't work well on film vs prose; some things work on a TV show that wouldn't work in a movie; some things make more sense now than they would in the 50's (Like John Wayne playing Ghengis Khan). But we live in a world where Hemoine CAN be black because her skin color isn't relevant and I'd like to think we're not as racist as we once were. Likewise, Ciri can be east asian or whatever because her skin color isn't what's important about her and she doesn't even live on earth. 

If Heimdall can be black and Hemoine can be black, there's no reason Ciri can't be black. 

Again, the nature of adaptation at its core is change. As long as the themes, the story, and the character are faithful to the books, Ciri's skin color really shouldn't matter. so if a filmmaker or a studio chose to reach out to a minority to give them more exposure in a move that doesn't compromise the story, I say go for it.