Pardon my vulgarity, but David Gaider says a lot of things, predominantly out his asshole instead of his mouth.
Since yours is the first anon on the subject that hasn’t been outright hostile, I’m going to take it as genuine curiosity. And I apologize in advance, because my response comes after months of sustained harassment on the subject, and I’m quite out of patience with the matter at hand. The long and short of it is, I made Thelrion and all of Clan Vaharel East Asian because I could.
I could list all the reasons why I am within my rights to do so, namely my own heritage, but even that isn’t enough for some people (since I’m “only biracial”, you see) and it would not excuse me for falling into harmful stereotypes. Vaharel’s story is my family’s story, but even so I do my homework, I run things by people I trust to give me honest and thoughtful feedback, I work to make sure I’m not promoting/normalizing racism that I myself might have internalized. I’m not immune to criticism, I’m not above criticism, and being of East Asian descent does not make me any less responsible for anything harmful I might produce. Should something slip through the cracks, should I as a writer fail to be thoughtful in my approach, the onus is on me to learn and grow, and correct my errors.
That being said. I am fucking sick and tired of needing to justify this.
Why should I need to justify? Why does Thel need a reason to be East Asian (and fyi Asians do in fact already exist in Thedas, as Dorian is South Asian)? The idea that East Asians can only exist in a world that has a stereotypical coded East Asia equivalent only reinforces that East Asians can only exist in a specific sphere. That is inherently othering. We are allowed to exist outside of pagodas and rice paddies, thank you, and we have careers more diverse than ninja and geisha.
Ser Barris is Fereldan, and no one questions why he exists as a PoC. Must we justify his race as well? I suppose if you absolutely had to, you could headcanon him to be of Rivaini descent, but why should that even be necessary? Why can’t PoC just be? That line of thinking only reinforces that White is the “default” and anything else is different or strange.
Unfortunately for those who feel I must provide adequate reason for Thelrion and Vaharel, I have no East Asian coded country to headcanon for. I have no long-winded explanation of a land far beyond the sea, I have no political statement I wished to make beyond “Eat my shorts, Gaider! We exist!”, and I have absolutely no intention of exploring Vaharel’s “asianness” in my narrative.
If that means Vaharel is East Asian only for aesthetic, so be it.