Am I the only one offended by the Anubis pack's existence/name?

Games Halo Infinite
63

That’s an interesting discussion.

Imagine if Playstation’s God of War was based on the Indian pantheon? That would be highly controversial, because hundreds of millions of people genuinely believe in those gods and would feel very offended about Kratos punching Lord Ganesha in the face.

However we’re cool with Greek or Nordic gods, since those religions don’t have many adepts nowadays. What’s the threshold when it becomes acceptable to use a god as just another public domain character?

I don’t like God of War as much as everybody else, but I’d hate to live in a world where we couldn’t have Hades.

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64

Bad example. God of War 4 actually very specifically consulted people of the Asatru faith to get things right, even if it did take several creative liberties.

But your second paragraph is close to the issue. You may notice, it is always the smaller and older religions that get targeted for these things. The answer is basically: Consult practitioners, be respectful, don’t use it for the sake of capital, have a POINT behind it.

I made a thread about this WRT Yoroi and got, basically, laughed off stage. Disheartening that the Halo community is like this.

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65

Good points, and I’m glad to know that GoW 4 made an effort to be sensitive with the culture it depicted.

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I’m well aware of socio-religious power disparity.

I come from a mixed background where I was not raised Christian for years and was subject directly to persecution due to that fact.

But if you are gonna take a stance please have the integrity to do so without making caveats.
Thats the least you can be asked to do.
We can’t make a rule for ourselves and not apply it to others.

One can’t demand respect they do not wish to grant others.

You are quite literally saying a person should expect more respect proportionally to their perceived sense of marginalisation.
Ridiculous.

The fact is religious iconography is inextricably tied to commerce. Always has been.

The team is not a single race or belief.

If they are truly offended thats fine but then they should consider the context.

By all means label me as problematic and assume my perspective it puts you on equal footing as myself in that regard.

It isn’t even the name of the god ultimately so there’s very little cause to be offended.

Further trivialising real problematic acts of appropriating. By treating something so incredibly inoffensive as legitimate you give your opponents more opportunity to dismiss valid concerns.
Its got a lore based logic and is clearly part of the halo 5 inspiration. Where the heroes where osiris and is likely due to the MISCONCEPTION inpu had the head of a jackal and not of a wolf. Thus tying it to an enemy species in game. Clearly no ill intent.
Its no more offensive as buying an inpu statue in an Egyptian museum or airport.

As a peice of iconography it has long outgrown the source material and has became symbolic of things beyond its roots in ancient Egyptian theology.
That is a fact of symbolism it grows and adapts with culture.
Its like the guy fawkes mask or a cross or swastika.
Ownership of symbolism is only going to cause issues.
People are entitled to interpret

The entire history of the god and the act of worship in itself has evolved drastically.

They are entitled to their feelings but no person is entitled to dictating representation and interpretation.
There is no embalming or preservation of belief it is a living entity and will permeat through time and cultures as it always has and it is not going to do anyone any favours if they allow it to offend them when iconography is adopted and iterated.

Edit: the Gow example isn’t bad at all. 1. Theres nothing disrespectful about the use of anubis in halo. 2. It is thematically tied to the source mythology in more than one way. 3. GOW4 is the eight game in the franchise and not all were as dedicated to accuracy.

EDIT: (side note)
@Magabro5382 have you played asuras wrath? It takes Shinto and hindu elements and goes full sci fi god of war. Its a sort of misunderstood title imo. Ises contextual control scheme to make a highly cinematic QTE based game that aside needing dlc for the ending is something worth checking out.

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67

I concur, there’s too much sensitivity around the major 5 religions. I’d say its about time we treat all religions the same, I’d be down for a helmet with a crown of thorns and a flaming crucifix armor effect lol

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People like you take life far too seriously - ruining everything in your whiny wake. Relax for 5 minutes and stop letting everything “offend” you.

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Its called Anubis because its enhanced sensors are considered dog-like. Its actually GROWN technology (Not sure how that works) that was made with the Sangheili. Not because its Egyptian or anything, in fact, it was made in Canada. Sorry but this is a real Buzzfeed critique. They aren’t using the name to sell it, they could swap it for anything else and get the same result. I also think ANUBIS is an acronym, I’d have to research it more though. Honestly I dont think this is anything to be upset about. :man_shrugging:

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That’d be sick.

As for sensitivity.
You realise the entire series is predicated on demonising the roman Catholic Church right?

Yano the church that probably gets the most on the nose vilification in literature and art.

Particularly in the modern era.

Most recent example that comes to mind is the incredible midnight mass.

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71

Not to sure about this one.

I see something like this -
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

I’m an Aussie, so obviously this is written for people of another country, but I think there is a lot of wisdom in this. I am 52 years old. A couple of years ago, I heard a term ‘microagression’ and had know idea what that meant. After doing some research, matters got worse. Different articles about this subject went from contradictory, to unintelligible. A lot of criticism has been levelled at people with faith getting offended about matters, but a lot of these articles were written by people who have absolutely no belief in God, whatsoever. It’s all very confusing to me. I am so glad that I work with a paddock full of cows. I could stand in the paddock and insult them endlessly for hours and they will just stare at me non-chalantly chewing away. I know the only thing on their minds is, “Where is the molasses tub?”

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So I guess this guy has never heard of the Apollo programme, or Venus razors, or all sorts of things being called “the Eye of Ra”, or all the metal bands in the world with mythological names or symbolism.

Listen, I respect paganism, I have Norse pagan friends. But these religions have existed for thousands of years and if anything, the fact people are still honouring them by naming cool stuff after them is a testament to their cultural impact, it’s not meant to be appropriating anything.

Also like, the entire enemy faction of the “covenant” and their theocratic themes are all directly referencing the Abrahamic faiths in an overwhelmingly negative way, so chill. Most pagan faiths get off pretty light in these games considering they mostly just get cool technology named after them.

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in what world is a jackal not a long faced dog-o? like quite literally in the canine family and legit lineage to modern dog-os

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This is great, add me on XBL

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75

Literally OP, in my opinion this is what is wrong with the world. People getting their feelings hurt by a game. Sad to say I paid a whopping $3 for ANUBIS in Halo 5 through a req pack. So I guess the cost of ANUBIS armor is on the rise anyways.

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76

not too sure you say, while it exists in the game, and let’s not talk about smite. the rest of us consume it and don’t bat an eye at it. :man_shrugging: peoples religious beliefs belong to religion and religion only. it is not anyone else’s job to skirt around that. Again here we are, having the skin, for the second game in a row.

also, the free world isn’t AMERICA, besides the constitution sucks, that piece of paper certainly won’t change how other nations feel or how I feel, nor what reality is as much as people want to cling to it as the sole symbol of American morality.

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it was actually designed by Elites i think.

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As an atheist, this doesn’t offend me, but I can see how it would offend you. However as the most famous Egyptian god, it’s not all that surprising. Thor has been appropriated in many other games and media and he’s the Norse god. I’ve seen shiva from Hindu used.

To be Frank, it’s only a problem because no one uses the Christian God’s name. His name is God, unless you use the ancient Hebrew YHWH which most modern Christian’s don’t know.

There is simply no defined “Look” for the Christian god which makes him difficult to market, unless you want to use his earthly form Jesus.

No matter what, cultural appropriation is a wide spread problem. I remember when The Legend of Zelda remove Christian imagery, various crosses and symbols as well as chants from the temple of fire because they sounded too much like the prayers from Islam to thank their god.

Fight against it or don’t, but you have a long road ahead of you.

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Lol. Where is the free world and why doesn’t it include the US? Because you can both freely practice your religion in the US or be without a religion and you won’t be jailed or punished for either.

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That fact that Halo is 20 years old, and the Anubis helmet is the hill OP chose to die on, just goes to show that OP is part of the very problem he is trying to vilify.

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This topic has veered off enough.