Having thought a bit further, I think one can actually make at least a reasonable argument for Aerin's not being coded white. It depends on the viewpoint of the reader, partly.
After all, in her country, she's one of a minority ethnic group that the majority see as 'savage' (uncivilised Northerners) and possibly mystical. Her dragon-killing is definitely interpreted as an expression of this by the courtiers. She's certainly discriminated against for not being of the majority ethnicity (and I did read her final acceptance of not being monarch in her own right as being a race issue, not a sex-role issue, mainly).
One could argue that this is intended to work like 'A Wizard of Earthsea', which uses brown=normal and white=savage to make a point about the overwhelming 'whiteness' of fantasy while also providing a good fantasy novel with a hero of colour.
The difference is in the viewpoint character, of course. Aerin is definitely white-skinned.
I didn't read the culture as Eurofantasy-esque, but I don't know how much of that is because I read 'The Blue Sword' first, so I saw it as very much set somewhere like Afghanistan. I'll have to read it again to see what's there.
(Are you seeing Aerin and her family as the same ethnicity? That definitely confuses me. So much of her situation hinges on her obvious physical differences from her family -- most of which are to do with colour, although height is also an issue. So if the culture is Eurofantasy, her mother can't be, but if the culture isn't, her mother, by implication, must be.)
I do think 'The Blue Sword' has a lot of very clear rejection of colonialism in it. It's easy to find bits of colonialism in it, because it is set against a colonial background, but it's got a lot of explicit statements that the colonial attitude towards other countries is demeaning for all parties, as well as the implicit anti-colonial messages that attach to having the indigenous culture succeed in preserving its independence. It is also unusual for a racist work to end in a set of mixed marriages and the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between countries.
Some of McKinley's other work suggests that one can also view the colonialism of the England-equivalent (the one that Harry thinks of only as 'Home') as normal behaviour for any country at a certain stage. Certainly, Damar used to be a great land that filled most of the continent south of the hill country -- but other stories set in different bits of this fantasy world's history ('Deerskin', 'The Healer', and 'The Stagman'), as well as bits of 'The Blue Sword', make it clear that the continent in question has been divided into many kingdoms on many occasions, and so Damar's claim to have owned all of it seems likely to have been through conquest and colonisation too.
Thanks for this discussion, incidentally. It's been really good for making me think about aspects of these books that I'd noticed, but never really focused on.
Re: Please clarify
After all, in her country, she's one of a minority ethnic group that the majority see as 'savage' (uncivilised Northerners) and possibly mystical. Her dragon-killing is definitely interpreted as an expression of this by the courtiers. She's certainly discriminated against for not being of the majority ethnicity (and I did read her final acceptance of not being monarch in her own right as being a race issue, not a sex-role issue, mainly).
One could argue that this is intended to work like 'A Wizard of Earthsea', which uses brown=normal and white=savage to make a point about the overwhelming 'whiteness' of fantasy while also providing a good fantasy novel with a hero of colour.
The difference is in the viewpoint character, of course. Aerin is definitely white-skinned.
I didn't read the culture as Eurofantasy-esque, but I don't know how much of that is because I read 'The Blue Sword' first, so I saw it as very much set somewhere like Afghanistan. I'll have to read it again to see what's there.
(Are you seeing Aerin and her family as the same ethnicity? That definitely confuses me. So much of her situation hinges on her obvious physical differences from her family -- most of which are to do with colour, although height is also an issue. So if the culture is Eurofantasy, her mother can't be, but if the culture isn't, her mother, by implication, must be.)
I do think 'The Blue Sword' has a lot of very clear rejection of colonialism in it. It's easy to find bits of colonialism in it, because it is set against a colonial background, but it's got a lot of explicit statements that the colonial attitude towards other countries is demeaning for all parties, as well as the implicit anti-colonial messages that attach to having the indigenous culture succeed in preserving its independence. It is also unusual for a racist work to end in a set of mixed marriages and the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between countries.
Some of McKinley's other work suggests that one can also view the colonialism of the England-equivalent (the one that Harry thinks of only as 'Home') as normal behaviour for any country at a certain stage. Certainly, Damar used to be a great land that filled most of the continent south of the hill country -- but other stories set in different bits of this fantasy world's history ('Deerskin', 'The Healer', and 'The Stagman'), as well as bits of 'The Blue Sword', make it clear that the continent in question has been divided into many kingdoms on many occasions, and so Damar's claim to have owned all of it seems likely to have been through conquest and colonisation too.
Thanks for this discussion, incidentally. It's been really good for making me think about aspects of these books that I'd noticed, but never really focused on.