Slave Race: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'': Many species are slave races of the Yeerks, including the Hork-Bajir, the Garatrons,the Gedds, and others.

* In ''Farewell to the Master'', {{spoiler|''Gnut'' is the master}}.

* The House-Elves from ''[[Harry Potter]]'' are another example of a slave race that's only [[Happiness in Slavery|too happy]] to be enslaved. They're probably based on the fairy tale "The Elves and the Shoemaker," which in turn is based on European folk tales of kobolds and similar household spirits; being bound to a house that benefits from their service gives their lives meaning, and being set free is a sign of disapproval with the services they've rendered, a very depressing concept for a creature that defines themselves by their capacity to provide excellent service.<br /><br />Hermione is a strong believer in freedom for house-elves, but she bases her philosophy about this on Dobby, who was a unique case in that the family he served was so abusive (frequent death threats, ironing his fingers as punishment) that it was ''worse than freedom'' by [[Blue and Orange Morality|elf standards]]; her position has actually made her extremely unpopular with the school's resident horde of elves, and when she was attempting to duplicitously free them, they went on strike, forcing the already-free Dobby to clean Gryffindor Tower all by his lonesome.

** The official in-universe line seems to be that they spontaneously became a [[Slave Race]] on their own, voluntary [[Servant Race]], as it were, and/or that they have always been like that. Note that in stories of house-elves they are fiercely independent and extremely proud beings who do not follow orders and strongly resent being treated as mere servants, prone to spoiling the milk or tying your hair in knots if annoyed, and that presumably at some point around the passing of the Statute of Secrecy they were somehow forbidden from living in Muggle houses.

== Live-Action TV ==

* In ''[[Lexx]]'' it turned out that the humans of the Light Universe were slaves of {{spoiler|the insect race (via His Shadow) whom they thought they had defeated millenia before}}.

** Series 6 brings us the Gangers/Flesh.

* The Kalish in ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' have been enslaved by the Scarrans for some time, acting as technicians, bureaucrats, and occasionally spies: they have it better than most Slave Races, but they're still oppressed and abused by both their Scarran masters and the Charrid mercenaries they work with.

* The humans (called cows) of Pylea were a slave race to the demons there in ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]''.

* This is what [[Nazi Germany]] had in mind for practically all of Eastern Europe during [[World War II]], including the Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians. Their lands would be settled by Germans, and the remainder of the local "subhumans" would be their slaves. The ''remainder'', mind you. After about two thirds of the natives would already have been exterminated through organized starvation and ethnic cleansing.

** The Nazis even invoked the above example; Heinrich Himmler once said that the Russian people would be the Helots to Germany's Spartans.

* Subverted with most modern forms of slavery. Nowadays, slavers [[Equal Opportunity Evil|don't give a crap about the ethnicity]] of their victims as long as they can [[Money, Dear Boy|make money]] with them. Hell, most of them outright '''share''' their nationality, which [[Older Than They Think|is nothing new at all]]. Having slaves of a different race is the more unusual thing historically, because historically most slaves were war captives and generally you went to war with your neighbor who looked like you.

 

[[Category:Race Tropes]]

[[Category:Slave Race]]