To me, one of the most fascinating aspects of Guild Wars 2's Icebrood Saga storyline is one of its main antagonists, Bangar Ruinbringer. Unlike most of the foes we face throughout our adventures in Tyria, he isn't a particularly imposing physical threat on his own—we don't even get to defeat him, as IBS's other antagonists give him his just desserts before we can get the chance. But despite this, his short tenure as the primary villain left an incredibly powerful impression on me.
Bangar is a villain who relies on charisma and manipulation over his own strength. Though he isn't a particularly imposing threat on his own, the forces he commands, and his power over others who are significant threats, makes him an incredibly effective villain. But that isn't all there is to him. No, what draws me most to Bangar's writing—and that of the Dominion in general—is just how real it feels. The Charr civil war is a plotline that hits close to home, because the way it plays out is incredibly evocative of real-world events. In particular, Bangar himself is a textbook example of a fascist dictator.
This is the part where I interrupt the natural flow of the article to warn you that, by the nature of what I'm actually discussing, this article will contain quite a bit of discussion of real-world politics, including some darker subjects. I intend to present things as objectively and respectfully as possible, but if you are uncomfortable with those topics—or are the type of person who refuses to engage with them in good faith—this is your chance to click off the page.
The Life & Crimes of Bangar Ruinbringer
To analyze Bangar as a character, we must first recount his actions and characterization throughout the story.
Bangar has a long and storied past even before his tenure as a main antagonist in The Icebrood Saga. He served the Blood Legion for over fifty years, during which he harbored festering hatred and distrust of the other races, particularly humans. This was not only due to prejudice encouraged by traditional charr values, but also his own personal experiences—he lost a number of people he cared about to conflicts with the other races, including his own son, the Renegade Ajax Anvilburn, who was killed by the Vigil. Furthermore, he used past atrocities against his people as justification for his current hatred, citing tales of humans skinning Charr and using their fur for armor—a callback to something players could actually do in the original Guild Wars.
Not only did Bangar distrust the other races, he also sparked frequent conflicts with his fellow Charr. When he was promoted to the Blood Legion Imperator, he became known as a leader who was simultaneously respected and charismatic, yet feared for his cruelty and short temper. He had personal rivalries with both Rytlock, whom he viewed as insubordinate and a traitor to the Charr, and Smodur, whom he viewed as his only real competition for the title of Khan-Ur. He was distrustful of his fellow imperators and often acted against the best interests of the Legions for his own benefit.
All of this history characterizes Bangar as an arrogant and narcissistic individual, hungry for power and fueled by a deep-seated distrust in others and a prejudice against the other races, both of which he uses to justify his own temper and violent tendencies. These characteristics are only amplified as he takes the stage in The Icebrood Saga.
The inciting incident of IBS's plot is the All-Legion Rally hosted by Bangar. After reaching an agreement with Efram Greetsglory to welcome the Flame Legion back into Charr society, Bangar invites various notable Charr figurse, as well as the Commander and company, to a celebration in Grothmar Valley. The festival appears to promote Charr unity, but beneath the surface Bangar uses it to spread nationalist propaganda and sow chaos in the non-Charr participants—and to steal Braham's bow. As the festival reaches its end, Bangar steals away into the Shiverpeaks, taking hundreds of Renegades and soldiers pilfered from the other Legions with him.
Given his natural distrust of others and his hunger for power, Bangar feels insecure due to Aurene's recent ascension as an Elder Dragon. He is simultaneously jealous and afraid of the power the Commander wields with a Dragon at their side, and, perhaps in part due to his close-minded beliefs, he is unable to see Aurene as an individual with her own agency, instead only viewing her as a tool used by the Commander. In any case, he wants to tip the scales back into the Charr's—into his—favor, and for that he plans to acquire an Elder Dragon of his own—Jormag.
Bangar took a brief backseat in the story as the Commander and company pursued him and his army into Bjora Marches, where they were forced to face off against many of Jormag's minions. During his time off, he meets with and subsequently murders Almorra Soulkeeper, who is firmly against his traitorous actions. He finally reappears just as the Commander is facing off against the Whisper of Jormag, jumping in at the final moment to take credit for the kill and incapacitate the Commander.
Using this feat as further propaganda, claiming he is the only person who could control Jormag, Bangar properly forms the Dominion and invades Drizzlewood Coast, slaughtering its non-Charr inhabitants as he builds fortifications against the United Legions. He allied with the Svanir in order to get closer to Jormag, and with their help he took control of the Sanctum of the Wild in hopes of claiming corrupted spirit magic for himself and built the Frost Citadel atop it, where he began using Jormag's blood to convert his own men into Icebrood. As the magically-empowered Frost Legion grew in number, he hoped it would accelerate Jormag's awakening so he could subjugate and control the Dragon. By now, Bangar's aspirations had grown beyond merely ruling the Charr as Khan-ur—he wanted to rule the entire world using the Dragon's power.
As the Commander and crew invaded the Frost Citadel and interrupted Bangar's ritual, he was betrayed by Ryland just before Jormag awoke. Rather than becoming Jormag's Champion, he was chained and designated as its Voice and given to the Commander as a "gift" to facilitate future communication. This is where Bangar's aspirations ended, humiliated and in Aurene's custody.
Bangar is Definitely a Fascist
Before we get into just what makes Bangar such a compelling depiction of fascism, there is one thing that we must definitely establish: no matter how you try to spin it, Bangar is definitely a fascist. The easiest way to prove this is to identify some of the commonly accepted characteristics of fascism and compare them to Bangar's own actions and policies.
First, one of the most universal aspects of fascism is the establishment of an "other". Fascists use other groups—whether they be racial or ethnic groups, political or cultural organizations or affiliations, or even broad aspects of people's identities such as gender or sexuality—as scapegoats for their society's issues. They claim that these "others" are the causes of most problems, and this generally comes with the implication that removing said groups from society would alleviate those problems. Bangar very clearly utilizes this tactic, what with his brazen prejudice against other races, which is heavily featured in his propaganda—generally referring to them as "lesser beings"—and reflected by his military decisions, including the slaughter of Drizzlewood Coast's inhabitants.
Another common aspect of fascism is the propagation of extreme nationalism. This is also very clearly present in Bangar's beliefs—increasing nationalist feelings among the Charr is the entire point of the All-Legion Rally and the "one Charr" slogan repeated throughout. Pride in the Charr and their traditional values is also a frequent talking point for Bangar.
Finally, the structure of Bangar's Dominion also reflects real-life fascist states. Fascism inevitably results in an authoritative dictatorship or oligarchy, and while I could spend a lot of words diving into that further, we can save the time and just agree that that is very obviously what the Dominion is.
Bangar VS US Politics
Now, let's get into the details that stuck out to me as making Bangar and his Dominion such an effective portrayal of fascism. This is the part of the article where I have to admit that I'm not an expert in the history, philosophy, or sociology of fascism; I am, however, a citizen of the United States of America, so I have quite a bit of firsthand experience with fascists and the strategies they use to build a following and push their policies. I will be drawing primarily from said experiences as I compare them to Bangar's actions and strategies.
What makes Bangar so realistic is that his actions and policies are incredibly similar to the strategies used by real fascists. When writing a fascist villain, it's very easy to do so successfully while just sticking to the basics—authoritarianism, xenophobia, etc. While these elements are all present with Bangar, there are also many smaller details, and many fascist tactics and strategies that the majority of people wouldn't immediately recognize. It's the inclusion of these details that make Bangar such a compelling and accurate depiction of fascism. Let's go over a few of them.
"Positive" Slogans & the Culture War
One of the pillars of Bangar's political success was his charisma, and this is perhaps exemplified best by the slogan which dominated the All-Legion Rally and continued to guide sentiment on both sides well into the Charr Civil War: "One Charr". Though it appears at first to be a generally positive ideology, representative of the newfound unity of the Charr as they reincorporated the Flame Legion into society, Bangar corrupts it into a symbol of his prejudice and xenophobia.
This concept—using positive-sounding phrases or terminology to describe ideas that are actually negative—is one of the most-used tools in the fascist playbook. It encompasses everything from legal bills titled completely differently to what they actually do to slogans that preach positivity despite being attached to movements built around hatred and bigotry; "One Charr" is, of course, an example of the latter.
For a real-life example of this, let's take a trip down memory lane to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. After a string of police brutality incidents and a number of other building issues that are a tad too nuanced to get into in this article, the USA became embroiled in protests and even some riots centered around this ideology. Supporters felt that the US government and its criminal justice system, as well as the nation's culture in general, were overly hostile to people of color, and that they were not being treated as equals whose lives had the same value as those of white folk.
The movement was met with mixed results, due in large part to a countermovement sparked by conservative activists and quickly picked up by an underinformed public: "All Lives Matter". When taken at face value based just on its name, this movement seems like something positive and obviously true; of course all lives matter equally! This view of the movement falls apart, however, when you analyze the way in which it was moved.
All Lives Matter was created in direct response to the BLM movement, and it was frequently used online as a retort against those who supported the latter movement; naturally, this implies that the two movements hold opposing beliefs, but how can that be true? The core purpose of the BLM movement was ensuring equal treatment for black folk—that is to say, the idea that all lives mattered equally was a core tenet of BLM.
This, then, reveals the true intentions behind All Lives Matter: most of the activists who pushed ALM did not actually believe that all lives mattered equally, but were simply using it as a counter to BLM. Furthermore, many took advantage of ALM's status as a counter to attempt to mislead others into believing that the BLM movement advocated for black superiority over others.
While this is an example that pulls form a particularly well-known event that my primarily American viewerbase will understand, it is not the only example of this in modern politics—far from it. In both the real world and Tyria, the purpose of this tactic is simple: it misleads the majority of people, who likely don't follow politics closely, into believing your cause is better than it actually is, and it provides an easy stepping stone for manipulating your own supporters, who can use your sugar-laced slogan to justify their support of you. In Bangar's case, "One Charr" also served additional purposes in that it promoted Charr nationalism and caused those who heard it to more heavily associate the Charr reunification with him, thus building a positive image for himself.
Small Promises
Throughout Drizzlewood Coast, the site of the majority of the fighting between the Dominion and the United Legions, Bangar planted speakers through which he could beam propaganda across the entire region. Anyone who's done a few runs of the Drizzlewood metas could probably quote several of the ambient propaganda lines to you word-for-word, but there's one that's of particular interest to us for the purposes of this section:
In Bangar's Dominion, there are no gladia. There is only the strength of our fangs and claws, and the enemies at our feet.
In case the hyperlink didn't make it clear, the mention of gladia here is of particular note. Gladia are a particularly dark part of life in the Black Citadel under the Legions—they are essentially treated as second-rate citizens, and some bits of lore imply that the mistreatment of gladia goes far beyond a mere lack of respect or trust.
This brings us to what's particularly interesting about the propaganda mentioned above: it appears to state that Bangar intends to dispose of the gladia system. This is surprising, since that seems like a pretty unambiguously good thing; fascists aren't particularly well-known for doing good things. What's the deal?
This is another common tactic in the fascist playbook. While improving the lives of citizens is generally counterintuitive to the control and absolute power that fascists desire, they can get a shocking amount of mileage out of promising to do just one small thing.
By focusing a significant portion of their image and messaging around a single unambiguously good thing, even if it's small, fascists can deflect a lot of public attention away from their more obviously negative policies. It also has a similar effect to what I mentioned at the end of the previous section—it gives the fascist's supporters something to point to in order to justify their beliefs.
In Bangar's case, the Charr are already a very militarily-focused people, so it's likely that the existence of a lower class like the gladia simply isn't necessary for him to confidently maintain control. He's also characterized as rather arrogant, so he may believe that commanding an army and an Elder Dragon will be enough to bring even an unimpoverished people to heel.
You could also interpret the claim made in Bangar's propaganda as a false promise. After all, it doesn't directly state that he plans to eliminate the gladia from Charr society as a whole—only that there's no such thing in the Dominion. This statement may only apply to those who willingly join his army, with him having no plans to improve the lives of any remaining gladia once he takes power.
Every Accusation is a Confession
Bangar's primary goal throughout IBS's story is to subjugate and obtain control over Jormag. His motivation for doing so is quite clear—he wants the incredible power and control that would come with being a Dragon Champion—but he tries to justify this course of action in a variety of ways. He makes claims that subjugating Jormag is necessary for the future security of the Charr, but beyond that, much of his rhetoric is focused on the Commander.
Both Bangar and Ryland make a number of accusations regarding the Commander's relationship with Aurene. They refuse to view her as an individual with her own agency, instead treating her like a living weapon at the Commander's beck and call. Most importantly, they accuse the Commander of using her to hoard power for themself.
This is obviously ironic, since this is exactly what Bangar plans to do with Jormag, but this, too, is a common tactic of modern fascism. Though one might assume that simply accusing your political opponents of committing your own evil actions is a tactic too lacking in subtlety to be effective, the fact of the matter is, as established above, the vast majority of people don't pay much attention to the finer details of politics and are massively underinformed; that is to say, subtlety isn't actually needed to con the majority of people, especially if you're already in a position of power like Bangar is. Simply going on the offensive and accusing others of doing evil before you can be accused yourself draws much of the public focus away from your own actions, and established a core argument on false pretenses which your followers and the media can use to press your opponents further into a corner, keeping them busy with denying your baseless claims rather than making any real progress in shifting public perception against you.
As with the other ideas described so far, there are numerous examples of this tactic in modern politics. Those of you who have been following political events over the past year may be familiar with the phrase used as this section's title—"every accusation is a confession"—in relation to Israel's genocide in Palestine. Over just the past year, there have been numerous examples of Israeli officials directing baseless accusations at Hamas, or just all Palestinians in general, of committing vile acts—ranging from abusing hostages, endangering citizens, using innocents as human shields, etc—only for it to be revealed later that the IDF was doing that exact thing to Palestinians.
For another real-world example, look to conservative US politicians' tendency to accuse their political opponents of being sexual predators; it's no secret that many top GOP officials have been hit with allegations (or successfully convicted) of sexual assault, rape, and even paedophilia, which may inform you as to why they're so quick to fling those terms at not only their political rivals, but even entire cultural groups that they happen to dislike.
Conclusion
I have long believed that The Icebrood Saga is home to some of the strongest character writing and political drama in all of Guild Wars 2, and the impressive attention-to-detail granted to both Bangar himself and the entirety of his Dominion is one of the shining examples of that.
Given when IBS was in development—during the rise of a global pandemic and in the midst of the first Trump presidency—I'm almost led to believe that the focus on Bangar and the way in which he was depicted was directly inspired by current events at the time. There's no way to know this for sure without hearing from the writers themselves, but I could certainly see them noticing many of the same patterns and tactics I did and going out of their way to represent them in Bangar's in-game actions.
To a certain degree, I feel that the latter half of this article ended up becoming just as much an analysis of real-world fascists as it was an analysis of Bangar, but nevertheless I hope its contents were as interesting to my readers as this topic was to me—and perhaps even a bit educational with regards to the real-world events given as examples and comparisons. I'll have to try and think of something more lighthearted for my next article...
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