Highlander Eyebrows - 7.0 Graphics

[Darkstride]

Dunno if there is a serious deep lore reason (I've heard about the shaving), but there *is* a reason: they were designed that way. Highlander men have deep-set eyes and pronounced brow ridges, enough that they do not suffer in expressiveness for the lack of eyebrows. It seems to be a racial trait rather than a cultural one.

Hell, I didn't notice Raubhan's lack of eyebrows for months. One of my friends didn't notice mine until I pointed it out. I like it though, it's a little different but it works. I do hope they do something about the "got into the Black Mage's makeup drawer" eyebrow option so it looks less goofy so that people who want their Highlander men to have eyebrows don't have to paint them on with a mop, though.

The lack of eyebrows is not a natural racial trait. They aren't born that way. It's specifically stated that they just shave them to appear more intimidating. But there's no lore beyond that, which is why there's no reason to stick to it.

[Astronis]

Thr lack of eyebrows is not a racial trait. It was specifically stated that they shave them to appear more intimidating. But there's no lore beyond that, which is why there's no reason to stick to it.

I say it's probably a racial trait because male Highlander Humes don't have eyebrows either. If *they* are shaving their eyebrows to appear more intimidating, the cultural roots are Sundering-deep. Either way--there *is* a reason to stick to it, but there is *also* a reason to give people options.

[Risough]

The only explanation I'm aware we've officially gotten is a quote that allegedly came from a 2014 lore panel:

Q: Why don't male Highlanders have eyebrows?

MCKF: There is a reason. Highlanders are a very violent group of people. Their clan is always warring amongst each other and against the Midlanders as well back in their homelands. They like battle. They fight and the women fight and their children fight, because that's their culture. When you have this culture of everybody being able to fight, it's all about getting the one-up on your opponent. Everyone's good with a sword or a club or whatever, so you need something extra. Everyone expects their opponent to have eyebrows. So if someone goes into battle and your opponent doesn't have eyebrows, it psychs you out and your head gets chopped off. Different tribes have their different rituals but one of those rituals is shaving off the eyebrows to put fear into your opponent.

Q: So they do have eyebrows, they just shave them off?

MCKF: Yeah, it's not a genetic thing. They shave them off or they give themselves scars or pull out their teeth. Things like that to make them look more imposing.

I say allegedly because I have often found this quote cited but I've yet to see any footage of Koji Fox saying this himself. I pulled the quote from this thread on the official lore forums. I've also found the post where the question may have originally been posed but was unable to find it in the recording of the lore panel linked at the end of the thread. I also didn't hear it in the subsequent lorecast interview with MCKF linked later in the thread. If anyone can find footage of this quote I'd be interested to see it.

I say it's probably a racial trait because male Highlander Humes don't have eyebrows either. If *they* are shaving their eyebrows to appear more intimidating, the cultural roots are Sundering-deep. Either way--there *is* a reason to stick to it, but there is *also* a reason to give people options.

The practice can't be sundering deep because the two most prominent highlander men in the last two expansions both had eyebrows. When writing a story I'd expect the writers to use the characters from a given clan or race players will spend the most time looking at to represent that group. The humes of the first not having eyebrows comes off to me as the developers being constrained by the character creator when making NPCs.

[Yencat]

The only explanation I'm aware we've officially gotten is a quote that allegedly came from a 2014 lore panel:

I say allegedly because I have often found this quote cited but I've yet to see any footage of Koji Fox saying this himself. I pulled the quote from this thread on the official lore forums. I've also found the post where the question may have originally been posed but was unable to find it in the recording of the lore panel linked at the end of the thread. I also didn't hear it in the subsequent lorecast interview with MCKF linked later in the thread. If anyone can find footage of this quote I'd be interested to see it.

Thanks for digging that up! Sometimes these things enter a sort of community consciousness but no one really remembers where it was originally said so it's nice to see the source, even if 'incomplete'.

It's a little interesting that apparently the men, the women, and the children all fight and try to one up each other and freak each other out, but for some reason only the men go so far as to shave their eyebrows?

Not having eyebrows is a somewhat of a trope to indicate someone being a bit brutish so I guess I can see what they were going for, but compared to 2014 the game has changed quite a lot in terms of freedom of character expression and not every male highlander wants to be a violent brute.

[Risough]

Thanks for digging that up! Sometimes these things enter a sort of community consciousness but no one really remembers where it was originally said so it's nice to see the source, even if 'incomplete'.

It's a little interesting that apparently the men, the women, and the children all fight and try to one up each other and freak each other out, but for some reason only the men go so far as to shave their eyebrows?

Not having eyebrows is a somewhat of a trope to indicate someone being a bit brutish so I guess I can see what they were going for, but compared to 2014 the game has changed quite a lot in terms of freedom of character expression and not every male highlander wants to be a violent brute.

That's why I thought it'd be worth digging up; the lack of eyebrows has been around since 1.0 if I remember right but this is the first time we got an explanation for it. Like Rueby mentioned, it feels like they had the design held over from the character creator in 1.0 and needed an explanation in lieu of having to adjust the customization options.

I like what you mentioned about the men being the only ones that had their brows yoinked for intimidation purposes. The way the tactic is described sounds like the practices are specific to each tribe too, so its odd for players to be locked to a specific tribe's traditions. We aren't forced to have scars or remove teeth. This also has to be a Gyr Abanian thing. I have a hard time imagining Dickon at The Last Stand trying to scare away all of his customers, for example. It really does feel like playing into the brute trope you described and that just doesn't fit every highlander guy.