Why the Neanderthals in The Hybrids of Spire Can Seem Self-Racist

I wrote characters who are, in a sense, self-racist, so let me explain why.

In my story, The Hybrids of Spire, the Neanderthals are living in the present day. They are essentially normal modern individuals. They are not unintelligent, and they speak perfect English. Their personalities and behaviors are heavily shaped by their environment, so because they were raised in America, they have many American cultural traits and behave like average Americans.

The issue is not that the Neanderthals hate themselves for being Neanderthals. In fact, they do not. They experienced discrimination back in America, but eventually they were moved to a land that was, at this point in the story, controlled by Israel.

The Neanderthals are technically Gentiles, while their leader, Lucas, is Israeli. Lucas was given dominion over the area, and he established schools and other institutions for the Neanderthals. He essentially taught them how to function as a modern society.

The Neanderthals in The Hybrids of Spire were cloned in 2055. There were originally 1,000 of them in Spire, so their population was extremely small. Because of this, they established arranged marriages between Neanderthals in order to increase their population.

Lucas is the only modern Homo sapiens living in Spire, aside from potentially his family. He created strict rules regarding reproduction because he did not want the Neanderthals to disappear through interbreeding, as had happened to them in the past.

So, in the story, a Neanderthal cannot simply marry a Homo sapien.

That rule applies regardless of the Homo sapien's race.

For example, if a Neanderthal woman met a Black man and had a child with him, the other Neanderthals would not necessarily hate the Black man or Black people. Their reaction would be based on the fact that he is a Homo sapien.

They would essentially say:

"Why would you do this? You are not supposed to reproduce outside of our species. We have only recently begun rebuilding our population, and there are only 1,000 of us. If too many Neanderthals reproduce with Homo sapiens, we could eventually breed ourselves out again."

The same reaction would occur if she married a white Homo sapien.

They would not necessarily have anything against white people. Their concern would be that the Neanderthal population is still extremely small and vulnerable.

If a Neanderthal did have a child with a Homo sapien, the government could require that Neanderthal to submit DNA and be cloned. That way, even if she had hybrid children, there would still be a chance for a genetically pure Neanderthal child to be born.

The reason for this is that the Neanderthals remember that their species previously became nearly extinct because of interbreeding. Their population had fallen to roughly 4% of the Homo sapien population before they were effectively considered extinct.

Now that they have been brought back, they are determined not to repeat that history.

Their population is growing, and they use arranged marriages with other Neanderthals to encourage that growth.

So, Spire's culture prioritizes the survival and growth of the Neanderthal species.

Arranged Marriages Among the Neanderthals

When a hybrid child is born near them, the parents may become concerned because they know their children could eventually become interested in that child.

As a result, they may prepare their children for arranged marriages from a young age.

This does not mean that a five-year-old is being married to an adult. That would be completely nonsensical and detrimental.

Instead, a five-year-old Neanderthal might be paired with another five-year-old Neanderthal as a potential future spouse.

The two children are raised together, encouraged to play together, and given opportunities to become friends. The goal is for them to develop a genuine relationship before they become adults.

When they turn 18, they can marry and start a family.

However, the arrangement is not completely forced.

For example, suppose a five-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl are arranged to marry. Their parents raise them together and encourage them to become friends.

At 15, however, the boy falls in love with another Neanderthal girl, while the girl falls in love with another Neanderthal boy.

Because all four individuals are Neanderthals, the government would allow the original engagement to be dissolved.

The parents would bring the situation to the government, and the government would end the original arrangement and allow the two teenagers to become engaged to the people they genuinely love.

In this situation, love is considered the ideal outcome as long as everyone involved is still within the Neanderthal population.

As a result, the new couples are set to marry when they turn 18.

The Racism Issue Involving Black People

However, one situation involving a Black woman is where the racism aspect of the story becomes more complicated.

In real life, there is a history of racist ideas connecting Black people with Neanderthals. The history behind these ideas is much more complicated than simply saying that people thought Neanderthals were bad because they were Neanderthals.

In my story, the Neanderthals are aware of this history.

They understand that some historical ideas about Neanderthals were influenced by racist ideas about Black people.

For example, William King, the geologist who named the Neanderthal species, interpreted the Neanderthal skull through the racial ideas of his time. He compared the skull to what he perceived as the skulls of Black and Aboriginal people.

From there, racist ideas about Neanderthals developed.

The basic logic became:

"If these people look Black, and Black people are supposedly inferior, then Neanderthals must also be inferior."

That is where the stereotype of Neanderthals being brutish, unintelligent, or primitive came from in my interpretation.

The problem is that this reasoning was based on racism rather than actual evidence about Neanderthal intelligence or culture.

A person found a skull belonging to someone who had been dead for thousands of years and essentially judged that person based on their perceived race.

The individual whose skull was being examined had never been met, spoken to, or observed.

Yet assumptions were made about his intelligence, personality, and morality simply because of what someone thought his skull looked like.

That person had done absolutely nothing wrong.

As far as we know, he had committed no offense whatsoever that could justify those assumptions.

His memory was essentially tarnished because someone looked at his remains and attached racist ideas to them.

Why This Matters to the Neanderthals

This history is important to the Neanderthals in my story because they understand that their species was not necessarily viewed negatively because of anything Neanderthals actually did.

Instead, they were caught up in a racist framework that associated them with Black people and then used racist stereotypes about Black people to characterize Neanderthals.

That is why the Neanderthals understand that people can take something associated with their species and use it against another population.

They are therefore extremely sensitive about how their genetics could be perceived by other groups.

The irony is that the foundation of the old stereotype was itself deeply flawed.

If the argument was that Neanderthals were unintelligent because they were supposedly comparable to Black people, then evidence of Black intelligence and achievement completely undermines that argument.

Black people have accomplished extraordinary things in science, medicine, education, technology, and many other fields.

Therefore, the racist premise that supposedly connected Blackness with stupidity does not logically establish anything about Neanderthal intelligence.

Furthermore, Neanderthals are not Black people or Africans.

So the original argument falls apart on multiple levels.

This leaves us with an important question:

How much do we actually know about Neanderthal society, intelligence, culture, and personality?

In my story, the answer is that we know very little.

Much of what people believe about Neanderthals is based on assumptions and speculation, and the Neanderthals themselves are aware of how dangerous it can be to build an entire perception of a people on a flawed foundation.

Why They Are More Concerned About a Black-Neanderthal Child

This is where the fictional Neanderthals' reasoning becomes particularly complicated.

In my story, they may actually be more relaxed about a Neanderthal marrying a white Homo sapien than a Black Homo sapien.

That does not mean that they believe Black people are inferior.

Their concern comes from what they believe other people will do to the resulting child.

The child itself is not viewed as bad.

The child is viewed as being at greater risk of discrimination.

Suppose a Neanderthal woman marries a Black man and has a child.

If that child undergoes DNA testing and is found to be half Black and half Neanderthal, the Neanderthals fear that racists will use the child's existence as supposed evidence that Black people are Neanderthals.

They fear that the child could then be subjected to the discrimination associated with both groups.

The child could be called a monkey, a Neanderthal, or other racist names.

In their minds, the child would potentially inherit the discrimination directed toward both Black people and Neanderthals.

Therefore, their argument is essentially:

"We don't want to create a child who could become a target for two different forms of racism."

That is the logic behind their behavior.

It is not:

"Black people are bad."

It is:

"People already discriminate against Black people and Neanderthals, so combining those identities could give racists another excuse to attack someone."

That distinction is extremely important to understanding these characters.

Lucas and the Israeli-Neanderthal Situation

This same reasoning applies to Israelis and Jews in the story.

Lucas is Israeli and is not a Neanderthal. He was given dominion over Spire and became the leader of the Neanderthals.

One of the Neanderthals tells him that allowing Neanderthals to marry into the Israeli population could potentially cause problems.

The argument is that if a child were born with both Israeli and Neanderthal ancestry, antisemites could use that child as an excuse to spread hateful claims about Israelis and Jews.

Lucas, despite being Israeli himself, agrees with the argument.

Again, the reasoning is not that Jews or Israelis are inferior.

It is based on the Neanderthals' belief that their own species is already heavily stigmatized.

They believe that if their bloodline becomes intertwined with another group that is already targeted by prejudice, people may use that connection to create even more discrimination.

Their mindset is essentially:

"If my species mixes with your population, could that make your people suffer more?"

That is the question they are asking themselves.

Mulan's Argument

One of Lucas's advisers, Mulan, is a Neanderthal who works for him.

Mulan is essentially arguing from what he believes is pure logic, even though he recognizes that his words may sound racist toward his own species.

He says, in effect:

"I understand that I am a Neanderthal, and therefore I may sound racist against my own kind, but I am saying this from what I believe is the purest place of logic."

He is concerned because a Neanderthal named Theron left Spire and brought an Israeli woman back with him.

Theron had apparently been assigned to deliver goods from Spire to Israel. Instead, he met the woman while outside the country and eventually married her.

According to Mulan, this was illegal because Neanderthals are not supposed to marry outside their species.

Theron also did not have an arranged marriage because he was apparently still single.

Mulan's concern is that if Neanderthals continue leaving Spire and marrying Homo sapiens, the Neanderthal population could eventually disappear again.

He explains that there are only a small number of Neanderthals and that their population has only recently begun recovering.

He also raises another concern:

"If too many Neanderthals reproduce with Israelis, then people could begin associating Neanderthal ancestry with Israelis. Because antisemitism already exists, racists could use that ancestry as another weapon against them."

Mulan emphasizes that he is not trying to insult either group.

He is a Neanderthal himself.

His argument is that he would not use his own species as an insult because he has no reason to hate his own people.

Instead, he believes he is trying to protect both groups.

Mulan's Fear About the Child

Mulan's biggest concern is what would happen if the child remained in Israel and someone eventually discovered the child's ancestry through DNA testing.

If the child were found to have both Israeli and Neanderthal ancestry, Mulan fears that antisemites could use that child as supposed evidence that Israelis or Jews have Neanderthal ancestry.

They could turn the child into a propaganda tool.

The child could become the subject of mockery and discrimination simply because of their ancestry.

Mulan therefore believes that the child would have to be hidden rather than publicly identified.

In his mind, the situation could become an embarrassment for the Israeli population, not because there is anything inherently wrong with the child, but because of how hateful people might react to the child's existence.

Lucas, despite being Israeli himself, completely understands Mulan's reasoning and agrees with him.

The Core Idea Behind Their Thinking

The Neanderthals' thinking can essentially be summarized like this:

"If our species mixes with another population, will that make life harder for that population?"

They believe the answer could be yes.

They believe their species already carries a heavy history of discrimination. Therefore, they fear that anyone who shares Neanderthal ancestry could inherit some of that discrimination.

This is why their opposition to interbreeding is not necessarily based on hatred toward the other group.

Instead, it comes from a combination of:

• Fear of their own extinction.

• Fear of losing their cultural identity.

• Fear of being genetically absorbed into Homo sapien populations.

• Fear that their ancestry will be used against other groups.

• Fear that mixed children will experience discrimination from multiple directions.

• And a desire to protect populations they believe could become targets because of their connection to Neanderthals.

So when the Neanderthals refuse to marry certain groups, their reasoning is not simply:

"We don't like those people."

It is closer to:

"We know people already hate us. If our descendants become part of another population, those people might use our ancestry against them."

That is the distinction I am trying to make with these characters.

They are not supposed to be self-hating Neanderthals.

They actually take pride in being Neanderthal.

Their fear is that their identity and history could become a source of discrimination against the people they mix with.