I'm sorry you feel that pretty women are underrepresented in fantasy genres.
Again, I haven't read the novel, so I'm on shaky ground here, but - do we know how old she's supposed to be? Is it possible that her art is depicting just one solitary moment in the entire span of her lifetime, possibly in her older years? Is it possible that, in the years leading up to the moment of her depiction in the card, she was as beautiful as you insist she must be to match the narrative within your mind?
She's an elf.
You're going way out of your way to justify Dulcinea incarnate not being pretty. If not her, who?
Action women have been largely and understandably desexualized, and even seductress type characters are avoided and those we have to keep around like Liliana keep getting covered up further and posed in less glamorizing scenes than they used to. You may celebrate the abortion of harmless stereotypes if you must, but when the exemplar vessel of courtly love chivalry is not allowed to be beautiful ***** has gone too far.
She's not ugly though. She's not sixteen (like most people we hold up as the exemplars of beauty in our culture) but if you zoom in as far as it will go... she isn't ugly. She's just not. I think you're just responding to her fashion sense, not to her face, which again, we can't see very well even as far in as it will allow us to go at this resolution. Her face is attractive, and under that wool and steel dress, there's no reason to believe she doesn't have all the right curves in all the right places.
And in response to your question of "if not her, who": Trapped in the Tower. She won't be 18 for a few years, but she is every bit the standard that our culture says is perfect beauty.
Why're people saying she's ugly? She's wearing an ugly dress, there's a difference. It's also highly fashionable on Eldraine, I'll have you know.
You can only see her face, and you can barely see that. What, are the 2 milimeters you can see of Judith, the Scourge Diva's face really so much sexier than the 4 milimeters you can see of Ayara's? You guys must have impeccable eyes.
I mean if we were really trying to be accurate, everything would be about birth. A person's quality isn't about how strong, or smart, or talented, or good-looking they are, but just about their lineage.
If you are of the yeoman class, nobody cares how great you are. You are a base villain of the vulgar masses, and have no right to speak in the presence of your betters unless so bidden. And yeoman isn't the lowest class. Being a mere woman of decent birth automatically makes you worth twenty such knaves. More.
She's not ugly though. She's not sixteen (like most people we hold up as the exemplars of beauty in our culture) but if you zoom in as far as it will go... she isn't ugly. She's just not. I think you're just responding to her fashion sense, not to her face, which again, we can't see very well even as far in as it will allow us to go at this resolution. Her face is attractive, and under that wool and steel dress, there's no reason to believe she doesn't have all the right curves in all the right places.
And in response to your question of "if not her, who": Trapped in the Tower. She won't be 18 for a few years, but she is every bit the standard that our culture says is perfect beauty.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
You can only see her face, and you can barely see that. What, are the 2 milimeters you can see of Judith, the Scourge Diva's face really so much sexier than the 4 milimeters you can see of Ayara's? You guys must have impeccable eyes.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
If you are of the yeoman class, nobody cares how great you are. You are a base villain of the vulgar masses, and have no right to speak in the presence of your betters unless so bidden. And yeoman isn't the lowest class. Being a mere woman of decent birth automatically makes you worth twenty such knaves. More.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.