‘Hogwarts Legacy’ antisemitism claims are almost impossible to deny following troubling goblin discovery

Hogwarts Legacy officially releases tomorrow, though those who bought the Deluxe Edition have been busily exploring every inch of Hogwarts and its grounds since Tuesday. The controversy surrounding the game has reached fever pitch: J.K. Rowling’s transphobia and the boycott of the game are dominating discussion, a sticky situation compounded by the game featuring Harry Potter‘s first trans character and having a gender-agnostic character creator.

But beyond that, there’s a lot of anger that the core story of the game is about a ‘Goblin Rebellion’. Much has been written about Rowling’s Goblins leaning hard into antisemitic stereotypes and, frankly, the reasons why should be obvious.

Now, eagle-eyed players have spotted an artifact in the game that seems to directly link goblins with Jewish people:

Folks on Twitter aren’t the only ones noticing the obvious similarities, either.

A shofar is a horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies and is mentioned in the Bible and Talmud. It was traditionally used to ring in the new moon each month, but nowadays is blown on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year) and to mark the end of fasting during Yom Kippur (among other ceremonies).

It’s also used in times of war, specifically mentioned as being used by Joshua when he captured Jericho. As such, Hogwarts Legacy saying this is “used to rally troops” means it doesn’t just look like a Jewish shofar, it also fulfills some of the same function.

Regardless of whether this was intentional or not, let’s just say it’s not a good look and certainly not what the game needs right now as it’s about to launch.