Civilization: Game vs. History

[Zaarin]

Yeah, I think Russia's design is wonderfully iconic for Russia--just not for Peter, who was a notorious enemy of the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

[Morningcalm]

Update: Will be tackling Eleanor of Aquitaine (Alienor) soon while I continue to do research on Catherine de' Medici. Catherine's so fascinating that I'm tempted to provide more facts about her life than strictly necessary to analyze her in-game appearance, which is why that particular project hasn't come online in this thread yet.

In the meantime, I'm wondering if others wanted to contribute? @Guandao, how's the Qin Shi Huang post coming along?

 

[God of Kings]

In the meantime, Catherine introduced both the fork and ice cream to France.

 

[Guandao]

In the meantime, I'm wondering if others wanted to contribute? @Guandao, how's the Qin Shi Huang post coming along?

I haven't got back to working on that one yet. Will eventually return to it. I'm distracted by other things at the moment. I must admit I find China's Civ6 design to be boring. I even find Qin Shi Huang boring. I gotta look for credible sources on Chinese history and Qin Shi Huang's life.

 

[Morningcalm]

Eleanor of Aquitaine (English OR French Civilization)

A powerful woman in the Middle Ages (sometimes called the most powerful), Eleanor of Aquitaine was a politically skilled, wealthy, and cultured woman, as well as an avid horse-rider, who, as duchess of Aquitaine, covering vast portions of what is now south-western France, full of wealth from trade (wine being one such good, see 2:20 in the linked BBC podcast), became one of the most desired brides in all Europe. She was a queen of France first during her marriage to Louis VII, led men on Crusade, then divorced, married Henry II, who became king of England, and then was imprisoned by her husband for supporting her sons' attempts to take the throne (one of these sons was Richard the Lionheart). Later, she was released, and held much power during her son Richard the Lionheart's reign in England (during which she served as a regent while Richard the Lionheart went off on Crusade to fight Saladin). After Richard died, and her son John came to the English throne, she served as envoy to France. In her last years, she retired to a nunnery. Incidentally, her dual marriages laid the seed for the Hundred Years War due to her English children's claim to land in France. She is legendarily associated with popularizing courtly love and related literature, song, etc, and it is for this that she is most heavily represented in Civ VI, along with her dual marriages, which allow her to serve as leader of France and/or England in Civ VI.

In truth however, Eleanor was much more than just a culture-lover. Her life was much more like an episode of Game of Thrones than one might at first glance think (note also the BBC podcast on Eleanor also refers to Game of Thrones early on). She also had to deal with numerous feuding lords, raise ransoms, manage armies, and participate in revolts. During Henry II's reign, for example, she arbitrated disputes over land and feudal dues, presided over law courts, and carefully managed tax revenue with a firm hand. She endured grief, capture, imprisonment, but also enjoyed cosmopolitan life, poetry and song, and introduced new fashions to the then-drab Paris, perhaps with Near-Eastern flair from her travels to Antioch and Constantinople.

Appearance:
Eleanor appears in two guises in Civ VI: her English appearance shows an English coast with a castle nearby (if anyone is able to identify the specific castle, please inform me), while her French appearance shows in the background the Palace of Poitiers in France. It should be noted that having her lead France while represented with Poitiers in the background is actually not that accurate, as the court of love in Poitiers came into being during Eleanor's marriage to Henry II (King of England). But a charitable view might see this as simply representing her as leader of areas of France, not the French kingdom as a whole.

Eleanor's in-game appearances show her dressed in fine clothing decorated with golden hems (notably, her clothing remains mostly the same in both appearances), and holding a cup of gold. To the extent we can know anything about her clothing, this would be accurate, as she was a wealthy woman who liked finery. Her robes were apparently decorated with cloth of gold in real life, and thus gained the epithet chrysopous (golden-foot). Furthermore, during her first marriage, she brought to the then-drab Paris fashion, respect for women, and language from Aquitaine. Dazzled by the opulence and finery of Constantinople, she also may have introduced Byzantine fashions to France as well. Interestingly, we even have speculation on what she might have worn by one Polly Schoyer Brooks in her non-academic biography of Eleanor, and this matches Eleanor's in-game appearance in some aspects: "Around her waist she wore a jeweled belt. Over her gown fell a long red velvet robe trimmed in fur; its full sleeves with their wide openings tapered to points that almost touched the ground. Over her hair was a scarf called a wimple, held in place by her gold crown.”

She is portrayed, both in her funeral effigy and in other pictorial depictions, as having a crown. Concept art for Eleanor in Civ VI shows multiple designs for Eleanor featured a crown, and only one, which was eventually used for Eleanor’s English appearance, had different headgear (namely, a garland of pink rose petals). Perhaps Eleanor's garland of flowers appearance was chosen for being striking and unique (being more interesting than the usual physical golden crown for example). But there is no historical basis anywhere for Eleanor having worn a crown of flowers, and this is likely a fanciful representation to show Eleanor's connection to the court of love (similarly, Dido in Civ V has roses in her background, perhaps as an allusion to the story of her doomed love for Aeneas).

Some non-colored concept art designs for Eleanor’s appearance seem to be based on Eleanor’s veil, as shown in her funeral effigy, but these were ultimately not used in-game, even though they would (arguably) have been closer to extant historical portrayals of Eleanor.

We don't have too much detail on what Eleanor physically looked like from historical records--she was described as a great beauty but little other detail remains. Nevertheless, the long elongated figure from the funeral effigy seems to have been used to portray Eleanor in game, as she notably has a long neck and is somewhat thin. I am sure other gamers may have other opinions on whether in-game Eleanor looks like a great beauty, but I think she fits that description in her in-game portrayal, even if she's not shown as a classically beautiful woman but more lean in accordance with her funeral effigy.

Court of Love (Leader Ability): "Each Great Work in her cities causes foreign cities within 9 tiles to lose 1 Loyalty per turn. Any foreign city that leaves its civilization due to loss of Loyalty and is receiving the most Loyalty pressure from Eleanor instantly joins her empire, instead of becoming a Free City."

The court of love ability takes its name from a court which Eleanor was said to have presided over while in Poitiers in 1168-1173, during her second marriage to Henry II of England. Supposedly, in her court of love Eleanor would decide matters of love between troubadors and ladies, settling disputes between lovers, punishing lovers who had done wrong, etc. This so-called court of love is mentioned by 12th century courtier Andreas Capellanus in his De amore and he recorded some 21 cases decided by the court. This court of love is supposedly connected to the concept of courtly love as we now know it, whereby knights would act chivalrously and perform various deeds for ladies. Eleanor's Court of Love was said to have inculcated a "culture of chivalry among her courtiers that had far-reaching influence on literature, poetry, music and folklore." In-game, this far-reaching cultural influence from Eleanor's Court of Love allows her to "city flip" cities through her superior culture, in effect mimicking the city-flipping "culture bombs" of Civ IV and to a lesser extent, Civ V, which could encourage neighboring cities from other nations to revolt and then join your nation (or Eleanor's, in this case). Eleanor is effectively the pied piper of Civ VI, charismatically encouraging others to join her cause through troubadoric song and poetry, perhaps in a nod to her being the descendant of a troubadour herself. Such an ability represents the far-reaching cultural influence of the chivalric tradition, including, for example, the tales of King Arthur, which almost all reading this topic are surely familiar with even now, and with which Eleanor was actually associated.

But the Court of Love ability is ahistorical in that no cities ever joined Eleanor's cause because of her culture. The Court of Love ability is therefore a fanciful, but very fun, way of representing Eleanor's culturally sophisticated court of love. (As to why Eleanor might have instituted such a court, I would point out she greatly preferred Constantinople to the drab, relatively less culturally sophisticated cities of northern France at the time.) It should also be pointed out that the ability's focus on Great Works is at least somewhat historical--Eleanor was an avid patron of the written arts, as patron of Wace, Benoit-de-Sainte-Maure, Chretien de Troyes, and the troubador poet Bernard de Ventadour (scroll to page 10 of the linked paper).

The ability is also ahistorical in that we don't know if it even existed (despite suggestions in Eleanor's Civilopedia entry to the contrary which boldly, and perhaps inaccurately, states Eleanor was "the woman to whom we most owe the evolution of the concept of chivalry"). As pointed out in the BBC In Our Time podcast on Eleanor (around 18:17), the association of Eleanor with the court of love comes from one source alone (De amore, or "The Art of Courtly Love" by 12th century courtier Andreas Capellanus), and is viewed with scholarly skepticism despite persistent popular association between Eleanor and the Court of Love. In BBC's podcast, a scholar speculates the book by Andreas Capellanus ("Andrew the Chaplain") may have been satire and was perhaps formed from Eleanor's reputation as queen of the troubadours.

Other scholars who have examined the matter also doubt Eleanor presided over such courts of love. For example, note that in The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain, 4 Volume Set, edited by Sian Echard, Robert Rouse, Jacqueline A. Fay, Helen Fulton, Geoff Rector, P. 734, the following is stated:

Both popular culture and scholarship have perpetuated the legend that Eleanor presided over so-called “courts of love”. Elizabeth A.R. Brown concluded this association came from Andreas Capellanus’ satire named De amore rather than known facts of Eleanor’s life. (Lois L.) Huneycutt asserted few literary works have clear links to Eleanor as patron. Both recent scholarship traced direct and indirect links between Eleanor and twelfth-century literature. Anglo-Norman poet Wace composed Roman de brut (1155) “at the request of Henry II” and decided to open his Roman de Rou (1160-74) by praising Eleanor for participating in the Crusades, and she legitimized her first husband’s power through her blood ties to Charlemagne. (Margaret Aziza) Pappano traced Eleanor’s connections to twelfth-century works in vernacular literature, and she links events in the queen’s life to both the plotline of Marie de France’s Equitain and the characters of Guenevere and the fairy lady in Marie’s Lanval.

So it seems ultimately whether Eleanor had such "court(s) of love" and the importance of such courts remains debated by historical scholars, even if some indirect influence on written tradition can be traced back to Eleanor. In this sense, I would venture to say Civ VI overvalues Eleanor's association with the court of love over her other accomplishments, particularly given that Eleanor's in-game association with the court of love colors not just her in-game ability, but also almost all of her in-game lines.

In reality, Eleanor was a great deal more than just a queen consort and judge of love, and her power over land came from her inheritance of Aquitaine (which made her a much desired bride). She was a capable politician (marrying off her children to set them up in power for the next few decades for example), and this aspect of her historical persona is not portrayed in Civ VI. Nor is her distinct ability to raise huge sums of money represented (in real history, she raised ransom money for her son Richard I, administered tax and feudal due issues during Henry II's reign, and was instrumental in developing trade agreements with Constantinople and ports of trade in the Holy Lands (read the last paragraph linked)).

Firaxis, in its declared intent to focus on "big personality" has instead zeroed in on a popular legend about Eleanor (see the BBC In Our Time podcast at 18:17 pointing out how stories of the Court of Love are "persistent" despite being more legendary than historical as such). Ineed, the Civilopedia in Civ VI also (perhaps erroneously) presents Eleanor's institution of the court of love and influence on "traditions of chivalry and courtly love" as factual.

Like Gilgamesh, then, Eleanor's in-game portrayal is focused on the legend surrounding a historical figure more than the history surrounding her, but unlike Gilgamesh, there's at least a bit more credibility for the Court of Love than say, a legend of a demigod defeating monsters (which is the legendary basis for Gilgamesh's Ally of Enkidu ability). It's almost certainly true Eleanor's Court of Love (and Eleanor's patronage of art and troubadors) didn't spur surrounding nations' cities to break away from other empires to willingly join her cause, or anything even close to that.

Nevertheless, however ahistorical Eleanor's game ability may be, it certainly is fun (and powerful, which is one major reason why England's British Museum ability was changed for this expansion, according to Ed Beach in an interview about Eleanor's creation)! Civ VI players love that Eleanor's Court of Love ability can lead to peaceful city-flipping en masse!

Fun Fact: Eleanor's Court of Love was also represented (along with its Great Work associations) in a Civ V mod. Maybe this inspired Firaxis when creating her for Civ VI?

Angevin Empire (Agenda): "Builds up the Population of her cities, and likes those whose nearby cities also have a high Population. Dislikes civilizations whose nearby cities have low Population."

The Angevin Empire was the name of the land owned by the Angevin kings of England, starting with Henry II (who Eleanor had her second marriage with). The land included holdings in England and France, and because of Eleanor's sway in both this agenda name is somewhat suitable for use by both Eleanors. However, the Angevin Empire wasn't per se about cities having high population, or (as Eleanor alludes to in her agenda approval line) the "plac[ing] of great cities" along Eleanor's "common border" (realistically, most cities involved in France and England arose long before Eleanor did, and the allusion to settling cities in Civ VI is perhaps more game-related than historical).

Historically the name "Angevin Empire" invokes more the near constant military and political conflict that characterized the formation and maintenance of the Angevin Empire. Indeed, after Eleanor's death, and because of her marriage to a French king and later an English king, the Hundred Years War was triggered from the English kings' and French kings' competing claims to the crown of France. The agenda only alludes to this in its focus on "nearby cities" (as several French cities not part of the Angevin Empire were very close to French cities within the Angevin Empire); indeed, in some cases the boundaries of the Angevin Empire were not entirely clear--as provided by Wikipedia, in several "other places these borders were not so clear, particularly the eastern border of Aquitaine, where there was often a difference between the frontier Henry II, and later Richard I, claimed, and the frontier where their effective power ended." There was also constant conflict as a result of these close borders, though not due to shifting loyalties from popular art and troubadors in accordance with Eleanor's in-game ability. In some cases, where cities shifted to control under an English king, it was as a result of marriage--for example, when Henry II's son Geoffrey married the heiress of Duke Conan IV, and succeeded to the dukedom of Brittany, Brittany fell under English control.

The "Angevin Empire" agenda name is therefore a term more used as a loose proxy to connect to Eleanor's gameplay ability (Court of Love). In gameplay terms, Eleanor respects those who put on loyalty pressure from high population. Ironically this means she doesn’t like players whose cities are likely to fall to loyalty pressure (and perhaps even succumb to her leader ability).

In-game Spoken Language (Occitan)
According to Wikipedia, Eleanor’s native tongue was Poitevin, and she also learned to read and speak Latin. Poitevin is a language spoken in Poitou, France, and this does not appear to have been used for Eleanor’s in-game language.

According to Civfanatics poster Josephias, a modern Catalan speaker, Eleanor speaks mostly ancient Occitan, and Occitan appears to be a historically suitable proxy. Occitan was Eleanor's maternal language, and spoken in the Duchy of Aquitaine as it was known at the time.

In-game Lines/Quotes
In Eleanor’s introduction, Eleanor states she is “queen consort of France and England” which is ahistorical, as she was never simultaneously queen consort of France and England (and in fact when she was ruling in France she wasn’t yet queen consort of England, so her in-game French version is in essence prophesying the future). Most likely this listing of a fact in Eleanor's life is to quickly summarize Eleanor's rank, Wikipedia intro-style. While separate recordings of her introduction with different lines would have been preferable, the current Intro line sort of can make sense for her English incarnation, since she (arguably) could be referring to how she was (in the past) queen consort of France and is (now, when meeting the player) queen consort of England.

Many of Eleanor’s lines relate to the fabled Court of Love, and overshadows Eleanor's heavy political influence and other accomplishments (such as her entering the Holy Land on Crusade, etc). Her agenda-related lines have been previously analyzed in this post (see “Agenda” paragraph above).

As the civ ability, unique unit, and infrastructure for both England and France by and large do not relate directly to Eleanor of Aquitaine, I am not analyzing their historical connection to Eleanor here. But I will add her association with maritime England in Civ VI is somewhat suitable, incidentally, since Eleanor learned about maritime conventions in the eastern Mediterranean while there, and introduced them to England later--these formed the beginnings of admiralty law (read last paragraph of the linked "Crusade" section in the Wikipedia entry).

 

[GenyaArikado]

even if she's not shown as a classically beautiful woman

 

[Morningcalm]

By which I mean she has uniquely elongated features. But I still said she fit the description of a great beauty in my view.

 

[mondetactica]

What a beautiful hair!

 

[OmegaDestroyer]

What a fascinating thread. A big thank you to the contributors!

 

[Morningcalm]

What a fascinating thread. A big thank you to the contributors!

Glad you like it! Next up, Catherine de’ Medici (analysis mostly complete). Just need my RL job to give me time to finish it.

 

[Vilvatiktan]

Can I volunteer to do the Gitarja's profile? ))

 

[Morningcalm]

Can I volunteer to do the Gitarja's profile? ))

Sure! There aren't too many sources on her though, right? Did you find some good ones?

 

[Vilvatiktan]

Sure! There aren't too many sources on her though, right? Did you find some good ones?

I believe there would be more sources on her in Bahasa or Javanese though.
Probably I can help doing some research.

 

[Morningcalm]

I believe there would be more sources on her in Bahasa or Javanese though.
Probably I can help doing some research.

Sounds good! Feel free to give it a go.

 

[Red Khan]

What an excellent thread! I'm surprised how I managed to avoid it until now.

And to contribute to it (I already wrote it in another thread, but I think it should also be mentioned here) - Suleiman's appearance is clearly based on his portrayal in Turkish TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century) and explains his fantastic weight loss from previous installment.

The fruit and snow are allusions to the gifts Saladin was said to have given to Richard the Lionheart and he did indeed offer Richard Arabian horses as gifts in July 1192, perhaps as a delaying tactic after Richard had retaken the city of Jaffa from Saladin. (Jerusalem, p. 314)

Just recently, when researching the Civilopedia quotes' origins I stumbled upon this line. I vaguely remembered that there was a scene with drinks cooled with snow in Ivanhoe by Walter Scott so I thought that's reference to that, but your reference is certainly more in spot.

In-game Lines/Quotes:

Excellent finds! Is it OK if I post them on Fandom Wiki?

Speaking of Fandom Wiki - I've been updating it recently with findings about inspiration for lines both voice and unvoiced, adding to the ones that were already there. So anyone who would wright on some new leader might want to check it out.

For example, I learned that Philip's line are clearly inspired by The Bible. His defeated line ("Why have you forsaken me?") is clearly a reference to Jesus Christ's seven utterances on the cross and his declaration of war (You have transgressed against my kingdom and the kingdom of God) is reference to Jeremiah 3:13 - "that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God.", although the line spoken in Spanish misses this reference.

 

[Morningcalm]

Thanks Red Khan! I was planning to make additional posts in this thread, then work caught up with me. I might post my Catherine de' Medici and Lady Six Sky ones later though they need some tweaking (mostly to make them shorter).

Thanks also for spotting the Suleiman appearance on the TV series! Fantastic weight loss indeed, haha. Every important historical character from Hojo Tokimune onward seems to be skinnier on TV.

Feel free to update the Fandom Wiki accordingly! And yes, Philip's line is indeed a clear biblical reference. I wasn't able to find anything from Philip II's life where he said such a line, but given his personality in the game it makes sense he would say it.

 

[Kupe Navigator]

Queen Seondeok of Silla (Korean Civilization)

Seondeok was the first queen in Korean history and the first queen of the Silla kingdom, which was then arguably the weakest of Korea's warring Three Kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla). She leads a very scientific-focused Korea with some cultural bonuses, and attracted much controversy when announced as the leader for Korea, largely because several (most likely) male Korean gamers criticized her as having been chosen only for being female. Other criticisms were levelled at her historical performance as leader, with critics (see comments) decrying the loss of 40 Silla forts and defenders pointing out how she was an accomplished diplomat who laid the foundation for Silla's eventual conquest of all Korea (also, Seondeok presided over a Korean Golden Age for Silla).

This dispute will be discussed further, below, with citations to historical scholars and primary Korean sources showing why the defenders are more correct and less prone to warping history than the critics, may of whom seem to share an anti-female bias.

Seondeok has also attracted controversy for not looking Korean enough, which is also (somewhat) historically relevant vis-a-vis the only known vaguely-historical seeming portrait of her, albeit from far later than the Three Kingdoms period, and also discussed below.

Leader Bonus
"Hwarang": Cities with an established Governor receive +3% Culture and +3% Science for each promotion that Governor has.
Historical Analysis: The hwarang were an elite group of young males, sometimes called "Flower Knights" who were expected to be chivalrous, loyal, culturally cultivated and well educated, and were groomed to become politicans and officials later in life. One of the most famous hwarang was the renowned General Kim Yushin, who served Seondeok quite well (putting down the rebellion against her late in her life for example). This is a suitable bonus because it refers to the scientific and cultural upbringing of the hwarang, though the ahistoricity of this ability mostly derives from the hwarang essentially playing the role of educators (they were not, generally, themselves educators of others).

Another ahistorical element (though small in the long term) is that the Civ VI governors (including two females and from a variety of ethnic backgrounds) serve as "hwarang" by implication via their bonuses from Seondeok. Historically, all hwarang were male, and Korean.

It could be argued that Seondeok's leader ability ought to have alluded to her Tang Dynasty military alliance (which gave the Silla kingdom some hope for relief from the combined Goguryeo-Baekje attacks on Silla), or to her religious focus--Seondeok was known for having constructed many Buddhist temples in her time, and completing construction of perhaps ancient Korea's tallest structure, a nine-storey wooden pagoda for the Hwangnyongsa temple, which became a focal point of Korean state-sponsored Buddhism. Each of the nine storeys in this massive 68 or 80 meter tall wooden structure represented one of Silla's enemies which Silla was supposed to defeat (including China, and the two other Korean kingdoms).

However, the Hwarang leader ability does, gameplay wise, synergize with Korea's seowon (which was actually an educational institution from much later in Korean history than the Three Kingdoms period).

Appearance/Animation/Bidam's Rebellion (Rise and Fall Trailer)
Seondeok (video of her intro in Civ VI); In-game (Civ wiki showing her in-game portrait) vs. historical image likely from far later than the Three Kingdoms period (image in the South Korean public domain, available via Wikipedia)

Initial First Look videos (like this International one) featured a Seondeok who had somewhat plump cheeks, somewhat un-Asian looking eyes, and darker skin complexion. Comments from YouTubers included "She doesn’t even look Korean" (Atlas Fell), and "모델링 너무 빻았는데 (She's too ugly)" (81forzazlatan), and it was discussed on Reddit.

I would agree Seondeok did seem somewhat more swarthy in appearance, with non-Asian eyes, in these initial videos. It may merit mention that the plump cheeks match her appearance in a picture of unknown origin in Wikipedia (likely made many years after her death, as records from the Three Kingdoms time do not portray the rulers in such pictorial form). The picture in question is now in the South Korean public domain.

Seondeok's appearance was later changed, and this was seen in later previews (including live streams from the developers, notably in one live stream her appearance change was indicated as an example of the developers reading feedback from fans). Seondeok's current in-game appearance shows a drastically thinner (compared to the original version) woman with slightly more alert-looking eyes and an overall more Asian appearance which may even (perhaps?) be based on the appearance of the voice actress (link to Korean voice actress interview). [Notably, this interview video had many more positive comments than the International First Look video for Korea.]

Seondeok's Silla crown, however, has never been criticized to my knowledge. It is a fairly distinctive sight to us Koreans, as we have seen it in history books and so on (it is also one of the most grand ancient treasures uncovered in Korea, and made of actual gold).

Seondeok's (purple) dress appears to be somewhat based on this photo from a museum (showing Silla crown jewels), and not, by comparison, based on this photo from the Queen Seondeok South Korean TV drama series (this dress is notably heavier-looking, with tassels and spiral designs). (In my opinion, the in-game dress uses imagery that is arguably too Chinese--are those dragons I see on the dress?) The in-game dress lacks the spiral designs shown on the parts of the dress outside of the lining, however, perhaps for simplicity (and to give the animators ease given that they reconstructed her face).

It is also worth mentioning that Seondeok is the only in-game leader from Rise and Fall who makes a physical appearance in the Rise and Fall trailer (59 seconds in). She is portrayed wearing a purple dress quite similar to her in-game dress, and the distinctive golden Silla crown and watches as her forces fall under siege by mounted cavalrymen. She also looks somewhat disheartened and/or ill, which matches her historical involvement at this time in Bidam's rebellion against her in January, 647 AD.

(Historically, Bidam was previously a high official appointed by Seondeok, and was in that position for about 1 and a half years (links to podcast series "Almost Forgotten" episode about Seondeok, created by one Charlie Fliegel). According to the Hwarang Chronicles or Hwarang segi (in Korean, 화랑세기), Bidam's rebellion took place when Queen Seondeok was quite ill, and indeed, the Ancient History Encyclopedia article on Seondeok cites illness as the probable cause of Queen Seondeok's death, though Wikipedia also correctly notes some theorize Seondeok died partly out of shock at the rebellion. On January 8, Queen Seondeok passed away.

The next section in the Samguk-sagi, for Queen Jindeok (Seondeok's immediate, notably also female, Silla successor) records that Bidam and 30 people who rebelled with him were executed on January 17 during the first year of Queen Jindeok’s reign (i.e., the same year 647 A.D.). The Samguk-sagi notes that General Kim Yushin (fighting on behalf of Seondeok) and Bidam were at war for about 10 days (the rebellion began January 8, ended January 17).

There is no direct mention of how Queen Seondeok died in either the Samguk-sagi or the Hwarang Chronicles. So, there are two hypotheses as to how Seondeok dies: (1) death from illness (more likely, given the Hwarang Chronicles mentioning that Seondeok was very ill at the time), or (2) being killed by rebel soldiers. A popular Korean novelist, Choi In-ho (최인호), wrote in his novel Lost Kingdom (잃어버린 왕국) that Queen Seondeok was killed during the rebellion--but this was from the novelist's imagination. There are no ancient sources stating Seondeok was killed (and indeed, if she had been, one might reasonably expect such a big moment to be mentioned in the historical record.))

Controversy (Seondeok vs. Korean Anti-Feminists)
Which takes me to my section on why Seondeok is a controversial leader (aside from her appearance issues addressed above). Interestingly, if you look at the Wikipedia entry for Seondeok's editing history, a great many changes by one "Zcheckz" were made to describe Seondeok as "vicious", and also to claim that she was "assassinated" and that "Bidam was a person with a strong political influence over the court who had a good reputation among the people so that many of them joined his cause" (in fact the rebellion seems to have been rather small-scale). So Bidam was elevated and Seondeok stated as having been assassinated. Why? Because it presents Bidam as being (to whatever extent) "right" in rebelling against Seondeok, and also portrays Seondeok as having been assassinated--which is then cited as evidence her people hated her for being a "tyrant". (In this regard, one YouTube comment by "립허크" on the International First Look video (currently the third from the top) states, in part, "People uprise against her tyranny and she trembled without anything idea / Dying in the hands of rebel...") Actual history, by contrast, and as mentioned above, does not elevate Bidam nearly as much, nor portray Seondeok as having been killed either (and in fact, the ancient records tend to suggest Seondeok died of illness).

A similar, although perhaps more well-intentioned, historical erasure can be found in the Civilopedia entry for Seondeok (scroll down to Civilopedia entry). The Civilopedia entry does not mention Bidam's rebellion at all (!), though the hints for Korea's announcement (via Firaxis Twitter feed in early December 2017) did include a kite (among other allusions to legends about Seondeok), and this kite alludes to Bidam's rebellion.

What is this kite and how does it relate to Bidam's rebellion? The story goes that Bidam saw a star fall near Seondeok's abode, and stated that it was a sign Seondeok was due to fall. In response, General Kim Yushin flew a burning kite back in the sky to show the star was back in its place, signifying Seondeok was not to fall to the rebels--and indeed, she did not. Firaxis put up an explanation of the Korea First Look hints on Facebook, and mentioned Bidam's rebellion, albeit without Bidam's name: "During Queen Seondeok’s reign, an uprising claimed that "female rulers cannot rule the country” pointing to a falling star as their sign. In response, she flew a burning kite to show that the star is back in place."

Though Firaxis clearly knew about Bidam's rebellion and showed it in the Rise and Fall trailer, and perhaps in part due to YouTube controversy over Seondeok among a vocal minority of (likely male) Korean gamers, the Civilopedia entry for Seondeok does not mention Bidam's rebellion at all, blandly skipping over that and saying, "Until her death in 647, Queen Seondeok served the Silla kingdom as an adaptable queen whose intellect protected her people during a difficult time of conquest." Nevertheless, this summation in the Civilopedia is a fairly accurate characterization of Seondeok's success at diplomatic maneuvers, which allowed Silla to survive, and later, thrive, dominating all Korea later on (see Kyung Moon Hwang's 2016, 2nd edition of A History of Korea, page 21 which argues Seondeok saved Silla from destruction and laid the groundwork for Silla's unification of Korea--a version of pages near there can be found on Google Books here).

The Civilopedia entry on Seondeok is also accurate in talking about Seondeok's focus on science and religion, and in mentioning that the arts flourished under her reign (all these are discussed elsewhere in this post).

However, Seondeok is criticized for her rulership by the same (likely male) Korean gamers who so hated on her on YouTube. These persons point to the loss of 40 forts to the Baekje ("Only lose land with never getting, she lose 40 castles. F.O.R.T.H.Y. " whines the spelling-challenged user "립허크" (see third comment on the International First Look video). It is true Silla lost 40 forts during Seondeok's reign, but the loss in terms of actual proportions is overstated (in this Reddit thread, "rathell100" states Seondeok "loses 80% of the country" which is flagrantly false). But it should be noted that Baekje and Goguryeo had allied at this time, and the Silla kingdom could not realistically expect to defeat them (see Kyung Moon Hwang's A History of Korea, page 14). It took Tang military assistance over many years before Silla was eventually able to beat the other two kingdoms and create a unified Korea.

In the Unified Silla period, the Silla capital of Gyeongju was prosperous, and unified Silla itself enjoying a "golden age" of architecture and literature, astronomy and mathematics according to Neil MacGregor (former head of the British Museum). It is also worth mentioning that in Seondeok's time, Silla was itself already in a golden age of arts and science (look to the subsection titled "A Thriving Kingdom").

One of Seondeok's achievements is considered a grounds for criticism by those Korean gamers, who also criticize Seondeok for the construction of temples and in particular the Hwangnyongsa pagoda (given the expense of such construction, which indeed, was likely to have been expensive given it required the labors of a Baekje architect and 200 artisans). That being said, Hwangnyongsa was almost certainly ancient Korea's most impressive structure given its height of 68 or 80 meters and impressive use of woodwork without nails.

It should also be noted that there is bias in some of the historical sources with information on Seondeok. The pro-Confucian Samguk-sagi criticized Wu Zetian and Seondeok alike, and its bias against female rulers is quite clear. Its Confucian author, Kim Bushik, did however state of Seondeok that while she was "generous, benevolent, wise and smart" (see Kyung Moon Hwang's A History of Korea, p. 20) for a relief campaign for commoners Seondeok completed before ascending the throne.

But Kim Bushik has dimmer views of Seondeok's leadership abilities largely (only) because she was female, saying of Seondeok "According to heavenly principles, the yang [male] is hard while the yin [female] is soft; and people kow that men are to be revered and women are subordinate. So how could Silla have allowed an old maid to leave her inner sanctum in order to govern the country's affairs? Silla allowed her to ascend to become the king, and sure enough chaos ensued. How fortunate that the country did not get destroyed!" (see Kyung Moon Hwang's A History of Korea, p. 20). (If this sounds like the Koreans who disliked Seondeok on YouTube, you are hearing correctly--many Koreans are raised in the Confucian tradition even today in school, and Kim Bushik was as Confucian and anti-female as one might expect of an ancient Confucian scholar).

Nevertheless, Kim Bushik's story about Seondeok successfully subverting the Tang emperor's demand to step down in order to get Tang military aid (Seondeok refused, and got the aid anyway), ironically make Seondeok's leadership abilities quite clear, and in this regard Seondeok is cited by Firaxis and scholars (revisiting Seondeok in modern times) alike for laying the groundwork for Silla's eventual domination of the Korean peninsula.

The pro-Buddhist Samguk-yusa (삼국유사) is much more positive about Seondeok as a leader than Kim Bushik is and mentioned Seondeok's unusually perceptive abilities with regards to three prophecies she made, according to Kyung Moon Hwang's A History of Korea.

In-game Spoken Language
Seondeok oddly speaks modern Korean (ahistorical), and refers to Korea as "Hanguk" in her lines, which is a modern term to refer to Korea typically common among south Koreans. This is also ahistorical, and Seondeok should refer to herself as a Silla monarch, even though she did lay the groundwork for Silla to defeat the other two kingdoms and Tang China itself to create a newly (and for the first time) unified Korea.

The "Hanguk" reference is rather telling though, as Silla has more significance and respect among south Koreans than say, the north Koreans, as north Koreans note Silla only unified two-thirds of what is now the modern Korean peninsula. And even with this noted, it's also true that some Koreans view Silla as "traitorous" because it involved China in (internal) Korean conflict (see Kyung Moon Hwang's A History of Korea, page 18).

In-game Lines/Quotes
Many of Seondeok's lines in-game allude to stars and prophecy (Seondeok's intro says the stars foretold of the meeting, she alludes to the heavens predicting the player's defeat, and also alludes to her (actual) historical prophecy as to her own death, mentioned as one of the three key prophecies Seondeok made in the Samguk-yusa). This is in line with Seondeok's astronomical focus in Gyeongju (further analysis forthcoming in the below Cheomseongdae section). Astronomy was a focal point of the Silla state for agricultural purposes (setting the agricultural calendar), though it often intersected with Silla interest in astrology-- forecasting the weather, sure, but also politically auspicious or unfortunate events to come, often tied to the legitimacy of the current ruler.

There is one ahistorical unvoiced line, where Seondeok says in response to the player saying "It is an honor to meet you" that she invites the player to visit her capital, and "Our seowon are the finest examples of scientific and political thought." Seowons did not exist in Seondeok's time and came from the late-14th century AD (through 20th century) Choson dynasty.

Agenda
"Cheomseongdae": Tries to build up Science, and likes civilizations that do the same. Dislikes civilizations with a weak Science output.

Cheomseongdae is a astronomical observatory (its name literally means "stargazing tower" or, "reverently regarding the stars platform") constructed during Queen Seondeok's reign in Gyeongju, a center of arts and science in Seondeok's time, and reflects Silla and Queen Seondeok's focus on astronomy, which was useful for agriculture and was a key way in which the Three Kingdoms determined what was auspicious and what not, as discussed earlier in the In-game Lines/Quotes section (you'll also recall Bidam cited a star falling as evidence Queen Seondeok would too, for example). Considered the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia, Cheomseongdae still stands in Gyeongju.

Numeric significance is built into Cheomseongdae's brickwork, as it has somewhere between 362 - 365 bricks to symbolize the days of the year, and these were set in 27 courses, to represent Seondeok being the 27th monarch of the Silla kingdom. Its square body and round top are thought to represent the belief that the sky was round and the Earth square (scroll to page 63). It is also 29 layers from bottom to top, corresponding to 29.5 days in a lunar month.

Cheomseongdae is a fitting name for Seondeok's science focus, and actually ties to her reign in a way that makes sense (compare this to Tamar's agenda, "Narikala Fortress" also named after a structure, albeit one not tied to her reign, let alone her reputation (Tamar was not famous for building walls).

Whether Seondeok would have disliked those weak in science/astronomy is unknown, but she certainly would have seen astronomy as important, so at least the first half of the agenda (liking civs who do well in science) is true. It is historically attested to by Seondeok's interest in education as well (though it's debatable whether literary knowledge is as such "science", it's certainly education, which in Civ is almost always tied to scientific knowledge).

Civilization Bonus
"Three Kingdoms": Farms receive +1 Food and Mines receive +1 Science if adjacent to a Seowon.
Historical Analysis: This merits mention only because it directly alludes to Seondeok's role as a queen in the Three Kingdoms period. (Generally, civilization abilities don't tie with the leader, except for leaders like Trajan, Tamar, and some others, arguably). It is unclear whether this is meant to allude to the Three Kingdoms period itself, which was a period of frequent war (but also admittedly scientific and cultural advancement in all three kingdoms despite that).

I think that there's nothing about the Three Kingdoms period that specifically recalls prospering farms, but if I wanted to be charitable, I would consider it a reference to the fertile agricultural lands of Silla's rival, the Baekje kingdom.

The mine science bonus (arguably) reflects the warlike nature of the Three Kingdoms period. I think overall the bonus is ill-named, however, and could have been better if it referred to Korea after the Three Kingdoms period (i.e. the Unified Silla period), perhaps during the Choson Dynasty period (under King Sejong the Great, Korean farms did indeed prosper, new weapons of war and daily-life tools were created, and various texts on all manners of daily living were created).

Executive Summary:

• Seondeok's Hwarang leader bonus alludes to the famous Silla elite males, and ties to the gameplay relatively well, though ahistoricity arises from the fact that female, non-Korea Civ VI governors (hey Reyna!) can become "hwarang" by extension in having Seondeok's bonuses. It is also arguably that Seondeok should have had a more religious or diplomatic bonus to reflect other areas of her reign that was more her focus than the hwarang (though one of them, General Kim Yushin, served Seondeok ably and well, defeating Bidam's rebellion for example).
• Seondeok's crown is a relatively accurate visual summation of a Silla crown but other aspects of her appearance (like her dress) are arguably not all that historical (albeit, we have relatively scarce reliable sources on what Seondeok actually looked like anyway).
• Seondeok is the only Civ VI leader to appear in the Rise and Fall trailer, and has summoned controversy to herself for being female (strong anti-female Confucian bias in ancient sources and modern-day Korean gamers), for losing 40 forts, and for constructing Hwangnyongsa's massive pagoda at what was presumably a large expense. However, historians, ancient sources (and Firaxis) point to her laying the groundwork for Silla to dominate the Korean peninsula, which Silla did in the Unified Silla period. Skilful diplomacy allowed Seondeok to get Tang aid without bowing to the demand to have a Chinese prince lead Silla, and also helped Silla withstand the mighty military alliance of Baekje and Goguryeo, which were considerably more powerful militarily at the time.
• The Civilopedia is accurate in summing up Seondeok as being Buddhism-focused, with investment in arts and science, and also accurate in noting that her use of a Tang Dynasty alliance with Silla ensured Silla would survive and thrive. However, it oddly skips out on mentioning Bidam's rebellion entirely even though Firaxis alluded to the rebellion in the Rise and Fall trailer and also in the hints on Twitter preceding the Korea First Look video.
  
• Anti-Seondeok Korean gamers have gone to considerable lengths to make Seondeok appear worse as a ruler than she was, editing Wikipedia to add in uncited references to her being "vicious" and assassinated (no evidence of that, anywhere). Similar sentiments elevate Bidam, the Silla nobleman who rebelled against Seondeok, saying she was unfit to rule as a female, and portray Seondeok as some sort of tyrant. Historical evidence bears no support for either the concept that Seondeok was incompetent, let alone a tyrant. In fact, even the anti-female, pro-Confucian Samguk-sagi (whose comments on females being weak and unfit to rule echo certain YouTube user Koreans) noted that Seondeok created a relief program for commoners prior to ascending the throne. The pro-Buddhist Samguk-yusa is positive about Seondeok and mentions Seondeok's three prophecies, including one where she prophesized her own death, which is arguably alluded to in the in-game lines when Seondeok is defeated.
• Seondeok's in-game language is inaccurate--not only does she speak in modern Korean, but she mentions South Korea's common name for Korea ("Hanguk"), with no reference to Silla.
• Seondeok's in-game lines are based on Seondeok's interest in astronomy and the Silla preoccupation with astronomy and prophecy as a whole (as well as Seondeok's prediction of her own death). One unvoiced line refers to seowons, which is ahistorical, as seowons were a Choson Dynasty structure from much later in Korean history.
• Seondeok's Cheomseongdae agenda is fitting, as it was an ancient observatory built during her reign and which reflected her interest in astronomy and science (Gyeongju prospered in both during her reign).
• The civilization bonus is arguably ahistorical, though the farm bonus may refer to the Baekje kingdom's prosperous farm land and the mine-science bonus may refer to the constant warring in the Three Kingdoms period. A more historically apt name could have referenced the Unified Silla period or the Choson Dynasty period, which saw prosperity in agriculture and science, among other aspects.

To be sure, arguments may be inevitable. But I think there's a right way to discuss it and a wrong way to discuss it. I'm discussing some of the historical arguments/controversies around Seondeok below (arguably the most interesting of the Civ VI leader controversies, with Poundmaker a close rival in that regard). Hopefully, this will not unleash the (likely male) Korean trolls who whined about Seondeok's being chosen for being female, etc.

As far as citations go, feel free to point out places in my posts where I could use some more citation. The post is atypically long because I'm tracking the controversy and citing some of the Koreans who had issues with Seondeok being chosen, so as to better authenticate my support for Queen Seondeok as a good choice for a Korean leader--I did suggest her as a leader for Korea way before the expansion was announced, after all.

just a little info... Seondok appears YOUNGER than she actually was. when she became queen she would have been in her 60's. Her father Jinpyeong was son of Crown Prince Dongryun who died 572 and Jinpyeong had younger brother Kim Gokpan so Seondok must have born 572 and when her father died in 632 she must have been at least 62 years old.

 

[Bibor]

I'll just jump in to note how good the hungarian voice actor is. Finally a voice actor who is 100% hungarian and not "an American, struggling"

 

[Red Khan]

Every important historical character from Hojo Tokimune onward seems to be skinnier on TV.

Well, that because they are played by modern actors who are attractive by modern standards. A very obvious example that comes to mind - there is a Russian TV series Sophia about Sophia Palaiologina, niece of the last Byzantine emperor, wife of Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan III and grandmother of Ivan IV the Terrible, the first ruler to call himself Tsar. Reviewing this TV series a historian noticed that actress is too skinny to be considered beautiful by the standards of that time. In fact skinny women were thought to be sickly and thus less likely to successfully bear children and actually grand prince/tsar's brides were put on a special diet to fatten them up before they were presented to him on a special bride-show ceremony.

And yes, Philip's line is indeed a clear biblical reference. I wasn't able to find anything from Philip II's life where he said such a line, but given his personality in the game it makes sense he would say it.

Yes, the same goes with Peter - he doesn't use historical quotes by historical Peter (at least I didn't find any) and his lines a more in line with his agenda "Westernizer".

 

[Morningcalm]

just a little info... Seondok appears YOUNGER than she actually was. when she became queen she would have been in her 60's. Her father Jinpyeong was son of Crown Prince Dongryun who died 572 and Jinpyeong had younger brother Kim Gokpan so Seondok must have born 572 and when her father died in 632 she must have been at least 62 years old.

She was born around 595 AD or 610 AD and thus became queen (632 AD) when she was anywhere between 22 and 38 years old, so her in-game appearance age-wise looks on point to me (also, we Asians age slowly; my dad looked mostly the same at 50 as he did at 40, and at 30 he looked only slightly older than he did at 20). Some sources seem to say she was born in 606 AD, but in any event she was not 60 when she began her rule, but far younger. She died before her 60s from health issues, in 647 AD (she ran into unspecified health issues earlier in her reign, and then again near her death).

Well, that because they are played by modern actors who are attractive by modern standards.

Exactly. There is a tendency for TV studios to cast handsome people in the roles of historical heroes. Frankly, I would prefer more realism. Tokimune wasn't exactly a Jpop idol IRL. (That said, I guess game developers know fans like eye candy.)

That said, aren't we all glad Tokimune is leader of Japan? I think he was one of Firaxis' best leader choices in Civ VI (and also quite different from the usual shogun leader lineup).