Is Ghalta, Primal Hunger female?
General forum
Posted on March 24, 2021, 8:36 a.m. by Argy
For some reason I've always thought of Ghalta as female.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #3
There are a couple ways to look at it, the first as described above. The second is if you look at most animal species it is generally the males that have the bright colors/plumage because it is their job to attract a mate. Mostly seen in birds for instance the peacock and some ducks, Lions have manes, Mandrills have brighter colored faces, etc. Some insects even. Sexual Dimorphism is the term I believe. If you look at Ghalta's bright stripes you could assume male, but without a comparison it really can't be said one way or another.
March 24, 2021 9:11 a.m.
I hadn't actually considered it before but now that the question is posed, I can definitely see Caerwyn's line of thinking. The only rebuttal I could think to add is the coloring of Ghalta in it's card. Typically in nature you see the male as being more brightly colored to attract the attention of any predators. Not sure if this would have also been a trait of the dinosaurs, fantasy dinosaurs like Ghalta, or even how many predators Ghalta had to worry about. It is another thing to consider though.
March 24, 2021 9:13 a.m.
Omniscience_is_life says... #5
Do you think that, in the flavor text of Primal Might , the "his" refers to Ghalta or the shaman?
March 24, 2021 12:16 p.m.
Check this out from MaRo back in 2018:
"That meant making it pretty expensive, so the design became a challenge to figure out how to help get Ghalta cast. Was there some kind of cost reduction that would be flavorful for a giant Dinosaur? Was there a way to make the king of the Dinosaurs want to be in a deck with more Dinosaurs?"
Comes from this Ghalta - card story
While King is usually associated with male leader and Queen with female, this could just be a turn of phrase as Ghalta is the biggest dinosaur rather than declaration of if Ghalta is female or male.
March 24, 2021 1:08 p.m.
Since Ghalta, Primal Hunger is a manifestation of Green mana it may not have an actual gender at all. Like Angels...
It just happens to present as Male or Female?
March 24, 2021 1:46 p.m.
If Jurassic Park has taught us anything, it's that life, uhh, finds a way.
Caerwyn says... #2
I would assume yes - pop culture, which Magic tends to be more based on, has the female T-Rex being the larger of the genders. This data is a bit outdated, being based on a study called into question by subsequent fossil finds. Still, despite this older study being somewhat discredited, the idea that the female T-Rex was larger remains a prevailing view in non-scientific society.
Wizards also likes to use the letter A as a suffix on female characters, as, in Romance languages, it tends to denote female gendering of words. (I know there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, but it still serves as a decent guideline when gender is otherwise unknown.)
March 24, 2021 8:51 a.m. Edited.