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Why would Alfred speak Diné? Did he learn it from the Navajo Code Talkers from World War II? I hope I’m not sounding rude, I would just like to understand where this headcanon comes from.
it's not rude at all, I actually do want to explain it! especially because the Navajo/Diné Nation was very much on "Mexican land" before "becoming American land".
my hc is that Alfred began learning and speaking Diné Bizaad during the California gold rush, its statehood, and the manifest destiny movement (all events occurring in 1845-55) because his Anglo overseers and settlers wanted him to become familiarized with the American West (I hc he was VEHEMENTLY against it and sabotaged it in every way he could).
he gradually got closer to Diné people altruistically and interacted with their traditions and culture (this is absolutely where he got the custom to smudge-- yall see how much he hates ghosts!!). by the time California, Nevada, Arizona, etc. became states, he was wholly engrained into the Diné community.
his involvement with the Diné Nation did not end there; there was the "finding" of the Grand Canyon by Anglo settlers, the building of the Hoover Dam, and INDUBIOUSLY the diné code talkers. in modern times, he involves himself with the diné community for conservation efforts but most importantly, to celebrate his people (hc that he ever only told the code talkers and n8v elders of his immortality/who he is).