Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve covered how both gender and race are represented in Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, pointing out that despite not being perfect (and let’s be honest, unfortunately nothing ever will be), ANet does a damn good job with how they portray these things. This post is going to be talking about the subject of sexuality and how it’s portrayed within the games.
I am going to, before I go any further, state that I will not tolerate any sort of homophobic comments on this post. Zero. Any will be deleted. Go be hateful elsewhere.
So, sexuality. Something that is always, sadly, a subject of controversy. Something that real-life society still frowns upon in a hard way, for archaic and nonsensical reasons. And whenever any sexuality other than just being straight is portrayed in anything, be it movies, books, TV shows, or games, there tends to be two parts to it – first, the portrayal tends to be offensive, playing off of stereotypes. Second, people tend to flip the everloving hell out over it.
I read recently about people being angry that Mass Effect 3 did not have more straight-only romance options (as in, male NPCs that will only be a romance option for a female Shepard and female NPCs that will only be a romance option for male Shepard), and the only straight-only options are ME2 carry-overs. This is despite the fact that, to my understanding, there is only one same-sex only option per gender, and several options that are open to either gender. I’d say the bigger issue there is the fact that so many are locked to ME2 carryovers, and the fact that ME2 has almost no same-sex relationship options (I want to romance Kasumi, damnit! But for now I’ll flirt with Kelly and Garrus).
Speaking of Bioware, they recently announce that there would be same-sex relationships available in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Eventually. At some point. Various “family values” groups in the US promptly flipped their gourd over it, because obviously this is such a horrible thing!
Just wait until they get their hands on Guild Wars 2. Because I expect there to be complaining from those sorts. Why?
The sylvari.
You know, that race of humanoid plants. Who do not reproduce. And do not conform to gender roles, as there is no need for them to do so. They do have genders, though – sylvari are definitely male or female. And they are capable of falling in love and having sex. However, to them, it’s not about gender. A sylvari will not be fussed if the person they are sleeping with or in love with is the same gender as them or not. The physical part of it, in fact, is not terribly important to them at all (though I’m sure they find sex as fun as anyone else would 
). To quote Ree Soesbee, from this GW2G post:
To a sylvari, love is about inspiration. Physical touch, ardor, and sensuality are beautiful things, but what the heart feels, what gives joy to the spirit – these are most important, and that has nothing at all to do with the physical form. Love is not bound by gender. It does not ignore the pairing of hearts simply because the bodies are alike. Indeed, the sylvari feel free to love (and love openly) regardless of the physical qualities of their beloved. It would surprise them to hear that someone of any race felt differently. They would say that love is too precious to be passed over simply because someone’s eyes are blue, their hair is dark, or because they are of the same sex.
Sylvari view love and attraction as a primarily emotional and spiritual thing, as it made clear. While I am sure that there are sylvari that prefer those of their own gender, or those of the opposite, for the most part, it would probably be the most correct to say that sylvari lean towards being bisexual or pansexual. It is quite possible that individual sylvari will be heterosexual or homosexual, of course.
And don’t make the mistake of thinking this is all going to just be background lore and will never be mentioned or shown in the game. After all, how could they not do so, when Caithe is a member of Destiny’s Edge?
Yes, Caithe. One of the Firstborn sylvari, a Thief that is a member of Destiny’s Edge. The first of the sylvari to leave the Grove…along with Faolain. Another Firstborn sylvari, who eventually became the Grand Duchess of the Nightmare Court…and before that, Caithe’s lover. The two had left together to explore Tyria, and during their travels, their deep respect for each other turned to love. Caithe turned back when Faolain turned to the Nightmare, though, but Faolain has vowed that Caithe will return to her, going so far as to state “Your heart belongs to me” in Edge of Destiny. Caithe, while refusing to join the Nightmare to be with her love again, also at the same time cannot truly leave her; Ree describes Caithe as standing at the edge of the Nightmare.
Personally, I think it’s quite a daring move, to make such an important character the lover of someone the same gender. At the same time, I dislike the fact that it’s even seen as a daring move, but it’s also big one. I do, however, like how ArenaNet has handled this. To the sylvari, it is not a big deal. The gender of their lover is not important to them; it is the person themselves that is. They see no reason to not love someone because they may both be women or men. It is natural and normal. And I like the fact that ANet themselves has not gone to direction of shouting from the rooftops “hey, we have gay characters!” like some other game developers have done. Instead, their approach has been the same as that of the sylvari themselves – a position of yes, there are gay characters, why wouldn’t there be any? It’s perfectly normal, after all, so why not?
And this sort of complete normalization is something that I wish to see more of. As someone who’s not straight myself, I prefer it. I am, after all, just as normal as everyone else around me. And allies that claim loudly and repeatedly how supportive they are and how awesome they are for basically being a decent human being can be very grating.
Unfortunately, the sylvari are the only race that we know anything about how they approach and view sexuality. In Guild Wars, there’s a quest where, depending on what gender your character is, you wind up accidentally engaged to a norn of the opposite gender, and there are a few heterosexual human couples seen (Koss and Melonni, Gwen and Logan), but that’s really it, and I don’t necessarily see those as being indicative of their societies as a whole. It’s certainly a subject I’d like to see explored more, and I could speculate further on it, but I think this entry has already gotten long enough. Perhaps in the future I will do that further.
Last post to come in this series will cover religion and how it is handled in the Guild Wars universe.
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While I expect some storylines to tackle the issue, I’m doubting Arenanet will have the same level of choice or openness when it comes to sexuality as even swtor, which doesn’t have much. Swtor has flirting, kissing, walking off screen together, and that’s about it.
Really, I don’t see there being much romance involved at all in our personal stories; it’ll probably be NPCs-only with regards to that. But who knows.
Interesting post, much like the last one. Looking forward to your post on religion in Tyria. Honestly, I rarely notice if there are any homosexual, bisexual, or whatever else characters in a game anymore. I tend to not pay too much attention to the sexuality of fictional characters in the first place. One thing you mentioned that I have to agree with, Developers really should stop being all, “look at me, look at me, I’m so progressive”, It really doesn’t help them. They would be better off being more like ANet and just doing it and not making a fuss as honestly it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
This comment is very rambly so I’m gonna call it quits right here.
I just think it’s a shame that Mhenlo isn’t around to show all the tree hugging babes what a cool guy he is.
THIS!
I used to get really upset when near homosexual couples. I had never really expressed anything as strong as “homophobia” but I still find it strange, I think the best expression here would be alien, seeing people of the same sex on a romantic relationship with eachother.
But in videogames that has never really bothered me that much simply because my focus is not romancing people, I want to play the game! So if Caithe and Faolain had a romantic relationship and Caithe is about to fall to the Nightmere I have to say, if given the chance, I will kill them both if it’s part of a quest or dynamic event, but if posible I would save Caithe because I still want to see the Edge of Destiny together against Zaithan.
It is funny though, how Sylvari caused, and still cause, so much fuss on the Guild Wars forums, seriously people go find a girlfriend/boyfriend and leave the poor Sylvari alone!
It’s certainly a daring move, like you said in your post. I wonder how will ArenaNet approach the situation. Will they address it explicitly (like Caithe and her lover, for instance), or will it just become some background lore limited to the books? Speaking of which, would they only limit this to the Sylvari? Will they include some bits in the Personal Story? Sadly, I don’t think we’ll be able to get real answers until the game is complete.
It’s a rather controversial topic, unfortunately, and there are people who are not willing to tolerate same sex instances with a very open mind. I remember some of the criticism Dragon Age received when they allowed homosexual couples; and some of the arguments were quite ridiculous, in my opinion.
Changing several generations of prejudice is no easy feat, but it’s certainly possible with enough time and patience. Perhaps ArenaNet will contribute with a small grain of sand by including these features, but I wouldn’t expect people to suddenly tolerate those who escape the norm.
Nice blog post, by the way. It’s definitely something I completely overlooked.
I guess we will see more about Caithe and Faolin in game. For example in the Twilight Arbor dungeon.
Verene, I’m very thankful for this post.
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Its unrealistic. Nowhere in nature do species plant or other wise pursue the same gender. Only humans practice this behavior.
Um… that is really spectacularly wrong. There are numerous examples of same-sex intimacy in the animal kingdom… everything from penguins to mountain goats… scientifically verified and documented.
I hope that’s not popping a bubble that’s too sensitive… but it’s the truth.
(and that’s just the mammals… it really doesn’t bear getting into multi-sex / dual-sex flora and fauna – which includes a surprisingly large percentage of the plant kingdoms.)
Archer has already proven you wrong, but…it’s not unrealistic at all. It happens all the time in nature.
Personally, I was overjoyed when the sylvari re-design was unveiled – in no small part due to the “alien” nature of the race (as opposed to simply green colored elves / anime characters, which is where we were headed prior to that.)
In my imagination, there was quite a bit of confusion amongst the sylvari when they first encountered terminology like, “hetrosexual” and “homosexual” simply because they couldn’t see the point of making the distinction in the first place, and moreover, felt it was needlessly restrictive… why limit yourself to just one category while searching for deeply meaningful attachments?
I plan to create numerous sylvari (and asura) characters, and I’m going to go for the most “alien” looking possibilities when I do… with personalities to match.
Well, you already know that I love the way the sylvari design turned out
And yes, I imagine when they learned of the concepts of homosexuality and heterosexuality they were like “but why? What’s the point? Why would you give up love for that?”, which is why I point out that it’s likely more correct to refer to them as pansexual, as a whole.
I’ll be giving a peek into my sylvari’s personality later this week
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Two words I’m very happy you included in your article: homophobia and pansexual. More people need to add these to their dictionaries and truly begin to understand them.
I fall squarely in the “what’s the big deal” camp. Of course there are gay characters in Guild Wars. There are gay people in the real world. The reason it is such a big deal, in my opinion, is that America is a homophobic culture. We are such a homophobic culture that shame plays a large role in nearly every non-straight person’s life. We are so homophobic (and religious, but I’ll sidestep that soapbox) that introducing a same-sex relationship to a video game IS a big deal, and it shouldn’t be.
The sylvari race in general and the relationship between Caithe and Faolain in particular are nice, subtle (yes, I consider it subtle) ways of ANet telling the LGBT community that you are respected and welcome. They didn’t announce how progressive they were, they just did it and that was that. And I applaud them for it.
While there may not be a formal option for relationships in the game (e.g., character marriages or a personal story romantic interest), the sylvari exist as a race devoid of gender and sexual stereotypes and hang ups. My hope is that people will see this as an opportunity for challenging beliefs about same-sex/gender/race relationships. Maybe more people will feel comfortable to role-play same-sex relationships. Overall, I’m just happy that more people will be able to make characters in a game they enjoy that they can more closely relate to in life. Except for the whole being-a-plant thing
Haha, I basically ID as pansexual myself, so yeah. There wasn’t any way I could leave that important little distinction out!
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As you said, including this in the lore as if it’s no big deal is the best way to go about it. They way Arenanet deals with this is admirable. It makes me very happy.