I recently wrote about how video games can provide a safe place for young queer gamers to explore their identities. This definitely extends to the characters who inhabit the game: players who see positive examples of queer people, in environments that are both nurturing and ultimately hopeful, are more likely to feel secure in their identities.
What makes a queer character “good” is both intrinsic and extrinsic. They should be well-rounded, believable people, with both negative and positive traits, AND their entire existence shouldn’t be reduced to what’s essentially trauma porn. Bearing this in mind, in no particular order, these are some of the best examples of queer characters in video games.
Steph Gingrich
We first meet Steph in Before the Storm, a prequel to Life is Strange that follows Chloe Price. Steph is a minor character there, but even so, her presence was immediately beloved by fans: she was unapologetically gay and nerdy, and her down-to-earth personality made her even more likable.
To the excitement of many fans, she was brought back in the newest LiS game, True Colors, where she was a main character, as well as a love interest. Steph is one of the realest, most endearing lesbian characters in modern gaming, and she easily steals every scene she’s in. Also, as a fellow radio and music geek, I definitely would have had a crush on her IRL.
Chloe Price
Of course, if we’re talking LiS, we gotta talk about Chloe, who was one of the first openly queer characters in modern gaming—as well as one of the most criticized. But I found that her criticisms stemmed, not necessarily from her queerness, but because of how she reacts to the world around her.
Maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment, but I firmly believe that not every marginalized character has to be palatable in order to be worthy. In fact, I think we need more reactive characters to demonstrate how trauma can affect younger people. Chloe is a hurt person who’s working things out. At times, this makes her a raging asshole. But better an asshole figuring it out than yet another pollyanna, cardboard-cutout VN character.
Edelgard Von Hresvelg
A lot of people got on my case when I said we need more Asian characters in Western RPGs. People seem to think that Eastern people belong solely in the East, and vice versa. But one of the specific things I find that separates Western from Eastern RPGs (and hence the need to differentiate between the two) is the respective willingness and unwillingness to include things that we might consider “progressive,” such as queer love—a thing that Eastern nations are still uncomfortably navigating (and which Westerners generally have no real right to comment on).
All of that to say…this makes Edelgard even more of a badass than she already is. Fire Emblem is a Japanese series, and mainstream Japanese games rarely lean into queerness in a way that feels open and genuine, yet here is a revolutionary empress proudly declaring her love for Byleth regardless of gender. Is it a shame that the series’ most groundbreaking queer character is also its most polarizing? Yes, I suppose. But ultimately, Edelgard really is just That Bitch.
I say this even while Claude is my favorite of the three lords. And yes, Claude shoulda been bi.
Linhardt Von Hevring
Of course, we can’t move past Fire Emblem without mentioning Linhardt, Edelgard’s sleepy classmate. Lin isn’t for everyone, and I understand why: his main interests are sleeping, studying, and sassing. But I’d be remiss not to mention him, when he’s one of only two MLM love interests in the entire game, and he doesn’t really lean into any gay stereotypes. I mean, yeah, he’s pretty femme, but it’s a Fire Emblem game: EVERYONE is femme. Even Dimitri is femme. And it’s fantastic.
And yes, Yuri is also valid as an MLM love interest and he’s worthy of note, but I still think it’s ridiculous that we had to pay for him. Oh well.
Isabela
So Dragon Age 2 is an interesting case as far as queer rep goes, because pretty much everyone romanceable (except DLC choirboy Sebastian) is bi. Therefore, all of the smoochable companions could be on this list. But I specifically chose Isabela because she’s the bi girl we all want to see more of.
She’s SO unapologetically slutty, but in a way that doesn’t feel like it panders to a straight perspective of bi-ness. She just loves having sex and she loves meeting new people. On top of that, Miss Bela is so utterly compassionate and loving to everyone she meets, and only flips a switch if they keep testing her. Whether they’re as experienced as her, or they’re Merrill, everyone has a place on Isabela’s ship.
Dorian Pavus
On the topic of Dragon Age, I’ll be real, every game does queer rep pretty well, at least compared to its competitors. But Dorian was especially complex, for better and for worse. His writer, David Gaider, is a gay man himself, and therefore took a lot of personal liberties with his writing of Dorian.
And while many fans have rightfully taken issue with Gaider’s writing in the past (such as making Dorian sheltered to the point of believing there are worse alternatives to slavery), I still think there’s something to be said about the importance of having gay men write gay men, in a world that would rather see two women kiss than two men. More importantly, Dorian is an ever-growing and changing character, who is trying to be better and make his nation better (he thankfully outgrows the slavery thing). It’s rare to see a character develop like this, and only adds to his charm.
I should add, I would add Sera here as the only playable lesbian in the series, but she was written by a man and in a way that I don’t believe did her queerness justice. I otherwise love her character.
Liara
Blue lady cute? Blue lady cute.
Seriously though, Liara was out here freaking out Fox News before anyone else. I’m not a huge Mass Effect fan, so I can’t really comment on the Asari and their characterization themselves, but I do remember that Liara made a huge impression on me. Her bi-ness wasn’t sexualized or fetishized; she was sensual and tender, a rarity in the stew of hormones that is Video Game Romance.
And, yes…blue lady cute.
(While I’m out here, Jack should have been bi, too.)
Parvati Holcomb
Sweet Parvati! I don’t know why game devs are so averse to writing in more asexual characters. That damn hormone stew is at it again.
Parvati is such an excellent example of an outwardly asexual character. You don’t have to guess that she feels a certain way or not: she’s a very frank, earnest person, and she enjoys sharing the way she experiences the world. In particular, she’s not afraid to ask for help regarding her crush on fellow engineer Junlei Tennyson, and while I don’t want to infantilize the questline, I gotta say, it’s pretty darling.
Ace people really deserve more rep like this in games, and games ought to start writing in more ace options for player-characters. Not everyone wants to jump bones: some just want to take their girlfriend on a nice little dinner in space, and maybe watch a movie afterward.
Ellie Williams
“Last of Us 2 bad, therefore Ellie bad, blah blah blah”—sis, we’ve been done with this discourse for two years now, can we finally talk about Ellie like normal people?
Going back to my opinion that queer folks don’t need to be palatable, I think Ellie is the perfect example of a multi-faceted queer person who goes through an entire journey. People are complex, sometimes they get ugly, and when they endure a lot of shit, they get even uglier. This is just what happens. Ellie, in this regard, is one of the realest female characters I have ever seen in a video game, queer or otherwise. She commits terrible acts and we see every little emotion she feels in the process, up until the very end, where she realizes her grief is leading her nowhere and she needs to stop.
Is it, er, normal to experience these things with ultraviolence? Of course not, no way in hell. Do not let that be your takeaway from this! But I always saw this game as an allegory for how women experience loss in a cruel and unforgiving world. The fact that she’s queer is just another part of her characterization, and the things that she loses due to her own rage—a beautiful home, a beautiful wife, a beautiful son—are even more poignant for it.
Many hated the ending, that all of it was for seemingly nothing. Yet, I thought it was a pretty great ending. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. That’s life for ya, and queer people go through it, too. We don’t have to pretend otherwise in order to thrive.
Which characters would you have added to this list? Please feel free to share, especially if you have good examples of trans characters—I generally wasn’t able to find good examples (Birdo…thinly counts), but perhaps I missed something!
(Featured Image: Square Enix)
