Regula van Hydrus (potential spoilers until the end of Heavensward)

[Fenral]

I'm reading it right, 余 is an archaic-but-male pronoun and 少女 is "little girl," so he's saying "I (male) was once a weak little girl."

Japanese personal pronouns are tricky, as they are, by definition, personal, and as such embody how the speaker identifies themselves. It is not unheard of for women and girls to unironically use male pronouns in their daily lives (the polite masculine boku especially), and even, rarely, for men to use female pronouns (atashi is commonly used by more... colorful portrayals of gay men). In the case of one Nael deus Darnus, however, a woman disguised as a man would use a male pronoun when speaking, and wouldn't necessarily switch to a feminine pronoun just because you saw her face.

However, that particular line from the Japanese script is referencing something Nael said in the line before, so it isn't really conclusive taken out of context.

[Cilia]

OK, how about this?

The first mention of van Hydrus is during a quest just after going to the Blue Window, "Familiar Faces." The quest log specifically says the Garleans are trying to capture you under the orders of "Lord van Hydrus." This is of particular import because it's the Garlean soldiers who first mention his name.

That wording, "Lord van Hydrus," is very important. If van Hydrus were a woman, they'd probably refer to her as "Lady van Hydrus," as is custom in medievial-era fantasy worlds.

That doesn't rule out the possibility of van Hydrus disguising his/her sex, but I doubt s/he could rise to the rank of Legatus and still have his/her physical sex unknown. (Gender identity is a separate issue. Either way, "Lord van Hydrus," so he probably at least identifies as male.)

[Alihabra]

I'd probably just call it a case of a male name following female linguistic rules - i.e. an exception. The supposed gender of the name isn't necessarily evidence of the actual person's gender. For example, in Italian (A latin-based language) the name Andrea is a male name. But following the typical rules of word gender in the language(-a typically denotes a feminine word while -o typically denotes masculine words), it should be female. I would give more examples but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

I'd hardly consider it relevant unless they plan to use it as a plot device/ character development later on.

[Kaiser-Ace]

OK, how about this?

The first mention of van Hydrus is during a quest just after going to the Blue Window, "Familiar Faces." The quest log specifically says the Garleans are trying to capture you under the orders of "Lord van Hydrus." This is of particular import because it's the Garlean soldiers who first mention his name.

That wording, "Lord van Hydrus," is very important. If van Hydrus were a woman, they'd probably refer to her as "Lady van Hydrus," as is custom in medievial-era fantasy worlds.

That doesn't rule out the possibility of van Hydrus disguising his/her sex, but I doubt s/he could rise to the rank of Legatus and still have his/her physical sex unknown. (Gender identity is a separate issue. Either way, "Lord van Hydrus," so he probably at least identifies as male.)

I'm not sure but isn't Livia sas Junes referred to as "My Lady" by her subordinates? I also suggest limiting the comparisons to Nero tol Scaeva and Livia sas Junes considering they are currently the only Garlen Generals who we has 100% positive gender confirmation on. (We've not seen Gaius nor Regula with out helmets and Nael deus Darnus him/her self admits that Bahamut got Nael van Darnus' image wrong but lack the care to fix it) So Nero having been seen Helmetless multiple times and Livia's own sister confirming her gender (Iirc Lucia said they were twins) so By Nero's actions and Lucia's testament respectively Nero is undoubtedly Male while Livia in undoubtably female.

(And have we considered that Nael van Darnus always looked like that but was STILL actually a man with just an extremely effeminate appearance? That might answer why he wouldn't remove his helmet willingly as well as Bahamut's confusion.)

[Rannie]

Kaiser though didn't Cid himself say that Gaius practically took him in and raised him as a father should unlike his own father who was doomed by Meteor?

Cid: You abandoned us all. But he was there for me, Father- there for me when you were not.

and cs shows a picture of Gaius walking up to Cid and putting his hand on his shoulder.

[Kaiser-Ace]

Kaiser though didn't Cid himself say that Gaius practically took him in and raised him as a father should unlike his own father who was doomed by Meteor?




and cs shows a picture of Gaius walking up to Cid and putting his hand on his shoulder.

I agree, I say that's almost concrete evidence that Gaius is male since Cid himself admits Gaius was not a "Father Figure" but an actual Father to him (Implying Gaius Raised Cid) while his real father (Lord nan Garlond?) was obsessing over and eventually destroyed by the Meteor Project.

[Cilia]

snip

I can't recall if any of the soldiers ever referred to Livia as "My lady," though it sounds familiar. Either way, we have Lucia to confirm that yes, Livia was a woman; she was Lucia's younger sister, to be exact.

Nero is clearly a man. His voice and unmasked appearance scream it.

Gaius... we'll never know for certain. Given he died without us ever seeing his face, I seriously doubt we'll ever know what he looked like under the helmet but many characters refer to Gaius as a man. He also has a deep voice, and both Cid and Livia refer to him as a man.

Nael is... well, ambiguous to say the least. We never saw him unmasked prior to T9, and he never had any spoken lines. That said, I do not personally believe van Darnus was a woman in life. He shows confusion about his body after you break him out of Deus Darnus Mode in T9... even if physically female, Nael's own consciousness defined itself as male. Considering how dickish XIV primal!Bahamut is, I bet he gave van Darnus a sex change when reconstructing his body for shits and giggles. (As an aside, I for one wish van Darnus would have lived through T9. Would make things... interesting, to say the least.)

Regula van Hydrus... well, jury's still out on that one. Let's take a look at the evidence, though:

For being a woman
1. Feminine name.

For being a man
1. Masculine voice.
2. Masculine build (sort of? It's the same as van Darnus and van Baelsar...).
3. Referred to as "he" and "him" in the quest log (might not be valid).
4. Referred to as "Lord van Hydrus" by Garlean soldiers.

Hmmm...

[Kaiser-Ace]

I can't recall if any of the soldiers ever referred to Livia as "My lady," though it sounds familiar. Either way, we have Lucia to confirm that yes, Livia was a woman; she was Lucia's younger sister, to be exact.

If I recall it's what her adds say occasionally upon spawning in Castrum Meridium. Also, good to clear that up. If Lucia is the Older sister then all I really have to do is imagine a slightly younger Lucia to get a vague idea of what Livia looked like. I'd imagine it's close since Cid himself admits to almost mistaking Lucia for Livia in the post bismark hm CS.
I So want to know more about Cid's relationship with his former countrymen prior to his defection to Eorzea. Gaius Raised him and Livia, so that'd presumably make Cid and Livia have a sibling like relationship at one time, Cid and Nero were both rivals growing up, and i'd assume he has some awareness of Nael and Regula at least as passing names. Gaius' Roegaden subordinate maybe maybe not depending on when Gaius picked him up. Any way, that's another topic for another thread.

(Also on Nael, If he was based off of Sephiroth like most think, Sephiroth was an extremely effeminate man too.)

[Lusavari]

Being a man that has a feminine name in real life... (Technically sexually ambiguous), I really don't seen why everyone is so bent out of shape over Regula's name. It means Rule in latin. Rule of the Serpent. I think the meaning in the name is far more important than the sex. It also makes absolutely no sense why he would need to hide his sex. It's not like the people of the world here are a sexist lot who would deny women the right to serve the empire in war. Trying to bend around logic to make a character something he's not without any viable explanations doesn't work.

Now... To REALLY bust this myth down... let's list some male latin names than end in A... Aquila... Agripa.... Glaucia.... Iovita... Nerva... Scaevola... Seneca...

It's not a stretch to say Regula is an alternate version of Regulus that would be fine for a male.

Souce: http://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/ancient-roman

[Kaiser-Ace]

Now... To REALLY bust this myth down... let's list some male latin names than end in A... Aquila... Agripa.... Glaucia.... Iovita... Nerva... Scaevola... Seneca...

It's not a stretch to say Regula is an alternate version of Regulus that would be fine for a male.

Souce: http://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/ancient-roman

Uh, if I'm not mistaken isn't Aquila typically given as a male name? (though I dont recall ever hearing of a human named Aquila)