I appreciate Square Enix supporting LGBT rights in FFXIV.

[Rokke]

you could easily interpret it as Mitron wanting it and Lohgrif only seeing him as a friend.

Logrif (Gaia): "For as much as I chide and tease you, you are my everything to me, my inspiration. When I'm with you, I fear nothing. Promise me that we'll never be parted again."
Mirton (Artemis): "I promise. Even should fate conspire to separate us, I will reach out to you, wherever you may be."
Logrif (Gaia): "And I will come running."

I think they're both in on it.
I also think its fine to headcanon Gaia and Ryne for what its worth.

[Rinhi]

I also think its fine to headcanon Gaia and Ryne for what its worth.

it's fine to headcanon it, but most of the posters here are trying push that they're 1000% a couple and that if you disagree you're homophobic and whatnot

[Serenitey]

it's fine to headcanon it, but most of the posters here are trying push that they're 1000% a couple and that if you disagree you're homophobic and whatnot

Ya remember the good ol days when you could disagree without being phobic or racist. Sure some probably are, I was afraid to say I just never saw that for people screaming PHOBIC! lol I respect if you see that. I just never did. It's ok to have close friends.

[Angwa]

Ignoring all this ambiguous subtext and claiming Ryne and Gaia are BFF's isn't crazy. Neither is picking it up and seeing a romance there. The only thing that is crazy in my opinion is denying the very fact that it is ambiguous and can be interpreted both ways, because, you know, whatever your personal take may be, the proof this goes beyond regular shipping discussions is just a google search away. This is after all hardly the only place and time this topic has come up.

So we can argue about whether SE intended Ryne and Gaia's story to be queer-coded, but there really is no point in denying that it is queer-coded.

This is your first problem. You shouldn't need representation to feel validated in something. If your sense of confidence hinges on whether there's enough people like you visible you'll never have a satisfying life because you'll be basing your entire enjoyment on what is ultimately a perversion of the appeal to popularity fallacy.

The point of representation isn't to make anyone feel validated. It is to normalize and humanize. As everyone knows too many of us live somewhere where being lbgt+ means discrimination, persecution or even a death sentence. Representation won't magically fix this on its own, but positive portrayal or increased presence in media has been proven to increase acceptance and support for LGBT+ communities so it definitely matters. A lot.

Of course, there's also people who don't care to speculate over the sexuality of children, fictional or otherwise, in the first place. I know if we get any confirmed LGBT representation within the game itself, I'd much prefer those characters to be adults.

Ok, orientation isn't sexuality, and romance neither.

Also, while an older lbgt couple in a wholesome and long-term relationship would definitely be nice, calling Ryne a child is ridiculous. Nobody treated her like one in the game, thankfully, because that would open a nasty can of worms. After all she was right there besides my WoL, armed with blades, facing powerful foes. You don't let a child do that. And nobody went looking for new foster-parents and a home when the Scions went back the Source, because, you know, she's old enough to take care of herself.

A young adult might apply, but definitely not a child. And there is plenty of media about young adults and relationships! Nothing icky about it.

[JennytheJester]

The point of representation isn't to make anyone feel validated. It is to normalize and humanize. As everyone knows too many of us live somewhere where being lbgt+ means discrimination, persecution or even a death sentence. Representation won't magically fix this on its own, but positive portrayal or increased presence in media has been proven to increase acceptance and support for LGBT+ communities so it definitely matters. A lot.

Normalization and humanization expressly is synonymous with validation. Are you actually serious right now? Also, this is going to blow your brain but while you are right to a degree that increased presence has had a positive, those cases are when things actually feel organic. It's when things feel deliberately wedged in for no other reason than ticking a box or catering to a specific group of people that it goes the complete opposite direction. Look at World of Warcraft. There is LOADS of LGBT representation in that game, yet literally none of it is met with favorable opinions across most of the playerbase. Even people that are very pro-LGBT are raising eyebrows over a lot of their recent moves and finding issue with them because it comes off like either Blizzard, or players themselves are trying to force a narrative into something just so it exists. Two prime and recent examples of this, Chromie, and Flynn. This isn't the WoW playerbase being against LGBT, this is people who are normally either expressly pro-LGBT, or neutral on the matter getting angry because if you don't know much about WoW's playerbase, it slants heavily towards liberal and progressive views.

When things like this feel like they exist solely to cater to a specific group and have no depth of their own, people feel negatively toward it and when there's a specific group that keeps demanding more of it be done whether it feels organic or not, they naturally grow resentful toward the idea. This alone was why the all female Ghostbusters movie bombed. It isn't that people hate women in lead roles, it's that people saw it as nothing more than pandering to a specific group of people, and the fact it changed precious little from the original movie and was basically "Same story, new cast" made them even more jaded toward the movie. Same case with Captain Marvel. People weren't negative to the idea of a female hero (FFS, we had Wonder Woman, Batgirl/Batwoman, Catgirl, Hawk Girl, and numerous others for how long?), they were negative to the idea that the whole thing reeked of a political agenda rather than something organic. What we're seeing as a reaction to that? People who are very much equality minded not exactly friendly toward the idea of female driven movies/shows, a lot of people criticizing Doctor Who's current doctor aren't doing so because it's a female. They're doing it because it feels like it's only a female character so they can say "Look, female doctor everyone! We did it!"

[Bobby66]

Ignoring all this ambiguous subtext and claiming Ryne and Gaia are BFF's isn't crazy. Neither is picking it up and seeing a romance there. The only thing that is crazy in my opinion is denying the very fact that it is ambiguous and can be interpreted both ways, because, you know, whatever your personal take may be, the proof this goes beyond regular shipping discussions is just a google search away. This is after all hardly the only place and time this topic has come up.

So we can argue about whether SE intended Ryne and Gaia's story to be queer-coded, but there really is no point in denying that it is queer-coded.



The point of representation isn't to make anyone feel validated. It is to normalize and humanize. As everyone knows too many of us live somewhere where being lbgt+ means discrimination, persecution or even a death sentence. Representation won't magically fix this on its own, but positive portrayal or increased presence in media has been proven to increase acceptance and support for LGBT+ communities so it definitely matters. A lot.



Ok, orientation isn't sexuality, and romance neither.

Also, while an older lbgt couple in a wholesome and long-term relationship would definitely be nice, calling Ryne a child is ridiculous. Nobody treated her like one in the game, thankfully, because that would open a nasty can of worms. After all she was right there besides my WoL, armed with blades, facing powerful foes. You don't let a child do that. And nobody went looking for new foster-parents and a home when the Scions went back the Source, because, you know, she's old enough to take care of herself.

A young adult might apply, but definitely not a child. And there is plenty of media about young adults and relationships! Nothing icky about it.

I'm an adult! I swear!

[Ativan]

I'm an adult! I swear!

LGBT teens don't exist now?

[Bobby66]

LGBT teens don't exist now?

Person I quoted said they are an adult not teen. I am sorry a teen is not an adult not matter what they may personally feel. A teen often has more in common with a child in terms of mentality than an adult.

[Angwa]

Person I quoted said they are an adult not teen. I am sorry a teen is not an adult not matter what they may personally feel. A teen often has more in common with a child in terms of mentality than an adult.

The person you quoted actually said that she wasn't treated like a child and that the term young adult fits better. It's an actual term, like in 'young adult literature', etc.

Also, I don't really see what the point here is as arguing there is nothing between child and adult seems pretty silly? I mean, legally in most places 16+ means you are afforded a great deal more rights. Where I live, for example, drinking alcohol (no hard liquor though), have sex, make their own testament, have their own bank account their parents can't touch, decide medical stuff without parental consent and with privacy protection and a slew of other things as well. A great deal of other countries make a distinction between children and whatever you want to call them.