I appreciate Square Enix supporting LGBT rights in FFXIV.

[Rinhi]

but there are canon lgbt couples in the game, they've been posted multiple times throughout the thread

[Starshower]

but there are canon lgbt couples in the game, they've been posted multiple times throughout the thread

Oh I didn't read the thread lol. I'm having a bad day, I really shouldn't be creating drama in the forums to pass the time. Sorry and disregard whatever I said.

[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.

[Caurcas]

It's always something-coded. Back in my day it was just called subtext. Either way I don't really see it. It's naught but friend-coded.

[Bobby66]

How revealing is it to think including non heterosexual couples ina game is political statement. Really telling on yourself there

Personally I rather not have any romance in my games. Not my cup of tea, Romance plot lines and character development bore me.

To me they are just a couple of kids looking at a popsicle and thinking they now want a popsicle.

[KizuyaKatogami]

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.

ShB literally goes over how Minfilia took over the bodies of young children to grow up and fight sin eaters lmao. Ranjiit literally raised her as a kid to fight them. Numerous children minfilia’s died fighting sin eaters. It really isn’t that ambiguous to me. They specifically claim Loghrif had feelings for Mitron and even Gaia seems to as well based on her final words to him(and the savage transition). Also, the lgbt representation has already been normalized in the game in multiple instances. How much more do you people want?

[Angwa]

ShB literally goes over how Minfilia took over the bodies of young children to grow up and fight sin eaters lmao. Ranjiit literally raised her as a kid to fight them. Numerous children minfilia’s died fighting sin eaters. It really isn’t that ambiguous to me. They specifically claim Loghrif had feelings for Mitron and even Gaia seems to as well based on her final words to him(and the savage transition). Also, the lgbt representation has already been normalized in the game in multiple instances. How much more do you people want?

They never stated Ranjit sent them out to fight Sineaters when they were kids. At no point in the story did Ryne act as a kid. Nor did the WoL and the Scions treat her as one. They certainly consider her old enough to fend for herself after they return to the Source.

Anyway, I am certainly not saying anyone is wrong for interpreting Gaia's and Ryne's relationship as friendship. However, I am also saying that reading their story as a romance is equally valid.

For example, I personally do not think that it is such a stretch to interpret the coffeebiscuits scene as Ryne asking out Gaia on a date, especially after Thancred's helpful pointers about not being afraid of rejection and how persistence is the key and the rest joking about how that is how he picks up women, and them sticking around in the distance very much pretending not to pay attention while she goes for it. It is definitely not so weird to read it as a romance when they do the FF8 Squall and Rinoa re-enactment.

Actually, especially with those two scenes in mind, I am sure that if Gaia were gender-swapped I very much doubt people would be so invested in saying this story only makes sense as friendship. Quite the opposite even.

That said, I now return you to your scheduled 'it's-100%-friendship-vs-100%-romance' bickering.

[KizuyaKatogami]

They never stated Ranjit sent them out to fight Sineaters when they were kids. At no point in the story did Ryne act as a kid. Nor did the WoL and the Scions treat her as one. They certainly consider her old enough to fend for herself after they return to the Source.

Anyway, I am certainly not saying anyone is wrong for interpreting Gaia's and Ryne's relationship as friendship. However, I am also saying that reading their story as a romance is equally valid.

For example, I personally do not think that it is such a stretch to interpret the coffeebiscuits scene as Ryne asking out Gaia on a date, especially after Thancred's helpful pointers about not being afraid of rejection and how persistence is the key and the rest joking about how that is how he picks up women, and them sticking around in the distance very much pretending not to pay attention while she goes for it. It is definitely not so weird to read it as a romance when they do the FF8 Squall and Rinoa re-enactment.

Actually, especially with those two scenes in mind, I am sure that if Gaia were gender-swapped I very much doubt people would be so invested in saying this story only makes sense as friendship. Quite the opposite even.

That said, I now return you to your scheduled 'it's-100%-friendship-vs-100%-romance' bickering.

They do explicitly state that actually. He literally says himself how he watched them die over and over. Even if the genders were swapped it wouldn’t really matter, Loghrif had feelings for Mitron, it’s heavily implied Gaia even has feelings of some type for him. Her and Ryne are implied to be no more than good friends bonded via their similar circumstances and trials they endured. Coffee biscuits and clothes shopping is literally what girls do as friends. Are we going to start saying all girls that go have sleep overs or lunch dates or go shopping together are lesbians? I remember when that wasn’t a thing. When two people of the same gender could hang out and be close without people trying to pin them as being this or that sexuality.

[RdehlikaJenma]

Their story is literally a parallel to Rinoa and Squall. The whole plot mirrors that of FF8. Are you going to say Rinoa and Squall are just very good friends next?

Remind me again when Squall and Rinoa went around a dead planet restoring elemental energy to said planet by summoning forth memories from Irvine, then found out that OH NO RINNOA IS ACTUALLY AN ANCIENT BEING THAT WAS RESPOSNSIBLE FOR THE NEAR DESRUCTION OF THE DEAD PLANET AND HAD AN EQUALLY ANCIENT LOVER WHO HAD BEEN THE MYSERIOUS VOICE IN HER HEAD ALL ALONG.

Right, cos that didn't happen in FFVIII.