I appreciate Square Enix supporting LGBT rights in FFXIV.

[Jandor]

I guess it could be a rainbow crystal because a rainbow was the symbol God used after he was done destroying the world with a flood. It fits decently well.

Or it might be a great big pride crystal, meant to symbolize that the two main female characters are hella gay. That also fits pretty well.

Might be both, might be neither. Nothing is really outright confirmed, and likely never will be.

[Tulzscha]

Their whole relationship seemed really forced and cringe to me, gay or not, but whatever. If they're shoving this stuff in a story to make a few people happy well it doesn't hurt anyone, just wish it was better developed and not so... pandery.

[Rinhi]

And... this simply proves my point that most straight folks simply won't see the coded messages, and "oh, but I've seen straight people act like that" isn't a strong rebuttal. Sure of course, there will be straight people who act like Ryne and Gaia, just as there are gay people who will act innocuously / pass as straight in public. A single, anecdotal counterexample doesn't disprove a general trend / media stereotype.

Like, sure. It's just a total coincidence that the two of them are that close, fight off an obsessed ex who clearly sees their bond as a threat and tries to tear them apart, almost frame by frame recreate that scene with squall and rinoa that basically implicated a budding love between those two, and... yes, I know, rainbows are not always gay, but right after that scene they stand right next to a giant rainbow crystal together in a garden with lots of flowers. Yeah, totally coincidence that all of these things have to come together.

It's extremely, extremely obvious to people who are LGBT, but it's going to fly over the heads of straights who don't recognise the pieces set in place, or refuse to, and just take things at face value.

that's all fine and dandy but way to completely invalidate the several lgbt people that do not see the coded message you're dying to see in this very thread, very cool of you to imply we're basically not who we are lmao

also, let me quote wikipedia regarding japan and rainbows:

Izanami and Izanagi, the male and female creators of the world in Japanese myth, "descended on the Floating Bridge of Heaven to create land from the ocean of chaos." In many texts this bridge is known as a rainbow.

In the ancient beliefs of Japan, rainbows were the bridges that human ancestors took to descend to the planet.

you know, almost like the oracle of light and darkness bringing life back to the barren wasteland at the end...

stop trying to push your headcanon as the only truth

[Nothv13]

And... this simply proves my point that most straight folks simply won't see the coded messages, and "oh, but I've seen straight people act like that" isn't a strong rebuttal. Sure of course, there will be straight people who act like Ryne and Gaia, just as there are gay people who will act innocuously / pass as straight in public. A single, anecdotal counterexample doesn't disprove a general trend / media stereotype.

Like, sure. It's just a total coincidence that the two of them are that close, fight off an obsessed ex who clearly sees their bond as a threat and tries to tear them apart, almost frame by frame recreate that scene with squall and rinoa that basically implicated a budding love between those two, and... yes, I know, rainbows are not always gay, but right after that scene they stand right next to a giant rainbow crystal together in a garden with lots of flowers. Yeah, totally coincidence that all of these things have to come together.

It's extremely, extremely obvious to people who are LGBT, but it's going to fly over the heads of straights who don't recognise the pieces set in place, or refuse to, and just take things at face value.

No you only see what you want to see. The writers could com eout and tell you you are wrong and you'd still insist it is coded message. Take it at face value and stop reading in to it.

[Caitlyn]

In this case, I hope the next 8-man raid will include the love story between Au Ra and Lalafell (the L in LGBT stands for Lalafell) : 3

[Vinupra-Rosa]

that's all fine and dandy but way to completely invalidate the several lgbt people that do not see the coded message you're dying to see in this very thread, very cool of you to imply we're basically not lgbt lmao

also, let me quote wikipedia:



stop trying to push your headcanon as the only truth

And once again focusing on just the rainbow, ignoring the parallelism with squall and rinoa, plus the plot regarding the 'ex' which is bog standard lovers' drama fare. Like, look, if you don't see it or don't want to acknowledge it, then fine. You do you. But at the same time, don't dismiss people who do see the coding-- which I'm not 'dying to see'; it's literally there. I saw it, it was obvious to me from the start, and it was this way for other people as well.

And to bring me back to my original point, I was stating that it was obvious to me. I was responding to Nothv13 who was insisting I'm simply 'looking for what i want rather than anything objective' by enumerating what made it so incredibly obvious to me--- so yeah no, back off Rinhi. That is very much a dishonest argument you're making.

No you only see what you want to see. The writers could com eout and tell you you are wrong and you'd still insist it is coded message. Take it at face value and stop reading in to it.

And this would be a response to both Rinhi and you-

The solid facts are that there are very specific events, framed in very specific ways that very strongly hint at LGBT romance. But nothing is outright confirmed, so people are free to understand it that way, OR they can elect to ignore it.

"They're totally gay" and "They're not gay" are both valid ways to take what has been presented to us in the game, and it's best for people in either camp to just... let the other camp be. In this thread, the 'main camp' would be the people who do see the gay in the writing. No need to invalidate them with "oh you're just reaching, it's these OTHER reasons".

So leave it at that.

[Rinhi]

Like, look, if you don't see it or don't want to acknowledge it, then fine. You do you. But at the same time, don't dismiss people who do see the coding-- which I'm not 'dying to see'; it's literally there. I saw it, it was obvious to me from the start, and it was this way for other people as well.

and yet you're dismissing everyone gay or lesbian that doesn't see it and basically call them and their sexuality fake because "it's so obvious" because of the "coding"
yeah, just ignore the japanese folklore about the very obvious meaning of the rainbow and ryne and gaia bringing life back to the first, like izanami and izanagi did for the world because this japanese developer obviously caters to my western self

And to bring me back to my original point, I was stating that it was obvious to me. I was responding to Nothv13 who was insisting I'm simply 'looking for what i want rather than anything objective' by enumerating what made it so incredibly obvious to me--- so yeah no, back off Rinhi. That is very much a dishonest argument you're making.

whatever is "obvious" to you doesn't mean it's the absolute truth and a complete fact, which is what you're painting your opinion as - and you call me dishonest lmao

The solid facts are that there are very specific events, framed in very specific ways that very strongly hint at LGBT romance. But nothing is outright confirmed, so people are free to understand it that way, OR they can elect to ignore it.

or it's headcanon and seeing what you want to see, I - and several other gay and lesbians - don't see it and because we, as lgbt people, have as much of an authority as you on this, that means it's not coded and they're not gay

What is a groomer?

male au ras, sometimes catboys, who have a harem of their discord kittens surrounding them most of the time because they shower them with attention and gifts

[WoW]

I am rooting for you guys. As of today I ship you two.

I do wonder how many will actually know the real reason you said that rofl.

[Imora]

Gotta love people actually thinking there's something here.

Those colors are also the colors associated with the aether we restored to the land.

Not everything has to be about your headcanon. There's usually a really benign reason for anything you put some kind of "theory" to.

[Vinupra-Rosa]

snip

I'm not even western. Daría la ku gaduâ a kanûnun na Server ke ékáyu kamáyu kin JP nákû. You're also kinda underestimating how aware the XIV team is of these issues based simply on their nationality. I'm literally an Asian Asian, and I know about it.

And, you're again missing the point. Sure, I'll admit then-- not all LGBTQ folks see that. But at the same time it's so blatantly obvious that my use of 'coding' isn't even warranted-- it's just in plain sight, thinly veiled. Again, you all are fixating on the rainbow when it's just the bloody cherry on top and not even the ONE thing that turns their relationship 'gay'.

To reiterate, their relationship is incredibly close... and yes, that's not enough. But add on top of that they play out a very bog-standard 'ex comes back and steals someone's girl away' that ends with gaia leaving the ex for ryne (with the promise of 'maybe, in another life'), and a shot-by-shot recreation of the scene where rinoa rescues squall. The flowers and the rainbow shortly after that is just icing on the cake.

At that point if one of them were a boy there would be no doubt that there's something romantic going on. People conclude fictional characters are together for far less.

And if people still are fixating on the rainbow, it's possible for a single thing to have multiple meanings at once, or be created with multiple designed intents.

But of course, again, that leads me to reiterate my point:

It's obvious to me, and to many others, but otherwise what is presented ingame is vague. This frees up the individual to come to their own conclusions as to what the true nature of the NPCs' relationship is.

So it's totally valid to see it and go "yeah, they're gay", just as it is valid to go "yeah, they're not gay". Both these camps are best off staying to their side and not try to invalidate the other because it will literally go nowhere due to the aforementioned vagueness.

It's the same territory as "X npc written to be romantic with WoL? Y/N"

And what I'm doing is literally explain my reasoning as to why it was so gods-be-damned obvious to me, in a thread that was started on the "yeah, they're gay" premise, in response to someone who basically accused me of "reaching".

Yeah no.