ShB, Il Mheg and the Pixies?

[Torryinabox]

I wanted to give feedback honestly and secretly but it seems like the forums is the only way according to the site, I'm genuinely scared to speak my mind here or anywhere else because the general consensus seemed to be "If you don't like the progressive things you're going to get lynched regardless of what your reasons might be" but here I go.

I audibly squeaked when I heard Feo speak what sounded like a fantasy version of Gaelic, and I was excited to experience it in every little detail possible. Only, I couldn't. As much as I tried to look past it like my friends told me, as much as I tried to put it out of my mind, I couldn't just ignore how the Fae have been rendered "genderless" and "non binary" despite what I can find of the previous iterations of them being male and female - added to the fact that some people seemed to be pointing out that this is only the case in the English localization of the expansion, with more gendered languages portraying them as female. And as much as I wanted to check this for myself, my Japanese is more than lacking for me to attempt such a thing, and I haven't even started studying French.

I personally grew up with a lot of influence from Celtic and Scandinavian myths. I was steeped in the story of the Tuatha de Danann and the Fomorians, Cu Chulainn, the stories of Tam Lin, Tir na nog and the Fairfolk, the faeries and pixies and their interaction with the world and humanity - so you can imagine how overjoyed I was when I first saw Feo and Il Mheg, evoking in me all the images and stories I've known and loved for most of my life, stories that helped me weather some of the most difficult parts of it and helped me survive to this day.

My biggest issue with all this, and what prompted me to make the forum account and post after about a month of stewing on the matter was Il Mheg and the Fae in ShB. It's effected me to the point where it's detracted from my experience of ShB as a whole, despite still crying over and enjoying the game and it's story overall. It's tainted my experience to the point that it's now one of the more minor reasons why I haven't started EW yet. Because I'm afraid something similar is going to happen again.

Just how on the nose all the modern progressive themes have been in the Faeries really rubbed me the wrong way and will continue to do so. Not much I can do there but give feedback as honestly as I possibly can. I'm still scared I might get lynched over this but after mulling over it for so long I had no alternatives. I wish I could continue to monitor the thread in hopes of any insight or discussion, but some people posting on the forums genuinely scare me, so I'll have to ask my carer to help me keep an eye, because I honestly hope I'm not the only one feeling this way despite what I've managed to read pointing to the contrary.

I'm sorry about the long post.

[Mimilu]

Maybe I skipped over it while reading your post but what about the Pixies being genderless/gender-neutral is rubbing you the wrong way?

[Rongway]

The world is changing to be more aware of how marginalized or disenfranchised communities have been excluded from entertainment and seeking to include them, because why shouldn't they see themselves in the stories they enjoy. If it bothers you that some of the cleverest and most powerful characters in a fantasy world are portrayed as gender nonbinary, you have far worse problems than some of the cleverest and most powerful characters in a fantasy world being portrayed as gender nonbinary.

[MilkieTea]

So… a genderless species existing in a game is… upsetting to you? They don’t push it in your face lmao, they just use different pronouns.

[aveyond-dreams]

The average pixie may just be a leaf creature thing with no real male or female characteristics but both old Titania and Feo Ul's form as Titania are clearly female. There isn't much else to say about them really. Only the special pixies are either male or female. The title of "king" was just lifted from the Kingdom of Voeburt because they just copied it from humans.

[Breakbeat]

FFXIV doesn't do all this non-binary stuff to cater to the public. They do it because that's how they want things to be. Blurred gender lines are part and parcel of this game, "real-world lore" be damned.

Perhaps if seeing non-binary Faeries winds you up like this, you should re-evaluate your priorities in life. Because, realistically, if you get that upset over one company's treatment of a mythical creature in a single online game, something is out of whack. You should soul-search into the issue of why you absolutely, positively need mythical creatures to adhere to traditional gender roles in a form of entertainment enjoyed by an insignificant fraction of human-kind.

There's something amiss here, and it isn't non-binary Faeries, not by a long shot. You need to realize that every time you see a fictional entity that doesn't conform to antiquated ideas of "proper gender," it's not because the creator of that entity is "caving into social pressure," or "jumping on the latest #socialjustice bandwagon," or "promoting some agenda." It could actually just be that the creator likes their creation, and wanted personally to create that fictional character in that image.

This game's treatment of the Faerie doesn't diminish or disparage the original Gaelic idea of a Faerie. That original lore is available elsewhere. In this game, Faeries are what SE makes them. And to be honest, this may be a significant reason why society is slipping a bit right now. People have one single idea of culture (lived or learned) and then dismiss other cultures (or even just variations on the original culture) out-of-hand. (See: "Oh my god, XYZ Disney character is now (skin color)!")

Like, if someone made a video game character that was a hermaphroditic striped elephant with six legs and a tiny, cute pair of wings - and then dubbed it a Faerie - so be it. The stupid elephant doesn't negate thousands of years of Gaelic lore.

I have so many other things going on in my life that I couldn't give an honest crap whether some Faerie in a game has breasts to go along with their female voice, what pronouns the Faerie uses, or really anything sexual having to do with the Faerie. For Pete's sake, you should be putting more thought into whether you want eggs or cereal this morning.

Good luck, OP.