Six game characters that aren’t canonically queer, but should be

Being a queer person who plays video games can be a bit of a headache sometimes. Growing up, there wasn’t a lot of representation to get excited about. Sure, it’s getting better. So much so that we have the space to make a recurring feature about it. Still, in the entertainment hobby’s early days, queer people couldn’t do much else but not only daydream about the queer characters that should exist, but also the ones that maybe should have been.

Without further ado and upon further reflection, here are six game characters that aren’t canonically queer, but should be.

Tom Nook

Franchise: Animal Crossing series

Orientation/Identity: Gay

Possible pairing:  Ex of Redd the Fox

Tom Nook is Animal Crossing. He plays arguably the most important role in the franchise, managing the shop through until New Leaf. By the time Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released, he’s now graduated to a ‘travel agent’ for the island. Essentially, he’s a landlord that you’ll forever be in debt to as you work to pay off your ever-expanding house. Retiring away from the shop-running life, leaving that to his nephews and coasting by making bells off of tenants, he’s certainly lived a colourful life that he’s largely ready to start having wind down.

Though in his prime, hustling and bustling days, Tom was a businessman. For a long time, running that shop was everything to him. So much so that Redd the Fox painted the pair as business rivals. However, it wasn’t always like that. In Happy Home Designer, Mr Nook mentions a fox that he previously worked with who was notably horrible to work with. My theory? The two are previous lovers whose relationship turned ugly when it took to sharing work. Why else does their rivalry seem so intense? Why else would Tom warn the player about Redd in New Horizons? Bitter romantic feelings and workplace mishaps would only amplify said feelings. You can’t even argue this one with me. ReddNook has its own page on Shipping Wiki.

However I will choose to forever enshrine Tom how I envision him in my now years old unkempt New Horizons island: milling about and sipping some cocktails, reflecting on the hell of a life he’s lived. He’s an old gay icon. Always and forever.

Lightning

Franchise: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Orientation/Identity: Lesbian

Possible pairing:  Fang or Vanille. Maybe even both!

No one with a 2010s-era pixie cut dyed that shade of pink will ever beat the sapphic allegations and neither will our sweetheart Lightning! Typically a stoic heroine, Lightning also often enjoys the company of women. Arguably more so than she ever enjoys kicking it with Snow.

Subtext between Fang and Vanille is already quite heavy in the Final Fantasy XIII verse, and naturally, I think there’s some room for little old Lightning to join the mix. There’s less to say about Lightning because all it takes to see it is having eyes. She was built for sapphic women. If you know, you know. When you look as good as Lightning does amongst a cast of other beautiful women, what else is there to do but get smooching some of your other companions? I know I’d want to.

Kokichi

Franchise: Danganronpa V3

Orientation/Identity: Gay, gender non-conforming? 

Possible pairing:  N/A (he deserves no one)

Look, I’m not happy about this one either. Kokichi is the quasi-villain in Danganronpa V3 before the real villain is revealed. The entire time he’s around he is difficult, he is annoying, he is heinous and he commits several acts I’m almost certain that break the Geneva Conventions. Though I hate to say it, he looked damn good while doing it all. Sometimes, you just gotta appreciate people for the agents of chaos they are.

Kokichi’s character design is one of my favourites for the entire franchise. His purple spindly hair distinguishes him from the cast. His checkered neckerchief is as iconic as his torn white coat and pants combination. Topping it all off, they even have a Kingdom Hearts Nomura-esque belt hanging off the back. Suffice it to say, Kokichi is serving c*nt.

In another life maybe he’d be non-binary or at least gender non-conforming. Currently, I can see him being gay. That doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it or welcome him with warm arms into our community.

Practically the entire Yakuza cast

Franchise: The entire Yakuza/Like a Dragon name (duh)

Orientation/Identity: So much gay

Possible pairing:  Kiryu x Majima (unpictured), Majima (unpictured) x Saejima (unpictured), Seonhee x Saeko, etc

I don’t think it’d shock you if I told you the franchise all about guys ripping their suits off as if they were velcro and settling scores with their fists is considered quite the homoerotic series. Though of course never explicit, there’s a strong foundation for the fanfiction and queer shipping mind to wander… Need we mention every Majima everywhere exchange with Kiryu in Yakuza Kiwami? How damn close Majima and Saejima grow over the years, only to evolve to be a joint boss fight in Yakuza: Like a Dragon?

The Yakuza and Like a Dragon name is so filled to the brim with deep and charismatic characters that I could see almost any pairing thrown my way working. The only I don’t really see thus far is a portion of the fandom’s fixation on the supposed connection between Kiryu and Seonhee. Seonhee’s striking girl boss nature and alternative design with dyed hair feel designed for lesbians and maybe to have her subordinate Joongi Han wrapped around her finger. That’s what I’d love for her. Though Ichiban has expressed romantic interest in Saeko as of Infinite Wealth, I cannot imagine him being an individual much vested in sex. He is asexual as they come, being more interested in supporting his friends and the latest Dragon Quest game.

This is almost a twenty-year-old franchise at this point. The fact that we haven’t had a quirky dating sim spin-off that lets you smooch all the ex-Yakuza hunks and crime boss babes is a damn travesty. Give it to us SEGA.

Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth

Franchise: Ace Attorney

Orientation/Identity: Gay

Possible pairing:  Each other, duh

Ace Attorney is another franchise that is dipped in layers and layers of queer subtext but never officially goes there. Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth are the most popular ship for the series and if you’ve played it, it’s plain as day why. Childhood friends turned rivals turned lovers is a hell of a trope and their pairing almost feels like the prime example of it.

The two are bickering til the cows come home in that first game. In the middle of the court. In front of everyone. However, at the end of the day, they really care about each other, aiding each other on more than one occasion and going out of their way to put law businesses aside when it really matters. They’re practically a married couple. Love is love. Yaoi forever.

Eileen the Crow

Franchise: Bloodborne

Orientation/Identity: Trans feminine, lesbian

Possible pairing:  With the hunter

You might already know that Bloodborne is a FromSoftware title particularly loved by trans feminine women. This is apparent when you consider trans game dev LWMedia’s creation of Nightmare Kart. Meanwhile, this Reddit post (facetiously but aptly) makes a good point in that the entire game is a trans allegory; after a shady medical procedure, you find yourself suddenly thrust into a world of abominable monsters (British people) all trying to murder you. Regardless, the PlayStation 4-exclusive game feels cut from a different cloth compared to the remainder of the Souls developer’s catalogue. It’s a beloved and adored title, as is Bloodborne NPC Eileen the Crow.

At least part of Eileen’s allure to me as a trans woman myself is the fact she operates in the shadows and is an easily missable character. She’s in full nigh plague doctor getup, wearing a crow mask and has wings. She’s suggested to be an outsider and not from Yharnam as per her different accent and description found in lore. That’s otherwise about all we know. Eileen the Crow is a mystery. What that means is that she can be and look like anything you want. With a voice like velvet and a drip that is out of this world, I choose to believe she is made for and is a trans lesbian.

With metal-as-hell dialogue lines like “There are no humans left. They’re all flesh-hungry beasts, now,” that suggest an other-ing to people of her ilk, how can you view her as anything else?

And as a surprise final entry…

Tingle

Franchise: The Legend of Zelda

Orientation/Identity: Trans masculine

Possible pairing:  N/A

Do we even need to explain ourselves for this one?

There are our top video game characters that aren’t canonically queer, but really should be. What do you make of our list? Anything we’re missing? Let us know!