This article contains spoilers for Final Fantasy 16.
“Is he…?
I drop the controller, lift my arms into the air and let out a whoop.
It’s not just any character either.
It’s Prince Dion Lesage, the Dominant of Bahamut.
That’s right folks, the king of dragons is gay.
It’s all too rare to see LGBTQ+ representation in high profile AAA games.
What I particularly love about Dion’s sexuality is that it’s just a brief moment.
Then they kiss, a tender moment among the bloodshed as they both consider what’s at stake.
And then they move on.
It’s authentic, normalised.
It’s not sexual, but simply two characters sharing intimacy.
For the most part, Dion’s sexuality is simply a part of his character that defies explanation.
He simply is gay.
It has no bearing on the plot, yet has huge ramifications for LGBTQ+ players.
Arguably, this could all be taken from the game’s inspiration: Game of Thrones.
Whether Dion and Terence are similarly secretive is left ambiguous.
Yet there is other LGBTQ+ representation elsewhere in-game, mostly in incidental dialogue.
“Looking for a man?
Does this look like a brothel, Branded?”
I had to laugh.
Perhaps my surprise at the LGBTQ+ representation inFinal Fantasy 16is a disservice to Creative Business Unit 3.
In-gamePride paradesare aregular occurrenceeach year, while the studio collaborated on afloat for Sydney’s Mardi Gras Paradein 2019.
Still, the Final Fantasy series has something of a chequered history with LGBTQ+ representation.
In Midgar, Cloud must infiltrate a mansion owned by mob boss Don Corneo.
The quest is fuelled by uneasy stereotypes, Freddie Mercury lookalikes, and even an implied rape.
Yes, this was the mid-90s.
“Keep it up Cloud, work it!”
Cloud’s met with universal applause and players are awarded the Dancing Queen trophy.
“True beauty is an expression of the heart,” says Andrea.
“A thing without shame, to which notions of gender don’t apply.”
Yet this sequence is proof that Square Enix is willing to modernise.
Dion and Terence’s kiss is the first explicitly LGBTQ+ moment in the series' history.
Us gays might know how to throw a party, but we have the right to show love too.
