We’ve already written plenty about how Bioware’s new game, Dragon Age: Inquisition, is super-queer-friendly. It has the first exclusively gay party member, multiple gay and bi romance options, and lots of graphic (but tasteful) gay sex to enjoy.
But did you also know it has a trans character, and that’s he’s voiced by Jennifer Hale, who played the lesbian-if-you-want-her-to-be Shepard character in Mass Effect? (Spoilers below!)
Take a look at how Dragon Age handles a character who presents as male, but then later opens up about having been born female:
“Let me know if you need help binding,” Krem teases one character with big pecs.
How about we take this to the next level?
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What follows is a brief conversation about trans issues and gender identity, without ever using those words. It’s sort of an opportunity for straight games to ask a transman what it’s like to be trans, without the risk of offending a real person.
About transmen, Bull says, “they are real men, just like you or me.”
And if you slip up and call him a woman, Bull corrects you: “he’s not a woman. … Krem’s a good man.”
The game was already pretty friendly to gender fluidity, since it lets you create female characters with an Adam’s apple and beard, or male characters with makeup. As IO9 pointed out, it would be nice if your character had an opportunity to explicitly declare their trans status as well, but oh well. Maybe that’ll come in Dragon Age 4.
Krem’s voice actor, Jennifer Hale, is already a heroine where queer games are concerned. Here she is voicing Shepard in a lesbian sex scene in Bioware’s Mass Effect:
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Ditamo
Stop spoiling the damn game for me Queerty….nah just joking! I’ve been playing this game for the past 3-4 days and it’s good. I tried forging a relation with my general but I messed up 🙁
Hopefully I will have the option again later in the game.
level75RDM
Huh, I was wondering why his voice sounded so feminine. Too bad for India; they don’t get to play the game. About 35 hours in now.
aliengod
No
Mykaels
A. thanks for spoiling it for me Qweerty (filled with hate)
B. I THOUGHT the voice sounded a tiny bit feminine. Krem is one of my favorite characters, is incredibly sexy in voice and personality, and I give great kudos to Bioware.
I think I am 44 hours in now, but I am a completionist, have to read and explore everything, spent 4 hours trying to kill a dragon, and am only level 13, haha
DarkZephyr
@aliengod: do you ever make positive posts?
ethan_hines
i know the editors hate it when we correct them but this is a pretty big blunder it should not say “He’s now a woman. … Krem’s a good man.” it should say “He’s not a woman. … Krem’s a good man.””
redcarpet30
I was wondering about that character last night, thought I recognized the voice. Thanks for the spoiler!
Ya’ll need to have a one month after release date moratorium on video game posts. Not all of us can afford to sit in our and play the game for 50 hours straight after release day. It’s not like TV shows where you can catch up in a day.
E T
I read Ethan’s correction and appreciate how quickly that error got fixed. Hopefully mine will be, too. Trans man and transgender man are both correct, transman is not. That would be similar to calling somebody a gayman. It implies that he has a different gender from cisgender men. Which I’m sure is not what was intended. Thanks!
boring
Liara T’Soni is of the Asari race, which is technically mono-gendered. Can you call that a lesbian relationship, really? You should have posted the super creepy Lesbian scene with Kelly (Not a read: lesbians are awesome, the scene is just legit terrible) for accuracy.
But then again, when’s the last time Queerty was accurate?
boring
When are you guys gonna talk about the awesome Gay and Lesbian characters in Borderlands the Pre-Sequel, by the way? Or are you firmly latched onto Bioware’s tit?
hotshot70
Remeber that game “Bully”? I found a way to make one of the boys make out with your character. There’s no sex, just kissing.
glitterbear256
@E T: There are a variety of spellings. Trans*man, transman, trans-man, and I’m sure others that I’m not aware of.
E T
@glitterbear256: Trans* man, absolutely. Include the space unless specifically asked not to. I don’t want to live in a world where there are men, and then there are transmen, because let’s face it – male communities are too restrictive as it is (leading to violence and self-harm). We get past this by unconditionally accepting men as men (whether they be straight, gay, bisexual, cisgender, transgender, transsexual, intersex, asexual, etc.). If somebody specifically identifies as a transman or a transwoman, call them what they wish to be called. But if the only information we have is that a transgender person identifies as male, include the space. He’s a trans man. Ideally, the concept of masculinity can adapt to represent all men, instead of forcing all men to represent a narrow concept of masculinity. Trans men aren’t conditionally men, they are absolutely men. That’s my two cents.
Raquel Santiago
I really hope that people are saying they have been playing Dragon Age inquisition in NOvember for 3-4 days because the Mass Effect Lesbian scenario has been out for years. How i do know? I own all copies and saw this coming years ago. Was only a matter of time.