Gay Characters

Ask questions about the personality and backstory of the multitude of characters in the Suikoden series.
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Night Shadow
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by Night Shadow »

haha. :D well, just to give my two cents worth on the whole ted-aldo issue...any of you read/watch the lord of the rings? ever see how frodo and sam bond with each other? that's how i see it. a close friendship based on solid respect and admiration. sam saw himself as trying to "carry the weight" (like aldo, a man clearly trying to rid ted of his former demons) for frodo. before that, sam was just frodos gardener. they were friends, but only once the whole journey begins do they become the best of buds.

i think thats how aldo and ted are. aldo starts off just knowing ted as the guy from that weird ship. he forms an interest in ted. and i think that sometimes happens with people. a fascination of sorts. maybe because of teds mysterious nature (just like doctor who :lol: ). so aldo gravitates toward ted, asking somewhat awkward questions, trying to get to know ted (but in the process, irritating ted to a certain degree). sometimes perhaps, aldo just came off as overbearing when it came to getting to know his friend. i think ted always acknowledged that, but really wanted to protect aldo from the rune.

reading the conversation Oppenheimer just posted, it DOES make you think, though...
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Nikisaur
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by Nikisaur »

The way I look at it is if Aldo was a female, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. It would be taken as Aldo having a crush on Ted and flirting with him. Ted feels awkward and tries to escape the situation, kind of like Flik does with his fangirls. Though I'm not sure how close Ted and Aldo eventually got, as Ted states that Tir was his only true friend or something. In my opinion, Aldo has romantic feelings for Ted.
The only thing Suikoden lacks...is dinosaurs.
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LadyMikain
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by LadyMikain »

of course aldo fancies ted, ted must have liked him enough back to allow aldo to travel with him after ted isolated himself for so long and we all know that the souleater only takes the life of people that get close to the bearer.
I don't regret the decision I made that day. Even now. But...my heart still aches. I..I want to follow my heart. Whether it is right or wrong will be judged by history.-Pahn. Suikoden.
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RangerDeon
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by RangerDeon »

Nikisaur wrote:The way I look at it is if Aldo was a female, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. It would be taken as Aldo having a crush on Ted and flirting with him. Ted feels awkward and tries to escape the situation, kind of like Flik does with his fangirls. Though I'm not sure how close Ted and Aldo eventually got, as Ted states that Tir was his only true friend or something. In my opinion, Aldo has romantic feelings for Ted.
I've always assumed that too. I think it's pretty true and you're right, if he was a girl we'd automatically assume that he was in love with him. Why else would Aldo be so fascinated with Ted? I didn't, however, assume that Ted returned the feelings (I just wished it...ahem) BUT I do think that Ted had enjoyed Aldo's company enough that the soul eater killed him. Because if I remember correctly, the Soul Eater got stronger when the lives of those close to the bearer were taken. Now I'm not sure if by "close" they mean proximity...or..you know..friendly.

But it's weird. I think when they wrote Ted saying that to Tir that they didn't have Suikoden 4's story in mind. Because I would think he'd consider Lazlo a friend. But then again, he was kind of rude...but..I dunno. I do think he thought highly of Aldo after the war because Aldo was allowed to follow.

And doesn't Ted have Aldo's bow in Suikoden 1? Hold. I need to check me facts

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Nikisaur
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by Nikisaur »

Ted had a wooden bow in 4 and a steel/copper/gold bow in 1. Aldo had metal/steel/platinum. It's possible that Ted has Aldo's bow in Suiko1, I never thought of that! ^.^

I think maybe Tir was the first one that Ted opened up to. While he may have considered Lazlo and Aldo friends, he was distancing himself from people in Suiko4. Perhas he didn't learn to open up until the events of Suikoden 1.

However I don't think any of them were lovers. It seemed pretty one-sided with Aldo. And he creeped me out.
The only thing Suikoden lacks...is dinosaurs.
highwind44029
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by highwind44029 »

I don't think it was a matter of Aldo being in love with him, it was more that he was interested in Ted in that Ted wasn't very open to other people, distancing himself from everyone else. Aldo just wanted to be his friend, because he doesn't seem to have any, and I think to a degree Ted appreciated that after hundreds of years being alone, enraptured by that Fog Ship.
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veriaqa
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by veriaqa »

I dont know the culture which most of you here were raised by, but in my culture its not that strange for two male be a very-very close friend without being gay. Its so common in my culture that if you dont have at least one male best friend that you can share anything with (excluding wife obviously ;) ), you either loner or a nerd.

But, for the Aldo-Ted case I believe its intended by Konami to be a yaoi relationship (considering Japanese culture). IMHO, Aldo love Ted, and maybe Ted love Aldo too maybe not, but Ted ignore him for obvious reason.
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Jeremiah Ecks
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by Jeremiah Ecks »

I think Aldo / Ted is certainly meant to be inferred; again, as a previous poster has said from a Yaoi perspective if nothing else.

If a man walks up to me in a bath, naked, and says something, anything, was 'sweet of me' and getting closer, if I'm straight, I'm going to react like Ted. And if I get 'come on'd' to when I'm naked in the bath with the guy coming on to me, I'm going to be a little nervous, like Ted.

In a sense, it doesn't matter what you particularly think about whether Ted was gay or not - the way this scene alone is played is that Ted thinks Aldo is hitting on him. You combine Ted reacting in that way with Aldo's fascination, and his stereotyped 'tight top' and effeminate look and mannerisms characteristic in some Japanese fiction (and Suikoden has been known to take the fast road with a stereotype to provide 'characterisation' in the past), then I think the case speaks for itself.

And ultimately, if Aldo is not gay, then he's an idiot. Not just an idiot, an ignorant immature moron. Because it's a bad idea to essentially stalk a recluse when he's trying to get clean if your only interest is curiosity. If Aldo is romantically attracted, his actions don't make him creepy, they make sense. Otherwise they border on voyeuristic and downright weird.

-Jeremiah Ecks,
who rather thought Taldo was obvious. :)
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EstrangedIX
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by EstrangedIX »

Spot on about Taldo. Statistically there should be a few non hetero characters in each game anyway so I don't think it's that big of a deal. Sucks that some people feel the need to make excuses for those who probably are. Why should the Suikoden world be any less diverse than our own? The ambiguity does make it fun to guess who though.
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DoReMi_Vampire
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by DoReMi_Vampire »

I was playing Suikoden II the other day and I was exploring Kuskus a bit more. If you go into the mansion furthest to the north you will meet a guy who will say that "My husband isn't here at the moment, he rarely comes home at all."
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veriaqa
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by veriaqa »

Considering that Suikoden 2 is infamous for its translation error, You cant take it as a gay relationship reference there. Maybe the its just another translation error.
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DoReMi_Vampire
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by DoReMi_Vampire »

Translation error or not, the Suikoden community has already allowed several of these errors to become canon in the english versions. Lazlo instead of Razro, Jillia instead of Jill only to name a few. Even if it wasn't intentional it exists right there, it's up to the fan-base whether they should accept it or ignore it. And since this gay character is just a NPC with no bearing on the plot I see no reason why we should brush it off rather than embrace it. Even if it is such a minor thing.
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Hirathien
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by Hirathien »

Ah yes, because in Zelda 2, there's a guy called Error. He says it, it must be canon!

Well no, it doesn't work like that. Lazlo and Razro aren't that different, Jillia and Jill aren't that different either.

Maybe that person saying it is just an NPC with the wrong model, wrong line of text or mistranslated. We can only speculate.
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ItsDaveyJ
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by ItsDaveyJ »

Just felt like posting my own 2 cents on this.

I think that the series has maybe had a few strong cases for gay characters but nothing concrete. It would be nice to see some if a new Suikoden ever comes out. Suikoden has always been diverse so I'd like to see diversity in this area too.

Now as for the characters... I guess I will go by game order.

S1: I'm pretty sure Kasios is gay for Milich. I know they mistranslated him as a woman but it still says he loved Milich in his ending I think. As for Milich... possibly. The two most questionable reasons for me are Kasios and that he bathes with the women. I know quite a few gay men who wouldn't feel comfortable bathing with a bunch of straight guys and I also know women who would be fine with a gay guy bathing with them. I don't think he bathes with the women for the same reason as Siegfried in S2. Gremio... I could potentially see him as gay but not with Tir. I think he has more of a father/son or brother relationship with Tir. But that doesn't mean he is straight either. He's just a guy with some traditionally feminine traits so he's harder to read. I got no impressions of lesbian characters in this game.

S2: I'd label Miklotov's and Camus' relationship as "questionable" but nothing definitive. They are really the only ones that raised any eyebrows for me.

S3: Rody stood out to me as a strong candidate for being gay. I know his bath scene was primarily for laughs but I don't believe he "didn't mean it that way." To me it seemed like he had an honest moment but when he noticed how awkward it made the situation along with Melville's and Louis' reaction then he took it back. Unfortuneatly because it was passed off as a joke we can't know for sure but I feel pretty strongly that he was being honest in that moment.

S4: I certainly have some suspicions about Aldo. He seemed just a little TOO interested in Ted to just be curiosity or friendship. I think that if Ted were a female then most people would ship them together.

S5: Leilei definitely seems like a lesbian to me. She seems to just cross that line of admiring someone and wanting to protect them and wanting to protect them because you have a romantic interest in them. Side note: I was all stoked to play this game while making the main character gay in my mind and I had his relationship with Lyon all planned out... but then Kyle... that Kyle... ruined that for me. And all the other obnoxious men trying to talk about hot chicks with the hero. So instead of getting to play this openly yet quietly gay character (who BTW was a silent hero so the entire point is for us the players to shape them how we want) I had to make him in the closet. I was majorly bummed.

Anyways without any solid in game proof or commentary from the devs we can only speculate. Plus the games aren't big on romance anyways so for all we know some characters we don't expect like Humphrey or Hugo or hell even Queen (there isn't any proof she has a thing for Geddoe... even though I think she does) could all be gay. It would be nice to have a confirmed gay character. That's why I hate when people say they just wish they would hint at it... hinting doesn't work. There are always deniers and the ability to instill reasonable doubt that they aren't gay. Just confirm it and let some gay person finally have a representation of themselves they can relate to.
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wataru14
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Re: Gay Characters

Post by wataru14 »

ItsDaveyJ wrote:Just confirm it and let some gay person finally have a representation of themselves they can relate to.
Thank you. As a gay man I have been saying this for more than a decade and a half with these games.

If you use the estimates from the real world, approximately 10% of the population is LGBT. I don't know any science on this, but that seems to be the oft-bandied-around figure, so I'll use it for the sake of argument. There have been about 485 (or so) individual Stars, accounting for people who have been Stars in more than one game. Excluding Gadget/Gadget Z (who is a robot and most likely asexual), that leaves about 50 Stars who would be LGBT. 50! That's half a game right there! Now, we don't know if that demographic carries over into the Suikoverse, but you would think that with that many characters there would be SOMEBODY openly gay.

That being said, if Suikoden ever did include an openly gay character, I hope they would be classy about it. I'd rather it not be a Narcissist, or a "bear" like Viktor, or one of the Amazonian fighter women. I'd rather they didn't descend into the really obvious stereotypes. I would love to see a more respectful portrayal of a gay character. One that would surprise you. Someone like Lepant or Flare or even someone like Leknaat. Or, to contrast, even let it be a "gaybro" and make them like Wilhelm or Kyle or Tai Ho. Someone cool and charismatic and masculine, but who talks about all the hot men all the time.

My gaydar always blipped with Gremio, Milich, Lorelai, Griffith, Mathiu, Jowy, Simone, Hanna, Emilia, Salome, Sasarai, Ameria, Sigurd, Aldo, Charlemagne, Cathari, and Rahal. Lucretia/Lelei is pretty obvious (although I like them as a couple). It might be that psychologically I want there to be more gay characters so therefore I see more gay characters, but those are the ones that stood out for me.
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