The fantasy genre has changed a great deal in the past few decades. For those with only a casual acquaintance with it, the perception might still be of something along the lines of Conan the Barbarian, as the 80’s were filled with cheesy films that featured a particular type of hero that was invariably male, large, muscular, white, and heterosexual. For those who are hip to the newer wave of fantasy films that began with The Lord of the Rings, the hero need not be large (see Frodo), nor particularly burly (see Legolas), but nonetheless remains male, white, and straight.
For women and racial minorities, things aren’t quite as bleak as they were. In television shows such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and Smallville, a good deal of women and minorities are seen hearing the fantasy hero’s call.
There is, however, one notable exception to this new inclusion in fantasy: gay and lesbian characters are mostly, as usual, thrown under the bus — or perhaps a more thematically appropriate wagon.
Unfortunately, it isn’t so surprising. It’s only been in the last ten years that gay people have had any real mainstream attention, and television and films tend to lag way behind when it comes to social progress. Two blockbuster fantasy film franchises, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, are based on novels that were written more than half a century ago, when open discussion of homosexuality was practically non-existent. When looking for a gay storyline in a work of fantasy, best stick to more current offerings.
And there have been a few. The first truly memorable combination of fantasy and a gay relationship was on Xena, but of course that relationship — between Xena and Gabrielle — was never actually confirmed in the storyline; the show went to great lengths to play the “subtext” game. A few years later, however, an actual lesbian romance occurred on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when witchy woman Willow fell in love with another witch named Tara and then, following Tara’s death, entered into a relationship with a woman named Kennedy.
But where are fantasy’s gay male characters? Let’s face it: part of the reason lesbian (or would-be lesbian) characters on Buffy and Xena were celebrated was, no doubt, their appeal to straight fantasy fan-boys. Would those same fanboys put up with such prominent gay male characters?
J.K. Rowling outed her beloved character Dumbledore, Harry Potter’s mentor, after the final book in the Harry Potter series had been published. (In my opinion, however, this was unimpressive as far as including diversity goes: by having absolutely no mention of his sexuality in the books, it allows those who love her work but dislike gay people to simply ignore what she said about the doomed Hogwarts headmaster. A truly bold move would have been to casually mention it in the actual book as a non-event.)
But while there are hits, there also certainly have been misses. 2004’s Troy had a golden opportunity to showcase a gay relationship and blew it. Many of the ancient Greeks saw the central character of the Illiad, Achilles, as a mighty warrior who was in a romantic relationship with another warrior, Patroclus. I’m not suggesting the film should have included intense scenes of Brad Pitt making out with another dude, but they could have at least left his relationship with Patroclus undefined and let the audience draw its own conclusions — in other words, played the subtext game, since that seems to be an important “first step.” Instead, the writer invented the super-lame and insulting “cousin” story to explain why Achilles is so upset when Patroclus is killed.
2001’s The Mists of Avalon miniseries was adapted from the novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley in which Lancelot is a broken man: enamored by the beauty of Gwenhyfar (Guinevere), but torn up inside by his deep and forbidden sexual love for Arthur. The three sleep together in the steamy centerpiece of the story (as a stepped-up effort to impregnate the barren Gwenhyfar), and Lancelot later almost has a breakdown as he explains to Morgaine that he touched Arthur’s naked body, something he had secretly longed for. When the story jumped to the screen, all evidence of this plot mysteriously vanished.
Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, a fantasy spoof on Comedy Central, takes it one step further by including a gay character, only to have him be the most offensive stereotype one can concoct: an effeminate, mincing, sex-addled queen.
The current climate for gay characters in fantasy is pretty bleak. But is there any hope for the future? I think so. For one thing, the world of literature, which is always several years (or decades) ahead of television and film, has a much richer tapestry of characters with different sexual identities. Since TV and film tend to follow the path laid down by novels, a brighter future is in sight. Also, fiction tends to be a reflection of the real world around us, and the visibility of gay people is at a level it never has been before. As more and more states legalize gay marriage and bring our country into an era of tolerance and inclusion, perhaps we’ll begin to see more gay characters picking up swords and casting spells as well. Is there any clearer sign of progress than that?
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It’s my one beef with fantasy: in many ways, it’s soooooo regressive.
sadly i agree
Patroclus was, supposedly, his cousin. However along with being cousins they were also lovers, which was not anything odd in that society.
Fingers crossed that things will improve.
While perhaps not falling within the “strict” definition of “fantasy”, a recent article at the wonderful thetorchonline.com indicated that Rob Tapert intends to include gay men and women in his new “Spartacus” TV series. And Tapert’s “Legend of the Seeker” included a gay male soldier of Darken Rahl and also had a thief while in the guise of Richard “flirting” with said gay male soldier (which is a round-about way of having Richard flirting with another male - kind of - much the same as the fact that Xena and Gabrielle could be married and kiss passionately on “Xena” as long as Xena was in the body of a man (who happened to resemble Joxer)). While I haven’t been following the latest news closely, there is also supposedly at least one gay character (a woman played by Ming Na) in the new Stargate: Universe TV series.
Fox is also FINALLY airing Ronald Moore’s “Virtuality” pilot which (at least at the script stage) included a married male couple (although they may have been “edited” under the direction of Fox). The chances for a series order look slim, but it’s *possible*. Moore’s “Caprica” is also meant to include gay characters and appears to have been picked up for a full season of 18 episodes.
Lafayette on HBO’s “True Blood” appears to be a fan-favourite character. Then again, he was also prey to a number of gay stereotypes and *may* have been killed in the season 1 finale (all we saw of the dead body was a foot with painted toe nails - a distinctive element of Lafayette’s appearance). The sexuality of some of the other characters on the show, particularly the vampires, also appears to be pretty flexible (although that seems “stock standard” when it comes to vampires - Spike and Angel even did it that “one time”). Felix Gaeta was “outed” in the final Battlestar Galactica webisodes, although they were filmed out of sequence so the revelation was never expanded upon in the series proper (and we all know how Gaeta’s story ended).
And there was also “Kings” with its gay Jonathan/Jack, although the chances of that series continuing appear to be slim to none.
Things are definitely improving, but I think it will be a long time before we see a “stock standard” hunky male hero defeat the baddies and then ride off into the sunset with his equally hunky male partner (unless Perry Moore’s “Hero” ever gets made into a TV series/mini-series as was once rumoured).
Wow. *The* Perry Moore. How cool. Fanboy gushing ceasing now.
Looking forward to the possible “Hero” TV series/mini-series.
Forgot to mention the omnisexual Captain Jack on “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood” who is in somewhat of a stable relationship with Ianto (as stable as things can be for Captain Jack anyway).
All in all, there’s actually quite a few gays being represented these days. Of course, the real arguments probably arise in respect of how they’re being represented and particularly whether they get to remain celibate while all the other characters enter into numerous relationships with members of the opposite sex.
Good points all around, Agent, but keep in mind we’re looking strictly at fantasy, not sci-fi. As sci-fi tends to be set in the present or future, it generally has a more progressive attitude towards gay people, whereas fantasy, which is often either set in the past or an alternate world, lags behind. Battlestar Galactica and Torchwood are both great series, but definitely science fiction.
But you make an excellent point about Lafayette on True Blood - I forgot to mention him. While he does have his more effeminate attributes, one could hardly call him a stereotype: a gay, African-American, southern, tough-as-nails, construction worker/cook. More characters like him are desperately needed.
And definitely fingers crossed for Perry Moore’s “Hero.”
Hi to everyone on this site,
I am personally thrilled that you are all discussing this issue. I’m Perry Moore, author of the novel you mention HERO. When I wrote it, I had no agent or publisher–I think I really wrote it for myself because as many of you mention, the story does not exist anywhere else.
And now, thanks to your kind words of support, I believe there is an audience for it.
If you’re interested in discussing the topic further, please write me at perrymoorestories@gmail.com
And if you want to see it on air like I do, please write Showtime and let them know you’re eager to see it.
My fingers are crossed, too!
Aim high and all the best,
Perry
I agree with what’s been said in the previous posts. Even though gays are better represented in novels, I would like to see a similar post on that.
My guess is that our best shot of getting gay characters more into film and television is through adapting a successful fantasy series that include them as major characters or important minor characters.
Going back to Rowling, I think that she was trying to do the right thing but flubbed it.
I think the dearth of gay characters (esp. male) in fantasy film & TV is partly because of the die-hard teen hetero fan-boy base, but also partly because no matter how much the genre matures and grows, too many people still see fantasy as “kid stuff.” And heaven knows we can’t expose the kiddies to gay people (while ignoring straight sex and violence).
But I agree with that literature is where the good stuff’s happening and may be the key. I agree with James H.: I’d also love to see a piece about gay characters in fantasy literature.
Chuck’s absolutely right about this. Even some fantasy authors like George R. R. Martin thought fantasy is “kiddie” before ASOIFAF. And don’t forget that one of the biggest fandom fights have been in Xena fandom over Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship (not to mention the gay character war on the Battlestar boards).
I, too, would love to read an article about gay characters in fantasy! I’ve mostly been reading YA fantasy these days, but there’s plenty to talk about just in that subgenre of fantasy.
I have a favourite fantasy series on my shelf that features a gay main character called Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Price, and Magic’s Promise by Mercedes Lackey.
If you want some great fantasy fiction that features an obviously (no actual R scenes in that respect but he’s not hidden like Dumbledore at all) gay male, you should pick those books up.
A few other trilogies in her Valdemar books have gay characters as well, I haven’t gotten a chance to read those trilogies, but I’m not sure I’ll like them as much as I did Vanyel’s story.
Yes, this is a shameless plug. My novel, Origination, is contemporary/fantasy/LGBT and is to be released soon. Check out my webstie to learn more. http://www.reblakeslee.com
To add to the list of books with gay characters (and protagonists), Iron Council by China Mieville has a gay protagonist (and Perdido Street Station has a lesbian major character) and Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red (which I highly, highly recommend if you haven’t read it).
While the fans do a great job of ’slashing’ up any fandom, it would be nice not to have to play the subtext game and actually have gay characters in fantasy.
It would be cool to see Mercedes Lackey’s stuff brought to screen. Some of her leading characters have been gay. Vanyel, Firesong, etc.
Marion Zimmer Bradley of course inlcuded gay characters in her Darkover series. In fact under another name she used to write 50’s pulp erotic gay fiction books with the lurid covers.
Jade Falconer is another great author who writes Gay fiction that includes fantasy and historical fiction. She started as a fandom writer and has now published many of her own original works, both on amazon.com and phaze publishing sites.
When I was growing up as a gay fantasy geek it was indeed incredibly difficult to find positive depictions of gay people in fantasy. If it wasn’t for MZB’s The Catch Trap and Mary Renaults Alexander trilogy (both of which of course are non-genre), I doubt I would have come across any gay characters at all, since I almost exclusively read sci-fi and fantasy.
But there are a lot of gay and gay-friendly fantasy authors around these days: Mercedes Lackey, Tanya Huff, Lyn Flewelling, Ricardo Pinto, John Varley. It may take a while for television to catch up with the rest of us interested in the genre because it’s such a conservative industry, relying as they do on money from sponsors. But they will catch up with the genre eventually.
I actually just started reading Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunner series. It would make a fantastic miniseries if a network was bold enough to have a go of it.
Try Lynn’s “Bone Dolls” series as well then. Not only does she deal with fluid sexuality but also fluid gender issues in a very matter of fact “this is just natural” way.
I have to admit I really liked the Kushiel series from Jacqueline Carey, but was disappointed that in the second trilogy Imriel’s gay encounters were more or less incidental.
I actually just finished a wonderful superhero novel called, appropriately, “Hero,” by Perry Moore. The main character, Thom, is the son of two heroes -one washed-up and the other vanished- who’s in the process of both discovering his new powers and coming to terms with his homosexuality.
Thom’s sexuality is handled with aplomb, and we see both hate and acceptance from the general public and other crime-fighters even as he alternately hates and accepts himself.
Overall, it’s a great book, and probably a quick read for most adults, as it’s a young adult title. If you’re interested in a touching, funny, exciting gay-themed superhero sci-fi book, pick it up.
Namarie!
This emssage contains spoilers for the new books so don’t read any further if you don’t want to know anything about it.
I’ve just started reading Robin Hobb’s new Rain Wild Traders trilogy and I’m already disturbed.
In the Liveship Traders series there was gay pedohile rape which was disturbing but also central to the plot, and made for the most touching ending for the series and explained a major plot point.
However in the new book a handsome, rich, rakish, gay man marries a plain bookish scholarly girl to hide his homosexuality from his family in a marriage of convenience (which admittedly he tells her up front, just not *why* he requires a marriage of convenience).
Over the course of the first five years of the marriage turns into a bitter, nasty, self hating man who resorts to raping his wife in order to try to have a child.
Now I’m only 200 or so pages into it and she may redeem herself in what remains, but I’m disturbed. I really liked the character of the Fool in the Golden Fool series and her reluctance to pigeonhole either his gender or sexuality until the very end. She also wrote a very ambiguous scene where Fitz give the Fool “whatever comfort he could” on discovering that the Fool was definitely male and in love with him. Within context it could have been simple comfort or something more sexual -and either would have been fine and ok, and I liked that she left the nature of that comfort ambiguous as well. Still, I’m concerned where this new self-hating gay character is heading right now.
Was neat to see that little scene of gay soldier flirtation in Legend of the Seeker. In the Sword of Truth books, two of the Mord Sith fall in love (Berdine and Raina) and Kahlan has a funny moment where she intentionally makes Berdine jealous with a retort about Raina’s breasts.
It’s not just fantasy though. I’ve yet to see almost any fantasy, adventure or otherwise story where a strong male character is depicted as gay (Xmen comes closest ‘have you tried not being a mutant’ and all that, plus Colossus).
One person briefly mentioned her here, but ANYTHING you might read by Tanya Huff, who is lesbian herself, includes large amounts of fluid sexuality, and frequently has lead protagonists who are gay, bisexual, or lesbian, as well as heterosexual. She writes fantasy novels, vampire/horror novels, and science fiction novels all equally well. She has a style that is at once witty and serious. And, at least in the novels she sets in the modern day real world, she shows her roots as a sci-fi and fantasy fan herself with references to things like Stargate, Buffy, Star Wars, and the like. For me, though I’ve read a lot of the other authors mentioned here as well, Tanya Huff’s work stands out as particularly noteworthy for its inclusiveness and its quality. I’ve read nearly everything she’s ever published, and I definitely recommend her books and short stories.
Try Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series. There are two secondary gay characters. Ones a quiet closet case, but the other is a very glittery and outlandish 900 yearold warlock. Despite the stereotypes, it works really well.
I also recommend Maria V Snyder’s Study series, begining with Poison Study. There is a central trans character. Unfortunantly I can’t say anymore than that without giving away half the plot (though it is in no way a gay book). This particular character is more used as a minor plot device and character development.
Suzie
Good morning. The toughest question has always been, “How do you get your ideas?” How do you answer that? It’s like asking runners how they run, or singers how they sing. They just do it!
I am from Luxembourg and also now am reading in English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “Nichols did generally recorded that she had properly provided the journalist to fill.”
Thank you so much for your future answers ;-). Efrem.