Sexuality in Suikoden

[TheStrategist]

Among the deep stories of Suikoden rests hundreds of characters which also create hundreds of different plots. There are also issues that arise within the plots of the story. Here in the suikox.com forums, users have discussed topics such as character relationships, story holes, but the most challenging one was race....I think there is another topic that hasn't really been touched on, but maybe it's not really a factor... what about sexuality in the story...THer are some characters in the first three games that some of the players would consider homosexual...I am not a homophobic, but i am sure are some players out there that were affected when they found out some of the players have had their sexualities questioned..
For instance, Rody in suikoden III, when him Melville and ?(can't remember who else), were sitting in the bath and they were all describing who they thought was the best looking out of the Fire Bringer. Rody happened to mention a guy's name while Melville and the other kid mentioned Lady Chris (i think)....even though Rody isn't much of popular character in the Suikoden series, there are some other characters who have been rumored to be homosexual...I cannot recall which forum it was in, but i have heard rumors that even Percival may not be straight... I'm sure there are other characters that were rumored but this these two are all I've heard..Percival is a pretty cool character to most players, including me... It's just as important as race in Suikoden b/c a lot of people are arguing back and forth that race doesn't matter, or race doesn't exist in a fantasy, or Konami had created their own races....What i'm trying to say is, is sexuality of the characters of Suikoden really necessary?

[Kobold]

Frankly, i think that bath scene was meant to be as a joke... And Percival is constantly hitting on the girls in Brass castle, so i really can't see his character to be potrayed as a homosexual. If Konami had such intentions, i don't think he's make him hit on girls. Besides, there seems to be some romance between Percival and Chris anyway. At least to me...

And the bath scene... You know something? I always thought Rody was a female till i saw that scene... So... Yeah... And well, suikoden is a game, so really there's no need for konami to even think about incoperating sexual orientation in characters. Even if they do, it'll be for as a joke.

Of course, if you talk about being homosexual, many fangirls enjoy Suikoden related Yaoi... Like Culgan and Seed is a common victim... So is Miklotov and Camus. So really... Its up to the people's imagination...
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Kobolds are great!

[TheStrategist]

Yes i see that all the time...culgan and seed deserve better....miklotov and camus, i dont know :)

[KoRnholio]

The Rody bath scene was a joke. It's kind of explained right there....he thought the question was who would you want to be like, not be with.

I can't think of any overtly homosexual characters in any of the Suikodens. Anything on that is conjecture and fantasies by fans.

[leena fighter]

Yeah. It's all fanon.

Things like Camus/Miklotov can be somewhat justified, because of the closeness of their relationship, but there's never anything concrete about any homosexual relations in any of the games, apart from some jokes.

The bath scene was obviously a joke (although I would like to take this opportunity to share with the less-fortunate people here that many fan fic writers use Rody to their own ends, whatever they may be *cough*) After Rody says Wan Fu (I believe,) he goes on to say that he just meant he thought he was cool. One of the two other boys gets rather uncomfortable and leaves. Slight homophobia, maybe, but I don't think there are any founded relationships.

Another bath scene that brings something like this up is Chris and Ayame. I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned! Although things are always different when there are women involved, no? Their scene of course was (correct me if I'm wrong,) Chris thinking about Ayame's scarred body, Ayame removing a bit of soap from Chris' nose, and then a great deal of silence followed by Ayame giggling.

Oh, and with Chris comes Chris and Yun. Another close relationship that could easily be turned into something more by any willing participant. Flik and Viktor, Seed and Culgan, Camus and Miklotov, and oh so many others are just the same.

However, isn't Millich's minstrel that loves him actually a man? I was just reading this on this site. Something about it not being properly translated. I suppose that would count as some 'alternative sexualities' in Suikoden :P

[Marshmallow]

The only pairs I see as feasable are Culgan/Seed and Camus/Miklotov and possibly Vincent/Simone though their genders are unknown IIRC.

[Excalibur1027]

[Ted]

I should refuse most of this "yaoi" stories to be a truth. Ok, those are nice in their own way, but it's just humour all the way i think. Like someone says: "It's up to the people's imagination."

What i knoe, Konami is'nt confirm that various characters have homosexual relationships. Actually i cannot see these themes in games at all. Only thing which could be it, is that funny scene in Suikoden II when Simone and Vincent meets each other.

Ok, there IS some male characters who has close relationship? So what, so do i have, and i'm still not gay or anything! Actually it does'nt matter if i would. But i am not. Then i doubt that Viktor, Flik, Culgan, Seed, Camus or Miklotov either are gays. There is no anything evidence of it.

Well, i don't say that there should'nt be homosexual persons after all. It is possible, but these characters could be someone else.

It's also funny that everytime peoples talk possible male characters who could be gay, never female characters...

[Edge Riou]

One word. . . Kenji.
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[Thief]

For most characters, there is hardly any definitive information that points in either direction. Thus I suppose that it's up to us to make up for that lack of information. There is no right or wrong as long as there is no official statement that says otherwise.

[Vextor]

Even with Kasios' example, (and he is male) he appreciates Milich purly because Milich appreciates Kasios' music. Love is never mentioned or even implied--at least in the Japanese version.

[Maximillian]

Am I the only one who thought Oulan was a lesbian?

[Dragonstar13]

You can't really distinguise if a person is gay just because they act like the opposite sex. Girls = tomboys, Guys = drag queens.

From what I've seen in Suikoden, they haven't been really direct with relationships except for a few. FC and Sara, Luc and Sarah, and Freedy Y and his wife. Most of the time however, it's hinted. Ex. Julia and Jowy. There really isn't a way that we can tell if Jowy feels the same way about her. Same for Mcdohl and Kasumi, Thomas and Cecil, Nash and Sierra, Hugo and Belle, Aila and Jacques. Although all these characters have hints of liking someone, it's not direct like it is in other games(FF7-10, Grandia, Xenogears or Lunar). It's probably better this way as well so we can interpt the relationships the way we want. So if we wanted to see Chris with Yun or Seed with Culgan, we could.

Actually here's a question for people who follow up Suikoden well. Was Konami ever asked if certain characters were gay? Or in a relationship with the same sex?
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[Sun_Quan]

Yes, no kidding, it's kinda like those people on Suikosource who said that Louis would be a good match for Cecille, hardly. He's way to brusque for his own good now that I think about it. But seriously, if you want to think of who could be straight or gay in regards of sexuality, it's fine by me. I used to think that Valeria could be a lesbian, but now that I think more about it, I dunno but the idea doesn't appeal to me much whatsoever now. Truthfully, I'm not a fan of homosexuality, unless it comes to humour, gay humour is hilarious! Christopher Lowell is a fine example of that.

Anyway, my point is that I agree with the one who said that we can interpret relationships how we see fit, I just happen to think that there's not too much gayness in the world of Suikoden, and I am perfectly fine with that as I'm a straight man myself!
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"Brother...father....for the glory of our family..." - Sun Quan

[Gaara]

For all we know, Luca Blight could be gay.

Gays don't have to be feminine to be homosexual. They could be the person you least expect.

So there is a possibility that anybody in Suikoden could be homosexual, even the married ones could be bisexual, who are we to say, I mean we can just state our opinions and write fanfics but in the end, it's not very clear.