My Favorite LGBTQ+ Video Game Characters

I want to show my support to the LGBTQ+ community this Pride Month by listing down my favorite LGBTQ+ Video Game Characters.

June is Pride Month, and to help celebrate it, we’re gonna talk about some video game characters that are classified in the LGBTQ+. So I am starting the list with:

1) Ellie Williams

Video Game: The Last of Us series

The Last of Us Part 1 and 2 both had a share of LGBTQ+ characters such as Riley, Dina, and Lev, and with Lev’s gender identity being a crucial part of his story arc. But we’re gonna focus on the central character of the series, Ellie.

Ellie is the playable deuteragonist of the first game, and the main protagonist of the second one. She’s a skillful and crafty post-apocalyptic survivor that has the immunity to the Cordyceps Brain Infection, the cause of the zombie outbreak in the game. She is also good at weaponry as well as combating threats whether they are alive or undead. She's definitely a capable fighter.

Introduced as a fourteen year old teenager, we witnessed as she and Joel, the protagonist of the first game, developed a father-daughter relationship as they learned from and protected each other, then played as her as she went on her own quest to avenge her father-figure in the second game.

Ellie is lesbian, and is probably the most popular LGBTQ+ figure in modern gaming. I just love her character as she demonstrated survival instinct, cleverness, willingness to do and sacrifice things for the greater cause, and her enthusiasm to explore and learn about the world and beyond. Her sexual identity was revealed in The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC, when she landed a kiss on her friend Riley, and then we would later witness her be in a relationship with Dina, another survivor in TLoU2.

2) Trevor Philips

Video Game: Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V introduced us to three main playable characters, Franklin Clinton, Michael De Santa, and our topic for this entry, Trevor Philips. Trevor is a veteran criminal and definitely the most unpredictable out of the three.

Trevor is my favorite character out of the three main protagonist in the GTA V. He was portrayed by Steven Ogg. Trevor is a very violent sociopath and is far from being a hero, even for GTA standards, but his personality and actions, including rampaging all around Los Santos, delivering unwitting and unfortunate civilians to cultists, and basically just being crazy, made the game much more interesting and enjoyable.

Trevor is bisexual, evident to his interest in both women and men, hinted during certain parts of the game. His sexuality wasn't entirely the highlight of his character in the game, but he seemed to be open about it, as we witnessed the game showing hints and moments of Trevor suggesting sexual acts with another man and even giving us a scene of Trevor spooning Floyd on bed, heavily suggesting that he had sex with him, as Floyd whimpered and shouted at what happened.

Although most of Trevor's actions are morally questionable, I believe that finally including a playable protagonist that is classified in the LGBTQ+ was a great move by Rockstar Games.

3) Clementine

Video Game: The Walking Dead series

Telltale’s The Walking Dead video game series centered around the life of Clementine during the post-apocalypse. She is the main protagonist and playable character of Season 2 and 4. We got to see her as an eight year old little girl meeting Lee, her mentor and father-figure, for the very first time, and watch and play as her as she grew up and matured.

Clementine is a clever and skillful survivor, and was able to travel and survive on her own even at a very young age. She is a fast learner as she was able to pick up things taught and advised to her by older and and more experienced people. With her post-apocalyptic experience and journey starting at an early age, she became a really capable fighter, being proficient with guns, bows, and melee weapons. She also raised AJ and became his guardian and mentor, as she educated her about life lessons and survival.

In the fourth and final season of the game, we were given a choice to have Clementine pursue a relationship with either Louis or Violet, which tells us that she is bisexual. This was also a point in her life that further indicated that she was growing up and maturing as she entered and explored something outside of just fighting walkers and struggling everyday to survive, which I can say was a bit refreshing considering how much suffering she had to go through in her story.

4) Quina Quen

Video Game: Final Fantasy IX

Quina is one of the main playable characters in the classic fantasy role-playing adventure game, Final Fantasy IX. S/he is part of a genderless race called The Qu. S/he acts as the blue mage of the party, casting spells used by and learned from enemies while also dealing a decent amount of physical damage to the enemies. S/he is a head cook and is always on a quest to taste new cuisines, and s/he has a big appetite for frogs.

I first played Final Fantasy IX around two decades ago when I hadn’t even reached the age of ten yet, and that was the time I got introduced to this unique and interesting character. Quina’s appearance and personality added more color and humor to the game, but one thing that got my curiosity was the pronoun Quina is using, which is “s/he”. As a young kid playing this game for the first time, I didn’t quite understand as to why his/her pronoun was like that. I knew it wasn’t a typo but I didn’t know what it meant. I used to wonder if Quina was a male or a female, but now, I understand that s/he is a non-binary character.

So that was my list. Who are your favorite LGBTQ+ Video Game Characters?