There was a post on one of the trans shitposting subs recently about things trans students at Hogwarts might get up to during their stay. Since I have to be thinking about either trans issues or Dark Souls at any given time, I figured it might be fun to apply the same lens to that universe as well. There’s certainly enough material to work with across the three games. This obviously isn’t serious analysis or anything, just some casual speculation.



As I discussed in an earlier post, Gwyndolin can pretty easily be interpreted as being a trans woman. Extrapolating wildly, let’s assume that the language describing her as having the power of the moon and being an adept sorceress are part of how the cultures of Lordran and the surrounding kingdoms and city-states conceptualize trans folk. The game text attributes Gwyn’s decision to raise her as a girl to those qualities, so there must’ve been a cultural precedent set for that at some point, at least in the city of gods. From that idea, it’s likely that the word for “transgender” in Dark Souls cultures probably has some reference to the moon. I’m pretty shit at making up words, though, so I’m not even going to speculate about what that might sound like. There’s also the bit about sorcery aptitude. Much like trans folk in real life get pigeonholed into a handful of careers, our counterparts in Lordran might be pressured into those that involve magic. I mean, we would make pretty good spellcasters, if you think about it. Trans people score slightly higher on IQ tests than the general population, after all. Vinheim, Melfia, Oolacille, and Olaphis (at least, before the king lost his shit and started jailing mages) would be sort of like their equivalents to cities like San Francisco or Seattle, with a higher concentration of trans folk, and local governments that generally try to look out for them. Some of the staff in the archive areas in 1 and 3 are probably trans as well.

Dark Souls 2 features the coffin within walking distance of Majula that changes the bearer of the curse’s sex instantaneously. This is basically the dream of every trans person ever. No waiting for HRT to kick in? No expensive surgeries that can compromise feeling in the genitals irreparably? A fully cis body capable of reproduction? Sign me the fuck up. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Majula happened because of the steady stream of trans folk would pilgrimage to Things Betwixt from across Drangleic for the coffin, and some crafty business people set up shop in the vicinity to capitalize on them like a boom town during a gold rush.

While the Way of White seems like the sort of authoritarian religious institution that would oppress trans people in real life, the fact that Gwyn is supportive of his trans child and ostensibly called the shots within the covenant makes me think that they probably didn’t have a particularly huge chip on their shoulder about it. Thorolund, Carim, and other kingdoms where they held power probably wouldn’t be the worst place to be born trans in, though are clearly shitholes for other reasons. Lindelt, on the other hand, shuns mages, so that prejudice might bleed over against the trans audience.

Trans folk would probably do well to stay away from the Church of the Deep and the city of Irithyll. The totalitarian regime Sullyvahn and Aldrich reigned over despised the gods and everything they stood for, probably using them as scapegoats throughout the height of their rule. Gwyndolin’s trans status likely became something reviled through whatever propaganda machine the regime employed.

Lothric’s castle town probably wouldn’t be awful to live in. The sorcerers from the Grand Archive were apparently pretty well respected, forming one of the pillars of government in the kingdom. However, the archives seem like they’d be exclusive to the upper class, a place where trans folk tend not to reach very often. Of course, like Thorolund and Carim, Lothric was apparently a bit of a theocracy, which is pretty universally terrible for its subjects.

It’s unclear how visible Gwyndolin was during the first age of fire, but her presence was clearly known at some point before the Church of the Deep sacked Anor Londo and imprisoned her and Yorshka. Whatever the case, if she was more visible than not at all, she probably became a trans icon. The Crown of the Dark Sun, the reversal ring, and the Darkmoon Blades logo would probably be the sort of icons half of us would have tattoos of. Her covenant undoubtedly includes a number of trans adherents just there because of her.

The reversal ring’s description makes it sound like a unique artifact, but if trans people were indeed typically involved with sorcery, you can bet that at least some of them would try to reverse-engineer it. Lordran and Lothric seem to be quite distant from Drangleic, and a pilgrimage from Vinheim to Majula might simply be too long a trek for most average people to undertake. While far from a perfect solution, the effects of the ring might quell dysphoria enough to function at the level of cis folk. The ring noticeably does nothing for voice, however, so voice training would still be a thing. That’d be awfully hard without a computer to record and play back samples. I really wish FROM would fix that. It sucks that my reversal ring character sounds like Dr. Girlfriend whenever she eats shit or yells at her various adventuring buddies for being incompetent and nearly getting them both killed again.

If I had any talent at creative writing, I might be tempted to write a fanfic incorporating some of this, but I’m still stuck in the hell where all my characters are blatant self-inserts, and I can only go on for a couple pages before I run out of shit to say, so whatever. Maybe someone else can fill in for me while I improve.

EDIT: /u/yamie and /u/ultraviolet7 pointed out in the reddit thread for this post that irithyll probably would’ve been pretty fuckin’ rad before sully showed up, given that its inhabitants were moon worshipers. There’s your fanfiction plot right there: fascist loons come to power in a liberal city-state and demonize half the population.

I also had a thought that since the old witch’s ring apparently makes the player sound like quelaag, there is a precedent for magic that can make one’s voice sound more feminine. It’s just that said magic is either pyromancy or, god forbid, fire sorcery that might only be able to be crafted by witches. lord knows how common those ladies are through most of history.