Source: ibtimes.co.uk

Fire Emblem Fates homophobia: Bisexual character drugged to believe men are women and women are men

Original Story: According to Tumblr user Andrea-Ritsu, who is playing the Japanese version of the game and has translated the scenes in question, there is a bisexual character called Soleil, who can only be romanced by a male protagonist via some very questionable means.

In the translated dialogue the character says: "My weakness is, cute girls... Around the type that I like, I end up fainting if I even get near them. It's not very impressive." She also says that this is preventing her from becoming a "strong, cool woman".

Constantly fainting around people you find attractive would be a problem, but the insinuation is of course worrying, and it only gets worse. Later on the male Kamui reveals he has effectively drugged Soleil without her consent to help her overcome the problem.

"I managed to get my hands on a kind of magic powder," he says. "I'm really sorry, but a little while ago, I poured some of it into your drink. The person who drinks that powder... somehow becomes able to see other people as the gender opposite what they actually are.

"After what you said, I wanted to resolve your concerns, so I thought it over a little. And it led me to a conclusion. Seeing me as a girl, you can use me to overcome your issues. From now on I'll get closer to you until you can tolerate being around me without fainting."

It gets stranger. The powder doesn't help Soleil, but they continue to use it. Kamui meets Soleil then tells her to look toward the sky, leading to this dialogue exchange...

Kamui: Your smile is like the sun. I want to look at that smile beside me... forever.

Soleil: Kamui... what's wrong? Did you hit your head?

Kamui: T-That's not it! I'm quite serious! ... Soleil. I want you to have this.

Soleil: This is... a ring?

Kamui: Yes. I called you here today to ask you to marry me.

Soleil: ... Marry...? Eeh!? EEEEEEHHHHHH!?

Kamui: I made this ring shaped like the sun in order to match you, Soleil... I would be happy if you would accept it.

Soleil: ............. I'm sorry!

Kamui: ... I see...

Soleil: Ah, not like that! That wasn't a refusal just now... that was me apologising for asking if you hit your head despite trying so hard to confess.

Kamui: Ah, was that it? You surprised me.

Soleil: My reply is... of course it's okay. There's no other man that could make my heart tighten like this. I've loved you since the day I saw you as a girl.

Kamui: Uh. Since the day you saw me as a girl? You couldn't possibly mean... that you fell in love with the female me!?

Soleil: Yep!

Kamui: Oh God...

Soleil: But it's okay. Right now, I also love the male Kamui. I mean, when I drank that magic powder, I saw countless people as women... but the only one to make my heart throb was you, Kamui. Even now... my heart is beating fast. ... Hey, want to try touching my chest?

Kamui: Waaaaah! No, no! That's not happening!!

Soleil: Eh, why not?

Kamui: Why... because before marriage, I can't thoughtlessly touch a woman's body. I understand your feelings... but please treasure yourself more.

Soleil: Okay... I get it.

Kamui: Good girl. Thank you for accepting my proposal. I'll definitely make you happy. On that note... you can't flirt with other guys, okay? Though I don't think I have to worry about that with you.

Soleil: Ehehe... Okay. I won't cheat. From now on until forever, I belong only to Kamui!

(Nintendo) (Nintendo)

This is all problematic for a litany of reasons. First we have the female character defining her attraction to women as a weakness, which regardless of characterisation is a concerning view for the developers telling this story to take. Then there's the magic powder added to Soleil's drink without her consent, which has clear connotations and finally the exchange relating to their engagement at the end of the dialogue entry above.

Well, I honestly find this extremely amusing. Morals of the story are that drugs can make miracles happens.

Also, this is war. Is it so bad that one character might want to trick another into having some good old love fun? They need to cool off, too. They're soldiers!

Almost sounds like a Vita game
hey-oh!

Is it going to get banned on NeoGAF too?

Which one? :3

All of them. Only innovation here is drugs making miracles happen

"Hey, want to try touching my chest?"

i hope they will translate this better...

tag

Holy shit!!!!!!!!! The translation of these dialogues is being made by Andrea-Ritsu? Nice!!!

Let's sign a petition to cancel this game.

The dialouge exchange here is cheesy as hell and I can't wait to see what else the game has to offer.

I find it odd that someone would take offense from a character that feels awkward around a person they find attractive (whatever their sexual orientations or genders are). I assume Lon'qu was also considered a controversial character then.

Lmao, ah man it'll never stop xD, i'll answer this man (Ben Skipper), just because of his clickbait headline, and everyone else who worries about his stuff with a quote from this video albeit properly transmuted to the topic of discussion, that englobes all of the debates and heated conversations or insult chains on twitter this topic or topics like this one could cause; ''How do you marry someone without their consent? shouldn't you go to jail for kidnapping a woman? and drugging her?, these are questions that you don't have to ask, because videogames aren't real :) ''

well, she is urging him to touch her chest to confirm, that her heart is racing because of him

".. even now my heart is beating so fast .. do you want to feel it beating in my chest ?" might work better