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[Mathel]

I am surprised she even has 3 chairs. Perhaps for different rooms?

[Mephansteras]

Probably. She's old, she wouldn't want to have to drag a chair from room to room.

[Enemy post]

1270.

[Akura]

So that beholder floating eye monster in strip #32 was Sunny after all.

[scriver]

She's got pink eye since then

Has to be a big issue for beholders

[Rolan7]

Heh! (it's a contact lens to block the anti-magic gaze unless I'm totally misremembering)
Also I assumed Sunny was male but the wiki indicates no gender has been revealed yet, neat!

Anyway I love a good callback like this, I had completely forgotten about #32.

[Mathel]

Beholders reproduce asexually. Sunny probably has even less gender than V.

[hops]

V's gender is "Divorced Parent"

[Lord Shonus]

The Giant has used the term "genderqueer" to describe V.

[Rolan7]

V's gender is "Divorced Parent"

[heydude6]

The Giant has used the term "genderqueer" to describe V.

The problem I have with a declaration like that is that words like genderqueer hadn’t even entered the popular consciousness back when Order of the Stick was first being written in 2003.

Rich didn’t imagine V being that type of person back then and didn’t write them as such either. It’s just a clumsy retcon meant to capitalize on current trends, and it shows!

Objectively speaking based on what’s written in the text, V is an elf who presents in such a way that people struggle to assign them a gender. This is played entirely as a joke about how elves are effeminate. When people ask V directly about what gender they are (ie. what pronouns they would like to use), V gives evasive answers. Again as a continuation of the joke.

What’s clear from these interactions is that V does not want to identify as any gender! Such a description is a closer match to someone who sees themselves as androgynous rather than someone who changes what gender they identify as based on their whims, which is what genderqueer actually is!

Because Rich doesn’t understand the people he’s trying to pander to, it limits the amount of depth he can give V as a non-binary character. His attempt to pivot V’s gender from a joke about girly elves to a strong genderqueer icon only ends up being surface level, and a disappointment to any queer reader who may have been drawn in by Rich’s bold declarations.

In a world where people like J.K Rowling exist, the best way to analyze a character remains through “Death of the Author”. V is still a good character (nothing wrong with being a divorced parent), but if Rich wants those progressive brownie points, he’s got to let his writing speak for itself.


So how’d I do Rolan7? Is there anything you think I missed? You’d know more about this topic than I would.

[Rolan7]

The problem I have with a declaration like that is that words like genderqueer hadn’t even entered the popular consciousness back when Order of the Stick was first being written in 2003.

Rich didn’t imagine V being that type of person back then and didn’t write them as such either. It’s just a clumsy retcon meant to capitalize on current trends, and it shows!

Objectively speaking based on what’s written in the text, V is an elf who presents in such a way that people struggle to assign them a gender. This is played entirely as a joke about how elves are effeminate. When people ask V directly about what gender they are (ie. what pronouns they would like to use), V gives evasive answers. Again as a continuation of the joke.

Yes!  Though I don't think V evades, I think they use narrative convenience to avoid answering a question they don't even see.  There are indications that they think their gender is obvious, and they refuse to state it.  And I love that.
Technically they wouldn't even be NB, but technically genderqueer from a non-elf perspective.
Probably male or female!
(or maybe NB)

What’s clear from these interactions is that V does not want to identify as any gender! Such a description is a closer match to someone who sees themselves as androgynous rather than someone who changes what gender they identify as based on their whims, which is what genderqueer actually is!

Yeah, ninehells yeah!

Because Rich doesn’t understand the people he’s trying to pander to, it limits the amount of depth he can give V as a non-binary character. His attempt to pivot V’s gender from a joke about girly elves to a strong genderqueer icon only ends up being surface level, and a disappointment to any queer reader who may have been drawn in by Rich’s bold declarations.

Oh, this came up very strongly in a certain thread.  It was... interesting.  That was Rich's conclusion though, yes, and I fully agree with his take.  It was respectful.
He didn't want to introduce token trans characters for fear of mismanaging them.  That's unfortunate but I get it.  I myself would trust him to do it, to the extent that I projected trans-NB into V (and so did many other readers).  But I personally respect his decision not to try to write trans characters.
WHILE WRITING TRANS CHARACTERS
V and the lady dwarf cleric are potential characters we can enjoy, and there is nothing at all objectionable about them.  They can be interpreted other ways, but it's still nice.

In a world where people like J.K Rowling exist, the best way to analyze a character remains through “Death of the Author”. V is still a good character (nothing wrong with being a divorced parent), but if Rich wants those progressive brownie points, he’s got to let his writing speak for itself.

</3

So how’d I do Rolan7? Is there anything you think I missed? You’d know more about this topic than I would.

wait what the fck

[Rolan7]

What’s clear from these interactions is that V does not want to identify as any gender! Such a description is a closer match to someone who sees themselves as androgynous rather than someone who changes what gender they identify as based on their whims, which is what genderqueer actually is!

Yeah, ninehells yeah!

Well no, to be clear:  I think V is gender-ambiguous, whereas I am solidly defying gender (when I'm not actively performing it, male or female depending- it gets complicated)

My theory is that V has a gender, and is confused every time people don't see it.  Hence me saying they're probably male or female.  But elves defy the human preconceptions of gender, appearing androgynous.

[Egan_BW]

My interpretation is that V is typical of their culture and that said culture has one real gender. Or probably a more complicated system which we're not really privy to because it's not part of our story and our perspective is intentionally more on the in universe human cultures.

[heydude6]

So how’d I do Rolan7? Is there anything you think I missed? You’d know more about this topic than I would.

wait what the fck

While I was writing my post, I noticed you had recently posted in the thread so I thought I'd ask an NB person to check my homework.

And it seems like I was right to ask. You bring good evidence for the fact that Varsuvius is not Androgynous.