#on top of him previously being referred to outside of canon as a bisexual person

[haedia]

It's entirely possible that his original writer had this in mind for him. So I don't want to think the comments are a blatant attempt at a retcon (especially when the person that asked could see some of themselves in him and that's why they asked). But it doesn't feel great.

And portions of the fandom that just cannot handle people being frustrated with it aren't helping. Like, hey, fellow Lucanis enjoyers? It's actually really shitty to reductively engage with frustrations some have with how Lucanis is clearly missing content as people crying about not getting more sexy scenes with him.

The missing content here isn't the storyboarded bits in the artbook.

He's just not as finished as the other companions.

His romance banter and scenes with Neve are glaring examples of the disconnect though. Like, his writing is just inconsistent between the two romances. To the point that he almost feels like a different character and that's not great either. (And, since some fans are weird about criticism of that as well, I feel like I have to put a disclaimer here: I love Neve! She's great! When I don't romance either of them, I'm glad they can find each other! Those feelings don't change my frustration with the previously stated issues!)

I remember seeing a post about the differences between the kinds and intensity of the relationships between him+Rook and him+Neve and I really liked the comparison (and it resonated with what I think they were intending for him more) but we still needed to see more of that develop. As-is we're left to fill in the blanks way more than we should.

And hey, gonna get real here: I'm demisexual. My complaints about the Lucanis romance aren't me misunderstanding demisexuality. Like, no, I get being demi. I am on that spectrum. But like, Veilguard isn't very good at subtlety in character stuff. And we had confirmation of this game not featuring acespec romances, since they wanted to do it right or whatever. Those facts, adding in with how incomplete he feels...well, again it's not great. Hence the frustration.

Related to Lucanis being demi, though: Demisexuality is broad, and there's a lot of room to play in that representation box, both in terms of representation in media and in how fans express that in fanworks.

Been seeing a lot of criticism of how fans interpret Lucanis in fanworks, as if he should only be depicted in specific ways, as if demisexuality is rigid in how it can be expressed. Which is bullshit.

If you like interpreting Lucanis a more sex-repulsed or sex-averse or some variation of not as down to be intimate, cool fine. Do that and enjoy works that feature him that way. But there are plenty of demisexual people that have sex drives and once they're locked in with their person, it's go time. Just that, outside of that relationship (or relationships if polyamorous), it's not really there. And this may blow some minds but demisexual people can be into/have kinks! They're not mutually exclusive! (The number of demi and other acespec people I know in the kink community is just a lot. But that's a digression for another day)

Anyway.

There was room for Lucanis to explore his identity with Rook (romanced or not) in the game. He may not have the terms for it but he would know he's different. Like, I didn't have the label for me being agender until I was probably in my twenties? But I knew back in elementary school. Demisexuality was a similar situation. I knew in middle school but didn't have a term until much later.

The fact that we have none of that with him, though, both sucks and is glaring. It should be more explicit in the text, both for representation purposes and for more depth for his character.

Without it, it just feels like a half-written mess with a sprinkling of "Oh yeah, we totally did that on purpose", which again: not great!

I openly accept any corrections, especially from actual Lucanis fans or demisexuals. If you disagree with anything I say this point onwards, please tell me!

The way Lucanis went from "bisexual disaster " to "panromantic demisexual" after the game came out feels weird (Both are direct quotes about Lucanis from Mary Kirby). Before I get into this I'd like to clarify, neither is a problem, Lucanis being demisexual in a vacuum is not what I take issue with.

But it feels like another excuse. Being demisexual means something it's not just another word for inexperienced or hesitant. If Lucanis is demisexual why does he fall for Neve or Rook nearly just as fast as any other companion does and why does he never acknowledge that?

There are many hints that he's never dated before (not sure if it's ever outrught stated), and again, he is shown to be hesitant... but nothing uniquely in the direction of demisexuality.

This game clearly isn't afraid of using real terms (it has an entire codex going over different non-binary labels), so why is this where they draw the line? Why does Lucanis never acknowledge the fact that he requires a deep connection before he feels certain things?

I've seen people call Krem from DA:I bad trans representation because he's never called transgender, which I respectfully disagree with. Still, Krem is explicitly trans and then Lucanis's demisexual coding is just... pulling away before you can kiss? It doesn't help that the scene happens after something that would definitely explain why Lucanis would need to clear his head.

That's also paired with the fact we do get told constantly that he's traumatised and he mentions having little faith in people prior to his romance (at least with Neve). This isn't to say he can't be demisexual, not at all, but there's always an explanation for his behaviour that people would think of before demisexuality and there's no effort put in to otherwise lead us to it.

For a game that is on the nose about everything, I find it hard to give them the benefit of the doubt that this was the one thing they handled with subtlety.

Best case scenario, Mark Kirby was just trying to... I don't know, set up expectations to defy them? Worst case scenario, this is just another case of someone from Bioware lying to us about this damn game.

[daviesroyal]

As an acespec, I'm getting really tired of creators coming in after a piece of media has been released and saying, via Word of God, that "oh yeah this character is totally ace, I meant them to be ace all along, couldn't you tell?"

It's a fucking insult, to try and use representation as a shield from criticism (or, in the case of Arcane, because the creator apparently hates the Jayvik ship).

I openly accept any corrections, especially from actual Lucanis fans or demisexuals. If you disagree with anything I say this point onwards, please tell me!

The way Lucanis went from "bisexual disaster " to "panromantic demisexual" after the game came out feels weird (Both are direct quotes about Lucanis from Mary Kirby). Before I get into this I'd like to clarify, neither is a problem, Lucanis being demisexual in a vacuum is not what I take issue with.

But it feels like another excuse. Being demisexual means something it's not just another word for inexperienced or hesitant. If Lucanis is demisexual why does he fall for Neve or Rook nearly just as fast as any other companion does and why does he never acknowledge that?

There are many hints that he's never dated before (not sure if it's ever outrught stated), and again, he is shown to be hesitant... but nothing uniquely in the direction of demisexuality.

This game clearly isn't afraid of using real terms (it has an entire codex going over different non-binary labels), so why is this where they draw the line? Why does Lucanis never acknowledge the fact that he requires a deep connection before he feels certain things?

I've seen people call Krem from DA:I bad trans representation because he's never called transgender, which I respectfully disagree with. Still, Krem is explicitly trans and then Lucanis's demisexual coding is just... pulling away before you can kiss? It doesn't help that the scene happens after something that would definitely explain why Lucanis would need to clear his head.

That's also paired with the fact we do get told constantly that he's traumatised and he mentions having little faith in people prior to his romance (at least with Neve). This isn't to say he can't be demisexual, not at all, but there's always an explanation for his behaviour that people would think of before demisexuality and there's no effort put in to otherwise lead us to it.

For a game that is on the nose about everything, I find it hard to give them the benefit of the doubt that this was the one thing they handled with subtlety.

Best case scenario, Mark Kirby was just trying to... I don't know, set up expectations to defy them? Worst case scenario, this is just another case of someone from Bioware lying to us about this damn game.