He is made a fool of by love, and, yet, still believes in its power. That is Dumbledore's biggest tragedy, and it's what makes him so amazing as a queer character. It's never stated explicitly, but why else did Dumbledore follow (view spoiler) when he was so evil? He was in love with him. Rowling announced it, but it never appears as a plot point in the books." If someone has to tell you that a character is gay, without it being apparent in the book or story itself, then I don't think it belongs on a list of "best fantasy featuring. Ok, so, I didn't mean to write so long a post. In Robin Hobb's last additions to the Realm of the Elderlings, the Rain Wild Chronicles, there are five gay characters (+ sexy times yay), a good number of them main characters, present from book 1 to book 4 (final), and have considerable importance to the overall plot. «You said once that I might call you 'Beloved', if I no longer wished to call you Fool. If there must be another my fate is twined around, I am glad it is you." To see you take breath puts the breath back in my lungs. "But for here, for now, just between us two, and for no other reason save I am me and you are you, I tell you this. Basically the whole plot revolves around the two and how they relate to each other and lots of pages (or books *cough* Golden Fool) are focused on what they feel for each other. (Do kisses count? They do kiss.) Fitz and the Fool are also bound by fate, as Catalyst and Prophet.
It is angsty, but their relationship comes full circle (from 'no homo' to 'lets runaway on a unicorn' *cough*). When he discovers the Fool's feelings for him he rejects him because "he's not gay" (rephrasing). (there are hints here and there in the books, but the underlying moral of the story is that "gender doesn't matter").
Now, nobody knows the Fool real gender, but most regard him as male. The protagonist is called Fitz and while he is straight, his "best friend" (I'm being reductive) aka The Fool is in love with him. Has anybody read the books set in the Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb? I won't say it should be added to the list (I think it would cause quite a debate), but I'd like to recommend it to anyone reading this. Believe it or not, but some people aren't actually familiar with the Harry Potter series, and it being on this list implies a certain type of content that simply isn't accurate. Therefore, I don't think it belongs on this list. There are no characters in Harry Potter that can be identified as gay by simply reading the book.
Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow or the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling) - but these books definitely have gay main characters who are obviously gay and engage in m/m relationships (however implicit they might be). Some books on this list may not have explicit m/m sex scenes (e.g. I think most people WOULD assume that any list for "gay characters" means that there should be actual, obviously gay characters in the book. Magnolia wrote: "I don't read Harry Potter, but my question is this: Just b/c someone is said to be gay, but there are no m/m scenes in a book, should that book be allowed on the list? I thought the list was for books with m/m characters, actually having m/m scenes in the book.
And the content of Harry Potter doesn't include Dumbledore being gay. Maybe she imagined him doing lots of things, but her imagination doesn't change the content of her written stories. I'm sure lots of authors imagine their characters in a certain way, perhaps imagine them in different situations or in various conversations with their other characters, etc etc. So what if the author claims that Dumbledore is gay AFTER she's finished writing the whole series? I mean, great, whatever, but it's still not a part of the actual written series whatsoever. It's simply not a part of the story, at all. This list is called "Best Fantasy Books with Gay Main Characters." To me, and I think to most people, that implies that the books on this list have at least one gay lead character, AND that his being gay is obvious and somehow a part of the story.Īs far as I am concerned, there are no gay main characters in the Harry Potter series since it's never mentioned or really even implied in any way.