That, and exploring the reasons why a transgression of such would be such an affront so as to warrant emancipation, falls under societal norm.
The plot line of “my family emancipated me for my sexuality, which caused me to roam the world seeking for redemption, because obviously my sexuality is something that I require redemption from” is bad writing because it is incongruous with the expressly diverse and hopeful universe Blizzard aims to create with Overwatch. (Jeff’s words on those adjectives, not mine.)
It has nothing to do with the fact that it’s a tragedy but because it’d be yet another example of a universe where old timey homophobia is suddenly and clumsily introduced in order to give a character “depth”.
Last response on the matter since that’s all I really have to say about it.
Falls under basic biology. One can assume his family would be looking for an alternative heir closest to their bloodline.
Clearly after the cruelty of his family became clear, he was able to see that the crimes he did in the name of the family are evil, and require atonement. Particularly for his dead brother. So he seeks redemption for his Brothers sake, not for his sexuality.
Ofcourse, because originality is the only way forward.
Bloodlines are an antiquated concept, but the Shimada clan is styled in centuries-old Japan, so that’s okay I guess (although I have Words about this as a concept as well. Different topic tho.)
“Basic biology” does not explain why a transgression of such requires emancipation.
So why can’t that be the reason that he leaves his family? There is no reason for sexuality to come into that at all, and including it in this decision would not only require a healthy dose of retconning, but also the repurposement of homophobia (which as far as we know, doesn’t exist elsewhere in the OWverse, and making Japan the designated Faraway Land With Outdated Societal Views is a concept that I’m uncomfortable with in and of itself) where it is completely extraneous.
Shoehorning tropes that don’t jive with the rest of your universe for shallow character depth is bad writing. Blizzard can do better and I would roundly criticize them if they did this.
Nothing to do with originality. Almost everything is derivative, after all. I only expect them to not be insulting with it, and given how Tracer is treated in universe I see no reason why it should be.
His family no use for an heir that cannot produce offspring.
So then why reveal his sexuality if its irrelevant? This is the thing, it’s either completely relevant to the lore of his character in relation to OWVerse and its on-going story. Or it shouldn’t be mentioned.
It is in its current state a society exactly like that. The idea of “fitting in” is so deeply ingrained its crazy.
I’m sure they would write it better and in more depth. I am just a person writing ideas from the top of their head on the forums.
The only reason I didn’t bring Genji into my posts was because I know that would open up to a whole discourse line of “but he is the eldest”, and honestly I don’t know enough about royal bloodlines to properly explain why that concept doesn’t need to exist either.
(That is, if you can explain that to me I’d be very interested in hearing it!)
Here’s a post I wrote about the brothers if you wanna see what is immediately a more compelling story of redemption than “My family disliked that I was Gay so I ran off”.
I am not as familiar with East Asian ‘royal’ bloodlines as I am western cultures, but even then, this is not Royalty in the classic sense, it’s a crime syndicate centralized around a family. Genji was Sojiro’s favorite anyway, and if the elders could rein him in, he’d be just of good as a candidate for ‘offspring’ which is a weird and Uncomfortable term because it feels like I’m talking about breeding dogs or something???
If you give me some hours and a paycheck I could write an incredibly detailed backstory that gives proper reasoning and explanation for why he would leave and how it would involve his sexuality.
I’m not here to write a character story for Hanzo, I am against the idea as it would mean I am throwing my own ideas on to somebody elses character.
And in response to your post about “Why not Genji”
I figured the way the Shimada clan was styled very much resembles royalty, though again I don’t know enough about the Yakuza to draw distinctions between the two.
My post wasn’t fictional, though some of it was extrapolating. It’s just laying out the Lore as we know it, which isn’t too much.
Though if you wanna write a story, by all means go ahead, many people have already done this via fanfiction and done it very well so link me the ao3 post if you end up writing something.
Genji’s alive and thanks to Chu, he’s still ‘intact’ downstairs. So he could have a kid if he wanted.
The time frames are unbeknownst to us, as far as I know. We don’t really know the time difference between the death of Genji and his betrayal of the family.
yes, and no. He’s dead to the world, and to his family.
Correct, thus my ‘extrapolating’. We can assume w/ his new Scion skin, for a short time Hanzo was still ‘brainwashed’ by the elders of his clan into leading before he managed to break free. He’s been crushed under the weight of killing Genji for at least a decade though, regardless.
Genji has revealed himself to his brother ‘recently’ in the lore, likely AFTER the recall (because he’s basically telling Hanzo to come join him at Overwatch with his speech at the end there). His family thinks of him as dead, and seeing as how he made a point to destroy what he could of the family, he’s not going back, and considering Hanzo’s consistent and curt refusal of Talon’s help to get the Shimada empire back up and running how it used to, Hanzo’s not going back any time soon, either. No heirs for the Shimada Clan. So sad lol
But we still don’t know entirely what happened, we just know a series of events that could be missing some key information. That’s what I’m getting at.
So you can see why they can’t use Genji as an heir anymore.
Lots of variables at play here. Personally I don’t even want Hanzo to be gay, I simply stated that people would only accept some positive form of LGBT characters, and would refuse any possible negativity, regardless of its basis in reality.
But like, do they need an heir? Both of the brothers are gone, the Shimada empire is in shambles, a shadow of the power it once held. Let it die. There are plenty of arms dealers in the world. The men who worked for that family will find underground work elsewhere.
Also Hanzo’s gay in my lil bi heart and no lack of lore is gonna take that from me lmfao. I just don’t want his whole story revolving around that because it’s a story I’ve seen Too Many Times (I’m gay and my family hates me so I left) and I’m bored of it frankly. I love that he’s a giant pile of garbage with a drinking problem who thought he killed his brother because if a lifetime of mental abuse from his family and then he’s been devoid of a personality for so long trying to seek redemption for the wrongs he’s done and now that he’s got a chance at living he chopped off all his hair, got wild piercings, and dressed poorly and overstuffed himself on cake.
That alone is an interesting story. And I’d LOVE to know the story behind his wolf-skin outfits…like he’s a complete disaster of a man but that’s a better story than what you proposed, at least to me. If he so happens to be gay with all this piled on top? Sure, why not? Lord knows there are plenty of literal gay disasters in the world. He’d fit right in. :p
Perhaps not anymore, but the empire was still strong while Hanzo was there, as far as I know. The pressure for him would have been then and there, not here and now.
As long as you wont be upset if the lore comes around and he ends up straight, go right ahead.
There are plenty of disasters all over. I’m a shining example of one.
But anyway, bad tropes of gay characters aside, I hope that you all will not be upset if something negative does show up. Not every character is going to be a example of who to be, or a hero to look up to. Some will be negative, evil, and bad people, and they might be gay, too.
Lemme rephrase, no lack or inclusion of lore will take what I feel about Hanzo’s sexuality away from me. I’m not gonna raise a big stink because that’s Pointless to the Nth degree, I’m just gonna stay in my own corner doing my own thing.
That’s kinda what I was getting at as like, wanting to see lmfao.
eta: Tracer has us covered for the ‘shining example of a human being’ thing.
I mean, characters that are goody goody are generally boring regardless of sexuality.
Ideally sexuality should be something like… food preference. Idk. Characters having motivations that aren’t good or even neutral in nature while being LGBT isn’t the issue, just the application of modern day prejudices in futuristic or otherworldly universes. (I’m not even particularly invested in Hanzo as a character, I just don’t like bad writing. Sorry I was kinda harsh earlier. It is just one of my pet peeves.) You also see the same thing with binaristic attitudes in like, alien societies. You have all the possibilities in the world and it rankles me a but when the best writers can come up with is “everything is exactly the same as it is in the society I live in, except for This One Thing”.
If it is bad writing though I will criticize it. Not even solely because of LGBT but because bad writing should be criticized, otherwise we just end up with more bad writing. :B (Also because I am like, incapable of staying in my lane.) Writing that is bad because of poorly handled societal biases are just low hanging fruit so even someone as illiterate as me can articulate their complaints, on top of there being a lot of examples of it already.