Talk:List of fictional non-binary characters

Adding back characters who were deleted off the article

When I was looking at the earlier talk pages, I noticed characters such as Aziraphale, Crowley, Korvo, Terry, and Acid Storm, who were previously on the list before, were deleted. I can see why people think they don't fit the criteria for this list, but these characters are non-binary because they really don't have a determined gender inside the gender binary. With these characters' lack of gender in the binary, they can have the decision to choose their gender and pronouns, like Aziraphale, Korvo, and Terry choosing he/him, and Crowley and Acid Storm changing between genders. I would also like to point out Loki, who doesn't think he has a gender or orientation, and changes between male and female forms, like Crowley. Another example is the character Garnet from Steven Universe, who is a fusion of characters Ruby and Sapphire, who are sexless, but female presenting. Garnet goes by she/her pronouns by characters in the show, like Krovo and Terry going by he/him pronouns by other characters, and creator Rebecca Sugar stated that "the Gems are all non-binary women," which includes Garnet, and her friends, Amethyst and Pearl. And just like Aziraphale and Crowley, Garnet is human presenting. One last character who is one the list I want to point out is Nightshade from Transformers: Earthspark. They're a Transformer, like Acid Storm, and tells Optimus Prime they go by they/them pronouns, stating that "he or she just doesn't fit who [they are]". Seeing that Loki, Garnet, and Nightside are on the list, I think the deleted entries should be added back in. FeministDisneyDragon (talk) 02:01, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

In part, I can say that I got rid of characters on the list because of discussions on here. As it stands now, as long as the character meets the inclusion criteria (listed at the top of this page), then it should have an entry. Historyday01 (talk) 13:07, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

In the criteria, it states "Do not include characters that belong to a genderless species or class of beings", but all of the gem characters in Steven Universe is sexless, which is a synonym for genderless. The word non-binary can be defined as a gender identity that does not conform to the male/female gender binary, and genderless is can be defined as not having, not suggesting or not identifying as (= considering yourself to have) a particular gender to the male/female gender binary. This further proves my reasoning to add back the previous deleted entries and to add other genderless characters on the list. FeministDisneyDragon (talk) 19:12, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

As the criteria explains, we don't include all genderless or nonbinary characters in this list, only ones that are human or belong to a class of being that isn't typically genderless. While robots can have gender, they are typically genderless. Thus if we included them here, they would quickly overwhelm the list with hundreds of characters. Similarly, the Gems in Steven Universe are all genderless, so I don't think they should be included in the list. Shep, however, is a nonbinary human character in Steven Universe and should be included. Hope that makes sense. Nosferattus (talk) 14:48, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

Adding Ed to Paranatural?

One of the main characters, Ed, has recently(Chapter 8 Page 36) been confirmed in-comic to be non-binary, and uses they/them, with occasional he/him. However, a quick google yields nothing but fansites and the comic itself. Is the comic itself sufficient citation to add them, or should we wait for an article or something to come out? PiddleAndTwiddle (talk) 13:15, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

I think we can wait for an article. Historyday01 (talk) 01:27, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

Are they/them pronouns and/or neopronouns enough (on their own) to say a character is non-binary?

Hello all. As you all know they/them pronouns are often used as appropriate pronouns by people who are non-binary, genderqueer, or other individuals under the non-binary umbrella. Some use neopronouns like ze/hir, fae/faer, ey/em. My question is simple: are such pronouns, on their own, enough to say that a character falls under the non-binary umbrella (i.e. is non-binary, genderqueer, etc.)? Or are more secondary and /or primary sources needed?

Your thoughts would be appreciated. My proposal would be adding a third point to the inclusion criteria to address this issue. My main interest is ensuring the page is a better resource for users. I wish last year's discussion (ending on Sept. 20) hadn't got so heated, resulting in an unclear consensus by the end, at least from what I could tell. But, my hope is that through this discussion there could be a clearer consensus, providing better guidance for those adding entries to the page. Surely, the inclusion criteria should be revised and improved. And I am hopeful that discussion could be one step toward that improvement.

Although I may not agree with all of you all the time, considering your past contributions on here, and the fact you all mentioned pronoun usage by fictional characters, in past comments, I thought your thoughts would be helpful on here @User:FeministDisneyDragon, @User:Eldomtom2, @User:Bilorv, @User:Aykhot, @User:Tomorrow and tomorrow, and @User:Crossroads. Historyday01 (talk) 19:54, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

In the case of "they/them" alone, no. Author intent has to be clearer than this. He's not a fiction writer, but Matt Parker uses they/them pronouns to describe all people. And with fiction we reach edge cases real quick: aliens; robots; multiple consciousnesses occupying one physical body. Would "non-binary" even make sense as a term if talking about a fictional civilisation with a four-gender system? The answer to it all is: if and only if reliable sources describe the character as non-binary, whether author or reviewers, then we can list them.

I'd be interested in a case where neopronouns were used but there was no clear expression of gender, but I would still tend towards no per the edge cases idea. — Bilorv (talk) 21:16, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

I have not changed my viewpoint from previous discussions. We should not include characters just because they are solely referred to by they/them pronouns. In my view that is original research. The only exemption to this rule I would allow is if it is made clear that the character themselves wishes to be solely referred to with they/them pronouns.--Eldomtom2 (talk) 21:50, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

That's my thought as well. It is too easy for some to see a creator (often on Twitter) say that a character uses they/them pronouns, and this means the character is nonbinary. I think that is too much of a leap. I know in some cases, like characters in Steven Universe, where Rebecca Sugar called Gems "non-binary women" and then elsewhere it was stated that these characters used they/them pronouns. But, yes, have an exemption about whether the character wishes to be solely referred to with they/them pronouns would be a good one. I'll draft up some language for a third point to the inclusion criteria in the coming days, after responding to all the comments on here. Historyday01 (talk) 14:04, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

While I don't think they/them usage alone is enough (after all, someone whose gender is unknown can still be referred to with they/them), if a character is consistently referred to with they/them in a context that makes it clear their gender is not unknown (close friends/acquaintances/family using they/them, characters with omniscience or other forms of meta-knowledge about the character in question using they/them, etc), that seems like enough evidence to classify them as textually nonbinary (unless there's some speculative element, like the character in question being canonically multiple distinct people in one body, that sheds new light on said context).

To use a frequently argued example, Kris Dreemurr from Deltarune is consistently and diegetically referred to with they/them by their family members, childhood friends, and other important people in their life, and since the game is very clear that Kris and the player controlling them are two separate entities whose sharing of a body is both a recent development and unknown to the people who refer to them with they/them, I would consider that enough textual evidence to label Kris as nonbinary, since the speculative context (player possession) does not change the primary context (usage by family/friends/peers unaware of the speculative context). Aykhot (talk) 22:46, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

For starters, that's still OR. Second, there is at present no explanation in the game for the use of they/them pronouns. Thirdly, it has been confirmed that the use of they/them pronouns for many characters in Undertale does not indicate an intent to make them canonically nonbinary, and there is at present no reason to believe Kris is different.--Eldomtom2 (talk) 11:48, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Adding Glen/Glenda

Glen/Glenda from childs play films is genderfluid 2603:6010:A3F0:8380:850F:DC5C:6A95:36D4 (talk) 07:04, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Added. Nosferattus (talk) 00:24, 11 July 2024 (UTC)

Kino's gender identity

According to our list, Kino's gender identity is "transmasculine", which means they should be in List of fictional trans characters, but not here. According to the Wikipedia article, however, "Kino's gender is ambiguous in the beginning, but was confirmed to be female in the fourth episode", which would exclude them from both lists. Can someone familiar with this character please clear up the confusion? How is Kino's gender identity best described? Nosferattus (talk) 15:27, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

Its a bit confusing, but here's what it says at List of animated series with LGBT characters: 2000–2004#2003 with sources (it appears to be the same as the present entry on this page):

Kino is a traveler who goes to "unknown mystical places" with a talking motorcycle named Hermes. Kino was assigned female at birth, but has a "androgynous persona," alternating between using feminine and masculine pronouns, while resisting those that attempt to pin a gender on them as a "girl" or "boy." While the show's official website, described Kino as a "young man," the series creator, Keiichi Sigsawa, said in September 2017, "Kino really doesn't think of herself too deeply when she uses pronouns. Depending on the circumstances, she may use "boku" or "atashi", it kinda depends on the situation she finds herself in," adding that it was not he "wanted to write a story about a girl who lives like a boy directly, [but] it was just an interesting way to start the story, and her character's personality has continued that way since then." As such, some reviewers even described Kino as one of the "rare transmasculine anime protagonists."

As a disclosure, I wrote this entry. When using the Transmasculine you get this from the transgender page: "Transmasculine refers to a person assigned female at birth who has a predominantly masculine gender identity or presentation." Hence, I'd say that it would fall under the non-binary umbrella, but it would ALSO fall under the trans umbrella. Hence, Kino should have an entry on the List of fictional trans characters page and this page as well. As I see we have three choices:

• Keep the entry as it presently stated

• Remove the entry

• Update the inclusion criteria from "Characters are considered non-binary" to "Characters are considered non-binary, gender non-conforming, fa'afafine, agender, genderless, bigender, genderfluid, genderqueer, third gender, androgynous, or otherwise under the non-binary umbrella"

As I see it, even if we DO remove this entry for Kino, we should do point #3 as it could be useful in the future evaluations of entries on the main page. Any discussion on whether Kino should have an entry on the list of fictional trans characters, should be discussed at Talk:List of fictional trans characters rather than here, as this isn't the appropriate place to discuss whether Kino should have an entry on that page.--Historyday01 (talk) 20:31, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

As an update, I recently added an entry for Raine Whispers in The Owl House, who is also transmasculine and non-binary. Kino is similar in the sense she can be described as "androgynous", with the Androgyny page saying "Regarding gender identity, androgynous individuals may identify as transgender or non-binary and use this as a form of gender expression, in which androgyny has fluctuated in popularity in different cultures and throughout history. Physically, an androgynous appearance may be achieved through personal grooming, fashion, or hormone treatment" and would fall under the non-binary umbrella in the case of what is noted in the above entry... I would say the interview with Keiichi Sigsawa is the strongest source here and supports the entry's inclusion. Also the statement you quote ("Kino's gender is ambiguous in the beginning, but was confirmed to be female in the fourth episode") provides NO source, so it can't be used to remove this entry. I don't think any of us should go by our familiarity or non-familiarity with Kino, as that gets into dangerous WP:OR territory. We need to avoid that at all costs.Historyday01 (talk) 20:14, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

• Remove. Nothing specifically says that this character is "non-binary" which leaves us interpreting what the sources are saying. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 21:08, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

  That is an issue, but I do think the sources listed by Hydrangeans point toward inclusion... Historyday01 (talk) 01:46, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

• Keep. Secondary sources identify Kino as a nonbinary character. As Wikipedia aims to summarize what is in secondary sources, it is appropriate to follow that identification:
  • American Library Association Institutional Repository, "Nonbinary Gender Identities in Media: An Annotated Bibliography": they appear to be either nonbinary or at the least gender nonconforming
  • Vrai Kaiser, "Kino is the Nonbinary Protagonist We Deserve", Anime Feminist, March 11, 2018: a nonbinary, AFAB anime character
  • Nadav, "Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World Review", Anime Reviews, November 27, 2018: Kino, a non-binary traveler who drives on the talking motorcycle Hermes.
  • Nikola Marković, "Transgender and Non Binary Anime Characters, Their Outfits, Hairstyle, & Makeup", Offbinary, June 2023, “Kino”, iconic as being one of the first trans-masculine non binary anime personalities to not be portrayed with a dramatic, exaggerated character design. Kino is assigned female at birth but declines the terms bouya (little boy) and ojou-san (missy), and, as an avid traveller who dedicated their entire life to it, mostly referred to with the gender-neutral phrase tabibito-san (traveller).

• Hydrangeans (she/her | talk | edits) 21:44, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

  I agree with you on that. I think these other sources in addition to the existing sources provide enough evidence to keep the entry. Historyday01 (talk) 01:38, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

• Lean remove or option 3 - As far as the work goes, especially the extensive conversations regarding Kino's gender identity on the work's talk page, I find listing Kino as a trans or non-binary character to be generally interpretative, and thus not really meeting either list. You can make an argument for and against that interpretation, which itself is a beautiful thing I guess, but I find the objectivity of "Kino is non-binary/transmasculine" by including her on such a list to be questionable given the fact that the sources given is: A) use of pronouns in Japanese, which isn't necessarily indicative of anything considering "tomboy" characters also famously use "masculine" pronouns like "boku"; B) translations of said pronouns, which are kept gender-neutral, but I don't think are any more relevant than point A; C) Sigsawa's comment about her being written the way she is and not necessarily intending for her to not be a female. The latter point can also be considered somewhat irrelevant since intention and presentation are two different things, but I digress that the List of NB page notes Sigsawa also comments "it kind of depends on the situation she finds herself in", which (trying not to go WP:OR here) sounds more like a description of circumstantial/situational awareness.

As for the thing about episode 4, it's referring to the episode "Land of Adults" that shows "Kino" as a child who is very obviously female-presenting. The story of the episode is that when kids reach a certain age, they undergo a surgery to become "adults", and the original "Kino" (a man) saves her from this fate. While this episode shows she is (at least biologically) female, I've seen interpretations of the episode also lean into the trans identity idea, particularly from an article by Anime Feminist, but like Knowledgekid said there's nothing definitive in the work itself.

Whatever the case, the best option I feel is to either remove it entirely or update the list's criteria, since there does not seem to be general consensus regarding this. Sarcataclysmal (talk) 21:55, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

I haven't watched the series presently and while I disagree (see my other comments for that), I appreciate you commented here! It's better than me trying to solve this myself. In terms of option 3, I am strongly in support of that, as I think it would help readers and us as users/editors too. The editing criteria has been revised a lot over time, and in some ways this is a bit of a test case to determine whether its worth putting a criteria which may somewhat resemble it, on pages such as List of animated series with LGBT characters: 2020–present... I've gone back and forth whether that would help and I'm still not sure at this point. Historyday01 (talk) 01:42, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

• I don't think changing the criteria matters in this case. I'm not worried about whether Kino is identified with the specific term "non-binary", what I'm worried about is whether Kino is in fact binary male (a transman) or binary female (a tomboy, as the Wikipedia article seems to suggests). Can we rule out either of those options? The label "transmasculine" isn't very helpful here, as transmasculine can mean transman (binary male) or transmasculine nonbinary, depending on whether they identify as male or not. It sounds like "transmasculine nonbinary" might be a good description. Thoughts? Nosferattus (talk) 23:24, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

  I only mentioned changing the criteria because I happened to think about it at the time. I admit it doesn't directly relate to whether this entry should be included or not, but... I thought I'd bring it up regardless, as I do think that the criteria needs to be updated. In terms of the label for Kino, I think transmaculine nonbinary can be a good description to solve the issue you are bringing up... Historyday01 (talk) 01:44, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

• Keep – I think this is the most appropriate listing for Kino, as their relationship with gender is complex and best-described here. It's not uncommon to have somewhat ambiguous situations like this especially with older characters, and we're lucky to have such an in-depth description of how Kino falls outside of the gender binary. I don't think a move to the trans-masc list would be appropriate, but I am open to that option. ~Maplestrip/Mable (chat) 14:17, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

  Right, that was my thought too. I do think it is lucky we have such an in-depth description for Kino. I would be fine with forgoing the move to the trans-masc list in fact, as the sources in the existing entry and those shared by Hydrangeans lean to more ambiguity. Historyday01 (talk) 14:55, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

References

References

Krazy Kat

I'm skeptical of listing Krazy Kat. Krazy Kat's creator described Krazy Kat thus: "something like a sprite, an elf. They have no sex. So that Kat can't be a he or a she. The Kat's a spirit—a pixie—free to butt into anything". To me, being sexless is different than being non-binary or agender. You could easily argue that Big Bird is sexless or any number of ambiguous cartoon animal characters. (Yes I know that Big Bird is canonically male, but still.) This is another reason why I think our inclusion criteria should include some mention of the character having a human-like experience of gender, but I suppose that's a bigger discussion. What do folks think about the inclusion of Krazy Kat specifically? Nosferattus (talk) 02:17, 11 July 2024 (UTC)

Hmm. You make a good point. I'd be ok with removing it. The inclusion criteria should surely be updated. I'd be willing to revisit that again and propose possible changes (I know previous discussions were not very fruitful, but I'd be willing to try again). Historyday01 (talk) 17:11, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

iris menas

Clicking on the hyperlink immediately states that the names are supposed to be written in lowercase, yet they're upper case on the list 2001:9E8:480E:3700:255A:7677:8282:A3E1 (talk) 09:37, 15 July 2024 (UTC)

Recent edits

@User:Nosferattus, while I appreciate your edits, generally, I have to disagree with your recent removal of the words "with sub-pages for characters in anime and animation" as related to lists of lesbian and bisexual characters, specifically the following pages: List of lesbian characters in animation and List of bisexual characters in animation. I have proposed a possible compromise with my recent edit (I would also be ok if these two pages were moved to the "See also" section). Otherwise, you claimed in an edit that "the bit about Yivo using neopronouns in the show is essentially just a joke making fun of neopronouns" and that Yivo belongs to "genderless species or class of being". I have reversed that edit. I request that you provide sources to back up these assertions, especially the first assertion and would further reason the onus is on you to prove these assertions since you made these claims. Otherwise, if reliable sources are not provided, I would not support the removal of Yivo from the page. Historyday01 (talk) 19:31, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

I just removed them because there are several other sub-lists for List of fictional lesbian characters and List of fictional bisexual characters. Why are we only mentioning the animation sub-lists? And if we list all of them, the sentence becomes an unreadable nightmare. Nosferattus (talk) 19:41, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

Honestly, they were only listed that way because that's how I originally constructed the page (and I realized that I hadn't even updated it since I merged the anime characters into the animation pages, oops). You have to remember that when I created this page I did so on my own without any assistance, so I kind of only did what I felt was right at the time... Anyway, I'd be fine with moving them to the "See also" section, as long as all those lists are moved there. Historyday01 (talk) 20:52, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

It doesn't matter much to me, as long as it's consistent. Nosferattus (talk) 23:33, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

I can agree with that. Historyday01 (talk) 02:27, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Yivo

Yivo is a planet-sized alien whose reproductive organs are millions of tentacles. The show makes a joke about Yivo using neopronouns since it doesn't have a gender. Yivo clearly fails our inclusion criteria as it belongs to a genderless species or class of beings. Nosferattus (talk) 19:37, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

In my view, the sources speak for themselves. Regardless, I do think we need evidence that the show is making a joke about Yivo using neopronouns. Like, if there is director's commentary or something, since the DVD reportedly includes a "Meet Yivo!" featurette with David Cross (the person who voiced Yivo). As it so happens, I got a recent copy of the film (and bought all of the Futurama episodes apart from the newest season), but I'm hoping there is something else somewhere, because the Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs page is of no help here: the only main mention of Yivo on that page is the plot section which, like most plot sections on this site, has... no sources. The discussion topic Should we use "Schle" when refering to Yivo? is not much help either... And I don't think Infosphere is reliable source either... Historyday01 (talk) 20:59, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

If you've seen the episode, it is obviously a joke. This is especially evident from the neo-pronouns given, which are not neo-pronouns used by non-binary people, but suspiciously close to a shm-reduplication. "Schle" was close enough for the comedic effect, but not blatantly derisive like "schme" would have been. Regardless, we don't need a source explaining the joke, as the inclusion criteria is clear. The whole reason we have those inclusion criteria is to keep this list at least somewhat focused on the LGBT concept of non-binary gender identity rather than being a list of talking toasters, cars, robots, and aliens. Nosferattus (talk) 23:31, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

I understand what you are saying, but with the existing reliable sources, we are going to need a source to prove otherwise. If not, I'd fear we are going into WP:OR territory on this. I didn't find anything useful on the badly sourced Religion in Futurama page, but this SYFY review (of the fourth part of the film) doesn't include anything about Yivo's gender being anything other than male (and uses he/him/his pronouns for Yivo), while another SYFY review of the third part of the film adds: "Yivo extrudes shlimself (shlee is without gender, though shlee sounds distinctly male, so for narrative purposes we'll stick with "him" from now on)." The same is stated on page 40 of M. J. Buckman's book "Bent Is Not Broken" (it's by an indie publisher). I found some other mentions of Yivo in books here and here, but NO mention of gender in either page, while Pop Matters uses he/him/his pronouns for Yivo in a review of the film. The same is the case in the review by Common Sense Media. Due to these difference in sourcing, I don't think its enough to say it should be removed, which was why I was mentioning getting something from the movie staff (or those from the show more broadly) on Yivo, if at all possible. And since we both have different viewpoints on this, I don't think there is a consensus at this point for removal. Historyday01 (talk) 02:50, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Adding Venture and Clove

As the title says. Never edited Wikipedia myself, but I wanted to suggest the addition of Venture / Sloane Cameron from Overwatch 2 as well as Clove from Valorant due to them both being introduced as each of the game's first NB characters. Froyodoyo (talk) 00:12, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

@Froyodoyo: Do you have any sources we can cite? Nosferattus (talk) 17:29, 11 November 2024 (UTC)