History WMG / Die

* Confirmed to be genderfluid (which is a kind of trans) in issue #19. She refused to ever actually confront it about himself in the real world, which comes back with a vengeance in DIE.

It's not immediately clear why the characters can't talk about their experiences. It all seems like collective PTSD until the geas is mentioned. But the geas is caused by a magic power from the game world. It's a bit of a departure from the portal fantasy to have it still work in mundane world. So it doesn't, and it really is PTSD and fear of promoting the game that stops them talking, not magic.

** I read Ash as genderfluid, but whatever Ash’s identity, I think the comic is unambiguous about Ash being bi. Ash is married to a woman in the real world; a flashback shows Ash having a romantic encounter with a male knight as a teenager in the game.

Although the players create bespoke classes and concepts on the day they start the game, they (mostly) seem to be standard parts of the world of Die - there are other Neos, Dictators and Emotion Knights out there. Which suggests that the world was created - or significantly changed - to match their ideas. And, perhaps, that Sol was on the Grandmaster’s side all along...

** My reading of the above details is that Ash is bi (he mentions “straight and mostly straight boys” when talking about Maria Wardell). I assumed that Isabelle was apologizing for the “Gaylord of the Assrings” comment, which is itself another possible hint at his bi identity. And the inconsistent use of names seemed to me a way for Ash to distance himself from his in-game identity. Prior to the game, he went by Ash, the name he used as The Dictator in-game. After coming out, he goes by Dominic as an adult, a way to remove the reminder of his fantasy identity. Once back in the game, the party slips back into using “Ash”. Also being a cross player tends to be common among boys who like boys (of which I am one). Just offering my own reading, not discrediting the trans reading, as that is super interesting!
*** I read Ash as genderfluid, but whatever Ash’s identity, I think the comic is unambigious about Ash being bi. Ash is married to a woman in the real world; a flashback shows Ash having a romantic encounter with a male knight as a teenager in the game.

*** I read Ash as genderfluid, but whatever Ash’s identity, I think the comic is unambigious about Ash being bi. Ash is married to a woman in the real world; a flashback shows Ash having a romantic encounter with a male knight as a teenager in the game.

** My reading of the above details is that Ash is bi (he mentions “straight and mostly straight boys” when talking about Maria Wardell). I assumed that Isabelle was apologizing for the “Gaylord of the Assrings” comment, which is itself another possible hint at his bi identity. And the inconsistent use of names seemed to me a way for Ash to distance himself from his in-game identity. Prior to the game, he went by Ash, the name he used as The Dictator in-game. After coming out, he goes by Dominic as an adult, a way to remove the reminder of his fantasy identity. Once back in the game, the party slips back into using “Ash”. Also being a cross player tends to be common among boys who like boys (of which I am one). Just offering my own reading, not discrediting the trans reading, as that is super interesting!

On the first page of the first issue, Dominic notes that Solomon’s mum is “the only person outside my family to use my first name.” When the group reunites 25 years later, Isabelle pulls Dominic aside, calling him “Ash” before correcting herself. She then apologizes for her unspecified past behavior, saying she wasn’t “as the students would put it, ‘woke.’” Dominic is also the only {{CrossPlayer}} in the party, his Dictator character being female. He could be genderfluid, but Isabelle correcting herself on his name comes across as her accidentally using his deadname and trying to atone for it.