Three gay characters in fantasy series that you probably know
1. Dumbledore – Harry Potter series
Though his sexuality was never overtly stated throughout the Harry Potter series, Dumbledore was revealed to be gay by author J.K. Rowling during a question and answer conference at Carnegie Hall. It makes his youthful defeat of the evil wizard Grindelwald extra heartbreaking to learn that Dumbledore haboured feelings for the man at the time. We aren’t sure if Grindelwald returned Dumbledore’s affections but we know unrequited love is something that Rowling writes well as an underlying context throughout the series. Dumbledore was a fascinating character with much depth, and was known throughout the series to be the greatest wizard alive, making him an ideal role model for LGBT people to look up to.
2. Alec Lightwood – The Mortal Instruments series
Alec Lightwood is known as a (sexily named) Shadowhunter, who is also a victim to unrequited love with his best friend Jace. That is, until he meets an attractive, bisexual, 900 year-old (doubly sexily named) Magnus Bane, with whom he strikes up a relationship. Alec is a fierce protector of his younger siblings, and is a family man at heart, which makes it difficult when his parents have a hard time accepting his homosexuality. Alec and Magnus’s relationship is extremely deep, and is explored throughout the series, making a three dimensional gay relationship, not previously explored by other famous fantasy series.
3. Renly Baratheon – Game of Thrones series
Renly Baratheon was also not clearly “outed” in the books, but George R. R. Martin, author of the series, did allude to his relationship with knight Loras Tyrell a few times. The show Game of Thrones threw caution to the wind and made their relationship as open as could be (there a a body hair shaving scene that you should watch here.) Just be sure you don’t get too attached to his character. No spoilers here, but “not getting too attached” to any of the cast of Game of Thrones is just plain good advice for anyone.
