Read on TwitterSo to talk about Cyberpunk 2077 and how it treats trans people and our bodies, I want to again bring up the scene in The Witcher 3 where you meet a genderfluid trans woman(I confirmed by asking the designers of the scene) and how much more empathy it has.
Elihal is an unavoidably character if you're doing the main story quests, she is who gives important information on what happened t0 Dandelion to find him. Elihal is presenting masc. Elihal is an example of something the Witcher series does regularly.
CW Transphobic Slur
The Witcher series regularly takes stories of monsters, creatures, and flips it. You get to talk to the creature, person and learn it is society abusing them, not the other way around. Elihal's story is the myth of the "Trap."
The Witcher series regularly takes stories of monsters, creatures, and flips it. You get to talk to the creature, person and learn it is society abusing them, not the other way around. Elihal's story is the myth of the "Trap."
When Geralt meets Elihal he mentions Elihal was supposed to be a woman according to Dandelion's notes. To explain simply Elihal leaves, then comes back in a dress and make up. Geralt is uneasy at first but talking to her, he gets far more comfortable and accepts her.
Elihal mentions Dandelion when they first met thought she was trying to trick him. To which she laughed and said she has no interest in men. Geralt even asks Elihal "So you're a-" and her response is simply "I am Elihal."
Elihal is very composed in the scene, she's funny, comfortable, Geralt and her have some nice back and forth talking. She explains as a child growing up she always wanted to be a shapeshifter, through becoming a tailor she realized she could transform herself in ways.
Elihal only really talks about this in this one scene, and it is far more relatable than anything I've seen about trans people in Cyberpunk 2077, far more human, actually talking to one of us, learning we're just people like anyone else.
Elihal even mentions when talking to Dandelion after she cleared up she was not interested in men and Dandelion started talking to her they hit it off and became lifetime friends. Reminder, canonically Geralt of Rivia and Dandelion in the games accept trans people.
This isn't the only instance to note something like this, the Godlings for instance which are a small creature you encounter from time to time are canonically nonbinary(Again I checked with devs based on the dialogue and they confirmed).
The Godlings in game are often gendered or given masc or femme sounding names, but it is very clear the Godlings don't actually answer to them. They never refer to themselves or each other as such and use very gender neutral terms generally. They don't seem to know what gender is
And to mention, some of the things I point out. In The Witcher 3 there is full nudity, used liberally. Elihal when she changes walks off screen, fade to black, walks in. She isn't just a body to consume or be excited/shocked by. She is treated with compassion.
Elihal doesn't really care about labels, about being an easy thing for Geralt to call. She just is Elihal, commenting on how people who accept her are good people and are open minded. Elihal wants to be treated as another person.
This is also something that kind of frustrates me as well, because Elihal is so obviously trans, just so extremely obviously she is based on a lot of common trans experiences, not big media ones but our actual dreams as children. And not one reviewer I know of realized it.
Reminder, this is a mandatory quest for the main story, nearly every reviewer encountered this scene, and none thought this scene mattered or meant anything.
And as a reminder, a lot of people left CD Projekt RED after finishing TW3. A lot of the people there now after finishing Cyberpunk will likely leave. For a lot of studios people go from company to company per project.
