Ghost of Tsushima’s protagonist Jin is sort of a mix between a pre-established character and a blank slate. His motivations are clear, but in terms of personality, there isn’t much there. This is a common tactic developers use to make the character easier to project onto, but Sucker Punch prescribed one trait to Jin that players can’t change: a tolerance for homesexuality. Any time Jin is confronted with the idea of homosexuality, he doesn’t seem phased at all and usually acts supportive.
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Homosexuality in Ghost of Tsushima
There are at least two instances of characters coming out to Jin as gay, but more are likely to crop up as people dig further into the game. The first time this topic arises is during one of Lady Masako’s tales, “The Thief.” This is the seventh of nine Lady Masako tales, and players need to be in Act 2 in order to play through it. The player discovers that one of Masako’s servants, Mai, stole family heirlooms from the estate, and it is eventually revealed that Mai and Masako had an intimate relationship with each other at some point before the invasion. While this does end up being a focus of this quest, any shame that Masako feels isn’t born from the nature of their relationship but rather the fact that she cheated on her husband. Though Jin briefly shows disdain for that action, he never once reprimands her for her sexuality.
The second instance of this is during “The Spirit of Yarikawa’s Vengeance,” one of Ghost of Tsushima’s mythic tales, in which Jin finds a note calling for the death of someone called Heitaro. Jin speaks with Heitaro in private and discovers that he was having an intimate relationship with the husband of the woman that wants him dead. Again, Jin shows no signs of surprise. It is even revealed that this affair wasn’t the reason she wanted Heitaro killed, but instead she suspected he was a Mongol spy and was suspicious of why he continued to leave the survivor camp so frequently in the dead of night.
Homosexuality in Feudal Japan
As mentioned previously, Feudal Japan was very open to homosexuality for the most part, and it was often encouraged as well. The main reason for this is religion, as the Buddhist faith practiced by most of the characters at the time of Ghost of Tsushima openly accepts homosexuality as normal. This was the case for many religions and societies, even the ancient Romans until the christianizing of the Roman empire.
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Furthermore, Ihara Saikaku’s “The Great Mirror of Male Love” provides insight on more common brands of homosexuality. Saikaku was a very misogynistic man, so much so that he couldn’t justify loving women at all. Because of this, his book (which was published in 1687) focused heavily on purely homosexual relationships and unfortunately excluded bisexual accounts.
Despite his flaws, Saikaku’s transcript still provides valuable insight on what homosexuality was like in Feudal Japan, at least between men, and it seems that Ghost of Tsushima’s decision to depict it as normal was founded in history. It is because of this that characters like Heitaro and Lady Masako are able to voice their sexuality without fear of prosecution. Though both characters felt ashamed about their relationships, it was because of the infidelity they knew they were a part of.
LGBTQ+ Characters in Fiction
What makes Ghost of Tsushima’s inclusion and use of LGBTQ+ characters so special is the way that it uses them. Sucker Punch creates an interesting character like Lady Masako with an intricate backstory and motive, and she also happens to be gay. In this way, the character represents inclusion. Making the main character of the game also be supportive of this is another great step forward for inclusivity in video games.
Another example of inclusion from a PS4 exclusive is Ellie’s latest adventure. The Last of Us 2 does this very well with its characters and the sexuality of Ellie and Dina. Each of these characters are found somewhere on the spectrum, but their sexuality doesn’t define who they are as a person. Players spend a lot of time with these two throughout the course of the game, and for the most part their sexuality feels like a character trait just like Ellie’s fondness for comics or Dina’s desire to own a farm. The same holds true for characters in Ghost of Tsushima, especially because this aspect of the character isn’t the first thing that players learn about. Hopefully future games take a page out of Ghost of Tsushima’s book in the way that they portray homosexuality and support the rest of the LGBTQ+ community.
Ghost of Tsushima is available now exclusively for PS4.
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