Exploring Celeste's Controversy

I include Celeste in my exploration of authentic LGBTQ+ representation in video games because as a rare transgender protagonist, Madeline has become extremely beloved within the gamer community. However, Madeline wasn't always known to be trans by either Celeste's audience or its developers.

A year after Celeste's release, Extremely OK Games put out a 2019 DLC titled Celeste: Farewell, the final chapter to Madeline's journey. In the epilogue, players noted a development: just in the corner of Madeline's computer monitor, her keyboard sports two rainbow and transgender flags.

the developers were just dropping queerness to Madeline's character without actually writing her identity into the story; in other words, ticking the diversity checkbox. After J.K. Rowling's gay Dumbledore controversy, many fans were troubled by the prospect that Celeste could be doing the same thing.

Some doubtful fans went so far as to attack transgender people who talked about her gender identity for "[forcing] characters into being trans," as Celeste fan Laura Dale put it in her article criticizing the developers' silence. Without a "Madeline is trans" in print, many stayed in denial-and transgender fans such as Dale were bearing the brunt of the hurt.

Madeline's computer.

Madeline's identity as a transgender female had never been directly discussed within the game prior to this moment. Players came online to speculate whether the flags meant that Madeline was truly transgender or just an ally, and most crucially: why the creators hadn't come out to make a direct statement about it. To some, it looked like

Eventually, the controversy reached a peak as people demanded an explanation. Finally, in 2020, co-creator Maddy Thorson who herself is transgender posted a statement titled, "Is Madeline Canonically Trans?" with the answer everyone wanted:

Indeed, while Madeline's journey to selfacceptance remains universally relatable, they especially hit close to home for many within transgender community even before Thorson's announcement. Her (literal) disconnect from herself as she looks in the mirror is often cited as an aspect of the game that many transgender people find resonates with their own experiences with gender identity. For my friend Mauve who introduced me to this game, "the first time I myself played Celeste, I also hadn't come into my trans identity, but found myself hard-hit resonating with all the aspects of Madeline's character that others were interpreting as trans codes." For many transgender individuals, Madeline's gender identity wasn't a shock: it was a natural part of her that made sense to her story.

Even so, why didn't Thorson say anything until two whole years after the initial game ' s release? The key phrase in her statement is "in retrospect." Madeline's character, story, and personality is a culmination of Thorson's life experiences, and at the start of Celeste's development, Thorson herself did not know she was trans. Coming to terms with her own gender identity after the development of the Farewell DLC was what made her realize that many of her and Madeline's struggles were inextricably entwined with their gender identity.

When choosing how to acknowledge

Madeline lies in bed with a bottle of pills on her bedside table. Many theorized that these pills could be hormonal replacement therapy pills or antidepressants.

Madeline's gender identity in the DLC, Thorson didn't want to make it a big twist because "trans people shouldn’t be forced to publicly identify as trans in a world that is often hostile to them, and they shouldn’t be reduced to their transness." To her, Madeline was not the kind of person who would want to publicly identify with a grand reveal. Thus, she settled for a simple, but clear acknowledgement in the form of two flags. While those flags were unfortunately not clear enough to many, the intention behind her gesture brings to light something crucial in the conversation about the queer experience and its representation: that no person should have to meet the demand to " come out", nor should they need to realize their sexual or gender identity early in life, for their queerness to be valid.

In Celeste, queerness isn't handled as a spectacle, nor is Madeline reduced to her gender identity. Her queer identity wasn't something that was slapped onto her post-hoc; her queer identity was realized and written into the game with a lot of thought put into how it fits into her story, and how the character would want her gender identity to " come out" regardless of what people would want from her. The bond between Maddy Thorson and the character she put so much care into gives life to the game ' s heartfelt telling of queer identity and mental health.

The impact of Madeline's story within the gaming community is undeniable. Scribbs' video, "Coming Out as

Transgender is Hard," depicts Celeste's scenes as she comes out to her 22.5k subscribers and emphasizes, "I'm still me. " Her choice to make Madeline the thumbnail drives home the game ' s significance for transgender individuals coming to terms with their identity and expressing it their own way while delivering a powerful message that should go without saying: transgender people are still the same people after they have realized their identity. to deny the validity of Madeline's gender identity on the basis that "there wasn't enough proof." But as Thorson puts it in her statement, "where’s the proof that she’s cis?" Her question challenges the root that gave birth to the controversy: the heteronormative notion that a video game character or real life individual's "default setting" should be that they are cis, and that they need to have a grand "coming out" or reduce themselves to their queer identity and struggle to be valid as individuals.

As a transgender narrative, Celeste's story and gameplay goes beyond showing that queer people exist: drawing upon the creator's own experiences, it puts a queer character in the forefront and meaningfully intertwines her identity with her journey to accept herself. Most importantly, it makes sure that queerness does not isolate an individual; universally, anyone can identify with and find solace in her story as they climb their way to the top of Celeste Mountain. Queer people exist, and our struggles are human too.

Of course, there's no denying that the initial lack of an official "coming out" caused hurt, as it gave players a platform