My Quirky Asexual and Aromantic Headcanons
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| Image description: A scene from the 2003 Japanese animated film, Howl's Moving Castle. One of the characters in this scene is one I headcanon as on the asexual or aromantic spectrum. Read on to find out more. |
Hey, everyone. If you’ve read my previous post, you know these
last few weeks have been extremely hard on me. As such, I haven’t been doing a
lot in terms of work on the blog recently, and have decided to switch things up in order to make this week a bit easier on myself. Given
the nature of my update schedule, this is my last post before Thanksgiving, and
so I had originally planned something more in keeping with the themes
of the holiday. But I’ve diverted from that topic and instead would like to
bring you a topic I wasn’t sure how to include otherwise – taking a look at
some offbeat, lesser known, or otherwise quirky characters that I headcanon as
on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrums. Because some of these things are
less mainstream, it may not be the most relatable post, but I think it’s the
levity I myself might need during these tough times. I hope you enjoy it as
well, and maybe even find some new media or characters too.
Inigo Montoya
from the movie The Princess Bride
The film – based on the novel of the same name – is a story
within a story; the framing narrative is that of a grandfather reading a book
called The Princess Bride to his grandson, who is home sick. The tale
itself centers on the love story between Buttercup and Westley, a pair whose
true love is tested when Westley is presumed dead and Buttercup is forcibly
betrothed off to the kingdom’s ill-intentioned prince. Early in the story,
Buttercup is kidnapped by three individuals, one of whom is Inigo Montoya, an
honorable Spanish swordsman who is seeking revenge on the man who killed his
father years earlier (just in case that wasn’t clear). Despite his earlier role
as one of Buttercup’s kidnappers, Inigo is a good man who just wants to focus
on bringing his father’s killer to justice. And so he later aids the main
characters to great effect and – spoiler alert – indeed manages to find the man
who killed his father.
I must confess that I actually came to the movie a bit late
in life (I only saw it for the first time in my early teens) and I never actually
read the book. A quick look at Wikipedia reveals that Inigo did seem to have a
previous romantic relationship in the original source material, but looking
strictly at the movie, we don’t see anything like that for his character at all,
with the plot instead focusing on Inigo’s revenge only. I figure at least some
of this is due to the nature of the movie, in that we’re not really seeing
flashbacks of any kind as are employed in the book because the movie instead cuts
to scenes of the grandfather and grandson pair reading and reacting to the novel
as they go. But that framing device unintentionally works out well for me and
for this headcanon of movie-Inigo being somewhere on the asexual or aromantic
spectrums. Inigo’s extremely singular focus makes it easy to imagine that justice
for his father is all he really cares about, and even the ending – where it is
suggested he might make a good pirate – has Inigo considering something else
that isn’t likely to be romance orientated (again, looking just at the movie; the
book ending is a bit different and his fate is a bit more unsure). In a media
landscape where it is easy to assume people’s next and greatest motivation in
life should be to find romance, especially in such a romantic story, the fact
that Inigo gets to be a non-romantic character in the film is pretty great.
In fact, I think the story being so heavily focused on
romance is actually a great thing for this type of headcanon, ironically
enough. Because the story is meant to be a sort of gloriously tropey fairy tale
romance, there is a clear focus on the romance between Buttercup and Westley
exclusively, which means – apart from a joke here or a silly scene there –
there really isn’t the time or space to explore the relationships of other characters.
This is a rare treat for someone like me, in which I get to enjoy the romance
between the leads, but can still find some non-romantic people to get attached
to as well, a sort of best of both worlds. The focus on Buttercup and Westley
is a gift, because it largely leaves everyone else’s personal lives up to
interpretation; thus, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to assume
whatever you want about each of them, as my friend and I are doing with Inigo
Montoya. Or, perhaps it’s more appropriate to say, you may headcanon as you
wish.
Father Mulcahy
from the television series M*A*S*H
Now, there is a bit of an issue with headcanoning a
character who is a priest as asexual and/or aromantic, specifically that
Catholic priests take vows of celibacy and celibacy being mistaken with
asexuality is a frequent problem. The chief difference between the two, of
course, is that celibacy is a choice and asexuality is an orientation, and the
notion that asexual or aromantic people choose to be so can become offensive
very quickly. However, I plan on doing a post in the future exploring celibacy
and the way it too is treated in media, because, despite the differences
between it and the orientation of asexuality, I do think there are valuable
things to be gleaned from it. But back to Father Mulcahy specifically,
and why I specifically headcanon him as aspec rather than merely celibate.
Throughout the series, there are several times where Father
Mulcahy doesn’t just seem like he’s abstaining from sex by choice, but rather
that sex and romance actually make him a bit uncomfortable. Naturally, not all
aspec people are made uncomfortable by sex, but as a sex-repulsed asexual
myself, I tend to find this very relatable. Additionally, despite the fact that
it can sometimes be problematic representation, the notion of a character being
made uncomfortable by sex or romance is often used as a shorthand for
non-sexual or non-romantic characters – and in this case, it feels like it
transcends just the celibate choice of a Catholic priest. There are moments
where Father Mulcahy will remove himself from situations where sexual
conversations are taking place, or where he will seem to not know what’s going
on in sexual situations. Again, these types of things can sometimes make for
bad representation, but to me, they are relatable.
Additionally, the fact that Father Mulcahy is respected by
many of the other characters is a great way of avoiding the usual tropes. While
a lot of that respect indeed comes about because he is a priest, a lot of it also comes
about because they just respect him as a person, which is vitally important.
Having allosexual characters treat non-sexual and/or non-romantic characters
with respect despite being different than they are is, in my opinion, the
alchemical formula that can usually make representation better, simply because
you are showing these characters are valid. Therefore, although Father Mulcahy
may be a strange or unexpected headcanon, I can’t help but feel he’s a good
one.
James Hathaway
from the television series Inspector Lewis
Keeping with the priest theme, Hathaway trained to be a
priest out of college, but due to guilt over a major mistake decides to leave
the priesthood and become a police officer. I think it can be argued that some
of Hathaway’s non-sexual/non-romantic vibes in the series stem from the fact
that he originally wanted to be a priest; however, unlike Father Mulcahy, the fact
that Hathaway has not been in the seminary for many years by the time the
series begins seems enough to make me say the aspec vibes can’t just be
chalked up to this background. For instance, there are a few different episodes
where Hathaway is shown to be awkward around women (which, as aforementioned,
can be a bit of a problematic shorthand at times, but is nevertheless a good
indicator to use when trying to look for an aspec headcanon), and even episodes
that seem to show he doesn’t view love in a romantic sense.
In “Life Born of Fire,” the seventh episodes of the series,
Hathaway is asked what love means to him and to define something he loves. He
replies that he loves the bells of Oxford in what seems to me to be a
completely genuine and unironic moment. He seems to be saying that the
reliability and consistency of the bells is a comfort to him, which makes sense
to me, since he doesn’t really get to live a stable or consistent life. The episode
centers on themes of homophobia, discrimination, and the idea that people
should be allowed to love who and what they love, and yet the character who
asks Hathaway this question uses it as an excuse to imply he is bland, out of
touch, and perhaps even denying the fact that he’s missing happiness in his
life. These are all common things aspec people hear, making this scene
painfully relatable.
Additionally, when this question is set before Hathaway, he
seems confused as to why he is being asked such a question in the first place. The
character who asks it derisively comments on Hathaway being “middle-aged,” and
Hathaway angrily retorts “don’t patronize me just because I don’t [have sex]
every Friday night.” He doesn’t seem bitter about the fact that he’s unattached,
at least in my view; rather, he seems annoyed at the implication that he must be sexually or romantically involved in order to be seen as valid or fulfilled. Earlier in
the episode, he expresses similar annoyance about the black and white distinctions
people try to make between heterosexuality and homosexuality, debunking the
ridiculousness in thinking heterosexual people must act one way and homosexual
people surely must act another. Again, this is keeping with the themes of the episode,
but it also feels very genuinely aspec, as I’m sure many aspec people like
myself – and indeed any person who identifies using a lesser-known queer identity
– often experience the strain of feeling like they have to be one thing or the
other.
Later, in this same episode, Hathaway almost has a sexual encounter
with one of the characters, but doesn’t seem particularly eager for it. Rather,
he seems broken and dejected from the feelings of guilt and alienation the current
mystery has stirred up within him. The encounter never actually happens (due to
plot related drama that I won’t spoil), but even when it looks like it might
happen, Hathaway seems more like he’s seeking emotional comfort than any kind
of physicality and is just allowing it to happen in an effort to feel something
other than pain. Furthermore, his potential partner even makes the comment that
Hathaway is trembling; he replies with “it’s been a while,” but I would argue it
might be more likely that Hathaway is actually a virgin, although this is never
confirmed.
Unfortunately, like many characters, Hathaway is a victim of
inconsistent writing. This is something that happens a lot when shows have
multiple writers, and different writers choose to conceptualize a character
differently, thus leading to huge variations in their personality from season to season or episode to episode. In Hathaway’s case, despite episodes like “Life
Born of Fire” and other episodes later in the series where that aforementioned
awkwardness around women comes up, there are other episodes that imply he had
previous romantic relationships, especially when it’s necessary for some drama
in the case of the week. However, this doesn’t preclude Hathaway from being
aspec in some capacity - whether that means he’s asexual or demisexual without
being aromantic, or whether it can simply be chalked up to Hathaway thinking he
was allosexual when he was younger and then coming to live a more non-sexual or
non-romantic life as he got older and he knew more about himself. Or maybe I
myself am simply overthinking things because I would absolutely love to have
this snarky, cerebral, multi-dimensional character also be an aspec character. The
show keeps it a little bit purposely vague what Hathaway’s sexual orientation
is, so nothing is confirmed either way, and as such I will probably keep holding
onto Hathaway as one of my favorite headcanon aspec characters of all time.
Morgana from
the television series Merlin
Now, having Morgana as a
headcanon AroAce character raises an age-old question about whether aspec
villains are problematic or not – an issue I plan on tackling in its own post
at some point in the future – and I think it could be argued that Morgana is probably romance-less because she’s going to be set up to be the
villain later. However, despite that fact, I think Morgana’s lack of romantic
relationships is nevertheless notable, especially because losing a romance or
being betrayed by a lover are used as common tactics to turn characters into
villains (sometimes even within Merlin itself). Morgana doesn’t have that, and I would argue that that makes her slow
descent into villainy far better. Rather, Morgana begins turning bad because
she is denied being her true self, is betrayed by those around her, and is
treated cruelly because of who and what she is. It is not because of a romance or a lack of romance, nor because she is cold and lacks friendship, the way aspec
villains are sometimes portrayed. Thus, I have no problem headcanoning her as
aspec despite her villain status, especially considering she is a nuanced and
multi-faceted villain who started off as a hero, and that makes for a wickedly
good story.
Prince Justin
from the movie Howl’s Moving Castle
Now, if you’ve seen the movie, I know what you’re probably
thinking – How can the prince be on the asexual or aromantic spectrum? The
entire way his curse was broken was by true love’s kiss! And you would be
right. Honestly, this is one of those headcanons that isn’t actually really
based on any evidence from the source material, especially since the prince is
cursed into the form of a mute scarecrow nicknamed Turnip-Head for most of the
film. But even so, I can’t help but be amused by the notion that Justin mends
his broken heart from his true love being in love with someone else by realizing
that his feelings were actually because he felt like he had to have them
rather than actually being in romantic love, or that what he thought was love
was actually just gratitude. Again, there is literally nothing in the film to
suggest this is true, and I don’t really expect to find canon aspec
representation in an anime film from 2003.
Furthermore, I’ll admit I’ve never read the book on which
the film is loosely based, but from a quick glance through the plot and
character descriptions, it seems Prince Justin has no love interest in the book
as well, although a fantasy novel published in 1986 is also likely not going to
be a place to find canon representation either. As such, Justin is a rare exception to
my usual rule of aspec headcanons – although it’s tempting for me to just
headcanon everyone and everything I like as aspec or aspec-adjacent, I usually
try to refrain from making such a headcanon unless a character really presents
aspec vibes. And, given we see Justin in his human form for literally two
minutes at the end of the movie, he doesn’t really show any of those vibes. But
maybe it’s just me wanting to see Justin have a happy ending, albeit an
unconventional one, and so here we are, the last of my quirky headcanons.
------------------------
As I said in the intro, this is my last post before the
holiday, and indeed one of my last for the year. After this, I am planning two
more posts, one of which will be a recap of this year on the blog. I will say
more then, but please allow me to say now that I am beyond thankful you choose to
spend your time reading my musings and am very, very grateful for the support you have
given me.
Wishing those who celebrate a very happy Thanksgiving,
The Asexual Geek
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