Waough!

point one: scythe's aesthetics

a key part of being butch is, of course, masculine presentation (though that is not all it is!). i have always personally believed that, in terms of strictly canonical or semi-canonical material (e.g. skins, soda's art), scythe is easily perceivable as masculine-presenting through the eyes of the player. scythe has a functionally masculine fashion sense, both in and outside of her work for the church. though she seems to prefer practicality over style, she still dresses up (in button-downs and vests) from time to time, usually when work calls for it. it's not just in her clothing, either—it's in her body language and the way she talks to people, too, though i'll be elaborating more on the latter in my second point. along with that, i've even seen numerous new phighting players confuse scythe for being a man, with some of those who don't calling her tomboyish instead.

now, i will admit that there is some nuance here. blocky roblox models combined with none of the phighting cast having hair or secondary sex characteristics means that masculinizing/androgynizing them is relatively easily. along with that, phighting's worldbuilding itself places the inpherno as a genderless society, though this is implemented in a... rather sloppy manner, i would say. but this is an essay about scythe, not about the specifics of all that. although the inphernals live in a world without gender, we as the viewers/players absolutely do not. in a cast full of what we would view as ostensibly masculine-presenting characters, scythe fits right in—see my previous comment about people initially thinking she's a man.

i'll be using images here of various art to prove my point, because i don't think words are convincing enough when her appearance is the topic at hand:

(all images taken from the phighting wiki except for the last one, which is from soda's twitter)

point two: scythe's personality and character interactions

this is where things get good.

from her first introduction, scythe has been characterized as sly, silver-tongued, charismatic, and highly suspicious. she's a very dramatic person who puts up a mean front of self-confidence, but still treats others with respect and can even show moments of earnestness and reflection at the right times. you could also say that she has a flirtatious side, give her interactions with vine staff as well as a few of her dialogues + one of her ultimate animations being her blowing a kiss at the viewer. i think that, especially given the performative nature of both her presentation as a hunter and the cockiness she displays with characters like ban hammer (which also counts as disrespecting law enforcement, something you could also easily spin as butch-coded!), you could make an argument for these aspects of her being intertwined. gender presentation as performance/entertainment is a very common thing in any queer or trans culture, but in this case, i see it as quite reminiscent of butch/stud lesbians and drag kings.

scythe's true self doesn't lie within that persona, though. "rifle" is the one that can smooth-talk people and carry out father overseer's orders, but the perception other characters have of her doesn't go far beyond that; no matter what, she is always viewed in a negative light. to them, scythe's motivations are inscrutable—but, in reality, her wants are quite simple. scythe has always been defined by her loyalty. the love she has for her people and her family shows in everything she is, even if it's now been warped and exploited beyond recognition. when it comes to the other churchgoers' perception of her (which she clearly cares about the most), scythe is viewed as someone to rely on as a protector and a provider—and, despite the circumstances, she is clearly fulfilled within this role. this is the strongest argument i have to scythe being butch, as this is the entire motivation her deeper character revolves around. she is loyal, she is suave, she is chivalrous, and she is protective—in all the wrong ways, for all the wrong reasons. i really can't think of any better way to depict a morally corrupt butch!

point three: scythe's backstory and her relationship with the church

ultimately, scythe's loyalty spawns from the injustice she faced during the scorch; that event was what drove her to leave her old life behind and join the church, where her love and faith was then used against her to protect overseer and his values. this further displays just how important being a protector driven by loyalty is to her character, as well as how revealing it is that that fact has never changed, even as her morality and actions in the name of it have. (very notable, also, is that scythe used to be a manual worker as an oziphrage wrangler. these sorts of jobs were and are extremely common with working-class—especially butch—queer women.)

now, it's time for me to bring up her relationship with grappling hook. admittedly, we don't know much about their dynamic before the scorch—or even their feelings on one another after the fact—but one thing is made clear through reading the comic: these two are incredibly similar characters. i'd even go as far as to say they're narrative parallels, with similar values and ways of cunning to get what they/the people they love need. hook leans less into the "protector" side of things, but it's clear that they have earned the respect the other redcliff wranglers have for them via their leadership and providing for them. they have their moments of greyness, but overall, i would say that they are a reflection of what scythe could have been had she not gone down such a dark path. because of these similarities, i firmly view scythe and grappling hook to have been butch4butch. even the ditf artist who designed grappling hook openly supports this headcanon:

(posted hours after the reveal that scythe & grappling hook are exes. creativortexx you will always be beloved by meeeeeee)

conclusion

while i do not think all of this is explicitly canon anymore, like i did when her backstory was first revealed last december, i do still wholeheartedly believe that there is plenty of evidence pointing to a viable argument that she is heavily coded to be a butch lesbian. i believe that viewing her as such, whether it be from a watsonian or a doylist point, greatly enhances her character and adds some beautiful insight into her flamboyant, charismatic persona, her relationship with being a mob enforcer & protector for the church, and the bonds she holds so closely, both in the past and in the present. i truly wish that people took this interpretation of her more seriously and saw it beyond just the aesthetics, if even that. it's in the very foundations of her character if you have the right eye for it—and, through my point of view, it's borderline impossible to me to see her as anything else.