Tellius Pride Headcanon #11
To me, Sothe is a bisexual trans man. The bisexual part should not come as much of a surprise, considering him having a crush on Ike is a bit of a running gag both in the game and in the fandom. But why hc him as trans?
Well, why else is my boy always wearing a binder? And how else did he manage to age so much in such a short span of time?
That’s the power of testosterone, baby!
More headcanons under the cut:
I believe this is part of why early Radiant Dawn Micaiah insists on calling Sothe her brother— it’s her clumsy way of trying to avoid misgendering him. Before they separated, she used to introduce Sothe to people as her little sister, to help avoid uncomfortable questions. That, and Micaiah has always been jealous of people who have siblings, so she was more than happy to play family with Sothe.
Then Micaiah abandons Sothe, and suddenly he has to try to find his way back to her all on his own. At first, he disguises himself as a boy for safety reasons, but quickly it becomes less of a disguise and more of him finally feeling comfortable in his own skin.
I like to think that in addition to having a very casual approach to sexuality, beast laguz are also very open to transgender and nonbinary people. I mean, just look at Kyza. And additionally, they have herbs they use to help with gender transition.
Sothe idolizes Ike for being the type of man he wants to become. It takes him some time to recognize that he also has a bit of a crush on Ike, and that confuses him at first, because does that mean he’s a girl after all?
Basically, I hc Path of Radiance Sothe as going through A Lot in terms of questioning his gender and sexuality.
Luckily, Sothe then meets and befriends Tormod and Muarim! And Muarim quickly figures out that Sothe is trans, and helps provide him with the herbs he needs, and also gives him a talk about sex, sexuality, and gender. And while Sothe feels so embarrassed that he could die, he is forever grateful for that conversation.
On a similarly wholesome note, I hc that Tormod is the first person that Sothe ever comes out to. It’s all rather anti-climatic, because Tormod already got The Talk from Muarim a couple of years ago, so he was just like, “Awesome! Hey, do you want to skip stones by the river? I think I can finally perfected that trick you taught me!”
When Sothe and Micaiah reunite, Micaiah hardly recognizes him. It hurts. And Sothe is So Mad at her, and that hurts even more.
Micaiah knows she messed up, and she tries to smooth things over by acting like the years they were apart never happened. Except she can no longer refer to Sothe as her sister, so… brother it is!
Except, Sothe doesn’t want that. They’re no longer little orphans playing house. He’s no longer the little street rat always hiding in Micaiah’s shadow. And no matter how much Micaiah pretends things are the same, they’re not. Sothe is a young man now, capable of surviving on his own, with friends he’s made of his own accord.
This refusal to acknowledge how Sothe has changed puts a big strain on their relationship. She hates being reminded of the years they spent apart. Ike, Jill, Tormod, Muarim… all of them have memories of Sothe that she will never have. All she knows is the Sothe of before and the Sothe of after. She was not there to witness his transformation, so it’s easier to not even think about it.
Things are complicated further by Sothe’s growing romantic feelings towards Micaiah. She’s an empath, but she’s also very good at being in denial, so even though she’s unconsciously aware of his feelings, she’s also very consciously suppressing her awareness of his feelings.
Sothe being trans is definitely a part of why Micaiah feels so conflicted about the part of her that returns Sothe’s feelings. She may have been a victim of discrimination her whole life, but she was also raised in Daein. I definitely see her as the type of ally to be super gung-ho about her support to mask the internalized queerphobia she refuses to admit she has. It’s not that she doesn’t see Sothe as a real man, it’s that he’s her precious little brother! It would be weird to find him attractive, right?
It takes being confronted by Ike in the Goddess Tower for Micaiah to finally admit just how badly she fucked up by abandoning Sothe, and how she needs to acknowledge and take accountability for how profoundly her actions hurt Sothe. And in doing so, she can finally be honest about her feelings.
Sothe, meanwhile, is caught between Micaiah admiring how big and manly his hands have gotten, and being interrupted by his first crush Ike, and has a full mini freak out behind the scenes.
I also like to imagine that Sothe and Pelleas develop a weird dynamic after Micaiah starts dating both of them (because if Ike can have two boyfriends, then so can Micaiah!) Sothe finds Pelleas unfathomably insufferable, and yet. The sexual tension between them could be cut with a knife. Their dynamic is very much the “a guy asked me what the Spanish word for tortilla was once and now I dream of kissing him under the moonlight” meme.
Whew! That was a long one. Turns out I have A Lot of thoughts on Sothe and Micaiah’s very complicated relationship.
(Also, before you try to go after me with pitchforks, pls understand that I hc Micaiah as 20-21 while Sothe is 17-18. And additionally, remember that my thoughts on fictional characters and stories have nothing to do with what I condone in real life. Ty ty)
You can see all of my Tellius Pride posts in chronological order here!
Up next… one very indecisive bi.
