It's June first and I wanted to get ahead of most of the Ryne/Gaia art, and all of the homophobic comments that will appear on said art. But also some of the "How are they gay I can't see it?" comments (which may or may not be homophobic, but we're going on the spirit of goodwill here).
This is a queerreading of Ryne. Gaia will be mentioned but we are not going to focus on her, as it was basically confirmed she was deeply in love with Mitron/Artemis in the side story: Tales from the Dawn: "Days Gone By, Days Yet to Come".
So Here is a queerreading of Ryne:
Final Fantasy VIII
To get the largest elephant out of this room now, is the incidental queercoding caused by having Eden be a FFVIII shoutout. While the story influence of FFVIII is thin, Gaia is very much similar to Squall, putting Ryne in the place of Rinoa. I should also note that (in my opinion) FFVIII is probably the first of the 3D games (and I personally want to say the first in the mainline FF games in general) where romance is more thoroughly integrated into the main story. And starts off the trio of games (FF8, 9, and 10) where romance is more upfront and the relationship between the two main characters are a driving force to the story.
Besides all of this, the end of the Eden raid series (where Gaia is traversing the dark) is a scene for scene remake of a scene from FFVIII where Squall is in the dark, and Rinoa is the person who calls to him.
That is all to say: Ryne and Gaia are a callback to probably the first real storyline important couple of the series.
Tropes that tend to queercode Ryne:
Familial Issues: I hate to be like "Daddy Issues" but Ryne does run away with the help of her "found father" Thancred, from her previous father figure Ran'jit. Not only does she have issues with Ran'jit, she has issues with Thancred, both of which surrounding her identity and destiny (which are very heavily interrelated, due to Ryne's status as a reincarnation of Minfilia).
Finding Out Who She Is: As mentioned above, Ryne's story relates a lot to her identity. Who she is, how much of her was Minfilia, how much of her wasn't Minfilia, what parts of her does she have to give up to perform her destiny? Does she even what to fulfill her destiny if it costs parts of her? Like this is all very relatable as queer person in society. Like hiding your identity, wanting and aching to be normal, coming to terms with oneself.
Found Family: Sometimes family is not biological. It's your bisexual adoptive father and his drama nerd husband, a sassy witch, twins also with father issues, simp grandpa who is also turning into a crystal, another grandpa who also a drama nerd but is more of bitch, a living weapon filled with light, and your goth lesbian gf.
Fighting Societal Norms/Expectations: This is more of fighting against Eulmoran societal norms, but in a post apocalypse world there is kind of the norm of "things are the way they are and there is nothing we can do about it".
Taking on the Forms of Powerful Women Who Also Went Against Society: Oh Boy that's stupidly long, but, anyways. Besides being a reincarnation of The Minfilia, through the Eden raids Ryne takes on the forms of both Shiva and Hydaelyn. Shiva went against Ishgardian society by seeking peace with dragons, and Hydaelyn went against the consensus of sacrifice for Zodiark, this shattering the source into its 14 shards. Powerful women, themselves, also tend to unintentionally lead to queercoding, especially when these women are powerful by themselves and uninterested in a romance (I think this is true for Venat, but I can't say for sure whether or not Ysalye was catching feelings for Estinien).
There is like some things I am missing. It has been a bit since I ran through Shadowbringers and Eden raids. But considering a big part of her personal story contains elements of many of these, I don't think I need to look too hard for much more. But many of these tropes (and more) have been related to the personal troubles and stories of the queer community.
Romance/Relationship Tropes:
Just through her relationship with Gaia, whether it be friends or more, there are some tropes that tend to lend to a romantic reading of the relationship.
Opposites Attract: They oppose each other, in terms of aesthetics, fighting styles, elemental control, how they act. When Ryne is passive, sometimes Gaia is more aggressive on a topic. Etc.
Foils: What is really funny is that the above tends to lend towards them being storyline foils with one another as well. But the apocalypse of the first starts with Gaia (or Lohgrif, more appropriately) and ends with Ryne (well the WoL but Ryne had a hand in it and found Eden and is rebuilding the empty, so for the sake of this post, we'll say it ended with her). They helped each other in their greatest times of need (Ryne when she was possessed by the light, Gaia when she was going through the void)
One is Secretly 1000 Years Old: Very popular in paranormal/supernatural romances, but can be applied to Gaia, especially as Gaia is in the more aggressive role and represents Squall, which is who I usually see the trope applied to. The courter, not the courted.
There's likely more than these, so you can check out tvtropes and see what you can find yourself!
I would also like to state just how Artemis/Mitron acts... Is very wild if Ryne is just a friend. Just a thought, but I feel she would be more cocky and confident, but it does sound like Mitron feels like she is absolutely losing control and losing everything to what is happening at the moment.
Eden (the crystals are gaaaaaaayyyy)
I would like to make a remark:
The two people involved in the creation of Eden were women in love with each other.
The two people involved in the rising of Eden again, are also women.
Eden, the garden where Adam and Eve lived. You know, that ubiquitous story that I should not have to explain?
Yeah. Yeah.
I know that the entire story is a shoutout to FFVIII and not the actual garden of Eden, but we are making land liveable again after two people ruined the said land. I cannot help but see the similarities. And again, the two people who ruined the land were women (Mitron may have had a male body, but in European translations, they address Mitron as a female, and Mitron is female in her original form, so we will address Mitron as female) and the two people fixing those mistakes, are again, women. At no point can I honestly say there is a man involved in this storyline besides Thancred and Urianger (who leave after the second tier) and the WoL (who is not essential to the character growth of Ryne and Gaia).
There is also a lot to be said about all of Gaia's important memories in the E12 fight surrounding Ryne, when the developers could have maybe made it to where Thancred and Urianger did stuff in the background alongside Gaia, they made each and every crystal about Ryne.
Futures Rewritten Ultimate (the flowers are gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay)
Besides, you know, Ryne and Gaia basically holding hands, what else is happening? And the flower field, again, a shoutout to FFVIII?
Mmm, could we maybe say that Mitron knows the importance of Ryne to Gaia, thusly possessing her? (I know, a stretch)
