Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

What about Rek'Sai is female?

Kojiro Sasaki·12/2/2014, 6:00:46 PM·3 votes·11,982 views

Disclaimer: The tone of this thread is questioning, Not angry. I really like the concept of the new champion, and will likely be picking them up very shortly after release.

All we have to go on is Riot saying its female. That's all well and good, and its THEIR champion, they made it, so fine, its female.

Still, what exactly is so female about it? Deep grunts, No talking to distinguish male from female, big bulky features, Primary focus on being an overpowering brute. None of this really screams "female" to me. So, I'm going to have to just call it an "it".

See, with Kog'Maw, we've got some to go on with the voice, and even then people debate whether ol' Koggle is male or female. Cho'Gath could also go both ways, but from some of the skins, and from a good bit of the quotes of HIM ACTUALLY TALKING its made fairly clear he's male. Kha'Zix is another case of this, though possibly more decidedly male. Void creatures seem to pretty much be "It" type characters, with Riot themselves really never even clarifying if Kog'maw is male or female, because they like people thinking about it.

So, I must pose the question. Who's decision was it that this character is DECIDEDLY female, and not an "it"? All previous void creatures have been left for us to figure out (or not figure out) and now you've made the most vague one of them all, and have decided to just come out and tell us its female? Why? Why can't it just be an "it"? Maybe we'll get some skins only a female monster can pull off out of it?

97 Comments

Meat Soldier12/2/2014, 6:09:15 PM5 votes

So because she doesnt have pillowy supple breasts and is voice not acted by ahri shes not female?? Fucking A+. Rek'Sai is not a "they" or an "it". A gender identity has already been established and you do not have the right to disregard her pronouns because she is not outwardly feminine enough for you. Rek'Sai is female because she is female and thats all the reason you need. Dont take this is me disliking champions or even people that do not have set gender pronouns, or a gender identity. This is not that. This is me telling you you are in fact wrong for implying that Rek is not female because her "grunts" are too masculine for you. What makes a female anaconda a female? What makes a female kimodo dragon a female? What makes a female fucking bull shark a female. The fact that it is female. Thats it. All those animals are killers. They dont have time to be "feminine" for you to decide whether or not they deserve their gender. Neither does Rek'Sai. For the record; Cho'gath, Kha'zix, Kog'Maw and Vel'koz all have male pronouns in their lore and ability descriptions. Theyre all canonically male. Dont disrespect the void burrower yo.

Sharjo12/2/2014, 6:12:16 PM5 votes

Why can't it be an it? Because the prior Voidborn have a specificed sex. Thus Voidborn are either male or female, with options such as hemaphrodite or no-sex being exceptionally rare or impossible. Why does Rek-Sai have to have traits that make it female in appearance? Who says Voidborn have to have sexual dimorphism? If you look at a bear, a dog, a fish, a crocodile, what about those creatures tells you they're specifically female? Jack diddly squat because they have little difference in appearance between sexes.

Essentially Rek'Sai being an it is counter to the standard with Voidborn; the other Voidborn are identified as having an individual sex. Rek'Sai not having it would be weird.

Also you're wrong about Kog'Maw. His ENTIRE LORE addresses him as male.

Also look at Anivia. Only her voice tells us she's female, if you looked at her otherwise you'd have no indication. The only way you'd know for Rek'Sai is looking at her abilities and seeing she's reffered to as "Queen" in them, an inherently female pronoun.

tl;dr Rek'Sai's a she. Voidborn aren't its. Rek'Sai being a she is a good thing.

Kojiro Sasaki12/2/2014, 6:15:02 PM3 votes

A few seconds in and already femnazi's who haven't even read the initial post properly are attacking me. So then, genius, What is so "female" about this creature? We have nothing to go on, other than Riot telling us its female.

In fact, lets get philosophical up in here. What defines anything as female? The ability to birth offspring? A vagoo?

Xulsigae12/2/2014, 6:17:02 PM2 votes

Why does she need to have traits to define her as female beyond the pronoun?

DrCyanide12/2/2014, 7:00:48 PM2 votes

Perhaps you could think about it in terms of cats.

The cats in your neighborhood all sound roughly the same. They look roughly the same. From a distance, there's no way for you to tell if most of the cats are male or female. Yet the cats defiantly do have genders.

We don't have a full examination of Rek'Sai's anatomy, nor other of her species to compare her to, we have the distant view (same with the cats). We don't know how to distinguish the sounds that are made by that species into male and female (same with the cats). But, as with the cats, we can ask the owners and we go off of that.