Bisexuality and Fandom

Trope · Genre
Synonyms:	bi
Related:	bisexuality
See Also:	Mspec Fandom, Queer Fandom, Disaster Bi
Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom
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Bisexuality is a sexual orientation in which a person feels sexual attraction to more than one gender/sex of people.

Bisexual Characters

Books

• In the Animorphs YA series, Marco was hinted to be bisexual, and coauthor Michael Grant confirmed they had feared that publishers or networks would not allow an explicitly bi character at the time the series was coming out.
• Jake from Warrior Cats is implied to be bisexual. He has fathered children with two different female cats, and co-author Kate Cary has stated that she views Jake’s relationship with Tallstar as romantic, although the series’s publisher considers them simply good friends.

TV

• There is some debate in the Legend of Korra fandom over whether Korra and Asami are bisexual or lesbian. Given that both have been in relationships with Mako, general opinion likely leans more towards the former.
• Dr. Remy Hadley in House, M.D. is bisexual and was shown in relationships with both men and women.
• Eleanor Shellstrop in The Good Place was confirmed to be "super bisexual" by William Jackson Harper, who plays Chidi Anagonye.
• Piper Chapman from Orange Is the New Black is bisexual and has dated both men and women.
• Chuck Shurley from Supernatural is bisexual and has dated both men and women.
• Ianto Jones and Toshiko Sato from Torchwood are bisexual.
• Clarke Griffin from The 100 is bisexual.
• Clara Oswald from Doctor Who is bisexual.
• Luz Noceda from The Owl House is bisexual.
• Detective Rosa Diaz from Brooklyn Nine-Nine is bisexual.
• Beckett Mariner from Star Trek: Lower Decks is bisexual, and has dated persons of a wide array of genders and species.

Film

• Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe
• Harley Quinn from the DC Extended Universe
• Valkyrie from Marvel Cinematic Universe

Video Games

• Jacob Frye in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate - After much fan discourse over Jacob's interactions with Maxwell Roth, the official Assassin's Creed Tumblr account posted that "Jacob Frye is bisexual. This is canon. The end." Many fans ship Jacob with Maxwell, who was confirmed as canonically gay.
• Kassandra and Alexios in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey are functionally bisexual, being able to romance/sleep with men and women. However the developers have not stated a canon sexuality for them, as the game design emphasizes player choice.
• The same goes for Eivor in the follow-up game, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.
• Billie Lurk in Dishonored - In Dishonored 2, the player can find an audiograph recorded by Billie which states "I've loved a number of women and even a couple of men".
• Legault from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade flirts with men and women alike, though his only paired ending is a tragic one with the paladin Isadora.
  • Lyn is considered bisexual, due to having both paired endings with men and with one woman-her best friend, Florina, whose own behavior suggests she has a crush on Lyn. Florina can also marry Hector, one of Lyn's potential husbands.
• Fire Emblem Fates has the player avatar Corrin, the spellcaster Rhajat, and the outlaw Niles. The latter two can marry the former no matter what their gender.
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses has several bisexual characters:
  • Byleth, the player avatar
  • Edelgard von Hresvelg, Dorothea Aranult, and Linhardt von Hevring of the Black Eagles
  • Mercedes von Martriz of the Blue Lions
  • Lady Rhea (though she can only be romanced on the Silver Snow route)
  • Jeritza von Hrym (Crimson Flower exclusive)
  • Yuri Leclerc of the Ashen Wolves
  • Characters such as Felix Hugo Fraldarius and Constance von Nuvelle can only be romanced by a Byleth of the opposite sex, but have multiple same-sex endings (Dimitri and Sylvain for Felix; Hapi, Edelgard, and Mercedes for Constance, for example).
  • Shamir Nevrand is confirmed bisexual in the AU spinoff Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.
• Romance is downplayed in Fire Emblem Engage, with the game focusing more on friendship and family, but a few of the game's Pact Ring conversations are explicitly romantic and can be with either gender of Alear, the player character:
  • Prince Alfred of Firene, who is implied to have a crush on Alear either way
  • Princess Ivy of Elusia, who worships Alear as a deity and outright says she loves them
  • Goldmary, retainer to Princess Hortensia
  • Kagetsu, retainer to Ivy
  • Prince Diamant does not give an outright love confession, but he will give Alear a ring in return for the Pact Ring
• The Life is Strange franchise has Max Caulfield from the original game, Rachel Amber from the original game and prequel game Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Sean Diaz from Life is Strange 2 and Alex Chen from Life is Strange: True Colors. Max, Sean and Alex are all player-controlled protagonists with one man and one woman romance option each, and Rachel is a romance option for Chloe Price in the prequel and is implied to have dated at least one man in the gap between the prequel and the main game. Some fans also consider Chloe to be bisexual; her voice actress Ashly Burch has referred to her as “sexually fluid” and says she doesn’t think Chloe likes to label herself any particular way.
• The Dragon Age series includes numerous love interests who can be romanced by a player character of either gender.
  • Zevran Arainai and Leliana in Dragon Age: Origins.
  • All romance options in Dragon Age II: Anders, Fenris, Isabela, and Merrill. The only exception is Sebastian Vael, who can only be romanced by a female Hawke.
  • Iron Bull and Josephine Montilyet in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
• Zagreus of the 2019 roguelike Hades.
• In Rune Factory 5, every single marriage choice is bisexual, able to marry the player no matter what gender they choose.

Discourse and Meta

• Bisexuality and Fanfic
• Mulder's Bisexuality: An Interpretation of His Band of Gold (May 1998) by Sonya Schryer - The X-Files
• One of the funniest things about harry potter is how jkr accidentally made harry incredibly bisexual. (2016 or before) by transpoe - Harry Potter

Controversies

When NPCs in video games can be romanced by a protagonist regardless of the protagonist character's gender, this is sometimes deemed "Playersexuality" and has been criticized as poor representation.

Biphobia in Fandom

• Any other bi people who are into fandoms and shipping sick of bi erasure?, ^{Archived version}
• Alright, people, say it with me. (tumblr), ^{Archived version}
• Fandoms Hate LGBTQ+ People (tumblr), ^{Archived version}

See also Homophobia in Fandom#Biphobia.

Bisexuals in Fandom

Queer folk will often portray m/f pairings as queer in some way, whether as bi or trans etc.

[despazito]
Need it to be understood that whenever I have m/f ships I ship them in an explicitly bisexual manner

Further reblogs of this post elaborate further on the impact that a fan's bisexuality, or other queer identity, has on that fan's fandom activity, and the lens' with which they navigate their fandoms:

[flootzavut]
I think some people in the notes are really not getting that it's not just "I consider these characters to be bi" (though that in itself is completely valid, we have very little rep, there's absolutely nothing wrong with queering characters), but also "the way I write this pairing is steeped in queerness even though they look like a straight couple to a casual observer" and even "I don't write them queer on purpose it just happens."

Like I wrote a lot of original fiction and a metric shit ton of fanfic before I figured out I'm bi, but still when reading stuff from fifteen years ago, back when I was completely convinced I was cishet, I go "... wow, that's gay." Sometimes I'm deliberately queering characters because I love them and I relate to them so it's another way to relate to them, AND THAT'S OKAY, but sometimes I'm literally just writing stories while being a queer person and they end up coming out a bit bi and/or a bit genderweird or somewhat poly, because I'm bi and genderweird and vaguely poly and that affects how I write these characters.

Yes absolutely some people are shipping a superficially straight pairing and going "you know what though, they aren't straight because I say so, that's why" and THAT IS FINE BY THE WAY, the whole "I'm not like other bis I don't do that" thing can sod off; it's absolutely fine to do that, this is fanfic, stop acting like you're better if you don't ffs. But also I know that from a reading and a writing and a just-quietly-shipping-it POV, our own lives and sexualities are the lenses through which we perceive the characters. When I say I ship something in a queer way, I'm just saying I'm queer and it affects how I view these characters, and that is absolutely okay.

Honestly, if you're queer and you're not allowing yourself to do this at least some of the time, you're missing out. There's something beautiful in it. It's not virtuous not to do it. That kind of bizarre purity culture nonsense doesn't suddenly become progressive just because you're not straight, it's still nonsense.

And everyone out there who's shipping pairings in queer ways, whatever that means to you; you're doing wonderful, sweetie. Carry right on! 🥰🥰🥰

Example Fanworks

Zines

• She-Ra Bisexuality Visibility Zine

Recs

• Recs tagged Bisexual/Pansexual Characters at Fancake

Fanart

• 

  Harry Potter with the bi pride flag, fanart by Siggi, 2017.

• 

  Assassin's Creed fanart featuring Ned Wynert holding a large trans pride flag, Leonardo da Vinci with a rainbow pride flag worn as a cape, and both Jacob Frye and Kassandra sheltered under a large bisexual pride flag. The Assassin's Creed symbol in rainbow colors is above Leo's head. By A Random Trickster, 2020.

• 

  Kion Headcanon (September 2020) by uunicornicc, featuring Kion from The Lion Guard with the bi pride flag in the corner

Communities & Resources

• Biphobia tag - Ao3
• Bisexuality tag - Ao3

References

Related Concepts, Fandoms, Terms, Fanworks
See also	List of fictional bisexual characters • Media portrayals of bisexuality