Initial thoughts on Vaarsuvius

[Useless]

Ok, I know there have been many, many threads debating Vaarsuvius's gender, but this is slightly different...

What gender did you initially think V was?

I though s/he was male, I didn't (much to my shame) consider s/he could be anything else until the entendre (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0123.html) strip.

I was just wondering about anyone else.

[Joran]

I thought s/he was male.

[chibibar]

regardless what the giant MAY reveal at the end of the strip (the OoTS ends) to me, V is female.

[Newtkeeper]

I think I assumed s/he was male- mostly because s/he is referred to (by the party) as 'he' early on, and not as 'she' until later.

[FujinAkari]

It is practically confirmed that the Giant initially thought of V as male, and only later introduced the gender confusion.

While Rich has been careful never to say, there is commentary about V in DCF which Rich wrote very tired and under a deadline, where he refers to V exclusively with masculine verbs.

Edit: Ooops, misread the OP. I initially took V for male ^_^

[*Templar*]

Male. No other possibility crossed my mind.

[Mauve Shirt]

Male, and I still think so.

[teratorn]

I always thought about V as a non-good-looking woman...

[Raider]

I always thought of the Vzer as a "librairianish" woman.

I didn't catch the gender confusion joke until later in the strip

[Studoku]

Female. I'm not sure why.

[Inigo Montoya]

Female. Still think so.

[Chronos]

I started in the middle, and one of the first strips I saw V in was the one where e comments that e's not the most qualified to speak on matters of gender (with Sabine in the bar). So that tipped me off that there was something odd about V, and I never really had a chance to form a firm impression before getting any impression un-formed.

[Ceaon]

Male. Though that's because Roy thinks so too: "V-Man is casting Identify.".

[Raging_Pacifist]

I origanally thought male as well not because of the masculine verbs but I just get that vibe.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Male. S/he was referred to as male early on and appeared to have a male build, so I just assumed s/he was male until I got very late in the strips (around the belt of masculinity/femininity arc) and any different pronouns and the like were just jabs at elves. I still have trouble thinking of s/him as anything but male.

[Lunaya]

I initially thought V was a guy, simply because of the way his/her body is shaped. These days, I can just as easily see him/her as a girl. I'd like to find out what gender V belongs to someday, but right now I just can't decide for myself.

[KindaChang]

My very first impression, from the first strip, was female.

[tahu88810]

I originally though s/he was a male, I don't really care what gender V is, though.

[Metal Head]

I always thought V was male until I noticed that Nale once referred to V as an "elf chick." At first I thought it was some weird typo, but when I looked at V I really saw that V's gender was sort of ambiguous. To this day I insist V is a man. He just talks like one.

[LBO]

I initially thought V was a guy, simply because of the way his/her body is shaped. These days, I can just as easily see him/her as a girl. I'd like to find out what gender V belongs to someday, but right now I just can't decide for myself.
Exactly the same here.

[Swordlol]

Female, the red robes and pink hair, and the feet.

The artist's style (which I have figured out by attempting the similar in animation class) seems to rely heavily on eyes, hair, and to a similar extent the legs/feet. Its a tough arguement, but there is a trend/pattern.

[SlightlyEvil]

Initially, I favored female. That probably comes in part from Double Your Entendre, Double Your Fun (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0123.html) being one of the first strips I saw. Given the nature of the conversation, and the fact that V is with Haley, I just assumed that he was female. I oscillate back and forth now, leaning more towards male recently because of a re-read of the Wooden Forest arc. V's appearance at the beginning of this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0186.html) strip is perhaps the most Rich has ever indicated one way or another.

I read elsewhere that the ambiguity joke was something of an afterthought, but it makes for a great running gag.

[Behold_the_Void]

Male, since he was pretty much exclusively referred to as male in the early part of the strip.

[memnarch]

Actually..... I never really gave it that much of a thought til jokes were made about it and saw the threads debating one over the other. :smallfrown: Now I think V is fe/male depending on the last strip I read.

[Healer Hobo]

regardless what the giant MAY reveal at the end of the strip (the OoTS ends) to me, V is female.



*shiver* Sorry, but you just mentioned the end of the comic. Noone wants to even THINK about it ending. And On Topic, I initially thought s/he was male. Something about The spiked tentacles. Besides, as Chainmail Bikini put,

"Males wear huge heavy cloaks that make it hard to move around in, while females wear small strips of near transparent cloth that is supposed to pass as 'cloths'. Gotta love DnD. The only game where both genders look equally rediculous."

[Lawliet]

Male, and I still think so.

Seconded.
I just can't imagine Vaarsuvius as a female.

[Mee]

At first, I though s/he was female, until Roy said, V-man, but I still think of V as a female.

[ssjKammak]

Always assumed V to be Male, mostly because V wasn't drawn distinctly feminine like any other character with a clearly defined gender. now days no idea though :smallwink:

cheers

[LoRdofCookIES]

I thought V was a she. I still do :) Not sure why *sigh*

[Shades of Gray]

Female. Boy was I confused when I heard V-man.:smalleek:

[Szilard]

this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0186.html) strip is perhaps the most Rich has ever indicated one way or another.

That made be think a bit, I still think that V's a she, but when I look at it logically, I think V's a he.

[Trazoi]

I honestly don't think I put much thought into it until it became clear that the gender ambiguity was going to be a long-running joke.

Even if I try to clear my mind from the story and look at the original few strips, it's still not that clear what my mind aims towards. There aren't that many female characters to compare against in the first few strips (and no elves). While part of my mind leans towards male as the "default" gender for an ambiguous character, another finds some similarity between the way V looks and Imoen from Baldur's Gate II (mainly with the hair). So I'm still undecided.

[monty]

Male. S/he was referred to as male early on and appeared to have a male build, so I just assumed s/he was male until I got very late in the strips (around the belt of masculinity/femininity arc) and any different pronouns and the like were just jabs at elves. I still have trouble thinking of s/him as anything but male.

You mean like this (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=645)?

I still think V's gender is Neutral.

[Shott]

Until the Giant says otherwise, V will be a male to me.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

I came across the story later than many (somewhere near the beginning of the Battle for Azure City), so I originaly though V was Female. Then I went to the beginning of the strip and saw that V was initially Male, then shifted to Ambigous.

In Dungeon Crawlin' Fools, Rich refers to V as male in one section, but gender neutral in another. I'm in the camp that says V started male, but shifted to neutral when someone on the message board made a big deal out of not being sure of V's gender, and Rich thought that was funny enough to rewrite the character.

Rich's commentary in DCF seems to imply that originally the OotS was supposed to be a gag a week/twice a week strip, with no real plot or story. But that after a few weeks, he wrote down a full outline/story and has been running with that ever since.

[Roderick_BR]

When I first saw V, I was confused, and didn't decide, waiting for some reference. The Giant did a good job for me :smallbiggrin:

[The Extinguisher]

I've never assoiciated him to any one gender.

Of course, V could always be an Aboleth who switches illusions. Or two gnomes in an elf costume.

[Blayze]

A bloke. Always.

[Holammer]

I had the impression right from the start that V was in fact female. Not a very attractive one of course (the artwork was quite basic at the time), but if you wither away in a dusty old tower unfolding the secrets of the arcane IN a baggy old robe, that's what you get. This with the violet hair, shiny tiara and a red robe felt feminine. Plus it made sense from a "gender distribution" viewpoint to have at least two females in a six man... person group.

Having V as a female and not having one of those sexist attires that's expected nowadays would be a statement in itself.

[Ikialev]

I though V was/is hermaphrodite. >>

[Parable]

Hey, tiaras aren't feminine.

...

Well, not that feminine. Yeah, Vaarsuvius has always been a man. A girly man, but a man.

[ZFR]

Female. Wasn't even aware of the gender confusion till later.

Still think she's female.

[Glyde]

Male is what I thought of V before.

[Raging_Pacifist]

I think he's a hermaphrodite thats reproduces asexually.

[Lupy]

I think V is a man for three reasons...

1) Before fans started questioning his gender she was always referred to in the masculine.

2) http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0028.html pannel six, Belkar seems to indicate he thinks V is a gay man.

3) In DCF Rich calls her he or him consistantly in one of his comment block thingys, which he wrote while tired...

Oops. I initially (and still do) think of shim as male.

[Steven the Lich]

I thought Vaasurvius was female at first... Only later have I considered that s/he was male. I'm actually thinking that V is mayb genderless... but that is extremely unlikely. I'm estimating the chances of it being that in this reality are 99.9 percent to .1... But this is OotS, and wierder things have been introduced, such as that gender belt, sooooooo...
But it would be odd if V was a man, since Belkar kissed s/he during the New Years celebration... even if he was drunk...

[Icewalker]

Female. Aaaall the way until this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0306.html) strip, when V is referred to as he. Until then I never realized there was a debate...I had just assumed female and, having found no evidence to the contrary, never realized I wasn't necessarily right.

Some jokes didn't make sense though. :smalltongue:

[Raging_Pacifist]

The reason Belkar kissed shim was that he has a two track mind, he either hates or lusts somebody and he hated V up until s/he saved him from Miko. Then he became lustful for him. So its not proof that V's a woman, just that Belkar's crazy.

[Wooter]

I always thought of V as an Elf. Gender did not even occur to me.

[vikinglief]

Female:

Purple Hair, that is fairly long (Hair even looks more feminine to me)
Gold circlet
Red robe with cape
Rooms with :haley: at the inn
Seemed feminine, especially contrasted with :elan: who was, early on, the girly-man stereotype of a bard to be the comedic foil to :roy:

Part of it has to do with the fact that, in my mind, all elves (regardless of gender) are, by default, for more effeminate that than humans.

Was very confused by the pronoun switches until I looked into the forums and saw one of the many V gender debate threads on the first page.

:Edit: More, not for, than not that :smallannoyed:

[Raging_Pacifist]

No, V is an orc.

[Lionpawheart]

I thought, and still think that V is male. I'm not sure where the comments on his gender started, but I'm sticking with my thoughts.

Why do I think that? No... hmm... stuff on his chest.

[Ariko]

I thought, and still think V is a wizard.:smalltongue:

[The Extinguisher]

V is secretly a sorceror.

[TroyXavier]

Always thought V was female. It wasn't till I read the forums that I saw some people saw her as male.

[Grey Watcher]

My initial thought was that V was male. Probably because Roy refers to Vaarsuvius as "V-man" in a very early strip (#9). Strangely enough, my mother (who read On the Origin of PCs before reading Dungeon Crawlin' Fools), has always seen V as female (I think the whole affair with the Iron Mages and his initial confrontation with Roy during the job interview suggested to my mother a shrill feminist type of person. Y'know sort of a "Take that, glass cieling!" kind of mentality.)

[Qov]

I must have looked at the long hair and red dress and assumed female.

My initial impression seemed to be confirmed by her understanding Haley's rejection of Boots of Speed on account of their colour (#2), and by her checking out Elan's weapon of choice in (#28). I now both those and Belkar and Roy's responses might seem to indicate that V was a gay guy, but at the time I took their surprise to be at the aloof elf having any interest in immature Elan, nothing to do with sex or orientation.
And then in #44 V's opposite is male.

I was happy with my belief right up until the words "unless he's half dromedary" (#87). Then I assumed I'd just gotten it wrong, and switched to believing male.

I think for quite some time after that, every time a gender referred to conflicted with what I was currently believing, I just assumed I had remembered incorrectly, or took up a new belief having forgotten the old one. It wasn't important enough for me to remember from strip to strip.

[Fraz-Urb'luu]

From the first comic I ever read, I believed that Vaarsuvius was Male. I still do (though I've debated this way to many times, and my mind has been changed on several rare occasions).

[Morgan Wick]

I still can't see V as male at all, both because of the hair and the art style, I think. To their credit, the guest artists have done a good job of making it look more ambiguous. And the robe doesn't have to fit his/her body.

I think it tells a lot about you what you see V as...

[Woof]

Female. Particularly once s/he shared a room with Haley.

[Hagentai]

Male. No other possibility crossed my mind.

In real life if you can't tell if it's a girl or not.. it's a guy.

That way you don't look gay if you pick wrong. (LOL).

[TheBoneSplitter]

The way V talks is undeniably male, and the full name of his is masculine for an Elf.

[brilliantlight]

Initially, I favored female. That probably comes in part from Double Your Entendre, Double Your Fun (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0123.html) being one of the first strips I saw. Given the nature of the conversation, and the fact that V is with Haley, I just assumed that he was female. I oscillate back and forth now, leaning more towards male recently because of a re-read of the Wooden Forest arc. V's appearance at the beginning of this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0186.html) strip is perhaps the most Rich has ever indicated one way or another.

I read elsewhere that the ambiguity joke was something of an afterthought, but it makes for a great running gag.

Same reason for me. She is a very proper elf and I don't see a proper married man sleeping alone in the same room with a single woman. However, as some people have pointed out, it may be different with elves.

[MorkaisChosen]

I always thought she was female, possibly so I could subconciously lust after her (don't blame me, I was 15 and male! And still male now!)

[Lunaya]

I look at V and just can't stop thinking about Marcy from Peanuts. For that reason, I will never be able to decide if my initial assessment of him/her as a male was correct.

[Taliesan]

Personally I though V was a hermaphrodite.

[Raven_Nightwind]

V does not have a defined gender, and will never.

My first impression was female...and that's never going to change because I'm a stubborn little kid. :smalltongue:

[David Argall]

In real life if you can't tell if it's a girl or not.. it's a guy.

That way you don't look gay if you pick wrong. (LOL).

That way, you also miss out on some dates.

[Kedami]

At first I thought male. Then we s/he shared a room with Haley I started to wonder. I also wondered a bit more once your found out s/he was married.

At this point in time I'd have to say male, but a feminine one. Althouth... This could just be because s/he is an elf.

[Decoy Lockbox]

I initially thought V was a guy, just because the name sounds very masculine.

[osyluth]

I initially thought V was a guy, just because the name sounds very masculine.

I think it's Roman, definitely a masculine name.

[Morgan Wick]

I think it's Roman, definitely a masculine name.

Fourth declension nouns in Latin end in -us but can be feminine.

I still haven't seen any remotely convincing evidence in the male direction.

[Bitzeralisis]

I found him... male. But then ambiguous. And then I just decided to call him a Wizard and get over it. :smallbiggrin:

[Valandilfefalas]

I think s/he looks female, and has some female characteristics. I do confess that I sometimes think of he/she being male, mainly because my D&D characters are mostly elves and I am male. If you try and twist your logic to my way of thinking, you see what I mean.

[Sir Conkey]

I say V is a man, that was my initial thought and still is. Elves arn't known to be very... well... manly. Plus s/he seems to be overwelmingly stubborn, kinda more of a male mindset, at least in my experience.

[Solo]

I think it's Roman, definitely a masculine name.

What is this "Japan Rome" you speak of?

[MorkaisChosen]

Plus s/he seems to be overwelmingly stubborn, kinda more of a male mindset, at least in my experience.

*snort*
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry about that, but you need to meet some of the female people I know.

[Tobrian]

What gender did you initially think V was?


Male. All those bombastic speeches and monologues.... V likes to hear him/herself talk, which to me is a male trait. :smallwink: I can't honestly imagine V as female.

On the other hand, my husband always refers to V as "she", but can't say why. He can't imagine V as male. *shrug*


I think it's Roman, definitely a masculine name.
*cough* The language of the ancient Roman Empire is called "Latin". If there is a language called "Roman", it's spoken by the Roma... who hate to be called "gypsies". Totally different ethnicity. Plus, one language it dead, the other not.

[Qov]

I thought of this thread last night when I was taking a friend to a party we were parked waiting near a bus stop for my friend's friend. I knew only her name, nothing else.

"What does she look like?" I asked

"She's easy to spot. She's a tall man in a dress."

And so she was. The party was pretty dull, though.