Awful Name Of Trans Character In Hogwarts Legacy Draws Criticism

Awful Name of Trans Character in Hogwarts Legacy Draws Criticism – Hogwarts Legacy provided us with the first transgender character in the Harry Potter series yesterday. She regrettably adopts the franchise’s controversial naming scheme, and many members of the trans community claim that her name is a transphobic dog whistle.

Sirona Ryan is a really unusual name that is not at all popular in the neighbourhood. When the name was originally released, it drew criticism for being very macho and some people thought the first name beginning with “Sir” was purposefully demeaning.

Awful Name of Trans Character in Hogwarts Legacy Draws Criticism

Sirona rapidly attracted comparisons to some of the other horrible names that have been utilised throughout the series not long after she was first revealed. Cho Chang, whose surnames are both Chinese and Korean and are both last names, is possibly the most notorious.

Ryan having a male first name and Sirona coming across as a transphobic insult make it understandable why many are citing this as another instance of Harry Potter’s careless and offensive naming standards, alongside Kingsley Shacklebolt and Anthony Goldstein.

“are you ready for your bigoted caricature lessons?”

*kingsley shacklebolt gulps*

*cho chang breathes heavily*

*anthony goldstein nods nervously*

*parvati patil sighs*

“yes, sirona ryan” they say in unison https://t.co/yZkYPOykm6

— yung she/herm (@LunaaCity) February 6, 2023

It’s unclear who came up with the name, and unlike the others we discussed, we can assume that Rowling wasn’t the one who came up with it because she didn’t work on the game herself, which was advertised as a selling feature. Although Sirona was only inserted to “pivot the narrative” away from discussions of the author’s pervasive transphobia, we do have Rowling to thank personally for her inclusion at all.

That hasn’t exactly gone as planned, as we can now see. If anything, Rowling’s name and the purported justification for her inclusion in the game have reignited the conversation about transphobia and how it is difficult to divorce her views from Harry Potter even without her involvement.

joanne. https://t.co/bGCc5KAnu4 pic.twitter.com/fcyuwgD4Rk

— RATURDAY NIGHT LEAK 🔴 ratchel (@girlmeat5557) February 6, 2023

In light of this, it is also unclear whether trans individuals were considered when creating this character or any other part of the game. It was mentioned in 2020 that WB Games held discussions with the GLAAD director of trans media representation, although it seems unlikely that they would have approved Sirona Ryan’s name at that time. It is more likely that they were consulted while creating the game’s trans-inclusive character customization.

Later in the Q&A, Haddad answered a question about diversity/inclusion by adding that WB Games is working with LGBTQ rights orgs and that he spent an hour and a half talking to the director of trans media representation at GLAAD. No mention of Rowling or Harry Potter there

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) September 30, 2020

The creator and the publisher have not responded to this most recent controversy. There doesn’t seem to be a resolution anytime soon because the moderators in the official Hogwarts Legacy discord server deliberately discourage users from talking about this issue.