ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how BioWare's representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) themes developed, from the Baldur's Gate franchise where LGBT themes, particularly transsexual themes, were treated primarily as comic relief, to the current standard in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises, where players can develop intimate relationships with sympathetic bisexual or queer characters. The presentation of Ferelden in Dragon Age: Origins, as a world in which non-heteronormative sexuality and intimacy is banal, has transformed BioWare's brand so that the inclusion of lesbian, gay, and bisexual relationships have become the status quo of the company's games. The non-heteronormative relationships in Dragon Age: Origins play with the notion of sexual orientation extensively. Both of the characters that can have queer relationships with the player character, the human female Leliana and the male elf Zevran, are diegetically bisexual.
