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A member registered Nov 29, 2016

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I'm trying to inform my reading of the end where Joanne gets stuck in Amadronia by what I've seen in the other endings so conflating them is certainly a risk. When I saw the ending in which Joanne stays in Amadronia under Sable's guidance it reads quite well. Joanne appears to be suffering an analogue of trauma induced body dysmorphia. With the information he has it's perfectly reasonable for Sable to assume this is in her best interests, even if Amadronia is far from an ideal environment there really isn't a suitable facility for her or any of the demihumans still locked in the asylum. The problems only arise when we see what Sable does when he realises what he wants and what Joanne wants are in conflict.

The idea that Sable is shocked and reacts poorly tracks very well with his character. He's a shut-in with a slightly problematic fixation on demi-humans. If the story hadn't stopped there I'd probably assume he would eventually learn his lesson and apologise. Since it does cut there the place where it cuts has additional significance and since it's a bad end it seems we're to assume the current situation is extremely bad. The current situation is Joanne is genuinely happy for the first time we've seen her, she's comfortable, she's stopped self-harming. The implication is that this is bad because Sable believes she should be forced to live as her birth species and he specifically uses transphobic language to dismiss her. Since he's the one unhappy with the current situation and this is a bad end it feels like we're supposed to agree with Sable here. 

If that's a bad reading then the implications on the main ending are substantially different. Amadronia is still a terrible environment for Joanne, Sable is still hopelessly out of his depth. But if he is prepared to put her needs above his own after all then the ending is bittersweet rather than pure grimdark.

I don't think it's only uncomfortable for the reason it's supposed to be uncomfortable. Joanne's endings are weirdly and specifically transphobic. I hadn't originally wanted to see the ending in which Joanne was confined to the asylum but for completeness I did so and was surprised to find it was also transphobic for really no good reason.

Within a very short time-frame, in a very small number of words in Joanne's endings we see her deadnamed, erroneous references to "mutilation" and outmoded references to transvesticism. If it's all coincedence it's still weird to see so much hit so fast. 

In the "good" ending she's left in the care of Sable and Amadronia but from the "bad" endings we can see neither one of them respects her, has her best interests at heart or cares about her well-being. On its own that's a really interesting story hook but in context of the weirdly specific transphobic allegory it's awkward to say the least.

I just, after a long time ignoring it played Joanne's route. It's uncomfortable. For the most part I was lamenting it didn't get a sequel like Drakan and Lisha's route but at the end it's just such an awkward transphobic allegory I'm not sure what to make of it. In the "good end" she's enslaved and in the "bad end" she's allowed to make her own choices regarding her identity? Then the main character repeatedly and very specifically deadnames her?

I wish my anxiety was that creative and interesting to talk to. Instead of just relentlessly devastating.