An update on Aro/Aces in Pop Culture

I made much of the fact there's a need for more asexual and aromantic representation in mainstream media a few months ago. I went to write a series of features about characters who could have fit the bill quite perfectly, as well as a much shorter one highlighting those who have been canonically confirmed.

Among these few there was Vi Moradi, a recurring character in the broader Star Wars canon who became the first official asexual character in the franchise. I mentioned how the presence of , an asexual editor at Lucasfilm maybe had something to do with this, as she surely brings awareness of a rarely mentioned subject among the company's writers. Well, it seems like her influence has touched other authors than Delilah S. Dawson, the creator of Moradi. In the months since my last article, I came to discover not one, but two more canon Star Wars characters described as asexual by their creators! One of them even appears in the films!

Leox Gyasi:

If you are familiar with Star Wars books, you surely know Claudia Gray, who has gone to write some of the best novels in the current canon (Bloodlines; Leia, Princess of Alderaan; Master & Apprentice and the acclaimed Lost Stars). Her most recent book, Into the Dark, is set at the time of the High Republic, a period  set about two centuries before the start of the Skywalker Saga, back when the Jedi, and the Galactic government were at their prime.

Into the Dark features an ensemble of characters, and one of them is cargo pilot Leox Gyasi. He's meant to be a principled scoundrel in the vein of Han Solo, but differentiated enough to be a completely new character. Gray has shared that he modeled part of his personality in the classic role Matthew McConaughey would play in the 90s, and this has partially extended to the illustrated portrayals of his appearance. If Vi Moradi had a very clear description of her asexuality in Black Spire, Gyasi's is even better. It is so carefully explained that it can even serve to illustrate readers who didn't know beforehand this is a legitimate orientation. Instead of limiting it to an inner monologue, like Vi's, Leox explains his aro/ace status to answer some questions made by Affie Hollow, his female, young protégée. Namely, he elaborates why Affie's mother trusted him with her and considered him a "safe" guardian for her:

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I have been born blessedly free of the passionate fevers that seize so many beings.” He leaned back in the pilot’s seat; apparently he’d modified it to serve as a recliner, when he wished. “I possess no desire to reproduce, nor—and more to the point—any desire to perform the actions of reproduction with no generative goal in mind.”

Affie worked through this. “You mean you…don’t have sex.” Her cheeks flushed hot; she wasn’t a child, but she wasn’t used to talking about this with grown people.

However, for Leox, she might as well have been discussing the weather.

(...)

“But in my case it’s not an imperative, for which I’ve always been grateful. Seems to free up the mind, insofar as I can judge the minds of other beings. Certainly frees up a whole lot of time.”

An interesting aspect is that, in many ways, Gyasi has many archetypical masculine traits. Traditionally, such a character would be portrayed as something of a womanizer, but this choice shows the diversity that the ace community has in real life, and how asexuality has nothing to do with gender identity issues or a lack of masculinity,

Sola Naberrie:

Sola is the only sister of Padmé Amidala (named Naberrie before becoming a Queen), and is a character directly created by George Lucas. She first appeared in sequences filmed for Attack of the Clones, along with the rest of her family, but they were all ultimately cut from the film, though widely released afterwards. She then goes to appear with the other Naberries during Padmé's funeral in Revenge of the Sith. It's a brief cameo, mind you, without dialogues unlike in her deleted role in Episode II, but she's still a recognizable part of the canon for fans due to the relation to one of the main characters.

She gets a bit of expansion in the E.K. Johnston trilogy of novels centered on Padmé (Queen's Shadow, Queen's Peril and the upcoming Queen's Hope), where we learn that unlike her sister, who wanted what their parents had, Sola was never interested in a relationship with a partner. However, like many other aromantics, she did want to be a mother, so she had a daughter, Ryoo, who also appears on the same films as her. It's also mentioned that this is something quite common on their home planet of Naboo.

We got further confirmation about what this means when a reader directly asked Johnston if Sola was aromantic on her social media account. The author answered this:

Aro and Ace. She decided she wanted a kid and so she got one. The healthcare system on Naboo is set up for that, and the social attitude leans heavily into “none of your business”.

This is very nice to hear. First, Johnston seems familiar with the lingo, using the shortened terms "Aro" and "Ace". Second, she elaborates on how easy Naboo (which has always been portrayed as an almost utopian society, but ironically produced Palpatine), makes it for people like her to get a child, which is something that sadly is still not readily available in our planet, as I can testify.

In all, the broader Star Wars universe is quickly becoming one of the franchises with the most representation for the under-portrayed aro/aces. In just a couple of years, we've had at least three instances of characters  who are explicitly part of the spectrum, adding to the already sizable amount of "head-canon" aces this universe already attracted.

I just wish this could also happen in the audiovisual side of Star Wars instead of just from publishing. It's not that I think any media is inherently superior, but there's no denying the much higher popularity the films and TV series have over the books, and that's something we could really use right now.

If you're curious about more characters who fit the bill, or you're not clear at all about what all this stuff about Aromanticism and such means, don't forget to check out the previous features on the subject from the blog!