Took them a second to realize I was actually a witch, not a wizard.” Which is more than I can say for some of my own classmates. “Hadn’t seen him in years when he came in a few months ago,” Sirona says about a goblin the player is pursuing. Though the character doesn’t specifically say she’s trans, a line of her dialogue leads players to make their own conclusion: “ Hogwarts Legacy” is an action role-playing game in which players explore Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the nearby village of Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley and other iconic locations featured in the books and movies.ĭuring one in-game quest, players meet Sirona Ryan, owner of the Three Broomsticks pub in Hogsmeade. Others noted that her name referred to the Celtic goddess of healing and rebirth.A hotly anticipated new video game set in the “Harry Potter” universe appears to feature a trans character, which would be a first for the franchise. However, her name Sirona Ryan, was criticised for allegedly sounding masculine, especially because of the prefix ‘Sir’, and the use of the common male name – Ryan. It should be noted that Hogwarts Legacy will introduce the first-ever transgender woman character in the Harry Potter universe.

Hogwarts Legacy to introduce the first transgender woman in the Harry Potter universe Veronica Ripley, whose real name is Nikatine has also called for a boycott of Twitch for hosting ads for Hogwarts Legacy. Some streamers have also opposed the ads for Hogwarts Legacy on the Amazon-owned video platform Twitch. Others continue to denounce JK Rowling for her comments on the trans community. The author responded by accusing her of ‘purethink’.Ī few popular gaming review websites like Kotaku, Eurogamer, and Polygon have not reviewed Hogwarts Legacy despite the embargo being over. In December, Jessie Earl, a trans-YouTuber, and writer opined on Twitter that consuming the upcoming video game while Rowling is “using her ongoing platform to target and also justify her continued targeting of trans people is harmful to trans people”. Hogwarts Legacy: Criticism against the Harry Potter video game

It should be noted that although the author was not involved in the creation of the game, she will earn royalties from its sales. Rowling, in the light of her comments on trans people which are widely critiqued as transphobic.

However, the video game has also found itself wrapped in controversy as fans are not sure if they want to support Harry Potter author J.K. Moreover, due to the increasing number of pre-orders, it has entered the best-selling lists on online vendor sites like Amazon and Epic Store.

Ahead of its release, Hogwarts Legacy has reportedly garnered a lot of positive reviews on aggregator Metacritic.

Rowling hogwarts legacy