Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26174543-20181006151501/@comment-6986530-20181006174948

Thank you for voicing your concerns. I am sorry if our handling of the page is alarming or feels like misinformation to you, but it's the best that we can do under the circumstances. We've already discussed how we will be handling Michaela's page in the heavenly novel, and no more information has been presented to change this.

First off: please keep in mind that this is a fantasy series which features confirmed instances of reincarnation and the manipulation of someone's soul which takes the form of data (and that these things, in particular, are applicable to Michaela's case) something that cannot and will never be able to be applied to real-life trans people.

Secondly: FNiCortez has misrepresented the information that is currently on Michaela's page.

The order of events as presented currently is that Michaela was originally Michael, a male, and then became a forest spirit, something which is confirmed to be genderless and sexless. Michaela, at the beginning of Wiegenlied before reincarnation, was not a male and the wiki does not treat Michaela as a male during that period, as is reflected in the use of they/them pronouns.

In Wiegenlied, at the time that the reincarnation ritual was discussed, Michaela asks Elluka why she decided on women, since it wouldn't make a difference whether they incarnate as a man or a woman because spirits genderless; presumably this means they'd be able to adapt to either body without complications. The actual passage is thus:

''"...By the by, why a beautiful woman? We don't have a gender in the first place, so wouldn’t a man work just as well...?" I asked.''

This passage does not serve to comment on Michaela's preference. We do not know if Michaela would have picked either a man or woman if the decision was up to her, and we never said as much on the wiki.

After Michaela incarnates as a woman, she remains one for the rest of the series. It's possible that this means that Michael was a trans woman. But it's also possible that Michaela could not be a male again because being reincarnated as a cis woman changed that part of her spirit data. We don't know if that part of her identity was outright removed when she became a spirit in the first place.

The fact that she says spirits can incarnate as male or female is the sticking point. If we had a case where a forest spirit did the same as Michaela, i.e. incarnating into a gender different from what they had in the Second Period, and then changed back to their previous gender when they gained their memories of the Second Period again, then even that would be enough. But we only have Michaela. This is why we have chosen for the most part not to comment on it at all.

If you feel that's harmful still, I'm sorry. But again, these circumstances are not ones that will ever be applicable to real-life trans individuals.

tdlr; '''we're only referring to Michaela's gender and gender identities the way that the narrative itself has referred to it. '''

If we got a confirmation that Michael used female pronouns or some indication that Michael identified as female, or another forest spirit example such as I said above, we'd gladly put on the page that Michaela is a trans woman. Until then, the page will refer to Michael as the narrative has referred to Michael.