If you're looking for positive LGBTQ representation, horror video games of the mid-1990s (1995, to be exact), is not the most obvious arena. In the vast majority of media of the era, LGBTQ characters were still generally either jokes or barely-coded villains, monsters or objects of ridicule. As for video games, even the notion of sexuality itself was still taboo. Very few even directly commented upon sex or sexuality, let alone gender orientation. The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery is therefore one of the most pleasant and uplifting surprises an LGBTQ gamer can hope to come across. Critically lauded and extremely popular for an exceedingly brief period, the Gabriel Knight series consists of point and click adventure games in the vein of Monkey Islands, Broken Sword et al. But, whereas those titles tend to focus on cartoonish adventures and comedy, Gabriel Knight titles are works of gothic horror, with the eponymous protagonist finding himself in the midst of -often Lovecraftian- mysteries and supernatural shenanigans whilst researching his next hit horror novel. The second in the series, The Beast Within, marks a notable technical transition, consisting entirely of full motion video and actual actors rather than sprites or computer generated characters. Furthermore, this title shunts the action from the USA to Europe, where Gabriel is on retreat following his adventures in the original game: Inheriting an ancestral castle, Gabriel Knight finds himself embroiled not only in local cultures but also the political games of the aristocracy; a situation in which he finds himself the classic “fish out of water,” unfamiliar with the protocols and expectations of his station, the role he has unexpectedly assumed and the duties heaped upon him. Furthermore, the area has recently experienced some extremely gruesome and violent murders, which police officials insist are the work of two wolves recently escaped from the local zoo. Butting heads with the police, given his “outsider” status, Knight finds himself floundering and without much in the way of anchor. Meanwhile, local myths and legends regarding werewolf lore continue to crop up, Knight's investigations suggesting that the murders may in fact have a supernatural origin. Taken under the wing of Baron Von Glower, one of the presiding local aristocrats and head of the hunting lodge that they all attend, Knight is schooled in the somewhat Darwinian philosophies of the group, which -tellingly enough- seem derived from certain notions of how hunting pack animals operate. But, whereas Von Glower presents are more sedate form of that philosophy, his chief rival in the club, Von Zell -who actively resents Knight's presence as an ignorant foreigner and outsider- shows no such compunctions: he believes in a bizarre notion of purity between predator and prey, outing himself early on as one of the chief suspects in the murders. Whilst the central lycanthropic plot and games of intrigue are well wrought and fascinating, what has sustained the game's mystique and fascination down the decades is the relationship between Von Glower and Gabriel himself: From the first instance, it is clear that Von Glower's interest in Gabriel is more than merely social or professional. Every interaction they share is flirtatious and freighted with subtext, but in a manner that is neither cartoonish nor stereotypical. Amazingly for the time, this FMV, point and click video game takes a bisexual relationship and presents it not as an object of comedy or ridicule, but with sincere and abiding delight: Every word, every physical interaction Gabriel and Von Glower share is intimate, flirtatious and simmering. They engage in word-play, subtle glances and implications, and become slowly more intimate and physically close as the game progresses. More surprising still, Gabriel Knight, the big, physically masculine, hot-shot occult novellist and investigator, returns the Baron's flirtations and seems to enjoy their relatonship on an equal footing. This is simply astounding in terms of representation for the era: for a male video game protagonist to have a serious, complex and reciprocal relationship with a male NPC was simply unheard of, and wouldn't occur again for almost a decade or more. Even now, video games and media in general struggle with this. Gabriel Knight is never intimidated nor non-plussed by the Baron's interest in him, nor does he use it in a perfunctory sense to further his investigations: he and the Baron become friends, then something more. Whilst their physical relationship is never strictly consummated, it comes close any number of times, and it is clear that the game is conscious of this possiblity, perhaps even wanting it to happen, despite the obvious constraints of the time. The game, sadly, cannot resist the obvious trope of making Von Glower -the gay romantic interest- into the villain: he is indeed a werewolf, the infamous “black wolf” of local legend. Meanwhile, the red-herring Von Zell (also a werewolf, thanks to his previous relationship with Von Glower) ends up confronting Gabriel Knight and passing on the disease of his lycanthropy (a circumstance that, metaphorically, echoes a kind of rape and sexual infection). Von Glower therefore becomes Knight's tutor and his emotional anchor; the relationship becoming more and more intimate up to the point of the game's climax. That said, even in this the game attempts to inject the dynamic with some much-needed ambiguity: it is implied that Von Glower himself doesn't necessarily have any control over the Black Wolf; that, when he transforms, he loses himself in the beast, meaning that the trap Gabriel and his assistant are ultimately forced to lead him into becomes all the more tragic. Also, Gabriel doesn't denounce Von Glower as a villain following his death, but mourns for him as a lover might. It is no chance or mistake that the liminality of the werewolf becomes here a metaphor for certain aspects of gay or queer culture, in particular Gabriel's own lycanthropy, which is mythologically tied to his blossoming relationship with Von Glower. Furthermore, the metaphor reflects certain dynamics within gay male sub-cultures of the era: Von Zell is clearly also either bisexual or gay, having enjoyed a brief relationship with Von Glower himself at some point, but represents a particular breed of male whose nature is toxic: controlling, self-superior, narcissistic to the point of sociopathy. He is very much the “angry, jealous ex” in this triangle, whilst Gabriel is the reluctant new flame caught in the middle. It's clear from even a surface reading of the game that the tensions between Von Glower, Knight and Von Zell are deliberately drawn, that Von Zell's antagonism and air of impending violence is the exact antithesis to Von Glower's warm, welcoming sensuality. For a game of its era, the writing, direction and acting during the scenes between Knight and Von Glower are notable, in that they are well-executed and serve to communicate the -largely unspoken- subtext subtly but clearly. In a later age, it is possible that Knight and Von Glower might have been able to consummate their relationship and become actual romantic and sexual partners. However, this was the mid 1990s, and if such does occur, it is very much left up to the player's inference. Perhaps, were the series to be resurrected or remastered at some point, we might see something even more intense develop between Knight and Von Glower. As it stands, this particular aspect of the character would be largely ignored in later titles, as well as the novel adaptation of the game itself, which could have been the perfect place to explore it a little more deeply. However, given the era of its release, the mere reference to same sex relationships at all is astounding, let alone one in which the protagonist is a willing and enthusiastic participant. In Gabriel Knight and Von Glower, a great many stereotypes of LGBTQ men are blown apart; Knight himself exhibits no classic or stereotypical traits thereof, which makes his acceptance of Von Glower's open flirtations and escalating intimacy all the more engaging. Von Glower himself ultimately becomes more tragic than openly villainous; a victim of circumstance and imposition that werewolf mythology encapsulates (the status of werewolf is rarely invited, almost always passed on through violence in the form of a curse and/or disease). The metaphorical implications in this instance are clear; the werewolf embodies a kind of male sexuality, but one that occurs between other men rather than predating upon women (as is classically the case). The Beast Within is therefore far more than a mere monster or analogue for animal atavism; it is dangerous and non-conformist sexuality, the potential for relationships that stray beyond the proscribed bounds of heteronormativity. It would have been easy for the game to stray over the line into homophobia, given that, but it manages to pull back from that brink by the framing of Knight and Von Glower's relationship as celebratory rather than a source of horror or danger. And for it all to have occurred in an FMV horror video game from 1995? Nothing less than miraculous. Further Reading A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: PART 2 [THIRTEEN FOR HALLOWEEN 2021] LOST SOULS BY BILLY MARTIN (WRITING AS POPPY Z. BRITE) [13 FOR HALLOWEEN] IN THE HILLS, THE CITIES BY CLIVE BARKER [FEATURE] THIRTEEN FOR HALLOWEEN 2021: GONE HOME [FEATURE] LIFE IS STRANGE [THIRTEEN FOR HALLOWEEN 2021] THE STRANGE CASE OF DOCTOR JEKYLL AND MISTER HYDE [THIRTEEN FOR HALLOWEEN 2021] TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE DEVILS OF LONDON BY SIMON BESTWICK [BOOK REVIEW] THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FEATURES Comments are closed.
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