Transgender characters in Eastern Fantasy

I would like to know some of the transgender characters you've all seen in some of the eastern fantasy stories you've read.
How were they treated?
What were some of the things said about them or to them?
How were they described by the author or by others?
Did you like their character? Why or why not?

FYI: Transgender characters are characters that identify as the opposite biological sex

 

I don't think I've seen one unless those "I'm a girl and I got transmigrated to another world as a dude" counts

 

Haven't really noticed notable transgender characters, but there are Eunuchs that seem to have a thing for guys. Would that count, considering that some did it to get a position on the Emperor's court (consentually having "it" cut off).

 

S̶l̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶e̶n̶s̶e̶i̶

 

They tend to transcend the heavens, not the gender.

 

There's a lot of them. Look at all the muscle-bound women out there. I think they're called the Onee-san who works behind the counter.

 

There is a transgender in divine dragon of the nine cauldrons and it's a senior brother of the mc in one if the sects. There is a amicable relationship

 

Identifying as the opposite gender is just a notion that has been given name and trated as such in recent times.

Any realistic fantasies would be devoid of such notions. The people themselves would have treated that like a personality trait and not a matter about their gender.

 

While we are at this, would anyone mind telling me the big thing about identifying as the opposite gender?

I kinda can't wrap my head around a girl wishing to be called 'he' just cuz she likes things that are seen or considered to be masculine.

 

That is false

 

There was one in My Wife is a Beautiful CEO. MC was having a hard time with her because she was constantly making moves on him lol. After a while she changed her gender through a surgery and could even give birth. After that she got together with the guy she raped in the past or something like that.

 

Oh, shoot. Yeah, ur right. I read western instead of eastern.

 

I have only really seen them in Japanese ones, usually they are somewhat scary to the male protagonist at first but are nice people and become allies. Also they are traps which depending on the protagonist the reaction is either disappointment or as long as they are cute. I feel that the ones I see are rather cliche (not uncommon for the genre) and I am slightly misanthropic so I feel they and most everybody else are kind of unnecessary for the story. Unless by eastern fantasy we were going by Chinese definition which basically means cultivation world in which case I don't really here much of those. They tend to be the villain from the very small amount I know and are usually obsessed with raping men, naturally I didn't like this one even more as well they are rapists.

 

There are two in "I Favor the Villainess", although they're minor. I'm pretty sure the author is a real lesbian who's involved with the greater LGBT+ community, from the perspectives she includes in her works.

Spoiler

The first one is a trans man involved in flashbacks/the MC's backstory. He was her homophobic friend involved in a sort of love triangle/circle at the start, who caused her a lot of trouble by bullying her. She forgave him later on, after he came out and apologised; she actually defends his actions in the present time, since he was dealing with his own problems that triggered his attitude.
He had a girlfriend, but he committed suicide due to the pressure that comes with being transgender, if I remember correctly. His story was a precursor to the arc about the second character.

The second is a trans woman, although adapted to be easier for people who are unfamiliar with trans people, I think. She was born a girl but her politically scheming mother had her cursed to become a boy as a baby so she could force her onto the throne (she's a princess, second or third born). She only turned back into a girl for one day a month.
She still felt like a girl and really wanted to be one again, but the curse was irreversible and she was being pressured to remain a "prince" for political reasons.
In the end, they find a way to reverse her curse in front of the entire kingdom, and she goes to live in a convent with her girlfriend. It's not a life of freedom, but they're happy.

I find that, generally, there aren't many trans characters around, or they're sort of blended with the generic "gay man who acts like a woman" stereotype.

There are several figures in history who are pretty obviously transgender. You can look into Eleanor Rykener (short bit on her here: https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2018/4/24/eleanor-rykener) for a start.

 

Male Lead's White Moonlight is more "androgynous woman who passes as male", but I am getting serious agender vibes from the MC. It's more likely than not to be unintentional. (Also not at all a fantasy story RIP)

The most stand out trans character in Eastern fantasy is probably Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi, but I never finished the manga (I... Uhhh... Hated it...) and it turns out that they may have been intended to be a crossdressing bisexual man—nothing wrong with that, but I'm noticing a trend here—but up until the point I read, she was pretty consistently presenting herself as a woman, though she didn't seem uncomfortable being a man either. Reading the series as a teen, I just kind of assumed that she was straight up a bisexual trans woman lmao but nowadays I'd probably think of her as a genderfluid trans woman just because she seemed to be comfortable with both gender presentations (though up until the point I read, was primarily a feminine woman; later on he presented primarily as a man for Plot Reasons according to wiki).

Nuriko was in love with the secondary male lead and (apparently) later fell in love with the female MC, and she was also the first one of the main/supporting cast to die, so. Full on bury your gays/trans.

At least she was a heroic character as opposed to a rapist villain, bc the bar is lower than the Mariana Trench RIP

 

It's false in the western case. Look it up. Literature reveals there have been transgender people worldwide from as far back as the Greek philosophers

 

bought today's like limit extension just so I could like this. 10/10 would do again

 

I really need to finish that novel! I agree that the author is involved with the LGBT community. I was so happy that the MC explicitly declared that she was a lesbian/solely attracted to women and yet the MC + the narrative acknowledged bisexuality. "That's one thing, but I'm something else" kind of thing, which made me feel extremely Seen, if only in passing. There's very little acknowledgement of bisexuality in these web novels lol (hell, some BL and GL don't even acknowledge gay/lesbian attraction by name and TOO MANY romances on here—mostly CN ones—act like it's illegal to have loved more than one person in your life) so I'm always super ecstatic for things to be Named.

 

if we strict with eastern as asia then oldest literature this cat found about transgender is on Mahabharata Epic from India
there two characters which can represent transgender
1st is a Prince which this cat forget it name unlike new Mahabharata series which portrayed him as full female on original he is male~ on his past live he was a princess that swore revenge cuz felt humilated by one of greatest warrior on the story then after got gift by Siva she reincarnated to male with memory intact hence his behavior typically "feminine", his treatment kinda hmm just regard as weirdo
2nd is Arjun when he on disguise~ he disguised as dancer trainer for female despite being a male which on that era make specific term for it this cat forget it name but it called a third gender~ society mix max about that third gender... warrior look down upon them while female seem not mind them
it been really long time since this cat read original Mahabharata and some in deep discussion about that epic so some detail kinda fuzzy

another literature is one of greatest tragedy from china~ about girl disguise as male so she can enter school~ meet someone, fall in love, forced marriage to other by her parents short story the couple died and become two butterfly~ not really transgender but this cat wanna mention it