Ruby From Final Fantasy IX Was Originally Meant To Be A Cross-Dresser
One of the women of Final Fantasy IX was intended to be a man, as Ruby of the Tantalus Theater Troupe was originally meant to be a cross-dresser.
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One of the women of Final Fantasy IX was intended to be a man, as Ruby of the Tantalus Theater Troupe was originally meant to be a cross-dresser.
Ruby is a minor character in Final Fantasy IX and is the only female member of Tantalus. She is left behind when Tantalus split up and have their own adventures, leading to her forming her own theater company in Alexandria.
Final Fantasy IX was intended to be a throwback to the older titles in the series, and it seems that bringing back cross-dressing was originally on the cards. The official Final Fantasy website has been uploading interviews with the developers of Final Fantasy IX, as part of the 20th-anniversary celebrations for the game. The most recent interview was with character designer Toshiyuki Itahana, who revealed that Ruby was originally intended to be a man.
“The Tantalus theater troupe was primarily designed by the art director, Mr. Minaba. At first, during development there was talk of Ruby being an oyama [traditional Japanese Kabuki theater term, referring to a male actor who plays female roles], although I’m not sure how the official lore on that ended up. The other Tantalus members’ backgrounds were always a mystery, even during the character planning stages. Someday I’d like to hear about their origins in depth.”
Oyama is a Japanese term originating from Kabuki, as there were periods of time when acting was restricted to a single gender, or groups of actors had to be of the same gender. This led to productions where all of the female roles were played by men, or all of the male roles were played by women. There are still theater companies in Japan that follow this model, such as the all-female Takarazuka Revue, which has even put on musicals based on video games, like Phoenix Wright.
Cross-dressing has been a part of the Final Fantasy series since the Super Nintendo era when a monk in Fabul pretended to be a dancing girl. Faris of Final Fantasy V originally presented herself as a man to the other party members, as she pretended to be a guy in order to be taken seriously as a leader of a group of pirates. The most famous example of cross-dressing is the Wall Market quest in Final Fantasy VII, which was recently redone in Final Fantasy VII Remake, in what was one of the best scenes of the entire game. It’s unclear why the original plan for Ruby wasn’t used, but it would hardly have been the first (or last) instance of a cross-dresser appearing in the Final Fantasy series.
Source: Final Fantasy
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/ruby-final-fantasy-ix-originally-cross-dresser/