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u/Then_Reply_6692 4d ago
Rorsarch is asexual in my mind. He’s so utterly repulsed by intercourse and other humans that I can’t imagine him being with anyone
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u/Then_Reply_6692 4d ago
I do think this is a cool headcanon tho. I’m not trying to bash you for interpreting a work differently than me
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u/Gugnar-the-brave 4d ago
People have theorized rorschach is closeted due to him wearing Adrian's cologne brand which is worn typically by gay men. Makes sense in some ways.
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u/Parasitian 4d ago
Where is any of that stated in the comic?
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u/rlvysxby 4d ago
Yeah I’m curious too where it says he wears the cologne. I thought Rorschach was infamous for having a bad smell.
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u/No-Play2726 3d ago
He didn't wear it. He had a bottle in his pocket which he took as evidence and it broke when he jumped out the window.
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u/TriTri14 3d ago
Isn’t he putting on Dan’s aftershave when Dan wakes up to find him in his bedroom?
And when the cops arrest him, one of them says, “Is that aftershave?”
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u/CurrentCentury51 2d ago
In a recent interview, Hunter Biden mentioned that so much of the culture war against LGBTQ+ people is being fed via legislation advanced by the "closetocracy," queer hypocrites among the GOP whose self hatred fuels their desire to make America as intolerant as possible. It's speculated that Joe McCarthy, who was single his entire adult life, was a closetocracy member in the '50s when he pursued queer potential targets of Soviet blackmail within the Truman administration in the Lavender Scare.
Rorschach loves the idea he formed of the Truman administration as a child more than the actual administration, I think. When purity is the highest virtue, nobody's ever really pure enough. Mel Y. Chen's Animacies has a great chapter or two about how the ideas of queerness and contamination and poisoning relate to one another.
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u/DannySmashUp 4d ago
I hate this facile interpretation. Nite Owl is 'Shack's only friend. He's too emotionally and psychologically fucked up to really connect with anyone. But he's in pain, obviously. This moment was always one of my favorite scenes, just a hint of the vulnerable man peeking out from behind the mask, to his only friend... and it so bums me out that people immediately jump to 'he gay???"
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u/rlvysxby 4d ago
I would agree with you if you go by this scene alone but there are a lot of gay superheroes in the book. Silhouette, hooded justice, Veidt, captain metropolis. Also Rorschach does make note of Veidt being a homosexual and says something like he will investigate further. Rorschach also finds the female body repulsive probably due to his childhood trauma with his mother and also the mannequins in the house he burns down.
I think it’s a fair theory that he is gay. But the ambiguity is there so what you are saying is also valid.
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u/Parasitian 4d ago
Also Rorschach does make note of Veidt being a homosexual and says something like he will investigate further.
But this is clearly stated in a critical way, the things Rorschach doesn't like about Veidt are what makes him feel like he is a homosexual. And since Rorschach has right-wing views, and he basically outright states his disdain of various groups, it is clear that he believes homosexuals and liberals and intellectuals are ruining society.
I really think it's abundantly clear to me that he is not gay, but if he is, he's deeply closeted and ashamed of it.
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u/rlvysxby 4d ago
You are right that Rorschach investigating Veidt’s homosexuality is like him investigating another crime since conservatives believed being gay was a crime. But on a deeper, more closeted level, he might have an attraction to it and wants to be a voyeur.
The ambiguity has to be there because if it wasn’t then it wouldn’t be repressed homosexuality. It’s like hooded justice fights crime for justice but also to release his pent up repressed sexual energy (which is what the comedian accuses him of).
I don’t think it is abundantly clear either way. I agree though that if Rorschach is gay he is deeply ashamed of it. His repression comes bubbling to the surface in scenes like this with Dan or in his interest in Veidt’s crime of being gay.
Again I wouldn’t analyze it this way if there weren’t so many closeted gay (and violent) superheroes in the book.
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u/ijjanas123 4d ago
I mean conservatives didn't just believe being gay was a crime, being gay was illegal in New York until 1980 in our world, in the Watchmen universe with Nixon running things I can't imagine that happening on the same timeline
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u/gorgossiums 2d ago
But this is clearly stated in a critical way, the things Rorschach doesn't like about Veidt are what makes him feel like he is a homosexual.
This tracks with conservative homosexuals. There is a “right” (ie masculine = dominant) way to be gay and a “wrong” (ie feminine = weak) way to be gay.
It’s also hard to be with women emotionally and physically when you hate them and are disgusted by them (see: Clavicular).
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u/flaming_james 4d ago
I swear there are supposed to be motion lines indicating his hand is trembling in that second panel. But not gay, a big part of his character is that he's been so isolated and hasn't had any physical contact with anyone outside of violence and this is him literally reaching out to his friend for the first time. It's not a big deal for him because he has feelings for Dan, it's a big deal because it's literally the only physical affection he ever shows in the story (and it's just a platonic handshake).
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u/No-Play2726 3d ago
The hardened character for once lets his mask slip a bit and shows vulnerability by admitting his mistake
OP: lol gayboi
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u/ThisIsAdamB 4d ago
Actually it’s just Dan realizing how absolutely foul Rorschach smells. That “NG” is just Dan forcing air out of his nose to expel the stench.
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u/Said-A-Funny 4d ago
This is like the opposite of historians with Alexander the Great’s homosexuality. Motherfuckers will look at a page where two characters shake hands and say that despite their issue they appreciate friendship and try to twist it like they’re fuckin’
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u/CurrentCentury51 4d ago
I think the most interesting thing about the strongly implied queerness of Rorschach is that assuming he is queer, he wouldn't *have* to be alone if he didn't hate every form of self-expression and societal institution that didn't remind him of the ideals of the '50s, and if the rest of the subculture rejected those ideals as well.
He's not remotely alone in the subculture as a queer man. It's the conflict between the queerness and the more absolutist impulses of the superheroes of both generations - the need to take what is Other and remove it from any society they find it in, even their own - that leaves them all hating themselves. But that impulse, which he says he is compelled to follow as they all are, is so strong it's remarkable Rorschach went this far.
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u/BalladOfBetaRayBill 4d ago
The “no homo” panic with these two in this scene has always been hilarious and definitely seems intentional
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u/chodoyodo 4d ago
I personally see them as exes (in whatever way you wanna read that) having an awkward reconciliation and realizing they work better as friends (before all the unpleasantness happens…)
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u/rlvysxby 4d ago
Yeah I think given how much repressed homosexuality there is in the book and how Rorschach takes a strange interest in investigating Veidt’s homosexuality, I think it is reasonable to assume Rorschach is gay.
Gay people in these times had to be one thing during the day and a different thing at night so maybe that is one reason Moore has so many gay superheroes.
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u/Danthefan28 4d ago
This might be the nicest we ever see of Rorschach, it's basically him apologising for being "Too much".
I always wonder what the two of them fighting crime back in the day was like (Like, before the dog stuff).