Final Fantasy 16's gay romance is more tragic than you thought

Final Fantasy 16's Dion shares a scene with Terence — (Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 16's relationship focusing on Dion and Terence is sadder and more tragic than you might first think.

Be warned, light story spoilers for Final Fantasy 16 follow!

If you're familiar with Dion Lesage, you'll know he has an on-screen relationship with fellow Dragoon Terence, making the pair the clearest gay relationship in Final Fantasy's extensive history. If you just played through Final Fantasy 16 without delving into either character's history, you're missing out on a surprising amount of backstory.

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In a new interview with Game Rant, Dion actor Stewart Clarke delves into the relationship between the two. "Terence and Dion were childhood friends, and that grew very naturally into something more. It seems like this only became a problem when Dion was elevated above Terence by rank and the military chain of command became something which separated them," Clarke says.

"There's something beautiful about the fact that Terence found his way to becoming Dion’s right-hand man, as it still allows them those moments of intimacy in the command tent where you can see the tenderness and love they feel for each other. Terence, desperate to protect Dion, Dion gently rebuffing him and putting the Kingdom above their own desires," the actor continues.

So, if you weren't already aware, Dion literally fought his way up through the ranks of the prestigious Dragoons, purely to be by Dion's side. "I want to scream my pain into the void. It's so beautiful and yet so painful," writes one Reddit user in reaction to the revelation.

Another user has delved into Terence's Japanese character profile and claims a passage describes him as "the love of Dion's life," a beautiful little note that the English version, unfortunately, left out. Everyone on the Reddit thread is welling up at this new detail, while others are demanding fan-fictions of the two to make up for their considerable lack of screen time.

"You ride that dragon Terence," adds another commenter. We can only hope AO3 has what they're after.

One Final Fantasy 16 producer has said he'd like a DLC starring Cid, if he could conjure any hypothetical expansion out of thin air.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.