#i didn't cover everything because it would genuinely be a thesis level essay and this took me long enough already

[proosh]

post the meta op - @ludwigbeilschmidts (and tag me pls)

As requested, @ludwigbeilschmidts;

So it took me a bit to figure this out, but I've decided to approach this as a general analysis and brief overview from my perspective so you're going to have to forgive me for being a bit rambling lmao

(Cw for discussions of historical gender and misogyny)

One of the things that struck me when doing research that Prussia was, as a nation, pretty weird in its concept of gender. I’ll mostly be focusing on Frederican Prussia here because that has the most meat to chew on and is what I’m most familiar with:

Interpreting Gil as a trans dude (so much as the concept can be applied to an early modern context) puts him in such an interesting position re: the toxic hypermasculine chauvinism of the martial culture of Prussia, and especially the contemporary standards of manhood. Masculinity was a performance and a duty, and within Fritz’ personal circle it was explicitly homosocial, homoerotic, and homosexual — Fritz himself was a raging misogynist to the point he managed to alienate and offend potential allies into turning against him by being a crude and often cruel chauvinist.

It's an interesting point to note that FW1 (Fritz' father) and his brand of extremely austere, no-frills-attached masculinity was, as similar to "modern" misogyny as it is, an aberration for the time. In the 1700s masculinity was - at least in aristocratic circles - very much typified by "effete" homosociality, high levels of personal grooming and pomp, and a personal cultivation of interest in high arts and culture.

It’s that “performance” of masculinity that interests me re: HWS Prussia, and even if he were a cis man I do believe he would be operating under a sense of gender identity that would be foreign and register as “queer” to the modern reader. He’s a soldier so he performs his duty as is expected of him, and I feel like that echoes into the other elements of his identity: gender and sexuality.

Which brings me back to my preference for interpreting him as a trans man within the the context of what he represents and why I find it narratively fascinating and fulfilling — What does this mean for him? Where does Gilbert begin and end within the performance of duty and manhood of his nation? Does he find familiarity within the “effete”, homosocial structure of Frederican era masculinity, or does he prefer the later, stricter gendered lines? He knows he’s not a woman, but what makes him a man?

There’s something to be said about the contrast between the homoerotic manhood of the Enlightenment Era and the homosexual scandals of Imperial Germany but this post has gotten long enough already and I don’t think I’ve really said anything much at all in the first place.

There’s really so much to consider and I didn’t even touch on the neurotic and bizarre gendered fanaticism of the Knights (@makwandis would be a fantastic person to ask about this!), or the recurring Cassandras within Prussian folklore, the interpersonal dynamic of being Ludwig's creator (father, mother, brother), or the delirious genderfuck of the Weimar Republic. Maybe those posts will be written at a later date if people are interested.

Thank you so so so much for the ask, I hope I’ve managed to give you something to chew on, this is really one of my favourite topics ❤️