Queering "Willow"

 

I never saw the 1982 movie Willow, an epic fantasy that apparently involved a kick-ass Princess, an "arrogant" (that is, sexy) rogue, and the titular dwarven wizard Willow in a Medieval faux-Celtic world.   It has returned as a tv series on Disney Plus: a generation after the events in the movie, the kick-ass princess Kit must rescue her twin brother from Airk (pronounced "Eric") (Dempsy Bryk, top photo) from the Withered Crone, who is a pawn of the Wyrm that wants to destroy the world.  

She must cross the Shattered Sea to find the Immemorial City, with lots more portentious-sounding places and objects.  She, of course, has a coterie of ragtag companions, one of whom is the Chosen One, Elora Danan, whose name I cannot hear without thinking of yogurt.

The big news, blasted all over the internet, is that Kit is gay, and commences a romance with knight-in-training Jade.  They even kiss a couple of times. 

On the journey, they also encounter two women living together in the forest.  They are both killed within about five minutes, and they don't do or say anything to indicate that they are romantic partners, but what else could they be?

 But I wanted to see if there were any gay guys in the series, so I checked the ragtag companions, one by one.

1. Starting with Airk himself: thin, stylishly-dressed, long fluffy hair, wearing about a thousand rings.  A lot of gay coding, except that he's introduced smooching up bakery assistant Dove, with the reputation of smooching up every lady in sight.  He spends most of his kidnapping mooning over Dove (who, spoiler alert: turns out to be the Chosen One/Yogurt). 

2. Prince Graydon (Tony Revolori) who was betrothed to Princess Kit as a political strategy by their parents.  He doesn't want to marry Kit and seems to buddy-bond with Boorman (below).  Plus I thought that the actor was gay in real life, but he's shown here with his brother, not his boyfriend.  Prince Graydon starts mooning with unrequited love for Elora Danan, the Chosen One/Yogurt.

3. Boorman (Amar Chandha-Patel), a lovable rogue who inevitably finds his "I'm in this for the money" facade fade to a fierce group loyalty.  Another multiple ringed, rather feminine guy, but he notes that his main goal in life is finding, wooing, and bedding ladies, and never expresses any same-sex interest.  However, when it looks like they are all going to die, he suggests that he, Prince Graydon, and Elora Danan spend their last moments smooching.  So he's canonically bisexual, or at least open to a boy-girl-boy three-way if he'll be dead soon.

He's also the only one of the group who displays any beefcake.

4. Willow himself (Warwick Davis), who uses his wizard powers to determine the fellowship's course of action and train Elora Danan and, briefly, Prince Graydon, in the magical arts.  He brings along a fellow Nelwyn (dwarf) named Silas, and they buddy-bond briefly, but his main affection is for his daughter back home.  I can't remember if his wife is living or dead, but he's definitely got some heterosexual coding.

So no gay/bi guys except maybe, in one comment.  But maybe a lesbian couple is enough, after years of Disney hints, subtexts,  and "blink and you miss it " hugs.