FEATURED

shielbert's hatred of the truth - a queer reading

shielbert as a character is so inherently built around secrecy and denial of the truth, but it's less so in a sense of actively lying, being more that shielbert holds a hatred for the truth. one of shielbert's pokemon, bronzong, explains that fact if you read into it, and it's worth noting in relation to this that in the manga, bronzong seems to be highlighted as a main partner pokemon to shielbert.

in pokemon shield, the dex entry of bronzong's pre-evolution, bronzor reads as follows:

Polishing Bronzor to a shine makes its surface reflect the truth, according to common lore. Be that as it may, Bronzor hates being polished.

this dex entry has always stuck out to me in just how it reflects shielbert as a character. the association with bronzong was definitely intentional in tandem with this dex entry, but i think there are some interesting ways it can be read beyond as a reflection of his hatred for the specific truth that sonia brought to light. rather, i suggest reading it as a general hatred for any truth that would be less convenient.

i feel my queer reading of this is definitely a stretch, it's something i don't think is definitively canon but adds interesting depth. notably for the stretch i make is the situation of the genders of shielbert's team. shielbert's team is near entirely genderless, with the only exception being sirfetch'd, which shares a gender with the sirfetch'd owned by his twin brother.

i used to almost jokingly parade this around like "shielbert nonbinary canon real and true", but at some point it gave way to a general queer reading of shielbert on my end, not even specifically in terms of gender. my personal view on this queer reading fluctuate, i like to explore a lot of different possibilities with it, i'd like to see others explore those possibilities as well. transmasc, transfem, gay, bisexual, lesbian, no matter what the headcanon is, so long as it's queer i love to hear about it. i think there's merit for all possibilities, even if i have my personal views. even with the "main" headcanon i default to, i find myself exploring the other possibilities. i'm currently writing a fanfiction in which shielbert is very explicitly a gay man, though a very much so closeted one at that.

beyond the genders of the teams, one specific line that shielbert says has always stuck out to me: the one about rose petals in the galarian star tournament. it feels...out of place. in a game where rose's are so heavily associated with one character, where there is a character named rose. where shielbert is an antagonist of the postgame segment alongside his brother, a plot that continues the plot from the maingame of the darkest day, where rose is the antagonist. for an off-handed line, it feels rather specific for it to have been given to shielbert.

then on top of this, for whatever reason pokespe gave us a panel of shielbert lifting his tailcoat and telling rose to watch his bottom. a bit random and just a funny one that he's telling another man to watch his ass while he's battling eternatus, but it was enough for me to take it and run with it, deciding that the two had some form of rather secretive relationship. whether they were romantically and/or sexually involved or if it was just one-sided on shielbert's end, i could see it going either way in all honesty.

sure, that panel is primarily just a funny, joke thing, but it's definitely interesting given shielbert's random mention of rose petals in the game. it's interesting in combination with sordward and shielbert's future link with the league as sponsors of and helping plan the star tournament alongside leon.

realistically? that line meant nothing, but i don't see anything wrong with stretching it for this reading, i don't think there's anything wrong with how much of a stretch this reading is. i'm someone who enjoys analyzing these characters through all lenses, and i think reading shielbert in a way that feeds into my queer headcanons is just another aspect of that.

i don't exactly have a conclusion to this analysis. it was more of a rambly thing, but i'm happy to have finally brought myself to write it out. it's something i've always been afraid to post about on various social media because i am well aware that it is a big stretch. because the situation with the gender of his team and the line about rose petals is really all i have to be able to stretch out to make it work, but i'm fine with that. it's just a concept i'd like people to think about in conjunction with shielbert's hatred of the truth. it's a tale as old as time really, rich guy with a very traditional family background suffering from internalized homophobia.

i was originally going to conclude with how i personally read shielbert's queerness, but i don't think that's important. considering while i do have some preferred concepts, i wouldn't say i have a set reading, i'm someone who likes to explore all of the possibilities of this potential aspect of the character. however, if anyone is reading this i would genuinely love to hear your own thoughts on the idea of shielbert being queer and your own reading if you have one!