Hi! It's a highly debated topic for sure. In the game she is referred with 'she' and 'her', so I'd take that as female.
Glad to hear! If someone really connects with one of these characters, it always makes my day for sure. Marina is probably my favourite character of the whole cast too.
As for making it canonical - I think it more or less is canon already. I mean how else would you read the info presented in the game? I've heard some people argue that she just dresses like this in this moment in time, but Marina's ending shows clearly otherwise. If the game was set in any more modern setting, I wouldn't mind labels, but I don't think in the 40s they had modern identity vocabulary. Besides I kinda like how it is presented in the game currently. It's not emphasized or understated, this is just how Marina is. Hope this is understandable and doesn't feel like a cop out, as I'm certainly not trying to brush it aside.
Thank you! I can assure you you don't sound like you're dodging the matter, in an ideal world that is perhaps how representation would be done, casual and not something with high debate ground. Some people are unable to perceive the trans coding of the character or are unwilling (because of their weird obsession with "femboys"). I am really glad my introspection on the character are not in vain!
I wish you best of luck in your future projects, be it F&H or not! I am in love with the world you've created and how it developed! Best of luck!!!
Just wanted to chime in to say that I also really appreciate this sentiment and the overall tact you took in writing her; modern vernacular on the matter wouldn't feel appropriate, but era-specific ideas and terms about it also wouldn't be right either for any number of reasons. In taking your own line and founding her circumstances in the lore of your setting, you managed to make that part of her story very impactful for her life, while it is not at all heavy-handed; she's well assured of who she is, while all the same dealing with a lot of complex feelings about the impact the matter may have had on her family. 'This is just how Marina is', it's just one facet of her character and a personal one, and I appreciate that approach to writing such a character immensely.
Ahem, anyway! I just finished my first ending of the game last night (as Marina), and wanted to come here to say something in thanks, at least. I've managed to spread the festivities to a few good friends of mine too who are enjoying their time with the game a lot as well, currently. Thanks so much for your work on this, and I hope your future works are fulfilling for you whatever they happen to be in!
As one final aside, though... I am still very much in the process of exploring the game, but I do just have to ask (and needless to say you are under no obligation to answer!), is there actually some information if not closure as to what happened with Marina's mother currently present in the game? I have yet to find anything, and I'm wondering if I missed it, or if it was more just implied by other events, or the like, since that was part of her opening motivation. Just something that's been gnawing at me!