Bill from The Last of Us voted as GLAAD’s most intriguing

Videogame character praised by gay rights association

As Dtoid’s Game of the Year for 2013, The Last of Us is a title that hit all the right notes for players, and will likely go down as one of the most memorable games of the last generation. It was earnest, brutal, and uncompromising in its view of a world gone sideways. And now it seems that GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has taken a liking to it as well.

During the organization’s roundup of the most intriguing characters for 2013, featuring personalities from works of fiction such as Orange is the New Black, Blue is the Warmest Color, and Orphan Black, the character of Bill from The Last of Us also made an appearance on the list. It’s pretty surprising to see a videogame character make the cut, and the writers at GLAAD definitely had a lot to say about him.

“One of the characters the player encounters over the course of the game is Bill, an unstable loner in the town of Lincoln with a talent for fixing things. Through dialogue and backstory, the player learns that Bill once had a partner named Frank who he loved, but the plague drove them apart and led Frank to a bitter end. Both helpful and contentious, Bill is as deeply flawed but wholly unique a gay character found in any storytelling medium this year.”

It’s not too often you see gay characters in games portrayed in a modest and non-stereotypical way. One of the greatest strengths The Last of Us had was its storytelling and characterization, and much of it was very subtle.

The most intriguing new LGBT characters of 2013 [GLAAD]