Neko

The reason that transfem Maya is an especially important interpretation to me is for many of the same reasons as transfem Wilds-era Zelda. Both characters exist in a framework where their status as women is given an increased importance as a marker of their (potential) abilities, and therefore viewing this through the lens of transfemininity provides a wider context for how these characters interact with womanhood.

Only the women of the Fey clan have the potential for spiritual abilities. Of course, it is interesting to consider Maya’s abilities emerging before an understanding of her gender identity, and this therefore serving as a catalyst for a realisation; however, I tend to follow the interpretation that Maya’s understanding of her gender came first, as a relatively young child. This provides an opportunity to explore an aspect of transmisogyny: how her womanhood may have been treated as conditional.

The adults around her accepted Maya’s assertion of her identity, perhaps even celebrated it – women are the ones that hold (this specific type of) power in this environment! But due to this, an immediate condition is placed on the rightness or wrongness of her identity, an acute manifestation of this dimension of transmisogyny. As a member of the main family, Maya’s identity implies that she must hold spiritual power, and to fail at that would therefore be seen as to fail at correctly performing womanhood.

This adds a new dimension to some of the scenes we see in canon. Maya puts a lot of pressure on herself: she becomes incredibly upset in 1-4 when she is unable to channel Mia, viewing herself as useless and a failure. While part of this is no doubt due to the high standards she is held to in general, as she is already considered to be the next master of the channeling technique, Maya as a trans woman would likely also be viewing this as a failure at correctly being a woman. This is a way for her to prove and assert her identity, and have it affirmed in the culture she grew up in; therefore, it is also a way that she can ‘disprove’ her gender in the eyes of others. Maya is hyperaware of the tightrope that transmisogyny forces her to walk in order to ‘correctly’ be a woman.

Morgan Fey’s actions also have added context with this interpretation of Maya. Rather than just ascribing transphobia to her as she is a ‘bad person’ in other ways, this leans more into providing further understanding of why Morgan may have felt so determined in her belief that Maya should not be the heir of the channeling technique. If Maya’s realisation of her gender did not come until after Mia had left Kurain, then there may have been a period of time when Morgan believed that any child of hers would be the next master. Maya’s assertion of her gender, then, would have disrupted this. Morgan’s existing resentment regarding how her own ‘failures’ were treated may have then become reactionary, believing that Pearl’s spiritual powers are stronger than Maya’s [2-2] by virtue of Pearl being cisgender.

However, an interpretation of Maya as transfeminine should not rest solely on negative experiences that she has. I find Maya as an example of trans joy to be equally compelling. Despite the transmisogyny that Maya as a trans woman would have faced, she has asserted herself as a woman. She is the next master of the Kurain technique, disrupting what may have been rigid beliefs in a society that seems to follow a gender binary quite strictly.

Additionally, Maya is – despite everything she faces – working to thrive. She is lighthearted and makes jokes, she connects with people, she is expressive with her emotions. While this sometimes being a performance is worthy of discussion (such as in the conclusion of 3-5, when Edgeworth and Phoenix talking about how Maya is ignoring her own emotions for Pearl’s sake), Maya is still often joyous and proud of the work that she has done. Maya as a trans woman is an example of how trans people can thrive, and the fact that transition is a positive decision.