I will never cease to be amazed, impressed, and terrified by the kinds of unexpected hotties that come out of the gaming community—earlier this year it was Bakool Ja Ja in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, and now Deadlock’s got its own fan favourite, the gargoyle Ivy.

Ivy is, under no reasonable metrics, designed to be worshipped in the way she’s being idolised—she’s a direct midpoint between one of those hunchbacks of Notre Dame gargoyles and Audrey Rocio Ramirez from Atlantis. Visually speaking, she is a scrambly little goblin monster with the proportions of Gollum.

You are reading this article because that hasn’t stopped people.

Go onto the Deadlock subreddit or the Discord’s fanart channel and you’ll see dozens of (genuinely very talented) artists rendering her in either cutesy or (lore-accurate) scary ways. Here’s a couple of examples which are, and I cannot stress this enough, genuinely great bits of character art (courtesy of concept artist Russel Jones and Kujalla on Twitter).

There is also the, ahem, astute observation that Ivy appears to be a popular character to draw smut of by a vast margin. This isn’t just some arms-length aesthetic appreciation—there is a significant portion of the public who want to get stoned, if you catch my drift.

This might be the part where you expect me to point and laugh, but I’m not a coward. I am going to proceed to make a genuine effort to understand why Ivy Deadlock is the current sweetheart of the game’s community by such a wide margin, in the same way I made arguments for Bakool Ja Ja back when that was happening. I will look into the Medusa’s eyes without fear or remorse, for I am beyond judgement. So—why is Ivy a sweetie? Let’s take a look at her backstory, real quick:

Ivy is an actual gargoyle who sprang to life to protect two members of The Arroyo’s, a family in Spanish Harlem: “The family were called The Arroyo’s. The little one, Sophia. Mofongo is what they called a plate of deliciousness. But most importantly, she learned that the people attacking them were called ‘The Mendoza Syndicate’, and they were hurting people…nice people like The Arroyo’s.”

Ivy then spent 18 years (thank god) tearing through the Syndicate and, in a rare twist of fate, dismantled a crime family while remaining completely intact. They didn’t even kill her dog for a John Wick vengeance arc or anything, she just… did it. Gargoyle gang stays winning.

So in terms of this gremlin’s personality, she’s genuinely a protective and cute little creature. If we’re looking at her from a romantic point of view, she would probably be a supportive partner. Also, she has a rapid-fire crossbow, and she can turn herself into an “impervious stone form and smash into the ground, stunning and damaging enemies nearby”, which is a green flag I look for with every date I go on.

It helps that her design is also a ton of fun. She’s got a defined silhouette, a fun set of animations (she hangs from the zipline via her tail) and a cool outfit. Fun fact: there’s a type of flat cap called an “Ivy Cap”. It doesn’t appear to line up exactly with what she’s wearing, but still—it’s an excellent visual gag for hat experts or furiously googling cosplayers.

Her voice is also pretty charming too—it’s peppy, enthusiastic, and confident. I can’t find any confirmation of who the voice actor in question is (since this is an early development build, there’s no credits screen, and I can’t find signs of the talent behind her stepping up to claim that crown), but they do a stellar job.

The comments on said video, provided courtesy of YouTube channel Darknessuu, are uh—they’re illuminating: “First seeing that goblin, then listening to her voice lines. Now drawing la cruerta,” one player writes, while another yells in all caps: “I AM GARGOYLEPILLED.”

Either way, despite having a wide roster of exceptionally well-designed potential romance options to fawn over—Ivy’s the top contender for prom queen, and she’s genuinely enough of a sweetheart to deserve it. Nobody’s paid actual money to rename themselves to “Ivy’s babygirl” in an MMORPG yet, so she’s on the whole had a more wholesome reception as long as you don’t go on certain websites—and even then, it’s 2024. People like monsters, and I’m not here to argue with them, mostly because the furry (scalie, in this case? I mean, she’s a gargoyle, so—I can’t keep up) community is not to be trifled with.