Could these characters be considered sentient enough for "consent"
I know it's going to sound bad but please hear me out 😭 I promise it's not some deviant zoophilic stuff
So for the context I'm SUPER new to world building and I've been heavily inspired by stories like "Dungeons and Dragons", "Lord of the Rings", "The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" and it's made me want to make my own super cool fantasy world with a various cool looking fantasy races and complex societies. Also for further explanation I am very fascinated by history and anthropology so it's become increasingly fascinating how other races outside of humans would act with each other, like the idea of Furgonomics
A lot of what I want to make are human or anthropomorphic races because I think those are super cool but I want to play around with feral like races but I don't want it to look like some hidden fetish insert if I choose to have some mix species relationships
So going onto the question I just snagged a few animalist or feral like characters I knew of or that I thought were well known to the general public because I thought they were a good way to convey how "sentient" a feral like character would need to be to "consent" so a mix species relationship doesn't raise eyebrows.
First I snagged Blue from Jurassic World because she is very intelligent clearly but still acts very instinctual if that's a good way to explain it, like she clearly doesn't act or think in 3rd person so like if she *wanted it* would that not be enough?
Next is the Xenomorph Queen because I guess I would like to know how a hive mind could affect "consent" because I have an idea for a race that is essentially just one big hive mind puppeting enthralled creatures or people. Like if the thing controlling them is sentient but if it doesn't have a tangible body to actually represent itself would that draw the line? And if in a more literal sense how would "consent" be affected if the only thing conveying any level of true intelligence is the king/queen of a species?
Next would be Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon because while he is an animalist dragon he seems to convey a lot of understanding for what's being said to him and what's happening around him. He seems to convey more than just animal instinct but he isn't able to speak like humans can and has to express himself through growls and things so would the physical language barrier draw the line there and make a relationship "non-consensual" by default?
Lastly is Siveth from Dragon Heart. She is a large dragon who has conveyed higher levels of thought or emotions and is able to talk to and understand humans. She has actively been able to express herself, her wants and emotions but all in all is still a giant dragon. So would her simply not being physically anthropomorphic draw the line? Even if she was as intelligent or more than a human?