#[ don't worry mae. i support you. you're the archon of my heart ]

[magistheir]

i'm so painfully conflicted about the archon choice, having watched the conversation in the saved minrathous version.

like, i understand dorian's position. he just watched his biggest inspiration for change (the inquisitor) use their power to change the world fundamentally in hundreds of different ways. half the reason he goes back to tevinter to change it at all is because the inquisitor inspires him to get off his ass and do something with the power he has (the other half is solas, highlighting just how terrible things are and beating him with a stick over using his power instead of wallowing in his guilt). the logical conclusion i could see him arriving at is more power = more ability to enact widespread change. get the highest seat of power and start fixing all the broken things. the southern divine does it (the degrees vary wildly amongst the possible choices, but there is change regardless). dorian's belief makes sense.

and even in the mae and dorian conversation, dorian's side of the argument for using the blackmail to their advantage makes sense. i don't think it's that he doesn't agree with or see mae's point of view--the better option, in an ideal world, would probably be to show people how it's done, use the information sparingly, and be the good leader people can get behind. but they're not in an ideal world and dorian knows this all too well--people are suffering now, and mae's way is longer. dorian knows too, their enemies won't play by their rules. why hamstring themselves? if they care, if they really care about freeing slaves and enacting change, then how could they not use every single tool at their disposal, including the underhanded, dirty tricks? does it really matter if they have the moral high ground the entire time if it takes too long to get there?

(i see you solas and dorian parallels. i see you.)

the part that gets me is that dorian shouldn't be eligible for archon. magisters haven't been eligible for the throne since the black age (which was 500 years ago). there's arguments to be made in the saved minrathous path that part of getting dorian as archon is using the blackmail strategically to ensure he is nominated despite of this, in addition to an overwhelming amount of public support. but the reality is that of the two, only mae should be able to become archon, and part of me feels like that was her long game. she lost her seat in the magisterium and while that was a blow, i also think she could have regained it (or never lost it in the first place) if she weren't thinking long-term.

will i rp dorian as archon? yeah, absolutely. do i need to somehow figure out how the fuck he got there so i might know some semblance of peace? also yes.