#I like anders too

[sacrosanctitty]

I think its a little insane how if you're critical of anders his Fans will jump you with paragraphs of how he wasn't wrong for what he did at the end of act three.

which I can agree to an extant. I hated that he lied to hawke, manipulating them to be complacent in murder without their consent and don't like how many bystanders (because you cant convince me everyone in there was just chantry workers) got killed in the cross fire, but I agree that something drastic needed to happen to get the chantry's attention.

(do i think that was what it had to be? no, also there's a lot to be said about a white man blowing up a religious building and all of those horrible real life connotations but that's not what im posting about and also many muslim fans have already said it better and smarter than me)

thats not why I'm critical of anders.

Anders as a character in DA2 is a racist hypocrite, who will treat you like shit if you reject his advances and never gives others the same grace he expects of them. The comments he makes to Merrill that are condescending to her at best and malicious and gross to all dalish at worst are just the tip of the iceberg. Even removing blood magic from the conversation he's a complete and utter ass towards her, I don't think its a coincidence that the two characters he treats the worst are the two elves of the party.

and as for fenris theres and endless list of complaints I have for how anders treats him, more often than not, unprovoked. You can say fenris is just as bad, that the two are equally in the wrong that Fenris treats him terribly just for being a mage, then what about fenris treats Bethany and Hawke?

Then theres the fact Anders approves if you give Fenris back to his former slave master in a moment of complete betrayal, and many people try to argue that Anders would never and its completely out of character but is it? throughout the entire game Anders does nothing but dehumanize fenris, calling him nothing more than a wild animal, comparing him to a dog on several occasions, asks him why he never killed himself, and so on and so forth. Anders can be a piece of shit a lot of the time and that has nothing to do with how act 3 ends, and thats okay, im not saying you have to dislike him or stop loving him.

What i am saying is that hes deeply flawed and I need a lot of you to understand that really quickly and not be an asshole when people dislike him for those things

[a-drama-addict]

not caring too much about a fandom’s favourite guy is the worst. you’ll think “oh i’ll look into the tag see if anything new and cool’s there” and it’s just that fucking guy again

[lsandom]

trying to practice their faces!! cullen was so much harder than i expected to draw.. fenris and anders are already pretty cartoony and came much easier to me

[monabee-draws]

Actually you know what? Varric Tethras you owe Anders so much more. Solas' actions resulted in the creation of the Breach which killed hundreds on the day it was made and MANY more in the months following thanks to the rifts, especially in places not reachable by the Herald. You could even argue that the fall of the wardens is indirectly Solas' fault as well. Anders' actions at the chantry weren't even the real catalyst for the mages leaving the chantry and the whole mage-templar war, they voted to leave because of the Seekers secret about the Rite of Tranquility being revealed. So WHAT THE HELL man??? You're still trying to be nice to Solas even though his plans are WAY more clearly destructive than Anders' ever could have been? I want to read this charitably that Varric has grown and is trying not to fuck up again but also I am bitter. Anders got so shafted by the narrative in Inquisition and it irritates the hell out of me. He definitely isn't a hero, but the empathy he's denied when others receive empathy for similar or worse crimes is sooooo AAHHHH

[moonilit]

@punnifullife sure lol I just didn’t want to dump them for no reason

[pyritefes2]

Looking at some favorite art the other day and after once again smiling from ear to ear because of this delightful fanart by @salsedinepicta, I simply had to draw him in that outfit. The nurse uniform + the fur/feather trimmed jacket and fingerless glove combo?? 👌👌👌👌 And the kitties, too!!

[apostaterevolutionary]

Me before playing veilguard: I’m gonna be into the possessed guy with a wing/bird motif again aren’t I

Me actually playing veilguard: wait what’s this about a mage who likes cats, is trying to help the downtrodden in a city that just sucks so fucking bad, and is a human disaster who can barely take care of herself 👀👀👀

[vaguely-concerned]

merrill dragon age really reverse engineered an eluvian from first principles in a cave with a box of scraps and one single blighted shard. and STILL she gets no respect for it from anyone but potentially hawke, at least in a confused yet well-meaning 'are ya winning son' sort of way on the friendship path. dark days for women in STEM

(really though it seems the equivalent of a person in the middle ages putting together a nokia phone from rocks and sticks (and one coaching session from a spirit, fair enough) and then just not being able to figure out how to turn it on even though it is fully functioning. magically at least merrill is inarguably a genius. the tony stark of kirkwall. well not really that comparison falls apart pretty quickly but you see what I'm saying here lmao)

[silverhalla]

Back at it again with another theory: What if Lucanis’ betrayal wasn’t a betrayal at all?

(obviously, spoilers below the cut)

During The Wigmaker Job, we have some dialogue between Illario and Lucanis about their position within both the Crows and the Dellamorte family. Illario wants Caterina to step down so he can take the coveted First Talon spot. Lucanis reassures him that his time is coming, to which Illario makes a snide comment about whether his cousin would ever go against their grandmother’s wishes. When they continue the conversation after the job, Illario states that Lucanis is the potential heir, that he’s her favorite, and that he’s unlikely to say no to her. Lucanis doesn’t argue, only insists that he doesn’t want to be First Talon, and that he hopes she’ll see reason before that. It’s mentioned again in Eight Little Talons - Caterina favors Lucanis. It’s well-known enough among the Crows that Viago and Teia discuss it in front of her (not on purpose, but she doesn’t deny it). He’s her prodigy through and through.

In the opening scene for the Lucanis quest in Veilguard, Caterina is poised, as you’d expect of the First Talon. She’s certain that the body they buried wasn’t her grandson, that it had been altered with blood magic. She doesn’t pose it as a theory, though: she poses it as a fact. It could, of course, merely be her confidence, but there’s another very unusual aspect to the scene – everyone else discusses how Lucanis was clearly betrayed, that someone must have sold him out in order for the Venatori to capture him. Caterina is the only one in that room who never speaks on it. She doesn’t ask for justice, doesn’t mention vengeance, never acknowledges that her grandson was sold out by someone he trusted – perhaps because he wasn’t. 

What if, when Caterina comes to him with a plan, with an impossible request, he’s still her favorite prodigal grandchild, and he still does whatever she asks? She’s had him tortured before as a child, has tortured and starved and beaten him herself before, because it makes him stronger and more resistant to it in the future. He says in The Wigmaker Job that he used to hate her for it, but now he understands. He justifies it. All Crows justify it, because they have to - if they don’t, then the cruelty wasn’t for survival’s sake, and their suffering meant nothing. Perhaps he doesn’t even question it. When Caterina tells him that she has a job for him, he takes it. 

What if the contract has a caveat? Sure, Calivan must die by his hand by the end of it, a little treat for a job well done, but what if his primary mission is reconnaissance, is discovery? The Venatori are using blood magic to torture and corrupt prisoners. It would behoove the Crows to find out what it entails and how to resist it, before it’s turned back on them. It would have to be someone so deeply, unabashedly loyal to her that when she asked them to infiltrate a Venatori prison, expecting torture at best, their own death at worst, they’d take the job anyway, no questions asked - someone Caterina can trust, certainly, but also someone who has never once said no to her.

And Lucanis has always been a loyal grandson. 

[perplexingly]

Also I'd like to issue a formal apology to anyone who expected me to become a Gale girlie only for me to become a Balduran girlie

[doctor-aceus-art]

Sorry Fenris, Anders is my guy now 😏

[marigraphia]

Hey remember when Kory was a Justice League member with a bangin' costume

[myriam-draws]

some starfires i’ve drawn a bit over time i miss her (i refuse to read titans 2023)

[kirkwallguy]

i agree with your takes on dragon age's relationship with queer content a lot. a straight female inquisitor (bonus point if elf) gets the most romance options, zevran and leliana's romance feels secondary *by narrative* compared to romances of characters who's a warden/king alistair and morrigan, sebastian being bisexual being a cut content*

* i just don't get it why the templar boys always got to be straight. like why can't men engage with their romances and experience this narrative when chantry and religion is so important for the story of these games? after all romance adds a different perspective for all characters.

here we have veilguard, the pansexual crew, and well... the romance content is the weakest in franchise

and i'm not saying queer romances were bad btw!! its just that i wish people who wants to play mlm or wlw get to see such perspectives in the story or these characters' stories too. like a male warden romancing alistair and all the juicy stuff that comes with it (the hurt or angst or the complications. are you sparing loghain? did you just marry the love of your life off to his sister-in-law for the future of your beloved country? did he become a drunkard visiting bars after bars because of the decisions you made even tough you were intimate?)

no exactly! i do tend to want to give them some slack given they're very Of Their Time (for a 2009 game even including bisexual options was scandalous, and dorian's bare bones coming out narrative was pretty standard for 2013 tv shows / rare in aaa games) but it annoys me when people act like they're these flawless beacons of queer rep that you can't criticise just because we should be happy with being given anything at all. even if you don't count seb, 1/2 of the games pretty much require you to play an f/m relationship in order to experience a narratively relevant relationship. i find dai more insidious tbh because like... sure, don't make solas bi for whatever reasons you want to give. but cass and blackwall? there's 0 reason for them to be straight lol. (especially the bait and switch where you're allowed to flirt with cass as a woman for AGES before she turns you down despite characters like cullen shutting you down on the first flirt. it's funny when you do it intentionally but just feels cruel otherwise?) at least leliana and zevran feel like they're doing the most they were allowed to do

a gay or bisexual chantry/templar character who struggles with their sexuality would be SO interesting. honestly it would require more introspection about thedas' attitude towards sexuality than da has ever done - i feel like they could have done a fun subplot with this in da2 honestly.

and the thing about the dav characters is... they went to great lengths to make sure they avoided the playersexual allegations, multiple characters had a past where they dated people of various genders, taash having a preference for women was mentioned (in the weirdest way possible) but i still... don't know how they feel about their sexuality at all? neve is a tevinter mage, did her liking women play a part in her seeing through the issues with the system? does bellara have any lingering feelings about irelin at all? did harding realise she didn't have to be straight when she joined the inquisition and met people outside of her small ferelden town? (potential extra dialogue for an f/f romancing inquisitor???) it doesn't need to be a big Thing, but just a one-off dialogue during romance (davrin m/m exclusive dialogue on your date: "the first time i brought a man to meet my uncle i was so nervous etc etc") or a comment during a banter. it just establishes a little bit more about the characters and stops them feeling so flat... then again ig that's an issue with the whole game LOL.

[moonilit]

it’s something how both Kory and Dick really dislike each others fathers and for valid reasons and yet neither of them want to admit ‘yes my father was actually horrible to me’ to themselves

i guess they were too young back then and admitting your father did hurt you for selfish reasons was too much, they still wanted the approval from them or at least to know if the hurt they had to endure had a meaning at least

Like really, its not a conversation they would have within the first few years of being together its probably too raw but with time, when they can’t cope anymore who is better at understanding what it feels like and stand by their side than each other?

[vigilskeep]

ranking da love interests on a scale of how unhinged theyd be if their beloved was made tranquil (they would all be maximum unhinged its just a matter of deciding what flavour)