#I love vivienne

[chanafehs]

Vivienne’s line about “a leash can be pulled both ways” is actually so fascinating because it can not only be applied to its original context (Mages & Templars) but to the Inquisitor themselves - as many have discussed the Inquisitor loses their standing, their heritage, their identity to this weird Andrastian cult up in the mountains regardless of what they personally believe. They are the Herald of Andraste, the leader of this massive powerful religious military organization that has its hands in every holding in Thedas and yet the Inquisitor is controlled by everyone else. You are locked into centrist diplomacy, the game is playing you as much as you are playing it. You can make choices but all of the choices you make are guided and picked apart by everyone else, you lose your entire personhood to become someone that everyone around you has molded you into and you cannot escape. The dichotomy between Vivienne and Sera becomes even more interesting because on one hand, Sera keeps trying to humanize you and tear down the barrier between you and the average person (or followers of you), while Vivienne wants you to harness your position since it is all you can do because escape is not an option - harkening back to her experience as a circle mage. Dragon Age Inquisition fundamentally gives you a protagonist sitting in the most powerful position in Thedas and the only thing you cannot control is yourself.

[jzargo]

This is the first time I've ever gotten Vivienne's disapproval scene where she rearranges your furniture and I'm sorry. How can anyone genuinely hate her for this. This is soooo petty and funny. She's hilarious. You make a political decision she doesn't like and she moves all your furniture like 3 inches to the left. I'm obsessed with her.

[abyssal-ilk]

one of the most annoying things about being both a sera and vivienne enjoyer isn't even the fandom. it's the game itself that is like. primed to try and make you dislike both of them. or at the very least it operates under the assumption that you already don't like them.

the player is rarely allowed to give sera actually positive and understanding responses but is given every opportunity to kick her out of the inquisiton (she is the only companion this is a constant option for) and to insult her/her beliefs. so many of the player dialogue choices have the inquisitor calling sera unreasonable or nonsensical but so few letting you fully agree with her in a way that doesn't sound condescending in some way. this even extends to some of the companions and how they interact with her.

and then for vivienne, she is constantly referred to as being untrustworthy, manipulative, and "only in it for her own goals" when. surprise. everyone here is here for their own goals. solas and blackwall actively lie to and manipulate the player while iron bull has the potential to turn on them completely and cassandra repeatedly presses the inquisitor into being a religious icon to fit her own beliefs, even when they protest. not even mentioning the "but what's her real agenda 🤔" line in her character trailer, the snow white reference in her personal quest, and how her epilogue slides have this Edge to them that no one else seems to get.

idk!! just wow. wish the game liked them more.

[cardboardboxfly]

Is this anything

[ataraxianne]

Okay but I love how both Blitzø and Millie can't fucking stand musical but still they both love Moxxie so much they watch them with him, sometimes taking turns, just to make him happy

[alastorsfuckassuglyassbob]

I love how Charlie and Vaggie are both feminine!!! Cause I rarely ever see two sapphic fems in a relationship, in media. 🤔 Like I saw a reactor get confused on why Vaggie was the one wearing the nightdress, and said it would suit Charlie better instead, NO! Have you seen my girl? She loves wearing suits, any chance she gets! 😁 And that's so fucking awesome!

Also, let STRONG WARRIOR BADASS, WOMEN, wear skirts, and cute GINORMOUS pinkish bows, frills! 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿 Like that's so cute, she looks so cute wearing that bow 😭 And being a fighter.

But I also love how Charlie dresses more on the masculine side, while still being fem, it just GAH! Makes me so happy, like this Disney-esque princess wears tuxes, that's so cute.

But like she's this pretty, gorgeous sun-shiney princess, and she's feminine, yes. But she wears tuxedos, and that's so FUCKIN' amazing!!! GAHHH!! :D 💞💞

I love these girls so much, it's insane. They're both so cute, and GOD! They're both so pretty, and sweet! And they're both badass, strong, POWERFUL WOMEN! Like, LOOK AT THEM!! LOOK AT THEM!! I WANT ALL OF YOU TO LOOK AT THEM!

🌈🎀

[sic-vita]

The Sandman | Morpheus and Lucienne

MORPHEUS: And yet you remained while others fled, the royal librarian of an abandoned kingdom LUCIENNE: I never felt abandoned. I knew you would return.

[crushedsweets]

Beautiful girl

[sapphic-bats]

Rosie & Alastor Headcanons because they’re so WLW/Ace-Bestie-Coded

✰ Rosie constantly makes asexual jokes, but Al doesn’t get it at all. He assumes that she’s referring to currency.

✰ They have tea thrice a week. Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

✰ Oh, they shit-talk people. All of the time.

✰ Romance is Rosie’s “specialty”, so she goes on dates every once in a while. She gives Alastor all of the details.

✰ Rosie herself is on the asexual spectrum, and hence popularized the term. Alastor has no clue.

✰ Alastor and Rosie met at a cooking club that they joined on a whim. It occurred on Monday nights, but disbanded after the host died.

✰ Rosie is an incredible gambler, simply naturally.

✰ Alastor and Rosie bonded over their love of food, and dance.

✰ Rosie keeps a radio on in the parlor at all times, on the station that Alastor primarily uses. Sometimes she’ll knock on the radio twice, and suggest a song.

✰ Alastor sends his shadow to check up on the Emporium every so often. He never uses it for anything other than letting it be separately-sentient company to Rosie. If anyone ever gets unruly, she easily dissipates the threat, without any help. They’ve never had to fight alongside each other.

✰ Rosie is well-loved. She doesn’t bother anyone, and no one bothers her.

✰ Alastor refers to his “barber” every so often. It’s Rosie. She cuts his hair and her hair on the same days, and will clear her whole schedule when those days occur.

✰ It was Alastor who got them both into painting their nails, he was curious.

✰ If someone’s ever slightly wronged Alastor, she’ll give them purposefully bad advice.

✰ And ditto, as Alastor will make trick deals with people who wrong Rosie, and screw them over.

✰ Rosie doesn’t like television either, but has written before. She writes short stories, and will sometimes give them to Al to read. He was the one who started asking to read them, first.

✰ They get the same songs stuck in their heads at the same times.

✰ Rosie likes red wine, Alastor likes bourbon.

[osteichthyens]

[villainboygirl]

Have you ever noticed the adorable little hearts on the tips of Husk's ears?🥺😍

[abyssal-ilk]

A thing that people always forget when chastising vivienne for being so apathetic to cole is the fact that she is a circle mage. People whom are forced to learn that you should not trust demons nor spirits or else they’ll put you down AS A RITE OF PASSAGE. Think back to what Mouse says in DAO. “Keep your wits about you, mage; true challenges never end.” She knows that for the rest of her life, demons will tempt her and try to possess her. She has seen mages turn into abominations, knows how they get them- of course she will support templars who have the skills to subdue them. And now to have a spirit scurrying around without supervision what is the last bastion against a Tevinter Sidereal… I too would be worried as hell if i were a circle mage.

EXACTLY!

not only is vivienne a circle mage, but there are also a few other factors that play into it that make cole so untrustworthy to her. vivienne underwent her harrowing when she was young– in fact, she was the youngest mage to have ever gone through a harrowing and survived it. we don't get to learn much about what she went through during her harrowing, but we DO have this banter between her and cole:

harrowings on their own are already traumatic enough, and with the added insistence from the circles that all spirits and demons are dangerous (which we see vivienne repeat above, "all it can do is harm."), it makes complete sense on why vivienne would be so put-off by cole! especially given how kind he is! she thinks that kindness is a ploy, and why wouldn't she if her harrowing was anything like the warden's in DAO?

and then that's not even acknowledging the fact that cole isn't just ANY spirit. he's the ghost of the spire. he's killed mages before and admits to doing so. and even though he was wrong to do so and realizes that what he did was wrong, that does not mean that vivienne automatically has to suddenly be okay with what cole did. of course vivienne takes cole being the ghost of the spire harder than everyone else in the inner circle. she is the only circle mage there. it is entirely plausible that she sees cole as a threat and views herself as being the person most able to recognize that threat because of what she was taught. it's why she struggles so much to empathize with cole on any level.

ive already talked about this briefly on another post, but cole is also fairly antagonistic to vivienne as well. it's easy to look at their dynamic and think that, well, cole is just trying to help vivienne but he... isn't? his version of helping her is prying into her thoughts without permission and continuing to do so even after she has shown clear discomfort with it.

cole drags her worst memories and thoughts out publicly in front of not just vivienne, but the rest of the party and anyone else who may happen to be standing near them. it's DANGEROUS, what he does, because vivienne is a player of the game. her position at court is a precarious one, and to have someone like cole who can just pick into her brain whenever he wants with no repercussions? it's scary! it's scary because vivienne has no defense against it, especially if the player supports cole and downplays the harm he does. and what can vivienne do about it? she's an ally of the inquisitor, and that makes her cole's ally by proxy. telling cole to stop doesn't work, insulting him doesn't work, trying to get the inquisitor to intervine doesn't work– nothing seems to deter cole.

which is why THIS piece of dialogue is so important to me:

despite everything i've said above, vivienne still cannot help but care about cole. no matter how dangerous he is, no matter what she was raised to believe, she still cares about him and worries for him. their dynamic is SO interesting to me and i really wish people dug into it a bit more rather than just dismiss it as vivienne being needlessly cruel to cole. it's so much more than that.

[lewikdraws]

save me unromanceable character... save me

[a-drama-addict]

people who dont take iron bull and viv with them are missing out

[ataraxianne]

I'm literally crying what do you mean Blitzø was like "LOOK AN UFO" and Stolas believed it and started looking up at the sky so when he was distracted Blitzø ate his ice cream😭😭😭😭

[alastorsfuckassuglyassbob]

She's so pretty. Her lips look so kissable here!! I want her.

"But she killed thousand and thousands of p-!"

Ummmm...I really don't give a shit???

Look at her, she is gorgeous!!!

🎀💞