#and anders for that matter

[wardencallings]

Dipping my toes into extremely dangerous waters to say that it still bothers me that an entire experience of Trespasser and DATV is locked to characters who are not elf women specifically.

[ashoss]

my beautiful wife kori and her guy

[mourn-and-watch]

you know what. i actually love that trying to talk to solas was the last thing varric did and it ended in complete failure. especially if you put it in the context of his feelings about anders. varric was so bitter every time he mentioned him because he could not stop him. he didn't even realize that anders was up to something and when it was too late he started to think of him as of someone who destroyed that fragile peace in kirkwall that actually never existed.

it adds layers to the way he felt about solas. he believed that time he could stop a friend who simply lost his way. because varric tethras can talk anyone out of anything, can't he? anders was just too dodgy and self-centred and cut everyone off just like solas did but this time varric is completely prepared. surely. absolutely.

he could have never talked anders out of it even if he had known what was coming. he could have never talked solas out of it either. anders was a desperate person standing against (as varric himself put it) forces he couldn't possibly defeat. solas was a god standing against a couple of mortals and his own conscience buried under his guilt and regrets. being a good friend would not stop meredith's oppression. being a good friend would not stop someone who fears so much that all of the atrocities he committed were for nothing and would mean nothing at the end. varric died because he didn't realize it. he died and left his second in command with an immense guilt because they believed he knew solas enough to pull that off and there's something tragic about it

[mournmage]

Anders: I've tried to forget about this side of myself. Justice is... so strong. Sometimes the Wardens seem insignificant. But seeing that poor bastard brings it all back. The Darkspawn taint. The call of the archdemon. It's inside me, as much a part of me as Justice. Hawke: Never bothered me before. Anders: You should find someone else, love. You don't want all the ugliness I'm going to bring into your life. Hawke: Not a chance.

It's the way that red!Hawke is Continuously across the entire game with a romanced Anders so very direct and assured in the fact that they just aren't going to give up on him no matter what worries he might have about himself. He thinks they deserve more or better and every time the answer is the same, that he's exactly who they want to be with and they're not asking him to be more or to be less of the problem he perceives himself to be. Very "you're stuck with me for better or worse" energy and I live for it.

[veitchiin]

My recent take on anders is that i refuse to let his story be solely a tragic one, i want it to be hopeful and if it takes disreguarding all the content the writers have made since the game then so be it

Yes im biased because I romance him whenever I can but to me the story of a man who's lived through oppression, deciding to heal and assist his people and attempt to rally others to their cause (despite how aggressively apathetic they can be) and when there is no other choice decides to take matters in his hands and truly do what must be done is more hopeful than tragic. Yes it's tragic that he decides to sort of martyr himself but it can also be hope for the liberation of mages, that they CAN be freed even if they have to fight that freedom out of their oppressors' hands. Maybe it is only hopeful if you allow him to live, or better yet if you run away with him, and yes there is inherent tragedy to his story but i hate to disreguard the hope that lies within any symbol of resistance

[thevulturesquadron]

Anyone who claims that the secret ending in Veilguard is disrespectful or nullifies agency in the previous three games is either unable to traverse layered storytelling or is being ignorant on purpose.

I am not sure how someone assumes that it was about mind control or magic when games upon games the fantasy setting in Dragon Age has been a medium for telling stories about the nature of people, about different perspectives, about the dangers of applying singular ideals to a complex existence, about how people and the ways in which they interact shape destinies.

How can you not be excited to learn that there’s a world outside Thedas, that the web is more complicated and that when one wrestles to break the threads it vibrates all the way to the spider letting it know it’s dinner time?

[lizzybeeee]

Who wants to bet that Anders was planned to be in that post-credit's Executor cutscene montage but they changed it to Bartrand when they realized it would go over real badly with everyone?

[chantryexplosion]

i'm never not going insane about this

[hnnny]

Who was gonna tell me that this guy is literally the worst >:( Contender for biggest loser award.

[sweetmage]

Click for full res! 💔

Though my canon Hawke sides with Anders 100% of the time without regrets, I can't help but feel a little bad Sebastian in that scenario (barring what he does in DAI).

To quote what I've already said about it before: Sebastian had experienced so much tragedy, loss, and rejection as it was. However, in his darkest hour (having lost his family) he found someone who he thought understood his position and pain and wanted to help him set things straight when he thought no one else would.

Then, when what little he had left (the Chantry and the family he found there) was taken from him again, he turned to the one person who seemed to have understood his loss and desire for vengeance before, who he assumed he could count on to understand his pain and stand beside him again. His friend...

That person, sadly, sided with the culprit without hesitation or second thought. He never saw things the way Sebastian did...

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

You ever think about how in spite of knowing their exact locations, the game never gives any indication that templar Carver has reported his mage sibling, Merril (a blood mage) or Anders (an abomination) to his superiors?

I do think about that a lot, even though I tend to ignore the Templar Carver route because I know Warden Carver to be true in my heart and soul... but I totally get the appeal of Templar Carver within DA2's narrative, y'know?

It's so fascinating, really. I've never played a run with Templar Carver, I just can't bring myself to do it, so I know I'm missing out on smaller details of it. From what I do know, this drives me crazy in the best way possible.

Deciding whether to bring him or not to the Deep Roads is such an important choice, not only because it affects his fate, but how it affects his relationship to Hawke. He tells you that he wants to go, he makes it very clear that it's important to him that he goes, too... and Hawke can just leave him behind and it hurts him. I don't think that registers enough with some people just because of how Carver is, like it doesn't matter what Hawke's motivations are [staying behind for his safety, not wanting to bring him, thinking someone should stay with Leandra, etc] it still hurts him because it tells him that Hawke doesn't need him, and Carver wants to be needed.

And yes, there are other contributing factors to why he joins the templars, but it doesn't matter what your relationship is to him, it doesn't change the fact that he doesn't turn Hawke or his companions in.

Sure, the meta reason is it's a video game and you're playing the main character. You're never in any actual danger of being captured by templars, and you're not going to lose your companions to them that easy.

But if we look at it through the narrative and Carver's character, that's when it gets interesting. You can max out his rivalry and be an utter asshole to him [there's a point where you can call him a brat and mock him for being stuck in your shadow, like Hawke can be real cruel about it] but it doesn't matter, you're still his sibling. He even makes a remark about how you might not know what that means [referring to leaving him behind] but he does. He refuses to kill Hawke in the end when Meredith makes the order, too.

Which can I just point out that Hawke has the option to let Bethany die in the end if she's with the circle and they side with the templars? Just saying, Carver NEVER does that no matter what, but Hawke has the option to betray Bethany like that and it's fucked and interesting and it makes me want to eat my chair-

As for Merrill and Anders, I think he knows that if he turns either of them in, then the chances of Hawke being brought in as well skyrocket. They're all friends, they're in the same group... bring one in, and you'll probably get the other two.

I also think Carver just genuinely likes Merrill. Yes, I'm a Carver/Merrill shipper, so I have a bias, but even if you remove anything romantic from their dynamic I believe that's true. Of all the companions, Merrill is the only one who doesn't make fun of him, or find him annoying, in party banters. He never snaps back at her, like he's never defensive with her, he's just a little awkward and nice.

Like, HE'S SO NICE TO HER! He tries to find common ground with her! She asks him about "swording" and he's taken aback by her saying he's good at it, but you KNOW that if someone like Anders asked him the same question, he's be all, "shut up, you're stupid, stop talking to me >:["

Think back to that banter Carver can have with Aveline post-act 1 where they're talking about how the guard wasn't the right place for him [hard disagree with you there, Aveline] and Carver says he was a bit of a tit, wasn't he.... and every companion will agree except Merrill. She doesn't say anything, whereas other companions like Anders will be like "ugh maker YES" and if you have a purple Hawke, they'll go on to other ways Carver was a tit like?? I think Carver and Merrill got along and he doesn't want to turn her in because she was nice to him! And she's a blood mage! He knows what will happen to her if the templars get ahold of her! He doesn't want to see her made tranquil or killed!

At that point, he's witnessed what bad blood mages can do, assuming you've brought him along for those quests, but even so. He knows Merrill isn't like that and he likes her, so of course he's not going to turn her in despite that being his literal duty.

Then there's Anders who Carver doesn't like. If you're in a romance with him, Carver will tell him that's why he doesn't turn him in but c'mon Carver, you know that's not the only reason. My theory is Carver may not like Anders and he knows the man's got a spirit of justice inside of him... but Anders also runs a free clinic. If he's ever taken in by templars, then so many people [including a LOT of Fereldan refugees] will be without free health care and will suffer for it. I think in Carver's eyes, Anders might be irritating but he doesn't more good than harm. Carver knows first hand how shitty refugees and poorer people are treated in Kirkwall. Anders' clinic is the one place they can go for help and actually get it, and he's not going to be the one to take that away because the templars say "magic bad."

So yeah, I'm not as informed about the Templar Carver route, but I do think about how if I did do that route, he wouldn't betray Hawke or their companions no matter what and what that says about him.

[flashhwing]

thinking about how one of the responses to the “mages always betray you” thing is “no they just have their own agenda that’s not necessarily betrayal” the context of it and like okay but Does Anders have his own agenda tho? Like “having their own agenda” has the implication of like “they are working with you for their own secret reasons” which applies to Morrigan and Solas because they both join on this Epic Quest To Save The World for reasons other than to be on an epic quest to save the world, ie their own agenda. but Anders didn’t join any epic quest. Hawke doesn’t have any epic quests they go on actually at all. They are literally just living. They are Just A Guy (gender neutral) Doing Things in and around Kirkwall because they don’t have a job. And also Anders is there. so it’s like yeah Anders Has An Agenda and his agenda is Mage Liberation but like it’s not his *own* agenda it’s just An Agenda, much like the Bi Agenda which, as a bisexual, I assume he is also following

[tench]

DAI taught me a lot of things, for example, that you can "befriend" a man by letting him monologue at you.

[notinkirkwall]

"ahaha I wonder what mage companion is going to betray us in this game!" and it's FUCKING SOLAS AGAIN

[mournmage]

Hawke: Anders? What are you talking about? Anders: Wardens aren't immune to the taint forever. In time, we start to hear voices. The same ones that the darkspawn hear. Anders: That's when they send you into the Deep Roads to die.

The idea that a romanced Anders and Hawke have never had this conversation about the Calling being a Thing before the Legacy dlc is going to haunt me tbh

[anneapocalypse]

At the end of the day you can use "Varric is an unreliable narrator" to overwrite literally any part of DA2 that you don't like. Like you can say, "Oh of COURSE Varric isn't actually against mage freedom! He just said that he objected to Hawke freeing the mages because Cassandra was interrogating him." And sure, I can't prove to you that he isn't lying about that. I can't prove to you that Varric isn't lying about anything. I can't prove to you that the entirety of Inquisition isn't also Varric making things up because he did also write a book about that and we hear Cassandra reading it in the end credits. At the end of the day if you want to you can basically wipe out Varric's entire character as presented to us and say, "Actually he was lying! He's really this."

But at a certain point you do also have to acknowledge that the frame narrative is a storytelling device that's meant to enhance the story, not like... erase it. Or at least I prefer to acknowledge that, because going too far the other way basically guts the story of all meaning. If Varric is a character we are meant to engage with on any level--and I think it's clear from his prominence in the franchise that he is!--then at least some of what we see him say and do needs to be able to meaningfully interpreted, even if we second-guess him, even if we can pick out half-truths here and there, even if we cross-check our interpretations against how he behaves in other parts of canon.

Like at least some of what we're given about Varric has to be meaningful to his character, or why even bother, I guess is what I'm saying.