#and that is soooo not the case w either of them and that slovely

[winterfromtevinter]

I think at first blush it's easy to say that it's surprising that Neve is so warm, given her "ice mage" aesthetic and appearance. She presents herself in a certain way. But even the quickest glance past that, and Neve is very much a character who is guided by her love and belief in people. Even as she fights against her learned cynicism and past scars. Also, you know. Just tropey for a hard-bitten detective to have a heart of gold. But it works, dammit, and tropes are fun to see play out sometimes!

It would be so easy to write a character from the Imperium who wants it reformed who hates it. Who decries where they are from and insists that they are different and better. That the Imperium is an evil place they happen to be from that must be cleansed.

The game does...none of this with Neve. Which is what makes her so compelling. There's a reason that not choosing Minrathous hardens her. That city is her heart and soul.

It's not from contempt, superiority, or hatred that she wants to reform Tevinter. It's love. It's with this love that she acts: for the love of her people, for the love of what she knows Dock Town, Minrathous, Tevinter, can be. She loves it enough to want to save it.

The way she treats the companions too, how easily she befriends and cares for them. She can't help herself. She wants to believe in people, to reach out to them, to connect and lift them up and care for them. She is so unbelievably warm, this ice mage in the shadows watching her city.