#and the unique romance cutscenes they can get with each other!! actually so sweet.

[forcedhesitation]

I love that the bg3 guys are all written to have this intense adoration of karlach and lae’zel’s abilities to absolutely eviscerate their enemies. they’ve all got the same taste in women, which is “she could gut the big scary man chasing me, and then princess carry me to safety in her blood spattered arms.” and I respect and relate to that, as a bisexual man myself.

[squidproquoclarice]

Sadie and Arthur's relationship frustrastes me. I played the game and took their scenes as flirting, like the whole Rhodes trip and even when she called him "honey" it was def not out of common courtesy. Every time I mention this on the Reddit though, I get attacked - "it's not flirting!" Like... Am I the only one taking this all as a romantic POV? Same with her saying Arthur is the best man she's known while the low hr he's the best friend? Like they say it was Charlotte but no way !!

Reddit can be a rough place, from what I’ve seen, and it seems like there are very firm opinions there about Arthur’s love interests.  In the greater sense, dude, y'all can ship whoever you want, because that’s the badass thing about fandom.  So long as it’s two consenting adults not hurting each other, fandom is your playground, and we’re all the better for it.  :D

Objectively, if we’re trying to discuss this as “Who was the cut love interest?” and divorcing it from any kind of opinion of “This is the only ‘real’ Arthur ship”, let’s go for it.  For Charlotte, I love that storyline, but I don’t see her as the love interest (maybe the woman she is in 1907 would have a shot, but not 1899).  She couldn’t have gone on missions with him.  She literally just lost her husband.  And it works as a story of two people who never would have met ordinarily coming together and making each other better, and Arthur having the chance to selflessly give of himself to help someone in need to help teach her to survive–the sheer patience and generosity of Arthur as a teacher in moments like hunting with Charlotte, fishing with Jack, and running the stagecoach job with Lenny gives me feels, I swear–and Charlotte seeing that goodness in him and validating it with her own kindness.  It’s a beautiful interaction, but pretty platonic.  That kiss on the cheek is lovely because it’s a genuine moment of human tenderness which Arthur really, really needs, but I don’t see it as anything but a sweet “thank you” on Charlotte’s part.  

Objectively, though. part of why I ship Sadie/Arthur is that I feel strong groundwork for it was pretty clearly laid in the game, and the indications seem to point hard to her being the intended love interest that was cut.  Like I’ve observed before, they immediately hit an easy banter on their Rhodes excursion that’s unusual in his interactions with women, and it continues into a strong dynamic in Chapter 6 where there’s still some of that lighthearted ease, but the mutual support and validation of each other is pretty intense as they go off on missions together.  She’s of a close enough age to him (early thirties, by the look of her) that it makes sense there.  He sketches her.  He writes admiringly about her.  She’s said, in her char descrip, to be “loyal to those she loves [emphasis mine]”, and we see how fiercely loyal she is to Arthur, to the point of trying to stay by him until the end, indicating the “love” mention is probably significant.  As observed, she very specifically compares him to her dead husband in terms of admiration for him, and she could have just left it as “You’re one of the best men I know” which would have been strictly platonic validation, but the comparison to Jake is a pretty strong romantic indicator.  She calls him “honey” and makes it obvious she wants to protect him.  There are a few unique relics in gameplay he doesn’t seem to have with others in camp, like the specific animation of her slapping him if he’s being an antagonistic asshole, and the fact that her item request occurs as a cutscene with additional dialogue rather than just the “Thanks!” you get from others.  All in all, Sadie is set apart in numerous small ways.

There feels like there’s something missing from her story, and her relationship with Arthur, given how she skips from the Shady Belle battle to being our fierce badass gurl in Chapter 6 holding the gang together.  I buy into the fan theory that Chapter 5 was bigger than just Guarma, and happened in New Austin/Blackwater too, and Sadie was far more involved in those missions.  There are screenshots of Sadie and Arthur in that area, riding out together, and the odd emptiness of the area in-game seems to support there having been plans there, plus there’s proof that Arthur has journal entries, the end of the dinosaur bone quest which requires access to that area, etc., so he was intended to be in those regions at some point.There’s mention that the love interest specifically had missions they did together, and Sadie and to some degree Karen are the only women riding with the gang acting as a triggerwoman.  Mary-Beth, Tilly, Molly, Susan, and Abigail really aren’t.  And I don’t see Karen as the love interest, though the same arguments could be used as are used for trying to claim it’s Mary-Beth (sharing a dance, having a counseling session), given her involvement with Sean, and grief at his death.  There are also more shots of Sadie on-mission that never showed up in the game (walking with the gang in Valentine in Chapter 2 or 3 given Sean is there, with John and Arthur at Bacchus Bridge with the dynamite, etc).

All in all, Sadie virtually has to be the cut love interest.  Like I said, I say that as part of why I ship it because it laid a great dynamic and strong groundwork that still remain there, but again, that’s not me saying Sadie/Arthur is somehow the only valid ship.  Fandom’s your playground, remember?  ;)  And I wish we had more of that cut content for her character to further develop some of those gaps, but I actually give R* some credit for not pulling the trigger–no pun intended–on a Sadie/Arthur romance in-game.  They’re both not in a good place.  And they made the choice at whatever point for Arthur to die in the end.  They seem to have backed off the love interest angle then, realizing that it “didn’t make sense [from a storytelling perspective]”, which seems to fit only Sadie in the end, or perhaps Karen.  There’s nothing keeping him from a tragic romance with Tilly or Mary-Beth or Penelope Braithwaite or anyone else.  But if we look at it objectively,  for a female character lose a deeply beloved husband violently, unexpectedly find love again so soon (almost too soon, IMO, which I think is part of why it “didn’t work”), then have that new love violently taken from her, and have both those deaths occur within about six months, is a pretty shitty thing to do to her.  To their credit, they seem to have chosen to not do Sadie dirty just so that Arthur could die having experienced a fully requited and validating romance.  And that’s unusual, because we all know plenty of female characters whose needs, or even their lives, have been sacrificed for a male character’s emotional journey.

So what we got is actually the best of both worlds.  There’s the respect for Sadie’s grief and their mutual emotional and psychological turmoil, but clearly, they do love each other.  The fact that it’s not transformed into a romantic love in-game doesn’t keep it from being a fairly profound platonic love that strengthens both of them at a terrible time in their lives (and unfortunately still hurts Sadie in losing it given her demeanor in the Epilogue) and promotes platonic love as being valid and valuable.  Like–I wish Arthur could only see how loved he actually is, by Sadie, by Hosea, by Abigail, by Lenny, by Jack.  And given more time after Chapter 6, like I’m writing in Sunrise, it’s easy for that love between them to eventually develop into a romantic love, while still having all the caring and support of a slow “friends to lovers” arc rather than focusing on romance from the get-go.Thank you for coming to my RED Talk.

[slothssassin]

Dragon Age Questions

Tagged by @starsandskies, thank you! ♥

Tagging @briarfox13, @liaorban, @katajanokka, @tessa1972 and @nerdierholler.

1. Favorite game of the series? It’s really hard to decide. Whenever I play one of them, I really enjoy it and think it must be my favourite. If I could play only one forever though I’d probably choose Inquisition.

2. How did you discover Dragon Age? I played Mass Effect and was active in the fandom here. So I discovered that a lot of people who loved ME also played (and loved) DA. I already had Origins in my library, so I thought why not give it a try.

3. How many times you’ve played the games? Well, I started DAO once but never finished it. A few months later I started a second time and then played all three games. So DAO (almost) twice, the other ones one time.

4. Favorite race to play as? (Dalish) Elves all the way!

5. Favorite class? Both my Warden and my Hawke are Rogues, but technically I always played the Mages in the team. That’s why I decided that my Inquisitor would be a Mage too, and in the end it’s honestly my favourite class to play.

6. Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time. I mostly make the same decisions again.

7. Go-to adventuring group? DAO: Alistair, Wynne, third one changed, but mostly Sten or Morrigan DA2: Fenris, Anders, Varric DAI: Blackwall, Dorian, Varric, often also Cassandra

8. Which of your characters did you put the most thought into? I’d say my Inquisitor Sellia Lavellan.

9. Favorite romance? Well, Alistair x Warden is really sweet and adorable, but I’m also a big fan of Cullen x Inquisitor. I have to say I enjoyed the cutscenes between them the most.

10. Have you read any of the comics/books? Nope

11. If you read them, which was your favorite book? -

12. Favorite DLCs? Trespasser I think? Or Jaws of Hakkon cause I really liked the Frostback Mountains.

13. Things that annoy you? Uhhhh the combat?? Especially in DAO. I mean I love the games but the combat can get really hard, repetitive and annoying. I was glad my Warden was able to sneak cause I sneaked past a lot of enemies, especially in the Deep Roads. DA2 started with great combat but got boring around Act 2. Inquisition had the best combat for me.

14. Orlais or Ferelden? Ferelden.

15. Templars or Mages? Mages.

16. If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one? I only have one character in each game.

17. What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc.) Ashera’s mabari was called “Brutus”, Marlow’s “Atilla”, Sellia has a horse called “Shiral”.

18. Have you installed any mods? Yes quite a lot actually. Most are for the CC. But in DAO I also had the one to skip the Fade, a few to add more content with Alistair. Clothing mods too. I love mods a lot.

19. Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden? She didn’t mind. She was up for the adventure, though she didn’t know how dangerous it would be.

20. Hawke’s personality? Between blue and purple.

21. Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition? No, they’re all unique.

22. If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change? Ashera lost her father as a child. He tried to save her from a bear. She’d always go back to help him.

Quite similar for Marlow, she’d like to go back to save Carver. And her mother later on.

Sellia would turn back time to go back to the Fade to try and save both Stroud and Hawke.

23. Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon? Yes, I headcanon that Alistair stayed a Grey Warden after the Blight, but Anora got assassinated. He was already married to Ashera at that point, but agreed to become the new King if he didn’t have to officially marry anyone else.

24. Are any of your character(s) based on someone? No.

25. Who did you leave in the Fade? I honestly hated that decision. And it was the reason why I made up the headcanon I mentioned earlier. I didn’t want to leave either Alistair or Hawke, so I chose Stroud but felt really bad about it. My Hawke didn’t feel like herself anymore, so I’m still thinking about leaving her instead, which means Alistair could stay a Warden.

26. Favorite mount? The Imperial Warmblood.

[roseofithaca]

Mass Effect and Sherlock (Tin-hatting fandom)

After replaying the Mass Effect trilogy I’ve been looking back on all the controversy that happened after ME3 was released, in particular the ending(s).

For those unaware, Mass Effect is a space opera RPG video game series. One of its biggest appeals is how much the player’s decisions affect the story; from sacrificing one of your crew, to condemning a race to genocide, to who to romance. There are many, many variables to make each playthrough truly unique. So when Mass Effect 3 came out, the grand finale, a lot of gamers were extremely disappointed to find that the ending reflected very little on the choices you had made throughout the game.

Oh, you had a choice. But the cutscenes were all nearly exactly the same, only with a different colour filter depending on what you chose, and the offscreen implications of certain consequences. You didn’t get to see if the alliances you had formed between warring races would last or if certain characters you loved had survived. It was all left up to the player’s imagination. 

Fans were really pissed off. But other than just ranting about it, some went a step further and believed the endings weren’t even real. This was not without context. An underlying theme throughout the trilogy was the idea of the enemy indoctrinating people into serving them. Fans created some brilliant theories based on supposed clues and hints they had picked up on during the game that the choice given to the player at the end, as well as the rushed images that follow, were all an indoctrinated illusion planted by the enemy - and that this was to be revealed in the promised DLC, which would give the game its “true ending”.

TL,DR; Fans of the series were pissed at the ending, among other story elements, and so came up with a clever and believable theory that it was all fake - an illusion in the main character’s head.

Sound familiar?

I don’t think Mass Effect is the first to do this. I never watched LOST, but I remember hearing some people believe that ending was fake as well, and that a secret follow-up film or spin-off would follow to reveal the truth. With LOST, that never happened, as far as I’m aware.

But with Mass Effect, it kind of did. 

Not the indoctrination theory itself. The creators have always defended that was the ending intended (aside from story elements that were apparently changed after a leaked script pre-release, so the rumours go) and none of the DLC that followed changed that.

However, because fans felt so cheated by the original endings, Bioware released a free DLC that expanded greatly on the endings several months later. If it hadn’t been free then one could have accused them of intentionally baiting people to pay for a better ending. But this one, while keeping the same story, added important details to help give closure. The effect of each final choice was VASTLY more explained and shown after the decision. The allies formed, planets doomed and characters saved were actually seen - even though most of it was still images, it was better than nothing. One of the biggest questions in the original ending was seeing two characters apparently die and then reappear safe, briefly, at the final scene without explanation - the DLC added a scene in that also served as the player being able to give an emotional goodbye to their love interest/favourite team member.

That wasn’t the end of Bioware helping to give much better closure to the players, however, after we’d had so many years to bond with these characters. A final DLC came out which may as well have been titled Fanservice. Aside from one cheesy Die Hardy mission, most of it was just focused on hanging out and having a party with the charcters. Some fans dubbed it ‘the Christmas Special’ DLC, despite it not having any mention of festivities. The cheesy yet heartwarming feeling was the same, ending with a sweet goodbye almost breaking the fourth wall. 

Speaking personally, in this case I was never too upset about the endings, in terms of story, at least not as much as others. The execution of the original ones was very disappointing but I was thankful for the DLC extras. There are still fans to do this day who believe in the Indoctrination theory, in spite of the DLC and the game being five years old. But I felt the story works well enough and, especially with the Citadel DLC, I’m always left with a feeling of contentment and satisfaction which I think is what I look for in all film, tv or video games, no matter how tragic or happy the endings are. 

So finally I get to Sherlock and the EMP theory.

I’m hoping I’ll see the ‘cycle continue’, to use a Mass Effect phrase. The EMP theories I’ve read are just as brilliant, clever and almost crazy enough to work as the Indoctrination theories are. I hope to keep reading them. But I don’t think they will be revealed as canon. :( I think Series 4 really is what Mofftiss intended and what they thought was a good direction to go with the show. Some people really seemed to agree with them it was good. I don’t get it but...oh well. It is what it is.

But if that’s the case, the little I am hoping for is that Mofftiss, like Bioware, acknowledges the feelings of those who were deeply disappointed and recognises the possible flaws. That’s not asking them to change the whole story and especially not to force Johnlock to be canon if they honestly don’t intend it. But just be adult enough to see our point of view and not just brush it aside as ‘fan backlash’. If the most we do get in the future with Sherlock and John is a one-off Christmas special as soon as Ben and Martin can fit in the time to film, then I just hope it is something that gives me a much better sense of closure than the ending to S4 did (which just raised more questions than answers). Remind me why Sherlock and John’s friendship is supposed to be the best thing ever. Remind me why I loved this show, even if that means some fanservice. 

I’m not sure if that would be enough to wash the bad taste of S4 out of my mouth. But then S3 left me with mixed feelings and TAB boosted me right back up again (perhaps too high). Anything is possible.