#anders posting like always

[mynameisalanwake]

every day i try to have a good day but then i think about what romanced Anders says to you right before the final battle in DA2 and i’m angsting all over again

[mynameisalanwake]

one thing i can't stop thinking abt is the paralyzing guilt (blue) Van Hawke feels over giving Bethany to the Wardens to save her in the Deep Roads

Van doesn't even blame Bethany for being upset with her. she doesn't even bring up their mother when they run into each other in Act 2 because she doesn't want to keep ruining Bethany's life and she doesn't want to admit that she failed to protect Leandra.

like the tragedy (to me) of a blue Hawke playthrough is how selfless they are in respect to their friends EXCEPT when it comes to their sibling. truthfully you could argue no matter what sibling choice you make in Act 1 (short of letting them die in the Deep Roads) is pretty selfish: either leaving them behind so you don't have to worry about them or bringing them with you because you NEED their help based on the dialogue you have w them and Leandra after party selection. iirc Stroud even gives Hawke an OUT saying this may not even save them and Hawke is still like "DO IT." although i also believe that Anders made sure Hawke knew exactly what type of decision they were making on the way to the warden camp. esp in the case of Bethany in Act 2, Hawke can continue be "selfish" in their pursuit to protect their sibling - basically all of your responses to her are a variation of "i saved your life and you're being a dick to me?? really?"

additionally, i still cry over my "yeeted-into-the-Fade" Garrett Hawke and his tireless pursuit to save Anders from whatever Justice has become and it's been a month since i did that. i can't even write any fic because i start crying.

someone talk to me about their hawke. please. can anyone hear m

[sweetmage]

I love Gale's facial expressions so much. He is the saddest, wettest, most pathetic little man. He constantly looks like he's on the verge of tears when he experiences any emotion at all, positive or negative. Even playing his origin he always looks so emotionally impacted by other peoples' circumstances and struggles. I love him.

[butchvamp]

also it is really funny even with the chantry basically removed from the game it still gets handled with more care and respect than any of the other religions, the fact that you get so many options to comfort the andrastians when it's revealed their maker may not be real, and you can even pray at the temple later with the viper after minrathous is attacked... every character is just assumed andrastian, and if they're not it's always used against them in some way (dalish elves are repeatedly punished in these games simply for being dalish and are depicted as being foolish for wanting to connect with their gods and culture instead of assimilating and "moving on from the past") it's always amused me in that way even when trying to be critical of the chantry, the writers still manage to always grant it and the andrastians so much grace because of their real world bias (white + culturally christian) and the obvious real world inspiration for andrastianism. even with it's absence in veilguard it's still There in more subtle and even insidious ways given that all blame is placed on the evanuris instead.

[danielnelsen]

so we know that anders is terrible at playing the lute, but varric’s ‘chapter ???’ of hard in hightown suggests that m!hawke is also terrible at playing the lute

lads maybe you should just move orana’s lute out of your bedroom

[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. 

[kirkwallguy]

i dont know who veilguard is sorry, do you ever think anders thought hawke was going to be the last person to ever love him? his last chance?

oh hawke is PAST last chance to him imo... they're the last chance he wasn't supposed to have. iirc there's a line during the romance where he says he thought he wouldn't find love again after karl, and at a first glance it means after karl's death but, honestly? he probably knew it was over the moment karl transferred. by the time you're an adult in the circle, it's likely you've met everyone your age and older that you'll ever meet, you're lucky to end up with a close friend let alone fall fully in love with someone and even then you can't ever have a 'normal' relationship with the templars watching you every second. we know he goes to brothels or has flings with people when he escapes, which in awakening comes across as him being a bit of a player but looking at the full picture it's more likely he just wanted to be close to other people. and THEN he moves to kirkwall with spirit in his head and doesn't seem to have even tried to make actual connections with people outside of healing them in the clinic. how long did it actually take him to get in contact with karl then. did he think karl would even still care about him even without being tranquil.

anyway. all that is why as much as i <3 breakups and drama i will always hc marcus and anders just staying together forever because sometimes i like the odds being proven wrong a little

[86maylin]

– by @pointdotiozao

There's a spark in your eye And a grin on your lips She's a demon and I can't resist her On a night like this

– Ken Ashcorp - Crazy Chicks

[mynameisalanwake]

so glad that barely 3 months into my dragon age hyperfixation i’ve managed to find the anders fans. love you all from the bottom of my heart.

hey btw do you guys want to go down to the dark town sewers with me

[coffee-keith]

Doing a fucked up mage run in Dragon Age II. Anders and I going down hand in unlovable hand.

[butchvamp]

i really like a lot of the banter in veilguard, it's one of the few times the companions can actually exchange some verbal jabs especially at the start of the game. i've said repeatedly that this game is lacking friction and i stand by that ☝️ i think the problem isn't that they all automatically get along, some of them don't at all in the beginning-- Davrin and Lucanis i think are the most obvious, and Taash and Emmrich as well-- but the thing is. Rook just speaks their therapy-speak to them and suddenly it's all fine. we don't see a lot of the friction in cutscenes or significant questlines, only in banter.

again there is Davrin and Lucanis of course who i do think are the most successful and organic relationship in the game. and that's because we actually get to see them go from being hostile to supporting and ultimately liking each other, and it feels born out of mutual respect rather than Rook forcing them to hold hands.

i like a lot of Bellara and Neve's banter as well, and they seem to spend a lot of time together at the start of the game when there's not that many people at the Lighthouse yet, and Neve consistently shows up for Bellara during her story. i also like Neve and Lucanis together, they're very cute. there are definitely friendly relationships that feel natural, but then there are moments like where Taash bulldozes over Bellara when discussing Mythal's and Solas's relationship, and Bellara isn't allowed to snap back at Taash for being disrespectful. she (+ elven Rook) are also never allowed to call out Harding for her racism, we either have to agree or just not acknowledge it and always be really really nice to Harding specifically.... and i think little moments of friction within actual main plot beats and significant cutscenes (like is done with Davrin and Lucanis) would have made a lot of the dynamics more interesting rather than just dancing around it and relegating it to banter or limited interactions you could ultimately miss if you don't have them constantly in your party/aren't constantly checking in at the Lighthouse. also companion approval should actually matter and they should be allowed to vocally disapprove of Rook's choices.

[flashhwing]

y’know what I may be one of Those Anders Fans but at least I like the other characters y’know?

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

As much fun as I'm having doing my alternative run of DA2, one thing I really miss about my mage Hawke is his friendship with Merrill.

Those two are best friends and he's 100% supportive in her goals toward the eluvian. Ed has the humorous/charming personality, too, which bounces off super well with Merrill. He doesn't think any less of her for her usage of blood magic; if anything he's impressed by her level of strength and willpower. He's so ready to defend her from the other companions and the clan, and he's absolutely out here attempting to matchmake her and Carver....at least he is in my heart because the game won't let me, it's fine, I'm not bitter about it or anything-

But then my warrior Hawke? She has the diplomatic personality with quite a bit of direct/aggressive thrown in there and she ends up having the same attitude as that one party banter Aveline and Merrill have: "Merrill, you're clearly talented and meant for great things, but you're stupid," and that's so difficult for me to lean into. I'm trying to play Aris differently so she ends up being so condescending to Merrill, like she's trying to gently tell her to give up on the eluvian but it doesn't come off well.

Also if Carver was around, Aris would be the opposite of Ed, she'd look at the suggestion of her brother and Merrill getting together and be like, "No :) I don't think so :) I like Merrill, she's my friend :) but she's not right for Carver."

But I guess it makes sense; if you told him that Bethany would giggle and kick her feet and twirl her hair around Sebastian, Ed would've thrown him in the ocean as a warning. Meanwhile, Aris is like, "A handsome prince that could take my sister away from all of this? Wonderful, we just need to work on his incorrect views on mages, but that shouldn't be a problem :)"

Anyway I miss playing Hawke as the #1 Merrill stan.

[unwelcome-tagalong]

i finished awakening again last night and i am ALREADY itching to get back home so i can start 2 again for the 80 thousandth time lmao

[techno-rat]

my substances journey is actually so fucking embarrassing. How do you get BORED of alcohol at 16???? How do you have BETTER ALTERNATIVES???

[death-rebirth-senshi]

"I need to make my Hawke a warrior"