#anders will always be to me

[bloomeng]

Kory doodles (aka practicing how I wanna draw her)

[mournmage]

Thinking this afternoon about how so many people who romanced Anders considered him blowing up the Chantry to be a betrayal and how that just. Never really clicked for me to call it that. Because so explicitly So many times over the relationship he tells you this will be messy and never easy and at one point even explicitly says some things are bigger than he and Hawke's relationship and it is just. So clear that he loves them but they can't and won't stop him. And I cannot feel betrayed at all when he was upfront about that consistantly tbh.

[fangsandfeels]

I gained the next level of appreciation for how well Dragon Age 2 understood trauma, the ugly side of it.

I don't blame Fenris. I understand why after enduring years and years of abuse, humiliation, having your autonomy, your memories, everything that constituted you including your own name stripped away from you, you have no empathy for anyone reminiscent of your abusers - especially if nobody came to save you in the end and you are the only one fighting for your life and freedom. I understand why upon hearing how someone (who reminds you of your abusers) suffers unfairly, the only thing you can say is "Good" - and lash out at anyone trying to tell you off for it. Where all these fucking preachers were when you were suffering? Why even in the land that is supposed to be different from your own hellhole, your word and your experience still don't matter?

I don't blame Anders. I understand why after being betrayed by your own parent, after the decades of listening how you must suffer for the sin of being born, being confined to isolation, being treated like a monster while being a child, being denied the simplest of comforts, you fiercely defend people who share your abilities - because nobody else would ever look out for you and them. Of course you would clash even with someone who has legitimate reasons to be negative towards people like you because your own wounds sting more than their pain. You have dealt with the Chantry's vile propaganda for so long, you no longer take things at face value. Of course, Chantry would say that the foreign land where mages rule is foul, and corrupt, and full of blood magic and demons! So many times rumors, lies, and twisted religious depictions have been used to abuse, lobotomize, and enslave you, you're no longer letting it happen - and you only believe what you see and hear. And all you see around is injustice and indifference. And you're only the one screaming into the void, raging against the horrors everybody else is willingly blind to.

I don't blame them both for losing their mind in their own ways while the rest of the group silently wondered why they couldn't just be normal.

Personally, I don't think there was any chance for them to become friends or make peace during the events of the game. The "I suffered so I don't want anyone to suffer like I did" or "I'm a bigger person" are pretty lies and half-truths at worst. At best, they are mindsets only possible after someone who suffered finally feels safe and can be out of their survival mode. Which is not really true for Fenris and Anders, even during the final act of the story.

Even on high friendship or romance, Anders is still self-destructive, ready to die at Hawke's hands after launching his plan in motion. Even with a friend/lover at his side, he is alone in his head, in his vision of the world, in his pain.

Even with proper support and help, it takes Fenris three years to accept a relationship, but it doesn't change his perspective and if you don't have enough of his trust, you lose him to his trauma-based response.

I may be overthinking it, but I am truly thankful to the game for not toning down the complex, hard and uncomfortable aspects of trauma. People have always been in love with the concept of the perfect victim (who hates only "the right" bad guys and suddenly knows when to be tolerant, nice and accepting and doesn't say any rancid and hateful shit ever), but it became particularly aggravating lately.

[moonilit]

I read some NTT and don’t think comics books are for me but i had fun as i was exploring, I have accumulated bunch of doodles and sketches as i tend to draw them while reading and thought i could stack them together and post it as thanks for these characters. they were very cute 💙❤️‍🔥

[ratsonfire]

*Live Dick Reaction*

I LOBE YOU KORY OMFG, DICKS ACTUALLY ME.

Fan art for @garpen ‘s Batfam Twitter AU ^^

[the-woman-upstairs]

Lassen shoots his shot right out there in front of the entire crew and Freddie’s only response is “Hmmmmm….try harder :) :) :)”

[villainanders]

I love when Cassandra has her pro-mage Hawke “I actually have no idea why I thought they would agree to side with me” moment. Like yeah diva

[javajamboree]

So....Vergil is 100% alive right

I watched episode 5 and was omw to my awards ceremony fully decked out in grad gear with my buddy and I had a jimmy neutron brain blast

Like it's so obvious he's gonna come back(probably as the white rabbit): the whole son of sparda thing, not showing his "death", the rabbit knowing way too much about Dante and sparda, THE BLUE FUCKER FROM MONSTERS VS ALIENS LITERALLY EXPLAINING THAT HE COULDN'T HAVE TAKEN VERGIL'S FORM W/O HIM BEING ALIVE?????? Yeah Dante's cooked

Also it's so jarring watching the show when I've read the Aeneid and Dante's inferno like. irl Dante and Vergil are very different lmao it's like reading bungo stray dogs all over again

Devil trigger is so fucking cool though

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

no listen you don't understand- I am obsessed with how differently Anders reacts to Hawke hitting on him after completing his Tranquility quest depending on gender.

He talks about how he hopes he didn't come off as selfish for keeping Justice a secret, and Hawke has the flirty option of "at least he got a nice body."

With a lady Hawke, his response is a dramatic, "Noooo, don't do that~ Don't go there, I don't want to hurt you~ That's not going to end well~ I'll break your heart~" like he's so serious about it, and when Hawke tells him to do it, that she doesn't mind a little pain, he gives a hard no; "I'll break your heart and that might kill me as surely as the templars."

But with male Hawke?? Anders is like, ".....So y'know, in the circle everything is about rules and order so we apprentices found ways to make it bearable, if you know what I mean, hint hint wink wink. Karl and I? Yeah, he was my first. I've always believed people fall in love with a whole person, not just a body. Why would you shy away from loving someone just because they're like you? Soooo.... does it bother you that I've been with other men??"

Like.... Anders, babe, it's so interesting that you're out here warning a lady Hawke against getting involved with you but then with male Hawke suddenly "nooo don't do that~" is tossed out the window in favor of making sure he knows you're interested.

[sha-brytols]

in my head isabela has the exact same relationship with gender that i do. which by virtue of me having no fucking idea how to express my relationship with gender makes it impossible to actually articulate. but like. uhhhhhhh i remember once when i was in high school i saw this blog post about gender expression through bisexuality and that was literally the only time i ever had my own thoughts and experiences explained back to me but also because this was like almost 10 years ago i could not possibly hope to find it again. anyways if anyone has literally any idea what im talking about thats isabela. to me.

[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. 

[epickiya722]

Me after finishing DMC 2025...

[anew-flame]

The Anders Romance Experience

[moonilit]

When your favorite human finally returns from three months undercover mission and done with debriefing, hugs hugs hugs!

[crowsgrudge]

saw someone say they wished we cldve seen anders being faced w the temptation of a demon when u visit the fade in da2 and like... is it not obvious that he already showed that weakness once before.

like okay. in enemies among us, when you have to make sure keran isnt possessed, anders attacks him and then says "if he was possessed, the demon wouldve tried to protect itself". and literally in the first scene where we see anders in this game, when hawke walks into his clinic, justice pops up for a moment, guess why. guess why he shows up when hawke walks in. because he's protecting himself! he senses the danger and comes up!

the ONLY times we see justice In Game without anders being at the forefront of their body, it's when there are strong injustices and when there's danger.

like. anders already proved he would not say no to a demon. he's already possessed, and in fact its even worse for him because he proposed the whole deal to justice in the first place. he offered him his body. the only difference is that justice is a "good" spirit.

when anders comments on the weaknesses of other mages, that's not only anders. its justice, mostly. its justice feeling like he's better than demons, because he didn't take anders by force, he was offered his place alongside him, and their objective is just, and not driven by selfish desires like demons usually do.

i feel like people generally tend to downplay the fact anders and justice are one. one single person. its hard to say "this was anders" and "this was justice" because they dont exist anymore as separate entities. theyre both anders. and its even complicated to explain how this character works at all but like its so interesting to me and it's so. clear that anders already fell victim to possession and the single fact justice lives inside of him, as a part of him, is ultimate proof of it

[fire-and-sparks]

thinking about the handers dynamic where Anders is willing to sacrifice himself to save the world, but hawke will sacrifice the world to save Anders