#anti sebastian vael

[anaugust]

I am aware that Anders' decision wasn't the best one. On the other hand my anti-chantry, mage Hawke knows her besties are criminals and she is there for them lol

[kingalistairtheirin]

Why yes if my boyfriend killed my friend’s mother figure and a bunch of other innocent people I would stabbed him on the spot in front of everyone if the authority was in my hands

[athirstygoblin]

In other news, I also decided I'm now a Sebastian apologist and Sebethany is my latest comfort ship

[nebulousmistress]

Chapter 4: A Gift of Music

Chantry critical. And Meredith hasn't even enacted Martial Law yet.

There's three years between Acts 2 and 3 of Dragon Age 2. The city didn't go to shit and stay there, nor did everything go immediately horrible. This chapter takes place through Fall and Winter of 9:35-36 Dragon and shows just how close Kirkwall came to recovering. And who was responsible for that recovery.

Worldbuilding into what it means to be a Nightingale of the Chantry and what it means to be Disavowed.

This chapter was directly caused by:

[bluerose5]

Sebastian has so many moments like this. It's honestly why my Hawke just stops taking them out together because Sebastian's attempts to convert Fenris might seem subtle and acceptable to Bioware I guess, but they're so... tasteless(?) in my opinion. Fenris deserves to be able to take credit for all that he survives, especially his escape. Sebastian's banter with him often seems to downplay/diminish that. Fenris raises reasonable questions about where was the Maker when he was suffering, and Sebastian wants to put the fault of that on the slavers. If I remember right, he says something along the lines of "the Maker didn't enslave you, Fenris." But in the next breath, he contributes Fenris' escape to the Maker at every turn with his whole "he has a plan for you" spiel. So the Maker can take responsibility of Fenris' successes but not all of the atrocities committed against him and his people? Nah, I'm good. And the fact that it can progress to Seb basically rejoicing at Fenris going to the Chantry and stuff more often, even though humans have been known for erasing the history and suffering of elves as a whole in favor of uplifting the Maker and their Chantry. I don't know, there's an analogy in there somewhere, and it all just rubs me the wrong way since the narrative frames it as a positive.

thinking about that party banter fenris and sebastian have where seb tell him that his trauma of watching a child get murdered for a blood magic ritual was all in gods plan or something

[pondering-gales-left-orb]

Sigh rambling about DA2 again nothing has captivated me as this middle child game

Any way

Sebastian Vael

I know alot of people hate him for being the annoying church boy but!!!!

I myself have been put off by his very loud attempts of conversion while just walking around kirkwall, hes all like "fenris,you will feel safe in the makers hand!! take mine and follow me to the light for you shall be delivered!! consider visiting the chantry once and try praying you will feel a peaceful stillness descent upon you" or something and im just like my guy this is a Wendy's... Hawk is literally buying toxins and fire bombs from a shady guy in a room in a shady tavern but ok go off prince

BUT

His story is actually extremely intresting because if you actually listen to him you find out he was sent away literally exiled from his home, his family gave him away because he was a drunken playboy and they didnt want to put int the time love or care he needs of them... They specifically asked for him to be locked in the kirkwall chantry( put like fifteen lines under kirkwall that is important for later) of all places and get the infamous andrastian reform (typical)...

And then you think on how strong his devotion is to the chantry during DA2 and realize that for this 180 drastic change to happen he has been hardcore brainwashed.

then you notice his mother son relationship with Althiena, and realize she probably was the one to reform him taking advantage of his anger and the hole his family left in him when they sent him away by shaping herself to that hole, fitting perfectly as his "found family" to easily manipulate him.

i mentioned "kirkwall chantry of all places" earlier because you have to realize, that with the horrid enslavement going on there, it was all by the approval of the chantry and not just during the events of DA2, but from the start of what was old kirkwall, remember the entire thing was built on slavery and glorified it for so long that they had gold statues made proudly to represent that.

And that were never removed by any of the authorities claiming to be anti slavery and despite things changing in kirkwall overtime.

Note how the kirkwall chantry is old its not a new addition its old and it didn't tear down the slaves Statues in the name of andraste which you would expect from a religion that preaches "Our Andraste died to free slaves!!!"

no it was built next to it, around it even...Elthiena and her elders were raised here, were educated here, were appointed here, and lived in agreement with all of this, rising up to the ranks to continue the cycle while gaslighting people into thinking they are neutral and convincing people that they will pray for this to get solved........

Sending him to kirkwall was not by chance they deliberately choose kirkwall to fully erase him, break him, and replace him with a "good son" without any chance of escape because kirkwall's systematic oppression is so strong in place there is no chance of escaping it unless you do somthing drastic.

Now think back to Sebastian being locked in all of this and getting reformed by these same people and you understand why he is the way he is.

so strong in his devotion with unwavering morals that are like concrete pillars to who he is, who he has become. he never once has any of his beliefs shaken never once thinks about abandoning his vows for love his belief in them is so strong that he welcomes love and embraces it into his beliefs when others think they have to abandoned them to love. he loves hawk understands his desire to enjoy her lovingly but never wavers because of it. He will marry her first and then enjoy her thus satisfying and fullfiling his vows to andraste and himself nothing less nothing more.

BUT, and this is what makes him extremely intresting, as much as he loves Althiena and the kirkwall chantry he is NOT like them, Sebastian is a true believer of the core of andrastism rather than what it has morphed into in modern thedas. (Some people say he believes in Andrastism the same way Devine liliana does and i kinda agree)

Ironically if Sebastian was responsible of kirkwall and its chantry non of this would happen the mages would never have been enslaved the templars would never had to be turned into prison gaurds, they also wouldnt have become monsters as a result of Meridith becoming the first red templar. He would enforce real andrastism and abolish what it has become and ironically people would hate him for it.

putting aside my love for Anders, at that end cutscene he is literally the only correct one he faces down EVERYONE including Hawk and defends both mages and templars by bringing back the focus to the current cause.

He is so baffled by Meridith blaming all mages and by orsino getting lost in the bigger picture of hating templars that he yells at them to try and remind them "your own differences dont matter you both personally dont matter the people who died - who will die, are the ones who matter!!!"

When no one listens he is forced into the same conditions that Anders was forced into (again how ironic but also shows you thatcthere was no other way for this to end but i digress) of using the last resort of threatening violence and invasion (and later in DAI acting on it)

he saw what Anders saw, finally he saw that they both (Meridith and Orsino) are too far gone that they dont see anyone but thier own hate, and you bet your ass if Althiena had survived and was present and started her Spiel about "we must return to the maker and pray" that Anders experienced when he was pleading with her and the devine for 7! Years, Sebastian would also have realized that she is full of shit too. that no one in this chantry actually cares. his faith in HER as his own devine mother would break and he would include her in his threat the same way his faith in HAWK broke (if hawk spares anders) and includes Hawk in his promise of pay back.

Somthing something he spent so long trying to heal from pain and abuse only for him to realize how much he has been lied to and betrayed by the people he trusted, and the religion he gave himself into, that nothing he thought was real was actually real, causing him to fall further into the cycle of Abuse instead of escaping, knowing non of the healing he did as a chantry brother non of his suffring non of his (suddenly realized) abuse under it non of his relationships non of his lived experiences mattered.

Oh Sebastian the tragedy that you are

[sweetmage]

SweetMage's DA Writing Prompt List

Hi! I am making this little prompt list in anticipation of joining the Dragon Age Drunk Writing Circle. Below the cut you'll find all of my OCs/Ships (platonic, romantic, and familial), some TWs and disclaimers, and some sample writing prompts but feel free to come up with some of your own prompts or ask me for more info! :) WARNING: There are some 18+ prompts!

Things with ❤ are preferred this week! Characters:

❤ Edan Cousland | Inquisitor!Edan Cousland Garrett Hawke (purple mage) | Inquisitor!Garrett Hawke ❤ Anders (and Justice) Sebastian Vael Ser Roderick Gilmore (loosely based on the NPC companion mod but with my own characterization/HCs) Niall (from the Circle Mage Origin/Fade Quest. Will write him post-DA2 in an AU where he survived mostly!) Meeran (DA2 mercenary leader. Will probably write him in my dystopian/cyberpunk AU version of DA2)

Romantic Ships (SFW or NSFW is okay!):

❤Purple Mage M!Hawke/Anders ❤Edan Cousland/Ser Roderick Gilmore ❤ Celestine (non-Hawke OC)/Sebastian Purple Mage M!Hawke/Anders/Justice Niall/Orsino (Post-DA2, both alive OR during DA2 where Niall is sent on an assignment from the Kinloch hold)

Platonic/Familial Ships (SFW Only):

❤Anders & Edan Cousland ❤Purple Mage M!Hawke & Any of the DA2 cast ❤Anders & Varric (DA2 or DAI time period) ❤Garrett & Marian Hawke (twin!Hawke AU) ❤Garrett and/or Anders & their son Victor (AU where trans!Garrett/Anders had a biological son during DA2 act 2) Edan & Any of the DAO or DAA cast Inquisitor Edan & any of the DAI, DAO, or DAA cast Inquisitor Hawke & any of the DAI or DA2 cast Orsino & Anders

Sample Prompt Lists: Please do not request: Not used to freedom, preventative measures not taken, reopening an old wound. I have gotten many of these!

*Starred prompts may contain triggering angst content * Bad Things Happen Bingo Card [SFW Angst] ❤ * Old Whumptober Prompt List [SFW Angst] ❤ Domesticity/Intimacy [SFW/NSFW Ship] Old Sicktember Prompt List [SFW Hurt/Comfort] Old Platonic Flufftober Prompt List [SFW Fluff] Old Flufftober Prompt List [SFW Fluff or Angst] ❤ Multi Category Smut Prompts (Vanilla, kinky, goofy, etc.) [NSFW Smut] ---

TWs and Disclaimers:

- Fics about Edan may contain references or depictions of his lyrium addiction and resulting cognitive decline (memory issues, hallucinations, confusion, etc.) as that's a big part of his character. - Fics about Roderick may contain mention of PTSD and past torture (mental/emotional/SA) at the hands of Rendon Howe as that is a part of his story. - Fics about Anders might contain mention of self-harm, past abuse, and suicidal ideation

Like To Write:

- Trauma and/or Healing ❤ - Mental Illness Related Hurt/Comfort ❤ - Sappy Smut ❤ - Silly/Awkward Smut - Hurt/Comfort Smut ❤ - Sweet/Romantic Scenes - Domestic Life in Tough Situations (long distance like Edan/Ser Gilmore, Fugitives like Anders/Garrett, etc.) ❤ - Hurt/Comfort ❤

Prefer Not To Write/Won't Write:

- Anders Demonizing/Anti-Anders sentiments such as rivalmance, abuse from Hawke, death ending, him 'ruining' Justice, etc. (him facing opposition from characters like Fenris, Sebastian, various NPCs, etc. is 100% okay though!) - Non-Canon Major Character Death (near death, Hawke/Warden in the Fade, or non-companion canon deaths like Leandra or the Cousland family are okay though!) - Gratuitous Physical Torture - Second Person/Character x Reader - Modern AU/Coffee Shop AU/College AU or anything similar

[mywitchcultblr]

god i wish when i watch ascended video, it wouldn’t be a hate video. So many of them are made to spread hate. Most of them are obviously short video that has no context. When i rarely find actual pro ascended video, the comments are still full of haters unless video creators actively delete hate comments. Come on, there are tons of ascended hate videos, go there. They look so ridiculous bullying real people because they can’t differentiate between real people in real life and fictional characters in rpg game. Bullying real people is fine but you have to play one way in rpg game with various choices with various endings. Who cares about hard work put on that game? There is only one way to play it. If you don’t play that way, you deserve my stalking, cursing, hating, bullying, and accusing crimes. At this point, i’m surprised haters are not attacking larian and accusing the devs as either crime offenders or crime apologists for making homebrew ascended ending.

Because it's easier to bitch about people who look at Astarion differently or wanting a different type of romance for him than thinking about issues that actually matters. It makes people feels like they are doing something.

Of course people can care about fandom, I do. But I notice that ascendant haters are TOO dedicated on their hating. It's a waste of time.

I have quite a strong fandom opinion but I don't go to the content I don't like over and over again, I usually just saying my piece in my account

Also what is the point of starting a discourse over this? Anti Ascendant discourse is like starting a discourse over something like "The Ethics of simping Darth Vader" not even Star Wars' bro so deep in Reddit SW discourse bother to lecture fans like me who simp Anakin

Because it's a very subjective matter.

IT IS POINTLESS. It's make sense to have a discourse over the chantry existence in dragon age and the harm they do but WHY WOULD I GO AFTER CULLEN OR SEBASTIAN VAEL ROMANCER POST AND LECTURE THEM? Even tho I don't like romancing them.

What is the point? Whaaaaat...

Why would I pick a fight with Cullen enjoyers, go to their page and critiquing them??

I mean this discourse even spilled to NEXUS MODS. This lovely mods is created for both spawn and ascendant fans alike but two people are so salty that AA got content and said this

Please check this mod it is awesome

Then there's two people saying this out of nowhere

Who this this on a MODDING SITE? You might as well preaching in Loverslab about the ethics of the dragon born getting gangbanged. But this comment below has been deleted

I never seen anyone trying to start a discourse drama in NEXUS MODS other than a guy who insist on putting the Bible into elder scrolls

[voxvulgi]

hear me out……i have a Hot Take™️

i think the biggest fault of Sebastian Vael (as a person, not as a character) is that he Never Fucking Learns/Changes

sure, the fandom dunks on him for being religious and for the Chaste Marriage™️, but those things don’t really make him a bad person? sure, he gives me war flashbacks from all the religious bigots i’ve met irl, but he never actually shows bigotry to the extent that harms other people — like how the Templars and other anti-mage people do. if anything, his not-so-subtle attempts to convince you to Embrace The Maker™️ are just annoying. just that. and when the Chantry blows up, he doesn’t blame mages as a whole. he’s not an inherently harmful person bc of his religious standing.

the ACTUAL REASON he sucks? Grand Cleric Elthina was right about him. he changes his entire course on a whim. first, he’s obsessed with avenging his family, then he’s obsessed with remaining a Chantry brother, THEN he’s obsessed with revenge AGAIN at the end of act 3. he doesn’t LEARN from his personal quest. he doesn’t realise that revenge is empty — which wouldn’t be as annoying if he didn’t change his mind about it initially and want to give up Starkhaven and stay with the Chantry. if he stayed hellbent on revenge since the beginning and to the end, that would at least be some kind of character consistency. but the way his wants swing around like an amusement park ride just makes him come off like a fickle man-child.

when the Chantry blows up, what does he do? he doesn’t think about whether Grand Cleric Elthina would have wanted him to save innocent mages from being killed in the streets. the only thing he thinks about — AGAIN — is vengeance. he wants Anders dead. he WANTS ANDERS DEAD, and if Hawke doesn’t satisfy his need for vengeance THIS SECOND, he will go back to Starkhaven, wage war on those who took the throne after his family, assemble an army, then come back and wreak havoc on Kirkwall. he will let as many innocent people die as he has to — as long as he Gets His Revenge.

and that’s why Sebastian sucks as a person. he doesn’t learn from his mistakes. he doesn’t let his contemplation actually change him. he doesn’t look at the big picture. he doesn’t think outside of his tunnel-vision-esque rage and entitlement.

that being said, i don’t think Sebastian sucks as a character because…he’s a pretty good imitation of life. not all people change or learn from their mistakes. a lot of people will be nice and helpful and then do a 180 when it really counts — just like a lot of people aren’t great until they’re faced with something serious, in which case they’re making the majorly right choices.

that being said, i actually really like Sebastian and i romanced him lmfao sue me

[mywitchcultblr]

I mean I'm one of those people who are VERY pro mage and elves, I also wrote an essay about how Anders is right, I don't like Sebastian Vael, yet I never go to a post that is specifically made for the fans who like his romance with Hawke and say "Well actually Sebastian is a horrible person for Hawke and here is an essay about how you should stop romancing him. You ignorant fool."

If you go to ascended positive videos or reddit post there will be people who condescendingly lecturing you about how ascending is wrong and bad, how you don't care about abuse victim

For god’s sake, I saw a post that said if you like ascended astarion that means you like to be abused. You know when the discourse has reached a level that is worse than DA discourse, SOMETHING HAS GONE WRONG. The hate towards ascended Astarion romance reminded me of Genshin ship discourse. That is not a good thing by any stretch. But I'm not surprised since I have to dodge anders haters left and right and Solas haters all the time

Yet I swear to god dealing with rabid fans who are very anti ascended astarion is more exhausting lol

Astarion's romance just feels repulsive now.

I have been romancing Astarion since EA so when the game came out and I saw his full story and got to know his personality on a deeper level I was even more immersed in his romance. Until I got to the choice to decide on the ending. Both of them are written very well, and as a fellow writer I also see them as very realistic, possible endings for his character, but they felt extremely depressive and honestly I dislike them both a lot.

I disliked the Ascendant because of the red flags and the fact that the ritual does twist him in a way I don't like much.

But I also am completely heartbroken by Spawn ending because this is not a good ending from my POV. Not only do you force Astarion to live watching over his shoulder for any monster hunters, clerics that hunt the undead etc. but you doom him and yourself to the life of shadows. Furthermore, you have to deal with the fact that *your character will die* while Astarion is immortal. You will die, your souls can never unite in the afterlife and eventually, Astarion will meet and fall in love with someone else - this is a tragically beautiful story, but not one that I like at all.

So I chose to Ascend him because while I see all the red flags, I decided to cope with them because it felt like the ending that was more optimistic for your romance - you will be together forever and Astarion can live in the sun, free from hunger, even his heart is beating anew; All this felt more hopeful and better in terms for how I wanted MY story to go.

But the more I spend in this community, the more I see others harassing and shaming others for choosing to go along with the ritual, calling them stupid, "not listening to his character", "deciding to continue the cycle of abuse", "turning him into Cazador 2.0". It feels like the moment you say that you choose Ascendant ending you are bombarded with harassment where everyone sees to think that you went with this option only because you like dom Astation, while many, including myself, simply choose this option because it works for them better or because of good intentions.

At the end of the day, this is a FICTIONAL character and someone choosing this option does not impact your choice in any way. You don't HAVE to choose it, but the majority are just unhinged in their preaching that "this is bad, don't choose it" that they even feel the need to harass others for choosing this option. You are attacking real people because of a choice you don't even need to make.

And it's really sad that because of this I can't even enjoy Asation's romance anymore, and what was my favourite romance now just feels repulsive, as on one hand I feel ashamed for choosing what works better for me and my story, and on another I have to make a choice that I absolutely don't like.

Even one of the Larian writers came out and felt the need to mock people for this choice as if those that choose Ascendant are just fools that treat him as a sex object, while my and many other people's intention was completely different and it also left a really bad taste in my mouth.

Anyway, sorry for long rant, just wanted to let it out because I am tired of the toxicity in the community which honestly spoiled any fun I had with this romance. Just wish a lot of people remember that this is a *choice-based game* - you may dislike some choices, but no one forces you to choose them.

[lesetoilesfous]

Anders, trying really hard to keep his cool: hey Hawke whatcha got there

Hawke, holding a newly recruited Sebastian Vael: a religious fascist! :D

Anders, flailing to keep Justice under control: NO!

[ringneckedpheasant]

sebastian: *says literally anything*

anders:

[lesbiansybelle]

Sebastian Vael top 10 hypocrite moments <3

1. Lays siege to a city where Anders isn't even in. His 'associates' left in the city are who?? People Anders has healed or saved?? Remember how selfish Anders is when he literally runs a free clinic for the poor while the chantry does nothing ??

2. Threatened to destroy Kirkwall completely,, changes it to 'annexing' even though previously expressing dismay over the idea of the Divine doing something similar.

3. Just funny to me that Sebastian wanted my Hawke to be viscount despite him/her literally being a maleficarum 😌

[hawkephobe-justice]

There are many things in the Dragon Age series that I am willing to attribute to bad or messy writing. I recognize elements of the writing that seem to be aimed at pitting different minority groups against each other, including fictional minorities, real minorities, and fictional minorities coded to represent real minorities, all of which exist. There is one major writing decision, however, namely one character, who, in the face of all of this, absolutely makes my blood boil.

Sebastian Vael.

(Warnings for this post: genocide, Christian colonialism, mentions of the Holocaust, my Jewish opinions)

He’s a popular character. He has a nice voice and some people dislike him for the wrong reasons. There are sympathetic elements to his backstory. However, I rather dislike him, for reasons I haven’t seen many people talk about.

But before we get into all the reasons I dislike Sebastian, I feel that it is important to keep in mind how coding impacts a narrative, as well as authorial intent. When an author makes the decision to code a fictional thing as being parallel to a real-life thing, even if it’s badly done overall, there will still be elements of that coding that come through and people for whom it hits home. I want to make it clear that while neither elves nor mages are a perfect parallel to any minority group in real life, the way they are written hits home for an audience member like me in different ways, especially in DA:2.

With that said, I’d like to draw your attention to something alluded to during Anders’ Act 2 quest, Dissent.

“The Tranquil Solution.”

An obvious, if hamfisted, Holocaust parallel. Given the way it was narratively treated (Meredith rejected it, so it’s not that big of a deal, right? Right?), it was definitely an authorial misstep to make that comparison. However, that does not mean that the comparison was not made or should not be discussed. Every writing decision has its consequences that have to be thought out.

So what is the meaning, then, when Sebastian says to Anders, “So your ‘Tranquil Solution’ was hardly the holocaust you imagined”?

Given all the effort to make this real world comparison, I can tell you what it means: Sebastian is written and coded as a Holocaust denier. And contrary to other things that might be chalked up to bad writing, there is nothing about him as a character that this contradicts or weakens.

He doesn’t seem to care too much about the other major Chantry-influenced genocide, for instance. For all his talk about wanting the Chantry to be more welcoming to elves, he never once acknowledges that it was the Chantry that made an Exalted March on the Dales, killing many of them and forcing the rest into exile and slums. And while that could be shrugged off due to misinformation, he seems quite invested in knowing if everyone has heard the good word of our savior Andraste, more so than other human Andrastian characters and with maybe a particular fixation on the two elves in the party. Keep in mind that Andrastianism is fantasy Christianity and that elves are said to have been inspired by indigenous, Romani, and Jewish people.

He begins banters with Merrill and Fenris with “Have you heard the Chant of Light?” or “Are you an Andrastian?” While to many in the audience this could read as simple curiosity, to me (as a Jewish person who grew up in a majority Christian neighborhood) it sounds just a little too much like “Have you heard the good word?” or “Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior?” This is a very good post about similar leading questions. I would mention his comments on the Qun (such as the “heathen elves” comment) in Mark of the Assassin, but that would open a whole other can of messy coding worms.

It’s worth noting that Sebastian was written by Jennifer Hepler, the same person who wrote Anders, Bethany, and Cullen in DA:2 and who contributed to writing Cassandra in DA:I before leaving Bioware. It has been discussed at length how her take on Anders was written with the intent of making the audience hate him. The DLC, including Bethany’s Circle and Warden banter as well as Sebastian’s entire character, was written and released later. Am I saying that Sebastian was written to make people hate Anders? I’m not saying that it’s his character’s whole purpose, but authorial bias certainly plays a part in his narrative role, particularly in The Last Straw.

Many of his fans invoke death of the author with regards to the above, and I don’t slight them for that - I frequently invoke death of the author myself, particularly in my enjoyment of characters who were written with the intent of making the audience hate them, which includes characters like Anders and characters like Vivienne. The problem is, when the author is dead, what are we left with? A corrupt priest who genuinely believes that the clergy is doing the right thing and ignores their crimes, up to and including genocide.

Am I disappointed that Hepler, a white writer, is using a character of color as her mouthpiece for these takes? Yes. Do I criticize white characters with similar takes in the same way? Yes, I am heavily critical of Cullen and Aveline. Do I think better things could have been done with Sebastian’s character? Yes, an ideal character arc for Sebastian (at least in my opinion) would have explored and deconstructed his Chantry upbringing and the way Elthina in particular manipulates him. Maybe in more capable writing hands (Sheryl Chee, for example, who wrote Leliana in all three games) he could have had that kind of arc.

Unfortunately, we have what we have: a corrupt priest who genuinely believes that the clergy is doing the right thing and ignores their crimes, up to and including genocide.

I recognize that there are many reasons for liking a character and I’m not saying you can’t like a character like Sebastian. Just… maybe have some of this in mind.

[merrilldidnothingwrong]

7. Years.

Hey, folks, back again to discuss DA2′s poorly handled timeskips again. Specifically, I’m here to talk about how much the companions don’t change throughout the game, despite the fact that they should. Because 7 years is a long time. So I’ll talk about some growth I think the companions could have had with a supportive Hawke who also calls them out when they’ve messed up (we don’t talk about rivalry). This’ll be going under a read more, bc it’s going to be long. - Mod Alistair

Varric: We don’t really see too much of Varric as a person, including his flaws, in DA2, so I don’t really have much to say.

Bethany/Carver: These two stand out because they do change and grow, depending on the paths they take in life. Carver’s growth especially is incredible.

Merrill: I would’ve liked to see her more outwardly confidant, and to blossom into the leader she was meant to be, away from Marethari’s abuse. Other than that, no notes, Merrill’s great.

Isabela: Again, no notes. Isabela’s growth with a supportive Hawke is to stop running away and actually return the book, demonstrating how much actual friendships mean to her.

Sebastian: I think growth away from his unhealthy relationship with Elthina would have done him good. Sebastian already had some understanding that the religion he believed in and the religious and political institution he was part of were two very different things. I just wish that understanding could have gone further.

Fenris: Ah, Fenris. Judging change for him is interesting, because he already goes through a lot of growth. I think the only real growth I would want for him is for him to better understand the different political climate of southern Thedas as opposed to Tevinter. Because Fenris is very smart, and if given the chance to reach better understanding of how Tevinter’s problems have nothing to do with magic and everything to do with imperialism, I think he absolutely would have. Would that erase his trauma and discomfort with mages? No, absolutely not. But I honestly can’t see any universe where Fenris understands the above and willingly joins the Templars at the end of the game.

Anders: And here’s the big one. Out of all the companions, Anders is the one who needs the most personal growth. He has a great understanding of the horrors that mages go through, but at the end of the day, he’s human, with all of the human biases. I genuinely think that the foundation of Anders’ growth has to be unlearning his racism, and apologizing to Merrill and Fenris. Especially Fenris. Not just because of racism, but because Anders says some truly horrendous shit to Fenris. Fact of the matter is that Anders is the only mage in the party that Fenris is always locking horns with. He argues with Merrill, but the two of them still manage to get along fairly well. And Fenris is outright civil with Bethany. Anders is the only one who constantly antagonizes Fenris. So, yeah. Anders’ growth all revolves around apologizing for the truly horrible shit he says to Fenris (I’m not grabbing examples because I hate reading their banters), apologizing to Merrill, and unlearning the deep racism that he still has.

Aveline:... What do I even say about Aveline? It’s not like most of the other companions who have some flaws they need to work on, or one big bigotry that needs to be torn out like with Anders. Aveline is just awful to everyone on so many levels. Multiple times she tries to blackmail and threaten Anders, she slutshames Isabela horribly, and I don’t even want to start on how awfully she treats Merrill. Maybe someone else could think of a way, but I personally can’t see any way for Aveline to undergo growth without completely changing who she is.

It’s strange. The DA2 companions argue the most out of all the parties in the games, to a point where they logically shouldn’t after 7 years. In that time, unless in a truly abusive situation, they would have either gone their separate ways, or started getting along better. I do honestly think that the writers forgot that the game takes place over 7 years. So yeah. Merrill and Isabela are great, Varric is Varric, Bethany and Carver already have growth, Sebastian and Fenris have some things to work on, Anders needs to stop being racist and apologize, and Aveline... is Aveline. - Mod Alistair

[ajaegerpilot]

idk whom the fuck this is and they’ve blocked me (THANK GOD) but uhhhh isnt sebaceous hetero? like wasn’t that the entire point? that da2 was a game that had 100% bi love interests until bioware made a straight man dlc? :11111111111