#bioware is wild for dropping one of the most immensely power imbalanced couples ever and then never digging any deeper into it

[abyssal-ilk]

adding onto this post here where i talked about a cadash inquisitor being uncomfortable with bastien's relationship with vivienne due to the exploitation of castless women by noblemen in orzammar, i also cannot help but think about how fiona must feel about vivienne and bastien. she is older than vivienne, and from an extremely young age she has known the absolute worst of orlesian society through the hands of a nobleman who physically and sexually abused her– something that took her time to fully rationalize as wrong. i wonder if she saw herself in vivienne when she and bastien first started courting, or if she thought vivienne is in the "unknowing" phase of what fiona went through herself.

it is not the exact same situation. obviously. fiona was a young elven girl who was a slave in everything but official name and vivienne was an adult, if only recently so, and is willing in her relationship with bastien. but i wonder what she thinks when she sees vivienne, maybe twenty, maybe not even that yet, catching the eye of bastien during the wintersend ball– a man old enough to be her father from one of if not THE most powerful family in orlais. the man sitting at the head of the council of heralds, the highest position in the orlesian court. is she angry? worried? both? does it matter, if she cannot do anything to interfere in any way without risking massive repercussions? idk. many thoughts.