#but all of this is why she's ultimately so protective of ryne

[elfyourmother]

I don’t think I’ve ever really talked about the rather unique perspective Gisele has WRT the whole situation with Ryne given her own childhood trauma of being taken from her mother and locked away For Her Own Good in the Circle Tower (she was 8 when the templars took her away from the Denerim alienage)

Gisele didn’t really understand what a prison Kinloch Hold actually was until she ended up in Eorzea, in a world where magic wasn’t feared and mages weren’t treated as pariahs and living weapons that had to be shackled. she’d convinced herself that all of the petty indignities of life in the Circle were worth it, because it was the best life she could have had as an elven mage in Ferelden. so at the time, as much as she resented it occasionally, she understood it was very much a gilded cage. I mean, she had a permanent roof over her head and didn’t starve anymore, as a start. she wasn’t sick all the time. she learned to read and received an education. Liliane even told herself that Gisele was better off with the shems in the tower, because they gave her a life she never could.

but deep down Gisele was still obsessed with fairy tales of maidens locked in towers who were rescued. she dreamed of becoming First Enchanter one day because that was the greatest height she could aspire to, but she also dreamed of one of the handsome chevaliers in her romances tearing down the tower piece by piece and carrying her away from it, sailing off from the island into the sunset. but in the end no knight in shining armor rescued her from Kinloch Hold. she only got out because Duncan needed her to fight the darkspawn, and the alternative after she’d gotten busting helping Jowan escape was actual prison (the Aeonar). she loved Duncan in large part because she tried to cram him into that mold. it was the idea of him, more than anything.

in short, she didn’t have a Thancred to save her the way Ryne did.

Gisele really isn’t a jealous-hearted person in the slightest--obviously, she could never have the kind of relationships she has if she were--but nonetheless there’s still an ugly part of her deep down that is downright envious of Ryne because of it, but she’d never ever admit it, even to herself. it’s the same part of her that flinches unconsciously with resentment and bitterness every time she listens to the Archons laughing and fondly reminiscing about their days in the Studium, and reminiscing about Sharlayan period (needless to say the Archon Bread thing was...not fun for her). because she doesn’t want to admit how hurt she is by her upbringing, and always tries to focus on the “gilded” half of the “gilded cage” phrase, what was valuable and good and happy about it. the rest--remembering how Vic was taken away from her, the way she was bullied for her Orlesian name and accent (with its odd Dalish inflection), the harassment, etc. is just too painful. she swallows it down and forces a smile and tries to be happy for them. it’s not like she would wish her upbringing on them, or anyone really. 

but Gisele takes great pains to hide her flaws--she doesn’t like people worrying about her, it makes her feel guilty--and truth be told she’s really quite bitter deep down about all this. it’s why she’s so damn ambitious, ultimately. somewhere inside of her there’s still an 8 year old little girl who is absolutely terrified of being figuratively shackled again and told that she’s flawed goods and a curse that needs to be tightly controlled and regimented

[warwaged-moved]

What’s muns head canon about Minfilia and Thancreds relationship? How does she feel about him and how he treats her?

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MUSES // those literally make my day better, pls send more

I actually think that’s complicated asiduhfaisudfh but I’ll do my best to explain my thoughts, and I really appreciate the ask because I love Minfilia and I love talking about her because she deserves all the love

anyways!

I think it’s hard to define it so I’ll begin with what I don’t see it as. I definitely don’t think Minfilia ever looked to Thancred as a parental figure, he’s never been like a father to her. I’ve seen many people online talk about it like that, but to me ( someone who started playing only recently, but who has looked into 1.0 stuff ) that was never the case in any way. It is for Ryne, not Minfilia.

A more sibling-like relationship would be what makes the most sense, I think, though I hesitate to really call it that. In her short story, Minfilia notes Thancred has never been around that much ( ‟Perpetually passing by, Thancred had drifted in and out of Minfilia's life for years.” ). He’s a constant in that he’s always coming and going, not in that he’s always there for her, even if in some form he is --- which is something Thancred himself expresses regret about in game, after Minfilia is gone. 

But they clearly are close, in a way, enough they get to open up about things they also don’t seem to talk about with others. In her short story, there’s a bit from her side of that ( “In a moment of weakness, Minfilia had confided in Thancred about her visions — fragments of the past she had started to glimpse a year before. No one else knew what she had seen. Or that I have heard Her voice.” ), while in ARR, right after Ifrit iirc, we see Thancred being hard on himself for his ‘failure’ precisely because he talks to Minfilia about it. And it sort of seems like there’s? An hesitance there ( she thinks about it as ‘a moment of weakness’, after all ), even if ultimately they are close enough to sometimes open up, and loss seems to be quite definitive in changing that, because the most openly emotional moments they share come after she’s taken by Hydaelyn.  

The tldr, less complicated version of this is: I think they were close, in that they care for each other a lot. I think that’s more likely to take a sibling-like form, given how Thancred wished to look after her, but I also think he was too absent for it to be outright that. And I also think after she’s taken by Hydaelyn, the distance aspect is lessened when they interact because not taking someone’s presence for granted definitely has a way of forcing you to acknowledge how much you care about them, which is why they’re more upfront in caring about each other.

But also, on Minfilia’s side of how she feels about him and how he treats her, I think it’s obvious she cares for Thancred a lot, and while she’s generally caring, Thancred is clearly closer to her heart than the average. And I think it would be? Confusing for her at first, when she was younger, the fact he seemed to care but then disappear and then returned, and was always coming and going, close but not too close. 

Eventually she got used to it, and eventually it likely grew to be ‘just how Thancred is’, which is not to say it’s good or bad and more just that she accepted it the way it was, also because she was aware that even if he wasn’t always there, he cared and he looked out for her. Minfilia appreciates that she had him to protect her, because ultimately she knows she could count on him. She’s capable of opening up to him enough to tell him something that was a secret, and she’s comfortable enough to provoke and make fun of him ( remember that one time she did the exposed about his past in limsa? skdnjkasdnfjkdnf ). She clearly loves him, and I think she was always aware that in his way, he cared too, even if he wasn’t always open about it. 

And in the end she appreciates him and the part he had in her life. It’s not for nothing she asks him to look after Ryne and to be there for her like he was for Minfilia herself ( imo he ends up doing even more for Ryne, which is even better from her point of view!! ). Minfilia wanted the best for Ryne, and she trusted Thancred to make it possible, to help her be able to stand on her own feet and choose her own path, because once he had been there for her, even if in a different form. She’s grateful for that, for him not leaving her alone when she could well have ended up without anyone, and she cares deeply for him.