#dragon age 2 spoilers

[flowertot-s]

i’m sorry i left, but it was for the best though it never felt right

can we pls talk about how horrifying leandra’s fate is

[dolores-slay]

What I love about the Anders Dragon Age fandom is that no one pretends like him being an asshole to people who don't deserve it and being a petty bitch didn't happen or is excused by his circumstances. We would die for his right to blow up an oppressive insitution but also LEAVE MERRILL ALONE GET A JOB!!! Things that can and do coexist.

[purplecritter]

Hey uhm. Remember when they said that companions that you don't romance in The Veilguard could end up in a relationship with someone else, NPCs as well?

Lucanis The Mage Killer who demolishes magisters / blood mages. Has no people skills. Raised specifically to be a lethal weapon for (one of) the most powerful families in Antiva. He's been altered by the whims of someone powerful (likely a Magister), which he leaned to use as part of his combat skills. He glows purple as a result. Bisexual disaster. + Fenris The Blue Wraith who hunts down Tevinter slavers and blood mages. Has trouble interacting with people sometimes. Trained to be a novelty weapon by one of the most influential families in Tevinter. He's been altered by the whims of the same Magister, which he uses as part of his combat skills. He glows blue as a result. Bisexual disaster.

[i-think-i-should-go]

There’s been a tragedy in the club Kirkwall community

[libartz]

Carver: Anders saved my life in the deep roads. If he hadn’t been there and known what to do, I would’ve died of the darkspawnitis I caught down there. Still hate the guy, he’s super annoying

Blackwall: *furiously taking notes*

Later…

Blackwall: Best be careful fighting these darkspawn. Don’t want anyone to catch darkspawnitis. You can die from it.

The others: ???

Blackwall: What? It’s an official Grey Warden term.

[lostiel]

catching up with fenris in the veilguard x

[jazzajazzjazz]

I always find discussion of All That Remains to be super interesting. I see so many people describe it as the saddest moment in DA2 or even the whole series but I couldn’t disagree more.

[elvish-root]

Varric: so got any plans after the deep roads?

Hawke: just looking after my mother

Varric: guess you gotta hold on to what you got after carver, huh?

Me, knowing what happens at the end of Act II:

[maintitle]

I’m a big fan of the dialogue option in Inquisition where you talk about Orsino with Varric.

Inquisitor:  “In the book, you say that First Enchanter Orsino turned himself into a giant monster made of corpses.  How?  Why?”

Varric:  “Do I look like an expert on magical weirdness to you?”

VARRIC SLIGHTLY DISAPROVES.

Now, this could be read in a few ways by Varric himself, but I don’t see it like that at all.  It’s always felt like the writers tilting their head toward the camera and staring directly into the lens.  At the time people were entirely confused by Orsino’s actions, forcing a confrontation with the guy you’re siding with for what can be amounted to as no reason.  

Now, granted, there is in fact an in-game letter that can be found during your chase after your Mother that infer’s Orsino is dabbling in more than he lets on.  

My dear friend, I have obtained the books you requested. I'll leave them at our usual hiding spot. Please collect them as soon as possible. I would hate to see them in the wrong hands! Your last letter was fascinating! You have proven me wrong, once again, by doing the impossible. I shouldn't have doubted your resolve, and I hope you will keep me apprised of further progress. Your friend and colleague, O

This is a Codex found just before the confrontation with Quinton in Act 2, one that’s overshadowed by the horror Hawke goes through in that quest.  I, personally, feel like it was an afterthought put into the game in order to explain why the seemingly straight arrow First Enchanter is suddenly using necromancy to make a person meat shield.

The biggest thing that makes me think this is the Inquisition writing team acknowledging this, however, is Mark Darrah’s wrap-up video on his memories and the lessons he learned leading the project.  

Mark Darrah:  “We’ve talked about the level reuse, which I think is probably one of the weakest things in Dragon Age 2.  The thing that actually makes me feel the most regret for Dragon Age 2 is the way that the endings go.  So, I guess spoilers... but you get to the end of Dragon Age 2, and you have to deal with the mages and the Templars, there’s the whole question of the mages and the Templars.  But regardless of the choice that you make there, you end up fighting both Orsino and Meredith and the mages end up going all crazy regardless.  You’ve made a different choice, you’ve come down on this decision in a very different way... and yet the game has you play through basically the same content, in a slightly different order, but it’s basically the same content.  I think that’s a mistake... I mean, I’m pretty sure that was my decision, but I think that’s a mistake because it undercut the mage/templar question quite a bit.”

Mark Darrah:  “Now the reason why it is that way in Dragon Age II is that the games under incredibly tight constraints.  Orsino isn’t worthy of being an end boss all on his own, so the decision is that you gotta fight Meredith no matter what.  Okay.  So... that’s actually, I think, defensible, you could say.  Meredith has been corrupted by red lyrium, you gotta fight her no matter what.  You can still make the choice.  I think the place where Dragon Age 2 crosses the line is that we also make you fight Orsino no matter what, and I think that’s the mistake.  And the reason we do that is, it’s content, we want players to consume as much of our content as we can, because it feels like waste if we have content that isn’t seen by a player.  And I think that is a mistake, and I think that’s a lesson that maybe video game studios are just waking up to now, that actually it’s NOT waste, content that isn’t consumed by the player ISN’T a problem, that actually you should WANT that.”

Now, that summarization to me covers a lot of DA2, and I’m glad he’s had that reflection, even as the man that pulled the trigger.  DA2 deserves a bit of grace considering they had to take an idea for an Origins DLC and make it a full game because EA demanded it, and I’ve certainly been far more forgiving of the game as time has passed.  But that’s STILL a decision that drives me bonkers.

Now, that leaves us back at where we began.  It’s a FASCINATING moment with the writers, when we get that disapproval at the question.  It almost feels defensive.  Had they learned the lesson Mark Darrah later learned at that point, or where they still a bit upset by how badly that fight was received by folks who sided with the mages?  I’m really not sure, but I love it just because it has such sass attached to it.  It’s a moment in Inquisition where Varric once again becomes the voice of the writers, telling the plot of their previous game in a really defensive manner.  It’s a unique little moment that stands out so much to me.

[sscaredssheep]

Hawke turning to look at Fenris after defending Anders the whole game and Hawke sees Ander's big surprise goes to flames.

I love Hawke

[bendyboisquashup]

my hawke be like

[rhysnolastname]

Out of context but the context doesn’t help actually

[mloreley]

By the way, I'm not sure that Anders and Justice are divided the way he seems to think they are. He keeps ascribing all of the negative emotions to Justice- afraid of what happens when he gets angry, wanting to distance himself from everything Justice compounded on joining with him. Saying "Justice does not approve of my obsession with you", as though the doubt comes from an outside source.

I wonder if it's less that Justice is the monster in him, and more that they both are horrified at what kind of power they unleash together, and the potency of their anger in the face of injustice. I think that Justice is just as present in 'calm' Anders as he is when they've lost their temper, just as Anders is present when he gets particularly glowy.

In reality, people have internal conflict. Sometimes, that conflict literally separates the mind into different mindsets; anyone who deals with mental illness can tell you how different they think and feel when one mode is active over another, and a lot of recovery is learning how to have a conversation between these parts of yourself.

I think Anders wants to make all the things he's horrified by about himself, part of some external influence. And Justice, flooded with new emotions and sensations he's never experienced before-- even with Kristoff it was probably dulled, what with him being dead-- possibly panicked at the intensity of it, wanting to separate it out from himself just as much as Anders.

Just speculation, of course.

[dolores-slay]

The way I will never understand executing Anders in DA2

[libartz]

Just met Alistair as king in DA2. 3 things

*1: I cannot get over the letter he sent to Hawke. It’s this long 🤏 and explains nothing. King you need to work on your written communication skills

Every other character who writes to Hawke: To the champion of kirkwall. Many salutations and thanks for all your hard work in defending the city. I am writing to you today to request your further aid in a matter of utmost delicacy…

Alistair: Hi I’m king, let’s meet up the street ✌🏽

*2: He’s defending mages from Meredith and that is the true meaning of King Shit

*3: I brought Anders and they had a little ‘eyyyy what’s shakin fellow warden’

🤜🏻🤛🏽 moment and it was glorious

[pisswizard420]

So something i missed on my first dragon age 2 playthrough is that meredith literally appointed the viscount of kirkwall, which given the abuses that take place in the gallows and the fact that in act 3 she is actively blocking the appointment of a new viscount seems to suggest that in part it is due to a) the tensions in the city and b) the abuses visited on the mages of the city becoming more and more prevalent she didn’t think she could find another viscount that would be willing enough to give her free reign of course her actions are pretty obviously influenced in the latter 2 acts by red lyrium, but in the first act her worsening crackdowns aren’t influenced by anything that’s all her