#exodus hawke

[walk-the-fade]

My canon Hawke uses blood magic but bc i didn't use it till late in the game I always hc that it wasn't something Ex wanted to do. It was something he felt was necessary seeing how bad the situation in Kirkwall had gotten. And he hid it from his party. He hid it from Anders bc he knew his lover wouldn't approve and it was going against everything they stood for.

You face so many blood mages who lose control and turn into abominations but Hawke is confident that he is not like them. He can handle it. If Meredith wants to paint all the mages as monsters then he'll show what a real blood mage is capable of. The Templars pushed them this far. They dug their own grave, now they're gonna lie in it.

And it makes Anders """"betrayal"""" hit in a different way for me bc Ex would have supported him either way. Had Anders told him he was going to bomb the chantry Hawke would have willingly burned it to the ground with him. But he hid it, and Ex hid his blood magic bc they are both fucked up in the head and doing what they think is right for their people. They're not okay post Chantry Explosion. They're lives and relationship are in shambles but they stay together anyway.

[sns315]

And you thought his written manifestos were bad…

[veshialles]

ngl the total lack of giant spiders in DAtV is kind of hilarious in terms of worldbuilding, implying that it is exclusively a phenomenon of the southern nations.

Warden: Oh be careful when diving into old ruins by the way, if you see cobwebs you should run because roughly six or twelve giant spiders are about to jump down from the ceiling.

Hawke: gee, yeah I know what you mean, Kirkwall is basically infested with them. It was a real problem when I lived there.

Inquisitor: Wait, they can do that? Really? I only ever see them skittering along on the floor of old ruins and tunnels, I thought they were too heavy to hang in webs that high??

Rook: what, and I cannot stress this enough, THE FUCK are you all talking about?!

[jenn0wow]

My Hawke 💖

[sahari-1307]

posting this here 2 cus why not😋

[inkywarden]

The way I never got over this man.

[thedreadfulwolf]

finished da2 and now staring into the abyss because I was going to execute anders, but when it came down to it realized that cassius would absolutely be down with the extreme action (as someone who has taken extreme measures to protect his remaining family, which anders has now become) and would love the opportunity to get bethany back. so i spared him for the first time ever and I am not disappointed

the line "in ten years - a hundred years - someone like me will love someone like you and there will be no templars to keep them apart" made me sob.

[ziskandra]

listen, listen

I know this is gonna be a controversial take, but the more I think about it, the more obsessed I am with the idea of Varric voluntarily helping The Crimson Knight (especially in a worldstate where Hawke was left in the Fade).

I’ve talked before about how I view Meredith as the type of person who is motivated by her desire to protect her own at all costs, and how this leads her down the path of Well-Intentioned Extremism, and culminating in becoming the embodiment of the uh, Knight Templar trope.

And Varric is obviously motivated by his motivation to protect Hawke: he shielded them from the Inquisition, and when push came to shove and he was forced to expose Hawke to the Inquisition anyway, it can result in Hawke’s death. The Inquisition fails Hawke, who is basically Varric’s moral compass — without Hawke’s influence, he defaults to siding with the templars at the end of DA2.

Most of the Inquisitor’s inner circle scatters over Thedas and Varric returns to Kirkwall. Varric loves Kirkwall; he’s a Kirkwaller through and through: even though he’s never envisioned nor wanted a life of politics, he becomes the fucking viscount, because there’s nobody else left who wants one drop of the poisoned chalice of that role.

And Kirkwall is a city that has always been dependent on its templars for protection. They are the city’s military force, and the city is noticeably weaker once the templars abandon it — depending on world state, it can lose a significant portion of its territory to one of Varric’s former companions. If someone he knew and trusted can do that to Kirkwall, who else might take advantage of Kirkwall in its weakened state?

Varric is isolated and alone, away from anyone who might be able to help him see the situation in a different light: his main support network is Aveline and Seneschal Bran, neither of whom are known for their ardent support of mage rights. They’re doing their best to clear Kirkwall of the impacts of the war, of the red lyrium, and even though they’re doing their best to avoid exposure, being around that much red lyrium cannot be healthy. Slowly, the paranoia and increased penchant for violence settle in. It becomes impossible to resist spending more time around the substance — and sometimes, it talks! And it sounds like Meredith Stannard.

Varric is desperate and scared and has lost everyone he has ever loved. The Inquisition has been downsized or disbanded, and his only purpose is to serve his city: the same intention with which Meredith started, the same intention and fears that the red lyrium feeds upon in them both.

Varric fears becoming his parents: people who failed to protect him because they were too caught up in their past mistakes.

But sometimes, as people, in our attempts to avoid our fears, we end up barreling into them headfirst instead.

[silver-horse]

my purple mage Hawke always accidentally shifts to red Hawke at the end of act 2/start of act 3 because there are too many conversations with Meredith there and I only respond to her aggressively. but I guess it makes sense to get pissed off because of Meredith so it’s fine lol even purple Hawke can be a little angry for a short time

[cullenakingirog]

[TRANSLATION: Must be nice being blanketed. I’m not.  😭]

Yes I will make use of any cat owner photos for Anders and Gale of Waterdeep lmao

it’s a habit and besides it fits. Benedicta likes sleeping with both their partners but at least Fenris lets Kababayan sleep on their bed it just isn’t fair that Anders gets to keep Snowdrop with him 😭 😭 😭

Interested in commissioning me? Click the source!

[eye-of-yelough]

Headcanon time if Hawke agrees to become a pirate with Isabela and sails away with her after the last straw she calls her ship The Champion’s Exodus.

Bonus: if they’re romancing Anders, she calls it The Fugitive’s Exodus. :)

[supvoidchimera]

My First Seven Champions!!!

Lilith Hawke - ‎Created ???, Finished ??? (didn't know how to take screenshots at this time)

Falkon Hawke - ‎Created ???, Finished ??? (didn't know how to take screenshots at this time)

Cahira Hawke - ‎Created ???, Finished ‎‎September ‎28 ‎2019 (just figured out how to take screenshots)

Tomoe Hawke - ‎Created October ‎27 ‎2019, Finished ‎November ‎22 2019

Persephone Hawke - ‎Created November ‎28 ‎2019, Finished December ‎24 ‎2019

Bastet Hawke - ‎Created March ‎3 ‎2020, Finished ‎‎May ‎17 ‎2020

Vodka Hawke - ‎Created May ‎16 ‎2021, Finished ‎‎July ‎19, ‎2021

[veshialles]

Warden | Champion | Inquisitor | Rook

made my prime timeline DA Protags in Hero Forge now that there's proper face sliders in there, including the Rook I'm gonna make once I get my grubby lil talons on Veilguard

[jenn0wow]

My Hawke and Isabella :3

[inkywarden]

Sad puppy eyes 👀

[silver-horse]

Yeah. Certainly video game mechanics played a role, they want to make sure that companions can stay with the player regardless of what choices we make. But usually they still express their opinion and you need high approval or pass persuasion checks. That is what shows us their real personality, their real values and what they stand for. For example Zevran speaking up against killing the mages is his “true position” so to speak. We lose some approval but then we can give gifts and companions forget, the story moves on and they still love the warden. We understand that this is just the video game mechanics.

Varric however is a different matter. He is written in a way where all of this makes sense for his character as OP explained. However I would like to add that not only is Varric just as starry-eyed about an evil Hawke, he is actually more starry-eyed! Just like the other companions, Varric expresses an opinion. His position is simply less set in stone, he doesn’t need to be persuaded. But in the end Varric does speak up! and he mildly objects if we support the mages! Meanwhile he expresses his approval if we kill the mages.

He says this to an apostate Hawke who has maxed out friendship with him:

He says to his friend “I’m not sure, maybe you should commit genocide against your own people. Eh. But I’m with you bestie.��

Meanwhile he is very supportive of killing all the mages:

“Defending innocent people, preserving our way of life? This is worth doing.”

“Preserving our way of life” is a line straight up from every conservative politician’s mouth.

Basically Varric’s “true (or original) position” is pro-templar, anti mage revolution, anti mage freedom. His approval in Inquisition suggests that a mage supportive Hawke has shifted his view, still that is a less comfortable world state for Varric.

I think Varric is a very realistic portrayal of the type of guy who has friends who are minorities or friends who have been mistreated in some way in society. However he doesn’t understand their struggles.Those individuals might be his friends, but... well, he is callous to their experiences. And when it comes down to it, he may or may not throw his friends under the bus because their pesky rights are an inconvenience. He doesn’t understand why everyone can’t just get along. That’s what he wants. And he sees this conflict as equal squabbling on both sides. Because he grew up in a world where the status quo has been comfortable for him and therefore “preserving our way of life” is good. To the point where even horrible inhuman acts are not only justified but it’s the right thing to do. As long as that is the “normal thing”, the way it has always been done. Anything else is the strange unknown and causes conflict which he doesn’t want.

(“Defending innocents” (cough cough protecting the children) is a worthy cause because otherwise it’s “helping dangerous people run amok”. Notice that these innocents who need defending from the circle mages during The Last Straw do not exist... the templars are the ones attacking the mages and therefore the mages try to run for their lives, away from the circle. In Varric’s view the innocents who need defending are not the people who are under attack, but future imaginary potential victims who might be harmed if the mages are simply allowed to be free.)  Varric just wants everyone to know their place and play card games together. He doesn’t want anything to change. He goes along with a revolution only out of loyalty towards a good Hawke. That loyalty overrides everything, however he did have an opinion to begin with and that was actually anti-mage freedom. (Contrast that with Isabela who also goes along with whatever Hawke decides out of loyalty because Hawke didn’t hand her over to the arishok. But actually she expresses disgust when attacking the mages “crushing the rebels? how dare they wish for freedom” Her “true position” is pro-mage freedom.)

Honestly something that really affected my view of Varric (and again, I say this with great love for the character) was playing my Terrible Hawke, Emilia, who ends the game an absolute anti-mage fanatic who believes that magic is a curse and it was a blessing that the Maker called Bethany back to His side before she could fall to demons. She is a Hawke who is mainly diplomatic, well-spoken, respected, and absolutely unhinged in her views on magic. She is the Viscount of Kirkwall, and by the time she comes to the Inquisition she's also taken Chantry vows and become an actual templar (after having practiced the discipline off the books for years). She singlehanded kept Kirkwall under Chantry control after Meredith's death. She slaughtered every mage to a one, even the ones who surrendered.

She's Varric's best friend. And he's just as starry-eyed about her in Inquisition as he is about any other Hawke. I love what a deeply unsettling side of Varric that is to see.

She's the best. She's a hero. She saved his city.