#i don't go for AUs but my longterm affliction of dragon age brain does make me categorize characters based on who they'd be in thedas

[commsroom]

omg i want to know more about the connection between dragon age mages and hera

okay! so. commonly, mages in dragon age are sent to the circle of magi when they begin to show signs of magical ability, and so are raised without family ties / are generally isolated, for one reason or another. in the circle towers, apprentices are basically prisoners under constant armed surveillance, and each mage has their blood bound to a phylactery, which allows them to be tracked if they run away. their lives consist more or less entirely of training for the harrowing, which is sort of... an aptitude test. there are three outcomes: 1) prove you are 'in control of your abilities' and 'not a danger to others', and you don't really gain your freedom, but you probably get assigned a job somewhere else, 2) die, or 3) be made tranquil, a magical lobotomy. these people are also put to work.

there's more to it, obviously, but i think the parts of that premise hera would connect with based on her own life are pretty clear - isolation, lack of real-world experience, autonomy (and the fear of having it taken away), the feeling that everyone's a little bit afraid of her and considers her dangerous, etc. even mages being recruited as grey wardens has a kind of resonance since, like with goddard, their ranks are pretty sharply divided between people who signed up voluntarily because they believed in a cause, and people (apostates, criminals, etc.) who had no other choice.