#i love the grey wardens truly the most compelling faction

[thegoodceai]

many thoughts about how warden!rook and davrin's shared faction makes their dynamic and relationship so much more compelling (for me) than the other same-faction relationships in the game if only because the grey wardens are always. tragic, i guess. and just the commonality of 'we both willingly joined an order dedicated to stopping a threat that most of the world cares very little about, even when considering the fifth blight was so recent, and we knew from the start our lives will be forfeited sooner rather than later and yet we're both willing to fight and sacrifice for the greater good with no expectation for recognition or reward'

the game makes rook into a hero, so i doubt they got conscripted, joining the wardens feels like their decision, plays into rook's heroic main character trope. especially with some of the choices you can make (saying rook was completely right when saving that village when they ignored direct orders and not regretting it and reiterating that fact when you meet the first warden for the first time, talking the first warden down, even punching him but still having the order trust rook enough to know they have their back etc)

also rook telling davrin multiple times "i'm a warden too" sounds so much like "you're not alone in this, i know what you've been through, i've been through the same things myself, i know what others see when they look at us, i know what fate we brought onto ourselves when we drank from the joining cup, i made the same choices as you, like recognises like and we're both of us both monster and monster hunter." it also adds another layer to every interaction when davrin asks for rook's advice, or just picks their brain, cause rook knows. they know what it's like. we share the same family, the same purpose, the same cursed blood.

also something something the parallel between the warden and alistair in origins (young, inexperienced, one of them conscripted, fighting a seemingly hopeless fight against a country and a blight) and warden!rook and davrin in veilguard (older, capable wardens, here of their own volition, knew the early death sentence they signed up for, fighting a seemingly hopeless fight against literal gods and the blight to end all blights) and it feels like no matter how you play it their epilogues always feel like "we survived but at what cost"

anyway. many thoughts. love creating some "history is a circle and it will inevitably repeat" type narrative with my game characters