#not me about to swap every character in this game for solas just to have an acid trip of a playthrough

[hoboblaidd]

from Twitter

@keepslore you've changed lives today

[elvhenmage]

rambling thoughts abt dav after beating it in three and a half days (this will contain spoilers):

no kissing davrin whenever i want??? criminal. i miss being able to go up and chat with my companions in general

also idk if it’s just a davrin thing but the romance line wasss… i dunno. not as like, prevalent? as i wanted, i think. but i enjoyed it very much, i do adore him. i just would’ve liked a pet name or a second kiss scene at least

base combat gameplay is fun. i started to learn combos in my last ~four hours of gameplay but i think i like it too. but i don’t like how companions won’t use abilities unless i tell them to

goddamn i love the sprinting. this bitch hauls ass. the jumping and mantling is a little stiff sometimes but not enough to really bother me

the horror of the blight and of ghilan’nain in general!!! oh man. the blight is so disgusting and i love it. she is such a damn freak. they could’ve gone farther with it but i loved what we got

being able to pinpoint exactly when solas is thinking and then lying to rook is so delicious. when he said “if you help me defeat elgar’nan, i promise the veil will not collapse by my hand” or whatever i was like hmm. weird phrasing. and then to find out killing elgar’nan will bring down the veil?? i love it. what a fucking bastard

companions are good. found myself enamored by all of them in different ways. their individual quests felt like a LOT going on that i didn’t understand at first but i got used to it

this felt very high stakes even before my companions started actually dying in my doomed run. dai didn’t feel high stakes to me, but this did. maybe seeing the devastation from the blight made it feel more personal or something? idk

really big fan of being able to witness party banter by finding companions chatting around the lighthouse. and companions cheering you on in battle :) nice touches that make them feel interconnected ykwim

i stand by what i said years ago about wanting this to be a dual protagonist game. i think it could’ve benefited from more inquisitor but i also get how that could’ve been overwhelming and detrimental to rook’s story

oh my god also can we talk about southern thedas getting absolutely fucking destroyed?? that’s insane. when they said our choices in the south wouldn’t matter bc we’re in the north i didn’t think they meant the south would get wiped off the fucking map 😭 the inquisitor never catches a fucking break

getting to encourage nailah to take solas back was super cool and you know i jumped on that shit but the highlight of that scene for me personally was nailah then turning on elowen like “so tell me about DAVRIN” <3 it fit so well into the little backstory i had planned for elowen and nailah

i HATE the menu system. i put over forty hours into this run and by the end of it i was still hitting the button to close the map instead of swapping from local to world. i also don’t know why they put ability selection on the main character page instead of on the skill tree page, but i must’ve been playing for twelve hours before i found out how to swap that fucking thing 😭

speaking of the skill tree. i was right to be intimidated by that when it dropped bc what the fuck is going on in there. there are SO many options and it makes even less sense to only allow three at a time. i was leveling up like a motherfucker to the point that i wouldn’t even look at the skill tree until i had like five points to spend

i like what they did with inventory and gear. companions having set gear/weapons reminded me of da2 and it was much easier to manage vs having 7382 weapons to sell at the end of a section from looting every kill. that said, a LOT of armors for rook are ugly as fuck lmfao. it was kinda crazy going into the endgame with all my companions in their gorgeous legendary armor while i was in my simple dalish wraps

major endgame spoiler here but that’s on you if you’re still reading past the readmore: why the fuck did they make the one canonical and unavoidable companion death between harding and davrin. the amount of people that are going to kill him because harding has history in dai or because they just don’t like him is going to be obscene.

lavellan leaving the south to do whatever it’s gonna do to go with solas into the fade to seek further atonement is WIIILDDDD. i love you nailah. you are insane. who the fuck is going to take care of southern thedas <- this will never matter bc i fear bioware doesn’t care

why did it take so long to get all the companions??? was that just me or did anyone else feel like it took a thousand years to get the full party?

ok that’s enough outta me (for now). i’m gonna browse my mutuals’ blogs and then watch courtney play dav :)

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 7.

The banter with Dorian offering to draw diagrams for Blackwall is great. I love you to death, Blackwall, but mind your business. Unless you want those diagrams.

Is it just me, or are the shards in the Exalted Plains all tucked away in the most irritating possible places?

And being constantly pulled into combat by passing wolves is terribly annoying.

You know, I was trying to pull the party out of combat, but I will also accept Dorian taking out a bear by himself. Good job. Dorian.

Landing on Dragon Island and having Varric ask, “So what do we expect to find here?” is good comedy.

Sorry, Dorian, you can have your seaside picnic in a bit. Though do you really want to have an audience for that, much less Varric and Blackwall, of all people?

OK, level 16 party, Vinsomer, go!

Well, that took several tries, a lot of manual reviving, and swapping out Dorian’s staff and a couple of his spells because whoops, he was favoring electrical attacks and the Vinsomer is immune to electricity, but this game’s first fucking dragon has been slain! Sorry you couldn’t be here for it, Iron Bull. Another time.

Bianca. >:|

Avasis is really unhappy with his stepmom right now.

To Caer Oswin now, to bang out Cassandra’s quest.

Oh, Cassandra.

“We seekers are abominations, Cassandra.” No, that’s definitely not foreshadowing anything, whatever would give you that idea?

Ooh, the Temple of Dirthamen. I don’t think I visited last time, let’s see what we find.

Whoo, good demon-summoning fun. With dismembered body parts.

Is it time for Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts? I think it just might be.

Dorian is non-negotiable as the love interest, and Cassandra makes sense for the warrior—she’s the fanciest of the three, and we’re going to a fancy thing. Even if she hates every second. (There are arguments to be made for Iron Bull, too—you can’t have too many professional spies on your side at an Orlesian court function—but the party needs a proper tank, it already has a melee DPS in Avasis.) Vivienne is potentially useful because she’s familiar with the Orlesian court, and Solas is important for in-character Reasons. That’s too many mages. Who do I drop? Vivienne, I think. Cassandra/Dorian/Solas party go.

Wow. I knew Orlesians were super racist, but wow.

“What is Lady Pentaghast wearing?” A uniform that looks very nice on her, now shut your hole. It’s rather less flattering on Avasis, mind.

Yep, Josephine and her sister are still adorable. Hug option when?

Poor Cullen. The handling of him here still sits very poorly with me, especially in the absence of any option to even try to rescue him.

“It would be easier if people would stop talking to me. Other people. Not you.” Weh.

Solas. Solas, what is that hat you’re wearing? Pretty sure Josephine didn’t issue you that thing.

Aww, Dorian. Don’t worry, if your mother does materialize out of nowhere, she’ll have a very large and protective Vashoth to contend with.

Yay, I totally needed more Morriganing in my life! Yes! Definitely! This is not sarcasm!

“Is that the Inquisitor? He’s not very good-looking, is he? Poor man.” Your hole, random noblewoman, shut it. Avasis is gorgeous, thank you kindly. And the horns are dashing.

Nice villain monologue, Florianne. You do know what traditionally happens after the villain gives their monologue, right?

Commencing Operation Stab Florianne Real Good.

Nice, that was some good stabbing.

And it’s done, Briala and Gaspard are ruling. Enjoy the boost to your ambitions to become Divine, Leliana.

Oh god. Killing Florianne means having a cadaver synod with the remains, doesn’t it.

And I think Dorian’s approval is maxed, I didn’t get messages about the last couple of things he should’ve approved of. Avasis loves you too, Sparkler.

“For a time, I had a respite with the man I loved.” I’d dearly like to know who that is, because it sure as hell isn’t Daiwen and I doubt it was Loghain.

The Wicked Grace scene is very sweet. And a little sad to see Blackwall having fun with everyone when he’s going to do the thing very soon.

And more in the morning, it’s late.

[greensconnor]

i’m asking about your dragon age characters

molly i would KILL for u im ur personal hitman now

anyway i said my city now because the entire bioware writing team sucks shit xoxo and i’m so much smarter than all of them but also fully incapable of having a normal amount of ocs for anything (see: the time i made 20 rwby ocs in less than two weeks) so i have. five worldstates here r some assorted thoughts

uhhh so the worldstates r as follows

eira mahariel (two-handed berserk/champ spec), rhett hawke (two-handed berserk spec), alas lavellan (mage knight enchanter spec), romanced alistair/fenris/dorian respectively

shiv tabris (dual wield duelist/assassin spec), radella “rads” hawke (mage spirit healer spec), kat adaar (two-handed reaver spec), romanced morrigan/isabela/cassandra respectively because im a pc gamer and i think i should be able to date whatever video game woman i like because im infinitely better than cishet men

this world state said yeah i respect mens rights. mens rights to shut the fuck up

twins bronson (sword/shield reaver spec) & bryant cousland (archer ranger spec), carmine hawke (archer assassin spec), syracuse trevelyan (dual wield tempest spec), romanced zevran/anora/josephine/bull. if ur wondering how that works my city now and the warden, hawke and the inquisitor should all meet and so they do because i Said So

riva amell (mage arcane warrior/battlemage spec), graham “gray” hawke (mage force spec), hellathen “hela” lavellan (archer assassin spec); romanced cullen/anders and later blackwall because hawke only likes men who will break his heart. hela doesn’t have a romance because she’s literally 20. who let her lead the inquisition (me it was me). also it should be noted the version of cullen i have in my head only vaguely resembles actual cullen because i write better than dragon age writers ever could and i gave him an Actual Cohesive Narrative and he gets bullied relentlessly for being scrawnier than his mage boyfriend

malien “mal” surana (mage spirit healer/keeper spec), jules hawke (sword/shield reaver spec), ash adaar (mage rift spec), romanced leliana/merrill/krem because i should have been able to kiss krem and its a Crime that i am not allowed to

knight enchanter is a Very op specialization and by Very op i mean it makes a mage with their built-in low constitution stats able to solo the biggest baddest dragon in the game on nightmare mode in under five minutes so like. alas lavellan fist fights dragons for fun send tweet

i think lavellans should be able to hit ppl with bricks for all the shit they endure. thus solas gets pranked by mahariel and alas by which i mean they just tip buckets of water onto him from the rookery

kat might be my only competent inquisitor but she did also try to knock out the right hand of the divine and attempt to gap even tho there’s fucky magic burning up her hand so does she have a brain cell? you decide

also its fantasy land and i do what i want so kat has blue/gold sectoral heterochromia

gray “mage rights” hawke is best friends with fenris which surprises literally everyone. their friendship started because they got into a fist fight and then they were like okay i respect u now. hawke is like hey fenris give me ur sword i have a fun trick to show u [uses his sword as a foci to zap carver in the ass with lightning]

i am Always thinking abt like how cullen could have been one man anti-chantry propaganda machine if he hadn’t so blatantly been shoehorned into every game past origins so anyway bioware forgot about a wholeass moon i can write what i like. [holds up cullen by the scruff of his stupid armor] not only are you bisexual you are also a bottom

i also Hate the whole uwu mage haters get fixed by romancing a mage

unlocked secret dialogue option where my inquisitors verbally cuss out dorian’s dad instead of whatever sympathetic narrative the writers were going for cuz its bullshit.

riva is a showoff and a Menace about being as good as he is because he unabashedly loves being a mage and hes like oooh look at me im sexy i dont need to use my hands to cast magic because i’m just that good ;)) and you know what. hes right.

gray, on the other hand, does Not want to be mage. he wants to be a druffalo farmer and retire in the hinterlands and be left the fuck alone. unfortunately he is gay and has one brain cell and terrible, terrible taste in men. ribbed relentlessly for this by riva (altho does he have room to talk hes been hung up on cullen since he was like 13)

shiv is trans n kieran is the result of doing the dark ritual with her wife and he looks a Lot like shiv (dark skin pointed ears, shock-white hair) and morrigan always just Assumed she dyed it or did something magic with it so seeing their kid come out like that was a WEIRD time for her

leliana almost Murdered by cassandra in worldstate 5 because the warden is Actually There The Whole Time, but its been 10 years, mal’s cut off all her hair and gotten full facial tattoos and she’s like “no one will know its me its fine” and she’s right. she gets away with it. only cullen like, Knows, because he knew her before the blight but he doesnt have a death wish n he like. will Not piss her off

shes dalish by birth n she was stolen from her clan by templars and thus is vehemently anti-circle and anti-chantry in general

uhhh the vallaslin (elf face tattoos) of my 4 dalish characters are:

eira = ghilan’nain (chose em cuz shes rlly interested in the navigation aspect of the goddess)

alas = falon’din (god of the dead n he picked them because he’s Also the god of fortune and alas is like tee hee fun but also he can and will kill u if u fuck with him so yk its fitting)

hela = june (god of the craft bc she likes to Make things but june is also the god who taught the elves 2 hunt and hela is. a hunter.)

mal = elgar’nan (allfather/god of vengeance bc. she is Vengeful. she is Angry. but yk fucking with shem politics and fucking their divine is like. mal may have little a retribution. as a treat.) yes she has the full half-face solid colour tattoo she does NOT fuck around.

bronson and bryant r not genetically identical but they Look similar enough 2 anyone who doesn’t know them well enough 2 play spot the distance. anora and bronson think this is a super fun game to play, especially when nobles realize they’ve swapped out the king but they’re too nervous to say anything

eira mahariel has two hands. one is for holding hands with alistair and the other is for throttling elven gods, apparently. she’s killed one before so solas she’s coming for your bitch ass next. watch urself.

speaking of eira and alistair are married thru dalish tradition and humans don’t recognize it n alistair loves 2 re-propose to her with random things. he’ll just pick up like. a bit of cheese and be like “marry me ;)” and she’s like GASP but whatever will the chantry say!!!! all of their friends r sick of them

“vhenan if you love me bring me a sword” “you think i could do better than a sword made out of space rock?” “:)”

eira is my youngest hero at 18 at the start of her game and kat is my oldest at 32 at the start of her game.

none of my hawkes are under six foot. rhett is the tallest (6′8″) and rads is the shortest (6′2″).

syracuse trevelyan would have been the Perfect inquisitor if he were not a pretty boy himbo and a gay bastard who does Most Things just to spite his parents.

[corypheus pointing at syracuse’s visage in his crystal orb thingo] i want that twink obliterated

i love the companions from older games return thing i truly do so i make it a point for Every companion to return in inquisition so the gang rlly is all here because i am a Slutte for found family

i lie in my keep worldstates because i dont want to choose between hawke and alistair during here lies the abyss but i never make him king and every time i play inquisition and cole has the wicked grace line it makes me Scream. alistair baby im so sorry i did this to you but i didnt actually do this to you

yes this is my everyone lives au but like. all the time. i have never left hawke in the fade and i do not intend to.

fuck whatever nonsense about wardens not being able 2 have kids. by sheer divine power (me) anora and bryant have three daughters; eleanor, sabina & cecelia n both bronson and zevran make Excellent uncles because i think anora deserves good things because i’m tired of bioware being like women bad, actually,

so like most of the time i have the warden & hawke turning up after the move to skyhold n then staying on, with the exception of bryant, carmine & mal. mal is as mentioned previously just There the whole time with her girlfriend. bryant steps in as king of ferelden w/ interests in closing the big hole in the sky spewing demons in2 his kingdom yk. carmine shows up because she wants to help & she wants protection for bethany but she outright says she’d rather die than be inquisitor so cassandra is shit out of luck.

“CHANGE HER MIND VARRIC” “she once doubled down on insisting amaranth was a shade of blue because she didn’t want to admit to being wrong. no one’s changing her mind seeker”

alas is the middle child of eight and is thus very good with children and also bossing around people older than him. 2 of his older siblings come to the inquisition when stuff in wycome has been settled

i left ash with the basic canon background with Some variation (he grew up under the qun and left of his own free will when his magic was discovered n he realized he couldn’t take living as a saarebas

kat on the other hand was raised tal-vashoth and has bounced around basically all over thedas and leads her own merc company when the conclave blows up. she also speaks multiple languages. is there a language she doesn’t speak? probably not

just realized how long this got so im gonna like. stop my general rambling now but lmao yeah theres some basics. waves hands.

[lotsofthinkythoughts]

25 Dragon Age Questions

Tagged by: @lavellenchanted

Tagging: @fogsblue and anyone else who’s played the game and wants to do these

01) Favourite game of the series? This one’s tough, because I love all of them. Even Dragon Age 2, which is by far my least favorite, I love. Probably Inquisition, because of the characters and I prefer the combat to that of Origins. 

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?  My friend Em, played them and I was like... Hmmm, this sounds neat, so I got Origins for the PS3 which I had at the time and fell in love. 

03) How many times you’ve played the games? ... NO. I’m not gonna look in my saves folders to count. More than I should admit to XD. Enough to romance almost all the options at least once at least soooo yeah. And one of those options is actually a mod

04) Favourite race to play as?  In Origins, human, because I like the rawness of the conflict with Howe as a noble. In Inquisition, give me ELVES OR NOTHING.

05) Favourite class? I usually play Rogues Archers in Origins and then Mages in the other two. I love basically anything ranged. 

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time? I try to vary things up, but I do have a lot of repeat decisions. Like I rarely ever side with the Templars at Therinfal Redoubt. I’ve DONE IT, but I tend to go mages, and I tend to play Hawke v. pro mage as well, which leads to my Dragon Age 2 playthroughs all looking a lot alike. (I also have a severe case of ‘must do all the quests’ syndrome, which means once I know a branch leads to more quests I always must pick it or it gnaws at the back of my brain that I broke the quest chain)

07) Go-to adventuring group? Alistair, Wynne and Zevran in Origins, Fenris, Varric and Bethany (far as long as I have her) and then Isabela for Dragon Age 2, and Varric, Dorian, and Iron Bull for Inquisition.  I tend to choose my companions based on banter and just how much I like them even though I do try to have at least one of every class, so sometimes I’ll swap out Cassandra for Bull, or bring Cole instead of a warrior in Inquistion, and I party swap a lot in Origins though, because Oghren is funny, if terrible and I love Leliana and Shale and Morrigan is so fun to hear needling Alistair. Alistair is... always in my party though. He arrives and he stays. XD

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into? Hmmmm, I have a Diplomatic Lady!Hawke (she’s named in game because I... honestly just forgot to rename her at the time, and didn’t think I’d get so attached, but now she’s THE Marian so.. yeah) She wasn’t super well thought out at first, but by the time the end of the first chapter hit, I’d really fleshed her out in my head; her motivation for doing whatever it took to keep her sister safe (she’s my ONLY rogue Hawke too, so there’s that) after losing Carver, her need to have other people like her because of how her mother reacted to Carver’s death. So probably her, I’ve got a whole... emotional mythos in my head for her that goes with her and her entire relationship with Fenris.

09) Favourite romance? Cullen. He’s just such an adorable dork. (I also love Alistair for this reason) But also Dorian. God Dorian’s romance is SO GOOD. And even Solas’ is very good and emotional. And to represent DA2′s options, Fenris. Who I love dearly. He’s such a prickly angry guy and I just love seeing him open up over time. (Isabela is also compelling, I like the ‘this is casual WHOOPS I’ve caught feelings’ aspect both her romance and Zevran’s have) 

So... basically ALL OF THEM?

10) Have you read any of the comics/books? One of the comics, though I forget the title right now as it was a couple of years ago now. I’ve never gotten around to reading the books, but I keep meaning to.

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book?

12) Favourite DLCs? Hmmm, Well I like the companion DLCs, so Stone Prisoner and Exiled Prince. I don’t like that they ARE DLCs, but I enjoy the characters, yes even Sebastian, so probably those. Awakening and Trespasser are both also brilliant and I love them for giving me extra story. 

13) Things that annoy you? That you have to have your dog as a party member in Origins. That’s so dumb. I also hate that they decided to HIDE the relationship meters in Inquisition. I get why, but I liked knowing how much everyone liked me or disliked me. So -shrug-.

14) Orlais or Ferelden? Ferelden. What kind of question is this?

15) Templars or mages? Mages. I... am actually not going to explain this, I started to but decided this is not a debate and I don’t care what anyone thinks soooo. Yeah. 

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one? Both? Parallel in the playthrough, but there’s definitely a universe in my head where I’ve got like... seven wardens kicking around and Hawke twins and ... well actually there’s only one Inquisitor in that one too, and that Ellana Lavellen who Romances Cullen, because she’s my OFFICIAL Inquisitor but like the others are kicking around, as people, so like Adaar’s mercenary company ends up at Skyhold along with the Chargers and that sort of thing. It’s all very messy, but a lot of fun. 

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc) I admit after heard the dog was named Barkspawn in the Darkspawn Chronicles I stole that and used it forever more, because I’m terrible and it makes me giggle. I don’t usually name my summons, I’m very bad at the game and they die too fast lol.

18) Have you installed any mods? -shoves mods in a closet- -shifty eyes- No. -closet bursts open and buries me in mods- OKAY YOU CAUGHT ME.  

SO MANY. SO SO MANY.

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden? No, with the exception of my Dwarvish Noble Princess. She was stoked because the Wardens are cool and the Deep Roads suck. (And like for the others, it’s more... being a Warden is preferable to dying, but none of them want to have to leave their lives and families behind)

20) Hawke’s personality? I tend to play Hawke as a snarky diplomat depending on who she’s dealing with. With a side order of angry Hawke when people are particularly stupid. (Sooo throw it in a blender and mix well? Tends to come out as sarcastic in the imports)

21) Did you make matching armour for your companions in Inquisition? No, they all have their own color schemes. Cole is in blues, Dorian in reds, Solas in green, that sort of thing. And then I color coordinate with whoever I’m romancing. XD

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change? For Lisbet (my Human Noble) it’s the deaths of her family. She misses them a lot. For one very unlucky Lavellen, (who is so unlucky I’ve forgotten his name, because after this happened I noped right on out of that save) it’s the death of his whole clan. I looked up how to correctly do that quest chain quickly after that so none of my other Lavellen’s had to suffer such pain. 

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon? I mean... probably but I honestly at this moment can’t think of any. Except that my Warden Queen didn’t just disappear into thin air and totally comes back to Denerim at least once a year while she’s on her quest to cure the Calling, which she does, because Lisbet doesn’t know how to fail. (Also babies. She and Alistair have babies and canon can fight me about it.) Soooo those I guess. 

24) Who did you leave in the Fade? Depends on who is there, Sometimes Hawke, Sometimes Stroud, Loghain in the one playthrough I’ve ever done where he was made a Warden. 

25) Favourite mount? The Red Hart. So pretty.

[cosmiciaria]

Dragon Age Inquisition Review (Spoiler Free!)

I know, I KNOW, DOES ANYBODY STILL TALK ABOUT THIS GAME? *just you* I DON'T CARE!

Maybe now that it was (almost) confirmed that Dragon Age 4 is a thing, people will come back to the older games. I must admit, I jumped completely BLIND into this game: haven't played Origins or II, never knew anything about the story – just so you know, the only thing I knew prior to playing this game was Alistair and the infatuation everyone (men and women) feel for this man. I knew it was an rpg, that you create your own avatar and that you could romance some characters, but that was all. IN FACT my knowledge of this game was so little that I thought Alistair was a main character in this one! Just imagine!

Fortunately, Dragon Age Inquisition is pretty friendly to newcomers: it doesn't overwhelm you with information, it tells a self-contained story and it's conclusive (or… not so much. I'm looking at you, dlc expansions). Of course, that doesn't mean that I haven't scouted throughout the whole internet for all the deets, but that's on me.

So you play as the Inquisitor: a character you create. Male or female, they can be Human, Elf, Dwarf or Qunari. It's worth noting that, whereas it's good to have variety, Bioware failed to deliver good animations for each of the races, due to the fact that dwarves and the Qunari (too short or too tall respectively) are sometimes cropped out of the scenes or their animations just don't match their arms or legs. It's a bit sad, for it could've been a great opportunity, but in the end, it seems the game was created for you to play as a human.

I chose to be what later I realized was the worst thing in all Thedas: a female elven mage. It wasn't until a few hours later that I noticed how much hate mages received! And my elf, being a dalish, a tribe of elves that abandoned those who lived in cities and strived for reviving the old ways, living in forests and such, were despised even by the other elves as well. So I was Inquisitor Lavellan, the worst scum on Earth. Great! Personally I adore mages and they are always my first choice when it comes to character creation. You might guess some of my later decisions in the game based on this.

You're thrown into the game with a weird mark on your left hand. First thing you know, you're a prisoner, and Cassandra and Leliana (two returning characters) are interrogating you in the dungeons, demanding answers. Of course you don't understand a thing they're talking about, until they show what YOU, YOU ABHORRENT CREATURE have created: a huge green breach pierces the sky, opening the way to the Fade, the land of spirits and demons. And you, you ABHORRENT CREATURE must close it, because it was you the one who opened it! You and your mark! You're led by Cassandra, a female warrior and Seeker of Truth, to the heart of the breach. In your way you'll meet two future companions, Varric (from DAII) and Solas, another elven mage. Now the squad is formed, you venture into this veil, only to find a vision of the past: Divine Justinia, the woman Cassandra served and the leader of the Chantry, asking you to run away before something explodes. The suspicion on you just grows stronger, but also the respect and the mystery around the mark of your hand. You fail to close the breach, and you're left unconscious for a couple of days.

You wake up in a cozy and warm place: Haven. This will be your hub-world for at least twenty hours. I MUST tell you this, for I felt the game only started when these first twenty hours finished: you're given quests and the story progresses fast enough to make you feel safe and secure in your way. The Inquisition es formed to fight this breach in the sky, and you must recruit as many companions as you can. Only after completing the initial quests and reuniting all the playable characters can I safely say the game starts.

Haven is attacked by Coripheus, a bad bad bad guy (you can notice he's evil because of his appearance, so evil and cruel, evil, evil man) and his archdemon, a huge black dragon. They tore down the whole place. You, as the main hero/heroine, must save everyone from total doom. You of course succeed in this (after a really annoying battle with fiends spawning every two seconds without allowing you to fricking spin a wheel), but Haven is forever destroyed in the process.

Thanks to Solas, the squad finds a new headquarters to live in: Skyhold, which is SO BEAUTIFUL AND REMINDS ME SO MUCH OF HOGWARTS- pretty useful for the Inquisition's purposes. You're officially named the Inquisitor, which for my character was a big deal, because she was not only a fricking hated mage, but also a fricking hated dalish elf. I made her always stood up for her race and her abilities, which served a greater purpose I believe the game hid very well: to break with prejudices. This is easy to miss if you play as a rogue human or warrior human, but when you play with other races, especially elves or Qunari, you can see how things change.

It's just a detail, but this hate for elves is such that when you do the Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts main quest and you need to gain points from the Orlaisian court, an elf starts off with ten less points of approval than a human. It's stupid, it's tiny, but it goes to show that prejudices are a huge thing in this game. Don't even get me started with mages, goddammit!

I know this all goes back to the previous games, and that's why I've read/watched what happens in those. Still, it's good that Bioware lets you redeem past characters with yours in Inquisition.

So now that you're at Skyhold, many new main quests unlock, many new main areas unlock as well and the game actually starts! I won't say the first part was just a prologue, for it's not, but it feels like the action picked up the pace once you get to your new home. As I said, being in Haven makes you feel comfortable and warm. The game creates a false feeling of safety before dealing a devastating blow, and that hit me hard.

From now on, you can do side quests, explore areas, close some rifts, talk to your companions and follow the main storyline as you please. It's all up to you! I won't spoil what happens, but I will talk about other stuff, like its characters.

Let's start off with your main Inquisitor. Their personality can vary between three main reactions to everything: either you're generous and solomonic, sarcastic and ironic, or direct and blunt, mostly unfriendly. I always went for the first option, but sometimes I needed to be a fricking bitch to get things done. One of the most important instances in which you can see right through your main character is the Sit in Judgment quests: after some main quests, you're given the option to judge certain characters that took part in it. The choices aren't the same for each case and mostly depends on your decisions or actions throughout the game, but again there are three main options: to give them a fair punishment (like community work), lock them up in the dungeons or execution. It kind of reminded me of Game of Thrones, when Ned tells Bran that the man dictating the punishment should wield the sword, well, it goes along those lines.

You can also begin a romantic relationship with the romanceable characters available to your race and gender. Specifically, a female elven Inquisitor can romance Cullen, Solas, Josephine, Iron Bull, Sera and Blackwall. A female human Inquisitor can romance all of the above, except for Solas. A female Inquisitor of the other races can romance Josephine, Iron Bull, Sera and Blackwall. And a male Inquisitor, doesn't matter the race, can romance Cassandra, Dorian, Iron Bull and Josephine again. So, once again, without even knowing it, I chose to be the most desirable Inquisitor in all Thedas! I believe the romantic relationship adds too much depth to both the romanceable character and your Inquisitor: you'll see them interacting in ways that are not available in other instances, and also develops their characters well beyond what the game wants to show you at first glance. Personally, I chose Cullen (I swear I didn't know ANYTHING about him from past games – I later investigated, and it fits so well that he falls in love with a mage!), but I'd advise you to try the other relationships as well. Cof, especially, cof, cof, Solas, cof, cof, damn you dlc expansions.

Let's talk for a bit about your companions. These will be your playable characters for the rest of the game. Prior to the attack to Haven, you can recruit Blackwall, a grey warden, with a past that hides more than meets the eye; Vivienne, an enchantress so beautiful that it made me question my sexuality a few times; Dorian, the most handsome mage in all Thedas that unfortunately only has eyes for men and not for this poor female Inquisitor who's been friendzoned by him; Sera, a rogue elf who doesn't like much magic or the elves or anything related to the Fade, but has the most interesting and funniest personality out of the team; Iron Bull, a mercenary Qunari who works with his team of rogues and is perfectly open to whatever sexual practice you're willing to try; and Cole, a spirit of a boy taken straight out of an anime and that sometimes made me want to cry myself to sleep with his storyline. These guys, alongside Varric, Solas and Cassandra, will accompany you to your missions. For each place you go, you have to choose three of them to form your team, but at each camp you can swap your characters just like that. Three warriors, three mages and three rogues, each of them specializing in one of the branches available for the class the Inquisitor belongs to. I recommend you to bring them all to your missions, maybe just walking around with them, for they interact with each other and their reactions are so natural and casual that makes me wonder how many lines were recorded for this game! And it adds so much to them and to their personalities!

At Skyhold, you'll have your counselors waiting for you at the war table: Cullen, your hot-as-hell-and-I-want-you-to-marry-me-you-sexy-pixel commander; Leliana, the master of spies and mother of all secrets and crows; and Josephine, your well educated ambassador, whose accent made me rethink in how many ways can the letter R be pronounced and that I've been saying it wrong my whole life.

All of these characters are unique and memorable. Companions and counselors will give you quests related to their backstories, in which you can learn from them and, if you're romancing them, advance further in your relationship. I strongly recommend you play all of their quests, for it develops the main story, and it makes you understand them. These are all morally grey characters, none of them are black or white, and sometimes some of your decisions in their quests can alter the ending of the game. So backle up, because there are these Social Links to complete and- sorry, wrong game.

For the most part, Dragon Age Inquisition remains with a serious and ominous tone. That's why there are certain scenes that melted my heart and robbed me of a few laughs and giggles, like the night they all play cards and Cullen ends up naked because he lost, or the man you have to judge that's angry at you and throws goats at Skyhold's walls – Maker's Breath, that one was a gem! And let us not forget about Cass and her filfthy readings! For these moments, I'm terribly grateful, for they remind me that sometimes it's good to relax and give these poor, tortured characters a break.

The voice acting in this game is just flawless. I can only speak for Cullen's romance, but his voice actor nailed it perfectly. There were scenes with him that destroyed my heart, and only because of how he spoke, so soft and sweet. AND LET ME JUST TELL YOU, THIS CUTSCENE:

IF YOU LISTEN CAREFULLY YOU CAN HEAR MY HEART BREAKING IN THE DISTANCE

The music score in this game was better than I expected. The main theme fits so well the tone of the story, and I was left impressed by the songs you can hear in the taverns! They're there, in the background, but if you stop to listen, you find magic and charm in their lyrics. Unexpected to say the least!

Visuals are also a delight. Except for character models, sceneries are colorful and vivid. A pity some animations are rigid and repetitive. 

However much I loved this game (and Cullen Wullen Cully Wully), I must say it's far from perfect. Most of my issues stem from technical problems and bugs: more than once my character was trapped in the falling animation without being able to make her walk, sometimes a character would disappear from a cutscene and suddenly the other characters would speak INTO THE VOID, some trophies are bugged and wouldn't pop up, etcetera, etcetera. There’s little room for appearance customization, with only short hairs for both male and female (Gods how I wish mods were a thing in consoles). I'm also quite angry that the actual ending that most probably will lead to Dragon Age 4 is in the expansion pack Trespasser, which is only 5 hours long and it currently costs (in Argentina PSN) over 17 dollars. If you've been following our poor and sad history with exchange rates, you'll know that's a lot of money for just a few hours of story I can easily find in YouTube (although I want to play it so bad!). I've bought complete games cheaper than that. Hell, this whole game costed me only 6 dollars!

That aside, and if you're able to oversee the bugs, I assure you, this is a great game. Gameplay is fast paced, the specialization for each character is deep and it marks a difference with the others, and the way you develop a friendship with each of your companions melted my heart. During the epilogue, you get to speak to each of them and the things they say to you can be synthetized in "dhajkdjakldjakldklas!!!".

I entered this world without a single piece of knowledge of it, and now, Dragon Age has gained a new follower. I'm thinking about playing the first two (of course, a fricking female mage again, because GO MAGES, GO!), only to cry in a corner waiting for the fourth installment to ever see the light of day.

If you liked The Witcher, or World of Warcraft, or are a fan of the past games, you can’t miss this one. Go, become the Inquisitor, kill some dragons, save the world, have some fun with your partner, love and care for Cullen Wullen Cully Wully, thank you.

[magicrobins]

You seem to be a forerunner here on the whole Jaal issue so I hope you don't mind if I dump a whole bunch of asks on you (sorry in advance :c) While I'm very happy for him to be bi, it doesn't seem as simple to solve as 'swap dialogue pronouns and sara with scott'. It just feels like his romance so obviously caters to straight women and I want guys who romance Jaal to have a more fulfilling experience. (...)

Long answer - most under the cut!

Well thank you for asking! I’ve been with the #MakeJaalBi tag since it began so I’ve been trying to keep everyone up to date on it as much as I can. I actually was using the tag before we started to use it to get the devs and company’s attention, but it was this person’s idea for all of us to join together using the tag.

I hope I can answer your questions to the best of my ability and if anything still needs to be clarified please let me know. I’ve been really busy and tired lately so if I don’t make sense at some point, please let me know and I’ll try to word that part better or clarify what I meant. c: Also hope you don’t mind, I’m answering parts of your question as I read it. I’m reading your question as I type, hope that’s okay. Also, if any of the links in this don’t work, please let me know as that means I need to edit the links. ^^

Firstly, there is actual dialogue from Scott’s VA that was recorded for the romance, and we can assume he recorded enough for the whole romance ‘cause he seemed to assume that Jaal would be a bi romance. However, I don’t know if Jaal’s VA recorded anything that is specifically for a Scott Ryder romance because I haven’t seen any lines found or released. Now if some lines have been found, anyone who knows about them, please add the links to them to this post as I’d love to have that info.

I admittedly have not watched all of Jaal’s romance, I’ve just seen gifsets from it because it’s a bit painful for me to watch his romance right now because of everything that’s happened. However I wouldn’t be surprised if his romance is catered toward straight women - I believe we can argue that Peebee’s romance, or at least the sex scene, could be catered toward men because of how the Sara side of the romance is like a copycat of Scott’s side.

I don’t think swapping Sara for Scott in the mlm side of Jaal’s bi romance would solve the problem because the problem, itself, is the overall constant bi-erasure on Bioware’s part - I’ve known that Cullen was supposed to be a bi romance and I’ve heard the same about Solas and Sebastian though someone else would have to confirm those two as I’m not 100% sure, but that’s the Dragon Age team. What I’ve been told about the Mass Effect team is that Kaidan is believed to have almost been a bi romance in the first game (in the game’s code, itself, there are romance dialogue lines by male Shepard’s VA), and I’ve been informed that both Tali and Thane were going to be bi romances at one point. The problem is that whenever bi romances are cut, the romances are always made into straight romances rather than gay romances, giving off the feeling that Bioware caters toward its straight fans, whether or not this is true, this is how it comes off.

Now, I myself am bi (biromantic is part of my identity), however it’s necessary to remember that not all bi people are the same. ^^ You also have to remember that the romance lines we’re hearing for Jaal right now, we can easily say they’re meant for Sara. We have no clue if there’s a difference in the dialogue lines for Scott because so far, if these lines exist, they are unavailable for us. I would have to watch and compare other bi romances such as Peebee and Vetra’s, comparing what they say to Scott vs. Sara to see if there’s much of a difference. Sometimes in bi romances there are, and other times they’re not.

Most of the time when wanting a bi romance, I’ve seen that people don’t want the “gay” (using quotation marks because just because people of the same sex are dating doesn’t automatically make the relationship gay because the people in the relationship may not identify as gay, if that makes sense? Sorry if I didn’t explain that the best) half of the romance to be much, if any, different from the “straight” half. It’s often a complaint, looking at the Dragon Age team, that in Dragon Age 2, when romancing Anders, Anders tells a male Hawke about his romantic history with Karl, a man, but he doesn’t mention it to a female Hawke at all. I’ve seen that many fans of Anders’ romance wish he would tell a female Hawke that as well.

Most of the time, when I’ve seen differences between male protags and female protags romancing a bi character, it’s been in small, little bits such as compliments or ways the character refers to the protagonist. Let’s look at the Dragon Age team again for this (I’ve played more Dragon Age romances than I have Mass Effect so I apologize if majority of my examples are for Dragon Age). With Zevran’s romance, when Morrigan asks him in a party banter his reasoning for staying with them, Zevran says “ We all have our reasons for doing what we do.” however the following line depends on the sex of his protagonist (I’m using “sex” instead of “gender” because a lot of fans headcanon their protagonists with nonbinary gender identities, as I do). When romancing a female Warden, Zevran says “Mine happen to come with a set of lovely eyes.” while when romancing a male Warden, he says “Mine happen to come with a set of strong hands.” Often times, from what I’ve seen, any dialogue changes are something simple like that.

I think, when romancing Jaal, it’d be up to LGBTQ+ men (I’m using “LGBTQ+” instead of generalizing to “queer” because I know there are people in the community who do not like that word and I don’t want to offend anyone

A lot of them in fact aren’t happy with how Gil’s romance feels so much centered around gay men not being able to have babies (which ignores the existence of trans gay men) and they don’t like how often Gil talks about Jill and how she comes off as pressuring him to have a child. Now Gil’s romance didn’t come off that way to me when I first watched it, but again, I’m not a LGBTQ+ man, I don’t get to decide what’s good representation for them or not.

At this point though, let me point out that not all LGBTQ+ men have to agree on whether or not something is good representation for them. If you’re a LGBTQ+ man and you’re happy with Gil and/or Reyes and their romances, your feelings and opinions are still 100% valid just like those who are not happy.

Most of the frustration at Reyes’ romance, from what I’ve gathered, comes down to the fact that he is considered a fling (and Gil is not a squadmate and thus has less romance cutscenes than squadmate romances and less material and both Gil and Reyes’ cutscenes fade to black and you never get a sex scene like Cora or Peebee, though Liam and Vetra don’t have a sex scene from what I’ve heard either). However since the differences in how Reyes dances with Sara vs. Scott have been pointed out, many are upset about that as well. Reyes’ romance very much feels catered toward straight women.

I would honestly love for Jaal’s writer to come out and say if she/he/they (idk who wrote Jaal) wrote him as bi or not, but due to contracts, I doubt that will happen. There is coding in the game that very much suggests Jaal was meant to be bi and considering Bioware’s history with bi-erasure, it’s easy to believe that.

Now when it comes to Jaal flirting with other women on the crew, bisexuals can have preferences. Looking at Dragon Age, Zevran states his preference for women, but he still loves and adores a male Warden as much as he does a female Warden. A male Warden flirting with him doesn’t stop him playfully flirting with women in the party (see comments he has toward Wynne, which are jokingly of course. He seems to enjoy getting on Wynne’s nerves. I love Zevran so much lol). Jaal can very well have a preference for women (he has dated women in the past, I’ve heard) and still be 100% bi. Having a preference and/or having a history with only one sex doesn’t make someone any less bi (don’t worry, I don’t think you were implying it made someone less bi

It’s very possible that Jaal could act differently to a male Ryder. Every bi person is different. Some act differently when with someone of the same sex or opposite sex, some don’t. If anyone knows if Peebee or Vetra act different depending on Ryder’s sex, please let me know because I haven’t watched their romances yet. I definitely do think LGBTQ+ men would enjoy the romantic and sappy parts of the romance because it’d be different from mlm relationships being sexualized and fetishized. From what I’ve been seeing in the #MakeJaalBi, majority of people in the tag want Scott to be able to have that romantic, sappy romance.

Typically with bi romances, scenes are the same regardless of the protagonist’s sex, though there are small dialogue differences sometimes, like I talked about above. However the changes to cutscenes usually just include taking into consideration the differences between male and female bodies in the game - such as height differences and body shapes. For the most part, I’ve seen that the cutscenes themselves stay the same. Let’s look at Josephine’s romance in Dragon Age Inquisition. *SPOILERS FOR JOSEPHINE’S ROMANCE:* in the scene where you’re about to duel for Josephine, when she jumps into the Inquisitor’s arm, the Inquisitor lifts her up regardless of sex. I’ve seen this cutscene for both male and female Inquisitors and see no real differences.

However I’d like to point out, I’m not an expert on making games, this is all just my assumptions and what I’ve observed. I don’t know anything about making actual games and cutscenes.

People are allowed to ship who they want (I’m not saying you’re saying they’re not allowed to, don’t worry

When it comes to the code, if Jaal wasn’t originally bi, I don’t see why that code should be there - if the code is real. Let me point out that no one from Bioware or the Mass Effect team have authenticated the code. If the code is real, I don’t understand why it would be in the game if they never planned on Jaal being bi at all. That would just confuse me and if that’s the case and the code is real, I’d like to ask the devs why that code is in the game when they never planned on making Jaal bi. However if the code is real, chances are at one point they did plan on making Jaal bi.

I WOULD HAVE LOVED A GAY MALE TURIAN. Like holy shit yes please.

However the main issue with this whole Jaal thing is that we went from Mass Effect 3 who had Kaidan, a squadmate, as a romance available to male Shepards to no male squadmates available for a male Ryder. And from what I’ve heard - and I could be wrong - Jaal plays a big part in the game’s plot? Or one of the big plots? Overall though it feels like to the fans that Andromeda has taken a step back when it comes to mlm representation because they went from having a squadmate (Kaidan) and a crewmate (Steve) in Mass Effect 3 to a crewmate (Gil) and a fling (Reyes). I believe I pointed out earlier that non-squadmate romances get way less content than squadmate romances, but let me get some examples, okay? c:

Gil’s whole romance (uploaded by DanaDuchy) is 19:13 in length, Reyes’ whole romance (also uploaded by DanaDuchy) is 17:58, and let’s compare them to Cora’s. Cora’s whole romance (uploaded by Gamer’s Little Playground) is 27:17 (Peebeee’s romance is even longer). Now the time difference may not seem like much, but majority of squadmate romances are as long as Cora’s, if not longer. If they’re less than Cora’s, it’s usually not by much. (Again, if I’m wrong, please correct me. This is what I’ve been hearing for a long time now, though, that non-squadmate romances always have less content than squadmate romance).

I agree that this is a big mess. I think if Jaal was originally going to be bi and then cut and made straight, Bioware should have seen this whole thing coming because this isn’t their first time erasing the mlm half of a bi male romance. The queerbaiting they did also adds to the fans being upset - In my opinion this post here really helps explain it. That post also really helps to show that it looks like Scott’s VA really did think we’d have a male squadmate romanceable by a male Ryder. That post also goes into talking about the code.

I do think that a patch to make Jaal’s romance bi would be a bandage, but at this point I think that bandage is very much needed. Bioware and the Mass Effect team are going to lose fans without that bandage - whether or not anyone thinks it’s right for them to lose fans over this, we can’t deny that it will happen and is happening (especially if you read some of the #MakeJaalBi tweets). This bandage though if what we want. You have to cover up the wound, you have to apply some pressure to get it to stop bleeding. Bioware and the Mass Effect team need to bandage our wounds, in a metaphorical sense, before they can work on healing these wounds.

Healing these actual wounds, I would suggest should happen in the next game. They need to make a bi!Jaal patch for Andromeda as a bandage and then continue to work toward better LGBTQ+, specifically mlm, representation in their games. If they bring back the Andromeda crew in the next game, add way more to Gil’s romance. Don’t have Gil’s romance fade to black after just a little bit of kissing on a bed because that really pissed people off, especially after they saw how explicit Cora and Peebee’s romances can get (also Jaal’s romance gets explicit, and mlm fans feel that if Jaal was originally going to be bi, the one explicit mlm romance was cut and that’s understandably upsetting). I would also say that add more to Reyes’ romance. They can keep Reyes on his planet, but make his romance more official than a fling and also make sure that intimate moments with Scott aren’t stiff when compared to Sara’s.

Also in future games, add more mlm romance options in general, and don’t make them all human. LGBTQ+ men in the fandom want to romance hot male aliens like everyone else gets to romance the hot aliens. A gay male Turian or Quarian I think the fans would love that.

Making Jaal bi would certainly come off as damage control, and that’s what it would be, but it would also be a sign that the devs and Bioware listen to their LGBTQ+ and mlm fans and actually give two shits about these fans feeling hurt and betrayed once again.

Let’s also look at the Angara real quick. Gay marriage is a thing for the Angara. Yet all Angaran romance options (I believe there is a female Angaran romance that’s considered a fling) are heterosexual. This doesn’t add up to the fans, including myself.

But anyways, making Jaal bi would be, in a sense, damage control that Bioware and their devs desperately need in my opinion. If they make Jaal bi, the devs will get shit, I know for sure, from homophobic/biphobic fans about “giving in” and they’ll say we bullied or harassed them into getting what we want (when in fact we’ve been making sure the tag is used positively and that no one is bullying the devs ‘cause we are taking the possibility that they can’t say anything due to contracts seriously. If anyone is using the tag negatively, we don’t support them and how they’re using the tag).

Don’t worry, I didn’t take this as a “vehement stance against bi!Jaal.” ^^ You were very kind and I’d rather people be like you and just ask/talk this out than attack the tag (someone on Twitter literally said whoever started #MakeJaalBi should kill themselves :| I’d link to the tweet, but I’ve blocked and reported that person so I can’t get to that tweet).

I really hoped this helped, and if you have any more questions or anything else, I’m always free to talk (well free-ish. Currently in the process of moving, so I’ll get back to anyone as soon as I can. I do have some comments on another #MakeJaalBi post that I need to eventually reply to. >

[tantumuna]

Did You Know That Fenris Is Actually White Too <-- his actual real life model in the game with neutral lighting. 

Maybe I am a bit of a dick, but that doesn’t make me anything you’re trying to accuse me of. Bringing in Fenris was an example of how you cannot hold people to different standards.

Fenris on Tranquility:

Fenris: Why was your friend made Tranquil? Do you know? Anders: No, and it doesn't matter. Nobody deserves that. Fenris: I know some mages that deserve that.

Some Mages Deserve To Have Their Dreams And Emotions Ripped From Them. That’s what he just said.

Fenris: Do you see yourself as harmless, then? An abomination who would never harm someone? Anders: Like ripping someone's heart out of his chest? Fenris: I did that at the behest of no demon. Anders: So we agree that it doesn't take a demon for someone to be a vicious killer?

Acknowledgement that Fenris also murders people, and he does it of his own volition. Anders is technically possessed, still his fault though.

Anders: You ever going to stop harping on the mages here? Fenris: No. Anders: They aren't what you saw in Tevinter. Fenris: The moment they are free, mages will make themselves magisters. Anders: They're slaves! You should want to help them. Fenris: I don't.

Anders doesn’t want to help all mages (blood mages), Fenris doesn’t want to help all slaves, even if Mages are slaves.

Anders slut shames Isabela

Isabela: I enjoy a man with markings like that. Fenris: You've enjoyed many, I suspect.

so does Fenris.

This isn’t about who’s white or who’s black, this is about characters put together in a game so that you can compare them. Fenris and Anders are similar people. They both have the power to kill, were both heavily abused, both have strong opinions on both sides of the spectrum. The game i showing you the divergence in the paths they take, but they could’ve easily swapped paths. 

Fenris: Not everyone's dangerous. Isabela: It's not about who's dangerous. It's about having choices made for you.

Isabela says it best for you. It’s about having choices made for you. Mages and Slaves are all slaves under a different banner. I would never justify things that Anders did, but neither would I justify the things that Fenris has done. He kills his sister, and vocally says in the game he does not feel bad about it. Of course you can stop him from doing it. Just like how Anders almost kills the girl during the tranquil solution quest. He doesn’t, but he’s so upset about it he starts calling himself a monster and htinks he’s not the one to carry this mantle.

Don’t you ever, dare, make this about race to me. This is not about race. This is about people who are doing bad things for the right reasons. 

Anders is mean to Merrill

Merrill: Pol... What was he thinking? ... He acted like I was a monster... Fenris: You are a monster.

so is Fenris.

Anders belittle’s Fenris’s past

Sebastian: You know, Fenris, as a brother in the Chantry, I'm allowed to hear confessions. Fenris: Why would you tell me this? Sebastian: I know Danarius made you do things. I thought you might be more comfortable talking to a friend. Sebastian: You should know, a murder committed under duress is a sin on the one who ordered it, not the one whose hands carried out the deed. Fenris: Have I not spoken enough of my past? Does everyone in Kirkwall wish to hear every sordid detail? (If Isabela is in the party)

Isabela: I know I do. Sebastian: Sometimes, it's painful to speak. But it's the only way the wound can be lanced.

so does Sebastian and Isabela

This is a game about complexity, not about the good guys and the bad guys. Try not to pretend it’s not, and try not to act like you’re on a high horse. I’m not afraid of criticism, so if people don’t like my views on Anders, that’s fine. But it’s not because he’s white.

I could tell you why I also dislike Solas’s motivations but enjoy his character. I dislike some things Vivienne has to say but she is one of my all time favorite mages. 

And, PS: Anders, in my opinion, is a self fulfilling prophecy. No one is with him, and if no one is with you, then they are against you. If his friends and companions had been friends and companions to him, things might have turned out differently. But, in rewatching his romance. Hawke is sometimes rather belitting to him about his fear of what the templars can do. No matter how you face it, no one in that game is good. No one is bad, either. 

Thanks.

so @ the previous message: Look I don’t know if you accidentally not anon yourself or not but I’m not a dick, so: yeah I absolutely did just make it about race because woobifying white villains while demonising characters of colour is a thing people love to do in every fandom, especially this one. You took this personally but dude: you sent me and my friends anon asks. I don’t know who the hell you were so based on what I’ve experienced, I reacted to you how I reacted to this fandom at large. And the fandom always equalled what Anders did to what Fenris did because Anders is white :/ Like how tf can I not be suspicious when the first person being dragged into the argument is Fenris ¯\_(ツ)_/¯