#the one I think I'm pretty fucking open about: hate cullen. Hate the templars. Very pro mage

[eastgaysian]

dragon age white boy rambles ⬇️ i need to revisit his siblings...

see my original vision for caden trevelyan repressed homosexual was always that he was homoerotically obsessed with his superior officer who viewed him as a little brother and after that superior officer died tragically at the conclave this immediately got transferred onto cullen. but this was a failed attempt to try and change the fact that cullen has always been deeply uninteresting to me. like i'm keeping it because it's central to my white boy vision but i've realized now that it's much funnier to focus on the fact he wants to phantom thread solas.

basically he has a Repression Framework for fellow templars/soldiers where attraction is more-or-less acceptably translated into intense devotion/idealization, being weirdly invested in hearing about past exploits, fantasizing about dying in each other's arms etc. with solas, caden has reasons to like/respect him - solas kept the anchor from killing him, he's chosen to aid the inquisition of his own free will despite any reservations, he's a knowledgeable older man with relevant expertise and genuinely impressive capabilities, to some degree even the fact that he's an apostate who knows this much and has avoided being found by templars is something caden finds fascinating.

but at the same time solas is an elven apostate who no one knows anything about and is too mysterious to really trust, so logically caden Can't like/respect him, and he doesn't have any established framework for dealing with these complicated feelings. before he recruits the templars/becomes inquisitor their relationship actually gets off to a tentative good start because the Fundamental Moral Disagreements haven't come to a head yet. caden is technically a very recent ex-templar but he's polite and pragmatic, he puts the work in to help people, and he's always curious to learn more, which are qualities solas can appreciate.

after becoming inquisitor solas immediately disapproves of essentially All of caden's major decisions, while still feeling obligated to stay with the inquisition for the greater good. weirdly, solas pretty openly disliking him is what allows caden to justify liking him, because it's not like he's friends with this elven apostate, they're comrades by necessity, he appreciates the qualities that make solas a necessary comrade, and that's fine. at the same time solas is an older male authority figure who is forced to abide by caden's decisions even if he fucking hates them which is opening up crazy new pathways in caden's brain of being able to, from his point of view entirely justifiably, defy the wishes of an older man he respects and wield power over him. all this clicks into place in caden's head and he's like. I want him flat on his back helpless tender open with only me to help.

what this means in practice is they'll go out a-questing and have what seems on the surface to be a cordial conversation about history or whatever but they're both imagining killing each other with hammers and on caden's side it is sexual and on solas' side it is not. he is fully aware that solas wants to kill him with hammers but honestly this kind of makes it more sexual. he's going to punch solas at some point, immediately apologize for losing his temper, and then be unable to sleep for hours that night touching the bruised knuckles feeling something he can't name but knows isn't quite guilt. because he feels guilty for feeling it. this is the gayest thing that will actually happen between them except for the confrontation at the end of trespasser maybe which can be gay if you think about it. normalest guy in all of thedas 👍

[glacierbash]

dragon age for the fandom asks :)

 t h i r d  t i m e ‘ s  t h e  c h a r m

first time I did it on mobile, it crashed, and it didn’t save, the second I went to go hang out with my partner after i /thought/ I hit post but Apparently Didnt, so here goesssss

prefacing this with saying I played the games out of order, haven’t even managed to play da2 (haven’t been able to buy it yet :pensive:) so my opinions might not be informed as a more intense fan. Buut, still love the games and still have Opinions:tm:

First character I fell in love with: 110% Josephine. When I first saw her, I was like “If I can’t hold her hand this world will be unfixable and I will have no purpose in living anymore” and then I saw the flirt option when talking to her and lost my goddamn mind. It was so nice to see a story where there was just. No Tragedy (to an extent), no dying, it felt like I got to live out my sappy romantic dreams :’) she was my first romance in a DA (or bioware game in general) and she’ll always have a special place in my heart,,

Character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Honestly? Wynne lmao, I thought she would just be “nagging old lady” but she grew on me and to this day I still love her. Even when she was trying to keep me from doing the horizontal tango with Leliana smh /j

Character everyone loves that I don’t: Surprise Surprise, Cullen. When I first started playing Inquisition (since. again, out of order,) he was just slightly annoying to me, if a bit offputting. I didn’t wanna be around him that much, felt some of comments were. strange, so say the least, but then... Then, I played Origins. 

And I fucking hated him.

I can get why some people might like Cullen. I am not one of those people. After doing the circle quest and having to deal with his “kill all the mages” bullshit, I just... Look, I felt bad for him, but still. In my grand opinion, he shouldn’t have. Uh. Wanted to kill all the mages <3 he’s in my top 5 least favorite characters (and yes, I am aware of his addiction story, and while I still feel bad about that, I just... That doesn’t exactly “redeem” his prior actions, for lack of a better term).

Character I love that everyone else hates: I’m not sure if she gets a lot of hate, but Sera. Seeing a lesbian character who will get a happy ending made me really happy. Sure, you can... Dismiss her at any time, there’s almost no interactions that I can remember where you can be nice/understanding with her (even if the interaction gains approval) and sometimes her “my way or the highway” is really shitty (again, for lack of a better term) but still. I love her, I really do. One of my first times seeing an openly, quite unapologetic lesbian in games, and it’s still kinda important to me. I dunno. I was still trying to figure out who I was, I only recently really embraced “lesbian” as my own label, and I guess you could really attribute part of that to her. But, if she isn’t really hated, then disregard this. I’ve just seen some really nasty things people said about her.

Character I used to love but don’t anymore: Solas... And no, not because of his dreadwolf reveal. I enjoyed that! I like the thought of him as a villain! But, like... Lots of stuff started to wear on me, like... It’s been a while since I last played but he always felt quite condescending once I talked to him a bit more, just a bit “I’m superior to you haha.” I was playing a lavellan for this first playthrough, and... I dunno. I don’t hate him! I just don’t really love him. He’s worn on me, and not in a good way.

Character I would totally smooch: You want a list? Sera, Josephine, Leliana, and Qunari lady from the da4 trailer.

Character I want to be like: I don’t think I have a character I’d particularly wanna be like! If I had to choose, I’d pick Dagna, because I respect her dedication to. Learning. JDFKSD (can you tell I’m tired of doing this for the third time?)

Character I’d slap: Cullen <3 I would say Meredith too but even though I know she’s. uh. kinda fucking bad I’ll wait until I play DA2 to say so with Confidence

Pairing I love: Merribela, Leliana/Josephine, and really most pairing between pc/npc, save for a few exceptions, such as...

Pairing i hate: Cullen/Mage. Any mage. Mage Inquisitor. Mage Warden (hghg). Mage random character on the street you yoinked up. Just... No. Nope. Nuh-uh. Usually I’m very “do your own thing, idc if I don’t like it :)” but that’s like... Major nope. Ya know... Kill all the mages in the circle. (Plus, his feelings for a mage warden? When he’s in a position of power over her? :////////////) But! no hatred for anything else, really!

Thank you for the ask!