#this is not bashing Anders or his romance

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

“Just a bunch of boneless women flopping around,” she laughs, head thrown back as Emeric snarls, scolding her. Oh please, they’re dead. What’s the big deal?

It’s three years later and some change, when Bernadette Hawke is dropping to her knees, holding a body stitched together from different parts and staring at the dimming light that she knows what the big deal is.

-

Teddy, as she insists people call her, has never been a serious child. Her life was much to serious already, and her dreams were scary. Laughing and playing were much more fun than being serious.

Her mother, when Teddy was a child, appreciated it. But as the girl grew and her antics never dimmed, despaired.

“Oh who is this child?” Leandra would sigh. “Please be serious dear!”

“Oh what is there to be serious about?” Giggled Teddy each time.

Malcom found it funny though at times he would sit Teddy down to remind her that jokes weren’t always funny. She hadn’t understood it. Not really.

She wouldn’t for a long time.

-

Carver once told Teddy he wished her younger would fall out. He’d glared at his sister, face and neck red from the teasing Teddy gave him when she caught the boy sniffing Peaches.

“I can just heal it back on!” Teddy stuck said tongue out before running off with a laugh. She told no one about beating Peaches to an inch of her life when she caught the girl running around in Carver before healing her up, teeth bared and a hissed promise to make it worse next time.

Bethany cried and said Teddy should stop. She’d been so upset about Teddy making jokes about what the boys did behind woodsheds.

“Why?” Teddy asked. She didn’t tell anyone about how she had to make a boy seem like he’d fallen off the shed when he tried to drag her behind it.

“Bernadette!” Leandra shouted when Teddy made crass jokes about the Sisters in Lothering.

“Yes mother dear?” Teddy asked, not telling anyone she caught the sisters making the same jokes.

“Teddy, I’m sorry. Keep smiling,” Malcom told her when he had been forced to rip a demon out of his daughter and died fighting it.

She didn’t let the smile drop.

-

Varric understood a good joke. He was cracking them with Teddy within days of meeting. Isabela was up for a sex joke or a flirt. Merrill was adorably confused, Aveline sighed, Anders snorted, Sebastian acted scandalized even as his eyes twinkled and Fenris was… interesting.

He’d giggle under his breath or mutter a similar joke or he would roll his eyes and…

She didn’t know. Teddy liked it though. Shared all the best jokes with him.

-

“Why couldn’t you be normal. Like Carver?” Despaired Gamlen and the joke danced on her tongue only to be swallowed back.

She didn’t know.

-

Jokes were calming. Jokes were funny! Jokes…

Jokes were supposed to make her smile.

-

Merrill isn’t talking to her. The memory of refusing to give the tool to her, the memory of a Demon screaming in her skull… it burned. Though the elf girl was kind enough to bring food and take Bear out for a walk, the dog happy to finally move after days of being locked up, Teddy to drink to pay attention.

Fenris came by, carrying wine. They drank together.

She didn’t utter a single joke.

-

Feynril was Tranquil.

Fuck.

The joke was in her mouth, it was biting her tongue. It was screaming in her head.

She swallowed.

She fucked up.

Teddy slumped, sliding down to sit on the street as the screams of the woman she failed echoed out the house.

No one said anything to her.

What was she doing?

-

Mouth against mouth, skin against skin- lyirum burning in the air.

It’s a wild night. It’s a beautiful night.

It ends with him leaving and Teddy alone again. She clutches her hands to her chest and sobs.

-

It’s a mistake.

No it’s not.

It is and isn’t. She likes Anders. He’s kind, he’s sweet. His mouth is so soft and Teddy is…

Teddy aches from lyrium touches and wants soft ones.

-

She tells a joke while running through the Deep Roads. Anders throws his head back and laughs even as Justice rattles in his head.

Carver is sighing as Varric snickers. Isabela cackles and smiles and…

The jokes spill from her lips, with twinkling eyes and hysterical laughter that has her with her head between her knees soon enough.

-

She loves Anders. Fell in love with time and care.

She loves him and forgets about the lyrium touches. These touches are better.

“Teddy,” Anders says and it feels like she flies.

-

“I trust you.” Teddy says to Isabela.

It’s not enough. Teddy is not enough and she battles a man who looks down his nose at her with a sneer. Who calls her Bas and dangerous.

Teddy who watched her brother leave, not staying back to help. Leaving her to handle this on her own, who had a friend run off and not come back…

Doesn’t quite fucking care about the man.

The jokes fall and she closes her eyes as a title is granted.

-

No one talks about Isabela.

-

Teddy jokes again and again. She laughs more and more. Time heals, mostly.

She holds Anders hand and smiles.

-

Merrill smashes the mirror.

Teddy makes no jokes.

Blood Magic has been their argument for years. Teddy can’t stand it, the Demon never far from her mind. And then… and then…

“Mother!”

She feels for the girl, takes her into her arms and hugs.

But she’s glad it’s broken.

-

She works with Meredith even as her skin crawls. She gets dragged to help the Qunari and she vomits, feeling disgusted. (Bas, a head thrown at her feet, a sneer.)

Anders asks her to trust him and she does.

-

Fenris sister dies and Teddy sits with him, listening.

He’s broken. He’s tired. He’s not okay.

“You are the finest mage I know,” he says and his eyes…

She looks away as lyrium fills her mind.

That is in the past.

-

She drops her staff as the Chantry explodes. She stares up at the sky as Anders speaks. She looks at him, mouth dropping open.

“Why?”

“It is Justice.”

-

Teddy doesn’t joke much anymore.

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

I'm not a Fenders person but it's some of my favourite Dragon Age fanfiction because it takes two blinkered characters that care violently about freedom and oppression, yet who're aggressively opposed to each other, and puts them into situations that interrogate them to the point where they begin to understand how much common ground they actually have. It's a relationship that has the potential to explore the issues and themes in Dragon Age the most.

I think canonically, though, a romantic relationship would only work when they were older and had more distance, wisdom, and hindsight. Maybe a little like the Enemies to Lovers husbands in The Old Guard. Fenris, at least, has plenty of time to get there emotionally as it's implied he may be immortal due to the lyrium in his body. As for Anders, who knows what merging with Justice has done to his life expectancy— I see him as being in a similar position to Cole now, only starting as human rather than a spirit. But if Fenris and Anders had begun anything in Kirkwall, coloured as it would've been by sharpened and complicated darker feelings, Fenris would never forgive Anders for going behind his back. As it is, I believe it'd be extremely difficult for a romanced Fenris to forgive Hawke for doing the Inquisition quest without telling him.

I also just dislike how any online conversations around Anders and Fenris cannot escape this one dimensional exaggeration of their animosity. Dragon Age 2 is ridden by poorly thought out choices and OOC moments that prop up rushed gameplay mechanics. So it is transparent and annoying that Anders is the only character held to these rigidly self-righteous standards.

What I'm saying is that I'm not a Fenders person, but sometimes I absolutely am a Fenders person out of spite. Forgive me, I'm channelling two spikey haters.

[quiet-longing]

no lie, i read this, and the first words out of my mouth (yes, actually out loud!) were, "ARISHOK? ARISHOOKETH!" and yes i did yell it. because...i couldn't stop myself. empty head, no thoughts when qunari. my poor hawke is exactly the same. it's why he got trespassed.

my hawke took one look that fuckin weirdo and went yep, that weird, glowing asshole is it for me. fuckin' kinda looks like a bug, lights up and punches through people, a dick, really just a big bag of dicks, wants to kill everyone, really very violent this one, can we take a step back can take a minute to breathe and not solve ALL our problems with death? hey, i'm a mage! could you maybe try remember that when you're making sweeping generalizations and calling for the death of all mages? it's starting to hurt my feelings a little bit. also, could you maybe try less to look like you might bash my head in when my back is turned? fuckin so in love with him, can't live without him. he is THE ONE.

realizing that the dynamics of my hawke/fenris romance are...telling...

(also love it when anders and fenris fight over hawke. top tier comedy in the background)

god, i'd hoped i'd never that...thing....again. so creepy. my warden did not convince logaine to stick his dick in morrigan for nothing. (still she couldn't romance morrigan, though. my girl tried hard. morrigan got all the gifts, all her side quests completed. we had a 100 friendship - friendship - level. morrigan called her one of her dearest friends. i've never been so mad.) though that is kind of how it went with my warden. no morrigan, then on to the puppy boy who was really not so bad after all - like Dog, but not quite as smart. she cared; she did. the assassin was just more interesting.

...i do not like what i'm learning about myself via recalled dragon age playthroughs...

dark, obviously. absolutely must be a winter wedding yes, yes. preferably at night. do we like we night? white is too bright, however. consider: my dress is from the 30s and is thus aged (with two syllables please). it is yellowed from age and the lace folds in on itself and withers at the edges. i feel this is very gothic romance and thus, appropriate. thoughts?

THEY SHOULD HAVE LET US ROMANCE STEN I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THEM FOR THAT

OH MY GOD I'M STILL MAD ABOUT IT

(also, my Hawke was totally down to fuck the Arishok while he and Fenris were being weird about each other. look, my man was suffering. that elf was giving him such mixed signals.)

[high-dragon-bait]

You should share your Very Strong Opinions about Anders' romance!! I double on the sentiment and I'd love to see some criticism/meta about him, that isn't shallow, stupid as fuck and/or written by people who are biased by simply just not liking his character. Please, share your thoughts how you don't think it's super healthy but fascinating storywise. I feel like you could potentially be so right <3

OKAY

Hold onto your hats folks because we might be here awhile

Before we start, I want to make it known that I like Anders. I REALLY like Anders to the point that, Anders is one of my favorite characters in Dragon Age if not just in fiction in general. PLEASE do not see this as character bashing because it’s not, I love this character. There is nothing wrong with characters being written with flaws. NUANCE in character writing is GOOD and Anders is FULL OF IT.

This is also NOT a judgement on people who like the Anders romance and consider it healthy. This is MY interpretation of this romance and Anders as a character. EVERYONE in the Dragon Age fandom has drastically different interpretations of romances and characters with some that are very specific to their world state. I would be lying if I said what I’m about to say wasn’t colored by my Hawke and Anders who in my canon have a very tragic, toxic relationship.

Okay. With that all out of the way. Let’s go

What are my Very Strong Opinions on the Anders romance and/or why do I think the Anders romance is unhealthy?

It’s uh. A lot. And hilariously, much of it is framed by his behavior OUTSIDE of a relationship with Hawke BECAUSE Anders is INCAPABLE of taking no for an answer.

If you don’t instantly shoot him down after recruiting him he pines for you for the rest of the game REGARDLESS of who you choose to romance, and let me be clear: I believe Anders’ love for Hawke is GENUINE.

Anders does, truly, deeply love Hawke and unrequited love sure does hurt but that is not an excuse for his behavior. Anders shows literally zero respect for you OR your love interest if it is not him. His jealousy is blatant and he WANTS it to be, he wants Hawke to feel bad and question their relationship with their current significant other if it drives Hawke back to him.

And this is... very strange considering that Anders literally warns you against getting into a relationship with him multiple times. Once right at the start where he says “No don’t fall for me I’ll only hurt youuuuu” and then, if you break up with him at the start of act 2 like he BEGS you to do, he’ll say “It’s better this way.”

AND THEN if you keep showing interest in him he’ll keep pushing you away, telling you not to get in a relationship with him. Even saying that if you don’t open your door to him then he’ll know you “took my warning at last” which all sounds like he’d be fine or even prefer to not get involved with you.

Except, sike, if you move on from him he just cannot stand that.

Now, there’s a good portion of the fandom that would call this “bad writing.” I wouldn’t. This is instead something that just makes Anders so nuanced and fascinating to me. This is a big part of WHY I love him as much as I do:

Anders is very selfless, for completely selfish reasons.

Anders tells you not to get to get too close to him because he’ll only hurt you, an act that feels selfless, but the MOMENT you start putting your attention elsewhere he cannot stand it and scrambles to have it back.

He expresses his jealousy openly so you will turn your attention to him one way or the other. He puts you in awkward situations (Asking if you’re “sure” about your new romantic partner in his final quest when they’re literally RIGHT THERE and insults them to their face) to embarrass you in front of your partner deliberately. It’s very manipulative behavior.

You can see this in other non-romantic contexts as well!! The biggest example being if you kill him, he says “The sooner I die, the sooner I become a martyr for the mages” which is just so telling. He wants you to kill him in that moment because he wants to become a MARTYR. The act of blowing up the chantry to begin the mage rebellion was a selfless one, but the desire he has to be killed afterwards to become a martyr is a selfISH one. (It maybe less a desire and more a way of coming to terms with what he thought would be an inevitable death sentence, but the fact that is the way he does is- telling)

And part of the reason I never do it, my Hawke is like “No bitch you live in this world you made and face it”

The one exception to this is his clinic. I don’t believe there’re any selfish motivations there, and I think that’s telling in his own right because remember the clinic was the first thing he did upon arriving in Kirkwall. He set up this clinic WELL BEFORE Justice had really started to take over. It was kind of his last act as himself in a very tragic way, for lack of better words. He even says that he begins to neglect it as the years roll on, the spirit of Justice taking over him more and more, it’s... very sad.

(And it does drive me INSANE that his writer was ableist as all hell and she accidentally wrote this SUPER INTERESTING character while INTENDING to write an ableist caricature of a bipolar person. I won’t speak on this too much as while I am ND I’m not bipolar but I just want it to be known that I’m aware of it and it infuriates me)

BUT this is about Anders’ romance and not a full analysis of his character, that can wait but this is what I mean. NUANCE. THE MAN IS MADE OF NUANCE!!!

SO let’s talk about how he is IN a romance now, rather than outside of it.

We’ll start with the language he uses to refer to you, and how he sees you in a relationship because oh BOY

Anders talks in a way that’s... concerning. He says that the “can’t control himself” around Hawke, that he’s obsessed with you. That’s not fantastic! It’s very codependent language that leads into the other flaws. Anders puts you in a position that you’re his entire world and he would be so much worse without you there. Yes, in the end he blows up the chantry regardless of what you do, that does not make his behavior any less distressing.

He’s always talking about how he’s dangerous, he’ll hurt you, he’s doomed, but that you’re his ONE bright light. You’re his ONE salvation. The ONE THING that helps him and that losing you would kill him. That’s- claustrophobic as all hell. I’ve been in relationships like this, romantic and platonic, they’re HELL. Anders sets off ALL OF THOSE vibes with me. Yes, he loves Hawke, and yes, he can be very sweet, but that does not counteract these flaws.

The Anders romance is basically just Anders constantly hurting Hawke and Hawke having no choice but to be fine with it, because if they aren’t Anders will continue to pursue them and disrespect their new relationship. It’s constant emotional manipulation, and it’s sad.

BUT this is why I find it to be a great story because IT MAKES SENSE why Anders is like this. Think about his life before! How many healthy relationships has he even seen? He doesn’t have the romantic experience of an adult, he CAN’T have that experience. He’s doing what he can based on his past experiences which were not good.

AND STILL that is not an excuse because who else is all of that (never had a healthy relationship, doesn’t have romantic adult experiences, literally could not have had those things) true for?

Fenris

I know I know but just, hear me out, it is really interesting to put these two romances next to each other given Anders and Fenris’ entire thing

Fenris is (debatably) the other character that auto-falls for you, he is at least the other character that initiates flirting before you do if you have not done so before (No Isabela does not flirt with you in this way! You don’t get a wheel that’s just hearts and broken hearts with her UNLESS you initiate! It ONLY HAPPENS with Anders and Fenris!) And his approach is the POLAR OPPOSITE to Anders

If you flirt with him, he flirts back. He asks one time if him being an escaped elven slave bothers you, and if you go “nope” he’s like “dope” and does not bring it up again. After that, he continues to flirt with you, saying he’s interested and would be open to finding out. He pulls you closer while Anders pushes you away.

And yet... who leaves in act 2?

This is the fundamental difference between the two in their romances and maybe even as people. Because I believe by the end of their personal quests, if you’ve shown interest, they are both in similar states emotionally (confused, tired, broken), and both equally as in love with Hawke and the difference between how they approach a relationship with Hawke is this:

Anders wants you to be the thing that grounds him, that saves him. You can’t be that.

Fenris realizes that you can’t be that from the start, and leaves, and comes back when he’s ready

BUT the representation of Fenris and Anders’ dichotomy through their romances is another post (a post I WILL make. I made a twitter thread on it awhile back but wasn’t too pleased with it cause twitter has a character limit) the point is that it’s just one more thing that makes Anders’ story so fascinating and so HEARTBREAKING for me because so much of what is true for him is true for Fenris and yet they handle it so differently.

Maybe it’s because Fenris can, at least in some ways, be “freed” from what hurt him (yes the markings and the TRAUMA will never leave him but he can live as a free man one day is the point I’m making) while Anders cannot. Justice is part of him, forever, he cannot escape. Maybe it’s just who they are as people, it’s probably both! Either way, it makes them so INTERESTING

But there you go! Somewhat rambley and not even scratching the surface of my love for Anders (and Fenris) but it’s a start!

Anders’ romance and friendship are unhealthy in my eyes, but they fascinate me because of what they say about Anders as a character and the tragic story that comes from both of them.

[sinsbymanka]

Character: Bianca Davri

I’m sorry I took FOREVER to do these. <3 I hope it was worth the wait!

Break their Ass Down: Bianca Davri

How I feel about this character

I like and respect her. We don’t know a lot about her, but what we DO know is kind of badass. She’s probably about Varric’s age (40ish), and we can assume the bulk of her work has been completed in about 20 years (from her 20s through to the present day) and in that time she’s completed MULTIPLE life changing inventions that are honestly pulling Thedas into the industrial revolution if you look at OUR world history and compare what happened when similar inventions were created that revolutionized the backbreaking labor of agriculture and manufacturing. 

She is absolutely a genius, and she knows it. That confidence and her reputation/skill makes her sexy and powerful. But there’s hints that she didn’t have the power she has now in former years. I think if she had met Varric now, when she’s older and more established, their romance wouldn’t be such a tragedy. But there’s something undeniably compelling about a brilliant young woman who runs away from at least one wedding to take off with a dashing rogue before she realizes she has to do what everyone wants her to do. 

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Varric - up to a point and in canon-divergent AUs. I think their tragic romance is really beautiful when they’re young, but I think by the time it reaches DAI it’s clearly toxic for bother characters (is Bianca holding onto the one thing she ever really picked for herself to spite her family? is Varric so caught up in a story he can’t handle reality?) However - I think they’d work really well together in a universe where they don’t meet until they’re older and it doesn’t go sideways quite so badly. 

Bogdan - we know absolutely nothing about him except that he was stood up at the altar at least once and that he helps Bianca with selling her inventions. In my writing, I’ve never been able to nail down what exactly I want his character to be. I wrote him as kind of an idiot in my first Varric/Cadash fic, set him up to be a minor antagonist in GwtAT (in both fics he’s quite possibly emotionally abusive or at the very least neglectful), but I’ve always written him as forgiving and loving. I very much love the idea of a man who also wasn’t sold on marrying a woman clealy in love with someone else, but they work it out and form a strong, solid partnership. I would ship that version of Bogdan with Bianca in a heartbeat. 

Dagna - this is a crack pair I am super invested in emotionally and has been gifted to me by @jarakrisafis once. I love the rivals-to-lovers aspect of it. Two brilliant women in competition before the sexual tension escalates and then they form a brilliant partnership? sign me the fuck up. 

Nobody - I said it. In both my first Cadash/Varric fic and in GwtAT, Bianca ends up alone and free. I think that’s quite a happy ending for her - she doesn’t need a romantic interest, she lives a happy and fulfilled life making the world better free of the drama. 

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Varric - Post DAI I really like the idea of old lovers becoming friends and realizing they’re better that way. I don’t think anyone knows either of them as well as the other one does, and I find it hard to imagine that Varric ever quite leaves Bianca’s life even if it’s platonic. 

Dagna - they should be friends. that’s it that’s all. 

My unpopular opinion about this character

Bianca isn’t an asshole, fandom is just mean to complicated female characters. 

Bianca does some shady shit during DAI. That red lyrium thing was CLEARLY a mistake, and she knows it, but I don’t blame her for not admitting it right away. She’s a genius - so her mistakes are correspondingly huge as well - she doesn’t play for small stakes. She didn’t double cross Varric as much as go around him to try and help him - a thing Varric is VERY guilty of doing for his friends as well but nobody ever calls him out on it (paying off the gangs to leave Anders alone even though Anders says not to? Trying to get Fenris a job he doesn’t want? Annoying Merrill to go outside until she’s ABSOLUTELY aggravated with him?) 

Bianca’s mistake was made with good intentions, and while she may have helped Corypheus, I’m pretty sure he’d have found a way without her. In fact, it’s a little known fact Bianca actually shows up at that keep in Emprise du Lion to help clean up the red lyrium as an NPC. Check out this post by @pikapeppa to see the dialogue (thank you for compiling this by the way I’ve used it as a resource a hundred times)  

Yeah. She fucking stays with the Inquisition to clean up a mess she helped cause. The most brilliant woman in Thedas, literally two votes away from being a surfacer Paragon, stays in the worst fucking place in Thedas to help the Inquisitor.

Nobody ever takes that into consideration when bashing her. 

What I think people really don’t like is Bianca threatening to rip out your Inquisitor’s eyeballs if they get Varric hurt and using them to clean up her mistake. And you know what, fair, you don’t have to like your OC getting threatened or used. 

But Varric arguably uses the Inquisition to clean up Hawke’s mess, and if he would have threatened your OC for Hawke, I don’t think anyone would have cared. 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

A lot of the information about Varric and Bianca’s relationship seems almost...optional to find? And it’s so many throwaway lines. We see Varric and Bianca at one of the worst moments in their relationship, but we don’t see how they got there. And because the moment is caused by Bianca’s mistake, she comes out looking worse than Varric, but I don’t think that’s true either. 

I truly believe that Varric and Bianca’s relationship is/should be over by the time DAI ends, it’s run it’s course, but I don’t think either of them are the SOLE cause for it being over. They both contributed to an increasingly untenable relationship and Varric got off way too easy for his part of it in game, leaving Bianca to take the hit. It’s unfair. 

I’ll still take these break the characters down asks! I’m working my way through them, but here’s who I have on deck:

Maria Cadash

Varric Tethras

And who I’ve done: 

Velanna

Bianca Davri 

[dragonswithjetpacks]

I’m going to say this one time about Cullen and that’s it. And my opinion will be out there and done. This is not a negative post. But this is a long post so buckle up babes.

*warning for use of language because I swear like a sailor*

*also brief mention of rape*

Anyway, Cullen is a perfect example of poor planning in the gaming industry.

He is also a perfect example of fans thirsting so hard and wanting something so bad that the writers and developers change a character and even game elements to suite their needs. They didn’t even give him a book or a comic for redemption. You know what they did instead? They switched writers. Cullen has three writers. All of them with a different character in mind.

Cullen was a fucked up mess in Origins. He was meant to be creepy and sociopathic. I get that. The writer who basically created him had no idea he was even going to be not only a reoccurring character, but one that was going to be romance able in future games. She even apologized. Which wasn’t necessary. And so many people who played the game missed a big point about Cullen. He was never supposed to recover from Origins.

“The young templar Cullen never quite recovered from his ordeal. After months of attempting to convince his superiors that the tower was still a danger, he finally snapped and killed three apprentices before being stopped by his fellow templars. Eventually, Cullen escaped from prison, a madman and a threat to any mage he encountered.”

“Once the tower was rebuilt, Knight-Commander Greagoir stepped down from his post and retired to a life of private contemplation as a brother in the Chantry. His health failed over time, and after refusing treatment, he perished in his sleep. Knight-Commander Cullen was said to be more strict and less trusting of the mages even than Greagoir was. He ruled the Circle with fear.”

I’m sorry. But yeah. That’s the epilogue on two different choices involving the Circle’s fate in Origins. And it was ignored. I agree with that, too. But it wasn’t just Cullen that was ignored. It was the entire Circle at Kinloch Hold. If the mage warden sacrifices their own life, the Circle is supposedly free. Which... is not mentioned... ever again. And not to mention is impossible? Like okay thanks Anora or whoever but I don’t think you can just do that.

Poor writing.

I’d also like to mention for the record I did not like Cullen in Origins. I still don’t.

Now, I don’t know why exactly Cullen was brought back in DA2? I know his writer got bullied out of Bioware. I do not have an opinion on that. I mean the woman co-wrote my favorite part of Origins (Anvil of the Void). She also wrote Anders. Which I don’t think is a coincidence. People, men and women, often have this idea of fixing a broken person. It’s heavily romanticized. It’s called codependency. And you see it a lot in romance novels. But that’s another topic. It seems this writer implemented that in the game (along with some of her own personal things she had) without fully knowing Cullen would even be a romantic interest in Inquisition, but also still wanting to give him some sort reason to be desired. And all the while knowing Anders was fully romanceable. Even... a little forcefully... romanceable... if I may add... (I am uncomfortable) I also dislike some of Anders’ writing but that’s another post and I don’t want to compare the two. But Anders was the opposite side of Cullen that was done better because they had time to write it.

Regardless, Cullen seemed to hold some resemblance to his former character. But we do see a lot hesitance with him. He’s basically that “good” cop that doesn’t do anything when the bad cop is beating the shit out of everyone. Still not good, hence the quotes. Not a good guy. He has his meh he’s alright moments. And seems to generally disregard Hawke in every single way. But he’s still an ass hole for letting things happen the way that they did when he could very much so have put a stop to it. Maybe it was the writers’ intention to make it that way to show he was still suffering from trauma in Origins.

Again. Poor writing. BECAUSE WE DON’T KNOW. DIDN’T HE KILL THREE PEOPLE, BIOWARE? ISN’T HE SUPPOSED TO BE KNIGHT COMMANDER IN FERELDEN, B I O W A R E??? WHAT. HAPPENED. BIOWARE.

So here’s the next thing. They decided to slip him into Inquisition for whatever reason. His writing was fair enough in DA2. Could have been better. But these people are still thirsty. They want some Curly. At the last minute, they throw romance on him. Not a bad idea. But are we supposed to forget the man was basically raped by desire demons? Is he even ok to have a relationship? OH WAIT THAT’S RIGHT. We didn’t closure on that because they ignored it.

Anyway, Cullen in Inquisition seems to be different. But because they couldn’t just, oh I don’t know, write a different character with the same traits but better, they had to somehow put the events of the previous games and how it affected him into this new current game where he supposed to be... better? Ish? Which is where we get the stereo type soldier with PTSD and a substance abuse problem. Now, if you’re any good with imagining and writing fanfic, then you probably know or already have figured out a way to connect everything better than Bioware could. But hey. Last minute romance written in on a character who was already all over the charts? Count me in. I like a good writing challenge. Poor girl who took the job of writing Inquisition Cullen likes a challenge too, apparently. Because it was her first big project. And she didn’t do a bad job. But imagine working hard on trying to write a character half the fandom hates into someone somewhat likeable just for everyone to shit all over it.

The way I look at it.... we have three different characters. And he is not really a good example to look at analyze wise. He is inconsistent. And was molded for Inquisition for thirsty fan girls. And some boys (I see you). A good example for study would be Morrigan. Or even Alistair. And Alistair is in several of the comics and still remains pretty consistent. Leliana is a prime example of character development over a course of three games. And I highly recommend you fall in love with her good and bad side because she is written beautifully. Don’t @ me.

Cullen, and I mean Inquisition Cullen, has a lot to like. And a lot to dislike. Every character is flawed. I think a lot of hate that gets tagged onto Cullen is really from poor writing. They really got lazy with him. And it is a shame. I feel like he could have been redeemed way better. He could have had one hell of a redemption. Or possibly just skipped over all together. I see a lot of posts about putting Samson in his place and I often agree. It was never quite the character that made him appealing to me. It was the personality. And they could have easily done with anyone. They could have made Samson sexy, too. It didn’t have to be sexy Cullen. And let’s face it. With Cullen’s writing in Origins and even some of the writing in DA2, Cullen siding with Coryphedouche is way more fitting than Samson.

Basically, it is up to us to fill in the gaps. So I love seeing fanfic with Cullen backstory. Because it gives better insight than what the writers could accomplish. And I applaud you if you’ve done that. BUT the over sexualization of this character is a bit... wrong. It feels wrong. And that’s all I’ll say to that. Personally, I’ve been working on some Cullen romance fic for awhile and it’s been challenging trying to find a way to make him less douchey. One minute, he’s yelling at you about mages. And the next, he’s got this soft tone and nervous look. Like, yeah... you can tell it’s rushed. And awful. And even the dialogue is just... painful. It doesn’t fit. (you can check my Cullen tag in blog to see how I feel about that). I will say that even speaking to him on a personal note, asking him questions about life as a templar, he even says he does not agree with the Order. And he wants to change his thinking. But he still gets angry when you go to side with the mages. It feels like they wanted redeem him but they also needed someone to side with the templars to provide conflict at the war table.

So in my opinion, calling him controlling and abusive is a bit of a stretch. He was clearly used by the writers. It just seems ridiculous to put so much effort in bashing the character when clearly... he was not planned out... or put together... I just... I don’t get...

I know what you’re thinking at this point: Kay.... why do you like him then?

Beacause. I am weak for a man who gets nervous around girls he likes. His awkward mannerisms despite being a man of power makes me weak. The need to protect also makes me weak. But also the ability to admit vulnerability makes me suuuuuper weak. So like I said. There was a lot there. It just was not delivered correctly. You know what I would have done? If I had to put him in the Commander shoes, I would have made the whole Kirkwall thing a life changer for him. Maybe even give him a soul searching type situation before joining the Inquisition. And definitely tell him to keep his mouth shut about siding with the templars.

Long story short: Ya’ll thirsted over a weird dude in Origins and Bioware went hmmmm okay. But by the time they gave him to you on a silver plate, it was last minute. Like you just found out your crush Jared is going to Becky’s party but you’re already at Jessica’s house and have like nothing to wear so you have to just wing it. And your shoes look tacky, but Jessica’s shoes don’t fit. So you either have to wear shoes that don’t fit or just look like omg total garbage. And Bioware went with the shoes that don’t fit. And Jared totally likes them.

I’m also going to say the most controversial thing on this entire post by just... saying... by calling Cullen out as trash without realizing the writing, the directive, the lack of development, the rush on this character, and the complete absolute bullying this community does to it’s FANS AND WRITERS kind of feels like you didn’t really put any effort into understanding why and just jumped on a band wagon. And the fact that some of you make other people feel bad for liking this character is awful. Some of the most toxic shit I’ve seen. Like maybe they like this character from Inquisition because, I don’t know, maaaaaaybe he was written out almost like a new character with a last minute fantasy romance.. because he kind of was...

Now for my opinion on Greg Ellis.

FUCK THAT GUY.

And that’s it. Thanks for stopping by. If you agree cool, if not cool. I’m not here to argue with anyone or say your opinion is invalid. We all have reasons why we hate or love the color blue. So we can all disagree or agree and live in peace and still love a game.

You can always message me, too, guys. I have a lot of opinions. And reasons for my opinions. And theories. And just things in general. But I will not hate characters written in Dragon Age. Someone wrote them. Someone is out there working their ass off to deliver a character. And I refuse to hate someone fictional.

[abbeyfangirl]

dragon age: all characters (companions)

I’ve been in this fandom for a hot minute now and I want to update my opinions on characters :)

Origins

Alistair: super sweet dude who literally is not the stereotypicalchantryguyfightme. He’s a great example of healthy masculinity and I totally wish he was bi because I have an entire essay on that— also: he’s a poc! His mum was brown. In game he’s got dark features. if you really want a blond/blue-eyes/white guy, make your warden that. or accept that brown people can be noble and moral. or just draw cailan, idk. just because BioWare whitewashes doesn’t mean you should.

Leliana: someone hug my singing girlfriend before I crush her under with my own hugs. Also: nugs. Yes! Shoes. Yes! She likes how I style my hair? YES!! I honestly think she’s super duper and it pisses me off whenever someone’s like: yeah she enjoys killing people and the Game. ok. and michel de chevin willingly participated in genocidal marches through the alienage he grew up in with his elvhen mum. 

Morrigan: dirty swamp witch that i stan and also have a v big crush on. tiddies. Have a son with a GW so we can raise him with our tiddies out in the forest. she’s also white-passing, as her father was chasind and all people we’ve seen that are chasind are black. therefore, she is biracial. therefore, poc can be goths and don’t shy away from giving morrigan a darker skintone. if the devs had of been thinking, she’d have a darker skintone.

Zevran: Actually is the best romance, I think. Loves consent, therefore I will stan him so hard my skull cracks a little. Also: he is a very brown boy and if he’s white in da4 I’m seriously going to throw all canon out the fucking window. genuinely a good person who needs to be told so. 

Wynne: grandma who only likes my friends who go to church. but also super sweet and I’d rest my head on her bosom (in a platonic way omg ZEVRAN)

Sten: angry quiet boi. the bestest boi. I totally would give him a kitten for a gift and bake him cookies. Thicc softie. I think if I had DA:O and i knew how to use mods i would mod the fuck outta him. sorry.

Sha(y)le: who’s gender? idk her. See also: fuck birds and authority. pound ur ass into the ground you feathery meatbag little shits. fuck songbirds.

Dog: such a good boi. thicc. thinks Alistair is a whiny fuck and is Morrigan’s only friend. love him. he’s the cutest companion. bet.

Ohgren: honestly forgot about him bcc he’s such a shitbag. also: he could’ve been a really cool addiction recovery type but NOPE. probably would have a trump shirt in a modern au and would catcall wlw and hit mlm. no thanks.

Awakening

Anders: he acts like rlly straight but he’s so gay I can smell it. also he’s rlly cute and fun and I love him so much.

Justice: MAYBE i’M selF CONSCious OF THE twitchING. is the friend that genuinely doesn’t get dick jokes but is ur 110% ride or die.

Nathaniel Howe: honestly is sort of a white knight/neck beard a little, but it’s kind of charming with his whole velanna m’lady?? grump boi. annoying soul patch that I’d mod out SO FAST—

Sigrun: would have ROMANCED the FUCK out of her. why she even entertains the idea of fucking with ohgren makes me realize most of the writers are dumbfucks.png. peppy little emo. 12/10 would die if she kissed my cheek teasingly.

Ohgren: why. why. why. I’d have brought Shayle over. Maybe Zev? Definitely Dog.

Velanna: she was written to be an annoying feminist and you can tell but I deadass am a kindred spirit with her bcc I too am deadpan annoyed with Thedas’ general population too. love her. Would’ve loved to romance her. She’d totally be one of those who’d get all tsundere and be like “n-no i hate you” *kisses the fuckin soul out of you then blushes so hard she’s now a tomato*

Dragon Age II

Anders: fuck the cops. i don’t care. fuck the cops. (vine reference). also: do i hate him for blowing up the chantry that would eventually annul a huge collection of his people? no. read dalishious’s meta on Anders. v intriguing. didn’t they retcon the fuck out of the reported deaths too? like there was like eight Templars and Elthinia in there. Templars killed more “abominations” in a day than Anders in the game canon—

Aveline: initially thought she was fine and then realized she’s shit to my lil brother and I will fucking clap her ginger ass. See also: whorephobia isn’t a joke so fuck off with treating Isabela badly, you tit.

Bethany: sunshine. Literal sunshine. I feel my freckles grow in her presence and i love it. she’s my little baby sister and I’d slam that ogre so fuckin hard before it touched either twin.

Carver: there has to be a mod where both twins survive. I love them both to bits. My babies. carver is my bitter, angry little brother and I can relate because I too am very angry and would totally clap my own ass. hes so genuine and I don’t get the competition between Beth and Carver. Like, both are fuckin stellar in different ways. In this essay I will—

Fenris: honestly, I don’t get the general hate between him and Anders. Fenris’ main arc should’ve been a recovery arc, not drunken moping and revenge. he deserves better. give him a soft sweater instead of his spikes and let him love himself as much as I love him for MAKERS SAKE. like when you really think about their relationship, it could’ve been an eye-opener for fenris and finally some legit sympathy for anders. but we all know that if they had of teamed up that Meredith would’ve been dead before the end of Act 1 so.

Isabela: whorephobia is not a joke. oversexualizing your only appearing brown woman is so poorly written. how about we appreciate her and her lovely bosoms but also let people tease her about her heart of gold? her innate understanding of freedom? instead of just a wave of dick? please?? can we give her some pants for when she fights? can we accept that i fall for rogues who hate themselves?? fuck. also whomever draws her x femHawke x Merrill literally is after my own heart.

Merrill: my fucking babygirl MARRY ME. Fenris could’ve been her older brother type, but NO. she and Isabela should’ve been canonical gfs instead of Isabela/Fenris (no shaming the pairing tho!!). I love how she’s written as neurodivergent. V nice. Sometimes I just look her up and cry because she’s fucking everything. Also: she’s in the Dalish origin and she’s far from being white. Why did they make the most innocent/naïve character really white? hmmmm.

Sebastian: whew that boy. Would totally be that annoying Mormon at your door but you still let him in bcc he’s super sweet. Also: huge ass bible thumper and should get his head slap because you said the maker loved all his children why do you defend a complicit old hag you annoying attractive fuck—

Varric: totally is a bard and the devs couldn’t handle the idea of him being one bcc it might make him look less straight. is the only grey morality person I don’t want to fucking bash in with a fry pan. he sees people and I like that, but you totally know he’s siding with mages every time bcc him and Anders are like besties. I’m sorry. I don’t make the rules. “Professional Younger Brother”.

Tallis: I know nothing about her but she seems okay. I think she was an escaped slave and honestly? Fucking props. Spy on a shitting organization, idk what you’re doing, but your VA was that cool lesbian from SPN so I think ur okay?

Inquisition

Blackwall: Redemption Arc 101. Love him to bits. Sad dad bunwall. good man. actually atoned for his sins by actively becoming a good person. his initial design is 80% hotter im so sorry but so not.

Cassandra: was way browner in the last game. would romance the fuck outta her. I love me a butch lady who melts at my dorky recitation of poetry. BioWare is a coward. also is the worst choice for divine. but not a bad person. could use some more guidance or get her ass whipped by a dalish elf about religion or a circle mage kid whos like “yeah bud i didn’t ask for the templars to whip my ass everyday for existing.”

The Iron Bull: I think the Qunari/Vashoth were a little based off black people (the whole anti blackness thing where ppl are scared of them bcc of whatever reason) and it pisses me off that he had a weird ass dubcon thing with Dorian in banter. It doesn’t make sense— he’s an A+++ dom and would not jump straight in role play without at least checking in at first like wtf BioWare.

Cole: his mother was chasind so he’s like not supposed to be that white? or like biracial? albino? idk. love him to bits tho. He’s neurodivergent and I deadass love him. romancing him? idk. I see why ppl think it’s fuckin nasty but also like as a writer I’d age him the fuck up so fast before my inquisitor even THOUGHT about that. like idk. I’m down with him being a sweet little bro character tho. he’s a babe. love him.

Sera: had the worst fucking writer I’ve ever seen and I willingly read the twilight saga twice by a shit ass racist white lady who okay’d pedophilia. like. Fuck you Kristjanson suck your own dick you fuck. had the worst options in regards to speak to her. has a thicc case of internalized racism that literally most of the fandom just loves to use against her. my lesbian neurodivergent queen. Would write a thousand fix it fics for her. Love her to bits. im gay.

Varric: I haven’t played DA2 so i don’t get why everyone wants to romance him but like. a dwarf romance? yes please. Idk he reminds me of my uncle so I only see him as fun uncle material. Deadass should adopt Cole and Merrill and co parent with Blackwall for Sera. dads? fuck yeah. love me some wholesome, present fathers.

Dorian: is a gay stereotype that I love/hate so much. and he’s also just as bad about being a creep bcc he sexualizes qunari men (in banter). I attribute that to shit writing tho. I want to protect him from all the “omg gay best friend!” people. he’d clearly be that tired gay that wouldn’t give a diddly damn about ur het romance. wanna talk about politics? he’s ur guy/gay.

Solas: “me, an intellectual:”. I don’t hate him, but I’m not about him. He comes off as mysterious and suave (which he totally is) but I deadass would not save him from himself because he’s a racist, exclusionist eggshell. idk. not my cup of tea, but I can totally see the appeal. And he’s interesting, I’ll totally say that. “I think the Dalish are garbage but they made you” is not a compliment. it’s so offensive. and such bait for “quirky girls” which I’m no fan of. Would be Achilles and let Patroclus (Lavellan in his case) die before he realized how his pride is literally a waste of time. If he gets a redemption arc I hope Lavellan gets to slap him before getting him to teach all about ancient Arlathan and show that the Evanuris weren’t all total dicknozzles. (Aka I really have a hard time believing that they’d be slavery cult things. especially since they’ve compared elves to indigenous ppl, Jews and the Romani.)

Vivienne: it’s so racist that they’d make a black woman be pro-slavery. That’s such internalized racism. She could’ve been the cool ass “educate yourself first before you speak, fool” ice lady, but NO. the devs could’ve kept the “Templars are a tool that I proudly can mandate” and the “circles are very good education” and we. Could. Have. Romanced. Her. Like. Fuck. Sake. I just wanna give her a hug and say “love yourself omg!!” and not even in a romantic way. Also: she and morrigan should not have been so antagonistic towards each other. I’d expect them to have great respect for each other, as they both moved up in the world through hardwork and very little help. They could learn different magic from each other too and still maintain that rival respect “oh you” mood. Sidenote: probably the cooler option for Divine. if her approval is high enough she’ll love and be loyal to you forever and i can’t see her agenda being bad. she improves the circles exponentially and tells all the antis to suck her pretty painted toes.

Josephine: an actual disney princess. romanced her my first playthrough. I love her so much. she just makes me so happy. And she’s like: “Integrity, Loyalty, peace. That is what it means to be a GREY WARDEN good fucking person.” she’s the person who would let you hold her hand if you got anxious and she’d be that person who shouldered the whole group project with finesse and poise and would probably lie for everyone as to not be mean. i love josie. her and leliana’s relationship is so cute, too. whether it’s romantic or not: women supporting women.

Leliana: if you leave her hardened you must hate her. why. she becomes so against herself. i like how shes feminine and lighthearted because that’s so powerful-- to remain hopeful when the world is hopeless. (its hard to know when to soften her/harden her so i get it but. google it. she deserves to be happy and sweet again.)

Cullen: uwu war criminal with shit ass “redemption arc” that was actually a half-assed (at BEST) recovery arc. Recovery isn’t linear, it isn’t pretty, and even the broken need to be told they are wrong in order to heal right. Like I’m offended by that bullshit. I’ve had to do some mental health recovery in the past and unlearning lots of toxic ideologies— which I’m still unlearning— and it bothers me that he gets an easy pass because he’s hot. It’s one thing if you like Cullen, it’s another thing if you hold him accountable.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael After Midnight: Dragon Age II

Dragon Age is a series very near and dear to my heart; ever since playing Origins back when I was in college, I have been inspired by the stories, characters, and lore. Hell, Origins alone is a huge inspiration to my writing, and why wouldn’t it be? It has great locations, deep lore, a core main party without a single weak link with each and every party member you have being unique and entertaining in their own right, and an epic story with all sorts of twists and turns. And it only has two really shitty segments in the whole game! It’s truly a great first entry in a series.

But despite my love for it, I put off playing the sequel for most of the decade, only playing it for the first time this year. And why is that? Because… the critics said it was bad… yes, unfortunately in my younger years I took what critics said without any grains of salt. Dragon Age II was not very popular back around the time it came out, mostly because of its radical departure from the style of the first game, with more hack-and-slash-esque combat, a much more simple and self-contained story, and a cast of characters far more divisive than the first time around. It’s only over time that people have started to give it the respect it deserves, but much like fellow fantasy series The Legend of Zelda it comes at the cost of the current game being bashed.

So how is this red headed stepchild of a sequel, anyway? Did the critics have a point, or is this really an underrated gem? Well, I’m happy to report that this is indeed a fun and fantastic game, and I heavily regret being kept apart from the lovely Merril for so long due to poor critical reception, but there are a lot of problems too. For everything it does really well, it kind of shits the bed in other areas, and a lot of that can be contributed to a rushed development cycle that got this game churned out just over a year after the first one, leading to things like all items lacking the detailed descriptions they would get in the first game, which doesn’t sound like much, but then you get an item called something like “Uncle Horky’s Spanking Rod” as a magic staff and there’s no explanation as to why it’s called that and you have to imagine up some ludicrous backstory for it.

The lack of flavor text is a minor gripe, though, compared to the obnoxiously repetitive environments of dungeons. Reusing and flipping dungeons around and reusing assets would be one thing, but here they literally just take a map, flip it a bit with no changes to the details of the level, and just block off doors that lead to areas they don’t want you going. The worst part is on your mini map you can see the blocked pathways you likely saw ten minutes ago in another dungeon, which just makes a lot of the missions feel bland and samey. It also doesn’t help that enemy types are rather paltry, so you’ll be fighting a lot of the same mooks in the same maps over and over as you grind for items, gold, and EXP.

And then there are some of the characters. The worst of the bunch are sadly two characters who are returning from the first game and its expansion Awakening – Anders and Isabela. Isabela is arguably worse, because she honestly seems rather fun and nice at first, if overly and aggressively flirty, but as the story goes on, it’s revealed that she is actually the cause behind some of the biggest issues in the first few acts, which she neglects to tell you until it is far too late and unless you decided to maximize your friendship with her, she will run off and never return to your party. I can’t deny that this completely soured me to her, and at the end of the quanari invasion of Kirkwall I was only upset I couldn’t find her in act three and kick her ass for what she did.

Then there is Anders. Poor, poor Anders. In Awakening, he was one of the most funny and charming characters, a nice little substitute for Alistair that I actually ended up liking for than the Weenie King of Ferelden. Here though? Anders can not go one fucking conversation without bringing up how oppressed mages are and how much the templars suck and blah blah blah. The worst part is I do agree with him, but he’s just so whiny and obnoxious about it I left him behind all the time, dooming my party to having no healer even as I fought high dragons, blood mages, and Corypheus. It was worth it to not hear Anders bitching about templars and insulting Merril and Fenris. Oh, and Anders nukes the chantry and sets off a civil war. Isabela may be a nasty bitch, but Anders definitely comes out looking like a huge cunt by the game’s end.

The entire endgame is kind of an utter mess too, seeing as no matter whose side you join you end up fighting the same two bosses, with one of them just not making any sense whatsoever. And then the game just sort of ends on a very unsatisfying cliffhanger. And as much as I just complained, all of this stings because really, the rest of the game is quite good, and the story is fun if scaled back from the epic tale of Origins.

Let’s get the obvious best part out of the way: Varric. Varric is literally the best part of the entire Dragon Age franchise. He’s a snarky, wisecracking surface dwarf with no beard who writes best-selling novels, constantly has his shirt open to show off his magnificent chest hair, and has a crossbow named Bianca that he is uncomfortably attached to. He is one of the greatest characters ever created, and there was not one single moment I left him out of my party, because he is a blast to have around, and what’s more, if there’s ever a situation where the dialogue wheel pops up and you can let him talk… you’ve won. This guy can talk his way out of any situation. There’s nothing bad you can say about Varric, and he is in fact the only companion in the game I can wholeheartedly stand behind as a paragon of great writing.

I love the other characters, don’t get me wrong, but they have their issues. Aveline and Fenris in particular, with Aveline being a bit too by-the-books at times to the point where she exacerbates the quanari conflict by demanding that elves who killed a guard who raped one of their own be turned over to her after they converted to the Qun. This is all despite her knowing full well that the poor elf girl would have otherwise gotten no justice seeing as how city elves in this setting are second class citizens at best. Still, she has a rather adorkable romance questline where you hook her up with one of the guards, and she’s not a bad person, just a touch misguided at times.

That last sentence can also apply to Fenris, but on a grander scale. He’s a cool, edgy, brooding elf who absolutely fucking hates magic with every fiber of his being. He is the Anti-Anders, though he’s far less annoying about it, and it’s hard to really blame him for being bitter seeing as he was a sex slave for an evil wizard for most of his life and then just had misfortune after misfortune piled on him. I really hated how mean he was to Merril, but otherwise I warmed to him and befriended him.

And that brings us to a very special girl, Merril. Merril is an adorable, klutzy, scatterbrained blood mage elf who is hated by her people due to the lengths she is going to repair an ancient artifact to bring a piece of her people’s heritage back. While she can be a bit arrogant and stubborn about the whole thing, it’s mostly due to how no one around her seems to believe in and support her; naturally, I believed in and supported her, and while things still managed to go south, she seemed at least to learn a little bit. Overall I found her to be an absolute sweetheart, and she never left my party, much like Varric; frankly, I was going in expecting not to like her and was going to romance Fenris instead, but as it turns out Merril won my heart immediately and my Hawke went lesbian this playthrough.

On that note, as much as I like how Merril, Fenris, Isabela, and Anders can be wooed by either gender in principle, I do kind of feel making everyone bisexual with no rhyme or reason kind of cheapens things. It’s weird for me, a bisexual myself, to be saying that, but it just feels off to be able to get together with everyone, with everyone being Schrodinger’s Bisexual until a romance is initiated. It’s nowhere near as bad as Skyrim, but I just feel it kinda cheapens the romance options. I prefer Origins and Inquisition in that regard, where you don’t have all the options but you do have some unique choices. But, hey, at the end of the day I’m hardly complaining that my Lady Hawke got to polish Merril’s Eluvian, if you know what I mean.

Aside from the characters, I think the game’s real strength lies in its story, which is fitting since the entire game is framed as a story being told by no less a storyteller than our pal Varric. It has a three act structure, with each act detailing a different year in Hawke’s rise to become the Champion of the city of Kirkwall, which is a crime-ridden wretched hive of scum and villainy. The first act mainly has Hawke making a name for themselves, living in the slums with their uncle, doing dirty work to try and get back a little prestige, and recruiting all of their allies, with the act culminating with a trip to the Deep Roads, every DA fan’s favorite location. It’s a nice setup for a lot of twists and turns later in the story, and choices you make in certain dialogue options or quests actually can change what sort of quests you get later. Then again, this is Bioware, so this sort of “action have consequences” gameplay is expected.

Act two deals with just how Hawke becomes the Champion. Rich from the expedition into the Deep Roads, Hawke gets to do all sorts of fun things, such as track down a serial killer who ends up murdering their mom, being stabbed in the back by one of their friends, accidentally inciting a race war that nearly burns down the city, and having to duel the warrior leader of the qunari to the death in combat. Yeah, act two really piles it on to Hawke, but it does tie into the game’s themes of how no matter the level of success, great actions will also come with great consequences, even actions meant to better one’s lot in life, which also resonate in the personal quests of characters like Merril and Fenris, who despite ultimately achieving their goals in the third act feel hollow, lost, and even broken by the end, and that’s not even getting into what Anders does. However the conflict with the qunari is resolved, Hawke is declared the Champion, and things seem ok.

But then comes act three, and boy do things go wrong. Knight-Commander Meredith has gone cuckoo for Coco Puffs and conflict between templars and mages seems inevitable; this act is basically wrapping up hanging plot threads and companion quests until Anders finally nukes the chantry and all hell breaks loose, leading to the final battle. The ending here isn’t particularly happy, with Hawke ultimately ending up a fugitive in the epilogue, and things can get even worse if you make poor choices in Inquisition, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

Here’s the thing: everything I just said? It could be entirely different from my playthrough depending on the choices you make. Sure, some things are inevitable, like Anders committing terrorist acts, Hawke’s mother dying, and Meredith going absolutely bonkers and making you fight statues, but depending on how you play, maybe you’ll like/romance Isabela, maybe you’ll resolve things with the Arishok differently, maybe you’ll side with the templars… the story ends the same but there are so many ways to make your story different. Throw in some great lore, some fun DLC that reveals some shocking truths about the lore, and the fun albeit simplified combat, and you’ve got a game here that has a lot of replay value if only to see where all the plot threads can lead.

I definitely think this is a good game, even a great one. It has its share of problems, but so did Origins, and frankly I’d sooner put up with the backstabbing pirate hooker and the pissy mage terrorist again then go through the fucking Fade and Deep Roads one more time. If you liked the first one, definitely give this a shot; you may end up liking or disliking some of the stuff I dislike and like. That’s the fun of these Bioware games, different aspects are going to appeal to different people. The question is, do I find it better than Origins?

In some respects, yes; I much prefer the simpler combat here, and I like the more down-to-earth story in this one, but at the same time Origins just had stronger characters overall and I’m a sucker for “save the world” fantasy tales. While Origins infamously had some real mind-numbing slogs in the form of the Fade sequence and the Deep Roads, while those environments were tedious at least they weren’t boring. But on the other hand… Origins didn’t have Varric.

 It’s really a tossup, frankly, and I love both games a lot. I think each of them has their place and each of them brings something interesting to the table for the series. It’s one you really need to play for yourself to get a good grasp on; don’t be like me and put it off for nearly ten years, give it a go right after your done with the first game and see how you feel. Your experience is going to be a lot different than mine, that’s for sure.

[punwolf]

In musing about the whole Templar/Mage thing that people love to argue about in fandom (and looking for a walkthrough on how not to get cooked in Therinfall. I was a mage last time and kept using the shield. I’m a rogue this time around... I’m doing something wrong because ... SPLAT!) Anyway, I never ran into Cullen asking Leliana about Amell/Surana. I’ve only loaded one Leliana romance, though, and that was with a city elf from Origins. Some people say it’s creepy some people say it’s cute.

Supposedly this is from his creator on the subject.

I can’t objectively see Cullen as a rapist except in the crazy-Cullen-end-slide-murderer of Origins. I’ve listened to all of the banter in the Circle for DAO and how some of the templars watch the mages bathe. That’s very creepy, hell yes. I never got the impression Kinloch Hold was as bad Kirkwall, however.

So fans like to knock around the angle that Cullen was her jailer. Okay, I’ll go for that because sure, he basically was like a prison warden of sorts. That’s how the templar/Circle system worked. I’m not saying it was a good system. There were also mages who were content there (and please let’s not go into Stockholm syndrome here. You meet a number of them from different Circles, have Viv and others who were fine in a Circle for various reasons. It’s not all Stockholm syndrome.)

Of course I don’t know if that comment is taken out of context or what the rest of it pertained to. The fact it’s dated 2010 makes me very suspicious because Inquisition came out in 2014. That could have been the Cullen they said went insane and murdered mages in the ending slide if you pick mages. Basically some nobody quest giver who hadn’t been developed yet and obviously went dark. I just didn’t see it. You can offer to bang Cullen as an Amell/Surana and he runs away. That doesn’t seem like the aggressive rapist behavior described in that quote. He’s bumbling, bashful and I took away that it was exactly what it was described as in Inquisition - a stupid and childish crush. He reminded me a lot of Alistair until torture turned him into something darker, hateful and traumatized. We saw more of that in DA2 where he says “mages aren’t people” ... to a party of mages if Hawke is a mage and traveling with Anders and Merrill. NPCs and Questgivers aren’t too bright in games sometime.

Then there’s the Harrowing. They blame him for being willing to kill the failed initiates. Okay, here’s a question. Let’s say you’ve failed. That’s when the templars drop the ax. So you’re a mage and you flunked the test - now there’s a demon in your body. You’re no longer you. There’s a thing using your skin, bones, voice and eyes like a meat puppet. It will devour your memories like fine dining and rip you apart from the inside like Sophia Dryden. You don’t even have to be living at the end of it and it will use your corpse for it’s own whims. And... people are upset because a templar (ANY templar) ends this? I don’t get the problem with that part, personally. The part I have a problem with is the test itself and putting the mage in that position but that’s got nothing to do with Cullen. At that point we’re talking about the system. This is the same system which made Cullen know that a relationship with a mage was inappropriate. He mentions it in both Origins and Inquisition. That didn’t stop mage/templar lovers from happening (as seen in places through novels and all the games) but it wasn’t something which was supposed to. Still not seeing the whole violent rapey act to get it out of his system part...?

I’ve romanced Cullen with a mage. I didn’t find the dynamic “creepy” at all. My Inquisitor was a grown, mature woman who would hand him his ass if he tried to do anything to hurt her. He might have templar abilities but in general A.) Not a good idea to be involved romantically with someone you can’t trust. In real life if s/he is abusive you need to get out of there before it gets too serious. There’s too many people in too many bad situations who haven’t. B.) This is a fantasy game and you’re the Inquisitor. You kill dragons -- which are an apex predator. You come up to its knee. I can’t even begin to explain how that works but you can take down up to 13 of them counting DLCs and the horocrux. If you play the DLCs you’re a slayer of a god. I’m pretty sure she can handle Cullen if he gets out of line.

I don’t mind that people hate Cullen. For one he’s fictional. He’s also not sterling and definitely has his dark spots over 3 games. I don’t give him a free pass because he grew as a character and worked toward redemption. He still did shitty things. Do I like him? Sure, but he still did shitty things. Anders murdered a lot of people and still has fans. Most of the Bioware characters are problematical. It’s a rough world, Thedas.

What I’m baffled by is things like the outrage that he would have beheaded an abomination that used to be a mage or that he yelled at the Warden after being tortured. The man had his mind ripped apart and suffered every bit as much abuse as the mages at that point. Had he been calm and everything was okay it wouldn’t have been realistic. He later states that he deeply regrets what he said if you talk to him in DAI. Pining creepily for her? Nah, he’s an adult now. Most adults don’t moon over a crush they had around High School age when they’re in their 30′s. They might still regret being venomously hateful to someone who rescued their sorry butt, though. That makes sense.

[kirain]

My Inquisitors

Hello, everyone! I thought it might be fun to post a few pics and some info on my inquisitors from Dragon Age: Inquisition! I have a total of six profiles right now, each one being uniquely different. I do plan on making a male dwarf named Reeger and a male qunari named Cig someday, I just haven’t yet had the time. XD

Saya is my canon character with 100% collectables. MAJOR spoilers if you click the vid to get an in-game look at her.

Name: Saya Trevelyan Age: 28 Race: Human Class: Rouge (daggers) Romanced: Cullen Religion: Nonreligious Outfit: Masterwork prowler armor Signature move: Spinning blades Mount: Sharp-tail named Razor Best friends: Solas, Dorian, Varric, Josephine, Blackwall Personality: Serious but sociable, diplomatic, kind, highly intelligent, and remarkably calm. World state: Alistair and Kariana (female noble warden) rule.  Loghain killed in a duel with Alistair. Alistair had an old god baby with Morrigan. Bhelen rules Orzammar. All the best, moralistic choices were made. A diplomatic Larren Hawke romanced Anders and sided with the mages, but she did not approve of his actions. Voice: English

Name: Michaelis Trevelyan Age: 32 Race: Human Class: Warrior (sword and shield) Romanced: Josephine Religion: Nonreligious Outfit: Griffon Plate Signature move: Shield bash Mount: Inquisition Barded Charger named Glory Best friends: Cullen, Solas, Varric, Leliana, Cassandra Personality: Humorous, gentle, daring, strong sense of purpose, chivalrous and strategic. World state: Same world state as Saya. Voice: English

Name: Aelis Levellan Age: 30 Race: Elf Class: Mage Romanced: Dorian Religion: Nonreligious Outfit: Keeper Robe Signature move: Mind blast Mount: Wild hart named Meadow Best friends: Vivienne, Iron Bull, Blackwall, Leliana, Cole Personality: Sarcastic, extroverted, brutally honest, a little conceited but kind-hearted and caring. World state: Enora and Alistair rule. Eschallus (male Dalish warden) romanced Leliana and had an old god baby with Morrigan. Bhelen rules Orzammar. A diplomatic Larren Hawke romanced Fenris and sided with the mages. Mostly moralistic choices. Voice: British

Name: Eilonwy of House Cadash Age: 30 Race: Dwarf Class: Rouge (daggers) Romanced: Blackwall Religion: Andrastian Outfit: Masterwork prowler armor Signature move: Shadow strike (with stealth) Mount: Avvar war nug named Frost Best friends: Sera, Dorian, Varric, Cole, Solas Personality: Easygoing, deeply religious, playful, compassionate, smarter than she lets on. World state: Enora rules. Serena (female mage warden) and Alistair remained with the Wardens. Loghain was executed in a duel with Alistair. Alistair had an old god baby with Morrigan. Harrowmont rules Orzammar. A humorous Larren Hawke romanced Fenris and all of the choices were moral. Voice: British

Name: Mira Levellan Age: 24 Race: Elf Class: Mage Romanced: Solas Religion: Evanuris Outfit: The skin that stalks Signature move: Immolate Mount: Royal sixteen named Abilene Best friends: Varric, Leliana, Dorian, Cole, Cassandra Personality: Confident, headstrong, independent, kind of clumsy, devoted to her friends. World state: Same world state as Aelis. Voice: British

Name: Şirin the Tal-Vashoth (pronounced sheer-in) Age: 29 Race: Qunari Class: Mage Romanced: Sera Religion: Believes in the Maker but not any organized religion Outfit: Superb Antaam-saar Signature move: Static cage Mount: Asaarash named Asaara Best friends: Cole, Blackwall, Cassandra, Josephine, Varric Personality: Bold, outspoken, protective, responsible but fun and relaxed, definitely born to lead. World state: Enora and Alistair rule together. Alonwyn (female elf warden) remained Alistair's mistress.  Loghain lives and was forced to join the Wardens and have an old god baby with Morrigan. Bhelen rules Orzammar. A diplomatic Larren Hawke romanced Anders and sided with the mages, but didn't approve of his actions.  Some odd choices, but mostly moral. Voice: English

I have the sliders for all of these faces, if anyone wants to use them! You only need to ask and I’ll post the video! ^_^

[nonrebloggingviewerswillbeshot]

A Shameless Rant (Alistair/Cullen)

How far has our society come when we can argue and bicker over such trivial things that have no bearings on life and simply serve to aide someone through a time of distress or something similar?

Games offer something to someone that could be completely different to what it offers another person. An npc in that game could be a source of comfort for a person when another could just as easily hate the same npc and have a strong desire to kill them.

When did going to the people who like that npc and bashing them suddenly become something that was common or normal and vice versa? Since when did we all walk down a tunnel in life or have a hive mind where we all had the same thoughts, the same struggles, the same insecurities and mentality?

Let’s get specific, let’s talk about Alistair and Cullen shall we.

First of all if you hate these npc’s then good for you, that is well within your right, but the minute you decide to bash people for their love of these characters is when you cross a line.

Now let’s get personal.

I love Alistair okay get over it, and I also love Cullen for similar but different and specific reasons.

Alistair is a gentlemen through and through and quite frankly I would take this make up of polygons over what is considered a man in this day and age where ‘being a man’ is doing drugs, boozing up, sleeping with everything on two legs, cheating on your girlfriend, going around beating others up, being obsessed with the taking of steroids, and being the stereotypical version of a bad boy among other things.

Plus I want a man to treat me with respect and it says something about society when it takes a 3D model in a computer game to find it. I’m sick of games nowadays that have romance options being “Let’s bang because we can, not necessarily because we love eachother.” and if you don’t like my opinion, leave, we’re all different and this is who I am.

The argument is that Alistair is too dumb to function but honestly I think we can give that award to Goku who doesn’t know what kissing is despite having kids and other various nonsense that makes no sense.

If Alistair was too dumb to function he wouldn’t even be a grey warden in the first place, he faces down dark spawn, and fights an endless battle with a darkness that will never be ridden from the world until the arch demons are gone. He has the possibility to be a king or just remain a grey warden, either way he has very important roles regardless of what you choose so let’s get rid of that stupid misconception immediately.

(Spoilers Ahead)

As we know Alistair is the son of Fiona and King Maric Theirin, and if you have paid attention to anything he says in Origins you’ll know that he was hated by Isolde and treated poorly because of her suspicion that he was her husbands son.

His moments of hesitation come from talking to a female grey warden, and perhaps other women and I just don’t remember that part, although he has no qualms about raising his voice at Anora so I’m going to refer to my previous statement of it being the female warden.

I’m not going to say Alistair had the hardest life but it wasn’t the easiest either if we consider his age, and he was eventually dropped off at the chantry because of Isolde. Honestly if people hate how shy he is and how much of a gentleman he is at this point whatever, I don’t care but people like that exist, deal with it.

We could argue that his treatment from Isolde aids his fear of talking to the warden which I am personally going with. Let’s look at how hesitant he was to tell you he was a bastard in the first place, he didn’t want to tell you as explained by himself because people either coddle him because of it or treat him badly.

At his young and impressionable age it would have left psychological marks on him that he perhaps fears being treated like this and is thus hesitant when it comes to talking to women let alone those he has feelings for. It would be hard in the least which it is for his character and that is actually realistic.

Origins is a dark fantasy game in the first place so let’s not forget that either, considering the city elf wardens backstory is her getting kidnapped along with several other women to be raped by the Arl’s son and his friends.(yes I played a city elf)

Also if you meet Alistair in Inquisition, gone is his happy-go-lucky attitude he has a cold seriousness about him that breaks your heart when you realize he has become a man that get’s the job done instead of being his usual goofball self.

So essentially if you don’t like a touch of realism in your gaming then gtfo because that’s how life works. Events in our lives leave their marks on us regardless of if we want them too or not.

Which brings me to my second point being Cullen.

Cullen has had a far worse time than Alistair has and that has definitely left their marks on him as a person. If you played a circle mage which I have you will see his rather cute and shy interactions with the warden, and I’m not sure if it’s intended but after you talk to him he sprints off in the other direction.

Moving on to the annulment of the circle at Calenhad we find Cullen trapped in a magical barrier and he’s rambling on about how the demons are using you to haunt him again. The man actually cries when you meet him begging for an end to all this misery, he is a broken human being. And if you bring Leliana with you she will comment on how he had been denied food and water for a few days as well and attempts to give him some.

Afterwards he explains that his friends were killed and tortured some were turned and he was tortured as well as I explained earlier. After finally realizing that you are real he asks you to kill all the mages in the tower including Irving and all the mages who never turned.

You can either choose to go along with his request and kill everyone or not and save the mages, but either way the damage on his mind is already done and he has a fear that would not easily go away considering he still has nightmares in Inquisition.

This in no way supports the slaughter that he suggested because realistically no amount of trauma excuses the harm caused to other people because of it but it is understandable given that fear is a powerful force able to make people do many things they thought they would never do.

Moving along to Dragon Age 2 when he was sent to Kirkwall because Greagoir sent him away because Cullen was no longer allowed to be around the mages in the tower and he needed to be away from the place that caused him so much pain.

So now at Kirkwall; Knight-Commander Meredith has been fostering his hate for mages and so he treated them as less that human stating to Hawke “They are not people like you and me.” I played a mage in DA2 but I always understood the importance of the circle so that we didn’t end up with another Imperium.

I understood why he treated them like this because he was never given a chance to see mages as anything other than evil abominations and blood mages such as what was in Fereldan’s circle. And since I can only assume Meredith was filling his head full of stuff that would make him remain loyal to her and her ideals alone it makes sense.

Moving through the acts you see him questioning her despite his own distaste for mages and I think that is progress because despite his mental scars he is able to see that this is not right, and he has regrets already. He understands that Meredith is going crazy as revealed in Act 3 I believe, but what options does he have when the only safety he has is to cling to the order that controls the mages.

He needs to feel that control over them so that he can in some way be assured that what happened at Calenhad can never happen again. It does however as seen when Anders blows up the chantry but still my point remains. Cullen has a fear that causes him to both hate what the Templars get away with and hate what mages get away with at the same time. Leaving him between a rock and a hard place.

If you tried to face your biggest fear I could see you standing their questioning everything multiple times because it’s not easy to step out from that metaphorical blanket of security you think you have. Cullen turning on Meredith at the end of Act 3 proves he is taking a leap of faith, his convictions strong enough to ignore his fear for a moment and do what is right.

If you aid the Templar's in saving Kirkwall, several mages will surrender to you and Meredith demands their death, but Cullen is expressing his opinion against what she wants, saying that it is not what the order stands for. Hawke ultimately has the choice and they can be saved much to Meredith's displeasure. Fighting against Meredith at the very end proves that he has made a choice and it was the right one.

Moving on to Inquisition, his desire to leave the Templar's is perfectly expected, he has had enough of people like Meredith he’s tired of dealing with mages, and he doesn’t want to be tied to his past life anymore. His ‘whining’ about the mages joining them is still justified even if he get’s over it for the greater good because he realizes that it is your choice to make as the Inquisitor. 

Why would anyone who has been tortured by a certain group want more of them walking freely around them, it’s a panic attack waiting to happen. 

Being someone who has been through some pretty horrific stuff in my life I can understand these characters on a deeper level than most, there are many psychological factors behind the actions and reactions from these 2 characters.

Honestly I could touch up more on this whole thing but I think I have said my peace and this post is already long enough. so thank you for listening to my spiel and have a nice day.

[whatsanapocalae]

re: morrigan, I feel the same way. I said no and then agreed to talk to Alistair but the way he reacted I couldn't go thru w it and just let my warden die. I kinda hated her ever since

I dont want to bash shippers, I really dont, because I’ know I’ve had problematic ships as well, but when people ship the pair of them, it really hurts my soul. Alistair was abused his entire life until he was sent to the chantry (which was a form of abuse) and I cant remember if his time there was good or not (aside from the screaming). I’m not going to paint Morrigan as a villain though, she was obviously abused as well, her mother was terrible to her, but while Alistair grew up cowed and small, using humor to deflect, Morrigan grew up with cruelty being her only defense. So she didnt know how to do anything but be abusive towards others and he had no real way to defend himself. I didnt like her the entire game and, when I accidentally romanced her myself, (I want everyone to like me so I gave everyone as right gifts as I could) her fake personality that she put out was just a lot of extra red flags. 

I eve tired to keep them apart when traveling, just so that they wouldnt have to deal with each other. She obviously hated him for his templar upbringing and he her, for how mean she was. The entire game with her was uncomfortable. 

Yet, Anders gets more negativity for suggesting selling Fenris back into slavery (which is AWFUL but was a suggestion, not a demand like Morrigan’s need to have a child). Hell Morrigan having knowledge about Eluvians is a bigger issue than this horrible crime that she committed. Is it because she was sassy and fun? Is it because she was pretty? Is it because Alistair, or your warden, was male? Why does she get a free pass?