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divine-donna · 10 months

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inquisition companions react to the inquisitor missing half their arm

because bioware didn’t wanna give it to us, i decided i’d just do it myself. (insert thanos meme) even though i am like years late to the hype.

the game is like 9 years old at this point, but spoilers ahead.

do keep in mind this is my own personal interpretation of each character. it may not be accurate to your own interpretations. (also i know leliana is technically not a companion in inquisition but i included her anyways)

cassandra pentaghast

if cassandra could plunge a knife into the heart of solas, she would. she would not let him get away with betraying you and taking the anchor along with your arm. you had basically fallen into her arms when you emerged from the portal and she had to carry you back to halamshiral. for the days you were unconscious, cassandra was anxious and extra prickly. there were many times where cullen would have to talk her down from her anger. even varric did too.

dorian pavus

the first thing he did was crack a joke. the atmosphere was tense and it just slipped out. “i asked you to come back in one piece, not missing one.” safe to say, the other companions did not approve of his joke. dorian was set to return to tevinter after being notified of his new position as a magister, but he delayed the return to his homeland for you. he sat in your room as you lied unconscious, barely breathing, leg anxious bouncing up and down. when you awoke, you were immediately met with a large and tight hug from him. he knocked the air out of your lungs from that.

blackwall

blackwall admires you. in fact, everyone would go so far as to say he adores you. he thinks of you as strong, capable, almost infallible. you closed rifts, you closed the big green tear in the sky, and you defeated corypheus! what couldn’t you do? all your feats proved to him that you were the strongest leader he could ever know. and yet, you were still mortal. you left the eluvians mortally wounded and exhausted beyond belief, your eyelids so heavy and ready to close so you may drift off into the black void of sleep. blackwall would not let you, not until you were taken away to be cared for. you found him sitting besides you, awake and on guard. your mortality was his reminder that you and him were the same, even if your lives appeared to be completely different. and he understood that the world would need a leader like you and that is dangerous.

iron bull

the bull could feel a stronger kinship with you that day. it appears that the both of you lost something. he betrayed the qun for the inquisition, thus losing a part of himself, his people. you lost a literal part of yourself, something you had to come to terms with after having the anchor for two years. to say iron bull was shaken up would be an understatement. he was getting cassandra to hit him with sticks for days on end while you lied unconscious. he wondered what would’ve happened if he was with you, if maybe...he could’ve stopped solas. but reminiscing never did anyone any good.

cole

as much as he wanted to help you, cole couldn’t. he also understood that you wouldn’t accept his help, no matter how much he insisted. so instead, he did the best thing he could do: help tend to your injuries. what was curious was that he could feel very little of your pain. when he felt your pain two years ago after forming the inquisition, it was concentrated in your hand and forearm. with it gone, you felt at peace. the primary source of pain for you had been washed away. perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, he thought.

sera

sera’s immediate reaction is, like dorian, to crack a joke. everyone is used to her eccentricity. but it felt different this time around. while you laid unconscious, recovering from the long battle, she occupied herself. she had to busy her hands and her legs, keep moving, keep her mind busy. because if she sat too still for even a second, then her mind would think about the worst outcome. she would get images of you, dead, because solas had betrayed you, betrayed her, betrayed the inquisition. hell, he betrayed the world! that knob! thinking he knew what was best! sera’s all the more relieved when it’s revealed you survived. she bursts through the door to see you and hug you tightly, complaining about how much you scared her.

varric tethras

in all honesty, varric should’ve been more prepared to expect...well, the unexpected. he had expectations of you coming out unharmed, untouched. obviously, that was not what happened. and he wondered if he was responsible for this. he had been one of the many people to support you as the inquisitor two years ago, suggesting it. he wondered if he made the wrong decision. but also, part of varric was relieved. he lost someone close to him two years ago. he didn’t know if he could handle losing you too.

vivienne de fer

the court would devour tales of the eluvians and how you managed to survive. that was vivienne’s first thought. people would be talking about you for centuries to come, certainly. and yet, she knew in her soul that was not what you would want. she does her best to minimize what rumors spread when you first emerge from the eluvians and help give you privacy. behind closed doors, vivienne checks on your injuries. part of her is amazed that the anchor was removed so cleanly.

josephine montilyet

josephine has seen many things ranging from serious to just plain absurd. when she was alerted that you had returned with many serious injuries, including the loss of half your arm, she sent messages to get the best possible doctors in all of orlais to help attend to you. the woman was definitely stressed beyond belief. but when she wasn’t trying to get everyone from backing off from you or getting people to look at you, josephine was attending to you herself. you awoke to find her wiping some sweat off your face and when she noticed, she muttered about how great andraste was and embraced you tightly.

cullen rutherford

your knight-commander appeared to take the news very well, much to the disapproval of cassandra. but the moment cullen was alone, in private, he flipped a table, causing everything to crash. all he could feel running throughout his body was regret, guilt, and anger. regret and guilt for not having gone with you. he should’ve. because if he did, maybe you would have came back alright. anger directed towards solas because the apostate had betrayed you, the inquisition. and everything you and him had worked towards was going to crumble. all of his hard work, leliana’s, cassandra’s, josephine’s, it’d all be for naught. cullen ends up spending a lot of time alone while you’re unconscious. he prays to andraste and the maker to distract himself from any wandering thoughts going towards lyrium. certainly the new mabari hound he decided to adopt on a whim helps with distractions at least.

leliana

the woman has seen many things in her lifetime, having experienced the fifth blight itself and been part of that fight against the archdemon. still, things aren’t easy when you come back from the eluvians missing half of your arm. even if it goes against all her duties, leliana stays with you until you wake up to make sure you’re alright. you’re the inquisitor after all and it’s vital that you’re still alive.

solas

he’s the one who took it. you think he cares?

in all seriousness, it gave him no pleasure to remove your arm for the anchor. even if his plan was...well, shoddy we should say, the anchor was going to kill you. he had no choice. carrying your hand and forearm around felt heavy. he could carry it just fine but what made it heavy was the burden that came with his plan to tear down the veil and bring doom upon the world in a desperate attempt to bring it back to what it once was. and also, the burden of having harmed you.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #cassandra pentaghast #dorian pavus #blackwall #iron bull #sera dragon age #cole dragon age #cullen rutherford #josephine montilyet #dragon age leliana #solas dragon age #varric tethras #vivienne de fer #x reader #male reader #female reader #gender neutral reader

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thekingofwinterblog · 8 months

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Inquisition Companions, good, bad, ugly

So over the years, I've seen a lot of dislike aimed at Inquisition's companions(Two in particular more than the rest), and doing a deep delve into all of them, a lot of the bigger issues with pretty much all of them are related to the direction the game chose to take.

Namely the thing that is pretty much ubiquitous with all of them is that unlike DAO characters where characters could, and did change, DAI's characters are far more in the style of DA2's characters, in that they are very static individuals.

That's not to say that there is no change at all to each of the companions over the game, but it's the exception, rather than the default.

The big, big thing that differentiates DAI to DA2 however, is the difference between Hawke and the Herald.

DA2's characters were for the most part just as unchanging as DAI's lot... But it was nowhere near as big and issue, because Hawke was a much, much more forceful personality, whereas the Inquisitor is a far more laid back individual, who even if they have the knowledge necessary to make arguments, isn't really all that inclined to actually make the kinds of arguments that Hawke would, and could.

However, it goes deeper than that, because DA2 also has one massive edge that DAI does not in regards to the companions. An actual series of Climaxes.

DA2 has two just as divise characters as any DAI ever had, in the form of Anders and Fenris... But you don't tend to hear that much about it anymore, because they have been overshadowed by DAI's far more divise cast... But also because if you really, really hate both of their guts... You actually get to see that through to the finish line at the end of DA2 and stick a dagger in Anders back for mass murder, and/or your preferred weapon of choice in Fenris guts when he comes to help the Templars attack the gallows.

Now this is actuqlly the case with most of the companions in DA2 and DAO. If you really, really hate one, chances are you have an option to kill them at some point. I'm just highlighting these two base breakers to illustrate a point.

NONE of your companions in DAI follows this mold... Except for one, and it's not one of the game's more hated characters.

There are few thematic, or cathartic end points for most of the companions, few moments where you can hit a point where you just tell them to fuck off and destroy them the way you could in previous games.

And without that possible sense of Catharsis, you never get any sense of closure, even if you hate the characters with every fiber of your being.

Cassandra Penthagast

Cassandra is an interesting case in that she actually does develop a lot over the game.

Cassandra is not at heart a bad person, she has plenty of flaws, and convictions she can be forced to challenge, with various degrees of success, but the ultimate thesis of her character is that she is not a leader, and she has to accept that.

Through the game you have the option of determining whether or not Cassandra reforms the Seekers of Truth, despite it all, or whether you aid her in letting go, and moving on, the latter of which seems the better option, for the reasons i'll cover next.

The worst ending for Cassandra is if you make her the next divine, where she frankly has no idea how to fix things, and so where Vivienne coldly but calculatly reinstates the circles and lays the groundwork for things going right back to the ways they were, leliana forges ahead with the reformation wheter with a cyncial heart or a cheerful one, Cassandra does not see where she needs to change the Chantry and where to keep it the way it was.

In other words, it's clear that despite good intentions, Cassandra is not up for reforming the seekers of truth... But going down that road does not utterly destroy the Inquisitor's relationship with her, and that is probably one of the better character development bits of the game.

Now the truly bad parts of cassandra, and the ones you cannot change or challenge at all, is her prejudices regarding the Elvhen pantheon or culture.

Now this is obviously far more pronounced if youre an elf, and especially if you romance her.

Now as we'll see, pretty much every, single companion has one of these(or in the case of two, a bucketload) of points where you are completely incapable of challenging or changing their views on things. Sometimes handled well, other times not.

Varric Tethras

Now Varric is as usual, perfect. He is the overall best companion to have in almost every, single situation, and his wits never fail him.

No, pretty much the only part of his interactions where i would say the game fails him, is his obligatory spot where you don't get to challenge him, and the game seemingly doesn't realize that a player might object to what's on screen, and that's the relationship he has with Bianca, his sorta Ex-Girlfriend who strings him along, even now two decades later.

Now Bianca is not a well liked character for a lot of reasons(The infuriation of any Hawke x Varric shipper for being the in universe reason not letting it happen, her being extremely unlikable, talking about things she doesnt understand, etc.), but i dont wanna focus on those here.

No the problem here is that there is no choice to point out just how toxic Bianca is, and/or try to help varric move on from her, as a friend, a love interest, or a shipper of Hawke x Varric.

You are instead forced to watch your bestie Varric Tethras keep going in a very clearly unhealthy and borderline abusive relationship without being able to do anything about it.

Solas

Like Varric and Cassandra, Solas is also one of the Game's best written characters, but unlike everyone else, it's because you actually do get to challenge him on pretty much everything he believes, culminating with a decisive point in your relationship where you get to punch him in the face... Or you can be his friend, his bestie, and he will still choose the worst possible route forwards.

Solas is a character with very, very strong beliefs, and regardless of what road you take with him you cannot change those... But unlike everyone else, this is a strength of the narrative, because the Game very clearly understands this fact, and uses it to tell a story.

If you befriend Solas, and respect his opinion on you, what you get is a tragedy, of a man with flaws and good points who despite it all was not able to overcome his issues and flaws... and if you oppose his views on every point, tells him to get bent, and ends up punching him in the face, you get the same option of catharsis that you get with Anders and Fenris(Even if it doesnt have the same kind of permanent joy of those).

Moving on from well written elf, we have the opposite. DAI's least well written, and easily the least well liked companion Sera.

Sera is an incredibly immature, rebel teenager, who thinks she has all the answers when she really doesn't know jack shit.

That's not the bad part by the way, that could have made for a great character actually... no the problem is that the game does not confront any of these flaws the way you could with previous companions.

Sera is just as intolerant, bigoted, and self-righteous as Solas, Fenris and Anders ever was... But unlike with Solas, the game does not recognize this as a flaw in her as a person.

Both of these two have genuine virtues and flaws... But the problem that ultimately doomed Sera into becoming the most hated companion is that the game does not recognize, or give you the option of confronting her on her shitty, shitty behavior in any mature fashion.

Rather it's just treated as a part of her quirky personality that you have to accept to deal with her.

I would also argue that Sera has the single least impressive endings out of everyone of your companions.

If you hate her beyond words, you have the option of kicking her out of the Inquisition at any time... But it doesn't have any sort of Catharsis behind it, and rather just comes across like the Inquisitor has just had enough of her bullshit, and tells her to leave after one too many pranks.

There was a way to do this right, and this ain't it.

On the opposite ending, in trespasser, Sera does finally give up on her hatred against the Elves, but not because of any character growth. Instead, she, like many other young firebrands burned herself out on hating the targets of her ire... But she has not had any character growth as a result, not any moments where she recognizes, "maybe I've been a douce..." instead her attitude is basically "My hatred was justified, but eh, it wasn't worth it." Which in it's own way just makes her look even worse.

Dorian Pavus

Dorian is also one of the better written DAI companions, and like Cassandra and Varric, his biggest issue, is that there are parts of him that the Inquisitor is not allowed to challenge, which can really leave a bad taste in one's mouth.

Pavus, like Sera is a young, anti-establishment rebel, the main difference being that Dorian's target of ire generally tends to deserve their hatred, and unlike Sera he has put a lot of deep, deep thoughts into it... And probably most important of all, despite everything, Dorian truly, genuinely loves his homeland.

The scene after getting to skyholdz where Dorian lays out his feelings after learning that Cory is a Tevinter magister is probably the best bit of writing he has in the entire game, as he is forced to confront that the single worst crime in human history, which everyone else takes for granted was committed by one of his countrymen, happened mostly as the chantry said it did.

"Because the imperium... Is my home."

Dorian's entire arc is summed up by that line. For all his justified anger and hatred of everything the Tevinter Imperium stands for, Dorian loves his homeland. He is just as much a patriot as any of the Venatori you fight in the game. It's just that his vision of where the Imperium has to go is fundamentally different than theirs.

He is essentially what Varric would have been, if he was in Bhelen's position.

The man who sees the flaws, the cracks and most importantly, that there is a way forward that isn't just capitulation to tradition, when tradition got them into this mess to begin with.

...which is why the thing you're not allowed to truly call him out on is so baffling.

Because the thing you are not allowed to critique in any noteworthy way is his opinion on slavery.

And the funny thing is... His initial stance on slavery is written, really, really well. He thinks on slavery exactly the way a man raised in a slave society would, even if in most other regards he is a good man. There is a lot of people in modern day that wants to demonize every, single person who lived in a slave society unless they were 100% abolitionists, but the reality is generally far, far less simple. Because there were plenty of people like Dorian. Good people in most regards, who nonetheless didn't see a problem with slavery because their society ran on it.

It is a very obvious flaw of his, and the writing for it is good... You know what is not good? The way the Inquisitor tries to challenge his views.

When challenged, Dorian points out that the south has alienages instead of slavery, that is just as oppressive and full of abuse, which is actually a good point... The problem is that you are not then allowed to point out the obvious, namely that any mage society with slaves, would have every single incentive to use blood magic in the worst ways possible, and so the root of everything wrong with his homeland comes back to slavery in the end.

Neither are you allowed to point out the constant and frequent slave raids and underground enslavement across all of Non Tevinter mainland Thedas... Which is only a thing because of Tevinter's slave market.

As such, what could have been another aspect of Dorian that added to his character, instead is far and away the most infuriating of all of these character aspects you are not allowed to challenge or critique... Because the game was so, so close to making him a perfect character... And then fumbled it by not allowing you to force him to grow at all on the subject.

Thom Rainier

Blackwall is an interesting character... In how you can have a decent concept, competent execution, good pacing, and still produce a very, very boring result.

There is nothing inherintly wrong with Blackwall, but there is nothing that interesting about him either. The man has no charisma, and though he lacks any of the big points where you're not allowed to challenge him on like most of the cast has, he lacks any of rhe more interesting aspects like varric, cassandra, solas, and so on has.

Sera and Vivienne might be far less likeable, but at least they have interesting things to consider how their writing went wrong. By contrast Blackwall is competently written and executed... but that does not make him interesting.

The Iron Bull

Iron Bull is basically the opposite of Blackwall, in that he is an incredibly uninspired concept, but because of his execution, he works.

He is the upfront double/triple agent, the washed up loser who realized how shitty his side was, and so ends up defecting.

On paper that's something that's been done a thousand times and does not sound interesting at all, but as Blackwall proves, the execution is the key to success.

Bull's story of how he genuinely believes in the Qun despite having effectively left it, and how despite his integration with the Inquisitor and the rest of the cast, at the end of the day, even if you romance him, the thing that genuinely, truly matters to Bull, his soul, is his mercenary company, not you, not the Inquisition, not the Qun, is far, far more engaging than it has any right to be for being such a simple premise.

He's also an excepection to the rule about not having a satisfactionary bad ending, because if you truly, genuinely did hate him, and sacrificed his men, he WILL turn on you, just like Fenris, and will have the same ending as the Tevinter Elf.

Vivienne

Vivienne is the second most disliked Character in DAI, and just like Sera it comes down to bad writing, and how the game does not allow you to push all the way to really make a character work.

Vivenne is an interesting concept in that she, just like the original game's ice witch is a flat out evil character in a party of generally more good-hearted if flawed individuals.

The game is very, very upfront with the fact that she is a competent, charismatic, ambitious, ruthless individual, who wants to recreate a system where she and those like her would succeed... But anyone of mediocre or average talents would be crushed, and freedom will be ground beneath templar boots again.

That's an interesting concept, and frankly I would applaud them for NOT letting you soften her, the way the original game did with a Morrigan who was befriended/romanced.

The problem here, is the fact you are not allowed to take this to the finish line.

Unlike so many of Origins and DA2's companions, who would have some sort of climax where if you went against them completely, you would be forced to have to end up fighting them as the final point to their character, Vivenne has NO climax in any way.

And no character in the entire game, is hurt more by a lack of a climax than Vivienne.

To compare her to Morrigan, the original witch was not someone who could be killed, but she had a thematic climax, where if you wanted to, you could repay her for the fact she was just using you, by denying her the ultimate price, the only thing she wanted, and all her plans had been building towards by not doing the ritual.

And if that didn't suffice there was also the way you ended whatever relationship you had by stabbing her in witch hunt.

The problem with Vivienne, is that she has nothing like this. Regardless of what you do, even if you don't recruit her, she still wins in some way or another.

And if you hate her guts, that is a big, big problem.

The reason why Morrigan worked, was because you could make her go through substantial Character development to overcome her flaws. You cannot with vivienne. She starts the game off as a bitch who loves the Orlesian pastime "The Game" that is responsible for 99% of it's population being little better than livestock that can be beaten and raped at will, and she ends the game as a successful player of that game, who even if you do nothing with her at all, still emerges as a challenger to the College of enchanters, spitefully trying to tear down any alternative to the Circle.

If you disagree with Vivienne's point of view, there is absolutely nothing to be gained from recruiting her.

Her personal quest is probably the single biggest example of this. Wheter you give her the right heart or not, her lover dies, and she moves on, takes advantage of the situation, and comes out on top.

The way to fix this is pretty simple too. Have it actually matter.

There should have been an option for you to have leliana look into why the heart mattered for Vivienne(which an inquisitor really, really sjould have the power to) and make the choice to either comply, or deny her the advantage of a powerful noble ally.

Then, if you give her a false heart and the guy dies, when confronted about it, you should have been able to tell Vivienne to get bent, that you have watched her and judged her, and ultimately decided that her and her desire for a world that is run by "the game" has no place in the one you wish to build, and so you removed her biggest patreon and supporter, and you follow that up by kicking her out of the Inquisition.

That would have been a satisfactory climax for anyone who hated Vivienne's guts, and would have given even people who don't like her as a person a reason to recruit her... All while not changing her personality in the slightest.

Wheter you then have a life and death duel with her or not doesn't matter, because the Thematic climax has been reached, and you have had a satisfactary conclusion to her and the Inquisitor's relationship.

As it is, if you really don't like Vivienne, the only winning move, is not to play with her. Once you've recruited her, she will get to reap the benefits that she was part of the Inquisition for the rest of her life, and even if you don't show up to her meeting at all, she still makes the world a worse place by trying to tear down the College.

Cole

Like The Iron Bull, Cole is also a very simplistic character idea, but unlike Blackwall, he is very well executed.

The way his telepathy is used to give an insight into how the world works, and how characters are actually built up is one of the best parts of the entire game. Cole has the single most interesting party banter in the entire game, and as such is great to have around even if not that important to the plot.

The main problem with Cole is that after you make the choice of whether or not to make him human or backtrack towards being a spirit, you don't really get to see the aftermath other than trespasser, and even then, it's just in whether or not he has a relationship.

Other than that, he's pretty great though, and of the characters who might leave Skyhold, he's pretty much the only one who's exit is engaging as he calls you out on how despite your words, you don't want to help people, which is ehy he's leaving.

The fact that he's compassion in human form makes this ending way more fitting than, say, if Blackwall does the same thing.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dragon age 2 #dragon age origins #dragon age awakening #meta #companions #varric tethras #cassandra pentaghast #solas #fen'harel #dorian pavus #cole #vivienne #blackwall #thom rainier #sera #iron bull #the iron bull

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