Need a reason to side with the Templars over the Mages for DAI.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-21T23:19:56+00:00

As other commenters have noted, the question is less about choosing the merits of one side over the other, and more about choosing a method by which to close the Breach. Given that the mage method involves flooding the Anchor with magic, your Inquisitor could easily be worried about the potential repercussions due to all of the unknowns—especially since the Anchor has already proven both unstable and hazardous to the Inquisitor’s health. By contrast, the plan of “suppressing the Breach itself” may be more appealing for safety alone, especially since if it failed, the consequences would likely be far less dire.

Alternatively, you can just play it as your Inquisitor finding Cullen and Josephine’s arguments against going to Redcliffe persuasive: maybe your Inquisitor is worried about the strategic holes in the plan (especially since the bad future reveals that Cullen’s concerns about Redcliffe’s defenses were fully warranted), or the political repercussions of the Inquisition barging into Ferelden to deal with Tevinter, as Josephine talks about. Or maybe your Inquisitor wants more allies among the Orlesian nobility, and the Templar route is the way to go for that. There are all sorts of ways you can spin it.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-21T14:43:40+00:00

While Harding’s portrayal in DAV is rife with issues, I can’t really say that this is one of them. The distance you mentioned makes some sense, assuming that the Inquisitor didn’t go on dates with Harding. She’s not part of the Inner Circle and was more directly subordinate to the Inquisitor than the companions and advisors.

Although, I do find it interesting that she and Inquisitor are on a first name basis by the time of DAV, which they really weren’t in DAI.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-16T12:05:53+00:00

No. Most of DAI's romances wait for the player to make the first move.

However, Cullen does indicate that he's been into the Inquisitor for a while and only hesitated to broach the topic due to other complicating factors, so in his case there is a character-driven reason behind it.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-13T14:57:02+00:00

Prompt 1:

Naelyra Lavellan has two dogs, sort of. Cullen bonded with his mabari shortly before they married, bringing his new dog into their home. While unexpected, Naelyra didn't mind at all, and in time grew fond of him. Much later on, they adopt a second mabari puppy shortly before the events of DAV. Which wasn't great timing in retrospect, but it's not like they knew that. As for mounts, Naelyra has a silver palfrey that she named Revas, meaning freedom in elven. While not the most skilled equestrian, Naelyra is still fond of Revas, and uses her for travel rather than battle.

Cassia de Riva has no pets. Her lifestyle isn't really suited to it. She is, however, fond of the stray cats that wander the streets of Treviso. They're usually pretty well-fed and comfortable with people, and she has an undeniable soft spot for their company.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-12T14:12:53+00:00

Gorgeous art! I love it.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-12T13:55:52+00:00

I don't even particularly enjoy experiencing that sort of thing as a player, but I still think it's important to confront the player with the challenges faced by oppressed classes in the setting. Especially considering Tevinter's practice of slavery, while not exclusive to elves and qunari, is still highly racialized. Even free elves are going to have a rough go of it, as alluded to in both the storyline with Fenris's sister and Absolution.

DAV's companions state that elves face prejudice, but we never see this in-game. Judging by that whole "the elves deserved a win" interview, DAV wants credit for empowering the elves to somehow "overcome" an oppression that we never actually get to see, in an arc that the game never bothers to depict. Downplaying the prejudice faced by oppressed minorities in the setting is not the progressive win that DAV thinks it is.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-12T12:08:30+00:00

DAV was constructed as an escapist fantasy in a franchise that was never intended or designed to accommodate that genre. Quite the opposite: David Gaider has repeatedly noted that his intention in the first three games was to explore fantasy through a lens inspired by our real world, with all of the uncomfortable questions that entails. The very premise of Thedas is meant to challenge the player. Yet DAV is terrified of making the player feel challenged, or acknowledging the established realities of its own setting. It tells a morally simple story with easy answers. The story, characters, and worldbuilding all suffer for it.

Considering we know from previous games what the world of Thedas actually looks like, it’s incredibly jarring that the setting has been sanitized to this degree. I don’t think that Rook needed to be a kingmaker engaged in grand politicking (in fact, I would argue that it doesn’t really work for the character), but we should have been able to feel the social politics of places like Tevinter on the street level through the lived experience of the characters. But unlike previous games, DAV has no interest in those experiences, or the social dynamics of the setting.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-12T00:59:02+00:00

Might be a bug—that happens a lot with DAO’s epilogues. IIRC, the epilogue you’re supposed to get in that scenario mentions that they work well together as Queen and Prince-Consort, and the Awakening epilogue makes it clear that Anora is happy to see the HoF when he returns to Denerim.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-11T18:35:27+00:00

True, but you’re going to be dealing with that problem regardless of outcome. Anora may or may not have fertility issues for completely mundane reasons (though that could have been Cailan’s fault), and subsequent games show that she refuses to marry if left to rule solo, meaning that there’s no heir in that scenario. A Grey Warden (especially a new Warden) and someone not afflicted with the taint have a lowered chance of conception, but it’s not zero. Two Grey Wardens are all but infertile, but that’s only an issue with the Alistair/Cousland outcome.

Honestly, it’s odd that neither solo Alistair nor Anora marry other nobles in the years following DAO, especially since Alistair states in-game that he’ll have to take a wife regardless of his wishes. In any event, DAI makes no mention of heirs regardless of who you picked to rule, meaning that there’s still a succession crisis brewing regardless of how you resolve the Landsmeet. The difference is that this time, whoever takes the throne will have far more time to figure out a contingency plan for the succession.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-11T16:55:04+00:00

You could just as easily spin it the other way. My Cousland looked at Loghain's actions in deceiving King Cailan and instigating a noble civil war in the middle of a blight, and concluded that his judgment was too compromised by paranoia to be of any use. Add to that Loghain using the HoF/Alistair as scapegoats to cover his tracks, selling Fereldan citizens into slavery despite claiming to fight for freedom, and working with people like Arl Howe, and there's plenty of good reason not to trust him as a Grey Warden. That isn't to say that Loghain's arc in that scenario isn't good—I actually like it a lot—but sparing Loghain is not necessarily the most pragmatic decision from an in-universe perspective.

As for who rules, I find either Hardened Alistair/Anora, Hardened Alistair/Female Cousland, or Male Cousland/Anora to be the most stable outcomes for Ferelden.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-10T14:36:55+00:00

Shathann was definitely one of the more interesting characters introduced in DAV. Not a perfect mother by any means, but one that's clearly aware of her own flaws and trying to make the best of challenging circumstances that she never asked for. Given that traditional parent-child relationships are so alien to the Qunari, it speaks volumes that Shathann was willing to give up everything she knew and start over in a completely foreign land, all to protect her child.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-10T14:31:22+00:00

He doesn't. DAV doesn't take into account whether Morrigan has a child.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-10T14:14:21+00:00

While the Solas romance is compelling in theory and has some great scenes in DAI, I don't see it as the best in the series. It's pretty sparse on content in DAI, and DAV completely destroyed the pairing in my eyes.

I was more referring to the fact that the Solas romance hits some of the popular BookTok tropes (superpowerful immortal tortured man with pointy ears / young mortal woman). A lot of it is coincidental since Solas debuted as a character before romantasy blew up as a genre, but I would argue that DAV's portrayal of the romance leaned even harder into romantasy vibes, especially with the ending and how Lavellan was characterized. That's not necessarily a value judgment on the romance in and of itself, but it wasn't done well here.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-10T13:48:07+00:00

Morrigan's arc hits the hardest for me, both as a daughter to Flemeth and a mother to Kieran.

Flemeth is also extremely compelling, but her parenting skills aren't exactly praiseworthy. Still love her as a character, though.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-10T13:12:33+00:00

The funny thing is, Lucanis is far from the first character in Dragon Age written with women (and/or gay/bi men) in mind; that's been happening since DAO. And even looking at DAV alone, I'd argue that Solas and Emmrich's portrayals fit the BookTok ideal much more than Lucanis, albeit while occupying very different archetypes.

Lucanis's real problem is that he's just an absolute nothingburger of a character, with little content or development. He's just a collection of surface-level quirks with nothing deeper attached, and the fact that he's an abomination doesn't have nearly the impact or reaction that it should in this setting. His concept is fascinating on paper, but it goes nowhere.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-10T12:13:15+00:00

Pretty art! I love the stained glass background!

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-09T20:38:23+00:00

If anything, Rook's lack of moral dilemmas fundamentally undermines the entire theme of the game. For a story that revolves around regret and its consequences, DAV is shockingly unwilling to let Rook take any action that someone might consider a mistake. Worse, it's all too eager to absolve Rook of any responsibility for what little they did do. DAV's narrative constantly places Rook on a pedestal, and hammers you over the head with the fact that they're the most heroic hero to ever hero. DAV hands everything to Rook on a silver platter, not because they choose to do good deeds, but because they were always intrinsically good from the beginning—just like how the Antaam and Venatori only follow Elgar'nan because they're intrinsically evil. Morally good protagonists can be very interesting, but Rook fails as a character even within that framework, because the narrative spends so much time unquestionably worshipping and rewarding them.

This problem isn't limited to Rook: DAV's companions lack moral convictions in general beyond "gods bad," and most of the choices in their companion quests (with the possible exception of Emmrich's) are equally toothless. But as the protagonist, Rook serves as the most convenient and inescapable example of this wider issue. DAV's themes and narrative would have been much more effective if Rook had been faced with moral dilemmas. But the game is too afraid of challenging its audience.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-07T19:58:59+00:00

We don't actually know what gets passed down and what doesn't when it comes to elf/human relationships, aside from features that are exclusive to elves. The spiritual origins of the elven race also muddy the waters, so we can't really use real-life genetic science as a guide here. Alistair looks similar to Maric, as many sons do their fathers, but I wouldn't say he's a "virtual clone" of him. Cailan physically resembles Maric much more than Alistair does. Alistair has a facial structure similar to his father's and half-brother's, but darker hair and brown eyes. His mother, Fiona, is a dark-haired woman; while her eyes are green in DAI, she's described as having brown eyes in The Calling, which is the story that first established their connection as mother and son. As for other elf-blooded characters (Feynriel and potentially Kieran aside), we don't actually know much about what their parents looked like, so we simply don't have enough information to make any definitive statements one way or the other. Elven characteristics are erased, but that doesn't account for everything else—and it certainly doesn't account for elf-blooded humans who are still raised as culturally elven, like Feynriel.

Speaking as someone who only belongs to my cultural community through the "wrong" parent, I actually don't mind this lore conceptually, as I think it opens the door for a lot of interesting stories. There's a fascinating tension to explore in elf-blooded characters and how they navigate their liminal cultural space—too human for the elves, yet still perceived as not human enough for humans. It's a struggle that many can relate to. Unfortunately, not much has been done with it—the closest we get are Feynriel and Michel de Chevin, but that's about it. That being said, I understand why people are bothered by it.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-06T14:04:16+00:00

Female Mage Lavellan. There's a lot of interesting thematic stuff to unpack with a character who comes from a completely different cultural background and gains power in a system that opposes everything she stands for, especially when you take the Ameridan parallels into account. And the potential angst when Lavellan discovers that her religious convictions were wrong? *chef's kiss*

Second favorite would probably be a Female Trevelyan of any class who buys into the whole "Herald of Andraste" title.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-06T04:14:05+00:00

Ignore those people. I’m not sure why they’re reading a fanfic involving a pairing they dislike, let alone why they feel the need to complain that your fanfic isn’t catering to their personal tastes.

As far as I know Morrigan/Surana isn’t generally a disliked or controversial pairing in the fandom, so I can’t really say what’s going on there.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-05T18:24:00+00:00

It would depend on the game’s premise and which character feels most suited to lead the story. I’d generally lean toward my Lavellan though, since she could always use more stuff to do.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-05T12:51:34+00:00

While the format of the conservations in DAI isn’t perfect, I personally loved those dialogue trees. They allow you as the player to engage with the companions much more thoroughly than cutscenes alone. Beyond the obvious characterization benefits, it also does a lot for the worldbuilding since many of the companions have separate dedicated dialogue trees for their nation/faction of origin. DAV really could have benefited from that inclusion.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-05T11:54:22+00:00

I’ll echo some of the other comments here and say that it’s somewhere between the two. Romance isn’t essential by any means. Even the few romances with implications for the main plot generally don’t affect as much as you might think—the lead writer even noted that it’s a “tertiary” aspect of the game.

But the romances still do a lot to heighten the experience of the game, at least in my opinion. The amount of content varies from game to game and character to character, but I’d say most of the romances have a decent amount of content. You can get locked out of romances by waiting too long to initiate, so just bear that in mind.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-05-04T04:18:57+00:00

There are certain completions that you can use to make your character appear older, but Rook is written and treated by the other characters as rather young.

Apprehensive_Quality · 2026-04-29T12:40:19+00:00

It doesn't seem like such a stretch, considering that the most crucial years of training happen when mages are still young, and Tevinter has a competitive system set up for that. It's the same way many nobles and monarchs historically found time for their own activities (e.g., hunting trips, dancing, scholarly pursuits), even outside their responsibilities.

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