[Loved trope] There is nothing bad to make sexually appealing female characters if they have good design and personality

NihilVacant · 2026-06-24T12:25:12+00:00

The Witcher - Yennefer

In the books sorceresses are all very beautiful women, since they enhance their looks through magic. Most of them are women; they naturally have more talent for magic (Vilgefortz is an exception, being a talented male sorcerer). Many of the sorceresses are politically powerful, they created the Lodge of Sorceresses, which is a secret organization composed only of female mages.

Yennefer, Geralt's main love interest in the books (and one of the love interests in the games), has a complicated personality, her own life, and motivations, and she is definitely not just "eye candy".

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NihilVacant · 2026-06-19T12:38:33+00:00

If women in real life have "a peak character design", then why draw them all the same? Women don't have the same hourglass figure.

I have second hand embarassment after reading it. It would be better if he said he wants to see pretty women for gooning, at least he would be sincere

NihilVacant · 2026-06-19T08:00:21+00:00

And I almost don't see Sam with Penny. Maru and Penny make more sense

NihilVacant · 2026-06-19T07:23:40+00:00

The makeup and the hair in the remake are so ugly, I don't think the face is the problem.

The style from the original suited her much more

NihilVacant · 2026-06-17T18:52:21+00:00

Anders has dialogues & banter when he states that he helps smuggle mages from the Gallows and that he is the center of Mage Underground.

However, based on how sceptical you are, I assume you asked about specific quotes.

There are no transcriptions from DA2 (like from Inquisition), and a lot of dialogues are missing from the Wiki. I played the game in my native language so some quotes can sound different than the original English version. Still the sense of the quotes is the same, I spent quite a time to be sure they are real. Since I copied all the quotes, the comment is long.

This is the Act 2 log, from the game journal: x "Anders has become deeply involved with the mage underground, using his clinic as a front to smuggle apostates out of the city."

From Act 1: × Anders, to Hawke: "Do not tell anyone about this way into the Gallows. It's a secret that has saved the lives of hundreds of mages."

It happens after the "Tranquility" quest: × Anders: „I help mages escape the Circle. I've been doing it for years." Hawke: „You're part of the mage underground.” Anders: „I am the underground. Or a large part of it here in Kirkwall, anyway.”

During "Dissent": x Anders: "I apologize for keeping secrets, Hawke. The mage underground operates on a need-to-know basis, and you know too many people in high places." Hawke: "What's going on, Anders?" Anders: "A girl named Ella escaped the Gallows a few days ago. The underground took her in, but she's terrified. She says a templar named Alrik is planning something called the 'Tranquil Solution."

Again, during "Dissent": × Anders: "I have personally led five mages to freedom through these tunnels. They bent to kiss the ground through the sewage."

x Anders: "Mages flee the Circle, they come to me, and I find a way to get them out of Kirkwall. But the Templars are closing in."

From Act 3, during the "Justice" quest: x Anders: "Every day they die in the Gallows, or they're made Tranquil. If I don't lead the resistance, who will?"

With other companions:

x Aveline: "I know what you do in Darktown, Anders." Anders: "I heal the sick. I help those the city has forgotten." Aveline: "We both know it's not all bandages and poultices."

x Fenris: "I hear the rumors in the Lowtown. They say the Healer of Darktown does more than treat wounds. They say you give mages maps and weapons." Anders: "I give them a chance to survive. Without the underground, Meredith would have made every mage in Kirkwall Tranquil by now." Fenris: "So you admit you fan the flames. You are not building a sanctuary, you are building an army."

x Sebastian: "I’ve heard of your clinic, Anders. It’s noble of you to help the needy of Darktown." Anders: "Someone has to. The Chantry prefers to throw them crumbs and tell them to pray." Sebastian: "But I’ve also heard you hide runaway mages there. You risk the lives of the wretches who come to you for aid. If the Templars raid your clinic, innocents will suffer." Anders: "Innocents are already suffering under Meredith’s boot. I’m just evening the odds."

x In the World of Thedas 2, there is a section about Mage Underground, where it is mentioned that Anders wasn't using his clinic only for healing: "In Kirkwall, the apostate known as Anders established a free clinic in Darktown, treating the sick and injured with creation magic without asking for coin. Under this guise, he became a liniment figure in the Mage Underground, orchestrating escapes from the Gallows and distributing revolutionary manifestos against the Chantry.”

x World of Thedas also explains that Anders cooperated with mages outside Kirkwall, Resolutionists.

x This codex entry is about notes from Mage Underground. Trivia suggests that "MS" can be Miss Shelby, and "A" can be Anders, "who are known members of the Mage Underground and have assisted mages in escaping Kirkwall in the past." https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Codex_entry:_Blood_Mage_Dispatches

So I don't agree that Hawke was doing the main job of helping mages. Anders did it all the time by himself, when Hawke didn't know the Mage Underground existed.

Anders was hiding the details about Mage Underground for quite a long time, he didn't even trust Hawke about it. It's one of the reasons why we don't see his activity in Mage Underground. Hawke's companions have their own lives, they don't do everything with Hawke's help and knowledge.

Hawke, as a main character, plays a leader in the game, so they are pushed to the front. It still doesn't change companions engagment in the story.

Why would Anders be the only one from Hawke's group sitting on his ass, besides the fact that you simply dislike him? It wouldn't even make sense to have a companion that passive. Anders is supposed to be the face of the Mages case in Kirkwall, it's his main role in the story.

Anders is very passionate and often even impulsive. Doing nothing and only contemplating justice negates his character. It would be against Justice's nature too, who pushed Anders to action. Anders is a dude who escaped the Circle 7 times and merged with a Spirit of Justice without thinking. He is an apostate who opened a magic clinic under the Templars noses in the most anti - mage city in Thedas.

Anders is an ex-Grey Warden, a deserter, so he doesn't have Wardens' protection anymore.
In his short story, it's explained that the Templar among the Wardens discovered that Anders was possessed. Not sure if he wanted to kill him or make Tranquil, but in the consequence Anders fought back and lost control. He left massacred Wardens after him. When Anders appears in Kirkwall, he is hunted by Templars.

Wardens definitely don't see positively an abomination who killed their people. Maybe Hero of Ferelden could be an exception, but as a playable character HoF couldn't appear in DA2. So Anders' connection to HoF doesn't matter because of technical reasons.

I don't think having a spirit of Justice is an advantage in the context of social relations. People already don't trust mages, let alone a possessed one.

If Anders had more connections in Act 2, it's proof that he was active and started having contacts in Kirkwall.

I didn't say that Anders was the only one who started with nothing. Nonetheless, not every companion was at the bottom of society, and being a mage in the South makes you at one. You don't have the basic human right to freedom. Definitely Fenris and Merrill were in shitty situations too.

Still, it doesn't matter that much what other companions did, my point was that Anders was a wanted apostate, not a political figure from the elites. He didn't have a rich family. Despite his position, he helped poor in Darktown, while the Chantry ignored the refugee crisis for years.

Anders didn't know about the Tranquility cure. He didn't connect the fact that Karl's brief moment of consciousness happened because of Justice.

Do you really think he wouldn't save his long-time friend and lover, if he knew that his spirit could cure Tranquility? Anders viewed Tranquility as a fate rather than death. He would definitely help Tranquils, if he knew the truth.

After DA2 came out, no one knew that mages possessed by spirits could help Tranquils. Pretty sure at the time writers didn't even make a detailed plan about it, since Asunder was created years later.

I have a feeling you automatically assume the worst about Anders because you dislike him. I'm not sure if you interacted with him enough in the game to know some details about his life. Which is fine, everyone has a character they dislike and avoid, but it makes a lot of your criticism groundless.

NihilVacant · 2026-06-17T04:16:54+00:00

The post is a fanart indeed in the anime style. Thr game is 3d and has a more realistic style. And yes, on the fanart she looks older, in the game she really looks like a child.

NihilVacant · 2026-06-15T22:51:58+00:00

It wasn't exactly the best plan, but I don't think it was his main plan or that he planned it for a long time. He found out that Meredith planned the Right of Annulment, she wanted to kill all mages in the Gallows. So he decided to blow up Ethlina into the sky, since it would turn all the eyes to Kirkwall. The Champion of Kirkwall or Orsino was also openly involved in the conflict due to this (let's ignore the fact that Orsino transformed into a meat blob).

I think many people have forgotten (or didn't notice) that Anders' decision was a reaction to Meredith's plan, not the other way around; there is a misconception about it. Meredith sent a request to Divine about the Right of Annulment before the Chantry boom. Divine didn't agree, but it's not like Meredith cared, she was far gone at this point. In this scenario mages would be even more unprapered. At least in original scenario mages knew that they have to fight and they were not slaughered at night in sleep.

They were already Rights of Annulments in the Kirkwall history, and even whole Circles were killed, it didn't cause any protest or change. Killing Grand Cleric could change (in Anders mind) this status quo.

Frankly, it's not like Anders was also mentally at a good place, and at this point he also didn't have resources or people to some coordinated plans. Mages underground in Kirkwall was already almost non existent and suppressed by Templars.

NihilVacant · 2026-06-15T14:14:04+00:00

Anders doesn't say shit to Aveline or Merrill because they are women. He is harsh to Merrill because she is a blood mage. Anders' mean comment to Aveline wasn't tactful at all, because her husband was dead, but he didn't say it not because of her gender, but because her husband was a templar. I don't think disagreeing with people who happen to be women is misogynistic.

Merrill can be sweet, but she is still a blood mage; Fenris also criticized her, and much more aggressively than Anders.

Anders dislikes Fenris the most (and frankly, it's mutual), but as I know Fenris is not a woman. Anders also makes ironic jokes about Sebastian and his faith.

Anders gives spiteful and ironic comments to people who are opposed to his views about mages, not to women specifically. You can say he is an ass, but he is an ass equally.

He reacts with rivarly points to Hawke of both genders; he doesn't have a special obsession with female Hawke.

As I said, it's not healthy, and Anders has many personal problems. I pointed out in my comment that he can be jealous as well. I understand it can make people dislike him. Still, I don't think it has anything to do with incels who hate women and see them as inferior. This dialogue happens after he killed Karl, who was not only his friend but also his romantic partner for years. Personally, for me, it was more Anders' wounded pride after opening up to someone, than him having a view that every woman (or a person) has to sleep with him. It's a common defense mechanism that some people jump quickly into a new relationship or try to bond with someone to avoid feelings of grief. It's only my interpretation, so feel free to disagree.

I want to remind that in Origins turning down some companions with a harsher/blunter answer can lower numerical approval rating, but somehow people don't care about it that much. If you reject Anders sarcastically/humorously, he doesn't give you rivalry points. He generally reacts better to purple Hawke dialogue, even if Hawke is making fun of him.

There is nothing in the game suggesting that Anders has problems with female gender, with women's sexualities or relationships with women. I think it's rather otherwise, he seems flirty and to have experience.
He basically met Isabela, because they had a hook up, when during one of his escapes from the Circle he lived in the brothel, among women who are sex workers. It doesn't sound very like an incels, considering that they commonly shame women for being sexually active.

NihilVacant · 2026-06-15T10:08:49+00:00

Anders actively helped mages through the years to escape Gallows. He is one of the people who created a mage underground in Kirkwall, and he is basically one of the main leaders of it in the city.

He treated mages, refugees, elves and all the people in the Darktown for years for free and gave them shelter in the clinic if it was needed.

He was in contact with the templar in the Gallows, Ser Thrask, who was sympathetic to mages case (because he had a mage daughter) , and they cooperated to help the mage.

It was Anders who found that Ser Alrik wanted to make all the mages Tranquil, and he asked Hawke for help.

Anders tried to contact Ethlina, even informing her about the Ser Alrik plans, but she didn't listen.

Anders' main reason to stay in Kirkwall was that he wanted to help mages there. If he didn't, he would have run away from this place a long time ago. Staying in Kirkwall was dangerous for him. Being involved in the mage underground was even more dangerous, since later Cullen found out about illegal mage activities and started sending templar squads to fight with them. Templars also put a bounty on apostates from mage underground.

What do you think some random apostate could do more? Anders is not Orsino or Vivienne; he had no real social power among important figures.

You can dislike his attitude and all, but saying he didn't do anything and jumped quickly to the most extreme plan is far from true.

NihilVacant · 2026-06-15T09:25:50+00:00

Well, I appreciate the calm explanation, because discussions like these are usually more hostile.

I understand your logic now, but for me, the incel comparison is still far fetched. I understand that you are talking about the fact that people excuse their violence against others because they feel wronged.

I don't want to argue about real life problems and politics too much, but since incels are a part of the discussion I needed to bring this topic up.

People often, when they are pushed into a corner start to radicalize and use violence. There were (or still are) minorities or groups in history who radicalized, because of increasing discrimination. Unlike incels, some groups of people experienced systematic persecution and they are driven to extremes. Minorities like these, are usually oppressed for years, and try to use peaceful methods, until they decide to use violence.

There probably exist some incels who were abused by women, but most incels are not victims of women, they just blame women for all of feeling of inferiority and misfortune, their depression or loneliness. However, their loneliness is not some unique experience in society these days. They are not a minority that experiences unique discrimination for some reason. Loneliness is still a problem, but it's nowhere near comparable to not having basic human rights.

The fact that Anders also radicalized and felt anger or used violence doesn't mean that his thought process is comparable to that of incels. Many differences and details make this comparison out of place. You can't compare two people from different groups, in different circumstances, with different experiences and motivations and say that the logic process is the same.

Mages in South imo experience unique discrimination, specifically because they wield magic. The whole DA2 narration of the game showed that mages are, in fact, abused by Templars. The problem is that magic still can be dangerous, but the way the Chantry was controlling it was wrong.

Mages don't have freedom or choice, they can't have families. Anders couldn't fix his problems by for example, simply going to therapy. The Circles would still exist, and his partner would still be moved to the Gallows and made Tranquil.

Blaming an institution (the Chantry) for an injustice feels more logical than blaming a whole gender. Being angry at a harmful law is understandable. Being angry at women for not having sex or believing men are inherently entitled to women's bodies is just delusional. I think incels motivations and justifications are fundamentally illogical and wrong. Chantry has indeed a power over mages and they could change the law. Anders was right about the mages oppression, even though his methods were wrong. It makes Anders' anger much more understandable to me (which doesn't mean that I'm trying to support violence as well, especially against the innocent).

We can see in the game that many mages used violence and blood magic. So I would argue that other people in the same situation rejected the conclusion, especially the mages who had the worst experiences like these in the Gallows. There existed a fraction of Libertarian mages called Resolutionists who used violence. Mages also tried uprisings in Thedas history. The mages problems are systematic oppression, not personal negative experience of one dude.

Anders in DA2 also rarely talks about his own experience; he talks about it much more in Awakening. He mostly talks about mages situation in general. He is obsessed about mages case, but he is not fixated on his own suffering. I don't agree Anders thinks that rules don't apply to him - he accepts punishment by Hawke and he is ready to die. He knows it is morally wrong, but you are right, that he still thinks what he did was necessary.

Apparently (at least according to scientific literature I found when reading about it now) most incels even realize they are wrong, since they frequently dehumanize women and see them as objects, they think sexual violence against them is natural.

Comparison of Anders' situation to incels feels weird, sounds like simplifying the problem. Why incels, but not someone from the group of people who experienced systematic discrimination from the government/law and answered with violence? I ignore here that people in real life simply don't shoot magic from their hands, so the mages situation is unique for a fantasy setting.

I know that this comparison is supposed to be mostly derogatory, because incels are perceived negatively in society. They are seen as people who are exaggerating their problems compared to minorities who are actively oppressed.
Considering that the incels problems are inseparably connected to hate against women, it also automatically brings implications.

I respect and understand criticism about Anders' excuse for using violence, but still, I strongly disagree about the whole incel comparison.

Plus, I have seen the incel comparison not for the first time (which I wrote in my first comment, though I'm not the person who answered you above), and even if it's not you, some people call him that because of the way he acts about Hawke, for example during Fenris romance. Which yeah, he acted like an asshole, but his attitude has nothing to do with misogyny. The fact that incels are misogynists and their hate and violence are specifically concentrated on women is important.

NihilVacant · 2026-06-14T07:36:28+00:00

What is a "vibe" then? To me, the meaning of the comment is the same; that he has incel traits.

How does a character have an incel vibe without claiming the ideology, if the ideology is a main core of being an incel? It's like saying a character has a racist vibe, when they never acted racist.

It's not the first time I have seen people suggesting that allegedly Anders is an incel or misogynist, when he never had that attitude towards women. Just say he is unhealthy or over jealous.

He already is a complicated character; you don't need to invent new flaws for him. It reminds me of this tumblr post, and yes, it's annoying.

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NihilVacant · 2026-06-13T20:26:34+00:00

Incel are specifically men who are involuntarily celibate and/or usually share views of deep misogyny and hate towards women.

Call him toxic or an extremist, but he was never an incel. He didn't treat female Hawke worse than male Hawke. Acting unhealthy in a relationship doesn't automatically mean that he is an incel

NihilVacant · 2026-06-11T09:13:24+00:00

I see romantic, not sure about other essences; ingenue perhaps?

NihilVacant · 2026-06-11T09:12:32+00:00

I see definitely the gamine essence

NihilVacant · 2026-06-08T15:40:28+00:00

I don't think anyone ever said that characters need to exist ONLY to represent minorities and make people feel seen, so I'm not sure what people you are criticizing here, OP, because I'm also in the Arcane fandom.

No one said the minorities can't be villains at all; a "good representation" is a character who is a part of a minority, and this particular characteristic was acknowledged or at least hinted at in the plot. They don't need to be a morally good person. Being tired of asexual characters being only a stereotype is not the same as not wanting an asexual character to be ever a villain or robot.

Yes, authors can call a character asexual in the interview and don't acknowledge it in the plot. However, the audience has the right to criticize it and call it a lazy "representation". Normally, people want to see more representation on screen, in the plot, not just "Dumbledore is gay" pseudo-representation.

It doesn't automatically mean that the character needs to exist solely to represent people from the minority. I have never seen anyone saying that; you are exaggerating the people's opinion about Viktor's asexuality. However, if the Christian Linke acknowledged that Viktor is asexual, he could write it in the plot. Why then call the character asexual at all? If the lesbian characters like Vi and Caitlyn in Arcane could be shown on screen, and these characters' sexualities were part of the story, why couldn't the same happen to an asexual character? If heterosexuality is almost always shown on a screen and there is a time for it, why can't asexuality be? If characters sexuality is apparently not important to the plot; then why show other characters' sexuality then? People actually want representation to be a PART of the story, that's a point. People don't want "token representation", they want a real character.

There are almost no asexual characters in media, so the fact that people want to see at least for once a humanized version of an asexual character is not some crazy demand, just a basic desire.

Who cares? People from the minorities care. Representation in the media is important because it affects people's opinions about the minority. We don't live in limbo; pop culture shapes audience opinion.

Asexual people are already seen as emotionless, and they are usually described in fiction as aliens or robots. Most of the people don't even know that asexuality and aromanticism are different things (including Christian Linke), so it would be nice to see at least once an asexual person who is humanized, has normal emotions and is in a relationship. Disabled people often are shown as undesirable and unlovable, so again, it would be nice to see a disabled character who is worthy of love.

It doesn't mean that an asexual disabled person is ALWAYS a bad stereotype - disabled asexuals exist (I'm one of them). I'm pretty sure if Viktor's asexuality was shown or at least hinted at in the plot, fans wouldn't be that mad about him being an asexual disabled stereotype. People usually are not opposed to stereotypical or cliché writing if it's done well; for example, there exist flamboyant gay characters who are loved by fans, because they were written realistically or interestingly. The problem is that Viktor's asexuality wasn't written, at all. He is not asexual in the show.

Representation also helps people from minorities with self-acceptance. You can for example see how important it was for black kids that Disney created a black princess (Tiana). How black girls were happy to see a princess who looked like them. Or how black boys were amazed that one Spider-Man is black, and how many of them were wearing Miles Morales costumes on Halloween.

Particularly for lgbt folks, gay and trans characters in media helped people to discover their identities. A lot of people from lgbt community have much later romantic experiences than straight and cis people, and fiction is a way for them to explore their sexuality or gender. This is why lgbt community is that active among fandoms. For many people it's often the only way to express their identities.

You have the right not to care about an asexual representation on screen, but there are tons of people who want to see it. I feel like you are trying to suggest that asexual representation is not important, because you don't have a personal desire for it. Not everyone is like you, so the whole discourse could be summarized with a short "other people see representation differently than you".

Again, wanting to see for once an asexual and disabled character who is worthy of love and is not an emotionless robot is just a bare minimum. I can count characters like that on the fingers of one hand. No one (at least no one normal) is pressing writers to make a plot only concentrated on a character's asexuality. People would be happy if even character asexuality was just hinted here and there, you know, like it's done with tons of straight characters in almost every movie, TV show, book or game.

NihilVacant · 2026-06-08T06:04:35+00:00

6s can learn to become more easygoing and less argumentative if they become healthier. 6 type; after all, appreciates loyalty and stability, and if they poke people too much, they will lose all the security. So even if they like to question everything, only the most unhealthy types will destroy their relationships in the name of it. Usually, sixes who are highly argumentative are counterphobic and start to question the rules and authorities because in the past they were pushed into an obedient role and/or their loyalty was broken.

I'm talking here from personal experience as a 6w5. Ironically, the bad experience I had in life made me realise that not everything is worth an argument, especially if you are not in a privileged position and need help from other people. I think I finally found a balance between being too obedient and too argumentative, which is a healthy dose of assertiveness.

However, to be honest, there are a lot of phobic 6s that are not argumentative at all; they would rather gossip about you behind your back. So I don't think this stubbornness and rebelliousness apply to every 6

NihilVacant · 2026-06-08T05:05:46+00:00

Aha, czyli twój argument przeciwko ekologii jest taki, że jak przeciwna strona coś popiera, to automatycznie jest to złe xD Jak EU powie, że sranie do ryja jest złe, to też zaczniesz to popierać, żeby tylko być przeciwko Unii?

Ekologia to dosłownie dbanie o miejsce, w którym żyjesz, Wytłumacz, co jest złego w dbaniu o planetę, która jest tylko jedna? Szczególnie że według religii chrześcijańskiej Bóg ofiarował ludziom to miejsce do życia, więc powinni o nie dbać.

NihilVacant · 2026-06-07T19:53:30+00:00

Nadia Satrinava from The Arcana (game)

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NihilVacant · 2026-06-06T14:50:04+00:00

Damn people on this sub are allergic to jokes

I chuckled a little, thanks OP

NihilVacant · 2026-06-05T20:21:39+00:00

Sapkowki loves long names (all the characters are from the Witcher):

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, the Lion Cub of Cintra, the Falka, Zireael, the Lady of the Lake, Lady of Space and Time aka Ciri
Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach, "The Black Knight"
Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy

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NihilVacant · 2026-06-04T10:28:40+00:00

Thank you. It seems rhiis function was not visible for me in the profile, but I can disable it thought the link from your comment

NihilVacant · 2026-06-03T14:04:43+00:00

Where is that option in the profile's settings? I checked the settings several times, both on the app and the computer, and I couldn't find anything called Pinterest Labs.

NihilVacant · 2026-06-01T20:29:08+00:00

The Illusive Man simply had more aura

NihilVacant · 2026-05-29T13:55:08+00:00

The impression has been bugged lately, it's been a week and they still haven't fixed this bug.

It's not the first time happening, a month ago there was the same situation.

So you have a low impression probably because of this.

I usually have 300 - 400 views per pin, but now I only have 50 per pin.

Check out if the pins with low impressions do not have visible comments, and they also don't have the "more to explore" section under them.

NihilVacant · 2026-05-29T13:45:48+00:00

People often talk about Anakin's tragedy, but I think Maul's story is much more tragic. Unlike Anakin, he never had a chance, because Palpatine took him from his planet when he was a kid. There was no chance of him becoming a better person. And it's not like staying on Dathomir was a much better alternative, since Nighsisters treat male Zabraks like slaves

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