[ SECRET POST #2721 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2721 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 084 secrets from Secret Submission Post #389.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

01. http://oi58.tinypic.com/ibxd2u.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

I love Anders in Awakening but hate him to death in DA2.

[meishuu]

Same. I really liked him in Awakening, in DAII not so much... then again, the only one I actually liked from DAII was Aveline.

[(Anonymous)]

Duuuude, I'm just replaying da 2, so weird timing.

But yeah, I agree. Then again, I also think both sides have a point in the mage-templar debate so that doesn't help in terms of almost forcing people to pick a side.

[(Anonymous)]

I love Anders a lot, and how his character progressed from Awakening to DA2, what with Justice/Vengeance and all. If you play Awakening again, what's going to happen to his character in DA2 almost becomes painfully obvious just in various lines and party banter.

That being said, I don't like him sexually, so I can't say I "fangirl" him or whatever. Fenris and Isabela all the way.

Oh god I hope Fenris is in DA3, at least in a cameo. Anders probably wouldn't be, he was too important in DA2 and probably had the highest chance of being, well, dead by the end of it, but Fenris has a chance. Merrill and Isabela have already survived two games, so maybe not them.

I did like Velanna too though. But I don't think she would have been as interesting a character next to the others. Merrill is already an elf mage, and Fenris is an elf as well. And considering the Circle is such an important part of the story, having a mage from the circle makes the most sense. Anders really made a lot more sense than Velanna, unless the storyline were completely altered. (which might've been okay - I rather wish things had culminated with the Qunari arc, which was much more interesting)

[kallanda_lee]

I didn't play Awakening, but I disliked him in DA2. I wanted to romance him, then about 1/3 into the game realized he was a fanatical nutcase, backed away slowly, and romanced Fenris. He also had issues, but those I could deal with better.

[(Anonymous)]

See but Andres wasn't a fanatical nut case in Awakening. ): They killed his fun snarky character for some angst.

[(Anonymous)]

Personally, I think that Jowan would have made more sense in Anders' role for DA2. It jives more with his character.

[(Anonymous)]

I think it makes since, particular since he "joined" with justice (and probably influenced Justice as much as he was influenced by him). Doubly so with how it was foreshadowed.

Still, it sticks that the direction they decided to take him.

[darkmanifest]

Velanna would have made much more sense, she was already full of rage and all about murderous vengeance as part of her character, unlike Anders who was a lot more rational and had to be driven much more crazy by Justice to become what he did. But Velanna didn't care about mage rights nearly as much as she did elven rights, and DA2's biggest conflict would have been different in nature. It might still have gone the way it did, as the Chantry was as oppressive to elves as mages, but Velanna wouldn't have stopped there, it wouldn't have been enough for the elves for her.

Plus, like someone else mentioned, we might have lost Merrill's character (too many elves) and needed a new male human character in place of Anders. Maybe Finn from Witch Hunt?* Who knows. The structure of the game would have been different.

All that said, I believe we could have had Anders without his character being so drastically altered to fulfill the role necessary for the narrative. The writers for him changed between the two games and it showed.

EDIT: Someone pointed out that Jowan would have made a great companion in DA2, and I agree. He would have provided that same needy woobie do-gooder quality that made Anders so popular, without actually being ax-crazy.

[elaminator]

I love Anders (even if he was a mess in DA2), but I wouldn't say no one cares about Velanna. Maybe you don't hear as much about her because her role in Awakenings was relatively small, but she was a good companion. (Anders made more sense for the story though.)

[(Anonymous)]

Depends on the part of fandom. Some parts love her because she's WOC.

[(Anonymous)]

..she is?

I mean, she's an elf, and tan skinned, but also blonde. I mean, she is an oppressed minority in that she's an elf. Did I mention she wasn't human?

[peablossom]

I didn't know this was an option, but WOW, this would would have made so much more sense.

[doilycoffin]

I agree. I mean, I think a lot of Anders' character development in the sequel made sense...but I still kind of hated it.

Plus, I think DeLisle does a pretty good job of portraying mental breakdowns in her voice acting (Azula's decline was hard to watch but it was pretty well done) and I think she would have done a good job if they had gone the same route with Velanna as they did with Anders. Like others said though, I guess it did make more sense for them to ultimately go with Anders (unless they originally had a slightly different storyline planned out). If anything, I think she probably could have replaced Merrill (though they obviously would have had to tweak some things), though I might just think that because I didn't much care for her. Then again, I remember her as also being somewhat similar to Fenris personality-wise so maybe it would have been redundant to have both of them but, eh, whatever. Speaking of which, I could totally get into Fenris/Velanna

[ziltoidianrapture]

... Alright, it's official. Clearly I've been lurking in the wrong part of the DA fandom, because I've seen a lot of hate for Anders. And I like Anders, dammit!

Also, on the woobie part: there's a lot of leeway between a totally irredeemable asshole and a poor blameless woobie. IMO you can like a character all the while acknowledging that they've pulled some stupid or downright hurtful moves. And Anders made a lot of bad choices. BLOWING UP THE CHANTRY IS NOT GOING TO CONVINCE PEOPLE TO JOIN YOUR SIDE, DAMMIT.

(Granted, I don't know what his character was like in the previous game(s?) since I haven't played Awakening or Origins yet.)

[(Anonymous)]

Also, on the woobie part: there's a lot of leeway between a totally irredeemable asshole and a poor blameless woobie. IMO you can like a character all the while acknowledging that they've pulled some stupid or downright hurtful moves

I agree with you, but a lot of the fandom does treat Anders like a "poor blameless woobie". Not everyone of course, but wayyyy more than I'd like to the point where I literally don't think some of them have played the game. For God's sake, we're talking about a character who is visibly happy if you actually choose to send Fenris back into slavery despite the fact that Anders constantly compares the treatment of mages to slavery to make a point. Notably, he's the only party member who is happy when you do so and the others give you disapproval points and call you out for being an asshole. Conversely if you end up killing Anders in the game, Fenris at least looks solemn even if he's not exactly weeping over it. And yet it's not surprising that a lot of Anders fic makes Fenris (and sometimes even Hawke) out to be waaaay more of an asshole than he really is and have Anders be an innocent victim. As someone who actually enjoys reading fic about mentally unstable/asshole!Anders, this disappoints me

[(Anonymous)]

But he's so ~passionate~ about his cause and it's so ~romantic~ to ride off into the sunset with him as the ashes of the Chantry flutter beautifully in the wind or some other BS purple prose.

No, seriously, he's a piece of shit, and even David Gaider admitted the romance with him and Fenris is like Twilight. I want to know what part of the fandom you're in, because all I've seen are apologists.

[silvereriena]

I like Anders because he's pretty damn easy to romance. He was the first character I romanced on my first playthrough, but when I got to the "Hawke, help me get these suspicious ingredients that sounds like I'm making explosives but I'm not" quest, I was thinking: "Oh, this can't be good."

And sure enough, when the Chantry went ka-blooie in the end, I was like: "OH GODDAMMIT ANDERS". Still had my Hawke spare him though so I could see what would happen.

[miku_hatsune]

I adore Velanna and let me tell you, I am very happy it was not her who was in Anders' place. I don't want to think of the fandom's reactions to her had that been the case.

[augustbird]

wow i was going to come into this secret with a "lol anders was the worst everyone come fight me" sort of comment because i've only seen fandom adoring him but i guess a lot more people dislike him than i thought if the responses to this secret are anything to go by.

also this reminds me that i need to play awakenings

[(Anonymous)]

If you play Awakenings then I think you may be surprised by how likable Anders is in it. He's pretty funny. Like someone else mentioned, his character had a different writer between the games and you can really tell.

[(Anonymous)]

In Awakenings, Anders was the fun snarky guy and was awesome at it. DA 2? Not so much, and it actually really bums me out since I'd been so excited for another snarky character.

[i_paint_the_sky]

Anders in Awakening always felt to me like an attempt to create a new Alistair, since Alistair couldn't be a companion in it. And so while I enjoyed him well enough, he just always seemed like a pale substitute who didn't really have enough of his own character.

I do think that the changes between Awakening and DA2 probably could have been handled better but I love him so much in DA2, even though I am still very upset at him for a lot of things that he did. He's still easily my favourite DA2 character and a close second to being my favourite character from Dragon Age entirely.

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, are you me? Those were exactly my thoughts on Anders, too. He seemed like an Alistair replacement, but less funny. DA2 made his story a lot more interesting, and made Awakenings Anders more tolerable simply because of the contrast in his character.