Elfroot's medicinal properties were re-discovered in 4:20
Jax. they/them. tme. 30 something australian. terfs and zionists can fuck right off. transandrophobia isn't real.
mostly dragon age brainrot for the time being. block the #veilgurd critical tag if you don't want to see it. pfp by @corrodedparadox
like i do get that morrigan says and does some unbelievably cruel things. i'm not trying to argue that she doesn't. but alistair doesn't just get walloped over and over again. when he hits back, he hits back p hard, and he hits first p often, too!
Morrigan: You... do not truly think I look as my mother does, do you?
Alistair: Have you really been thinking about that all this time?
Morrigan: I am simply curious.
Alistair: And not insecure in the slightest, I'm sure.
Morrigan: I think I look nothing like her.
Alistair: I don't know. Give it a few hundred years and it'll be a spot-on match.
Morrigan: I said that I look nothing like her!
Alistair: All right. Got it. Totally different. I see that now.
like this is a weirdly sad exchange to me, and it's a turning point in their dialogues, bc alistair goes on the offensive after it. like he realizes How Much it bothers morrigan, and he presses that advantage — their dialogues start out w her initiating them p aggressively, but after this, it's him needling her.
Alistair: So tell me something, Morrigan. Did you live there in that forest your entire life?
Morrigan: I left it on occasion, but I always returned. Why? Is that so strange? It was my home.
Alistair: But it was just you and your mother there? No one else?
Morrigan: Mother occasionally had... company.
Alistair: What? Company? Do I even want to ask?
Morrigan: No. You really don't.
genuinely horrific. fine, he's nineteen, and he doesn't understand the full scope of what's being implied here, but he knows he's hit a nerve, and he tries to push.
Alistair: Why do you always go on about how stupid I am? I'm not stupid, am I?
Morrigan: If you need to ask the question...
Alistair: Because it hurts my manly feelings, you know. All one of them.
Morrigan: Then I'll be sure to write you an apology once all of this is over.
Alistair: I was educated by the Chantry. I studied history. They don't make stupid templars.
Morrigan: Then I must have been mistaken. I'm very impressed.
Alistair: No you're not. You're not even listening to me.
Morrigan: My, you are smarter than you look after all. Your Chantry must have been very proud.
and then he's like why don't you like me. why won't you tell me i'm smart. and all of her replies are just. like i have to do this w a lot of ppl in my life, where i repeat whatever it is they want me to say so they'll leave me alone, but usually by that point i've been worn down such that i can't mask my irritation. these ppl are usually men, for what it's worth. yeah i'll write you an apology, whatever. i was mistaken. i'm impressed. you're smart, you're sooooo smart, your chantry must be proud. LIKE. she just wants to be left ALONE. he could back off at any point and not interact w her at all, but he wants to get under her skin.
Alistair: All right. I've come up with one, a question that you can't answer.
Morrigan: Are you talking to me?
Alistair: That's right. You think you're so smart? I've got an academic question that I bet you won't be able to answer.
Morrigan: Oh, I doubt that.
Alistair: So tell me, then: what was the name of Andraste's husband?
Morrigan: This is a religious question, not an academic one.
Alistair: You're joking, right? A five year-old could answer that question. Do you not know more than a child?
Morrigan: I care nothing for your religion. And this game of yours is over.
Alistair: Oh, how the mighty have crumbled.
and then he belittles her for not knowing smth he knows in a p bald attempt to make himself feel smart by making her feel stupid. he also just straight up calls her a bitch! he was written to be a more drawn out version of xander from buffy and it shows! he doesn't hold the default 'good' position all the time, he's not a barometer for moral righteousness. like all the other companions, he has moments where his values rly shine and moments when you're supposed to go ugh. ew.
Reading the dragon age survey opinions and I just started but i have to talk about this one
I think in part the animation of this part hurts the perception of it, and how the writting its such a mess, but like do you think Morrigan would be comfortable fucking any guy like that doesn't bother her at all to get pregnant with any random man. She doesn't want to fuck Alistair either. She has reasons to do it, and in some worldstates is specifically to save your fucking life and the one of a guy she doesn't even like so put some respect to her name. You can care about Alistair and about Morrigan at the same time this is not a "aw poor alistair, the only one suffering in this situation. morrigan obviously is chill and fine with all this"
mm you’re being such an okay boy for daddy. could be better could be worse. you will receive neither reward nor punishment for your forgettable behavior. that’s my okay boy, keep doing whatever …
the thing with a lot of the templars dragon age deems as "good" is that said templars believe the templars as an institution are perfectly fine. instead, it is individual people who are giving the noble templar order a bad name. the rampant abuse in the circles is only the fault of some templars who had "forgotten" the true purpose of the order. if only those bad apples are rooted out, the templar order will be what it "originally" was—nevermind that the whole barrel is rotten.
exactly!! even if you get rid of every single "bad" templar, the practices of the templars themselves are still harmful. every single templar who assaults and rapes mages is expelled from the order. but the order still requires you to watch young mages face demons. the order still requires you to kill young mages if they fail the harrowing. the order still requires you to make mages tranquil. the abuse of mages is built into the duties of templars that there is simply no way for a "good" templar to say the templars should only get rid of the "bad" ones, say thedas should keep the templar order, and still claim to protect mages.
"here's my original character, Man Who Sucks But Loves His Daughter Very Much" and it's a guy who worships at the altar of patriarchal violence and the woman he uses as an excuse and an effigy to absolve him
