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Why is Alistair better than Cullen?

*cracks knuckles* this will probably be long

when we first meet alistair in origins, he is talking to a mage, and though he has an attitude, he is silly, but not outright disrespectful. when talking to duncan afterwards, alistair says he will apologize to the mage.

(cullen has never admitted any wrongdoing to any mage, ever)

alistair has his guard down. if you are a mage hes one of the few companions that does show respect. (other than morrigan)

(cullen says “mages cannot be treated like people like you and i, dragon age 2. stood by meredith up until the very end. who was abusing mages for 10ish years.)

once you get to know him a bit more, he will spill chantry secrets about how they knowingly get templars addicted to lyrium and control them.

(cullen continues to defend everything templars do, even throughout inquisition when hes “no longer a templar”)

alistair admits to warden pretty early in how mages are treated unfairly, abused by the chantry/templars. how he was training to be a templar and how he didn’t want it. he was just there because he had nowhere else to go, seeing as he was raised within the chantry.

(cullen freely gets taken off lyrium, but never talks about it. still defends meredith and demonizes samson, to his face no less, for his addiction and the way he “betrayed” the order)

when duncan was recruiting he was “praying to the maker that duncan would choose him” (his words) so he didn’t have to go through with the templar training. he did not want to become a templar. he went through one harrowing where the mage didn’t pass the test, and was scarred by seeing her die.

(compare to cullen who had a crush on the warden but openly admits to her he would have still killed her if she failed the harrowing. and he BEGGED to become one as a child)

he is a kind man with a good heart, and only has an attitude if one has one with him first (see; morrigan)

(cullen is only kind to people he has feelings for, as far as we know. we dont see him interact with anyone else)

Alistair can become king, where he is known to be a “fair king, well loved by his people”

(cullens ending in origins is that he went on a rampage, if warden spared the mages and killed a few of them. but that was later changed to spare the feelings of creepy fangirls. da2 ending is that he sides with hawke last minute to save his ass. and inquisition is a half assed redemption arc thats more of a recovery)

Alistair has a lot of depth to his character. hes not just “a guy who was almost a templar”, hes funny, hes smart, hes compassionate, hes soft, he’s bi, loves children and is most definitely a great dad. he loves elves, dwarves, he has a qunari friend. he loves mabari. friends to all.

who is cullen other than a templar? dare you to come up with 10 other things (not to me though im not interested)

and i know in “regular” fandom these two are shipped together but lemme tell you, in no possible way, would these two even possibly be friends. because the first time we see them meet, cullen is begging them to kill all the mages. and alistair is NOT cool with that.

in conclusion:

ALISTAIR DRINKS RESPECT MAGES JUICE

CULLEN DOES NOT. EVER.

bitchesofostwick

it’s about that time of year now

bitchesofostwick

swevenfox

The Priestess

Commission done for a private client.

Flemeth rocks :)

eristhenat

All hours are Zevran loving hours in this house.

petitpotato

I have a very special place in my heart for Dragon Age 2 💕

andersfucks-deactivated20191218

similarities between pride demons and solas / the dread wolf

seihar

❈ Morrigan

Poll illustration I did as a reward on Patreon ✨

taebaelee

Dragon Age: Origins 10th Year Anniversary November 3rd, 2009

housetrevelyan

10 years!!

miyku

pfppfpfp tru

surelyforthvakarian

This article (link) is so good, and it brilliantly manages the best summation of my interpretation of romanced Solas that I have ever read:

“As the player character laments that they truly don’t know anything about their culture, that elven history has truly been lost, Solas remarks, “For all the Dalish got wrong, they did one thing right. They made you.” You little tiny moron baby, he is saying to you. Your people are so stupid, but you’re just not-stupid enough for me to put my dick in you.”

ladyrivainii

EXACTLY WHY I HATE WHEN HE SAYS THAT. NOT ROMANTIC.

systlin

Did I ghostwrite this article

hurl-a-can

I love how - regardless of everyone’s personal preference for one or the other - the general consensus in the fandom seems to be: The Warden

The Inquisitor

…

Hawke

faerunner-deactivated20200224

A lot of people dump on Dorian for being mostly okay with slavery (for good reason imo), and one common criticism is he comes off as a selfish hypocrite for disliking anti-gay discrimination because it affects him, but doesn’t mind racial or class discrimination (slavery) since it doesn’t.

But honestly? This is nothing new.

Most Dragon Age characters have shown they only mind discrimination when it affects them.

- Loghain Mac Tir HATES Orlais for “enslaving” Ferelden freeholders like him, but not only had no problem selling Ferelden elves into slavery, but he’d dismissive and contemptuous of an Elven Warden who calls him out on it.

- Anders hates anti-mage discrimination but isn’t too bothered by anti-elf discrimination. He also suggests elves should help mages since they’re both oppressed by the Chantry, but doesn’t suggest mages should help elves.

- Fenris hates slavery but isn’t bothered by anti-mage OR anti-elf discrimination because, in his mind, mages control Tevinter and slaves can be any race, and since slaves have it worse then those groups need to chill.

- Aveline didn’t do anything when a group of elven brothers formally reported that one of her guards raped their sister, but then dropped everything to arrest those same brothers when they killed the guard they accused.

- Sera hates general “common folk” discrimination but DGAF about anti-mage or anti-“elfy” elf discrimination. She’s totally fine with mages being locked in Circles to protect the common folk, and flat-out blames most elves for their own discrimination under humans since they’re “too elfy.”

- Vivienne calls all mages who resist Circles “selfish,” and has no problem forcing them back in, because she gets power and influence from the Circles. She also condemns them for killing muggles and fellow mages to gain freedom, yet she herself butchers muggles who revolted when she was elected Divine, and declared outright war on rebel mages to force them back in Circles.

- Cassandra and Cullen both condemn mages for being “dangerous” and killing Templars in self-defense, but are much more lenient to Templars for years of systemically abusing, raping, lobotomizing, and killing mages to keep them in line.

On a wide scale, Ferelden hates Orlais for occupying them but think nothing of treating elves exactly the way Chevaliers treated them, and Orlais praises the Maker for freeing them from Tevinter while enslaving elves and other humans.

Dorian is in good company. I guess it’s more “realistic” that way, but Dragon Age is filled with characters that think discrimination is only a problem when it affects them.

I can count on one hand the characters that not only care about other groups besides their own, but actually try to help them once they’re able.

- King Alistair elects the Denerim Alienage Hahren a royal advisory position regardless of the Warden’s race or boon (and even though it’s unpopular with nobles), and governs the alienage so well they don’t riot from hunger the way they do under Queen Anora.

- Divine Leliana greatly reforms the Chantry to free mages and drop its race and gender discrimination for the priesthood, even though she’s a human muggle woman who benefits from the Chantry’s race, gender, and anti-mage discrimination.

- I guess Varric sort of counts for Inquisitor Lavellans who don’t accidentally kill their clans, since once he’s named the new Viscount of Kirkwall he’s one of the few nobles in the Free Marches who’ll trade and support them. (And I think helps search for survivors if Lavellan did get them killed?)

- The Arishok’s views on mages are absolutely shitty, don’t get me wrong. That said, for all his faults he is disgusted by Kirkwall’s race and class discrimination (and rightly calls Aveline out on supporting it) and tries to conquer Kirkwall partly to bring what he sees as race and class equality, even though as a Qunari he’s not 100% affected by it. (Sure, Petrice’s antagonism against the Qunari doesn’t help, but he seems as enraged by the injustice the elven brothers face as he is by his own Qunari’s mistreatment.)

There are probably others, but I can’t think of them now.

Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say. Dorian being okay with slavery because it doesn’t affect him but troubled by Tevinter’s homophobia because it does is shitty, but he’s far from the only character who only hates discrimination that affects him.

theronvas

Isn’t this realistic though? Real people are problematic and have their own motivations and opinions. Tumblr just acts like if a character in a medieval fantasy setting doesn’t have the same moral viewpoint as us in the real world in 2019 then the character and the game developers are evil and perpetuating discrimination.

artofmisi

i’ve always liked the idea of fenris with shorter hair (♡ >ω< ♡)

gaymeric-deactivated20200428

whatever

bunabi

we will absolutely achieve bingo with this card but at what cost

bastionkeeper

We all gonna sleep on the fact that Puss joining up with Shrek and Donkey is the same storyline as Zevran the warden and Alistair

artpigeons

blocked

bastionkeeper

You can’t block the truth

justanotherrandomperson

I hate to tell you this but Morrigan is a person most people fear and is kicked out of her swamp home to accompany a chattering guy who makes lots of jokes and gets on her nerves and on their jouney they encounter a charming Spanish-accented assassin who joins them and a redheaded woman with a lovely voice with a hidden side to her and an ability to kick butt. Dragon Age Origins is Shrek with your OC Warden along for the ride.