"#i do have a theory that she barred carver from the guard because he would challenge her authority #hard to get away with being a corrupt leader when someone holds you accountable" *Rests chin in hands* Tell me more?
I’m not the best at articulating my thoughts but I’ll do my best!! Sorry if it gets a bit long!
In short, I believe Aveline just used the fact that he’s around 19 - 20 years of age in Act 1 as a way of getting people to not take him seriously and calling him too immature, despite the fact the he was a soldier just like she was.
It’s true Carver’s not the epitome of maturity at this point, but he’s not a child nor is he any less qualified for a position in the Guard than Aveline. And in a city where no one knows them, it would be easy for Aveline to go behind his back to the guard and convince them he’s unfit for the role.
It’s no secret that Carver, despite being very vocal on his opinions, was very much a respected soldier while at Ostagar. From World of Thedas Volume 2:
He voices what on his mind even if it wouldn’t earn him any favour, yet he was well respected and mostly talked about at a high regard.
And Aveline was at Ostagar. Though he didn’t recognise her, she recognised and knew about him - she says as much in the Prologue. She would’ve known that he was respected among his fellow soldiers. And she even admits in the Prologue that he’s a skilled soldier (though Carver shoots down the praise but I feel like that’s impostor syndrome coming into play here).
By Act 1, she’s had a year to get to know him better. He’s a skilled warrior and is able to earn the respect of his fellow soldiers while also being vocal about things he disagrees with, and thus he’s a threat.
Their dialogue with each other during Act 1 is very telling. He sees right through her, and she tries to deflect by seeing herself as above him (and this sort of attitude also extends to the other companions, too).
He makes jabs at her relating to the Fereldan refugees. He knows she only cares about herself and her social standing.
She acts like his situation is a result of a flaw of personality instead of her own doing to frame him as a brat and too immature for real work. Carver makes a point to say that she knows that this is the only chance they have, especially as she holds a great deal of blame for that.
Another example of Carver calling Aveline out on her bullshit acting like she’s somehow a better soldier than he is, despite the fact that Carver has been stated to have been on par, if not more skilled, than the trained officers at Ostagar and was able to single-handedly carve a dent in the darkspawn hoard.
(Note: as it’s not easy to tell in text, the “Yes ma’am” was said in a sarcastic tone.)
Aveline time and again actively belittles Carver and tries to get rid of him. If she can get people of her choosing to not take him seriously as a soldier and act like he’s out of control and unworthy of honest work, then he won’t be in the picture to hold her accountable for whatever she does in the Guard.
Also, a good point to make in relation to your gifset of the conversation:
Aveline: There is a lot of pressure to make the city guard more like the Templars. Cage potential troublemakers just in case. Can’t imagine you’d like that.
Hawke: You’d be a fool to try it. People would revolt.
Aveline: Criminals would revolt.
Hawke: They aren’t people? How big would your gallows be?
The people who are the most vulnerable to get into criminal activities for survival are refugees - just like Hawke and Carver when they arrived in Kirkwall. The very people she sees as would-be criminals are also the people she fails to protect.
She coddles her guardsmen and allows them to pick the easiest areas to protect, leaving the places that need the most help to be vulnerable. But hey, the more refugees to become criminals, the more people lock up, right?
And Carver saw this from the start. Granted, had he’d known that Aveline would rather avenge a rapist guardsman instead of holding him accountable, or how her incompetence and disregard to Emeric’s investigation was a factor in the gruesome murder of his mother, I’m sure he’d call her out for it. And if he were a guardsman, I personally believe he would take matters into his own hands.
But, of course, at this point, Carver’s not around to do so because he’s either a Warden or a Templar.
Now, I’m not going to claim it’s any more than a theory that Aveline actively tried to silence, belittle and get rid of Carver so that the most likely person (aside from Hawke if in rivalry) wouldn’t be able to be able to question her authority and hold her accountable, but to me it seems like she actively tried to sabotage him.
I’m not sure if I were successful in getting my thoughts across, but I hope any of this makes sense!!
