FINALLY!!!!!!!! TMAGP LENT ANIMATION HAS BEEN FREED FROM PROCRASTINATION HELL!!!!!!!!
This took way too long bc the malevolent brainrot got in the way so,,,,,, yeah I hope y’all enjoy!!! started this I mid-march so that’s why this has more first half of s1 vibes :))
I recently discovered The Apothecary Diaries and it's safe to say I'm completely obsessed. I don't do much Fanart but I really wanted to make one of Maomao. I hope I did a good job, I'm still insecure with my fanarts 😅
Update on this, sooner or later I will finish this project and I think itll be really cool when Its actually finished. I work on it off and on and off and drop it sometimes for a whole month before getting bored and pick it up again which is a bummer I cant pump these pages out faster because I have almost the entire chapter thumbnailed.
Something Id love to hear would be some feedback with how well this reads so far if anyone can offer the feedback <3
So from what I read, theyre asking a judge to throw out the case on the grounds that: "if everyone we stole from chooses to join the class action against us, it would financially ruin our company and would also be a precedent for people to sue the OTHER ai companies too, and it would financially ruin THEM as well.
Their argument isn't "we didnt steal," or "we broke no laws by using their stuff without permission" ---- their argument is "but if you hold us legally liable for stealing their stuff, itll be super expensive for us :( "
Needless to say, i hope that the class action goes ahead, and i hope it finds the company legally and financially liable for a fucktonne of money, and I hope that every other AI company also gets sued and has to pay damages into bankruptcy.
Keep signing because of invalid signatures, there's a chance a lot of what's gone up will be invalidated once the campaign is over. The bigger our margin is, the more likely it is to actually pass, and the bigger the final number, the more likely the EU is to fold to the pressure.
[NOTE: Trigger warnings for this post include sexual assault and rape]
I want to begin this post with a summary @thewardenisonthecase said really well here: Yes, David Gaider is capable of writing interesting female characters. However, the way in which he treats them is horrible, with a very obvious double-standard compared to his male characters.
In Gaider’s writing, women must be soft, pretty in the eyes of men, sexually available but not overtly seeking, and never display any strong emotions in order to receive any kindness and praise. Women who are strong, who aren’t seen as flattering by men, who are open about their sexual interests, and who show any signs of emotions receive nothing but criticism by both the views of the male protagonists and the narratives themselves. Through all this, Gaider consistently paints a clear image of what he believes a “good” woman is versus a “bad” woman. And even the “good” women are ultimately not spared from getting degraded and/or killed to create angst for men.
The misogyny in Gaider’s writing is not exclusive to the novels, mind you. One could easily write a whole essay on how Morrigan’s romance is all about turning her from a “bad” woman into a “good” woman. One could also write another about the misogyny and specifically transmisogyny present in the Dragon Age comics he wrote. But for the sake of focus, this post will be exclusively exploring his work on Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne, Dragon Age: The Calling, and Dragon Age: Asunder.
The Stolen Throne (2009)
The Stolen Throne begins with Moira Theirin, Maric’s mother, getting killed off-page. It is hard to consider Moira a full character, because the only contribution she even makes to the story is simply dying in the opening chapter. But that in itself is ironically a perfect set-up for what is to come, as Maric Theirin is less defined by his own actions, and more defined by the women in his life who die to fuel his “growth”.
Rowan is a noble woman—specifically the sister of Eamon and Teagan from Dragon Age: Origins—who was betrothed to Maric at birth. Rowan is first introduced by Loghain mistaking her for a man, then him reflecting on how rare it is to see a woman so confident as a warrior. This is doubled-down with Maric thinking, “had it not been for the rebellion, the Arl would have had his daughter wearing fine dresses and learning the latest dances from the Orlesian court rather than helping to lead his army,” as if it is a sad thing that Rowan is such a capable warrior. She is also immediately established as having a “temper” in Maric’s internal thoughts, only to, throughout the book, be an entirely reasonable person who just wants to be treated as an equal.
On both occasions that Rowan puts on a dress, she is mocked for it. The first time, Maric comments on how it is so rare for her to do so. The second time, Rowan reflects on how when she tried to buy the dress, “the sharp-faced woman who sold it to her had pointed out that Rowan was too muscled to wear such a dress, that her shoulders were too broad.”
All of this exists to paint Rowan as unwomanly – something that Gaider, a male writer, decided is defined as not being physically or verbally soft enough.
A side-note worth mentioning before we continue, though: About half-way through the book, Rowan volunteers to pretend to be a simple commoner to lay a trap for the Orlesians. In this trap, Rowan is sexually assaulted by an Orlesian, who voices his intent to rape her before the Ferelden rebels, who were watching the whole time, finally decide to attack. And no one even bothers to check in on her wellbeing after, aside from simply confirming she’s still alive. I want to point out that Loghain gets more sympathy from other characters and from the narrative, having witnessed this exact thing happen to his mother, than any sympathy that Rowan gets for having it directly happen to her. I’m not normally the type to say you can’t include something dark (for lack of a better word) in fiction, but good fiction will actually give that darkness a point. What was the point of including Rowan getting assaulted, aside from showing that the Orlesians are the villains – something we already knew? Especially when it is never brought up again!
Now, if Rowan is supposed to be read as unwomanly, what then, does womanly look like? The answer is Katriel.
Katriel is an elven bard from Orlais, sent to manipulate Maric but instead genuinely falls in love with him. Compared to Rowan who is described as being thick-muscled, Katriel is described as dainty. Maric is immediately smitten; in fact, immediately after saving her from almost being raped, (yes, this happens to her, too,) his thoughts are, “she seemed like such a delicate creature. He had heard that elven women held a certain fascination for men, the kind that made them popular in the brothels of Denerim. He had never been to the capital city, however, and had never understood what the appeal could be—until now.” Indeed, throughout the novel, Katriel is regularly described as an “exotic beauty” because she is an elf; it easily steps into sexualisation territory.
Katriel tends to Maric’s wounds and mends his clothing for him. She behaves cutely and innocently, never raising her voice or arguing against Maric for anything. She is described as being a graceful and beautiful rogue in battle, rather than tough. All of this amounts to Maric saying he loves her, not because of who she is—keeping in mind he doesn’t actually know much about her at all—but because she makes him feel manly. “She sees me as a man. This gorgeous creature, an elf, she looks at me and she doesn’t see the son of the Rebel Queen. She doesn’t see me as awkward Maric, or the fellow who can’t quite stay in his saddle or hold a sword. … When Katriel looks at me, she sees a man. She sees a prince.”
Throughout the story, Rowan is distrusting of Katriel, and it is framed as being out of jealousy because Maric is swooning for her. “The way Maric had looked at Katriel, like she was an exotic and intoxicating flower, was a way he had never looked at Rowan.” The two do not have much to say to each other, if anything at all, that does not revolve around Maric.
What does Maric do when he finds out about Katriel’s true identity? In a blind rage, he murders her… then holds her lovingly, crying as she dies. And the narrative is somehow on Maric’s side for this act of uncontrolled anger resulting in the murder of an elven woman who, I will add to anyone who hasn’t read the whole story, in the end genuinely changed sides out of her adoration for Maric. We are supposed to sympathize with Maric over losing his lover… despite him being the one who killed her. In fact, it goes so far as to have Rowan blaming herself for Maric’s actions, because she agreed with Loghain previously that Katriel shouldn’t be trusted.
After Katriel’s murder, Loghain tells Rowan that it is her duty to comfort Maric. Rowan, who doesn’t owe Maric anything after the way he treats her the entire novel, for some reason agrees. She goes to see him, and decides that it is now her duty to be what Katriel was for him. “In the hushed darkness, Rowan leaned down and kissed Maric on the lips. He embraced her readily, eager for her forgiveness… and she gave it. He seemed so uncertain and hesitant, and that made it easier. His warmth and gentleness made her cry, but she couldn’t let him see that. Tonight, for him, she was strong. Tonight she embraced the role that she had been born for, and while it was like nothing she had ever thought it would be, it was instead the way it had to be.” Insisting that Rowan was “born” to be subservient to Maric, to uplift him by sacrificing her own desires and independence, is absolutely disgusting.
In the epilogue, it is briefly mentioned that after marrying Maric and giving birth to Cailan, Rowan died of a “wasting illness” off-page. This is a set-up for more man-pain that Maric experiences in the following novel, The Calling. Both women in this story die without any narrative dignity, just to make the male protagonists feel bad.
The Calling (2009)
The Calling takes place some years after the end of The Stolen Throne. While this novel is better than the first—although that’s not a very high bar to pass—and much better written female characters overall, it does have a few moments worth pointing out as contributions to this larger trend of misogyny in Gaider’s work.
Firstly, Maric reflects on how after getting married to Rowan, she apparently switched personalities because he says, “She had enjoyed being a queen just as she had enjoyed being a mother, far more than she had ever enjoyed being a warrior.” He thinks this when trying to compare his late wife to Genevieve, a Grey Warden warrior who Maric instead says reminds him of Loghain. Yet again we are immediately treated to the notion that women shouldn’t normally be warriors; that they would be happier giving up that life to be a mother, and those who aren’t are actually more like men.
This promotion of womanhood equalling marriage comes up again with Genevieve. In the Fade, she is placed in a dream in which she is happily married and no longer a warrior. “She wore a long grey dress, and had long white hair that cascaded down her back. She was full-figured and kind-looking, her face worn with smile lines, and Duncan did a double take as he realized this was Genevieve. Not the warrior he knew, with her cropped white hair and hard, muscular features, but merely Guy’s wife.” Yet again, we are treated to a description that paints a picture of how a woman is happier, healthier, and more appealing as a good wife, rather than a Grey Warden. This dream goes as far as having Genevieve say, “You’re trying to take my husband away from me, the one thing that has made my life worth living.”
Also within the Fade portion of the novel, is a spirit using the face of Katriel, acting as a benevolent guide for Maric. And while this is not Katriel, not really, choosing to write a spirit using the woman that Maric murdered as the one who helps him does come off as a little awkward. More awkward when ‘Katriel’ tells Maric that he needs to forgive himself for murdering her. Because once again, it’s all about Maric. Once again, it is more important we feel bad for the man who violently murdered a woman that loved him, than the woman herself.
Then, there is Fiona. Fiona is, for the record, overall an amazing character who I adore more than anyone else in this novel. But sadly, one of the most defining scenes for Fiona, is one in which she is stripped of everything, including agency. First, Fiona loses control of her body by becoming possessed – something that already steals her autonomy in a horrific manner. Then in the Fade, Fiona’s traumatic childhood of enslavement, abuse, and rape is witnessed by the cast of characters against her will. Additionally, while Duncan and Maric get the benefit of having their own POV for their dreams, Fiona’s is also written from Duncan’s. This creates a scene that focusses entirely on the visual horror of Fiona getting whipped, without exploring how it actually affects her. No, instead Gaider takes the time to make sure the reader knows that Fiona’s abuser is oh so handsome.
Asunder (2011)
Asunder has the disadvantage of featuring one of the most unlikeable and boring protagonists you can imagine: Rhys. (I’ve complained about Rhys extensively in my commentary for this novel.) Yet somehow, Rhys has romantic involvement with the two prominent female characters in this story. Much like in The Stolen Throne, these women are defined and compared by what makes them desirable and undesirable to Rhys, and by extension, views that are supposed to be shared with the reader.
Evangeline is painted as an ideal woman, because she is patient, polite, and supposedly open-minded. (I say supposedly because my god, what is described of her in the novel certainly does not match up with the actions she takes in the novel.) And of course, she is very pretty. It is so, so important to Gaider that readers know Evangeline is so physically beautiful, it makes other women jealous. “Evangeline knew very well what the ladies of the court who looked her way were thinking, and she knew the sorts of things they were whispering to each other behind their delicate fans. Someone as pretty as she could have found a husband. The fact that she had joined a warrior order meant she either came from a poor family or, far worse, was too uncouth to join the ranks of proper society. Neither of those things were true, but it didn't matter.” Evangeline is repeatedly described as attractive throughout the novel, and this description usually comes as something she has in spite of being a warrior; a surprise, an abnormality, yet again.
In contrast, Adrian is described as being undesirable because she is angry, impolite, and supposedly unattractive. Adrian is short, with frizzy messy hair and always looking mean. There is one and only one time she is described in any flattering manner, and that when Gaider goes out of his way to say that if Adrian was moresoothing, she’d be more desirable: “She liked the horses. She talked to them in a soothing voice and gave them names. When the tiny mage was with the horses, she became pretty, all the anger and hard lines on her face dissolving away. Cole would suggest she do more of that if he didn't think she would yell at him for it.” Adrian is among the women who are jealous of Evangeline too, fully admitting it to Rhys at one point.
It would also be remiss of me not to include the political atmosphere imbedded in this novel, when it comes to the two women. Adrian’s purpose in the story is fitting the role of what centrists and right-wingers are afraid of from “the radical left” – which ironically and unintentionally, is what makes her the best character in the book. Evangeline is the more gentle and centrist love interest, with comments from the other characters about how right and level-headed she always is, compared to a brash Adrian. Because women who are loud and angry about their oppression are “childish” yet “dangerous” at the same time. Women who are working for the system are “morally superior”.
Conclusion
David Gaider showed time and again in these novels, just how much he doesn’t understand about writing women with any real empowerment. Giving a woman a sword and sending her into battle means nothing if you can’t back it up with actual character agency and dignity. Having women act as nothing but tools to compare other women to is nothing but a cheap and ill-flavoured trick. And my god, does he ever love using women as a source for man-pain.
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