Romancing Darien after Gabrielle's death is a devaluation of her sacrifice and disrespect for her
In the unlikely event this message is Anon's genuine, albiet misguided opinion and not merely rage-bait, (because there have been a lot of similarly-phrased anonymous messages being sent to people in Darien's tag, and I've already commented on that recently) here's a more detailed explanation of why I disagree:
Gabrielle's death was tragic and I genuinely mourned her loss, as complex as my feelings concerning her were at the time after what had happened at Li-Xal Pass. The initial impact when I first played this content back in mid-April on the PTS was a gut-punch, and I needed to go touch grass and hug my cows to process it before I could rerun things on a different alt to continue testing. Furthermore, Gabrielle's choice to 'sacrifice' her soul's potential afterlife in order to restore Darien using the Gift of Death before she dies is in no way devalued or disrespected by anything our Vestige does from that point unless we choose the Grim dialogue options when discussing her in the subsequent quests, and no-one who was Kind enough to hear her confession about Darien is likely to be doing that.
As someone who not only plays but writes a fic (as 'canon' as possible by solely using the in-game dialogue) of a Breton Vestige who met these characters and befriended them both before eventually falling for Darien as she got to know him during the Daggerfall Zone questline and Coldharbour, the question of whether and how my Vestige might someday be able to romance Darien in-game - especially once it became clear Gabrielle had also developed feelings for him - has been something I've become very invested in.
The game had, up until Gabrielle's confession at Li-Xal Pass, left things vague enough in the writing and more reliant on Gabrielle's tone of voice and body language (as pictured above) to convey her feelings, and her action after Darien's initial disappearance were more than just those of a friend feeling surivor's guilt after a horrific experience, but also someone who might have wanted a chance to see whether her feelings could be returned, when she turns the focus of her work with the Mages' Guild into searching for Darien's location and a way to bring him back. We find her in the Anvil Guildhall's library during the Dark Brotherhood's DLC, throwing books around and muttering to herself, and if we had completed the main quest in Wrothgar by that point and found Darien's note, we can tell her he might be in the Colored Rooms when she says she's searching for a way to find him. Our next encounter with her is in Solitude where she's joined the Antiquarian's Circle and teaches us how to scry, but if you'd completed Summerset before this, you can tell her about Darien's brief return as Meridia's Golden Knight while discussing her continued attempts to find a way to bring him back to Nirn. But as I noted a while back, Gabrielle never had the full picture of events even when she was there for them, never realised how much closer to the Vestige Darien felt than he ever did towards her.
But by the time we begin the events of Season of the Worm Cult and reunite with her during the prologue quest, Gabrielle seems to have moved on from her search - not only does she not mention Darien until we find her in Broken Light Temple's courtyard, but she seems to have forgotten that the Vestige is very well aware of who Darien is and his connection to Meridia - we may have been the first to tell her about it, after all - and makes no suggestion once we find the bell and the book that opening a door into the Colored Rooms could be a way to finally help Darien return home. Gabrielle seemed to have moved on from that long, ultimately hopeless quest of hers, and her tone when speaking of Darien while on Solstice had changed to something fondly nostalgic, completely different from how she sounded in Anvil and Solitude.
So to hear her admit aloud that she had feelings for Darien, - a one-in-nine-chance depending on previously completed content and dialogue options during this conversation - was a shock. But if you look at it closely, Gabrielle will only admit this to someone who has known her - and Darien - long enough to have completed the requirements to unlock this particular dialogue tree, and who admits to also missing Darien. It is a revelation which seems quite literally aimed at a Vestige who already has feelings for him, maybe because we're the ones it would have the most impact on. It is also phrased in the past tense: "Memory is a bittersweet thing. When I think of Darien's smile, his laugh, I can't help but remember what it felt like to be with him. How I felt about him. And that makes me miss him even more." (and if we then ask): How you felt about him? "I suppose I can admit it. Darien was more than a friend. It started as a game. I pretended I was scandalized by his endless flirting. He pretended he wasn't serious. I wish I'd said something about how I really felt. But I think he knew." So the question then becomes - if that's how she 'felt' about him in the past, did she still feel that way about him?
When Gabrielle asked us to use the Gift of Death - already dying, and knowing she couldn't be saved, she chose to risk her soul to bring Darien back - it was the version of him she'd never met who returned. Meridia's Champion, clad in the armor of her Golden Knight, someone Gabrielle believed we needed to counter the necromantic dangers of the Worm Cult - not the member of the Fighter's Guild she'd screamed at to get back behind Meridia's shield in those final moments before he disappeared in Coldharbour. That she was able to conclude her long search for Darien, that her last moments included seeing him and hearing him say her name as she vanished, were bittersweet and fitting, but unlikely to be her purpose at the time. Her focus was on stopping Wormblood, on preventing Mannimarco from being restored to his body, on finding a solution that would help her friends and not a desperate, final wish to be momentarily reunited with a man for whom she might no longer feel the way she once did, and probably never understood as well as she thought. Playing a Vestige who had not completed the content to unlock that confession, or even the (not yet on UESP's page) middle-ground-history dialogue tree, but has the 'not met / barely knew Darien' version of that conversation at Li-Xal Pass, gives some background explanations from Gabrielle, and the Kind option which would have triggered her confession becomes: There's no shame in missing your friend. May his memory give you strength. "It does, friend. It does. I know the last thing Darien would want is to see me grieving for him. He never took anything seriously. He'd want me to smile when I think about him. So, that's what I try to do." For Gabrielle to believe Darien didn't have a serious side shows she may have only taken him at face value, and believed his flirty banter and cheerful behaviour were all there was to his personality. And if that's all she ever saw, then maybe he never allowed her to see any deeper. From the perspective of my Vestige, however, there was always a lot more to him, and I came to believe some of that 'firty banter' was a mask he put on to distract people from what he was really thinking at the time, especially after the events during - and most importantly between - Northpoint and the Doomcrag.
As for Gabrielle's final goodbye to Darien after Mannimarco's defeat in the Wraithforge, those are the words of someone who believed he shared her earlier feelings and was 'letting him go', essentially giving him her blessing to move on with his life, completely oblivious to the fact that all he needed as closure from her was the reassurance he hadn't failed her as a friend. She doesn't so much as acknowledge the Vestige's presence - in testing she quite literally bumped one of my Vestiges out of her way when approaching Darien, which I found hilarious - her focus is solely on saying her farewell to Darien, asking to promise her he'll move on, live his life and be happy: "You have a life again. Use it and move forward. Without sadness. Without regret."
I ask you, 'Anon', to consider the following: Do you also believe it disrespectful of Darien not to return Gabrielle's earlier feelings for him, simply because she had them? Should he now become devoted to her memory because she chose to bring him back, regardless of her motivations in doing so? Do his existing feelings mean as little to you as those of a Vestige who might have fallen for him before Gabrielle gave any indication she also had? Do you think it's somehow more 'respectful' both Darien and our Vestiges should live on in misery without acting on their feelings for each other (if we choose to see them as having them), simply because their friend died before the situation could be resolved? Should Darien ignore Gabrielle's final words to him, if your opinion is that his being with the Vestige is somehow disrespectful of Gabrielle's death, when they couldn't prevent it?
Darien may have called Gabrielle beautiful once or twice, but we never witnessed him do more than offer her the same casual flirtation he showed towards any number of other NPCs. He never singled her out as someone who he held dearer than any other character, who he would do things for he wouldn't for anyone else. That was always the Vestige, but Darien kept that quiet, something seldom acknowledged until now when they've both been through so much grief and he finally is able to admit how he feels - if we choose the dialogue responses which leads to his own confession.
I've always appreciated that the choice to flirt with Darien was locked behind a Persuade check in the earlier content, rather than something he continually bombards us with - unlike with Jakarn, who I wish we could tell to shut up - and now with the dialogue options is clearly marked as a Flirty response, removing any possibilty a player will pick it by accident. As for the manner in which anyone might choose to romance Darien after Gabrielle's death, Darien's own responses as you progress through the story shows how ready he is to consider it in each instance - and it takes a while for him to get to a point where he's able to respond with interest. These responses are all worded in ways that allow anyone to put their own reasoning behind his replies to suit their personal headcanons, right up until the Tavern scene in his personal quest. In addition to my fic's Vestige who does fall for Darien and takes the full Romance path, I have alts who will never flirt with him, as well as my main who only ever flirted during the earlier chapters with the understanding it wasn't serious, and chose to take the friends-and-battle-buddies-forever path in his quest's Tavern scene, rather than end up in that 'breadroom' with him. There's an option to suit any character in that quest, and it's wonderful - Darien's connection to your Vestige can be defined as whatever makes you happy.
So my advice to you, 'Anon', is to find a way to interact on here that makes you happy while being less confrontational, and leave the rest of us in Darien's tag to be able to romance - or not - the character our Vestiges have twice lost and finally been reunited with. Many of us are also mourning Gabrielle and may have found it hard for their Vestige to process her death to a point where they could enjoy flirting with him at long last. We've been through enough without having to now be bombarded with what comes across as the petulant tantrum of someone who doesn't want us Darienmancers to be happy, whatever your reasons or personal headcanon might be that have you see this dynamic the way you do. I won't respond to any further Anon-Asks in this tone, and I'm not the only one who's decided this, so please stop now - because this subject is genuinely distressing to several people on here, not to mention disrespectful of the writers who provide us with so much enjoyment.
