Romance Tournament — Round #1 / Match 5 of 12
“Alistair’s romance, to me, feels like a true star-crossed lovers story with elements of a forbidden romance. You’re the last two Wardens, and Wynne warns you that being together could go badly or distract you from your duties - and she’s not wrong in the end.
Everything outside of you two threatens the relationship: whether it is the blight, Loghain, or making Alistair King.
Alistair himself is funny, sweet, charming, sassy, kind, and loyal. He just wants to stay with you. That’s it.
His romance feels like one of equals. There are so many ways it can go, and all of them are a little doomed by the narrative. Unlike romances where one person lies, betrays, or needs fixing - or where everything ends perfectly - Alistair’s route is about two people fighting to be together in a world that tries to tear them apart. It’s heartbreaking in a genuinely tragic way, and that’s what makes it different from the other straight male romances in the game.
This is just my interpretation but his romance just hits different to the male characters I have romanced in any of the other games.”
“It starts out so warm and dorky - jokes, awkward flirting, the rose from Lothering - and it genuinely feels like you’ve found the one person in DAO who’s just kind without an angle.
And then the game makes you pay for loving him, because the Landsmeet can turn the romance into a political nightmare. Unless you’re a human noble, becoming king can mean he can’t marry you, and depending on hardening / choices you can end up as the mistress situation, or broken up with, or you keep him a Warden and you're probably both gonna die young and violently anyway. It’s one of the most replayed romances for a reason, it's not just cute but has actual consequences”
“I know a lot of people have some very strong feelings on either side of the aisle with this one, but Solas’ romance route is truly my favorite of all time. What can I say, I’m a sucker for tragedy.
But also: there’s so much tenderness in his romance. It sucks that he doesn’t have a repeatable kiss scene, but everything we do have shows a very quiet intimacy. His hand on her back at Halamshiral, the “lingering looks,” the way they swing their hands back and forth in Crestwood, kneeling before her in Trespasser, etc. Then extending it into DAV (which, say what you will) in that final scene, he holds both her hands the entire time.
It’s so beautiful and sweet and heart wrenching. I truly will love it until the end of my days.”
“my brain just melts when he starts talking. The Welsh accent. The profound love of his hyperfixation. The iambic pentameter.
There's so much tragedy in his love too. The love between him and lavellan is there, it's real, but it can't save them. But that doesn't make it any less powerful.”
“I know Solas is divisive, but his romance is still one of the most memorable routes in the series for me because it’s so restrained and then it absolutely wrecks you. It’s not a romance where you get constant reassurance; it’s lingering looks, a few key scenes (Fade kiss, balcony, post-Temple of Mythal), and that’s part of why it lands -everything feels chosen and deliberate, like he’s trying not to want you and failing anyway.
And then Trespasser takes that tenderness and turns it into heartbreak: he shows up, he kneels, he kisses you, and you realise he’s still the same person who can hold your hands and apologise while also committing to doing something that will kill you.”
“solas’ romance is for people who like pain, i’m sorry. you get crumbs, but the crumbs are so specific that they stick in your brain forever.
and the payoff is basically: he admits what you mean to him, then immediately makes it clear that loving you isn’t going to stop him from doing what he thinks he has to do. trespasser is like “here’s your closure” and by closure i mean “he breaks your heart again, but this time with full eye contact.””
“I will defend Solas’ romance for at least this tournament principle because it’s one of the only DA romances where the relationship is structurally tied to the main twist. You’re not just dating a companion who has drama on the side; you’re dating the guy who turns out to be Fen’Harel. Of course it ends badly. That’s the point.”
Who has the better romance?
Voting ended onMar 3
janainaart
kaledo-art
prguitarman
titsay
jacobvanloon
areudirty
turnnoffyourmind
