I love her as a character, I find her so cool and interesting, I LOVE that she pushes back on any preconceived notions the player has about Circles. Realistically even though the Circles are a huge part of the oppression of mages in Thedas, with the divide in schools of thought on how magic can be taught there clearly WOULD be differences in the Circles like this across Thedas. Vivienne herself acknowledges problems within the Circle system if youāre willing to dive deeper into it with her!
(Personally I think Bioware should have maybe given us an example of a ābetterā circle that the player themselves could visit, rather than rely on a character telling the player but thatās a whoooooole other conversation)
I think the core of a lot of Vivienne hate is based in racism. A lot of the arguments for feeling justified for disliking her boil down to āWell, I canāt trust her! She expects me to do favors for her without telling me the whole truth!ā And itās likeā¦. yeah. Her quest is not only her desperately trying to save someone she loves deeply, itās also a litmus test FOR THE PLAYER. SHE is deciding if SHE can trust YOU and to a lot of gamers, thatās an arrogance a fictional character shouldnāt be allowed to have, especially for a black woman. Itās a choice a player themselves might make when interacting with an NPC they might not fully trust, but players somehow expect every NPC to trust them implicitly with little to no proof!
At the end of the day, thereās problems and missteps that Bioware is responsible for when it comes to Vivienne and her character - but I honestly think itās such a shame people wonāt take the time to get to know and help her.
I mean, shit. Solas doesnāt tell you who he is for THE ENTIRE GAME and when he does he knocks you out and leaves you for dead after STEALING YOUR GODDAMN ARM and heās still one of the most popular characters of the franchise!
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