y'all people are still out here in the land of 2022 squawking that everyone who hates Vivienne hates her at least somewhat because she's black and I just. One person even said, "I remember when all we had was a trailer and all we knew about Vivienne was that she's pro-Chantry and black and fandom hasn't changed a bit since then" (as if being pro-Chantry isn't enough of a reason to hate a character lbr fuck the Chantry) and I'm LOSING IT.
NO, that's not all we knew about her, because every single Dragon Age Inquisition character was introduced with a blurb on Bioware's official site, and Vivienne's blurb said she 'cared more about fashion than efficient armor' (paraphrasing) and I immediately snorted and thought, 'oh, great, she's a shallow Orlesian noble (info that was given to us) who cares more about her image than getting anything useful done.' And lo and behold, I was right.
But hey, I was wrong about several characters I'd read about. I ended up loving Solas way more than I thought I would and caring way less about Blackwall and I actually found The Iron Bull extremely interesting. But Vivienne I went from thinking I wouldn't like her to actively hating her, and shocker!!! One of the few things I sympathize with her for is the hate she got from that one racist noble whom she ended up manipulating into his death in a war, which... yeah, no, that's a bit too far, holy shit, but hey, he was a prick and what he said was unacceptable.
I hate her because she lies straight to your Inquisitor's face, manipulating information to make her arguments seem more palatable. "Oh, the vote in the White Spire was too close! It should have been unanimous! Oh and also the reports about templar cruelty were deeply exaggerated; after all, I come from the White Spire and everyone was nice to me!" Like. Literally all manipulations and lies. I read Asunder, bitch; I know the truth.
I hate her because she is petty enough to steal shit from my character's room and throw it up on the veranda for everyone in the Main Hall to see, showing off the 'power' she has over me because the game literally doesn't let me order her to leave, order her to take it all back and let me watch her do so, order her to carry it all to her room herself, or even let me throw it out the window to spite her. The game literally forces my character to have to stand there and watch her act like a brat and smirk at me because she's a bitch and likes manipulating people, literally enjoys power plays. The worst kind of scum.
I hate her because Fiona is literally in the same building as her and she refuses to talk to her and still pretends nothing bad happened in the White Spire. I hate her because she treats Cole and Solas and Sera like shit. I hate her because she mocks everyone, insulting the intellect of every single character and insinuating she would somehow be a better choice than anybody else on your team. I hate her because she constantly belittles every single mage who disagrees with how she wants things run, to the point of mocking the mages in Redcliffe who were desperate enough to turn to slavery before they had to return to the Spire, instead of listening when they spoke of how bad things were.
I hate her because whenever she and Sera talk, it's so disgustingly clear that Vivienne is a noble, always punching down, mocking those beneath her despite the fact that she only got her position from luck and looks and a willingness to sleep with a rich man in order to get ahead. And that's from someone who also isn't fond of Sera.
I hate her because she uses the death of her lover to garner more favor. She doesn't care about saving him. She cares about losing her position. Proven, of course, by how she uses her actions of trying to save his life by currying favor among the surviving family instead of, you know. Mourning. You can even call her on it, say she's scheming and she'll say 'always,' say she used you and she'll laugh in your face. Because she is a user, will always be a user, is proud of being a user, to the point of saying to Cassandra that there is little else as enjoyable as manipulating and bullying people.
I hate her because she will literally destroy the College of Enchanters if it's built again, because the very idea of her power being limited in literally any way infuriates her to the point where she finds it acceptable to destroy buildings with people inside (but when Anders does it, it's unacceptable).
I could have liked her if she'd used her position to help literally anyone other than herself. Or if the game showed her feeling vulnerable sometimes and eventually opening up to the Inquisitor, maybe mentioning how she sometimes left a crowd to go to the restroom and have a panic attack or something. But no. We get information about how she struggled when she was younger (because mages struggle in Circles!!), then returned and made others struggle because it made her feel powerful and important.
She's a bully. She's self-important. She's manipulative. She's cruel. She's egotistical to the point of narcissism. She thinks everyone around her is a tool to use - in fact, I believe she even says as much once. Solas calls her out on it all perfectly - "You could use those skills to improve the lives of your fellow mages. Instead you have done nothing, save consolidate your own power." What an unlikable cow.
And shockingly, none of these things have shit-all to do with the color of her skin. You kids seriously need to grow past this fantasy of yours that hating Vivienne has literally anything to do with her race.
