#dd:da

[olessan]

ma'am

(Dragon's Dogma 2: Get to Know the Sphinx - IGN First)

[muffinpoop1]

Julien.jpg

[orinthered]

the 8k slowburn aelinore/mercedes fanfic in my mind

[ladymissfit133]

Been thinking about Dragon's dogma and its reoccuring stories about women navigating a patriarchal society and how individual action will never succeed against systemic oppression. How even women of noble birth are stuck following the whims of the men in their lives. How Aelinore's romance is all about her grabbing on to the little bit of agency she has and holding on to it with all of her power, to get but a taste of freedom, only for her ultimately go from the oppression of her husband and back to that of her father. she's probably never been as happy as she was in those sewers, not having to think of how she appeared, who saw her or what she was doing. it was just her and the person she herself chose to love. as someone who's never been able to make her own decisions, just dealing with the consequences of the one decision she made for herself must've felt incredibly liberating. And in the end the system still takes her back. she can't truly escape, to fight against something so much stronger than herself.

And Mercedes. Naive and foolish Mercedes, who wanted nothing more than to be seen as a knight. A position she as a woman is simply not allowed to have. Her individual wishes goes against what the system could ever accomodate but she does not understand this. She does not know that she will never have what her brothers have. She thinks that the system will give her what she seeks should she work hard enough. but that is not how systemic oppression works. It will never bend for an individuals hard work. She is merely deluding herself thinking the men around her see her as an equal. But she never will be. They will never give her that chance, hell, even when she insists on taking a job the man overseeing her sends you to make sure she is unharmed. And in the end the system wins and the best she can hope for is the respect of two people to allow her an uninterrupted duel. But she's still a woman. And the system will not allow her that same respect. And then there's Madeleine. Flirtations and pragmatic Madeleine, wanting nothing more than her own shop, yet obtaining such a feat as a poor peddler is difficult and she is forced to resort to illegal means in order to reach it. Means her male peers likely would not need to. And despite her craftiness she is still found out and forced to leave her hard-earned successes behind.

time and time again Dragon's dogma gives us stories about how individualism can not win against systemic oppression, but together we can do something. None of these women can escape their situation - they simply do not have the means to do so on their own. These are the kinds of narratives that games seldom tackle, and yet Dragon's Dogma does it in a very honest and brutal way: an individual is powerless against the wider structures. on your own you are powerless. It's a game that should be talked about more for its feminist themes i think, because they are there and they are strong. and then there's Dragon's Dogma 2. DD2 takes the more gender-blind approach to its own world. Where gender doesn't really matter at all. I can understand this approach, and a lot of times i think it is a good approach: unless you have something to say you should just let people feel like they belong in your world. Women are plentiful in DD2, they hold positions of power and make up half its instututions. this should be the default approach. But it also means DD2 can not say anything important about the struggles of groups, only about individuals. Because no one is truly oppressed based on their identity anymore. And i think that is a genuine shame because the first game had a lot to say about it. (and yes, i know about the beastren, but they're a fantasy race and thus do not count)

[hircines-hunter]

[thehappiestgolucky]

don't mind me just thinking about this scene in relation to Odessa "Cannot thrive without some form of connection to another being" Fisher because god ok sir just read her whole character why don't you

[thecreedsmaxim]

are there any dragon's dogma fans out here bcuz im currently obsessed. i'm at lvl 97 and currently trying (and failing) to farm bitterblack and just killed the offline ur-dragon for the first time :3

[sonodaten]

WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK, BABY