rubykavalier replied to your post: Keep readingRead More Now!
I liked what little we got, but I feel like we got shafted (likely tech/plot reasons, but still) compared to other romances. But then, I don’t remember any goodbyes; I wonder if I missed something. I talked to him as often as I could. Replay time.
huh, that’s interesting. i don’t feel like i got shortchanged at all. maybe it’s because i played trespasser first with a josephine-romancing adaar, who got a kind of similar formula to bull’s content: there’s one event (going to the opera) and it’s the same for a romance or for a friendship--the only difference is one or two lines of dialogue. if i recall correctly, based on a post that was going on around a while ago, her romance had one of the shortest run-times in-game, and she didn’t get that much additional content in trespasser (none of the banter that i got with bull’s, for example, because she’s not a party member). bull had one of the longer run-times for romances in game (according to that post, and it did feel that way to me, as well), lots of cut scenes, etc., so if the DLC content was a little thinner...idk. i didn’t mind. ymmv, of course.
having now poked around a little, i know that there’s some contention about a chargers-sacrificed bull turning on you, which is awful, and bioware does have this sweeping problem of writing male love interests (for female protags) who lie to you somehow. and it IS especially bad in inquisition, with blackwall, solas, and now bull. i guess my feelings about it for the DLC are that, having already written bull and the choice with the chargers in the main game, his betrayal seems like the natural conclusion to the arc they started?
maybe they should have made it impossible for a bull whose chargers were sacrificed to be romanced, idk, but...he is a spy, and in that situation, the inquisitor has as good as told him that his people and the qun are more important than the chargers and the inquisitor themselves. i basically just hope they cut out with this pattern in LIs in the future, but at least there is a way for bull to have never lied to you (keep the chargers alive) which is not the case for blackwall and solas.
(tbf, they have written LIs for male protags who lie/betray: morrigan and isabela, and anders, who can be romanced by either gender. so...they just like this secret-keeping storyline, for some reason?)
anyway. personally, i just liked how, after two years, their romance exists in the little things, like banter and casual conversations about marriage. that’s kind of just my speed when it comes to romance; i like the ordinary everyday things. bull’s “you are my kadan. that is a choice i make every day,” really resonates with me, because that’s the kind of romantic attachment i choose, too--no formal bonds, just...an emotional commitment. it just felt really natural to me. and i really liked this banter (as well as i can remember it--might have some details wrong):
Iron Bull: Ah, the whole gang back together to kick some ass. How about it, kadan?
Varric: Still with the nicknames? That’s my thing, Tiny.
Iron Bull: It’s a title of honor for the woman I love.
Varric: A romantic after all! Are you blushing up there?
Iron Bull: This was supposed to be about hitting things.
as for the goodbyes, those happen right before going through the eluvian to the daarvarad; it’s one of those banter convos that the inquisitor can hop in on by hitting R3. (: it was really sweet--lots of emotion in their voices.
