It seems weird to me that people seem to want Fenris to be “cute” in a way that I don't think he is–don’t get me wrong; he absolutely is cute! But not in the “giggles when you compliment him” (I cannot for the life of me imagine Fenris “giggling”), “hides his face in a sweater,” “blushes any time Hawke glances in his direction” way. His cuteness in terms of romance comes, I think, from inexperience. So it makes sense to me that he would get a little flustered if Hawke holds his hand in public and someone says something about it. Or would be bad at receiving (or giving) gifts. Or not know how to respond to gratuitous amounts of verbal affection. That’s a whole different kind of cute, though.
I think maybe it’s a contrast thing? Like, “oh, he’s so scary and angry and will tear a man’s heart from his chest but LOOK HOW CUTE AND GIGGLEY HE GETS WITH HAWKE.” Or maybe it’s just generic desire for the good-looking elf to be a submissive accessory when exposed to the dudebro main character. But you know who actually is cute in the way that they would blush if you called them cute? Who repeatedly proves that they have no idea how this love and affection thing works but they’re very nervous and hopeful you’ll be patient with them and love them anyway? Who is, coincidentally, also a murderous force of nature when necessary?
Merrill. That’s who. I feel like people are looking for a particular type of dynamic and/or trait that they think doesn’t exist in the game, so they transpose it onto the elf boy–but the elf girl is right here! She has those traits! She is, however, a different character. Just like Anders is and Isabela is and Sebastian is. I guess what I’m talking about is mischaracterization (or what I perceive as mischaracterization). Like, “this character doesn’t fit the exact model for what I want out of this pairing, sooo I’ll just change them!” Naturally it’s not my place to tell anyone how a character factually is; all I can do is give my opinion. And I support character development and change 100%! I love it when a story starts with a character one way and ends them in a completely different mindset. I guess the issue there is the passage of time, or lack thereof. I just…they were created and written the way that they are for a reason, because they were shaped by their experiences as surroundings, etc. Changing that just because doesn’t seem fair.