#swtor romance

[chickenwn7]

Happy Birthday to me 🎈🥳~

I drew my Swtor cuties [My smuggler Ijad & Arn] in the 7.8.1 update finally kissing after years of waiting 🥹❤️

[kivthecathar]

Deep Dive - Arn Romance - Part 2

Alrighty we left off at Mek-Sha after Arn had to confront some demons so know that’s just forward to Corellia.

All my deep dives are AI free. ✅

Missed part 1? [link]

Corellia FP

Disappointingly even though we have both Tau and Arn here we don’t get too many interactions with either of them during the flashpoint. We arrive on Corellia and just go straight into the flashpoint to find Malgus.

We save Tharan and engage Malgus. We beat Malgus and he brings the device down appearing to crush himself, Tau and Arn but we escape. We later find out on the fleet that Tau, Arn and Malgus escaped. We do get a line that we all work well together to which Arn agrees, a nice send off before we don’t see him again for a while.

Now I am going to go into the letters Arn sends us but I saved them all a little out of order so I will do my best to try and make sure these are in correct order.

He discusses how he remembers when we first met and how much we have done for him since then and that he feels bad for not checking in on us and that we probably haven’t noticed. I feel this letter clearly shows that whether or not we’re pursing the romance angle Arn at this stage is seeing us as a close friend, someone he can confide in with but due to our ‘status’ as the Commander he feels a little overwhelmed in that we probably don’t even think twice about him (wrong).

He finishes off by letting us know that he and Tau are always there to listen. From a romance point of view he’s starting to slowly, very slowly to open up to the idea of us being something more.

Dantooine

Alright let’s get into Dantoonie one of my favourite FP’s especially as an old school gamer who played KOTOR 1 and KOTOR 2 back in the day.

When we meet with Gnost-Dural and Arn we can choose what I can only describe as us being excited to see him again, ‘It’s great to see you again’ to which he responds that it’s been a while.

In the previous letter he says he will most likely become a Jedi Knight soon as he’s excited to tell us about how much he’s learning before we must move forward.  Gnost-Dural suggests that Arn and Tanner goi together and we check in with Arn he says he doesn’t want us to go in alone.

At the end of the FP we meet over Holo with Gnost-Dural, Tau, Sal-Deron and Vinyor Tesh where Vinyor states that he believes Aryn and Tanner should not be here because one is no longer a Jedi and one isn’t even a force user.

I love Arn’s line of ‘You’re kidding, right?’ feels like such a ad-lib line where there was no thought before he even said anything.

From a romance POV this line of Arn sticking up for us in front of everyone is sweet, it’s clear he see’s us in such high regard that any disrespect from anyone even the Jedi Order he’s ready to stand up for us.

Manaan

This is it, our very first actual [flirt] lines moving forward, let’s do this!

We start of our next missions on Manaan with Arn who’s in a ship and has been attacked by an ion canon. We fade to Tanner trying to find Arn’s ship amongst the wreckage which we find.

When we find Arn we get our first flirt which comes from us in that we have been scared about losing him.

Arn says that he’s okay and didn’t mean to make us worry. I like how we’ve slowly built up to this scene over the years with Arn, even though we didn’t have any real flirts before this you can ensure through other dialogue that you’re always backing him up, being there for him, supporting him and looking out for him which to me screams, I like you but we’re going to take this slow and steady until you’re ready. Now we’ve reached that stage where he is ready and comfortable.

Tanner being the smuggler he is, is a total flirt but I like how intentional or not I feel as though both he and Arn here are a little awkward with each other as though they both have started caring for each other but still wonder whether the other cares which equals a little cute awkwardness between them especially Tanner being a Zeltron whom this flirting should be second nature.

The two talk and quickly figure out that he and Arn must get down to the planet to sort the cannon out. I like the interaction between the two as we fly down with Arn feeling the weight of being a Jedi Knight and losing people, we’ve seen in our previous deep dive how losing people in the past has given him severe PTSD and that he feels so strongly about wanting to keep everyone safe. I get the feeling his think at least in his mind he doesn't deserve his rank.

I like how Tanner is not a force user class here, although it may seem a little harsh to say that having fancy ‘jedi powers’ doesn’t mean that everything will always work out but sadly it is the truth. I feel as though as much as Tanner or anyone else speaks with Arn he’s never going to fully be able to move on from the idea that he can’t always save everyone. This PTSD flaw will reoccur throughout Arn's cutscenes moving forward.

We soon meet Gallo (whom I love!) and a plan is made, we part ways with Arn here but I love the look of oh my goodness when Gallo’s plan involves shutting down all tech and the first thing Tanner thinks of is Arn who is shielded from that (?), I’ll take it.

Again this concern romancing Arn or not is very telling of just how much the two are growing closer and looking out for each other, I can guarantee if it had, had any affect on Arn what-so-over Tanner at least would have noped out (no matter what Arn said). We part ways with Arn and go with Gallo.

We eventually come across Dosk and Gallo gets injured, her soldiers and Arn come to find us. I like how Arn’s immediate concern is to check us over to make sure we’re ok and we get a very adorable little smile of thank goodness you’re ok.

We’re then given a task and Arn says the best line in ALL of SWTOR (fight me on this lol), ‘’Let’s go fishing.’’

It’s great that we can now deep dive a little into more of Arn’s story here, he gets angry when he realises that if the Imperials can’t get the Kolto they’ll simply destroy it which of course means that others will suffer.

Arn reflects on how he was injured and that they didn’t have Kolto and although grateful they saved his life he had to go through so much pain. I personally can’t imagine having to undergo so much modification and just how painful that would have been when if he had, had Kolto it would have been so different. We jump right back into his PTSD of not only being injured/losing others but his fear of losing others (here being due to no kolto).

I have seen some interesting ideas of DS Arn floating around and honestly the idea intrigues me. We know of his PTSD and if Malgus or another DS user could feed on this deep fear of Arn losing someone he truly cares about I could see it happening. He already gets angry at the idea of Imperials hurting others (look at the Brothers on Mek-Sha) replace that with a love interest and I can see something DS seething underneath. But anyway back to the now!

I don’t think others sometimes give Arn the credit he deserves for being such a layered character. There is so much to unpack with what happened to him and yet he still puts others first because he can’t think of anyone else going through what he did. This is someone who wouldn’t give a second thought of giving his life for someone else, especially someone he cares about despite his underlying PTSD and fears. I believe the drip-fed content over the years really hindered some appreciation for his character as as whole.

At the end of Manaan, we get some nice one-on-one time with Arn, he talks about his trials which is intriguing to Tanner who as a Smuggler who has no idea. But we get to see a breakdown on Arn’s character again that during the training he felt as though everyone was against him ever becoming a Jedi but it had all been in his own head. This is very much in character for Arn, the self doubt I believe is 100% from what happened to him and his master, how can he feel he’ll ever be a Jedi Knight when he let so many people down? Lost so many including some of his own crew on Manaan.

Arn asks us if this chaos is what we go through all time, the answer is pretty much yes but we get another [flirt]!

It’s clear that from a romance POV that Arn has been much more open during Manaan (in own shy, awkward way) and in his own way flirting back allowing himself to feel something. Tanner admits it’s taken awhile to fully admit he enjoys Arn’s company, I take this as we were waiting for Arn to allow himself to open up and now that he is Tanner feels as though it is the right time to let him know how he feels.

We get a very cute exchange where Tanner calls him a Jedi Knight and Arn says that he really likes how that sounds coming from us.

Call me crazy but for the first time during the Manaan mission I think this is the first time Arn accepts his new title and believes that he can live up to it. Hearing someone that he knows who really knows him and what he’s been through it’s a passage of acceptance that if this person says I can, then I can.

Arn talks a little about the Master he came seeking and how they ended up being dead the entire time and not understanding why the Master didn’t want fame or anyone to know.

Eventually Arn’s crew calls and he has to leave as they’re staying on Manaan to help with the clean-up and his leaves. Maybe I was a little disappointed at no kiss but I remembered that with this we’re 100% letting Arn set the pace and for now we’ve had him open up just that tiny bit to know the feeling is mutual which is huge that he is allowing us in, that he is allowing himself to care about someone.

After Manaan we get a letter from Arn. I love how his letter states that he forgot to say he enjoys our company also, I think our boy flusters so easily and that he felt bad afterwards for not saying it back that he had to send is a letter to make sure we knew also. He clearly also asks to make sure we see each other soon, the slow and steady pace is definitely paying off as he slowly opens up more and is now more adamant that he wants to see us again.

If you made it this far well done, that was a long one of our deep dive of Arn's romance which as you can see is quite complex with such a compelling character like Arn. See you next time for part 3!

[kivthecathar]

Arn Romance

I'd just like to say that us Arn romancers really ate well in these last few updates with the Arn romance, some of the cut scene romances (for everyone) have been so good lately. Even those that aren't necessary romance I look at the from the romance lens and melt anyway. 🩷

I'm really enjoying my Arn romance deep dive write-ups and how they're coming along.

I need MORE please I can't wait for the next update.

I've been using Canva for GIFS lately which I quite like for super short ones.

[kivthecathar]

On Tython do you choose to expose the two lovers (LS) or keep their secret (DS)?

LS - They are lovers

DS - They are innocent

Voting ended onJun 22

As someone currently doing some romance deep dives in SWTOR with force using characters I always choose that they are innocent, I feel like a hypocrite calling them out especially with Sarabi who I'm doing my Doc deep dive romance into this playthrough. 💚

[kivthecathar]

SWTOR Romance Deep Dives

This post will be pinned with all my SWTOR deep dives in one place.

They have all be written by hand, no AI has been used.

They are all my own personal deep dives with my ideas that I wanted to share. They will include OG content and expansions. If you have different opinions or ideas on these relationships I would love to hear them!

Quinn Romance The Slow Burn 🩷

Deep dive into the Quinn romance with a SW taking the LS route with a SW who takes it slow and allows Quinn to set the pace. Examine the motivation before and after the 'big incident' and how this effects the relationship in game. This deep dive includes direct game dialogue with screenshots.

Featuring: Kehlani the SW

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7 - Coming Soon

Doc Romance The Misunderstood Romance? 💚

Deep dive into the Doc romance with a LS JK with a slow pace. Examine one of the most controversial romances in game and let's see beyond the outer layers of the character of Doc and how this is reflected in a slow build up relationship with a JK and if there really is more to this romance and Doc than we first thought. This deep dive includes direct game dialogue with screenshots.

Featuring: Sarabi the JK

Part 1

Part 2

Arn Romance Most Complex Romance? 🩵

Deep dive into one of the newer romances in the game with Arn. Let's examine how a relationship with Arn with a incredibly traumatic past can very, very slowly learn to open up with someone else who allows him to set the pace of the relationship. Deep dive into how this past effects his relationship, it's pace and how one of the slowest but possibly deepest romances in the game evolves when allowed to. This deep dive includes direct game dialogue with screenshots.

Featuring: Tanner the Smuggler

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 - Coming Soon

COMING UP?

[chaoticstrata]

WTF?

Why is the only rejection option an insult? What the fuck?

Hell, I didn't even flirt with her!!!

[necromanticsoul]

That realization that I've romanced or am romancing Theron Shan on 5 different characters. I have a problem or a type in video game boyfriends...

[kivthecathar]

The SW/Quinn Romance - Slow Burn Character Investigation - Part 3

Hi again everyone welcome back to our deep dive into a LS SW romance with our confused Quinn.

Part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/kivthecathar/805947792790044672/sw-quinn-romance-the-slow-burn-route?source=share

Part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/kivthecathar/806153215817154560/the-swquinn-romance-slow-burn-character?source=share

So last time Quinn made the first move and we looked at some interesting lines regrading being reassigned and whether they could put the ‘mission’ before their relationship to which they seemingly agree (Quinn whether he knows this or not).

Ok so yes, yes the betrayal is soon however lets hold our horses first! Before then we’re going to look at some rather interesting lines leading up to the betrayal. However don’t worry, we’ll be doing a deep dive into the big moment soon.

Quesh-Belsavis

I believe by the start of Act 3 after the failed attempt on the SW’s life Quinn at this stage knows exactly what Baras plans are for him. I think Baras is always one step ahead and right after this moment he is getting Quinn to try and figure out a plan without looking suspicious. So, we jump back into what Quinn said previously, despite his feelings for the SW he is clearly putting his loyalty to Baras first.

We’ll never know exactly what Baras said or when, but I think it’s clear there would have been no argument from Quinn, the plan is in place, the SW must be killed, no more ‘reassignment’ talk. If he fails then Baras will kill him but I’m pretty sure Quinn (a rigid imperial expecting harsh punishments) will expect the same from a SW romanced or not, more on this later.

Back to Hoth

Ok let’s get into some cutscenes before heading to Hoth for the mission before Voss. Quinn can make some interesting (in hindsight) comments to a SW.

We must find Greist, to which Quinn comments (see below) about what a big place Hoth is and that it’ll take a long time. So remember after Hoth we have Voss then the betrayal, at this point I believe Quinn’s plan is well in motion.

We can possibly infer two things from these lines, either,

1. Quinn is trying to delay us saying this will take a long time because his ‘betrayal’ plan is not yet ready, he needs more time for the droids.

2. Quinn is already all over the betrayal, it’s pretty much done however from a romance POV he subtly trying to ensure they take as long as possible before it happens. Maybe Baras will change his mind, or something will happen if they wait too long? So then he doesn't need to do the 'plan.'

The SW and Quinn know Slinte and Quinn again comments about how there’s a possibility he’s already been disposed of by Baras, again another ‘this may not work’ or ‘take to long’ comment.

When the SW says they’ll go find him Quinn agrees that he’s their best lead, 100% he already knows whether Slinte is dead or alive at this point he's just dragging his feet.

Hoth - Draahg Confrontation

Time to look at this assassination attempt and some interesting comments. So I took Quinn with me to Hoth which meant when Draahg attacked the crew and disabled them Quinn wasn’t there so he fights Draahg with me.

It interests me as to whether Draahg was in the know about Quinn working for Baras on his betrayal plan. My guess is going to be no (Baras keeps this card to himself) so if Draahg had won Quinn would have been killed as well. A win-win for Baras, Draahg wins and SW and Quinn are dead, Draahg fails and he has Quinn for the backup. On the flip side I don’t believe that Quinn knew about this event either because I will assume if I didn’t take Quinn to Hoth he would be unconscious with the rest of the crew.

So once we defeat him multiple times, he makes a comment that Baras will see that her luck runs out (hmm does he know of the backup plan?) before we choose the light side option and he attacks us again, we counter and we kill him by pushing him into the fire. He burns to death and screams which is brutal. Quinn makes a very interesting comment here that ‘he’ll burn to death but it’s no less than he deserves.’ (check screenshots below). That line from Quinn was brutal as well, I choose the ‘Don’t be so harsh’ comment line which comes out as ‘We all deserve mercy, Captain.’ To which he replies ‘If you say so, My Lord.’

OK so let’s dig a little deeper with these lines. Quinn’s line about Draahg deserving his fate being quite harsh is especially interesting to me since he must know at this point he will be facing the SW herself soon as well and if this is what she was able to do to Draahg then it doesn’t look good for him. By saying Draahg deserves his fate is he retroactively telling himself that he’ll also get what he deserves soon enough, because we all know he has no chance to defeat our SW romanced or not.

I believe my SW choosing the option of 'Don't be harsh' and that we all deserve mercy is something Quinn does not agree on, I feel as though he just agrees with us because he feels he has to.

Having been working for Baras and in the imperial side of the galaxy with Sith he’s probably seen Sith kill people quite brutally for a lot less than a betrayal or assassination attempt and simply has been indoctrinated to just accept that that these horrible deaths and punishments are ’'deserved.’’  Our LS SW is probably so strange to him saying that everyone deserves mercy, even after the whole journey with a LS SW who has shown incredible patience at times and mercy he still reverts to what he is accustomed to and that is you make a mistake or do wrong then you deserve a horrible fate.

In my own interpretation he cares deeply (romance side) for the LS SW because of the way she is, not being cruel, showing mercy, being kind, treating others respectfully and not being a mindless killer. She gave him every chance, went slow to develop their relationship and showed nothing but respect and kindness to him but he still reverts to his beliefs of harsh punishment despite everything she has shown him. He loves the way she is but does he actually respect her for it (?) or is he too indoctrinated to the DS Sith way. Despite everything I think he clearly believes despite their relationship and the way she has treated him with kindness that he will still suffer a horrid fate at her hands if he doesn't surrender, does he know her at all?

I still believe he has deep feelings for a SW at this stage however with the betrayal getting closer I feel as though he would subconsciously be trying to distance himself even just a little. If there is guilt which I believe he would be feeling he is trying to dismiss it. I believe most of the conversations with him one-on-one are mostly about the Moff Broysc so little on the ‘romance’ till the betrayal moment. I like to think this is on purpose at this stage

Next up is Voss where we have some very interesting interactions so at least one more deep dive before our big betrayal moment.  

If you're ideas are different that's ok I love to see different interpretations on what I think is one of if not the most complex romance in the entire game.

Won't have time to much more now till the weekend for the Voss deep dive. 💛

Part 4: https://www.tumblr.com/kivthecathar/806675529770188800/the-swquinn-romance-slow-burn-character