Anders off duty in his clinic

okay but can you fucking imagine the very first time anders delivers a baby outside of the circle, the very first time he hands a newborn to their parents, the very first time he holds a baby and doesn't just have to hand them off to a fucking templar never to be seen again, the very first time he wraps up a new baby and gets to see the joy in their parents' faces instead of the parents literally never once even laying eyes on this infant, the very first time he delivers a newborn and it's a happy day instead of a tragedy, can you fucking imagine… i mean he probably had to help with deliveries at kinloch hold right so just like, the very first time he takes part in a birth that is a joyous occasion has to sure be something for him and i uhh…yeah, i’m imagining it…

Sometimes I just think about how dicey the relationship must be between the Chantry and Ferelden.

On the one hand, Ferelden was the birthplace of Andrastianism - the saviour of southern Thedas was an Alamarri barbarian too stubborn to fall under the yoke of her Tevinter masters, the only one worthy of getting the Maker to turn his gaze back to His children - but on the other hand, the Chantry has done so much to distance itself from those roots, from centring the faith in Val Royeaux’s Grand Cathedral to dismissing folk songs like “Andraste’s Mabari” as borderline heresy.

More than that, it had an active role in the subjugation of the Fereldan people. During the events of The Stolen Throne, the mages in Kinlock Hold are shown to be afraid of getting involved in the politics of the rebellion by harbouring Maric even for a single night because Circles are meant to remain neutral. AND YET mages from Orlais are brought specifically to Gwaren to help the Orlesians squash the rebels. Mother Bronach is there throughout Meghren’s reign legitimising his oppression as “the will of the Maker” and extracting tithes from the Fereldan people for the Chantry, while it’s strongly implied that Fereldans themselves are barred from serving any meaningful role in its hierarchy, if you pay attention to what Sister Ailis says.

So we have a source of national pride in Andrastianism itself, and we have a source of suspicion with how closely tied the Chantry as an institution is tied to Orlais, and possible resentment for the Chantry’s encouragement of indifference to the Orlesian Occupation. You can’t tell me the Rebel Queen Moira didn’t play into the imagery of Andraste the Liberator, fighting back against the tyranny of an unjust empire. You can’t tell me she didn’t use the people’s faith as a weapon to refute the idea of the Occupation being the Maker’s will. At the very least, you can’t tell me that after the war was done, nobody made that connection, given that she, too, met her end through betrayal.

And then we get to the Inquisition. There’s going to be a bit of a difference depending on who ends up on the throne after the Blight, because Alistair is far more outspoken than Anora both on his opinion of mage rights and his disdain for the Chantry in general (but he’s also an ex-templar so I’m sure there are headaches about how to square that away), but no matter who rules Ferelden, the actions of the Inquisition are the same. For the second time in living memory, a foreign power is giving itself free rein to tramp over Fereldan soil, seize its castles, and make decisions for its people. A foreign power with pretty strong ties to the Chantry (declared heretical or not), justifying their occupation through religion.

Just saying, Fereldans must have a complicated relationship with their majority religion.

And don’t get me started on my theory that the Chantry sanctioned the original invasion of Ferelden as a way to have an exalted march without spending money or effort or making other Andrastian nations nervous

can someone explain me why people treat anders as a villain for blowing up the chantry (even tho he peacefully fought for mage rights for years, led free clinic for poor refugees, helped circle mages to escape) but love and adore isabela who out of selfishness led to WAR with qunari, causing death of (probably) much more people in kirkwall? i love isabela but that's not fair fr

I was feeling sick so I drew Anders. I've really been into drawing long noses recently and who better to draw than this guy?

Warden Amell, storming into Kirkwall: Anders, how could you?!

Anders: Oh Maker, here we go...

Warden Amell: You blew up the chantry-

Anders: Have you seen the kind of abuses-

Warden Amell: WITHOUT ME?!

Turning to blood magic as an oppressed mage is like turning to crime. People don’t do it because it’s the easy way out. They do it because it’s their only way out. It’s easy to blame individuals, to assume they are weak-willed and lack morals. But if so many mages are turning to blood magic, then the system is at fault

Here you go, you filthy apostates

I was writing up an Inquisition fic idea of the Inquistor getting a Tranquil companion and the debates that they might get into with the others. That's a post for another time.

But it made me think about why the Circle keeps the Harrowing secret. Why they don't let Harrowed mages discuss it with the apprentices.

And I realized if the apprentices knew what the Harrowing was they wouldn't be as scared. Which means they wouldn't be as likely to "choose" to be made Tranquil out of fear of failure. (death)

And neither the Circle nor the Chantry can have that. Why? Because the money made off of Tranquil labor is how the Circle makes the money needed to meet the basic needs of the prisoners mages. And it's one of the few ways the Chantry can get some money out of the Circle.

So in the end it all comes down to money. Shocking I know.

// this is a stright up rant, not gonna bother wording it well

"Give Meredith and Orsino time to work out their differences..." man,, there's just so much to unpack here like

1. They're not a married couple to work out their differences ffs

2. "No good can come of showing favor to one side" bitch when one side is oppressors and the other is oppressed, not showing favor is siding with the oppressor. Simple as that. Especially when you're part of said oppressors

3. There's no working out differences when one wants to commit genocide and the other, shockingly /s, does not want that. What differences are there to possibly be fucking worked out??

4. You're supposed to keep Meredith in check, what the fuck are you even here for if you don't step in when there has been blatant disregard for Chantry law (nevermind that even if that's followed, it's still an oppressive system) for at least 7 fucking years??? Oh right, you're here to let Meredith (and the Chantry as a result) slowly take over Kirkwall, bc that's what it's all about apparently

Fuck this shit. I'm supposed to think that Anders finally blowing the lid off this dumpster fire of a city is the worst thing to happen? I don't. Things have been shit in the city and would've continued to get worse and worse and worse. Way more would've died if nothing was done and things still would've remained shit as an added bonus. At least after a revolt, there's a path to healing. Meredith would've annulled the Circle, then would've continued to lead a regime that got people killed for imaginary slights, and would've continued to raze through the city. A revolt was coming. Better sooner than later.

Anders again, been playing Awekening and can’t handle it

sometimes I wonder what bioware actually wanted to achieve when they wrote the whole anders arc and then decided how they should treat it in DA:I. like they created a guy who was helping people in need for years risking his freedom and sometimes even life and then they said you know what this guy is BAD and WRONG. actually much worse than organization that ultimately fails at its main goal which is maintaining peace and balance. oh that poor chantry lady who didn't even try to keep her favourite templar and her mass murder tendencies in check

Since DA2 won't load up properly (it's running in the background if anyone knows how to fix this lmk) I am going to post my thoughts on The Chantry Explosion (yes it deserves caps).

I think it's horrifying, but not in the 'he blew up a church' way.

It's horrifying that after years of campaigning, of peacefully fighting for equality, of being a 'good' rebeller, that it resorted to that. It's horrifying that Anders was fully willing to die for this if it meant that some day mages would be free. It's horrifying when you remember that the right of annulment had already been called for. It's horrifying that this was the only way the mages in the gallows even stood a chance of surviving.

It's horrifying, because if people cared, it would never have ended like that.

I was talking about Dragon Age with someone irl and at one point mentioned I didn’t like how much Inquisition made you side with the Chantry and when they asked me why I said something along the lines of “I really don’t like the Chantry, Anders was right” before I remembered what a controversial statement that second part is…. It got awkward.

But… I still stand by it.

this man got a whole romance, redemption arc and a glow up. why. he is literally the worst.