#autistic morrigan

[transwitchofthewilds]

I decided to do several of these despite not being asked them for the character prior because I am a clown.

So, here's some of these for Morrigan.

TW: Child abuse and transphobia.

🏳️‍🌈 A sexuality headcanon? - She's obviously a lesbian--I mean, she's a man-hating forest witch. Morrigan's also very aroace spec I think. I can see her being demiromantic and greyace.

🏳️‍⚧️ A gender headcanon? - Morrigan's a transgirl sorry not sorry. Part of this comes from the fact Oghren makes a transphobic comment to her in banter, saying, "How do we know you're actually a woman?".

I think it's also part of the reason why Flemeth's so obsessed with her; despite having another daughter who was alive at the same time for a bit (Yavana), Flemeth seemed to focus more on Morrigan. [Personally, I think Flemeth pays more attention Morrigan because that's her first trans kid--even if the attention is negative.]

Even if Flemeth had no problem with trans people, she still would tease young Morrigan about it; "Oh, what's wrong? You feel uncomfortable in your own body, little one?"

Morrigan can shapeshift to a certain extent to look more feminine, but not completely.

🧸 A headcanon about their childhood? - Morrigan was never allowed to have a single toy as a child. Flemeth would purposely take Morrigan to nearby markets and show her different toys and say, "Oh, this looks cool! Too bad you'll never have it." And when little Morrigan got fed up and stole toys, Flemeth would always find out and break them right in front of Morrigan.

👻 A headcanon about what scares them? - Despite her trying to say she prefers to be by herself, Morrigan's afraid of being alone and being abandoned. Morrigan's got pretty bad separation anxiety and will go into a full-blown panic attack if she gets separated from the rest of the group.

🎶 A headcanon about music? - No matter how many times she tries to deny it, Morrigan absolutely adores Leliana's singing. When Leliana breaks out into musical number in the middle of camp, Morrigan rolls her eyes, but on the inside, she's listening contently.

👽 A headcanon about a weird quirk of theirs? - Not a headcanon, but her quirk is the way she speaks, using terms like 'tis' and 'twas'.

💤 A headcanon about their sleep? - Morrigan has trouble getting sleep; on average, she only gets about two hours a sleep each night. Every night, Morrigan has nightmares about Flemeth and her actions--this even continued through the events of Inquisition.

🦾 A disability headcanon? - Firstly, Morrigan's autistic. She said she used to watch animals and copy their mannerisms and she basically does the same with people too. Morrigan has a hard time understanding social cues/etiquette.

Secondly, with less backing and more of a just why not headcanon, Morrigan's got a prosthetic leg--she lost her leg due to shit Flemeth pulled; though, Morrigan tries to keep it hidden from other people.

💝 A headcanon about their love language? - She'd be the kind of person to give precious little gifts here and there and then claim, "Oh, I just did it out of pity. I don't actually like you."

At one point, Morrigan got gifts for everyone in camp and left them outside of people's tents as surprises--she let everyone think the Warden did it.

💔 An angsty headcanon? - Morrigan refuses to tell anyone when she's sick or hurt. She just always acts like she's fine 100% of the time--this leads to her sicknesses and injuries getting worse.

🪢 A headcanon about their family? - When Morrigan was a child, she wished she had an older brother. Later, upon meeting Alistair, she decided to tease him as she would a brother, but he didn't take the jokes very well.

📓 A headcanon about their hobbies? - Morrigan likes to write poetry and paint in her free time as a way of coping with emotions, though she'd rather not want anyone to know she does those things or that even has emotions.

👗 A headcanon about their clothes? - Morrigan doesn't like changing to new clothes because the texture of the clothes she does have is a safe texture (along with the autism headcanon above).

🎭 A headcanon about what they lie about? - Morrigan will tell people basic details about what Flemeth did to her during her childhood, but she won't go into detail about it; she likes to lie and say what she suffered through wasn't as bad as it was.

💄 An appearance headcanon? - Morrigan's face and body are covered in burns and scars from Flemeth's actions, but she just typically hides them by shapeshifting.

🖕 A headcanon relating to anger? - When she was still living with Flemeth, Morrigan's gotten angry enough to punch a hole in the wall and she broke her hand.

😺 An animal related headcanon? - Morrigan used to play with a stray dog who hung out around near the hut when she was a child, but then Flemeth killed it--because of this experience, Morrigan seems to have a negative attitude towards dogs.

😶 A random headcanon? - (I don't know where this came from, but it just settled in my mind and now it's part of my canon.) Morrigan suffers from epilepsy and Flemeth's laughed at her seizures before.

#jaeson.txt #tw transphobia #tw child abuse #trans morrigan #autistic morrigan

[memento-morri-writes]

Do you have any advice or specific tips to writing a low/no empathy character? Or a resource to recommend?

Hi nonny! Thanks for asking! I'm going to try my best to answer your question, but keep in mind, this is all based on my own personal experience, and that varies vastly from person to person. (if anyone else experiences low/no empathy, please feel free to add on to this post!)

So, some things to keep in mind:

Why does your character experience low/no empathy? For me, it's a symptom of my autism, but there are multiple reasons a character could have low/no empathy. The most common is probably going to be some form of disability (autism), or disorder (psychopathy), etc. (Be careful while doing research though, especially on disorders like psychopathy! You're going to run into a lot of ableist bullshit. Make sure to look for sources written by people living with these disorders/disabilities.) (If anyone has any resources on other disabilities or disorders that cause low empathy that they personally recommend, please feel free to add links!!!) Whatever the reason, it's not going to only affect their empathy. It's going to affect every part of their life. So make sure to do your research, and write respectfully. If you know someone or follow someone who has a certain condition, ask if they'd feel comfortable answering questions for you. If they aren't, that's fine. If they are, they're going to be a great resource. (I'd also recommend getting a sensitivity reader, particularly when writing about mental disorders that are already frequently stigmatized. You want to make sure you're not promoting harmful stereotypes.) I should note, however, that neurotypical people can also have low/no empathy!!! It just happens to also be a common symptom of various mental disorders.

Consider what kind of empathy does your character lack. There are two kinds of empathy! Emotional (or affective) empathy, and cognitive empathy. Affective empathy is made up of three parts: Feeling the same emotion as someone else, feeling discomfort or stress in response to someone else's suffering, and feeling compassion for or understanding another's emotions. Cognitive empathy is the ability to recognize and understand the emotions of someone else. This includes being to "stand in someone else's shoes", or take another person's perspective, and generally understand what they're feeling. This one has been called more of a "skill", in that it's something people can "learn", where as affective empathy can't be taught or learned. When people talk about having low/no empathy, they are usually referring to lacking affective empathy, but a character might struggle with both!

Not everyone experiences empathy the same. Some people lack empathy in some circumstances, but have it in others. For example, I lack empathy when it comes to human beings, but I am much more empathetic when it comes to animals. A character might only be able to empathize with very specific scenarios or people. (For example, if someone else is going through a very similar scenario to one they have experienced in the past, it may be easier for them to feel empathy. But it might not!) Some people can empathize with certain emotions better than others. (I empathize better with anger, but can't empathize at all with grief.)

Understand that a lack of empathy does not equal a lack of caring. Just because a person doesn't feel the emotions someone else is feeling doesn't mean they don't care. A person with low or no empathy can still be kind and compassionate to others. They might go about trying to cheer people up in a slightly different way (I personally tend to try and go for distractions), but they still care about their friends and loved ones. Even seemingly "uncaring" things said by those who lack empathy do not come from a place of malice. (I can't tell you how many times I've said something well-meaning and had people assume I was being cruel. I wasn't, and I genuinely had good intentions.)

Keep in mind how your character reacts to other's emotions. People with empathy tend to feel similarly to those they empathize with, which generally creates a feeling of connection. (This is part of what leads to that sense of "coming together after tragedy".) A person with low/no empathy might instead feel alienated or uncomfortable when faced with large outpourings of emotions. They might be uncertain how to act or what to do, and they may try and avoid situations with strong negative emotions because of it. (In my case, people crying makes me very uncomfortable, because I don't know how to respond. So I try and keep my distance.)

Think about how your character processes their own emotions. Just because a character doesn't feel empathy for others doesn't mean that they are incapable of feeling those emotions on their own. A character who has no empathy for a grieving friend can still grieve! But chances are they will process that emotion differently than a person with "normal" empathy. They might try to push their emotions away and bottle them up. Or one emotion might transition into one they have an easier time processing. (For me, I don't experience sadness normally. It either transitions to anger, or it is replaced by different thoughts.)

Think about how their lack of empathy influences their life. A person who lacks empathy is not going to experience life the same way as a person with "normal" empathy. They might have a hard time making friends, or they might excel at a job that requires a logical mind. They might give great advice, or their friends might know to never ask them about relationships. They might be great at organizing people, even in times of stress, because their brain compartmentalizes and thinks pragmatically. They might totally shut down when faced with an emotional situation because they don't know how to process it.

Having no empathy can be very alienating. People expect empathy constantly. It's a big part of why people love emotional media, and it's the expected response when someone you know experiences suffering. Not having empathy can mean that you feel disconnected from your loved ones or community as a whole. It might mean biting your tongue and not saying what you think because people would read it as uncaring or cruel.

Remember: Having low or no empathy is not a bad thing. People with low/no empathy are often villainized in media, and the trait is often given to antagonists. But that's a harmful stereotype and harmful belief in general. That's not saying that your character with low empathy has to be "good", but don't use their low empathy as proof that they're a "bad person". Try thinking about situations in which having low/no empathy might be useful! I personally am reminded of the post I saw years ago where someone was saying that if not for their lack of empathy, they probably couldn't do their job. (iirc, they worked handling the bodies of organ donors, some of whom were quite young.)

Okay, that's all I can think of for now, but like I said before, anyone else who experiences low or no empathy is encouraged to reblog this post and add on to it! And if I made any mistakes here, please let me know so I can fix them!!! I tried to base this mostly off of my own experience, so take it all with a grain of salt.

#Anonymous #morrigan replies #writing autistic characters #writing low empathy characters #writing no empathy characters #character development #character inspo #no empathy #low empathy

[bleeding-star-heart]

I'd headcanon her as autistic, except it seems less to come from her general personality and more from living in a swamp with her abusive mother.

#dragon age origins #dragon age #morrigan #da origins #morrigan dragon age #autistic headcanon

[doctormage]

morrigan is actually so nice to you when you first meet her & when you wake up after the battle (as long as you’re nice to her). I love it when she’s a cunt don’t get me wrong I’m just like. this game certainly was made in 2009 with the presumption of a mostly white cis dude audience wasn’t it

#which yeah so was pretty much everything but #idk! I’m just having morrigan thoughts as I am wont to do #is she nice bc she’s lonely & likes you thus far or is this abt flemeth’s idea of manners #are we autistically following a script #(not that that would make it disingenuous at all. again I’m just Thinking) #actually just got ‘I would’ve rescued the king! a king would be worth a much higher ransom than you’ LMAO #so I think she’s just being herself 😭🖤 #anyway. I love her #da replay

[nanowatzophina]

Some doodles from my current replay of Rosal’s pt.

#rosal surana #I love my autistic coded lil mage #and morrigan getting flustered when you thank her is just… #mwah #I love their friendship #and yes rosal did want to save sten as well #caged up isn’t really a pleasant way to go #but like… he was in there for murder #so the driving force was ‘ive never seen a qunari before and I have QUESTIONS’ #also. cullen was her best friend in the tower #I think most people agree with that hc #Im not even sure if its a hc #those apprentices at the start of the orgin are gossiping about it #but either way #she would take her meals with cullen #share food if he wasn’t going to be off in a while #sit and read with him #infodump to him #it just hurts more when you return to the tower and cullen no longer is… kind #thinks magic is evil #and now the tags have gone on for awhile #dragon age origins #dao

[sparkspacestarr]

fucking. Nevermoor bro. have you read the wattpads… I really thought that was the shit

I have not read the Wattpad :( should I??? If its "the shit?"

#sorry for my autistic ass post lol #nevermoor #morrigan crow #oof ouch my bones

[wunsoc-never-said]

Francis: Just got diagnosed with autism

Thaddea: Absolutely no one is surprised

Cadence: I knew within three minutes of talking to you

Hawthorne: You once yelled at me for an hour because I didn’t know the difference between julienne and matchstick

#i know this one isnt going to do well but that's okay #autistic francis you will always be famous (to me) #nevermoor #nevermoor: the trials of morrigan crow #wundersmith: the calling of morrigan crow #hollowpox: the hunt for morrigan crow #incorrect quotes #nevermoor incorrect quotes #wunsoc-never-said #francis fitzwilliam #thaddea macleod #cadence blackburn #hawthorne swift

[screenshotsfromthefade]

#mod morrigan 🧹 #me when im autistic and evil 🤭 #funny #funny screenshots #actually autistic #autism

[hejee]

.

#rant but i just saw a post saying solas isn’t neurodivergent coded and im like damn ig my autistic mind saw something else lmfao #me 🤝 morrigan 🤝 solas #idk but my filipino ass saw something with these two and im like omg autistic besties yeaaaaaa #kung aawayin ako nang mga puti rito ewan nalang talaga #gago solas eto nanaman tayo real 🫡 #there’s like a neurodivergent spectrum in da where cole solas and morrigan falls somewhere #i used to lie a lot bc masking is a bitch but anyway #that’s their opinion (even if i disagree with it) #rambles

[breadedsinner]

Yknow what I think maybe all these Dragon Age Polls are irritating me so much because there's no real metric. It always just comes down to popularity/who's considered hotter, no matter the question.

Now if you asked, "Which one of these Dragon Age Characters would make a better partner/parent/generally good person/etc based on how well they treat the autistic coded character" now we're onto something.

If necessary, narrow it down to the autistic coded elf character.

#DA Tag #'Who's the autistic coded character in Origins' you may ask #It's Morrigan #Which means NOBODY wins #Except maybe Loghain...he's at least civil to her #Honestly on the DAI side I have to give it to Bull #Because he's nice to Cole and Sera I think #I think? I don't actually remember his Cole banters much #Let me get back to you #As for DA2 well....you can count the number of characters who are cvil to Merrill with one hand #The real reason Varric dislike Seb #Gonn dethrone him as number one Decent Person

[stinkrascal]

Feel free to not respond to this publically, or even at all, cause it's about something personal, but I just wanted to say that you are valid, your autism is valid, and your feelings about it are valid. Speaking as an autistic person here, I think that the only reason I wasn't upset by my diagnosis (other than the fact that I sought out a diagnosis on purpose) was because I had met and interacted with other autistic people here on tumblr. Before that, all my experience with autism and autistic people had been the general infatlization that is super prevalent everywhere. Treating autistic people like they're helpless or stupid or child-like.

So, what I'm trying to say here is that society has never painted a very good picture of autistic people (cough, functioning labels, cough), and that for lots of reasons diagnoses can be hard to swallow. But I hope you feel more comfortable about it now, and I hope you know that it's not a bad thing, and never will be. In fact, I will willingly say that most of the coolest people I know are autistic. (I'm totally not biased here, nope, not at all. /sarcasm)

Idk, this was really long and rambly, and I don't even know what my point is other than: your feelings are valid no matter what they are, but I hope that you can feel comfortable with your diagnosis at some point, even if that's not now. And if you ever need to talk about Being Autistic to another autistic person, I'm willing to listen.

Okay, that's all! I hope you have an amazing day/night! <3

thanks so much for reaching out :'( tbh all of this support is really unexpected and really overwhelming, but like in a good way lol. tbh my understanding of autism until somewhat recently (within the last few years) was really uninformed and stereotypical, so it was a huge process learning about what autism actually entails and how much i relate to all the symptoms, especially as they manifest in afab individuals. learning more about autism and about myself as an individual has been a very painful process, but it feels good too, being able to look back on my childhood with an explanation as to why i experienced life the way i did, why i have the insecurities i do, and how i can mend those feelings so i don't have such a painful relationship with myself and my autism. it just feels really great sometimes to have answers you know!! even if it makes me feel sad sometimes, because like i said earlier, a lot of my biggest insecurities are byproducts of my autism, and sometimes it feels like those are things i can't change, because autism isn't something you can cure--it's a part of me, something i embody.

thanks again for being nice!! i really love reading all these asks with peoples experiences, it makes me feel really nice knowing im not alone. autism rocks!!!!!!!!!!

#jade answers #morrigan-sims #tbh i was not expecting this reaction at all. im very overwhelmed lol ily guys #off topic but im so glad i can talk about breanna being autistic too now lol. i felt so awkward doing it beforehand bc i was like #shes my self-insert which means talking about her being autistic is a SELF-REPORT #but i already admitted it aloud so its ok now. the danger has ceased #caspian is autistic too. a lot of my ocs are autistic actually #basically all the straud kids are except for ilya who has adhd only. but the others are some combo of autism/adhd/ocd

[six-improbable-things]

I have SO many Thoughts about the battle with Trent, and also the battle with Lucien, and just the end of this show in general, but I am not capable of making coherent sense right now. So instead I will just scream silently. <3

#if only I reacted in a ''normal'' way (crying) to intense emotion in media #instead of the autistic urge to run around screaming and flapping my hands because I feel like I just drank 15 cups of coffee #but alas #morrigan.text #morrigan watches #morrigan watches: critical role #critical role #critical role campaign 2 #the mighty nein #cr2

[memento-morri-writes]

I'm an autistic with low empathy or possibly no empathy (i do not vicariously experience other peoples' emotions except literally once which confused me, spent a lot of time unaware that it's a real thing other people experience, and may have subnormal cognitive empathy (idk), but otherwise i'm "normal" i guess), but i can't really use myself as a metric for what a low-empathy autistic character could be like because i was literally bullied from since i was a toddler to the first year of trade school and literally never had friends which propably fucked me up (i was propably nicer as a tiny child, but idk if i would've grown out of it if i wasn't bullied), plus i'm bad at self-analysis so...

Obviously low-empathy people can be compassionate, outgoing, and emotional and expressive (at least i think so; i've seen other low-empathy people talk or imply weirdly about their emotions). But would it make sense for a low-empathy autistic character to have low affective and seminormal cognitive, and be emotionally intelligent? Or emotionally open and vulnerable?

Hi Anon! I can only speak as to my personal experiences, plus a little bit of what other low/no empathy people I've met have told me. So please take my answers with a grain of salt!

First off, low/no empathy people can definitely still be compassionate. Compassion is defined as "sympathetic concern for the suffering of others". And while showing compassion and/or sympathy is definitely easier with "normal" empathy, it's not impossible.

Based on the definitions of cognitive vs affective empathy, being able to be compassionate would rely more on having higher cognitive empathy, since the idea of compassion is more based understanding someone else's emotions, rather than feeling the exact same as them.

So if you want a character to have low/no empathy, but still be very compassionate, they should probably have seminormal cognitive empathy, like you said.

In my personal experience, most of the people I've talked to who experience low empathy experience low affective empathy. Which isn't to say that the reverse doesn't exist, because it definitely does. But it seems that a lack of cognitive empathy is a bit more common? (I don't have data to back this up, but based on experience it seems to be the case? Again, grain of salt.)

I personally tend to be more closed-off emotionally, but that's not the case for all low-empathy people. That's going to be another thing that will probably depend on your character's background and upbringing. If they lived in a place where they had support, and felt safe and loved, no matter their emotions, they're probably more likely to be emotionally open and vulnerable. If they were often bullied or had their emotions dismissed, they're probably more likely to be closed-off.

As for emotional intelligence, empathy is just one part of that. The other parts include recognizing emotions (your own, and those of others), and regulating your own emotions. So while empathy is key to part of that (recognizing the emotions of others falls under cognitive empathy), regulating and understanding one's own emotions does not require strong empathy. Thus, a low/no empathy character could still be very emotionally intelligent when it comes to themself, or even other people, provided they had seminormal cognitive empathy.

So, basically: It depends. Think about what kind of empathy your character struggles with, as well as their background and personality as a whole. That should help give you a path to decide how your character handles their own emotions.

(once again, take my replies with a grain of salt. I'm only one person, and I don't have a formal education in psychology, etc. My input is based largely on my own experiences, as well as input from friends.)

#Anonymous #Morrigan replies #low empathy #no empathy #writing autistic characters #writing low empathy characters #empathy tag #<- because I need one of those now ig

[glimmer-gremlin]

sometimes a family is a nobleman, a swamp witch, a little boy and the soul of the elder god possessing him

#yeah im playing #dragon age #again #morrigan is sooo autistic i love her

[gr3-d12]

if i change my name irl it's gonna be morrigan. love that bitch

#ramblings #morrigan crow #yeah im considering it for when im older. izza isnt my real name and i use it only online but i hate my real name for various reasons #and i want to take a fictional character name so. the girlie im most autistic about who isnt literally named after a deep fryer

[bloodlunacy]

Oh I see

Everyone in this game is autistic

#dragon age #dragon age origins #dao #just chatted with Morrigan #yeah this lady is autistic #same tho #I’ll respect your boundaries #sure we may never become besties #but I respect that #blood plays