#aveline friends

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

I said I wasn't going to get started on the topic of Aveline ruining Carver's chances with the guard but I lied okay, it's Carver Hawke defense hours.

Here's the thing; it doesn't matter if you believe Carver was or wasn't fit for the guard. That's a different debate that I'll get to. What matters is Aveline's in no position to tell the guard not to accept his application. Why does she think that's her right to judge whether or not he's fit?

Carver should've had the chance to prove himself one way or another. If it turns out he's not a good fit, then let him fail. Let him learn from it.

"Oh but failure could mean lost lives-"

Aveline doesn't get to talk shit about failure and the people. Plenty have died on her watch yet she still believes she's a good guard and Guard-Captain.

"maybe Aveline's protecting him, Carver could die while on patrol-"

Carver could die working in the Bone Pit, or serving as a templar, or when he's running around with Hawke. Carver could trip and fall down a set of stairs and die. In fact, he can die in the Deep Roads, somewhere he wouldn't have to go if the Hawke's weren't desperate.

Either Carver fails as a guard, or more likely, he succeeds and proves himself worthy of it.

But let's be real, Carver probably kept getting rejected due to being a Fereldan with a past of smuggling/mercenary work and Aveline only reaffirmed the decision, either because they asked her what she thought or she stuck her nose in unprompted.

But what irritates me is that she admits to telling them not to accept his application, and then has the balls to call Carver too proud to take up a trade or find another line of work.

Carver tells her, "And who would take on a Fereldan apprentice? Maybe in another year I could work my way up to pissboy." He has a good point here. Aside from the guard, the only other place Carver could work and use his skillset is with the Templars. Or go back to mercenary/smuggling work.

And Aveline doesn't even have a real answer for him. No suggestions, no encouragement, nothing. Just "Fine, let's crawl down some holes. Good bloody luck for your sake."

Also, if you do the Mark of the Assassin DLC in Act 1-

Aveline: You should see if any of the noblemen are looking for new men-at-arms. Carver: Are you trying to get rid of me? Aveline: It's a role with some autonomy. A good fit with your training and... tendencies. Carver: After serving King Cailan? You want me to suffer some poncy git who needs two servants to wipe his own ass? I'll find my own way, thanks. Aveline: I wish you would.

You wish he would?? Aveline, he was trying to find his way into the guard, a position he'd make a good fit for, and you helped deny him of it because YOU didn't think he would be good enough, I just-

If I haven't made it clear yet, I firmly believe that Carver would've made a great guard. He wants to help people, to be a protector. He's loyal, and despite what Aveline claims, he can follow orders and take his duty seriously. We see him do incredibly well with the Grey Wardens, after all. If he were a guard, he wouldn't have to go down into the Deep Roads with Hawke, and I think he would've been okay with that! He's so hurt and bitter when you leave him behind because that effectively tells him, "I don't need you." Carver's spent the whole first act telling you he wants to go on the expedition aka that he wants to be needed.

But if he were a guard, he would be needed elsewhere. He'd be in training as a recruit. He'd look after Leandra while you go. He wouldn't be backed into a corner with no income and only the templars left as his chance at forging his own path and providing for his family.

He doesn't get that opportunity, though.

By the way, if he becomes a warden, you can get this banter:

Aveline: I'm glad you found a place with the Wardens. Carver: Well, it's not the city guard, but it'll do. Aveline: Carver... it wasn't the place for you. Carver: No, it's all right. It is. It cost a lot, but I get it. I really was a bit of a tit those days, wasn't I? Aveline: Well...

This banter makes me want to scream.

Aveline's just... she's so insistent that she's right. She's someone who will double down rather than entertain the idea that she's wrong and it's not just with Carver and the guard, it's with everything. The "my beef with Aveline" list gets longer and longer every time I replay da2, I swear.

Say what you will about Carver, whether you think he would've been a good fit or if Aveline's right and it wasn't for him, he was denied a chance and it cost him so much in the end. He either dies, or he joins the templars where he deals with Chantry's bullshit trying to brainwash him with "mages aren't people" and "magic is a cancer in this world", or he's infected with the blight and becomes a Grey Warden, forced to serve the rest of his life fighting darkspawn, tormented by voices and nightmares.

I will never not be bitter about this.

#dragon age 2 #da2 #dragon age #carver hawke #aveline vallen #aveline critical #oh and also forever bitter that hawke doesn't have the option to talk to aveline about this #because listen my hawke would be on this #carver would be annoyed and all 'i don't need your help >:[' but that's not gonna stop ed from turning on Big Brother Mode #this is just one of many reasons i can't do the friendship path with aveline #i hate the thought of doing rivalries for all my other companions but i feel like aveline's rivalry route is the only chance to shake her #of her unwarranted over confidence and make her realize that she's not this lawful good 'i stand for all of us' guard captain #she still stands with me in the end but at that point i wouldn't be surprised if she was just doing to because she still feels she owes ed #for getting her outta fereldan and into kirkwall rather than because we're loyal best friends y'know? #she's certainly not doing it for the mage rights #but anyway i never miss an opportunity to defend carver #that's my baby brother and i love him

[anneapocalypse]

At the end of the day you can use "Varric is an unreliable narrator" to overwrite literally any part of DA2 that you don't like. Like you can say, "Oh of COURSE Varric isn't actually against mage freedom! He just said that he objected to Hawke freeing the mages because Cassandra was interrogating him." And sure, I can't prove to you that he isn't lying about that. I can't prove to you that Varric isn't lying about anything. I can't prove to you that the entirety of Inquisition isn't also Varric making things up because he did also write a book about that and we hear Cassandra reading it in the end credits. At the end of the day if you want to you can basically wipe out Varric's entire character as presented to us and say, "Actually he was lying! He's really this."

But at a certain point you do also have to acknowledge that the frame narrative is a storytelling device that's meant to enhance the story, not like... erase it. Or at least I prefer to acknowledge that, because going too far the other way basically guts the story of all meaning. If Varric is a character we are meant to engage with on any level--and I think it's clear from his prominence in the franchise that he is!--then at least some of what we see him say and do needs to be able to meaningfully interpreted, even if we second-guess him, even if we can pick out half-truths here and there, even if we cross-check our interpretations against how he behaves in other parts of canon.

Like at least some of what we're given about Varric has to be meaningful to his character, or why even bother, I guess is what I'm saying.

#somewhat said i wasn't giving him enough credit in my meta post about how starry eyed he is about pro-templar hawke #that we can't take his objections to freeing the mages at face value #and i mean i guess you can say that but you can say that about literally anything he says in da2 #face remains he's still starry-eyed about hawke no matter what #fact remains his approval follows hawke no matter what #and yes he's also friends with anders! don't mistake loyalty for agreement #it's a thing with a lot of these characters #see also aveline #anyway! #gwaren exports #i guess! #i'm not trying to be salty here but i just don't agree with the premise #dragon age stuff #blunders of thedas #please don't go digging and argue with anyone on my behalf btw #their comments were in the tags i assume they weren't looking for a fight #i just saw them and had feelings

[eliphasgraham]

Why are blond humans so dramatic in Thedas

#im always so flabbergasted when anders says that during the long road quest like did you hear yourself talk babygirl #i love you aveline but you shouldn't ask for romantic advices to any of your friends those guys have ISSUES #dragon age #da2 #handers #merrill #aveline vallen

[demigoddessqueens]

I feel like they would be best friends

#tvedit #netflix #castlevania #castlevania netflix #castlevania nocturne #cv nocturne #cv nocturne spoilers #Castlevania nocturne spoilers #castlevania spoilers #assassin’s creed iii #Assassin’s Creed liberation #ac liberation #ac iii #ratonhnhaké:ton #aveline de grandpre #castlevania annette #friends from different franchises #castlevania series #castlevania: nocturne #cv: nocturne

[mothbug]

trying to make avie more exaggerated. also she can be a dragon thing now just for fun ft the ugliest cat i’ve ever drawn

#she keeps getting sharper i’m slowly turning her into (ghost trick guy) . help #elegy is made of playdoh and avie is a wooden doll with limbs that dangle that you can shake around #also she’s being spied on by another god named suzy now. who’s there to report back to the god of fury on her progress but is also just in #it for a laugh. because she and avie are kiiiinda friends?? loosely? #eve2 #aveline eulogia #elegy eventide #shout out to rosemary the cat . sorry for drawing you. like that #anyway all i can draw anymore are doodles in my econ class that i hate

[vaguely-concerned]

the way all of anders' battle dialogue in da2 sounds stressed out right to the brink of hysteria is something that can actually be so personal. it's the real healer experience. anders you're herding moths constantly trying to launch themselves at any passing bonfire with your whole chest and your whole heart and you are so valid

#you can hear him all but tearing his hair out as he flits between them to get them back on their feet fhsdkjfa #obviously this is exactly what lands him in a fucking world of trouble but anders truly does just care so much at all times #dragon age #dragon age 2 #anders #for real tho the battle dialogue in DA2 is phenomenal in general #it's so in-character and so emotional -- it makes it feel so real for them to have all these ways to react to each other getting hurt #they're friends not an army! they react as if their friend or their sibling just went down in front of them! #(except fenris who delivers all his lines with the sort of dry absentmindedness you'd use for commenting on the weather #and we love him for that) #carver gets super small and scared when he gets injuries and lashes out at you because of it but he's just. afraid. #he just wants his big brother/sister to fix it and it makes him sound so young and vulnerable under the surliness ;____; #also there's so many -- and I cannot stress this enough -- EXTREMELY funny lines in there #it's the sort of detail work I'm kind of sad inquisition left behind #tho I DO understand why it's not a thing you can feasibly do when you have permutations of like nine different companions lol #but the mixed horror and disbelief whenever aveline or hawke go down -- like they are universal constants to the rest of them....... #does so much storytelling and character work in such a little space it's so *elegant* writing-wise

[divinekangaroo]

I attempted to replay DAII a few weeks back for the pleasure/refresher of the story and the character arcs but just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Have lost lots of capacity to enjoy game mechanics which extend length of time to engage w story and notwithstanding the dialogue is quite excellent (in a game context) it’s clunky for, say, a story, and the physical/visual staging in character interactions is v dated. (Key Settings are pretty decent for symbolism tho)

and that’s when I realised the first time ever why sometimes fans *do* get interested enough to write full novelisations of a thing.

#I would prob read one. #I would prob also still be interested enough to write one if I didn’t have competing priorities #I’d still hold it needs to be aveline’s pov tho not varric #aveline’s conflicted morality as a corrupt cop favouring the criminal immigrant who saved her life and wangled her position of power #watching as that crim legitimises himself but continues to operate between the lines #because after all he’s a blood mage #gooooooooood I would want this #blood mage Hawke x Isabela who abandons him to the arishok #rivals Anders and Merrill and executes anders; mage Beth and temp carver live tho #friends/romance Fenris post Isabela and friends varric #but at the end of it Hawke cannot bring himself to support Templars and has to kill Fenris #Aveline narrative voice as if she is untouched and non influential on all this while reader can See her Hypocricy #only varric calls her out #Also can we have more Leandra being complex and hypocritical too

[fleshdyke]

did you get my image or did tumblr kill it

i did i am just waiting for tomorrow to poast it bc thats my actual biryhday ❤️

#thank uou though aveline my awesome friend aveline 😁 #asks

[h-awke-a]

varric's 'you people have done enough to him' is sooo..

#so a) correct and b) heartwrenching and?? if you don't #stop hawke from staying back in the fade i really think #varric should hate you for it because.. theo (probably) #didn't do that for you he did it for varric and bethany and #merrill and isabela and fenris and even stupid anders— #not for aveline she can take care of herself but.. he did it #so that you will be alive to give the people he loves a chance #not out of penance or guilt or anything else it's purely for #them that he can end up trapped in the fade or dead #and if he likes the inquisitor enough to have their back too #but varric /knows/ that and he thinks you should have #stopped theo so that theo can have a chance for a change #it's not some grand sacrifice it's just.. that's what family is #for both varric and theo that's what family is and varric.. #is so right and he loves theo so much like it's bethany #and varric that are in theo's corner with that feral sibliing #protectiveness and he NEEDS that so badly because he's #so fucking stupid about his friends/family #ABOUT.

[doloniaxdiegesis]

me thinking about having my wol yeeted into the FFXVI world like Clive is yeeted to hers after all the terrable shit she been through as a short "Vacation"

more likely then you think -

#･｡ * ｡ ☆ * :: (( ooc. )) #･｡ * ｡ ☆ * :: Esmeray Aveline #i know jack shit about the game but i have an excuse to throw my wol at my friends muses -

[ziracona]

I didn’t know literally all the companions you can take to the Fade in DA2 sans Anders will sell you out and try to kill you and their friends for a demon deal I’m losing my shit. I knew Merrill did bc she did it to me but apparently anyone but JustAnders will ditch your ass to make a deal with a demon and I’m absolutely going insane

#Fade day must have been a real win for Anders. the high ground to gloat @ Fenris & Merrill over long term arguments. at Aveline for hopping #the abomination train after 8 fucking seconds. UNREAL her takeaway from it was ‘Mages should all be locked up’ bc she gave in and not ‘I #suck for selling out’ like get fucked for that Aveline real bitch move. rip to you but I would simply not kill my friends for a demon wish #and did not!!! you know what’s not hard?? saying no & walking your ass away. Feynriel said no and he’s like 13 and a dreamer which is the #highest risk type of mage. it’s not impossible to say no u just kinda suck #EVERYONE but Varric and Merrill deals with it by going 😌 ‘actually this is either Hawke’s fault or demons can’t be faught against and not #my fault at all actually fuck you either Mages Hawke or both 😌😌😌’ like actually fuck you guys #shoutout to Varric and Merrill at least for going ‘ha ha :’-)) sorry for suckiiiing haha :’-))) this was real bad huh? mb bro haha :’-))))’ #like I can respect that. the rest of y’all get your unable to accept blame or responsibility for your actions asses off my damn porch #literally everyone in DAO said fuck off to deamons with little effort & several were too smart to even start to be tricked #‘it’s impossible to fight back!’ Uhhhhmmm tell that to Alistair Wynne Morrigan Sten Zevran Ohgren Leliana & the Hero of Fereldan Fenris and #Aveline!!! maybe your willpower just sucks ass and you should fuckin learn how to say the words ‘I’m sorry and I was wrong’ did u think abt #that???? did u? #dragon age 2 #every other companion: ‘You didn’t give in to the desire demon???’ #Anders & Justice: ‘what like it’s hard?’

[asscrackcreed]

aveline and connor would be gossiping twins she’d write to him like ‘connor you won’t believe what this templar just did...’

and connors like ‘oh fr that’s crazy. you wanna hunt some ppl down or smth?’

#they're best friends #they chat shit about everyone #no one is safe #aveline de grandpre #connor kenway #Assassin's Creed #ac #text

[kirkwallguy]

rivalling aveline is one of the most interesting relationship dynamics in da2 it makes me CRAZYYYYYY

#people gloss over aveline bc shes not a love interest and kind of sucks as a person but shes so crazy #married a templar does not believe in the maker. thinks shes a good guard resorts to anger and violence at most opportunities. hawke is her #only friend and even he doesnt like her very much.

[inquisitorismone]

all the male characters in da2 are so one note and then all the girls are so. complex and interesting and have perspectives you can actually sympathize with and understand. and then the men are just so fucking insane

#like don't get me wrong. i always romance anders #but merrill and isabela and aveline are my hawke's best friends

[persephoneggsy]

Now that I’m on my (xx)-teenth replay of DA2, I’ve been having thoughts on Marian Hawke’s relationships.

Varric (Rival): They’re not exactly friends. Oh, Varric tried, but Marian’s extremely antagonistic and selfish attitude made it pretty hard to stick up for her in a lot of situations. He doesn’t like how her instinct is always to fight first; like seriously, the woman has no sense of tact. Sure, there are times he finds her fun to have around (mostly when she’s threatening someone he doesn’t particularly like), but on the whole, they don’t get along. Doesn’t stop him from basing characters on her, though, and that’s Marian’s main gripe with him. The thinly-veiled “Marielle” character from Hard in Hightown is absolutely nothing like her; she’s more like what Varric wishes she was like (though Marian is more upset at how Varric portrayed the characters based off of Carver and Sebastian). Don’t get her started on “The Tale of the Champion”, she absolutely despises it. She never gave Varric permission to write down her life story, much less sell it so OTHER people can read about her, and the fucker made a lot of shit up because she barely had him around enough for him to know what really happened. After the book comes out, she refuses to even speak to Varric. The only thing that manages to break this is when Varric writes to her about Corypheus, but even then, she prefers not to speak to him at all when she’s at Skyhold. To Varric’s credit, he gets it. He finally leaves her alone.

Anders (Rival): She’s immediately on edge around Anders since the first thing he wants her to do is fight Templars and break a mage out of the Circle. And, you know, he's also technically an abomination. Marian, someone who looks out for herself and her family, doesn’t give too much of a shit about the plight of mages (or rather, she’d just prefer to not think about it), so naturally Anders finds her frustrating, especially since she herself IS a mage. They’ve gotten into a lot of arguments over the years, mostly started by Anders pestering her; Marian is content to ignore him whenever possible. She also hates his whole “you were luckier than most mages” thing he keeps telling her. She knows she was, but he doesn’t know her life, and even if things were better, they still weren’t good. The one point of credit she does give him is that he offers free healing to the downtrodden — Marian acknowledges he’s better than her in that regard (she’s a healer, and a better one than him, but she’d absolutely charge money for her services). However, after the events of "Dissent", she can't stand him anymore and sends him away.

Merrill (Rival): Honestly, Marian found her a bit annoying at first, and Merrill’s use of blood magic didn’t help improve her opinion of her. But for the most part, Merrill’s sort of a neutral presence to have around, and Marian gets used to her over time. For her part, Merrill finds Marian fascinating but equally aggravating. Since in my headcanon, Merrill becomes close friends with Sebastian, she can’t really understand why he likes Marian as much as he does, but she acknowledges that they both seem good for each other. Also, because Marian softens up towards Act 3, she makes more of an effort to befriend Merrill, due to her being Sebastian’s best friend. She takes a more active role in looking out for her — they’re still by the game’s logic “rivals”, because there was no way Marian trusted that whole eluvian thing so she didn’t give Merrill the tool she needed to fix it, but they have a lot of conversations afterwards that sort of mend that rift.

Fenris (Friend): He’s actually Marian’s best friend. They’re both brooding, aggressive assholes. He’s the only person who doesn’t give her shit for her attitude and even encourages her at times, so she finds him easier to talk to. Fenris likes having her around, too, since she never gets on his case about his feelings towards magic unlike some OTHER mages he knows. Soon enough, Marian is confiding in him, and he in her. He’s the first person she tells about her growing crush on Sebastian (though he knows her well enough by that point that he already guessed she had a Thing for him). They can communicate pretty much exclusively through grunts and eye contact, to the confusion of most people around them.

Isabela (Rival): They got along well enough, at first. Isabela thought Marian was a riot, though like Varric, she though she could use more tact. Marian thought Isabela was fine, she just wished she would stop flirting with her. Then the Tome of Koslun thing was revealed and Marian was PISSED. She hates that Isabela lied to all of them for years, she hates that she was stupid enough to steal a religious relic from the fucking Qunari, she hates that she was inadvertently protecting the reason the Qunari were stuck in Kirkwall for so long. Marian absolutely despises the Qunari and hated dealing with them (though ironically she earned the Arishok’s respect), so she ended up blaming Isabela for that, too. So it was kind of a shock that Marian didn’t let the Arishok take Isabela when she returned with the Tome. She was tempted to, but she didn’t want to give the Arishok anything else. They never really recover from the incident. She also doesn’t help Isabela get her new ship (I’m not letting a goddamn slaver walk away just so you can have a new ship, seriously.)

Aveline (Rival): Honestly, they don’t interact much, because I think it’s weird that the captain of the guard would go traipsing around old dwarven ruins and the sewers with Marian and her gang of rabble-rousers. They have more a professional type relationship, with Aveline calling in Marian if she needs something done that the guard can’t normally handle on their own. Marian doesn’t care because she gets paid. She helps Aveline with Donnic, though, because at the time she was asked, she was still dealing with her apparently “hopeless” crush on a certain chantry brother. So she figures, shit, someone in this shithole city deserves to be happy, even if it’s Aveline. She’s (rightfully) furious with Aveline after the whole “All That Remains” incident, but I think she doesn’t take it as personally because they’re not friends. She does start charging more for her services afterwards, and I think Aveline feels guilty enough that she doesn’t protest that.

Sebastian (Friend): I think I’ve gone on enough about Marian and Sebastian that I don’t really need to elaborate on how they feel about each other. I will say, that due to Sebastian’s influence, Marian becomes much more “diplomatic” (though not completely. She’s still a bitch at heart ❤️). She lets herself be vulnerable and remorseful, in large part thanks to his counsel. Maybe enough so that she tries to repair some of her bad relationships (like Merrill, and I think she tries to smooth things over with her mother and later uncle Gamlen, too). On his end, I think Marian’s influence makes Sebastian bolder and more assured. I like the idea of these two polar opposites finding each other and helping each other heal, even taking on some of the other’s traits (though ultimately remaining themselves at their core).

(Bonus) Tallis: Marian hates Tallis. You can’t say shit like “I think you’d be happy under the Qun” to a mage (you know, they people whose mouths they sew shut) and expect her to just be chill with you afterwards. Plus, you know, she misled Marian about the Heart, got her captured, and still had the audacity to ask for her help without explaining what was really going on.

#marian hawke #female hawke #pardon the word wall i had a lot of feelings when i woke up this morning lol #so yeah she rivals just about everyone save three people #her brother her bestie and her lover #sometimes i alternate between friend and rival for sebastian bc i love both paths #but if you friendmance him you get married and he gets the very funny 'brother' banter with carver soooo #sebhawke #gonna tag this as #varric critical #isabela critical #anders critical #aveline critical #tallis critical #just in case

[trulyiamjusthangingout]

Sebastian Vael is such a profoundly lonely character

#like some of this is just the limitations of the DLC and I do get that but like #accepting the material as presented (tho acknowledging it's told through Varric's very biased POV) #Seb tries SO HARD to connect with the Kirkwall Crew #(with the exception of Anders who he's still shockingly polite to all things considered) #yet his attempts at reaching out for friendship are either outright rejected (Aveline...VARRIC especially) #or at best politely accepted without much depth in return...Like he can be a friendly acquaintance to them but not a truly close friend #(his relationships with Merrill and Fenris for example) #and again it is not for lack of trying on his part! man is using all of the tools he has to connect with these ppl! #and he himself clearly cares about them!! #just something about this guy who was outright rejected by his family for being too much #too hedonistic too emotional too impulsive #and sent away from the only home he's ever known to a city where he knows truly no one #and has to cut off as much of his former personality/behavior as possible to try #and earn redemption/righteousness be what his family wants #the way he has to constantly earn Elthina's approval but it never stays nothing he does is ever truly good enough #and how other than her and Hawke (presuming they actually take the time to get to know him which like..a lot of players don't) #he never truly knows anyone in Kirkwallhe's always a stranger in that city #i forget what my point was but I love Sebastian he makes me so fucking sad #yes I'm playing DA2 again it's fine i don't have a problem i can stop whenever i want mind your business lol #dragon age #sebastian vael #dragon age 2