midnight tea
Twitter Guru
gateway beverage
Posts: 7,093 Likes: 16,583
inherit
gateway beverage
109
0
16,583
midnight tea
7,093
August 2016
midnighttea
|
Post by midnight tea on Dec 20, 2019 1:57:32 GMT
It is interesting though. Apparently whatever innate powers Alistair has, they don't appear to have been inherited from his elven mage mother (though they may have been a contributing factor on some non-physical level), but from his ancestor drinking the blood of the dragon, which somehow remains a dominant trait that is actively passed to next generation. I have to keep wondering what's that about. I'd prefer it if this lore bit didn't exist, quite honestly. I'm not a fan of characters who have some innate unique gift that can be used to explain anything that strikes the writer's fancy. Is it though? I mean, with magic in place and us not knowing all there is about the Fade, one can use it to explain anything that strikes writer's fancy. In contrast, this thing appears to be fairly deliberately set-up for something - as is Fiona's sudden curing herself from Taint and then events in the comic books with Alistair and Maric and so on. This doesn't strike me as writers just making stuff up as they go - it's probably leading to somewhere, as is the whole thing with elves not passing any of their physical traits to their non-elf offspring via some magical processes.
|
|
inherit
529
0
7,815
Nightscrawl
3,266
August 2016
nightscrawl
Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda
|
Post by Nightscrawl on Dec 20, 2019 2:54:34 GMT
midnight tea I just don't find it interesting or compelling for how I see characters and their merits.
A character can have a lot of innate power, like Dorian, but he still had to work very hard to be good. That is the sort of character ability that I prefer to see.
|
|
inherit
Scribbles
185
0
30,240
Hanako Ikezawa
22,350
August 2016
hanakoikezawa
|
Post by Hanako Ikezawa on Dec 20, 2019 3:33:48 GMT
It is interesting though. Apparently whatever innate powers Alistair has, they don't appear to have been inherited from his elven mage mother (though they may have been a contributing factor on some non-physical level), but from his ancestor drinking the blood of the dragon, which somehow remains a dominant trait that is actively passed to next generation. I have to keep wondering what's that about. I'd prefer it if this lore bit didn't exist, quite honestly. I'm not a fan of characters who have some innate unique gift that can be used to explain anything that strikes the writer's fancy. If romancing a male Hawke: Hawke "Does it bother you that I'm human?" Merrill: "No! I'm not saying I'd change you for...I'm making things worse, aren't I? I just...I'm one of the elvhen. I'm supposed to preserve who we are, and if I...there are reasons it is bad to...is it warm in here?" and later "The Keeper...my whole clan will object if we...not that they could hate me any more, I suppose." Well, I certainly hope she got better at communication as the relationship went on (even in off-camera/headcanon scenes). Its right before the sex scene, so yeah she was pretty nervous about expressing her feelings and everything. After you commit she becomes much better. I actually liked how the showed that uncertainty. She wanted to b with Hawke, but it went against everything she had been taught.
|
|
midnight tea
Twitter Guru
gateway beverage
Posts: 7,093 Likes: 16,583
inherit
gateway beverage
109
0
16,583
midnight tea
7,093
August 2016
midnighttea
|
Post by midnight tea on Dec 20, 2019 3:44:51 GMT
midnight tea I just don't find it interesting or compelling for how I see characters and their merits.
A character can have a lot of innate power, like Dorian, but he still had to work very hard to be good. That is the sort of character ability that I prefer to see. Okay? We seem to be talking about different things - or at least using different angles to look at this aspect of character/story. You say you don't like some sort of innate powers or what type of characters you prefer. What I'm talking about isn't about our personal tastes - instead, I'm wondering what this may mean for the story and what it could tell us about it, or that universe. For me the fact that Alistair has innate powers he's inherited after his ancestor, who himself gained them by drinking blood of a powerful dying dragon, indicates that this isn't something that is there just to make Alistair special, or just something that exists to tell us something about Alistair or work for his benefit. Chekhov's Gun and all. As for innate power... I don't personally care that much. For me HOW is more important than WHAT - if a character with innate power is interesting and written well then I won't complain. I mean, Alistair himself has already been made special merely due to who his dad happens to be, and the circumstances that open the road for him to claim the throne of Ferelden. Yet he's a likable character and a lot (all?) of his struggles stem from that very 'specialness', which isn't necessarily a blessing.
|
|