Anders or Fenris Romance 1st playthrough?

I think: rival- or friendmance depend on your character' temper as pro-mage Hawke with Fenris (as I see the rival is more creditable), pro-templar Hawke the friendship is easy and creditable way.
Your character sympathy toward mages or templars more important with Anders.
Fenris rivalry and friendship also depend on Hawke's relation with mages, but you can build full friendship romance with a radical pro-mage Hawke between him, and he will not damaged because you rivalmance him, because his purpose the his (and slaves') freedom, he don't care too much the mage issues.
Anders' rivalmance is mostly sad.

Rivalry: I do not accept your opinion, but I don't necessarily hate you for it. 
Rivalry is not hatred here: if you care about the companion, no matter, you accept his/her opinion, or arguing with him/her, only matter, that as far as possible, you need to do consistently.
For example: Hawke don't need to accept Fenris' fear from the mages/magic, s/he can argue with him. He will respect Hawke, if Hawke have enough rivalry rating, and he still love Hawke.
Anders more complicated, he (and Justice) too much care about mage freedom, this is the most important in his life, and he can't lose Justice, until death, but he can to lose himself. This rival also not necessarily hatred, but much more cruel and sad.

So: no matter, your Hawke is mage, rogue or warrior, but may important, than s/he is pro-mage or pro-templar.
I not voted: I dont know, which romance is better for the first playthrough – mine was Anders, with pro mage male Hawke, and Anders' romance the best for the main story-line.


Fenris romance is hot, and so much worth it, but watch it: maybe bugged. The whole romance can failed, if Hawke going to bed with other(s). Many experience shows, no matter that Hawke broke the romance with the other character or not!

My first play through and second, I went with Anders. I feel like they developed his romance more than the others in that he refers to it over time. The other romances feel more...sudden and out of nowhere.

I am currently a Fenris girl but Anders will always be special.

Friend means you and that person totally get along and match up on the major issues that are important to them.

Rivalry means you are NOT matching up on the major issues at all. In spite of that, they respect your strong character and your willingness in other ways. It's "I respect you, but we agree to disagree on a lot."

Either way, get 80 points either direction by end of Act 2 for Isabella. And the rest of them by the end of Act 3.

I will go one by one on Romances.

Anders is super pro mage freedom <- if you are like this, then he will be super easy to have a Friend Romance with because nearly the entire game is about Mages VS Templars. Rival romancing him can feel like you two are not on the same page on a lot of issues and somehow he falls for you anyway<- and he comments on your lack of seeing eye to eye frequently and liking you anyway against his best judgement. Rivaling Anders in a romance is very angsty. I wouldn't recommend rival romancing him a first play through. Anders is lot of drama in the game, which can make for a ROLLER COASTER OF A RIDE THE FIRST PLAY THROUGH.

Fenris is anti mage freedom which makes him a bit Pro Templar. If you're doing something that would make Anders happy, Fenris will be unhappy 9/10. He is also super anti slavery. Fenris romance is very monogamous in that you can't sex anyone else up before OR AFTER him, and due to some bug, sometimes even flirting with others will make the romance route become un doable. So, he's a bit of a commitment, especially when he does a certain thing that would make most people very hurt (he apologizes very sincerely later), but due to his voice acting and how he literally blossoms under Hawke's love... I don't know, it's just so touching. I want to hug and love Fenris long time.

I know your poll doesn't mention Isabella and Merril. Is it because you have no interest in female romances? What about Sebastian? (although meh on him)

Anyway, so it boils down to what kind of Hawke you're going to be. Pro Mage freedom mage yourself? Want someone who thinks your awesome sauce from the start of the game, and will absolutely adore you? And love a roller coaster ride? Anders!

Think mages should stay in the circle, think slavers should all die, and aren't going to be mage class? Prefer someone who's a bit more restrained in their affection but once he commits, he'll never falter? Fenris!

For a first play through though, can't beat the roller coaster ride of not being spoiled on the big events of the game. So, I voted Anders.

Thirding (fourthing?) the caution about the Fenris bug. If you play on PC you can fix it with debugging commands, but if you're on console, I think you're stuck. It happened to me the first time because Hawke flirted with Isabela, so I had to set Fenris's romance flag when I realized he was bugged.

I found friendship with Fenris a bit easier, than rivalry even with pro-mage, for the rivalry path I needed more tactic. But as a pro-mage a friendship path rather more "soft rivalry", because Fenris may more gentle, but still dont understand my Hawke's purpose, and at the end still blames magic... it was a bit uncomfortable. It worth, yes, Fenris love better Hawke's bad jokes, and have more nice scenes, while the rivalry was furious, and Fenris more cruel, but I feel the love behind his anger. So: the rivalry path also sweet.

Based on the past romances you liked, I'm going to say Fenris is more likely to be your type.

Rivalry vs. Friendship is just how much your views line up with your companions. In DA2 instead of just earning friendship when you agreed, or did something they liked, you could also earn rivalry when you disagreed. But it's not really a love/hate meter though, because earning rivalry still earns their respect if you get high enough points. What you don't want is to get stuck in the middle, so try to pick one or the other path.

For story reasons, if none other, romance Anders first.

Neither my wife or i use mods and i personally strongly dislike mods. My wife just thinks Anders is adorable and rugged in general. Only one who might rival Anders in looks for her is Sebastian. Not sure what you're referring to in regards to the spoilers.

I just don't know why they gave him and Sebastian the hair cut that literally makes them look like they have a receding hair line.

Or they drew the foreheads too big? I don't know. At least Fenris isn't balding.