I think I'm ready for some traditional types.

DAO began the tradition of the twist with a couple characters (Wynn (she’s been dead the whole time!), oghren (he’s a dwarf who drinks but because he’s just an alcoholic), Leliana (the priest with a sordid past is not a common trope for female characters)). It got emphasized in DA2 (isabela is the moralistic amoralist not just a profiteer, Merrill is a scary blood mage who acts like a Disney character, Ferris is a tough elf (his subversion is less successful), Anders is the freedom fighter whose obsessions take over his personal freedom, Aveline is aveline which was a rare female character type). DAI just turned it up from 6 to 10.

That said we have had conventional characters. Allistair, Sten, morrigan, zevran, DAOA anders, sigrun, DAOA Justice, velanna, Nathaniel Howe, Sebastian, Vivienne, Dorian (besides not being a blood mage he is very tevinter), josefine, Cullen.

So I dunno. Part of why DAI felt like it was subverting things was that all our companions/advisers were kind of in conversation and juxtaposition with DA past. Cass with DAO Leliana, solas with Merrill/velanna, vivienne with anders, varric with oghren, Cullen with Allistair, sera with city elf origin, Dorian with fenris, bull with sten, Blackwall with the grey warden, cole with Wynn and justice.

So in that regard I can see them not trying to do that and instead try and do characters that aren’t,t deliberately referencing/subverting characterizations from the past. But I have a sneaky suspicion the next theme will be characters from backgrounds/places we have not had characters from.

One traditionalist type I would like to see that we haven't had before is an underground dwarf who doesn't instantly decide that the surface is the Best Place Ever the minute they get there. Oghren and Sigrun and Varric all have perfectly sensible reasons for not wanting to go back to Orzammar, but it would be nice to have a dwarf in the party who values underground dwarf society even with its (many, many) flaws. A bit like Dorian, but in dwarf form.

This would probably require having two dwarves in the party if Harding is going to be companion in DA4, but I'd be more than fine with that. Not least because an Orzammar or Ambassadoria or Kal-Sharok dwarf could have a really interesting dynamic with a surfacer like her.

Very true.

I prefer layered, in the middle types who have issues with their culture, but have notions on what they wish it could be. Gives them more options for which way to change in the Companion Quests.

Pretty much everyone here seems to like the subversion and while it's a great theory that it's because subversion was ultimately the theme of the game, "cute themes" to an excess can rob the player (or reader) of the suspension of disbelief and a universe consistency that makes whatever subversion you want to stress shine.

I really hated how every character was subversive - if they wanted to introduce this theme I believe they should've at least supplemented it with better exhibitions of the tradition in the background so that it actually meant something. It didn't really work, imo, using "the first two games" to provide the contrast, because every dragon age game is so, so different in look and style - particularly DAI which changed pretty much everything from the first two games in fashion, architectural and other visual styles, so I felt yanked from the universe they visually crafted in the first two games.

But of course anytime anyone tries to bring up creative analysis, Mark Darrah or Patrick Weekes publishes one defesive tweet and then a throng of supporters flock to support them ....even when it's not hateful at all to bring this sort of nuanced criticism up.

I completely agree. Having people from other cultures to me would be more interesting than having again characters who are all the contrary of what their background suggest.
In DAI wasn't bad, and it gave different point of view. But I'd like to see some more "traditional" character but from an "untraditional" background/culture.