Fenris – "Festis bei umo canavarum!"

Anders is different. Maybe if you're sided with him at mage side, then he dont die, but otherwise Anders die of rivalry, I think. At the templar side he says goodbye (I saw a video, I will never do it). Justice will be with him forever, then Anders need to rivalry not just with Hawke, but also with Justice. Big chance to he can't survive that rivalry.

Not to mention it is that if Hawke rival with Anders, then s/he question everything what he believe in, which is important to him. I do not think it can be a good long-term relationship based.

Fenris's faith in freedom Hawke do not need to be questioned, so: Fenris' goal is not compromised, but by the end he can understand, what's important to Hawke, and can accept him/her; do not blame anymore the magic/mages, but in friendsip he still blame the magic/mages after the Alone quest. It's not good for him, because it wants to leave behind the hatred. (It succees in friendship too, but more slowly, because Hawke maybe agreed him).

(In the case of Merrill also working the rival path, because this Eluvian is really corrupted, and she can find a new purpose instead the Eluvian: she will working for the Alienage.)

(I do not know Isabela's romance, but heard: the rival path working fine with her too.)

Found this fanart, I really like it!



Found it at dragon-age.deviantart.com/gallery/41806099/Hawke-and-Fenris.

I love Fenris,
he's my canon romance for my male mage Hawke.

I love this one ... it's so pretty.

This fight give me feels, though..  Every time I play it, I end up thinking about what kind of aftermath it'd have.  Poor Hawke can get impaled on a giant sword, and their friends can't do anything.

I'm a complete sucker for a good voice. For me Fenris overcomes his less than fantastic visual design solely on the back of Emerys voice work.

I liked the "old married couple" angle my aggressive mage F!Hawke had with Fenris. I picture a lot of angry, makeup sex. Haha.

That being said, I felt the Fenris/mage Hawke romance was a missed opportunity. If DA2 had committed to well-developed romances, there could have been a lot of potential there. Fenris could have contemplated falling for a mage and perhaps wondering if his past views on mages were too biased. Neither happen. The former is never addressed and Fenris never budges on his view on magic; surprising when considering how Hawke's opinion tends to be so relevant to companions that they can convince even Anders to kill the mages. It's also somewhat hypocritical of him given his relationship with a mage.

Despite this, Fenris is still a great character, and not the least bit elfy.



One game mechanic setback that bothers me is how you need 100 friendship/rivalry to complete his romance. For first-timers without meta-gaming that can be very difficult. Anyone romance him on their first playthrough yet achieve this without meta-gaming? It's a heavy prerequisite just for a romance.

On early playthroughs, I used to try being friends with him as a pro-mage, but getting to 100 friendship was impossible. It would require just as much meta-gaming as in rivalry, if not more, to max out his friendship because of how he earns rivalry on literally anything pro-magic. It would require leaving him behind on many magic-related quests. On the rivalry path, I just bring him along when I want and rack up that rivalry. I also prefer the rivalmance.

lol He earns rivalry just by agreeing to visit Merrill at the alienage. And earns friendship if I blackmail Thrask right after telling him about his dead daughter, or if I send those apostates to their death at the hands of Keras in Act of Mercy. He's also fine with butchering innocent mages in the Last Straw, and will actually be willing to kill you to do it if you fail his approval checks.

Being "good" isn't always enough for Fenris when magic is involved.

I did care about him on the playthrough he turned on me and couldn't be talked down. I helped him get his freedom and that was how he repaid me. I could see him not wanting to help defend the mages if he isn't the biggest fan of Hawke, but to actually help the templars kill them to the point of striking down Hawke to do it...?

I enjoy him with aggressive Hawke almost as much as sarcastic Hawke.

Fenris decides that Hawke being an "apostate refugee" really isn't worse than him being an escaped slave, an elf, and a squatter. He doesn't wonder if his views on magic are too biased anymore than Anders wonders if his opinion of Templars is too biased - they've both been a victim of their oppressors and have every reason to feel the way they do. And unlike Anders re: Templars, Fenris doesn't believe that every mage is inherently bad ("I'm not blind; I know magic has its uses, and there are undoubtedly mages with good intentions. But even the best-intentioned mage can fall prey to temptation." and "It doesn't take all mages to cause this. Only the weak ones.")

He's actually pretty reasonable. But he's never going to give mages the benefit of the doubt - they've got to prove themselves trustworthy, like Hawke and Bethany do.

Anders sees the Templars as Fenris the slavers. 

Oh, yes! I think this is true and I find it difficult to concieve of any future where this isn't the case, though I'd certainly like for everyone to be able to live in harmony... I need to hit up the mage/templar thread and see what everyone's ideal solution would be, both from an in-universe perspective and a storytelling one.

(Though I think this dialogue with Dorian regarding Tevinter is particularly telling. And I love Tevinter.)