Dragon Age: Dark Fortress (Comic)

Isabela patted the dog’s head (while complaining about it). Sebastian bowed to him. Varric taught him Diamondback. Merrill told him a story. Anders whined about preferring cats. Fenris told you that mabari originated in Tevinter, but didn’t really interact with the dog.

Thus, his character developed into someone who would pet a big lovable dog.

Thanks. 

I get that. It potentially being the last might be part of the problem since your comics are the only part of Dragon Age I still look forward to. Another part is just a lot of comics or shows I've followed when they use terms like that also mean "everyone becomes monsters or condone monstrous actions" with the genuinely good characters either changing like that or being killed off. So that's one thing I'm worried about and the "better for a character story even if not for the a character as a person" you said earlier worried me more. To use the Vaea worry I mentioned earlier, to use another pacifist in the series it'd be like if after Josephine accidentally killed her friend while defending herself, instead of seeing that as a tragedy and blaming herself using as fuel for her diplomatic ideals she just went the hardened Leliana route and no longer cared. Especially if that's where the story ended, so there isn't even the possibility of turning back like Francesca did. 

I know I'm probably worrying over nothing, it's not like I shouldn't trust you since I've loved all your comics in this series, but etween this being my last connection to a franchise I once loved as well as being burned many times before I can't help it. 

I don't think Hawke was handled poorly at all.  I think the game exposed what is a logical consequence of being involved with Hawke.  When things get ugly, Hawke runs right to the center of it.  That can't be easily for his/her friends, family, or love interest.

I do think it shattered a lot of people's expectations of what would become of Hawke's romance, specifically.  But it actually felt true to the character as it broke my heart.

To be fair not everyone played their Hawke like that. Some Hawke's would have been selfish egocentrics who were only out for themselves or totally ruthless. Would a Hawke who sold out Fenris and let Denarius have him back, or totally supported Meredith and the status quo because they had an eye on being Viscount, really be the sort of person who would volunteer to be left in the Fade?

As for my Hawke, whilst they were the heroic type, I really couldn't see the logic of them thinking that Corypheus was their mess to fix. Their family had only become involved because the Wardens originally blackmailed their father into assisting them and down the years the Wardens had then neglected their duty in guarding the place, so poor unfortunates ended up being trapped, plus forgot that all Wardens were vulnerable to his influence but particularly mages. It was definitely a Warden responsibility and thus it seemed only right to me that a Warden, particularly a senior Warden who was likely near his Calling anyway as Stroud was, should be the one to do the noble sacrifice. After all, Corypheus was just the equivalent of an Arch-demon with more independence of thought. However, taking out the Nightmare Demon only weakened Corypheus but he would still be out there and need dealing with, so if Hawke really wanted to be the one to take him down, they needed to stay alive to do so.

Of course, this didn't happen and instead of sticking around to deal with him, Hawke pushed off up to Weisshaupt to do very little so far as I can tell. Ditto, Stroud/Alistair/Loghain who Hawke claimed they were leaving alive to help re-build the Wardens (in the south) only for them to head off north and never be heard of again.

To be honest, I never really like the Warden plot in DAI and thought the collective idiocy they succumbed too was ridiculous, so there was no way I was sacrificing my Hawke when it should never have been necessary in the first place.

That was another thing that bothered me too. Since the epilogue to DA2 made it clear Cassandra was looking for Hawke to help with the mage/Templar situation and then the Conclave went boom, why did it take Varric so long to let Hawke know what was going on? Not to mention that if my Lavellan's Dalish clan could hear about the Conclave, then surely Hawke could too, no matter how much in hiding they were? So if "when things get ugly" Hawke "runs right into the centre of it", why did it take so long for them to make an appearance on the scene?

It can be very simply explained by the fact that Varric wanted to protect Hawke from this mess, and up until Corypheus appeared on the scene, there wasn't really a compelling reason to get them involved with the Inquisition. 

"Even so, Hawke could have helped." How? Hawke can't close Rifts. What would Hawke really contributed aside from being a talented warrior/mage/rogue, of which the Inquisition had no shortage of?

Also, remember that Hawke is disliked by either the Templars or the Mages, and their presence could complicate matters with the Inquisition's allies.

Well, pardon Varric for viewing Hawke as a friend and not an expendable resource.

First, not every Hawke is friends with Varric. 
Second, Varric viewing Hawke as a possession only he can have is even worse. 

And that's the issue. Many Hawkes would have an interest, since they are all aout helping people. But come DAI, all of a sudden they don't care about anyone until it personally involves them. 

There has been a bunch of debates about the Friendship/Rivalry system and how ridiculous it was. “You hate everything about me and what I stand for, but let’s be a couple and I’ll support you in anything.” So I’m not interested in hashing that up in here.

As for the second bit. I know, I was being hyperbolic. No weirder than like calling them an expendable resource as you put it though.
But I see we’ve entered the personal jabs part of this, so best the topic be dropped.

Varric doesn’t deserve me or my Hawkes. Or my Inquisitors or anyone else. But BioWare forces us to be buddy buddy with him, instead of being able to kick him out.
Early on, I get that. But after, when Varric knows the truth but still doesn’t say, that’s different and proves he is a lying selfish snake.

But as I said above, since it’s reached the point of personal jabs this should be dropped. Doesn’t involve comics anymore anyway.

This, plus the fact that Hawke can be very much a blood mage as well. And there is no railroading -fortunately- into "Repent your sins!!!" for Hawke in that regard, and we know that it would not matter anyways, if all the fuss about Malcolm Hawke doing some rituals for the GWs with a sword at his neck is any indication.


Umm, yeah. I'm not having the same issues with Varric as Hanako (my main beef is his claim about his neutralitiy on the mage-templars issue, which he quite actively disproves in both endings), but the character-we-are-supposed-to-like trope is very strong with him. DAI opens up the boxes badly, and Varric is in the "supposed to like" one (together with Cassandra, Cullen and a few lesser examples, I guess) while there are pretty clear examples we are not supposed to like, such as Sera or Vivienne.