Neve Gallus - Official Companion Thread [Spoilers]

I liked the Fenris/Anders/Merril antagonism. It made the characters feel more like people than characters, and again, I'd love the option to support one viewpoint or remain neutral, and have that reflected in a meaningful way later on. I also disliked Sera in DAI, but I had the option to dump her ass, or endure her and be antagonistic, or support her. Why would I want her friendship if I disliked her? I could do without it just fine. I get the feeling that we won't get the option to outright sideline companions we don't like in DA:V.

This is all just my impressions though, I don't really know what the game will be like because BW won't tell us anything... 

I wish we could have four companions for those since I liked how Isabela would defend Merrill from Fenris and I believe Anders.

One of the articles said we can be against companions so much they leave, or at least for a while.

She also defended Merrill when it came to my Hawke romancing her. She threatened what she would do to him if he hurt Merrill (I assume she meant emotionally not physically). Naturally my guy wouldn't dare after that (not that he would have anyway) but it was sweet how protective Isabella was of her.

honestly with the above I get the impression that such decisions may be in play again just towards the end of the game/ a companions particular arc.

The thing was Merrill was something of an innocent in her interactions with people outside of her clan and vulnerable, so I could understand why Isabella recognised this and was protective. Obviously, it was good that Leliana was looking out for her friend, but I did feel that Josephine was well able to look after herself, so my Inquisitor found it amusing. She wasn't our diplomat for nothing.

If they're really leaning on noir trappings, I would be shocked if Neve was a morally pure character. To quote Megan Abott:


Personally I’m happy I don’t have to play as a noble. I was always sad I couldn’t be an Avaar human in Origins. Lower class people are, in fact, capable of being complex and morally compromised. I mean, we’ve already seen that with Sera and even Solas. (Although he’s more entirely separate from class structure by choice, much like ascetics, at least in Inquisition.) They both position themselves as interested in morality and ethics, but their own ethics are murky at best. I don’t find chopping off Alistair’s head or selling Fenris into slavery morally murky, either; they are outright reprehensible actions you can justify through utilitarianism. (Or not, in Fenris case, where it mostly comes off unhinged.) I’m not against letting our character commit outright evil acts, but I do get annoyed when people try to frame them as morally gray options.

so, in the topic of "companions getting along", which faction available for Rook do you think Neve would have more problems with?

obviously she would have no problems with a Rook from the Shadow Dragons, but which faction would have more trouble to get along with her?

Well being a mage from Tevinter and understanding how these things work, she might have a problem with Emmrich and Necromancy generally. This would have nothing to do with it being against her religion or anything, just having a mage's insight into the practice. It is also possible she could have the same objection as Solas if she feels the spirits are being bound against their will. So, there could be a fair bit of discussion between Neve and Emmrich with her challenging his practices and him defending them or it could be completely the opposite and she is fascinated to learn more.

I assume she wouldn't have a problem with the Wardens unless the First Warden has been straying too much into politics of late. Since outsiders don't know too much about the order other than they give their lives defending others from the darkspawn, she would probably admire Davrin.

She might not approve of the Lords of Fortune because their motivations seem selfish and self-interested and not specifically directed to helping others. Whilst she does charge for her services, solving crimes is directly helping the community and she needs to eat. She might also feel uncomfortable with their ostentatious way of displaying their achievements. If a Lord of Fortune ever robbed someone she knew to gain an artifact, she might definitely be prejudiced against them.

I don't think she would approve of the Crows either because of how they work with the hierarchy of Antiva to maintain their status and how they train their recruits. She might also regard them as a lesson from history how a group originally set up to oppose tyranny, effectively became tyrants themselves. However, she wouldn't necessarily hold that against Lucanis because she may well appreciate how you can be burdened by the expectations of your family and, of course, may well have heard of his exploits against the Venatori, including saving the slaves. I also think that members of the Shadow Dragons were assisting him even though Lucanis may not have been aware of their precise allegiance. So, much would depend on whether he defends the Crows as an organisation or not. However, checking back on the War Table missions involving them in DAI, they did oppose the Venatori so the enemy of my enemy may well apply.

As for the Veil Jumpers, I assume she wouldn't have a problem with them for the same reason as my Rook wouldn't, because she doesn't know anything about them other than they are investigating magical phenomena and oppose Solas.

That was some years ago, possibly before she was officially enrolled in the guild, if at all (I've only assumed that she is one now because she is from Rivain). The LoF are more concerned with recovering artifacts for a fee, escorting other explorers and doing the occasional other task for money. I doubt they would deal in slaves. For a start off it is officially against the law in southern Thedas to traffic slaves and if caught you will be executed for it. This hardly seems worth the risk when you can do much simpler tasks, like burglary, where you can more easily escape with the goods. Even if individual LoFs might engage in the slave trade, the guild as a whole probably don't encourage it and so that is one exploit the individual won't boast about over drinks at the bar.

However, Neve seems to be a law abiding citizen, who works with the authorities as necessary but doesn't stray outside specific boundaries.   Helping slaves on the quiet is probably as far as she is prepared to stretch her limits, whilst opposing the Venatori is something we know from Mage Killer that the Archon would approve of and clearly the majority of Templars are on board with this as well.   Whilst Neve might do a bit of breaking and entering to find clues, I don't think she would steal items to order like the Lords of Fortune do, and it would appear from her story in Tevinter Nights that she likes to gain tacit approval from the Templars first so she can claim to be unofficially working for them.   We know from Dorian you have to be careful in Tevinter to keep the right side of the law if you do not have the protection of a powerful Altus family behind you.

Well, she is a detective. So basically a cop.

And what do cops tell people to do?

Freeze.

Can we chill on the ice puns?

Sorry, I’ll go cool off.