“We all like a bad boy though, don’t we?”
“Yeah, not a fucking terrorist.”
There is at least some nuance to the event in which Anders, Dragon Age II’s possessed revolutionary mage, blows up a church and sparks a war between the mages and templars. But to some, the narrative that he is a terrorist beyond redemption is much sexier. Dragon Age II’s entire schtick is about watching how mages in this universe are victims of never-ending oppression, cornered into taking desperate measures to survive. After the events of the game unfold, Anders is no longer able to idly watch the rest of the world do nothing, so he takes extreme action.
But uh, he blew up a church and people died so he’s bad and his viewpoint is not worth hearing out. Right? That’s what we’re supposed to say?
Anyway, if you don’t want to end up in an hours-long discussion about Dragon Age’s depiction of an oppressed class of people rising against their oppressors, just avoid the topic.
We’ll no doubt have more we could add to this when Dragon Age: The Veilguard launches on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S this fall. It’s taking us to the Tevinter Imperium, which no doubt has its own controversial characters, topics, and moments awaiting us. What if people get touchy about wanting to fuck the old man mage?