I find that what most often catches my fancy is the idea of a romance with an elf. The human/elf romance in
The Stolen Throne... what if there was no meddling involved and it played out fully? Since we have a human PC this time, they have the chance to do that without worrying about the dwarf and elf PCs missing out.
If I'm playing a human, I want the choice of basic attitudes about it, if possible:
--Bloody knife-eared slave. Why don't you go wash my laundry? That's your lot in life. It's all you're fit for.
--Yeah, so the world sucks. It's not MY fault. What's your problem? How's it any better to hate me for being human? Get over it.
--
I'm sorry for the pain you've suffered at the hands of my species. I hope you'll come to see that I didn't choose to be human, and that I'm not the type of human you seem to be used to.
And then if you chose a positive attitude, maybe that could eventually develop into something more. But it's so
boring if they just hand it to you! I mean, not that Zevran did, but DAO was limited by the aforementioned race problem. This time, I hope they were wily and capitalized on the racial differences of Thedas. I want to be tempted to use all of the options! A really well-written character does that... makes you react like people did to Morrigan in the personal chats at camp, where some
still don't understand her and think she's just a big jerk, nothing more, because they come from too different a background to get her. Some part of me instinctively liked and understood Morrigan; I want to be provoked to react instinctively like that again. It felt very compelling.
Really, racial and national differences... they're part of the human struggle. If we had other races, it would be much the same. I would love to have a character whose prejudices against humans were so extreme--and so well-justified in their mind--that they can even make me doubt my own species, and really have to fight to be clever to explain why they're wrong.
Convincing arguments, which make me feel like the elf has been thinking about this their whole life! A clever writer can make the experience really lively and draw you into a debate that will always be a pleasure to play through.
I would prefer mostly interracial romances, and non-stereotypical roles for those characters. A warrior-woman like Rowan has been on my list since I read the first DA novel, and a nerdy mage since I met Jowan, although you really don't have to push to get me interested in that! I'd prefer elven to human, though.
Personality-wise, the non-romanceable characters I most would've liked to romance in DAO/Awakening were: Bann Teagan, Cullen, Nathaniel, Gorim, Ser Gilmore, Anders, and Jowan in roughly that order (although some are hard to choose between.) I loved how natural it would've felt with Bann Teagan and his noble, faintly bashful, yet determined personality. I loved the religious barrier to Cullen and the possibilities inherent in having him around long enough to try to change his mind, whether benignly and lovingly over a long period of time or through a brutally destructive seduction which left him broken and full of self-hatred and hatred of you. Nathaniel's backstory and history with the player were great; that you begin as foes and actually hold his life in your hands were a great basis for a relationship. Gorim and Ser Gilmore both have the same basic appeal--gentle, unassuming knight in your family's service, willing to give his life for you, obviously very fond of you, and their understanding of you ran deeper than just seeing you as "the Warden." Anders was just plain fun; he had spirit. And Jowan... I have a feeling I'd like the modified companion version better, but I liked the drama of your history with him and would have loved to interact with the broken, penitent Jowan.
There's such a fine line between romance-as-therapy in a bad way, and romance-as-therapy in a mild and realistic way. Honestly, I think a (lasting, mature, constructive) relationship
always changes you--irrevocably and for the better. You were drawn to that person because you knew instinctively that you could teach each other, that you would grow as people just by existing in the same space.
I don't mind a messed up guy. But I do prefer for him to have a defined mind and personality; to know who he is well enough that even the most drastic change will feel sensible. If I change the way he thinks about the world, I want it to be not because I told him how to think, but rather, because I said something that made
him think. I want to feel like it's not that he was so deficient that he didn't get it, but because--like with Morrigan--someone taught him otherwise, or even just life itself battered him into making the wrong conclusions. And I want to be forced to
think, to
reason, about how I'm going to change his mind. I want it to tax me. I want to bite my lip and frown, like any real person would, and to have the possibility of screwing it up if I'm too sanctimonious or just aren't working hard enough to understand who he is.
I think that's the difference--romance-as-therapy only feels stupid and irritating when the answer seems like it should be obvious to the character despite, or even because of, their background. On the other hand, when you can truly
feel where the character comes from
, and work to change their misperceptions of the world--it feels rewarding when you actually succeed. When you surprised the character; didn't act thoughtlessly, didn't act like anyone else they remember knowing and discounting as a fool. It's simply delicious.
Both sexes find that addictive. I really believe that. The sense that experience has taught you each something that the other needs to learn, and that time will help you both turn into the people you really
want to be. Like Morrigan, who I think at the core of her personality, she always wanted to believe that Flemeth wasn't right either. Opposites attract for a reason. That principle seems to be a good basis for a romance. You have to have activities in common which you both enjoy, but the way you think should probably be quite different, and whatever you disagree on has to be something you each can respect about each other or it will cause problems.
I don't want anything to feel prissy-hard, but I do want to be made to carefully consider my options and preferably not to feel like the character fell for mine because I picked all the "nice" options.I want it to be more complex and deeper than that.
Whew, that was a lot of opinion. Good thing I type fast and love analyzing stuff to death!
andar91 wrote...
I really, really, really want a nerdy mage.
Every time someone says this, a smile comes to my face and I feel a tiny bit less like my hopes are in vain.
Calla S wrote...
Not to mention I have a major templar fixation
*lol* You know, despite the nerdy, scrawny elf mage fixation I have going, I DO have a templar thing, too. Maybe not for the same reasons, though I did like Ser Otto. It's not even Alistair--it's a part of why I enjoyed him, but he didn't cause it. It's the Cullen thing! The brooding, guilty victim of religion, bullied by the Chantry into believing a certain way and not realizing how much happier he would be if he just accepted his sexuality. Add it together with the whole templar-mage love-hate boiling-tensions cauldron and that's... it's just
hot. I respect beliefs, but only when they're made of a person's free will, untainted by brainwashing--if a priest truly made an informed, personal choice, I respect that. But someone young and obviously tormented like Cullen... burying your sexuality just
does. not. work! So I would feel no moral compunctions about trying to change his mind, and if I were playing an evil character it might even be fun to cruelly seduce him and make him hate me. I actually think the reverse would be true, too--I think a female templar would be just as hot to people attracted to women. But I could be wrong about that, I don't know.
Modifié par Wynne, 22 juillet 2010 - 11:13 .
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Oh, Sand, if only you were an LI.
