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[RevanchistStenn]

Let me preface this by saying I was drawn into this in the first place by seeing the back and forth re: not enough "heterosexual options." I'm fairly sure that topic has been adequately covered, so there's no need to rehash that discussion. It got me thinking about something in a quasi-similar vein, though.

I've noticed that if you pursue a gay romance with Anders, it seems to retcon his sexuality. I always personally saw Anders as a heterosexual character, since Awakenings when he made an offhand mention of wanting a girl. Does that mean it's my misconception? Possibly. But then, if you romance Anders with a female, there's no mention of Karl as a past fling. That DOES get brought up if Hawke is male. Now, maybe it's just a case of him sharing personal details differently depending on your gender. Whether it is or isn't, I perceived  this to be because it seemed to me if you romance him with a female, in her universe that fling never actually happened. Now indulge me here before I shoot down my own argument: I don't like that. I don't like feeling like my interest in a character is able to transform his backstory. I personally felt like the frames strained to allow what I wanted to happen. Because in real life it doesn't work that way. If Anders is bisexual, there's nothing wrong with that - but I didn't like that he wasn't unless you're male and interested in him. That sort of broke suspension of disbelief for me. Again, I could have completely misinterpreted that, but it seemed like two distinctly different sexualities for the same character.

Now for me to shoot down my own argument. You could say the same thing about every aspect of the game. Dragon Age is a series of alternate realities. In some of them, Alistair is king. In others, he's dead. Every choice you make inherently shapes your game-specific world, so in that sense every break from so-called "continuity" is in essence just consistent with the new world it's shaped. My first character was a wise-cracking mage, my second, an ardent supporter of Templars. Their entire range of choices were entirely different, but both of them are named Hawke and occupy the same place in a bloodline. So while I can see the argument that sexuality is a core trait to someone, it's a hard argument to support in this game where core traits are entirely variable depending on choice. If the PC can be as flexible, NPCs should be the same. But the writer part of me struggles to accept that, on a purely emotional level since it goes against my own personal core beliefs of what is sacred for character generation.

What do you think?

Modifié par RevanchistStenn, 24 mars 2011 - 07:18 .

[Jennifer Brandes Hepler]

Anders in Awakening was very up-front about how sexually adventurous the Ferelden Circle was. While he does not specify if he has had past relationships with men, he certainly does not show any degree of sexual hang-up. Since he has chosen to allow a male-seeming friend to actually enter and share his body and soul, I could not personally imagine that he would draw the line at having sex with a man. There is nothing he could possibly do with Hawke or Karl or anyone else that comes close to the intimacy he has with Justice.