mindblanks2 wrote...
On a sidenote, what happened to Anders? He used to be not only tolerable, but actually enjoyable. Now I can't stand the guy and he hasn't made it through a single playthrough.
Aww, no love for Anders? I maintain the shift in his personality was deliberate. He's an example of what can happen to someone who becomes more dedicated to a cause than any individual. Now, I really like his character and the direction the devs took him even if I don't agree with his ultimate actions. I think there's quite a bit of depth to him and he has one of the best story arcs in the game.
In Act 1, there are still touches of his old personality. Between his snarky "A wizard did it" retort and some of his banters with other companions, you can see he retains his sense of humor. By Act 2, there's less of that. His control is slipping, as evidenced by his actions during the Justice plot line. I definitely think his character is stronger if he's romanced. Here he seems to cling to Hawke as a lifeline. He shies away from the cause of mages in an effort to retain his sanity, and ultimately he fails.
What makes it for me is Act 3, though. His paranoia's overwhelmed him. He suspects almost everyone of plotting against him (exceptions being Friend!Hawke, Varric, and possibly Isabela) and he's succombed to Justice's influence. He has a great dialogue with Isabela where he admits that if he won mages their freedom at the cost of others' lives, those innocents would deserve justice too. Then there's the scene with him trying to give away his most prized possessions to his friends. This is a guy who's prepared to die, who
wants to die, but he can't bring himself to admit it to Hawke. And his endgame scenario where he just submits to Hawke's judgment either way is absolutely heartbreaking.
I think the key to this downfall is knowing where he came from, though. In Awakening, we definitely see more of the snarky side of Anders. He's also a bit more self-centered, as he admits to Isabela in DA2. Yet the anger at the templars' injustice is still there. You can see it in his behavior towards Rylock and his constant escape attempts. This is a guy who values his freedom above all else. Also keep in mind he was ripped away from his family at a young age. He also just came out of a year of solitary confinement. I'm a criminology student. I've just started studying corrections with a special emphasis on solitary confinement (now called administrative confinement by many places). It's not a good environment. It drives a lot of sane men to the edge, and that's with so-called "modern morality" in place. I can only imagine it's worse in Thedas.
Another thing to keep in mind is the treatment Anders recieved at the hands of the templars. In a banter with Sebastian he mentions rapes and beatings. Though he denies these things happened to him, a part of me wonders just how honest he's being. Given all his escape attempts and his volatile feelings, I think
something happened to him down the line. He's also watched his friend and former lover made Tranquil. He's seen some emotionally scarring things. I think just about anyone would come out of that damaged.
Then take Justice. In Awakening he chides Anders for not doing more about the plight of mages. He seems to get involved anytime there's a situation where one party is being oppressed by another. He has zero tolerance for the templars and he's likely spent the past 6 years whispering in Anders' mind about their cruelty. Anders says he feels Justice's thoughts as his own, though we also see times when Justice supercedes Anders' default personality. Just how the possession works is thus unclear, but it's evident Anders isn't always responsible for all his actions.
Take Anders abuse and desire for freedom, couple it with Justice's refusal to compromise in any situation and extreme views on oppression, and it's easy to see how Anders jumped off the slippery slope. You still don't have to like him. He takes a pretty hard line view, after all. Personally, though, I think his story arc was more tragic because we saw how he was in Awakening. We saw the jovial mage yearning for freedom and we watched that twist and darken until he took his desires to the furthest possible conclusion.
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