).I am sure many of you are wondering: "What exactly is so out-of-character about Anders in Dragon Age II?" Observe. During banter of Awakening, it is revealed that Anders has a cowardly look-out-for number-one philosophy, believing that the chantry is fine so long as it's not after him. One of his conversations with Justice candidly suggests that he "avoids" oppression, he does not intend to "struggle" against it.
If you speak to Wynne in Awakening, it is also revealed that while he hates chantry oversight, he believes that the chantry is neccessary and shows concern over mages trying to dissolve the it. He believes that if mages were simply allowed to run amuck it'd be "a recipe for disaster", which is ironically similar to Fenris' opinion.
So how did Anders overcome fear towards mage freedom? How is such a "slack jawed" coward convinced to challenge the chantry in spite of the "difficulty" it would pose, as Anders himself puts it in Awakening? Because while Justice believes apathy is weakness, Anders believes death is also a weakness, and originally was never willing to die for such a cause. Because no transition was ever made between Awakening and DAII Anders, this creates the effect of character derailment within the character, not character development.
Hepler's short story suggests his bitterness was partly due to being ripped apart from his family at age12. But it was hardly convincing. If that was enough for him to want revolution, he probably wouldn't have been supportive of the circle by the time he was an adult in Awakening.
Other Noteworthy Plotholes:
► Why does Anders constantly condemn Merill for being a blood mage when he can become a blood mage himself in Awakening? Your Warden can actually address his blood mage talents, should he learn the specialization.
►If Anders can "die" at the end of Awakening like Nathaniel can point out in DA2, how could the Wardens force him to get rid of Ser-Pounce-A-Lot if they all thought Anders was dead? This seems like a clumsy attempt to get Anders to brood against the Wardens for getting rid of the cat, but without considering certain endings.
► Anders doesn't know where Justice ends and he begins, and there supposedly isn't a way to separate the two. That's not how spirit posession works in the original Dragon Age mythos. Just look at Connor. You don't become fused to the spirit/demon when you allow yourself to be willingly posessed. That also begs the question: Why aren't Justice and Anders separated in the fade like Connor is? And why isn't Anders tranquil after you kill him in the fade?
Common Rebuttal #1: Justice and Anders merged outside of the fade so therefore it makes sense
Answer: No, read Hepler's short story about Anders' posession by Justice. It DID take place in the fade. He was in the fade, then he woke up, and Rolan tried to shank him because he was considered a maleficar after that.
Common Rebuttal #2: Gaider says that demons posess whereas spirits "merge" with their hosts.
Answer: It still does not make any sense. Anders and Justice are not "merged". If you are a rival to Anders this is particularly evident because Justice will emerge to confront you, and when Anders regains control he has no memory of the event. Also, don't you think it's a bit strange that Anders knows that Justice sees his relationship to Hawke as a "distraction" when he's not supposed to be able to make the distinction between where his personality begins and where Justice's ends?
► Justice was supposed to serve the order for many years. So how exactly does he posess Anders, leave the Wardens, flee to Kirkwall, and get jiggy with Karl merely a year after the blight? Awakening occurs 2-6 months after it, if I remember correctly. Now I know DA2 is supposed to be based off a possible ending for Anders. But in practice this couldn't have been possible in any of the epilogues. In DA2 Anders implies that Justice is still posessing Kristoff's corpse during the time of posession. But the endings where Justice isn't killed/dies either has him serving the Wardens or fixing up graves in the blackmarsh--but that's provided he's never recruited, and never meets Anders to begin with.
The problem with creating Anders' DA2 origins from only of one the "supposedly" possible endings in Awakening is that it implies that there is some sort of "one true ending" – that people's decisions with him in Awakening don't "really" matter if they don't fit the mold of the DA2 writers. If you decide to hand Anders over to the Templars when Alistair arrives, and never make him into a Grey Warden? Retconned. If you decide to hand him over to the Templars during his personal mission? Retconned. Decisions are supposed to be the backbone of Bioware's signature gameplay but they go ignored. This is why I hold BioWare responsible for game's continuity errors, because they should have considered satisfying all possible endings for Anders, or left him a oneshot. People (usually) don't pick up these games for their choices not to matter by the next game.
Please share your thoughts on this topic. I'm curious to know whether or not people came to the same conclusions I did.
Modifié par Viyu, 22 avril 2011 - 09:10 .
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I'd like to discuss much more ...coherent plotholes. I hope the OP removes that one because it's not really worth debating either way and I feel it'll derail a very legitimate complaint.
