I've been playing DA 2 again and I've been focusing on playing through with companions on the opposite side of the approval meter than I normally do. I have gained a much greater appreciation of each individual character and a greater understanding about them.
Before I go further in depth, I would like to make it clear that I didn't make this thread to debate the intelligence, morality, good/evil factor of each character, but rather a way to look at and appreciate each character's personality traits that may or may not appear on either side of the friend/rival spectrum. Right on to the people.
I'll start off on friendship and what we see from each companion.
Aveline: Hawke and Aveline work together for just causes and keeping Order in Kirkwall. She shows great loyalty and friendship with Hawke and goes out of her way to overlook minor misdeamenors Hawke and company commit because she's friends with them and doesn't want to see them jailed or hurt. And acknowledging that the Circle is meant as a way to help keep order, because the templars and the mages fighting would be chaotic and dangerous. Maintaining the status quo is less about freedom vs security but about protecting the bystanders caught in the sidelines.
Isabella: I simply can't do Aveline without Isabella for contrast....wait that came out wrong. Oh whatever, Isabella won't mind. Isabella and Hawke are certainly not sticks in the mud and Hawke is more than willing to commit crimes for profit. Smuggling, piracy, stealing, whatever. He knows how to have a good time and Isabella is along for the ride, loving every minute of it.
Fenris: It's more than a shared hatred of magic or general agreement that slavery is wrong. It's the willingness to help him hunt down and destroy Danarius, Hadrianna, and all those associated with them. It's about helping Fenris find revenge or justice because he knows he can't get it anywhere else.
Anders: It's not really so much mages are poor and innocent oppressed as much as it isn't Justice being in Anders is good. It's combination of both. Anders sees merging with Justice (at the time of it in any case) as a necessity to be free, and a way to help mages gain a freedom neither of them could do by being alone. Justice needed a host and Anders needed power to act with templars killing him on the spot. The two combined and created a powerful force of vengeance meant to free all mages and destroy all templars. I personally believe they affected each other to the point of forgetting that Justice often goes against mages for crimes committed by the not-always-innocent mages.
Merrill: Ah Merrill....I can never play a game without romancing her. I have played both friendship and rivalry (ugh) and I infinitely prefer the friendship. For her it's the duty of the Keeper to remember the past....even the dangerous things. She seeks answers from the past to help her people in the present and aid them in the future. If she completely restores the Eluvian, the Dalish people as a whole will benefit with new technology long since lost. They will have knowledge of ancient Arlathan magic and artifacts so maybe they could recreate their own on their own terms once they know the process. She also has a scientific curiosity to anything old and related to magic.
She'll approve of Hawke being open minded, meaning willing to use the Altar of Dumat or reading Tahrone's tomes in Act 2 (fascinating codex entries, they mention one of the side quest bosses we kill in Origins...Gaxkang the Unbound) On the frienship path, Hawke sees Merrill's work as important and most definitely worth the risks.
Varic: What can I say...he's Varic. He talks enough for me as it is.
Sebastian: We first see him acting on his first impulsive decision to hunt Flint Company. However, after meeting the Desire demon that corrupted the Heriman's and finding himself tempted by the exact same thing, he cannot let go of her words and fears he will become corrupted by power. He wishes to let go of his wordly title for a life of contemplation. He is torn because he wants to retake Starkhaven but fears what may happen to his soul if he does.
He therefore looks to Hawke for inspiration and guidance. Hawke on the friendship path encourages him to keep his oaths he made before he even met Hawke. He does not want to harm anyone with war in the end, thinking about the common people of Starkhaven and not the nobles playing petty politics.
Carver: He's a ****** no matter how you play him. He's just less a ****** as a Warden. Still entertaining and feels like a real brother.
Bethany: Sweet girl with a vicious streak in her. She's he one who suggests we break into the manor and kill all the slavers after all. All she wants in life is to be normal and begrudges the fact that she can't. Is the perfect example of an apostate in hiding because she is desperately trying to stay out of the spotlight.
Now for the rivalry path.
Aveline: Hawke is a criminal who consistantly gets on Aveline's nerves. The only thing keeping her from arresting Hawke is their shared history with the death of Sibling A and Wesley. She feels overprotective of Hawke, even when she's punching Hawke's face in.
Isabella: Feels like Hawke is a goody-two shoes and a stick in the mud, but ultimately grows to respect him/her. Hawke tries to help her reform, with little success but the friendship is there.
Fenris: It's less about mages are good and everyone else picks on them, but more about dealing with his hatred. Hawke is trying to help Fenris realize his hatred is a poison that is eating him from the inside and is destroying him. Fenris absolutely hates being told this because Hawke doesn't know what it's like to be a slave and he cannot get over his views on blood magic and mages justifying power as he had seen it done excessively in Tevinter.
Anders: Anders feels that Hawke is either not supporting mages or the means that would help mages (him and Justice merging). He gradually grows to understand that his idea to merge was rash and he desperately tries harder to control it than he does on the friendship path...but he's far more destructive as well because he has quite the temper.
Varic: Never managed to rival him.
Merrill: ugh
...Hawke is trying to help Merrill by warning her away from dangerous knowledge like the eluvian and blood magic (I did this as a nice Hawke...don't ask me how. I don't remember how I accomplished it) but Hawke was genuinely concerned for Merrill. I personally think it was Hawke trying to say that Knowledge is very dangerous and he didn't want to lose her because something was more dangerous than expected. Still prefer friendship by....A LOT
Sebastian: After a crisis of consciense after meeting Allure, he looks to Hawke for some kind of inspiration. He sees all the good Hawke does, but he also sees how mage damage Hawke does in the process. He believes that sometimes the ends justify the means and in order to make an omellete, some eggs do need to be cracked....like the corrupt nobles in Starkhaven.
Carver/Bethany: same as above.
I could easily go into a lot more depth on each othe characters, but by playing both sides (except for Varic), I have gained a greater appreciation of their characters and how they develop.
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