I think passionate response in some circles means: "Oh you dislike Anders?? DRINK BLEACH!!!!" That's the one the I see with the most outrageously "passionate" fans.
The fandom is ridiculously over-protective of these characters. For me, at the end of the day, they are just pixels. I will mock each and every one of them.
I love *and* hate Anders, in about equal measure. It almost makes me want to bait some of the ridiculous people, just to watch their brains spin like tops 
They are just pixels, and I will happily make fun of them including my favorites. But IMO the characters are the really strong point of connection in BioWare's games. The only one where the central plot knocked my socks off was Jade Empire, ironically also the game with IMO the weakest companion characters except Zu and Wild Flower. For the rest of BioWare's games, it was the characters that pulled me in. It's the characters that keep me playing, even when I find the main plot weak (DA2, ME3).
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source:http://mabiruna.deviantart.com/