I only just finished DA2 earlier this month, despite having owned the game since December 2012. At first, I didn't like the game at all, was only lukewarm about the characters, was a bit annoyed that I ended up in a relationship with Anders by accident, and vowed that I would never play it again.

Then a funny thing happened after I finished it and started pondering the characters and story. I grew to like it, and what the game was trying to do. Whereas I only felt lukewarm about Anders, now I can't get enough of him! I enjoyed my second playthrough a lot more, but my biggest disappointments with the game are still the lack of true depth and development of that romantic relationship, and Hawke's rather passive role in the face of Anders' obvious deception. Like seriously, Hawke has saved countless people, repelled a Qunari invasion, gotten involved in so many other people's messes, but he couldn't take a more active role when it was clear that Anders was heading for disaster? I feel both characters and their relationship were horribly let down by so-so writing and the lack of any meaningful choices.

Anyway, just wanted to share my love for Anders 😁 with fellow Anders lovers.

Admittedly, I'm incredibly new to the whole Hepler fiasco, but I think back on Anders' romance and it just makes me kind of sad. I wish he had been written by more people who cared about him, not someone who thought of his illness as a burden. I don't agree with the "love saves all" thing too much, I just think more could have been done, and I think there is a notable parallel between Anders and Solas' romance scenes, though I'm certainly not as eloquent as others in explaining, that I just kind of wanted to talk about.

The one that jumps out immediately is when Anders tells you, at the end, "in 10, 100 years, someone like me will love someone like you, and there will be no templars to tear them apart." (im not using exact quotes here since this is from memory, apologies if its not completely accurate.)

And then Solas hits you with "In another life..." in Crestwood, and Lavellan shoots back with "Why not this one?" And I wish I had been able to say something like that to Anders, something to cement that the relationship Hawke and Anders have is real, despite the templars, despite the chantry, it's a real, tangible love.

I'm not going to hate on Hepler, I know nothing about who she is as a person and I don't agree with threatening her or her family, especially not over a video game, but I am going to retain my right to have an opinion on the choices she made with Anders.

I feel like he was cathartic for her, like she wrote him as a vent character, to get her feelings out. I don't know if that's true, it's just how it comes off to me, and I wish he had been done better. I'm not a person who thinks "I liked awakening Anders better, he was funnier then!" because I'm a person who uses humor to cope with trauma too, I think between Awakening and DA2, he just realized he couldn't cope the same anymore, not with Justice.

I think his progression as a character is normal, even done well, it feels like an organic change with everything that happened between the end of the blight and his arrival to Kirkwall.

I love Anders, his voice was phenomenal, I'm not a fan of angst but the broody mf really won me over. he sulks and agonizes and pines and it's enthralling in a way, watching this man fall apart while clinging to anything for support. The support is Hawke, his one bright light in Kirkwall, the same as Karl was his one good thing in Kinloch hold. He's never had a support system, he's only ever had one thing to cling to in order to keep himself afloat.

So when he's given one, in the form of Isabela and Varric, even Fenris and Merrill in a way, he doesn't know how to utilize it, doesn't know how to rely on these new people in his life that could help him sort through his trauma.

It could have been a brilliantly uplifting story, like Blackwall's. Someone who didn't deserve mercy or redemption in the slightest, someone who was greedy and selfish, but still given a chance. Anders had a good cause, even if his actions were atrocious, I can't help but feel a little bitter that Anders never got his chance.

We could have gotten to see Anders come out of his shell, not with jokes or sarcasm, but with a rare vulnerability. We could have seen him opening up to Aveline about his discomfort around templars, relying on her as a new source of security, a way to see what a templar should be. (even though she's not actually a templar, she'd be the closest thing to one in their misfit gang)

Varric was close, helping keep his clinic safe, keeping templars off his trail, protecting him, and Anders appreciated it of course but he was never really able to utilize that friendship to improve. His only act was to try and give Varric the only thing he has from his mother, the pillow, but it's only when he's fully accepted death and knows he won't need it anymore that he does so.

I know DA2 was rushed and limited, but if you look at the progression of Fenris' romance arc and how he actually improves as a person, it feels a little stifling to watch Anders crumble in on himself with bitterness and vengeance, just wanting to die so the people he killed can be avenged.

Anders is not a burden, he shouldn't have been treated as such, he was a man stuck in a cycle of abuse from the Chantry that he was never able to escape from, figuratively and literally. If his romance is indeed a parallel of what it is to be in love with someone who is bipolar, then there could have been many more ways to handle his arc than just subverting the "love heals all" trope.

Hawke can be kind, compassionate, understanding, they can be witty and sarcastic, they can be harsh and blunt, but the common thread is Hawke's love for their family, for their friends, this random group of idiots wearing trauma like a coat.

I went off on a tangent, sorry, I want to circle back to the "in another life..." "Why not this one?" thing. It's a good moment, a strong one, the sort of moment where you would come back to it an hour later thinking "fuck why didn't I say that?" except we actually got to say it.

"In 10 years, 100 years, someone like me will love someone like you, and there will be no templars to tear them apart."

"Why not now?"

Hawke already loves Anders, Anders loves Hawke, he's speaking as if their lives are over, as if their romance is dead now, like he's resigned himself to being little more than a host for Justice. Maybe he is, we don't know, but I wish it had been more. Solas is a tragic romance, we don't even know if he's going to have a happy ending with Lavellan, it's a very real possibility that he doesn't.

Anders didn't get a happy ending at all, not really. In Inquisition you have the mention that Hawke will be meeting up with him again later, but he's still not doing particularly well, and with his ending dialogue at the end of 2, it fell flat.

Maybe i'm just insanely sensitive, and i'm a baby with angst so I don't like not having a happy ending, it's certainly possible, but if you look at the fervor of other romance options, of the people in their communities, it's hard not to feel sad thinking of Anders.

People hate him, violently, people want him dead with a passion, and the same can also be said of Solas, many people want to crack the egg, so to speak.

A bitter part of me can't help but think a part of it, even a small part, is just due to the writing. In the Gallows with Anders, we don't get a hug or a kiss or an emotional culmination of all the bullshit he just put us through. We get a speech about how mages will all be free and one day our children will be free to love whomever they please. It's a testament I'm sure to the control Justice has over him, perhaps it makes sense to most.

But the romantic in me wished that he could have utilized the support system he had in his friends to realize he is still more than Justice, that he is a man with a name we don't know who has a boatload of trauma to work through. Hawke can't fix him, but they can provide him the space and tools to work on fixing himself, and they could support him if only he'd feel safe enough to reach out.

I don't have the words to explain the parallels between his romance and loving someone with a mental illness, this whole thing has just been a ramble anyway and really, I said nothing constructive throughout it, but I think Anders deserved more, I think he deserved better. I hope he comes back in 4, I hope the community doesn't tear him to pieces, I hope the writers are able and willing to do him justice.

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Sorry for the insanely long ramble, holy shit I'm sure i'll come back to this in 3 hours and be completely embarrassed that I word vomited where other people can see it. I was reading a character analysis on Anders and it got me in my feelings so I wanted to talk, and none of my friends play DA so I was just stewing in my own head for a little while. I love this character, I wish he'd been better cared for, I hope Hepler is doing well and is happy with her life for sure, but I wish she'd been able to give Anders the love he needs and deserves.

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I'll post the link to the analysis I was reading in case anyone is interested or even got this far, it says a lot of the things I wanted to but much clearer and more coherent.

http://www.dumpeddrunkanddalish.com/2018/04/why-mages-are-feared-creation-of-anders.html

We could share the art! Disscuss the lore or just share the stories, why let it just die?

i just joined reddit and loved finding a community that loves my favorite mage

This page still alive? where are my Anders lovers *Waves*

I joined Reddit today i'm glad i found an Anders uh thingy........im sure its very clear i Love Anders LOL

Just looking for some sweet FHawke/Anders fanfics to read. Preferably not just smut. Anyone have any good ones?

This is my first day on Reddit im not sure what the heck im doing... but i Love Anders!!.... well i think my name sorta says it lol.... this is my first post so if its really odd... sorry lol....

[ Removed by reddit in response to a copyright notice. ]

What made you want to romance him? :*

Spoilers for DA2, naturally.

What happens to Anders in your post-game? Is he with Hawke? The Grey Wardens? Has he gone full abomination? Destitute in a cave?

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