the way cole makes varric conflicted is so delicious i think. most of the characters are uncomfortable around him because they're genuinely terrified of demons and the fade and magic in general but varric is a completely different case. the thing is, he doesn't see cole as a demon at all because he doesn't want to.

he acts like he doesn't care about this stuff. that's a little weird kiddo around here and he wants to befriend him. teach him something even. why not. that's a little guy who's a little too good with knives and can't pick up a single social clue at the same time.

but there it is. the "he could have been a person" line if cole is made more spirit. varric is so upset about it because it's not like he saw cole as, well, a spirit who got a little too human. for varric, he was a human first, a weird kid second. the spirit part didn't even come into consideration because. well. it would make him question things. you know where it goes.

every time he starts bitching about anders he brings up justice. justice drove him mad. justice took over him. justice this, justice that. justice is a scapegoat because the thought that someone varric was friends with was actually willing to blow up the chantry and it wasn't just some evil demon's wish is a very unsettling one. varric's friends may be crazy but they're cool and make no irreversible life decisions of that extent, don't they? blondie turned out this way because he let a demon possess him and make him do terrible things. completely out of the blue.

it's either varric's ex-friend has never been driven crazy by some inherently evil entity and there was a whole other person around him all along and that anger he used to mock was coming from the same place as compassion's urge to become a killer or that little weird but kind kid he started to care about has never been and will never be a real kid. he can't have both. a bitter pill to swallow for someone who has never picked a side in his life

Anders and Hawke having dinner, Anders holds up a pastry.

Anders: Aura used to love these.

Hawke: Who’s Aura?

Anders: My wife.

Hawke: Your…? You were married?

Anders: No. Justice. Well, not Justice. Kristoff. Aura was Kristoff’s wife.

Hawke: Who is Kristoff?

Anders: *takes a slow, deep breath as he remembers his Justice’s their brief time as a reanimated corpse* Actually, let’s just stop talking.

NOT THE TURDUCKEN

armor changes

Keep practicing💪

Justice, Fenris, & Lyrium

So in DAO Awakening, we see that Justice is absolutely entranced by even minuscule amounts of lyrium.

If given a lyrium ring by the Warden-Commander, he’s over the moon about it, speaking in near-rapturous terms (all emphasis mine).

You can really sense the excitement, maybe even desperation, in the way he repeats his plea - “Am I allowed to keep this?  Is it to be mine?”  It’s a touching moment, where the Warden teaches him the rituals of friendship and Justice begins to open up to human connection.

If you wait long enough without giving it to him, Justice will eventually ask for some lyrium - not to consume, but simply to hold and cherish.  (If I recall correctly, this is also the only instance in DAO where a companion explicitly asks for a specific gift in advance).  

When giving him the lyrium ring, if the Warden says, “I hope it’s useful,” Justice replies:

Likewise, when approaching a lyrium container in Kal’Hirol, he says:

We never ultimately find out what happened to the lyrium ring.  Maybe Anders took it with them when he and Justice merged, although they are never seen wearing it.  Then again, Anders isn’t wearing his signature gay earring from Awakening either, so maybe they sold or donated all the jewelry at some point.  After all, merely getting into Kirkwall in the first place costs a lot in bribe money.

Getting back to my main point, we’ve learned that lyrium is basically spirit catnip and that Justice is totally enraptured by even a piece small enough to be fitted as the gemstone on a ring.  

Then over a year or so after arriving in Kirkwall, this…

We’re talking about a guy with a veritable fortune in lyrium embedded in his skin - not a few specks, but wide veins of lyrium criss-crossing his body from head to toe - just radiating that pure Fade energy.  

Does Justice hear all that lyrium singing to him?  And by extension, does Anders?  Do they hear him coming from miles away, what with the chorus such a large trove must be generating?  If that little ring has him enraptured and waxing poetic, what sort of effect might this web of lyrium tattoos have? 

I am so disappointed that this was never addressed.

Sorting through my Justice-Anders merger headcanons and other assorted observations.

Keep reading

With regard to your last point, Justice-Anders does explicitly say he can sense magic.

If you want to play the troll, take a mage Hawke into Anders’s clinic during Tranquility (Act 1) and assert “Mages must be contained.” This is the argument that follows (emphasis mine):

You get a radically different response with a non-mage (rogue or warrior) Hawke — “And who are you to decide that how the Maker created me isn’t ‘normal.’”

I don’t recall any other instances of a mage clocking another mage on sight, without witnessing them casting spells or anything. For example, a mage Hawke is still surprised to learn that Merrill is a mage, and other characters react with surprise upon learning that Hawke is a mage (whether revealed by performing magic or by simply admitting to it).

Sorting through my Justice-Anders merger headcanons and other assorted observations.

Keep reading

"you are the one bright light in kirkwall" says the guy who, at great risk to his own safety and freedom (and probably health), runs an illegal free clinic for the poor and refugees which people are literally told to find by "looking for the lit lantern" I'm so ill. he doesn't even see his own light.

''not even the greatest scholar could tell you where i end and he begins''

inspired by this post in specific:

Wynne being named after Langwynne in Bannorn and Anders from the Anderfells has me emotional in a certain sort of way because these mages are taken away so young, given a name of a place they can never remember, a home they never had and its almost cruel mocking that their identity is taken from them and then given back as their most identifiable feature.

Anders Dragon Age they can NEVER make me hate you

crucial to all my fun posts abt da2 mages sharing magical knowledge is the awareness that fenris is hovering somewhere at the edge of these conversations visibly wrestling with bitter inner conflict as to whether he should correct someone on a minor detail of magical theory. because on the one hand he knows he’s right and anders and merrill are wrong in a provable way but on the other hand if he said something he’d have to take part in this conversation, a fate worse than death

Also dug out this older one and I found out I haven’t posted it yet so here you go.

it’s not about being a warden, it’s about being family.

(thematic companion to a heavy leaf to turn)