#dragon age nathaniel howe

[strawberry-halla]

one thing that i’m so normal about is the awakening companions.

anders has always been iconic but he’s so playful! just some guy passionate about mages rights but also the resident funny man! his banter with nathaniel and oghren just scream younger brother energy. his shameless flirting is also just hilarious. the banter he has with justice is also so insanely good. like you can tell the beginnings of their eventual merge is slowly building. i especially love the banter where justice questions why anders doesn’t try to help the mages more and anders just brushes him off like ‘nah i’m good.’ then da2 happens. surely nothing will go wrong :)

nathaniel’s evolution is also so interesting. he doesn’t know the reality of what happened to his father, he just knows the warden killed him for ‘getting too caught up in politics.’ but then he learns from his sister and those around him that his father was truly evil. rendon wanted power and nothing else. he was a terrible man even during nate’s childhood but nathaniel still looked up to him because rendon was his father. but then nate turns around and apologizes to the warden and realizes that he was unfair to them. it’s almost mirroring anora and loghain in a way? at least i feel like it does.

oghren was also just a super nice but strange come back, because he’s a pretty dated companion in terms of appropriate dialogue and manner. i like him well enough but he’s no alistair or morrigan (for me a least). it’s cool how you can see his turmoil but he tries to hide it because he doesn’t understand himself and his feelings sometimes. he’s not a super tragic character, but he went through a lot in such a short time even before you meet him in orzammar. i love convincing him to be a good dad. because even though oghren may not be the best person, he wants to try. and i think that’s enough for him.

i think a lot of people mischaracterize velanna as the ‘blinded by hatred’ dalish elf narrative. the dalish are people who have lost much and some make peace with it and do what they can, but it’s nice to see the ones that fight back against the past. velanna learns from her mistakes, her hatred for humans is valid but she learns that it costed her everything, and she can stand up for herself and do what’s right to mend the wounds that came from those mistakes. i am super sad they never brought her back. she’s very similar to morrigan in a way, and i think she wasn’t given a fair shake by the fandom and devs alike. there’s so much you can miss about her if you just don’t bring her along or explore more dialogue options.

sigrun is also super interesting in the sense that she’s such a young soul. she’s quirky and loves shiny things and mundane gifts that she never got to experience as a casteless dwarf. it’s super sad to me at least that she is so eager to accept her death. it’s not like she’s trying to actively get herself killed, but she tells the warden that she has her duty to the legion of the dead first because she owed them everything. i know the warden can try to convince her to stick around, but sigrun still chooses to die an early death to the darkspawn because of her allegiance to the legion. i just wish she could’ve lived a longer life with the grey wardens and made a new family from them.

justice’s descent into the worldly lives of mankind is….really scary, from what happens in da2. first you meet him in the fade and he’s content to just help the people of the blackmarsh and then go on his way. but then he gets trapped in the real world in another man’s body, and from what we know from spirits in inquisition, it’s almost like justice is already too far gone just from being brought into the world. even though cole, who in the same vain, chose to come to thedas, it feels like the spirit of compassion was sticking to its nature. justice talks about all the worldly things he starts wanting. when you meet kristoff’s wife, aura, justice admits that he wished to experience love and he was afraid of that wish, asking the warden if wanting such a thing was bad for him. and it is! justice turns to vengeance in da2 because he gets so obsessed into wanting to ‘right the wrongs’ and ‘experience worldly things’. and i know it’s all up in the air with justice, but it’s just crazy you can even see the beginnings of justice’s corruption before he even merges with anders. it’s almost if justice was doomed as soon as he stopped to help the humans trapped in blackmarsh.

but yeah i’m almost done with awakening and it’s just so….amazing… i’m so late to the party but yeah awakening my beloved!!!

[kanis-things]

vigil's keep gang 💀💅✨

[nikiferous]

yay awakening. yay pride

[adactaaries]

It wasn’t going well, yes, Anders?

[eleni-anz]

Ser Pounce-a-lot appreciation post

Bonus:

[snuffysbox]

if you're a Nathaniel Howe lover like me, you probably also subscribe to the belief that he and Cousland definitely hung out as kids (even if only during summers and whatnot)

I firmly stand by the fact that they were besties/worsties when they were babies and then grew apart, only to reunite and sort out their differences later during their time at Vigil's Keep.

[ayesopod]

happy pride month

[pillow-boi]

You again

[minidoodles97]

!! DATV SPOILERS !!

Dragon Age Awakening crew if they were in Veilguard. My own personal headcanon is that the team gets together one last time to defend Denerim during the sixth blight. I'd like to think that they end up being the few Wardens that stay behind in Ferelden due to their loyalty to the HoF.

(I could go on and on about what I think would happen in this situation, and at this point I should just write the DLC lol)

[constantinnen]

the howes, the whys, the whos and the whats.

[ai-no-kokuhaku]

REALLY BELATED ANDERS WEEK BUT AWAKENING THEMED DRAWING.... i know there's a banter with anders with someone about the funny lightning hands

[coffenya]

[inkzncowfolk]

oh nathaniel howe…. i hate ur dad so much but ur emo swag compels me

[wyllzel]

"That's one way to put it." ↳ FINDING NATHANIEL

[lostiel]

[purpleenjoyer]

I drew this last month and never posted it because it was a silly doodle, but given that I'm art blocked as fuck i'm posting it now to remind myself I used to know how to draw /j.