#tl;dr game flawed. beard guy neat though. yay

[fadedapparition]

blackwall and class: relevant excerpts

most of my posts about him in some way return to his perspective on the political domination of the peasantry by the aristocracy, the use of the impoverished and desperate as cannon fodder in conflicts between aristocrats, etc., but because so much of this is contained in his banters or location barks, encountering it in-game is conditional on party composition and location. i decided to put it all in one place and make an effort to explain my reading of his convictions.

the first signs of blackwall's general sentiments/descriptive beliefs appear pretty early, often packaged alongside his personal, overt hostility towards the nobility. this banter with sera can trigger as soon as you've recruited both:

Sera: The kitchen wouldn't give me cakes because Josie, oh so prim, was sending them to allies. Blackwall: Why cakes when you can give them a two-fingered salute and a box full of dog shit. Sera: (Laughs.) Blackwall: You know I hate the aristocracy as much as you do. I hate that they sit in palaces, sipping wine while people starve outside their gates. I hate that good soldiers die in senseless wars over who gets the fancy chair.

he then describes the inquisition's formation of alliances with the aristocracy as something of a necessary evil, before reiterating:

Blackwall: They're dogs, all of them, and even the primped and powered ones have teeth.

the general impression here is that while he sees the ruling elite as brutal and dangerous, bickering amongst themselves and starting massive wars that kill thousands of lowborn innocents and conscripts alike, he's also disgusted by them. nobles, per blackwall, are vain, "primped and powdered," superficial, weak — unlike him, a salt-of-the-earth workingman who chops wood, sleeps in the barn, knows real hunger, lives by the sweat of his own brow, et cetera et cetera. his dim assessment of the personal characteristics of the nobility, especially when compared to working people he relates to, will recur in his first impressions of dorian and vivienne.

another sera banter that showcases these recurring juxtapositions between disgust and fear or frivolity and brutality:

Blackwall: You were in Denerim during the Blight, Sera? Did you see many Grey Wardens? Sera: Not a one. Not in person. They were killed or something? Blackwall: Or something. Betrayed while defending a nation. Sera: Right, well, I suppose there’s worse, yeah? Blackwall: Is there? Sera: Well, yeah? Could have died defending some poncy fool’s hat(...) Blackwall: Point made. Could have been worse.

he sees inter-aristocratic conflicts as too trivial to justify the mass death they demand from the lowborn, and he sees the nobility themselves as personally undeserving of the power to spend lives that aren't theirs the way they spend currency (also not "theirs"). all that changes is who gets the “fancy chair” or silly hat, symbols of individual political influence, while the common people live in the same state of indignity as always, provided they survive at all.

dorian is in fact part of the aristocracy of a state reliant on chattel slavery, so blackwall's assessment of him as a class enemy is more reasonable. his assumptions about vivienne's class position are much less accurate. because she has expensive taste/social ties to the nobility/the general demeanor of a lady, blackwall assumes that she, like dorian, is part of the ruling elite. the reality is that all political influence vivienne might have is dependent on her usefulness to the actual elite, the orlesian monarch and her court. pre-game, she occupies the same position blackwall used to: a lowborn marcher the aristocracy wields as a weapon but intends to discard at the first inconvenience. both of these people have been targeted for assassination by different aristocrats.

but blackwall doesn't know that. he assumes dorian and vivienne are nobly-born, which means he sees them as both highly dangerous (dogs with teeth, monsters) and undeserving of respect (primped and pampered, clad in silk and velvet, sipping wine, talking, judging). notice the repetition in vocabulary; vivienne's accurately apprehending how he sees her.

Blackwall: You must miss the comforts of your mansions, traveling with us as you do. Vivienne: I miss them. I do not require them. Vivienne: But please, continue to imagine me a pampered lady, if it makes you feel superior.

and again, using imagery with a class connotation to communicate his disrespect:

Blackwall: Would you like a silk handkerchief to wipe the mud off your greaves, Lady Vivienne?

dorian receives the same treatment, and unlike with vivienne, blackwall doesn't even make a cursory effort to begin from a position of civility (i personally believe this is gendered, but i won't get into that here when blackwall's weird complexes around women could fill their own post):

Dorian: A Grey Warden Recruiter. That sounds interesting. Blackwall: It's not easy finding people willing to shoulder such a terrible responsibility. Dorian: Here I thought you poked around prisons, hunting for murderers desperate to escape the noose. Blackwall: That's what you think of the Wardens? Dorian: It's not such a terrible thing. Some of my best friends are murderers. Blackwall: They are men and women, atoning for what they've done by giving of themselves. They fight for people like you. People in silks and velvets. Who talk... and judge. Dorian: Who's judging now? Blackwall: I know your kind.

this is the same distinction he always draws between people who do the fighting (people like him or sera) and people who force them to fight (the class enemies of people like him). he and his men are projected onto the lowborn soldiery, while those who hired them to kill callier, destroying their consciences and ruining their lives, are projected onto everyone born with a title. the instinctive sympathy for people in desperate economic straits applies to everyone, from miners to bandits…

Blackwall: Lots of bandits in these parts. Can’t blame them, I suppose. It’s hard making a living these days.

Blackwall: Can you imagine coming out here for a mining contract? Blackwall: You know, one thing about abandoned mines? The tunnels deteriorate. Then collapse. And if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time...

...while the antipathy for the aristocracy, who send these people to do their "dirty work," is similarly expansive.

Blackwall: You enjoy mocking my involvement with the Inquisition. What about yours? Blackwall: People like you, nobles, you send men to do your dirty work, your killing. Blackwall: And here you are getting your hands dirty. Curious. Vivienne: There is nothing curious about it. Vivienne: So much is at stake. Why would I leave any of it to someone else?

his separation of society into "my kind" and "your kind" is consistent throughout.

Dorian: What do you know of "my kind", Blackwall? Blackwall: I know that what comes out of your mouth is the same drivel that comes out of theirs.

Dorian: I've often wondered what the average man thinks about mage freedom. Blackwall: If you really cared, you could ask. Blackwall: Oh, but wait. That would involve talking to a dirty commoner like me. Dorian: True. So much for that.

and the apparent simplicity of his analysis doesn't go unnoticed. i like this next one because it reminds me of some common real-life criticisms.

Blackwall: It's odd how you've won over so many at Skyhold, Dorian. Dorian: You're surprised they haven't all dismissed me as "the charming but ultimately wicked magister"? Blackwall: Never. You're more the "spoiled prince," and I question your reasons for being here. Dorian: A prince? I've moved up in the world. My reasons for being here are the same as yours, thank you. Blackwall: I find that difficult to believe. Dorian: Perhaps when you get past the simple heuristics that define your world, we'll get along.

a common criticism of analyses that foreground class is that they easily become reductive, which is exactly what dorian's saying here. vivienne, likewise, pooh-poohs blackwall's vulgar populism:

Blackwall: Why do you care so little for those in need? Vivienne: You presume to know my feelings? Blackwall: It's obvious. Vivienne: I merely believe the world's problems are more complex than you imagine. Vivienne: I could travel the whole world, righting wrongs as you do, and still accomplish nothing in the end. Blackwall: Changing lives is hardly "nothing." Vivienne: You are naive. And arrogant, if you think passing through a life has the power to change it.

setting aside vivienne's pessimism about the possibility of economic transformation here, i don't actually know that blackwall's expressed thinking is that simplistic, broadly. one of the benefits of foregrounding class is that it both allows you to relate to and makes you cognizant of your shared interests with people who might look or live very differently. this is also the case with blackwall; in locations you visit bearing some connection to elves, he often says something appreciative, sympathetic, or mournful.

like in the emerald graves:

Blackwall: Impressive. Wish I could see it as it was.

Blackwall: It's sad to see Corypheus corrupting a place like this.

or in the exalted plains, where he offers a light critique of orlesian colonialism:

Blackwall: There’s… not much here, is there? Perhaps that’s why it was given to the elves. Says a lot about the ones doing the giving.

or in the temple of mythal, where he expresses admiration on arrival. his only objection to completing the rituals properly is that the longer you take to progress through the location, the more of your soldiers ("my kind," his class, people he relates to) will die holding their positions.

he shows similar sympathy to dwarven and kossith inquisitors. while none of this commentary is particularly complex or in-depth, it stands in contrast to the more disrespectful posture towards thedan minorities from other human characters. i think he’s able to recognize super-exploitation because the people harming non-human populations are often the same people harming the human peasantry, the group with which he most closely identifies. his class consciousness seems pretty inchoate, but it's there.

i like all of this. i think referencing the fact that the prevailing systems of the setting kill thousands for the benefit of an absurdly privileged few betters the game, and this character is one of just a couple who can even describe that. what bums me out a bit is every character, including this one, is at best only permitted to describe it.

the reason for that, i assume, is that the main narrative (imo the least compelling, most inexpertly-written piece of the game) demands some kind of alliance with various elements of the aristocracy. in order for the player character and their team to be plausibly presented as entirely "good guys," the only characters with anything resembling a class critique can't go too far — can't, as sera puts it, get "weird and serious." no one can fully advocate for transformation. economic injustice is something characters can bear witness to and decry before bemoaning their powerlessness in the face of it and quickly moving on.

Cole: A sack on the side of the road, struggling. The boy runs from it, crying. Blackwall: Fine, so you're dangerous and insane. Cole: You would stop it if you could. That is enough.

not really. but that's as close as we get.