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ON FENRIS AND HIS KIRKWALL FRIENDS…

So this panel from Dragon Age: Blue Wraith #2 has made many readers (including the ones who loved the issue) really sad.  Sad that the group didn’t stay together or in touch.  Sad that Fenris feels this way.

So I (Nunzio) thought I’d offer a few thoughts on that.

First, on the group going their seperate ways – that’s part of canon, no matter who Hawke romanced or what choices the players made.  Every companion – except Hawke’s love interest -  left his/her side.

And in Inquisition, Hawke left his/her love interest behind – and could easily have been left in the Fade.

That was our starting place for writing Fenris – one way or another, he was left behind.  No matter how valid the reasons, he was left behind.

Now, when I went to graduate school, I went to the same school as a couple of friends from my (undergraduate) college.  They were married, and almost adopted me – I’d go by every night, have dinner with them, gamed with them, watched TV with them.  I got along with my classmates, but was not integrated into that social circle because I had my small circle of three, as close as family.

But those friends were going to leave town a year before I graduated.  I knew I needed to socialize with my classmates a bit more, because I needed to have friends I could rely on once my best friends left.  So instead of going over to their place every night, I’d come by once or twice a week.  The other nights I hung out with my classmates, building those friendships.

And these two best friends got so mad at me.  We got into a fight, and I came over even less.  They were not far off from leaving town before we finally sorted it all out.  They felt abandoned, and didn’t talk to me about it – they got mad.  And I was hurt by their anger, and didn’t talk to them about it – I just got equally mad.

And when we finally cleared the air, we realized that we were all just so upset we’d be living in different states, and no longer together. And we let the fight build because on some level, sometimes it’s easier to be angry than it is to miss someone.

And that is where we decided to write Fenris, emotionally.  It is easier for him to be angry than it is to miss someone.

It was true for me and my friends, and we knew HOW to have friends before we became so close.  Fenris didn’t.  Anger is what sustained him for so long before them, and it was all too easy for him to slip back into it. It doesn’t mean his friends deserve his anger, and it doesn’t make him terrible for feeling it.

But it’s what he feels right now. It’s his truth.

- ND