FEAR AND LOTHERING

FEAR AND LOTHERING IN LAS THEDAS // A Dragon Age Blog

Points in the Dragon Age Franchise Where I've Wept Abjectly

I tend to actually not really cry at pretty much any media (except the fucking Yandu funeral scene/Rocket redemption in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, I don't even follow the MCU but GOD DAMMIT EVERYONE LOVED HIM EVEN THOUGH HE STOLE BATTERIES THAT DIDN'T BELONG TO HIM but anyway I digress), so the fact that Dragon Age has made me abjectly weep in cathartic sorrow (and, at times, more than once at the same fucking scene) is nothing short of a miracle.

Below is a comprehensive list of every actual fucking time I cried during Dragon Age:

  • He needs to Remember. You, too.
  • During Cole's companion quest where he finds out the "real" Cole was left for dead by a templar.... you get to choose how Cole deals with it. Either you make everyone forget, or you make them remember. The first one makes Cole more spirit-like, the second makes him more human.

    So you choose the second one because you're Andey, the author of this blog and perennial PTSD-haver, and remembering things is A) a treasure that must be held and cherished, 2) the only way anyone's ever gonna get over anything or learn a lesson, and you are NOT letting this Templar guy off the hook..... and Varric, who's been helping Cole be more human this whole time, gently tells him that in order to get better, the Templar needs to remember what he did.... but Cole does, too. If Cole just wipes the memory from his brain he won't grow. And it hurts, you know. Someone fucking KILLED you. But... in order to get better, you gotta synthesize the memory. Process it and shit. Forgetting doesn't help. And every time Varric drops that line... "No. He needs to remember. You do, too." I break down into a million zillion insane tears because holy shit shit shit why does a video game character understand this more than human adults. Anyway. This is my favorite Cole moment and prooooobably my favorite Varric moment besides the "history is just stories, might as well be mine" quote. You're not gonna get better if you forget. Life hurts. It hurts a fucking lot. But you, and me, and Cole, we can get better.

  • The song in the credits of Dragon Age II
  • That Florence and the Machine banger?!?!? About Varric and Isabela?!? Friendos I fucking BROKE DOWN. I started the final DA2 battle at like 9pm in a time in my life when I was Really Going Through Some Shit and didn't realize how long that DA2 chapter was gonna be, so by the time I actually finished the game the sun was rising and the Florence song was playing and I was just fucking sobbing, I was a fucking mess. What a beautiful goddamn world full of broken people who are just trying to love each other. I am going to fucking run away to an apple orchard with Fenris and raise unicorns or something. oh my god. Anyway, this song cemented my love for DA2 as a whole and especially for Varric and Isabela as like, canonical icons.

  • Save the Fucking World, if Pressed
  • Inquisitor: What can a single Grey Warden do alone, anyway?
    Blackwall: Save the fucking world, if pressed.

    God that line gets me EVERY FUCKING TIME. I'm cheating a bit because this is a single stoic saluting tear situation instead of an abject weeping, but FUCK ME I love that line so much. The way he delivers it just harkens back to Origins and all the shit me and Alistair and Morrigan had to go through to save the fucking world (if pressed). Hits a LOT harder if you've been on the Dragon Age wagon for like 10 years ig.

  • The way Alistair says "Always" to you when you tell him you love him before The Final Battle in Origins
  • Another cheat but since I mentioned Blackwall: The way Alistair responds to your final I Love You in Origins before you face the archdemon is just soooo perfect. The sadness on his face, the way it's the first time he says I Love You back, the way he adds that "Always" because one of you might die (like, PRACTIALLY, especially if you don't undergo Morrigan's ritual)... it just brings me to the brink of tears every time. But not actual tears! Somehow, those are reserved for "Cole learns about human feelings" or "Leandra says nice things about you, her son".