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30 Days of DA: OTP
Day Twelve: One True Pairing
The answer, of course, is Alistair/Warden, which I can't imagine comes as much of a surprise if you know me, or if you've been following along with this meme. This pairing hits all my buttons for so many reasons, whether it ends well or tragically -- maybe especially if it ends tragically. There is something very appealing to me about a "two of us against the world" romance, a Lovers in a Dangerous Time romance, a finding love among the ruins romance. As well, one of my favorite relationship tropes -- in either romance or friendship, and Alistair/Warden is both in my mind -- is separation and reunion, and depending on how their story plays out, this pairing can have either or both of those, in spades. It should not be any kind of surprise that The Prodigal was one of my first DA stories, or that Duty pretty much wrote itself not long after.
In a way, the most interesting thing to me about this question isn't how I answered it, but the fact that I have an answer at all. I very often have a favorite pairing in a story; I can get just as invested in 'ships as I do in individual characters. But rarely does my love for that pairing bring it to the level of an OTP. When I find a relationship that I become so invested in that I will describe it as an OTP, the chances of my writing fic about that pairing go up a hundredfold: Paine/Nooj, Ashe/Balthier, Marcus/Ivanova. When I wrote my big meta about what sources I become fannish about and why last year, I speculated that discovering an OTP is a big part of the reason, and that has certainly been the case with Dragon Age.
Complete list of questions
The answer, of course, is Alistair/Warden, which I can't imagine comes as much of a surprise if you know me, or if you've been following along with this meme. This pairing hits all my buttons for so many reasons, whether it ends well or tragically -- maybe especially if it ends tragically. There is something very appealing to me about a "two of us against the world" romance, a Lovers in a Dangerous Time romance, a finding love among the ruins romance. As well, one of my favorite relationship tropes -- in either romance or friendship, and Alistair/Warden is both in my mind -- is separation and reunion, and depending on how their story plays out, this pairing can have either or both of those, in spades. It should not be any kind of surprise that The Prodigal was one of my first DA stories, or that Duty pretty much wrote itself not long after.
In a way, the most interesting thing to me about this question isn't how I answered it, but the fact that I have an answer at all. I very often have a favorite pairing in a story; I can get just as invested in 'ships as I do in individual characters. But rarely does my love for that pairing bring it to the level of an OTP. When I find a relationship that I become so invested in that I will describe it as an OTP, the chances of my writing fic about that pairing go up a hundredfold: Paine/Nooj, Ashe/Balthier, Marcus/Ivanova. When I wrote my big meta about what sources I become fannish about and why last year, I speculated that discovering an OTP is a big part of the reason, and that has certainly been the case with Dragon Age.
Complete list of questions
On Wardens in an OTP
(Not that m!Cousland/Anora, m!Warden/Morrigan, m!Warden/Leliana, or m!Warden/Zevran (etc.) aren't worthy of good fic but something about those feel less worthy of OTPdom for reasons I just cannot put my finger on.)
Re: On Wardens in an OTP
I have enjoyed my m!Surana game well enough, but I don't know that I would have fallen nearly as hard for the game as I did if he had been my first Warden. I am more interested in playing Witch Hunt with him, though, now that he went through with the DR (*not* the direction I was expecting him to take!).
Re: On Wardens in an OTP
Heh! Interesting how role playing defies logical predictions. :) This is why I really prefer strong role playing to (obviously) metagaming or to just doing what feels good at the moment.
True that Morrigan is more plot relevant for a male warden although her story is played simpler and straighter: romance her or not and, at the end, do the ritual or not. Admittedly, if you don't know what's coming and your warden is in a romance with her, the ritual is a quite the surprise mindfuck. Meanwhile, all of the warden's core decisions regarding Alistair-as-protagonist presumably feel less personal (?) if not in a romance with him??
Curious as to what your m!Surana's Landsmeet outcome was.
Re: On Wardens in an OTP
Yeah, I'd say that was the case. My Alim Surana and Alistair were good friends, but with just a little more distance than in either of my Warden romances.
Alim accepted Loghain's honorable surrender and then couldn't bring himself to let Alistair take his head. So he crowned Anora (despite having told her before that he was supporting Alistair), and reluctantly let Alistair walk away.
Once I've finished Alim's game (just reached the gates of Denerim), I'll write his story up; he changed in some interesting ways from my initial concept of him, both through the experience of being a Warden and through his relationships with Leliana and Zevran.
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