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Dragon Age: Thoughts on Hawke
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tklivory asked me to rebut a Dragon Age Confession, or other fanon/popular meta from Tumblr fandom. Not crossposting this one for what I expect are obvious reasons. ;)
I actually unfollowed and blocked all the confession blogs awhile ago, ostensibly because they weren't consistently tagging for DA:I spoilers, but mostly because I was tired of seeing the same half-dozen arguments over and over, and it seemed like the confession blogs were often a catalyst. As a result, my enjoyment of Tumblr went up about one thousand percent; if fandom is getting you down and you haven't done the same, I highly recommend it. Anyway, I'm out of the loop and not sure what the hot confession topics are right now, although I could certainly make some guesses, and it wouldn't be good for my blood pressure to go looking. So instead, I'm going to talk about a common headcanon that I've come to really dislike, and that's the characterization of Hawke as an inappropriate, incompetent, bumbling fool who doesn't care about Kirkwall and who stumbled into a leadership position, rather than as a champion.
Not to say that Hawke is a conventional hero, of course. One of the things I like about Hawke is the ways in which they subvert the trope of the chosen one. Although it's suggested that Flemeth rescued Hawke from the darkspawn in part because she saw their potential to influence events in Kirkwall, it's still mostly a case of Hawke being in the right place at the right time. And it's certainly possible to play Hawke as incompetent, especially a purple Hawke. But purple Hawke is not the only true and correct characterization. It is, in fact, my least favorite characterization choice -- rather than being funny, purple Hawke strikes me as tactless, awkward, and often out-right mean. (In particular, I do not recommend rivalmancing Anders with a purple Hawke. I found the experience thoroughly unpleasant.) But in the three games I've finished so far, I always felt Hawke was trying their best to do the right thing, to help people, and to make Kirkwall a better place, although different Hawkes have different ideas about what those things might be. My red Hawke occasionally got exasperated with people's inability to solve their own problems, but she still stepped up and did what needed to be done. Hawke may not be a chosen one, but they're still a hero, and they should be recognized as such.
I've seen this fanon coming up more often since DA:I, mostly in people's incredulous reactions to Cassandra revealing that she had hoped to recruit Hawke to be the Inquisitor. To which I say: of course Cassandra thought the Champion would make a good Inquisitor, especially after hearing Varric's version of events. Whatever you think of their motives and methods, Hawke drove the Qunari out of Kirkwall and contained the violence after the destruction of the Chantry. They got results, and managed to earn the respect of both mages and templars in the process. No wonder, then, that Cassandra immediately thought of Hawke as a potential leader of the Inquisition. Now, whether or not Hawke would actually make a good Inquisitor probably depends a lot on the Hawke. But it's not at all unreasonable for Cassandra to have the thought.
Like much of the fanon and meta that irks me in DA fandom, my issue with treating bumbling fool Hawke as the one true Hawke comes back to people who don't consider the choices of other players to be valid. There are so many different ways to create the universe of these games, and to mold the characters, especially the player characters, that to nail it down into a one true fanon is impossible. And, in my mind, misses the point of the games entirely. Why play in such a mutable sandbox if you're just going to set everything in concrete?
tklivory asked me to rebut a Dragon Age Confession, or other fanon/popular meta from Tumblr fandom. Not crossposting this one for what I expect are obvious reasons. ;)I actually unfollowed and blocked all the confession blogs awhile ago, ostensibly because they weren't consistently tagging for DA:I spoilers, but mostly because I was tired of seeing the same half-dozen arguments over and over, and it seemed like the confession blogs were often a catalyst. As a result, my enjoyment of Tumblr went up about one thousand percent; if fandom is getting you down and you haven't done the same, I highly recommend it. Anyway, I'm out of the loop and not sure what the hot confession topics are right now, although I could certainly make some guesses, and it wouldn't be good for my blood pressure to go looking. So instead, I'm going to talk about a common headcanon that I've come to really dislike, and that's the characterization of Hawke as an inappropriate, incompetent, bumbling fool who doesn't care about Kirkwall and who stumbled into a leadership position, rather than as a champion.
Not to say that Hawke is a conventional hero, of course. One of the things I like about Hawke is the ways in which they subvert the trope of the chosen one. Although it's suggested that Flemeth rescued Hawke from the darkspawn in part because she saw their potential to influence events in Kirkwall, it's still mostly a case of Hawke being in the right place at the right time. And it's certainly possible to play Hawke as incompetent, especially a purple Hawke. But purple Hawke is not the only true and correct characterization. It is, in fact, my least favorite characterization choice -- rather than being funny, purple Hawke strikes me as tactless, awkward, and often out-right mean. (In particular, I do not recommend rivalmancing Anders with a purple Hawke. I found the experience thoroughly unpleasant.) But in the three games I've finished so far, I always felt Hawke was trying their best to do the right thing, to help people, and to make Kirkwall a better place, although different Hawkes have different ideas about what those things might be. My red Hawke occasionally got exasperated with people's inability to solve their own problems, but she still stepped up and did what needed to be done. Hawke may not be a chosen one, but they're still a hero, and they should be recognized as such.
I've seen this fanon coming up more often since DA:I, mostly in people's incredulous reactions to Cassandra revealing that she had hoped to recruit Hawke to be the Inquisitor. To which I say: of course Cassandra thought the Champion would make a good Inquisitor, especially after hearing Varric's version of events. Whatever you think of their motives and methods, Hawke drove the Qunari out of Kirkwall and contained the violence after the destruction of the Chantry. They got results, and managed to earn the respect of both mages and templars in the process. No wonder, then, that Cassandra immediately thought of Hawke as a potential leader of the Inquisition. Now, whether or not Hawke would actually make a good Inquisitor probably depends a lot on the Hawke. But it's not at all unreasonable for Cassandra to have the thought.
Like much of the fanon and meta that irks me in DA fandom, my issue with treating bumbling fool Hawke as the one true Hawke comes back to people who don't consider the choices of other players to be valid. There are so many different ways to create the universe of these games, and to mold the characters, especially the player characters, that to nail it down into a one true fanon is impossible. And, in my mind, misses the point of the games entirely. Why play in such a mutable sandbox if you're just going to set everything in concrete?
bless this post
Although, during those early blissful months, I had not yet realized that (1) purple Hawke was, by far, the most popular play-through choice for the game or (2) that a significant portion of fandom missed the whole point of DA2's deconstruction of fantasy and looked at the "unheroic" structure of the story (or their own personal dissatisfaction with how Hawke cannot not save the world and live happily ever after), and then decided 1+2=incompetent bumbling uncaring fool.
When I looked at many of the reviews and complaints about the game, a lot of gamers were pissed off that they were forced to play a "lame story" where "hawke cannot do anything to fix things." After all, for a segment of gamers, video games are (in their mind) supposed to provide an escape from dull reality that lets them be heroes who effect change in the game world.
So, given all of this, I see where this idea comes from but it is a misread** of what the game's story is trying to say -- and some of what the game's story is trying say, well, you covered it here. In short, Hawke got results by playing the middleman or the problem solver between a variety of warring factions in the city. Cassandra had good reason for wanting Hawke's aid.
(** Although I say misread of the story, in all fairness it is a genre mismatch: that audience wanted heroic fantasy and didn't receive it.)
...one true fanon is impossible. ... Why play in such a mutable sandbox if you're just going to set everything in concrete?
Agreed.
I often think the DA games are deceptive because they appeal to and reference popular culture at a very basic level, but they also require a reasonably high level of genre literacy and introspection to understand what they writers are doing. Although just about anyone can enjoy 50% of the jokes, based on what I have seen at large, I suspect a lot of the story and themes goes over the heads of a notable portion of players (note: players is a much larger group than fandom). And DAI dumbed down the story a good deal in response to player ire...
Overall, so much agreement with this post. ;)
One point of note though, I certainly agree that purple Hawke is recipe for a potentially unpleasant playthrough, I (plus quite a few other people) actually find it cathartic to detatched-play unpleasant!tactless!arse!Hawke rivalmances (they are all terrible w/purple Hawke) for reasons that are complex and have everything to do with putting up with clueless, tactless people who don't know what it means to check their privilege. This probably doesn't apply to you(??) but given the diversity among players, there are reasons you probably haven't considered for snark-playing purple!Hawke. Although this becomes a highly intentional & transformative hawke-is-a-privileged-idiot framing of the story rather than the kind of PT you are talking about, or the first 2 PTs I did, or the reaction dissatisfaction that heroic fantasy gamers were having. So, this is a valid *transformative* appropriation of the media, although I put this in small print because for every 1 person who does this, I suspect there are 10 who are doing what you are complaining about.
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