All That Remains + things that cannot be unsaid
This is exactly how I see Leandra too. Thereās an element in there, of course she doesnāt HATE her children, but thereās such an incredible amount of resentment between her and her eldest child that to write it off as simply grieving is a misnomer, I think.Ā
I think itās fairly clear that she resents Hawke for a number of reasons: knowing Malcolm better than she does (implied at the end of Legacy), failing to save him/acting as the head of the family despite the fact that sheās clearly not stepping into the role or even trying, the dead twin, etc. Moreover, I think itās fairly obvious that Leandra and Malcolm were very much what would have happened if Romeo and Juliet hadnāt had a typically tragic ending: they were young, impulsive, and in ālove,ā but once youāve given up everything, what does that really leave you with? A partner you barely know, who youāve put all your trust into despite that, and despite however much Leandra says she puts love above all-else, we see even in her conversations with Gamlen that this very much isnāt necessarily the case, and she carries a lot of her bitterness with her. She wasnāt ready for what running away really meant, she was young enough to have very likely acted impulsively on a romantic ideal that didnāt pan out in any way sheād actually hoped.
Itās a really dysfunctional, bittersweet relationship, and I canāt at all blame Hawke for thinking this. Hawkeās already got a guilt complex a mile wide, no matter how you really play it; thereās a reason they take on all this responsibility that isnāt even necessarily theirs. With Malcolm, itās all responsibility, and honor, and doing the right thing no matter how hard it is, and with Leandra, itās all guilt, residual affects of growing jaded with where unchecked romance really leads.
She can be a caring figure, certainly, when she feels like it, but finding her to be a truly supportive one it a little harder for me, when she relies on her eldest child the way her younger children do. Thereās such a lack of responsibility on Leandraās part: something must always be someoneās fault, because surely SURELY there must still be some good left to come out of a foolish decision she made as a teenager. Their status in Kirkwall is Gamlenās fault (which is true enough, but he DOES have a point in that sheās been away from home for 25 years; anything he does to drag the āfamily nameā into poverty and squalor is his own doing, and while itās hard to support his methods, heās at least grown up enough to recognize the reality of his situation. Is Leandraās anger at her brother entirely unjustified? No, but at the same time, she continually fails to recognize that she gave up her status, her family name, and her inheritances, and this attitude doesnāt come out of nowhere, suddenly rekindled after two decades of āhiatus.ā Itās a failure to take responsibility.Ā
TL;DR, I seriously appreciate just how incredibly fucked up and dysfunctional Hawke family dynamics really are. Itās a family full of love that Hawke would and continually does put their life on the line for, but itās not a healthy one. Itās not a supportive one. And I find it really telling that despite Malcolmās questionable allegiances as an apostate, itās THIS name that Hawke chooses to symbolize and hang onto, despite the fact that Leandra is clearly very ready to step back into the role of a noble that sheād āleft behind.ā Is it any surprise that Hawke seems so used to the responsibility, so easily stepping into the role as head of household when their parents are so embittered, disillusioned, and in Malcolmās case, paranoid and uncommunicative?
Hawkeās so used to being the parent, being the one to take up responsibility that of course itās going to kill them when they fail; theyāve been conditioned to impossible responsibility and the constant looming threat of guilt.
This depth makes my heart hurt.
