I Am Not a Pharaoh

🎨 Zine Artist: RedRune

Painting has been a life-long hobby for RedRune, and years later she's so happy to do it as a full-time job. She's an old-timer who discovered Dragon Age way back in 2011. Being part of DAA and celebrating her love for this franchise feels truly magical.

🎨 Zine Artist: Pineflower Art

Pineflower Art's best friend got them into Dragon Age and the rabbit hole they've fallen into because of it has been one hell of a creative outburst! They've fallen in love with Thedas and are excited to explore its beauty.

We're finally here! Because of how lengthy these posts will be, I'm going to have to split them over multiple posts. The plan is to have this intro, posts focused on each game and its main responses, and then a further few posts dedicated to each game's responses on the optional opinion section along with a selection of the free-response text box answers. They'll all be tagged with '#census survey', and once they're all out, I'll link them all in the pinned post so they're easy to find :)

Here is a list of pretty interesting patterns and findings I got from the results before we dive into the answers themselves!

When it comes to the free-response section, Veilguard inspired far more writing than any other game, with the highest comment count, response rate, average word count, and total word count

Solas inspired the largest number of people to say something, with the highest raw comment count and highest response rate. Cullen, Loghain, Anders, and Oghren also all broke 200+ optional text responses.

Sigrun had the least text responses (though she was rated positively by 85.2% of respondents and negatively by virtually nobody), with all the Awakening companions getting between 80-100. The non-DLC character with the fewest responses was Inquisition Leliana

Josephine inspired relatively few and relatively short responses, but 94.7% of respondents rated her positively

Taash generated the most intense free-response engagement, with the most total words and average words per response

Anders was the character who inspired the least indifference - only 1% of respondents selected "I'm indifferent" for him

Cullen was the most polarising, with his ratings fairly evenly distributed. He also had the highest negative percentage, narrowly ahead of Oghren

Oghren had the highest percentage of "mixed/conflicted feelings"

Tallis inspired the most indifference, with 43.5% of respondents selecting "I'm indifferent" for her. The next highest result was Sebastian at 25.4%

The top five characters with the most "I love them" responses were Dorian (75.4%), Zevran, Morrigan, Merrill, and DA2 Varric. Dorian was the most overwhelmingly positively rated, with 94.2% positive answers, 0.8% negative, and 1.4% indifferent

Vivienne, Sera, Taash, Harding, and Lucanis all had very positive ratings as characters, but their free-response text boxes were generally criticism-heavy, with people citing issues with their writing and storylines

Opinions on Oghren don't differ by gender - men were slightly more likely to be mixed rather than negative, but otherwise percentages were broadly the same across the board

Opinions on Taash differ pretty clearly between cis and trans/nonbinary respondents. Trans and nonbinary results are almost identical, but cis people were broadly less positive on Taash. 6.4% of trans and 5.6% nonbinary respondents rated Taash negatively ("dislike" or "hate") compared to 16.8% of cis respondents. 38.5% of trans and 38.6% of nonbinary people specifically selected "I love them" for Taash, compared to only 22.8% of cis respondents.

Men were substantially more likely to love Anders - 41.2% of women loved him vs. 61.5% of men.

Women were substantially more likely to love Cullen - 28.9% of women vs. 13.1% of men - and men were substantially more likely to hate Cullen (10.1% of women vs. 25.3% of men).

Sera was loved by 52.6% of men vs. only 35.3% of women

Some other interesting patterns: Neve was more positively rated by nonbinary people and men than she was by women, and Iron Bull was much more positively rated by nonbinary people than by either men or women

People who like Solas are almost twice as likely than others to also like Blackwall

Anders and Fenris fans aren't generally opposing camps, though Fenris fans are more likely to dislike Anders than Anders fans are likely to dislike Fenris. Among people positive about Anders, 97.2% were also positive about Fenris.

Ace-spec respondents lean slightly more positively toward Lucanis, but the difference isn't statistically significant

Older respondents (for this purpose 36+) like Cullen more than younger respondents do, while they like Loghain significantly less. Older respondents are also notably more likely to like Lucanis, Emmrich, and Aveline. Velanna, for some reason, peaks significantly for 23-27 year olds

Bellara was rated positively by every single person who said Veilguard was their favourite game

People who romanced Alistair in Origins tended to romance Fenris in DA2 and Cullen in Inquisition. People who romanced Leliana in Origins heavily favoured Josephine in Inquisition. Merrill romancers strongly gravitate toward Josephine and Bellara. Isabela romancers overwhelmingly favour Neve in Veilguard. Zevran romancers favour Dorian and Lucanis. Blackwall romancers divide strongly between Emmrich and Davrin.

The most common favourite romance pipelines were Zevran > Fenris > Dorian > Lucanis and Zevran > Fenris > Dorian > Emmrich

The fandom is very consistently pro mage, with 97.8% siding with the mages in Origins, 95.6% in DA2, and 89.7% in Inquisition. Only 1 respondent out of the 760 who answered the question for all three games chose the Templar option in every game.

To back up the common complaint in the free-response boxes about Veilguard forcing a harmonious team with no ability to disagree with companions, Rook was dramatically more likely to get along with everyone. The percentage of people who said their protagonist genuinely got along with every companion was 28.9% for the Warden, 22.1% for Hawke, 28.3% for the Inquisitor, and 72.2% for Rook. The most common sources of friction: For the Warden, Oghren, then Wynne; for Hawke, Sebastian, then Aveline and Carver; for the Inquisitor, Vivienne and Cullen, then Sera and Solas; and for Rook, Lucanis and Taash, but at much lower rates than any previous game's conflicts.

Certain pairings of characters were very often loved by the same people; some examples were Aveline and Cassandra, Morrigan and Isabela, Velanna and Merrill, Isabela and Neve, Isabela and Sera, Zevran and Fenris, and Nathaniel and Carver.

Cullen fans were more likely than other players to dislike Velanna, Merrill, Sera, Vivienne, and Isabela.

Inquisition players who chose the mages usually allied with them, but players who chose the Templars usually conscripted them.

Tag list: @songofamazon, @soldiermom1973, @jellyeliart, @jadesabre301. @limastockholm, @nico--reinhold, @huntrixdyke, @championofdogs, @kirkwallsbane, @kolimachris, @aw-reginum, @illcarxd, @i-crave-boi-juice, @mint-chip-superiority, @softforalistair, @oxygenforthewicked, @mylosingdogs, @captainlavellan, @howdy-do-da-day, @tarasmom, @dreadknightcassandra, @kingmalowe, @whimsyswastry, @firstwardenevka, @dragon-age-sideblog, @thatrandomfeministgamer, @loquaciousquark, @danzadair. @azeroths-andrastian-simp, @cooncannibal, @nightswatchyaoi

How old are you?: 28-35 (48.3%), 23-27 (24.6%), 36-45 (18.4%), 18-22 (6.3%), 46-55 (1.9%), 13-17 (0.3%), 56+ (0.1%)

🎨 Zine Artist: LadyHedi

This is LadyHedi's first time ever being part of a project like this, so she's very excited! Dragon Age has been an inspiration to her like no other and she is forever grateful for it. She hopes her love shines through her art and does it justice!

🎨 Zine Artist: Keeley W

Keeley is also known as OokeyKukey (or just Kuke) on other platforms around the world wide web. This is her first time contributing to Dragon Age Annual, but she's super excited to be part of the project!

🎨 Zine Artist: ChevalierLogan

Logan is a storyboard artist working in the animation industry with a love for dramatic storylines and morally grey characters.

📝 Calendar Writer & Beta Reader: wishforhome

wishforhome has been playing Dragon Age games since they came out in 2009, but only joined the DA fandom with the release of Veilguard. When they're not writing or moderating events, you'll generally find them watching, talking, or thinking about hockey.

📝 Calendar Writer: Sinope

A Dragon Age fan for well over a decade, Sinope has been reading and writing fanfic since the early 90s. She loves found family, overthinks everything, and spends too much time playing with yeast and yarn (separately).

📝 Calendar Writer: Rosella

Rosella is a writer of fanfic by day and a chronic replayer of video games by night. When not pondering ancient elves, dwarven castes, and the Chant of Light, you can find them making soup and sourdough.

📝 Calendar Writer: juniper-and-dragonthorn

juniper-and-dragonthorn has been part of the Dragon Age fandom since the end of 2024 with the release of Veilguard, writing fic and participating in fan events. She loves this world so much and is so excited to be participating in DAA for the first time!

📝 Calendar Writer: mortonsspoon

Mo has been telling stories since she could talk and writing in the Dragon Age fandom for about three years. She's excited to be participating in DAA for the second year and looks forward to seeing all the amazing creations that will be a part of it!

📝 Calendar Writer: juniper-and-dragonthorn

juniper-and-dragonthorn has been part of the Dragon Age fandom since the end of 2024 with the release of Veilguard, writing fic and participating in fan events. She loves this world so much and is so excited to be participating in DAA for the first time!

📝 Calendar Writer & Beta Reader: Mick

Writer, editor, lore nerd. Hinterlands fan. Elfroot collector. Person with a normal number of hours invested in every Dragon Age game.

📝 Calendar Writer: Middy

Middy, aka midnight prelude, loves writing complex characters in Dragon Age, with her two favorites being Dorian and Anders. She's especially excited for the theme of this calendar because of how beautiful so many Dragon Age settings are!

📝 Calendar Writer: Middy

Middy, aka midnight prelude, loves writing complex characters in Dragon Age, with her two favorites being Dorian and Anders. She's especially excited for the theme of this calendar because of how beautiful so many Dragon Age settings are!

📝 Calendar Writer & Beta Reader: Mick

Writer, editor, lore nerd. Hinterlands fan. Elfroot collector. Person with a normal number of hours invested in every Dragon Age game.