#anders headcanons

When Eliza's son was fairly young, I think they traveled quite a bit. Like any time she heard rumor of an apostate she'd show up and be like "not to bother you but can you offer up one ☝️ mage lesson I'll pay you". Eventually they started gathering up books too. Eliza is the eldest, and by this point Anders is like, 40. So Eliza's son is probably grown if not nearly grown. If anything, cousin is helping wrangle Tad from a pile of mud with everyone else lol.

Also YES I have it to where Anders showed up in his own home town almost entirely by accident. And since he and Hawke are plastered all over wanted posters, he gave his ACTUAL name instead of "Anders," so an alias that is not an alias. In the only place where people would know him by that name. :)

AND. His family thought he was dead. Because no matter how much they asked or what they wrote, the circle kept telling them there was no mage in Kinloch Hold by that name. So they thought they just killed him outright.

omg this is gunna be interesting!! love me some Anders!

Accidental Kiss Anders x GN Reader

Anders had a huge crush on you it was apparent for everyone to see.

He truly believed he wasn't deserving of you. but it wrecked his brain day and night. he needed to tell you because if he doesn't he feels like he's slowly going insane both around you and away from you

he can't focus when he's near you and hates being away from you so he needed to figure out a solution

it came down to the need to confess his feelings and deal with the aftermath accordingly

let's be honest he full-heartedly believes he will get rejected and perhaps he could move on after that...

or he could be crushed under the weight and no one will see him again

despite it all, you made plans to meet at a pretty forest area for a small picnic type hang out

somewhere away from all the stress, you both were under for the past few weeks. barely having time to yourself this sounded like a nice relaxing day.

Anders could not sit still for the life of him

Either he was tearing the grass, checking on Sir Pouncalot in a tree, or inspecting some random wild herb.

he barely sat next to you for more than 3 minutes before he found something else to worry about

watching him from the blanket you thought it was cute, I'm sure his little crush has not gone unnoticed by you.

you basically had to tackle him to make him sit by you for longer than 3 minutes.

and even then he wouldn't look at you

you finally spoke and asked "Anders your not you- something wrong?"

he didn't respond immediately

Anders felt like throwing up- he was so confident when plans were made and he knew he was acting too strangely. his heart was beating so fast that it made his palms sweaty.

you had to bring him out of his head so the bright Idea stuck you that you would get up close and blow on his neck to play a small trick and maybe he would lighten up.

he didn't sense your approach as you got closer. he decided it was now or never and he needed to say something then start his recovery process of getting over rejection

he turned quickly to answer your basically long-forgotten question.

only to crash into your lips on accident.

Anders immediately began apologizing profusely. only to be met with a small laugh from you

"not quite the way I intended to get you to look at me but hey, I'm not complaining," you said

when he didn't say anything you took up apologizing "sorry I know that I probably made it uncomfor-" "NO!" you were cut off by him "... I uh, I mean no no not uncomfortable" he gave a small laugh "I actually wanted to tell you how I feel or well you know!"

the look of hopefulness on his face was almost painful to your heart

you decide the best course of action would be to give him a small peck on the cheek and rest your body against his.

"so... is this a friendly cuddle orrr"

"it's a romantic cuddle Anders."

Anders is honestly so wrapped up in his work that he doesn’t even think about being a parent, especially when the two of you have been on the run since Kirkwall. When you aren’t feeling well he examines you and finds out that your pregnant and honestly you are elated at the idea. Anders however is hesitant. Your situation isn’t exactly the best for rearing children but your excitement over it wins him over. Most male figures in his life haven’t been too great so he’s honestly unsure how to even prepare to be a father but your reassurances help him. You tell him no one is ever fully prepared for a baby you just sort of figure it out as you go and he manages to relax. For a while.

His first reaction to his baby: so small, so fragile…

After the pregnancy: Anders defers a lot of the parenting duties to you as he is busy with his traveling clinic and helping his fellow mages but you don’t mind as it keeps you busy and you love your little bundle of joy. The baby works their way into his heart though, crawling around and trying to stand using the tables and chairs for support. He’s fascinated by the child and eventually starts wanting to be home more, watching them as they grow, interacting with them and coming around to helping you with things you need like sitting up with them at night and making food ect…

As the child grows: Anders is a very open and friendly father, willing to teach his child as well as take them with him to his clinic, letting them see the ins and outs of it and learn themselves how to help and read people.

He looks a lot like his father, except the coloring of his hair and eyes. Hence - despite being equal parts Anders and Fereldan - he looked enough of a foreigner to be nicknamed ‘the Anders’. 

That nose that we all love and cherish? His giant-ass forehead that’s only getting bigger as he slowly loses his hair? Very typical of the Anderfels people. It’s only when he opens his mouth do you realize that he’s full Fereldan in spirit.

If Anders had our same language, he definitely wouldn’t identify as cisgender. Man just oozes nonbinary.

When he was a young child, he was prone to allergies and minor sicknesses. He was born premature, and his compromised immune system gave him some trouble. It wasn’t until his teenage years did he finally stop getting the flu every four months. And with the Joining and Justice both, he now rarely gets ill.

He has innie nipples.

Sometimes, Anders laments his receding youth. He’s getting old enough that a trip and fall could sprain a limb. Grey is beginning to dot his temple and stubble. Before Justice, he took great care to look handsome. Nowadays, he’s lucky if he shaves once and a while. And he can’t help but regret his lost looks, on occasion.

He cannot cook for the life of him. Craft poultices and ointments, boil ingredients into tinctures, he can do all that no problem. But for some reason, he cannot even stir together a stew without messing it up. He tries though, and with Hawke’s help he one day managed to make half-decent pancakes. 

Anders actually has good teeth, for some reason. Back during the plate armor days of history, you pulled teeth when they hurt. And by adult years, you were lucky if you had only lost two or three. Anders? Never had to pull one. Even his wisdom teeth grew in straight and smooth.

Despite what some might think, Anders is pretty brazen and fearless. He’s not scared of heights, or the dark, or blood and gore, or by terrifying bears or dragons. Partially because of his underlying depression, partially because that’s the kind of brat he is.

The only thing that can truly frighten him is anything that triggers his memories of solitary confinement. And it’s hard to pinpoint what they might be - once, it was from waking up with his jacket thrown over his face from the night before. Or an unexpected stretch of silence in his clinic for whatever reason, making his heart jump and his head seize. 

He’s never been that fond of candy or sweets. But if he had to choose, he’d say that candied almonds are his favorite.

-He barely eats. He’s so devoted to helping others that he usually forgets to take care of himself.

-He is very supportive of LGBT+ people. Including humans, elves, dwarves and even qunaris.

-When asleep he is separated from Justice, unlike when you take him with you into the fade.

-He met the Amell warden in the circle.

-During Inquisition he is with the Amell warden, trying to help them find a cure for the calling. They actually ask Justice for help, be it for his “contacts in the fade” or because he inhabited the body of 2 Grey Wardens.

-After he can’t do anything else to help the mages he goes into the Deep Roads and dies fighting Darkspawn.

-Romanced Anders being completely careless about being captured after Hawke is left behind in Here Lies The Abyss.

-Anders is still in contact with Varric while the dwarf is with the Inquisition.

-Anders looking for the Mage!Inquisitor and pleading them to help the mages, to side with them.

-Anders being the responsible for Hawke meeting Amell.

-Anders almost drowning after trying to swim away from the tower, even when he knew he didn’t know how to swim.

-Anders defending Mage!Hawke whenevrt Fenris says something mean to her.

-Anders bonding with Fenris over their hate towards Merrill.

Because Anders and Justice's merger wasn't perfect, they merged but they aren't completely one, they're almost one. Anders says that he can't have a conversation with Justice and that he feels his thoughts as his own, because they're normally a "harmonious teamwork" where they "think the same thoughts and do the same things" (thank you ominousdeer for that fantastic explanation). So essentially they're behaving as one, even though they might not completely and totally be one. Furthermore, Anders mentions feeling like a puppet when Justice takes over (after Dissent, if Hawke is on the rivalry path with Merrill), which also implies some sort of separation between the two.

That said, they're not two completely separate entities where Justice just hangs out in the back of Anders' head until he decides it's time to make an appearance. Like I said, they're almost one, but there are still some separating factors because the merger wasn't perfect... which makes sense because this was a human man merging with a spirit of Justice; it's a complicated thing. 

Now, if you go down the friendship path with Anders, Anders and Justice aren't at each other's (mental) throats constantly, and are able to act more as one. So you don't see as many of the things that happen because of the imperfect merger, for example, less of Anders feeling like a puppet when Justice is in control.