#bipolar anders

Justice eating breakfast and taking a bath and everything when Anders just cannot

Justice letting Anders rest while he’s awake and dealing with stuff for him

I hc he got it from his mother, who has bipolar type 2 (depression being the dominant state) and he has bipolar 1 (vice versa, in oversimplified terms)

When asked about her, he describes her the way James from TEOTFW describes his mum.

“Really kind. Really sad. I think she used to find everything a bit too much.”

Something something Anders’ uptight bastard of a dad sees signs of his wife’s “dreadful” illness in his son and sees the magic as an excuse to get rid of him :(

repost of an old fic that birthed the redthorne ‘verse. it originally started as a means to write hawke being super-supportive of anders’ bipolar symptoms. with littlexabyss’ efforts and co-writing, it’s now part of a larger ‘verse that contains over 123k words and multiple pairings and works. you can find the ao3 collection of this ‘verse here.

Any copy of Tale of the Champion will tell you that Anders and Justice were willing to die for their cause, but not that Hawke reminds them to live for it. It’s Hawke that hauls them off the crate into his embrace, kissing the corner of Anders’ mouth. “I’m fucking angry with you for not telling me, but I forgive you,” he says, “Now let’s kick some Templar ass.” And despite the protests of their companions (“Fuck off Sebastian") they head into the Gallows.

It’s Hawke fighting side-by-side with them once more, calling on Justice for firepower and Anders for healing that pulls them from the edge. And when Justice strikes Meredith hard enough that she rears, calling on more power that backfires and turns her into a twisted horror of lyrium and metal, Hawke’s there at their elbow. It’s he who prods, “Remember Emile.”

Anders calls the former Circle mages to him, takes them out to the docks where Isabela’s ship waits.

“Are we really doing this?” Anders asks.

“We did not prepare for this sort of aftermath,” Justice murmurs.

“All of life is aftermath.” Hawke takes their hand. “We just have to live it now.”

They aren’t runaways, nor refugees. Varric sends word that the Starkhaven circle has sent for the Rite of Annulment and its all Anders can do not to let Justice rage his way straight to the bastard’s palace. They rip the parchment apart with glowing hands. “What do we do?”

Hawke looks up from the staff he’s carving for one of the little ones. “What we have to.”

Circle towers are unprepared for any kind of assault, let alone one that begins on both sides – one coordinated by the famous Kirkwall apostate and the other led by Starkhaven’s First Enchanter. (contacting Feynriel for help was well worth the effort.) They win with minimum mage casualties and Anders can barely breathe for the looks of wonder on the former prisoners’ faces as they touch the earth and grass for the first time in decades. Instead Justice shines through, no longer something to be feared but a beacon of hope for those bucking against the Chantry.

Thedas calls them rebels, calls Anders the spark that lit the slow-burning fuse. Calls Justice a demon. Calls Hawke a traitor.

Hawke, who walks a step behind them these days. “This is your story. I’m here for you.”

And some nights Anders battles demons that Justice cannot slay, demons that spring from his own mind and heart. He has doubts and guilt that manifest in manic energy or the dark hours where Anders wants to beg “just let me go.” Those are the nights Hawke puts aside the letters and the continuously-reworked manifesto, calls Merrill to let people know not to bother them. He tucks them into bed with tea made of elfroot and Johnathan’s wort, then cradles them close to tell Anders about his day: the people he met with – to route supplies or hear concerns from the mages not yet used to their new life – or the games he played with the children and all the foul language the Anders will have to spend the next week unteaching them.

It’s not perfect – Justice still edges around the yawning chasm that threatens to swallow them whole – but it’s something. They have a goal, one that no longer calls them to martyr themselves in the name of everything they hold dear.

Hawke strokes their hair as justice grumbles and Anders feels his mood lift, just a little. A dream, a goal, where they lead the world to peace with the mages and freedom for all.

With Hawke it doesn’t feel impossible.

anders is canonically bipolar and exhibits very clear traits and symptoms of it, even in awakening

quick (simplified) terminology before i start: hypomania (”a distinct period of persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood”), mania (”a persistent elevated, expansive or unusually irritable mood exists. people describe a manic mood as feeling … “on top of the world,” and being able to do or accomplish anything. the feeling is like extreme optimism — but on steroids.” manic episodes are often accompanied by psychosis), depressive episode (”a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities consistently"), mixed episode (an episode in which one meets the criteria for both a depressive episode and a manic episode)

daa anders was in a hypomanic/manic episode (i’d lean more towards hypomanic tho)

da2 act 1 anders was in a depressive episode

da2 act 2 anders was also largely depressive, but begins exhibiting symptoms of mania over its course

Anders can’t drink because it interacts badly with what he’s taking so he always gets the most outrageous frozen virgin drinks because he can.

Anders as a pre-med student who gets stuck on making super long anatomy lists during manic bouts.

Anders meets Iron Bull for the first time while he is in the middle of a melt-down and Bull talks him through it using a mindfulness exercise he uses to deal with his PTSD. The two of them spend the rest of the night walking loops around the football field until Anders feels calm enough to head home.

Anders completely dropping off the face of the earth over the summer and not talking to any of their friends because he has convinced himself they don’t really want him around.

Anders not calling Hawke at all for weeks on end over break because he’s sure she’d be better off without him.

But that fall he drags himself back to school because damn it he’s going to finish his pre-med. He wants to feel like he can help people, like he has something left in him that’s worth while.

Anders shocked that his friends are genuinely glad to see that he’s back and okay.

Anders volunteers at a cat shelter. He’s supposed to have a regular schedule but the management is okay with his being flaky. He comes in on good days when he’s not scheduled, and makes up for it by looking after the more feral cats no-one wants to handle.

Anders taking a class that involves getting licensed as a certified nursing assistant and an internship at a rehab hospital which reminds him why he wants to be a doctor in the first place.

Anders passing all of his classes at the end of the term and for the first time in years feeling like he is actually going to be able to do this, that he’ll survive school, that he can handle his shit, and that some day, and survive the 8+ years its going to take to get his doctorate.