#heather talks

Okay so like, I've been a dragon age lover for about 12 years and honestly? Bellara might be my favorite Bioware character just for how the game portrays her ADHD.

It's both like, obviously in the way she talks quickly and subtle for doing stuff like pointing things out in her quests. The other characters treat her like an adult too. The most we get is Neve very politely telling her that being a detective requires a lot of focus and it's done with imo a lot of respect. (Which also it's good because girl just wants to pick up everything cool she sees and I just now realized that I was typing that out. Damn you Elper you're good.)

But the thing that got me the most? Her romance. Yeah this game is just like ME1 with them. Yeah I wish I got more. However what I got from her romance was extremely impactful for one reason. In a Taash travel banter she tells them that she's had relationships fail because of the way her focus works. She specifically blames it leading to her break up with Irelin. She says to Taash that people would always like her for what she could be, but not how she actually is, and that actually stuck with me. (Which btw that's probably one of my favorite chains of party banter because they're both so supportive of one another just 🥲)

But in the romance scene right after the eclipse, you'll chat with her and she'll specifically bring up that your rook loves her for who she is right then and there. Just the words used feesl very sweet. It puts into perspective all the times I picked the heart option and me going "wow I'm just being nice to her". You are but more importantly you're affirming to her that she's perfect just the way she is.

As an extra sidenote: Bellara's whole story's themes are about acceptance of who you are and moving forward. I feel like the choice of keeping or releasing the archive is reflective on that. There's not really a *wrong* answer, you either accept that the past is painful and dangerous but worth learning (while giving her an outfit reflective of what the ancient elves wear) or that it's better to figure out your own path through life, even if it means always having questions, to free yourself from the path a tyrant chose for you. (Giving her an outfit that's a lot more unique.)