#intellectually

So, with Fenris, a lot of the fandom focuses on how angry he can get in conversation and cutscenes. However. There’s good reason for it, and it’s nowhere near as bad as the fandom makes it out to be. His anger in cutscenes is a direct response to him being triggered by his trauma. In conversations, it’s a different thing.

When Fenris is angry in conversations, invariably, it’s because another companion crossed a boundary they shouldn’t have. And most of the time he simply snarls, instead of outright lashing out. When he lashes out, mostly at Anders but occasionally at Merrill, it’s usually because they crossed a boundary in a far too personal manner. (Anders does this with a lot of people) But most of the time, Fenris is simply snarling in response to his boundaries being violated.

And this is important, because Fenris is a man who is only now, in the time of the game, figuring out his boundaries, and starting to live and grow, instead of just surviving. He’s spent the grand majority of his life that he can remember as a slave who wasn’t allowed to express anything that his master would disagree with. So when we see Fenris in-game, we’re seeing someone who is figuring out that it’s okay for him to express emotions like anger, or happiness, or love. And he’s doing a lot of personal growth over the course of the game.

He’s learning to read, he’s figuring out his likes and dislikes, he’s making friends for the first time in memory. He walks away from a romance with Hawke because he doesn’t feel like he’s personally ready for a romantic relationship. And if Hawke is willing to wait, he will come back when he feels ready.