Dragon Age Fight Club ā Group #31 / Match 2 of 6
Fergus Cousland
"heās the eldest child of one of fereldenās two teyrns and has been raised to inherit highever. fergus would have been trained for warfare and command for most of his life, and unlike plenty of noble heirs, he is actually sent out to use that training."
"The Cousland family is full of people who are genuinely dangerous. Eleanor was the Seawolf, Bryce fought in the rebellion, and their younger child can impress Duncan enough to be recruited into the Grey Wardens. Fergus is the one Bryce has already chosen to command the familyās army. I doubt he somehow missed the martial ability everyone else inherited."
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One thing I enjoyed about Dragon Age: Absolution is the way it shows how being brought up within a specific culture can passively affect your outlook without you assuming it will.
Our villain, Rezaren, believes that he sees Miriam and Neb as his siblings, despite very obviously seeing them as slaves. The pervasive culture he's been brought up in assumes ownership; and so he continuously views Miriam and Neb in that lens despite the fact that he thinks he's not (better posts than this one have been made talking about this but specifically such things as: does not believe they have the right to say 'no', believing he can do whatever he wants with Nebs body/soul without consequence, wanting to take Miriam back as a tool to fulfil his dream etc.)
But Hira, who was brought up in Tevinter, left due to the Venatori and joined the inquisition is ALSO deeply affected by the culture of Tevinter and how it views elves. Hira is willing to bargain the freedom of a woman she loves, and there's something about ownership there. We don't know much about Hiras family and whether they participated in slavery, but I would argue that Hira's ability to rationalize her actions stems directly from an unconscious bias about slavery and elves.
And I think that's really interesting. It takes a lot of time and energy to break our unconscious biases. Love isn't always enough, even if the people experiencing that love (platonic, romantic like Hira or familial like Rezaren) believe that it should be, or that they're not participating in these wider cultures.
I hope we get an arch for Hira where she realises this, and grows (although not necessarily for end game Hira/Miriam I think Hira has gone too far), or a Tevinter character in DA:A that is desperately trying to put in the work to change these biases and recognsie them as a sort of counterpoint/flipside. But in this show, I enjoyed that the two Tevinter characters, despite their supposed love for Miriam, couldn't break free of the unconscious biases and culture they were raised in.
Iāve seen some people lament the way his character seems to completely flip in episode 4, saying it feels unrealistic and reductive. But that scene was honestly my favorite in the whole series.
Iāve seen complaints like these with other villains before, in which theyāreĀ ācartoonishly evil, puppy-kicking villainsā that suddenly feel one-dimensional because theyāre going to such extremes and seem beyond reason. While that can be true for some villains, thatās not the case with Rezaren.Ā
What makes the mindscape scene between him and Miriam so good is how much it highlights his core perspective: That she belongs to him. Rezaren hasnāt changed at all - weāre just getting a stark, real picture of his true colors. His personality, motivations, everything - remain consistent from start to finish.Ā
His introduction scene tells us everything we need to know about his character: Heās charismatic, commanding, and self-serving. His love interest tries to stop him from summoning a spirit, but he disregards and manipulates her with hollow placations. Then he refuses to heed the summoned Memory Spiritās warnings, only talking over it and trying to force it to do what he wants. Two times in one scene, heās been toldĀ āNoā, and two times, he disregards what others have to say. He will get what he wants, be it by manipulation or by force.
As the story unfolds, his love interest tries and fails multiple times to tell him āNoā - āNo, you shouldnāt go back to the vaultā, āNo, you canāt use blood magicā, āNo, you have to stay in your quarters as is lockdown protocolā, āNo, Iām in the middle of an interrogationā - and every single time he asserts his authority over her to get his way.
Then we get to the mindscape conversation between him and Miriam. He shows her memories of their past growing up together - visions where theyāre happy and playing like siblings. But when she shows him her own perspective - one which shatters any idea that they were familial equals, he canāt accept it. Indeed, he completely dismisses it, saying that they were all suffering under his motherās parenting, so they were the same.
But thatās not when he turns on her.Ā
Itās when she tells him simply,Ā āNo.āĀ
Itās when heĀ āoffersā her a chance to be his slave again, but treatedĀ ālike a sisterā as he rules the Chantry as the new Divine. A single refusal from her, and the vision in the mindscape literally starts to crumble and crack violently. Itās here that he rips into her - tearing her dignity down, telling her sheās less than a slave, that he offers her purpose and that she will only live because he wills it.Ā
This is what real life manipulative abusers do. They tear you apart, then offer you salvation - salvation that only comes by living the way they tell you to. And if you dare to refuse? They get violent.Ā
He is an Abuser - a Slaver.Ā
This is why I think his characterization was better than what people think. He didnātĀ āsuddenly become evilā - he always was. This is what real abusers look like. To most, they seem pretty okay and generally get along with people. But that monstrous, narcissistic mindset lurking beneath the surface can come out very fast when challenged.Ā
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