The more I replay DA2, the more I love it.
Especially Carver, precious baby brother.
I can never understand why people get so angry at him, and why they think he’s always whining, or why they think he hates mages.
I just talked to Feynriel’s mother and my Hawke is… kind of a douche to her. Carver says, “This boy sounds like he’s a hair’s breath away from becoming an abomination. We need to find him. Fast.” That, to me, doesn’t sound like someone who hates mages - that sounds like someone who wants to help. He’s grown up with at least two mages around him at all times and he’s very aware that if they don’t get to him, a lot of people might die. I can’t imagine Malcolm didn’t teach Carver or tell him what to do if one of his siblings got turned into an abomination. The possibility is always there, and no one is more aware of that than Malcolm (for Legacy reasons).
Carver doesn’t say, “Let’s fetch the Templars on him” or say that they need to kill Feynriel outright; he says they need to find him. Find him and probably help him.
Carver’s twin sister, with whom it’s implied he was very close, was a mage. Not only that, but she was a little insecure sometimes about all that power. If you’re not a mage and have Bethany and then leave her to go to the Circle, she finds strength in the Circle, even if she finds it flawed as well. She comes out of it more experienced and more confident. Beth was someone who was aware of the dangers her powers posed. It’s likely she voiced those concerns to Carver numerous times. I think Carver understands very well the fear mages live with when it comes to possession.
He was probably there if she had a bad nightmare.
Seeing other mages suffer - especially ones so young as Feynriel, probably reminds him of her, and I think he’d want to do anything in his power to help Bethany or others like her feel secure and strong so that they could resist demons and overcome fears.
These comments and things are also the reasons why I think DA2 had some pretty strong writing (so good that it carried a game that was short-shrifted in development time by a lot), because they give these pieces of insight into the characters without having a bighugelong discussion about why they feel that way. Nor is Hawke so almighty that they can change characters on a fundamental level. But that’s a discussion for another day.
I really like this post.
To me, Carver has always been protective of mages.
He doesn’t hate them. He wants them kept safe. You don’t grow up in a household of two-three apostates and have no sympathy for mages. Surely he knows a mage is their own worst enemy, that they are one bad day away from slipping into blood magic or succumbing to demonic promises. The only thing that keeps mages safe when they are not in the Circle is willpower and discipline. A scared young boy with no-one to turn to, like Feynriel, is not going to be the most disciplined or strong of will. And Carver gets that.
I have always felt like this was one of the reasons he joins the Templars if you don’t take him to the Deep Roads. Not out of spite, not out of a hatred for mages, but for the purest, most naive of motives - to protect them. He watched his siblings grow up with magic. He knows how hard it must have been for them as children and teens living in Lothering. He knows how dangerous it is in Kirkwall for an apostate, child or adult. He’s seen a lot of it and regardless of his relationship with Hawke, I think he leaves for the Templars because he feels like the Mages need an ally of sorts within the Order.
Anyway yeah basically I have a lot of love and respect for Carver. And sometimes it takes people a lot to peel back the layers of broody, cranky little brother (who has every reason to brood and be cranky IMHO) to get to the core principals within him. I like Carver. A lot.
Reblogging because I like this read of Carver and Bethany, and these two posts remind me of all the reasons I love the ways that the writers characterized the DA cast, why I find the DA games so replayable (keep discovering more new insights into the characters), and why I need to write more Carver fic and Bethany fic.
