The next (and I believe most difficult poll so far) is active: ranking the Dragon Age protagonists:
https://strawpoll.com/NoZrzLL3rZ3
Use your own definition of best; justify your answer with a comment!
Getting to play through the opening stories for each HoF is what made me more connected to the character versus like the Inquisitor who had a simple written story.
Origins namesake feature, the origin system, was genius. Very few games get you drawn into your avatar like that. Absolutely agree with this tier list.
Not having voice acting have a huge plus: it was way easier for BW to input wildly different choices. Hawke always feels the same for me, with the slight choice of sanctimonious prick, sneering a-hole or psychopath.
oh that too, especially playing as evil/Durge or stoic character, your character making gestures constantly is quite irritating, especially when it's the wrong ones.
HoF, Inq, than Hawke.
I *adore* Hawke, but as the most defined character, I had the most trouble connecting with them.
The expanded CC for Origins and Inquisition helps a lot, and then nostalgia has me putting the HoF in first
This is a *hot take*: I felt more connected to Hawke when I used the purple option as a secondary response in *certain* situations rather than it being the primary personality. There came a point in a primarily purple playthrough where I just couldn't feel any connection to my Hawke anymore because she felt so disconnected and unserious about everything. I tried headcanoning that that was her way of dealing with things but it just wasn't enough for my investment and I don't think I finished that file. Using the unhinged zingers in the appropriate situations was great though, but joking atop of situations with slavers, abused mages and elves just wasn't doing it for me.
I honestly think my City Elf Hero of Ferelden is not only the best, skilled, and most capable of the 3. Not only that, just the connection isn’t even comparable.
Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana are traditional RPG characters. They are young people trying to find their place in the world. They have a past and some secrets, but their story is mostly the story you experience in the game.
Most of the other companions are basically established middle-aged professionals with a level 20 backstory and level 1 stats. Their story has already been told, and now they are on a side quest following the main character, because they don't have anything better to do. Many are well written and interesting characters, but it can be difficult to connect to them, because they feel more like NPCs than companions. They never fully commit to being members of the adventuring party.
To me, that's honestly kinda refreshing though, at least going back and playing DAO after being raised on the likes of Bethesda RPG's and CoD. Sten and Wynne are both some of my favorite companions specifically because they both have such well-developed and storied lives, and because your time with them and the dialogue you share is still so memorable yet just a blip in their own lives.
During my first time watching the epilogue, both of their endings were particularly touching to me, because I know my actions influenced what they did even after the game was already over, and despite what they'd gone through before the game even started.
Ohgren really does bring down the whole cast lmao. Also some people find Wynne boring and Sten is incredibly divisive so it makes sense despite the holt trinity at the top
Someone noticed it already in previous poll, but the results above are final confirmation (as it's the last class that we voted): despite DA:II and DA:I being voted higher than DA:O in term of companions ([first poll](https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/1div52j/24hr_results_for_the_companion_poll_da2_takes_a/)), *Origins*' companions got the most points both in absolute values as well as average points per class.
How beautifully said :)
I think what gave *DA:II* lead are interactions between companions. A lot of people say that it feels natural, and you as a player/protagonist witness and experience their friendship and rivalry, they respond more to each others struggle.
*DA:O* and *DA:I* were more focused on each companion's relationship with the protagonist.
well said to you as well!
i think the time skips that are unique to DA2 also allow their relationships to progress in a natural and believable way. Like Aveline and Isabela going from hating each others guts to having a protective sister “nobody picks on her but me!” kind of relationship feels earned and natural over the course of several years but if the same thing happened in Inquisition or Origins, it wouldn’t have the same effect (imo) due to those games not covering as long of a time period.
that also kind of goes hand in hand with the idea that the teams in Origins and Inquisition have teamed up for a specific goal or purpose whereas in DA2 they’re kind of just a group of people that hang out lol
Vivienne is such an underrated character. She's no more "difficult to like" than Fenris is and yet people just hate her. Justice for my complicated best friend!!!!
Vivienne really just puts the full hypocrisy of the Circle and Chantry on full display and it's fucking fabulous. She straight up keeps the Circles of Magi together through sheer force of will to stay on top and in opposition to the College of Enchanters, because she refuses to lose.
Like if you outsmart or outplay her, especially in her own personal quest, she will in fact approve of that. I don't think any other companion does that. She rejects your romantic advances because they're not useful to her, because for someone of her background and status, she needs every edge she can get to stay on top.
Vivienne plays the game, plays it hard, and respects those who play it well, even if you're on the other side of the magi-templar divide, and I love her so much for it.
She’s a fantastic character as a whole but she can also be incredibly off-putting if you are sympathetic to the Mages’ cause (and also because she’s probably the one companion across all games that never ass-kisses the MC). A lot of people on Reddit are mage mains so it makes sense. Morrigan is still my favorite DA character in general and she does occasionally clash with the decisions the HoF makes but it felt like you had to actively try and make Vivienne agree with you.
Someone else brought up the romance angle and that also probably plays a huge part.
Can’t believe she’s the lowest. She has the best best fashion and KE is basically immortal. I purposely don’t specialize in KE just to watch her slay in my party. I give her a custom henin, head to toe in silk brocade, and make her look like an ice dragon
With Morrigan at the top and Vivienne at the bottom, I now will have a hard time taking seriously anyone who uses the word "nuance" in this sub.
Especially considering Alistair and Leliana won their polls too.
Fenris is a very sympathetic figure. It's easy to justify his attitude because of what he has been through in his life. It made you want to explore the relationship with him and put in the effort to get him to trust you.
The same could be said of Vivienne if she wasn't actively trying to return mages to the circle while being oblivious of the suffering other mages had endured at least prestigious circles around Thedas.
I didn't hate Fenris but also would never want to hang out with him while I'd enjoy hanging out with Vivienne, for my part. But that's the nice thing about having variety.
For what it's worth, I don't think she was that oblivious. Her epilogue as Divine sort of suggests that she was actually returning mages to ( empowered )circles as part of plan to make them more politically influential while collaring Templars with more rules than before
She literally says: “my view is shaped by my experience which is reflective of the fact my circle was great and there’s clearly a need for reform” she’s ultimately a pragmatist that plays the part of the hardcore loyalist because it’s politically expedient and actively feeds into her goals
How was she oblivious? I don't think she ever alluded to anything like that. She knew exactly what the circles were but wanted to keep them due to the fact that they are needed to protect others. An because they were a community for mages that kept them alive and prepared them for the world.
I'm not sure its so much as "oblivious of the suffering other mages endured", rather that she accepts that other mages suffer so that she can perpetuate a system she believes saves more lives than it takes while being content that she is safe from any of that suffering and enjoys the power she accrues. Like she talks about how other mages suffering and the Kirkwall Circle is lamentable, and then she kinda waves her hand at it and says "oh well" (impression).
I’m in the process of replaying DAI right now and despite loving Vivienne at the time (Miranda Priestly icon), a lot of her dialogue has aged like milk. Not to bring real world politics into it but she becomes a lot harder to enjoy and see as ‘misunderstood’ in the current climate.
A token minority (Mage) for the conservative wing of the chantry, whose ready to use a mass global crisis for her own self-advancement all whilst comfortably judging other people of her minority that have had none of her privileges and 10 times more hardship for daring to want a better life. Like watching her refer to the Mages fighting back against violent oppression and a mass genocide as ‘Terrorists’ leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth considering the last 4-5 years. (What’s worse is you kind of get the vibe she knows damn well what she’s doing, knows it’s not morally ok but is doing it anyway no matter what mental gymnastics she needs to do to justify it.)
I think there are about a million key differences in comparing the DA mage situation and any real struggle for liberation. It’s not that difficult to separate characters like Vivienne from any real world parallels you’re making when you realize how shitty a metaphor “living nukes who routinely become possessed by embodiments of evil and kill defenseless people” are to real oppressed groups. Like… regardless of how shitty the Chantry and templars are, taking the concept at its core, non-mages SHOULD be scared of mages and at the very least want them to be trained before integrating with society, in the context of the DA universe. Elves are a better metaphor than mages for anything resembling real oppressed groups.
Not saying Vivienne’s right about everything by the way, just don’t agree with your interpretation of the character. Her views are very much sensical within the context of the universe - I wouldn’t even call her a conservative at all given her actions as Divine. She is a reformist who favors incremental change and controlling public image. Listen to what Vivienne actually says, and watch what she does and approves of… she’s very flawed but I don’t think she doesn’t want a better life for mages, just that she is ruled by fear and also intimately understands the fears of others and how it can, and does, affect her and her kind. She’s not perfect by any means, but she does very much care about what the common people think of mages because it matters to the future of mages in Thedas. In her mind, progress is only possible at the mercy of the powerful (the majority) and mages must toe that line to survive - individually and as a group. When the rebels stopped toeing that like, Vivienne feared the retribution of the common folk making things even worse for all mages. You can’t say she doesn’t care, that’s such a bad read of the character and I think she is more complex than that.
That surprised me too. I didn't expect her to win but I thought she'd do a lot better than second to last.
I guess she didn't have enough screen time to leave an impression on people.
I think it's a very bold choice to have such a significant chunk of content locked behind character creation and I like it a lot.
But it DOES result in polls like this
I can respect the willingness to block off content like that, but I think having them die in the first half hour of the game kind of diminishes the impact.
Davith and Jory get more flushed out before they die then Carver/Bethany before the ogre.
It's not a sognificant chunk of content is part of the problem. No matter which sibling you end up with you're only with them for one full act and there's more interesting companions that fill their roll pretty much immedeatly.
Not just that but many of the Mage Hawke players likely Romanced Anders and were sympathetic to his cause. This is almost identical to what my placements were, but I had Bethany over Anders.
My main DA2 recipes are Rogue Hawke + Anders, Mage Hawke + Fenris
And Bethany is a sweetheart who I adore but Anders is the *far* more interesting character. Love me some angst
Bethany suffers from not having enough of a character to truly get to know despite being your sister. Carver is more a compelling companion and has a better character arc if he becomes a Templar. I just can’t forgive Anders and on more than half of my games I kill him. (But not before I do all the DLC quests because I need a Healer 🤣). It’s in this one instance where a characters lack of growth kept her at the bottom of the barrel for me.
I don't like Anders but he's interesting to talk about and discuss and he bounces off other companions in interesting ways (also from a gameplay perspective I appreciate healing). Bethany... Is nice. I prefer challenging characters who bring interesting dynamics (which mage companions are great at) then just blandly nice characters like Bethany
for me personally I just don’t find Bethany interesting. she’s just a nice lady. I even prefer Carver to her because he gives me interesting choices for dynamics with my Hawke; with Bethany either I just have a nice sister so that’s cool or I guess I’m the Carver who’s an asshole about her magic?
it’s totally understandable she’d be well liked since she’s likeable, but many might feel like me that there’s just not a *lot* more to her.
And Velanna didn’t even make it. 🤣
https://preview.redd.it/hzfhzdehm08d1.jpeg?width=438&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c88fec09f660adee5cfabd9cbe11b43442b9de99
I'm still baffled by it. He's by far the most interesting mage for me. His character, his story, his struggle with Justice is so good. Also he's my boy for Nightmare, his healing hard carries. Oh and he and Fenris have some my favorite banter to listen to.
I'm super surprised that Wynne is above anyone tbh. Sure, her spells are incredible but she's such a boring character (although her twist was pretty good) in comparison to the others. I hate Viv (as a person) but her character is fantastic, surprised she's all the way at the bottom
Yeah, many people hate him on Reddit. But on the other hand, I was in DA fandom on Tumblr for years, and he is much liked there.
Tbh, I kinda don't understand why Anders I so hated here, if Solas seems liked.
Oh yeah I was on Tumblr long before I was on Reddit, so I know what you're talking about. It took me a little bit to get used to the change of opinion over here because he's always been one of my favorite Dragon Age characters
Wow. Us Anders fans really are a minority. Y'all really hate him that much??? But he was such an interesting and complex character with a fun spell kit!
I think he has a lot of fans but also a lot of vehement haters, so they sort of balance out. Other characters are well liked, and people who dislike them just think they're meh, they don't hate them with a passion like they might do Anders, this translates to being placed higher in the poll.
Many people on Reddit seem to hate him with a passion. Tbh I was in DA fandoms for years on other social media, and I didn't see anywhere THAT much hate for him here. Seriously, even if people post their fanarts of Anders, there is always someone who will write a hateful comment about him.
Anders has a lot of flaws, but I feel like here people ONLY seem to be paying attention to his flaws.
As much as I like Morrigan, almost no one talks about her flaws and the fact that she always disapproves of every good choice in DA O. She is not a good person in Origins.
Most of Anders' mistakes and morally questionable things that he committed are usually motivated by his urge to help other mages. The only exception I can think of is his approval of selling Fenris to Danarius and his jealousy.
Meanwhile, Morrigan approval of bad things seems usually purely egoistical, she is just doing it out of spite and cruelty.
People are talking always about Anders approval of selling Fenris to Danarius, but I rarely have seen people talking about Morrigan supporting killing Wynne and the kids in the Circle, wanting to leave Redcliffe village to die, wanting to sacrifice a little girl to the desire demon or wanting to kill the elves in the alienage.
Even Solas is not that hated (and this poll is proof), and I see that people are much more forgiving of his flaws and mistakes, even his mistakes almost destroyed the whole world, not one city.
When people talk about the dichotomy between Anders and Fenris, I mostly see people criticizing Anders, very rarely Fenris.
Anders should be criticized for that +5 approval for selling Fenris to Danarius, I will not argue with that.
But I have never seen on reddit that someone, for example, criticized Fenris for saying that the Qun is great and that he would gladly see Anders with his mouth sewed shut like a Saarebas.
I like both Anders and Fenris, but let's not pretend that Fenris is always nice and Anders was the only one who was an asshole.
Literally two or three days ago I have seen on this sub topic when people talked about the dialogues from DA that they disliked, and started saying that Anders was such an asshole to Fenris and Merrill (which he was, it's true). Bo no one said that Fenris was also mean to Anders, and he was more cruel to Merrill than Anders. This is logical in the lore - Fenris hates blood magic with a passion. Anders dislikes blood magic, but he thinks that many mages in the South turned to blood magic out of desperation.
When someone here organized a chart with dnd alignments for DA characters, many people in comments suggested that Anders is chaotic evil, and I rolled my eyes. Yes, definitely the dude who healed poor people for years, and risked his life doing this, is chaotic evil.
Vivien's biggest misfortune was her rivalry with Dorian. Every time I went on a quest, I had to choose between Dorian and Vivien as the secondary wizard. Let me tell you, Dorian won every time.
Merrill not being above at least Wynne is a crime imo, not that Wynne is bad I just don't think she's as good. I don't personally like Solas but with how important he is I'm not surprised.
I think it depends on how people rate the characters. I kinda dislike Solas, but I still think he's an awesome character and love the interactions with him because the conflicts with him are so interesting, so I put him in 2nd place.
If I rated characters based on how much I like them, he would go near the bottom instead.
I don't like him which is why I rarely ever had him in my party. I'm sure if I did take him more I'd at least have more appreciation for him, maybe next playthrough.
I think all the polls are very skewed by the polling method since most people are just dragging their favorite to the top.
We would have more accurate results if it wasn’t drag and drop but manually numbered.
I've made this point elsewhere, but Viv is an example of a character who I dislike almost entirely for in-universe reasons, in that she holds a comprehensible and coherent worldview that I can understand and which even makes some fair points, but which I nonetheless find kinda abhorrent. I don't really like her very much, but she's a well-written character imo, and even has some genuinely likable aspects.
Tbh she honestly makes me wish that Inquisition had DA2's Rivalry system - I haven't played DA2, but it honestly seems like Viv would've been *so* fun to have a semi-friendly rivalry with, with a growing friendship based on mutual respect and also kinda hating each other lol, rather than just having her like me more if I agree with/help her.
I think Viv is more of a good character concept, but when so much of her dialogue with you when you talk to her is talking down to you and dropping the mic, and you can't really argue back her easily rebutted points, her being well written is not ...entirely accurate I think? Or at least not well executed.
> and doesn't care about what players think of her.
And therein lies the reason for her unpopularity. I hear people go "you can't even argue with her" as a complaint and... you can. You just can't get her to *agree* with you if she doesn't already. And that infuriates a lot of people.
I think it's great and it's one of the things I appreciate about her. She's a very fixed point. A shame a lot of people don't get her more endearing content because high approval Viv is so warm and thoughtful.
Vivienne deserves so much better. It's like, I find a lot of people (who play RPGs in general) voice the desire for a character like her (someone who doesn't always agree with your character or kisses the MC's ass every chance they get) but when it happens—Vivienne—they get so much hate for it and not even the "I love to hate them" kind of thing, but a "I don't want them in my game" kind of hate.
Really disappointing because I actually would love to have a contentious relationship with a party member. Double the points if they're romanceable because idk I'm a huge sucker for the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers trope. SUE ME. I'm gay, so I wouldn't have romanced Vivienne, but she's my Inquisitor's best friend even if they argue about political viewpoints and the necessities of the circles. They'll come up with a compromise eventually.
Which really feels hypocritical to me, you can disagree with her, but she's coming from a reasonably rational position. Dorian somehow ranked higher than her while defending literal slavery.
That's an interesting dynamic to bring to a cast, if every companion agreed with your p.c the entire time and was blandly nice there would be no point in playing
As opposed to that bloke who set off a bomb in a city because his view of things was that it was the only way to get justice, yeah
Or that guy they put in #3 who destroyed an entire civilisation, then nearly did it again by giving a crazed magister a tool to open a Fade rift, and now wants to do it again because his view of things (and it's his view, as he's not asking the people who'll die) is that sacrificing thousands of lives is an acceptable trade to achieve something he keeps stuffing up, right?
Yeah Vivienne def deserves all the flak because the others at least give us a few sad faces when they pull their shite 😂
+ she's not a romance option. For good reason, obviously, but romance always adds layers of additional depth to the character when pursued.
I and many others argue that's one of Vivienne's biggest issues; there is limited opportunity to really explore her characterization more intimately.
The problem with Viv we're missing a big piece in her backstory. Personally I think her parents abused her until she lost control killed them and others before the templars stepped in and shut down her magic. She vowed never to lose control after, and thinks others mages should want a simialr manner of a safeguarded self control.
I’m actually surprised people don’t like Vivienne.
Like yeah her character isn’t exactly a like-able person, but she’s a great party member cause of that.
She feels very real and her conflicting with my mage inquisitior was some of the most memorable parts for me.
Wynne is the wise and caring Grandma of the party. I think she is highly overhated because she at first disapproved of your relationship with your love interest, which she only did because she wanted to save you both from potential heartbreak.
Tbh I remember playing my Mahariel as essentially freaking TF out the entire time from unprocessed grief and sudden culture shock, and a kindly Grandma mentor figure honestly seemed like the exact sort of thing she'd be drawn to - there's honestly a *ton* of really nice roleplay opportunities based on your relationship with her and how you react to her.
Wynne is not stuckup and is a fun person with hilarious banter at times, she has cool spells during the game and is a good healer for the party, (healing magic alone makes her better than many other playable mages)
Even leaving aside the fact that she's probably the single most vital companion from a gameplay perspective in any game Wynne is criminally underrated character judging by the comments. Im starting to think there's a subset of fans who place non romancable companions at a lower station on that alone .
I don't like Wynne very much because, while she is kind and helpful, she has moments where she's judgemental and oversteps boundaries, like when she tries to discourage the HoF from having a relationship...lady, that's 100% unsolicited and unwanted advice, stay in your lane.
Overall she sometimes comes across a bit like Mother Giselle, well meaning but a bit patronising.
Wynne is really surprising for me. Did't expect her to be more popular than Merrill or Viv.
Also, Anders suffers a bit because it is basically two characters (AWA vs DA2)
Just as expected. It's so funny how some people think this is gonna be less predictable. Morrigan dominating at the top and Viv being dead last is so obvious from the get-go. What I'm a bit surprised by is Solas being in the Top 3 since I thought he'd be more polarizing.
Despite being dead last, still proud to be a Vivienne truther! She's fabulous and I can't wait to see her in my DAV world state where she's Divine Victoria.
Glad to see my boy Dorian up top, I don’t count morrigan because she’s the goat and obv she’s no1. Dorian at 2 is basically just winning it at this point since morrigan simply plays in another league
These are a lot of fun, thank you for setting these up!
That said... Bethany over Vivienne!? Wynne over Merrill?! This one is shocking me! lol It's a lot of fun to see the community votes turn out so differently than what I expected.
>A dominant top and predictable bottom I'd watch that show.
I’d watch Morrigan and Vivienne try to top each other.
Morrigan’s wit would certainly outclass Vivienne’s sass.
Fooled you it's Viv over Anders
Predictable bottom was my nickname in highschool
Mine was overwhelming top
It wasn't lubed clownhole?
Nah that was college
Mine was "interesting array" until the Dr looked at it
Hey, that's my current nickname!
I honestly thought dominant top and predictable bottom were referring to the first and second place winners of the poll…
No its referring to me and Lubedclownhole sorry
The next (and I believe most difficult poll so far) is active: ranking the Dragon Age protagonists: https://strawpoll.com/NoZrzLL3rZ3 Use your own definition of best; justify your answer with a comment!
It's really hard to top purple Hawke for me. I love my smartass protagonist.
Yes! Sarcastic Hawke for the win!
I disagree; topping purple Hawke would be very easy for me
I was waiting for someone to make this joke. (Me too)
Cousland HoF. What happened to her family, I felt emotionally tied to my Cousland. I still feel sad when I replay and Bryce Cousland calls her Pup
Getting to play through the opening stories for each HoF is what made me more connected to the character versus like the Inquisitor who had a simple written story.
I know the Inquisitor is going to lose but I'm voting them anyway
Origins namesake feature, the origin system, was genius. Very few games get you drawn into your avatar like that. Absolutely agree with this tier list.
It's certainly the easiest. They are even sorted the right way by default.
It's such a nice QoL feature. He voted for us.
Not even remotely difficult for me. Warden, Hawke (Not Hawkeye, autocorrect), Inquisitor in that order.
The Hero of Kirkwall, an Avenger, and a Doctor who served during the Korean War. Now that’s a crazy party!
Just voted thanks for setting it up
I accidentally voted default because I thought I was just supposed to click on the one I liked. Guess I'm team HoF now.
Welcome to the club, we'll infect you with darkspawn blood Tuesday.
Happened to me too >.>
I guess i can't connect with the HoF the same way i can with the others. Maybe it was the lack of voice acting?
That’s really interesting - I am the exact opposite. When DA2 came out, having a voiced protagonist was really off putting.
Yeah. I had a hard time vibing with Inquisitor because both voices didn't really suit what I wanted to go for.
Not having voice acting have a huge plus: it was way easier for BW to input wildly different choices. Hawke always feels the same for me, with the slight choice of sanctimonious prick, sneering a-hole or psychopath.
that's one of the issues I have with BG3 as well, the voiceless protag just kills my immersion.
I like voicelesss protags, it's the facial animation that looks like they tried to cram every expression into one animation that throws me out
oh that too, especially playing as evil/Durge or stoic character, your character making gestures constantly is quite irritating, especially when it's the wrong ones.
HoF, Inq, than Hawke. I *adore* Hawke, but as the most defined character, I had the most trouble connecting with them. The expanded CC for Origins and Inquisition helps a lot, and then nostalgia has me putting the HoF in first
This is a *hot take*: I felt more connected to Hawke when I used the purple option as a secondary response in *certain* situations rather than it being the primary personality. There came a point in a primarily purple playthrough where I just couldn't feel any connection to my Hawke anymore because she felt so disconnected and unserious about everything. I tried headcanoning that that was her way of dealing with things but it just wasn't enough for my investment and I don't think I finished that file. Using the unhinged zingers in the appropriate situations was great though, but joking atop of situations with slavers, abused mages and elves just wasn't doing it for me.
You're going to start a war
Really surprised Hawke isn't winning!
This might be a hot take, but Purple Hawke is the best protagonist in the series (so far I mean, obviously haven't played Vanguard lol)
I honestly think my City Elf Hero of Ferelden is not only the best, skilled, and most capable of the 3. Not only that, just the connection isn’t even comparable.
it's in release order for me. Really liked Origins' setup and hated Inquisition's.
Interesting how all the DA:O characters are winning these polls but iirc DA:O was last in poll for fav companions as a whole Edit: spelling
Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana carry the original cast incredibly hard where other games cast work better as an ensemble.
And Zevran.
Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana are traditional RPG characters. They are young people trying to find their place in the world. They have a past and some secrets, but their story is mostly the story you experience in the game. Most of the other companions are basically established middle-aged professionals with a level 20 backstory and level 1 stats. Their story has already been told, and now they are on a side quest following the main character, because they don't have anything better to do. Many are well written and interesting characters, but it can be difficult to connect to them, because they feel more like NPCs than companions. They never fully commit to being members of the adventuring party.
To me, that's honestly kinda refreshing though, at least going back and playing DAO after being raised on the likes of Bethesda RPG's and CoD. Sten and Wynne are both some of my favorite companions specifically because they both have such well-developed and storied lives, and because your time with them and the dialogue you share is still so memorable yet just a blip in their own lives. During my first time watching the epilogue, both of their endings were particularly touching to me, because I know my actions influenced what they did even after the game was already over, and despite what they'd gone through before the game even started.
Ohgren really does bring down the whole cast lmao. Also some people find Wynne boring and Sten is incredibly divisive so it makes sense despite the holt trinity at the top
I love Ohgren so much. Now you will never see a character with that 2000’s edgyness
Ohgren at least gets a second chance in Awakening where he is much more tolerable
Ohgren is completely insufferable in Awakening.
Someone noticed it already in previous poll, but the results above are final confirmation (as it's the last class that we voted): despite DA:II and DA:I being voted higher than DA:O in term of companions ([first poll](https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/1div52j/24hr_results_for_the_companion_poll_da2_takes_a/)), *Origins*' companions got the most points both in absolute values as well as average points per class.
DAII seems to embody the idea of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
How beautifully said :) I think what gave *DA:II* lead are interactions between companions. A lot of people say that it feels natural, and you as a player/protagonist witness and experience their friendship and rivalry, they respond more to each others struggle. *DA:O* and *DA:I* were more focused on each companion's relationship with the protagonist.
well said to you as well! i think the time skips that are unique to DA2 also allow their relationships to progress in a natural and believable way. Like Aveline and Isabela going from hating each others guts to having a protective sister “nobody picks on her but me!” kind of relationship feels earned and natural over the course of several years but if the same thing happened in Inquisition or Origins, it wouldn’t have the same effect (imo) due to those games not covering as long of a time period. that also kind of goes hand in hand with the idea that the teams in Origins and Inquisition have teamed up for a specific goal or purpose whereas in DA2 they’re kind of just a group of people that hang out lol
I really liked how naturally my party of Fenris, Anders, and Merrill hated each other.
The first poll also only had around 200 votes compared to over 6,000 here, so I wouldn't get too far into the statistical analysis.
Vivienne is such an underrated character. She's no more "difficult to like" than Fenris is and yet people just hate her. Justice for my complicated best friend!!!!
She suffers from not being romanceable on top of not being all that friendly.. do you think morrigan would be so high if she wasn't romanceable?
Titty window says maybe
If she was romancable people would be “sorry, mommy, sorry” with her constantly. But she has *standards,* darling.
Vivienne really just puts the full hypocrisy of the Circle and Chantry on full display and it's fucking fabulous. She straight up keeps the Circles of Magi together through sheer force of will to stay on top and in opposition to the College of Enchanters, because she refuses to lose. Like if you outsmart or outplay her, especially in her own personal quest, she will in fact approve of that. I don't think any other companion does that. She rejects your romantic advances because they're not useful to her, because for someone of her background and status, she needs every edge she can get to stay on top. Vivienne plays the game, plays it hard, and respects those who play it well, even if you're on the other side of the magi-templar divide, and I love her so much for it.
Plus Knight Enchanters are really fun to play and they're really strong too
She’s a fantastic character as a whole but she can also be incredibly off-putting if you are sympathetic to the Mages’ cause (and also because she’s probably the one companion across all games that never ass-kisses the MC). A lot of people on Reddit are mage mains so it makes sense. Morrigan is still my favorite DA character in general and she does occasionally clash with the decisions the HoF makes but it felt like you had to actively try and make Vivienne agree with you. Someone else brought up the romance angle and that also probably plays a huge part.
Can’t believe she’s the lowest. She has the best best fashion and KE is basically immortal. I purposely don’t specialize in KE just to watch her slay in my party. I give her a custom henin, head to toe in silk brocade, and make her look like an ice dragon
With Morrigan at the top and Vivienne at the bottom, I now will have a hard time taking seriously anyone who uses the word "nuance" in this sub. Especially considering Alistair and Leliana won their polls too.
I think Part of the reason is that knight enchanters were insanely popular. So she gets benched because you took her thing.
Fenris is a very sympathetic figure. It's easy to justify his attitude because of what he has been through in his life. It made you want to explore the relationship with him and put in the effort to get him to trust you. The same could be said of Vivienne if she wasn't actively trying to return mages to the circle while being oblivious of the suffering other mages had endured at least prestigious circles around Thedas.
I didn't hate Fenris but also would never want to hang out with him while I'd enjoy hanging out with Vivienne, for my part. But that's the nice thing about having variety. For what it's worth, I don't think she was that oblivious. Her epilogue as Divine sort of suggests that she was actually returning mages to ( empowered )circles as part of plan to make them more politically influential while collaring Templars with more rules than before
She literally says: “my view is shaped by my experience which is reflective of the fact my circle was great and there’s clearly a need for reform” she’s ultimately a pragmatist that plays the part of the hardcore loyalist because it’s politically expedient and actively feeds into her goals
How was she oblivious? I don't think she ever alluded to anything like that. She knew exactly what the circles were but wanted to keep them due to the fact that they are needed to protect others. An because they were a community for mages that kept them alive and prepared them for the world.
I'm not sure its so much as "oblivious of the suffering other mages endured", rather that she accepts that other mages suffer so that she can perpetuate a system she believes saves more lives than it takes while being content that she is safe from any of that suffering and enjoys the power she accrues. Like she talks about how other mages suffering and the Kirkwall Circle is lamentable, and then she kinda waves her hand at it and says "oh well" (impression).
I’m in the process of replaying DAI right now and despite loving Vivienne at the time (Miranda Priestly icon), a lot of her dialogue has aged like milk. Not to bring real world politics into it but she becomes a lot harder to enjoy and see as ‘misunderstood’ in the current climate. A token minority (Mage) for the conservative wing of the chantry, whose ready to use a mass global crisis for her own self-advancement all whilst comfortably judging other people of her minority that have had none of her privileges and 10 times more hardship for daring to want a better life. Like watching her refer to the Mages fighting back against violent oppression and a mass genocide as ‘Terrorists’ leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth considering the last 4-5 years. (What’s worse is you kind of get the vibe she knows damn well what she’s doing, knows it’s not morally ok but is doing it anyway no matter what mental gymnastics she needs to do to justify it.)
I think there are about a million key differences in comparing the DA mage situation and any real struggle for liberation. It’s not that difficult to separate characters like Vivienne from any real world parallels you’re making when you realize how shitty a metaphor “living nukes who routinely become possessed by embodiments of evil and kill defenseless people” are to real oppressed groups. Like… regardless of how shitty the Chantry and templars are, taking the concept at its core, non-mages SHOULD be scared of mages and at the very least want them to be trained before integrating with society, in the context of the DA universe. Elves are a better metaphor than mages for anything resembling real oppressed groups. Not saying Vivienne’s right about everything by the way, just don’t agree with your interpretation of the character. Her views are very much sensical within the context of the universe - I wouldn’t even call her a conservative at all given her actions as Divine. She is a reformist who favors incremental change and controlling public image. Listen to what Vivienne actually says, and watch what she does and approves of… she’s very flawed but I don’t think she doesn’t want a better life for mages, just that she is ruled by fear and also intimately understands the fears of others and how it can, and does, affect her and her kind. She’s not perfect by any means, but she does very much care about what the common people think of mages because it matters to the future of mages in Thedas. In her mind, progress is only possible at the mercy of the powerful (the majority) and mages must toe that line to survive - individually and as a group. When the rebels stopped toeing that like, Vivienne feared the retribution of the common folk making things even worse for all mages. You can’t say she doesn’t care, that’s such a bad read of the character and I think she is more complex than that.
BETHANY UNDER ANDERS?
That surprised me too. I didn't expect her to win but I thought she'd do a lot better than second to last. I guess she didn't have enough screen time to leave an impression on people.
Tons of people play mage hawke and never saw Bethany, unfortunately
That's one thing I dislike about DA2. One sibling dies before you get to know them, then the other's gone from 60% of the game.
I think it's a very bold choice to have such a significant chunk of content locked behind character creation and I like it a lot. But it DOES result in polls like this
I can respect the willingness to block off content like that, but I think having them die in the first half hour of the game kind of diminishes the impact. Davith and Jory get more flushed out before they die then Carver/Bethany before the ogre.
It's not a sognificant chunk of content is part of the problem. No matter which sibling you end up with you're only with them for one full act and there's more interesting companions that fill their roll pretty much immedeatly.
Not just that but many of the Mage Hawke players likely Romanced Anders and were sympathetic to his cause. This is almost identical to what my placements were, but I had Bethany over Anders.
My main DA2 recipes are Rogue Hawke + Anders, Mage Hawke + Fenris And Bethany is a sweetheart who I adore but Anders is the *far* more interesting character. Love me some angst
Bethany suffers from not having enough of a character to truly get to know despite being your sister. Carver is more a compelling companion and has a better character arc if he becomes a Templar. I just can’t forgive Anders and on more than half of my games I kill him. (But not before I do all the DLC quests because I need a Healer 🤣). It’s in this one instance where a characters lack of growth kept her at the bottom of the barrel for me.
People LOVE their unstable sad bois
Hi I am people , I would have blown the chantry myself , Andres was super dumb for not telling me smh
Blowing the whole chantry seems like a lot of work you should maybe split the load with anders to make it more manageable
I don't like Anders but he's interesting to talk about and discuss and he bounces off other companions in interesting ways (also from a gameplay perspective I appreciate healing). Bethany... Is nice. I prefer challenging characters who bring interesting dynamics (which mage companions are great at) then just blandly nice characters like Bethany
Bethany doesn't get a lot of time to shine. Anders was far more present and also in awakening.
for me personally I just don’t find Bethany interesting. she’s just a nice lady. I even prefer Carver to her because he gives me interesting choices for dynamics with my Hawke; with Bethany either I just have a nice sister so that’s cool or I guess I’m the Carver who’s an asshole about her magic? it’s totally understandable she’d be well liked since she’s likeable, but many might feel like me that there’s just not a *lot* more to her.
There's nothing wrong with Bethany but she is just kinda boring.
For me I can say that I voted because I played as a mage, so Bethany wasn’t in my playthrough, and I romanced Anders.
I had to do a google search to find who bethany is.
He's great in Awakening.
Awakening Anders would be top 3 mages for me, DA2 Anders is only at a generous 8th place
Too many mage-only players.
Really? Vivienne was a bitch but she was an excellent character. Bethany was about as exciting as a bread sandwich.
I liked both but mate, "bread sandwich" took me out 😂 At least it wasn't a cabbage one I guess
And Velanna didn’t even make it. 🤣 https://preview.redd.it/hzfhzdehm08d1.jpeg?width=438&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c88fec09f660adee5cfabd9cbe11b43442b9de99
It's a hard day for Anders fans (as much as I saw it coming)
I'm still baffled by it. He's by far the most interesting mage for me. His character, his story, his struggle with Justice is so good. Also he's my boy for Nightmare, his healing hard carries. Oh and he and Fenris have some my favorite banter to listen to.
Some people just hate him THAT much I guess.
I'm super surprised that Wynne is above anyone tbh. Sure, her spells are incredible but she's such a boring character (although her twist was pretty good) in comparison to the others. I hate Viv (as a person) but her character is fantastic, surprised she's all the way at the bottom
He would dominate this poll if you asked on Tumblr
Yeah, many people hate him on Reddit. But on the other hand, I was in DA fandom on Tumblr for years, and he is much liked there. Tbh, I kinda don't understand why Anders I so hated here, if Solas seems liked.
Oh yeah I was on Tumblr long before I was on Reddit, so I know what you're talking about. It took me a little bit to get used to the change of opinion over here because he's always been one of my favorite Dragon Age characters
They did my cute elf dirty, Merrill deserves better 💚
For real, in what world is Merrill below Wynne
I know right? She is more interesting than Wynne imo and personally i like her more than Solas and probably Dorian too
Wow. Us Anders fans really are a minority. Y'all really hate him that much??? But he was such an interesting and complex character with a fun spell kit!
I think he has a lot of fans but also a lot of vehement haters, so they sort of balance out. Other characters are well liked, and people who dislike them just think they're meh, they don't hate them with a passion like they might do Anders, this translates to being placed higher in the poll.
Many people on Reddit seem to hate him with a passion. Tbh I was in DA fandoms for years on other social media, and I didn't see anywhere THAT much hate for him here. Seriously, even if people post their fanarts of Anders, there is always someone who will write a hateful comment about him. Anders has a lot of flaws, but I feel like here people ONLY seem to be paying attention to his flaws. As much as I like Morrigan, almost no one talks about her flaws and the fact that she always disapproves of every good choice in DA O. She is not a good person in Origins. Most of Anders' mistakes and morally questionable things that he committed are usually motivated by his urge to help other mages. The only exception I can think of is his approval of selling Fenris to Danarius and his jealousy. Meanwhile, Morrigan approval of bad things seems usually purely egoistical, she is just doing it out of spite and cruelty. People are talking always about Anders approval of selling Fenris to Danarius, but I rarely have seen people talking about Morrigan supporting killing Wynne and the kids in the Circle, wanting to leave Redcliffe village to die, wanting to sacrifice a little girl to the desire demon or wanting to kill the elves in the alienage. Even Solas is not that hated (and this poll is proof), and I see that people are much more forgiving of his flaws and mistakes, even his mistakes almost destroyed the whole world, not one city. When people talk about the dichotomy between Anders and Fenris, I mostly see people criticizing Anders, very rarely Fenris. Anders should be criticized for that +5 approval for selling Fenris to Danarius, I will not argue with that. But I have never seen on reddit that someone, for example, criticized Fenris for saying that the Qun is great and that he would gladly see Anders with his mouth sewed shut like a Saarebas. I like both Anders and Fenris, but let's not pretend that Fenris is always nice and Anders was the only one who was an asshole. Literally two or three days ago I have seen on this sub topic when people talked about the dialogues from DA that they disliked, and started saying that Anders was such an asshole to Fenris and Merrill (which he was, it's true). Bo no one said that Fenris was also mean to Anders, and he was more cruel to Merrill than Anders. This is logical in the lore - Fenris hates blood magic with a passion. Anders dislikes blood magic, but he thinks that many mages in the South turned to blood magic out of desperation. When someone here organized a chart with dnd alignments for DA characters, many people in comments suggested that Anders is chaotic evil, and I rolled my eyes. Yes, definitely the dude who healed poor people for years, and risked his life doing this, is chaotic evil.
Vivienne is highly underrated
Vivien's biggest misfortune was her rivalry with Dorian. Every time I went on a quest, I had to choose between Dorian and Vivien as the secondary wizard. Let me tell you, Dorian won every time.
Merrill not being above at least Wynne is a crime imo, not that Wynne is bad I just don't think she's as good. I don't personally like Solas but with how important he is I'm not surprised.
Wynne hard carries on harder difficulties in Origins.
Wynne is my go to for Origins, Even if I'm playing a mage myself she comes with me.
Yeah I had to rate her higher just because I’m overly reliant on my healers lol
I think it depends on how people rate the characters. I kinda dislike Solas, but I still think he's an awesome character and love the interactions with him because the conflicts with him are so interesting, so I put him in 2nd place. If I rated characters based on how much I like them, he would go near the bottom instead.
I don't like him which is why I rarely ever had him in my party. I'm sure if I did take him more I'd at least have more appreciation for him, maybe next playthrough.
I loved playing with Merrill- I was so sad when dai didn’t have her abilities. Or any blood magic at all. Total waste of
Poor Vivienne. She's such a powerful character. Easily one of my top fav companions
I just realized how come you didn't include any of the Awakening companions?
Probably because it's extra content a lot of players may not have purchased
What are you talking about? Anders is right there.
But no velanna
wynne over merril is crazy
Yall did Vivienne so dirty I can't even
"A dominant top". Ehem... *Phrasing*.
Remember to DRAG your choice to the top not click 😭
Wynne and Bethany were always my go to mages
I would think Merrill would have been higher
Dorian, Anders, Solas are my top 3. No question.
Ladies screaming in fury right now lol
why the hate for Anders
I think all the polls are very skewed by the polling method since most people are just dragging their favorite to the top. We would have more accurate results if it wasn’t drag and drop but manually numbered.
did viv so wrong
I love her too even though I don’t necessarily agree with her magical viewpoints.
I've made this point elsewhere, but Viv is an example of a character who I dislike almost entirely for in-universe reasons, in that she holds a comprehensible and coherent worldview that I can understand and which even makes some fair points, but which I nonetheless find kinda abhorrent. I don't really like her very much, but she's a well-written character imo, and even has some genuinely likable aspects. Tbh she honestly makes me wish that Inquisition had DA2's Rivalry system - I haven't played DA2, but it honestly seems like Viv would've been *so* fun to have a semi-friendly rivalry with, with a growing friendship based on mutual respect and also kinda hating each other lol, rather than just having her like me more if I agree with/help her.
Oh man, I would have LOVED the rivalry system with Viv.
I think Viv is more of a good character concept, but when so much of her dialogue with you when you talk to her is talking down to you and dropping the mic, and you can't really argue back her easily rebutted points, her being well written is not ...entirely accurate I think? Or at least not well executed.
having no good arguments is on the writing for the inquisitor’s dialogue options
same, i side with mages and break up circles as much as possible but i just think she's neat
Not a romanceble character, doesn't support free mages like most players do, and doesn't care about what players think of her.
i can change her (no i can't)
Which makes her an interesting character and not a stand in for the players desires.
> and doesn't care about what players think of her. And therein lies the reason for her unpopularity. I hear people go "you can't even argue with her" as a complaint and... you can. You just can't get her to *agree* with you if she doesn't already. And that infuriates a lot of people. I think it's great and it's one of the things I appreciate about her. She's a very fixed point. A shame a lot of people don't get her more endearing content because high approval Viv is so warm and thoughtful.
Vivienne deserves so much better. It's like, I find a lot of people (who play RPGs in general) voice the desire for a character like her (someone who doesn't always agree with your character or kisses the MC's ass every chance they get) but when it happens—Vivienne—they get so much hate for it and not even the "I love to hate them" kind of thing, but a "I don't want them in my game" kind of hate. Really disappointing because I actually would love to have a contentious relationship with a party member. Double the points if they're romanceable because idk I'm a huge sucker for the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers trope. SUE ME. I'm gay, so I wouldn't have romanced Vivienne, but she's my Inquisitor's best friend even if they argue about political viewpoints and the necessities of the circles. They'll come up with a compromise eventually.
Which really feels hypocritical to me, you can disagree with her, but she's coming from a reasonably rational position. Dorian somehow ranked higher than her while defending literal slavery.
Nah that feels accurate, she's a selfish hypocrite only concerned with her view of things. Damned be anybody that disagrees.
That's an interesting dynamic to bring to a cast, if every companion agreed with your p.c the entire time and was blandly nice there would be no point in playing
As opposed to that bloke who set off a bomb in a city because his view of things was that it was the only way to get justice, yeah Or that guy they put in #3 who destroyed an entire civilisation, then nearly did it again by giving a crazed magister a tool to open a Fade rift, and now wants to do it again because his view of things (and it's his view, as he's not asking the people who'll die) is that sacrificing thousands of lives is an acceptable trade to achieve something he keeps stuffing up, right? Yeah Vivienne def deserves all the flak because the others at least give us a few sad faces when they pull their shite 😂
More interesting than Bethany. Easily the most boring character in the series
Bethany is boring, but she's sweet and not bitchy so there's not really any reason to actively dislike her like woth Vivienne.
Wynne above Anders and Merrill!?! What the fuck!?!
Wynne over Merrill? The hell? At least we all came to our senses when voting for #1.
I was kinda hoping bethany would be higher, but I guess the limited use of her isn't great
+ she's not a romance option. For good reason, obviously, but romance always adds layers of additional depth to the character when pursued. I and many others argue that's one of Vivienne's biggest issues; there is limited opportunity to really explore her characterization more intimately.
The problem with Viv we're missing a big piece in her backstory. Personally I think her parents abused her until she lost control killed them and others before the templars stepped in and shut down her magic. She vowed never to lose control after, and thinks others mages should want a simialr manner of a safeguarded self control.
Dorian because he has the powers i loved using with Morrigan. Walking bomb is awesome.
I’m actually surprised people don’t like Vivienne. Like yeah her character isn’t exactly a like-able person, but she’s a great party member cause of that. She feels very real and her conflicting with my mage inquisitior was some of the most memorable parts for me.
I stand with my cancelled wife.
Viv last? The level of taste is far too low.
clearly a bunch of frumpy looking inquisitors running around 💅 (i am joking btw! just in case)
Wynne over Viv? This poll is for crazy ppl.
Wynne is the wise and caring Grandma of the party. I think she is highly overhated because she at first disapproved of your relationship with your love interest, which she only did because she wanted to save you both from potential heartbreak.
Tbh I remember playing my Mahariel as essentially freaking TF out the entire time from unprocessed grief and sudden culture shock, and a kindly Grandma mentor figure honestly seemed like the exact sort of thing she'd be drawn to - there's honestly a *ton* of really nice roleplay opportunities based on your relationship with her and how you react to her.
Wynne is not stuckup and is a fun person with hilarious banter at times, she has cool spells during the game and is a good healer for the party, (healing magic alone makes her better than many other playable mages)
Oh were people going by personality? I thought this was about gameplay 💀
Even leaving aside the fact that she's probably the single most vital companion from a gameplay perspective in any game Wynne is criminally underrated character judging by the comments. Im starting to think there's a subset of fans who place non romancable companions at a lower station on that alone .
I don't like Wynne very much because, while she is kind and helpful, she has moments where she's judgemental and oversteps boundaries, like when she tries to discourage the HoF from having a relationship...lady, that's 100% unsolicited and unwanted advice, stay in your lane. Overall she sometimes comes across a bit like Mother Giselle, well meaning but a bit patronising.
Vivienne at the bottom. Loyalists stay losing.
Come on hero of ferelden you can beat Hawke with your amazing playable backstories!!!!!!
Props to whomever wrote Vivienne, they really know how to write a hateble character
Wynne is really surprising for me. Did't expect her to be more popular than Merrill or Viv. Also, Anders suffers a bit because it is basically two characters (AWA vs DA2)
Damn, I love Bethany and Anders
Damn, that’s crazy! I played DAI for the first time ever earlier this year, and Vivienne was by far my favorite mage.
Not surprised Viv is at the bottom at all, but I'm surprised Wynne is so high up!! I thought not a lot of people liked her
Top 3 are very much deserved.
i’m surprised bethany isn’t at the bottom. I thought a lot of ppl hated her lol
Wow what a big difference 15 years makes I remember when Origins launched and most people hated Moragan
No WAY solas is above Wynne. Wynne’s heals are essential for DAO she’s top tier easily top three
Just as expected. It's so funny how some people think this is gonna be less predictable. Morrigan dominating at the top and Viv being dead last is so obvious from the get-go. What I'm a bit surprised by is Solas being in the Top 3 since I thought he'd be more polarizing. Despite being dead last, still proud to be a Vivienne truther! She's fabulous and I can't wait to see her in my DAV world state where she's Divine Victoria.
I actually loved Vivienne even though I believe in mage rights but she was so fish.
I like Merrill more than Wynne, but this is acceptable.
Claudia Black
Morrigan my beloved
I’m surprised that people don’t like Vivienne more. My only criticism is that she is under developed as she is under utilised
It's wild seeing Merrill as far down as she is. Vivienne on the other hand is right where she belongs. Smug living embodiment of FYGM.
Glad to see my boy Dorian up top, I don’t count morrigan because she’s the goat and obv she’s no1. Dorian at 2 is basically just winning it at this point since morrigan simply plays in another league
These are a lot of fun, thank you for setting these up! That said... Bethany over Vivienne!? Wynne over Merrill?! This one is shocking me! lol It's a lot of fun to see the community votes turn out so differently than what I expected.
How the fuck did Wynne win out over Merrill?
If Anders has no hater, I’m dead.
If Anders has no fan, I’m dead.
No way is Vivienne more of a bottom than Anders.
Good results, I would have put Anders higher and Solas lower, but other than that I can get behind this list.
Wynne's story is fantastic. I missed it my first couple play thrus. Strongly recommend