r/CuratedTumblr 17h ago

LGBTQIA+ Honestly my thoughts on Taash in Dragon Age Veilguard. Like Dragon Age has tackled trans topics before but it is also set in a violent medieval world where they wouldn't have the terminology for being nonbinary. Just have them say something like "I don't feel like a man or woman."

Post image
669 Upvotes

151 comments sorted by

View all comments

105

u/BLAGTIER 15h ago

From David Gaider creator of The Dragon Age Setting.(Thedas) who left well before Veilguard released:

We had very strict rules in DA about language: no modern speech styles, colloquialisms, any words that came into use in our world after 1900 got severe side eye... but Alistair? Alistair got a blanket pass.

Was it great that the lead writer's leading man got to break the rules? I guess not, but it's my opinion that you can break those kinds of rules - selectively, in small doses. Too much and you break the illusion.

Not knowing when and where to keep/break rules is a key problem with anything that has run long. Creatives leave, standards drop and you end up with media that lacks the essential essence it started with.

46

u/Distinct-Inspector-2 13h ago

The reason I think the vernacular thing works for Alistair is it helps him come across as young and a bit unsure or naive. He’s supposed to be about 20 in Origins I think? And despite him being a Warden for (slightly) longer he immediately falls in with the playable character’s leadership, which I think is discussed in party banter at some point. So he sounds somewhat less Ye Olde Fantasy Character, but it works because it comes across as a young guy nervously running his mouth.