to have solas remove your vallaslin while convincing you that they are bad markings, and *then* later reveal that he is the god of trickery, manipulation, etc. is a wild play and a crazy good love story.
i can write an essay on how each black character within any bioware game has been hated. vivienne for being “too mean” (paired with her pro-circle thoughts), liam for being “boring” (along with how he talks to some of the companions), isabela + being white washed, and jacob…..
saying this once again:
being a black gamer in any white majority fandom space is one of the most mentally exhausting things to do. arguing with people who are racist/bigoted give me a migraine.
moots, don’t judge me, but i did some thinking: i actually think it makes perfect sense why solas would prefer someone elven. that doesn’t mean he should have been gender-locked to only fem (i do think it should have been fem/masc), but i understand why it was only elf.
i swear on everything: i will fight and defend davrin with my life. this fandom has been ruthless against black characters already, and i will defend him with my last breath. he is the FIRST black man and that is a huge accomplishment in itself.
idk i might be a little pissed if the character creator isn’t what everyone said it was when the announcement dropped. if it doesn’t have a wide range of skin tones……….in 2024……………….
today’s confessions: thinking about how, as a black solavellan fan, my black oc is lost in a sea of white ocs (because of the majority). and joining a space to talk about solavellan would probably be unsafe, so im isolated to my little corner to think about my elven babe.
each one has a white/race (in terms of mass effect) counterpart that has said or done something 10x worse, yet the black characters are criticized even harder. just something to think about.
im so serious about this though. the bar is to the floor with character creators, and me and the black gaming community have had it. we want better. we deserve it.
idk i might be a little pissed if the character creator isn’t what everyone said it was when the announcement dropped. if it doesn’t have a wide range of skin tones……….in 2024……………….
like his story could have been that his father lost touch because of his disapproval of jacob’s involvement with cerberus, but he still goes on the same mission. instead, we have to find him through the jungle, use clues, and fight through enemies that inhabit the planet.
@Eikonicx
you missed the entire point of the tweet. i said that she isn’t disliked within the fandom because she’s black, but the pattern in how black characters are written within bioware games is something to think about. in turn, how they are written perpetuates fandom treatment.
and once we get to him, we kind of find him near death, but he survives, and they build their relationship over the break between the 2 and 3. and at the end, you either encourage jacob to keep talking with his father or not. but instead, we got the “deadbeat” dad route…🙄
black gamer diary 01: having to leave a majority white space because i didn’t think i would be safe or comfortable being (possibly) being the only black da fan there.
as he was someone who wanted to preserve his culture (not that of the dalish, but before) and right his wrongs to the elven people, which meant sacrificing the world, it makes sense why he would prefer someone who could understand.
im actually terrified of joining any other bg3 spaces because of the racist things i’ve seen already. it’s not for the weak, and i need to surround myself with likeminded individuals or i’ll continue to be a little shut-in lol
idk what possesses people to hate wyll. his story isn’t too bad (outside of a few weird details), his romance is great, and he is hot. what’s the problem? 🤨
bonus: his voice actor is hot too. so…?
like, am i missing something he said that would prove this thought false?
of course, i’m not saying he shouldn’t romance someone outside of the elven race, but im saying i get why they chose him to be race-locked. if it is intention, it kind of fits the narrative.
it’s even harder to detect because a lot of people hide behind fantasy characters and debates, thinking they found some way to oppress themselves. when, in actuality, it is in no way similar to what poc face in real life, lol.
we do understand later that he doesn’t reveal it, but he wanted to. and when you talk to him about the orb, he stands in solidarity with the elven inquisitor about how they’ll blame their “people” (or if non-elven, he says my people i think)
does anyone else want to live in a small bubble until datv is released because it’s gotten to the point where i can’t even scroll on twitter because im scared of spoilers
i deleted most of my content on here pertaining to my tav because im genuinely scared of the bg3 fandom finding it. the horror stories of racism ive seen is enough for me.
i just want to be a black gamer in peace, pls. is that too much to ask…
using the dragon dogma 2’s cc demo, i made my main dragon age worldstate line-up.
— text: ngozi kelechi azubike (the warden), belathasa “bee” hawke (champion of kirkwall) and fiohari lavellan (inquisitor).
so much truth to this! i became my ocs’ number one fan, and in turn, people will like them. i purposely make mine incredibly unique, and sometimes people don’t understand, but it makes me love them so much more!!! so keep posting and loving your pixel babies!!!
Tough reality check incoming!
I see a lot of people going "well my OC isn't popular so what's the point" and you absolutely *need* to ditch that mindset. A year ago, no one knew who Bella was. But I did, I nurtured and grew her, comm'd art of her, *I* am her number one fan.
𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙝, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙪𝙨.
— "I told you not to go near the sea, my daughter. Now you are cursed forevermore."
meet my new tav! she will smooch gale, but her most important lore point is that her abilities are "reverse" druid.
is it safe to speak, chat? i almost never find most of the mosaic pieces to complete any of them. ive come close to finishing one, once, but i don’t think i ever finished any completely……..
@_gabibia_
this is a really good point. i have noticed this a lot, which is why i tend to bow out of commenting on any discourse because it’s overwhelmed by a yt person interjecting and restating what bipoc people already said…and their voice is heightened while ours is silenced.
@PRlDEOFTHECOAST
same about mixed feelings. it’s a shame that we had wait SEVEN patches for these basic level fixes for a MAIN companion, but alas, at least they are fixing issues now. he deserves so much more.
@grr_gladys
if the player wasn’t lavellan, the impact of them falling in love with him, wouldn’t be as great of a devastation as that. it’s almost like a betrayal to their somewhat shared culture. at least to the dalish. that doesn’t mean there couldn’t have been a good story with a non-elf
this makes me visibly angry actually…………..and one of these is a MINOR characters that you only see ONCE. you can see how deep and strong the racism goes.
i want to prepare my rook for da4, but im kind of afraid because i dont want to set my expectations too high and they still only put a high top fade and some cornrows as the black hairstyles. 😭
@Kelly_Daniels1
🥰 here she is! im pretty excited! im not sure what to expect but im buzzing with excitement. do you have any predictions of how they’ll meet?
i’m feeling good after seeing the trailer, and it gets me excited but i’m still nervous about the character creator. i need to physically see it, and understand if i will be able to make a character that looks like me. fingers crossed. 😭
does anyone else want to live in a small bubble until datv is released because it’s gotten to the point where i can’t even scroll on twitter because im scared of spoilers
@grr_gladys
but, i think that a lavellan is *still* closer to that than the other races. like to some extent, they know a small portion of their history (even though some parts may be wrong as he thinks). there are also parts in his romance that make the narrative even more compelling +
to my fellow black DA/BG3 fan: you may think one thing, and it’ll end up another way. please, i beg you, find spaces that are truly authentic and safe.
find more black fans and stay together, because either of these fandoms will eat you alive. so please…stay safe.
@northgalis
you are absolutely correct! they took their time crafting his story, personality, complexities and everything else. he is so intriguing and with every dialogue, i wanted to learn more. masterpiece.
@Eikonicx
but the conversation lies with how they carry themselves. they both have similar personalities and speak similar lines and yet vivienne is labeled differently. even if we view morrigan, who speaks similarly to her as well, she’s not hated nearly as much.
@_gabibia_
absolutely same! and on top of that, it’s hard finding other bipoc to connect with, and even fewer with more subsections like solavellan and other ships. so it’s unsafe out here lol
do you ever think about how we live in a society where we can’t enjoy things without the need to share them with people?
like we have to post everything, and let people know what we think when we think it with no time in between to process our own thinking.