Merrill…
merrill + this quote for anon
Not liking Merrill’s romance is okay, but some people calling her too young/too innocent………………..
You guys do realize she’s like a 30-year-old blood mage, right?
I know right
I’d assume she’s hit 30 by the end of the game at least. If not, she’s still a freaking adult
maybe a naive one but an adult nonetheless
jeebusYeah, she’s defnitely around Hawke’s age in my headcanon.
But her being called “innocent”, “childish” and “naive” really bothers me the most.
She is none of those things. Merrill is a Dalish, a Dalish who was meant to become Keeper some day, a Dalish who has never even talked to a human before she met Hawke. And even her own clan exluded her for thinking differently, and her Keeper training isolated her even further. So is it any wonder that her social skills are rusty?
And that she often has to ask if she missed something has nothing to do with being innocent or naive. She just doesn’t understand human culture because she’s never been exposed to it. She doesn’t understand idioms and sexual innuendo, and not because she’s innocent. Remember how she went through Anders’ books because she wanted to learn “naughty spells”? It’s the language barrier that’s the problem. If someone actually explained it to her instead of going “Oh, cute, innocent Merrill”, she would probably laugh and say “Oh, that’s naughty. I like it.”
But no one ever does this. Everyone treats her like a child. Every single companion except Carver and Sebastian (and Bethany? Not sure about her since I always play mages).
Anders and Fenris keep telling her she’s stupid and naive and a horrible person.
Isabela, Varric and Aveline, while having good intentions, still underestimate her and treat her like a cute little girl who needs their help, and Aveline outright calls her stupid in one conversation.
And some of the lines Hawke can say to her are horrible too, and the romance makes me incredibly uncomfortable, especially the rivalmance, because it’s all about saving the “poor misguided child”. Ugh.
And don’t get me started on Marethari, who keeps making decisions for her and treating her like a 5-year-old.
The only companions who at least try to understand her and take her seriously are Carver and Sebastian.
Everyone else continuously undermines her. The companions, Hawke, and a lot of players.
If you make the effort to listen to her, really listen, you see that she’s a lot of things, but definitely not naive and innocent and childish and cute. She’s an incredibly strong, badass, intelligent woman with a lot of knowledge about magic and Dalish lore, and she has a spine of iron. Despite being undermined by everyone around her, she never gives up, because she knows her goal and she’s willing to die in order to achieve it. That Marethari gets involved and dies is not Merrill’s fault, and that people keep blaming her for it makes me want to crawl into my bed and cry for hours.
Merrill is awesome and knows exactly what she wants, and I love her.
bolded is mine because it’s extremely important for people to understand this
idgaf how you feel about merrill personally but please don’t mistake her cultural upbringing with her being a moron
she has a completely different culture from humans and is acting on what SHE is familiar with
Merrill requested by martin-teague
I’ve given up everything to rebuild my people’s past, and you just threw my sacrifice in the garbage.
for lafemmedarla
I took this risk willingly! That was my choice! She didn’t have to save me!
