TW:
Sexual Harassment
Sexual Assault
Double Standerds
Okay. So there's this companion in Dragon Age 2. She's nice on the eyes. Buuuut-
She's kinda creepy.
Some of her lines remind me of this mod companion in Skyrim, Bishop. And he's....he has a LOT of creepy lines. His character literally says he will do things to you whether you like it or not. And there's a dialogue line where he forcefully kisses you. And when you "pull away" (dialogue), he says something along the lines of "I love when you play hard to get."
Well, she says similar lines. Not as much, but does have some. Towards an SA victim.
When you romance Fenris, she says things to you like "I hear he still wears his shackles from his life in bondage...under his clothes. You know what they say about men like that?"
She ends it with a non-sexual answer and says "You thought I was going to say something dirty!".
But considering the context of he's a runaway slave who had to also endure sexual abuse from his slaver, and she says this in a sexual manner WHILE also knowing you were expecting her to say something sexual, that's a little weird.
Then during some banter between her and Fenris, he asks why she's staring at him and "Is it my eyes again?"
She says "You're lanky. I like lanky." Just out of the blue.
She also says to him "When I see something I like, I go after it."
If you romanced him, he replies "I suggest keeping your distance."
And you know what she says to this?
"Now you're just making it challenging."
This is literally the SAME CRAP that Bishop says to you in Skyrim, and he was a hated mod, mostly.
But when a female does it, people shrug it off.
She's literally saying this sh!t to someone who's dealt with abuse, including sexual. Since childhood, I'm pretty sure.
And here's straight up, word for word, what she says to him at one point.
(I for Isabela. F for Fenris)
I:
"So what duties did you have? As a slave, I mean?"
F:
"Not this again."
I:
"I heard the Tevinter slaves are kept oiled so they glistened. Did your master oil you up? Did you glisten for him?"
F:
"I was his bodyguard."
I:
"Always close at hand. Always within reach. Glistening."
F:
"You have an entire story written in your head already, don't you?"
I:
"Mmm."
This whole exchange, even before I really realized how creepy she was, icked me so much.
Let's switch it up.
Imagine a girl was a slave who also had tattooish marking in her very flesh with stuff used for drugs, and the man enslaving her would use her to kill, protect him, and even for sexual things. Ever since she was a child.
Then when that girl goes on the run, she meets this guy. This guy asks if her master oiled her up and did she glisten for her master? That she was always within grabbing distance while oiled up. And that he basically already has a story of her and her slaver in his head that aren't right. The he and this girl start casually hooking up.
People would be FURIOUS.
But it's a hot chick doing it to a guy, so who cares?
She doesn't do it as much as Bishop and has her good moments. But it's messed up.
Even worse is that, if you had the first romance scene with Fenris (which is you sleep together but then he backs out because he wasn't ready for a full relationship, was scared a bit, and started regaining old memories of his family), but then move on to someone else, he and Isabela can get into a "friends with benefits" situation.
And people think this is all cute and dandy.
Yes, her character is a selfish person. All the companions have their flaws. That's one of the things that separates her from Bishop. He's supposed to be flawless, while she is a flawed person.
Sebastian is kinda a preachy-boi, Merrill is childish and too trusting of demons, Fenris is hateful to almost all mages because his slaver was one (though depending on if you romance him or just boost his like for you all the way, and if your a mage especially, he can help you defend mages. Hel, even before then, comments about how he respects your mage sister), Carver can be an a$$ plenty of times, Anders is Anders-
And yes, she has her flaws too, I think is even an SA victim herself? She was even made to seem like a slut, but sleeps with less people than she actually seems to. Just a front. She just oversexualizes herself for self-empowerment and doesn't really put others down in rude ways.
But what she's saying to Fenris are kinda creepy and give "Denial makes the game more fun" vibes. And can even result in them hooking up casually. And no one bats an eye.
What she went through is not an excuse for how she acts. Especially since that does happen in real life. I even recently heard about this girl who's case is considered one of the worst child abuse cases in American history where the victim lived, and she went to harm a 14 year old girl the same way.
It's a reason. But it's not an excuse.
Yes, some abuse victims end up abusing others. But even in the real world, this is acknowledged.
But no one, both in the game and players, acknowledge it happening here.
And "female empowerment" and past trauma isn't a excuse to continue pushing another abuse victim about the abuse they endured to fantasize about.
People talk about all the other messed up things she did, and ways she redeemed herself. But I haven't seen ANYONE talk about how creepy she acts.
I don't know. Maybe I'm sounding like a "WAMAN BE BAD TOO!!!" or something. The more I vented, the more awkward I felt. I don't know, it's 8am as I finish this. So eh. This is just how I feel on this thing.
