OUT of CHARACTER
Name: Jess
Other characters: x

IN CHARACTER
Name: Anders
Alias: x
Fandom: Dragon Age
Canon point/AU: Ending of Dragon Age 2

Journal: freedomscall
PB: Anders himself!
Age: 30
History: Dragon Age Wiki on Anders

Presentation: Anders is nothing if not passionate and determined. As a mage he has learned to be on guard with anyone and everyone who comes into his life, and as such has very few people who he can and will trust (the Hero of Ferelden and Hawke among them). This has lead him to initially judge many people as harboring ill will and causing him to have an aloof personality on the surface. He is focused on bringing freedom for the oppressed, specifically mages, and thus any warriors who fight against magic, such as the Templar order, are put into an enemy category in his mind, and those with views against mages or basic freedoms find it immensely difficult to get through to Anders and to hold any kind of amicable conversation with the man. Those Anders counts among his friends, however, have his loyalty and his commitment. While he may keep some of his motives and reasoning hidden from his friends in a bid to protect the both from his plans and from himself he none the less will stop at nothing to protect them.

While this may be the basics for Anders' personality he is not quite as cut and dry and being passionate and loyal. Somewhere in his journey he accepted a spirit into his body to keep it safe while it was trapped outside the fade. This spirit, originally one of Justice and now one of Vengeance, his over time melded with his mind and with his morality. Any act that could stir deep emotions relating to justice or vengeance causes Anders to lose control over himself, giving in entirely to the spirit that rests within himself. The fear that Anders will lose himself completely to his friend Justice never leaves him, yet he is so intertwined with the spirit that he tries to keep even his friends at a distance in order to keep them safe from what terrors he could potentially bring to them.

Anders is also a great cat lover, often seen feeding and taking in strays.


Motivations: Anders often refers to 'a friend' who he knew before his time in Kirkwall. This friend was the Commander of the Gray in Fereldan, the Warden Amell whom he had once been in the circle with before she went on to be recruited to the cause of the Blight. Her influence on Anders is cause for a lot of his passion. Before he came to know the Hero of the 5th Blight, Anders was content to simply follow and quietly complain about the world around him. Inspired by Solona Amell's determination and passion to her role of Warden, Anders found himself becoming more and more engrossed with the plight of his fellow mages. Once Justice joined his conciseness, Anders became a light in the dark for the fight of mages everywhere. His desire to correct the wrongs brought on by the Chantry have caused the once whimsical, witty, and sarcastic man to become melancholy.

Anders sees the world in black and white. Those opposed to mage freedoms, those involved with the chantry and the Templars, are the enemy and he will very rarely give them a second thought when it comes to defending what he believes in. Had he not found a friend in Hawke while he stayed in Kirkwall, Anders would have already gone completely astray from the notion of hope and change in the world. Without the influence of the Hero of Fereldan and the Champion of Kirkwall Anders would have continued along his path of passive behavior towards his life and his situation as a mage, and as such he holds both women in high regard. His friendships are what keep him grounded and he would protect them against anything- though even he cannot say if he would allow them to get in the way of his plight.

Besides his passion for equality and freedom for mages, and his fierce defense he has for his friends, Anders is terrified of being locked up or being locked into a life he does not want. He has been fleeing the Templars and Chantry since his time as a fledgling mage, and he has been fleeing the Gray Wardens since the attack on Amaranthine. While he knows he has no way to escape The Calling, he is determined to keep as much freedom over his own life as he can. While he struggles against those that would chain him, however, he fails to see how he has become a slave to his life, passions, and fears.






Setting: Anders is already on a dark path, teetering between keeping himself and turning himself over to his anger, his personal demons, and to Justice. Being thrown into a city and situation where he is forced against his will to fight on behalf of people he has no attachment to, in a world where everything is controlled and mages and their magic have essentially been made Tranquil will not sit well with him. While he will struggle to accept the changed scenery and find a way to live within it, he will find it no better than the oppression he saw in Kirkwall.



SAMPLES


First Person Thread:

: [Anders shot up straight, body trembling, heart pounding. He frantically runs his hands over his chest, and his arms looking for the damage, trying to channel magic that no longer ran through him to sooth the burns

He realizes there are no burns. There is no scorched flesh. He feels an ache in his body, almost like a ghost pain running all over him. He puts his hands over his chest one more time. Nothing.]

'Death by fire ball. Heh. There's irony for you. Did you plan that or something?'

[Anders looks down at his legs before swinging them over the edge of the bed, knuckles gripping the edge of the mattress turning white. He trembled once more before inhaling deep. He looks up at the camera and narrows his eyes]

'Andraste's tits, I hate this place. Just let me out'.

[Seeing no change in the device or the room Anders lets out a frustrated growl. For a moment he sits quiet, glaring before the anger escapes and his eyes fall to the floor.

Quietly he speaks, voice sounding defeated.]

'I wake up every day thinking this is a dream. This this is the Fade. I'm just trapped in the Fade. All I have to do is wake up, to avoid the demons, to fight until something snaps me out of it. I'm not, though, am I? I'm stuck in this warped world of yours, killing my friends so that I can survive. Killing strangers so that they don't kill me. I'm sick and tired of killing. I've got enough blood on my hands. Let me out of here'.


Prose: He was used to being held captive. He was a mage, after all. It was no different to being thrown back behind the walls of the circle, being scrutinized and judged by the Templars. The men behind the barriers were waiting for their entertainment. They were waiting for him to make a move, to make a miss step, to show a sign of weakness.

They would find no weakness within him. When they had grabbed him and dragged him to this arena they learned that the hard way. Rage and fear had burst through, drowning out the voice of Anders. Justice had consumed him. No, not Justice: Vengeance.

The mage smirked as he looked over the arms table. Had Justice only had one of the weapons before him the men that had dragged him in would have more to be concerned about than an angry abomination. If he could have cast some magic then maybe the wouldn't have gotten him into the cell.

Anders hefted the staff sitting near the end, feeling the weight but nothing more. No pulse of magic ran through the weapon. Was this what tranquility felt like? Detached, and hollow? He didn't want to think about it too much. Instead he swung the weapon, twirling it around him until it felt comfortable in his hands.

His brown eyes looked up at the men behind the barrier as his feet carried him towards the training dummies sitting on the other end of the room. Bastards. They would see what locking up a mage did.

'Well' he thought with a sigh, his body setting into an offensive stance, 'If they want to see what I can do, who am I to deny them?'


What is your character scored: Anders, without his magic and without the aid of Justice, would be scored around a 5 or a 6. As a mage he relied primarily on his powers to get him through rough situations and would find himself lacking in his abilities to defend himself and fight. That said, he does hold the ability to fight and wield a staff. Anders is also a healer, and though this was in reference to his magical abilities to aid people he still has an understanding of the body and the ability to preform medical assistance without his powers. I rated him in the middle of the score-board due in part to how unstable he also is. While the man was clearly clever enough to devise a way to start a war and destroy a large part of Kirkwall, he is also losing himself to Justice and is beginning to unravel.

Should Anders receive the ability to use his powers, or have the spirit of Justice take over his body, Anders' rating would jump up to an 8. He is a very skilled and powerful mage, as shown by the events at the end of Dragon Age II and Kirkwall. Justice in turn also offers him access to skills he would not otherwise possess, should the spirit be angered enough to be awoken(which happens infrequently unless there is a kind of injustice that enrages both Anders and Justice), as Justice is a warrior spirit.



Token: None at this time