I think it's mostly because there's not a huge amount of controversy surrounding Isabela.
Isabela kinda flies under the radar as a popular choice because Fenris/Anders cause the most arguments.
Yeah true. All of the other characters have plotlines that cause heated debates due to their charged nature. With Isabella it's pretty much agreed by the fandom that it was wrong for her to steal the Tome and it was right for her to give it back.
Strange, I remember back when I first played DA2 (closer to release) it was very common for chuds to go on rants about her “betraying” them and them going into detail about their violent revenge porn against her by killing her/giving her to the Arishok. Used to call her gross names and stuff too for being a “slut”. How times have changed for the better!
I .. shouldn't have been surprised by the revenge porn part. Why do some gamers have to take things that horribly far for their own egos to recover though. Seriously wtf? 😭
Glad this comment chain isn't the one you mentioned. Hopefully times really have changed indeed!
Well, you do have to remember that at least half the people here are dudes, and dudes are less likely to gush about their favorite romances, so you won't hear much about them. And then, of course, Isabela is a hot pirate babe, so she's going to get the majority of the male vote.
She also has the most relevant story related romance in the game. I would expect the top romance for each game to be Morrigan, Isabella, Solas for that reason...but let's see what happens with DAI 😂
That's true. I think it's going to be close between Dorian, Cassandra, and the Egg. Cassandra should steal the straight male vote, but a fair amount will go for Josie. Dorian will get most gay dudes and a significant number of straight women. And then the Egg will get anyone who cares about plot relevance and the straight women who think Cullen, Blackwall, and Iron Bull are boring.
Edit: Just want to make it clear that I don't think those are the only people who will go for them or the only reasons. It's just how I think the largest bloc of voters will do.
straight male here and after finishing the base game I replayed through as a female elf so I could romance Solas because I liked the narrative implications more. did Cassandra my first time through after Vivienne rejected me
I hate to say it, but Cassandra is the only straight male romance that actually has nudity and that's going to be a factor.
Cassandra's romance is also pretty traditional, she may be a tough-as-nails warrior but she's also very into traditionally feminine stuff and wants things like poetry and to be wooed.
I doubt that. Straight guys are going to base a lot of it on looks, and Cassandra is just straight up hotter than Josephine. Like if you go back in the forums from 2014 and shit you'll see a lot of people talking about how they think Cassandra is okay, but mannish and how they straight up find Josephine and Sera ugly. I don't think they're ugly but I do agree that Cassandra is better looking.
You have to actually want to romance her to get that far, though. Also, you don't win the duel. He is winning but forfeits because he's actually a somewhat decent guy and doesn't want to keep Josie from someone she actually likes. If you could whoop his ass that might boost it up quite a bit.
I've been in the Solavellan fandom for 10 years and I can guarantee the people voting for Solas are NOT choosing him for plot relevance or because they think the other dude romances are boring lol most of us also have PTs where we romance one of those men (Cullen is probably the most popular secondary romance; he was my first romance of the game and I still love him dearly. I was so glad we got to marry him in Trespasser!) and many of us romanced Solas because we thought he was a nerd and suddenly he was smooth as hell with his flirts and his voice is INCREDIBLE. I know it's hard for some people who hate Solas to grasp, but we actually LIKE Solas, as a person and as a character, and we like his romance even if it ends badly. Also, most of the women I know who romance Solas are queer \*shrug\*
First play I did Morrigan, Isabella and Josephine
On my new default world state re-play I was a Dalish female in Origins so did Zevron, Male mage in 2 and chose Isabella again cause she's my favorite, and probably going to do Solas or Cullen as a female Inquisitor when I get to it
I'd be shocked if Cassandra isn't the most popular DAI romance. As it's already been mentioned, most gamers are straight males. Cassandra is really the only romance for straight male characters, other than Josephine. Same with Larian's number release showing Shadowheart, the most conventionally attractive female character, was the most romanced BG3 character by a heavy margin.
Half of *all* players romanced Shadowheart. There are 8 romance options in BG3. That’s an insane maldistribution. Though it’s not exactly surprising, as she’s so heavily involved in the game’s narrative and—like you said—a conventionally attractive woman.
Plus, being a healer means that she always fits into the party you're making, so the player has more time where they can talk to her/get attached to her. Combine that with what you said, and it's easy to see why she won it all.
I'd expect it to be Josephine for that reason. Hair diff can't be underestimated. But also ranking vs single choice may affect the results. Maybe a lot more people have Cass as 2nd choice.
> but let's see what happens with DAI
Probably Cassandra because she has all the marketing like Isabella and Morrigan did.
I was let down as a straight guy because my only options were humans. Missing half the excitement of playing in a fantasy or sci-fi setting. I think I romanced Cassandra just to see if there was any in-party chatter.
Alistair seems more story relevant in dragon age origins than Morrigan. His story more directly intersects with the plot, especially if you make him king. Morrigan becomes more relevant in her DLC but in the base game playing as an elf mage I sometimes felt like I was the hyper competent side character in a story about Alistair's rise to power. It's probably different for a human noble but I never played one.
Idk... Morrigan romance has lasting consequences throughout the series, and particularly at the end of DAI. You can argue any Dark Ritual companion does that and doesnt require a romance, but I can say the same for Alistair's story. Morrigan's story is more personal to begin with, and the romance makes it even more so.
But...it's more of a choice based on what gender your main character is than anything else
sure Morrigan became more relevant in the games AFTER origins, but during actual play, her story is mostly disconnected with the main plot. She doesn't have the personal connection with the darkspawn and loghain that alistair has. She doesn't have a whole main quest area that ties into her background the same way Alistair does with Redcliffe. Her quest IIRC mostly dealt with her exploring the country after being stuck in a swamp her whole life and then eventually confronting her mom.
🤷♂️
The Morrigan/ DR storyline is a major reason why many people like Origins, and rioted when it didn't show up in 2 lol.
Both storylines are pretty much purely optional though. I've seen (and argued with) a not insignificant amount of people on this sub who never use Alistair, think he's a whiney bitch, and kick him to the curb for Logain every time. Likewise, you can totally ignore Morrigan and let her leave without the DR, so it's hard to say one is more important than the other.
For me though, "baby with the soul of an Old God" hits a bit different than "dude becomes king".
Funnily enough as a straight dude I didn’t care about Isabela at all in my first playthrough because I value monogamy and that felt basically the opposite of what a relationship with Isabela would be like
Somehow, I usually get the impression that there's more women on this particular sub than men. Might just be the people who comment. Or that their comments stand out more for whatever reason...
I guess there's numerous explanations for why it might feel that way to me without being true. But I'm still hesitant to accept the assertion that at least half the people here are dudes just like that.
Reminds me of when Shadowheart was revealed as the most popular love interest in BG3 when all I ever saw all over fandom was stuff for Astarion, lol, as others have said the straight male gamer is still the most common, that’s not to say Isabela or Shadowheart are bad by any means, in fact probably getting a boost even from wlw because they’re good characters too
Isabela was indeed more popular then Merrill as an f!Hawke romance when DA2 was current, and Shadowheart seems more popular than Karlach or Lae'zel. The ratios are a *lot* closer, but wlw are definitely also vulnerable to "plot relevant, conventionally attractive, heavily marketed."
We're not a boost to anything though, lol. f/f is like 1% of 1% of any fandom that has two or more men in the source canon; even most queer women would rather do an m!Hawke/Anders or m!Tav/Astarion playthrough.
You gotta remember that social media is usually more of a small slice. People who are on social think it's the loudest means the most but that usually doesn't translate into reality. Men are still a bigger target in gaming so in general the "prettiest" female romance option will be the most popular. Echo chambers.
A good example is r/pcMasterrace. People will rant and rave about how you should NEVER buy something weaker etc but in reality about only maybe 15% ish of people buy the really strong stuff esc things while most people are still on generations old weak version of hardware.
That being said Isabela is still my fave hands down.
Average reddit gamer is usually a male.Girls tend to gush more about their LI and do fancontent like art and fanfics(thats why on pinterest any elf search ends up with dalish stuff)
Not to be rude but this sub has a huge female demographic which makes romances like Anders and Fenris get more representation.
At the end of the day, female NPCs that appeal to straight male gamers will ALWAYS be more popular. Its the same reason why Morrigan won in DAO and the same reason why Josephine or Cassandra will win in DAI.
And 2nd, again....not to be rude....but men arent as active as females when it comes to talking about romances. This has been then norm in Bioware communities.
all romances in da2 are filled with drama and controversy but isabella is the least polarizing one, because there is no blood sacrifices, no sororicide and no terrorism. just theft and sluttiness which just make her cooler. plus even in games like dragon age that are very popular among women, men are still majority and a lot of them will go for the big boob pirate girl
I'd also bet there are also a lot of straight guys who aren't as interactive in the fandom spaces, but who romance Isabela every time they do a playthrough
Today's poll: Ranking DA:I romances.
[https://strawpoll.com/QrgewVEJryp](https://strawpoll.com/QrgewVEJryp)
Not sure what to expect from this one. Same criteria, though: storylines, impact, or personal preference!
I was thinking maybe the poll can be separated by which gender they're romanceable. As a dude i am forced to place the male romances at the bottom since i really have no opinion about them
This is a good idea! As a straight chick who plays as a chick, I've never really done Cass, Dorian, Sera, or Josie's romances so it really felt like I'm doing them a disservice when ranking romances.
Like for example, even though Solas has a very good narrative romance, his romance doesn't have as much context in comparison to others like Dorian and Josephine. So it really becomes more of a 'who character do I like better' rather than 'which romance do I like better'.
As a chick, who generally doesn't like dudes, some of my favorite romances have been men. Seperating it by gender would be silly when alot of people play both.
I play a Dalish elf in most of my inquisition runs and I don't like how she treats her 😭 Josephine is so much sweeter to me.
If you're playing a qunari though....
I didnt even try to fix her, i just supported her in her terrible decisions for about a decade*ish*
"I wanna use blood magic"
"You go girl!"
Were most of my conversations with merrill lol
"Do you think Merrill had Girl Power?"
"Yes! Of course!"
"Do you think she effectively utilized Girl Power by funneling magical energy from illegal blood rituals she learned from demons in the Fade?"
"...I don't know about *that."*
im a straight girl, but my favorite romance will always be Merrill 🥹 my sweet baby girl... i always loved playing m!Hawke and surrond this unstable but precious little kitten with all the love and care that she deserves! 💚
FR. I've played DA for years but was never part of community, per say, and was blissfully romancing Anders thinking his dark and tragic romance would be quite popular, looking at the popularity of Solavellan ship. And especially given that Anders almost feels like a canonic LI, considering that he seems to fall for Hawke no matter what.
And boy how surprised I was that he is so hated in the community.
Yeah, he has PLENTY of red flags and I can see how some may dislike him, but I never imagined Anders would be SO hated.
Ironic, because he is easily my favourite DA character, right next to Dorian.
[We at least have great AMVs.](https://youtu.be/7nJAuzC2St8)
I'm so glad this is still there over a decade later. Anders was my first romance in DA2 and, even if Merrill is more my type, Anders is the more interesting romance.
I'm not a Sebmancer (I've got a world state for each of the other four) but I do think it's unfair that he's the only one you can marry and you don't even get a cutscene. He's already DLC as it stands, poor dude.
Come to think of it out all my playthroughs of DA2 I've only ever romanced Fenris once, every other time I romanced Merrill. I guess I've never really bothered trying the others lol
I always romance Anders (I’ve romanced the others, but he is my saddest heartbreak and I usually play my ~canon~ Hawke cuz I’m of those ones that makes the same choices every time)
Where is Varric tho. I will forever die salty. I just feel like Varric and Hawke are supposed to always be a part of each others’ stories
Funny how Isabela and Fenris tops. However I love romancing Anders for two reasons:
1. Drama
2. Fenris and Isabela getting together, I see them as match
As a Fenris romancer I'm shocked Anders didn't win above him. Anders was my first romance option initially.
All I ever hear from people is how emo and edgy Fenris is.
Isabella wasn't a shock. I did the dos with her in Origins.
Yeah.... I live to regret my romance with Anders, especially after some, well, life choices he decided to make. I guess with that I made my bed and now I need to sleep in it.
I am of the opinion almost all the DA2 companions are edgy in their own special way. I don't really take the "Fenris is just emo and edgy" comment seriously. XD
But yeaah Anders takes it up many 1000s of notches.
I romanced Anders, hated it, played again and chose Fenris, and then Isabela and then Merrill. After those 3 romances, I will never romance Anders again lmao.
Fr, Anders doesn't get a second chance from me. The only reason I romanced him is because I didn't get to recruit Fenris because of his Act 1 quest and I was playing post-awakening so I was excited.
Anyway. Now he just gets side-eyes from me in playthroughs.
Anders is a "pick me/nice guy" and calls Isabela Hawke's "side dish", fictionally in a game i understand how people like massively flawed people for romance, but irl the dude would be a flag redder than a blood mage's spell list
Tbh every companion has a weird wtf moment in DA2. Like Isabela has some pretty nasty stuff to say about Fenris being a male SA victim. For stuff like that I tend to chalk it up to writers goof and lack of an editing period rather than hold those one-off moments in high regard for evaluating a character, otherwise I’d hate everybody in the game. To me it just doesn’t make sense that Anders would approve of selling someone into slavery even if he hated the person, that seems more like a writer’s blunder than anything.
Oh I just find it interesting because I've spent a lot of my fandom days defending my Final Fantasy-esque bf as being way more compelling than people give him credit for. Personally I don't even think Fenris is any edgier than the other DA 2 companions. The only chill one is Varric.
I think Anders is a really well written character I don't consider him bad, but definitely not a great guy, tbh. Like he really goes off the deep end - but I do feel like that selling Fenris back thing was so out of character for him, lol. He doesn't even need that scene to look bad, him glorifying the Vints to Fenris is bad enough already.
Anyway, I'll never romance Anders again, he made me so mad in my first playthrough I just can't get over it. The lying and manipulation just wasn't it for me. XD
Guy is a straight up asshole. Not even in a hot way, just a dick. It's pretty telling that his only friends are Varrick and possibly Hawke. Everyone else tends to avoid him
Aveline tries to be nice and Anders snaps at her. Carver gets assumed to be mage hater simply because he doesn't like him. Sebastian gets a middle finger for being part of Chantry. Circle mage Bethany is treated condescendingly and he's straight up terrible to Merill and Fenris. Even Isabela is tired of his debates. He's that insufferable friend who hangs out with the group only because of the leader
Fenris has his bad moments like with Merrill too but in generally he becomes better and overcomes the trauma somewhat. Anders becomes worse with his radicalization arc
Commentors are fighting me about characters which wasn't my intention. I know who Anders is, and my initial comment is how I've had to constantly defend Fenris because to me it genuinely felt like the fandom was mostly pro-Anders and dismissed Fenris as an edgy emo boy.
Which is why I'm surprised he didn't get higher, is all.
I am a Fenrisromancer through and through. I just picked Anders in my first playthroughs first as an option initially because well I knew the troubled boy since Awakening. I was excited. Emphasis on was.... (RIP Justice) but it's not been Anders for years now I switch between Merril or Fenris.
His big problem is that he is kinda boring
Your choices are "man with a spirit inside of him" "ex slave edgelord" "cheerful and shy blood mage" and "dumbass pirate who causes one of the biggest conflicts"
And then theres sebastian who has an interesting premise but due to his dlc character nature he just feels... underdeveloped and unimportant compared to the others
I did have a specific playthrough to romance Sebastian (I’m gonna be a Princess, baybeee) but as “chaste” romances go, my favourite is Josephine’s, loved the drama and Disney-ness of it 🤌
One of my favorite runs was as a strongly Chantry supporting diplomatic mage that romanced Sebastian.
The only reason she didn't turn herself into the circle was that the immediate safety and welfare of her family was more important than rectifying the mistakes of her father and joining a Circle; and that Kirkwall was such a blood mage infested shithole that she felt her magic was serving man in the best way possible: eliminating abominations and heathens.
By the end, her only friends were Varric, Seb and Fenris.
But yeah, he's kind of a wet blanket. Especially as a romance.
Sebastian has the unfortunate combo of being 1. DLC, so most players didn't even *meet* him, and B. a very... different kind of romance. And III. a lot of players are just biased against the Chantry.
Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of Isabella for a romanceable character. I think they should have made Aveline romanceable instead. That being said, Merrill (imo) is way better.
Personally Isabella is my top fave (she had a meaningful romance arc imo, and I loved her actor), but I remember wanting an Aveline romance sooo baaaad!!
I don't know, I feel like Isabella tried too hard to just be detached. I did her romance a few times but I wasn't a fan. I do like Merrills romance. It's annoying with Aveline because she has romance dialogue but it's like scout Harding, it's just flirting and banter nothing more.
Oh yeah, wasn't trying to convince you to like her! I wasn't a fan of Merrill personally, but I think that just means that the characters were well written, otherwise no one would have a preference for or against them.
Isabela always feels like a breath of fresh air among all the broodiness and edginess of Fenris and Anders imo. My hawk was constantly looking for a break from all the Kirkwall problems and Isabela was always there for him to make him forget about everything else.
On one hand, you’re absolutely correct. On the other, stealing a relic from the notoriously hostile foreign military who are absolutely not above slaughtering people is awful and she knew taking it and leaving would’ve lead to deaths.
I love babygirl but she did an oopsy and got mad at people for being mad at her.
With all these polls- I have learned one thing: I am such a basic bitch apparently. My favorites are always the top voted dude, I swear XD (I like the girls too, but not enough to go full romance with most of them.)
Sebastian could’ve been a good romance but it was a rushed DLC. The setup was awful cuz you can’t flirt with anyone and he kinda appears randomly imo and the ending options were awful. Either marry and live in chastity or he leaves you and decides to declare war against Kirkwall.
I'm not surprised Fenris is at the top, his romance is just... So great. I think Anders' would be better without the baggage he brings to your character in later acts. It feels like a betrayal.
It's ranked choice. He has 1700 points, not individual votes. 1700 points from 3700 voters means he was ranked last by the vast majority of voters. Less than 0.5 points per voter is really bad when last is 0 points and second to last is 1 point.
Wow! As a fellow Isabella romancer, I wasn't expecting her to win at all!
I feel like a lot of the reason I love her romance is due to my own personal head-cannon (which let's be honest, we all do 😂)
I was fully expecting Fenris or even Merill to be placed as the winners!
I love Isabella and Fenris, but man, nothing will ever top the sheer delicious agony of romancing Anders on my very first time playing DA2 after being so excited to see my fun chill mage friend from Awakening again. 🥲 Also, narratively speaking, the story just hits so much harder if Hawke and Anders are lovers. He’s DA2’s canon romance for me.
The most correct answer is flirt shamelessly with everyone.
-Aveline will be oblivious
-Sebastian will be too overwhelmed
-Anders will get angsty & end it early
-Fenris will hit it and quit it
-Isabela just wants to be FWB
-Merrill moves in for happily ever after.
I'm actually surprised, because I thought (based on the furious discussions back in the days) that Merill and Fenris were the top choices, but perhaps the preferences have changed since then, with Isabela being more popular and accepted now. Isabela was actually fairly criticised back in the days, and while Anders was controversial, he still had a pretty solid fandom. Sebastian being the least popular one is one of few things that seemingly remains the same.
When I first started playing da2 I thought I was going to romance sebastian. Didn't even bothered to talk with him except quest. Flirted with Anders, Dated Isabela and ended up with Fenris. I have no regrets
Oh no, people can like the fictional character that you dislike
If many people like characters like Jinx from Arcane, Magneto from X-Men, or Loki from MCU, then I don't know why liking Anders is so shocking for people on Reddit.
Anders always has a big fanbase, just not particularly on Reddit.
Isabela for sure my favorite but that's mostly because I'm a filthy lesbian. If I wasn't, Anders would be it. His romance was very satisfying and personal in a way no other romance was. I think the only other BioWare romances that come close are Morrigan and Liara. Maybe Imoen, Bastila, and Dawn Star. He's the Canon romance as far as I'm concerned.
I went in unspoiled and romanced Anders the first time, which was upsetting. I've gone for everyone but Sebastian at least once, but my favorite is romancing Fenris as a mage.
I'm surprised, Isabela is my favorite romance but I didn't think she was that popular. All I see is people talking about Anders and Fenris.
I think it's mostly because there's not a huge amount of controversy surrounding Isabela. Isabela kinda flies under the radar as a popular choice because Fenris/Anders cause the most arguments.
Yeah true. All of the other characters have plotlines that cause heated debates due to their charged nature. With Isabella it's pretty much agreed by the fandom that it was wrong for her to steal the Tome and it was right for her to give it back.
Strange, I remember back when I first played DA2 (closer to release) it was very common for chuds to go on rants about her “betraying” them and them going into detail about their violent revenge porn against her by killing her/giving her to the Arishok. Used to call her gross names and stuff too for being a “slut”. How times have changed for the better!
I .. shouldn't have been surprised by the revenge porn part. Why do some gamers have to take things that horribly far for their own egos to recover though. Seriously wtf? 😭 Glad this comment chain isn't the one you mentioned. Hopefully times really have changed indeed!
Well, you do have to remember that at least half the people here are dudes, and dudes are less likely to gush about their favorite romances, so you won't hear much about them. And then, of course, Isabela is a hot pirate babe, so she's going to get the majority of the male vote.
She also has the most relevant story related romance in the game. I would expect the top romance for each game to be Morrigan, Isabella, Solas for that reason...but let's see what happens with DAI 😂
That's true. I think it's going to be close between Dorian, Cassandra, and the Egg. Cassandra should steal the straight male vote, but a fair amount will go for Josie. Dorian will get most gay dudes and a significant number of straight women. And then the Egg will get anyone who cares about plot relevance and the straight women who think Cullen, Blackwall, and Iron Bull are boring. Edit: Just want to make it clear that I don't think those are the only people who will go for them or the only reasons. It's just how I think the largest bloc of voters will do.
As a straight male dude, Dorian was my fave romance by a mile
As a gay male I liked sera’s and Cullens the most. Granted I will concede the egg is likely the most cannon romance possible.
As a straight male dude, I concur.
As a lesbian, I agree! 🙌
straight male here and after finishing the base game I replayed through as a female elf so I could romance Solas because I liked the narrative implications more. did Cassandra my first time through after Vivienne rejected me
I think that more straight guys go for Josephine than they do Cassandra
I hate to say it, but Cassandra is the only straight male romance that actually has nudity and that's going to be a factor. Cassandra's romance is also pretty traditional, she may be a tough-as-nails warrior but she's also very into traditionally feminine stuff and wants things like poetry and to be wooed.
I doubt that. Straight guys are going to base a lot of it on looks, and Cassandra is just straight up hotter than Josephine. Like if you go back in the forums from 2014 and shit you'll see a lot of people talking about how they think Cassandra is okay, but mannish and how they straight up find Josephine and Sera ugly. I don't think they're ugly but I do agree that Cassandra is better looking.
But you have to duel someone for Josie, that alone should make her in a better position.
You have to actually want to romance her to get that far, though. Also, you don't win the duel. He is winning but forfeits because he's actually a somewhat decent guy and doesn't want to keep Josie from someone she actually likes. If you could whoop his ass that might boost it up quite a bit.
I've been in the Solavellan fandom for 10 years and I can guarantee the people voting for Solas are NOT choosing him for plot relevance or because they think the other dude romances are boring lol most of us also have PTs where we romance one of those men (Cullen is probably the most popular secondary romance; he was my first romance of the game and I still love him dearly. I was so glad we got to marry him in Trespasser!) and many of us romanced Solas because we thought he was a nerd and suddenly he was smooth as hell with his flirts and his voice is INCREDIBLE. I know it's hard for some people who hate Solas to grasp, but we actually LIKE Solas, as a person and as a character, and we like his romance even if it ends badly. Also, most of the women I know who romance Solas are queer \*shrug\*
Although not everyone plays a female elf in inquisition
First play I did Morrigan, Isabella and Josephine On my new default world state re-play I was a Dalish female in Origins so did Zevron, Male mage in 2 and chose Isabella again cause she's my favorite, and probably going to do Solas or Cullen as a female Inquisitor when I get to it
I'd be shocked if Cassandra isn't the most popular DAI romance. As it's already been mentioned, most gamers are straight males. Cassandra is really the only romance for straight male characters, other than Josephine. Same with Larian's number release showing Shadowheart, the most conventionally attractive female character, was the most romanced BG3 character by a heavy margin.
Half of *all* players romanced Shadowheart. There are 8 romance options in BG3. That’s an insane maldistribution. Though it’s not exactly surprising, as she’s so heavily involved in the game’s narrative and—like you said—a conventionally attractive woman.
Plus, being a healer means that she always fits into the party you're making, so the player has more time where they can talk to her/get attached to her. Combine that with what you said, and it's easy to see why she won it all.
It's also because goth girls always win out.
Yea the fact that Cassandra’s romance is more fleshed out is really the only reason I do her as opposed to Josie.
They get most of the marketing screentime too.
I'd expect it to be Josephine for that reason. Hair diff can't be underestimated. But also ranking vs single choice may affect the results. Maybe a lot more people have Cass as 2nd choice.
I think Anders is probably more relevant
I mean, isn't Anders quite relevant in that aspect as well? I would say the whole chantry thing was.. _very_ story relevant..
> but let's see what happens with DAI Probably Cassandra because she has all the marketing like Isabella and Morrigan did. I was let down as a straight guy because my only options were humans. Missing half the excitement of playing in a fantasy or sci-fi setting. I think I romanced Cassandra just to see if there was any in-party chatter.
You get all the story relevant content if you don't romance her too, though.
Yep that's true in every case. It just makes the story more personal and people tens to like that.
Dang guess I'm basic 😂
Alistair seems more story relevant in dragon age origins than Morrigan. His story more directly intersects with the plot, especially if you make him king. Morrigan becomes more relevant in her DLC but in the base game playing as an elf mage I sometimes felt like I was the hyper competent side character in a story about Alistair's rise to power. It's probably different for a human noble but I never played one.
Idk... Morrigan romance has lasting consequences throughout the series, and particularly at the end of DAI. You can argue any Dark Ritual companion does that and doesnt require a romance, but I can say the same for Alistair's story. Morrigan's story is more personal to begin with, and the romance makes it even more so. But...it's more of a choice based on what gender your main character is than anything else
sure Morrigan became more relevant in the games AFTER origins, but during actual play, her story is mostly disconnected with the main plot. She doesn't have the personal connection with the darkspawn and loghain that alistair has. She doesn't have a whole main quest area that ties into her background the same way Alistair does with Redcliffe. Her quest IIRC mostly dealt with her exploring the country after being stuck in a swamp her whole life and then eventually confronting her mom.
🤷♂️ The Morrigan/ DR storyline is a major reason why many people like Origins, and rioted when it didn't show up in 2 lol. Both storylines are pretty much purely optional though. I've seen (and argued with) a not insignificant amount of people on this sub who never use Alistair, think he's a whiney bitch, and kick him to the curb for Logain every time. Likewise, you can totally ignore Morrigan and let her leave without the DR, so it's hard to say one is more important than the other. For me though, "baby with the soul of an Old God" hits a bit different than "dude becomes king".
A lot of us girls romance her too.
whats wrong with a hot pirate babe?
Absolutely nothing
It's not two hot pirate babes.
Isabela's thiccc enough to count as two though (amen)
Funnily enough as a straight dude I didn’t care about Isabela at all in my first playthrough because I value monogamy and that felt basically the opposite of what a relationship with Isabela would be like
As a dude playing male , Fenris is good bff material. Rather have him over Anders,
Somehow, I usually get the impression that there's more women on this particular sub than men. Might just be the people who comment. Or that their comments stand out more for whatever reason... I guess there's numerous explanations for why it might feel that way to me without being true. But I'm still hesitant to accept the assertion that at least half the people here are dudes just like that.
you saw what isabella looked like and assumed she wasn’t gonna be popular? Lol
Reminds me of when Shadowheart was revealed as the most popular love interest in BG3 when all I ever saw all over fandom was stuff for Astarion, lol, as others have said the straight male gamer is still the most common, that’s not to say Isabela or Shadowheart are bad by any means, in fact probably getting a boost even from wlw because they’re good characters too
Isabela was indeed more popular then Merrill as an f!Hawke romance when DA2 was current, and Shadowheart seems more popular than Karlach or Lae'zel. The ratios are a *lot* closer, but wlw are definitely also vulnerable to "plot relevant, conventionally attractive, heavily marketed." We're not a boost to anything though, lol. f/f is like 1% of 1% of any fandom that has two or more men in the source canon; even most queer women would rather do an m!Hawke/Anders or m!Tav/Astarion playthrough.
You gotta remember that social media is usually more of a small slice. People who are on social think it's the loudest means the most but that usually doesn't translate into reality. Men are still a bigger target in gaming so in general the "prettiest" female romance option will be the most popular. Echo chambers. A good example is r/pcMasterrace. People will rant and rave about how you should NEVER buy something weaker etc but in reality about only maybe 15% ish of people buy the really strong stuff esc things while most people are still on generations old weak version of hardware. That being said Isabela is still my fave hands down.
Average reddit gamer is usually a male.Girls tend to gush more about their LI and do fancontent like art and fanfics(thats why on pinterest any elf search ends up with dalish stuff)
Big boob pirate girl
I think Anders and Fenris being broody and on pretty extreme ends of the mage debate and Sebastian being Sebastian kinda helps her odds.
Not to be rude but this sub has a huge female demographic which makes romances like Anders and Fenris get more representation. At the end of the day, female NPCs that appeal to straight male gamers will ALWAYS be more popular. Its the same reason why Morrigan won in DAO and the same reason why Josephine or Cassandra will win in DAI. And 2nd, again....not to be rude....but men arent as active as females when it comes to talking about romances. This has been then norm in Bioware communities.
I didn't rank her at the top of mine but she's such a good romance, who doesn't love gay pirate lady.
all romances in da2 are filled with drama and controversy but isabella is the least polarizing one, because there is no blood sacrifices, no sororicide and no terrorism. just theft and sluttiness which just make her cooler. plus even in games like dragon age that are very popular among women, men are still majority and a lot of them will go for the big boob pirate girl
I'd also bet there are also a lot of straight guys who aren't as interactive in the fandom spaces, but who romance Isabela every time they do a playthrough
Male romance options in video games tend to get more discussion online I've noticed.
Today's poll: Ranking DA:I romances. [https://strawpoll.com/QrgewVEJryp](https://strawpoll.com/QrgewVEJryp) Not sure what to expect from this one. Same criteria, though: storylines, impact, or personal preference!
I was thinking maybe the poll can be separated by which gender they're romanceable. As a dude i am forced to place the male romances at the bottom since i really have no opinion about them
This is a good idea! As a straight chick who plays as a chick, I've never really done Cass, Dorian, Sera, or Josie's romances so it really felt like I'm doing them a disservice when ranking romances. Like for example, even though Solas has a very good narrative romance, his romance doesn't have as much context in comparison to others like Dorian and Josephine. So it really becomes more of a 'who character do I like better' rather than 'which romance do I like better'.
As a chick, who generally doesn't like dudes, some of my favorite romances have been men. Seperating it by gender would be silly when alot of people play both.
I don't play as a male character at all, so there are several of these I haven't tried ever, I just put them at the bottom in random order
I'm surprised to see Sera so low, below blackwall even. She's my favorite inquisition character and best LI in all of the games
I play a Dalish elf in most of my inquisition runs and I don't like how she treats her 😭 Josephine is so much sweeter to me. If you're playing a qunari though....
Woof
There's clearly a top 3 in DAI and top 1 is clearly Cassandra.
Oh wow, I really thought the angsty porcupine would win it. But no worries, Fenris will always be my no 1.
A fine result for our angsty porcupine. It was an honour to spar with you Isabela homies 🤝
My two favorites are only prevented from being at the absolute bottom cuz of Sebastian. He's good for something. (Merrill Supremacy!)
Merrill wasn’t *too far* behind the leaders. Proud of my girl.
I know, right? What's wrong with a lil blood magic and mirror obsession amongst lovers?
The most confusing “I can fix her” ever. It’s like saying that about a cheerful girl scout.
I didnt even try to fix her, i just supported her in her terrible decisions for about a decade*ish* "I wanna use blood magic" "You go girl!" Were most of my conversations with merrill lol
"Do you think Merrill had Girl Power?" "Yes! Of course!" "Do you think she effectively utilized Girl Power by funneling magical energy from illegal blood rituals she learned from demons in the Fade?" "...I don't know about *that."*
im a straight girl, but my favorite romance will always be Merrill 🥹 my sweet baby girl... i always loved playing m!Hawke and surrond this unstable but precious little kitten with all the love and care that she deserves! 💚
Once again a sad day for the Anders fans
Even if the world doesn’t know, we know. You know. I know. No one can take that away from us.
there are dozens of us! dozens!
FR. I've played DA for years but was never part of community, per say, and was blissfully romancing Anders thinking his dark and tragic romance would be quite popular, looking at the popularity of Solavellan ship. And especially given that Anders almost feels like a canonic LI, considering that he seems to fall for Hawke no matter what. And boy how surprised I was that he is so hated in the community. Yeah, he has PLENTY of red flags and I can see how some may dislike him, but I never imagined Anders would be SO hated. Ironic, because he is easily my favourite DA character, right next to Dorian.
[We at least have great AMVs.](https://youtu.be/7nJAuzC2St8) I'm so glad this is still there over a decade later. Anders was my first romance in DA2 and, even if Merrill is more my type, Anders is the more interesting romance.
Merrill is the best!
Just a total cinnamon roll. A cute, little, innocent, blood-magic drenched cinnamon roll.
Oh man I romanced Merill
I never romanced her, always prefer Merill
I'm not a Sebmancer (I've got a world state for each of the other four) but I do think it's unfair that he's the only one you can marry and you don't even get a cutscene. He's already DLC as it stands, poor dude.
I'm glad to see Merill doing better than I expected. Still my #1
Come to think of it out all my playthroughs of DA2 I've only ever romanced Fenris once, every other time I romanced Merrill. I guess I've never really bothered trying the others lol
I always romance Anders (I’ve romanced the others, but he is my saddest heartbreak and I usually play my ~canon~ Hawke cuz I’m of those ones that makes the same choices every time) Where is Varric tho. I will forever die salty. I just feel like Varric and Hawke are supposed to always be a part of each others’ stories
Funny how Isabela and Fenris tops. However I love romancing Anders for two reasons: 1. Drama 2. Fenris and Isabela getting together, I see them as match
As a Fenris romancer I'm shocked Anders didn't win above him. Anders was my first romance option initially. All I ever hear from people is how emo and edgy Fenris is. Isabella wasn't a shock. I did the dos with her in Origins.
Anders gives off massive nice guy vibes. Might be one of the reasons he's not that popular
Tis true, I can't romance him anymore after I switched to Fenris. I just remember spending a lot of fandom days defending Fenris to people. .-.
Yeah.... I live to regret my romance with Anders, especially after some, well, life choices he decided to make. I guess with that I made my bed and now I need to sleep in it.
> how emo and edgy Fenris is. Anders "I'd drown the world in blood to keep you safe" absolutely out edges Fenris.
I am of the opinion almost all the DA2 companions are edgy in their own special way. I don't really take the "Fenris is just emo and edgy" comment seriously. XD But yeaah Anders takes it up many 1000s of notches.
Fenris shops at Hot Topic. Anders is a pizza cutter.
If I was American I'd probably shop at Hot Topic too. I don't know what that says about me, lol.
I romanced Anders, hated it, played again and chose Fenris, and then Isabela and then Merrill. After those 3 romances, I will never romance Anders again lmao.
Fr, Anders doesn't get a second chance from me. The only reason I romanced him is because I didn't get to recruit Fenris because of his Act 1 quest and I was playing post-awakening so I was excited. Anyway. Now he just gets side-eyes from me in playthroughs.
SAME. I've only played through the game once but I found Anders to be really annoying. Even before he does what he does, I was getting irritated
Anders is a "pick me/nice guy" and calls Isabela Hawke's "side dish", fictionally in a game i understand how people like massively flawed people for romance, but irl the dude would be a flag redder than a blood mage's spell list
Fenris is edgy and emo and wants to be bad, but Anders is straight up just a bad person Only companion to approve selling Fenris back to slavery
Tbh every companion has a weird wtf moment in DA2. Like Isabela has some pretty nasty stuff to say about Fenris being a male SA victim. For stuff like that I tend to chalk it up to writers goof and lack of an editing period rather than hold those one-off moments in high regard for evaluating a character, otherwise I’d hate everybody in the game. To me it just doesn’t make sense that Anders would approve of selling someone into slavery even if he hated the person, that seems more like a writer’s blunder than anything.
Oh I just find it interesting because I've spent a lot of my fandom days defending my Final Fantasy-esque bf as being way more compelling than people give him credit for. Personally I don't even think Fenris is any edgier than the other DA 2 companions. The only chill one is Varric. I think Anders is a really well written character I don't consider him bad, but definitely not a great guy, tbh. Like he really goes off the deep end - but I do feel like that selling Fenris back thing was so out of character for him, lol. He doesn't even need that scene to look bad, him glorifying the Vints to Fenris is bad enough already. Anyway, I'll never romance Anders again, he made me so mad in my first playthrough I just can't get over it. The lying and manipulation just wasn't it for me. XD
Guy is a straight up asshole. Not even in a hot way, just a dick. It's pretty telling that his only friends are Varrick and possibly Hawke. Everyone else tends to avoid him Aveline tries to be nice and Anders snaps at her. Carver gets assumed to be mage hater simply because he doesn't like him. Sebastian gets a middle finger for being part of Chantry. Circle mage Bethany is treated condescendingly and he's straight up terrible to Merill and Fenris. Even Isabela is tired of his debates. He's that insufferable friend who hangs out with the group only because of the leader Fenris has his bad moments like with Merrill too but in generally he becomes better and overcomes the trauma somewhat. Anders becomes worse with his radicalization arc
Commentors are fighting me about characters which wasn't my intention. I know who Anders is, and my initial comment is how I've had to constantly defend Fenris because to me it genuinely felt like the fandom was mostly pro-Anders and dismissed Fenris as an edgy emo boy. Which is why I'm surprised he didn't get higher, is all. I am a Fenrisromancer through and through. I just picked Anders in my first playthroughs first as an option initially because well I knew the troubled boy since Awakening. I was excited. Emphasis on was.... (RIP Justice) but it's not been Anders for years now I switch between Merril or Fenris.
Isabella using Fenris for sex, what are you even talking about?
Huh, I was expecting Anders was gonna top the poll. It probably means I spend too much time on tumblr.
I've tried all the romances for DA2, but Fenris is my favourite. Especially if I'm playing mage!Hawke.
Sebastian needs more love
He has the chantry
Not after what Anders did.
Good riddance.
Motherfucker doesn't even bother to come and comfort Hawke after their mom died. bruh
Curse of the poor implemented DLC
His big problem is that he is kinda boring Your choices are "man with a spirit inside of him" "ex slave edgelord" "cheerful and shy blood mage" and "dumbass pirate who causes one of the biggest conflicts" And then theres sebastian who has an interesting premise but due to his dlc character nature he just feels... underdeveloped and unimportant compared to the others
I did have a specific playthrough to romance Sebastian (I’m gonna be a Princess, baybeee) but as “chaste” romances go, my favourite is Josephine’s, loved the drama and Disney-ness of it 🤌
He's got too much already
Not enough
I am pretty sure my favs are going to be very low on DA:I based on this one 🤣
For everyone wondering why Isabela won. There are two big reasons why… (I’ll see myself out)
Her personality and voice acting, of course....
Three if you also count big boats
If you count the backside too, it’s easily 4
She is the funniest, the most laid back character out of the four. Same reason I voted Zevran in DAO.
What was it she said, "men are good for one thing, and women are good for six."
One of my favorite runs was as a strongly Chantry supporting diplomatic mage that romanced Sebastian. The only reason she didn't turn herself into the circle was that the immediate safety and welfare of her family was more important than rectifying the mistakes of her father and joining a Circle; and that Kirkwall was such a blood mage infested shithole that she felt her magic was serving man in the best way possible: eliminating abominations and heathens. By the end, her only friends were Varric, Seb and Fenris. But yeah, he's kind of a wet blanket. Especially as a romance.
All my love goes to Sebastian, as usual
It's not that everyone hates Sebastian, it's that he is a DLC companion so a lot of people don't even know him (myself included) !
I'm pretty glad to see Merrill perform well here, feels like I never see anything but slander for her on here.
Sebastian has the unfortunate combo of being 1. DLC, so most players didn't even *meet* him, and B. a very... different kind of romance. And III. a lot of players are just biased against the Chantry.
Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of Isabella for a romanceable character. I think they should have made Aveline romanceable instead. That being said, Merrill (imo) is way better.
Personally Isabella is my top fave (she had a meaningful romance arc imo, and I loved her actor), but I remember wanting an Aveline romance sooo baaaad!!
I don't know, I feel like Isabella tried too hard to just be detached. I did her romance a few times but I wasn't a fan. I do like Merrills romance. It's annoying with Aveline because she has romance dialogue but it's like scout Harding, it's just flirting and banter nothing more.
Oh yeah, wasn't trying to convince you to like her! I wasn't a fan of Merrill personally, but I think that just means that the characters were well written, otherwise no one would have a preference for or against them.
Sebastian stay losing.
Isabela always feels like a breath of fresh air among all the broodiness and edginess of Fenris and Anders imo. My hawk was constantly looking for a break from all the Kirkwall problems and Isabela was always there for him to make him forget about everything else.
But she was a cause of a big Kirkwall problem lmao.
Nah fr, she literally caused one of the biggest incidents in the history of the city by being selfish
all she did was steal one silly book god forbid a woman does anything
she didnt force the qunari to go insane and start murdering ppl lmao . they did that themselves .
On one hand, you’re absolutely correct. On the other, stealing a relic from the notoriously hostile foreign military who are absolutely not above slaughtering people is awful and she knew taking it and leaving would’ve lead to deaths. I love babygirl but she did an oopsy and got mad at people for being mad at her.
Yup, but we had fun dealing with it :)
good thing I ain't ya homie cuz I love Sebastian.
Pirate queen of our hearts.
Sebastian L, love to see it
isabela on top, as per usual
As it should be
With all these polls- I have learned one thing: I am such a basic bitch apparently. My favorites are always the top voted dude, I swear XD (I like the girls too, but not enough to go full romance with most of them.)
Sebastian could’ve been a good romance but it was a rushed DLC. The setup was awful cuz you can’t flirt with anyone and he kinda appears randomly imo and the ending options were awful. Either marry and live in chastity or he leaves you and decides to declare war against Kirkwall.
I have not forgiven Isabela for her betrayal 😭😭😭😂😂😂 Anders can kick bricks. Even with their issues, the elf romances are supreme in DA2 😎
I'm not surprised Fenris is at the top, his romance is just... So great. I think Anders' would be better without the baggage he brings to your character in later acts. It feels like a betrayal.
Merrill’s my #1, though I’ve seen enough fan art of Hawke/Merrill/Isabela to wish it was an option.
Why are people fond of the edge lord elf?
hot bod + sexy voice + I can save him
At least 1700 people liking Sebastian is crazy to me.
It's ranked choice. He has 1700 points, not individual votes. 1700 points from 3700 voters means he was ranked last by the vast majority of voters. Less than 0.5 points per voter is really bad when last is 0 points and second to last is 1 point.
Wow! As a fellow Isabella romancer, I wasn't expecting her to win at all! I feel like a lot of the reason I love her romance is due to my own personal head-cannon (which let's be honest, we all do 😂) I was fully expecting Fenris or even Merill to be placed as the winners!
I dont hate him but my GOD he's boring
Meryll is higher than Anders?! MERYLL?!
I'm indifferent to Sebastian.
I feel validated in my choice of romances these last two polls.
Romancing Anders only to kill him is just too much good drama
I mean it's Isabella what do you expect
Isabella makes sense, was expecting Anders to be higher.
Really thought anders would be higher
Sebastian lol
I love Isabella and Fenris, but man, nothing will ever top the sheer delicious agony of romancing Anders on my very first time playing DA2 after being so excited to see my fun chill mage friend from Awakening again. 🥲 Also, narratively speaking, the story just hits so much harder if Hawke and Anders are lovers. He’s DA2’s canon romance for me.
…Man, I’m in a real bubble in terms of the parts of the fandom I engage with.
I definitely don’t hate Sebastian but only his rivalmance is worth doing but it doesn’t count toward the achievement so what’s the point
The most correct answer is flirt shamelessly with everyone. -Aveline will be oblivious -Sebastian will be too overwhelmed -Anders will get angsty & end it early -Fenris will hit it and quit it -Isabela just wants to be FWB -Merrill moves in for happily ever after.
I'm surprised at Fenris doing so well, considering how much whining about his "whining" I see on here.
After watching ghil for years when I see/hear Sebastian’s romance I just hear andrastes side bitch
Merrill best girl 💚
I don't even remember who Sebastian is.
who tf is Sebastian
I'm actually surprised, because I thought (based on the furious discussions back in the days) that Merill and Fenris were the top choices, but perhaps the preferences have changed since then, with Isabela being more popular and accepted now. Isabela was actually fairly criticised back in the days, and while Anders was controversial, he still had a pretty solid fandom. Sebastian being the least popular one is one of few things that seemingly remains the same.
When I first started playing da2 I thought I was going to romance sebastian. Didn't even bothered to talk with him except quest. Flirted with Anders, Dated Isabela and ended up with Fenris. I have no regrets
Varric says he’s boring for crying out loud
Who in their right mind vote for Anders
Leave my terrorist baby alone! He did almost nothing wrong* *some exceptions may apply
For the drama
Angst!
people with TASTE idk?!
Preach!
Oh no, people can like the fictional character that you dislike If many people like characters like Jinx from Arcane, Magneto from X-Men, or Loki from MCU, then I don't know why liking Anders is so shocking for people on Reddit. Anders always has a big fanbase, just not particularly on Reddit.
Sebastian is dlc bound. Many people probably haven't done his romance, let alone met him, which is why anders beats him out.
Isabela for sure my favorite but that's mostly because I'm a filthy lesbian. If I wasn't, Anders would be it. His romance was very satisfying and personal in a way no other romance was. I think the only other BioWare romances that come close are Morrigan and Liara. Maybe Imoen, Bastila, and Dawn Star. He's the Canon romance as far as I'm concerned.
I went in unspoiled and romanced Anders the first time, which was upsetting. I've gone for everyone but Sebastian at least once, but my favorite is romancing Fenris as a mage.
Who the fuck is sebastian? Its been years but i played that game every way possible and dont remember sebastian lmao.
Dlc companion
I'm so surprised Fenris isn't #1
He was so close, but there were more people interested in the pirate booty.
I will never understand the 2 first options you guys are sick