dao as a story about the warden learning to want to live, a warden who tried to reject duncan’s recruitment even if it was their only chance at survival ending up doing the dark ritual because they’ve learned to want to live, will simply never miss
i love how absurdly well it ties into all of the companions like alistair surviving all this with you after thinking he should have died with duncan at ostagar. morrigan and the warden having something to learn from each other in “survival is all that matters” vs. “some things are worth dying for”. leliana’s miracle being the mundane truth that there is ordinary beauty even in darkness. zevran who after rinna is on this journey with you. wynne who was wrong the love wasn’t a distraction from your duty it was what made you want to live victorious. sten who if he had not been given his purpose and a chance to recover his honour by you would have stayed to die in lothering. oghren destroying himself waiting for branka and only becoming someone on the surface. shale’s hesitant exploration of what it means to be alive in a more temporary body. loghain if recruited surviving what he saw only as an extension of his death sentence and making something of it, saving the land he wanted to save. even the dog who is alive because you were there to save it and when it was injured and hurting let you muzzle it because it wanted to live. showstopping narrative always new always brilliant
