Chatty December: Dragon Age
"Thedas is super violent. How do people deal with it emotionally do you think? "
Mainly, I think they're medieval people with a different idea of 'violent'.
By which I mean, we at one point as a species were totally cool with having people publicly disembowereld, dismembered, and/or burned alive as a form of public entertainment, bring your kids, buy some souvenirs. And this was considered normal, even proper and morally sound, and people apparently for the most part were not deeply traumatized by it.
The thing about violence is, you get used to it. The more of it there is around you, in your world, the higher your threshold is. And Thedas, as you noted, is super violent. Blood mages will cut themselves, or other people, for an added boost of power. There are a lot of places where this isn't even considered that bad a thing. You've got lyrium-addicted templars who in some cases have seen not one but several embodiments of the darker side of human nature made manifest and poured into their world in truly hideous forms. And only some of them - the ones that've seen the most extreme things - are scarred.
I'm kind of stunned Cullen isn't more of a complete wreck than he is, given he saw his entire Circle of mages get possessed, kill and torture each other and all the other templars and torture HIM until he couldn't tell what was real anymore. But he treats it much as soldiers in our world treat really ugly battles - he just flat out doesn't talk about it. It's put behind a door, and he doesn't think about it, and he tries not to let it affect him.
This is how people cope, generally. They scream and freak out for varying states of 'a while', and then it becomes something shut behind a door, left alone so that the scars don't rip open into new wounds and fresh bouts of CANNOT COPE.
You will note that Thedas is a world where people do this A LOT. The Dalish live in such a harsh environment that they're perfectly fine with turning children of seven or eight years out into the wilds, alone, if they happen to be born with magic and that clan's already got too many mages.
City elves in their alienages live a life that would be its own Twitter hashtag; #urbanwhileelvish or something. And that's not even counting the overt slavery they endure under the Imperium.
Dwarves and their castes make the most brutal survivalists the best merchants and survivors. But you only see one case of a mother who refuses to leave her child to be casteless alone, and joins her child in the slums. And you can tell that while she wouldn't choose differently, she's badly scarred.
The more we endure, the harder the heart gets and the thicker the skin. Thedas is a world of very hard hearts and thick skins, on the whole, which invariably makes any kindness you do as the Hero, the Champion, or the Inquisitor stand out all the more. People do not expect you to be kind. And sometimes Thedas will punish you for being kind (Harrowmont, poor guy. Nice guy, terrible king). And that's just part of Thedas.
Kindness is something we learn and unlearn and re-learn, much as fear is. Thedas, in this respect, is at a stage where kindness is flat out unexpected, and so receives nearly disproportionate reward most of the time.
Mainly, I think they're medieval people with a different idea of 'violent'.
By which I mean, we at one point as a species were totally cool with having people publicly disembowereld, dismembered, and/or burned alive as a form of public entertainment, bring your kids, buy some souvenirs. And this was considered normal, even proper and morally sound, and people apparently for the most part were not deeply traumatized by it.
The thing about violence is, you get used to it. The more of it there is around you, in your world, the higher your threshold is. And Thedas, as you noted, is super violent. Blood mages will cut themselves, or other people, for an added boost of power. There are a lot of places where this isn't even considered that bad a thing. You've got lyrium-addicted templars who in some cases have seen not one but several embodiments of the darker side of human nature made manifest and poured into their world in truly hideous forms. And only some of them - the ones that've seen the most extreme things - are scarred.
I'm kind of stunned Cullen isn't more of a complete wreck than he is, given he saw his entire Circle of mages get possessed, kill and torture each other and all the other templars and torture HIM until he couldn't tell what was real anymore. But he treats it much as soldiers in our world treat really ugly battles - he just flat out doesn't talk about it. It's put behind a door, and he doesn't think about it, and he tries not to let it affect him.
This is how people cope, generally. They scream and freak out for varying states of 'a while', and then it becomes something shut behind a door, left alone so that the scars don't rip open into new wounds and fresh bouts of CANNOT COPE.
You will note that Thedas is a world where people do this A LOT. The Dalish live in such a harsh environment that they're perfectly fine with turning children of seven or eight years out into the wilds, alone, if they happen to be born with magic and that clan's already got too many mages.
City elves in their alienages live a life that would be its own Twitter hashtag; #urbanwhileelvish or something. And that's not even counting the overt slavery they endure under the Imperium.
Dwarves and their castes make the most brutal survivalists the best merchants and survivors. But you only see one case of a mother who refuses to leave her child to be casteless alone, and joins her child in the slums. And you can tell that while she wouldn't choose differently, she's badly scarred.
The more we endure, the harder the heart gets and the thicker the skin. Thedas is a world of very hard hearts and thick skins, on the whole, which invariably makes any kindness you do as the Hero, the Champion, or the Inquisitor stand out all the more. People do not expect you to be kind. And sometimes Thedas will punish you for being kind (Harrowmont, poor guy. Nice guy, terrible king). And that's just part of Thedas.
Kindness is something we learn and unlearn and re-learn, much as fear is. Thedas, in this respect, is at a stage where kindness is flat out unexpected, and so receives nearly disproportionate reward most of the time.