I Think Where The “you’re Just Mad People Are Critiquing A Game You Like” Crowd Gets Me The Most

Taash.

I pretty much have resigned myself to just not being able to look up any DragonAge videos on YouTube. Curious about a specific scene? Nope. Gonna have to wade through "THIS IS THE CRINGIEST DIALOGUE" with a screencap of Taash. It can literally have nothing to do with what I even looked for. Are folks still this upset over that? There's enough ragebait out there as it is, but at this point its just goofy.

TAASH: Can Ativan Crows eat meat?

LUCANIS, patiently: We’re not actually birds, Taash.

TAASH: I thought maybe you had to stay light, to do all the flips and shit.

LUCANIS: …

Okay, let's talk about the coming out scene, because people are saying Taash was the one out of line.

Shathann is a sympathetic character. That does not make her a good person. She saved her child from a life of servitude by leaving the country she loved and tried to preserve that culture in her child. I respect that. I also wish there was a way to encourage Taash to embrace both sides of their culture.

BUT.

From the moment we meet her, Shathann criticizes literally everything her child does. Taash runs an errand for her, and Shathann criticizes their posture, pronunciation, gender presentation, AND sexuality, completely unprovoked, yes, in one fucking conversation. Shathann invites Taash over for dinner and then makes Taash cook that fucking dinner. And this has happened before, as stated in the dialogue. Taash is so affected by this behavior and probably worse they have endured their entire life that they say "you don't get to tell me who I am" at a simple question about their heritage, out of pure instinct.

Now to the actual scene.

Taash invites their mother to their new home and prepares a dinner for her, which Shathann immediately criticizes and has Taash make vegetables to go with. Can you imagine inviting someone into your home for dinner you prepare only for them to shit on it and ask you to cook more. And Taash does so, with a grunt. I'd be like bitch you're in my house, I cooked, eat. But they just do it.

Then they say it. "Im nonbinary." Shathann asks what that means, completely fair, and Taash explains that it means they're not a man or a woman.

Shathann asks if this is because she criticizes their gender presentation. Now listen. I have a parent who thinks nearly everything "wrong" with me is a reaction to their actions. It pisses me off. So Taash is getting reasonably frustrated, and insists that's not why. VALID. They were asked a question and they answered.

Let's talk about the Qun and gender identity. Yes they have a word for people who identify as a different gender than they were assigned. But this is implied to apply to trans men and women, not nonbinary people, so Shathann is asking Taash if they "just" identify as a man, because that's something Shathann can better understand, something more convenient for her to process. Sort of like when trans people come out to someone and are asked if they're "just gay."

No. And Taash says no. They have explained who they are. If Shathann was just having a hard time processing it that would be one thing, but she basically talked over Taash and tried to suggest that they were just a man, which they are not. Taash is being vulnerable. Taash doesn't even HAVE to tell Shathann this, but they want to, they think she deserves to know.

And what Taash says next is not purely to do with this one conversation, as explicit in the text. "why am I never enough for you." Never. Not now. We have seen Shathann critique Taash in every scene they share, and that's with a whole other person present who is not in the family. We don't know what happens in private. Shathann signed her child up for a fucking war without even talking to them about it. What Taash says is the build up of years of being talked over and criticized for everything they do, provoked by offering themselves to that person in a vulnerable position only to be talked over and criticized more.

"Why am I never enough for you."

And Shathann does not answer. She doesnt say "of course you are." Even if she disagreed with Taash's identity, which would be shitty, she could still affirm that they are enough for her. She doesn't.

She fucking leaves.

Maybe she thinks that's what Taash wants. Maybe not. But if someone asks you something like that, you affirm them. You say they are enough. Especially if they're your fucking child. But no, this conversation is too inconvenient for Shathann, she's not getting her way like she did when she signed Taash up for a war without their consent, so she just leaves. She could've said "I don't understand, but I love you." She couldve said anything. But she just left.

I'm sad she died. Im glad she accepted her child in the end. But no, Taash was not in any way out of line in this conversation.

Shathann was.

By the way

I hope every person who uses a mod to remove a single one of her sweet, adorable freckles spends the rest of their lives unexpectedly stepping on legos.

Ahh, I remember the day when I decided that my Rook and all of my future Rooks were going to romance Taash.

plz reblog for sampo size :3

I would love love LOVE it if Taash wasn’t constantly misgendered!!! It’s genuinely really fucking insane that MONTHS after Veilguard has been released and people STILL can’t get it right.

Deadass i literally don’t care whether or not anyone here even likes Taash, but the BARE MINIMUM is to use their correct pronouns.

Apologies for sounding so angry about it but like I’m beyond tired of seeing it, especially since Taash is one of my favorite Dragon Age characters.

huge fan of how whenever you try to address that the trend of black characters consistently being seen as less attractive and interesting due to traits that people famously laud white characters over is a systemic occurrence and even if you don't realize this about yourself it's important to recognize the pattern there will always without fail be at least 30 different chucklefucks going "so true i just didn't like him because i like this white character more but you're so right 🥰" it's awesome actually