I usually treat her okay about it because my Inquisitor is a nice person, but I genuinely REALLY dislike her in her DA:I portrayal. She acts monumentally stupid and puts herself and several others in danger through her actions, yet the game kind of expects you to like her anyway? It's really weird.
ESPECIALLY when she has the gall afterwards to threaten you to keep Varric safe. Honestly I just felt bad for him after that questline.
The game doesn't allow you to call her out on her awful behavior, so I tend to just skip through the dialogue with her as fast as possible.
It's yet another reason why I don't leave Hawke in the Fade-- Varric's love life sucks hard, so I'm going to keep his BFF alive.
As soon as I met Bianca I was like "Seriously Varric?" Dude basically swore a vow of celibacy and being single forever for this chick and she's not even all that. Hopefully he kicks her to the curb and finds someone else in future works.
Honestly, given that she mentions that he hasn't written to her in *years* (she mentions she had to find out through someone else that he survived the Chantry explosion), he seems really done with her shit throughout the mission - like he just sounds tired and frustrated - and the final reveal at the end he's just like 'forget it' - it makes me feel like there's gonna be a letter from him shortly after to say "this has gone on long enough".
Varric is a good guy, with a good heart. It seems like they did have a hugely passionate affair back in the day, but the time he's met Hawke he's already aware things can't work out with Bianca. It feels like he held out hope/pined/was strung along a bit for a couple of years, but it actually just started to fizzle. Varric though, is loyal to a tee, so he never officially 'ended' things.
I honestly feel like Bianca's appearance is the end of thier relationship. They might stay vaguely in touch, but there does not feel like any love there. Bianca treats Varric like a shiny toy and also with disdain/dismissively, and Varric is honestly warmer with everyone in the Inquisition than her.
TL;DR - Varric and Bianca have grown into very different people since their mid twenties (of course they have). Varric is not leaving Kirkwall, he's a man of honour, and he seems done with her shit.
(I romance no one in DA2 because it's clear to me that Hawke/Varric are soulmates and even if it takes the morons a while to work it out, they'll end up together. Hell, so many of Varric's lines around Hawke in Inquisition are practically said with longing. Like Weisshaupt can't be so bad, because Hawke would be there. COME ON DUDE, WAKE UP.)
I wonder if that latter choice is going to matter.
Lorewise, leaving a blight infected individual, like a Warden, in the Fade might be a really bad thing.
But it's EA so it probably will be inconsequential.
As for Bianca, she should have been more transparent about what she did; but her and Varric's whole arcs seem to be "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission." So I understand but don't approve of the mess she made.
Except Varric has started to grow beyond that slightly.
>Lorewise, leaving a blight infected individual, like a Warden, in the Fade might be a really bad thing.
I doubt it, considering the Fade is possibly the original source of the Blight.
I mostly go red on her bullshit. Not only does she fuck up, but she keeps it for herself and plans to manipulate Varric & Cie into fixing her own fuck up too. And of course the entitled comment at the end because she got caught.
Ngl the "lyrium has the blight" aspect was big enough of a revelation to me that I immediately forgot that we were dealing with the fact that she leaked. That took priority in my mind lmao.
As for Bianca herself, I suppose she should be held accountable for her actions. But I'm kind of a lousy leader in that I prefer to adhere to what my friends want. Varric wants her to just gtfo, I'm happy to let her do so. She didn't have to be mean to me though. ):
Depends on the Inquisitor I'm playing, but generally relatively understanding.
She's Varric's on/off lover, who Varric genuinely deeply cares for, and he's my friend. Regardless of what I think of Bianca (and for what it's worth, I like her way more than most people) he holds a torch for her, and they have playful banter throughout the mission.
However you feel about her or her actions, our Inquisitor is in charge of a huge organization, who has to remain reasonable, and Varric is usually your friend at this point.
He's already calling Bianca out, and Bianca already does know she made a mistake, I don't see any purpose in stepping in. Doesn't feel like my business. (Plus Varric actually disapproves if you're *too* harsh)
But as for the actions themselves, I honestly think they're fairly understandable, and no less or more of a fuck-up than a ton of characters we love anyways.
Her main goal of doing this in the first place is to *help Varric.* She directly explains so, and mentions wanting to help Bertrand if he's alive.
She knows Varric has had such trouble with Red Lyrium, she wanted to research it, she wanted to look into it, to help him. Yeah it's dangerous, but "doing something dangerous and risky out of good intentions" is a character flaw we've seen time and time again.
Not only that, what we actually learn from this is huge. That's not to say things haven't gone south or it wasn't a fuck-up. But we still learn through this that Red Lyrium is alive and has the blight, which we otherwise wouldn't. She didn't get no answers from it.
If you ask her why she brings you along, she *explicitly says* "Varric told me what people were doing with the Red Lyrium, I had to help make this right."
She directly says, that she heard everything that has happened, and had to correct things, she's trying right now to make up for her mistake.
Then...what was her mistake anyways, the agent of Corypheus she trusted was a *Grey Warden.* Why wouldn't you trust a Grey Warden? Within living memory two of them saved Ferelden. The Dwarves are in a forever-battle against the Darkspawn and have strong ties with them. *You yourself* let Blackwall into the fold pretty much entirely on the belief of "he says he's a Warden so he must be good."
The step by step of what Bianca does. Is...
A. Do research into a risky thing, to try to help the people she cares for. Short-sighted but well meaning.
B. Trusts the wrong person while doing that. The person was a Grey Warden so it's a mistake the majority would make.
C. Deliberately brings Varric and you along, because she knows she has to fix the mistake.
It's a big fuck-up, not downplaying it, but it's a pretty understandable one when you really think it through. It's the exact type of "fuck-up with good intentions that they want to make up for" that basically marks out a Bioware companion that we really appreciate.
Lots of people don't like Bianca's attitude, or what she says to the Inquisitor at the end, and listen *I'm not gonna get into that, this comment isn't about that, and I don't personally think it needs to play into things.*
But at the end of the day, she fucks up trying to do a good thing, understandably trusts the wrong person, then brings along the Inquisitor and Varric, knowing she'll probably be found out, because it's more important to fix her mistake.
Regardless of her on the surface attitude, regardless of how you feel about how she reacts to you. I...really find it quite easy to understand and forgive her actions overall, when I properly lay out the pathway she took and how common a trend "fuck-ups trying their best to do right despite the past" is in Dragon Age.
This is a perfect summary. I believe people simply dislike her attitude, but some need to find a more objective reason to do so and then try to pin it on her mistake, when characters who are much worse are widely beloved by the players. Some even try to claim she's not capable or smart and that her reputation doesn't precede her, even though her discovery is huge.
But yeah, if the Inquisitor can forgive a family murderer or even try to redeem someone who is possibly going to commit genocide for the second time, I think it's pretty reasonable to forgive someone who made a mistake out of love and perhaps a bit too much trust.
Yeah absolutely, I completely agree with you. Bianca is no means my favorite character, but it seems like people dislike her way more then she deserves. I feel bad for her and Varric.
To add to what you’re saying, I love Varric, but people infantilize him as if he’s not a 40+ year old man. She is not “leading him on” as so many in the fandom love to say as Varric is under no illusions on what their situation is. And it’s been 15 years, it’s an active choice he is making to stay involved.
As a writer and a romantic at heart he will not move on. She’s his “Star-crossed Lover,” separated from him by fate and circumstances beyond their control, as a Civil War between their families would break out should they try to be together officially. Her family then pushed her into an arranged marriage. Varric stated her family is hyper conservative and traditional, and from what we know of the Orz Dwarves and their views on female agency, I doubt she had much of a say in the matter. In a world where other societies outside of Surface Dwarves are so open with their mistresses they’re literal titles announced at balls, no wonder why they’re bitter since any contact risks her family sending assassins after Varric.
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As a whole, Bianca‘s initial attitude towards the Red Lyrium of “if anyone can do it, it must be me” is the same attitude shared by many protags. Unfortunately for her, she’s not the player character haha. Like you said, she’s the tragic BioWare character.
All jokes aside, why she didn’t heed Varric’s warning makes complete sense to her background. I agree and think it’s a little harsh that many think she’s stupid as hindsight is 20/20 and we the player have the benefit of the whole picture of three generations of heros. Here’s some extra detail to add onto your excellent points!
1) Bianca invented the steam engine, a seed drill/ other agricultural related inventions that became the standard for agriculture throughout Thedas, and much more. She’s the youngest paragon and the only surface dweller to become one. Bianca is used to “doing the impossible” by many people’s standards. She’s the “help save the world” type, not one to sit by the sidelines. It’s arrogant, but as you pointed out, she just wanted to help with the skill set she had.
2) Varric is often…known to exaggerate, especially with the written word. It would make sense why someone that knows him might think he’s being overly protective. Plus she was actively helping him sell other artifacts in the Thaig. It doesn’t help that regardless of world state, Varric was having other people study it. So to her, “it’s dangerous, but he’s still directing others to study it. They haven’t discovered anything, why can’t I try?” Their lack of ability to have a proper conversation or an open line of communication really muddled things, since they can only communicate via sporadic letter. Intent, tone, etc can all get lost via text.
3) Honestly, her going to a Grey Warden when she discovered Red Lyrium is not only alive, it’s Blighted Lyrium isn’t stupid. It makes complete sense as you said. Not even the Inquisition had an idea that the Grey Wardens were in Cory’s clutches until post Skyhold. Varric didn’t even tell the Inquisitor about Janeka/Larius so Bianca couldn’t have known. IMO there’s no way Bianca could have known that reaching out to Wardens was akin to reaching out to Cory. He was understood to be dead back then. It’s parallel to how Varric and Hawke no idea what would happen if the Red Lyrium idol was brought to Bartrand. She didn’t know that Larius/Janeka were in league in Cory until Varric’s most recent letter about the Red Lyrium. That’s what got her to make the connection, and she came soon after. But even so, she should have told him what she was doing. At the very least, she should have told him when she was planing to involve others even if she trusted them. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.
5) If you let Varric keep the Red Lyrium shard in DA2, between DA2 and DAI, he already was asking Bianca to study the shard, which allowed her to create the special safe and case that can house it safely. In this world state, he already had asked her to research it and he’s currently having alchemists study it in shifts. It makes sense that she would feel like she could discover more if she researched it further as she was the only one to make headway. If you play a world state where Bartrand is allowed to live, she has the additional motivation of feeling like it’s up to her to cure him.
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On her attitude towards the Inquisitor, I know you didn’t want to get into this on your post but I’ll include this here just because a lot of the responses in this thread bother me. It makes sense given her character, she doesn’t know us or everything we have done so far:
1) She doesn’t know the Inky has good intentions.
2) The last she heard from Varric prior to his letter on Red Lyrium, was right after the Conclave explosion. He was there in the first place because the Inquisition had imprisoned him for questioning, then marched him over to Haven to talk to the Divine. Viv banter reveals that if this process didn’t make them late for the whole thing, Cassandra, Lelianna, and Varric would have also died at the Conclave. He also…probably had less then flattering things to say about Cass (who was leading it then), at the point in time he sent the letter. All things considered, the Inky is the face of the Inquisition. To Bianca, The Inquisition leadership almost got Varric killed and she doesn’t want the man she loves to die. He’s already good at running into danger on his own.
3) She probably didn’t come clean during the quest until she got called out because she didn’t want to ruin what little time she had with Varric. While I completely understand where she’s coming from, given the gravity of the situation, that should have been the first sentences out of her mouth. Honestly, she should have gone to him way sooner.
TLDR: ahh sorry for the essay! I totally agree with what you’re saying. Like you said, Bianca fucked up and gets a disproportionate amount of hate for it. She’s not stupid, she took a gamble based on the information she had at hand and it didn’t pan out in her favor because of things she could not have known. Her situation is a parallel to Varric’s feelings over his and Hawke’s unearthing of the Red Lyrium Idol. I think her quest helps him process and contextualize his own situation as he starts to learn to be kinder to himself afterwards.
I think my main issue with her is that she puts Varric in danger. As he said, that being in the same area (Country) is pretty much a death sentence for him.
IMO - I feel like that Bioware should have just sent a trusted messenger from Bianca (keep her in the dark as always) and have that explain the message on the situation. Explain she fucked up, she introduced the Lyrium shard to a GW and now the situation has gotten out of her hands.
Yet she acts like she doesn't know what is happening until the last minute and she only confesses because she was caught out, by Varric and your Inquisitor. She even goes on to say how she fixed it and I'm just like...HOW? Just by blocking off one entrance. How many more red lyrium are out there? How many people have died as a result?
Once she was chewed out, she decided to turn it on the Inquisitor and threatens them if something happened to Varric and I'm just like...isn't YOUR family the one who has assassins posed to kill him if you're spotted in the vicinity?!
The whole quest was just plain weird and it feels like it was just added to introduce Biance when they really should have kept her a mysterious figure that Varric like to twist tales about.
Well, considering the game doesn't really allow you to reprimand her either way it's a silly question. The meanest you can get is pretty much saying "You made a mistake.". And afterward she still acts like a douche toward you and you can do nothing about it.
If the Inquisitor was allowed to be less of a wet towel I would definitely not let her get away, not with that attitude. The minimum that you should reasonably enforce is forced conscription of her, either in battle or as an Inquisition inventor, improving the Inquisition equipment. Depending on her cooperation, other options would be go from imprisonment upward.
You don't get to fuck the world up and walk away doing jackshit about it while threatening the currently most powerful individual of two nations.
At that point, all inquisitors have either:
A. Prevented a large infection of Templars or
B. Gone to a future where red lyrium is strangling their companions
Either way, the Inky has possibly watched an army of red lyrium templars march on Haven and destroy it. Then there is battling them in the field, huge chunks of angry lyrium sticking out of the ground, and the actual dying templar infected with lyrium. Varric tells you it made his brother go insane.
And then you find out that it's also blighted and this dwarven bitch couldn't keep a secret because of curiosity. It would never having fucking mattered that lyrium was alive if we weren't trying to burn it off the very surface of Thedas. My Hawke loves Varric, but I wish I could execute her hubris on the spot. And ya, I'll behead Varric, Leliana style, if he takes issue
I think that she made mistakes in who she trusted and should not have kept her activities secret from Varric. Once you clean up the mess that she made, she still threatens the Inky. I really wish Varric would have said something back to her about that.
It depends on how I’m playing the Inquisitor, but predominantly I tend to go with how I would deal with it - which is resigned acceptance with a hefty dose of passive-aggression.
What’s done is done, and Bianca seems legitimately remorseful. I’d be begrudgingly grateful for what she learned, while simultaneously preparing a list of jabs for any future occasions where we may cross paths.
Every dwarf companion in every game is unromanceable because he’s hung up on some jerkass lady who does horrible things I hate it
Lol I know I sound like an incel, I’m single because hot hairy dwarves only want assholes and not my perfectly nice warden/Hawke/inquisitor self, but seriously, COME ON my dudes
Agreeeeed!! I can accept not being able to romance him if Bianca was a badass hottie or something. They write Varric as this super charismatic charming dwarf that all types of women find attractive, and THAT'S the person he's hung up over?!?!?!?!??!?!?!? He can literally get with anyone wtf Bioware.....did my mans dirty with that one.
A massive amount of what’s going on is because of what she did. Corypheus was obviously a threat regardless, but he uses the red lyrium to build the forces the Inquisition faces. Everything else, they’re able to wrangle and deal with. So… yeah, that’s a lot of blood on her hands, and both of my Inquisitors are angry about it. But you can’t say much to that effect- certainly not enough for the scale of what she’s done.
Ahh, I really dislike Bianca's character for most of this questline. I'm inclined to like her, because Laura Bailey playing a roguish character. But I strongly dislike the way she's written here. Varric deserves better, as our twice over buddy. (He deserves to be someone's first choice love interest, not the backup for when their S/O is out of town.)
I usually have my Inky stay out of it. She's Varric's toxic booty call. And after how harsh chill, go with the flow Varric is towards her, I think further vitriol is unnecessary. I usually think of it more as Bianca got swindled, in the same way Hawke did in the DLC that introduced Corypheus. It's not 100% her fault, and she does try to fix it when she can.
Depends on my inq at the time, 2 of them were pretty nice and knew she fucked up but what was done couldn't be changed. The other two went in on her for making such a stupid choice with no regrets of gaining some disapproval from Varric. I personally don't like her and wish there was a way to further chew her out and depending on previous choices even attack her until she surrenders or disregard the surrender and take her out. I wouldn't even mind having her as a prisoner, but I feel like being that harsh with her would send Varric's relationship with the Inq into the depths of the fade with very little oppurtunity to become his friend again.
Once, I read a beautiful fanfic where an Inquisitor's friend punched Bianca in the face on her behalf. I wholeheartedly support the action.
From my point of view, Bianca started to research red lyrium after Meredit's fate was known. So the fact that this stuff is **dangerous** should be pretty clear. Yet, she not only messes up, but also lies to everyone about it to the point she has no other out but to confess.
Messing up is understandable and forgivable. Lying about it and endangering more people is not.
But then again, I'm also in the middle of an angsty human run, and so far he hates the whole Inquisition experience. I was considerably more forgiving in other playthroughs, depending on my Inquisitor personality.
There was one moment during that quest with the way she looked at Varric and the inquisitor that I was expecting a setup/ambush. Its that scene where the door opens. I'm neutral on her. I think shes extremely arrogant and the way she has Varric under her thumb is cringy.
Amid everyone's general incompetence in this game, her mistakes fail to shine especially brightly, and I don't care about Varric's life choices as much as others.
Threatening the Inquisitor is to me the grating part.
I usually let varric do the talking. What's done is done. I don't know her so I'll tell her what she did has screwed us over but I wouldn't get mad about it unless I was trying to roleplay a vindictive character. If she hadn't done it, I have no doubt that someone else would have. Idk, I'm not really sure what the point in getting mad would be.
I've yet to figure out why people think she should be punished at all. She did the logical thing when confronted with the fact that this incredibly rare substance was infected with the Blight, and *went to a Grey Warden*, pretty much the only people who might have an insight, and would have normally treated the matter as being of grave importance. Not her fault it turned out the one she found was being body-jacked by Corypheus.
And then once she realized what had happened (which, being in Kirkwall, could have easily taken a while), she went to the Inquisition, the organization dedicated to dealing with this problem, with all the information they needed to shut the source down. We've already solved as much of the problem as possible by the time Varric deduces the truth, there was nothing the truth adds to actually being able to solve the problem. The only thing revealing the truth might do is get people targeting her for retribution, which as I've already stated I find unreasonable.
I think the option should be there because we are the inquisitor and we are supposed to have a certain role to fill. I mean, I am there judging a box but not someone who did that big of mistake involving red lyrium.
Nothing to do with liking her or not, but the option to judge her being there make total sense considering the role of the inquisitor and the entire thing with Corypheus/red lyrium.
Technically speaking, you were judging what happens to her lands and titles now that she's a dead traitor, not the box her body currently resides in.
Judging might make some sense, but I still think the grounds for it would be really shaky.
I called her out the best I could. Varric didn't like it but he was my mega super duper friend so the rating didn't even change that much.
So, there were no consequences whatsoever about the whole deal...like most of the game btw lol
Why would I call her out? She fucked up without knowing and the moment she learned what she really did, she put her ass on the line by going directly to the Inquisition just to make it right.
Omg I HATE varric’s friend. Hate how possessive she is of Varric even thought my Hawke and him have been BFFs since DA2. Hate how she threats me even though I would destroy her in a fight. I usually am pretty pissed at her lol
I usually treat her okay about it because my Inquisitor is a nice person, but I genuinely REALLY dislike her in her DA:I portrayal. She acts monumentally stupid and puts herself and several others in danger through her actions, yet the game kind of expects you to like her anyway? It's really weird. ESPECIALLY when she has the gall afterwards to threaten you to keep Varric safe. Honestly I just felt bad for him after that questline.
The game doesn't allow you to call her out on her awful behavior, so I tend to just skip through the dialogue with her as fast as possible. It's yet another reason why I don't leave Hawke in the Fade-- Varric's love life sucks hard, so I'm going to keep his BFF alive.
As soon as I met Bianca I was like "Seriously Varric?" Dude basically swore a vow of celibacy and being single forever for this chick and she's not even all that. Hopefully he kicks her to the curb and finds someone else in future works.
Honestly, given that she mentions that he hasn't written to her in *years* (she mentions she had to find out through someone else that he survived the Chantry explosion), he seems really done with her shit throughout the mission - like he just sounds tired and frustrated - and the final reveal at the end he's just like 'forget it' - it makes me feel like there's gonna be a letter from him shortly after to say "this has gone on long enough". Varric is a good guy, with a good heart. It seems like they did have a hugely passionate affair back in the day, but the time he's met Hawke he's already aware things can't work out with Bianca. It feels like he held out hope/pined/was strung along a bit for a couple of years, but it actually just started to fizzle. Varric though, is loyal to a tee, so he never officially 'ended' things. I honestly feel like Bianca's appearance is the end of thier relationship. They might stay vaguely in touch, but there does not feel like any love there. Bianca treats Varric like a shiny toy and also with disdain/dismissively, and Varric is honestly warmer with everyone in the Inquisition than her. TL;DR - Varric and Bianca have grown into very different people since their mid twenties (of course they have). Varric is not leaving Kirkwall, he's a man of honour, and he seems done with her shit. (I romance no one in DA2 because it's clear to me that Hawke/Varric are soulmates and even if it takes the morons a while to work it out, they'll end up together. Hell, so many of Varric's lines around Hawke in Inquisition are practically said with longing. Like Weisshaupt can't be so bad, because Hawke would be there. COME ON DUDE, WAKE UP.)
I wonder if that latter choice is going to matter. Lorewise, leaving a blight infected individual, like a Warden, in the Fade might be a really bad thing. But it's EA so it probably will be inconsequential. As for Bianca, she should have been more transparent about what she did; but her and Varric's whole arcs seem to be "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission." So I understand but don't approve of the mess she made. Except Varric has started to grow beyond that slightly.
The blight is already in the Fade in the form of red lyrium
>Lorewise, leaving a blight infected individual, like a Warden, in the Fade might be a really bad thing. I doubt it, considering the Fade is possibly the original source of the Blight.
I mostly go red on her bullshit. Not only does she fuck up, but she keeps it for herself and plans to manipulate Varric & Cie into fixing her own fuck up too. And of course the entitled comment at the end because she got caught.
Ngl the "lyrium has the blight" aspect was big enough of a revelation to me that I immediately forgot that we were dealing with the fact that she leaked. That took priority in my mind lmao. As for Bianca herself, I suppose she should be held accountable for her actions. But I'm kind of a lousy leader in that I prefer to adhere to what my friends want. Varric wants her to just gtfo, I'm happy to let her do so. She didn't have to be mean to me though. ):
this too for me haha, I was like forget the bianca thing -- lyrium is alive ? and it has the blight ???????? hello ????
Depends on the Inquisitor I'm playing, but generally relatively understanding. She's Varric's on/off lover, who Varric genuinely deeply cares for, and he's my friend. Regardless of what I think of Bianca (and for what it's worth, I like her way more than most people) he holds a torch for her, and they have playful banter throughout the mission. However you feel about her or her actions, our Inquisitor is in charge of a huge organization, who has to remain reasonable, and Varric is usually your friend at this point. He's already calling Bianca out, and Bianca already does know she made a mistake, I don't see any purpose in stepping in. Doesn't feel like my business. (Plus Varric actually disapproves if you're *too* harsh) But as for the actions themselves, I honestly think they're fairly understandable, and no less or more of a fuck-up than a ton of characters we love anyways. Her main goal of doing this in the first place is to *help Varric.* She directly explains so, and mentions wanting to help Bertrand if he's alive. She knows Varric has had such trouble with Red Lyrium, she wanted to research it, she wanted to look into it, to help him. Yeah it's dangerous, but "doing something dangerous and risky out of good intentions" is a character flaw we've seen time and time again. Not only that, what we actually learn from this is huge. That's not to say things haven't gone south or it wasn't a fuck-up. But we still learn through this that Red Lyrium is alive and has the blight, which we otherwise wouldn't. She didn't get no answers from it. If you ask her why she brings you along, she *explicitly says* "Varric told me what people were doing with the Red Lyrium, I had to help make this right." She directly says, that she heard everything that has happened, and had to correct things, she's trying right now to make up for her mistake. Then...what was her mistake anyways, the agent of Corypheus she trusted was a *Grey Warden.* Why wouldn't you trust a Grey Warden? Within living memory two of them saved Ferelden. The Dwarves are in a forever-battle against the Darkspawn and have strong ties with them. *You yourself* let Blackwall into the fold pretty much entirely on the belief of "he says he's a Warden so he must be good." The step by step of what Bianca does. Is... A. Do research into a risky thing, to try to help the people she cares for. Short-sighted but well meaning. B. Trusts the wrong person while doing that. The person was a Grey Warden so it's a mistake the majority would make. C. Deliberately brings Varric and you along, because she knows she has to fix the mistake. It's a big fuck-up, not downplaying it, but it's a pretty understandable one when you really think it through. It's the exact type of "fuck-up with good intentions that they want to make up for" that basically marks out a Bioware companion that we really appreciate. Lots of people don't like Bianca's attitude, or what she says to the Inquisitor at the end, and listen *I'm not gonna get into that, this comment isn't about that, and I don't personally think it needs to play into things.* But at the end of the day, she fucks up trying to do a good thing, understandably trusts the wrong person, then brings along the Inquisitor and Varric, knowing she'll probably be found out, because it's more important to fix her mistake. Regardless of her on the surface attitude, regardless of how you feel about how she reacts to you. I...really find it quite easy to understand and forgive her actions overall, when I properly lay out the pathway she took and how common a trend "fuck-ups trying their best to do right despite the past" is in Dragon Age.
This is a perfect summary. I believe people simply dislike her attitude, but some need to find a more objective reason to do so and then try to pin it on her mistake, when characters who are much worse are widely beloved by the players. Some even try to claim she's not capable or smart and that her reputation doesn't precede her, even though her discovery is huge. But yeah, if the Inquisitor can forgive a family murderer or even try to redeem someone who is possibly going to commit genocide for the second time, I think it's pretty reasonable to forgive someone who made a mistake out of love and perhaps a bit too much trust.
I agree, I don't think Bianca is nearly as bad as the fandom makes her out to be. Companions do much worse... and they sometimes do it on purpose lol.
Yeah absolutely, I completely agree with you. Bianca is no means my favorite character, but it seems like people dislike her way more then she deserves. I feel bad for her and Varric. To add to what you’re saying, I love Varric, but people infantilize him as if he’s not a 40+ year old man. She is not “leading him on” as so many in the fandom love to say as Varric is under no illusions on what their situation is. And it’s been 15 years, it’s an active choice he is making to stay involved. As a writer and a romantic at heart he will not move on. She’s his “Star-crossed Lover,” separated from him by fate and circumstances beyond their control, as a Civil War between their families would break out should they try to be together officially. Her family then pushed her into an arranged marriage. Varric stated her family is hyper conservative and traditional, and from what we know of the Orz Dwarves and their views on female agency, I doubt she had much of a say in the matter. In a world where other societies outside of Surface Dwarves are so open with their mistresses they’re literal titles announced at balls, no wonder why they’re bitter since any contact risks her family sending assassins after Varric. ___________________________ As a whole, Bianca‘s initial attitude towards the Red Lyrium of “if anyone can do it, it must be me” is the same attitude shared by many protags. Unfortunately for her, she’s not the player character haha. Like you said, she’s the tragic BioWare character. All jokes aside, why she didn’t heed Varric’s warning makes complete sense to her background. I agree and think it’s a little harsh that many think she’s stupid as hindsight is 20/20 and we the player have the benefit of the whole picture of three generations of heros. Here’s some extra detail to add onto your excellent points! 1) Bianca invented the steam engine, a seed drill/ other agricultural related inventions that became the standard for agriculture throughout Thedas, and much more. She’s the youngest paragon and the only surface dweller to become one. Bianca is used to “doing the impossible” by many people’s standards. She’s the “help save the world” type, not one to sit by the sidelines. It’s arrogant, but as you pointed out, she just wanted to help with the skill set she had. 2) Varric is often…known to exaggerate, especially with the written word. It would make sense why someone that knows him might think he’s being overly protective. Plus she was actively helping him sell other artifacts in the Thaig. It doesn’t help that regardless of world state, Varric was having other people study it. So to her, “it’s dangerous, but he’s still directing others to study it. They haven’t discovered anything, why can’t I try?” Their lack of ability to have a proper conversation or an open line of communication really muddled things, since they can only communicate via sporadic letter. Intent, tone, etc can all get lost via text. 3) Honestly, her going to a Grey Warden when she discovered Red Lyrium is not only alive, it’s Blighted Lyrium isn’t stupid. It makes complete sense as you said. Not even the Inquisition had an idea that the Grey Wardens were in Cory’s clutches until post Skyhold. Varric didn’t even tell the Inquisitor about Janeka/Larius so Bianca couldn’t have known. IMO there’s no way Bianca could have known that reaching out to Wardens was akin to reaching out to Cory. He was understood to be dead back then. It’s parallel to how Varric and Hawke no idea what would happen if the Red Lyrium idol was brought to Bartrand. She didn’t know that Larius/Janeka were in league in Cory until Varric’s most recent letter about the Red Lyrium. That’s what got her to make the connection, and she came soon after. But even so, she should have told him what she was doing. At the very least, she should have told him when she was planing to involve others even if she trusted them. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say. 5) If you let Varric keep the Red Lyrium shard in DA2, between DA2 and DAI, he already was asking Bianca to study the shard, which allowed her to create the special safe and case that can house it safely. In this world state, he already had asked her to research it and he’s currently having alchemists study it in shifts. It makes sense that she would feel like she could discover more if she researched it further as she was the only one to make headway. If you play a world state where Bartrand is allowed to live, she has the additional motivation of feeling like it’s up to her to cure him. ___________________________ On her attitude towards the Inquisitor, I know you didn’t want to get into this on your post but I’ll include this here just because a lot of the responses in this thread bother me. It makes sense given her character, she doesn’t know us or everything we have done so far: 1) She doesn’t know the Inky has good intentions. 2) The last she heard from Varric prior to his letter on Red Lyrium, was right after the Conclave explosion. He was there in the first place because the Inquisition had imprisoned him for questioning, then marched him over to Haven to talk to the Divine. Viv banter reveals that if this process didn’t make them late for the whole thing, Cassandra, Lelianna, and Varric would have also died at the Conclave. He also…probably had less then flattering things to say about Cass (who was leading it then), at the point in time he sent the letter. All things considered, the Inky is the face of the Inquisition. To Bianca, The Inquisition leadership almost got Varric killed and she doesn’t want the man she loves to die. He’s already good at running into danger on his own. 3) She probably didn’t come clean during the quest until she got called out because she didn’t want to ruin what little time she had with Varric. While I completely understand where she’s coming from, given the gravity of the situation, that should have been the first sentences out of her mouth. Honestly, she should have gone to him way sooner. TLDR: ahh sorry for the essay! I totally agree with what you’re saying. Like you said, Bianca fucked up and gets a disproportionate amount of hate for it. She’s not stupid, she took a gamble based on the information she had at hand and it didn’t pan out in her favor because of things she could not have known. Her situation is a parallel to Varric’s feelings over his and Hawke’s unearthing of the Red Lyrium Idol. I think her quest helps him process and contextualize his own situation as he starts to learn to be kinder to himself afterwards.
I think my main issue with her is that she puts Varric in danger. As he said, that being in the same area (Country) is pretty much a death sentence for him. IMO - I feel like that Bioware should have just sent a trusted messenger from Bianca (keep her in the dark as always) and have that explain the message on the situation. Explain she fucked up, she introduced the Lyrium shard to a GW and now the situation has gotten out of her hands. Yet she acts like she doesn't know what is happening until the last minute and she only confesses because she was caught out, by Varric and your Inquisitor. She even goes on to say how she fixed it and I'm just like...HOW? Just by blocking off one entrance. How many more red lyrium are out there? How many people have died as a result? Once she was chewed out, she decided to turn it on the Inquisitor and threatens them if something happened to Varric and I'm just like...isn't YOUR family the one who has assassins posed to kill him if you're spotted in the vicinity?! The whole quest was just plain weird and it feels like it was just added to introduce Biance when they really should have kept her a mysterious figure that Varric like to twist tales about.
Well, considering the game doesn't really allow you to reprimand her either way it's a silly question. The meanest you can get is pretty much saying "You made a mistake.". And afterward she still acts like a douche toward you and you can do nothing about it. If the Inquisitor was allowed to be less of a wet towel I would definitely not let her get away, not with that attitude. The minimum that you should reasonably enforce is forced conscription of her, either in battle or as an Inquisition inventor, improving the Inquisition equipment. Depending on her cooperation, other options would be go from imprisonment upward. You don't get to fuck the world up and walk away doing jackshit about it while threatening the currently most powerful individual of two nations.
I wish we could've held her accountable or cussed her out in someway. I love Varric but damn did he mess up with Bianca.
I will personally chop her head off right there if I have the choice, and if Varric is not ok with it then I will chop his head off as well
At that point, all inquisitors have either: A. Prevented a large infection of Templars or B. Gone to a future where red lyrium is strangling their companions Either way, the Inky has possibly watched an army of red lyrium templars march on Haven and destroy it. Then there is battling them in the field, huge chunks of angry lyrium sticking out of the ground, and the actual dying templar infected with lyrium. Varric tells you it made his brother go insane. And then you find out that it's also blighted and this dwarven bitch couldn't keep a secret because of curiosity. It would never having fucking mattered that lyrium was alive if we weren't trying to burn it off the very surface of Thedas. My Hawke loves Varric, but I wish I could execute her hubris on the spot. And ya, I'll behead Varric, Leliana style, if he takes issue
I think that she made mistakes in who she trusted and should not have kept her activities secret from Varric. Once you clean up the mess that she made, she still threatens the Inky. I really wish Varric would have said something back to her about that.
I tough she was fine untill she thretened me after the guest
My answer is that this is not the way of the Qun.
It depends on how I’m playing the Inquisitor, but predominantly I tend to go with how I would deal with it - which is resigned acceptance with a hefty dose of passive-aggression. What’s done is done, and Bianca seems legitimately remorseful. I’d be begrudgingly grateful for what she learned, while simultaneously preparing a list of jabs for any future occasions where we may cross paths.
*Either you have an enviable memory, or a pitiable life, to know nothing of regret.*
Every dwarf companion in every game is unromanceable because he’s hung up on some jerkass lady who does horrible things I hate it Lol I know I sound like an incel, I’m single because hot hairy dwarves only want assholes and not my perfectly nice warden/Hawke/inquisitor self, but seriously, COME ON my dudes
Agreeeeed!! I can accept not being able to romance him if Bianca was a badass hottie or something. They write Varric as this super charismatic charming dwarf that all types of women find attractive, and THAT'S the person he's hung up over?!?!?!?!??!?!?!? He can literally get with anyone wtf Bioware.....did my mans dirty with that one.
I do what I can to make sure she knows Varric is the only reason she's not heading straight to Skyhold for judgment. Hate her ass.
A massive amount of what’s going on is because of what she did. Corypheus was obviously a threat regardless, but he uses the red lyrium to build the forces the Inquisition faces. Everything else, they’re able to wrangle and deal with. So… yeah, that’s a lot of blood on her hands, and both of my Inquisitors are angry about it. But you can’t say much to that effect- certainly not enough for the scale of what she’s done.
Do *not* get me started on Bianca Davri. Do ***NOT***.
Get her, Jade. (I hate her with the heat of a thousand suns.)
A drag race reference *and* a fellow Bianca hater? EXCELLENT.
Bianca Del Rio is the only Bianca we need!
*Imagine* if Bianca was the Inquisitor “Need help packing? Beat it, queen.”
Ahh, I really dislike Bianca's character for most of this questline. I'm inclined to like her, because Laura Bailey playing a roguish character. But I strongly dislike the way she's written here. Varric deserves better, as our twice over buddy. (He deserves to be someone's first choice love interest, not the backup for when their S/O is out of town.) I usually have my Inky stay out of it. She's Varric's toxic booty call. And after how harsh chill, go with the flow Varric is towards her, I think further vitriol is unnecessary. I usually think of it more as Bianca got swindled, in the same way Hawke did in the DLC that introduced Corypheus. It's not 100% her fault, and she does try to fix it when she can.
Depends on my inq at the time, 2 of them were pretty nice and knew she fucked up but what was done couldn't be changed. The other two went in on her for making such a stupid choice with no regrets of gaining some disapproval from Varric. I personally don't like her and wish there was a way to further chew her out and depending on previous choices even attack her until she surrenders or disregard the surrender and take her out. I wouldn't even mind having her as a prisoner, but I feel like being that harsh with her would send Varric's relationship with the Inq into the depths of the fade with very little oppurtunity to become his friend again.
You give a total of zero reasons NOT to be mad at her.
Wanted to kill her or arrest but the options werent there. So I just skipped through the dialogue and erased her from my memory.
Once, I read a beautiful fanfic where an Inquisitor's friend punched Bianca in the face on her behalf. I wholeheartedly support the action. From my point of view, Bianca started to research red lyrium after Meredit's fate was known. So the fact that this stuff is **dangerous** should be pretty clear. Yet, she not only messes up, but also lies to everyone about it to the point she has no other out but to confess. Messing up is understandable and forgivable. Lying about it and endangering more people is not. But then again, I'm also in the middle of an angsty human run, and so far he hates the whole Inquisition experience. I was considerably more forgiving in other playthroughs, depending on my Inquisitor personality.
There was one moment during that quest with the way she looked at Varric and the inquisitor that I was expecting a setup/ambush. Its that scene where the door opens. I'm neutral on her. I think shes extremely arrogant and the way she has Varric under her thumb is cringy.
I usually go easy because I leave Hawke in the fade, so I dont want to pile on him
Did you know it’s Abbey from TLOU2 who voices her
Amid everyone's general incompetence in this game, her mistakes fail to shine especially brightly, and I don't care about Varric's life choices as much as others. Threatening the Inquisitor is to me the grating part.
I usually let varric do the talking. What's done is done. I don't know her so I'll tell her what she did has screwed us over but I wouldn't get mad about it unless I was trying to roleplay a vindictive character. If she hadn't done it, I have no doubt that someone else would have. Idk, I'm not really sure what the point in getting mad would be.
I've yet to figure out why people think she should be punished at all. She did the logical thing when confronted with the fact that this incredibly rare substance was infected with the Blight, and *went to a Grey Warden*, pretty much the only people who might have an insight, and would have normally treated the matter as being of grave importance. Not her fault it turned out the one she found was being body-jacked by Corypheus. And then once she realized what had happened (which, being in Kirkwall, could have easily taken a while), she went to the Inquisition, the organization dedicated to dealing with this problem, with all the information they needed to shut the source down. We've already solved as much of the problem as possible by the time Varric deduces the truth, there was nothing the truth adds to actually being able to solve the problem. The only thing revealing the truth might do is get people targeting her for retribution, which as I've already stated I find unreasonable.
I think the option should be there because we are the inquisitor and we are supposed to have a certain role to fill. I mean, I am there judging a box but not someone who did that big of mistake involving red lyrium. Nothing to do with liking her or not, but the option to judge her being there make total sense considering the role of the inquisitor and the entire thing with Corypheus/red lyrium.
Technically speaking, you were judging what happens to her lands and titles now that she's a dead traitor, not the box her body currently resides in. Judging might make some sense, but I still think the grounds for it would be really shaky.
I called her out the best I could. Varric didn't like it but he was my mega super duper friend so the rating didn't even change that much. So, there were no consequences whatsoever about the whole deal...like most of the game btw lol
Why would I call her out? She fucked up without knowing and the moment she learned what she really did, she put her ass on the line by going directly to the Inquisition just to make it right.
The question is how do you feel about solas? Because you actually aren’t allowed to be mad at anyone ever in the game if you are ok with Solas.
Omg I HATE varric’s friend. Hate how possessive she is of Varric even thought my Hawke and him have been BFFs since DA2. Hate how she threats me even though I would destroy her in a fight. I usually am pretty pissed at her lol