Love and Inquisition: Dragon Age Romances

I never thought I'd enjoy romances as much as I have during my playthrough of Dragon Age: Inquisition. They impress me on a number of levels because they are mature, well-written, and deeply human. My tendency to flirt shamelessly with everyone at the beginning of the game also caused me to surprise myself: I ended up choosing Sera as my in-game romance.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. ALSO SEX.

In real life, I am a straight woman. My initial romantic preferences within the game were Cullen (what a cutie!) and Blackwall (dark and mysterious!). It still disappoints me that Varric is not an option. But Cullen seemed like he was going to provide a classic cute romance (my perusal of YouTube confirms this). And Blackwall's talk of duty and seriousness made me think that he was going to be too typically broody and difficult for the romance to be any fun. (My perusal of YouTube confirmed this, as well.)

Sera, though? Sera was different. I think I ended up choosing her because I liked what she would bring out in my Inquisitor's character. In a game as serious as Inquisition, which is full of war and politics and death and the end of the world, I loved the idea of playing as someone who still took time to be a person and to live a little. Sera's friendship and romance scenes appealed deeply to me because to romance Sera is to loosen up. It is also to accept Sera as she is—as a possible embarrassment at a fancy ball, as an incorrigible prankster, as someone who is as damaged as she is bold and rebellious. You don't fix Sera, or change her. You just take her as she is. And she is awesome.

Also, Sera's sex scene is just the best. Why should sex always be so serious? Humans have all kinds of sex—it can be riotous, celebratory, and just plain fun. Below, "the good part" starts at about 3:30.

Other romances in Inquisition are also spectacular. Cassandra's secret love of romance and poetry makes for great entertainment, and it's fun to tease her even while you respect her tremendously as a warrior. If you're playing as a male Inquisitor, Dorian makes for a witty, challenging, and lovable partner. And Iron Bull definitely steals the show in terms of most hilarious relationship reveal:

What I love best about Iron Bull, though, is how that sex scene ends—especially if you get embarrassed in front of your friends and claim you were just having a fling. If you publicly declare your love for Iron Bull, then the romance continues. But if you balk, he breaks up with you, and handles it with such incredible maturity that you will immediately regret your rejection of him:

I think I love Inquisition's romances so much because they feel idealized, yet real. In the real world, we aren't all so in touch with our feelings and the feelings of others. We don't always connect and build mature, interesting, respectful relationships. Sex often embarrasses us. But a lot of us wish it weren't so, and we strive to be better partners. I want more of the relationships that I see—in books, on the silver screen, and in the games that I play—to be written with this kind of variety and joy.