#oh my god the iron bull
More Dragon Age crafting! I crocheted myself an Iron Bull, using this pattern. He’s so snuggly!!!
(And unlike the original pattern, I gave him a dick. Because honestly, it’s the Iron Bull. You know he’s packing. Pic below the cut.)
A piece of Iron Bull’s relationship arc finally clicked into place for me.
So there’s that great scene where Cullen, Josephine, and Cassandra all walk in on you while the Iron Bull’s reclining naked.
Cassandra: “I apologize for interrupting what I assume was a … momentary diversion?”
Cullen: “Nothing wrong with having a bit of fun.”
If you say that you and Bull were “blowing off some steam,” rather than acknowledging it as a relationship, he breaks up with you. Even if you say, “We don’t have to stop,” he insists:
Bull: “Yeah. We do. I was trying to relieve your stress, not add to it. If you’re ashamed of this, I’m doing a crappy job.”
That dialogue always bugged me. Bull is the king of casual, no-strings sex; why would he end things because you chose not to be in a capital-r Relationship? It makes sense for other characters, who might feel insecure or trivialized, but not for him.
And then it finally clicked.
This scene only triggers if you’ve made him the “necklace of the Kadan” — a symbol of long-term commitment. It starts with you about to give him the necklace. In other words, this scene only happens in a universe where you are serious about Bull, serious enough to give him a token of commitment, and Bull’s smart enough to realize how you feel.
So when you shrug off the relationship as just sex, the problem isn’t Bull’s ego. It’s that you’re lying to your closest advisors about how much the relationship signifies. And from Bull’s vantage point, lying about your level of emotional commitment with someone you care about is a big problem.
(which means that on his side, the emotional commitment doesn’t feel like a lie)
(which only makes the Bad End more tragic)
At the beginning of the Iron Bull romance storyline, he shows up in your chamber and propositions you. It’s all adorable, but my favorite part of this scene is the hilarious results of turning him down. So of course I had to make a flowchart of your dialogue options.
