zevsurana:

this ask got sent after i answered another one, so i’ll start with what i said there: in many ways, irving and greagoir are the intended ideal of a first enchanter and knight-commander. world of thedas vol2 says: “it is a surprise to many that irving often credits knight-commander greagoir for his success as first enchanter. […] though their friendship was never entirely without conflict, mutual respect and understanding resulted in a working partnership rarely seen in the circle leadership.” (i consider the first part a veiled joke at greagoir’s expense but that’s my very specific irving characterisation lmao.)

i think irving is clever before he is anything else. one of the things that separates the mage origin out from any other is that irving is making it happen. he is setting you up to be recruited by the grey wardens and succeeds no matter what you do. he talks you up to duncan, he sets you up to talk with duncan yourself, he’s aware of jowan’s secret relationship and his blood magic, and no matter what happens he completely handles the situation so he’s talking like he’s on the templars’ side and only grudgingly letting you go when he in fact planned it from the first. it’s mesmerising. i love it for him. that’s why he’s such a good first enchanter. that’s why he’s the guy who can be so trusted by the templars that on his word alone they will not annul a literally demon infested circle, even when he has been trapped in said demon infested circle. that’s why kinloch hold is the most lenient circle in thedas and you can find enchanters wandering the map by themselves with full circle permission. that’s why anders is alive. because irving is that good at his job. and because greagoir is the right blend of dutiful and not as smart as he is for him to be able to get away with it. this being my reasoning for guessing the above is maybe a veiled joke. irving credits greagoir for his own success because of what he has been able to get away with

that being said, irving is a very flawed man: he is so committed to the game he is playing, to scoring one against the templars and for his own side, that he’s forgotten part of his compassion for the mages under his care. some are protected, like anders and the mage warden, but others, like jowan and any other young mages so desperate and afraid they try blood magic, are sacrificed like pawns, thrown to the wolves for the safety of the whole. (although i do think it is remarkable that in the encounter irving designed, jowan manages to… miraculously disappear from a pre-arranged trap in the middle of the circle tower surrounded by templars. the chantry sister got sent to aeonar and the young mages got out free. like i’m just saying that’s convenient. things turned out pretty well for the mages, there. hmmm.)

so what does all that say for irving’s characterisation. how do i summarise a guy in one ask. uhhh i think he’s bitterly bitterly angry from a life spent under the control of the templars and he wants every win he can scrape away. i think he cares a lot abt the mages under his care but tends to do so specifically rather than for them all, because the sheer number of them (and the sheer number of them who will be lost, who he has seen lost year after year and has had to manage as tranquil or watch the templars kill) is simply exhausting. i think he’s capable of being funny in a sharp dry way with terrible gallows humour among his fellow senior enchanters and perhaps occasionally with his favoured students (possibly an influence on some of anders’ lines). i think he has high expectations of loyalty and ability from his fellow mages because he would expect no less from himself; the guy’s still forcing out the words to tell you to stop uldred after being tortured for who knows how long and then he’s complaining abt having to take the stairs down like a true old man. i think he arranged for the mage warden to become a grey warden partly because of the influence he believed his student might be able to hold if they proved themself on behalf of all mages, and partly because he just wanted them to be free