Summary
David Gaider, the former lead writer of theDragon Ageseries, is doing daily character breakdowns over on BlueSky. These give us some insight into how the series was written, and the reason behind some of the narrative decisions that were made.
Today, Gaider is focussing onZevran, one of the rogue companions fromDragon Age: Origins. As part of this, Gaider shares some insight into how queer romances were approached in the 2000s, and how much this has changed in the years since Origins was written.
To set the scene, Gaider opensthe threadby explaining how prior to Dragon Age: Origins,BioWarehad included queer romances in Jade Empire to great success. It had also snuck in averysubtle sort-of-romance inStar Wars: Knight of the Old Republic, with a companion confessing her feelings to a female player character if she didn’t hook up with a guy.
Off the back of this, the idea was put forward for Dragon Age: Origins to include queer romances, with Gaider crediting lead designer James Ohlen for pushing the matter.
“You might ask ‘Aren’t you gay, Dave? Weren’t you already pushing for this?’ And the answer to that is, emphatically, ‘no, not at all’,” says Gaider. “It might seem odd looking through the lens of 2024, but there was no talk of ‘representation’ or ‘diversity’. Not at any level where we were aware of it, anyhow.”
He continues, explaining that the industry - and of course, society as a whole - was in a much different place back then, influencing how he approached sexuality and his work.
“Today, fans argue about how MUCH representation to include and whether it’s done well enough… the idea that, less than twenty years ago, it being included at all was very much in doubt feels so far away,” he explains. “But, back then, I’d always assumed my private life and my work in games would never meet.”
Gaider is honest in that Zevran’s bisexuality didn’t necessarily come from a place of representation, but more out of functionality, as he describes it as a “cost-benefit compromise”.
He also describes Zevran as “the anti-Alistair”, which makes a lot of sense. One gets flustered if a girl is nice to him, and the other is hitting on you while covered in his own blood after failing to assassinate you.
Of course, any conversation about Zevran’s romance has to include the pushback it received from some in the gaming community at the time.
“Zevran was funny enough that the fans liked him,” Gaider recalls. “The only part of the reception I thought odd was the occasional comment by a male player who felt ‘tricked’ into having sex with Zevran.”
Apparently, some players thought that a sensual massage would be completely platonic. Some were also against the idea of having a guy hit on them at all, but thankfully, the series never took that criticism to heart, and flirty gays appeared in all the sequels.
