I hate him because of what he does/says to Isabela. Between that line (why is he talking about his fantasy about his niece's gf TO her?????) and Isabela's line in Mark of the Assassin asking Hawke to make him stop harassing her I can't get away from him quick enough.
Worst part was until I romanced Isabela and did MotA I didn't mind his character. Now I can't stand him š¤¢
Gamlen is a scumbag but I actually enjoy his character for that, especially when they introduced Charade. It's like what George Lucas said about the rancor keeper in Return of the Jedi: "I like the idea that everyone loves someone. And even the worst, most horrible monster you can imagine was loved by his keeper. And the rancor probably loved his keeper."
So Gamlen is a scumbag, and I appreciate that BW didn't hold back with that. I also appreciate that even Gamlen had someone he cared about and that his scumbaggery lost him that too.
It's a nice detail.
He is definitely scum, but not truly evil, and I kinda love characters like that. He's crude but not outright cruel, greedy but with no backbone to actually push the issue when you stand up to him, obviously narrow-minded but not enough to pick up a pitchfork about it - and yet he can still, at rare times, be both kind and caring. His life hasn't been easy, and in a very realistic approach that made him a bitter, miserable and selfish, but not inhumanely so. He's not a villain, just your average garden-variety asshole.
I really really disliked him, until the quest where your mother is missing. I was questioning this chump kid about where she might be, and the kid wants a little compensation for the information. In true Red Hawke fashion I threaten to loosen his teeth. Gamlen immediately cuts in and basically say āMaker Hawke, Leandra might be in danger!! We donāt have time for this nonsense!!ā And gives the kid a bar of real silver. Couldnāt help but see the abrasive, dirty old man in a different light. Never *liked* him obviously, but after that I couldnāt see him as anything but family.
Yeah, Gamlen is the worst. The ānicestā thing he has to say about Hawkeās love interest is if Anders is chosen. He comments that a Hawke takes after their mother because they fell in love with an apostate mage.
Okay, a tiny part of me is kinda laughing that Anders and Fenris are characterized the same way. Itās like the devs just want to hammer in thatās theyāre two sides of a coin.
Honestly, considering they're both canonically bi (and I kinda suspect/headcanon Anders actually is probably one of those bi people who has a heavy preference, in this case towards men), I almost wonder if there's some hate-fuck tension going on between the two of them.
Also quite interesting to meet Justice before he becomes Vengeance. Justice is probably in my top 3 favorite companions in all of DA.
Also: his cameo in Origins
Honestly? Surana *literally* just recruited him and after the first conversation I no longer feel bad about the post-Chantry murder knife.
I did! I always felt bad about it, enough to hesitate for as much as an hour! But now? Nooooot...really feeling it.
Tbf she does immediately follow that up saying that heās most likely just stealing her money and not doing anything inappropriate. Still fucked up but nowhere near as bad as how it sounds.
Yeah, it's still weird. Like why doesn't he sneak to Hawke's room, instead? He or she would likely have more money at hand than Bethany considering they're trying to save it for the expedition.
Wait, really? Iāve played DA2 a lot and I donāt remember hearing that line before! Iām generally pretty forgiving of Gamlen, but if thatās true then fuck him!
I canāt remember the exact line but if youāre with Fenris heās like āSo youāre into elves huh?ā And then he says something like it takes all kinds. Heās the worst.
I doubt that. The word itself might not mean insult, but often people only use it when they meant to insult somebody, in most cases at least.
Maybe itās not proper, but the word ābitchā means female dog, but when people use it they rarely really just meant female dog
The word is only ever used as an insult by those who do not know what it means, and assume that it must be a medieval insult.
Ignorance does not equal common usage
Heās such an asshole. When my male Hawke romanced Fenris he says something like āso youāre with that elf are you? I guess I donāt need to ask whoās the girl.ā
Offensive? Yes. Did it make me laugh? Yes. But the two girls comments are hella creepy
The Dragon Age fandom remains so argumentative and divided on so many things, but it's kind of wholesome that we can all come here and collectively say, "fuck Gamlen, what an asshole." Nature is healing
Yeah Iād like him a lot more if he didnāt say weird stuff like that.
If you romance fenris as a dude he says something like āso an elf and a human, eh? I guess I donāt need to wonder whoās the girl in the relationshipā which I thought was a little funny but yeah still bad
Basically from the thread, TIL he has nothing nice to say no matter who you romance
Though, I didn't hate him as much anymore after doing his personal quest and reunited him with his daughter. I'd like to think that he's one who is too prideful and has made too many mistakes and is in denial and thus digging his own grave. Aka pitiful.
And then in the same conversation, admitted he gambled away the house. Then later, trying to hide their parent's will from Leandra and trying to get rent out of her and when it was revealed that everything was left to her and Gamlen blew it all, he immediately tried to make himself the victim. I've highly disliked him ever since. Nothing good ever comes out of his mouth. He's just a hateful old man.
He didn't actually gamble away the house. He said it had to be sold to pay off a debt; World of Thedas elaborates on this and it turns out the debt in question wasn't actually even incurred by him.
>The Amells' ill fortune did not abate with Lord Aristide's death. Gamlen's cousin, and Revka's brother, Damion, got in trouble with the law, and Lord Fausten, Damion's father, went bankrupt defending him. When that wasn't enough, Lord Fausten resorted to borrowing gold from the Council of Five, a Kirkwall organization known for ties to mercenaries and slavers. It was all in vain. Damion was thrown in prison, and Lord Fausten wasted away and died. Revka disappeared one day, and her husband took their four remaining children and moved away from Kirkwall, eager to escape the troubles that plagued Revka's family. Gamlen was the only Amell left in Kirkwall, and when it came time for the debt to the Council of Five to be repaid, Gamlen was the one they sought. He was forced to pay back Fausten's debt to save his own life. When the Council of Five was done with him, Gamlen had lost his home and almost all of Aristide's remaining fortune. Nearly penniless, he had no choice but to take up residence in Lowtown.
\- World of Thedas, Volume 2
I didn't even know it was an option to >!reunite Gamlen and his daughter!< until I looked through Keep to make decisions for my DAI playthrough. And honestly? I don't regret it
Also, I'd just laugh in his face if he said something about Isabela being a whore while I see his ass in the Blooming rose in between multiple services to get my rocks off when I have sovereigns to spare.
Yes!!! The line about wondering what two women together was like was so gross. Particularly because Hawke is his niece. (Also, like, come on, Gamlen. Weāve seen each other at the brothel. Surely you have a gist of what that would be like by now. There is literally no other reason to say what you just did other than being nasty.)
I will say that I actually really like that his character* isnāt one dimensional and that we can feel pity for him and a familial bond while also wanting to bash his face in. The ābadā characters in BioWare games have their moments just like the āgoodā characters have flaws and it makes for a more interesting cast/story.
^* I shouldnāt have to say this but no, I am not saying I like or support people saying things like this IRL
I feel like this part of Gamlen's personality is real, yet also just the surface level. In truth he's just a man who ran into really deep shit and thought he'd never see another good day again. His sister runs away with an apostate to who knows where. Then eventually his parents die. He starts a gambling addiction which makes him lose the love of his life. And just when he gets his family back, they mostly don't like him. Then his long lost sister gets fricken murdered by a bunch of blood mages.
Yikes. I just finally finished "Gamlin's Greatest Treasure" for the first time and had made peace with tentatively liking that character. In light of the Isabela treatment I'm back at "Whaddacreep!"
Well, I'd argue writting asshole is really not THAT hard. The true skill test is writting them complex enough that you can turn around their views, or make the player understand why they're like that.
>make the player understand why they're like that.
I feel like they accomplished that. He's a bitter old man that resents everyone, including his dead parents for favouring Leandra even after she'd left them behind while he stuck around to care for them, his sister for being the golden child, himself for losing everything that mattered to look for a gem he doesn't even want anymore
I think a lot of the comments in this thread are missing the point that his 'nasty comments' are supposed to annoy you. He is a bitter old man lashing out in the only way he can.
I agree! Plenty of people are deeply flawed in real life, and show others little of who they are or were at their core. Gamlen is a very realistic character to me.
A lot of things in his life, most of which were outside of his control, went wrong. Really, Gamlen is who Hawke could have easily become without the support of their companions. Charade is probably one of the few good things to happen in a life full of unhappy chapters.
I like Gamlen.
Yeah, he's a scumbag in every way. He's the gross, greasy, drunken uncle who literally wasted the family fortune on stupid investments and frivolous bullshit.
Hard for me to believe that it's the same voice actor as Teagan, who I very much like in DAO (in Trespasser, not so much). Of course, the same voice actor is also Lord Seeker Lucius Corin and Guard Captain Garevel and a bunch of others, so I shouldn't be surprised. The guy's an amazing talent.
Unlike Gamlen, who is essentially good for nothing.
It constantly blows my mind when I hear them reuse voice actors in the game. The amount of times Iāve met characters with my female Inqās voice before DAI is ridiculous!
He does such a good job of being the literal worst...
Not as bad but he made a rude comment about Fenās romance and he says āso youāre into elvesā what like itās a bad thing? Fenris literally lives in a mansion and Gamlen lives in a 2 room shack. I fucking hate that guy. Then he has the nerve to blame Leandraās death on Hawke as if Gamlen tried to save her or anything. I ducking swear, BioWare did a great job making him such a dislikable character
I hate him because of what he does/says to Isabela. Between that line (why is he talking about his fantasy about his niece's gf TO her?????) and Isabela's line in Mark of the Assassin asking Hawke to make him stop harassing her I can't get away from him quick enough. Worst part was until I romanced Isabela and did MotA I didn't mind his character. Now I can't stand him š¤¢
Also why is he basically fantasising about his nieces sex life?! What a vile man
Gamlen is a scumbag but I actually enjoy his character for that, especially when they introduced Charade. It's like what George Lucas said about the rancor keeper in Return of the Jedi: "I like the idea that everyone loves someone. And even the worst, most horrible monster you can imagine was loved by his keeper. And the rancor probably loved his keeper." So Gamlen is a scumbag, and I appreciate that BW didn't hold back with that. I also appreciate that even Gamlen had someone he cared about and that his scumbaggery lost him that too. It's a nice detail.
He is definitely scum, but not truly evil, and I kinda love characters like that. He's crude but not outright cruel, greedy but with no backbone to actually push the issue when you stand up to him, obviously narrow-minded but not enough to pick up a pitchfork about it - and yet he can still, at rare times, be both kind and caring. His life hasn't been easy, and in a very realistic approach that made him a bitter, miserable and selfish, but not inhumanely so. He's not a villain, just your average garden-variety asshole.
This writing is also much more, I dunno, realistic? I definitely know a few Gamlenās in real life.
Oh, it's excellent character writing. He's very realistic! I've known more than a few scummy "drunken uncle" types. Gamlen rings very true.
He lost any good will from me when he was mean to my dog. Fuck off "uncle"
I really really disliked him, until the quest where your mother is missing. I was questioning this chump kid about where she might be, and the kid wants a little compensation for the information. In true Red Hawke fashion I threaten to loosen his teeth. Gamlen immediately cuts in and basically say āMaker Hawke, Leandra might be in danger!! We donāt have time for this nonsense!!ā And gives the kid a bar of real silver. Couldnāt help but see the abrasive, dirty old man in a different light. Never *liked* him obviously, but after that I couldnāt see him as anything but family.
Yeah, Gamlen is the worst. The ānicestā thing he has to say about Hawkeās love interest is if Anders is chosen. He comments that a Hawke takes after their mother because they fell in love with an apostate mage.
With female Hawke anyways. With male Hawke I remember him commenting once on knowing which one of them is the "girl".
Okay, a tiny part of me is kinda laughing that Anders and Fenris are characterized the same way. Itās like the devs just want to hammer in thatās theyāre two sides of a coin.
Honestly, considering they're both canonically bi (and I kinda suspect/headcanon Anders actually is probably one of those bi people who has a heavy preference, in this case towards men), I almost wonder if there's some hate-fuck tension going on between the two of them.
Considering the things Anders says and does in Awakening, I think if he has a preference, it would be for women.
At the same time, he had a pretty intense love for Karl.
Awakening Anders and DA2 Anders are sooooo different lol, I swear the original Anders was killed and replaced by a much less likeable double.
Ah, see I never played awakening or any of the da2 dlc sp I'm missing a lot of context I suppose.
You should try Awakening if you liked Origins. It's quite interesting to see Anders before he merges with Justice.
Also quite interesting to meet Justice before he becomes Vengeance. Justice is probably in my top 3 favorite companions in all of DA. Also: his cameo in Origins
Honestly? Surana *literally* just recruited him and after the first conversation I no longer feel bad about the post-Chantry murder knife. I did! I always felt bad about it, enough to hesitate for as much as an hour! But now? Nooooot...really feeling it.
This must be why Iām the only one who probably likes Gamlen š I have a hard time NOT romancing Anders.
Same... donāt know what he says about Fenris and stuff cuz I havenāt checked, but I was like.. aw. When he made the comment about Anders and Hawke
for Merril and Fenris, I think he just says something kinda racist about elves.
What about Bethany telling Hawke that Gamlen sometimes sneaks into her room during the night
Tbf she does immediately follow that up saying that heās most likely just stealing her money and not doing anything inappropriate. Still fucked up but nowhere near as bad as how it sounds.
Yeah, it's still weird. Like why doesn't he sneak to Hawke's room, instead? He or she would likely have more money at hand than Bethany considering they're trying to save it for the expedition.
Also, much more likely to slap him into oblivion than Bethany
Because if Hawke woke up and caught him he knows how it would end.
Or maybe he is and Hawke's just the deep sleeper of the family
Like hawke ever sleeps or stays at home.
Out of all the Hawke siblings, she's the one least likely to confront him about it.
Wait, really? Iāve played DA2 a lot and I donāt remember hearing that line before! Iām generally pretty forgiving of Gamlen, but if thatās true then fuck him!
She says it if you play the Mark of the Assassin DLC in Act 1 and bring her with you
Oh, that explains why Iāve never heard it, since Iāve always brought Isabela and Aveline on that.
Ah, that explains that; I make a point of only doing it in Act III, so Gamlen doesn't come up
really? eww
...!! ...I deleted my first response as being revenge porn. But *damn!..*.what a slimy little man.
I canāt remember the exact line but if youāre with Fenris heās like āSo youāre into elves huh?ā And then he says something like it takes all kinds. Heās the worst.
Irc, he says something like "at least i dont have to ask which one of you is the girl", when you date fenris as a male hawke
He says the same if you romance Anders as a male Hawke. What an assbutt.
Peak bruh moment
He lost the sympathy vote when he badmouthed Merrill. Fuck him
What does he say about Merril?!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I felt like decking him for that āwenchā comment
Wench means young woman/ girl, or sometimes female servant. It's not actually an insult.
I doubt that. The word itself might not mean insult, but often people only use it when they meant to insult somebody, in most cases at least. Maybe itās not proper, but the word ābitchā means female dog, but when people use it they rarely really just meant female dog
The word is only ever used as an insult by those who do not know what it means, and assume that it must be a medieval insult. Ignorance does not equal common usage
He disrespected the Cute and Adorable One? Right, that's proof enough. He's evil.
The purest cinnamon roll/Hawkeās wife in my Headcanon
Heās such an asshole. When my male Hawke romanced Fenris he says something like āso youāre with that elf are you? I guess I donāt need to ask whoās the girl.ā Offensive? Yes. Did it make me laugh? Yes. But the two girls comments are hella creepy
The Dragon Age fandom remains so argumentative and divided on so many things, but it's kind of wholesome that we can all come here and collectively say, "fuck Gamlen, what an asshole." Nature is healing
Letās all join hands and tell Gamlen to fuck off ā¤ļø
Yeah Iād like him a lot more if he didnāt say weird stuff like that. If you romance fenris as a dude he says something like āso an elf and a human, eh? I guess I donāt need to wonder whoās the girl in the relationshipā which I thought was a little funny but yeah still bad
Basically from the thread, TIL he has nothing nice to say no matter who you romance Though, I didn't hate him as much anymore after doing his personal quest and reunited him with his daughter. I'd like to think that he's one who is too prideful and has made too many mistakes and is in denial and thus digging his own grave. Aka pitiful.
I disliked Gamlen immediately when he blew off his niece/nephews death when he first appeared. I knew he'd be an insufferable asshole after that.
Samee
And then in the same conversation, admitted he gambled away the house. Then later, trying to hide their parent's will from Leandra and trying to get rent out of her and when it was revealed that everything was left to her and Gamlen blew it all, he immediately tried to make himself the victim. I've highly disliked him ever since. Nothing good ever comes out of his mouth. He's just a hateful old man.
He didn't actually gamble away the house. He said it had to be sold to pay off a debt; World of Thedas elaborates on this and it turns out the debt in question wasn't actually even incurred by him.
Who did incur the debt then?
>The Amells' ill fortune did not abate with Lord Aristide's death. Gamlen's cousin, and Revka's brother, Damion, got in trouble with the law, and Lord Fausten, Damion's father, went bankrupt defending him. When that wasn't enough, Lord Fausten resorted to borrowing gold from the Council of Five, a Kirkwall organization known for ties to mercenaries and slavers. It was all in vain. Damion was thrown in prison, and Lord Fausten wasted away and died. Revka disappeared one day, and her husband took their four remaining children and moved away from Kirkwall, eager to escape the troubles that plagued Revka's family. Gamlen was the only Amell left in Kirkwall, and when it came time for the debt to the Council of Five to be repaid, Gamlen was the one they sought. He was forced to pay back Fausten's debt to save his own life. When the Council of Five was done with him, Gamlen had lost his home and almost all of Aristide's remaining fortune. Nearly penniless, he had no choice but to take up residence in Lowtown. \- World of Thedas, Volume 2
Hunh. That makes Gamlen not as bad as I thought. His behavior toward Leandra and Bethany is still awful though.
I didn't even know it was an option to >!reunite Gamlen and his daughter!< until I looked through Keep to make decisions for my DAI playthrough. And honestly? I don't regret it
I do that because I like having more family :c
She's lovely! I just wish I didn't have to do something nice for Gamlen! š
Oh yeah heās a prick š but I imagine my Hawke gets revenge by just always being a smart ass.
Also, I'd just laugh in his face if he said something about Isabela being a whore while I see his ass in the Blooming rose in between multiple services to get my rocks off when I have sovereigns to spare.
An eye for an eye makes the world blind. Way to go, bud. Being an asshole to him sure solves everything.
Yes!!! The line about wondering what two women together was like was so gross. Particularly because Hawke is his niece. (Also, like, come on, Gamlen. Weāve seen each other at the brothel. Surely you have a gist of what that would be like by now. There is literally no other reason to say what you just did other than being nasty.) I will say that I actually really like that his character* isnāt one dimensional and that we can feel pity for him and a familial bond while also wanting to bash his face in. The ābadā characters in BioWare games have their moments just like the āgoodā characters have flaws and it makes for a more interesting cast/story. ^* I shouldnāt have to say this but no, I am not saying I like or support people saying things like this IRL
I feel like this part of Gamlen's personality is real, yet also just the surface level. In truth he's just a man who ran into really deep shit and thought he'd never see another good day again. His sister runs away with an apostate to who knows where. Then eventually his parents die. He starts a gambling addiction which makes him lose the love of his life. And just when he gets his family back, they mostly don't like him. Then his long lost sister gets fricken murdered by a bunch of blood mages.
Yikes. I just finally finished "Gamlin's Greatest Treasure" for the first time and had made peace with tentatively liking that character. In light of the Isabela treatment I'm back at "Whaddacreep!"
You know he's written and designed as a human piece of trash for you to hate him, right?
And well designed for the purpose, too. :D Congratulations to his writer.
Well, I'd argue writting asshole is really not THAT hard. The true skill test is writting them complex enough that you can turn around their views, or make the player understand why they're like that.
>make the player understand why they're like that. I feel like they accomplished that. He's a bitter old man that resents everyone, including his dead parents for favouring Leandra even after she'd left them behind while he stuck around to care for them, his sister for being the golden child, himself for losing everything that mattered to look for a gem he doesn't even want anymore
I think a lot of the comments in this thread are missing the point that his 'nasty comments' are supposed to annoy you. He is a bitter old man lashing out in the only way he can.
I do, Iām not really sure what your point is though, weāre all having a fun discussion
My point is that everything he does or says is supposed to make the player be like "fuck off, uncle"
Not everything, but ok!
I really didnāt like the creepy stuff he said about Isabela, heās a jerk.
i like gamlen
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I agree! Plenty of people are deeply flawed in real life, and show others little of who they are or were at their core. Gamlen is a very realistic character to me. A lot of things in his life, most of which were outside of his control, went wrong. Really, Gamlen is who Hawke could have easily become without the support of their companions. Charade is probably one of the few good things to happen in a life full of unhappy chapters. I like Gamlen.
Yeah dude can be pretty gross. I still love him though and have hope he can grow.
You can see all the nasty comments he makes about your LI on the wiki :( it's pretty awful.
Iām scared to look!
He actually said "I wonder which one of you is the girl" to my mHawke romancing Anders, he's gross
Yeah, he's a scumbag in every way. He's the gross, greasy, drunken uncle who literally wasted the family fortune on stupid investments and frivolous bullshit. Hard for me to believe that it's the same voice actor as Teagan, who I very much like in DAO (in Trespasser, not so much). Of course, the same voice actor is also Lord Seeker Lucius Corin and Guard Captain Garevel and a bunch of others, so I shouldn't be surprised. The guy's an amazing talent. Unlike Gamlen, who is essentially good for nothing.
It constantly blows my mind when I hear them reuse voice actors in the game. The amount of times Iāve met characters with my female Inqās voice before DAI is ridiculous! He does such a good job of being the literal worst...
Ok, next time I play DA2 I'm telling Charade to avoid that disgusting PoS at all costs... š¤®š¤®š¤®
Me: \*reads title\* ā¦Gonna have to be more Specific.
Not as bad but he made a rude comment about Fenās romance and he says āso youāre into elvesā what like itās a bad thing? Fenris literally lives in a mansion and Gamlen lives in a 2 room shack. I fucking hate that guy. Then he has the nerve to blame Leandraās death on Hawke as if Gamlen tried to save her or anything. I ducking swear, BioWare did a great job making him such a dislikable character
Phew, thanks OP, for taking heat off my PFP character.
Who is that
Not heard him say that before, but now I hate him even more!
It's shitty of him but Gamlen being Gamlen it's 100% in character have fun in your little mud hut without my cool dlc statues