Confession time? Yes, I knew Goldanna wasn't meant to be Alistair's mother. But neither was Fiona, originally. I think fans caught wind of some revisionism at work, and OK it's true. I had a more Arthurian idea for his birth but I stopped liking it... yet not soon enough to go back and make edits. - ThreadSky

davidgaider.bsky.social • 212 days ago

Confession time?

Yes, I knew Goldanna wasn't meant to be Alistair's mother. But neither was Fiona, originally.

I think fans caught wind of some revisionism at work, and OK it's true. I had a more Arthurian idea for his birth but I stopped liking it... yet not soon enough to go back and make edits.

Comments

heyitsree.bsky.social•208 days ago

I said before and I’ll say it again - thank you so much for creating Alistair - and also thanks to @stevevalentine.bsky.social for his VA of Alistair. It was a “match made in Heaven”, as they say.

stevevalentine.bsky.social•201 days ago

Hey my pleasure! Just a small cog in a massive machine :)

nucl3arsnake.bsky.social•212 days ago

Alistair is one of my favorite characters in video games ever. I immediately loved him the first scene he's introduced. He's legitimately funny and endearing and adorkable. Seeing him in DA2 and DAI was such a treat. Really wish he was in DAV in some form.

drakonmo.bsky.social•212 days ago

Are you willing to share with the class 👀

mysteryofobscurity.bsky.social•211 days ago

Who licked a lamppost in winter?
raise your hand

mysteryofobscurity.bsky.social•211 days ago

This dude broke my heart! 😩
How many of us cried for days, but it’s something DA was also so good about - decisions & words mattered.
Ali is the character I relate to it was shocking (can’t mend my shirts, oops!). Favourite party banter is always with him.

So happy to find out you watched BTVS!

williamjtlane.bsky.social•212 days ago

Interesting! I'm guessing that would have been riffing on either Arthur's conception by Uther, or Mordred's conception by Arthur.

davidgaider.bsky.social•212 days ago

Should I have just left it be, left Goldanna as his mother? Maybe. It was one of those writer things I just couldn't let go of and I probably could have used someone to sit me down and go "Gaider, please. Just stop."

I still like Fiona, and where I took it. But I probably shouldn't have gone there.

stolenfires.bsky.social•212 days ago

Personally, I liked the Fiona twist.

But wasn't Goldanna his sister? I don't think the mother ever got a name.

ehhmvee.bsky.social•212 days ago

*sister

Siiiiiiis-ter

bloomingtide.bsky.social•209 days ago

Lol I read that in Steve Valentine's voice, ngl 😆

lvlnarrative.bsky.social•205 days ago

Wasn't Goldanna his sister? 😧

davidgaider.bsky.social•212 days ago

Casting Alistair was SUCH a chore. He required a weird mix of devilish charm, but with enough sincerity and adorkableness it didn't come off as smarmy.

Every audition went full smarm... until Steve Valentine up and appeared out of nowhere. In the midst of a batch of audition files, there he was.

davidgaider.bsky.social•212 days ago

We brought Steve in "just to try out", and he pulled it off. Even the "frog time" line, which (seriously) nobody else could. And when he got to the romantic lines, Steve's voice turned into pure butter without, again, sliding into "oh, he's slightly creepy". Both Caroline and I were sold.

westhelargo.bsky.social•212 days ago

It all came together so well. Alistair remains my favorite character of the series and such a crucial element of why I feel such warmth toward the series generally and DAO in particular

juliahb322.bsky.social•210 days ago

Steve was the PERFECT Alistair. He is also so amazing in person!

See my profile pic? 🥰

I wish Ali had a cameo in DA: V... Sigh...
But that is okay. He and my HoF are happy together (despite what I hear about Ferelden in DA: V).

trillymon.bsky.social•212 days ago

"Swooping is bad" and "Have you ever licked a lamppost in winter" will forever be in my head. The delivery on the 2nd made me laugh so hard.

quiteromantic.bsky.social•212 days ago

So nice to hear you were involved in the casting process. Steve's voice and delivery is largely why I got smitten with Alistair so fast. Also, Alistair as a main character who ISNT a manly man, who is allowed to say he's scared or sad about things... even so many years later feels so unique 💕

cgonzalez.bsky.social•212 days ago

And many of us were thoroughly charmed as a result.

davidgaider.bsky.social•212 days ago

And he was so gloriously easy to write. It's a well I'd probably return to... a bit too often, maybe? Maric, then Anders in Awakening, and then Alistair kept popping up in future games and the comics because, yes, he was pretty much the breakout comedy character of DA.

Which still makes me happy. 😁

ardenost.bsky.social•211 days ago

Thank you for sharing these insights - Alistair was so special to me when I first played it, and to be able to see the process behind him being brought to life now that I'm a working narrative designer is such a treat :)

stormsage.bsky.social•210 days ago

Alistair is such a great character. Charming, witty, but vulnerable and grows so much thanks to the Warden. I'm so happy every time he pops up.

After finishing Veilguard, I wonder if he's had any kids yet. Was that ever discuss? King Alistair continuing the Therin line for Ferelden?

jordanlhawk.bsky.social•212 days ago

I adored Alistair. I still feel guilty about leaving him in the Fade in DA:I 😭

layn75.bsky.social•211 days ago

I love him. Gah now I miss him again. Alistair was wonderful

jadziath.bsky.social•212 days ago

Anders mentioned 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

Ok but really how did I romance Alastair who broke up with me bc I wasn’t high born and I cried…and then anders and solas……smfh lol

AND CARTH who yelled at me and ran away bc I was evil (I tried to be nice but I got carried away lol)

justjeanine.bsky.social•211 days ago

To this day, I don't know that any character turn has exploded on me the way Alistair does if/after you make him king. I would literally be sitting in traffic weeks later and suddenly be all GDI ALISTAIR

davidgaider.bsky.social•212 days ago

CORRECTION: Goldanna was someone Alistair thought was his *sister*, and her mother his mother.

Look, it was almost twenty years ago, OK? 😅

wardencommander.bsky.social•212 days ago

Sounds like someone's due for a DAO run ;). I can send you my QoL mod pack if you like. I still replay it once every 3 or 4 years to this day.

PS: Please do a day for Nathaniel.

lvlnarrative.bsky.social•205 days ago

I didn't think you were wrong, I thought I was 😅 Time for me to replay DAO 😍

williamjtlane.bsky.social•212 days ago

As someone who only played the games, I never realised (until right now!) that Fiona was later written as his mother.

For me Goldanna being his real sister feels right I guess? Him being rejected so bitterly in Denerim loses its sting a bit if he's not really her sister.

scarletwings92.bsky.social•185 days ago

I can only imagine the line delivery for "have you licked a lampost in winter," to need to be so specifically dorky otherwise it would be creepy. And that's why Alistair was so much fun and so loveable in my opinion.

redkittenrevolt.bsky.social•211 days ago

One issue with Fiona being his mum is that didn't that make it canon that half elves always presented as human. So the only people capable of looking like actual elves are people born of2elves? It feels like it would have been so easy to visually erase and "assimilate" the elves into human culture.

oviridissimavirga.bsky.social•212 days ago

Alistair and Anders are fun for rping as an exasperated parent figure.

"No Alistair you can't even rule your own life problems let alone a kingdom"

"Oh just hush and let Loghain kill the dragon."

"Gdi Anders what did we say about blowing things up?"

clidlodwick.bsky.social•212 days ago

Say swooping is bad! Say it!

angelamorpheus.bsky.social•212 days ago

Alistair is enduringly endearing, and for that alone, he'll always have a special place in the hearts of A LOT of DA fans. You found that magic vein and tapped it for all it was worth, and I'm real damn grateful for it.

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