A Call to Bioware: Please Unlock Hardened Lucanis' Romance (ACT 1 SPOILERS)

I've been trawling through the various forum and reddit threads on this topic for the past week or so, so I know at least a good few people who want to romance Lucanis feel similarly. And to be clear, this is not a post complaining about Lucasnis' romance generally - the incredible slow-burn seems to culminate in a tamer romance than many were expecting, and that has clearly rubbed some people the wrong way. I don't have many thoughts on that - I can understand why people would want something more substantial from Lucanis, but that's beyond the scope of what I'm asking for here. What I'm looking for is the bare minimum: Bioware, please unlock Hardened Lucanis' romance.

I've seen a lot of good points already posted by others about why this should be the case, so I thought I'd compile the points I've seen here. I might be screaming into the void with this one, and if Bioware ignores us, then I can rest assured that the modding community might have my back. However, it's nice to imagine a company with time to respond to constructive feedback.

Reason 1: It's Inconsistent.

Lucanis locking Rook out of a romance after Rook saves Minrathous is inconsistent writing. I would understand if Rook was a Crow who abandoned their city during a time of need. It would make sense if Rook levied the full forces of the Veilguard against only one of the dragons. It would make sense if Rook was known to be better at killing dragons, so where Rook chooses to go makes all the difference. It would make sense if Rook had a magic Dragon-Killing Veil Hand that could only go to one location at a time. As it is, however, Rook is not especially more skilled at dragon-killing than any of the other Veilguard members, and Rook delegates half of the Veilguard to protect the city that Rook themselves does not go to.

More to the point, the game claims that Lucanis does not have time for a romance with you while he's picking up the remains of the city. Now, on the face of it, this would be fine. I'm not morally opposed to an RPG character making romance decisions based on player role play, even if it hurts my feelings. That's just the price of art. However, as many before me have pointed out, Lucanis does have time for a romance with Neve after the destruction of his city. This stings especially badly for anyone playing a Shadow Dragon Rook, as they are in the exact same boat as Neve, but they are being rejected for making the same call as she did. And that's not even mentioning how the romance on the other side of this particular coin works...

Reason 2: It's Inequitable

Locking off Lucanis' romance is inequitable, in more ways than one. On the most basic level, it's not equal with any of the other romances in the game. Lucanis' is (I believe) the only romance that can get locked off in such a way. Again - I'm not opposed to roleplay locking off a romance. If Neve could not forgive you for forsaking Minrathous, then at least Lucanis would have parity with another romanceable NPC. It might have been neat to see every character have something that precludes them from further romance. I'm very aware of how much Dragon Age fans enjoy having NPCs that function as their own fully-fleshed characters that make decisions regardless of what the player character wants. As it is, however, having only one NPC romance get easily locked off is surprising and disappointing.

However, and more importantly than comparing fictional characters, it's inequitable towards players. If my journeys on other Dragon Age forums are any indication, I might be unpopular in my opinion that Pansexual/"Playersexual" characters are my preferred Bioware companion writing style. It leaves romantic roleplay open for all types of people. It opens up nonbinary roleplay, as we've seen in this game. It makes me focus on seeing the NPC as a person with goals and hang-ups that need to be honored, as opposed to a list of Canon Sexualities that need to be built around first. As a queer person myeslf, I prefer this, and having it come back in Veilguard feels refreshing after Inquisition. Locking off one of the masculine-coded romances (especially the one that seems to, at least initially, be pulling the Zevran and Fenris girlies out of the woodwork) feels unintentionally cruel, especially in a game that otherwise seems to have worked so hard to be more open, inclusive, and representative than any other entry in the series. Now, again, if Lucanis' reaction was on par with the other NPC companions, then the equity question would be less of a concern. If there was an opportunity to mess up every romance, then it would be hitting everyone equally. As it is, this choice removes one masculine-coded romance from the table, leaving those of us craving one with fewer options.

Reason 3: Industry standard

I hate to be the person stammering "bu-bu-Baldur's Gate" in a Dragon Age thread, but when Baldur's Gate III launched, I knew it would be coming for Bioware's lunch. It succeeded in a major way. Now, I'm happy to see that Veilguard hasn't necessarily stumbled in the face of a huge new title in the CRPG space that offers a lot of what old-school Dragon Age used to. However, this challenge presents an opportunity to Bioware. Using upcoming game patches to do more than just bare-minimum bug-fixes would be an amazing response to seeing Larian Studios do the same. They used the patching system to add narrative and character content in a way that I haven't ever seen out of major studios. Seeing the number of people coming out against Lucanis' romance being locked off in this way, it would certainly warm my heart to see Bioware at least conscientiously engage with these criticisms.

Just my thoughts. Again - I know this might be preaching to the choir, but...a girl can hope.