Why Morrigan? Well, the simple answer is “because Dragon Age” (that happens to be THE fandom for me, as the game ate away many months of my life) or “because it’s a handy costume for early July” (after hosting Japanizam for many years wearing heavy gowns, tight-laced corsets or full body armor, in 2014 I decided that enough's enough, no more makeup melting and heat strokes), but there’s more to it than that.

People who know me well know that in real life I’m much more like Leliana – a storyteller, approachable and outgoing, more on the positive side. However, it’s Morrigan who perfectly fits my “cosplay typecasting”– dark, aloof, haughty, mysterious and with a penchant for wild glamour. A true witch – or, if you’re into lame puns, just replace the first letter of the word.

Still, Morrigan is a character as multilayered as few others. If you talk with her often and deepen your relationship, you’ll discover a lonely and vulnerable young woman who wears her sex appeal like one would wear an armor, and quickly warms up to camaraderie in the group, no matter how loudly she might complain. Yet the very moment you think you’re on to her – that she’s just another deconstruction of the Femme Fatale trope – Morrigan will surprise you again, by refusing to compromise and taking exactly what she came for. Even if it means that she needs to break her own heart to do so.

But that's not the end of her journey. In "Dragon Age: Inquitision", we meet Morrigan ten years later (and it goes without saying I just had to do that costume too, conveniently debuting it at ChibiCon 2015, our winter convention). She's a decade older, presumably wiser, still as mysterious as ever, wearing exactly the same dress that Leliana described in "Dragon Age: Origins" when she tried to persuade the Witch of the Wilds to go for a more elegant, sophisticated look (Leliana wanted to put her in a dress of red silk and black velvet, with a deep neckline and details of old gold, and Morrigan swore that she would never, ever wear such an atrocity). Gone are the arrogance and the wildness: this Morrigan is a mature, confident woman who knows how to play the court games. And yet she sounds so sad, even when she tries not to.

Being able to portray both versions of her - the girl and the woman, the seductiveness and the vulnerability - was a most satisfying challenge for my cosplaying skills. The biggest compliment I got for my Morrigan was from a friend who recently played “Dragon Age: Origins” and utterly failed in his intention to romance the Witch of the Wilds. “I just cannot do it,” he said. “Every time I look at her, I see you”


Credits:

Costume(s) by Ana Barajević and Marina Anđelković
Jewelry by Vladimir Matić-Kurylev and me
Makeup by Ljubica Mirković

Set I: Photo by Aleksandar Jovković, edited by Tenshi
Set II: Photo by Red Gaku
Set III: Photo by Predrag Bojković