Thank you for all the thoughtful comments, everyone! Do know I never expect you all to agree with me and am much more interested in prompting discussion and insight. :)

Thanks for the criticism and support, Brin.

As to the last paragraph, if you are a woman playing a male character (or vice versa) and tend to get somewhat attached to your characters as I do, I think it's a bit jarring.

Describing Morrigan as "half-animal" is hyperbole. There's a long dialogue the player can have with her about whether or not she turns into an actual animal when she shapeshifts. She doesn't, but the fact that Witches of the Wild are shapeshifters plays into their characterization as wild, socially-outcast folk. From the perspective of a city-dweller, she very likely seems half-animal.

I also realized this topic was going to be controversial. It's hard to discuss gender, stereotypes, etc. and not make people uncomfortable.

Hm, I don't think I left out Zevran intentionally. He deserves discussion on his own, certainly, and I wanted to focus more on Shale here. I also have never spent much time with Zevran in my own party so he may have just slipped my mind.

Also, I have said the first part to male friends of mine - "Look at her behind!". They didn't see it, for some reason.

This I like.