bileliana

[bileliana]

Did you know your eyelids flutter when you dream? And you have such pretty eyelashes.

They're like little butterflies... I want to catch them and keep them in a jar.

[bileliana]

Artblock is beating my ass so I drew this cause funny

[bileliana]

the righteous stand before the darkness - and the Maker shall guide their hand.

[bileliana]

"manfred: (friendly hiss)" is the spiritual successor to "cassandra: (disgusted noise)"

[bileliana]

some last-minute upgrades while pre-orders are open 🐦

[bileliana]

i love you leliana dragon age

[bileliana]

My housemate's cat came into my room while my dictation was on...

[bileliana]

[bileliana]

i may not like what i do, but it must be done.  i cannot afford the luxury of ideals at a time like this. - if you don’t like what you do, that’s a pretty good sign you’re doing something bad.

[bileliana]

i'm glad my silly little storyteller leliana post is resounding with so many people but tbh only picking up on "leliana hides the warden" as the only parallel to varric isn't all there is.

like, she is a bit more subtle about it + lacks an entire game of her own narration/recounting events (though i would strongly argue Leliana's Song is just as apt), but she has her own variation of hero worship just like varric.

she loves stories, tales of heroes and the like, and unless you make a very specific choice, the warden fits that to a t. to her the warden really is something straight out of a storybook, and with no prompting will even actively flirt with an f!warden exceptionally early on.

(as a quick aside it's why I Understand in the Darkspawn Chronicles her and alistair get together, because he's the knight in shining armor, the leader, the hero, etcetc.)

to a romanced!warden the story she tells is one of a tragic love story that even death cannot end (obv allegorical to herself and her warden). one bit of her dialogue about the story is this (credit @gabs-magical-abs for transcription):

Leliana (about Alindra and her soldier): "This tale is one of my favourites. A tale of love so great and so enduring it defies death and moves the gods to action. Some times I ask myself, does such a love exist? Can it exist?" The Warden: "Few loves are so powerful." Leliana: "I think I would be lucky to experience an emotion even half as pure and true as Alindra's love."

and in a worldstate where the warden does the ultimate sacrifice, her slide for unhardened/softened/enlightened:

“Leliana remained in the royal court for a time, mourning. She poured her heart into a ballad that would eventually become known throughout Thedas. But after one performance, Leliana quietly vanished. Some say that the Maker came to her in a vision again that night. Smiling, tears in her eyes, she told a maid that she would see her love again at last.

which...is so tragically poetic for someone who told her warden story of alindra and her soldier, only to experience it herself.

and with Leliana's Song, directly from World of Thedas is this passage (credit @deadlymaelstrom for transcription):

" [...] Leliana would continue to tell stories of [herself, Tug, and Sketch], often embellishing the details, and admits rather freely that it is her way of reliving a happier time. Sketch, on the other hand, is rather less fond of Leliana taking liberties with the truth, as evidenced from his letters to her."

her focus on the "fantasy", sometimes at the expense of the real people involved including herself, really runs directly into varric's similar mindset, only varric tries to change the ending for the better while leliana is all about the story itself.

anyway i'll stop here bc this is getting long as is for a rambley mess. i know this veered more in the romance route but i think it really contains the biggest examples of the parallels with varric & i plan to do a much less messy write-up when i replay for better cohesive meta! :)

[bileliana]

Veiltober - day 22, Inquisition

Are you guys sick of my Inky yet, it's the third time she's made an appearance lol. But I love her so I'm putting her in as much as I can!!

Ty for the love on all my pieces guys, it's actually insane how kind yall have been up until now!!!

This piece should also now be available on my Redbubble on this LINK.

Prompts by @lynnerdo, as always <3

[bileliana]

Close Up 🤍

[bileliana]

my favorite divorced couple

[bileliana]

thinking about lyriumghost!leliana and mage!inquisitor making out and mage!inquisitor going like "why do you taste like lyrium"

i'll write this one day

[bileliana]

a set for each inquisition companion (and advisors) ⤔ Leliana

“Inquisitor, you should know that your spymaster is an incorrigible prankster.”

[bileliana]

the only correct way to ship morrigan/leliana or morrigan/f!warden is morrigan having the most intense one-sided attraction for the other but chalking it up to "This Is Just What Friendship? Is I Guess" in origins only to have her four years, eight months, and two days exactly to the letter sit up on a tuesday afternoon and go THAT WASN'T FRIENDSHIP.

[bileliana]

leliana's song // the truth is a cave, the oh hellos