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I LOVE VEILGUARD I LOVE EVERYONE'S ROOKS!!!

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I think the best way to describe my issue with the "Zevran said all this about the Crows therefore they're pure evil and everything we see that doesn't match exactly with his description is a retcon and Bioware softening them" take is... if what the Wardens did to Anders and Justice doesn't make the Wardens pure evil as an organization then what the Crows did to Zevran doesn't make the Crows pure evil as an organization. Additional data points that inform us that something that happened to one character isn't standard—or at the very least isn't standard anymore/isn't standard across the whole organization rather than just one specific part of it—isn't a retcon, it just means the organization involved is more complicated that we were shown. Which given the Crows have transitioned from "occasional random enemy, some of whom have names and maybe a few lines of backstory" to "actual in-game faction with significant characters actively tied to them and an actual part in the story" is a very good thing!

(Also the Crows being assassins doesn't make them inherently evil in a setting where every protagonist having a triple digit body count is treated as morally neutral, that is not the "gotcha" people seem to think it is.)

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I think when talking about choice it's also important to remember that Zevran... isn't actually any more representative of the Crows than Teia and Lucanis are (arguably he's less representative because I'm pretty sure the actual mechanics of how the Crows operate were retconned after DAO, his description of bidding on contracts and royals inheriting control of Crow cells doesn't match up to the system of houses and Talons we see later in the series; I'm aware that that's not a particularly solid argument and doesn't actually change his experiences, I just think it's worth keeping in mind when discussing the Crows that they seem to have changed on a structural level at some point in the series). He got unlucky in his boss for sure, but we have no actual way of knowing if that was standard at the time with just the one data point. The Talon of House Arainai at the time chose to run his house like that... and perhaps not coincidentally died in 9:31 (although as far as I'm aware there's no confirmation on how he died, I wouldn't be surprised if his underlings got sick of the mistreatment; treating the trainee best assassins in Thedas like shit isn't actually a smart business decision). It wasn't "the Crows" as some faceless conglomerate, it was the Crows Zevran specifically directly worked for. Meanwhile Teia (leaving out Lucanis because while I'm sure he'll be a very good First Talon we don't actually see him lead so there's no examples to pull from) chooses to be kind and treat those around her well, and seems to be pretty well loved among all the Crows we see who know her; she probably doesn't have to worry about any coups because she's actually by all appearances a good leader.

We can actually see another example of that with Zevran again during the events of DAO; while he'll fight to the death to defend his friend/lover when Taliesen attacks, if the Warden hasn't made the effort to earn his loyalty he will turn on them without a moment's hesitation when Taliesen gives him a way to walk back his decision to leave the Crows. The Crow houses seem to be as good or bad as their individual heads, same as the various parties in the series are made better or worse by the protagonist's efforts to make friends or be absolutely horrid. I find it actually weakens the theme of choice you're talking about when people act like the Crows are bad by default with a few exceptions when the reality seems to be a lot more... people make decisions, and when people with power make decisions they can make things a lot better or a lot worse. House Arainai in Zevran's day was led by someone who made decisions that made things worse; the fact that Teia and Lucanis choose to do better by their subordinates and the non-targets around them doesn't undo that, it just underscores the fact that the Eighth Talon of the time never had to be cruel. It wasn't something forced on him by how the Crows were run and it wasn't as far as we see necessary to keep up with the other houses; it was a choice.

You know that convo between Taash and Lucanis where they're talking about the Butcher is so incredible for so many reasons but I want to focus on Lucanis's line 'there is always a choice' because I think a lot of people write that off as the writers forgetting the Crows are supposed to be assassins and going on what Zevran said in Origins about you know the Crows having him kill his lover and then laughing in his face about it because they wanted him to know that he never has a choice BUT have we ever considered that Lucanis is right? Like you could take this as oh he's the First Talon's grandson and he's in a position of power but also... what if good people can still exist in bad environments? Like Lucanis and Teia exist in the Crows, despite everything done to them. If you read Tevinter Nights, neither of those people ever says the Crows are good, and in fact Lucanis is the one who says 'we're not heroes anywhere' and yet despite that, he takes the time to make sure the slaves get out. Teia is upset that the kitchen staff were murdered. Zevran is kind and helpful and heroic despite everything done to him. Why must the existence of good people in a bad organization indicate that the organization is good? Why can't people be good despite their circumstances? Of course Lucanis would say 'there is always a choice' because this is the guy who was supposed to be a breeding ground for a demon and instead of that he kept both of them alive because he felt bad for Spite but at the same time he desperately wanted to live. Like I don't know when we decided that Teia and Lucanis were the representation of the entire Antivan Crows' morals. And both of them still enjoy killing people. Like, a lot. Idk. I think it's more powerful to have people be good people and choose to be good people despite their shitty circumstances and to the best of their abilities.

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hey guys have you ever heard of THE CHARACTER. i’m thinking about THE CHARACTER. honestly can’t even get shit done because i’m thinking about THE CHARACTER. i’m listening to a song and imagining THE CHARACTER. all i know and love is THE CHARACTER

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my moots are caterina posting so i wanna post. is this a safe space for me to post about caterina dellamorte without having to give a caveat and acknowledge that child abuse is bad. we know child abuse is bad this is a fictional character. the crows all kill people for money let's be so for real.

anyways i love that there tends to be two schools of thought about her: that she treats the boys the way she does because she did the same thing to her kids and they still failed or she was softer on her kids and she won't make the same mistake this time. it's really juicy either way.

she HELD ON to the position of first talon DESPITE that tragedy happening. she's a massively resilient, political, and intelligent woman and can we really say that what she did DIDN'T properly prepare lucanis and illario for the world of assassins? they're both filling valuable niches (lucanis specifically being trained to kill mages, illario being so good with people and politically savvy) that it gives them more worth being alive than dead if they get caught. WHICH LUCANIS DID. AND THEY DIDN'T KILL HIM.

they don't call her 'nonna' but teia does which is also. doing something insane to my head. whatever. im always thinking about her btw you literally cannot remove her from the dynamic about Why Things Are The Way They Are in the Dellamorte household. which is why i get a little frustrated when i see 300 headcanons on keeping my blorbo beebus away from lucanis... like she probably has a reason for that beyond mean old lady. to me.

she can't take responsibility for illario's fate bc she still loves him and makes lucanis do it by making him first talon. oh my poor boy.

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personally i think that if lucanis maintains his wyvern fixation into adulthood he's probably really unsettling about it

he doesn't wanna pet a wyvern he wants to watch one eat an orlesian noble

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Sword maintenance

TES pinup challenge: Swordsman

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sorry i never replied. everyday is blending together and im losing sense of time

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my preemptive answer is that because people refuse to commit main characters to it but i'm sure there are many reasons

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she's so unserious, I love her so much ❤️

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I, for one, think Viago is incredibly hot and that all of you who write and draw your Rooks with him are doing the Maker's work.

My Rook, on the other hand, is appalled. She finds out about a monthly gathering of Crows who think the Fifth Talon is sexy and bursts in.

"What the fuck is wrong with all of—LUCANIS?!"

She has never known such betrayal.

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The last poll made think that if it were Anders, Morrigan, and Solas, that would be much more harder for me to choose sooo... Fuck Marry Kill: Morrigan, Anders, Solas.

Fuck Marry Kill: Morrigan, Anders, Solas

Fuck Morrigan - Marry Anders - Kill Solas

Fuck Morrigan - Marry Solas - Kill Anders

Fuck Anders - Marry Morrigan - Kill Solas

Fuck Anders - Marry Solas - Kill Morrigan

Fuck Solas - Marry Morrigan - Kill Anders

Fuck Solas - Marry Anders - Kill Morrigan

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"Listen to your team — like you always do."

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he must find a place to be still

lucanis week, day 1 - Spite

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Spite tarot card

Day 1 - Spite / Determination

@datvcompanionweeks thank you for hosting the week ^_^

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inspiration

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There is literally no reason for Rook to be nice to Solas

They’re first told before they meet him that he’s trying to destroy the world. One can assume they also have the details of him being responsible for the conclave explosion.

When they actually meet him, he is in the process of a magical ritual to end the world. It is summoning hordes of demons to the center of the densely populated Tevinter capital, then later to Arlathan forest, which is already highly disturbed by his activities.

Their friend tries to peacefully convince him to stop and talk about this, and his response is to stab him in the chest. While rook doesn’t yet know Varric dies from this, from their perspective it does wound him so severely that he appears to have limited use of his legs and is unable to be out of bed for long periods even months later. They’re then shouted at and blamed for the release of the elven gods.

Over the course of the next few months they learn that Solas:

- used his allies in the rebellion as canon fodder, promising them freedom and lying to them about an unwinnable battle so that their deaths could be used as a distraction, and showing absolutely no remorse about it when confronted

- took the blood of titans to form a body that could use magic, knowing it hurt the titans to do so

- crafted a dagger to sunder the titans and used it, violently ripping their soul from them and leaving it to fester knowing full well that it would turn into the blight, making him not only responsible for a horrific crime against dwarves (who rook knows from talking to Harding he still treats with disdain), but also responsible for the blight, literally the greatest disaster to happen to Thedas, having caused and continuing to cause untold destruction and death

- killed an ally whom he claimed to care about more than anyone and took her power, ignoring her pleas for him to stop his plans to destroy the world, and then later claiming to be doing it on her behalf

Then he traps them in the regret prison he designed, presumably with plans to leave them there indefinitely, giving a cruel speech blaming them for the deaths of their friends (while also using blood magic to make them see another death that didn’t happen) in an attempt to further gaslight and manipulate them and make them more suited for the prison.

They then learn that the friend who tried to peacefully talk to Solas in the beginning was actually murdered for it, and Solas has been manipulating them with blood magic this entire time to make them think he was still alive, and probably using that blood magic to steal that friends voice to pretend to be him during personal conversations where rook sought guidance from someone they thought was their friend and mentor.

When they get out of the prison after multiple weeks, Solas tries to manipulate them once again, attempting to trick them into bringing down the veil themselves by withholding the information that killing Elgar’nan will destroy the veil.

At what point in that does Rook have reason to see Solas in a positive light?

Rook starts out with a bad impression and literally every interaction with him they have and piece of information about him they find makes it worse. If anything, they should be meaner.