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[magnetic-dragons]

This is going to be very ranty and disjointed, probably borderline incomprehensible post, but with the "return" of Dragon Age Discourse (and really, did it ever go anywhere?) and me repeatedly seeing the complaints and dismissals of DA:I as a "chosen one"-type of a narrative, I just.... I keep finding myself thinking about the relationship of truth and lies within the game.

Throughout the course of DA:I, the idea of a malleable, flexible personal identity, and a painful confrontation with an uncomfortable truth replacing a soothing falsehood, follows pretty much every character throughout their respective arcs.

There are some more obvious ones, Solas, Blackwall, The Iron Bull, their identities and deceptions (of both those around them and themselves) are clearly front and center in the stories told about them, but this theme of deception (both of the self- and the outside world) is clearly present in the stories of the others as well.

Like, for example, ones that come immediately to mind are stories like that of Cullen, who presents an image of a composed and disciplined military man, a commander- all to hide the desperate and traumatized addict that he sees himself as.

Dorian grappled with the expectations of presenting the image of the perfect heir to his father's legacy, the prideful scion of his house, his entire life (he even introduces himself as the result of "careful breeding", like one might speak about a prized horse)- all while knowing that his family would rather see him lobotomized and obedient, than anything even just resembling his vibrant and passionate self.

Cassandra calls herself a Seeker of Truth, and takes pride in that identity- only to learn that in reality, she has been made a liar, a keeper of secrets, without her knowledge or consent, and it is up to her to either uproot the entire organization and painfully cut out the abscess it is to build it back from the ground up into something respectable, or let the information she had revealed sit, and continue to fester.

And this theme continues and reframes itself in, among others, things like Sera's own inner conflict between her elven heritage and her human upbringing, or in Cole being caught in this unconscionable space in-between human and spirit, between person and concept, etc.

The Inquisitor isn't exempt from this either.

I feel like this is where the core of the many misunderstandings of this plot come from, why so many people continue to believe that Inquisition is a "chosen one" or "divinely appointed" type of story, because I think many might just... not realize, that the protagonist's identity is also malleable, and what they are told in the setup/first act of the game is not necessarily the truth.

The tale of the Inquisitor is the exact opposite of that of a "chosen one" story: it's an examination and reflection of the trope, in that it is the story of an assumption that all wrongly believe to be the truth, and thrust upon you, even if you protest. The very point is that no matter who you choose to say that you are, you will be known as the Herald of a prophet you don't even necessarily believe in, and then that belief will be proven wrong, leaving you to cope with either a devastating disappointment if you believed it, or a bitter kind of vindication if you didn't.

There's a moment just after Here Lies the Abyss (when you learn of the lie you've been fed your entire journey in the game) that I don't often see mentioned, but I think it's one of the most emotionally impactful character moments, if you are playing an Andrastian Inquisitor who had actually believed themselves chosen (which I realize is a rather unpopular pick, lol): it's when Ser Ruth, a Grey Warden, realizes what she had done and is horrified by her own deeds, and turns herself in asking to be tried for the murder of another of her order. As far as she is concerned, she had spilled blood for power, and regardless of whether she was acting of her own volition at the time, whether she had agency in the moment, is irrelevant to her: she seeks no absolution, but willingly submits to any punishment you see fit.

And only if you play as an Inquisitor who, through prior dialogue choices, had established themselves as a devout Andrastian, can you offer her forgiveness, for a deed that was objectively not her fault- not really.

You can, in Andraste's name, forgive her- even though you, at that point, know that you have no real right to do so. That you're not Andraste's Herald, that Andraste may or may not even exist, and that you can't grant anyone "divine forgiveness", because you, yourself, don't have a drop of divinity within you. You know that you were no more than an unlucky idiot who stumbled their way into meddling with forces beyond their ken.

You know you're a fraud. You know. The game forces you to realize, as it slowly drip-drip-drips the memories knocked loose by the blast back into your head, that what all have been telling you that you are up to this point, is false. And yet, you can still choose to keep up the lie, and tell this woman who stands in front of you with blood on her hands and tears in her eyes, that you, with authority you don't have, grant her forgiveness for a crime that wasn't hers to commit.

Because it's the right thing to do. Because to lie to Ser Ruth is far kinder than anything else you could possibly do to her, short of refusing to make a decision altogether.

There are any number of criticisms of this game that I can accept (I may or may not agree depending on what it is, but I'm from the school of thought that any interpretation can be equally valid as long as there's text that supports it, and no text that contradicts it), but I will always continue to uphold that the Inquisitor is absolutely not- and never was a "chosen one".

They're just as small, and sad, and lost, as all the other protagonists- the only difference is that they didn't need to fight for their mantle, because instead of a symbol of honor, it acted as a straitjacket.

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I understand and agree with a lot of the frustrations about the shortcomings of Inquisition as a story. but sometimes when I hear people complain about the chosen one narrative in it I do want to just be like... you know it's a deconstruction of the concept more than anything, right. the inquisitor isn't actually chosen by anything except stumbling into the wrong (right?) room at the right (wrong?) time because they like, heard a noise or whatever. or if you think they are chosen, as many do in-universe, that's something you have to take on faith, the maker-or-whoever moves in mysterious ways indeed-style. the Inquisitor isn't actually a Destined Chosen One, they're a Just Some Guy in a fancy hat, self-delusions of grandeur to taste as you'd prefer.

a running thread that goes through all of the personal quests of the companions is the concept of a comforting lie vs. an uncomfortable truth, upholding old corrupt structures vs. disrupting them, and the role of faith in navigating that. (blackwall the warden vs. thom rainier the liar and murderer. hissrad vs. the iron bull, or is that the other way around? cassandra and the seekers -- do we tell the truth about what we find, even if it means dismantling the old order of the world? and so on.) and your inquisitor IS at the same time a comforting lie (a necessary one, in dark times? the game seems to ask) and an uncomfortable truth (we are the result of random fickle chance, no protective hand is held over the universe, it's on us to make a better world because the maker sure as hell won't lift a divine finger to help anyone, should he against all odds exist). faith wielded for political power... where's the point that it crosses the line into ugliness? is it before it even begins? what's the alternative? will anyone listen to the truth, if you tell it?

interesting how you also get a mix of companion agency in this -- you have characters like dorian who ALWAYS choose one side of the comforting lie vs. uncomfortable truth dichotomy. he will always make up his own mind to go back to tevinter and try to dismantle the corruption of the old system no matter what you say, or how you try to influence him. meanwhile iron bull is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum -- so psychologically trapped and mangled, caught in an impossible spiritual catch-22, that his sense of identity is left entirely to you and your mercy. you cannot change dorian in any way that matters; you can be his friend or not, support him or not, but he is whole no matter what. you are given incredible and potentially destructive-to-him power over bull's soul. it's really cool (and heartbreaking) to think about.

this is a game about how history will eat you even while you're still alive, and shape you into whatever image it pleases to serve it, and for all your incredible power right now you are powerless in the face of the gravitational force of time -- of more than time, of History. you won't recognize yourself in what History will make of you, because you belong to it now. you don't belong to yourself anymore and you never will again. the further you were from what it needs from you to begin with, the more you will find yourself distorted in its funhouse mirror. (why hello there inquisitor ameridan, same hat!)

and to me this is so much the core of what Dragon Age is about right from the Origins days -- how and by whom history gets written, the inherent unreliable narration of it all. I hope you like stories, Inquisitor. You are one now.

I do think it's probably still the weakest of the games narratively, and it's hampered by its structure and bloated systems. but I also find it disingenous to say that there's nothing deeper or actually interesting going on with it, thematically. if you're willing to engage with it there is Some Real Shit going on under the high fantasy-tinted surface.

[magnetic-dragons]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard ♟️

As a guess, it's Varric who gave a new protagonist nickname "Rook".

Some chess info:

- Rooks can't play at the beginning (blocked by other pieces).

- Supports a friendly pawns.

- Threatens enemy's pawns and hems in the enemy king.

- Most powerful at the end of a game.

- One of the best pieces for delivering checkmate (endgame position).

A popular technique is called a ladder mate. In this checkmate pattern the player keeps checking the King while moving the Rooks one file at a time, "climbing a ladder", until the King is on the edge of board and has no available spaces to move to.

Solas hearing the name and remember how he spent many hours during the Inquisition playing the chess with everyone who dare to challenge him: oh, I see what you are doing here, Tethras. A cryptic warning? Interesting move.

Meanwhile Rook:

Fun fact: in many languages "Rook" it is "tower/castle" but in my language it means "ship/boat". It's kinda good matching to Lighthouse hub in da4 yet not so good at representation of PC qualities.

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Warden secretly makes friendship bracelets for everyone, and they all think they are special.

Zevran: he thinks it’s a joke. But why would the Warden mock him like that? When they shyly explain it, he wears it proudly, shows everyone, mentions it at every opportunity.

Alistair: at first he tries to cover it, later he grows proud of it and blushes whenever someone notices

Leliana: BLUSHING, pure excitement, lots of screaming, makes another one for the Warden.

Morrigan: she doesn’t want it. She laughts at the stupid thought, but eventually she takes it and keeps in her bag, hidden and safe.

Wynne: she took it just to please the Warden. She thinks they are just being young and silly, but she can’t hide a smile whenever she looks at it. She tied it onto her staff.

Oghren: he laughs loudly and takes it. When he sobers he is amazed how it got into his possesion. While listening to Warden’s explenations, he just shushes them and ties it to his beard with laughter.

Sten: he’s not familiar with the concept, but it pleases him in ways he can’t understand. He wears it for his kadan.

Shale: She is touched and asks if it is yet another human thing. Warden assures her that yes, so she asks them for help tying it. It fits only on her finger but she doesn’t mind.

Mabari: Warden ties it around the collar. Mabari barks happily and licks the Warden’s cheek, while drooling A LOT.

SANDAL: Warden gives him a bracelet, but he doesn’t really understands why, so he enchants it. Then he gives it back and it is the most powerful item ever obtained.

[magnetic-dragons]

Can you guys re-imagine the culture(s) of the Chasind?

Hey anon!

That's a fantastic suggestion! Our campaigns have been taking place mostly in northern Thedas, so we didn't even have Chasind people/Kocari Wilds on the map yet, but you're so right. I didn't know much about the Chasind before reading up on the Bioware Wiki (BW for short) and.....yooof.

We'll definitely do a more thought-out and 'official' entry, but since a lot of our re-imaginings move at a snail's pace, I'll share some of our immediate thoughts after discussing this:

Geography:

It's giving BIG bayou vibes, and we're taking that and running with it, nodding at inspiration of early Black-American culture that emerges in the southern USA and the greater Caribbean Islands. Visuals of the Florida Everglades and Bayou Bartholomew in Arkansas, with a majority of the villages being built on stilts or the massive trees that are similar to the ones seen in the Frostback Basin (Jaws of Hakkon DLC specifically). There are settlements on more solid land, but most of the population and the 'civilians' live inside the swamp, as the tricky terrain doubles as protection and security.

The People:

Based off the BW, we're seeing patterns of love for nature and the seasons, and the mention of "animalistic goddesses" is making us think....DND druid style. (we took one look at the "barbaric" descriptions and tossed it all out, thank you)

Animal companionship is common among Chasind, whether they are "working animals" that warriors and hunters may keep that help them in their tasks, or companions for your local shopkeep or fisherman. Big or small, smart or.....lovable...animals are all around and children may even receive their companion at very young ages, growing up with their animal friend.

Some more magically gifted Chasind can even transform and take an animal form.

Chasind are bonded by clan systems, not blood or background. Meaning that if someone needs help in the village, people will band together to support that person. Once you settle in the swamp, you're family.

The Chasind have a large population of people with darker skin tones, but people with lighter skin tones are not uncommon either.

The Culture

Being situated on top of it, of course, water is EVERYTHING.

Navigating the bayou is no easy feat, and children are taught from a young age through legends, stories, and all sorts of oral histories how dangerous the water can be.

There are definitely some pretty cool eldritch beings living out in the swamp, and there are definitely stories about them.

Fishing culture is HUGE. Fishermen are taught a very sophisticated type of navigation and tracking, most commonly using the stars as a guide to chart the swamp, because the landscape can be incredibly difficult to navigate, especially after dark.

According to the BW, the Chasind have "developed their own language, but are capable of speaking the King's tongue", so we took this as they've managed to blend an older language like the one spoken by their Alamaari ancestors and merged it with the King's tongue (not unlike real-world languages, such as Haitian Creole, Jamaican Patois, or Michif)

People also traverse the swamp on stilts to keep out of the water and out of the way of other water predators. Whether they are walking across the village or going out to the fishing holes to get a daily catch.

Please feel free to add your own comments or thoughts on this re-imagine! This entire project is a joint effort, and having perspectives from other backgrounds is always helpful to make it more inclusive.

[magnetic-dragons]

many reasons to dislike mages

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There’s something that’s been bothering me in retrospect now that I’ve played all three Dragon Age games. It pertains to the Mage/Templar conflict, but specifically as it’s portrayed in DA 2 and DAI.

It’s not the ‘both sides’ issue. Yes, I do take issue with that aspect, but it’s been discussed at length already. What I haven’t seen discussed much is that in both games, the narratives essentially gloss over the existence of children. I find this a bit dishonest considering it’s been definitively established that Mage Circles invariably have children in them.

We know that Mages are taken away to circles as children. We’ve also seen Mage children at the Circle Tower in Origins. A major part of Wynne’s backstory involved her getting fatally injured while defending the children who were still trapped in the tower when a horde of abominations was running loose. Anders was twelve years old when the Templars took him, which is a pretty standard backstory for Circle Mages and Apostates alike. So if you decide to side against the Mages, the implication is that you’ll be actively fighting and killing children.

Then there’s the rookie Templars. I’m not sure if there’s a canonically agreed upon age when Templars are typically recruited, but Cullen was supposedly thirteen when he was formally recruited. Then by age eighteen he’d been given his first marching orders. People might not generally consider eighteen to be a child anymore, but that’s still incredibly young.

I understand not wanting to go that dark, but for a game that wants you to make tough decisions about morally complicated issues then I wish it didn’t sanitize something this critical. Glossing over the involvement of children in situations that would actively affect them feels kind of cowardly. DA is one of those franchises that’s all about the consequences of your actions. I think it’s fair to want a more honest picture of those consequences.

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Personally I like to think that if it hadn't been a Blight then for his next trick Loghain would have kickstarted the Andrastian Protestant Reformation. What with, you know, the Chantry being Orlesian and all, it would only make sense to divest the kingdom of yet one more way Orlais sought to subjugate the Fereldan spirit and whatnot. The Inquisition would have been formed instead because Ferelden split off from the Orlesian Chantry and reformed into its own Fereldan Chantry headed by its own Divine and not only abolished its own Circle but became a haven to escaped apostates and hedgemages seeking freedom from other Circles because it's just one more way to flip off Orlais across the border. Just pure fucking anarchy lmao.

[magnetic-dragons]

On Spirit-Demon Conversion

So we’ve been told in the games a few times that demons are generally considered ‘spirits gone wrong’, due to various causes, by those knowledgeable enough to know, and that there is a conversion process that turns benevolent spirits into their less friendly counterparts

This does fly directly in the face of both the Andrastian (where spirits represent virtures, and demons represent sins, and both are independent of each other) and the Dalish (where there is no distinction made between the two) viewpoints, and I do consider both of these perspectives to be incorrect. It’s not surprising that they’re incorrect, given that knowing the ins and outs of another society is virtually impossible when you don’t actually go to that society, but I think it’s worth noting that both of these ideas about spirits and demons are wrong

Why do I say that? Because the few people who actually have the authority and experience to speak to these matters both express viewpoints that disagree with the common religious ones. As such, there are basically two people throughout the games I personally trust to actually know what they’re talking about, because they are two of the few who actually could

Keep reading

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Why Vivienne Needs the Inquisition

No one 'winds up' at Court, my dear. It takes a great deal of effort to arrive there.

–Enchanter Vivienne to the Inquisitor

An ask I received (referring, I think, to something I said in this post, though I've alluded to it at other points as well):

How/why is Vivienne's position at court shakier than it seems? (Please publish this anonymously.)

Thank you for asking! I’ve wanted to write something on this subject for a while, so I appreciate the push to get it all down. It’s something I find really interesting about Vivienne, because it's something she doesn't want the Inquisitor, or anyone, to know, so it's all subtext in the game. Vivienne is a character who always holds the player character at arms' length--a bit less so when she likes them, but there is always some distance there. As such, she's a difficult character to get to know.

And while I do have some issues with the way Vivienne is handled in the game, particularly with narrative and quest design, I won’t be touching on those heavily here. For this post I want to focus on what can be determined about her motivations from the character as written.

Vivienne can be recruited to the Inquisition after the Inquisitor's first trip to Val Royeaux. Notably, she seeks out the Inquisitor's attention herself, inviting them to a gala at the Duke of Ghislain's estate, and also notably, once recruited she will not leave the Inquisition and cannot be forced to leave, no matter how low her approval of the Inquisitor. This is also something I have seen people question: why can't you kick Vivienne out, and why won't she simply leave if she disapproves of your choices? I hope this post will answer that question as well.

The most critical aspect of Vivienne's character to understand, I think, is that she has no stable institutional power. She is not a noble. She has no familial connections of the sort that can help even a mage to keep their head above water. She is a woman who was taken from her family at a young age and raised in an institution, and who has used all her wit and charisma to make the very best of that situation for herself.

Vivienne's position as First Enchanter of Montsimmard is mostly an achievement within the Circle itself. Montsimmard itself, however, was also a stepping stone to influence outside the Circle. Personally, I think the fact that Vivienne declined to join any fraternity when she became a full Enchanter, a shocking move at the time, indicates that she held ambitions outside the Circle from a young age. And Montsimmard was the perfect proving ground for her, a major Orlesian city whose ruling family maintain close relations with the Circle. In The Masked Empire, the Marquise de Montsimmard boasts about dining at the Circle, and she and her husband wear masks adorned with lyrium crystals which we are told were a gift from the First Enchanter. It seems likely, though not confirmed, that this was Vivienne herself.

(Incidentally, it is a real shame that Vivienne’s character seems to have solidified so late in the game’s development, because in retrospect I really feel her absence in the novels. She gets a brief mention in The Masked Empire as Madame de Fer, and absolutely nothing in Asunder, which we'll come back to.)

It seems that the Montsimmard mages were called upon with some regularity to entertain the court, and this is how Vivienne first caught the attention of Duke Bastien in 9:16 Dragon. Within a year, she had moved into a suite in his estate. Her position came under attack for the next few years, but nonetheless, after a single meeting with Empress Celene in 9:20 Dragon, she became the newly-crowned Empress's Court Enchanter.

(Edited to add: It seems to be sometime after this that Vivienne became First Enchanter of Montsimmard, at "an age young enough to cause scandal," though the date is never confirmed that I can find. Incidentally, as @shrovetidecat brought to my attention in the notes, Fiona is also supposed to have been Grand Enchanter of Montsimmard, which given that may be a lore inconsistency, unless Vivienne is only meant to have taken the position after Fiona rose to Grand Enchanter—and I'm not sure why a 40-year-old First Enchanter would be scandalous.)

By the time she meets the Inquisitor, she is likely somewhere in her 40s, and has been the Enchanter to the Imperial Court and the Mistress to the Duke de Ghislain for twenty years. She regularly mingles with the court and has built a practically unprecedented influence for herself in Orlesian high society.

And it's all about to fall apart, for three critical reasons.

First, the obvious: the mage rebellion. One cannot be First Enchanter of a Circle that no longer exists, though Vivienne certainly tries. A majority of mages, even if by a razor-thin margin, have declared that they do not recognize the Circle's authority—and therefore Vivienne's authority as a loyal Enchanter within that system.

I think Vivienne's dialogue with the Inquisitor and her remarks if taken to Redcliffe reveal a deep frustration and resentment of Grand Enchanter Fiona, who called for the vote to leave the Circle and now leads the rebel mages. Vivienne of course handles this in the manner to which she is accustomed, the culture of the Imperial Court, in which trading in verbal jabs and barely-veiled insults is a standard matter of social one-upsmanship. Outside of that environment, she comes across as petty and rude, which is an interesting point of characterization in itself: Vivienne has thrived in the court environment, but she does seem to have a bit of trouble adapting her manner to different circumstances, where that sort of thing might not benefit her. But what she's trying to do is frame herself before the Inquisitor as the reasonable and respectable mage, and Fiona as misguided and pitiable. How well this goes for her, of course, depends on who the Inquisitor is. But the effort itself kind of reveals the shaky ground she's standing on.

In her dialogue with the Inquisitor, Vivienne claims that as the rebel mages follow Fiona, the loyal mages follow her. But where are these loyal mages? There's maybe one or two mages we meet in the game (Enchanter Ellendra comes to mind) who seem to respect Vivienne's word. But if the loyal mages look to her as a leader, why is Ellendra alone in a cave in the Hinterlands to begin with? Why doesn't Vivienne bring a group of these loyal mages with her to Skyhold?

I think it's because Vivienne doesn't truly have followers among the mages, the way Fiona does. This is the story she's telling the Inquisitor, to capitalize on the idea that the rebel position is not a consensus, and also that she still has influence among a significant number of mages. The truth is, she doesn't. She’s spent most of her life courting influence outside the Circle, not in it. She has presided over a Circle where she doesn’t even live day-to-day. I can’t imagine that has particularly endeared her to many of her fellow mages, even the ones who are loyalists or moderates.

Contrast this with Wynne, a pro-Circle Aequitarian who is deeply involved in Circle life despite undertaking sanctioned work outside the tower, and is also deeply involved in the events leading up to the vote for independence. Whatever the Doylist reasons for Vivienne's absense from Asunder, the fact remains: she's just not there. She has no presence in the events leading up to the rebellion. When speaking critically of Fiona's vote, she discusses it in the context of Anders' attack on the Kirkwall Chantry, and says nothing of the circumstances surrounding Fiona's push for a vote—not the revelations about Tranquility, not the conclave (no not that Conclave, the conclave of mages at which Fiona called for the vote for independence), not the subsequent massacre by the templars and the remaining mages' decision to stand and fight. And perhaps most notably, no one mentions Vivienne, positively or negatively, during the events of Asunder. Not once. We are left with the conclusion that Vivienne is simply not heavily involved in Circle politics, no matter what impression she may wish to give the Inquisitor. Her influence does not lie within the Circle.

And I think Vivienne knows this, and realizes that it's suddenly become a big problem for her.

The second big problem is Morrigan.

Vivienne has had the favor of the Empress herself for twenty years. She has, by others' accounts, managed to turn the position of Court Enchanter from "little more than court jester" to a position of influence and respect. And then the Grand Duke attempts a coup, and the Empress's elven lover runs away with a dangerous secret, and suddenly the Empress is enlisting the services of some unwashed swamp witch while Vivienne is standing right there!

Like I cannot overstate what a absolutely galling slap in the face it would be to Vivienne that even as she is attempting to uphold the legitimacy of the Circle and thus of her own authority within it, Celene effectively creates the "Arcane Advisor" position as "Court Mage 2: Apostate Boogaloo" just so she can get advice on non-Circle-approved magics. Advice that Vivienne could not give even if she wanted to, even if the Empress asked, because she has no knowledge of eluvians and ancient elven magic.

Both Dorian and Cole needle Vivienne about her jealousy of Morrigan, and I think quite accurately, no matter how quick Vivienne is to deny it.

Her influence over the Empress is fast eroding. She has been replaced in all but name.

And the third and most personal big problem is Bastien's illness.

Vivienne has enjoyed a romance with one of the empire's most influential nobles for twenty years. She has lived in his home and been on good terms with his wife until her passing. Her influence in the Imperial Court owes a lot to Bastien's affections. Bastien is not only a Duke but a member of the Council of Heralds, the political body responsible for overseeing matters of titles and inheritance in Orlais. They are quite literally the most powerful group in the country; even the Empress rules at their favor, without which she would never have gained the throne in the first place.

And now Bastien is dying, something Vivienne takes care not to mention to the Inquisitor at first. It's not until after the ball at the Winter Palace that Vivienne asks the Inquisitor for help with her potion in a last-ditch attempt to prolong his life—and even then she does not reveal her true purpose until after the Inquisitor has returned with the wyvern's heart. And while it's possible to interpret multiple ways, I personally believe from her response to his death that she did care for Bastien. She didn't need to bring the Inquisitor to his deathbed at all, if she wanted to continue concealing his illness, something she's taken care to do up until that point. It bespeaks a measure of trust that she allows the Inquisitor to see her so—in her grief, as well as in her loss of position.

Because Bastien's death is a terrible loss for Vivienne socially as well as personally. Bastien's son will inherit his estate, and whether Vivienne is allowed to go on living there will be entirely at his discretion. Perhaps he will permit her to stay, but she cannot count upon his grace, nor upon the protection she enjoyed with Bastien any longer; and furthermore if she is allowed to stay, it will be a favor to her, making her beholden rather than granting her greater influence. She won't have the dignity of being Bastien's widow; she is his mistress, and respected as that position may be in the Orlesian court, it gives her no true claim to his family.

Vivienne is about to lose everything she has built for herself.

Without Bastien, without Celene, she will be left with… what? The position of First Enchanter to a Circle that no longer exists? If her own best-case scenario occurs and the rebellion is halted and the Circles are reinstated, then she still loses all the freedom she has gained and is forced to return to a Circle tower herself—a sphere in which, as previously discussed, she holds less influence than she would like the Inquisitor to believe. Even if she remains First Enchanter, it's hard to see this as anything but a massive step down in the social hierarchy, the beginning of a long slide into what the Fade reveals as her greatest fear: irrelevance.

It's a humiliation that Vivienne cannot bear.

This is why she won't leave the Inquisition, no matter how much she may despise the Inquisitor. Vivienne needs the Inquisition far more than she lets on. This even puts the petty low-approval furniture-moving scene into context. Yes, she’s doing it to snub the Inquisitor, but that doesn’t actually gain her anything. I think it’s deeper than that. The Inquisition was Vivienne’s fallback plan, and it’s not going well. The Inquisitor is making her look bad, she is finding no avenue to further advancement here, but she can’t leave. So, her response is to try to reclaim some sense of control over her life, asserting a kind of power she had at Bastien’s estate and was likely denied in the Circle: control over her own space.

Even if Bastien were to live a bit longer, Vivienne really has nowhere higher she can climb in the Imperial Court. She can't become a noble herself. She can't marry Bastien, or any other noble for that matter, because she is a mage. And I'm sure she's highly aware of this fact. Bastien is several years a widower himself; it is not his former marriage that prevents him from marrying her, now. It is her status as a mage which bars her from entering a noble family, legally, socially, politically. That Bastien never seems to have raised the question at all speaks to the fact that no matter how much he may have stuck his neck out for Vivienne, there was a line even he was not interested in crossing.

So where does she have to go from here?

Along comes the nascent Inquisition. Shaking things up. If any organization could rattle the gilded walls of the Chantry, it's this one.

Why not take a stab at the Chantry, at this point? What does she have to lose?

It didn’t really sink in for me for several playthroughs because she isn't wearing cleric's garb, but Bastien's sister Marcelline, who visits Skyhold after his death with Bastien’s son? She's a grand cleric. One of the surviving grand clerics who will decide the next Divine. Vivienne involves the Inquisitor in her plan to save Bastien, a plan she likely knows will fail—but she puts in the effort. She then introduces the Inquisitor to Grand Cleric Marcelline, having told her how the Inquisitor came to her aid. Marcelline expresses gratitude: “Madame de Fer has told us what great trials you faced, trying to save my poor brother’s life.” Bastien’s son Laurent is a powerful ally in his own right, now a member of the Council of Heralds, but also likely the one who will decide whether Vivienne keeps her suite in the Ghislain estate.

And if the conversation goes well, Vivienne tells the Inquisitor that it was "quite the triumph." If the Inquisitor expresses confusion, she patiently explains the influence that both Laurent and Marcelline wield, and that they have now secured the trust of both. If Vivienne becomes Divine, Marcelline’s favor no doubt goes a long way in getting her there.

Of course Vivienne will continue to take a conservative position on the mage question. A mage looking to insinuate herself into the Chantry hierarchy would have to, just as a mage seeking the freedom to consort with the court would have to. In the same way that a Hawke with aspirations of seizing the vacant seat of Kirkwall's Viscount must side with the templars at the end to show the nobility that they represent stability and order, the Chantry's first mage cleric must be pro-Circle, pro-templar, conservative to the bone. Vivienne seems to recognize this as far more important than actually appearing devout. It's also fascinating to me how little she bothers to make any pretense of a personal faith, instead always discussing the Chantry as an important social institution and political body. And this attitude doesn't seem to impede her chances at the Sunburst Throne very much, no more so than being a mage already would.

Vivienne knows exactly what she's doing. She always has.

Vivienne comes to the Inquisition seeking power and influence in the Chantry because her position among the nobility is falling apart. Whether she comes in with the intention to reach for the Sunburst throne itself is debatable, and I personally think it might have been the intent that she does have that ambition but seeks to let the Inquisitor think it was their own idea, though I'm iffy on how successful that is if it was the intent. Nonetheless, I do believe that Vivienne comes to the Inquisition with the intent to seek influence within the Chantry, realizing that the recent upheaval may offer her a unique opportunity to do so. And depending on how closely the Inquisitor aligns with her goals, she may succeed quite dramatically.

References

Codex Entry: Madame de Fer

Talking with Vivienne at Haven and Skyhold

Vivienne's high disapproval scene

After Bastien's death

Banter with Cole

Banter with Dorian

The World of Thedas vol. 2, pp. 235-239 (hardcover edition)

Dragon Age: The Masked Empire, p. 31 (paperback edition)

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I was inundated by one person (@1ichen​) in the tags wondering about my (crack?) theory that the Second Orlesian Invasion of Ferelden was basically a way for the Chantry to have an exalted march on Ferelden without getting its hands dirty. And really, that’s as much of an excuse as I need

Keep reading

[magnetic-dragons]

Orsino meta, originally sent to the brainrot discord <3 very lightly edited for clarity.

trigger warning: suicide.

spoiler warning: DA2.

we don't have a birth date, a Harrowing date, anything. the earliest canon date for him is 9:28 Dragon, when Maceron dies and Orsino has to basically strongarm his way into being the next First Enchanter. and while it's said that he's the youngest first enchanter in Kirkwall's history, idk how young he actually was? but then again my grandmother had fully white hair in her 20s, so. could go a lot of different directions with that.

and the only canon relationship we have for him is with Maud, which i think is *so* fascinating. obviously there was stuff that the writers didn't have time to think about etc we all know DA2 was made under an inordinate amount of crunch. but. Orsino either would have known Malcolm Hawke, even in passing, or would have heard his name being used as a cautionary tale. Orsino would likely have known Karl Thekla.

Orsino was canonically very mid at magic. when he was a kid, i don't think that was entirely intentional. i *do* think it was at least partly a trauma response, to protect himself.

it makes sense to me that that same trauma response would also socially isolate him and make it very difficult to have friends. which then prompts the question of, why Maud? what was different about her?

was it the case that *she* befriended *him?* were they the only two children their age? what was it that he saw in her that made him lower his guard just enough to let her in?

it's impossible to tell if Orsino had a family in the Ansburg alienage or if he was an orphan. i'll present thoughts for both scenarios.

if Orsino had a family, then. he was brought to the Gallows when he was very young. i've written that as age 8 (and age 11 in an AU), though i would probably write it as younger now. he likely remembers very little, if anything, of his family. there's not really enough there to miss. if anything, he misses the concept of a family more than the reality.

if Orsino was an orphan, same timeline, he was brought to the Gallows when he was very young, and while the Gallows is VERY different to an alienage, there was also a lot that *didn't* change for him. what was there for him to miss?

but Maud, she knew her family. she gets letters from them. she misses them. maybe she saw one of her brothers in Orsino. maybe he's a surrogate family to her, and he didn't entirely consent to that but you know what, he's here and he might as well.

i see two possibilities for when Maud offed herself and both of them are very fucking sad.

first possibility is, they were teenagers and it was shortly after her harrowing. that's obviously incredibly painful for Orsino. he's young, which means that every emotion is likely to be more intense, more heightened. he's been in the Gallows for less time and has had less time to develop perspective.

OR it's much later, mid 20s, even late 20s. they've had nearly a decade since they were Harrowed. both Maud and Orsino have tried and failed to help her. Orsino is old enough, now, to direct his anger and his grief toward the entity responsible for her death: the Circle itself.

canon information is that after Maud's death, Orsino starts noticing more and more mage suicides in the Gallows. worth noting here that we have *two* canon dates for Meredith prior to 9:28 — 9:14, when she became Knight-Captain, and 9:21, when she became Knight-Commander. we know that under Meredith's leadership, the Kirkwall Circle has become significantly more anti-mage than it was previously.

so what if Maud killed herself in 9:22. what if the thing that really made it impossible for her to go on was the crackdown on mage freedoms under Meredith's new leadership. and then over the next six years, Orsino goes from keeping his head down and just trying to get by to actively speaking out in support of his fellow mages.

but. so. then. blood magic.

so my first question is, how did Orsino even learn enough about blood magic to be curious about it? because the Chantry/Circle line is very much, suppress all mentions of it. in my mind, then, Orsino had to know someone outside the Circle. but who?

enter Raleigh Samson, who also has a contentious relationship with Meredith.

this next part veers farther into headcanon territory.

Samson is clearly not Meredith levels of anti-mage. his addiction does consume him, but he also expresses an interest in staying up to date on what the fuck is happening in Kirkwall.

i think that once Orsino starts getting a little less scared, a little bolder, he reaches out to Samson in secret. this is after Samson's dismissal from the Order, but before Orsino becomes First Enchanter. and Orsino is basically like, hey, i can try to get you lyrium, and Samson is like, don't worry about it, you're not safe anyway.

Samson has information, right? it's why Hawke even talks to him. otherwise he'd just be another sad NPC in Kirkwall.

now, Samson is Not big on magical theory (for obvious reasons!), but he knows how to get his hands on books. and once Orsino is First Enchanter, the only person he needs to worry about going through his stuff is Meredith. Elthina doesn't give a shit. and Orsino has his own bed, his own bedroom, for the first time in his life. so he keeps his books on blood magic in his mattress.

at this point Orsino has become very... i won't say anti-Circle, because he still does need to survive within the system. he is nowhere near as radical as Anders. but he has begun to question the foundations upon which his existence in the Circle revolves. and one of those foundations is "blood magic bad."

so he's curious about blood magic and he has books about it. of course he's going to experiment with it. of course he doesn't have anyone to talk to about it, to help keep him in check. what's keeping him in check is the fear of being discovered by Meredith or her lackeys.

during The Last Straw, Orsino will claim that he has never used blood magic before. i think that *could* be true, but not necessarily.

and here i come to the thought that inspired this entire rant. Orsino and Merrill.

being an elf in Thedas fucking sucks, right, we all know this. but there are gradations of the suckiness, and in a lot of ways, it's better to be Dalish. Merrill experienced disapproval and ostracism from her clan because she did blood magic, but that alone would never have been a reason for them to kill her.

and i wonder. what if Orsino had been born Dalish? what if he had had a Marethari? well. then there would have been no one to oppose Meredith. and the version of Orsino we see in DA2 is so deeply baked into the politics of the Gallows that it's very difficult to imagine him any other way. but everyone has layers to them, and i imagine Orsino as having a real curiosity, intellectual and magical, that he stifled so that he would be safer. and gradually, over time, he buried that part of himself so deep that he forgot where to look for it, and it was only when he began to look into blood magic that he remembered it. blood magic not only as a tool or a weapon but as a facet of identity.

tangentially related thought: the one DA quest that never fails to make me cry is All That Remains. i think about Leandra's death near constantly, the way that it happened, the fact that Orsino knew something was up but not the full extent of it. the fact that Orsino used Quentin's research on blood magic without having known what Quentin had done. i think about the expectation that characters in-game and a lot of the fandom places on mages to be morally pure, and the disappointment that is felt when a mage doesn't live up to those near-impossible standards. i think about Orsino and Anders as narrative foils, the fact that you can spare one but not the other.

[magnetic-dragons]

A list of potential cures for the Calling, that we know about, that BioWare has apparently forgotten

Andraste's grace: it's not specified whether the flower the kennelmaster has you pick in the Korcari Wilds is Andraste's grace or if the game just needed a one-off asset and decided to reuse one they already had. However, in the dark future in DAI, Leliana is found to have unusual tolerance for the taint, and in DAO she talks about her mother pressing her laundry with dried Andraste's grace flowers, so it makes you wonder. Anyway, the flower stops Barkspawn becoming a ghoul and seems to make them immune to the taint from that point on.

Maric's longsword: he finds it in the Deep Roads and is suprised it isn't covered in the same Blight-rot as everything else - until, that is, he touches the sword to a patch of it and sees it wither away. Whether it's the dragonbone the sword is made of or the runes on the blade is difficult to say, though if it was just the dragonbone then it would make sense for that to be a more well-known property of the material (and would have been an interesting reason for why dragons were hunted to extinction). If Alistair carries it with him, doesit slow the progession of the taint through his body? Does he know its effects, and give it to the HoF to help keep them safer on their journey to find a permanent cure?

That obsidian dagger Duncan finds in The Calling: the dagger belonged to First Enchanter Remille - who also gave the expedition members brooches that accelerated the spread of the taint. iirc the both the dagger and the brooches are made by the Architect with Blight magic, which means the darkspawn magisters have more knowledge of how the Blight works than the Chantry attributes to them.

Whatever the fuck is going on with Avernus: he hasn't managed to cure himself yet, but he's managed to make it to 200 and the Warden can let him continue his experiments if they don't kill him - and he'd be a really useful resource if the Warden later wanted to send him other potential cures for testing.

Dragons: they have an ability to isolate the Blight in their bodies by forming crystaline cysts around the initial infection to stop it spreading. Useful if it can be more widely applied. Also, it's implied that Maric's reaver blood, which Calenhad gained by mixing his blood with a dragon's, is what somehow cured Fiona of the taint, kinda like a reverse STI, BUT in the Deep Roads they went through an area where the walls were coated in a pale, chalky substance suspiciously devoid of Blight-rot and she touched it, so I'm a bit suspicious of that.

Blood magic: makes sense since the taint is a problem that starts with infected blood. There are two major instances in DA canon where blood magic has been used to purge the taint from an object or being (both by elves btw). The first is Isseya using it to draw the taint out of a clutch of unhatched griffon eggs, which she says is only possible because the taint hasn't yet taken over the hatchlings' bodies to the same extent that it had with the adult griffons. The second instance is Merrill purging the Blighted eluvian in DA2. It's insane that Anders - who is a reluctant Warden and who possibly knows the HoF seeks a cure - isn't more excited about this. She literally removed the Blight from a fully tainted object. Since Isseya proved the same can be done with living tissue, it's probably the closest we've come to an actual cure, but since it also took years there's no telling if it could be a practicaly solution for all Wardens

[magnetic-dragons]

literally the mahariel origin is so horrifying in terms of this disconnect from identity forced upon you by your clan refusing to share your parents’ past with you but simultaneously fostering this idea that “you don’t belong to just yourself”.

If Mahariel leans so staunchly into their identity being tied up as one of the clan (as you are repeatedly encouraged to) then being told by your keeper that you need to become a grey warden to survive is like.

“Please don’t cast me away.” You are begging for your identity!!! For everything you’ve known!! This is a different type of death sentence: you’re leaving behind the only family and home you’ve ever known, and just before you do, you find out they’ve been lying to and keeping secrets from you “for your benefit”.

What do they think would’ve happened by telling you? Sparing you from sadness? You carry the grief of your fallen empire on your shoulders constantly. Why can’t Mahariel know the sad truth about their parents? What else is being kept from you? And so there’s a little bit of distrust about your clan being sown.

But you have to cling to it because the distrust and fear of the humans is even stronger. You’re the only dalish elf in the grey wardens. You’re carrying your whole culture and people into this organization that demands you lay it down “for the greater good”. What the HELL.

[magnetic-dragons]

At the end of the day you can use "Varric is an unreliable narrator" to overwrite literally any part of DA2 that you don't like. Like you can say, "Oh of COURSE Varric isn't actually against mage freedom! He just said that he objected to Hawke freeing the mages because Cassandra was interrogating him." And sure, I can't prove to you that he isn't lying about that. I can't prove to you that Varric isn't lying about anything. I can't prove to you that the entirety of Inquisition isn't also Varric making things up because he did also write a book about that and we hear Cassandra reading it in the end credits. At the end of the day if you want to you can basically wipe out Varric's entire character as presented to us and say, "Actually he was lying! He's really this."

But at a certain point you do also have to acknowledge that the frame narrative is a storytelling device that's meant to enhance the story, not like... erase it. Or at least I prefer to acknowledge that, because going too far the other way basically guts the story of all meaning. If Varric is a character we are meant to engage with on any level--and I think it's clear from his prominence in the franchise that he is!--then at least some of what we see him say and do needs to be able to meaningfully interpreted, even if we second-guess him, even if we can pick out half-truths here and there, even if we cross-check our interpretations against how he behaves in other parts of canon.

Like at least some of what we're given about Varric has to be meaningful to his character, or why even bother, I guess is what I'm saying.

[magnetic-dragons]

ill never be over the fact that inquisition doesnt have any sort of prologue. in origins you get your warden’s origin plus ostagar to establish your character before the main story begins. in dragon age 2 you have the fight outside of lothering and choosing to work for the mercenaries or the smugglers in kirkwall. and then inquisition just drops you in and its like if origins just started with waking up in flemeth’s hut and the only way you learn about the deaths of cailan, duncan, the wardens, and loghain’s betrayal is through other characters. i would have loved if there was even a brief bit at the beginning where you get actually attend the conclave, establish your character outside of the world ending stakes, and have the chance to meet some of the people whose deaths you’re about to be blamed for.

[magnetic-dragons]

you know what would have given the wardens a tiny bit more depth in dai? If when you went to the Storm Coast pre-Here Lies the Abyss, you found a group of wardens who were going to the deep roads to face their calling.

This would be interesting because it would mean Your Warden (Alistair, Loghain or Stroud) wouldn't be the only warden rebelling against Clarel. But it would also help to show how desperate and terrified the wardens are.

Perhaps they could even come with you for a bit, fight by your side, but eventually they'd leave after completing a certain mission with them (perhaps Keeping the Darkspawn Down) and no matter what you'd said to them during the mission, they would always go into the deep roads after.

I think that could have displayed the horror and terror of the calling a lot better than DAI did. When they leave for the deep roads, you also outline the sacrifice all wardens make when they join...I mean, we've never actually on screen SEEN a warden submit to the calling, we've only heard them talk about it. So if we watched them walk off into caves in a cutscene...Idk I think that would be really impactful. This knowledge that they're not coming back.