mal3nko

[mal3nko]

mshenko walked in 2012 so hansry could run in 2025 IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW

[mal3nko]

Maybe I’m just a bit too overly sensitive about these type of things but does anyone else notice how there are SO MANY Adoribull fanfics that involve Dorian getting tortured/maimed/made tranquil and it’s always up to Iron Bull to swoop in and “save him”? Like obviously these type of fics exist for any ship but it’s still weird how prevalent they are when it comes to Adoribull or just Dorian specifically. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these type of fics either but I would appreciate just, idk, maybe some role subversion from time to time? Why can’t Dorian be the one to save Iron Bull for a change? Or anyone else for that matter? Like call me too woke or whatever but it feels like people view Dorian’s more feminine/flamboyant personality as an excuse to turn him into some helpless victim who always gets subjected to horrific things in these fics like being abused and forcibly indoctrinated into the Qun or being captured by the Venatori and having his face permanently scarred.

Again, I have nothing against these fics at all and I actually think a lot of them are really well made and enjoyable to read, especially due to how Iron Bull is characterized in them and how we see a very/nurturing caring side to him. However, I won’t sit here and act like the prevalence of these type of fics and what they do to Dorian doesn’t make me just a tad uncomfortable and gives me a bit of the ick.

[mal3nko]

The fact that you can have Henry potentially tell Hans that nobody could ever be proud of him will forever haunt me like wow they might as well have just shot me in the fucking heart.

[mal3nko]

On one hand I would love it if KCD2 got a DLC that expanded on Black Bartosch’s character and his romance with Henry, but on the other hand I know it would most likely cause their relationship to explode in popularity and would spark a truly insufferable ship war with Hansry lol.

[mal3nko]

KCD1 Hansry you will always have my heart.🙂‍↕️🥺

[mal3nko]

Happy Hansry week and Pride Month everyone! (The quoted poem is by Anonymous medieval poet) I posted the high-res on my Patreon for free so you're welcome to go grab it! (I added the blue line to Henry's shield as I imagine it, because, due to heraldic tradition, bastards had to add a baton over their father's crest that was called "bar sinister" I made his bar sinister blue because in heraldic colour symbolism, Blue (Or Azure) symbolises Truth, Loyalty, Hope and Perseverance. I thought it suited Henry perfectly.)

[mal3nko]

There's a reason we shipped Hansry ever since KCD1.

[mal3nko]

No because Dorian becoming Archon of Tevinter should have given us at least SOME inner conflict on his part when it comes to achieving that status since it’s what his father ultimately wanted him to be in the first place when he was younger. Like there’s so many aspects about him reaching that position that should have put into question a lot of things about his personal journey and Veilguard does absolutely NOTHING with it.

I mean, you can choose who’s the ruler of Fereldan in Origins as well as who’s the new Divine in Inquistion and I feel like both of those choices give an appropriate amount of characterization and inner conflict with the people involved. We get a proper look at how whoever is elected truly feels about their position, like an unhardened Alistair feeling very unconfident about being king and is even willing to break up with a non-Cousland Warden for the sake of his country. I guess this is part of a bigger issue with Veilguard in general and how it just seems so uninterested in tackling the bigger picture when it comes to politics within Thedas, and by extension how people truly feel about reaching these positions of power.

Like I’m sorry, but I just needed a lot more from Dorian than just “Oh, I’m going to be Archon? Excellent! I’m a little nervous about it but I’m sure I’ll get the job done!”.

[mal3nko]

alistair is lowkey unhinged in the dragon age comics but i actually kinda live for it?? like in the last panel he looks genuinely more evil than the actual antagonist 😭

[mal3nko]

[mal3nko]

dorian in inquisition telling cassandra that he has never been to the grand necropolis only for veilguard to state that he was apparently mentored by emmrich there for a term when he was young really highlights how little care the writers had when it came to continuity lmao

[mal3nko]

dorian being a delinquent is genuinely one of the best parts of his character to me. he challenged a teenager to a public duel when he was 9 and won. he got kicked out of so many circles that they ran out of circles to send him to. he got sent to the necropolis where he proceeded to have zero respect for necromancy despite being a natural talent. he got sent to individual tutors and all of the tutors hated him. his parents gave up and sent him to turbo-strict catholic school as a hail mary that someone could make him behave and it lasted three months before he dropped out.

and like it’s not because he wasn’t good at the material. he’s a genius. he was up his own ass about how talented at magic he was even as a kid. he caused trouble because he was better than his peers and they were jealous of him. he was bored and unfulfilled and he’s always despised authority trying to shove him into a box that he didn’t belong in. the only reason he ever became an enchanter at all was because alexius took him under his wing and actually understood him, and yes i’m thinking about alexius’s letter to his parents again.

He’s rather despondent over the life’s path you’ve charted for him—if I may speak frankly—and thus, I think a part of him sabotages all efforts to keep him on the straight and narrow, either to spite you or to punish himself.

spiting his parents makes sense; they’ve been trying to control his life since before he was born. he was literally engaged at birth. he never had a choice but to study magic and become an enchanter and, ideally, eventually become archon, but he rebelled against that at every turn. but what would he be punishing himself for? well:

I’m never what you wanted, Father, or had you forgotten?

maybe it was subconscious or maybe it was intentional, but knowing deep down that he would never be able to become what his parents saw as his only path spurred him to give them cause to be angry with him. the more he caused trouble, got expelled from circles, or ran away from his schooling, it was like driving an axe into a tree, digging the cut between who he was and who he was supposed to be deeper and deeper. he would do anything to make his father proud, but he would also go to great lengths to make him disappointed. and for what reason? to cushion the final blow when they eventually realized that he’d never be enough and the tree collapsed?

You let it keep hurting, because you think hurting is who you are.

it would always hurt. every time. even if he did exactly as he was expected to, it would hurt him in the end, because he fundamentally is not the person he was supposed to be, and that isn’t something that can be changed. so by tugging at the leash and feeling the collar burn against his neck, he’d be more prepared for it to slowly choke him, or for the sharp pain at the moment when he’d pulled and clawed at it enough that he’d be able to rip it off.

anyway he did kick that one kid’s ass and it’s really funny every time i remember it

[mal3nko]

JASON DUVAL Grand Theft Auto VI (2026) dev. Rockstar Games

[mal3nko]

oh no its happening

[mal3nko]

Dorian in the rain for my warm doodle up before commission work. c:

[mal3nko]

"Did I see something by Genitivi here... I could have sworn."

[mal3nko]

Haha... I got you there!