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Okay can I be a bitter Anders fan for like. Just 2 minutes here lmao

Cause bioware released some game stats for veilguard and apparently 72% of players redeemed Solas which is like. Okay yeah the game kinda pushes you towards that. But when I think of all the shit I used to have to put up with just for enjoying Anders like at all and…

(This is not me being anti-Solas, I do not care if you love or hate him, but I am gonna say what he’s done is like. Objectively worse than literally every other companion so lmao. And that’s fine! You can still enjoy him! I’m not saying you can’t and it’s important to me that people understand that! I’m just saying he did in fact do objectively morally worse things in game than Anders did and I don’t think that’s really debatable. And I can’t really make my point here without saying that but I do want to make it clear this is not some moral condemnation of Solas enjoyers cause it’s not)

Getting anon hate on the regular, being told “oh you’re allowed to like Anders as long as you regularly talk about how much he sucks”, people gleefully describing how much fun they have killing him ON your posts about the fact that you like him, the devs making jokes about shitty fates for him when fans asked innocent questions about him, the absolute audacity of his writer to say half the shit she did in interviews (about bisexuality and mental illness, most critically), and then being beaten over the head again in inquisition about how Anders is the worst character to ever exist and there’s no redemption for terrorists who lie to you one time in the entire game and he deserves death or worse and that’s it

And now… 72% of people are down to redeem the guy who lies to you for 2 games straight and who did a lot of questionable things that includes creating the fucking blight and. Like. I guess I’m glad that Solas fans can live in a world where they aren’t constantly harassed and can give their ship like. A pretty damn good ending all things considered. And that the devs love Solas and actually give the option for that happy ending and have characters go to bat for Solas throughout the game and the most annoying thing they have to see are people making scrambled egg memes. I would not wish anyone to have to deal with the shit Anders fans had to put up with back then cause it sucked. It really sucked. And I’m glad it’s not being repeated with a different character, if nothing else

But like. Man there really is a difference when the writers actually like the character who does the thing, huh

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he probably wasn't this young but LET ME DREAM

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“if things were different, if we were home”

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the thing about anders is he has literally everything except a writer that loves him. he is so compelling and interesting and has a lot of lore-compliant potential that can easily slot into any dragon age narrative seamlessly. but because the writers (and, truly, the world itself) loathes him, he can’t

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I forgor to post this

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New pfp

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bg3 mini challenge: favourite companion [2/15]

“I hail from Waterdeep, the City of Splendours.”

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a set of smooches 4 emmrich

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gale 👐☝️🙌👋👏 dekarios

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Being on dragon age side of Tumblr is seeing a post of "BioWare stop treating me like a child and over explaining things to me" and right below that is a post with the biggest reading comprehension failure you've seen in your entire LIFE

Welcome back.

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🌸

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👻

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All fandoms are, to an extent, fandoms of the idea of the media they revolve around, but some fandoms are so much about the idea of the media they revolve around and so little about that media as it exists in the world that they always seem mildly scandalised when reminded what the ostensible subject of their fandom is actually like.

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emmrich & audric felhausen

i was a bit sad that it seemed that audric - from emmrich's tevinter nights short story 'down among the dead men' was not in the game when myrna was, but i found out that i was (to my great happiness) mistaken.

for those of you who haven't read 'down among the dead men', here is a short summary:

After Audric is attacked by Lord Penric Karn's possessed corpse while guarding his funeral procession, he is summoned by the Mortalitasi to help with their investigation into this premature possession. After Audric and Myrna, a Mourn Watcher, find out that Karn died in a mutually fatal duel with Duke Janus Van Markham, they head to the latter's tomb in the Grand Necropolis. Karn, possessed by a pride demon, forces them deeper into the lower reaches of the Necropolis, where the halls and chambers are not always in the same place at the same time. Down in the Necropolis, Audric learns that he's actually a spirit, as the "real" Audric died of the wounds sustained during the funeral. Myrna brought him to confront Karn, to help him find balance between anger and curiosity. When they find Karn again, Audric challenges him to a duel for killing him. Myrna destroys Karn when he breaks the rules of the duel. Having confronted his killer, Audric recognized his driving passion—that of curiosity—and is no longer unbalanced. Myrna then offers him the choice to work under the auspices of a Watcher. He accepts to work under Myrna, and is given charge of the library.

emmrich is quite instrumental bringing audric peace, showing his innate kindness several times over:

"They were back in Emmrich's den. Audric had been astonished to see familiar tomes in a neat stack on the necromaner's desk. "Those... are those...?" "Yours, yes. From your home." Emmrich shook his head. "Forgive the liberty, guardsman. After you and Myrna left for the Necropolis, I had to search for a reason you might have returned so unexpectedly." "I believe we found it," Myrna said, from where she was overseeing Emmrich's manservant transfer the contents of a bubbling beaker into a bowl. Emmrich handed the top book to Audric. It was a gazetteer of Nevarra City, stamped with a crowned skull surrounded by flowers. Audric flipped it open and read the blocky inscription. To our Son with Love. May you be Blessed in your Studied with the Chantry. "All this effort... for me? I'm just a guardsman, sir." Am? Was? Audric pushed doubt aside and held the gazetteer to his chest. He existed, knew what he loved, and that he had been loved, and that seemed enough in the moment. "The great leveler has no favourites." Emmrich smiled. "Neither does the Mourn Watch."

at the end, audric finds peace and accepts a position at the library:

"You are faced with a choice," Myrna said, coming over. "You have confronted your killer, and recognised your driving passion. You may rest now, guardsman." "Or?" "Or you may work under the auspices of a Watcher," Myrna said. "Under a modicum of magical control. To avoid anomie, the bond must be given freely." "To you, madam?" "If it's satisfactory." The guardsman ducked his head, and because that felt inadequate, knelt on a knee and held out a hand. Myrna, smiling slightly, took it. Emmrich coughed, looking away. "Please, let the poor fellow up. What position were you thinking?" "I thought it was obvious." Audric felt a slow excitement as he heard Myrna say: "We have a great need for someone to take charge of the library."

that's that for the book content and to learn who audric is and how closely he is tied to myrna, but also emmrich.

i was so happy to find this letter in the game, from audric to emmrich:

Library Letter Dear Professor Volkarin: It was nice to hear from you, sir. I have some sitles you wanted waiting in the library: Atlases of the Air by Tomlyn Van Markham, Signs of the Feaster of Fear by Lucia Audenfall, Six Cares for the Weary (Anonymous), and Folklore of the Chasinds by Brother Martin of the Chantry. Watcher Myrna and I also looked into the history of the Basalt Hypogeum. (The basalt was shopped from Rivain in 3:57 Black, and the hypogeum features the distinct design of legendary stonemason Othmar Gerdebrand.) I'm sorry that we haven't found anything that explain why it disappeared so suddenly from the Necropolis. Watcher says it's "a matter of strange obliquity." We'll write if we find anything else. Regards, Audric Felhausen, Librarian

but that's not all!

emmrich has this party banter with davrin that confused me for the longest time:

Emmrich: Thank you again for the carving, Davrin! It made the perfect gift. Davrin: You're welcome. Tell that librarian friend of yours to treasure it. Davrin: I don't normally do little statues with skulls for faces.

i didn't know then who this 'librarian friend' was supposed to be. but it turns out it's audric.

even after all this time, emmrich still cares for audric, so much so that he doesn't ask davrin to carve a statue for himself, or even myrna or vorgoth, but for audric.

i think it's a very sweet detail, highlighting his care for spirits and the undead, who he values as much as the living.

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"Your ritual let the gods loose! You don't get to sit back and look smug!"

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dragon age veilguard is a good game if you don’t have a bitch in your ear telling you it’s bad

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speaking as someone who has had extensively elaborate daydreams about a da protags + respective love interests Quadruple Date Disaster™, i just really needed this on here