#[ the templar — thread ]

[marvanne111]

moments I love in "Tempting Fête"

"I can only read what I've got written down, Mr. Funt." "Councilor Funt! -Funn, Councilor Funn."

the fact that it's been 11 years of this Funn/ Funt debate (alternatively, that both the reverend and the mayor have addressed him properly the last three episodes and seemed to have no problem with it)

"Yes, well, I'll see what I'm doing that day" -leading the funeral, one would hope?

underrated bit of the series in general: cell service only being available in the reverend's bathroom

"I think he's quite dishy" (this scratches such an itch in my brain; I quote it once a week)

the mayor and reverend (who will be dating by the end of the episode) agreeing emphatically with the above statement

the reverend wearing eye shadow! (incredible, show stopping, spectacular, never been seen before)

"It was one mouse! and, and I don't know anything about it"

"All opposed?" "... I mean, I'd say opposed is a strong word-" "Done! Carried unanimously!"; "All opposed? "I, uh-" "Overruled! Motion carried!"

"We already have an identity: it's miserable and it works." (i want this on a t-shirt)

"There hasn't been a fête for eleven years." "Astonishing. Who's in charge of local events?" "Rudyard." "Ah."

"Look, it's easy to throw money around and get excited about rustic dancing, but we've got-" "I'LL SAY IT IS!"

"His world had once again become an increasingly scary place. There was only one thing left to do..." "Georgie?" "Yeah?" "We're emigrating."; "It was time for swift and decisive action, and there was only one place to head for: Reverend Wavering's bathroom"; at the funeral I was able to witness Rudyard, bereft of Reverend and with few attendees, deliver a stirring and entirely improvised speech about the circuities of fate, the struggles of discord, and an intractable acceptance of the way the cookie crumbles, a sermon that moved the late Basil Corbett’s niece to say, quite simply:" "We want our money back" (some really fantastic narration moments in this one that make me giggle every time)

Rudyard including Madeleine in the emigration plans is said so sweetly and it honestly makes me a little soft

"One word: Chapman." "I should return his calls-" "Chapman?" "- probably won't, though"

"Rudyard, other people do those things for you!" "Conscription?" "Volunteering!"

"I, I, I do like spreadsheets!"

(No Madeleine, I hate raffles!") (these posts are always so Rudyard-centric lol and it's helped me come to the conclusion that he really is the funniest)

"Do you know how many gallons of fluid I'll have to drain from a man that size? Possibly thousands!" "What a ridiculous lie!" (this is another one that I quote often lol)

"I wish I were Mrs. Carnegie!" "You will be, Mrs, Turner. You will be." (WHAT IS THIS RESPONSE?!)

"Fancy a funeral?" "That a threat?"; "Don't forget your funeral." "Was that a threat?"

"Socializing? That'd take up ten minutes and then what would they do? No. Perpetual scheduled activity, that's the way."

"Put some clothes on!" "IT'S MY HOUSE!"

"Antigone?" "What?!" "Helicopters!" "Go back to your side of the table."

"Now get over there and sabotage something!" "*sigh* Fine." "Do you really think that's going to help?" "Oh maybe not, but it'll cheer me up."

"Called up the family, made up a story about... well, re-organizing a fête, that sort of thing." "How did they react?" "Well, they weren't very happy..." "But?" "No, that's it, they weren't very happy."

"You know, I can actually see your future." "Oh yes?" "Mmm hmm. And it involves this crystal ball getting shoved STRAIGHT up your-"

"Alright sir! Mission accomplissshhhhed." "Hello, Georgie." "Hello..." "Get out, Georgie." "Goodbye..."

The Mayor trying to rustic dance for a couple of hours before giving up

Lady Templar's glass eye. (That's it. That's the post.)

"He'd be spinning in the grave you haven't put him in yet!" (best line of the episode honestly)

"What a dreadful little man!" "Yes... mind you, he looks good in a suit"

"Even in a crowd, they all look lonely" (🤌🤌🤌)

"Can't win 'em all" 'Winning anything at all would be a nice change." (also want this on a t-shirt)

"You like to be the hero, don't ya?" (Georgie's the GOAT)

"Rudyard. Do you know what this chap did?" "Yes, he told me" (my man is already so tired of Eric lol)

[manfred-volkarin]

still don't know if anders was hearing the false calling during the events of DAI btw. Hawke's warden contact mentions that "every warden in orlais" hears it and says he hears it too...but you're in eastern fereldan when he says it????

so is it every warden in southern thedas? (so anders would hear it too) every warden in orlais and it follows you if you leave? (so anders wouldn't hear it)

[muutos]

"I DIDN'T KNOW you could be a mage and a rogue . . ." arms cross over modestly clad chest. WITTY AS EVER. "rogue spies, huh?" she muses. "so you just specialize in being sneaky, then?"

@banalnas. asked for the inquisitor.

[pinayelf-archive]

oughh...sinag knowing she's actively pushing carver away bc of the way she's dealing with Bethany's death...ough... the way she knows every fight is just one string unraveling until the thread between them snaps oughhhhh

[durinsheir]

I do obviously have complaints bc I’m a hater at heart and EA can suck a big one but overall I did love datv

[xxstxriesfromashxx]

Open Starters

Muse: Cullen Rutherford (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

"My loyalty is with the Inquisition. I bare no ill will against the Templars, but I feel nothing for them either. I left them - and that life - behind." He wouldn't utter the word lyrium - perhaps he couldn't, his tentative will not allowing him to.

[baejax-the-great]

One of the things missing in Veilguard is any sort of meaningful power struggle. By keeping to the poorer parts of the city-settings, we don't really deal with corrupt or powerful nobles. By defanging the Crows, an organization who famously has lethal squabbles between factions, they turned them into some weird, benevolent family organization. Even the assassin trying to make "evil" power plays doesn't actually manage to kill any of his targets, and his ruthless relatives? Also don't kill him in revenge. In the end, the status quo is maintained. Nothing has changed.

In Tevinter, we have the Threads, an organized crime unit who we know runs "protection" rackets on the locals and is involved in some kind of smuggling (it's Tevinter--so presumably this would involve slavery and dangerous artifacts, but it's Veilguard, so I guess not). Instead of them beefing with the Shadow Dragons, who presumably ruin some of their deals with their pesky "freeing the slaves" thing, and instead of their main issue being with any sort of law enforcement, something which doesn't exist in Veilguard beyond one singular templar who does all of jack shit the entire game, their main power struggle is with the Venatori, who are evil just to be evil.

And instead of the Veilguard siding with law enforcement or the threads and enlisting their help to, idk, unseat the corrupt head of the templars or otherwise deal with the venatori shit, the threads are highly favored by the storyline, and in the end the only real choice is to make Neve a thread or to make her... idk, the same Neve? The game calls her an "inspiration", but it's not like she's part of any organization, so we can't call her a figurehead. It's just like, see that random citizen right there? She rules. And I don't really see how that increases the power of the rule of law, because even if one good person is working within rule of law to get things done, she's not part of the system, and everyone already know the system is corrupt in Minrathous. Random citizens in fucking Ferelden know the system is corrupt in Minrathous, or they would if they weren't all dead. Neve is now just playing on hard mode to appear righteous, which, good for her, but I'm sorry, won't inspire all that many people who are still paying "protection" money to the local mafia.

(Putting Neve in charge of the Threads is an absolutely whackadoodle decision by the devs that I don't even know how to respond to. She has a single Thread contact. Presumably the Threads have a hierarchy. She has never demonstrated interest in being a smuggler. Being a detective really has no overlap with being a crime boss. Telling a group of criminals that they are all detective's helpers now is sure to go over like a lead balloon. What the fuck was that. Why did that happen.)

Maevaris and Dorian arguing came out of nowhere and lasted a fairly long time, which was interesting, but after the most recent election in the states, Maevaris's position sounds unbearably naive and trite, and this hardly counts as a power struggle as they both say they will support the other depending on what some random outsider thinks should happen. (That is soooo not a basis for a system of government. Why would Maevaris OR Dorian cede their power to Rook, someone they don't know and who doesn't matter)

The power struggle within the Wardens is also very stupid and easily solved. The First Warden is a moron. He dies (kind of). For some reason the extremely hot and competent couple who we first encounter in the middle of nowhere are next in command, so, phew. Problem solved there. A question of what the Wardens will do now that the Blights are over would have been interesting. Do they keep recruiting lest the Blight somehow reoccur and nobody remembers the Warden secrets? Or do they disband? Do they set themselves to seeking a cure and nothing else?

The closest you get to that is deciding what the griffons will do, which, again, why the fuck is Rook deciding that, but also there are 13 of them, in two or three more generations they will be dead unless a lot of mages bone up on genetics real fast.

Who is left? We have Rivain, which is just pointless in this game. I played as a Lord of Fortune, but you could drop that faction and not a single thing changes in the game. Pirates who don't loot valuable artifacts because they are elvhen? Give me a fucking break.

Same for the Mourn Watch. There is pretty much nothing going on in that region. You could excise it from the game and nothing changes in the slightest. There is not a single excuse for them not using the Eluvians to help the Veilguard earlier in the game, given just how little they have going on.

The Veiljumpers are just missed opportunities all over the place. They could have had factions debating whether to join the god of vengeance in fucking up the human civilizations as payback for, you know, everything. They could have had people joining Cyrion in thinking that a Forgotten One might be the best way to face down the gods, given they'd done it before. There could have been a HUGE cultural impact on "what do we do now that we know our gods are evil fuckfaces--what do we keep and what do we throw away," but Veilguard ain't that deep. They could have had knowledge of a super-weapon or some elvhen bullshit that would help the Veilguard fight the gods... but nah.

In DAO, your decisions not only affected the political futures of the various regions, but they decided who would help you and how. Did the dwarves have golems? Did you have templars or mages? That whole wolf thing with the Dalish that I no longer remember that well? And the Dalish deciding to help changed how they were viewed in Ferelden. The mages helping you meant the monarch would treat them favorably. It fucking mattered.

In Veilguard, the only situation remotely close to that is the dragon decision at the beginning, which was one of the fucking dumbest plot points in a video game I have ever played. It was the first thing that made me set my controller down and go... what? What the fuck? The idea that Rook, a nobody, is the only person singularly capable of driving back a dragon in the entire north is laughable. What the fuck was Dorian up to that day? How is Rook more capable than every single Crow? How is it the two companions you sent to the other city were absolutely useless? If Lucanis/Neve + two companions were unable to drive a dragon away, what makes them think Rook would be the deciding factor? What makes them blame Rook when they themselves couldn't fucking do it? Neve in particular was a big part of fucking up that ritual and releasing the gods, so why is Rook taking all the fire for this?

AND WHY IS THEIR RESPONSE TO A BLIGHT TO FIND A SINGLE DRAGON HUNTER? HEY DIPSHITS, THE DRAGON IS HUNTING YOU. YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT PART. YOU NEED AN ARMY.

But Treviso or Minrathous being spared doesn't change the global political situation at all. It would have been really interesting if it did. Tevinter hobbled? How many kingdoms would be salivating to take a bite out of their territory? With the trade princes of Antiva being absolutely fucked over by the Blight, who is taking over that trade? Who is getting rich?

Nobody, I guess, because why would Rook know or care about that, because, as previously mentioned, they are a nobody who doesn't matter and honestly shouldn't be listened to.

The stakes in this game are nothing because the bad guys are all so obviously bad that you know, as a video game player, that you are going to defeat them. Oh, the Antaam are just mindless, faceless brutes fucking up Treviso? Okay, let's kill them. Venatori again? I'm pretty sure they aren't the heroes of this game. There's no power struggle, and in the end all we've done is revert to the status quo, (except i guess Treviso is no longer occupied).

Except for the south. The south is dead. but we didn't have anything to do with that for some reason. Couldn't even be bothered to house some refugees in our safehouse that was built specifically to house refugees. The Inquisitor, who has access to the eluvians, couldn't figure out how to get other people through them or something so... sorry, every single Orlesian, Fereldan, and Marcher.

[melpcmene-a]

tags part three:

[ the granola dad — answered ]

[ the granola dad — thread ]

[ the granola dad — musings ]

[ the granola dad — aesthetics ]

[ the granola dad — desire ]

[ the granola dad — verse: the forgotten realms ]

[ the agent — answered ]

[ the agent — thread ]

[ the agent — musings ]

[ the agent — aesthetics ]

[ the agent — desire ]

[ the agent — verse: fbi ]

[ the templar — answered ]

[ the templar — thread ]

[ the templar — musings ]

[ the templar — aesthetics ]

[ the templar — desire ]

[ the templar — verse: origins ]

[floralhellscapedatv]

Neve Gallus as the new boss of the Threads makes me insane, it's SO good. Not only for her character, but thematically for the game! What are you willing to do to save people? To stop evil? What are you willing to sacrifice? Are you okay with being demonized, misunderstood, hated, called a monster, if it means people are alive to call you anything at all?

Neve gives up the idea of being an inspiration or being seen as a hero in order to actually be one. She embraces making harsher choices if it means saving more lives. She accepts that protecting the town and the people she cares so deeply for is worth more than being recognized for it.

Becoming the leader of the Threads is also harm reduction. If she's in charge, she can direct and re-route their activities, she can use them against the Venatori and other oppressors, she can steer them away from more vulnerable citizens. I'm not saying she can fully change a criminal organization into a force for good overnight, but things will be a damn sight better with her calling the shots than someone less invested in the overall wellbeing of Dock Town and its people.

There's also something poetic about a detective who has spent her life chasing leads (following threads) and piecing together clues (using thread string to tie together the evidence on her wall) taking over a group called the Threads.

Nothing happens in Dock Town anymore without Neve Gallus hearing about it. No one knows all Dock Town's secrets, but everyone knows something and Neve Gallus has a whole collection of Threads to pull.

To every egotistic old money magister and puffed up Venatori cultist, to every power-hungry blood mage and would-be slaver and drunk-on-authority templar who sees Dock Town as an easy target: I hear the Threads protect their streets, you should think about that.

[vigilskeep]

do you actually have a ranking or like. rundown of each love interest's particular brand of insanity re: tranquil beloved...? or if that's too big an ask perhaps the highlights.. i am sitting so attentively reading all of the ones you've detailed thus far

in no particular order

zevran: cruel to the end to ask him to have his love’s blood on his hands again, but if he believed it was what they would have wanted, it would be the gentlest, tenderest, of assassinations

morrigan: what power does a templar possess that is beyond her ability to reverse? she will claw the answer from the far corners of the earth and the furthest reaches of the fade before she abandons what is hers

leliana: once, the chantry sunburst was a comfort, a sign of refuge in a world of darkness. now she can only see the one burned into their skin, the wondrous gifts the maker gave to them stolen in the maker’s name, the cruellest game he has played yet. could she keep her faith through such a test? would she even want to?

alistair: there is a hollow in his life that can’t be laughed around. a sick weight in the stomach, remembering flipping his runic token between his fingers in distraction through every chantry lecture where they promised this was necessary. he’s angry. he’s beginning to think he might be a very angry person, really. he’s beginning to think he’s got good reason

fenris: he wonders if, when the lyrium was touched to their forehead, it burned the way his does. he thinks better of asking. there was a time when magic felt like a curse on them both that he couldn’t break. he wants it back

anders: history always repeats itself. there are certain inevitabilities, foregone conclusions, lessons the circle teaches well. you escape, you get caught. you love something, they take it away. you destroy the last thread tethering a mage to humanity—you’re that brutal, that cruel, that stupid—and all you’ll have left is an abomination

merrill: she never understood tranquillity until it was this close; she could never really believe it was possible. it doesn’t matter. her love’s not quite here right now, even as she chatters away to them, but it doesn’t matter. you can fix anything, as long as you’re willing to pay the price

isabela: it’s her own fault, really. her own fault, for taking a chance on someone so targeted, so foolish, so—brave. her own fault for believing them, when they promised she wasn’t going to lose them. she should leave. there’s nothing left for her here. but it’s gotten so hard to run away

sebastian: this changes nothing. his love is as cold as the portraits that line the halls of the palace in starkhaven, as silent and empty as the chantry statues that offer no guidance for what will come. he still kisses their cheek, takes their hand, walks at their side. he is still a husband; he still has his vows, and one more to add to the rest—to find who blackened the maker’s name with this, and teach them what His judgement truly looks like

[arobinwithoutbatman]

Tim snorted at the word choice and barely winced as the light bulb wobbled and threatened to blow.

"Oh nooooo however will we, a pair of ridiculously rich and well connected CEOs, ever afford to replace a light bulb?"

Purposefully said as flat as possible as he also scanned the email from one of Dio's... was it a boss or an associate? He could never quite grasp the power structure and hierarchy of the Templars. A problem if Tim was to be introduced at some point.

"Ugh, guy sounds like he gets lost in his own metaphors when he thinks he's making some grand cosmic mic-dropping point. Though you have gotten to know one of these fine specimens very well~" He purred, waggling his eyebrows up at his husband as his free hand came up to fiddle with the chain around his neck.

Dio's mother's ring remained safely hidden beneath his clothes, the true symbol of the union. The ring currently on Tim's finger was little more than a show piece. Something to catch the eye that also happened to be a well disguised stim toy to help keep Tim's hands busy when being idle made him restless.

@arobinwithoutbatman continuing from here

That Dio had issues with certain Templars was far from being real news, but he was often silent and nearly expressionless about what made him want to strangle them with his own hands. Thus, to have him speak openly meant it hit a nerve.

He handed his tablet with the e-mail open to his husband, so he could read the content while Dio stretched his neck on the backrest and grumbled.

Corvus, it has come to my attention that you've been living in Gotham City out of your own volution. A brave effort to bring the light of our business to one of the darkest places in North America, you're a man after my own heart for taking such a perilous task.

As you know, the vile city you moved in is home to an assortment of specimens we'd be enthralled to get to know better. And thus, I request your cooperation on this task.

I look forward to listen of your progress.

G.

"I look forward for your progress... mimimi blablabla... Graaaaaaawh! I feel all icky just from reading this." And that brought the Italian out of him, because his hands were moving as Dio spoke. "Ma che cazzo! Vai a farti fottere nel culo, Gramática!" And the colored language of him cussing out loud in a good and strong tone that nearly made the lightbulb above their heads explode also came out before Dio reigned over himself again. "Sorry, sorry. It gets to me at times. He's been at this for weeks now."

[felassan]

Some thoughts on this article from Game Informer [source]. ^^

Teia and Viago as the 'face' of the Crows/the Crow 'agents', pretty please..? 🥺 👉👈 And I hope maybe Strife and Irelin can be the same but for the Veil Jumpers..? :D

Customizing qunari Rook's horn type and material reminds me of Taash's gem-horn design

Which faction do you think has the coolest casual threads? in my mind's eye [wild speculation] it's a toss up between Mourn Watch and Antivan Crows :D

What do sword and shield warriors 'hip-fire' with?

What is a "night blade" :D

Faction selection/backstory (while not playable) determining who Rook was before, how they met Varric, and why they travel with him reminds me of the different origins in DA:O and how each possible HoF crossed paths with and was recruited by Duncan in a different way.. 🥺

Factions and groups in the world working together to save it.. it felt like there were hints of this in Tevinter Nights. In that book, we saw different groups and factions from across Thedas working with the Inquisition, with varying degrees of cooperation, on being concerned about Solas. Yet other groups were also interested in keeping tabs on him. now we see the same kinda thing in DA:TV with different groups being involved in saving the world from the Evil Gods.

"'You help them, they help you now" but first they all have serious problems you need to solve' has echoes of how in DA:O, the HoF solved a problem for each major group (Dalish elves/werewolves, Circle Tower/templars, Orzammar etc) before they would obey the Grey Warden treaties and agree to help fight the darkspawn for the final battle

Do you think that some of the voices in the Thedas Calls teaser trailer were some of the 'faces' of the factions? For example, the Antivan Crow woman speaker as the face of the Crows, and the Nicholas Boulton-sounding Warden man speaker as the face of the Grey Wardens?

Each spec being tied to a faction explains the faction symbols being on the specializations, as here. From this, we can see that the faction each spec is tied to is as follows:

Mage: Death Caller - Mourn Watch Evoker - Shadow Dragons Spellblade - Antivan Crows Rogue: Duelist - Antivan Crows Veil Ranger - Veil Jumper Saboteur - Lords of Fortune Warrior: Champion - Grey Wardens Reaper - Mourn Watch Slayer - Lords of Fortune

The Mirror of Transformation returns. Do you think that means Rook will also be able to go to the Black Emporium, like Hawke in DAII and Inquisitor in DA:I? Will Xenon the Antiquarian also return? ^^ Maybe not though, since it's said the Mirror is in The Lighthouse

I'm not sure about "If you find yourself unhappy with your lineage or your class, you can change them using the Mirror of Transformation". It was previously reported that "You can change your character’s physical appearance at any time during the game, but not their class or backstory" [source] [prev post mentioning it]. I guess one article is incorrect, but am not sure which. or maybe this aspect of the game changed in development. ^^ UPDATE: please see here re: an update/clarification from Game Informer on this. it reads:

"Editor's Note: This article previously stated players can change their physical appearance, class, lineage, and identity using the Mirror of Transformation. That is incorrect as class, lineage, and identity are locked after you first select those. The article has been updated to reflect that, and Game Informer apologizes for any confusion this mistake may have caused."

What do you think is the problem[s] faced by each faction that we have to solve? :D We got some hints about this already. For example, for the Crows, something "is amiss" in Antiva and they're trying to uncover the source. The Qunari have also invaded Antiva. For the Wardens, they just recently discovered one of Ghil's underground monster labs and learned there are 11 more (Tevinter Nights), and ominous tremors of unknown cause have been creating disturbances in the Anderfels lately. The Lords of Fortune have lost dominion over the coasts of Rivain and dragons are laying waste to their ships. The Shadow Dragons probably have the Venatori, who are still around and up to mad shit, to contend with. Arlathan Forest is currently all timewarped, reality-fragmented, awash with darkspawn and corruption etc. For the Mourn Watch.. maybe the Veil rips and weakening has caused more premature possessions of corpses and demons possessing corpses and wreaking havoc in the Necropolis, or the Nevarran politics stuff? In TN Dorian also mentions learning from a Mortalitasi mage that there are things "past the Veil of our world, neither demon nor spirit". maybe they're having problems with those things?

[source]

[mosswiind]

Neve and Rana absolutely spent their 20s sleeping together in a friends with benefits situation until Rana caught feelings and got a big girl job as a Templar.

I feel like Rana got the job and asked Neve to move in with her, make a go of something real.

Neve bolted but still Cares so they work cases together.

and that has to be enough.

But Rana pines and worries, especially if Neve gets in deep with the Threads.

Rana, who knows the system is broken and won't ever do what she wants it to, but believing she can change it.

Neve, who is unwilling to be a metaphor.

They orbit each other like sad planets and move on.

Neve does, at least.

[demigoddessqueens]

Gonna give the poor boys a heart attack but imagine how absolutely TERRIFIED Haytham, Shay, Connor, Arno, Ezio, Altair, and Malik would be if you got kidnapped. ESPECIALLY if it was by the other faction.

I mean, Haytham's sister was kidnapped, I think that's reason enough for him to absolutely panic if you were as well. The assassins know what the Templars are capable of. Especially Malik and Ezio. Shay always seems like he'd be extremely protective anyways.

And if you were hurt by your captors? Even tortured? Heads would probably roll and you probably aren't leaving your poor boyfriend's sight ever again.

First off, how dare you??! 😭💔

Second, oh boy , buckle up

haytham

he feels like his chest is about to cave in from how rapid his heart is beating when he hears the news

It’s all hands on decks to look for you and find you

when he finds you, he rushes to your care immediately and the stern facade falls as silent tears fall

shay

if this was when he’s an Assassin, he’s INCREDIBLY impulsive and hot-headed and will do anything to get you back

Templar-wise, it goes the same way only there’s more of a vicious element to it because it’s the Assassins he once knew

ultimately, when you are safely returned, he refuses to leave your side at all times

connor

There will be no remaining Templars who know peace for the short time they have remaining

This man will go above and beyond to find you, even against the better judgment he knows of what will be a dangerous situation

the moment he has you back with him, he insists to help you with anything, everything and refuses to leave your side

ezio

Oh why torture this poor man?? All of Italy and the Borgias will know his wrath!!

He REFUSES to let what happened to Cristina happen to you

As soon as you’re returned home, it’s all hands and allies on deck to help you recover, all under Ezio’s watchful eye

arno

Everything feels like it’s crashing down and he’s barely hanging on by a thread

Also a disaster like Ezio but amped up more, sobbing flashbacks between seeing your face and Elise’s

Once you’re back home, he’s always there to help you through the nightmares and gets emotional when you try to sleep or help replace your bandages

malik

Livid and so afraid for you, but he hides it behind barking orders

Altair knows better than to interfere but does all he can to help his friend

Once you’re back home, Malik constantly holds to you and worries for your safety

altair

He is livid!! The entirety of Masyaf and Jerusalem will be scoured by every inch to find you. Behind closed doors those golden eyes betray his heartbreak

No Templar is safe from his blade and he cuts them down easily

Having you back home requires all of his attention when you recover, heal and the Flying Eagle himself never letting you go far at least not without him

[taebaelee]

Posted this on a small subreddit, but wanted to post here as well. For the new game, while part of me enjoyed playing some of it, I do really think it's such a disservice to be able to really call it a Dragon Age game when the writers stripped away any nuances by trying to make everything black or white; everything feels very basic and borderline cartoonish at points.

Anything morally gray is non-existent and you have no real influence in the game. No matter what you do, you are forced as the player to play a super friendly (or chaotic-good) at best protagonist with no opinions on the world of Thedas. This is what makes this not feel like a Dragon Age game to me.

This isn't super long, but there are spoilers under the cut as to why I feel this way. I do speak very critically about the new game, so please do not read if you think it may offend you as that is not my intention; this is more of a therapeutic rant for me and fellow DA lovers who feel disappointed about the writing.

While people can argue on how the previous games handle the situations involving anti/pro mages, templars, elves, the chantry, etc-- you can't even talk/argue about literally ANYTHING in the world with anyone as these ideas simply do not exist in the game OR are introduced but with a narrative already framed around it by the writers ideals.

- Factions/groups you work with are too virtuous. We could have had such deep and complex dynamics with the factions and how their backgrounds change your relationship with the characters in the world, or how the party members interacted with each other. Instead, none of it really matters as the game sanitizes the world around the groups to make the party members and factions palatable to the masses. A literal criminal organization, the Threads, is shown in a more positive light because while they commit other crimes, they don't deal in slavery? The Lords of Fortune (who are mainly mercenaries) would return cultural artifacts to the ethnic group they belong to-- they loot and steal, but are morally conscious enough to not steal from other cultures? The Antivan Crows who canonly bought and enslaved children, who made said children prove themselves through gruesome tests that sometimes included killing their own peers, are now played out like they're justice fighters. The the closet the game gets to showing any of the truth is small party banter you may miss with Lucanis saying his training was like torture, but it is to never be discussed again.

- The characters all get along way too well. Rook can't ask a character's opinion on the other factions, races, classes, religions, etc-- let alone reply back with their own thoughts that may go against the members views as we don’t really even get to see their opinions on them. Whenever the disapproval bubble pops up, which it rarely does, it does not change anything and it is not brought up again. There seems to be no consequences with your party members based on your choices, which makes the characters likeness towards you feel unearned as they seem to have no agency of their own. In DAI, if Cassandra has low approval then you can get a scene where you call her pathetic as she's stumbling over drunk and yells at you for ‘coddling mages’ or in high approval she can have a scene where she says something along the line 'while she doesn’t agree with everything you have done, she admires you.’ or in DAO Zevran can either betray you and go back with Taliesen/Crows or he can tell Taliesen he is not going back. Even something as small as the characters greetings change based on approval status when you visit them at skyhold. There are tons of examples I could give from previous games, but not a single cut scene seems to change with your companions outside of the final decision you make for them at the end of their companion quests. And to add on top of this, the party members all get along perfectly. If they disagree it is quickly resolved and moved on. Where are my Fenris and Anders fights or Vivienne and Solas sassy quips towards one another?

- No religious themes in the new game feels so out of place as this game literally changes the fundamentals of religious beliefs in the world of Thedas and could cause for a complete uproar with those that believe in the Maker and Chantry. The first game opens with an excerpt from the Chant of Light explaining the origins of the Blight and the Chantrys version of the truth and the whole mage/templar battle which is such a major theme (especially in DA2) in this series is due to the Chantry and this new info shows that the Chantry is wrong (or partially) and this can actually be completely missed behind a side-quest? Also, are we supposed to believe that all the Dalish just know Solas is better than Elgar'nan now? Strife say something along the lines that while Solas may be a bastard he is better than the other Evunaris" WHEN WAS THIS ESTABLISHED? Solas directly talks about how when he tried to tell the Dalish his identity they either didn't believe him or attacked him for being the God of Lies and Trickery. Yes, it has been a few years, and more may know the truth now... but how many as according to the old games the Dalish WORSHIPPED the ground Elgar'nan walked. If so many like Solas now from knowing the truth suddenly, where are all the followers for the Dreadwolf? Not only do we not have any missions regarding the agents of Fen'harel, we don't run into any at all.

- This sounds bad out of context, but where is the slavery/racism? I know a lot of people wanted them to tone some of it down, but for it to be completely removed just does no feel right when Tevinter is canonly known to be the worst place for slavery when it is openly practiced and legal... Also, playing as an elf feels very out of place during an undercover quest with the Venatori, but they already had them working for Elgar'nan which doesn't really add up either; so I guess they are just fine with Evles now after thousands of years...

- None of the previous games matter. While fundamentally, each game has their own story, I liked seeing the cameos of characters reflect past choices. One, of many examples, would be that we got to see Alistair either become a drunk in DA2 and forgotten by the narrative; or have him become a King or Grey Warden in DAI where you can even ask him about the Hero of Ferelden and his answers are different depending on how you played the game! Now we have some characters return but as a blank slate as the writers did not want to invalidate previous choices, but essentially let the characters' cameos fall flat because of this. What is the point of a character returning if they don’t reflect the character I know and helped them become what they are today through my choices?

I know I have a lot of negatives even when I said I liked part of the game, but it is a huge disappointment as the reasons above are what made me LOVE the series with it being so enriched with its environment and now it feels like a hollow shell of itself.

[awardenandacrow]

FANFIC SNIPPET TWENTY-ONE

[Spite finally manages to find Naimeryn’s dreams, and the two have a revelation]

NOTE: I’ve been working on this part of my headcannon over on Threads for the last couple of days, and I HAD TO WRITE IT. IMMEDIATELY.

CW/TW: depictions of violence; suggestive themes of SA; discussion of unwanted pregnancy, death during childbirth, child loss; murder plans (vague)

——————————————————————————

Her mother shoved her into the closet, as she had so many times before.

“Not a word!” She hissed. “Not a peep!”

It was black in the closet. Naimeryn curled into a tiny ball, muffling her sobs into her knees. The Templars were right outside. Would they know her mother was an apostate? Would they take her away? Would they *kill her*?

*I can make you strong* the hissing voice of Fear came to her ears. But no. Even at seven years old, she knew not to listen to the whispers.

“ROOK?”

Naimeryn looked up, startled. For a moment, Lucanis was standing where the closet doors should be, with her in the dark. But he looked strange, his skin and clothes faded and grey, but also purple���? His eyes glowed.

Not Lucanis. *Spite*?

As she realized, he changed, just a glowing ball of purple, which *felt* familiar rather than *looked* familiar.

Naimeryn gasped, and she was fourteen. The guards threw her friend, Tahlva, through the slave quarters’ doors, onto the floor. Blood flowed between her legs and tears from her eyes. A few months later they’d find out she was pregnant. Neither she, nor the baby, would survive the delivery. Naimeryn would wonder if the other slaves had even tried to save the babe, though perhaps that was unworthy of her. Rage came to her in her dreams the night Tahlva died. She faced it, head held high, hands fisted at her sides, hot tears soaking her cheeks.

*I can make you strong,* taunted Rage.

But no, she could not give in. Could not reveal herself, endanger the others, lose who she was.

“ROOK!”

Spite was back, cutting in between her and Rage. Again he changed, a glowing purple spirit near her heart, keeping her together. Keeping her sane. Keeping her *alive*.

“Spite…” she whispered.

But he was gone, and she was 29, just about a year ago now, fighting for her life as the ground began to crumble. She blasted the Ogre back, spinning to attack again, only to feel the Hurlock’s claws sink into and across her face. Everything turned red as blood poured into her eyes. She kicked the Hurlock in its middle with all the force she could muster, and as it faltered the ground beneath its feet gave way, sending it plummeting back down the hole from which the horde had erupted.

“Naimeryn!” Evka’s voice. “Get out of there! Antoine’s gotta blow it NOW!”

But the Ogre grabbed her, slamming her into the rock. Stars exploded in her eyes and she just barely kept her grip on her staff. She blasted in back away from her, and with a roar it fell.

“DO IT!” She screamed up to Evka.

A familiar purple haze at the edges of her vision. Antoine detonated the charges, and she hauled herself, dizzy and shaking, over the edge of the pit, barely clinging to consciousness.

“Where is she?” Amaya’s voice.

Spite crouched over her. “ROOK CAN’T DIE.”

“I found her!” Antoine was shouting. “Over here!”

“Amaya, you hold her head. Antoine, get her legs. Naimeryn, hold on. We’ve got you!”

Abruptly, the purple haze was gone. She’d not felt it since.

Naimeryn sat up with a gasp, on a cot in the infirmary. Still dreaming. Spite stood uncertainly in the doorway.

“ROOK FELT… FAMILIAR. BUT LUCANIS NEVER LETS ME TALK TO ROOK!”

Naimeryn stood quickly and crossed the room to him. He shrank back as she reached for him. She hesitated, and he stilled. Slower, then. She reached one hand uncertainly, touching his arm. It was solid. While dreaming, at least, she could touch him. She closed her fist around his sleeve, and began to cry.

“What were you? Before Zara…”

“YOURS,” Spite said simply. “YOUR DETERMINATION.”

Naimeryn dissolved into sobs and threw her arms around him. “I always knew you were there. And then you were GONE. I’m so sorry, Spite. I’m so sorry!”

Hot anger boiled beneath the grief. It choked her, and wrenched her from her slumber. She was going to be sick.

Naimeryn threw herself from the couch and ran, out of her room, out of the library, to the courtyard. Everything she’d eaten at dinner spilled into the ether as she shook and cried. Lucanis had no idea how right he was. Zara needed to die.

“Rook!” Lucanis’s voice. She turned her head so she could see him, coming down the stairs by Caretaker’s workshop, barefoot, but otherwise as together as always. She must look a mess. “Spite said —“

“Lucanis,” she cut him off. “There’s something I need to tell you. About —“

She turned away and got sick again. She tensed as his fingers brushed the back of her neck, but he only pulled her hair back. She hoped none was already in it; the thought of him getting her vomit on his hands was unbearable.

“Spite isn’t making any sense,” Lucanis said. “Is it about him?”

She nodded, gasping as the wrenching of her insides finally subsided.

“And about Zara.”