#'weren't you rewatching your playthrough' yes but i reached the intro of ANFFH and i started crying

[icharchivist]

just rewatched the introduction to the All New, Faded for Her quest and man i keep thinking about how the Characters' quest lines are made into DAI and why i really like them there

People usually talk about "DAI are just coworkers" in a derogatory way but this is genuinely what makes the relationship they have more impactful to me because none of them are really here to look for a place to belong, or family, they're here to get a massive important work down and they focus on that. The conversations between them therefore are more political in nature, and all...

But it means that when sincere affection starts to shine through it is SO special. I thrive even more for the little things of how all of them were here to be professional but ended up being unable to stop themselves from caring (Vivienne being the best example because she puts a distance with others because this is also how you play The Game, yet even her hostility to Cole curves to "the part who forgets i'm me cares", or really seeming to enjoy her time with Sera especially in banters in Trespasser and stuff like that)

Anyway point is that it shines through with their personal quests too because there are a few that are mainly tied directly to the main plot or further the specific aspect said characters are bringing to the table.

Like Bull's character quest is, at its heart, about the Inquisitor being faced with making a political decision for the sake of the Inquisition's future, but it will drastically change Bull and your relation with him.

Cole's character quest is a direct reaction to seeing the Wardens bind demons and Cole freaking out about being made into a demon again and just seeking protection in case your enemy tries to do that to him (which, if you bring Cole post-quests to the final battle, Corypheus does try to do, and it seems there was a scrapped option to take Cole with you if you hadn't done his quest and have Corypheus genuinely turning him against you bc of that, scrapped for time though).

Cassandra's personal quest is her investigating the disappearance of the Seeker, which in turn makes you investigate One Of The Core Triggering Moment Of The Mage Rebellion and forcing you to think about what you'll do After The Inquisition Is Done, reflecting on what it is to have an organization, twisted with time, and now that you're bringing a close to the Mage Conflict, addressing the whole Tranquil situation which was one of the core triggers in Asunder.

And so many of the companion quests are like that, they can be about discovering something for the sake of the inquisition (Varric's), directly facing the inherent corruption of being in a position of power (Blackwall's and the fact you have to pull strings abusing of your title to save him if you go this road), interrogation about where you stand between power and people (Sera's), or for characters more heavily involved into politics, a service they wouldn't have asked of you otherwise but in a rare moment of trust and circumstances, give you a glimpse into those characters.

(Vivienne especially, but i include all the Advisors into this category. Which reminds me how Vivienne was originally planned to be an Advisor and it's this late switch to being a companion that was explained for her lack of approval options for instance. There's definitely problems with the way it was reincorporated if we take the writers to the word, but makes me think that the fact the Advisors + Vivienne's companion quest all have this aspect of a rare moment of vulnerability not exactly furthering the Inquisition because by design they're the characters who should be helping you, advising you, to shape it ect..)

(and i can't believe i forgot Dorian probably because he doesn't fit as much into this manifesto (but those are thoughts thrown into the void, barely even a meta) but i guess in a way he alligns more with the Advisors + Vivienne, on how his story is more personal than in the development of the inquisition So now my other point is that since it's mostly Advisors+Mages having quests not made fully to question the functionment of the inquisition itself is also because the Mage companions are inherently more invested into the Main Plot by virtue of the main theme of the game)

And in a way Solas' quest ends up kinda falling into this category as well (is it one more way to show how he helped shape the Inquisition still to give him similar storyline or just a coincidence) and his quest is inherently made as foreshadowing for him, to understand him. It shows also the impact of the Veil on the spirits in some way, showing his friend being bond into slavery and turned into a monster. It's about him, but it's also about what he's fighting for, why the Veil isn't just something he can ignore, because this keeps happening. ("i don't know what to say" / "Nor will you, until you've seen ignorance snatch away all that you love." that as long as the Veil is up, this type of things will keep happening, "ignorance" will continue to destroy everything he tried to protect. Re also the Wardens trying to kill the archdemons before they awake which would have collapsed the Veil, unleashing the Blight as well)

Each companion quests do further their own characters' journeys and themes, Identity is a strong one in DAI i think (half the cast is in crisis over their identity, while the other half are people who are confident enough in their own identity that even wearing a mask or another name doesn't faze them), grief, guilt, privilege or lack of, all of that.

But in the end... Wait i'm realizing but it's Half and Half again no? 6 companions specifically get you into quests in a way because of the impact of the main quest and something that affects the Inquisition directly, while 6 others companions are more personal by nature.

AND JUST. GUHHH. The way it manages to be intertwined with the main plot and still be about questioning how You Lead, How You Helm Your Inquisition, while still also about being personal and Vulnerable.

And none of them needs your help because otherwise they can't focus on the work at hand, they're PROFESSIONAL, but their crisis start on how it will help your inquisition, or people allowing themselves to be vulnerable around you enough to ask a service they KNOW are distracting YOU from your duties. And it's up to YOU to see if you're willing to take this act of Compassion, of helping out just because.

Even if you know you have nothing to actually gain out of doing so. In fact you can actively screw all those quests over. You can tell Sera, the voice of the smallfolks, of the main people you're supposed to protect, to leave anytime because it's a bad look if you prefer to pander to noble. You can destroy Vivienne's trust in you purely out of hatred and spite. You can kill Solas' friend because you think a demon is a demon and must be killed, letting your "ignorance snatch away all Solas loves".

And i don't know there's just something that rings so profound to me about people who joined specifically because of work, they're not here to make friends, but by investing themselves into said work and/or by allowing themselves to be vulnerable for once something much more unique can come to bloom.

especially considering how the majority of the cast are representative of Big Group yet ultimately, they're very lonely and isolated by design.

Josephine is a noble ambassador who's family was exiled from dealing in the biggest noble country in Thedas.

Leliana was isolated by being the Left Hand of the Divine, unable to trust anyone, eventually taken away from her lover.

Cullen represents the templars yet he has to come to term about how being one ruined his life (oh Cullen's war table comment about whether to recruit more templars or not we're so in it now)

Bull is here as the eyes of the Qunari but he's already himself at the fridge of what's acceptable of one, playing the role of a mercenary Tal Vasoth, not telling all the Chargers about what he is, Krem mentioning Bull still mostly keeps secrets and "write letters home. lots of boys write letters home."

Cassandra literally left alone from the Seekers all deserting, following Lucius, or being killed by the Promisers. Not to mention her closer contact in the Chantry aside from Leliana dying at the Conclave.

Blackwall having abandonned his company ages ago and posing as a lone wanderer recruiting people alone.

Varric separated from his friends from Kirkwall, with characters constantly commenting on how he's clearly not having a good time and would wish to be with his Kirkwall friends instead (his banters with Sera especially like boooy.)

Sera being part of the Red Jennys but the Jennys not exactly being CLOSE because they're more about causing organized actions than being here personally for one another. "Right, because i'm not used to that... acceptance thingy you're doing right now" Sera can say in a branch. Or just how generally everything about her is that she's been isolated and alienated in every "communities" she had belonged to until the Jennies, and even there it's not as deep as it can get with the Inquisitor over making cookies together.

Cole calling Rhys his first friend, who's here because of a loss, with most of the companions starting out hostile toward him, and the heartbreaking comment he makes if you make him more spirit about how "There was someone. Before. He was my friend. But he didn’t know what I was. When he found out, he changed. I lost him. You found out, but you didn’t change, didn’t make me change. You let me be this, be more. Thank you for helping me find this again. For believing in me. You don’t know what it means."

Vivienne being a Mage At Court. Playing the Game like an Orlesian Noble while knowing she would never have belonged here if not for her magic, while also knowing her magic is what stops her from playing the Game at her full capacity. How the Game and the manipulations inherently isolates you. How she mostly has Bastien's family to hold on to but even there Bastian is dying. The Game is inherently isolating and she loses some of her few anchors during the game.

Dorian being a Tevinter Mage in a country that blames Tevinter and Magic for literally everything, but also knowing he's a pariah back home because he believes that his country is corrupted at its core and it needs to change, not to mention his isolation from his own family the moment he decided to not play a role. He loses his mentor and a good friend in the same quest.

And Solas. The poster child of loneliness, of not belonging anywhere, because the world has changed so much in those thousands of years, that there is so much that has been lost, that no one shares his experiences with life, especially in a world that has been this hostile to spirits.

POINT IS those are all characters who are isolated or alienated in some shape or form but when they join the Inquisition it's not to change that. Most of them don't even think there's something to change here. It's their normal. They came here to work. And they left the Inquisition less alone than they ever were before.

the Inquisition in general is really "people banding together to fight the common threat but on the way they discover friendship and it was NOT planned" by default and it's so compelling to me. They built these bonds out of blood and tears and bickering mercilessly. I would die for all of them.