#ALSO if I did swap my canon then I could maybe possibly make my rook a child of Hawke. maybe.

[13skeletons]

The more I think about it, the more I think I should've paired a mage Hawke with Tobias Cousland. (Knight Enchanter so he spent most of the game fighting with sword and shield.)

Like, your family has had to move constantly your whole life because of magic. But you've finally settled outside Lothering and tried to just stay in one place for a while, but then the Blight comes and you have to flee with your lives, barely making it out in time. You're refugees in a templar-controlled city and you have to hide your magic harder than ever, but you're determined to make it work this time. Then the Hero of Ferelden ends the Blight in record time and rises to the throne. The official word out of Denerim is that he's a warrior of great skill, but certainly no mage. Certainly no apostate. The noble Couslands hiding their son's magic? CERTAINLY not. And what Ferelden would refute that? They owe everything to him, what's a little blasphemy to a hero? But the rumors persist.

("I have a cousin who saw the Hero crush the life right out of a hurlock with magic!" "Well my sister was living in Denerim during the final battle and she swears she saw him in a field of frozen genlocks and there were no other mages anywhere NEAR him." "Me nan lives in Amaranthine and she saw him walking around with a staff on his back, bold as you please!")

The rumors reach your ears and you think, "if he can do it, why not me?" And for a while it even seems to be working out that way. You regain your family's estate. You save the city from the qunari, you defeat the Arishok himself in single-combat.

But it all falls apart. Champion you may be, but the Arishok is no Archdemon, and you have no queen in your corner, no ancient and respected family name. The mage-templar war erupts right there in your city, and no amount of magic can stop it.

History will remember Tobias Cousland as a warrior and a Hero, but you're just another apostate - a danger to yourself and everyone around you.

Like. OoF? Ow? Pour that salt directly into my fucking wounds??

And also the more I think about it, the more I think I want to completely swap out my canon. Like. I LOVE the narrative circle of starting Jasper Mahariel's journey by being corrupted by this ancient relic of his people and ending it by following his lover through the same. And I LOVE that the first human Merrill ever met took Jasper, one of her only friends away, and she never saw him again. Then the second human she ever meets ends up falling for her and taking care of her and giving a her real home and supporting her unconditionally for the first time. I love that through-line, that's why I did it.

But also I set it up years ago and I'm slowly finding that other stories are more compelling in my old, depressed state. [weary emoji]