#DA:TV Spoilers

[spiritsong]

did yall find the ancient elven tablets of communication as well

[thelifeinmyshadesofgrey]

EMMRICH VOLKARIN | Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024)

[enigmalea]

So I wanna thank you for this post, because there are definitely some things here that are helping me rethink my initial feelings on Veilguard (which are very complicated). I really like the game, but I'm also super disappointed in it in various ways.

I think rather than a lack of religion, it's our inability to engage with it and actually discuss it that's frustrating to me. We do get that dialogue from Harding. We act like we'll discuss it later, but it's dropped, and never discussed again. So that kind of sucks. I really wish there was a chance for Harding and Rook to talk through her feelings more, even if it didn't impact anything. I guess the one thing I'm grateful for is that it gives us some room for fics!

I'm on my third playthrough and I do not at ALL remember Lucanis discussing his religion. I remember him discussing losing hope. This could be because I'm not religious IRL OR because I have ADHD really bad and if these are coming up in ambient dialogues while running through his childhood home I'm either not getting them OR I am but I'm so focused on completing the mission I'm missing it. This is a complaint I have in general for the game - a lot of the in depth characterization can be missed based on the parties you're taking or because it's in world while you're running around doing other things. Like even after multiple playthroughs and attempting to get dialogues I've seen here, I'm just... not getting them or missing them when they pop up.

The Rivain quest that you mentioned was a highlight in my playthroughs.

Something I do want to point out for anyone who feels like me that further supports your point, OP, is that Lavendel is also so small that it doesn't appear on the map, which is why it specifically doesn't have a chantry. I do think I wish there was somewhere the local people had set-up their own altar or prayer space, but I think I can let that slide.

I think the only point where I do disagree is that the Mourn Watch's funeral rites are NOT about their Andrastianism. Nevarra's burial rites, like Rivain's relationship to Spirits, are pre-Andrastianism, and incredibly cultural, bordering on secular. They are spiritual, yes, but they are not done in relation to Andrastianism, and instead focus on memorializing the deceased, and are performed for the living. There's no honor given to Andraste or the Maker in them... this is in sharp contrast to Andrastian cremation services which are completed to honor Andraste.

Anyway, thank you for some things to think about and look for on subsequent playthroughs!

I really don’t understand the criticism that Veilguard doesn’t include enough open, devout Andrastianism. Like, it just perplexes me?

Unlike the first three games, which take place in Southern Thedas (the purview of the Orlesian Chantry, the Sunburst throne), Veilguard takes place almost entirely in Northern Thedas. And it’s clear the Chantry’s role there is very different than in the South.

In Southern Thedas, the Chantry is a power unto itself. The Southern Divine, holder of the Sunburst Throne, occupies a place of real significance and power. She has her own militarized forces (the Templar and Seeker Orders). She politically has to interface with the rulers of the various places in Southern Thedas (Orlais, Ferelden, the Free Marches, etc.), but is not formally associated with or dependent on them. The South is comparatively poorer than the North, and we see a majority of services (taking care of orphans, medical care, the Circles, and very significantly education) being taken care of by the Chantry without necessarily much assistance from the relevant countries.

The Southern Chantry is an ever present figure in Southern Thedas, even for those that aren’t devout. And that is reflected in those stories and the cultures we learn about there.

The Tevinter Imperium is not like that. And that’s not terribly surprising. First, the Imperium pre-dates Andrastianism. They have another, older religion that helped form some of their cultural touchpoints. The Imperium did adopt Andrastianism, but did so as a consolidation of empire (which tracks with the Imperium being, in no small part, a reflection of the real life Roman Empire). As such, the Chantry is folded into and subordinate to the Imperium’s government. The real power in Tevinter, and control over the incidents of daily life that we see the Southern Chantry involved in, is the Magisterium and the Archon.

The Imperial Divine doesn’t control the Templars, the Magisterium and Archon do. He doesn’t control the Circles/education. That’s the Magisterium and Archon again. He is, in practical terms, less powerful than Dorian. He can’t make any real change as the Imperial Divine, so he dons a mask and runs a vigilante group to free slaves and make change that way.

The Northern Chantry simply isn’t as omnipresent as the Southern Chantry in the areas it exists, and it competes with a preexisting cultural backbone in a way the Southern Chantry doesn’t (because it largely stamped that out, though some of the Avvar and Chasind are still around).

I think a lot of people are comparing the impact of Andrastianism in Veilguard to that in Inquisition, because it’s the most recent, and the criticism spawns from that. But that…doesn’t make sense. The Inquisitor is leading a religious organization, ultimately affiliated with the Southern Chantry itself and founded by the left and right hands of the former Divine. It claims its legitimacy from Andraste herself (even if the Inquisitor doesn’t believe a single bit of it). The people who join the Inquisition are all okay enough with Andrastianism to affiliate themselves openly with it (Solas aside, but of course he has other reasons), and many are devout.

The Veilguard are just…random people. Skilled, powerful, talented people, but not people with any real affiliation with any Chantry. Davrin and Bellara have complicated relationships with the Dalish religion they grew up with, for obvious reasons, but they weren’t raised in Andrastianism or an Andrastian culture. Neve, per her, “barely keeps the holidays.” Her relationship to Andrastianism seems closer to the average non-church-attending American who celebrates Christmas and Easter, but isn’t particularly Christian beyond that. Lucanis does seem open to belief in the Maker and Andraste, but isn’t kind of ambivalent to it. More agnostic than anything else. Taash wasn’t raised Andrastian, their mom largely still embraces much of the Qun even if she left, and Rivain was always kind of religiously funky anyway. Only Emmrich and Harding are particularly Andrastian, and even then Emmrich is from Nevarra which although deeply Andrastian is unique. Harding is the only companion whose Andrastianism we’d recognize from the prior games.

So in a game set in a region where Andrastianism is culturally less of an influence, where the Chantry holds far less power, and that has companions that aren’t devout Andrastians…how is it a failure of the game that it isn’t brought up more. That makes sense. It’s consistent with the world building that came before it and the continued reveal of that world in game.

I don’t get it.

[minaharkers]

imagine being loved by me.

talk - hozier

[shaken-veil]

[stenshale]

i wish there was more about ashur seeing + hearing things after he gets blighted because he’s in such a unique position to have absolutely reality-breaking religious delusions and have them not only taken at face value but actively encouraged

[mythalsknickers]

For additional canon evidence that Mythal was the one who preformed the ritual we have. A song turned lullaby that showed up in Trespasser.

Ir sa tel'nal, Mythal las ma theneras. Ir san'a emma. Him solas evanuris. Da'durgen'lin, Banal malas elgara. Bellanaris, bellanaris.

It comes back up in DATV with a Bellara and Harding banter. There is about three of them all relating to it. Specifically the line I want to to draw attention is

Bellara: Mythal las ma theneras. We thought it meant Mythal gives you dreams. It wasn't that, it was Mythal took your dreams, all along.

There are more to these banters but this is just my addition to the Solas does have some blame, however Mythal should have the lion's share here.

You know in retrospect sundermount is a hell of a name for a mountain

[thatwavephenomenon]

me: i sure hope the crows are not gonna be solely depicted in veilguard as a brave force who 'fight for all' when they are at their core a criminal organization who is known to buy children to indoctrinate them and turn them into assassins, by putting them in overcrowded warehouses and making them fight for scrapes in order not to starve, to later torture those who reach adulthood to finish their initiations and kill them anyways if they dare to try getting out

bioware: i cooka da pizza

[undeadoracle]

every single post featuring Antoine has a bunch of tags like "1 french man allowed" "the only orlesian man I trust" etc. amazing what one scrawny wife guy with big wet eyes can do for a country's reputation

[crapet-illu]

Mother of the Halla, Mother of the Monsters

[felanndaris]

i see this is making rounds again and just wanted to point out that i did find the line in game and Taash actually says that to Lace if they're in a relationship 😬

someone compiled a list of all the DA:I and DA:TV character dialogue [x], including the rare/cut lines, and this is what i found in the Taash file

excuse me while i go scream into a pillow

[wholesomespade]

Origins: Only the Magisters have ever walked physically in the Fade. Such a feat has never been repeated, and the hubris of their actions unleashed an ancient evil on the world that terrorises Thedas to this day. Inquisition: Your trip through the Fade at Adamant was unprecedented and dangerous and we should make sure no-one does it again. Veilguard: 12 bedroom Fade Flat for Rent, 300 Sovreigns/month

[thanekrios]

HARDING & LUCANIS' friendship.

[mausilein]

POV: the fade spirits in forever prison start teaching your wife new magic

[tragerfcks]

Lucanis + coffee

[0ccuria]

🩸Grey Warden Tapestries🪽