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drakorn · 3 months ago

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Rewriting Veilguard Part 3 - The Grey Wardens

Rewriting Veilguard Part 2 - The Shadow Dragons

Disclaimer: I don't hate the game, I actually think it's quite great given the development hell Bioware went through in those 10 years. This is more of a hypothetical universe where there was less of that behind the scenes drama. Just a fun writing exercise.

Writing an Origin Story Mission for the Grey Wardens

So before we start, I would like to notify you of three minor changes I made to my previous blog entry regarding the Shadow Dragons:

Varric no longer tells us about Solas straight away. I believe that’s a bomb that would be more effective when dropped later, otherwise poor Rook might just be a tad overwhelmed.

Neve stays in Minrathous rather than accompanying Rook and Varric. Yeah, as much as I like the idea of your chosen faction determining your first companion, I don’t think it’s really doable given the circumstances a few other companions find themselves in at the start of the game.

The Dreadwolf title card does not appear just yet. I found a better spot to use it later.

Now that we have dealt with the Shadow Dragon origin story, let us move on to the Grey Wardens. And here, we are going to have some fun because boy do I have ideas for this one.

The Grey Wardens were kinda the faction I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to playing at first and there’s a reason for that. You see, we already played a Grey Warden in DAO, and I actually like each game’s protagonist being someone very different. However, when I think about it now, there is some narrative logic to it. If DAV truly is the last Dragon Age game (which is very up in the air right now), it makes total sense to have this choice to bookend the story. You started as a Grey Warden, and now you’ll finish as one. Plus, with the Blight giving us its last hoorah in this one, it only makes sense to put the Wardens in a more prominent position once again.

So, without further ado, let us jump into the Grey Warden origin story!

Creating Rook

We start a new game, Varric gives his opening narration about the overall state of Northern Thedas, and this time, we click on the Grey Warden origin. The little blurb reads as follows:

“You are a Grey Warden. An ancient military order sworn to battle the ever-present threat of the Darkspawn, the Wardens undergo secret, unbreakable rites that grant them supernatural powers against the Taint. As the last surviving member of the Dornen outlaws, you joined the order after a passing Senior Warden invoked the Right of Conscription at your execution and gave you the chance to fight another day. But what you will do with it, that is up to you.”

Right there, we have a great canvas to paint with when it comes to sheer roleplay. We are a former criminal, the last survivor of a group known as the Dornen. Our group wasn’t, like, evil, but we were enough of a presence in the area in and around Hossberg to cause some proper trouble. The Anderfels is a dangerous land, the most dangerous one in Thedas. People don’t live, they survive. This means that many turn to unlawful ways to make ends meet. But being a former outlaw beautifully lines up with the theme of second chances the Order gives to so many people.

In DAV, our Warden’s name is Thorne. “Dornen” is the German words for “Thorns”. The Anderfels’ linguistic and etymological side is mostly based on German (“Anderfels” meaning “Other Rock” or “Weisshaupt” meaning “White Head”). So wouldn’t it be a fun idea if “Thorne” isn’t really the Warden’s last name but just the name they ended up going with? They arguably never knew their family name and the Dornen were as close to one as they could have gotten.

Unlike Mercar, your racial choice won’t really have that much of an impact here as the Wardens accept everyone into their ranks, as long as they can fight. However, if you choose to be a Qunari, it will add a few unique dialogue lines about how few Qunari there are in the order. You are probably one of the only ones.

For this hypothetical playthrough, we shall pick a dwarf warrior, and I’m giving him a big ginger beard. Just going full Lord of the Rings here.

Alright, so we just generated our Thorne, and now we get to hear Varric’s continued narration. We get a series of those beautiful tarot-styled illustrations with Varric’s voice telling us what’s been happening with the Wardens for the last decade. The Wardens in the North specifically have been all gradually returning to Weisshaupt Fortress, by order of the First Warden. They have become much more reclusive and secretive than they already were and are sharing practically nothing with the outside world. Something’s definitely going on. And Varric thinks it might be part of something larger.

Weisshaupt Fortress

And now, for the first time ever, we get to see Weisshaupt Fortress in all its glory, a gigantic fortress carved into the very mountains, the great headquarters of the Grey Wardens that withstood for over a thousand years.

I really like the way Weisshaupt is portrayed in DAV, my only gripe is that we never get to actually properly explore it. I was…surprised by that, actually. So what better way to explore Weisshaupt than have it be part of the Grey Warden origin?

This is place filled with such incredibly rich history. Just imagine, this place has existed since the First Blight, an event older than Andraste. This is an absolute field day for lore enthusiasts such as myself.

As soon as Weisshaupt appears, we get a grand reprise of Inon Zur’s DAO main theme, establishing it as the Warden leitmotif. Now that we are able to properly play as a Grey Warden again, we are just eased back into that feeling. We might not be playing the Hero of Ferelden anymore, but we can definitely bring back the nostalgia. Music is such an important part of storytelling, it’s insane how much a well-chosen theme can do.

Meeting High Constable Janos

Thorne arrives at Weisshaupt after a recent patrol through the mountains and we are greeted by High Constable Janos, the second-in-command to the First Warden. For some reason that rank never comes up in DAV, so we’re just going to include that here.

Here we’re going to establish that Janos was the Warden-Commander who invoked the Right of Conscription during our execution all the way back in Hossberg a few years ago. But why would the Right of Conscription even work in a time without the Blight? Well, this is a fair question for any other nation than the Anderfels. But the Anderfels is constantly threatened by darkspawn incursions, making it the only nation where the Right of Conscription still holds weight without a Blight. Given how the First Warden is often seen as an advisor to the King/Queen, one can also say that the Wardens’ whole “no politics” spiel doesn’t really apply in the Anderfels, either.

Janos informs us of an upcoming mission, assigned by the First Warden himself. Thorne is to meet him, Janos, and a few others in the war room later that day. It is something quite urgent.

NOTE: Throughout the prologue, Rook is still referred to as Thorne, given that “Rook” as a nickname does not exist yet.

Exploring Weisshaupt

Before we head off to the war room, we get a chance to properly explore Weisshaupt for the first time. And there are some interesting things to be done here:

Thorne can walk in on a recruit training session hosted by Davrin. Yep, if we’re a Grey Warden, we get to meet Davrin a little earlier than every other origin. We won’t know anything about his secret griffon mission yet, so for now we just meet him as a trainer. We learn that Davrin and Thorne joined the Wardens at roughly the same time and initially disliked each other due to their different pasts. But over the years, they grew to a mutual understanding since that’s just what being part of the order does to you. In this encounter, we get to train the recruits with Davrin for a short while, even do a sparring session between the two of us.

We come across a few recruits who are yet to undergo the Joining. From here, we learn that there hasn’t really been a great influx of Wardens recently as people just don’t see the necessity. And while the Right of Conscription applies in the Anderfels outside a Blight, it does so only when the alternative is a crime verdict. The recruits know about the Joining already, so we can either reassure or prepare them for the possibility of dying.

We learn from the general chatter as we traverse Weisshaupt that many of the older Wardens are getting ready for their Calling. Since there’s such an unusually high number this time, they are organising something akin to a massive group exodus into the Deep Roads. From the same chatter, we also learn that there has been a staggeringly smaller amount of recruits every year. Some of the older Wardens are worried.

We can enter the library and meet Valya from the Last Flight novel. Instead of just leaving the Wardens for an unspecified reason like in DAV, here she stayed, survived her Joining, and has since been promoted to Chamberlain of the Grey, the order’s chief archivist after her predecessor embarked on his Calling. Her role in rediscovering the griffons had a huge part to play here, but we don’t know that yet. She has also entered a relationship with Caronel who has been promoted to Warden-Commander of the Anderfels. From Valya, who is also in charge with gathering reports from Wardens all around the world, we learn how the Wardens in the South are doing, and it’s quite something. Nathaniel Howe is now the Warden-Commander of Ferelden and operates from Vigil’s Keep. Yes, all Wardens have been ordered to return to Weisshaupt, but Ferelden is an exception to this summon as the First Warden deems Amaranthine being an actual Arling and two Grey Wardens ruling the country as too valuable of an asset to just drop. The same can’t be said for Orlais, though, as we learn that the Orlesian Wardens, currently led by Stroud and Thom Rainier, have fortified the Warden stronghold outside Montsimmard and are currently acting as peacekeepers. In addition, Bethany is currently overseeing the still-standing Griffon Wing Keep. The First Warden looks at them with disdain for refusing to obey his orders, but he also can’t, in good conscience, declare war upon them as every Warden is valuable.

NOTE: Here we see some of our World State shine through. In this playthrough, Hawke was left behind in the Fade, allowing Stroud to be a force for good among the Wardens. Blackwall took back his original name of Thom Rainier and became a proper Grey Warden. Since Hawke took Bethany and Anders to the Deep Roads in DA2, Bethany was made a Grey Warden. Nathaniel Howe was recruited and both Vigil’s Keep and Amaranthine were defended properly, allowing the Wardens to once again maintain a strong presence in Ferelden. As mentioned in the previous post, Alistair and Cousland currently rule Ferelden. And, as we're about to see, Avernus has been left alive and allowed to ethically continue his research.

While still in the library, we get to read a few letters sent to Valya. One of them is from Cousland, dating back a few years now, stating that she is close to making progress on how to stop the Calling but that this is the last letter she’ll be able to send as she’s embarking to places where communication just isn’t possible. Another is from Stroud, stating his regret for how things turned out. Here we get some hints as to what happened when he came to Weisshaupt during DAI. Apparently him and the First Warden clashed on ideals, the First Warden insisting on staying distant and secretive and Stroud being in favour of change. The third letter is from Ramesh, the Warden from Tevinter Nights who discovered one of Ghilan’nains labs and is now searching for the other eleven. The fourth and final letter is a report from Avernus and concerns the progress of his superior Joining ritual. All of these are just codex entries as I doubt we'd get to see this publicly.

Meeting the First Warden

After exploring Weisshaupt, we enter the war room, where Jowin Glastrum, the First Warden himself, awaits us. Joining us in the meeting are High Constable Janos and Warden-Commander Caronel.

Now, let me make something very clear about the First Warden. I like that he’s old-fashioned and traditionalist in DAV, I think it was very in-character of him to act distant and dismissive towards people outside the order. However, he is also a Grey Warden first and foremost at heart, he has Thedas’ best interest in mind. He isn’t here just because of status and standing, no, he clawed his way up the ranks through valiant deeds. We know that many Wardens in the Anderfels come from noble lines and still have ties to those. While the First Warden is of a noble house, he doesn’t use that as something to flaunt over the Wardens. His idea of having ties to noble families is a strictly pragmatic one: the more ties, the more aid, the more recruits. While he might not get along with outsiders, he absolutely respects the Wardens under his command and, while not always agreeable, would never meaninglessly sacrifice them. He’s harsh, strict, often an asshole, but still a Warden at heart.

The First Warden briefs us on a mission: A strange crack into the Deep Roads has opened near the village of Lavendel and a darkspawn horde is gathering for a full assault. Wardens Evka and Antoine are already on-site, preparing the defences.

The First Warden orders us to take charge of the village’s defences alongside Caronel. Under no circumstances are we to abandon post. High Constable Janos will arrive with reinforcements to secure our victory. The idea is to lure the bulk of the horde out of the Deep Roads so that we can slay most of them.

We can inquire why Thorne was chosen for this, since our presence alongside the First Warden, the High Constable, and the Warden-Commander is pretty insignificant, to which the First Warden answers that we are very much due to becoming Senior Wardens ourselves, it’s just this one last assignment left until our promotion.

After the briefing, we leave the war room and encounter Davrin again, with whom you can share in your either excitement or humbleness. In any case, Davrin congratulates us on the soon-to-be promotion, claiming how deserving of it we are and how he would have never thought so upon our first meeting all those years ago.

If we wonder why Davrin wasn’t chosen to head to Lavendel, he’ll tease that he has something else going on, equally important, but won’t tell us what it is just yet as it’s top secret (wink wink caw caw).

Reaching Lavendel

We depart Weisshaupt and leave for Lavendel, a small but significant village not far away from Hossberg. We take a few newly joined Wardens with us, a group consisting of the recruits we met earlier at Weisshaupt.

Upon entering Lavendel, we are approached by Evka and Antoine, who have been busy preparing the defences. From the ensuing conversation we gather that Thorne is very well-acquainted with them, similar to Davrin, having shared in many patrols across the Anderfels with them.

While Caronel takes charge of the mission, he trusts your judgment on matters as it is your time to prove yourself further in the eyes of Weisshaupt. High Constable Janos leaves you be now and heads off to prepare the reinforcements on the other side of the hills.

In the distance, a faint dark red cloud indicates the approaching darkspawn.

Preparing for Battle

Before the darkspawn assault begins, we have the chance to explore Lavendel a little and engage in its defences. During this short segment, we have a few encounters to experience:

Naturally, we can talk to Evka and Antoine and reflect on some of our past adventures together.

We can speak to the new Wardens we’re supposed to co-lead with Caronel, either inspiring them or telling them to be realistic and not too hasty. It’s obvious many of them joined because of the heroic notion surrounding being a member of the order.

We can encounter Mila and her father, Lavendel’s blacksmith. Yeah, I haven’t made them occupants of Weisshaupt just yet, you’ll see why in a bit.

We can inspect the defences, which boil down to barricades, a few ballistae, and, of course, the Warden stronghold just outside the village. If we explore enough, we see a very large and lose rock on a jagged edge right next to Lavendel. Maybe this will be useful later? Since we took the extra time to look around, we can now have that in the back of our head. We can also spot a crack in the stronghold’s basement and encourage quick repairments to be made.

We can speak to Caronel and share in thoughts about the coming fight. All of us Wardens can sense the approaching darkspawn. Caronel isn’t too worried as it’s just a minor skirmish, albeit with a larger-than-usual horde. And why worry? We’ve got Janos swooping in with reinforcements, anyway. We can talk about Caronel’s promotion to Warden-Commander, which was very recent. It is surprising how one so young climbed the ladder so fast, to which Caronel responds that it’s really not so uncommon anymore, given how Ferelden’s Warden-Commander got the title only a year after joining. Well, granted, she took down the Archdemon and somehow lived to tell the tale, but the point stands.

Before we commence the battle, there is one big choice to be made about our position and that of the villagers. While Evka and Antoine suggest to pull all Wardens and villagers into the stronghold and brave the storm there, Caronel would rather only keep the villagers in there while us Wardens head out into the open and prevent the darkspawn from getting to them in the first place. We don’t really have enough Wardens to divide, so we must make that choice now.

Send both the Wardens and the villagers into the stronghold and fight on close and narrow ground. The villagers are at risk from getting into the heat of battle, but the Wardens will be close by to defend them.

Send the villagers into the stronghold and let the Wardens fight in the village itself. While the villagers will be more vulnerable in terms of sheer distance away from the Wardens, the darkspawn is less likely to even get near them.

For the sake of this playthrough, we choose to evacuate the village, and ourselves, into the stronghold. We feel confident but would rather keep our charges close to us. Being a former outlaw in the Anderfels has taught us how one should never leave their goal out of sight. Our aim is to defend, not to gloriously destroy. This shows us that Thorne is willing to cast the pride of glory aside and choose an arguably safer path.

An Old Friend

Our decision made, we deliver a short speech to the villagers, instructing them to head into the Warden stronghold. We shall follow suite immediately and position ourselves on the walls and in the courtyard. Since we’re familiar with the darkspawn’s habit of digging tunnels, we’ll make sure the basement is accounted for as well.

Once the villagers and Wardens head to the keep, we are approached by a most familiar face: Varric Tethras. This is certainly a surprise. While we’ve never met him in person, we’ve certainly heard and read about him. Varric says he was passing through on an errand of his own and figured he might as well aid Lavendel’s defences with Bianca. While we can question the sincerity of this statement, we can use any help we get.

Varric comments how many Wardens would seek out the more daring and glorious path and is pleased to see that we’re not one of them.

The Battle of Lavendel

Right so we’re all hunched up in the fortress, and the atmosphere is intense. Now, all of us sense the evil just outside our doorstep. The dark red cloud is directly above us. Everyone looks to Thorne and Caronel for leadership while Evka and Antoine keep morale up. Varric, while being easy-going, is very much battle-ready now.

The darkspawn slowly creep through the village like a dark carpet of disease and corruption. We hear the deafening screeches of shrieks in the distance and see various hurlocks and genlocks make their way between the buildings. At this point, a thought comes to us, one we share with Caronel. Holy shit, that’s a lot of darkspawn. And no sign of Janos yet. Where is he? Where are the other Wardens? Surely this can’t be less than the bulk of the horde yet. This is almost like a new Blight.

A horrifying thought grips us and we quickly sense into the Taint for any signs of an Archdemon’s song. To our relief, we hear nothing. The relief is short-lived, however, as the darkspawn reach the stronghold and send in a wave of shrieks to scale the walls.

We engage in a properly gritty fight against the darkspawn and can make use of several ballistae on the battlements. But we quickly realise that this place is just not at all well-prepared. Evka and Antoine’s pre-defences, alongside our inspection, are all that’s keeping this place from being overrun. Why is this in such a shoddy condition?

We then hear fighting from the basement. Ah, so the darkspawn did attempt to dig through. Good that we halted their progress by mending that crack, giving us time to respond.

We head into the basement and confront some hurlocks and genlocks. After the skirmish, we sent several grenades into the tunnel below, causing it to collapse without damaging our infrastructure too much.

Returning to the courtyard, we see something strange. A few of the shrieks have reached a group of villagers, but instead of slaying them, they’re trying to abduct them alive. While this wouldn’t be strange if all villagers were female, given that darkspawn need broodmothers to multiply, they are taking the men, too. What…?

We make short work of the darkspawn, and at this point, some of our newly joined Wardens have fallen, but only the Wardens. Now would be a really good time for Janos to show up.

At this moment, we hear loud dum, dum, dum. Huge footsteps approach. We look at each other and have all the same reaction: Ah shit.

The gates to the courtyard break down and a huge ogre walks in. Oh boy, here we go. Now would be a really good time for Janos to show up!

We take down the ogre with great difficulty and see that another large influx of darkspawn follows. After dealing with those, the fighting ceases for a moment.

We head to the battlements and see another group on the outskirts of the village. Then we remember the huge loose rock. Oh yeah, baby.

We quickly load up a ballista and aim across the village, towards the jagged cliff. It takes three shots for the edge to become lose enough, but it works. The huge rock collapses upon the newly approaching darkspawn horde, squashing them all beneath, but taking some of Lavendel’s houses with it.

The relief is short-lived, however, as we can still sense the Taint in our heads. Further away, past the outskirts of the village, we can already see a new horde of darkspawn amassing. And still no sign of Janos.

We gather a quick emergency meeting between the Wardens, and some start speculating that…Janos might not be showing up. Evka and Antoine are of the same belief, while Caronel holds on to the hope that reinforcements are on their way. Why wouldn’t they be? Wardens stick together.

But what about us? What do we believe? Janos personally recruited us all those years ago, he personally saw to our training. Why would he…but where is he then? Why isn’t he coming? Maybe he was held up? But by what? Was there another darkspawn horde on the other side of the hills? But why can’t we sense them? In fact…why can’t we sense any other Wardens in the immediate vicinity aside from us?

Wherever Janos might be, we have to hold out on our own. But if the darkspawn keep coming, we won’t hold out at all eventually. And if the Wardens die, the villagers will be…what exactly? Killed? Or taken? No villager has died so far. Why is that? What’s going on here?

Eventually, Thorne concludes that if we are to survive, we must seal that damn entrance ourselves.

But how will we go about this? Do we take all Wardens with us, or just a few?

Take all Wardens to the Deep Roads entrance. The villagers are exposed but the darkspawn may be largely drawn to us given that they haven’t even as much as injured anyone else yet.

Take Evka and Antoine and leave Caronel and the other Wardens with the villagers.

No matter what we choose, we are going against the First Warden’s orders to not leave Lavendel under any circumstances until reinforcements arrive. And at this point, if we are to survive, we have no other choice. We tell Caronel and the other Wardens to secure the villagers’ retreat from Lavendel, while Thorne, Evka and Antoine head off to seal the entrance to the Deep Roads. Caronel is hesitant at first but comes to agree with you. In Death, sacrifice, true, but the sacrifice has to mean something. Varric offers to accompany us but since he’s no Warden, we refuse. He’s more useful with protecting the villagers without risking getting instantly blighted.

Approaching the Crack

With Evka and Antoine at our side, along with several grenades from the stronghold, we head across the dark hills. A few darkspawn break off from the main horde and try to stop us, but we make short work of them.

After a few short skirmishes, we reach the entrance to the Deep Roads, a very steep crack located between two rocky hills. It is guarded by two ogres. The rest of the horde have already departed for Lavendel. It’s now or never. We might be fewer but two ogres…we can take them. Maybe.

We throw ourselves into a fight with the two giants and slay them after exchanging some fierce blows.

Now that we have a short breathing moment, we must quickly go about sealing that entrance. However, looking at it reveals that we can only collapse it by doing so from below. No use doing it from up here. But this action would cause the Warden who does it to be trapped.

We look at Evka and Antoine and order them to give us the grenades. They initially refuse but we remind them that as Warden Thorne, we have been given charge of this mission. It’s either us or no-one. We take the grenades and bid farewell to our favourite Warden couple, ordering them to return to the others. We then recite the oath of the Grey Wardens between us. “In Peace, Vigilance,” says Antoine. “In War, Victory,” says Evka. “In Death, Sacrifice,” says Thorne.

The Deep Roads

We descent into the cavern and find ourselves immediately struck by an overwhelming sense of the Taint. There are more darkspawn here, and they are coming.

We quickly go about preparing the grenades, when we are suddenly stricken by a strange sense. It is similar to the Taint, but also different, almost…purer. Suddenly, we become incredibly aware of the cavern around us. We can sense each layer, each type, each consistency. We can sense hidden passages, the tunnels the Darkspawn are digging right now. And we feel…whole, strangely so. And this is only something we experience if we picked a dwarven Thorne, for we are experiencing Stone Sense.

At this moment, a figure approaches us from the dark, followed by darkspawn. We look up and see a tall, cloaked being, wearing dark armour that we can’t recognise. We can definitely sense the Blight in it, but it’s…weirdly different in a way we can’t describe. The figure has veins of lyrium writhing all around its form, red lyrium.

It speaks to us, but we can only hear its voice in our head. It asks us to stop, to let be done what must be done. When we ask who and what this thing is, it simply refers to itself as “The Emissary”. While the Emissary won’t tell us exactly why it wants the villagers, it hints at a great and regrettable mistake that has to be rectified before it’s all too late.

Being the Warden we are, we attempt to still go through with our grenade plan, but the Emissary casts a spell of pure, raw magic on us, causing us to be knocked against a wall. But we refuse to go down fighting and challenge the Emissary to a one on one.

Similar with Laskaris in the Shadow Dragon origin, the Emissary is a fight we aren’t meant to win. But if we lower its HP to 0, the cutscene will be a little different.

In our seemingly dying breath, we hurl the grenades against the weakest parts of the crack, which we can clearly determine due to our Stone Sense. The Emissary howls in fury as the rocks descend upon us, sealing the Deep Roads off of Lavendel for good. All turns black around us.

Saved

But strangely enough, this isn’t the end. We wake up back in Lavendel and see Varric. He says he followed us in secret as he had a feeling we might be needing assistance. When Evka and Antoine showed up without us, he increased his pace and the three made it just in time. Varric climbed down and found us in the rubble, saving us from certain death.

Evka and Antoine join us and profusely apologise for leaving our side, despite us ordering them to do so. Well, it seems the Wardens in general have a feeling for disobedience as of lately.

When we inquire about Lavendel, we are told that everyone is save and none have been taken. This is because of the time we took to explore the place before the battle. By sealing the basement and collapsing the great rock, the darkspawns’ numbers were too few for what came next.

But…what came next? We find out the moment we walk outside.

A whole entourage of Wardens hurry about Lavendel. The reinforcements arrived after all. Or so we think.

High Constable Janos and the First Warden approach us. When we remark on the lateness of the reinforcements, the First Warden orders us imprisoned. What? Why? For disobedience, of course. We see that Janos is uncomfortably silent during this exchange.

But we saved Lavendel. We repelled the darkspawn horde and sealed the entrance to the Deep Roads. What could he possibly be so mad about? It can’t just be about disobedience, right?

Well…as we slowly, horrifyingly learn from the conversation, Lavendel wasn’t meant to survive. All who were there, Wardens and villagers alike, were supposed to fall to the darkspawn.

Here we get the context: the Calling has been manifesting in more and more older Wardens. At the same time, Weisshaupt is receiving fewer and fewer recruits. This combination will eventually have the effect of the order facing extinction. And outside the Anderfels, the Right of Conscription means less than nothing now. The world has grown complacent in a world without the Blight, even though the recent one has only been twenty years ago. And the Anderfels doesn’t have a large enough population to feed the ranks on its own.

By using this abnormally large darkspawn horde, letting it consume villagers and Wardens alike, the First Warden hoped to convince the nobility to encourage greater recruitment again. It can’t be a coincidence that the Calling has been manifesting increasingly more frequent now.

But Thorne has been a thorn in this plan’s side and ensured that the First Warden’s plan backfired spectacularly.

Shocked, we turn to Janos and ask him if he was aware of this. Yes, he was. In Death, Sacrifice. In War, Victory. And the war isn’t over as long as Razikale and Lusacan still slumber beneath the surface.

Caronel has been stripped off his rank as Warden-Commander of the Anderfels and Evka and Antoine will be assigned to very far-away duties for the foreseeable future. Thorne, however, as the instigator of this chaos, is to be tried for disobedience and treason.

This is where we can lash out, accusing the First Warden of having lost his way. We can also add that Lavendel’s villagers wouldn’t have died anyway as the Emissary wanted to collect them. When we tell the Wardens of what we saw beneath the surface, the First Warden, as we would assume, does not believe us, assuming we’re using this as a convenient excuse to paint ourselves in a more heroic image. Janos, however, knows us, so he isn’t so sure.

At this point, Varric chimes in and argues against trial and imprisonment, stating it as just a waste of effort. Instead, he offers to take Thorne away for a matter of great importance. The First Warden objects, stating that Weisshaupt’s affairs are to remain its own. Janos, however, in a change of tone, takes Varric’s side. Whatever Thorne’s reasonings are, one can’t deny that we are a true Warden. NO matter the disobedience, we fought against the Blight and won. There will be other opportunities to gather more recruits, but we do not deserve a trial for doing what we joined the order for.

The First Warden eventually relents. Remember, he is still a Grey Warden, with Thedas’ best interest at heart. Him doing this whole Lavendel thing was him acting out of desperation to keep the order alive in the long run. The morality is incredibly questionable, he’s definitely an asshole, but he is not heartless. Rather than putting us in chains, the First Warden suspends us from all Weisshaupt duties and instead tasks us with travelling the lands, searching for new recruits until further notice. Dismissed.

Leaving Lavendel

When the First Warden leaves, Janos makes an attempt at conversing with us, apologising for sending us into death. We can be either understanding, or angry, or just hurt. Despite our rough exterior, we are hurt because Janos was the one who saved us from another execution in the first place. Janos definitely feels bad about it, but orders were orders. Yeah…orders were orders, we respond.

Varric approaches us and confesses that he’s not here by accident. He’s looking for someone among the Wardens to accompany him on a very special mission of the utmost importance. He heard from some of his contacts that Lavendel would have fitting candidates. And he is certain he just found the one. What exactly are we doing, now that we’re stuck with him? Varric promises to reveal everything in good time. Now, he would very much like to get out of this place. We can either go immediately or have some final conversations. Being the completionists we are, we of course choose the latter.

We can talk to Evka and Antoine and just be glad that we’re all still alive, despite being given rather shitty jobs now. Well, that’s a no on the promotion for now, right? But we’re confident we’ll see each other sooner rather than later.

Caronel honestly doesn’t even care about his demotion. He’s just glad he survived and is now able to return to Valya. But if he were still Warden-Commander, he would make us Senior Warden in a heartbeat. Sometimes, one simply has to defy orders.

We can talk to Mila, who excitedly announces that her father has taken Janos’ offer to be Weisshaupt’s new blacksmith, given that the fortress desperately needs one again.

The Wardens who were under our command during the battle look up to us in awe and call us a hero and inspiration, no matter what the First Warden says. They actually pretty much despise him now as he was so willing to just let them die.

Once all of this is done, we head to Varric and and half-enthusiastically announce our readiness to depart. Varric smiles and welcomes us to the team. What team? Oh, we’ll see. But he recommends us going by another name for the foreseeable future as the First Warden might just be petty enough to make our life more difficult by telling foreign Wardens or members of the nobility about our streak of disobedience and conspiracy theories. Well, that’s easy enough, we say, back in the Dornen, the others used to call us “Rook” for that one time we headed straight in and brought down a very well-connected Hossberg nobleman. “The strongest piece on the chessboard,” Varric chuckles. “I like it.”

Now going by Rook once again, we head off with Varric. As Lavendel is nearly out of sight, we turn around and look at the gathered Wardens one last time. This…is not how we pictured leaving the order one day. But no, we haven’t left it. We’re just…taking a vacation. With a heavy heart, we turn back to Varric and follow him into the unknown.

And that’s it for this one! Now we have our Grey Warden Rook origin story. It’s a lot, I know, but the Wardens have a lot of material to work with. And the whole plot surrounding the Emissary will make sense later, I promise.

Next time we shall be heading off into Arlathan Forest to draft a potential Veil Jumper origin story! Stay tuned!

Rewriting Veilguard Part 4 - The Veil Jumpers

#dragon age #dragon age the veilguard #rewrite #rewritingveilguard #veilguard critical #dragon age origins #grey wardens #weisshaupt #rook thorne #dragon age rook #creative writing #varric tethras #first warden #antoine and evka #davrin #deep roads

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hallahart · 6 months ago

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here's 2000 words of self-indulgent solavellan veilguard reunion fic that is wildly noncanonical, apropos of nothing~

The Lighthouse, for all its depressing divorcée energy, is gorgeous—lots of magic lights, frescoes and paintings, high ceilings. Definitely nicer than the mud hovel Rook used to sleep in. But one mural (in what Rook is generously calling the living room—it has more of a tomb-like feel at the moment) is particularly eye-catching, seeing as how it’s about a story high: a woman reaching skyward, rising from the jaws of a snapping wolf with some kind of weird green geometric patterns surrounding her.

“Who’s she?”

Rook doesn’t know Solas well enough to read him—the man is as impenetrable as Nevarran poetry—but they can hear his teeth grind from across the room. For a thousand year old god (or whatever), he sure is touchy.

“Must you pry into every nook and cranny?”

Rook ignores him, peers closer. “Oh, wait, I see it now. Green glowy hand, pointy ears. You know the Inquisitor?”

“I am surprised that Varric—“ he stops himself, starts over. “Yes. I knew her.”

He’s so obviously annoyed and uncomfortable that Rook has no choice but to wiggle their eyebrows.

“Knew her, knew her?”

“The Inquisitor is of no concern to you.” Most people would probably backpedal when Fen’Harel looks at them like that, but Rook isn’t most people. They never really had a knack for survival instincts.

“Oh wow, you did, didn’t you?” Rook can’t quite imagine the standoffish man in front of them being romantic with anyone. He’s pretty…severe. They’re pretty sure he’s never smiled in their presence. “You know, I’ve never seen her in person, but those recruitment posters they put up back home—was she really so, you know…” Rook mimes some unlikely curves.

Solas pinches his nose, and Rook is delighted to see a blush spread across his cheeks. “This conversation is over.”

Rook almost takes mercy on him. But apart from the sad silverware situation, this is the first glimpse of Solas they’ve gotten as a person and not some freaky wolf god with great taste in real estate.

“So did she break up with you before or after she learned you were an evil trickster god?” They wiggle their fingers in mock menace.

Solas’ eyes flash and Rook knows they’ve gone too far. Whoops. Solas can’t kill them, not without possibly frying his own brain (or spirit, or whatever, Rook’s fuzzy on the details), but they’re sure he can make their life pretty damn unpleasant.

But all he does is sigh, the dark circles under his eyes deepening by the second, and holds up a hand. “Let us please focus on stopping the evanuris. Anything else is a…distraction.”

His voice is hoarse, and Rook immediately feels bad. Clearly this wasn't some meaningless fling (the twenty foot mural should have probably clued them in)—Solas is in it. Present tense. The sad empty rooms start to make a whole lot more sense.

You are the loneliest asshole I’ve ever met, they want to say.

“Yeah,” they say instead. “No problem. Plenty else to discuss. Ancient blighted gods freed from their eternal prisons, etcetera. Say no more.”

Rook can’t be certain, but they’re pretty sure the look on Solas’ face is grateful relief.

What the hell happened between this guy and the Inquisitor that makes thinking about the gods that want him dead a relief?

___

Rook is lying on the couch pining over Taash and her stupid sexy crystal horn when Varric and Solas enter, already deep in furtive conversation.

The polite thing to do would be to let out a discreet cough to announce their presence. Rook burrows deeper into the pillows and holds their breath.

“Absolutely not, Varric,” Solas hisses. Sometimes he reminds Rook of a sad stray cat they used to feed. Very similar auras.

They come to a stop behind Rook’s couch. “Listen. I get it. Trust me. But if there’s anyone who can help us—“

“No. It is simply out of the question.”

“You’re going to have to face her eventually, you know.”

“There is no reason for the Inquisitor to involve herself. These are my mistakes to fix. Not hers.”

Rook can picture the pitying expression on Varric’s face. “Look around, Chuckles. Your Lighthouse isn’t empty anymore. Like it or not, you have to rely on the rest of us. And Ellana is already involved, even if you don’t want to admit it.”

“The Inquisitor is not—“

Varric scoffs in exasperation. “Took her arm off and can’t even say her name?”

Took her arm off? Whoa. Rook’s heard rumors, but…

There’s a brief pause. Rook can imagine the seething look Solas is giving Varric—it’s been pointed at them often enough.

“Perhaps I should find a crossbow to name after her. Would that please you?”

Varric lets out a breath that’s half sigh, half chuckle. “Too soon. Way too soon.”

Rook’s tried to pry into this whole romantic situation, of course, but Varric always deflects, saying something like Don’t even get me started or You’ll just have to pre-order my next book.

Another silence. Then Solas speaks again, his tone softening. “I have caused her enough grief.”

Varric sounds unmoved. “Yeah, by avoiding her for ten years. Has anyone ever told you that you’re impossible?”

“On occasion, yes.”

“Seriously, if you think she’s going to sit this one out now that she knows you’re here—“

Any gentleness is gone. “Excuse me?”

Varric’s nervous laugh makes Rook cringe deeper into the couch. “Yeah, about that… listen, you know it’s impossible for Sparkler to keep secrets from her. It was going to come out eventually, what with the whole ancient evil gods thing. I think she could put two and two together.”

Rook can practically feel the frost radiating from Solas’ voice. “You will tell her you were mistaken.”

“A little late for that,” Varric says sheepishly. “She’s, uh, arriving tomorrow.”

Rook winces at the slammed door that follows in the wake of this new information, and the movement is enough to give away their hiding spot.

Varric peers down at them, his eyebrows raised. “You heard all that, huh?”

“Yeah,” Rook says, sitting up. “That was, uh…”

“Tell me about it.”Varric sighs, rubs a hand down his face. “Tomorrow is going to be a shitshow.”

___

Inquisitor Lavellan is very short in person. And she looks almost as tired as Solas. And she’s pretty–dark hair and skin, bright green eyes and a wry set to her mouth that looks out of place on the person who was supposed to be Andraste’s prophet. Rook was expecting someone a lot more dour and…Chantry-y.

She’s also really obviously out of Fen’Harel’s league. No wonder he’s been pining for a decade.

She shakes their hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Varric,” she says.

“It’s an honor, your Worsh—uh, your Inquisitorial—“

“Ellana is fine,” she says—kindly, but impersonally, and Rook supposes she’s had this same interaction about ten billion times.

“Ellana, then,” Rook says, and she rewards them with a small smile.

“So you’re the one who interrupted the ritual,” she says. “With some rather interesting side effects, I hear.”

“You mean being magically linked to the grumpiest elf in Thedas? Yeah, interesting is one word for it.”

They’re arrested by the Inquisitor’s hand on their arm. “You could have been cruel to him, and few people would have blamed you. I must thank you for that.”

Her eyes are piercingly kind, and Rook suddenly understands how this woman had entire nations bowing to her will. They have no idea what to say, mouth dry.

“Still, I can’t imagine it’s been easy,” she continues, the wry smile back.

Rook shrugs, hoping their blush isn’t as red as it feels. “In terms of difficult personalities, he ranks a little below my Aunt Beryl, though Aunt Beryl couldn’t turn people to stone with—“

Then they spot Solas over the Inquisitor’s shoulder, hovering in the doorway like a ghost. He’s about as white as one, too.

“Inquisitor,” says Solas, his voice so void of emotion that it gapes like an open wound.

Rook has a front row seat to the expression that plays across Inquisitor Lavellan’s face. Shock — she grabs the shoulder of her missing arm. Then something Rook can’t quite name—a deep well of some dark thing that makes them shiver, something they hope they never have to feel.

And then her mouth settles into a grim line, eyes closing for a moment before she turns, back ramrod straight.

“Solas,” she says, voice steady as she releases her shoulder. Solas’ eyes track the movement with his jaw set.

“You look well.”

It’s like he’s commenting on the weather.

Rook, frankly, wants to throttle him. The woman you’ve painted onto every other surface of your house is right here, you idiot! Say something better than you look well! They try to communicate this through a series of glares, but Solas seems to have forgotten anyone but the Inquisitor exists. Fair enough.

“You look terrible,” she replies, stepping closer. Her voice is thick. Solas takes a step back.

“I think it best if we—“

“Solas,” she says, stepping forward again, and there is nowhere left for him to retreat. She has the Dread Wolf cornered. Slowly, as though taming a wild animal, she raises her hand to him, coming up to touch his face, the line of his jaw. “You’re really here.”

Rook backs away, knowing this is very much not for their eyes and ears, but—well, they’re nosy, and so they pause in the doorway, shamelessly eavesdropping. Luckily the two elves seem to have forgotten Rook’s even there.

Solas exhales roughly at her touch, ten years of tension rushing out of him in a moment. “Inquisitor—Ellana, I—“

“Hush,” she says, and drops her forehead to his.

Solas’ face crumples. “How can you—I do not deserve—” Rook can barely hear him.

“We have plenty to catch up on,” the Inquisitor murmurs, her voice gentle. “But you are alive, and safe. For now that is enough.”

Like a dam breaking, Solas reaches out, his arms wrapping around her like a drowning man, tight as a sieve. Rook is pretty sure he starts to cry, a sob coming from deep in his chest and shaking his entire frame.

Okay. Enough. Rook’s pretty sure Solas would actually murder them if he remembered they were still there. So they make their exit and ease the door closed without a sound.

They’re happy for him, despite everything. And they really hope they don’t fuck on Rook’s favorite couch.

#solavellan #my fic #dragon age: the veilguard #still have no idea what to tag this game tbh #i realize solas is more going to be in Rook's head but whatever whatever #i need him to be phantom of the operaing around please

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ashaflemythal · 2 months ago

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I haven’t seen any real critical takes on veilguard on here, so I wanted to add my 2 cents and open up a discussion bc at this moment I would say I’m beefing with BioWare lol.

Firstly, did I have fun playing veilguard? Uh, yes? I guess? Technically? I would definitely say the combat system and a lot of the gameplay itself is far better than it has been in previous games, and made me more engaged.

However, the writing issues at BioWare came to a major head here.

1) i didn’t feel like they went into the political and social implications of what was going on at all?? The elven gods coming back would bring so many other consequences beyond the destruction and blight. We didn’t see how this affected the way elves were treated, especially somewhere like Tevinter.

2) what happened to the Templar/mage conflict? The implications of the elven gods being alive and back are that then the chant and chantry are mostly wrong. There is no “magic was made to serve man and never rule over him.” This would likely make mages lash out at templars for being oppressed over what have turned out to essentially be lies. The templars then would likely split into those that leave the chant and focus on the real threats before them, and those who dig in their heels and decide that mages should still be oppressed bc of the dangers no matter what the chantry says. This would be such an interesting political shift to witness! And I’m sad we didn’t get this amount of depth

3) what happened to Solas’ followers? There was something so interesting to explore about having current elves helping him because they felt he was doing the right thing. We don’t run into any of his followers at all! And elves would definitely have more than enough reason to seek the world of the ancients and return to Arlathan given tevinter slavery and general oppression across Thedas, so what happened to that?

4) the only complex companion relationship that is allowed in-game is with rook and whoever was hardened with the treviso/minrathous choice. Otherwise, you can’t really have an antagonistic relationship with any of them. The only way to not progress a good relationship is to not engage in their content which I feel like is very weak writing. In DAI, you walk in on Cassandra and varric physically fighting and have to side with one of them. You can tell Cullen to keep taking lyrium. You can pick the wrong option in a companion quest and worsen your relationship. Where was that in this game?

5) the roleplaying, or lack there of. Sometimes I would pick the most aggressive option and it would still sound pretty nice, all things considered, where is my ability to feel differently outside of the very narrow window the game provides?

6) the STAKES of it all. The companions all seem very chill about things, all things considered. They are finding out things that would politically turn thedas on its head, and they’re having these calm discussions around a coffee table. I’m currently on my second play through, and it feels like none of these discoveries are given the weight they deserved, after three games of built up lore.

7) the gods’ allies. The motivations of the bad guys can pretty much be summed up by saying “want power” and that creates such shallow villains. Like yeah, obviously they’re bad bc they just want power and don’t care about people, but what about villains that do care about others? Villains that are complicated? I mean hell even though Alexius was mostly like “yes corypheus power” there was that grounding aspect of him wanting to save his son who was sick. I don’t feel like we had anything that tangible or real from major villains in veilguard

Ok, long post, but I do feel like BioWare has started to shy away from nuance and gray areas in a way I don’t like. It is important to show the complicated perspectives of evil people because that is the same thing we have to deal with irl. As an action-adventure game, it’s fine, but veilguard can scarcely call itself a true rpg. I don’t know, my feelings about it are complicated but all I know is that this game was quite disappointing to me especially compared to DAI, and I want to hope for better from the next game but given the way their BioWare’s last couple releases have gone I can’t say I’m expecting a lot. Anyway, how are yall feeling fr?

#dragon age #dragon age veilguard #veilguard spoilers #I’m BITTER #I used to feel like I could always count on BioWare for good character writing and nuance but this game threw that right out the window #dragon age veilguard spoilers

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blackjackkent · 5 days ago

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The city is really starting to look pretty rough. Bodies, blood, and debris litter the streets, and the air echoes with the shrieks of demons and the screams of the dying. Helena is finding it harder and harder to keep a grim expression off her face, in spite of her usual determined good humor; part of her is wondering what the hell is going on back in her usual neighborhood, and if her friends are okay. But there's no time to focus on that now.

"So if we do catch Solas," she says, talking automatically to cover the worry (not fear, not fear) and muffle the sound of her city shaking apart. "Or the Dread Wolf, or whatever he calls himself... what's the plan?"

"He wants to bring down the Veil," Varric says. "Hopefully that ritual takes his full attention."

"So we catch him while he's doing his ritual, so he can't fight us?" Helena asks, a tad skeptically.

"That's the hope," Varric says. "If it comes to a straight-up fight, we're dead."

Lovely.

The route Our Lady of Victory starts with a zipline down into the canals.

Wheee!

("I'm getting too old for this," grouses Varric from behind her. Hee.)

"There," says Neve, pointing at an enormous structure with a lot of bodies littered around it. "That's the building I tracked Solas to."

"Looks like the Venatori also found it," puts in Harding. "And then demons found them."

More combat! Ranged weaponry tutorial this time; Helena can shoot quickfire or hold for an aimed shot. And no ammo to track, thankfully!

Neve, because she is a badass, clears the magical barrier blocking us from inside the building.

Inside is rising ground of damp, battered stone and abandoned stairs, a few lit torches leaning against the wall.

"So this is the Dread Wolf's hideout?" Helena says thoughtfully.

"One of them, at least," Varric says. "Not sure how long he's been here."

Helena scuffs her boot one the stone stairs that are worn almost to a smooth ramp. "Some of this looks ancient."

"Solas has been around longer than Minrathous itself," Varric says dryly.

"Broken chains," Neve comments as they enter a larger room past a series of stone tunnels. "Solas was freeing slaves."

Varric grunts. "Solas hates slavery. One of the few things we actually agreed on."

"He said the other elven gods were tyrants who oppressed his people," says Harding. "He was trying to help them."

Complicated fellow, this Solas, Helena thinks. A distaste for slavery is one of the common themes of the Shadow Dragons as well - but she supposes it doesn't absolve him of the whole "trying to end the world" thing. We all contain multitudes, don't we.

-----

Further on, a window opening onto a wide atrium ahead shows a glimmer of almost blinding bright blue magic.

Further down the corridor is a mural painted in discordantly bright colors on the stone wall:

"Ancient elves doing something to... a dragon, I think?" she asks. She's never been much of one for art.

"Yeah. Trying to control it, maybe?" says Neve.

"Solas said the other elven gods were evil," Varric says. "If they were binding dragons, he was right about that much at least."

(A/N: Mildly odd sentiment given that Dom killed quite a number of dragons in DAI, but sure. XD )

And hey, look what's a little further down!

I always really liked this statue and wanted to get it 3D printed as a decoration. Did Solas bring it down here, or was it already here? Interesting.

More candidates for 3D printing are in the next room over behind a locked door:

At the center of this room is an ornate desk with a statue of a tree behind it. Nearby, various magical devices and a lute. The desk is subtly floating in midair. Also interesting.

-----

The room at the lowest point of the catacombs is very, very cold. The floor is covered in water up to Helena's ankles, soaking the chill through her boots.

"This the big glowing window you saw earlier, Rook?" Neve asks.

Helena nods, taking a few cautious steps towards the thing. She's a dwarf, so she has no innate magical talent, but she's lived in a city of mages long enough to know when something is powerful. And this thing... the air around it is almost vibrating, drawn tight like a bowstring.

It's beautiful.

"It's called an eluvian," Harding says. Her voice is a little hushed - although Helena can't tell if it's in reverence or fear. "They're elven, and very old."

"It acts like a doorway from one place to another. Solas uses them to get around quickly," says Varric.

"He must have gone through it," says Harding.

Helena comes to a halt in front of the enormous thing, peering through its ever-shifting surface. She thinks she can almost make out shapes behind it. Grass. Trees? A landscape very unlike the urban milieu of Minrathous.

For a moment she hovers on the threshold. Anticipation sings in every nerve. She suspects there's no going back once she steps forward - but there's nothing else for it. Not if she's going to save her city. Not if they're going to save the world.

She closes her eyes and leaps forward, letting the eluvian swallow her up.

#bjk plays datv #helena mercar #here we gooooo #that's it for tonight #but more thursday XD #i'm def off to a slow start but unsurprising #getting used to liveblogging with this new setup mostly #plus technical issues #plus trying to figure helena out XD

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zenruu · 5 months ago

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Hi, I saw the thing you reblogged with the tags and was like hell yeah an opportunity! SO

I saw that you have a Surana and was wondering what specializations you picked for Neria in DAO? Does she have any story reason for choosing them? Also if you have any Rook concepts, I'd love to hear about them! Do you know what class you want to play or background?

YAAAAAY! Thank you so much for the ask!

So yeah, Neria is a Spirit Healer/Blood Mage! Her mom was an herbalist so healing and helping people has always been on the radar for her. It might sound kind of surprising since she's a bit cold, kind of crass, not at all the usual sweet healer archetype, but underneath 5 miles of ice she's actually a secret sweetie. She will generally want to help people if she can. Her mom was killed trying to keep her from being taken to the Circle when Neria was 5, so she never got to pick up any herbalism from her. Neria does start to learn a bit of it on her own to complement her healing magic though.

I headcanon that she picks up blood magic from Jowan when she meets him again in Redcliffe, wanting any possible advantage to help her defeat the blight. Her curiosity (especially when it comes to magical subjects) is absolutely BOUNDLESS even to the point of recklessness, so she's not afraid of blood magic. She doesn't feel that it's inherently evil or anything, just a tool like any other. She never uses it to control anyone though, freedom and autonomy are some of her biggest core values. She really just uses her own blood, but is not opposed to using someone else's blood if she's going to kill them anyway because what difference does it make at that point?

As for Rook: I don't have any solidified concepts yet but I'm veeeeeery likely going with a Grey Warden Spellblade for my first playthrough! Not 100% locked in until I get in the character creator though.

#i had fun answering tysm for asking i love chatting about this stuff!!!#oc: neria #da #asks

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queenerdloser · 4 months ago

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also i AM playing veilguard and i made a wee pocket sized lad of a man for my first rook and i love him and his boyband hair. spoilers & reactions below the cut.

my first rook is a lord of fortune mage w/the plan to romance lucanis. he's very snarky and i love him.

i'm glad they made the call to go back to the like. da2 style of dialogue.

me so far every time rook talks to solas: get his ass!!!!!!

that said, i feel like they're making solas like rook too quick. what the fuck. it took my inquisitor like YEARS to build a rapport with this motherfucker.

i hate the combat lol. maybe i'll enjoy it more when i get used to it but there's too many moving pieces to keep track of for me. my favorite combat is where i can just like mash one button and easily kill everything in my path, i don't want to be strategic and have to micromanage everything. also what is this three potions bullshit. even dai gave you 10. and i have to like find them in random pots????? what the fuck????

very fun to sprint and jump. makes me feel zoom.

why do the elves just accept that their gods are back and evil? like. it feels like they accept it WAY too quickly lol.

dialogue so far is uh. very cheesy. a lot of "we're all great so let's work together!" stuff that is like. fine. but cheesy.

i'd die for lace harding. she looks so cute in this game.

when solas stabbed varric i SCREAMED. i was like. do NOT kill my boy in the first fifteen minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm still only like a couple of hours in but varric was being suspiciously sick in the cutscenes so i have feeling he is going to die :((((

me: where is my BOYFRIEND (lucanis) and my FUTURE BOYFRIEND (davrin)

i love neve but i have a feeling we are going to butt heads a lot lol. i'm playing my rook as the reckless, confident type with a saving person thing that feels true to what we know about his backstory and he's already disagreed with neve several times. whoops.

i love the little marker showing me exactly where to go. hell yeah, hold my hand with this bullshit. kind of glad they dumped the open world of dai and got us back on rails.... tho that may change as i get further in the game???

when i say i spent HOURS in the character creator.... like i love it but it honestly felt like TOO much tbh. esp. when i had to do it for rook and then immediately again for my inquisitor too.

i ended up going lord of fortune background almost entirely bc i liked their casual look the best but i think i'll definitely try to play most of the backgrounds. they're so fun! i was THIS close to doing shadow dragons.

honestly minrathous is really cool???? all the locations so far have been great, love the lighthouse. (v. funny 2 me that we get all of these cool locations thanks to solas. man knows how to find a cool spot and name it i guess.)

the updated blight is VERY creepy. also those new darkspawn??? i gasped.

i do like that they're playing solas as this like. enemy who is begrudgingly allied due to worse enemies. but i'm so curious how they'll play it when the inquisitor gets involved. i'm doing my kai lavellan inky who DEFINITELY is going to try to stop solas at all costs... uh oh lol.

i know people were salty about not getting to integrate a lot of dai choices but tbh i'm fine with it. i'm more happy we got to include our inquisitor tbh.

morrigan showing up looking younger than she did in da:o.... um okay lol. also i kind of hate that she's considered an expert on elven history yet again. stop that.

im going to say again i hate the combat bc i really do hate it. praying it grows on me as i get more used to it bc otherwise i'm enjoying the game a lot.

#datv spoilers #i am NOT going to look in the tag bc tbh it sounds like people are being killjoys and im not interested in that lol #i am going to be over here having fun with my pint sized snarky son and thats the that on that #i'm working all weekend so i won't be able to play again until monday probably. or sunday night if i wake up early enough #and i'm going to be super busy in november with grad app stuff so idk if i'll really be able to play that much anyway????

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adeliethevilsimp · 1 year ago

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Here is also some rookvil brain rot and head cannon stuff

Rookvil actually used to be my OTP but you know leovil the dark horse just have to break it but hey I am not complaining. One thing I really like Vil is his dynamic can really change when you ship him with different people and his multifaceted personality really shines.

What I really like about twisted wonderland is they like to change/manipulate some of the conventional dynamic. Like it becomes a different interpretation of the dynamic. Like how does like Vil just adopts other students who are just a few years younger than him? But hey it works.

It is like how they did in chapter 5 when Rook said the line of the prince who said to Snow White. But you know English translation are cowards they have to scrap that. It is then the hunter become the prince and the evil queen become the princess. It is just too cute. Rook always strike me as the fairy tale prince/high class noble but in a corrupted/changed sense. Like he is not a lot of people consider conventionally attractive(but he is very charming I will fight anyone who disagree xD) there will be no conventional prince with his interest(I guess you can argue the prince loved Snow White when she was “dead ” which is pretty sus ) he come from a wealthy and potentially maybe noble family but the family is shady as hell. You never know what he is thinking and usually prince is very sincere.

I always found it very interesting they decided Vil to be from a commoner family. I feel he probably comes from very humble beginning surrounding wise. I found it to be quite interesting choice because it is not they shy away from making people royal/noble/very important family decent. And they chose vil who is inspired by the evil queen for that. Like he actually understand Epel’s accent and have some weird vegetable analogy sometimes while his demeanour and how he carries himself is what you usually associated with people who is far removed from these.

Usually the queen character is surrounded by their loyal subjects. But you have the feeling Vil is , lack of a better word, more loyal with his affection. Vil is often very harsh if you don’t behave properly and is very strict with Epel. But he really trust Rook and he really strike me as the person who say “no he is just eccentric he is not a bad guy” while idk Rook is hiding a dead body in the background. It is so unbelievable for vil to keep Rook around like this and gaslight himself about Rook’s shenanigans if he is not mad loyal about that man okay.

Oh yeah btw Chapter 5/6 and beans event spoiler

For example he will still have his back aka his vulnerability open to Rook after the betrayal. He does not even get any blot from that. He still clings on to it after the betrayal. It is really unexpected because it is not often what you get.

I get because Rook is the hunter who betrayed the evil queen. But I also feel like his affection towards Vil really grows over the years. The effort he puts in his gift to Vil just grows exponentially. I think at first he refers to vil as the fairest in the school and by the and of chapter 6 he said vil is the most beautiful person in the world or I can be wrong.

I don’t know why but Rook seemed like a person who don’t like physical contact. He just give me that sort of a feeling. Maybe because he wears gloves. He rarely touch others too i think. He just stalks and study them. But in the beans event he captured Vil by hugging Vil. You never really know what Rook is thinking and I really love that. He is an enigma. There is no telling of his true intention. You often feel he is probably lying because he is so theatrical it feels it is fake. But again he will always do these sort of small things you can’t help but think that is genuine. Like he does not have to hug vil to capture him. He was the only one does that when capturing. It is strangely intimate. Also if he was faking it, would he be still praising Vil’s beauty while being choked on Vil’s poisonous gas like I CANT TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU COUGH COUGH COUGH

Like I just can’t believe it can be faked. Why go to this extent? I can’t help but feel the feeling Rook have for Vil is very special and is growing exponentially as we speak.

Also like I don’t even have to start with their origin story okay? It is the cutest thing ever. How they talked outside for hours and they all got really bad cold? And I have headcanon that Vil gave Rook a makeover and this is the look Rook stuck with ever since. And they will do skincare together.

Also like I have headcanon Rook is really really freaky and likes choking Vil. There is no way anyone can convince me Rook is vanilla. I just can feel it I think the guy is sadistic and freaky as hell, and probably enjoy choking Vil every night. If Vil died he will have a entire room dedicate to his shrine with his dead body inside a crystal transparent coffin. you can’t convince me otherwise.

I love them so much.

Also like I just really really like yandere Rook potential okay? XD

#twisted wonderland #rookvil #rook hunt #vil schoenheit #i love them so much #headcanon

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ajarofbees · 8 months ago

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hell yeah im excited. nice to see chosen backgrounds does get acknowledged in dialogue (still holding out desperate hope for playable prologue or flashback but this is still pretty neat). the combat is yeah different but still looks snappy and fun. i like the art style in motion its very cool. and its nice to see the personality tones from da2 get used again. i assume they'll affect ambient dialogue for rook, like it did w hawke.

to be safe, for the rest of what we saw:

curious to know what happens to the companion whos left to defend the entrance. i assume nothing too big, since its the beginning, but probably gets brought up in conversations?

looks like varric is getting regulated to an advisor role, which is probably for the best. let him rest. and pour one out for the realest, automatic repeating lady.

since we fucked up the ritual, i wonder if the over arching plot becomes 'rescue solas from the two evil gods', and in doing so he gets a Holy Harsh Cold Sobriety of Reality, Batman moment of 'the past may have good parts but it had really, really bad parts too and it isnt worth trying some foolish effort to bring it back' and 'the current world is worth it and also trying to save your sorry ass'.

but thats just speculation and idk dont wanna put too many eggs in one basket hardy har har.

#dragon age veilguard #veilguard spoilers #for the gameplay reveal at least

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dreamerswriter · 2 years ago

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Book 6: Idia is Right, I Guess I am a Vil Stan, and Ortho, No!

Oh, no, a Mario Party game.... It is very good none of you have your magic... This will not end well.

Sounds like Nintendo... Good old Nintendo. Not the current one at times...

I tried to think of what game that could be. I don’t think it is Resident Evil, but maybe Yoshi? That seems wrong too...

Ortho watches cat videos and that sounds about right. Wait, no! Don’t do it!

Gods, Ortho was probably being nice, but it backfired so much. As for the rest, they’re enjoying this. You know, I don’t think Leona likes kids, but he doesn’t have the heart to hurt one.

Foreshadowing. Vil, you looking for recruits already?

It is really good that none of you have your unique magic. It would be a slaughter.

I LOVE HIM! WHOEVER TRANSLATED IDIA, I LOVE YOU! THANK YOU!

I really like this. I always love shouting quotes and lines like this.

Idia reminds me of my frustrations with Pokemon X and Y.... I am still hurt by it.

-Looks at marvel and the live action Disney movies- He’s not wrong.

-cries in Pokemon X and Y-

Oh, you have hope! I don’t! Especially now!

I am waiting for my Kid Icarus game! Please! 2012 was the last one!

HE’S SO RIGHT! HE IS! THIS IS WHY I LOVE THE OLD NINTENDO! WHY?! WHY?!

You don’t know the pain I am feeling....

To be honest, I felt the same and kind of do still.

I have to say, Vil’s outlook is fantastic. You can always do something to make something happen. If you just do nothing, then nothing happens. His tenacity is astounding. He continues to work hard and pursue his ideal life and dreams. Gotta be honest, Vil really grew on me as a character. I cannot get over him at all

Azul would love Mark’s Getting Over it Series.... Again, I also enjoy it! Hahah!

I still can’t believe Rook did it... He loves Vil and no one can tell me otherwise.

ORTHO SHIPS IT?!

I still can’t believe you did.

I somehow doubt it...

........... Foreshadowing. You know, I’m going to make a list of foreshadowing with Idia and Ortho on this.

Ok first off, Vil did give the best piece of advice, but also the worst one when the gate of hell and souls of the damned are present. Two, I don’t know much about Japanese, but I do know that big brother is said in two different ways. This make sense that Idia had a nickname for us in the West.

DID IDIA NOT PROGRAM YOU TO NOT LISTEN TO THE SOULS OF THE DAMNED?! ORTHO NO!

Yeah, I get it. I have this mentality at times too. I don’t stop working hard until I can firmly say, “Did I do my best?” or “Am I satisfied with what i accomplished today?” I understand.

On the flip side, I DON’T THINK I WOULD OPEN THE GATE OF HELL TO DO THIS!

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland idia #twisted wonderland ortho #twisted wonderland jamil #twisted wonderland vil #twisted wonderland leona #twisted wonderland riddle #twisted wonderland rook #rookvil #that ship will never die

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supacutiepie · 2 months ago

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(I need some better pics of him fr) Caius 'Calico' Thorne

1: Where in the Thedas is your Rook from? Caius was born and raised in Rivain till his very early twenties or late teens.

2: What is your character's alignment? Chaotic Good absolutely

3: Race and subclass? Human Rogue! 4: If your Rook was a companion, where would they be found? The Rivaini Warden Forts, avoiding going home and 'researching' the forts he grew up in and around as a child.

5: What emotion did they usually pick? Very Purple Rook, but also very Honest/Emotional Rook. Towards the end of the game he became more burgundy bc the angry options just became easier to empathize with

6: What companion are you platonically close with? Taash. They flirted at first, but Caius gradually shifted into the big brother role. Because he's also Trans and Rivaini - he knows exactly what Taash is going through because it's Complicated AF to be a transman in Rivain that sort of idolizes Womanhood.

7: Romantically close with? Lucanis won out, but in truth is Lucanis and Davrin. It's about the Communication besties.

8: Who are they suspicious of? Anyone too nice, or anyone too flippant. Illario REALLY struck a nerve right out the gate

9: Does your Rook get along with their chosen Faction? With the other Ensigns? Yeah absolutely, he's both everyones little and older brother and he's not afraid to befriend the cooks and lower ranks, but also unafraid to challenge the high ranks - earns him friends and enemies that one.

10: Are they proficient in playing any instruments? He likes to think he could play something, he cannot. He can carry a tune though! His voice has changed a lot since he last really sang though.

11: Weapon of choice? He's an Archer before anything else, but his daggers come and go depending on the job. He prefers understated, fine craftsmanship.

12: What is their orientation? Caius is a Nonbinary Man, Bisexual disaster.

13: What are their thoughts on killing? Is it a necessary evil or do they enjoy it? Some people can't be saved, or want to be. Every death weighs on him, even the monsters and beasts. If it didn't, he'd have to stop fighting - you can't kill with no remorse or conscience, then you become nothing more than a husk.

14: What hobbies does your Rook have? He actually enjoys cooking, enjoys Reading, and loves to people watch. He's the sort to sketch things and journal.

15: What NPCs do they like? Which one's do they dislike? He respects the hell of out Ashur and Tarquin, and mourns the fact he could never really get closer because Minrathous fell, he never blamed them for their ire. He's close to Evka and Antoine, got their little 'against the status quo!' squad. He isn't fond of Caterina and Illario, but really likes Viago and Teia. He prefers his deceivers to at least be honest at some point.

16: Do they have a favorite creature in the Thedas? Assan REALLY hit the nail on the head, he's a major Warden fanboy and Griffons are just, COOL! But, otherwise, he really likes Cats. Especially big fat mean cats, hence where he got the nickname 'Calico;

17: Do they enjoy life as an adventurer? He does. He finds purpose and effort in the work, gratified to physically see the difference he can make.

18: What would your Rook be doing if they weren't recruited by Varric? Fighting Darkspawn. He'd just be any other Warden, but he'd probably be doing research with Antoine and Evka. Be the one to do the heavier lifting for the pair.

19: How do you think they'll meet their end? If the Calling still comes around, or if it gets worse, I think he'd hold off until Davrin's caught up as well. He has no intention of dying early, but he's a Warden, and he'll die fighting Darkspawn. If he gets the choice though, he won't die in a cave - he's going to whatever town needs help, and he'll die giving them their homes back.

20: Would they side with Solas or fight him? He starts out resenting Solas. Having heard horror stories about how Solas killed a child (personal timeline lore) and how Solas betrayed everyone...but in the end, he feels so much pity for the man. The Wardens believe everyone can be Better, but he only gives the man One chance to Be Better.

21: What is your Rook's favorite ability? Getting that perfect precision head shot??? Noice. But honeslty, he uses Arlathan's Gifts a lot because those disks flying around are fun.

22: What languages is your character fluent in? Rivaini foremost, which is basically an indentity crisis of different languages (canonically Rivain is the America of Thedas, melting pot) but then Common, and he picked up the Anderfels from Warden work (german, austrian, and etc)

23: What do they do after an absolute crisis? He held himself together for a long time. But the moment the sun rises, Solas is gone, and everyone can breathe? He can't breathe through his sobs. He has to lock away for a week, desperately fighting for his sanity because he can't be a leader if he can't surive his own heartbreak.

24: Does your character believe in the afterlife? It's changed a lot after..everything. He would like, maybe, to be a Wisp. To float around, learning. He thinks being a Spirit of Curiosity would be the best way to come back, if he does at all.

25: What specialization best represents your Rook? Given the options for a Rogue: Veil Ranger, The Antivan Duelist , and Lord of Fortune Saboteur - He chose the Ranger. Doesn't quite have the patience for dueling etiquette and artificing.

26: What animal best represents your Rook? Griffon? Honestly. He's got the Roar, the Grace, and the Heart. He embodies a Griffon, but not of old. He's the Griffon of Arlathan, the protector and friend who choose to fight for others.

27: What was their life like before the events of Veilguard? He's been a Warden for a while, and it's been good to him. He grew up stressed and lonely, fighting for identity in a world that didn't like that... becoming a Warden meant becoming Him. He took the Surname of the Lieutenant that recruited him and let his old rivaini life became his quietly closed first chapter.

28: Is your character the de facto leader of the party? Or do they consider someone else to be the leader? Caius doesn't outright think of himself as the Leader because he's More Than - he tells Solas outright, "Someone needs to do it" and if he needs to step up, he will. Just as much as he'll step back. He doesn't think the Veilguard needs a Leader. No god, king, or leader makes the world - the people do.

29: If you could choose a different faction for your Rook, which one would they have joined and why? If he hadn't ended up with the Wardens, he'd have been a Lord of Fortune. Escaping his village and taking up adventure with likeminded individuals.

30: What's your favorite thing about your Rook? Caius has so much room for compassion. He looks at the wolrd and sees an Opportunity to Learn - it's why he gets on with Emmrich and Bellara so well, but also why he could band together so many different people - he sees the world from angles, from refracted mirrors. He sees People and knows they have unique stories, and he honors everyone's right to their individual story.

Rook Questionnaire

inspired by @cassieuncaged's BG3 Character Development Questions but for Rook instead!

1: Where in the Thedas is your Rook from?

2: What is your character's alignment?

3: Race and subclass?

4: If your Rook was a companion, where would they be found?

5: What emotion did they usually pick?

6: What companion are you platonically close with?

7: Romantically close with?

8: Who are they suspicious of?

9: Does your Rook get along with their chosen Faction?

10: Are they proficient in playing any instruments?

11: Weapon of choice?

12: What is their orientation?

13: What are their thoughts on killing? Is it a necessary evil or do they enjoy it?

14: What hobbies does your Rook have?

15: What NPCs do they like? Which one's do they dislike?

16: Do they have a favorite creature in the Thedas?

17: Do they enjoy life as an adventurer?

18: What would your Rook be doing if they weren't recruited by Varric?

19: How do you think they'll meet their end?

20: Would they side with Solas or fight him?

21: What is your Rook's favorite ability?

22: What languages is your character fluent in?

23: What do they do after an absolute crisis?

24: Does your character believe in the afterlife?

25: What specialization best represents your Rook?

26: What animal best represents your Rook?

27: What was their life like before the events of Veilguard?

28: Is your character the de facto leader of the party? Or do they consider someone else to be the leader?

29: If you could choose a different faction for your Rook, which one would they have joined and why?

30: What's your favorite thing about your Rook?

#Caius Thorne #DATV Rook #DATV #dragon age veilguard #DATV Spoilers

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