#I also had become the emissary of a very powerful dragon who basically used me as a telephone to send desist messages

[veraverorum]

Just woke up from a SAW style nightmare where I had to solve math but in pounds or otherwise I would die in 4 minutes and let me tell you, these 4 minutes I've been awake belong in my top 10 most terrifying moments

[felassan]

Faces of Thedas Part 2

(Part 1 is here)

some lore errors? it claims Seeker Lambert started his life as a Soporati, but afaik Lambert was born in northern Orlais and only became involved with Tevinter in 9:17 when he was charged with leading a group of templars in recapturing a group of escaped apostates on the border of the Imperium, the event that led him to befriend the leader of the Imperial templars at the time. maybe I’m misunderstanding or mixing something up here

Fenris is described as a runaway Tevinter mage-hunter?? eh? lol

it also says that the Hero’s travels in DA:O brought the party to the Dales, where Wynne was reunited with Aneirin. I guess it’s mixing up the Dales and the Brecilian Forest

it says some Qunari run away (Tal-Vashoth) to nearby nations like Tevinter and Ferelden. obviously Ferelden isn’t actually nearby.. 

there is only one known Arvaarad at any given time?

in the section on the Crows, I have no idea what “it is commonly believed that the warrior tradition of the hassarans that roamed the Free Marches and Antiva [...]” refers to? wtf is a hassaran?

anyway!

Fereldans view warfare and bloodshed with the same fatalistic practicality as any other natural disaster like plague or famine

Nathaniel’s first-hand knowledge of the darkspawn Disciples make him an invaluable asset to Grey Wardens throughout all of Thedas. the book suggests that in-game players might meet him as an emissary for Teyrn Cousland, or as a recruiter for the Wardens (a la Duncan in DA:O)

Merrill is listed as Merrill Alerion. it’s not earth-shattering news, but this is the first time I remember seeing her full name used in a canon source as opposed to fanon

the Sabrae clan are in places called “the Sabrae”. also not earth-shattering, but it’s interesting to me to see that it seems Dalish clans can be referred to in all of the following formats: Clan Lavellan, the Lavellan, Lavellan, Lavellan Clan

Merrill’s magic grew increasingly stronger during her time in Kirkwall

it’s not new, but it emphasizes that after the events of DAII Merrill’s mission is to aid elves <3. she will not permit the weak and innocent to suffer, elves in particular, when she has the power to do something about it

if Merrill didn’t destroy her eluvian - whether it will remain an inert curiosity or not remains to be seen, as the Dragon Age has not seen the last of the ancient mirrors of the elvhen [stares at Solas and Dragon Age 4]

the prescribed background details for “Dalish Mage” say that they can speak and read Elven

if the Hero was Dalish, Merrill surely misses her old friend, and if they survived the events of DA:O, it’s still unlikely that they’ve seen each other again in the years since (NOO.. i reject this reality and substitute my own)

even if Merrill and Hawke are together, part of Merrill remains lonely and sad due to her isolation from her clan, and there’s something in her that craves the companionship of her People that will forever be denied to her Q_Q

Merrill is highly knowledgeable and extremely thorough in her studies. although she no longer has the tutelage of a Keeper and isn’t a First anymore, she knows more than enough to be able to figure out the Keeper spec on her own [obviously. we were ROBBED in not having Merrill as the ancient elvhen/eluvian expert in DA:I...]

Michel’s upbringing was hard, accepted by neither elves nor humans. of the man, a particularly astute observer might notice that “he occasionally exhibits knowledge a man of noble birth should not possess, like the nature of halla and the making of peasant bread”

focus on the nature of how the evil in the red lyrium idol/sword drove Meredith mad.. caught my eye since it looks like there’s a red lyrium idol in the DA4 teaser

Morrigan is genetically powerful and almost certainly her father was a Chasind Wilder, making her half-Chasind. on joining the Hero’s party, her lack of experience with the outside world and emotional isolation made her fearful, and she harnessed that fear by channeling it into emotional barriers, even though she longed for companionship and interaction. fear excitement and mistrust all swelled in her at the same time. she has no poison-making skills but knows several plants that can kill a man, and before she left the wilds Flemeth taught her basic blood magic skills as well as told her of the secrets of powerful blood magic rituals

Morrigan originally had her son to use as a tool or weapon against her mother, but has since grown to love him deeply

A Sebastian who decided to reclaim his crown probably sent groups of adventurers after Anders after the end of DAII, and he has ambitions to expand his power over Kirkwall because he considers the city in dire need of oversight by the Maker’s faithful.

some good insight into/explanations for Sera’s mindset and outlook on the world

for Qunari it is a completely foreign concept that one would not change their gender to accommodate the role they wish to serve, if the two don’t align. hence Sten has no problem at all with Aqun-Athlok, but is confused by and takes issue with afab people who do not identify as men taking to the battlefield

Sten is very fond of Shale and considers the golem his close friend

some nice focus on dwarven and Quanri culture and society in the organizations section

Orzammar’s claim of dominion over Kal-Sharok elicits derisive laughter from the latter

House Tethras makes a killing in unconventional fields, investing in ventures as diverse as agriculture, mercenary companies and trading houses

“bands” of Dalish are a thing. subgroups within clans like a band of scouts, hunting bands, warbands?

according to ancient legend the native peoples of Seheron learned at the feet of ancient elves. Fog Warriors are taught “March of the Four Winds”, the story of the Seheron inhabitants’ exodus from the mainland to their island, and of their ancestors who learned from the ancient elves of Arlathan.

I really wanna meet the leader of the Fog Warriors in Dragon Age 4!! and give me a rogue companion who is a Fog Dancer! pls

Fog Warriors are extremely emboldened and socially liberated. they are free with their affections and fantastically patriotic

sample characters in various random example bits (I just like noting the concepts i guess): Loran, an elven rebel; Adra, a Dalish scout who becomes a Warden; Lorek, a childhood friend of Adra; Marcos, an Antivan warrior Adra becomes involved with; Venna, an escaped elven slave; Barian, a female apostate mage and lover of Venna

[bastardsunlight]

//under the cut is a quick overview/analysis/dissection of the Thalmor’s dossier entry on Ulfric Stormcloak. Bold is my own annotations--much of it is speculative, but all of it is rooted somewhere in game lore or a basic understanding of human nature. 

Status: Asset (uncooperative) which means he is not working for them but being used by them, an asset because of something they have on him, or something he will do for them regardless of his own feelings, Dormant as in “inactive” not currently, directly aiding (however unwillingly) the thalmor cause, Emissary Level Approval Description: Jarl of Windhelm, leader of Stormcloak rebellion, Imperial Legion veteran Background: Ulfric first came to our attention during the First War Against the Empire, when he was taken as a prisoner of war during the campaign for the White-Gold Tower. Under interrogation, we learned of his potential value (son of the Jarl of Windhelm) hence “asset” and he was assigned as an asset because of his value as the son of a noble, not a willing spy; he was literally captured/tortured by the people he was JUST fighting to the interrogator, who is now First Emissary Elenwen snobby cunt. He was made to believe information obtained by Elenwen, not by Ulfric, if that was unclear during his interrogation was crucial in the capture of the Imperial City (the city had in fact fallen before he had broken) meaning he was led to believe that the information he gave up under extreme duress had allowed the aldmeri Dominion to take the Imperial City, when in fact it had already fallen, before he gave them anything and then allowed to escape something he himself suspects, in canon. After the war, contact was established thalmor contacted him and, as the Empire had struck a peace agreement with the aldmeri dominion and ulfric was a loyal soldier and citizen of the empire, he heeded their call, much as it likely pained him, given their history  and he has proven his worth as an asset the details of this are never discussed in canon.The so-called Markarth Incident where Ulfric presumably led his household guard, since that would be  his jurisdiction, into Markarth to drive out the Forsworn when the empire refused/was unable to help was particularly valuable from the point of view of our strategic goals in Skyrim destabilizing the province, basically showing, whether incidentally or on purpose, how weak the empire was, how they would not or could not defend their citizens although it resulted in Ulfric becoming generally uncooperative to direct contact why would he become uncooperative only after driving the Forsworn out of Markarth? Because it was probably at that point that he realized the empire was beholden entirely to the Thalmor and helping the sound more was only serving to weaken the Empire that he had once served, endangering whatever remained of its sovereignty. So people who genuinely believe Ulfric is still some kind of agent for the thalmor clearly did not read the entire dossier with any kind of critical eye. Operational Notes: Direct contact remains a possibility (under extreme circumstances) Extreme as in you're going to have to sneak into the Palace of Kings to see him? Or extreme as in only if we really need him? Either way, the use of the word extreme means that he is not currently following thalmor orders, but in general the asset should be considered dormant still useful, but not in use. The Thalmor live for the instability of Skyrim. It cements their power in Tamriel. As long as the civil war proceeds in its current indecisive fashion, we should remain hands-off. The incident at Helgen is an example where an exception had to be made this is interesting, because it sort of implies the Thalmor had something to do with his escape, or perhaps that they would have, save for a subsequent note regarding alduin- obviously Ulfric's death would have dramatically increased the chance of an Imperial victory and thus harmed our overall position in Skyrim. (NOTE: The coincidental intervention of the dragon at Helgen is still under scrutiny even the elves don't know where he came from. Maybe knowing a little bit more about/believing in Talos—acknowledged dovahkiin—would have helped them on that front, huh? The obvious conclusion is that whoever is behind the dragons see? also has an interest in the continuation of the war, but we should not assume therefore that their goals align with our own. This is one bold assumption without any extra information or evidence to go on.) A Stormcloak victory is also to be avoided, however, so even indirect aid to the Stormcloaks must be carefully managed. So very clearly, we can see that the Thalmor have their claws in deep. Their eye is fixed on the Civil War in Skyrim, but that does not mean Ulfric is wrong for wanting sovereignty from a throne which is controlled by another group of people entirely. The Empire is completely under the thumb of the aldmeri Dominion. Imagine fighting a war, being captured and tortured and emerging to find that the empire for whom you fought has bent the knee to your enemies. Imagine thinking that it was, at least partially, your fault. That's what the interrogation bit is referring to, that they convinced him the information he finally gave up helps them take the Imperial City when in fact it did not. The city had fallen before he gave up, but that is still on his conscience… and honestly it's not clear whether or not he even knows the truth. Ulfric strikes me as a “better to die on your feet than live on your knees” type of guy and I can respect that. He is not perfect, by a long shot, but he has a goal, and it's pretty noble, by my estimation. Unlike Tullius, Ulfric is not there because some Emperor told him to be, because someone told that emperor to tell him to go to Skyrim. Ulfric is there because it is his home and he sees no other choice.

[complures-aspiceres-archived]

Yona & Soo-won mun scribbles

        I think most of us in the AkaYona fandom can agree that we have mixed feelings about Soo-won because, yeah, he’s doing good for the kingdom and he looks like a fuckin’ angel but...he did kill Yona’s father who just so happened to be the king at the time, ran her and Hak out of the castle by making it appear that he was going to kill Yona and...well basically destroyed Yona’s everything for a good minute.

( Putting everything after this under a cut because this unintentionally got MUCH longer than I planned. )

         But can we talk about their ‘relationship’ as the series, the manga anyway, has progressed? Yona isn’t this naive and vain princess anymore and Soo-won is just now getting to see that in the current placement of the manga. She’s struggled, she survives outside when she had known only the comfort of the palace and the doting of her father and servants. She’s learned and she’s even killed to protect her friends when king Il wouldn’t so much as let her touch a weapon.

        Yona finally leaves the hair ornament he gifted her for her birthday behind and honestly that was a huge step, but she still feels something for Soo-won, even if those feelings are a bit different. She can’t bring herself to hate him, and like Ik-su told her before, some love can’t be forgotten. Se can hate herself for feeling that way when she knows she SHOULD hate him and want revenge-- and I think she’s finally accepted that. ( As well as realizing her feelings for Hak and that he has been there since her childhood and has stayed with her, nearly dying several times, after the incident with Soo-won. )

        ....Now for what I first intended to write about is how Soo-won, in my opinion, viewed Yona growing up under the pretense of Kye-Sook letting it slip about his ‘misery’ ( or w/e the direct quote he used was ) when Hak asked why Soo-won had killed Yona’s father and questioned how he could do that to Yona, to them.

         You cannot tell me he didn’t care for Yona when they were growing up. You can’t. I believe Soo-won didn’t truly begin disliking King Il until his father ‘died’. I think this is where he began fighting with himself over hating the man who killed his father, who by all rights SHOULD have been crowned king, and his affection and loyalty towards Yona ( and Hak, I guess ). In canon, Soo-won is currently 18, potentially closer to 19 depending on how much time has actually passed- now it’s never actually stated at what age Yu-Hon ( Soo-won’s father ) died/was killed, but until further information is given, I believe it was likely just as Soo-won was entering his teenage stage. ( Anywhere from 10-13 IMO ). This is where he began planning and gathering people he could trust.

        We all have to remember that Soo-won didn’t actually WANT the throne, but it was his father’s last wish and Soo-won was able to see just how horribly King Il’s reign was affecting everyone as he grew older. Even Yona understands this as she travels and witnesses for herself. I believe Soo-won still loved Yona, to a degree, but also began to resent her for her sheltered-ness and lack of interest in a throne she was supposed to inherit. ( Along with every responsibility and scrap of knowledge she should have been cramming into her brain. ) He still adored her as his cousin and, potentially, tried to keep himself from seeing her as a woman. ( He did mention this in canon, so it is very possible he had romantic feelings for her. )

        It killed him inside to do what he did for many reasons. Il was a kind man, but he was very foolish in his endeavor, as well meant as it was, to rule a kingdom without violence. He already knew that neither Hak or Yona would be at his side when he became king, because if it were up to Il, he would never succeed it by allowing him to marry Yona-- something even Hak had expressed he wanted to happen. For years, he planned this out and had to remind himself every time he saw Yona or Hak that neither of them would be there. In the first episode/chapters Yona states that Soo-won hasn’t visited her in a while and that he doesn’t come as often anymore. I think it was to steel himself for his plan, so that he would not hesitate, by separating himself from them both while making final preparations.

        We’ll never ( probably ) know what he had intended for Yona, had she been asleep at the time of the murder like he had expected her to be-- but we can tell by the expression on his face when Tae-Jun comes to the palace the night before his coronation and tells her that Yona and Hal fell into the abyss that he had not truly wanted her to die.

        When he sees her again, after the ordeal with Yang Kum-ji in Awa, he protects her identity from his men and acknowledges that, “it’s only natural” that she wants to kill him when he stops her hand on his sword. At the beginning, he asks if this is a dream or if she is an illusion, but also makes the snide comment that she’s safe and sound because, even now, he’s ( hak ) risking his life to protect her. Remember, though Soo-won is unaware of this, this is AFTER she shot and killed Yang- Kum-ji. It’s in those few moments that he has her hidden under his cloak that you can tell how much Yona does not want to be near him, and in a way, how much he’s still underestimating her despite the fact that she is indeed alive and appears healthy. He gives the credit, fully, to Hak. When he tells her he cannot die yet and bids her goodbye, you can see all of the affection and sadness in his eyes as he looks at her before walking away. Yona bursts into tears and beings wailing until Hak finds her.

        Though she is seen several times by Soo-won after this, always with the company of the dragons, the next truly notable occurrence in my personal opinion is when Yona acts as an envoy for the Xing empire to avoid war between Xing and Kouka-- by discussing terms with Soo-won directly. This is also right after she sells the hair ornament as payment for information without a second thought. ( Also when she kisses Hak before heading off to try and stop the war from starting. )

        During chapter 138, when she briefly meets with Tae-Jun, he states the following;

“All this person ( Yona ) has done is earnestly try to protect her friends and the people right in front of her, and yet the people around her, in hope of doing something for her, stretch out their hands. Perhaps even the king has not realized this. Isn’t this a terribly formidable power?”

        Yona’s carriage is struck down and she meets Kye-Sook and speaks with him before Soo-won arrives, but he tries to say the she can’t possibly be there because, “Princess Yona feel to her death along with General Hak at the cliff of the northern mountain. She cannot possibly be here, much less able to begin negotiations about Xing kingdom.”

        She goes off about how war loom before him and yet he will not listen to the words of an emissary from the opposing kingdom. She asks if he killed her father to pull of schemes like this and Kye-Sook is visibly taken aback, mentally questioning himself if this is really princess Yona. This is when Soo-won and general Joo-Doh catch up and are both outwardly shocked to see Yona. Soo-won’s first question to her is the whereabouts of Hak, and when she tells him he is not there-- Soo-won is, again, visibly surprised. This is when I believe he truly starts to see and notice the change that has taken place in her absence at the palace.

        Soo-won tries to brush her off, but this is when she further accuses them of not listening and how they can resolve things without a war. She also states that she sees why Yu-Hon could never become king, and this is the first time we see something akin to anger mixed with shock on Soo-won’s face. Yona asks why they’re in such a hurry for, and that they should have a chat.

        Mentally, Soo-won asks himself why he’s just silently staring for-- that she has no cards to play and that there’s no time to waste...but he can’t look away or move.

        Kye-Sook tries to have their men capture her, as he realizes that the fire tribe can be made to act at her word, and he realizes this possesses a threat if she were to ever truly aim for Soo-won. After a few other events occur, Soo-won finally agrees to open a dialogue with the Xing kingdom.

         At this point, he’s beginning to realize that Yona is not his naive younger cousin who knew absolutely nothing about the world beyond the palace walls, and that she has been in almost ever town or kingdom that he has been to in order to resolve issues without him so much as realizing. As Yona rides off to convey his terms, his expression is complex as he seems to have all this knowledge suddenly placed in his lap. This is the moment, for me at least, that he truly starts seeing Yona for the first time after she was chased out of the castle-- truly understands the drive she has to help people and try to resolve conflict without violence and somehow manages to succeed where neither he or king Il seemed to be able.

        ( If you made it this far and actually read all of that I congratulate you because wow. )

[reapiing-souls-blog]

Who is your favorite character in the Warcraft universe? Or favorite characters? :D

Munday Questions | Accepting

// You know me. You know me so fucking well okay. Listen here I am the biggest Warcraft nerd, I practically grew up on those games & WoW. And honest to god, I have so many characters. But as I'm writing this out I realize im fucking blabbing on about one so I'm gonna just tell yall about one of my favourites.

Arthas Menethil - He is without a doubt one of my FAVOURITE characters of all time. In any franchise. He is quite literally the definition of a good man who fell to corruption and power. And it's not just any other bullshit story about 'oh good guy turned evil'. Arthas' story is one of the most beautiful ones , which ill fucking explain in a second. But once you read it you'll see why I love him. Why he is a tragic hero, why he was a man who once though he was doing great and fell to his own power. Why he is, one of my favourite characters of all time.

Arthas Menethil, son of Terenas Menethil the Second, was heir to the throne of Lordaeron. He was a knight of the Silver Hand (Which, is basically an order of paladins, created after the first war by Uther the Lightbringer (Who was also Arthas' mentor!) & Archbishop Alonsus Faol. During the Second war, the SIlver hand allied with the Alliance of Lordaeron to fight the horde, and later on during the Third war, the Silverhand was suspended by Prince Arthas.) Now. Arthas, he was brought up as the prince and heir to the throne, a skilled swordsman, a promising paladin, and he had a promising relationship with Jania Proudmoore. So- what happened?

Well, I'll skip through all the small details like his and Jaina's relationship falling apart, him having to kill his beloved horse that he raised, ect. ect. ect. So. There was a plague that struck the kingdoms, the plague of undeath- and as you can guess by the name, it killed people and turned them into mindless Scourge. Arthas began leading raids on the Scourge, trying to drive them back, because iirc, they had reached Brill (Which, is quite close to the kingdom of Lordaeron). There he encountered the Necromancer, Kel'thuzad, and before slaying him he heard of Ma;'Hanis, a demon who was leading the scourge. Him and Jaina take their forces north to Startholme to confront the demon. Blah blah blah- they reach Stratholme- and it is soon discovered that the plague is being spread via the grain, so all the food sources are contaminated. Now, they had forces at Stratholme gates- holding back and fighting the undead. Arthas realized that they could not save the entire city, because it was likely that everyone had been infected already. Seeking to save the kingdoms from the plague spreading, he orders Uther and his knights to purge the entire city. They don't agree to it, saying they wouldn't listen even if he was the king. This is when Arthas disbands the Knights of the Silver Hand. Jaina, Uther, and several of his soldiers left- refusing to remain loyal to their prince. The rest that stayed purged the city.

He meets Mal'Ganis, confronts him and wishes to fight him then and there- the demon retreats and says to meet him in Northrend. Skip skip skip- he makes his way to Northrend. He runs into his old mentor, Muradin Bronzebeard there- and he's raving on about how his men had been attacked by undead while they searched for Frostmourne. Arthas and Muradin go to search for frostmourne, during that time an emissary arrives with orders instructing Arthas to return home. Arthas, not wanting to leave without getting rid of this curse once and for all, sets fire to the boats- and then when his own men arrived, he turned on them, accusing them of destroying the ships- and has the captain kill them. Muradin is obviously disgusted by this, and Arthas told his men that remained that they would only leave Northrend through victory. Arthas and his troops run into Mal'ganis at one point, who appears and foretells of Arthas' death. He doesn't really care though, and he continues his search for Frostmourne. Him, Muradin, and a small group of men traveled to where the fabled runeblade was. He was confronted by the Guardian of it, who tried to keep him from it for his own protection. They get to the blade, Muradin reads the inscriptions- which tells of the blade being cursed, he tries to tell Arthas to forget about it but Arthas is dead set on it. Arthas tells the spirits of the cavern that he will "give anything or pay and price, if only you will let me save my people". When the weapon is broken from its icy containment, a shard pierces through Muradin, and as Arthas goes to help him- he is called by  the blade. He discards his own weapon, picks up the blade, and leaves his friend for dead, returning to his base. With his new blade, he defeats Mal'ganis' minions and confronts the demon, only to be told that he was hearing the voice of the Lich King. Arthas doesn't care- he wants to save his people, so he slays the dreadlord, then flees north. He is soon lost to insanity from the whispers of the blade.

When he travels back home, the kingdom is so happy to have their prince back. He approaches his father, the king, and then pulls out frostmourne and pierces it through his chest- killing him, then leaves. Blah blah blah- He resurrects his dead horse with Necromancy, then moves to resurrect Kel'Thuzad, the necromancer he had slain earlier- killing his old mentor, Uther, in the process. Afterwards he travels to Quel'Thalas, where he runs into Sylvanas Windrunner (Which, some of you may know her as the new warchief, or ruler of the Undead player race.). And- to make her pay for her fighting against the scourge, he corrupts her elf spirit, turning her into a banshee- and forcing her to slay her own people. (She later breaks his hold on her.) Here he uses the Sunwell to bring Kel'Thuzad back as a lich. Blah blah blah skipping some shit because this is getting long. Later on, Arthas finds himself in Northerend, he is attacked by Kael'Thas, only to be saved by Anub'arak. The crypt lord suggested that they use undergroun pasageways to beat Illidan to the frozen throne. Then- they raid Sapphiron, an ancient blue dragon- they kill the dragon, and Arthas ressurects it as a powerful frost wyrm.

Eventually, Arthas makes it to the frozen throne, Illidan is there waiting for him. The two of them battle- and Arthas uses an advanted to slice open the demon hunters chest- winning the battle. He begins to ascend, making his way to the throne- and he can hear his beloved friends calling out to him- Muradin, Uther, and even Jaina, trying to stop him. He ignores it though, and reaches the top. He shatters the Lich King's prison, picking up the helmet and placing it on his head. He becomes one with Ner'zhul- the previous lich king- a single being. Arthas was no longer himself, he and Ner'zhul were one. Eventually in a dream- he finds himself banishing his humanity and supperessing Ner'zhuls spirit, making him the dominant personality.

As Lich king, he ruled over the scourge, and his final goal was- to rule the world with them, or at least thats what we think it was. Eventually the Heroes (players) make their way to the frozen throne to beat him. He had planned to bait them there, only to kill and ressurect them as the most powerful army. He nearly succeeds, and then Tirion Fordring ascends the frozen throne, joining the fight. He freezes him in ice, and kills the adventurers, planning to bring them back. Tirion calls upon the light and frees himself, then using the Ashbringer, shatters frostmourne- releasing the trapped souls. While Arthas is weakened, he is defeated.

And as he lies there dying- his fathers spirit comes to him- and one of the most memorable quotes in game, and to me, is said in this very moment. Arthas, asking his father's spirit if it is over, his father places a hand over his and says; "At long last. No king rules forever, my son." Arthas then says he sees only darkness before him before he dies- slain once and for all.

[bakechochin]

Book Reviews - The City of Ice

The City of Ice – KM McKinley - When I first saw the reviews of this book from the first people who read it, I was really pissed off, because a load of those reviewers hadn’t even read the first one and were shit talking this book because they didn’t understand what was going on; I however have read the first one, so I can definitively say that this book is pretty fucking sweet - I was a wee bit worried at first as to jumping back into this pretty fucking complex world after a year, but a surprising number of characters and plot points from the last book had stuck in my memory, and before I knew it I was engrossed in the story once more - The world remains fucking awesome, with the story’s progression allowing us to see yet more fucking cool stuff in the world; such stuff includes dimensional abnormality castles and demon dukes and magical laser guns and emissaries of the drowned king and holy shit this book is cool -> Oh yeah and also the new stuff we learn about the gods was fucking cool; like I thought that explaining these omnipotent figures would kind of ruin their mystery or trivialise them somewhat, and whilst this is kind of the case when you see how easily they were defeated, the ones that are still around are sufficiently god-like and fucking cool - I am still a great fan of all the characters; a few of them do seem unlikeable from time to time because they act like colossal twats, but they were most certainly believable and immersive characters, and their good qualities are balanced by the bad quite well for the most part -> It’s got to say something that despite it being a year since I read the first book, I still remember most of the characters and was actually surprisingly affected by the character deaths (which come right the fuck out of nowhere and are pretty fucking brutal, but are all the more effective because of this) -> When I really got invested in the story and I yearned for seeing how the characters from the first book had changed, the ways their lives had changed and the directions their stories seemed to be taking was really fucking cool (like shit I haven’t felt this invested in characters and happy to see them since ‘Night Watch’) -> I was a bit worried that this book would either only focus on the characters that were already introduced in the previous book, or neglect to talk about some of the characters because it’s trying to tackle a lot of stuff at once, but it managed to prove me wrong on both accounts -> Hell yeah do we get new characters doing new shit (and whilst their stories seem a wee bit separate from the overall events of the narrative at first, it soon becomes clear as to how everything links together, or at the very least how said storylines link to the overarching events of the world), and whilst some characters do get more time spent on them than others, how much time the characters get spent on them kind of works in conjunction with the previous book (i.e. in the previous book, Garten played a pretty minor role, but in this book, more attention is paid to his exploits, which was cool to see) -> Some characters were even improved upon in this book; I thought that Ilona in the last book was just an irritating empty-headed wench with idealistic dreams of wanting more and a desire to be better than all the boys, but in this book she’s made better by actually doing stuff that might mean she succeeds at her goals - For fuck’s sake why would you end every single character perspective bit either abruptly, cryptically, or on a cliffhanger? I really want to read the next one but I’ve probably got aeons to wait, fucking hell man - This is really just my own opinion, but I was kind of daunted by how this book focuses on big matters of society (or at least it does so in a more overt manner than the last one, with Garten and Katriona dealing with politics and treatises and all that bollocks), when I prefer reading about characters without that sort of power -> Like in this book a lot of characters are highborn and of high status and seek to change the way the world works, which basically forces me to be invested in the intricate political workings of this world; yeah, the political stuff is generally well explained and I could get my head around it, but really, this book has dragon riders and giant talking dogs and magic men, so I’m obviously gonna be more interested in that stuff than in the politics -> Also there’s a fine but important difference with how ‘Republic of Thieves’ or ‘Mistborn: The Well of Ascension��� handles politics and how this book handles politics; those other books focus on the stuff around politics, like the sneaky tactics employed to ensure success, thereby making these political disputes interesting and engaging, whereas this book just kind of piles the reader with a shit load of exposition about the state of the kingdom and how everything’s down shit creek and the political explanations are long-winded and at times a bit boring -> Ok yeah I’ll admit this isn’t always the case, like when some religious procession that’s apparently really important is going down and everyone’s gravely saying ‘oh man this looks bad, we’re in the shit now’, but then that’s all interrupted when fucking aliens arrive, but trust me when I say that there are some of the boring politics moments I’ve described - There were times where I felt a bit confused with all the new nomenclature that’s being thrown about in this book; between the Morfaan and the Draathis and the Y Dvar and the worlds of Form and Will, it can get a wee bit confusing at times, and usually you can kind of assume you know what these things mean from the context, but then other times when all these terms are getting thrown at you you’re not so sure - This book and the first book are kind of similar to the first two books in the Mistborn Wax and Wayne series, in that there’s a bit of a dramatic leap between the industry focus of the first book to the grand high magic end-of-the-world scenarios of this book; in some cases characters jump from business-oriented stories to high magic apocalypse stuff within the course of their story in just this book -> Although the series is building up to this massive end-of-the-world thing, I can’t help but miss the stories on a smaller scale, when people’s storylines are driven by their own wants and desires rather than the world basically forcing them to take on a heroic duty to determine the fate of the world, not just because there’s more versatility with the small scale stuff but because it’s ultimately more fun to read in my opinion - I can’t help but miss the cohesiveness and camaraderie of the Kressind family (i.e. pretty much the main characters) when they’re all together, which was the case for parts of the first book but in this book they spend pretty much the whole story apart from one another - Maybe it’s just me not really remembering stuff, or maybe it’s like a deliberate thing, but there seemed to me that there was a bit of inconsistency across the books regarding the Morfaan (the alien geezers, but not the huge fuck-off alien geezers who are an actual threat but the other alien geezers who everyone kind of kind of considers a bad omen or some shit – yeah it confused me too) -> In the last book they were hardly featured, since everyone either never mentioned them or only mentioned them as some sort of vague threat/now extinct part of history/folklore, but in this book we find out that a) they’re still totally alive and b) the humans in the story know they exist and have diplomatic meetings with them, which seemed a bit out of nowhere - 9/10

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