#I'll probably go with a narrator who is neither of them if I do this tbh

[terresdebrume]

ok idk if this might upend your whole idea or your plan or what not and like you don't actually have to consider this suggestion i'd get it if you passed but for the little mermaid au... if you wanna be in both their heads how about like? taking a deep dive into the fairy tale aspect of it and making it 3rd person omniscient? like!! one of them is telling the story!! idk could be fun

Anon, I'll be honest, I read your message and immediately slapped my forehead xD

Thank you for reminding me that third person omniscient is a thing! I've grown very accustomed to 3rd person limited but you're right it doesn't need to be that way... so I'll give it a try, I guess, and see how it goes :)

Thanks for the pointer :D

[dionysism]

okay fuck it tier list of every greek mythology or greek myth inspired musical i've listened to (so far)

with, if you care, short reviews for each below the cut. i'm like half asleep but take my poorly organized thoughts

paris the musical

this one is my all time favorite of all the ones listed here. the musical scores and vocals are just on another level. it's a rock opera so it's got guitar solos and the songs are so catchy. business is my favorite track i could loop it for weeks. i also love their patroclus characterization and i am obsessed with achilles in this unironically one of my top patroachilles adaptations of all time and the musical isn't even about them 😭😭 AND PARIS... the actual focus of the musical, i love this take on him too. it's kinda comical but also actually tragic at the same time. which i mean. paris is kinda comical but ultimately tragic in general so its fair 💀 things definitely go down differently in this than in the iliad though like agamemnon and the greeks are actually planning to invade troy before paris even shows up to take helen and ulysses (odysseus) is the only one who thinks this is stupid. he does manage to convince the rest of them to maybe Not, but then paris takes helen after what's supposed to be him going there to strike a trade deal. and agamemnon uses that as the perfect excuse to justify something he already wanted to do unprovoked anyway. also agamemnon and menelaus were going to violate xenia and kill paris in their home after making him a guest (again, before he does anything with helen) which was ?!?!!? but like similar to epic this is more like an au to me than a faithful iliad adaptation. i also love this helen characterization and the whole dynamic between hector paris and cassandra i wish i could put them all in my mouth and chew them up

ulysses dies at dawn

this is another great one. i will say this is the only album from the mechs i've listened to and the band itself has a whole ton of lore so there may be details i'm missing but i love it so much. this is definitely more of an inspired by tale—takes place in the future (i think?) on a planet that's entirely machine and metal and all animals and natural life is extinct. and all the characters are named after greek mythos characters and they have similar stories to their original counterparts but adapted to this futuristic universe and it's just so unbelievably cool. also ulysses nonbinary in this?! (the narrator says the records are lost to time and we can't be sure if ulysses was a "man, woman, both, or neither" and only refer to them with they/them pronouns) anyway i won't say too much on this one because the story tells itself and i don't want to spoil but GO LISTEN this album is fantastic

hadestown

this one i think is the most popular/well known on this list so most of you have probably heard of it but i'll still give my review. everything about this musical is incredible. i absolutely adore this take on orpheus and eurydice. and this is a take on persephone and hades i don't totally hate (because usually i do) and the way at times they paralleled orpheus to hades??? there was a quote i read from its wiki page once that sums it up pretty well, from todd osborne, "it is a musical both about how art can save us and how, especially in an apocalyptic world, hope might be the only thing we have left." just such a beautiful musical and beautiful story and the themes and messages like stop i could talk about this musical for hours let me stop

for epic i've already summed up most of my thoughts on it here

theseus the musical

um. i'm not going to lie there's multiple parts of this where i do not know what they are saying. i have auditory processing issues and i usually really need the lyrics and i cannot find any anywhere for this so i'm kinda just going on vibes. but the songs are catchy and i like the parts i do understand 😭 and well i love theseus. dearly. my little princess with a disorder my freakazoid i want to trap him in a jar like a bug and shake him around his enclosure. i'll kind of take literally anything i can get on him

penelope off broadway

full title is penelope or how the odyssey was really written and this is such a fun one. this is a comedy musical and the premise is that the epic poem, the odyssey, actually comes from fake letters penelope wrote to stall the suitors in odysseus' absence. so she's just making shit up like "umm... my men got turned into pigs so i'm gonna be late sorry babe :/" and signing it as odysseus. obviously not the most accurate characterizations but again its more of a comedy spinoff than a faithful retelling. telemachus also gets a cute little romance. (spoilers ahead if you care) they scared me for a second i thought they were having it that odysseus cheated penelope and she was gonna leave him but that's not the case and it has a happy ending so <3 this one is just so funky and silly like if you want a lighthearted not super serious musical you will love this it's really adorable and the woman who plays penelope's voice is incredible like omg some of the high notes she hits??? woah

jasper in deadland (tw suicide mention)

this one is also an inspired by/based on tale where jasper (orpheus) follows his friend agnes (eurydice) into deadland in an attempt to get her back from what was either an accident or a suicide attempt (but most likely suicide) he runs into various figures from greek norse and egyptian mythology and like it wasn't bad or anything really the songs just weren't catchy enough for me. i'm not gonna lie that's literally my only issue. i just cannot get into it and listen to it multiple times if it's not catchy enough. but the plot is cute!!

percy jackson the musical

i just don't personally care for percy jackson, sorry. never really did. you'd think as a greek mythology obsessed child i'd eat it up and i mean as a kid i did like it a little but i don't know it just never hooked me. i've tried to get back into it but it's even less enjoyable to me now unfortunately. the songs weren't catchy (to me) and i didn't like the lyrics either. it's not necessarily a bad musical. it's just not my thing

aristos the musical

sorry it just kinda felt like tsoa the musical to me and i immediately couldn't enjoy it 😭😭 that's literally all i have to say

[hestzhyen]

Leap of (Lack of) Faith

There's some discourse about Hakuri's suicide attempt in chapter 24 going around on Twitter that got me thinking. Well, actually, I just want to share my own pointless take. Yeah, I genuinely want to be perceived for once. But I hate trying to communicate in 240-character snippets on that hellsite, so I'll post here to rot in obscurity where I'm most comfortable.

Basically, there was a post in the Kagurabachi Twitter community that requested to talk about the abuse flashback-jump sequence. And yeah, uh, I'm kind of surprised at how little it gets brought up too. To quote myself:

Please don't ask me why I have three different usernames- there's no satisfying answer.

It's been a while since chapter 24 happened, so let's recap the lead up to this important moment. We first see Hakuri in Ch. 19 with his drink spilling out of his mouth, putting his inner monologue about "hav[ing] to grit your teeth and push through" to the lie. The very first shot of him, the very first food metaphor we see with him, is Hakuri being unable to cope. We don't know why he lost his his family, but he's clearly alone and not doing well. He's struggling.

Next thing we see is him being coincidentally saved by Chihiro. We get a full page of him narrating his impression of the moment, showing us the contrast between his desire to do some unspecified "job" and his fatalistic frame of mind. Then we learn he's weak as hell even though his heart's in the right place. He saves a little girl and insists on being taken back to the Yakuza's hideout, leading him to get kicked around and beaten up. He's a bloody, scribbly-eyed mess by the time he meets Chihiro for real. And this is exactly how we are supposed to see him until the moment he jumps in chapter 24.

It's so, so easy to overlook the hints towards Hakuri's painful past due to the way he's written. Most of his actions and dialogue are framed in a comedic way to bounce off of Chihiro's stoicism. Hakuri's pessimistic inner monologues when he's being hurt or nearly killed are right at home in this demographic too- wimps start at their lowest to leave lots of room to grow. And Shounen series always have a weak, lonely kid who's inspired to become strong. It's extremely standard stuff. But this moment right here was probably the biggest, most blatant hint that he's got more to his circumstances than the average zero-to-hero character:

That tiny little panel of him casually smearing the blood from his nose while he talks to Chihiro lives rent-free in my head. It's a throwaway motion in the moment, and not really out of place in an ultra-violent series like Kagurabachi. But compare that to how Azami -a professional combat sorcerer and war veteran!- screamed when he realized his hand was sliced in chapter 7, or how Chihiro is often shown wincing and having to adjust to his injuries. These characters definitely feel the hits that land on them. But the most hilariously pathetic character yet acts like the beat-down he received never happened. Nor like he's surrounded by bloody corpses. Hakuri is not only used to violence, he's used to it experiencing it.

Again, this is all framed in a comedic way due to his over-the-top personality and expressions. He's a freakish mess on the floor after taking the hit from Hiyuki, sobs in a silly way over Chihiro's backstory, is called "weak" and "a moron" and "a mess" by other characters, on and on. Hakuri's not written like he's supposed to be taken seriously after the first few pages we see of him.

The only other moments of foreshadowing came in chapter 23 as a set of blink-and-you'll miss panels and the last scene:

Hakuri's clenched, shaking fist when he talks about his "scary" older siblings isn't a huge tell. Neither is the insistence that they'd kill him on sight. We can comfortably assume that he's afraid of the consequences of betraying his powerful family despite being a weakling- that's where most authors would have gone with this scenario. But then why does his big brother Soya look so happy to see him? Was Hakuri over-reacting again when he talked about his family? Something's off here, but it's impossible to say exactly what.

The next chapter starts. Chihiro and Shiba are facing off against the Tou and it's looking tense. Chihiro flashes back to his dad talking about the Shinuchi, the fight's about to begin- but it cuts to Soya being a pretty normal person who misses his little brother.

And then we see this.

Suddenly a whole new and very serious dimension is added to Hakuri's character. He's not a goofy weakling that's going to improve himself with some determination and a training arc: he's a victim of abuse. This is the signal that the Sazanamis are truly fucked up more than we know, setting the stage for the major themes of the Rakuzaichi arc. And it makes re-reading those little bits of foreshadowing so much more painful.

This scene is the "oh shit" equivalent of Chihiro finding Char's severed leg in the car- yeah, the author really went there. And it's not even the last time we'll get a moment like this for Hakuri. The Ice Lady chapter is rightly remembered for it's impact, but Hakuri choosing to commit suicide should be held up alongside it IMO. Again: the author really went there, and not just for the shock value.

This moment should be remembered far more often than it is. It was the pivot from Hakuri being a generic potential sidekick into a complex and fully-realized character. Hakuri found people who could help him. Who treated him kindly. Who inspired him. But he chose death in an instant when his past came back to haunt him. Despite his improved circumstances, he had no hope for the future. He only felt fear and the urge to escape from looming torment.

Looking at what we know up to this chapter alone... how can you not feel for him? This goofy, ridiculous mess of a boy is really truly hurting and probably has been for years. But like many victims, he downplays and doesn't talk about it. He just tries to escape via whatever means he can.

So it burns me up that people are still reducing him to Chihiro's silly sidekick. If this scene was somehow not enough to dispel that notion, consider that Chihiro probably doesn't know that Hakuri had all those tools used on him, much less anything about Ice Lady. He knows that Hakuri was regularly ganged up on and beaten, and probably could infer that Kyoura deliberately looked away. But we haven't seen Hakuri talk about in detail about how "someone set him on the right path", nor mention taking a flying leap, nor share what's in his storehouse. He's still got a hell of a lot of literal and metaphorical pain he keeps inside. In the right circumstances, Hakuri could jump again.

Talk about this scene more often! REMEMBER it more often!

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01 - Adrift? The Island of Adventure! / And So It Begins....

Right off the bat, we can feel the tonal difference between how the two shows want to present themselves. The Japanese version opens with narration provided to us by a grim and stone-faced narrator, while in the English version, Tai delivers the exposition himself in a light-hearted and goofy tone.

The Japanese narrator explains to us in a bit more detail precisely what is happening throughout the world. Drought has struck the paddy fields of southeast Asia, heavy rains are flooding the Middle East, and the U.S. is suffering from freezing temperatures.

Tai has similar dreary info to drop on us. He tries to keep it light because that's the tone the dub is going for, but his version's... a little different. In fact, hilariously, Tai's version is much worse.

The way he tells it, the whole rainforest has dried up and oceans have risen to flood "other areas like chocolate sauce". The freezing also is no longer in the U.S.; It's "cities which are normally blazing hot", not contained to any specific region. Holy shit.

So, yeah. Either way, the world's being fucked sideways right now by climate catastrophe, but it's ironically being fucked harder in the lighter and goofier English dub.

With that out of the way, we met our cast of kids - With the English Tai getting in a funny joke, claiming to be "working on my multiplication tables" while we clearly see him snoozing in a tree.

Each character comes with their own special introduction slide to give us some basic information on them. For the Japanese version, the narrator coldly lists them off by name, while their information blurb tells us what grade they're in.

This gives us a general understanding of how old each kid is, relative to one another, which is kind of important for understanding their group dynamic down the road.

6th Grade: Jou 5th Grade: Taichi, Sora, and Yamato 4th Grade: Koushiro and Mimi 2nd Grade: Takeru

The dub omits that particular information and instead gives us some basic information on what Tai thinks of each character.

Sora: "She's okay, for a girl!" Matt: "Too cool; Just look at that haircut!" Izzy: "He should have gone to computer camp." Mimi: "I'll bet you can guess her favorite color on the first try." T.K.: "Matt's dopey little brother." Joe: "Don't ever scare him; He'd probably wet his pants."

For most of the character names, it's pretty obvious which name connects to which. Izzy's the odd man out, as it's an abbreviation for Koushiro's family name Izumi.

The omission of the characters' ages from the dub is something that I think hurts it; It's not super clear, watching the show in English, that Joe's supposed to be the oldest kid by a year or two, or that Mimi's one of the youngest in the cast. However, this is important context for driving some of the plot points that the show has in store for them.

As the kids are struck by a freak blizzard, neither version really stops to explain this but the kids who will be our protagonists get separated from the rest of the campers. In both versions, we just see a group of counselors ushering kids into tents, and then Taichi opens this door once it stops.

I think the Japanese version was trusting its audience to understand from context where they are. Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Jou, Koushiro, Mimi, and Takeru have all taken shelter from the blizzard inside a nearby Shinto shrine.

This is why, when the aurora suddenly arrives and transports them across worlds, no other campers are taken with them. They're in an isolated location away from the rest of the group.

Jou even has a line expressing that he wants to return to the others, to clarify that these seven children are presently alone.

The English version offers no less information than the Japanese. Well, it offers a little less; That one context-clarifying line from Jou is replaced by Joe saying "I was worried I'd catch a summer cold but this is even worse!"

However, more importantly, we don't have Shinto shrines here. So the context isn't quite as evident to a kid watching on TV in the 90's. I always thought they were just in some kind of cabin at camp.

As the kids stare in awe at the sudden arrival of an aurora that's about to ruin the next several months of their lives, Jou again urges everyone to return to adult supervision pronto. This time Yamato agrees with him, pointing out that they could get sick if they stay out here.

Joe and Matt, on the other hand, have different concerns. In the dub, it's Joe that worries they're all going to get sick if they stay out here. This time, Matt disagrees, insisting that they can't miss a sight like this. That they are all alone in the wilderness with no adult supervision is not a concern for Joe at all, apparently.

Koushiro also points out that auroras aren't supposed to happen in Japan, so this is weird. The dub is trying to localize for an American audience, so Izzy's a bit more descriptive here. He calls this out as the Aurora Borealis specifically but says that's supposed to happen in Alaska. "We're way too far south."

Then the Aurora strikes, delivering their Digivices and whisking the kids away on a magical adventure of violence, terror, and coming to terms with the reality of death. YAAAAAAAAAY

So it begins! Taichi is the first we see meet his Digimon partner. This is Koromon. English Koromon explains that his name means "Brave Little Warrior". This is a bald-faced lie.

Like many Baby and Child stage Digimon, his name is based on an onomatopoeia; Specifically, Koromon is named for the sound of a round object rolling around. "Korokorokorokoro". I think the dub version of the character was embarrassed to admit that. :P

Koushiro's partner Mochimon is next. The subtitle here says Motimon but you can clearly hear Mochimon. His name is based on the sound of a spongey goop extending and retracting. Mochimochimochi.

Once these two are introduced, the dub goes in on trying to deliver information to the audience. This place is called the Digi-World, and Izzy speculates that the Digimon are the Digivices themselves, transformed into physical lifeforms.

None of this is in the original; This is a quiet moment as Taichi takes in the magnitude of their isolating predicament. The only information offered is that this is a place called File Island; the word "File" is said in English.

That they've Isekai'd into another world entirely is not something they know as of yet. At this point in time, the possibility exists that maybe we got washed out to sea somehow but we're still somewhere near Japan.

When Taichi tries to scout out what's around them, our central antagonist for this episode arrives: Kuwagamon, an Adult-stage Digimon named for a particular species of stag beetle: Nokogiri-kuwagata.

The first altercation with Kuwagamon goes terribly, forcing Taichi and Koushiro to take cover inside a special program. As Mochimon explains, they're inside a hologram of a tree which will conceal them from Kuwagamon.

The English Motimon offers the less helpful explanation, "It's a Hiding Tree, silly!" That'll do it. All I need to know, thanks.

Once Kuwagamon's gone, we meet up with Sora and our next Partner Digimon.

Pyocomon, named for the sound of bouncing. Pyocopyocopyoco! The dub cuts off the P and calls her Yokomon.

Immediately followed by Takeru's partner Tokomon, named for the sound of trotting around. Tokotokotokotoko.

And Yamato's partner Tsunomon. This one isn't an onomatopoeia; Rather, "tsuno" is the Japanese word for "horn". He's Hornmon. You can probably guess why.

Following that, we have Pukamon, named for the sound of floating or hovering. "Pukapukapuka", though the dub calls him Bukamon with a hard B sound.

We cut to commercial break and then come back to a completely redundant second introduction. Each Digimon takes turns going around and saying their names, and then Tai introduces each of the human characters and tells us which grade they're in; The same information from those slides earlier.

I think the localizers realized how unnecessary this is because they use this time to waffle instead. Rather than intros, the Digimon just say things like "We're super cute!" "And loyal!" Tai, however, once again misses an opportunity to establish the relative ages of the characters and just reintroduces all of the humans by name.

Wait, but aren't we missing someone? As if on cue, Mimi comes screaming out of the woods with her Partner Digimon at her side.

Tanemon, which translates in English to "Seedmon". However, like Tsunomon, her name remains Tanemon in the dub. Mimi isn't screaming because of Tanemon, however; She's being hunted by Kuwagamon.

I should note that the dub characters are extremely rude about Mimi's absence. Sora calls her "the girl with the funny hat" to which Tai replies, in the most eye-rolling and disdainful voice possible, "Now now, her name is Mimi." You can hear him sneering.

Then Izzy chimes in and, in a weirdly bitter tone, suggest she's "picking flowers" or "going on a nature hike". The fuck crawled up y'all's butts and died? This girl has done nothing.

The dub, however, does get in a fantastic line when Kuwagamon attacks again.

As the kids cower in a clearing from Kuwagamon's renewed assault, Joe cries out, "My mom is going to want a complete and total refund!" XD I love that. It manages to land a joke without killing the tension in the process.

Cornered on the edge of a cliff, the partners are forced to fight Kuwagamon.

It does not go well. Real quick, who do you think wins in a fight: An experienced lumberjack vs. several toddlers?

What a lovely start to an adventure. We have no idea where we are or why, and the strange magical creatures who showed up to protect us have all been beaten within an inch of their life by what, for all intents and purposes at this time, just appears to be Random Encounter wildlife.

We're gonna die out here.

With their backs against the wall, Kuwagamon renews the assault once more and the Baby Digimon are forced to break free from their worried kids and fight once more.

The dub tries really hard to downplay the peril these kids are in right now. For instance, when Taichi asks Koromon why he attacked Kuwagamon so recklessly, Koromon uses what little strength he has to state that he needs to protect Taichi. Dub Koromon just says he wanted to show off and look cool.

Similarly, as Kuwagamon comes tromping out of the woods, Taichi expresses hopeless fear, and Koromon then insists that that Digimon must fight. Dub Tai instead says, "Get ready to run!" only for Koromon to argue that he wants to fight instead. Like. They're standing on the edge of a cliff. There is nowhere to run to. The dub's manufacturing retreat options to make fighting a personal choice rather than a survival necessity.

But now the bonds they've formed with their kids are strong enough for the first in what's going to become a major metaphysic for this series: Evolution.

The dub calls it Digivolution, possibly to distinguish it from evolution in Pokemon which was airing alongside this show, but in Japanese it's just "shinka" meaning evolution. As each Digimon evolves, there's a stock quote format that they express in both versions.

In English, it's "Koromon, digivolve to: Agumon!"

In Japanese, it's "Koromon SHINKAAAAAAAA!!! Agumon!"

I admit, ever since the first time I watched this in subs, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the bloodcurdling battle roar of "SHINKAAAAAAA!!!" every time they evolve in Japanese.

While Kuwagamon gets dogpiled by Child-stage Digimon as the Digimon theme song blazes in the background, let's take a moment to go over each of their new names.

Agumon: "Aguaguagu". The sound of biting. Gabumon: A type of puppet used in Kabuki theater. Piyomon: "Piyopiyopiyopiyo". The sound of tweeting. Tentomon: Tentoumushi, a type of ladybug. Gomamon: Gomafu azarashi, a type of seal. Palmon: A play on "palm", a kind of tree. Patamon: "Patapatapatapata", the sound of flapping wings.

The English version replaces the roaring Digimon theme song with some generic fight music.

With Kuwagamon successfully fended off, the vibe of this scene is pure tension-relieving jubilation. The dub slides in Izzy saying, "They made vaporware out of him," and goddammit, that got me. XD The important thing is that Kuwagamon is gone and everyone is safe forev--

Oh, never mind. Everyone fucks off a cliff and probably dies and that's where we leave off episode 1. This sequence features possibly the funniest "Easing Up on the Peril" edit in this entire episode. As Kuwagamon slams his pincers into the edge of the cliff side to send them hurtling to their doom, the English version splices in random still frames of the kids looking tough to show this is no big deal and they can handle themselves in this mess!

Izzy standing there like "GRRR I'm a big strong American boy and they build us TOUGH over here! Me and mah gun can TAKE gravity!"

Before ending on the exact same shot of everyone falling to their doom anyway.

Either way, this is where the episode leaves off. The kids have been transported to this mysterious location. They have no idea where they are, how they got here, or why. They were terrorized around the forest, and now they're all falling to their doom.

This sets the stage for what this adventure is going to be like. This is not a magical journey of whimsey and effortless victories. These children are in extreme peril and nobody is coming to save them.

Man, File Island sucks. I'm with English Joe. If I was one of these kids' parents, I'd be demanding a refund too. Worst camping trip ever.

[pixellangel]

"Don't you feel stupid answering these questions when you don't even know who you are?"

STORYTELLER SYNTHESIS SCENE 1 - A GIRL NAMED V

overview - masterpost - taglist

____

Storyteller Synthesis is an indie cyberpunk RPG that I’m currently writing and designing. This is the first scene of the game, where we're introduced to our first party member - a girl named V. Please enjoy!

____

Onyxveil is a troubled city. The streets are covered in litter, the skies are gray with smog, and the only sources of light are flashing neon advertisements on walls. Within this bleak cityscape stands an equally troubled young girl, one with hot pink hair and an unfocused gaze. Just a few years ago, she experienced a horrific eve-

"Can you shut up and give the Player control already? Nobody wants your stupid expository speech."

...Ahem. As I was saying, just a few years ag-

"Why can't you ever listen? The Player isn't interested and neither am I. Get it over with."

Ugh. Fine. I came up with this whole summary, but if you're so ungrateful I GUESS I can throw it in as flavor text somewhere...

"Perfect, I'll make sure not to read it. Now get rid of this black screen so the Player can see."

Excuse me? I know what I'm doing.

"Sure. Just get rid of it."

Ugh. Fine.

[Now, in tile RPG format, we see the aforementioned girl from behind. She's at the edge of a rooftop, looking out into the smog-covered cityscape. The camera shifts downwards to show another person, one with a long, pale blue ponytail. The girl turns around and walks towards them. She keeps her distance, but begins speaking. Her character portrait shows a girl with purple, rectangular irises. Her hair is spiky and she wears some sort of strange cropped techwear hoodie. She looks dissatisfied.]

"So, "Sylvie." Long time no see."

> I could say the same to you.

...

"How long has it been now? Three years? Four?"

> Three.

Not sure.

"And how was your little warrior's expedition? Successful?"

Very.

> You could say that.

Not exactly.

"Good, good. Now, Don't you feel stupid answering these questions when you don't even know who you are?"

Wh- hey! I already told you not to go off script!

> I'm not sure.

Oh. Sorry, you don't need to answer that. Let me just fix this... small bug.

[The Narrator goes silent for a moment and the girl stiffens.]

There! Much better.

[The girl's character portrait is different when she speaks again. Her eyes are wide open with no shine. She has a wide, fake smile. Her hair spikes stand up a little less.]

"So sorry, SYLVIE! I don't know what came over me there. I'm glad your expedition went well! Woul d y ouu be wil lin g to h e-"

[She snaps out of it, shakes her head, and glares up at the sky.]

"UGH!! Stop doing that!!! I would literally NEVER talk like that. You of all people should know. Ughhh... anyway, Player, I'm not gonna keep up the "Sylvie" act. You aren't her and we both know it."

If you go off script again, I'll have to keep acting for you. Get back to the story or else.

"Shush. Player, follow me."

[The Narrator protests as the player follows the her down from the rooftop. The two come to an arcade, which the girl enters without hesitation.]

Ahem. Sylvie. You don't need to go in there. If you would just give me a minute, I can get her to come back out...

Sorry, this is going to take some time. Please be patient.

[The player enters the arcade anyway while the Narrator is distracted.]

"Hey. Glad you could make it."

[The arcade is empty, save for the two of them. Most of the machines look like they're out of order. A few of the arcade cabinets are still working, though.]

"If you're waiting for him to talk, you should know he can't hear us in here."

> "He"?

"The Narrator. He's messing stuff up in Onyxveil, and probably in other cities too. If i had to guess, I'd say his other targets would be The Sunbasked Stratum and Karma Point. They'd be good settings for a story, so..."

> Why can't he hear us in here?

What is he trying to do?

Who are you?

"I dunno. My guess is that he never intended for anything to happen in this arcade, so it's barely more than set dressing. I've never heard him speak a word while I’m in here, though. It’s pretty nice."

Why can't he hear us in here?

> What is he trying to do?

Who are you?

"He's writing some stupid story. I don't know... it's hard to explain, and we probably don't have much time. All you really need to know is that he's meddling with reality for his own selfish reasons and not taking anyone else into account."

[Her face contorts in anger.]

Why can't he hear us in here?

What is he trying to do?

> Who are you?

"My name's V. There's nothing else you need to know about me."

> Who am I?

"You’re the one playing the video game. Obviously."

> That's not what I meant.

"Oh, you must want to know who's body you're in. It's another person from Onyxveil. Their name is Sylvie. They went out on some training journey a few years ago. I... haven't seen them since."

> ...

"It doesn't matter. I need your help, Player. I don't want to be trapped in this stupid reality where I'm a character in a story I never asked to be a part of."

> What do you want me to do about that?

"I want you to help me kill the Narrator."

[V looks determined, but angry. This Narrator person has very clearly wronged her in some way, and based on her face, it looks like it was extremely personal.]

> How are we meant to do that?

"I don't know all the details just yet. However, I think the most effective method would be for us to assemble a party of several people. More people means more firepower, and he already wants us to gather more allies to fight the robots that keep appearing in the city. It'll be easy to fly under the radar as long as we don't discuss it in front of him."

[She speaks quickly and confidently. It seems she's been thinking over her plan for a long time.]

> Do you know who we need?

[deadmomjokes]

as a teacher, hearing about the way you communicate so clearly and thoroughly with your child is so inspiring. I wish more people had resources on how to communicate with kids like you do.

I'm very bad at taking compliments, so I'll just say "Thank you" and also qualify that she makes it pretty easy. She's very smart and has always, from day one basically, needed to know the reasons behind everything. In other circumstances, she would probably be called "stubborn" or "defiant." But the thing is, I remember my own "stubbornness" growing up, and it was almost always the result of me not understanding why things were the way they were. From a young age, I hated with a burning passion the "Because I said so" thing. So I determined that I didn't want to do that when/if I had kids of my own.

My daughter is very bright and curious and makes that easy for me. Her "why" phase was/is pretty specific, which is helpful in keeping ahead of the frustration-induced rage-meltdowns. (Not all of them, of course, because some concepts are really hard to grasp even as an adult, let alone when you're 4 years old and everything Feels Too Big.)

But I also made a conscious effort to start practicing early, before she could talk or push back on a lot of stuff. It felt so weird and silly at first, but I basically narrated everything I did with/around her, and put a reason for it. So a trip to the store sounded like this:

"We made it to the store to get our groceries, so we have yummy food to eat. Let's go inside and get a buggy--that's where we'll put all the things we get, because we can't carry them all in just our hands. I'm going to put you in the buggy, too, right here in this seat, that way you can see what's going on but I have both my hands to push the buggy and grab the things we need. Here, look, some bananas! Let's get some of those because you love to eat them. Oh, no, sorry baby, we can't eat them right now. This stuff isn't ours until we pay for it at the very end-- that's the part with the beep-beeper and the bags. When we get home we can have some of the bananas, because then they are our bananas." Etc, etc, on and on.

People looked at me like I was nuts. It felt a little nuts at times, especially before she could respond verbally. But it worked. It built a habit for me to give a reason for why I'm doing things, or making her do things. More importantly, I feel like, it made me stop and question when I didn't have a good reason for my answers or behaviors. Like if she comes up and asks to blow bubbles outside, and I go, "No baby, not right now," she can be like "why not?" And I have to look at myself and my reasoning. Is it because I'm actually busy or we're genuinely about to do something else that precludes the 5 minutes it'd take to do bubbles? Or is it because I just don't feel like it? It's not fair for "I don't feel like it" to supersede her desires for connection and entertainment all the time. (Sometimes you're just worn out and don't have the bandwidth for it, and that's valid. Parents are people too! But it can't be all the time, yk?) So if I don't have a good reason why not, I let her know that I thought about it more and changed my mind, and off we go to blow bubbles.

I also heard the advice, idk where or when, that you need to practice on your children what you want from them. So if I want my child to be kind, I have to be kind to her, in ways that she can see and appreciate. If I want her to know it's okay to change your mind, I have to point out when that happens for me, like in the above bubbles example. If I want her to be a decent human being who respects others, is empathetic, appreciates the efforts of others, speaks kindly, thinks about how her actions impact those around her, etc... You get the idea. It starts with me. And I try to consciously remind myself of that fact.

It's not always easy, because kids aren't always rational (but to be fair, neither are adults lol). And what is rational to a 4 year old is not always the same as what is rational to me, the adult with almost 3 decades of experience more than her. So sometimes it's like explaining to the wind why it ought to blow in a different direction. But the longer I get to know her, the more I'm able to pick up on the way she sees things, her personal defaults, the way she talks around concepts she's not sure about, etc. It's part of what's cool about getting to be her parent. I get such a close-up view of this little person becoming a little person, and it makes me stop and think about things I have taken for granted for a long time.

I'm rambling again, but I have developed a lot of Strong Feelings about the way kids are treated and looked at in general, and a lot of determination to do better for the kids I get the privilege of loving.

[babyrdie]

Achilles stan are really hypocritical about Alexander now, did you see that?

No, I didn't see it.

I saw people mentioning something about Achilles and Paris, now there's this ask and I'm starting to wonder if the recent ask an anon sent me about Paris was a discreet way to test me (this one, where I explicitly say that I really don't care about Paris discourse). I honestly don't know where the hell this weekly Achilles vs Paris debate came from, so I'm really confused. It's a Tumblr debate and I just didn't see the original post? Is it an debate imported from another website? I don't know. But other than Apollo and Paris killing Achilles, I don't really see what relevant connection these characters have to each other. They also don't even have the same role or the same archetypes, which once again leaves me wondering why this comparison even exists in the first place.

But here we go: my opinion is that no one is a saint. In most of these X vs Y discussions, I'm simply going to consider both characters as not being people who would be considered good today. And it's the same case here.

Achilles killed Tenes despite being warned not to do so (he was warned by Thetis, so he certainly knew she was serious), sacked cities (including not all of them were Trojans), enslaved people (both men and women. Some were sold, others remained. Some were sexual slaves, like Briseis and Diomede), committed a murder inside a temple (Troilus), dishonored a body (Hector), practiced human sacrifice (Patroclus' funeral. And you can see from the narration that it's not a case of "ah, but human sacrifice was cultural and accepted") and stopped the winds just to demand Polyxena's sacrifice (I still wonder how the hell he stopped the wind). He isn't a saint.

Paris ignored Oenone's prophecies about the fall of Troy and abandoned her (she was his first wife. And unlike Cassandra, she wasn't cursed. He didn't listen because he didn't want to), stole Menelaus (I'm not even talking about Helen. He took Menelaus' treasure too. Honestly, at that point Paris knew he was bringing war to Troy and didn't care if he felt so comfortable that he even took the treasure), depending on the version kidnapped Helen, taken city (Sidon), killed a guy because he was jealous of him with Helen (Corythus. Who is his son, by the way) and he ignored the Trojans' requests and continued the war. He was a prince, so I guarantee you he had slaves too, and slaves are indeed mentioned in Trojan territory (e.g. Lycophron writes from the point of view of a slave watching over Cassandra). He isn't a saint.

Yeah, Achilles isn't just a cute guy in love and suffering for his boyfriend, but Paris is also not just a cute and harmless little thing. People paint Paris too much as harmless useless. So my honest opinion is that this discussion is a waste of time because neither of them is the pinnacle of morality. It's reminding me of the Achilles vs Odysseus debates, which were equally pointless because Odysseus, like Achilles and Paris, is also not an immaculate crystal. The Clytemnestra vs. Agamemnon debates were also another pointless thing because sometimes they even cited something they both did but only against one (e.g., Clytemnestra ridiculing Cassandra's status as a Trojan captive in "Agamemnon" and Agamemnon doing the same to Hesione via Teucer in "Ajax"). At this point, I think it would be interesting to read Greek mythology without trying to do morality rankings. I also already talked about this in this post.

So that's it, that's my opinion. I haven't ignored any asks I've received so far, but if I receive one more ask about fans and haters of characters and morality in Greek mythology I'll probably ignore it because I think my opinion is already pretty clear (It's even in my post about my blog). I also talked about this in the Hades Odysseus controversy.

[dailycass-cain]

After much hype, a new volume of Birds of Prey was released this past week. Was it worth the hype? How was the Cass content in it?

Well, time to air my thoughts on Birds of Prey #1.

The first thing that kind of astonished me is the AMOUNT of Cass we got in this issue. Literally, I think writer Kelly Thompson just establishes WHO the keys are for this comic.

It's Dinah and Cass.

Like a part of me thought we'd get a little bone with Cass that sets her up, and she'd disappear amongst the other members. Nope. She gets as much fleshed out in this story as Dinah.

That has me curious given the setup alone of Dinah getting this team together to save Sin (yaaaaah. FINALLY!).

There's A LOT of potential here. A part of me still muses if this will get acknowledged from the ye old Black Canary mini which pulled Sin away from Dinah.

It isn't lost to me at all that throughout this issue Thompson littered a CORNUCOPIA of homages to past Cass stories (and probably other stories too just that I'm not Daily Zealot 😋).

Take for example the aftermath of Cass's introduction in the issue. Besides the sequence being STUNNINGLY drawn and colored by Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire. There's this nugget.

So the very League who broke Dinah/Sin are what paired her with Cass. But that's not the ONLY poetry Thompson delivers in this comic when pertaining to Cass.

There are OTHER callbacks.

Namely, the reason why Cass instantly agrees is "sisterhood" I know someone on Tumblr brought up Cass knowing its importance due to Sandra/Carolyn but I see it as more of a DIFFERENT reason. Something that sadly just ended.

*cough* Batgirls should be still going. Give me three comics of Cass a month dagnabit. *cough*

There are two others but I'll get to that soon. Can I just gawk at this page more?

Again, there are nice parallels here with the Brightest Day BoP volume. Dinah assessing someone just that this time IT IS CASS. No hoopla or things to deny certain other writers from doing this.

We actually have Cass officially on the BoP team in the main DCU.

It's just that this intro means a lot. The moment I got to this page I had the dumbest goofiest grin on my face. Not instant tears (those did occur this issue) like certain other comics of Cass I've read. Just, "Oh yeah this writer gets the character."

Like it was whiplash reading this issue after a certain OTHER comic this week. Like, this issue just feels like a nice pace just going from one scene to the other.

It just flowed so perfectly from one to the other establishing the other members as Dinah and Cass (or all four ladies) recruited them.

This leads me to what DID get me emotional about this issue: Cass meeting Barda.

Like so many years I wanted this. So many times neither character was synched with the other to do it (death and limbo sadly).

This leads me to what DID get me emotional about this issue: Cass meeting Big Barda.

Like so many years I wanted this. So many times neither character was synched with the other to do it (death and limbo sadly). But it FINALLY happened.

And… I'm tearing up looking over the pages plus my mind is on it. 😅

Wrassin frassin….

Like Thompson delivered in spades with Cass/Barda. This is everything I'd imagined and then some.

So with all that out of the way of me gawing at this all. What you really want from me. My thoughts on a certain Cass vs. Harley Quinn.

The truth if you haven't been following me the last few days is.. I didn't mind it. There is a precedent of Cass having trouble with folks like Joker (though he was the easiest to tell in the end), Mad Dog, Mr. Fun, and Harley.

Just that you think I didn't notice what you did Thompson but I caught the homage. Harley and Cass plunge off a building (yes that is Harley not Babs).

Besides the homage and precedent I know many are overlooking how this is all told from Cass's perspective and nothing she does in this tale showcases WHY Harley should be part of this team, other than Cass saying so.

Cass is an unreliable narrator due to well her disorder and can't describe the best words to what happened. Stephanie Brown, she is not at detailing everything PERFECTLY.

I just view it like a Pink Panther film. Cass is the straight man, and Harley was "Clouseauing" her way throughout the scene.

But I digress, if anything the scene made me wonder, "HOW THE HELL DID HARLEY LEARN A LEOPARD PUNCH?!" Only a handful of fighters know that.

HOW THE HECK DID HARLEY KNOW?!

Did the fight make Harley look good? Not really to me. It's Cass's PoV that did it and it didn't convince Dinah, Barda, and Zealot. Just the insistence that Harley is the wild card edge they need (which cues the obligatory reason for Harley being on this team and nothing more).

Still, that particular moment didn't ruin my fun (unlike a prior comic tried to achieve). Birds of Prey #1 was everything I wanted and then some. It made me smile and it made me tear up. It gave me that good Cass content. 😁😁😁

Like I'm pumped for the next issue. Because again, it's giving me something that has always left me lackluster prior. Cass vs. Amazons? More Cass/Dinah? More Cass/Barda? Why is the mysterious person not wanting Babs on this?

Okay. You got me comic.

I really REALLY loved this comic. Like, I never thought in my years as a Cass fan we'd be getting so much content like this. Like, after the heartbreaking loss of Batgirls (and Spirit World being a mini aka I DON'T WANT IT TO END), this series was the pickup I needed.

So to all the creatives involved in this comic. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[halfbakedspuds]

Thanks to @oh-no-another-idea for the tag!

OC in Fifteen

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

I barely do any of these for the Tempest Prince, so have one for Jason Haliday, the somewhat overprotective, batshit crazy older brother and resident mage of the group.

Also not all of these are narrated from the same POV, and some of these are simply his narration so technically one of his lines, anyway, just bear that in mind.

"Ya'll have been trying so bloody hard to piss me off for five years now. You really want to know what happens when I finally lose my shit? Well I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself," I could practically feel the thrum of raw power in my veins, an anthem to the coming storm to accompany the growing smell of distant rain, "Let's find out together, shall we?"

"The world needs heroes, and instead: it got us," Jason said from his corner, "I say the world can deal with it,"

I barely got out of the way before the vaguely Jason shaped blur passed me by, trailing the vague scent of brimstone and the words "Don't follow me!" as he went.

"Hey!" He belted across the way to them, wiping bright red blood from his lips and raising his little wooden blade yet again, "I ain't heard no bell, get your arses back here!"

"The plan?" He echoed. A moment later he simply shrugged, "Shit man, I don't know, just try to ball harder than this Cthulhu looking asshole, I guess,"

Great. Even in death someone needs me for something, fuck's sake.

"Hayibo, s'mos jus' down the street and a sho't left at the robot. You got that, nê?" I shot [Jason] a look to say that only he and I understood any of that. He shot me a grin saying that that was the point.

"I'm prancing around like a little leprechaun, does it fucken look like I'm ready for this?"

"Well," I said, sliding my back down the wall to sit beside her, "For what it's worth, I didn't mean for any of this to happen. Hell, I was just having a go at you for being an ass, but if I had any idea about any of this shit..." I shook my head, idly drawing in the dust around me, "God knows, I'm out of my depth on this one. You're right, I don't belong here,"

I probably should've been scared out of my mind. Instead, all I could think was 'Holy shit, I need to ask about this lady's workout routine',"

"It's not like you're the one getting hijacked by the drunken ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, now are ya?"

"You know, mom's gonna kill us if we die,"

"Sorry tjomma, but I just gotta ask you something- you know how it is, I'm neither subspecies: neutral party and all that- so uh... Exactly what the actual fuck is wrong with you?"

"Hey, Aten, can you tell your little cadre of gods to shut up for a second? The grown-ups are talking,"

Lord give me patience because I will strangle this boy if you give me strength.

No pressure tag for @honeybewrites @illarian-rambling @thatoneterrariaplayers-vault @orion-lacroix and anyone else who wants in

[darkfeanix]

Feanix Reads Dragon Age Comics

#1: The Silent Grove

I'll be posting my thoughts on each series as a whole, rather then individual issues. Below the cut are all the thoughts I had while reading The Silent Grove.

WARNING: It does get a bit Alistair critical, as I feel like this series really brought out the worst in his character, which in turn brought out the worst in me.

Anyway, here they are, my thoughts:

The Silent Grove (I)

So, first thing's first, it's strange seeing young Varric here. It's a bit surprising how quickly I've gotten used to silver fox Varric in The Veilguard promotional materials, with the longer hair and a bit of beard growth. Younger, cleanshaven Varric just looks weird to me now. The art style also doesn't help. I'm pretty sure the art style was one of the things that turned me off the first time I tried to read them when they first came out.

I'll admit, as far as protagonists go, King Alistair wasn't a huge draw for me, and even when the comics were first releasing, I don't think I actually read them until after the final issue of Until We Sleep had been released. I was always more of a Morrigan boy, and even in the first game, there were times when Alistair grated on me. We'll return to that point later.

Now, Isabela on the other hand? Yeah, she's the reason I even started reading these comics. I do love my captain.

I'd forgotten that Zevran is mentioned by name in this story. Apparently he was meant to be in the comic in Varric's place, but was "cut due to concerns about party dynamics", which to me sounds like a skill issue. Zevran has a pre-existing relationship with both Alistair and Isabela, and it's well-established that Varric doesn't like going out (to the point that the entire party will roast him for it in Trespasser no matter who you have with you).

This is baseless speculation on my part, but I feel like they went with Varric because Varric is probably more popular than Zevran.

The Silent Grove (II)

Okay, I'd like to lodge a complaint: Isabela deserved a new outfit. Varric and Alistair both got spiffy new outfits. Isabella doesn't even get pants. And it's meant to be freezing cold. We open with a guard complaining about how cold it is (cold enough that we can see his breath). Then we cut to Isabela climbing out of the sea. Does she not feel the cold?

She obviously feels the cold; later in this very same issue we see Alistair putting his cloak on her. Why didn't Isabela get an outfit upgrade again? (Don't answer that, we all know why.)

I feel like Varric literally questioning what he's doing there proves my point; maybe it's fitting with his luck that he gets dragged into this sort of thing, but his role just as easily could have been filled by Zevran. Of course, that being said, I do enjoy it when he narrates his circumstances out loud. It's a fun character quirk.

I appreciate that we see a Vashoth (or possibly even Tal Vashoth) as a member of the Crows; it emphasises that the Crows really do take anyone into their number. A pity that all the others basically look like human men. Not elf or dwarf in sight, and no women.

I wonder if the intention was for the reader to believe the prisoner was Maric. He says it's too late, and Alistair's narration says that his quest has failed, but I'm trying to imagine reading this for the first time without having spoiled everything for myself. I feel like I would assume that the man Alistair finds is Maric.

The Silent Grove (III)

First shot of Yavana, flashback, from behind. No pants. Pretty sure she is only the second named female character in this series so far, and neither of them have been drawn with pants. I can literally see Yavana's butt cheeks. Ugh.

Lack of pants aside, she does have a really cool design, though.

This part felt like a lot of exposition, some pretty scenery, and Alistair saying that high dragons are worse than darkspawn. Really, Alistair? You fought during the Blight, and you think that high dragons are worse than darkspawn?

"In my life so far, I've taken the sword to three dragons. The big ones, I mean – not the ones that look like scaly, tooth dogs and love horse meat, but the high dragons that make the earth shake. Not even darkspawn are that savage. A dragon feed on anything. A dragon exists only to kill."

This reminds me way too much of Iron Bull's speech about dragons.

"Dragons are the embodiment of raw power. But it's all uncontrolled, savage… So they need to be destroyed."

Ugh. At least right after Alistair gives that speech in his narration, the dragon literally chooses not to kill him. He never gives any indication that he learns from his interactions with the dragon, though – at least, not that I remember. Maybe the next two issues will prove me wrong.

Anyway, we will come back to this later as well.

The Silent Grove (IV)

I love Yavana. No surprise, right? She's Morrigan's sister, and she's written almost like a mix of Morrigan and Flemeth. I do wish we could have gotten to know her more.

"In destroying what it does not understand, mankind would destroy itself."

But gosh, I really dislike the way Alistair is written… well, I was going to say here, but the truth is everything about his interactions with the dragon and Yavana makes him come across as narrow-minded and really unlikeable to me.

"Meaning you don't understand either, but it's what your mother told you."

Yeah, we'll come back to that later.

Claudio is… eh. He's a bit player. His connection to Isabela's past makes for some interesting plot developments, and he's obviously tied to the larger story involving Maric – though, as above, I'm not sure if I would have made that assumption if I hadn't been already spoiled the first time I read this. I probably would have assumed he was just planning on ransoming Alistair back to Ferelden or something. Or, heck, putting him in that prison like Maric was.

I appreciate Isabela deciding on the spot that she's not going to abandon Alistair. She's grown a lot from the women she was at the start of Dragon Age II.

The Silent Grove (V)

Isabela marching back into the Silent Grove and yelling Yavana's name is very funny to me.

I'd completely forgotten about Isabela and Varric making a deal with Yavana. That makes me even more annoyed about the ending of this arc. But we'll come back to that later.

"You wanted me alive. Now you have to try to keep me."

Okay, I'll admit, that's a good line. Some of that charming, funny Alistair shining through. A shame there's so little of him in these comics.

I do wish slut shaming Isabela wasn't something that the writer felt the need to carry over from the game. Even with Claudio being a bad guy, it comes across as really distasteful considering they've designed her character to show as much skin as possible.

Badass final page with Yavana standing over Claudio's body and talking about how getting the truth even with him being dead.

The Silent Grove (VI)

"You almost missed the fun. Evidently we're going to ask Claudio how it feels to be stabbed in the chest."

Oh Isabela, how I love thee.

Yavana's idea of a séance involves a lot more pyrotechnics than one might expect, but it is quite exciting. I am curious if she burned his corpse, or if it was some magic of Titus's to try to keep his name out of Claudio's mouth?

Yavana's explanation of the Hall of Sleepers, and what Maric's deal was, really convinces me that Alistair was wrong and that she does understand what she's talking about. In the same way that Morrigan prioritised sparing Urthemiel's soul from death even after Flemeth is killed. I don't think either one of them (certainly not Morrigan) does what they do simply because their mother told them to.

Which brings us to possibly my least favourite part of this entire eighteen issue series.

Fuck you, Chantry Boy.

It's later, so here we are. I hate this moment. It makes me hate Alistair, for doing exactly what Yavana says mankind has always done and killing what he doesn't understand. And yes, he says he does it because he blames her for everything that happened in Ferelden after Maric left, but here's the thing: Yavana didn't make the fucking deal with Maric! Flemeth did!

And the thing is, two issues ago he accused her of simply parroting what Flemeth told her. He accused her of not understanding what she was doing. Which is it, Alistair? Is she another pawn of Flemeth's, or is she the wicked witch who took your daddy away?

Except she didn't take him away, Maric made that choice on his own. He made a deal so that he would be able to save his country, and then he held up his end of the bargain by travelling to Yavana.

Uggghhh!

Issues ends with Alistair bemoaning his own status as a pawn and saying he's going to kill Titus.

And then his final narrative just feels so shoehorned because it's close to the kind of humour we're used to getting from Alistair in the game, but this isn't that Alistair.

"My name is Alistair Theirin, and I'm king of Ferelden. Long live the king, long may he reign! And so forth. Pray to the Maker he doesn't do something stupid…"

You just did! Seriously, fuck you, Chantry Boy.

Final Thoughts

Oof. It had some okay moments, but to be honest, the best part of this comic for me was Yavana and, well… Yeah.

The thing is, I don't feel like I'm familiar enough with Alistair's character to say whether or not he's acting out of character. Is all of this something that a hardened King Alistair would do? Or is it the writing emphasising all the worst parts of him without balancing it with what made Alistair so popular?

Anyway, not a great start to the re-read. I really hope I have more fun with Those Who Speak and Until We Sleep, but I'm done for the night.

[crossdressingdeath]

Jaheira: Dark dreams? Jaheira: I think I can guess. Visions of blood on your hands. The blood in your veins, perhaps. Jaheira: For all the gifts Bhaal's children inherit - a peaceful night's sleep is not among them. Kyvir: How could you possibly know? Jaheira: I've slept beside a Bhaalspawn before. I know the signs - the dreams, the urges... the power. Jaheira: And so I come to ask: what did it take for you to earn that Slayer-skin you hide so well? Kyvir: Innocent blood. As innocent as my own: I have no control over when my body kills. Jaheira: I have spent my life fighting your father in whatever form he chose to take. By rights, I should cut you down here. Jaheira: But that would be a mercy. One you have not earned. Jaheira: You are twice-tainted, yes. But whatever you have done - you might yet serve the good. Jaheira: Whatever its source, the Slayer form is a weapon like any other. And if you mean to master it, I know where you must go. Jaheira: To face the other of your kind - Orin. So long as the other lives, neither of you can claim your full power. Kyvir: And what will become of me, if I beat her? Jaheira: Show daddy dear that you alone choose your fate. You are a child of Bhaal - but that need not be all that you are. Jaheira: And when you stand against him, you will not stand alone. Kyvir: What if I slip out of control again? You will kill me? Jaheira: You will be protected. Even from yourself. Jaheira: For now, rest. Sleep escapes me, so I might as well take the watch. Narrator: *You rest with the knowledge that you are being watched over. Or indeed, guarded.*

The plot thickens! I love how Jaheira confronts you about being Bhaalspawn the same night you remember it, it's like she was waiting.

I assume the bit about Jaheira having slept beside a Bhaalspawn before is a reference to the Throne of Bhaal DLC from BG2? Something from one of the earlier games, anyway. So, y'know, not gonna get into it. I'll probably have more to say when I actually play the earlier games, but for now I'm gonna leave it at... that's probably a reference, that's cool. And of course Karlach also brings up that Jaheira was involved in the Bhaalspawn Crisis when you first meet her, so there's also an explanation here for people who haven't played the first two games as to why Jaheira would have personal experience with them. I wonder if they partially brought Jaheira (or at least a member of the BG2 cast) back because she had that personal experience with Bhaalspawn that would allow her to call Durge out? It would be a bit of a missed opportunity if no one in the group could recognize Durge for what they are, after all.

That aside, it's interesting to me that Jaheira considers killing Durge a mercy. I suspect that's also context I'm missing from having started with the third game, but if it's important and not just her own opinion on the Bhaalspawn I'm sure it'll come up here. I'm also fascinated by how she decides they haven't "earned" that "mercy" yet; if they haven't earned it because they've been a naughty little murderer (which Kyvir has), then she's not killing them when they've proved themselves to be actively dangerous, which seems odd.

It's also very good that while Jaheira clearly isn't exactly comfortable with the idea of adventuring with a Bhaalspawn—especially since in this run Kyvir's killed enough to earn the Slayer form—she also has a certain degree of sympathy for them. She thinks they're dangerous and possibly outright evil, but she also clearly thinks that they are capable of choosing their own path instead of just being loyal to their father! She probably will try to kill them if they don't turn on their father and choose to help him with his apocalyptic plans, but if they instead choose to fight for the future of Faerûn against their father she and the rest of the group will have their back, even if it means fighting Bhaal himself. She also doesn't tell the group about Durge being Bhaalspawn; you can do it yourself, but it doesn't look like Jaheira has any intention of spilling the beans at least at this point. It's really very kind of her to leave that up to them, although it remains to be seen how long she'll keep quiet about it.

And it's interesting that she's also encouraging them to claim the Slayer's full power; I don't know if the Slayer comes up in any of the games she's in (don't tell me), but it doesn't necessarily seem wise to encourage someone who's already so tied to Bhaal and who clearly has at least some desire to please him hardwired into them from their past, whatever the details of that past are, to go after more power from him. But hey, she knows more about the Bhaalspawn than I do, maybe it's fine. I mean, the Slayer's power will definitely come in handy, provided Durge can keep it under control; maybe she's decided that the risks associated with a Bhaalspawn actively seeking out their father's power while they're fighting Bhaal are worth the reward of having a Slayer with all Bhaal's available power behind it on their side. It's also very interesting that that's how it works; Bhaal can't or won't grant full power to any of his children if there's more than one alive? I guess that might explain why he went from sending a whole army of his children in to do his bidding to having two known children and setting one to kill the other.

Also: don't think I missed how Jaheira doesn't actually give a straight answer when Durge asks if she'll kill them if they slip again. Killing them could be covered under protecting them from themselves, if protecting them from themselves includes protecting them from the atrocities they could commit if they lose control.

[blackjackkent]

Our first bedtime cutscene in a little while! Although it seems to be mostly Hector just pontificating.

(Spoilers - it escalates from here. A lot.)

Narrator: The events of the last days weigh heavily upon you. Sleep's rest is slow to come to one whose mind is so full.

The Absolute is not a god, but an elder brain controlled by the Chosen of the Dead Three. They mean to use it to take control of the Sword Coast. All who carry the tadpole are governed by the brain, and by extension, the Chosen. It will take but one order to transform them into an army of mind flayers. This would have been your fate too, were it not for the Astral Prism and the mysterious visitor inside of it.

With her help, you have uncovered the cult for what it really is - a plan of conquest orchestrated by the gods of death themselves. Together, you have the power to thwart the Dead Three. If you follow this path to its end, the elder brain will not answer to the Chosen. It will answer to you.

Will you liberate them from their parasites and their religious delusions? Or will you use the power you gain for your own purposes?

Well. That's a terrifying question. I don't think Hector has really considered this before, and this feels like one of those moments where he suddenly sits bolt upright in the middle of the night and thinks, oh, shit.

Obviously, though, he has no intention of continuing the control of the Elder Brain over the cultists; they need to be released from their parasites before it is too late. The frightening thing, really, is what to do with the brain itself - they have to either kill it (and what effect would that have on those it controls?) or somehow convince it to return to its slumber, neither of which sounds like an easy proposition.

And then there are his companions. He trusts them all with his life by now, but Astarion at least would gladly jump at the chance to control an Elder Brain and all its followers. Would some of the others, too? Will this terrible power turn them against each other?

I can't let it. That's all there is to it. I must be strong enough for all of us.

(The available dialogue options here - of Hector in response to the Narrator, I suppose :P - are all SLIGHTLY off from Hector's thought process.

a) "All I want is to be free of this parasite. I will do what is necessary to make that happen." A little less altruistic than Hector's overall goal. b) "I will succeed where the Chosen will fail. I will dominate the world." Obviously not Hector. c) "When the moment comes, I'll do what feels right." Pretty indecisive-sounding. d) "I will free everyone of this evil - I will be the hero that saves Baldur's Gate." This is probably the closest to what he wants, but it's already been established several times that Hector does not want to be remembered and memorialized and idolized.

So we'll go with d), but honestly I think his thought process is more along the lines of "This evil has to end. And I will see that it does - for the good of all it has touched.")

Narrator: You will not have long to wait. All you need to do now is sleep... But sleep is not for you.

Pain - a sudden burst of it, white-hot, crashing through his skull like a dagger. The Voice of the Absolute erupts like a thunderclap, bursting out over the camp, through the mind of every infected in their little group.

"HEAR ME. GATHER. THE RECKONING IS UPON US. THE CITY THIRSTS FOR DOMINATION. MARCH. JOIN MY POWER."

Dimly he is aware of the Prism vibrating with energy, flowing around them in agitated circles just out of his reach. The guardian is trying to block out the attack... but the power is too great.

"Ahhh... gods... " he cries out. "It hurts. Please... please..."

The Prism bursts with light around him. A ragged portal rips open in the fabric of reality; he can barely make out the pale blue, welcoming light of the Astral Sea where the Guardian resides.

He looks up towards it with desperate hope, expecting to see the guardian emerge from it, for her to save him from this agony yet again.

What emerges instead are three githyanki - lean, powerful fighters with blood-madness in their eyes.

"We're under attack!" the guardian screams in his mind, almost as loud as the overwhelming voice of the Absolute. She sounds more terrified than he has ever heard her, all the usual gravitas gone. "Help me!"

Panic, an instant brutal surge of it. Is the guardian under attack within the Prism? If she is killed, all will be lost. There will be nothing left.

Instinctively he lurches to his feet in spite of the pain, his vision blurring with the agony of the Absolute's claws in his mind.

"RUN!" he bellows to his companions, hoping against hope that he can break through the similar cloud in their brains. "RUN! TO THE PORTAL! GO! GO NOW!"

[strangerobsession]

I Cast Knock on the Door

Votes are in! I'll probably do more lil one-shots based on ACOC because I'm mentally ill and I'm obsessed with these silly little guys.

Gender neutral reader, and they play a character named Theo who can be imagined as masc, fem, or neither.

Summery: Things are going sideways for the party in Eddie's new political corruption campaign. PCs are dying and betrayals are occurring, but morale is regained when you achieve a small victory and catch Eddie of-guard.

SPOILERS FOR DIMENSION 2O'S A CROWN OF CANDY UNDER THE CUT

Word Count: 1,446

Masterlist

“I think we brought this on ourselves, guys.” You muttered, leaning back in your chair with a heavy sigh. “We did let Eddie do a murder campaign.”

Everyone at the table had been practically paralyzed for the past twenty-five minutes. The incredulous sputtering from the unexpected betrayal by a favorite NPC had turned into silence as Eddie now somberly narrated Mike’s character’s death.

He chuckled quietly, shrugging. “I told you; if you play royals, everyone’s gonna try to assassinate you.”

“It’s okay, Eddie’ll pull an NPC out of his ass that he was gonna introduce later for you to play.” Gareth, who’d also had his character killed off, said kindly to Mike.

“You got one for me, too?” Jeff asked, laughing tiredly.

“Oh, you’re fine, you’re still alive.” Eddie waved him off.

“Cruller just threw me off the roof of my own castle.” Jeff deadpanned. “I might be fucked.”

When Eddie had pitched his latest campaign idea, everyone had been excited about doing something different. The picture he’d painted of the world and the lore had been too good to pass up. Even when he’d explicitly said “I will be trying to kill you every step of the way,” Hellfire still gave him the stamp of approval, and set about creating new characters.

Now? Dustin’s familiar and best friend had been killed, Gareth was on his second character, Jeff seemed close to death, and now Mike needed a new character.

Eddie laughed again. “Well, for now,” He gestured to you. “Theo?”

“Mm-hmm?” You grunted quietly at the sound of your character’s name.

“You are walking through the castle looking for some of the other knights. You find Toby’s quarters,” Eddie said, referring to your character, the captain of the royal guard’s second in command. “They look sort of messier than normal, which is unusual to you because he’s a very neat, crisp knight. As you go in to investigate, you see Sir Toby’s body butchered in a corner of the room.”

Your eyes widened, but Eddie wasn’t done.

“You hear the iron door of his quarters slam behind you and lock. You hear the voices of some of Cruller’s men,” He pitched his voice lower and laughed. “Keep them behind the door. Have fun in there! If you get hungry your friend Toby should be able to help you with a meal.”

You crossed your arms, and shook your head, brows furrowed. “I think Theo’s just running through everything in their head, just like a million thoughts at once. They’re thinking ‘How did I not see this? How did I not suspect this? Where’s the king?’” You sigh heavily, eyes scanning your character sheet and what few spells you have. An idea starts to form. You look up at your boyfriend, perched behind his DM screen. “Can I hear how many people are outside the door?”

“Yeah, only probably like two or three.”

You nod, glancing back at your spells. “I cast Knock on the door.”

Eddie stares at you, eyes wide and mouth gaping as your fellow party members cheer.

“Yeah!” Mike yells from next to you, pumping a fist. Dustin grabs your arm from your other side.

“It automatically unlocks the door.” You finally let yourself smile at Eddie’s shocked face- he’s so rarely thrown off his game, you can count on one hand the number of times you’d rendered him well and truly speechless during a session.

He lets out a stunned laugh, grinning widely. “You hear them snickering outside, and suddenly the door bursts off its hinges, flies and thuds into the wall across, and they whip around to look at you. Sweetheart, if you will, please roll initiative.”

You pick up your d20 between two fingers with a smirk. “Do I get any kind of surprise?”

“You’re gonna get a surprise round, absolutely.”

Dustin frowned as you rolled. “Is it just (Y/N) going?”

“Yeah, well we’ve gotta resolve this before we cut back to everyone else.” Eddie nodded.

“I got an eleven.” You inform him.

Eddie rolled behind his screen. He shakes his head with a rueful smile. “The guards got a three. Go ahead and take your surprise round.”

“Oh my god,” You laughed, scanning your possible attacks and spells. “You’re going to regret not killing me first, asshole.”

With advantage for the surprise round, you quickly dropped two out of the three guards. Eddie marked something off on his notes, still looking a little dazed. “Okay, that’s your surprise round. There is one guy left and you rolled higher on initiative. Go for it.”

You rolled a few more times, rattling off numbers to Eddie as you took out the last guard. “First attack was just five, this is…. Another eight damage.”

Not your best rolls, but luckily the palace guards had pretty low stats. Eddie nods. “Theo, they’ve locked you in this room, and they’re laughing outside. In a swirling helix of magic energy, the door explodes off its hinges, and as their faces follow, you slide out.” He waves an arm, mimicking a swinging blade. “All of these soldiers are dead before they even have a chance to draw their weapons.”

You sigh in relief. “Amazing.”

“We should get a sign or something for the room.” Dustin smirked. “‘It’s been zero days since Eddie’s plans were ruined by an unassuming spell.’”

The table laughed as Eddie leaned forward, pointing a pencil at Dustin with an impassive expression. “You’re still way too proud of that Detect Poison thing.”

“It solved the whole battle, it was awesome!” Lucas protested with a laugh.

Eddie groaned, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Everytime,” He muttered. “Everytime I have a whole fight, one of you does that one thing that fucks it all up.”

“Your goal is to kill us, ours is to make your life a living hell.” You replied evenly, setting your dice back into neat lines. “If we have to follow the rules, so do you.”

“You’re doing a bang up job.” He quipped, before clapping his hands. “Alright, let’s cut back to Cumulous.”

. . .

“You think Eddie’s already got an NPC for Mike to take over?” Dustin asked.

“Knowing him, it’s more than likely. That or they’re working something out right now.” You shrugged. “Either way, he won’t leave him hanging.”

After the session, Eddie had asked Mike to hang back, telling him he “had something for him.” You, Dustin and Lucas waited by your car for them to be done.

“I think I’m still in shock.” Lucas commented. “I think I’ve been in shock for the past four sessions.”

“Me too,” You agreed. 

Eddie and Mike soon pushed through the front doors of Hawkins High. Eddie had an arm wrapped around the younger boy, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder. They were both smiling, though.

“Figure everything out?” You asked, holding a hand out.

“Oh yeah.” Eddie took it, kissing your knuckles. “We haven’t seen the last of Wheeler.”

“Good.” You ruffled Mike’s hair affectionately. “Pile in, boys.”

The kids clambered into your car- Dustin scrambling around to the passenger’s seat after calling shotgun- as you turned to fully face Eddie.

“Hey, that was a really good move with Knock, earlier.” He grinned. “I didn’t even know you had that one.”

“Never had to use it before- I only added after I realized how trigger happy you were with the assassination attempts.” You chuckled. “Figured it’d come in handy.”

“You’re a genius, babe.” Eddie grabbed both your hands, pressing kisses to every finger. 

Lucas knocked on the window from inside the car. “Wrap it up, lovebirds!” He called, muffled.

Eddie shot him a dirty look, then kissed you deeply. You cupped his face in one hand, using the other to flip off the groaning boys in your car.

“We still good for tomorrow?” He asked, pressing his forehead to yours.

“Yup. Pick me up at 12?”

“I’ll be there.” He promised, kissing you again. 

“Okay, I should actually go and get these guys home.” You said regretfully, pulling out of Eddie’s arms. “Thanks for the session, Ed. It was really fun.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart. You were amazing.” He started walking backwards towards his van, a soft smile pulling at his lips. “I love you!” 

“I love you too!” You called as he got further away.

“I can’t believe you just made out with the man who murdered me in cold blood.” Mike scoffed as you slid into the driver’s seat.”

“Sometimes you have to compartmentalize, Micheal.” You replied as you started the car. “In my head, my boyfriend and the guy who’s ass I’m gonna beat in next week’s session are two very different people.”

[random-autie-fangirl]

🔪fighting headcanon for Frisk

I know no-one actually asked for the ask game headcanons but I did some anyway, enjoy! (I'll link back to the ask post, later, I promise. Edit: I found the link! https://www.tumblr.com/random-autie-fangirl/751070033808064512/proudfreakmetarusonniku-metaruus-headcanon-ask)

(this includes some friskriel/flowisk if that bothers you and a whole lot of referring to Flowey as Asriel)

Frisk naturally doesn't want to hurt anyone but they do like to spar and playfight, and especially like to watch Chara and Azzy fight, though they do force Chara to step back when either goes too far. (Please note, they aren’t playing mediator ever, that's MK’s job, when the demon siblings start up again (with Chara taking control), Frisk is just there to go fight! fight! fight! over and over in their head. “If you wish to fight so badly, then why are you not helping?” “Come on, narry, whoever said I wanted you to win?” Oh, and Frisk calls Chara narry, short for Narrator, a holdover when neither knew each other’s names) (Please note, Chara and Azzy didn't used to be the "at each other's throats constantly" type siblings, but well, things have changed since they were both alive)

They're usually the one to start a pillow/snowball/water fight. While their response to bullying is usually silly comebacks or pranks, they are sometimes liable to snap and punch someone. Oh, and they do ask for a lower stakes rematch against Az (rematch of PFF) and end up winning again because as much Az might get annoyed at Frisk for "distracting him" there's no rule against flirting in battle, it's not Frisk's fault that Asriel finds them too cute to focus lol.

(Honestly, this goes for a lot of their dynamic, consisting of silly games, competitions or bets. Each time, Asriel is desperate to win and Frisk is never taking it too seriously, just here for the fun of chase and for Asriel's “adorable” (to Frisk) reaction when Frisk probably wins, yet again by distracting him, somehow. Don't get me wrong, I know that in canon, Friskriel’s dynamic is too high stakes and too violent to classify as a cute romantic rivals type thing, but after the end, I’m pretty sure it could definitely change into that. Just like, Asriel Dreemurr was reformed but not tamed, Friskriel’s dynamic is healthy now but that doesn't mean it has to lose it's bite. They both can enjoy a non-serious fight and thus enjoy each other’s company. Not that that's all Friskriel is either of course but they're not the focus of this headcanon, now, are they?)

Even if Frisk's method for real physical fights is just dodging around, sometimes attempting to throw them off balance until their opponent tires themself out or gives up (taking after puncle Sans), they tend to find that fun too, and while I do imagine them getting a magic staff or something similar but that's just for fun and making illusions or adding drama than for fighting. (Also, you know how sometimes it's common to imagine poncho Human in the intro to be related to/a parallel of Frisk or Chara, well, in my mind, Chara’s descended from the one with the spear but Frisk’s parallel is the mage with the staff)

When their or another’s life is actively threatened, Frisk’s go to “weapons” in that situation…are literally just Chara and Asriel. You threaten Frisk and you’ll end up getting thrown into a wall by a mass of about 20 vines or get a suspiciously clean slash from a well-hidden knife. You threaten Frisk…and you might just find out why the Demon Siblings are called that. (Please note, that as long as it's an actual life or death situation and the Dreemurrs don't greviously harm anyone who ever bothers Frisk (which took some needling from Frisk to begin with, admittedly) Frisk certainly doesn't mind being able to count on their friends protection to bail them out)

[thejuniperparable]

Marriage

(The embodiment of divorce, married? Who would've thought?)

(Just pure fluff with Stanley and the Narrator, hope y'all like it :) )

Stanley knew how marriage worked. Sort of. His only experience with being married was his mannequin wife. Even then, she(?) didn't actually exist. Like so many other aspects of his "life" in the parable.

Except for one. His dear partner, the Narrator. Who was currently off somewhere else, setting up a "new surprise" for Stanley. He smiled at the thought.

It was hard to believe that they were once at each others' throats, fighting for control that didn't exist, searching for power that was only fleeting. When had that changed? One of them must have let their guard down first, prompting the other to slowly open up too. Was it Stanley? Well, probably. It must have been some time after the Skip Button Ending, one of the few endings that truly unnerved him.

He viewed the Narrator differently after that, and resolved to treat it less derisively. It took a while, resets upon resets, but he eventually coaxed the voice into saying something off script. It was a simple question. How was the Narrator? But once Stanley got an answer, he knew that their relationship was changing.

It wasn't a typical relationship. Heck, neither Stanley nor the Narrator were a typical human. But to Stanley, it was absolutely perfect.

"Stanley!"

Stanley jumped at the sound of the Narrator's voice, producing a very dignified squeak.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long, love. But I've finally got that, ah, surprise set up for you."

The office worker nodded, waiting for his heartbeat to settle. Yea, no worries. Where should he go?

"Just to the Freedom Ending. I'll be waiting for you there. I hope you don't mind me skipping my usual narration for this run, hmm?"

Stanley nodded again, this time much more energetically. He practically flew through the office, eager to see his partner. The Narrator's attempts to get him to "slow down, much less you trip and make a fool of yourself" went unheard.

He eventually reached the Mind Control Facility but didn't see his Narrator. He went up to the control panel and, after a moment's hesitation, pressed the OFF button.

As the outside world was slowly revealed, Stanley noticed several new details. The stone pathway was lined with bird of paradise bushes, their colorful flowers making the whole scene much brighter. The trees were different too, their branches decorated with soft white flowers.

And standing in the middle of the pathway was his darling Narrator. It had exchanged its overcoat and sweater in favor of an emerald green suit, with a purple flower pinned in the lapel.

"Hello, Stanley." He smiled softly. "What do you think? Do you like it?"

Stanley returned his smile. He loved it. The plants, his Narrator, it was just perfect.

"I'm glad you like it, dear." The Narrator shifted, suddenly looking very anxious. "You have probably guessed by now that I have an, ah, ulterior motive. This whole set up wasn't for the sake of simply looking nice."

Stanley hummed. Yea, he thought as much.

"We've known each other for a very long time," The voice continued. "And I- I've put you through a lot. But I eventually learned to view you as more than a simple character. You're so much more than that, love." The Narrator gave Stanley a fond glance. "You're able to touch. You're able to think. You're able to love. And you- you chose to give your love to me. I'll always be grateful for that. I- I want to take our relationship further. I want to savor this connection. To make this eternal." He pulled out a simple black box, presenting it in the palm of his hand. "Stanley, my darling, will you marry me?"

It was moments like these that Stanley wished he could speak. He wished he could shout his love for his Narrator out to the world, not caring who heard. But he knew his love could read his thoughts, and that was enough for Stanley.

The Narrator was practically bursting with joy as he opened the box and slipped the ring onto Stanley's finger. It had a simple yet elegant design, made of two intertwining gold arrows. In the center of the ring, supported by the arrows' points, was a small emerald.

Stanley glanced at the ring, then at his partner. This must have come with a very hefty price tag.

The Narrator blinked, then let out a surprised laugh. "Really, Stanley? You don't have to worry about money here. While it did take me some time to figure out the specifics of how to code that ring, I promise you that it didn't cost a penny."

He smiled. Perks of a god-like being. So now what? Was there going to be a big wedding or something?

"Slow down, love. We still need to tell everyone else the news." He took Stanley's arm, gently kissing him on the cheek. "But for now, why don't we enjoy some time together?"

Oh, right. Stanley had forgotten about the others - the Curator, Tim, and Mariella - so distracted he was by his Narrator's proposal. But right now, time with his fiancé sounded perfect.

"Sorry, um, what was that word you used...?"

He grinned. Fiancé. The Narrator was his fiancé now, wasn't it?

It coughed, its cheeks coloring slightly. "You wouldn't be wrong there. It just feels, ah, strange hearing that in reference to myself."

Well, soon Stanley could call the Narrator his husband. Wouldn't that be nice?

"...yes. Yes, it would."

They went down the pathway arm in arm, flanked by bird of paradise flowers. Neither had a specific destination in mind. Where they were going didn't matter.

It was who they were with that was important.

[seraandthebees]

Okay here’s the post I promised a while back about how Solas fits into my canon state!

First off disclaimer that I know there are kinda two poles of how people tend to feel about Solas - either loving him as a romance option or hating him. I am at neither of those. I think he’s a really complex character that I really love but in no way is his relationship with my inquisitor romantic (she’s a lesbian). Just putting that out here in case anyone misunderstands the vibe of this post.

Okay that put aside, let’s begin. Like I mentioned on my Introduction to Herah post, Herah values her friends and loved ones above anything else and she will do almost anything to protect them, even if that means going to extreme lengths. Her loyalty is her downfall as it were. So obviously that means she wants to redeem Solas, if we’re going by canon.

However, I diverge pretty far from canon from mid-DAI as Solas reveals of his own free will his true identity to significant other Dorian and best friend Herah. I believe that his character is open to interpretation in a way that, if he can actually be convinced that there are things in this world that he can’t or doesn’t want to lose, he will go back on his plans. Just look at how he talks to an Inquisitor who has fostered a good relationship with him at the end of Trespasser. He wants to be convinced otherwise.

I think I’m just interested in exploring what would happen if he came to the realisation on his own that he could no longer go through with his plans and having both a best friend and a lover at stake, particularly if there are two different people who are disproving his world view. The thing with Trespasser is that he views the Inquisitor as an exception, perhaps at least partially as a result of the anchor. When two pieces of evidence lie in front of you, however, it’s a bit harder to ignore or dismiss your doubts.

To explore this idea further, I wrote this fic on how he tells Dorian his true identity. I will probably at some point write something on how he breaks this news to Herah, narrating her reaction.

Skip to later on and you might be asking how the premise of Trespasser and DA4 would even work if all of this is the case and that’s a pretty fair question. Even without everything I’ve just said, I am a firm believer that DA4 would be done best if Solas is a red herring and the real danger is the Evanuris.

So I wrote a Trespasser fic on this diversion from canon wherein Solas returns just as any other companion does. This one’s a bit longer so I’ll just provide a quick summary in case anyone’s interested but doesn’t have the time to read it:

In the years between the defeat of Corypheus and the start of Trespasser, Solas and Dorian went to Tevinter to enact change. They were invited back for the Exalted Council.

After the discovery of the gaatlok, Solas begins to hear the Eluvian and he and Dorian find it, informing Herah. An extra bit of relevant information is that Solas has still been gathering Eluvians, using them as a means of transporting freed slaves from Tevinter without risking them being caught.

Given the nature of the mission, Herah takes along Solas, Dorian, and the Iron Bull through the Eluvians. As they realise where they're being led, Solas begins to put the pieces together and work out what's going on.

Bull betrays the Inquisitor, returning his loyalty to the Qun. (Important side knowledge: Herah in this version of my canon sacrificed the Chargers in order to save lives by stopping the Red Lyrium from going any further. I'll probably talk about this more later but this isn't the post for that.)

At the end, they are confronted by Elgar'nan who was able to slip through the Breach in the Veil just as demons can. He reveals that he wants to bring back all of the Evanuris, bring back Ancient Arlathan, and get revenge on Solas.

So the threat for DA4 then becomes the Evanuris as led by Elgar'nan, which I like to think parallels the ending of Trespasser well and hopefully will be compatible with the scope of DA4 (although who knows on that front). Solas agrees to join back with Herah to fight against this threat, considering it of his own creation. The Inquisition is preserved in order to divert Elgar'nan's attention elsewhere while Solas and Dorian remain undercover in Tevinter, anticipating that that's the most likely place for Elgar'nan to make his first move.

Herah's friendship with Solas is built on their combined loyalty to one another even when they recognise their disagreements. He plays an important part in Herah's journey throughout, and that's also the reason she sends him away at the end of DAI even though she really doesn't want to because her gut is telling her she needs the space even though she remains loyal to him throughout those two years apart. Part of this is also about protecting Sera, and maintaining the tricky balance of having a girlfriend who's wary of magic, being a mage herself, and having two best friends who are mages, one of whom being one of the most powerful beings in Thedas.

Again, I will at some point make a post about the dynamic between these four (who as a result end up spending a lot of time together) and how they all learn to respect and get along better even if only for Herah's sake.

I feel like I've rambled a lot here, but I think I've said all that needs to be said on this. If you've gotten this far, I hope you enjoyed the read as much as I've enjoyed tinkering with canon over the past few years!