#Mercar rook

[olileigh-art]

Post game neverook because I think they deserve a good rest after everything that happened

[fiadoesart]

I did the sillyest lil page based on this post that had me cackling out loud.

Onestly Illario, with that face it's difficult NOT to stab you....I love you tho

( ages later I realised that I forgot davrin chin tattoo I'll fix it eventually )

[housederiva]

Shadow Dragon Rook was adopted into a military family… Shadow Dragon Rook was adopted into a military family… Shadow Dragon Rook was adopted into a military family…

[wickedapostate]

So y'all remember how Lucanis's line in the meet the companion trailer was "Someone to bring a little darkness to the light"? One of the Shadow Dragon faction abilities is "Light In The Dark"

I'm telling y'all, they're made for each other

[rederiswrites]

Another great parallel that hits hard if you make the dialogue choices I did with a Shadow Dragon Rook:

As Arden was setting up his room (Solas' room), and putting down the broken chains that he obviously kept as a reminder, he chose to talk about how he'd never apologize for freeing slaves, but that mission had gotten the Shadow Dragons into a lot of trouble. That he'd been impulsive and endangered people.

Not ten minutes later, he's standing in front of Solas, who is saying that the increasing success of his rebellion --to free slaves--was what drove the Evanuris to use the Blight. That it was, in his mind, his fault.

[fuckyeahvarric]

Penelope Mercar: Shadow Dragon, Rogue, Exhausted Older Sibling, Nap Addict, Smoocher of Handsome Dalish Griffon Dad

[eta-volantis]

So for my Mercar Rook, Alecto, I have my own HC for the evens during the city choice where Minrathous is saved and they are:

- Ghilan'nain is not in Minrathous, but instead in Treviso

- Rook is actively involved in quick planning and working with the Viper and Tarquin to ground the dragon

- this leads to the fight we get in game and it also still eventually flies up again

-Ghilan'nain still calls the dragon away as in game, if she hasn't Rook and co will probably be in a lot of trouble

- In Treviso, both Ghilan'nain and the dragon wreak havoc

- Since Ghilan'nain is also there, Lucanis and the two companions that goes with him are essentially helpless

- And so are the Crows, frankly. No arsenal they have can stand against a god.

- But this also serves two things: pushing the Crows to understand take the god threat seriously and Lucanis's contract on Ghilan'nain now becomes very personal

- Also since Rook is now actively responsible (up to a certain point at least since if the dragon hasn't leave, they'd all likely won't survive without Taash's expertise) it makes more sense to me as to the level of Rook's celebration as hero buf it also shows Rook's specialty of planning on the fly, too, which is why Varric insists they are the right person for the job

- On Lucanis' side, it makes more sense for me this way why it haunts so much and why Rook is seen as 'if only you were here Treviso would be saved' to such certainty. Since it's no longer luck and Ghilan'nain being weirdly blase about the dagger and leaving despite it being so important to their success, but Rook and their brain is what made the difference. Not to mention Ghilan'nain was there and Treviso needed them.

- Could Rook have known Ghilan'nain would be there? No. But he can't help feeling that way, especially while constantly hearing about the heroic and 'cool' things they did to ground the dragon even if it is temporarily. He cannot help think Treviso needed Rook more even if Minrathous was their home.

(I'll leave my HC for my Rook and Lucanis' conflict and resolution for later)

[therookandthecrow]

After seeing dell-amor-te's Dad!Lucanis posts, I am more certain than ever I am going to make him a dad in the long-fic that I'll be writing of him and my canon Rook, Aloisius, once I play the game.

How that's going to happen will reveal itself when I write it, all I can say now, is that I'm sorry to Lucanis' pelvis ahead of time about what I am going to put him through.

[alittlebitnerdy]

Ok took me a bit longer but here is my canon Rook, Ilya Mercar (they/them)! I am an avid DA2 Elf style enjoyer, so tried to echo that in their design. Scar on the left side of their face (their right), is from getting struck by a lightning spell during a job liberating slaves in Minrathous. @bleakheathland as promised!

[shewolfofvilnius]

i wrote a fun little general one-shot where Tabris meets Rook (along with Davrin and Bellara) and reunites with Morrigan. Post-Veilguard.

[another-dragon-age-blog]

thinking about how elf shadow dragon rook was adopted by a military human family 😭 and they would keep elf rook home as much as possible so that other tevinter ppl wouldn't treat them like shit for being an elf 😭😭😭😭😭

[olileigh-art]

Another peaceful post-game moment

They deserve a little apartment with a balcony

[fiadoesart]

"Rooks Obsession"

PART 1 / PART 2 / maybe I'll do a part 3

I sadly have to split this in two part as it exceeds the limit.

This is a self serving Rook X Solas work. I am no comic artist nor a writer but I've always loved the epilogue slides at the end of Trespasser so I wanted to give it a go.

I might do some more slides that cover the more major events in the game leading to the end.

[biserker-kadan]

13, 33 and 43 from fifty more rook qs?

Thank you!!! Receiving this made my day and I love getting the chance to just lore drop my Rooks 🤗 I'm gonna do this for my main 2 Rooks because they are both fresh in my lil obsessed brain.

Questions and answers underneath!

13. What would Rooks LI(s) say are their flaws?

Ev'lyn isn't a very forthcoming person, I can imagine that would cause a lot of issues with communication. Lucanis wouldn't necessarily give her any grief for taking her time with opening up about certain topics or thoughts but it's something that has caused problems (post-game, also post-prison) because she just bottles. At least, in a way, Lucanis does have Spite to bounce off of but Ev'lyn will just shut herself away and not only is it terrifying for Lucanis to watch, he also has to deal with Spite loosing their goddamn mind because why is she not answering them?

Whether Axel is with Neve or Davrin, either of them would not appreciate Axel's ability to completely forget that he is a living breathing person and if he gets stabbed, it will hurt. The man knows they all know how to fight and yet is always getting himself hurt doing stupid shit like throwing himself in front of the team or taking on way too many Venatori when Neve is right there. She knows it comes from a place of love but by god does she rip into him for it. Davrin would be so pissed to see Rook act as though he doesn't matter after everything they went through. It's the one thing that causes the most issues in their relationship(s).

33. What does the Inquisitor think when they first meet Rook?

Cassius was impressed with Ev'lyn. She's smart and precise, has her head on straight and isn't afraid to question things. He's more than happy to offer her anything she needs and step back when required, he has other responsibilities after all.

Val thought Axel was a fucking moron kid. Hated him. Hated that he was the one going after Solas when Solas fucking lied to him for so long and he doesn't even get to deal with it? It takes him a while (and probably a couple of conversations with Dorian and Morrigan) to actually see the bigger picture and appreciate Axel for his skills and abilities.

43. What does Rook do if they can't sleep?

Ev'lyn trains. She runs obstacle courses she memorized as a child or she reads medical journals until her eyes feel like they're going to fall out of her head or her body is about to collapse from exhaustion. Healthy? Probably not. Works? Yes.

Axel knows he shouldn't but he will go looking for a fight. He's usually a pretty deep sleeper so the only times that he does have problems with that is nightmares and his emotional response requires action. In the lighthouse it was harder to sneak out but not impossible, there were many a moments where Neve or one of the others followed him into the crossroads and watched his back.

[zundely]

I am living for how awkward my Rook is while flirting with Lace Harding, this is exactly the kinda dynamic I wanted for them.

They are great and competent in action but put them in casual setting with that one girl they had a crush on for a while and they can only go "...Your hair is so pretty..."

They are so cute I love them

[rederiswrites]

Arden pulls himself together in the first days at the Lighthouse:

“The general …should not be careless of the proper time at which to serve meals. For if he considers that it lies with him to lead out his troops to battle whenever he wishes, he may set a meal hour for his troops at whatever time he wishes. But if he should chance to have come into such extremities, because of the terrain, or the weakness of his camp, or for some other reason, that it is left in the power of the enemy to attack whenever they desire, and to compel his army to seize their arms and draw up for defense, he should not hesitate to order the first meal at sunrise, lest the enemy, by a prior attack, force his men to fight while still hungry. On the whole, this matter must not be considered of slight importance….” –Onasander

The world was a cloud, pushing in on him, obscuring everything else. They’d been here in this strange between-place three days, Arden thought–it was impossible to know for sure, his condition compounded by the strange nature of the Lighthouse. His head was pounding still. He felt so tired. Heavy and lost, as if he’d forgotten something important. 

He’d had a nasty concussion when he was fourteen–one of the other boys had managed to throw him while grappling, too close to the edge of the fighting lists. His head had hit the wall–hard. He didn’t remember much about the following days, which was sort of in the nature of the beast. Mostly he remembered it as the only time his mother had snapped back at his father. In retrospect, she’d been scared–scared by the concussion, angry at his father for wanting him to get back in the ring so soon. But concussions were hardly unheard of among training boys, and he’d seen them from the outside as well. This feeling of wandering lost in time, always returning to the only point of understanding as if stuck in an eddy. My head hurts. My head hurts. What have I forgotten?

“Shake it off, Rook. They need you out there.”

Arden groaned.

“Why, Varric? Is my presence somehow going to make the four of us enough to kill gods?”

“Well, they’re not doing it without you.”

“They know you. Neve doesn’t know me, and Lace trusts you completely.”

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten it’s me that got them into this mess,” Varric replied.

“This mess? No, this one’s mine. All my magnificent, amazing mess. The mess of all time.”

“Hey!” There was something close to anger in Varric’s voice. “None of that. This isn’t on you. You did what I asked you to do. You stopped the ritual. Do I need to remind you what would be happening to Thedas right now if you didn’t? Do I need to remind you what Minrathous looked like before he even finished?”

“Yeah yeah yeah. ‘Do not waste time on what has passed, nor coddle yourself with pity when you should rise to action.’” The words were so ingrained that they came to Arden easily even through his fog.

“Is that what your dad would say?”

“More what he did say. Repeatedly.”

“Respectfully,” Varric drawled, “Fuck your dad.” 

Arden snorted explosively.

Varric smiled. “No, really. It’s fine to think this all stinks! It stinks! You can feel sorry for yourself and still ‘rise to action’. I should know. I’m an expert.” Varric shifted, gingerly rubbing his chest. “But you do need the action. And I don’t think I’m going anywhere soon.

“Neve and Harding aren’t leaders, Rook. They’re brilliant at what they do, but they’re not you. They need you.”

“To be the good little general Father worked so hard to make me.” It was spiteful and unfair, but the anger actually felt good, the way it cut through the fog. 

“No,” Varric said, and the gentleness in it stung. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think you can teach someone to be a leader. I mean, you can teach them a lot about effective leadership, sure. But I think being someone people want to follow comes from inside. I didn’t pick you because of your dad. I picked you because of you. Because of who you were out there being, all on your own. Shit, if you weren’t willing to piss off your dad, I don’t think you’d be the guy we need.”

Arden stared up at the ceiling for a minute longer. Finally, he rolled up out of the cot with something between a groan and a snarl. Once he was upright, he spared a moment to hold his head in his hands. “Fenedhis. How many more concussions do you think before I forget all of Strategikos and The Methods of Siege Warfare?”

“At least one more, I’m betting.” Varric grinned.

“Right.” Arden stood up. “First, I go for a run. Then we set a schedule. This fucking place will have us questioning which way is up if we don’t get strict. Let’s see–mealtimes. Morning roll call? Shit, we need a dwarven clock. I wouldn’t trust a magic timepiece in this place. What else? How In the Maker’s name do you set a training regimen for mages, Varric?”

“Fuck if I know.” Varric shrugged, and then winced. “You’ve got this, Rook.”

Arden rolled his shoulders, and then gingerly stretched his neck, first to one side and then the other. He grimaced at the way the room swam.

“I’ve got this.”