#Roland x lacklon

[redmedic]

Here is some old fanart I did for Dragon Age: Absolution when that was just coming out. I loved Lacklon and Roland's dynamic, they were very funny and sweet.

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[emopulco]

more lackon / roland but in the sunset this time ✨

[tigereyes45]

Pride Month MEP - Part 15 - Mari'lyn (Mariner x T’lyn) & Lackland (Lacklon x Roland)

[themightychristoff]

I never thought I’d see a gay romance between two non-White characters, especially in a fantasy setting.

But I’m so fucking glad I did! 🥰😍🙌🏽

"About damn time."

[himluv]

So, we know that Teia and Viago are in Veilguard. Irelin and Strife are very likely, as are Evka Ivo and Antoine. Thats the Crows, Veil Jumpers, and Wardens accounted for.

For the Mourn Watch I'd love to see Myrna and Audric. The Shadow Dragons *could* be Dorian and Maevaris. But I'm REALLY hoping that the Lords of Fortune are represented by these two doofuses.

[quillfulwriter]

Tumblr TV is right

[libartz]

Gosh the best part of Absolution was the way Lacklon was like

Lacklon: Ugh I’m just here for the money, I don’t even like any of you people

Roland: *does anything*

Lacklon: 🫣🥺😤🥵

[thepinkseat-askthemoonbunny]

Ok guys, just finished watching Dragon Age Absolution and I present to you…my thoughts: (warning, mild spoilers down below)

Miriam is my baby and I love her and I would kill for her. She gets to have all the complexity I like in a character and she ACTUALLY gets to be angry and bitter without being demonized for it! YAAAS QUEEN, POP OFF! And YAY, SAPPHIC REP!

Cinnamon roll Qwydion must be protected at all costs and I desperately hope she gets a blanket and a nice boyfriend (or girlfriend) that deserves her, but she’s only shown interest in dudes so far so yeah.

Dragon Age, if y’all kill Roland I’m gonna fucking riot. He’s the gay uncle I always wanted (I had a bit of a crush on him until that bubble was popped…but oh well, you can’t have everything you want).

These writers are fucking TALENTED as hell, cuz Rezaren legit had me fooled the first couple of episodes. I’m over here thinking “oh, morally grey wizards, my fave kind.” But no.

The way Lacklond was pretending not to give a shit when he so CLEARLY gave a shit will never not be funny. Like sir, just admit you care why don’t you?

[timptoe]

Of Butterflies and Flying Dwarves

I have a problem. And that problem is I want to put all my favorite grumpy characters on hoverboards.

Remember that spell Hira used to fly on a disk of pure magic? Qwydion sure does, and she's determined to make it work—whether Lacklon likes it or not.

aka the Dragon Age: Absolution fic I worked on to help me delay finishing Mass Effect so fast. 

Read the whole thing on Ao3.

--

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit look out!”

A scream, followed by the crash of broken branches, followed by a groan. A familiar pattern. The fourth time this has happened in the last hour.

Ugh.

“What in the name of the Ancestors is she doing over there?” Lacklon grumbles.

“Magic, I think,” Roland responds, his honey-coated accent positively dripping with mirth.

They’ve been traveling on the road for a little over a week now, tracking Hira through the wilds of Tevinter. Lacklon would be just fine leaving her to the wolves and moving on to another job, but no he apparently has friends now and they’ve all decided to do the noble thing and chase her down to get that sodding magic circle thing back. Buncha dumbasses.

Roland shifts where he’s sitting with Lacklon against a fallen log, idly brushing against Lacklon’s shoulder. Well, maybe there are a few perks to staying.

Qwydion pokes her head out of the bush she’d fallen into, wide perpetual grin stretched across her face. “Guys! Guys! Did you see that?”

“Yeah, I saw you fall face-first into a bush,” Lacklon calls over, “so if that’s what you were aiming for, you know, congratulations.”

Roland nudges him with his elbow. “It was a good attempt, Qwydion.” He leaves his elbow against Lacklon’s shoulder, and Lacklon doesn’t move away.

“What’re you trying to do, anyway?” Lacklon thinks he does a pretty good job keeping his voice steady despite the butterflies in his stomach. “Because we’re trying to keep a low profile here and all the, you know, noise over there ain’t what I’d call stealthy.”

“Ah, you worry too much,” the qunari mage says, brushing the leaves off of her sleeve and striding across the clearing to where the pair are sitting. “Miri already scouted around here and there’s nothing but birds and trees for miles. I’m fine!”

Lacklon stares at the footlong branch tangled up in her horns. “Right. Fine.”

Roland chuckles and leans a bit harder into Lacklon’s arm. The butterflies dance faster. “Still no luck in replicating Hira’s spell?” the Orlesian asks.

Qwydion harrumphs and drops down next to them, trying to detach the wayward branch from the gold loop on her right horn. “I’ve got the basic principle, I think, but force magic isn’t my speciality. Making things go—“ here, she makes a pa-chooo noise “—is. It’s a different kind of energy focus, creation instead of destruction, especially trying to create a circle of pure magic I can stand on.” She pouts. “It’s tough.”

Roland chuckles again. “Do not worry. I am sure you will get it right.”

She flops over backward and twists her head up at him, grinning again. “Thanks Roland.”

“I don’t get why this is such a big deal,” Lacklon grumps. “Hira’s terrible. Stands to reason any magic she can cast is terrible, too.”

Qwydion frowns from her upside-down position. “Magic isn’t terrible. Magic isn’t good or bad, it just is. It’s who and how you use it that gives it a moral, you know, whatever.” She pauses for a moment. “But I do agree with you that Hira is terrible.”

“Regardless,” Roland says gently, “it is fascinating to watch you work.”

“Fascinating, hilarious, same thing,” Lacklon mutters under his breath. 

Qwydion impishly sticks her tongue out at him.

“Perhaps we can help?” Roland casually twines his fingers with Lacklon’s, which has the effect of stopping Lacklon from continuing to poke fun at their companion. Mostly because those butterflies have decided to have the dance battle to end all dance battles in his stomach.

Damn, this guy is smooth.

“I may not know magic,” the warrior continues, as if he has no idea at all what he’s doing to Lacklon by oh-so-gently brushing the heel of Lacklon’s palm with his thumb, “but sometimes talking it out helps. And I do know something about tactics.” He lightly squeezes Lacklon’s hand once, never breaking eye contact with Qwydion.

Fucking smooth.

“Sure! Couldn’t hurt, right?” Qwydion springs up and crouches in the dirt in front of them, completely oblivious to Lacklon’s currently tenuous grip on reality. She rapidly marks out a series of glyphs and runes in the dirt as she talks. “Okay, so take elemental magic. When I pull raw magic out of the Fade, I can just tell what it wants to be, you know? Like, say, if I want to throw a lightning bolt, I find the energy that’s most, you know, lightning-ish and I pull on it and then it’s there. If I want to make a wall of fire, I focus on the area where I want that wall the happen and then pull some fire-y energy out and it becomes fire, you know? I mean, it’s a little more complicated than that, especially when you get into the more destructive stuff, but that’s essentially what it feels like.”

Roland blinks. “Have you ever—“

“I’ve never been to school for this, no, self-taught Tal Vashoth over here!” Qwydion laughs nervously. “Anywho force magic is different. You pull the threads of raw magic and then shape the energy in a specific way. Like with Hira’s spell: the raw energy is shaped into a disc and then told, you know, stay. Except,” she leans forward conspiratorially, “magic doesn’t like being told what to do like that. Especially when you’re making something semi-permanent like that disc. The energy is always trying to separate and go back to the Fade. Keeping it present is the part I keep messing up.”

She cocks her head at them, hope shining in her eyes. “So…that’s where I am. Thoughts?”

Lacklon looks at Roland, who has the dazed expression of someone who just got brained by the short end of a long sword. How is it possible he even looks cute when he’s confused?

The Orlesian shakes it off after a moment. “Haha, yes,” he laughs faintly, “that does sound like a problem.”

“You have no idea what I just said, do you,” Qwydion says flatly.

“Not a clue,” he admits.

“Uuugh, why am I so bad at this?” she groans in frustration. “Is it because I’m self-taught? Other mages don’t seem to have a problem getting their point across but whenever I try it everything comes out—“

“What if you put it in something?” Lacklon muses.

Qwydion stops and stares at him, mouth open in mid-sentence. He doesn’t look but he can feel Roland staring, too. He ducks his head, heat flooding his cheeks, and mutters, “What? Nevermind.”

“No no, say that again,” the mage says, suddenly very interested.

“I just—“ he starts, then stops abruptly. This is stupid, those runes in the dirt might as well be pictures of animals for all he can tell, magic isn’t his bag and the last thing he wants is to look stupid in front of Roland.

And that’s the stupidest thing of all.

Ugh, they’ve only been whatever-this-is for a few days and already he’s acting like he’s lost his sodding mind. Get it together, Lacklon.

But when he (finally) looks over at Roland, all he sees is an encouraging smile. The most beautiful smile he’s ever oh fine what the hell.

“You said the magical energy or whatever doesn’t want to stay together, right?” he says gruffly, getting the words out as quickly as he can. “So contain it. Put it in something. ‘S what I do with my grenades.”

The glade is silent for a moment, long enough for the heat on his cheeks to spread to the tips of his ears. Stupid. Shoulda kept my—

Qwydion sweeps him off the ground, spinning him around in a hug as she cackles with glee. “Lacklon! That’s perfect! What an incredible idea, giving the energy a physical barrier might help it keep its shape, I can’t believe I— oh, I could kiss you right now!” She stops suddenly, holding him directly out in front of her with her freakish qunari strength. “Well, guess that one’s not my job,” she adds with a wicked gleam in her eye.

He has never wished he were a mage with the ability to shoot fire straight out of his eyes more than in this moment.

She laughs and puts him down on the ground, then skips back across the clearing without another word.

Lacklon mutters a string of curses under his breath involving the Ancestors, her ancestors, and the unnaturalness of magic, then turns to go practice his axe work on a stump or seven. And stops right in front of Roland.

Who says, “No, that one is my job,” and leans down to kiss him gently on the forehead.

Lacklon feels all the anger rush out of him as the butterflies return, dancing pinwheels around Roland’s fingers as they caress his cheek. “You are truly breathtaking, you know that?”

The dwarf huffs, heat at the tips of his ears for a different reason now. “Why don’t, uh…why don’t you come with me over here and tell me more about that?”

Roland grins brightly enough to outshine the sun. 

Read the rest on Ao3!

[historyhermann]

Things Get Better?: LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2022 [Part 2]

Continued from part 1

In 2022, there was a plethora of LGBTQ characters in Western animation, from gay warriors Orc and Iago in Battle Kitty to a lesbian drama teacher in Dee Dee Holloway in Big Nate. Other series featured gay couples (as in Baymax!), gay and lesbian parents (as in Firebuds), and many other lesbian, bisexual, non-binary, and queer characters. [3]

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the nineteenth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on January 16, 2023.

Some series had more representation than others. One of these was The Legend of Vox Machina, airing on Amazon Prime and based on the Critical Role roleplaying podcast, which featured lesbian, bisexual, and queer characters, specifically Vex'ahlia "Vex" de Rolo, Vax'ildan "Vax" Vessar, Lady Kima, Keyleth of the Air Ashari, Scanlan Shorthalt, and Lady Allura Vysoren. Stephanie Beatriz, a bisexual actress, voiced two of these characters: Lady Kima and Lady Allura. In addition, there were was a reboot of Monster High which premiered on Nickelodeon in fall 2022, with more gender diversity and LGBTQ characters, such as a non-binary monster named Frankie Stein and two lesbian moms (Medusa and Lyra).

Just as powerful was the reboot of The Proud Family in a series named The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. It aired on Disney+ from February to April of 2022. Created by the same person as the original, Bruce W. Smith, it includes three gay characters: Randall Leibowitz-Jenkins, Barry Leibowitz-Jenkins, and Michael Collins. There were also one-time lesbian characters and queer vibes among other characters, who are part of the show's mostly Black cast.

One of these characters is Maya, a 14-year-old anti-racist activist voiced by Keke Palmer. Although Palmer is an actress who has described herself as sexually fluid and queer, it remains to be seen whether Maya will be "sexually fluid and queer as much as Palmer is in real-life."

This was followed, later in 2022, by the much-expected Dead End: Paranormal Park, which Netflix recently cancelled. This series broke barriers as the first animated series with a trans protagonist named Barney Guttman. He is voiced by a trans male actor, Zach Barack. The show also includes Norma Khan who likes multiple genders and is ambiguously queer, and Courtney, who is non-binary. This series goes beyond the barrier-breaking of High Guardian Spice, a series by a trans male creator, Raye Rodriguez, who voiced one of the show's characters (Caraway), or the trans male lead character in Wendell & Wild (Raúl Cocolotl), who was said to be the first trans man in an animated film.

2022 heralded the end of the much-beloved Disney series, Amphibia. The series featured LGBTQ characters who were confirmed after the show's finale, like bisexual Sasha Waybright, voiced by bisexual actress Anna Akana. There's also Mr. X, Frodrick Toadstool, and Toadie who are gay, Yunan and Lady Olivia who are lesbian, Ally who is pansexual, and Jess who is bisexual.

Continued in part 3

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[3] This includes lesbian characters Nadja el-Koury and Danielle in Human Resources, Laura Feinberg as a bisexual woman in Little Demon, a queer non-binary couple (Gladys and Wren) in Pinecone & Pony, a non-binary Faerie student named Jae in Supernatural Academy, and a non-binary transformer named Nightshade in Transformers: EarthSpark. In addition, Dragon Age: Absolution, which only aired for six episodes in December 2022, featured four of LGBTQ characters (Miriam, Hira, Roland, and Lacklon), with Qwydion voiced by Ashly Burch who came out as queer and pansexual in July 2022.

[fallloverfic]

I went overboard (and kinda cheated cause some of these were just a lot smaller to nonexistent when I started posting for them, but are definitely not now), so with the caveat this is only going by Archive of Our Own stats (and also thank you to all the amazing tag wranglers who have wrangled tags that have been the only fic in that pairing/fandom for ages, small fandom authors love you so much):

Blind Men has 15 fics total, mine is the most recent (over a year after posting), and it is the fifth Hunter/Keegan work.

Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon REMIX had 5 fics before I posted the first Alex Taylor/Dolph Laserhawk fic. There are now 213 fics total and 21 Alex/Dolph fics.

It's hard to tell with this fandom because of active fandoms, backdating, and crossovers, but I posted the second fic for Castlevania: Nocturne and Mizrak/Olrox (I know because I went immediately to the tag after watching and I checked it before and after posting mine). There are now 257 fics in the fandom tag and 91 for the pairing. I also posted the second fic for Alucard/Olrox (it's been shifted out of order because another fic either backdated or added the pairing, but one reason I finally put mine up was because the only fic for the pairing at the time was one solely based on the games that predated the show by 8 years). There are now 7 fics for the pairing. I posted the third of the now 12 Olrox/Richter fics.

I created the Dorus/Styxx pairing for the Dark-Hunter Series. I still have the only fic. Dorus isn't an original character (he's a minor acquaintance in the book who meets Styxx twice), but I almost completely retconned his backstory and personality.

I started and was the entirety of the Dear Monster tag for some time (I wrote 3, there are now 4, with one published almost a year after my last fic), and I also published the only Faeryn/Allen fic.

I posted 1 of the 26 Rouxls Kaard/Mettaton fics for Deltarune/Undertale.

I posted the first Ameridan/Kordillus Drakon I fic from Dragon Age: Inquisition (there is now a second, published nearly three years after mine). I published the first Lacklon/Roland fic for Dragon Age: Absolution. There are now 21 fics. As I recall it was only like the third or fourth fic at most in the fandom tag at the time, but this is another fandom that's hard to track due to active fandoms, backdating, and crossovers. I also have 1/14 of the Solas/Felassan fanfics, and 1/41 of the m/m Davrin/Rook fanfics.

Element of Fire has 6 fics. Mine is the most recent and I posted the only Roland Fontainon/Gideon fic. And Roland Fontainon/Falaise, but I don't fully consider that the fic focus so. I think it's also the only one that even includes Roland.

I posted 1 of the 38 Augus Each Uisge/Gwyn ap Nudd fics for Fae Tales - not_poignant. That's 1 out of 15 if you only count fanworks, since all the canon and official AUs are included in the tag. I published both the 2 fanfics for Eran Iliakambar/Mosk Manytrees (the other 4 works are all canon and an official AU). I published the only fanwork for Anika/Terho (the other fic is a canon extra).

I created the crossover pairing Wing/Murata Ugetsu for Hunter X Hunter and Given and have the only fic for it.

I posted the only tagged Clark Kent/Lewis Lane fic for My Adventures with Superman. But I can't believe there isn't something else out there for a character who's technically existed since 1980. There may be one in German and another in English that's tagged for Louis Lane, the 1980 character(s), but they both predate My Adventures with Superman by some years.

I posted 1 of the 14 fics for Brad Boimler/Jack Ransom for Star Trek: Lower Decks.

I posted the most recent 2 of the 4 Van Fanel/Allen Schezar fics for Escaflowne.

I posted the only Lisava Ormevar/Aathis Rohethar fic for The Chronicles of Osreth.

I posted the 3 most recent The Hunt fics, and all 4 fandom fics are for Hendrey/Cash (fic 1, fic 2, fic 3).

I posted 1 of the 34 Link/Tauro fics. I also went looking back when I posted and at least back then I couldn't find Link/those funky tower mechanical arm tentacles, so maybe I was the first with that? Only two fics pop up when I search for them now.

This is another fandom where it's hard to track things due to active fandoms, backdating, etc., but I recall I published the second Jaskier/Radovid V fic, and maybe the first focused on the Netflix show version (the one prior to that, as I recall, was game and/or book focused). I remember being surprised there still weren't that many when I posted my second one. Pretty sure the pairing was still in the double digits. There are now 345. I published one of the first couple fics for Filavandrel aen Fidhail/Vesemir, and I believe the first or second to specifically focus on their incarnations in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. There are now 37 fics. I also started the tag for Sirens of the Deep and still have the only fic in the tag.

This isn't a pairing but I somehow published the only fanfic for the Tomb Raider Top Cow comics tag? Similarly, I started the Golden Sparkle by Minta Suzumaru tag.

I published 1 of 32 fics for Anna Valerious/Gabriel Van Helsing for Van Helsing (2004).

I published the third of 6 fics for Dietfried Bougainvillea/Claudia Hodgins from Violet Evergarden. I think the second-to-last published before mine (that's currently a WIP) one came out cause I went on a sort of hiatus while posting.

This is another fandom where it's hard to track things due to active fandoms, backdating, etc., but my fic is listed as the 9th for Rand al'Thor/Ishamael. There are now 47.

My Shutendouji/Ryo fic is the seventh out of ten fics for the pairing for Ronin Warriors. When I originally made this post, it was the sixth. I assume someone backdated a fic or retagged it.

I published the second of the now 13 Jin Marito/Tahide Outa fics for a fandom with now 91 works (Bucchigiri?!).

This is another fandom where it's hard to track things due to active fandoms, backdating, etc., but I think I posted one of the first 20 Gongyi Xiao/Zhuzhi-lang fics for The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System. There are now 114. I posted 1 of the 33 Liu Qingge/Zhuzhi-lang fics.

There are 53 works in the Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san webcomic tag and 8 in the anime tag. I think I posted the third Akatsuki Red/Shogun fic (and there are now 13), and the first Rooney/Shogun fic. There are now 3. I've posted the second of the 2 Shogun/Yoiyami Black fics.

I posted fic #4 in the See You My King/The King and Me tag, and the first Xiao Wei/Evtiti fic. There are now 2/3(?) (it's hard to tell because the tag hasn't been wrangled). I also posted the 9th + 10th most recent Mimi/Zhang Li fics. There are 12 fics in the fandom tag.

I posted the first fic for Lang Qianqiu/Xiao Mengyou or Lang Qianqiu/Xiao Shiwei, but I believe the second fic about Xiao Mengyou (the first one didn't name him). There are now 13 fics in the tag.

I posted technically the second fic of the 2 for Peach Blossom Debt. The other fic for some time was just two words that say, "Coming 2024" (it's since been edited to have actual fic in it). Mine is the only one for Song Yao/Hengwen Qingjun.

I posted the 7th fic for The Imperial Uncle, and it's the second for Jing Chengjun/Liu Tongyi. The total fandom is 17 fics.

I posted the most recent 2 of still 3 fics for The Deer King, which includes 1 of 2 fics for Hohsalle Yuguraul/Van Gansa, and the only fic for Hohsalle Yuguraul/Makokan.

I posted the still only fic for Joseph Huh/Yongsoo Ahn in a fandom that I think had a lot fewer fics before mine back when I posted it, but it has 58 now. I am using the official English translation spellings. I'm not sure what Ao3 is using.

I posted one of now 8 total fics for Choi Jong-In/Sung Jin-Woo in Solo Leveling (it had 9 when last I looked).

I posted the second and most recent fic for Jaehwan/Karlton Javier for The World After the Fall. The fandom tag has 34 fics now.

I've posted 2 of the 14 fics for Anubis/Khnum in ENNEAD (fic 1, fic 2). (It used to have 15, I guess someone deleted one).

I've posted apparently the second of 11 works tagged for Lee Hakhyun/Yoo Joonghyuk for Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

I've posted the second of 4 fics for Chronos/Zagreus in the Hades fandom. I've posted the only Heracles/Icarus fic. I posted the first of now 14 total Odysseus/Moros fics.

For Blood of Zeus, I've posted the latest of 5 fics for Apollo/Seraphim. I posted the last two Seraphim/Heron fics in the 10 fic tag (fic 1, fic 2).

Not a romantic/physical ship, but I posted the first Mithrun & Milsiril fic for Delicious in Dungeon.

I'm currently writing a series of non-existent ships in the Ayashi no Ceres tag. Thus far I've posted one each for Alec/Ryurik, Alec/Kagami, Kagami/Toya, Yuhi/Toya, and Toya/Wei. I have one last one planned for another ship that doesn't exist. The only m/m fic in the fandom tag that isn't mine is for characters from another series. Most of the characters I'm writing don't have wrangled tags.

I've written two of the 12 Lawrence Bluewer/Edgar Redmond fics for Kuroshitsuji (fic 1, fic 2).

For The Sea Beast (2022), I wrote one of the five Jacob Holland/Original Character fics, and the only tagged Jacob Holland/The Surgeon fics (I think there are other fics, but they aren't using the wrangled tag).

For BoJack Horseman, I've written one of the 74 BoJack Horseman/Mr. Peanutbutter fics.

For Bridgerton, I've written the only Anthony Bridgerton/Lord Lumley fic.

For Epic: The Musical, I wrote one of now 26 Eurylochus/Odysseus fics (there were fewer than 7 when I published it).

For Dark Rise, I've written one of 61 Anharion/Sarcean fics (there were fewer than 46 when I published).

I have the only Babylon 5 fic tagged for Marcus Cole & Lennier, as well as Lyta Alexander & Marcus Cole.

I have the only Vlad Taltos/Haichfa fic in Dragaera, and it's one of only 15 m/m works in the fandom.

I have 1/35 and the most recent Jareth/Toby fic in Labyrinth.

I wrote the fourth and most recent fic for Ordeal By Innocence (TV) fanfic.

I started the Requiescence tag, and currently have the only fics in it, including the only Kaul/Kymil fanfic (other one is a crossover).

I wrote one of the now 96 Loid Forger/Yuri Briar fics for Spy x Family.

From what I can tell I have the only Starship Operators fanfic on Ao3. The fandom tag still hasn't been wrangled after nearly half a year.

I wrote the second of two fics for State Fair (1945).

I started the tag for Twilight of the Gods, though there were at least a couple fics for it before it was wrangled, and which are now likely in the wrong tags (one version of the tag was for a larger and incorrect fandom). The main relationships are unwrangled.

I have the only fic in the wrangled version of Koschey/Ivan for Im|mortal the webcomic. There are two others in different versions of the tag for the total 4-fic tag.

I have 1 of the now 24 Hirose Aiki/Nakamura Okuto fics for Go for it, Nakamura!!.

I have 1/10 of the Yu Shengyuan/Yuan Ying fics for Thousand Autumns.

I have 1/14 Cale Henituse/Bud Illis fics in the Lout of Count's Family tag, which is also 1/32 of the Cale/Tunka tag, and the only Bud/Cale/Tunka fic. I have 1/62 of the Clopeh Sekka/Cale fics. I have the only fic tagged for the Dragon Half-Blood & Ron Molran, which is also 1/4 of the Cale & Dragon Half-Blood fics. I have 1/3 of the Dragon Half-Blood & Sheritt fics.

Reblog and put your rare pair in the tags/comments! I want to see the depths people will go to create, for the most random two characters in the most obscure media.

[jay-wasstuff]

Dragon Age be like

[tigereyes45]

My Big Mistake MEP - Part 4 for @lovelydayforit

More Lackland amvs, because they are adorable and one part fo every song fits them, (in my head) right now.

[honeyed-pines]

them <3

[himluv]

DA Review Series: Absolution

<<< Previous Review: Dark Fortress

This is the part of the list that gets a little... loosey goosey. Basically everything after Blue Wraith but before The Missing takes place in this weird, nebulous, in-between time. We know it's after Trespasser, after the Inquisition disbanded (per my and Bioware's canons) and before Veilguard, but we don't know when specifically. So, since we can't really say when these stories take place in relation to one another I'm just going to review them as I consume them :).

Title: Absolution Writers: Mairghread Scott, Mae Catt, and Tim Sheridan Release Year: 2022 In-World Year: ~9:45+ Verdict: Look. I love this fucking show. I'd watched it at least three times before I decided to do this big tie-in media marathon. And, I just rewatched it three times while convalescing with the flu this past week – turns out it's a very good comfort/sickie show. It does a wonderful job of orienting new viewers while not alienating old timers like myself, is fast-paced and fun, while also establishing a very interesting plot that could be vital to Veilguard. Basically, I highly recommend you commit to the three hours required to watch it.

Absolution introduces us to Miriam, a runaway slave from Tevinter, and her bff Roland (who may or may not be a chevalier?). The two are hired by Fairbanks to join his team for one last job for the Inquisition – steal a magic artifact from the Archon's Summer Palace. That's right, babes, Absolution is a heist story!

So, they team up with Fairbanks (Orlesian human rogue from Inquisition), Qwydion (lady Qunari mage!), Lacklon (dwarf warrior Lord of Fortune), and Hira (Tevinter human mage with whom Miriam has a romantic history), and head off for the city of Nessum. Of course, this is Dragon Age and nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Miriam's former master, Magister Rezaren Ammosine, is in Nessum. In fact, he's the reason the artifact they're after (the Circulum Infinitus) is even in the city. He's studying it in the hopes of finding a non-blood magic means of activating it. Supposedly, the Circulum can restore life to the dead, resurrecting them to be the same as they were before. And he has a very certain someone he wants to bring back to life – Miriam's twin brother.

Without getting too deep in the details, Miriam and her brother were slaves raised alongside Rezaren, intended to become his bodyguards in adulthood. He claims to see them as his brother and sister, that they all were helpless in the face of his mother's abuse. And for a while the show does a good job of making us wonder if that's true. Certainly, Rezaren seems to believe it. At least until Miriam refuses to play along.

The heist does not go well. Fairbanks seemingly turns traitor, tries to kill Hira, and dies in the process. Hira is trapped in the vault, and Miriam is mortally wounded on the team's frantic way out. In a blood magic-fueled dream, Rezaren lays out his plans to Miriam, in the hopes it will convince her to rejoin him and the reanimated corpse of her brother. And, of course, it all boils down to the Magister's ambitions – he wants to become the next Divine of the Imperial Chantry, where he swears he will work to make Tevinter a better place. And yet, in his power fantasy, Miriam and her brother are still his bodyguards, just as they were trained to be. Even Rezaren doesn't seem to notice how deeply ingrained his view of them as "things" truly is.

So, obviously, Miriam and company aren't going to play nice with that guy. They hatch a plan to get Hira out of the palace, and things seem to be going their way for once. There's a lot of epic fight sequences, Qwydion is hilarious, and the romantic tension between Roland and Lacklon keeps ratcheting up. But when Hira makes a break for the safe house, the team follow her and start to get a whiff of the true betrayal.

The traitor was never Fairbanks (whose loyalty I never doubted!). He caught wind of Hira's true plan – to steal the Circulum from the Inquisition and deliver it to the Crimson Knight in Kirkwall – and was trying to put her down. I will never forgive this show for killing him, btw. I loved him so much! But Hira's real plan is even worse. All this time she'd struck a deal with Rezaren – return Miriam to him, and he'd let her have the Circulum once his ritual to restore her brother was complete.

Side note: Hira is stupid. There's no world where Rezaren actually lets her take the Circulum. None. So, she was willing to sell her (ex?)girlfriend into slavery for something that would never happen. And yeah, she makes a lot of promises about how she would have got Miriam back, how Miriam would have escaped, but we know Hira is a liar and a cheat and just as ambitious and driven as every other "Tevinter snake," as Miriam would say.

Anyway, there's a bunch more badass action involving blood magic, spirits, grenades, and a High Dragon (which again shows that dragon blood is extremely potent in magic rituals!). Roland and Lacklon finally kiss, and Miriam stabs Rezaren in the throat mid-meltdown. It's a beautiful end sequence. And even though the show is over, the team knows their work is just beginning.

Because Hira snuck off with the Circulum in all the chaos, and they know where she's headed. To Kirkwall. To the Crimson Knight... which appears to be a colony of sentient Red Lyrium, formerly known as Knight Commander Meredith Stannard. And she/they/it(?) is intent on seeing all of Tevinter burn. (insert my theories here about how the Blight causes feelings of intense hatred over time, as established in the book The Calling and further exemplified by the tainted Griffons in Last Flight.)

Obviously, I love this series and really wish we'd gotten a second season. There's just so much this show set up, surely we'll see more of team Absolution, whether in another season/show, in a comic or book, or... in Veilguard? Fingers crossed, y'all.

[heldentenxr]

they be so fine and for what