#Ser Jory

[shewolfofvilnius]

Making Ser Jory's kid Rook is the best OC I've ever made

(If you've seen me post relentlessly about her on bluesky or reddit no you haven't)

If you've EVER played Dragon Age: Origins, one of the most memorable moments takes place early in the game. Your character has just traveled to Ostagar, where you'll formally join the Grey Wardens. You meet two recruits, one is the rogueish cutpurse Daveth, while the other is the former knight Ser Jory, formerly of Redcliffe and now of Highever (remember that bit.)

Jory is responsible for the first major tone shift of the entire franchise, when the previously affable Duncan, billed in all six origins as an at least moderately heroic type, pulls out his blade and kills Ser Jory when the knight refuses to drink Darkspawn blood (seems sensible), having either been misinformed or otherwise woefully naive about what being a Warden means.

The entire thing is grim - and your player character can even tell Alistair and Duncan how fucked up that was after the fact. Most importantly for THIS story, however, is something that Jory mentions twice including right before he dies: He has a wife back in Highever, who is due to have a baby.

Highever. The same Highever that gets raided and sacked during the Human Noble origin by Arl Howe's forces. The same Highever that sees every family member of literally anyone even vaguely connected to Teyrn Cousland either killed or worse.

But presumably, there were at least some survivors, folks who were able to flee. Even in canon world states where they don't join the Wardens, both the younger Cousland sibling and their mother Eleanor cut a pretty wide swathe of damage through the castle before being overwhelmed. The carnage almost assuredly let people flee, we see it in the human noble origin!

Maybe, just maybe, one of those people...was Jory's wife Helena. Who winds up fleeing Highever aboard a cargo ship headed for Tevinter. A cargo ship that winds up getting run aground and attacked near the battlefields Ventus by the Qunari, right as Helena is due to give birth. Worth noting: Thie last part of that is not even fanciful headcanon, it's Shadow Dragon Rook's canonical biography. They mention it to Tarquin before the Act 1 Choice.

and by the time of game events, a certain Legatus Mercar is ready to talk with Maevaris, Dorian, and the Shadow Dragons and has begun expressing equalist sentiments, at least privately? How would they know what Legatus Mercar thinks privately? Well, in a Shadow Dragon run, for one thing because his child is standing right next to them.

Having Rook be Rory and Helena's kid, though, opens up so much storytelling potential. Like the time Rook refuses to go along with the commanding First Warden (also from Rivain like Duncan)'s orders and nearly draws her own weapon on him:

Seem familiar?

Now imagine a bit later, when Morrigan meets her and immediately realizes there's something haunting familiar about this woman leading the attack against the gods. She even reflexively questions Rook's intelligence for a moment.

Later still, at Weisshaupt, when Rook - in this case now already armed with the knowledge that there was a Warden at Ostagar who she looks uncannily like - finds the chalice, finds records from the Fifth Blight while they're escaping to the dragon trap through the library.

drama.

It's been such a fantastic story so far and I'm only at Act 2. There's even an inversion of Flemeth's "sadly irrelevant in the larger scheme of things" line with Morrigan as she reveals the Mythal fragment in the Crossroads. Framed with a shot of a building that has a vague resemblence to the Tower of Ishal in the background with more swamp-like elements in the Crossroads.

At the same time, growing up as a girl in Tevinter has meant multiple stark differences between her and her father. She's a Shadow Dragon, so clearly she's invested in the liberation of slaves and servants. She's interested in equality, and although human, has likely experienced at least two forms of prejudice herself (being a non-Mage in Tevinter, and yes, being a she from a Tevinter military family when we know the Tevinter military has a long history of excluding or diminishing women). While her biological father is noted for having rather...sheltered and inhibited beliefs on the capabilities and stations of elves, dwarves, and yes, women - there's none of that with her.

...to the point that in her world state, she's CLEARLY in love with an elf. And while Jory ran off to chase glory and danger with the Wardens leaving Helena behind, when trouble comes for Bellara, she squares up and stands to protect her - even when that trouble is Bellara's own brother (and the ancient elven wannabe-god manipulating him)

but ultimately, the apple didn't fall entirely away from the tree.

Listen to the thing about Helena that Jory says hooked him in:

and who is Rook smitten with?

You know good and damn well Rook melts into a puddle every single time Bellara looks at her. Her vallaslin is literally designed to accentuate her eyes. Rook might be Mercar's daughter, but in at least one specific way, she is definitely Jory's kid.

Anyway, I just think my OC's neat and felt like yapping about her on here.

[championsandheroes]

Ser Jory, I have to insist that you read the character creation text before you open your mouth again.

Over at Patreon, society6, and redbubble we’ve decided to forgive ser Jory, but only because he had no issue with us being an elf.

[bumblewarden]

default weapons on jory and daveth above. disarmed below. poor fool would not take the hint

[lavalampelfchild]

To Answer the Call (Wardens at Ostagar), Ch. 8

Summary: The time has come for the Joining, and the recruits gather with Duncan and the other Wardens to undergo the mysterious ritual.  No one can predict what will happen, only that it will change their lives irrevocably...

AO3: Here.

A/N: As a heads-up to any tumblr-readers I have here; I renamed the ao3 version of this fic because I’m going to be breaking up my huge DAO narrative into individual stories that deal with each arc of the narrative.  All of these mini-stories will go in one single series, which is going to be what keeps the title To Answer the Call.  I am also going to start posting just previews here on tumblr, while linking to the ao3 version of the story because these chapters are getting longer, and I don’t have scripts that help me format everything quicker… xD Apologies for any inconvenience!

-----

Preview: 

They didn’t have long to rest.  As soon as everyone was able to stand on their own, Duncan herded them to a secluded corner of the camp and bade them wait.  Richu and Grigor had gone to the healing tents to fetch Velyn.  Alistair and Rondall were left to stay with the recruits and guard the Joining site.  

The night was dark enough, at least, that no curious onlookers from the king’s camp would see them.

Always find a silver lining, Alistair thought darkly.

The unease was palpable. The recruits were wary and tense. Ser Jory was the only one moving, pacing back and forth, face tight, gait stiff.

“This damned Joining,” he muttered. “The more I hear of it, the less I like it.”

Beside him, Daveth groaned, “Enough with your blubbering, ser knight.  It’s already happening, isn’t it?  Might as well shut up.”

Ser Jory made a frustrated noise.  “Of course you’d say that, you don’t—”  He broke off and exhaled carefully, hands twitching at his side.  His face was a twisted scowl of pain and frustration.  Alistair exchanged a wary look with Rondall.

“Look, Ser Jory,” he began in what he hoped was a sufficiently calm voice. “It’s going to be—”

“Have I not earned my place?” Ser Jory demanded, barreling through Alistair’s attempt at reassurance. “These damned tests, I—What is the purpose of lying to us about it all?”

“You’re going to be fine, Ser Jory—” Alistair tried again.  Daveth’s sharp scoff cut him off.

“Who gives a damn?” he sneered.  His eyes were hard, gaze locked firmly on Ser Jory.  “Maybe it’s tradition.  Or maybe they’re just trying to annoy you.  Damned easy thing to do, isn’t it?”

That got Ser Jory’s hackles up.  “Lying to us is tradition, then?”  His voice was rising.  Alistair shot another look Rondall’s way.  Could use a little help here.

Rondall stepped forward, “Alright, that’s enough—”

“All these secrets, all these tests, and what purpose do they serve!?  There is no honor in it—”

“Honor?”  Daveth marched forward to meet Ser Jory in challenge. “What would you know of honor?  The way you’re griping about it.”

“I know more of the matter than you, clearly—”

“Clearly!  Clearly, you’re talking out your arse.  You’d cut and run at the smallest thing, not even thought about why they might be having us go through all this—”

“To sacrifice us without our knowledge—”

“Because you wouldn’t be here if they’d told you what you’d be doing, and someone has to stop this damned Blight!  You saw those darkspawn out there, same as I!  You want to talk about honor?  What about that pretty wife of yours you keep going on about?  Isn’t it the honorable thing to want to protect her? Wouldn’t you die if it meant keeping her safe?”

Ser Jory’s face was ashen. “Of course, I—”

“Maybe you’ll die,” Daveth snarled through gritted teeth. “Maybe we’ll all die.  If nobody stops the darkspawn, then we’ll all die for sure.”

“They still should have told us.  My wife—” Ser Jory’s eyes were bright, wet with tears, the pupils dark and small.  Fearful.  “If I’d have known, I—I wouldn’t have left—”

“That’s enough!”

End Preview.

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[theotherpacman]

got s1 is really a very faithful adaptation of agot, with only minor divergences. sometimes I really love the little details in the book that the show doesn't have room for, but sometimes I like the decisions the show made differently.

things I appreciate about the book:

the fact that jon is 14 makes his naivete regarding the wall hit so much harder. he's just a little boy and he's willing to sign his whole life away bc he believes he can be a part of something noble... neither his father nor his uncle nor anyone else tells him that to take the black is a grim sentence steeped in shame

ned hearing that bran's direwolf saved his life and being like "holy shit I killed one of them... what the fuck did I do"

sandor just whole ass traumadumping on 11-year-old sansa completely unprompted and then when he realizes he's just made himself vulnerable for literally no reason he goes "if you tell anyone about this I'll fucking kill you"

mormont thinks jon will be disappointed that bran is now a cripple but jon is so ecstatic bran's alive that he picks up tyrion lannister and spins him around (tyrion is startled by this) and then proceeds to cheerfully make friends with a guy who hates his guts bc jon kicked his absolute ass in training

tyrion and bronn starting to become friends on the way to the vale <3

THAT SINGER BITCH i love him

"whatever you may believe of me, lady stark, I promise you this -- I never bet against my family" screaming crying throwing up

jon going to maester aemon and convincing him to let sam take his vows!!!! using the metaphor of the maester's chain to make his point about how just bc sam is different that doesn't mean he's useless!!!!!!!

TYRION FIGHTING IN THE BATTLE AGAINST ROBB'S MEN!!!!! THE SHOW DID HIM SO FUCKING DIRTY i get that they didn't have as big a budget back then but come on man ToT

"when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. when the seas go dry and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves. when your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. then he will return, and not before." LET THE BARRENNESS BE PART OF THE CURSE why did they cut that

when tywin says "because you are my son" tyrion fucking Hates him for that bc he knows that if jaime were he tywin wouldn't spare him a second glance, he's only Tywin's Son now that jaime is prisoner and might die at the hands of the starks

things I appreciate about the show:

arya shooting a bullseye from behind bran. queen

jaime being a dick to everyone all the time for no reason. just going around starting shit. also that scene outside robert's bedroom where he talks to jory. jaime in general

ROS!!!!! MY GIRL ROS MY ABSOLUTE QUEEN ROS

"she's our guest." "she's our prisoner." "do you find the two to be mutually exclusive in your experience, my lord?" lmaooooo get his ass maester luwin

"sometimes possession,,,,, is an abstract concept"

THE DRINKING GAME!!!! first of all it gives us more insight into shae as a person who is so different from tyrion's established worldviews, secondly tyrion is always going around saying offensive shit and he thinks nothing of it bc a) people say offensive shit to him all the time and that's one of the ways he deals with it and b) he's usually right BUT when he makes all those assumptions about shae he's totally wrong and she stands up for herself, but my favorite part of that scene is that tyrion is hesitant to share this traumatic story from his past but he's just made bronn and shae confront their traumas so now he has to share too. and I think that's beautiful

all of varys and petyr's bitchy conversations when they're alone in the throne room

this only covers the first book/season I might make more of these as I keep reading

[pinayelf]

duncan: sorry ser jory im gonna have to kill u no one can know warden business

davrin: hey taash guess what lol i drank darkspawn slushie and its how i can sense archdemon

[milesmentis]

After more than a year, Chapter 5 is out in the world!!!

Our heroes face their first real challenge as a group and begin to learn more about each other in the process.

Thank you to @anderstrevelyan, @bluewren, @mxkelsifer, and @mxanigel for tagging me in WIP Wednesdays over the last few months: you guys kept me motivated. And of course, my beloved, for trusting me with her OC and being my editor and ass kicker 🥰

It took 8 months to write and doubled my word count, but there's finally a new chapter of "From the Wreckage" out in the world!

Enjoy!

[varrics-chesthair]

[the-dragon-folk]

in my head lives a 22 years post the start of origins team that’s late 20s/early 30s something Connor Guerrin baby sitting a small pack of twenty-somethings, consisting of at least Ser Jory’s cringefail warrior daughter (obviously), obligatory secretive mage Kieran, and idk maybe Oghren’s kid’s in there and it reads your save file and names em after your warden

[fatetcrn]

I can't help think that when Alistair meets the potential Warden recruits at Ostagar he feels he needs to sort of try build up an extra wall and really steel himself. He knows what they are being asked to endure and that they might not survive. He empathizes with them pre-emptively but he has to try remain detached and impersonal. THEN he meets one who persistently asks him all sorts of questions, follows him around Ostagar, tries to get to know him and is actually interested in what he has to say and he feels himself getting drawn in. He catches himself praying fervently that they survive.

[shewolfofvilnius]

honestly i think i enjoy making Rooks more than I actually enjoy playing Dragon Age Veilguard.

So far I've made three actual Rooks (well, mostly) plus puttered around in character creation to toy with a 4th.

The top is Isseya Thorne, Grey Warden, elven mage, my first Rook and the only one I've beaten the game with. She's based on a little girl that Warden Tabris (see #4) meets in both the City Elf Origin AND in the Broken Circle quest in the Ferelden Circle.

Second is my current I'm actually playing with, Jordana Mercar, a human with the Shadow Dragons. If there's something vaguely familiar looking about her: She's the biological daughter of Ser Jory, the cowardly recruit from Ostagar. His pregnant wife, Helena, lived in Highever, which is where the Couslands are deposed in the human noble origin. I decided that Helena fled on the last ship out, for Tevinter, but died giving birth to Jordana.

Third is Hawke. Literally just the default female Hawke, Marian (the one I used the first time I played DA2, my favorite game).

Lastly, I was noodling around in the creator and decided to make an aged-to-present version of the Hero of Ferelden, Warden Elissa Tabris. I half-assed her a special title card in Photoshop, but deliberately tried to make her 'Hero of Ferelden 23 years later. If you zoom in close, you'll see noticeable greys plus dark scarring that's the sign she's nearing her Calling.

Since I already have Rooks, Hawke, AND a Hero of Ferelden, I'm also including my Inquisitor from Rook #1's run, my canon Inquisitor Vilkė.

[bumblewarden]

(brosca voice) Epic fail!

[arte072]

asoiaf fandom: arya has never shown any desire to rule winterfell!! 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

arya: "my favorite thing to do in the world was watch my dad rule Winterfell! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰"

Back at Winterfell, they had eaten in the Great Hall almost half the time. Her father used to say that a lord needed to eat with his men, if he hoped to keep them. "Know the men who follow you," she heard him tell Robb once, "and let them know you. Don't ask your men to die for a stranger." At Winterfell, he always had an extra seat set at his own table, and every day a different man would be asked to join him. One night it would be Vayon Poole, and the talk would be coppers and bread stores and servants. The next time it would be Mikken, and her father would listen to him go on about armor and swords and how hot a forge should be and the best way to temper steel. Another day it might be Hullen with his endless horse talk, or Septon Chayle from the library, or Jory, or Ser Rodrik, or even Old Nan with her stories. Arya had loved nothing better than to sit at her father's table and listen to them talk. She had loved listening to the men on the benches too; to freeriders tough as leather, courtly knights and bold young squires, grizzled old men-at-arms. She used to throw snowballs at them and help them steal pies from the kitchen. Their wives gave her scones and she invented names for their babies and played monsters-and-maidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children. Fat Tom used to call her "Arya Underfoot," because he said that was where she always was. She'd liked that a lot better than "Arya Horseface."

[housederiva]

Before you vote please keep in mind that a blorbo isn't necessarily your favorite romance option The two with the highest percentages move on to the next round!

-> Master Post

[laurellerual]

Arya remembering her father's teachings:

"Let me tell you something about wolves, child. When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths. 

…

Her father used to say that a lord needed to eat with his men, if he hoped to keep them. "Know the men who follow you," she heard him tell Robb once, "and let them know you. Don't ask your men to die for a stranger." At Winterfell, he always had an extra seat set at his own table, and every day a different man would be asked to join him. One night it would be Vayon Poole, and the talk would be coppers and bread stores and servants. The next time it would be Mikken, and her father would listen to him go on about armor and swords and how hot a forge should be and the best way to temper steel. Another day it might be Hullen with his endless horse talk, or Septon Chayle from the library, or Jory, or Ser Rodrik, or even Old Nan with her stories.

…

Father had always said that most sellswords would betray anyone for enough gold.

…

Whenever her father had condemned a man to death, he did the deed himself with Ice, his greatsword. "If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look him in the face and hear his last words," she'd heard him tell Robb and Jon once.

…

She remembered hearing her lady mother tell Father to put on his lord's face and go deal with some matter.

[vanmarkham]

collecting the funny da4 protagonist options

nathaniel howe's nephew

superman from the origins cameo

ser jory's half-orphaned son

ETA

bevin (pls give him sword related warden trauma as a possible backstory dependent on the Keep)

the kid that is creepy to the warden in Haven during urn of sacred ashes