#Varric is actually the best choice I think for this

[fairyspheres]

i saw that dragon age veilguard hasn't sold well (in the official statement, they specifically said that 1.5 million copies had 'reached players' so it must have sold even worse than that which. yikes) and while i'm quite gutted about that, ea and bioware also only have themselves to blame for it.

they let ten entire years pass between inquisition - a game that, for the most part, dragon age fans generally really like, at least for the lore - and veilguard. in those years, we saw them make andromeda, anthem, and heard reports of them trying to make the-then new dragon age game live service. thankfully we didn't get a live service dragon age game in the end, but a lot of the original writers were dropped, and i think that shows with the quality of the writing in veilguard.

i've never played dragon age for the gameplay, in any of the games. i despise the gameplay in origins - it's clunky and horrible and the deep roads makes me want to let the darkspawn win. but i love the story, which is why i endure the deep roads and the fade. the same in da2, which is probably my favourite of the entire series, even with the repeating dungeons (actually i love the repeating dungeons. i like knowing where things are), and the same in inquisition with the companions who feel like real people (cassandra pentaghast my beloved).

veilguard... the cuts show in the writing quality. the best character was emmrich (and assan and manfred) and from what i've heard he also had the best romance. which is another thing that suffered greatly - the romances (other than emmrich's). in a game series known for its romances, to the point where bioware was marketing the game as the most romantic as the series, how have they managed to mess it up that badly? cullen and solas' romances were late game additions in inquisition, and they're some of the best in the entire series, so it can't be an issue of time constraints.

rook's dialogue choices were essentially just different flavours of pleasant. do you want to be cheerful, lesser purple-hawke, or stoic? there's no real choice to be had throughout most of the game. even the choice between minrathous and treviso has little impact beyond what merchants might be available and a couple of later game choices. compared to earlier games, where you could let an entire village be overrun by corpses, or let fenris be taken back by danarius, the lack of choice is rather stark in comparison. the only real choices come at the very end of the game.

AND speaking of choices - the entire series has been about how all our previous choices have always mattered, about how we can always carry them over and use them to influence the world. so it was very much a slap in the face when not only could we not use the dragon age keep or import any choice beyond who we romanced in inquisition and what we wanted to do with solas, but the fact that by the end of veilguard, everything we did from origins to inquisition was all for nothing. bioware's choice to do that to varric was a kick in the teeth to long-term fans. oh, we got a little reference to the hero of ferelden in weisshaupt, how nice. pity they didn't tell us whether they're still alive or not. a shame we don't know hawke's fate.

so no, i'm not surprised that the game did so poorly in sales. i'm disappointed, but i'm not surprised because as i said, it's their own fault. i said back in november that they might not have another chance to make things right, and i hate that i might've been right about that.

this turned into an unintentional rant about all my grievances with the game.

[corseque]

I think the reason why it's Varric talking to Solas is because of this:

There are worldstates in which the Inquisitor ONLY recruited the 3 companions that you are FORCED to have from the beginning: Solas, Varric and Cassandra. So in those worldstates, where the Inquisitor didn't make ANY other friends, the only people that you can say are Solas' friends are Varric and Cassandra. Those are his two canonical friends that we know that he always has in every world. And out of those two characters, I don't think that Cassandra would have the gentle approach that would highlight Solas' reasonableness.

We actually already saw Solas talking to an Inquisition acquaintance (Charter) in Tevinter Nights, with the same kind of relationship that he has with Harding, a more professional one. I don't think that kind of relationship would help here.

So, by process of elimination, and because I think they're setting Varric up for a storyline, that leaves Varric. And I think it works well, with all these limitations.

Why not the Inquisitor? I would have jumped for joy at that, and it's exactly why the game would have worked if the Inquisitor was still the main character. But I don't think the Inquisitor works this early if we're supposed to be following Rook, it might have been confusing and distracting. I think that the Inquisitor will have a chance to talk to him later. And besides, we already GOT a scene of the Inquisitor trying to talk Solas down. That was Trespasser. So, though I would have loved for Solas to talk to the Inquisitor, we really have already experienced that. So, given all of that, I think that Varric is a nice choice to talk to him, and it's actually interesting for Varric too, given Varric's history with friends at the edge of desperation.

Like, not to say you have to feel any sort of way about it, or like it, or whatever, I just can see a lot of constraints to this, and I think it was handled pretty well

**Edited to add - oh wait, iirc I think that Dorian and cole are also companions that you have to at least meet, if not keep? if I'm remembering right? But the points still stand, it could have been Dorian but I think they're setting Varric up for something

[feathersandblue]

So, full disclosure, I haven't been a Solas fan before.

I am now.

And that's because of Veilguard and the many, many ways in which I felt let down by this game.

The aspect that bothers me most is the reduction of nuance and complexity.

Rook's hero's cakewalk (because “journey” really isn't the right word) is a ready-made path that offers no deviation at all and never challenges the player in any meaningful way.

Sure, you can spend some time pondering the pros and cons of saving Treviso or Minrathous. Ultimately, it makes no difference. Rook does their best, they just can’t be in two places at once.

Same with the companion character arcs. What does it mean if you decide to you turn Emmrich into a lich? For the most part, it's idle musing. Indulgence. He’ll be happy either way, there are no real stakes. Yeah, your actions do have consequences, just not the sort of consequences that make a substantial difference. It’s the illusion of choice – reduced to cosmetics.

The problems with decisions that cost nothing is that they don’t feel like an accomplishment. They also don’t allow for character growth. Rook doesn’t change, they remain static. Even the section in the Fade where Rooks faces their regrets is easy and comparatively lightweight. Varric was killed by Solas, Harding resp. Davrin died in combat and either Bellara or Neve was abducted by Elgar’nan. It’s not like Rook’s decisions actually caused these events, it’s not like Rook actually failed through a choice they had to make that turned out to be the wrong one. Everyone was there willingly and volunteered to fight the good fight. Rook’s regrets are not about real guilt, they are about feeling sad and guilty. And that – it needs to be said – is not the same thing. At all.

At the same time, the story carefully avoids any kind of true ethical dilemma.

It's not even about the lack of mean or edgy dialogue options; that’s just a symptom. The cause is the writers’ unwillingness to let realism intrude in Rook’s fairytale – the lack of anything that would require Rook to compromise on morals, or fight temptation. Rook is never faced with any sort of moral conundrum, or allowed to act out any kind of vice that realistic characters have. In its straight-path simplicity, Rook's story is apparently written for children and people who remain child-like in their yearning for simple, uncontested truths.

Of all the sorts of conflicts that a story can offer, Veilguard carefully avoids the most realistic and (in my opinion) interesting ones: Character vs. self and character vs. society, aka, politics. The game firmly refuses to go there. To the point where it creates a completely unrealistic consensus on all sides that eliminates yet another sort of conflict: character vs. character.

If Rook and their companions would talk politics, they’d all be on the exact same side. In a two party state, they’d all cast the same vote.

I am sure that there are many players who feel comforted and reassured by that fact, who sincerely believe that this is how stories should be written. That stories should reflect the world not as it is but as they think it should be. But for everyone who likes their stories a little more realistic, that lack of meaningful interpersonal conflict, that lack of real diversity which comes not from appearance but from different cultures and opposing viewpoints amounts to a frankly cringe-worthy, artificial and juvenile surface-level interaction between characters. Or, to phrase it differently: the diversity remains skin-deep and doesn’t extend to the philosophical, and even in the few instances where it does, it shies away from the political.

Which means that the only conflicts that remain are the most boring and stereotypical ones: character vs. monsters resp. the supernatural, where all foes are evil in the blandest way (Supremacist Venatori! Fascist renegade qunari! Power-hungry necromancers!). These conflicts are resolved through exploring maps and endless, repetitive combat.

The only thing that brings a bit of nuance to the game is Solas’s story. And there is an element of character vs. character in Rook’s and Solas’s relationship, but the sad truth is that what could have been a fascinating mirrored character journey falls flat for all the reasons already explained – because where Solas is a character as layered and controversial as it gets, Rook is anything but.

Solas’s story shows how even people with the best intentions and the greatest integrity are ultimately broken by what life throws at them, both by the decisions that are forced upon them and the choices they make on their own. It shows how a prolonged war is always a sunk cost fallacy: I’ve gone this far, if I stop now, it was all for nothing.

Rook’s victories, on the other hand, come without a cost – both in terms of moral corruption and in accountability. The guilt Solas bears is real. The fight against the titans, followed by his war against the Evanuris, requires compromising his own morals, one day at a time, one century after another, he’s trying to save the world yet doomed to fail. Sacrificing the spirits to win a battle after the war has gone this far? Every single war leader around the globe would make the same decision. In fact, all of them do: They do sacrifice the lives of others if it will help them win, they do send soldies into the trenches to die, whether these soldiers want to or not, and they are rarely, if ever, truthful about the reasons why.

In a certain way, the story of the spirit of wisdom turned flesh is reminiscent of the biblical Fall of Man: the original sin. Solas has fallen, and he’s broken. In trying to heal the world, he’s trying to heal himself. The burden is too heavy, the responsibility to great, the knowledge that he is responsible for all of it too devastating. Solas’s greatest conflict is character vs. self. It has the potential to be great. In a way, it is. It’s the single redeeming quality that, depending on your interpretation of what went on behind the scenes, the writers managed to salvage from the original concept of Dreadwolf or the lone pillar that withstood all their attempts to bring it down.

Only sadly, infuriatingly, in the end, that fallen hero’s ending is put into the hands of a protagonist who judges him from the perspective of someone who has never even stumbled – not because they are wiser, braver, or kinder. No, just because the writers were gracious – or cowardly? – enough to never let them fail.

The game gives Rook a moral high ground which isn’t earned in the slightest because Rook never had to walk even a quarter of a mile in Solas’s shoes. They don’t know what they would have done in his stead, they have no idea what it actually means to see the sorry shape the world is in and know that it was your hands that shaped it. And even where Rook might actually be culpable – the interruption of Solas’s ritual that freed the remaining Evanuris – anyone is quick to assure Rook that it wasn’t their fault.

Whatever regrets Rook carries, they’re born from self-doubt and trauma response. Survivor’s guilt, mostly. When compared to Solas’s immense guilt, Rook’s regrets are, for lack of a better term, insignificant. That Rook manages to face them doesn’t mean that they are more truthful or emotionally mature, it just means that Rook’s story is a tale for children and Solas’s is not.

It’s not that I’m necessarily opposed to the idea that the player decides Solas’s fate through their actions. It’s the injustice of it all that bothers me: The player is led through a game that provides a safe space for their character, one that is devoid of any interpersonal conflict and any ethical quandary. Rooks succeeds through kindness and heroism and taking their companions on team bonding exercises.

As if Solas could have won the war against the Evanuris if he’d taken the time to take his companions on coffee dates.

The juxtaposition – Rook vs. Solas – fails, simply because of this deep divide. Rook’s story is detached from reality and yet Rook gets to be Solas’s judge, jury, and executioner. On what grounds?

As I said, right in the beginning, I haven’t been a Solas fan before. But by the end of Veilguard, I was firmly, irrevocably, Team Solas, just because I was so annoyed that the narrative put Rook in a position of moral superiority. I detested my own character. Jesus, what a goody two-shoes! I was rooting for Solas simply because his story was so much more: a genuine tragedy, a study in complexity. Rook, on the other hand, remains bland, snotty, unchanged. Untried.

The thing is, I don’t believe that my reaction was one the writers had intended. I strongly feel that they didn’t mean for me to pick up on their double standard, that they expected me to walk away fully satisfied, convinced that Rook and The Team were the Good Guys because they went on picnics and petted the griffon, their final victory well-earned and just. If only Solas had had a Team and taken care of their emotional needs – he could have taken down the Evanuris with nary a scratch!

It’s all so very disingenuous.

Rook and, by extension, the player exist in a bubble of sanitized content. That is clearly deliberate. The player is meant to like it there. (In that sense, it’s only logical that they changed the title from Dreadwolf to Veilguard.) And clearly, it does resonate with a certain kind of their player base: mostly with people, I think, who would like their real life to be a bubble too and whose only experience with moral corruption is when they find it in others.

[vaguely-concerned]

huh. you know something I just consciously put together for the first time about caterina and lucanis' relationship is that through the game we get to hear them talk about each other a lot, but we get very few chances to hear them speak with each other at any length at all. contrast it with other companions whose storylines have elements of 'believed lost/long time no see relative returns!' like bellara and davrin, where we get to see both of them have several pretty in-depth conversations with cyrian and eldrin. hell I think even rook talks with varric longer in the regret prison scene than we ever get to see lucanis and caterina interact directly.

(and when we do see them interact, it's mostly one-sided -- it is, perhaps unsurprisingly, caterina who is doing most of the talking and giving all the orders, as he ruefully observes is her wont after murder of crows. including jumpscaring him with 'you're first talon now btw' and the shocked pikachu face in five acts he goes through in response lmao. perhaps it's more accurate to say that she talks at him and he reacts, than that they talk to each other much.)

it has such an interesting effect too, because in deliberately denying us direct insight or experience and only having this mosaic of description from each of them to go on, as well as forcing us to pay attention to the negative space of what is carefully not said, it's evocative along the same principle that you never actually show the monster in a horror film. if you've read the wigmaker job you have a clearer image of the more uh. worrying elements at play here going in, but there is something fascinatingly insidious and naturalistic in the way it's 'hushed up' in the game itself. she has his complete loyalty both as a member of her house and, more importantly, that of an abused child to a parent figure. he readily admits several times that she's a difficult person to live with, an even more difficult person to be loved by ("even for me. and I was her favourite")... but never once does he actively blame her nor truly conceptualize that he has every right to do so (that he can be angry with her and still love her, because whether he should or not he unavoidably does), or that she might have acted differently than she did, that she made a choice every time to hurt him. even affectionately he speaks of her as a force of nature, an act of god -- something that can't be reasoned or pleaded with or resisted, something you can only hope to navigate with as little pain as possible and pray to survive. let yourself get carried away by the riptide, resisting it will only make it worse. you don't compromise with a hurricane, you just try to find the best shelter you can and cross your fingers while you wait for it to pass and be calm again.

love is that hurricane. you do whatever she asks. you earn her continued affection day by day by never letting her down. you only want the things she tells you it's okay to want and cut everything else away preemptively. ("A wyvern tooth dagger?? I loved wyverns as a boy --Caterina would never let me have one of these, though." and as we have all wept and gnashed our teeth over, it never even OCCURS to him that he's a like thirty-five year old adult man who can buy himself any dagger he wants at any time. she said he couldn't have one. so he'll never have one. that's just how it works. and maybe if Illario could just accept that and find his peace with it like I have, this whole thing wouldn't be so difficult. oh lucanis.)

such is the price -- and the cost -- of being loved by her, it's a loan on which the interest will never stop piling up. you have to keep paying it down in perfection every day if you want to keep it. who got the worse deal there: the grandson who has abandoned everything else in life to live up to that and mostly succeeded, until the day he's so burned out and broken it threatens to no longer be an option, or the grandson who can never seem to scrape together enough worth in her eyes no matter how he begs, borrows or steals it, how he hustles and plays dirty?

one of the worst things that can happen to anyone is to be loved by a selfish god. another one of the worst things that can ever happen to anyone is to not be loved by a selfish god. (hope that helps, boys!) even in betraying everything else, Illario can't bring himself to hurt his grandmother, because that would defeat the whole point. who would he defiantly be proving himself worthy to, without her. in love, devotion, submission, hatred, frustration, bitterness, everything is defined in relation to her, you can spot the gravitational force of it through how the dellamorte family move through time and space. she -- her love and regard and attention -- is still the sun both of their worlds orbit around, even as adults. the game might never tell you outright 'she used to beat and starve them growing up. for their own good you see, so they'd be strong (and broken down enough for her to build them up again however she wanted but I'm sure that's incidental)', but if you know even a little bit about how these dynamics can work the writing is on the wall everywhere you look and all the more unsettling for it.

follow lucanis' freeze-logic and fraught interpersonal catch 22 irreconcilable mixed emotions problems back far enough, looong before the ossuary entered the picture, and you start to see caterina's ghost around every fucking corner. she is so proud of him. (well, she would be. she made him. she forged exactly the knife she needed and it rests willingly, devotedly, in her hands, it would return to her every time because it doesn't know love as anything but to be a knife. his tama never taught him how to be anything else. his biggest fear with her is that she won't even want him back, the way he is now.) to the best ability of her soul, whatever parts of it survived a lifetime of crow politics and 'five children, eight grandchildren, only Illario and me left now', I think she really does loves him. he certainly loves her, with all the sincerity and artless desperation of a child, of the little boy he was once. and what she's done to him (and to illario, for all his shitty gremlin scar-ass antics lol) is awful. the harm is real, and the love is real, and trying to find a way for these two truths to exist in the same space is driving all three of them their own individualized forms of insane. you know. the way only family can and so often does lol.

through implications and short glimpses and having to put the pieces together yourself, you can have the feeling that there is very genuine mutual love and attachment in this relationship... and that beneath that there is something so profoundly wrong. and the sneaking '...oh shit it gets worse the longer I think about it' horror of that is more effective for me at least than the stark in-your-face presentation of the facts of the matter could have been. the love is here. the love is here. it only ever makes it worse.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

VEILGUARD SPOILERS FOR LUCANIS ROMANCE SCENE

I haven't seen anyone post this option version for the first dialogue wheel choice in Lucanis' romance scene yet, but it's by far my favorite because it's one of the few (perhaps even only) opportunities the game gives you to add a little depth to your character and the Lucanis relationship (even if it's never mentioned again). My comment below is just about that one choice and followup but ummmmm i recorded the whole scene anyway just for you know. Me. Anyway...

This is the only "anxiety/alarm" dialogue option I think I picked the whole game, but I think the timing of it is really perfect. Especially with the knowledge that Rook was trapped in the Regret Prison for WEEKS. Even if time moved faster for them, we can still imagine it probably wasn't as fast as it took us the player to go through it. But Rook has just gone through a series of awful things--losing one of their companions (and being the one to consign them to that role), learning Varric has been dead all along, Solas (who they were perhaps just coming to trust) betraying them, being trapped with no idea if they'll be able to leave. And they just got confirmation that Solas was using blood magic to make them hallucinate their dead friend speaking to them, so that they'd fall in line with his plans more easily. So when they're trapped and struggling to escape and suddenly hear their new companions calling to them, and come out to find everyone they hoped was still alive safe and waiting for them... wouldn't they doubt it? At least a little? I mean if Solas REALLY wanted to trap them in the Fade forever, wouldn't this be the absolute best way to do it--by convincing them they ARE out and everything might still be okay? And this is especially great with the Lucanis romance because he (and Spite) are the only one on the team who have first hand experience with that same thing. He escaped the Ossuary but he didn't, truly, at first. He knows what it's like to be trapped somewhere and then not really believe in his own freedom afterward. And THIS time, he gets to be the one comforting Rook, who's been his rock through the whole experience, and Rook gets to be the vulnerable one for a change as he finally steps into the more active/supportive role. I just think it's really nice symmetry, to have an option where the hookup scene is coming from a place of loss/desperation on BOTH of their sides, to convince themselves that everything is real AND there's a chance that everything might actually turn out okay in the end.

[impmansloot]

on Rook as a protagonist

I'm genuinely surprised that some people say that Rook is the best protagonist to them out of all in Dragon Age games—obviously, to each their own, and if you genuinely think that and love your Rook, then hey, that's great, I definitely do have some positive feelings towards my own Rook too despite not being able to genuinely roleplay their personality and having to change it to fit the restrictions given by the game.

Like, your personality is basically fixed in place, it's not a protagonist you can roleplay but rather a predetermined one with your skin on. You have some variety of lines but they're within, well, the same personality: friendly/empathetic sarcastic, Clown, stoic sarcastic (sure, it's a generalization, maybe an unfair one, but listen it's how I'd describe it), which sometimes don't even work like they're supposed to: e.g. you'll have a friendly/empathetic Rook sounding more stoic than the actual stoic one in the same dialogue tree.

I would say though that DAtV makes it easier to connect to Rook as a character because again, they're basically a pre-made with a distinct personality, so you can grasp that personality pretty quickly and if it works for you, it works. Inquisitor by comparison can come off bland, especially if you don't construct their personality beforehand and due to the lack of proper origins and an initial other character to bounce off of (Varric to Rook). Generally, the roleplaying aspect is not an issue exclusive to DAtV: I'd say the further we go, the worse it gets. DAO honestly handles it best because: 1. HoF is a "silent" protagonist, which allows more tone/voice speculation + what you say, you say phrasing-wise 2. you have origins which help you connect to your character throughout their events and via characters you're related to while still giving you the liberty and space to react to the events with accordance to your character's personality/vibe. 3. generally the amount of dialogue and behavior options: you're a leader, but you're not immediately put into these shoes, and you can go about your party as you want. Like yeah, you have to save the world, you're not given any other choice, but if you don't want to be a good guy, you don't have to. Defile Sacred Ashes and side with the cultists, murder the werewolves, turn dwarves into golems, annihilate the Circle with innocent mages, make a deal with the demon (doom the boy and potentially sacrifice his mother), kill your companions, be stupid.

Now Hawke is a more limited character for obvious reasons, but even they have more variety than Rook: Hawke's relationship with Malcolm will literally be determined by your personality—which is a bit silly tbh, but it's something. Hawke's personality options are distinct enough too, and most of all, you have the option to be a bad person and make bad, outright evil decisions. You can side with slavers in Darktown, you can give Fenris to Danarius (which is a pretty dumb option with a dumber reaction from companions, but it's a choice), you can just be mean in general, have beef with your companions, which will influence their personal quests. Now, is Hawke the best character for roleplaying? I don't think so, but it's still more variety than whatever DAtV gives us.

As Rook, you just can't be an asshole, can't ever argue with companions, disagree on things (which has been said by many others atp), and generally you can't do truly bad, evil decisions. I'm gonna be real, DAI doesn't always give you this choice either. DAI also doesn't allow you to be like, stupid stupid for example cause you have to be a leader of currently one of the most if not the most powerful organization in Thedas, aside from the Chantry itself, but you can say dumb shit here and there, and you can do bad things too: you can be a cruel and ruthless leader, you can be an asshole and execute people for your amusement, like hell, order Cullen to take lyrium (obviously a bad choice, imo this quest should have some immediate repercussions, like some actual penalty for the Inquisition if Cullen is in withdrawal), give Vivienne the wrong vivern's heart, force Blackwall to keep lying about his identity, generally influence your companions to make questionable decisions. And no matter what you do, your choices won't be approved by all your companions: sometimes they will argue with you, question you on them, mention how they think you fucked up on low approval.

Rook though? No, Rook is always a good guy, Rook can't be bad, Rook is a hero. Rook has to be a hero. In the narrative and in companions' eyes. Whatever happens it's fine eventually. Oh, you're a crow? You're still a hero, you did a good job, you made the right choice, and those bad bad higher-ups condemned you for doing so. I get that some factions would limit you to being basically a good guy, like Shadow Dragons, because it requires your character to have a strong moral compass to be in an oppositional organization with the goal to abolish slavery and defeat corruption in Tevinter, and it's totally fine, but when ALL factions make you out to be a hero.. it just. Well it sucks? It feels like one backstory reskinned basically.

And even if all faction options in their nature were a predisposition for you to be someone with a strong moral compass (say, every faction would be like Shadow Dragons in nature), it doesn't mean you wouldn't have the capacity to be wrong, have biases, and make bad decisions. You can fight for good causes (or believe you do) but still be an asshole and commit heinous things. You can simply be someone rude and angry or just a terrible friend, independent of your moral/political stances. Even if you're a Hero.

And even if we argue that being a good guy specifically is what the story requires of Rook, why make a story—an RPG—that limits you so badly? And how good and impactful can a story about regrets be where you can be no wrong and nothing is essentially your fault, nor framed as such?

[strawberry-halla]

now im probably the many few people who actually agreed with the way bioware handled varric’s death and here’s why:

varric has been one of the most prominent dragon age characters since dragon age 2’s release. he’s basically the mascot (well, i think solas has stolen this role now but i digress), the character everybody loves! varric has been there since almost the beginning, over 10 years of our favorite dwarf.

this is the thing that hangs people up on his death in veilguard. why did they do it? why did it happen? what was bioware thinking? well i’m not expert but i think i have a pretty good idea.

varric has always been the friend who supports you no matter what, the one to pull you away from the heavy decisions the player makes to make you laugh or try to see the bright side. he made the player feel good and your character feel good, no matter who you’re playing as.

we saw this lovable dwarf go through so much tragedy in every media possible. he was dealt a bad hand at every corner but the good parts were the friends he made along the way. even if they did something bad in the end (anders and solas), varric still sees the person they were underneath everything.

so yes i think his choice to talk to solas, only to end up dying, was how it was going to end for him. varric cares so much about his friends and eventually, one of them was going to fuck that up. he got lucky so many times, escaping death at every turn. if varric would have went home to kirkwall as viscount for the rest of his days, i don’t think that would be a good end for him.

it’s a pretty thought to have, but it’s just NOT varric. he wanted to help the inquisition and he wanted to help save/stop solas because he knew him. they were friends. good ones. so of course it makes sense varric is the one to go after him.

now i think it would have been worse if varric was dead from the start of veilguard (well, he is but we don’t know that yet) because it definitely doesn’t ease the player into the reality of it. so making him a figment of solas’s blood magic on rook was a very clever way to ease them and us into accepting his death. i cannot think of a better way if i tried.

varric’s relationship with rook was so important. he was basically a mentor, a father figure for some. his role in veilguard is not a waste. rook as a character needed their mentor to ease them into this leadership. i think it would have been incredibly jarring to just have rook suddenly know how to lead the veilguard without having someone to talk to about their struggles. solas would have worked fine, but his role as the antagonist for most of the game would have made a really unrealistic connection.

and yes. i know varric’s memory is being manipulated by solas’s hand, but solas himself says that varric would never say anything to rook that they already didn’t know from him. varric’s guidance was still at play here, not solas. he just kept up the illusion varric was still alive to make sure rook would succeed. it’s incredibly shitty of him to goad this at rook, but he was never entirely wrong that rook had varric to help them. they did have varric, even when he wasn’t there. varric’s lessons and memory alone were enough.

and when rook and the player finally come to this realization in the regret prison, it just hits you all at once. i cried for about two hours once the scene ended. i had to pause my game, get up, and walk away. it was like losing a best friend. and i know how silly it sounds to mourn the loss of a video game character, but varric was more than that to many. to me. i just needed a bit to recover from the realization.

varric made a choice. one that got him killed. but he knew that it was the right one to make. solas regrets what he did to varric. he even says if he could, he wouldn’t have done it. it was an accident. a horrible accident that doesn’t justify what solas did. there is no glory in needless death. but this isn’t about solas.

varric in all his goodness as a person FORGAVE solas for this. he knew solas was still good. deep, deep down. that solas ‘wants to be the hero’ and would tear himself apart to make things better. i don’t know about you but it’s incredibly insane that someone forgives their murderer. especially varric! who said in inquisition: ‘nobody forgives someone for killing you!’ like it came full circle.

varric’s death was necessary for us and for solas’s story. i know it sounds incredibly silly to us that one character’s redemption is another’s downfall, but isn’t that how things work sometimes? you don’t have to like it or agree with it, but that’s just one thing i find so fascinating about dragon age’s characters and how they interact with one another throughout the series.

there’s an incredible post by @/corseque that explains the parallels between varric and solas that really ties this all together. please go read it if you haven’t!

i’m so so glad we had so many good memories of varric and his legacy will forever live on in-universe and amongst fans. now’s the time to make new ones with our new favorites, shall we? and we can still honor varric’s memory by writing stories, of course.

[vigilskeep]

Do you have any kind of analysis of Cassandra's character? I find how you talk about her so interesting and different from how the rest of the fandom refers to her

i wouldn’t say i know her very well; i’ve never yet done her personal quest and i don’t bring her out a lot. here are... some notes? displayed messily

cassandra is first and foremost a violent person. when she doesn’t know how to solve a problem, she leads with violence; her interrogation of varric, her reaction when he brought hawke to skyhold, threatening to execute solas simply for failing to produce results with his tests on the anchor when the herald was first found. chancellor roderick says this outright—and you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly serves the chantry—but her use for divinia justinia was as a blunt tool, not capable of subtlety or diplomacy. unlike other members of the inquisition, she is not very capable of exerting power in other ways than violence, and she has spent her entire life expecting to hold power in any situation

cassandra could have been the inquisitor. she’s pretty much the obvious choice. she has to be actively dodging that to go on a wild goose chase to find the hero of ferelden and then the champion, and then still to evade it further and hand it over to the herald, who she may not even approve of. at haven, she at least appears at the war table. at skyhold, she doesn’t, having further and further removed herself from the role. if she does get along with your inquisitor, it suggests faith in your choices, following your lead. but it has a kind of different unique effect if she doesn’t rlly get along with your inquisitor, where it really feels like she’s been pushed out or allowed herself to be pushed out of the movement she started. either way her movement to be divine feels related to not having taken that lead position before

she gets very caught up in her own perspective on a situation. i think often of when she laughs at the herald and says “is that what you see?” when they ask if this isn’t still part of the chantry, which is what literally anyone normal would see. or her infamous comment to lavellan about whether or not there’s room among their gods for one more, completely missing that this would be a bizarre thing for them to ask of her. or describing varric’s andrastianism as “deep down, his heart is virtuous” to a non-andrastian inquisitor. etc, etc. it doesn’t occur to her to censor herself or consider how her words come across to other people who don’t have the same beliefs she does. she probably has mostly only been exposed to people who don’t have the same beliefs she does as idk antagonists and opposition, as the “criminals” she has to interrogate

she overthinks the consequences of her actions, the weight of history bearing down, in a way that suggests a kind of preoccupation with the assumption that her actions and life will be written of. nobody who reads as many of varric tethras’ books as she does isn’t kind of into that, despite her complaints. when a character constantly self-criticises but you only get approval from saying “no you’re totally good and cool and did the best you could!!!” and disapproval and sudden defensiveness from saying “yeah that was a bad move i’m glad you’re thinking about it”, i think i can come to some pretty safe conclusions about what that character really thinks and what they want to hear

her comments about “change” in her vision for the chantry are confusing at best, considering that she distinguishes herself from leliana almost exclusively by saying that leliana would change too much. her point is largely to restore things as they were, but all the things she’s restoring will, you know, somehow be better now. with very little discussion of how that could actually be achieved, as far as i can tell. even if i did agree with her end goal, i don’t think she would instil confidence

i don’t dislike cassandra i think she’s quite interesting but i don’t find her either admirable or sufficiently entertaining in order to want her approval or to hang out with her really so she does get a little left to the wayside in my attempted playthroughs personally

[kiivg]

Goddard was in his 70s at the beginning of Inquisition. Is he still around and if he is, do you think he’s involving himself with Solas and his world-ending shenanigans?

.Tf u mean IF?????? ☹️ BioWare did me dirty making the game 10 years into the future.

.I’m kidding ofc he’s around!! I literally made my HoF immortal because I cannot face any of my OCs dying 🙏 tbh I don’t actually know what year DAV is set in because I’ve seen people saying 9:51 and 9:53 so 🤷‍♂️ Goddard was born in 8:70 so he’s in his eighties at least.

.So initially I was like HELL YEAH Goddard Returns!!!!! And then it’s very clear that (as I SAID) the game was basically shoehorning you into being best buddies with Solas regardless of choice and I can tell you that a) Goddard doesn’t have a clue who Solas is and b) he would absolutely kill him on sight if he was presented with a “this guy is trying to end the world” scenario. Anyway, more below 💋.

.Edit!!! Also!!!! Solas stole his fucking wedding ring!!! What the fuck!!!!! He’d beat the shit outta him!!!!!.

.A bit on Goddard’s back story; since he was away so much with the Orlesian Army and then the Fereldan Army he missed out on a lot of his kids’ childhoods, (there’s also a disconnect between him and Fulton II re: Goddard’s own relationship with his father, and then the filicide of Wakefield, and the bastard Lei appearing), and whilst he has repaired the relationships with them he still very much regrets prioritising war over his family even though he was basically taught this from childhood. Goddard was raised to be a tyrant and warmonger, he was made for fighting in wars and winning them. However! He now has the chance to get to spend time with him family, since the Inquisition is over, he handed his army to the Divine, he’s made reparations to the Baroulx family, and he’s absolute besties with Emperor Gaspard.

.Since the end of Inquisition, he’s been retired, he has ten grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, he went back to ruling his bannorn for a few years, then passed it over to Twyla (his eldest child), and decided he’d rather just do whatever the hell he wants now. He still fights, sparring and what not to keep in shape, he might be old but he’s not going to just crumple into dust!! Also considering I have Goddard II (Twyla’s Grandson/Gylda’s First Born) bethrothed to Gaspard’s daughter Lienne. (they are however children atm), he’s spending a lot of time in Orlais.

.I do think he gets roped back into things when he’s in Orlais. I think Hawke is the first one to realise shit is going down, and since he’s friendly with both Andrastopher (HoF) and Goddard, he kind of gathers them in preparation for something to happen (Varric’s letters grow increasingly worrying). Which means they’re all in Orlais together when shit hits the fan. Also there, is Lei (Goddard’s bastard son and Andrastopher’s Warden Second), and he is tasked with seeing how things are going in the north after Morrigan turns up for aid; after all Lei is a Grey Warden, half-Dalish, and son of the Herald of Andraste. He’s also a pretty good guy and overall trustworthy etc etc. a HUNK lbh.

.(On a side note, I’m 90% sure the Crossroads are like really exhausting to traverse for anyone who isn’t an elf so idk how anyone non-elven is chilling there??? But that’s another factor in Lei going. I’m not reading TME again just to check, but… I should…. For Gaspard 🥴🫶).

.So Goddard just liaises with his son throughout the whole thing, and trusts him entirely to do the right thing. He’s busy fighting for Gaspard, corralling the old Inquisition back together to aid Orlais knowing that Andrastopher is pulling together Ferelden’s armies at the same time. Hawke on the other hand absolutely legs it to Starkhaven to be with Sebastian (oh HC that this is why Starkhaven has the best survival in the Free Marches; Hawke forewarned them) even though their relationship is hush hush 🤫.

.I think Goddard would desperately want to return to Ostwick to be with his family during Veilguard but Twyla has a hand on things and he trusts her implicitly. Also he would look like a mad coward if he left lmao, can you imagine?? Herald of Andraste fleeing home when things get bad????.

.I do like the idea of all four of them getting together post Veilguard, because a) Andrastopher has slept with both Farid (Rook) and Doherty Hawke, b) Doherty would absolutely be mad at Farid for that thing that happens, c) Farid would be mad at Goddard for working with Solas in the first place, d) Goddard and Andrastopher already have beef over their sons anyway, like?? Hello smth is gonna happen with these four guys lbh.

.I do want to say originally Farid was going to be Goddard’s son, as he did have a liaison with a woman at some point before having children with Yetta (his wife) but it would make Farid too old so 🤷‍♂️ then I thought woag what if he was Gaspard’s bastard, and then I couldn’t because it would be borderline ??? Because Farid’s half brother Jean-Esmeral would be sleeping with Gaspard without knowing that their mother had also slept with him several times decades prior and had baby Farid together 😬🙂‍↔️ no thanku.

.The main thing is they’re all safe and sound 🙏 and even if I do love the idea of a last stand in Amaranthine/Starkhaven/Orlais, broken the moment Farid does his thing with the Veilguard ykno ykno, they’re still all safe 🙂‍↕️🫶💕.

[inquisimail]

The High Priestess,The Hermit and The World!

The High Priestess: Which does Rook obey more: their head or their heart?

and

The Hermit: When Rook is alone with their thoughts, what do they think about? Is solitude a blessing or a curse for them?

i feel like before the events of veilguard gentle has never had to make difficult choices that would require them to listen to one above the other; what they had to do and how was always dictated for them by someone else. during the antaam job something just clicked inside - afterwards they were at a loss for why they acted the way they have. varric's relentless insistence that they are a good person who can handle the responsibility of being a leader and "do the right thing" confused and terrified them; like a puppet with its strings cut, they were unsure what sort of person they even are, let alone why varric thought they were good. what if they weren't? the antaam thing came out of nowhere. or not? why did they do it? everyone else trusts varric's judgement and expects them to act accordingly. now they must pretend that they know what they're doing, or maybe they actually do know? then again, they make choices that are expected of them given the circumstances... or because they want to make them? how can you expect a knife to decide on its own who or what or why to strike?

suffice to say, gentle tries to avoid being left to its own devices as much as possible.

The World: What does happily-ever-after look like for Rook? Is it attainable, or just wishful thinking?

i think after all the personal growth gentle does during and after veilguard they would feel reluctant to return to the crows. neve would go back to minrathous to do what she does best, and gentle would follow, because where else should trouble be if not by her side? they might even join the shadow dragons. they do still love killing people, after all. and there's no shortage of people to kill in minrathous

rook tarot card ask game

[stormsbourne]

I do absolutely feel people are giving datv a bit of short shrift. I have my issues with it, as I do with every dragon age game, but I feel like the game is good about asking questions about your character believes about the world over what is the "best option" unlike, say, dao, where there was almost always a Correct Middle Ground choice

I wrote this draft before I'd finished the game but now I have finished it and I stand by my analysis of what questions are being asked lmao

spoilers under the cut

QUESTIONS DATV WANTS YOU TO ANSWER, WITH NO JUDGMENT ABOUT HOW YOU DO:

neve: is it more valuable to be an inspiration or to be the one who gets things done? both have their merits. are you going to do everything you can as a protector or are you going to make yourself a shining symbol? you can't be both

harding: what do you do with the knowledge that a great and terrible sin was committed against your forebears and it made you the person you are today? how do you balance the grief and anger at what was done with your will to move forward? the person you know yourself to be?

bellara: is knowledge worth the possible weight of suffering it may bring with it? but on the other hand, is it right to erase the sins of your forefathers from public memory? is it better to risk their dangerous knowledge getting out, or better to hide the dangerous knowledge and hope it's forgotten about forever?

lucanis: what does vengeance do to you? sure it keeps you alive, but what else? does it make you a worse person, or just more of yourself than you were willing to show before? and what about envy? what does that do to a person? is it really any worse than, say, spite?

emmrich: what does immortality do to a person? is something lost by removing death from the equation of life? do our lives have more meaning because they are fleeting, or is that just a coping strategy by the woefully mortal to cope with the oncoming grave?

davrin: if you live only to die, what comes next when you find you instead have to keep living? how much do promises of doing better and repentance actually mean to you? would it be better if you had never been placed on the path that led you here? do you deserve a different fate than the one you've been handed and expected to fulfill?

taash: who are you, really? where do the pieces that make you you come from? how do you reconcile the different pieces of yourself, some of which seem to be in direct opposition? what do you choose to take with you moving forward, and why?

literally all of them, including rook: how do you cope with loss? what do you value most when things are at their worst? what does betrayal feel like? hope? despair? love? where do you find these things in your darkest moments? are you caged by regret or do you know how to contain it while still moving forward?

and of course, solas: what, exactly, is keeping you from becoming the very thing that you fight against?

and yes actually I think the varric twist works though I think it could have been done a little cleaner. I called that shit moment one so I paid a lot of attention to how it was handled and, with some caveats, I think it works.

[fenharel]

some of my thoughts after finishing veilguard a couple days ago before i start my second playthrough :)

ok i think its important to note first that the things i was most looking forward too was 1. solas, 2. solavellan, 3. lore. im self aware enough to know that this will have had some influence towards what i expected from the game and what i enjoyed/cared about or not 👍

good

solas: im honestly so happy. my man is finally happy and reunited with his wife!!!!!! my heart feels so full 😭 this game was a solas fans wet dream. absolutely loved everything we got. hunting down regrets and watching old memories. talking to him in the fade. the entire crossroads!!!!!! him shit talking elgar'nan. watching him go trickster mode and imprison rook. fighting the archdemon as the dread wolf!!!!!! i could go on forever. CHEFS KISS TO IT ALL<3333333333333 if anything i wish there would have been MORE im greedy what can i say

solavellan: screaming crying throwing up. i still cant believe it oh my fucking god

lore reveals: i found all the reveals about all our old theories so fun. i didnt like all of them (old gods are just dragons? c'mon.) but overall it felt so rewarding to have picked up on it all. or be totally surprised by something (mythal and solas the reason for the titans and the blight? wow.)

the executors, forgotten and forbidden ones: the next big bads of the next game huh!!!! loved what we got for the most part, the mysterious circle codexes where probably the most interesting in the game. anaris actually showing up shocked me. i wish bellaras brother didnt say "for plot reasons i must die" and actually told us something about him but oh well. im cautiously optimistic about the secret ending for now. what it implied could go either way for now...

main quest: not all of them, but a lot of them were awesome. dare i say some quests were up there with the best main quests in da??? weisshaupt was epic. or the blood of arlathan. every time we get to talk to solas (thehe<3). the final bits. the strong points were so strong that the low points got highlighted a bit too much imo

act 3: by far my favourite act. this was soooo good. the romance finally (?!) kicking it. suicide mission 2.0 stressed me tf out. the varric reveal? send me to the asylum. solas tricking rook? king behaviour i was cheering for him while crying about varric. the dread wolf transformation. the conversation between solas/mythal/lavellan at the end. i basically was in tears throughout half of the thing. couldnt read the credits at all. act 3 was amazing

minrathous vs treviso: i loved this especially with the angst of playing a shadow dragon who failed minrathous. and then the consequences and quest changes this causes throughout the game was really cool. i wish there were more bigger choices like this since it felt a bit flat choice wise besides of this one, but it was amazing.

villains: ghilan'nain and elgar'nan were great. they really felt like the tyrannical gods they were supposed to be. im so glad there was mostly no corypheus-esque cringe. (tho especially ghil had some video gamey lines but sdjkfhjksdf i still love her)

neutral

rook: i dont really care much about rook.. 🙈. mind you rook was certainly not the reason why i wanted to play this game so im sure a second playthrough will make me warm up to them more, now that my head is more free, but it just didnt insta click. rook didnt feel like a real person to me, almost nobody had any (to my taste) realistic reactions towards them. the stakes just were too high for them to get treated this way (nobody is pissed off that they freed the gods? everyone just believes them when they say gods are walking around? everyone just agrees to work with them? nobody cares how rook is doing? or who rook even is? idk.) i didnt like the introduction much either. the shepard treatment didnt work for me here, just believing that rook is fit for the job because varric says so wasn't enough for me. rook also has barely anything going on for them either besides of being the relentless "good guy". we never see them doubt themselves or be fearful or be mean. all the dialogue options are the same as well. its.... boring. anyway i dont wanna bash on rook, i know i'll end up liking them more later. the headcanons will be headcanoning<3

companions: i... don't have strong feelings about most of them? all of them got to me sooner or later, made me cry. but afterwards im still 🤷‍♀️ about most. i didnt feel like we get to know them as deeply as we get to know companions in the previous games. i really really missed sitting in the lighthouse for hours and talk to them, ask them about their profession or what they are about outside of cutscenes like in the previous ones. i think that would have helped me click with them faster. i didnt find all companion quests very strong either. the "high stakes" of the main story made some conflicts feel a bit like we can just fix that after the story lol. i did not like the mass effect 2 treatment of them much... (but me2 is overrated anyway sshh dont kill me<3) some companion quests i did find interesting lore wise (bellara, harding) even if i wish that some of them would have went a bit deeper there. anyway i know i'll probably end up loving them all after a couple of playthroughs, this almost always happens to me, dai is the best example.

combat: don't care. this isn't my type of combat, i don't play a lot of super actiony combo dodge dodge block combat games. still hate the limited abilities. at least it didn't feel too clunky on mouse and keyboard and it was "fun enough" to me so thats good

puzzles: i could put them into the bad category but at least they weren't too terrible so i don't want to be too harsh. but i don't enjoy doing them. i dont want to search for a crystal in a bush. i mean i did them all but at what cost. this felt like filler i thought they wanted to avoid by not adding fetch quests???

bad

pacing: this games hardest battle imo. the pacing of the game is... strange. act 1 is way too fast. it feels like we're running and have absolutely no time for anything. (makes sense! didnt work well though). act 2 then drags a bit with all the companion quests, and the mix really drags the progression of the romances as well to a ridiculous degree. at least with lucanis, idk how it is with the others. i love him and i can headcanon to fill in the blanks so i liked his romance, but it does make it seem like nothing is happening for 50 hours for everyone who doesnt like to headcanon around. anyway, the pacing/storytelling felt often not fitting. it was trying to be mass effect in a story that is too complex and the lore too rich to run through it. this felt like the main reason why we just never went very deep into the lore of the factions or new npcs, or learn or see certain things, the complex nature of the crows, or tevinter magisters and their slaves, we are just running all the damn time? we never get to explore certain things that would feel unnatural to come up in a conversation or in some other way because we are limited by the things the story "has time for". or what the devs had time for.

wishy washy writing: not everywhere but in some places and im not used to that in a da game so its a bit baffling. "the blight is different now so thats the reason for x trust me bro" ok....? "the first of my people do not die so easily" = mythal is shattered and lives on, makes sense. but the other evanuris are all dead, even the ones that were "dead" already? why? idk........ i shall stay delusional for now and hope i've missed something in my completionist run that i now in my next run will find somewhere lol. besides of that, the tone and language used by rook and companions is strangely unfitting as well. coloquial words like "it's cool" are frequently used, among other things. it stands in contrast to the writing of the previous games and is often immersion breaking.

limited worldstate: i had hoped they at least commit to it when i heard about this. but then adding little references that could have just been made personal by switching one line just made the reference a bit jarring sometimes instead of exciting. or making morrigan eat mythals memories for the regret quest....really? this could have been the well of sorrows choice, why could they not have just made the inquisitor show up in the crossroads if they were the one that drank from it. this whole choice thing + some other problems ended up feeling like something they didnt really want to do but ended up doing because the game was in development for so long they just had to finally fucking finish it. and it sucks for us.

the veil: why... is it still there? they left breadcrumps of clues throughout the entire series about all the positives it would do if it was gone, even add a damn prophecy, and then just dont do it.... ever perhaps? must the blight really be cured for this? demons forever feared? listen im just glad solas is ok at the end of the day but he could still have had his redemption/healing/forgiving himself moment after destroying it imo.

i wish the inquisitor was more involved in everything :((( the moments we did get made me SO happy but. yeah.

no quicksave and the skip button that ruined my screenshots deserve their own bullet point what the hell

anyway enough yapping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! overall i loved the game because the stuff i cared about the most was the best aspects of the game sdkjhsdjkf im not ashamed to admit that this is my new solas 2.0 game. ..... <3

[daitranscripts]

Iron Bull Romance

Kadan

Iron Bull Masterpost

Bull and the PC lie naked in bed.

Iron Bull: Damn, that was… That was

Dialogue options:

General: Thank you for that. [1]

General: Wow. [2]

General: Is that all? [3]

1 - General: Thank you for that. PC: Oh, I needed that. Iron Bull: My pleasure. Well, maybe some of it’s yours. [4]

2 - General: Wow. PC: I’m just glad I could keep up. [4]

3 - General: Is that all? PC: Are we done? I thought that was your warm-up. [4]

4 - Scene continues.

Iron Bull: All this time, and you’ve never said “katoh.” If I’d known you’d last this long, I’d have let you pick your own watchword.

5 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: People pick them? [6]

General: I’ve come close to using it. [7]

General: I’ve never needed to use it. [8]

6 - Investigate: People pick them?** PC: People choose their own watchwords? Iron Bull: Normally, yes. It can be anything, so long as it’s not something you’d ever shout by accident. Josephine might pick “madrigal,” while Cullen would go with “phylactery.” As for Cassandra, it’d probably be something soft, like “silk” or “satin.” PC: You’re sure about that. Iron Bull: Hey, Ben-Hassrath, remember? I’ve got everyone pegged.

9 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Vivienne? [10]

Investigate: Sera? [11]

Investigate: Varric? [12]

Investigate: Cole? [13]

Investigate: Blackwall? [14]

[Back to 5]

10 - Investigate: Vivienne? PC: What about Vivienne? Iron Bull: Tough one. I’m going with “periwinkle.” She looks like a periwinkle kind of lady. [back to 9] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 11 - Investigate: Sera? PC: What about Sera? Iron Bull: Well, it wouldn’t be “shite,” or you’d never even get started. Honestly, though, Sera’s not the kind who lets you tie her down. [back to 9] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 12 - Investigate: Varric? PC: What about Varric? Wait, don’t tell me… Bianca. Iron Bull: No, it’d have to be something he wouldn’t shout during sex. Maybe “Paragon.” Or “thaig.” [back to 9] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 13 - Investigate: Cole? PC: Here’s a tough one: Cole. Iron Bull: You know, he stumped me. I actually asked him. He thought really hard about it, then finally said his watchword was “stop.” I don’t think he got it. Probably for the best, honestly. [back to 9] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 14 - Investigate: Blackwall? PC: How about Blackwall? Iron Bull: Hmm… “petit-alms.” Get deep enough under that armor, there’s a man who lived the good life once. [back to 9]

7 - General: I’ve come close to using it. PC: You’ve almost had me a couple of times. Iron Bull: Good. [15]

8 - General: I’ve never needed to use it. PC: If you want to make me use that watchword, you’ll need to try harder. Iron Bull: Good to know. [15]

15 - Scene continues.

Choice dependent dialogue:

Bull made Tal-Vashoth [16]

Allied with the Qunari [17]

16 - Bull made Tal-Vashoth

Iron Bull: I’m a better man for having met you, kadan. I just hope this made things a little easier on your end.

Dialogue options:

General: We’re together to the end. [18]

General: Is that a proposal, dear?[19]

General: I love you. [20]

18 - General: We’re together to the end. PC: You did. And no matter what happens, if we don’t make it out of this… Iron Bull: Katoh. Stop. I can’t… We’re coming out of this alive. Together. Bull pushes them back to bed. Scene ends.

19 - General: Is that a proposal, dear? PC: I just wish we’d had time for the wedding before Corypheus showed up. Iron Bull: I… what? PC: I assumed we were getting married. Iron Bull: Um… uh… PC: (Laughs.) The look on your face! Iron Bull: Oh, you are evil! Bull pushes them back to bed. Scene ends.

20 - General: I love you. PC: Not “this.” You made things easier on my end. I love you. Iron Bull: You going soft on me, kadan? The PC gives him a look. Iron Bull: I love you, too. Bull pushes them back to bed. Scene ends.

17 - Allied with the Qunari

Iron Bull: You helped me remember who I really am, kadan. I won’t forget that, no matter what happens. You’re a damn fine Inquisitor. I hope this made it a little easier for you.

Dialogue options:

General: Wait, was this a job for you? [21]

General: It has. [22]

General: It’s been fun! [23]

21 - General: Wait, was this a job for you? PC: What do you mean? You make it sound like you don’t actually… Was this just part of your job? Helping the Inquisitor relax? Iron Bull: (Laughs.) You look pretty relaxed to me. Bull pushes them back to bed. Iron Bull: It wasn’t just a job. Come here. Scene ends.

22 - General: It has. PC: I needed this. Thank you for seeing it. Iron Bull: My pleasure. Bull pushes them back to bed. Scene ends.

23 - General: It’s been fun! PC: It’s certainly been more enjoyable. I don’t know about easier, though. Some parts have certainly gotten… harder. Iron Bull: (Laughs.) You think? Bull pushes them back to bed. Scene ends.

[vaguely-concerned]

To the ‘themes I am picking up on in Veilguard’ list, let's go ahead and add what I have a sneaking suspicion will actually turn out to be The theme:

— the world has changed and can never be as it was again.

— I have been changed and can never be who I was again.

— in this simple unavoidable truth there is endless grief and endless hope.

And I… may be getting a bit emotional about it haha. Let me show my work a bit: 

if da:o is a game about people who are already dead or half ghosts in some form (through societal forces, psychologically, functionally, literally, in body, through the joining etc.) coming together anyway to save the world from being swallowed by total nihilism and despair (symbolized by the blight) through the power of love and friendship and also this sword/potential heroic sacrifice that I found, da2 is a game about people who have lost their homes and been set adrift finding and building new homes in each other (while completely failing to save the world. also through the power of love and friendship. as well as years of petty bickering <3 we must imagine kirkwall if not happy then worth having been because the love was there the love was there and that's the only sanctifying force we can ever have in this doomed world and city of ours), and da:i is a game about old stabilizing-but-unjust comfortable lies vs. disruptive but potentially liberating uncomfortable truths, and the power of friendship to help us distinguish the one from the other and navigate through them...

folks… I'm starting to think that veilguard might be a game specifically about moving towards recovery and acceptance after trauma — about how even in this flawed, severed, scarred state, what is here right now is worth loving and worth caring for. even in an imperfect and impermanent world and self, there is worth and joy. and of course the first real tragedy — and threat — of Solas is that he just cannot find it in himself to accept this and move on, to let go of what was, the regret won’t let him go or he won’t let go of it. which means that even though on the surface it’s Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain (and the will to subjugate and violate they represent) who are the main villains, the real antagonistic force in this story beneath that is the Dread Wolf’s despair. A despair Rook must make an answer to by the end of the game, one way or another, compassionately or with righteous fury, triumphant or pyrrhic.

The world will change again and again and so will you — BUT the crucial element is that so will everyone else who exists along with you, you are fundamentally not alone in this existential truth. all we’ll ever have is each other and my god that is plenty, my god that is enough!!! Which is the second thing Solas just can’t accept, he keeps himself separate and completely alone out of an awful mix of fear and pride and feeling himself unworthy of anything else. Rook and the player want to save the world of Thedas because it’s where everyone we love lives, Solas wants to go back to the past because that’s the only neighbourhood where he can still visit those he loved — and the person he himself was, before. A very sympathetic and human instinct/trap to fall into when touched by trauma, I think, if only it wasn’t backed by godlike power, a fundamentally oppositional personality, and a catastrophic lack of therapy to make it literally everyone else’s problem too lol. It’s varric and solas’ banter about the man on the island and where meaning in a life comes from all over again, writ large and with detail work — and the added idea of ‘what if there are also other islands out there, though. With other people on them that you could find if you reach for each other’. Rook with the best of intentions has to make choices to which there are no perfect outcomes and live with what happens — and not cut themselves off from everyone else around them even when there is regret or shame. You get back up every day and you make a life with other people doing the same and you do your best, and that’s the only victory this world will give you. In the end, that is more than enough, that is essential. And I um. I love that. So much. It’s why some of the writing clumsiness on top can’t hurt me because this thematic spine is so solid and so beautiful to me. It’s DA2 all over again that way for me personally — I forgive this story for what it isn’t and couldn’t be, and I love it with my whole stupid open heart for what it actually is. Thank you for coming to my TED-talk and goodbye etc.      

(For my fellow TLT heads out there — you know what this story is reminding me of most of all, actually? It has some big Nona the Ninth vibes down there in the deep. It’s about… the horror and unspeakable beauty that can only be found in liminality, and the role of love in making that basic fact of existence bearable. And also even more unbearable at the same time. I'm so sorry.)

[saltyowlets]

I fully realized I've never shared anything of my Inquisitor here so- uh-

Medea Lavellan

Info dump below aka an excuse to talk about my Cullavellan:

A former Circle apprentice stationed at Kirkwall who tried to escape 5 times before succeeding and surviving on her own in the Free Marches. Luckily, a certain Champion of Kirkwall found her and helped her find her Dalish Clan.

Made successor to the Lavellan Keeper for her magical abilities that rivaled even the existing elven mages in the Clan

A passionate individual who cares deeply about the meaning of her role as she always felt she is in between identities, a circle mage or a Dalish apostate. Medea understands responsibility even if it does not align with her beliefs. Medea is different from a few of her peers in that because her experiences of being in a Circle and an apostate, she sees value in the ideals of a Circle even if not in practice. Mages are dangerous, she knows, but so are non mages.

As much she is pro mage, she chose to side with the Templars in fear. Knowing the fact that they may face blood mages and TIME magic, Medea decided to seek aid from the Templars in hopes they could all get to Redcliffe in time to save the mages. Of course, they did not and this choice has haunted her ever since.

On her missions, she is commonly joined by The Iron Bull, Dorian, and Varric, the team informally deemed as the Renegades.

Considering you have essentially an elven apostate, a Qunari Mercenary, a Tevintar mage, and a dwarf who may or may not have been involved in the destruction of the Kirkwall Chantry, not the best group for optics but they know how to get shit done. They have quite the close-knit bond, to the point where Medea considers them her family. They even got to name her children in the future.

Cullen romance (begrudgingly). Think enemies to lovers, but actually enemies to lovers cause they have tried to kill each other a few times in Haven. You know, the typical blood mage vs zealot templar. Or at least that's what they see each other as.

Very much a tumultuous relationship with Cullen from misunderstanding, really. Medea was fed rumors of Cullen's hand in massacuring of mage apostates (alt ending for Cullen in DAO) while Cullen believed in false reports of Medea being a blood mage, spurred by her attempted escapes. Even after rumors were proven wrong, their own differing views on the Mage and Templar conflict and an odd mix of hatred and respect still kept them both at odds.

Medea was also there to hear Cullen's infamous speech about mages, so her opinion of him was quite sour. His remaining loyalties to the Order despite joining the Inquisition gain him no favors, but Medea is not one to bite the hand that helps so she does not reject his aid... sometimes.

Eventually, they become more amicable as they work to help the Inquisition. They are both good people who truly want to help with the crisis, even if they both have different methods. Luckily, they see that in each other and their similar attitudes and demeanor helped with their growing bond. Also Cullen going on an actual redemption narrative in my canon cause Bioware refused to let us give him one and to explore his lyrium addiction as a way to cope with his guilt and how his dreams are related to his guilt than rather just his trauma.

(But that's topic for another day)

ANYWAYS Medea saw the broken man that Cullen truly was and thought, fine, I'll drag him up the stairs by the leg after Cullen has fallen down so many flights. Medea helped in his redemption and recovery, but all of that had to be from Cullen's own volition. Even managed to help him deconstruct his views on the Order and truly see the crux of the Mage rebellion. Essentially turned a libertarian into an actual protestor.

This is enemies to LOVERS so they do become a couple after Adamant. Alot of it was Medea fearing that she might never admit feelings and losing the one person who saw her as just another person who just wants to do good. So yes, confession, though it was more inane as they were very stubborn about their feelings.

They still argue at the War Table, mind you. But it's more of a courtesy and respect for one another.

Yes, Medea does disband the Inquisition cause FUCK THE CHANTRY

Hope you enjoy the info dump. I have more coming in the future because I love Medea very much.

[psalacanthea]

WiP Whenever

Hi someone reminded me about my post-canon Hawke x Varric fic and I dug it up to read it and pulled this out a little ways ahead in the story! It's the first time Varric's perspective shows up in the story, and it's spoilery, so I will put it under a cut.

I haven't shared any fic lately so I wanted to share something. Esp with ppl returning to their Varric love again at last <3

Whatever Varric had been expecting, it wasn’t what he’d gotten.

That was Hawke.  

He’d long since come to grips with her idiosyncrasies, like Fenris and Anders had, and didn’t mind the constant disregard of anything resembling privacy or personal distance.  The first night she’d crawled into his bed over fourteen years ago had been weird.  But he’d gotten used to it, and so had everyone else.  They used to call it her ‘Ferelden habits’ behind her back.

You know the old joke about how Ferelden people and their dogs, and how hard it was to tell the difference?

Well, it was true, but after about ten years of Hawke invading his space it’d become, in a lot of ways, their space.  A place they both belonged.  It sounded sentimental but it wasn’t.  Just a fact of life, one of those ways Naomi clawed her way into your life and refused to leave.

But something had changed that night when he’d been stewing in his head again over not being able to ignore the fact that being around her made him miserable but being away from her was worse.  She’d offered him a massage.  It was something they’d done a thousand times before.  Both of them had old scars from fights they’d been through together and they liked each others’ technique; it just made sense.  Except her hands were on his skin and that somehow undid the knot in his brain, too.

That night, tipsy and warm on the rug in front of the fire, she’d hugged him, held him.  A touch so simple and ordinary for Nami, but it was like a key opening the lock holding everything at bay in his mind.  It wasn’t just ordinary, expected– just Hawke being Hawke.  It was more.  His space had never stopped being theirs, but somehow her dying had shaken something loose he didn’t even know was inside him, making him finally able to see and feel things he was pushing aside.

Hawke died.  In his head, he always known it.  She’d died, and she was gone, and deep down he’d really believed that.

Varric had been mourning something he didn’t even know was there until that moment.

Nami hugged him, and her lips had been on his bare shoulder, kissing a scar she’d panicked over because she hadn’t been there when he’d gotten it.  Trapped in sudden knowledge, and the pain in it, he’d pushed her away.  There wasn’t any other choice.  How…

How did you tell your best friend that not only did you love her, but that love had been buried until the moment she’d died?  That you didn’t know when you’d started loving her and you didn’t think you knew how to stop?  What words would actually explain that completely bizarre feeling?  Was it even worth it now to say anything, to risk it when she was safe, home, alive?

Except she wasn’t safe.

Of course she wasn’t.  He couldn’t protect Nami, he couldn’t protect Kirkwall, he couldn’t protect a single one of his damn friends, not even that…not even that stubborn bastard Solas.  All those failures just kept adding up, and Hawke understood that more than anyone– but he didn’t want to tell her.

He was such an idiot.

Not loving her until she died.  Not mourning her until she was alive again.  What was next?  She’d fall in love with someone else and he’d be watching them get married and he’d be standing there watching?  Again?

Shit.

What the hell was he supposed to do?