#also i think da2 might be my favourite of the three

[kat-bots]

finished da2 and resisting the urge to become a 24/7 dragon age lockdown video game blog bc 100% of my thoughts are this now.

I love you bioware dating sim. thank you for letting me make characters kiss. I am trying so hard to Be Normal About This

[exilethegame]

heey just curious, what are your favourite lines or interactions in the published demo this far? Just stumbled across the remark Freedom makes in chapter 4 when Vethna teases aggressive commander for flirting with Sabir. it was so unexpected i died laughing

also every like second line from sarcastic mc is a blessing (mad da2 vibes in the best way possible<3<3)

Best wishes,

Respectfully yours,

Lots of love kissies hugs uuhhh everything,

loremviator

I am incredibly honored that the sarcastic Commander reminds you of da2 considering purple Hawke is what inspired like 80% of their personality lmfao

And I laughed so hard writing that scene. It definitely helped lift the mood after all the horrible things that happened 🙃

Response beneath the cut since it's kinda long!

Favorite Interactions/Scenes

Ch. 4: I absolutely loved writing the scene where Nikke protects Amilia from The Commander if the Commander takes her journal. It wasn't planned, but I realized as I was writing Nikke would absolutely intervene, which has led to an interesting relationship dynamic between Nikke + Amilia

Ch. 4: If you ask Nikke if he's aware that he's outnumbered and have higher affinity with him, he begins to count down the people in the room on his hand until he's left with one-- The Commander-- which he conveniently counts on his middle finger.

Ch. 3: If you go with Amilia and don't tell her about the wykna, you'll have a conversation about the future/what you'll do once you get out of Plaithus. It was just a cute scene that I liked since it's the only time the Commander can think about something domestic.

Ch. 3: If you go with Vethna and are a werewolf, the Commander accidentally breaks the door... which as a scene in general is pretty funny, but the sarcastic route is the best hands down.

Ch. 4: The entire scene with Freedom + Marcelle if you decided to make the deal. It was just... v satisfying, and the intimacy of Freedom asking MC what their desires were was fun to write.

Ch. 3: I loved the entire part where Syfyn + MC meet for the first time in years. T'was a parade of angst. (Get it?)

Ch. 4: If you had feelings for Sabir in the past and were trying to hide them, he confronts you about why you never confessed to him. It's a painful scene, and I remember it tugged my heartstrings a lot since it's one of the few times someone calls MC out on denying themself happiness.

Favorite Lines

"I've read enough horror stories to know this is the point where we turn the fuck around and run." - Sarcastic Commander

A: What are you, twelve? | V: I was going to say three, but alright. (in regards to MC)

MC: Gods fucking-- | F: Gods fucking? Absolutely scandalous. We do no such thing... except for when we do.

MC: How many days has it been? | N: Three days. Or maybe two. Or maybe four. I think I might've messed up one of the days on my little chalk window that I drew because we can't fucking see outside.

V: I might be deserving of some thanks right now. | MC: For what? Now we're both stuck here. | V: Unbelievable. You know what? Maybe I should've just left you. | MC: ... yes, that is literally the exact point of what I am trying to say.

Marcelle: You're behaving like a child. | MC: Strange. You usually liked it when I destroyed things. Or was that only when it was cities and people? | M: I don't like to repeat myself, so I won't-- but any self-respecting adult would know by now that destroying everything around them doesn't make them look any less broken.

[blarrghe]

Tagged by @wavesofinkdrops @inquisitoracorn and @juliafied thank you for the tags! And tagging on @onionjuggler @fandomn00blr @aymayzing @cciarants @midnightprelude @whataboutbugs and anyone else who would like to do this!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

24

What's your total Ao3 wordcount?

436 317 (holy shit?)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Matchsies - DA (Pavellan) - 63

Twelve Nights - DA (the same Pavellan....) - 54

The Merrill Sessions - DA (genfic about found da2 crew family) - 50

I Hate You (and your little cat too) - DA (a Fenders meet-cute) - 43

Anders Has Several Problems - DA (Fenders) - 42

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Abolutely. Pretty much always, I’ve been lucky with comments and gotten some really nice ones and I love getting to have more of a conversation in the comments. Talk to me whenever tbh I crave interaction.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm none of them? This one really short Solavellan piece? The Merrill Sessions might have a kind of angsty one if I ever...write it.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Twelve Nights has the most predictable, tropey, perfect Hallmark Movie Ending ever and I love it very much.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

Not yet! I do love a good AU though so if the right world presents itself I could see that happening.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope! I’ve had largely positive responses or just no response at all :p

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Ehh kinda. My favourite stories to write tend to involve romance and quite a few of my fics have Sex Scenes but I tend to write soft-core, feelings-y smut when I do. The couple more explicitly smutty fics I’ve written just made me feel super self conscious and they always feel clunky to me, idk, but I really love an overly romantic (in the flowery prose sense not necesarrily the LOVE sense but also, usually) sex scene, they’re fun to write! Finding the mood to write anything more explicit is hard though so even though I have some ideas it’s slow going. 

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not translated but @protect-him was kind enough to do a podfic of Like Raindrops which was super cool!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No but I’d be down! HMU.

What's your all time favourite ship?

Pavellan.......

What's a WIP you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

The Merrill Sessions...I left it in a good place so it’s easy to take a long break from but there IS supposed to be more. Eventually. Maybe. Also probably just straight up abandoning my DAI novelfication fic because honestly, it’s kind of boring and was mostly a place for me to dump my canon-ish daydreams when I first played the game. It has a special place in my heart as being the first fanfic I ever wrote, but like, I’m probably gonna straight delete that from AO3 it’s really For Me. (and I’m definitely never going to finish it lol)

What are your writing strengths?

Supposedly, characterization and scenery descriptions! At least that’s where the nice comments seem to be focused ;) Characterization is something that comes easily to me and I tend to be very proud of my work there, descriptive scenes were something I worked hard on this year and just really really love as well. I’d like to think my terrible jokes are also a strength, but that’s probably just me.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Planning/plotting. I’m definitely guilty of starting things with a good idea that’s based almost entirely in character work and not attached to a plot, so I’ve had a few meandering plots and unfinished things that just kind of...don’t go anywhere. These days I’m outlining ahead a lot more but endings are still pretty tough! Oh also “this is going to be like two chapters” gets me every time.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Totally fine just make it work? I dislike fictional languages that don’t really have much to them, so I try to use them kind of sparingly and tend to describe that something is said in another language rather than trying to put a bunch of like, elvhen in. (Because DA Elvhen sucks. A LOTR fic would be another story, but then I’d probably spend ages on being a perfectionist about the language because I feel like if you’re gonna do TOLKIEN boy you gotta) So I’ll use or make up a word here or there but I prefer the language I use to be something I can actually work with. But I think there are lots of ways to approach a multilingual work that could be cool. I’d consider using French or something I actually know in a more in-depth way sometime.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Dragon Age! A good three or four years before I started posting any of it lol.

What's your favourite fic you've written?

Twelve Nights for multiple reasons. It’s finished (!), it was the first longfic I ever did finish (!!), and IMO it’s impecable. I put so much heart and soul into that fic and it was such a joy to write. It’s basically a feel-good movie with a socialist subplot. I love it a lot. But! Matchsies is quickly becoming a close second, which is fun because it has Magic and Angst.

[elvesofnoldor]

kinda weird how hell-bent i am at making my canon warden a mage when mage origin in da:o is probably the weakest origin out of, what, all 6 of the origin stories for the warden? it’s so flavourless, there is very little that makes the mage character super emotionally engaging, and the mage warden is the most blank slated out of all the possible warden. Plus, since the very first game in the series most of the mage origin story is just the protagonist asking lore-related questions that they should already know the answers to. but idk it’s just so much more fun making a mage/magic based builds, i do not have time to read and digest shits like “cry of valour: cooldown decreases by 75% when you are staggered and your health regenerate 0.5 second faster on each critical hit (stacking)”, cause bro that’s the kind of shit i have to read when i choose which abilities to unlock for a warrior or rogue and that’s just too many numbers and math and not enough texts about setting people on fire. 

that being said, i have been feeling pretty lukewarm for my male!surana for a very long time. i didnt like my female!surana at all, and my m!surana is basically a projection of my desire to romance morrigan and have kieran with morrigan and also a projection of maglor (the one in my head aka a vast expansion on what tolkien has written on paper, which is pityingly little). Also, considering that my canon lavellan is already an elf dude and a mage, do i need another elf mage??? i think i met the quota for elf mages. listen, i made my surana a detailed backstory that has nothing to do with maglor in any capacity (and the flexibility of mage origin to adapt to any sort of backstory you might want for your mage warden is one of its few saving graces), but appearance and personality wise he’s just...he’s just so maglor (the one in my head). Also, i could just spent more time fleshing out maglor (in the fanfics i still haven’t written--partially because the chapter outlines kept changing) if this dragon age elf player character is just maglor 2.0. personally, i pick established canon characters over my ocs and anybody else’s ocs any day. plus, i want my original characters to be actually, you know, original. 

i’m seriously considering having a female mahariel as my canon warden right now. in my opinion city elf origin is THE best warden origin, hands down, but merrill’s presence as a npc and the explicit connection and introduction to the eluvian (which is important across all three games) in dalish elf origin makes me prefer the dalish origin more from time to time. i always want leliana to be my canon dao romance and i think just yesterday i had the idea for the right gal to romance her. someone who’s original enough and someone who’s satisfactory enough of a character that can make that wish come true. i can’t even play da:o right now but i already looked at rogue builds for da:o lol (the best build is dual wield assassin, coincidentally my favourite rogue build in dai). my “canon” da2 and dai protags are both mages, it’s time for a change. 

[theharellan]

101 DRAGON AGE QUESTIONS | not accepting

for the sake of reducing the number of ooc posts i’m answering these all in one and just @ing the people who asked the questions! thank you for them all!

if you sent me one of these btw and rbed this meme yourself and i didn’t send you something, please let me know! i want to send you things back and must have missed you reblogging the meme. this includes non-mutuals.

1. How did you get into Dragon Age? | asked by @kaaras-adaar & @dreamerlavellan​

Sort of by accident, actually. It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in university (2011) and summertime is generally a time of inactivity and depression because I cannot tolerate the weather here. My dad happened to own Origins and I picked it up because??? Fantasy? RPG?

Starting the game I saw you could play as a dwarf, who have been my favourites in fantasy since a child as The Hobbit is among my favourite books. Then after that I fell in love with the worldbuilding for dwarves and Gorim, my first actual Dragon Age love. I was more or less hooked after that. DA was actually not my first Bioware game, I was obsessed with Jade Empire as a kid so like Origins appealed to me immediately despite being far less fun to play than literally any other Bioware game I’ve ever played. The characters and world more than made up for it.

I beat it relatively quickly and my dad bought Dragon Age II which had come out earlier that day, actually against my suggestion because I’d heard it wasn’t good. And in this instance my dad forgetting something I said turned out for the best because I ended up enjoying DAII more in some respects. While it took me a while to join the fandom as a content producer I was a consumer and certified DA trash from then on.

2. Have you finished all three games? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

Kskjdfs yes. I’ve beaten each at least 4 times, but probably more like 8. The only thing I haven’t played are some of the Origins DLC because as much as I enjoy my replays I am so ready to be out by the end of the game (and I have the worst luck with Awakening bugs) and I also don’t have Sebastians DLC b/c his never goes on sale individually and I refuse to spend more than like $4 on him.

3. How long did it take you to finish the series? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

I honestly don’t know. I think it took me like a week to beat Inquisition without 100%ing it, I’d say my first playthroughs all probably took about that long. I tend not to do everything in my first playthrough. Like shard collecting didn’t happen until round two, etc.

7. Favorite DA:O backstory? | asked by @dreamerlavellan & @fatefaulted

I’ve played through all of them and I enjoy them all except Cousland, but my favourite is Aeducan. I enjoy the politics, the culture, the aesthetic of Orzammar. I love Gorim Saelac and the surprising amount of depth to this character who is designed to be thrown away after the prologue. I love how it ties you to the Darkspawn threat in a bigger way than any of the origins accomplish. I love how it ties you to the Orzammar plot later in the game, and playing Aeducan first is probably one reason why I adore that branch of the game. It’s a good origin that establishes its world really well and has great characters to boot.

11. Share a pic of your favorite OC from any DA game. | asked by @dreamerlavellan

I just want to share pics of my girl and Solas’ future husband.

Ian Lavellan, non-Inquisitor written by @theshirallen

Thora Cadash, dwarven Inquisitor and default Inquisitor for this blog written by... me lmao.

22. Favorite DA2 party combo? | asked by @fatefaulted

My main Hawke is a mage Hawke, so this party is horrendously imbalanced, but: Varric, Merrill, Isabela. They all just like each other and I think that’s neat. Although in act one my favourite is probably Carver, Merrill, Isabela / Varric. Unfortunately the game doesn’t want me to have a warrior in my party.

24. Favorite main-story quest from DA:I? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

It’s hard to pick between In Hushed Whispers and In Your Heart Shall Burn. I love seeing the red lyrium’d companions and the dark future of Thedas, and speculating on what happened in the intervening year. I love reflecting on what it must do for the Inquisitor to see that and have it be undone. I think it sets up the rest of the game really well, and in ways Champions of the Just doesn’t do quite as well.

In Your Heart Shall burn is a simpler quest but I think the power and emotions in the quest are so raw. Playing this the first time was riveting and I was on the edge of my seat. The triumph of closing the Breach, the strangeness of your first encounter with Cole (whose appearance at the gates is another reason I prefer IHW tbh, I think it’s more tension building than Dorian’s), Corypheus, crawling through the snow. Capping it off with The Dawn Will Come and the journey to Skyhold idk, it’s just such an emotional high point in the series that every time I replay I get goosebumps.

25. Favorite DA:I place? | asked by @fatefaulted

It’s a tie between the Frostback Basin and the Emerald Graves. I love the lore in both, as elf trash I prefer the lore in the graves especially if I can include the Din’an Hanin into that category. But the Avvar lore and Ameridan is also Very Good, and while I adore the giant trees of the graves the Frostback Basin clearly was able to have more resources poured into its design, and as a result the different sections of the map have so much more character.

A close runner-up is the Hinterlands, as I think the quests there are fun and it feels like home. I enjoy returning to it. Which is good, b/c I’ve played through it... a lot... I think loving it might be a coping mechanism, but also I love the vibe of the early game that’s best captured in the Hinterlands.

32. Favorite DLC mission overall? | asked by @fatefaulted

Trespasser is up there with Shivering Isles as my favourite DLC ever produced. Its hits every emotional beat I think it needed to hit, set up the next game with greater detail and intrigue than the initial epilogue, and I’m honestly dying to get to replay it again on Thora despite what it does to my nerves. The first time I played it I could feel my heart beating faster like wtf me.

37. Blood magic: yes or no? | asked by @hopewrought​

Would I use it myself? No. Morally I think it can be reprehensible but also neutral, much like any other magic in the game. In certain characters I think even if used for good it may encourage unhealthy habits, but I think it can be learned to be engaged with in better ways.

59. Who was written really poorly? | asked by @theshirallen you can’t hide behind anon I know it was you

Oghren fucking Kondrat. When I think about the reasons Origins is my least favourite game he is among them. With Oghren there was a really good chance to portray an alcoholic abuse victim, suffering from severe mental health issues, and still mourning his wife, with the respect it deserves. Instead he just... is a gross sexist dwarf and his alcoholism is mostly played for jokes. And then he comes back in Awakening and... continues to be a gross sexist dwarf whose alcoholism is mostly played for jokes.

There could have been some really interesting stuff with Oghren, the Warrior caste of dwarves I think would suffer from issues similar to qunari warriors, where when they can no longer fill the purpose society has dictated they must serve, what then? They can’t do anything but fight. There could be comradery with Sten, or perhaps Zevran or Alistair, or any of the companions who have had the path their lives took dictated to them by societal forces they had no say in (even if they are happy with that direction). There are snippets of good stuff in here, the line “let us show them our hearts, Warden, and then show them theirs” is one of the best of the good-byes the game offers us imo. It’s a shame about what came before.

Like there are other characters, such as Sera, who I think were done dirty by their writers, but Sera at least got some growth in the DLC and there were attempts to address criticism of her character. Oghren in Awakening was just kind of a take two of an already poorly-done arc.

60. Who do you wish had been given more story? | asked by @hopewrought​

I wish Briala had more, like that she had some impact on the story in universes where Gaspard isn’t crowned with her as his puppetmaster. She and the elves reappears in that but not if you reunite her with Celene or exile her, and I think it would’ve been neat. I also wish she’d had a chance to interact with Solas in some small way given how many parallels were drawn by one of his own agents during Masked Empire.

I also wish we had more about dwarves in general in 2 and Inquisition. We get some great lore in Inquisition that was set up in 2, but with our only dwarf companion being Varric, who honestly has a relationship with his race that at times is comparable to Sera’s, it pulls a few of its punches. I really think they have dwarves set up to be important players in the next game, with their architecture featuring heavily in the dev diary, buuut no dwarves to be seen. So who knows. Just give me dwarves in the next game who aren’t Varric Bioware pls. Let me kiss one maybe.

61. Favorite NPC? | asked by @kaaras-adaar​

I’m not going to count advisors even though they kinda are NPCs and I’m going to answer one for each game so uhh...

Origins - Anora

DA2 - Feynriel

DA:I - Krem

Bonus - Lord Woolsley, the only unproblematic DA character

63. Best story moment? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

It’s a tie between the journey to Skyhold and the talk with Solas at the end of Trespasser and the resulting disbanding of the Inquisition (if you so choose). I really can’t separate them because I think the reason Trespasser works so well is how it calls back to the very beginning of Inquisition and that moment with Solas in the snow. It’s triumphant and sad, something’s ending, the fellowship is breaking, but you know all of you will continue to work towards a better world apart.

In DA:O I think it’d be saying good-bye before the final battle and in DA2 I think the moment where you can tell the Arishok he was right to take in the elves who killed that guardmen is good. Probably one of the reasons why I think Hawke-Arishok work so well as a protagonist-antagonist combination.

81. Favorite fanfic? | asked by @ghilannainguideme​

I don’t read a lot of fanfic, actually. Save what I read on here, which I do count, but idk if other people do.

My favourite writers to read are @theshirallen​, obviously. Joly wants to tweakIan’s personal quest but I think the version they have written now is still very good and you can find it here. I love reading Peace’s stuff and find their smut especially spicy in the best possible way, you can find a Merrill/f!Mahariel piece here! Gaia doesn’t write on Tumblr much these days, but she wrote a wonderful Tug/Sketch (the companions from Leliana’s Song) that you can find here.

I follow so many talented writers and I can’t list them all but here are a few I can fire off real fast: @theshirallen / @ghilannainguideme / @seahaloed / @sabraelin / @valorcorrupt / @mercysought / @hopewrought / @ofrevas / @skyheld have all moved me with their words at some point, be it in fic or rp.

82. Favorite fanart/fanartist? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

Again I just can’t choose jsdfks.

The easiest way is to just link my Solas fanart tag. Obviously this favours Solas artists, however, so also here’s a link to thedaswlw where there’s a boatload of amazing fanart all of wlw.

Of people I’m mutuals with I know @abracafockyou, @kaaras-adaar, @dalathin (currently inactive but I gotta link them), and @syntharts​ are all very talented artists.  I’m also a big fan of destinyapostacy, nipuni, elbenherzart, starscollected (on twitter), and many more.

97. What’s your favorite DA mod? | asked by @ghilannainguideme​ & @hopewrought​

I’ll chose one as many as I want to apparently from each game again, b/c why not?

DA:O - I have to admit I find this game hard to mod because nothing can really salvage the gameplay or look of the game. I need Better Dwarf Model so I don’t have to look at the odd dwarf proportions in the game (the women have arms for days). Mostly I have armour mods. I like Grey Wardens of Ferelden so I can match Alistair in the final batte and have everyone in uniforms in Awakening. I do like Kirkwall Exports because I can put Zevran in the robes of the notorious pirate tho. I haven’t used this mod yet but I also love this mod I retweeted this morning.

DA2 - Again, I don’t mod 2 very much. You could probably make some kind of chart for correlating my enjoyment of a game versus my urge to mod it, with the more I love a game means I want to mod it more. With 2 I enjoy the combat and overall design of the characters more so I mostly use a couple of tweaks, my favourite is Ishs Scarf for Merrill which just adds a cute blue scarf to Merrill and hides the fact that elves in this game have weirdly long necks. Oh and a mod to fix the weird hand dirt.

DA:I - Equal Opportunity Solas mod, I bought the game again on PC just to use it. Being able to play Solas/Ian for screencaps was everything tbh. Other mods I enjoy are More Banter, which while I have better luck with banter it is nice to be able to count on it. I installed it this latest pt and I have heard location comments that have never triggered before. Black Hair for Everyone has changed my life because finally Thora doesn’t have grey hair. No Dirt Buildup is also amazing, as the dirt can cause some really weird blotting on PCs that’s especially noticeable on dark-skinned Inquisitors.

99. Where would you live (Ferelden, Orlais, Free Marches etc?) | asked by @heysales​​

Probably Ferelden. It is fantasy England and hey if I make it past Inquisition maybe nothing will ever happen there again. Somewhere in the Free Marches might also be chill. Not Kirkwall. Maybe Starkhaven? Honestly tho I just want to live in the Frostback Basin. Have a spirit friend. Shake hands with nugs.

101. If you could meet your Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor, what would you say? | asked by @dreamerlavellan​

If I met Thora I’d tell her I’m proud of her. She’d be confused, but that’s ok.

[fandomn00blr]

Author Interview

Tagged by @charlatron for these questions a long, long time ago...thank you, and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get to this! It got lost in my Drafts folder, and I decided to clean that out as I procrastinate on other things, so...umm...yeah!

Name: Adrian

Fandoms: Dragon Age (and everything else, but still mostly Dragon Age)

Where you post: AO3, and here (WIPs and random drabbles, head canons, and excerpts)

Most popular one shot: “...And when it comes...” a tooth-rottingly sweet fenhawke+kids two-chapter thing where I introduced dad!Fenris as a habitual hair-braider (also includes a really disturbing flashback, so CW for slavery and implied/suggested sexual abuse). It was also the first fan fic I ever shared publicly!

Most popular multi-chapter story: lol...I don’t talk about this much (watch me talk a lot about it right now), but it’s a Seven Deadly Sins Jericho-centric fic, called Walls Tumbling Down (har de har har!). I’ve only ever watched the first two seasons of the show on Netflix because me and my real-life partner like to occasionally binge watch anime for shits and giggles, but I’m not involved in the fandom at all (a lot of stuff about the show and I assume the manga is actually a little squicky for me). I started writing this because I really liked one (1) character who deserved more attention and more opportunities to yell at everyone (and she does that! and it’s really cathartic to write!). About once a year I get inspired to add a chapter (it’s all outlined, and ends with some closure for my girl) and somehow, those blessed kudos keep trickling in...

Favourite story you wrote: I think In Deep is my most self-indulgent fic right now, even though it’s not complete, and it’s in a different world state than most of my other stuff. It’s mostly about Anders, post-Inquisition, following Dread Moon, a collab multi-chapter fic I wrote with my buddy, @figgypudz about her our OC Alarion, an elf who was spying on Dorian for this mysterious organization, the Agents of Fen’Harel (it takes place pre-Trespasser). Anders and Alarion are boyfriends now, and they are on the run (sorta) and Anders is getting a chance to process and heal and be adored by someone. Oh, and Cole keeps popping in, too. <3

How you choose your titles: Ok, so I thought that said “titties” and I was like, “I’m not very particular...” and I guess the same goes for my titles. If it’s a multi-chapter thing, I try to figure out a theme or a pattern for naming chapters. Same goes for series. My Lost and Found series was originally all verby-sounding titles, but then I got distracted by spin-offs. Sometimes it’s a character quote or a reference to the source material that is particularly relevant to the theme or situation. I’m terrible about using song lyrics or poems or whatever. So, yeah...IDK...

Complete: 7! Whaaat?! (Most of those are one-shots or parts of a longer series...)

Incomplete: 8...plus everything else I haven’t even started sharing yet...eeeeek!

Do you outline: Yes. Obsessively. Often. All over the place. With arrows and links and omg...my brain needs to just knock it off with all the planning and mapping sometimes.

Coming Soon: Oof...um...I’m three two chapters away from finishing Fly Away of my Lost and Found series and those chapters are already mostly/sort of written! There’s gonna be some more fenhawke smut, and a lot less drinking for one person in particular...

Do you accept prompts: I suck at focusing enough on something I’m not completely passionate about to pull this off, I think, and I find the idea of writing for other people really intimidating! Those of you who can just take someone else’s suggestions and run with them are amazing and I admire you. Maybe once I get all these stories out of my head? So...probably never.

Upcoming story you’re most excited to write: The next part of Lost and Found, Part IV (I think?): Legacy, should be kinda fun (and shorter, I hope!), cuz it will feature a super pregnant Hawke trying to do the stuff from the DA2 Legacy DLC (with some help from some familiar Wardens and some other friends/family members she has been missing since she left Kirkwall)...but I made goals for #theWIPproject2020 of working on some of my current WIPs, so that might have to wait!

I’m tagging @factorykat, @serial-chillr, and @hermiowngranger. Please ignore if you’ve already done this or just like, don’t feel like it, maaannnn...

[bemused-writer]

Writer Asks

Tagged by: @grelleswife Thanks for the tag! ^^

Author name: I go by Bemused Writer pretty consistently now! In the past I went by Sky Falls and Elisabetta Avalone as well in the early 2000s on FF.Net. Bemused Writer became my default by accident if I’m completely honest and it’s because of Tumblr. XD Eventually I figured it would be nice if people could easily recognize my works, so there it is!

Fandoms you write for: At the moment I’m mostly writing for Vanitas no Carte but I’ve written for several fandoms including Pandora Hearts, Voltron, Dragon Age, Good Omens, Blackwell series, etc. In the past I wrote for Death Note, Harry Potter, Naruto, and Fullmetal Alchemist (this was back in the FF.Net days; most of those aren’t online anymore, alas). I’d actually like to write for those fandoms again someday, but for now I’m focusing on my in progress stories. ^^

Where you post: AO3, FF.Net, and Dreamwidth primarily. AO3 updates the fastest.

Most popular oneshot:  Based off of the kudos count on AO3 it’s basically a tie between two oneshots: Earth Is Where the Heart Is (Good Omens) at 97 kudos and Trust (Banana Fish) at 94. 

Earth Is Where the Heart Is was my take on what things would be like if Crowley really had been the archangel Raphael before he fell and what his time in Heaven would have been like and how his friendship with Aziraphale and Lucifer developed.

Trust was a look at what might have happened if Eiji had taken Ash up on his offer to “come alone next time” and visit him in prison. That makes it sound kind of ominous, but it was mostly fluffy with a bit of angst (it’s Banana Fish, so...).

I think it’s interesting that my most popular oneshots aren’t even remotely related to the fandoms I write for most. XD 

Most popular multichap: The reigning champion for this is still Change On the Horizon (Vanitas no Carte) with 116 kudos. I did this as a multichapter fic for the 2018 VaNoé week. It was a series of loosely connected stories showing the development of Vanitas and Noé‘s relationship from friends to possibly something more. I tried especially hard on this one to keep everyone in character and I feel pretty good about how it turned out. My personal favorite chapters were “Wearing Each Other’s Clothes,” “Face Holding,” “Ice Skating,” and the free day, which I used for “Rooftop Dance.”

Favourite story: Ahh, now that is a tough one. It’s often whatever I’ve written most recently. XD However! There are a few that have stayed with me, possibly because they truly reflected something I wished for in fandom most:

The Descent (Vanitas no Carte/Diablo AU) - I wrote this one so quickly; it just flowed out of my fingers. It was a very cheery kind of mania. XD Diablo is a game I’ve played since I was a kid, so getting to revisit that and write the characters in a new environment where everything is so different was a great deal of fun. I really liked having just three characters to focus on (Noé, Vanitas, and Jeanne) and how they related to one another through such difficult times. I’m working on the sequel right now as well and while it has a different tone, I’m enjoying that one, too. ^^

Dealing with Monsters (Vanitas no Carte) - I don’t write from Vanitas’s perspective as much as  I do Noé’s but this time I did as I explored a possible past for him. This was another one that just poured out.

Starting Over (Blackwell series) - This is probably the smallest fandom I’ve written for to date as far as AO3 popularity goes. But this story means a great deal to me simply because of how much I love Rosa and Joey. I write a lot of romance in my stories, but pure friendship and devotion still remains one of my favorite relationships to see depicted and I believe that’s what these two had. In terms of writing I also feel like I really captured their voices and I am proud of that. It was also pretty cathartic considering the actual events of the game. 8D

What Once Was (Dragon Age) - I always thought it was implied in DA2 that Merrill cared a great deal for the Warden, but that doesn’t often get explored in fandom or in the game itself either. In this story, I explore how she joined her clan, how she the met the Warden, and how she may have felt for Mahariel.

Story you were most nervous to post: Hmmm, no specific story, but I’m always a little concerned about posting things that are a little more explicit in any regard whether it’s violence or sexuality. As such, I probably rate things a little higher than they merit, but better safe than sorry.

How you pick your titles: I am the worst with titles. If I could just entitle everything “A Story about X” I probably would XD Instead, I usually attempt to name it after a theme present in the story.

Do you outline?  For chapter stories, often. How detailed the outline is depends on the kind of story. Whether or not I follow that outline is something else entirely, but the outline helps get the ideas flowing and then I know if something needs to be moved around, removed entirely, or if there’s an entire arc that needs to be added a little bit better.

Having said that, I have definitely started stories without any outline, added one later, and all that jazz, so it’s a mixed bag. XD

Complete stories:  According to AO3 I have 30 completed stories. Most of these are oneshots, of course.

In Progress:  I currently have 8 in progress. Two of these are meta-based, so there’s a little less urgency there. As such, I’d say 6 in-progress stories proper.

Coming Soon: I have about three stories planned for The Untamed! I also have chapters for the in-progress stories planned! I just ... need time to write and edit! 8D

Having said that, the next chapter for The Red Streets of Paris is currently at nearly 4k (woo!) and the combined word count for The Untamed stories is nearly at 7,500 words.

Prompts: I’m not totally sure I follow what this one is asking? But if it’s asking whether I take prompts the answer is not at this point in time. I already have way too many ideas I want to explore and several stories I need to wrap up. Attempting anything more would be too much. XD

Upcoming story you are most excited for: Right now I’m looking forward to finishing up a oneshot for The Untamed that explores what Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian discussed in The Silent Room after their revelations. I’m also looking forward to a multi-chapter story going over their adventures once they reunite. It will feature illness, curses, WWX defending LWJ, and a lot of chaos, so I think it will be fun. 8D

Five authors: I will tag @ineverywordandsong, @thecryoftheseagulls, @bagel-san, @descendant-of-truth, and @skylights422 if any of you would like to give this a go. ^^

[fenharel-archived]

25 Dragon Age Questions       

tagged by @lelibela ♥♥♥ tagging: @denerim @flmeth @blckwall @clanventrues @thalasians @cireael @rkyloren @noonvraith @aloths and anyone who wants to talk a bit about da!!!! 01) Favourite game of the series? Inquisition. I’m just here to smooch Solas, ok.

02) How did you discover Dragon Age? It’s all @flmeth’s fault!!!!!! She once made a post about it here. :’/ (♥)

03) How many times you’ve played the games? TOO MANY TIMES. And that’s saying something, as someone who usually only plays a game once or twice lmao (I like trying out new things, ok!). I just checked and I apparently have 798 hours in Inquisition alone. Including DAO & DA2 I would estimate around 1400 hours, hm... wtf@me

04) Favourite race to play as? Elves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

05) Favourite class? Mage!!!!!!!! Rogues are cool too though I just really can’t do warriors tbh.

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time? Depends! I have several characters in each game who make slightly different choices and I stick to them if I re-play them, or I just do something that I don’t ~consider canon~ just because I’m curious. So I’ve tried out most choices by now! Except for DA2, I always do the same in DA2.

07) Go-to adventuring group? DAO: Zevran, Morrigan, Alistair DA2: Anders, Varric, Fenris DAI: Solas, Dorian, Cole is my fave during main quests, but I really don’t have a solid “Go-to group” in DAI tbh. There is so much banter I don’t want to miss, you know! The companion that is always in my group is Solas lmao. :^)

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into? Oh boy idk. All of them? Feels weird picking only one. I mean I re-played Alvar the most so I guess her maybe? Idk

09) Favourite romance? *drum roll* SOLAS.

10) Have you read any of the comics/books? The books, yeah! Not all of them yet but I’m on it.

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book? So far the Masked Empire

12) Favourite DLCs? Trespasser. I would even say it’s my fave DLC throughout any game series? The emotional turmoil this one gives me is INSANE. The STORY. The SOUNDTRACK. THE ENDING.... @ everyone who follows me and still hasn’t played DAI & all it’s DLC’s in the Egg romance yet: It enhances your experience SO MUCh. It’s so GOOD. Trust me on this one.

13) Things that annoy you. I can’t smooch Solas casually. What the hell.

14) Orlais or Ferelden? Orlais..... is prettier?

15) Templars or mages? Mages.

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one? It’s both for me! I have a big universe in my head where all of them have their roles and this is also the one I consider the most important, but I also have separate world states for each. It’s just easier sometimes depending on which OC I play.

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc) Nymeria’s dog: Fang, Cari’s dog: Fluffy, Eleanor’s dog: Sinner. Oh, Cari is also able to summon a Skeleton buddy, I called him Klaus.

18) Have you installed any mods? Yyeeahhhh...

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden? Nymeria didn’t, but Cari thought it sounds interesting, at least the getting out of the tower part.

20) Hawke’s personality? Eleanor is mostly purple. But she uses blue and red ofc as well, depending on the occasion. (& Lynne is not a Hawke, but she used mostly red, with blues sometimes when she talked to her friends)

21) Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition? Like making them all look the same? No.

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change? Nymeria wouldn’t have made Shianni the Bann of the Alienage, since they killed her for it. Cari wouldn’t change a thing, she believes everything happens for a reason and that she wouldn’t be the person she is today if she would change something. Eleanor would go back and try to save her mother & sister, she would also stop Carver of joining her into the Deep Roads expedition, so that he wouldn’t have to be a Grey Warden now. Lynne would like to have given the DA2 clique a chance earlier, they are bffs now but it took her so long to get her armour off. Alvar keeps thinking about Crestwood and what she could have done or said differently. Falon regrets something that happend with him and his ex boyfriend. He would like to fix that.

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon? So many, it’s more fun that way! I have three living Grey Wardens in DAO for example, instead of two, since both Cari & Nymeria get recruited. Or I also have Lynne, who is another member of the Kirkwall crew, without being a Hawke, etc.

24) Who did you leave in the Fade? In my current “canon” it’s Hawke :/. But since switching Cari to the Warden it should be Stroud. So that might change. If I’ll ever be able to let go of the angst. Also if Hawke doesn’t come back in DA4 I’ll do it in an instant.

25) Favourite mount? asjkdhkjsdhs “Pride of Arlathan” but honestly only because of it’s name. I don’t use mounts at all lmao.

[hollyand-writes]

A Review of the Year – Writing Meme 2018

I haven’t actually been tagged in this one this year, but I’m gonna do it anyway because I want to 😂 Here’s the 2017 writing review for comparison -- I was tagged for that one by @thejourneymaninn, who I tag again (among others at the bottom of this post! SORRY FOR TAGGING YOU ALL TWICE TODAY) for this year’s version ❤️ 

Most of 2018 was spent writing a book I was hired to write by a client, which was published at the end of summer, so I had to put all fanfic writing largely on hold until then. So -- considering how busy I was writing (and then later helping to edit and publish) The Book™, I’m happy with my output for 2018 tbh. 

Strangely enough, while I certainly published fewer fics in 2018 than I did in 2017 (1 one-shot and updated 2 longfics), I actually wrote more words, both published and unpublished, despite being far busier professionally! 

Total number of completed stories:

31 completed on AO3, 3 still in progress.

1 of those completed fics was written in 2018 (and 1 of the 3 longfics in progress was started in 2018).

Total word count:

47,213 words posted to AO3 in 2018 (226,518 total from 2013–2018)

Plus another 28,100 words written but not posted anywhere

Fandoms written in:

Dragon Age 2. I’m only interested in DA2 fic, and I don’t see that changing.

Looking back, did you expect to write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?:

Until I did this review, I didn’t realise I actually wrote more in 2018 than I did in 2017, despite being so busy writing The Book™? Which has really shocked me -- I wasn’t actually expecting to write much this past year, but I didn’t realise I wrote as much as I actually had! 

I wrote 75,313 words of fanfic in total in 2018 (compared to just under 59k in 2017, and about 150k in 2016) and won NaNoWriMo this year -- something I failed to do last year -- and published only one completed fanfic (an M!Handers one-shot) to AO3 during the year, while continuing another longfic started in 2017 and posting another longfic in 2018 (most of the latter was written in 2017, though, just not posted anywhere).

What’s your own favourite story of the year?:

I hate to admit it, but I’m going to have to say “A Chance Engagement” -- the Regency AU Carver/Merrill WIP written in the style of Jane Austen (currently 41,971 words and 25 chapters long), if only because I continue to have a ton of fun writing it, even though it’s hard work (especially with all the research) and it’s much harder to write than any other fic I’ve ever written. 

Did you take any writing risks this year?:

I think the main risk I took in 2018 was publishing longfics before I actually finish writing them (like “Employer Relations”, the Gym AU M!Hawke/Anders WIP), especially with my poor track record of finishing WIPs I’ve posted on AO3. (I didn’t even get to update “The Templar And The Blood Mage” this year, let alone finish it, and that one’s been going since 2013!) So I guess I’m taking the risk that I might not finish the longfics I have in progress on AO3 😂 

Last year I said “Everything I ever write and post is a risk, because I never know how anything will be received.” That also stands for this year, I think. 

Do you have any fanfic or profit goals for the new year?:

I would like to finish and fully post at least one (ideally all three) of the DA2 longfics I’ve currently got in progress on AO3, and start FINALLY posting up (and finish writing) “How To Push Up A Daisy”, the Carver/Merrill Gym AU longfic I started writing in 2016(!!!) 

Best story of the year?:

My one and only finished work published in 2018 is a 1,505-word fanfic called “Open Book” (rated M, pairing M!Hawke/Anders, canonverse setting), and while I wouldn’t call it my best story I suppose it is my best finished story, if only by default. With 483 hits, 49 kudos and 7 people leaving comments, it did OK on AO3 in my opinion, though. 

In terms of my best story, though, that would probably go to one of my longfics in progress in 2018. 

Most popular story of the year?:

As per my 2017 review, it depends how you define popular:

“A Chance Engagement” easily has the most kudos and hits (1,308 hits, 98 kudos), but that’s probably because I started it in 2017 

“A Chance Engagement” continues to have the most comments (a whopping 416 418 comments!!! – although only 212 213 are actually from readers, and I try to reply to each comment if I can)

“Employer Relations” has the best kudos-to-hits ratio (191 hits, 39 kudos – hardly any hits 'cos it’s only 2 chapters in and the fandom’s dying LOL)

My “most popular” fics are still fics I wrote before 2018.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Nothing I wrote this year, I don’t think...? I mean, I’m always happy to receive more kudos on “A Chance Engagement” but that goes without saying 😉😂 

Most fun story to write:

It’s a toss-up between the following two:

“A Chance Engagement” – the Regency AU Carver/Merrill longfic that’s in progress. Because I am getting to re-read a lot of Jane Austen and delve into Regency England history while writing it, and I love it 

“Employer Relations” – the Gym AU M!Hawke/Anders longfic, because HELLO gym AU / weightlifting AU, what more could you want?!? LOL 

Story with the single sexiest moment:

I have absolutely no idea, sorry. I’ll leave this one to my readers to tell me 😂 

Most sweet story:

Again, I’m not really sure. Probably the Regency AU? If only because it’s meant to be a chaste, teen-rated, slow-burn romance? Not sure if it qualifies... 

“Holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you!” story:

Last year I said “I wrote one of these in 2017, but unlike 2016 I didn’t post it anywhere. Suffice to say, it contains a very niche kink I secretly have.” 

Of course I wrote another in 2018, but again I didn’t post it anywhere 😂 

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:

Nothing that I’ve written this year, tbh. 

Most unintentionally telling story:

Nothing that I’ve posted publicly, as yet.

Hardest story to write:

“Open Book” (M!Hawke/Anders one-shot). This one was for the Handers Reverse Big Bang 2018, and I struggled with it so much that I couldn’t even write a fic with the minimum 1,500 word count until something like two hours before my posting deadline. I struggled with writing this fic for weeks -- I just had zero inspiration and I wouldn’t say I was that happy with the final result. 

Biggest disappointment:

Not finishing any of my longfics in progress. I was hoping I’d have one of them finished and fully posted by the end of 2018, but sadly it was not to be. 

Biggest surprise:

“A Chance Engagement” continues to surprise and delight me by how many comments it receives. Thank you so much, everyone, for your support ❤️ 

Tagging: 

No obligation to do this if you don’t want to, but for the second time today (I’M SO SORRY IF I’M BOTHERING YOU ALL) I tag: @barbex, @storybookhawke, @mhandersmyheart, @ungenue, @andrew-blackthorn, @ayantiel, @stitchcasual, @tearsofwinter, @greensphynx-thecloset, @todisturbtheuniverse, @manicparadox, @bexterrr, @ethydium, @mikkeneko, @kagetsukai, @dovabunny, @wardsarefunctioning, @rhythm-diary, @aban-asaara, @thetemplarandtherogue, @gothkimmyschmidt, @reikah, @uchidachi and any other writer I’ve missed off who might want to do this (no obligation to do this, of course!) ❤️

[ghostwise]

Dragon Age Questions

@dirthara-mama tagged me for this! Thank you!! <3 I’ll tag @mabarihounds @antivan-surana and @vlwv 

01) Favourite game of the series?

Origins! It’s the first one I played, and each time I pick it up I find something entirely new in the experience. The characters feel like old friends, and the dialogue is really charming. It also has a ridiculous high-fantasy vibe that I love, which seems to be lacking in later games. I know it’s silly, I know it’s absurd and dated... but you just can’t beat that possessed rhyming oak tree npc…

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?

When Inquisition was announced, I started seeing a lot of it on my dash, so a friend and I started playing the series! I was hooked pretty much right away.

03) How many times you’ve played the games?

I’ve finished Origins three times, DA2 twice, and I’m currently playing Inquisition for the first time!!  Exciting!

I also have a handful of unfinished playthroughs on Origins, which were attempts to create new Warden characters, but none of them got past the first quest. I just love my Mahariel too much… 

04) Favourite race to play as?

Elves! I love the worldbuilding behind them, the city elves, the Dalish, and the ancient elves. I hate pretty much everything about how these issues are handled in game, though.

05) Favourite class?

Mage!

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

Pretty much. I have tried to play as different characters so as to explore different outcomes and decisions, but again… I love my OCs too damn much.

07) Go-to adventuring group?

Origins: Hamal, Zevran, Morrigan, Sten. DA2: Renata, Varric, Anders, Isabela. Inquisition: Neluayo, Varric, Blackwall, Sera—so far!

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

Listen, I love creating OCs and putting ridiculous amounts of thought into them. It went from being a coping mechanism as a newly immigrated depressed and anxious child, to something I still love as an adult. I have a hard time picking one OC I put the most thought into…

But because I’ve played Origins the most, and played it first, Hamal has a lot more content in his tag than my other Dragon Age OCs. He’s my baby and I adore him.

09) Favourite romance?

Zevran’s, no question. I think he may be one of my favorite characters in the series, romance or no! I love his background and his personality and his character arc. My boy...

10) Have you read any of the comics/books?

Nope!

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book?

Didn’t read any of them but I do own World of Thedas v1 and v2, and it seems each time I open it I find something new and surprising about the world. I love it!

12) Favourite DLCs?

I really enjoyed Return to Ostagar for Origins, and Legacy for Dragon Age 2. I know Inquisition has some amazing DLC content so I’m looking forward to that!

13) Things that annoy you.

The constant retconning, and rewriting of issues to suit a certain agenda in game. Especially regarding treatment of the mages or the elves. Like, I know this is a fictional narrative, okay? But it’s annoying to watch the story go from ‘Templars are unequivocally abusing their power and oppressing this group of people’ to ‘well they have good reason for it, sometimes you have to massacre an entire population because of one incident, it’s Gray Morality™ sweetie!’

Nah, it’s just bad writing! And it’s okay to admit that lol

14) Orlais or Ferelden?

I have no strong feelings on the matter. Would love to hear more about Antiva or Seheron!

15) Templars or mages?

Mages!

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

Same universe. I don’t have an interest in having multiple Wardens or Hawkes tbh, I... I get too attached lol

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

Hamal calls his mabari D’alen. He is the most spoiled mabari in all of Thedas, typically guarding the camp, never fighting or being placed in danger. Renata calls her mabari Nicolo, and she loves putting warpaint on him. The dog accompanied Carver at Ostagar and takes care of the family over their years in Kirkwall. I still need to name Neluayo’s hart!

18) Have you installed any mods?

A few for Origins (different robes for Morrigan and the realistic appearance mods for companions), and several for DA2 (dialogue tweaks and new hair/appearance options). But Inquisition seems kinda complicated to mod, and I don’t want to break the game hhhh

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?

No, he wanted to find Tamlen and go back to his clan. He actually did take off after Ostagar, driven by anger and fear and homesickness. Alistair was devastated. Morrigan had to go and fetch him, convincing him to return.

20) Hawke’s personality?

A good mix of purple and blue, but let’s be real, Renata is pink. Whimsy, whimsy, whimsy.

21) Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition?

I haven’t played around with armor creation yet… sounds fun though!

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

Hamal would have gone after Tamlen. It’s his greatest regret. Even before encountering him as a ghoul, Hamal was never able to shake the feeling that Tamlen had survived. But Duncan shot down every hope, and there was so much going on after Ostagar… there came a point where Hamal accepted that Tamlen was gone. 

When he shows up again, too far beyond any help but a blade between his ribs? It’s not something he ever gets over.

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

Oh I love breaking canon.

Hamal never becomes Warden Commander. His political influence by the time of the Landsmeet is as perilous as you might expect of an angry and traumatized Dalish elf whose interest was more on surviving and defeating the Blight, than, say, being on any noble’s good side. The only reason he isn’t immediately executed is because he and his allies called in many favors and made many concessions. One being that he would leave the Wardens and not remain politically involved. Frankly, the crown and nobility hoped he would perish against the Archdemon. But here we are! 

Alistair becomes Warden Commander instead. Receiving the boon comes with challenges of its own. The Dalish receive all the land that was most tainted by the Blight. Reconstruction takes years and is still an issue during Inquisition era.

To that end, the political influence of the Dalish during Inquisition leads to a lot of changes for Neluayo’s canon too. Because the elves have a hold over much of the south, the Inquisition needs to ally with them to even gain access to those regions. Neluayo being Dalish herself smooths things over some, but she is really in a complex position, with the Dalish, with the Chantry, with the monarchy… being stationed in the Free Marches, Clan Lavellan is one of the clans that has yet to join the southern Dalish. It’s a huge stressor for her.

As for Hawke, I keep both her siblings alive. Renata needs her little sister ;; <3 They do all go their separate ways after events in Kirkwall though. Orsino is also alive. Varric was clearly covering for him!

And I know Hawke already has a VA buuuut I headcanon Renata’s voice to sound more like Brittany Howard’s! Because it’s adorable.

24) Are any of your character(s) based on someone?

Not really. I never create them with any one source of inspiration or influence in mind.

25) Who did you leave in the Fade?

I’m gonna leave Stroud in the Fade! Makes my life a lot easier lol

26) Favourite mount?

I’ll agree that the harts are amazing! And they’re just so TALL. Love those majestic Thedosian megafauna. The bog unicorns are cute too, they’ve grown on me, surprisingly. Ha!

[sassylavellen]

🐉 Age Questions

I was tagged by the ever wonderful @enchantment1385! Thanks for the tag, lovely!

1. Favourite game of the series? Dragon Age II. Yeah yeah yeah It’s the worst of the three by default but I still love it for what it is. It was my first exposure to the series and I will always have a special place for it in my heart.

2. How did you discover 🐉 Age? I was recording a youtube series where I would rent a game from my local library and film two hours of me playing, then edit it down to 20 minute videos. I went to my library to get a different game, but it was rented by someone else before I got there. I still needed to do another video so I grabbed DA2 off the shelf.

3. How many times have you’ve played the games? That’s funny, I was literally just talking about this question with @marvel-maven earlier today. I’ve played Origins 5 times all the way through and Inquisition 8 times all the way through. I’m not sure how many times I’ve played DA2, but I think it’s around 10.

4. Favourite race to play as?

Elf. I’m basic.

5. Favourite class? DAO: Warrior DA2: Mage DAI: Archery Rogue

6. Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time? Mostly the same. Although I made some very different choices with Tara Tabris because she’s a very different character.

I also approach Inquisition differently between Evelyn and Moira. Evelyn is funny and a little cynical, but Moira is happy and always trying to do the right thing. Major story beats are usually the same though.

7. Go-to adventuring group? DAO: Alistair, Leliana, Morrigan DA2: Varric, Aveline, Bethany (later Merrill or Isabela)

8. Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

I’d say the ones I’ve put the most effort into are Mari Hawke and Evelyn Lavellan.

9. Favourite romance? Harding! And Leliana.

10. Have you read any of the comics/📚? 

I haven’t.

11. If you read them, which was your favourite 📓? I haven’t.

12. Favourite DLCs? TRESPASSER! I mean, the music would make it my favorite on it own but the story is also great!

13. Things that annoy you? The Fade

14. Orlais or Ferelden? 

Ferelden. Duh.

15. Templar's or Mages?

Mages.

16. If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

All of them are in the same universe. Sophia, Gillan, and Tara all go on their Origins. All my inquisition characters are involved, even if Evelyn is the only “Inquisitor”

Even my other Hawke Lyra is in the same universe but in a very different context, she’s the daughter of my main Hawke Mari.

17. What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc.) 

Sophia’s mabari is named “Chupacabra” because she wanted him to be larger than life and intimidating and also a little mysterious. (and since they are on the same storyline, Gillan and Tara don’t have dogs)

Mari’s mabari is named “Rory”.

Evelyn has a horse named Shadow prior to Inquisition, and during Inquisition she has a horse named Henry.

8. Have you installed any mods? 

I can’t because I am console bound. I had a tumblr mutual who remade Evelyn with mods (though I think they may no longer be on tumblr?)

For some reason tumblr isn’t letting me insert a picture so here’s a link to a post with Modded Evie.

https://sassylavellen.tumblr.com/post/173413619223/so-i-cant-play-inquisition-with-mods-since-im

19. Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?      

Sophia - Yes

Gillan - No, but she accepted it

Tara - Not remotely

20. Hawke’s personality?

Blue. She’s very polite and caring, but she’s also very emotional and sensitive.

21. Did you make matching armour for your companions in Inquisition?

Nope. Other than the Nightmare run I did in Inquisition where all my companions HAD to wear the best armor possible so they all matched.

22. If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

Off that’s a loaded question.

Sophia would have killed Howe before he could kill her parents.

Gillan wouldn’t change anything exactly, but she would want to see who her parents were and why they left her behind as a newborn

Tara would have stopped herself from falling in love. That was the beginning of everything going wrong in her life. Or if there was a way she could have saved her child that died in childbirth, she would have done anything to save him.

Mari might have considered changing her past, but in the end, she met her friends through all the conflicts she experienced. In the end, she wouldn’t change it.

Evelyn would joke about changing things to make herself look better, but deep down she would want to give herself a second chance to reconcile with her father.

Moira wouldn’t change anything.

23. Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

Mari has a lot of little canonical discrepancies. The events in DA2 happen a little quicker than the canon, so instead of three years in between acts, there is only one year in between act 1 and act 2, and only 6 months in between act 2 and act 3. I mostly did that because it felt right for Mari’s development, especially when I started working with the idea of her having a daughter during Inquisition. I know it creates an awkwardly long period between DA2 and DAI concerning the whole mage uprising and Templars rebelling from the Chantry, but at the same time I kinda like playing with the idea that it’s a bit like the Cold War during that period.

24. Are any of your character(s) based on someone? 

Gillan is based on and named after the actress Karen Gillan.

25. Who did you leave in the Fade?

Stroud.

26. Favourite mount? 

Evelyn always used just a normal brown horse. She didn’t like him at first, but even after getting new mounts, she still liked him.

Moira had a nugalope.

[cresity]

Fandom meme

@mordinette tagged me for this, thanks buddy :PPPP

Three Fandoms:

1. Mass Effect

2. Dragon age 

3. Critical Role (sure why not, first one that came to mind)

The First Character You Loved:

1. Either Garrus or Liara since I started from the first mass effect.

2. Leliana from both origins and inquisition, just seeing the difference is interesting too.

3. Grog cause Travis Willingham 

The Character You Never Expected to Love So Much:

1. Garrus to be honest, like he’s my sheps best friend in his space family. Otherwise i’d say Wrex or Legion for that matter cause his death was such a big thing.

2. Cassandra, from her scenes in da2 she was harsh and didn’t know what side she was truly on until the end. Then came inquisition and find out all these little things about her and when she finds out about the truth of the seekers she makes it her mission to do the right thing. 

3. Scanlan just seemed to be the suave jokester one but he had some real emotional moments that made him a great character and was the mvp in most battles.

The Character You Relate to the Most:

1. The nerd and awkward turian Garrus of course. Then maybe Tali in some ways.

2. Varric probably, can’t really think of anyone else. Maybe Alistair but not really. 

3. Pike most likely cause she’s the kinder one of the group.

The Character You’d Slap:

1. Honestly first person that comes to mind is the reporter that Jessica Chobot plays, Diana Allers but that’s more from the development side of things than the actual character. Cause they didn’t really need her character and they could of spent more time on either past squad mates who weren’t in the main party, a different new squadmate or even having a reporter from the earlier games show up like Emily Wong instead of being thrown out of the experience cause Diana is just essentially Jessica. 

Otherwise from squadmates only person that comes to mind is Jacob really since he’s kinda a dick when you think about it and is also the only squadmate who if you pursue them in a relationship cheats on you.

2. Maybe Anora??? Oh no maybe Arl Howe and just punch him in the face instead. Or even King Calain for being a dumbass at Ostagar and not getting more troops. If we’re talking squadmates then Sebastian Vale cause he’s a bit of a prick.

3. Percy, i’d slap him in his dumb arrogant face no questions asked, if my paladin was in that group he would either leave because he couldn’t trust him or would smite him after dealing with all his shit and secrets.

Three Favorite Characters (in order of preference):

1. Miranda, Garrus and Liara

2. Leliana, Isabella and Varric

3. Grog, Scanlan and Pike

A Character You Liked at First, But Don’t Anymore/Are Having a Hard Time with at the Moment:

1. Ashley. First game she was fine with some questionable views but fine cause you can’t have everyone be perfect otherwise what’s the point. Second game understandable since Shepard was dead and brought back so there would be some tension. However it’s in the third one where she made it difficult to like her cause she continues to bring up Cerberus and when you go to talk to her in the hospital and you have this whole thing about trusting each other from now on but then on the citadel mission it completely flip flops and it’s like it never happened. So yeah after that I just could not get behind her as a character, i’ve been tempted to go back to the start just so I can have Kaiden instead but haven’t had either the time or commitment to do it. 

2. Probably Anders. I mean didn’t think much of him in Awakening but in 2 he just seemed to get worse and then at the end causes all that chaos, granted Meredith didn’t help with that but still. Or maybe Blackwall just cause he turned out to not be a Warden which sucked cause Wardens have been my favourite thing about dragon age, which makes it suck more that they get shit on as each game comes out.

3. Vax for the most part is good but there have been a couple times where some of his actions have been questionable or arguments haven’t held any weight. 

A Character You Didn’t Like at First but Do Now:

1. James Vega comes to mind for when I first started ME3, like at first he comes off as a bit arrogant and in your face but once he tell his story he’s quite likeable. Also when you push him to go through with the n7 program and he get’s that tattoo just shows the impact your Shepard makes which you sometimes don’t see with characters. 

I’ll also say Jack as well, her development into the third game was unexpected but was cool to see growth.

2. Cullen but only cause of inquisition, in the others he was a dick but going through some trauma. Granted his voice actor might be a bit questionable with some of the things he’s done but for the character he has grown on me.  

3. Hasn’t really happened with this, opinions of characters haven’t really changed in this way. 

Three OTPs:

1. male Shep and Miranda, male Shep and Liara, then even though i don’t have it with my Shep but Shep and Garrus.

2. Warden and Leliana, Hawke and Isabella and Inquisitor and Cassandra.

3. Don’t really have any for critical role.

Probably won’t tag anyone but feel free to do this if you want to :PPPPP

[todisturbtheuniverse]

2017 Year End Writing Review

While I don't do monthly reviews anymore, I figured it would still be fun to post an annual review; I've been doing that for several years now and it's fun to look back on it.

I did not post very much fic this year. I wrote some. I posted less. I got very into this mindset of really polishing fanfiction, stressing about posting it if it wasn't up to quality, or whatever. So in total, I only posted 13 short-ish fics this year, made no progress posting in my one major WIP, and...you would think that would mean there wasn't a lot of writing.

There was a lot of writing. Slightly more than 500,000 words' worth. But most of it was original fiction, so I'll talk about it under the read more. (Bless you if you make it through this post, because it is lengthy.)

What I Worked On

Yet another draft of my 2013 NaNo novel. Is this thing taking shape yet? Somewhat. It is my whale. My big, dumb whale. My I-planned-a-trilogy-and-bit-off-more-than-I-could-chew story. My testing-everything-I-know-and-can-learn-about-writing story. But I can't give it up, can't leave it alone, always come back to it, think about it daily. Someday it will get there. Someday I will at least think, This will do.

A full draft of a new novella and associated planning/character backstory/tidbits that don't quite fit in-story but were useful to write. A cantankerous witch, her spurned fairy lover, and her plucky apprentice try to solve the my-garden-dies-every-night-and-I-don't-know-why problem. It's a fun bit.

NaNoWriMo 2017: A post-apocalyptic story of friendship, vengeance, and overcoming pride. There are gun fights! There are ominous rocks! There is a lot of sarcasm! I haven't yet reread it, but it's on my to-do list in 2018. The planning for this novel alone nearly constituted the word count of an entire novel. I went all-out. It was really fun.

@hollyand-writes tagged me for the following, so I'll roll that into this post as well:

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favourite works you’ve created this year (fics, art, edits, etc!) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2017. Tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original!) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works. <3 (Please feel free to consider yourself tagged if you want to do this!)

A Shadow, Passing Through & Before I Embark: A pair of fics where I explored some of that territory in Act 2 of DA2 where Hawke and Leandra might have repaired their relationship a little bit before. You know. I've always felt pretty hostile toward Leandra; she puts a lot of blame and responsibility on her children when it has no business being there. But I also attempted a DA2 replay this year, and found her occasional comments in Act 2...interesting. I saw them in a different light. And a mushy, selfish part of me wanted to see Hawke get some kind of closure--some kind of improvement--with her mother before she died. Anyway, though I did not make it all the way through DA2 (I always, always, always stall before All That Remains, ever since my mom died in 2013, because it makes so. many. complicated. feelings), I liked picking it up again. I missed Hawke, and I missed Isabela.

With My Whole Heart: A little more Cassandra/Josephine fluff, sparked by an anon prompt. When I finally started thinking about it, this little fic just...flowed. I think I wrote it in an hour and a half, non-stop. It helped me remember how writing fanfiction used to feel for me. Just fun and nice and kind of wonderful.

Practicality, Revisited: A Kima/Allura fic. I'd love to explore more of these two. Written for the Critical Role Relationship Week, which I adored the idea of--I got some fun match-ups to write about, but this was by far my favorite.

Flying, Falling: Ryder/Vetra. I wish my enthusiasm for Andromeda had not dropped off so damn abruptly (not the game’s fault, I don’t think; I just lost interest even though I enjoyed it); this, and the other two I wrote for this pairing, were such fun little fics. Maybe someday I'll take another dip into it. Video games in general had a hard time holding onto me this year. But this one is really sweet, and on a reread, I really liked it. The banter, especially. I like a good banter.

Overall Thoughts

This post has no structure and is getting abysmally long, so I'm going to try and wrap up.

I wrote a lot this year. In nine out of twelve months, I wrote more than 30K words. Of the remaining three months, I wrote more than 20K in two of them and less than 10K in only one. I had a streak where I wrote something every single day from August 30 to December 14. The longest in memory, and I'm sure the longest, ever. I had a pair of back-to-back crazy months: planning NaNo in October with 72,556 words, and actually doing NaNo in November with 100,227 words--not all of them for that novel, but about ¾ of them. I really got my discipline together this year.

I worked on more original fiction, more often, than ever before, too. I miss fanfiction, but I am happy about that.

It was the most productive word-count year on record, at just over 500K. Beats out my previous most productive year, 2015, by more than 125K words. I wrote 373,467 words that year. It was also easily most productive in terms of time spent writing; I put my ass in chair and wrote for about 300 hours in 2017.

Goals

Last year's goals seemed to work out for me. I didn't always adhere to them perfectly, but the spirit of them led to a very productive year. So with that in mind, I'm going to reprise most of them:

Spend a little time writing every day: this was not true 100% of the year, but making an attempt meant I tried more, and led to more success.

No word count goal; I just want to make sure I'm keeping track with my handy-dandy spreadsheet.

Permission to write ficlets, drabbles, and even multi-chaptered fics as I want to. Still working on balance between original fic and fanfiction. After revisiting some of the joy of writing fanfiction late last year, I'd like to get back to it again, in some capacity. But multi-chapter fics with coherent stories, again, I would like to have a full first draft written before I start posting. It drastically cut down the WIPs I have floating around out there.

Get back to These Chains. I did some work on it mid-2017 to the tune of like, three more chapters, but didn't post. I have it planned out. I just need to do the thing.

I hope that, for all of you, you find satisfaction in your creative endeavors this year, in whatever art or practice that may be.

[wild-lavellan]

Hi, just curious, might wanna follow BUT – can you please explain how you feel about all the companions from the Dragon Age games pls?

Hi anon! Ahahah that’s an interesting question. 

Before starting i have to mention i still have to play at da2, i know something about the plot and characters, but i won’t write about them. That’s mainly because there are some controversial ones which i will judge only after having actually played. 

Dragon Age Origins:

Alistair: he’s a sweetheart. I actually like him a lot because he’s the one who makes the bad jokes to keep high the morale even in the darkest times, even if he usually hides behind it when you ask about things he is shy about. He’s generous and loyal and a good friend for the Warden. And he tendentially never judges, despite being Chantry raised.

Morrigan: i like her a lot! She’s cool and very badass. I do not share her point of view on many things in the game (like how she scorns the Circle mages, how she disapproves everytime you go out of your way to help someone etc.) and i often think she’s a bit too egoistical and cold, but she’s subtle, sharp and has that sweet and romantic side that makes her a grey and well written character. I also loved her romance path, she's so sweet with the warden and i like how she gradually warms to him until she admits she's straight ot worried xD Also she grew a lot in Inquisition, the scene with Kieran and Flemeth is so touching. 

Leliana: i loved her in Origins, a bit less in Inquisition. Mainly because in Inquisition she’s fucking scaring and after having softened her in Origins i didn’t expect so much ruthlessness and detachment afterwards. It does make sense tho, after what happened to her. Anyway I’d say lovely in Origins, scary in Inquisition but always super cool. I also like her being so open minded and ready to look back on her views once proved wrong.

Zevran: I actually like everything about him and he’s super sweet.

Oghren: hhhhhhhhh my favourite drunkard what the hell

Wynne: she’s like the Warden’s granny. Always kind and ready to give advice. She can be a bit pressing on some things but all grannies are lol. I find her very wise and supportive, not to mention she’s so damn cool like an elderly woman protected by a spirit who just goes out to fight darkspawns.

Sten: i like him a lot and at the same time i am intimidated by the sheer righteousness he radiates. Anyway 10/10 would recruit him anytime

Shale: sass queen, another 10/10. We share the hatred for pigeons (but i wouldn’t ever harm one!!).

Dog: I mean it’s an affectionate mabari called Barkspawn by Alistair. It’s pure.

Dragon Age Inquisition:

Cassandra: One of my favourite companions, truly. Righteous and wanting to make things better, fearless, stubborn and impulsive. Also i love how she changed her mind about the Inquisitor. I played with a Dalish Inquisitor, and her nagging about the Herald, the Maker etc. was annoying at times, same with the usual mistrust of mages. That was expected tho, and she gained points when she says she will tell everyone about the cure for Tranquility after they’ll have found a safe method to achieve it.

Varric: he’s precious and a good dad for Cole

Solas: my favourite treacherous bald elf. I dunno, i think he’s a masochist idiot, superiority complex everywhere, the main cause for all the shit that actually happened, but he actually has so many good (and bad) qualities i love him to pieces *cries*

Dorian: my Inquisitor’s romance. He’s the ultimate perfection, my favourite character of all the three games.

Cole: he’s the human version of Dog. He’s just pure.

Sera: one of my faves but dear, it’s so hard to get on with her while playing with a Dalish mage! After What Pride had Wrought damn, i found the cutscene so cringy, like she just yells mean things and you can’t really argue back. Aside from that, she’s the sweetest bean. I also love how she grew up in Trespasser.

Vivienne: not one of my favourites, but mainly because i don’t agree with her point of view on many things. I think she’s a very cool and strong character, but i found little connection with her throughout the game.

Iron Bull: wet titty

Blackwall: I like him. Not one of the faves either, but he’s good hearted and wants to be better. A tiny bit too enthusiastic about the Wardens. A tiny bt creepy how he faked to be a dead man for years.

I hope i haven’t forgotten anyone! *sweats*

[thejourneymaninn]

What are your top 5 DA ships and can you tell me why?

Hi there :) Ok, thiswas a tough one…so here it goes:

1) Fenders

Ok, this one’s easy, Fenders is my all-time favourite DA ship. Both characters mean a lotto me, and I love what they could be together. They truly are more alike thanthey think; there is just so much potential.They have a lot in common, not just when it comes to similarities in theirrespective pasts, they also have similar struggles with self-worth, a desperateneed to be loved (while at the same time being afraid of it); they both feelvery deeply, are stubborn and blunt to the point of being rude and althoughthey express it in different ways, even their sense of humour is similar. In away, they are both giant dorks. They could have a lot of fun together, and Ifeel the parallels in their backgrounds could help them understand each otherin a unique way – if they manage toactually listen to each other. Because yeah, their in-game relationship is(mostly) horrible; they start off on the wrong foot, and it only goes downhillfrom there. While there are some banters where one of them tries to reach out,they keep misinterpreting each other’s intentions, until they are so set intheir ways that there’s more or less nothing left but lashing out. Some oftheir behaviour makes sense for theircharacters/situation, but in many cases, Bioware played it up to ridiculousextremes, to the point where it’s rivalry at all costs, with the two of them beingreduced to mouthpieces for Templars/mages. Which is extremely frustratingconsidering the story spans over seven years (you know, general “let’s pitoppressed people against each other” frustration aside). I find it very hard tobelieve that in all that time, they never manage to have even one non-hostile,genuine conversation. They could have done so much more with these two; there’sso much wasted potential, and I love exploring all the ways things could have gone. I love charactersovercoming differences, realizing misconceptions and how much they have incommon, and one of my favourite things istheir bantering dynamic intact but turned affectionate, still poking each otherwith dry humour and fond teasing. Also, thesetwo teaming up would be a nightmare for their friends - they’d be unstoppable.

2) Fenhawke

Funnily enough, as much as I love Fenders, I didn’t evenconsider it as a pairing the first time I played DA2; I completely fell in lovewith the Fenhawke romance. I don’t read that much fic about it these days, butit’s still a close second. Seeing Fenris heal and grow, taking back his life -there’s a power to it that I just can’t resist, and the dynamic with a Hawkewho truly supports him, listens to him and takes him seriously is simplybeautiful. I love the way he reacts to Hawke, his shy little giggles and jokes, how he comes to trust Hawkedespite never having known friendship or love – and most of all, I love that heallows himself the time to heal. I know some people dislike the three-yearbreak in the relationship, and the distress he’s in after his memories cameback truly is hard to watch, but that he takes a step back and says “no, thisis too fast, I’m not ready for this” is actually one of my favourite things aboutit. I also really like that he doesn’t immediately move in with Hawke, becauseas beautiful as the romance is, they are some “you are my only friend and themost important thing in my life” tendencies in the dialogue that have thepotential to be really unhealthy, which makes the fact that he has come tovalue his independence enough to realize that and try to take precautions especiallyimportant to me. Also, the fucking puppy eyes. They shouldn’t be so effective,but the way he looks at Hawke, his face is just so expressive…there’s just somethingabout Fenris that makes me want to see him happy and loved.

3) Merribela

I just love their dynamic, everything about their banter,from Isabela teaching Merrill cheatingand body shots to Merrill’s excited questions about Isabela’s life as a pirate,and I love that Isabela is so protective of Merrill, but that she is alsopretty much the only companion whorespects her and realizes how smart and capable she is. They have such abeautiful relationship, and I really wish Bioware had made them canon. I knowthere’s Carver/Merrill and Fenris/Isabela instead, and I actually do reallylike those pairings too, but there’s something about Isabela and Merrill thatjust really stands out to me. Both of them are such wonderful, complexcharacters, and both tend to be underappreciated by their friends; Isabela isconsidered selfish and shallow, while Merrill gets waved off as naïve andstupid, none of which is even remotely true. But Merrill and Isabela supporteach other, without judgement, and cometo understand each other despite coming from very different backgrounds. I justwant them to see them together, happy and in love, sailing away and shankingpeople.

4) Handers

I am not that fondof the in-game version of the romance, mainly because it’s pretty obvious Biowaretried to frame it as a tragedy - which to be clear, I don’t think it is at all.As far as I’m concerned, the fact that Anders has his own convictions and goalsand Hawke is not always his numberone priority is what makes it one of the best romances there is; it’s notsomething Anders needs to apologise for,it’s exactly how it should be. I also firmly support the Chantry boom, and needlessto say, any Hawke I ship with Anders is fiercely,uncompromisingly pro-mage and would have gladly blown up the chantrythemselves. And I just love Anders realising that, that Hawke truly supportshim, that they will stay with him - he can’t believe it at first and it’s so heartbreaking, but it also makes it all the morebeautiful when it turns out that yes, he is loved, he does deserve it, mages are people, they deserve to be free andsomeone believes in that as fiercely as he does. So I might not be that happywith how the romance is treated in game (among other things, Anders doesn’teven get an endgame kiss unless you rivalmancehim, which: no, absolutely not), but when it comes to fics, I loverevolutionary couple Anders and Hawke running off together, freeing mages and giving the Chantry all the middlefingers, because Anders was right, and he deserves to be loved by someone whowholeheartedly, 100% supports his cause.

5) Zevran x Warden

Turns out the top four were pretty easy, but I really hadtrouble deciding on the fifth. There was some strong competition, in particular, Isabela/Hawke or Leliana/Warden,but I’m gonna go with Zevran/Warden here because as my very first DA romance, Zevranwill always hold a special place in my heart. While I generally prefer theatmosphere and group dynamic of DA2, I absolutely adore his character andromance arc, and I just want him to be happy, travelling/livingwith the warden, murdering crows, knowing he is loved.

[theharellan]

♛♟ and ♝!

Dragon Age Positivity Meme | Not Accepting

♛ your favourite da:o minor character

This probably doesn’t come as a surprise for people who follow my multimuse, but I’m very fond of Gorim Saelac, probably better known as the guy who shouts about Fine Dwarven Crafts. But anyone who has done the Aeducan origin (which was my first playthrough) might better know him as your Second and the origin’s potential love interest if you’re playing f!Aeducan.

You honestly don’t have very long with him, but I think Daniel Erickson did a great job with him in a small amount of time. That origin in general is by far my favourite, and I feel slots in very neatly with the overall plot of DA:O, what with you having been a commander with experience fighting Darkspawn it’s easy to see why Duncan wants you to join up and why taking over from Alistair might even be more logical. But I digress. I really love Gorim because while his loyalty is more or less what defines his limited screen time, there is a fair amount of nuance and he conveys a lot of the issues with the dwarven caste system, especially if you’re in a romance with him. Here you have someone from a well-respected family whom many people believe ought to be noble himself, but it’s his caste that holds him back, not his merit.

When you reunite with him again in Denerim, it’s clear that his fall and his forced retirement from the warrior lifestyle has had a clear effect on his self-worth, as has his exile. At the end of the game he’s eager to return to Orzammar and try to begin again, having never adjusted to a lifestyle completely alien to what he was “supposed to do” and beneath an alien sun. I wish I could recruit him along the lines of Bodhan and Sandal and just have him on the journey because I think he would’ve fit in well with the Origins companions. Gorim has past experience that would inform his opinion on assassins like Zevran, fellow dwarven warriors like Oghren, and Sten, who also was picked for his role rather than it being something he picked himself, and who struggles with self-worth when he fails to live up to the standards his society sets for warriors. He’d also offer an interesting perspective on mage issues, it being something he had no exposure to, as well as Chantry teachings.

Anyway that’s why I started writing him. He defined my first DA:O experience and was one of the reasons I immediately was drawn into the game right away, even if his role was small.

♟ your favourite da2 minor character

DA2′s strongest asset is probably it’s sidequests tbh as evidenced by the fact that I put a few names here and tried to settle on one. I was specifically torn between Ketojan, Orana, and Feynriel. I think I have to go with Ketojan, but of the three Feynriel has the most complete arc and Orana is just someone I want good things with.

Ketojan puts a face and name to lore introduced in DA:O. Sten talking about how the Qun treats mages it one thing, it’s another seeing it, you know? A recurring issue qunari characters face is an inability to live up to expectations, be it Sten losing his sword and therefore his soul, Iron Bull being unable to put the Qun before his loved ones or being uneasy with the prospect of invasion, Tallis opting for non-violent methods over violence and trying to protect innocents, but then you have Ketojan, who wanted nothing more than to live by the Qun. Which demanded his death. In a way it demonstrates how the Qun punishes even those who want nothing but to abide by it, through apparently no fault of their own, as it doesn’t seem Ketojan escaped.

But also it shows how the Chantry is no better? Petrice is just as guilty of treating Ketojan like a thing, a chess piece to move around for her own gain. He’s dehumanised by most everyone around him and his feelings aren’t taken into account by anyone except potentially Hawke, who I think can ask if he actually wants this, it’s all just assumed for him.

I do wish there was a way for Ketojan to have chosen a different path and ended up with Hawke or Tal-Vashoth. But I am glad we have Bull in DA:I to demonstrate what leaving the Qun looks like and the unlearning process one might have to go through.

♝ your favourite da:i minor character

Again, it’s hard to say. I love Dagna and Harding, Krem is an obvious choice, Abelas is another, also Calpernia, and I actually really like Mother Giselle, although I get why people also don’t like her. Idk what it is about DA:I that gets me attached to like, that one namely Chantry Sister in Haven who sleeps with Iron Bull, over Teagan. But there you have it.

I think I’ll go with Valta, but I say that knowing I could talk about her or any one of the above. I just know the angle I’m going to ramble about for a second about why I like her and why I think she fits well with the themes DA:I goes for. All Dragon Age games like their misfit companions, but I think DA:I more than the others goes the extra mile in making many companions have complimentary or contrasting themes. Like the some companions, Valta is someone who is not accepted by others of her people both by choice and the nature of her actions. Inquisition is also a game where oftentimes uncomfortable truths are dredged to the surface, such as the nature of the Seekers, the bloody history of Elvhenan, Ameridan’s entire existence, or the Chantry’s role in the supposed unprovoked assault on Red Crossing. Truths the Inquisitor can literally bury if they so choose.

Valta is a continuation of that, being someone who refused to alter history to suit the king, and who seeks out history so lost that Orzammar wouldn’t know to bury it if they wanted to. Idk if you could tell from my love of Merrill and Solas, but I really like characters whose motivations are informed by understanding history, even the bad bits, and in the case of Solas and Valta, exposing the corruption inherent in the keeping of history. Honestly I’d probably write Valta if I wasn’t hoping other people would, as I am with every dwarf because I want to write with every dwarf.

She’s also just a nice person who went out of her way to protect a “dead man’s” family and despite her connection with the Titan changing her somewhat, you still get that sense. Renn’s body wasn’t forgotten, nor are the dwarves sundered from the Titans.

Also I like her because she introduced a lot of dwarf lore and I’m a big fan of that.