#anari

[simplyamazingsims]

Fletcher Household Update

I've updated Saint, his now Fiance Amber and baby Anari 🥺🥰

[arjengelly]

The main reason I got the Romantasy coloring book:

Anari 🩵 Steb

[inmyworldblr]

Anari (1959) | dir. Hrishikesh Mukherjee

[cidsin]

art by me @cidsin Artfight 2024 @artfight

on we go, we had my inlaws over so not much time for scribbling :))) but here we go!

Gala Xy belongs to Hikatsuke

Maria Hallett belongs to @soldalyte

Anari belongs to Akomachi

May belongs to Mayalet

Tekoha belongs to @kheprriverse

Beni belongs to Castyah

and on we go with more skribbling... my bookmarks are feeling not much lesser xDDDD

[snackara]

The Prophecy (and Analysis)

Twenty years after the blood and tears A wolf among sheep shall come to reunite the broken Able to wield the power of fire Seeking retribution for those in chains The Last Marcach is coming

Sooo…yeah. Here’s a rough draft for the main prophecy in The Marcach Chronicles. Now, I can hear some of you already rolling your eyes at this, but I promise this will go in an interesting direction.

Starting off, the meaning of the prophecy is fairly simple. Twenty years after the war that destroyed the Kingdom in Erbia and left many wildborns as slaves, someone will come to reunite the land and free them. They will be a wildborn living in Perin, who will bond with a dragon, hence harnessing the “power of fire”.

The people of Erbia—wildborns in general, really—have been waiting a while for some sign of hope. So when rumor spread of this prophecy, they rejoiced and began to revere their soon-to-be savior. It even spread to Perin, where the celebration was more subtle, with slaves even creating songs with double meanings about this Last Marcach.

Saoirse was the one sent to find them. She was deemed the most disposable best suited to go into enemy territory, and the most responsible to carry something as precious as a dragon egg. She was hesitant at first, but after the priest who foresaw the prophecy (Anarí) finally convinced her, she felt honored to carry out the task. She found it odd that he was so certain about the prophecy when it was so vague, and no one else knew who he was talking about…but who was she to question one of the Tide’s chosen?

So she left for the empire, looking for the slave who would bond to the dragon. Things were going great, and she managed to remain undercover for a while.

Then Wren happened.

She didn’t want to go with him at first, but considering she was being chased at that moment, she figured his help was better than being torn up by dogs. She was suspicious of him, but he seemed nice enough. Gruff, sure, but polite and cordial. The healer who helped her too was very kind. Nevertheless, she didn’t trust them to know about the prophecy, and wanted to get back on the road as soon as possible.

But the dragonet hatched, and it…bonded…to…Wren.

Saoirse was more than a little confused. Surely he couldn’t be the Last Marcach everyone was worshipping. He’s wasn’t technically a slave, and he was far from the world-saving type. Even he knows it. And it’s not like she can just take the dragonet and bond it to someone else, that’s not how it works.

But he has to be. The Tide can’t be wrong. Maybe it was just a little misinterpreted. Anarí will know what to do. He knows what he’s talking about.

Right?

[blappel]

[poaterre1]

[dreamybard]

in the instance that anari becomes frustrated/annoyed/caught off guard, she briefly flashes the spiderman mask eyes

[the-overanalyzer]

Ah yes, the Veilguard sidequest villains:

nationalism

little brother's goth phase

reflexive cissexism

repressed female rage

contesting grandma's will

rejected tenure application

ANCIENT SINS

[gyrovagi]

have you ever felt the warmth of a god's happiness?

[taterdraws]

my rook went "you've got to be kidding me" when anaris showed up

[inmyworldblr]

Nutan in Anari (1959) | dir. Hrishikesh Mukherjee

[zaahvi]

— "I am Anaris. They call me—" — "A Forgotten One."

[sammakesart]

I have a bunch of sketches of the elven gods. I wanted to make pretty art of all of them, but I have so many WIPs as it is… decided to just share them as is. Here’s some of them.

[hemlock-ghost]

This came to me in a vision and now it's everyone else's problem

[raymurata]

Bellara's main choice and DAV's implicit (or accidental) stance on book burning

Okay, so. Prefacing this with -- I enjoyed the game. I'd even play it again. That being said, one of its biggest flaws is trying to deliver something so morally sanitized it shies away from giving its characters (aside from Solas) and plotlines (aside from Solas's) real nuance. And in the same breath, they end up sending messages that I doubt they intended to send.

Bellara's main decision is particularly annoying to me.

First, I find her arc to be lacking -- She starts the game grieving her brother and blaming herself for his death despite not being responsible for it, then she finds Cyrian again only to grieve him again, so she's back to the start, only this time she has had the guilt removed from her because Cyrian tells her what she needs to hear, and the blame is placed on a big bad evil. Fair, fine.

But I don't like the cinematography of that scene at all. There was plenty of time for Rook and Bellara to react between Anaris grabbing Cyrian's foot and throwing him at the wall. People in Thedas have survived way worse injuries, too, and Bellara literally has healing at her disposal. Why doesn't she even try? His death is clearly plot-driven but it doesn't take her arc forward all that much? But again, that's fine. Not too bad.

But then the choice I have to make for her is whether or not to keep the archive, why? At no point in the game (please correct me if I'm wrong and missed canon information that contradicts me. That would make me way less angry!!!) do they tell us that it was Bellara using the Archive that summoned Anaris, or that it could summon him at will. As far as my interpretation goes, the Archive is, as its name says, the equivalent to a library curated by a comically self-aggrandizing jerk. At no point do we hear it share any actually dangerous lore either, do we? No blueprints for nuclear weapons...

So why does the game choose this wording:

Now, unless the Archive has powers we are unaware of, what this is saying is basically "burn the ancient elven library (it will be safe)" or "don't burn the ancient elven library (it will be dangerous)" and, for a game that is so irritatingly set on giving you only 2024-morality-board-approved goodTM and unproblematic companions and allies... Why does it tell me that burning books is the safe option, ESPECIALLY given that these books are priceless historical artefacts from a marginalized and subjugated ethinic group who have long lost their history to genocide? Like, wut?? Even if the Archive were in fact a dangerous weapon, the game shows us through the Veil Jumpers' vault that they have trained capable scholars and developed (or are developing, with Bellara spearheading it) safe tools to study and keep these artefacts. How condescending is it to tell them that they won't be able to safekeep this one? How pointless? (and her cutest armor AND best skill are locked behind that choice? outrageous lmao.)

And what pisses me off is that they had everything set up already, they just had to deliver it differently. If they told us explicitly that the archive is Anaris' phylactery and that keeping it would mean allowing Anaris to eventually come back? THEN we'd have a real danger. NOW there is a non-fascist risk to maintaining knowledge.

Or what if the only reason Cyrian is back is because Anaris brought him back? What if Cyrian's life is therefore tied to Anaris', and you had to choose between letting Anaris live (perhaps that results in him getting imprisoned in the Archive, tampering with the information in it and destroying its historical value forever, plus Anaris might one day figure out a way out) or killing Anaris for good even knowing that Cyrian will also die again if you do (but then the Dalish get to keep the archive and all the knowledge in it, and Cyrian's sacrifice is not in vain)? Or maybe... The Archive is a spirit, isn't it? Drive home the fact that being tied to that device was a cruel thing Anaris did to it, and keeping it there is just as cruel, even if it would mean giving the elves access to information. Make the wording "free the archive" really mean something here, and the player really think that the knowledge will be lost. Then maybe have it that, if she frees it, it gives her information freely and with its own interpretation of that knowledge, and THEN it leaves (so it's not forever but there is a reward for being compassionate). And if she keeps the spirit in the device, then it is always rude and it gives her information curated by Anaris' point of view, but it is available to all upcoming generations. It'd be real nice and nuanced to pit her compassion against her drive for knowledge. If this were DAO or DA2, you wouldn't make the choice FOR HER. You'd make the choice yourself because you are the leader, and if you chose to keep the spirit, you'd garner lots of negative points with Bellara (and with Emmrich) because, let's be honest, she is written as inherently more compassionate than driven, and she'd resent you making an oppressing choice even if it is well-meaning and good for her people (just like Alistair resents you killing Isolde even if he understands it was a difficult choice).

I just... So many ways it could have been an actually weighted choice, or that it could have affected your relationship with Bellara (and other companions) as Bioware RPGs were wont to do. They had a good set up, but the landing was absolutely bonkers.