#anarie

[pengumi12]

House of Fingolfin and House of Finarfin

[seventhotsoffeanor]

I decided to draw some random characters I like (and also Fëanor)

Btw all of these probably aren't super accurate, it's just how I imagine them when I read the book

[elithilanor]

For the Silm ask game if you'd like: 🍽️ You are having a dinner party and you can invite five (5) characters from the Silm. Who do you invite?

Oh jeez! I’m not going to have any deep philosophy about this, just vibes lol

Elrond because I love this man with every fibre of my being and I want him to give me a fucking hug

Ecthelion because I’m so curious about him and Glorfindel’s potential relationship

Lúthien because I’m so gay and she’s so fucking cool and badass

Fingon because I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read and heard about him and he just seems so wholesome and sweet in comparison to most others

Eärwen or Anarië because we deserve to know more about them

I think I managed to do it without causing a bloodbath, too, huzzah!

[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?

[zaahvi]

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

[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.

[citrusai]

bellara saying "why couldn't you stay a memory?" when she meets cyrian again now under anaris' tutelage vs solas cowering in front of the fragment of mythal that was locked away when elgar'nan killed her after he's erased all his regrets stemming from his time in her service off his walls in the lighthouse.

something something in grief we only see the best parts of those we've lost. something something memory is a traitor. something something solas' own memories are akin to that of a tree trying to grow up towards the sun to ensnare it. something something reality is often disappointing compared to the memory / fantasy. something something bellara thought her brother's death was staining her hands and through his memory she resigned herself to history and fixing the veil artifacts and now that he's here and he's actively harming their people she has no choice but to confront the idea that her brother is not who she remembers him as.

[crapet-illu]

I like elves.

Littles pointy ears babiiiiies 🧝

[pengumi12]

House of Finwe

Missing some ppl and with the addition of others

[drakorn]

Veilguard: Shows one of the Forgotten Ones for the first time ever Me: Oh boy I can't wait to see what the Forgotten Ones actually are like, since all their lore stems from pro-Evanuris propaganda. Since the Evanuris are shown to be tyrants who suppress and destroy all who oppose them, surely the Forgotten Ones were actually much more nuanced and deep and- Anaris: Is literally Satan

[northernolddragon]

[neves-trouble]

I'm romancing Bellara and just got a dialogue like this

Harding: Romance looks good on you.

Bellara: I thought I washed up! Did I miss a spot?!

Harding: No, I was just kidding!

Bellara: Oh! Oh no... *Nervous laugh*

HELLO???

[crestwood-survivor]

Cyrian Notes

Some notes I found in Arlathan forest that I'm pretty sure are from cyrian:

[utilitycaster]

ideas for Veilguard runs that are better than anything any video game publication I have seen has put out, all of which still permit you to get a neutral or better ending with no unnecessary companion deaths (though you might get faction deaths).

Maximum Violence Run (punch the warden/piss off Mythal and fight her/fight Solas)

Destroy Neve Gallus's Life Specifically Run (Play a Shadow Dragon/disrupt the ritual with her/save Treviso/romance Lucanis/pick her to do the wards) [the Destroy Lucanis Dellamorte's Life version is less funny as it doesn't have you making 5 specific choices, only 3, but you can do that too by playing a Crow, saving Minrathous, and romancing Neve]

Lothario Run (flirt with everyone and see who locks it in first)

Apple of Discord run: discourage every romance (Neve/Lucanis, Taash/Harding...I don't think you get a say in Emmrich/Strife actually, Solas/Inquisitor Lavellan), have Lucanis imprison Illario if you have the option, and fan the flames of Emmrich and Taash and Lucanis and Davrin's animosity. This might fail honestly given how much it goes against the general message of the game but it would be funny to see someone try.

Matthew Mercer TPK Run (Complete Bellara's companion quest/Pick lichdom for Emmrich/save Treviso and never do the quest where you free the Blighted Viper from the Venatori and/or generally make sure you do NOT level up the Shadow Dragons sufficiently.)