#and how the narrative went from dragons and humans to dragons against humans

[countlessofvoids]

Something I often see in discussions regarding Hiccup wanting to change people's minds, is him trying to change Grimmel's being accepted as a part of the story, and it being used as an example of Hiccup's flaws. Except, if my memory serves me correctly, that never actually happened.

Prior to the final battle, Hiccup and Grimmel have three interactions ; when they first meet, when Hiccup & the gang try to capture him, then when Toothless & LF get taken. Not once, or in any of the few times where he's mentioned outside of his scenes, is the idea of changing Grimmel's mind brought up. Hiccup does not attempt to have a conversation about it with neither Grimmel nor the other characters.

In the third movie, Hiccup's motive to change people's minds and get them on Berk's side was removed. It feels like a bit of retcon, because I don't remember anything about Hiccup saying he's not gonna repeat his mistake with Drago.

[qinchez]

sylus & greed.

sylus’ character has always been associated with a trifecta of themes: desire, control, and greed. we all have a complex relationship with all three themes in the day to day life, so i love how they are all shown in various ways throughout his story, especially when his story is very much related to persephone and hades.

greed — greed manifests in characters who seek more than they are fated to have, basically just defying fate. sylusmc have always been star-crossed lovers that are ultimately doomed from the start and that greed to define their already set in stone fate would never suffice. she is his arch nemesis and achilles heel no matter how they try to change it. she is destined to be his ultimate demise, no matter how much they try to defy said fate. this insatiable pursuit of greed can be related to love, power, or wealth — and it’s shown with sylus and his fiendish greed of his dragon self. the theme greed and dragons have always went hand in hand, to the point where dragons have become the embodiment of greed. dragons are hoarders, they hoard everything they deem precious enough, and for sylus that extended to mc. she is his ultimate treasure through and through — his hoarded collection a representation of unchecked desire and greed.

“greed can never be satisfied, but you can temporarily soothe it.” sylus is always encouraging mc to use him and to be more greedy with him because in a way, she isn’t as greedy as she used to be. when sylus met her, she’s a powerful sorceress, one that demanded everything in a whim and was seeking his treasure. yet, in this life, even though she has the resources and influence — he thinks she doesn’t use it enough. even her love for him then was never pure nor self-sacrificing, but one deeply tainted and intertwined with greed. she cursed him in his death to be the only one that can grant him his true death. he will forever be tied to her and in the end she lets that greed consume her all together.

“humans are so greedy, yet i’ve become one of them.” humans, especially in association to dragons have always been greedy and deceitful. when mc first meets sylus, he has his own connotations regarding humans, ones he is so hesitant in changing. he views them as a source of evil of sorts, only viewing his kind as an extension of their materialistic wants. to him, humans have always twisted the narrative so that dragons are the ones viewed as a source of evil, promptly leaving out the fact that they simply just wanted to exist freely, without any shackles. it’s safe to say that sylus’ emotions towards humans are extremely complex — ranging from yearning to be like them ( shown through cutting his own horns as a child, as a desperate way to fit in ), to avidly hating them for the doom they have brought upon his kind, to meeting the love of his life that has changed his perception of them, and allowed him to feel more human than he ever has. she showed him the best parts of mortality — love and connection. mc healed that little dragon that desperately wanted to be viewed for something other than the monsters humans described in their tales. he was finally able to let go of the role he was forced to play and finally recognized and loved for who he truly is.

desire & control — by definition, the difference between both desire and greed is that desire is often a fundamental, driving force of life, while greed is an excessive, corrupting force that leads to destruction. control has always been one of the most important things to sylus, one that he has actively relied on to survive. for a character who values control above all, the tether of order he always clung to has become both his anchor and his cage, a constant reminder that his sense of security is heavily dependent on the control he possesses, in every aspect of his life, especially as the leader of onychinus. it’s his own way of protecting himself after all these years of being thrust against his will by the ever-defying fate.

“driven by desire, i touch you, kiss you, embrace you, and happily accept your influence.” sylus is always in tune with your needs and desires, but not without self control. his love and desire are all consuming, ready to swallow him whole, yet he holds back. he has an incredible amount of self control. even upon first meeting mc in this lifetime—and despite the desperation that followed—he still held back, allowing her to become acquainted with him on her own terms, to trust him at her own pace and of her own accord, before he finally gave in to his desires. no matter how touch starved he was and all throughout their initial interactions and the confusion surrounding them, he would always let her initiate and take charge regarding the pace of their relationship. he is utterly powerless against her, and when mc finally gives in to both their desires, he simply unravels.

[coriphallus]

DA: The Veilguard Spoiler review pt1 - Blood Magic

alright let's do this. let's write an in-depth review of veilguard. this will be long and this will be negative and i might eventually say some good things but everything i say will be undermined with a 'BUT'.

its now been around a week since i finished the game and had some time to parse my thoughts and this is why i didnt enjoy the game; NOT why you shouldnt.

so dragon age has a very special place in my heart and i am %100 the kind that has DAO as their favourite game. i have played these games religiously, and let me prefix this by saying i was not hyped for this game, i wont lie and say i wanted bw to succeed or i hoped the game would be good etc etc. if i liked the game, it would be a surprise. alas.

so theres multiple reasons for that, but the canary in the mine for me had been the announcement on blood magic, and yeah i was not shocked after DAI but i was still disappointed. so lets start with blood magic:

Blood Magic

DA lore has changed alot over time, and just like the media it took inspiration from (ASOIAF) i was under the impression that it used unreliable narrators deliberately, just as theyve poked fun at the concept with bethanys tits. it made sense then that the people telling these stories didnt know much about blood magic therefore they couldnt explain it fully but we've known some things for certain, from the text. blood magic uses blood as its source of power instead of lyrium (blood=life force), what constitutes as blood magic is open to interpretation (i.e phylacteries), multiple groups outside of the 'civilised society' such as chasind are not so staunchly against it, knowledge on it can be passed down from a mentor and that mentor usually happens to be a spirit. it can be used to enact control over people in a literal sense and thats considered by the narrative of all DA games to be more reprehensible than burning someone alive.

now i will derail this but i swear im going somewhere with it. i grew up in a country with majority white people, some blond, most with exposed hair who lived in big cities with cobblestone roads and snowy winters and starbuckses, and who would consider themselves westerners. some religious practices i know less about than most christians know about their holidays.

where my grandma lived was at the bottom of a high slope, and once a year when we went to visit her id see a thick trail of blood trickle down from the waterway to pool on her street, and at that dinner the family (and neighbours, sometimes) would bring a myriad of dishes and we'd feast. i would see butchers shops clean their curbs with buckets of water, mopping red tinted liquid down a drain. when i grew older and we were visiting my mothers village i watched the men subdue and kill a cow that we were going to eat that night. i watched them skin it and separate the meat from its bones, explaining what parts of an animal is used for which dishes because it was their craft and a young girl showed interest. as people we always live with the knowledge that our lives depend on death, whether it be a plant or an animal. existence is not moral and clean, and death is messy. getting blood stains out of a fabric once a month is the lived reality of more than half the human population.

i was not raised religious, nobody in my close family were, i didn't feel any sort of way when those men started to pray around the cow but i knew why they did it, even if it was performative for some, for the rest they had to show respect. the cow was meant to represent somebody you cared about, offering it in their stead symbolically. it needed to be respected, it needed to be butchered without pain. save from one serving of meat, as was tradition, were donated to the food banks.

now im sure some of you are thinking 'no matter how you slice it, its still a brutal act. made more brutal by the audience deriving some form of moral superiority' and yes, i used to think that too, because what is a religious practice for them is a show to me. but it is the norm where i grew up, and in the end a cow is dead regardless because we need to eat. and some people who needed to eat more than us got to eat too.

somewhere in germany news break out that some immigrants were practicing unethical and unsanitary butcherings, you see the footage of men in kufi and puffy pants and women covered completely in black sheets get ushered out by police. they shout some things in a foreign language, speaking the name of their foreign god. they show a censored room covered in blood and gore.

so i have to ask now, when you play veilguard and see venatori torturing and exploding a halla into a puff of red smoke which image does it bring to mind, what do you think of when you hear 'ritual sacrifice'? you may not have noticed this parallel but your brain sure did, as it has been noticing for your entire life and counting, the same reason you cringe at the barbarity of people consuming raw flesh, painting their foreheads with blood, killing animals you would pet. its alien, its gross, its wrong.

i cant play this game and take it seriously with its mask yanked off, gloating about its lack of nuance every step of the way. when you hit people red stuff comes out, red stuff bad. killing bad. murder bad. that it extends more sympathy to a fantasy deer than it ever allows for living breathing people of its universe, faceless and primitive.

in other DA games there were people over there somewhere who enslaved others, built their entire civilization on the ruins of gods they cannot comprehend, practiced bloody sacrifices and rituals that doomed the world for their own power, and even in their homeland they are nothing but canon fodder to be murdered and gawked at. their traditions, religion, entire culture is less than a set dressing, because whatever grosses you out are the bad apples, because the good ones cant be anything else and still derive sympathy from the audience.

and its true, you need to be an exceptional writer to make that work, especially if you dont have any real life experience to pull from. you need to stain your hands a little, and be prepared to be called dirty.

but i see it, i see those news reports everywhere i look in the game, i see the streets being cleaned and scrubbed so the tourists wouldnt call them backwards people, unclean, less than.

ive never played a game so repulsed by and is uninterested in its own universe than DAV, in every line of dialogue i can feel it trembling in fear. my companions tell me i dont need to watch a deer getting butchered, i can look away and proceed to electrocute hundreds of masked men some of whom are talking about comically evil things like patricide.

this has always been a point of contention in the medium of video games as the most prominent way to engage with the world has been through violence, and for me the DA franchise has always managed to tackle this by allowing its main character to be messy. yes, hawke cleaves thru countless faceless raiders but theyre also an illegal immigrant trying to get by with nothing to offer to the world than their violence. warden is deliberately recruited for that same violence, the only purpose of their existence is to fight as theyre made to shed everything else from their old life. and still, still you play these characters as they are allowed to grow, heal, carve out a little space for themselves where they can laugh and joke with their peers. it is juxtaposed to that darkness in their lives that makes those moments precious.

'what is good?' the games asked, and they answered 'doesn't matter, the world can be a better place with them in it'

veilguard asks 'what is good?' and answers 'you are.'

it doesnt matter whether blood magic is bad lore-wise (and that discussion is irrelevant to this decision made by the devs), because it needs to be narratively. like tabloid news the entire premise of the story is built on it. it needs to be inaccessible to and shunned by your party and rook because they need to be 'good' and in contrast, your enemies need to be 'bad'

and like dominoes it retroactively reframes the moral stance of every game in the franchise.

so, yes, i just laughed when i saw that announcement. i didnt know what else to do. but hang on to your knickers because it gets so much worse...

[crybabysunflower]

Similarities between Mikey-Takemichi (Tokyo Revengers) and Achilles-Patroclus (The song of Achilles)

I think before I start with the post I should specify that this is solely based on Madeline Miller's book The Song of Achilles which while staying close to the original source (The Illiad) has made a lot of divergence from it most particularly in an aspect of the portrayal of Patroclus. So this post is not for those who dislike this particular aspect of the book

Mikey and Achilles

"He is a weapon, a killer. Do not forget it. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature"

Mikey and Achilles being this glorious fighters who are undefeatable (The Invincible Mikey and Aristos Achaeon). Both are also charismatic leaders who are able to easily change the opinions of their respective teams and motivate them, like Mikey in Tenjiku arc when Toman was losing hope and Achilles did something similar in the fourth year of the Trojan war when the soldiers were losing interest and went against Agammenon. They both are also fated to be doomed by the narrative. Because of Shinchiro timeleaping to save Mikey he was cursed with Dark Impulse which in every timeline destroyed his own and the lives of others around him. Not quite different from Achilles' rage which claimed the lives of others and eventually himself.

Despite their glory both takemichi and patroclus is everything to them. everytime they both are separated these two glorious fighters loses his humanity and becomes a monster, once again as we see Achilles' rage and Mikey killing his own gang members after Black Dragon arc for keeping him away from Takemichi.

The Song of Achilles portrays its titular hero as an easily gulliable man which also stands true for Mikey, something which is evident from how easily he had been manipulated by Kisaki in multiple timelines.

Takemichi and Patroclus

"You do not give things up so easily now as you once did,”

While Mikey and Achilles were destined to destroy ane kill, Takemichi and Patroclus being pacifists were destined to save lives.

Takemichi and Patroclus are not famed as fighters (as Chiron says he is not destined to gain glory from his fighting) but they both are still glorious in their own ways. Their glory lies in their kindness and their selfless desire to protect and save their loved ones even if it leads to their own demise or them getting hurt in some way. They both are actually more stronger than the glorious warriors because of their emotional resilience kindness and will power. They both grow from ones who easily quit to someone who do not give up quite as easily Both Michi and Patroclus also have low self esteem because of their traumatic upbringing and see themselves as "lower" beings. Even then, when they both die, everybody mourns their deaths such impactful were they in people's lives.

Both Takemichi and Patroclus followed Mikey and Achilles respectively everywhere despite how dangerous it had been (Takemichi following Mikey to Manilla, to the Bowling alley where he nearly died and back in time after being stabbed. Similarly how Patroclus followed Achilles to Mount Pelion, to Skyros and finally to the Trojan War where he meets his fate).

While Takemichi is younger than Mikey (in contrast to Patroclus being older than Achilles) they both played a role as a guiding force in the lives of their other halves putting them in the right track. Without their existence both Mikey and Achilles end up in the path of destruction.

In the last arc Takemichi dies similarly as patroclus did (being stabbed in the stomach) i dont remember if Michi was wearing mikey's Toman uniform in the last arc if so then that adds another parallel (Patroclus dying in Achilles' armour). The reason they die is also because of their other half (directly from mikey indirectly from achilles).

(While this post mainly compares the takemichi and mikey to the characterisation of the greek mythology characters from TSOA specifically, I cant help but realise that Takemichi is also quite similar to the Iliad characterisation of Patroclus

Although unlike him Takemichi is not physically strong when it comes to fighting, he matches Patroclus' sheer determination and boldness especially during the Tenjiku Arc. Takemichi's constant attempt to defy fate despite the number of times he fails is reminiscent of Patroclus climbing the walls of Troy over and over despite being pushed down by Apollo.

Patroclus mocking Hector and prophesizing the latter's death after being stabbed reminds me of two specific occasions- First, when Kisaki pointed the gun at Takemichi and the latter taunted Kisaki to shoot him and when Kisaki shot his foot Takemichi taunts him further that he is not going to die from a bullet to his foot and chases him after that. Second when Kakucho punches Takemichi and he mocks the former saying how he punched like a second grader punk)

[maxdibert]

Omg Sansa Starkk!!!! The TV show did her so dirty. Holy shit, they took a complicated layered character (every character of asoiaf is complicated and layered actually) and gave her the most dismissive interpretation possible.

Fuck, when I heard the criticism against game of thrones, it being sexist and the depiction of violence against women, teenager me dismissed it. Then I read the books, and I agree with every criticism 😭

Sansa irritated me in the first couple episodes of season 1, until everything turned and it became a helish nightmare for her and then I felt immense sympathy for her. In the books, she became my instant favorite.

Even Arya had more layers and complexity in the books. Arya was much more human in the books, loved it.

The show assassinated several characters—it didn’t just simplify some, like Sansa, but outright destroyed others. For example, they turned Arya into a complete psychopath, period. The Arya from the last three or four seasons had literally zero personality; she was just a badass who killed people, that’s it. She would put on her psycho killer face, and that was her entire character. She was only there so the male audience could jerk off.

And then there’s Daenerys’ character assassination. And listen, this is coming from someone who can’t stand Daenerys and found her chapters in the books unbearably boring. But even so, I can’t stand it when characters are disrespected in certain ways, and what they did to Daenerys at the end was a complete disgrace. She went from being one of the main characters, always framed as good, positive, and revolutionary by the narrative, to literally a crazy, sociopathic, genocidal maniac—it made zero sense. I’m not saying it couldn’t have happened. Sure, you could spend two more seasons showing how she descends into madness. But don’t do it in three episodes—that’s just pure nonsense. Plain and simple.

And well, WELL—I won’t even get into the rant that is, for me, the biggest crime of the entire trash show: THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION OF JAIME LANNISTER. Jaime is one of my absolute favorite characters in the saga, and his redemption arc is one of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s truly a masterpiece of storytelling. I can accept that the show’s Jaime was more meh and had less charisma, but what I can’t accept is that after setting up a redemption arc so well, they ended it like that. Like, WHAT. They should have just killed him off during the Long Night—seriously, I wish they had done that. It would have been less painful. What a complete disaster.

Anyway, back to Sansa. She has always been my favorite character from the very beginning, in both the books and the show. I also think she’s a particularly interesting character when it comes to analyzing misogyny within fandoms. Both book Sansa and show Sansa get endless hate for one simple reason: she’s a normal girl. Sansa isn’t a dragon queen, she isn’t a ruler, she isn’t a rebel like her sister. Sansa is just a regular aristocratic girl with regular dreams for a girl of her age and status—someone who has always lived in a bubble. And her reactions, her doubts, and her fears are exactly what any normal person in her situation would have.

And that’s what audiences can’t stand—first, because she’s a reflection of themselves, since most people would act and react like Sansa, not like Arya. And second, because in a patriarchal view of women, a female character is only acceptable if she has traditionally masculine traits (she leads like a man, fights like a man, speaks like a man). A female character with flaws, whose personality isn’t masculine but also doesn’t cater to male fantasies, is unacceptable—so she becomes a constant target.

So yeah, as I’ve been saying for over ten years: hating Sansa Stark is misogyny, and I will not elaborate on this because I don’t do free education for misogynists.

[clockworkdragonffxiv]

Further thought about the dragons in Final Fantasy XIV because my power has grown beyond control because I was bored at work and it popped in my head:

It's mentioned a lot in Heavensward that dragons don't remember things the way humans do. Their memories are perfect to a degree that memories don't fade so for them every trauma is this gushing fresh agony in their mind, like how Nidhogg is so incredibly pissed off because he remembers in excruciating detail finding Ratatoskr's butchered corpse and the Ishgardians gorging on her flesh.

Well, not so much remembers as he's actively experiencing it. All the time. Forever. Dragons live in the now with an intensity humans can barely comprehend, and I really think they don't process time in the same we do. We experience time linearly. Past, present, future.

Dragons don't. For them existence is experienced all at once forever. I'm not sure they even entirely distinguish between present and past and future, because it all feels the same to them, and I think that it impacts them in strange ways.

Like I don't think dragons really plan the way humans do. Everything is experienced in the Now. So I think for the vast majority of them, human tinkering and building completely baffles them. Oh they see the utility but it's not something they'd come up with on their own.

This extends to things like buildings. They certainly have the raw strength to repair the structures there, but it's not something they'd ever think of. Because repairing the castles means scouting out the proper stone, quarrying it, planning the repairs, etc.

Nidhogg's war against Ishgard is the closest thing to planning we see from them, and that was literally "torture them forever."

Also why Nidhogg was batshit insane. Because for him, he's always and will forever be at that one moment in time: finding his sister's corpse as the Ishgardians she'd been fascinated by and befriended feasted on her flesh like a pack of jackals. He never left that moment. I mean, the narrative flat out tells us that, but really holy shit is that a horrifying thing to think about. Like existentially.

It's probably the reason he could bodyjack Estinien so easily: because until the end of Heavensward, whenever Estinien closed his eyes for a second he could smell the ashes and roasting flesh from Nidhogg burning Estinien's family and entire village alive.

Also, consider that Midgardsormr went through far, far worse. The fact that the guy mostly comes off as grumpy and old should tell you about just how ridiculously tough he is. And why he spends all his time sleeping. Because whenever Midgardsormr was awake he was watching his world burn.

That and probably why he loved Hydalen and his alliance with her and devotion to her. She was as tough as he was, and had been through so much and carried on despite unimaginable woulds and pain. And she still gave him shelter when he had nothing left. That kind of compassion and strength was something he respected.

As a side note, I would be interested to hear from Middy about his thoughts on Hydalen's passing. Then again, he might not mourn her. After all, she'll live forever in his memories, as whenever he closes his eyes he still sees the radiant woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders meeting an exhausted and desperate dragon with the last eggs of his kind and providing them shelter and safety. And he feels the intensity of the sudden hope he felt then with every breath. How could he not love her?

She'll always be with him.

[whalesongsblog]

Okay I was getting a few questions about Mira and I wanted to write out Ominis and Mira’s general lore since I’ve taken a lot of liberties with the universe building. I did this instead of my assignment so I really hope y’all like it lmaoo 😭🫶🏾 this is super surface level and train of thought style. There’s so much detail I want to go into tbh. I’m also working on the next chapter of Princess and the Parselmouth finally!! Anyways, I hope y’all like what I’ve come up with for my girl! Please feel free to let me know in the comments.

Third in line to the throne of the Surya empire, born to King Ashok and Queen Durgavati Surya Lakshmi, Miradevi was pampered and doted on from the very beginning. The princess has two older brothers; Crown Prince Arjun, and Prince Bharat. She is the youngest, the only daughter, and is very happy with the special treatment that affords her. If she sneaks off to steal some laddoos (Indian sweets) from the kitchens, you can bet she’s getting away with it scot-free. The empire itself is fictional, inspired by ancient Rajasthani fortresses and culture. 

Her family are muggles. So when the princess began showing signs of having magic at an early age, they were appropriately shocked. The king was even more shocked when delegations of wizards and magic beings from his own empire began showing up at the palace gates with advice on raising the princess and honing her magical abilities. Slowly, the Surya empire became the first nation to have full muggle-wizard integration. All manner of beings and people alike get along in the empire, and the stability of the nation threatens the pureblood dynamics of wizarding Britain, where propaganda against muggle-borns and nonhuman magic creatures is challenged by the Surya empire’s economic and general success. 

A branch of government was formed solely to deal with the wizarding aspects of society, with representatives from every faction in the kingdom (goblins, elves, centaurs, humans, etc.) Magic works very differently in India. It is not about waving a wand, speaking an incantation, and casting a spell. Magic is about drawing on energy in and around you, reshaping reality to be whatever you deem. 

The princess completed her ‘high school years’ so to speak through private tutoring in muggle subjects such as literature, mathematics, physics, biology, history, etc. alongside the fundamentals of magic. She went on the attend the Bodhi College of Magic Excellence, majoring in wizarding politics. Afterwards, she attended Hogwarts University of Witchcraft and Wizardry to get her Masters in wizarding diplomacy, essentially. This is where she meets Ominis Gaunt, a PhD student. 

OKAY. She and Ominis have a romance speedrun. They’re charmed by each other from the get-go, despite being almost polar opposites. Where Ominis is cautious and reserved, the princess does not hesitate to speak her opinions in a manner that gives away the fact that she was raised in court. She is supremely easygoing in a way that is fascinating to Ominis. Mira will happily step up on the debate stage, dive headfirst into controversial conversations surrounding the use of dark magic, and perpetually have a little gift for Ominis whenever he sees her. Be it a flower she found, a nicely textured rock- or sometimes a priceless, ancient tome she had lying about the palace that she commissioned to be translated to braille. 

She refuses to wear European clothes. She perpetually dresses in elaborate saris and silks, her crown always on her head. If she’s flying, she charms it to shrink and fit on her finger. Speaking of flying- she’s used to riding dragons, not brooms. 

Ominis does not know how to deal with her. She shines bright and unapologetic, and I feel that he is deeply traumatized, not being able to fathom not constantly living in survival mode. He’s distanced himself from his family but they loom perpetually over him, haunting his narrative. He does break that cycle and Mira is there to support him through the journey, but ultimately that is his arc and something he has to take control of himself. Miradevi does not act as a savior or any such thing. She’s just the anchor he needs, the light at the end of the darkness he’s been accustomed to his whole life. 

Together, they are both sickeningly sappy and extremely formidable. Would one of them sacrifice themselves for the other? Hell no. They’re both ganging up on the idiot who thought it was a good idea to challenge them in the first place. Mira’s specialty is reality bending and Ominis is a master of blood magic. If you attack one, be rest assured that the other will aim to kill without a second thought. 

Miradevi and Sebastian have an interesting dynamic. She has a low tolerance for BS and an even lower tolerance for people trying to tell her what to do. Some aspects of Sebastian’s personality grate on her and he does get a little out off by the fact that she doesn’t bend over backwards for him. They squabble sometimes, taking their frustration out through little mini duels after Mira assures him that he won’t be sent to prison for dueling a member of a royal family. They get along for the most part and sometimes enable each other’s recklessness.

Miradevi loves her girlies, and her best friends are Natty, Poppy, and Imelda. They will hang out together and discuss classes, try on clothes in each other’s wardrobes, and have late-night gossip sessions where they enjoy taking turns wearing Mira’s crown (and she adores hanging out with other MCs as well! She’ll always bring large boxes of desserts to all the hangouts).

She and Amit (much to Ominis’ chagrin) are best friends as well, and often spend time in the Astronomy tower yapping in rapid-fire Hindi. 

Anne took a little longer to warm up to the princess. Completely understandably, she wasn’t quick to like her. Feelings of being replaced and missing out on the full experience of a university she had worked so hard to get into barred her from making friends and Mira’s status didn’t help. But through effort on both their parts, the two young women did eventually form a strong bond. 

Mira can be a bit cutthroat, and will not hesitate to manipulate (bad) people. She employed one of her favorite tactics to deal with Rookwood; Undermining him in front of his followers, striking a false alliance with Harlow, inflating his sense of self-importance, inciting a proxy rebellion, and- once the operation was in shambles- having everyone remaining quietly assassinated. 

She’s just a girl. 

(Ominis doesn’t know whether to be horrified or a little begrudgingly admirational. He does have a bit of a dark streak). 

After graduating from university, her and Ominis get married in a spectacular ceremony ofc (it’s an Indian royal wedding, it’s going to eat and leave no crumbs) and he takes on the title of prince consort. Her family adores him, and welcome him officially by gifting him his own meticulously trained seeing-eye dog; a Rampur Greyhound named Sheru. Ominis becomes vital to helping with wizard-muggle relations and adores being at his wife’s side. He’s happy, and more than that, he feels peace. 

Eventually, Miradevi and Ominis adopt a little girl. They name her Chandra- the Sanskrit word for moon, to honor her culture and Noctua. Ominis has a family, Mira is with the man she loves and her daughter, and tbh it's just happy mushy feelings all around. There’s a lot in terms of the actual gameplay plot I need to figure out, but this is Miradevi and Ominis’ general lore. 

Oh, and does Mira ever ascend to the throne? Nah. She’s third in line, her brothers are married with kids eligible before her and she’s pretty happy about that. Responsibility means scrutiny, and she can definitely be a bit of a wild card.

[bittrlys]

We were so robbed of Callum and viren interacting or Callum and aaravos interacting. Like what do you mean the last time Callum and viren properly talked to eachother was season 1 how is it that these two foils never meet and actually realise how similar they are?!?!

Also I absolutely dig Callum and aaravos mentor fics they're so well written and some of them make me wish the show made them interact more. What if Callum did learn more than just one truth? What if he actually started to question why the books would hide aaravos's name and try to burry him within history just for him to always haunt the narrative? Did the dragons do this and if they did then why?

Also Iam not sure if Iam correct (so correct me if Iam wrong) but Callum x Claudia was the initial ship and I dig couples who have parallels with one another. That aside this makes me question if the reason why Terry was even introduced in the first place was because the writers needed a second Callum and that's it. It's a shame they never bothered to develop Terry properly because he has potential.

Yeah this was all over the place apologies!

Yes, there's nothing better than character foils and though it's not required they interact, there's so much rich and interesting content you can derive from said interactions. The Callum-Viren-Claudia trinity is so good and it's a shame that Soren is a mutual point of contact they all have and he barely got any time with Callum one-on-one. He did warn him against becoming Virenesque, but that's about it. I think the problem is that even when they're paralleled, Callum very rarely acknowledges the Viren of it all, and Viren has no idea what's going on with Callum. I guess they're both very self-focused characters but maybe some awareness would help to deepen these parallels, even if plot-wise they don't have many opportunities to meet.

Callum and Claudia at least got to run into each other more often. I think that's nice. Ending on the parallel of them casting the same spell was a great touch, even if it had the cowardice of "this spell isn't dark magic uwu don't worry." Still, I could use more. They have the potential to be a fantastic "two friends who tread down two different paths" type relationship and unfortunately, it's not quite there. Maybe we're due for some more flashbacks about their childhoods together ... or again, have some more awareness of each other while apart, and their opposing goals. Make them great rivals, is what I'm saying.

If Callum had more interaction with Aaravos, and ultimately rejected him, instead of just rejecting him from the jump, it would make these Callum and Claudia parallels even better. I can see Callum going "My people have been mistreated, and that we've been actively denied magic is terrible, but they haven't been able to stop me and I'm going to prove how good humanity can be." It would have just a hint of spite to help counter the implications of "I'm one of the Good Ones." He might still learn this! I'd like to see him confront the Startouch elves.

I think the dragons, however, are a lost cause. Although it's clear to you and me they've both benefited from and helped violently enforce this marginalization of humans, it feels like the Great Ones are going to take the lion's share of responsibility. I'm not who is responsible for the erasing of Aaravos's name, but I assume it was the collective who put in the group effort to help imprison him. The Startouch elves seem a little uninvolved at this point in time.

To bring it back to Callum and Claudia ... I can't find a quote from the writers saying explicitly that their ship was intended, but I would believe it was something they were considering -- they were having the voice actors do very ship-focused interviews around s2, before they decided to go in on C/R in s3. Indeed, I would say the ship did "happen" in the sense that they both had feelings for each other and even went on a lil date type thing once. I think, even if it doesn't work out, a canonical acknowledgement of mutual feelings is "canon ship" material. It's normal, too, to crush on someone and not have it work out because you find people who align more with your interests ... and in this vein the Callum/Rayla & Claudia/Terry evolution makes sense. Like Claudia, Rayla is a cool older girl, and like Callum, Terry is sweet and dorky. There's a cohesion to their 'types.'

So I wouldn't say Terry is replacing Callum because they would ever take the show's de facto protagonist and have him run around with Claudia helping her schemes -- Terry fulfilled a specific role in the plot, that is, giving Claudia someone to bounce off of while Viren and Soren were unavailable. I do agree Terry hasn't been quite fleshed out enough -- that he's just, like, having the world's craziest rumspringa doesn't seem to faze him much. And I get it! Backpacking summers across Europe can change you! However, I speculate that next season he's going to be challenged because there's no way Aaravos isn't going to drive a wedge between him and Claudia. I can even see his loyalties as an elf finally coming up (I think these existing is the only explanation for why he was so weirdly mad about Claudia threatening the coins) and he's going to be asking for mercy from Claudia for Xadia that she may not want to give. After all, so far, though he's been very down to clown, Claudia's journey has been extremely hyperfocused on her father, and I don't think Terry really, fully understood the threat that Aaravos posed.

Like you, I was always intrigued by the idea of Callum and Claudia because romantic narrative foils are very crunchy (good) but I do like Terry. I think he has a role to play and I find his optimistic and gentle outlook works well with Claudia. However, I agree that giving him some more to do than being Claudia's partner/lackey would be nice to see.

Thank you for the ask! ♥ No need to apologise, I enjoyed reading it!

[mhsdatgo]

To the point about Rhaenyra being boring, it continues to elude me why the producers, writers, and directors decided they needed to humanize Rhaenyra by downplaying if not outright removing her worst traits. That’s not humanizing, that’s sanitizing.

There are plenty of female characters that exist in fiction who are frustrating to morally ambiguous, to completely evil but still have their fans and are beloved, or at the very least compelling. The comparisons to Shiv Roy from Succession already exist, so I won’t belabor that point, but look at other shows like Mr. Robot, Better Call Saul, and if anyone really wants to press the button for feminism: The Handmaid’s Tale. Those shows have incredibly well-written female characters that aren’t necessarily paragons.

House of the Dragon choosing to center Rhaenyra as the protagonist as opposed to making her part of a true ensemble a la the original Game of Thrones wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The narrative decision to frame her as heroic (as far as S1 is concerned) is how we get the ‘Protagonist Centered Morality/Unreliable Narrator’ trope that results in plenty of media literate fans that are either neutral or Green-leaning who feel frustrated that there’s not an equal balance between characters.

Perfectly put together, anon. I'm sorry I answered so late. -_-

There's nothing wrong with characters that are written to be good people, but you see, that only works when said character is written consistently and somewhat realistically. Something that the writers completely didn't do in Rhaenyra's case. Are you going to tell me I'm supposed to watch her go through Visenya's traumatic birth, which by the way, happened so quickly after learning that her father was dead, keep her calm, and find it believable?

There is no sense of reason when it comes to grief. None. When someone close to you is gone, you check out. They take a part of your mind away with them and sometimes you don't even realize it. Especially if it's as horrid, as painful and helpless as what Rhaenyra went through. I am not going to sit here and blame the Greens for that baby's death, for all we know of her she had dragon features and was 100% going to die either way. That is digestible for us viewers/readers, who have no connection for a baby mentioned in a few lines.

But Rhaenyra's her mother. And rightfully, when she loses her this way, she goes mad with grief. She wants someone to blame, she cannot cope with the idea that there is no one to blame in this situation, that it would've happened either way. So she blames her enemies, the Greens. She isn't right, but she isn't even sane anymore, she's just had a stillbirth, how can you expect her to think before she speaks?

But the show strips her completely of this anger, and makes her push for peace. Is it possible that not even THAT can make this perfect angel Qween lose her temper like any human would? I understand wanting to rid her of any sin so she looks like a Saint, but really, where's the flaw in being angry and irrational after your stillbirth?

I never liked Rhaenyra as a person but I was looking forward (I'm STILL looking forward lol) to the role she will play as a character, a literary device, a tool to tell a story. I'm not saying I hope they bring out the worst of her this season so more people have reasons to hate women and feel justified for it, but LET HER BE RIGHTFULLY ANGRY. I'M BEGGING YOU.

People will always choose and be more obsessed with the evil but interesting one, not the one who's got more morals. It's already been said in a post I saw not so long ago, but Luke shouldn't be winning polls for best character against OTTO HIGHTOWER of all people because we choose morality in none other than a world like ASOIAF. Please give characters nuance. There's so much potential they got lazy with using timeskips etc. already.

[partially-controlled-chaos]

OC Tag Game

Thank you @gingervitus so much for the tag!! I love any and all excuses to talk about my Rook and I absolutely took the time to yap away about her. Also, pardon the time it took to get this written up, but I went into detail. Admittedly, I took my Tav from my original Baldur’s Gate 3 run and squished her around a bit to fit the narrative of Dragon Age, so if you happen to read this and thinm as k that I’ve made a similar character before, it’s because I absolutely have.

I also don’t have a ton of screenshots of this Rook because I’m terrible at remembering to take clips during the first play through of a game, but I was able to find the best ones I have saved. I also want to point out that the screenshots make her hair look brown, but in reality its a gingered orange. She’s also supposed to have more freckles across the face, but I really wasn’t a fan of how the freckles looked in DATV so I chose to omit them.

Name: Tavriel Aldwir 

Aliases: Rook, Tav, Pet (by her master/enslaver)

Gender: Female

Age: 34

Place of Birth: Somewhere deep in an older part of Arlathan forest. 

Spoken Languages: Fluent in common and Elven. Knows enough Tevene to speak and understand it, but can’t write or read the language. Slowly learning Antivan swears from Teia that she then teaches to Spite. 

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual. 

Occupation Pre-VG: In her teens, Tavriel was a well skilled healer using a unique blend of natural-born magic and practical medicine. She was a lone traveller who would occasionally travel between clans to trade for goods and supplies and offer healing to the sick and injured she came across (both humans/elves and wildlife). At nineteen, she was manipulated by a trusted partner/lover and sold to a lesser known blood mage in exchange for two hundred gold and a handful of goods. She was pulled from the comfort of Arlathan forest and spent a dozen or so years under the captive hand of her master in Vyrantium and was subjected to torture and blood magic experimentation (not the type of experimentation like Zara did with Lucanis, but more of being used to practice on and strengthen blood magic practices instead of growing demons). Eventually, Tavriel was able to kill her master, despite losing her ability to cast magic, and return to Arlathan, where she encountered a group of Veil Jumpers. After some convincing, she joined the Veil Jumpers for two years before teaming up with Varric and Harding to hunt Solas. 

Occupation Post-VG: Tavriel leaves with Lucanis, joining him in Treviso and working closely with the Crows. She herself doesn’t formally join the Crows, but over time blends in and becomes a very talented member of House Dellamorte. After imprisoning Illario for his crimes against Lucanis, he and Rook carry out contracts together that specifically target slavers and blood mages. I can’t remember the exact wording, but in the animated ending on this run, Lucanis mentioned that he and Spite kind of shake up the rules of the Crows to hunt for justice for a better future. This line combined to his determination to make Ambrose Forfex suffer for his mistreatment and abuse of slaves in The Wigmaker Job is what made me choose this ending for Rook and Lucanis. I think it fits both of them well, given their backstories, and lets Lucanis remain in the Crows and let’s Rook continue helping those who find themselves in situations very similar to hers. She prefers to not kill, but will happily make an exception for slavers, blood mages, or anyone similar. 

From time to time, she will return to Arlathan to reconnect with the forest and visit with Bellara and the Veil Jumpers, helping where she can with new discoveries or artifacts. She also keeps up with Davrin and Assan, being more than happy to see how the griffons are getting along with their training. Rook keeps in contact with all of the Veilguard, but Bellara and Davrin are the two she sees most frequently, aside from Lucanis, of course. 

FAVORITE…

Color: Deep forest green. It reminds her of the patches of forest she grew up in at the height of summer. 

Entertainment: She loves a good opera or concerto and enjoys gardening. She sets up a small garden at Villa Dellamorte where she grows a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs not native to Treviso so Lucanis had a wider variety of fresh ingredients to choose from when he cooks. It also gives her an excuse to get a little dirty and lay in the sun. 

Past Time: Sketching and cataloging anything and everything; people, places, plants, animals, etc. Reading was never a strong skill for Rook, but she is talented with a charcoal stick and a notebook. She enjoys sketching out her companions with little scribbles of words and logs different plants and herbs used for traditional healing. She likes to dry and press flowers she finds and will attach them to her journals. Over the years, she’s filled dozens of sketchbooks with drawings and dried plants. I like to think that if Lucanis was able to buy a gift for Rook while shopping in the markets, he would pick out a large, thick journal with the finest quality charcoal sticks in Treviso. 

Food: Orlesian pears are her absolute favorite. When she was able to escape from her master, Tavriel was forced to steal food here and there until she was able to get back to Arlathan and a fresh Orlesian pear was the first real food she’d eaten in years. After being forced a diet of gruel and half rotten food, a pear was the single most delicious thing she’d ever eaten and quickly made them her favorite. Once Lucanis learned this bit of information about his team member, he made sure to keep the pantry stocked with fresh pears and even imported several Orlesian pear trees to be planted at Villa Dellamorte after they move to Treviso. 

Drink: Tea has always been the go-to drink while living in Arlathan, given the abundance of tea leaves and berries, but once Lucanis introduces her to the wonder that is the “choco-chico thing”, she never goes back. She also develops a taste for red wine to drink with dinner. 

Books Pre-VG: She was not much of a reader in her younger days. She spent her childhood alone in the forests and most of the time was spent with hands on experiences rather than fabled stories. She admittedly didn’t learn to read words until she was a young adult, but she became very skilled at reading and interpreting ancient elven murals and illustrated stories without text. She learned on her own how to become a healer with magic and could understand diagrams of body anatomy more than she could written explanations. 

Books Post-VG: Still not much of a reader, but her time and the road with Varric and in the Lighthouse made reading much more enjoyable. After the gods, she’ll pick up a book from time to time, but admittedly still struggles. Rook greatly prefers Lucanis reading one of his cheesy romance novels to her on a quiet evening than trying to read them herself. 

HAVE THEY…

Passed University: No, this poor woman never had a formal education in any sense. She’s by no means stupid, but is mostly self taught through the necessity of survival and went without proper training of anything. 

Had Sex: She has, but has never really enjoyed it. She had one lover in her pre-enslavement years where she first experienced sex and while it wasn’t unpleasant, everything was new and awkward and something she didn’t really enjoy. Sex was then something used against her and forced upon her while she was in captivity by her master, so it turned into something she resented. Ultimately, sex isn’t something she’s always excited for, but it’s something she’s learning to enjoy once she and Lucanis take that first step in their relationship.

Had Sex in Public: I mean technically? Her first love as a very early adult was a Dalish elf that also dwelled in Arlathan, so their first time together was in the forest, but it wasn’t exactly public.

Gotten Tattoos: None. Because she was abandoned by her parents and clan as a child, she had no one to give her a Vallaslin and she’s not interested in any other type of tattoo for herself. 

Gotten Piercings: Again, none. She’s been poked, prodded, and cut open enough times to not want any piercings. Although she is half tempted for an earring when she sees Bellara’s ear cuff. 

Gotten Scarred: Plenty! Her master was a very talented blood mage and would frequently experiment with his magic to test the limits of his abilities or create something new. And what better way to see how blood magic works on the body than by looking inside? Tavriel was frequently cut open to help fuel her master’s research and has the scars as a reminder. (And for context, its the autopsy scar option. I think it’s number 19 under scars.) She also obtained tons of small cuts and scars from her journey over the course of fighting the gods, but nothing major.

Had a Heart Broken: Her first and only love before meeting Lucanis was the one to both break her heart and break her trust of people. His betrayal of her love as well as her literal freedom walled Tavriel off from outside affections, making her always hesitant to trust and become close with people. 

Been in Love: After being abandoned by her parents, Tavriel grew up and lived alone, but would visit other clans for trading purposes. She met a young man around her age at one of the clans she visited and there was an instant connection and for Tavriel, she fell hard and fast. She thought she had finally found the love and affection she’d been missing her entire life and threw her entire heart into the relationship. Tavriel trusted and loved him wholly and thought she finally understood the meaning of true love. Unfortunately, the feeling was not mutual and even though her lover did reciprocate her feelings, they weren’t nearly as strong as hers and she was ultimately betrayed for petty gold and goods. 

ARE THEY…

A Cuddler: In the beginning, not at all and she loathes any sort of physical contact with another person; handshake, shoulder pats, hugs, etc. She spent years being touched, kissed, caressed, and abused to where the idea of having to touch another person almost makes her physically ill. Necessary touching is different and isn’t given a second thought, but the unnecessary touch was completely out of the question. Any sort of intimacy was horrifying for Tavriel, so she was so very grateful that Lucanis wanted to take things slow, considering intimacy was a foreign topic to him as well. Together and over time, they both work towards making physical contact something to be enjoyed and casual, letting Rook see that the touch of another doesn’t have to come with pain or expectation. Eventually, she and Lucanis are very comfortable with each other and love cuddling in private. 

Scared Easily: Not easily, but a lot of things do frighten her. Rook admittedly hasn’t spent much time in the real world outside of Arlathan or her masters home in Vyrantium, so there are plenty of things that are new and a little daunting. She always puts on a brave face for her team members and those counting on her, but she’d be lying if she said she was a fearless leader. 

Jealous Easily: She does, but not in a romantic sense. She’s very secure in her relationship with Lucanis and knows where his heart and feelings and for her stand. She is, however, jealous of the life experiences others around her have had. She spent most of her life either alone or enslaved and was never able to experience many things others have. She’s jealous when she hears that someone has a large family or met their spouse at a young age. She can feel resentment for those who have had an easy life and don’t know the meaning of the word hunger or pain. Even though Lucanis tries his best to show her the finer and gentle things in life, there are things that no amount of time or gifts can heal.

Trustworthy: Once she’s certain she can trust you and knows your intentions, she’s very loyal and protective. She will hold secrets interested to her to her deathbed and will do everything in her power to protect those she cares about. Even though she never formally becomes a Crow, she’s entrusted with very sensitive Crow information from Teia, Viago, and Lucanis for this reason and is a Crow in everything but title. 

FAMILY…

Siblings: None that she’s aware of. She’s always assumed that her parents had more ‘worthy’ children after her abandonment, but she’s never known for sure. She also doesn’t think about it too often, considering that part of her life dead and buried. 

Parents: Tavriel was born Dalish and lived with a small, but strict, nomadic clan with her parents until she was around eight. At that age, her parents set her off alone in the thickest patches in Arlathan to see if she could survive and make her way back home. Some others would see it as cruel, but the clan she was from saw it as a necessity for the survival of young elves because her clan stuck to the more dangerous parts of the woods filled with predators and deadly, ancient magical artifacts. It was common practice among parents of small children and usually the children would return in a day or so, but Tavriel wasn’t that lucky. She was a very timid child and frightened easily, so when she stumbled across a herd of Halla that fled as she approached, she ran deeper into the forest. 

Several days had passed before she was able to find the courage and strength to return to the clan campsite, but found that her clan and parents had packed their belongings and moved on by the time she returned. She searched for days, calling out for her parents as she traversed the woods, but she never reunited with them. She had been deemed too weak for survival from the clan leader and was ultimately abandoned by her parents. There were rough times and terrifying moments, but eventually Tavriel was able to adapt to living on her own in the forest and not only survived, but thrived until she was an adult.

Children: Tavriel can’t have children after her time with her former master. Magic rituals and bodily mutilation left her unable to conceive. She’s never been sure if children were right for her anyway, given her lack of parental guidance for most of her life. However, she’s ultimately very good with children and happily makes time when she and Lucanis are visited by the eventual de Riva-Cantori offspring. Who else is going to keep the little ones entertained while the Talons talk business? Hm?

Pets: She doesn’t believe in keeping animals as pets. Given her own history as a ‘pet’, she fully believes and practices that wildlife and domesticated animals are free to live wherever they want without restrictions. Although, she doesn’t complain a bit when a new stray cat shows up at the Dellamorte estate and happily keeps them fed and pampered. In unrelated events, Caterina has never seen so many cats lounging around the estate gardens the street cats of Treviso have never looked healthier. 

Again, thank you so much for the tag!! I always, always love to go on and on about a character I make.

For this tag game, I would love to tag @the-bear-and-his-sunbird! Of course, tagging without pressure and feel free to ignore if you’ve already done this! Also, if you’re reading this and would like to do this yourself please tag me! I love seeing everyone’s Rooks and want all the lore. 

[breath-of-void]

What Legend of Korra left on the table

In my previous post, I talked about how Korra should not be losing fights because of how being the avatar works, now I’m going to talk about all the interesting things that were going on that they just dropped, ignored or changed.

The entire equalist subplot was dropped after Amon’s reveal!

Why!?

I get that it was a huge betrayal to find out that the man leading your revolution against benders is also a bender... but the guy had a point! I find it hard to believe that everyone collectively went back to their regularly scheduled lives after finding the courage to voice their unhappiness with the status quo. A nonbender was elected president, how many benders were happy with that decision? Were there people claiming it was a “diversity” hire and he was not qualified? There were interesting ways this could have been delved into, perhaps with more Tales of Ba Sing Se type episodes.

Unalaq claimed that the spirits were unhappy with the commercialization of sacred holidays and the division of the Poles. He started a civil war over it and even got the avatar on his side, a move that sent a rift through the world as those who already felt that they did not need the avatar moved further away from viewing her as any kind of authority.

Then we find out that Unalaq is using waterbending to control some very generic spirits into senseless violence. This signals to me that the spirits don’t actually care about what’s going on and THAT’S a problem because the spirits DO care. As late as Aang’s teenage years, spirits still express rage against humans for not respecting their space. General Old Iron ( who Aang had to murder to get him to calm down), The Mother of Faces, Hei Bai, the Phoenix Eels, the Heartwalker, etc are all sprits that live or lived in the human world and expressed rage at humans’ sacrilege. That’s without mentioning Father Glowworm and Koh who were just dicks.

The point is that Unalaq could have had a very legitimate point about the spirits being upset but the question could be, how far is too far. Spirits also aren’t big on communication with anyone who isn’t the avatar, so Unalaq interpreting the will of the spirits could be wrong, either intentionally or accidentally, a fanatic seeing signs from the gods that drive him to murder. Him being the cause of their rage robs us of an interesting story about a religious divide when the religion is indisputably real.

Varrick was a war profiteer. 

Look, I like goofy characters too, but I hate this trend of making characters idiot savants. Varrick was a super goofy guy until we find out exactly what is going on with him. It is revealed that Varrick is much more cold and calculating than everyone thought, playing fast and loose with lives as it suited him. I feel like that aspect of his character was lost in favour of making him entirely a meme.

A similar thing was done to Bumi, Aang’s son. We learn that he’s a venerated war hero with an unconventional way of doing things. Instead of keeping that narrative the truth, they made it so that he was just lucky. That his victories were accidents. I think it was a lost chance to make more interesting characters like Iroh. It isn’t that Iroh is putting on a mask, he genuinely is a bumbling old man who just wants to play Pai Sho and drink tea, but when the going gets tough, The Dragon of the West emerges; both are true. Bumi could be as loony as his namesake, but also a competent strategist when the need called fo rit.  

The Red Lotus plot was all silly. No notes.

Book 4 was almost a return to form. Kuvira had a legitimate goal and harsh methods for achieving it. The unification of the Earth Kingdom was believable as a goal someone would want and that others would be opposed to and her methods while barbaric, were effective. Then they dropped that for favour of making her just evil.

I said in my previous post that the avatar is too powerful for their stories to ever revolve around a fight. 

Kyoshi’s story was never IF she could beat Yun, but if she could do so 1) emotionally, and 2) without flattening the continent. Yangchen’s story is a political one. Obviously she could kill the zongdus and force the shangs to obey her through fear, but that’s not sustainable or moral. Even Kuruk’s story is about his battle with depression and the weight of what he had to do, killing a spirit is easy work for an avatar. 

The Legend of Korra opened with Korra entering a world where she was not needed. There have always been people who claimed not to want the avatar, even in Aang’s lifetime, but now the world is relatively at peace and everything she does seems to make things worse. They kept this theme up somewhat by showing her miserable every so often, but they shied away from the political and social implications of what amounts to a herald of the gods walking amongst humans. 

[mookybear12404]

Okay my main thoughts with the new trailer as I rewatch it:

-The traveler and paimon sleeping together!! They’re FRIENDS AND I LOVE THEM MM

-Paimon’s mugshots had me HOWLING idk why but it’s so funny to me

-the entire plot hook for this next phase is SO cool to me. Neuvillette faking a charge against the traveler to get them into a high security prison. HEIST HEIST HEIST

-Based on the trailer and how Genshin has previously handled themes that criticize the court system it’ll be interesting to see how they tackle this portion of the story in the prison. I honestly have a lot of trust in Genshin’s storytelling ability at this point so I’m very Intrigued

-I ADORE how much the Fontaine underground/ prison looks like the undercity in Arcane

-Wriothesley’s design? His voice acting? His character concept?? His gameplay?? His place in the narrative??? I haven’t been this excited for a new character in a WHILE.

-NEUVILLETTE MY BELOVED

-THEY GAVE NEUVILLETTE A CANE!! AND MADE IT IMPORTANT TO HIS FIGHTING STYLE!! IM SO HAPPY

-NEUVILLETTES CANE AHHHHH

-Honestly Neuvillette’s whole gameplay is SO SICK

-“I find it difficult to express my emotions because I cannot fully understand them myself” ME TOO NEUVILLETTE ME TOO

-okay so the melusines seem to have been brought to Fontaine by neuvillette? And they were initially both distrusted by humans? If I understand correctly?

-at this point Neuvillette being the hydro dragon isn’t even a secret. They’re literally stamping it on his forehead with that burst animation and. Idk THE ENTIRE TRAILER DIALOGUE??

-“where did you take my siblings?!” My blood went COLD lemme tell you I’m terrified for what this line is supposed to mean. Does Lyney’s siblings get taken by the fatui?? Are they put in prison like Childe?

-“is this what justice means to you?! Answer me neuvillette!” Gosh that voice acting

-“you will see much in the human world, from the delightful to the depressing. And one day, when you have dwelt among humanity long enough, you will be placed to bring judgement over all.” HEY HOYO VERSE WTF DOES THIS MEAN????? WHAT IS NEUVILLETTE GONNA HAVE TO DO?? WHAT DOES THIS MEANNNNN

[sea-side-scribbles]

Solas wakes up in the strange new world of his own making and it terrifies him. Ridden with guilt, he joins the Inquisition and begins his lonely research in order to correct his mistake.

He doesn’t expect to find consolation in the presence of a human who wields ancient elven magic without knowing it. Who is way too gentle for an elgar’thanelan, but doesn’t know that either.

Solas, for his part, doesn’t know how to stay away.

Dorian wonders if the mysterious elf just enjoys playing with a Tevinter. He wouldn’t expect anything else.

_____________________

Chapter 1- 13 | Right after uthenera, Solas is found by a Dalish clan. This goes well until it doesn’t. (Basically my excuse for world building and hilarious misunderstandings.)

Chapter 14 | Solas joins the Inquisition.

Chapter 20 | Dorian appears in Haven.

Chapter 36

Dorian still believed to be dreaming when the darkness released him and he saw these violet eyes again, looking down at him, but not in a disdainful way. They were bright and slightly narrowed by the smile of lush lips that made this whole meeting even more unrealistic.

“Welcome back, Dorian Pavus”, the gentle voice said and Dorian was about to congratulate the desire demon for the impressive impersonation, even though everything in this scenario was wrong. Turning his head, he found himself in a rather primitive tent. A perfect imitation of the poor conditions he had endured in Ferelden. What made him suspicious was the flawless impression of the uncomfortable beds – shouldn't a desire demon make him feel more comfortable? And the sight of his fellow companions sleeping in the beds next to him. Why would they be here, in a scenario he'd rather want to face alone?

Slender fingers twitched against his own. He turned to see that Solas even held his hand. Fascinated, he stared at the two hands, before his attention went back to the friendly face. Now the elf looked a bit meek, didn't he? And more horribly, let go of his hand. “Forgive me if I overstepped. I needed the physical contact in order to heal you.” Dorian processed this information. “You are safe now. This is the Inquisition's camp. Commander Cullen and Seeker Cassandra found you and the others a few hours ago, unconscious in the snow. You should rest.” Dorian blinked. This at least was a coherent narrative. “You are saying that I am alive...”, he produced slowly with his tired tongue. “Yes. You have done the impossible...” Another smile flashed over Solas' features, as if he was glad to see him again. Dorian moved his fingers. They felt so cold now without the other hand.

“I assume you are freezing”, Solas went on as if he read his mind. “Forgive my slow reactions, I should fetch you a warm meal. Do you feel like you can stomach solid food?” “I'm not exactly suffering from indigestion right now...” “Indeed. Excuse me. I will be back soon.” The elf hurried out of the tent, to serve him a meal, apparently. Dorian still wasn't over the unexpected sensation between his fingers. The gentle tone. The fact that he was alive. That he somehow made it back to the Inquisition. All he remembered was the blizzard. His limbs turning to ice. Slowly, with closed eyes, he conceived the mercy that had been bestowed upon him.

Solas was thankful for this short moment of recollection.

After learning that Dorian Pavus was alive, he simply stopped thinking, making his way through the praying crowd rather unpolitely, until he reached the Seeker and the Knight Commander. And there he found all four of them, back in one piece and breathing.

He helped carrying them into a tent, keeping them warm in the process. Devout believers insisted to give the Herald of Andraste her own tent and thus she was guarded by Mother Giselle and her Sisters, whatever good that would do her, but Solas couldn't stop them.

Solas stayed with her fearless companions, along with the healers, while calming down a worried Sera and occasionally leaving to gather supplies.

When they had done all they could for the night, the healers retreated. Only Solas remained, suddenly finding himself at Dorian's side and taking his hand. Unable to resist. Lifting his spell a little, he felt the wisp of his flames, weak and cooled down. He pitied them. He had only meant to stoke them a little. But then the man opened his eyes. Now, he was rightfully confused.

Solas tried to not take advantage of the thoughts Cole had revealed to him, but if Dorian liked his eyes, he would let him look at them for as long as he wanted. Who was he to deny an injured man such a humble joy? Alas, he couldn't only stare at Dorian's presence, so he sorted his thoughts while he filled a bowl with stew that was warmed over the campfire all night to provide the night watch and the injured.

Returning to the tent, he felt the tickle in his stomach again. He wasn't ready, but he couldn't deny his patient the needed meal for much longer.

“Oh, the things I would do for a roasted pheasant...”, Dorian whined as he held the hundredth variation of turnip stew in his hands. His protest was lame, however, since is stomach grumbled right after. “I assure you, this will taste just as delicious after everything you have been through. You have done quite enough for today”, Solas replied. There was that odd politeness again. “Ha! Hardly! The only thing we accomplished is covering all our own humble abodes in snow. And freezing off our toes, I suppose. Even though mine seem to be quite intact again.” He wiggled for a test. “There. I'm lucky.” “You gave us time to escape, facing a battle that would have likely ended us all.” “Right. Time. That seems to be my speciality.” His smirk was answered with another genuine looking smile by Solas. Incredible. He could say what he wanted. Why was he suddenly unable to put his foot in his mouth?

“But did you see that dragon escape?”, he went on, bursting with excitement. “It carried the Elder One with it. Our little skirmish had no effect on both of them.” “It was quite the spectacle.” Solas sounded more amused than he should. “Am I right in thinking that the explosion was your doing?” Dorian gulped down a spoonful of this tasteless stuff before he answered: “So it did go off. I'm glad to hear that. Wasn't sure if it had a chance against that beast. A dragon...infected by red lyrium? I have never seen such a creature before...” His mind trailed off to the wonders of today's nightmare. Now, he finally had the time to reflect on all this. And better, he wouldn't have to take the tale to his grave. Now quick, before that dwarf would get his hands on it.

“For a moment, I thought it would come down. It surely gave the Elder One a good shake. Then it escaped and did not come back since.” Dorian laughed at the image. Then he lifted a finger. “'Since' is the keyword.” He looked at Solas rather dramatically. “After all this...I fear that we need a new plan...Again!” It looked as if Solas would put a hand on his arm, but he apparently only wanted to scratch his pointed ear. “You worry too soon. I must admit I should not have woken you up yet. You rather eat up and sleep until morning. And then some more.” “Will you at least let me tell you my sublime tale before my precious mind will be occupied with the fade again?” Solas lit up, the expression of concern melting away and the muscles relaxing. “I don't see why I shouldn't.” Ah, a willing listener. Today really was his lucky day. “So, there was I, Dorian Pavus of Minrathous, facing the horrendous nightmares that lay Haven in ruins...”

He bragged shamelessly about every single time he struck a blow against the templars. It felt good to imagine them and not feeling helpless. He even convinced himself that they had done quite a good job with what they had been given. Solas listened attentively, as if he was really interested to hear about the heroic acts of a Tevinter, even chuckled at the right times. If this was a dream, he would consider to never wake up again. Finally, they came to the Elder One himself.

“I must admit I am not proud of what happens next”, Dorian began, unsure about how the elf would react. Would his luck eventually run out? “Are you familiar with the legend of the First Blight?”, he asked, not knowing how much a lonely elven apostate would know about it. “It is quite popular in the Chantry”, Solas answered, apparently amused by the question. “The legend of the Imperial Chantry is not so different from the Orlesian one.” “Well, except that Tevinter is not responsible. The poor priests of the Old Gods had nothing but good intentions, but the evil demons betrayed them.” He chuckled, doubting. “However, it looks like both Chantries will be very interested in the upcoming events. It seems that the Elder One is one of the High Priests that went into the fade and started the first Blight. That's how he introduced himself to me.” Solas listened, his features not showing disgust or anger yet, but understanding the gravity of the situation. “He called himself Corypheus. Sadly, I don't remember this name from my Circle days. Our records of High Priests must be incomplete. I understand it was only convenient for his family to not be associated with the Blight. But perhaps there are clues...”

Solas watched the man who was already trying to solve the problem. A smart mind, searching for knowledge. Knowledge, rather than wisdom, but still, he couldn't get enough of his voice.

“I understand I must sound insane.” Dorian ripped himself out of his thoughts and looked at him. Solas stirred, remembering that he should probably be appalled by what he heard. “I have no reason not to believe you”, he said in all honesty. “I do not believe you would make up a story that can be easily proven wrong by your companions. And considering he had an archdemon under his command, he must be connected to the Blight. He either delved deep into its origin, or he is a part of it.” “A sensible conclusion. It's a delight to speak with you.” Dorian regretted that Solas turned his head to hide half of the smile that forced his lips. He could swear it looked different than before. A little flattered. He should do this again.

“Now I wonder how you escaped the clutches of such ancient evil.” Dorian sat up, excited again and disposed the half empty bowl on his nightstand. “Excellent question. It was quite a delicate situation. On one side, the archdemon, drooling from gigantic sharp teeth at the smell of my flesh, and on the other, the Elder One himself. I, obviously kept a clear head and explained my genius plan to Blackwall, when suddenly...”

“Yeah, actually...”, a terrible rasp interrupted Dorian's carefully crafted tale. The violet eyes abandoned him to look over his shoulder. “No remarks yet until I finished!”, he snapped at the dwarf behind him who had propped himself up in a way too nonchalant pose that didn't become him. “You may spin your yarn later.” “Oh sure, remind me to never save your ungrateful ass again.” “I thank you so much I even consider giving you back these 5 Sovereigns I still owe you...” “I hadn't forgotten about them for a second.” “And I promise to give your heroic deeds a truthful description.” “I heard enough to know that's bullshit.” Dorian turned back to the elf and held out a hand. “Now listen to this, Solas. Do I deserve this treatment?”

“Makers hairy balls! What's a dying man supposed to do to get some bloody sleep in here?”, the Warden answered instead. “You windbags make we wish I actually went into the Deep Roads!” “If it's so urgent, I know a way in”, Varric offered without restraint. “You may both go, so I get some peace and quiet for myself!”, Dorian protested. “So you can use that stuff of legends and turn it into a cheap soap opera? Not on my watch.” Blackwall moaned into their dispute. He was loud enough to alert someone else. “Beardy?”, came the muffled voice from outside. “SERA!”, was his full-throated answer. “BEARDY!!” “SERA!!” The blonde elf stormed into the tent and threw herself onto the Warden, pummelling him and spitting her entire collection of cusses while Varric broke out in roaring laughter. Dorian, even though he found this reunion somewhat heartwarming, regretted the loss of attention.

Solas had to leave his side to keep Sera from both reopening Blackwall's wounds and adding some more. When they came to an hard-earned agreement, he went back to give him a pitiful look. Well, at least there was his empathy. Then he even sat back down at his side and leaned closer to whisper to him. “I am sorry for the sudden commotion.” Dorian, busy trying to cope with the freckled skin so close to his own, muttered: “Well, it clearly isn't your fault.” Solas put the bowl back on his lap. “Eat up. You need the energy.” Dorian frowned. “And this started so nicely...”

“So”, that dreadful author went on. “Where were we? Ah, yeah, the moment I saved the day...” “The moment I was supposed to tell to my audience!”, Dorian tried. “No more stories please! Maker's mercy, make it stop!” “Watcha bragging about anyway? Your plan sucked tits! The arseface-demon pissed off, along with that Ugly One.” “Sera, please, let the adults speak for once.” Her response was swallowed by another voice from outside. Everyone turned their heads. Somebody had burst out in song. And soon, the whole camp was singing.

The heroes of the day ignored their wounds to get up and see what was going on. Dorian didn't miss that Solas offered him his arm. Alas, he didn't dare to accept it. Outside, they saw people forming a circle around Ellana Lavellan, singing, praying and falling to their knees. Mother Giselle stood beside her, her voice the loudest. Dorian believed she had started the song. “And all was well”, Varric said as if he finished a book. Dorian understood that in a way, it was fitting. This was a celebration. A quite different kind than the one that had been interrupted by the attack. That felt now like it was ages ago.

But for the first time in these ages, he felt like fetching another mug of that awful ale, swallow it all despite itself because of sheer happiness, watching people dance and drink, getting a bit tipsy himself and as a culmination, chatting pleasantly with Solas, without being interrupted this time. He turned around, preparing a smirk to make the suggestion. But Solas was gone. Dorian looked for him in the tent, then around the camp as far as he could see, but the apostate had vanished out of sight.

“Have you seen Solas?”, he asked Varric. “Phh, yeah, seconds ago just right...”, the dwarf turned around just to be the same amount of surprised. “I guess he doesn't like chants.” Dorian took a deep breath. It made sense for an apostate. Now he felt like going back to bed.

[rambles-on-dragon-age]

Solas also continually operates in small cells that can't be traced back to him and sent the freed slaves about their business. Why would he keep his slave army wrapped around himself at all times. That doesn't make sense. There's a banter where he explains to Sera how he works, after all. They're either freed and doing what they want or acting as his spies; we learned that much during Trespasser. He's not going to make them work for him and frankly he probably started working more and more alone and just using the information the spies give him. They still work for him in the Missing Collection and I think mentioned in Tevinter Nights that's part of how he's keeping tabs on the Inquisitor and friends. He sees some stuff in dreams but that's not the extent of everything he knows and how much stuff he's keeping track of. The point of them being spies is moot if you know who and where they are after all. :)

Now you're confusing "bad writing" for "suspension of belief so the story can continue" and "quality of life is important to move the game narrative forward". The Blight changing and acting different and being a tool of the Evanuris was a major plot point; they can't have characters shying away from it "for the realisms lol"

The Wardens say, repeatedly, that everyone is infected at different rates. Even if Rook & Co got "just a scratch" and were infected, they could reasonably survive that infection for weeks/months before Antoine and Evka went rogue and performed the Joining on them like they've been shown to do/offer to other people that are infected.

But that's not conducive to the story. Like @postcardsfromheapside said, the Inquisitor & Co mucked about in tons of red lyrium and yet never got infected nor affected. You know. Like basically everyone else was re: Cory's army and the people mining it. Would it have made story sense for the Quizzie and friends to fall to the lyrium before the end? No. So they aren't infected/affected by it.

Rook keeps fighting these huge dragons? Uh, yeah. Rook and Co. fights exactly ONE dragon that was blighted, realized they probably couldn't kill it and were lucky to hurt it, and then went out and hired a dragon killing specialist to help them with that dragon and its friend when it comes back. Quality of life team building won't lock you to needing Taash every time you fight a dragon, but they are considered side bosses for the most part that are completely optional.

As for Minrathous falling, yeah it's not the dragon that takes down the city. The Floating Attack Palace is focused on the dragon, it's the murderous nationalist death cult killing the leaders while they were distracted fighting the dragon, taking over the city, and routing out the Shadow Dragons and later the Threads as those are the people still standing against them. If Rook is distracting the dragon so the Murder Palace isn't focused on it, then the magisters could focus on the death cult knocking down their door instead. No one's invincible, especially when the Ventatori also have powerful blood mages. Their focus is split, they fall. Their focus not split, they could defend themselves.

And, again. Bellara acting hateful and distrustful would have been out of character for her. If you want a Mean Dalish Bellara instead of Sweet Veil Jumper Scientist Bellara, write one for yourself. She wasn't written badly, that scene was written exactly right for her character. You are trapped in the bubble with her, the only person that can take it down, and she knows it. You are in the palm of her hand. Also ? If you were going to kill her you could do so on sight. You'd still be trapped in fade bubble prison until you die one way or another. (And yeah, that look she gives you at first reeks of distrust until you tell her who sent you. :) You know her leader and didn't attack on sight. Not the behaviors of evil Tevinter mages or bad humans.)

You're looking at the previous games through years of nostalgia and with rose-colored glasses. All that "rich, cultural atmosphere" is similarly shallow in every single one of them if you don't take the time to delve into the extra content the game offers.

Frankly, it feels like 90% of our time is spent in fantasy Britain's mudhole because we've spent so much time in Ferelden and when we got to Kirkwall it's similarly shitty. There's even memes about how awful and dragging the Hinterlands is. That's not dense or rich, it's literally the same place over and over again. Are you confusing fantasy racism and oppression being rubbed into your face extensively for all that dense culture? Is that the dense culture you're missing? Is it the brief glimpses we get of the Deep Roads and Dalish elves? Is that the rich culture? (You know, the stuff we see again in Veilguard. We even get to explore TWO Dwarven areas! Not counting the Fade one. There's so much cool shit to explore in Veilguard I'm never going to get tired of looking around for more details.)

This is the exact same world, the exact same setting, and we're being shown all these places we've only ever heard of. They're no longer just a name in passing, they're real places and we can see them and their architecture and the types of people that live there and how the weather is different and how the people are different and their different styles of dress and different foods and EVERYTHING. It's that environmental storytelling thing the game does very well and it's SO COOL. The maps had to be more compact but they're absolutely jam packed with puzzles, people, visuals, codex entries, etc... You're calling it shallow because what, they didn't add 500 codex entries from past games rehashing the same exact things we've already done three times before? We've been there, done that, learned it, we're doing something new now!

I thought you missed the context and content in the game but I'm steadily realizing that maybe you just flagrantly ran past it at full speed with your fingers in your ears and screaming because you think hating on this game is cool at this point in time. Gods forbid you take anything from this game at all besides regurgitating the same tired complaints that showed you approached this game hating it and didn't bother giving it a chance because "It's not like the other games!!"

a really cool part about dragon age veilguard is the first scene where you meet bellara, especially if you're a shadowdragon mage and you have neve with you

so to set the scene: bellara, the dalish elf who's devoted her life to the conservation, discovery and protection of her people's lost and ancient history, meets two strangers, two tevinter mages, in sacred arlathan. They tell her, hey your gods are back in the world but also they suck and we gotta kill them, and instead of telling them "fuck off you vile enslaving shem, you defile this land with your presence" like most normal dalish, not only does she instantly believe them that her gods are bad for some reason, they're back among the people and need to be stopped, she also happily starts telling them all kinds of secrets and valuable knowledge about ancient elven magic and is even so kind to, without question, take them on a grand tour of this very historically important and sacred ruin in arlathan to find a truly priceless artifact, a one of a kind archive of ancient elven knowledge thought lost forever, because really, what could these unknown tevinter mages possible want with that!

...

are these writers smoking crack?? is that it? theyre smoking crack??

[mendipite]

On Yumi and Nishiki in “Like A Dragon - The Prologue”

There’s a lot in this movie which I wish could have made it into the games - backstory about Sunflower, Kiryu and Nishiki’s childhood, Yuko Nishikiyama actually having screentime so that we can be sure that she really does exist.

That aside, I want to talk a bit about Yumi, and one scene in particular that I wish had been adapted into Kiwami.

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, there’s a very low res upload on Youtube here. The scene in question starts at 30:53.

Disclaimer, this isn't particularly well thought-out and I started rambling a bit. I'll stick it under a cut.

Following Dojima’s murder, Yumi wakes up in the back of Nishiki’s car and has no recollection of who he is. She begins to panic, having flashbacks of both Dojima’s murder and the murder of her own parents, and begins screaming at him to stop the car. Once he does, she gets out and runs into the road.

Nishiki gets out, runs after her and gets hold of her. Once the flashbacks of her parents’ deaths subside, she eventually calms down, and Nishiki convinces her to get back in so he can take her to the hospital.

-

Like most women in this series, Yumi suffers from being pretty flat. She barely appears throughout most of the game, and unlike Nishiki she didn’t get the bonus of a prequel or extra scenes to give her character any real depth. On top of that, despite supposedly being like family to them, her relationship with Kiryu is barely explored and and her relationship with Nishikiyama even less.

In the game, we don’t really know how the events of Dojima’s murder went down, what Dojima did once he kidnapped her, and what Nishiki did when he got there. By that point, Yumi’s already completely out of it, and what she experienced isn’t ever a point of discussion beyond her memory loss, which is blamed on Nishiki and left at that.

The women in the series are generally not well written, and I think this is the crux of it - their experiences aren't really delved into. We know what Yumi did throughout the game, but what we know of her reasons for doing them are very surface-level. Rather than being treated like a person who's problems matter, she's instead treated as little more than a plot device.

What we see in this scene is that it wasn’t so much the murder itself, rather it was the fact that it triggered memories of her parents’ deaths what affected Yumi so badly. It explains why she ran away, and why she ended up back at Sunflower. It's such a small thing, but for a character that could probably have been replaced with an item without any real plot consequences, a scene like this makes her feel like a real human, like her problems actually matter and that she isn't just an afterthought.

It also acts to further the contrast between where she is at the start versus the end of the game. By the end of the game she's become a woman who can confront her own past which, from a narrative standpoint, would contrast nicely against Nishiki's arc which goes in the opposite direction.

Whilst we're on the topic of Nishiki, it’s nice to have a scene of Nishiki and Yumi together where they actually interract. The only other time that really happens is at the Millenium Tower, which I guess is yet another reason why this scene would have worked well in Kiwami. Nishiki trying to reason with Yumi in his panicked state almost parallels the Millenium Tower scene where Yumi calmly tries to reason with Nishiki.

On a somewhat unrelated note, parent-related trauma is something that Yumi and Nishiki likely have in common. Unlike Kiryu, where it’s implied lost his parents at a young enough age not to remember. It’s likely that, like Yumi, Nishiki was old enough to remember his parents, given Yuko’s existence. Unfortunately the most we hear about this is that they died in their home in a gas explosion.

What I'm trying to say is that it would have been really interesting to explore the dynamic between these two a little more, it would have made for some interesting parallels, even more so when Kiryu is thrown into the mix.

As a final thing, notice how at the start of the game, Yumi is wearing black and white, but at the end she’s in grey? I wonder if that was intentional..

[lairofdragonagelore]

Comic: Deception

This post belongs to the series DA comic. The main intention is to collect the basic story of the comic and highlight any potential lore concept that may be of interest and may be explored later in the game series.

This post has the following points:

Story

Relevant Details

Characters: Two con artists that try to trick Tevinters in order to earn money and leave the city before the Qunari attack.

There is no relevant lore in this comic. We only learn that Ventus has fallen under Qunari invasion. This is a very forgettable comic in terms of lore.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Story

In this story, the group follows the lead of the piece of Red Lyrium to Ventus/Qarinus, where there are rumours of an incoming Qunari attack.

This is a story about two [irrelevant] con actors who are trying to scam some people in the city to get enough money to leave before the Qunari attack. They end up sabotaging each other’s work and later competing against the other. It ends up in a more comical situation than in a serious story. Dorian appears in the process, showing that he knows they are scams. They end up involving two young people, Francesca and Florian Invidus, falsely accusing them of being Venatori, when in fact, Florian and his father are involved with the Venatori.

Meanwhile, Dorian, Ser Aaron Hawthorne, and Vaea are investigating the Qitana state in order to look for the red lyrium track they were after in the previous comic. Somehow, they manage to bring these two con actors into their mission, who unintentionally get Florian killed when they use a pair of Antiva Crows in a diversion. When Francesca finds her brother’s body she swears vengeance.

When the group manages to enter the Qintana state, they discover that there is no magister family called Qintana. In their place they find a non-mage elf who uses pyrotechnic to emulate magic. He is another performer, working on this une the command of his magister master. This story is filled with performer chars.

The elf claims that their lead is not a mere piece of red lyrium but a weapon imbued in red lyrium [good, because it made no sense to track a piece of red lyrium when the whole south is covered in it and Venatori were cultivating it in Emprise du Lion]. They finally learn that the weapon went to another place: The fortress of House Danarius, former master of Fenris.

They decide to go there [next comic], but before they can leave the house, the Qunari invade the city. Only with the sacrifice of one of the actors, they can escape. They bring Francesca with them, after dealing with her rage for getting her brother killed.

This comic is not strong neither in lore nor chars. It’s more about the nature of the people and how the expectations on them are different things to what they truly are. It follows the moral that was created around Ser Aaron Hawthorne’s legend in the previous comic, where characters from tales are more inspiring than the real people from which those tales were based on. Furthermore, it’s a story that wants us to reflect about human nature, unreliable narrators, and how life is a grey thing despite people wanting to see it in white and black, making it look shinier in tales of taverns.

Relevant details:

Why the title? It’s titled that way because many characters in this story are performers: they pretend to be what they are not. The whole series of comics from the Knight Errant on seem to focus on that narrative concept.

Time: After defeating Corypheus and [maybe] after the DLC Tresspasser. I assume this because Varric is Viscount of Kirkwall.

Characters: We have repeted information about Vaea, Ser Aaron Hawthorne, and shallow information about two irrelevant con actor chars. Nothing truly important to say here.

Concepts : There is no lore-content in this comic. What we can squeeze as such is that Ventus has fallen under Qunari invasion.