#and then a male qunari inquisitor

[squishymamasboy]

man I miss Dragon Age so much but I have no energy to start a new game...

also I’ve played Inquisition 4 times already.

Or maybe even 5?

[lelianasbong]

do you ever think about the fact that sera's adoptive human mother convinced her AS A CHILD that a total stranger hated her because of her race - to protect the woman's own pride, mind you!! it wasn't even true!! racist AND self-absorbed!!!! (which tbqh the venn diagram is a circle) - and the ramifications of sera cutting herself off as soon as she starts to say, "i hated her, and i hated- (myself)" and how ungenerously the fandom interprets her pain and makes it all about their picture perfect elf oc. because i do.

[ladydarksbane]

Sataareth Adaar

[asexuallucanisdellamorte]

I'll see exactly one (1) picture of fenris and hawke and be immediately overcome with the desire to play dragon age 2 again

[grimweaver]

"I am a horde of rampaging Qunari." I MET MYSELF! 8D

[shem-fatale]

Dragon Age Inquisition: "Canon" Choices Survey Results!

Tell us about your personal "canon" Inquisitor who will make an appearance in The Veilguard? What were their choices? Answers to this short survey were collected via a tumblr post between June 11th and June 22nd 2024. I have since found out which of the choices mentioned will and will not affect DA:TV but I will include all questions anyway. Text version and tags under the cut!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1. Who is your "canon" Inquisitor and are/were they in a relationship with another DAI character? Female Adaar/Blackwall - 1% Female Lavellan/Blackwall - 1% Male Lavellan/Josephine- 1% Male Lavellan/The Iron Bull- 1% Male Trevelyan/Cassandra - 1%

Female Lavellan/Josephine - 2% Female Trevelyan/Josephine- 2% Male Lavellan - no romance - 2%

Female Adaar/The Iron Bull - 3% Male Adaar/Dorian - 3%

Female Trevelyan/Blackwall - 4%

Female Adaar/Josephine - 6% Male Trevelyan/Dorian - 6%

Female Lavellan/Cullen - 7%

Male Lavellan/Dorian - 12%

Female Trevelyan/Cullen - 13%

Female Lavellan/Solas - 33% Added headcanon comment from @spiders-scribbles: Male Adaar/The Iron Bull "Kas is played with the female model cause I hate how bulky the male Qunari body is and also trans reasons" <3 And another one from @doves-wing: Female Cadash/Josephine "i think they have an open relationship and so my quizzy has dated iron bull though that relationship ends before trespasser. she is still with josie though." <3 2. What combat class and specialisation apply to your "canon" Inquisitor?

Warrior/Two-Handed/Templar - 0% Warrior/Weapon and Shield/Templar - 0%

Rogue/Daggers/Artificer - 1% Warrior/Two-Handed/Champion - 1% Warrior/Weapon and Shield/Reaver - 1%

Warrior/Two-Handed/Reaver - 3% Rogue/Archer/Tempest - 3% Warrior/Weapon and Shield/Champion - 3%

Mage/Necromancer - 4%

Rogue/Archer/Artificer - 5% Rogue/Archer/Assassin - 5% Rogue/Daggers/Tempest - 5%

Rogue/Daggers/Assassin - 8%

Mage/Rift Mage - 30%

Mage/Knight-Enchanter - 32% 3. Did the Inquisition form an alliance with the Mages or with the Templars?

Mages - 86%

Templars - 14% 4. Who was left behind in the Fade?

Alistair - 5%

Loghain - 9%

Hawke - 29%

Stroud - 57% 5. Did the Inquisition give the Wardens a second chance?

Yes - 89%

No - 11% 6. Who rules Orlais?

Gaspard - 1%

Celene - 10%

Gaspard as Briala's puppet - 14%

Truce between all parties - 32%

Celene and Briala - 43% 7. Who drank from the Well of Sorrows?

Morrigan - 48%

The Inquisitor - 52% 8. Who becomes Divine Victoria at the end of DA:I?

Vivienne - 7%

Cassandra - 18%

Leliana - 75% 9. What happened to the Inquisition at the end of Trespasser?

The Inquisition continues in the service of Divine Victoria - 17%

The Inquisition was disbanded - 83%

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A big thank you to:

@themightynej

@rotaryshakes

@slothsoep

@ladyotakukiut

@ellie-shy

@spaaace-ace

@infinitediversities

@missrosequeen

@re-venge

@tokyopewpew

@ennayeliah

@alesdaer

@what-ever-this-is-man

@maintitle

@doves-wing

@filbert-weevil

@robinthewarden

@flashyxtemplar

@0rzammar

@bonniemikaelson

@darthbootchie

@gugle1980

@hawkgirlriot

@huneybumble7

@onelessvenatori

@stillpanicking

@stuckyonbucky

@wildefiction

@animusrisunovatur

@anulindale

@azinareens

@cullens-babe

@energeticbasilisk

@fadejumper

@humonster

@joyfulpolicehologram

@krampus236

@maleficarmage

@mortalitasdeeznuts

@soft4sana

@themagnusbane

@thereiswarathand

@touchofweave

@tyralily

@witch-light

@witchybullshit

@littleballofanxiety

@precious-gem-of-a-cat @onlypartiallystars

@spiders-scribbles @titanwolfackerman @nervousparsnip @sowrongbutsowrite @argonian-at-heart @too-caught-up-in-moves @yjannu @lilywasx and also to everyone who didn't want to be tagged, plus everyone who spelled their user names wrong! I figured out some of the typos but some of you left me some crazy riddles hehe. <3

[cadaveerie]

Romance options for the Inquisitor in DATV CC (descriptions)

for THE IRON BULL, DORIAN PAVUS, CULLEN RUTHERFORD (preview), SOLAS, NONE. with transcriptions!

THE IRON BULL Soldier, spy, survivor—the Iron Bull was many things even before a romance inside the Inquisition changed his life forever. The hulking Qunari called the Iron Bull, a shameless flirt, was pleased when the Inquisitor returned his overtures. But what began as a way for them to unwind grew into something deeper and more profound. When The Iron Bull's superiors demanded he turn on the Inquisitor, he refused—and never regretted it.

DORIAN When the northern mage came to the Inquisition looking for help, he discovered a love enduring and rare. Born and raised in the Tevinter Imperium, Dorian hadn't though he'd find much to impress him when he travelled south. But as he and the Inquisitor became drawn to each other, their attraction bloomed into a deep and caring relationship that endured even after Dorian reluctantly returned home.

SOLAS He possessed knowledge beyond any mortal, yet even the Dread Wolf could not foresee what it would mean to fall in love. Though Solas hid his past from the Inquisitor, the more time they spent together, the more precious that time became. Their connection was passionate and undeniable. Solas mourned that his duty to the past forced him to leave her in the end, but the Inquisitor knew what they had might not be so quick to fade.

CULLEN A man haunted by duty's demands, Cullen Rutherford never expected to find love during his time in the Inquisition.

NONE The Inquisitor was always busy handing her/his/their growing forces, potential allies, and dealing with ever more dangerous threats. The Inquisitor led by example, plunging into the wilds to recruit followers, end rivalries and keep the common folk safe from monsters. She/he/they even made forays into the grand politics that decided the fate of an empire. She/He/They gained lifelong friends, enemies, and rivals along the way.

Note: I've made direct transcriptions, typos included.

sources: bull, dorian, none (not the original sources though because i can't find them. i'll edit this post if i do) ; cullen ; solas

Edit:

Added Solas!

Because there seems to be some confusion: No, this is not all of the romances. All of the romances available in Inquisition are available for the Inquisitor in this game as well. We just haven't seen the text for them (the reason some of the romances are blocked is because their romances were blocked in Inquisition. In this case, the inquisitor was probably a female non-elf, since they can't romance Solas (only elf female), Dorian (only male) or Cassandra (only male.))

As you can see in the source and the title of this post, the Cullen romance bit is just a preview, that's not the whole text. I clarified it in the beginning of the post but I guess some people didn't understand.

Sorry for the confusion.

[vigilskeep]

hi harker :) your post about the M!American VA for the Inquisitor being underrated & F!British VA being your least favorite had me wondering:

what are your opinions about the deliveries of all 4 VAs? as in, do you think there's some specific areas where each shines and/or falls flat in? or specific character archetypes they play well? (no worries if you don't really have an opinion on this tho ^^)

small disclaimer that i haven’t played the whole game with the majority of these so i am totally open to discussion from those who have

female british VA is my least favourite. like i say she does better in plot moments and i quite like the venom she puts into it when she’s angry but i can’t get over how really gratingly bland she sounds in casual conversation/when asking questions. she did not bring the effort for that and it’s so much of the game that i can’t let it slide. good for upper class characters who are a bit stiff and maybe a little socially inept. though actually, fun to play with f!cadash and probably also f!adaar (haven’t tried it) just because the voice itself by nature puts a different spin on those less traditional backgrounds for it

male british VA is okay! another posh one. he always sounds a little wry and amused, which comes off kind of emotionally disengaged. which is good in light scenes and for a certain type of character, but when the feelings should actually hit and he should get angry or upset, a lot of the time i don’t think it quite connects

american female VA is... also okay. i really like the basic sound of the voice and i think it’s very versatile in terms of character type. i also don’t think it had any super amazing moments that stuck in my memory to come to mind. kind of the opposite of the british female VA’s strengths and weaknesses i guess? but can i say i really dislike the assumption in some fan spaces that this voice is only usable for dwarves and qunari as if the actress isn’t literally a human woman like 😭 so weird. i loved her as my lavellan. to me, generally suits a more cool and experienced character

american male VA is easily the best experience i’ve had so far. listening to him do casual conversations is like... wow he is truly the only one of these four who showed up to work every day and actually performed rather than simply reading the lines off the script lmao. he comes off a little more gruff/aggressive overall imo. i do find his deep voice weird coming out of a tiny elven frame if you’re going for a lavellan but it’s not that strange. i still can’t fucking believe he’s zevran

overall i do not think the voice acting is that good in inquisition and i don’t think it’s the fault of the voice actors. from the way lines are often slightly misread compared to what it feels like the line’s intent must have been, or are sometimes just tonally bizarre for the scene, i get the impression the cast had very little direction and were left to do a lot of guesswork on their own

[exhausted-archivist]

Common Fanons That Are Confused As Canon

Through my time of collecting lore and learning things about Thedas I've come across a couple things of fanon that leaked into lists of canon elements. Which was an interesting little thing to follow the rabbit hole of where they even originated. While making this list I did ask others for any that I might have missed or not seen because I wanted to be thorough as I could when even making this list. I haven't been in the fandom long enough to see all the things that have come up.

To be clear, I thought it was neat to see what became so pervasive in the fandom to become easily mistaken as canon or misunderstood. I'm also not discussing whether canon as it stands is "good" or judging the fanon or anything like that.

I just wanted to put it all together in a list, especially as I have had friends who were getting into the series and ask about certain things; as well as Dragon Age Summer hitting us soon and new interest in the series abound.

General

Mages can sense other mages The closest source I can find to this is the fact that Anders states that he can "feel the power in you". No other mage states anything similar and could likely be attributed to the fact that he is possessed. Much like how Cole can sense your magical connection as an Inquisitor. An outlier is how Keiran can sense your magic regardless of if he has the Old God soul; but he is also not confirmed to be a mage as of yet.

All Saarebas always have their lips sewn shut/horns cut off This seems to originate from da2 specifically, with the model of Ketojan having the scarring, the other saarebas missing horns, the concept art, and then boils down to BioWare being inconsistent with their lore/depictions. Most of Thedas fixates on the fact that the Qunari have saarebas with their lips sewn shut, the Seer's yarn tale denotes that tamassrans tell the story of a saarebas with their lips sewn shut, the tarot art for Saarath, and the flippant joke between Sera and Iron Bull. But, the lore specifies that it is in extreme cases or in general that it can occurs but it is not the standard. [WOT p. 103 & 128] Much like tranquility, it is used as a form of punishment - one that we know can and is abused by certain factions. We also see saarebas characters in Inquisition who do not carry either of those traits. Specifically Hissera (multiplayer), Saareth (Trespasser), Heroes of Dragon Age models, and some Qunari in da2.

All Saarebas have their tongues cut out This is seperate from the previous point due to the different source of this fanon. It seems to be an exaggeration of one particulare line from Sten. In dao, Sten will state during the Broken Circle quest that "This is why we cut the tongues from mages, in Par Vollen." He is very general with the statement, but contextually it is reasonable people took this to mean all mages. However, since dao it has been made clear that it is not a universal practice throughout the Qun.

Elves are shorter than humans This one does have a clear point of where this started, though it is never stated in lore, back in Origins elven models were universally shorter than humans. But from DA2 onward, male elves were only shorter than their human counterparts of the same sex while female elves are shorter than both human sexes. Fenris is taller than f!Hawke while both forms of Hawke are taller than Merrill. Solas, Abelas, and a m!Lavellan are taller than female human characters but all human characters are taller than female elves (except Sera who has a female human model).

Dalish are illiterate This is a little less clear to me where its origins started. Perhaps based off of medieval period history (which da isn't necessarily medieval in time period) or due to the fact that most common folk in certain regions in Thedas are illiterate and reliant on pictures over written words. But we know from the Witch Hunt dlc that the Dalish keep tomes of their history and of the ancient elven empire. They also actively translate ancient elven script for their own records. Whether this is role restrictive or not is unclear, but we do know that the Dalish are literate in both Common and semi-literate in ancient elven script.

Dalish and City Elves don't have contact This seemingly comes from a misunderstanding stemming in the city elf origins in dao where some npcs will comment on how Dalish might be myths. However, in dao, da2, dai, the comic Knight Errant, and the novel The Masked Empire, that elves from both sides do semi-regularly trade people with each other if not visit certain alienages, as well have other points of contact with each other. Pol, Zevran, Coran (Vaea's uncle), and potentially Feynriel are all city elves that join Dalish clans. Merrill and Arianni are known Dalish who join alienages.

City elves are genetic/physical differences from the Dalish elves This one I have seen around a lot, most stemming from the idea of the previous one that the elves in the city are generations apart from the Dalish, implying they have no contact with each other. Which could be true for certain alienages. But as far as lore is concerned there isn't any example of this, not even as being a point of reference for the Dalish to consider any of the aspects as to what makes them "less of an elf" in comparison to Dalish.

Elves pass on their elven traits Most seem to know this isn't canon, albeit one of the less popular canon elements; but new fans don't always know this. It is popular fanon to give half-elven children the reflective eyes, smaller stature, more angular features, straighter nose bridge, and/or pointed ears from their elven parent.

Only elves can have mixed kids with other races This seems to come from the fact that elven traits aren't passed on to their kids when mixed parentage is involved. However humans, dwarves, and vashoth can all have mixed kids from the other races. According to Patrick Weekes, this decision was made consciously to avoid very racist and harmful rhetoric. We know of many elf/human mixed kids: Alistair, Eiton, Feynriel, Gestan and Thale (residents of elven area of Halamshiral), Kieran (conditions), Michel de Chevin, Rinnala, "Sabina's Brat" (son of the elven prostitute Sabina at the Blooming Rose), Slim Couldry, Tainsley (Potentially. Is described as a 7'(2.13m) human, though he references a Dalish uncle.) While mixed dwarf children are rare simply due to dwarven fertility issues we do know of two dwarf/human kids: Keiran (conditional) and the child of Tyrdaa Bright-Axe(Avvar) and Hendir (dwarf).

Elfroot leaves get you high/is Thedosian marijuana This is another Origins era thing, due to an easter egg that made a play on the American "This is your brain on drugs" anti-drug campaign using elfroot. This was then repeated in 2015 when Patrick Weekes said that its medicinal properties were rediscovered in 4:20. [Source] Elfroot hasn't been shown to get anyone high in canon, it is the roots that are primarily used as medicinal. In World of Thedas (WoT) vol. 2 the recipe for Dalish Deep Forest Comfort says you can substitute elfroot for spinach making the leaves more vegetable in quality. That said, marijuana leaves are edible and rather nutritious. They just don't have the chemical make up to induce a high. Those lie strictly in the buds. According to Origins, elfroot does flower though.

Red lyrium is completely different and more dangerous from blue lyrium This one is all on BioWare in regards to this misconception. Because while yes, it is more dangerous than the blue lyrium, they aren't two seperate substances. More that red lyrium is a branch off. To cover the generals of the written lore of lyrium it breaks down like this: Blue lyrium in it's raw form innately toxic to just be around to all but dwarves, however it will kill a mage who gets too close in proximity. That proximity being within the same room while non-mages would have to touch the stuff. It also has a pension of self-combustion without warning or a clear cause. When it is refined down for templar use it is "safe" for non-mages to come in contact with and consume. Whether this level of refinement is the same level as what is used to make various cocktails and liqueur is unclear. But we do know that getting too close, being in same room as lyrium refined to this level, is enough to make a mage sick. Finally, we have the most refined and diluted stage of lyrium, this is used by mages to make potions, certain alchemical work, and other things. This isn't enough to kill a mage, make them sick (without extreme over use), and infact can result in positive outcomes for a mage. Red lyrium overlaps with most of that, with a couple key differences. First off is that red lyrium doesn't seem to self-combust. There is some contradiction on whether or not non-dwarves can mine it as due to game mechanics you can destroy it, but the only ones we see mining wild nodes are dwarves. But if the red lyrium is grown from a living creature it seems accessible to all races? In codices about the various types of red templars, we learn that a small vial around a templar's neck is enough to make all the mages in the area around him sick.

Character Specific

Alistair

Alistair is a dog person I couldn't track any clear origins for this, it seems to be a case of overlap with the stereotype that "all Fereldan's love dogs" and a mix of building off of a line of dialogue about him being raised by the hounds and them being his family. However, he doesn't seem overly one way or the other. He mocks dog at times, talks down in not such a playful way, and at times seems to treat dog with the same attitude he does Morrigan though not as blatantly. This could be chalked up to his joking nature though.

Alistair's obsession with cheese While he does admit to an obsession to cheese, it is often cited that Alistair makes a ton of cheese jokes in dao. When in truth he only makes four through out the entire game. Given his joking nature it is up to personal interpretation of how much he actually loves cheese.

Alistair and Cullen knew each other before Origins This is more specifically that the two went to the same monastery for their templar training. There is no canon evidence for this though. That said, there is a possibility due to not knowing much of anything about how the Templar Order trains its recruits nor the amount of monasteries they have in Ferelden for training.

Alistair collects toy soldiers This seems to come from the gifts he can be given during the Feastday dlc. Canonically he is given runestones and carved statuettes of various types stone. These statuettes are described in a manner closer to effigies than toy soldiers.

Alistair's mother is not Fiona This one is a bit funny as it has multiple origins and is dependent on the player's experience with the series. From what I have gathered there seems to be one of three sources: - People who never read the Dragon Age novel The Calling - People who read The Calling after playing dao and feels like it is a retcon (though The Calling was released prior to the release of dao, same with the novel The Stolen Throne) - People who take a "chuck the baby with the bathwater" approach to the lore The funny thing about this is that the cover story in dao for Alistair's mom is based off a combo of things; the hypothetical scenario Fiona told Maric and answers she gave Maric when he asked what to tell Alistair if he asked about his mother. The hypothetical was that Fiona would not return to the Circle and would hide from the templars and pretend to be a washer woman. When Maric asked what to tell Alistair of his mother, Fiona said to tell him his mother was human as she did not want him to deal with being half elven and all the stigma that comes with that as well as to tell Alistair that she was dead.

Avaline

Aveline is straight She will kiss Hawke regardless of gender and ask them if they ever considered her and them. Though it is clear she never had romantic interest in Hawke in particular. An easily missed aspect I think given the general opinion of Aveline as well as most people seeming to not choose the flirtatious option with her.

Blackwall

Blackwall doesn't have a sense of humor This one genuinely surprised me considering he jokes with Sera, The Iron Bull, and Solas. His banter shows as much that he does have a sense of humor and tells jokes. But it does seem pretty common of a fanon characterization for him.

Dorian

Dorian paints his nails His model doesn't have painted nails in game, but it is a popular fanon. There is nail polish in Thedas though. It's mentioned in the novel Masked Empire as well as the novel Last Flight. It seems to be of Anderfles origins, but given the Last Flight is post Orlesian occupation, it could originate in Orlais.

Lady Mantillon said, tapping an elegantly lacquered fingernail on the polished wooden arm of her chair, “we will fail, or we will be killed. Neither is acceptable.” - Masked Empire, Chapter 17 p. 362 Every one of her fingers glimmered with a jeweled ring, and her nails had been freshly lacquered. - Last Flight, Chapter 13 p. 144

Fenris

Lyrium can be drawn from Fenris' tattoos There is no mention of this being possible in da2 or any of the subsequent media. There isn't even mention of others being able to sense the lyrium in his tattoos or even mages getting sick around him as they sometimes will dependent on the concentrations and/or purity of lyrium.

Fiona

How Fiona was cured of the taint This comes from The Calling novel, where it isn't ever clarified what actually removed the taint from Fiona. The common fanon is that it was either the mentioned brooch, or that by having Alistair. That it was by having Maric's son who has Great Dragon blood due to being of the Theirin bloodline that cured her. However, in the novel she is very clear that the mages at Weisshaupt aren't sure what cured her. She only offers one explanation that the Grey Wardens theorized and trails off before saying what the second one was.

“It’s gone,” she said flatly. “The mages at Weisshaupt weren’t sure if it was because the First Enchanter’s brooch sped things up artificially, or... at any rate, all the corruption vanished. They don’t think it’s going to come back, either. There was test after test, but they think I may be the first Grey Warden that never has to endure the Calling again.”

Hawke

Hawke is stabbed by the Arishok This fanon likely came into being due to one of the moves the Arishok has where it will leave you almost dead. So a bit of canon as it is in his move set, but fanon in the idea it is something that always happens in canon.

Unable to confirm if Fanon, Canon, or a mix of both

Teagan marries Bella, the barmaid from Redcliffe This one goes back really far and is hard to tell if it is a case of mistaken identity and association, or a really buggy option for the epilogue, or isn't actually a possibility. What I can confirm is that Teagan does have a woman he can marry given certain conditions are met in dao, but it is actually Kaitlyn, the sister who's brother goes missing in Redcliffe. If you properly compensate her for her grandfather's sword she'll open up a foundry in Denerim and will marry Teagan after having known him for a few months. According to this thread, you have to get Kaitlyn to move to Denerim with her brother, make Bella the maid to Teagan and in the ending slide Teagan and Bella will get married. Though I haven't been able to confirm that this is possible. (If you have a screenshot/video of this slide and know how to trigger this please let me know) This is also not an option mentioned in the Keep, however neither is Kaitlyn's. Which isn't surprising given some of the ending slides that were not direct player choice (ex) choosing Orzammar's king) are mostly cut from canon.

[felassan]

Hello friend :) I was wondering if there is a definitive list of known spies of Fen'harel? In Trespasser we meet one ("The elven guard that led you to the Qunari body, who intercepted the servant with the gaatlock barrel? Mine.") but can't remember if there are any other such cases we can look back on. Thanks!!!

hello! ◕‿◕ oh, good question! I don’t know that there is a definitive list.

there is the elven lady - the guard from Trespasser - as you say

Solas mentions in Trespasser, but doesn’t name of course, the existence of multiple spies of his that were within the Inquisition (the ones that “tripped over” the Qunari spies within the Inquisition)

a Trespasser epilogue slide reads “After the events at the Winter Palace, elves left the Inquisition under mysterious circumstances, as did elven servants across Thedas. None could say where they went, but those who believed the Inquisitor's story about Fen'Harel wondered just how large the Dread Wolf's forces were... and what the ancient elven rebel had planned.” – it’s likely that at least some of these were working as his agents/spies at the time of the events of DA:I, and those that weren't, well, they’ve left their lives in Thedas to go join him and are his agents now. tying to this, in Tevinter Nights, the rumors going around Thedas that “dozens” of elves have gone to join him are mentioned

In Half Up Front in TN, there is the elf who hired Irian and Vadis to try and steal Dumat’s Folly, who then poisoned herself rather than be caught

In the same short story, Gatt mentions a male agent of Fen’Harel who was within the ranks of the Ben-Hassrath, explaining that he tricked them also into trying to steal Dumat’s Folly

In Dread Wolf Take You in TN, the Carta Assassin relates his tale and it has three elven agents in it: the one with the regular Fereldan accent (as opposed to Dalish) who is presumably a former Fereldan City Elf, the one whose accent does sound Dalish only more formal and poetic (who from this is implied to be an ancient elf**), and the Dalish elf who they accidentally killed, who was the one to originally make contact with the Carta assassin’s boys and who told them that he learned of the idol being in the statue of Meredith from a dream.

Felassan, of course

Gaius, from the comic Dragon Age: Deception

** not a wild idea, Felassan was another example, there are also groups around like Abelas and the sentinels in the Temple of Mythal, Solas alludes to other groups of them too in DA:I with his dialogue line to Abelas "There are other places, friend. Other duties. Your [ancient elvhen] people yet linger." were these other duties.. being agents of Fen'Harel and helping out Solas with his plans?

Honorable mentions:

at one point the Qunari thought Solas himself was an agent of Fen’Harel (Charred Note reads "These walls of blue flame were cast by the agent of Fen'Harel as he ran through this place bringing chaos and destruction. [...] Fen'Harel's mage-servant made them to hamper us, and they bring only death.")

at one point the Qunari thought the Inquisitor was an agent of Fen’Harel

his agents once tried to recruit Irian Cestes, but she turned them down.

(lmk if there’s any I missed.) :>

[niofo]

bioware making female dragon bigger than male and then not following through with qunari women being bigger is such a wasted opportunity. like imagine if bull being big and strong was actually a tamassran trait and him being gnc for a soldier, but he loved fighting so much they eventually made him into a spy, bcos he wasn't fitting well into other roles. his gender is spy, let him be a bit weird about that. he likes punching ppl but also takes care of his chargers, he will provide intel and advise the inquisitor, but also act as a bodyguard. he was never fitting into this priestess-soldier categories and i want his looks to express that, esp that he knows that the southeners don't know shit about qunari, prob never saw a tamassran before, so to them a very big qunari is just a more scary soldier.

[baphometsss]

solas is canonically bi and i will die on this fucking hill.

trick talking shit about it on twitter in 2015 or whatever means nothing to me. oh you wanted to avoid the depraved bisexual trope, did you?? you mean depraved bisexuals like iron bull who will literally betray and try to kill you in trespasser if you sacrifice the chargers? depraved bisexual zevran who tries to kill you and will try again if your approval isn't high enough in dao? depraved bisexual anders who commits an entire act of terrorism? depraved bisexual isabela who will run off with the qunari artefact in da2 and never return if your approval isn't high enough?? i could go on and those are just the depraved bisexuals. there are plenty of good, non-depraved bisexuals in this game too (leliana, josephine, fenris kinda depending on how you play it), so it's a moot point anyway

esp since as far as depravity actually goes, he's fairly good about the romance. like, his ultimate goal aside, he makes a point of saying in trespasser that he wouldn't sleep with lavellan under false pretenses. that's more than can be said for blackwall, who doesn't think twice about the potential consent issue of sex with someone who doesn't know who you really are

if it wasn't the fact that a good chunk of solas's romance lines were voiced with the male VAs in both base game dai and trespasser, i would be inclined to believe that this was an intentional choice, but given that and the fact that both solas and cullen use gender neutral language in their romances, and only cullen has a line which specifically turns the inquisitor down for being a dude, i find it much more believable that they literally just ran out of time

iirc neither solas nor cullen were going to be romancable to begin with but then they had a bit of extra time and they decided to do it, only to run out of time before finishing the male VAs lines

honestly i'm just frustrated by the fact that we have inconsistent writing and weird cop-out answers that people cling to bc they're offended that their precious straight boy might not actually be straight. i actually saw someone complaining on reddit about how 'refreshing' it was to see a straight character in dragon age like?? what. are you playing the same game? blackwall, cassandra, cullen (who was meant to be bi too but ig had either the same issue or his va was just too much of a bigot to do it), morrigan and alistair all spring to mind lol you're not short on straight people

in any case we can retcon our inky to be nonbinary, so unless they fuck it up by deciding that he's only into female elves and lock out all the nb solavellans who had to choose between male and female inky in dai, which is unlikely, it seems like it won't matter much.

just let me be gay with my silly egg man and i will be happy

[rainwolfheart]

Generated first names for Rook

I'm a huge nerd about naming customs, and I'm really intrigued by this name generator feature in the Veilguard character creator, so here's a compilation of the generated first names I've seen in videos so far.

Disclaimer that I can't guarantee that all of these were generated by the game rather than by the player, but in most videos you see the player replacing one of these with a name of their choice, so I figured it was a safe bet. Shoutout to Ghil Dirthalen on YouTube in particular for actually talking about the name generator and showing several generated names!

Burhan (qunari, she/her?, woman?, Lords of Fortune, source)

Esha (qunari, she/her, woman, Lords of Fortune, source)

Esha (qunari, she/her?, woman?, Lords of Fortune, source)

Filip (qunari, she/her?, woman?, Lords of Fortune, source)

Grier (elf, he/him, man, Shadow Dragons, source)

Jirell (qunari, she/her?, woman?, Lords of Fortune, source)

Kalais (qunari, she/her?, woman?, Lords of Fortune, source)

Lorant (dwarf, he/him, man, Veil Jumper, source)

Lorant (qunari, she/her?, woman?, Lords of Fortune, source)

Turvi (qunari, she/her?, woman?, Lords of Fortune, source)

Veryl (qunari, she/her?, woman?, Lords of Fortune, source)

There's one more name I came across that seems likely to have been a player input, but that I can't verify:

Veil (elf, she/her, woman, Antivan Crows, source)

The namebank seems limited, as I saw a two names come up more than once: Esha and Lorant. While both Eshas were essentially the same build, both Lorants were quite different: a Veil Jumper dwarf man and a Lords of Fortune qunari who I guessed was a woman. That, plus the fact that it generated Filip (a name I would instinctively associate with a human male) for a (presumably female) qunari, leads me to believe there's a single namebank that doesn't take into account lineage, pronouns, gender, or faction. But who knows!

There also seems to be a name generator for Inquisitors, but I haven't seen anyone click that button yet, so the only name I've seen is the default female Lavellan name, Ellana (source). I wonder if the namebank will be the same as the one for Rooks, or will be separate?

Please let me know if you have more info on this, and I'll keep this post up to date!

Also, if you're also a name nerd, follow my new name blog @rains-onomatology

[ryuto12-gaming]

Gonna casually fuck with Solas while I play

Casually gonna have a male human Rook who looks suspiciously like the Hawke who was left in the Fade but shit that thing is kinda open so who knows

Gonna do a female elf who has no vallaslin and has very strange green eyes and brown hair who’s rapidly firing a bow at him and fuck is that his ex? She has a new haircut…

Gonna do a Qunari Rook who looks suspiciously like the Adaar Inquisitor he kept making passive aggressive racist comments towards so just maybe they found a new hand and plan to ring him around with it

Gonna have a a human Thorne who’s wearing the grey warden armor as they approach, giving Solas a very stupid flashback to all the times his homie Trevelyan wore some grey warden armor

“That’s not Cadash” No, but it is a Dwarf with orange eyes, black hair and dark skin who might be Cadash from a distance

And the Hero of Ferelden has been dead for twenty years but fuck, there’s some dwarven grey warden running at him and it may just be the Aeducan prince who killed Urethmiel looking to branch out from killing Old Gods to killing Elven Gods

And the Champion of Kirkwall might still be in the Fade but didn’t Varric mention Hawke having a sister? Huh, there’s a grey warden mage with black hair and brown eyes in front of him who just might be Bethany Hawke

[bookseffect]

'Aight, buckle up because we are going to have a video game development rant about the Solas romance that I need to get off my chest before DATV comes out. And please know that this is coming from someone who has worked in the industry.

So, by now we all know that the romance was added somewhere in the last year of development, said year being an extension year ( for source check note 29 on the Solas Wiki). With that in mind, I keep seeing people complain that Solas cannot be romanced by other races, by a male Inquisitor, etc. All of that criticism is very much Valid. However. I need all of you to understand from a technical point of view how INSANE it is to add new IMPORTANT content on such short notice.

So, all games have several development phases:

Pre-production & Planning - when the sketch of the game is started and a team with sponsor and budget is assembled

Alpha - when the overall structure of the game is created, like the maps, the big story points, think we made the skeleton of the game

Early beta - which is where we really put the meat on those bones, the maps get all their assets, all their quests, interactions, etc

Late beta- when all efforts are focused on POLISHING THE GAME, making sure that it can pass submissions (because Microsoft and Sony will want the game to pass their internal checks FIRST so they know the game that the company is publishing is not utter garbage and is adapted to their platform). This is the road to Gold Master Candidate

Gold Master Candidate or GMC - is the base game, the version of the game that you will meet, hopefully as perfect as possible (unfortunately, that is not always the case, but alas)

And finally

Post production - which means patches, post release support etc.

Now here is the trick, on most games patches are tested and developed before the release. "Why"you ask? Because of deadlines and corpo greed. Meaning, that the publishers and developers will agree on certain deadlines, for example by 25th of August 2025 the game needs to be sent to the Microsoft and Sony submission. This does not account for any of the setbacks that the team may encounter, usually, a version of the game will be sent to submission and everyone will pray that it passes. If it does pass, anything else that had to be fixed will come in patches, because after the game was GMC certified, no one can modify that version anymore.

Now, back to the Solas romance, for the romance to exist you need to:

Record voicelines

Create new animations that hopefully do not look completely broken

Create new lines of code

Translate the new dialogue in all supported languages

Work on the approval system

Allocate testing hours for this specific new quirk to ensure that IT WORKS

All of this, while the team should have been focusing on a game this massive on polishing. Polishing, obviously, does not mean adding a massive, game-changing path at the last minute. At that phase, I would not be surprised if they were in late beta or maybe on their way to GMC. So while all efforts should have gone to polishing the already existing features, making the game run smooth, verifying all maps, all text etc, Weekes came in and said WELL LET'S JUST ADD....THIS!!!

Of course on such short notice they were able to only make one race and one gender workable, please bear in mind that at one point in development Iron Bull was to be romanced only by other qunaris because they could not make the animations work.

So while, yes, I agree that ideally, Solas should have had more complex romance options, the mere fact that the romance exists and works is nothing short of a huge success.

Rant over

[dgcatanisiri]

I've seen it said on occasion that it was a refreshing change to have the Inquisitor be unable to persuade and change the minds of the characters around them, that the characters felt "more real" that a brief conversation shouldn't change their entire worldview.

This is bull.

First of all, no one asked for their entire worldview to change, just that they GIVE a little - argue with Vivienne about the merits of mage freedom, be able to point out that fear is learned as much as anything, that the fear of mages has been taught because mages are not allowed to be part of the world that the common folk experience, or even that her view of magic is not shared BECAUSE it comes from so lofty a position in society, as she is a First Enchanter, leader of the Loyalists, mistress to the head of the Council of Heralds. Or, here's one of my personal favorites, the vote to break away from the Circles may have passed by a narrow margin, but it still PASSED, and if Fiona had refused to accept that, she'd have faced a hundred minor revolts instead of a singular organized one, which would have meant that the few who went around, burniating the countryside, would be seen as representative of them all, while have an organized structure to the rebellion allowed them the ability to disavow bad actors.

It's asking Sera to acknowledge that there's more nuance than her definitions of the world offer, or countering to Cassandra that, particularly if she intends to take a position of top authority in the Chantry, she needs to be able to look beyond its dogma and realize that to those who follow a separate faith, the Chant of Light is a herald of death, an omen of doom, because it refuses to allow any who follow a separate faith. It's telling Solas that the Dalish have been forced to build their history from tattered scraps, and rather than condemn them for what they lack, he should acknowledge and appreciate what they've recovered with no more than a vague notion of what the original picture looked like.

Y'know, it's asking to be able to actually ARGUE with these characters, rather than be lectured to by them about how THEIR views are the only proper way to view things, even if those views fly in the face of our experiences as the players, or even just how we roleplay a singular character. BioWare tries to talk up a stance of grey morality and a desire for the answers to be more than black and white, yet here in Inquisition, you ONLY get their stance, and, if you don't agree with it, you are dismissed - which also causes a lot of problems with something like the approval metric, where if you DON'T agree with a character, you'll never manage to unlock their full content - I am generally rolling a male Qunari Inquisitor, and yet I have, in over a dozen characters, only ONCE managed to obtain the rooftop cookies scene with Sera. If you don't get these scenes of character development, then you don't get to have a full view of a character.

And then there's the second and bigger issue - With most of the characters being various flavors of Andrastrian, with most if not all of them buying in to the narrative of the Inquisitor as the Herald of Andraste, a position that is borderline messianic within their religion, why do they NOT listen to the words that the Inquisitor says? If Skyhold becomes a place of pilgrimage as Cassandra notes in the arrival at Skyhold scene, if the Inquisitor is a voice of authority in Thedas like everything the game tells us, why SHOULDN'T their words carry weight, especially with the people closest to them? Why is the Inquisitor NOT persuasive to the people who know them when they believe through much of the game that they have been touched by a divine figure?

It doesn't make sense for the Inquisitor to lack in persuasive ability when the whole game is about how they have become a powerful voice and figure within the world.

So, no. It is NOT a good thing that the characters effectively brush off any attempt that the Inquisitor makes to argue with their stances.