#and then corypheus

[companionsofusall]

god a character can really drive you insane

[thevaelguard]

[galedekarios]

dragon age: inquisition replay

"Praise me, for I would end the silence that answers!" [1/?]

[circlemagemal]

[ - Magisters Sidereals - ]

And each was promised Power and glory beyond all reckoning If they would only come to the feet of the gods and ask. And so they joined in secret, telling none Who were not of the temples of their designs. And in Minrathous, in the heart of the Archon a sliver of fear grew, Stabbing like a wound. Though he knew not why. —Silence 1:1-1:17, Dissonant Verse

They'll be featured in some Fade/flashback scenes later on in my fanfic 'Nothing but ambition where hearts once beat' so I decided to come up with some fun designs for these 7 bastards ♡

I was definitely going for that "you're playing with the big boys now" vibe from Prince of Egypt, lmao.

[treviso-nights]

the significance of rook as a protagonist who is 'unable to be evil' is because the inquisitor can be. and hawke. and the warden, for that matter. in dai there are companion disapproval cutscenes for a reason: you have either fucked up so badly or killed so many people that they literally stage an intervention for you. rook, by contrast, is a tremendously appropriate protagonist for veilguard—not just because they’re handpicked by varric but because they are good. like their goodness is the point. it is the story.

and i get why some players would be upset by that and feel constrained by the moral paradigm the narrative inherently embodies. players like options. however, rook's goodness (in whatever capacity) does not necessitate that they're a bad/flat protagonist considering they have unique backstories which tells us about the quality and the context of that goodness. in my opinion, it's a natural byproduct of the overarching story of the dragon age games: yet another person thrust into a role and political position they did not ask for but must pursue for the greater purpose of all.

the thing about veilguard though is that no possible protagonist could be as bad or as evil as the evanuris (and by extension, the chaos ripping the veil down would do at this point in time), so to play as an evil!rook feels counterintuitive to the point of the game regardless.

if we WERE to get the option to play an evil!rook who, for example, supports the evanuris and blights the world alongside them, it just means there's no more world to play in. dragon age is over.

furthermore, there's no option to help solas bring the veil down because it is an evil option. it's not a dev mistake that rook doesn't get the opportunity to side with our favorite war criminal. to most thedosians, the end of the veil means the end of their life. solas is one of the most unreliable narrators in the series, so the idea that he has harm reduction measures in place is unmeasurable because he is a proven trickster. those who'd take the chance anyway would still be considered evil by all who are affected in the wake of it.

—and i agree that it would be fun! but it's not veilguard's story because the stakes are higher than they have ever been in previous games, and thedas needs someone else to save it once again.

[warden-enchantress-archive]

"And so is the Golden City blackened With each step you take in my Hall. Marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting. You have brought Sin to Heaven And doom upon all the world."

[illusivesoul]

That line that Corypheus says after being released in the Legacy dlc while he's all confused "Be these some dream I wake from? Am I in dwarven lands? Why seem their roads so empty?" highlights how in his time, the Deep Roads really were the commercial and trade arteries of Thedas, and how they must have been constantly bursting full of people and merchants trading and going from one corner of Thedas to the other.

Tevinter controlled most of Thedas, but below the surface, the dwarven empire was what truly connected it, all the distant Thaigs and cities bringing lyrium and other things all over the continent, and even trading with the Chasind and the Avvar as far south as Ferelden (and according to Bianca, its possible the Deep Roads might have gone beyond Thedas itself)

And then Corypheus wakes up a thousand years later and assumes he's on the Deep Roads and is puzzled as to why it all seems so empty and lifeless. And the irony is that, even though he doesn't know it yet, thats what the Deep Roads and all the dwarven lands except for Orzammar and Kal'Sharok have become. A dead, lifeless carcass filled with darkspawn, with decaying statues, crumbling Thaigs and a few squads of the Legion of the Dead representing the fading memories of the glory of the past that once was and will never be again, and slowly fading into history like the dwarves themselves.

[pupkinpumpkin]

Alright, if you could only choose ONE, who would you smash?

No coward answers

[biancadavri]

haven survivors: i can't forget the screams...i still smell the smoke.. all that blood.....i fear the sky will darken at any second and i will hear that wretched beast descending upon us once more...

what cadash looks like trying to lead them to skyhold:

haven survivors: :3c

[sketchytea]

recently finally finished trespasser and i am feeling feelings before veilguard drops so here's my warrior quizzy tara ft. how my corypheus fight went as a completionist who fought him at like level 26

[blighted-elf]

Dragon Age: Inquisition - 2024 Replay

[nurabelmax]

Day 14 - Shadow The Shadow of Nightmares

[sha-brytols]

underrated narrative element of dragon age i absolutely adore is how the primary antagonists are meant to be foils of your character in the way that it almost seems like the story is asking you "will you become them? was loghain right about the ends justifying the means, no matter how brutal or bloody? was Meredith right about magic corrupting the souls of those you love?" even the notoriously shitty antagonists like corypheus mirror the inquisitor in that he is a mortal who was thrust into a position of unimaginable power and now faces the existential question of if divinity is truly real or is the will of a man powerful enough to move the heavens. do you guys see what i'm throwing down. it's so dark in here.

[attractthecrows]

extremely funny to me how solas literally cannot catch a single break. not a SINGLE ONE of his plans has gone off correctly. score 0/3

[roarrrgame]

Yes, it may seem like I’ve always romanced and befriended problematic figures such as terrorists in video games, but the truth, let it be known, is simply that I support mages. I support mages’ rights and mages’ wrongs.

Frankly, I do not care if they keep wanting to blow things up, if their arrogance and condescension could be mistaken as racism or classism, or if they have unorthodox relationship progression timelines.

To put it more bluntly, if I see a mage, I wanna fuck. Evil or not, mortal or god, living or undead, bald or with luscious hair.

[abyssal-ilk]

considering vivienne, dorian, and solas' dynamic in a pro-templar inquisition with an inquisitor who is extremely anti-mage is fascinating to me. especially since dorian is the only one of the three who has the option to leave– solas must remain to regain his orb and vivienne cannot risk losing any more political/social standing than she already has for her own safety and the safety of the remaining loyalist mages. solas is invaluable with his knowledge on the fade and otherwise makes himself small and unnoticeable, but vivienne doesn't have the ability to do that– and more than that, she has built herself up her entire life to do the exact OPPOSITE of that.

it's a very interesting mix of solas keeping to the sidelines to hopefully avoid conflict until he can get what he needs to further his own goals, dorian's refusal to back down in the face of anyone and his pride potentially putting him at risk to the point of being removed from the inquisition altogether, and vivienne needing to remain in the good graces of the inquisitor while simultaneously using her skills in negotiation and manipulation to keep the inquisitor from turning their templars onto the few mages who remain. spinning them in my brain