#angitia mercar

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Drew a portrait of Angitia and her papá, Charon. Got experimental with the shading/lighting and idk how I feel about it but I'm tired of looking at it so I present it in its current state to Tumblr.

Then I got carried away and made a wee codex entry for them.

I am conscious of your dash space, so additional ramblings about Charon and Angi Mercar below the cut.

After some digging around into what info the game had on Shadow Dragon Rook (there's not a lot), but there's mention of a Mercar who is a Legatus. In the Roman army this was kind of equivalent to a general, so I'm assuming it's similar here. ANYWAY it's mentioned in a letter from Maevaris to Dorian that Charon Mercar quietly supports Tevinter reform. Given the name I feel like they're implying at the least that Rook could be related to him.

The more I thought about it, the more I was bothered by the glaring gaps when it came to playing a non-Dalish elf in Veilguard. By the games own established back story, you were found and raised by a Tevinter military family, and yet you still get the Dalish exclusive responses to certain things in game (The last time an oversight bugged me this bad in a Dragon Age game, Morrigan was shem-splaining Mythal to my Lavellan who had her vallaslin on her face). I find it nearly impossible to believe that the Tevinter military would have an elvhen general, let alone a Dalish one.

SO I decided to fill in some gaps for myself. It's been fun to imagine what kind of a person Charon Mercar is. After all, he adopts a random baby he found on a battlefield, no matter if Rook is a human, elf, qunari, or dwarf baby.

For Angi's dad, that meant he was a man who came from almost nothing who had worked his way up through the ranks. Overtime, through his travels and interactions with people outside of the Imperium, instead of falling deeper into blind patriotism, he began to see through the propaganda he'd been fed by the Imperium growing up. This left him between a rock and a hard place. He knew his rank gave him standing. Were he to leave the military, he'd go back to being a nobody who had no power to influence change, since the Imperium doesn't care about anyone if they aren't a mage or wealthy.

He stayed in order to use what little power he could to try and begin reform in Tevinter, not knowing what else he could do. Almost as if he were a Shadow Dragon, despite not even knowing they existed. Granted, he was much less effective because he was acting on his own and had to be careful about the things he said and whom he trusted. I do like to imagine that after Angi is recruited by the Shadow Dragons, they loop Charon into it too, making his work more impactful and effective.

Personality wise I imagine Charon as a bit of an old soul; quiet, more introverted, and someone who is constantly observing and learning the world around them. He's a single man in his early 30s when he finds Angitia. Naturally, single dad shenanigans ensue, but he is a good father, even if he is a little over protective sometimes.

The first time baby Angi grabbed his finger with her little hand and cooed at him, it was game over and he knew he was meant to be her father. He named her Angitia after his late mother.

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Started as a simple Avatar reference, felt like it needed something to help it end, then I decided to color it, and now I'm tired of looking at it and I don't want to shade it and since I know myself and my particular brand of ADHD I know I *probably * won't finish it SO here it is.

Anyway! Emrys and Solas have the same kind of relationship with each other that you would find between a really strict private school teacher and a student that's really intelligent by nature, but is unable, or unwilling, to apply themselves. So they don't really like each other, but they don't like. HATE each other. It's complicated and I enjoy thinking about it because it's funny. (I promise I actually really do enjoy Solas as a character, I find him very compelling. I'll have to draw something with them both in it now)

More info dumping about Emrys below the cut bc his story has changed so many times since I first played as him and he deserves some updated lore, but this post is already long enough as it is :D

Emrys was only 17 when the Conclave happened. This is less for in game reasons and more because I don't really enjoy Inquisition. How do I fix that for myself? I drop a Dalish teenager into the role of Inquisitor and imagine the shenanigans that ensue and it becomes 10x more entertaining.

He was apprenticing to become a fletcher pre-Inquistion. I do think he continues this after the events of Trespasser, but he's sort of stuck between two worlds; the life he wants to lead with his clan, and the responsibility that has fallen on his shoulders to stop Solas. Because of that, I don't think he can feasibly make it his career, but he has a natural talent for it, and he makes his own arrows and bows.

He has an older sister, who if you've followed me long enough, you know is Bronwen (she was my "canon" Inquisitor for a hot minute but then "Dear Cullenites" came out and Cullen's voice gives me the ick now. I know it's not his fault and I don't begrudge the character, but I just can't do his romance anymore lmao)

She's the Keeper of Clan Lavellan and since their parents died when they were young, she practically raised him. She is fiercely protective of him and storms Skyhold at the earliest opportunity believing she needs to free him.

He has a few different prosthetics (one for daily use, one for battle etc.). They were all made/enchanted by Dagna (and later, Bellara) so their fingers can open and close, and his elbow and wrist can bend/rotate. They're not perfect, and they have malfunctioned on him at inopportune times, but he's grateful for Dagna and Bellara's help all the same.

If he's at home, he usually doesn't wear them. After 10+/- years he's quite comfortable with just his right hand, and the prosthetics can be heavy and cumbersome after a while.

Apart from battle, he mostly puts his prosthetic on when he's out around other people. This is both so people don't stare, and to help him blend in a little. Slide a glove over the fingers and no one can tell the difference.

SPEAKING OF BELLARA--Since he was a teenager in Inquisition and I didn't care for his romance options anyhow, and I can do what I want, they do become a couple. Rook introduces them after the final confrontation with Solas so Bellara can help him fix his damaged battle prosthetic.

Emrys is only a couple years younger than her, and they get along swimmingly. He begins loosening bolts or "denting" plates on his prosthetic as an excuse to go and visit/spend time with her. She eventually calls him on it and the rest is history.

I imagine once they become official he begins to travel with the Veil Jumpers, happy to finally put his life as the Inquisitor behind him. He takes up fletching duty for them.

He very briefly brings it up here, but his closest relationships in Inquisition were with Varric, Dorian, and Blackwall, and he keeps in touch with all of them regularly.

The Iron Bull, Vivienne and Leliana intimidated him. He does develop a friendship with them each as he ages and grows into his own, but as a teenager he does give them a respectful berth around Skyhold.

He enjoys pestering Cassandra and Cullen because they're both devout Andrasteans and incredibly tightly wound and it's easy for him to get under their skin. (He's a little shit sometimes)

The only person I think he truly would not get along with is Sera. The first time she says something negative about the Dalish it puts a sour taste in his mouth for her and he has zero interest in spending time with her after that. I don't know that they would ever grow to be like BEST friends, but they'll buy each other a beer and exchange life updates if they're ever in the same city when he's older.

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Warden Tabris as The Evening Star

Angitia Mercar as The Moon

Inquisitor Emrys Lavellan as The Morning Star

Minerva Hawke as The Pole Star

I got bit by the Alphonse Mucha bug once again, and I've wanted to do something with all of my "canon run" Dragon Age protagonists. I initially was going to draw them all as The Four Seasons, but I stumbled across this one and fell in love with it, so I decided to draw them as his Moon and Star Series.

Rambling about the symbology I chose for each one beneath the cut if you're curious at all.

(Minor spoiler warning if you still haven't had the chance to play Veilguard. Still feels like a new enough game I wanted to just give you a heads up.)

Warden Tabris (he/they)

The flower in the border is the flower you're charged with finding at the very beginning of Origins to help save the Mabari. I can't recall if they call the flower by name at all, but I think in later games they use the same color scheme for "Andraste's Grace" so I'm assuming that's what it is.

He holds an arrow as he favors archery.

Apart from the earrings and the sigil of the Wardens, he is otherwise unadorned. He grew up in the alienage and was dumped head first into a war. He has no time, or desire, for fancy frills and jewels.

The one piece of gold jewelry they have is Zevran's earring, which they wear and treat sort of like a wedding ring. I don't think either of them are too fussed with making it legally official, but they're committed to each other even so.

Angitia Mercar (she/her)

I chose poppies for the border mainly for aesthetic purposes, but they do commonly represent sacrifice and sleep. It's safe to say the leader of the Veilguard sacrifices much, and given one of the ways you communicate with Solas is in your sleep...it ended up fitting well.

I chose The Moon for Angi less because of the moon, and more because of the pose. The figure stands in a contemplative way, their fingers resting on their slightly smiling lips almost as if they're in on a joke the viewer is not. Being a Shadow Dragon, and having to be two steps ahead of Solas to beat him at his own game, it felt appropriate.

She also has a little more golden jewelry here mostly because I wanted an excuse to draw some, but she did grow up well off in her adoptive father's house, so it does indicate a little bit of status. The snakes are because she likes them, but she did also romance Neve, so it's a subtle nod to her as well.

She holds the lyrium dagger for probably obvious reasons. She did end up using it to stab Solas at the end of the game. I feel it can maybe be interpreted as a threat. Or not. Who knows? She does. Solas does not.

Inquisitor Emrys Lavellan (he/him)

Look up "reluctant hero" in the Thedas dictionary and you'll see Emrys' face. He was 17 when he stumbled his way into being the Inquisitor. He didn't want the job. He tried to refuse it. But given he had the Anchor, and the advisors promised they would work towards a way to fix/heal him, he stayed.

Emrys is a hunter, and before the incident at the Conclave, he was apprenticing as a fletcher. He holds a large sword, not upright to show readiness, but upside down to show how the mantle of Inquisitor feels heavy, and clumsy, and like it isn't meant for him. He'd much rather have a bow in his hands.

I used Elfroot in the border because I find all of the jokes about the Inquisitor and Elfroot amusing.

The white in his hair occurs slowly over time as the Anchor continues to grow and wreak stress on his body, as indicated by his arm slowly turning green.

Minerva Hawke (she/her)

Minnie is heavily adorned in gold and green jewels. This was half because I drew her second and wanted to get a little fancy after drawing Tabris, but also half because she romanced Isabela and Isabela goes on to create the Lords of Fortune, and you just know they have excess jewelry lying around.

Her dress (Toga? Cape? Unclear what it is aside from just a shit load of fabric) goes from red to purple indicating that those were most of the responses I chose for her over the game. She is neither red or purple, but both.

I picked dandelions for the border because they're considered a weed by some (she is an apostate after all) and a flower to others. They're also hardy, and can grow just about anywhere.

Her weapon here is a sort of polearm; she used force magic in the game mostly, but I always liked to imagine she would use a blade in combination with her magic for close quarters combat. If the class had been available in DA2, I likely would have picked Spellblade for her. A polearm gave me the best of both worlds; a way to represent a mage's staff AND a warrior's blade.

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Sketchy little comic feat a quote from Easy A, Charon & Angitia Mercar + Angi's teacher, Nehn.

More info dumping about the strange little chosen/found Mercar family below the cut

Couldn't fit him in this little doodle, but there's one more adult in the Mercar household that helped Charon raise Angi. He's Charon's childhood best friend, Viator. They both enlisted together, but a pretty severe injury caused Viator to retire early. Charon wanted to help how he could, and while Viator's pride wouldn't let him accept anything he could view as charity, he did accept Charon's job offer to act as his stable hand/handyman/Gardner around his moderately sized villa.

Viator is mostly recovered from his injury, but he does wear a brace on his ankle to help him with stability and balance.

While he doesn't actually live in the villa with Charon & Angi, he, his wife, and three children live just across the road.

When Angi reached schooling age Charon couldn't find a school he felt good sending her too (he worries about her being an elf in Tevinter) so he sought out a private tutor. He managed to find Nehn, a formerly Dalish mage who left her clan after her late husband passed. She found it too difficult to stay and needed to find healing elsewhere.

Nehn was already a scholar in her clan, but once she left she traveled all over Thedas learning everything she could, including fellowshipping with a few different universities across northern Thedas.

She also teaches Angi about the Dalish. Obviously no one knows for sure if her bio parents were Dalish, but somewhere in her history she is Dalish. Nehn and Charon both encourage Angi to learn as much as she can about the Dalish culture.

Charon handles the PE side of Angi's education. He teaches her to swim, climb, run, and as she gets older he even teaches her hand to hand combat and some archery.

When Angi develops her magic, Charon is ecstatic since he knows this will only help her standing in Tevene society, and conveniently, Nehn is a mage so she can help with that too.

Nehn and Charon fall into the "unrequited love that is actually requited, they're both just too scared to talk to the other person about it until someone in their life intervenes and tells them both they're being dumb" trope.

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She definitely looks more like her depending on the camera angle or the facial expression she's making, but I think I did pretty okay! Might try and tweak a couple things later in the magic mirror, but I had spent so long in the CC my eyes were hurting so I had to be done.

I thought it would be fun to try and make my second Rook look like an actress or a character from something, and because I'm working on a painting of Regalla from Horizon Forbidden West, I ended up trying to make her look like Angela Bassett.

She's a Shadow Dragon mage and her name is Angitia Mercar. She has the snake tattoo on her forehead, and one on her back. Her ears are pretty hidden in both these shots, but make no mistake, she is an elf. I've seen people say there aren't a ton of options you can pick to establish your elf is a city elf, but that's what I'm going for in her backstory.

Bonus cc screenshot of my og Inquisitor, Bronwen Lavellan that I'm using for this playthrough. I miss her. Veilguard may have healed my relationship with Inquisition just a little. I probably won't play it ever again, but it's been nice to be reminded how much I loved the characters and the story it set up.

Hell, I'll throw Emrys in here too since they're siblings and I wanna see 'em together.

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A few action pics of my Rook. I've started playing with the camera more especially during fights and it's been fun

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Just read a codex about Lorelei, the elf who runs the shop in front of the Shadow Dragon hideout and apparently she was one of the elves from the Denerim Alienage that Loghain sold into slavery. It mentions the Shadow Dragons freed her and she joined them shortly after.

If I'm remembering right (and I could totally be inserting my head canon here and I can't remember if it's actually in the game or not lmao) I think one of the things you can say you'll do at the end of Origins as a Tabris is say you're going to track down and rescue the alienage elves that were taken so now my working theory is my Tabris is either a Shadow Dragon or works/worked with them closely to find all the elves.