#anti carver hawke

[magerightsyeah]

Leandra: These are my children, Bethany and Carver, and their sibling, Hawke

Varric: Are they not all your children? Why doesn’t Hawke get the “child” title?

Leandra: I don’t like them

[bluerose5]

—The eighth page of correspondence has multiple entries, as if written in quick succession of one another.

C, you shouldn't have interfered.

And tell me. What kind of person would I be if I didn't?

It wasn't your place.

I beg to differ. It was exactly my place. My job is to protect the mages in my care.

Don't pull that load of nugshit with me. You've never been that interested in being a templar. Stop acting like your so-called duty matters now.

Just because I didn't want the lot I drew in life doesn't mean that I can't strive to make things better for others. That I can't try and make things better for you. Maker's breath, they were WHIPPING you. What else was I supposed to do?! Sit back and watch? Enjoy the show?

The others certainly did.

Well, I'm not the others.

Yet you're so hesitant to go against your precious status quo. You're so afraid of drastic change. How are you any better than the others when your inaction allows the Chantry's abuses to continue?

Are we really going there?

You're the one in a position of power here. Not me. Use your voice to make some change, damn it. Or was it not enough that I was getting beaten for defending a Tranquil against one of yours? It's easy to ignore the problem when you've convinced yourself that the person being assaulted is nothing more than a walking, talking, breathing object.

We'll talk more about this later. Our usual place?

Fuck you!

—The last words on the page were emphasized with three sharp lines scratched underneath them.

[Start] [Prev] [Next]

[glamfellens]

sorry but after recently replaying da2 my aveline haterism is returning to me. key moments include: her complaining to hawke that they are "pouring into a pot that is already full and justifying the fears of every anti-fereldan in kirkwall" like aveline isnt rocking up to you daily to ask you to do the job that she doesnt want the guards doing. yknow. the guards who are paid to protect kirkwall. the time she actively prevented carver's application to the guard progressing at all, to then complain to him that hes hanging out with the wrong sorts of people how she constantly dismisses the increasing numbers of missing and murdered women, eventually saying to hawke (a civilian) that she cant be bothered to look into it but if hawke finds anything worthwhile ( because apparently missing women are not a good enough reason) then she will pick it up. she in fact never picks it up at the end of act 2 tensions between kirkwall and the qunari are at an all time high. despite this, aveline charges into the compound and demands that the qunari turn over the elves who recently converted after murdering a guard who assaulted their sister. its important to note that the elves previously reported this guard to the kirkwall guard and they did nothing, so the elves took justice into their own hands. are you seeing a pattern where the kirkwall guard and their captain aveline are being presented with cases of extreme violence against women and then do nothing about it. lol anyway

[hungee-boy]

Feel free to ignore if you’re uncomfortable with or just don’t want to answer but how would you change isebela to not be caricature without changing the whole character? Would it be more fashion changes or physical or something else?

Kinda like: how would you change her if you were her character writer/designer for the new game?

isabela at her core i think is a very compelling character and is relatable to a lot of romani experiences, especially with her doing whatever she has to to survive

i would definitely keep her stealing as castillion's responsibility, him making her steal the tome of koslun under threat of death for example would be fine because if he wasnt in the picture, chances are she wouldnt have stolen it in the first place

other forms of thievery besides just like looting bodies and picking chests (as those are gameplay mechanics for all characters) shouldnt be for her enjoyment or greed, only for her survival or just not done at all

her staying a pirate is fine imo and i like the idea of her being an ethical pirate (like her freeing the slaves castillion had her transport) but we all need to look at how pirates are depicted in fantasy and how much of that is anti-roma racism and caricatures

her being so sexualized and her comments on "life back home" are where i have the biggest issues honestly

like romani women have always been targets of fetishization and sexual violence, as well as many women being sterilized without consent to prevent more romani children being brought into the world

getting some damn clothes on her would be a great start, like some pants at the very least. i would like to incorporate more romani clothing in her design tho like maybe a traditional blouse instead of her usual top

maybe a romanced isabela can have her replace her blue dikhlo with red, since wearing a dikhlo is usually reserved for married women of certain vitsas (most common with eastern european roma if im not mistaken) or giving her a red hipcloth (again specific to certain vitsas)

romani dress is usually modest and loose fitting, with women commonly wearing long skirts and blouses with jewelry and adornments to symbolize her wealth and status and im not saying isabela should be covered head to toe, shes an open person and not every romani woman should be expected to dress one way over another, its just her look is way too impractical for the sake of being sexy and again romani women are very often sexualized regardless of what they wear

isabela's attitude towards sex and being open to intimacy is not an issue on its own, what is the issue is how the writers make fucking jokes of her sexuality at every chance they get (like the std joke in anders' clinic, aveline's slut shaming, etc. etc. etc.....) and this is just my personal opinion but there are times that she comes on too strong to like hawke or carver or fenris that seems unrealistic and just like an attempt for the writers to further hone in on how horny shes supposed to make you feel

like yes have her be open and not ashamed of being intimate but put more love and respect on it. i love an isabela that is repressed in her own feelings and the only way she knows how to have meaningful connections is through sex cus thats what was expected of her. like oh my god do you know how many people relate to that, if its done right it could be a very compelling arch to her character and maybe something she learns isnt concrete the more platonic/romantic meaningful time she has with everyone in da2 and beyond

as for her comments about rivain and the people there, like the phrase "even deny a fortune teller and theyll run you out of town" to merrill, just makes rivainis out to be greedy and shameless swindlers and that projection is obviously also put on romani people since that is a VERY common stereotype

like the phrase "getting gypped" literally means to be cheated and comes from the word gypsy. theres no denying the intention the writers had when they wrote that line for isabela

and honestly i love the idea of rivain (i say the idea cus we only hear accounts of the nation, we havent seen it in person yet) i love the idea of a matriarchal society that is religious and spiritual but does not tolerate the chantry's bigotry and openly accepts society's outcast such as mages and qunari

romani culture irl is patriarchal and often anybody who is not romani is typically not trusted, but if rivain was treated as an idealistic fantasy romanistan, where our values and traditions are implemented and we make a better world for ourselves and other outcasts then it could be very compelling

thats the thing with representation, sometimes it doesnt have to reflect reality 100%, but it still requires knowledge so that you can make new ideas based on the facts and reasoning of the group youre representing

[yami268]

Top 5 fav storm hawks characters? (BUT you can't use Snipe XD)

Very Well. Challenge Accepted.

Carver

What solidified Carver as a favorite for me was the episode ‘Second Chances’. While I did assume the twist, I like how they presented him as cunning and charismatic. He pretty much had everyone almost believe that Aerrow was under mind control. The other thing is that his reason for it was him being petty that he got beaten. I figured he has a hero complex and I would’ve loved it if he was in the show more as a morally grey/anti-villain who just wants to beat Aerrow.

Cyclonis

One of the popular characters that I like for the same reasons as well: good design, interesting personality, and story potential. She’s also intriguing as you’re trying to find a balance between “She’s a villain and needs to be stop” or “She needs a blacket and cocoa”. If the show had been more developed and gave more thought to the world-building, I think it could have shown more of her character, especially on how she was thinking she was reclaiming a false legacy.

Scabulous

Not gonna lie, I am a sucker for sky pirates. So seeing Scabulous and the Murk Raiders was a definite highlight for me. I’ve always imagined them to be like zombies or mutants. I wished they had more appearances than they did. They are certainly fun to watch.

Aerrow

Aerrow’s the typical teen hero, but I can I like him. He has the vibe down and dual-wielding is awesome. If there’s one complaint about him, I wish he was shown more fallible. He could do well with learning lessons like, “Not everyone on your side is going to hold the same standards as you do” or “Those who could be considered good aren’t really.” *Has long list of examples*

Suzi Lu

I like this pupper. She’s a good Canadian pupper.

[baodurs]

ok. informal world state summary:

phaedra cousland

archer rogue (assassin, ranger, shadow)

stoic, dutiful, resolute. a deep sense of honor eternally at war with her unflinching pragmatism.

softspoken and poised. kind of quietly intense, her full attention can be weighty & intimidating. she's not without humor, but her basic manner is quite grim and serious, especially during the blight.

spares loghain, who does the dark ritual. alistair & anora rule. sides with the architect.

romances zevran <3

gets along best with morrigan and sten; they understand each other. close but tense relationship with leliana. codependent with alistair but they divorce at the landsmeet. loghain becomes one of her closest... friends?

bonus: lycanthropy arc during nature of the beast

morven hawke

force mage (and occasional blood mage but it's complicated)

red hawke! she's gruff and both intentionally and unintentionally difficult. an imitation of malcolm's blunt and uncompromising manner.

anti-circle but unwilling to risk rebellion for herself or the people she cares about (and thinks herself cowardly for it). tries to avoid being in a position to help others but is ultimately an incurable bleeding heart who can't not do the right thing when she inevitably finds herself there anyway

sides with the mages, doesn't kill anders. carver is a grey warden.

not a major plot decision, but she accepts help from the demon in the deep roads and spends years beating herself up for it bc malcolm would have done better and then she gets to legacy and has a breakdown 👍

romances isabela <3

closest with fenris. trusts merrill more than anyone. loves anders but sometimes they can't look at each other. i feel like she and varric shouldn't get along as well as they do but they do anyway. rivals sebastian (with respect) and aveline (with resentment. devotion too but mostly resentment)

camellia trevelyan (i might change her name... she's also very new so take everything i say about her with a grain of salt)

knight-enchanter. but her magic sword isn't 2h; it's more like a rapier

an illegitimate elf-blooded child of bann trevelyan. she always had long hair to hide her slightly pointed ears, and her parents made a valiant effort to hide her magic too when it first emerged

rebel mage, and well-suited to the role—she's bold, dashing, charming. has a mischievous streak that developed in her time at the circle, thanks to the relative freedom (vs needing to hide her magic/heritage at home) and lack of consequences (vs other mages that didn't have noble families to intervene on their behalf)

allies with the mages, briala rules through gaspard, camellia drinks from the well of sorrows, leliana becomes divine (steeled)

in trespasser, disbands the inquisition & vows to stop solas by any means necessary

romances blackwall <3

haven't figured out her relationships with everyone yet, but solas was her closest friend lol. she mostly gets along with sera. varric too, but i think she makes him nervous sometimes. she and vivienne have more in common than they initially think they do, and they do come to trust each other. she and dorian are like siblings in that they love but occasionally want to murder one another. ummm that's it

[tethrras]

rambling about kara and leandra under the cut because i'm crazy and need to sort out my thoughts

i think kara's relationship w leandra is one she never gets closure with and neither is carver's death. from her early teen years kara started rebelling because she knew malcolm loved beth more and knew leandra loved the twins more and even tho she'd tried to help them growing up she just got sooo jealous and eventually was like ok fuck this fuck you all. and she was really troublesome and got into a lot of shit and fucked off all the time and tried sleeping around from such an early age to feel SOMETHING and then one day beth got genuinely hurt while kara was around and kara was like oh seeing the kids hurt is terrible actually. and then she became their protector again and more Passionately this time but she still didn't want leandra to think she was doing it bc leandra wanted her to. she sort of felt like she was the thing that had ruined her parents' entire life and she felt like she could Never be good enough so she was like well i'm not even gonna care and i'm not even gonna try fuck you no matter what mom no i'm not gonna make you running away from the circle worth it dad. WHATEVER. <3

that was what made her very anti-authority like....... even if beth wasn't a mage and she didn't have to protect her from templars she'd still say fuck the templars because she believes in freedom above all else. even if mages can turn into abominations she's like well let them make the choices that lead them there, outside pressure is not going to help them, it just makes things worse, etc etc, no i'm not projecting at all what are you talking about. ironically she had a better childhood than most people because the truth is leandra and malcolm were not very strict with her at all, they just wanted her to take care of the twins and whenever she fucked up it just contributed to that belief that she was the biggest fuck up in the world. and then she was like well if i don't care whether other people think i fuck up then i probs won't feel like i fucked up. so her own moral standard adjusted to what SHE thinks is right or wrong and not anyone else.

i think she lashes out at leandra for bringing up carver even without making it sound like hawke's fault bc kara does feel deep down that she DID fail but that realization is so painful that it would cripple her and depress her and make her fall into a hole so deep she wouldn't be able to crawl out of it. but at the same time kara fucking hates gamlen and hates how he treats all of them. so poor leandra gets this whiplash of kara standing up for her and being like idk how he could treat you like that you're his SISTER does that not MATTER and then leandra's like i miss carver </3 and kara's like jesus fucking christ mom shut up about carver. i think with more stability and ironically beth being with the wardens takes a lot of ease off hawke and leandra's relationship and they end up getting a tiny tiny bit closer btwn acts 1 and 2 and kara's like oh yeah i don't actually hate my mom and she's pretty cool when she's not making me feel like shit. and even then leandra doesn't know enough about her life anymore to comment so they actually get in a good place and they're sharing their lives with each other and eating dinner together. and then leandra goes and dies <3 and then Instantly kara's like fuck i was such an idiot i'm her daughter i'm supposed to make her proud and i didn't even try. she still saw leandra as that authority figure even when she was the one who needed the MOST care, more than bethany and carver ever did, and she hates herself for it very deeply and then whenever she talks about it she blames leandra and is like yeah my mom was a bitch lol to cover up her feelings. it's easier to feel guilty about speaking ill of the dead than admitting you're the reason they're dead in the first place

[v-arbellanaris]

2, 4, and 7 for the da questions?

from this ask meme!

2. Which Dragon Age game is your favorite so far?

it's definitely hard to choose between da2 and dao. dao does have my favourite character but i think, overall, i'll have to say da2! da2 is such a comfort game to me, running around kirkwall and knowing exactly where everything is and all the banter and the COMPANIONS and i love the dlcs and and and!!! i love the central conflicts, i love the layers of the story, and i love even the parts that make me so mad about it.

4. What does your worldstate look like going into DAV?

i've been waffling about which worldstates i'll be plugging into datv, because i want to do a few! i wanted to do my canon worldstate which is evadne -> mage!hawke -> marya, but i also wanted to do kal -> warrior!hawke -> isra alternate worldstate and then i definitely want to do one run with aedan -> joan -> iskandar "well shit" worldstate... but i was ALSO waffling up pro-mage evadne -> mage!hawke -> isra worldstate... and all elven kal -> moon -> marya worldstate...

ultimately, they all symbolise different things! like my "well shit" worldstate is basically a world that refused to change at every precipice, a world that really plays into the way bioware keeps "re-setting" the changes in the world we try to make - a world that has stubbornly stayed oppressive of mages, of elves, over the last decade, through the various decisions of the pcs. a low approval iskandar and an anti-mage, anti-elf worldstate would be the darkest timeline - and likely, the timeline solas feels most justified in because people don't grow or try to be better, and he's not friends with the inquisitor, and the pendulum of change swings to stagnation.

on the other hand, the other two worldstates are worldstates where things get better. kal -> warrior!hawke -> isra worldstate is also about revenge and regret and clawing for change, and it's about how stories make you seem larger than life, how stories immortalise you, so there's the obvious appeal in bringing that worldstate into da4. the evadne -> mage!hawke -> marya worldstate is a really good one where it's like change is possible! change happens, bit by bit and there are as many downs as ups, but it's possible, and people are committed. and of course, it's my solavellan worldstate, so obviously i wanna import that!!! but i'm not 100% sure yet :(

7. Which character from the previous games or other media are you most hoping will make an appearance in DAV?

WELL OTHER THAN THE OBVIOUS ONE. i'm betting on a teia and viago appearance (from tevinter nights)! it feels very unlikely too but i'm hoping to see yavana back, fenris, carver hawke, and maybe even the marquis/e of serault since morrigan went there to study serault glass (which she is using to research the eluvian!)

[carnalapples]

Hey there! 3, 10, and 16 from the DA Worldstate questions for all your protagonists?

Hi Grey!! Thank you for the ask--from the DA Worldstate asks:

3 - opinion on blood magic?

Sunita Amell: She starts out incredibly anti-blood magic, but gets very grey towards it as time goes on. She grows slightly bitter with her life and with the Wardens when she thinks about her lack of choices, and she sees a lot of unsavory practices as she gets further into the Order. Though she never exactly turns to blood magic herself, she draws a lot of parallels with what she sees around her, like the Joining, phylacteries, etc.

Harsha Hawke: I think it's comical how many blood mages there are in Kirkwall. Hawke, for good reason, does not. In the beginning, she has the mindset that she's no expert on magic and can’t really speak on it. After all, Merrill does blood magic and it's fine! She’s careful! After what happens to Leandra, she never really goes back to that way of thinking. She's more hesitant around Merrill and wonders if she made the right choice helping her restore the eluvian.

Ashna Trevelyan: Nope. She has lived the most... not quite sheltered, but uneventful life out of the three up until the Conclave, and never really questioned what she was told about blood magic. She really fears having her agency taken away from her, and as far as she's concerned, it's just another way to do it.

10 - are they good horse riders?

Amell: Amell gets very good at riding during her travels. Riding into town on a tall horse, wearing a long cloak—well, it’s all like a story! And she loves to make herself seem mysterious.

Hawke: Please keep Hawke away from horses. This will not end well for anyone. There was a reason the twins were in charge of feeding the horses in Lothering. Sebastian tries his best later in their lives. Some things cannot be attributed to the Maker's will.

Ashna: After a lot of practice, she can ride a horse! (woohoo) She is still wary of them. Ashna and animals... do not really do well with each other. Thanks to some well-intentioned rangers, she and the Inquisition horses reach an understanding. She and Cullen's mabari, however…. need some time.

16 - do they get sentimental about their weapons or armour?

Sunita: Yes, she's very sentimental about them. She held on to her Harrowing ring and staff for a very long time. She still keeps them with her at Vigil's Keep, and has sworn Nathaniel to protect them while she's gone.

Harsha: She gets more sentimental as time goes on and she has to fight less and less. Her weapons and armor start to mean more to her. The one exception is her bow: Carver bargained for it for her when they went to Ostagar, and she holds it close after his death.

Ashna: Absolutely not. She never thought she would be fighting when she lived in the Circle, and she never does end up enjoying it like some of her comrades. She tries to maintain everything in the beginning, but despite her efforts her armor gets very banged up, and she does not enjoy repairing it. She really only does it for Cassandra's sake, which is a testament to how close she is with her.

[flashhwing]

in my playthrough Carver and Anders fully did not interact at all after Anders' recruitment quest so it's very possible that Carver just. would not have the context to connect Anders to the underground. and for safety/information compartmentalization reasons, i'm sure Anders wouldn't ask for the identities of every templar helping them. they definitely have no idea the other is involved

I haven’t finished this playthrough so I don’t know all the details of Carver’s Templar arc but. it’d be neat if he was involved in the mage underground. one of those anonymous templar contacts who pass along information and quietly help mages to freedom. he was named after the Templar who helped free his dad, after all; it’d be a neat little way to tie it full circle

[hauntedgarden95]

What would your inquisitor and warden think of what happened in Kirkwall? Would they have supported Hawke’s decisions?

Would your warden or Hawke have actually accepted the role of inquisitor if Cassandra had located them as she’d planned to? Would they have been a good leader for the Inquisition?

If Origins and Inquisition had the 3 personalities (Diplomatic, Sarcastic, Aggressive) which would your warden and inquisitor have predominately been? And what one did your Hawke have?

Sorry this took so long! Work was hectic yesterday!

And thank you!!!!! For sending me these questions! It makes my week everytime that someone is wanting to hear about them!!

Also I apologize I got a tiny bit rambly again:

What would your inquisitor and warden think of what happened in Kirkwall? Would they have supported Hawke's decisions?

Yaviel Amell: 100% supported Winter Hawkes decisions (spare anders, side with the mages). She’s a mage and she watched what the circle did to Anders and again to Jowan. Her initial thoughts on the circle are conflicting at best (my HC is that prior to being in the Circle her mother had taken her from Kirkwall and ran from the templars to Fereldan. They lived in the slums and barely scrapped by. No feeling of security or safety) because of where she was when the Templars inevitably took her from her mother. But by the time the Blight is over she’s been anti-Circle and Templar. In fact it is well known that Carver Hawke and Anders were taken in before the Grey Wardens of Fereldan “disappeared”.

Keira Lavellan: Keira is first and foremost Dalish and then second a mage but she never had the experience that circle mages do. As a Dalish she believes everyone should be free. So I do believe she would have sided with the mages but I think she would have banished Anders. For her own safety and the safety of those she cares about. She would know he was right but she couldn’t condone what he did. But she cares for him as well even then. So she tells him to leave and they both know where he goes anyway. She’s very much a “save whoever you can” kind of person. (sometimes to her detriment)

Would your warden or Hawke have actually accepted the role of inquisitor if Cassandra had located them as she'd planned to?

Yaviel Amell: Yes. And that’s why no one would tell her. Vie is very fatalistic and has a huge Death Wish. Danger is never an issue. She would have also accepted it to keep the weight of gathering such an army off of someone else’s shoulders. Several people go to great lengths to keep her away from it. Until the giant hole in the sky. (Sidenote I have never thought of a Vie as Inky AU but I am now)

Winter Hawke: Nope. No. I’m like 99.99% sure Varric wrote her telling her what Cassandra wanted. And it’s an instant Nope. She would have stayed in hiding if it had been anyone/anything else other than Corypheus.

Would they have been a good leader for the Inquisition?

Vie: HMMM. That’s a harder question. I do see her as a strong leader, she’s been leading her Wardens for years. Even when she disappears on some secret mission for a few years. So I’d go with yes. But maybe I’m biased. The decision on who to leave in the Fade would be hard however. (wish we’d been able to kill the spider honestly). But they would beat Corphyeus rather soundly.

Winter: No. Would she have tried? Also no. She would have dipped out quick and the crew would have willingly helped her hide. But besides the controversy that would just from her being the Inquisitor (It would have bitten you in the ass Cassandra) she really wouldn’t be able to handle it. What happened in Kirkwall was something that just seemed to snowball down a hill and she could do nothing but watch as it grew to a monstrous size. She disappears for this reason. She never wanted any of this fame (or infamy) so as soon as she can she’s gone. Winter leading a chantry led organisation is also hilarious in the aspect that she hates them.

If Origins and Inquisition had the 3 personalities (Diplomatic, Sarcastic, Aggressive) which would your warden and inquisitor have predominately been? And what one did your Hawke have?

So Winter is definitely my sarcastic child. Purple Hawke 100%. And behind it all is a very distressed woman.

Vie is a little harder to decide because I have this problem with never being mean in video games and sometimes the origins choices can be a little basic so it’s hard to kind of get a tone. I’m gonna say a mix of diplomatic and aggressive?

Keira: definitely diplomatic with some sarcastic/charm thrown in. She’s Dalish but she also knows what’s at stake. The main reason she agreed to be Inquisitor is because of Solas telling her the orb is of Elvhen make. Maybe he did it on purpose but it was an instant, “This burden is on your shoulders now. And the safety of our kind also depends on it.” Worked like a charm.

[dreadfutures]

ventured into the DA meta tag and people are wilding

do people really feel like they were forced to play Hawke as a centrist? lmao

sorry I played a blue Hawke and at every opportunity he was still able to call out the anti elven racism and anti mage rhetoric...the options were there. Sure I couldn't idk storm the Gallows or assassinate Meredith or kill Sister Petrice but like???

I wouldn't call not being able to do those things centrist in and of itself?

and it felt like there was plenty of dialogue and narrative weight for Hawke being aware and having strong feelings about those topics!

sometimes I think people just played a very different game than I did. same thing w people always saying Carver and Hawke are always butting heads. (I maxed out Carvers friendship and I thought we had a very lovely and supportive sibling friendship, with one major argument that Hawke immediately defused and was able to encourage Carver to follow his own path idk)

🤷🏽‍♀️

[bogunicorn]

I have a Trevelyan OC who doesn't get a ton of "screen time" even in my PSLs. (I do a lot of writing, just most of it is in RP with my wife and will never see the public light of day.) It's because Ramsay is my main Trevelyan's younger brother, and his job in the narrative is to be unjustly killed during the fall of Ostwick Circle so his sister has a Tragic Backstory. But almost all of my Trevelyan siblings have a continuity where they're Inquisitor, and I wrote one up for Ramsay last year just for fun, and he ended up as this kind of cool, anti-authoritarian mage who specializes in fire and rift magic. I imagine him having, like... will anyone know what I mean if I say Wolverine Energy? Gruff, emotionally guarded, has done and is capable of doing very violent things, but also prone to ending up in leadership roles despite being like "ugh, no, I'm not a role model", would function well with a young girl as a morality pet.

Anyway what I've got stuck in my craw right now is the idea of a Trevelyan/Hawke fic with Ramsay and my red/purple blood mage f!Hawke (a classic Spiky Lady Character named Marsali), probably starting around Hawke's introduction in Inquisition and through the end of Here Lies the Abyss. The Warden companion is Carver, and it's this big heartwrenching thing when they're in the Fade and someone has to stay behind.

(Stuck this behind a read more because I just rambled about mirrored narratives wheee)

Marsali and Ramsay are both naturally wary of each other, they're both these guarded sorts of people, slow to trust. But they're such good mirrors of each other, and if you know me, you know I'm a big sucker for mirrored narratives. Marsali is the daughter of an apostate father and a noble mother; Ramsay is the son of a noble father and a common-born mother. They're both very much like their fathers, much to their own dysfunctions, Marsali because they're alike in personality and intensely close to hers, Ramsay because he's the only one of his siblings with a strong physical resemblance to a man who refuses to acknowledge him.

Marsali tries to suppress a natural talent and inclination for blood magic, but actively chose to learn arcane and force magic - schools of magic that focus on buffs, shields, areas of effect that push people away or slow them down - and only employs her more truly violent and aggressive blood magic abilities when she's backed into a corner or loses control. Her father shares her talent for blood magic and kept her from learning to harness it until she was an adult (long, long after she'd developed bad habits and a complete distaste for it, too late to cultivate true control). Ramsay has a natural talent for destructive magic and instead pursued control of it, turning his gift for violent magic into a useful weapon under the mentorship of a similarly inclined father figure in the form of Ostwick's First Enchanter.

Marsali is a mage protective older sister to a non-mage younger brother (who only didn't join the Templars because fate forced him into the Wardens). Ramsay is a mage younger brother to a protective older sister who joined the Templars to look after him in the Circle. Marsali and Carver's relationship is loving, but it has walls up as she's been parentified, and is often quite contentious and full of bickering; despite effectively being his mother figure, Thayet is much more open with Ramsay, especially after escaping the Circle. They rarely fight. For both Marsali and Ramsay, their sibling is the only family they really have, Marsali because hers is all dead, Ramsay because Thayet is the only one who wants to acknowledge he exists.

Marsali consistently shirks and runs from responsibility to anything bigger than herself, only grudgingly taking up the fight against Corypheus because she feels personally responsible for it beginning - and because of the danger to Carver with the false calling. Ramsay grows into authority and takes well to the kind of big picture responsibilities that the Inquisition demands, and he chooses the life and actions of a hero because it instinctively feels like the right thing to do.

And yet, because of their other-side-of-the-coin sorts of differences, I think they would really understand each other. Like they're just the correct amount of distance from one another to have the best view. Marsali sees Ramsay and understands exactly what it takes to be that sort of person, because she tried to be that kind of person and buckled; Ramsay sees Marsali and knows exactly how much love she has for the people around her, because he knows how difficult it is to care for other people in a world that's constantly trying to tear you away from them, up to and including by killing them.

And, of course, because of how similar Marsali and Carver are to Ramsay and his sister... holy shit choosing between them would be torture. Does he let Marsali die protecting her little brother and force Carver to live with a survivor's guilt that Ramsay couldn't stomach himself? Or does he let Carver do what he would do, stay behind and be the protector for once, knowing exactly what that kind of loss would do to Marsali?

I have an idea of what I'd do, but it's still percolating. I think for this fic I'd do an even split in POV specifically to show the depth of their sibling relationships so that bit in the Fade with the Nightmare feels incredibly fraught and tense.

[ell-vellan]

about me

Hi! Call me Ell or Autumn (she/her). I'm a writer by hobby and profession. This blog is mostly Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 3, but also a little bit of The Witcher Netflix, Shadow & Bone, Mass Effect, writing, and just generally media I enjoy. Probably going to include more Sleep Token in the future. Sometimes science. Rarely, my own meta and fanfic writing.

Ao3

My DA Meta Posts

My Writing

My OCs

I'm an adult and I write adult things, so follow at your own discretion. I don't knowingly follow back or privately chat with minors - nothing personal!

I try to curate a positive space here as much as possible for my mental health. I don't tend to post anti stuff, and I utilize the block function pretty readily.

I'm inconsistent at best with tagging, though I do make an effort to tag for common triggers. The only one you might see regularly is a cw for blood (in fanart, not real blood). If you need something tagged, you are free to ask, but I can't guarantee I'll never forget to include it.

I'm always happy to chat about any of our shared interests, be tagged in things, or get asks about my writing, characters, or media. But I'm not here to argue, and I don't engage with negativity.

My Canon Dragon Age Worldstates for fic purposes:

(List not exhaustive - major highlights only.)

"Happily Ever After":

DAO: female warrior Cousland x King Alistair, ruled together, dark ritual with Morrigan, killed Loghain

DA2: male warrior Hawke x Anders, templar Carver, sided with mages

DAI: undecided!

"Elfy":

DAO: Male rogue Mahariel x Zevran, King Alistair rules alone, killed Loghain, dark ritual with Morrigan.

DA2: Male mage Hawke x Fenris, spared Anders, circle mage Bethany survived, sided with mages

DAI: female mage Lavellan x Iron Bull (though my hc is Solas is an almost-maybe ex), allied with mages and Grey Wardens, Divine Leliana (softened)

Favorite DA Characters: (aka the ones you'll see most of my rbs about)

Zevran, Alistair, Fenris, The Iron Bull, Krem, Morrigan

Favorite pairings:

Zevran/Warden, Cousland/Alistair, Hawke/Anders/Fenris, Hawke/Fenris, Hawke/Anders, Bull/Dorian, Bull/Inquisitor

Not an exhaustive list by any means.

[of-kirkwall]

The eye patch

There's a couple of things that people tend to notice right away when Baby walks into the room, and chief among them, other than his sheer size, is his eye. Or rather, the lack thereof.

Baby wears an eye patch over his left eye, and for good reason -- nothing lies beneath it but a small mass of gnarled scar tissue. Sadly, this wasn't the result of an accident, or even just from chance at birth. It is a driving force of why Baby Hawke is anti-Templar, anti-Circle, and rather anti-Chantry.

It happened in a small village in the bannorn, the village that the Hawke family lived in before moving to Lothering. There weren't many children in the village, and so Baby, Bethany, and Carver often had only each other to play games with. It was during one of these games that a Templar from the village Chantry happened upon them, and spied Bethany and Baby using magic, when they thought they were alone.

The templar decided to try and take them, of course, to drag them off to the Circle, 'where they belonged'. Baby, however, was having none of it. While he did not yet possess the bulk that he enjoys as an adult, he was rather tall for a 13 year old boy, and so he fought back.

In the ensuing struggle, the templar pulled out his boot knife, and he used it, severely wounding Baby... though not without Baby using that against him, using lightning magic to electrocute the templar as he held the blade in Baby's skull.

Though seriously injured, and bleeding heavily, Baby managed to struggle to his feet and hurry Bethany home, leaving the dead templar where he fell. At home, his father Malcolm was able to heal the wound, but the eye was obliterated. There was nothing there to save.

They left the village that very evening, under the cover of darkness, forced to flee in case anyone managed to figure out what had happened. Eventually, this journey led the Hawke family to Lothering, where they lived until the Blight.

[galpalaven]

9!!! from the oc codex list

9. a future historian’s account of your OC’s actions [x]

Excerpt from The Red-Tailed Hawke: The Untold Story of the Champion of Kirkwall written by [REDACTED] in the year 9:81 Dragon.

...Tethras's The Tale of the Champion seriously undersells the anti-Chantry and anti-slavery activities of Hawke and her associates during her time in Kirkwall. While it is covered briefly, the book reads more like an adventure novel, and as you will discover in this book, wildly inaccurate. The story of the Champion as told by Varric Tethras is full of action and adventure, covering only the most exciting portions of the 8 years the Champion lived in Kirkwall (the chapter about the High Dragon of the Bone Pit just outside of Kirkwall comes to mind).

The real story of Kohava Hawke, known as Koha by her closest loved ones, is much darker, much heavier, and much more political than Tethras presented in his retelling. Just some small examples of the things left out of The Tale of the Champion are as follows:

Upon joining forces with escaped slave and future rebel leader, Fenris, the Champion almost singlehandedly dismantled the slave trade on the Wounded Coast, breaking up all of the major slavery rings without the help of the City Guard by year 7 of her life in the city.

Hawke's association with Anders, rebel mage and the catalyst of the Mage Rebellion of 9:37 Dragon, while notable, was not nearly as deep and profound as the involvement of Nadia Surana, one of the Heroes of the Fifth Blight and eventual Head of the Inquisition. Hawke's involvement in the destruction of the Chantry may have actually even been drastically oversold for dramatic value in the book.

Carver Hawke, younger brother of Kohava, joined the Wardens in...

The excerpt continues in the same manner.