#blackwall mentioned

[championofthefade]

Warning!! This post may contain spoilers for those who haven't played Veilguard yet! This turned out a lot longer than I thought, but I'm discussing the theory that Rook is a spirit.

I know that there are issues with the writing and any theory is not created to make those issues get swept under the rug. This theory is meant to be fun, and I would like to talk about it.

I'm thinking about the "Rook is a spirit" theory I saw on twitter/x. This theory often rotates in my head often, and I think that it's so interesting.

Like, listen. I understand that narratively it would be complicated to insert into what we know is Dragon Age Veilguard. Someone brought up the fact that it would be a strange thing because wouldn't Emmrich know that Rook is a spirit the way that he knows Lucanis has Spite?

But the theory that cadhalash paints for us is the fact that Varric was for Rook what the Rook is for the companions.

"Help them with their personal problems and talk to them about their feelings, but never ask Rook how they're doing. Or if they need anything. In codex memos we learn the companions have potlucks and book clubs but Rook is not invited. We learn at the end that Varric wasn't really there... What if Rook wasn't either? There's tons of chat about this idea now with other examples of Rook being compared to a spirit in the game. Very interesting and fun!" -cadhalash

There could be the very huge chance that Emmrich would recognize Rook as a spirit, but what about a spirit made flesh?

Think about Cole's banter with Blackwall, for example:

Blackwall: How does a spirit become flesh anyway?

Cole: I don't know. How does a Warden become Grey?

It may seem like a reach, but to me, it makes sense. Cole chose to become human because that was the shape that would help, which he says in a banter with Varric.

Varric: So, Kid, why human?

Cole: It was the shape that would help.

Varric: Huh. Most people don't pick a shape. I guess I was hoping for something deeper with that question.

Cole: It had to be him. But harmless. The him he wanted that wouldn't hurt.

Varric: Well that's... deeper. I think.

You may be thinking, "Hey, Atlas. That might be a little reaching, don't you think?"

Well, yes. Applauding the people that caught onto Solas in the Dragon Age Fandom years and years ago now because you all were on the nose about him being a worm (spirit). But considering what we know from Dragon Age as a whole, it could be possible that Rook is too a spirit of a different kind.

We know that Emmrich can sense Spite. We know that Emmrich can talk directly to Spite. But what if Rook was more like Cole? Would Emmrich's ability to speak to spirits or sense them so close apply?

I would say, that depends on the type of Spirit that Rook would be, right? This has a lot of wiggle room for what you think your Rook would be as a spirit?

From the Wiki:

Spirits lack imagination and creativity; everything they make is based off something made by mortals. Whether benevolent or malevolent, most spirits cannot help but mine a Fade visitor's mind for their thoughts and memories. They then mimic the pieces of life they see by shaping the Fade into various realms that cater to the unconscious desires of the living, providing experiences to the sleeping that become their "dreams."

And the Spirits listed:

Command, Compassion (Cole), Courage, Curiosity (Manfred), Duty, Faith (Wynne), Honor, Hope, Justice(Anders), Learning, Love, Perseverance, Purpose, Valor, Wisdom (Solas).

(We know from Veilguard that Spite is referred to as a spirit of Determination/ mentioned in a data mine, Passion.)

For the sake of the theory, let's say that Emmrich would get an inkling. A prickling feeling even that he knows that there's a spirit near by and would chalk it up to being Manfred because he would know that, right? But then there's Spite. How big of an energy read does Emmrich get from Lucanis to immediately go, 'Yeah, you've got a tag along and I'm sorry it wasn't a willing possession'.

So, how would it get unnoticed by Emmrich, the resident Fade Expert?

Well... Reading further down said wiki page, we find this:

As Rhys puts it in a dialogue with Cole, "being important makes you real". (Asundered reference, I believe?)

Being important makes you real. Rook becomes the 'leader' when Varric gets hurt at the beginning of the game. For the entirety of the game, as Rook, you have to build a team to fight ancient elvhen gods. Rook has to be what Varric was, pulling people that Solas didn't know into trying to save the world from going to shit.

Rook was given a purpose. To save the world.

Regardless of how Rook is perceived, they are in charge. They are in a position that they didn't want, probably was expecting to go home after dealing with this Dread Wolf that they were recruited to stop, and now... They're given a role that would make them important. And as before being important makes you real.

Could Rook be something akin to Cole rather something like Spite or other spirits that we know in Veilguard?

Here's another thing: Solas.

Yes, we are talking about the egg. I'll try to keep this as coherent as possible. We know that Solas didn't want to come from the Fade to be a human (another discussion for another time). We learn that Solas was a spirit of Wisdom, whose Wisdom was twisted into a weapon and forced to do things that stripped Solas of what he wanted to keep for himself. To remain as Wisdom.

This makes it interesting if we add to the fact that Rook could choose to outsmart Solas. Because at that pivotal moment, Solas was Pride. On his pride, it was always the sword he would fall on.

Say what you will about the trick ending, but this is something that shouldn't be glossed over. Being outsmarted by Rook, Solas says, "I am a fool... Who has met his match."

Met his match. This also might be another case of reaching, but it's interesting phrasing from someone who tells clever half-truths and never quite lies. Being tricked by Rook out of pure wits alone. Something that he thought he succeeded in.

What does this have to do with spirits?

Solas, who was brought out of the Fade to take a body to join the elves in a fight against the Titans. Solas, who crafted the lyrium dagger to sunder the Titans from their dreams in hopes of stopping the war. Solas, who created the blight from the Titans' severed dreams. Solas, who started a rebellion against the ancient elvhen gods who abused their power.

Rook, who was brought onto a job to stop the Dread Wolf. Rook, who disrupted the ritual in hopes of stopping Solas. Rook, who started a double blight from freeing these ancient elvhen gods. Rook, who has to build a team to stop these ancient elven gods.

I would say, in spirit, Rook is a mirror of Solas. I'm not saying Rook is wise like Solas or anything like that. But there is something about Rook being Solas' mirror that could fold into Rook being a Spirit of Reflection.

This is just something that comes to mind. Rooks helps Taash discover their identity, helps Emmrich deal with his fear of mortality, helps Neve protect Dock Town, helps Bellara with Cyrian, helps Harding with the Titans, helps Davrin with the griffons, and helps Lucanis with Spite. (Generalized, all choice dependent.) These are reflections of the companions. These are reflections of the people that Rook had brought together to save the world.

It could easily be written off because we're not entirely sure how many spirits there are, but I digress.

Of course, that too would beg the question of how it would apply to all Rooks from all backgrounds?

Let's take a look at the ones that make me think.

Shadow Dragon Rook

The foundling Rook was adopted into a military family and joined the Shadow Dragons to fight from the shadows for change in Minrathous.

We learn in a dialogue with Tarquin that a Shadow Dragon Rook was found on a battlefield by the Mercar family.

Now with this little bit of dialogue, it makes me (personally) think back to what Solas says about him walking the Fade and seeing ancient battlefields where spirits reenact wars from the other side of the Veil. There could have been spirits that were there during this battle where SD Rook was found. (It also kinda reminds me of Loki being found by Odin and raised in Asgard. Don't come for me, I've only watched the movies.)

For the sake of theory, say that a spirit that would have looked over a SD Rook before they were found by the Mercars. Thinking about it, it reminds me of how Cole (the mage) was watched over by Compassion and then Compassion took a shape that would help.

A spirit (in Spite's case) can be drawn to a person, yes? As Determination, we know that Spite was drawn to Lucanis' determination to live or something of the like. (I will live to spite you, essentially.)

Mourn Watch Rook

Discovered by undead inside a Grand Necropolis tomb as an infant, Rook was raised by Mourn Watch necromancers, eventually joining the order.

Relating back to the Muttering Undead that is in a coffin on the path from Emmrich's recruitment:

Stumbling… The steps. Skeletons saw… Oh no choice. Had to be brave… Had to be brave… Too late to cry… Save the (girl, boy, baby) with the grave.

This is a little more open ended. We know nothing about Ingellvar beyond that. We don't know where they came from, only that they were found inside a tomb. It makes me scratch my head.

We know that it's a custom in Nevarra that a spirit could reanimate a skeleton, essentially, and bring some part of their consciousness from back across the Veil. We see that Manfred, when you choose to bring him back, is brought back from across the Veil and returns with magic.

Sure, it's not the same thing as building a body out of Titan's blood, but the idea that the spirits that became the Evanuris are the best of the physical and the Fade offers up to the idea that they were going to have magic anyway when they crossed the Veil. Only lyrium gave them more power than I think that they knew what to do with.

I make this point from the perspective that Mourn Watchers are typically necromancers. They are almost always close to places where the Veil is thin enough for a spirit to come across and possessing a body in a sense.

When it comes to the Muttering Undead, I don't know who that could have been or what they were doing in the Necropolis. But it's clear that they were determined to save Mourn Watch Rook, and they were the one that put Rook in the tomb.

This one makes me scratch my head because it's so broad and vague. For the theory that Rook is a spirit, this is the origin/background/faction that lends itself to the idea because in Nevarra they revere and respect their dead with the ability to raise the corpses to continue contributing to the Grand Necropolis. But we're talking about a wee baby Rook growing up in the Necropolis. Could it be possible that the saving of Rook is more spirit in a tomb?

The last things I would like to touch on.

Dialogue with Harding (her romance I believe?) :

Harding: I've seen spirits leave the Fade and become real people. (COLE!!!)

Rook: You think I could be a spirit in disguise?

Harding: It isn't malicous. They're just drawn to strong emotion. And then...one day, real people.

Rook: I think I'm really me, and I'm really here.

This is why I mentioned Cole earlier.

And the absence of Rook in the Veilguard mural is brought up in the theory as well. Rook's absence on the mural strikes me as odd. Because yes, the companions would be a main focus in the stories that would follow them. But what about Rook, the person who brought these vastly different people together and saved the world? Not there. Were they ever there?

Much to think about.

[emmavakarian-theirin]

"how do you always do that?" "do what?" "break apart my perfectly gathered clouds of doom"

[abyssal-ilk]

posting that sketch yesterday made me remember just how much i love my taashath so i did another doodle <3

[taihua]

Veilguard complaints because I opened the game again and instantly was smacked in the face with another “why didn’t my past game choices matter here” situation

So. Orlais is overrun by Blight and Val Royeaux is making a desperate final stand. Wouldn’t this have been the perfect opportunity to at the very least add some flavor text about how your choice of ruler impacted the situation?

Celene ruling alone arguably might be the worst possible thing for Orlais in this situation—she’s disinterested in the military and a lot of the chevaliers turned against her during the war. Briala’s elves are still rebelling, presumably, or helping Solas. “Celene rules alone” could have been placed as a Worst Case Scenario without having to impact the gameplay in a significant way.

Gaspard ruling under Briala’s influence should be the next worst thing. He can’t rule effectively when he’s being threatened and blackmailed. He’s also too smart to just let her have her way no questions asked, so there’s a political stalemate that leaves neither elves nor humans in a position to band together and stop the darkspawn.

Gaspard ruling alone might be marginally better; he’s an experienced military commander with the support of the chevaliers. They could easily be holding the line in Val Royeaux, especially because iirc Michel specifically mentions the chevaliers have trained with the Wardens so they can effectively combat darkspawn.

And then the special hard to achieve ending with all three of them working together—couldn’t this have been the best case scenario for Orlais? Briala and Celene reconcile and improve life for the elves, making them able to assist when Orlais is under attack; they still have Gaspard’s military leadership to draw on, and he would absolutely put aside political differences in the name of stopping an existential threat to the country.

All of these could have been two sentences of dialogue from the Inquisitor but it would’ve given closure on one of the biggest choices from the last game :/

[arrenkae]

So hey remember how one of THREE entire choices we could get from the previous games was "who did your Inquisitor romance"? Remember how they could only give us three because each one of them was going to be sooo important and impactful you guys not just a one-liner surely we don't want that

So how the FUCK was Sera "the only one who could make Blackwall let down his guard" when my Inquisitor was smooching him in front of her entire court?? BIOWARE EXPLAIN

...of course we all knew that this choice was just basically "romanced Solas/didn't romance Solas" toggle but could you AT LEAST pretend that it wasn't and throw in a couple more lines come the fuck on

[lizzybeeee]

Before the game and before learning anything about it I thought Assan was like 2nd gen griffon idk like maybe Davrin's griffon's baby. It takes 5 years irl for both lions and eagles to mature! why the hell griffons take apparently the same amount of time as a human! They're magic!

VERY TRUE!

They could have made them 2nd generation griffons - and, yeah, magic exists! I did a quick check of the wiki to see if there was any details on griffons growth (couldn't see any) and then had a look at dragons since they're also this mythical flying beast - so it's kind of as close as we can get? Not a lot either - just that they have large broods, most die, but the few that survive are scary as hell.

I think it potentially could have upped the stakes a little bit more - this very critical breeding program is suddenly upended and a decade of planning is suddenly thrown out the window. The genuine hope of restoring the griffons is outright robbed, since there's proof that it's possible to to accomplish. Killing all the griffons hatched in the Last Flight off-screen is unnecessary (also cruel!), so maybe have them simply fly off to find the babies on their own after they're taken?

(Maybe Assan's parents could be killed - so that's why he stays with Davrin? Then it gives Davrin this genuine drive to save the griffons if possible or avenge them if not?)

Instead of conveniently having characters drop by who just happen to have the relevant information to find the griffons you can have the wardens and Davrin track them down? Which works a bit better since Davrin has a background as a monster hunter. What better person to hunt down a bunch of elusive griffons than him?

But, yeah, hard agree that it's weird that the griffons are still babies after all this time.

[a-gay-bloodmage]

Short Breeches

(Blackwall x Mallory Trevelyan, Sera & Mallory Trevelyan)

Sera figures that at least half of the Inquisition has a crush on the Inquisitor, Mallie. As a gift to the people, Sera devises an ingenious prank—seal Mallie's wardrobe and leave her with nothing but a tank top and a pair of homemade shorts. The Inquisitor, Mallory Trevelyan, does not exactly appreciate trying to keep up a fake female identity when nearly everything is on display in front of the Inquisition and the Warden Blackwall.

[breadedsinner]

In theory I'm down with the concept of characters romancing each other if not pursued by the player character. Less so in practice because I have historically never liked the combinations bioware makes on their own.

So I am just imagining my second playthrough seeing Neve flirt with someone she has no chemistry with

[wyllzel]

hahah uhh womp womp

[rhysintherain]

Do you think Thom knew Blackwall's first name was Gordon when he took over his identity?

Because I'm picturing the first time he runs into another Grey Warden. He's nervous that they'll see right through him, or know the real Blackwall and realise he's not it.

But what he hasn't figured out yet is that Grey Wardens are so spread out across Thedas that a solid chunk of them have maybe met 2 times, and even more only know each other by reputation.

So he introduces himself, braces to be called out as a fraud, and instead gets "aayyy, Warden Gorden! I've heard of you! Didn't you used to work with Renley out in Ferelden?"

Anyway. My pet theory is that Blackwall mostly hangs out alone less because he's worried about being found out and more because if he hears another 'Warden Gordon' joke he's going to snap.

[requiemforthestars]

I just had the convo with Harding about the Inquisition and wow why do I wanna cry??

[death-rebirth-senshi]

I mean exercising your power to get your bestie out of jail is fun

[emmavakarian-theirin]

just had a video appointment with the hospital and the nurse stopped mid appointment to tell me she loved the thing in the background

the thing in question is blackwall 🥰

[baku-usagi]

I'm about 20 hours in now so small veilgaurd monologue!

Gonna tag correctly of course but also gonna put it under the cut for safety.

I have been going down a check list in my head based off that one stupid man (skill up?) s review.

I've been keeping all of his nitpicks that sounded reasonable at the time in the back of my head, and I've been actively trying to find things to dislike.

And lemme tell ya, pleasantly surprised.

There are complaints to be had, and I will get to those eventually but for now I wanted to talk about the good because the game is getting dog piled enough.

Firstly: all the people who said it just didn't feel like a dragon age game are straight up lying to you. This game feels as true blue dragon age as they come. It is not, a tactical rpg, it is still an action adventure rpg (rest in peace origins gameplay system, I loved you) but both two and inquisition stepped away from the trpg side of things so I don't feel like that takes away from the dragon age vibe the game carries.

The gameplay is amazing in a lot of different little ways

Combat is fun, it is mostly simple but it's no where near as repetitive as people would have you think. It is actively less repetitive then da2 and inquisition.

You can swap between two weapon styles at will which has been absolutely delightful.

For mages there is classic staff combat but there is also orb and dagger combat which is everythingggg I have had so much fucking fun.

That being said some of the up grades and specializations I've seen so far have been a little lack luster, but that could also just be because it is decently different, operating on an actual skill tree.

The animation and skill tree for veilgaurd is really similar to the newer God of war series, the cutscenes, the combat ect tends to kind of pull inspiration from that.

The lay out of the maps are also semi God of war adjacent, but more importantly, it feels like what da2 wanted to be.

It's very veryyyy similar but better, when you revisit areas you're almost always unlocking new places to scoure.

For all the dragon age games it mimics it feels closest to 2 for me but in the best way possible.

Some other aspects continue to feel inquisition adjacent as well, collecting things, the actual environments, ect.

They also brought back a lot of story telling similar to origins on my opinion, though this is mostly done well with narrative story telling. The dialog and the voice acting is unfortunately a week point.

The actual concepts delivered are great though, and there is more grit and grime happening that feels more adjacent to origins. The suffering is once again the somewhat lack of a good reaction to things from the cast of characters, who are fairly emotionally uninvolved unforch.

Anyway the stuff that's good is really good. There are some cool ass cameos already that feel good, and well done. The choice system feels good, though you're simply not going to have the role play freedome that was had in da:o and da:2 to an extent. It still works for what it is. Anyway that's all for nowww

[grapecaseschoices]

vivienne is so fucking fun. not her @ solas about his firey coattails. you could hear the embarrassed indignation in his voice. i bet he was writing it down and counting it as why humans neeeded to be destroyed.

[pausegame]

Did nothing but play Inquisition yesterday and it was ✨ magical ✨ 🥲😭🙏❤️❤️