#but they dont get to have any interesting dynamics

[darlinglute]

i think it's extremely fun to pair rook and solas together in any regard, no matter if he previously was being romanced because as clear narrative foils, having an enemies to lovers (and in tandem, bitch4bitch, hater x hater) dynamic feeds into that delicious 'whenever I see you I see myself and I hate that' and 'you are everything I hate about myself' soup.

I once saw a post with a collection of quotes that had this certain vibe, in the 'you and I are the same' (negative) way. if i had a quote to represent them it would be:

so shipping them feels very complex and interesting to think about, because, like in that one dialogue

(first of all, like c'mon) furthermore it's the cycle. rook is to solas what solas was to elgar'nan, there are several times in the game, especially the end, where they can see each other in each other. even if you dont see it in a shipping lenses (which you dont have to!) this is a juicy story.

moreover, at the end of the game if rook outwits solas by giving him the fake ritual dagger, solas not only recognizes that he was out played by 'wits alone' he also says that he's met his match. this mimics the several stories of fen'harel who uses his wits, wisdom etc to get out of a situation

(example: the story of fen'harel, andruil and anaris, solas goading them both into fighting each other so he could get out paralleling solas making rook fight the gods and in addition a thousand other enemies in order to get himself enough time to get out of the fade prison without rook getting ahead of it)

the betrayal too, i don't have much to say that hasn't been said already about the prison switcheroo, (evokes solas's betrayal of felassan yada yada) other then it's really tasty.

[mythalism]

Despite being a diehard Solavellan, that ending bothered me and felt a bit empty. And I think it's because they don't allow Lavellan to do anything but give Solas what he wants. Like, she's basically love interest Barbie.

I get that Solas and Mythal's relationship has gone on for Millennia, that they are deeply intetwined, that she shaped his identity,etc. I get that Solas and Lavellan were together for only a year, which relatively is a blink of an eye in Solas's lifespan. I get why Solas needed Mythal to tell him it was okay to stop his mission.

That's fine, but I feel like Lavellan in this scenario deserves more than to just walk into fade prison with a kiss. I get that they had limits with time, but the writing makes her seem like she has no feelings of her own beyond "I love you sooo much Solas!" And it does such a disservice to some of the most interesting parts of their relationship. Like she has no identity outside of him. In reality, he just rejected her all over again to her face, with the added baggage of still intending to destroy her world and even kill her. He killed her dear friend and gaslit everyone about it, manipulated them into putting him in a position where he could end the world again. This is all after twelve year span of her cleaning up his messes, having her life turned upside down, possibly losing her entire family, losing her arm, having her heart broken, etc. At no point in the game do they actually allow Lavellan to express any anger, frustration, or feelings at all over what the antics of both Solas and Mythal have cost her. It's a constant reframe of "I love him, I'll always love him, I can never give up on him!" etc.

I don't need her to hate him, or not forgive him, but it feels completely unearned when you have her all smiles and kisses, forgiving him for the 90th time minutes after he threw said forgiveness in her face and was ready to kill everyone. She at least deserves to assert her choice to follow him instead of just going, "It'll be fine if we're together!" The writers couldn't at least give her piece of dialogue that goes beyond "Our looooove!"

From her perspective, her forgiving him and begging him after everything wasn't enough, that he was willing to destroy everything regardless until he got the a-okay from the person who is literally the source of all his deepest regrets. A woman who turned him into a tool with which to cause all manner of destruction. While she, the woman who always loved and accepted him for who he is, forgiving him after all she personally suffered at his hands, wasn't enough. And she can't have a reaction or indication that she feels anything about this other than, "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH SOLAS!"

I feel like if you go into Veilguard blind, not having played Inquisition, this relationship comes off as co-dependent and sad. And it certainly doesn't feel like any sort of resolution or breaking of a cycle. It feels like it's just a renewal of the same toxic dynamic, this time with Solas in Mythal's place and Lavellan's in Solas's.

i have been sitting on this message for a few days because i wanna do it justice with my response and after pondering this in the shower just now i think i am ready. beloved anon, thank you for sharing your thoughts in my inbox because i love yapping with you. however i am going to assume that because you came to my inbox with this you want my unfiltered opinion, and i very much disagree with this interpretation. i dont think its wrong to interpret the ending as involving a loss of agency for lavellan, or to feel like her story gets absorbed and eclipsed by solas's. i think thats true, and i understand why that could feel disappointing, but i do think it is wrong to frame it as co-dependent, sad, a renewal of a toxic dynamic, or love-interest barbie. not because those are necessarily false, but because that is quite literally what we signed up for with this romance, and i think that interpretation prescribes a very modern lens, rooted in real-life cultural values and expectations, to a story that is intended to be mythological, fantastical, and primarily serve a narrative purpose rather than an escapist, self-indulgent fantasy one for the player.

i would say that majority of the romances in bioware games are intended to provide a level of self-insertion, escapism, and personal fantasy fufillment in the player. that is also very much the trend of romance as a genre more broadly in the 20th century, but it becomes especially poignant in video games where you become the protagonist via your participation in playing through the story, and controlling their actions and choices. there is absolutely nothing wrong with these, and i love them. as an example, my fenhawke is very much like that to me. i self-insert so fucking hard on my hawke, and fenhawke is extremely self-indulgent to me. another great example that might be more obscure is the wayhaven chronicles (if you haven't played them, you should!! they're interactive fiction). many love stories lean very heavily into this sort of player fufillment, and they are wonderful.

solavellan, however, is an exception among these sorts of romances, and think the expectation that it would be otherwise is what has left many people upset about lavellan's supposed lack of agency in the ending. a good point of comparison here, i think, is hawke and anders. solas is tied to the narrative of dragon age and the destiny of thedas in a way that few dragon age characters are, save anders. solas is inextricable from the plot of not just veilguard and inquisition, but from the entire dragon age series. without solas, thedas would not exist and the stories that these games tell would not be able to begin. similarly, anders cannot be removed from the plot of dragon age 2. nearly any other companion can and the core story remains unchanged. but anders was always going to blow up the chantry. hawke nor the player can stop him, they can only join him in his tragedy, if they so choose. similarly, solas was always going to occupy his role in the narrative (i do believe this once involved bringing down the veil lol but instead its becoming the immortal guardian of the veil and atoning by healing the blight). lavellan nor the player was ever going to be able to change this. our only option was to join him on that path. romancing anders, and romancing solas, does not change the fact that they belong to the narrative first, and the player second. thus, when you romance them, you as the player and hawke or lavellan, as the protagonist, resign and submit themselves to the shared fate of that tragedy.

i call solavellan a tragedy not because it is sad, but because solas is bound by his narrative purpose the way a classical tragic hero is. he calls himself "fatalistic" verbatim, and the devs have referred to solavellan as a tragedy several times. when asked about solavellan happy ending on a dev q&a this summer, corrinne literally said "i thought you guys wanted a tragedy?" and though she was half-joking, she was right. solavellan was always going to be a tragedy; a story bound from the beginning by its inevitable ending. this is what it means to romance the most plot-relevant character of all time in dragon age, you have no choice but submit yourself, as the player and as lavellan, to his narrative fate.

to look at this story from a modern lens of gender power dynamics causing a lack of agency does it a disservice, in my opinion. yeah, if lavellan was my friend irl, i would tell her to dump her ugly ass bald boyfriend and move on. and to be fair, rook can literally do this LMFAO. like you can literally tell her to dump him, and they gave you this option for a reason; its a final opt-out from joining him on his narrative destiny as basically the tragic, meta-protagonist of the story of thedas. solavellan would indeed be super fucked up if it was real, even before veilguard. this is part of the reason i actually am not a fan of modern solavellan AU's, because they have to recreate and grapple with some insane themes that do not translate well when removed from the mythological god x mortal woman tragedy context of dragon age, and are plopped into a modern world. i still read modern AU's and enjoy them and have read plenty that are literal masterpieces, and i believe people should continue to write them if they so desire, but that does not change my feeling that something very essential to solavellan is lost in the process of that transformation. as i said before, solas is integral to thedas and dragon age. to remove him would mean thedas and the stories of dragon age ceases to exist. and to put him elsewhere and retain the core of who he is as a character and the solavellan romance by extension, is impossible.

i bring this up because i believe a lot of the issues you bring up in your message get at this sort of modern perspective being projected onto a story that was not intended to shoulder that burden. like. i would never support a woman joining a man who just murdered one of her friends in jail LMFAO. but their story is fundamentally about the power of love to redeem, and for the purpose of fulfilling that overarching theme, lavellan has to love and forgive him for everything. there is even datamined dialogue where morrigan says "and in the end, the dread wolf was saved by love". by entering into the romance with him, and reaffirming it not once or twice but three times throughout the games (1. lock in at crestwood, 2. choosing to save him at the end of trespasser, 3. coversation with rook) lavellan sacrificies her agency and autonomy within the story as a protagonist, and chooses to give herself over to the neccesary narrative conclusion that veilguard demands to finish solas's atonement story; her saving him (morally, rather than physically from his fate of being trapped) with her love. the only way to do this is to join him. her offer to walk the dinan'shiral with him in trespasser is honestly a perfect metaphor for this. it translates to the path of death but it represents his path through the plot of dragon age. by insisting on joining him, she submits herself to wherever the plot may take her in order to remain by his side. when she shows up in the end of veilguard, she re-affirms this by saying "i am here, walking the dinan'shiral with you!". she is less so submitting to him, but submitting herself to the path he is must follow to fufill the story of dragon age.

as for her not being enough to change his mind. yeah. she was never going to be enough to change his mind. thats kind of the point. this is made clear in trespasser, she was never going to magically become enough 8 years later. this is part of the tragedy. it has nothing to do with who he loves more or who is asking him to do what. solas does not have a choice, he is bound to walk this path to maintain who he is. varric says this in the regret prison, the inquisitor says it to rook, solas almost says this himself; he is too proud to change his mind (like, literally), he has come too far to turn back, and if he does then everything he did beforehand would be for nothing. he would have failed mythal, but more importantly he would have betrayed and ruined himself for nothing. his repeated rejection of lavellan in favor of choosing this path is a defense mechanism, to preserve both himself in his nature, and her "rare and marvelous spirit" that he adores so much. if he wavers and chooses her, he betrays himself. if he allows her to join him, he becomes like mythal. thus, the only person who can release him from this is cognitive prison is mythal. not because he loves her more, but because she set him on this path in the first place. he literally exists because of her. it is only once he is free of his duty for her that he is able to choose lavellan, and he does it immediately and with almost no hesitation by abandoning the veil. simplifying this to him "throwing her forgiveness in her face" is an unfair and disregards of the impact of the immensity of his guilt for the things he has done in mythal's service.

solas goes to great lengths to avoid recreating the dynamic that mythal deliberately inflicted upon him with lavellan. it is why he breaks up with her the first time, citing "distracting her from her duty", it is why he refuses her in trespasser, it is why he refuses her when she pleads with him at the end of veilguard. they do not recreate the solythal dynamic because the toxicity in solas and mythal's relationship was not about solas being willing to follow mythal anywhere. the toxicity comes from her manipulating him into doing horrible, violent things to accrue her power. in contrast, solas sacrifices his and lavellan's love for each other to keep her from joining him in committing horrible, violent deeds at his behest. he will literally do anything to keep her from being to him what he was to mythal, and that includes brutally breaking her heart and abandoning her and rejecting her repeatedly. it is the ultimate reversal of his dynamic with mythal, and the ultimate expression of his love. he is only able to accept lavellan's love when he is sure that he is no longer destined to accruing more blood on his hands. he allows her to follow him into the regret prison to help him heal the blight because he can only accept her love when he is sure it will not corrupt her against her purpose, the exact opposite of the way mythal's love corrupted him.

could all of this been fleshed out better within the game? absolutely. the entire game is rushed and messy, and although solavellan is the best of it, it suffers from much of the same. the inquisitor should've been in the game more. yes. it would have been wonderful to hear more about her gradual decision to join him in the fade. it also would have been helpful if the game was more explicit about the fact that the south is absolutely decimated by the blight, or mentioned lavellan being tired of ravages of the title of inquisitor and herald. all of these things are implied and should have been fleshed out more, i agree. personally, my headcanon for my own inky is that their relationship actually requires a lot of healing in the prison. it would be a long time before they were intimate with each other, and a long time before they reached a dynamic that is comparable to what they had in inquisition (but forever changed). just because lavellan forgives him does not mean she has to put aside everything he has done to her and never mention it again. they can fight, she can cry and scream and rage and confront him for what he put her through, mine certainly does. but the story we got makes sense for the game we got, and is consistent tonally and thematically with solavellan from the beginning. while further elaboration in-game might have helped the initial sting of the ending (i was also confused at first, it felt so sad), i dont think extra scenes of her getting to be angry at him would change anything fundamentally. solavellan is still a romantic tragedy inspired by the mythological stories of loki and sigyn, orpheus and eurydice, even hades and persephone, and many more, and is designed to convey a theme of the redemptive power of unconditional love and forgiveness within a fantasy setting. it achieves this at the expense of player headcanon, which is a bold move but one i respect. i empathize with people who found themselves disappointed by the direction it took because i know how much we all love and connect with these characters, but i do not think that makes the direction wrong. in conclusion, i leave you with some quotes and posts from my solavellan pinterest board that fit the theme of this essay, xoxo <3

[ianthesmells]

the people genuinely complaining abt jayvik "not becoming canon" or "they didn't kiss" are insane to me. u got a shakespearian tragedy on screen and u don't feel that was enough? they need to walk out on stage and kiss so you know it's canon? is that all love is to you? a kiss? characters need to kiss so they can be canon? caitvi literally had sex on screen and it was so nothing whereas jayvik took up like half the season and got development that even made non-jayvik shippers believe in it. they literally blipped out of existence together in a fruit salad-level space scene after being in a gay ass timeloop and ur mad they didn't kiss?

[cuubism]

hello friends. despite my 9 million existing dreamling wips i'm feeling the need to branch out a bit for the sake of my mental variety. what pairing other than dreamling should i write a little something for? could be romantic or platonic

other way of phrasing i guess: any pairings you really want to see more fics for in the fandom?

[satorugojoswiife]

What do you think about gojo ships

I feel like I'm pretty indifferent to most of them. This is super cringe of me, but whenever I fall super in love with a character I don't often like shipping them romantically with anyone. 💀 (im delusional I know)

It doesn't help that for some reason the jjk fandom (especially twt) is weirdly aggressive about ships. I know it isn't all the shippers and it's mostly just the loud minority, but seeing so much of the discourse has kinda put me off and I don't really engage much with the ships in the fandom except for rarepairs and selfships bc alot of the time those communities are more wholesome and cozy (if that makes sense LOL)

[nashvillethotchicken]

I wish there were more black people who were into iwtv so I can talk about how Louis's class and race interests intersected

[jadewritesficshere]

MDNI thinking about alpha!Steve and a/b/o dynamics just

sfw:

• Alpha!Steve who's parents were super excited and proud when he first presented. He chased that feeling and wanted to make his parents proud, leaning into the alpha stereotype, becoming King Steve. It didn't work, just ended up making him more angry and a dick. He woke up and changed, but he had a reputation at that point.

•Steve who got with Nancy before she presented, thinking demure, shy Nancy Wheeler would be an omega. Nancy who presents as an alpha and Steve who was in love willing to make an alpha/alpha relationship work (which is possible but rare). After they broke up, they had a long discussion about everything, and agreed they were better off just friends. Nancy helped Steve work through some internalized issues caused by his parents. Nancy helped him let go of the alpha stereotypes, and now Steve does things that make him happy, even if it is more an omega stereotype.

•Steve who accidentally becomes a pack leader to a bunch of unpresented pups. They joke he's like a mom, but they all see him as a leader and dependable. Dustin knows he can call for a ride anytime or get advice no question asked (maybe a bit of bickering and joking). Will finds comfort in the Alpha and sits in silence near him, sometimes he's painting while Steve reads and Steve praises his work and he feels really happy he made their leader happy. Max, who gets in fights with other pups, reluctantly gets guidance from Steve, who gives her the most disappointed mom look and then gives her pointers on her swings. Steve is whining to the older teens that he doesn't have a pack and everyone is like ???? (Robin also swings at him for acting like they aren't pack bonded, yelling at him about being a bonded pair and Steve is just like well ya platonically but that doesn't count, which causes a whole new argument)

• Steve who is extra sensitive to scents because of getting hit too many times and losing part of his hearing. He is very attentive to the slight changes, and can tell when someone he's close to has different emotions. Steve especially can tell when someone is about to go into rut or heat, and he gives them a care package (because let's be honest half his friends don't take care of themselves, hell he doesn't even take care of himself).

nsfw:

•Alpha!Steve who is so nervous about hurting his partner. He tends to want to be with omegas as they are more prepared to take him, biologically speaking of course. He has slept with every type, but omegas tend to be his favorite.

•Steve was already slightly bigger then average before presenting, and after? Big. Anytime someone sees him for the first time and their mouth drops, he can't help the pride that builds up in him. He knows he needs to get ahold of his ego as these people never stay, but he also loves the dumb look on their faces.

•Steve who wants someone to bond with him, to the point he's a little reckless and baring his neck when he really shouldn't. Of course, no one has been bold enough to attempt to bond with him, but he wants nothing more (he is absolutely reckless and just wants to belong to someone :( he just wants love ok).

•Steve already had a breeding kink, but it becomes 10x stronger after presenting. The thought of filling someone up with his pups, stomach swollen from his seed? The thought alone makes him groan and become hard.

[skuffypaw]

i get what this wc tiktoker was trying to say but you did NOT just compare ravenbarley to a SOUTH PARK SHIP???

[haunted-xander]

I think one of the main reasons why sdr2 is my fav is that the cast feels much more natural and united compared to the other groups

Like the thh cast has a very scattered feel to them, with people mostly being by themselves or in a very small group (and sometimes, the people in said groups aren't really that close). When I think of the groups in thh, the only ones that spring to mind that seem actually CLOSE is Sakura-Aoi, Mondo-Taka & Makoto-Kyoko

And V3 then has very clearly defined groups that mingle with each other and... not much outside of that. We have stuff like Tenko-Himiko-Angie, Miu-Kiibo and Shuichi-Maki-Kaito. Outside of groups, characters usually don't have very unique or meaningful dynamics or interactions

Sdr2 on the hand have very fleshed out relationships and dynamics with EVERYONE. Like, yeah of course there are still established groups like Sonia-Kazuichi-Gundham, Fuyuhiko-Peko and Akane-Nekomaru but even then those groups mesh and mingle well with the rest of the cast

In thh & V3 I find it hard to imagine unique and interesting interactions between a lot of the characters, but in sdr2 you could give me any combination of characters and I'd be able to imagine them interacting in a fun and interesting way

They're also the only class I could genuinely imagine all getting along and having fun together outside the killing game. But they're not all friends either, which makes the unison and feel of the cast more natural and fun! Hiyoko-Mikan aren't friends. Fuyuhiko-Mahiru aren't friends. But they still have meaningful and interesting dynamics with each other

Not only that, but even if you take each character seperately I genuinely like them all. Like, actively like them. Yes, even Teruteru and Hiyoko. I find each and every one of them compelling in their own way. I like Kazuichis well-meaning stupidity, I like Gundhams love of life, I like Ibukis cheery attitude, I like Mikans care for others, I like Pekos devotion. I enjoy them all

I don't have a good way to end this just. sdr2 cast my beloveds

[asbestos-11]

huhu the struggle of finding blade fics that are about him and his struggle with immortality and whatnot. huhu pleaseeee there's too little gen fics about him.

[thatneoncrisis]

i think id like arcane like way more if it was a novelization

[jrueships]

who would you most like to read jrue being paired with in a fic?

Me .

[bellamygate]

I think it's really likely phee and jin happened bc they were both rebounding from non and maybe they caught feelings maybe they didn't maybe phee is feeling guilty for that but like to ME regardless of how bad they feel abt it they're fucking on non's dead body and I'm petty enough to put away critical thinking and appreciating the nuances of media to wish them a very die

[handfulofmuses]

Q: Let's pretend that Clutch is the current father figure of Rough and Tumble. What kind of silly scenarios do you imagine them in? Flynn: They definitely are eager to please. Because you know, Proud Papa Clutch can give them things they usually can't have like positive reinforcement and regular meals and allowances. And that sibling rivalry that they have is going to get more pronounced as they each fight for father's love. Flynn: And Clutch, being the awful person that he is, leans into that. Plays them against each other. Has them perform more dangerous and excessive feats just for his own gain. And then just gives them juuuust enough approvement and juuuuust enough positive reinforcement that they stick around.

The skunk boys are so desperate man and for some reason this unhealthy dynamic is interesting to me?

They want approvement, they want positive reinforcement. Like, they are so desperate to have someone other than each other and for once want positive companionship... and they sort of get that with Clutch, not enough but it IS enough that the boys want to stay by his side

[martyrbat]

had a recent wfa panel on my dash. duke thomas get behind me.

[autisticcassandracain]

Currently rotating in my brain: a canon divergence AU where instead of entering Gotham during No Man's Land, Cass comes in during the Robin Collective era.