#da:o blogging

[adhdrhys]

awakening anders is so insane i want to study him under a microscope

[antami-art-blog]

My Gray Warden from Dragon Age origins

I miss the Dragon Age series...

If you like my art please visit my blog :)

[jaggialliance]

my lil guy

[rosiewolfplays]

She's supposed to be helping Master Ilen today, but when she learns that Tamlen intends to go out into the forest to hunt, Danyrill jumps at the chance to go with him. Not just for a chance to get away from the camp, even if for just a short while, but also because of...personal reasons they hold hands

However, things take a turn when three shems stumble across them in their haste to flee from something, terror in their eyes and voices. Unfortunately, their hasty fleeing brought them too close to Clan Sabrae's camp as Tamlen is quick to point out.

Though they do try for some bravado and get a bit demanding, a little arrogant despite their frightened state, however it doesn't...do anything besides irritating Tamlen further. At that moment Dany makes her entrance, letting the group know that no. He is not alone. And that yes, the shems are on thin ice right now.

The whole conversation is rife with disdain and disgust and the memories of every last pain and injustice that the Elves have suffered through throughout the centuries, throughout millenniums -- that they still suffer though -- fill the air. Tension is thick.

buuuut nothing happens because while Dany might not hesitate to issue threats and break bones, she is not, however, a killer. So she advocates letting them go, insisting that Tamlen's scared them enough to make them think twice. Of course, Tamlen does not hesitate to tell her that she's too soft and maybe she is!

But she's still not a killer. not yet at least

Anyway. That leads up to them telling Dany and Tam about The Cave™, where everything that can go wrong does! Because by the Creators, it does not take long before everything goes to shit.

Tamlen is doubtful of this cave, Dany thinks they should return to camp to tell the Keeper but that doesn't happen because unfortunately the braincells were left back at camp with Fenarel.

The Cave™ is found, Tamlen is now a believer, and Dany is looking at the cave like the sus monster that it is, troubled by the appearance of a cave they had not seen before.

I mean...that's not too odd right? It's a big forest. It's possible there's more caves to be found that they had no idea existed.

But this is The Cave™ -- the cave of bad things -- and Dany tries being the voice of reason, again. Like be on guard, something's not right, etc. but TAMLEN:

And again because the braincells were left with Fenarel, Dany does not think to drag Tamlen's ass back to camp even though maybe she SHOULD.

I love you, Dany, but Maker dammit.

[wittyrogue]

honestly, i'm super happy to rp anywhere in my muse's timeline. pre-canon, during a certain part of canon, post-canon, it's all interesting to me! i don't take offense if you send in an ask and have a suggested time frame associated with it or a specific verse request.

for zevran, i really do love dragon age origins and would love interactions anywhere in there. i'm also open to expanding his time in kirkwall during da2 or exploring having him in the inquisition, and i am working on a veilguard verse too. but da:o is still one of my all time favorite games, so if you want origins shenanigans, i'm down!

[redjennies]

it's wild that Hiravias of all people is the only companion who is at least kinda, sorta capable of noticing Grieving Mother (outside of combat, obviously.) like it makes perfect sense for his character, but it's also got me spinning in my thoughts.

[galaxywhale]

I have an Aeducan warden now, her name is Malinda and she’s a baby and I love her

[salaisi]

just dropping few pictures after a while

[krshush]

I miss Zevran every goddamn day.

[baku-usagi]

I Get like genuinely sick with emotions when I think about how much I live dragon age origins.

This game was one of the best I've ever played. The game play, the story, the codex the characterss I just.

Every last bit was so so good.

I love inquisition but it feels like a ghoul, a pale sad imitation of something once so alive and wonderful.

It makes me feel so vile that other people don't know or haven't played or don't adore this game as much as I do.

Crying, puking, biting

[adhdrhys]

I take it by the presence of that troublesome hound of yours that the situation in the kitchen is handled? Nan’s head exploded and my hound ate the kitchen staff.

[saltypeepo]

thinkin bout him.

[astarions-juice-box]

Getting into Dragon Age Origins for the first time and see what's up with this series

[thecryoftheseagulls]

And then, if you play a Brosca, there's the added layer of always having been told that you never belonged in Orzammar anyway, that the Stone had turned its back on you from the moment of your birth. Maybe that means you find a freedom on the surface that you've never known, where no one understands that the brand on your face marks you as other, and all they see is a dwarf. You could have had this -- fresh, strange air on your face; a whole bevy of new places to see and people to meet and experiences to have -- anytime, if only you'd been brave enough to step through Orzammar's stone doors years ago.

Or maybe being both surfacer and duster makes you twice-forsaken. You let Duncan take you up here. The Stone may have turned its back on you first, but you turned your back on it last. There is no going home again to a home that has never loved you back. All you can do is walk forward, letting the sun touch your skin, and wait for even the stone sense to leave you.

These days I kind of can't stop thinking about how much I enjoyed the possibility of being from Orzammar in Origins, specifically because just being who you are put so much of the early game in a wholly different context.

Like, a dwarf from Orzammar has, by definition, lived literally under a rock their whole lives!! They've never left the underground, and yes, while that also makes their ignorance of surface squabbles (the mage issue, the Ferelden/Orlais conflict, everything with the city elves and the Dalish, etc.) make a lot of sense, it also comes with so many interesting new angles that I'm honestly so surprised still that I've never really seen it mentioned very often, if at all. (Even though we even get an explicit moment to reflect on it, when leaving with Oghren.)

In Origins, the moment a dwarf first steps out through the gates of Orzammar and begins the game, is a profoundly life-altering experience. Dare I say, even more so than it is for an elf or a human. Because stepping out, for the first time, they are entering an entirely new world, and for the first time, in front of them is a vast expanse of nothing but air.

The end of the prologue, it's not just a fundamental personal change that awaits you, it's also a displacement so complete, that it's absolutely dizzying to even think about.

That first time a dwarf feels the sun on their skin, they are made sun-touched, a surfacer: stripped not only from caste and kin, of identity, but also faith and memory, any favor their ancestors may have still held for them, and any possibility of ever returning, as far as they know. (Aeducan may even have a bitter little chuckle over the irony of how they could very well have just one day before shrugged off the concerns of their surface brethren completely, only to be made one of them now.)

Their whole lives, they had always been able to see the opposite wall of the cave, or at least to know for sure that it's there, along with the miles and miles of unchanging, crystal-littered rock stretching protectively over their heads-- now all of that is gone. There's nothing between them, and the infinite and ever-changing blue, grey, orange, black of the open sky they've never seen, and in the distance, there's no wall-- just glorious, humongous mounds and spires of rock jutting up into the belly of the sky, the likes of which they've only ever seen from the inside.

Orzammar, despite no sunlight ever penetrating that far, is always lit bright, and it's heated by the lava streams and pools below. A dwarf has never known anything colder or warmer, brighter or darker, never seen seasons change... the biting winds and the frequent rains in Ferelden are completely new to them, not to mention the terrifying cracks of thunder that sound like the very Stone over them cracking in two, the bright flashes of lightning illuminating the night for but a moment, or waking in the middle of the night to what sounds like countless fingers pat-pat-patting the tarp of their tent, or the fact that animals -which are varied and plentiful and wholly alien- sometimes just randomly fall into the sky, like the rumors say! They might know academically that with birds, that just sort of tends to happen, but they've never seen one take off!!

Hell, all of surface flora and fauna are completely new to them-- it's likely they've only ever seen a tree or a dog in a picture book. Flowers, they've likely only ever seen as an expensive and frivolous luxury few can afford to have for a while, and even then, they are by necessity brought in removed from their roots, dead, wilting, taken from their natural place... while here, blooms just spring up underfoot willy-nilly, not entirely unlike mushrooms at the home which is not theirs anymore.

And... there must be something organic, something comfortingly animal to the scent of hundreds of warm bodies crammed into a sealed hole in the ground-- which is just gone now. The air is fresh, clean... empty, cold, lonely. No smell of spilled ale, piss, and vomit, no thick scent of the combined breaths and bodies of all their people... no scent of belonging, the air that moves their lungs now is no longer that which has moved those of all they've ever known, and every breath washes more, and more, and more of who they once were from inside their very body.

Being on the surface, it's like being thrust into an alien world, with which all just expects you to be intimately familiar. What do you mean the grass, the bugs, the birds, the leaves are strange? What do you mean you've never eaten leaves from this plant, fruit from this tree, the flesh of this creature you've only ever heard about? They laugh when you avert your eyes from the sky and try not to think about falling into it, or when you startle at the feeling of falling water suddenly hitting your skin, as if that was somehow funny, charming.

The night, which you've never before seen fall, is a comfort from all that endless, boundless seeing- but after the Joining, not even that is a relief.

Because if you're a dwarven Warden, all the dreams you've had in your life have been nightmares.

So you cope. You learn, and adapt, and endure.

Strong and immutable, like the Stone from which you were rent.

[aylaaescar]

For the meme: 33 and 46 for Sidane/Morrigan, 28 and 48 for Migdalia/Ashley

thank you!! 🖤 placing under a cut since this got long

Sidane/Morrigan

33. How do they flirt? Who’s the worse flirt?

I think this one probably depends on personal tastes, haha. Sidane has always been a charmer and a flirt, and had several short-lived relationships and flings when they were in the Circle, so they definitely know how to flirt and charm. Morrigan's none too shabby herself, though? they're both coy, while Morrigan tends to cut to the chase after a bit whereas Sidane enjoys drawing out flirting and laying down the charm. if that makes any sense at all, haha.

46. Do they consider their relationship casual or serious? Is the answer different depending on who you ask? Why?

those two were so in denial of their relationship turning serious, even when it was apparent to everybody else that there was more going on between them than sex lol. they're both scared of love, so it takes almost the entirety of the Blight to get them to admit they have feelings for each other. I'm pretty sure if you asked either of them, the answer would be the same - it's just casual sex, nothing more to it than that.

Sidane was the one to come to terms with it and accept that they were in love first, roughly around when Morrigan told them about what she found in the grimoire. the idea of Morrigan dying or getting hurt horrified them, and the situation kind of forced Sidane to finally accept what they were feeling emotionally.

Migdalia/Ashley

28. Who’s the better chef? Do they cook for the other?

definitely not Meg, who came from the streets and then enlisted in the military at 18. she can do some simple stuff, like making sandwiches, but anything beyond that she just doesn't have the experience with. Ashley, on the other hand, I could see her cooking with her family growing up and being pretty decent in the kitchen! I imagine them cooking for each other isn't really an option until the war's over (military rations and all), but when they are able to be more domestic, they prefer to cook together. it's one of the little things that Meg didn't have a family to do with when she was growing up, and both she and Ashley want to make up for those lost experiences together.

48. Do they talk about their future together? Why or why not?

in the time frame of ME1, I don't think they would have? Meg was trying to deny her feelings for Ashley to herself up until Virmire - she's strict with following the rules and fraternization so breaks the rules. they were starting to discuss things with each other after Saren's death and decide what they wanted to do, since they value both each other and their careers, but well. the Collectors made this one a bit of a moot point.

they don't talk about it often in the frame of ME3, because everything is so uncertain and there's no guarantee that they'll even make it out alive. but they do sometimes, late at night. quietly talking about the things they want to do together and the places they want to see - when they make it out alive, in those conversations, because there's so much gloom surrounding them already. it's nice to have those moments where they can talk about their future together like it's a guaranteed thing, before the morning comes and reality's back.

[interplanet--janet]

my gaming tag here on tumblr goes all the way back to my senior year of high school (for reference that was about 8 years ago) and wow was i cringe and free. and really terrible at video games