#das my theory

[grilledkatniss]

I still don't buy it.

It's just that I genuinely don't understand why either one of their teams would go out of their ways to tell ET that they've broken up, when they literally kept the start of their relationship hidden for months and then kept the rest of their almost 7 year relationship as low key as they could, barely allowing themselves to talk about each other on the record only to say they would rather not talk about their private lives to the media. Just to then say something so bland like "the relationship run its course."

And the "he didn't know this huge touring, hyper famous version of Taylor before" is bullshit, cause he was there for the entirety of rep era, including the stadium tour. Like that hyper famous workaholic, always with a new project, stirring rumors and planting easter eggs, sometimes super petty and resentful Taylor was the base game version he knew.

And if it was a PR stunt to draw attention to the tour, I don't think Taylor would've approved a move that was obviously gonna thrust her back into the "oh she's gonna write a hell of an album about this break up, who's she gonna date next, the man eater always bashing an ex" narrative.

It just makes no sense to me. Any of it.

[vulpixelates]

i know it will never happen but i so desperately desire an origins-type playable backstory thing in all games but especially veilguard. i feel like it added so much depth to origins and made you feel instantly connected to your character in a way that gets lost in games like inquisition where you fill in the blanks as you go except for the bare basics. like, i do enjoy the freedom to willy nilly decide where a character was before the events of the story from a creative perspective, but the playable origins were just so good! especially when you go back to where your warden is from and can engage differently with the arcs there

[an-established-butt-dent]

"What have they done to you,

Old friend."

Trapped in the fade, Solas comes face to face with the remnant of his spirit.

The Dread Wolf was his wisdom, mirror to his pride. In the wake of the wrathful Evanuris, it too, has succumbed to their taint.

Or, where I'm making wild plot speculations surrounding Solas trapped in the fade. while turning my brainrot into art pieces and gifs. I'M PACING MY ENCLOSURE. Looking for crumbs and scrabs of Veilguard. Please Bioware I'm begging, feed me. 😭

[14dayswithyou]

[30 May 2022] unfortunately for me i am obsessed with ren and i keep checking this CC for new content like my life depends on it 💀 do you have a spare hc (nsfw or sfw) about the lil guy himself, i wish to know more about the he

"unfortunately for me" JKASFJAKSFASJLASG PLEASE 💀💀💀 I’ll try to be more consistent with posting more CC content then!! (But you can also find more Ren crumbs on my Twitter and/or Tumblr -- both are @14DaysWithYou -- the people there are so talented T_T <3)

SFW: - He hates the smell of fire/smoke and actively tries to avoid it whenever possible. It's also another reason why he never wants to try smoking - The very first time he rented out one of your recommended books, Ren spent the entire night overanalysing it and ended up with a 39 page essay and eyebags the next morning - This is more of an easter egg, but the clips in his hair resemble the roman numerals for 14 (Days With You) - The necklace he wears is actually a ring he tried to give to his crush, but found it abandoned at the playground 👀

NSFW: - He's too embarrassed to ask, but Ren often fantasizes about having you sit in his lap and cockwarm him while he's hacking away on his laptop - He has an unhealthy amount of lewd photos of you on his phone (and his wall), as well as a dakimakura that resembles you - Don't ask why some of the shelves in the secluded parts of the library are sticky :/

[bunabi]

Glad I picked up the lore books because Dreamers can see the future and its nowhere on the wiki lol (p.37 of vol. II)

That puts Solas's meltdown and the actions of past powerful somniari into perspective a lot more

The whole excerpt feels like DA:V foreshadowing. Here's parts of it:

Immense magical power seems to go hand in hand with ego and the idea of exploiting one's fate, or somehow avoiding it, reliably comes up sooner or later.

Even when the future can be known, it's those who are born with the gift, like Darinius himself, who are most likely to bleed for it.

This, I think, is the best possible argument to not meddle with the future: whenever someone tries, the Maker sees to it that the outcome is as ironic as possible.

[blu-ish]

Come get yo Adeleine angst yall

[knife-eared-jan]

Anyone else think, that if Illario really did kill Caterina, it was something like this?

I read the theory that Illario is a red herring, but I also saw this analysis of Illario’s undeniable villain vibes. And I just think that both can sort of be true, if he didn't initially betray Lucanis but did kill Caterina now under the influence of the gods.

Especially because the gods can manipulate negative feelings that characters have but would never let themselves be led by under normal circumstances. Like that mayor presumably having always been greedy but normally just being a harmless mayor doing mayor things and genuinely also wanting to protect his people. Like Illario definitely feeling envious of Lucanis and his potential future position even though he also deeply cares for him and his well-being. So I think Illario would be a prime target for them. Either way, I think the resolution to Lucanis' possession by Spite is going to revolve around whether he can let go of resentment towards Illario and therefore the game intentionally makes him appear as shady as possible to lead us astray. I think there will be a good ending where Spite becomes Love or something similar or one where he embraces Spite by chosing to enact a character-defining spiteful deed himself, if you are of the same pursuasion as Bellara with the mayor that he should suffer for what he did despite being compelled by the gods. (So unfortunately, our desire to kill Caterina or anyone who ever hurt Lucanis is the exactly wrong energy to bring to his romance probably. An eye for an eye is never the way etc etc)

I read somewhere that the VA used his own relationship with his brother when voicing Lucanis, so I definitely think that Illario is going to provide the canvas for that choice and that there will be something that we need to forgive Illario for but that is also potentially forgivable depending on your own morals and not 2-dimenionally evil, so that D'meta's Crossing scene just really made me think of what I suspect the road their relationship will go down looks like, if that makes sense.

[r0semultiverse]

Dan Da Dan mangaka is a homestuck fan

My partner was looking up the Dandadan manga just for fun or whatever and sent the magazine/book page that looks a bit different in the anime and immediately I felt an eerie sense of familiarity...

Obama going into space on a special mission remind anyone else of a certain piece of media?

At first I was like surely Dandandan has been out for some time before getting an anime adaptation; so, it's probably just coincidence... right?

Oh how wrong I was... truly, we can never escape it. We cannot fight the Homestuck.

[purplecritter]

Rook, the Lighthouse, the Veilguard (a theory)

Many thoughts about our base being called the Lighthouse, protagonist named Rook, and group named Veilguard...

In chess (assuming that in Thedas it works similarly), the rook pieces is shaped like a turret, or simply a tower. A tower is first and foremost a place to watch over potential threats before they become problematic, and only then it becomes a place to defend and attack from. This imagery fits the guarding aspect implied in the name "Veilguard".

But what is a lighthouse if not a tower that lights up on top? I'm reminded of the Red Rook-Wolf Book revealed so long ago: a turret/rook with a wolf's head surrounded by fire above it. 

Sources: [1] [2]

Now. A lighthouse (metaphorical or otherwise) is in hindsight also quite fitting: just remember all the times that the Fade was referenced in lore to by its water-like qualities?

Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls. From these emerald waters doth life begin anew. (Canticle of Andraste 14:11) - From the waters of the Fade you made the world. As the Fade had been fluid, so was the world fixed. (Threnodies 1:4) - The sun, looking down upon the fruitful land, saw the joy that Elgar'nan took in her [the land's] works and grew jealous. [...] The land cracked and split from bitterness and pain, and cried salt tears for the loss of all she had wrought. The pool of tears cried for the land became the ocean, and the cracks in her body the first rivers and streams. [...] Eventually Elgar'nan threw the sun down from the sky and buried him in a deep abyss created by the land's sorrow. (From The Tale of Elgar'nan and the Sun, as told by Gisharel, Keeper of the Ralaferin clan of the Dalish elves)

Perhaps the Lighthouse is placed at the Crossroads, or somewhere between the Fade and Waking World, to guide and light the way for those who are allowed to pass through.

Perhaps it's Veilguard not only because the Veil need guarding, but we're also the guards that watch over the threshold of the Fade.

[raptorladylover6969]

is somebody gonna match my freak⁉️💔😔 (be so overly obsessed over a character that you actually start physically convulsing when they come up on screen or find any sort of content related to them)

[silverhalla]

alright single digit days so it’s time for last-minute baseless + unfounded veilguard theories!!!!!!! I’ll go first: the reason spite can’t take over lucanis’ body is because that body is ALREADY being possessed by lucanis, who was in fact dead and buried in the wake and rebound to a new form in the ossuary

[lordbhreanna]

I was playing The Descent this week and this banter with Renn popped up about one of his soldiers falling down the Deep Roads. She told the other legionnaires about some strange stuff she saw while lost, like...

"A golden longboat, floating in the air."

And I thought: "Wait, haven't we seen this recently?"

We have indeed.

Did this soldier had a glimpse of the Caretaker? Did she stumble into the Crossroads? Since we still don't know who the Caretaker is or how their boat works, I'm not sure - it could be something simply from the Fade, not just the Crossroads section.

To be honest, I can't make sense of the other stuff. Hairless children hunting nugs and the skeleton on the throne? That last one gives me Black City vibes, but who knows.

Renn later tells us that the soldier, after going to sleep, forgets everything. So kind of suspicious all around. I am no theorycrafter myself, and this might have been brought up before by more knowledgeable fans, but just found it curious! Especially now we have all those magic + Stone + dwarves connections.

[magesforthedas]

Veilguard Faction Ages:

Okay, join me on another “it’s 3am and I should be sleeping, but I couldn’t until I’d thoroughly researched this line of thought!” Minor spoilers for early VG ahead.

Antaam

The Antaam invade Tevinter around 9:44/9:45 Dragon, not on the orders of the Qun. The Qunari the Inquisitor meets in Trespasser are probably Antaam, though idk if it says that? So they could’ve broken away 9:43-9:44?

Edit: friendly commenter shared that there's a letter where it says that Antaam broke off because the Ben-Hassrath refused to continue the operation after the Inquisitor stopped them in Trespasser. So officially 9:44!

Shadow Dragons

The Shadow Dragons started out as the Lucerni, formed sometime between 9:41-9:44 Dragon. When Maevaris Tilani was framed for treason and the Lucerni dissolved, she took them underground and transformed the movement into the Shadow Dragons.

Maevaris says she’s been laying low since the allegations, that her title had been stripped… a Shadow Dragon Rook says they hadn’t heard that, and wouldn’t that had to have happened before the “Shadow Dragons” were even formed, and thus Rook a part of it? So that would be somewhat old news, since before Rook has been away with Varric… Rook doesn’t keep up with politics, I guess😂

Based off the VG codex entries I found (Neve’s notes), Mae was kicked from the Magisterium “over a year ago”, and based on the order of the codex, shortly after this she met Tarquin of the Shadow Dragons, and he was probably working with them then. Then or sometime after, she was recruited; How long has Neve been with the Shadow Dragons?

Best guess: 9:42ish the Lucerni were formed, after Dorian went back to Tevinter, before Trespasser. Sometime between 9:48-9:50 is when the Lucerni were dissolved and the Shadow Dragons were formed; long enough for the Lucerni to start to gain momentum, and make the opposition nervous, which is when they tried to tear it down. Rook would have left with Varric in 9:51, since Veilguard is supposed to be in 9:52 and you were with Varric for a year. Rook probably wasn’t part of the Shadow Dragons right at the start, but it could be pretty close if you take into account the letter found about Dorian reaching out to the Mercar family, who’s head of house was sympathetic to the Shadow Dragons. Rook could’ve realistically been with the group for a few years, or even just a few months, depending on when you think the Shadow Dragons were formed, and when Rook joined. Although, it would make sense that you and Neve haven’t met if she joined just before or after you left with Varric, so that would point to Maevaris being framed around 9:49-9:50.

Veil Jumpers

Bellara says the Veil Jumpers are pretty new, just since Arlathan Forest started getting even more chaotic. I can’t say exactly why, but I feel like in Dragon Age new/old terms, it could have been around for like… 5 years? That would put the date roughly 9:47 Dragon. We know Strife was spying on the Antaam after they took Ventus (Three Trees to Midnight), so around 9:44-9:45? Then later Strife and Irelin were sent to find an artifact in Arlathan Forest, which was when they discovered the magic had gone crazy (Ruins of Reality). Unfortunately, there isn’t any kind of date on that, but it just means we know more was happening before the Veil Jumpers started. So sometime between 9:47-9:50 is likely for their official start.

Lords of Fortune

The Lords of Fortune, upon actually reading my codex entries haha, were formed by Isabela and friends; she’s “been with the Lords since before we were the Lords. Back then it was just a bunch of sea raiders-“

Shathann left the Qun presumably when Taash was quite little, if they “went through a lot of spoons as a baby”. They were taken in by the Lords of Fortune, but a Lord Rook has never met Taash. This speaks to either: A. Shathann and Taash were not immediately taken in by the Lords, or B. Taash is pretty young, and only officially joined the Lords after you left (a year before VG), though Shathann would have been with them for longer.

It doesn’t sound like the Lords were around at the start of Inquisition, as you can ask Varric about her, and he says she went back to the Raiders of the Waking Sea and is calling herself an Admiral, though he doesn’t know if that’s official or a self-styled title. Isabela is a field agent for the Inquisition according to the multiplayer mode, so could she have formed the Lords after that? Either after 9:42 when the biggest battle happened, or after 9:44 when it was officially dissolved/merged with the chantry.

Also side note, Antaam vs Qunari (with notes from Shathann) by Taash, age 14; this was written after the Antaam broke from the Qun. So since that was 9:44, if the note is directly from that time Taash would be 22 in 9:52 (edited for clarity after comment!). After I realized this I found a note on the wiki that Taash is early 20’s, from a developer’s Q&A, which I then found the said Taash is the youngest, early 20’s (close to Sera), Emmerich is oldest in his early 50’s the rest are somewhere around late 20’s/early 30’s.

If Shathann left because of the Antaam splitting from the Qun, then it could make sense for the Lords to have been around just prior. However, Taash talks about the Antaam attacks and how it’s made the Rivain locals scared of them- this could either mean :

Shathann left when Taash was much younger, well before the Antaam split, so possibly around the early 9:30s? The two may have settled into Rivain well before the Lords were formed, and Shathann started working for them possibly in 9:51, since a Lord Rook doesn’t know her either.

Shathann left around early 9:30s, but started working with the Lords soon after their founding, as Antaam attacks on Rivain may have made life more difficult.

Or, less likely I’d think, Shathann left with Taash and started worked with the Lords soon after their founding, so sometime in 9:42-9:46 when Taash was a teenager. It took the Antaam a few years for their attacks to hit Rivain, which is when Taash and their mother started facing more problems.

Assuming Taash did join after Rook left, a year is a short amount of time for all the adventures you hear bits of, but with so much happening it also makes sense.

Grey Wardens

The Grey Wardens, obviously, have been around since the First Blight (Specifically, founded in -305 Ancient), so they’re 1257 years old as of 9:52.

Antivan Crows

The Crows started as an arm of the Chantry in the area around Treviso: The Chant was popularized in Antiva in 1:45 Divine, so it would have been after that. There is supposedly a fair amount of Rivaini culture in the Crows (that’s where the tradition of their tattoos comes from), and the Rivaini-born Queen of Antiva was born 4:30 Black. So it’s possible that the Crows were formed after she came to power and Rivaini culture was more mixed into Antivan, or they could have already been around and that culture was incorporated in later. So they’re potentially somewhere between 500-800 years old.

Mourn Watch

The Mourn Watch are a branch of the Mortalitasi; the Mortalitasi Order was founded by Vitus Fabria, King Caspar Pentaghast’s personal advisor (and a Tevinter mage). Caspar Pentaghast seized control of Nevarra in 2:46 Glory. The Mourn Watch may not have been established right away, and I suppose there’s no way of knowing unless they tell us; was the Mourn Watch established right away, or later, after some kind of corruption or power struggle within the Mortalitasi occurred? So the Mourn Watch is at most 706 in 5:52, potentially younger by a couple hundred years.

ALSO I’ve seen some discussion about when Veilguard takes place; there are notes in the codex dating 9:52 Dragon, so it’s that year (or later I suppose, but I don’t think so) unless we are somehow seeing notes from the future :)

TL:DR my best guesses on Faction foundings and other related dates:

-305 Ancient - The Grey Wardens are founded

1:45 Divine-5:xx Exalted (?) - The Antivan Crows are founded

2:46-2:5x Glory - The Mortalitasi are formed, along with, or sometime thereafter, the Mourn Watch

9:41 Dragon - The events of Dragon Age: Inquisition begin

9:42 Dragon - The conclusion of the event of Inquisition

9:42-9:43 Dragon - Lucerni movement is formed

9:42-9:46 Dragon - The Lords of Fortune are founded

9:44 Dragon - The events of the Trespasser DLC. The Antaam break from the Qun

9:44-9:45 Dragon - The Antaam attack Tevinter cities, including Ventus. Strife is sent to spy on the Antaam

9:47-9:50 Dragon - Arlathan Forest’s magic starts going haywire. The Veil Jumpers are founded

9:49-9:50 Dragon - Maevaris is removed from the Magisterium and the Lucerni are dissolved. The Shadow Dragons are formed.

9:51 Dragon - Rook (from any background) leaves their organization to help Varric.

9:52 Dragon - The events of Dragon Age: The Veilguard begin

So, the Grey Wardens are the oldest, the the Mourn Watch and Antivan Crows are also pretty old. Then the Lords of Fortune, Veil Jumpers, and Shadow Dragons are baby organizations in comparison!

Thanks for reading y’all!

[trashbag-usa]

it feels like a lot of people have given up on fully connecting ISWM/Engie Mark to the wider lore (aka WKM) since IRL Mark straight up told us he wasn't Actor.

but not only am i a stubborn son of a bitch, but yknow what Mark also said?

"Engineer Mark isn't Actor Mark, but Actor Mark just might be Engineer Mark."

so hear me out, y'all.

preamble; if you saw this in a yt comment section, no you didn't. (that was also me i didnt steal this i prommy-)

i have this entirely insane theory about iswm that Engineer Mark is actually Damien, but only sometimes.

the most obvious places i can spot him is in the abandoned ship with the candles ("captain needs their sleep" and whatnot), as Old Mark (specifically in the empty diner), and most definitely as the "Mark" we see as part of the finale, the one who realizes he was wrong.

Actor is allergic to admitting fault so I Don't Believe That's Him.

this explains the thematic focus on sleep and rest in these scenes, things told to Damien and told to US by DARK several times.

("Don't remember" anyone?)

speaking of Dark, it explains why he isn't there. we DO however see the suspiciously Darkiplier-esqe Ms. Whitacre, which it isn't controversial to say atp is CLEARLY Celine.

that is, until the universe does its final kablooey and Dark as we know him, Damien attributes and all, comes to take the warp-crystal.

and besides, think about it.

given Actor's whole goal in all this, as laid out in the Damien Project, do you REALLY think he would write a story in which all problems arise from HIS OWN NEGLIGENCE? NO!

that would make him a villain, and all he ever wants is to be portrayed as the hero, literally for eternity!

but you know what i think he would do? set up a farce for the most troublesome of his "co-stars".

you, the viewer, want genuine choices? you want to have some real control over the story? some responsibility? FINE.

everyone looks to you, but under your leadership everything goes wrong, no matter what. you don't know why, but you're actively villinized and the harder you try to go back and fix things, achieve an "ending" on your own, the more people HATE you. the more the thought that maybe there IS something wrong with you specifically will stick in your mind as a possibility.

all these options, but none of them "right", creating MORE suffering instead of fixing it just to find that ever elusive end.

damien wants control of the narrative? he wants his old friend, you, the District Attorney to be released from his eternal story and given back to him? FINE.

here's his role back in earnest, given the possibility to engage and choose instead of intrude and twist like usual.

(yes, i do think Damien/Engineer is genuinely going down his own hopeless path while we find our own. in one of the descriptions leading to the final "Hold On/Let Go" confrontation, it says "you're not the only one making choices. you're not alone, you never were".)

he is allowed to fight for the safety of others, side by side with his closest companion, just as they did when they were alive.

BUT, the twist is Damien becomes a genuine villain. in his quest to do the altruistic thing and help at all cost, he is personally responsible for the death of LITERALLY EVERYONE EVER.

this is a personal hell for someone like Damien, as seen from WKM, all he ever seemed to want was help others and guide them towards peace.

for his actions/leadership to fail so unthinkably catastrophically, seems like the exact hell a bitter Actor would want to subject his "old friend" to for meddling. :/

Actor sets the stage for a theatrical punishment game. Mayor and Attorney, together again, taking an impossibly long stay in a personally crafted hell for the horrendous crime of ever even thinking they'd be worthy of ✨️staring roles✨️.

Actor turns you two against each other, and once Damien is brough down to the depths of despair and you have finally learned that true responsibility can lead to catastrophic, painful results, we're brought back to our proper places.

you go to a proper ending, with the Engineer role now being played by Actor once and for all, and Damien once again becomes part of Darkiplier, pocketing the warp-crystal to plant on the box in Heist.

Engineer isn't Actor, it's a role he plays when it suits him and his goals, to make his enemies suffer. he's willing to be Damien's understudy, if only for this purpose.

but at the end of the journey, Actor becomes Engineer to take in the fruits of his labor. ..and maybe invite you to a Heist while he's at it.

BUT HEY, THAT'S JUST A

very long winded """theory""" that is pretty much only insane fanfiction-

[nadas-dirthalen]

Whoever writes the codices over at BioWare has my eternal thanks, because I'm out here misty-eyed about Kal-Sharok just reading these tiny little mementos. Weeping about Emmrich consoling Harding on the nature of spirits, souls, and the spirit-soul exchange across the Veil.

I still think that the next game (or the one after) is going to show us that a mass movement of spirits is what's going to fix the Titans, and I'm in mourning over it in advance, because this is a wound that's stayed open, barely allowed to scab, for millennia.

Thank you BioWare for making me mourn... the ground. The sky. Everything that ever was and ever will be. Thank you for wrapping that up in Paragon Metez.

[autisticcole]

Okay so I've seen the theory that Davrin has a daughter/little sister that he cares for due to the girl that shows up in one of his scenes in the trailer and I present to you:

What if his personal quest ends in having to choose between the girl's life, and Assan's, Davrin's duty as a father/big brother vs his duty as a Grey Warden.

And it would even be a book end/parallel to Dragon Age Origins, specifically Ser Jory who had a pregnant wife back home, and that was likely one of the reasons he backed out of becoming a warden.