#dragon age slavery

[crestwood-survivor]

Tevinter Slavery - Dragon Age Veilguard

Okay I love this game but it has flaws and the more i think about it the more I just... need to rant a little? Will put my rant under the cut because I know some people don't want to see that negativity.

Okay but what the fuck was that choice to just sort of ignore slavery in Tevinter? This has been built up since DAO when Loghain sold elves to Tevinter. Then in DA2 we have Fenris spending years being hunted by Danarius after he escaped.

Now we are IN Tevinter and we're just... ignoring all of that?? I know there is that codex entry from Dorian. Then we have that tiny side quest where we rescue slaves from the venatori. But even that's not Tevinter doing slavery, that's the bad Tevinter zealots doing slavery. As if all of Tevinter isn't built on slavery.

We are in Dock town. Where I assume slaves would be shipped into Tevinter but that's not what we see. I really thought we were going to have a big plot line with the shadow dragons fighting slavery and we didn't get that.

Like... was this EA stepping in and saying "No. No no. We can't talk about THAT."

Because why else would they just abandon this story that's been building up since Origins??

[teine-mallaichte]

Been thinking about dragon adge 2 again... more specifically about the way slavers are used as the generic enemies and how that really could have been expanded upon...

so we have this city that's currently FULL of refugees, people are desperate, poor, destitute... they are living in slums in what used to be a sewer, their only access to health care is an illegal clinic ran by an apostate. They are traumatised, many have lost people, some may be alone, and it's clear that those in power do not care and this also happens to be a city known for its slave trade... people trafficking in that situation would thrive!!! then if we add in things like the Bone Pit, a place hwre only the most desperate work, a place that is so dangerous that on what feels like a weekly basis there is a disaster there, the workers constantly flooding Anders clinic. Also freaking DRAGONS It really feels like as well as the elves being kidnapped and shipped to Tervinter as slaves story line there was serious potential for something a kin to modern slavery and/or indentured servitude could have been explored so easily... the Bone Pit feels like the perfect set up for that, Hawke even gains 50/50 ownership, oimagine them finding out about the way the pit gains labour AFTER becoming part owner! Imagine Anders reaction! IMAGINE FENRIS'S REACTION!!!! I really wish I had the writing talent to do this concept justice as a fanfic... In fact if anyone wants to take this as a prompt and run with it go for it because this really feels like there's potential...

[corpocyborg]

BTW, if you've never had both Loghain and pro-templar Hawke at the same time, there is some FANTASTIC unique dialogue... I wish I could remember the exact wording because I can't find it anywhere... but it starts out with Hawke talking about all the things that Loghain has done wrong in his life and then Loghain says, "I see. Atrocities are your purview alone? You killed every mage in Kirkwall."

[lavellaned]

A lot of the pro-veilguard arguments I see include a very specific way of viewing what “dark fantasy” is which misses the entire point as to why there are criticisms about the overall tone of the game.

Dark fantasy is not just “how much murder rape bigotry and overall suffering can we put in a story for the sake of doing so”.

It’s about having events and themes based off of the darker parts of reality and then, as the player, being able to do something about it. The general appeal is the catharsis. It’s about seeing these stories reflected through an interactive story in a meaningful, respectful, purposeful way.

Is dragon age the poster child for handling its complicated, real-life-inspired politics well? No. But veilguard was somehow worse. The bar was in hell and it still tripped flat on its face.

Veilguard’s lackadaisical, chronically ironic “well THAT just happened”, neutered writing and theme is not a good argument as to why this is a good dragon age game, and you can’t blame the dark fantasy genre for it.

[lizzybeeee]

Someone on reddit posted a pic of the concept art characters from the DATV artbook and I'm just...so tired and disappointed.

We could have had Calpernia as a companion, not even mentioning Imshael.

This clearly shows that they initially - in whatever iteration of the game it is - cared about incorporating aspects of previous games. Imagine having Calpernia, Harding, and Imshael as companions and not having them comment/acknowledge the events of Inquisition! Imagine Calpernia talking and giving insight into Corypheous or Samson, or arguing with Harding in banter! Imagine Imshael talking about Michel deChevin or complaining that the Inquisitor stabbed them! Not to mention the other concept art that had Dorian and Isabela interacting - try making anything like that happen without acknowledging DA2 or DAI!

Can you imagine having all these characters in the game, then having the nerve to drop 'the south of Thedas is blighted and destroyed now lol' in a letter? No!

We live in the worst timeline with DATV - a game that utterly watered down, sanitized, and obliterated everything that came before it. A game that removed all mystery and intrigue, condensing it to "solas and the ancient elves did it lol' - telling us with no gravitas, bluntly stating it with the subtly and care of a fucking dragon in a tea shop. A game that, with no shame, went scorched earth with Ferelden, Kirkwall, and Orlais with the sole intent of clearing the board so that they can cultivate some new IP with the existing Dragon Age name.

What a fucking waste.

[chanafehs]

I think everyone has a popular fandom hot take they hate but I gotta say my least favorite one is the “Samson should’ve been in Cullen’s place during inquisition” because I must’ve met a different version of “maybe Meredith’s right, give mages a little power and they go bad” Samson than you people did

[seeker-ophelia]

14 Days Until Veilguard

Technically 13 days, 23 hours and 27 minutes but who's counting...

I AM UNWELL

[welcomefortune]

VIPER IS THE FUCKING BLACK DIVINE?!?!

AND YOU ONLY LEARN THIS IF YOU SAVE TREVISO?!?!

[postcardsfromheapside]

Just passed a post that tumblr refreshed off my screen wondering why people want there to be more racism/slurs in the game, and like, I am not making a hot take I'm sure, but having a left a large DA fb group partially over this, just to unequivocally answer: white people love cosplaying oppression. They love playing drow in BG3 and squealing about the commentary you get there too. It feels very edgy for them. They feel like they're Engaging With Racism while absolutely doing nothing about it in the real world.

It's insane to explain to other white people that no, I don't want to experience this in-game because I grew up in a stupid southern town where other white people slung around slurs for Jews, among other verbal harassment. I get to hide who I am if I choose, but maybe people who can't hide their differences would like to have a space where they don't encounter this kind of cruelty. And it's extremely difficult for them to understand, because for them, hearing characters like Davrin, or Bel, or Rook, acknowledge how difficult elves have had it - still have it - just isn't enough of a nod - it isn't edgey enough. They don't have the real life experiences to pull from to fill in the gaps, so it makes them feel like the dialogue isn't valid.

Honestly I don't have a way to end this except to tell them that if they want to feel these things, they should go play one of the prior games. VG isn't for them. It isn't for the people who need gratuitous cruelty and unkindness, it's for the people who already know the world is cruel, and unkind, and unfair, and want to be kinder in spite of it.

[ghostsontelevision]

i'm ngl i have not been able to stop thinking abt how dai-onward they're like "dragon age is about mythical heightened fantasy actually" and im like. well i wish it WASNT.

like, at least in my opinion, dao and da2 feel focused on everyday people who gotta live in a fantasy world, and all this political maneuvering and such that gets in the way of killing a big dragon or an evil wizard or whatever. which to me, is fun and compelling and what i want in fantasy. it makes it easier for me to get invested in characters. and then dai wants to tell me about the mythic elven empire run by a huge group of evil wizards and im bored. isn't dragon age supposed to be abt things that happened in the dragon age. this is also prob why its so hard for me to give a fuck abt solas' plan because im like i want to talk about the practical, realistic consequences and he's like. well i want elves to be magic and immortal. and im like not only would that make dragon age a very boring series for me, but also i think blowing up the world to restore an ancient empire. is bad.

[moontheoretist]

(The text in the corner says: Ghilan'nain reveales herself to the world).

This picture from the art book plus what we already knew before suggests that dragons served two-fold role in elven society:

are sign of status

are subservient to the Elven Gods

In addition to that we already know that Dragons have a special ability that allows them to resist the taint just a bit by closing it in cysts and slowing the progression of the corruption. If we take that into consideration and the fact that before there were no Qunari Grey Wardens and now there are (and possibly they're more resistant than other Wardens. I dunno I didn't find anything about that yet but other lore would logically suggest them to be more resistant) we could try to draw some conclusions from those facts alone and theorize a bit.

Theory:

It's very much possible that Qunari (or Kossith) were created as a new type of slave or soldier that was supposed to be immune or resistant to the Blight but it turned out they're not hence why they're referred to as a "mistake" or "beast of strange blood" with a "blood engorged with decay" (Corypheus) or having a "blood that doesn't belong to their people" (Kieran). They may have been a failed experiment of the Elven God Ghilan'nain that later got freed when she was imprisoned.

There is a precedent with Elven Gods using the Blight for war so assuming that Qunari may have been created by them and were supposed to be subservient to the Gods is not that outlandish.

From the picture alone there is also a precedent for Ghilan'nain just discovering a race that serves the Dragons and enslaving them. As primal magical beings in DA world each seem to have their own race (Titans have Dwarves while Spirits have Elves) so it wouldn't be weird for the Dragons to also have a race that represents and serves them.

This picture also seem to be made more as an idea for the game. The person in front of Ghilan'nain looks similar to the Tevinter Archon.

It's probably how devs envisioned Ghilan'nain gaining support initialy. But the picture itself despite being used for different context tells us a lot about how Elven Gods see Qunari. To them they're just a token of "friendship", a tool to be used for political gain, not actual people.

(Is that Sten being sacrificed by Ghilan'nain? OH NO).

In that artbook there is also another picture that seems to suggest that Qunari blood has special and unique properties (like being able to be used to open Black Eluvian that never made it to the game).

[aquamonstra]

more people focusing on the fact that the Shadow Dragons are underground slavery abolitionists please.

more people talking about Dorian and Mae's plight to make slavery illegal in Tevinter please.

more people acknowledging that Ashur fights against slavery both within the system as the Divine and outside the system as The Viper please.

more people highlighting the fact that the Venatori are the magical KKK/Nazis and the Imperial Templars are cops and actually just slavery enforcement please.

more people analyzing Tarquin's dilemma that All Templars Are Bastards and how he cannot participate in the system without also being complicit in it please.

[iniziare]

Download: Dragon Age (.PDFs)

With my return to Dragon Age, I've sought to get my hands on copies of some of Bioware's written works until I'm able to get my hands on the physical copies. And honestly, who would I be if I didn't share them with the community? So here I am, with some December offerings a little ahead of time. Please know that this post will be updated over-time with the franchise's complete written works. But without any further ado, have some Google Drive links— and if there's any issues with the DLs, don't hesitate to let me know.

Book: World of Thedas (V1, V2)

Book: Tevinter Nights

Comics: The Missing (P1, P2, P3, P4)

And as per usual, a reblog is appreciated to help spread this to people who might find use!

[housederiva]

I just noticed that playing DAV as an elf nobody has even called me knife-ears, not once? Looking at the Netflix show, looking back at DAV, looking at the Netflix show? Are we really pretending they don’t have an issue with elves?

🚬🤏 elf and a qunari rooks should be treated differently in Minrathous, you’re right and you should say it louder

[mayhemforlace]

The Well of Sorrows