#dragon age anaris

[raccoonslittlehands]

Veilguard's two hottest fuckwit losers

[firlachieldraws]

Dragon Age: Anaris

Inspired by @gefionne's amazing Solavellan fic "These Hands, If Not Gods", where he serves in every way possible while dissing Solas (and I just can't hate him for it 🤭)

[suranastair]

Through the Shadows

[the-overanalyzer]

Ah yes, the Veilguard sidequest villains:

nationalism

little brother's goth phase

reflexive cissexism

repressed female rage

contesting grandma's will

rejected tenure application

ANCIENT SINS

[gyrovagi]

have you ever felt the warmth of a god's happiness?

[taterdraws]

my rook went "you've got to be kidding me" when anaris showed up

[zaahvi]

— "I am Anaris. They call me—" — "A Forgotten One."

[sammakesart]

I have a bunch of sketches of the elven gods. I wanted to make pretty art of all of them, but I have so many WIPs as it is… decided to just share them as is. Here’s some of them.

[raymurata]

Bellara's main choice and DAV's implicit (or accidental) stance on book burning

Okay, so. Prefacing this with -- I enjoyed the game. I'd even play it again. That being said, one of its biggest flaws is trying to deliver something so morally sanitized it shies away from giving its characters (aside from Solas) and plotlines (aside from Solas's) real nuance. And in the same breath, they end up sending messages that I doubt they intended to send.

Bellara's main decision is particularly annoying to me.

First, I find her arc to be lacking -- She starts the game grieving her brother and blaming herself for his death despite not being responsible for it, then she finds Cyrian again only to grieve him again, so she's back to the start, only this time she has had the guilt removed from her because Cyrian tells her what she needs to hear, and the blame is placed on a big bad evil. Fair, fine.

But I don't like the cinematography of that scene at all. There was plenty of time for Rook and Bellara to react between Anaris grabbing Cyrian's foot and throwing him at the wall. People in Thedas have survived way worse injuries, too, and Bellara literally has healing at her disposal. Why doesn't she even try? His death is clearly plot-driven but it doesn't take her arc forward all that much? But again, that's fine. Not too bad.

But then the choice I have to make for her is whether or not to keep the archive, why? At no point in the game (please correct me if I'm wrong and missed canon information that contradicts me. That would make me way less angry!!!) do they tell us that it was Bellara using the Archive that summoned Anaris, or that it could summon him at will. As far as my interpretation goes, the Archive is, as its name says, the equivalent to a library curated by a comically self-aggrandizing jerk. At no point do we hear it share any actually dangerous lore either, do we? No blueprints for nuclear weapons...

So why does the game choose this wording:

Now, unless the Archive has powers we are unaware of, what this is saying is basically "burn the ancient elven library (it will be safe)" or "don't burn the ancient elven library (it will be dangerous)" and, for a game that is so irritatingly set on giving you only 2024-morality-board-approved goodTM and unproblematic companions and allies... Why does it tell me that burning books is the safe option, ESPECIALLY given that these books are priceless historical artefacts from a marginalized and subjugated ethinic group who have long lost their history to genocide? Like, wut?? Even if the Archive were in fact a dangerous weapon, the game shows us through the Veil Jumpers' vault that they have trained capable scholars and developed (or are developing, with Bellara spearheading it) safe tools to study and keep these artefacts. How condescending is it to tell them that they won't be able to safekeep this one? How pointless? (and her cutest armor AND best skill are locked behind that choice? outrageous lmao.)

And what pisses me off is that they had everything set up already, they just had to deliver it differently. If they told us explicitly that the archive is Anaris' phylactery and that keeping it would mean allowing Anaris to eventually come back? THEN we'd have a real danger. NOW there is a non-fascist risk to maintaining knowledge.

Or what if the only reason Cyrian is back is because Anaris brought him back? What if Cyrian's life is therefore tied to Anaris', and you had to choose between letting Anaris live (perhaps that results in him getting imprisoned in the Archive, tampering with the information in it and destroying its historical value forever, plus Anaris might one day figure out a way out) or killing Anaris for good even knowing that Cyrian will also die again if you do (but then the Dalish get to keep the archive and all the knowledge in it, and Cyrian's sacrifice is not in vain)? Or maybe... The Archive is a spirit, isn't it? Drive home the fact that being tied to that device was a cruel thing Anaris did to it, and keeping it there is just as cruel, even if it would mean giving the elves access to information. Make the wording "free the archive" really mean something here, and the player really think that the knowledge will be lost. Then maybe have it that, if she frees it, it gives her information freely and with its own interpretation of that knowledge, and THEN it leaves (so it's not forever but there is a reward for being compassionate). And if she keeps the spirit in the device, then it is always rude and it gives her information curated by Anaris' point of view, but it is available to all upcoming generations. It'd be real nice and nuanced to pit her compassion against her drive for knowledge. If this were DAO or DA2, you wouldn't make the choice FOR HER. You'd make the choice yourself because you are the leader, and if you chose to keep the spirit, you'd garner lots of negative points with Bellara (and with Emmrich) because, let's be honest, she is written as inherently more compassionate than driven, and she'd resent you making an oppressing choice even if it is well-meaning and good for her people (just like Alistair resents you killing Isolde even if he understands it was a difficult choice).

I just... So many ways it could have been an actually weighted choice, or that it could have affected your relationship with Bellara (and other companions) as Bioware RPGs were wont to do. They had a good set up, but the landing was absolutely bonkers.

[drakorn]

Veilguard: Shows one of the Forgotten Ones for the first time ever Me: Oh boy I can't wait to see what the Forgotten Ones actually are like, since all their lore stems from pro-Evanuris propaganda. Since the Evanuris are shown to be tyrants who suppress and destroy all who oppose them, surely the Forgotten Ones were actually much more nuanced and deep and- Anaris: Is literally Satan

[citrusai]

bellara saying "why couldn't you stay a memory?" when she meets cyrian again now under anaris' tutelage vs solas cowering in front of the fragment of mythal that was locked away when elgar'nan killed her after he's erased all his regrets stemming from his time in her service off his walls in the lighthouse.

something something in grief we only see the best parts of those we've lost. something something memory is a traitor. something something solas' own memories are akin to that of a tree trying to grow up towards the sun to ensnare it. something something reality is often disappointing compared to the memory / fantasy. something something bellara thought her brother's death was staining her hands and through his memory she resigned herself to history and fixing the veil artifacts and now that he's here and he's actively harming their people she has no choice but to confront the idea that her brother is not who she remembers him as.

[justanartsysideblog]

Anaris - Lord of Luck

The statue is that of a slender cat, the stone worn and weathered. The eyes, once two pieces of lapis lazuli, have been pried from their sockets by a greedy passerby. Carved into the stone near the cat’s paws is a small passage in elvhen.

“Oh Great Gambler,

Lord of games and wagers.

Shall we make a bet?

Chance and skill and luck,

Never bet what you’re not willing to lose,

For the Lord of Luck always wins.”

——

Starting off the Forgotten One Tarot Card set with my version of Anaris! A god of fortune and fate, who is known to never turn down a challenge or a game.

[crapet-illu]

I like elves.

Littles pointy ears babiiiiies 🧝

[teamdilf]

On my current Veilguard playthrough I’ve been collecting any crumbs about the Executors, the Devouring Storm and the Forgotten Ones greedily, like a hungry little mouse. I’m struggling with whether the Executors and the Devouring Storm are related (IE the Devouring Storm is a weapon of the Executors). A few notes:

Those Across the Sea are an ancient enemy. There are codex entries concerning efforts to defend or fight next to them during the time of the Evanuris.

I believe there is a reference to the Forgotten Ones fleeing the continent. John Epler in his AMA confirms that Anaris returned to the Void upon his defeat.

The Fade is often described as a sea. What if the Void is “across the sea”?

Anaris found a substance that devoured magic, building in power and eventually causing an explosion that obliterated people into dust - in her translation Bellara was very clear that he used that word. Anaris needs a body to “find succor in the eye of the storm”. He’s terrified of the Devouring Storm - what if it’s because he found it and knows what it’s capable of?

The Horror of Hormak concerns a substance in a lab belonging to Ghilan’nain that bears some similarities to the substance found by Anaris.

The qunari seem to have been created to fight the Devouring Storm and arrived in Thedas when they were fleeing it. What if they were created by the Forgotten Ones, who abandoned their task, finding safety on the shores of Par Vollen?

Since the Devouring Storm consumes magic, what if that’s why Anaris needs a body? Are the Executors the Forgotten Ones and their followers, who seek to return to Thedas now that their ancient enemies are gone? Side note: I’m convinced Vorgoth is an Executor.

Or, are the Executors what remains of the titans (perhaps the humanoid voices of them that remained after they were sundered?)? If this is the case, that would connect them to the Devouring Storm - they wish to use it to consume the magic of the Fade in recompense for their sundering.

Mythal’s “reckoning that shakes the very heavens” never wound up happening, which is a point of frustration, but what if she never meant that to mean bringing down the veil? What if she has some sort of alliance with the Executors who will act out her vengeance?

I’m running on the theory that the Forgotten Ones are manifested spirits who had their emotion burned away by Elgar’nan.

I’m working on a time travel AU which will position the Executors as the antagonists so I’m trying to get a working theory put together. Solas knows more about the Executors than anyone else, according to the Reddit AMA and he warned Charter that they are dangerous in The Dread Wolf Take You.

[northernolddragon]

[crestwood-survivor]

Cyrian Notes

Some notes I found in Arlathan forest that I'm pretty sure are from cyrian: