#dragon age knows my heart well

[loredrinker]

I blame Lúthien and Beren and Aegnor and Andreth for my obsession with immortal/mortal Elven love.

You give me a game where I can romance an immortal elf as a mortal and play a doomed path of high emotions, despair, heartbreak, illogical love and mythical pain?

Bring it on. I was built for it. I was forged in the fires of Mount Doom.

"But she was not willing to be parted from him again, saying: 'You must choose, Beren, between these two: to relinquish the quest and your oath and seek a life of wandering upon the face of the earth; or to hold to your word and challenge the power of darkness upon its throne. But on either road I shall go with you, and our doom shall be alike." “This doom she chose, forsaking the Blessed Realm, and putting aside all claim to kinship with those that dwell there; that thus whatever grief might lie in wait, the fates of Beren and Lúthien might be joined, and their paths lead together beyond the confines of the world.” "This is time of war, Andreth, and in such days the Elves do not wed or bear child; but prepare for death–or for flight. Aegnor has no trust (nor have I) in this siege of Angband that it will last long; and then what will become of this land? If his heart ruled, he would have wished to take thee and flee far away, east or south, forsaking his kin, and thine."

[lunarharp]

played dragon age 2...just simple scribbles

[vaguely-concerned]

I've been picking mostly only the essential flirt options with lucanis in the romance so far (I've personally found the dynamic much more natural and mutual when you do that, more like forming a solid friendship slowly and inevitably becoming something else and less like you keep pushing on him and getting little back b/c he seemingly just gets overwhelmed and goes into freeze instead), and I think rye is a pretty hard person to read at the best of times even though he's been Down Real Bad from pretty early on and their chemistry as people is naturally really good. so the way the almost-kiss plays out in this playthrough feels a lot like it has the added layer of lucanis realizing that no but for sure rook is flirting and not just being kind or a good friend* it IS actually happening it's not just wishful/fearful thinking!!! and then uh. maybe going a bit too hard a bit too fast in all the excitement at that revelation haha

*in lucanis' defense he has seemingly literally never had a friend who wasn't his cousin-brother before, under those circumstances I suppose some confusion is extremely natural if not outright expected lmao

[gift-of-prophecy]

i keep track of all my dragon age protags and world states in google docs(bc i find the keep unreliable) and i find it really funny i just Haven’t put either of my veilguard characters…. that game really is not canon to me omg

yeah i played it twice in a row but now refinishing my second origins run and having space from datv mannnn FUCK bioware for that watered down, pretty to look at, solas brown nosing bullshit they tried to hand feed us

like it’s fun but that is not my dragon age :((((

[invinciblerodent]

That "least favorite companion" post I referenced earlier today keeps haunting me.

Because... well, it was obvious that many would say Oghren. I expected many to have said Oghren.

But it still makes me a little bit sad just how much of Oghren's depth and potential was lost by him being written as a "comic relief" character that both fell flat, and aged poorly.

I remember, the first time I played Origins when I was like 17-18, I was a bit put off by him immediately: he reminded me of people I knew in real life, and were not people I liked, or was proud to know. I was a little disappointed that I'd have to have him in my party for the last part of "Paragon of Her Kind". But that short little scene, where he first steps out under the open sky...

That scene, I still think about regularly.

The moment he casts off his caste, the last thing he still genuinely had. When he first looks up at the sky, and realizes just how vast and open it is. When he takes that step he knows would mean that he can never go back.

That tiny little scene, less than a minute long, made not just him, but my own Aeducan click for me immediately.

Because Oghren is a clear failure of the caste system. Or better said, a failure of dwarven society, really.

He's a castoff, a reject, a lost cause: a once respected warrior, a famed dwarven berserker and husband to a Paragon, who fell through the cracks because he fell out of his house's favor.

Because he got hit hard by his wife and his whole family leaving him behind. Because he got too hard to deal with, too embarrassing.

So under the carpet he went, in both his own mind and everyone else's.

Oghren's, is... an ordinary tragedy. A story of an everyday struggle for men like him (lonely, middle aged, depressed), with feelings that are quietly shoved to the side, joked about, tamped down by both him, and the people around him- and him not being “likeable”, well... isn't that just the way it usually is? People who are suffering are sometimes genuinely not good people.

And despite his best efforts, I can't bring myself to dislike him. I don't like having him in my party because I don't find him funny like he was clearly intended to be, and a lot of his dialogue, I find deeply frustrating and off-putting (in Origins and Awakening alike), but... I can't bring myself to dislike him.

I just... feel sad for him, more than anything else. Because in a few rare moments, there is loyalty. There's honor. Care. Sadness. Even humor when it's allowed to be there, beneath the very 2009 "sexual harassment is totally funny you guys".

There is a lot to talk about regarding Oghren, starting with mental health, and ending with the typical dwarven mentality being to cut ties with what they perceive to be lost causes (which also goes for Kal-Sharok, really), but... I can't shake this feeling that had he been written a few years later, with a touch slightly more careful than the ones with which he was originally handled, he could have been so much more.

..... Though I suppose there's some poetic irony in how the character who was let down by his people would also be one that was let down by his time.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

I'm not ready to shut up about Aveline and Carver--so, when you go see Aveline in Act 1, you can catch up with her a little bit and that's where this conversation can happen:

Aveline: "It's just one more change, though. The real end for me was Ostagar. What about you, Carver? You were there. Do you feel something similar?" Carver: No. Aveline: All right, then. Bit of a tit, your brother.

I wanted to see what she would say if Carver isn't in the party. Instead, she says this:

Aveline: Carver was there. I imagine he feels something similar. If he allows it.

......well, at least she didn't call him a tit?

[aces-to-apples]

Every time I see screenshots of Veilguard romance options followed by complaints about them not being "actual flirting" I am more and more confused. Like call me crazy but I actually think even calling them "flirt" options is a misnomer that's doing us all a disservice. Like look at them. Look at the heart. It's not about the nebulous concept of flirting, it's about showing care. Showing love. And oftentimes that's not an asinine comment about how someone looks, but rather a piece of affirmation, an offer of help, or a reassurance that their needs (or even baggage) are okay (good, even) because that means they're with you for it.

[perilegs]

one of the things i'm most disappointed about is that da:tv will sell well. it's been designed to bring as much new players in as possible, and apparently a lot of people disappointed in it will still buy it on launch day. and ea will keep producing absolute steaming garbage with some ip slapped onto it just because it sells. theyre treating the series with as much respect as netflix originals with their medias.

[saltyowlets]

Cullen, Lavellan, and Mabari

"Riku, what do you mean your hc with the mabari?"

Well, more like symbolism but the crux is why Cullen is so symbolically a mabari in so many accounts. Yes mabari are very much Fereldan but their uses within human society, as creatures of war. They are symbols of status and guarding humans from everyone, including elves, ie City elf origins. To use intelligent creatures as means to harm others? I get the feeling that many Fereldan city and dalish elves have strained opinions on mabari because of how often they are used on them. The association to mabari and wolves does not help either, a reminder of dear ol' Dread Wolf. All things considered, I don't doubt there is an instinctive fear of mabari, but here's the thing- Medea, my Lavellan, absolutely doesn't. Her father, a former Fereldan city elf, tried to warn her of the mabari even though there really is none in Kirkwall. But when Medea finally meets one as a child?

She loves them. She finds them adorable

And cute. She loves animals, how can she hate one that is so extremely intelligent and loyal? But when she grew older and became an apostate, it wasn't uncommon to encounter a few, led by Kirkwall Templars, that went hunting for apostates, brought over from Fereldan. So she begins to have complicated feelings with mabari

She does not blame what they are, but they are a reminder of who she is and what life she now lives as a runaway apostate. It's not their fault they were bred and raised for the nobility, chained to a life of loyalty to the wrong person. So Medea still loves and cherish the mabari even when they bite and snap because she knows they can be better with the right person. They deserve kindness and freedom from a constant life of hurt.

Do you see what I'm doing? DO YOU SEE THE PARALLELS AND DOTS CONNECTING-

[ranger-danger]

Alright tumblr putting Athel’s fate in your hands

HOWEVER there is a caveat. If one option wins in an absolute landslide, to the point where none of the others even had a chance, then I’ll probably go for the second most voted option.

(Also reblogs help a lot <3)

[drunkchasind]

Solas is such a contradicting character. One moment, he is a dreamer, a storyteller, a wanderer from the fade. The next, an agent of pride and vengeance, who will do whatever he thinks is righteous.

All of this, depending of what (or who) is in front of him. When his original nature of wisdom is appealed to, he is kindness. But how he can be twisted during times of confrontation.

Love him or hate him, he contains multitudes.

[teiasviago]

12 year old me 🤝 20 year old me: solavellan hell

[vaguely-concerned]

obsessed with what we're meant to read out of rook's expression when taash starts to walk away in this scene. it feels like such an emotionally dense response from them, especially since they've only known taash or anyone else involved in these scenes for all of five minutes

sorry about the abysmal gif quality one day I'll learn how to make gifs properly yet that day is not today. but hello. rook. rook hello. what is this about. what's up with that. what are you thinking about. (also taash seeing that reaction and turning around to clarify that it IS what they wanted before they leave because they're upset, not unkind. aww.)

also flashback to this set of expressions rook makes later on, after the fangscorcher fight, if rook tells taash they're actually a lot like them beneath it all. taash apparently just consistently brings out some very tender rueful rook faces I guess haha

[rivilu]

disjointed fandom posting sorry but it just hit me that pwotr is like. the only rpg where a companion never once left my team

[surreallyy]

the way Anders looked at my character after they told a Thrask they don't want violence brought on the mages aaaaaa my heart the pure adoration!!!

[creamecream]

“I-I got a little paycheck,

You got big plans, and you gotta move,

And I don’t feel nothing at all,

And you can’t feel nothing small,

Honey, I love you, that’s all she wrote,

O-Ophelia,

You’ve been on my mind, girl, like a drug,

O-Ophelia,

Heaven help the fool who falls in love,

O-Ophelia,

You’ve been on my mind, girl, since the flood,

O-Ophelia,

Heaven help the fool who falls in love,”