#dragon age parallels

[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.

[mohntilyet]

still i think the one of the more fun differences drawn between illario and lucanis that was lost would be illario's ability to endear himself to others but serious lack of empathy, vs. lucanis' (self perceived) inability to be charming but how much he cares. it's interesting that the game has gone with the "lucanis' ability vs illario's lack thereof" because i think illario being the dellamorte 'best in show dog' vs. lucanis' attack dog would have made me so unwell.

lucanis is... awkward. he's not unlikable, because he is usually very polite, but he doesn't speak much and only seems to care about the other dellamortes. he once sent viago de riva a knife with no note (who knows what he could have meant by this). he does what caterina asks of him, and by his own admission, cannot say no to her. he is a dramatic and prolific killer, and that makes how untouchable he is even worse.

and the crows like illario, sure, AND he's a good assassin! he's even a good crow! he's so good that he can make lucanis smile, and so he is the charming, sociable one. he's the one that stays in treviso and can be relied upon to care, illario's even the one people prefer over caterina and lucanis!

but illario is decoration. he's the prize poodle, and even if poodles were bred to be working dogs, nobody will ever pick him to protect the house over the german shepherd that regularly mauls intruders. anyways the analogy is getting away from me. the point i'm trying to make is that i want illario to have a different kind of jealousy/hatred that's not just over 'being bad at killing' but also an arrogant loathing for everyone around him that is getting harder to hide, because they've forgotten he can bite and is just itching to rip someone's jugular out. illario is very good at hiding his family resemblance to caterina, while lucanis suffers under his grandmother's, and his own, reputation.

[carabas]

"He used blood magic against you. He betrayed us. He pulled you into that prison."

...Illario. That's Illario. They might as well be talking about Illario instead of Solas here, except Illario is all Lucanis has left, so he can forgive Illario for anything. But now all those things that were done to him have also been done to Rook.

[taddymason]

A Vision

That scene in s9 is probably one of my favorite Jay moments because of how well it shows why Wu chose him and what his role is in the team. Being the out-of-the-box thinker, the dreamer. Especially because of how it sets him apart from the rest, like Zane, Cole or Kai, whose purposes are to protect others while Jay inspires people (s6 and s12)

[bishicat]

You believe me like a god I'll destroy you like I am

:-).

[okthisway]

Gale x Astarion 🤝 Anders x Fenris dangerous and annoying boyfriends

[rosieofcorona]

i would've given anything, actually, to see the inevitable zealotry that would've come out of the agents of fen'harel. surely some of them would've still thought of him as a god, no matter how he denied it. a god of the people, a rebel god who would fight and kill for them, but a god nonetheless. surely there would be those among them who would serve him completely, with a devotion so unquestioning i imagine it would disturb him. surely there would even be some who would take a new vallaslin. one solas has never seen before, and never wishes to see again. it would be antithetical to his stance, and his purpose, after all. but what religion or movement hasn't had its dogma twisted, given enough time? given enough desperation?

[vaguely-concerned]

romanced lucanis canonically finds listening to rook's voice comforting so now I'm just imagining him sort-of sneakily arranging for my mourn watch mage rook, bellara and emmrich to be in a room together and sitting back with a cup of coffee to listen to the inevitable three hour mage nerds geeking out session that follows (he understands, optimistically, about 10% of anything they're saying at any given time but it's just nice that they're all happy). it's like meditation for him, letting all that magitech babble wash over him entirely uncomprehended. who even needs sleep after that (you still need to sleep lucanis)

[joy-jpg]

reach out, touch faith

[maharellasa]

how I imagine this is gonna play out

[citrusai]

tell leliana i am sorry i have failed her > (in a note) you are free > the left hand of the divine carries all the guilt and burden so the divine doesn't have to.

before your time i failed my oldest friend, if i don't do this it means i (killed her)- she died for nothing > all the wrongs you did my friend, were not yours alone. i release you from my service

[mourn-and-watch]

you know what. i actually love that trying to talk to solas was the last thing varric did and it ended in complete failure. especially if you put it in the context of his feelings about anders. varric was so bitter every time he mentioned him because he could not stop him. he didn't even realize that anders was up to something and when it was too late he started to think of him as of someone who destroyed that fragile peace in kirkwall that actually never existed.

it adds layers to the way he felt about solas. he believed that time he could stop a friend who simply lost his way. because varric tethras can talk anyone out of anything, can't he? anders was just too dodgy and self-centred and cut everyone off just like solas did but this time varric is completely prepared. surely. absolutely.

he could have never talked anders out of it even if he had known what was coming. he could have never talked solas out of it either. anders was a desperate person standing against (as varric himself put it) forces he couldn't possibly defeat. solas was a god standing against a couple of mortals and his own conscience buried under his guilt and regrets. being a good friend would not stop meredith's oppression. being a good friend would not stop someone who fears so much that all of the atrocities he committed were for nothing and would mean nothing at the end. varric died because he didn't realize it. he died and left his second in command with an immense guilt because they believed he knew solas enough to pull that off and there's something tragic about it

[crabcackes]

DA Veilguard sanitized world isn't inclusive or progressive. It's whitewashed

There I said it. The way the game presents Tevinter (no mentions of slavery or racism, compared favorable to the south, only bad people are venatory) or Antivan Crows (presented as a cute found family who rebel against their oppressors, again no mentions of slavery, abuse, murder of innocent) is disastrous. Remember we had two companions who were victims to those institutions? Does Zevran's or Fenris' stores mean nothing now? Bioware took stories of two non-white companions who were abused and enslaved and then made their abusers into wholesome and friendly entities.

The are honestly plenty of other examples of DAV doing it but it's a bit long to summarize.

[andrastes-cheeks]

I think my favorite thing about making (1) piece of fanart that I like is how I immediately spread it around like it’s the only thing I’ve ever made

[egophiliac]

still absolutely losing my mind over Lilia

[lockescoles]

@pscentral event 35: PARALLELS ↳ DAVRIN + THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED  in DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD