#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...

[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

[infighter]

Actually really sucks that gaming conversations have been hijacked by anti-woke people and we need to spend basically the entire time defending games from their dumbass rhetoric that we can’t afford to criticize the things that are actually wrong bc otherwise theyll latch onto them and use it to be further annoying

[thedissonantverses]

BioWare: Hey here’s a game with explicit anti-fascist messaging, themes of conservation, a plot that resolves a lot of lore threads while opening the door for new lore we haven’t revealed yet, you can make your abolitionist friend the ruler of Minrathous, and imperfect characters setting aside their differences to face an existential threat where you’ll take down the monsters responsible for inventing the worst things in this universe who explicitly want to enslave all of the mortal races and kill the ones they can’t control.

The fandom: And I took that personally.

[mythalism]

solas

inquisitors who drank from the well of sorrows and gave themselves over to the control of a goddess:

solas, who absorbed the power of that goddess:

[tobythewise]

I just think there’s something incredibly special about being a mage Hawke romancing Anders. All of the other companions find the mage plight annoying at the best of times and WRONG in the worst of times. Hearing their banter HURTS me sometime because hey… you’re saying all mages deserve to have Meredith imprison them because they’re all weak?? IM one of those mages you’re talking about! You think tranquility is fine? That’s ME you’re talking about??

The only one consistently fighting, consistently seeing mages as good and PEOPLE is Anders.

He’ll fight by putting his very life on the line for our freedom. Hawke is willing to throw away his home and be on the run again for their freedom.

I just think that’s really beautiful and really special.

[welcomefortune]

VIPER IS THE FUCKING BLACK DIVINE?!?!

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

[sorry-i-forgot]

Despite my love hate relationship with this game, Lucanis has won mine (and my rook's) heart. The brainrot is so real and so is my writing degree have some tidbits and screenshots for free. Rook is Hanina Mercer (Hanina meaning 'your glory') a dalish foundling sold into "adoption" to a insignificant military family trying to get a one-up by adding new mage blood into the mix. Was briefly an abomination herself when possessed by a rage demon (I stg I didn't even know Lucanis had a demon I'd purposefully avoided spoilers before launch) with fire now being her expertise. She's gregarious, sarcastic (purple rook my beloved), and deadly in a fight. The orb & blade combo is so hot both literally and figuratively. The playful headstrong mage switching to unabashed concern and care on a dime -- Lucanis did not stand a chance. And honestly neither did she because NO ONE has ever offered Hanina 'Rook' Mercar anything without wanting something in return and they certainly have never cooked a fucking meal for her. Anyway I just think the moral dilemma of an elven child being taken from her original parents and facing a terrible fate only to be given quality housing, food, education, etc all with the understanding it's only because of her blood is mind-bending -- especially when she joins the Shadow Dragons with the purpose of freeing more of her "true people" only to be faced with the choice of saving her "home" or Treviso; a choice that will end up hurting her more than she cares to admit no matter what she decides. All while she's tasked with saving all of Thedas from the ancient gods of the people she was forcibly disconnected from so many years before.

i swear half his idle animation is leaning against objects, not that i'm complaining... also i could not turn off ui dont come for me

[lunian]

I feel like my Grey Warden dude bro hanging out in Shadow Dragons hideout at one point is gonna be like "Okay lol who is not trans in this place??"

total silence in a whole room full of people until Dorian thoughtfully says "As far as I remember I'm only gay but this day has only started"

[contrivedcoincidences6]

I understand Loghain sympathizers I really do but I just can’t deny Alistair his justice. He’s my baby girl and if he wants to commit legalized murder in a dual I’m going to let him and if he wants me to do it I’m going to do it.

[kwyoz]

'dragon age has gone woke!111!!'

you mean the series that has poc characters and lgbt characters in every game? you mean the series that has multiple trans characters? you mean the series that has a whole quest revolving around a gay man?

i didn't realize grifters could overlook all of that, but they draw the line at top surgery scars, but i guess they never play the games they complain about.

[lyriumsings]

i’ll never get over anders “all people should be free but approves if you give fenris back to danarius” like im stabbing him everytime lmao

[thedissonantverses]

BioWare made a very intentional design choice with Minrathous. The message is deliberately, unapologetically, that it takes all of us to end systemic slavery. TW in the tags.

I think when they knew the player was going to destroy either Trevsio or Minrathous, that they were going to have the Venatori take over rather than blight both cities. Both to add replay value and for narrative reasons. I’ll save Treviso for another day though.

The Venatori are the fascists stand-ins. Both design-wise and philosophy-wise they’re supposed to echo ultra nationalist movements and it’s even more pointed in Veilguard.

I’ve mentioned I had a visceral reaction to seeing the Shadow Dragons massacred my second run. I saved Treviso the first time and while that was awful in a much more horror genre kind’ve way, seeing the people fighting for abolition butchered for it was horrifying in a different kind of way.

The thing is, what the Shadow Dragons are doing wasn’t working on its own. It’s why they need Maeveris and Dorian. Working together to change the system from top down and bottom up. It is the only way to end slavery on a broad scale in Tevinter without a full civil war that would only kill more people. Dorian and Marveris risks everything to keep fighting that fight.

I’m honestly glad that we don’t have to watch enslaved peoples getting brutalized by the Venatori. I’m glad they’re not trapped in cages and helpless while the people fighting for them are getting slaughtered. I’m glad that Dorian, an abolitionist, finally becomes archon after all of that senseless death. I absolutely love that the main city quest of Minrathous is giving the people of Minrathous a systemic way to end slavery.