#endgame spoilers

[spooky-lil-spider-enjoyer]

HELLO LOVELY PEOPLE OF TUMBLR

DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE SPENT THE PAST 20 MINUTES DOING?

ADDING UP ALL THE RUNNING TIMES OF EVERY SINGLE MCU MOVIE BEFORE ENDGAME (AND INCLUDING ENDGAME)

Do you know how many minutes it is?

THREE THOUSAND FUCKING MINUTES. ON THE FUCKING DOT

If you don't believe me, here is the math all nice and beautifully laid out for you.

Now my friends didn't 100% understand this and a true marvel fan will but if you don't I'll happily explain it. Tony Stark had a little saying with his daughter that was "I love you 3,000". Adorable obviously we all loved it even if it caused us a little bit of pain.

That is how many minutes are in the marvel cinematic universe after this movie. Even after all of the pain we went through with infinity war someone went how can we make it hurt just a little bit more? Do you understand how gut wrenched I am right now?

[reallyunluckyrunaway]

[ofcrowsanddragons]

Do you ever think about how Lucanis/Rook might be a horror story? For Crow Rook, specifically.

---

Rook has been away from Treviso for at least a year, making choices that make Harding and Varric happy with them. Giving people second chances, fighting for a world that's just a little bit softer.

They even let the Mayor go.

Purring cats. Coins in basins. Focused eyes. Listening heart.

Suddenly, Neve is saying that their cause needs the Crows, and Rook is standing in front of Teia (welcoming) and Viago (berating). The vicious dance of Talons and would-be Talons becomes front and centre, and the refrain of the job comes first, the job comes first reverberates through Rook's head.

(Meanwhile, the elven god of lies is pushing them to become someone who makes the hard choices, who enforces their will on others. The voice of the main person who softened Rook has been co-opted.)

They're a chess piece now.

Skillful blades. Compass northward. Careful lists. There to catch me.

Lucanis is more of the same, except when he's not: "A Crow always completes the contract." Elsewhere, someone is playing for the position of First Talon. Lucanis is self-contained and a blade against their enemies in turn. That's what Rook is supposed to be: a blade in the dark.

Lucanis represents the Crows. The Crows represent abandoning those prisoners to their fate. Lucanis is everything that they escaped when they were told to leave home. Lucanis is home. They can't stay away. (He pushes them away.)

Saving Treviso isn't even a choice.

Terrible taste in drinks.

It's Crow politics again. It's betrayal and lies and blood and the sins of previous generations drowning them in the cradle. It's opening doors of 'why did you make me this' and 'I'm dangerous' and 'I can't choose to be different' and challenging him to stand with you in the prison forever, then!

"Then there's no difference between us," something echoes. "Don't you know you're better than me?"

And then there are perfect moments with dessert and with friends and with him, pretending that the aquarium hasn't turned into a simulacrum of Treviso's canals. The water is dark and bloody and stinking as Rook makes choice after choice after choice. There's no escaping it, not when winning means more power for the two of them at home, power that neither of them wants but that rots like so many fish when left on its own.

Buried wells. Graceful flowers. Bleeding stopped. Foes forgiven.

Fighting against their nature just ends with Rook wrapped up in their mirror. They can see themselves spitefully burning through the next generation in a churn of bloody contracts, because how can they afford to do it differently when it works?

They left, but Treviso always held them.

Everything is grey, grey, grey.

[squilfmybeloved]

anyone else notice how in endgame when strange's portals started opening up it lingered on peter's face cause like. this was all for him. because tony missed his kid that much. yeah no just me. ok

[pixelizedprince]

I heard this audio and RAN to make this quick and sloppy Bad AU edit for Margaux (and Bishop)

What if they didn't get Bishop back from the fade, haha :')

( @songofthestorms sorry to put Margaux through the horrors, both canonical and not; Margaux is Bishop's niece who he raised like a daughter!)

[incorrect-marvel-because-why-not]

I refuse to move on

[nightingaletrash]

Endgame Spoilers below the cut:

they actually did it. they actually fucking killed him.

I shit you not, I bawled like a fucking baby. I was dreading it so bad and I could feel it coming. He was Marian and Garrett's best friend, one of Lyris' closest confidantes, and he was the father figure that Alessia needed to become the woman who could stop the gods. And he was dead all along.

But he wasn't gone entirely - he's been with Alessia the whole time, even if it was just in her head, and the impact he's had on her life will forever define her. Without Varric Tethras, Alessia de Riva would have stayed being the angry, impulsive, punch-first Crow who would inevitably cause one problem too many for the Crows to tolerate her, no matter who her brother is. He changed her life and showed her that she could do anything... she just needed to believe in herself.

rest in peace Varric Tethras. Dragon Age won't be the same without you </3

[sailorgundam308]

SPOILERS!

So, I have this draft/storyboary for the angstiest shit 👀

[voidsentprinces]

Y'all mind if I just...?

[braveclementine]

Marvel 2

Tags: Angst, fluff

Person(s): Steve-ish, Bucky

Copyright: I do not own Steve or Bucky or any other Marvel characters. I also do not condone any copying of this.

You and Steve Rogers were a sort've item. You two would usually fuck and he would take you on dates, but it wasn't entirely serious. You knew there was a lack of love on his part, but you didn't mind. You weren't overly attached to him. Sure the dates were fun and the sex was great, but there wasn't this overwhelming need to be with him. 

Until Thanos snapped half of the population out of existence. You'd been terrified about losing him, but you didn't. You got lucky. 

And that was when you really fell in love with him. He was still optimistic about everything, putting a positive spin where he could, even though he really missed his best friend Bucky. The two of you grew even closer during that time and you really thought something was going to happen because of it. 

Maybe it would have. Except then they discovered how to go back in time. They brought everyone back. They fought Thanos and won this time. Well, it didn't feel much like a win, what with losing Natasha and then Tony. Idiotic Tony just had to snap and save the world, didn't he. God you had loved that man so much. He should've let someone else take care of it. 

And then they decided to send the stones back. 

And you had wonderful news for Steve at the same time, that you had just found out today. 

Steve texted you to meet him near the Avengers compound, where they had set everything up to send him back with the stones. 

You made your way there, walking up with Bucky, who was pleased to see you. You greeted him with a hug, ecstatic to see him after being gone for five years. 

"You're glowing." He laughed. 

"Well I have wonderful news for Steve." You said, face shining and your hand moved down to your stomach. There was no bump yet, but you were pregnant. Bucky's eyes followed the gesture, but he didn't comment on it. 

Steve had other plans though. 

He pulled you aside. "Y/N, I need. . . I have to tell you something." 

"Me too." You breathed. 

He smiled sadly. "I'm going to stay in the past." 

His words punched you in the gut, stealing your breath. 

"You know how much I loved Peggy and how much she meant to me. I'm glad that I got to spend this time with you." Steve said softly, looking upset. "And I really do hope that you find the person you want to spend the rest of your life with." 

You still couldn't breathe. He was supposed to be that person. He was. . . 

"What did you want to tell me?" He asked softly. 

You pressed your lips together, trying to get your emotions under control. It had been the deal from the start. No strings, no emotions attached. Just two friends that benefited each other. He didn't need to know that you'd long broken your side of that promise. You loved him. 

"It doesn't matter now." You said carefully, trying to smile. "You're not staying." 

"Oh. I'm sorry." Steve said and you saw he really did look guilty. But you also knew that Peggy had always been the one that he loved. You were the one that caught feelings.

"It's. . . good luck Steve." You said, unable to tell him that it was fine. 

Bucky had watched and overheard the entire encounter and was filled with horror for what Steve was about to do to you. What you were allowing him to do to you. Part of him felt fantastic that the two of you were over. He'd always loved you and never thought Steve was a good partner for you. But the other part of him felt terrible that Steve was leaving you here with his child by yourself- even if you hadn't told him you were pregnant. 

"Steve." Bucky said, quickly stepping forward but you grabbed his arm. 

"Good luck." You said, almost choking on the words. 

Steve smiled, clapping Bucky on the shoulder with one hand, before heading over to where Sam and Bruce were waiting. 

"Doll." Bucky looked stricken. 

You turned your back as Steve went into the machine, tears welling up in your eyes. 

"Doll." Bucky said again, softer this time. 

"I'm okay Buck." You said, giving him a tense smile, wiping the tears from your eyes. "I always knew I was just the side girl. That was all we ever said we would be. I'm the one that got attached." 

"Don't blame yourself for this!" Bucky said angrily. "It's Steve's fault!" 

"It's no ones fault." You sighed, "This is just how the world works." 

Sam nudged Bucky to show an older man sitting on the bench now, a brown circular case by his feet. 

Oh my God. It was Steve. But he was so much older. 

Bucky just nodded to Sam and said "go ahead." 

Sam was the one who approached Steve. 

You sighed, "I guess I should. . ." 

Go where? Your home had been with Steve. You didn't have your own apartment or house or anything. 

"You'll come home with me. I'll take care of you and the baby, I promise." Bucky said earnestly, but firmly. 

"Do you even have a place to stay?" You asked skeptically, knowing that up till his disappearance, he'd been staying in Wakanda. 

"Yep." Bucky said confidently. "Come on." 

He offered you his arm and you took it. 

"Y/N." Steve's voice sounded so strange, yet familiar. 

You stopped, turning to face him. Then you walked forward. 

He looked sad. "I'm sorry. If I had known. . . I would have stayed." 

You shook your head, "Steve, were you happy?" 

You watched with a broken heart as his eyes filled with love for a moment. "I was. Extremely." 

"That is all I ever wanted for you." You said, throat constricting a little. "So it's okay. If you'd stayed, it would've made you unhappy and you only would've done it on principle. I'm glad you had the life you wanted." You bent down gently, kissing his cheek. "Good-bye Steve." 

Steve smiled a little before looking at Bucky. Part of you wondered how he could just up and leave so easily with his best friend who really needed him here. 

"I guess this is the End of the line pal." Bucky said, patting Steve's shoulder. He turned then, putting an arm around your shoulder to lead you away. 

You knew tears were streaming down both of your faces, so neither of you looked back. 

So neither of you saw that Steve was crying too.

[familyofpaladins]

so theres this story where after a series of adventures and saving the world a team of heroes has to once again save the world (the whole universe actually), but in order to do so they have to go around and collect multiple colorful stones. However in order to actually be able to correct the universe, it turns out that one of them will have to give their life in order to do so. Two of the heroes ending up physically fighting each other to stop the other from sacrificing themself. Eventually one of them manages to trap the other from being able to move, and is able to sacrifice themself.

Am I talking about Lego Monkie Kid season 5 or Avengers Endgame?

[the-fandoms-onceler]

avengers spoilers for any lateies like me🧍‍♀️

just finished watching the inifity saga like 5 years too late, and oh my GOD it BROKE ME.

tony was legit my fav, even above ROCKET. even above peter and cap and nebula and strange.

i mean im usually a movie crier, these waterworks be bustin their backs, slaving away 24/7 cause honestly 🧍‍♀️ (im an angry crier too, shocking but unrelated)

anyways UGH. legit sobbing because the way peter and tony both died together, but pepper shoved peter aside to let herself have a moment, like i get it, and i ♥️ u for being so iconic, but you could both hold tony for that last moment, and peter was like a son to him😭😭 (i get ur his wife n all but CMON pepperbabes, lowkey ruined an iconic moment, and the irony of it all. its acc giving the rose jack door triangle)

anyways rant over because they’re all still alive in a happy little stark tower in my delusion!!😇

[reallyunluckyrunaway]

Only the cultured know... 🧐

[ofcrowsanddragons]

Amazing how much the consequences in Veilguard are designed to be gutting—and how the game's themes are designed to absolve you of them.

The consequences exist. The people affected may or may not forgive you.

You made choices without all the information. Other people acted on the results of those choices.

You made your choice. They made theirs.

You don't own that.

If you let the regret of those choices cage you... you're lost.

[unfocused-angel]

i'm cleaning up my folders and found a screenshot of this very fcking creepy glitch i got at the very end of the bachelor route

WHERE ARE THEIR HEADS

[shallow-between-stars]

As I said yesterday, I have beaten the game. I've slept on it and chewed the fat of my thought processes and now am ready to talk about it under cut.

Huge endgame spoilers beyond this point.

So let's start with the big one. Varric.

They actually foreshadowed this really well - when I got to that part of the game and heard Varric's voice for the first time in the regret prison I went "Oh," very sadly and the reveal wasn't so much a shock but a confirmation of what I'd already worked out.

Partly this was because I read a lot of fiction and a lot of mystery fiction in particular, and had already twigged that a) Bianca being broken was symbolic, b) No-one else visited Varric except Rook and Varric didn't visit anyone at all c) No-one other than Rook had a Varric nickname and d) During table meetings no-one asked for Varric's opinion and Varric was being very quiet, flat and weird in these moments. Highly social, sarcastic Varric was being neither highly social nor sarcastic. The foreshadowing was enough that I absolutely knew something was off from quite early in the game and the reveal, for me, was much more of a confirmation of what I already half-knew than so much a reveal.

I don't like that it was Solas manipulating Rook, I think the story beat would have been a lot stronger if it was Rook failing to deal with their trauma properly and would have been more meaningful without the 'it was blood magic!' handwave but I can also see why the devteam put it in the way they did.

Moving on from that.

My endgame.

I chose Davrin, without realising what that choice would end with and goddamn was that a gut punch. It wasn't helped by the fact that Davrin was my Rook's best friend out of all of the companions. And Assaan added salt to the wound. I'm clinging to "They haven't found their bodies" like it's a lifeline although I know there's probably going to be something that makes "They haven't found their bodies" even worse in potential DLC like "They've been turned into Darkspawn Emissaries". I was literally ready to restart the whole mission to save him and send Harding but decided to google it before I did and -yeah- the game only took my two absolute favourite cast members and went "Pick one."

And fuck me, I'm still questioning that choice now and wanting to go back and change it but I also don't want to do that to Harding, because she's my best girl and has been my best girl for ten years.

I chose Bellara to break the wards, and she survived. There was something eminently satisfying about Bellara looking at Elgar'nan and shouting "You are not my God!" At him with this mix of anger and betrayal. This was definitely helped by the fact that my Rook wore Elgar'nan and I can imagine the affront that the arrogant prick would have experienced with "I was defeated by a slave???? My slave???" Which kind of added to the sweet irony.

I must admit though, when I saw Bellara get taken I shouted in dismay. I chose Bellara mostly because Neve was hardened and I didn't want Neve to die and then - well. I wanted to punt someone into the sun for that.

I managed to get through without losing anyone else - I chose Taash for the golem fight and to protect the Inquisitor, Emmrich to dismantle the wards (again I didn't choose Neve because hardened) and Lucanis to assassinate the mage (because, well, assassin.) Everyone had their missions completed, so they were all Heroes of the Veilguard, and the lowest rating I had with the factions was with Shadow Dragons who were only just at three stars (because I found a shop in the crossroads where I could sell valuables and get SD reputation and exploited the FUCK out of it after choosing to save Treviso.) All my other factions were maxed out. Because of my completionist tendencies.

Romance

I chose to romance Lucanis, and thought it was a really satisfying, if basic, story. I would have loved to see more layers in terms of Lucanis housing Spite, and does Rook love Lucanis in spite (lol) of that, or do they embrace that? I've headcanoned that my Rook has her boyfriend, Lucanis, and her other boyfriend Spite who sometimes possesses her boyfriend and they're in a slightly-unhealthy polycule, but it would have been nice to see the game treat Spite as less of an afterthought (not even really even an inconvenience, just there) and explore that with a tighter hand. But, y'know, that's what fanfiction is for!

And like... the game indulged my wing!Kink, what can I say.

In terms of the other companions - Taash hooked up with Harding which was ridiculously cute, and absolutely I've headcanoned that my Inquisitor and Lace are swapping stories about their respective qunari. And while they're at it they discover that the two are really similar and timelines are such that a young!Bull could potentially have had an accident in Par Vollen and we never found out who Taash's father is and the conversation gets a little awkward quite fast. Sorry, what? Oh. I think my speculation is showing.

Emmrich caught me by surprise by starting a relationship with Strife, but it was also really cute. I love when stories have older people finding romance - it's a reminder that it's not just for the young. And then Strife worrying about Emmrich in the final mission was icing on the cake.

Other choices

I'm not going to outline every choice I made in detail, but the cliffsnotes are:

I had Lucanis spare Illario for Lucanis' sake and because I thought that choice might mellow Spite out a bit. If it weren't for Spite, Illario would have been DEAD dead, and I'm still quite surprised that Lucanis bowed to my Rook's wishes here. Lucanis isn't a wee woobie rookie assassin, I don't think that my Rook's opinion on this choice should have mattered. But, y'know, game mechanics.

Taash embraced their Rivaini heritage. Of all the companions, Taash felt the least likely to make their own choice, given that they are early-twenties at the oldest. (I'm headcanoning like... 23, 24, to make me feel less icky about the fact that Harding is in her thirties.) And yeah, I've seen a lot of the comments going around that giving a nonbinary character a binary choice like that is... not great... but I'm also trying to remember that Taash's writer is nonbinary, and they were written as baby's-first-experience-with-a-nonbinary-person in order to appeal to a mass audience. Taash is written to be a character to teach people about enbies, rather than to be about every single enby experience out there, which, you know, every experience is different and there's only so much you can explain in half an hour of game content.

I gave the griffins to the Wardens, but if I played the game through again as Nala I would change this choice. Maybe. Because unchecked Blight and Darkspawn with no archdemons controlling them sounds like a bad time.

I got Harding to embrace her compassion because she's fucking Harding. This one was a no-brainer for me.

I got Emmrich to chose Manfred because I felt that Emmrich wasn't really becoming a lich because he wanted to, he was becoming one because he was afraid of death and that's not healthy. Also because Manfred.

I made Bell destroy the archive. Mostly because at that point my Rook was all "THIS IS SHIT. ANCIENT ELVES ARE SHIT. EVERYTHING ANCIENT MAGIC RELATED IS KILLING PEOPLE."

And Neve didn't give me a choice in her mission.

Final thoughts

I said yesterday that this game is a Mass Effect game in Dragon Age cosplay, and I stand by that. I enjoyed the game while I was playing it and will probably play it again at another point, but right now I'm in a bit of a hangover from it. It's very, very raw and the edges are a bit sore when I poke them at the thought of playing through the last mission again. I'mma let it sit for a bit before I pick it up again, if I do.

For now though, it wasn't a bad game, it was actually really fun! I'm a bit disappointed that all I got in terms of Bull content was a lousy letter but that's a step up from a singular name drop (Fenris) and not being mentioned by the game at all (Zevran) that I've gotten before. I also went in expecting to get nothing from Bull given that FPJ is on the outs with the studio and Bull could, y'know, die in Inquisition.

I think a lot of the issues people are having is because they have solidly embraced Death of the Author in the past ten years, and in this case the Author reminded us that they are Very Much Alive and are still Making The Same Choices as they always have. We have brought a wealth of headcanons and analysis and fandom essays to Dragon Age the past ten years and this game kind of stripped a lot of that back and tried to appease it at the same time, which left the world really struggling for nuance. By trying to make a world in which everyone could apply their headcanons, the game made a world that was no longer rich in the societies and cultural nuances that Dragon Age usually embraces, which also had the unfortunate side effect of making the cities and cultures seem sterile and under-defined.

However, there was a lot of environmental storytelling to fill the gaps. I've already talked about this in another post so I'm not going to go into it now given that I've been typing away for about an hour and a half now, but it basically boils down to the game showed us a lot that it didn't explicitly tell us. And that jarred with people because we're used to a clickywheel and explicitly laid-out opinions, and that was missing. I actually think this game would have benefitted a lot from a clickywheel! A lot of the gripes people have could have been fixed by Rook going to Neve "What about slavery?" And Neve responding "In Dock Town? Don't be daft. Dock Town is where the slaves and servants live. It's too poor for people to own slaves, if they even wanted to." Like, obviously, you can work that out from context but one thing I've learnt after being in the Dragon Age fandom for so long is that Dragon Age fans have two favourite games - Dragon Age and Jumping To Conclusions. So yeah. Clickywheel would have helped.

Anyway, that's it from me! Feel free to (respectfully) agree or disagree with me! I love chatting and debating with people, even those who don't share my opinions because that's how I learn to be more openminded. If you read this far, thank you so much.