#endras mercar

[sketchytea]

back with another self-indulgent endras. i am so very normal about them

[sketchytea]

look someone's gotta test the fall damage of this place

[sketchytea]

kickin it with the elf crew

memes sourced from here and here

[sketchytea]

she is so tired.

[sketchytea]

local shadow dragon endras mercar doing everything by the skin of their fucking teeth

[sketchytea]

endras 'rook' mercar sketchdump. constantly rotating this disastrous minrathous street rat in my mind

[sketchytea]

dressing endras up like the shadow dragon card because i have completely normal feelings about them

[sketchytea]

Bring the light.

[sketchytea]

Hi I'm back.

1) I know Endras uses He/they, but is there a pronoun you want me (or anyone) to stick to?

2) The Shadow Dragon origin story is pretty vague. Do you have any headcanons around the job that Endras was working that got the Venatori heat brought down on the Shadows enough for him to skip town with Varric?

3) Speaking of origins, do you use the built in "military orphan baby" background the Shadows gives Rook? I didn't even know that was part of the background until my second playthrough, so my Rook has a WILDLY different upbringing 😅

hello and welcome back!!! i have been travelling so this did not get answered sooner, but i've thoroughly enjoyed chewing on these questions. enclosed below are my long-ass answers

i know endras uses he/they, but is there a pronoun you want me (or anyone) to stick to?

not really! i use he/they pretty interchangeably for them. thank you for asking :>

do you have any headcanons around the job that endras was working that got the venatori heat brought down on the shadows enough for him to skip town with varric?

i think i saw someone float the idea that varric was the visiting dignitary that rook mercar was guarding lmao. i like it a lot and have incorporated it into my own canon. the base story doesn't really clarify what ‘investigating’ a slavery ring meant, especially when it took place in tevinter lol. given the rest of the details, my current idea is that it was a venatori one specifically, and that the investigation was primarily meant to gather information for the sake of a bigger operation, then rescue any slaves they came across before going back in later.

i hc rook believed that following the original plan, the mission would ‘fail’ because: either wherever they were supposed to be looking wasn’t deep enough and it seemed apparent that they were sure to return empty-handed, or because of something more dramatic, like catching wind of plans to move the slaves elsewhere (or worse, kill/sacrifice them) before they'd have time to get more shadows on the job.

rest of my hcs involve the series of events lol. would that i could draw it all. naturally, lots of venatori were killed, but there were also too many that weren't that saw his face. probably involved something like triggering explosions and dropping chandeliers, etc. hence the ‘wanton destruction of property’ charge.

speaking of origins, do you use the built in "military orphan baby" background the shadows gives rook?

yes i did, LOL. i was so astounded when further details of that came up in conversation. even more so when the codex mentioning legatus mercar came up. i personally really like working within the boundaries of canon, so that was a morsel that i was gnawing giggling kicking my feet over for days.

for endras, i hc charon mercar already had an older daughter of his own, but had recently lost a new child when he'd found endras on the battlefield (though endras doesn't know that). they have a difficult relationship but do care for each other. i have drawing plans for this.

this has been a deep point of discussion on the shadow dragon community lol. if you're interested in other mercar backstory takes i recommend taking a look (or not! lol no pressure)

[sketchytea]

Is Endras as serious as some of the other Shadow Dragons tend to be? Many of your drawings portray him as a pretty funny guy. I can't tell if that's your art style or his personality or both. What's his life like with the Shadows? Does he struggle to fit in, or is he down for the cause 100%? How long has he been an active Shadow agent?

thank you for this gift i have been laughing about this ever since i woke up so thank you. thank you very very much im so glad i have so thoroughly damaged his cool guy reputation

replies below because i have so much to say and you've given me an excuse to do so

is endras as serious as some of the other shadow dragons tend to be?

no and yes lol. he's usually friendly with a big snarky streak because he'd spent the better part of his life either hidden away with barely anyone to talk to, or surrounded by people who were fantasy racist to him. so joining the shadows was like wow! so many people who see me as a person!! fighting for cause i care about! queers!?!! and all that pent up desire to talk and socialise and be friends just came bursting out in the form of puns, sarcasm, and occasionally being a klutz.

but when it comes down to missions and tense situations, they can be just as serious as the other shadows, and the soldier part of them reveals itself.

what's his life like with the shadows? does he struggle to fit in, or is he down for the cause 100%?

best thing that's ever happened to him. he's down for the cause 1000%. he only struggled to fit in not because of anything that's been done to him by the shadows, but because he was learning for the first time how to open up to and form genuine relationships with people who cared about him and weren't out to get him in some way.

how long has he been an active shadow agent?

two to three years? it's hard to pin down since i haven't found an exact year for when the lucerni became the shadow dragons. either way, i pictured endras as someone who's wasn't there from the start, but has still been a shadow long enough to not be considered new anymore.