#episode 1 2 3 4

[lairofdragonagelore]

Dragon Age: Vows and Vengeance

Episodes: 1, 2, 3, and 4

Episodet: 5, 6, 7, and 8

What lore do we extract from them? What seems to be questionable or a recall of a concept from a previous game? I basically collect the interesting ideas and make small speculations or comments on them, testing their reliability or lore consistency as far as I can.

*These Podcasts, like Absolution, are not considered reliable sources of lore [read the end of the post]

Episode 1: Once a Thief…

This story starts in Minrathous and finishes in its borders with Anderfels.

Solas has been collecting relics all across Thedas. This is the reason why he has been hiring people to do research/digging work. This is not new, we know this from the book Tevinter Nights and the Comics.

The Archives of the Magisterium in Minrathous have a broad “collection of objects, scrap of writing, relics, or antiquities that are “remotely” interesting to the Empire”. Among them, the Eye of Kethisca.

The Eye of Kethisca: This is a new relic that appears in this story for the first time. We can suspect it's used to stabilise the Veil, locally. The object interacted with Nadia first, humming to her. It’s not clear if Elio is accustomed to that humming, the tense situation urges him to ignore it, or he cannot perceive it at all. I suspect the latter.

The object glows and “unleashed a wave of energy that tore the ground up and almost killed Elio.”

Solas assures that there is nothing to fear about this relic, and claims it was “made from a rare gem mined in the caves beneath them”. The object “forms a bond with a person and it amplifies their powers”. This is a strange piece of lore I cannnot connect with anything else from previous games. Binding processes are quite important and central in the stories of Dragon Age, but they tend to be magical ones with some level of ritual and procedure. In this case, it happens accidentally and spontaneously.

This Eye was “crafted centuries ago by a powerful dreamer” named An’Dante, who is related to Elio Andante [it seems that the original surname changed over the ages]. Solas implies to know Elio or his anscestors and claims that the Magister is a powerful rift mage, hence his suspicion for him to be the key to stabilise the Veil in this region via the relic.

This means that Elio Andante was related to a dreamer called An’Dante, which apostrophe [in my opinion, and all the following is a speculation] seems to imply an elvish name. I’m suspecting Elio belongs to one of the many Tevinter lineages that has some relationship or maybe even elven blood in them. It won't be the first time we are hinted with this concept: in the comic Blue Wraith we see a similar clue; Fenris claims that Francesca's plant magic was only seen in Dalish clans. It's clear for me that this increases the implications of ancient Tevinter being more tight with the Elvhenan than through invasion, co-opt, and erasure of their influence in the Tevinter culture [similar parallel can be found among the Dalish and Orlais in the South]. We also need to remember the highly cryptic codex Astrariums, which claims that Tevinter was more focused on astronomy before adopting the Magisterium system. On the other hand, via the many constellation codices we have all over DAI, we can see some bland links between Tevinter and Elvhenan culture. This link may imply that Tevinter and Elvhenan may have had better relationships than those that were developed after the Magisterium system was established. Another clue can be found in the Tevinter Mosaics, where one of the main Magisters is depicted with pointy ears and bare feet.

Solas is not sure if the magister perceived the Eye, so he keeps asking Elio if he can notice the Fade and this energy coming from the relic. We know, as listeners, that Nadia does. The lack of response from Elio leaves us without knowing if he can perceive it or not. We can assume that Elio does not, but he wants to leave a mark in the world, changing it for the better as he confessed to Nadia later. Therefore, he doesn’t deny nor confirm the lack of bond towards the Eye. He thinks this was fated for him. So, in his desire to become helpful in a moment of his life when he lost all his power and status, Elio wants to be “the chosen one” in this mission. Therefore, he performs the ritual and fails.

It’s also curious that a non-mage [Nadia] can perceive the energy [thin Veil] of the cave. Is this a lore inconsiscency? I would assume that this is a hint to reinforce the idea that the Eye was bond to her, and not to Elio.

Solas uses the word reckoning in his dialogue not by chance, this word is related to Flemeth’s words, and the revenge she has to archieve for Mythal. A reckoning that will shake the very heavens and will heal a broken, agonizing world.

The Eye starts to hum when they enter the cave. Solas explains this is an “ancient city chamber, once home to unspeakable acts. Many were sacrificed on these grounds, and the blood that was spilled weakened the barriers between the worlds.” They chant in Arcanum and Elvish. The cave seems to vibrate and probably some tear is open? Hard to know with only sounds. In my opinon, it is not really possible to connect this chamber with Horrors of Hormak from Tevinter Nights.

The ritual goes wrong. I especulate it is because the relic was not bound to Elio but Nadia. The Eye explodes, the cave collapses, and Solas and Nadia escape but leave Elio behind, since he has “crossed over”. I assume this is a similar situation to the one we saw in DAI when a tear opened right below the falling bridge of Adamant Fortress [read a refresh in Orlais, Western Approach: Adamant Fortress].

We learn later that Solas went to visit an “ancient burial grounds in the Hinterlands”. I don’t know if we can claim these hiterlands are the same ones in Ferelden.

When Nadia rides the horse at the end of the story, she has a connection with Elio. We can assume that these connections are possible due to the thinning of the Veil all over the world, and because maybe her bond to the Eye makes her bound to Elio [who carries the lineage of the crafter] stronger. However, it's a detail I would question from a lore-wise perspective. We never saw this kind of situation before. The only time we stepped into the Fade, physically, was in DAI, and there was no connection with those left in Adamant Fortress. This is a characteristc that may have been introduced now to explain what will eventually happen between Solas and Rook: we know Solas will be trapped in the Fade and bound to Rook to whom he speaks to.

Our future companion Neve is introduced in this episode.

Episode 2: The Cult of the Doom Blade

This story happens in Anderfels.

We learn there is a cult called “Cult of the Doom Blade”, which worships “The Deathless One”. It’s commanded by Bolmor. The Cult attacks and coherces a nearby town under the threat of the Hunger of the Deadless One, which has to be satified with sacrifices. Each month the villagers have a blind drawing. Two amongst them are chosen for the offering, but no one has ever seen what happens.

The ritual that Solas is performing to lock the Evanuris is causing a lot of alterations: tremors, anomalies, the veil grows thin. These events are taken advantage of by the cult to reinforce the idea of the “end of the world” and to force villagers to accept regular humanoid sacrifices. The one time that the town tried to fight them back they suffered a retaliation that made the cult take all their children.

Nadia meets Harding and explains why she is looking for Solas. Suddenly, her head rings and another contact with Elio from the Fade is established. She collapses and cames back to her senses later.

We are introduced to Drayden Kiel, a mysterious character: They define themself as a writer, scholar, and historian, who has been studying the Cult of the Doom Blade for nearly a year. Their goal was to study the cult and stop it for good. They read books about war, and claim that learning the patterns in history allows us to avoid being stuck. However, their story changes at the end of the podcasts: They were “researching the cult because they study the Fade”. The link between the Fade and the Cult is not clear for us. The Cult is not making the Fade thinier in this part of Anderfels so this line is curious at best. “If your problem lies beyond the Veil, I can actually help you”, they say, confidently.

Drayden is quite cunning. They claim they were researching the cult, had a plan of their own to escape with life and with the other sacrifice woman, and then entangled Harding and Nadia in a conversation to gently force them to fight for the town. They are good at reading the enemy and at learning their pattners to use them against them, reason why Drayden won a fight against Nadia only using their sword. Drayden made shock bombs durign dinner that allowed them to win the final battle. “It's a little trick I picked up from these things called books.” There is a lot of cunning and evasive very subtle in this character. Clearly there is more to Drayden than what they are allowing us to see.

Our future companion Harding is introduced in this episode

Episode 3: A Deadly Descent

This story happens in Anderfels, in a place that has a "crumbling face protruding from a cliff. It's the statue of The Green Guardian". In this place, neither "insects nor worms can survive the lands. No body can decay here".

There is a very popular mix in the Anderfels described as “rotten fruit sludge for your most refined taste buds.” Drayden even perceives it as sweet, which makes us assume that their year spent in this place is true: they have an “acquired taste” for this berverage.

Drayden claims that “If their studies of the Fade have taught them anything, it's that the future always hides in the past.”

Drayden is called by Haring “little egg” and by Nadia as “companion”, keeping them gender-free. Later, Drayden is smited by Davrin. We also learn they hate spiders.

In another scene, Davrin thinks and shares his thoughts to Goff about the rumour they heard: griffons are not extinct. This is an immediate call to the book The Last Flight where we discover 13 griffon eggs were saved from the Blight.

Drayden displays strange connotations; the natural way in which they speak about death makes us suspect some mortalitasi point of view in their vision of life: “Our deaths follow us like a shadow, seems only natural to make its acquaintance.”

When they step into darkspawns, Drayden claims to know about Blight magic, a knowledge we expect only Grey Warden could have. “Blight magic, look at the eyes behind it. Oh no. Genlocks”. So they know more than only Fade, they know about the darkspwan, their differences, and the Blight Magic; subjects of study a bit distant one another, and some of them extremelly secret for a particular Order.

It’s curiuous that the narrative, through repetition, presents Solas as a betrayer and a person who has “forced” Elio to perfom the ritual:

NADIA: (sighs) Elio, my partner, he wasn't just some magic wielder, he was an Altus mage and part of the Magisterium. But the Dread Wolf put a plan in motion to turn the Templars against him. He wanted to force Elio into a corner so he'd have no choice but to help him perform a dangerous ritual. (sighs) But the Wolf betrayed us. And now Elio is trapped somewhere in the Fade. Me and my companion here seek only to rescue him before it's too late. And we received information from the Inquisition that led us here. But now we walk away from the very tunnels that may reveal the Dread Wolf himself!

If we go back to the Episode 1, Elio was not forced to do this, Solas asked several times if Elio was connected to the Fade and the relic, and Elio did not answer straighfoward because his personal desire for being the source of change. Solas also said that the Ritual was as safe as possible. The misunderstanding lays in the fact that Nadia was the one bound to the relic, and therefore, the one who should have performed the ritual. We don’t know if Solas called the Templars upon Elio either. In fact, it would have been strange, considering he already had hired Nadia’s people to get the relic. If anything, Elio was the one who brougt attention upon himself with the guards. What I want to point out here is that we are shown once again how the narrative twists in a way that one character changes the facts, creates a whole different story, and spreads it to a lot of people, changing it 180 degree. This phenomenon is a reiterative topic in DA Lore: The eternal unreliable narrators that explain sitautions that have been twisted over time.

When they walk to the mine, the ground cracks, and they fall into its depths. As they escape from a mob of spiders, they find another underground chamber:

DRAYDEN: This chamber, it feels different from the cave. I can sense something. DAVRIN: You feel all that lyrium coursing through the walls. DRAYDEN: No, it's more than that. The Veil is thin here. We should be careful.

This to me reinforces the suspicion that Drayden is a mage in disguise or has spirits around them. No other characters in DA lore can perceive the state of the Veil when it’s not obvious [aka, a tear is right open in front of them]. However, the lore-questionable explanation will be given in Episode 4.

In this chamber, we find a mosaic that is described by Drayen as: “This is no ordinary mosaic. Look at the way the circle is split down the middle. The top half is onyx. It's like a mirror![...] You can see your reflection in the darkness. And this portrait below, the figures are upside down and pointing to the stars and to the sky” On it there are small wolf totems that represent the Dread Wolf usually placed at the Dalish camps in Arlathan.

This mosaic has an elven inscription that they can’t read, so Davrin translates the text from this ancient dialect: "Guide me on the path that splits the land between sun and moon." This is a concept that has started to be present in the lore in the last time, specially during the development of DAV [for example, in the Vinyl Art] but the oldest reference to suns, moons, and eclipses belong to DA2, that can be read in The Emergent Compendium. However, there were no other references all over DAI.

Solving the puzzle, Drayen presses some stars on the mosaic and the lyrium glows intensily, opening an energy fissure. If anything, this sounds like the description of an Eluvian and supports the idea that the Eluvian are made of lyrium [thus, they glow in that particular blue shown in DAI and can be corrupted by the Blight as it had happened in DAO]. This fissure apparently opens two exits: a tunel and a portal.

Our future companion Davrin is introduced in this episode.

Episode 4: Beyond the Veil

This story is located in the Arlathan Forest, which “shifts like a prism, magic rippling everywhere”. The whole episode shows its physical and time instabilities, and how dangerous it can be. This place was also featured in the comic The Missing [read the post for more details] with some questionable lore concepts [as it has been happening since Gaider left Bioware].

Bellara is chased by Templars that want her artifact. The object in question is Flicker, “an ancient Elven device built with secret metallurgical techniques lost to time.” It’s a relic that works as a guide or a hound in the Fade, “like a wisp that can lead through the Fade”. Again, this concept is quite questionable: during the time in which the Waking World and the Fade were one, why Elvhenan would requiere such specific device more suited for the instabilities that it has once the Veil was created? I hope we are provided some logical explanation about this.

The Flicker needs a “Fade sparkle” to come back to life. If anything, this process can be related to the creation of worlds as we saw in the codex Raising the Sonallium  analysed in Ancient Elven codices; Vir Dirthara where we see the creation of "life/worlds" by using the energy of the Fade.

Apparently, Bellara can animate trees. I’m not sure how this looks like, but I hope it’s not like Sylvans, since those are spirits trapped in or possessing trees. Decades of lore would become questionable otherwise.

There is a new concept of “bubbles”, places in the Arlathan Forest that have no instabilities of any kind.

The concept of Veil Jumpers is introduced: "an alliance of interested parties that have been trying to figure out what's happening in the forest, what's causing all of these anomalies, and ultimately, wants to seek to restore order on these lands". We were told about them in the comic The Missing, where Strife [also present in the book Tevinter Nights] is featured as well.

Bellara's role is to “map” the Fade, which is a concept a bit worrisome for me. We have been told via codices [reliable and not, for example Walking the Fade: Frozen Moments] during three games, that the constant change of the Fade, eternally reflecting the Waking World, makes it impossible to truly map it. Bellara also claims that “the deeper one looks, the less they seem to know about the Fade” which may be a link to the mysterious codex in DAI called The Deepest Fade which interpretation I’ve worked on Ancient Elven codices; Vir Dirthara.

We are informed that Solas has just recently taken another artifact from the depths of this Forest; this is a calling to the events happening in the comic The Missing.

We finally are explained why Drayden feels so odd: they basically can listen to spirits, an ability that always belonged to mages in DA lore. The explanation for their case, as a non-mage and yet having these powers, is highly questionable in my opinion. They developed the concept of “strange child touched by the Fade”, as if this were an unnusual case of sorcery a la DnD, when in DA lore, every single mage is a sorcerer, and wizardry does not exist. The unnecesary creation of yet another strange category is questionable, specially when we have been told in 3 games and several books that there are low magic mages, that barely can cast anyhting, and yet they feel the Fade and can suffer the same dangers than any mage. Another potential explanation, with less lore-breaking implications, is that Drayden may be an elf-blooded human, so they developed this sensitivity to the Fade as a consequence of the recent alterations that the Veil has been suffering for the last decades under Solas’ ritual [let's remember that Solas wants to heal/return the world to its previous state where elves were eternal and magical]. However, we don’t see this effect in more elves or elf-blooded humans to consider it a potential explanation. Again, a very questionable concept in my opinion. I hope a better in-lore justification is provided in the game. Addition: We also have the situation of the Seekers that acquire a magic/Fade-related power when a Spirit touches them after their tranquility. Maybe there is something of this in this character [and Lucanis].

The group jumps into the Fade and Nadia meets Elio, but due to the many hints shown in their dialogue, we can suspect this is not the real Elio but a spirit trying to trick Nadia. Later, the Templar that was chasing them in the beginning of the episode appears in the Fade as a “corrupted” entity and kills Elio. This situation messes witih Nadia's emotions. Is this Templar another spirit?

The corrupted templar rises a whole “army from the Fade itself” [?] that are all “lyrium-corrupted”[???]. Suddenly, this Templar seems less of a spirit and more of a Red Templar. It’s confusing at best.

As Bellara and Drayden try to bring Nadia to her senses, a “Fade Storm” appears, making the Fade more unstable [???]. This may be part of the consequences of the ritual that Solas is performing. Apparently, going deeper into the Storm is safer [???] since “the Templars will be just as susceptible as them, corruption or no”. The logic in this part of the podcast is highly questionable. They finally escape the Fade through a tear.

The Templar kept the ring that Elio gave to Nadia and finishes the scene with a clear intention of using it against her [?]. Very confusing.

“There's a small fluctuation in the ether right there. I think it's the Veil!” That line is so weird, I’m very worried about the lore of this game and how much has been pulled out of nowhere just to make it easy and fast.

It’s a bit funny for me that after 3 games showing the gravity of physically stepping into the Fade and the dramatic implications of the Black City, we are just able to jump in and out of the Fade as if it were not big deal and we can walk around the Black City as if it were a park. The concepts lost entirely their gravity and solemnity. The comic was more serious and careful with this. You never stepped into the Fade, you only walked through zones where the Veil was extemelly thin due to Solas' ritual.

The story ends with Nadia and Drayden falling in Pall Vollen, where qunari soldiers speak Common perfectly, without any accent, instead of Qunlat.

We are introduced to our future companion Bellara.

These Podcasts, like Absolution, are not considered reliable sources of lore:

[cloud-sitting]

“You can always tell when a suitor is serious about courtship just by how he looks when a young lady dances with another.”

Uhhhh yeah… I’d say he’s pretty serious.

[blood-loving-leech]

episode 1 here

episode 2 here

episode 3 here

episode 4 here

links for the first four hazbin hotel episodes for everyone who doesn’t want/can’t afford amazon prime, enjoy and share!!

[bbygirl-aemond]

"Always coming and going, aren't you? And I have to clean up afterwards." Milly's Rhaenyra is right on the money about the patterns of Daemon's behavior towards Rhaenyra, so let's recap the many ways in which we've seen this exact dynamic play out between Daemon and Rhaenyra throughout the series:

Season 1 Episode 1: Daemon's callousness towards Baelon's death is the final nail in the coffin that forces Viserys's hand against him and first pushes him to declare Rhaenyra his heir in Daemon's stead. This puts Rhaenyra in a precarious position where she will be forced to fight for the rest of her life against those who do not wish to see her on the Iron Throne. (Viserys eventually came to truly believe in Rhaenyra as his heir, but the impetus to first declare her as such had more to do with his guilt and his need to create distance between Daemon and the Iron Throne).

Season 1 Episode 2: Daemon steals the egg that should have been Baelon's, and Rhaenyra has to fly to Dragonstone and convince him to give it back before Viserys's council pushes him into drastic measures.

Season 1 Episode 4: Daemon brings Rhaenyra to a brothel in Flea Bottom, only to leave her alone and vulnerable in a dangerous and unfamiliar place, leaving her to find her own way back to the Red Keep. He's the one who puts her in a position where her reputation comes into question, but Rhaenyra is the one who has to fix it by marrying Laenor, a man who cannot give her children.

Season 1 Episode 10: Daemon indulges his own desire to prepare for war against Rhaenyra's wishes, leaving Rhaenyra to labor and deliver her stillborn daughter alone even though Daemon is the father.

Season 2 Episodes 1 & 2: Daemon uses Mysaria for his own ends and makes a promise to her on Rhaenyra's behalf, without Rhaenyra's permission. He then leaves Dragonstone entirely, leaving Rhaenyra to deal with Mysaria's fate.

Season 2 Episodes 1 & 2: Daemon uses Rhaenyra's request for revenge to get at his own personal desire for revenge, resulting in Jaehaerys's death. When confronted about it, he leaves Dragonstone and breaks contact with her entirely. This deals a massive blow to Rhaenyra's reputation, gives their enemies ammunition, turns Rhaenyra's council against her, and leads directly to the attempt on Rhaenyra's life, all of which Rhaenyra now has to deal with on her own.

[atoriv-art]

older designs for my specialest guy

[marvelousbelladonna]

What would be your character's go to midnight snack?

[bunnithechubs]

i'll be your piece, your A-R-T.

[certifiedcoffeeaddict]

my boy really took out the UK tie for the fbi visiting him at home

[valvarads]

ren “he wants that cookie so effing bad” akiyama

bonus:

[poorlydrawntorbek]

Day 15 - Worst Ways to die (from Episode 45 around 26:00)

[paramasqueradeva]

The Chara Timeline Epi 1 - 5 [Deltarune/Undertale Comic Dub] (Collab W/ @washerpizza)

Comic by: @lilybug-02 

[marshmallowgoop]

And I'm just a little messed up I'm a little out of my head

[Song link] [YouTube link]

[rockpaperscissuhs]

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH + BAND OF BROTHERS:

JOSEPH "JOE" RAMIREZ

Born October 5th, 1921, in Nebraska

Died April 8th, 1988 (age 66), in Martinez, California

Joe Ramirez enlisted in September 1942 (age 20) in San Francisco, CA, and he trained with Easy Company at Toccoa. Holding the rank of Private, he served in Normandy, Holland, and Bastogne. He was hospitalized in January 1945, and discharged in July 1945. After the war, he was married for many years, and had children and grandchildren. When he passed away he was buried with his wife, who had passed away 11 years earlier. Further information about him is scarce, but the brief character profile in the Band of Brothers series bible describes him as Mexican-American, and his personality as "sensitive and nervous."

Appears in Episodes 1, 3-8, and 10; portrayed by actor Rene L. Moreno

Sources below

A million thanks to @bleedingcoffee42 for tracking down this info for me!

[iristial]

The childlike penmanship and utter abundance of hiragana and katakana that has its own implications aside, I was going to talk about how sweet and sad it was that the only kanji Shouma knows is "mother" (母). But then someone told me he also knows the kanji for "help [me]" (助)...that certainly adds to the context of Shouma's memories of his mother mainly being shrouded in fear

[phoebehalliwell]

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

charmed (1998 - 2006), created by constance m. burge

[hey-its-robin00]

Happy Pulpiversary!!!