#fenris and anders are likely to die. merrill can die

[redlyriumidol]

I wonder what percentage of players end up with Fenris dead at the end of da2. I suspect it's quite large because I imagine most players side with the mages, and it's also somewhat tricky to get his friendship while also making pro-mage choices throughout the game. In order for Fenris to side with you you can't have any rivalry at all* so you have to be somewhat careful about when you bring him along, and I imagine many casual/first-time players don't manage it.

*Otherwise, you need 100% rivalry for him to side with the mages, and I know from experience (because this is what I always do) that this is VERY difficult to do without a guide because of the finite opportunities for friendship/rivalry gains, there comes a point in the game where you can't gain any more rivalry so if you haven't accrued enough rivalry by then rip fenris lol. Obviously you can just be a dickhead and make deals with slavers etc, but if you don't want to do that but still max rivalry, you have to be very strategic about it.

[kirkwallsquad]

favorite da2 battle lines in no particular order

i'm listening to a compilation by danaduchy on youtube rn so

literally every fenris line bcs everyone else is YELLING and he's just speaking in his regular quiet-ish voice. king what are you saying i can't HEAR YOU

except for when hawke goes down. THEN he's loudly upset.

"hawke's down! time to panic!" (isabela)

"the tame elf is down" (varric - what the fuck omg don't call fenris that)

"your pet elf has fallen" (carver - WHAT THE FUCK OMG DON'T CALL FENRIS THAT)

"that moody mage is down" (aveline)

"ugh, can someone pick up fenris please?" (merrill)

"isabela's on the ground... appropriately" (aveline - HELLO?!?!?!?)

"merrill! oh, blood mages are so dramatic" (isabela)

"aveline has fallen?" (fenris - why is this a question babe)

"they got whatshisname, the mage" (varric - i continue to believe he doesn't know anders' name until act 3)

"the dwarf has dropped a few more feet" (sebastian)

"dear varric, please learn to parry. love, your innards" (varric)

"do you have something for this, because it hurts" (carver)

"even my teeth hurt" (anders)

"i've got so many bruises now they've got names and families" (merrill)

"ugh, i have dirt in my mouth" (sebastian)

"you're going to let me walk around injured?" (carver)

"being close to death is very bad for my morale" (isabela)

sebastian describes his wounds as "oozing" or "seeping" more than once

"i know dalish are meant to be close to the earth, but we don't mean literally" (merrill)

"i'm alright, who needs kidneys anyway" (isabela)

"hawke. varric. i think this is bad." (merrill)

"stop being you and fix me up" (carver - BABY. BABY BROTHER.)

"that really gets the blood flowing" but also "i will fight and pray for forgiveness later" but also "this is much more exciting than the chantry!" (sebastian - what is wrong with you <3)

"my face is not a shield!" (hawke)

"and they say drinking doesn't solve anything" (isabela)

"haawke i can't mooove" (sebastian)

"i'm too far away, what do you want me to do? shout at them?" (isabela)

"i'd have to fly to reach! of course, i've always wanted to learn to fly" (merrill - she's literally the funniest person ever)

"alas, no" (fenris)

"my faith is my armor! my cause is my shield!" (sebastian)

"if we kill them, we get their stuff!" (isabela)

"andraste's knees, it's like herding cats!" (isabela)

"AFRAID YET?!" (anders)

"RUN! WHILE YOU CAN!" (anders - he's so loud i love him)

"another one for me! how many have you gotten, hawke?" (varric)

"ah. a shame that you're going to die, no?" (fenris)

"you. me. and an audience. that's what this is all about!" (carver)

"may the creators have mercy on you! i certainly won't." (merrill)

"destructive forces of nature, coming up!" (anders)

"suck on a fireball!" (anders)

"NEVER TAUNT A MAGE!!!" (anders)

"a thrust, now a parry" (fenris)

"i'm gonna taunt you in elvish now! durgen'len! aravel! vallaslin!" (merrill)

"hello, i'm merrill, and i'll be your distraction." (merrill)

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHY MAGES ARE FEARED!!!" (anders)

"maker please forgive your children" followed immediately by "DID YOU SEE THAT SHOT" (sebastian)

"WANT TO SEE WHAT'S UNDER THESE ROBES?!?!?!" (anders)

"I'M RIGHT HERE! HIT ME!" (isabela)

"maker, the idiocy" (bethany)

"MAKER BLESS YOUR CHILDREN IN THEIR HOUR OF NEEEED" (sebastian)

"my weapon does nothing??" (fenris - he sounds so puzzled help)

"this is SO not working" (anders)

"if the pointy sticks don't work, try the other pointy sticks" (isabela)

"ah, dear. why doesn't anyone ever want to be nice to us?" (merrill)

"is there an end to the people who hate you?" (aveline)

"looks like we've got a few more puppies to kick" (isabela - HELLO?!?)

"take a step, kill, repeat repeat repeat" (carver)

"the hate you inspire is unfortunate" (fenris)

"another twenty steps, another batch of deaths" (anders)

"nobody seems to like you. do you get used to that?" (merrill - ouch. brutal hskfjhgksdjfhg)

"i can't take credit for all of this. hawke helped a little bit" (isabela)

[stormsbourne]

honestly though dragon age 2 was the exact perfect game to follow dragon age origins and it's almost entirely because of the things that most hardc0re gamerz hated most: the inability to change or divert what happens

you go from a game where you are a special rainbow star who the plot and world seems to rotate around to a game where you are just a person who ends up a significant figure mostly by chance. in origins you are one of the only survivors of a mass betrayal by the king's right hand man, and you have it drilled into you again and again that your choices matter. not only do they matter but they are the fulcrum the worldstate moves around. not a fan of the werewolves? kill them all off and let the guy who cursed them in the first place off scot free. think golems would be a sick way to really fuck up an archdemon? revive that ancient tech at the cost of who knows how many lower-class and casteless dwarf lives. you are the one who determines if the archdemon dies or gets reborn as a supernatural infant boy. it is all on you.

in dragon age 2 almost nothing is on you. the other characters have goals and motivations and you might be able to slightly affect them, but some things happen regardless. fenris always kills hadriana. anders always blows up the chantry. isabela always has already stolen the qunari artifact and merrill is not capable of being persuaded not to fuck with the eluvian. sure, you can affect their fates. do you sell fenris back into slavery? do you kill merrill's entire clan to protect her reputation or let her take the brunt of it to spare them? does anders live or die? bethany? carver? but the actions the characters take mostly happen regardless of hawke's input. the worldstate does not morph to fit what you want it to be anymore because the characters have too much weight in the people they already are.

and the wider plot reflects this, too. the qunari are unwilling to negotiate a peace, especially once they deem kirkwall too far gone to be worth saving. meredith is set in her ways and cannot be convinced out of her mindset. you cannot save leandra. anders, again, always blows up the chantry. hawke is involved in many of these events but they are far from being the fulcrum the world spins around. they are just a person, like most other people, caught up in the conflicts of forces so much more powerful and more ingrained into society than they are, that the best they can do is to ride the waves. to leap forward as the world changes around them, as flemeth fortells early in the game. the big reveal varric hesitates to tell cassandra for so long is that hawke was just a person, caught up in a million conflicts that they tried to stop but could not because the world was already too set against them. a fish struggling upstream for its whole life, and if you buy the depiction of hawke in inquisition, one who sort of resented the role they ended up playing in what became of the wider world.

it's perfect. it's beautiful. I know the narrative these days is that it's so constrained because of the short dev cycle, and while I do think that if the dev cycle had been longer there would have been more polish and shine, I think this theme was always intended because it's such a perfect foil to origins. origins says show me how important you are, the world your warden wants to create. da2 says that the world already exists, and the best you can do is try to keep things from getting worse, and make a tiny impact for the better in the lives of the people around you. the mages you help escape kirkwall while they can, the people you manage to save from slavers. maybe you can't change the world, maybe it's too set against you. but you can change something. some little things.

it slaps.

[seeker-ophelia]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Ophelia’s Review, Part 1: The Emotion

Like most people on tumblr, I went into Veilguard for Solavellan. I needed a happy ending for them. I had obsessed and freaked and theorized for years. But before I delve into VG I need to explain some backstory. This is going to be as much a biography of me as it is a tale of my rook. And its going to be long, so you know, heads up. And Veilguard Spoilers.

I have been really struggling to get my thoughts into a coherent string after act 2 of VG. I feel like I can’t even review the game because I’m so emotionally wrecked, all I can do is tell a story. If you want to read this, be forewarned, its long, also, obviously spoilers, Veilguard. But… holy god my Rook. 

[Part 2 is here]

My first Dragon Age game was Origins, in 2009. I torrented it off Pirate Bay and played on my aging laptop that could barely handle it. And I loved it. I had never played a game like this before and loved the emotional and story-telling aspects of the game. I played as a Dalish rogue, Lelianna and Zevran were my best friends. Morrigan was the awe-inspiring yet traumatized goth-girl, and I fell for the golden-retriever bastard king of Ferelden.

I did not only watch on in broken-hearted horror as he ascended to his throne beside Anora without me, but I had him lie with Morrigan, the weirdo-turned-friend, because I trusted her, and frankly, I didn’t want to die.

And it broke me in a way the fantasy books I inhaled like oxygen as a child never did.

Because I chose to do those things. I made the choice. For right or for wrong, I was the one who decided their fate, even if those choices came back to bite me in the ass later.

I played Origins three more times over the next 5 years, through what I now call my University Years. I was broke, stressed, and overworked, and Origins became a comfort to me. I even properly bought the game with the DLCs the last time, because I had a little more money, and I figured a game that I had played and loved so much deserved it. (Never played 2, and that was my own fault). I discovered Fan Fiction because of Origins.

Then… I did some life things that I’m not going to air into the internet, but I kind of got my life together around 2016/17. I had a good job, a career even, and while I was by no means wealthy, I was okay.

And I heard about Dragon Age Inquisition, and remembered my old love for Origins, and gave it a go. I’ve always been a fantasy stan (I grew up with LotR), if you give me the option to play as a mage or an elf I’m going to do it. I wanted to romance Leliana, especially after her bad-assery in Redcliffe, but that turned out to be impossible. Because I never played 2, I didn’t know who Cullen was, and I romanced him (my love letter to Alistair). And while I liked the game, loved it even, I didn’t feel that emotional pull that Origins made me feel, and I put it aside. I’ve played some other games I’ve liked throughout the years, Fable, Skyrim, The Witcher, and I liked them all, but none of them really gut-punched me like that first fated Origins playthrough.

Cut to 2020, covid, and fuck if I didn’t have anything better to do, so I played DA2.

Oh man, I laughed at the graphics, oh it was so bad after Inquisition, how did anyone play this? And then I walked Darktown with Anders, walked slaver dens with Fenris, helped my Merrill with her Eluvian, and Isabela with her relic. And I helped my friend Varric in the deep roads. And I began to feel a tendril again of what I had in Origins. Who cared about the graphics, the gameplay, the locations, these people’s stories were what was driving this tale, and that was amazing and rare.

And I went into Inquisition with new eyes. I could not touch Cullen again, not after how he acted in Kirkwall. I knew Solas left, so I wanted to try and romance Bull (I’ve seen the youtube videos; ‘So you want to ride The Bull’). But I slowed down my playthrough this time, talked to everyone, actually spoke to Solas over and over in Haven. Indominatable focus indeed, hahren. What a curiosity you are. And I fell for fucking Solas.

A bald fucking hobo apostate, are you for real? Brain, get your head in the game. And my heart said, wait.

But he leaves! You know he leaves!  

Well, maybe I’m just destined to fall in love with emotionally unavailable fictional people.

And I played Descent and Hakkon for the first time, which were fantastic. And then I played Trespasser.

And Trespasser broke me. Just like Origins did.

And my Casual Dragon Age Days were done. I was feral.

But I also had a very demanding job. I could not just play video games for large chunks of time. I worked. A lot. I mean a lot. And in the fall of this year, I burnt out. I quit. I’ve got Real Shit going on in my life right now, and I’ve worked so much I can afford to take some time off.

And Dragon Age was there to welcome me, arms open wide, with Escapism 4.0, AKA The Veilguard. I spent hours crafting theories, making connections, playing Inquisition again, playing DA2 again, writing, actually writing Fics again. I read the comics, read TN, watched Awakening (twice).

I joined tumblr to stop being a lurker and actually participate. Joined Caitie and Kala’s patreons, just loving the hype and the theory crafting and the love for Veilguard. I love the Dragon Age world. It has helped me through so many tough times in my life, and its going to get me through this one, too.

I found community online. In tumblr, in reddit, in discord.

And I breathed Dragon Age for almost 2 months before Halloween. Solas this and Lavellan that and Fade and Magic and Titans and Gods and Love. Remember this, don’t forget about that, did you hear this theory, well what about the connection between…

To quote myself, Like most people on tumblr, I went into Veilguard for Solavellan. The companions came out, and I didn’t feel super strongly about any of them. I didn’t even feel strongly about my Rook. I had a general idea, especially because of Trick’s IGN interview, Rook/Mirror/Solas, but nothing really concrete.

And then Nadas-Dirthalen asked me about my Rook a few days before Halloween, and I had to think about it. I had to put down Solas and Lavellan, I had to put down my theories, put down the lore, and pick up this new thing. This Rook.

And I looked at it.

What did I want her to act like? What did I want her to look like? How did I want her to be? What drives her? Where is she from? What are her goals? What does she like? What does she hate?

And I weaved a new friend. Danivas (Dani, for short). Escaped rabbit slave out of Minrathous, her magic the only thing that saved her from hard labor in Dock Town or the mines, and then it was the only thing that saved her from the unwanted advances of the Tevinter Nobility. Rescued by the Dragons in her teens, she sought connection to her elvhen heritage with the Veil Jumpers, falling hard (platonically) for her mentor, her sister, Bellara. Everything she hated about herself, Bellara loved, and Bellara was flighty enough to need protecting, especially after Cyrian, so that’s what she became. Bellara’s protector. Arlathan’s protector. Protector of the small, and defender of the powerless. She will never apologize for saving Varric and the others at the cost of some stupid magic map, she would pay that price a hundred times over to save living beings.

And I made her in CC, I walked her through the streets of Minrathous, through Solas’ ritual, through Arlathan forest. My heart sang when I saw Harding again, and knew that Rook and Harding would be best friends. And I began to fall for the characters.

My Veil Jumper sister Bellara, poised but wickedly intelligent Neve, violent and troubled Lucanis, steadfast and resolved Davrin with playful Assan, towering yet growing Taash, and mystifying, immortalizing Emmerich, with his weird but I guess acceptable Manfred.

I helped Harding, Paragon of her time, discover her new mystifying magic, to find peace through pain, just as Bellara had done for Dani.

I learned all their stories. Their loves. How to interact with them, what they liked and didn’t like. And I fell, for Assan. That fucking griffon. Is so cute. How can you not love him? He’s just like Dani. Forced through circumstance to fight terrible evil, not necessarily against their nature, but certainly not what they would prefer to be doing. They are powerful and special and fierce and playful.

And, like any child, rebellious.

Dani helped Davrin through parenthood. He was a soldier, a commander, not a father, or a teacher, and though she was brash and sarcastic, she had been Bellara’s protector, she knew honey over vinegar, and pushed him to be gentler with Assan. Watched them grow together and felt such unhinged joy through their path to tulum. And then she looked up from digging her fingers into the feathers in Assan’s neck one day to see Davrin staring down at her, and thought, oh.

Her heart stuttered. And they flitted about each other for a long time. Teasing and testing, flirting and ribbing.

As she walked the steps of the Cobbled Swan to meet Morrigan, she told herself she would bring Davrin to Arlathan again, without Assan, and without any gingerwort tea. Just the two of them, and she would tell him what he meant to her.

But the Gods had different plans.  

And they had to move, NOW.

Davrin, the Grey Warden constantly surrounded by death and destruction, tried to warn me.

What if one of us doesn’t come back?

I actually let myself imagine the future.

Our future.

With our half-bird, half-cat kid.

And Dani, who had never had much hope for anything before, brought her hand to Davrins face with a soft smile, and soothed her Griffon Daddy, Var Lath Vir Suledin, Davrin.

When we win, when we beat this thing, we will come back here, and I will show you how much I love you.

Every Solas fresco I uncovered, I cried. Every memory, every revenant, even the ones I saw coming. I felt so much emotion for Solas, even as my love for Rooks Companions grew. Dani’s love for Davrin grew, in a very real, fast, surprising way.

But the Gods Eclipsed the Sun, and we had to move, NOW.

Of course I chose the Grey Warden to lead the charge against the Antaam. I needed Taash and Harding with me, and he was better suited to the roll. Harding is a scout, not a commander, and Davrin would have Lucanis for any sneaky mischief he would need, with Emmerich for any quick heals.

Imagine my relief when we met up again. I made a choice and he didn’t die, thank you, BioWare.

No, Neve, Bellara is better suited to deal with old Elvhen Magic.

And then Elgar’nan took her from me. Dani’s sister. Her home.

And she blasted through darkspawn and Blight to get to Elgar’nan, to get to Bellara.

But they had to get through Ghilan’nain first.

Fuck you Ghilan’nain if you think I’m fighting alone, my strength is my team, and I will move Fade and Titan to get to them. And Dani frees them, only to have Lucanis foiled, again. How do we get out of this? What do we do?

Upside down, she watches Davrin scale a crumbling tower, and their eyes meet.

No.

Whatever it takes.

Davrin, No.

His voice is deep and commanding, resolute and resolved.

“Assan!”

And Dani’s scream tangles with Assans as her son smashes into Ghillan’nain’s back.

The Blighted Goddess stumbles, and Lucanis and Dani fall to the ground, but Ghilan’nain’s blight is lightening, and when Dani looks up at Davrin two tentacles have speared him, his eyes wide and unseeing into the dark sky.

She screams again, Ghilan’nain forgotten, and as she watches Assan dive to the aid of his fallen partner, Dani is knocked back by a concussive blue blast; the Crow has fulfilled his contract.

The air is charged, the veil tearing here, Emmerich is yelling something at her, she must remove the dagger or this world will be torn asunder.

And then there’s overpowering, pressured silence. Grey and fog and stone and loneliness surround her, and all she can see or hear is Solas.

You were never ready to make the sacrifices that leadership requires.

Davrin. Assan. Bellara. My family. Is GONE. Because of ME.

Well, shit, kid. Haven’t you learned anything from this place? I made the choice, even knowing the risks. My decision, my sacrifice, and you don’t get to take that from me.

And Emmerich and Lucanis pull her from her prison of regret, and she knows she can’t blame herself, that would be taking away Davrin and Bellara’s agency, but you know who she can blame?

Solas.

The man my Lavellan loves. The man I swore to save. The one I started this game for. The one who made me feral for Dragon Age.

He did this to me.

Solas took away my love. By not being able to face his regrets.

And Dani became Hardened.

“Are you certain you’re alright, Rook?”

“We’ve still got work to do. I can collapse when this is over.”

“You needn’t carry this burden on your own. The rest of us will send word to our allies. You must take care of yourself in the meantime. We’ll speak again soon.”

But she was fine. She would be fine. Had to be fine. They had a job to do. Gods to kill. People to save.

It was walking past Assan’s spot in the courtyard that broke her.

Mourn Davrin?

To the Void with that.

I will avenge him.

I will kill the Elf who started all of this, forget Mythal, forget Lavellan, forget the Blight.

Mirror.

Solas cannot blame himself, that would be taking away the agency of his friends, but you know what he can blame?

The Veil.

I will end the curse that started all of this, forget Mythal, forget Lavellan, forget the Blight.

Mirror.

I will defend the small.

Mirror.

I will free the enslaved.

Mirror. 

You were never ready to make the sacrifices that leadership requires.

Mirror.

Its easier to play the villain, because that means you didn’t fail, all the damage you’ve done, all the people you’ve hurt…

Mirror.

It becomes a choice.

Mirror.

Remind yourself who you really are.

Mirror.

But will you listen?

Mirror.

Rook lays on the cold cobblestone, eyes wide, fist white-knuckled around the lyrium dagger, a battered and bruised Solas standing behind her. Her anger got her through her battle with Elgar’nan, but it will not help her here.

Rook will have to live with the choices she made. The successes and the failures. She can’t blame Solas. It's easier to blame Solas. But that’s exactly what Solas did, place blame where it did not belong, and it destroyed the world.

And her anger and hate and grief and despair swallow and consume itself into the tiniest, smallest fleck of a wisp.

Of hope.

She rose slowly, meeting Solas’ gaze, and places the dagger in his outstretched, bloody hand.

I don’t want to see any more pain on top of what Elgar’nan has done.

(Hope)

Your prison is made of regrets, and you are trapped in yours.

(I’ll not be trapped in mine)

Destroying everything won’t erase your mistakes.

(Killing Solas won’t bring Davrin and Assan back)

You have the chance, right now, to save the world. Bind yourself to the veil and stop it from failing.

And it takes the Mother, the Maiden, and the Mirror, for Solas to accept his past.

As Lavellan walked the din’an shiral after Solas, Rook walked it for Davrin.

As Varric released Dani from her regret, Mythal released Solas from his.

As Solas turns to the Eluvian, the Magic Mirror named Rook, he is forced to see his faults, and how to fix them.

His corrupted purpose is repairable. And he passes his torch to the Mirror, vowing to seek atonement for the sins of his past, sins grown and amplified because he refused to face the truth of them.

And that will probably hit everyone, because I’d wager good coin that if you’re playing video games, or reading fantasy, you’ve used escapism before, but it hits especially hard for me. Right now. At this point in my life. When my own personal veil I’ve constructed to hold back my own evils is crumbling around me because I have not faced the truth of my own past sins, my memories as demons grown and amplified and slipping through cracks because I refused them for so long. My choice.

And when Solas and Ellana walked into the sunset, I cried. And cried. And cried. Because this whole time I thought I was my Inquisitor, bare your blade and raise it high, look to the sky, for one day soon, the dawn will come, var lath vir suledin. Bellanaris. Perseverance, endurance, outlive, outlast, that is what you need.

When in reality I am my Rook. Let go of your regret. You don’t need to hold on to this, you need to let it go.

We all have to face our regrets. Accept them, and then let them go. Running from them only makes them worse.   

And I leave with the lyrics of the Veilguard Credits song, “Roll The Credits,” by Danielle Ponder:

I could feel it, I won't come down I could see it, oh, with all eyes Hold my head and saw the whole sky I never felt so damn alive And if there's smoke, then I'll be water If there's fire, I'll be rain

We were lost, but we weren't stranded We were dreamers on the run I gave my all, it was commanding And we just did this shit for fun I could feel it, I won't come down Found myself above the sky Tell my mama, tell my daddy That love is falling from the sky

Good God Almighty, I done opened my mind These holy waters left a chill down my spine

[vigilskeep]

da2 dialogue when someone goes down in battle, a summary

merrill: oh dear! hold on!

anders: [PANICKED SCREAMING]

aveline: not this AGAIN

isabela: oh for fuck’s sake

bethany: i’m not crying i’m not crying—

carver: can you NOT

varric: [somehow like two whole sentences with a pre prepared joke mid-combat]

sebastian: guys can we not let each other die please!

fenris: ah. anyway,

[nadas-dirthalen]

I dunno, guys. We're not going to Orlais or Ferelden, right? Nor are we going to Kirkwall. It's not that characters from prior games will never be mentioned - it's that if they are mentioned, it's not two recorded voice lines that revolve around your choices. It's a line to acknowledge they exist, not based around the specific MOMENT of your choice. Merrill was always a little silly and naive, but superbly well-meaning, whether or not you helped her fix the eluvian. Anders was always complicated, no matter if he lived or died. Things like that can still be mentioned, and I have faith.

It's been a decade and we're not going to the old places that we've changed! It's been 20+ canonical years since Origins!

I'm a bit bummed about Kieran, of course, and of course I'm bummed about not having Anders or Fenris cameos (since both could die in DA2). But I'd much rather be disappointed about that than disappointed about a plot that feels weird because it tried to fit in so much stuff from events that happened 10-20+ years ago.

But also? I'm relieved about the Well of Sorrows. Phew, lmfao.

[explodingchantry]

There is something I've been thinking about that I want to mention in The Anders Essay, as I've been calling it - about how da2 specifically doesn't give you as much say in your companions' fate as you usually tend to expect.

Whilst Dao lets you make one of your companions king, or impregnate another, and whilst inquisition lets you turn either a companion or an advisor into the fucking pope, or decide whether or not a companion kills their entire company or gets exiled from their country.... Da2 doesn't give you quite as much of a choice.

You don't even get to truly choose your sibling's fate. It's only a choice if you know in advance what happens if you take them to the deep roads or not. What happens to them is a consequence of your actions, sure, but it isn't necessarily a "choice" in the way you would expect.

No matter what you do, Merrill will work on that eluvian using blood magic. Your decisions will only change how she feels about you and what happens with her clan. No matter what you do, Aveline will become captain of the guard. I'll admit I've never purposefully tried to ruin her thing with Donnic but I would be surprised if you can genuinely get them to not end up together.

The elephant in the room is that you can choose to give Fenris back to Danarius and you can choose to give Isabela to the Qunari. And I think it's.... Interesting.... How the two companions of color are the two that you can... Basically sell off......

But... Trying to... Ignore... That... As much as one can ignore the uh, very... Let's say misguided writing choices here - it's INTERESTING. like it is an overt decision to take this control away from you. And in my opinion, it's mostly a good thing.

Da2 faces a lot of backlash for restricting your agency and not really giving you a choice in the role you play. You can customize your Hawke but you will always remain a human with two siblings and a dead mage dad. Your mom will always die. Etc. And of course it does kind of suck, but it also really reinforces how personal da2 feels in a way. I don't know. That part is definitely biased on my part because I love da2 so much and love Hawke to bits lol

But either way - not giving you as much control over your entourage's fate does feel like a deliberate choice since it's much different from what you can do in the games that came both before and after da2. And honestly, it makes sense? I don't know, I'm always left feeling a bit strange when I realise how much control I have over characters whom I'm not playing in choice based rpgs like this. In truth it's basic ludonarrative dissonance: a way that the medium of video games actually hurts the realism and sometimes impact of a story. But da2 takes a very deliberate step in taking away your control in a way that works both to disempower you the way hawke would feel disempowered, but also to make your companions and the rest of the characters feel like their own people.

I'm thinking of it ofc because: no matter what you do, Anders will blow up that Chantry. And as much as I criticize bioware for a lot of their writing esp around Anders, I really, REALLY appreciate this. It was something he believed in, something he decided to do. And he did it because it made sense for his character, without any chance for you to talk him down from it because it's a choice HE made independently of you, because he's his own person and because his convictions are that strong. Da2 would be a worse game if you could talk Anders out of blowing up the chantry both because it would obviously remove its final act but also because it would immediately flatten and rob Anders' character and his agency.

And I think this also ties into why people do feel as betrayed as they do when Anders does it - we're used to having more control over our companion characters in choice based rpgs. If you were playing Bg3 and Astarion decided to ascend no matter what you did or said before, you would feel betrayed. Perhaps less if he always made his intentions clear AND never gave you the opportunity to talk him out of it. But still, you would feel betrayed BECAUSE you weren't given a choice. Because you're so used to having a choice.

I think in analysis of dragon age 2, more time should be given to this very specific decision bioware made, to take away your agency over characters who aren't yours (and obvs also the one who Is, supposedly, yours). I think it's a fascinating choice.

[barbex]

Happy Friday! "i'm not in love with you.'' ''good.'' for Fenders?

Same prompt like last week for @dadrunkwriting, fenders again, but different. A little different, I just can't help myself with them. Thank you for the prompt!

---

"I removed the chance of compromise, because there can be no compromise."

The mage stands tall and proud, holding his staff openly. He looks different, wearing all black, even the feathers on his coat, his hair tied back all the way. Fenris hasn't seen him in a while. The last time... the last time he saw him...

Darkness, silent touches, hot breath on cool skin. The mage kissing his neck, touching him, lying under him, his eyes nearly closed but he never looks away. Biting his hand to quiet his whimpers, closing his eyes for just a second. Kissing Fenris' hand before he leaves. 

They never spoke of that night. Not a single word.

The dust from the explosion sinks down over their heads, Meredith and Orsino screaming at each other, templars holding their swords at the ready, and in between all of that, Anders falls silent and sits down on a wooden box someone left in the square. Probably when the massive chantry exploded in two red columns. 

He doesn't look defeated. He looks resigned. Now that the fire is gone from him, Fenris sees how how bright he burned before. He doesn't listen to the screams and accusations, he just sees Anders. And Anders looks at him.

The world seems to still around them, the screams, the dust, an image in time. A flash of light hits the knife in Hawke's hand and the dust falls. 

The tip of the knife nicks Anders' coat, a feather flying away, but Fenris tightens his hand around Hawke's wrist, holding him back. Hawke narrows his eyes at him. "Why are you helping him? He destroyed everything."

"For that he has to die?" Fenris' voice sounds foreign to himself.

"I had plans. And he fucked it all up." Hawke twists his arm out of Fenris' grip.

"You will kill a friend?" Fenris steps closer, placing himself between Anders and Hawke. 

There is movement behind his back, Anders standing up and coming to his side, out of the cover Fenris provides. "Go, Fenris," Anders says. "This has nothing to do with you."

"I decide for myself."

Bitter laughter comes from Hawke. "Fucking shit, your decisions." He laughs again with that vicious, bitter laugh. He hasn't really laughed in a long time. "You of all people should know what we should do with mages."

A chill runs down his spine. He recognizes this, he used to hate just like this. Fenris holds his arm in front of Anders, pushing him back. "He was good enough when he healed you."

Hawke looks from him to Anders and spits on the ground. "Fine. Get him out of my sight. If I see you again —"

Something hits Hawke in the face, a pink flower, spreading a sweet scent. Someone takes Fenris by the arm, pulling him away. It's Merrill, whispering a spell that clears the sweet scent from the air. 

"What was that?" Anders asks as Isabela drags him forward.

"Oh, it's a manifestation of —"

"Less nerding out over magic," Isabela shouts, "more running. We have to get to the Gallows, and Hawke and his new templar friends won't stay like that forever."

"I didn't know..." Anders says quietly. 

Merrill looks at him. "That he was kissing Meredith's stinking ass?"

Anders stares at her as Isabela laughs. "Kitten. We'll make a pirate out of you yet." 

"Yes," Anders says, "that."

They reach the docks, jumping on the next best boat, and only then does Fenris notice that he still holds Anders' hand. "Mage. Anders. What did you expect to happen?" 

Anders looks at his hand in Fenris' gauntlets. "That I die and the mages rise up." His eyes flash blue for a moment. "A simplistic idea, I realise that now." 

"How can you lead the mages in their uprising if you are dead?"

"I'm not a leader, that was never my intention." He looks back at the cloud of smoke hanging over Kirkwall. "I was supposed to die."

Fenris drops Anders' hand. "Is that what you wish? Instead of helping your fellow mages?" He isn't quite sure where the anger comes from, but his gauntlets creak as he clenches his fists.

Anders looks at him, confused. "You seem to care. About me? About mages?"

"I care about freedom," Fenris says, crossing his arms. "I care that you don't throw your life away."

"Oh." Anders lowers his head. 

"For the love of Andraste's pinky peach," Isabela shouts from the front. "Just tell him you're in love with him, we could all die in a minute."

Fenris feels his ears heat. "I am not in love with you."

"Good," Anders says quietly. 

He can't quite grasp the sense of disappointment going through him.

"But," Anders says with another breath. "I think she meant me. And I'm..."

Fenris leans forward and kisses him, his gauntlets sliding into Anders' hair. "I lied," he whispers against Anders' lips.

[sky-fire-forever]

Happy friday! For any members of Kirkwall Polycule, “If we don’t make it out alive, I’ll see you at the Maker’s side.” “Bold of you to assume you’re going there.” (from the DA inspired dialog)

Thank you for this prompt! This one focuses a little more on Hawke/Isabela than the rest, but I tried to include moments with the whole polycule. For @dadrunkwriting

My Hawke in this one is Angel Hawke, who uses she/her pronouns.

“You’re kidding, right?” Isabela grabs Hawke’s arm and holds on tight. “You’re not seriously going to duel the Arishok for me.”

Hawke turns to her and gives her that winning smile that always seems to get her out of any situation she finds herself in. “Of course I am,” she says easily. “And I’m going to win.” 

Isabela can’t believe what she’s hearing. When she’d returned with the Tome, she hadn’t expected Hawke to get as caught up in her mess. That was the whole point of her coming back, for the Maker’s sake! To protect people! To protect Hawke and company specifically! Now Hawke is about to throw her life away for her, which just ruins everything. 

“Relax, Bela.” Hawke takes her hands in her own and presses kisses to her knuckles. “I’ll be fine. I always am.” 

Now would be the time for Isabela to say something witty and clever and charming. Something that would dissipate the tension in air and that would make Hawke laugh. 

Instead, she kisses her desperately and clings to her hand even after she pulls away. “If you don’t make it out alive, I’ll–” I’ll never forgive you is what she wants to say, but it feels too vulnerable to say it. “I’ll–”

“We’ll see you at the Maker’s side,” Sebastian cuts in.

Hawke snorts, a beautiful thing. “Bold of you to assume any of us are going there,” she says with a good-natured grin. “But don’t worry, I won’t die.” 

“That’s what they always say,” Varric says.

Hawke rolls her eyes. “If you keep talking like I’m going to die, I might just do it,” she says playfully before kissing Isabela’s knuckles again. “Don’t worry so much. When have I ever not been fine?” 

At odds with her words, she goes around to say goodbye to each of her companions in turn. She warns Anders from using any healing magic, even if he thinks he can be subtle enough that it won’t be noticed. 

“This is my battle to fight and I’ll win fair and square. I don’t need to risk cheating this time.” 

Isabela can’t help thinking that this isn’t Hawke’s battle at all and that she shouldn’t be the one fighting it. 

Anders grips Hawke’s hand tightly. “I love you,” he says desperately, like it might be his last chance to say it — for all he knows, it could be. 

“I love you too, you dork.” Hawke kisses him on the nose before pulling away to speak to Fenris. 

“He will be strong,” Fenris warns. “You must not lower your guard for even a moment.”

Hawke rolls her eyes. “I know, I know. Relax.” She wraps her arms around him. “Just hug me.” 

And he does, pulling her close to him and burying his face in her neck for a short time. Isabela gets the sense that he’s memorizing her. Despite their ill-times breakup not long ago, Fenris needs this. 

Merrill looks like she’s going to burst into tears at any moment. “Please don’t die,” she says when Hawke approaches her. 

“Don’t plan on it, sweetheart,” Hawke assures her. 

“Oh. Well, most people don’t plan on dying.” Merrill wrings her hands. “But it’s good that you’re fighting. It’s the right thing to do. For Bela.” 

Hawke smiles. “Thanks, Merrill.” She pulls her in and kisses her sweetly. “Wish me luck out there.” 

“Good luck.” 

Hawke turns to Varric, who puts his hands up. 

“I’m not one for tearful goodbyes, Giggles,” he says. “Just go in there and kick his ass.” 

Hawke laughs and salutes him. “Will do, my trusty dwarf.” 

Sebastian presses a kiss to the back of Hawke’s hand. “Good luck,” he says earnestly. 

Hawke smiles fondly at him before withdrawing from everyone. “Alright, enough emotions. I’ve got this.” She blows them all a kiss before stepping into the ring. 

Isabela watches on, terrified. She’s relieved when Fenris takes her hand. 

[sulky-valkyrie]

Val! Can I get "there’s nothing you could have done." for Fenris/Anders?

You know it 💜 Honorable mention to @shardsof-stars because she'd requested a wee bit of Fenders on the run after the boom, and these two ideas ended up all tangled and muddied together and it doesn't quite use the dialogue and it doesn't quite have them on the run, but I'd like to think it fits the spirit (heh, Jsutice pun) of both thoughts

for @dadrunkwriting

Kirkwall was burning, and Meredith had gone mad.  Or maybe Meredith's madness was why Kirkwall was burning.

It wasn't supposed to end like this.  No, that wasn't right.  It hadn't been supposed to keep going after this.  No, that wasn't right either.  He wasn't supposed to keep going.  

Boom, Justice and I are free.

It was supposed to be a symbol, a spark to light the fires of the world, to force Thedas to confront its prejudices, and to remind mages they could fight back.  And fight back they had, but Anders had never expected it like this.  A summary execution should’ve been his fate, or a show trial and a chance for him to make his case for the end of the Circles before being sentenced to death.

He hadn't accounted for Meredith's paranoia.  Well, he hadn't accounted for it enough.  Or her hatred.  Bloody knickerweasels, he'd confessed to her damn face, and she'd still blamed the whole of the Gallows and called for an Annulment.

Granted, he might still die today.  Orsino had nearly turned himself into a fucking abomination in a futile act of defiance and despair.  He shuddered.  If not for Merrill and her own demon, things would've been so much worse.  And it was bad enough already.

Meredith's sword sang with an oily discordant wrongness, jangling at his nerves and setting Justice on edge as she cut down her own people.  Even half an hour ago, the sight of Templars losing their guts and screaming would’ve given him grim satisfaction, but now, it was simply grim.  They fought against her as fiercely as they'd fought with her, and died just as easily.

He threw every spell he could, even healing fucking Cullen when the statues came to life and one batted him across the courtyard, but it still wasn't enough.  Over a dozen people stood against her, but they were starting to tire, and Meredith seemed unstoppable.  At least the rest of the Gallows mages made it out through the tunnels.

A whistle caught his attention, bright and piercing as it cut through the clatter of battle.  A whistle that sounded like -

"Ancestors balls, we can't leave you alone for one minute, can we?"

He glanced down and smiled, even as his heart clenched in fear.  "Siggy, babe, you're in the wrong place."

"Nah, we've been tracking that shit –" she waved a dagger toward Meredith "– for years. Good job making her show it."

"Is that what I did?" Anders asked sarcastically.  "Jolly good for me then."

A volley of fiery boulders rained down from the sky, battering Meredith to the ground. Velanna's work, no doubt.  

The new threat was apparently enough to send Meredith over the edge.  She looked as deranged as a blood mage as she climbed to her feet and shouted, “I will not be defeated!”

As she thrust her sword in the air, the horrible jangling feeling ramped up, like it was trying to crush his skull and burst it open from the inside at the same time, Sigrun winced and gritted her teeth. Interesting.  He'd assumed it had something to do with being a mage, or Justice's sensitivity to lyrium, but Sigrun was neither mage nor possessed.  

Interesting, but a question for a later time.  Even if he’d had the time to think about it, the pressure on his mind made everything blank with pain, as bad as what he remembered of the Joining, and when he started to worry that it might actually kill him, the damn sword exploded.

Shards of red lyrium flew out, but, for once, Templars actually came in handy.  What they didn’t block with their shields they blocked with their bodies, however unintentionally, leaving Hawke and the rest of Anders’ former-comrades unscathed.  At least they’ll be alive to hate me.

"Come on, we need to get you out of here."  Sigrun's hand caught his and she started to pull him away.  

Not how any of this was supposed to happen.  He resisted on reflex, but she was a Warden too, and built like bronto.  A small one, but a bronto nonetheless, full of densely packed muscle and maddening persistence.  

"Mage!"  Suddenly Fenris was there, tearing him from Sigrun's grasp and snarling, "You won't take him!"

His vehemence was a shock.  Fenris had barely spoken two sentences to him since the Chantry had exploded, but here he was, defending him again. Fruitlessly.  Anders had always known death would be the only escape from the Wardens.  "Fenris, there's nothing you can do," he sighed.

"Venhedis!”  He put his arm across Anders’ chest and glared at Sigrun.  “You won’t take him,” he repeated.

Sigrun held up her hands, not quite in surrender, but an obvious gesture of goodwill and grinned.  “Stones, Anders, you’ve been making friends again, haven’t you?”

“Er… in a way?”  He pushed Fenris’ arm down gently.  “What do you want with me?”

Before she could answer the paving stones shattered as a tangled mass of roots forced its way up next to her and Velanna stepped out, face pinched in even more irritation than usual.  “What are you standing around for, let’s go!”

Fenris reached for his sword.  “He goes nowhere he doesn’t wish to.”

“Oh for the Maker’s sake, Fenris, please,” Anders said before turning back to Velanna.  “Where are we going?”

She rolled her eyes.  “Where do you think?  The Chantry will be baying for your blood any moment now!  You know as well as I do that the Deep Roads are the safest place for you.”

He shuddered at the suggestion, but couldn’t find a fault in her logic.  I should’ve planned for this better.  He glanced back at Hawke, still arguing with Varric.  Probably about him.  He inhaled slowly and rubbed at his face.  “Let’s go.”

Sigrun and Velanna nodded, then headed toward the docks.  As Anders moved to follow them, Fenris fell in step behind him.  “You may be a fool, but you're my fool.”  His voice was soft, but challenging.  Daring Anders to argue with him, just like old times, yet nothing like them at all.

Debate wouldn’t solve this.  He was a fool.  Foolish to believe Meredith would blame the right man.

“I’m sorry.”  Once the apology fell from his mouth, the words wouldn’t stop, a rush of everything he’d wanted to say since he’d started planning this.  “I should’ve - I’m not sorry I did it, but I wish it hadn’t come to it, and I’m sorry she made it worse, but there was nothing you could’ve done.  I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, or Hawke - sorry that I used you, that I lied about –”

Fenris pushed him to the wall and cupped his chin.  “Hush, mage.  You think there was nothing I could’ve done?  You asked for explosives: saltpeter and flammable stone.  You asked for help distracting the Grand Cleric.  Nothing I could’ve done?”  He kissed him softly.  “Anders, I did everything, not nothing, and I’m not leaving you for this or anything else, and there’s nothing you can do about that.”

[scarfacemarston]

Fenris and Astarion are NOT the same character! No Spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3

This is in my response to a post I made recently about how Fenris' tag is being taken over by Astarion. People think they're the same character. They're not. Far from it. I do not hate Astarion and I'm actually playing the game now. He's fine as a character. Sure, I could block the tag, but why go that far? I'm not tagging Astarion because why get into that mess? It's bad enough that I'm making this post considering how volatile fandoms can be. In common: White haired Elf Both have an evil bastard they want revenge on. Abused Intelligent Cunning Have character growth including relationships. Fenris: Blunt Stoic Commitment to promises (see his "debt" with Hawke.) Pessimistic Dry sense of humor Overall truthful - only uses deceit in the most extreme cases. (Twice.) Fighter Only wants to be left alone Formerly enslaved Dedicated to a cause - freeing enslaved people and enslaved elves. Dislikes touch Rarely speaks /makes friends - considered quite broody Loner Doesn't believe he deserves love Will die for his love or any of his friends Actually quite transparent about his love Desperate for family even when he knows it could hurt him in the end. While he dislikes mages, he can come around to being more lenient or even more accepting. Ex: Falling in love with Mage Hawke, being kind with Bethany, but Anders and Merrill are no go's. Extremely polite overall. (With the exception of a few.) Hiddenly Cultured /hidden skills-ex: history, culture, wine, books, talented with multiple languages and diplomatic. Overall has moral standards / lines he won't cross. He is cautious about helping others due to worries of manipulation - He worries Hawke will be taken advantage of, but again, is moral overall. Lives in a dilapidated mansion with hardly any possessions at all Astarion: Devil May Care Attitude Aristocratic / Fop Rogue Quest for power and dominance. Is overall fine with touch More willing to betray or trick someone. Broods some - FAR more social than Fenris. Very selfish Very morally gray to almost dark gray. Hates altruism in almost all forms. Theatrical Overexaggerated responses A liar A thief Possessive Obsessed with luxury Approves of some atrocities.

Please realize that my comments are character traits. This isn't about liking or disliking character. You can play DA 2 or Baldur's Gate however you like! There is nothing wrong with liking either character or playing Baldur's Gate as a grey to morally dark character.

[found-family-tournament]

Found Family Tournament Round 1 Part 25 Group 121

Propaganda and further pictures under the cut

Greil Mercenaries: Greil, Ike, Mist, Soren, Oscar, Boyd, Rolf, Titania, Rhys, Mia, Shinon, Gatrie

Hawke's Squad: Merril, Isabela, Hawke, Carver/Bethany, Varric, Anders, Fenris (& Sebastiane)

Submissions are still open!

Greil Mercenaries:

The OG Greil Mercenaries from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance contain; Team Dad Greil and his two biological kids Ike and Mist, Team Mom Titania (who has been called Mom by at least one mercenary), a cranky wind mage named Soren who is literally only with the group because Ike gave him a sandwich once, a priest Rhys who Titania found sick and dying by the side of the road and proceeded to adopt, Mia who for reasons known only to herself decided to make Rhys her eternal rival, an asshole archer Shinon who only likes two people (Rolf and Gatrie) and would sell your soul to the devil for one corn chip, Gatrie who thinks he's smoother than he actually is, and a trio of brothers Oscar, Boyd, and Rolf who are trying to make their way in the world after the death of their father.

Can you get any more found family than this motley crew of Ride or Die?

Hawke's Squad:

the babies that had nowhere to go and they all suck so badly i lovbe them. i mean anders is literally a terrorist, merril can kill her whole family AND uses forbidden magic and is still the most naive and cute person ever, isa is just so H O T and she has no idea how feelings work but she tries her best ok???? also a literal pirate????? fenris is cool too i guess. he was a slave or smth idk.

[poetryofyouth]

the last few weeks i have been obsessively playing Dragon Age, in preparation for the veilguard release of course.

Dragon Age: Origins is still a work of Art and I would die for her and every companion

Dragon Age: 2 is not as bad as I remembered it? Sure it has it's issues but the story is genuinely so fantastic. Like, the story, the characters, Hawke's relationships with the companions - the combat is almost an annoying obstacle to get to the heartbreakingly tender moments between Hawke and their damaged, broken, hurting friends

For that reason I would love for an option to just skip combat alltogeter and turn it into a walking simulator.

In both Origins and 2, the male love interests are so so so much better holy fuck

Like the first time I played as a lesbian (of course) and romancing Leliana in Origins. Which is... sweet and everything, but the relationship with Leliana always felt... hollow. Love without any true base in Friendship. If that makes sense.

This time, my warden was a bit of a slut and romanced Leliana, (also Isabella), Zevran and lastly Alistair. And holy fuck, the relationship between Warden an Alistair is just perfect. Me playing a female elf only added to the perfection. Sad I couldn't marry him at the end, but hey, staying as the King's mistress is fine with me, Anora's cool with it, mostly, and nothing can get in between true love. I mean, the relationship between Warden and Alistair starts off with pure banter and friendship, you can feel them acutally caring for each other way before you even start any romance. They feel like two people who just fit like puzzle pieces. Jokes, support, bleeding together, either one would not think a minute before sacrificing their own life for the other. and finally, after weeks of pain and suffering and drinks in taverns and jokes around the campfire and horribly traumatizing deaths all around, they both realize that they aren't just friends anymore. Fucking hell that is literally the perfect fictional relationship omg i have never shipped a straight couple harder.

Also I found the thought of being a slutty warden who bedded every available character before finally taking the future king's virginity, then arranging a marriage between her boyfriend and another woman and then also arranging for her boyfriend to get her other friend pregnant just... incredibly funny ngl

And in DA:2 on my first playthrough I romanced Merril. Which was... fine. Though I find it kinda difficult because I didn't like the idea of Hawke just being completely fine with blood magic and all that. Merril also isn't that interesting a character. I mean, comparing her to many other games she is fantastic!! But in this game, she just kinda pales in comparison to everyone else.

Now I'm playing a male gay Hawke and I first romanced Fenris. And I am just a sucker for a sad, hurting man learning how to feel again. Fenris is just such a good character. Of course he is horribly racist agains mages, which i mean, not that i / Hawke condone it, but anyone would need years of therapy to get over what the magisters did to him, so i love the thought of Hawke being patient and slowly trying to show him they are not that bad.

So I love to kinda torture Fenris and run around with him, anders and merril, their companion banters are so great.

But Fenris of course dumps Hawke after the first time and sure you COULD wait for him to come around in act three but screw that, I will not have my feelings played with like that.

Especially when there is an even sadder, more broken man waiting for me. Anders is probably my favourite character in DA:2. Even the last time I played, without romancing him. But now I startet DA:2 right after finishing the Awakening DLC and I just LOVE the difference and the similarities between the two Anders versions. Some might say it's inconsistent. But I choose to believe that in Awakening, even if Anders had seen so many horrible things already, he was still able to keep a more happy-go-lucky facade. I imagine between the end of Awakening and Hawke first meeting him, Anders has seen many many more horrible things while being with the wardens. So he is just extra-traumatized in 2. And of course, his character changed with the whole spirit of justice thing. But even if he is a lot more serious and a lot sadder, he still has that Anders-Charm. I love his love for kittens and his need for justice for the mages

And even if the DA:2 love interests (apart from Sebastian) are all bisexual, I love that they are not just default staights that can just also be romanced by same gender Hawkes. Like, when Anders confesses that Karl, who just died, was his first boyfriend??? I think I cried. The PAIN the HURT the HOMOSEXUAL ANGST. I will burn down all of Kirkwall if that makes Anders feel even a little better.

The rivalry / rivalry romance aspect is really cool and I love it exists but unfortunately i am incapable of not being liked by everyone.

Seriously how does a game that was pretty much universally considered a disappointment by the fandom (i previously didn't like it either!! Idek why!!!!) have storylines that trump pretty much any movie of tv show made in the last 5 years. Please let me play this just as a story game/walking simulator i need to look into mods i want to see every possible conversation and fuck everyone (tenderly and with love. and also as hateful rivals)

Also I have played the games so much recently I hope I don't accidentally say "by the maker" in public lmao

[arcann]

To me da2 is deeply centrist the way victims are punished in a vitriolic and morbid way while characters like Aveline and Cullen are unopposedly good. If you see it as leftist media that's because it does present clearly leftist characters but it won't waste time in putting them in the most cruel and humiliating situations or throw them against characters who should have a more benevolent opinion of each other for the sake of "banter". There's still people in the fandom who think Anders is the absolute worst when the very same game has the templars growing a slave ring of lobotomized kidnappees with teenagers or that Cullen and Aveline are lawful good when they are never challenged for the decisions they made which had tremendous collateral damage.

You can enslave Fenris but you can't do anything similar to Cullen. Orsino WILL die as a monster trying to kill Hawke but Elthina died a martyr. You can antagonize Anders the whole game and murder him but you can't do that to Aveline. Hell, Aveline's mourning of Wesley is treated as a tragedy to be respectful towards while Anders' mourning of Karl is hidden from a female Hawke due to biphobia and homophobia and rarely discussed even if it's incredibly relevant as another lever to humanize Anders and villify the circle. You see every outrageous opinion coming from da2 fans and it's because they choose the options that don't deny any of their values. They can do that too. Gaider and kristjanson and hepler let you support those leftist characters but you can also visciously humiliate and murder them. Meanwhile the more "tame" characters who support the system achieve a happy ending no matter your choices. They only defied the corrupt system they thrived in once it came at them with a gigantic brainwashing sword and a legion of colossal statues trying to crush them. That, and only that, was too much for them. And they're awarded for having such lousy limits.

In inquisition Hawke can't say anything outright good about Anders even while romanced, Fenris is confirmed to be alone by Blue Wraith, Merrill is in no side content post-da2. Meanwhile, Aveline is still working on the same position with tremendous power when we saw her fail and blunder several times over the years and you really have to be a manipulative and ableist piece of shit to Cullen for him to get a bad ending and guess what? The game WILL guilt trip you for it. Adding to that, Varric, the appointed voice of Dragon Age as a series and new viscount of Kirkwall has absolutely nothing good to say about Anders and is ok with the inquisition supporting the templars freely after everything he knew they did IN HIS OWN CITY. A leftist game wouldn't have this bias. A centrist game would, in the end, let characters who don't side for or against the suffering of others in an established system until it personally affects them, who aren't "risky" and have nothing to say that could, even accidentally, reflect badly in our very real system, be rewarded with the better endings.

[notebooks-and-laptops]

I have finally read Blue Wraith and Dark Fortress and I literally do not understand people who think Fenris was out of character, or had regressed in his character development throughout the comics.

Firstly; mages. Yes, when Fenris first meets Francesca he is weary of her, but I wouldn't say Fenris ever truly got over being weary of mages in da2. He came to understand that some mages can be trusted (Hawke, Bethany) but was willing to fight for the innocent circle mages (dependent on Hawkes choices) but he ALSO saw a close member of his friendship group blow up a chantry, and he perceives that what happened to Merethari (and possibly the whole clan) as Merrill's fault for her blood magic.

Besides which, Fenris is shown to be WAY LESS weary of mages than he used to be!! He begins to trust Francesca almost immediately, is telling her she has a good heart by the end of Blue Wraith, defending her when she needs it. He does not look at her and see "evil mage" or even "dangerous mage" like he would have about a mage of her power from TEVINTER no less, at the beginning of da2. Instead he gets close to her rather quickly.

Secondly; I know people get upset about this panel:

But Fenris has legitimate reasons to feel prickly about joining a new friendship group. In his old friendship group, he found love and friendship in Hawke and Isabela, in Varric, Aveline, Donic, Sebastian, Bethany and even perhaps Merrill, Carver and Anders. And then that friendship group ripped itself apart from the inside out. It exploded into chaos taking Fenris's home which he had built for himself; the first true home he could remember, with it. Fenris has every right to feel anxious about getting involved with new people. He has every right to feel "used" in some ways, particularly if he was brought on any of the "Justice" quest lines in Act 3 of DA2.

Fenris isn't a static character who's fully healed by the end of da2. He deserves to feel upset that he and his friends had to go their separate ways. He deserves to feel betrayed by what happened, by the destruction of his home.

And besides that, Blue Wraith and Dark Fortress both showed all the ways Fenris has grown. He has the same emotionally maturty he would display in da2, quickly apologising when he needs to. But he ALSO directs that sort of emotional maturity outwards now. He is not directly antagonistic to mages, or to those who defend them, like he was with Anders and Merrill. He offers comfort to those who need it, particularly at the end of the book, and seems to fill a "tired Dad/Older Brother" energy.

Also I cannot believe people don't see what happened with the Person He Does Not Kill in Dark Fortress as showing his character development throughout the end of da2 and blue wraith, when its basically an exact parallel to what happens in A Bitter Pill except he MAKES A DIFFERENT DECISON THIS TIME. like!!! Come on!!!

Overall this duo of comics was wonderful! I haven't even touched on the extra characters who I would 100% die for (particularly Sir Aaron and Francesca). I seriously recommend it and am just ??? At anyone who thinks it does Fenris dirty. I thought it was a perfect depiction of Fenris, I could even hear his dialogue in Fenris's voice it fit him so well.

[flowersonpebbles]

Monday Week 3: Travels 14. Sea

@elfroot-and-laurels

I stare ahead of myself numbly, hugging a bag to my chest. Gripping the jade in my hand tightly. Meredith is dead. We’ve been given time to pack our things and leave by the Templars. Cullen even said most of my friends would not be held accountable... But the mages had to leave. All of us.  Anders and Merril are bickering again in the background. I hear Aveline intervene calmly, almost sadly. I smile wryly, blinking back tears… Fenris and Isabella will be staying, won’t they? Carver has to go back to the Wardens- I shudder as a tender hand trails up my neck, Isa giggling softly, “Hey, pretty. You got everything…? It’s gonna be a long trip! I packed everything!” she cheers, nodding to a bunch of bags.

“Indeed. But we must hurry. I do not know how long until they decide to resume their hunt.” Fenris urges, starting to carry her luggage aboard, along with a small bag of his own and taking mine gently from me, putting it with Isa’s. I blink slowly as I stare at the two, baffled. “Go on, we have said our goodbyes. Its your turn.” Fenris encourages gently. Anders and Merril boarding the ship solemnly. Varric and Aveline smile sadly at me.

“We’ll see you again, Hawke! Don’t look at us like that. Besides, we can write to each other.” Varric hums, sniffing as he brushes his nose with his sleeve. Handing me a heavy pouch of gold coins. “I suck at goodbyes. We’ll be great pen pals. Go on, otherwise lil Hawke’s gon suffocate in the under deck.” He chuckles, turning and waving over his shoulder, walking off slowly. I smile fondly before looking to Aveline…

I bite my trembling bottom lip, hugging her tightly with a broken sob. She hugs me tightly. “I know… but you’ll visit, right? I’d sneak you in, no worries.” She ushers softly. I laugh wetly, squeezing her tightly and she squeezes in turn. “Take care of yourself.” She encourages, slowly pulling back. I blink slowly as I rub at my eyes… frowning in confusion. Only now processing what Varric said… Aveline winks. Gamlen stepping up slowly.

“Don’t die. Please…” he murmurs softly and we hug each other gently. I nod stiffly… slowly getting on the ship, Fenris holding my hand as Isabella starts hollering orders at the crew. Oh… I smile, waving everyone goodbye as the ship departs…

I swallow down vomit, having forgotten how sea sick I was on the way to Kirkwall the first time. Fenris rubbing my back gently. Carver already vomiting over the side of the ship. Isabella laughs out, “I’ll make you all kelpies yet!” she cheers. Merril goes over to Carver, offering him a root. I smile sadly… a doomed love. Yet… here we all are. Anders stares up ahead at the ocean. Isabella kisses my temple, then Fenris’ cheek. We’re together for now…

Carver only got to come with us because we were his means to get to where they wanted him. So… we were parting ways again. Before we did, I broke the jade in half, giving him one half. Told him to keep it close at all times. Merril saw city elves also struggling and also wanted to stay back. So, it was Anders, myself and my soulmates.

Eventually Anders and I nearly got caught… Fenris wished to hunt slavers in the area, so… I broke my jade once more, in three. I gave him and Isabella the bigger two pieces. Before Anders and I also departed from Isa… it was hard… but…