#he loves his alienage so so so much

[rosieofcorona]

okay my darlings, i've seen a lot of takes on the AMA and this answer in particular:

and after mulling it over for a few days, i have decided to offer a scalding hot take for which i need you not to execute me marie-antoinette style, please 🙏🏻 (under the cut for length).

when epler said solas realized he doesn't have any "real regard" about the lives and goals of the elves, i didn't take it to mean that he is apathetic. i took it to mean the exact opposite, really. here's why. solas loves his people. incontrovertibly. he cares very deeply about their freedoms, about their existence, about what he's done to hurt them, intentionally or not. truth be told, it's kind of his whole thing. but their motivations are, as epler said, likely to be very different. solas always has very big picture goals. he wanted to free an entire people in arlathan. he wants to restore an entire people in thedas. and his followers, for their part, might agree with those larger goals. but their personal goals are likely not so large-scale. an elf or a spirit in arlathan might wish for simpler things for themselves. the freedom to choose their own path, their own fate, their own purpose. to keep themselves safe, to live in peace. to not serve all their lives under tyrants. an elf in modern thedas might want the same. to live without circles, or alienages, or clans. to not be derided or scorned or punished in societies that were built up around them, sometimes by their own labor. and solas wants to get them there, because he loves them. he does. but he cannot love them all as individuals (or as epler said, via "formal connections,") because it would be impossible. to save The People™ requires sacrifice, and solas knows this. all revolutions have martyrs, and solas knows this. individual goals, always, are dwarfed by the good of the cause, and solas knows this. and this, i think, is where he realizes that he would be doing them a disservice by using them as tools, even willing tools. that he would be robbing them of their lives and their own motivations by allowing them to continue in his service. when epler said that solas' rebellion turned him from being a leader, I took that to mean that solas learned from what happened in arlathan, with the spirits that he and felassan brought into battle. he loved them, too, and they died for him, and for his greater good. it was never malice or apathy against the individuals. it was what had to be done to accomplish his goals on a much grander scale. i think solas realized, near the end of his plans, that he could not continue to consider the elves as The People™, but as people- as full and separate lives, each with goals and needs and loves and purposes of their own. and yes, they chose to follow him, and yes, they may be sympathetic to said greater good. but he knows how many individuals have died in his name, even if they believed in what they were doing. solas has been through all this before. he knows the costs firsthand, where these people likely do not, not truly. he's seen the loss and the grief that comes after revolution, and he doesn't want that for them. because he loves them, both as his People and as his people. he doesn't want their lives reduced to his purpose, which will override their own unless he gives up his power. it's an act of love, to me, that he realizes this. an act of love to let them go, which the evanuris could never do.

[basket-of-cats-and-witches]

Codex Entry: A letter stained with tears, carefully preserved

Alternate title: To Emmrich, in Case of Death

-------

Vhenan-

This is a horribly depressing letter to have to think about.

Right now you're in your room, we've just fought, and the only thing I can think of is how broken it would feel if I died after this.

If we never get the chance to reconcile.

So right here, right now-

I love you. Ar lath ma, ma vhenan.

I'd write it down in all the languages I know, all those words I learned to speak to every kind of dead that graces the Necropolis’s halls, but it would take far too much room.

Fourteen years ago, I was a newly minted Watcher, crying in the memorial gardens over the anniversary of the Fifth Blight, when so many of my people died in the alienage.

And you were the kind person who sat down beside me, held my hand, and didn't tell me everything would be alright.

Instead, you confessed your fear of death. A well-respected professor who I'd never met, admitting weakness.

Reminding me that I wasn't alone in my grief, in my terror. That anyone could be afraid and still live despite it.

Of course, the crush I formed on you then was entirely inappropriate - you're my senior by a wealth of years. Don't scoff, my love, you'll add more wrinkles to your face, and I won't be there to kiss them.

Entirely cruel of you.

However, years went by, my attachment remained, and after everything, it was Bellara who brought you back to my side. She is the brightest and best of us, as I'm sure you know.

Make sure to remind her every day.

Our journey together has made that silly little crush bloom into a roaring love, burning so brightly and intensely that I cannot help but feel it consume my breath every time you look my way.

I know you were terrified, you know. “Reviewing your assets” dearest Vhenan of mine, I know you've already triple-checked to make sure everything is in place when you go, and that Myrna and Vorgoth already have a copy.

I may be a meathead, but I'm not quite that oblivious.

It's heartbreaking, this knowledge that you might outlive me. I am always in the front lines. I am a warrior, and at the end of the day, I'm who must go down first before you.

But I would do it gladly, and please do not hate me for it. It is an honor.

In my absence, please have Davrin lead. I know he'll be good at it. He's a phenomenal Warden, and his head is more firmly attached to his shoulders than mine ever was. Guide him, please. I trust your wisdom.

Tell Manfred I love him every day, long past when he learns to say the words himself. I'm so proud of him.

I'm so proud of you.

And - should my remains be recovered, or whatever is left of me, bury me next to my sister. I spent years picking that plot as per her request, might as well enjoy it with her.

I love you, Emmrich Volkarin. With every breath, with every beat of my heart, with every contraction of my lungs. You've rooted yourself firmly into my flesh, and I would be loath to continue breathing without you.

Cast our argument aside. I do not hate you for it.

Eternally yours, our spirits walking hand in hand,

Ghil'danan Ingellvar.

P.S. -

Hezenkoss hates Scotch Broom. It made her break out in hives. Please place some near her skull when she's being a shit, just for me.

[luckycl0ve]

Sounds like you and me.

sometimes the dialogue supports your own backstory for your ocs. in this instance. well. rook is the inquisitor's illegitimate son that he didn't know he had

You are the Inquisitor / You are Rook:

You are the Inquisitor. You were born of a scandalous affair between your father and an elven grand enchanter. Lord Trevelyan is a harsh, imposing, mountain of a man, so you're tall; you can hide the slight point of your ears behind your hair, so your open secret need never go addressed. Besides, Lady Trevelyan is kind, and raises you as her own alongside your true-born brothers and sisters - even when your magic manifests - though she cannot protect you from being taken to the circle at Ostwick. You meet a loving partner there, an elf a couple of years your senior, but the relationship does not last as they disappear without notice one day - one of many heartbreaks. You think of them whenever you hear Solas speak of the plight of the elven people, and you wonder if he knows of your lineage, but feel unable to ask: the topic has always been unspeakable for you, as a result of your upbringing, though you yearn to know yourself more. It is only in the later days of the Inquisition when Dorian gently breaks it to you - having done some research after hearing rumours circulating in Tevinter about a scandal concerning his beloved - that your old partner disappeared to have your son. He is a grey warden and a mage and, of course, he is an elf. You have missed his entire life and, from the sounds of it, it's not been an easy one for him. You could have helped him, maybe, or at least shown him that though you didn't count on him existing, you want to try and be something to him - for him. You wouldn't have chosen to leave him at the mercy of a world that treats mages and elves the way it does on his own. But so much for that. You cannot take it back nor make it right. He is 29 now, and what's more - he's working with Varric to undo your mistakes. You write letters, but they go unanswered: he doesn't wish to see you, and you can't say you blame him, though you wish he didn't feel that way. But when Solas' ritual goes wrong, you must see him anyway. It's what you wanted, but you can scarcely face what you are to him, what you've lost, and the way you've repeated and intensified the very mistakes your father made concerning you. 

You are angry. You are grieving what could have been. You yearn to be understood by the man opposite you, but you know it's probably too late for that, and there are more pressing matters at hand. What's been done weeps like an open wound inside you. You wonder if words could ever close it.

-

You are Rook. As a child you were essentially an orphan in the alienage at Denerim, having been sequestered there after a pair of mages had a child at the circle of Ostwick, to avoid scandal for some noble family or other. You were 7 when the fifth blight hit Denerim, and a Grey Warden who smiled and made jokes amidst the battle and the chaos fished you out of the rubble and handed your care over to the Dalish allies he was fighting alongside, given that the alienage was reduced to blood and ashes. You wanted to be like that warden when you grew up. You spent years with the Dalish, learning their language and customs, and the ways of magic under their keeper, but never truly fit in - even when you were able sit stone-still and silent for your vallaslin ceremony at age 16. You bear the vallaslin of Mythal on your face, the only steadfast mother you've had, though you aren't sure she's real. You left to find yourself not long after that, living a turbulent and troubled life travelling the Free Marches. You spent a few years in Darktown, Kirkwall, under the care and mentorship of an undercover mage who helped the less fortunate, including you, facilitating your physical transition. He showed you kindness you hadn't seen since the women in the alienage sang you lullabies, and you found a freedom in being as kind and just as he was, too. Trouble and violence inevitably came with associating with him, however, and the resultant choice to join the Grey Wardens and finally know your place was a clear one, if not one made lightly. You found out, through gossip and the knowledge of your elders, that you are a Trevelyan's son - the one they call Inquisitor. Travelling with Varric, you try not to ask too many questions about him, because clearly he's never been interested in you. You don't read the letters marked with the Inquisitor's seal: you know there are no words that can make up for all the trouble you've seen, and hardship you've experienced, in your young but tough life. You want to burn the letters, and wish he could feel it when you do - but somehow you can't find the strength in your righteous anger to cast them into the Lighthouse's fire; you leave them for Harding to read instead. On the strange journey you're undertaking, you eventually cannot avoid meeting Trevelyan, and you find that seeing yourself in him at long last - the parallels between your lives, the physical similarities - steals all the words you've fantasised about saying to him from your tongue. 

You are angry. You are grieving what could have been. You yearn to be understood by the man opposite you, but you know it's probably too late for that, and there are more pressing matters at hand. What's been done weeps like an open inside you. You wonder if words could ever close it.

[thekingofwinterblog]

How to fix Halamshiral as a Zone

Inquisition is a flawed game.

I don't think there's anyone who is going to argue otherwise.

The only question is wheter you place it higher or lower than DA2.

One of the things I think it does better than DA2, is that it managed to give every place a soul, an identity of it's own, and at least a distinct, if not always amazing storyline.

The emerald graves doesnt have a very interesting plot, but it has some spectacular side quests, and atmosphere, inculding a haunted mansion, which might be my favorite possession based quest in all of DA because it shows much better than others just how dangerous untrained mages actually are to those around them.

The storm coast tells a story of what was once an important dwarven port, and shows how it fell and was repurposed over time.

The Hinterlands shows the aftereffects of the templar mage war, as well as solas stupid plan to give cory his orb, and the mage rebellion and an actually decent time travel story.

I could go on, but the point is, I usually have at least aomething nice to say about every single region.

All except one.

Halamshiral.

Halamshiral was the single worst part of all of Dragon Age Inquisition for me, and every single time I boot up this game, it's always the last thing i do before the temple of sacred ashes, despite how bizarre the game flows as a result.

And the reason is because i hate everything about it.

I hate it's unique attempt at side quests, i hate the characters involved, i hate the Orlesians who inhabit it, and i hate how this section tries to copy what worked so amazingly well with Orzammar and Denerim during the landsmeet section, and fails every single shot it lines up.

The ONLY good thing i have to say about this, is that it's at the very least relatively short.

So here's today's question. How to fix Halamshiral?

Let's begin with the three main players.

Celene, Gasparde, and Briala.

The big problem with every single option, is that they all suck.

Celene and Gasparde are both fucking awful people without any redeeming qualities, they have no charisma, and there is no prospect of the Empire reforming itself under either of them, the way Orzammar would under Bhelen.

Meanwhile, Briala is much, much better, but the problem is that we know exactly what is going to happen here if you support her.

Maybe today elves will have it better, but tomorrow, when Gasparde is gone, or celene turns on elves again as she always does all the progress will be repealed, and reversed, along with a few purged alienages.

Its an old story that's been told before in Dragon age.

In short, there is no reason at all to care about this overall plot. None whatsoever.

There were so many reasons to care about both Orzammar and Denerim in the same situation, and every single character involved had so much more charisma than either of these would be monarchs.

So let's fix that.

Starting with Celene, take the idea of her wanting to reform the empire, and actually take it to the next level.

Celene is genuine in wanting to reform the empire, and has already taken grand, successful steps to make the entire thing much better for everyone, even elves, giving them and serfs more rights, outlawing the practice of chevaliers having a tradition of killing unarmed city elves to graduate.

But the catch is, while she is genuinely making progress, she is doing so within the confines of the great game.

Celene has nonintention of changing the great game, no plans of wanting to remove this thing that holds Orlais back more than any other, this center stone of their nobility and it's culture.

Meanwhile, Gasparde is a different kind of reformer, one that takes the ideas he had of him claiming to hate the game, and actually doing something with it.

He is far less progressive, has no love for elves, is far more warlike than Celene ever was... But unlike Celene, his ideas of reform isn't going to act within the grand game.

He's going to break it.

Unlike canon gasparde, this gasparde is hated by every single noble family in the entire empire. His only support, and it's a strong one, is the army. The parts of the army that supports Gasparde, and they are a huge part, are loyal to him personally to the hilt.

And he hates them back. He hates the game, he hates the way it cripples the empire, and he wants to change things. Like Celene he plans to break the serfs free of their chains, for the good of the nation and it's power and economy if not for any progressive reasons.

And he'a going to start with Halamshiral.

For this Gasparde isn't merely positioning men to stage a coup... He's planning to kill EVERY SINGLE NOBLE in Halamshiral. Evety man, every woman, every child there.

He's going to reform this empire by wiping out it's cancerous nobility in one fell swoop, and install himself as supreme dictator to see his reforms through, and wiping out the entire Orlesian nobility that might have opposed him, french revolution style.

And thus the Inquisitor has a dilemma.

Unlike Orzammar, where only one side was a reformer, both of these Orlesians are... But you have to choose one.

Do you choose Celene? The more progressive candidate, who wants a more peaceful Orlais going forward? But who is not willing to get ridd of the grand game to do so, thus making it a permanent risk that all her reforms will be undone...

Or will you support Gasparde, and by doing so be complicit in destroying the entire nobility of Orlais, many of whom are not guilty of the shit that Celene and Gasparde here both hate so much? Gasparde is far less likely to create a peaceful Orlais going forward... But he will have obliterated the Grand Game for good and all, a prize that might be worth this Red Wedding style bloodbath.

Meanwhile there is Briala, the elven spy who has enough influence to allow, or prevent Gasparde's plans from going through.

Here there should be another moral dilemma, quite different from the base game.

Do you convince her to aid Gasparde, in exchange for the Elves getting a duchy of their own in Halamshiral? Do you then back her up with Inquisition forces and support, forcing Him to publicly announce her as such, and trust his own, twisted version of honor to actually stick to it going forward(Something he ultimately does), or do you throw her to the Wolves the moment things get rough?

Or alternatively, do you convince her to side with Celene, and bury the hatchet? And if so, on what terms? And similarly, if she actually wants to get something out of this, you actually need to back her up... Something you may, or may not choose to do.

And voila, here you have an actual story of intrigue, massive, lasting political changes as a result of the Herald's actions, and morally grey on grey choices.

Everything that Denerim and Orzammar had in spades.

Now moving on from the plot to the actual place.

Halamshiral has no soul.

It's a french villa on a mountaintop. Whoop de freaking do.

It has no interesting murals, unique art only found there, interesting geography, or anything really to make it stand out.

Compare it to Denerim and Orzammar, and the way they fleshed out the entire city's levels of power and criminal underworlds, and you see the difference.

Denerim is a very realistic, squat, squalid medieval city, with it's buildings built on top of every single bit of available space.

Orzammar is a full on high fantasy dwarf city lit up by a lake of lava.

Halamshiral is a villa presented as a city.

How do you fix that?

There is an artist here on Tumblr who pretty much showcased what Halamshiral could have been, if they had taken the idea of the Dalish(who were the original owners) taking inspiration from native americans(amongst others), and use that to build a truly spectacular city, which has long ago been paved over, but the structure is still there.

Make it a city on the water, like the aztex capital of Tenochtitlan, a marvel of canals and stone.

Make it this Venezia like city, with canals everywhere you look, and the entire city running on water. A marvel of Dalish city building, where they took something as simple as a couple of islands in a lake, and built the most beautiful city in the world.

And rather than just limit you to the palace, instead let you actually explore this city.

Expand the entire event from one night, to a week.

Let the Herald explore the city, meet the players, interact with the nobles, become friends with a few like you could with Ferelden's bans, which in turn makes the possibility of sacrificing them for the greater good hit so much harder.

Let you choose what fancy stuff to wear to the balls and meetings, rather than have this stupid motto of forcing you to wear one, pre determined outfit like this game had for some reason.

Let you discover the places where what little Elven Architecture and art still remains can be found, and talk with the elves who still live here, the descendants after the first elves the Orlesians enslaved.

Make the plotting of Gasparde and the positioning of troops be gradual, not instantly discovered and twarted.

And at the end, if you choose to back Gasparde, you mirror that scene from Dragon Age 2, where the Templars sail across the bay, and you either step aside and witness the bloodbath you just allowed to happen, or you fight them and be recognized by the nobility(most of which are horrible, horrible people) as a hero who just saved the day.

Have the venatori plot be to kill both Gasparde and Celene, rather than their involvement mostly be about handing the player the the easy knife for the knot of which monarch to pick without having to get your hands dirty.

Also have the entire group be gathered for once. Every inner member of the Inquisition just like at Denerim.

Each of whom have their own thoughts on the events.

Who supports who? What is the right thing to do? What is better for the inquisition? Are you staining your honor beyond repair if you back Gasparde? Does the Inquisitor maybe have a breakdown after witnessing what they just allowed to happen and they walk through the gardens or rooms filled with corpses? Maybe have the scene at the end with the love interest be about a moment of them truly comforting their lover in the aftermath of it all, understanding(or not) that as boss, it's your job to have to make the tough decisions. And now you have to live with them.

Or if you wanna go the other way, this could be one of the breaking points like Origins had. If you support Gasparde, Blackwall choses to tell you to get bent, and that he will die as benefits a knight. Defending the week, and calling you out on how you are just as bad as he ever was, a child killer who's going to run away from responsibility, to pretend you are some better person than what you actually are. You're a murder. Just like he was. You are just as responsible for the blood that's flowing as he was with that carriage back in the day.

It would have been a far more impressive reveal moment for his crimes, that's for sure.

Cole probably would be the one who would be second most upset, but wheter he leaves or ultimately stays should probably be depended on your other choices and your relationship with him prior to this, probably have his personal quest be the determinating factor of what he chooses to do.

And i could go on, but point is, this would be a return to Origins choices actually mattering. There were choices that could make or break a characters bond with you. Shale would not budge regarding Caridin, Leliana and wynne would stand against you if you choose to defile the urn, Sevran would choose to betray you for his old friend if he didn't like you enough, and of course the age old choices at the end of act 3 in da2, where you have to pick between templars and Mages, as well as anders fate, and chances are regardless of what you do, at least 1 person ends up dead.

If anyone reading this has any suggestions for how to further improve this storyline, feel free to share, but regardless, i think we can all agree that this is a vast improvement of what we actually got.

[vigilskeep]

hi! ive seen you talk about your surana a bunch but i dont know if ive seen her full story. what were some of the pivotal decisions she made? i love hearing you talk about your ocs, theyre always so in depth and thought out!

oh thank you!! :) my surana is my Eldest Daughter from my very first full playthrough of a dragon age game, so i think a lot of people newer to the blog (like... from less than a year and a half ago probably lmao) have less of the context in complete form. so i will attempt to summarise!! it may be... long...

minerva surana is a manipulative, driven elven circle mage, heart-breakingly willing to sacrifice whatever she believes is necessary for her Grand Goals, who is often so busy playing 5d chess she forgets she’s a twenty-one year old with no experience of the world outside the tower

okay it did turn out fucking long the rest is under the cut its like 9 bulky paragraphs enjoy

her family were tevinter liberati, elven slaves who had devoted themselves to buying their way out and very recently succeeded. her parents were desperate to see her and her elder sibling grow up knowing only freedom, and sent their children south with another part of the family while they remained to pay off the last of their debts. the journey was long and difficult, and they had little left when they ended up in the denerim alienage. in a twist of bitter irony, magic that might have made minerva someone of value in the imperium saw her freedom once more revoked in the south. minerva remembers nothing of tevinter, and only a few fragments of what came next: of light through the vhenadahl’s branches glinting on a templar’s blade, of her sibling fighting them and being knocked to the ground, terribly still, with blood in their hair, and of her grandmother saying what she might have said many times on that long journey south: we can survive anything, as long as we never look back. ironically, minerva often took that to heart by denying all memory prior to the circle.

young apprentice minerva was a sullen child, with few friends; karl thekla took an elder brother’s interest, and jowan clung to her talent. she only really flourished when, after her terror of her natural gift for spirit magic saw her self-hatred turn dangerous in her early teens, first enchanter irving took an interest. he was a father figure to her, and he showed her how to channel her power into control, and her distress into ambition. newfound devotion to elemental magic saw her hailed as a prodigy, and surely a future first enchanter with irving’s tutelage. (only irving considered her too headstrong for the role. he never told her, fostering the drive he had cultivated, both fearful for the state she might return to if he didn’t, and curious as to what else she might become.) she grew up arrogant and beautiful and deeply loyal to the circle, learning that it was only the weak and the defiant who would fail to thrive there, and convinced she was neither. many of her peers wanted to be her, and few of them wanted to spend much time in her company. except jowan, still the little brother hiding in her shadow, and halliserre amell, a rebellious rival with a winning smile, who made up for their lack of her discipline and raw power with sheer brilliance, and whose heated arguments eventually developed into... ah, something else heated.

not long before the start of the game, amell told her they were going to accept tranquillity. it didn’t matter how clever they were; with their weak magic, they would die in the harrowing. they’d only been so defiant of the circle before because, having accepted their fate, the risks were nothing to them. furious and unable to admit it was because she was in love, the last thing minerva ever said to them when they were whole was that they were a coward not to try. when jowan told her he feared he too would be made tranquil, minerva was still recovering from the loss, not to mention flushed with even more arrogance than normal from her own successful harrowing. she had been the perfect circle mage all her life, twice as good as everyone else to make up for every rumour about where she was from. surely she had earned one defiance. surely she could save this one thing, her oldest friend. and she is a loyal person, in her way, emotion powering her fierce drive, incapable of abandoning what she has set her heart on. irving, from whom she had learned everything, was ahead of her every step of the way. he arranged for her to be taken in by the grey wardens. she had proved herself as headstrong and unsuitable as he had feared—and she was shocked and bitterly betrayed to finally see that—but he also believed this might bring her to where she would truly belong.

as a grey warden, minerva’s highest concern is perception. when the stakes of the game are revealed, she has enough hubris to see it as a chance to not just save but change the world. defeating the archdemon isn’t enough. she needs to be seen defeating the archdemon, at the forefront, as an elven mage; she has enough idealism to believe it will really matter for her and people like her, and enough shrewd cynicism to consider what she may have to sacrifice to achieve it. mostly she approaches problems with the skill for diplomacy and management that irving taught her, with that good good Master Coercion skill. she gets many of the “better” and certainly more peaceful quest outcomes, not always motivated by altruism, but determined to be remembered well when she leaves each faction behind. her one great sacrifice of this goal to be seen as the perfect mage is when she takes up blood magic, determined after she sees its power that she alone can handle it, to get the job done and keep what’s hers alive fight after fight. but that only makes her more dedicated to her actions elsewhere

the real test and most pivotal moment of her arc is at the landsmeet. she has arranged anora’s marriage to an alistair hardened for the role (once more following irving’s example, learning to teach ambition as he had taught hers. is there love in that, or just selfishness? she doesn’t know). all that matters is that the joint rule neatly fulfils her desire for compromise to please all parties. but then she struggles between two aspects of her goal: she wants to be seen, personally, as the victor; she does not want every noble in ferelden to see her kill the hero of river dane with magic. she knows how that scene will be remembered, in the end. when riordan suggests recruiting him instead, it seems the perfect solution to everything, the salvation of the day. and then she realises she’s broken alistair’s heart, just when he’s breaking hers. she is incapable of backing down in front of them all (it’s only to alistair, her alistair, but she can’t do it—not to a human, and not to someone part of her will always see as a templar—not when everything she wants was so close.) he abandons her for the throne she taught him to want. she goes on with loghain in the party, and eventually—unable to let loghain snatch the final sacrifice from her grasp, and realising she does want to win and live, after it all—convinces him to do the dark ritual.

in terms of her most important relationships with companions: minerva traditionally romances zevran, who is in many ways uniquely her match having learned the same bitter lessons with the crows that she learned from the circle, and who is so dear to her and capable of lightening her heart when no-one else can. i’ve also experimented with the idea of her romancing alistair, to really dramatise the Landsmeet Divorce and capitalise on future political shenanigans where she could one day be his mistress, but more traditionally they are simply an extremely closely trauma-bonded pair of people who are incapable, at least that year, of really understanding each other deep down. it falls into a pattern where she loves someone with all that fierce drive, enough to die for them, but she will always prioritise what she thinks they need over what they are saying and what they want, often with misjudgements and terrible consequences for them both. it was true with amell, it’s true for many others

she has something very intense and homoerotic going on with morrigan, she has a strained relationship with leliana and wynne, and she has respect and comradeship and a fair bit of fundamental disagreement with sten and loghain. the awakening squad are the people she will consider family for life, most notably nathaniel who she started out not liking at all and is now her work wife, her right hand, can finish her sentences, etc.; anders, who remembers her as karl’s annoying teacher’s pet telltale little sister and is still sometimes baffled by who she’s become; velanna, who makes minerva her most genuine self by having regular screaming matches with her as a sign of affection; and oghren who tried to quit drinking at the same time she tried to quit blood magic, leading to many conversations that deeply baffled everyone around them.

the “current” minerva surana is a sharp-tongued leader who was born for the role of warden-commander, who loves her work and that it matters, who has a truer confidence that is less blindly arrogant and more willing to admit to mistakes, who has worked her breathless way up to h*lding h*ands in public with someone she loves, who has finally learned the hard lesson that the world needs more than an heroic example who followed all the rules to truly be bettered... and who, as rebellion brews, has never been one to sit back and watch while others changed the world

[thewardenisonthecase]

Questions for the Warden/HoF

These range from things related to the game's events and who the Warden is as a person.

What is the Warden's name? Does it have a meaning behind it? How do they feel about their name?

How would you describe the Warden's personality before and after the prologue? Did it change much or did they remain the same?

Prior to the prologue, who was the Warden's closest friend?

Did the Warden have any romantic relationships before the game?

What are their thoughts on Duncan? How did they feel about his actions during the Joining?

Were they impacted by Cailan's death? Or did they not care about him?

How did they feel about being put in a leading position? Do they resent Alistair for putting that on them or are they ok with it?

How did the Warden deal with Connor? Is he or Isolde dead? What was the Warden's rationale to resolving the issue as they did?

If the Warden was trapped in a nightmare, what would it be like?

Did they help the mages or did they go with Cullen's plan? Why?

How did the Warden react to the truth of the werewolf curse?

Did the Warden end Zathrien's curse?

How does the Warden feel about the Deep Roads?

What did the Warden think when they saw the Archdemon in the Dead Trenches?

Who did the Warden choose as the new King of Orzammar and why?

How did the Warden feel about the Anvil of the Void?

What was the Warden's reaction to seeing Bryce/Shianni/Tamlen/Leske/Jowan/Trian in the Temple of Sacred Ashes?

How did the Warden feel about the Ashes? Are they religious or do they not care? And did they defile it or not?

Who are the people in camp that the Warden is closest with and why?

Is there anyone in camp who they do not like? Why?

Did the Warden romance anyone from their group? If so, what attracted them to their partner?

Which gifts would raise the Warden's approval, if they were a companion?

If Dog is in the party, what did the Warden name him and why?

Did the Warden complete the companions quests?

Did the Warden focus more on their objective or did they do side quests?

If the Warden was Captured, did they wait for their companions or did they leave on their own? If they waited, who rescued them and why?

How does the Warden feel about what is happening in the Alienage? How do they feel about how elves are treated?

During the Landsmeet, who did the Warden choose to rule Ferelden and why? How did they come to that decision?

How did the Warden feel learning about how Archdemons are killed?

Did they agree to Morrigan's ritual? If so why, or why not?

How does the Warden feel about being a Grey Warden and the sacrifices that entails?

If they could leave the Wardens, would they?

Who killed the Archdemon and are they still alive?

How does the Warden feel about becoming the Hero of Ferelden?

How is the Warden's personality like after the events of DAO? Did they change or are they still the same?

Did their appearance change during the game? If so, how? Did they change their hair? Did they gain any new scars?

Is the Warden still in contact with anyone after the game's events? Are they still with their love interest, if they have one?

Is there any decision that the Warden regrets? If so, which is it and why? How would they change it?

Do the events of the Fifth Blight haunt the Warden or have they moved past it completely?

How does the Warden feel about the Calliing?

[theresa-draws]

veilguard spoilers review

Part 1 of review (up to mid Act 2)

6.5/10 - it'll be a fine, even fun, game for newcomers but for old dragon age players who want some actual dragon age in their veilguard? if you squint a bit at some codex entries, and only focus on the dread wolf part of the story.

and i AM LOOKING (then the artbook killed me thanks matt rhodes)

so any way......

1/ Rook and Companions

i really wanted to love the new cast but the characters were not clicking for me (or my rook). idk if it's because we can't initiate convos like we could in dai but it really felt like rook was looking in at the companions from outside. everyone else is having fun existing in thedas but rook is an outsider (unless that's the writer's intent? parallels with how solas COULDN'T MAKE FRIENDS FOR 1000s OF YEARS.............

In DAI, we could argue and banter when quizzy initiate convo about various topics back in haven or skyhold. the companions banter and argue about things they disagree with. In VG, WE DON'T. the closest i felt we could get a bit of that was when my rook told neve to get off my back about minrathous (because they did not regret a thing but i couldn't tell her that). Or certain sass/pragmatic dialogue options with solas, e.g. my rook consistently shared nothing with solas (or as much as i could avoid), and solas dropped the line about oh but you have varric WHICH KILLED ME.

2/ Evanuris & Titans

We had some world-shattering revelations in this game, that I wanted yes, but the companions or the world don't.......... really........ react to it. No POV of the chantry(s) imploding at the lore implications, no civilians going we must raze the chantry to the ground, no elves looking at Elgar'nan and going yes that's our All-father coming to burn you humans for everything you did. (Although the party did ask the elves, Bellara + Davrin + Rook, about the spirit revelation.)

I know Isen (my city elf/veil jumper rook) was shaken during Blood of Arlathan, they would be genuinely tempted by offers of uplifting elves to greatness because the alternative is slavery or alienages. But nada.

Blood of Arlathan Elgar'nan you will always be my fav!!! Because if you were expecting more after that, I'm sorry, man's on a downward spiral since he lost his sister. We had to put old peepaw down.

BTW Maybe check out the tree in the crossroads to eavesdrop on Ghilly and Elgar, because the game doesn't give us any other way to find out who the remaining two Evanuris are besides codex entries. :(

---

The Titans were covered only in Solas' murals and Harding's personal quest, which takes us to a corner of Kal-Sharok once then never letting us visit again. I had to read the artbook for the actual genesis of the world stuff about the Titans and what that was about. That was only alluded to in the game itself.

3/ Combat Scaling

Combat took a bit to take to, but it was fun. I played a Spellblade because that was the closest to Knight Enchanter/melee mage. The mini-bosses were difficult since you can run into them severely under-levelled on the regular maps. The high dragons were easy because they ALL had the same attack pattern, just had a lot of health to chip away at. Even Mythal Dragon. Which made the fight with Ghilain'nain and Elgar'nan underwhelming as hell, when they took less time to kill than the mini-bosses.

4/ Romance (Bellara)

i can only talk about Bellara's romance since i've only finished hers, even though I flirted with Davrin and Lucanis all through act 2. she's a very awkward character, and her response to the flirt options reads as ACE to me, but the romance culminates in sex.

okay so, most of the flirt options are quite platonic in tone like encouraging her to talk about her research or telling her you like to spend time with her. things like "i trust you know what you're doing" makes her...... fall in love..... with rook.......... even though rook's the mediator and therapist of the whole veilguard. i don't understand but i went with it, although i was having more fun watching rook banter and flirt with Davrin.

she's had past (failed) relationships but her reference for sex/romantic relationships is fiction/serials to be exact. you see where i'm going here???

then the romance scene after rook comes back from the fade plays out and i'm like??????????? i love her vow of love in elven, nice touch, but ummm i don't have the option to not want sex? i didn't even think she was interested in any of that in the first place!

Then that was it, we don't get a proper send-off to the veilguard romance just one line in the credits scene. Even BG3 gets an afterparty set up by Withers, buggy as it is, but still a nice touching wrap to the entire adventure.

5/ Bugs & Glitches

I was lucky I didn't get any major game-breaking stuff, just a couple of clipping issues through the game.

then, I reached the FINAL SCENE OF THE ENTIRE GAME for the first time. my inquisitor arrived with the wrong face model and vallaslin that was not supposed to be there.............. at least they got her hair colour right? By the time I finished the game, and the marvel-esque credits rolled, I wanted to murder. Then I loaded the game to fight Solas just to feel something. Adios Asshole.

6/ Factions

What else can I say about factions that everyone else have already touched upon? They're very shallow insights into the world of Thedas for returning players, there aren't enough of Dragon Age in Dragon Age.

I do like Arlathan, very Annihilation-Shimmer kind of horror happening in there. I have some questions about the Veil Jumpers taking in non-elves and them being around Arlathan/elven history though............. we're just letting anyone join the Dalish now or???

Also Hossberg became my fav when I finished Davrin's quest. There was a despair demon that I ran into in the Ice/Fire dragon area, and it became a spirit of compassion/hope (?) again after the Isseya quest and the flowers return. The small things that turn utter despair into hope and will to keep going got me..........

AND THEN the Treviso/Minrathous choice. It was too easy playing as a Elf Mage, because the venatori-run Minrathous was more aligned to the Tevinter that I know it was from past games. In fact, I was actively sabotaging Minrathous every chance I got RPing my elf rook who was a Tevinter slave before joining the dalish.............. Not that it matters, since Elgar'nan obliterated the magisterium and the venatori and probably the entire city with blight by the end.

7/ Identity Crisis

You can tell from the writing and breadth of the game, Veilguard has been through development hell and back. Looking at the stuff from the artbook only confirms that for me. Ideas were played around for Veilguard to be an actual sequel to Inquisition, since the hook for this game was Trespasser. But now, there's some disconnect.

The Inquisitor's (disbanded or not) presence and relevance is severely diminished in-game, it's especially glaring during the final battle sequence. All the factions + Morrigan are fighting but Quizzy is nowhere to be found. A romanced Lavellan even less so, since the Mythal option is the same with a friendly Inquisitor, and the only thing that change is whether Solas is alone in the end. (Love that for my Miha but ummm..... she's a cameo in a story that she's heavily involved in.)

There's barely any substantial connective tissue between Veilguard and the rest of Dragon Age and this is how they're sending off this storyline that started in DAO? Before trying to move on beyond towards the Devouring Storm and Executors bullshit? I'm mentally exhausted just trying to connect the pieces we actually got to the rest of Thedas and you're telling me this shit doesn't matter anyway............................ could have given me the Tear Down the Veil option since we're doing that with the writing.

So when the marvel style credits scene started playing, like woah look at the dreadwolf vs lusacan over some modern song/music, i just about died. Solas and Elgar'nan was barely in the game about them, a huge chunk of the quests were about the companions and factions. The most interesting part of the game was Blood of Arlathan when the gorls were fighting in my head, because it was fun trying to figure out what were lies and what really happened with Solas & the Evanuris. They were both appealing to Rook to see their POV and join their side, throwing allies into the blender when it suits them, it's so fascinating they have the same methods and the same goal: bringing back Elvhenan. Just different motivations for doing so. Elgar'nan saw Solas as the hypocrite he is (I love him, he's fascinating) and Solas sees Elgar'nan as a dark mirror. I'm on board! Where's the rest of it???????

Because there's no rest of it. The next time they meet, Solas kills the Archdemon >> goes haha elgar you're mortal now pls die >>> Elgar dies, leaving Solas the actual last standing Evanuris.

(I'll leave the Mythal stuff for later, I've drafted another post talking about her.)

In Conclusion/

There were some great moments that survived the development hell like Solas' inevitable betrayal(s), some companion questlines, bits of Evanuris lore, the actual Dread Wolf, and.... the regret theme surrounding all the companions, Rook, Solas and to some extent, the Evanuris. You'll have a better and fun time crying going through the artbook, but none of those are technically canon since they're just concepts during the development phase.

The combat was fun, but Dragon Age was an RPG not an action-RPG. The writing is more important, even if this game has beautiful locales and hair physics. Music was boring, but did appreciate the return of the Lost Elf motif for the ending. Makes me want to go back and play Inquisition instead :Db

P.S. Tearstone Island was so mind-numbingly boring, but was redeemed by the Fade Prison Betrayal that followed. (My Rook doesn't regret all those choices though, sorry I thought we all knew the risks when we signed up for this :T) I endured the boring act 3 to give my daughter her ending, and the inquisitor doesn't even react to the DREAD WOLF outside her window................ I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF AROUND HERE.

[raviollies]

Also since what happened in the timeskip was left entirely ambiguous I get to write my own stuff:

> Daee's mental health was already suffering by the end of inquisition due to feeling betrayed by Blackwall, Clan Lavellan being killed, Dorians departure for Tevinter and the shaky situation of Inquisition. By the end of Tresspasser he is at his lowest due to the revelation of the Elven gods and Solas, losing a limb, losing access to magic due to the anchor destabilizing his mana flow, corrupt nature of Inquisition and Dorians possible departure. There were points where he contemplated ending it.

He was forced to spend several weeks on bed rest due to the injury, which led to deconditioning and weight loss due to mostly sleeping, leading to needing physio therapy to aid with walking.

Due to this Dorian postponed his return to Tevinter to aid in his recovery. It was a fairly unpleasant process for both; Daee feeling profoundly ashamed of needing help with basic tasks (bathing, walking, brushing his hair) and feeling like a burden on the bright Magister who could be changing things and is instead playing caretaker, and Dorian for seeing a loved one so self hating and physically ill. The recovery takes a long time, but they do make it through, but it's a bumpy ride. Eventually Daee does get to a more stable place mentally but he certainly isn't the same as he was before, and holds a deep grudge against Solas, because it's easier to place blame all on one person. Daee cannot thank Dorian enough for all that he did.

Once his body stabilized he regains the ability to cast. Because of Well of Sorrows, his mana regains much faster, and his aging is slowed considerably but neither notice it yet.

> Once Dorian departs for Tevinter, Daee travels the south to explore old Elven ruins to gleam any information on the gods and Solas and hunting any Venatori he finds along the way, gaining the moniker of "Demon of the South". Dorian is immensely proud and though he can't say who he's in a relationship with he swaggers a bit past Venatori in Minrathous.

> They visit each other frequently through an Eluvian. Dorian works hard at the magisterium to one day be able to show Daee Minrathous proper at his side. While visiting Daee sticks to his estate due to the danger being outside poses, as both the Inquisitor and a young elf. On occasion Dorian and him will take a walk at night in low traffic areas, with Daee wearing a cloak to conceal his ears, particularly to watch fireworks on Holidays. Dorian hopes he's alive long enough to see a free Tevinter and they can enjoy festivals together. No one knows of their relationship, not even Mae or the Shadow dragons, though that's to avoid of getting a target painted on them, as they are safer the less they know. Only people aware are Varric and Vivienne.

> They did have a brief vacation to Antiva as a sort of "honeymoon" though for obvious reasons they are not officially married. They hope to return for the 10 year anniversary.

> Dorian does attempt to learn Elvhen but obviously struggles. It brings Daee great joy never the less. After meeting Mae and some of the Shadow dragons, Daee attempts to learn some Tevene, though with equal fumbling. The first things Dorian teaches him are swear words (but technically the first word he learned is "Amatus")

> Dorian commissioned a fancy prosthetic for Daee with full articulation. Though it requires Daee to use magic consistently for it to properly work, it is designed with a mage in mind, and is not a dramatic drain on mana. It is properly fitted with measurements to be that of his right arm. Though he cannot cast with that arm, Daee had been teaching himself to cast with his right arm, and carry the staff in his left.

> They decided that if they're both alive after the events of Veilguard, to find a quaint place in the woods, far from others and adopt (an Elven child, ideally from an Alienage or Tevinter.) Dorian feels as though he's imparted a lot to the Shadow dragons and they can handle themselves, and can work with the Magisterium from a distance, and using Eluvians to travel.

[bunabi]

oh my god no, your point about zevran--first of all i ate it up, second i think you're right. my 1st playthrough of origins i ran as a male tabris that romanced zev and i need to do another playthrough because the vibes i always got about zevran that i could never quite put to words was that contrary to the common(?) fandom perception of zevran just being a very pretty and gentlemanly piece of meat, zev always struck me as much more nuanced and subtle LI than some of the other romance options who were more blatant in their feelings and thoughts and--yeah the big tell to me that something was off with Zev was also whenever he stopped speaking in a grandiose, expressive, or easygoing manner. You don't have to prompt him that much or be invasive after he's already decided to tell you something about himself; he'll talk for a while and he's descriptive. Even when other companions are being rather rude to him, Zev can do the verbal equivalent of a cartwheel easily and often. But he gets reticent with you after he's given you his earring and he's having a crisis about being in love with you and wanting to be your partner. And every time he caught wind of another companion liking you, he's gentlemanly but also quite straightforward and short when he says he'll get out of that companion's way if you want him to (but he doesn't want you to want that, he wants to be kept); aaaaand ... yeah, then he does what you pointed out with oghren. thinking of how Zev responds to you giving him those dalish gloves and what he says about his mom there (and in general how he behaves while you're in the forest doing the dalish questline) my best guess is that he's ... on paper he says he has no attachment to the dalish because he doesn't really think of himself as being one of them, but also he can't help but be sentimental and want some kind of attachment to something longer-lived and meaningful, like the dalish clans and their heritage/history? i can't remember what exactly Zev's thoughts were on alienages (though I imagine that would be a clue here) but my sense of Zev was always that for a dude who often seemed to believe himself a detached outsider, Zev also still identifies with his elf heritage & cares about elf issues--it's just that, you know, as a formality Zev still needs to take it from the top when prompted and explain how he's an amoral miscreant and murderer, that he's owned by the Crows and lacks individuality, you see he's technically neutral about everything because he's committed so many crimes dohow can he judge? Or something like that. I remember similar convos like what you're describing coming up between Zev and ... whatever the rock person's name was. Slate? Slade? Granite? Rock? SHALE. Yes, Shale. Because Shale always has odd questions. I'm sure Sten probably also has contributed to the mystery of Zev in some way but I can't recall off the top of my head lol.

Think you meant to send this to @zevsurana! I'm not the OP of that post! 😅

[garrien-thorne]

Warning; This is an exceptionally long post, but I've semi fleshed out the backstory for Garrien. If you read it all (or any of it honestly) I'm beyond appreciative :,)

I'm just so invested in this fictional guy in my head 😅

• For starters his was born in 9:28 Dragon, which means he was a child during the Fifth Blight!

• he grew up as a city elf in the free marches, though he did not have a family. his parents died when he was quite young. he doesn't remember much about them, and has no recollection of how they died. He has vague memories of his father singing Dalish lullabies to him, never the words but the melodies stuck with him...

he was still cared for by others in the alienage and would spend time with other families, he was basically everyone's son. the very definition of "it takes a village". They made sure he always had a place to sleep, he was always fed and clothed. Safe. Loved.

• his magic manifested when he was 8 and he was forcibly taken from his home and thrown into the Circle. When he was 9 and events in Kirkwall came to a head, an older mage helped him to escape...fearing the writing on the wall and knowing what fearful Templars could be capable of.

• Obviously a 9 year old out by themselves in Thedas, magic abilities or not, would be incredibly unsafe. He ran for a while, never staying in one place, and surviving on the sheer kindness of strangers in small villages, and his own self preservation instincts.

He was eventually taken in by an elf named Adahl'en, after he'd been chased into the woods by humans for being an Apostate, he was badly wounded and this is how he gets the scars across his face. Adahl'en found him bleeding and starving in the woods, well and truly left for dead.

After he nursed the boy back to health, he basically adopted him and that worked out well for Garrien because it meant he wouldn't be sent back to the Circle (bc for all he knew, the Circles were still a possibility, he didn't know much about the Mage Rebellion. Just that he needed to be careful who he used magic around.)

Adahl'en raised him from there on and though he knew next to nothing about magic, he did his best to attempt to teach Garrien how to use his skills. This is how Garrien ended up having his devil may care, "I absolutely will fight in melee range with this staff and there is fuck all you can do to stop me" attitude. He largely used his staff to bludgeon, instead of as a catalyst, in large part because he learned from his experiences that relying on his magic could draw the wrong sort of attention and was more trouble than it was worth.

• When he was 18, Adahl'en died. It was not a tragic death, nor was it in any way violent. Garrien honored him the best way that he knew, trying to follow the customs and traditions that he remembered from when he was just another kid in the Alienage. It was clumsy and he was certain that he'd messed it up somehow, but he knew that the man he'd come to know as his father would have appreciated the effort all the same.

• He couldn't bring himself to stay there after Adahl'en was gone, he wasn't sure what to do with himself. And being alone again sent his mind back to when he was ripped from his home...tossed in the Circle and forced to keep his head down and walk on eggshells to survive...and then pushed back out into a world he didn't know how to navigate, where many people felt justified in despising his existence. He felt like it was only a matter of time until his life took a turn for the worst again, and like the past several years were all just some brief reprieve from reality.

• So he left. He ran, more like. He didn't particularly know what he was running from, but he knew he couldn't stop. If he stopped then he would die, all the horrible events of his childhood would catch him. In a way, for those few short months after his father figure's death, he was that frightened child alone in the woods all over again.

• In 9:47 he meets and assists a group of Wardens protecting a group of miners from a darkspawn incursion, one of whom was named Ronan Thorne. He would never admit but at the time this was motivated in some small part by a subconscious death wish. He was so tired of running, of being afraid of everything around him. He was blighted during this attack and was fully prepared to finally die. But Thorne offered him another way out. The Joining.

It was sold to him as a new purpose, a way for him to be free from his fear of persecution, and a way for his life to have meaning. A way for the world to finally make complete sense and for him to have a Permanent place in it. And Garrien leapt at that chance. He survived and at age 19 he was officially a Grey Warden.

Over the next few months and his eventually arrival at Weisshaupt Fortress as a new recruit, he became close friends with Warden Thorne to the point they were like siblings. It only made sense to him that he would be a Thorne too, as a way of turning a page on his past, and to show his appreciation for the Warden that showed him a new path.

By the time Veilguard rolls around Garrien Thorne is 26 years old. He can be standoffish and extremely curt, he's wary of strangers to a pretty large degree. But he's also kind, if he sees someone in need of help he does not hesitate to offer. He remembers the people from the Alienage, how they did their best to keep him safe, even though none of them were his own blood. He remembers Adahl'en taking him into his home, and allowing him to finally let his guard down. Giving him the space to find himself and supporting him when he decided to live as a man. He remembers Ronan, his brother, who helped him find his purpose.

Garrien is good.

Those closest to him, will see him at his easiest. His voice softens and he smiles so wide at his own dumb jokes. His straightforward demeanor disappears and he seems like a completely different person. Garrien Thorne is simultaneously the stoic hero, and the easy-going bard.

[crossdressingdeath]

Sera: I got caught stealing when I was little, yeah? You get alienage or worse for that, but the "Lady Emmald" took me in. She was sick and couldn't have children. I had no parents. It worked out. Anyway, she gets a year sicker, so I ask about her cookies. Because mums make cookies. I can pass that down, or something. Turns out, she couldn't cook. She missed that talk with her mum. The ones she "made" she bought and pretended. Aw, right? Well, no, she was a bitch. She hid buying them by keeping me away from the baker. She did that by lying that he didn't like me, didn't like elves. She let me hate so she could protect her pride. I hated him so much, and I hated... Well, she died, and I hate pride. "Pride cookies."

I wish Sera's story had actually... y'know, done something with this. Show her working through her shit and improving as a person! Hell, even have her acknowledge that this little plan only worked because so many people hate elves that "the baker hates elves" wasn't worth questioning. But instead this is the only time anything about this comes up. And I won't lie, the petty, grumpy part of me does wonder if that's because the rest of her backstory (the street kid taken in by a kindly noblewoman who caught her stealing and instead of turning her in to the guards raised her as her own and left her a fortune in her will only for it to be stolen from her by the government because she was an elf) doesn't fit the whole Robin Hood schtick the game keeps trying to pretend she has. They could've focused on that, the fact that even being a noblewoman with a good-sized fortune wasn't enough to protect Sera from anti-elf prejudice! But that would've required her writing acknowledging that elves are the epitome of "little people" in Thedas and DAI does not like elves one bit, so of course it doesn't do that.

And I won't lie, this backstory is like... okay, it's not that it's not sad, but in comparison to the wide array of horrors that everyone else has going on it feels... kind of boring? The noblewoman who took her in, raised her as her own and left her a fortune lied about a random baker hating elves (with zero mention that she ever did anything else so much as unkind to Sera). That's unfortunate. Cole's currently terrified about being controlled by Corypheus, Solas's friend has been captured and tortured because it doesn't count as a person to most people, Josie has assassins after her for trying to keep her family from destitution, the love of Vivienne's life is dying, Leliana is facing the fallout of her dear friend's death and those are just the companion quests that I currently have active. I've already dealt with the reveal that Dorian's father nearly tried magical conversion therapy on him that might have left him a vegetable and only didn't because he left first, Bull having to choose between the religion he's served his whole life and his family in the Chargers, and Cassandra learning that the leader she respected and looked up to was infecting Seekers with red lyrium and that she was made Tranquil as an initiation rite. I haven't even started Blackwall having to face up to the crimes of his past because he finds he can't run from them anymore. Basically Sera's thing could've been a big meaningful backstory... if it wasn't for how completely overshadowed it is by everyone else's shit and how Bioware does literally nothing with it.

[sotc]

I MISS HIM ALREADY SO MUCHHH. HOW DO I BREATHEEEEE WITHOUT YOUUUUU. Apparently the timelapse between the end of Origins and the beginning of Awakening is 6 months and I am so upset that the honeymoon travel between Zevana was cut short! THEY DESERVE LONGER. Traveling as Milana did in the year facing the Blight was the most of the outside world she's seen considering her entire life was within the confines of the Alienage and parts of Denerim. Now with the threat of an Archdemon gone, I imagine her and Zev went traveling abroad towards the Free Marches and Antiva City (perhaps even a bit of Orlais? hmm, not sure tho) I think Zev was delighted to show her his city but also lmao so very dangerous of them to do so - but who are they if they aren't finding the thrill in a bit of danger anyways :3c I'm sure at some point though an assassination attempt may have been too close of a call in Antiva to their liking. Duties called her back to Ferelden anyways and Zevran assumed it was time to finally stop running and actually go after the Crows, as noted in this letter. Afterall, now he has a life of his own and a love worth fighting for. 🫶 I always think back to that line when he mentioned the fortune teller in the whorehouse he grew up in told him he would live a long life (much to her surprise) and for as long as he's been an assassin and the years ahead for them both.... SIGHS LOVINGLY. CHIN HANDS. KICKS MY FEET. It's what he DESERVES!!!! Now if only we can find the cure to the Calling for Milana huh...

[a-drama-addict]

codex askss 2 for emira, 8 for chronos, 1 for therése and 15 for chloe!

YESSSS YESSSSS [ask game]

Emira | 2. a letter written by your OC’s family member

Em,

Haven't heard from you in ages, which is worrying because your ass usually doesn't go quiet easily. The amount of trees that could've been saved if you just showed a sign of life.

Things in the alienage have been quiet too. I think our people still move with the way you do.

Soris and Valora missed you at their anniversary. I did too. Andraste's ass, can't you just reply? Leliana won't either. But that's just how Leliana is these days, isn't she?

Best of luck to you wherever you may be.

With love,

Shianni

— A letter written by Hahren Shianni, Bann of Denerim's Alienage, dated 9:41 Dragon

Chronos | 8. your OC’s doctor/healer talking about their injuries

Patient notes - Inquisitor Adaar

Inquisitor Adaar sustained an injury last mission he went on, going to stop the Grey Wardens. He lost his leg.

Decapitated just below the knee

Nasty nerve damage

Has to rest for at least 4 weeks, ideally 8

Give him whiskey for the pain, won't do much but it's better than nothing

The Iron Bull insist he'll take care of the Inquisitor. Said he's dealt with lost limbs before. Better him than me, Inquisitor's pissed. Least it wasn't his sword arm. Well, staff arm I suppose.

— A note written by the surgeon in Skyhold, the paper is crumpled and there's some dry blood on it. There's also a doodle of a bee- distinctly done in a different pen.

Therése | 1. an overheard conversation about your OC

Recruit: She... She killed her father?

Senior Warden: Most have done worse.

Recruit: No, no I've heard worse before. But killing her father- burning down the house she killed him in, then killing two of the guards that tried to arrest her?

Senior Warden: Thorne had her reasons. We instilled the right of conscription before she got hung.

Recruit: She killed three people!

Senior Warden: And she has killed a thousand more darkspawn since then. Not everyone's recruited because their sword arm's good, some people have a past.

— An overheard conversation in the Hossberg Wetlands, circa 9:52 Dragon, right before the siege of Weisshaupt.

Chloe | 15. a letter to your OC from a companion they haven’t seen in a while

Muffin,

I know, I know, 'You promised to stay in touch, tall guy! Hanged Man's boring without you!' and you're right. It always is.

Heard things were going well in Kirkwall though, so figures you don't need me. Fenris sent a letter few weeks back, said you gave your regards. Glad he still visits you.

In the same vein, Isabela sends her regards to you, says she misses you. And a few words I dare not repeat. Something about your ass, something about a phallus.

I've got a solid lead on Solas, got a good team for it too. Ever heard of Neve Gallus? Best damn detective I've ever met. Harding, one of the Inquisition scouts, is here too. And got a new one, a good one. Kinda reminds me of you, just not nearly as beautiful, strong, or iconic.

When we stop Solas, I'll be back. Next batch of drinks are on me. I'll bring Isabela too.

Always yours,

Varric Tethras

— A letter written by author Varric Tethras, adessed to the Champion of Kirkwall, Chloe Hawke, dated 9:51 Dragon.

[kissingagrumpygiant]

hiii i just loooove hera i wanna know more about her!!! consider this to be free space to say whatever’s on your mind about her because i just wanna know everythingggg

Oh man. I'm just going to throw everything I have at the top of my head at the wall hold on

- her full name is Hera'athen. Born in Ostwick's alienage and smuggled out of it when her magic started manifesting at around 6-7

- got Mythal's vallaslin to honor the mother figures in her life (her mother who passed away, her step-mother when her father remarried, and Deshanna)

- left the clan at 18 to become a Wandering Keeper (real cute lore hc post from a few years ago i will never let go of), and has been traveling the Free Marches + Ferelden since.

- Everyone in the Inquisition can't help but have a crush on her despite her being the most annoying lawyer-like, argumenative person there is. Maybe that's part of it

- her besties were Blackwall and Varric. What does that say about her. Me and the liarssss

- part of the reason she really fell for Solas at the start was the discourse of it all, and Hera loved that she could argue with him and see that it wasn't arguing for arguments sake, but for seeking understanding. She loved the back and forth teasing too

- her one big internal conflict about her decisions in dai is making Briala a shadow ruler. She made that decision without consulting anyone in her circle, it was pure emotions based, and even though she stands by it, she can't help but know she was being selfish. It wasn't the best alliance she could make for the Inquisition but it was for the elves of Orlais and everyone knows and will judge her for it

- didn't let Solas remove her vallaslin at Crestwood! She believed him, and she doesn't care for honoring the gods (she has a weird relationship with religion), but she couldn't bear losing the Dalish part of herself (in her mind). She already lost so much of her identity to the Inquisition, and this was part of her and her story, as much as every mistake and victory is

- she can play strings and has a decent singing voice. Makes killer soups and delicious breads. Can't stand chocolates

- had a dream when she was younger of becoming a published writer, but relegated her writing to notebooks she leaves with clans of tales and ruins and histories she comes across. Varric tries getting her to pick it up again but she feels it's kinda pointless

- what else. She has some frilly Orlesian "[holding a candle while walking the dark halls] who goes there" type nightgowns she hates to admit she adores because we can't let Orlais have this one win. But they're comfy and she looks extremely sexy in them

- if she was a spirit, she'd definitely be a spirit of Knowledge. maybe

- became even more of a weirdo freak after dai. She's tired and she has no filter. She thought she was retiring but they keep bringing her back and her ex stalks her dreams with his sad little big eyes and keeps leaving her clues everywhere and they've def had cryptic dream talks between them and she has no one to talk to about this because everytime she brings him up everyone goes ohhhh brotherrrrr this guy STINKS. but he's HER stinky guy.

- "Everyone thinks it's soooo funny of me to think I can save him. Well I'm about to be hilarious"

[nobodyexpectsthe]

party banter that's canon in my head bc i got pirith's name from a random elvish name generator ten years ago & it is very much non-dalish name

dorian: pirith... that's an unusual name for one of you dalish, isn't it? pirith: it is. *laughing* it's not exactly dalish. i won't bore you with the story. dorian: no, no. please do. before solas fills the silence with another one of his. solas: i must admit i am also curious as to it's origins. pirith: very well then. pirith: my father was not dalish by birth. in fact, he was born and raised in the alienage in denerim... and it was his intention to escape that life by running away to par vollen. entirely foolish on its face, he was not the sort of man who could stand being told what to do and didn't speak a word of qunlat. pirith: anyway. like a fool, he ran off into the night with this dream in his head and it immediately went awry. you see, he'd never set foot outside the alienage, he was poorly armed and ill-dressed for the season. before long he was being chased through the forest by beasts, certain he was to die. by how he told it, he'd run through every known prayer the maker had to offer and was just reciting whatever he could recall as he waited for death to come. pirith: as he would tell it, a pretty dalish hunter came across this poor soul lost in the wood. she thought to leave him there at first, but she was moved by the eloquence with which he spoke, and put an arrow between the creatures eyes. when his eyes met hers it was love at first sight. solas: would she have let him die had his words not moved her so? pirith: no. not at all. pirith: her account *starting to crack up* of these events is this fool of an elf was babbling so loud it scared off all her prey. the 'beast' he feared was a curious halla she shooed away. she only took him back to the keeper because she'd feel bad for the animal that ate him. he ended up staying with them, determined to win her heart. dorian: well, that's a lovely story on how your parents met. but how does that explain your name? pirith: if he is to be believed at all, the chant he was reciting when she came across him was something called a pirith. it's a protective chant, not necessarily of the chantry. he viewed her as the answer to his prayers and wanted me to carry that same protection everywhere i went. bull: so... let me get this straight. your father, a city elf, was planning on running away to join the qun, gets saved by a pretty girl and names you, a dalish elf, after a type of chanting? pirith: there is a reason she only let him name one of us. pirith: they really did love each other. for all his faults, he made her laugh. pirith: sometimes it was even on purpose.

[vigilskeep]

Hi Harker! Sorry if you've posted abt this before but I couldn't find: with how much of a strict teacher & staunch blood mage hater Malcolm seemed to be, how did Keir react at first to merril? What changed their opinion of blood magic? Ik your Hawke has a good relationship with her later, but I struggle to see red personalities (like my own red mage Hawke) actively reaching out to her at first past that first obligation of completing the debt to flemeth.

hi!! there’s a couple of reasons keir is able to trust merrill as much as he does so quickly

keir was very obedient to and thought very highly of his father. but there are points on which they differ, and probably the greatest one is this: keir isn’t an andrastian. keir privately views some of his father’s strictest warnings as coming from the circle and the chantry that taught them, not his father. it isn’t to say there’s no discomfort, and he would be highly distressed by the idea of letting something his father told him to care of, like his father’s staves and grimoires or, you know, bethany, become tainted by blood magic. but he doesn’t feel any particular urge to combat the existence of blood magic in general, nor does he fear it as malcolm did

(after all, he becomes a reaver himself, and that’s a fairly close neighbour to blood magic. he may not think highly of himself for resorting to it—he believes, prior to the legacy dlc, that his father would have been able to protect their family without turning to such things—but other than that he does not have malcolm’s qualms.)

another thing his father taught him, as i mentioned when talking about keir’s dynamic with my lavellan, was to show respect to someone like a dalish elf who held anything similar to a position of authority, or indeed to any skilled mage. in keir’s head, especially early on in their relationship, it simply would not be his place to question merrill’s approach to magic, as someone who considers himself uneducated in the subject. he believes she absolutely knows more than he does and that it would be shameful/disrespectful to think he could challenge that knowledge with, like... lessons from the circle that he overheard his father giving to bethany

keir may consider himself uneducated in magic, but he would dearly like to know more. spirits, the dalish, and the fade are all areas of interest to him, and he simply loves to be around mages and hear their discussion. he may not be the best at expressing all that, but my point is that he would seek out the company of any friendly mage available, it’s magnetic to him

hawke is given the responsibility to protect merrill and conduct her to kirkwall. it’s not the kind of thing that keir takes lightly. he might have considered his duty to marethari concluded when they reached the alienage, as that’s all marethari asked, but after merrill asks for his continued company and offers her continued services, he can’t really let it go. he does need all the help he can get. (also he’s a bit brusque to her on the mountain because, you know, he’s red that’s how he is with strangers, and if i have to feel bad when after all that she still tremulously invites him back because she “could use a friend”, he has to feel bad.)

obviously all that may not be applicable to your hawke but it’s where keir’s head is at. his trust in her is absolute very quickly; he bargains with the demon in the deep roads expedition on her advice