#hence the grey warden armour

[shewolfofvilnius]

i love the part in Trespasser where the Inquisitor straight up guesses the plot of Veilguard. No, not the Tevinter scene, the part where she straight up guesses that if Solas brings down the Veil it'll free the Evanuris (the "false gods")

also i love how she can want Solas dead so badly she breaks the fourth wall, does a camera stare ala The Office, and straight up looks you in the eyes to tell you she is absolutely going to murder the egg.

[seraandthebees]

OC Tag game!

Thanks for the tag @spindleweedss !

Tagging @dwarvenwarden @gardensystemtv @illusivesoul if you wanna join!

Favourite oc: Herah 🥰

Newest oc: Senna - I created her probably around six months ago now

Oldest oc: Blanca (my Dragonborn from Skyrim) who I made probably like three or four years ago. I don’t talk about her a huge amount on here but she has mega lore going on haha

Meanest oc: probably Nesiril because they don’t mince her words. She’ll say things bluntly regardless of the other person’s feelings, especially when they’re already in a bad mood. Alistair was kinda purposefully blind to that because they were always polite enough with him what with those two being the last two grey wardens. Hence how those two managed to get into a relationship.

Softest oc: definitely Herah cause she really cares about people’s feelings and she’s much happier to be vulnerable than a lot of my other ocs

Most aloof/standoffish oc: hmm either Blanca or Nesiril they’re both pretty difficult people sometimes

Dumbest (affectionate) oc: Naerselle I think and I think that it’s probably most obvious with her because she’s being asked to make all these important decisions as Inquisitor and she literally has no experience in planning anything bigger than a heist. She knows a lot about the Carta, about stealing, and about weapons and armour, but beyond that she’s a fish out of water

Smartest oc: either Herah because of her curiosity and experiments or Blanca who’s self-taught at haemomancy and turned herself into a vampire through meditation rather than getting bitten

Horniest oc: Senna. She and Gorim know how to have a good time lol

Oc you’d bang: not something I consider when making my ocs but I guess either Herah or Naerselle

Oc you’d be best friends with irl: Herah would make the best friend definitely. Naerselle would also be a good friend if a bit judgy lol

[lairofdragonagelore]

Arbor Wilds: Temple of Mythal - Part 2

Main Quest: What Pride Had Wrought

The Temple of Mythal was a place of justice, where petitioners walked religious rites of passage in order to have their pleas for justice from Mythal heard. According to some it is also the site of some mysterious religious artifact called the vir'abelasan.

This post contains the following sections

Outer Courtyard

Preparation for the Well

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]  

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Outer Courtyard

When we enter to the Courtyard, we have a conversation with Morrigan and Solas, summarised in:

They realise Corypheus cannot die. He takes control of another blighted creature and is immediately reborn. Archdemons have the same ability.

The Grey Wardens have a way to kill Archdemons despite this ability, however, it seems that they could not apply it with Corypheus, hence they locked him away in Vimmark Mountains. 

Morrigan suspects that the power of the Blight is what has given Corypheus this power, but how he gained it, she cannot know [As players, we know already due to the memories of Corypheus in the Shrine of Dumat that he embraced the corruption he found in the Black City, so probably this is what gave him this ability. It's not clear if the Architect has the same power].

Morrigan explains that this part of the Temple is a vestibule, not the temple itself.

She also questions divinity: she says that elven pantheon may have been beings of immense power, in the same fashion that Old Gods are "mere" dragons that rise as Archdemons. She has a good hunch when she says that Mythal may have been a powerful elf who was a ruler.

However, Solas corrects her in a very vague way. Apparently, this description of Mythal felt like a dismissal to him, likely because how dearly he keeps her.

She also questions if Mythal was truly a single entity, which introduces in the player the idea that Mythal may have possessed many bodies before Flemeth.

Solas explains that there are many accounts of Mythal and he only supports, implicitly, the one that claims that Mythal was The Mother [as we see her in the mosaics], protective and fierce.

Morrigan assumes that Mythal is exiled with the rest of the elven pantheon, according to the unreliable Dalish Tales. She also assumes that it may have been Tevinter who simply killed them.

She also suspects these strange elves that protect the temple descend from the ancient ones, before the fall of Arlathan.

In this place we still find these mural paintings. From all these typical elvhen paintings collected in Nation Art: Elvhen, the Temple of Mythal only lacks one: The Armoured Figure. Maybe this detail will help us to understand the painting at some point. 

The central part of the courtyard shows a section with elvhen tiles and two short cylinders with ancient writing on them.

This inscription looks a bit similar [but not the same] to the text written in the Razikale Ceremony or in Horned warrior holding a sword. These grey stones also appear in the puzzle of the Exalted Plains: Ghilan’nain’s Grove and the Dead Hand. Of course the whole temple is filled with many  Dragon Myhtal statues and Humanoid Mythal statues.

With the help of Morrigan, the elven inquisitor, and Solas, we read the inscription of the grey stones. Morrigan explains that the entrance to this temple is free, it's not like a barred door. But to go further, you must perform the rituals [puzzle] as a way to offer obeisance and ask for justice imparted by Myhtal.

To a side of the vestibule, we find a sitting Fen'Harel with several Elvhen funerary lid, and an elven puzzle box [I found it cute how this element always seems to be close to this statue’s paws, the wolf is always playing with it, it seems. Or it can be interpreted as he being a guardian of a treasure, since these elven puzzle boxes sometimes are mere containers for loot]. 

Here we can trigger the codex The Rebel God, which analysis was done in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal. Basically it suggests that after the Exalted March the word associated with (Fen')Harel started to morph its meaning into “betrayal”, instead of being “rebellion” as its etymology seems to point out.

Morrigan is surprised about the presence of this statue in the Temple, she interprets it as a blasphemous gesture.  And elven inquisitor will comment that their clan uses this statue in a more "Emerald Knight" way [as a protector of the borders of a Dalish camp]. Solas replies something that reaches to the players: we have to be wary about the legends, about the tales, because even though they may have a grain of truth, they are not historical facts. 

I think here is one of the many examples where Solas chooses to omit instead of lying, and the reason why I trust him when he drops a bit of lore. He doesn't lie about history, he just omits it if it's too compromising or painful. We know in Tresspasser that he awoke in a world that felt like living among tranquils. He sacrificed his old world to give a future to the people, but he found out that they had embraced all the slavery icons, romanticised their previous tyrants, and he had turned into a god of betrayal, who had been, poetically speaking, being betrayed by the same people he wanted to save. I don't want to go too deep into character analysis, because it's a lot, specially with Solas, but I think these details are a good justification of his attitude to not answer anything else in front of this Fen'Harel's statue. Plus, in the beginning of the game, we learnt he had tried to share the truth with Dalish clans that mistreated him. 

We cross a door that glows in a soft blue and we find a corridor that depicts another of these strange murals. With all what I've already analysed in Nation Art: Elvhen, it seems strange to see them in Mythal's temple in particular.

Preparation for the Well

Morrigan speaks about what this place seems to be for her. Solas does not add any comment to correct her, so she must not be too far away from the truth.

As we enter in this new section of the Temple, we have two options to explore: following the path of Mythal, be respectful, and make the ritual-puzzles to be granted access to the Temple, or just skipping all this by following the path opened by the Red Templars.  

Solas and Morrigan agree for once: they suggest to complete the puzzles, while other companions will suggest to urge the access. We know later that Solas is asking for this in order to save "part of his People", elvhenan "such as him". He takes the risk of letting Corypheus get the Well instead of letting these people be killed by defending this place.  Morrigan, as we know, is a preservationist of the arcane and the old knowledge, so she wants to protect the well and have access granted to it, so she insists in respecting the rituals.

She also calls the Inquisitor to a side, and shares with them the last bit she understood from the grey stone but did not say it out loud: those who use the Well receive a great boon at a terrible cost, the sweet sacrifice of duty. We will understand this later as the loss of personal freedom and will [one becomes a servant] in order to perform a duty, while having a vast knowledge of the ages.

This place is a set of chambers with puzzles and corridors with the standard brown-yellow mosaics on the ground and golden mosaics on the walls depicting some of the gods. 

It's curious to me that, despite being Mythal's Temple, we have still these murals of the "zombie" white elves. In the most hidden areas we find Fen'Harel's mosaics, quite decayed too.

In a small chamber, we find Humanoid Mythal statue in gold, and a golden mosaic of Falon'Din.  On the opposite wall there is one of the mural paintings, the shifting halla.

The mosaic triggers the codex Song to Falon'Din, analysed in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal. It seems pretty curious that he is represented at the sides of the statue, when Solas tells us the following: 

After the codex, there is an interesting exchange of info coming from Solas. Morrigan and the elven inquisitor comment their knowledge based on the unreliable Dalish Tales, while Solas speaks from personal experience:

Falon'Din's vanity was so big and his need for adulation so intense, that he started wars to get more worshippers. [It's not clear for me if we can understand this as if Falon'Din would kill other evanuris in these wars in order to take their worshippers and join them to his. So far, in the Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal, we learnt that Falon'Din  was eager to almost fight Elgar'nan, and Mythal calmed things down asking for them to solve the situation with a duel of champions. This line also makes me speculate what I said before in the posts of codices or in The Lost Temple of Dirthamen; maybe Falon'Din and Dirthamen had this "twin" nature because Falon'Din somehow bonded Dirthamen [since Evanuris are hard to kill, but not to merge, maybe?] and kept his followers to him, who couldn’t distinguish one from the other]

Those who would not bow, will fill pools as big as oceans with their blood [this is a nice interpretation-twist of a "god of Death", not as a guider in the afterlife but as a mass killer.]

Mythal rallied the gods when Falon'Din started to [I understand] kill Mythal's followers. It was almost late [sadly, Solas doesn't say in what sense it was late]. Falon'Din surrendered only when the other Evanuris [that's how I understand brethren here] bloodied him in his temple. We didn't visit a proper Temple of Falon'Din so far we know. In DAO there were Elven ruins of dubious mixture with Tevinter elements. So we don't know which place this is.

If the Inquisitor questions the fact that such a killer was left alive, Solas reinforces what he told us in Tresspasser: Evanuris are not easy to kill.

Similar chamber can be found across the main place, but the mosaics depict Andruil.

Here we trigger the rich codex of Elven God Andruil, explained and interpreted in detail in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal.

After it, we have some more info given by Solas: 

He knows Andruil was a goddess of Sacrifice.  

Even though Solas doesn’t say it, it’s implied that this is the reason why Andruil’s patron animal is the hare, a creature for sacrifices.

Sadly, Solas does not add much more against Andruil, as he did with Falon’Din.

My personal speculation about why these two gods have this preferred place in the temple, is related to the common aspect they have: both were a threat for Mythal in a way or another. Andruil put in danger everyone with her madness and weapons; Falon’Din killed Mythal’s people in his extreme desire for adulation. Maybe this is the reason why these two gods are beside a statue of Mythal, in chambers that have a “wall” made of a golden fence, as if it were a cage. 

Arbor Wilds: Temple of Myhtal - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

[starlightchocolatecookie]

GREY WARDEN CASUAL UNIFORM

I really like the Grey Warden armour and I thought they would totally have a casual version to wear around Vigil’s Keep. Alistair is kindly modelling which I suppose is the spring/summer version. Might do a winter version one day with gloves, a cloak etc. I think it looks comfy, I’d wear it!!

In the background reveals that Alistair was just setting up an afternoon reading date in the sun with the love of his life. She arrived early, hence his expression/pose. 😊

[juliafied]

Five Favourites

Thanks so much for the tags, @luzial​, @nug-juggler​, and @pedlimwen​!

Tagging forth @midnightprelude, @tevivinter, @hawkeish, and anyone else who’d like to post (I think I’m coming to this a bit late). Feel free to ignore tags also and lmk if you don’t want to be tagged anymore, no hard feelings :) 

--

Here are five of my favourite bits that I’ve written thus far!

Three bits from The Lone Wolf’s Call, my post-Here Lies the Abyss Fenris POV longfic:

Fenris hadn’t done that in a long time. Felissa didn’t like it; when it came down to it, Hawke relished killing very little, and despised turning it into spectacle. Yet, now, the hot blood of the slaver bitch streaming down his forearm was satisfying, as were the horrified looks of the Orlesian guards. Why should she not feel the pain that she had caused? The pain that he had felt, a plaything for his Tevinter master, and now felt, the weight of a thousand unfulfilled futures bearing down on him? The woman’s lifeless form slumped to the ground, and he watched, as if from above, as Leontine unsheathed her blade. He observed himself draw his own and thump, her body hit the ground as he tossed her aside after running her through. Another thump, and then a clatter, as he cleaved the burly bodyguard’s head clean from his shoulders and the great axe he had been too slow to draw fell to the ground. Thump, as an arrow went through the eye of a lightly armoured young man, no older than eighteen, reaching for his own bow. Thump, thump, THUMP.

He awoke in a cold sweat, face wet with tears. He wept not because of the dream, but because of the waking. What cruel tricks his subconscious played on him, showing him a future he never knew he wanted, and now could never have. He looked out the window. It was daybreak. The others would be waiting for him soon.

“Ah, yes. I was recounting why you may not have heard of your kind from any Dalish you may have encountered. The knowledge of how such a warrior is made has long been lost to the Dalish. It was a position of great honour and great secrecy in ancient Elvhenan.”

“It hardly felt like an honour to me,” Fenris muttered bitterly, kicking up some dirt with his shoe, though he did recall Varania’s words about how he had wanted this fate. He had not written her in too long. Perhaps he should, now that he was so close to Tevinter.

“Hence Lada’s comment yesterday. In Arlathan, the halin’panelan were a sacred sect, elite warriors meant to protect the People. We do not know how your magister,” and this word Aron spat, with great contempt, “discovered how to perform the ritual, but it was certainly not meant for slaves, under duress.”

“Do not call him my magister,” Fenris pronounced swiftly. “He is dead by my hand. I am a free man.”

“Yes. Ir abelas, lethallan.”

They walked in silence for a few moments as Fenris tried to process this new information. It was true that he had never heard of any other slave in Tevinter being branded like he had. From what Danarius had told him, there had been many failures (and he had felt sick, thinking what they might have looked like) before him. He had just assumed that the ritual that had marked him was another one of Danarius’ demented tortures, an invention of his own creation.

It was strangely comforting to know that at least Danarius’ most lasting mark on him, entwined with every aspect of Fenris’ very being, held more inherent significance than just another brand of ownership. If Aron spoke the truth, the markings, and the abilities he had gained thanks to them, had made him into something that even a Tevinter magister could not pervert, no more than they could change the past.

Too, he felt the old rage at the man whose heart he had ripped out years ago flare, having been denied this for so long. Undoubtedly Danarius had known that the ritual was stolen. Fenris scoffed, and wondered just how much of Tevinter’s “advances” had a similar source. Would he have escaped sooner, had he known that his markings were no painful brand of control, but rather meant to empower free elves of Elvhenan?

That question was not one Aron could answer.

From Blue, a fluffy FenHawke post-Kirkwall oneshot set in a cottage by the sea in Wycome:

Fenris couldn’t have anticipated the unparalleled delight of languorously exploring the extent of his body’s pleasure with a person that he trusted so absolutely, loved so deeply that he could let go of any fear and just be. Their moments together in Kirkwall, though the sweetest he had ever known, had always felt stolen from their real lives somehow, always another mission on the horizon, always another enemy to hunt down. Here, in the four walls of the cottage, all that seemed to matter was him, her, and what felt good.

And finally, from Hearts Left Behind, a very depressing oneshot where Leliana and Morrigan mourn Alistair’s death in the Fade. I think I rewrote that sentence of Morrigan’s dialogue at least half a dozen times, and I’m very happy with how it turned out.

Morrigan looked out the window once more, and pronounced, “One does not easily forget the exquisite suffering of loving, and losing, such an extraordinary other.”

Leliana did not wish to ask who Morrigan was thinking of with these words. She hoped the witch would not inquire the same of her. The two women sat for quite some time, each haunted by the ghosts of their own extraordinary people, in a pensive silence broken only by the sound of whisky being poured and swallowed. Only once the sky had grown dark, once the last log of firewood had been burned, and once the sharp edge of grief wedged between them, old and new, had been dulled by time and alcohol, did Leliana raise her cup and feel compelled to utter,

“To Alistair, Grey Warden and Hero of the Fifth Blight. To an honourable man, brave warrior, and kind friend. The world is worse off for not having him in it. May he find eternal peace,” and here her voice hitched, “and the company of his great love at the Maker’s side.”

A final clink, a final swallow, and –

“To Alistair.”

[dalathin]

// Dragon Age Questions

Tagged by: @kaaras-adaar   Tagging: @worthyfate @kinlochfled @dirthahavcn @polyphoniie @ardaaman and anyone else who would like to!

01) Favourite game of the series?  Oof starting out with a hard question. Uhhh... I will go with Inquisition if only because out of all my canon main characters Séaghdha has really become the most important to me as far as emotional attachment goes.

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?  I am a long-time fan (?) of Bioware games and have been playing them since the beginning of time. I’ve literally played every Bioware game that exists, or at least this holds true for the time being (I am unsure if I will buy Anthem). My loyalty to the brand is not as strong as it used to be after they were bought by EA, and especially after David Gaider left the company. But yes. It actually started back with Baldur’s Gate II in 2000, which is not a Bioware game, but a game David did writing on and is still one of my favorite RPGs of all time. I followed him to Bioware and was determined to play anything he worked on. Hence, Dragon age.

03) How many times you’ve played the games?  I’ve genuinely lost count but I’ve memorized all three games, so... A lot lol

04) Favourite race to play as?  ELVES. But this isn’t necessarily a DA thing, it’s just a me thing because I am 100000% elf trash.

05) Favorited class?  Rogues, believe it or not. Mages are my second favorite, but yeah I prefer me my sneaky-sneaks.

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?  Depends on what character I’m playing. If I’m replaying one my canon characters, then yes, I stick with their choices. But occasionally I’d replay as some random character specifically to fuck around.

07) Go-to adventuring group?  I always take my character’s love interest because I’m a weenie. But for DA:O: Zevran, Alistair, Leliana. For DAII: Fenris, Bethany/Anders (depends on the act), Aveline. For DA:I: Dorian, Solas, Bull. Needless to say, I died a lot playing Séaghdha because I’m dumb and stubborn and had a mostly mage party most of the time.

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?  At this point, Séaghdha is probably the most fleshed out. Méabh, my canon Hawke, and Misae, my canon warden (who is on @exnobis for the record) are both pretty extensively developed in my own personal opinion, as I have a habit of just... getting probably too invested in my characters lol. But Séaghdha gets the most attention, without a doubt.

09) Favourite romance?  Okay so this is tough because Dorian as a character means a lot to me, he is my son and I adore him. But as much as I love him as a character, his romance was not my favorite. Sorry, son. Favorite romance is a really tough choice between Fenris and Zevran, but I think ultimately Fenris is the one who wins out. Both of their romances hit a lot of personal notes for me, but Fenris’ in particular uh... Well I cry every time, let me put it that way lmao

10) Have you read any of the comics/books?  All of the books and most of the comics.

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book?  Ehh... I honestly don’t really have one? I enjoyed them for sure, but my motivation was for the lore and less recreational lol.

12) Favourite DLCs?  For its drama, Trespasser. Overall, Mark of the Assassin. I may not like Felicia Day (sue me) but oh my god that DLC is fucking gold.

13) Things that annoy you.  So many things. But the biggest is probably the inconsistencies and ret-conning of lore and storyline. Whatever happened to the quality Bioware writing I fell in love with... where did it go....

14) Orlais or Ferelden?  Ferelden.

15) Templars or mages?  This isn’t a fair question imo. They both suffer needlessly. 

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?  Typically I default to all my canons being in the same verse. Makes my timeline consistent and easier. However my characters are all obviously adaptable so as to fit with my RP partners and a variety of different plots.

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)  Misae’s mabari was named Finn and Méabh’s was named Cahir. Séaghdha has named his hart Leanathe, elvhen for splendor, glory. 

18) Have you installed any mods?  lmao my games are nothing but mods at this point

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?  Not even remotely. He’s still bitter about it, quite frankly, despite taking quite well to a leadership role and life as a Bard. He’s all about finding that cure though, let me tell ya. 

20) Hawke’s personality?  Blue with a hint of purple when it wasn’t completely inappropriate. Basically, Méabh had a good sense of humor but was ultimately a very compassionate person.

21) Did you make matching armour for your companions in Inquisition?  No but that’s a hilarious idea now that you mention it.

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?  Misae would have tried to do more to save Tamlen, Méabh would have tried to do more to save her family, and Séaghdha would have tried to do more to save... well, everyone. Thanks Solas.

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?  I have some headcanons that alter canon a little bit (like in my personal canon Méabh gets pregnant between acts, etc), but off the top of my head that only really big thing is that Séaghdha doesn’t lose his arm. I mean it gets mutilated and he loses a lot of use/mobility, but he doesn’t actually lose the arm.

24) Who did you leave in the Fade?  Séaghdha leaves Stroud and, believe me, he’s not happy about it.

25) Favourite mount? Easily the Red Hart.