#i mean dalish were mentioned

[villainanders]

Fwiw LRB (well, last LRB. Not the destiel thing) is why I was immediately distrustful when Davrin’s thing was presented as “he left the dalish bc he doesn’t like to reflect on the past!” in pre-game promo. It’s not that that’s not a concept you can execute well it’s that I know a Trick Weekes joint when I see one

[sammakesart]

Castles in the Fade, or What Was the Point of the Veil Anyway

Something that will now haunt me until the end of time is why was the concept of the Veil ever introduced into this series.

We’ve been hearing about it since the very first game. There’s a codex entry about tears in the Veil in Origins. Tamlen mentions a thin spot in the Veil if you play a Dalish elf. Sandal has a prophecy in Dragon Age 2: “One day the magic will come back—all of it. Everyone will be just like they were. The shadows will part and the skies will open wide. When he rises, everyone will see.” Admittedly, this is just one line said by a character who often says odd things, but it hinted to the fact they were planning to do something with the Veil from the very beginning. The state of the Veil is repeatedly brought up. It all had to mean something! Or so I thought. 

When I saw “The Dread Wolf Rises” quest in Veilguard, I said, “Oh, here we go!” The Veil is coming down, magic is coming back, and it’s going to set up such an interesting story for the next game. 

Alas, no. 

I hadn’t really enjoyed my time playing Veilguard up until this point. It felt like the game was ducking and dodging every bit of world building and lore that could possibly bring nuance or complexity to the story. Every returning character or faction was a cardboard cutout of themself. They shoved Solas is a time-out box and gave him nothing to do. They refused to let him have any impact or influence on the story when he had been set up to be our main antagonist back in Trespasser. This game used to be called Dreadwolf! And while we learn about his past… we never talk to him about it. In the present, he’s in stasis.

Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain are our villains. And they are your typical evil for evil’s sake villains. They are mad, bad, and only as dangerous as the narrative will allow as to not give Rook and co too much trouble. They are surprisingly patient while Rook fixes all their companions’ problems… until Elgar’nan moves the moon to cause an eclipse. A vital component in making his own lyrium dagger. For some reason. This guy can move a satellite!? And he just let Rook walk away in previous encounters… twice. Ok. Sure.

The Evil Duo need their own dagger ostensibly to tear down the Veil, because they want to unleash the full force of the Blight onto the world. Because they are evil. And they were thwarted last time they tried to Blight the entire world. Why do they think Blighting the world is a good idea? What’s the point of ruling a world if everyone is dead? I guess they haven’t thought that through, because of the madness and the evilness.

Ok, I thought. Perhaps the gods will be the one to tear down the Veil. Or maybe we’ll have a choice to let Solas do it his way before they can, which will be less chaotic and less full of Blight. Because the Veil has to be coming down one way or another? Why introduce the concept of the Veil, especially a Veil that has been thinning and failing since the series began, if it’s just going to… stay.

There is a principle in storytelling called Chekov’s gun. If something is mentioned in a story, it must have a purpose. If you keeping mentioning that gun hanging on the wall over the fireplace, it’s because at some point in the story, someone is going to take it down and use it. The Veil felt like Chekov’s gun to me. Chekov’s Veil, if you will. It’s been here from the beginning of our tale, the spectre hanging over our protagonists’ heads for multiple games.

The Veil has been a character unto itself. It was the central focus of the third game, and its dissolution was set up to be the core conflict of the fourth game. We learn everything we thought we knew about the Veil was a lie. It was not created by the Maker to separate the Fade from this world because of jealous spirits, it was created by a guy named Solas to trap the elven gods and the Blight from destroying the world. Also, the elven gods were never gods, and they are also evil.

This reveal will surely throw the Andrastian religion into chaos! This puts the very existence of the Maker into question! The Evanuris are a lie; it’s only fair Catholicism—oh, I mean—the Chantry is a lie too. We briefly touch on that in Veilguard… then it is quietly discarded. Religious crisis averted.

But I digress.

When the title of the fourth game was changed from Dreadwolf to Veilguard, I started to see the writing on the wall. Still, I held out hope the Veil would have some greater purpose in the story. That its introduction as a concept was for a reason. That something in this world would change.

Instead, from the get-go, the question of the Veil is no question at all. We only get Solas and Varric making oblique or catastrophizing statements about it. Solas says little beyond he has a plan. If I ever wanted to hear a villain monologue about their plan, it was now! Varric, on the other hand, decries Solas’s plan. He warns that should the Veil fall, it will destroy the world and drown it in demons. And that’s that.

We never really learn why Solas wants to tear the Veil down, or why he thinks it will help anyone. “The Veil is a wound inflicted upon this world. It must be healed,” he says. And that’s basically all he says about it in Veilguard. In Inquisition and Trespasser, we learn it took the immortality from the elves. It cut most of magic off from the world. Spirits are trapped and are being corrupted into demons, and most of what we know about spirits and demons is wrong. There are ancient elves possibly asleep? That part is left vague, but ancient elves are still about. We meet some in Mythal’s temple. There seems to have been some merit in bringing it down, because elves were flocking to Solas’s cause at the end of Trespasser. He had agents working for him already. What do they know that we don’t know?

Apparently nothing, because by the time Veilguard rolls around, there are no mention of agents. He is working alone. His only motivation now seems to be he’s too deep in his sunk-cost fallacy. The Veil is unnatural, so it must be removed—consequences be damned. We are never given any reason to think Solas has a leg to stand on in his pursuit of tearing down the Veil. We never hear any kind of counter argument from anyone, not even Solas, as to why the Veil should come down. We are only told it will destroy the world. It will drown the world in demons. This is all Solas’s fault.

There is no nuance. No complexity. No moral quandary to mull over. The game gives us vague warnings with no explanation as to what exactly is so world-annihilating about the Veil coming down. We must take Varric’s word at face value. We’re the heroes; Solas is the villain. Stop him.

It makes me wonder why Solas was ever a companion in Inquisition, let alone a romance option. Solas was presented to us as a complicated character in Inquisition. We had the potential throughout the game to make him see the value of this world, to help him realize he was wrong about it. “We aren’t even people to you,” the Inquisitor says in Trespasser. Solas replies, “Not at first. You showed me that I was wrong...again.” He began the third game viewing the world as tranquil, seeing the people in it as nothing more than figments in a nightmare, just as we saw our companions in the In Hushed Whispers quest. He ends the game having made friends, having recognized he was mistaken. He might have even fallen in love. (Or he may still seen no merit in this world if the Inquisitor antagonized him the entirety of their time together.) But something makes him continue with his plan to tear down the Veil, despite recognizing this world is real. He must know something we don’t. Something we’ll learn about in the next game.

We’ve been hearing about the Veil for three games now. We’ve set up our complex antivillain for the next installment, and he’s going to tear the Veil down. We swear to stop him or save him. But it has to be more complex than that. It can’t be so straightforward. Uncomplicated. Simple. Boring. Right? Right?

Nope. He really is just the villain, mustache-twirling and all. He apparently had no greater motivation, no as of yet unrevealed knowledge that would put this whole Veil thing into a new context. It was really as simple as the Veil falling will destroy the world, so Solas must be stopped. There is no new information that is revealed which makes us question what we are doing. Solas is never given any nuance or complexity to his actions. Nuance and complexity have actively been taken away. Both him and the Veil are looking like they are the worst things to be in a story: pointless. Why introduce the Veil if it’s just going to remain unchanged? Why introduce a character like Solas, bother humanizing him (for lack of a better term), giving us his backstory, setting him up as a cunning antagonist, only to make him look stupid, then put him on a shelf until the last ten minutes of your game?

Solas was the trickster archetype of this tale. He was our version of Loki from Norse mythology. What is the role of the trickster archetype? To challenge the status quo. To bring about events of extreme change, like say, the tearing down of a Veil that holds back all of magic. Loki is a huge contributing factor in Ragnarök. Through his manipulation, he causes the death of the beloved god, Baldr. This ushers in a long winter, which signifies the beginning of the end. Loki is imprisoned for this crime. When the final battle between gods and giants begins, the sun and moon are swallowed, plunging the earth into darkness. The earth shakes and Loki is freed to fight on the side of the giants. The world burns in raw chaos, falls beneath the sea, and is reborn. The world is remade, and a new realm of the gods and a new, better earth is formed.

It really felt like this was the setup they were going for. Solas causes the death of Mythal, and this is his catalyst for creating the Veil, which ushers in a world without magic. This could be seen as equivalent to the long winter. Solas falls asleep, trapped in dreams. He wakes and sets in motion bringing about the apocalypse. It’s not a perfect one to one, but it’s there if you squint. We have a war against the gods in Veilguard. I was expecting a few remaining Titans to wake and join the fight. But we don’t get any of that. There is a final battle, but it does not end in the end of the world. Or a better world. It just ends, and everything is the same.

It seems our trickster god caused his apocalypse thousands of years before our story started, when he created the Veil. His role in this tale was over before ours began, and he really is just some relic from a long-past age. He has no role, no purpose in this story. He is here to be thwarted. He is no Loki at all.

If you can’t tell, I wanted the Veil to come down. Did I think the Veil coming down would be painless? Have no negative consequences? No. Of course not. But keeping it up has negative consequences too. And it made for an interesting story. Or at least it could have. But we never explore that. The game presents no counter argument to having the Veil stay up, which, again, begs the question: what was the point of introducing the concept of the Veil at all?

Did I think the Veil coming down was actually the best solution to help Thedas become a better place? I don’t know, and I never will, because the game never argues for it one way or another. It just tells you to want it in place and to stop asking questions. In real life, a catastrophic event is not the best way to solve any of the world’s problems. But this is the realm of fiction. We have gods and monsters, magic and myth. We have introduced the status quo of Thedas, recognized it needs to change, then our trickster god appears ready to fulfill his role in the narrative. 

Instead, it all comes to nothing.

I got to the end of Veilguard… and everything was more or less the same as it was at the start of Origins. Veilguard actually tries its hardest to pretend any previously mentioned problems don’t exist, so of course the Veil coming down has no merit. There are no problems to solve in this world, apparently. Solas is just stuck in the past and can’t get with the times. Silly Solas.

The Veil isn’t even a permanent solution. It wasn’t to begin with. It was some duct tape wrapped around a broken pipe, and we’ve just slapped an extra piece of tape on it. It’s still leaking. It is still unnatural, and will fall eventually one way or another. Large amounts of bloodshed weaken it, so I guess Thedas better achieve world peace real quick to avoid any battles. There were seven super-powered mages holding it together… now there is just one. Ironically, the Veil was going to fall after two more Blights anyway. The Wardens were doing Solas’s work for him! It would also have released the full force of the Blight at that time… which Solas was trying to avoid, I presume.

It feels like keeping the Veil up just pushed a big problem onto Thedas’ future generations. We’ll keep slapping bandaids on it until it all falls apart. Someone else can deal with the fallout, but we’ll be dead by then, so who cares.

Primarily, I wanted the Veil to come down from a storytelling perspective. The Veil was an interesting concept and I wanted the story to do something interesting with it. Conflict is what makes stories stories and the Veil coming down could create so much compelling and complex conflict. And the Fade is weird, and I like weird. Stories are also about change, and I wanted to see Thedas change. Yet, Veilguard is over, and barely anything has changed. Instead of magic coming back being a conflict for the next game, they went with Fantasy Illuminati. Oh.

The Veil turned out to be a nothing-burger, and no problems in this world are even close to being solved. Slavery is still rampant in Tevinter. The elven people are still oppressed everywhere. Mages have no more rights in the South than they did in Origins. Spirits are still trapped and being corrupted. The Calling still exists, though might be different somehow now? They don’t really get into that. The Chantry’s validity is still not allowed to be questioned. The Blight still exists in some form, but again it’s vague. Oh, and we learn the dwarves have been gravely wronged, and the Titans are still tranquil. At least if you redeem Solas and a romanced Lavellan joins him, they can work together on healing the Blight and helping the Titans. Oh, good. One problem is being acknowledged and some action will be taken. Offscreen. Hurray? Solas doesn’t have a really great track record of fixing problems, so Lavellan is definitely going to need to be there to make sure he doesn’t fuck it up.

For some reason, this game seemed terrified of letting us think about anything for more than two seconds. It shied away from complexity or nuance at every turn. The game is called The Veilguard—ironically, that word is never uttered in the game—but we are given no real motive for guarding the Veil. We’re unquestionably the hero. The villains are uncomplicatedly evil. Save the world… never wonder what you are doing or why.

I wanted the game to make me question if the Veil staying up or coming down was the right choice. I needed to be given a real counter argument. Convince me the alternative would actually be better or worse, because as I mentioned… things suck quite a bit in Thedas already for a lot of people right now. Let the Veil’s fate be a difficult choice to make. If the conflict cannot be what to do about the Veil, it should be am I doing the right thing about the Veil. If the heart of your game is so thin on motive, everything else falls apart around it.

I hoped they were setting up a complex, Thedas-sized existential conflict for this game in Trespasser, but no. I wanted something to happen, but nothing did. 

I want to feel challenged and changed by a story, not left feeling empty. I’m tired of superficial entertainment. I want to sink my teeth into a narrative that doesn’t paint the world in broad strokes of black and white, good and evil, heroes and villains.

Ultimately, I think my issue is why even introduce a concept like The Veil if you’re not going to do anything interesting with it. Or anything at all. What I thought was Chekov’s Veil turned out to just be a MacGuffin. And that’s disappointing.

[sunlight-shunlight]

to me it's strange that in dai, the game kind of forces you to take minaeve's story at face value? bc it is so weird when i thought about it. it's most likely just in there as a sort of Bioware Centrism Moment, but i wish they'd done more with it.

like ok. if her clan intentionally threw out a child into the woods, that means they were either cutthroat enough to want to kill her on purpose, OR, they wanted to abandon her, but still give her a chance at survival by being found. which was it?

seemingly... neither?

bc if they wanted to kill her, there is literally no need to give her a whole backpack and supplies beforehand. if they're cold-blooded enough to send a child to die, they probably wouldn't care about giving her extra food and stuff beforehand. and i feel like backpacks are actually pretty valuable, just on a cloth/leatherworking effort level, and especially for a small nomadic society that has nowhere to store things besides aravels. this is weird of them. they spent years feeding and clothing and raising her, then decide to coldly scrap all that effort bc they want her gone, and then give her another hand-crafted useful item before they leave her to die? makes no sense!

and if they wanted to just abandon her but still give her a chance, it wouldn't be hard to just send someone to walk her to the edge of a village first. they're experts at surviving and moving through the wilderness, why would it be a hardship for one adult to take a few days and go "ok minaeve, we're going on a field trip to see the human town :)" and then just lie to her and leave her there? still very harsh, and gives her a sad magic-related backstory and dislike of the dalish, but makes more sense! but they didn't do that either.

on a larger scale level.... every single dalish clan we meet prior to that Loves Mages. there's mentions of multiple mages competing to be first, or being traded if another clan is running low on mages. so even if minaeve's clan are assholes, it would be in their interests to basically trade minaeve to another clan for something else of value, and that would compensate them for the amount of time and resources they spent on raising her up to that point.

and on an even broader level, i think the dalish would benefit hugely from even weak mages like minaeve - even if all they ever learn to do is 1 ice spell... that means their whole group now has refrigeration? that's life-changingly useful! there is no way they'd want to pass up on that. and it makes sense why mages are so valued in their culture, bc having a mage improves their quality of life and chances of survival SO much.

so to me, one way minaeve's story makes sense is if the situation was actually: the clan was in some severe danger. the actual mages had to be on the front lines handling it, and no one else could deal with a scared mage child in the middle of everything accidentally setting things on fire. so they sent her out with some supplies so that she was at a distance from whatever was happening, and figured they'd track her down and pick her up in a few days when it was over.

but presumably they did not survive whatever the incident was, so no one came back to get her. minaeve, seven, interpreted this as being abandoned, and the chantry was like "yeah that sounds about right for those horrible cruel barbarians! luckily this child can be raised with good andrastian morals now 😌" and wouldn't dissuade her from thinking that.

[lizzybeeee]

Calling it now:

If there's ever any future installments of Dragon Age there will be no mention of the differentiation between the Dalish or City Elves.

Like in DATV they will simply all be 'elves' and the vallaslin will be reduced to 'cool looking tattoo's that some veil jumpers have' - no mention of the elven pantheon either, because why bother! They're all dead now!

They're all dead and responsible for every lore plot point in Thedas, and there's nothing of mystery or substance left in the world now.

No mention of the culture in the alienage, of the vhenadahl tree, of the horrific racism and systematic abuse the elves have been through...now its just elves. With the way the Veil Jumpers have been set up, and the fact that the elven gods were the enemy in DATV, I find it extremely unlikely that the Dalish will even exist as a group either. Why would they? Their Gods returned and blighted the world - not that the fact is even truly discussed in the game. Elves are just elves, and the notable elves are Veil Jumpers.

Maybe you'll walk in a city, pick up a codex, and get a copy and pasted explanation of history from a DAO codex - a reminder of what we used to have and what BioWare absolutely demolished in their attempt to build a new IP on the bones of Dragon Age. The absolute whiplash in writing, story, and character between DAI and DATV is staggering. How on earth could the studio that made such a gorgeous, rich world of lore surrounding the elves in one game end up utterly bastardizing and reducing it to nothing?

How can you look at a place like the Temple of Mythal and go from those gorgeous golden murals and emerald tiled roofs that reached to the heavens to a place like the Lighthouse? From the Emerald Graves to the ruins of Arlathan - devoid of halls that reach to the heavens and golden murals replaced with stained glass? The entirety of the Trespasser DLC had more character and reverence for what the elven empire once was, and DATV feels as though it's approaching it with the perspective of 'generic elven bullshit with triangles everywhere'. All that unique architecture has been obliterated by adding in World of Warcraft focus crystals and automatons.

How can you go from the atmospheric/environmental storytelling of the Lost Temple of Dirthamen to Solas just blurting everything out? No weight, no double truths or hidden meanings - just blurting it out, getting it said and done with no gravitas? That was Solas' entire thing! People have made threads literally dissecting what Solas says and does not say - now he spits lore out as though it were common, everyday knowledge.

How can anyone justify the sudden emergence of magical automatons everywhere in old elven ruins? As if Dragon Age didn't have a host of enemies/creatures available to use in their stead - or the ability to create something unique to the forest of Arlathan. What happened to the spirit guardians? What happened to the lingering echoes of the elves slaughtered by humans in wars ages past like in DAO? Magic was their very existence - spells taking years or centuries to cast, weaving in and about each other - and you're telling me the ancient elves spent their time creating magical transformers?! It feels/looks so utterly seperate from everything we know of the elves from Dragon Age.

Or look at the Crossroads - listen to how Morrigan speaks of it - the reverence for the past, the misty atmosphere, and the heaviness of this pocket of the world that carries the fading memories of a world and people that no longer exists...now it's reduced to a hub world! People are just popping in and out of it at will!

In Trespasser, the few eluvians that we were available to travel to led to the most lonely, desolate spots of Thedas, which ensured their survival over the past millennia. The mirror in the Deep Roads, the mirror in the ancient stronghold in Ferelden...now they're everywhere!The 'few surviving' eluvians are in every major settlement of Thedas and all are in operating order! More than that, everyone who sees an eluvian knows what it is - this ancient marvel of a world long gone has lost all worth and is reduced to a 'world building' justification for fast travel.

Poor Merrill, slaving for a near decade to try and restore a small sliver of her history, only to have all gravitas and wonder of her discovery utterly made void. All that accomplishment wasted, especially when Bellara can wave her magic omni-tool and fix an eluvian in a matter of hours.

If you took every specific Dragon Age terminology out of the Veilguard and replaced it with generic fantasy bullshit you would never be able to tell the difference. The world of DATV is so divorced from its predecessors its astounding.

[izumiphoenix]

A story Zevran’s gifts can tell

I've just been thinking about how in Dragon Age Origins all the companions have specific gifts they like, along with two plot gifts that are related to their personal stories – something they mentioned to the Warden in their conversations.

I still haven't finished the game yet, so I apologize if I missed something – it is based on what I've seen so far.

And this is how only Zevran has his special plot-related gifts as actual gear that he immediately wears and uses in battles: both Dalish gloves that remind him of his mother, whom he never met, and Antivan leather boots that remind him of home – cruel one perhaps, but still familiar.

These are only sentimental gifts he has – the rest of them are just bars of precious metals, like gold and silver. Since the Crows were the ones to receive all the payment for the job Zevran did, he's never had anything of his own, and now that he left them, I believe he appreciates finally having his own stash.

It’s all just so practical and reflects the reality he lived in – unlike the other companions, who have room in their lives for sentimental trinkets, books, art, or hobbies, his entire world has been about staying alive.

Even his mementos are used in battle. But in a way, this is meaningful too – he wants to keep them close, not just store away. It’s part of who he is and his precious memories.

Even the gold and silver – it's not about luxury, but reclaiming his autonomy and finally having the means to live.

No one else’s gifts are this stripped down, this functional. It shows how little space he’s ever had for likes and dislikes, for self-expression that isn’t useful or necessary. Even his pleasure-seeking persona is, in a way, performative – a way to adapt and survive in the only world he’s ever known.

Everything he ever was allowed to own, physically and emotionally, had to serve a purpose – to be useful.

And now still, the idea of having something more than necessity feels too new and foreign.

[mythalism]

i think, anecdotally, canadians love to use land acknowledgments and Diversity(tm) a bit more than americans do, and have a degree of always pointing at the us and being like "well at least WE didn't do anything that fucked up! we're so much more enlightened and respectful 😌". and so any acknowledgment that racism exists, or that necessary societal change is often only brought by unpleasant disruption, or specifically that indigenous people live in terrible conditions because of colonization, is bracketed with this type of "but it's very complicated, and who's to say if there's a solution? we're thinking about it really hard, and holding space, and listening and learning, and maybe we will get to fixing it in like 50 years if people ask nicely" rhetoric. and there's a degree of apprehension that "land back" is a call for ethnic cleansing of settlers (somehow, despite this being both physically not possible and not actually anyone's demand) and that any movement towards that will be bad and overly radical.

which maps directly onto how bioware writes elves specifically haha. they'll sympathetically show how they're oppressed and living under the boot of a catholic church-esque entity, but then... ahhh noo, actually they had a very problematic pre-colonization culture, and they're too impractically fixated on the past and that prevents them from moving forward, and the church employees are sometimes trying their best and making amends, and the demands of the elven leadership are just too out there and violent... so really, it's very complicated. maybe it could be better to keep the status quo and only have Incremental Change, forever.

(they sort of didn't do this in the masked empire, but as always they had to throw in a bit about how Rude And Mean the dalish are. plus the ridiculously evil chevalier lore of each one randomly executing a few elves as a rite of passage, and then never mentioning that aspect again bc i guess it wasn't relevant to michel's story. as well as the insanely underwritten premise of what briala and celene's relationship actually was. there's ~toxic lesbians~, and then there's "extremely rich and powerful white noblewoman calls her younger servant class gf ugly for being dark skinned, lies to her for years, has her family and then entire community killed, then tries to seduce her back when she gets angry and leaves" lmao. i think weekes was going for a tragic morally grey starcrossed lovers to enemies vibe, but to me it was more of a horrific one-sided exploitation that the author did not seem to realize they were writing.)

and in veilguard i suppose they tried to avoid the entire issue by mostly removing those aspects of the setting, so you no longer even have the somewhat well-observed depictions of oppression combined with Justin Trudeau Moments, it's just kind of empty.

anyway thank you for appreciating my very long ted talk! i left tumblr after the whole "popular bloggers mass reporting pro-palestine people for terrorism" thing (i can get that treatment for free irl, don't need that extra stress from the Fandom Webbed Site haha). i've just been drifting back to look at dragon age posts bc i was curious about veilguard. i didn't expect much from bioware but it was surprising that they just went even further into tone-deaf bizarre race allegories rather than reading 1 (one) nonfiction book in the years since dai, or hiring anybody from a different background who could weigh in. :')

wow this is seriously so fascinating and insightful and truly does give me a better understanding of both canada and bioware LMFAO so thank you so much for sharing seriously. you are welcome in my inbox for more ted talks anytime and now im just gonna leave this here to marinate on it further and hope other people read it because its fantastic. xoxo

[felassan]

Some thoughts on this article from Game Informer [source]. ^^

Teia and Viago as the 'face' of the Crows/the Crow 'agents', pretty please..? 🥺 👉👈 And I hope maybe Strife and Irelin can be the same but for the Veil Jumpers..? :D

Customizing qunari Rook's horn type and material reminds me of Taash's gem-horn design

Which faction do you think has the coolest casual threads? in my mind's eye [wild speculation] it's a toss up between Mourn Watch and Antivan Crows :D

What do sword and shield warriors 'hip-fire' with?

What is a "night blade" :D

Faction selection/backstory (while not playable) determining who Rook was before, how they met Varric, and why they travel with him reminds me of the different origins in DA:O and how each possible HoF crossed paths with and was recruited by Duncan in a different way.. 🥺

Factions and groups in the world working together to save it.. it felt like there were hints of this in Tevinter Nights. In that book, we saw different groups and factions from across Thedas working with the Inquisition, with varying degrees of cooperation, on being concerned about Solas. Yet other groups were also interested in keeping tabs on him. now we see the same kinda thing in DA:TV with different groups being involved in saving the world from the Evil Gods.

"'You help them, they help you now" but first they all have serious problems you need to solve' has echoes of how in DA:O, the HoF solved a problem for each major group (Dalish elves/werewolves, Circle Tower/templars, Orzammar etc) before they would obey the Grey Warden treaties and agree to help fight the darkspawn for the final battle

Do you think that some of the voices in the Thedas Calls teaser trailer were some of the 'faces' of the factions? For example, the Antivan Crow woman speaker as the face of the Crows, and the Nicholas Boulton-sounding Warden man speaker as the face of the Grey Wardens?

Each spec being tied to a faction explains the faction symbols being on the specializations, as here. From this, we can see that the faction each spec is tied to is as follows:

Mage: Death Caller - Mourn Watch Evoker - Shadow Dragons Spellblade - Antivan Crows Rogue: Duelist - Antivan Crows Veil Ranger - Veil Jumper Saboteur - Lords of Fortune Warrior: Champion - Grey Wardens Reaper - Mourn Watch Slayer - Lords of Fortune

The Mirror of Transformation returns. Do you think that means Rook will also be able to go to the Black Emporium, like Hawke in DAII and Inquisitor in DA:I? Will Xenon the Antiquarian also return? ^^ Maybe not though, since it's said the Mirror is in The Lighthouse

I'm not sure about "If you find yourself unhappy with your lineage or your class, you can change them using the Mirror of Transformation". It was previously reported that "You can change your character’s physical appearance at any time during the game, but not their class or backstory" [source] [prev post mentioning it]. I guess one article is incorrect, but am not sure which. or maybe this aspect of the game changed in development. ^^ UPDATE: please see here re: an update/clarification from Game Informer on this. it reads:

"Editor's Note: This article previously stated players can change their physical appearance, class, lineage, and identity using the Mirror of Transformation. That is incorrect as class, lineage, and identity are locked after you first select those. The article has been updated to reflect that, and Game Informer apologizes for any confusion this mistake may have caused."

What do you think is the problem[s] faced by each faction that we have to solve? :D We got some hints about this already. For example, for the Crows, something "is amiss" in Antiva and they're trying to uncover the source. The Qunari have also invaded Antiva. For the Wardens, they just recently discovered one of Ghil's underground monster labs and learned there are 11 more (Tevinter Nights), and ominous tremors of unknown cause have been creating disturbances in the Anderfels lately. The Lords of Fortune have lost dominion over the coasts of Rivain and dragons are laying waste to their ships. The Shadow Dragons probably have the Venatori, who are still around and up to mad shit, to contend with. Arlathan Forest is currently all timewarped, reality-fragmented, awash with darkspawn and corruption etc. For the Mourn Watch.. maybe the Veil rips and weakening has caused more premature possessions of corpses and demons possessing corpses and wreaking havoc in the Necropolis, or the Nevarran politics stuff? In TN Dorian also mentions learning from a Mortalitasi mage that there are things "past the Veil of our world, neither demon nor spirit". maybe they're having problems with those things?

[source]

[stonesense]

Hiiiiiiiii. Which origin do you think is the most compelling to pair with Zev? Like which creates the most interesting narrative in your opinion? 💞

this can’t be answered bc like...

okay so i used to be tumblr user zevsurana, right? so obviously i am invested in zevran/surana. and i’m right for that because having these two elves who were torn away from their cultures and put into succeed-or-die training then find each other is narratively great. but then it’s like, amell’s good too, because they still have the commonality of their upbringings but now there’s more contrast to explore and also there’s a human/elf height difference, and with the right worldstate you can make zevran and isabela cousins-in-law, which is so funny. but that’s not the only human/elf height difference and you can do cousland and sink your teeth fully into the social dynamics of what it means to be a noble human and a city elf in a relationship in this world. cousland’s not the only noble, though. there’s aeducan! who comes from such a different world in every way, you’d think, but also knows what it means to claw for survival and status in a situation all your life and then discover you can still suddenly be cast away like it’s nothing, you’re not really worth anything to these people. and is grappling with that same sudden loss of identity and how to live after. and then while you’re on the dwarf origins, there’s BROSCA, who has so much in common with him. the marked faces of criminal underworlds, the shared blood on their hands, doing what it takes to survive... and i’ve said all this without mentioning tabris and mahariel, who are such obvious winners. you just have to imagine a city elf fierce defender of their community or a dalish champion protecting him and watching his back in combat to immediately feel insane. zevran’s relationship with his dalish heritage is so interesting and imagining bringing him back to your tabris in-laws is a delight

it really can’t be done to pick a ‘best’ one you just have to choose with your heart

[serensama]

Illario Summer Appreciation Week: Day 2

All the things we didn't say (and How to enjoy a Summer's day)

Set in the A word with friends/Of Houses, Hearts and Hidden things universe (Lilya x Illario) and meant to be interspersed throughout different points of their relationship.

Hope you enjoy!

Read on Ao3 Rating: PGish? Teen and Up Word Count: 2.1k Prompt: "Camping/Camp Fire"

--- Talented. That was how many people saw him. And he was. 

You wanted someone killed with flair? Almost no one did it better. Needed someone to charm a room and have them eating out of his palm? Consider it done with him on the job. Fashion sense? He had it in spades. Your wardrobe could not be in better hands.  

However, it seemed there was a limit to his talents. At least, when it came to… camping. Camping. Even the word itself made his skin crawl. He wasn’t averse to getting his hands dirty when it came to blood or bone, but… dirt? Maker, no. 

When Lilya asked him to accompany her on another contract- this time, eliminating a rogue researcher in Arlathan who’d riled up too many religious fanatics, he hesitated. Not because of the danger, but because she mentioned walking. A lot of it. Through forests. And no inns.

He’d asked her, gently, if the matter was close to her heart. The man’s theories challenged Elven gods and likened them to Andrastian myths. Being an elf herself, he thought maybe it was personal, but she’d just laughed and reminded him she was from an alienage. The Dalish gods' held no power over her. She believed in the Maker, same as him.

Still, something had tugged at him, something she wasn’t telling him.

“Did you just miss me so much from my three days away from you? It’s understandable. I am so very missable. These eyes. This jaw. This body. It’s okay to want me, Paloma,” he grinned, fixing the pack on his back. 

“I mean… I did. Now? I miss ‘missing’ you. Go away,” she said, deadpanned, eyes twinkling with mischief. “I’ll write and ask Chance to come and help me. Or who was that Crow from House Arainai? The one that asked me out during the last Satinalia masque? Marcello? Mario? He seemed more than happy to come along anywhere I went-”

“Alright.” 

“-imagine me and Miguel, cosied up at night in the same tent, for safety, you know-”

“Okay, Paloma-” 

“-and the researcher might be deep in the forest, might take weeks to find him. It’ll just be me and Marco, keeping each other company through the long days and cold nights-” 

“... Really, Palo-”

“-who knows what will transpire in my loneliness… Who would I turn to for comfort? To keep my spirits up. Maybe he offers to scrub my back, and he notices me shiver and says he knows exactly how to warm me up and I’m so, so cold-” 

“Lilya! Come on!” he laughed, playing cool although he genuinely detested every word she had just said. That damned Arainai idiot. Shooting above his station, even if he didn’t know they were something, everyone knew she was last with Viago. A Talon. For all intents and purposes, she was still Viago’s, living in his Villa and receiving the treatment and contracts only someone who was considered a Master would get. Bloody Arainai- as if he stood a chance with her, of all people. --- “Illario- are you still setting up our tent?” she called out, water skins in hand, refilled from a nearby stream. Lilya had returned to find him kneeling beside a perfectly arranged pile of ropes, poles, and still-folded canvas. “I… have you… have you ever set up a tent, Illario?” 

He gave her a long, withering look.

“... What about me, makes you think that I have done this before?” 

“Then why in the Void did you say yes when I asked you to do it?” 

“How hard could it be? Some sticks. Some fabric. Who knew it was more complicated than finding someone's pancreas?!” 

She just pressed her lips together, the smallest puff of amusement eking out of her mouth before asking him to start the fire instead. That, at least, he remembered. From survival training. Twenty-five years ago.

By the time their tent was up, Illario had managed to start a fire, small and pitiful, but technically a fire. She just handed him a bow and told him to hunt something up for dinner unless he wanted to subsist on dried meat and berries.

Now that, that he could do. Except... this was Arlathan.

Sentinels. Rage demons. Halla. He almost threw his dagger into a halla’s neck before remembering hearing something about it being sacred to her people- did the elves eat halla? Would she be upset if he killed one? He spotted some nugs nearby…but no. Furless, shrieking, baby-handed nightmares. He wasn’t that desperate. He’d rather eat the Rage demon. 

And so he returned empty-handed to Lilya’s raised eyebrows.

“There were… moral complications,” he explained. “I almost brought back a nug.”

“Oh no,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “We’re not eating those things.”

“Thank the Maker. So… just rations, then?”

“You’re lucky you have me with you, Master Dellamorte. Whatever would you do without me?” 

Whatever indeed. 

“There were fish in that stream up ahead,” she continued, tapping him on the chest with her knuckles. “Come on, I’ll show you the good kind.” 

Finally, something he really knew. Creating makeshift weapons? Easy. He and Lucanis did that as kids when Caterina took their toys away. And aim? No one had better aim than a Crow. He had bagged five fish before Lilya stopped him.

“It’s just dinner, not a royal banquet,” she’d reminded him, laughing. “We’re only two people, Illario.”

She taught him how to descale and gut the fish. It felt... oddly domestic. He could picture her back at the villa, in their kitchen, laughing with Lucanis as they both tried to teach him something, which he would inevitably fail at. He wouldn’t mind being the butt of a joke, if it were for them.

He could imagine a future, one frighteningly soft and terrifyingly real, where the two people in his life could finally hang up their weapons and do whatever they wanted. Neither of them was particularly cut out to be assassins. Not to diminish their skill, but they were too kind for this life. It would kill them in the end, not due to a job, but because of the job. 

He was broken out of his thoughts when she commended him for his good work on the fish and started grilling them, launching into a story of the last time she had done this, which was just before the Crows had taken her in. She was mid-story when her smile faltered, and her voice dropped.

Illario watched her closely, her eyes rimmed with tears as she pretended to be busy cooking their fish, nose reddening as she desperately fought against her emotions. Or memories.  

“Lilya… are you alright?” he asked cautiously, not wanting to spook her. 

Lilya was always a truthful person, but guarded. Remaining mysterious helped her stay alive as a Crow, it was just good sense really, but he would not deny that it stung just a little that she didn’t feel she could reveal more of herself to him. It felt unfair that people like Viago or Teia knew parts of her that he didn’t. She paused for the briefest moment, knowing she had been caught. She flashed him a reassuring smile, so bright it hurt to look at, still twirling the fish so they wouldn’t burn. 

“Of course, it’s just the smoke getting into my eyes. I’m fine.” 

They ate in companionable silence, smiling at each other as they finished their meal, the fish somehow more delicious knowing it had been caught and prepared by their own hand. Illario went and rinsed the dishes as she got their bedding ready. Or beds. He was not sure what he was expecting, but two separate bedrolls was not it. Granted, they were right next to each other, but it wasn’t what he had pictured when he thought of being in a tent with his lover. Images of furs, pillows, and a very naked Lilya waiting for him seemed more in line than the two very thin grey bedrolls. They looked more like the rags the prisoners at Velabanchel wore than something either he or Lilya should be sleeping on. Let alone be in the vicinity of.  

---

It was awkward. That's what it was. There was a rock in his back, weird noises coming from the forest around them and he was sure he could feel insects crawling all over him, but he ignored it all when Lilya shifted to her side, letting him coil his arms around her to breathe in the scent of her hair. Her shampoo and hair oils were still evident even under the smell of smoke that clung to her. 

“Lilya.” 

“Hmm?” 

“Are you going to tell me the real reason you asked me to come along to this contract?” he asked quietly, testing the waters once more. “If you tell me to drop it, I will, but we both know you could have this contract done in less time and with less hassle alone. Do not get me wrong, I am truly looking forward to you and me frolicking around naked in the woods-” 

“We are not going to do that, Illario.” 

“A pity. But…still. I just don’t believe you wanted me here just so you could teach me how to prepare a fish.” 

She remained silent, confirming his suspicions. 

“Paloma. I’m not complaining. You must know by now that I enjoy spending time with you… even if we have to sleep in the dirt… but I have to admit I am curious.” 

Lilya played with his left hand, his arm trapped under her head. She brushed the faded scars along his skin before flipping his hand to trace the lines on his palms to distract her. 

“Like I said- it’s not a big deal-”

“The last time I was in Arlathan, I had just been taken from Highever,” she said, her voice low. “The slavers were looking for more elves that looked like me- pretty ones, they said, that buyers would pay top price for. We didn’t have to worry, they said; they wouldn’t hurt the merchandise - too high value for scars, you see. I haven’t been back here since and I… I just didn’t want to be alone.” 

He didn’t speak. Just held her tighter, as if he could pull the weight of that memory off her shoulders and help her bear it.

“Thanks for coming, ‘Lario. It was nice of you to come even after finding out we wouldn’t be staying in inns with the silk sheets you prefer,” she yawned, kissing the palm of his hand before making herself comfy. 

“Of course I’d come, you mean a lot to me,” he said without thinking, stiffening when he heard the words slip from his mouth. They had danced around the truth for nearly two years. It was never meant to be more than a convenience, a distraction. But there it was, an admission of something more, spoken aloud and hanging heavy in the air between them.

Lilya didn’t acknowledge what had transpired. She just turned in his arms, curling in toward him and settled in his embrace, something she had never done unprompted before.

“Goodnight, Illario.” 

“Goodnight, Lilya.” 

---

He did not have a good night. 

It wasn’t the rock in his back, or the bugs he was sure were crawling into his pants and into places he didn’t want to think about. It was the feeling that this- whatever this was - was more than either of them had been willing to name. And now it was out there. What did it mean? Would she pull away? Could he let her?

He was exhausted. Uncomfortable. Spiralling into existential uncertainty. The questions would’ve been easier to wrestle with if he were laying atop a feather-stuffed pillow and mattress.

Still, he’d endure worse, if it were for her.

He closed his eyes and took in a breath, nodding silently as the first pieces of the puzzle slipped into place. Seemed he already knew the answers to all his questions, maybe he’d known all along. Maybe he’d known that it wasn’t just about the thrill, or the secrecy, or the fact that she wasn’t supposed to matter. Because she did matter. More than anyone. Illario rested his chin on the crown of her head and let his silence, and her steady breaths, speak for what they couldn’t put into words just yet. 

One day, he promised himself they would have a proper discussion about what they continued to skirt around. But before all of that, they were going to find a village, a tavern or a decrepit shack they could commandeer, because he was not going to sleep on the cold ground again. And if they were going to keep running around and play dumb to whatever was happening between them, he was going to make damn sure they were at least as comfortable as possible. 

They deserved that much. Especially after all the dirt.

[flamsparks]

Can we talk about tattoos?

In Veilguard. For context.

First shock after actually opening the game came already in the character creator.

Choose your species

Go directly to customisation

Choice of the background comes later

Q: How does the game know which tattoos I can wear and which I can't? A: ... I didn't understand the question?

I had decided long before the game release to play, given the chance, a city elf from Tevinter. I had specifically decided not to go for a Dalish origin to role-play a different kind of relation with the game's villain(s?).

But of course, the game didn't care that I was no Dalish. I could choose to wear vallaslins, because! Dorian said that the Dalish always kept well away from Tevinter, but apparently I had found a way to get a vallaslin nonetheless.

So, the character creator allows me to choose my looks, regardless of my background. But I had chosen my species before. That will limit the choice some, right?

I chose to be an elf? What's stopping me from wearing a vitaar? Or the mark of a casteless? Or that of an important family from Orzammar? Not the game, that's for sure. Because apparently vallaslins and dwarven tattoos are given away these days. And then they have the Lords of Fortune make cheap statements about "cultural appropriation = bad".

But you know what? I’d take it. I’d take the appropriation this possibility clearly is, if it came with consequences.

I wear dwarven tattoos as an elf? Let the dwarves of Kal-Sharok despise me for this. Did I know the tattoos on my face have a meaning? Did I know at all they are dwarven tattoos? Give me reactions and make me understand I fucked up and see what I can do fix it. If I want to.

And what about the vallaslins? The symbol of slavery to the Evanuris? Made with blood? The wasted potential of using ancient elven symbols made with blood, linked to specific Evanuris! Think if they were used for blood magic to control the elves who had unknowingly bound themselves to a powerful and ruthless mage who can and will take control of anyone wearing the blood pattern they had carefully devised to turn their then slaves into puppets!

And instead... is the word "vallaslin" even pronounced in the game? Like, ever? Let alone mentions of it being a symbol of slavery - Maker prevent us from using the s-word in the whole game.

[foxx-queen]

thinking about the fragment of mythal's spirit finding flemeth. 'she was betrayed as I was betrayed'. morrigan confirming the version of flemeth's history that saw her living in poverty, sold by her husband to a lord who desired her. the parallels to the warden city elf origin. morrigan telling us it's easy to imagine how flemeth and mythal related to one another. 'betrayed by those sworn to love her'. mythals murder at the hands of her fellow gods, the figures that were her husband and children in dalish legends. 'mens hearts hold shadows darker than any tainted creature'. mythal being a fragment of who she was, split from herself, lost, and she 'clawed and crawled her way through the ages' to a woman betrayed and wounded and left for dead locked in the dark.

thinking about what that moment might've been like for both of them. flemeth lifting her head to a spirit reaching out to her. the fragment of mythal finding a place to rest in a soul that resonated with her. 'your grief must come later... in the dark shadows before you take vengeance, as my mother once said'. did flemeth mean mythal, when she spoke of her mother? was that something mythal said to flemeth in the moments before they became one? 'duty must come now'. duty to the world? flemeth carried mythal through the ages, nudging history when required, aiding and preparing the world for a reckoning she knew would come. 'considering what the world has done to me, I have already done more than it deserves'. the moments in history that could be read as mythal attempting to mend a world she helped to break, and wanting to protect the world that formed from what was broken from being destroyed all over again. she couldn't have done that without flemeth, who had no hand in breaking the world to begin with.

'i am but an old woman, whom the world has largely forgotten'. thedas as we know it wouldn't be there without flemeth. she was murdered, and solas painted her as an elf because he saw her as no more than a vessel for his oldest friend, and refused to acknowledge that he was murdering her too, because she was just a fragment. they'd lived for centuries as one person. kieran mentions that he feels lonely without the old god soul. it must've been lonely, watching and guiding the world as she did. maybe she doesn't hide that shes an old woman because of how the years might've weighed on her. 'regret is something I know well'. mythals regrets are never spoken of, because we never get the chance to hear them. would one of them have been burdening a mortal in such a way? or is that not something she could regret, because of how she came to her in the first place?

'regret that she would never see me again'. maybe it is a little jarring for players to hear morrigan speak of flemeth without all the vitriol we've come to expect. to hear something like sadness when we know what their relationship is like. but we saw flemeth's face when morrigan told her that she would not be like her, in her instant defence of kieran. it's been ten years since morrigan absorbed flemeth and mythals combined memories. she knows everything she's done and everything she's suffered, and how she might've felt about it all. all those regrets. sometimes we don't have to forgive the people who've hurt us to understand them. sometimes we love them despite it all.

[tevivinter]

Happy Friday! How about Marel bringing Dorian flowers?

that was such a perfect prompt, i loved it!! here's some pavellan fluff for @dadrunkwriting

A gentle morning breeze ruffled Marel’s hair as he stood in Skyhold’s garden.

Before him, a bed of carnations had burst open overnight — pink, deep crimson, ivory. They leaned toward him in silent invitation, as if they’d bloomed just to be seen.

He hadn’t meant to stop. His path had been set toward the training yard, mind already occupied with sword forms and footwork. But the colors had caught his attention, as well as the familiar scent.

His parents had loved carnations.

Back in his clan, when winter loosened its grip and the first buds of green returned to the forest, the Dalish would begin weaving flower bracelets. It was tradition, an offering of affection and new beginnings. Elvhen children would spend hours threading blooms together for siblings, family and loved ones. Some gave them shyly, in secret. Others wore theirs proudly, tokens of love accepted and returned.

Marel remembered those days. The laughter around campfires. The nervous excitement of gifting something handmade. The happiness of being chosen.

And now, all that memory bloomed amidst Skyhold’s garden.

Marel crouched down, fingers brushing over the stems with care. He hadn’t made one of those bracelets since he was a child. He didn’t think he remembered how. Still, his hands moved instinctively as he began to pluck a set of carnations.

The gardens were still at this hour. Sunlight spilled through the trees, catching in Marel’s hair as he knelt on the grass beside the wide trunk of an old tree.

Without quite meaning to, he sat down. At first, the weaving felt clumsy, but it grew more natural with each passing minute. Pale pink and deep red flowers nestled into a braid of leaves. Small. Delicate. A little crooked, but whole.

When he finished, Marel sat back on his heels and studied the bracelet in his hands.

It wasn’t nearly as graceful as the ones his mother used to make — hers had always looked effortless — but it was… decent. His thumbs brushed over the petals, lingering there.

He made it for Dorian, though the thought felt odd when he turned it over in his mind. Josephine had once mentioned that humans gave bouquets to show affection, not bracelets. Especially not ones made by hand. What if this was the wrong gesture?

Besides, Dorian often wore gold and fancy jewelry. What would he see in a bracelet of garden flowers, hastily braided in the dirt? Maybe he’d even think of it as a childish thing.

Marel let out a heavy sigh, rubbing a hand across his face.

It’s just flowers. Don’t overthink it.

Before he could change his mind, he made his way to the library. Marel kept the bracelet tucked in his palm as he crossed Skyhold’s corridors, his heartbeat quickening the closer he got. 

He stopped just outside the entrance.

Dorian was already there, moving among the tall shelves, brows drawn in thought as he searched for a book. He looked every bit the scholar, entirely focused on his task — until his gaze drifted and met Marel’s.

Surprise flickered across his face, but it softened almost instantly. He stepped out from the aisle.

“Amatus,” he said, a smile forming at the corners of his mouth. “This is unexpected. I thought you'd be in the training yard by now.”

Marel swallowed. “I changed my mind.”

He took a few steps closer, his pulse beating faster than it ever did in the battlefield.

“I have something for you.”

Before hesitation could root him in place, he brought his hand forward and offered the bracelet.

Dorian blinked down at it, his smile faltering just slightly. The little circlet of flowers looked almost fragile against Marel’s calloused hand. He didn’t speak right away. Instead, he reached out and took it delicately, like it was something far more precious than a handful of blooms braided together.

“You made this?” he asked, uncertain in a way Marel rarely heard.

Marel gave a small nod. “It’s something we used to do in my clan,” he said, eyes dropping briefly to the floor before meeting Dorian’s again. “At the start of spring. We’d make a bracelet out of flowers and give it to someone who mattered.”

Dorian was silent for a beat. Then he turned the bracelet between his fingers, the smallest of creases appearing at the corner of his mouth.

“And this year,” he said softly, “you chose me.”

The words landed with more weight than expected. Marel glanced down, and in that still moment, he felt as if Dorian was holding far more than just a flower braid. A piece of his beating heart.

Maybe this had been a foolish idea after all.

“It’s okay if you don’t like it,” Marel muttered. “I didn’t know if—”

He didn’t get the chance to finish. Dorian’s hands rose gently to his face, and his lips pressed to Marel’s.

Marel froze, startled for a heartbeat — then his shoulders eased, eyes fluttering shut as he leaned into the kiss. It was soft and unhurried, the kind that made butterflies twirl in his stomach.

When Dorian finally pulled back, his gaze brimmed with warmth.

“I loved it,” he murmured.

Marel let out a breath that had been long caught in his chest. He watched as Dorian slipped the bracelet over his wrist carefully, as if afraid to bruise the petals. The blooms stood out against his sleeve, a burst of spring color in contrast to fine silk.

“I’m going to wear this until it falls apart,” Dorian said, looping his arms around Marel’s neck. “And when it does, I’ll expect another.”

Marel let out a chuckle, hands settling on Dorian’s waist. “Is that a demand?”

“A request,” Dorian smiled. “From someone important to you.”

Something in Marel’s chest shifted at that. His smile widened, and he kissed Dorian again, then once more, melting into his arms.

He would make as many bracelets as Dorian wanted. For as many springs as they had left.

[blightedbutdelighted]

❛ i could keep you safe. they’re all afraid of me. ❜

For one of your Rook x Lucanis pairings! Pretty please!!!

You got it, bestie! Thanks for the prompt (from this list), and so sorry this took so long 🙈

Here's some fluffy Rookanis banter before a big mission. aka Lucanis tries to be playful so Julianna can calm herself before facing an entire gathering of Venatori:

The rags Strife had provided for them smelled dreadful, like rotting meat that had sat out in the sun for days on end. They had done their best to cover the bloodstains found on the fabric, and had to hope it would be enough. At least Neve looked presentable in her magister’s robes, though that didn’t stop her face from contorting in such a way that showed her discomfort. These were not the best disguises. Strife and the Veil Jumpers had obviously stripped them from some fallen Venatori, and it was the best they could do given their time constraints. Their priority was saving the Dalish before the Gods could sacrifice them. Julianna adjusted the rough fabric of her shirt and looked around at her companions as they all prepared for the mission. She couldn’t seem to help herself as her gaze was drawn to Lucanis. He stood near the edge of the ridge, set away from the others and all alone. From this distance, she could see his fingers as he fidgeted with the frayed hem of his sleeve. His gaze was focused on the valley below, where the Venatori were gathered below them. He seemed anxious, but also eerily calm. Her feet were moving in his direction before she could stop them, drawn to him as if he had a magnetic pull. “Are we really about to try to walk through this camp full of Venatori?” she asked him as she came to stand beside him. He slowly turned his gaze to her and smiled softly. All signs of nervousness left his face as he looked at her. “Rook, are you worried?” he asked teasingly. Julianna felt her cheeks warm and gently shoved her hand against his shoulder in a playful gesture. “Oh, what’s there to worry about, Lucanis? We’re only attempting to infiltrate a camp full of Venatori, who just so happen to want us all dead.” “Not to mention, the entire clan of Dalish that are relying on our success here,” he reminded her somberly. She felt her heart race at the thought, as it normally did before a big mission. Lucanis chuckled lightly, though the seriousness of the situation didn’t elude him. He stepped closer to Julianna, intertwining his fingers with hers. The gesture was comforting and grounded her. “I could keep you safe, you know. They’re all incredibly afraid of me.” She finally cracked a smile, feeling a portion of the weight lifting from her shoulders as they stood together, the quiet rustling of their companions continuing in the background. “They’re afraid of the Demon of Vyrantium, you mean,” she countered smartly. “Ouch, that hurts,” he replied in mock distress. “Here I am trying to comfort you, and you insult me?” He shook his head slowly. “You’re right, Lucanis, I’m so sorry,” she apologized with an impish grin. “How could I ever make it up to you?” He tugged against her hand, still clasped in his, until she stepped closer to him, his free hand landing against her hip and pulling her close. He looked into her violet-hazel eyes as his demeanor shifted suddenly. All of the playfulness left him, replaced with the solemnity befitting the situation they faced. Julianna was taken aback by the sudden shift and looked at him with concern, but he drew nearer still until he could press his lips against hers. His hand moved up to cradle against her cheek affectionately as he let the moment linger. Kissing her again and again, until they were both breathless. He pulled away, letting their foreheads rest together in this quiet reprieve before the mission was set to begin. “I think that will suffice, Rook.”

[skyheld]

so, the forgotten ones.

we obviously know very little about them by design, and likely what we do know has been twisted just like what we know (or knew) about the evanuris has. solas says that there were once other evanuris who were forgotten. i don't think the word choice is incidental, i think they are the forgotten ones, and that they were rivaling faction or a faction that turned against, or was turned away from, the ones we now know as the evanuris.

the dalish remember them as "the gods of terror and malice, spite and pestilence." terror, malice and spite we've met in spirit form, and i don't think that's a coincidence. like the other evanuris, the forgotten ones ruled over spirits and ancient elves, only while the others likely preferred spirits of more positive emotions, they preferred the negative ones, which we would call demons.

i don't think this is necessarily a hard divide, or at least the divide might not go where we'd put it. some spirits, like justice, consider themselves entirely different from demons, and it's an undeniable fact that in a society consisting of so many spirits, many demons wouldn't fit. most spirits of rage, envy, fear and despair would make poor citizens, servants and soldiers. they're too destructive, too uncontrollable. they are, as justice puts it, completely consumed by their desires, and can't act on logic. but we've seen examples of some, like the rage demon possessing a soldiers in jaws of hakkon, who are in much more control of their desires. so the divide might not be about what emotion they embody, but how much they act out.

so, while elgar'nan might keep greed on hand for bookkeeping, and mythal might want a general filled with pride, a demon of some lesser emotion without enough intelligence to keep the peace would likely be killed or thrown out of their lands. unless the forgotten ones took them in. they would act as their shepherds, guardians and rulers, using whatever means necessary to keep them in line, and giving them a home at the same time. they are sort of the winter court to the summer court of some fae mythologies, a dark mirror to the lands of the evanuris. and like the evanuris are highly capable of cruelty, the forgotten ones are capable of good. they take on spirits who would otherwise be exiled or killed, spirits rejected from the other realms, spirits who were twisted from their original purpose and no longer welcome where they'd been born. while they may not have done it out of benevolence, at least not purely, theirs was a necessary role in the society of early elvhenan.

i'm unsure if they ever called themselves gods. i don't think anaris refers to himself as that in his scenes in veilguard, nor does cyrian call him that. geldauran completely rejects the notion of divinity; they still have priests though, and we know there are elves worshiping them now. initially refusing to call themselves gods could have led to a rift between them and the evanuris who did, or it the other evanuris could have refused to acknowledge the forgotten ones as well as themselves.

but, just like the other evanuris, they would have lost any good intentions they started out with. the forgotten ones were spirits themselves , and that made them changeable, malleable. and a high concentration of demons in an area likely runs a high risk of making every individual demon worse. so the irony, and tragedy, of the forgotten ones is that i don't think there's any way they could have led the demons without becoming demons themselves. no matter how anaris began, what spirit he was, he wouldn't have remained that for long.

we can see that with him in veilguard. it's hard to pinpoint what kind of demon he might be, because he's not a single emotion. he's an amalgam of terror, malice and spite, not to mention pride, envy and desire. everything he ruled over, he has become, and any dignity he might have possessed he has lost, but he still has something to convince cyrian of his intentions through the mask that shares his emotions.

[aicosu]

Hey, just saw your post about Veilguard - do you mind me asking what it is that put you off? Thanks!

I can start by saying I've not played it. I'm not going to at this point. But basically, every cutscene and dialogue option and plot point I've watched. And for those of you that don't remember I was hugely critical of Inquisition despite my love for it. And I downright hated Trespasser. So this shouldnt be shocking.

And its a lot of stuff I dont like. I can make a short list of major things below, obvious spoilers.

Please dont read this if it will make you angry okay? This is a lot of angry ranting.

1. I said this with inquisition and trespassers but veilguard seals my hatred for the decision to center the entire plot of ripping apart the dalish culture and religion. I'm sorry I just don't think this is compelling. It's icky to create an oppressed and marginalized race with parallels to most indigenous cultures in the real world, and basically call them wrong and stupid for clinging to their culture and history. I don't care that validating the Enuvanris existance means also invalidating the maker and the tevinter reiligions too, or even the dwarven: the game centers this narrative on the DALISH. The entire implication that its their fault all along or they sold themselves into a cult and slavery is gross. The game could have easily done this but centered it around the Maker. Andraste as the blight corrupted crazy deity or spirit whatever the fuck. Makes more sense with how much Chantry has been shoved down our throats since origins, and given how much wider spread it is after literal genocides of the dalish, qun, etc it would just mean a lot more to target the oppressors/majority religion directly. And look listen, I'm a pretty hardcore athiest and even anti thiest. I hate all religions, I find stories about dismantling religion compelling but to couch it histories of marginalized people like... its just not great. Not to mention twisting their gods into systematic greedy people or shoving their "bestest god" into a human woman and trying to make her prostheltize at me. I don't like it!

2. I get why old decisions dont matter. The world is too big, sure. I dont mind that at all, actually, even with all the problems, it gives people invested in those choices. Im happy to accept it. But then... make the actual plot less beholden to it. Why bring in cameos at all, then? Fuck man set it 50 or 80 years later. But if you cant cause everyone wants closure in the DA fandom then give us closure. If not personal closure with wardens and hawkes and etc cause its all too variant — lore closure. We arent going to talk about how darkspawn were thinking and talking? Blight was always just a random elvhen weapon? What apparent the tevinter magisters then? What about the architect? What about the idea of darkspawn becoming their own race and culture? What about the old gods themselves they were just always enuvanris? How do magisters actually feel about that? Why did those who worshipped corypheous or the black church follow Elvhen gods, their most oppressed and hated enemy aside from the qunari?

Speaking of, what about all of us who wanted to confront Minrathous and Tevine for the atrocities we've built up about it for 3 games. Slavery? Off screen solved before we get there? Dorian fixed it all? I had a heated debate with Dorian about him saying how slavery wasnt all that bad "They like being slaves!" And so many conversations with Fenris about how horrible it is. Rape and murder and submission? We don't as players get to finally confront that?

How about red lyrium being sentient. How about it being a tool the elvhen then used to murder titans, but not its alive and unstoppable? How can anything be unblighted? Because plot?

What of the calling? What of it really? What of those in The Calling who were unblighted? nothing?

Not even a deep conversation about the murky ethics of liberation/slavery when it comes to the Antivan crows stealing children? I'm to forget that?

How about anything all to do with the Qun? How about that burnt in memory I have of Saarabas immolating himself in service to not just the system of his culture but his belief in his faith. We're writing him off as a terrorist and not as an example of the Qun? Lets be really real; they have been retconning the Qun every game till now them being a fully gender and sexual accepting society.

How about the changes of mages vs templars if and maybe they walk free now? As if that entire conflict wasnt the brewing boiling point for three games?

What about the elvhen rebellion they so rightly started after centuries or murder and racism? Can we stop pretending that rebellion isnt an act of violence and has to be? Can we stop erasing the idea that systemical upheavel can be anything other than radical? Hello? Anders is one the phone asking for you?

How about that ending, the veil isn't even torn? Spirits don't walk the earth as intended. Why not solas' plan? Why not restore order. Why not join or dissuade him as he asked us to in trespasser?

It just all feels washed off, Thedas. I'm allowed to be angry and upset that they spanned all of these topics and asked me to engage with them on a deep ethical and moral grounds only to never mention them again. I dont think making your player base feel stupid for caring is great.

3. On personal levels, Solas has been ooc since trepasser. And frankly, the explanation of his relationship with Mythal is disgusting. Made the first slave and turned from his true nature into a tool of war—and reaffirming his subservance by making it that only Mythal could stop him? How is that not a toxic dynamic, and they fram it as loving and romantic? Imagine them trying that Fenris who can only be talked down by Danerous. Come on. It should have been Lavellan — or it really should have been not at all. Let him. The devs want to destory Thedas and start over? Let solas reset time and recreate the earth and tear is all down and erase most of the history. Do it you cowards. Give me an unrecognizable DA5 where spirits and mages rule and the elvhen thrive and war with each other. Give me slaved humans and a topsy turvy all that changes remains the same reality. Why not if you want to illuminti titan everything anyway.

4. I dont believe in the veilguard, I should have a choice not to. I should have a reason to care about it or my companions or fewl some sort of reason we must all work together aside from "theyre adorable". All the other games you had companion parties in organic and believable ways. Rook is leader cause.... ? What if I dont want to be? At least my Dalish inquisitor fought tooth and nail not to be called a christian messiah. Hawke had FRIENDS. And the warden found those who knew what a blight meant. And many of all of us disagreed. Vivianne got not sympathy from me. Why should Neve? Fenris will leave your party if you waste your time when the Magister comes to town. I dont want to coddle Harding about her stupid chantry. I do not to talk to Lucanis happily about the crows. Maybe I dont want to be friendly all the time. Maybe I hate everything Bellara is doing. Or taash.

5. The writing was on the wall in inquistion hoenestly. What with Iron bull letting me decide is he mass murders his found family or not. But jesus these new companions are like 10 yrs old. I don't know you decide. Your a fucking adult. I cant take a single one of them seriously. Even Sera screamed and yelled at me if I challenged her. Solas and I almost broke up mutiple times arguing about tradition and purpose or that damn Mythal well (again and no wonder he would object to doing anything akin to being emslaved by her, only to submit himself in this game. As if the well mattered at all. As if morrigan matters at all.) I just don't feel as though I'm bonding with anyone, I'm babysitting. Im being told what a great person I am that I can teach everyone elementary school behaviorial learning. I dont want to, I dont even want to be "good".

6. Petty stuff:

I hate the art style both in the UI and the models. I hate it. And the expressions are so poor compared even to Da2.

I hate all the armors. Everyone is bulky. Hate it.

Ugly combat.

Cant control or walk around as my companions and try out other classes.

CC cant change eyes or facial structure much so all rooks heads look the same and kinda... everyone looks like a dwarf. Sorry. Imo, imo, every rook I have seen looks like a dwarf.

Dont like the music.

Dragons are ugly.

Morrigans outfit makes it look like she has 4 titties.

I hate this elvhen "steampunk" tech when so much of their magic was shown to be earthen and mystic. Dumb. No explanation as why it would become this way it just is now.

Blood magic erasure cause the devs are scared of us being cool I guess.

I hate the humor. Every joke doesnt land for me. And there are simply too many.

[gryffintheparrotcat]

Things in Veilguard that have annoyed me so far, in no particular order:

(I'm about to recruit Emmerich and Taash, if you're not there yet consider yourself formally spoiler warned)

1. Solas hates bloodmages now, this makes no sense.

2. Bioware still doesn't know people darker than #8D5840 exist. This is the fourth game, you'd think the devs learned this by now.

Player characters pass the paperbag test, that is not a good thing. I swear I've seen npcs with darker skintones but Rook can't have a slice?

3. Dalishs are just chill with their gods being evil and real and instead of addressing all that we just go and watch another elven community get massmurdered.

4. We're in The Elvenenslaver And Qunarihater City™ and there are 0 slaves and everyone is friendly to my elven and my qunari Rooks.

4. My Rook having an Elgar'nan vallaslin has not been acknowledged even once.

5. The qunari are going against Qun orders and are just cartoonishly evil now. Neither of these things align with previously established lore.

6. The Crows are all a big happy family. Sorry Zevran.

7. The Grey Wardens are incompetent. Again.

8. My Rook being called kid by Varric and others, that is a grown adult man.

9. Being called Rook. I didn't like that title much to begin with but the fact that it's not even earned this time makes it even more annoying. He has a last name!

10. The companions doing jackshit in combat. I'm a mage not a tank, can someone else kite the enemy?? I miss the pause button

11. The controls being different again. Why is spacebar a whole different button in each dragonage game? Were these ever made while considering people who may play one after the other?

12. Harding not being a romance option for the inquisitor. I never played Viviennes semiromance (i'm always siding with the rebelmages so we haven't exactly been getting along) so I can't say how deep that is and if she should be an option, but i will note that she is also not an option.

13. Harding saying she wasn't in the inner circle of the inquisitor. Harding darling I promise you inquistior adaar loved you dearly. I'm pretty sure I talked to Harding far more than I talked to Varric in Inquisiton.

14. "The previous games aren't relevant because they play in the South" WHAT ABOUT KIRKWALL? What about Navarran Princess Cassandra?? Dorian is here why not the others?? Not even mentioned once?? Cmon.

15. No proper wrinkle slider in character creator... again.

16. Not being able to resize eyes in character creator. Why??

17. No slider for the stomach to stick out. A for effort on even adding bodysliders to begin with but I was hoping for proper tummys for once.

18. The dialogue wheel. And more specifically how little origin/class specific options there are as a mage elf with a vallaslin specifically. And not being able to be mean, just a bit blunt. Meeting Davrin and him being a bit prickly at first was a breath of fresh air ngl. I don't need evil alright, I get it I'm playing a hero now. But let my Rook be a bit spicy sometimes. Neve complains about a Crow prioritising Treviso over Minrathos? Let Rook be an ass about it.

19. I brought Neve & Mage Rook to recruit "The Mage Killer" and neither have voiced any discomfort about that? Or acknowledged that at all? Neve has some party banner with Lucanis but even there it's more of a L "Are you scared bc of the title?" N "lol nope".

Hopefully I won't have to make a pt2 any time soon.