#i want an inquisitor who does that and the mage seems most likely

[crows-of-buckets]

I really want to like. Flesh out my Adaar. However inquisiton has the problem with it's writing where everytime I think I have an idea of how I want selene's character to go, I don't have the flexibility to even sound remotely like her in game. Like her backstory is pretty interesting to me, or at least the one that I've concocted, but like. In game there's just so little there for me to cling to character wise. Like with Origins and 2, even before I started slamming a million headcanons onto my Warden and Hawke, I still had a grasp of their character. I didn't feel like I was doing ALL the work, yk? Like with Selene I've had to make an entirely different backstory from canon to give me investment into her.

And the thing is, I do really like the idea of her backstory! Shes a qunari who's parents were killed by humans. Those humans then took her in and raised her as an act of "charity". Her family was really religious, and expected her to also be so. The idea of a qunari Inquisitor who has the unique experience of being raised in a chantry surrounded by humans is soooo fascinating to me? And then her magic developed when she was 16 (very late bloomer lmao) so she ran away and became a mercenary. She briefly stayed with Valo-Kas, before her and another mercenary called Vashoth left for Selene to make her own group. Shes been leading this mercenary group for around eight years by the time inquisiton starts. And yet I can't have her act experienced on anything!! That, and by the time inquisiton starts she has an odd view of the Chantry and it's religion that I can only really akin to kinda being like Leliana's idea of The Maker (Leliana and her do get along pretty well because of this)

Like being able to explore what being a religious symbol would be like for a non human Inquisitor would have been so cool. But alas. I just idk. I'm procrastinating her playthrough because I don't feel like grinding and I don't wanna do plot so like. For some reason I always lose steam for inquisiton right before what pride has wrought. Like I have yet to actually beat inquisiton in one "sitting" (by that I mean not taking a 6+ month long break from the game)

[exhausted-archivist]

Common Fanons That Are Confused As Canon

Through my time of collecting lore and learning things about Thedas I've come across a couple things of fanon that leaked into lists of canon elements. Which was an interesting little thing to follow the rabbit hole of where they even originated. While making this list I did ask others for any that I might have missed or not seen because I wanted to be thorough as I could when even making this list. I haven't been in the fandom long enough to see all the things that have come up.

To be clear, I thought it was neat to see what became so pervasive in the fandom to become easily mistaken as canon or misunderstood. I'm also not discussing whether canon as it stands is "good" or judging the fanon or anything like that.

I just wanted to put it all together in a list, especially as I have had friends who were getting into the series and ask about certain things; as well as Dragon Age Summer hitting us soon and new interest in the series abound.

General

Mages can sense other mages The closest source I can find to this is the fact that Anders states that he can "feel the power in you". No other mage states anything similar and could likely be attributed to the fact that he is possessed. Much like how Cole can sense your magical connection as an Inquisitor. An outlier is how Keiran can sense your magic regardless of if he has the Old God soul; but he is also not confirmed to be a mage as of yet.

All Saarebas always have their lips sewn shut/horns cut off This seems to originate from da2 specifically, with the model of Ketojan having the scarring, the other saarebas missing horns, the concept art, and then boils down to BioWare being inconsistent with their lore/depictions. Most of Thedas fixates on the fact that the Qunari have saarebas with their lips sewn shut, the Seer's yarn tale denotes that tamassrans tell the story of a saarebas with their lips sewn shut, the tarot art for Saarath, and the flippant joke between Sera and Iron Bull. But, the lore specifies that it is in extreme cases or in general that it can occurs but it is not the standard. [WOT p. 103 & 128] Much like tranquility, it is used as a form of punishment - one that we know can and is abused by certain factions. We also see saarebas characters in Inquisition who do not carry either of those traits. Specifically Hissera (multiplayer), Saareth (Trespasser), Heroes of Dragon Age models, and some Qunari in da2.

All Saarebas have their tongues cut out This is seperate from the previous point due to the different source of this fanon. It seems to be an exaggeration of one particulare line from Sten. In dao, Sten will state during the Broken Circle quest that "This is why we cut the tongues from mages, in Par Vollen." He is very general with the statement, but contextually it is reasonable people took this to mean all mages. However, since dao it has been made clear that it is not a universal practice throughout the Qun.

Elves are shorter than humans This one does have a clear point of where this started, though it is never stated in lore, back in Origins elven models were universally shorter than humans. But from DA2 onward, male elves were only shorter than their human counterparts of the same sex while female elves are shorter than both human sexes. Fenris is taller than f!Hawke while both forms of Hawke are taller than Merrill. Solas, Abelas, and a m!Lavellan are taller than female human characters but all human characters are taller than female elves (except Sera who has a female human model).

Dalish are illiterate This is a little less clear to me where its origins started. Perhaps based off of medieval period history (which da isn't necessarily medieval in time period) or due to the fact that most common folk in certain regions in Thedas are illiterate and reliant on pictures over written words. But we know from the Witch Hunt dlc that the Dalish keep tomes of their history and of the ancient elven empire. They also actively translate ancient elven script for their own records. Whether this is role restrictive or not is unclear, but we do know that the Dalish are literate in both Common and semi-literate in ancient elven script.

Dalish and City Elves don't have contact This seemingly comes from a misunderstanding stemming in the city elf origins in dao where some npcs will comment on how Dalish might be myths. However, in dao, da2, dai, the comic Knight Errant, and the novel The Masked Empire, that elves from both sides do semi-regularly trade people with each other if not visit certain alienages, as well have other points of contact with each other. Pol, Zevran, Coran (Vaea's uncle), and potentially Feynriel are all city elves that join Dalish clans. Merrill and Arianni are known Dalish who join alienages.

City elves are genetic/physical differences from the Dalish elves This one I have seen around a lot, most stemming from the idea of the previous one that the elves in the city are generations apart from the Dalish, implying they have no contact with each other. Which could be true for certain alienages. But as far as lore is concerned there isn't any example of this, not even as being a point of reference for the Dalish to consider any of the aspects as to what makes them "less of an elf" in comparison to Dalish.

Elves pass on their elven traits Most seem to know this isn't canon, albeit one of the less popular canon elements; but new fans don't always know this. It is popular fanon to give half-elven children the reflective eyes, smaller stature, more angular features, straighter nose bridge, and/or pointed ears from their elven parent.

Only elves can have mixed kids with other races This seems to come from the fact that elven traits aren't passed on to their kids when mixed parentage is involved. However humans, dwarves, and vashoth can all have mixed kids from the other races. According to Patrick Weekes, this decision was made consciously to avoid very racist and harmful rhetoric. We know of many elf/human mixed kids: Alistair, Eiton, Feynriel, Gestan and Thale (residents of elven area of Halamshiral), Kieran (conditions), Michel de Chevin, Rinnala, "Sabina's Brat" (son of the elven prostitute Sabina at the Blooming Rose), Slim Couldry, Tainsley (Potentially. Is described as a 7'(2.13m) human, though he references a Dalish uncle.) While mixed dwarf children are rare simply due to dwarven fertility issues we do know of two dwarf/human kids: Keiran (conditional) and the child of Tyrdaa Bright-Axe(Avvar) and Hendir (dwarf).

Elfroot leaves get you high/is Thedosian marijuana This is another Origins era thing, due to an easter egg that made a play on the American "This is your brain on drugs" anti-drug campaign using elfroot. This was then repeated in 2015 when Patrick Weekes said that its medicinal properties were rediscovered in 4:20. [Source] Elfroot hasn't been shown to get anyone high in canon, it is the roots that are primarily used as medicinal. In World of Thedas (WoT) vol. 2 the recipe for Dalish Deep Forest Comfort says you can substitute elfroot for spinach making the leaves more vegetable in quality. That said, marijuana leaves are edible and rather nutritious. They just don't have the chemical make up to induce a high. Those lie strictly in the buds. According to Origins, elfroot does flower though.

Red lyrium is completely different and more dangerous from blue lyrium This one is all on BioWare in regards to this misconception. Because while yes, it is more dangerous than the blue lyrium, they aren't two seperate substances. More that red lyrium is a branch off. To cover the generals of the written lore of lyrium it breaks down like this: Blue lyrium in it's raw form innately toxic to just be around to all but dwarves, however it will kill a mage who gets too close in proximity. That proximity being within the same room while non-mages would have to touch the stuff. It also has a pension of self-combustion without warning or a clear cause. When it is refined down for templar use it is "safe" for non-mages to come in contact with and consume. Whether this level of refinement is the same level as what is used to make various cocktails and liqueur is unclear. But we do know that getting too close, being in same room as lyrium refined to this level, is enough to make a mage sick. Finally, we have the most refined and diluted stage of lyrium, this is used by mages to make potions, certain alchemical work, and other things. This isn't enough to kill a mage, make them sick (without extreme over use), and infact can result in positive outcomes for a mage. Red lyrium overlaps with most of that, with a couple key differences. First off is that red lyrium doesn't seem to self-combust. There is some contradiction on whether or not non-dwarves can mine it as due to game mechanics you can destroy it, but the only ones we see mining wild nodes are dwarves. But if the red lyrium is grown from a living creature it seems accessible to all races? In codices about the various types of red templars, we learn that a small vial around a templar's neck is enough to make all the mages in the area around him sick.

Character Specific

Alistair

Alistair is a dog person I couldn't track any clear origins for this, it seems to be a case of overlap with the stereotype that "all Fereldan's love dogs" and a mix of building off of a line of dialogue about him being raised by the hounds and them being his family. However, he doesn't seem overly one way or the other. He mocks dog at times, talks down in not such a playful way, and at times seems to treat dog with the same attitude he does Morrigan though not as blatantly. This could be chalked up to his joking nature though.

Alistair's obsession with cheese While he does admit to an obsession to cheese, it is often cited that Alistair makes a ton of cheese jokes in dao. When in truth he only makes four through out the entire game. Given his joking nature it is up to personal interpretation of how much he actually loves cheese.

Alistair and Cullen knew each other before Origins This is more specifically that the two went to the same monastery for their templar training. There is no canon evidence for this though. That said, there is a possibility due to not knowing much of anything about how the Templar Order trains its recruits nor the amount of monasteries they have in Ferelden for training.

Alistair collects toy soldiers This seems to come from the gifts he can be given during the Feastday dlc. Canonically he is given runestones and carved statuettes of various types stone. These statuettes are described in a manner closer to effigies than toy soldiers.

Alistair's mother is not Fiona This one is a bit funny as it has multiple origins and is dependent on the player's experience with the series. From what I have gathered there seems to be one of three sources: - People who never read the Dragon Age novel The Calling - People who read The Calling after playing dao and feels like it is a retcon (though The Calling was released prior to the release of dao, same with the novel The Stolen Throne) - People who take a "chuck the baby with the bathwater" approach to the lore The funny thing about this is that the cover story in dao for Alistair's mom is based off a combo of things; the hypothetical scenario Fiona told Maric and answers she gave Maric when he asked what to tell Alistair if he asked about his mother. The hypothetical was that Fiona would not return to the Circle and would hide from the templars and pretend to be a washer woman. When Maric asked what to tell Alistair of his mother, Fiona said to tell him his mother was human as she did not want him to deal with being half elven and all the stigma that comes with that as well as to tell Alistair that she was dead.

Avaline

Aveline is straight She will kiss Hawke regardless of gender and ask them if they ever considered her and them. Though it is clear she never had romantic interest in Hawke in particular. An easily missed aspect I think given the general opinion of Aveline as well as most people seeming to not choose the flirtatious option with her.

Blackwall

Blackwall doesn't have a sense of humor This one genuinely surprised me considering he jokes with Sera, The Iron Bull, and Solas. His banter shows as much that he does have a sense of humor and tells jokes. But it does seem pretty common of a fanon characterization for him.

Dorian

Dorian paints his nails His model doesn't have painted nails in game, but it is a popular fanon. There is nail polish in Thedas though. It's mentioned in the novel Masked Empire as well as the novel Last Flight. It seems to be of Anderfles origins, but given the Last Flight is post Orlesian occupation, it could originate in Orlais.

Lady Mantillon said, tapping an elegantly lacquered fingernail on the polished wooden arm of her chair, “we will fail, or we will be killed. Neither is acceptable.” - Masked Empire, Chapter 17 p. 362 Every one of her fingers glimmered with a jeweled ring, and her nails had been freshly lacquered. - Last Flight, Chapter 13 p. 144

Fenris

Lyrium can be drawn from Fenris' tattoos There is no mention of this being possible in da2 or any of the subsequent media. There isn't even mention of others being able to sense the lyrium in his tattoos or even mages getting sick around him as they sometimes will dependent on the concentrations and/or purity of lyrium.

Fiona

How Fiona was cured of the taint This comes from The Calling novel, where it isn't ever clarified what actually removed the taint from Fiona. The common fanon is that it was either the mentioned brooch, or that by having Alistair. That it was by having Maric's son who has Great Dragon blood due to being of the Theirin bloodline that cured her. However, in the novel she is very clear that the mages at Weisshaupt aren't sure what cured her. She only offers one explanation that the Grey Wardens theorized and trails off before saying what the second one was.

“It’s gone,” she said flatly. “The mages at Weisshaupt weren’t sure if it was because the First Enchanter’s brooch sped things up artificially, or... at any rate, all the corruption vanished. They don’t think it’s going to come back, either. There was test after test, but they think I may be the first Grey Warden that never has to endure the Calling again.”

Hawke

Hawke is stabbed by the Arishok This fanon likely came into being due to one of the moves the Arishok has where it will leave you almost dead. So a bit of canon as it is in his move set, but fanon in the idea it is something that always happens in canon.

Unable to confirm if Fanon, Canon, or a mix of both

Teagan marries Bella, the barmaid from Redcliffe This one goes back really far and is hard to tell if it is a case of mistaken identity and association, or a really buggy option for the epilogue, or isn't actually a possibility. What I can confirm is that Teagan does have a woman he can marry given certain conditions are met in dao, but it is actually Kaitlyn, the sister who's brother goes missing in Redcliffe. If you properly compensate her for her grandfather's sword she'll open up a foundry in Denerim and will marry Teagan after having known him for a few months. According to this thread, you have to get Kaitlyn to move to Denerim with her brother, make Bella the maid to Teagan and in the ending slide Teagan and Bella will get married. Though I haven't been able to confirm that this is possible. (If you have a screenshot/video of this slide and know how to trigger this please let me know) This is also not an option mentioned in the Keep, however neither is Kaitlyn's. Which isn't surprising given some of the ending slides that were not direct player choice (ex) choosing Orzammar's king) are mostly cut from canon.

[crossdressingdeath]

DAI does that with a lot of things. Morrigan gets to claim to be a Elven expert, even though you know that is far from the truth if you've played Origins where she didn't know shit. Cullen gets final say in his dialogue options despite you knowing that he's lying. Grey Wardens gets shit on and the Inquisitor can wildly overstep.

DAI has this weird mix of a) expecting you to have read all the books/comics so that they don't have to explain anything and b) assuming that you haven't played the previous games so they can try to rewrite what happened.

Yeah, the required reading for DAI was ridiculous. WEaWH is always the big one because most of the others you can get by without it (even Cole's backstory isn't necessary to appreciate and understand the character, and enough of it comes up in-game to get by), but knowing what Celene and Gaspard did is kind of fucking important, Bioware. And then even when Celene purging the alienage comes up it's used as a mark against Briala for being in a relationship with her at the time even though if I'm understanding the excerpts I've seen of TME Briala breaks it off as a direct result of the purge and (as Dorian rightly points out) that'd be more Celene's scandal than Briala's anyway. Like, they try to make Celene purging the alienage into Briala's crime because she was sleeping with the empress at the time and that's just... ugh. But it's like, I would argue that it would be fair and honestly best practice to assume that people playing the third game in a series have played the first two games? DA has an overarching narrative even if the connections aren't particularly close, if someone wants to start partway through they can but the writing should expect people to be familiar with the games' stories. Maybe have some codex entries summarizing the previous games or a little intro cutscene, but... I don't know, I'm worried about the fact that apparently DAV doesn't need you to have played the first three games when literally all the setup for it is in DAI. Expecting people to have played all the games in a narrative-driven RPG series and not to have jumped in partway through is fair! Expecting people to have read five supplementary novels and two coffee table lore books to understand the plot is ridiculous. At least Tevinter Nights and The Missing so far seem to only be relevant to DAV in that they show some glimpses of what's been going on between games and give us a point of reference for some of the new characters...

The thing that gets me with DAI is that the game really wants you to side with the Templars whether it makes sense or not. Like... let's take the choice between mages and Templars as an example. The game wants you to side with the Templars. It really does, it tries its best to dissuade the player from siding with the mages if you go that route (Cullen's little "Oh... it's so dangerous... we shouldn't do it..." routine is notable when compared to Leliana and Josie, both of whom favour the mages, being very professional about you picking the Templars), it does its utmost to claim that the rebellion was unwarranted when it absolutely was not, the rebels are constantly framed as weak or mean or evil or stupid while the Templars were just misled (by... a guy who told them he'd let them murder all the mages and left out the "in service to Corypheus" bit, they still joined his little walkout to murder people, but the game doesn't get into that), it even lets you switch quests well past what should've been the point of no return if you're on the mage route (WHY CAN YOU SWITCH AFTER LEARNING THERE'S A FUCKING MAGISTER IN FERELDEN TRYING TO ENSLAVE A BUNCH OF MAGES, BIOWARE, WHY THE FUCK IS THAT AN OPTION) whereas with the Templars you can't even learn what your advisors' plan for getting you in alive is until you're locked in. And I'm not going to lie, CotJ is legitimately the better quest. I did it once to see and god damn it is quality, I don't dislike IHW but... yeah CotJ is definitely stronger.

But then you actually look at the story and... why the fuck would you side with the Templars? They left the Chantry because the Divine told them not to murder people. That's explicit, people tell you that repeatedly. They're making excuses for it, but there's always an acknowledgement that... yep, that's why the Templars left, they wanted to kill people and were mad about being told no. Leliana (the most familiar face among the advisors and given Cassandra's previous appearance was threatening Varric and Cullen's was playing yes man to Meredith for nine years and only changing sides once she became a threat to him/because not doing so would mean fighting Hawke Leliana's the one people are most likely to want to side with) is pro-mage and dismisses Cullen's claims that the Templars could help close the Breach as speculation. Which... it is. This situation is completely unprecedented, no one knows what's going to happen. But given mages are incredibly powerful and Templars are repeatedly portrayed as mostly useless in any sort of real danger that doesn't involve children or indoctrinated Circle mages (it is not a coincidence that the only people locked in the tower in Broken Circle who survive with their minds and bodies intact without the demons actively choosing to let them live for funsies are mages; the only Templar who's alive and unpossessed is Cullen, and the demons very obviously could've killed him at any time and just chose not to because they were having fun toying with him) I'm gonna say the mages are a safer bet. Also because... they invited Quiz. That could be a trap, but you know what's definitely a trap? Walking into a fortress full of heavily-armed mage killers who openly want you dead. Meeting with the Templars is really, really stupid (especially if you're a mage) and you don't even learn the plan for getting you inside unharmed until you actually select the quest. Also that plan is basically just "if there are witnesses with societal power the Templars can't murder you unprovoked" because reminder: the Templars are the absolute worst. Why would you ever want these people around. And then if you meet with the mages first like "Well I'll figure it out once I've heard what they have to say, I don't have to commit if I do things this way so I might as well" you learn that there's a Tevinter magister serving an evil Tevinter cult just chilling in Redcliffe and why the fuck would you go to the Templars at that point this needs to be dealt with. The game wants you to side with the Templars but it gives you no reason to do so, I really wonder sometimes if the writers weren't talking to each other at all.

[professorsparklepants]

welcome to fanfic I won't write fridays, where I talk about fanfic I won't write

happy dragon age 4 to those who celebrate it's time to put all my "pevensie siblings isekai'd into dragon age pcs" thoughts in one post

peter is the inquisitor; i considered lucy for this but she's more what the inquisition wants you to appear to be (a divine prophet protecting the people) rather than what you actually are (the head of a military organization with fingers in politics and heavy religious propaganda

edmund is the champion of kirkwall; the entire point of da2 is that everything is in shades of grey and there are no right answers, and edmund is painted as the most familiar with moral ambiguity and the most forgiving of it

lucy is the grey warden originally through process of elimitation but being dropped in a dying world, told there's a near futile mission to hold back the decay that's eating the continent, and not only facing it whole heartedly but succeeding so well you have time to run off and try to cure it yourself with no backup is EXTREMELY lucy behavior

susan is "sir not appearing in this film (until dragon age 4 comes out)"

all four of them land around the same time. lucy gets wrapped up in the origins plot immediately, and da2 happens mostly simultaneously iirc so so is edmund. peter is biding time doing the qunari mercenary backstory until da:i starts. susan is also biding her time but by clawing her way up the local social hierarchy.

DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS

lucy is a mage with the spirit healer specialization, but based on her canon weapon use i think also has traces of the arcane warrior.

duncan literally finds her by the side of the road and goes "hey kid you wanna fight darkspawn." lucy asks if they're evil and he says yes so she signs up immediately. a simple woman.

she absolutely makes the full party her bisexual polycule. yes even the unromancable ones. i have faith in her.

morrigan: i'm straight lucy: for now.

leliana is her favorite but don't tell anyone.

lucy adores mabari. absolutely nothing in thedas is more narnian than the mabari. when she meets her siblings again they are all going to be so fucking jealous that she has one.

lucy doesn't make alistair king because he seems like he's kind of bad at it and i think she can sniff that out. my sister is of the opinion that lucy would make him king and then marry him bc she knows she would do a good job. i think she only said this because she finds it funny.

however i do think lucy would convince alistair to do the ritual because she sees absolutely nothing wrong with him having sex with a woman he hates who turns into a giant spider sometimes.

lucy, has attended dozens of bacchanalia: who hasn't slept with someone they dislike while under the effects of magic? all her companions: where did you say you were from again?

she does absolutely kill loghain though because a. all the shit he did is deserving of an execution, b. edmund isn't here to stop her, and c. alistair threatens to quit if she doesn't and despite having a mabari he's her emotional support animal

DRAGON AGE 2

i couldn't decide if edmund was a mage or a warrior but i decided it would be funnier if he were both, because it has such hawke energy. you surpress his magic? he has a sword. you disarm him? he has a fireball!

i don't know what warrior specialization i would pick for him, but he's definitely a force mage

i think edmund literally falls out of a portal and saves bethany/carver's life so the hawkes just decide to adopt him. he's theirs now. leandra just full on lies and says he's her son. what the fuck is her brother gonna do about it.

edmund walks into the den of sin and darkness that is kirkwall, sighs, and rolls up his sleeves to get to work. he is going to make this city a better place one back alley brawl at a fucking time. try him.

edmund romances anders because he has "i only date disasters/i can fix him" vibes and i think it's funny for him to be a former sovereign whose boyfriend is a wanted terrorist.

but also the da2 polycule IS real edmund is just not dating everyone at once. he's busy and also i hc him as only into men. imagine what you want though this isn't a real fic.

sorry the image of edmund just pspspspspsps-ing all of his sad, angry, morally grey companions into being friends is so fucking funny to me. local man brainwashed by evil as a child is too full of love and the belief in second chances to say no to a blood mage, guy who is willingly possessed at all times, escaped slave who lives in a mansion full of rotting corpses, a cop, and a romance novelist who keeps stealing your life story.

DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION

peter has the qunari mercenary backstory, and is absolutely a warrior build. probably champion build?

also i think he romances cassandra. i considered josephine but that's more a susan romance. if peter were into men that way he'd be all over iron bull and he says as much after a couple drinks.

peter, cornering cullen after their first war meeting: you haven no military experience do you. cullen: please don't tell anyone. i need this job.

he takes one look at solas and goes "oh this guy is not normal. idk what his deal is but this is some kind of oak god at least."

varric doesn't know edmund and peter are siblings until edmund shows up and he is INCREDIBLY offended by it. what do you MEAN i've been calling you hawke for years and it's not even your fucking name. the BETRAYAL.

edmund: my ex-boyfriend blew up the chantry and started the mage/templar war peter: HEY DORIAN, MY HONORABLE GOOD FRIEND WHO IS GAY, HAVE YOU MET MY VERY GAY BROTHER

"well his family owns slaves that's enough of a project for Edmund"

you know the table mission where the warden send you a letter? instead of that i think lucy just turns around and immediately heads back to thedas. THAT'S HER FUCKIN BROTHER!!!!!!!! she shows up after edmund does obviously for maximum "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!!!" drama

[scene: all three pevensies are roaring drunk in skyhold and casting members of the inquisition as Narnian creatures] Peter: I think Solas is a centaur. He's wise, respectful, and vaguely condescending. Lucy: [sniggering bc she clocked Solas] I think he's a wolf. Edmund: I think he's a marshwiggle. [Peter and Lucy absolutely lose it]

Lucy, halfway through stumbling back to her room: WAIT. DORIAN IS A PEACOCK. Peter, three floors up: [ugly donkey noise]

DRAGON AGE: VEILGUARD

obviously there's nothing 2 say about this yet

however i will say for certain that if there's a noble human background i'll be giving it to susan

idc that she literally got portal fantasy'd into this world. she's pretty and socially dangerous she wormed her way in there. she's got those diplomatic social climber stats.

she's also a rogue, no question.

[himluv]

DA: The Veilguard Predictions/Theories, pt. 1

Okay, so I've spent the last decade theorizing, consuming as much DA content as I possibly could to fuel this obsession, and I have some theories I want to share before we get too much more info this weekend. So here's a three-part post series of brain dump :)

Enjoy!

1. FleMythal

Flemeth/Mythal is one of the few characters to appear in all three Dragon Age games. She’s also appeared in various books and comics, and seems to know entirely too much – even for such a powerful hedge mage. It is obvious to me that she has plans within plans, and that somehow, Solas and HIS plan fit into her schemes. She takes Kieran’s “Old God Soul” just before Solas comes to her to take her power/soul. 

But we KNOW that Mythal has many slivers of herself squirreled away. There is no way she’s actually dead. 

SO. What is Mythal’s endgame? Well, vengeance of course. She seeks vengeance against the Evanuris for what they did to her. She told the Inquisitor as much when they met in the Fade. We know that before the Veil, spirits and elves walked the world together, that they were all People. It’s implied that the Evanuris were particularly strong spirits made manifest. We also know that Mythal’s spirit joined with Flemeth’s - a powerful mage who had been wronged and desperately wanted to set things right… sound familiar? 

Anders and Justice were foreshadowing, an example of that sort of union and the destruction it can cause. Flemeth and Mythal are almost beat-for-beat the same as Anders and Justice. Mythal is literally known as the “deliverer of justice”. She is a spirit of Justice that has fused with Flemeth. 

So, if vengeance is the goal, then it would make sense that she would want Solas to succeed. She needs the Veil to come down so that she can reach the remaining Evanuris and, most likely, obliterate them. While the Evanuris do not die so easily, Mythal has had millennia to sort out the details. I’d be utterly shocked if she doesn’t have something planned for them.

And since she needs the Veil to come down, she of course had to relinquish her power to Solas. Or, rather… someone’s power. Perhaps an Old God’s? Like, say, Urthemiel? She is invested in Solas succeeding, and from the tone of her apology, she will ensure that he does so regardless of what that might cost him, and the betrayal he will know before it is all through. 

And, if we're leading a team called The Veilguard? Then we stand directly in opposition of her goals.

[shouldaspunastory]

Thank you @saladruiner, for @dadrunkwriting

Cullen Rutherford x Dorian Pavus (SFW, Post-Trespasser, Established Relationship) 731 words.

--------------------------------

"Cullen," Dorian begins softly, but Cullen shakes his head.

"No, I heard what you told the Inquisitor," Cullen interrupts, crossing his arms. "You have unfinished business in your homeland, I understand. I've always understood that. And someone like Lavellan, they've too much notoriety. The attention they'll bring will cause more harm than good, however great their desire to help and well-meaning their intentions might be. But I'm not the Inquisitor," Cullen protests. "And I'm not letting you go back there alone. No one in Tevinter knows who I am or would give a damn about me. If I can't help you make your homeland better, at least let me watch over you while you're doing it."

Dorian's throat feels dry, his heart hammering in his chest as Cullen swallows, not waiting for a response before he continues.

"You don't have to tell anyone about us. I know you said things between two men... that's- not how things are done there. You could say I'm your bodyguard," the Commander offers with a shrug, though there's a hint of pleading, perhaps even desperation in his voice that betrays the suggestion is not as nonchalant as he might wish to make it seem. Dorian shakes his head and Cullen's face falls.

"Dorian, please," Cullen whispers, and he's definitely begging now. Maker's breath, the man actually drops to his knees in front of him, clasping Dorian's hands in his.

"Amatus," Dorian says gently, waiting until those gorgeous amber eyes lift back up to meet his own. "I'm not telling my friends and countrymen that you are my bodyguard."

"But I-" Cullen begins, but Dorian shakes his head, and the former soldier bites his lip and tongue obediently.

"You can watch my back," Dorian continues. "I doubt I could stop you doing that if I tried," the mage smiles fondly. "But I'm not going to pretend you're just someone I employ," Cullen's eyes are wide, full of hope and disbelief, as he continues to stare up at Dorian.

"Then you'll- you'll let me come with you," Cullen whispers.

"Vishante kaffas," Dorian mutters with a chuckle, shaking his head, tugging at their joined hands and urging Cullen back to his feet, rocking up onto the balls of his feet to loop his arms around the taller man and crush his lips to his. "Of course, I want you with me, Amatus," Dorian whispers fondly, a hand gently reaching up and caressing his lover's cheek. "But your friends, your family, they're all here."

"You're my family now too," Cullen replies, as if this is the most obvious and simplest thing in the world. As if these simple words don't shake Dorian's own world to its very core. "And I can still write them, and visit," Cullen replies undeterred.

"And if you hate Tevinter," Dorian asks softly with a small frown.

"It can't be all bad. You'll be there." It's an oversimplification and both of them know it, but Dorian can't find it in his heart to protest any further, and Maker knows what positively mortifying public display of affection and devotion Cullen will try next if he does. Dorian sighs, and Cullen's answering smile says that he knows he's won. As Cullen wraps his arms around the mage and pulls him in close, Dorian allows himself to melt into the embrace and nuzzle into his lover's broad chest.

"Festis bei umo canavarum," Dorian curses under his breath, there's affection in his tone, though, as Cullen's answering chuckle vibrates through him. "You'd best hold yourself to writing those letters," Dorian says finally, lifting his chin to meet Cullen's gaze, but remaining flush against him, happy to hold and be held by his lover. "I wouldn't put it passed Mia to storm Minrathous to come find you if you don't."

"You're probably right," Cullen laughs shaking his head. "Perhaps we should stop by South Reach before we head back."

"Might be safer," Dorian nods with a wry smile, before his bravado slips ever so slightly, hugging Cullen for the briefest of moments just a little bit tighter. "You don't think they'll resent me? A man? A mage? A Vint stealing their brother from them?" Cullen shakes his head, before gently tucking Dorian's beneath his chin, and offering him a reassuring squeeze.

"They're going to love you, almost as much as I do," Cullen promises, kissing the top of his head.

[eastern-lights]

So we all know how the main theme of Veilguard is gonna be Regret, right? Why stop there? Why not assign theme-demons to the other games as well?

Origins: Despair/desperation

Aside from generally being what you feel when there's a Darkspawn horde ravaging your country, despair is what sets the whole plot in motion and keeps appearing in the individual origins and minor plot points throughout the story.

Everything Loghain does he does out of desperation. He is desperate to preserve the Ferelden he knows because he genuinely believes he is the only one who can. He turns to heinous acts because he is desperate to win and he sees no other way out.

Grey Wardens in general can be summed up by "desperate times, desperate measures". The Warden, too, can commit horrible crimes to get the power to oppose the Blight, because times are desperate.

Despair is what makes most of the origin characters join the Wardens. Cousland just lost their family. Tabris/Brosca are about to be executed. Amell/Surana are about to be shipped to Aeonar. Aeducan is dying in the Deep Roads. Mahariel is dying of the Blight.

As early as Lothering, you fight and kill people whose only reason for attacking you is desperation.

Also, what colour is the Warden associated with? Blue. What colour are despair demons? Also blue.

(me rn:)

Dragon Age II: [helpless] Rage

Where in Origins, times were desperate, but ultimately you had the power to win, few games manage to convey the utter feeling of powerlesness in the face of fate and societal change as DAII.

Despair may drive the Warden to questionable measures to achieve victory, but nothing Hawke does can ever lead to even just losing less, nevermind actually winning.

Almost every single character is a powerless victim of circumstance and their own nature. All they can do is rage impotently against the heavens.

Rage at being powerless to reclaim the Tome of Koslun drives the Arishok to his conquest of Kirkwall.

Rage is what threatens to consume Fenris throughout his arc.

And it is rage at the plight of mages that corrupts Justice into Vengeance.

Also, Hawke's colour is red. Just like that of Rage demons.

Inquisition: Fear

Or, more specifically, fear of there being no higher power, but also of it actually existing.

Pride is a very strong contender here, but please, indulge my mental gymnastics so we can fit into my demon colour scheme theory for a moment.

While pride is definitely the cardinal sin that lead Corypheus to try and usurp the throne of the gods the first time, I would argue that in Inquisition, it is fear that drives him more. He claims there is no higher power, that the Golden City was empty. And that terrifies him. He wants to become a god so there is one. In the end, he desperately wants divinity to exists in the world - when the Inquisitor defeats him and all seems lost, he calls out to Dumat, hoping he was wrong and there actually are gods.

Fear is definitely what drives the entire plot of Here Lies the Abyss.

Sera is absolutely terrified of magic and the Fade, but also the Elven gods. But she seems fine with the Maker. That is because the Maker is an absent god. She is free of His influence. But spirits and the Creators are hands-on and, if real, influence events. There is desire in her for there to be something divine, but also fear of that divinity actually reaching out.

Solas potentially leaves the love of his life because he is afraid that loving her, acknowledging there is something in this world worthy of love, would prevent him from doing what he sees as his duty.

Also, Inquisitor green, Fear demon also green or smth.

Now, Veilguard is really gonna mess with my colour scheme, isn't it...

[broodwolf221]

okay. aforementioned meta time.

aka: solas drew the veil and plunged the world into chaos... but my best guess is, he had to.

ft.: if he was wrong to do so (which i don't think he was), then the inquisitor is just as wrong during in hushed whispers

solas' goals were pretty straightforward: he wanted to liberate the enslaved elvhen. to do that, he had to stop the evanuris, who were, without a doubt, the world's most powerful mages.

and others have posited theories about more going on, theories i tend to agree with, at least in terms of broad strokes. specifically i believe there's a connection btwn the evanuris and the blight and that, unchecked, they truly would have destroyed the world.

in which case, he gets an additional goal: save the literal world.

i also tend to agree with the idea that red lyrium has something to do with the blight. so moving forward with these two theories...

things blight/red lyrium can affect (in game canon):

stone

animals (including moles and worms via ambient dialogue in suledin keep)

humans

elves

dwarves

qunari

dragons

so it's reasonably safe to say that not only does the blight impact people, but it impacts the planet/nature as well. so if he took action to stop the blight, then by doing so he sacrificed arlathan to save the entire rest of the world. and the extreme measure he took here was likely necessary because of the strength of the evanuris - one man, one mage, however skilled, could not effectively fight them all. as a direct confrontation he would have lost. but there's still a heavy implication that he warred with them (or perhaps for them - either way, he was a soldier) for some time, that he "spent lives," which to me implies that he was something of a general waging a war against the evanuris, at least at one point. so it's safe to say that he actually tried to go head to head with them - and he couldn't. not even with an army.

i have seen his actions within the timeline of dai contrasted with the inquisitor's actions during the in hushed whispers timeline, and i think that's a very valid comparison to make: he woke to a world that was unrecognizable to him, corrupted by his actions, but also saved by his actions! but he wants to bring what was good about the world back. as inky in that timeline, we are willing to destroy everyone in order to "reset" the world and have another chance to take down corypheus.

in game, the world doesn't seem too bad to us. sure, it has its issues, but it's still a functional world, right? the people inhabiting it, most of them want to continue to live the rest of their lives, right? i don't think we can say the same isn't true of the future timeline we saw. there was absolutely deep corruption and danger, and the inquisitor's companions seek a reset, but what of those outside southern thedas? we never know, we never see their lives. what if others were gearing up to attack - what if they'd been able to succeed? instead we determine that this future is so awful, so intolerable, through our limited, narrow point of view of it, that it should be erased, should be completely unmade.

and in-game, this reads as ethical! but it's also analogous to what solas is doing and to what he did in arlathan. i don't think that paralleling is unintentional, either: what we see in that future is very much what he sees in the present, and we're both right, these times are "corrupted," are "broken," are "different" and are "wrong." but as inky it's presented as an inevitability - of course we would seek to restore, to reset, and nevermind all that we'd be destroying in the doing. leliana says this explicitly to dorian, that for him this is a nightmare he hopes will never come to pass, but the rest of them lived it, it was real.

to solas, the world is half of what it should be. everyone is walking around not knowing how much they are missing, unable to recognize the deep loss of magic for what it is. it's a gutted world, and that it's all these people have ever known... well, does that make it right to keep it as-is? because if so, how did the inquisitor have the right to reset the world in that timeline?

(little note: i have not engaged with any media outside of the main game canon and certain dlcs. however, i also do not personally hold that canon outside the games/major dlcs is absolute canon and should be 100% trusted. this is just how i engage with this franchise. so if smth i said here is disproved by non-game canon, personally that doesn't rly matter to me uwu;; to each their own tho!)

[kcwriter-blog]

Defeating the Big, Bad Wolf

The always amazing corseque has theorized that a boss fight with the mutant dragon/wolf Fen’ Harel is inevitable. The default world state on the Keep has the Inquisitor choosing to stop Solas. In other words, BioWare wants our new protagonist to kill Solas. That’s the plan. That’s what they’ve been leading up to. That’s what they think game players want. 

I’m not saying most players don’t want to “scramble the egg” as they put it. There is enough hated for Solas on the fan sites for that to be believable. At the end of the day though, BioWare is supposed to be about choices. We were given a big one at the end of Trespasser and it would suck if BioWare chose not to honor that. 

If all choices lead to us having to kill Solas, that isn’t a game I want to play. Not because I personally love Solas (I do) but because I consider it lazy writing to turn such a nuanced character into Thanos or Corypheus. He deserves better if that is what some of us want for him. 

I don’t think Weekes is a lazy or boring writer. However, if they were told by others on the team to make it so, that’s how it will go. 

How could BioWare give us the “redeemed” ending some of us asked for and still ensure the big boss fight they have been leading up to happens?

One theory is that this is all a distraction. There is a bigger boss out there that we will have to defeat. Maybe. Another option is the old trope “The villain decided he was wrong and died saving the world.” Boring, but also plausible. It’s also possible that Solas dies but is reborn in the Fade as a Wisdom spirit. He won’t remember anything about his past self, but he will at least be at peace.

I have another option. I don’t think we will see it, but I felt I had to throw it out there into the void. I just finished reading Asunder. In it, Wynn gathers a couple of mages and heads out to Adamant to save a Tranquil who has been researching how to reverse the Rite of Tranquility. When they arrive, they discover that the Tranquil managed to reverse the Rite but in doing so became possessed by a powerful demon. 

Wynn believes the situation is salvageable. She enacts a ritual that rips a huge hole in the Veil. She and the mages enter the Veil (not physically) with the goal of fighting the demon on its own turf. It takes the mages, Wynn and the spirit of Faith she carries with her to defeat it. Once they do and return to the waking world, the Tranquil is alive and no longer possessed. 

What would this mean for a good ending? Solas and the Dread Wolf seem to be separate creatures. In banter, Cole remarks that Solas is in two places at once, meaning the waking world and the Fade. Solas brushes it off by saying that he wanders the Fade a lot and that is probably what Cole is sensing. What if it isn’t? What if Solas is separated from his demon by the Veil?

If so, our protagonist can enter the Fade, do the boss fight most players have been salivating over and instead of killing Solas save him. Free of the Dread Wolf, Solas can become whatever he was before his spirit was twisted into a Pride demon. That might still result in him “dying” a la Wisdom in his personal quest, but maybe he will have enough sense of self left to “push through” and become mortal. 

I like this ending for several reasons. One, everyone gets what they want. Two, Solas has a chance to start undoing the damage he caused. A sacrificial act, while dramatic, does not really equal atonement. You can’t atone if you are dead. 

As I said, that is a very unlikely scenario. All foreshadowing points to Solas’ death at the end of DAD. It makes me sad because the ending could have been much more interesting. 

[magicluckystars]

Speaking of ikemen/otome games; I want to ask you about the game you seem to really like; lovebrush chronicles

Tell me all about your faves (and least favourites if you have any), what the suitors are like, do you like how the MC(?) Is written, anything is fair game

first of all, thank you so much for asking!! I rarely get any asks like this so this made me really happy!

To answer your question, the game is about travelling through different universes. (The game's Chinese name literally means "the time travelling painter" or something like that) basically the MC (you) is an art major at this one school on an island, St. Shelter Academia (weird name i know) the MC is also a manga author however, and no one else knows except this one guy (I'll explain more about him later, he doesn't have any routes in the main story but he does in events) the MC created the manga because she's been having dreams about it for a while, but she was getting stuck on the content lately

you also adopt a cat

don't wanna spoil it for you in case you wanna find out for yourself, but stuff happens and you get isekaid to the world. in your manga. There you find out that you've been writing manga about an alternate universe, and the 5 (4?) love interests all play important roles in the story

Basically their country was being terrorized by ice butterflies that freeze everything they touch, so it's a neverending winter there. only the mages can hold the butterflies off but the public doesn't trust them

Now onto the love interests!!

the universe the MC came from is the Modern universe (earth) and the alternate universe is Godheim.

Lars is a wealthy entrepreneur who also happens to be a big fan of your manga (he doesn't know that you wrote it though). He's one of the school's investors.

In Godheim, he's the tyrannical emperor who summons you to that world and says that you're to be his bride.

I don't wanna paint him in a negative light because he's actually very caring and holds family close to his heart, he's also one of the few characters in Godheim that can take a joke lol. basically silly happy emperor actually has trauma. He is also a feminist.

His route is really sweet and pretty good but it wasn't my personal favorite.

Ayn is his cousin. In Godheim, he and clarence have an alliance.

His route has the second-most bad endings. He shares this with Ayn.

He's also the tallest-

Clarence is the student council president who abides by the rules and gets good grades. He's also a law major.

In Godheim, he is the steely cold, merciless Archmage (the leader of all the mages) of Magi Tower. He was the one who did the ritual to summon you, and he was gonna keep you in a bird cage with roses on it but Lars said no so you're allowed to roam the castle but if you make even the tiniest of mistakes BAM. Back in the cage.

Clarence isn't my favorite so I don't know much about him, but he wants you to do well so he tries to push you to do so.

Clarence's Godheim route is the last one, so it's where you uncover the secrets of godheim. I didn't like his route much but I did enjoy seeing his soft side. Also, you get to beat a pervert's ass. And the MC cusses in this route (she says "grade A ass whooping). It's amazing.

His route has the most bad endings.

Ayn is a music major and a freshman like you. He's really popular but also doesn't really like interacting with people, he's very much of an introvert. He can come off as rude but he's just tsundere. he's also a gamer, and a pretty dedicated one at that. He very much believes in tough love. He's not the comforting type.

In Godheim, he is the stubborn leader of the Inquisitors, who basically kill rebels and people who disobey the king. He was originally the crown prince but Lars took it from him (the reason why is a spoiler) and Ayn wants to kill Lars as revenge for that. He's been biding his time in order to do that.

Ayn's route was one of my favorites, it was action-packed yet still soft at the same time. Also, his outfit is 😳

I'm pretty sure his route has the same number of bad endings as lars.

He's the shortest.

Alkaid (my favorite!!) helps you and Ayn in this route.

And now, for my favorite, Alkaid!!

He's the kind upperclassman who helps you get settled at school. He's a junior I think, an astronomy major. He's so sweet I swear to God ❤❤ he has a cat, and your cat and his cat play together often. He likes gardening.

In Godheim, alkaid is the submissive but kind mage assigned to protect you and watch you for clarence. Clarence is his boss. He's one of the most powerful mages in the Magi Tower. Anything else I say will be a spoiler for the entirety of Godheim...

In both universes, even though he is kind and believes in the good of people, he doesn't let himself get walked all over and doesn't hesitate to stand up for others if necessary.

Alkaid's route is tooth-rotting fluff. It's so cute because with your help he finally realizes that he shouldn't be afraid to fight or question authority, and that he can't just let everything happen if there's something he can do. His route is my favorite, next to Ayn. It also has the least amount of bad endings, only two, but let me tell you those two bad endings are soul crushing. I got a bad end on my first playthrough and it RIPPED ME APART.

Last but not least, Cael. If you're into butler type characters then he is for you. Cael is the one who took care of you when your mom died (your dad died when you were like 3).

In Godheim, he is the silver knight leading the rebellion against the emperor.

I don't have much to say on him because he's not my favorite and he doesn't have a route, but he's behind the bigger mysteries in Godheim.

He plays a big role in Lars' route.

after Godheim, you can pick an ending for one suitor where you're both happy together. After that, the next world is Eden but I'm not going to go too much into that because i like godheim more

The mc is gorgeous. Her facial expressions in the cards are everything.

All in all the game's pretty good, but it's not very well-known here so it has a fairly small and non-toxic fandom

In the battles, something called "assist events" can trigger where you have to choose the correct option to get a buff. If you choose the incorrect option then you get a debuff. The voice acting is amazing and the illustrations are really pretty, the soundtrack is beautiful too

Sorry for the word dump ;; I just wrote and wrote and i didn't see how big it got 😅

Hope this answered your question!! lots of platonic kisses and i hope you're doing well <33

[v-arbellanaris]

Re the power struggle between the Grey Wardens and the Chantry. You can also snatch Anders right from the templars grasp and it's possible that a big reason why he's left alone in DA2 is because he's a Grey Warden. Anders hardly makes his actions in DA2 a secret. He is loudly rebelling, yet the templars leave him alone.

That's why the whole Warden arc in DAI makes no sense. The Chantry and kingdoms of Thedas have no authority over the Wardens, but an upstart order who is effectively nothing but a branch of the Chantry does?

YES! i started writing the post abt the wardens in the middle of collating more info about it but i was so gobsmacked at how much there was just pre-ostagar that i wrote the post before getting to the rest of the series and then the post blew up LMAO

i think part of anders not getting snatched up by templars when he's in the party with you is just nonsense mechanics stuff (they should've had a quest like they did in dao -- tho i think that quest was deleted lmao -- where if you try hand morrigan over to the templars, she leaves the party permanently, or even like in lothering where they can ask that templar what he'd do with an apostate and he susses out that you and morrigan are mages and goes "ive got bigger problems than apostates atm") BUT there is dialogue & quest stuff confirming that the templars raid darktown fairly often looking for him outside of whenever he comes on quests with you, so i dont think he was untouched because he was a warden.

if anything, i think him being a circle mage seemed to be more important than him being a warden since the chantry explicitly sends templars after him while he's with the wardens. to repeat: the chantry sends templars to hunt down warden mages, which is fucking illegal. wardens exist outside of the jurisdiction of the chantry! they have no right to drag warden mages into the circle, even if the warden mage was originally an apostate OR if they were a circle mage. AND justinia was canonically looking for the warden to become inquisitor before she sent cassandra looking for hawke -- the implications for a surana/amell are pretty horrifying.

i hated HLTA for so many reasons, but mostly, i hated it because it justified the inquisition taking action against the wardens, as if they had a right to it. "we're going to stop the wardens from summoning demons to fight the darkspawn and kill the archdemons" and that's a bad thing because Summoning Demons Is Bad, as if blood magic isn't the most effective thing against darkspawn (which! considering the implications of red lyrium being magic repelling is so fascinating. does being a grey warden mean some of your connection to the fade is messed up???). as if wanting to end the blights is bad -- we have solas calling the wardens ignorant and stupid as if the wardens killing archdemons and fighting darkspawn isn't the only thing that has saved the world every time a blight has erupted. and it pisses me off that no real reason is ever given for WHY it's a bad idea, we're just supposed to take it at face value that because solas, an elven god who definitely knows more than we do just trust bioware ok, says its a bad idea, it's a bad idea. the warden's plan is a bad thing because Someone Else Will Use The Demons To Take Over The World and Only The Wardens Could Ever Summon This Many Demons as if kirkwall doesn't have shades popping up outside of the hanged man every other day. corypheus was literally in kirkwall???

it would've been something if corypheus was using the wardens to get the location of the archdemons. wouldn't it tie into his crisis of faith and the sense of danger so much more? he's gone looking for his gods but raising them is definitely going to cause a double blight. but why bother raising the stakes or creating any level of danger for corypheus, right? that's not the point of the game :)

and yeah, the inquisition 100% has no authority or leg to stand on to engage with the wardens or even to kick them out of orlais. yet the quest -- and most of the game -- is framed in such a way that these actions seem justified. in general, this quest was a clumsy way to end a conflict that's been building over the course of the entire franchise -- which can be said about any of the longstanding conflicts addressed in dai tbh.

[niofo]

I will never be normal about the multiplayer mages. There is not much about them, but what is there is really fun and i really hope that they bring some of those characters in dad, it would be great to have some of those former field agents of the inquisition running around, and they're blank slates enough to leave writers with quite a free range.

I always found it interesting how Cillian was obviously inspired by Fenris with his design, but also his opposite in the others. Obviously he's a mage, and an arcane warrior on top, someone who spent years just meditating in abandoned elven ruin, probably has an enormous knowledge about ancient elven lore - but also he's just this calm and friendly guy. He's so positive and full of wonder when looking at the world around him. Despite certainly being warned about templars by his keeper, he still calls Belinda da'len, bcos he sees that she's young and enthusiastic, and a bit naive. His vallaslin is June, which doesn't fit his character on the first glance (i would rather put him as a Dirthamen or even Falon'din guy), so i wonder if it was intentional to shine more light on Fenris' lyrium markings looking like June vallaslin. But also maybe there is some untold story to explain why Cillian picked June in particular.

Hissera was going to be a tamassran when her magic first manifested. Obviously there's not much about her bcos she doesn't have any dialogue, but i just find it interesting, that unlike Ketojan, she decided to live free from the qun after losing her arvaarad, i wonder if it has something to do with her previous priestess training. Her name means hope, which is also not something ever associated with saarebas. It would be nice if Bull too her under his wing after the Inquisition is done.

Neria is someone my Ilen Lavellan would love to hang out with, just talking about their respective clans, how it was as the First, perhaps reminiscing about past arlathvens where they met. She wishes to be back with her clan, but she considers defeating Corypheus too important to just let shems take care of it alone, she wants people to remember about dalish and not have them pushed to the sidelines again. I wonder is it was meant to be a neurodivergent trait, but Cillian remembers her as a little girl trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle, and that she was so focused she didn't even notice him leaving. Her vallaslin is Dirthamen, which is fitting for a future Keeper, but also shows her inquisitive nature.

I know most people hates Sidony, and for very good reasons, but i experienced her only after i created Idris, and the parallels were just too fun to let go. They're both necromancers specializing with ice magic, they are both not particularly nice and warm people, although Sidony certainly made it into an art. I think if idris wasn't the Inquisitor he would have a similar reputation, but as much as for him it's just his personality and actually he cares about people too much even, Sidony really seem to mainly care about the pursuit of knowledge and to be left alone. I would love to meet her as a grumpy hermit who lets us use her arcane book collection on the promise that afterwards we'll leave her alone and never come back. Maybe with a little treat that if the players decides to come back after all, she blasts the party with a blizzard.

And of course i have already way too many thoughts about Rion, de facto having him as one of the main characters of my fic. It all started just because he is from the Ostwick Circle, just as mage!Trevelyan, but he's an endearing character on his own. Hhe dresses in a same sort of feathery thing Anders does, for some reason. He makes a lot of jokes, including ones at his own expense, and it reminds me of awakening Anders - perhaps something to ease the tension, to make himself seem less threatening in eyes of the templars, just a silly little mage, yk. But also he is very much threatening, he throws fireballs at people and trying to show off this his spells. He really is dealing with years of complex circle trauma and it's not easy to shake it off. WoT2 also suggest that he was from a rich or even noble family, but refuses to speak about it - and considering he doesn't have any family name listed, maybe they disinherited him on the spot when he became a mage. Just another point of connection with Trevelyan, as they might even be from the same social circles before the Circle of magi.

[crossdressingdeath]

Oh. Right. I'd forgotten about that fun little conversation where Cullen tells Cassandra to nominate a new commander and she refuses. And there's no opportunity to say "No, you don't get to make that call, you will nominate a new commander, that is an order". Genuinely, for all that Quiz is supposedly the most powerful person in Thedas it really does feel like they're trapped under the advisors' and Cassandra's control! This is my organization, Cullen is my commander (against my will, but even so); why the fuck does Cassandra get the final say on whether or not Meredith's right-hand-man currently going through withdrawal stays as commander?! Shouldn't that be the decision of... oh, I don't know, the Inquisitor?!

For once in his entire fucking life Cullen is putting someone else above himself. He looks at himself and his situation and says "No, this is not a position I should be in, it's not good for me or the Inquisition", and Bioware chooses this occasion to not let the player side with their special, special boy? The one time he's actually right? He's going through withdrawal. For five whole seconds it seems to actually be affecting him. He's not in any state to be leading armies and he knows it. And beyond that I reiterate my usual point of Meredith's second-in-command, leader of her death squads already being quite possibly the worst possible choice for a prominent member of the Inquisition if they want to appear even neutral in the mage/Templar conflict, which as a peacekeeping force they really should. He shouldn't be commander, and now he doesn't want to be commander, and if you like him it's also clear that it's getting increasingly unhealthy for him to be commander, so why can't Quiz just tell Cassandra that she doesn't get to just decide that their commander should be a high-ranking Templar going through withdrawal?! She should not have that power! She isn't even one of the Inquisitor's official advisors or seconds-in-command, much less the one in charge! It's not good for Cullen to be in such a high-stress position, it's not good for the Inquisition to have one of the leaders of the atrocities in Kirkwall in such a prominent role, and if your Inquisitor is a mage (or an elf, given the whole thing about Templars being sent in to harass and sometimes slaughter the Dalish for the local lord/the Chantry) it's not good for them to be forced to work so closely with someone who was part of the group largely responsible for oppressing them and who still clearly shares the beliefs of that group! He shouldn't be the commander for so many reasons, and many Inquisitors have good reason not to want him as the commander, so why does Cassandra get to unilaterally decide that he stays?

[queenaeducan]

(Me again lol)

7-10 for the Inquisitor ask? 🥰

Who was your Inquisitor’s first friend in the Inquisition?

Thora actually came with her cousin, Cadri, who sticks around to keep an eye on Thora (and keep out of reach of Cadri's debt collectors). You could qualify her as her first friend, but they were family before the Conclave. They definitely get closer during the game, as they become more involved in each other's personal lives.

Outside Cadri, it's Solas. I've written before that Thora is intimidated by most of the other members at first, most due to class differences (Varric, Josephine, Cassandra, etc all have noble blood and noble connections). Sera doesn't, but it takes a while for them to bond. Blackwall (to her knowledge) doesn't, but their romantic interest in each other means he holds her at a distance for a while. Iron Bull is qunari, and Thora has issues with the Qun.

So that leaves Solas. Before the Conclave she'd never seen a demon (or spirit) in her life, so she relies on him for information. She's also pretty comfortable with apostates, having worked with them in the Carta (drawn from the mages you'd see with Carta dwarves encounters in DA:O). Her interest in history and willingness to ask questions makes them fast friends, especially from her perspective.

Which advisor does your Inquisitor like best? Which do they trust the most?

Josephine is the one she likes the best, Leliana becomes the one she trusts the most.

As I mentioned, she is intimidated by Josephine. She's pretty and noble, and not the sort of person she often talks to, but Thora still likes her.

Thora throughout the game doesn't rely on any one advisor for missions, she's as likely to appreciate Cullen's simpler solutions as she is Josephine's subtle ones. So when I say she comes to trust Leliana most, it's because as Leliana comes around from her personal quest into her softened persona, Thora comes to believe in her and her vision for the Chantry. She is a believer at heart, but always at arm's length, and having someone want to affirm her, not as Herald of Andraste, but as a dwarf who knows the Chant, means a lot. And I think post-Inquisition Leliana is still involved in her network in ways that Cullen and Josephine aren't.

Where does your Inquisitor like to hang out at Skyhold?

The library! She loves books. One detail about her character is that she has a handwritten copy of the Noladar Anthology of Dwarven Poetry, which she copied herself. Libraries in Thedas seem to be class-restricted, and so she never had access to so many books before in her life.

She's also fond of her room, which is also a novel concept for her. The gardens are also a common haunt for her. She tries not to exert too much influence beyond her personal spaces, but she does care for some sunflowers in the garden.

What does your Inquisitor do with their free time? Do they have any hobbies?

As mentioned, she reads (including conducting research). She has a book club she starts with Solas after his personal quest, where they take turns picking books (fiction and non-fiction) then reading them. It started with her giving him the book of dwarven poems when he said stupid shit about dwarves and keeps going from there. Iron Bull also joins after his personal quest after Solas's invitation. They have wine and cheese while they're at it.

She starts to take on new hobbies as Inquisitor, she gardens for the first time ever and starts writing her own poetry. And she gets into calligraphy, too.

[infectedhau]

So there's a new Dragon Age coming out, and as someone who's owned the first three for literal decades at this point without ever touching them, I figured I'd get caught up

My broad thoughts: this is the first time I've seen a franchise go through puberty (disclaimer, I don't actually know anything about the development history of Dragon Age, these are all just my impressions from my mostly blind playthrough. I didn't look up anything story wise, but I did do a little research into builds just to make sure the combat got a fair shake)

Starting Origins, you can clearly see that it wants to be an ARPG, but was realized by a bunch of guys that had only done CRPGs up to that point. You've got these flashy cinematic finishers, a camera that can technically be zoomed out to a more traditional top-down view but prefers to sit over your shoulder, and a tactics menu that basically means you don't have to micro your party at all if you don't want to (maybe you do on higher difficulties, idk, I went through on normal because the thing kept crashing and didn't wanna have to deal with constantly redoing fights). I can feel the Baldur's Gate energy in it, but I can also feel some guy saying "and we want it to be more dramatic and dynamic" while a copy of Dragon's Dogma floats over his shoulder like a stand. Lore-wise, it's a darker, lower-magic setting, which I honestly think works pretty well for it looking the way it does. You've got your occasional crazy armor or fantasy-ass sword, but everything else was pretty grounded, and I definitely got the feeling that I wasn't all that stronger than the enemies, despite being a diet witcher. That being said, it's an older game, so it's pretty easy to break. I played a Blood Mage/Arcane Knight build, and basically every single encounter was solved by stunlocking the entire room to death, which somewhat ruined the immersion of these guys being an actual problem. Maybe if the Templars weren't such dicks about it this would've all been solved sooner.

On to Dragon Age 2, and boy oh boy can you tell this game was made in the early 10s. Everything has gotten spkier and edgier, you've got more impractical armor and weapons, the opening shot is your sister's tits bouncing around as you run through a battlefield, and the game tries to start you as an unremarkable white guy with a goatee and a shitty haircut (I shut that shit down real fast, though I didn't really customize lady Hawke either since from what I understand the customization doesn't carry over). You also see it crawling a bit further towards ARPG territory, now even your auto attacks are flashy and stylish, especially if you're a Rogue, but the bones are still basically the same. You still attack on a timer, you can still click to move, and there's still a pause button. The AI has also improved, I don't think I even looked at the tactics menu and I still got through with minimal difficulty. Also, they retconned a wholeass race, with the Qunari graduating from "humans but bigger" to these cool gray horned dudes. Definitely an improvement, no I am not at all biased, don't look at my Qunari inquisitor lady and my Dranei Death Knight lady and my Au'ra Mahcinist Lady this ain't about her. Also turning the duelist trainer from Origins into a slutty pirate lady was... a choice, but honestly I liked her character, and her, Aveline, and Merrill were my core party members through most of it (still though, put some pants on girl, cmon). This is also where my first actual complaint comes in, that being that they seemed to think the best way to add difficulty was to just swarm you with guys. I don't mind big fights, but having to chew through two or three waves of enemies with every single combat encounter got a bit old by the end.

And now, Inquisition, where we're almost there, it's so close I can taste it. You finally click to attack, you have a jump button, the tactics menu is basically gone, but it's still clinging to its CRPG roots, the pause button haunting your hotbar like a ghost of real-time-with-pause past. I haven't noticed any dramatic changes lore-wise like I did with 2, but they did manage to find some (slightly) more reasonable armor designs and thus far none of my party members are running around half-naked. An overall improvement, and while I'm not done with this one yet I've been enjoying it so far. From what I hear, the new one is finally a proper ARPG, and all I can say is holy hell it took them long enough

[halla-hunts-the-wolf]

A Talk in the Gardens

One of those aforementioned drabbles circa 2020. Lavellan & Dorian have a sweet chat during their visit to the Sunburst Throne. It can be hard to find a moment of reprieve when the world's about to end, and it's even harder when you're parents to a rambunctious hero in the making.

___

Basking like a cat in the summer sun, Mahvir Lavellan nestles himself in the Grand Cathedral's gardens. Orlais was beautiful this time of year, and he thoroughly enjoys hiding among the teeming wildlife. The flowers threaten to loom over his head, from the overgrown rose bushes to the blooms of crystal grace.

The sweet aroma engulfs his senses and makes him drowsy, it wouldn't be amiss if someone caught him purring, or mumbling about a past life and happier times. An elf was most in his element in nature, even in the confines of towering concrete walls on all sides. To the Dalish elf, the garden reminds him of the home he lost years ago. He was visiting the Sunburst Throne; the entire Inner Circle was. It was one of those rare summits where Divine Victoria allowed all her old friends to gather. The topic of this meeting was, of course, Fen'Harel.

Currently, they were on a recess. Thus, the retired Inquisitor found a refuge where he knew it best.

He forces his closed eyes apart when he hears the rumble of clumsy feet marching toward him.

He was not surprised to see his niece and nephew, Ellana's twins, or his own son leading them into the tulips. A warning rumbled in the back of his throat. The warmth in the air had made him sluggish.

Another voice, dangerously intoxicant in its familiarity, beat him to it.

"Stay clear of the flowers, unless you want to be replanting them!" Dorian's tone, while stern, easily frays with his fondness for the children.

Mahvir turns to greet him with a welcoming smile. "Dorian Pavus braving the outside world? the cathedral must be on fire."

The mage huffs before sinking to sit on the bench beside him. "The children wanted to play and I offered to watch them." His grey eyes followed after the troop of three as they changed course towards the pond a few yards away. "I don't get to see the twins enough. They are a spitting image of their parents."

Mahvir hums in agreement as he scoots closer, resting his head against Dorian's shoulder. "Does it bother you? That Alec doesn't look like us?"

A short laugh tumbles from the Magister as his gaze lingers on the young elf in question. The boy had the most unruly brunette locks and the most vibrant green eyes he'd ever seen. "It only bothers me that I can not claim him by name. I am happy he is a Lavellan, but I wish he could also be a Pavus."

Mahvir seeks out his lover's hand, offering it a reassuring squeeze. "He is a Pavus, and the people who matter are the ones who know it."

"He is my son," Dorian murmurs forcefully. Whether it was to convince himself or the world around them, Mahvir wasn't sure.

"He is, Vehnan, and he'll never doubt it."

Dorian dismisses the conversation with a wave of his free hand. "I suppose you're right, although he is like you in every other way. The way he gives those puppy eyes when he wants something? It's insufferable."

It is Mahvir's turn to laugh, and he does so joyously. "It is only insufferable because you fall for it! And Nellie, Mythal's Mercy, she is just like you. That clever tongue of hers will get her in trouble one day."

"Oh, but that's the best trouble to be in."

"You would know."

They lapse into silence. Comfortable. Peaceful.

Their moment is broken by a chorus of disgruntled shouting in the distance, muffled by towering hedges and reeds. Dorian sighs and pushes himself to his feet. "I suppose that is my cue. I would ask you to come with me, but you seemed to enjoy your nap."

"It's been a while since I've had one."

Dorian moves to step away, but he is caught by arms slinking around his waist. One made of flesh and the other made of metal.

Mahvir pulls him back in, and the embrace is nearly bone-crushing. The elf presses his face against the mage's abdomen, nuzzling against the soft fabric of his robes. He waits as if he is holding the other man hostage, until he feels careful hands brush through his chestnut hair.

"I love you, Dorian." He murmurs as if it was some secret between them.

Dorian takes a step away, releasing himself from the elf's hold, before bending down to take Mahvir's face between his hands, caressing his jaw with the pad of his thumb. They stay this way for a long moment, as the world grows still.

Dorian remains transfixed on his lover's face, from the faint strays of silver in his chestnut hair to the tiredness in his amber eyes. He leans in to kiss the wrinkles (some from worry, but more from laughter) that creased his loving expression. "Rest well, my beloved."