#if I was a shadow dragon rook and had been flirting with him and then turn around and this happens? oh it’s on

[lliquidllyrium]

The only complaint I have about Lucanis’ romance being locked after not saving Treviso is if you’re a shadow dragon because by design I think there’s a double standard given who he ends up with if not romanced

[sky-fire-forever]

happy friday! how about Spite/Rook for "I've had a lot of dreams about you lately"?

Thank you for the prompt! I had a lot of fun with this one!

For @dadrunkwriting - Dragon Age: The Veilguard Spoilers

My Rook in this is Voltah de Riva, who uses they/them pronouns.

It’s early in the morning when Voltah tiptoes into the kitchen to prepare themself some coffee — late enough that everyone else has probably gone to bed and early enough that even the earliest risers won’t be up yet. Voltah expects to be entirely alone as they brew themself a pot and sit nearby to wait for it to be ready. 

They’ve been having strange dreams lately, not that most of their dreams could be considered normal. No matter if they're having conversations with Solas or remembering their initiation into the Crows or imagining fighting the elven gods with their pants down, their dreams often venture into territory that most would consider strange and unusual. 

Their most recent dreams have been strange in a different way, however. They're not about drowning or dying or losing everyone they hold dear. No, these dreams are a bit spicier in nature. 

It makes sense, all things considered. Lucanis and them have been dancing around each other for months now and while they've solidified their relationship, they've barely so much as kissed or held hands. It's a chaste romance, with lots of flirting and supporting one another, but very little else.

And Voltah is fine with that! Really, they are! But they're an elf with certain desires and it only makes sense for their sleeping mind to wander, to conjure up dreams of their lover in more compromising positions than they've actually experienced with him.

The problem is that their dreams haven't been limited to just Lucanis. 

The water for the coffee has just begun to simmer when a figure creeps out of the shadows. 

“Smells like guilt and heat!” If the tone of voice and words spoken aren't enough to reveal who exactly the speaker is, the purple of his eyes are. 

Voltah does their best not to jump in surprise, their training allowing them to suppress the urge enough to act natural as they turn towards their spirit friend. 

“Good morning, Spite. What're you doing up so early?” They raise an eyebrow at him.

Spite grins. “Lucanis sleeps. My time to play!”

“As long as you make sure the body gets some rest. Can't have either of you fighting while exhausted,” they remind him. 

Spite scowls. “Sleep is boring! Rather play.” 

“Sleep isn't always boring.” Voltah turns away from him so they can pour the water over the coffee grounds, watching the water seep through the filter. “Dreams can be pretty interesting.” 

Their comment just reminds them of their most recent dreams and they feel their face heat up. The phantom feeling of calloused fingers gripping their hips makes their skin tingle, so they try to banish the memories away. They shouldn't be thinking about those dreams, especially not with Spite actually standing before them. 

“Don't dream,” Spite says and Voltah can hear the pout in his voice. “Just watch Lucanis dream. Boring!” 

Voltah laughs. “What does Lucanis dream about anyway?” They turn back to Spite and lean against the table, their blush fading. 

“Boring things.” Spite makes a face like the very memory of Lucanis’ dreams disgusts him. He pauses, looking considerate for a moment. “And Rook.”

Voltah raises an eyebrow. “Am I not included in boring things?” They ask, their voice light and teasing despite the burst of feeling that flows through them at the knowledge of Lucanis dreaming about them. 

“No.” Spite shakes his head. “Rook is. Interesting. Rook is good to dream about.”

Voltah smiles and moves to fill their cup with the freshly brewed coffee. “Y'know, you're not too bad to dream about yourself.”

Why did they say that?

Their face warms again and they're glad their back is to the spirit so he can't see how they wince at their own words. They can practically hear the way he stops and ponders what they just said.

“Rook dreams of me?” 

“Uh, sometimes,” they admit, swirling their coffee. They pause, staring at the dark liquid. Too dark, they need to add a shit ton of cream still. They hate the bitterness of black coffee. “Actually, I've had a lot of dreams about you lately.”

They risk a glance back at Spite, who is watching them like a hawk, something curious and almost predatory in his gaze. 

“What dreams?” He demands.

They blush. “Oh, y'know. Dreams.” But Spite is stalking towards them like a lion after prey. They hold their coffee protectively against their chest as Spite slinks into their personal space. 

He inhales deeply. “Smells like lust.” 

Voltah's face burns. “Whoa, I never said–”

“Smells like shame.” Spite tilts his head and stares intently at them. “Why?”

“Why what?” 

“Why shame?” He steps closer and sniffs. 

Voltah can't believe they're having this conversation with a demon. “Well. It's embarrassing to be having those sorts of dreams about a–” They pause. “About a friend.”

“What dreams?” But Spite grins like he already knows. “Rook dreams. Of me.” He takes another step closer, until they're almost chest to chest. He puts his hands on the table on either side of Voltah's hips, caging them against the counter. 

Voltah swallows, their gaze darting to Spite's lips. “Yeah,” they admit. “I dream of you.” They summon their courage and place a hand against Spite's chest, setting their coffee aside with their free hand. “I dream about doing a lot of things with you.”

“Not Lucanis?”

“Lucanis too, don’t get me wrong. But also you.”

Spite growls and his hands move to grab at Voltah's hips. “Mine.”

“Maybe.” A smirk plays at the corner of Voltah's lips. 

Spite digs his nails into them. “Mine,” he repeats.

Voltah laughs. “If you want me to be yours, let's make some dreams come true.”

That's all the invitation Spite needs. 

[invinciblerodent]

A couple small highlights of my partner's first run of Veilguard so far-

- His main reason for having chosen to use they/them pronouns for his Rook, Dio (an elven Shadow Dragon he headcanons as a Liberati), was that the character is a rogue. Because they-slash-them. Groan. (His other reason was that he's not very good at spoken English yet, and pretty regularly struggles with conjugation specifically- he said that this would give him a great opportunity to practice using the singular they/them. Which I think is really sweet of him.)

- So far, before every opportunity to flirt with Neve, he's looked back at me over his shoulder, and given me a joking-dirty look, just because since I pointed it out that his LI is always the first dark-haired woman he meets, he's not been able to unsee it. (Then he flirts with her anyway. Some habits are hard to break.)("Yeah, I GUESS the detective and the rogue work well. Maybe she like, helped free them or whatever. And yeah, so WHAT if she's pretty. Yeah, okay, so WHAT if they like her, they make sense together.")(idk why he makes excuses, I've never once judged him lol)

- Dio appears to be somewhat heavily inspired by Aladdin, and is vaguely jealous of Lucanis (for limply flirting with Neve once), equal parts envious of-, and impressed by Davrin ("of COURSE it had to be RAINING when Mr. Deep Voice said that cool line, right, JUST so his chest will glisten like that? *pout at the screen* You're not even that cool. I'm cooler. Watch me do a backfl-DON'T DO A BACKFLIP TOO!")("oh, cool ogre statue." "He made that." "....... I mean it's not that cool. It's not like he's, idk, that talented or whatever. 😒"), and working tirelessly to act as a "mini-Varric". It's very difficult not to accidentally spoil anything, but this second time seeing things, a LOT is recontextualized for me for sure.

- He's hugged Assan maybe, like, ten times. We've had Davrin for about two hours. And we've also grabbed Taash in the interim. .....I've seen a LOT of griffon-hugging.

- The noise he made upon stumbling into Solas With Hair, I can only describe as a guffaw. He had to pause for like a minute to be able to hear what people were saying. It was very cute.

Stay tuned for how this'll all progress (the end will probably break him)

[rannadylin]

Veilguard: Ranna's Rook intros!

Waaaay back in November, I might have posted a time or two about my first Rook? Since then I've been a bit distracted from Tumblr by, uh, playing three more of them. XD I just started the fifth playthrough so I'd better pop in and show some Rooks off before I get too far into this one and forget how to blog again!

Possibly mild spoilers to follow along with pretty pictures and very brief summaries beneath the cut...

Caeda Mercar, Shadow Dragon rogue who romanced Lucanis (alas, yes, she saved Treviso at the expense of her home Minrathous! worth it. She did also flirt a bit with Davrin early on when Lucanis was still being shy about it, but basically I started the game thinking I'd probably romance Emmrich and then Lucanis spited right out of that Ossuary cell and through a gaggle of Venatori in five seconds flat and Caeda went all heart eyes and set her cap for him irrevocably.) Started out more of an archer rogue (usually one of my favorite DA playstyles) but halfway through she started leaning more toward daggers. We'll assume that was her favorite Crow's influence. (Or that Ranna was figuring out how to play XD)

After Caeda I jumped straight back into CC to make...

Veryl Ingellvar, Mourn Watch mage who romanced Emmrich. Whereas Caeda had the first-playthrough honor of just picking whatever dialogue options I felt like at the time, so she had a pretty broadly mixed personality, this one specialized in what, in ages past, we would've called Blue Hawke personality. :-D Very golden-retriever, Miss Positivity, etc. (She reminded me of Violet Itzli sometimes. :-D) I thought she'd be a staff mage but then I fell in love with orb & dagger so she did a lot of that too, though not as much as the yet to come 4th playthrough would...

Next up we have:

Akish Thorne, Grey Warden Warrior who started out sword & board (throwing shields is fun!) and switched to mostly two-hander (when I realized you can still throw the shield even when you're not apparently holding one!). He romanced Bellara (who reminded me of Yolotli Itzli from the moment I met her :-D ...Akish is not exactly Anselm though), and if Veryl was a Blue Hawke Rook, Akish was mostly Red Hawke, except for being a big softie whenever it came to Bel. (Also, for his endgame I played through once with Neve doing the wards on Tearstone and then again with Bellara and...I like that second one better. Oh the narrative parallels between him being a blighted Warden and then seeing Bellara get blighted but survive it too! Also I like Bel better for that part of endgame in general; it's a bit of character development - her moving from seeming more of an innocent to someone who has survived something pretty massive and draws strength from it to save the day in the end! - that she just needs more than Neve does.)

Other than Bellara, Akish's favorite thing in the world is griffons. :-D Also his eyes are supposedly violet though the screenshots make it hard to tell.

I had plans to play an Adaar Inquisitor in DAI but never got around to that playthrough before burnout hit so Akish is my first Qunari OC and I had such fun with him!

Next up: I just finished playing Rook Number Four:

Arucari "Rook" De Riva. Yes, Rook is short for Arucari. :-D She romanced Lucanis because, um, it appears that he is my Daeran for this game (i.e. I played WOTR 7 times through one summer and romanced Daeran for three of them. Guess I've got at least one more Lucanis romance to go this time around. XD) She is a mage because I missed playing as a spellblade, and a Crow because it is technically the Crow Spellblade specialization, and because I wanted to see how romancing Lucanis with another Crow went. (Conclusion: It went spectacularly! She was such fun.) She was my Purple Hawke girl, always teasing and deflecting with humor anytime things are awkward, but also generally positive beneath that. Also she got extra-large eyes in homage to DA2 elves. :-D Here is a better view of them:

She is an excellent Crow. No one ever expects assassination from anything this cute.

And last but not least...

Linza Laidir is my 5th playthrough, just barely begun! Go Team Dwarf. :-D (Team Dwarven Rogues, to be specific! We gained a Neve just after this screenshot and dear Neve has never looked so tall, being surrounded by Children of the Stone.) Don't know yet if she will be more of an archer rogue or a daggers rogue, whichever lends itself more to Gold and Glory, of course! Not sure yet about her personality (probably swinging between Blue and Red Hawke types? She did beat up everyone in the bar to get Neve Gallus' location, whereas most of my Rooks have talked the bartender down. But I think despite a knack for highly effective violence she's also a sweet little Team Mom who will be teaming up with Lucanis and Bellara for the cooking. And probably romancing Davrin. (Was I inspired by Antoine & Evka's elf/dwarf dynamic? No comment.)

So clearly I'm enjoying Veilguard overall, and from the factions & romances I've played so far, I rank them as follows:

Grey Warden

Crow

Shadow Dragon

Mourn Watcher

And...

Lucanis <3

Bellara

Emmrich

Which. Considering I went into the first playthrough expecting to fall for Emmrich, is interesting to see how it actually played out so far! Also, clearly I need to play a Warden for my third Lucanis romance, right? :-D

[mirandaputsherbestbuttforward]

Anyway, I finished Dragon Age: The Veilguard just over 85 hours for the whole thing (definitely missed some puzzles and a bit of loot here and there), but here are a collection of my thoughts before going to bed.

Spoilers below!

Genuinely, I think it was a solid game. The writing and themes throughout are really potent. I think the dialogue in some places was a little 80s cheesy or a BIT out of place in the DA setting but I definitely laughed at a lot of it.

I think the companions were great, though I found myself not really caring for Lucanis (and I'm not torn up that I accidentally got him killed in the endgame).

Neve, on the other hand, was a sniper shot directly at my forehead; she is carrying out the legacy of the Emotionally Distant Usuallly Hetero BioWare Brunette™ that I have always fallen for, but thankfully not straight this time (bless).

I think the environments were amazing and had so much depth even if the maps were more 'linear' in terms of areas to explore but I loved not having fetch quests. I loved being able to use companion abilities to unlock more parts of the map as we went along.

I do think there was a lot of content - which is good - but it did feel like a bit of a slow go to start.

I felt that the romance wasn't necssarily lacking in terms of BioWare's standard style of romances with casual flirting -> serious flirting -> kiss scene -> romance scene just prior to endgame, BUT because there was so much to do in Act 2, it felt like I wasn't getting anywhere fast and so spacing it out that way felt like there could've been a few more little things in between (e.g. kiss animations like BG3, or something) to hold us over.

In terms of story, I think for the most part it really fit into the series well enough; I don't think the lack of worldstate mattered too much in order to tell the story they wanted to tell with Solas. A few mentioned and call backs are all we would've gotten and I'm okay with that (e.g. like who you picked for Divine or who is ruling Fereldan, etc).

I like that we got to explore more Dwarf lore again, I think this fandom needs to be more into dwarves because holy shit.... the whole reason they can't dream???????? insane.

Also in terms of gameplay, the combat was fun and refreshing, and very mass effect-y and I loved it. I was a warrior and just had fun smashing the shit out of everything. I do wish we had more loot / options to work with (lowkey missed the crafting system in DAI to make our own stuff) but I get why they did it like that.

I loved Rook, and I know that you can't be a super aggressive asshole but tbh this doesn't call for it. They were brought in as someone who could help the team and work together.

As someone on tiktok said, they are friends with fully developed prefrontal cortexes and act like it; DA2 companions are not found family, they are only friends with Hawke and only tolerate each other because of that mutual friendship. Inquisitor is like the manager of a bunch of coworkers.

ANYWAY, I think Rook was a fine protag, and I LOVED the CC aside from a few things like why do some of the more detailed complexions get a 5 o clock shadow embedded into it? No age slider??? no grey hair slider???

Fat slider good but should've had more. Also the boob/ass slider lacking like I get it that it helps keep armours intact but they should've let the sliders go more for better shapes.

All in all, I'm giving it a solid 8.5/10, and well worth the 10 year wait.

I just hope that they get to make a DA5 with that hint they dropped on us in the post-credit scene. I was really hoping for DA Absolution to have a tie in because what the fuck has Meredith Stannard been doing beefing w tevinter to get a circlet to bring someone back from the dead, and what plot point is that gonna be????? but anyway I guess I can hope for a season 2 of DA Absolution next

[utilitycaster]

I HAVE VEILGUARDED. everything below the cut for spoiler reasons. I will also say to the anon I shut down earlier (again, me not you!) that I do intend to do a second run because I had a marvelous time, I would really love to do the Dock Town quests and explore Neve's other options (and romance her, frankly) and check out some of the other companion options (honestly I'd be open to almost all of them except for Lichdom. sorry I refuse to leave Manfred dead and I'm correct.) and maybe this time I'll actually solve the stupid wisp puzzles and get all the chests and uhhhhh maybe even play on Easy mode instead of Easier Than Easy mode (because lbr my equipment does not matter a ton because. story mode.)

because I am a good girl and did all the quests everyone lived. I also accidentally got the best ending, because Rook in this run is a romantic and optimistic person. This is funny to me because I am god's greatest hater and so I am ROLEPLAYING a character who is like yeah inquisitor go be with your boyfriend who looks like a stupid egg. I did have the Diet Essence Of Mythal but I've been informed the secret even better ending only hits if you know other past characters, which I don't, so whomst cares!

Takes on characters from previous games in brief. Obviously Harding is great. Solas gets his happy ending and that is FINE I guess. Generic Default Inquisitor Lavellan is like. again Rook is like "do what makes you happy but I am like DUMP HIM. which means that while Morrigan is very "I say things in a portentous voice that are extremely obvious" to me, her deep and abiding hater tendencies towards Solas do it for me. Obviously Varric is great as well. Dorian and Mae? Great (unsure if Mae is in previous games but anyway, love her). Not sure who else is a returning character but I think that covers the bulk of it.

This is very out of order but: because no one died other than of course Davrin in the Isle of the Gods, the pay respect for the dead scene is unintentionally really fucking funny to me, a person who has had to go into morgues for professional reasons. Literally like I walk into a morgue where I know zero people. I walk out. I pass Teia and Viago flirting aggressively as an archdemon ravages Minrathous. I continue.

The final conversations are really good; blighted Neve is of course horrifying but she gets better and her nailpolish, crucially, is not chipped. This is HILARIOUS to me. The final romance line with Bellara is lovely. The ending conversations are all really good but Taash's and Emmrich's were my favorite outside of Bellara's. My girlfriend and I are going to hang out with griffons and she's going to write so much fanfiction about us and it will be unhinged.

Hilarious and sexy of me to wear the appearance of the shadow dragons armor I got literally in like. Shadows of Minrathous or something. the entire fucking time. You can see it in the screenshots and I assure you it's only for the vibes (deep V neck and sick chest tats), I am actually in +8 Warden Champion full plate armor and wearing some wild-ass helm (I did not at any point hide the appearance of my shield. even when I was using the gaudiest gold one that looks like a shell from the lords of fortune. I eventually got a very sick-ass Mourn Watch shield). But it does feel really funny to like, pick Treviso, send Neve to the shadow realm, and wear this armor the full time. I literally didn't see Tarquin for like 2.5 acts.

Elger'nan's first form is weak to necrotic damage. I took Taash and Lucanis. I am fully statted out as a reaper. I have an AOE that does over a thousand necrotic damage. genuinely it was a comedy, I triggered the cut scene where Neve goes to the throne and wrests control so Solas can kill the archdemon almost immediately. Second battle was harder but also level 50 story mode so it was FINE.

I do think a Trick Solas ending would be fun; fighting him seems like it would just kind of suck but like. It's funny I actually really did feel grateful after Blood of Arlathan and then after he stuck me in the mind prison I was like FUCK THIS GUY FOR REAL even after he helped us through in the endgame and killed the archdemon.

Lords of Fortune continue to be hilarious to me. There's a codex that's very BY OUR POWERS COMBINED right before the final assault on Minrathous that I described thusly:

Then in the final scene before the narration the Lords are pulling people out of the wreckage. Imagine you're in a world-ending fight during an eclipse with wild-ass mood lighting and you are trapped under rubble as a horrifying blight tentacle monster rages above and then it all stops and THEN someone in a gold bikini helps you up.

In all seriousness the fact that the Mourn Watch and Lords of Fortune don't come up in the final narration does have me like. yeah whoever wrote their faction quests should have worked harder. I know the mourn watch is largely unscathed because there's no point blighting the undead but like, idk, I feel there could have been more venatori work there that tied into Zara's whole deal, and the Antaam or Wardens ties to Rivain could have been more thoroughly explored. Taash and Emmrich's companion questlines are fantastic but even playing Mourn Watch and loving the build and the vibe, I was like hmmmm this is underserved.

Second hater moment: loved the song over the credits but it felt jarring as hell to have a modern sound here. stick to the hans zimmer. this reminds me, I should listen to the soundtrack because as my Midst Mutuals can attest I am literally the worst at noticing themes. I know Harding's and Emmrich's because I really like them and like, I vaguely recall Lucanis's because it's got accordion elements but otherwise I'm like uhhhhh if it's not the main theme or the Solas theme I'm confused.

I also realized that hilariously, if you like Neve or Lucanis but are ok with romancing someone else (and I very much am) it's actually kind of great to fuck over their city because then you feel justified in taking them out on every single mission to try to up your bond level.

Finished with Lucanis, Harding, and Bellara fully level 10 and everyone else level 9 (including Davrin, RIP); I do wonder how you can get everyone to 10. I might have assigned some quests badly but also like, 9 ain't bad.

anyway feel free to ask questions; this was great and I'm so happy I did it.

[butterflydm]

DAV continues (with an unexpected romance)

One of my biggest quests in DAV is to pet every animal that the game allows (which are a lot). The controller vibrates when I pet them! Genuinely the true petting experience!

I am so glad that the game allowed me to voice being suspicious as fuck of Illario at the end of "Bloodbath" (which ended up being a pun, how dare they, lol) because I am suspicious as fuck of Illario! He was able to use blood magic to get Spite to back off?

And I feel like I was suspicious of him in earlier scenes too. Maybe my suspicions will prove unfounded but... he's a non-mage using blood magic to control a demon. Suspicious!

So my basic plan is to do every side quest possible before continuing with any main quests. Sadly! I didn't realize that Neve's walking tour interaction would go away after recruiting Davrin (because of the dragons attacking Minrathous and Treviso), so I will need to do that one on my second play-through, which will either be a dwarven character (because they would have a very different reaction to all things Solas) and/or a Shadow Dragon (so that I won't pick Treviso - because it makes sense to go to Treviso because it just seems more vulnerable than Minrathous!).

Turned down a romance option with Harding. I do want to flirt a lot more in my second run, I think, but I am, like, laser-locked on Lucanis for this one, lol. Literally catnip, what with being an Antivan Crow and needing to deal with spirit/demon issues.

I've gotten close to being genuine friends with several companions and I really like being able to walk into them having conversations with each other (which I feel like was more of a thing in ME3, and I liked it there too). I also like that the game flags when they have a conversation available for Rook.

On a more serious note... um, it sounds like the Griffons died in the fourth Blight because they all got blighted? Maybe? I went through the Cauldron and it feels really sad and depressing. I think that the Gloom Howler might have originally been a Warden? This is my guess. Maybe a Warden that went down to the Deep Roads hearing the Calling?

I really love how much care it feels like was put into these main regions and stories. There really aren't any thrown-away side quests that aren't connected to something (I love DAI but... man, the fetch quests and random collection bullshit. I did 100% completion on that game ONCE and never again. after that, my Inkys only did what made sense for them as a character, lol).

Super-exciting development: So I turned down romance opportunities for both Harding and Taash, and now Taash is asking me for advice about gifts for courting Harding!! I vaguely remember reading pre-game that DAV would have something like that (like how Dorian and Iron Bull can get together in DAI or Garrus and Tali in ME) but now it's happening and I'm so excited! Will there be more side romances? Stay tuned! (this is probably the best play-through for it, since I'm so focused on only Lucanis in particular, lol)

I was also able to push a bit forward on my romance with Lucanis -- I got the moment when you can either accept or decline to continue your flirtation. Since his happened earlier than some of the others, I wonder if that means he has a potential other relationship if Rook declines to follow through on the flirtation (or if it's based on high friendship with him).

This scene was just as delightful as the coffee date. Genuinely, this type of romance in RPG always delights me? The messier the romance the better, tbh. I'm so thrilled for my tiny elf Rook for getting their almost-kiss and hope that they get everything their heart desires when it comes to Lucanis.

We also had a conversation with Spite during that scene and that was very interesting, because Spite feels like Lucanis hasn't lived up to his side of the deal. Very very interesting! Their deal was about working together to escape the prison and to take revenge on their captors (and to live, which was interesting).

Anyway, I'm about to go on another group mission to help the Wardens (another great thing! This is the second group mission we've done in the game, where we take along the rest of the team too, and I love it so much), but I wanted to post because I hit a couple of fun romantic milestones. I will be playing more tonight and tomorrow. <3

[hustlemeanokay]

One of the things I like the most about the multiple backgrounds in DA Veilguard is the opportunity for it to play into my most beloved trope. The "ex lover" trope that I just can't get enough of. OR The related trope that I adore!

And since it's still such a new game, I'm putting the rest below the cut because I talk about specific characters.

Things like... these are just rando ideas that have already flittered through my head -

A Shadow Dragon Rook who shows up at the meeting with Neve in Dock Town to meet Tarquin and like Ashur isn't supposed to actually drop down because he's supposed to be all sneaky-sneaky at those kinds of meetings - a silent observer type. But oh no, it's them. It's the ex. It's the unfinished business ex. It's the they were sent away for their safety, didn't want to order it but had to get them out of Tevinter and there was a big argument about it ex. An ex that isn't an ex, an ex that he's no idea really what they are now? It's been almost a year since he's seen them and now, here they are, call themselves Rook and talking about ancient elven gods?! What have they gotten themselves into!? But Tarquin doesn't know them. He's not been there long enough. Neve doesn't know either. Only a few Shadows in the city know them. And absolutely no one knows about them and Ashur. So - he drops down. Because he has to. Because it's them. And - voila. Ready made background complications and a whole wealth of possibilities!

or...

A Crow Rook who, up until about a year ago, was with Viago. But he's not the issue in the situation. Not really. It's Lucanis. It's Smite. It's the "mine" feeling that Lucanis feels nearly overwhelm him and he's not sure whether it's from himself or if it's Smite's influence. Because he didn't know about Viago's lover before Teia. He knew Viago had one, of course. But Viago had always been so... secretive, to a certain degree. And Lucanis had always been so busy with contracts, too busy to notice. He'd caught glimpses of them but never actually met them. But now... now they're his collogue. And he has to stand there and listen to Teia tease and flirt with them. Tease Viago about how pretty they are, how much of a dear they are. How sweet they are. He has to watch how Viago fusses over them just enough for him to know that Viago didn't want it to be over but Treviso comes first. Antiva comes first. And Rook's actions? Well, they had to get away for a while. And maybe Rook broke it off with Viago when they left. Or maybe Viago did. Either way, it is over between them. And there's no ill will between Teia, Viago, and Rook. Rook's genuinely pleased with Teia and Viago, teasing that it's about time the two of them got together. Poking fun at Viago, flirting with him in a way that makes Lucanis' teeth grind together.

or...

The Veil Jumper Rook who runs into their father in Arlathan Forest. Strife who looks at them with such disgruntled disappointment. The tension! The angst! The Rook who has to strive to prove themselves! Or who fights against it! Who either embraces or rebels against their father whos whole life is the Veil Jumpers!

or...

The Qunari Lord of Fortune who's own father is not too different than Shathann. Who's father is still very Qun-esk. Who demands a lot of their child. Who requires their obedience. Who is a lot more aggressive about it. Who understands Taash in a way that Taash never knew someone could. I mean, there's just so much here to be explored about two people coming together from two points that seem so close together but can be so far apart.

or...

The Mourn Watch Rook who was raised in the Necropolis just like Emmrich. Who played in the gardens amongst the headstones. Who was surrounded by wisps and whos laugher and giggles would carry. Maybe they're the same age, roughly, as Emmrich. Maybe they're younger. Either way, maybe they've been a strange sort of constant in the background of Emmrich's life. But never center stage. Never right there in the front. Always on his periphery. But now, he's working directly with them and he's flustered because omg, they're wonderful. And they're beautiful. they're precious. And they get him. They understand him. But maybe Vorgoth is the one who raised them? Or maybe Vorgoth is protective of them. Or something? I don't know I'm making this up as I go. Maybe Vorgoth is like "whoa Emmrich, back up dog - think again if you think you're gonna just waltz up in here and woo them" and Emmrich of course is like "excuse me? woo? me?" And Manfred's all "ahhhh" with gloved hands held up in cheers because of course he'd be like "yes! we likes the strangely happy watcher person who always wants us around!"

[livingthedragonlife]

Spicy Rook Questions

i wanted to answer all of these, because i have thought about it so much already

[the ask game in question]

[my Rook, real name Valonril, also Val, I use all 3 interchangeably. Important for this game in particular, he romanced Davrin]

1. What is Rook's sexual orientation and identity? What are their pronouns?

Val is a gay trans man! He/him man liker.

2. Is Rook dominant, submissive or a switch?

Definitely leans submissive, but I think in very specific circumstances/scenes he’d be able to Dom a bit. Especially if the scene itself involved switching, like he starts out sub, gets to Dom a little in the middle, but is a sub again by the end, something like that!

3. How often does Rook spend "alone time"?

Not too often, since he’s busy trying to save the world and all that. He tries to use what little time he can spend relaxing to legit just sleep and play with his puzzle and stuff, but if he has the energy to jerk it he can. He definitely furiously jerks off after Assan cockblocks him, due to the blue color his non-existent balls turned.

4. Does Rook have any sensitive spots?

Definitely the neck, he turns goopy for neck kisses and gets insane about neck bites.

5. Is Rook down for casual one-night stands?

Oh, totally. He had his post-top-surgery Slut Phase and hopped around the Veil Jumpers a bit when he realized sex wasn’t a horrible dysphoria nightmare anymore. He hasn’t done it in a while, but had considered trying it out again when the Everything is over. But then he romanced Davrin, so he’d have another person’s consent to consider!

6. Is Rook attracted to anyone (specific person or just negative qualities) they shouldn’t be and why? (bonus points if it's not their love interest)

“Shouldn’t” is interesting. I guess he kind of regrets being attracted to some of his exes due to how shitty they were to him, and maybe feels a little conflicted in general about being attracted to certain kinds of masculinity that are out of reach for him. Like, HRT is great, but it can’t change his height, shoulder width, or hipbones, y’know? He worries about being attracted to men for the “wrong” reasons—“do I want him, or do I want to be him?”—and he definitely been with dudes mainly out of envy, not necessarily because he even liked them lmao. But he’s more secure in himself now, and tries not to let it get to him so much.

7. Does Rook have any kinks? Do they act on it or just think about it?

OH, DOES HE!

[find out what they are under the cut! it's long lmao]

First off, Davrin’s primal play, hunter/prey flirting they had going on absolutely had his number and he didn’t even realize he was into that. Genuinely from the first moment that was on the table, he went, “Oh okay so this is what I’m into now? Awesome.” He fully leaned into it 0 to 100.

As for the rest, he loves biting and being bitten. He will chomp if you let him. He’s also into marks, like hickeys and stuff. I’d say light bondage, because he does like to struggle, that’s part of it for him. He’d hate being tied up so much he physically couldn’t move at all, but just wrists or just ankles, he’s all for it. It’s hard to tell if he’s into exhibitionism, or if he’s just used to banging in camps in the woods with limited privacy and lots of people around—perhaps both? Not sure if these count as kinks, but he likes being manhandled and wants to put his mouth on all of Davrin’s scars so bad.

And… okay, I know there has to be a more concise name for this kink, but I don’t know what it is. Due to HRT potion, Val has vaginal atrophy and has not used his front hole in a long time, until he gets sick of the pain and uses the transgender network of the Shadow Dragons to help him get treatment for it. He still mostly uses his ass for dysphoria reasons, but when he’s capable of getting wet again/PIV sex isn’t automatically physically painful, he finds that it can, at times, be hotter to want something in his cunt but not get it. Wanting PIV but only getting anal, asking for one type of sex but getting another. Please inform me of the word for this, it’s not just denial, right?

8. What's Rook's favorite thing their partner can do for them in bed (hair-pulling, pinned wrists, etc.)? Is there something they don't like at all?

Favorite thing is biting him. He will look at you with big eyes and ask you to bite him literally anywhere. Pinned wrists is another big one, but even that pales in comparison to the chomp.

Despite how long and lovely his hair is, he absolutely hates hair-pulling. Bad stim. He can tolerate his hair being held out of the way or lightly combed through, but never pull on it. He’ll bite you and it won’t be sexy.

9. What does Rook like to wear and what do they like seeing their partner in (e.g. lingerie)?

Valonril will wear nothing as if it’s lingerie, because he’s tried very hard to love his body, dammit, and now you will too.

He prefers seeing Davrin in, uh, also nothing actually, but sometimes the titty window tunic is lingerie in and of itself.

10. What is Rook's favorite part of their partner’s body?

Joke answer is those Grey Warden bazongas.

Real answer is that Davrin has lovely calloused hands, that are as used to sword hilts as they are to carving sculptures in exquisite detail. There’s gentle warmth and creativity behind his strength, and maybe they’re one in the same. Val likes watching Davrin get into the very small details of his carvings for non-sexy reasons, but he could absolutely make them sexy if pressed.

11. What is Rook's favorite intimate non-sexual thing to do with their partner?

When they sit and do crafts together. Val cleaning or making adjustments to his armor, or someone else’s armor he offered to mess with, Davrin working on his next monster for the bestiary. And a close second is when they sit in front of Davrin’s fireplace and cuddle together, Val working on his puzzle, and sometimes he’ll (lovingly) harass Davrin into singing for him. Assan is there too.

12. What gets them both in the mood?

I have so many ideas for these two, and the horniest ones always come down to some kind of ridiculous competition they made up for themselves that really was not necessary. Combat sparring as foreplay, comparing scars and getting progressively more naked, literally wrestling to decide who gets to be on top (Rook will lose on purpose), invoking vir sulevanan for sex reasons. Like guys, come on.

13. Do they prefer foreplay or are they impatient?

Well the thrill of the chase wins out every time, obviously.

Serious answer: Val usually likes a buildup so he can decide how dysphoric he’s feeling today, and which kind of sex he feels comfortable enough to have.

14. Who is usually on top? Do they switch?

Davrin is usually the top, because Rook didn’t have a way to top him for kind of a while. And then Davrin carved a wooden dick for him, Val crafts his own strap, and they enjoy flipping the script <3

15. Do they have names for each other in bed?

Valonril committed to the bit to close to the sun, and “Griffon Daddy” was a joke until it wasn’t. Usually without the “Griffon” qualifier.

16. Are they adventurous in bed?

Valonril is… cautiously adventurous I would say? He prefers to stick to what he likes because he knows he’s not at risk of dysphoria (most of the time) or bad sensory feelings, but given enough time to think about something and talk it over, he can be flexible.

17. Do they have a favorite place?

To bang? For Rook, anywhere convenient and comfortable works, but he has a particular affinity for going at it in the woods. Under the trees, it’s pretty, it’s quiet, and there’s hardly ever anyone else around.

18. Are they into (consensual) pain?

If you count the biting, then yes absolutely. Not sure if Val would be into any other types of pain. He might be charmed by bondage rope burn, as evidence of how hard he fought, in vain, to free himself. He also definitely enjoys biting Davrin hard enough to get a reaction (which is always an achievement in his mind), and some truly nasty clawing at his back, either from his feral horniness or pretending to fight back.

19. What is the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to them in bed?

Probably upon realizing he wasn’t just calling Davrin “daddy” for the bit. He started this whole thing to get under Davrin’s skin, but he got under his own skin by mistake. This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to him.

20. Have they ever had a threesome? If not, would they? With whom?

As previously mentioned, Rook had his Slut Era while he was with the Veil Jumpers, which included a threesome that he enjoyed very much. He would love to have another one, Davrin included this time, and the third would probably be Eloren, a friend from the Veil Jumpers he would fuck sometimes. They haven’t slept together in ages, and Val would obviously want Eloren and Davrin to meet each other first and see if they get along, but in his imagination it goes perfectly.

21. Morning or evening?

Whenever. Morning is good if he’s in the mood and they’re fast, but they usually have so much going on during the day that the evening is more convenient.

22. Have they ever been caught?

Nothing quite like looking for Rook around the Lighthouse, only for the magical door to his room to fling itself open and you discover that he didn’t hear it. In fact, he probably can’t hear himself think right now! You back away slowly, glad that the weird green couch is facing away from the entrance.

I couldn't decide which companion was the funniest to scar for life, so feel free to imagine the funniest character to you personally.

23. Are they into dirty talk?

Big flashing YES neon sign over Rook’s head. He’s staring at Davrin pointedly.

24. Are they loud or quiet together?

Rook loses grip on his self-control very easily, and may be physically incapable of shutting up if he’s in his happy place. Kissing him to shut him up works most of the time, but they both only have so much lung capacity. Luckily the Lighthouse rooms are pretty far apart? Unless they’re in his room I guess. Whoops.

25. Do they have a safe word?

They use “azhe” which is (from this fan dictionary) the elvish word for “trouble.” Pretty straightforward!

26 . What do they usually do after? Are they a couple that likes to cuddle?

BIG time cuddlers. They are touching and kissing on each other for many minutes. Rook is usually the first one to fall asleep, but that just means he gets to be warm and comfy while he dozes off.

[elcor-thespian]

For the tarot ask, I was wondering about the livers and the star (if you have time)

Your rooks are so interesting!

Crying screaming up. I can't believe someone wants to hear about my children. Bless you.

The Lovers: Who is your Rook's most significant relationship within the Veilguard? How do they help Rook feel seen and understood?

I feel like it's cheating to use a romantic relationship for this. We're going to go deeper.

Nasreen Aldwir and Nephele Mercer

I'm actually going to go past the obvious too and not say Nasreen and Aleksei. Nasreen and Aleksei are essentially siblings, because they were raised together from the time Nasreen was about 11 to 18. But they've been estranged for several years, and while they do get to that point again by the end of the game, Nasreen harbors a lot of resentment towards Aleksei and she won't confide in him at first the way she used to.

Nasreen definitely sees Bellara as a mentor, which makes it all the more complicated when Aleksei joins and starts flirting with her. But she has a really hard time making friends, and I don't think she would classify anyone in the Veil Jumpers as such. Similarly, Nephele has been a Shadow Dragon for much longer than Paloma, and Paloma looks up to her a lot, and idolizes her (much more so than Bellara and Nasreen). I don't think Nephele notices this at all.

In my canon, each of my 7 "Rooks" were independently agents of Varric's that he would call on at different times for different reasons. When the game opens, Nephele, Elspeth, and Paloma are the ones with Varric, with Nephele being the one that the game opens on in the bar, and the one that disrupts the ritual and becomes the protagonist. The next day or the day after they go to Arlathan, where they pick up Nasreen and Bellara (and then Brenna in D'Meta's Crossing).

Nephele is great at making surface level friends, but doesn't allow people to get very deep with her. But for some reason these two just locked eyes and immediately got each other. You ever have that with a friend? Like, thank god, someone who's freak matches my freak (platonically).

Nephele opens up to Nasreen in ways she hasn't with anyone before (although not quite as much as she eventually does with Lucanis), and she just instinctively trusts that Nasreen will listen without judgement and not share anything she tells her. Nasreen has never had a female friend, and can talk with her about things she's never had anyone to talk to about before, especially when she starts to develop feelings for Emmrich. Nasreen has no dating history and is very much of her depth. Nephele is a professional flirt. In many ways their relationship is very big sister, little sister.

Aleksei Laidir, Konstantin Ingellvar, and Paloma

I am so obsessed with these three's dynamic it's not even funny.

Both Konstantin and Paloma are very quiet, apparently stoic people for different reasons. Paloma is a deeply traumatized person (ex-Saarebas), who desperately wants to engage but has no experience in having conversations or making friends. She will think so deeply about exactly what she wants to say, that oftentimes the conversation will move on before she can say it and so she ends up saying nothing. She's not nervous about how people will take the things she says, she literally had her mouth sewn shut for years and doesn't have the practice with forming words. When she does eventually speak, it's startles people since they've often forgotten that she's still there.

Konstantin is the poster child for low self esteem and social anxiety. He is so worried about what people think about him, and he desperately wants to make a good impression. Through no fault of his own, his size (7'2" Qunari brick shithouse) means that he is often banging in to things or breaking things and he is just trying to get through life as unobtrusively as possible. So, like Paloma (and Nasreen, and Nephele) but for different reasons, he doesn't have any close friends.

Aleksei is the polar opposite. This ADHD king has never thought once about something he's said or done, let alone twice. He is constantly fucking up and as long as it all works out in the end, that's a win. He is very socially capable, like Nephele, and the two of them can charm their way in or out of any interaction.

Konstantin is sort of an assistant/bodyguard for Emmrich (Emmrich would say that he's his mentor, but Konstantin feels bashful about that term because he isn't a mage so he really tries to downplay it), and comes with him when he gets recruited.

The day they move to the Lighthouse, Konstantin is unpacking his and Emmrich's things, and Aleksei decides he's going to help. He's been at the Lighthouse for like a week now and basically no one has asked him to do anything useful or important, so he's feeling very superfluous. This leads to a lot of hijinks because a lot of what needs unpacking and sorting through is books, correspondence, notes, etc. and Aleksei can baaaarrrely read. He doesn't want anyone to know, so he does a lot of picking things up, putting them down in random places, rearranging piles indiscriminately, and just generally making things take 10x longer than they needed to.

However Konstantin really doesn't notice because the whole time Aleksei is chattering away: introducing himself, giving the backstory of what Konstantin has missed so far, and gossiping about the other companions. It's probably the longest anyone has ever spoke to Konstantin. And what's more he asks lots of questions, which makes it easier for Konstantin to engage than if he had to come up with talking points himself. And Aleksei seems GENUINELY interested in what he has to say. So what if it takes them 6 hours to put away a few books?

In the same way that Nephele and Nasreen are the embodiment of the importance of female friendships, Konstantin and Aleksei are absolutely what a non-toxic male friendship looks like. Aleksei is constantly including Konstantin in conversations and advocating for him, and Konstantin would absolutely die for this boy.

Ok so where does Paloma come in. This is all like two days after the dragon attacks on Minrathous and Treviso. Paloma had been really confident in her role in this as a Shadow Dragon, and had just been tagging along with whatever Neve and Nephele were doing (side note: I picked the name Nephele before we knew about the companions and I refuse to change it. Sometimes people in friend groups have similar sounding names). However, when Nephele helps Treviso and Neve leaves the Lighthouse, it's a lot less clear what Paloma is supposed to be doing. She's still at the Lighthouse, but she's going to Minrathous during the day to help with relief efforts, but she still very much idolizes Nephele and wants to support her. It's all very muddled and the vibes are BAD. Paloma isn't used to making decisions, she's used to being told where to go.

Konstantin and Aleksei are hanging out most of the time now and at one point a couple days in Paloma hears them while walking by Konstantin's room and she lingers in the doorway for just a second. Aleksei immediately invites her in and gives her the same welcoming treatment (even though Paloma has technically been on the team longer than him).

So now we have two giant Qunari sitting criss cross applesauce on the floor while Aleksei is basically doing the yapping of 6 people. And Konstantin and Paloma just kind of keep exchanging looks like "What is happening and how did we get here?". But they roll with it, and before you know it they've both been surgically attached to this small boy. Who they keep having to stop from blowing himself up on a daily basis.

Aleksei is so important to them because he lets them engage at their own pace without ever showing any judgement and without any awkward silences. They both end up talking more in those hang out sessions than they probably ever have in their lives.

Meanwhile, Paloma and Konstantin's relationship is so important that it makes me sick. Konstantin has literally never known another Qunari. They do pick up Taash pretty soon after this but they are not nearly as easy to get to know. Konstantin clings to Paloma (not literally, Paloma's not a touchy person) because he finally has someone else around that at least looks like him, and for the most part acts like him. They actually don't have that similar of personalities, but it's enough.

Paloma, conversely, grew up primarily around Qunari (yes, we're using the word Qunari to describe specifically people that look like her, obviously any person of any race can technically be Qunari), and she had a BAD time. Her relationship with her heritage is very fraught, and she has made a point to avoid any Qunari since leaving the Qun (which is easy to do in Minrathous). So it's very healing to have this positive relationship with another Qunari who is very sweet and quiet and kind, and also is very comfortable with magic having grown up in the Necropolis. Paloma ends up romancing Taash, and I don't think she would have had the ability to do that without first forming that friendship with Konstantin.

Brenna Thorne and Elspeth de Riva

We're in the home stretch folks. Brenna and Elspeth have very similar personalities, and are on the same page about a lot of things. They are both warriors and spend a lot of time training together. They aren't particularly emotionally close with each other for the bulk of the game. I don't think most people get that close to either one of them.

However, when Davrin dies, Elspeth refuses to leave Brenna alone. She sits with her at all hours, and she and Lace make a blanket fort for the three of them to sleep in in Harding's room (other people join the blanket fort from time to time during the time Nephele is in the fade prison. Especially Aleksei, who is having a Bad Time dealing with Bellara's disappearance). Most of the time they don't talk. Sometimes they do. But Brenna is never alone.

Brenna's family disowned her when she became a Warden, which she's never really let her self dwell on. She's used to dealing with everything by herself. She was just starting to get to the point with Davrin where she saw herself letting someone in, and that was taken away from her. If no one had been there to step up, Brenna probably would not have recovered. She absolutely would have died in the final battle. But she realizes that this isn't just a group of people that she happens to be fighting with right now. She finally has a family again. And she's going to fight to protect that.

Which brings us to

The Star: When things get dark, what gives Rook hope?

I'm going to sum it all up here. Obviously, the entire Veilguard is a found family. But specifically these 7 come to view each other as siblings. They are inextricably connected. Throughout the game and beyond, they know at each of these people will support them unconditionally, and most of them have never had a family to count on before, and those that have haven't had them for a long time. These people are used to being their own protector, and finally have someone to rely on. They would each happily fight to protect that peace.

[himbopunk]

wrote out that one neve comic i had in my drafts instead of. drawing it. + the lucanis follow up bit. click thru to ao3 or read under cut

also btw check out my playlist for neve/lucanis/rook throuple and also my rook hakim's character playlist

Hakim sat at the table in the lighthouse dining room with his food. He’d managed to find ackee apples at the Treviso market, somehow. He was surprised, as the Antaam often take some of the best fresh fruit, especially if it was anything that reminded him of home. But this time, he’d made something to curb his intermittent homesickness for Rivain. Sure, they could visit more easily now with the crossroads, but it wasn’t the same as living there, and they were usually on the opposite side of the coast from all his old haunts. Hakim misses the food stands in Llomerryn when they’d come to port. The old women he’d call auntie who sold their own juice and tea blends for a dozen ailments, the qunari man he’d flirt with to get more dhalpuri than his shipmates, the smells of a dozen small flames cooking, smokey and rich against the salty sea air. They wondered if the tension with the Antaam in Rivain now had any effects on the festival season, if the Armada even let them get that close. It all felt so distant now. A life from before the Veilguard, before even the mission with Varric ever started. It’s a bit surreal.

Neve was nursing a coffee beside him at the table. This was clearly one she brewed, not Lucanis, Hakim could tell from just the smell wafting off of it. Neither of the two of them had the most healthy relationship with their coffee consumption, but Lucanis took it as a point of pride, it seems. Also, the smell from the bitter sludge Neve drank made his saltfish taste…strange. Not inedibly so, but noticeable.

“Working on something?” Hakim attempted to make conversation. Neve usually had her coffee when she was on a case. Or if she was spiralling, sometimes. Better to check in.

“...Something like that.” She was clearly lost in thought. Hopefully that didn’t mean bets were in on her spiralling. 

“Oooookay, well. Your coffee’s gonna get cold if you just stare at it all day. Is it something in Minrathous? Or are you spiraling about Bellara again? Or, ooh, is it a Lucanis spiral this time? You two have been pretty close lately.”

“There’s always something in Minrathous nowadays, Rook. You know that.”

Neve rolls her eyes. “You’ve really got my number, don’t you Rook?”

“Yeah, but you’ve got that face that you get when you’re thinking really hard about something. So you’re either working on a case, or you’re quietly spiraling and hoping nobody notices.”

“You also didn’t say no about the other two things.” Hakim smirks.

“It’s not about Bellara. Or Lucanis.”

“So, a case? You need a second set of eyes?”

“Not…exactly.” She sighs. “It is about someone, though. A friend of mine.” Neve sits back in her chair, pushing her cup forwards somewhat.

“Someone from the Shadow Dragons?”

“Sure.” Hakim isn’t entirely convinced by that response, but knew better than to keep pushing about it.

“Alright, shoot. Even if I can’t help, maybe saying it out loud will help you figure out where you’re at?”

“Maybe. See, this friend of mine has this habit of keeping after everyone else all the time. They’re really helpful, sometimes. Even when they’re not, you can tell they’re trying their best.”

“Uh-huh.” Hakim nods along, mouth full of food.

“Helping everyone else, they know a lot about people, about their problems. And I guess that’s fine, that’s how trusting people works, right?”

“Right.”

“Only, it doesn’t always feel like trust. Trust goes both ways, and I came across some information about them that made me realize that I don’t know them nearly as well as I thought I did. Sure, there’s some stuff on the surface I can gather, but once you see one thing you start to notice how little they talk about themselves, even though they’re there for everyone else. It’s weird, knowing everyone’s problems without being open about your own.”

“So, you don’t trust them now?”

“That’s just it, I do trust them, still. They got a good head on their shoulders from everything I’d seen before I learned what I did. I don’t think they’re hiding it to be malicious, but I do feel jerked around by the whole thing.”

“Makes sense, I guess. You’ve all been trusting them with stuff that seems important, but you don’t really know them at all. Have you talked to them? About the stuff you learned?”

Neve laughs a bit to herself in a way that makes Hakim wonder if he’s missing something. “I’m…working on it.”

“Is it something bad, like it affects the stuff you’re doing, or how they help you…?”

“Not quite. But it does change how I see some of their actions, sometimes.” Hakim taps his chin with the fork, considering the situation a bit more.

“Do they–”

“Rook.” Neve cuts them off, looking at him pointedly.

“Whuh?” Hakim looks confused. Neve sighs a bit, giving him a ‘think about it’ look.

Wait… she wasn’t talking about him, was she?

“Are you–”

“Rook, why didn’t you tell me you were from Tevinter?”

What?!

“Wait, what?”! Hakim hadn’t talked about his childhood with anyone since their Raider days, how did she… “W- Who told you that?”

“Rook, I’m a detective, from Minrathrous. Did you really think I wasn’t going to figure it out?”

“...Did Taash tell you?” He’d almost forgotten how the qunari had blindsided him more than once with their blunt honesty. Makes sense that his past was starting to make the rounds…

“...Yeah, it was Taash.”

“Figures. I mean, I’m sure you might’ve figured it out eventually. What, uh. What all did they say?”

“Not much, we were talking about some of their own baggage. They said that you got some of it because you’re Rivaini and Tevene the same way they’re Rivaini and Qunari. Which was news to me!”

“...Ah.” Hakim should’ve given them more credit, then. They only spilled half the beans.

“But Rook, you let me assume this whole time you just didn’t care about people in Tevinter. That, like most people down here, you didn’t see us as more than the magisterium and a bedtime scary story for Andrasteian children to warn about blood magic from evil magisters.”

“Come on, Neve. We quite literally met in Minrathous.”

“When the sky was full of demons? Not the best counter-example.”

“I mean, I think that’s a bit uncharitable to assume of me, even then.” Hakim was actively avoiding her eye contact now, but Never was having none of it.

“You know what I mean, Hakim. It was one thing if you were ignorant, but you were from here, you should have understood the way the rest couldn’t, and you still left Minrathous to burn.” She slams her hand on the table to punctuate the statement.

Both their faces sank the moment the words left her mouth.

“Right. So much for not blaming me.”

“Damnit, Rook.” Neve sighs, takes a deep breath. “Sorry, but it’s…” She takes a moment to compose herself. “I know you made a tough decision. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened to Treviso if you weren’t there. But you should know me by now. Clearly you do enough to tell when I’m in my head just by how I drink my coffee. Can’t you get how it might feel realizing I don’t really know you? Given all of it?”

“I–” 

“Why keep it a secret?” Neve asks, exasperated.  She’s practically pleading.

He wishes he didn’t get it. He also wishes he knew what to say here for her that wouldn’t make it worse.

“...”

Neve sighs, running her hand back though her hair. They both sit in tense silence for a moment, Neve staring at her coffee and Hakim at his food.

“You know, Rook.” They both looked up, meeting eyes as she spoke. “I asked the other Lords about you.”

“...You did? When?”

“I wrote to some of them when we first stopped Solas. I wanted to know who I was working with. I spoke with some of them recently in Rivain too, after I got back. Everyone has a different story about where you came from. And anyone who used to be a Raider didn’t have much to say. I’m not entitled to your history, I get that. But you have to admit, it doesn’t look great right now.”

“Neve…”

“You heard what I said before. I still trust you, I’ve seen the decisions you make, the work you do. I trust your judgement, even with everything that’s happened. I just need you to be honest here.”

“I… look, with the Lords, it’s not that intentional. A lot of us tell stories about our past, make shit up. It always sounds better than wherever you’re actually from. You’d be surprised how many Lords are just former goat farmers who wanted to feel like a hero.”

“Right. Telling stories. In my line of work, we call that ‘having something to hide.’”

“Good thing I’m not in your line of work, then.”  Neve groans, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. 

“Maker help me– It wasn’t supposed to be this difficult of a conversation, Rook.” She looks up at him again, but Hakim avoids her eye contact. “Why are you still dodging the question? I’ve had actual Venatori interrogations less frustrating than this.”

Hakim fidgets with his food using his fork, having nothing to say. He didn’t want to outright lie to her, but this wasn’t really a topic he enjoyed getting into. Maybe she’d figure it out.

“I don’t get it. Are you ashamed? You’re not a mage, so I’d imagine half of what people say about us would barely even bother you. And I know you, you hardly give what other people say about you the time of day in the first place. I feel like I’m missing something.” 

Neve did often have to talk about a case out loud to find where the dots connect. Hakim sighs. He really didn’t want to be the one to say it. So this time it was their turn to give Neve the ‘think about it’ look. 

How many reasons does a non-mage elf from Tevinter have to be in Rivain? And he was a pirate, if you so much as wake up with bad bed head a couple times, that’s your name for the rest of forever. Of those reasons, which would even some of the Raiders of the Waking Sea respect enough to shut up about it?

Finally, it seemed to click.

“...Oh. You were–”

“Yeah. ‘Til I was 19.”

“Shit. I didn’t realize–” Hakim winced, knowing what comes next. It’d been awhile since he’d had to hear pity in anyone’s voice about this. Especially someone else Tevene.

“Neve, don’t. It’s fine.” Hakim sighs. “I’m my own man now. That’s what matters.”

“This is what I was talking about, Rook. You get that, right? We all trust you, the others trust you with a lot about themselves. You told me the first time we talked after what happened at the ritual site that you trust me, even though we’ve done nothing else together by that point. But this is a big thing, Rook, and you didn’t trust me with it.”

“No, Neve, I…”

“What?”

“It’s not that I didn’t trust you with it, okay? It’s not that.” Hakim rubs his eye.

“Okay, so what is it?” Hakim doesn’t make eye contact with her, not saying anything for a long moment.

“Rook?”

“I meant it when I said it wasn’t as intentional as a lie. I am Rivaini. I have been as long as I’ve gotten to be me. That’s what matters. That’s all that matters. You get it?”

“And, what, it just never came up before? Not even when you were helping the Shadow Dragons, before the gods showed up with their blighted dragons?”

“What did you want me to say? ‘Hey Shadow Dragons, nice work you’re doing here. I used to be a slave just like the people you’re rescuing! Anyways, let me get those blighted catacombs for you!’” He put on a bit of a mocking voice for the bit, going up several octaves and gesturing wildly. “Oh, yeah, I’m sure that would’ve gone over real well and not make me feel weird and awful at all!” Hakim gave her an incredulous look to punctuate the ridiculousness of the situation. Neve couldn’t help but crack a smile at it. He sighed, and smiled back. It seems like some of the tension of the situation was finally starting to bleed away.

“Alright then, fine. I get it. Why tell Taash, then? Especially if you didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Yeah, not my brightest moment. In my defense, I don’t know how to lie to them, I think. They’re so… forward.” Neve laughs at that.

“I’m supposed to believe that’s never been an issue for you before? Remember the part when I talked about how I talked to the other Lords? Some of your friends leave it all out in the open.”

“Okay, sure, we don’t mince words in Rivain so much.”

“Or wear a shirt without your midriff showing.”

“If we wear shirts at all.” He winks at her, Neve just rolls her eyes. “But, true. Yeah. But you’ve talked to Taash, they can just… hit you with a question that gets right down to it, and if you don’t answer it exactly, they keep asking new ones. They come at a conversation like a Halla running you down in the spring.  It’s… weird? I mean, not weird like they’re weird for it, but it’s not something I’m used to. A hundred times, someone’s asked me what I did before the Lords, I’ve had a story for every single one.”

“No…I can see it. I’ve had a few moments like that with them.”

“Not to mention, Harding was with me and she already knew, so that didn’t really factor in as much as it normally does.”

“Wait, Harding knew?”

“I’ve known her longer than any of you, save maybe Varric.”

“...Fair, I suppose.”

“Also, speaking of which, she would’ve known because of him, too. Varric and Isabela have known each other for years before I even ended up on her ship.”

“Well now I really feel out of the loop.”

“I… look, Neve. I’m sorry, I am. I could’ve been more open about my past, especially when we were in Minrathous. But in the context of people who actually know the types of questions to ask… At the end of the day, it’s just a miserable thing I don’t really like to talk about. I don’t want it to define me. I’m the only one who gets to do that.”

“...I can understand that. I do like to think I’d have a bit more tact, especially with the work I’ve done with the Shadow dragons.”

“Shit, Neve, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know, I know.” Neve hums a bit, glancing down at her half-drank coffee.

“So… Taash and Harding know. What about the others?”

“You know, I thought about telling Bellara after she talked about her brother…”

“But…?”

“But if she looked at me with those big sad eyes about it, I think I’d throw up.”

Neve laughs. “I can see that.”

Hakim leans back in his chair, tapping his chin as they contemplate the other options.

“Still getting a feel for Emmrich, honestly. But there was a moment at the Necropolis while we were dealing with Venatori that did make me want to say something. I think he’d be fine, just needs a time and a place…” He tilts his head to the side. “There just genuinely hasn’t been a good point with Davrin for it to come up organically. Even without me being avoidant about it. I did think it might be funny to throw out there with a good joke about it, but I haven’t really found one that works for me.”

“Not too many good slavery jokes for you to choose from, huh?”

“Not that I can say without seeming like a arse! It’s bullshit, my sense of humor is the only way I get through anything.”

“That’s a mildly concerning way to cope, don’t you think?”

“You don’t really have a leg to stand on here, Neve.” She rolls her eyes.

“Rich, Rook. You think I haven’t heard that one before?”

“Wh– Oh. I didn’t even mean it that way but that works.”

“So… what about Lucanis?”

“I…” Hakim trails off. Of course he hadn’t told him about it yet, but it was a bit more than it being an awkward conversation.

“Rook… After the Ossuary, you don’t think he’d get it?”

“Okay, well, it’s really not the same, though, is it?”

“Alright, sure. That’s true. But I don’t think that’s what your problem is, Rook. I think you’re afraid of him being understanding.”

“What? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Doesn’t it? Rook, who can take everyone’s lives and problems seriously except his own.”

“Hey–”

“Face it, you hate feeling seen. Being known. This whole conversation has been pretty good evidence for that. But Lucanis sees you, doesn’t he?”

Hakim scoffs. “You’re one to talk, Detective Trust Issues.”

“That’s exactly why I’m saying something, Rook. I know that helping everyone who needs it without ever slowing down means you never have to confront your own shit. I get that.” 

Hakim knows that’s true, he doesn’t have a good argument against it. They thought they’d call her bluff on it, but no. Neve’s right, and maybe she’s even aware that this is scary for him in the same way, for her to see him too. But it being scary didn’t make it any less necessary.

Hakim groans, dragging his hands down his face. “I hate when you’re right.”

“You must spend a lot of time angry, then.” Neve smirks, crossing her arms. He rolls his eyes.

“Ha, ha.” Hakim laughs, dry and sarcastic. 

“Look, we can work the rest out together, but you should talk to Lucanis.”

“...I know.” He sounded nearly as exasperated as she was a few moments ago.

“Especially with whatever this thing is that you two have going on, I think it would be meaningful.” She gives him a knowing look, Hakim rolls his eyes again but he can feel the tips of his ears go hot. He laughs, but it almost sounds choked.

“Ha, there’s nothing going on between us, Neve.” Neve looks unconvinced. 

She looks him up and down quickly, then stares at him, as if to wordlessly say Really? Who are you fooling?

Hakim shoots back a glance, as if to say I don’t know what you’re talking about. Neve just laughs.

“Sure, Rook. Like we all haven’t seen the longing stares and wistful sighs. And for all the times I’ve seen you leer at other men, with Lucanis I’ll catch you staring at his hands, when you think nobody else is looking. You don’t do that for anyone else.”

Hakim gives her a shut up look, and she just laughs again.

“What do you want me to say, Neve? You’re right, yeah, I’ve got a thing for Lucanis. But he’s clearly not interested, so like I said, there’s nothing going on with us. The last thing I want to do is put him in a weird position because I feel some kind of way. So…I’m trying to reel it in, alright?”

Neve raises an eyebrow, looking mostly unconvinced. Hakim would be the first to admit he wasn’t the best at ‘reeling it in,’ sure, but based on her expression, there was something else to it.

“What?” 

She sighs. “I almost forgot how dense you are.”

“...What?” 

What was that supposed to mean?

“Just talk to him.”

Hakim throws his hands up in the air, giving in. “Fine. I will. I mean, I was going to, anyways. Eventually.”

“Sure.” Again, unconvinced.

“I was.”

“I believe you, but now I’ll hold you to it.” She smiles at him.

“Yeah.” Hakim sinks into his seat a bit. He’d never looked forward to this conversation, but a part of him was glad they were on the same page now, at least. Sometimes dancing around the subject got tiresome. “Thanks, Neve.”

“What for, yelling at you?”

“I meeean…” He trailed off, ready to say some stupid joke or innuendo if Neve let him, but she definitely wasn’t going to.

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Hakim laughs.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! No, we needed to talk about this, though, I think. I do want you to be able to trust me, the rest of the team too. Back with the Raiders and the Lords, it wasn’t supposed to matter who you used to be at the end of the day. And I think I needed that then, but the team is different. All of it matters, sometimes”

“Well… I’d say I was sorry for prying…”

“Yeah, don’t lie. We just had a whole heart to heart about that.” 

Neve laughs.

“Alright, I won’t. But it’s a good thing we talked about this.”

“Make you feel better about some stuff now that it’s out there?”

“...A bit, yeah. And Rook, you know if you ever want to talk to people who really get it, I know some people in the Shadow Dragons that might be helpful.”

“I…” Hakim pauses, considering it. “Maybe. I’ll get back to you on that.”

She shrugs. “No rush, the offer’s always open.” 

“Thanks…” Hakim taps his finger on the table for a moment, ready to let the conversation die, then something occurs to him. “You know, Neve, I think you need to work on your detective skills.”

She raises an eyebrow, recognizing the leadup to a joke and ready to be annoyed with whatever it is he says next. “And why’s that?”

“I’m just saying, I’m basically covered in snake tattoos, but it took you getting told by Taash to realize I was born in Tevinter.” He laughs, she just sighs. 

“Rook, if anything, your tattoos are the most Rivaini thing about you.”

He grins, proud of himself. “I know. And I only got two of them in Rivain!”

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

Lucanis overhears a lot from the pantry that he’d chosen as his room. Everyone was aware he lived in there, clearly, but it seemed that it was closed off enough for it to slip their minds, as everyone would still often find themselves speaking very freely in the kitchen or dining hall. Of course, that was fine, they should be able to. The lighthouse needed to be a place of safety and solace for everyone on the team, as it had been for him. And truthfully, this sort of thing is bound to happen anywhere. You so rarely know who’s listening around the corner.

Usually, when Lucanis found himself in the position where he was realizing how thin the walls really were, he’d try to tune out some of the conversation. Especially if it felt like something private. It may go against most everything he was taught as a Crow, information can be sharpened into a dagger to strike later, but it was a dignity he felt the others were owed.

All this to say, he hadn’t been intending to eavesdrop on Rook and Neve.

Today was his third day without any sleep, and it’s always the third day that starts to eat at him. He’d had coffee, strong stuff too, but he could feel the caffeine start to bleed out of his system, and his limbs grew heavier as the exhaustion caught up with him. As unconsciousness pleaded to take him home, listening to Rook and Neve’s voices helped to keep him grounded. They kept him focused… but he half wished it hadn’t.

Neve had since left the dining hall, it sounded like, leaving Rook to finish his food. (Which reminded him, he needed to look into some of the Rivaini recipes Rook had been making. This one used a strange looking fruit he’d never seen before, but Rook’s eyes had lit up when he spotted it at the markets in Treviso.) Lucanis considered going out to say something to him, but he felt it would only make things worse. So he sat there on his cot, going over everything he’d just heard, comparing it with everything that he’d known before.

There were three revelations that overhearing this conversation had brought him to. In the grand scheme of things, he supposed they did not change much about the man he knew… and yet they reframed everything. Like his vision adjusting to a sunlit sky in the morning, nothing looks quite the same as they had the night before.

The first revelation was simple, the smallest of the three: Hakim, at some point, was originally from the Tevinter Imperium. There really wasn’t much to this one, he supposed. Hakim had already at some point let it slip that he wasn’t born in Rivain. He knew the man travelled a fair amount, and that he came from humble origins, but not much else. From what he heard, he wasn’t even sure at what point he ended up in Rivain for sure. For a man who had spent a chunk of his career hunting down Venatori, there was surprisingly little about Rook that he could recognize as Tevene. But he supposed that’s why he’d only ever claimed to be Rivaini. 

It was interesting to know for sure now, and maybe if this were the only new thing he’d learned, that would’ve been fine. Clearly, Neve felt differently, but he understood her reasons. If Rook had been a Crow, and had chosen to be in Minrathous instead of Treviso that day, he can’t say he’d react much differently. But he had no Mabari in this fight.

The rest, though? It felt so much more invasive.

The second revelation, Lucanis realized, shouldn't have come as big of a surprise for a man as invested in their freedom and the freedom of others as he was. The fact that Hakim was at some point a slave clearly doesn’t define him. Lucanis assumes, rightly, that the man would likely sucker punch anyone who would suggest it did. That being said… it did recontextualize a lot about him. 

Lucanis recalled the conversation he had had with Rook and Bellara about the former’s many tattoos, and the Elvish phrase on his back. He thought about the way Rook artfully sidestepped conversations about his family or his childhood. Lucanis noticed every time, but never pried. Lucanis understood losing people, losing family, whatever had happened (as something clearly had), he thought they would just open up about it at their own pace. And it seems he did… just not with him.

No, that wasn’t really fair. Neve was an expert at asking exactly the right questions, and even then, Rook wouldn’t say anything. She didn’t figure it out until the conversation had nowhere else to go. This whole conversation was a matter of circumstance, it seems. And Rook had said they were going to talk to him about it. 

Lucanis found his mind wandering to a moment from a conversation he had with them, right after they’d helped him escape the Ossuary.

“I admire you, what you’ve been through would break most people.” That’s what they said then. It had stuck with Lucanis simply for the kindness of the sentiment. Until this moment, he had assumed that’s all the gesture was: a kind expression of empathy, maybe an acknowledgement of the strength required for survival. It came to him still, sometimes, when he needed to be reminded of that strength.

Now, though? He wasn’t sure. Maybe that’s still all it was, but he couldn’t help wondering if there was more to the statement.

What you’ve been through would break most people kept repeating in his mind. Had it broken him? How long did it take for Rook, alone, to put back the pieces of who he was? How long did it take to find them in the first place, to make himself? And had it impacted the lengths he’d gone to help Lucanis? Sure, Caterina had sent him, and sure, Lucanis was meant to help with the elven gods, but what amount was driven by the fact that he understood the situation in a way few did? In ways he couldn’t tell the rest? (Except Harding, apparently, but that didn’t surprise Lucanis much.)

Rook had told him how much he’d admired his strength, but Lucanis half wonders if Rook sees his own strength here. The strength shown in his ability to become the man he was, wholly free in a way that, even before the Ossuary, Lucanis has never really been. To carve out a place in a world that seemed to fight him at every turn, even now.

He wanted to tell them that, to burst out from the pantry right now, grip their shoulders, and let them know that their own strength inspires and comforts him in ways he still struggles to describe. To embrace him, to commiserate in their imprisonment in ways that only people bound by trauma can, to know him. He could feel Spite pushing him, telling him “Go, go, talk to him NOW!” But demons, as it turns out, are not known for their tact. He couldn’t. It wasn’t right, how he knew. He needed to wait for Rook to approach him first. Lucanis understood how important choice was Rook, especially now. He’d have to pretend he didn’t know, until they were ready.

But then there was the final revelation, wasn’t there? The one that scared him, the one that made him feel like an idiot.

Lucanis was very much in love with Rook. But he knew that, didn’t he? As much as he’d love to avoid acknowledging the feeling, to focus on anything else when they were together, he knew that. But he’d settled on hopeless pining. It may ache every time Rook looked his way and smiled, but it was simply how things were. He respected the man too much to overstep, to risk damaging their relationship or the mission for his own selfish desires. (And nevermind how tangled up it all felt with his feelings for Neve as well. His heart had often found itself in knots, as of late.)

Only now, he’d come to realize that perhaps these feelings weren’t as one-sided as he’d presumed. To think he’d hear Neve tease them about wistful sighs in the same way she had done to him half a dozen times. Of course, Lucanis was not always completely ignorant to their flirtations or entendre, but that’s just how Rook was, wasn’t it? And the quiet moments, when they’d stand with him by the fire, and Lucanis thought he had caught Rook smiling softly at him in his periphery- Maker, he was an idiot. 

Lucanis was briefly snapped out of his spiral by the sound of Rook’s plate and fork clattering, followed shortly by the sound of the front door. He must have finally left. Lucanis sighed quietly in relief.

He considered the thought that Rook hadn’t just felt similarly to himself. Rook, the fool that he is, assumed that Lucanis didn’t feel the same, that he couldn’t. Decided that Lucanis would shut him down, so he had to ‘reel it in.’ Ignore the feelings, move on, focus on anything but, the same way Lucanis had. There was something endearing to the Crow, knowing that Rook, charismatic and flirtatious rogue that they were, still found themself floundering nearly as much as he had been. They were both idiots, really. Maybe that could work.

Lucanis sighed. His thoughts on the matter were starting to slow down, exhaustion creeping back into his mind now that the last of the realization panic had slipped away. Revelations or not, this was definitely not the time for Spite to potentially be running rampant. He needed some coffee.

[illegiblewords]

Dragon Age: Veilguard Review

I finally finished my run of Veilguard. Most of what I heard going in was negative, but also not blindly hateful. I had editor brain switched on throughout to make sure I was paying really close attention because I wanted any commentary to be fair. I can also only speak for myself, of course.

That said, I am extremely critical here. I still had fun and will examine stuff/potentially replay bits, but if something read as unsuccessful to me I'm gonna talk about it. To me, identifying critiques gives fans (including me lol) opportunities to better examine things and make choices while exploring fan content. Below the cut, I am going to give an explanation of some of my own decisions/mindsets entering the game (since that shaped my opinions) as well as discussing various characters, lore, narrative techniques, etc. It's going to be big and I don't even know if I'll be able to hit everything. Unmarked spoilers ahoy, buckle up.

ILLEGIBLE'S RUN AND THE CHOICES THEREIN

Understanding the game doesn't acknowledge past decisions, my personal world state involves the following:

The Warden-Commander, elven mage Alim Surana, went off about ten years ago in search for a cure for The Calling. He fathered a child named Kieran with Morrigan, was in a committed relationship with her, and as far as is currently understood remains alive but laying very low. Magic drew primarily from death magic, lightning magic (spark of vitality/life and death), and arcane warrior disciplines. Kieran was born with the soul of Urthemiel, Tevinter god of beauty and unknown blighted Evanuris, inside him. Mythal/Flemeth removed this apparently purified soul from Kieran to keep with her, leaving only the mortal soul behind to grow independently from there. The Architect, sentient/sapient darkspawn and a former priest of Urthemiel, was spared from death and remained in an alliance with The Warden while trying to find a way to co-exist with non-blighted life. Companions all lived, Alistair was made king.

Champion of Kirkwall Marian Hawke was a reaver warrior. Her sister Bethany survived the events of Dragon Age 2 as a Circle Mage and was freed when her sister took up arms to defend the mages. Hawke entered a committed relationship with fellow warrior Fenris. It's worth mentioning that this Hawke locked into rivalry with Merrill not due to lack of friendship/care but because her fixation on discovering the past by any means came at the cost of her present. Hawke also killed Anders not because of disagreeing with his cause or finding spirits inherently evil, but because more and more it became clear that either Anders was corrupting Justice or Justice was corrupting Anders to the point of not being able to navigate reality or nuance without extreme danger to others. See being ready to mindwipe and re-enslave Fenris, being ready to kill a Circle mage who was afraid of him, blowing up the Chantry instead of targeting Templars directly. Arc-wise it made sense that there were opposite parallel developments between Anders and Fenris in terms of becoming less versus more open/forgiving. Hawke survived Inquisition.

Inquisitor Mahanon Lavellan was a knife-wielding rogue assassin who had been sent to observe the Conclave for the Dalish. He was very devout and that made for a complicated situation given the Herald of Andraste deal. Lavellan forewent all official romances to flirt regularly with Harding. They were confirmed to be dating as of Trespasser. Cassandra became Divine Victoria, Lavellan vowed to convince Solas from his path, mages were sided with over templars, Seekers are seeking to undo the Rite of Tranquility, The Inquisition continues to operate under The Chantry. Unofficially, I already intended that my Inquisitor spent time post-Trespasser/pre-Veilguard telling the Dalish the truth of The Creators. It was probably soul-shattering for him.

My main Rook is mage Valerius Mercar of the Shadow Dragons. He was a young qunari saarebas who got taken in by a Tevinter commander. His upbringing was complicated, he works to free those enslaved and suffering in Minrathous while his adoptive father fights to free those bound and suffering under The Qun. Rook was viewed with a combination of suspicion, curiosity, and pity most of the time depending on the person. He has seen some pretty horrendous shit in Tevinter working with Shadow Dragons, has mixed feelings at both his birth and adoptive nations. Subscribes to the Tevinter Chantry, magic uses mainly meteors and void-of-space cold from the evoker specialization. Worth noting most magic in the Imperium is not combat-oriented. Between the fear qunari invoke in Tevinter and his own talents with combat magic specifically, Valerius made a solid career safeguarding diplomats before he attracted Venatori attention. He was doing a bit of mercenary work until things calmed down when Varric hired him. Romanced Lucanis. My Rook didn't actually realize he was group leader until after the attacks on Treviso and Minrathous--previously had assumed everyone was equal status and they were just winging it. Temperament is very pragmatic and no bullshit when it comes to making decisions, but is surprisingly gentle with wounded people. I finished the game with all companions EXCEPT FOR HARDING GDI alive. I actually tried both death scenes and despite my Harding/Inquisitor OTP it hit me that the parallels between Harding's story and The Inquisitor's story worked with her death. They were two ordinary people who became chosen ones with weird powers by virtue of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, both faced mortal danger and heavy cultural history, both got raised up with religious reverence by others and felt weird about it. One of them lost his hand, the other died. It could have happened to either of them. Also though, Harding went in at her personal strongest. She overcame her own sense of rage for her ancestors to realize she still loved people despite the cruelty and ugliness they sometimes have. The world has good in it worth protecting. Harding also shared the legacy of the titans with other dwarves to avoid being the sole possessor of that history, which ties up a major personal responsibility for her. The Inquisitor had to tell the Dalish about the gods previously, so parallel. There was also a callback to the story's beginning when Harding got injured with an implicit question about whether she changed her mind about the risks involved by leading the way (no) and there were cool reflections with Neve too as someone else who had questions of leadership and sacrifice put in front of her. By comparison, 1) I cannot kill critically endangered baby griffon Assan who gives the best hugs 2) Davrin's story arc as I explored it would not have made sense if he died. He went in expecting to fall for a noble cause killing darkspawn like a badass. The greater good for him is to live for a noble cause protecting vulnerable life that genuinely needs him. Lol @ my Inquisitor tho.

Anyway. Despite being completely pissed off--with the help of Mythal, Morrigan, and the Inquisitor, Rook managed to convince Solas to maintain The Veil. I loved that it unfolded that way. It made sense after Rook learned how Lucanis mentally staying trapped in The Ossuary even after ostensibly being freed, because he didn't know how to heal and keep living after everything. When Rook was thrown into the Fade prison crafted to trap him in regret, my guy actually had the surreal experience of it...not really working. Which also shaped his reaction to Solas.

See, Neve tried to guilt Rook early after he chose to protect Treviso. He saw her as a peer and equal Shadow Dragon, gave her more resources between companions, home turf advantage, the full force of The Shadow Dragons, AND the most powerful mage force in Thedas. With Treviso the actual infrastructure would have made for a worse Blight. The city was actively being occupied already and at a disadvantage. Treviso is not the seat of Antivan power, just one of its cities and a companion's home. Lucanis is skilled but also literally just got out of being imprisoned and tortured for a year, doesn't sleep out of fear of what might happen, is possessed by a demon that occasionally assaults him, and isn't up-to-date with the current state of his home the way Neve is. Support was needed there. Since most resources went to Minrathous, Rook went to Treviso personally as one dude. Guy was obviously heartbroken Minrathous fell but if it was anyone's fault it was the gods/Venatori. Neve tried to blame Rook at the time and it made zero sense to him that she thought he was some tide-changing authority. Sorry u choked Neve, but you were taking the lead on that defense. You were trusted there.

Neve's arc in my game involved her on the one hand struggling with the idea 'people don't show up for me' but gradually realizing often people do but it still isn't realistic to expect everyone to drop everything all the time. When people show up sometimes they survive and sometimes they don't. For my run Neve had to build herself up and do the best she could knowing that others would also do the best they could to give support but sometimes she might just have to lead the way. Neve was the one who dismantled the enchantment during final stretch knowing it was dangerous, and she got abducted. Neve was also rescued by her companions as soon as they could pull it off. She pushed forward even when others offered her a break. She used what she learned in captivity to take control of the Blight threatening her city and her friends knowing she might die in the process, and she lived to know she succeeded without being blighted forever.

So in the Fade prison, Rook was sad but didn't rule out Neve's survival. He mostly felt intense respect for both Harding and Neve's choices. They weren't his choices to make and both Harding and Neve were his equals. Both of them made informed decisions knowing there were risks, same as he did. Varric was trickier because he'd encouraged Varric to try talking Solas down and that got him killed--but by that point Rook realized he couldn't have a double standard. Varric also made an informed decision and decided it was worth risking his life to try anyway.

So facing Solas at the end, on the one hand my Rook realized that while he personally had the awareness and sense of limitation in responsibility to escape he prison... Solas didn't. Solas didn't know how. But the way to honor Varric was to try and show him. Open the door for someone else.

It doesn't make what Solas did okay or undo anything, but it gives him a future as part of the world where he can still shape things for the better. And he isn't alone either. CRITIQUE OVERVIEW: I enjoyed the game, but there were problems. Some of the biggest ones imo were lore holes/contradictions, sanitized settings and cast, narrative preaching, poorly thought out relationship dynamics in places, extremely bad arc navigation, lack of nuance or room for interpretation, and overall narrative inflexibility. It felt like the game did not want me as a player to have a meaningful impact on the narrative beyond the ending or get to participate in creating a distinct character/story but expected me to be satisfied with superficial scraps. It's counterproductive to the type of gaming experience Bioware is known for. It absolutely felt like the narrative was pressuring me toward some choices, away from others, and going out of its way to try and block me from certain possibilities--not because they were unreasonable but because of controlling devs. I mostly enjoyed combat but it had some major problems in its own right--speaking as someone who normally doesn't notice that.

I've seen people get defensive and try to argue that the criticism leveled at Veilguard is because of headcanons not being met. This is factually incorrect. Storytelling is a craft and there are elements you can measure based on evidence, cause/effect, and how various techniques produce results. The things I've mentioned can be discussed with concrete examples to back them up. The problems are legitimate.

Again, I enjoyed playing overall. There were things I liked a lot and I actually appreciated the companions more than most Inquisition companions. 'I like it' and 'it's technically good' are separate categories. I also have sympathy because it sounds like development was hell and at some stage stronger directions were definitely on the table. It's very obvious to me that someone (or a few someones) behind the scenes sabotaged things repeatedly. There are people who were wrongfully fired and there are people who are still working at Bioware who should have been fired instead as far as I'm concerned.

LORE: Not fully going into how many choices in Origins, DA2, and Inquisition were absent, this game cut corners trying to make itself look bigger and more impressive by exploiting the work, care, and investment tied to past games then destroying what came before.

It was not narratively necessary or credible to make Southern Thedas helpless against The Blight. It was not narratively necessary to destroy Ferelden, Orlais, and Orzammar. The developers did this because they wanted players to feel sad, to create a heightened sense of stakes, and because they wanted the current threat of the evanuris to be framed as beyond anything faced previously. The effect actually produced was that all the work, strength, and investment players had built in Southern Thedas got undermined and disrespected without actually making the current antagonists look any better. It makes heroes look weak instead of antagonists look strong.

An example of what I'm talking about to clarify. Lets say you're working in a franchise with multiple recurring villains. Villain A has rich history and story arcs where the hero struggled both logistically and personally to overcome them. A storyteller comes along to work with Villain B, and wants audiences to have a real sense of threat with Villain B but isn't sure how to go about building it in a way that stands out. The storyteller decides to have Villain B use Villain A as canon fodder. The hero downs Villain A in seconds during a a single scene on the way to Villain B. Or maybe you see Villain A just destroyed by Villain B with little effort. Villain A is actively made less capable, complex, clever, and self-respecting for this to happen. Villain B doesn't do anything particularly capable, complex, or clever in the course of their schemes but the writer insists they were so brutal that audiences should be impressed. Audiences will not have room to experience impactful narratives with Villain A going forward because of how intensely they were diminished. Villain B has earned no respect because everything they accomplished comes through derailment and the author insisting 'because I said so'. The storyteller didn't know how to make Villain B look stronger based on merit, so they made someone else look weaker instead. This sabotages respect and investment.

That is how past games were treated by Veilguard. That is how Southern Thedas was treated.

There were also issues like (for example) the reveal that undead are immune to Blight and this is common knowledge in Nevarra. Nevarra holds status within the Andrastrian Chantry to the point that it is possible to have a Divine who comes from Nevarran nobility--and if she doesn't, she's still serving as Right Hand of the Divine.

There is no longer any reason the Wardens exist, or ever should have existed. There is no reason Circles should have ever existed in the form that they had either. There is no reason for cremation to have been practiced as a funerary rite. There is no reason it wouldn't be widespread knowledge that spirits can exist as a benevolent force. Logistically, well before Veilguard or even Origins, there should have been skeleton on zombie warfare anytime The Blight reared up so that mortal and vulnerable-to-spreading-Blight people weren't on the front lines. Undead could have been the ones killing archdemons and there would not have been a threat of the archdemon transferring into its killer. Emmerich's mention was there to go 'oh look how cool and capable the Mourn Watch is, Blight can't do anything against the undead!' but that just opened a wholeass can of worms for the history of Thedas.

Additionally. The mechanics of archdemons were erased altogether to make them weaker than they ever were in the series. That was THE final boss of Origins. The game throws at minimum two individual archdemons at the player and leaves a third unfought, and all of the archdemons are minibosses. This is what I mean when I say the past games were degraded in an attempt to make the current game look better.

Sentient darkspawn lost everything about their thought processes and limitations (namely empathy) that made them interesting. See the Gloom Howler versus The Architect. The entire difference in faith between the Andrastrian and Tevinter chantries was thrown out, and there was zero examination of how faith in Tevinter's Old Gods differs from the Tevinter chantry in-turn. (WHERE WAS THE BLACK DIVINE? I KNOW ARCHON RADONIS FUCKED OFF TO NEVARRA OR SOMETHING BUT WHERE TF WAS URIAN NIHALIS?) The entire social structure of The Qun was dissolved in order to have flat brute Antaam antagonists without recognizing how that's like saying the entire legislative branch of US government disavowed America and ran off to conquer Spain or something with no replacement legislative branch. Tbh it's even worse because the Antaam aren't just government officials but thousands of ordinary qunari citizens. Saar-qamek is no longer a serious lobotomization risk. Saarebas are no longer abused and The Qun is no longer understood as practicing slavery (see vidaath-bas) and conquest in its own right. There is no persecution of those who leave the Qun supposedly (unless it's by rebel Antaam, who by rights are tal-vashoth) but also aspects of The Qun that were good like acknowledgment of aqun-athlok got handwaved. Par Vollen just sitting on their hands while tal-vashoth Antaam abuse close allies in Rivain and Antiva does not make sense unless the majority of the original Antaam forces straight up left The Qun and Par Vollen's forces are weak right now. If that is the case, then Tevinter should be going absolutely ham on the forces of Par Vollen as per opportunism. Might explain Minrathous falling if military was elsewhere but like... tell the audience. If it's not the case, Par Vollen should have been going absolutely apeshit on the rogue Antaam.

Slavery as a common, accepted, and financially significant part of Tevinter society is made socially unacceptable in just ten years. Fear of mages and abominations outside Tevinter is barely present as lip service now. Fen'Harel acted alone and had no loyal elven followers whatsoever while the Dalish (acting in direct opposite to everything surrounding Merrill) immediately accepted in ten years that their entire culture and religion are not just fake but built on further slavery and exploitation at the hands of elves. Nbd just add Veil Jumpers.

Urthemiel is missing in action. Kieran is also missing in action. What Well of Sorrows? What arc about Morrigan being terrified of losing her personhood to the point of matricide? All of the past antagonist choices made through ambition or jealousy, fear or greed, etc. are now being framed as 'the devil made them do it' via executors as if people are incapable of natural negative impulses. Any hints that The Forgotten Ones could be the Tevinter Old Gods were thrown right out. And like... I'm not inherently opposed to archdemons/the old gods being alternate faces of the evanuris with the evanuris being particularly powerful spirits. The irony that they were elves first is fun. But the evanuris were stressed as being ancient elven mages WAY above anything remotely spirit related, which undermined their power/influence/archetypal nature to a huge degree imo. I'm lowkey mad as hell that we didn't have Elgar'nan sometimes taking a human face and answering to the name Lusacan while dealing with Venatori. When did the other evanuris even die???? Did they die during past Blights with their archdemons or did only the archdemons die? Meanwhile The Forgotten Ones have been made wholly irrelevant and are like some long-lost-cousin plot twist out of a soap opera when it makes no sense for that to be the case. Executors as spooky boogeymen from across the sea are pulled out of left field with no foreshadowing to be the next main antagonists. Templars have no power or relevance anywhere. What are the Venatori even doing anymore? Why isn't there discrimination in Tevinter toward qunari, elves, and especially Dalish elves?

With titans, dwarves, and both lyrium subtypes. I had previously hit the page that blue lyrium ties to reality, physicality, and the world as it exists while the Fade/magic ties to what could be, spirit, and the creation of new possibilities through imagination. Red lyrium as the mad, isolated dreams of titans I can get but I think it was a MASSIVE mistake to leave it as generic madness/anger at being wronged by the spirits who became elves. The Architect/The Messenger both indicate that, without being actively controlled by archdemons, they basically have no instinctive empathy. What I remember from Origins/Awakening also involved darkspawn having instincts like kill/eat/fuck with no regard for harm caused. There was room to do something where divorced from other sentience for so long and even basic physical instincts, when the Blight does find material form all it knows how to process are a sudden influx of reflexes tied to exercising power (after being powerless) and pain that cannot be articulated or understood. The Blight could have been portrayed as something legitimately feral like a human that never learned language or socialized. The idea has a lot of potential and sure like... as a fan I'll explore that. But the devs should have. Harding being upset about selling lyrium doesn't make sense to me because it's like a willing blood donation versus being mauled and left for dead by a vampire. Those are not the same.

I also looked into critique about the altered nature of the Blight in terms of source/progression, and while the devs didn't bother with anything I think I figured out a workable and fun solution so will share that in a later post.

The Antivan Crows of all people being compared to circus freaks BY AN ANTIVAN POLITICAL OFFICIAL with the casino element emphasized in order to voice disrespect made no fucking sense culturally. Ivenci should have been dead for that well before Veilguard. That's like walking into Vlad the Impaler's room and peeing on his shoes while making eye contact. Even getting close enough and getting your pants down to try isn't likely to work--much less getting out of that encounter still in possession of your urethra. I think it's okay to show some Crows are decent folks for assassins and groomed into that without any choice, but the attempt to hardcore moralize the faction is nonsense made even worse by how Lucanis's abuse by his family was framed as acceptable.

'ONLY FEMALE DRAGONS HAVE WINGS' is female supremacist bullshit only introduced to argue that males can't be cool or powerful. It defies established lore about archdemons and dragons in-universe generally. I get that there are vertebrates like anglerfish where the male is tiny and gets absorbed into the body of the female upon mating. I also know that IRL there are all-female gecko species (ex. mourning geckos) that reproduce asexually by cloning themselves, which is a bit similar to what happens in FFXIV. Both of those things are interesting as hell, but for dragons in Thedas specifically those angles don't add anything or even make sense with previous content. The impression matches what I mentioned with the villain situation. There is ZERO cause to cut down male dragons to that extent when you could easily just make the female dragons bigger, stronger, and matriarchal. I'm also looking at this like... for reproduction are males or females supposed to be the choosy sex?????? Are there courtship rituals/is one sex flashier than the other? Is one faster? Why? Both my inner dragon nerd and my inner animal nerd are so pissed that these creatures got made less badass on any front just because someone thought shitting on men was more important than lore or consistency. It's not like there's an indication we've got idk, East Asian-esque male dragons who don't need wings to fly and look awesome while they do.

Taash could have said the title 'Dragon King' is dumb because it's cheesy (if that's even necessary), which raises 'well what do you think of Shadow Dragons' and could turn into fun banter. Taash could have said 'dragons don't do monarchs' and instead gone on a spiel about dragon social structures that enriched lore. But no. The whole point was just to go 'lol men suck and are inferior' and that entire addition can fuck right into the sun.

EDIT: Talked to a buddy who mentioned that there is an issue but it's a different issue than I remembered! Basically, the problem isn't 'male dragons are wingless'. Origins had female, winged high dragons having their nests guarded by a harem of wingless drakes. That makes sense because the wingless males are performing a job and there is incentive to mate with them so there's a swarm of males protecting offspring while the female hunts + not having wings would be tied to them defending nests on the ground. I also wonder if the males would be flashy logistically or not with current game graphics tho bc could be a display for a female and could also warn away potential threats. I'm good with that. The problem is insisting Archdemons are all just high dragons and not something different when the Archdemons have established sexes where some are male. I'd actually have liked a mythozoological info dump from Taash about dragons that brushes up Origins lore. But the presentation and the Archdemon thing were still messes, and the way it was presented read more like shitting on some dragons to man-bash instead of exploring fantasy creatures and their social structures. And tbh my trust in the devs to not do that has been non-existent. So, critique to be made but it's a different one.

I could go on. And thing is, as a fan I'm looking at shit asking myself whether there are potential solutions that add upon worldbuilding (even if the devs didn't bother) versus 'this element cannot be salvaged and has to be discarded'. I've done that before and you can get really fun results that way. And again, I understand there was shit going on behind the scenes. But the execution of lore was horrendous.

SANITIZATION: I touched on this a bit. The Crows as an organization are now good guy freedom fighters all about family no matter what--barring Ilario being a clown. Slavery and racism are suddenly socially unacceptable in Tevinter of all places. The Lords of Fortune, headed by Isabella 'I stole sacred documents from The Qunari for coin', are very culturally sensitive and doing the world a service with their treasure hunting by making sure museums and religious centers are provided for. The Qunari are strict but just a little culturally spicy/the only negatives when it comes to Qunari are the Antaam. The Dalish have no xenophobia and no conflict over the true nature of the evanuris and would never follow Solas OR follow the evanuris/are immediately game to kill their gods with no questions asked. Kal-sharok are just nice all around and have none of the social conflicts or xenophobia of Orzammar, purely victims and too pure for this earth. We hear about how Wardens are often former criminals but Davrin remains on a moral high horse pretty consistently (I do actually like the guy a lot disclaimer) and the only Wardens we encounter who are even unkind are the First Warden, Gloom Howler, and whoever ordered the griffons be killed hundreds of years ago. Templar and mage conflicts, with all the prejudice/suffering/fear associated, are basically gone. Tranquil and even people recovering from past tranquility are gone. It is damn hard to so much as get disapproval with companions and players aren't really given room to disagree with them in meaningful ways. There is one 'Good and Moral' way to think and be for Veilguard. You get to phrase it differently but that's about it. No biases or discriminations in the cast, no serious personal flaws to overcome either individually or culturally.

People. Aren't. Perfect. Not even while trying to be. Not even subscribing to the most current ideas of sensitivity according to particular political ideologies that DO NOT APPLY to the worldbuilding of Thedas--let alone in a uniform way. And there is a massive lack in self-awareness about areas where the devs themselves perpetuate cases of dehumanization, invalidation of suffering/victimhood, and unfortunate cultural implications.

I saw a reddit commenter raise the point that there is a recent pattern of framing qunari as bestial, and it seems racist. People immediately flocked to argue that there are plenty of non-white characters who don't have bestial connotations. I think the actual point was missed and the original observation was not articulated with precision.

It's mostly not a race thing. It's that the Qunari are NON-WESTERN coded. They do draw from Plato's Republic (Greek) but the execution presents them as distinctly non-Western and collectivist. Other cultures in the game are mostly framed as very Western, with a few debatable exceptions for ex. the Dalish. You could argue that the Avaar in Inquisition (with their ties to animism and nature) had some beast themes while Western-coded and were explored respectfully. If instances of non-Western beast themes were also represented respectfully it would help, and if there were multiple non-Western cultures with and without that element even more so. But both the Antaam and Taash specifically with growling/snarling/mindless rage crap? That's awkward. The two qunari loyal to The Qun without beast expression that we see either die or exit stage left without allowing room to explore the subject much. When again, the majority of the story leans hard into Western culture regardless of racial demographics--having the one decidedly non-Western coded culture presented that way? Not great. It isn't like we've seen human, elven, or dwarven reavers hulk out the way kossith qunari do. It's not like we have human, elven, or dwarven characters growling and snarling while being heavily compared to animals.

Inquisition had crazed templars/mages explode into muscular hissing messes while the tal-vashoth in DA2 and qunari in Origins had a variety of personalities, mindsets, and behaviors. Those things help avoid making it weird and culturally targeted for those games. Veilguard wasn't great there.

Meanwhile holy fuck the handling of Lucanis's story was a wreck. Victim of severe child abuse and torture rescues his abuser. Her first move upon encountering him again is to try and beat him with the same cane she used when he was a kid. He kisses her on the cheeks shortly afterward. If he so much as imprisons his cousin who sent him to be tortured and killed by the Venatori, he's framed as mean/unforgiving as if it wouldn't be 50000% correct to kill that fucker right there. 'But faaaaamilyyyyyyy' no. That is grossly unacceptable to do to another human being, let alone family. It's not okay. And stripping Lucanis of agency AGAIN after that year of torture, after he was forcibly implanted with a demon who made him afraid to even sleep because he won't have control of his own body, after he was trapped in abuse and murder since childhood--lmao u r First Talon now even though u explicitly don't want that position. Hooray for FAMILY you are a hero!!!!!1!!

Vile and hypocritical. And the game presents everything as if it cannot conceive of the idea that anyone might have a reasonable objection.

The attempted sanitization hugely compromises immersion and credibility of the narrative on the one hand, limits the scope of human potential/thought/expression on the other, and only makes it more egregious when the storytellers expose their own ideas about acceptable targets.

PREACHING/PLAYER CHOICE/NUANCE: Veilguard struggles to respectfully consider a variety of perspectives and values, in-universe and in what options are available to players.

I'm going to use Emmerich as an example. Emmerich has been absolutely terrified of death since he was a child. Emmerich has been working to protect and respect the dead along with spirits for his whole life. He has an assistant in Manfred, a spirit of curiosity animating a skeleton. Emmerich wants to become a lich so he can completely avoid death and also continue safeguarding spirits/the dead, but that process carries risk and he needs to pass a character test first.

Meanwhile, there are multiple spirits being tortured via a device that threatens to cause mass casualties. Emmerich tries to dismantle the device once, realizes it's really dangerous/he could get killed, freaks out and steps away. He's afraid to try again because he might die. Manfred, who has been starting to speak and shows growing intelligence about the world/people, throws himself in harm's way to retrieve the device and get it to Emmerich. Manfred is killed in the process.

Emmerich tries to dismantle the device again and succeeds.

Emmerich could revive Manfred, a brave spirit who confronted the unknown of death because he cared about and wanted to protect others. Manfred is just starting to grow into himself and has so much to learn. This would mean that Emmerich also has to accept his own mortality as he has been informed he would be rejected from lichdom if he does this revival. He would have to stand shoulder to shoulder with Manfred as equals and treat the unknown of death not as something to run from but sometime to discover with a level of curiosity. Or, he could keep running from death to abandon Manfred and pursue his own personal ambitions of lichdom with the prestige it offers.

I chose to bring Manfred back. The narrative framed this as Emmerich being unable to cope with or accept personal loss, making him a weaker person and unworthy of his lich aspirations. Because selfish ambition at another's expense is the quality you want in a bunch of powerful undying guardians. When you ask if Emmerich regrets his choices he goes 'yeah my dream is crushed but I'd regret not saving Manfred more'. There wasn't really reflection or growth there. Both in that moment and earlier, players are framed as if disagreeing with Emmerich's goal is just crushing someone's dreams and being intolerant because it's a spooky lifestyle.

Lichdom is an avoidance tactic for Emmerich. If the point is to protect others, it's more important to do it well and sincerely than for a long time. It's important to be able to put selfish ambitions and fears aside to protect others in that position because the potential to abuse power is pretty huge. Emmerich had his protectiveness of spirits/the dead pit against his own ambitions, and the story acts like not enabling his ambitions makes you an asshole.

THAT is preachy as hell. Being told you made Lucanis merciless for daring to imprison Ilario is preachy as hell. And there are A LOT of further examples across many characters (frankly some even more egregious), where the narrative tries to instruct audiences on how to navigate social situations with no reasonable opportunity to disagree.

It is not appropriate for a video game that is supposed to let players shape the narrative. The video game isn't there to tell players who they're supposed to be and it isn't an authority on that subject. It can examine perspectives and why someone might think the way they do, but pressuring players to comply or be morally shamed is ridiculous. And honestly? If a player wants to do an asshole/evil run LET THEM DO IT. IT'S A GAME.

Origins, DA2, and Inquisition all gave room to players to explore many different viewpoints and values while trying to understand the merit in each possibility. That was not the case in Veilguard, and it not only made the experience less fun--it also flattened out antagonists to a huge degree by making them strawmen and caricatures who are evil because they are evil.

RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS: I really enjoyed aspects of Lucanis's romance a TON and love his character to bits, but agree with the critique that the game held back too much. This doesn't mean I advocate immediate gratification as some fans are trying to argue. I actually liked that Lucanis panicked and fled the room for the almost-kiss scene. But there should have been at least one consummated kiss before the final quests. Fenris was similarly nervous and dealing with trauma, he got a kiss scene. It's possible to do that. Felt like there were a lot of missing moments and the third act in particular was sparse.

I liked that Lucanis made a dessert for Rook. It still felt like that exchange was cut off at the knees and there were more significant scenes outside it that players didn't get to participate in. Massive shame imo. The background relationships Bioware put in felt forced. No substance or chemistry, hit a point of reading gratuitous and 'pair the spares' like there was something wrong with being single. And listen, I have a history of trying to find angles to work ships between any two randos as a personal challenge. These ships, particularly in how they were executed, felt deeply uninspired to me.

I am all for 'sometimes in a time of crisis while trying to save the world, people stumble into love along the way'. Most scifi/fantasy romances fall into categories like that. Characters are largely focused on other stuff, shit happens anyway. But especially when there are so many other factors at play there should be something to the dynamic omfg.

Harding getting paired off felt like insult to injury when A) I rejected the 'official' options to flirt with Harding and only Harding through DAI, achieved canon 'they are dating' in Trespasser even though there was never an official card acknowledging it or a kiss scene B) when asked about the Inquisitor Harding just goes 'yeah that's not a normal person I don't associate' like wtf C) Harding dies if you are not willing to murder a baby griffon in cold blood. There was no way to opt out of Harding being shipped if Rook wasn't with her and you befriended Harding and Taash. It wasn't as if there were parallels between Harding and Taash either, ways they shaped each other's growth, anything beyond tall and small really. It felt insanely shallow and kind of spiteful tbh. Neve and Lucanis I know about because I've seen cutscenes about it online, I think it was token hetero romance between humans. What, they both drink coffee? Mage and mage killer? Again I just do not see any chemistry. Lucanis is in a vulnerable spot, Neve can be kind of resentful without much consideration beyond her own interests for a good stretch. I wound up liking Neve because of how her arc unfolded in my game but I was really annoyed at her for a bit and I still don't think she and Lucanis specifically are compatible. Lucanis is prone to making himself extremely low priority next to others and the task at hand, Neve can be blind to others if they aren't tied to Dock Town's well-being. Given the Treviso versus Minrathous choice and what I've gathered, it doesn't seem like there's much room for them to really enhance each other's development.

Emmerich/Strife is city versus forest mage between two older dudes and that's basically it. I'm lowkey annoyed that Strife doesn't have an elven name to begin with but that aside he just feels very generic as a character imo. What arc is he going through? Does he have hopes, fears, any personal details of his own not shared by other Veil Jumpers? Did he have a clan or family? Was he raised Dalish or did he join from an alienage? We don't know.

Neve/Bellara would actually be cute, make sense, and have shit they can each draw from. They go out of their way to cheer each other up and entertain each other with the serials, the respect and appreciation between a human Tevinter mage and a Dalish elven mage under the circumstances is interesting and offers room for pretty solid discussion on magic, history, culture, and personal relationships to all factors. Bellara and Neve are going through similar situations in a lot of ways in terms of the identities of the old gods and evanuris. I think I remember Bellara cooked something for Neve specifically too. They have kind of opposite things going on with responsibility--Bellara blames herself for things that aren't remotely her fault, Neve feels like other people let her down all the time, but Neve also recognizes Bellara and tries to uplift her/be aware of her situations. They could actually build into each other's arcs and give each other room to grow.

AND YET, the devs went out of their fucking way to have Bellara go OH NEVE IS LIKE A SISTER. Dude, let your players ship them jesus christ if people want to go with 'and they were lesbians' why are you barring the way wtf.

And lbr Davrin/Lucanis could be so good, I absolutely loved their dynamic. Stood out as distinct, added to both of their development arcs, parallels on corruption, funny as fuck, not afraid to challenge each other. I'm fine with them as friends but would totally support that ship too. Like shit, what the fuck would Davrin even do if he learned Lucanis hasn't actually had a relationship before when they'd been flirting? He's had this image of a very untrustworthy, unflappable, remorseless assassin but guy is shy and skittish with romantic stuff.

It's not like past Dragon Age games didn't have companion ships in the background. Dorian/Iron Bull--fucking solid. Cultural backgrounds, compared levels of comfort in their own skin, banter + willingness to challenge each other. Legitimately interesting. Fenris/Isabella, the very opposite personalities (serious vs more playful, brooding vs live-and-let-live) but common ground in mischief/teasing was 100% respectable. But I think past games kind of understood not to overload the amount of canon ships because it could be distracting, might not always have chemistry or be something that audiences want. Veilguard it felt like crap was getting shoved down my throat constantly while the devs wagged their fingers at me going 'YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO SHIP XYZ, THIS SHIP HERE IS MANDATORY'.

I think I saw someone from the dev team comment that they went out of their way to cram in background ships. From what I remember there was a mentality of 'you are not the center of the universe player they'll find other people' but like. They're there to save the world. They aren't speed dating. If chemistry is present cool but again, companion pairings happened in the past already. Players know the characters are doing shit when the player isn't spending time with them and ships could happen. There's no need to 'teach' anyone that.

Why are you forcing people to eat your undercooked ships Bioware? No one even ordered this and you're trying to give us all food poisoning. Take it back.

ARC NAVIGATION: Harding was solid, Neve became solid because I twisted her arm, Emmerich I think was a mess for previously mentioned reasons, Lucanis I think was a mess because of abuse apologism/'the abuse victim has to say it's okay' and because his story was set up as someone who has lacked agency his whole life being denied agency again at the end. The choice never should have been about what to do with Ilario, but Lucanis becoming First Talon or defying Caterina and leaving the Crows.

Davrin was okay but there needed to be a point he realized he himself is capable of being a monster not because of the Blight in his blood but choices he makes. I think it would make sense for him to not become a monstrous person, but being aware he could if he dehumanizes others I think would have made more sense. He who fights monsters and all that.

Taash I think was an actual clusterfuck and deserved so much better. People have critiqued 'Be Qunari'/'Be Rivaini' and I agree with the critique--that felt like a weird cultural supremacy thing trying to make Rivain better and more enlightened than The Qun on all fronts. It was a false dichotomy for a multicultural character imo. I actually wanted to see Taash explore their Qunari heritage and try to understand it better when they'd previously blanket-rejected shit, but the game was framing that as intolerant/'they could neeeeever be themself in that culture'. Thing is, Taash has the freedom to pick and choose what resonates. They don't have to obey blindly, and they don't need to let The Qun dictate their gender identity either. They realized after Shathann's death that they'd never actually understood her properly, and imo the best way to honor their mother would be to try and understand better even if they didn't agree all the time. But that was not how the game framed the choice.

I actually think Taash needed to learn to be a better listener and to reflect/try to understand people outside themself more. They were awful to their mother when she didn't even reject them--was just trying to understand what they were saying about the gender stuff. Taash's character seemed like they had more empathy for dragons than other people tbh, and I'd have preferred to see a choice reflecting whether they continued focusing just on their own wants or if they factored in others more. Not 'everything is about me'/'nothing is about me', but stepping more in one or the other direction.

Bellara's story felt kind of incoherent imo. It seemed like from the outset she was being challenged in a similar way to Rook in terms of 'where does your agency stop and another person's start'. She was blaming herself for what happened to Cyrian before learning he was alive, as if he didn't have his own choices in the face of risk. I was very irritated that when it came out he was borderline possessed by Anaris, she kept blaming him as if he still had full agency and awareness. I think I remember her saying he should have died or something? Insanely fucked up. And then her choice is 'do I trust people to make their own choices given knowledge of the past (not knowing if the knowledge will be used for good or bad ends) or do I limit people's potential and keep them in the dark to avoid others making choices I might not like'. The choice felt really creepy in part because of being abstract, and creepier because the game was pressuring toward getting rid of the Archive like 'WHAT IF VENATORI LEARN ABOUT THINGS WHAT IF WE BECOME CONQUERORS'.

I think there are two better options on how to progress for Bellara. 1) Cyrian comes back and it becomes a question of how to react to compromised agency/do you have compassion for someone in a trap not able to act freely or do you say that doesn't matter because harm was caused. 2) Cyrian doesn't come back, focus is kept the Archive revealing both information that could save a lot of lives/inform people about their past but also really dangerous shit--with Bellara having to decide if she's going to let people make their own choices or try to control and limit the outcome. I think her arc was trying to do too many things at once and so her development wound up super confusing.

With Rook, I think there wasn't enough time given to Varric and his situation before the final quests. Imo the game was so focused on maintaining a surprise reveal that it undermined the character development attached. Rook struggling with Varric's death, whether they encouraged him to try to talk Solas down or told him it was a bad idea, felt like it needed more time to actually ground out that there WAS a sense of guilt there. Seeing 'Varric' really struggling with the injury, trying to talk to 'Varric' about what motivated him/how he continued to feel about both Solas and past losses in his life, would have made sense and gone a long way on that front. Rook can know about Bartrand and try to speculate on how that might have impacted Varric's choice, and about Hawke, and Anders, and even potentially about the Inquisitor a bit. They can reflect about Cole and about stories Varric has told them and how they think Varric felt personally about his own experiences. I think trying to empathize with Varric, who he was, what his experiences were, would make a lot of sense both in terms of wrestling with the loss but also in terms of Rook accepting that Varric made his own choice for his own reasons and it was never for anyone else to decide.

I know for my Rook, again like... prison of regret didn't work very well. Mostly he went through the game and was able to make the separation. Varric was meant to be more complicated and difficult, but there just wasn't enough attention given TO Varric before the reveal imo for the impact to carry clearly and at full strength. And honestly, Varric deserved more focus if he was going to get killed off like that.

Morrigan I think there needed to be clarity that she was not herself Mythal given how fucking scared she was of losing her identity. While we're at it, Flemmeth also wasn't Mythal. They were themselves but carried Mythal as one facet of who they are. If anything, they both became closer to abominations given Mythal was a spirit--but emphasizing that identity was not lost or destroyed I think mattered.

Solas imo was solid.

COMBAT: I mentioned that I normally don't notice this much but jesus fucking christ the revenant fights. I felt like I'd been thrown into a soulsborne game out of nowhere. Asked a friend and it's because everyone always aggros at you unless you come with a tank/the other characters have no health to lose. If you are a mage u r cooked. And the healing mechanic the most difficult enemies got just made me angry tbh. It felt like being told the work I'd put in didn't count.

Realtalk I didn't like the lack of party control in FFXVI when they did it there. Veilguard was a little better because at least you could give a party member a command periodically, but I didn't like the limitation here either.

I would have preferred more differentiation between the mage skills and the mage companion skills. When characters do the same shit it feels annoying and redundant to me. I also think there were too many mages in the party and Bioware might need to sit down and think about balance.

I played as a mage because I haven't since Origins. There were three other mages in the party, leaving a total of four. It felt completely excessive, and I generally try to have a warrior and/or rogue with me to help balance so I didn't get to travel with the other mage companions as much. Bellara being kind of a tinkerer was interesting as hell, I don't know if she strictly needed to be a mage for that. I know Bioware tends to do an archer-rogue and a knife-rogue most of the time, along with a sword-and-shield warrior + two-handed weapon warrior. If there's going to be more than two companions per class, imo it might be worth it to put in another combat option for variety. Tinkering/traps/status effects maybe?

DIALOGUE: I actually thought most of the voice acting was pretty strong. Want to particularly shout out Taash's VA not only for a distinct and believable delivery (I didn't love some of the actual lines but Jin Maley did a great job with what was given imo), but also holy shit respect for the scene when Shathann died. I wasn't a huge fan of Bellara's voice acting, and I'm sad that Bioware has completely thrown out the idea that different cultures have different accents. Ex. The Dalish sounding Irish from DA2 was really really cool and I miss it. I remember the dwarves usually have American accents but there were so many American accents elsewhere this time that it actually broke my immersion a bit.

I was distracted by my Rook's voice acting. Didn't feel like there was a noticeable difference between male British at low or medium but more than that--voice was too similar to male British Inquisitor's on the one hand while on the other there were places delivery felt kind of awkward. Sounded like Inquisitor's voice got pitched lower to me and idk if I'm imagining it. I like the fem VAs for Rook a ton at medium pitch, American male VA I need to investigate more but when I tested it wasn't really into that performance.

The actual dialogue, I think there were issues with modern language/slang as a whole. A lot of the lines were very awkward and lacking subtlety, dialogue options when given a wheel to choose felt extremely limited, and there were few ways to express sorrow about anything in-game without either 'I'm sorry' or self-blame specifically.

A friend of mine said that it felt like the game didn't give players enough room to define Rook's personality through dialogue variation. I was skeptical going in but really felt that in practice. There were a couple of moments I felt like I could get something resembling the voice I was after in terms of words and sentiment, but they were sparse and I'm annoyed about it.

I enjoyed most of the banter, it was very fun and cute.

CHARACTER CREATOR: Fan fucking tastic tbh. Someone heard the protests about Inquisition's six flavors of bald and the terror of horizontal hairline and vowed not to repeat sins past. Graphics are great, no more greasy look, solid control over features. I wish there was better labeling on some of the adjustments and that the eyes had better width and shape options. I will also say for Qunari specifically--I think something needs to be done about the hairline. I keep going to bangs so the forehead doesn't look huge and weirdly shaped but there are limited options. If you get bangs, the sides of the head are buzzed or shaved. Managing but it would be nice to have more variety.

DESIGNS: Whyyyyyyyyyyyy don't we get any black or gray armors. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy can't we see previews of shit before purchasing? Whyyyyyyyyyy do certain outfits use metal that doesn't go with anything? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy is that one all white outfit impossible to obtain even when you view all of Solas's memories?

Some armors are decent. Some are weird and poop.

I think the actual companion designs are pretty good overall too. I like Ghilan'nain's look a lot but kind of hate Elgar'nan's. Isabella's concept art was way better. I like the amount of pus and bulbousness put into the Blight and darkspawn but I think some of the designs/colors needed refining there.

Listen, I like vibrancy a lot so it didn't bother me that the game had more of that generally. Just would have liked a little more for black/white stuff too. I think the companions read pretty visually distinct from each other while having enough in-common visually to feel cohesive. I would like more options ofc but that's no surprise lmao.

FACTIONS: Despite being a Shadow Dragon I never felt any personal connection at all with my faction or anyone in it besides Neve maybe. Also, name and catchphrase weren't great imo. It also read as very divorced from the actual people who needed help because the devs shied away from showing slavery, which was annoying. I'm extremely annoyed at the Lords of Fortune for reasons previously mentioned. The Crows I like the characters a lot but I think it's a major problem that they were framed as purely noble and nice within being assassins. I think Teia and Viago are great but I also think the ongoing practice of child abuse to make assassins needed examination. It could have been interesting to see which Crows are continuing to perpetuate that and which are rejecting it. The Wardens felt like a lot of the competence was undermined, the actual presence of criminals in their ranks was an informed attribute, and I miss my Warden-Commander so much. The Mourn Watch is fun but I think there were problems because the devs were treating the dead kind of closer to very expensive party city skeletons or pets rather than full people at times. Without value for the living and life, there can't be true understanding or respect for death. I also think it's a problem that stigma was framed as people just being mean and intolerant of someone's career because spooooooooky instead of individuals facing a heavy subject that might be religiously charged. Also though, the devs shot themselves in the foot so many times trying to stress how cool and beyond competent the Mourn Watch is instead of just letting the Mourn Watch be cool. See 'the undead can't be Blighted'. The Veil Jumpers felt shallow and like there was a whole lot of Dalish angst/conflict about the gods that got completely omitted to their detriment. More could have been done, they were all massively hurt by the sanitization issue.

ANTAGONISTS: This was one of the biggest failures of the game. I could go into individual characters here but it would be the same refrain over and over again so I'm going to speak broadly.

Solas being an exception, the developers refused to even entertain how or why a person with complex thoughts, loves, hates, hopes, fears, and ordinary moments could perpetuate horrific acts. The entire game had zero concept of the principle 'everyone is the hero in their own story'. Empathy, good intentions, past trauma, trying to protect something--there was zero examination to speak of. Antagonists were abstract 'others', just monsters in human skin who no decent person could ever become. There is no understandable goal. There is no negotiation. People are evil because they are evil and if you try to understand it then that might just make you evil too.

And tbh, having that approach should disqualify a storyteller at the outset. That is an unacceptable level of incompetence.

I would be able to understand (not agree obviously, but understand) if the Venatori were fighting to preserve slavery because Tevinter's economy would take a huge hit without it and there is a non-zero chance that while they're trying to restructure, the Andrastrian Chantry might invade and attempt to punish/control Tevinter's mages Pretty sure that happened before. And if the Chantry didn't attack, Par Vollen very well might.

If Elgar'nan saw and was upset by the conflicts and violence that had swept Thedas for millenia, it would explain why he wanted to take absolute control. I've personally seen someone say they wished mass mind-control was a thing because they could use that to stop people from fighting and behave 'the way they're supposed to'. Absolutely disturbing sacrifice of free will in the name of peace at any cost. Elgar'nan could have been of that mindset and it could have been something to examine.

Instead we got sadists for sadism's sake, evil for evil's sake. Over and over again. No reason. The Antaam allying with the Venatori made ZERO sense and contradicted the deep rooted Qunari fear of mages (let alone red lyrium-weilding mages), but they're being dehumanized into stupid brutes who only value strength anyway so who cares right?

When you make everyone you find morally repulsive a strawman, when you file them as irrevocably 'other' and something you could never have anything in-common with, you open yourself to the greater likelihood of falling into the same trap. Under what circumstances might YOU become unimaginably cruel? Who are YOUR acceptable targets? What do YOU let slide because you think it's for a greater good? Fear, selfishness, convenience, apathy toward others. Having suffered an injustice and using anger/power to hurt others to make sure you never feel helpless again. Caring about something so much that you'll destroy anyone that even might cause it harm.

Power and cruelty for their own sakes are meaningless, but that's all the devs were willing to think about.

Also to clarify part of the issue. I'm pretty sure that the devs would argue Elgar'nan is a litterer because he's evil and evil people litter. Elgar'nan eats kitten because why would an evil, evil person be decent to kittens? If he was nice to kittens then those had to be evil kittens. Elgar'nan would NEVER read The Randy Dowager, but if he did then anyone else who read The Randy Dowager would become evil by association. He cannot so much as brush his teeth without it being a malevolent act.

That's the level of strawman he and pretty much all the other antagonists are. It's ridiculous.

CONCLUSION: Like I said, I have other thoughts/directions based on holes left by the devs. I didn't hate the game. There were totally things I had fun with. But I do think it deserves criticism, and by admitting those criticisms I think fans have the opportunity to address them on their own terms with fan content.

Larian overdid post-release edits, removed things that were good, and put in shit that actually lowered the game's quality. I think if Bioware wants to recover from the abysmal sales being reported for this at all, they actually should do post-release edits like Larian to actually fix crap. I doubt they will and even if they did idk that it would work because they'd need to get someone with a very different approach to assist, but that's what I'd advise.

[invinciblerodent]

i've had a little time to think about it now, and despite my initial bristling, the more I gnaw on it.... the more I actually really like the choice of the two cities. Both as a story beat, and for how it affects my Rook specifically.

Like... canonically just before that choice, Verbena confided in Neve (one of the first times she's done that with anyone in the game so far) about her feelings about Minrathous being... complicated.

Ver's love for the place, it obviously comes tinged with loss, and pain, and resentment- hardship, and tears, and an awareness of the many bleeding wounds of both city and Imperium that, as a Shadow and as a Soporati, she's keenly aware of. Just like Neve, Ver also knows Minrathous as a tarnished, but precious jewel, and she has many feelings about the place that are best condensed into the word "bittersweet". She's buried and gained family there, she's loved and lost there, those streets have soaked up tears of both joy and sorrow. Despite all its politics, all the painful memories, the complicated feelings, hearing that her city, her home was in danger...

There was never any way that she would have chosen any other over it.

And I really find myself liking how profoundly that changes the relationships that she's going to have with Neve, Lucanis, AND Davrin.

(very lengthy rambles under cut, im sorry ok, i had time to think while cooking today, bear with me)

As for Neve, Ver making that choice with very little hesitation shows that Neve was right to open up to-, and place her trust in Ver. She was right to judge Ver as a loyal ally, a neighbor and a confidant, and to know, deep in the pit of her stomach, that Ver was going to follow her- which, I hope, also translates to the future of their friendship.

It feels like Ver sort of unknowingly "proved" herself, and making this call, it feels like it added a layer of security, and a mutual reliance to their relationship, deepening their bond. It kinda took their tentative friendship into ride-or-die territories.

As for Lucanis... of course there's on one hand his crush that he seemed to have developed, which has now died in its infancy. After a year of isolation (and not really being alone in his own head, not being the sole arbiter of his own feelings), it was probably easy enough for him to quickly develop a strangely intense bond with the people who broke him out (hence the interesting lines, like chiding Illario for "flirting" with his "..... colleague") and then also showed him a rare kindness and understanding, which Ver and Neve both did- and then they both broke that trust. ("Rook.... no more.")

But on the other hand (even though he hadn't come back yet in my game, so I don't know what'll happen then), I think neither Lucanis nor Ver can help but feel resentful of the other now. Him, for known reasons, and her, because though she feels guilt and regret, she also feels that it's deeply unfair of him to expect her to make a decision that he himself would not have made either.

(I think she fully believes that if he had been in her shoes, if it had been his call to make, he too would have let her city burn to save his own people. He kind of did make that decision, when he made his own call and ran off- he had no way of knowing that the dragon would back off so easy, and he still kind of caused the group to split down the middle, leaving only Ver, Neve, and one basically unknown Warden to face Ghilan'nain.)(I think Ver is going to ignore that had she made a different call, Neve would have also presented the same liability.)

Even if they end up reconciling, it won't pass without a trace that even though she rushed to Treviso afterwards as quickly as she possibly could, expressed nothing but regret, and did everything she could to make it right, he slunk off for days, and stubbornly refused to speak to anyone. I think Ver right now definitely feels like that's him pointedly blaming her (doing nothing to help the guilt she already feels all on her own). Him not being there as she was bitterly hacking at pockets of Blight in the heart of his city in the aftermath probably sealed that for her.

And for Davrin, I really like how seeing her immediately make this hard choice only hours after meeting him presents a very quick opportunity for him to bond with Ver, right out the gate.

I think there is a lot to do here with the concepts of both hope and faded glory, both as they live in Tevinter's resistance movement, and the Wardens.

I mean, defending the defenseless from an ancient and seemingly invincible foe? Clinging onto hope with bloody knuckles as one gets up over and over again, to keep thanklessly battling the infinite heads of the hydra of corruption, helping in all the invisible ways? That's got to be something both a Shadow, and a Warden (and the Dalish, tbh) understands deeply. (Really, from where they're standing, what even is the difference between a darkspawn and a magister, if not just a thousand or so years?)

It's also worth mentioning that, like I've said before, this all means that his very first impressions of her were just her jumping without hesitation to the defense of the last remaining baby griffons (you don't get a better metaphor for hope OR faded glory than that), only to then charge blindly at a blighted dragon and a god in defense of her city? That's got to impress him at least a little bit. From his perspective, she's got to look damn impressive now, especially considering how that ferocity she showed there contrasts with the joking kindness she shows in his personal quest right after.

So, lots of character relationship developments, lots of interesting moments, lots to think about. Really impactful bit, I enjoyed it a lot.

I really just wish we had a pop-up or a prompt warning us that grabbing Davrin was gonna move the plot forward, because then I would have taken my time exploring Treviso properly, and wouldn't now be scared to go recruit Taash and Emmrich, lol.

I think I might do a bit of sidequesting and exploring for the time being, wait to see if it does take moving the main plot forward to get Lucanis back (like I assume it does), and toy with the thought of little bonding moments with the others.

[requiemforthestars]

I'm leaning really heavily towards romancing Neve because I think her and my Crow Rook could fit. A cynic who believes in fighting for a better world vs an idealist who cannot afford idealism because as an assassin her job is to be the villain. All that. They could've met in different circumstances because in my head the Crows found Rook when they got hired to kill a Tevinter lord only to find one of his slaves, teen Rook with newly-found magic powers, had killed him and half his family first, so they saw potential. But if they hadn't? My Rook would have 100% ended up with the Shadow Dragons somehow. So, because of all of this my heart was asking me to save Minrathous in this playthrough but I decided to save Treviso and leave Minrathous for a later canon playthrough in which I do all the quests, but I'm just... really enjoying the angst with Neve gone because it was Rook's fault the Venatori took over? Like it's horrible but it happened just after Neve's first personal quest where she told Rook about the people in Dock Town who were worth saving and right after that Rook gave her a gift, and they flirted and it could have been something but then the dragons attacked, and Rook chose Treviso (because she thought Minrathous could defend itself, because a part of her thinks Tevinter and just wants to burn it all to the ground, because she is a Crow and the Crows come first, always) but she broke Neve's heart!! Neve saw her dreams shattered and Rook confirmed to herself that no matter what happens she will always bring only death and like, this idea has me on a fucking chokehold, man, hold on a fucking second...

[cobbiest]

Dawn “The Panther” Mercari, aka Rook

Infodump below the cut 🐆

I absolutely went back to my edgelord roots with this lad. Dawn was abducted by the venatori as a child, targeted for his unusually potent magic and groomed into a mage-assassin. After years of missions and mind control, he was rescued by the Shadow Dragons. He decided to use his skills with a spellblade to help those in a similar situation to his own.

Over time, he opened up to his fellow dragons, and found the personality he’d been forced to suppress all his life. He likes whiskey and street food, and always stops to pet any alley cat or stray dog he sees. He keeps dishes of food and water full in the alley below the cramped loft he calls an apartment, though he doesn’t have any pets, for fear of him dying on a mission, and them being abandoned.

He earned the nickname “Panther” after he fell asleep slung over a tree branch while scouting with a few other dragons. He can and will sleep anywhere. His apartment is an attic above a bakery. He rescued the child of the baker when he was new to the Shadow Dragons, and the smell of fresh bread is comforting.

He’s surprisingly vain. Even during his time with the venatori, he managed to prevent any scarring on his face, other than the mark on his forehead they used to initiate his mind control before missions. He has a series of markings on his neck, and a complex glyph on his back from his time with the venatori, as well, though he doesn’t talk about them.

After the start of Veilguard, he takes on a leadership position somewhat begrudgingly, though after seeing how the others wrestle with making tough choices, he doesn’t mind the responsibility. Wagers of life and death are nothing new to him.

He takes a particular shine to Bellara, at first. Her open attitude and inquisitiveness draw him in, and the two become fast friends. He feels a certain sense of protectiveness for her, and considers her something of a sister, though he hasn’t had the nerve to tell her so.

Freeing Lucanis reminds him too closely of his own imprisonment. The two of them understand each other, and it isn’t long before flirting in the heat of combat develops into something far realer than either of them is prepared for. Rook never really had time for a serious relationship, before. He could never feel connected to another person, but this changes with Lucanis. They are both blades, sharpened to a razor’s edge, but they can be soft with each other, smoothing their harsh edges……… I’m so soft for them, your honor.

(However, the fact that I maxed out his height means The Scene with Lucanis is hilarious, tiny man struggles so hard to look up at Dawn, I was dying.)

[roseofblogging]

The liveblog continues with Rook's recent one-on-one trips with her companions, a new member, and a very, very difficult decision in light of some dragons appearing...

While in the process of gathering more intel on what the two escaped elven gods trying to enslave and/or kill everyone are doing, Rook took a break to check in with the three members of the crew so far. She and Bellara first took care of some artifacts that gave Bellara a lot of anxiety. Her apprehension seemed out of place until Rook discovered she blamed herself for her brother's death over an artifact. Ah...now it all makes sense. The girl tries so hard, and Rook's been through that stage of grief herself. It's something Bellara will have to work through, but Rook swore to herself she'd be there to help Bellara with artifacts anytime.

Next up was a coffee date with Lucanis. Okay, so it was mostly to accompany Lucanis while he spoke with his cousin about the assassination of their grandmother, but it was also definitely a coffee date. There was much flirting, and now Lucanis knows she has a sweet tooth and hates bitter coffee. Something about Lucanis feels very comforting yet very dangerous. He's a Crow, so he's an assassin. He's an "Abomination" (not a term Rook loves) because of Spite inside him, so he should be terrifying. But he's a man who loves complex flavors, talks beautifully about his country and his city, buys gifts for the rest of the team, and has a strong moral compass. (It doesn't hurt that he's got a beautiful voice and a beautiful face either...)

After that, Rook accompanied Harding on a trip to practice her stone magic. It seems that the kind of rock impacts what kind of magic Harding can impose upon it. It's really neat to watch! However, Harding acted strangely at the end of their practice session. When she spoke to Rook about it later, Harding said she'd heard a voice. Rook's not entirely sure whether this is good or bad, but it's something that's been gnawing at her ever since. Hopefully they can get some answers soon from the dwarves in the deep roads.

Neve's been someone Rook had vaguely known of while working in Minrathous as another Shadow Dragon, but they had never directly worked together. Neve's information-gathering skills had give them an edge in missions, and Rook had never known much about her otherwise. Having spent a lot of time with her now...wow. Neve doesn't get personal very often and there's so much Rook still doesn't know about the woman, but she can't help being in awe around her. This is someone who will drop all her things to inconvenience herself for people important to her but also can coldly analyze and read people. Her intuition is on another scale. Even if Rook wanted to hide something from her, she never could. She's never been that good at reading people or reading the truth between some very complicated, gibberish lines of slight falsehoods, so she admires Neve a lot. Being a leader is scary, but having someone at Neve at your side relieves some of the pressure.

So, Rook and Neve went on a trip in Minrathous (a nostalgic trip for Rook) to buy some newspapers for information and to find the serial Bellara's been obsessed with.

"People will tell you Minrathous is broken--and they're right. It's corrupt, petty. Saving the world won't fix it." Neve stared into the distance, her gaze hard. Her eyes made it clear she tried every day to push through the hopelessness. "I take the small wins, Rook. Hal serving fish another day. Getting past the next scrape alive."

"We got in over our heads, didn't we? But I'm glad you took the job," Rook said, referring to Neve having agreed to work with Varric on this job to stop Solas (and now stopping the gods we accidentally let out).

"I've seen worse." Neve smirked.

Rook smiled gently. "Then I'm glad you stuck around."

Neve's smirk turned into a toothy grin. "Misery loves company."

After the leader of the Grey Wardens basically called Rook crazy for saying that elven gods were changing the Blight into something else, Harding got Rook in touch with some other Grey Wardens who pointed to yet another Grey Warden--it's been a struggle finding someone who specializes in warding off the Blight!

This led to Davrin and his griffon. There are hardly any griffons still alive--Rook had honestly thought they were extinct, but turns out there are 13 remaining, and all of them are in Davrin's unit. Davrin has two companions who were training the griffons to fight darkspawn. Unfortunately, 12 of them went missing, and so did those two companions--who we later found dead. Rook and Davrin fought the entity responsible, who unfortunately managed to spirit itself away with the 12 other griffons, leaving only Davrin alive with Assan, the only griffon the Grey Wardens have now. Rook felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. If they'd been faster or stronger, they could have undone the blood magic on the cages for those griffons sooner. She hopes they'll be okay. She only just met Davrin and Assan (Rook let Davrin know that "Assan" means "arrow" in elvish, to which he laughed and replied that he hoped Assan would grow into that name), and she smells too much like the blight for Assan to be comfortable around her without Davrin, but she hopes one day she can give Assan some pets and scratches. The poor griffon lost his whole family.

Davrin didn't have much time to settle in before terrible news struck: Elgar'nan and Ghilanain had made their move. Each had unleashed a dragon on a city. One was attacking Minrathous; the other Treviso. Lucanis obviously told Rook to go to Treviso and save the people there under siege by the Antaam. Rook had just been there with him and could tell how much his city meant to him. But she and Neve felt the same about Minrathous. That was Rook's city. She'd had to flee it before for her own safety, but now that she could be there without fearing being murdered for political reasons--and she'd just been there with Neve!--she couldn't just let Ghilanain disrupt it and empower the slavers of Tevinter even further. Rook couldn't imagine how terrible it'd be if she let the Tevinter mages have the influence of a blighted Dragon and an ancient elven mage who only cares about experiments and nothing about its costs.

But that also meant leaving Treviso to a dragon. Even worse, the Blight spilled into their rivers and sewers. So many people would die, and even more would die later.

But still. She made her choice to go save the city that was an unlikely home for her. For all the people who dared to stand up to a government that believed some people were not people.

When she found Lucanis in a completely destroyed Treviso, she first saw him with his head in his hands. The dragon had left, but Treviso as she'd just seen it from a cafe with Lucanis was now gone. Her kneejerk reaction to his guilt was to insist to Lucanis that she had done what he'd done--gone back to help her own people. He shot back that then Rook should understand how he feels now.

She wished she'd kept her mouth shut.

The group reconvened at the Lighthouse to discuss their next steps. Lucanis did not join them, staying in Treviso. Guilt continued to eat at Rook. She hopes he returns but understands if he's angry at her. She'd be livid if she were in his shoes.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard liveblog

Hello! I often post Splatoon stuff here or reblog Tales RPG stuff, but I'm currently sucked into Dragon Age: The Veilguard and want to dump my thoughts on my game somewhere that I can look back on later.

If you want to avoid these either because of spoilers or because you just do not want to see it, I'll be using the tags: rose plays veilguard and dragon age: the veilguard spoilers, and you can blacklist those.

With that said, here we go!

The background for my Rook: She's a mage originally from a Dalish clan that greatly worships Elgar'nan, the father of the elven pantheon, god of vengeance, justice, retribution, and the sun. She grew up eagerly taking the vallislin and vowed to help the helpless, invoking Elgar'nan's name when doing so. (All the while, I, giggle at the sheer irony of how she'd hate the Evanuris--whom she currently worships--for them having been slavers.)

After she moved away to see more of the world, she found herself loving both the glitz and the grime of Minrathous in the Tevinter Empirium: the street markets were nothing like she'd ever encountered at home, and she became enamored.

Then she learned about the much darker side of Tevinter, and the fact that slavery was still legal there infuriated her. That's when she joined the Shadow Dragons and eventually made a name for herself freeing a bunch of slaves, going against the Shadow Dragons' plan to go slower and avoid attention. She doesn't regret freeing people, but she recognizes her actions had consequences for the Shadow Dragons and probably endangered a lot of people after she was forced to flee the city.

She's looked up to Varric ever since he found her and asked her to help them track down Solas. She's not fond of essentially being the leader in his place now, and she goes to him for advice a lot. He always manages to cheer her up no matter how much she beats herself up.

We're still early in the game's story, and while Solas didn't outright say at the start that the elven gods enslaved people, she got the sense the stories she'd grown up learning weren't entirely true. Now that she's lived through a couple of Solas's memories of fighting back against Elgar'nan, she has very mixed feelings about her prior hero-worship of the Evanuris father (she still does not know the truth about vallislin's origins). Time will tell how she'll feel eventually having to face Elgar'nan himself, now that he's escaped Solas's imprisonment.

She finds Solas pretty irritating and full of himself, but her conversations with him in the Fade have made her see him for more of who he is: a very old man who wanted to save people but is ultimately fallible and prone to mistakes like anyone, including severe lapses in judgment and an inability to listen to people he views as far younger, far more inexperienced, and deluded by a millennium of lies passed down as culture. For which he's right! That irritates her even more.

Where we're at now: Varric is injured and out of battle for what seems to be a long time. Harding has become a sweet friend, and Rook is looking forward to learning more about this strange stone magic she acquired from Solas's ancient dagger.

Neve, oh my gosh *swoon* aaaa. Kinda crushing hardcore. Excited about working with another person from the Shadow Dragons, especially someone with such fantastic inductive reasoning skills. We're aligned on some major core values. Both fiercely love Minrathous.

Bellara is incredibly sweet! Crushing--not sure if romantic or platonic, but definitely wanna learn more about her. The way she rambles is adorable. She's a fantastic tinkerer, brilliant, and full of life with a sense of adventure. Her enthusiasm is infectious!

Lucanis...yet another *swoon* He's only just joined, so Rook doesn't know much about him yet, and having a contract killer with a demon living in his head is concerning, but she's trying not to be judgmental about it. After her first one-on-one with him, she's feeling like he has a really good handle on that situation, though she feels awful for him and how he's constantly sleep-deprived because of that situation. She plans to sit down with him for coffee on the regular. (My own thoughts from being able to see the interactions with Spite: OH MY GOSH LOL he's hot) Plus, he takes his work seriously, and it's not like he wants ancient elves unleashing the worst Blight upon the world, worse than any of us can imagine. So, she can work with him, and she's got a good vibe about him at the moment. It's not like she hasn't killed people before.