#laire laidir

[thievinghippo]

Okay this is freaking adorable. Cuddlebuddy? Taash, I heart you so much

[thunderboltfire]

Are Lords of Fortune thieves?

I've seen a lot of talk about LoF being an incredibly sanitized faction, and sure, some of this criticism I can agree with. I rolled my eyes through Taash's banter with Bellara too, but I think it's worth remembering, where exactly does this characterisation come from.

Much of the information on how the Lords handle relics and on their general conduct, comes from Taash. Especially their first dialogue in the Lighthouse gets interesting when You play as a Laidir Rook. In a dialogue branch about the traps, if Rook expresses they'd much rather deal with a trap-ridden maze and stealing ancient idols, she immediately responds that the Lords are not thieves, they don't steal.

To which Rook replies that oh no, they absolutely do steal, and recalls an instance of a daring theft by one of their members.

To which Taash states that it doesn't count as theft, because Starkhaven is full of assholes (presumably, rich assholes). They add that the Lords 'don't take from those, who cannot afford it'.

Which sounds like a very convenient justification by someone who owes a lot to the Lords, looks up to them and is generally biased in their favor, all of which Taash definitely is. Taash is convinced that the Lords are good people - they've helped their mother survive, they appreciate their skills, they're a fun bunch. Taash is also relatively young and rather sheltered, possibly a bit naive due to it. They mention not going on political missions, sticking to raiding trap-riddled dunegons and dragon lairs, which also is pretty far from more controversial high-sea robbery Isabela is known for.

In short, Taash has a perspective of a heavily biased insider. I also think that in the mind of a person raised by incredibly principled Shathann, theft is something very wrong, maybe even dishonorable, and it's not difficult to imagine that the faction which puts such emphasis on glory would have some code of honour. The Qunari world is rather black and white - things are either wrong or right. These aspects of the Lords do not go together in qunari mentality, so one of these has to be more true than the other.

The results are sommersaults of justifications. It isn't really theft, you see, because they only take from the rich (which is BTW a pretty logical course of action if they want big prize that'll earn them fame). They take things from assholes, so it's okay. You don't need to worry about it.

I also believe Taash speaks so much about the Lords' approach to the cultural artifacts, because it's the topic they personally know well - they speak about it like it's a common knowledge among the Lords, but Laidir (who ran with the Lords something around half a year before the events of DA:TV) doesn't recall ever working with an appraiser, they even can mention that they definitely haven't thought of it as deeply when they've sold the relics they've robbed, which earns them a sour comment from Taash.

The thing is, the artifact appraisal allowed Taash and their mother to survive, and Shathann may've been employed specifically by Isabela, who's had a bad experience with certain qunari relics and a dalish historian for a friend, but I don't think a fair treatment of artifacts is as universal of a thing as Taash thinks. Shathann had to have worked for the Lords for almost two decades, since Taash was a small child, and Laidir doesn't know her at all, despite stumbling upon various artifacts in their journeys.

The thing is, we don't get much outside information about the Lords in the game, which is, unfortunately, another development oversight that could be easily fixed by background dialogue or an introduction of a bigger LoF base location, in which we'd be able to do actual quests for them and get a wider perspective on the variety of work they do. They're pirates, scoundrels, loose cannons, they should be a pretty polarizing presence (especially in Antiva, whose trade historically suffered greatly from piracy).

TL;DR: There's some ground to suspect that at least a good part of Lords' 'disneyified' behavior is a matter of Taash's personal bias and - as it often is in DA - an unreliable narration. A non-LoF Rook playthroughs don't get enough information in the game to develop a more nuanced view on the faction.

[afraidofchange]

Ilona "Rook" Laidir's Major Choices.

The End of the Beginning: Chose Neve to accompany her to knock over the pillar.

Shadows Crossing: Left the mayor to die

On Blighted or Deadly Wings: Helped Minrathous

Regrets of the Dreadwolf: Convinced Mythal to help

Companion Quests:

A Murder of Crows: Imprisoned Illario (*No choice due to Lucanis being hardened).

The Cobbled Swan Case: Does not accept The Threads' deal

The Returned Cultist Case: Encouraged Neve to Bring Docktown Hope

Heart of the Titan: Encouraged Harding to embrace her anger

Lair of the Dragon King: Encouraged Taash to embrace their Rivaini culture

The Profane and the Lost: Encouraged Davrin to keep the griffons with the Wardens

The Sacrifice of Souls: Encouraged Emmrich to become a Lich

Through the Shadows: Encouraged Bellara to keep the archive.

Endgame:

Isle of the Gods: Sent Harding to lead the second team

Isle of the Gods: Chose Bellara's way

The Last Gambit: Chose Emmrich

The Last Gambit: Sent Taash to help dispatch the Venatorri mages

The Last Gambit: Sent Lucanis to help with the construct (Lucanis did not make it)

The Dread Wolf Rises: Sent Taash to fight the frontline

The Dread Wolf Rises: Save Solas via the fragment of Mythal

[thievinghippo]

What's that? Hippo created yet another Rook? This is Laire Laidir, a Lords of Fortune saboteur. She's really good at blowing shit up. It's basically her favorite thing to do

She's gonna romance Taash, and their favorite couple activity will be looking good at the gym. (Look at her arms!)

(For those keeping track at home, I've created seven Rooks. I've got two more to make. A Lucanis romancer and another Grey Warden dwarf who romancers no one. Then I'll be done. For now)

[thievinghippo]

Damn. I'm not sure why I didn't expect this in my Taash romance bingo card, but there we go!

(this is right before Taash comes out to their mom, hence the midgendering)

[thievinghippo]

Taash just yelled out "That's my girl!" after one of Rook's kills. That's freaking adorable

It gets better. She then called out "Rook. That's really hot!"

Also they are smooching now. It's what they deserve

[thievinghippo]

Well then! I didn't expect the flirt commit scene this early. But I will take it!

[thievinghippo]

Laire met the Inquisitor! This is Narrah, my Blackwall romancer (who she sent to the Wardens, and I do keep with the headcanon that he died and I will ignore the letter in the codex)

At this point, she's 61 years old, and just wants to watch her grandkids. But she knows her duty, and will protect the South as best she can

Also, I loved this little exchange! (this is before Taash understands their gender)

[thievinghippo]

This armor looks so good on dwarves! It's absolutely perfect for Laire, my Lords of Fortune Rook. She will never be taking this off

(Laire is finally recruiting Emmrich. I'm already level 24 and I'm just picking him up now!)

[thievinghippo]

🌻 for all your Rooks!

🌻 How old is your Rook? How do they feel about celebrating their birthday? What gift has meant the most to them?

These will all be when the game starts! It is amazing how many of my Rooks aren't sure of the date of their birth!

Edda is my youngest Rook. She is 23 at the start of the game. At least she thinks she's 23. She never met her mother and her father died when she was a toddler. She was raised by other servants in the noble house her parents worked, and none of them ever celebrated a birthday. So she never did, too. Emmrich is horrified and basically demands she choose a day so he can have a very specific excuse to spoil her. She chooses the day they defeated Elgar'nan. Like, while they're fighting, she tells him that she's decided today is her birthday. As a gift, he gives her one the gold bangles he wears on his left arm, the one he purchased for himself when he was promoted into the inner circle of the Watchers (that's the thicker one with the pattern)

This got long, so the rest goes behind the cut!

Sonnet is 27 at the start of the game. The day that they celebrate is the day she was found in the crypt, not her actual birthday. They don't know the actual day. When she was a child, she desperately wanted a stuffed animal of some sort. One of the orphanage workers made a nug plushie and gave it to her on her birthday. I envision that it was in her pack and sits in a place of honor in her room at the Lighthouse

Isle is 24 and never really cared all that much about birthdays. They were just another day for her. But that changed when she and Lucanis started their relationship. Suddenly, he had a perfect good reason to cook her absolute favorite meal and dessert. I mean, he would do that all the time anyway, just because. But this was an official reason! It's technically not a birthday gift, but Viago declared her a full-fledged Crow on her birthday, which was quite memorable for her

Oanez is 29 and grew up in a really poor alienage in Ostwick. Once their magic appeared, they were sent to the Circle until it fell in the mage/templar war. They fought in that war. (Oanez was all of 19 at the time). They still hate Templars. Yes, even Rana and Tarquin. After that war, they joined the Wardens for reasons they couldn't even tell you at this point. Long story short, they never celebrated birthdays. Just a number to them. After the gods are defeated, Davrin likes to take them on a trip for their birthday. A little family vacation with Assan

Laire is 30 at the start of the game loves birthdays. Loves celebrating them and celebrating her friends birthdays. She ends up making a HUGE fuss over Taash on each birthday they say it's too much, but secretly they're really, really pleased. Laire's best gift was from her mother, also a Lord of Fortune, who gave her her first turret, which completely changed the way she fought on the battlefield

Yichen thinks he's in his late 30s? Before joining Varric's team, he was an enforcer for the Dwarven ambassador's office for almost 20 years, and he was basically an adult when that started. Celebrates his birthday on First Day, because it's easy to remember. After the game, be basically becomes a bodyguard for the detective agency, and Neve gives him a notebook so he can keep his own notes, and they could work on notes together (and he would stop stealing hers). For whatever reason, he found that incredibly romantic

Daahir is another Ingellvar, so another crypt baby, so no idea what his actually birthday is. He's the oldest of my Rooks (because I wanted Harding to have a silver fox. It's what she deserves!) He's 46 at the start of the game, only 12 years younger than Emmrich. I headcanon that his last name is Ingellvar because he was found at the Ingellvar family tomb in the Necropolis. Eventually, he decided his birthday was the 'death day' of the last Ingellvar entombed in that specific crypt. His most meaningful gift was when Emmrich did his corpse whispering thing on that one skeleton that turned out to have rescued Rook when they were a baby. Emmrich didn't even know it was Daahir's birthday. Daahir kept that information to himself

Aahan also has no idea when their birthday is or honestly? Even how old they are. Their best guess is early 30s. They never celebrate an actual birthday until they were with the Veil Jumpers. The team they was out in the field with said they needed a reason to celebrate, so Aahan said it was their birthday. Even though they had absolutely no idea if it was or not. But the team set up a bonfire that night and drank and ate their best rations and had a wonderful evening. After that, Aahan always made sure they celebrated that specific day with their friends. They've only ever gotten one birthday gift, a really nice hair comb from Bellara. They treasure it

[thievinghippo]

🌿 for all of them please!

(hi i have my internet back. thanks again for checking in! <3)

YES GOOD I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE SAFE

Ahem. Here we go! Almost all of them have tattoos, just not visible ones

Edda has a casteless tattoo on her shoulder, as a reminder of how close she became to actually being casteless before joining the Wardens (Emmrich got into the habit of putting his hand on her shoulder and letting his thumb run across where the tattoo was before big fights)

Sonnet has a tramp stamp of the Mourn Watch symbol (Emmrich is a little obsessed with it)

Isle has no tattoos, doesn't want any distinguishing features (once she was firmly out of the seduction game, she still didn't get any. doesn't like needles)

Yichen has a bunch of dwarven tattoos, including an actual casteless brand on his cheek, cause he used to be casteless (Neve eventually got a dwarven tattoo herself, on her kneecap of her amputated leg)

Oanez did not have any tattoos until the gods were defeated. Then they got griffin wings tattooed on their back (Davrin very much approved!)

Aahan wears body paint instead of tattoos (Bellara likes to help put it on when it needs refreshing)

Daahir has a full sleeve of Mourn Watch tattoos (One of Harding's favorite things is to trace the tattoo. She always makes sure she's on that side)

Laire gets a small tattoo once she and Taash are fully committed. They both get the other's name on the inside of their right wrist

[thievinghippo]

I just went through the fight scene with Taash (you know the one every romance has before end game) and DAMN. I actually was tearing up there

Taash was so clearly hurting and Rook wasn't helping the matter by trying to force things Taash wasn't ready to hear

These two crazy kids better make up soon :(

[thievinghippo]

🌷for all of your Rooks for the Rook Ask Meme!

If Rook needed to get away from their responsibilities for a moment, where would they go? Where is their safe space outside the Lighthouse?

THANK YOU! So many Rooks. I have so many Rooks. Why do I have so many Rooks? (Trick question. I don't have enough Rooks)

Edda doesn't have a space like this until she and Emmrich truly become a thing. Then he changes the wards of his apartments in the cupper Necropolis to let her in without him. With Weisshaupt gone, she doesn't have any sort of home except for the Lighthouse

Sonnet has a favorite dive bar in Nevarra City that she'll go to once in a while. She's never brought Emmrich, because he really wouldn't fit in with the aesthetics of the place. She also loves the music room in the Lighthouse and she does know how to play piano

Isle can be found on various rooftops in Treviso. She will also never tell him this, but she also feels incredibly safe in Viago's home

Oanez immediately feels at peace in Arlathan Forest, even when its actively trying to kill everyone. They like to get to a high vantage and just ignore the world for a bit

Before everything, Yichen was an enforcer for the dwarven ambassador's office in Minrathous. They have open barracks for petitioners and employees, so if he needs to get away, he'll sign up for a work shift (mostly just standing around and looking intimidating) so he can sleep in the barracks for a night

Aahan hasn't had a chance to find a safe space yet. He went from slave to Veil Jumper, to getting kicked out of the Veil Jumpers and working with Varric. He did love Kirkwall, when Varric took him and Harding there before the events of the game. He would love to find a place like the Hanged Man for himself

Daahir has a very specific tomb that he likes to visit in the Necropolis. It was part of some sort of research project he had to do when he was an apprentice. Whenever the Necropolis shuffles the rooms and levels around, Daahir gets very stressed until he finds it again

Laire loves the Hilt. There is no finer bar in her humble opinion. She can spend hours people watching or just reading a book and ignoring the world