#last flight

[babe-a-yaga]

What was done to Isseya is one of my personal biggest upsets with this game. I loved her in Last Flight. She's a genuinely interesting, complex character, and given the themes of mistakes and regret present through Veilguard, it makes TOTAL sense for her to make an appearance! What makes no sense at all is for her to be reduced to a two dimensional villain with no clear motivation who's just...doing exactly the thing she fucked up in life? Except worse? I'm gonna summarize the events of last flight for the folks who haven't read it;

The first griffin Isseya put through the joining was already blighted in battle, and dying from it. Quickly. Griffins are extra sensitive to the Blight and any attempts made to join them resulted in the animals going berserk and tearing themselves, and anyone else in range, to pieces to get away from what was now in their veins.

In a well meaning, but misguided effort to save one of the animals she loved, she used blood magic to alter the griffon's mind, to convince it the Blight in it's system was just a regular cold, and it didn't need to fight it, then put it through the joining.

It worked, but it changed the griffon. Made it stronger, fight harder. More difficult to handle. The griffon ultimately went out in a spectacular blaze of glory, and people didn't know what she did, just that she did SOMETHING, and that griffon did ten griffons worth of damage on it's way out.

The fourth blight was far worse, far longer than any of the blights we have witnessed first hand. I think it lasted like 15 years? And it was going badly for Thedas. They ordered Isseya to do what she had done to the first griffon again as a last ditch to stand a chance at I *think* Starkhaven (it's been a little bit since I read last flight, so I'm sketchy on dates and what battles were fought specifically when). She hated doing this, but it was orders, and it was exploit this handful of griffons or watch the world die. She's a warden, she signed up to stop the blight at any cost. In war, victory. In death, sacrifice.

By the time her brother Garahel slays Andoral, she's had to blight a number of griffons, and the constant blood magic use has massively accelerated the blight in her own body. Her brother garahel is this golden haired pretty boy beloved by everyone who looks upon him, and Isseya looks so much like a ghoul at this point people are uncomfortable being in the same room as her. Even though this is completely due to her service to the wardens.

Then, the remaining joined griffons start going mad. And then it starts to spread to the other, non-joined griffons. In using blood magic to convince the griffons the blight was just a disease, she had caused it to become one. A contagious one.

It's one of the most interesting examples of how dangerous blood magic actually is we ever see. We're just told over and over "blood magic bad, slippery slope to killing people. Bad. Even if you use your own." And we never really see explicitly why it's an inherently dangerous form of magic until this.

Back to Isseya though. Garahel's lover's Griffon had a clutch of eggs sired by Garahel's Crookytail. Isseya, knowing there was no stopping what was now in motion with the griffons, set out to do her one last act of penance. She took, and purified those eggs, hid them in a ward that kept them in stasis, so that they might only hatch once the griffons were gone, and this disease had died with them, so they might have a chance. And then she hid the clues to their location, and begged that whoever find them not let them be used by the wardens again.

And then she went on her calling.

These are not the actions of a villain. Isseya EMBODIES the warden principal of sacrifice. But it isn't glorious battle rewarded by a quick death alongside an archdemon for her. It's death by inches, by blight, knowingly and willingly accelerated in her own body to stop it from consuming the world. Sacrificing her ideals, the animals she loves, her brother, Garahel. Isseya gives it all for the wardens, to end the blight, and is not thanked for it or remembered kindly.

And she did everything she could to seed the slightest bit of hope, that both in spite of her and because of her, griffons might return to the world, as free creatures.

Her Veilguard arc feels like really egregious character assassination, and I wish she had been given an ounce of the sympathy that other characters had been given. It made sense for her to be here, thematically, mistakes and regret, and good intentions still leading to bad ends, but she deserved the same opportunity for forgiveness and/or redemption that Solas, Mythal, Cyrian, even Illario got.

Isseya was done dirty by Veilguard.

[himluv]

Okay, hot take coming in, but I've seen a few posts mentioning that Isseya's character was done dirty in Veilguard. And... I disagree. Here's why:

1. Isseya is already established as a morally gray character, willing to do basically anything if it meant ending the Fourth Blight, even when it went against her own personal morals.

2. Her Calling advanced quickly because of the blight, and it's theorized in Last Flight that all her use of Blood Magic probably didn't help, either.

3. She has been alive for CENTURIES after she should have died on her Calling. She is more Darkspawn than elf, more akin to The Architect or Corypheus than she is Davrin, by the time we meet her in game.

4. And this is the doozy, in the novel The Calling, we see what happens when Wardens don't die on their Calling. We know what happens when they let their taint change them. We saw what happened when the Architect advanced their Calling so that they might keep their minds... They didn't. After only months, Bregan starts to lose it. The blight is anger. It's rage. It is a literal plague of HATE. And it twists not just his body, but his mind too.

So, imagine Isseya, already angry. Already wracked with guilt, grief, and righteous anger when she goes on her Calling. And then she doesn't die, but Revas, her griffon, does. And so Isseya is all alone, festering in her own negative emotions for centuries, all while the blight in her veins slowly takes over and whispers nothing but hate directly into her brain. For over 400 YEARS.

And it all comes down to the Wardens. She blames them for what she became, for the fate of the griffons (understandably so), and her madness spirals into making an alternate Weisshaupt, recruiting her own order of Blighted Wardens.

(side note: was she working with The Architect? Because this is some Architect shit.)

And then Ghilan'nain shows up with an offer to help "save" the griffons. And Isseya is blighted, driven mad with centuries of unmitigated hate. So she takes Ghilan'nain's offer, never once seeing how she's being used all over again. Because the blight has blinded her with hate for the Wardens.

Isseya's character hasn't been botched. They didn't do her dirty. Her story is SAD. Heartbreaking even. It's a tragedy and a warning, of what that much hate can do to a person.

Did I wish better for her? Absolutely. I loved Isseya in Last Flight, and my heart broke for her then. But unraveling the Gloom Howler that first time? Realizing who she was and WHY this was happening? It was an amazing experience. (The way I said, "oh, Isseya"??? Tear my heart to shreds, Bioware.)

But, just because Isseya's fate is tragic, doesn't mean she was written poorly. From what we know about her, the blight, and the Calling, her character is actually very consistent and believable.

Just... really fucking sad.

[shewolfofvilnius]

HOW IT STARTED:

HOW IT'S GOING:

[inquisimer]

before you can kill the monster (you have to say its name)

In which I lovingly work the nuance from Last Flight into Davrin's Veilguard arc 😌 I adored seeing the characters in the game, but this idea for a more fleshed out resolution for Isseya & Valya seized me as soon as I finished the quest.

✨ read it on ao3 here ✨

Isseya & Valya, Caronel/Valya | Rated T | ch 1/10 | No Warnings When Davrin and Rook reach their final confrontation with the Gloom Howler, they're interrupted by the last person they'd expect. But Valya followed them for a reason, and she won't let them kill Isseya until they know the truth. The whole truth, this time.

[olessan]

I'm also dying about Davrin's little gremlin griffon chick because I have been HOLDING ONTO the end of Last Flight this ENTIRE time and VINDICATIOOOON

It looks only a few years old as well, could well be from one of the eggs that got untainted.

Based on what we can see, it does look fairly similar to Crookytail, with white, grey and black, and possibly tan patches and floppy ears:

The odd griffon was not solid gray like most of his brethren. Crookytail's feathers were tinted with dusky brown; white patches decorated his chest and belly. One of his ears flopped forward, and he had a distinctive, bushy tail with a prominent kink in it - giving him his name.

[sky--phantom]

This made me both sad and glad that I'm reading Last Flight

[knife-eared-jan]

Bioware, I swear to god - if you don't let me free them. If something happens to these babies.

I. will. find. you.

[agent-danascully]

My Dragon Age Favourites - template by @dalishious

[fadejumper]

Spoilers for Davrin’s companion quests (particularly the final one), and Last Flight

Is anyone else kinda disappointed by the direction they took with Isseya? So much of her story was about how much she regretted everything that she had to do to the griffons, to the point that she kept searching for a cure long after she should’ve gone on her Calling, and she left clues only someone “worthy” of protecting the griffons could find… only to now try to blight them? Like I guess the reasoning is she thinks the Wardens still don’t deserve the griffons, but wasn’t the whole point of the everything Valya found to make sure someone good would find them??

I suppose we can point to her being blighted as a reason for her becoming like this, but it makes me a bit sad about Last Flight now in retrospect (my favorite of the Dragon Age books) even if her change “makes sense” lore-wise. I thought her doing everything she could to protect the griffons before finally going on her long overdue Calling, never to see if her plan to save the eggs would truly succeed, was a really good, bittersweet ending for her. But now actually she isn’t dead and she’s basically undoing everything she worked for at the end of Last Flight. Kinda disappointing :(

(To be extra clear: I get the lore reasons for her change in Veilguard! I just think it’s not a very good character direction, given the arc she had in Last Flight)

[irhinoceri]

Crookytail

this is the part where you cry if you’ve read Last Flight

[ede917]

No custom world state, slow start to main story, everything in the south being off screen

Best combat, best companions, tevinter nights and last flight characters, the main story from Weisshaupt onwards, Mathew Mercer, the origins of the elves, dwarves, titans, archdemons, and the blight, the emotional gut punch that was Tearstone Island, Solas being under a binding, basically the last 5 hours of the game.

[feyriane]

"The peppery-sweet fragrance of those tiny purple flowers were painful to Isseya. The darkspawn had no concept of beauty, no use for the small, civilized gestures that made the world a more pleasant place. They just... killed and destroyed and poisoned, and where they passed, no lavender would ever grow again." - "Last Flight" by Liane Merciel

This quote feels different now. Flowers can grow again, Isseya. I promise.

[dragonageannual]

Meet the Legends: Garahel

Introducing the myths and legends of Dragon Age Annual 2025: Legacies! Garahel features in fic as part of our zine, Sagas.

Click Here to order DAA 2025: Legacies NOW!

Orders Close:

Physical Copies & Merch: October 31st

Digital Calendar & Zine: January 31st, 2025

Codex Entry: Garahel's Helm

I watched from across the battlefield as Garahel struck the final blow against the Archdemon and a great wave of energy surged out from the beast. It was enough to level what buildings were not already destroyed by the endless battle we had fought, enough to knock horses and ogres aside as if they were little more than parchment. Even at my distance, the force struck me like the blast of some great storm. The darkspawn around us felt it too, as savage desperation turned to sheer terror. A great pillar of energy rushed up into the dark clouds, the blackness that had gathered with the horde and blocked out all glimmer of hope. When we stood again, we saw the first rays of sunshine peeking through those clouds and we let out such a cheer of joy and relief that it shook the very earth. I joined the others as we searched for Garahel, but as the eve approached all I found was his enchanted helm. It was not until much later that I heard his body had been retrieved, flung to the far side of the battlefield by the Archdemon's death throes. My friend, this elf who helped us unite the lands and cleanse Thedas of the darkspawn scourge will always be remembered. I swear it.

—Excerpt from a letter written by the Grey Warden Prosper, 5:24 Exalted

[another-rogue-trevelyan]

PSA if you haven’t read Last Flight or at least a summary of Last Flight do it before Veilguard!!!! Honestly one of the best books I’ve ever read which I wasn’t expecting from a Dragon Age book but also the lore is crazy and so relevant to the upcoming game, especially to the character of Davrin!!

[inquisimer]

before you can kill the monster (you have to say its name) - Chapter 2

Chapter Summary: Valya's tale picks up a decade prior, with newly hatched griffons, the weight of Isseya's legacy, and their arrival back at Weisshaupt.

✨ read it on ao3 here ✨ read from the beginning ✨

Isseya & Valya, Caronel/Valya | Rated T | ch 2/10 | No Warnings When Davrin and Rook reach their final confrontation with the Gloom Howler, they're interrupted by the last person they'd expect. But Valya followed them for a reason, and she won't let them kill Isseya until they know the truth. The whole truth, this time.

[sky--phantom]

This one was pain