#losing davrin was bad enough

[dalishbee]

I lost Davrin and Assan and I'm so upset :')

[hyperions-light]

screaming and crying and throwing up because Davrin and Lucanis can’t be friends until their fundamental conceptions of who they are and how the world works are destroyed

Davrin the Monster Hunter meets Lucanis, the Demon of Vyrantium, and he sees a Monster. The first thing Davrin says to him is that if Spite takes over he will kill him, and Lucanis responds with more than typical ire for him, because he agrees— he IS the monster (in his own mind) and Davrin has identified what he’s trying to ignore. (Harding also threatens to kill him, but Lucanis never reacts in that way to her).

Davrin conceptualizes himself as a bulwark against the darkness, the grim defender. He IS Weisshaupt, and Weisshaupt cannot fall, but it does. He stabs an Archdemon and does not die, and he doesn’t know why. What is he if not this? He did not protect anyone, he did not save anyone; he did not succeed in preserving anything he valued.

Lucanis has lost everything, but he is still a professional, he is still a Crow, and if he is now a monster he can use that to his advantage. He can control it; he WILL control it. He will go back to work and make things right the way he knows how. But when it’s time to do what he has trained for, he fails. What is he if he cannot even do the thing for which he was made? The only thing he has left?

And then Davrin goes to the Cauldron, and he finds the Gloom Howler, and she was a Person. She was a Warden, and an elf and the keeper of griffons, just like Davrin. Suddenly, she’s not a monster anymore; she’s Isseya, and she’s hurt.

And Lucanis goes to Treviso to kill Zara, and it’s taken from him and he loses control. He has to ask Rook for help, which he has been trying not to do, because he hasn’t confronted the real problem. And in that moment, he loses everything he had left; Illario, because he sees him for what he is, and his cloak of professionalism, because if it had been a job he would have stopped. But her death was not enough, and now he’s not a Crow, and he’s not in control, so what is he?

AND NOW that everything that can be broken has been broken and every bad thing they were afraid of actually happened and the world is ending, NOW they can be friends! Now they can rebuild themselves together ! Because Davrin isn’t ONLY the Monster Hunter, he’s also the man who raises Assan and sings to the halla and talks Isseya down! And Lucanis is not a monster at all. He’s just a man who goes grocery shopping for his friends and cooks special meals for everyone and loves his family no matter how much they hurt him.

Shokra toh ebra! You must struggle with what you are, but you can struggle TOGETHER !!

[vigilskeep]

give me the Sol good & bad endings in detail pretty pls 💖

sol as a character is defined by the crows and the blight, so here’s a spread of what i might have to work with

some bad sol endings:

crow version: the Widow Dellamorte. sol commits to being first talon lucanis’ right hand, but fail to protect him when the rest of the crows go to war with the ascending dominance of the dellamorte-de riva-cantori block. desperate to cling to whatever they have left of him, they allow themself to be possessed by spite—a fuller meld than spite/lucanis ever was, more in the anders/justice style—and become a vengeful winged monstrosity effectively haunting the dellamorte villa. black veil over golden heavy armour. for now, they still recognise their friends

blight version: the blight finally catches up. sol was intensely careful about fighting the blight right up until the final days, where there was nothing for it but to cut blindly into blight cysts. obviously it’s awful and pointless for them to suddenly die after all that, which is why i think we should at least explore the possibility. for awful and pointless drama. the ending they were kind of hoping for, just when they no longer want it??

alternate blight version: okay this isn’t an ending per se but i still think ghilan’nain should have gotten to turn them into a sick crow-themed blight monster at some point, as a special treat. this can also be a neutral or good ending depending on how much of themself they retain and how much of a monsterfucker lucanis is. sorry for saying that

some neutral-ish sol endings:

crow version: the First Talon’s Executioner. this is the version where sol goes back to the crows and it’s essentially business as usual. i can’t imagine this as good, but with their renewed appreciation for what they have and the lifetime of focus and activity ahead in order to just keep their heads above water, it could be survivable. and lucanis is there. but then i think about how permanently damning the step is where you start raising the next generation for it and i feel a bit sick

blight version: warden sol! sol finally gets up the nerve to cut ties with the crows, making the necessary choice for themself even if it means losing the people they love most. they take the joining and build what life they can alongside davrin, evka, and antoine, slaying darkspawn and finding a new path for the wardens following the tracks of a changing blight. it’s ugly and terrifying and hard, full of horror they never get used to, that will still be making their skin crawl until the day it kills them and drags them down, far from the comforts of home. but as a life, it is, at least, theirs to choose

some good sol endings:

crow version: a newly re-energised sol takes their place at lucanis’s side but considers things in ways they never could have before. why does going back to the crows have to mean they’re locked in place? they aren’t the underdog just clawing for survival that they once were, and they don’t have to act like it. they can do better! they have viago and teia and lucanis and people listen to them. if the dread wolf can change, can’t the crows? through a certain connection via the wardens, they make a contact who has very interesting ideas on the crows’ future

blight version: sol accepts they can’t stay with the crows, does a whole tear-stained confession to a shocked and distraught lucanis, and walks away. they settle into helping davrin, evka, and antoine against the changing blight. nobody actually requires them to take the joining because, hey, they’ve already gotten rid of more than enough archdemons for one person (showoff), and sometimes it is actually helpful for them to do their crow thing as the combatant the darkspawn can’t sense coming. maybe a year or two later, the world’s most miserable first talon (“they don’t even let me do my own assassinations anymore!”) quits his job, thoroughly disappoints his grandmother, thrills his demon, hands all his power to teia, and shows up somewhat nervously with as many antivan delicacies as he fears forgiveness will require

[rookinthecrownest]

thank you for tagging me @hawkeish <3

He never stepped foot in Madeleina’s room while she was actually around. It’s filled with little reminders that she was here. Some of them he recognizes from her stories. Each one of them hits like a mortar to his chest.

The gilded hairbrush and the thick tome from The Girl & The Glass Slipper lay on top of her side table. The silver hand mirror from Beauty & The Beast is perched on the credenza by the candles– Varric had given her that, apparently. Some nights, when the sleep deprivation hits really hard, he can see the spectre of her floating around the room. Brushing her hair. Reading by the window. Meditating by the candles. It all leaves him with this deep ache in his chest, that there was so much time wasted, while she was right there.

Everyone seems to have buried themselves with a task or fallen into a routine to keep the days without her moving. Davrin trains with Assan even harder than he did before, pushing himself and the young Griffon to their physical and mental limits, determined not to lose anyone else. Emmrich, Manfred and Bellara have immersed themselves in the work of creating a fake Lyrium dagger. Neve continues to chase leads on how they might track down Rook in the Fade. A true detective through and through. Taash… well, they train even harder than Davrin, as if they can punch the grief from losing Lace away.

Only he stays rooted in place, like an old tree with roots growing so deep and gnarled in the ground they are nigh on inextricable.

He thinks Bellara has likely taken up preparing meals for the team, because when he does find the strength to eat something, it’s usually quite good. She and Neve take turns bringing him the odd meal, and a cup of coffee that doesn’t taste half bad (he’s given Neve a few pointers). He appreciates the gesture, because she was important to them, too. Everyone is doing their part, except him.

He knows he should, but Lucanis Dellamorte cannot bring himself to leave her room. His limbs are made of lead, and even Spite’s gnashing at the recesses of his mind do not compel them to move.  

Smells like Lavender & Rosewater. But No. Rook. Spite growls, Hollow sweet things. Without. Her.

“I know, Spite” Lucanis rubs his eyes. He doesn’t know how long he’s been lying down, but there’s an ache in his lower back that tells him it’s been long enough.

 No. You. Don’t. Spite hisses. You. Aren’t. FINDING. HER.

-----

I am just going to say any mutuals of mine who like to write consider yourselves tagged aha :')

[weaveandwood]

The Snake and The Crow: Blighted

Pairing: The Viper x Female Rook (Bianca, an Antivan Crow mage) Words: 3.2K Rating: Mature Warning: Veilguard spoilers Summary: Bianca makes an impossible decision, one that makes her lose either way. AN: well I did it, I turned a smutty one shot into a thing. Enjoy the angst! Read on AO3! Read Part One

This was the first time she didn’t want to go through the eluvian to the Shadow Dragon’s pawn shop. This was the first time she didn’t know what she would find as she crossed that threshold, knowing how narrowly the crisis was averted at Treviso. It felt wrong stepping into the pawn shop at this hour, wearing her crow leathers instead of the ratty old Shadow Dragons robe she had pilfered from Ashur the first night they were together. 

“Why do you need this old robe?” he asked, holding it up.

“It’ll make it easier for me to sneak in with no questions asked, don’t you think?”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you, Rook.” He smiled easily at her.

“If you don’t want me calling out ‘The Viper’ when you make me come, you better start calling me Bianca when we’re alone,” she teased while starting to get dressed.

“Fair enough. Here you go…Bianca,” he laughed, handing the robe to her.

Chaos welcomed them. She didn’t know what she was looking at, only that she was being summoned to follow someone she didn’t know and everyone was running around. She looked around for a sign of him – his silly snake hat she teased him about, his large stature, the shape of his coat – anything that would indicate he was okay. She found nothing. Panic began to creep into the edge of her awareness, making her vision start to go hazy and her body start to overheat. Where was he?

Lucanis got outside first, then Davrin, and finally her. Neve was pissed - pacing, yelling, asking sarcastically how Treviso fared. Lucanis did his best to answer questions they all knew Neve didn’t really want answered - she wanted to rage, and they let her. Bianca saw Tarquin over Neve’s shoulder, glaring at her specifically. Ashur should be nearby, he was rarely out of Tarquin’s sight. Where was…

Her heart dropped. Ashur was laid out on a makeshift cot, holding his side. He had been looking at her, likely since the moment she stepped outside. He always did have a habit of finding her first – not that she ever minded to find those piercing blue eyes fixed on her. She felt the sting of tears, trying with all her might to blink them away while clenching her hands into fists to resist the urge to go to his side and take one of his in hers, to intertwine her fingers with his and kiss each one just as he did the last night they were together – Maker what was it, less than 24 hours ago? How quickly everything fell apart. 

She found herself at his side anyway, barely listening as everything was explained. He held her eyes with his as she heard half-sentences. Minrathous destroyed, Venatori coup, claw to the gut. Blighted. That drew Davrin’s attention, and from the look on his face, she knew it was bad. Very bad. She couldn’t help the hot tear that slid down her cheek at that moment. She brought her hand up to wipe it away as quickly as she could, hopefully before anyone noticed. Hopefully before he noticed. 

She felt like she was underwater – every sound muffled, the air thick around her. She couldn’t breathe. Just the night before, they had been laying in his bed talking about maybes, talking about after. She had gone through the eluvian to the Lighthouse with a smile on her face, as she always did after nights with him, but this one was different. This one felt like the start of…something. 

And now that something was blighted and bloody in front of her. She noticed for the first time the webs of inky black that surrounded his eyes, the first sign of the sickness inside him. So much for no strings attached – she was wrapped in them and they grew ever and ever tighter, circling her neck and threatening to choke the life from her. Her breaths came quickly, shallow. This is my fault, this is my fault, this is my fault. 

“This is your fault,” Tarquin’s voice cut through her haze clearly, a sword honed to injure. Her eyes snapped to him. She couldn’t say he had ever felt particularly strongly about her before, but looking at him in that moment she could only see hatred and anger. 

“My fault?” she asked, her voice thick with both rage and sadness.

“This is all you. The risen gods, the blight, the dragon. Now the city has been lost to the Venatori…because of you.”

She knew it wasn’t true. She knew she had an impossible choice - Treviso or Minrathous. Home or him. She would always lose one way or the other. Still, his words struck true, right to the heart, and she was in danger of bleeding out in front of all of them. She turned away from the group, unwilling to let them see the shake in her hands and the unshed tears in her eyes. It did not deter Tarquin, who moved in front of her, unwilling to let her hide from this confrontation.

“He would have been fine if he hadn’t been…distracted.” He said quietly, as though he knew how dangerous voicing this accusation was. It did not ease the disdain dripping from each word he pointed directly at her, every syllable a stab into her heart. She was back in Treviso, a small child fresh from the slaver, being tortured with dulled knives so she would learn the pain her contracts would know as their final breaths left their bodies. “The last thing he looked at before we left to fight was that damned eluvian, hoping you would come through.” 

She was wrong. This was worse than torture.

“Everything we’ve worked so hard for,” he said, glancing at The Viper before turning his ire solely on her once more, “all of our plans, our goals, the changes we were going to make…all ruined – because of you.” This is my fault, this is my fault, this is my fault. The refrain kept running through her head, louder and louder and louder until she wanted to double over and cover her ears in an attempt to block out everything. What did he expect her to do? She wasn’t a savior, she wasn’t a herald, she wasn’t a champion, she wasn’t a hero. She was someone who pissed off her superiors and got sent on a wild elven god chase across Thedas.  

She barely felt it, the slightest graze of a finger against her own, almost missed at the edge of her perception. She had involuntarily backed up against the cot while Tarquin lobbed his accusations and Ashur had stretched out the hand that wasn’t covering his wound. He wouldn’t know it, but just this small act of connection, of mercy, saved her from collapsing in on herself. She felt the dulled blade of Tarquin’s claims retract from her heart. She could begin to breathe once more. 

“Enough, Tarquin,” he said. His voice still carried the tone of command in it, though Bianca could tell he was weak and straining. He needed rest. He didn’t need to watch whatever this was. “I have access to magic that will slow this. It will give me…time. This isn’t on Rook. It is what it is.” 

She looked at him and she was back in that bedroom, lying next to him while he played with her curls. She had wished they had been in a different world and he convinced her that the world they were in now was the only one that brought them together. She would give it up for him to remain as he was - no rattling breaths, no blight, no blood spilling out between the creases of his fingers when he coughed. 

“This is not my fault,” she said quietly, unsure if it was meant for others to hear or only for herself. Ashur’s finger grazed her once more, a show of support meant only for the two of them. 

“Of course you’d say that – you’re from Treviso, why should Minrathous matter to you? I don’t know what I expected.” Neve muttered. 

She lost it. 

“This is not my fault. I am sorry that this happened to Minrathous. Truly. But Treviso is my home,” she said, looking directly at Ashur, not sure if it was to make him understand or to apologize or something else entirely. Her composure finally broke just as her voice did. Grief filled her as she looked around at the injured, the dead, the destroyed homes, the destroyed futures. Grief for friends, families, lovers. Grief for herself, grief for Ashur. Grief for potential. The strings they were so desperate to avoid attaching to themselves had felt like they had become thicker, living things – weights that strangled and threatened to drag her underground just moments ago. They were brittle now, one wrong move and they would snap. She should let them, she thought. She should free both of them from this. No more distractions. An endless emptiness clawed through her at the thought of cutting off all ties to Ashur, never feeling his warm hands on her again, never feeling his mouth on her neck or his breath on her ear. Never seeing the burdens lifted from him for just a moment when he shuddered into her and called out her name. It was too much to think about, a bottomless pit of sadness threatened to swallow her up right then and there.

She cleared her throat, taking a couple breaths before turning her furious gaze to Neve before landing on Tarquin. “My home. Treviso doesn’t have a floating palace, it doesn’t have an army, it doesn’t have The Viper, or Tarquin, or Neve Gallus. It has houses of assassins who are hell bent on murdering each other in claims for power. Oh, and an occupation of Antaam. That’s it. If you want to blame someone, blame Solas. Blame Ghilan’nain. Blame Elgar’nan. But do not blame me. Do not think this is easy for me. I will remember this for the rest of my life.”

A pause. She did not break eye contact with Tarquin. 

“Tensions are clearly high here. You should go back to the Lighthouse. I’m staying here for a while to help sort out this mess,” Neve said, dismissing them quickly. 

Bianca gave one last look to Ashur before turning to go back through the eluvian. She felt his eyes on her as she walked away from him, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time she saw him. 

She sat in her room and cried the rest of the night. 

“You’re not sleeping,” Lucanis said, sitting down next to her at the dining table before handing her a large mug of coffee. 

Bianca huffed into her drink. “You’re one to talk.” 

 “I am well-equipped to recognize the signs,” he smiled, rotating his mug into his hands. “Still thinking about the other night?” 

That was an understatement. It had been three days since they last traveled through the eluvian, leaving Neve and Dock Town behind. Leaving Ashur behind. She still didn’t know how he was – there hadn’t been any communication from anyone. Every time she tried to sleep, all she could see was his eyes, piercing and icy, surrounded by black. All she could hear was the slow drip, drip, drip of blood from his cot to the ground. All she could feel was the tip of his finger against hers.

So no, she wasn’t sleeping. She hummed into her cup and nodded. 

“Rook, you have to know you are not responsible for what happened in Minrathous. To think the same could have happened to Treviso…well, I for one am glad you were there. And I know Teia and Viago couldn’t be more grateful. I don’t think I heard Viago call you an idiot once,” he laughed, staring into his cup. He paused, tilting his head slightly. “Spite is also glad you were there.”

“Well, at least someone was. And I know. It’s just…a lot to take in. The stakes feel so much more real now.” The scale of the loss hadn’t quite hit her yet, and wouldn’t until she could see for herself without the chaos. So many lost their lives and even more were injured, their livelihoods gone in an instant. It was no longer a hypothetical ‘when the gods attack’ – they did, and Bianca’s team was not ready for it, not in the slightest.

The two sat there in amiable silence for a long while, drinking their cups of coffee in the earliest hours of the morning, the only ones stirring in their little corner of The Fade. It was nice to just sit with someone and not have to talk, or plan, or lead. It was a little odd for her to be doing that with the grandson and presumed heir to the First Talon, she could admit that. What a funny turn her life had taken. She was a nobody, an orphaned elven slave child purchased by the Crows to pad their numbers. She was disposable, a thorn in the side of her house, sent away at the first chance. Now, she was joking with Lucanis Dellamorte, fighting elven gods, and realizing too late she had feelings for the leader of the Shadow Dragons, who was either fighting for his life or dead. If she wasn’t so anxious, she would laugh.

“I’m not asking her, leave me alone,” she heard Lucanis mutter to himself. Spite must be causing trouble in his head. Again.

“Ask me what?” 

He sighed, pushing his now empty mug away from him and turning to her. This felt serious – based on the look on his face, Bianca wished she had pretended she hadn’t heard him. She took another drink to avoid eye contact.

“Did you have…something with The Viper?” he asked. She choked on her coffee, her eyes widening for a second before schooling her face back to neutrality, just as she was trained. They had been so careful, or so she thought. She knew everyone’s schedules by heart, she only went through the eluvian when everyone should have been asleep…Oh. 

“I’m a highly skilled assassin, Rook. I know how to be places and not be seen. Besides, it was Spite who put it together first. The last job we had together in Minrathous…he said you and The Viper smelled like each other.” Bianca’s mind wandered – she knew exactly the day he was speaking of. They had met up later than usual and Ashur was frustrated from a hard day and insatiable. She tried to suppress a smile into her mug as she remembered him laying her back on his desk, feasting on her as if she were the finest meal before taking her so hard she thought the desk may break. She didn’t come back through the eluvian until two hours before they had to leave to go back to Dock Town and winced at all the ladders they ended up climbing that day. 

“I was in the library the other night when you hurried down the stairs wearing Shadow Dragon robes, which was strange to me, because you only like tight fitted leather, and you only wear Crow colors,” Lucanis continued. “Though, I couldn’t confirm anything until we went to Dock Town after Treviso.”

“How would that confirm anything? All that happened was me getting yelled at by Neve and Tarquin over something they think I could have changed the outcome of.” 

He gave her a half smile to go with her half-truth. 

“The Viper was looking for you, that night. I saw his eyes go straight to the door once he saw me, waiting for you to cross through. I saw you move to him without realizing it. I saw the way you two looked at each other. I saw the way he reached out to comfort you in the smallest of ways,” he said, getting up to grab the coffee pot, refilling both of their mugs. “It was obvious, once I thought to look.” 

Well, shit. 

“You ever think about leaving the assassin business behind and starting a detective agency with Neve?” she asked. “Seems you have a natural gift.”

“I’m surprised she didn’t already know,” he said, sitting back beside her. She liked this, being friendly with Lucanis. She felt like she hadn’t had a friend in so long, if she ever really had one. She just wanted someone on her side. 

“If she does, she hasn’t mentioned anything and I don’t think I’d ever hear the end of it once she started. Tarquin definitely had it figured out. I’m not sure it really even matters anymore. Knowing what Davrin has told me about the blight…The Viper is likely already dead, or something close to it.” She blinked back tears. If he was dead, and that was the last time she ever saw him…Maker, what was she doing? They had only been sleeping together for a little over a month. There had been one discussion of maybe, after, possibly, potentially, but it wasn’t like they were a committed couple or anything. So why did it feel like she was dangerously close to losing so much? Why did the backs of her eyes sting, why couldn’t she sleep, why could she only think about how he tried to comfort her when he was bleeding out? 

Get it together, Bianca.

“Anyway, we weren’t really serious or anything. It was just fun, a way to blow off steam a few times a week. He understood the pressures of leading a team and the stakes involved,” she shrugged. 

Lucanis nodded, offering her another half-smile to go with her new half-truth.

“Just some fun,” she repeated. Was she trying to convince him, or herself? “I should probably go get the day started. Thanks for the coffee. And the talk. I really needed it.”

“Anytime, Rook. Crows stick together. Before I forget, I was tidying up in the library a few hours ago and noticed some new missives on the table. They must have come in overnight. I must admit I’m still not sure how we get messages in The Fade.”

“You and me both. Thanks, Lucanis.” 

She walked from the kitchen to the library, hugging Assan on her way as was her habit whenever she passed him. As expected, she saw two missives on the table to the side of the seating area. One was in familiar handwriting, a note from Neve saying she would be gone for a while longer to check on her contacts, friends, people she cared about. Bianca wondered what it would be like when she returned. She understood Neve’s feelings completely, and would have felt the same if she were in her shoes. Still, she hoped Neve would be able to understand Bianca’s reasoning – she didn’t abandon Minrathous, she sent Bellara and Harding there. They were fierce and capable and cared for Neve just as much as she did. So why was all Neve’s anger directed at her? She sighed and set down the letter, reaching for the other one. Short, succinct, with handwriting she didn’t recognize. 

B – meet me. tonight. same time, same place. – A The paper fluttered out of her hand to the floor. He was alive.

[crossdressingdeath]

Davrin: So who will it be? 1. Harding leads the distraction. 2. Davrin leads the distraction.

Hm, yes, who do I want to send on this discreet mission to get behind enemy lines and distract our opponents while my team moves in? The trained scout who I know from DAI has been taking on tasks that require her to get behind enemy lines without getting caught for over a decade, or the Warden who every darkspawn in the place will immediately be able to sense and whose only justification for why he should go is "there will probably be darkspawn" (there will be darkspawn no matter which team he goes with)? Why the fuck would I send Davrin.

No seriously, I didn't know whoever I sent would die at this point (I knew something bad would happen but I managed to stay spoiler-free enough that I didn't know about the sacrifice), I wasn't choosing based on "who do you want to sacrifice" reasoning. Based purely on in-universe knowledge Harding is the better choice by a pretty significant margin. And that's not a knock against Davrin, to be clear! He's great at what he does! But stealth is Harding's forte in a way it really isn't Davrin's; basically this is a job for a rogue, not a warrior, and him being a Warden doesn't make up for that. If he's going to get sensed by any darkspawn present either way I'd much rather have him with me so I have a Warden at my back fighting Ghilan'nain; if I wanted to avoid him getting sensed by darkspawn entirely (which... I mean I kind of do, but his skills are more valuable than the team's ability to move undetected and it's not like Rook's team is particularly subtle once they get going anyway) I would've left him at the Lighthouse. Sending Harding as the distraction is just the smarter play.

Also Harding dying is more narratively satisfying to me, her arc and general demeanour suits that sacrifice way more than the "I choose to live" vibe of Davrin's arc and especially if you also sacrifice Neve Rook going into that final conflict having lost everyone who started this mission with them is delicious. It's wild to me that Davrin is even an option (he shouldn't be, and aside from any race-related reasoning I suspect part of the reason he is is that they wanted to kill a companion off but didn't want it to always be the same one—if only so that there wasn't one romance where the LI always dies, which would piss off anyone romancing them—and most of the others wouldn't be suited for the distraction mission at all or have nothing in their arc suggesting noble self-sacrifice, while Davrin at least has the Warden viewpoint pointing him towards that), but I really don't think the game is encouraging you to kill him like I've seen some people argue; I think it's very much encouraging you to kill Harding. She makes more sense to send as the distraction, her arc and dialogue bring up that "whatever it takes" motif way more than Davrin's do (Davrin's kind of has a strongly opposing theme of living and moving forward when you survive what should've been your final sacrifice; having him use this second lease on life to sacrifice himself again is just weak), the narrative impact of losing your first companion—the one you started this whole quest with! The only other person who travelled with Varric for any length of time!—is stronger than losing your fourth (fifth if you count Varric, but either way Davrin is very much middle of the pack in terms of order of acquisition), and Assan is a consideration; he absolutely isn't and shouldn't be the only reason to spare Davrin, but the fact remains that people really don't like seeing cute animals die even in fiction so knowing that Assan will die with Davrin will be an incentive to sacrifice Harding over him for a lot of people. Basically sorry Harding but I'm probably going to sacrifice you in every run where I don't romance you. It's just a stronger story.

[moltensmusings]

Veilguard act 1 spoilers. If you haven't recruited Davrin I'd keep scrolling.

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I desperately need the fandom to understand that there is not a "morally or logically" correct choice when saving Minrathas or Treviso. The whole point of the choice is that shit is fucked no matter what you do but inaction would be worse than making one.

Minrathas, as said by Neve in the very scene of the choice, is not only dealing with blight and a dragon, but a Venatori coup that has been planned through them working with the gods. Minrathas is the capital city in Tevinter. It's a massive place, heavily populated. To claim control of it is to take hold of Tevinter. A good portion of the powerful/influential mages in the city are Venatori and those that are employ templars, who I remind you are capable of subduing magic. Yeah there may be a few in decent positions to oppose the Venatori such as Dorian. But we also know that Maeveris has been ousted from and stripped of her magister title due to having enough enemies to take her down.

If you sacrifice Minrathas it falls under a facistic regime where innocent people are cut down in the streets and the one organization that truly kept the ventatori from gaining a proper hold, hunted down and publicly executed.

Now I don't have the visual on Treviso right now but I still know the cost of it. Blighted water that runs through tevinter and a merchant city in no way prepared to combat an Antaam invasion while also fighting a dragon. That level of corruption similarly would be incredibly bad for Tevinter. And once more the one faction with any sway in the city becomes borderline nonexistent.

In both cases innocent people get sacrificed. The people in Docktown aren't venatori, they aren't a massive group of bigots who are frothing at the mouth to be cruel. They're normal people getting by. Treviso is a night life town fill with community and beauty that is inviting to so many who find it's streets.

Neither of these choices are good to lose. Neither one of them is better than the other. The game tells you as much while also continuously reinforcing that no matter what decision you make it'll be a loss.

And beyond that: neither Neve or Lucanis have irrational reactions to not being chosen. If you play a shadow dragon and sacrifice your city why wouldn't your friends and trusted colleagues hate you. Why wouldn't the Crows have harsh words if you leave them to fend for themselves.

And if you aren't of the faction in the city that is ransacked, they are simply tired. Neve is initially cold and harsh in her tone once Rook reaches Minrathas but it's so obvious that it's just her being sad and angry at what happened. One of the Shadow dragons lashes out not at you not picking the city, but at all the events prior that led to this one.

Neve and Lucanis are incredibly understanding of a tough decision to be made.

I desperately need people to see the nuance in the choice. So many times we get choices like that in game. Both being valid but the main focus is on how the choice you make must be one you can live with. One you don't dwell on and lose yourself over.

[ammyramblings]

Admittedly I was one of those people - just because I used Davrin so much less than the other companions but when I did take him it was for Assans fire strike. However, I played a whole ass game taking companions I didn’t take so much on my first run and now I feel like… I really like Davrin as a dude. Like his flirting is a little not up my street but he’s got serious bro vibes. And don’t get me wrong I like Harding too, a lot. But it turns out not enough. I feel bad for the Dwarves losing Harding and her connection to the Titans but I don’t feel bad about her dying the same way I do for Davrin. Because the Wardens need Davrin and honestly the man comes into his own, finally seeing himself as more than a weapon throughout the game. Harding knows who she is. And honestly I don’t think she really would have given as much thought to the Titans as it implies if she wasn’t the only dwarven option in the party for that storyline. She’s a surfacer, like the people like Valta from Inquisition that meant so much more too. I’m sure she cares, but she cares as much as I imagine a City Elf would about the elven gods running around. Like the connections there but it’s not as deep. I’m sad for Harding. I mourn her loss and the possibility of what she could have meant for the Dwarves as a race. But I don’t mourn her personally the same way I do Davrin and Assan who both have so much discovery and life to live. Like they got pulled into this whole thing but Harding she was there from the beginning. She knew who she was and what she was up against. She knew the risks. I just feel like in a story kinda perspective it makes sense for Harding to die. If anything Davrin is the bigger tragedy and not just because of Assan.

Mind you I’m also not convinced whoever you pick is dead. Like if you don’t find a body that just seems suss.

The amount of people I have seen say ‘well obviously I'm picking Harding for the end choice, there's no way I'm losing Assan’

Are you forgetting this a whole Davrin attached to that bird