#maric x fiona

[breninarthur]

I think about this so much re: Tabris Wardens!

In a world state where a Surana Warden romanced Alistair, do you think Loghain saw them together and was just like “This is Maric all over again isn’t it?”

[laurelsofhighever]

Hey, just saw your fic with Maric x Serving Girl Alistair's Mother. I read your author's notes on Ao3, and were you hinting at conflicting information on Alistair's mother's identity? Or is my tired brain misinterpreting? I'm all for writing whatever you want, go nuts, no problem with the fic. But this peaked my interest, because I've never heard of anything disputing Fiona, given 'The Calling' novel. Does it have to do with there being no acknowledgement in DAI if you have Alistair and Fiona at Skyhold at the same time? Any information or clarification you provide would be appreciated. I always loved Maric.

Hi Nonny! This has consumed my entire evening and I hope you’re prepared for the splurge about to be unleashed. Thank you for the ask! The disclaimer at the top of the fic is there because historically the subject of Alistair’s mother has been a… charged subject, for reasons that I won’t get into now because it’s not really relevant to your ask and I don’t have a horse in that specific race.

However, if you look into canon, there is indeed a bunch of conflicting information about the identity of Alistair’s mother – or rather, there’s a bunch of information that conflicts with the Word of God confirmation from David Gaider that Fiona is Alistair’s mother. Which… is also not exactly true. In an interview from 2014 when asked specifically about it, he said (after a long, weary sigh), “I never actually meant for it to be a thing … I thought the book was fairly obvious and then people were asking and I just never confirmed it … it comes up in the game and I will leave it at that” (timestamp starting 35:28 if you want to check it out yourself). Thing is, it doesn’t come up in the game, either in DA:O or in DA:I – which may be the game he’s referring to, since the interview is mostly to hype its release. It isn’t clear.

We do come close to getting in-game evidence for Fiona: in DA:I, the Inquisitor can ask her about her past, and if you read between the lines there is wistfulness there, and she’s sorry he dies, but her comments about it being “too late” to know him could just as easily be taken as being about her time as a Grey Warden if you haven’t read The Calling (TC) – she never comes out and directly says it, and we never witness a conversation between them, even if he’s a Warden presumably curious about how she became immune to the Calling (I have thoughts about this, but we’ll get to that later). In the DA:O end slides, it says someone orders an investigation into Alistair’s parentage that comes back “inconclusive” – but even without the dubious canon of the end slides (given that some, like Cullen’s, got heavily retconned in later games) this is a shaky piece of evidence at best that Alistair’s mother was anyone other than a servant. An inquest is politically motivated, after all, and would have been more concerned with his connection to Maric than the identity of his mother.

So where does this leave us? Well, we could go in circles debating what should count as canon or not, which isn’t entirely useful because people can draw lines in the sand wherever they like to make the points they want. We could argue that BioWare is really good at retconning and muddling its own lore and that the simplest explanation – that the devs made a mistake in some of the details and no one caught it – is the most likely, and that caring about it more than Gaider obviously does (with his well-known dislike of Alistair as a character) is kind of a waste of time.

Unfortunately, you’ve asked me about it, so what we’re actually going to do is go through every relevant piece of Dragon Age media, assume it is all canon, and weigh the evidence in the text to try and offer some clarification. Where things contradict, I will give more weight to the version that targets the broadest possible audience, i.e. the games > the books and novels. Where things contradict within the games, I’ll be considering which source of information is more authentic and direct within the game’s context, i.e. Alistair should know more about his history than a tavernkeep who’s listening to rumours.

Having said this, let’s start with TC, where all of our problems begin. In the last scene of this book, Fiona introduces Maric to a baby she says is theirs, and asks him to find it a home where it can be free of the stigmas of being the child of an elven mage. Fair enough. However, as conspiracy-brained as this is going to sound, there is no direct evidence to confirm that this baby is Alistair, and one or two things that suggest it isn’t. I’m not so shallow in my literary analysis that I count the fact that the baby is never named as one of those pieces of evidence. That would just be petty. Far more compelling is:

Timing: TC is set after Queen Rowan’s death. There’s some quibble about dates in World of Thedas and whether it was supposed to be set in 9:10 or 9:14 bur really that’s a numbers game and it’s beside the point, because it’s built into the plot that Maric decides to go with the Grey Wardens specifically because he’s feeling depressed and reckless through grief for Rowan. This is important because, as gets mentioned quite a few times in DA:O, Alistair was hidden in Redcliffe because Rowan was still alive. This is a conflict of information, and as already stated, games > novels.

There’s no amulet: Giving Alistair his mother’s amulet is a pretty significant moment in DA:O. It’s all he has of hers, and it’s something that ties them together narratively. If this was all meant to wrap up neatly, then the least Gaider could have done would have been to mention Fiona taking off her Andrastian amulet and gifting it to Alistair to be something of hers he can keep even when she’s not with him anymore. The fact that this doesn’t happen makes this scene emotionally empty when we know he got an amulet from a person whom he considered to be his mother. If not Fiona, then where did it come from?

'“He’s human,” [Maric] exclaimed out loud': if there’s one thing a lot of DA fans can agree on, it’s that “human/elf hybrids are totally human” is bullshit. It’s not how genetics works, it has some yikes implications considering how heavily the devs took inspiration from oppressed minorities to create the elves, and it’s not a plot point that’s ever used in an interesting way (we will get to Michel de Chevin in a moment). It’s also not true. In DA2 there is an entire series of quests about a character named Feynriel, who was born to a Dalish mother and a human father, and who is visibly part-elven. He has points on his ears! He has facial proportions halfway between the humans and elves in the game! He’s rejected by both sides of his family because of it! Now, there is also Michel de Chevin, who in The Masked Empire (TME) is revealed to have an elven mother, but this is never mentioned when he appears in DA:I, and is kind of a non-issue in the novel as well. This is the most nebulous piece of evidence by far, as it relies by default on picking which bits of material are canon, which I've already said we’re not doing here, and to be honest the physical differences between elves and humans are only really noticeable in DA2 where there was an effort made to make them look deliberately nonhuman.

Except for the timeline of the book, the evidence in TC is circumstantial. We get to more definite evidence in Until We Sleep (UWS), the third volume in The Silent Grove comics storyline, where Alistair gets to meet and talk with a dream version of his father, Maric. When Alistair asks his father to come home, Maric says, “I had a life. The people I love are all here – Cailan, your mother, Loghain… none of them are in the real world any longer, are they?” (A+ parenting there btw). Since this series takes place before DA:I, Fiona is definitely still alive, so Maric can’t be talking about her. Also, it’s interesting to note that this too is written by David Gaider, so it’s not a case of writers being at cross-purposes or not getting any intra-office memos. There are continuity mistakes in these comics, but these are mostly confined to the fact that neither Alistair nor Isabella match their in-game appearances – and remember, the games have more weight than the comics. Having said that, it does conflict with the "official" story.

With all this said, let’s come to the other beginning of all our problems, most people’s proper introduction to Alistair’s character, DA:O. In this game, it is a significant plot point that Alistair is the son of a servant from Redcliffe: it is explicitly stated in Alistair’s codex entry, and furthermore, it is something that multiple characters assert is true, including Loghain and Alistair himself.

First, Loghain. If you spare him at the Landsmeet, he joins your party and has dialogue options that talk about Alistair and why he was kept at Redcliffe. According to him, Maric nearly acknowledged Alistair, but “had more than his honour to think of”, namely the effect it would have had on Rowan and Cailan (implied: how that would have affected political stability in a Ferelden still recovering from the Orlesian Occupation). He points out that Alistair "would have been a continual reminder to Rowan of Maric’s infidelity”, which as mentioned above, means that she would have still been alive when Alistair was born.

As for Alistair, yes he was a baby at the time so doesn’t really have an objective viewpoint, and it’s not confirmed whether the person he considers his mother died in childbirth or just in his early years – the codex entry says “when he was young”, he says “when I was born”. Nevertheless, it’s clear he’s asked questions about her because he knows roughly who she was and what she did, and also at some point learnt the name and rough location of the person his entire companion quest (and Fade dream) revolves around.

Let’s talk about Goldana.

Really, she is the biggest wrench in the certainty that Fiona is Alistair’s mother, because there’s no way to square away that fact with her existence, and by extension the existence of the servant in Redcliffe who was her (and Alistair’s) mother. But what if she’s just an exceptional liar, thinking she could make a quick sovereign out of the king’s bastard by playing along? It’s possible. However:

When you take Alistair to meet her, she’s the one who brings up Maric (“I said the babe was the king’s, and they told me he was dead, and gave me a coin to shut my mouth”) – Alistair until that point has only mentioned his mother and that she worked in Redcliffe Castle. If she was hedging her bets, wouldn’t it make more sense for her to accuse him of being Eamon’s bastard?

If she were talking nonsense, why would “they” bribe her with hush money? It would be very easy for someone as powerful as Arl Eamon to dismiss or debunk such claims, and he shouldn’t care what a random servant’s kid has to say – unless there’s a kernel of truth in it that he doesn’t want anyone looking at more closely

On that same note, why would “they” tell her the baby was dead if it wasn’t, if it was just some random’s kid? Either there’s an entirely separate baby that Goldana believes for some mysterious reason was fathered by the king, which Alistair – actually fathered by the king – replaced at just the right age that nobody noticed, or they’re the same baby. One of these options is far more plausible than the other

If she’s that good at lying, why is she still just a washerwoman living in a hovel and asking three copper per load? She should be running Denerim!

Facetiousness aside, Goldana’s story confirms that at the very least there was a serving girl in Redcliffe Castle who had a baby at roughly the same time that Alistair was born, and that for whatever reason, she was connected enough to Maric that multiple people in the castle suspected he was the father (and resented Alistair because of it). If this was an entirely separate baby, then it makes Maric an absolute shit of a person to have taken one son and used him to replace one that had just died in childbirth. Either that or a complete idiot for sending his actual son to a place where he’s rumoured to have a son and deciding that’s a secure hiding place – because you can’t tell me Eamon wasn’t aware of what was going on under his own roof. Even the fact that Alistair himself knows and was aware of it from a young age suggests that it wasn’t a very well-kept secret.

So where does all this leave us? From here, things get a little more suppositional, a little more Doylist, and a lot more subjective. To start with, taking into account all of the above evidence, if Fiona is Alistair’s mother, then his arrival at Redcliffe relies on a – I would say – plot-breaking  set of contrivances.

1: Fiona, somehow cured of the darkspawn taint enough to have a child, arrives in Denerim with Alistair, who isn’t old enough to be weaned yet, asking for somewhere to put him that won’t draw attention. She does this after walking pretty much all the way across Thedas even though, as mentioned in TC, the Wardens already have procedures in place for fostering children born to their ranks, presumably ones that don’t involve so much steady exercise.

2: Instead of using his kingly resources to track down a woman in Denerim who has recently given birth and telling her to take on an extra kid, Maric decides to send the baby to the other end of the country, to the house of an unmarried nobleman who will definitely not stir any gossip if he shows up on his own doorstep with an infant he wants someone to care for. Where did the baby come from? Don’t ask. Are you happy that everyone will think this kid is your bastard? I’m sure it’s a decision that won’t have any negative consequences for me in the future. But you are going to tell everyone he’s your bastard to keep up the ruse, right? No, now stop asking questions.

2: Luckily, there’s a woman in Eamon’s household who has recently given birth, or is at least close to it, and they can substitute? add? this baby to that baby without having to pay her off, because she’s an employee. The bait ‘n’ switch is timed so perfectly that no one notices that there are in fact two babies, or that the baby is suddenly several months older than it was before (truly, a medical miracle). Unless they’re exactly the same age, in which case what are the odds.

3: Somehow, despite all the secrecy, this woman’s other child knows that the baby is the king’s and won’t shut up about it, to the point where someone has to pay her off and send her packing. But that’s all unnecessary, because the woman – and her original baby I guess? – both die and leave no witnesses.

4: Rowan still manages to be mad about this and everyone is worried for her reputation despite having been dead for two years.

It’s a level of convolution that does not exist with the alternative, which has been pretty common since forever in the real world: powerful man sees pretty woman, decides he’ll have that, doesn’t want to face the consequences, makes everyone miserable in the process. Alistair’s mother being an ordinary person caught up in the orbit of someone she can’t resist is so much more narratively coherent, if significantly less romantic.

And this is where we get into the biggest problem that I have with Fiona-as-Alistair’s-mother: it has no payoff. These are fictional people, structure is important for narrative, and while I’m not saying that every little thing has to have purpose or direction, a pretty significant amount of Alistair’s character arc in DA:O is wiped away if his mother isn’t who he thinks it is. His story is about social class and identity and whether legacy is even worth it: Fiona’s identity means nothing to him, and that’s not something that ever changes. In DA:I she looks a bit sad when she mentions him, but there’s no work ever done to explore that, or to explore how Alistair might feel if his mother is actually alive but abandoned him, and how awkward that makes things for him if he’s king. OR to have him hear that she’s now immune to the taint and be just a little bit curious about how that came about. There’s no conversation, no status quo shift. Instead, the devs rely on the fans who know this metatextual fact to do the emotional heavy lifting for them and extrapolate the consequences they don’t want to deal with themselves.

It is lazy writing.

In some cases I also think it becomes a prop that invalidates the point of his character arc – and even breaks the worldbuilding a little, turning what was originally a struggle to forge an identity separate from people’s expectations, into a straight case of nepotism. The two most egregious examples?

Is he able to use templar abilities without lyrium because anyone with enough training and discipline can do it, and the lyrium is just the Chantry’s way of keeping its army leashed and loyal? Nope, it’s because he’s special because his mummy was a mage and it gave him special latent mage powers. That’s far more interesting than examining the ramifications of a religious order using addiction and brainwashing to make sure its soldiers will commit atrocities without question.

Is he a Warden because of his strength of will and determination to survive, chosen from the ranks of the other potential recruits because he had a spark of something that Duncan knew would be valuable in the fight against the darkspawn? Nope, it’s because his mummy was a Grey Warden and gave him special taint immunity powers, and also she was best friends with the current Warden-Commander so he was picked even though there were better fighters among the potentials competing that day. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that all Wardens secretly have Warden blood already because that would be ridiculous, it’s just Alistair who needed that extra leg-up because otherwise he’d be useless at everything.

I promised myself I would rein in the sarcasm but from a storytelling perspective it really annoys me that this shift turns him from an ordinary person into the specialest boy in the world, because it denies him his agency and takes the teeth out of his achievements. I’m not even going to get into how it lets BioWare off the hook for representation, insisting he is half-elven and taking a gold star when he’s never identifiable in-world as a member of an oppressed minority, and it never has any bearing on how he views the world or how it views him. It feels like it’s giving the devs far more credit than they deserve, especially when the effort they put into this (minimal as it was) could have gone into giving Zevran more to say on this. exact. subject. He’s right there, and he is perfect for exploring this aspect of the worldbuilding when he isn't being overlooked.

This is getting a little ranty now so I’ll wrap it up with thanks for your patience, Nonny, if you’ve made it this far. What’s the conclusion? At the end of the day, people can make up their own minds with their own reasoning, all I’ve attempted to do here is lay out the various threads untangled from the snarl that is BioWare’s incomparable ability to fuck up their own lore. Personally, I think Alistair’s mother being an ordinary servant makes his journey and the themes of his character arc more compelling wherever he ends up, and I like that this means his parentage is a facet of his identity rather than the only interesting thing about him. I also think the weight of evidence in DA:O, the game where he’s first introduced, is greater than in a tacked-on scene at the end of a tie-in novel written by a guy who seemed to just think it was a good idea at the time. But hey, I’m not the authority.

However, if there’s one solid takeaway from this then here it is: don’t give BioWare more credit than they deserve, don’t do their work for them, and especially don’t assume they’re leading us down a merry path with super-secret truths for enlightened minds only when the simpler explanation is that no one stopped (in this instance) David Gaider getting carried away.

[modestintemper]

so I have some feelings about The Calling

...meaning the second novel in the Dragon Age universe. Story-wise I don’t like it as much as The Stolen Throne, and yet here I am feeling some feelings, dang it all David Gaider. Let’s talk about that. (also novel/DAO/DAI/Awakening spoilers are ahead if you care)

•this has a very Dragon Age: Origins feel throughout, mostly bc Grey Wardens/darkspawn/Blight/Deep Roads/yada yada...which may be why I had trouble getting into it. The only thing I really like about Origins are the characters and the rest is just not my favorite--same energy here.

•and all you really need to know is that this is just Dragon Age’s version of Rogue One. Yep that’s it.

•and that it actually shows why Loghain is such a POS to the Wardens in Origins. Dude holds a grudge like nobody’s business.

•WHY ARE WE ALWAYS IN THE MAKER-DAMNED DEEP ROADS FFS

•okay so I don’t like Genevieve, there I said it. She reminds me WAY too much of Meredith, with her extremity and her almost irrational temper. I get that characters don’t have to be likable but she her only redeeming quality was that she spared Duncan. Honestly, the Architect has more depth as a character.

•Speaking of the Architect, what a fascinating character. A darkspawn who speaks?? With reasoning and maybe even empathy?? I am also playing Awakening now but I think I like him better here, you get to actually hear his motivations and see him show compassion to Bregan. He doesn’t even feel like an antagonist, not the way someone like King Meghren or Corypheus does. He’s not hungry for power, he just wants...peace for his people. Yeah he wants to sacrifice mankind to get there but can you blame him for having flawed logic?? His only conversation partners are mindless darkspawn.

•WHY ARE WE IN THE FADE AGAIN MAKER’S BREATH

•just Fiona and Duncan’s friendship. It’s so pure and filled with love and the fact that she had to leave the Wardens and him behind I just--

•now I just really need more info on what Duncan and Maric’s friendship is like between this event and, well, Maric’s death/disappearance. How often did Duncan come and visit just to hang out and catch up? What were his updates on Fiona and little Alistair like? I NEED ANSWERS.

•because the beginning of Origins now literally breaks my heart, knowing that Duncan didn’t even set out to join the Wardens but becomes this great leader and he recruits Maric’s son and sees him grow up to be the age he was when he Joined but Maric never did get to see that and asdfghjkl;

•(just remembered that Alistair says that Duncan was like a father to him, so that’s great)

•don’t even get me started on the fact that the biggest thing Maric and Alistair have in common is that neither of them want to be king but they’re such good men that they’re willing to sacrifice everything they want for Ferelden and its people but Maric never knows that either (my poor, wasted heart)

•(oh, no, Kieran...in so many ways Alistair is forced to walk Maric’s path in ways he never wanted, that Fiona never wanted for him...how does she feel about the news of him having to take the throne? or of his death, should that be the case? This is the actual worst)

•PLUS there’s the Fiona/Katriel parallels, which both Maric and Fiona notice and must break both of them so utterly in different ways, ouch (I thought the Maric/Fiona thing would feel really forced, but it actually didn’t? It feels a little cringy to give Maric so many love interests but that’s Bioware for you)

•and wth happens to Fiona between now and Inquisition?? (I’ve heard she’s in Asunder so that’s something) I mean she gives birth to the heir but has to give him up, she works her way up to Head Enchanter and leads the mages to freaking rebellion. Someone give this badass her own graphic novel series, thxbye

•(speaking of I’m now properly upset that the writers killed her off in Champions of the Just, that is a GOOD CHARACTER YOU JUST THREW AWAY) (and now Alistair will never know who his mother was AUGH)

•tell me how Fiona was cured of the taint and that it can be replicated or I swear I’ll--

•As for the rest of the characters, they were honestly kind of forgettable until Maric has to go rescue them from their nightmares in the Fade. (I guess if you want to do some rapid character development, expose their deepest desires or greatest fears and the rest won’t matter so much.) 

•Except for Utha bc she’s the best for sure. Although she DOES have a small part in Awakening (my heart), I feel like this messes with the timeline since that’s AFTER the Fifth Blight??? Which is TWENTY YEARS LATER??? And her design doesn’t match what happens at the end of the novel (which is fine bc gross). (I’ve suddenly realized that female dwarves are some of my favorite characters in this franchise, and the fact that I’m so surprised by that just shows how underdeveloped female dwarves are in high fantasy as a general rule.) UTHA DESERVED BETTER, YOU WON’T CHANGE MY MIND.

•So yeah, the story is that Maric goes into the Deep Roads with a ragtag gang of Grey Wardens to try and prevent a future blight, but instead their commander allies with a talking darkspawn and members of the team drop off one by one, Rogue One-style except for Maric, Duncan, and Fiona, who have to survive because story reasons. And also the Fade. And a dragon bc why the frick not.

okay bye I’m off to read Asunder!! I’m sure everything will be fine!!!

[the-smol-death]

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by @ridiculouslyzevran and I’m tagging @melaena Is it bad my first thought was “Wait, is it actually Wednesday?” because that’s it, folks, I have no sense of time and I have no idea what’s going on. This is from my upcoming chapter of Fate of the Order with a bit of a Maric/ Fiona HC flashback.

“We don’t have to do this.” The large hand of Maric rested on her shoulder and squeezed. His other arm wrapped around her waist. She wanted to close her eyes and inhale, to appreciate the scent of his clean sweat and furs, but it felt wrong.  

The tender kiss they had shared in a special moment was over. It felt like long ago. Under these circumstances, his touch made her cringe. Fiona's shoulders lifted to her ears as she squirmed away from him. “Don’t.”

“Sorry. I...,“ He sighed, rubbing his neck as he looked into the fire. “This is hard for me too. I thought we were doing the right thing, but now I’m not so sure. I care about you both.” 

Duncan’s swaying carried him toward the door he just entered, a silent offering to Fiona and Maric for more time to talk. When the infant whimpered, Duncan made a shushing sound from behind his teeth, and when it seemed the baby might waken, he let it suck on the knuckle of his index finger. Jealousy made Fiona’s stomach tighten. Her friend showed a stronger, natural inclination to the child she bore than she could muster. 

Nothing about this was fair.

[witchyangels]

Awwwwww!!!! 😍 I love this! Thank you!

Sunday kiss, Maric x Fiona?

Sunday Kiss #009

King Maric x Fiona

[elevanetheirin]

Heritage

Chapter 2

SFW, 

mostly it’s a fact/update chapter because I suck at dialogue and such and I am just telling the story so I can get from point A to point B of this head canon I have of Alistair and Kallie post-Inquisition. There is a story with the children and some other stuff coming up lol

 Years had passed but Alistair hadn’t learned the whereabouts of Fiona. Leliana’s only knowledge was shortly after the formation of the College of Enchanters and the Circle of Magi, Fiona had disappeared. Many believed it was due to numerous threats to her life. Sadly, as time often does, it marched on. Alistair and Kallie never forgot the woman who was Alistair’s mother and to honor her they named their second child, a girl, Fiona. Their third child they named Maric partly because with the exception of his adorable pointed ears, he looked just like Alistair, Cailan and Maric and partly because they felt they owed Maric for their lives as much as Fiona.

When Maric had is fourth birthday Cyrion had been baking a cake and accidently set his little home on fire. It became abundantly clear he could no longer live on his own and the cramped little family welcomed him into their home.

Alistair and Teagan continued to write each other on a regular basis and often Teagan would stop by the Alienage to visit the couple. Each time offering them a place in Redcliffe. Urging them to move somewhere safer than the Alienage, but also, somewhere closer to him. Their particular set of talents were wasted as Bann Shinai’s advisers. Anora had only created the title of Bann of the Alienage to appease Kallie the Hero of Ferelden and everyone knew it.

It didn’t take long for the couple to realize their home was bursting at the seams and they no longer had a good reason to turn Teagan down. So, they packed up their growing family and moved into the decently sized farm house Teagan had given them years ago when he had first started asking them to move to his Arling. With Eamon in Denerim advising Anora and giving up his position there was little Eamon could say about it. Which suited both Teagan and Alistair just fine. Teagan didn’t want to upset his brother but Alistair was still family as far as he was concerned.

Teagan hired Alistair as his guard captain and Kallie stayed home with the children, for now. She had no intention of staying home forever.

[dragonageconfessions]

CONFESSION:

Maric x Fiona is one of my NOTP’s

[freethemages]

Thought since I’ve never done so, I’d list all my favourite DA ships (though inevitably I’ll forget some). Multi shipper here ofc.

Mains are in bold

Featuring one of my OCs:

Tristan Amell x Alistair Theirin

Garrett Hawke x Anders (Handers)

Tristan Trevelyan x Cullen Rutherford (Cullevelyan)

Mahanon Lavellan x Dorian Pavus (Pavellan)

Asharel Lavellan x The Iron Bull

Asharel Lavellan x Josephine Montilyet

Tristan Trevelyan x Dorian Pavus (Pavelyan)

Tristan Trevelyan x Alistair Theirin x Cullen Rutherford (Cullistairvelyan, OT3)

Tristan Amell x Zevran Arainai

NPCs:

Cullen Rutherford x Alistair Theirin (Cullistair)

Alistair Theirin x Zevran Arainai (Zevistair)

Cullen Rutherford x Dorian Pavus (Cullrian)

Anders x Nathaniel Howe (Nanders)

Anders x Karl Thekla (Kanders)

Carver Hawke x Isabela

Carver Hawke x Alistair Theirin (Carvistair)

Isabela x Merrill (Merribela)

Dorian Pavus x Anders (Dorianders)

Dorian Pavus x The Iron Bull (Adoribull)

Cassandra Pentaghast x Varric Tethras

Josephine Montilyet x Thom Rainier

Anders x Hawke x Nathaniel Howe

Anders x Alistair Theirin (Anderstair)

Honourable mentions:

Anders x Fenris (Fenders)- I don’t actually ship them, but a lot of the content is so damn good I love it anyway.

Garrett Hawke x Varric Tethras

Jowan x Anders

Jowan x Amell/Surana

Cullen Rutherford x Amell/Surana

Maric Theirin x Fiona

Sten x Shale

Single characters that I love and just want more stuff of in general:

Bann/Arl Teagan Guerrin

Warden Commander Duncan

Lace Harding

King Cailan Theirin

Finn Aldebrandt

Krem Aclassi

Professor Bram Kenric

Felassan

Abelas

Avvar mages!

Daveth

Tamlen

[irhinoceri]

I’m listening to The Calling again and this... this audiobook I love, even moreso after comparing it to The Stolen Throne. It’s just so much better? In every way?

it has:

Young Rogue Duncan and the narrator’s weird cockney voice/accent for him

I really love Young Duncan

Fiona. Just. Everything about Fiona. The tragedy. The mastery. The messy short hair.

I repeat, Fiona.

Maric the Sadboy who has to convince everyone he’s got problems even though he’s The King, The Saviour, a Figure of Legend

No seriously, he’s like “I am real person. I have feelings.” And they’re like “mkay seems fake”

Maric x Fiona (the only Maric ship I care about!)

Julien x Nicolas

Utha, the Silent Sister

The Architect. I love that guy, shine on you crazy darkspawn, I’m gonna spare you in Awakening every time

Incredibly detailed descriptions of ghoulification and just overall really gross/sad blight stuff (yes, this is a positive)

Hafter the Very Good Boy

The Fade Sequence... like the Fade sequence in DAO but ten times sadder, it’s what the DAO fade sequence wishes it was.

Baby Alistair cameo

[mahalzevran]

Dragon Age, top 2 favorite romantic ships! :)

Ooh ok, I'll choose from ships btwn canon characters

Sera x Dagna and Maric x Fiona

Leave a Fandom in my ask

[creamecream]

*Snugs <3.*

[tenderthings-archive]

mothers. (ladies of thedas #6)

rating: t

word count: 1k~

prompt: “family & home

summary: the mother we’ve known throughout the series, including leandra hawke; kalah brosca; fiona; morrigan; eleanor cousland; and flemeth.

warning(s): mentioned & depicted child abuse, alcoholism, death

a/n: i’m so busy, this’ll have to be my last addition. i really wanted to write this piece, however, so here it is.

for ladies of thedas appreciation week 2018: (x)

i. “You don’t know my mother.”

Malcolm promises open skies, fields of gold, a farm stretching as far as the eye can see. He gives her that, in Lothering. His brown skin glistens, bones finally free, working the land. She stays indoors, a hand on her swollen belly, feet sore. Fingers poised for needlework learn how to peel, cut, and scrape together a meal barely fit for dogs. Her eldest is bright and growing like a weed. All her clothes and toys will be passed down, so Leandra tells her to be careful, but she runs and dances in the grass. A twinkle on her fingertips, happy, hotter than the sun. Then, she comes home with half her dress in cinders, soot mixed with sweat.

Leandra yells until her voice breaks, a two-year old faced with every ache and bad day no woman her age should know. Little Hawke runs, in tears, her father behind her. A panicked glance back. The front door slams. Leandra stays in the kitchen, if it can be called that. She loves her husband. She loves her children, but it takes returning to Kirkwall to realize she never loved her life with them.

ii. “Dust town, it sticks to the skin.”

Two men come, two men leave. There’s a joke to be made, so she makes it, then takes another swing. It irks to know they’re both girls. At least Rica has pretty skin and ruby hair, like her father or maybe her mother, before the dirt sunk in. The younger one stays out of sight so it’s hard to remember if she’s pretty, or dead, or pretty dead. Some days, she forgets whose who, or if she had one or three or none. Other days, she puts down the bottle and cries all night. By morning, she’s drunk again. Rica teaches her sister how to stop hurting every time she yells, spits, hits. Within a few years, baby Brosca stops flinching and starts swinging her fists. Her eldest holds back  tears when she returns from her first job, covered bruises. Kalah says nothing when she pries the pennies from her daughter’s bawled, swollen fingers.

If sorrow had a smell, it would be their mother’s rancid breath. Rica makes her sister promise to never drink. (Does it count if its blood?)

iii. “My mother was a serving girl at the castle.”

The older she grows, the less cruel winter feels. With the world covered in snow, she imagines children tucked away, safe and warm in their beds. A mother kissing their foreheads goodnight; a father shutting the door behind her. At last, content. Her baby, now a man, with holes in his socks and a thick coat hand-stitched by someone he loves, speaks to the crowd. Like Maric, he glows. The people are drawn to his radiance, his cheer, his laugh. There is so little of Fiona in him. His ears, for one, but his smile— With a tremble, she realizes he has her smile. At this distance, who could be sure, but she could hold a mirror to her face, see all her lines, her pain, her dark skin, and find her smile again. 

As the snowflakes fall, Fiona steps back from the crowd, a king’s voice calling for family. Union. Sacrifice. Her heart is full and, for a moment, healed. She laughs when light peeks through the cold and the white city streets shimmer, like her son’s eyes. She walks freely at last.

iv. “Now the sharp edges have worn away. Perhaps it was Kieran.”

She never names the boy by her side while she serves the empress. She never raises her voice beyond a mummer, a sing-song sigh before he returns to her, giggling. She never pulls him along, only offers an outstretched hand that he takes, every time. She never chastises him for his love of all things occult, ethereal and untouchable. She never chases him unless he wants her to, running through a hall of mirrors, laughs echoing, a chill spreading through the palace. She never kisses him in public, but peppers his face with frantic worry when he disappear for an hour too long, a pull from beyond the Veil tickling at his feet. She never wants for anything but him, safe. She never tries anything but her best, facing down an old god, offering her soul, only to be saved by someone very much like her old friend.

He never dreams the same way again, but his mother will always be there to hold back the darkness.

v. “Goodbye, darling.”

In her youth, men tripped over their own feet to meet her on the battlefield. It warms her heart to know her daughter will be the same— rattling her older brother half to death, a bucket of grasshoppers found with his things. Eleanor bites her lip and elbows her husband for laughing along. She takes her by the ear, then wears out the other with talk of ladies, manners, and rules. A bruised-kneed child blooms before her eyes. In time, Eleanor stops trying to make a rose out of her; she’s already covered in thorns. Instead, she holds her hand as tight as she can and kisses each knuckle. She goes back to the nights spent counting her baby girl’s fingers and toes. She jumped so much in her belly, Bryce was scared she’d be born a toad.

Now, she counts her freckles, eyelashes, scars, birthmarks, the days spent together, the years they will now be apart. She recollects everything, every memory and apology never spoken but understood, if only to breathe what she can back into Bryce’s body. When the soldiers come, she is alone but she doesn’t die feeling so.

vi. “I am many things, but I will not be the mother you were to me.

She remembers all of them: the first girl dying in her arms, less than an hour old, and every baby after that. The last one is special, however. Charged by a thunder storm on the night of her birth, only to discover she was small, barely breathing. Too little godliness in her but plenty of the earth. She took to nature and breathed in the rage, rot, and reward of the old woods, yet coveted mankind’s toys. A magpie twisted into a raven, wings blackened, a shade more beautiful than even her mother. It was never jealousy, rarely greed, every time she bent the child’s arm and told her to be savage, not exotic. There is no greater cruelty than love. She learned faster than the others, but grew, gnarled, as a willow tree. Rarely, did her babies ever weep, but Morrigan cried. Morrigan cried until she was empty, then she was cold, then she was gone.

Mythal chides her for ever  thinking she was too soft, too different from the People. Flemeth silences her for the first time in a thousand years. Looking down at her sleeping grandson, she knows softness was never the problem. Motherhood was.

[ser-caspian-the-very-good-boy]

Theme songs for tragic romances.

(I wanted to make a playlist for romantic couples that end in tragedy, in the world of Dragon Age. Obviously this is not all of them, though I wanted to include some couples that is easily forgotten.)

Branka x Hespith: Bring me to life -  Evanescence

Empress Celene x Briala: Young and beautiful - Lana Del Rey

Varric x Bianca: Goodbye my lover - James Blunt

Jowan x Lily: Love is an open door - Frozen

Cullen x female Amell/Surana: Every little thing she does is magic - Sleeping at last (cover)

Tamlen x female Mahariel: Brother - Kodaline 

King Maric x Fiona: Only love can hurt like this - Paloma Faith

Solas x female Lavellan: Set fire to the rain - Adele  

Ironbull x Dorian: One more night - Maroon 5 

If there is anyone I have forgotten or you would like to be acknowledged please comment. Maybe I will do another one in the future.  

[randomnonsensedragonage]

Familiarity

For @alistairappreciationweek​, Day 4- Family

Description: Alistair meets Grand Enchanter Fiona and wonders why she seems so familiar.

A/N: Day 4 of Alistair Appreciation Week is about family. I knew that I wanted today’s story to have something to do with Fiona, so I just started writing and this was what I came up with. It’s not very conclusive though, so maybe I’ll do more someday? Also, Anora makes a cameo, since this is still kind of part of the Alistair x Anora sequence I’m doing.

Also, I haven’t read The Calling yet, just plot summaries, so I may have gotten details wrong about Fiona and Maric’s history ^^;

The first time Alistair met Grand Enchanter Fiona (former Grand Enchanter, he reminded himself) he was struck by an odd feeling of familiarity. At first, he thought it was because she reminded him a bit of Rora. When she approached the throne—a small, elven woman, clad in purple, with brown hair and vibrant eyes—his heart gave a squeeze. It was like seeing a figure step out of the past, or a possible future.

But when she rose and he got a better look at her, he realized that wasn’t quite right. Her features were sharper than Rora’s, her skin darker, her eyes a little wiser, but still there was an almost eerie familiarity. Even more so when she spoke.

“The mages thank you for your generosity, your majesty,” she said.

Her voice, with its faint Orlesian accent, was even less familiar to him. Yet, hearing it flicked a kind of switch in his mind, a nagging feeling that he knew it.

“Wait,” he said, as she made to back away from the throne. She stopped, eyebrows raised but voice calm.

“Yes, your majesty?”

Alistair opened his mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come. What was he going to do? Ask if they’d met each other before, when he knew for a fact they hadn’t? So, instead he coughed and said, “Nothing. Never mind.”

Something flickered across Fiona’s features, quickly gone. She bowed again. “Thank you, your majesty.”

Fiona left for Redcliffe immediately after their audience. Once she was gone Alistair was left with a kind of restlessness, a sense of something unfinished.

Anora noticed during their weekly chess game when he easily lost four times in a row. After the fifth checkmate, Anora sat back in her chair, hands in her lap, and gazed at him shrewdly.

“What’s gotten into you today?” she said. “You haven’t been this awful at chess in years.”

Alistair pushed back his chair and sighed.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “Anora, what do you know about Grand Enchanter Fiona?”

Anora raised her eyebrows, unsurprising, since the topic came entirely out of nowhere.

“Nothing special,” she said, picking up her king and turning it over in her hands. “She’s leading her people down a very bad road, but you know my views on that.”

Alistair nodded, unwilling to say anything more. He couldn’t count the number of times they’d argued about the mage rebellion in council meetings, and he didn’t particularly care to rehash those discussions.

“She’s also too old for you,” Anora said coolly.

“No,” he said. “No, no, no. That’s not why I asked about her.”

Anora smiled at the chess piece in her hand. “Just teasing.”

Alistair sighed. “There’s being deadpan, and there’s being… I don’t know, a golem,” he said. “You’re more on the latter end of the scale.”

Anora shrugged and, still grinning, she placed the king back on the board and took the queen.

“I heard the Grand Enchanter used to be a Grey Warden,” she said, turning the queen over and over in her hand.

“Well, I know that,” Alistair said. “That definitely stood out when I looked into her background.”

“I recall my father talking about it once…” Anora said. She pursed her lips, thinking.

Alistair internally winced a bit at the mention of Loghain, but not very much. More than a decade into his friendship with Anora, he could sort of understand people’s admiration of her father. A little bit. Sometimes.

Anora was still thinking. “Hmm… What did he say?” She frowned. “Something about her and your father going on some mission together, and then her leaving the Grey Wardens afterward.”

“She was traveling with my father?” he said. “Why?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Anora said. “He only mentioned it to me once. All I remember was the mission, and then her leaving the Grey Wardens.”

Alistair sat back in his chair, frowning deeply. Anora replaced the queen on the board.

“Let’s play again,” she said. She grinned. “I’d like to beat my record.”

Alistair helped her rearrange the pieces on the board, and the Grand Enchanter was quickly forgotten in his next defeat.

As Alistair readied himself for bed that night, however, his thoughts returned to the subject of the Grand Enchanter. He tried to recall the sources he’d read about why she left the Grey Wardens. They all said something about her “losing the Taint,” but none had specified how or why. None had mentioned a mission with the late king, either. Had Anora been wrong? Misremembered something? That wasn’t like her.

Climbing into bed, Alistair promised himself he would do more research into the matter, perhaps make an attempt to speak to the Grand Enchanter again—after things in the kingdom settled down. This resolution made, he shut his eyes.

That night he dreamed of singing, of soft arms holding him as he rested, and of warmth and safety like he’d never known.

[dismalzelenka]

dz facts :3

HELLO @sasshole-for-rent THX 4 TAG ❤️🍆💀

Favourite Colour: dark greens. Any variety. Forest? Emerald? Olive? BRING IT.

Top Three Ships:

Solona Amell x Cullen Rutherford

Marian Hawke x Raleigh Samson

Garrett Hawke x ANDERS 🐈🐈🐈

Lipstick or ChapStick: Lipstick in dark reds, purples, blues, blacks, or greens. Also holographic lip gloss by MILK.

Last Song: Take Me to Church - Hozier

Last Movie: it's actually been so long I genuinely don't remember. I caught bits of The Fifth Element on TV the other day while I was cleaning, and it's one of my favorite movies of all time and I can quote half of it, does that count?

Top Three Shows

3%

American Gods

Orphan Black

Current Read: The Calling. Gods bless young Duncan. And Maric. And Fiona. And Julian and Nicholas my sweet baby Gay Wardens. And Kell and his puppo Hafter. And Utha who can sass people without a tongue, like that's? Talent?? And Genevieve is starting to grow on me tbh. I just love all of them ok.

There was a relationship status question on here that I think I missed? Oh well.

Relationship Status: poly, involved, open to flirtations and mutually engaging sexual encounters. I like to ho it up loud and proud. 🍆🍩🍑✌️🖕💀

TAGS! TAGS! TAGS TAGS TAGS!

@kawakaeguri @joufancyhuh @elevanetheirin @maleficarie @stupidere @a-shakespearean-in-paris @laraslandlockedblues @becauseanders

[elevanetheirin]

Heritage

Alistair x Tabris

Characters: Alistair, Kallie Tabris, Duncan Theirin, Teagan. SFW 1258 Words Not a reblog, I’ve added the rest of this chapter. 

Alistair paced nervously at just outside the alcove listening to his wife in pain, screaming, the midwife giving her directions. Suddenly there was a tiny cry as he heard the midwife pronounce a son, but then he heard a gasp and the assistant rushed out to Alistair guiding him away from the alcove.

Panic welled up inside him, “What’s wrong? Why are you acting so weird? How’s my son? Let me go!”

The Midwife’s assistant shushed him and quietly spoke, “The baby is healthy, ten fingers and ten toes, but there’s something we need to talk about Ser.”

The assistant opened the door and gestured for Alistair to follow. Once outside Alistair finally gave the little elven woman what for.

“What is going on! What must we discuss? I only want to see my son and my wife.” He gave a sharp intake of breath, “Maker! Is Kallie alright, is that what this is about?

The assistant gently touched Alistair’s arm, “I must ask you something Ser. Everyone knows your father was King Maric, but is it possible your Mother was an elf?”

Stunned Alistair stared at the woman as though she’d just called a gryphon to her. How would he know he thought, all he’d ever been told was his Mother was a serving woman at Redcliffe. Alistair shrugged,

“I suppose it’s possible. Eamon never said, and I just assumed she was human, he wanted to make me King after all. What’s this about anyway?”

“Your son Ser, he, he has pointed ears.  I’ve seen it before but only when one parent is an elf and the other is half-elf.”

His response shocked the assistant, he began to laugh. He laughed so hard all the people on the street stopped to watch the strange human they had become accustomed to. Alistair bent over bracing his hands on his knees, he thought he might fall over.

“And Eamon wanted to make me King. I can’t wait to tell him!” Alistair rushed back into the tiny house that was their home.

He moved quietly into the alcove, Kallie was already asleep, exhausted from labor. He found his little bundle lying next to his mother, the watchful eye of the midwife close by. He moved the blanket away from the babys face, grinning from ear to ear. His son, his beautiful little baby, Duncan, they had already agreed on the name. He gently scooped up the tiny manifestation of their love and years of hard work to come this far and very gently touched his little ears awestruck. He had never felt so full, so happy but then it struck him again how funny it was that Eamon had wanted to make him King and he was half-elf the entire time. He laughed too loud and woke Duncan, who started mewing and soon went into full screaming.

“Alistair, what’s happening, is he ok?” Kallie groggily asked.

“He’s perfect my Love, more perfect than we’d ever hoped he would be”, Alistair answered, gently laying the baby into his Mother’s arms.

He decided he was going to have to write Eamon a letter. Now that he knew a little more about where he came from it was time he knew everything. And Andraste’s Blood, Eamon would tell him or there would be hell to pay.

It had been weeks, over a month since Alistair had sent his letter to Arl Eamon and not a word. He wasn’t fooled in the least. They lived in the same city. The lack of communication was a choice. He didn’t dwell on it though, there was too much to do at home. Duncan needed feeding and changing and Kallie needed rest. Alistair wasn’t complaining, he enjoyed the time he spent with his son.

He was sitting in the sun outside their home, the baby the wooden bed someone had gifted them before the birth simply watching life in the Alienage pass by, when a little boy came running toward him. Alistair sat up giving the boy his attention.

“Ser Alistair, sir. A letter for you. I was to deliver it directly to you. If the man asks I brought it straight here, I didn’t stop, I didn’t give it to anyone else! He paid me good to bring it.” The little boy huffed, out of breath.

Alistair chuckled, “Indeed you did rush right over young ser! Here, for your trouble.” Alistair handed him a copper he had in his pocket, wishing he’d had more to give the lad.

Opening the letter Alistair immediately recognized the handwriting and it wasn’t Eamon’s. It was Teagan’s. Of course it was, Eamon could no longer stoop to speaking to him, he chose and ALIENAGE over living in the Palace. Alistair scoffed.

Opening the letter Alistair began to read Teagan’s words

 Dear Alistair,

 First, I would like to congratulate you on your unexpected yet wanted bundle of joy.

I by happenstance found your letter in Eamon’s office. I had come to Denerim to see my brother, noticing he was not acting himself. After several days I snuck into his office to see if maybe there was some issue with the country when I came across your letter. I confronted Eamon who refused to speak on the matter and has decided he was no longer interested in discussing anything further with you. He had still held hope that you would change your mind regarding marrying Anora and accepting the Regency. Your latest news has dashed those hopes for him.

Alistair, I believe it is our responsibility to share what we know with you. What I know to be true is your Mother’s name is Fiona. Fiona was a mage within the Grey Wardens and a member of the Order Maric had allowed to return Fereldan that included Duncan. She and your father seemed to have some type of relationship, but she believed the Warden’s were no place for a child to grow up, and Maric was afraid your life would be miserable and unhappy within the courts. Not because of the situation of your birth but simply because you were the son of a King. Maric entrusted Eamon to take care of you. What transpired afterwards was not intended by your Father, and I am deeply saddened by the life you grew up in.  

The last I heard of Fiona she was at Skyhold with the Inquisition but that was several months ago, before the Exalted Council and the Inquisitors decision to end the Inquisition. Perhaps if you contact your friend Leliana she can give you more up to date information.

You are always welcome at Redcliffe, you and your little family.

Your Uncle,

Teagan

Alistair sighed, he wondered if Duncan had ever planned on telling him about Fiona. His mother…FI…ON…A it sounded strange to call someone Mother. He jumped up and flung open the door

“KALLIE!! Come here! Hurry!”

Kallie came to the door wiping her hands on her apron, “Yes Ali? What is it? Is the baby ok?”

“He’s fine Love, and until I yelled he was sleeping.” Alistair flashed his wife a sheepish grin, “Its not that, I just received a letter from Teagan. I know who my mother is, I just have to find her!” I wonder if Leliana knows. Do you know how to contact her?”

Exaggerating a sigh Kallie responded, “I suppose I could contact her.” Knowing full well where Leliana was currently hiding out, planning for something she refused to tell Kallie about. More likely than not the bard expected Kallie to insist on helping.