#minor datv spoilers

[sha-lyuzar]

i had Stalgard for all of one line of dialogue and i already am obsessed

[elfroot-and-laurels]

what first attracted badhbh and lucanis to each other? how did they become friends/lovers? and who is vivi romancing.. :)c AND what is her relationship like with sukhwinder?? 👀

JAYYYYYYY 💕 heehee I’ve been saving these questions so buckle up

What first attracted Badhbh and Lucanis was the shared intensity with which they regard their work, their responsibilities, and the people who depend upon them. Badhbh also saw in Lucanis the same weight of the desire for revenge that they carry and have carried for the majority of their life, and so they felt and still do feel that he understands them in a unique way. Lucanis, meanwhile, finds in Badhbh someone who has also funneled all of their unhappiness into their work ethic, someone who values family so much that they will carry the torch of revenge for decades.

In the beginning, their friendship is easy and collegial. They work well together and they like working together, because each knows of the other professionally. They fall into a sort of routine with great speed, and become used to each other very quickly. Things get complicated when they each start to realize the feelings they have for the other are more than those of friendship, especially since Badhbh is used to these things ending in rejection, and Lucanis is clearly struggling with the line between Spite and himself, what he wants and what he thinks he should want. They become something more than friends very, very slowly, and with many fits and starts - about which I’ve written in my in-progress fic A Hazelnut Torte and a Kiss Goodbye.

When it comes to Vivi, she is romancing her fellow Warden and sword and shield warrior, Davrin. The two of them are still working it out in my current playthrough, but there’s plenty of flirting already.

Vivi is older than Sukhwinder by several years, so while they aren’t as close as they perhaps might be, in her time at court with Talvinder and Alistair, Vivi did begin to see Sukhwinder as a younger sister. They still write to each other while Vivi is on the road and working with Varric, and after Talvinder and Alistair evacuate Denerim to Soldier’s Peak and Vigil’s Keep respectively during the events of Veilguard, Vivi tries her very best to get messages to her little second cousin, who is still a young teen. They both care about each other deeply, and if they were closer in age, they might be even better friends than they are.

[jackals-ships]

lrb reminded me tangentially the fact the devs decided "oh yeah ancient elves when they're Old As Hell go bald btw" so. so the art book,

said "hey btw Elgar'nan is also bald he just has a wig attached to his crown" which is. So Good

[apostatehobolife]

Solas after your trials and fighting Elgar'nan clearly compensating for something archdemon, are you getting rest. You looked so tired?

I am well. Easy fight.

[thesummerstorms]

Okay, but what if Lucanis does buy Rook de Riva an important (mage)knife.

He gets knives, he has a good weaponsmith, but mages don't use their knives as much for stabbing/slashing directly as channeling elemental magic to stab with, so he goes to Emmrich and asks for the simplest, most paired down explanation of crafting materials' effect on magical frequencies that is humanly possible, specifically as it applies to knives.

Emmrich reminds Lucanis that he is in fact a stave user, but Rook would be a good person to ask.

Lucanis grits his teeth because he can tell from the older man's smile that Emmrich is having some fun at his expense. Of course Emmrich knows it's for Arsinoë. Lucanis hadn't wanted to be that obvious, but he can admit that it is.

Unfortunately, even when sincere, Emmrich is incapable of simple. Poor Lucanis knew this going in, of course and decided on Emmrich anyway because Neve would catch on too quickly and spoil her own gift and Bellara was equally incapable of simple and more prone to distracted tangents. It doesn't mean he's any more prepared to make sense of all this, and in the end he has to take Emmrich to meet his weaponsmith directly.

(The resulting "collaborative brainstorming session" almost scared Lucanis, put his favorite weaponsmith in a mind to possible shift specialties entirely, and cost House Dellamorte the price of a fully functional forge. It's still worth it.)

The end result is a beautiful piece of everite that feels vividly like the air in a storm in Rook's hands yet looks deceptively crystalline and fragile. It immediately becomes her favorite, unlike the vanished knife he gave Viago all those years ago, and from her shy smiles, he likes to think this time he's been understood.

Altogether, things are going well for once. If he feels more pride than maybe is reasonable every time he sees the everite blade in her hands alive with magic that cuts through a Venatori, then that's between him and Spite.

And Arsinoë. And Neve. And honestly everyone else because he's so terrible at hiding it.

All is going well, for once.

Until Tearstone Island, when he wakes up to Neve's anguished face, purple shards like crystal that cut through his gloves as he reaches for the snapped blade and severed hilt, his blood mixing with the sand, and-

and no Rook.

[peonysgreenhouse]

emmrich irl callout post for a problematic age gap is crazy 😭

[ode-to-fury]

Worst missed oppertunity in the game is when you play the Venatori/crow forbidden romance quest in treviso and Lucanis is so grumpy about chasing the two of them around the city romanced Rook should have an ambient dialogue saying "lucanis its romantic!" To which he still grumbles but does admit that "yes, fine. Just a little." Because the game is telling me he's a romantic but i wish they would show itttt!!!!

[pluviatrix]

added a new elf to my repertoire ft. the last lineup(s) i did

[juneiper-art]

anyway one of my top ten favorite spite moments is when he pulls these big ass bones out of nowhere and ur companions are like ????

[effelants]

the origins references are fucking killing me

[jaal-ama-daravv]

this line is the hottest thing ive ever witnessed

[sha-lyuzar]

The fact that there is no casteless brand is irking me unreasonably

[goonchef]

i loved his side missions

[jackals-ships]

also constantly thinking about ppl pointing out that solas Probably WANTED to be found he Wanted to be stopped

and then you have jackal "ill do it my own god damn self then MOVE-"

[zahra-hydris]

I'm actually really sad about the lack of world state reactivity.

it was such a cornerstone of the series: feeling like characters and the world evolved as you, the player, interacted with it (lived in it! over 15 years!). and it's not even - as i've seen some, including key devs, suggest - a question of making every single choice matter. the "throwaway" lines, simple war table missions, and codex entries still mattered! they still contributed to that feeling of a world that evolved with you.

and what really worries me is what this means for the returning characters. how can you have varric without the potential loss of hawke? how can you have morrigan* without the potential for kieran? is your inquisitor going to be even semi-recognisable? how is the well drinker choice not relevant? and, again, these don't necessarily need to have huge impacts? they can just be one off lines or codex entries or something that shows that this is a world that you've been a part of, these are people that you know and love.

idk there's just such a huge middle ground between 'every single choice needs to dramatically impact the plot/characterisation and that's just not feasible' and 'absolutely no reactivity to anything beyond three things'. the devs keep acting like there's not, but it's just bullshit. they managed it to a decent degree in inquisition, after all.

it's not necessarily a dealbreaker but idk i'm just sad about it.

*honestly starting to lean towards that theory that it's not actually morrigan but flemythal in her body

[malizanu]

every birthday josie still sends harding a gift, maybe the josie/harding truthers had bigger minds than the rest of us