#oh and dragon tales

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

So I went searching for special dialogue for a romanced Alistair, who stayed with the wardens, about a HoF who made the ultimate sacrifice. Specifically for what he says in DAI. For reasons.

I know what he says about her when she's alive in DAI, so I was curious if he'd saying anything about her if she's dead, like Leliana and Morrigan do. After reading through all sorts of forms and reddit posts where most of the answers were "huh I dunno what he says in DAI, I've never done that route," I eventually found out what he says.

Nothing.

Romanced Alistair says nothing about a dead HoF in DAI. At first I thought this was odd? Surely there's something referencing the fact that he and the warden were in love? even if just for fanservice like in DA2? Some of the comments on these posts blame it on Bioware doing bad writing again but it's hard to tell if they actually mean that, or if they're conflating "I don't like this" with bad writing because honestly? I disagree.

Intentionally or not, Alistair not saying anything about his dead lover is completely in character for him. He doesn't know the Inquisitor. Why should he tell them anything about the love of his life that he lost ten years ago? He's not as open about that stuff like Leliana or Morrigan.

You know what's actually out of character? Alistair giving a random stranger he met for two seconds an item that belonged to his dead lover because "she doesn't need it anymore."

Wasn't it enough to ruin his face, DA2? Did you really need to throw in some botched fanservice as well?

Wait a minute, Varric's telling this story...

Alright, new headcanon: Varric is, as per usual, full of shit. Alistair did give Hawke an item because he felt bad that he couldn't help them with the qunari except it wasn't anything special. But that's not interesting enough, so Varric lied and said Alistair gave Hawke an item that belongs to THE Hero of Fereldan for the sake of showing how super special Hawke is.

[raayllum]

So the clue is a creepy ass cover of "Ring around the rosie," a childhood nursery rhyme about the Bubonic Plague / Black Death. Here the lyrics pictured:

"Ring around the rosie Pocket of full of posie Ashes, ashes"

stopping before the infamous "we all fall down." When you lighten the photo, there is also a picture of wilted rose.

This clue was also released very purposefully and pointedly at midnight, and the release being at midnight was built up. Therefore:

6x08 has to do with Aaravos' history with Elarion

The poem detailing the history of Elarion and his involvement with dark magic is called "The Midnight Star"

Elarion is routinely referred to as a flower/bloom

The Flowers of Elarion is a story in Tales of Xadia shared between Katolis and Moonshadow elves, specifically. It is the only story in TOX to have a dual narrative treatment.

Flowers of Elarion are left as a gift in exchange for stealing by an unfortunate elven thief stranded on the human side after the Exile.

The flowers, unbeknownst to them, turn to ash in the morning. "They never knew their gift was perceived as a curse, not a trade"

Instead, Lasair intended for them to be "a fair exchange of beloved for beloved" whenever they had to take something important/precious from a family

A wilted rose is also a symbol of dead/dying romance

Either all of this symbolism is going to be woven into Aaravos' backstory (dark magic being a gift and a curse, something that takes more than it ultimately gives) quite easily, leading to Elarion's fall as a city and perhaps Aaravos' own fall, too. If it is tied to the present, I expect it to be tied to our respective Katolis mage and Moonshadow elf, for well, reasons I don't think I have to elaborate on. Either way, it's shaping up to be an incredible episode with some very cool symbolism and deep lore, and I am prepared to be emotionally devastated.

[pirateshippotato]

I wanted to make some kydron content cause I love all the kydron stuff, also I wanted to use this audio for something

Also whooo hundredth post! (It’s been like a month what happened??)

[doctorwyvern]

dirt brothers….

[fielddogs]

mudd in minecraft

i spent far too long on this (2 hours on the skin 2 hours on the ears and tail)

if any of y'all want it (minus the ears and tail): https://www.planetminecraft.com/skin/mudd-tftsd-6383073/

[hemlock-ghost]

Guess who's been listening to the Armageddon arc nonstop for the past few days

[lunarifie]

Reasons I need to draw Kydron wearing a gladiator helmet/Great helm

1- I Imagine Quadron’s mech suit with medieval accents like a dark Great helm and armor, so the similarities make symbolism✨

2- To me, Kydron’s not fully robotic, just a LOT more cyborg

3- The helm conceals his identity (and emotions) to make him look fully robotic, so when he takes off the helm its like a badass reveal

4- the irony of knights symbolizing loyalty, protection and strength, something Kydron USED to be.

[kathildeisabird]

UWAHHHHHHH WUWGAGH MATHILDEEEE AND JACQUE I FORGOT I DREW THIS A WHILE AGO

[premaritalhug]

I did it. He looks like he plays Magic: The Gathering.

[pirateshippotato]

I wanted to make soldier, poet, king animation for the infinights, and it fits really well with Kyborg (soldier), Bart (poet), and Mudd (king), but I didn’t want to exclude Gum Gum so I made an extra verse

“There will come a child, who wants to be adored, he will change the world one day, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord”

Even though I have a verse there’s not a good way to get that into the song, so I would probably just do it with the first three, well I would if I could animated walk cycles

[doctorwyvern]

the real reason the og infinights disbanded is because the world couldn’t handle the yuri/yoai consensual workplace relationships that were going on

[anicehomicidaltree]

WAIT wait since Cariana calls Kydelius “Kydork” is that where he took the name Kyborg from??? Since in the timeline it comes before he took that name?? Is it a memory of his sister??

[elorasaurus-gaming]

Kyborg jumpscare

No GumGum were harmed during this Stinky adventure

*based on the recent Merch photos and a post on the reddit. I cannot take full credit for the idea, but had fun drawing it out!*

[doors-worstenemy]

His hair why he so scrunkley meow meow he's so silly

[raayllum]

Quick run down: 4 is the lowest typical score given, 10 the typical highest score given (although you can technically go up to 12). Making my post because I noticed Callum’s Justice ranking was at 6 (lower than I’d expected) and I always meant to do a lil more formal comparison between the trio so here it is I suppose.

Devotion: This is value is about duty, faith, and friendship. You’re motivated by the bonds of loyalty and your love for others.

Truth: This value is about fidelity, certainty, and authenticity. You’re motivated by finding strength in facts and by the principle and pursuit of knowledge

Glory: Have you ever wanted to be celebrated by history? This value is about legacy, fame, and fortune. You’re motivated by praise, acclaim, and your desire to be remembered.

Justice: Have you ever been compelled to fix what’s wrong? This value is about balance, virtue, and reward. You’re motivated by adherence to fairness and what you think is right.

Liberty: Have you ever resisted the control of others? This value is about freedom and autonomy. You’re motivated by a world without oppression or suppression.

Mastery: Have you ever needed to rise above your own limits? This value is about control, achievement, and skill. You’re motivated by power, growth, and progress.

Similarities:

Glory is a 4 for all of them. Utterly unsurprising I think - they’re all willing to do things regardless of recognition and aren’t motivated by any real self importance

Truth is a 6 for all of them. I find it interesting that Callum gets the “hide the truth to protect others” rather than Rayla, but we do see elements of that in TTM. For Ezran, it has less to do with a moral truth (Rayla) or how to handle the truth (Callum) but more to do with maturing to see the truth (“I ignored something that is true” —4x03)

For anything other than their Most Important Feature, everything else has roughly an 8. This makes sense as it is still a core value, i.e. Callum jumping off the mountain is very devotional, Rayla works very hard to find real justice, Ezran cares a great deal about placing autonomy in other people’s hands (S3), etc. 

In Betweens:

Ezran and Rayla both have Mastery at a 6 with Callum having it at an 8; this makes sense as he is driven to look for knowledge and power (through magic) in ways they are not / are mostly settled and/or disinterested in

Ezran and Callum both have Devotion resting at 8 - high, but not their highest values. This makes sense as according to the game, Devotion is how obligated you feel to others. Ezran feels beholden to Katolis but that’s something he’s largely grown into, and he feels a wider responsibility to the world at large, moving in between them as he can. Callum is very devoted to his loved ones (mainly Ez and Rayla, but also Zym in a lot of ways) and his desire for freedom often interplays with a desire to have autonomy/capability to protect and/or provide for them in key ways. 

Rayla and Ezran have Liberty at an 8, showing that they value freedom (Rayla’s bio includes her goal to free all people from terrible fates like the one she almost had with the binding ceremony, we’ve gone over Ez’s, etc) even if it’s not as high as Callum’s - but more on that later

Highest Values

Ezran’s is Justice at 10. This makes sense as he is the series’ embodiment of Justice thematically as well as the series’ Witness. This reflects his role as the peace maker for elves and humans and dragons, both politically and interpersonally with Callum and Rayla in S1 and S4 in particular. It is also embedded into the fact that his death itself would have been Justice and his survival is what allows true justice to actually continue, his decisions as king, and the fact he’s king at all, per Harrow’s words: “My father told me that about all, I must be a Just king.” 

Callum’s is Liberty at 10. This foreshadows his arc in season four in terms of a complete loss of control/freedom and why it screws with him so royally. While many of the characters agonize over making the right choice (or a choice at all), not having a choice at all is what torments him the most: “I can’t do anything!” (2x07) particularly when it comes to protecting or helping his loved ones. We see this especially in his quote under Liberty in which despite being crown prince and heir to the throne, he states that he is beholden to his inner circle rather than a sense of duty. In S4 he is concerned about Aaravos hurting his loved ones, and that fear of doing awful things to other people is what has him so especially worried over the situation, reaffirming his statement that “I value those close to me more than anyone or anything” certainly. 

Rayla is Devotion at 10. At first glance it’s easy to take her “My only allegiance is to my heart and those that know it” as a similar kind of sentiment to Callum’s “I value those close to me” statement, but we know what Rayla’s heart is aligned with: “My heart for Xadia.” Her heart is given to whatever she feels her duty is, to what feels right, hence why she risks everything for Phyrrah, someone she doesn’t know at all, simply because leaving the dragon there results in “every fibre in my body is telling me this is wrong.” Bloodmoon Huntress also expands on this further, drawing comparisons to her and Runaan’s sense of duty and love for the whole world, as well as precisely what led her to take on the assassination mission in the first place. In S1-S3 Rayla gets better at listening to her heart rather than shutting it down, although this has changed in S4. She’s learning to prioritize her loved ones more and more, but at the cost of her actual heart.

Misc Notes:

For Callum, it’s worth noting that Devotion and Mastery (magic) are of equal value to Callum and are definitely two cornerstones of his more hands on arc. Thus, we can likely deduce that as much as Callum undeniably values Liberty, the fact it’s his highest value is also because it’s the value that informs and guides his arc the most Thematically. This means that his desire to learn magic and be there for his loved ones is of equal measure in terms of his decision making, but we also see him clearly prioritize his loved ones in ways he does not do with his own pursuit of magic. 

[ Side note: And just as a comparison, Claudia - Claudia’s - devotion is also an 8, but Mastery is her 10, even though so much of her arc is driven directly by devotion to her family (although her bio makes it clear it is supporting her family and her father, not merely her valuing them, as the distinctions are important too). ]

Following this “Two Pillars holstered by One Theme” logic, we can break Ezran and Rayla down into a similar manner.

Rayla is defined by her initial quest of Justice and a growing sense of Liberty (cue: being literally freed from her binding, other symbolic cycles, etc) but this is bound together and streamlined through her Devotion to a cause to people and her family. We can see S4 bring this together directly in her devotion to Callum and her family and how they are both either already literally or becoming entangled / entrapped in forces beyond their control with Rayla wanting to free / protect all of them.

For Ezran, this means he is defined by his place as Justice thematically first and foremost, with Devotion and Liberty as his two tether-hooks: re a child king being put in chains to try and give his people a choice > forced conscription, as well as the work he’s doing to try to create peace and a Narrative of Love (devotion) in S4.

Thus, the highest value for each of the Trio is what informs them at their core and subsequent thematically, with their two respective pillars as how those things are motivated and manifest throughout, with of course a good dose of overlap beyond all three. But either way, I just thought it was Neat™

Closing Note

One thing I found interesting when actually going each beat of their bios is that Rayla and Ezran are inverses of each other and very closely aligned. They share the exact same 3 values, all in similar amounts (either 8 or 10) and just rotate one out for their respective highest: for Rayla, Justice is at an 8, and for Ez, it gets bumped up to a 10 and his devotion down to an 8. This closeness between them, and how Callum diverges, lines up with how I’ve thought of and how I’ve written each of the trio for a while now, re: meta dated September 2021 about this exact difference, well before TOX came out.

Because Callum, strangely enough, does not have Justice™ as a particularly high value. It’s actually on the lower end of his scale, with other heroic characters like Amaya, Janai, and Aanya having it as a 10, an 8, and 8. The only none villain adjacent character (Soren, Viren, Claudia) with a Justice as low as Callum’s is Lujanne, and Callum’s justice ranking is the lowest of the trio’s. This is interesting particularly because Justice is defined by fixing what’s wrong/broken, a sense of fairness and balance. And while Callum wants to have positive impacts on the world and make things better, it shows that his big heart is also equally if not more so tethered to pragmatism, perhaps, compared to his family, even in decisions made like leaving with the egg in the first place being what was also safest for the egg and particularly Ezran during the attack on the castle. 

And well, if you know, you know ;) 

[lin-lizzie]

Do you have any headcanons about the Infinight Interns (Now Infinights)?

I feel like there's a lot of potential with what they do in their free-time, wether it be camping or at the Infinight Quarters

bringing this from the spectril post but i totally see Gum Gum and Spectril getting along and seeing each other as siblings!!! They'd bond over flowers... and Gum Gum's interesting stories

Bart gets mixed feelings from this

Kyborg doesn't remember a lot of Evirwinter's traditions because he was so young when Quadron absolutely destroyed it

Mudd accidentally jammed the coffee machine (if one even exists, or at least something similar) with dirt.

no matter how hard Kyborg tries to teach gumgum, he cannot use a bow. mainly because he keeps accidentally snapping the string.

either kyborg and bart, kyborg and mudd, mudd and bart, or all three are gossiping together about things

"doesn't spectril and slique seem kinda..."

"kinda what?"

"ya know?"

"oh definitely."

LOL

kyborg constantly working out in their freetime together......

i like to imagine one day kyborg is doing pushups and he just asks bart to sit on him while doing so to show how strong he is and gumgum shows up and just. crushes kyborg. yeah im ending this there.