#qwydion is best girl

[jay-wasstuff]

Some homemade memes of Dragon Age Absolution

[snotsloth]

I love how for a specific segment of the Dragon Age fandom, Dragon Age: Absolution just respawned the Varric Tethras brain worms and now we're just screaming, wailing and gnashing our teeth (affectionately) about Varric again.

[crossdressingdeath]

Yes, Qwydion! Mages taking advantage of conduction to enhance their lightning magic is my jam!

[brekkie-e]

This scene cured my depression

[felassan]

Lately there's been quite a few interviews with the creators of Dragon Age: Absolution, some of which contain interesting pieces of information about Absolution and DA generally. This post collects these together. :> it's under a cut due to length and will be updated if more info of note from interviews comes out. all infos have their sourcelink included. this post is Part 2, it spilled over into 2 parts due to character limits (Part 1 link). (Absolution spoilers under cut)

When asked about a hypothetical season two and future cameos in Absolution, Mairghread Scott said "All cards are on the table for me, my relationship with BioWare is sort've like being the fan girl in the candy store where I just sort of ask 'Ooh, what if I this, can I have this, can I have that?' And then they just tell me 'no, but maybe this instead'. If you guys have thought of a character to add to the show I've definitely also thought about that character". It will all just come down to timing & begging. John added that all characters are kind of on the table depending on timing. [source]

BioWare always have a running internal idea of what the characters are doing, even if it's not something that they're currently sharing with us. They have an idea of who is available when & who could potentially be a part of the secondary medias [source]

In terms of plans for more Absolution, Mairghread said "as a TV writer, I’ll take as many episodes and seasons as anyone will give me." [source]

Mairghread said that it was really important for her to ensure Season 1 was Miriam's story first and foremost, and that Miriam will still always be their lead. the writers care deeply about the characters they created, and Lacklon, Roland and Qwydion have always had lives and stories of their own, which she is very excited to tell them. "I’ll also throw out that I can’t wait to see how the Imperial Divine reacts to all of this. Tassia’s troubles are just starting on that front." [source]

There's no plans for possible future plans that can be shared currently [source]

DAII has a special place in John's heart, so "Any time we get a chance to go back to Kirkwall, I love it, because I think Kirkwall, in many ways, embodies one of the most fundamental truths about Thedas (and in particular, Thedas during this particular Age) which is that bad things happen, a lot, and sometimes the best you can do is take care of the people close to you—and sometimes you can’t even do that.” [source]

Mairghread: "Hawke’s success should never be diminished. I want everyone who played Hawke to feel proud of what they did (including myself). That said, Meredith was tangling with forces beyond her understanding and at the end of the show we get to see a hint of the consequences of those entanglements. No Dragon Age story is truly stand alone and events in one part of Thedas are always going to have ripples that affect the rest of the world and its characters.” [source]

The interpretation of what the worldstate is in the Absolution universe has purposefully been left up to the viewer to interpret. Mairghread and Scott cautioned against assuming there is a preferred or core canon narrative and respecting player choices was number 1 on their priorities' list when writing Absolution. they worked hard to phrase and present things ambiguously. They were very careful not to say when the Cass/Leli flashback is in the timeline or in what capacity they were speaking (Divine or not). "That flashback could have been before anyone was formally named Divine or they could have been ‘tying up loose ends’ afterwards (Neither of these women are the type to leave things half-finished)." [source]

For the Inquisition, "how you want to define ‘broke up’ and when that happened is also up to the player’s choices. Don’t take what Hira and Fairbanks say as being any more than what’s true from their point of view. Finally, for ‘Herald of Andraste’ anyone who’s ever gotten stuck with a nickname can tell you how hard it is to shake them, whether you like them or not." [source]

John: “there are so many places we’ve never gone before in the franchise, whether in the games or in the ancillary narrative products, and if I started giving my list of ‘places I want to visit’, I think I’d run out of space. I guess suffice to say I think there are an almost infinite number of interesting stories still to tell and I hope we get a chance to tell more of them." [source]

Mairghread: "We write very sympathetic villains, who are essentially encouraging you to look away from their misdeeds, but ultimately, it was really important for me to try and look them in the eye as much as we could. [...] It’s really easy in a story like Dragon Age to gloss over some of the evils of abuse, slavery, caste systems. I really felt like it was important that we look at those in a manner as realistic as we could — or as respectful as we could; it’s hard to say realistic in a fantasy setting" [source]

John: "A lot of the people living within [Tevinter] have tricked themselves or have convinced themselves that, Well, this is just the way things are. Rezaren is a person who sees, Yeah, of course, it’s unfair, of course, but this is just the world we’re in. It’s interesting, because ultimately, I think that is the Tevinter attitude for a lot of people. It also provides an interesting ability to contrast that with people who are in that society and maybe don’t see things the exact same way; they don’t just accept that this is the way things are." [source]

Why did they choose Fairbanks as the 'Ascended Extra'? Why did he die? - Mairghread said it had nothing to do with "the sheer joy it is to kill [Mercer] as many times as humanly possible. Look, I'll be honest, I really couldn't bring myself to kill Harding. Like, No, I’m still hoping to romance her. [...] We also wanted to build a real sense of danger for our characters. Having the leader of the team and the guy who in theory planned most of this die really early was a way to get the audience to understand that all bets were off the table" [source]

and lastly this whole passage [source]:

[Part 1 link, as the character limit was reached in this post]

[pallas-cat]

qwydion best girl

[magic-multicolored-miracle]

Dragon Age: Absolution Episode 2/3 It’s All About Dynamics

The episodes were short and the plot moved quickly, so I’m combining some episodes’ posts because I don’t have enough clever things to say for titling

Episode 2:

I like that the character that looks like Cartoon Matt Mercer is not one of the ones voiced by Matt Mercer 😂

Pavus, you say? An ancestor of my beloved and best, Dorian? Do we get to see him again? Please oh please say we do!

Since when do Spirits have names? Besides Cole. Wasn’t Solas’s whole thing that they weren’t really individuals and Varric was trying to change that making Cole a Real Boy™?

All of Tevinter will burn? I never had any intention of doing such...Solas, are you being a problem egg again?

This bitch stupid. And fully deserved Pride Demon to the face.

I like the way they fight together though.

Oh it's cus they're in love and haven't admitted it! Excellent!

"One way or another" ...bitch, why the fuck would you say that? That is on a list of phrases NEVER to say. Especially when dealing with demons and unknown magics.

Help. I am once again deeply attached to an accented, talented, and most importantly sarcastic man named Roland. Also to Qwydion and Fairbanks, but those aren't an "if I had a nickel for every time, I'd have two of them."

What? No!! Shit...I shouldn’t have said anything (RIP)

I agree with the dwarf

Episode 3:

You know, I respect it. But Roland ain't stupid: survival's always trumped by fame

Oh no, I ship it and I love them. They're stupid and probably going to die, but I ship it. The Magister/Templar Knight-Commander should-be-enemies angle just makes it sweeter

How the hell is this child of a man the highest ranking person in this place? Honestly where is anyone older?

That's...an Old God?

Oh Neb is a construct? A risen body by other means? Something that's going to be heartbreaking.

Always at The goddamned Hanged Man...

This is what you get for getting distracted watching your boss's cool stunts. Consider yourself lucky soldier

Not an Old God, still a dragon.

Planning is nobody's strong suit here, is it?

Except my girl Qwyd! Hot damn with the lightning rod. Anyone order their ghouls extra crispy?

Hira's going to come back evil isn't she?

Of course she knows them. It wouldn't be dramatic if she didn't. I feel foolish for not putting that together already

[snotsloth]

So, we all know Qwydion is best girl for like all of the reasons. I mean, look at her:

13/10 would die for her.

She was also part of the inquisition AND a mercenary...

You know who else is a qunari mage that spent time as a mercenary in the Free Marches and eventually joined the inquisition?

This guy!

And that got me thinking, what if they were siblings!?! Yes, I know this is very self-indulgent. No, I do not care. It's my headcanon, it's entire reason for being is self-indulgence.

So from now on, I'm going to think of Qwydion as Kaaras's little sister. They both grew up in a mercenary band that both their tal vashoth parents were part of. Due to their mage mother's complete rejection of the Qun, they don't have a terribly strong connection to their qunari heritage.

But they both share a passion for magic, and believe it is a gift that should be used to help others. Kaaras, like Qwydion, is generally friendly, kind, and a bit chaotic. Both have learned that a smiling face and helpful disposition will go a long way towards making people less intimidated by their appearances.

While Qwydion specializes in healing, and making things go boom. Kaaras's magic is a bit more esoteric. (I played him as a rift mage.) So, he tends to get lost in research and theoretical studies of the Fade. Qwydion used to call him stuffy and boring, but she is secretly proud of her elder brother.