#the Lore

[seeker-ophelia]

Ophelia’s Review, Part Three: The Lore

Man. Thank you to @senseandaccountability ’s post for sparking this brainwyrm because I was at a loss for words on how to start this post, and I could not put my finger on what was actually bothering me.

Again, let me just say, emotionally, this game wrecked me. I enjoyed it. I (am probably one of the few who) liked the combat. I liked the companions (basic as they are). And I liked the story. I liked the locations. I liked the quests and the loot system and the companion banter. But.

The Lore.

[Part 1:Emotion]   [Part 2:The Dragon Age System]

If you’ve read my Part 2 Review, you know the end of it is actually its own little fic-let on the Veilguard realizing the veil needs to come down.

And I’m just going to straight up copy a paragraph from @SenseAndAccountability ‘s post (I strongly recommend you go read it, its fantastic).

Replaying really emphasizes how incredibly little the game convinces me of its original main quest - to prevent Solas from doing his ritual. This is a problem as a long-term player because for three games we’ve had build up for a great crescendo tackling the overarching themes of the (restrictions and oppression of) magic, of tears in the Veil, of religious tyranny and oppression based on myths about the Black City and the temptations of flawed humans, we’ve seen and deconstructed the elves quite a bit, we got started on the dwarves and in DAI your Inquisitor can openly ask Solas if it wouldn’t be better if the Veil came down because then spirits wouldn’t be separated from the living and risk becoming demons. Cole, whose function is to reflect the plot, talks endlessly about the old songs wanting to be sung again, about how it hurts to be cut off from part of yourself, how the templars feel it, how the mages feel it, how the elves and the dwarves feel it. The Veil as a prerequisite for life has been deconstructed, the Fade demystified, the gods have mostly fallen. The Veil as an actual wound inflicted on this earth has been presented as a theory and not been convincingly rejected by the narrative. 

Let’s recap, just a little bit.

In Origins, we are introduced to the Dragon Age World. Its politics, its magic physics, the races, and its religion. We are introduced to the concept of the Chantry and the Templars and the Circles (*wiggles my eyebrows at you). We learn about demon possession, and about spirits in the fade. And maybe most importantly, we are introduced to the concept of The Blight.

The unstoppable, indiscriminate zombie-plague that sweeps Thedas once a century or so. And maybe more importantly, thanks to the sacrifice of the Grey Wardens, how to stop it.

In 2, the Thedas lore is even subtler. We were introduced to Dalish Gods in Origins, but because of Merrill we get a little more. We start to become curious about the Gods of the race that has been subjugated and enslaved throughout the common Ages. We learn the tense political atmosphere surrounding the Templars and the Mages, and the Chantry’s weakening hold on the politics and structure of Southern Thedas as a whole. We learn about slavery in the north, about the basics of the Qunari, and we have a Terrorist (potentially our lover), hit the religious organization in our city.

In Inquisition, we learn all about the magic. We learn about the fade, about the veil, we learn all about the Elvhen. We pick a side in the Mage/Templar war, we learn about this strange process of Tranquility, the only power templars have to control mages (thanks to Cassandra), and we also learn what that control costs (thanks to Cullen).

And because of Solas, and Cole, we learn about spirits. About how the Veil turns them to demons on their passing into the real world. About how all they want is to stay true to their purpose. They are simple, pure things, and while there are demons, of course, its not all bad in the fade as maybe we might have believed before. After all, Solavellan’s first kiss happens in the fade.

In Descent, we learn about titans, about memories, about songs, about lyrium, about isatunoll.

In Trespasser we learn about why the Titans even matter. Orbs. Power. Greed. The creation of the Veil, and what it really means.

*Insert Kronk Oh-Yeah-Its-All-Coming-Together.gif*

We had 10 years to scheme. 10 years for theories. 10 years to datamine.

So what did we learn in Veilguard?

Well, in the grand scheme of things, nothing.

We have theories confirmed. Which Evanuris hat belongs to who, how the blight was created, how the blight is spread, and how the blight is controlled (kinda-not-really). At least, we learn how the Evanuris are doing it.

What did we learn that was NEW?

We learned about the Morn Watch (but I mean, did we really?) Emmerich has a good relationship with wisps and spirits. We learn about his distinction between a spirit and a soul.

We learned *a little* more about Qunari culture.

We learned it was a blood magic ritual that was holding the veil up, tied to the life force of the Evanuris, now tied to Solas.

We learned about the Evanuris’ Dragon-Thralls and the strong connection between the two, a connection strong enough to get their souls out of Solas’ Fade Jail.

We learned that the Evanuris could not only control The Blight, but had relics to give to others (the Venatori) to control blighted things. We learned their greed for power was so vast, so consuming, they were willing to Blight the world to achieve it.

But we fought an archdemon, in Origins and in Veilguard. We see and know the terror and horror of the Blight.

This makes any action Solas commits understandable, and even necessary. Would we have done anything different? If my leaders were bent on blighting the world, wouldn’t I go to extreme lengths to stop them? Compromising my own morals, dignity, and values to do so?

I think I would.

Having such a terrible evil, having such an indiscriminately bad thing, The Blight, leaves absolutely no room for nuance. No room for complexity. Just good versus bad. Destroy the bad thing at all costs.

So we do. Wham, bam, Evanuris dead.

And the only thing stopping us from tearing down the Veil, is the Blight.

Because Solas tells us that the Blight is in there too.

But, he made a new Prison for the Evanuris, one without a veil, before Rook & Co. interrupted his ritual. Why can’t we move the blight into there and still tear down the Veil?

What is stopping us at this point?

Solas says: Thousands would die

(You’re trapped in your regrets)

This is why you had to use me to escape the prison. It’s made from regrets. And you’re trapped in yours.

You cannot understand -  

Destroying everything won’t erase your mistakes.

You have a chance right now to save the world. Bind yourself to the Veil and stop it from falling.

2. (Do this the right way)

You’re right, you do need to make up for the damage you’ve done, but breaking the world again is the wrong way to do it.

Letting the veil collapse –

Is what YOU want. Making amends isn’t about what YOU want.

You have a chance right now to save the world. Bind yourself to the Veil and stop it from falling.

3. (This won’t help anyone)

Who does this help? A lot of people are going to die… So you can fix something they don’t even see as wrong.

It is not just people, spirits –

Will be destroyed when you do this, too. Won’t they?

You have a chance right now to save the world. Bind yourself to the Veil and stop it from falling.

Listen. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but there's more to Dragon Age than Solavellan.

This, in the end, was an emotional decision. The decision to leave the veil up was tied to emotion, and not logic.

So, what does all this mean?

Well, for players new to the series, nothing. They were always fighting for the Veil to stay up. The opposite of what the antagonist wants, pretty much. Easy enough to follow along.

But for returning players? Lavellans who stood in Fade-Haven? Players who walked Vir Dirthara? Mages who made the Descent, and saw how horrible it was for the dwarves to be sundered from their dreams, and made the horrifying connection that the Veil did the same to them?

Trespasser Solas: You must understand, I awoke in a world where the Veil had blocked most people’s conscious connection to the Fade. It was like walking through a world of Tranquil. (We aren’t even people to you?) Not at first. You showed me that I was wrong… again. That does not make what must come next any easier.

When I learned about the rite of Tranquility in Origins, I was disgusted. The first thing that popped into my head was lobotomization. They are one and the same to me. Turning a person into a husk of what they were. Separating them from their emotions. From hard emotions, yes, from things that are not easy, even painful, but at the cost of themselves.

We walk with Harding through her decision to, although the Titans are angry, and what was taken from her people was great, not reunite Titan and Dwarf because…

Lace: The story of their end is the story of our beginning.

Mythal releases Solas from his journey to reunite Elvhen with the Fade.

Harding releases angry Titans from their quest to reunite with the Dwarvhen.

And so the Veil stays up. The Titans stay sundered.

But… at what cost?

Lest we forget, it was the sundering of the Titans from the Dwarves that CREATED THE BLIGHT. The Titans created the blight as a weapon to infect the Elvhen as punishment for their death, their tranquility.

This Tranquility Ritual, be it in the form of keeping Mages from the fade, be it of Titans or of Elvhen, is WRONG.

I’m a Blue-Collar Journeyman, and we have a turn of phrase we use with old fellers who don’t want to change the way they do things.

Just because you’ve been doing something for a long time, doesn’t mean you’ve been doing it right.

You can do something for years, and still be doing it wrong.

And both Lace and Rook decide that this is the way things have been done, for AGES. We’re not going to change now.

And I’m just… Solas. As John Travolta playing Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, confusingly standing there, looking around with my arms out.

Did we learn nothing from the Lessons of Origins? Nothing from the Lessons of Inquisition?

Maintain the Status Quo? That’s the answer?

At what cost?

One of my favourite lines in in my Part 2 Post is this;

Veilguard, is shallow. The essence is there, beneath it's Veil, pressing and bursting at the seams to escape, but is being held back by a gentrification of Thedas.

This decision, the decision to keep the veil up, is shallow. Its basic. Its Easy. It is pre-masticated, lunchable drivel. It was spoon fed to us in easy dialogue and groupthink.

What about every other thing we learned in the other games of Dragon Age?

If Weekes et al. want me to forget about how horrible the Rite of Tranquility is, they’re going to have to come out with a hell of a companion novel between now and DA5, because this makes no sense to me.

I ask you. If sundering Titans created The Blight, what did sundering the Fade create?

Or should I say,

If separating Dwarvhen from their Memories created the Blight (out of Titan anger),

What did separating Elvhen from the Fade create?????

Lets talk about Ser Dave.

If you read my part 2, you’ll know that Ser Dave is my name for the ‘?????’

Not only is it so insulting to my intelligence to call something ‘?????,’ because of course then I’m going to pay more attention to it, but its so lazy. Let it introduce itself to Rook and say “call me the wicked witch of the west,’ ‘a concerned party,’ ‘I am the Batman,’ ‘I am No One,’ ‘I am Daivd Gaider,’ ffs.

An I excited at a new villain? Yes. Am I happy to learn there was a shadow organization pulling the strings behind all of my villains throughout The Dragon Age? Abso-fucking-lutely not. Am I happy Southern Thedas, Treviso, and Minrathous are essentially razed after the rise of the Evanuris? No.

Nothing we did in any of our previous games mattered. Nothing I did mattered. Ser Dave was there the whole time, controlling, balancing, guiding, whispering.

I was doomed to fail from the start.

The moral of the story in Veilguard is to not assume the burden of others actions:

And yet its Ser Dave and the Nazgul Band that assumes responsibility for my villains?

What in the Actual Fuck?

So what is going to happen in 5? I don't know. Will I find true agency? How do we have a villain worse than a God? How do we live in a Tranquil’d world, knowing the alternative? How do you bring back the dark, heavy, realness of Thedas, after the gentrification of Veilguard? After blanding Thedas, making it easier for more palates, needing to feed the EA Machine.

For the record, I have yet to complete my second playthrough. I have yet to find all the codices. I have yet to get all the companion banter. I have yet to play as every race. I have yet to make every decision. And if Inquisition taught me anything, its how one little piece of information can change everything. So, for the record, this whole post could be wrong.

In fact, I hope, and pray, that I am missing a big piece of something in Veilguard. That I just haven’t found it yet. That one little thing that’s going to shift my worldview. And I’m going to play until I find it.

Because these messages Veilguard is sending? They’re too contradictory. Too opposite to be coincidence. Too Different to simply be Bad Writing™. I said that Veilguard is a Tranquilized Version of what DA4 could have been. Inquisition, 2, and Origins, were too deep, for Veilguard to be this shallow.

And… Maybe its copium, but I’m kind of hoping that it was on purpose.

[logosbot-tm]

I find it a tad bit funny that ppl are surprised at Grian having knowledge of the canary curse, but like... dudes, that's like the most well-known curse that the life series fandom has created.

Like there's animations on YouTube, it's mentioned in tiktoks, ppl have talked about on twitter and reddit, it's not just a thing here in the tumblr community.

Also, the Hermits/Lifers (do we have a name for the life series crew? Or? Either wait, calling them the lifers.) have always had knowledge of the shipping. Even back when it wasn't particularly accepted in the fandom, the Hermits very much knew that they were shipped.

And they obviously still know.

Yes, we try to keep all of this mostly to our own space, but guys, they've always had some form of knowledge about what goes on in the fandom. I don't know why people are surprised about it.

Their career is on the Internet, and it's pretty difficult to have a career on the Internet and not see the things going on.

Also, some life series people and some Hermits... do have tumblr??? Yall know that, right???

[spacedoutman]

That’s so damn interesting!! I really hope to see her and her story be written out more! I just got into polymer clay so who knows, she may be the inspo for my next figure cause DAMN I love her!! I’m sorry I’m a little late to this! You’re doing so good omg! <3

IT'S HERE!

Tagging: @gh0stfl0ra @ravenh37 @spacedoutman @peanutbutter-doodles @ladyshandioftheendless

"Evildoers, beware! This coquette crusader is on your case!"

Info/Lore dumping under the cut

The leopard print heart thing over Angel's chest is her pompom keychain. When she transforms, her little pompom literally becomes attached to her heart(Sure hope no villains figure that one out and try to rip it out of her. I mean what who said that).

Even outside of her magical battles with glamorous foes, she has to make sure her pompom is always somewhere on her person or else she can't transform when she really needs to(Once again, SURE HOPE NO VILLAINS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT).

I happen to own something like that irl. Sadly, it does not give me cool superpowers(Yet!)😅

[dovewingkinnie]

missing

[comparativelysuperlative]

No, the Hachette v. Internet Archive decision is gross for a completely different set of reasons.

The Second Circuit ruled that the Free Internet Library (letting you read e-books, but only as many as they or their partner libraries had physical copies of un-checked-out that day) was illegal copyright infringement because it was:

Non-commercial (asking for donations wasn't a problem); but

Not transformative at all (they're using the copyrighted text itself, to communicate the same thing as the original author, etc); and

Distributing the entire text, rather than quoting excerpts or whatever; and

Supplanting the copyright holder's version in the same market, specifically including the pros and cons to the public and the authors if doing this became widespread.

(These are the standard factors for fair use, and it sure does look like the court accurately described how they apply here. It wasn't wrong on the law. But.)

You know what else does all of those things? Me handing you a physical book! If lots of people lend their books around, people might borrow them instead of buying more. And obviously the copy I gave you has the entire text expressing the original author's ideas and all that.

Sharing a specific copy you own is allowed, but only because there's an exception written into the law. (17 USC 109(a)). Without that, it would be distributing copyrighted material and apparently wouldn't be fair use.

Anyway, I'm taking Hachette as confirmation that the publishing industry would ban libraries if they could. That's not at risk of actually happening, because there are laws on the books. But all those dire consequences to copyright holders, and definitely all those fair use legal factors, if they're true of the Free Internet Library they're also true of the Regular Library.

[beebeedibapbeediboop]

Hi, I love Matteo and Lily more than life itself, thank you

Wait til I've drawn all the LORE

[black-suns-rim]

you already know what's about to happen-

[mayo-wap]

i only have eyes, for you

———————-

trying out something new for once :p

[alexturntable]

Rafa’s “I do remember, probably not him” vs Charles’ “I knew you before you knew me”

[thedrdtpokemoncollector]

SPOILERS FOR DRDT CH2 E16!!

(taylor mention omg)

The lore!!! Taylor gets a name mention, and- We now know that Ace feels responsible for his death! Since he mentioned not wanting Levi’s to be the third death on his hands-

anyways ace fans how ya feeling?

also i loved the execution so much im sorry

omg wait ace bonus ep soon guys :3

[evermorethecrow]

hiding

Yuuko the cat introduction

[alliumsduo]

actually fucking dying over jack & tommy. they. why is a minecraft roleplay server that was supposed to be dead altering my brain chemistry in the year twenty twenty four. someone PLEASE explain.

[reverieaudios]

I posted these on Patreon like 6 months ago, but I decided it was finally time to make them public! Copied from the Patreon post because coming up with a new description is too much for my sleep-deprived brain:

Have you ever wanted to be a member of the Mysticality Institute of Research? Well now you can! Sort of.

You (Or really any character of your choice) can have your own Institute file, with your choice of wax seal color. There's also a transparent section in the top left for easy addition of whatever photo suits your fancy. All you need to do is place the photo of your choice in a layer below the file in the image editor of your choice.

You have full permission to use these wherever/however you like. (Also be careful posting things if you actually use your full name/birthday, internet safety and all that, obviously.)

*Edit: Just be sure to "Save" the image you want to use rather than copy/paste it if you want the corner to have transparency, sometimes copy/pasting just blacks it out!

(More color options + bonus Cyril extras under the cut)

Bonus - Cyril's file (Transparent + Gray Blob Dude Versions)

[thebardbullseye]

www ep 32 spoilers

not accusing anyone of anything but the derrick discs have powerful conjurations and abjurations on them and

✨soft was a conjurer✨

✨stone was an abjurer✨

🌀what could it all mean🌀

[dragon-ascent]

Yesterday I managed to snag a ticket to the Genshin concert in Singapore! Initially shot for Archon-level seats but they sold out so fast. Got Harbinger instead which I'm really happy about!

Anyone else attending the concert? :D I'm super excited for it! Thinking I'll wear the Yae Miko earrings I bought recently. And my mini ita bag with Zhongli and Pokemon merch on it!