#the way he treats the dalish is a good example of that

[thewardenisonthecase]

honestly, maybe it's a hot take or whatever, but I think that tearing down the veil and *potentially* bringing back the immortality to the elves would not have helped them a lot

[thekingofwinterblog]

You know what the most annoying thing about the Twists regarding the Elves in Inquisition was?

That all the twists, if taken on their own, would make for a really good story.

The reveals about Solas backstory and how him and his fellow God Kings rose, became decadent, warred with each other and fell, setting the stage for their transformation into the Old Gods is frankly speaking, some of the best lore that Dragon Age ever had, and lines up really well with how the world is structured while explaining how the Old Gods came to be, how the elves fell, and so on.

That the tevinter imperium when it conquered the nation of Arlathan was not the great imperial state lead by mighty mages their descendants liked to think they were, but instead a bunch of weaklings that needed years and years to take on one, measly city-state that had utterly obliterated itself in civil war.

There is so much great stuff here.

So where did it all go wrong?

The answer, is of course execution.

Inquisition overall is a great game... But man did it drop the ball so hard with the Elves that it's pretty much hard to believe that they will be able to tell a nuanced story about them in Dread Wolf.

Everything from the companions, to the world itself as the game presents , to retcons regarding mages that's there, not to tell a story about the elves, but to try and make the Templar vs mage conflict grey.

Starting with the companions, we have a great example of coming so, so close to greatness... and then falling right on it's face.

The game has two Elf companions, solas and Sera... and the contrast between them really illustrates the big picture with how incapable Inquisition is with trying to tell a nuanced picture with the elves.

Solas as a character is perfect. Love him or hate him, he is a fully fleshed out character with very clear, defined, understandable motives that makes sense to him.

And most importantly of all, his way of viewing the world is WRONG. The game acknowledges that he is wrong.

The entire story of where dragon age 4 is heading, is all about how the Dread wolf, for all his knowledge and intelligence and genuine virtues, is at the end of the day, a monster, who is willing to see the world burn to restore the Elves magic and immortality.

He is a racist, he is bigoted, and ultimately misguided. Despite all his development with the inquisitor, he does not manage to grow enough as a person that he manages to abandon his genocidal goals. And the game does not pretend othervise.

That is what makes the story of Solas rise to become the big villain of the sequel great.

There is no disconnect between the story, the characters, or the way the game wants us to view solas.

Solas is far, far more bigoted and close-minded than any of the dalish he so despises, and the game ultimately does not pretend othervise.

Which brings us to the opposite end of the elf spectrum with Sera.

Sera is a very disliked character by a lot of people, but by dalish and elf players/fans more than most.

Just like Solas, she is bigoted, racist, and ultimately misguided in her hatred of her fellow elves, whether they be city elves, or Dalish, or ancient elves.

And that frankly, would not be a problem if the game acknowledged that fact. If her character arc was about it, and either how she could not overcome her own issues, or actually managed to grow beyond them, she could have been a great character.

The problem is the fact that the game is not willing to handle this fact head on. Its not willing to come out and portray Sera as just as bigoted against her own kind as Solas is, and to treat this as a flaw.

Instead the game treats her as if her biggest flaw is that she's annoying, and not the fact that in a game that is in many ways about setting up the rise of the dread wolf, she is just as bad as Solas, just from a different origin point.

Sera should have been a mirror to Solas, both from a story point, as well as a thematic one, but unfortunately she is not.

Hell, she doesn't really overcome her racism either. The closest she comes to doing so, is basically burning out on hating the dalish and other elves in trespasser, not admitting she was actually wrong to hate them so much in the first place.

The game does not treat Sera's disdain for other elves and their culture as a problem, and it does not give a dalish inquisitor the option to tell her to go fuck herself on the topic that you are given with Solas if you really desire to do so.

You are given the option of kicking her out of the inquisition, but not actually stand up for the dalish or even city elves the way the player could against Morrigan's flemeth raised cruelty in origins, anders and Fenris obsessions with, and hatred for templars/mages in da2, or solas ideals in inquisition.

And thats a problem that really illustrates the bigger issue with the way Inquisition took what could have been a great story about the Elves and the reveals about their anceators, and frankly ruined it.

The dalish and city elvea were very thouroughly fleshed in both Origins, Awakening and DA2.

However, city elves largely managed to avoid being utterly destroyed by the narrative the way the Dalish were, for the simple reason that outside briala, we don't get much if any interaction with them at all, making them essentially a non show foe the game for the most part. They don't get a city elf inquisitor, and so we have no point of view to look at them from a pc perspective.

They got off much better than the dalish though.

Starting off with the arguably single worst thing in all of DAI is the retcon that Dalish clans, if there is more than two mages in a clan, sends off the third one alone in the wilderness to fend for themselves. This goes against absolutely everything that has ever been established about the Dalish, and worst of all, wasn't even an addition meant to demonize the dalish, instead being an addition to handwave away the obvious fact that the Dalish had a much better system than the human circles when it came to magic... Which in turn was made irrelevant by the fact the Avvar was later shown to have a much better and more effective solution to the possession question anyway.

It was, in essence, a pointless retcon, that overall only made the dalish look bad, and has now opened the door for the idea that most dalish clans acts like this, and will be portrayed so in future games.

Its bad, but unfortunately it was only the start.

The game goes out of its way to portray absolutely every single person who critices the dalish as having a point, that they brought on their own downfalls, even as they are being the most imperialistic, racist assholes imaginable, while the dalish inquisitor can only offer a token of defence for his people, a far cry from way origins allowed you to handle the same situation wheter your main ethnicity was ferelden, mage, city elf, dalish, casteless or dwarven noble.

But nowhere is it worse than the way the game handles the fall of the dales.

Now the actual lore you learn about it, is not bad. At all. I know some complain that the reveals that ameridan(and presumably other elves) worshipped both the creators and the maker, as well as the fact that the dalish unfortunately did have a bad relationahip with the rest of the world, in particular orlais, is bad storytelling, but i firmly disagree.

No the problem is the execution.

Ameridan is not wrong when he says that The Dales should not have distanced itself from the rest of the world, especially not in the face of a blight... But the Dales of his era were in turn not wrong when they argued that the Orlesians were little better than the imperium, and they would be completely right.

This is not a grey issue, its a grey and black issue.

Orlais was, and still is an evil, expansionist empire with 99% of its population living as serfs, that can be raped and beaten at will, little better than slaves.

The dales were the morally right side of the exalted march on the dales. No amount of new lore we learned in inquisition has changed that fact. We simply get the details fleshed out a bit more to add context.

Orlais was going to invade and enslave the elves anyway, as they proved through their actions against all their other, very much fellow Adrastian neighbors.

The problem is that you are not allowed to express this kind of point of view and stick to it like steel.

The characters you meet having the bigoted opinion that the dales ultimately brought on their own fate is NOT a bad thing in and out of itself... the problem is that you are not allowed to challenge that opinion the way you could challenge Lelliana's view of the dalish in origins, or the way you could tell both Anders and fenris to go fuck themselves on their extremist opinions all through da2, and ending that fuck you by killing them in the endgame.

And thats a real shame, because just looking at characters like cassandra's character development through Inquisition, you could easily have made a really compelling narrative put of a dalish inquisitor who stuck by his or her principles, and actually challenged the people they met's racist views on the dalish the way you could in origins, just with a more fleshed out and(unfortunately something way too many people just cannot emote to a character withouth) an actual voice to raise those arguments with.

I do genuinely like Inquisition, and i think it's overall a much better game than DA2... but man did they drop the ball with the elves so hard.

I feel so sorry for anyone who really got invested in the elves as their favorites factions, and i honestly don't think the elves will be handled particularly well in Dread wolf, especially as the only Dalish we are likely to see fleshed out will be the villains fighting for Solas.

[butterflydm]

some thoughts on spirits (DAV)

I feel like the game has done a good job making Rook feel like someone with natural leadership abilities. And while I do love the companions in the previous games, I feel like DAV's companions are my favorites (at least currently; entirely possible that a replay of the older games would make me feel different!).

I also really like the different dynamics between Rook and their companions. Just... idk good vibes.

Also, here is Rook being very relatable for me:

I am just really loving all the characters so much -- Lucanis stole my heart as my favorite (he's my 'personal demon' now in the character screen lol) but I'm very attached to all of my companions. I love how the game has made it easier to know when they have something new to say, and I like that they distinguish between 'conversations' and 'outings' in the companion quest section. I've really been enjoying getting to know them and I feel like this game has done a really good job appropriately gating dialogues and areas.

It feels like they found a good compromise between 'open world' and 'mission-based game'. Each of the areas feels really big but it's also gated in natural ways that get unlocked as the story goes on, so you can't bum-rush the Crossroads and do literally everything the first time you're there, for example. In DAI, I would sometimes have to impose my own pacing to make sure that things flowed well for me, and I haven't needed to do that with DAV.

One thing that leaving the Fereldan/Orlais area did is really let us get to know a lot of mages who don't have the same sense of shame and self-hate that mages are taught in the Chantry of southern Thedas (or the even more extreme way they are treated by the Qunari!). We got hints of this approach in earlier games, but getting to dive more in-depth into several cultures who do not have the same "let's toss all the mages into prison" approach to magic that southern Thedas has has been very illuminating! Obviously we've always had exceptions like the Dalish clans, but they were very much depicted as deliberately on the outskirts of society, and going against the Chantry-defined norm.

And to contrast, in DAV, I recently had a long conversation with Emmrich on the potential merits of lichdom! Basically an unthinkable conversation in either Ferelden or Orlais. Nevarra doesn't burn their dead and they don't have such a deep fear of the dead, demons, or magic itself. And it really just to illustrate how much the oppression of mages that was so much at display in the Circles is just... nonexistent in places like Nevarra. The oppression is cultural and it's religious -- it's not actually something that's necessary to 'keep magic in check'. (which, yeah, is obvious from the outside, but always nice to have reinforcement from the actual games!)

I'm also watching a let's play of DAI on the side and the person just got to Solas and Cole's personal quests and, yeah, they resonant so hard after the additional Solas revelations in DAV. And it really does feel so much like DAV is in a strong conversation with DAI (as makes sense). Solas and Varric are talking about Cole but Solas is also talking about himself.

Varric: "A spirit who is strangely like a person!"

Varric: "He came into this world to be a person. Let him be one."

Solas: "We cannot change our nature by wishing it." Varric: "You think?"

Solas: "You would alter the essence of what he is." Varric: "He did that to himself when he left the Fade."

[if Cole is made more spirit]

Varric: "...could have been a person." Solas: "Would that have made him happier?"

Is Solas's endgame becoming a spirit again? Or has he experienced and changed too much? (would it make him happier? is that a desirable goal?) Is it all a matter of perspective? Cole approves of the Inquisitor's choice whether they make him more of a spirit or more human. I feel like Solas would lose a lot of himself if he became a spirit again, but maybe that's a matter of perspective too.

And then Solas's DAI quest is all about dealing with the damage of a Wisdom Spirit being corrupted against its purpose -- the same kind of Spirit that Solas once was. Wisdom vs Pride (but once you're a person and not a spirit, you can be filled with both at the same time).

DAV is really making me want to do another run of DAI, and take Solas literally everywhere, lol. But the conversation about spirits in the 'real' world didn't start there either -- it started back in DAO, with Wynne. It continued in DA2, with Anders. Both DAO and DA2 are more 'standard' than what we get in DAI with Cole, in the sense that they were possessing a body (though with permission) but it's still part of the same conversation.

But the conversation really did explode into something bigger in DAI, with Cole as a spirit who was with us without possessing a body, and with learning that being briefly possessed can reverse Tranquility (via Cassandra's quest). And now, with what had been confirmed in DAV, we know that a spirit that takes mortal form can, over the generations, become mortal, as that's what the ancient elves did, so Cole could have kids who were fully mortal, maybe. And Cole did it without using lyrium (and thus taking something from the Titans to fuel himself) -- at least as far as I understand.

I am also finding myself very curious about where humans come from -- we know that the ancient elves were once spirits; we know that the dwarves are fragments of the Titans. Where did humans come from? Evolution? Or is there a magical answer for them too? Is the Maker a spirit and/or Titan who created humans specifically?

(I think it's implied that Qunari were genetically/magically engineered in some way, and possibly crossbred with dragons somehow?? iirc DAI correctly)

I'm really looking forward to removing my filters on DA-related stuff and reading other people's thoughts. I've covered my eyes and clicked on posts a couple of times so far and have been rewarded by mostly getting fanart and not spoilers, lol. Mostly.

I genuinely have zero critiques of the game so far, if anyone was wondering if I was just holding some back or whatever. I like the quality of life changes they made to a lot of little things like companion banter; I never had an issue with the art style*; and I'm enjoying the story and characters as they unfold.

(*I know that was a big thing with a lot of people but, confession time: I genuinely can barely tell a difference between DAI and DAV's 'art style'. You can change Qunari hairstyles separate from horns now in the character creator? People walk less awkwardly than in DAI? The menus are purple instead of green? idk, maybe my brain just doesn't register whatever it is that makes DAV so different, art-wise?)

I also love that I can literally just throw myself at boxes to break them open to get materials. It's so satisfying. I have a griffon that I can pet. idk, I guess I'm just a simple girl with simple desires. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Looking forward to playing more this weekend!

Current progress note: a Dalish clan (at least one) has been kidnapped for potential blood sacrifices, so trying to rescue them is my next main quest. I'm about eighty hours into the game.

[irandrura]

Addendum to BioWare post!

Warning: more politics, I'm bad at judging how spicy my takes are

demonwrestler: Wow I missed this when you posted it. I wholly agree. I think part of the trouble of BioWare being unable to properly represent race relations in DA no matter what they do is based in… white privilege blinders and a love of Game of Thrones style bleakness dominating the worldbuilding. Nothing good is allowed to remain, radical change is not possible or doesn’t last, and all you can see game to game is further enforcement of the status quo. Mostly so the game can remain in medieval stasis. The white privilege I mention because an overwhelming majority of BW’s prior writing team was white people from Edmonton, which… Alberta is notorious for poor historical treatment and modern discrimination of native people. I’m shocked we don’t have more commentary on how the Dalish are a huge indigenous peoples expy in the world of Thedas, and how very much there seems to be some… white experience differences. Justice, who represents THE CONCEPT OF JUSTICE, in Awakening tells Velanna she has to forgive her oppressors to stop the cycle of violence. She has to be the one to change, despite the evil done to her clan, her people as a whole, etc. and she has to be the model minority. I would have exorcised that spirit in her shoes. It is wildly difficult for me to continue to love Dragon Age as a setting when it actively takes those big self-unaware dumps on itself.

So that isn’t quite where I was going with the post…

I would argue there’s a tendency in some self-consciously progressive politics to go so far in rejecting or opposing a particular bias as to reinvent that bias itself, sometimes in a more virulent way than the original bias was.

Dragon Age on race is one example of this. Dragon Age, textually, thinks that racism is very, very bad. That much is obvious. However, it also thinks that racism is very, very powerful and that it can’t be easily escaped from. Everyone is shaped by these vast, unconscious forces and individual will isn’t enough to overcome them, resulting in tremendous pessimism. The standard liberal solution to racism is colourblindness – just treat everybody the same regardless of race and things will shake out. Dragon Age, and I’d guess BioWare, do not believe that. But the net result is that in Dragon Age’s world, racism is something that cannot be overcome and therefore the only way to avoid its effects is to just avoid having people of different races come into contact at all.

That’s how you end up with a game that’s ostensibly anti-racist presenting a world and a story that’s… almost pro-segregation. It all follows from the premises – racism is awful, racism is structural and omnipresent, it’s insufficient to just try to not be racist – but it amounts to a conclusion that’s kind of... reinventing racism.

Let me give another, perhaps more controversial example. When I read Terra Ignota, I was particularly fascinated by what it had to say about sex and gender, and in particular the way that Mycroft (it’s unclear what his society itself thinks; unfortunately the entire series is narrated by a fruit loop) ends up reinventing and depending on the most grotesque sexist caricatures. Mycroft very determinedly believes in the importance of sex, but he doesn’t believe that it’s determined by one’s biology. So far, so progressive. But the result is that Mycroft sexes people based on whether he thinks their personalities are ‘male’ or ‘female’, and the result is, if anything, more constraining and disturbing than what a traditional sexist might think. A traditional sexist might say “you’re a woman, so you’re caring and nurturing”. Mycroft says “you’re caring and nurturing, so you’re a woman”, as with Carlyle, who ends up violently forced into a dress and made to perform some demure caricature of womanliness. We’ve seen this sort of logic outside of weird science fiction novels. A traditional sexist might say “you’re a woman, so you can’t be a warrior”.  But the inverse of that – “you’re a warrior, so you can’t be a woman” – seems to exist as well, as in that horrible play.

My previous post was mostly about, if not fascism, then at least authoritarianism. I was criticising BioWare for, while ostensibly being progressive democrats, repeatedly using a story structure that seems to endorse the need for some sort of ubermensch strongman to seize power from feckless civilian leaders. The strongman will do what is necessary; the civil elites are at best weak and lack both will and vision, and at worst are actively corrupt and evil. That, uh… seems more like the worldview of the far-right in today’s politics.

I’m skeptical that all of this can be attributed to white privilege, though you are surely correct about the demographics of BioWare. Rather, I think at least some of this is a real tension that exists in liberatory movements or in marginal communities. Famously the civil rights movement in America was divided between assimilationists, who felt that it was possible to integrate on an even basis with the wider population, and separatists or revolutionaries, who felt that was impossible and advocated for black withdrawal and self-determination. In Dragon Age, this might be a valid question for elves – do you want to be treated exactly the same as humans, living in human-majority society alongside them? (I suppose this is the Sera position.) Or do you want to withdraw, to build your own majority-elven society, different and distinct from that of the humans? I believe there are still debates among Jewish people along similar lines. How do we walk the tightrope? We don’t want to be assimilated so that we lose all our distinctive identity, but neither do we want to cordon ourselves off and form our own impermeable bubble. These are interesting and valid questions.

Where I think privilege might be a useful frame is where we talk about forgiveness. I didn’t put this in my previous post, but I have written before about the way that forgiveness is portrayed in games, especially in World of Warcraft, where it seems like there’s a repetitive story beat about forgiving your oppressor. I talked about this once on a web forum. I certainly don’t mean to imply that vengeance is morally superior to forgiveness – I do believe in forgiveness – but that it’s possible to frame forgiveness as something that is very flattering to the oppressors. Is it possible to forgive while at the same time continuing to hold out a demand for justice? (Incidentally, the relationship between mercy and justice like this is at the heart of a lot of Christian theology.) It is very easy for people from a powerful group to speak of the importance of forgiveness, healing, and moving on. They already have what they want, after all.

On the Dalish specifically – I generally like to advise against reading groups like the Dalish as expies for any one specific group. The Dalish are clearly written to have resonances with a lot of different groups. Native Americans are one of them. Jews are another. Irish are a third. Romani people are a fourth. You can read the Dalish in a way that resonates with those different groups and experiences without excluding others. Arguably it’s because the Dalish don’t map one-to-one on to any real group that they’re interesting. Rather, their fictional nature allows them to explore issues related to all those groups and their experiences, but without being limited to any one of them. So I wouldn’t want to close the Dalish off to being only an allegory for insert-group-here.

Anyway, to try to come to some sort of conclusion – I think this is the sort of mess you get when you’ve absorbed a bunch of contradictory superficial convictions, but haven’t really thought about them at any length. BioWare end up implicitly endorsing positions that seem like they would horrify them. I don’t think they did it maliciously at any point, but they went step by step and eventually reached absurd places. Thus for instance, David Gaider famously wrote the Sith Code based on Mein Kampf. Then fans played the game and thought it was cool and embraced it. Then somehow we ended up in a place with TOR where we have heroic Sith who use the dark side and whole story arcs that portray the Sith as morally equivalent to or even sometimes superior to the flawed but still democratic Republic. No one had to be explicitly evil at any point in the process, but it’s still weird how they end up implicitly endorsing the opposite of what they probably believe.

Baldur’s Gate starts with that famous Nietzsche quote about “he who fights with monsters”. Maybe it was more relevant than we thought?

[deusexlachina]

The Good Queen Morwen Worldstate

I've made a lot of references to my canon Dragon Age: Origins run, but made only isolated references to Morwen herself, because that was a run just for me. That's right, I finished an entire run of DAO and decided to treat myself with another run of DAO.

I made it the canon one because it was more serious, less of a complete mess, and I did a lot more quests, which was good for Wannabe Warden because I got to do stuff like meet Howe and drink Avernus juice.

Anyway, for reference and posterity, this is what went down:

Who was she?

She was a Proud Transgender Lady, having modtastic little pigtails, but being voiced by Yuri Lowenthal (violent male elf) with some self-applied makeshift modding. Honestly, this is terrific. The only better voice is, perhaps, Cree Summer (violent female elf). As a rogue, I heard a lot of "AND THUS I CLOAK MY NAKED VILLAINY." Honestly, the swaggering and iambic pentameter seems, if anything, more like a noble than the relatively earnest, down-to-earth Dalish elves you see.

She was a faithful Andrastian, never missing a chance to pray with Revered Mothers. She stole the Tears of Andraste to return them to the Chantry. Inspired by Brother Burkel's faith, she set up the Orzammar Chantry. (This was a very mixed bag. It helped people in Dust Town, but Burkel was killed for proselytizing).

She was also a bit of a heretic, wholeheartedly agreeing with Leliana's Nicer Sexier Version of religion and respecting other faiths, going to some trouble to retrieve Sten's "soul."

How did she solve problems?

This benevolent faith animated her major decisions - all the Nice Girl choices. Not a lot of leeway there for a non-evil Warden. (She did try to spare Kolgrim by pretending she'd defiled the Ashes, which does not work. Ah well. She tried).

She avoided unnecessary bloodshed, not only sparing every surrendering enemy, but liberally using stealth despite the fact that it would have been substantially easier just to stab everyone. AND THUS I CLOAK MY NAKED VILLAINY. (Pictured: Her being visibly invisible. She's the weird cloud in front of her less sneaky chums).

She stealthed through Howe's estate, but didn't go as far as to use a disguise. She promised her mother she'd get vengeance on Howe, and if his guards caught her, that was their problem. Then she killed Howe with the family sword, just like mom said.

She never made any kind of deal with a demon, being taught that this always goes tits-up for someone and seeing many examples of that being vindicated. Her always accepting surrender did extend to blood mages...with the sole exception of Caladrius, who enslaves people to use as batteries. Fuck that guy in particular.

How did she engage with her companions?

She reluctantly helped Morrigan with her dark magic. She saw her as a holy figure in her own way, a shadowy martyr getting her own hands dirty with things the faithful wouldn't dare touch, all for the sake of saving the Maker's creation. (This is not at all how Morrigan sees herself. She's a tsundere libertarian bog witch). When she learned Flemeth was trying to bodyjack her, she reluctantly stabbed her about it, in hopes of saving Morrigan.

When they had doubts, Morwen pushed Alistair to be more ambitious but affirmed Leliana's attempt at self-redemption. This indirectly ended her relationship with Leliana, since she became Queen and Soft Leli doesn't like cheating even in a political marriage.

Don't worry, Zev's okay! In fact, she did a few jobs for the Antivan Crows in exchange for getting them off his back - and the backs of her surviving family. All three were agents of Loghain and right bastards in any case.

What was the political situation like?

Seeing the options for monarch were Alistair and "Loghain-simping, elf-killin'" Anora, she decided she'd rule "at Alistair's side," which was news to Alistair, because we were not in a romance in the first place. He played along. As a matter of honour and political transparency, she didn't hide this from Anora, so she railed against me. This did not work. Morwen had every other noble on her side, except the sole guy who loves Loghain no matter what. When asked to relinquish her claim to the throne, having royally cocked it up the first time, she threw a tantrum and had to be exiled. And there was much rejoicing.

Her marriage to Alistair soon became not-so-political. He liked her since she saved his family and she liked him because he's a guileless himbo. "Don't worry luv, I'll do the thinking for you." Since Grey Wardens are largely infertile, he fretted about our chances of having an heir, so she assured him, in my Yuri Lowenthal voice, that the last thing he needs to worry about is having an heir, a dialogue option that is much funnier if the Warden is transgender. We can figure something else out for succession. After all, we may both be nobles, but there's no need to Put On Heirs.

In any case, he did have an heir, because I consented to Morrigan humpin' the husband. This was a more complicit role than ever in her dark magic, a choice made to ensure the Archdemon is permanently slain even if both of us die, as well as to give Ferelden a chance at having decent rulers.

Lastly, she saved Amaranthine and spared the Architect (since he's not a demon and he helps avoid future Blights). "What about Amgarrak and Witch Hunt?" Amgarrak is very sidequesty and Witch Hunt doesn't happen if you MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. Why would you go looking for Morrigan after promising her not to?

[heniareth]

Here's that ask I promised :D Some more questions for the OC ask meme <3

What is your character's biggest realtionship flaw? Has that flaw ever destroyed relationships for them before?

Companion they are closest to and why?

Thoughts on the Dalish?

What biases does your character have? (This can be in favor or against)

How does your OC react in stressful situations?

What do they like to ridicule and/or what do they find stupid?

Does your OC have recurring themes in their dreams?

What is your OCs proudest moment?

Did you create the OC to be like yourself, did they end up being like yourself, or are they very different from you?

(These are a lot again, it is so hard to hold back xD So take your time and no pressure as always :) Just excited to get to know more about your Astala <3)

Thank you for the ask!! I had this sitting for forever, life has kept me busy, but I'm so excited to give this a go XD And to delve into some aspects of Astala that I haven't given much thought yet, so that's exciting.

What is your character's biggest realtionship flaw? Has that flaw ever destroyed relationships for them before?

Astala's biggest flaw when it comes to relationships is her inability to let go of people. On a positive note, this trait manifests as a very strong loyalty. On the negative side, it will lead her to cry after relationships that have ended and pour over them to try and find out what went wrong. It can also put her or other people she cares about in danger; especially in her position as the de facto leader of the companions, this could quickly lead to the loss of a whole unit (aka the three companions you can take with you on missions + the Warden). Luckily, she has Morrigan and Alistair (and Sten and Zevran) who can and will point out when a course of action is likely to put them in more danger than they already are.

Companion they are closest to and why?

Ooof, this is a tough one. Ironically, the romanceable four. Alistair is practically second-in-command, even though I imagine he’d protest at the title. They work closely together and are therefore quite close. Astala admires and respects Morrigan, even when her opinions and advice goes against most things Astala believes in. She’s the kind of friend you know would hide a body for you. Leliana is a friend in the more “common” sense. She and Astala both have a thing for nice clothing, their morals are similarly aligned, and they just get along in general. And then of course there’s Zevran, who’s Astala’s love interest. Funnily enough, they both started off annoying the hell out of each other over various petty reasons, and it takes them some time to really see each other for who they are. And from that point on there’s no turning back and they fall hard.

Thoughts on the Dalish?

The Dalish are an interesting subject. Astala hadn't met any previous to the Blight (although her cousin Shianni imagined her dad, who she never knew, to be a strong Dalish warrior). So to see them live these relatively normal lives when she encountered Zathrian's clan was... odd. But on the other hand, their lives were everything but normal because they spoke elvish, worshipped the Creators, had halla and could go wherever they wanted. So the first thing Astala did when she got there was ask a metric ton of questions about everything. On the other hand, the way some of the Dalish talk about the city elves makes her sad. They have a point , the city elves would probably treat one of the Dalish similarly, and she understands the distrust in anything that so much as smells of humans; but she still finds the divide tragic. She also thinks the Dalish are a bit too proud for their own good; but then again, how else are you going to defend yourself against a world that threw an Exalted March against your forebears' homeland?

What biases does your character have? (This can be in favor or against)

Astala is generally biased in favour of elves, and in favour of whoever she percieves to be the underdog in a given situation. This can lead her to get duped (it hasn’t yet in my current playthrough, but it probably will at some point).

How does your OC react in stressful situations?

When in stressful situations, Astala generally tries to remain in control of it. To do so, she relies heavily on whatever companions she has at the moment and the resources available, both in the environment and on her person. She tends to try and talk things out, but also to make rash judgements, which uuuuuh can backfire (she's quick to draw her blades, for instance, and that does not exactly help to deescalate situations). She also has a tendency to just seize control. She also will give orders and will expect others to follow them. The companions look to her as a leader, so that works out fine. In Redcliffe, however, she did find that the militia men would listen to the mayor, and not to her. That was frustrating for both parties.

What do they like to ridicule and/or what do they find stupid?

Human nobles. Just the whole package. From their fondness of dogs and their dainty dances (which her father, who was a bann's servant, would describe to her and her cousins) to their pointy-ended shoes and their petty grievances (because when you have enough money to boss other people around, all your grievances are petty, right?). A surefire way to keep the younger kids entertained was to pretend to be a noble, let them play servants, and have them wreak havoc upon you as they got orders wrong on purpose and "stole" the "noble's" belongings. Afyer the Blight, that fondness to ridicule sadly wanes away and leaves mostly frustration in its wake.

Does your OC have recurring themes in their dreams?

Astala is a terribly heavy sleeper. If she dreams, she doesn't remember it come morning. She can therefore sadly not report any recurrent themes in her dreams as of now.

What is your OCs proudest moment?

Apart from the power trip in the Fade (she walked out smiling and continued to smile until Uldred turned into a pride demon), it was probably when she got her first job. She was 14 at the time and overheard some boys talking about how a merchant was expecting a big shipment and looking for new help. Up until then, she had been trying to get a job as a servant like her father, to no avail. On a whim she followed the boys, and lined up with the other hopeful candidates in front of the merchant's warehouses for a try-out (a selection process entailing an unpaid day of work). She proved herself to be strong enough to lift and carry crates, small and nimble enough to climb to where others couldn't reach, and above all she got extremely lucky. She was called back, first for one month, then for a trimester, then for one year and for another. And while Cyrion would have liked his daughter to have an easier and less dangerous job, he was proud right alongside her when she brought the first coins she had earned home.

Did you create the OC to be like yourself, did they end up being like yourself, or are they very different from you?

I created Astala's first version (which I mentioned in this post) based on a character that was very much an ideal; strong, kind, and above all, brave and adventurous. That first heroic version then got put through all the trials and tribulations of the story, and I was very much going with my gut instinct and not with a predetermined idea of the character when I tokk her decisions. So basically, this first versions had a good chunk of my morals and priorities. After the Deep Roads, that first version started getting depth; she reacted very strongly to having to shoulder the responsability of chosing a new king for Orzammar, for Ferelden, and defeating the Archdemon. From that point on, I started exploring why that reaction might have been so strong. Astala as she is now is the product of that exploration (during which she acquired some fears and pain points she shares with me. Examples are the fear of messing up, the sometimes blind loyalty or the need to shoulder all the responsability). Bottom line: she definitely has parts that are mine, some of which she acquired over time, but she's her own person. She's not me.

---

That was a lot of fun!! Thank you so much for the ask and sorry for the delay >.< But I'm very happy I finally came around to it, I always love answering these

[elfyourmother]

So, I'm making my way through Stormblood now! It seems like a lot of people treat this expansion like the black sheep of the family, but honestly I am really enjoying it so far. (I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm playing as a Xaela, WRT to the Steppe plotline.) I just met Stark Woad, so I think I'm like, at the halfway point? What was Gisele's reaction to some of the bigger plot points? (Also what's your tag for Hien?) If you get spoilery in your response, I don't mind!

I don’t hate it as much as some people but I seriously have no interest in revisiting any of it in NG+ except the Far Eastern arc and there’s a reason you don’t see me writing fic about it, but for the Lakshmi thing. The Far East was damn near flawless. Even people who hate SB are fairly unanimous that the Azim Steppe in particular is easily the high point of the expansion. Everything goes down hill once you go back to Gyr Abania tbh.

That’s the real problem with SB imo: trying to cram the Ala Mhigo story together with a Far Eastern story just made the whole thing feel disjointed, like they took two different expansions and threw them together in a cheap blender. Lyse’s turn from comic relief side character to spotlight status was poorly executed and in general, despite being a Raubahn stan and a RDM main who started in Ul’dah I legit felt no kind of emotional investment in the Ala Mhigan struggle the way the story made me care about Ishgard (and later, the people on the First). The pacing was questionable and too often it felt like they had a checklist of plot points they had to mark off but they didn’t know how to get from point A to point B, and they didn’t know what to do with certain characters, so they just sort of made things up as they went (the Lakshmi plot is the most egregious example of this to me cuz it’s so out of left field and it really feels a lot like somebody realized “holy shit we forgot to make them fight another Primal this expansion, where can we stick Lakshmi?”). I love Zenos to death but I 100% understand why some find him an underwhelming antagonist, especially in a world that has since given us Emet-Selch. The whole thing really does feel like a first draft

And none of this was especially helped by the fact that SB followed what could have been a top 3 Final Fantasy story if it had been released as a standalone single player game (Heavensward was an incredibly tough act to follow), and in a post-Shadowbringers world SB’s flaws look even worse in hindsight. It really is the weakest link when you put it in the context of being sandwiched by some of the best Final Fantasy and RPG writing period in the last decade.

That said? I would still take Stormblood in a heartbeat over literally anything WoW did since Wrath of the Lich King. If I seem hard on it, it’s only because FFXIV is just that fucking good so my standards are a lot higher.

Anyway Gisele learned to Samurai from Hien and Gosetsu and her job crystal belonged to Lord Kaien. Her opinion of Garlemald is about what you’d expect from a Fereldan of Dalish heritage who used to count the Hero of River Dane as a lover. Gosetsu is like a loud, beloved uncle to her. Hien she fell madly in love with (as did Haurche. He went east with her and the others). He wasn’t the sole reason she became so invested in the Doman struggle; her friendship with Yugiri and the other Doman refugees pretty much ensured it way before she even met Hien. But it helped, admittedly. She really fell in love with the Far East period tbh, to the point she owns property in Shirogane (in game just an apartment, but in my head she has another little cottage there instead).

The only person she despises more than Magnai is Fordola, and she took a great deal of pleasure in beating the unholy shit out of both.

Gisele’s feelings toward Zenos are horrendously complicated. Obviously, she hates what he’s done. But he draws lizard brain shit out of her that she doesn’t understand and also scares the everloving shit out of her. It’s Complicated.

Main thing to keep in mind is that Ysayle and Haurche are still around and are both Scions at this point. Ysayle wasn’t 100% until after Gisele and them came back west though, so she sat out most of the story.

My Hien tag is actual disney samurai prince. Because he is.

[abbeyfangirl]

dragon age: all characters (companions)

I’ve been in this fandom for a hot minute now and I want to update my opinions on characters :)

Origins

Alistair: super sweet dude who literally is not the stereotypicalchantryguyfightme. He’s a great example of healthy masculinity and I totally wish he was bi because I have an entire essay on that— also: he’s a poc! His mum was brown. In game he’s got dark features. if you really want a blond/blue-eyes/white guy, make your warden that. or accept that brown people can be noble and moral. or just draw cailan, idk. just because BioWare whitewashes doesn’t mean you should.

Leliana: someone hug my singing girlfriend before I crush her under with my own hugs. Also: nugs. Yes! Shoes. Yes! She likes how I style my hair? YES!! I honestly think she’s super duper and it pisses me off whenever someone’s like: yeah she enjoys killing people and the Game. ok. and michel de chevin willingly participated in genocidal marches through the alienage he grew up in with his elvhen mum. 

Morrigan: dirty swamp witch that i stan and also have a v big crush on. tiddies. Have a son with a GW so we can raise him with our tiddies out in the forest. she’s also white-passing, as her father was chasind and all people we’ve seen that are chasind are black. therefore, she is biracial. therefore, poc can be goths and don’t shy away from giving morrigan a darker skintone. if the devs had of been thinking, she’d have a darker skintone.

Zevran: Actually is the best romance, I think. Loves consent, therefore I will stan him so hard my skull cracks a little. Also: he is a very brown boy and if he’s white in da4 I’m seriously going to throw all canon out the fucking window. genuinely a good person who needs to be told so. 

Wynne: grandma who only likes my friends who go to church. but also super sweet and I’d rest my head on her bosom (in a platonic way omg ZEVRAN)

Sten: angry quiet boi. the bestest boi. I totally would give him a kitten for a gift and bake him cookies. Thicc softie. I think if I had DA:O and i knew how to use mods i would mod the fuck outta him. sorry.

Sha(y)le: who’s gender? idk her. See also: fuck birds and authority. pound ur ass into the ground you feathery meatbag little shits. fuck songbirds.

Dog: such a good boi. thicc. thinks Alistair is a whiny fuck and is Morrigan’s only friend. love him. he’s the cutest companion. bet.

Ohgren: honestly forgot about him bcc he’s such a shitbag. also: he could’ve been a really cool addiction recovery type but NOPE. probably would have a trump shirt in a modern au and would catcall wlw and hit mlm. no thanks.

Awakening

Anders: he acts like rlly straight but he’s so gay I can smell it. also he’s rlly cute and fun and I love him so much.

Justice: MAYBE i’M selF CONSCious OF THE twitchING. is the friend that genuinely doesn’t get dick jokes but is ur 110% ride or die.

Nathaniel Howe: honestly is sort of a white knight/neck beard a little, but it’s kind of charming with his whole velanna m’lady?? grump boi. annoying soul patch that I’d mod out SO FAST—

Sigrun: would have ROMANCED the FUCK out of her. why she even entertains the idea of fucking with ohgren makes me realize most of the writers are dumbfucks.png. peppy little emo. 12/10 would die if she kissed my cheek teasingly.

Ohgren: why. why. why. I’d have brought Shayle over. Maybe Zev? Definitely Dog.

Velanna: she was written to be an annoying feminist and you can tell but I deadass am a kindred spirit with her bcc I too am deadpan annoyed with Thedas’ general population too. love her. Would’ve loved to romance her. She’d totally be one of those who’d get all tsundere and be like “n-no i hate you” *kisses the fuckin soul out of you then blushes so hard she’s now a tomato*

Dragon Age II

Anders: fuck the cops. i don’t care. fuck the cops. (vine reference). also: do i hate him for blowing up the chantry that would eventually annul a huge collection of his people? no. read dalishious’s meta on Anders. v intriguing. didn’t they retcon the fuck out of the reported deaths too? like there was like eight Templars and Elthinia in there. Templars killed more “abominations” in a day than Anders in the game canon—

Aveline: initially thought she was fine and then realized she’s shit to my lil brother and I will fucking clap her ginger ass. See also: whorephobia isn’t a joke so fuck off with treating Isabela badly, you tit.

Bethany: sunshine. Literal sunshine. I feel my freckles grow in her presence and i love it. she’s my little baby sister and I’d slam that ogre so fuckin hard before it touched either twin.

Carver: there has to be a mod where both twins survive. I love them both to bits. My babies. carver is my bitter, angry little brother and I can relate because I too am very angry and would totally clap my own ass. hes so genuine and I don’t get the competition between Beth and Carver. Like, both are fuckin stellar in different ways. In this essay I will—

Fenris: honestly, I don’t get the general hate between him and Anders. Fenris’ main arc should’ve been a recovery arc, not drunken moping and revenge. he deserves better. give him a soft sweater instead of his spikes and let him love himself as much as I love him for MAKERS SAKE. like when you really think about their relationship, it could’ve been an eye-opener for fenris and finally some legit sympathy for anders. but we all know that if they had of teamed up that Meredith would’ve been dead before the end of Act 1 so.

Isabela: whorephobia is not a joke. oversexualizing your only appearing brown woman is so poorly written. how about we appreciate her and her lovely bosoms but also let people tease her about her heart of gold? her innate understanding of freedom? instead of just a wave of dick? please?? can we give her some pants for when she fights? can we accept that i fall for rogues who hate themselves?? fuck. also whomever draws her x femHawke x Merrill literally is after my own heart.

Merrill: my fucking babygirl MARRY ME. Fenris could’ve been her older brother type, but NO. she and Isabela should’ve been canonical gfs instead of Isabela/Fenris (no shaming the pairing tho!!). I love how she’s written as neurodivergent. V nice. Sometimes I just look her up and cry because she’s fucking everything. Also: she’s in the Dalish origin and she’s far from being white. Why did they make the most innocent/naïve character really white? hmmmm.

Sebastian: whew that boy. Would totally be that annoying Mormon at your door but you still let him in bcc he’s super sweet. Also: huge ass bible thumper and should get his head slap because you said the maker loved all his children why do you defend a complicit old hag you annoying attractive fuck—

Varric: totally is a bard and the devs couldn’t handle the idea of him being one bcc it might make him look less straight. is the only grey morality person I don’t want to fucking bash in with a fry pan. he sees people and I like that, but you totally know he’s siding with mages every time bcc him and Anders are like besties. I’m sorry. I don’t make the rules. “Professional Younger Brother”.

Tallis: I know nothing about her but she seems okay. I think she was an escaped slave and honestly? Fucking props. Spy on a shitting organization, idk what you’re doing, but your VA was that cool lesbian from SPN so I think ur okay?

Inquisition

Blackwall: Redemption Arc 101. Love him to bits. Sad dad bunwall. good man. actually atoned for his sins by actively becoming a good person. his initial design is 80% hotter im so sorry but so not.

Cassandra: was way browner in the last game. would romance the fuck outta her. I love me a butch lady who melts at my dorky recitation of poetry. BioWare is a coward. also is the worst choice for divine. but not a bad person. could use some more guidance or get her ass whipped by a dalish elf about religion or a circle mage kid whos like “yeah bud i didn’t ask for the templars to whip my ass everyday for existing.”

The Iron Bull: I think the Qunari/Vashoth were a little based off black people (the whole anti blackness thing where ppl are scared of them bcc of whatever reason) and it pisses me off that he had a weird ass dubcon thing with Dorian in banter. It doesn’t make sense— he’s an A+++ dom and would not jump straight in role play without at least checking in at first like wtf BioWare.

Cole: his mother was chasind so he’s like not supposed to be that white? or like biracial? albino? idk. love him to bits tho. He’s neurodivergent and I deadass love him. romancing him? idk. I see why ppl think it’s fuckin nasty but also like as a writer I’d age him the fuck up so fast before my inquisitor even THOUGHT about that. like idk. I’m down with him being a sweet little bro character tho. he’s a babe. love him.

Sera: had the worst fucking writer I’ve ever seen and I willingly read the twilight saga twice by a shit ass racist white lady who okay’d pedophilia. like. Fuck you Kristjanson suck your own dick you fuck. had the worst options in regards to speak to her. has a thicc case of internalized racism that literally most of the fandom just loves to use against her. my lesbian neurodivergent queen. Would write a thousand fix it fics for her. Love her to bits. im gay.

Varric: I haven’t played DA2 so i don’t get why everyone wants to romance him but like. a dwarf romance? yes please. Idk he reminds me of my uncle so I only see him as fun uncle material. Deadass should adopt Cole and Merrill and co parent with Blackwall for Sera. dads? fuck yeah. love me some wholesome, present fathers.

Dorian: is a gay stereotype that I love/hate so much. and he’s also just as bad about being a creep bcc he sexualizes qunari men (in banter). I attribute that to shit writing tho. I want to protect him from all the “omg gay best friend!” people. he’d clearly be that tired gay that wouldn’t give a diddly damn about ur het romance. wanna talk about politics? he’s ur guy/gay.

Solas: “me, an intellectual:”. I don’t hate him, but I’m not about him. He comes off as mysterious and suave (which he totally is) but I deadass would not save him from himself because he’s a racist, exclusionist eggshell. idk. not my cup of tea, but I can totally see the appeal. And he’s interesting, I’ll totally say that. “I think the Dalish are garbage but they made you” is not a compliment. it’s so offensive. and such bait for “quirky girls” which I’m no fan of. Would be Achilles and let Patroclus (Lavellan in his case) die before he realized how his pride is literally a waste of time. If he gets a redemption arc I hope Lavellan gets to slap him before getting him to teach all about ancient Arlathan and show that the Evanuris weren’t all total dicknozzles. (Aka I really have a hard time believing that they’d be slavery cult things. especially since they’ve compared elves to indigenous ppl, Jews and the Romani.)

Vivienne: it’s so racist that they’d make a black woman be pro-slavery. That’s such internalized racism. She could’ve been the cool ass “educate yourself first before you speak, fool” ice lady, but NO. the devs could’ve kept the “Templars are a tool that I proudly can mandate” and the “circles are very good education” and we. Could. Have. Romanced. Her. Like. Fuck. Sake. I just wanna give her a hug and say “love yourself omg!!” and not even in a romantic way. Also: she and morrigan should not have been so antagonistic towards each other. I’d expect them to have great respect for each other, as they both moved up in the world through hardwork and very little help. They could learn different magic from each other too and still maintain that rival respect “oh you” mood. Sidenote: probably the cooler option for Divine. if her approval is high enough she’ll love and be loyal to you forever and i can’t see her agenda being bad. she improves the circles exponentially and tells all the antis to suck her pretty painted toes.

Josephine: an actual disney princess. romanced her my first playthrough. I love her so much. she just makes me so happy. And she’s like: “Integrity, Loyalty, peace. That is what it means to be a GREY WARDEN good fucking person.” she’s the person who would let you hold her hand if you got anxious and she’d be that person who shouldered the whole group project with finesse and poise and would probably lie for everyone as to not be mean. i love josie. her and leliana’s relationship is so cute, too. whether it’s romantic or not: women supporting women.

Leliana: if you leave her hardened you must hate her. why. she becomes so against herself. i like how shes feminine and lighthearted because that’s so powerful-- to remain hopeful when the world is hopeless. (its hard to know when to soften her/harden her so i get it but. google it. she deserves to be happy and sweet again.)

Cullen: uwu war criminal with shit ass “redemption arc” that was actually a half-assed (at BEST) recovery arc. Recovery isn’t linear, it isn’t pretty, and even the broken need to be told they are wrong in order to heal right. Like I’m offended by that bullshit. I’ve had to do some mental health recovery in the past and unlearning lots of toxic ideologies— which I’m still unlearning— and it bothers me that he gets an easy pass because he’s hot. It’s one thing if you like Cullen, it’s another thing if you hold him accountable.

[freedoms-call]

apparently I have a friend who got into DA who is convinced anyone who remotely likes Anders is excusing or romanticizing mass murder, and he’s so upset he wants to bug Bioware devs on Twitter about it until they officially say the company does not condone genocide or terrorism. I’m utterly stunned

Oh wow, that’s a bit of an overreaction! Especially since Dragon Age is set in a middle ages-ish society where modern ideas of law are not directly applicable (otherwise we should start with arresting the player character from any of the games for killing a whole lot of people with or without provocation.) Also Anders’ story is not the only controversial one in the series, there is Isabela who is literally single-handedly responsible for the whole qunari problem in Kirkwall that I believe had caused more death than the chantry explosion. About genocide, we could talk about the whole chantry that declared an Exalted March on the Dales more or less because they were bothered that the elves had their own religion (and probably because Orlais wanted the lands.) And I didn’t even start on how they treat the mages just because they are what they are.

Personally I have thought a lot on why people treat Anders so differently from these other cases but I can only guess. One guess is that he is the only one whose actions are directly shown. Isabela confesses causing the qunari issue but she also comes back to help you fight it and you get to be the hero. The chantry is just doing what it has always done. But Anders? He even asks you to help but doesn’t tell you why (though I’ve found it quite obvious from the ingredients but maybe not everyone does) and while Isabela never meets the consequences of her actions (who would fault her? The poor late viscount surely won’t…) we get a direct show of everyone blaming Anders and you get to judge him. We don’t even get an option to agree with his goal, only to forgive or not forgive. Now I am not saying that blowing up a building with civilians in it is a good thing, because it is ultimately bad. I’m just saying that throughout history, such actions against institutions of political influence has been labeled either acts of terrorism or the acts of freedom fighters, with the only difference being is which side ended up judged to be right by history.

Another reason I think is that Anders is further portrayed as a bad guy by the dialogues in Inquisition - no other character is so ultimately framed by the developers. Sten who murdered an innocent family is forgiven. Empress Celene who had murdered a lot of elves, Briala’s family among them, and many other innocents out of manipulation, is forgiven (and most of her crimes are not even mentioned, only in her book The Masked Empire.) You are rewarded in the game if you forgive Blackwall who literally had children murdered and then lived in hiding to avoid responsibility for years (though it’s important to note that he regrets his actions, but that doesn’t mean they never happened.) Isabela (whom I absolutely love by the way, she’s just a great example) doesn’t need to be forgiven because she is never even really called out. Loghain, who betrays his country and causes the death of his king and half of their army, can be forgiven. You can even forgive Solas, who literally wants to destroy the world, not caring who gets hurt in the process. Seems to me this game is very much about forgiving bad actions, even regardless whether they were committed for a legitimate reason or not. Yet Anders, who we can all agree had his very good reasons, not hitting, but hitting back at the chantry after almost 10 years of trying to improve things peacefully, he is portrayed as someone who cannot be forgiven.

Finally, this is just something I personally think based on some discussions I had about the matter, is that I believe it also doesn’t help his reputation that his target was a religious institution. People seem to be very sensitive about this, somehow seeing the chantry as an ultimately good establishment that has its minor faults (like imprisoning innocents, legal slavery and magical lobotomy, you know, small stuff) and some bad apples (like Meredith &co., or Petrice, and many more, so just your usual stray lambs) instead of realizing that the whole institution seems to be based on bad ideas. Personally I think if Andraste was any sort of idealist, she would cry if she saw how the chantry is at the time of the games.

Uhh, this turned out to be very long and I am sorry for writing an essay on the topic. I will just forever be salty about the double standard how this game treats Anders and how a lot of people just fail to see that even if you disagree with his actions, he was in no way worse than many other characters who are shown and seen in a much better light. He was trying for 10 years with diplomacy while his people were tortured, maimed and murdered. Then he decided to hit back. And now he is supposed to be the horrible person for it. Yeah….

Anyway thanks for giving me a chance to write all this salt out, and maybe don’t ruin your friendship over this but I hope your friend will eventually realize the hypocrisy in their statement because Dragon Age is pretty much a game with _lots_ of cases of mass murder, sometimes the player character committing it (for example in DAO where you can choose to kill all the mages in Kinloch Hold, or all the Dalish elves.)

So yeah, thank you for your message and good luck with your friend (and also I don’t think Bioware will change their storytelling much because of this.)

[hurl-a-can]

3 OC facts

tagged by @red-wardens

tagging @enchantment1385 @dickeybbqpit  @kingnikolailantsovs @goblin-deity @my-da-phase @nurvorn @pathcrier @thursdaysshepard @ace-amatus

Yevren

1. On her way to Soldier’s Peak, she got ill and spent a few nights recovering at a shepherd’s farm. They bonded pretty quick, since the woman’s daughter had been taken to a Circle when she was eleven and was about Yevren’s age. Yev, a pretty adept healer and herbalist, cured one of her guardian dogs (the precious boy had been injured when fighting a bear and the wounds got infected). Chance would have it that one of the shepherd’s female dogs had recently given birth to five puppies - and the woman was both grateful to Yev - and eager to find owners for the pups.  Yevren refused at first (because that was the only sensible thing to do, given the circumstances) - but her resolve didn’t last. So when she arrived at her new home, she had a cute fluffy puppy with her and she was ready to fight anyone who’d try to pry the creature away from her. Avernus just sighed and said “Well, Levi could use one of those I suppose” - but he delivered that line with a very deliberate wink. If any of the visiting higher-ups asks, Bear belongs to Levi Dryden - but everyone at the Peak knows “Slobs” is Yevren’s dog. (Yeah, she calls him ‘Slobs’.)

Slobs considers the entire crew at Soldier’s Peak his herd/family. Yes, even Avernus. He’s a calm, reserved dog and expresses his affection in a fairly understated manner. But he has this language of snorts and grunts he uses to “talk” to his favourite people. He’s a smart, independent creature, very good at making sense of what goes on around him. For example, he’s very aware of all the (sometimes nuanced) differences between core crew, welcomed guests, unwelcomed but tolerated guests, new recruits, returning merchants - and the occasional trespasser. And he treats them all accordingly. Nobody needed to train him specifically for those things, he’s simply figured them out. He loves back rubs, pancakes and raw eggs. A pretty majestic creature in most circumstances, but tends to sleep in the most ridiculous positions. Yevren would absolutely murder anyone who’d hurt Slobs.

2. Ever since joining the Circle, she showed a lot of interest in the Taint and in Blights. As a non-Warden, she had limited resources - but she still managed to gather and go through an impressive amount of material. Soon after her Harrowing, she requested permission to leave the Circle and continue her research among the Dalish and in Orzammar. That was when the first enchanter reached out to Warden-Commander Laurent to inform him about Yevren’s research - and Laurent was equal measures impressed and alarmed at how much Yevren had pieced together. She was invited to join the Order and she didn’t hesitate long before accepting.

3. Avernus adores her and she won’t hesitate to use it against him. She’s always there to remind him of his new-found morality and restraint (he’s prone to forgetting). She’ll use any tactic, from guilt-tripping and emotional blackmail to denying him chess sessions (he loves their chess sessions). It doesn’t always work - but it does work more often than it doesn’t. And she likes Avernus, even though she’s absolutely not on board with much of what he does. She hardly ever leaves his side during his final months - a confidant, a nurse - and his best and only friend.

[feeshies]

3, 5, 7, 11, 19, and 20 for the inquisitor ask meme!

about your inquisitor ask prompt

what do they look like? (add screenshots, drawings, descriptions!)

mihika, akaas, otho

iris, sumal, vekel

what are their religious beliefs, if they have any?

mihika is dalish and believes in the elven gods.  however, i’d say she spends more time worshiping and praying to the hero of ferelden and the champion of kirkwall than any of her actual gods.

akaas is a pantheist, but religion isn’t that important to him on a spiritual level.  it’s important to him on a cultural level and as a way to connect with his family and community, but nothing beyond that.

otho was raised dalish, but he unlearned a lot of that when the chantry took him.  he turned out to be a very devout andrastian and his religion ended up becoming an important part of himself and how he believes he’s “evolved”.  the events of inquisition lay down the foundation for him learning to doubt his newfound beliefs and learn to appreciate his elven side.

iris is a pragmatic andrastian, or maybe closer to a deist.  she believes in the maker or some sort of higher power, but not so much in prayer or scripture.  being a child and seeing people treat andraste as a symbol and not as a literal woman who was burned alive disturbed her and later lead her to question the chantry as a whole.

sumal was raised under the qun and it continued to hold power over her even years after her escape.  she’s taking a break from religion for now, but she’s open.

vekel believes in the ancestors (i mean, duh they were real dwarves) and he does pray to them even if he’s not the best example of his people.  he’s the only one listed here who was never shaken out of his own beliefs.

how do they feel about the dalish?

mihika: she thinks they’re p rad and she’s a pretty good example for why.

akaas: he doesn’t have any strong opinions.  he’s chill with them.

otho: it’s really complicated because his mother’s family was dalish and he was raised by them for most of his childhood, but he went through a lot of templar training that taught him to reject that past.  the dalish bring up a lot of complicated and mixed (no pun intended?) feelings in him.

iris: arguably she’s more accepting of them than her own girlfriend.  she admires anyone just trying to do their own thing.

sumal: the dalish are confusing and foreign to her, but so is most of non-qun society.  but she hasn’t had an opportunity to get to know them better, so she’s wary for now.

vekel: he likes the mobile lifestyle, so he’s down.

did they use the templars or the mages to close the breach?

mihika: recruited magesakaas: disbanded templarsotho: recruited templarsiris: recruited magessumal: disbanded templarsvekel: recruited mages

what was their court approval like at the winter palace? did they have any fun at all?

mihika would have been immediately ostracized for being a dalish mage, but she was so impressed and amazed with everything at the winter palace that the nobles found her adorable/amusing (which didn’t make her seem like a political leader, but maybe that was part of her game).  she had fun before all the fighting.

akaas felt really out of place and wished that they could have just held a meeting.  the court was cold towards him, but he survived.  he only enjoyed his dance with josephine.

the court actually really liked otho, but he hated every second of being there.  the only joy he got was complaining about it with cassandra.

the court immediately thought iris was weird, so she spent her time trying not to rock the boat too much.  it was tiring even without the fighting.

sumal knew she would never be able to win the court over, so she kept to herself.  she didn’t come to make friends.  the fighting was a welcome change.

vekel had the time of his life.  the ball, the dancing, the political intrigue, the murder, there was never a dull moment and he enjoyed every second of it.

[charbax]

Wintersend’s Exchange

A gift for @dovabunny in the Fenders Wintersend Exchange! They requested: 

Homeless Fen and doctor/nurse Anders who always tries to feed and dress warmly his elf. Fenris doesnt want or trust charity, he wants to be seen as a man - not a project.

also available on my AO3

It started in the winter. A winter’s night, precisely, when Anders is locking the clinic’s door after a day of treating injuries, maladies, and general complaining from late stragglers. Luckily, his Maker-sent secretary was more than happy to handle the last part (read: forcibly showing them the door by social convention or force) and when the patient line dwindled to none, he sent her home. That had been hours ago. Now, it was late, and Anders was more than ready to flip the sign from open to closed and head upstairs for some well-deserved rest.

No sooner than his fingers brushed against the card than someone rapped against the door. Anders sighed, debated turning the sign over fully like the asshole he was, then decided against it since the person technically did come before the clinic was truly closed. He opened the door with a heavy heart. “Can I help you with-” He started, then stopped.

“Yes.” Fenris replied, arms wrapped around himself and his threadbare clothing, the very picture of a shivering wreck. “You can help me out of this cold.”

Anders was too stunned to do more than step back and let Fenris inside. Fenris made a beeline for one of the waiting chairs and collapsed onto it. It was only then that Anders noticed the goosebumps rippling on his skin, the shaking in Fenris’ body, the way his fingers trembled even as he tried to hide them underneath his armpits. Anders sighed again, pinching the space between his brows. “What made you think in here would be better than out there? Or anywhere else for that matter?”

“Hawke is...indisposed.” Fenris answered carefully. “And it’s too late for anyone else.”

“But apparently, not late enough for the hard-working doctor, who’s spent all day holed up in a clinic treating people as their last line of healthcare. What, the walk back home not good enough for you?”

At least Fenris had the decency to look ashamed. Well, as ashamed as a prickly elf could look. “I don’t trust home at the moment.”

Anders’ long face grew longer. For all of his bad blood with Fenris, even he saw the cruelty in shutting the door in a runaway’s face. “Fine.” He relented. “Stay for the night, but I expect you to be out first thing in the morning.”

Fenris nodded mutely and curled up on himself – almost like a cat. As soon as the comparison made its way into his head, it took root and refused to move from Anders’ mind, following him all the way to the supplies closet, where he grabbed the least threadbare blanket and pillow, and back to where Fenris was huddling. “Here.” Anders said, tossing the items at him. “At least crash here properly, for Maker’s sake.”

A person with less than perfect reflexes might have been slapped face-first with bedding, but Fenris only caught the items with a raised eyebrow. Anders had already turned away to finally prepare for sleep, he heard a quiet-

“Thank you.”

He paused, glancing over his shoulder. Fenris had already wrapped himself up in the blanket and curled into the pillow, stuffing his head under the cover until only the tips of his ears were peeking out. In that moment, he looked like any other elf refugee trying to stay warm in a none-too comfortable chair (and Anders can attest to that uncomfortable thing after an ill-advised nap during a quiet hour in the clinic). That image was a real, tangible proof of his care - even if it took form of a ball of blanket and silvery hair - and it reminded Anders why he treated people, or ran a clinic, or let in mage-hating runways.

He didn’t smile, but his steps going up the back staircase were much lighter than before.

His next time off was spent at the Hanged Man with Hawke and (proclaimed) merry band of misfits. It was certainly fitting considering the company currently present at their usual table – a set of twins, a police officer, the co-manager of the Hanged Man, a doctor (Anders), a runaway actor, an internet pirate, and a Dalish student.

And of course, Hawke himself, who was guffawing about something Varric said. Anders wouldn’t know since he was too busy losing at Wicked Grace badly.

“Well...at least all the cards are different this time. I really like how unique all of them are.” Merrill said as she peered over his hand.

“That’s not a good thing sweetness.” Isabela pointed out, laying out her completed set of suits, then appraised Anders with a smile playing at the corner of her lips. “You really do have the worst luck. Can’t be helped really.” On his right, Bethany patted his arm sympathetically as she laid down her own modest hand.

Anders frowned at Isabela. “As opposed to cheating?”

Isabela shrugged, not-so-coincidentally jostling a naughty card nesting in her cleavage (much to the poorly hidden delight of Carver). “It’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.”

Hawke chose that moment to tune into the conversation and gasped. “Isabela would never cheat!” He exclaimed indignantly. Knowing him, he was 100% serious. Varric and Isabela exchanged smiles, then Varric patted Hawke’s bicep.

“We believe you Hawke.”

“It’s not the matter of believing me, but believing in Isabela.” He turned to her. “I believe in you.”

Isabela’s face contorted in a strange mix between amused and touched, which ended up making her look extremely seasick. Fenris stifled a laugh behind his hand, turning his expression to the closest person next to him, and found himself looking at an equally humorous Anders. There was a moment when their eyes met, a moment when Fenris wasn’t feeling the usual hostility and it was just him and Anders sharing a common laugh.

Then Anders turned his head, breaking the connection. Fenris returned his gaze to the table as the conversation moved on. It seemed only minutes before Aveline said regretfully, “Well, I have the morning shift tomorrow, so I should get going.”

Isabela took one look at Merrill covering her yawn with a hand and stood. “I better get kitten home too. Don’t get into too much trouble boys. At least, not without me.”

With Hawke’s innocent, “We won’t Isabela!” sent her way, Isabela put an arm around Merrill’s shoulders, dropped money onto the table, and left with her. Following their example, Varric and Hawke put their heads together to figure out how to pay for their night in the bar (“Put it on my tab.” Was Varric’s usual reply, to Hawke trio’s indignation, which then started a one-versus-three of who would get to pay it back).

As Fenris reached into his own pocket to draw out the lone bills he had, Anders’ hand slapped in front of him, startling him. Anders withdrew his hand without another word and stalked out, leaving behind a few bills where his hand had been. It was more than enough to cover his own split bill.

“Anders-” Fenris started, but the mage was already gone. He frowned. Despite his feelings on Anders’ ideals, he recognises altruism when he sees it, in the man who chooses to sleep in his own clinic. It’s not cheap to run the service that Anders does, and for as long as Fenris has known him, he not the type to spend frivolously when he’s saving for the endless costs of the clinic.

And yet. Fenris would not deny that Anders was not the only one who had been counting pennies, so to speak. His had pride dictated that he would not accept any of the charity money offered by his friends, but there was clearly enough money for both his and Anders’ meals. How did the mage know that would he would be short for the evening?

No matter. Varric was already grudgingly accepting the Hawkes’ payment, as well as sweeping the bills off the table and into his hand. There was nothing else he could do about it, in terms of paying.

It still left an unsettling pit in his stomach.

It was only more ‘kindness’ since then, disguised as inconveniences for Anders and often riding along the coattails of excuses. ‘I needed to get rid of some of the older blankets, take this one. There’s no holes in it, at least.’ ‘A patient made a pie as a thankyou, but what do you know, I’m allergic to blueberries!’ ‘Someone kindly donated a hand-made beanie and scarf. Unfortunately, grey’s just not my colour.’

Not that Fenris hasn’t been trying to refuse them, with the keyword being ‘trying’. Being in the middle of an unusually harsh winter and dry season for jobs, it would make sense to accept the help. But just because it was logical didn’t mean that Fenris liked it very much. It felt too close to the small acts of mercy Danarius would give to him, akin to throwing a bone to a very beaten dog after a whole day of posing and remembering lines and pushing himself to exhaustion, which Fenris was ashamed to admit to have lapped up as a sign of favouritism. Delicious meals, fine clothes. He might as well have been a glorified pet with a lyrium collar back then.

When Anders dumped a pair of earmuffs on him – elongated for long tipped elven ears – Fenris finally confronted him. “Why all of this?”

Anders fixed him a confused look. “I’m very sure elven biology is enough similar to humans that they both feel the cold somewhat similarly. Unless your prickly sensibilities chose not to feel cold in the air?”

“I mean why all these...gifts.”

“...I needed someone to dump them off? Lirene only accepts cash donations and there’s only so many mismatched scarves and beanies I can own before I would have to give them away as well. Not to mention I’m trying to watch my weight, so food’s the least of my problems-”

Fenris knew stalling when he heard it. “Then cease it. I’m not a charity case, nor a project. If you feel nothing more than pity for me, then I would prefer how we were at the start.”

Hurt flashed across Anders’ face, for a moment, then it was wiped away with a frown. “This wasn’t- this isn’t a- I wasn’t doing it to try to, Maker forbid, change you Fenris. Are you a prickly bastard? Yes. Do I think that you should be a little more sympathetic to the plight of mages because they’re so similar to your own problems? Also yes. Do I still think of you as a friend? Well, I do, unless it’s not been mutual this entire time, which I guess makes me an idiot.”

Fenris knew stalling when he heard it. “Get on with it, Anders.”

“I was, I was. Look. If I was trying to change you – which I’m not! - I would put a lot more effort into shaping you into a specific person, don’t you think?”

Logic warred with suspicion. “And what if you are only bribing me?”

“That’s assuming there’s anything you can give me.”

That stung more than it should. Fenris shook his head. “Then there is no sense to keep giving me things when I have nothing to give back. I do not want to be indebted to you, and I am not yours to shape as you see fit.”

“For the last time, I’m not trying to lord this over you. But I’ll stop it if that’s what you, honest-to-Andraste, believe is the logical thing to do.”

Yes. Fenris was convinced it was.

So the gifts stopped, and with it, so did whatever little camadrie there had been. The next time they met as a group, Anders barely acknowledged him. But Fenris had meant what he said, so he forced himself to swallow the bitter taste of seeing Anders’ eyes pass over him with a neutral glance. At the one after that, Anders chose not to turn up at all, citing a busy clinic as his excuse. Fenris didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed.

A few days of this apathy passed without fanfare, only for Hawke to pull Fenris and quietly asked if he had a fight with Anders.

“We had a discussion and cleared the air. Nothing else happened.” Fenris answered, if a bit testily.

Hawke levelled a stare at him. “Anders has been throwing himself into his work. He hasn’t been coming to the last three Wicked Grace nights, and he loves Wicked Grace. Either flu season was terrible, or you two are trying to avoid each other.”

“I am not avoiding him.”

“Yes you are. You two seemed to getting along so well with all the presents Anders was giving you.”

Fenris scowled, reminded of the reason why he was in a bad mood in the first place. Hawke continued, oblivious. “When I asked Anders, all he said was that he was giving you space. Did he do something Fenris? Should I be more worried? Were the presents themselves really that bad?”

...the meals may have been warm, but not the creations of a gourmet kitchen, and the clothes, clearly hand-me-downs despite their well-cared for appearance. “No.” Fenris said. “They were passable.”

“They must’ve sure been something if you didn’t want them anymore.”

They were hardly the rewards Danarius would shower him during the sponsorship, especially the ones Danarius gave when he was feeling more whimsical than demanding. But Danarius always had the ulterior motive of keeping Fenris docile and controlled. Anders just did it because he felt like it.

“Thank you, I suppose, for giving me something to think about it.”

Hawke clapped his shoulder, taking that as a sign that the problem was solved. “Not a problem. I’m always here if you need me.”

People to depend on. Those were rare. Maybe Fenris could do with one more.

This time, it was Fenris who was pacing in front of Anders clinic just before closing time. His earlier resolve had crumbled, and he tried in vain to gather its remains. He jumped when the front door opened, but it was only a lone dwarven couple ferrying a sleepy child out. He held the door open respectfully and stepped inside before the door swung shut.

As Fenris’ eyes adjusted to the dark, he could make out the surprise in Ander’s face from behind the receptionist desk. “Fenris?” Anders rose out of his chair, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Really? I was under the impression that you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“I opposed your pity gifts. The company was…less than terrible, truth be told.”

Anders narrowed his eyes at him. “Why do I feel like you’re lying.”

Anders, as much as Fenris would hate to admit, had a point – here he was, after weeks of avoiding Anders like he had the Blight, and now, trying to make contact like he wasn’t the one who cut off Anders in the first place. The mage deserved honesty.

“I am not. I needed time to make sense of what I was feeling. I am not the best at words.”

Anders tipped his head at Fenris’ statement. At least he wasn’t making a smart remark. The fact that Fenris could predict a good Anders sentence and an irritated Anders sentence was an indicator that he probably knew Anders more than he had originally thought.

“What I said back then is still true. I do not like being in the debt of others. When I was. underneath Danarius’ contract, everything I received was something that could be used against me later. I cannot just shake this suspicion for it has saved me often. But one day, I would like to know what it would be like to walk freely, without distrust in every interaction. All I ask for is time and a chance to try existing outside that sponsorship.”

Anders stared at him for a long moment. Fenris willed himself to stare back, not defiantly, but in hope that his look would convey his sincerity. Finally, Anders spoke. “I will admit, it stung when you didn’t my goodwill. But that makes sense. I may be an advocate for mage rights, but even I can admit that bastard belongs in the Deep Roads, so it’s no wonder you don’t want anything to do with him.”

That’s all Fenris wanted and hoped for. He had nothing else to mention, so he nodded and turned to the door.”

“Wait.” Anders called out. “Do you somewhere to sleep tonight?”

Fenris faltered. He hadn’t been planning very far apart from hoping Hawke would answer his door. “I was thinking of asking Hawke, if he is awake at this time.”

“It’s very, very late so he’s probably not. Do you want to stay for the night? I promise, no doing this for bragging rights.”

Just as he reasoned on the first night, there could be worst places than an undocumented doctor’s clinic to sleep in. When Fenris nodded, Anders disappeared in the back, just as he did before, however, he returned with seemingly more items in his hand than the last time – another pillow, a fuzzier blanket, and something dangling off a lanyard on his wrist. Anders dumped them on the chair nearby chair, but held onto the lanyard.

“So I went through a few days of thinking in the span of a few minutes while I was getting these – I can think fast if I have to, don’t look at me like that – and I can’t blame you for thinking like you have to be suspicious of everything. Considering what you just told me, it would be like getting mad at pounce-a-lot for taking down the Wintersend tree.

“So this time, I’m going to give you something else: a choice. Happy Wintersend.”

He held out the lanyard, finally showing the small key hanging on the end. Fenris stared at it. “I don’t understand what this is Anders.”

“It’s one of the spare keys for the clinic – one of the only three in the world, I might add. The only people who have this is me and Lirene. So know that I’m not offering this lightly. This is a...job offer, I guess? I can’t pay you anything other than food, maybe a bit of the stipend if I beg Lirene enough to spare some of the weekly change. I’m sure I can convert one of the rooms upstairs to another bedroom if you want somewhere to board as well. There’s also a contract to read over, but we can do that together. Probably with someone else if you like. Hawke?”

It was good that Fenris was already sitting on the chair. It gave him a measure of support as the full implication hit him. This was Ander’s life, the home of his hopes and dreams, a sanctuary for those who had no-where else – or those without insurance. The previous gifts did not carry the weight of that disarmingly small key, but Fenris could feel its weight off the lanyard.

“I...would need some time. Maybe. I can’t promise anything now.” Fenris said, relishing the way maybe rolled off his tongue. The choice to say so. The feeling only flared when Anders nodded his head.

“I understand. Well, the waiting room is yours until morning.” Anders disappeared to staircase, his steps echoing in the stairwell, until they too faded away. The chairs were just as uncomfortable as they had been the first time Fenris had slept in them, but as Fenris buried himself deeper in them, his mind became cotton-heavy with the incoming sleep.

The last though Fenris had before he drifted off was the speculation of working in a place like the clinic. He had no skills has a medical professional, but there had to be just as honest work there. Fenris smiled to himself. He would let Anders know his answer in the morning.

[elellan]

Chapters: 7/? Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age (Video Games) Relationships: Female Inquisitor/Cullen Rutherford, Female Lavellan/Cullen Rutherford In this chapter:

We must gather our forces before we attempt to seal the breach…

Chaper 7.

News of Riwan’s alliance with the mage rebellion travelled fast. She knew that the alliance would draw a lot of unfavourable opinions towards her and her doing, but she did not care. She felt as if she had acquired a new layer of understanding of it all and she would manage to close the breach whatever it cost her. She hadn’t felt so good in years, since Hoden’s attack. She held her head up proudly when they entered Haven, as soldiers and villagers greeted them and cheered, while others looked at her and Dorian suspiciously. “Here comes the big, black magister”, Dorian said, turning his nose up. “And his partner in crime”, Riwan added, making him smile. Dorian had asked her permission to join the Inquisition after the battle with Alexius and Riwan had accepted gladly: this time she even hadn’t to look towards Cassandra in search of her approving gaze, for she wouldn’t let the mage go elsewhere that it wasn’t near her.

Though tired beyond measure and each carrying wounds from their encounter with the magister, they had chatted happily the entire way back to Haven, Varric joining them in their merry chit chat as though they were all old friends.

“I get it that you’re Dalish, Lavellan?”, Dorian had asked her.

“Yes, how could you possibly have understood that?”, Riwan had answered sarcastically.

He chuckled. “Perhaps… those showy tattoos give you away a little bit”.

Riwan raised her eyebrows. “I happen to like these tattoos of mine. What say you about your moustache then? No Fereldan would ever carry them in that fashion, if what I’ve learnt about this country is correct”.

“No they wouldn’t, because this is a land of barbarians dressed in fur and living in caves. Oh, but this is what a Tevinter magister would say about Fereldans anyway and I’m afraid I cannot glory myself with that title yet”.

“So, let me guess…”, Varric said inquiringly, “You Tevinters live in crystal palaces raised by magic spells and are dressed and combed in impeccable taste by your hordes of elven slaves?”.

“More or less”, Dorian answered.

“Well, shit”, Varric stated. Riwan felt startled by him mentioning elven slaves. She hadn’t quite thought about it, at first. Dorian was so charming that he had made her forget about that side of the matter.

“Don’t worry, Herald”, he said after a few minutes, noticing that she hadn’t spoken for a while. “I’m not going to gloat over our slavery system. In fact, I can only say that house Pavus has been most respectful of elves as far as I know. If not so, at least I can say so for myself. I never had slaves of my own, but my family has and they are treated just fine”.

“Right”, Riwan answered with a tiny smile, still a little dubious about it. She wasn’t really in the mood of starting a discussion concerning slavery right now.

“Varric, what about you? I heard that you’re from Kirkwall”, Dorian swiftly changed the topic to try and keep the mood light.

“Yes”, the dwarf replied.

“I’ve been to Kirkwall once”, Dorian continued.

“Yes?”.

“How was it?”, Riwan asked.

“Bit of a shithole, actually”, Dorian said.

“Yes”, was Varric’s sole response.

She passed the rest of her day in Haven bathing herself in Cora’s company, as it was her custom after every mission. She was finally able to wash her hair carefully and sighed with pleasure in washing her teeth with sage and elfroot strings. There was a note on her bed signed by Josephine: a noble woman from Orlais had gifted her with satin clothes and an amulet after news of the Herald’s alliance had reached her -  the woman had, infact, concealed her daughter’s magic power and made her live as an apostate her entire life. She put on the beautiful white blouse on her usual leather trousers and sat down to write a message.

“Can I go, Riwan?”. Cora asked.

“Just a moment, da’len”. She wrote quickly on a piece of paper: ‘This I meant to give you a week ago’. She enveloped the message she had written seven days before inside the new one and tied them both with a piece of twine. “Please, give this to the Commander as soon as possible”, she said. She paced to and fro in her cabin for a few minutes, vibrating with tension and anticipation, thinking: ‘Is he reading it right now? Will he keep it for later?’.

She quickly thought about their adventure in Redcliffe: it had been terrifying, but she felt better now, she was calm, a new consciousness was slowly growing within her, she finally got a hold on herself. She had been completely uninterested in this whole Inquisition business at the beginning, but now… she felt involved. She could change things for good or at least try. She glanced at her glowing mark briefly. Wouldn’t keeper Deshanna approve of it all? She surely would - she had, in fact, written to her in one of her letters: “Da’len, I am proud and happy to hear of all the good things you are doing with the Inquisition. Use this opportunity well. Mythal ma ghilana”. A shiver ran through her spine when she recalled Alexius’ words about the Venatori and the Elder One… but oblivious to all non concrete threats and bold - or reckless - as she was, she soon discarded the thought.   When she thought of that other thing, however… that she couldn’t get a hold on. That… acquaintance with an ex templar. He had actually been the first templar with whom she had ever spoken to: she was so scared at first, but he had proven to be quite different from what she had expected him to be. True, he resented the order and had abandoned it due to his disillusionment towards its purposes. Still, his whole person had been formed inside it and she thought she would find in him a zealot, someone intolerant towards mages and those opposing the Chantry order… . She had actually thought these things about a lot of people in the Inquisition, at first, yet all it took was to state decidedly that she had her own culture, that no Exalted March could take it away from her, and they had more or less let her be. Nonetheless, the Commander was the one who left her more appalled about herself and had made her feel occasionally ashamed in front of her mental images of Brian and Orawen: all of her oaths of vengeance had vanished suddenly into nothing for what? Just because a sturdy, severe and handsome ex templar had chatted with her from time to time and taught her how to use daggers? She would give herself more credit, it was more than that. But what it really was, she still couldn’t decide. Surely that could wait until another day, anyways, for it was dinner time now.

Despite some of her companions expressing their dissent about her decision, they all dined in peace in the back room of the tavern, knowing that soon they would have to face the breach and perhaps these Venatori themselves, if they happened to become more of a threat than they expected. There was also the matter of this ‘Elder One’ to investigate, as Cassandra heartily reminded a roast-beef chewing Riwan … but not tonight.

Riwan decided not to ask herself what would happen after, feeling her heart sink in her chest if the thought of having already finished the Inquisition’s business crossed her mind. After four years of feeling useless and pitiful now she had found a place that she quite liked. She was finding every day harder to think that she would have to go back to her clan. Of course she missed them and loved them but… would the Inquisition have been only a parenthesis in her life? Was she meant just to… go back and live in the woods, without taking place in this rambling, chaotic world anymore?

She was sitting next to Dorian, trying to make him feel comfortable with the new environment, though he did seem to get by quite splendidly by himself, thanks to his cunning manners and witty remarks. Surely, all the table’s attention was catalyzed towards him, his eccentric and sophisticated look and way of speaking. Riwan herself was enjoying his words beyond measure.

She felt she could tell the same from the look on some of her companions’ faces, Varric or Blackwall for example; but not Bull. The qunari was the only one who refrained from making a better acquaintance with the mage and joined the conversation only to make stingy jokes about Tevinter magisters. Dorian, however, seemed unshaken by them. ‘Well, he must be used to these sorts of puns…’, Riwan thought. “Dorian is not a magister, he’s an altus”, she said, jumping into the conversation.

“You are a quick learner, Lavellan”, Dorian observed.

“Rrright…”, Bull said, “I don’t see what’s the difference there. He still is associated with magisters”.

“Oh, qunari, not only am I associated with magisters, but my family actually has a seat in the Magisterium. Scared, are you?”.

“Yes, I am shitting my pants”, Bull said, impassive.

“Tsk”, Dorian scoffed.

“Ladies, since we are all here to enjoy ourselves, quit this childish argument and have another drink”, Blackwall boomed, teasing them, as he got up and replenished  both Bull and Dorian’s jugs.

They were drinking some qunari booze that Iron Bull had smuggled inside Haven and when Blackwall tried to replenish her jug too, Riwan protested in vain.  

“No, please! This thing tastes like…”.

“Piss?”, Sera said, caustic.

“Rotten piss”, Varric corrected her.

Riwan tried desperately to get up, but was prevented from doing so by yet another toast made by Solas. This did really confuse her, for though his unexpected company had cheered her up at first, he had then made her feel embarrassed out of her guts when he proclaimed the toast to be in honour of her charming grace in fighting with bow and arrow. ‘He is drunk’, she thought. All the table had joined the toast with boisterous laughter and varied comments. “To the destroyer of ceilings!”, Varric exclaimed; “Hahaha! To the Herald of the ironbark!”, Bull said; “Yes, to the woman with the world at her bow!”, Blackwall said, while Sera started laughing loudly and then, interrupting herself brusquely, said: “Wha’? I thought you were gonna say bum! The world at her bum, haha, that’s something, innit?!”. Riwan drained what was left of the booze in her jug in one gulp and then excused herself and exited the tavern, blushing wildly. She was in serious need of a toilet break and some water to soothe her throat. She made it to the door and was almost out, when she bumped face first into Cullen’s armour plate and hit her forehead hard on it.

She crouched down groaning and holding her head, moaning “Ouchy ouchy ouchy…”, while Cullen stared at her wide eyed and said: “Maker, I’m sorry! I wasn’t minding where I was going…”.

She got up, still keeping a hand on her head and she finally looked at him, as his concerned expression made finally way to his kind smirk, which she had longed to see for some time. She knew immediately that she had been forgiven and she stepped further away from the tavern as he followed her.

“As you may have heard, Commander, I found an ally in the mages, though I didn’t expect the negotiations to be so draining”. She started to talk immediately, in order to avoid for a moment the inevitable revelation of his opinion on her message.

“Really, isn’t time travelling a common thing among the Dalish?”, he asked. She looked at him with joking disapproval as they reached the training fields, where, seeing no one around, he stopped and tried to say something. He looked up and scratched the back of his neck while he articulated some words, while Riwan tugged nervously at her hair, being at a loss herself on what they were meant to say to each other.

“I, uhm… Herald, I mean, Lavellan. Can I…”.

“So I get it that you received my message?”, she cut him short, looking at him expectantly.

He relaxed and looked at her while a smile spread on his face reaching his eyes. “Yes. I wanted to thank you. I was deeply troubled by our last exchange and I felt that I didn’t give you enough credit and that I didn’t have a chance to explain myself either”. He stopped and drew a breath. He had said those words in a rush, almost as if he had rehearsed the speech for some time.

“Don’t worry, Commander. There’s no need to speak of this… incident anymore. I feel like we will understand each other better from now on”. She said conclusively and then she instantly cursed herself for having cut the conversation short, but feeling relieved at the same time: she had embarrassed herself enough in front of him, it was better not to indulge in such a habit of hers. She yearned to know what he might think of her after her unhappy exploit, but at the same time she didn’t want to. If he thought ill of her and her behaviour, whatever was his opinion on the way too personal story she had recounted him, she’d rather not know right now. Everything was really messy in her head. Every borderline was unclear and she felt as if she had gone way over his head.

“Of course”, he answered promptly, a little bit puzzled, “I mean, I hope so. I hope we will be able to cooperate like the others do, as… friends… I mean, if that’s ok with you…”.

“Yes, friends…”, she said, studying his face with narrowing eyes, trying to decipher his expression. “It’s all right for me”.

The moment stretched and soon it became awkward enough. “Well, I suggest that you ready your templars Commander, for a lot of mages are expected to arrive soon”.

He laughed: “I assure you that I’m not concerned for them, but for your own safety. Our safety”, he added quickly, “We will just keep an eye out if anything strange may happen. But I’m confident that it won’t. I mean, I hope so”.

They started to walk back, Cullen towards the tavern and Riwan to her cabin.

“It may also surprise you to know that some templars have left the order to join us. Without any invitation needed. So, I guess we should be satisfied”, he added.

“Indeed”. Another awkward moment ensued.

“Well, I… Good night, Lavellan”.

“Good night, Commander”.

That night, before going to sleep, he read her letter for the umpteenth time and smiled to himself.

Commander, I feel that I have failed in excusing myself last night and that I implicitly put a blame on you that you didn’t deserve. In addition to this, I made a complete fool of myself in front of you and coerced you into listening to my blabbering.

I understand that the behaviour of a single man does not determine the nature of a group, as on the other hand the behaviour of a group does not necessarily define the character of the single man.

I am ashamed of what I have said and what I have suggested with my words, for I myself have been a victim of prejudice.

I hope that you will forgive me and that you will give me a chance to prove myself deserving of your esteem.

Riwan

[mywitchcultblr]

@silencer-foxtail hi! Saw your tags and to answer the question is that the majority of people agreeing that the oppression of mages and elves are bad and most support like I'm hushed whispers choice to go with mage route example in DAI. But even then there's this underlying attitude from some people that basically like "the oppressed protest too much!" "The mages and elves are not that innocent because they fight back using violence!" "Anders is worse than Satan!" "They should have done rebellion peacefully!" But there's also these part of the fandom who genuinely defending the templar and chantry or people like gaspard. Like someone on Twitter got super angry when one of my mutual said

"well if you think Anders is a terrorist and the worst person ever, you should call Luke Skywalker as one because he killed more people with the destruction of the death star" it's even more frustrating with the narrative of DAI that painting the condition of the circle or alienage as 'NOt ThaT bAd ElvEs and HumaAn MagEs ARe ProteSting toO muCh"

Like the narrative trying to gaslight the audience particularly with A. Josephine keep saying "you must be missing your friends in circle" to my rebel mage inky who always been vocal about his hatred for the circle and chantry, B. Hiding all the ugliness of circle in lore text and not showing them, example like that genocide in Rivain.

C. Vivienne basically used as a trope as 'the good one mage' which disappointed me why Bioware chose that the first black companion is basically on the side of conservative politics of a power like Orlais a d the chantry. I wish she could have been just a seer from Rivain or something (please anyone who sees this don't twist it and make false accusations of racism against me because i only disagree and don't like her politics.

(I'm saying FYI because some people often make blanket statement and accusing anyone who are critical of Vivienne as racist, which I'm not. Check my blog there's 0 racism)

D. THAT FUCKIN' INSULTING PART WHERE INQUISITOR DURING THE CARD GAME AT HERALD REST RETELLING THE HARROWING as a HAHA FUNNY EXPERIENCE (Francois definitely lied and hide the real truth, no way it was a haha funny experience) Also Dalish are still treated like they have no idea wtf they are doing or arrogant

E. AT HAVEN THERE'S THESE TWO EX TEMPLAR AND THE EX LADY TEMPLAR BEING CONDESCENDING AND LECTURED INQUISITOR WHO IS A MAGE ABOUT HOW NoT aLL TemPlaR ARe BaD anD CirclE caN be gOoD AcTuALlY

Basically copaganda and try to reassure you that hey concentration camp is not that bad

These takes in Inquisition breed some new fans who only ever try DAI who got confused on why the mages and elves 'complain too much' or why there's people who defend Anders and Fiona.

The narrative in DAI get more wonky and centrist which is disappointing tbh...

Reddit particularly have more ridiculous takes like "Gaspard is a badass and good leader because he's a military man" "Meredith is not that bad" "Gregoire is a sensible man" "mages should not be allowed to walk outside like in the market because they are dangerous" "Dalish are dumb af"

Sorry for long post xD I'm just really passionate about this

I dont care Solas my man do whatever you want at this point im tired of the bickering against mages and elves in fandom, bring all magic back so i dont have to see shitty takes on reddit aboit how circles and alienage is okay. End this suffering

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

Lore vs Narrative

One of the clearest moments of fan outrage being short-sighted I've seen was when Trespasser had come out for Dragon Age Inquisition and the nature of the ancient elves was revealed to us. The Evanuris were slavers, God-King mages who were drunk on power. This resulted in fans calling Bioware out on making the Dalish's beliefs based on slavery when the elves of Thedas still face slavery. The tone of these arguments was as if Bioware had decided between DA2 and DAI to make them like that.

As far as I know, however, this was not the case. Bioware had made the mythos for DA long before they started writing the actual story.

This is actually something that I have seen a lot of on Tumblr and I feel I should address it as someone who loves world building and writing.

The simplest way to put it is, that you have your universe lore and then you have the story. Those two are separate things, as one is basically the rules of the world and the other is what the characters do in the world itself. Like an iceberg, you only see a part of the setting lore in the narrative, if the writer knows what they are doing. Info dumps are treated as a bad thing for a reason, as they slow down the story for walls upon walls of explanation. Instead, it is often better to showcase the lore through how the characters react to it.

However, in serialized works, people can see the new revelations of lore as the writers making things up as they go. Rather than the information revealed being just another aspect of a developed world. Or people can take the opinions of characters as lore, which depending on the character can be farthest from the truth.

Now, this does not mean the revealed lore is always good. We all by now know how J.K Rowling is messing up her own world by randomly revealing facts of the Harry Potter universe that can ring very tone deaf. Not only, because they were not used in the narrative, but also because some of it is very offensive. As a writer, your lore shouldn't be beyond editing or fixing. Your job is just to keep everything consistent.

Consistency, in fact, might be the biggest obstacle a writer might face. One of my favourite examples of a creator saying something and the setting telling a different thing has to be Cole from Dragon Age and is he a sexual being. The writers for him both say no, the actual text in the game says yes. If you don't want your non-human character to be seen as sexual, please do not make him focus on sexuality so much in the work itself. A very weird example of showing versus telling, you can say what you want about your character outside the work, but in the end, the work itself tells the truth.

On the opposite side of things, Rose being Pink Diamond is a great example of lore being used sparingly in the setting to tell a story. People at first were convinced she had to be Pink Diamond (as some people pointed out afterwards, "Pink is Pink.") Only for that theory to be sidelined by the red herring of Rose shattering Pink and Pink's mural not looking like Rose. The clues, however, were never hidden from the audience despite the distraction. The evidence kept piling up, it was even addressed in the show itself in a freaking court of law. Until the truth was revealed, Rose was Pink. She faked her own shattering to live as she chose.

This is where the role of the characters reacting to the lore comes in, as the reaction to the revelation was far from positive. I'd say at best it was an awkward 'okay then' because no one likes to have lied to on such a massive scale. The biggest positive that came out of it was that the Crystal Gems were not killed by the Diamonds coming to collect a blood debt.

Through all of this, the actual lore didn't change a bit. Rose was always Pink, it was planned from the start. But the information the characters knew was varied and that in itself ran the plot beautifully for two seasons as everyone reacted to it how he or she would.

Like with everything artistic and narrative, please give the creators the benefit of the doubt. Unless you know for certain things were changed in new additions to the series, it possibly was planned from the beginning. Does it mean it is good? No, but then it was shitty the whole time.

[darthlordcommie]

Dragon Age: Subversion

I don’t usually post to this fandom, but I’ve had this thought for a while, so I wanted to get it out there. The Dragon Age series is extremely subversive in nature. From tropes to social justice issues, the series covers them all. So, I figured I’d note what I’ve noticed about the series. 

Religion: 

I’m going for the big one first. The way Dragon Age treats religion is incredibly nuanced and thoughtful. From the beginning of Origins, we are shown conflicting views of different religions. The Chantry was born from the followers of a woman who fought slavery and slavers, and taught salvation, but they imprison and enslave mages without second thought. The Dalish religion is a fascinating one, and eventually it’s discovered that the Dalish had had the completely wrong idea about their past. 

Zealotry is a huge topic in Dragon Age. In all of the games, zealots show up, showing the true dangers of extremists in any religion. Conversely, we also see the effects of apathy. When members of the Chantry don’t do anything, the situations simply gets worse in Dragon Age 2. 

The Qun is a fascinating example of a religion. On the one hand, everyone in the Qun is viewed as important, and meant to fulfill a task. All are welcome to join the Qun, if they are willing. On the other hand, there is no flexibility in the Qun, and they assume a great many things about people. Conversion by the sword is a leading issue with both the Chantry and the Qun, and demonstrates how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. 

LGBTQ: 

The LGBTQ community has had inclusion from the start of Dragon Age. There are bisexual romance options, as seen in Leliana, Zevran, Anders, Fenris, Isabela, Merrill, Iron Bull, and Josephine. There are also homosexual romance options, shown by Dorian and Sera. Finally, there is a positive example of a transexual character in Krem. What’s important is that their sexuality is not central to who they are. 

Zevran, Anders, and Iron Bull flirt with people regardless of their gender, but are also respectful about it. They don’t force themselves on anyone. Krem is transexual, but it’s barely brought up, and only to remind people that yes, Krem is in fact male, though he wasn’t born with a male body. 

Dorian is a terrific example of homosexual discrimination. Because of his family, he was pushed to be heterosexual, and even put through a form of gay conversion therapy, so that he could be forced to be “correct”. But what’s most important is that all of these people are supported and accepted, and the character is, in general, punished for being intolerant of them. It’s not half-assed representation, and in many ways, is before its time when compared to other media. 

Race: 

You’d better believe that racism is brought up in Dragon Age. Elves live in ghettos or wander to avoid discrimination, and there is mutual racism between humans and elves, though it’s worse for elves. Elves are second-class citizens, and they’re treated as such. In Dragon Age Inquisition, if you are any race but human, Orlais will judge you more harshly. Qunari are viewed as barbarians, and players see, quite viscerally, the suffering of different races through economic and social discrimination. 

Class: 

Dwarven society offers a perfect example of classism and how it works. The casteless are viewed as lower than the lowest, and have no respect or honor given to them. Their only options are to prostitute themselves in hope that their children will have better lives, or to leave, either for the surface, or to join a group that is essentially suicidally patriotic. Orlesian nobles have a low opinion of those of lower class, and the rich look down upon the poor. 

Nationalism: 

Nationalism is shown in a negative light from the start of the series. Loghain is obsessively nationalist for Fereldan, to the point where he sees Orlesian threats where there are none. Kirkwall treats Fereldan refugees terribly, assuming the worst of them, and forcing them into ghettos. 

Mages: 

There is no one real-world example of how mages in Dragon Age are oppressed. However, there are multiple lessons to be learned, nonetheless. Mages are forced to learn, or essentially die. If they step out of line, they’re rendered brain-dead. If they fail, they’re rendered brain-dead. If they have something a Templar wants, they’re rendered brain-dead. They’re assumed to be monsters, and most of them are pushed to live down to that expectation, if only to get back at their tormenters. 

Addiction: 

Finally, there’s addiction. While at first the Templars are presented as villains of the situation, and in many ways, they are, but they’re also victims. The Templars are forced into dependency on an addictive substance, and withdrawal is horrific for them. It doesn’t excuse their actions, but it shows that the world isn’t black and white. 

Dragon Age as a series is subversive, and should invoke thoughtfulness. If nothing else, it should let people be more sympathetic to those who are suffering.