#thewardenisonthecase

[lizzybeeee]

@ thewardenisonthecase 's Dawn Thorne!

[lizzybeeee]

I feel like another reason for Sten being much less 'intense' then the qunari we see in the future games is because, technically, when we meet him he's Tal-Vashoth.

He's lost his sword/soul, he's failed his mission from the Arishok, and his karatam (fellow soldiers) are all dead. On top of that, the realization that he's lost asala leads to him killing an entire farmhold, (not just the men, but the women and children too!) - literally proving to himself that without the Qun he is lawless and savage, just as he was taught his entire life. Alistair talks about how Sten is regretful of what happened, but that his "regret is the not the same as it is to us" - which I agree with! He's more regretful at his loss of composure/purpose more so than the death of the farmers.

He's stuck in this limbo of being loyal to the Qun, because he genuinely believes in it, while also being confronted with the idea that according to his beliefs he is nothing - his soul is dust. He had come to terms with the idea of dying in that cage because he was less than nothing and he could see no way of making his way in the world without the purpose of the Qun.

Then along comes the Warden who gives him a chance to find a sliver of purpose again: to fight the blight.

The blight/darkspawn is a threat to all, even the Qun, so it doesn't conflict with his beliefs. It's also responsible for the death of his karatam - and in his fade prison we can see that he has a strong camaraderie with his fellow soldiers - so on a personal level he's invested in seeing them destroyed. Sten is, according to the Qun, lawless and chaotic, so why not die with a blade in his hand, even if its not his soul?

Sten's more open to hearing/conversing with the rest of the party because:

1) They're fighting together - He needs to know how to work with them and they are not trained as the Qun trains warriors. He comments in a lot of his banter about the fighting styles/techniques of those he's with.

2) He is Tal-Vashoth - For the time he is without asala, at least. At this point in time he's come to terms with the fact that his death is only delayed - that he will die from the darkspawn or the Qun if he returns to Par Vollen. So why not talk with these people who he's traveling with? What can he lose from it? Most of his conversations are not him attempting to convert others to the Qun, but his attempts to understand how one lives without it.

3) He is someone who needs a strong sense of purpose to function (thanks to growing up under the Qun) and the Warden provides that purpose.

While he's initially distant/critical with those in the party, with time he becomes open to conversing with them outside of arguments/criticism - even joking or teasing them! He's still loyal to the Qun, but he's willing to speak/listen to the perspectives of others because what does he have to lose? He even asks questions/converses with the Warden about the differences between the Qun and life outside of it - even though he doesn't agree, that's way more than the Arishok was willing to do in DA2. He's trying to understand how someone can live without the Qun because it simply does not compute, but he's faced with the reality that somehow people do live without it.

When he is no longer Tal-Vashoth (if you help him locate asala) he maintains the respectful camaraderie/friendship(?) with the Warden - calling them an 'Ashkaari' which is basically 'an enlightened one' when they return his blade. Not to mention how he calls them 'Kadan' and promises to not look for them on the battlefield of the 'eventual' invasion of the Qun in southern Thedas (RIP Qunari War story thread). It comes across to me, at least, that he rationalizes/reconciles his time as a Tal-Vashoth by associating the Warden with the Qun - which is both a sign of massive respect and pure copium lmao.

He says he's 'complete' when he gets asala back and it makes me feel a little sad every time! How much has the Qun shaped/warped his sense of identity that he's unable to see all he accomplished without it? :(

Anyway, this turned into a rant about how I love Sten as a character and how complex and well he was written - top tier writing, 10/10 <3

Something very dear to me in DAO, when it comes to Sten and then Qun is that, unlike the next games, it doesn't feel like the Qun is portrayed in that much of a negative of a light?

Sure, some of its issues are still adressed. Sten will ask 'how are you a woman if you fight' to leliana, morrigan, wynne and a female warden, and it highlights the gender roles in the Qun, but considering that if you play as a female warden you get ask/told again and again that there aren't a lot of wardens or that people are surprised you're a warrior (cof cof howe mentioning its unusual that bryce would train a female cousland as a warrior cof cof) i don't have much complaints with that. it is what it is. And at least, you can stand up to Sten when he says those things.

I think the only time i was like 'ok that is fucked' was when Sten brought up how the Qun treats its mages, because even when he talked about how everyone under the Qun has a role, he doesn't talk in a way that makes you feel like this is some sort of extremely bad and rigid thing. In fact, Sten makes the argument that its better because then people don't have to spend their life trying to fit in into something they're not (and lowkey, Wynne expressed similar sentiments when she talks about that it's better to embrace the role/destiny that the Maker gave you than fighting against it).

But what really drives home to me about home to me is that, at some point, Alistair asks the Warden how they feel about the other companions and when talking about Sten, there's a possbility for Alistair to say that, in the way Sten talks about the Qun, it doesn't feel as vile as the chantry makes it out. And you gotta keep in mind that Alistair spent a good portion of his life living in the chantry, so for him to say that, for me, is a big deal on how the Qun is portrayed through Sten.

I think about this a lot because I honestly was like wow, besides a few things, the Qun seems lowkey to be pretty good until we got to DAI and there was the whole thing with re-education, and hunting tal-vashoth (which, its adressed in DAO, but i feel like they were much more subtle about it). Like heck, even in DA2, I don't think the Qun itself is portrayed that badly, because 1) the Arishok doesn't do shit to Kirkwall until he's provocked like 3 different times and 2) Kirkwall is a shithole, so when he talks about the city, he lowkey makes sense.

Idk. I really liked how the qun was handled in DAO because of Sten and his perspective, and then in DAI and DATV I was just going 'yikes' most of the time.

[rookinthecrownest]

WIP or Snip, You Decide

Thanks for the tag @nightingaletrash :)

Here's a sneak peak at the next instalment of The Day The World Disappeared.

tags for @hawkeish @lightan117 @thewardenisonthecase and any other writing mutuals if y'all have anything in the works!

[unreadpoppy]

Dragon Age Masterlist

EDIT: The rest of my DA fics and the updated version of this masterlist can be found on my other blog, @thewardenisonthecase

Alistair (DAO)

Thank you for caring - Alistair x F!Cousland

Buddy - Alistair x F!Cousland + Dog

After the Archdemon is Slain - Alistair x F!Cousland

Fenris (DA2)

Festis bei umo canavarum - Fenris x F!Hawke - part 1 / part 2

Lucanis Dellamorte (DATV)

Of Nightmares and Sleepless Nights - Lucanis x Grey Warden!Rook

Rest Easy / Early Morning - Lucanis x Grey Warden!Rook

Moments in Between - chapter 1 / chapter 2 / chapter 3 / chapter 4 - Lucanis x Grey Warden!Rook

Honey and Lavender - Lucanis x Grey Warden!Rook

Lucanis Drabble/Ficlet

[lizzybeeee]

The Lucanis vs Illario story would have had greater emotional depth/intrigue if the writers didn't water down how fucked up the Crows are as an organization.

Just some thoughts about how, out of all the side villains, Illario had some great potential to be a really interesting/tragic character in my opinion.

TL;DR: Zevran Aranai has a knife with Caterina's name on it for good reason and Lucanis/Illario need therapy...or whatever the Thedas equivalent is called...talking to Rook, I dunno

Going into DATV as a new player, or even as a returning one, the whitewashing of the Crows has a lot of the potential complexities of that life simply ignored or barely touched upon. The entire 'Illario vs Lucanis' boils down to: Illario seething in the shadows about Lucanis being the 'best boy'™ of the family while Illario is an after thought - which he is.

Let's be real, Illario is not subtle and immediately comes across as the Scar to Lucanis' 'Mufasa'. It's a questline with a very straightforward villain who has pretty lackluster motivations from what info we're provided - being 'I want power and to be the First Talon'. The game does very little explore what motivations he may have beyond being jealous of Lucanis/wanting more power.

However, if you play the quest line knowing what previous games have set up about the Crows - about how cutthroat and brutal the life is behind the glamour - then you can see that the entire Lucanis vs Illario conflict has amazing potential to be a dramatic tragedy.

We've seen how the life of Crow can affect Zevran - someone who was sold into the life through child-slavery. How interesting would it be to see how the life of a Crow can affect someone who was born into it? It's pretty clear in-game that Caterina intends for her grandchildren to carry on the family tradition - despite the fact that this 'family tradition' has likely led to the deaths of most of her grandchildren and however many children she had.

If there's banter about how Illario's/Lucanis' parents/cousins died specifically I haven't heard it, but the impression I got in-game was that it was likely linked to the Crows/politics in some way? Feel free to correct me! Still majorly fucked up that she pushes her grandsons into this life regardless!

Lucanis/Illario's situation was not like Zevran's - who was sold into the Crow's through slavery, with no one to speak up for him. Caterina was a woman who had power, who knew what the life of a Crow meant, and who still pushed those she 'loved' into it because is consolidated her place in the system. For all the Crows talk of 'family' Caterina doesn't seem to give a shit about them unless if they're contributing to the family business in some way - not to mention the whole 'you fail and we kill you' clause of being a Crow in the first place.

In the 'Wigmaker Job' from Tevinter Nights Lucanis talks about how Caterina hit him [also Illario] with her cane for mistakes and had him spend days without food/water. How he used to hate her but now 'realizes' that it was her way of ensuring he survived the life of being an Antivan Crow. Did it end up protecting them? It likely pushed them both to refine their skills out of fear. It's likely that simply by association with her they would be targets and thus needed to know how to take care of themselves and fight.

But why have him as a Crow in the first place? Why not simply train them well to defend themselves? You can't deny that she doesn't benefit from having her grandchildren in the family business - intentionally wanting Lucanis to take over her position as First Talon. The Antivan Crows are a force to be reckoned with and being one brings a whole lot of power in Antiva - being part of the elite of that group even more so.

If the game showed us the ugly reality of the Crows - the brutality of the lifestyle and how cutthroat the organization is, it could have really added some depth to Illario's betrayal - having it be more than "I want more power/respect" to "this is the result of what you taught me was valuable in life."

Warden: "Do you actually enjoy being an assassin?" Zevran: "And why not? There are many things to enjoy about being a Crow in Antiva. You are respected. You are feared. The authorities go out of their way to overlook your trespasses. Even the rewards are nothing to turn your nose up at."

Illario, bitter about Caterina favoring Lucanis - resentful of the fact that she has already decided that Lucanis will be her successor, being offered power by the Venatori (at the expense of the Crows) and accepting because why not? How different is it from what the Crows do? Isn't power and status the whole point of working yourself up in the Crows? Getting into a relationship with Zara because why not? Isn't sex part of the allure of being a Crow? Why can't he have this? Why shouldn't he have this?

Rook: "When we met, it didn't seem like Illario and Caterina were close." Lucanis: "It was hard to be close to her. Even for me. And...I was her favorite."

Why would he have connections to his family? Why should he? Caterina certainly never seemed to value 'family' beyond what they could do for her and their family legacy. Most of his family is already dead, and of those that remain the only parental figure he has obviously favors Lucanis. We don't have a lot of evidence in-game to show that Illario ever really cared for Lucanis, but the prequel story 'The Wake' and Lucanis' own banter imply that they were practically brothers, best friends. Perhaps he did care and then ceased to at some point, perhaps he didn't at all, or perhaps he accepted that an early death for them both was inevitable like everyone else in their family. Dead now or later - what was the difference? At least if Illario sells him out now to the Venatori then he'll get something from it instead of another dead family member to bury.

It's the tragic result of raising a child in an environment where he was taught and experienced the need for self-preservation at all costs. Constantly threatened, punished, and made well aware of that fact that his life was an expendable commodity. Then, when things in the world went to shit he picked the only option that made sense to him. To save himself.

The irony of the potential fall of the Crows, the fall of House Dellamorte, coming at the hands of one of their own - not because he had a change of heart but because he was taught too well by them. The Crows view those that fail them as disposable, someone to be discarded - if the Crows fail Illario, what is to stop him from applying that mindset to them?

But this would require the writers to acknowledge how messed up the Crows are and we can't do that to our 'Noble Freedom Fighters'™. They'll also need to address Zevran's existence and what lore was established in past games...and we can't have that either lmao.

[reagan-the-saunders]

@thewardenisonthecase I love this so much btw

not enough of us are talking about this but

DAO JOINING CHALICE HELLO???????

IT'S JUST SITTING THERE ON A PEDASTAL IN WEISSHAUPT???

please tell me someone snagged that thing before Weisshaupt was destroyed that fucking cup has been through so much

[rookinthecrownest]

big thank you to @thewardenisonthecase ;^;

Hi, hello it's me again. SOS. I need help for that Rookanis fic where the team has to find Rook and pull them out of the Fade. I have the makings of an idea for how they're going to do that but I'm not sure if it makes sense?? Lmk if it's okay to slide into ur DM's so I can run the general idea by another person so I don't sound insane.