#v; a new path ( merrill

[ourdawncomes]

@skyheld​ asked: How did your character first hear of the Inquisition? What did they think?

It was a whisper, at first. An echo from across the ocean, quiet in the wake of the Breach. The world was ending, after all. What did it matter if the Chantry found a new name to call themselves?

She might have ignored it entirely, were it not for one reason. They still had Varric.

Merrill answered the end of the world with a letter, sent across the sea to someone she wasn’t sure still lived. But Varric answered, it seemed even the end of the world couldn’t stop him from telling stories. A small rolled up parchment was delivered to her door months later, long after the sight of the Breach above the vhenadahl had almost begun to seem natural.

In short, Merrill didn’t think much of the Inquisition. She’d been keeping out of the Mage-Templar War and all the mess it had caused, and were it not for the Breach the Inquisition seemed very much tangled up in that. That one of its key members was involved in Varric’s interrogation didn’t help matters. The first news that she hears that isn’t speculation and rumours from other elves in the Alienage is a letter from Varric, which can potentially soften her opinion.

[ourdawncomes]

I don’t really like adding on comments correcting posts where there’s lore mistakes. Most of the time it doesn’t actually matter it’s just lore mistakes and we all make them, but since this is going on my blog b/c I think the stuff abt Marethari is interesting to think about I wanted to clarify in a separate post:

Dorian doesn’t use blood magic, Mary Kirby made a mistake about how Necromancy functions. While there are cases where the two schools align (what happened to Leandra springs to mind) Necromancy as we use it in Inquisition doesn’t draw power from blood, but the Fade and spirits. So the Inquisitor, Dorian, and the Mortalitasi of Nevarra aren’t necessarily blood mages by way of being Necromancers. There are some uncomfortable moral implications in some Necromancy spells (namely characters like Cole and Solas express discomfort with the binding of spirits), but they have nothing to do with blood magic lmao.

[ourdawncomes]

@lone-blade​​ asked: “I'm sorry I didn't write you sooner.”

“Oh! It’s... it’s alright. It’s never too late to start.” She struggles to keep her hands from shaking as she dabs the blood caked to Carver’s skull. Kirkwall’s sky still smolders with the ruins of its Chantry and every Templar blade is eager to wet itself with mage blood. It’s hard to imagine a tomorrow, one where she might sit at her table and read one of Carver’s letters, come to her from some far-away place she’ll never see with her own eyes. “I’m sure you were very busy.”

How much have they missed, keeping busy as they have? How many days has she lost to her mirror? How many days slipped Carver by as he rooted evil out beneath the earth’s surface? Too many, she’s sure.

The cut comes away clean, irritated and pink, but the bleeding has ebbed. She releases a breath she’d kept caught in her breath, and prays the smile which turns her lips is reassuring. “What would you have written, if you’d the chance?”

[ourdawncomes]

While Merrill considers the Kirkwall crew her family, it’s not necessarily always in the best sense. Fenris, Anders, and Aveline have all been derisive or cruel to her, and while she likes them, they’re not always good for her to be around. After she returns to Kirkwall she would reach out to Fenris. Their paths after Dragon Age II are complimentary, with elves doubtlessly being targets for slavers, although whether their relationship would continue to be hostile or evolve is obviously something that falls to the Fenris. Aveline she may check in on occasionally, and I doubt she’d know how to contact Anders if she wanted to. Sometimes found families are as toxic as real ones, and going by in-game canon alone I think Merrill would be best served by limiting contact with that chunk of the Kirkwall companions.*

The rest, however, she actively keeps in contact with. Varric’s busybody nature frustrates her on occasion, but he means well, and she’d want his help a lot. She loves Isabela with her whole heart, but doesn’t expect to see her very often because piracy isn’t in her cards. I like to think Merrill writes the Hawke twins starting after Act I, perhaps less so to Circle Bethany and Templar Carver due to their location. Sebastian would also receive letters and the very rare visit, as she does go to Starkhaven to perform outreach with other Alienages.

After Act III Merrill’s found family becomes those in the Alienage, they’re the people she’s most looking forward to seeing after leaving to serve the Inquisition as advisor.

* All of this is based entirely in the game’s text, I’m obviously willing to adjust to different portrayals!

[ourdawncomes]

❝ I guess there’s worse reasons for you wanting to become a pirate. ❞ for merrill pls :3

Castle in the Sky Starters | Accepting | @onlyliberty

“Isabela always made it sound so– romantic. The sea spraying in your face, the wind in your hair, but then again I was terribly seasick the last time I was on a boat, and I don’t fancy there being so many men hanging around. Not that I don’t appreciate them, but it is nice to know I can go home and not have to think about them… or smell them.”

“But it’s been three years since I’ve last seen Isabela. I think if she were to hear there’s a Dread Pirate Merrill she might at least come see what all the fuss is about.”

[ourdawncomes]

( ♡ - merrill! )

Party Banter Meme | Accepting | @giantsreach

Merrill: Was your father a mage as well, Carver?Carver: He was.Merrill: It must have been nice, growing up around so much magic.Carver: Try ‘exhausting,’ instead. Even before the Blight, my sisters’ talents forced us to move twice, just in case.Merrill: Oh. I suppose that would be a lot without aravels to carry your things.

(Standing outside the qunari compound)

Merrill: Do you think you could lift me?Carver: What? Oh, easily, yes.Merrill: And what about Isabela?Carver: Yes...?Merrill: Varric?Carver: Merrill, where are you going with all this?Merrill: Well, I was thinking if one of us sits on your shoulders with a big coat on, we could sneak into the compound... Oh, but they don’t wear coats, do they? Never mind.

(After Act I, during Legacy or Mark of the Assassin)

Merrill: You’re missed in Kirkwall, you know.Carver: Am I?(If prior to All That Remains)Merrill: Of course. I can tell your mother thinks of you often, even if she doesn’t always say it out loud. Not to me, at least.(If after All That Remains)Merrill: Of course. Hawke’s dog still whines when he hears your name.Carver: Is that all?Merrill: Well, no. I miss you, too.Carver: Do you, now?Merrill: You were the only one I could ever beat at cards. (Giggles) Although I suspect you let me.Carver: (Laughs) Only some of the time.

Merrill: Do you like being a Grey Warden?Carver: It’s not always easy, but every darkspawn I kill is one less that’ll ever hurt someone.Merrill: Good... I’m glad. It suits you. You always seemed sort of lost in Kirkwall, and not the sort of lost a ball of twine could fix.Carver: I guess I had to stumble onto something I was good at sooner or later.Merrill: You were good at a lot of things, but you weren’t happy being them. That’s what matters.

[ourdawncomes]

“Hawke isn’t home.” She tries not to sound too nervous, but the words just tumble out of her mouth, like fish still slick from the sea. Merrill looks towards the staff secured to the young woman’s back, making an effort not to wonder what a Circle mage could want here. A poor effort, her blood turns cold as she wonders if Meredith could have sent her. No, that would be awfully out of character.

Nervous, she smooths the front of her tunic even after she presses the creases out. “I can, em, I can take a message, if you like?” Better than shutting the door in her face, and perhaps she’ll be taken as a messenger rather than a very polite burglar. “What’s your name?”

❀ @avcxis | avexis

[ourdawncomes]

❛ I dislike the feel of these woods. ❜ / Sebastian for Merrill

The Last Unicorn | Selectively Accepting | @tallowes

“You’ve been spending too much time with Varric,” she teases, sticking her tongue between her teeth. Sebastian does have a point, however, The Vinmark mountains had certainly been unkind to them before. But it’s certainly prettier here at Château Haine than the wastelands Corypheus had drawn them to.

“It’s not all bad. A little dangerous, maybe, but we’ve been through worse. What’s a few Orlesians and a hungry wyvern compared to a qunari invasion?” A roar echoes down a mountain pass as if on cue, and Merrill turns on her heel, setting her sights upon the treetops. The tips of her ears angle forward and back, trying to find where it had come from. “I’ve never seen a wyvern before. It’s quite exciting, when you don’t think too hard about the many ways they could eat you.”

[ourdawncomes]

repost of a codex meme prompt

5. a note/letter found in Merrill’s pocket

Merrill,

Don’t forget to eat today! I also boiled clean water for you to drink, too!

Sincerely Love, Yesterday’s Merrill

14. someting written about Merrill post-Trespasser

(a note left on a table in the Crossroads)

Fen’Harel explained the fluctuations, the one’s you worried might be more qunari. Apparently it’s a former member of the Inquisition, an elf named Merrill who mended one that had broken.

He’s instructed us not to approach her, and I would advise the same. Any hands capable of mending June’s creation are capable of doing much worse.

[ourdawncomes]

tag drop

#cracks in the vein ( crack )

#sulahn’nehn ( music )

#the dawn will come ( queue ) merrill tags

#the dalish pariah ( merrill | about )

#what’s in your mirror? ( merrill | visage ) #it’s a keeper’s job to remember ( merrill | ic )

#we have our own stories( merrill | headcanons )

#i haven’t exactly had any friends ( merrill | squad )

#merrill x bethany tag tba

#v; we fly on wings and wheels ( merrill | dalish )

#v; first in exile ( merrill | acts 1 & 2 )

#v; a new path ( merrill | act 3 )

#v; emma ghildirthalen ( merrill | inquisition )

#v; daisy chains ( merrill | modern )

vivienne tags

#sentimentality is not an option ( vivienne | about )

#the high priestess  ( vivienne | visage )

#i’m never truly out of my element ( vivienne | ic )

#a leash can be pulled from either end ( vivienne | headcanons )

#inquisition tag tba

#v; the jewel of the high court of orlais ( vivienne | circle )

#v; great things are beginning my dear ( vivienne | inquisition )

#v; magic exists to serve man & never to rule over him ( vivienne | divine )

# v; a leash can be pulled from either end ( vivienne | enchanter )