#varric anon

[tethrras]

iirc they never gave an Exact timeline on when he and bianca met/got together but in dai when the inky asks how long they've been together he says 15 years, so that would mean when he was 26!! which is interesting bc there's a break between his work from 9:23 dragon to 9:33 dragon 🔎so unless there are books we don't know about he stopped writing three years before we know he and bianca started a relationship and then did not write again until hard in hightown after he met hawke .

and YES that was me 😭 like the fact that his greatest fear is that he became his parents . is so . like it's about the loyalty to orzammar and tradition which he has rejected totally (bc it rejected them first cough) (the same way he gets so mad about anders and bartrand after their perceived betrayals) but it's also about his dad being a cheat who held nothing sacred and his mother burying her head in the sand to deal with her grief at what she's lost . i want to study him under a microscope !!!! there are so many layers to everything about him !!!!

literally vomited in my mouth when i remembered he is still "with" bianca or in love with her in canon i gaslit myself into not believing that to be true. ACTUALLY THROWING UPPP I HATE HER I AHTE HER I HATE HER. altho this is truly insane bc it makes me realize that varric and bianca were literally together for like. No amount of time lmao esp bc we can assume she didn't leave him for her husband or whatever Right before act 1 started... they could've been together for like 3-4 years max. OK SO ONCE AGAIN I CONDEMN THE DRAGON AGE DEVS FOR NOT MAKING HIM ROMANCEABLE

but anyway yes this is literally driving me insane ur so right and smart. i feel like u might enjoy the super long post i just rbed about varric.... if u read it pls share ur thoughts and if u agree/disagree i'm so curious

[catebees]

I'd love to see Varric in your style 🥺 he's my biggest comfort character to be ngl c:

Peepaw don't do anything rash you're not as agile as you were once

[mohntilyet]

*not sure if he's actually a companion but he is in the promo poster and seemingly part of the cast so...

[dragonagetakes]

i want to add onto the varric/hawke asker and say that in inquisition, Varric clearly has at least *some* regret for the spotlight he put on Hawke. Yeah, it was great fun telling wild and thrilling stories for some time, but when it became dangerous to his friend, who he cares about… anyways, there’s a line that he says (mumbles) to Cassandra about already putting Hawke through enough, and that’s why he didn’t tell her where he was.

I think they’re incredibly fascinating and I would love to put them in a queer-platonic sort of relationship. They intrigue me.

-🐭

.

[thatrandombystander]

I read a da2 fanfic that implied Varric paid the pickpocket. I mean coming to someone's rescue unprompted would make them see you in a more positive light than just walking up and trying to sell the idea of teaming up

(In reference to this post)

Yeah for real Varric and Hawke's meeting was so perfect to make him seem cool and friendly, that the only two options I'll accept are either him lying to Cassandra or he orchestrated the whole event

[crossdressingdeath]

I hope later varric realizes how much of his foot he ate when he told quiz it's hard to see them as a person, and the only reason he can't apologize and explain himself to quiz is bc they're too busy 🤧

I really can't get over how that line comes from Varric, of all people. Varric whose main role in the story is knowing the previous Important Hero of the age and who talks a lot about how being a hero has taken enough from his best friend. But then, I guess you could say that part of Varric's character is that no matter how much he cares for people a part of him is always looking at them as fodder for his stories, and him seeing Quiz as an icon instead of a person could be part of that? There is sort of a weird feel to him making Hawke and Quiz the protagonists of his heroic tales about the events of DA2 and DAI respectively, especially if you play one or both of them as being an unwilling hero and miserable in their role. Like, "Is he keeping quiet about that because it's personal and the world doesn't deserve to know about it, or because it gets in the way of a good story if the hero openly, explicitly does not want to be there?" is a question that can definitely be asked about Varric and it's something that neither of his appearances thus far have really gotten into. He loves his friends, but his most famous book comes from treating his best friend's life as plot fodder, and there's no evidence that he ever... y'know, asked? Hawke and Quiz before he turned what depending on player choices may have been the worst periods of their lives into bestsellers? (Do they get a cut of the royalties at least?) And some things Varric comes out with are like... as an example, Varric pushing a romanced Bull for details about what Quiz is like in the bedroom is kind of fun especially with how Bull shuts him down immediately, but it's also... y'know, incredibly invasive. There's a lot to get into with a character whose most notable actions mostly involve turning our heroes' lives into books whether they like it or not and I wish Varric's DAI quest was about that instead of his shitty sort of girlfriend.

But yeah, it's really awful that in his friendship cutscene of all places Varric says that he struggles to see Quiz as a person. I mean, DAI is very much a story about Quiz's personhood being stripped from them! They're the Herald of Andraste, they're the Inquisitor, they're a religious figurehead, they're the hero to all the good little Andrastians, they are not allowed to just exist as a person. Especially if you're playing a non-human or a mage, but even non-mage Trevelyan has a huge number of expectations placed on them. Like... in DAO you have to save Ferelden, in DA2 you have to save Kirkwall (again, and again, and again, and- you get the idea), but it's really only in DAI where you are expected to be a specific person, even if you absolutely physically can't be because you are not a human non-mage noble! So Quiz is already in a situation where everything they are as a person is being denied in favour of this image the world has of the perfect Andrastian Inquisitor, and their inner circle are basically the only people who ever treat them as a person in their own right instead of just "the Herald of Andraste" (and even then only sometimes; for every time a member of the inner circle shows concern for Quiz's wellbeing, one of them comes out with something like "you're not allowed to believe Mythal is real because you're the Herald of Andraste"). And now one of said inner circle, one of the people Quiz is closest to in the whole of the Inquisition, is looking them in the eye and telling them he struggles to see them as a person. It's a horrible, horrible thing to think about someone who you claim to care about! It's an even more horrible thing to say! Varric looks someone he supposedly sees as a dear friend in the eye and tells them he forgets that they're a person and absolutely nothing comes of that! Like, that should've had a pretty serious impact on their relationship????? But nope, nothing, Quiz doesn't even respond to it. Like... I get that it's different situations, but it really does remind me of Solas's refusal to recognize the current people of Thedas as people. Except with Solas his failure to recognize others as people is a central part of his character and him being pushed to realize he was wrong via Quiz's friendship/love and being terrified of the fact that if Quiz is real that means everyone is real and bringing down the Veil will cause another apocalypse on top of the one he's trying to undo is one of the most fascinating things about him; with Varric it's just Quiz specifically he doesn't see as "a real person", and it's a throwaway line that the story does nothing with. If nothing else I would've liked to see more done with that parallel.

And yeah, I really would've liked a sequence where Varric realizes just how far he shoved his foot down his throat by telling Quiz, someone whose story revolves heavily on being treated like they're not a person (even if it's in the quote-unquote "positive" way of "You're more than just a person") that despite being one of their closest friends in the organization he also struggles to see them as anything more than just the "Herald of Andraste" and... actually apologizes for it. But it doesn't happen! Very sad.

[brekkie-e]

Hey so, while I can agree that varric is nice, not all of us want to fuck him? Some of us, while it's gut wrenching, do actually love the solas romance.

The post was a joke.

Though. This one’s hard to let slide. You see, I have a crippling case of what is in these here parts referred to as lesbianism. So to tell you the truth, dear. I don’t want to fuck either of them. But I apologize for making a post that was not catered specifically to you.

I don’t even think I implied that I, myself, would romance him were he an option. Simply that it would be one of the most popular ones if it were available to players.

That being said, the fun of these games is to make characters and tell their story. So, personally, I rarely pick my character’s romance based off whom I myself would personally be dtf for.

I stand by my statement though. If Varric could fuck, we wouldn’t be in this situation. We wouldn’t be in a lot of situations. Maybe BioWare wouldn’t be an on fire dumpster.

[viiisenyas]

imagine they brought back both varric and sebastian for dai (maybe not both as companions). them becoming best friends would be the funniest thing

YES I NEED

[wetcatspellcaster]

what are ur thoughts on the companions on da2? and fave romance option? ((also hope ur having a nice day!!!))

hey lovely!

unfortunately my feelings on the DA2 characters are mixed. I think they are good characters who are very underwritten, due to the nature of the game they are in/its rushed timeline etc. DA2 is the game I've played least but read the most fanfic for - I think that pretty accurately summarises my opinions on the cast! I like seeing those characters when they are fully fleshed out and their contradictions given room to breathe rather than just abruptly revealed and left feeling jarring, and when the 7yr time frame of the game feels real like it does in fic :)

As for romances... none of the DA2 romances are it for me!! Which is really sad!! My favourite is Isabela. I also enjoyed Fenris (classic me-branded choice of romancing him as a mage) but to me it felt again, underwritten - the idea of having such a fire line as "what has magic touched that it doesn't spoil?" but then not having that revisited at a later point is such a shame.

I was also fully ready to romance Anders in my first playthrough based on how much I loved him in Awakening, but the (justifiable) change in his character also meant it didn't hit for me, bc I'd created a purple Hawke who didn't really match the intensity of his DA2 energy. I have never written fic about them but the thing I have the most thoughts/feelings about is what could've been if my purple!Hawke and Anders had met earlier in his own character arc - there's a big 'what if' there and that's the only 'missed chance' romance I kind of get ill over.

anyway, my favourite romance options are Aveline and Varric, bioware just doesn't agree with me on that :')

[varrics-chesthair]

Ur sexy. Sexier than Varric will ever be. Sexyman you should be in these polls so i can vote for you

[theheraldsrest]

Hey! I really really love your blog! If I may request, during downtime, how would the members of the inner circle react to find the Inquisitor drawing/sketching them?

“Companions react to Inquisitor drawing/sketching them”

After our *cough* little thing with Bull, let’s have some fluff, shall we? Thank you anon for the ask!

-Lord Lex

Cullen

“You did this? It’s certainly…it’s…how did you even…it’s amazing.”

-So surprised, no words. It makes him feel a little special that you’d choose to sketch him but also very embarrassed. In return, he tries drawing you. Might not be as good and there are a few rough sketches that were thrown in the fire, but he wanted to return the favor. 

Josephine

“Oh! Look at the detail and the softness! I wouldn’t have even thought it was me from how stunning it is!”

-Absolutely gushing over it. Josey’s always had a fascination for the arts and to be the subject of the piece from someone close to her? Adores it, even asks to keep it. She has it tucked away in one of her favorite books. Will always compliment your art even when talking to dignitaries.

Leliana

“I commend you on your artistic talent. Though, I’d ask you not to sketch me. Perhaps one of the ravens would make better practice?”

-Like Josephine, Leliana has an eye for art. She loves looking at the little details in your sketches and finds it a surprise that her face is amongst the papers. As much as she appreciates it, she’d rather her face remain a secret. She is your spy master, after all. Though, if she becomes Divine, she keeps the sketch as one of her favorite pieces of her. 

Vivienne

“Darling, as much as I’d like to say you're wasting your talents by leading the Inquisition instead of honing your skills, you are equally talented in both. Most usually fail to make me look this stunning.”

-It might not show on her face or in her words but she loves it. Several times people have been commissioned to paint her yet none come even close to your level of detail. More points if it’s of her smiling or laughing, the lines on her face as well as the wrinkle around her eyes gives her a sense of…normalcy. If she becomes Divine, she commissions you to do her portrait, no one else.

Varric

“You drew me? I think that’s gotta be one of the scariest pieces of your art I’ve ever seen! When you're done, can I keep it?”

-Though it doesn’t sound like it, he brags about it constantly. Even when he’s making fun of his slightly crooked nose or how his eyes might seem smaller than other dwarves, he’s complimenting the skill you put into the very minute details of his face. Varric will try to pay you for it even if you refuse, later trying to commission a drawing of Hawke when they come around.

Cole

“Oh, it’s me! Not really, but it’s Cole. But you’re trying to draw me…I can still remember his face, then.”

-He’ll stare at it for hours, his shoulders down. It’s been sometime since he’d been able to see his own face, forgetting that he even had a face. To see you draw that face, the real Cole, just from looking at him makes him happy. Will ask to look at it every now and then, just to make sure it’s still the same.

Solas

“I must say, you are quite talented and steady with your hands. It does allow others to see how the artist sees. You certainly make me seem…at peace.”

-From one artist to another, he gives you high compliments with very few complaints. It is unusual to see him drawn in such a way since he’s so used to seeing only the mosaics. He meant to get rid of it when he left the Inquisition, but just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Cassandra

“Inquisitor, though your craft is very beautiful and I admire how you can make these pieces, I must ask you not to sketch me.”

-Don’t get her wrong, she loves seeing your sketches but it’s mostly out of formality (and somewhat embarrassment) that she asks not to be your subject. If she becomes Divine, it’s one of the only pieces she prefers over the paintings. Though she does ask you, if you have the time, to draw something for her. When you give her a perfect picture of her brother and her, it’s one of the few times she truly hugs you.

The Iron Bull

“Holy shit. I’m alright when it comes to sketching, but you make it look pretty damn easy while so complicated! You even got my scars and the detail on my patch! Damn, boss!”

-Bull is used to doing quick sketches, usually of small details to make sure he could track someone or to remember something easier. Never had he really seen himself drawn so picture perfect that it completely baffles him. He looks at all the details with a smile on his face.

Dorian

“I can’t believe you managed to get my good side! In all honesty, though, this is remarkable. And not just because it’s me.”

-He had studied some art pieces before and never really found any he liked, but he has now found one of his favorite artists. Constantly asks if you’ve done any new pieces just so he can look at the heart that goes into them. Ask if you could teach him to sketch as such so that he can add better drawings to his research notes.

Sera

“What the fuck! That’s me! How the fuck! How did you do this! You even got my eyes to be lined up! How the hell did you do that?!”

-We all know Sera’s drawing style. She keeps saying the same things over and over again because she’s at a loss for words. Except for cuss words. Along with the rooftop hangouts, she insists that you two just draw together sometimes. Some of the goofiest drawings come from these times, especially one of a cartoonish Coryshit falling from a very detailed tower.

A little speech bubble near it says “Oh shit, I shat myself!”

Blackwall

“I…I’m honored to be one of your subjects. Not to blow my own horn, but this looks stunning. You really are something special, hm?”

-Blackwall has done a lot of sketching himself and finds your art a breath of fresh air. Other than looking at bits and pieces of his reflection, he usually tries to avoid seeing himself. So when he sees your drawing of him, he almost doesn’t recognize himself. You both trade sketches of each other just for fun and even sketch together.

[tethrras]

straight-up i could analyze varric and the dasher's men being the only book he wrote with a dwarven hero forever. like he literally wrote himself out of the narrative after that . because it was too close to home? too blatantly him wearing his heart on his sleeve? did bartrand ever call him on it, if he even READ the damn book? did bianca during a fight? or is it because he stopped thinking he could be the hero? because he CHOSE to sink into the background because that way he can avoid vulnerability and failure and rejection and conflict??? 🧐✍ which also ties to how his character arc in inquisition (and his relationship with hawke) is about him growing as a person and becoming someone who will take action after purposefully avoiding the weight of responsibility . hence veilguard and him becoming viscount 🧐✍thank u for listening to my unhinged varric tedtalks

DON'T EVEN I DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT LIKE. WHAT EVERYONE ELSE THOUGHT ABOUT HIM WRITING. do we know when he and bianca first got together btw and what books it might've tied into.......... i'm sure you do you smart talented genius whomst im kissing on the lips....

[dragonagecompanions]

Why do you think Varric made the Inquisitor a Comte? Wouldn’t that make them outrank him? Dumar seemed pretty powerless and I always thought that Varric got shoved in the rule to make him in charge of the recovery of Kirkwall but not actually of Kirkwall?

Sweet gentle anon, I know it was not your intention but you have stumbled into one of my favorite conversational topics and I hope you are ready for the fall out.

Welcome, children, to Fereldone talks about Thedas' Geo/Theopolitical bullshit!

(tl:dr at the bottom)

So, very important things to know going in: Kirkwall's political history is weird. Founded by the Tevinter Imperium in -620 Ancient (which is DA equivalent of BC/BCE, or the time before the ages ascribed to history by the chantry), it was a mining city. After a slave tried to kill the Archon the Magisterium decided they needed to start importing- and presumably breaking the will of- slaves farther from the heart of the imperium and thus the City of Chains gained purpose.

I could throw a lot of facts and names at you, but here's the basics-- it housed millions of slaves over hundreds of years, at the end of the ancient age they rebelled and overthrew it. Kirk means black in Alamarri, the stone they mined there was jet black, and so Kirkwall (black walls) becomes a Free city. It suffered during the fourth blight in the Exalted Age (fifth age, for those keeping score at home), was conquered by the Qunari in the Storm Age (seventh age) and was then conquered by the Orlesians. Orlais was on a roll with the whole 'we own everything whoops killed your ancestral leaders', but in the Blessed age (eighth age) the people retaliate and overthrow the empire to regain independence.

For reasons I can only assume are laziness and a desire not to change all the paperwork, the leader of Kirkwall is still referred to by the Orlesian word Viscount/Viscomte. Bear with me, this is important later.

We are now in the early dragon age (9th age, and when Inquisition happens). The first two rulers of free Kirkwall sucked. Basically they blockaded their own port and made people pay a fortune to get in and trade. This didn't sit well with the Chantry, who would much rather do that themselves, and in 9:14 Divine Beatrix II (later saved by Cassandra!) tells the Templars to strong arm him into submission talk some sense into the viscount.

The knight commander is killed in the exchange, and so his second command Meredith Stannard steps up to try her hand at negotiations. It goes poorly, so she arrests and jails the Viscount and essentially takes control of the city with full Chantry approval. Now the Templars are essentially in control of the city, and so they appoint a puppet leader (Dumar) to play act in control. But Meredith is actually in charge, and everyone knows it.

Including Elthina, who named her Knight Commander. This is why the Chantry never actually does anything about templar abuses.

So! If you are still with me, this is where Viscount becomes important. There are some wibbly bits about how you treat Sebastian Vael in DA2, but essentially Kirkwall decides that it's time to be an actual city state and not a poorly run Theocracy. As the only man with a plan (and the money and influence to do it), Varric steps in to help his home town. Ecstatic at not being responsible for that, the nobles (comtes) band together and put him in charge.

So while yes, in Orlais Viscount be beneath comte, Kirkwall has been so broken up and conquered and messed with over the years that names and titles are meaningless. In my personal opinion, Varric ennobles the inquisitor so that they will always have a staunch ally amongst the backbiting Kirkwaller nobles. It's also a nice and generous a decent thing to do, of course, but Varric is very good at making something do a lot of things for him all at once.

(Also, Varric knows exactly what that key does. He just ensured that someone smart enough and invested enough in peace will always be able to either open or close the harbor--making sure that the people who depend on him will be safe no matter what.)

Personally, the Trespasser epilouge is useless. It's the result of not having a head writer to review things, and the sweet but misguided attempt to give us closure if DA4 never happened. Hawke doesn't come back to Kirkwall. They are in Weisshaupt (if not in the Fade), and that plotIine will likely be in the final game. The Inquisition in whatever form it still has will be heading north, possibly with Kirkwall as an operating base, and this way the Inquisitor (who is confirmed to not be playabe in DA4) will have a reason to be there and not in Tevinter.

That's my read, anyway.

tl;dr Kirkwall has weird history that led to odd ways of organizing their nobility, Varric wants friends in places almost as high as him, shit's going down in the north and I think the inquisitor will be in Kirkwall so the writers needed a reason to put them there.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Mod Fereldone

[pillowprincessvarric]

Dragon Age Inquisition companions react to you asking them to match their freak 💕💕💕

(for anon ☺️)

Varric:

Cole:

Blackwall:

[buttercupagere]

varric tethras as a caregiver <3

requested by anon!

[sapphim]

I feel like that anon probably should have been in response to me saying that: I think that dadw could and should start with solas killing varric off in the prologue as a special easter egg for dgaider since he never got the chance to kill him off in that canceled exalted march dlc like he wanted, which is definitely a thing that I've said before and am saying now again, about the hypothetical funny version of dadw that will always exist in my mind. I don't remember what it was actually in response to but this is the narrative I've constructed around it in my mind, btw