#victim: uldred

[massgrav]

Purged agony, all the grief Acceptance, my arms aloft, my crucifix Lived my way Fall away

—

Plague patient n.2 - Pneumonic

[explodingchantry]

Anders isn't my problematic fave because he isn't problematic. I think the wider concept of anders being 'wrong' the fandom has is a clear example of how biased the writing has been in the games. It's the same reason why people hate Jowan, or why they think the kinloch hold mages were stupid. There's a clear bias in the writing and framing of it all that guides the player towards feeling negatively.

The majority of answers you can give Jowan in Dao are negative, mocking, or downright insulting. The ones who aren't are just... Neutral. You can be a bit sympathetic to him in the circle origin but by the time you meed him in redcliff most of your dialogue choices are so fucking mean. In my replay I was trying desperately to be nice and sympathetic to him but the best you can do is be neutral and let him go but for every rude dialogue option there is no "you've been through something horrible, I'm sorry" or "you were manipulated, loghain took advantage of your vulnerability, I'm sorry" it's soooooo.

Likewise, I always make sure to speak to every single npc in the mage origins and the One mention of uldred before the broken circle quest is from the one mage who tells you about the different political faction enchanters are in, and it's with absolute disdain. That mage thinks uldred is annoying and it's implied that the other enchanters think so, too. Uldred who was an activist for mage liberation is treated as annoying for being an activist.

Then he turns out to be a blood mage and to have killed the majority of the circle, turning them into abominations. The message is clear: those who seek liberation are wicked. In the first game of the series, thus in the game which introduced the concept of circles at all, their existence is justified by the text. It overtly says: look at all those foolish mages, how dangerous they can be when One of them is wicked. Can you imagine if they were free? Can you imagine those abominations' destruction if they were out in the open?

Something similar happens in the mage origin, with Jowan. Through the whole origin, whilst Jowan is painted as annoying, he's definitely seen as a victim. Up until he uses blood magic, that is. Suddenly, the player is likely supposed to think "oh, so they were right to want to make him tranquil after all". Instead of being a way to show that the circle will often turn innocent mages tranquil, it shows you that greagoir was right to distrust Jowan, because he was indeed a blood mage. Instead of showing you how paranoid those in power are about mages, the writing justifies their fear and hatred.

Bear in mind this is the first game and likely the very first thing that happens to a lot of new players. The game does not expect you to know the intricacies of its lore yet, doesn't expect you to understand that blood magic is actually fucking neutral unless you sacrifice people for it. You might be tempted to argue that it's setting up for that realisation later and for you to feel bad about Jowan later, realizing he was led to blood magic because it was his only solution, because he and all other mages are caged like dogs (except this is ferelden, so the dogs are better treated than them). But then you've got the redcliff fiasco where it's obvious the writers expect you to fucking hate his guts

And while dragon age 2 is more overt in its depiction of mage suffering, it also tries to pass on the idea that kirkwall is a special case, that it's only the gallows that are this bad. That it's just Meredith whose craaazeyyy 🤪 and not just Meredith being a product of a corrupt system. The writers expect you to think of Anders as an unstable extremist, or as his writer puts it, a "bipolar terrorist" (note that ofc there's nothing fucking wrong with being bipolar, but I don't think his writer cares!)

With different writers and the exact same set of events, Anders blowing up the chantry would be easily recognized as a positive, as an act of justice, of rightful rebellion. Instead it's seen as a tragedy, a mistake. Instead Anders is categorized as a villain, morally grey even though Hawke themselves has a higher death toll than he ever will.

It's a lesson, I think. In narrative bias.

[the-rebel-archivist]

15 10 Lines of Dialogue - Frederick Amell

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

Tagged by @dreadfutures, thank you! Tagging @askweisswolf, @magicmissiled @theluckywizard

"You promised that I could live as a hero in a way that no other Grey Wardens have been able to, believing it was what I wanted. Perhaps it was, once, but now I taste only bitterness and the emptiness of a lonely future. I spend my days hating and loving you by turns, never sure which emotion is the truer."

“Let me in to your plans. You say Kieran has a destiny before him; teach me to understand it and let me help you. I need a purpose, like you have purpose.”

"I knew every flagstone, every chest placed neatly at the foot of every bed. It was a prison, I know that now, but for sixteen years it was where I passed every minute of every day, laughed with friends, ate meals, lost myself in tales of adventure."

"If you can’t find inspiration in standing where legends once walked there’s someone else who’s more than happy to listen to me go on.” He turned away from her and knelt down before his beloved war hound, Calenhad. “Let me tell you the stories about the Rebel Queen,” he began.

“I’m not afraid of death, not really. I fear my death having no meaning. I fear going on a quest that may ultimately be a fool’s errand to lengthen my life, losing the time I might have had with my family, and dying anyway.”

"My travel companions look to me like I’m the Maker returned; some have even taken to calling me “Warden-Commander” again even though I am nothing of the sort. Without you to ground me I fear that I may return with an inflated sense of self-importance and then what will become of me? I shall be truly insufferable. Clearly I must be rescued from myself."

“But what use am I if not to pester you until you smile at me, my carnivorous plant of a woman?” “Do not restrict me to an object of admiration, nor yourself to the position of admirer. ‘Tis a folly I abhor. Discover your use without my involvement.” “Perhaps you’re right.” He sighed. “Nevertheless, I should like to stay as we are forever.” “Would you forget your duty and the destiny that has been appointed for you? The man I know, his head full of ambitions toward heroism and tongue singing the praises of the great kings of this land would not. We would both tire of an aimless life devoid of purpose within a fortnight.”

"They were supposed to be happy here. They were supposed to be protected, but they had been abandoned by the ones meant to keep them safe! What use are the Templars if their only solution is to murder indiscriminately without trial or attempt to differentiate victims from instigators? Both mage and Templar were affected by Uldred’s machinations, their minds no longer their own, and yet only the mages needed be sacrificed in the name of safety."

“Everything that is in my power to grant you, you have. The protection of my body and my magic I will grant to you, your favours I will wear with love and pride, all of my devotion I lay at your feet, but I can give you no more. I am your servant, my queen. That is all.”

"Let anyone who comes after know that we were happy here. Grievous duty beckoned but while these walls remain may they remember the love of those who came before."

[crossdressingdeath]

Didn't Irving also set it up so that the mages could easily find books on blood magic to tempt them so that the Templars would get their victim quota filled? I seem to remember something like that, but I haven't played the game in ages. Also Irving's response if you tell him about Jowan's plan is more aimed at Lily than anything else. He seems to resent the Chantry (understandable) and takes it out on her, more so than Jowan.

I believe the prevailing theory is that Uldred was tricking young mages into getting involved in blood magic (with the theory going that Jowan was one of his victims) and then tipping Irving off so Irving could tell the Templars, with how much Irving knew about the details of the plan unclear. Irving does eventually remove the books on blood magic from display (they're in a pile in his office), but it is a little suspicious that he had books on blood magic out in plain sight in the library to begin with. Also that the Templars didn't do anything about those books existing and being on the library shelves where anyone could get at them. Basically while there's no clear evidence that Irving was part of Uldred's plans there does seem to have been a fair amount of entrapment going on with the apprentices being deliberately pushed into desperation and then exposed to perfect opportunities to learn blood magic, and if Irving wasn't aware that it was going on he was likely deliberately blinding himself to it.

But there really is something horrible about how Irving is pretty openly using Jowan, the Warden and Lily as pawns in his pissing contest with the Chantry. Like... he could've stopped it, he could've given the Warden instructions to prevent Jowan's plan, and instead he just... orders them to carry it out. Jowan as an apprentice could be made Tranquil for that, the exact thing the three of them are doing all this to avoid. The Warden (who only has Irving's word saying that they haven't done anything wrong, assuming Greagoir would even take that given the Templars ultimately have power over the First Enchanter and have just been humiliated by him via Lily; I wouldn't put it past him to screw over Irving's favourite just to get back at Irving) could be executed or thrown into solitary like Anders was, since Tranquility isn't an option for Harrowed mages (and Kinloch Hold does seem to at least hold to that rule). Lily obviously is ultimately sent to Aeonar. These are three young people who've done nothing but care about each other, and Irving willingly ruins their lives just to make the Chantry look bad within the small group aware of what's happening. It's an incredibly juvenile display that destroys these three (especially if Surana/Amell isn't the Warden, in which case they're likely either killed as a result of this event or locked up and left defenceless when Uldred's rebellion goes to shit), two of whom are supposed to be under Irving's direct protection! Jowan's angry insistence that Irving doesn't really care about the mages definitely makes sense, given he pretty clearly knew this was going on and tipped off the Templars even if you don't tell him the plan; if he thought the plan was a bad move but wanted to protect his mages he'd have headed them off before things got to this point and not alerted the Templars, if he wanted them to succeed he'd have done his best to keep the Templars away, but instead he let them carry out the plan and had the Templars waiting when they came out. Sure, it was ultimately more about catching Lily to humiliate the Chantry within the Circle... but he sees Jowan and the Warden as acceptable collateral damage just to make the Chantry look bad within Kinloch Hold for a little bit. Even throwing Lily under the bus like that is kind of messed up given she's a young woman who's never done anything to him beyond being part of the Chantry, but Jowan and the Warden? They're young adults who Irving as First Enchanter (and the Warden's direct mentor) likely helped to raise, and he just... hands them to the Templars for whatever awful fate the Chantry (and its pride, which Irving deliberately bruised for his own satisfaction) decides for them so he can win a point in his stupid pissing contest with Greagoir and the Chantry. I would've liked more opportunities for the Warden to call Irving out on that at some point...

[sylvansmercy]

me, realizing mei probably has some misdirected rage towards alistair after the broken circle quest bc she’s a little out of control w/ grief and just So Done With Templars and also still lowkey annoyed with him over the whole having to lead the group herself thing that she can’t help seeing him as just a man who was almost a templar for a bit while she’s reeling from that experience (and also bc alistair implying that it might be for the best to let greagoir annul the tower when they first arrived is still fresh in her mind): 

[wyvernscales]

Things in Dragon Age: Origins with the absolute worst vibes:

Writing Xs in goat’s blood on a bunch of doors in Denerim

Sprinkling ashes on the ground and summoning a demon who fell in love with a woman who later cut out a man’s throat for proposing to her because the demon got jealous

The terrified spirit of an elven child calling for its mother

Tossing corpses into the well beside the Chantry right next to Templars and Sisters

The corpse of King Caillan strung up naked by darkspawn at Ostagar

The camp in the Brecilian Forest that seems warm and inviting until you wake up and realize you slept in an ancient camp surrounded by the remains of victims to a sloth demon you had almost fallen prey to

The Mad Hermit????

That Irving trusted Uldred to weed out the blood mages by planting tomes in the library and waiting to see who picked them up, and Uldred only outed the weaklings to forward his rebellion

All of Haven really

Finding a torso, head, and limbs in bags scattered around the Deep Roads and using them to summon a pride demon

Sophia Dryden’s centuries’ old walking corpse

Connor...

[for-the-ninth]

So I’d love to know that if Cullen has to “earn” Shielan’s approval what does Shielan have to do to earn his approval? Because idk why he would care for someone who is outright awful to him in general and dismisses his trauma (despite having literally seen the memories) and struggle trying to break his ties to the chantry?

Ah yes, another anonymous Cullenite complaining about Cullen being treated like the criminal he is.

Listen, the excerpt you're referring to hasn't even been posted on AO3. It's one of many preview snippets of later chapters I've written that require context to understand, which you don't have bc you haven't read the fic. So I'm not terribly inclined to give you personally - someone who does not understand Shielan's history, motivations, or values, bc again, you've not actually read my shit - a thorough answer. But I will expand for the sake of those who do read and enjoy my fic, as a lil meta treat for anyone curious.

First things first, Cullen's trauma is valid and what he went through was awful. And it doesn't justify the harm he inflicted and endorsed on people who did not cause him that trauma. People who can't understand that very basic concept just aren't gonna like this fic.

Secondly, Cullen doesn't have to earn Shielan's approval. He wants to, because he admires her strength, resilience, and leadership and he (unlike some of his fans, apparently) knows he fucked up. The mages of the Inquisiton, Kirkwall survivors among them, petitioned for his removal as Commander, and he resigned and imprisoned himself voluntarily. He's heard from the survivors of the Rite of Annulment. He knows all won't be forgiven - and he's trying to do better anyway. Because your accountability process shouldn't be dependent on the forgiveness of your victims. It places too much pressure on their shoulders and stifles your own growth if they choose not to forgive you.

Now if you'd read any of the actual story, dear anon, you'd know just how laughable it is to suggest Shielan earn approval from anyone. She left her own clan before her vallaslin even healed, knowing damn well she probably wouldn't be allowed to return. You really think she gives a shit what some templar fuck thinks of her? (Spoiler: she def doesn't lmao). Shielan cares about justice for her people and the mages of Thedas, not her oppressors.

She did indeed see a singular memory of the day Uldred took the tower. But neither Cullen nor anyone else has told her exactly what happened, so she has no context for this memory and no understanding of how that event affected him. And at this point in the story, she doesn't fucking care, which brings me to my next point...

It's an enemies to friends to lovers story, ya fuckin goon! It's exactly what it says on the tin! Try reading the tags next time!

I'd personally love to know A. why you even felt the need to type the hot sewage that just left your virtual mouth when you haven't read my fucking writing and B. why you think a Dalish mage should give two fucks about a guy who has actively oppressed her people and thought of them as subfuckinghuman for over a decade.

I look forward to hearing your answers! 🥰😘

[bluekaddis]

You almost mentioned Cullen as the best written character, but tbh he is written quite bad, his abuse and hate is never confronted in Inquisition and he is made victim by narrative, while he was the very problem why Chantry sucks. Even his fans admit that. He is mostly liked because of romance.

Ugh.

I was waiting for that moment when admitting I like Cullen’s character and story arc will bite me in the ass.

TL; DR (for those who don’t want to get through my long rant) 

Let everyone enjoy any characters/romances/game choices they want. I have my reasons for having Cullen as a fav DA character and liking his story arc and I don’t think there are more problems with writing of his character than the majority of other companions in DA games. 

Full answer below

First of all – I don’t want to argue that everyone should like or dislike the same elements of fiction as I do – it would be stupid. We all have different tastes, like different character archetypes and have varying opinions on what makes a good story. I’m trying to keep my blog character positive and unless someone asks me directly to share my opinion on a certain character or plot element I prefer keeping my critique to myself. I also don’t feel entitled to confront fans who, in their own posts, state they find Cullen boring, unredeemable or overrated, even if I personally disagree with all these statements. 

If your ask, anon, stated the words “i think” or “in my opinion” I wouldn’t probably bother with such a lengthy answer, HOWEVER, you write your personal opinion like it was an objective statement, like you were in position to tell me how I should view the certain character. What did you expect, that I would suddenly realize “oh crap, NOW I see that a character and plot I had liked for my 200 hours of gameplay is actually bad, I was just too stupid to notice it!”.

Haha, no.

So, let’s go through your comment.

“tbh he is written quite bad”

In. Your. Opinion. There are people who don’t like Cullen’s character development. Some like the general idea but would make some changes if they could. Others (like me) don’t have problem with his story arc and just like to add some headcanons to fill the gaps.

It is understandable that when years pass between games, fans have time to develop their opinions and wishes of what they’d like to see. And because none of them actually writes the story it is very easy to feel disappointed and say “well, I would do it better (= my way)”. But the truth is - your way is not necessary a better way. It may be the case that “your version” would be even more hated by the fandom. Some opinions are just more popular than others and therefore may seem like they are objective but it’s an illusion. A well designed pool, with large sample size and good statistics may be objective. Opinions, on the other hand, are like farts – you always think yours are less stinky than the others’ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But I digress.

Yes, I think Cullen is a well written character and yes, I like his story arc. Cullen’s redemption works for me because I see it not as much about atonement for his actions as for his lack of action.

Let me explain.

Anti-Cullen fans tend to assume that he personally did a lot of atrocities, but when you look not at fandom assumptions but at his actual actions we see in games or WoT, you can see that he caused most evil by not doing shit.

He should have protected the mages.

He didn’t.

He should have questioned Meredith’s actions.

He didn’t.

He should have noticed she’s going mad.

He didn’t .

He should have stopped her before she evoked the Rite.

He didn’t.

He was very passive and basically let either Meredith or Hawke make all the choices for him. If he let Meredith decide – people died. If he listened to Hawke (based on player’s choices) he voted for whatever Hawke had proposed.

Why was he behaving like that? Probably because he had lost faith in his own judgment so he put all the responsibility on authority figures (Templar Order and Chantry teachings). Cullen’s core motivation throughout all games was to protect people and it never changes. What changes is his belief of what methods are moral or necessary to achieve that goal and whether he, as an individual, should be in a position to decide it.

In Inquisition Cullen does the opposite. He is a workaholic. He makes his own decisions (leaves Kirkwall, stops taking lyrium) and takes full responsibility for them. He doesn’t follow his leader blindly but openly states his own opinions and advice (whether they are correct or wrong is another topic). He gets really furious when someone in position of power lie to or sacrifice people under their command (like in case of Samson or Rainier). Finally, he dedicates his life, health, skills, basically everything, for a cause - to stop the war that can be blamed mostly on his former organisation, without complaint or asking for forgiveness.

And I love that aspect of his character.

In Inquisition Cullen is still a work in progress. He tries his best but his templar past comes back sometimes - and it’s good. If he was completely free of his biases, it would be damn unnatural. 

I would never say that Cullen is a flawless ray of sunshine. He can be stubborn, biased, narrow-minded, hypocritical, bitter, aggressive and vengeful. But guess what – so can all the other characters. That’s why they are interesting.

“his abuse and hate is never confronted in Inquisition”

It is, at least for the standards of this particular game. DA:I doesn’t have full developed friendship-rivalry mechanics like DA:2 and you can’t even get approval points from advisors. The Inquisitor basically has far less options to condemn the Inner Circle’s actions or change their worldviews than Hawke (you don’t really argue with Dorian about slavery or with Iron Bull about Saarebas or Reeducators either).

But even if the Inquisitor has limited dialogue options to confront Cullen’s actions directly, Cullen himself brings the topic to the player. Cullen’s dialogue and actions in DA:I show that

he is ashamed of the person he became after Uldred’s uprising    

he knows he needs to atone for his actions and he wants to work for it

but doesn’t really believe he can fully atone for what he did

supports the reform of the Chantry, Templar Order and Circles rather than agreeing to their traditional methods

That man already hates himself, give him some rest.

And if you still think he needs an extra punishment for his crimes - Cullen is actually one of only 3 companions/advisors in DA:I whose life you can literally ruin through your choices (the other two being Blackwall and Iron Bull). If your Inky thinks that Cullen’s actions are unredeemable and he deserves nothing better than to forever be chained to the templar life he has chosen as a kid - they can order him to take lyrium again. For me it’s a heartless and morally wrong choice, but anyone can play their game however they want.

„he is made victim by narrative”

Ok, that part really bothers me. Are you saying that it is a bad thing that a narrative treats a person who has been physically, mentally and sexually abused for weeks as a victim of that abuse? Or encourages empathy towards a character fed drugs, manipulation and propaganda? Acknowledging Cullen’s PTSD doesn’t automatically result in ignoring or diminishing traumas and abuse that happened to Anders, Carl or any other character. Empathy doesn’t have to be reserved to people you personally agree with, just saying.

„he was the very problem why Chantry sucks.”

I’d say he was an example showing why Chantry sucks. A symptome, not a cause. Chantry benefits only high ranking members of that intitution + some nobles and rich dudes. Mages are abused and denied most of the rights because of the Chantry. Templars are drugged and brainwashed because of the Chantry. Common folk can’t freely benefit from things like healing magic because of the Chantry. Non-humans are treated like heretics and barbarians - because of the Chantry. The Chantry, as we see at the beginning of DA:I is a corrupt, powerful institution that has forsaken almost all ideals it had been built upon and desperately needs a reform. Everyone can see that. I have NEVER met any fan who said „yeah, Circles, Templar Order, the Chantry – they were perfectly alright, no need to change lol”. Same goes to characters labelled by fandom as pro-Chantry (like Cassandra, Cullen or Vivienne). They all see that major changes must be done, they just believe the reformation is better than abolition.

„Even his fans admit that.”

Some, yes. Others don’t have a problem with his arc. Personally I don’t think there are many Cullen fans that would agree with every single point you made.

„He is mostly liked because of romance.”

Um, no. The reason why the game developers even bothered with making Cullen a romance option in DA:I is that he was already quite liked and popular among fans, despite being just a secondary character. I’d agree that the romance plot made Cullen even more popular, especially among players who didn’t play previous games, but it is wrong to assume that the only reason people enjoy his character is because he’s a pretty boy. I played the games in order and Cullen was one of my fav characters in DA2 - I just like paragon anti-villains with redemption potential. Fight me. 

To conclude this overly long rant - I’m generally under impression that some DA fans tend to point certain aspects of Cullen’s character and story as “stupid excuses made by Bioware and fans to redeem a son of the bitch” and then use almost exactly the same arguments to defend their own favs. It’s the topic for maybe another discussion, but I think it’s a good thing to confront your own biases sometimes.

P.S. I also recommend watching this video about writing redemption arcs. Just for fun.

I rest my case. 

(thanks, Ania, for the high quality picture to sum up my feelings)

[catzeatyerface]

Things I would change about Dragon Age

The Stolen Throne

Katriel was banished, not murdered.

No “Loghain is going to betray you” prophecy cause it doesn’t happen.

No Katriel or Rowan being assaulted.

Adaia makes an appearance.

The Calling

Fiona’s backstory is not revealed to anyone. Her nightmare is told from her perspective and she is the first to break out and go to save everyone else. Then she tells Maric herself why she hates human nobles so much.

Duncan is cured of the taint too and he is made a minor knight by Maric and raises Alistair. Alistair knows Fiona as Duncan’s friend. He still has the dagger.

Fatherhood and knighthood is what makes Duncan who he is in Origins.

Julian and Nicholas being partners is made more explicit.

Origins

Dwarven Noble

No rape threat to fAeducan from the people Bhelen hired to kill her.

Castless Dwarf

No incest comment from Leske to mBrosca.

Human Noble

Less talk about how women can’t be cool anymore once they get married.

No “wenches and ale” comment. Maybe just the ale part.

City Elf

No corpse raping comment about your wife after she’s killed.

No horrible dialogue for the girl who’s afraid of being raped.

My changes to the rest of the story.

Ostagar

You’re recruited by someone else and there is a different junior grey warden there.

Daveth apologizes for his comment if you are offended by it.

Elves can stand up to the ash warrior more.

Morrigan isn’t whitepassing.

You are the only one sent to the tower of Ishal.

After

You and Morrigan are sent off alone (or with dog).

Alistair and Duncan go looking for grey wardens and they find the dog you cured at Ostagar. Duncan is a Redcliffe knight and Alistair had just become a recruit.

Alistair is a Guardian.

Dog senses you and runs off to find you and they chase after him.

You and Morrigan are fighting that group of darkspawn when dog runs up followed by Alistair and Duncan.

You tell them of what’s happened and they agree to help you fix things.

Duncan leaves at Lothering to go contact the Grey Wardens and tells Alistair to stay to help.

At camp Alistair tells you you were having a nightmare.

Broken  Circle

You have the option to not give the blood mage you spare any flack at all.

You have the option to sympathize with the mages.

When you talk to Uldred you have the option of trying to reach through to him.

The Arl of Redcliffe

Duncan and Alistair live in Redcliffe so that’s what all of the dialogue implies.

Isolde and Eamon don’t know Alistair and Teagan only knows him as the son of Duncan and a recruit.

That orphan girl is much older

No misogyny from the mayor

You can actually save Jowan

A Paragon of Her Kind

Rewrite the whole Darkspawn breeding shit to be something disturbing that isn’t misogynistic and doesn’t exploit sexual abuse victims for shock value (unsurprisingly this was written by the scum bags Kristjanson and Hepler).

Branka still let her people be turned into darkspawn but it was not done in that way.

Branka did not do this to Hespith, but Hespith was horrified by her actions and left. She got lost and ended up with corruption and became a ghoul. Branka was broken up about this but told herself it was even more reason why she needed to get to the Anvil.

Dragon Age 2

Act 1

Take the ableism and mage victim blaming out of “Magistrate’s Orders” and make Kelder just a racist serial killer.

Act 2

Pol doesn’t die, he just acts terrified of Merrill.

Act 3

Merrill’s clan dying is not an option.

The demon that kills Marethari was not the same one that Merrill learned blood magic from.

It’s made clear that Marethari was possed because of her own pride, not because Merrill put her in danger.

No Sebastian villain turn for not killing Anders

No Orsino boss fight

Silent Grove / Those Who Speak / Until We Sleep

Cut out all the racist shit in Isabela’s writing.

Maevaris doesn’t have her clothes torn off when she’s captured.

The Masked Empire

Mhiris’ clan isn’t killed.

Michel de Chevin isn’t half elf.

Asunder

No “Join the rebellion or die” mages.

Adrian is alive and with the mage rebellion.

Evangeline actually acknowledges that her way of thinking was wrong.

Inquisition

Gameplay

Mages done more like the old games (ie. more activated spells)

Better discisions made about which quests are field quests and which are war table mission.

All the “stop your family from dying” quests are as easy as Trevelyan’s.

Lights in the Shadow

A complete rewrite of the “siding with the mages” story

Champions of the Just

Haven is attacked by the Venatori if you side with the templars, NOT the rebel mages or Fiona.

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts

Vivienne tells you about Celene’s genocide. If not Vivienne then someone else.

What Pride Had Wrought

Write it to have less of a “white people in ancient tombs of people we’re pretending no longer exist” feel.

Just totally trash the revelation about the Elven gods.

[orsino-the-enchanter]

Repressed and friend/best friend ? :)

✖ - a repressed memory

“When I heard that the butcher of lowtown was sending his victims white lillies, i had an odd feeling that it reminds me of something, but I couldn’t put a finger on it. A few days later, I happened to be replacing the enchanter who was teaching herbalism to the apprentices, for they had fallen sick. I was demonstrating how to make a growth-enabling serum that involved the use of some lilly oil, since the serum itself smells rather horribly. Suddenly, something Quentin had told me came to mind; something I thought I had forgotten for good. 

Quentin knew I hated herbalism with passion when I was an apprentice, and although he found it amusing -he thought all elves love herbalism- he was trying to cheer me up during a study session; with his own… creepy unique way. So, as I was studying, a shadow was suddenly cast over my book, and next thing,he leans uncomfortably close and whispers to my ear: “Ooh, the lily tonic.I’ve always loved lilies. Did you know that they are the only flower whose scent can mask the stench of death?” I think my hair grew a bit greyer from the scare he gave me that day; however the memory quickly faded and vanished -or so I thought. 

That memory was what made me first suspect him of the murders, but I quickly casted the thought away. If I had trusted my instincts, perhaps I would have known sooner… but then… what good would that do to me or the victims? I still wouldn’t be able to frame him. And knowing it was him all along would still break my heart.”

♬ - a friend/best friend memory

“My first time at the College of Magi in Cumberland is impossible to forget, mainly because we caused quite the stirr. I say “we”, because it was myself and Uldred. 

To the outsiders, the College of Magi seems to be an important gathering: “oh, but they elect a grand enchanter!”. To me and Uldred it was a bore; a bunch of senior and first enchanters gossiping and arguing about politics, thinking that they are going to make some difference in an indifferent world only with words. Quite frankly, the only reason we attended -other than the fact we couldn’t avoid it- was the good wine. 

So there we are; drinking our wine quietly at a corner, minding our business and waiting for time to pass, until we were summoned by a nearby company of rather drunk mages to join their discussion. We did not refuse; why make enemies? Uldred already had plenty and I already had Meredith, neither of us needed more. However, with Uldred being his usual outspoken self and me playing the devil’s advocate it did not take long for things to escalate. The alcohol didn’t help at all. A couple loyalists -I believe they were from some circle in Orlais- started drunkenly challenging Uldred, with that hilarious accent of theirs. Lots of fanfare and posturing “Come on, you think you’re man enough, bring it on!” but no staves being pulled out. Uldred’ expression was more serene than a Tranquil’s, which agitated them even more; so even more threats “i’ll do this, I’ll do that” -over politics, mind you. The whole room stopped their chattering and were staring at us. 

This continued until the bell rang -the gathering was over for the night, we would retire, think our votes over and then place them first thing the next morning. Everybody gets up to leave; I’ve had enough though, so I go to the door, close it and stand in front of it. “Okay, boys” I say, “you wanted a fight, you got your chance. I you want to have Uldred paint the walls with your guts hurry up; I want to see blood.” Uldred cracks his knuckles and flashes that signature grin of his, and everyone goes insane. I don’t think I had seen a crowd scattering so fast ever before; they either never meant to actually fight to begin with, or they just thought we were ten times crazier than they were. Either way, they apologized to Uldred the morning after and never bothered us again. Also, noone ever tried to approach us the following years either. I wonder why.”

[naked-exo]

Uldr*n does suck, but I’m still irritated by yet an (ambiguously) gay character falling victim to the “kill your gays” trope

but like..... other canonically gay characters like ana bray or devrim kay like. they don’t die. they’re alive and well in the game. and plus, suraya is also confirmed to be interested in women, and she was a big part of the main campaign. like, i don’t know what else you could want, but like i don’t think uldr*n’s death at all falls into the “kill/bury your gays” trope at all.

[ourdawncomes]

💰 Josephine 🐦 Leliana 🦁 Cullen - for Vivienne | 🍷 Hof 🦅 Hawke - for Merril

character thoughts meme | accepting

Josephine

“She truly has worked wonders with Skyhold, hasn’t she? It was not so long ago this place looked little better than your average hovel, albeit a defensible one. Without her connections, I imagine we would still be stepping over piles of rubble. It’s not perfect, of course. The dining hall’s upholstery is ghastly, and she refuses to hear my suggestions for proper replacements. Thankfully, thus far it has not spoiled our guests’ appetites.”

Vivienne has a significant amount of respect for Josephine. She knows her job isn’t easy, and that managing the Inquisitoin’s coffers will doubtless make her grey well before her time. Though she can’t claim to know their ambassador well, she knows her well enough to know what to get her for satinalia.

Leliana

“Now there’s a woman I would think twice about crossing. She did not survive the Fifth Blight nor Orlais’ court without learning how to be ruthless. Some of the ideas she espouses are… radical, to say the least. I do wonder where she came about them. I am not deaf to the clerics’ plans, she may one day serve as Divine. Depending upon where the cards fall, we may one day end up working against one another, a most unfortunate predicament for the both of us.”

Again, like Josephine, Vivienne respects Leliana. Her work ethic in particular, as well as her bard skills. When it comes to politics, they’re more likely to clash. Vivienne has played her hand in such a way that she will survive no matter who ascends to the throne (she doesn’t even seem to have any approval changes regardless of who you pick) but I tend to believe she somewhat favours Gaspard, where Leliana is quite comfortable letting her die and more supportive of Briala iirc. Then of course there’s the Divine Election. As I’ve written before, I think Vivienne deserves more credit as the centrist candidate with Cassandra standing as the most conservative option. Vivienne gives the mages more freedom and does give us some progress, but her views on the Circle and the Chantry are radically different from Leliana’s. Should Leliana be named Divine her feelings about Leliana as a person may sour, although the respect remains.

Cullen

“Our Commander is a simple man, though I suppose that goes hand-in-hand with being Fereldan. There is something to his manner that makes me wonder how long he will remain with us once Corypheus is slain. Retirement is rare among Templars in spite of the stress they endure, but then again, he is a Templar no longer.”

Her feelings about Cullen are pretty neutral overall? Like “oh he sure is there.” Kirkwall was a mess and as second-in-command she’s quite confident he either had some hand in the abuse, was complicit/willfully blind, or just that ignorant. So her opinion of his ability to guard mages is quite low, but he proves himself well enough as Commander that she’s willing to overlook it unless she has some reason to play that card. She’d pity him were she to find out he was a victim of Uldred’s Rebellion, but as it stands there’s little chance of her ever finding that out. I think they might have the potential to be ok acquaintances, but they have very little in common in any sense of the word.

[crossdressingdeath]

#the way DAI tried to frame Templars vs Mages#like both sides are in the wrong#like what the fuck else were the mages supposed to do#the mages decided they wanted to be treated like people and not mistreated pets to the Templars#and the game is like#hurr hurr aren't they JUST as bad as the Templars?#...no? no they aren't?#and it's concerning that after all we saw in the previous games#you'd try to frame it as such#the only way i can bring myself to side with the Templars in DAI is#by playing a mage origin as if she has like#pseudo stockholm syndrome towards Templars#where she has to believe that there was a good reason for all she suffered#and all the other mages suffered#there has to be a good reason right? not just for the cruelty if it#so Evelyn Trevelyan sides with the Templars and it's only through getting to know Cullen#someone who has railed against mages in the past due to his trauma but eventually even he can't stand the atrocities the templars commit#so he leaves#and he tries to recover and unlearn his distrust of mages#despite the fact that he was literally tortured by mages in DAO#and in hearing how the Templar Order not only mistreated mages but also the Templars themselves#controlling them with lyrium and creating a system where the good Templars can't speak up against the cruelty they see for fear of reprisal#when Eve realizes the depths of how fucked up the Order was she's forced to reckon with the fact that#maybe they thought they had good reasons but that doesn't mean shit#it doesn't lessen any of the suffering they caused (tags via @curious-corvids)

Important thing to note (although since you seem quite fond of Cullen you... may not want to read it): Cullen was not and never has been tortured by mages. He was held prisoner by demons. That's the thing that everyone always seems to forget about Broken Circle! That man you talk to in the Harrowing chamber? The one forcibly turning mages into abominations in what is clearly an agonizing procedure that absolutely matches if not exceeds anything Cullen was put through? That is not Uldred anymore. That's a demon wearing his face. Cullen suffered, there's no denying that, but mages had nothing to do with it. The mages were tortured too (the few that survived, anyway; compare the number of mages we see in the mage origin to the number we see in Broken Circle, the difference is horrifying), and they didn't get the "luxury" of railing at anyone because if they had shown a single modicum of anger or trauma they would have been murdered. Irving, an old man who has been tortured for the exact same length of time Cullen was, has to walk down all those stairs and smile at the Templars who left him and all his people to die so that Cullen doesn't convince Greagoir to slaughter him and every mage in the Circle down to the youngest child. Cullen was a victim! But people always act like he was the only victim of the events of Broken Circle. He was not, but he was the only one who immediately started calling for all the other victims' heads (while expecting everyone to take his word that he wasn't possessed at face value despite Broken Circle featuring many more possessed Templars than mages, at that). And let's not forget, that whole "being tortured by demons" thing that Cullen consistently blames on the mages who were also suffering? If you play a mage Warden, Cullen's first appearance in the entire series is him inflicting that on a teenager or young adult. And since all the origins happen regardless of which one you pick, he absolutely did that whether or not we see it. The Warden is implied to be early twenties at the oldest, and there's Cullen, standing in the Harrowing chamber like a good little torturer and later admitting that he wouldn't have been able to tell if the Warden was possessed; he would've just murdered them if someone told him to.

And Cullen... doesn't leave the Templars because of the way mages are treated. Cullen stood right beside Meredith for almost a decade, defending her behaviour and insisting mages weren't people. Cullen switched sides at the very last goddamn moment because Meredith was so obviously off her rocker that she'd kill anyone (and also because Hawke and their party were still scarier than her). Hell, Cullen's wandering around Skyhold wearing the Templar insignia and insisting that mages will inevitably become abominations, so even claiming he left the Templars comes down to a matter of semantics, especially when you remember that before the Conclave blew up the Inquisition was pretty clearly supposed to be the Templars' replacement. And Cullen does not try to get past his hatred of mages. I mean, really, he'll look a mage Quiz in the eye and tell them that mages will inevitably become monsters in stressful situations. He'll smile at a mage Trevelyan, who was forced under the Templars' thumb their whole life, and tell them that the Templars fight evil.

The "good Templars" are Templars like Alistair, who saw one Harrowing (you know, the thing that if you play a mage Cullen is first seen inflicting on someone) and was so horrified and disgusted that he wanted to leave right then and there and was genuinely, actively, explicitly blocked from doing so until Duncan saved him (unlike Cullen, who seems quite happy where he is right up until he's put between Meredith and Hawke and has to choose which of the two he least wants to fuck with). Templars like Keran, who was actually tortured by a mage and sees that the Templars are just like the woman who hurt him to the point where if he remains a Templar he will ultimately quit the Order in disgust. Templars like Samson (yes, that Samson), who lost his job because he did something nice for a mage. Templars like Emeric, who went out of his way to investigate the disappearance of a mage because he cared. Templars like Thrask and his group, who ultimately decide to go against Meredith and help the mages of the Gallows become apostates because the alternative is all of them dying. The "good Templars" did speak up. They acted. If they couldn't do anything to stop what was happening they at least refused to actively be a part of it. And there were consequences, yes. But here's the thing: an Inquisitor whose only experience with the Templar order is Cullen is not seeing those consequences. They're seeing someone who's benefited from the way the Order works the whole way through his career. Good Templar Cullen didn't get fired. He wasn't murdered or tortured or left to die of lyrium addiction (he chooses to stop taking it, which don't get me wrong is admirable (even if his timing is crap), but there is no suggestion that he doesn't have ready access to the stuff at any point). Good Templar Cullen just keeps getting promoted! Basic Templar in DAO, Knight-Captain in DA2, Commander of the Inquisition in DAI... This man just keeps getting put in positions where he can do more and more harm to a vulnerable population that he despises just for existing (except for how Leliana, Josie and Cassandra keep him firmly in his place in DAI; you go, ladies). Absolutely, the lyrium addiction is fucked up and it was a conversation that the series needed to have. But Cullen was quite possibly the worst preexisting character Bioware could've used for that conversation's poster child, because Cullen benefits from the Templar system every step of this series. If anything he should prove to Quiz that the Templars should absolutely be disbanded immediately and never ever trusted with anything ever, because Knight-Captain "Mages aren't people and there's an argument for using the Rite of Tranquility more widely" Rutherford is exactly the sort of person it's designed to benefit.

Anyway. Is this a roundabout way of saying that Samson (whose story from his first appearance has been all about how the Chantry screws over any Templar who isn't totally on board with all the torture and murder) should've been the Inquisition's commander and Cullen (who on top of everything I just said spends nearly a decade right next to Meredith and so has been basically swimming in red lyrium from pretty much as soon as it was discovered) should've been Corypheus's right-hand man? Maybe so!

Sometimes I remember that if you play Surana or Amell in Origins the origin (hehe) of the conflict that ultimately leads to the death of the Archdemon is... the First Enchanter of one of the most "liberally run" Circles in southern Thedas leaving out a bunch of books on blood magic with the explicit hope that young apprentices will pick them up and become blood mages so that they can be handed over to the Templars as maleficars. With your best friend falling for this trick explicitly because he's terrified that the Circle is going to magically lobotomize him against his will just because he's not particularly good at magic so he feels his only hope is to run away whatever the cost. That's the starting point for your character. And again, Kinloch Hold is supposed to be one of the most liberally run Circles. This is one of the good Circles. And then in Awakening we learn that Anders was kept in solitary confinement for a year just because he wanted to live outside the Circle, and you can comment that he's lucky they didn't just kill him outright. And I know I've said this twice already this post, but this is supposed to be a good Circle. This is nice. The mages at places like the Gallows would probably kill to be at Kinloch Hold. And your introduction to it is first you, a young adult (or possibly in your late teens; you are mentioned to be young for a Harrowing, and Harrowings generally seem to be done when the mage is quite young to begin with), being thrown to demons without warning as a standard test, and then when you wake up you learn that your best and possibly only friend is likely to be magically lobotomized for not being great at magic unless you help him escape. And between those things and during the latter you'll hear about fun things like apprentices disappearing into thin air (with no one questioning it because it's that normal) and the Templars watching the female apprentices bathe! And when you return it's to find out that when things went tits up the Templars, who are supposedly there for your protection, locked every surviving mage in Kinloch Hold in the demon infested part of the tower and are waiting for permission to murder everyone inside down to the youngest child. Ten bucks says that the Templars also in there would've been allowed to live.

I think it hits a lot harder just because you don't learn that Kinloch Hold is considered a liberal Circle until after it leaves the series, apparently for good, with the Templars planning to hang out outside the door until they get legal cover for murdering everyone inside. Like, you see all that and then after that you learn that that? That was the best a Circle mage could hope for. Just a few life-threatening tests you're not allowed to prepare for. Just a bit of entrapment by the person who's supposed to stand between you and the Templars. Only rumours that the Templars will watch you while you bathe rather than confirmed fact. And only a small chance that they'll murder you the moment they're given the opportunity. That's a good life for a Circle mage.

And then in DAI they genuinely expected us to buy that actually the Circles weren't that bad and the Circle mages are just so whiny for not knowing how to survive outside the cage they've been trapped in their whole lives and also wanting to kill a lot of their jailors. It's like the writers forgot that we've seen that even the best the Circles offered was still absolutely fucking horrific. And that that was a lot of players' first introduction to the series.

[carelessgraces]

on astoria and control ( part one ) —

In both of Astoria’s main verses, her adolescence is marked by a series of pretty intense traumas following the same model: she is “educated” by previously unknown family members whom the rest of her family trusts. These family members — her godparents !! That’s a huge responsibility in a devout Catholic family like the Grimani family, and it brings with it a huge level of trust — violate that trust repeatedly: first, by manipulating Astoria’s mind and memory through magic; second, by physically and psychologically abusing her to force her into compliance, isolation, and fear; and third, by using her to harm other people, usually her own family, for their own purposes. It’s an intense thing to go through at any age, but at 14 – 15, Astoria is at a crucial moment in her development, and this fundamentally alters how she thinks, how she feels, how she reacts to things, how she develops and maintains relationships, going forward. Please proceed with caution: the following will discuss abuse, trauma, and recovery.

     Astoria is only able to bring about an end to the abuse and manipulation when she starts manipulating her abusers back. The more that Amycus and Alecto mistreat her, the more she plays into what they want: she stops asking questions, she flinches at loud noises, she very much emphasizes her own fear and vulnerability. She recognizes the signs of her trauma starting to manifest and, rather than trying to hide them to keep herself from seeming vulnerable and like an easier target, she makes that front and center of her visible personality and reactions. More than that, she deliberately acts ashamed of this, so that Amycus and Alecto won’t suspect anything. 

     The psychological abuse is the major piece of this — while Amycus’ “discipline” is violent and leaves significant damage, it’s rare, and intended as a punishment for failure or disobedience. With Alecto, it’s constant gaslighting and manipulation, designed to make Astoria doubt her own perception of reality. Astoria learns the responses that Alecto wants and provides them, and the more that Alecto imagines that Astoria is easy to control. In both verses, Astoria is able to use this to lay a trap to stop them: first, she isolates them; then, she leaves a trail for anyone who’s looking to find; and third, she antagonizes them and goads them until they move to harm her, and in doing so, lead to their own deaths. 

     For the sake of ease, I’m going to talk about each verse individually, so apologies for length.

DRAGON AGE.

     Astoria is able to leave Seleny, her grandfather, and her mother behind for a time, and she spends about six years in Orlais. The only family she maintains regular contact with on her mother’s side is her uncle — Giovanni hadn’t known, hadn’t even been present for most of it, and couldn’t have identified a blood mage’s thrall even if he was around. She slowly picks up communication with her mother and grandfather again after she settles into Orlais and begins studying at the University, but for the most part, the only people from home she cares to speak to are Giovanni and Lorenzo. She starts to develop a strong relationship with her father, visiting the Storm Coast whenever there’s a holiday, and she in turn becomes deeply connected to the bannorn itself. She works through the short-term trauma by becoming one of the many noble students at the University to take up bard training, and so her teenage angst is literally worked through by learning how to navigate the deadliest court in Thedas, and that includes violence and murder. ( As per Veronica Sawyer — “My teen angst has a body count.” )

     If, as per her main DA timeline, she ends up caught in the Blight and traveling with the Hero of Ferelden, this is what brings about her healing. At first, I thought it was Alistair who did it, but it’s just the matter of traveling through this country that she has only recently started to call home and risking her life for it even when it’s not her responsibility, even when she ( arguably ) has a greater responsibility to do the opposite, and to get home to protect Seleny. It’s her first real act of selflessness, and it changes her: until this, she has always known in theory that she must be ready to sacrifice everything, her life included, for the people she ruled. Now, she knows that she can do just that, and more than that, she will.

     And in so many ways, that’s what it comes down to: knowing that this is a choice she’ll make of her own volition, knowing that this is a sacrifice she’ll be willing to offer without anyone else’s influence. The Warden’s companions ( regardless of what the Wardens do ) will give her the chance to leave, over and over and over again, and every time she chooses to stay, it’s for her father, and her sister, and the bannorn, and everyone she meets. Astoria is selfish at her core, but she has the capacity for a really profound selflessness when it comes to the people for whom she is responsible; that’s what makes her a good leader, and it prepares her to become Inquisitor. It helps her get past her anger, it helps her understand that some failures can’t be fixed but they can be handled, and it gives her the space she needs to heal in an honest way. When she comes home to Seleny in 9:34, it’s with a sense of peace. 

     If, instead, she stays in the bannorn during the Blight, she goes to Kirkwall next, and Kirkwall is not the sort of place that really encourages one’s better angels. She can do just about anything, and really, who’s going to prevent her? So her anger comes out in different ways: she doesn’t feel like she has a home in Antiva or in Ferelden, and so she treats Kirkwall as temporary. She lashes out in battle, she’s vicious, she’s calculating to an extreme, and depending on Hawke’s influence, she is utterly lawless. This time, it’s Fenris who evens her out: she sees someone with similar fears of magic, but with more focus, more drive. The more she knows Fenris, the more she begins to realize that the biggest difference between them is that she’s in a position where she can make the changes she wants, that she can do something about all of this. 

     Astoria isn’t fit to be anybody’s princess until the end of Act II — again, after she’s risked her life when she really doesn’t have to, and after she’s been made to take a stand in favor of people who can do absolutely nothing for her in terms of social and political mobility. When the Arishok describes what happened to the elves who converted, and why they converted, Astoria is moved to defend Kirkwall not because she thinks that the Guard should have access to those elves to punish them, but because she realizes that the elves and the mages really can’t go anywhere else, and really, what the hell kind of princess is she if she’s not willing to do something about that? Astoria fights, Astoria bleeds, and at the end of it, Astoria returns to Seleny not because of her grandfather’s health, but because she knows she has to. She’s a little clumsier around the one act of selflessness — she’s had less time to make sense of it — but by Inquisition she’s the same person: she’s a fine princess for Seleny, and while she knows that her own life has a great deal of value if only for its symbolic value ( if she lives, Seleny remains stable, the changes she makes can be made permanent, she can protect the people and the economy, etc etc ) she knows, too, that there’s a lot to be gained by bleeding in place of, or alongside, her people. It’s what sends her to the Conclave, and if she’s not Inquisitor, it’s what keeps her with the Inquisition.

     And it all comes down to control and anger. Astoria’s greatest fear is losing control of herself, and she spends all of her youth pushing back against even a perceived threat to her self control. She imagines that control of the self will lead to control of the world around her, and it’s the process of understanding that this isn’t always the case that helps her to grow. 

ON WRATH.

     While Astoria’s susceptible to any and all of the ~deadly sins,~ and commits most of them frequently and with great enjoyment, the one that’s the most detrimental to her is wrath. She recognizes the power of anger: it mobilizes, it kickstarts healing, it has a lot of value and it can be a really important part of just existing in a hostile world. For Astoria, though, her anger takes on a life of its own: she’s been wounded in profoundly personal and brutal ways, told time and time again that she brought those wounds on herself or that the wounds simply do not exist, and that she’s only hurting herself. 

     It feeds off of her fear of a lack of control — if she can’t trust her perception of reality, then what can she trust? How can she keep control of anything? She has an instinct to punish, rather than towards true justice: her wrath tells her that the only way to guarantee that she is never made a victim again is to destroy anyone who tries to victimize her. Her wrath tells her that her safety may need to be bought through someone else’s blood, and that she has to be ready to pay that price. It’s not entirely wrong: Trevisan assassins have been coming after her with some regularity since she was fourteen, and she’s been placed under the thrall of someone she should have been able to trust. In all of these cases, it’s kill or be killed. ( As per Katherine Pierce — “Better you die than I.” ) 

     Part of gaining a greater control of herself is in gaining control of that wrath and learning to overcome it. ( Kirkwall’s terrible for her in that regard — wrath runs pretty rampant in Kirkwall, and there’s no shortage of people willing to pick a fight. ) It proves difficult, in part because there are a lot of people who Astoria thinks deserves to die, and these are the people she’s fighting: slavers, and Loghain’s forces ( and Loghain himself ), and Uldred and his blood mages, and the werewolves. In Kirkwall, there are slavers around every corner, and the Templars abuse their power in ways that sicken her. In Inquisition, she genuinely cannot go more than a few days without killing someone, because she’s constantly fighting some battle or another. 

     And after a while, she becomes desensitized, because it’s part of her new normal. Astoria is not a good person, and I’ve said this a thousand times by now: the blood on her hands cannot and should not be ignored. Frankly, nobody in a Dragon Age setting is a good person. I think that’s something that needs to be grappled with, but that’s for another day. When her wrath becomes normalized, that’s when it’s at its most dangerous, and she struggles with that constantly, because wrath is another thing that takes control away from her.

     Nowhere is this better illustrated than in a Dragon Age universe, because it leaves her vulnerable to literal demons of wrath. ( And I have been itching for a verse where Astoria is left in the Fade and comes out possessed by a demon of wrath, js. ) 

     To follow: modern verses, and how this impacts Astoria in shipping.

[vstiges]

on blood magic.

Amell’s view of blood magic has always been pretty nuanced, as much as she wants to know the full capabilities of a mage’s powers, she’s superstitious of ever practicing it on herself. After Broken Circle, she keeps the Litany of Adralla always hidden in the fabric of her clothing, paranoid, the horrors of what happened to the mages and templars alike within the tower still fresh in her mind. It becomes more habit than fear as the years go by, but she keeps the litany nonetheless and it becomes a major staple to her gear. 

    But on the other side, in the cases of Zathrian and Avernus, with their prolonged life and power, she feels it’d be too much of a waste to let that knowledge die with them. They obviously haven’t gone possessed from their exposure, not like Uldred, and she’s ready to put them down if they do later on. She keeps tabs on Zathrian after the Blight, even after he’s left his clan, and with Avernus she always has the Litany in case he decides to ‘nudge her’ to take more risks with his work … Now their work.

   There’s a lot of unpredictability in the results with who she allows to live, but she’ll never put her life or control on the line. She’d rather Avernus or the Blood Mage in question take the fall to demons if it comes that. Magic, for what it is, is a deeply repressed tool in Ferelden, and she feels the better it is to preserve some of that talent, the more growth eventual research can sustain.

The relentless pursuit of knowledge is a temptation many mages fall victim to, only she’s too proud to admit it once the blight ends. 

[squirrelwithatophat]

Interesting perspective… I certainly have A Lot of Opinions on Foucault (and the various other postmodern theorists for that matter), but I am rather curious: Why is OG Awakening-era Anders your primary example of a “non-docile” mage?

One of the main quests in Origins (Broken Circle) revolved around a massive and bloody rebellion organized by Uldred, the leader of Ferelden’s Libertarian Fraternity - the very political party you cite both Wynne and Anders expressing concern about due to fears of genocidal retaliation (fears which by the time of Inquisition seem entirely justified, given that the Templars will mutiny against the Chantry to start “culling… all mages” as soon as the mages try to “pull away entirely” from Templar/Chantry rule). During the time span covered by Origins and Awakening, Anders is simply trying to escape from the Circle (rather than overthrow it) and remains rather cynical and nervous about taking any political action. He only definitively turns to revolution himself nearly a decade later and under the direct influence (and maybe even outright control) of a spirit of Justice, and he’s still sufficiently conflicted/ambivalent about it all that he invites execution to atone for the possibility of innocent casualties from the ensuing clash. He also still agrees with (or perhaps just fails to question) much of the official ideology, including the wholesale condemnation of blood magic, support for Andrastianism over the pagan religions, and so forth, and even very close to the endgame indicates he would be willing to accept (at least temporarily) a reformed Circle featuring Templars “working together” with mages rather than ruling over them.

Meanwhile, there are (or at least were) a considerable number of bona fide insurgents within Kinloch Hold, most of whom were apparently willing to resort to the forbidden arts of blood magic, use of which was both a capital offense and the target of aggressive religious propaganda within the institution in which they were all incarcerated. The unnamed lady blood mage captured early on in Broken Circle gives perhaps one of the most eloquent defenses of the right of rebellion in all three games:

Blood Mage: I know I have no right to ask for mercy, but I didn’t mean for all this death and destruction. We were just trying to free ourselves. Uldred told us the Circle would support Loghain and Loghain would help us be free of the Chantry. You don’t know what it was like. The Templars were watching, always watching.

Warden: And so you fought back.

Blood Mage: The magic was a means to an end. It gave us… it gave me the means to fight for what I believed.

Wynne: Fighting for what you believe is commendable, but the ends do not always justify the means.

Blood Mage: You don’t really believe that, do you Wynne? Change rarely comes peacefully. Andraste waged war on the Imperium; she didn’t write them a strongly worded letter. She reshaped civilization, freed the slaves, and gave us the Chantry. But people died for it… We thought someone always has to take the first step… force a change, no matter the cost.

If anything, Unnamed Blood Mage #537 manages to sound much more radical and concrete in her goals while begging for her life than Anders does in his later manifesto. Anders’s manifesto is rather apologetic and defensive in tone, starting with, “Andraste suffered at the hands of magisters. Thus, she feared the influence of magic. But if the Maker blamed magic for the magisters' actions in the Black City, why would He still gift us with it?” There’s a strong religious strain throughout, appealing to the conservative instincts of the audience (essentially a version of the “I’m not a sin if God made me this way” argument). Contrast this with not only Ms. Blood Witch, who resurrects Andraste as a fellow fire-breathing revolutionary bringing liberty to the people (rather than merely a victim of the Bad Mages/Magisters for whom modern mages bear no responsibility and ought to distance themselves from), but with the other writings of the Libertarians/Resolutionists of DAO (see the codex Promises of Pride):

“Uldred will show us the way. Finally, recognition within the Circle and freedom from the scornful eye of the templars. We will not be shunned. Be ready.”

“The time is drawing near. Uldred has brought his intentions to light and a confrontation is all but inevitable. We will separate or walk with our brothers, but we will be free.”

“If blood must be shed and used, so be it. I will follow when he calls. The yoke must be released, whatever the cost.”

“The call is made. We will stride out of here with pride in our step, regardless of outcome. This is for the good of the circle. Uldred will see to it.”

Anders was just a hanger-on of the Libertarian Fraternity rather than a full member, such that despite his expressed sympathy with their goals and history of writing for the Fraternity (according to Faces of Thedas), he was privy neither to the plans for rebellion (apparently just using the chaos to escape again) nor the intended independence motion (which he expresses surprise about when Wynne mentions it). Jowan was actually more connected to the Kinloch Hold uprising than Anders was, albeit as a pawn rather than an active conspirator.

Essay: Foucault and the Circle of Magi (Dragon Age: Origins)

This essay will look at the Circle of Magi alongside Foucault’s* theories about the asylum.  My argument is that the Circle functions in a similar way to how Foucault saw the asylum working – that is, it is designed to create docile mages that accept the justification for their imprisonment, and end up policing themselves.

I will go through some of Foucault’s original writing, explain my understanding of it, and give examples of where I think it is played out in the Dragon Age universe.

All references are from The Foucault Reader, edited by Paul Rabinow.

I’m more than happy to take any feedback. :)

* If you haven’t heard of Foucault before, he was a French philosopher who wrote a lot of stuff about power.  His basic theory was that the most insidious form of power is not physical strength, but the ability to get people to watch and judge themselves based on your criteria.  Here’s his Wiki page.

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