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mythalism · 2 days ago

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on solavellan becoming andraste and the maker, and applying the concept of mantling to dragon age

for the uninitiated, mantling is a concept from the elder scrolls series that refers to the process of a mortal becoming a god by becoming so much like them that they become indistinguishable, and thus, the same. its synonymous with the use of the term "apotheosis" within the same universe, but also distinct, because it specifically involves "re-enacting the Mythic patterns established by the [Gods] until their power is surrendered to the mantler. In the process, the mortal and the deity become metaphysically synonymous with one another, allowing the mortal to claim the office and sphere of the mantled diety for themselves, reshaping them in the process." (x)

sound familiar?

but first, there are several examples of how this works narratively in the elder scrolls universe. one of the best is probably the mantling of sheogorath by the player character in the shivering isles DLC of the elder scrolls IV: oblivion.

at the climax of the DLC, the god of madness, sheogorath, for whom you've been doing quests for for quite a while now, basically reveals that he molded you into someone who could take his place as the Mad God, as his time is running out due to a long running divine cycle of order vs. chaos called the greymarch. its all very mythological and confusing and not really relevant to this but im including these quotes from re-watching the quest (x) to refresh my own memory and give you an idea of the general vibe:

the realm is crumbling, the cycle of destruction is imminent, and its god bemoans the loss of the world he loves but cannot stop his own demise. the only way to save it is if someone else becomes him - takes the throne, assumes his office, sacrifices their individuality and mortal desires for what the realm needs and mantle it's god...... this is literally solas mantling the maker like cmon!! and if i was in charge at bioware you can bet your ass that rook would've been mantling the dread wolf as thedas' new trickster god as solas took on a different godly role considering how he literally molds rook in his image and TELLS THEM THAT.......... but thats an essay for another day.

the player character of oblivion begins as sheogorath's champion and eventually becomes him, lavellan begins as andraste's herald and eventually becomes her as she walks her path, culminating in her decision to join the maker in the golden city for eternity, effectively uniting their mythology so that they become indistinguishable.

the player character of morrowind also goes through a similar process that the inquisitor does, as a prophesied savior navigating the role that has been thrust upon them. in the elder scrolls III morrowind, the story revolves around you being the prophesised "nerevarine", the second coming of the hero, indoril nerevar, who will cast down the false gods and expel the empire from their homeland. in reality, the game makes it very clear very quickly that no one has any fucking clue if you are actually the nerevarine, but the empire is going to MAKE you into the nerevarine by making you "walk the path" laid out in the prophecy. and thats what the entire main quest is; you re-enacting the prophecy to literally become the prophet that the world needs. the game never answers whether or not you actually were the nerevarine, but at some point, the distinction ceases to matter. you've become them.

you can see how similar this is to an inquisitor walking the path of andraste, to solas being forced to walk the path of the dread wolf and later the maker. whether or not they are one and the same is irrelevant, when you become mythologically indistinguishable, when you become what the world needs you to become, who you were ceases to matter.

in my original post about this i mentioned CHIM as well and CHIM is a very unruly, not even fully canon concept within the elder scrolls. so i dont really want to delve super deep into it because its fucking insane for one but also because it doesn't fit quite as well as the framework of mantling does, but there are a few things said about CHIM in elder scrolls that just feel soooooooo similar to what we see in dragon age that i want to share them because i truly think there is a thread of inspiration to be followed here.

CHIM is basically enlightenment in the elder scrolls universe where someone within the games reaches a state of divine lucidity. its been compared to lucid dreaming by one of the tes devs, or "divine hypnagogia", and the final state beyond CHIM, called Amaranth, allows a character to realize they exist in a video game. LMAO. so when i say solas and lavellan achieve something akin to CHIM i do not mean it literally, i do not think they are breaking the fourth wall and realizing they exist in a video game, nor would i want that. i would actually hate that as a writing decision. but whats interesting is the language that is sometimes used to talk about CHIM, and the way solas and lavellan's ending involves them reaching a sort of peace and acceptance about their place in the world as mythological figures instead of individuals.

i wrote this in response to an ask once and i've reposted it several times and i'm doing it again now because honestly it was the best way to articulate this and i dont think i can recreate it LMAO; "solas and lavellan are at once both finally free of the burdens of the myths and expectations that follow them as the dread wolf and the herald of andraste because they have left the mortal world that forced them into those roles and stripped them of their personhood, but they have also completely submitted themselves to those roles by submitting to the logical conclusion of the myths that they could not escape. for the dread wolf, it is earning his redemption through his willing submission to his own trap. its the logical, full-circle mythological conclusion to the trickster who trapped the gods, now trapped for eternity himself. for the inquisitor, it is andraste's herald finally sharing andraste's fate, choosing to leave the mortal world behind to ascend to the golden city alongside the god that she loves. both (presumably, for a lavellan) have tried to reject the myths attached to them over and over and over, but in the end they choose them willingly, and that choice at once binds them to those myths forever while simultaneously freeing them from the burden of them. its giving oedipal greek tragedy of attempting to outrun your fate and it finding you anyway, just when you thought you were finally making your own choice, but with a hopeful and bittersweet spin."

this is what i mean when i say they have achieved CHIM, as "a state of being which allows for escape from all known laws and limitations" (x) the laws and limitations from which they have escaped are not the confines of a video game, but rather the confines of the mortal roles that they were both thrust into against their wills and stole everything from them, as the herald of andraste and the dread wolf. for solas, i think you can even extend this to him being able to escape the literal physical confines of the body he did not want by returning to 'heaven' (the fade), a place of mutability and possibility, without the laws and limitations of the physical world. for lavellan, we see her make a choice to pursue her own happy ending, regardless of what the world needs (though there is an argument for this being the best decision for the world considering how it will help solas heal the blight, but i think the implication is that she's doing it for herself) after losing her agency, individuality, life and freedom to the role of the inquisitor. as ameridan says, "take moments of happiness where you can. the world will take the rest." and she does. she ascends past the bounds of the physical world, the title of inquisitor, the world that took so much from her, and finds her happiness in transcending those limitations and literally fucking off to heaven. its so great.

so when i refer to lavellan as andraste or solas as the maker, it is in this context that i mean it. i dont actually think lavellan is literally andraste reborn or something, or that solas was literally the maker. i think the maker was probably slightly inspired by solas's deeds like the creation of the veil and black city, but theres plenty in the chant of light that also does not fit him or the two of them at all. dragon age has very intentionally not disproved or proved the existence of the maker, and i think that is a good choice and its far more interesting that way. solas is already responsible for like half of the problems in thedas, connecting EVERYTHING back to him is a bit lazy in my opinion. i think the idea that the concept of a creator borne out of a bunch of different myths across time is far more compelling. so i dont think they are 1:1 the same or a reincarnation or anything, and thats why the concept of mantling works so well in this context.

solas is not the maker, but he has functionally become the maker by walking the narrative path of his own story. lavellan is not andraste, but she has functionally become andraste through walking the path of her own story. its about a sort of narrative and mythological apotheosis, where the world sees you one way to the point that you become that way. it works perfectly in the context of dragon age's focus on storytelling, propaganda, and how belief creates reality.

these two are bound to a sort of narrative inevitability in a way that most dragon age characters are not (except perhaps morrigan. honorable mentions to hawke, varric and alistair) but i think its a large part of why they are so compelling. they are inseparable from their own stories. they are bound by this sort of narrative destiny to serve both the overarching story of the dragon age games, but also the mythological stories within thedas in a way thats almost in contrast to the medium of a video game based on player choice- but i think its intentional, and i also think this sort of narrative destiny functioning as its own trap or prison is part of the reason their story is the strongest part of veilguard. from an essay on fatalism, something that solas himself ascribes to by his own admission "Destiny is not so much a necessary outcome as it is an outcome that is necessary given some larger sense of purpose” (x).

in conclusion: ✓ re-enacting the mythic patterns of andraste and the maker's story via their roles in the world and their decisions, such as leading the armies of the faithful as andraste's did, or shaping the world the way it exists presently and creating the veil and the black city as the maker did ✓ become metaphysically synonymous, via becoming virtually indistinguishable in terms of their role in the world ✓ take their office - by finally reuniting within the black city ✓ reshape it for themselves - by healing the blight and making it golden

#weeeeee #meta #da meta #veilguard spoilers #solavellan #solas #mine.txt

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poppy-metal · 4 months ago

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need best friend patrick to fuck the heartbreak out of me </3

hhhh best friend patrick who you know gets around and he makes girls feels so good - and boys, too, though that's something he's told you in confidence - and you've just had your heart broken. you're not thinking clearly, you're just thinking of how unwanted you feel - how undesirable you feel - and how patrick is so passionate and even as a friend, he makes you feel special.

and patrick - he tries to do the right thing, for a moment, when you end up on his lap and he pulls away like - "wait - we shouldn't -" and then he sees the tears in your eyes. is quick to cup your cheeks and wipe them away and tell you you're beautiful, he's not rejecting you because he doesn't want to fuck you, just the opposite - he's thought of fucking you since he first saw you. but you matter to him, he doesn't want to screw shit up. he doesn't want to be a regret you have. he wonders if sex will really help you feel better. but he's more than willing to give that to you, if you think it will.

and you do. you tell him you just want to feel sexy. irresistible. beautiful. he tells you you're all those things and more - "you're the best girl I know." he tucks some of your hair behind your ear, cups his hand behind your neck. "you really want this?"

because he doesn't fuck gentle, he thinks. you're not like the other girls he takes to bed - you're not someone who he won't see again, so it doesn't matter if he spits in their mouth - if he chokes them until they nearly pass out on his cock - if he makes them call him daddy until they cry - he'll see you again. he'll see you everyday. can he really treat you that way? should he try to be more gentle?

in the end, you tell him you want him and that's the end of the discussion. and in the end he finds a healthy middle ground. it comes naturally, too. it's scary how natural it comes, actually.

he spreads you out and tongues at your pussy and when you squeeze your thighs around his head he forces you to hold yourself open - "don't hide from me - and don't run from what I give you." you shiver, and he makes you watch him as he licks through your wet slit - long laps of his tongue. "so fucking good." against your heated flesh. his tongue slips down, traces between your cheeks just a little, hinting - and you gasp. but you don't push him away. good girl, he thinks. dirty fucking girl. hiding this from him.

not tonight though - he eats you out until your thighs are shaking and you're gripping his hair and begging for him to fuck you. you want it so bad. and he thinks he's in trouble because he likes the way it sounds coming from your lips too fucking much.

has to shut you up with his mouth - "hold onto me." when he presses inside - god, this is so bad for me. you feel so fucking good. and he knows how much he likes you outside of sex - and now he knows how your pussy feels - "shit." warm and wet and sucking him in - pulsing and tight. he groans. can't keep it to himself because he's never had a filter, "you feel so fucking good, baby. look at you pulling me in - you want every fucking inch inside you, fuck -"

he gives it to you. thought he might try to be gentle - make love to you, but he can't. you feel too fucking hot and good and swollen inside and he fucking - he needs to fuck you hard. needs to pound you into the bed until all your stupid thoughts about not being good enough float out of your pretty little head.

"so good - patrick, so good -" you wrap your legs around him - you didn't think it'd feel this good. that'd he'd fill you so well. "oh god -"

"such a tight hole, shiiiit -" he grunts. grips your thighs and jerks them up, higher around him. slides all that much deeper inside you. his balls are hot and heavy, slapping plap plap plap as he drives in and in and in. "my best friends got a hot little fucking pussy - fuck - what were you thinkin' keeping it to yourself, huh? should have given it t'me sooner - could've been giving you this dick every day - god, baby -"

oh god. oh god oh god oh god.

you think you've made a mistake. you don't know if you can return to normal after this. he can have you whenever the fuck he wants.

"yes. yes - yes - give it to me - fuck me - you feel - oh!!! ye -"

"yeah? I feel good?"

"uh huh."

fuck.

#ask #frens <3 #WEEEEEE #best friend to fwb patrick to lovers #patrick zweig smut

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