#what if the elves do??

[zaahvi]

GLORY TO THE RISEN GODS

[pinacoladamatata]

blink and you'll miss it moments around skyhold....

[kazz-brekker]

tolkien's tendency to leave women off of family trees is annoying to me not just because it's an overall trend in fantasy novels that i wish wasn't a thing (to quote arya stark, the woman is important too!) but also because i desperately need to know who celebrimbor's mom was and which elf lady made the bold yet fantastically bad decision to marry into the house of feanor.

[wakingupthetrees]

i like to headcannon that legolas' habit of randomly bursting out into song and dance was one thranduil absolutely encouraged when he was younger

and from that I like to imagine baby lego with his ada visiting rivendell and absolutely terrorising elrond

Elrond: now, for this meeting i was hoping we could discuss-

*Tiny legolas bursting out into a song about a bird he saw. Thranduil smirking proudly and not bothering to stop him*

Elrond: oh fuck. there's two of them now

[sakasakiii]

when i first designed erestor 3 years back i wasnt totally aware of his potential half-elf status, and since then ive come across some more fanon interpretations of him being haleth and caranthir's kid which i really liked!!!! so ive decided to rework him a little by combining my original lore for him into this concept 👉👈 i ended up getting carried away on whole different tangent with his backstory which ive summarised down below HAHA

tldr to expand on some key points under the cut:

born in F.A. 371 to haleth and caranthir; his parents' romance is short but passionate, and while many of the haladin are initially unsure about the nature of this union, they dont oppose it. for 4 years they live an unconventional but happy life together

haleth leaves thargelion in F.A. 375 and raises erestor with her people once they resettle. he's too young to remember much about caranthir. throughout his childhood she never tells him who his father is, but he also never really feels the need to ask.

he's captured in F.A. 460 (40 years after his mother's death) and escapes in F.A. 510. two years later, he finally finds refuge in Amon Ereb-- six years after the deaths of caranthir, celegorm and curufin in the 2nd kinslaying.

is tasked by maedhros to assist maglor with elrond and elros' education after they're taken in following the 3rd kinslaying in F.A. 538. he becomes a weird mix of a nanny/older brother/teacher figure to them, and a strange but sweet bond forms between them.

entrusted to protect elrond and elros following the break out of the war of wrath. he leads them to the Host of the Valar, where the twins are given the choice of the half-elven; to his surprise, he's afforded this choice as well, and decides to remain elven out of compassion for elrond after elros chooses mortality.

remains by elrond's side to watch over him for most of the 2nd age. during this time he resides in lindon as a healer, translator and archivist; later joins elrond in imladris, and partakes in the war of the last alliance as a combat medic.

in the 3rd age, is beset with sea-longing after what he regards to be a long and tiresome existence; he's also filled with guilt for being unable to help elrond heal celebrian’s psychological wounds, and contemplates following her back to Valinor. ultimately decides to stay back a bit longer, however, and lingers until after sauron’s defeat when the rest of the elves finally depart for the West. 

that's just a very condensed version but one day i hope to explore in some 4th age stuff where he finds out who his dad is...?! or will he?!?! who knows lol

[deimcs]

DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS (2009) + iconic lines [2/?]

[romina61]

Wait! I'm still stuck on the Saint Sebastian comparison of Celebrimbor, especially after I saw the painting of Caravaggio in Catania, Sicilia, and how much it stunned me!

Please, this is stunning! The text said that the painting was drawn like that to make the viewer feel like they're the archer, causing the martyrdom of Sebastian.

You’ve heard of the whole “Saint Sebastianification of Celebrimbor” in Elven paintings

But I bet that the meeting of Beren and Lúthien was also a popular subject for horny Elven painters

On one hand, you’ve got paintings that have Beren in full armor and Lúthien in a blue gown, the both of them chastely holding hands in a meadow of hemlock and niphredil

On the other hand, there are paintings of a shirtless Beren embracing a blushing Lúthien, who is dressed in some translucent gown, her hair woven with flowers, her lips only inches away from Beren’s lips

I’m just saying, “The Meeting of Beren and Lúthien” has potential for a lot of unintentionally horny paintings among the Elves

[probablybadrpgideas]

Just came up with the concept that elves have a larval growth cycle and their larval stage is a goblin.

Then I came up with the better concept that goblins have a larval growth cycle and their larval stage is an elf.

[kitmdrawsthings]

guess who just finished the silmarillion

Here's my take on the sons of Feanor (in age order for easy deciphering). Yall can expect an increase in elfposting from now on.

(more sketches under the cut btw, i didn't want to clutter the post too much)

[maybevarric]

at the end of tresspasser we see many of the elves mysteriously disappear across thedas correct? honestly this should have been the origin story for the veil jumpers: they get recruited by solas under the guise of restoring the ways of the elvhen.

initially these recruited elves would have been generally supportive across the board because finally there’s some kind of reclamation of their history and their past. finally there is an explanation and some kind of hint of a future as a whole. things are looking up under the protection and guidance of the dreadwolf.

but as solas’ plan would progress we’d start to see a divide amongst his followers, and i reckon this is where the veil jumpers would begin. as a pushback to this. as an act of defiance against what was coming. learning what solas’ plans are for the future of thedas and tearing down the veil and all that. the veil jumpers choose not to reclaim their history and past through these kinds of designs, but instead to learn for themselves because they are owed it. they deserve it. but not at the cost of the world ending.

idk i think the worldbuilding and the lore could have been SO much better. and i think it’s really strange that solas had agents in tresspasser and then suddenly had nothing come the start of datv.

[5arcasmw]

i know this has been talked about before but I CANNOT stop thinking about solas saying "please, rook, I do not wish to fight you"

like???

this is a man who has constantly betrayed, injured, and even killed his closest friends and confidants over and over and over again for thousands of years. he killed (or tranquilized) his oldest friend and former general just because he said "hey maybe people deserve rights" and he practically killed one of the last remaining embers of the woman he used to love. the woman he used to be conpletely beholden to. the woman he literally BURNED OFF OF HIS FACE so he could have enough power to tear down the veil.

and yet

he still refuses to hurt rook, and only lays a hand on them out of pure desperation during the sacrifice/worst ending when he literally has no other choice.

AND EVEN IN THAT ENDING he could have just turned them to stone and plucked the dagger out of their hand like he did to their companions but he DIDNT

he wanted to see the old world restored with them. if rook wasn't there to see it too, then what was the point?

even if your rook has a primarily negative/hostile relationship with him HE STILL DOESN'T KILL THEM!! HE STILL WANTS THEM TO LIVE!!!

if it really came down to it, though, solas probably would have killed them in order to tear down the veil and "fix" his mistake, but i KNOW that rook's death would have been one of, if not his biggest regret.

idk... i just think it's really interesting how solas becomes so obsessed with rook in his own way, more than almost anyone else we've seen him interact with. he could have killed them at any time, turned them to stone as soon as elgar'nan was defeated, but he didn't. he wanted them to see the old world restored with him so badly that it inevitably lead to his downfall.

[pennabeast]

ok bear with me but au where felassan survives solas's murder attempt and shows up at skyhold months later and proceeds to spend inquisition psychologically tormenting him while posing as a fellow apostate

i cannot take credit for felassan's outfit, it was taken from a masked empire design by christina kraus

[lizzybeeee]

DATV explaining the 'Regret Prison'

A REGRET PRISON IS STUPID AND I'M TIRED OF PRETENDING THAT ITS NOT

TL;DR: a prison can serve as a metaphor but it shouldn't be entirely comprised of a metaphor.

From what I understood from what the game gave us: Solas has made a new prison to move the God's too - since bringing down the veil would free them from the Black City. This new prison is separate(?) from the fade or so far removed/contained that bringing down the veil would not compromise it...apparently. We interrupt his ritual, Solas gets sucked into the new prison he made, and the elven gods are free.

When Rook gets kicked into the fade they're physically there - which means it's a physical place in the fade, like how it was a mixture of physical/thought when we entered it in DAI. Which makes sense - the gods are real and living beings, they need to be in a place, there must be some aspect of physicality to it.

Alright, cool, it's a Black City 2.0 - I assume it's better defended to prevent people breaking in/out again?

NOPE.

We get there and it's a 'regret prison'?? It's tied to the regrets of those within it? Composed of regrets??? Solas had to wait for the right moment for Rook to be sufficiently 'full of regret' that they could switch places?

So is the prison tied to Solas's regrets? If so, how can Rook escape? The prison seems to work around the idea that it relies on the regrets of the person it's holding to work - which is how/why Rook was able to be trapped and later free themselves (along with whatever remains of the team apparently being able to do something on their end, not that we hear about it).

WHICH IS STUPID!

Are you telling me the prison intended to hold to megalomaniac elven gods was going to imprison them based on their own regrets? Is Solas assuming that Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain are as self-pitying as he is? They'd break out quicker than Rook did! He made a time out corner for the elven gods to sit in and gave them an out if they reflected on their emotions/regrets or decided that they don't regret what they did. Elgar'nan, a spirit of tyranny, is not going to 'regret' his actions - he is going to justify them by telling himself and others that he knows what's best.

We can come across some of Solas's regrets in the prison if you run around a bit and explore:

Remnant of Failure - talking about the orb from Inquisition.

Remnant of Parting - talking about Mythal

Remnant of Reflection - more vague, talking about the Titans I believe.

So maybe he altered it - maybe he intended the prison to be 'locked' with his own regrets because after a millennia of having a pity party he still can't bring himself to self-reflect and look to the future. But what if Solas died? Or if his guilt lessened - would it diminish the strength of the regret prison?

We already have pre-established lore (though DATV has shown they don't really give a crap tbh) that once the being that has claimed/altered an area of the fade is slain, it's influence diminishes both in and outside of the fade. So if the prison was tied to his regrets then it would require Solas to basically live forever to keep it stable - especially if he brought down the veil and removed the one barrier that kept the world and the fade apart.

Rook and Solas needed some assistance to exit - but it doesn't seem like it was much! Solas used his dagger and Rook just...got out through a fade tear? This is Solas's 'more secure' second prison? It has a worse track record than the Black City! If Rook - who is not an elven god - managed to escape the regret prison what is to stop anyone else from breaking in and out of the prison?

And what did Solas intend to do with the blight - the bulk of which is apparently in the black city?? If bringing down the Veil would free the gods in the black city doesn't that mean that the blight would also be released?! Did he have a plan? Why does he go fully ahead with bringing down the veil at the end if the black city is still there and filled with blight?!

I get it: the 'regret prison' is a metaphor for how Solas holds onto the past and how Rook can move past their regrets and grow. He's trapped by the past - it's a prison. Cool. But this prison is supposed to by a physical place to contain the gods - not just to solely contain Solas. The mission is literally called 'A Cage for Gods'.

The Black City is an actual place that's so far out of reach of anywhere else in the fade that no mage can ever reach it while in dreams - let alone physically, which was only done once and took tremendous effort/blood sacrifices. It made sense - it was cool to see floating in the sky in DAO!

Though it's not said specifically, it's strongly implied that Arlathan is the Black City. You can see in the concept art that floating elven city is exactly the same as the black city in DAO! It's this foreboding thing just lurking in the sky - a constant reminder of the sin that led to the horrors of the blights and darkspawn. A real place with lore and history that also serves as a metaphor for the hubris and destruction of those who call themselves gods and act as tyrants -> for both the evanuris and the magisters.

I WANT TO UNDERSTAND THIS BIOWARE!

WHAT IS THIS KINGDOM HEARTS NONSENSE???!!

[linka-from-captain-planet]

DA fans: I just can’t stomach keeping Celene on the throne after reading The Masked Empire… she just doesn’t care about elves and never did, not to mention the unspeakable violence she carries out against them. Elves will never be safe or advance under her rule; Briala cant possibly change her. Gaspard backed by Briala is the moral and safest choice

Gaspard, to Briala’s face (The Masked Empire p 150-151):

[o0-snowdrop-0o]

That tenderness in his eyes, that gaze...always full of admiration when it comes to Galadriel 🫠

Also his elvish features started become visible again as he was getting closer to Eregion...

[0alix0]

just love how we still have absolutely no details about how evanuris killed mythal :) the mother of all, elgar'nan's wife, a mother of 3 possibly 5 other gods (who probably killed their own mother hello??), "the voice of reason"

remember that? remember "they killed mythal... a crime for which an eternity of torment is the only fitting punishment"

yeah. love it)))