#what in the (fade)world...

[vaguely-concerned]

are. are you telling me that if the romanced mage warden dies and alistair is king, he deadass stares greagoir down over her dead body and grants the circle of ferelden its autonomy after ordering it rebuilt somewhere safer. first you have to deliberately leave him behind so he won't die for you and then he does that for you once you're gone, even when you're broken up??? absolute and literal king behaviour of the highest order????? the actions speak louder than words of it all??????? I think I hauve covid

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker.

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[mythalism]

from @/elfbotanist on twitter who is posting from trick's bluesky; they elaborated a bit on exactly what the intention of the solavellan ending is

[felassan]

this post is under a cut in case anyone would consider it to be DA:D spoilers, as the things it mentions came from the leak a year ago (spoiler warning for link) that included screenshots and a gif of the game. (the things this post mentions are therefore not new information and this does not reference a new leak)

I'm just thinking again about Rook (which seems to be the PC's name or title) and the imagery conjured by the name. ◕‿◕ this post is just speculation and overanalyzing for fun. also this post is a now-finished draft from my draft section from a while back.

I think it would work as a surname (like "Hawke") or a codename (think Leliana's spies and contacts such as "Butler", "Farrier", "Butcher", "Charter", etc although these are all professions that end in "-er" or "or" iirc). it could also be a title (like Warden, Hero, Champion, Inquisitor, Herald) or a nickname - like maybe it's short for "Rookie", it's a Varric-assigned nickname and it references how the DA:D PC is the newest member of the team after he recruits them?

I think it sounds catchy, and cool - it's snappy and short, Hawke-like in this way. and it sounds like the kind of name a spy or secret agent might have in a fantasy, superhero or sci-fi-type setting.

a rook is a black bird, Corvus frugilegus, a member of the corvid family. rooks have been perceived as vermin and nuisances by people in the past, and persecuted due to this. they bear a resemblance to their crow and raven relatives, both birds which have a large cultural footprint and lots of symbolism in areas such as folklore and art. Hawke obviously also had a bird motif going on from their surname and associated art pieces. corvids also bring to mind the Antivan Crows (assassins, thieves, & spies), reminding of the stuff about how in this game the PC may be trying to operate under the radar, and the reporting on a previous iteration of DA:D which had the game concept as being focused on spies and heists. rook plumage is inky black, bringing to mind darkness and shadow.

from the bird angle, a "rook" sounds neat opposite a "wolf" imo. wolves are obviously another animal that have large footprints in culture, myth and folklore. in the natural world there is symbiosis sometimes between wolves and corvids when hunting/feeding. there are lots of photos of wolves and corvids together.

a colony of rooks is called a rookery. of course, the fortress of Skyhold has a rookery. it's from there that Inquisition Spymaster Leliana operates (operated) sending her black birds on missions with letters and messages to her many agents and spies throughout Thedas. what if Rook is one of Leliana's... "rooks"? a spy or agent of the remnants of the Inquisition.

A rook is also defined as "A cheat or swindler; someone who betrays" [noun], "mist, fog" [noun] and "to cheat or swindle" [verb]. it's also a type of trick-taking card game. these sorts of things bring to mind a rogueish, stealthy aspect, and the shady, shadowy dealings and card-game played in Minrathous Shadows.

a rook is also a chess piece. they're castle-like (since "rook" can also mean a castle or fortification) and usually have their top in the shape of a battlement. they can move in any direction along a rank or file on a chessboard on which they stand (horizontal/vertical, not diagonal). they can also do the "castling" move. in history, rooks have also been called towers, castles, rectors and marquesses. in chess, each player starts the game with two rooks at opposite ends of the first rank. chess itself is a game of strategy and tactics. "the chessmaster" as a trope is a character type who manipulates events, tugging on strings and moving 'pieces' into place on a metaphorical chessboard. [Solas' DA:I dialogue about his past, like the one he has with Sera about cells of spies/agents, hark to this]

in the castling move,

"Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook on the same rank and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved; the squares between the king and the rook are vacant; and the king does not leave, cross over, or finish on a square attacked by an enemy piece. Castling is the only move in chess in which two pieces are moved at once."

castling rules often cause confusion, even occasionally among high-level players. historically the move has its roots in the "king's leap", of which there were two forms and which arose in part it seems due to increasing importance of king safety as other pieces were given increased powers through time as the game developed. "the king would move once like a knight, or the king would move two squares on its first move. The knight move might be used early in the game to get the king to safety or later in the game to escape a threat." basically it moves the king away to safety and the rook to a more active position. there is also kingside castling and queenside castling. I wonder, symbolically.. is Rook more the king's rook, or the queen's rook? (reminds me of the Left Hand and Right Hands of the Divine hh). who or what is the king in this hypothetical analogy? the World of Thedas itself? as a castle or fortress.. Rook is the bulwark against what's to come? [over-thinking ik ik, tis just for fun hh].

by now we're all familiar with the chess game Solas plays in banter dialogue with Iron Bull during DA:I. in the in-world chess game, rooks are called towers. Solas moves his right-hand tower once. at a later point in the game, Iron Bull's "Arishok" piece takes Solas' left-hand tower, getting a check and leaving him feeling triumphant. Bull asks Solas wth he is doing as Bull takes Solas' remaining tower. "Your last tower, by the way". Bull, a spy and liar himself, bears down on Solas' pieces "with his full army", thinking a win is in sight. Undeterred, Solas executes a few moves in a sneaky plan and entraps Bull in a checkmate, winning the game after sacrificing various pieces to enact his plan.

rook also brings to mind the Tower tarot card and its meanings. it's associated with sudden, disruptive revelation and potentially destructive change. it connotes danger, crisis, sudden change, destruction, higher learning, and liberation, as well as adversity, calamity, deception, ruin and unforeseen catastrophe. reversed, it connotes things such as negligence, carelessness, apathy and vanity (vanity.. pride). in this depiction of the Tower tarot, lightning strikes from the sky, striking a crown (hubris) off the top of a tower and setting it alight as people fall from the tower to their doom. this imagery and the upright meanings of the card bring to mind the sudden massive change Solas seeks to bring about (destroying the Veil), the revelations and liberation for some that it might bring, his identity as Fen'Harel Lord of Tricksters (deception) as well as the destruction he seems to think the Veil destroying action will cause ("as the world burns in the raw chaos"...). the 'Tower scene' has also already played out once before in Thedosian history, when Solas created the Veil and sealed the Evanuris away, leading to the fall of Arlathan and its wonders. in modern Thedas, Morrigan and Flemeth (as well as possibly some side 'prophecy' type things) both allude to a big change coming to the world.

in DA:I, the Tower tarot card is ofc none other than Solas' ending card, if he is not romanced. in the DA:I version of the card, we see Solas, cloaked in a dark robe and holding a mage staff under a half-moon or eclipse. darkness seeps from his shadow, stark against the orange sky, and blends with the giant black Dread Wolf, looming ominously and open-mouthed above him with its many eyes. (the Tower tarot card Solas scene is later referenced in DA:D promotional art and DA:D-era in-world murals). it makes sense to have assigned this to Solas given the above discussed meanings of the Tower tarot card, but it's a verrry inchresting choice imo to then give "Rook" as a name/title for the DA:D PC.

and most inchrestingly, there's the symbol from the front of Mark Darrah's mysterious Red Book. this mysterious red book shows "a flaming rook" on the cover. the book was an internal guide for developer and publisher eyes only that summarized the vision for DA:D, in its Joplin iteration. we know that the Joplin project has since been revised to an extent that it was the newly codenamed Morrison instead, but the red book is known to still contain plenty of ideas likely to appear in DA:D. most pages of the book remain highly classified. it's the symbol on the front that's of most interest to us though for the purposes of this post. there is a castle, tower, or rook, like a fortress or the chess piece. above the tower, a fire burns, reminding us of the burning tower from the Tower tarot card imagery and what that symbolizes, as well as Solas' "world burning in the raw chaos" line from Trespasser. inside the fire is a wolf, the Dread Wolf, in a now very-familiar and repeated motif in DA:D art, merch, murals, teasers etc. whatever else "rook" may connote, it feels like it's not an accident at all that the PC's name is apparently "Rook", given this depiction of a fiery rook and the Dread Wolf together.

what do you think? ^^

[trappedinafantasy37]

Minthara is a paladin of her word. She does not make promises, she makes vows. She makes oaths. Even as an oathbreaker, she heavily adheres to the tenants of it. Being an oathbreaker just gives her more flexibility and freedom to fulfill the oaths she makes. She never breaks a promise and she never breaks a vow, and when she says she's going to do something she is going to do it.

So when she says she will go to Avernus with or without Karlach, she means it. She will personally throw hands with Zariel, and the only thing that will stop her is Zariel's death, or her own. And it is one thing if Karlach does go with her, but a whole other thing if Karlach dies on that pier.

Not only will Minthara be grieving, she will be wrathful. And she's going to channel that wrath to the front to avoid feeling the grief (cause she doesn't always approach her emotions in the healthiest way). And she's going to take some of Karlach's rage and Karlach's fury with her. She will kill any demon or devil that gets in her way. There will be no distractions, unless the side quest gets her closer to Zariel or increases her chances in the fights to come.

Minthara is not doing this for power, she is not doing this for glory, she does not care for a crown or a throne. She is down there in Avernus to avenge the love that burned out too soon.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

If I could write stories as quickly and vividly as I can envision them, I would have written at least three lovely novellas in the last week. Two of them this morning.

[akkivee]

I DIDNT FORGET WHOSE SPECIAL DAY IT IS THO HAPPY BIRTHDAY SASARA 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

[rcmclachlan]

what if i put my life in your hands? what if i took your life in mine?

[chaotic-fandom-hoarder]

mom said it’s my turn on the writing again!

Alex can’t exactly pinpoint when they first started to change. After all, they lived with a creature who could create hallucinations and worked in a place that had a “state of the art hallucinatory environment”. It’s hard to think about strange things happening to yourself when everything is already strange.

Although, a big telling point should have been the eyes.

Every once in a while, they would look in their bathroom mirror and meet yellow eyes, like that of a cat, or more likely, a veldigun. They would just sigh and continue business as usual, and when they glance back up at the mirror their eyes would be normal again. Human.

One time, before another day at the Lankmann Asylum, Alex was washing their hands. Their reflection didn’t look like them, but Clyde was asleep, so it wasn’t of much concern to them. The hallucinations always seemed to be stronger whenever Clyde was sleeping, whether under a table, in a closet, or sprawled across the couch.

Did Alex paint their nails recently? They didn’t think so, but there they were, with light green nails. It was probably just a hallucination, they thought. It was a nice color though, it suited them.

It took Alex a while to notice that the colored nails never faded. If anything, the color got more intense, eventually ending off as vibrant forest green claws.

Of course, at this specific moment, the nails weren’t the most important thing. The most important thing was the eye right in the center of their hand.

Alex blinked. Then it blinked back. It was yellow with a narrow pupil, like Clyde’s. 

Oh, this better be another hallucination because if not, then that’s not going to be convenient. If it’s not from Clyde, then maybe they should check the batteries in their co2 detectors.

The eye closed just as they thought that, and Alex could swear that they saw the air ripple before their hand looked perfectly normal. No eyelids. Nothing looking back at them where there shouldn’t be.

Alex just sighed and left for work. The fact that they’re seeing things doesn’t matter. Probably. Between the Lankmann Foundation and Clyde, a hallucination or two is probably not the worst thing that could happen to them.

After that, they never seem to get less… weird. Specifically with their reflection.

There comes a point later on, not long before the police raid their home, where Alex doesn’t like having mirrors around anymore. Afterall, the hallucinations always seem to get stronger in their reflection. The shadows seem to get deeper and darker, as though something was hiding one side of their face. 

Sometimes they catch a glimpse of inhuman teeth in their reflection, almost like Clyde’s, but whenever they fully look at it the reflection goes back to normal. Other times, the person in the mirror seems to move differently. The reflection looks stiffer than Alex feels, like watching a stop motion picture of themself.

(What Alex doesn’t realize is that the reflection isn’t the unnatural one anymore. They are.)

Does the Paradox of Theseus’s ship apply to a person as well? At what point does someone stop being human?

[torchstelechos]

Hey guys, are the ghosts from the Ghost event actually Siffrin's ghosts or are they Loop's? It's been bugging me for a while how the party described the Siffrin ghost, cause in the back of my mind I was wondering why Siffrin smiled as if they hadn't seen the party for a long time and then I was like. Oh wait. Siffrin isn't the only person in the game who looked like that. So...yaknow??

[sulky-cabbage]

The sukugo fight can't get animated any sooner I'm craving sukugo tiktok edits

[vaguely-concerned]

walking through lucanis' mind prison. the tam lin of it all

[rontra]

I only just read the most recent chapter and ahhhh your MIND. I had Nyx's theme playing as I read it, the grief of having that hope and the memory of her friend ripped out of her, not even knowing what she lost, everything with Kawakami all coming back to that one night years ago. How she's already lost people she's cared so much about and Kawakami's pushing her away but she just can't bear to leave. She can't lose this person she's gotten so close with. Not again. YOUR MIND

NYX'S THEME IS SO GOOD!!! very nice pick 🥰

but YESSS.... you're picking up what i'm putting down... (rubs my hands together) i've been so excited about it. my moon scheme. she finally looked at that big orb and went IM NOT LETTING THIS GO...!!

earlier she said it "creeps [her] out" but that was kind of incorrect. but how is she supposed to turn to her coworker and articulate what being out under a bright full moon Actually makes her feel without sounding like an absolute lunatic pun intended...........

it's something she likes to mostly avoid dwelling on in too much detail because it's confusing and painful. but standing out there in a crowded street...letting it wash over her and deciding she can't let this bond slip away from her...ive been looking forwards to drawing that so bad. HFHJBGB I'M GLAD YOU LIKED IT!!!! THANK YOU FOR READING 😤😤

my special power is "taking the gamer teacher really seriously"

[superhousecat-once-again]

Unfortunately now that I’ve finally seen it, I 100% cannot stand the Solavellan ending and like I knowww that’s in large part because I’ve been functioning on a different level with the ship the entire time but it’s just sooo forgiving of Solas and sooo tragic for Lavellan and does not include the most fascinating element of their dynamic to me which is ‘Solas starts to see the value of the current world because of how much Lavellan loves it and is so deeply part of it’ and in fact fully discards it because Lavellan just fucks off to fade prison for “true love”

[eggo-tistical]

never mess with us resi fans we got this in our sketchbooks

[ghost-bard]

I feel like every time i hear about solavellan its talking about like “oh when they reunite and solas and ooooo” or like. Something angsty like one of them dying or something.

Anyone elses lavellan wanna just kill him like straight up

And i dont mean this in a hating solas way (irl) but at least in my lavellans case they went through hell and back in inquisition, and finding out solas wants to tear down the veil, effectively destroying the world as they know it, was the final straw. As in they were barely keeping it together before, and this caused them to spiral. Like a mental break happened. And that manifested in a very uh. Violent and hunting down solas at all costs kinda way.