#yeah his connection to the inquisitor

[sunflowerhazel]

I've seen a couple of people both here and on twitter be upset that it looks like a solavellan world state is the default, based on a female lavellan with no vallaslin being the default Inquisitor. It really looks like solavellan and how much energy is being put into their story is pretty contentious amongst the fandom right now so I just wanted to remind everyone that even though a female lavellan might be the default for the Inquisitor, you can always change that!

Remember when BG3 first came out and people were super excited to create their characters as well as the dream guardian, even though none of us knew who the dream guardian would be yet? You know how when you boot up a new game the "default" race/class is an elven barbarian? You know how you almost always change that immediately????

The same way that we all changed the default origins character and the default dream guardian design to fit whatever we wanted, new Dragon Age fans that have never played the game before will most likely change the Inquisitor's design based on whatever they want. Also "elf" comes first alphabetically when your options are "elf, dwarf, human, qunari"

But all that being said, I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing that a solavellan Inquisitor is the default. If that's not what you want, totally fine! Go wild! Make your Inquisitor a hot qunari woman who's married to Sera! Make it so your Inquisitor hates the egg man's guts!!! However, for new fans who might just be picking up Dragon Age for the first time and don't want to go through the trouble of making an Inq. (and therefore choose the default option,) making it so your character's advisor is in love with one of the main antagonists of the game can be a really interesting story. That's all.

And once again "elf" comes first alphabetically anyways so like of course the "default" would be an elf I just think it's really not that deep

[abyssal-ilk]

posting that sketch yesterday made me remember just how much i love my taashath so i did another doodle <3

[chernychnyi]

i usually like my dragon age love interests to contrast my characters somehow and yet the desire to romance emmrich as a fellow academic... would it be weird if he peer reviewed my papers before. would it be unprofessional

[aerynwrites]

Mixed Signals

Solas x reader/inquisitor

A/N: the Poll has spoken! y'all chose option 2 (I love that btw) so you shall receive. Some backstory - for whatever reason and despite having all the approval requirements and everything, my game bugged and I did NOT get the solas balcony romance scene and I'm MAD!!! idk what the scene was even supposed to be other than a kiss but yeah. here's this lol. this is also my first ever DAI pic so I apologize if things seem OOC. Hope you all enjoy!

Word Count: 1.4k

Warnings: Hurt/comfort, very slight angst, fluff, kisses, petting? lost of kissing.

 “I’ve disturbed you enough for the evening.”

Solas’ parting words ring in your head endlessly since he left your chambers yesterday. They had stunned you, making your brows furrow as his demeanor seemed to change. You were sure, so sure he was going to take a step forward in your relationship. Even though you’d both agreed to take the risk, the tension had never waned, as if one wrong move would destroy the fragile relationship you’ve built. 

When he left…you thought it had finally shattered. That not acting on the energy crackling in the air, Solas was - effectively - giving you a final verdict. 

That was until today, when you went to visit him, after hours spent in the war room. Cassandra wanted you to speak with him about his knowledge on the elven artifacts you’ve been finding throughout the region. 

You walked in, finding him sitting in his chair, thumbing through a worn leather book. 

“Solas -”

“Yes, vhenan?” 

You nearly choke on air, hiding it behind a small cough. The term of endearment was not one used lightly, especially not by Solas. Your heart was thrumming in your chest, eyes wide as Solas finally looked up from the withered pages at your silence. 

He raises a brow at you, closing the book on his thumb to keep his place. “Did you need to speak with me?” he asks, again. 

Your mind runs at breakneck speed, yet you’re still unable to comprehend his words, still stuck on his initial greeting. 

Vhenan…

Solas stands then, setting his book down before taking a few steps to stand before you, settling a gentle hand on your arm. 

“Vhenan…are you alright?” he asks, voice soft, concern glittering in his gaze.

Finally your eyes connect with his own, and it feels as if the breath is stolen from you once more. That memory from the fade playing over and over in your mind. But you quickly shake it off, breaking his gaze and looking at the wall over his shoulder. 

“Yes, I…” you trail off, voice small, unsure. “I seem to have forgotten what I came for. Forgive me.” 

You turn without another word, hurrying from his presence with a greater haste than when you arrived, leaving a baffled Solas in your wake. 

That had been hours ago, the sun having long set, yet sleep evades you as you lay in your too large bed in your too large chambers. You are more confused now than when he left you on your balcony just a day ago. He had a chance, a chance to speak with you about…well about whatever this was. You had expected as much when he asked to speak to you alone, in your chambers no less. Yet…he didn’t take it. And now, he’s calling you endearments you’d always dreamed of hearing from his lips, whispered against your skin…

With a frustrated huff you sit up in bed, tossing the covers aside. You are going to find answers, you have to talk to him. 

Quickly lighting a candle, you reach for the robe hanging on the post of your bed, pulling it over your shoulders before reaching for the candle once more. You make your way across the room, the chill of the stone floor sinking into the soles of your feet as you pad towards the door. 

Pulling the door open, you have to stop the shout that bubbles up in your chest as you’re met with the very person you were searching for. Solas stands on the threshold of your chambers, hand raised to knock, and the tips of his ears just the slightest tinge of red at having been caught. 

“Solas-” “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

You both speak at the same time before falling silent, waiting for the other to speak. 

“I was just-” “I need to speak with you”

By now your own cheeks are burning, as silence envelops you once more. 

“Well, this isn’t going to work.” you finally say, heart fluttering at the smile your words elicit from the elf in front of you.

“Conversation will not get far that way, no,” Solas concedes. 

You step aside, gesturing him in, a command he silently obeys. 

Neither of you speak for a moment, and you take the opportunity to light a few more candles around the room, noticing only briefly that Solas seems…nervous. 

“Vhenan-”

“Why do you call me that?” you interrupt, setting the last candle down on your bedside table. 

This question seems to perplex the man, his brows furrowing as confusion settles on his features. 

“Vhenan,” you repeat the term, “Why do you call me that?”

“Do you not like the term? I just assumed it was appropriate-”

“Why?” you interrupt again, all your confusion and inner turmoil and insecurities coming to the surface now that you're alone with him. “I didn’t think…I know you were hesitant about this relationship. I know you think it’s a risk. But you…you left, Solas.”

You can tell he wants to speak, but he stays silent, encouraging you to continue in his own peculiar way. 

“On the balcony,” you clarify. “I thought…you asked to speak with me and I thought-” you cut yourself off, clenching the fabric of your robe in your hands as you struggle to verbalize your thoughts without sounding like an idiot. 

“I thought there was more to  say, there was more you were going to say. About us. But then…you said that you respected me deeply but then you just left! As if you are some burden I wanted gone, or as if you aren’t worthy of my time, but I- I want this Solas. With you. I want you, and I thought you wanted me, and if you don’t that is fine. But you can’t keep sending these clashing signals-”

You don’t  even notice him approach, not until his lips meet your own, cool hands cradling your face as he pulls you deeper into the kiss. A kiss you eagerly return, hands dropping your robe to instead fist into the fabric of his tunic, pulling him impossibly closer, wishing you could pull him into your very being. 

You stumble blindly as Solas urges you backwards, your knees hitting the edge of the bed, Solas following you down to the feather mattress, catching his weight on his forearms. 

He never breaks the kiss, his lips molding against yours as fire runs through your veins, burning brighter than the summer sun. His hands, calloused from years of wielding his staff, slide beneath your robe and ruck up your night shirt in search of the soft skin beneath. 

You both only separate for desperate gasps of air before Solas is devouring you once more, teeth nipping at your lip before you feel his tongue slide along the seam of your lips. You clutch him tighter as he sighs into you at your willing acceptance, exploring your mouth with his own before he finally breaks away from you, nuzzling against your jaw as he presses feather light kisses there and down your neck. 

“I want you,” he breathes, hands clutching at your waist. “I crave you. And it terrifies me.” he admits. 

You take a moment to gather your thoughts, the thoughts that were scattered leagues apart from one another by his kisses, by his hands roaming over your skin. 

“You…you can be afraid and still do it,” you tell him. 

Solas chuckles then, an almost inaudible sound against your collar bone. 

“What do you think I’m doing?”

You smile, sliding your hands up to cup his jaw, urging him up to look at you, heart stuttering a the look in his eyes. 

“I thought…”

He shakes his head, turning to place a kiss on your palm. 

“I have not stopped thinking about our kiss in the fade,” he admits. “I’m sorry if my actions betrayed otherwise.” 

 “Will you stay?” you ask.

Solas smiles down at you before capturing you in another breathtaking kiss. 

“Nothing would please me more.”

Solas lifts himself from you, helping you beneath the covers before moving to extinguish the lights around the room. When the last one is blown out, you only know he joins you when the bed dips at your side, the covers lifting as he slides in beside you. 

Warm hands seek you out once more, lips fumbling in the dark until you kiss one last time, this one seeming to promise more than words ever could. 

Neither of you speak again. Not until you both settle, Solas’ body pressing into you from behind as his arms snake around your waist, legs tangling with your own. Not until you’re already in the dregs of slumber and you hear him call to you one last time.

“vhen’an’ara.”

[invinciblerodent]

While I'm on the topic of being hopelessly in my feelings about these characters, I just finished the last part of the Gloom Howler quest, and I'm thinking about Davrin and names at the moment.

I really, really love how, once we learn the truth about her, Davrin seems to make a point of always referring to Isseya by her name (mostly on its own, but sometimes in conjunction with calling her "The Gloom Howler" when necessary), and even correcting others who would refer to her only by the latter name. (Which, honestly, both Solas and the Inquisitor could also talk at length about a title that all but replaces your name- it definitely feels significant that Davrin would pointedly reject the thought of doing that to someone, but I digress.)

And that reminded me of how I previously made an idle, kind of shitposty little post about how nice I found that during his recruitment mission, Davrin calls out the specific names of each griffon if you interact with their cages, and he attempts to comfort them like that- by reminding them who they are, that he's there, and promising that he'll be back for them.

In retrospect, I think that's so interesting, how his core story seems to boil in part down to... well, in part to the burden of duty, the questioning of tradition and authority (he questions both Dalish- and Warden traditions from very early on, one by joining the Wardens and the other by joining Rook) and, yes, living past what one thought to be their purpose, but also... to these moments, that invite some contrasting of his elven-, and his Grey Warden identities.

Isseya being an elven Warden is a very direct parallel, and a very clear image- it, I think, is meant to show what happens when authority goes unquestioned, and one side (the Warden) triumphs over the other (the person). His uncle then acts as a counterpoint and a thread of connection to the past- he shows what happens when tradition goes unquestioned, and while peaceful, how that existence is not one Davrin wishes for himself.

This all comes to a head in the final choice concerning the griffons... which, I can't say what a "correct" choice is, but I find it really cool how one option embraces a more rigid tradition and acts as a vow for reforms within them, honoring them, while the other embraces a different tradition, one born of fluidity, choice, and change- a more personal freedom.

Purpose and nature, respect for the past and hope for the future, all strain against each other sometimes (in multiple companions' stories, I feel), and it's often a name that represents the complicated harmony between two halves.

Be that Assan, noble descendant of a hero Warden's griffon wearing an Elvish name, Isseya, the monster and mage brought to peace, the idea of "turlum", harmony and understanding forged between vastly different minds, or just... Davrin, the Dalish Grey Warden, who is not more one than the other.

Maybe that's why calling people (and animals, and feelings) by their proper names seems so casually important to him. Because if you give something complex, messy, and muddled up a name, it's easier to just live it.

(.......... and yeah, that makes it a bit ironic how so far he's been calling Rook, "Rook", but, yknow, technological limitations. I've a feeling I've at least one important scene to go still, but honestly, the name "Rook" does also kind of represent a similarly complex matrix of ideas condensed into a person. It could be that "Rook" feels more accurate than any "friend", or "love", or "boss", or even "vhenan", for what they are to him, or it could be that he's still looking for the right name, but either way, I'm looking forward to seeing how it all ends.)

[crossdressingdeath]

DAI does that with a lot of things. Morrigan gets to claim to be a Elven expert, even though you know that is far from the truth if you've played Origins where she didn't know shit. Cullen gets final say in his dialogue options despite you knowing that he's lying. Grey Wardens gets shit on and the Inquisitor can wildly overstep.

DAI has this weird mix of a) expecting you to have read all the books/comics so that they don't have to explain anything and b) assuming that you haven't played the previous games so they can try to rewrite what happened.

Yeah, the required reading for DAI was ridiculous. WEaWH is always the big one because most of the others you can get by without it (even Cole's backstory isn't necessary to appreciate and understand the character, and enough of it comes up in-game to get by), but knowing what Celene and Gaspard did is kind of fucking important, Bioware. And then even when Celene purging the alienage comes up it's used as a mark against Briala for being in a relationship with her at the time even though if I'm understanding the excerpts I've seen of TME Briala breaks it off as a direct result of the purge and (as Dorian rightly points out) that'd be more Celene's scandal than Briala's anyway. Like, they try to make Celene purging the alienage into Briala's crime because she was sleeping with the empress at the time and that's just... ugh. But it's like, I would argue that it would be fair and honestly best practice to assume that people playing the third game in a series have played the first two games? DA has an overarching narrative even if the connections aren't particularly close, if someone wants to start partway through they can but the writing should expect people to be familiar with the games' stories. Maybe have some codex entries summarizing the previous games or a little intro cutscene, but... I don't know, I'm worried about the fact that apparently DAV doesn't need you to have played the first three games when literally all the setup for it is in DAI. Expecting people to have played all the games in a narrative-driven RPG series and not to have jumped in partway through is fair! Expecting people to have read five supplementary novels and two coffee table lore books to understand the plot is ridiculous. At least Tevinter Nights and The Missing so far seem to only be relevant to DAV in that they show some glimpses of what's been going on between games and give us a point of reference for some of the new characters...

The thing that gets me with DAI is that the game really wants you to side with the Templars whether it makes sense or not. Like... let's take the choice between mages and Templars as an example. The game wants you to side with the Templars. It really does, it tries its best to dissuade the player from siding with the mages if you go that route (Cullen's little "Oh... it's so dangerous... we shouldn't do it..." routine is notable when compared to Leliana and Josie, both of whom favour the mages, being very professional about you picking the Templars), it does its utmost to claim that the rebellion was unwarranted when it absolutely was not, the rebels are constantly framed as weak or mean or evil or stupid while the Templars were just misled (by... a guy who told them he'd let them murder all the mages and left out the "in service to Corypheus" bit, they still joined his little walkout to murder people, but the game doesn't get into that), it even lets you switch quests well past what should've been the point of no return if you're on the mage route (WHY CAN YOU SWITCH AFTER LEARNING THERE'S A FUCKING MAGISTER IN FERELDEN TRYING TO ENSLAVE A BUNCH OF MAGES, BIOWARE, WHY THE FUCK IS THAT AN OPTION) whereas with the Templars you can't even learn what your advisors' plan for getting you in alive is until you're locked in. And I'm not going to lie, CotJ is legitimately the better quest. I did it once to see and god damn it is quality, I don't dislike IHW but... yeah CotJ is definitely stronger.

But then you actually look at the story and... why the fuck would you side with the Templars? They left the Chantry because the Divine told them not to murder people. That's explicit, people tell you that repeatedly. They're making excuses for it, but there's always an acknowledgement that... yep, that's why the Templars left, they wanted to kill people and were mad about being told no. Leliana (the most familiar face among the advisors and given Cassandra's previous appearance was threatening Varric and Cullen's was playing yes man to Meredith for nine years and only changing sides once she became a threat to him/because not doing so would mean fighting Hawke Leliana's the one people are most likely to want to side with) is pro-mage and dismisses Cullen's claims that the Templars could help close the Breach as speculation. Which... it is. This situation is completely unprecedented, no one knows what's going to happen. But given mages are incredibly powerful and Templars are repeatedly portrayed as mostly useless in any sort of real danger that doesn't involve children or indoctrinated Circle mages (it is not a coincidence that the only people locked in the tower in Broken Circle who survive with their minds and bodies intact without the demons actively choosing to let them live for funsies are mages; the only Templar who's alive and unpossessed is Cullen, and the demons very obviously could've killed him at any time and just chose not to because they were having fun toying with him) I'm gonna say the mages are a safer bet. Also because... they invited Quiz. That could be a trap, but you know what's definitely a trap? Walking into a fortress full of heavily-armed mage killers who openly want you dead. Meeting with the Templars is really, really stupid (especially if you're a mage) and you don't even learn the plan for getting you inside unharmed until you actually select the quest. Also that plan is basically just "if there are witnesses with societal power the Templars can't murder you unprovoked" because reminder: the Templars are the absolute worst. Why would you ever want these people around. And then if you meet with the mages first like "Well I'll figure it out once I've heard what they have to say, I don't have to commit if I do things this way so I might as well" you learn that there's a Tevinter magister serving an evil Tevinter cult just chilling in Redcliffe and why the fuck would you go to the Templars at that point this needs to be dealt with. The game wants you to side with the Templars but it gives you no reason to do so, I really wonder sometimes if the writers weren't talking to each other at all.

[cosmiccrushes]

The Potential of a Painting

Solavellan || 2.1k words

on ao3 here!

summary: Lavellan visits the Lighthouse for the first time and finds, upon its walls, something she did not expect.

notes: I'm just obsessed with the idea of the frescoes in the Lighthouse being Solas' venerations to Lavellan. And her having to process that. I cannot stop thinking about it

***

The Inquisitor's boot connects with smooth, flat stone as she steps through the eluvian. 

“Home, sweet, home,” Rook says as they step through the mirror behind her. 

“Is it sweet?” Inquisitor Lenore Lavellan asks, tilting her head thoughtfully at Rook. The idea of Solas having a place, comfortable and safe, to return to after leaving his bloody trail through Thedas stirs her emotions into a muddled brew. Not quite rage, not quite relief. Bitter on her tongue. Telling in the warmth it spreads down her throat, through her stomach. 

Rook shrugs their shoulders. “Eh, it grows on you. Strange to be in a place that keeps expanding and changing as more of us arrive.” 

Strange indeed, Lavellan thinks. That Solas would choose to live in a place capable of transformation when he himself has refused to evolve. She’s heard all about this Fade-touched place from her various reports and letters from Varric. The Lighthouse- where rooms appear to accommodate Rook’s growing team. A place that seems to be made for community, to provide for its occupants. Yes, strange that Solas, who’s chosen to walk his lonely path, would take his rest here. Then again, did the Dread Wolf ever rest? The last decade spent always a step too far behind him would suggest otherwise. Her own restless nights would demand it. 

“So, a tour first? Or,” Rook pauses, “Would you like to see Varric? He's resting in the infirmary.”

Lavellan smiles at Rook’s kindness. It's been many moons since she's seen her dear friend, yet, “Thank you, Rook. But a tour first, I think.” 

Rook nods, sweeping their arm forward. “Right this way.” 

She climbs the steps from the eluvian’s chamber into a wide, circular space. Her gaze is immediately drawn upwards. Her lips part in awe at the beautiful, mysterious contraption spinning in the center of the room. 

Rook is watching her, something of pride in the curve of their mouth. “Yeah, it's breathtaking.” 

“Mmm,” Lavellan hums, rotating in a slow circle, as her gaze hunts hungrily across the low tables and chairs, prowling for signs that Solas was ever here. 

Rook’s voice breaks through her focus. “This is the main entrance hall. We take a lot of our meetings gathered here. The fireplace has a nice ambience for discussing the downfall of ancient elven gods.” Rook shrugs their shoulders playfully. “Since we're already downstairs, let's see the music room first.” 

“Music room?” Lavellan asks sharply, a memory glinting like the edge of a knife before it plunges through her. 

***

“Yes, vhenan, I've been known to dabble in piano.” 

Lavellan stares at him doubtfully. “You? Play piano?” 

Solas gives the tiniest shake of his head and his lips pull at the edges, like he's fighting back a smile. “I've dabbled over the years, yes. Is that hard for you to believe?” 

She leans an elbow atop her balcony, resting her chin in her hand. “It's hard to imagine you dabbling in anything. You seem more of an, ah…” She taps a finger against her bottom lip as she searches for the right word. “A deliberate pursuer of things.” She looks back at Solas. His eyes are fixed on her lips. 

“Ah, yes. I suppose I can be rather decisive in my drives.” His gaze finally lifts to her eyes. “Most of the time.” 

A warmth spreads through her at his words, and she thinks, not for the first time, that perhaps Solas had rather meant to dabble with her. Had stumbled into something far more definitive than he intended.

“Maybe it’s just surprising that you would have a more idle hobby.” 

“I paint, do I not? It is not so far reaching that I might enjoy leisure time with other arts.” 

Lavellan laughs, wide and open-mouthed. “Solas!” She gasps between mirthful breaths. “You don’t dabble in painting. You create-” She shakes her head, picturing the beautiful murals adorning the walls of his room. “Masterpieces,” she says softly. 

Solas stares at her like she’s the sun. Warm and bright, but difficult to look at for too long. He’s always watching her like this. With a reverence and longing that makes her ache. He’s just as likely to reach for her in those moments as he is to turn away, as though afraid she might scorch his skin. 

“Perhaps I can hear you play, when this is all over,” she gestures vaguely at where the sky is torn open, bleeding Fade and demons. 

Solas’ answering smile is brittle and breaking. Like bark peeling off a tree, revealing the growth of something new and harder underneath. Many of Solas’ smiles were like this. It maddened her not to know what they meant. 

“Maybe, vhenan,” he replies, his fingertips reaching to brush gently against her temple, trailing the shape of her vallaslin. It did not feel like the potential of a promise though. More the doleful caress of a decision already made. 

***

“Yep, a music room, complete with a piano!” Rook is saying, striding across the room to reveal a round door in the wall. Lavellan follows them down a long hall, drawing a deep steadying breath through her nose- that she immediately exhales sharply in a quiet gasp as she steps fully into the music room. 

Paint is splashed across every wall. Perilously parallel to the frescoes Solas created in Skyhold. As if sensing the lurking danger, her heartbeat increases its pace. She half expects Solas to look up from one of the armchairs, a book open on his lap, old elven endearments on his lips.  

Rook is saying something, but Lavellan cannot hear over the rushing in her ears. For across the walls, is the story of the Inquisition. Just as Solas once painted it in a tower room that smelled of earth and spice. If she could force her lungs to draw breath, would she be able to smell his scent lingering here? 

“Inquisitor? Inquisitor?” Rook's concern is etched across their brows when Lavellan looks at them. “Are you okay?” 

Lavellan nods slowly. “Yes, sorry. I'm just… taking it all in.” 

“Right,” Rook says with the undercurrent of knowing there's something more to it but being tactful enough not to ask. Lavellan's fondness of Rook grows by the moment. 

Rook leads them from the music room, re-entering the central chamber. “I'll show you the upstairs rooms next. It's amazing- everyone has their own chambers, curated specifically to meet their needs. Somehow, the Lighthouse knows what we'll require.” 

Lavellan's footsteps are heavy on the stairs, her mind tumbling through time. She watches her feet lift from step to step in a detached sort of way. She feels weighed down by the past. A past she didn't expect to encounter here. A past someone did not warn her was gaping open here, hemorrhaging from the walls. 

Color at the corner of her vision catches her attention. She turns her head, footsteps faltering as she crests the landing to the second floor. 

Now she's not just weighed down, she is falling. Plummeting to the bottom of a well where she floats, weightless, at the edge of drowning. One mouthful of broken heart away from going under. 

She spins to look out at the other walls on the second floor landing. Every single one of them is a brutal punch to the gut, a glorious blade to the bone. Like a gift wrapped in rose thorns, beautiful and promising but horribly confounding. 

Solas has painted frescoes here too. But these she has never seen. Suspects they were not made to be seen. Solas filled his empty lighthouse with the ghosts of a person still amongst the living. She swallows hard, forces tears not to fall. Would they be from grief or gratitude? She does not know. 

Every painting depicts wolves, an homage to Fen'Harel, one might think. But amongst the wolves, too prominent to be mistaken as anything but a focal point, is her. Bathed in golds and reds, fiery like the rising sun. Hair flowing long around her, like she used to wear it in moments of refuge at Skyhold. A Dalish charm dangling from her neck in the painting closest to her. Her own vallaslin depicted on the charm’s surface. As if Solas plucked it from her brow all those years ago and enshrined it here.   

Rook’s tour is forgotten. Lavellan makes her own way from painting to painting nestled between doorways, gaping at her likeness. Why? Why has Solas painted her here? All these years he has refused to stand before her- or so she thought. How many times has he stood before her portraits? Are they here for his pleasure or his penance? 

She traces a finger down her face in one of the murals. Her hair is flowing around her in this one too. Her hands clasped around the hilt of a sword at her chest, its blade pointed to the ground. A large wolf, his head tilted back in a howl, sits at her feet. She lays her palm against the wolf and a single, strangled sob chokes out of her. 

“Uh, Inquisitor?” She remembers Rook is with her. They are looking back and forth between her and the mural. “Is that you?” Rook asks, bewilderment permeating their question. 

“Yes,” Lavellan states plainly. 

“Oh,” Rook’s head bobs up and down. The upward slant of their eyebrows indicative of how baffling they find this development. “Varric never said-” 

“I’d like to see Varric now.” Lavellan cuts them off, offering a gentle smile to soften her bluntness. 

“Of course, sure, yes.” Rook’s head is still nodding. “Over here.” 

Lavellan exchanges pleasant greetings with Varric, waiting until Rook shuts the door behind them as they exit. Then she turns to Varric and demands, “Why didn't you tell me?”

“Ah, I take it you saw our very own little museum to the Inquisition.” Merriment dances in Varric’s eyes. 

“Varric,” Lavellan says, exasperated with his response. “There are paintings of me everywhere. Maker’s breath, why didn’t you tell me they were here?” 

Varric sighs. “I thought it was best for you to see it for yourself, Lenny.” 

She softens at the nickname. “I suppose I might not have believed you if you’d written to me about it.” 

“I do love a good joke,” Varric smiles dimly. “Although, I’m not sure that would have been a very amusing lie.” 

Lavellan sits on the edge of his bed, taking care not to disturb his injuries. “Then why are you so amused?” 

“Because, Lenny, don’t you see? He can be saved.” Varric says it with a conviction that presses on her heart painfully. 

“Varric, I don’t think-” 

He interrupts her with a raised palm, before she can begin the same argument they've had for the last decade. It's not that she doesn't want to save Solas from himself- that had been her own steadfast conviction ten years ago. But with every body he dropped behind him, every instance he avoided a confrontation with her, Lavellan felt him slip further away. He didn't want to be saved. The Dread Wolf had chosen, and his choice had not been her. She had to choose too. If she could not save him, she would stop him. 

“I trust my gut on this one. I’m right. Chuckles can be pulled back from the ledge, whether he knows it or not.”

“He stabbed you!” Levallen exclaims. 

Varric sighs again. “And I’ll be pissed at him about that when I see him next. But first, you need to knock some sense into him.” 

“Me?” She huffs an incredulous laugh. “Varric, he didn’t listen to me eight years ago. What makes you think he’ll listen now?” 

“Those are veritable venerations to you out there,” Varric implores, pointing at the door, the faintest tinge of vexation in his tone. “That’s not the work of a man who’s given up on what he really wants.” 

“Or perhaps it’s the graveyard where he’s laid to rest the wants he refuses to have,” she says darkly. “Besides, he is trapped in the Fade now. It hardly matters.” 

Varric studies her intently. “Doesn’t it? Do you really think he'll stay quietly locked up there forever?” Varric pauses. “Is that where you really want to leave him?”

“Damn you.” 

“All the way to the Deep Roads if you like, but I’ll still be right.” 

She smiles at her oldest friend. “You really think I can reach him this time?” 

“I think,” Varric says slowly. “He’s spent his last lonely decade painting your portrait to fill the emptiness around him.” Varric softens, voice dropping to a low murmur. “Those paintings aren't a cemetery, Lenny. They're his salvation.” 

Lavellan sinks. Slips beneath the cold, calm surface of her hope. Chokes on a lungful of potential. Varric takes her hand gently in his and squeezes as she weeps for a painting and what it might promise.

[notenoughdragons]

so i caved yesterday after *gestures* all of that on the other side of the pond, and bought veilguard (meant to wait till the first bugfix patch is out), and i have thoughts

(spoilers for the first few quests)

fucking adore the character creator. overwhelming as heck but God a+

addendum: why tf aren't there different lip/mouth shapes. we have like 30 eyelash options. i'm p sure da:i had diff mouth shapes

THERE'S NO QUICK SAVE/LOAD OPTION???? why on god's green earth

the photo mode is NEAT (tip, get yourself reshade plus the "mod" that allows hiding the UI, so you can do screenshot nonsense in cutscenes too)

it took me like 15 min to get rid of the quest marker bc that shit is hidden in Two diff menus but oh my god so worth it

on that note, i'm Really enjoying the area/level/dungeon design, and traversing it Without an annoying big blue star thing blinking at you is really good

the environments are just. unhinged in the best way. THE CROSSROADS? D'META VILLAGE?? THE OSSUARY???? perfect no notes

have i mentioned the hair? the hair is really good. i'm a lttle obsessed with the style i gave my rook, i didn't think i'd like it this much

okay let's talk plot bc. uh.

see, on the one hand? so far (recruited bellara and got the dagger and fucked around in the crossroads and am currently getting murdered by murdering calivan so lucanis will murder for Me) it… works for me? like it really feels like getting thrown into the DEEP deep end, but it's a kind of. idk. sensible progression?

and oh my god ghilan'nain. i kinda hate how normal she comes across in the memory dungeon lab? (which. AMAZING QUEST) but also i love that SHE'S UNHINGED, that solas clearly held sympathies for her, the way i YELLED when you hear her voice when that dragon shows up in the blighted village??? amazing

(NO fucking idea how this would play for someone who's not familiar with the series, good lord the amount of exposition crammed randomly into codex cards???)

that being said. how the fuck does this connect from trespasser/tevinter nights. solas what Happened to you. like this is (part of) why i'm Not using saar as the inq in this run, bc even pretending they Weren't madly in love, it doesn't work. i don't think it works for Any inquisitor who befriended/romanced him (unless maybe one who decided to go full scorched earth and hunt him down at all costs)

in meta terms i know why this is happening but How is varric our insight point into solas and the connection to him. even if you're not playing them, this Should be the inq. solas doesn't lose a single fucking word about anyone But the inquisitor in trespasser. it's just this really tragic dissonance y'know

also the way this game is frontloaded is so fucking funny (i am also choosing to find it funny). IMMEDIATELY unleash the evanuris. IMMEDIATELY get solas trapped somewhere so he can't use his not-god powers to help you. FIRST "normal" quest is a horror movie walkthrough of The Most Blighted Village You Can Imagine, like okay! solas spends all of da:i being fucking coy about the blight and now it's like 'the evanuris are blighted. yeah they used the blight for power that's why i trapped them. they got out and immediately start spitting blight everywhere For Power. the REST of the blight is trapped in the evanuris prison. yeah the black city IS the evanuris prison. also blight is alive too. uh what else'

sidenote. did. did no one think it was A Little Weird to frame it like 'solas is trapped in the fade' - 'but not like us! we're also trapped in the fade but in a completely different way!'

i do love the fade conversations, it's got dishonored vibes

(and cut-away scenes to the Villains Having Ominous Convos! i liked that in da:o)

also i have hints turned on and the. the little pop-ups. "solas remembers your verbal jab" THANKS GAME

ACTUALLY SPEAKING OF THOSE VILLAIN CONVERSATIONS. we're just gonna drop into a fucking codex that the lyrium dagger IS the red lyrium idol??? SOLAS CAN CLEANSE THE BLIGHT AND WE'RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT IT????

basically. the connective tissue to da:i etc is uhhhh. insane. bonkers, even. but also when i ignore that, it's legit fun??

also good lord i'm glad i didn't try to come up with a super specific character/backstory for this, the faction backstories are Real specific, and rook is written with a v definitive Slant (not a bad one! but there IS a slant)

[broodwolf221]

triple checks it's the right blog this time...

so I'm having a p shitty week and I'm gonna cope by talking abt my meta for solas, mostly in terms of his personality and behavior. I have a LOT of meta abt his past and nature and future but that's... another post, lmao

some of his key and/or most interesting characteristics:

kind

selfish

reserved

arrogant

empathetic

detached

now, let's dig into these

kind: he clearly and consistently wants people to be happy or to alleviate their suffering. he's glad the inquisition helps refugees, he's glad (dialogue, not approval iirc) when you take the time to find the apostate supply caches in the hinterlands, he makes a point of connecting with every single companion, even ones who regularly degrade him. and in trespasser, he goes to extreme lengths to keep southern thedas from falling to the qun, because he wants the people - those he knows and those he doesn't - to be happy and at relative peace.

this is one of the most remarkable things he does imo, bc if he'd just let the situation develop, he'd have an absolutely clear path to achieving his goals. yes, he'd need to get the anchor another way, but that's hardly impossible. what matters is that by stopping the war, he gives the inquisition/inquisitor clearance to pursue him without distraction, while also arguably giving the qunari the ability to focus on strengthening the veil, bc i cant imagine the viddasala and her people were the only ones of all qunari to have/know of that goal

selfish: if romancing lavellan, he understands one aspect of his selfishness, because it's a relationship he should have shut down HARD. but his feelings are real... and he selfishly gives in to them, even knowing he'll break their heart. he does try to pull away, he does eventually break up with lavellan, but by then the damage is done. even the offer to remove their vallaslin is selfish in its way - he's trying to give them a piece of the truth, but instead delivers a cruelty and leaves them whether they accept or deny his offer.

but he's selfish in another important way, too: he's convinced of his own perspective. he thinks bc he literally knows more (which, yeah, tbf he does), that his pov holds more weight. he's willing to change the world bc of his guilt about it ofc, but also bc he's - selfishly, self-centered - convinced that he's RIGHT to do so. he's not traditionally selfish - in many ways he's selfless, overwhelmingly willing to sacrifice all his own chances at happiness and peace in order to restore the world - but his selfishness (which ties in with his arrogance) is shown in his self-conviction.

he makes excuses, but honestly? he could have told the inquisitor who and what he was. he could have done that! he could ask for help reconnecting the fade with the waking world. dreadwolf could be about the inquisition gathering together myriad experts and looking for ways to do it that aren't destructive. but he's so assured that his path is the right one, the only one.

and it's... a complicated selfishness, too, because part of it is that he feels like he deserves to be punished. he thinks he needs to walk this path alone not bc the inquisitor is incapable, but because 1) He Knows What's Right, and 2) He Deserves To Suffer (to alleviate his guilt about his "sins" - which is selfish in a complicated and roundabout way)

reserved: the superficial aspect of this is obvious: he's lying about his identity. but he's also reserved as part of his core character - according to him, he used to be reckless, quick to fight. I think his reserve is something he grew into, a willingness to play the long game, an understanding that information given can never be taken away. it leads to other things - a hesitance to trust, for example - but it's just a part of him now. I think even if he found someone to be 100% open with, he'd STILL be reserved by nature

arrogant: my man is an arrogant ass, no denying it. ofc he knows so much more about history than those around him, but he's also so willing to fight about it, to condescend, to trivialize. when he realizes he has a genuinely receptive audience his tone changes, so I think a lot of this stems from defensiveness and a deep familiarity with needing to justify his every expressed opinion, but... he's still an ass. his conversation with a dalish inquisitor at haven? yikes.

he's also regularly convinced that his interpretations are the correct ones. like wrt my recent post about the mages after Faded For Her, I have to assume that he thinks the inquisitor sparing them demonstrates disdain for the inherent value of spirits and their sentience, even if the real reason is a lot more complicated. he jumps to conclusions and states them like facts and it takes a lot for him to begin to deconstruct them

empathetic: this ties in with his kindness ofc, but its worth a unique mention. he is incredibly empathetic. he cares about what happens to people, to spirits, even to your enemies in a way - he talks with bull about how he doesn't like to relish his victories in combat because the people he kills could have been something else, someone else. he cares about wolves (I WONDER WHY... but also like, him being fen'harel doesn't mean he HAS to care about wolves, but he does, bc he cares about animals, too), he cares about the farmers being attacked by wolves, he cares about the refugees, he's understanding towards speaker anais and the cult that grew up around the rifts... he not only cares, he understands where people are coming from, regardless of who they are or how they behave

detached: this one lessens somewhat over the course of the game, but he's deeply, fundamentally detached to the world he woke up in and the people who inhabit it. its a little ironic when u look at his kindness and empathy, but it doesn't negate his detachment. i tend to think of him as seeing everything through a fog, feeling like he's not really there at least as much as he feels like everyone else is not really there.

not joking or exaggerating, he must have such terrible trouble with disassociation/derealization. ive seen people bring up excellent points wrt this that i dont feel a need to rehash, but suffice to say: while he still cares, everything he experiences is at a remove. this stems from shock, trauma, guilt, fear, and profound culture shock.

[antianakin]

I think what makes Ahsoka's sudden power surge frustrating is that we don't really see her "earn" it besides her slow power increase in TCW, where we see her train, practice, and learn from past mistakes. In Rebels without any prior showing she's able to go toe to toe with multiple force sensitives etc. Then in Ahsoka she's able to do all this without any hint she could before. It could have worked if we saw her in other media like rebels trying to do this to limited success hinting that later success meaning she practiced. A powerful character works, but since these are specific skills with in-universe being rare/difficult to use we need to see her learning since she's too established a character to just have it as a natural skill.

Best example I can think of rn (sorry tired and Rebels is one of my faves) is Ezra's connection ability, even though he picks it up extremely quickly we still see him struggle in the beginning. But things like his increased agility make sense with his backstory so we don't need to see him practice jumping.

So the thing with Ezra’s animal connection ability is that it’s done very specifically to showcase some things about Ezra’s CHARACTER. He picks it up quickly because he ends up using it via anger the first time successfully as I recall, highlighting some of that struggle we see him going through across most of the show, but he figures out how to LET GO and so from then on he tends to do pretty well in animal connection because it sort-of represents his connection to the Force itself. This is Ezra at his most pure, his most balanced. EVERY TIME after that first episode, Ezra’s connection to animals is where he seems the most calm and centered. Think the way he responds to the purrgils right from the start, or his connections to the loth cats and loth wolves later on and how innately they seem to be drawn to him. Ezra’s Force abilities tell us something about his character. (On a sidenote, this is why I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of newer Force abilities for him after TEN YEARS in a new galaxy on his own, it doesn’t feel like Ezra’s had to change or grow at all as a result of that time which seems both unrealistic and really boring.)

Ahsoka being able to do more and more things in TCW is intended to showcase how advanced she is and that time is passing so yeah, she's learning new skills, etc. Ezra gets some of that in Rebels, too, without us needing to see the training happen on screen. But very rarely are her skills utilized to showcase something about Ahsoka's character or her connection to the Force in the way Ezra's animal connection ability is.

I will say that if you watch the shows in chronological order as they are NOW, then Ahsoka in TCW season 7 is capable of besting Maul on her own, so her going up against two Inquisitors in Rebels doesn't seem SO far-fetched. She's portrayed as REALLY skilled in combat throughout TCW, so that honestly doesn't totally annoy me so much as the fact that Kanan and Ezra are completely knocked on their asses by the same two Inquisitors. And that's what makes it feel a little like an attempt to just make Ahsoka look like the coolest. By beating Kanan and Ezra TOGETHER, the Inquisitors are made to look pretty dangerous and powerful, so Ahsoka defeating them makes her look EXPONENTIALLY powerful. If Kanan and Ezra had been holding their own but just not quite able to take them out and then Ahsoka shows up and adds to their numbers and so now the Inquisitors are done for, that might've been a little better. Ahsoka doesn't look quite so powerful, but Kanan and Ezra don't look like such wimps either. I don't mind Ahsoka being powerful in combat on her own, I just have an issue with Ahsoka constantly being compared to other Jedi as supremely more powerful, presumably just because she was Anakin's Padawan.

And that leads us to the Ahsoka show where Ahsoka suddenly has psychometry. That's not even something you can TRAIN as far as the lore for it goes, you either have it or you don't. And Ahsoka has pretty clearly NEVER HAD IT BEFORE given the amount of times that skill would've come in handy in all of the situations we've seen her in. And it's not like they didn't have a way to show what psychometry was on TCW, we see Quinlan use it in his one episode. Ahsoka never does anything at all like that, so it seems unlikely that she was intended to have the skill and just... never uses it. If they wanted us to know she had it, we'd have seen it. In TCW and in Rebels. What she does in the Ahsoka show is never CALLED psychometry, but what she does with the map to figure out what happened to Sabine is so so clearly psychometry it's not even funny. At this point I must assume the reason for giving her this skill out of the fucking blue is just to move the plot forward and to make Ahsoka seem like a wise old sage, or a messiah of sorts. They could've EASILY let Jacen be the psychometric one, he's basically a blank slate in terms of his Force abilities. But nope. Had to be Ahsoka so she could have yet ANOTHER Force skill to make her seem cooler.

I dunno, I get that they're effectively turning her into a goddess of light reborn sort of thing at this point which I hate just for how boring and annoying it is, but if she's supposed to be a goddess of light reborn then sure, whatever, give her random skills out of the blue, maybe the more she starts turning into a goddess the more powers she gets or some bullshit like that.

The one thing I will give to the Ahsoka show is that they allowed Baylan to be BETTER than her. At least temporarily. I'm sure she'll end up beating him later in season 2 or something, but he gets to explicitly tell her she'll NEVER BEAT HIM and he's RIGHT. This is the first time in a VERY LONG TIME that Ahsoka's been up against someone she legitimately just cannot beat. The only other one has been, like, Anakin himself during Rebels. So I did appreciate that they finally showcased another Jedi character who is just legitimately better than Ahsoka in combat. I wish there'd been more of an emphasis on WHY that was, why Baylan is so powerful/strong in comparison. If it's just that he's the only other character she's been up against who was likely a full Knight or even a Master by the time Order 66 came around while Ahsoka only got a few years into her apprenticeship and so OF COURSE he's better than her, that would've been really cool to explore. Ahsoka never FINISHED HER TRAINING, that would've been an INSANELY interesting thing to really dig into and it should've been a NECESSARY thing to dig into before she took on a Padawan she didn't need to train. Unlike Kanan and Ezra, Sabine is not someone who's already showing signs of Force sensitivity that she needs to be able to hone and there are absolutely other options for Sabine if she wants to train (we're pretending the stupid worldbuilding-breaking "everybody is Force sensitive" bullshit is real for the sake of this argument). Sabine could've gone to Luke if she was that desperate. Ahsoka should've been forced to figure HERSELF out before she took on a Padawan and having to recognize that a full blown Knight/Master is easily able to best her could've been a very interesting start to that particular revelation.

Ah well. Wasted potential across the board, I guess, that should've been the Ahsoka show's logline.

[abyssal-ilk]

blight, i've been replaying dai and just got to the scene where vivienne tells a mage inquisitor "mages need the company of our fellows. those without magic can never truly understand us" and i am so unwell over it

YEAH. YEAH. gnawing on the many dynamics a mage inquisitor can have with vivienne, but that line especially gets to me. it's that line and when vivienne talks about what happens when young mages first come into their power ("a girl setting the barn on fire/a boy tearing his mother apart with lightning."). i would of loved to have known what her first experience with magic was and how much comfort she actually finds alongside other mages. despite all of the connections she seemingly has in the circle and the courts, vivienne has always read as someone being extremely,, idk. lonesome to me. she has allies. not friends.

which is why i love having mage inquisitors that are able to connect with vivienne at least on the idea that mages need each other. especially in a time where mages are being blamed for anything and everything and everyone is at each other's throats

[theheraldsrest]

“Companions React to Inquisitor hiding their newest injuries”

Hahahaha. So many feels. Also, don't worry if some stuff might move. Ficing things.

-Lord Lex

Cullen

-It would take this man forever to notice. Not out of negligence but he tries to mind his own business. The first time he sees it, possibly a time when you drop the enchantment, he’s startled and asks how it’s happened before apologizing for intruding on the matter. If you tell him the truth, he’ll be outraged and ask if you’d like him to do something about it.

Josephine

-Pays a little more attention than Cullen but still tries to respect your privacy. She knows something’s up, whether it be flinching or turning your face in an unusual fashion. When her concern grows, she tries to bring it up as delicately as possible. If you show her, she’s horrified and tells you how sorry she is and how she’ll do anything in her power to reprimand the person.

Leliana

-More or less one of the first to notice but won’t bring it up. It’s your business, she will not intrude on it. Now if you do bring it up and/or show her, she will be livid. The thought of you getting hurt because of some noble snob and she had not been told goes against her job. You can bet she will find a way to make that noble’s life a living hell and that he begs for death. Yeah, she’s a little ticked.

Vivienne

-Do not, whatever you do, tell her it’s new. If she gets even a whiff that you have an untreated injury that you’re hiding with magic, she’s going to give you a lecture. If it’s new? Oh she’s going to be on a man hunt. Will demand to know who hurt you so that she can repay the favor. The Ice Queen will not hesitate, bitch.

Varric

-He knows. He just does. He knows how to hide secrets well but he can also tell when others are hiding something. But he’ll respect your choice…unless it’s something that is harming you/has harmed you. Then he’s gonna oh-so-subtley and very gently tell Cassandra to check on you. What? He’s not a touchy-feely person but he’ll make sure his friends are good, healthy, and not badly injured.

Cole

-Cole knows it’s there and may or may not know the reason behind it. But he knows it hurts, so you’ll usually find things that make you happy suddenly pop up almost out of thin air. Will even leave solvents or herbs that can help with injuries becuase you flinch from it. Doesn’t mean to but he will point it out if some pain starts to settle in or someone sees you flinch.

Solas

-Oh? Illusionary magic? Whatever for? Solas can recognize it a mile away and yet won’t bother you about it unless it starts to become worrisome. Will pull you away from others and try to ask you if it’s something he can assist with. If you do allow him to help, he’ll either help try to heal it or help you to better hide it. It’s your choice after all.

Cassandra

-Remember the last post that said she’d be livid? Yeah, this is worse. Worse for the person who caused it, not you. She’ll respect your space but will try to make sure it’s not cuasing you any pain. Josephine does tell you that someone who seems to have a connection to the Pentaghasts had been seen threatening the nobleman. Cassandra will not confirm nor deny anything.

The Iron Bull

-Once more, believes people should show their scars with pride. But will respect you wanting to keep it hidden. Of course, he can tell when a scar is recent. And there’s a reason he’s known (or was known) as one of the best damn spies. He’ll find the noble and do whatever he thinks will fit for what the noble did. The punishment should match the crime, after all.

Dorian

-He knows due to his years of study with the different types of magic. Plus, traces of magic just so happened to suddenly appear around your face after that stiff night at that party? He can connect the dots. His first question is would you like some help with trying to heal it. His next question is how do you want like your noble served? Burned, fried, or frozen?

Sera

-People think Sera is stupid or oblivious. On the contrary, she’s observant when she wants to be. And she can see something is up with your face. Unlike the others, though, she’ll question and get into your business. If you tell her what happened, she’ll nod say ok and walk away. Which is very worrying. Until you find out someone had filled up said noble’s house with bees. It’s a big house.

Blackwall

-Forgive him, he tries to mind his business. Also doesn’t notice things immediately. If you let it slip, he’ll feel stupid that he hadn’t noticed and ask if you need to talk about it or if you need anything to soothe the pain. Another person who, if you tell him what had happened, will be outraged and promise you that the noble will get their comuppance. Don’t worry about him talking to Sera later about how many bees she needs, it’s a different matter. Definitely.

[impossible-rat-babies]

some thoughts below the cut now that I’m many hours into it (spoilers for the first 10-20 hours of the game)

—I haven’t recruited all the companions yet. I’m just missing two of them

—I also went into this thinking it’s gonna be cotton candy for my brain. yeah it’s gonna be tropey and corny, but there’s hopefully gonna be some good heart to it. And there is! there’s a great deal of heart in it, I can see it. I love the companions thus far, even if it feels like there’s….not been a lot of room to process what all is happening. I hope we get more conversations and them opening up.

—I think my biggest gripe is just the pacing right now. it’s so move, move, move one thing to the next to the next. even just in cutscenes it feels like the dialogue moves too quickly. some of the villian interactions could really use space between their sentences, and even their words to give weight and importance to scenes.

—like o said above, I’m sure there are gonna be more companion interactions, but the short little twenty minute scenes with them feel so. short? it’s the same sort of pacing issue as above. I hope to god we get some nice good long conversations with the companions. it’ll be hell on replay, but I still want that. I hope we get there with companion interactions.

—at least with the antivan crows, I like how the game is eager to acknowledge the connections and your role in the faction. it feels nice! I like it a lot.

—I will say that the game has moments of being very self referential, even to its own detriment at times. it’s kinda funny, like the cheese wheel in arthalan during bellara’s quest, but other times it feels…..I can see some of it getting lost on new players.

—I’m just gonna describe my issue: we go to places like Arlathan, and the crossroads and the fade. and there is acknowledgment of these places being fantastical, but not enough exploration into that it’s wild being here. like sure Jan. our home base is in the fade. that’s not utterly bonkers. sure it’s fine, rook. you live in the fade now. you use mirrors to move around from place to place. isn’t that wild? Do you love it when you hardly get to acknowledge how utterly buckwild that is, especially if you’re not a mage.

—the issue with the inquisitor and dialogue have come back to haunt rook. last verse same as the first. im scared to pick dialogue options bc i know I could pick the option that says “hi hello!” and rook could actually say “hi there motherfuckers!” (I’m gonna have to do so much workshopping of eshka’s personality outside of the game)

—the scenery is incredible. the mini maps are dogshit to navigate. horrid. it’s like Jedi the last order kind of dogshit map to navigate. the saving grace are the little dots that will lead you to your objective, but still. the mini maps are Trash

—the various puzzles around Arlathan are fun—I’ve enjoyed messing around in them quite a lot.

—the maps themselves feel like they are gonna open up over time as we collect companions, and move through the story and I’m not sure how I feel about it. The maps themselves kinda feel like. I’m a rat running through a maze. it doesn’t help that the mini map has no real character to it, so what I see on screen v what is in the mini map feel disconnected. It makes me miss Inquisiton map, or even bg3 map.

—in spite of all of this, I know I am early in the game and that there is still a great deal left to explore. I was looking at not spoiler achievements, and you can allocate 52 points into rook’s stats, so just by that I’m guessing there is a lot more. I’m just used to the likes of Inquisiton or bg3 where level cap is 27 and 12, respectively. (to be fair bg3 runs off the dnd leveling system). but considering I’m almost to level 20 and I’m still missing 2 companions, either I have done a great deal of exploring, or I’m on track. Im assuming the former, unless someone else has had experiences like mine

[etoiline]

burble

(read with tags and characters on AO3 instead)

Cal winces as he sits down at the table on the Mantis, Greez’s hands pushing him gently but firmly into the seat. “You shouldn’t be walking around after all those stunts you just pulled,” the Latero says.

After getting my ass handed to me by an Inquisitor, Cal thinks. He doesn’t say it aloud; it’s too embarrassing. He wants to pull the hood of his sodden poncho up and hide from his rescuers. They’re being too nice to him, a failure of a Jedi. He can’t even hide properly. He reaches up to grab the hood—

The motion jars his ribs, throbbing after his chance encounter with the side of the barge. He can’t help his gasp, and he lowers his arms to the table with a thump. He breathes through it—he’s had worse injuries when his sweat-slick gloves failed him while scrapping a Venator—tries to remember his creche-breaths, wants to release the pain into the Force but the thought of touching that broken connection makes his head ache—

and his stomach growls. Loudly. Cal lowers his head into his arms—carefully, mindful of his ribs—feeling betrayed by his own body. Some hero he is, injured and so hungry. His last rotation had been too long on too few credits, his belly already empty before he started trying to take on Inquisitors and jumping off exploding trains. Another burble from his stomach, and Cal curls into the table, his cheeks warm. He thinks about the credits he would have earned if he and Prauf had been able to finish the job, if Cal hadn’t acted on his stupid, stupid instinct and tried to save his friend with the Force. Prauf would still be dead but—

He cages the sob before it can escape. It’ll hurt his ribs too much. Just his ribs.

There’s a clatter off to the side, but Cal can’t be bothered to look. If these folks wanted to kill him they could have just...not rescued him. That Inquisitor’s red blade would have done the trick easily enough.

Cal shivers under his wet poncho. That’s the only reason he’s cold, he tells himself.

A thump near his outstretched glove has Cal raising his head. The cloud of steam bathes his face in welcome warmth, and he inhales, breaking off as his ribs protest. For a moment all he can do is stare at the bowl of stew, until the view distorts as his eyes well with tears. The bowl is more food than he’s had in all of the last standard week, right there in front of him.

Then he looks at Greez, standing next to the table, an uncertain look on his wide face. “Is this all for me?” Cal says, and Greez looks at him, his mouth shaping a moue, then he looks over the table at the sitting area, where Cal knows Cere is.

Greez pats his shoulder with one hand and puts a spork in Cal’s palm with another. “Yeah, kid, it’s all for you.” Cal pulls the bowl toward himself and spears a hunk of meat. “Thank you,” he whispers, and takes a bite.

[sparrowsabre7]

Whitesunset

Owen Lars held his hand up to his eyes to shield against the blinding light of the twin suns. On the horizon, plumes of dust and sand heralded the approach of a speeder of some kind, still some way off. The size and speed of the plume's excitation indicated this was not Luke's landspeeder or some local swoop gang, most likely a larger transport. Only one group of people had the money to afford transports of that size round here.

"The Empire are coming. What the hell has Kenobi done now." He muttered, half to himself. We knew that Inquisitor wouldn't be the end of it. Luke's important, eventually someone would connect the dots. I thought that protocol droid an R2 unit looked familiar.

"Those were Anakin's droids weren't they?" Came Beru's voice from behind him. Owen started, wondering if his wife could read his thoughts.

"I think so. I didn't want to believe it, there must be millions of protocol droids, there's bound to be some that have similar names but... this Kenobi business."

Beru smiled wanly. "It's what he was meant for."

"I just wanted... I wanted him to be safe. I thought if I kept him here he could be but... Oh Beru. Our boy. What's going to happen to him." Owen suddenly felt incredibly heavy, his legs trembled and he slumped back against the dome of the homestead. Beru placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. Owen placed his own over it and suddenly felt a wave of calm wash over him. Beru had always had that effect on him, sometimes, privately he joked that maybe she was a jedi in disguise, to which she always rolled her eyes and replied: I don't know jedi, I just know you.

"Luke's not needed us for a long time, Owen. He's ready for more. He has his father's spirit and his mother's kindness, he was always meant for more than this."

Owen blinked back a few tears and sniffed, roughly wiping his face with his free hand.

"I know... I just hoped he wouldn't have to."

Beru gave her husband's shoulder another squeeze, before switching her grip to take his hand and help him back to his feet.

"We can still do what we've always done, we can protect our son." Finding his feet again, Owen gave his arms an encouraging shake, as if trying to throw off the encroaching fear, gave another deep sniff and set his jaw.

"You're right, let's get prepared."

---

The transport arrived half an hour later. Around a dozen white armour-clad Stormtrooper disembarked, all armed with E-11 blasters and stun rods at their waists, and one - a sergeant as denoted by his white pauldron - with a larger DLT-19 rifle.

Owen rose the stairs out of the homestead almost casually, affecting a welcoming, almost nonchalant air.

"Hello, officers, everything alright?"

"We're searching for two droids, we understood they were sold to you. Hand them over."

"Why, is there a problem?"

"The droids are stolen imperial property and we require them returned."

"Stolen!? Oh blast it, I paid good money for those in good faith. I tell you, if I see those Jawas again-"

"You won't." The trooper interrupted bluntly.

Owen stared at the cold emotionless 'face' of the stormtrooper as he let the implication sink in.

Owen swallowed, trying to mask his fear and steadfastly keeping his trembling hands in his pockets.

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

"...Tuskens."

Owen caught the lie for what it was; while he was all too familiar with the danger the Tuskens posed, they rarely attacked anything as large and well armoured as a Sandcrawler, especially not for the kind of junk inside that they had no use for. What Tusken needs a protocol droid, or a treadwell?

"Ah, well I'm afraid I can't help much, I got careless in my old age, 'fraid I must've knocked off the restraining bolt while cleaning them up, when I got up this morning they were gone."

The silence was icy in the burning midday Suns.

"Show me."

Owen hoped the stormtrooper couldn't see well enough through the black lenses to make out the rivulets of sweat beading down his forehead.

"Sure, right this way." He replied, beckoning the trooper to follow him.

The officer remained immobile for a moment before turning to the troops behind him.

"You three, circle the area, see if you can find any tracks. You two wait with the transport. The rest of you, spread out and check the vaporators and out buildings."

Only once the other troopers silently began to move as ordered did the sergeant deign to follow Owen.

Owen and the sergeant ducked down into the workshop. The stormtrooper pointed to a row of small rectagular objects lined against the wall.

"What use does a moisture farmer have for explosives?"

"They're mining charges, low-yield, we used them to clear rockfalls that block the road if we need to travel the Jundland Wastes."

Satisfied that this was the truth, the sergeant jerked his head in the general direction of the workstation.

"Where were the droids kept?"

Owen hastily pointed to the restraining bolt he'd found earlier after Luke had been gone rather too long for his vague story about taking the droids to get things done before he started work to be viable.

"Just here, there's the restraining bolt you see, clean knocked it off I feel like a fool."

"Then where's the other?"

Owen froze.

"Excuse me?"

"The other bolt, for the second droid."

"Oh... well, I think the first droid took that off."

"...The first droid... took the other droid's bolt?" He let the sentence hang limply in the air. Owen was beginning to find it hard to breathe.

"Yeah, well... you know, these older droids get a bit kooky. Start forming attachments to one another..."

"Who else lives here?"

The pivot in questioning threw him completely.

"No one!" he shot back, a little too quickly. Stupid, Lars! Think before you speak!

"Then where's your Landspeeder? You're telling me the two of you get by with that dusty old speeder bike in the back and the busted T-16? The Empire will not be played for fools." The sergeant's voice was no longer monotonous and robotically calm, it was rising in volume and temper with each word.

Beru came through the doorway, holding a tray of drinks.

"Any refreshments for you and your men officer, you must be thirsty" she said, a warm smile on her face.

The sergeant snapped round, as if spring-loaded "Not now!" He turned back to Owen with almost as much speed "You know something, that much is painfully clear. We have been more than generous with our patience, but we can be more... persuasive... if necessary." He let the word hang in the air.

Owen steadied himself and said quietly but firmly "I think it's time you gentlemen left."

With a mock resigned sigh, the sergeant responded "I tried to be nice!" in a practiced motion he unclipped a stun rod from his pack and activated it.

"So did I" A blaster shot rang out in the homestead. Owen started, as a large smoking wound appeared in the chest of the man in front of him. Turning around he saw Beru, still holding the drinks tray, now scorched from the heat of the blaster she had concealed underneath.

Beru met his gaze, a steely expression set on her jaw but a fire burning in her eyes. She discarded the tray and removed one of the concealed rifles from the wall panels to toss to Owen.

"No going back now. This is it. We can't stop them but we can damn sure slow them down to give Luke time to find Ben, he's his only hope now." With a mixture of shock and pride Owen powered up the rifle and took up position in the doorway. Beru gathered the sergeant's DLT-19, slinging it over her shoulder and slung the stun rod holster round her waist before moving to the doorway.

"It's clear, you take up position ahead to cover me."

Owen moved out and took up a covering location nearby, Beru followed after a brief delay, rushing into the courtyard and hiding behind the alcove next to the main doorway, tucking something into her robes. In response to Owen's bemused expression she merely said "Plan B".

As expected two troops put on alert by the blast came down the stairway in to the main area. As the second passed, Beru slammed the stun rod into the gap in his plastoid armour at the back of the knee with her left hand and with her right fired three shots into the back of the first trooper. The first clattered to the ground instantly while the second howled in pain, body spasming from the physical pain of the blow as much as the electrostatic charge frying his body. Beru smashed the butt of the DLT-19 onto his head and the wailing stopped.

Three more troopers popped their head over the ground level rim of the courtyard overlook preparing to avenge their fallen comrades, but Owen was ready. He fired off a barrage of shots, mostly to scare them away from the edge, but a couple struck true, snuffing out another imperial invader.

"Move towards the front, we can try and get them in a bottleneck!" Owen half-whispered. Beru nodded, moving forward towards the stairs. As she stepped forward, blaster fire rained down through the passage, singing her shoulder as she flung herself back against the wall just in time, grimacing from the wound. From the top of the stairs there was the muffled, vocoded sound of the troopers talking through their helmets.

"Didja get 'em?"

"Not sure, better be safe: flush 'em out." A distant beeping followed by a few clunks echoed through the courtyard as a thermal detonator rolled into view. Owen, eyes wide, without a second thought sprinted towards it and kicked as hard as he could. Through sheer luck, or the ferocity of the kick it sailed back up the stairs to cries of consternation. The Larses dove behind the nearest cover just before a dampened explosion rang out from the homestead, followed by disparate cries of injury. Owen, smiled grimly; probably didn't kill any of them, but bound to have shaken them up a bit and maybe cleared a path to escape. Maybe they could find Luke, maybe it would all be OK, maybe they- Two blasts rang out from behind them and he felt a searing pain in his left thigh and lower right side. Blast it old fool, left yourself wide open, got cocky.

"Owen!" Beru cried out, swinging the DLT-19 up and returning fire at ground floor level. The troopers ducked back behind cover, giving her just enough time to close the distance to her husband and put his arm round her. "Here, use the rifle as crutch, take my pistol." Owen, wincing from the pain looked at his wife as she handed him the blasters and took his rifle in exchange and saw something in her eyes he'd only ever seen once before, when Luke had gone missing pursued by that Inquisitor: "fear". Forcing a smile through gritted teeth he said "Don't you fret about me, Beru. Us Larses are tough as old boots." Beru smiled in response to the lie and helped him towards the stairs, bracing the rifle against her hip to keep it trained on the ground level overlook. Three troops popped up again, only two popped back down again in time. Owen gave a dry laugh, Luke was always boasting he could bullseye womp rats in the T-16; Owen may have been the one who taught him to fly, but it was his Aunt who taught him to shoot. Making slow progress up the stairs Beru chanced a look at her husband. His breathing was heavier and becoming more ragged and the dark patch on his side seemed to be growing. A noise ahead. Too late Beru looked up to see the butt of an E-11 come thrusting towards her she held up her hands to protect her head, and the butt smashed into her arm and overbalanced her, knocking her back down the stairs, followed by a blaster bolt through her shoulder.

"Beru!" Owen yelled after her, but before he could bring the pistol to bear on the trooper, he found himself also tumbling down the stairs following a swift kick to the chest by a plastoid boot.

Lying in the dirt and ash, at the foot of the stairs Beru looked over to her husband. Breathing heavily, body shaking with the effort, he dragged himself towards her and took hold of her hand and gripped it with his remaining strength.

Beru looked into the eyes of her husband and thought about Luke. The tiny baby placed into her arms nearly 20 years ago. The toddler, taking his awkward first steps on the sands of Tatooine. The young boy racing his T-16 around the homestead and later through Beggar's Canyon. Finally the young man she had seen this morning as he left the farm said goodbye to her, neither realising it would be the last time they would say it.

"Before...he left... did you tell him. Tell him we...". Beru squeezed Owen's hand tightly. "He knows." Owen seemed to relax, as if in relief and Beru knew he was gone. Her own eyes fluttered as she drifted out of consciousness.

---

"Luke!" Luke's blonde head whipped round, startled by his Aunt's sudden call. He should have known she'd be up already, she was always up early to get a start on breakfast. He grinned sheepishly and tried not to look guilty. "Aunt Beru! I was just going to take care of a few things before I got started today." He said in a tone he hoped sounded casual.

"Oh really?" She replied, putting her hands on her hips in mock disapproval. "You wouldn't be sneaking off to do something reckless now would you?"

Luke panicked internally, he sometimes wondered if Beru could read minds. "Like what?"

"Like going to secretly put in an application to the Academy" she said in a stage whisper with an amused expression.

Luke half-laughed in relief "Oh, no, nothing like that, I just wanted to take the droids out for a test run before starting work proper."

Beru walked over to him, smiling, and smoothed out his tunic "All right, I'm just teasing." she paused her fussing "Although... if you were, it wouldn't be the worst thing...". Luke was stunned.

"But Uncle Owen.."

"Your uncle just wants to protect you, but he knows you're meant for greater things, helping people, like Biggs." She said Biggs with an extra emphasis and a pointed look. Luke for the second time in under a minute wondered if she could read his thoughts, if she somehow knew what Biggs had told him about defecting from the Academy to join the Rebellion. Her gaze softened as she released her hold on his tunic.

"Your grandmother used to say that the biggest problem in the universe was that no one helps each other. I think that's what you were meant to do."

Luke was now practically speechless. He cleared his throat.

"You... you and Uncle Owen never talk about her. Or my parents." Beru avoided his gaze and smiled sadly.

'Well... maybe that was a mistake. We were selfish, sparing ourselves some painful memories but denying you your own past..."

Luke was starting to become concerned.

"Aunt Beru, is everything alright?"

That seemed to shake her from her reminiscence.

"Yes dear, I'm sorry, forgive an old woman for feeling a little wistful this morning. You run along now, just remember that..." she gave his arm a squeeze for emphasis "we are proud of you, and wherever your path takes you, you'll do great things."

Luke blushed, feeling a little bashful in the face of the compliment "How do you know?"

Beru grasped him by the shoulders and stared deep into his eyes, fixing him with a warm smile.

"Because you're our son."

---

One of the remaining troopers swaggered over to the pair of bodies. "Not so tough now." He ordered the others to sweep the workshop. "Why fight that hard if they're not hiding something there? Take a closer look." He heard a rasping noise from the woman, he nudged her with his foot. Still alive? Not for long, she'd bleed out soon like the man. She seemed to be saying something, he leaned in closer. Sounded like 'look'... did she hear what he said about the workshop? Standing back up he called out "Find anything?"

"It's strange, sir, they seem to have hooked up something to the T-16 engine, can't tell what it is." Idiots... these new recruits were getting dumber and dumber, coming in from offworld, no field experience - only he and the sergeant had been on Tatooine for more than a cycle. "What does it *look* like..." he lazily rolled the woman onto her back.

"Just these square sorta blocks."

His helmet betrayed nothing of his underlying expression, if it had it would have been a mask of horror. He was suddenly very aware what was strapped to the T-16, as the same item was strapped under the woman's robes as well, along with a small remote in her hand. The woman breathed her last word which he finally heard clearly "...Luke." *click*

---

The relief officer gave a deep sigh of distaste bordering on disgust. Honestly, what a karking shambles. A dozen stormtroopers taken out by two pathetic farmers in the Bantha-end of nowhere... The recovery team had been called after there had been no response from the survey crew. They had assumed communications malfunction, they had not expected to find the entire crew dead from blaster fire and explosives. A cursory look told them that the farmers had rigged a rudimentary bomb by stacking mining charges to the engine of a T-16. One of the bodies seemed to have had a charge strapped to them as well. Fools. No common sense to check the bodies to ensure their targets were dead. The officers nostrils flared under his helmet, he hated this rotten dustbucket.

"Gather our dead and get the incinerator crew in here. Leave no trace that the farmers fought back, the situation is too embarrassing to contemplate." He would fabricate a story to pass on to the regional governor. No sense letting them know the truth, plus the ashes of the homestead would stand as a warning to anyone else feeling... rebellious tendencies. But he was not worried about reprisals, they were nobodies. No one would miss them round here.

---

Luke Skywalker stood ashen faced looking at the burning husk of what had once been his home. His aunt and uncle lay in a smouldering heap outside the door. All this death, all because of those droids. Those blasted droids.

Luke felt a sudden swell of anger overriding his guilt and grief. He ran his thumb over the laser sword he'd recently acquired from Old Ben Kenobi. His father's apparently, what had Ben called it? A lightsaber... He could take this saber and use it to dole out revenge on the nearest Imperial outpost. He could avenge his father, his aunt, his uncle in one fell swoop, all the death brought to him by this cursed Empire. Blast Old Ben, blast that Princess, why should he stick his neck out for them, all they'd brought him was trouble. But then... who *would* help Ben? Who else was there?

As if in response, his Aunt's words floated back into his mind. "Your grandmother used to say that the biggest problem in the universe was that no one helps each other." He exhaled deeply, removing his hand from the saber, feeling as if a wave of ice cold water was washing over him. When he thought he wasn't listening his uncle had once joked that his Aunt had that effect on people because she was a Jedi in disguise, but Luke knew the truth. She just knew her family.

She was right, he was meant to do this, he was meant to help people. He would stop the Empire, but not for revenge, but because it was right. Luke took his last look at the homestead before hopping into his Landspeeder. Pushing the ignition switch and taking the controls in his hands he settled himself. Luke would help Obi-wan Kenobi, he was his only hope.

[powwidge]

rant about ochette and temenos and their (negative) parallels

all below the cut for endgame spoilers and everything!!!! just me talking to myself n tryna arrange my thoughts on Temenos, Ochette, and hwo they relate and are in a very contrasting position which is also kind of all in one big messed up parallel. I'm sorry; this has gotten very long! i tried my best keeping it short

okay so we all can agree that starting with Temenos' route is probably the most satisfying since it starts with a fight against Vide, right? yeha so i have some things to say about that in relation to Ochette and the entire theme of the game to begin with

Something clearly links Ochette and Temenos togehter, namely Roi. the implication that the dark entity of Ochette's chapter 1 is Roi si well... more than just clear, I'd argue. and ok listen: this entire thing MAY be me overanalyzing stuff. so u now get the

disclaimer: i am a literature student. i am taught to overanalyze everyhting and it's my RIGTH to! so bear with me. i have very elaborate thoughts on Ochette and Temenos and how they reflect each other in a very contrastign way.

Roi: right with the beginning of Ochette's route and Temenos' chapter 3 (it was his ch3 i beleive, right?) we get Roi and a direct parallel between their stories. the thing is just - Temenos' knew Roi while alive. Ochette knew him while sort of dead and then completely dead. and that remains the single connecting dot/parallel where this is the case. everything else is things being dead for temenos and things being alive for ochette

Ochette has an entire support system which grows as she travels; she has Juvah, her parents implied to be alive in a banter, Akala/Mahina; she gains more friends in Pom, Acta the Smol, Glacis, Tera, that other lady whose name i forgot i'm really sorry, and with her help, even the hateful Cohazeh becomes soft towards them all and the entire village makes friends with the Beasting Village.

now for temenos, we have EVERYTHIGN in contrast. he loses everythign as he travels; first Roi, the pontifex, later on crick (sorry for the mention guys). he loses literally everyone he loves, be it platonic or familial or romantic or whatever; and the enemy to him? the sacred guard? yeah he low key destroys that thing for a while. and while that's still GOOD, i can't beleive it weighs lightly on him especialyl since stormhail is in a rather tense situation with the gaurd and the mei clan as hinted by loads of npcs. everythign good that happens to ochette happens to him, but in the exactly contrasting way.

on to trust: i think i don't need to say much here; ochette is ever-trusting, but learns to actively distrust some peopel on her journey, learning about the lies of people (especially humans), while the exact opposite happens to temenos: temenos learns to trust people. not just the travelers but also crick. the issue? it's at least implied, or u can read into it, that he does trust mindt; and he gets betrayed once more. whereas Ochette, even at the very end, still trusts people. she trusts the hunter trying to kill Glacis regardlessly, she trusts Juvah, she even trusts Lajackal/mahamowl and tries making friends with them. she trusts something that wants to kill her, while temenos nearly gets killed by someone he trusted

flame/belief: i quite like the difference of faith u have in those two; temenos, an inquisitor, who still doubts the flame's existence, who doubts the gods' existence because that's just waht he does - linked to his trust issues once more, obviously. even though he's one meant to have an unshakable belief, yet he's quite the shady guy, and while his intentions may be good, he doesn't always condcut things the correct way. well. looks at his path action. yeah. hmm! okay temmy! go off! on the other side, there's ochette - far away from any kind of institutionally organized religion, and the only traveller directly meeting "the flame", which saves her life, proving its existence once and for all when that's somethign temenos has forever doubted

i don't really WANT to go as far as to say ochette died, but she did NEARLY die. as the only one out of the cast of her story, meanwhile, temenos is the only one ALIVE out of the cast of his story (minor characters like orth aside, same goes for some of Ochette's side characters, btu i'm talking mainly here akjfghkd)

i feel like saying that any character of the 8 travelers is more or less important than the others would be wrong; however, i do believe that if we're talking characters that the story build on, Temenos' and Ochette are high up there. we have parallels inside of the traveller of someone who nearly succumbs to darkness and someone who looks forward to the dawn, no matter what. temenos' route starting with Vide, in my opinion, is a great hint at him being sth akin to a "main character", story-telling wise - i like to personally make a distinction between main cahracters and protagonists. e.g. in OT1, the travelers are the protags, while graham (and perhaps kit, too) is the main character, who the story actively centers around.

While Temenos' is the embodiment of shadow, esp with his closer relationship to Throné in the crossed paths, one who was originally meant to be a vessel for Vide and who def had one of the most tragic stories, Ochette is the embodiment of the flame, always looking forward despite any grievances she might have - again, related to castti in her crossed paths.

you get a character who, if he wasn't picked up by the pontifex, by roi, and crick, might have been part of the moonshade order otherwise - and a character who is so determinedly looking forward to the dawn that she would have never considered it.

my conclusion? I love temmy and ochette a ot and i cannot keep anythign i say short. anyways there's no conclsion these are just rants. if u read that then uh, congrats! u have witnessed my insanity! :)