Where The Maker fears to tread

sideblog for hoarding all the cool dragon age stuff I've found

[the-savage-nymph-art]

A list of consequences your choices in DAO, DA2 and DA:I could/should have had for Veilguard:

- having Kieran with Morrigan leads to Solas being significantly more powerful (Urthemiel's soul absorbed through Flemythal)

- making Gaspard Emperor of Orlais leads to an orlesian/fereldan allied war against Tevinter (because he chummies up with Alistair and/or Anora), weakening the Imperium significantly.

- giving Briala any kind of power supports Solas indirectly. (For elvhen glory™)

- disbanding the Inquisition lowers the Inquisitor's influence and reach, but they can act much faster. And Inquisitor in Chantry service has more power, but much less freedom with it.

- different support for the Inquisitor depending on their choice of ally or conscript/recruit mages or Templars

- Zevran alive and as leader of the Crows (in Antiva City) could mean infighting between houses or a different approach to certain missions, because of 'the purge'.

- Leliana as Divine might try to find an accord with the Imperial Chantry. Maybe.

- Hawke in Weisshaupt?

- Hawke sibling in Weisshaupt?

- Fenris in Minrathous (one way or the other)

- The Hero of Ferelden finds a cure for the Blight if still alive

- depending on who rules Orzammar key dwarf based mission follow different paths, because either you get in or you don't.

- being at least friends with Dorian in inquisition grants a boost in Shadow Dragon trust and influence

- ...

[galpalaven]

we could have still had solas creating the veil and all of that without turning the evanuris into a racist shitshow

like imagine the blight is something from the void rather than the titans. it originates there, it is not evil - it is trying to terraform. the void is an absence, and in this absence is notably an absence of pain, suffering, war. imagine the blight corruption begins in the evanuris by promising everlasting peace, and in the midst of the war with the titans, the evanuris fall victim to this whisper

imagine instead of slave markings, the vallaslin were shows of religious devotion. they continue to show which god you serve which temple you worship at, but as the blight corruption spreads, the evanuris begin to infuse the vallaslin ink with blight in order to spread it further

the evanuris were not evil. they were trying to protect their people, though it was misguided and corrupted due to the alien nature of this disease creeping from a place where no life should be.

perhaps the titans needed to be """sundered""" or whatever because the blight had spread to them as well. perhaps to protect the masses of people alive, the veil was necessary to stop the unstoppable creep of the blight, to stop the spread or at least slow it.

The dragon thralls of the evanuris were a safety feature to ensure that they would survive and leaving them outside of the veil was to help make sure that the veil would hold up against the blight lapping at its walls. you could still have them whisper to the tevinter magisters, as they are still trying to do what they think is right.

imagine also that in the thousands of years following, nature on Thedas has evolved its own solution to the Blight. the corruption has been around long enough for a natural remedy to evolve alongside it - Andraste's Grace is the answer in some way.

imagine instead of trying to tear down the Veil, Solas is looking for a way to reinforce it. as the last two Evanuris are all that is left, he needs new blood to sustain it. to hold the blight back. to buy time to find a way to defeat it.

or perhaps Solas had been corrupted as well and he doesn't know it. He is trying to tear it down because it is whispering to him and he doesn't realize it. at least to give him some kind of reason that makes sense if the blight is just waiting to pour out into the world behind the veil

idk i just. there were ways to do things without being. nasty. and you wouldnt even need to change much of what we had.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Heya! Sorry In advance if this sounds like the rambling of an insane man I’m running on 2 hours of sleep rn lol.

I was wondering about a character I’ve seen you and a couple others describe as a non-white character: Alistair Theirin from dragon age origins. Personally I’ve always thought he seemed pretty obviously white (There’s a scene where he describes the food he makes as ‘textureless grey mush” ….nobody is doing that like white ppl), so I was wondering what flagged him as non-white for you? I was also wondering if you’d be able to run a poll for me since this is a new blog (old blog got nuked :/) and you have a large fan base of people who this would be relevant to, maybe something like this?:

Do you consider Alistair (DAO) to be White?

Yes because of his in game context

Yes because of his character design

No because of his in game context

No because of his character design

All good if not, have a great day and know that I love your blog :D

I will not be running a poll for that, as the last time the words poll and Dragon Age were together on this page, I had to deal with the most overtly stupid level of gaslighting and racism I have ever experienced.

What I WILL do is leave this here for the cool dragon age people to explain their reasoning.

[dalishious]

Hi 👋 I've been protesting the whitewashing of Alistair since this blog's creation in 2014. So I'm very familiar with people arguing things like "how can you whitewash a white character". Because fandom has a short term memory, I guess.

When Dragon Age: Origins (the first game) came out in 2009, Alistair was designed with light brown skin - specifically 4 out of 6 on their scale of the limited tints used in that game. (For comparison, Zevran has the darkest skin tint available.) When Dragon Age II came out in 2011, Alistair was designed with tanned skin - specifically 6 out of 12. When Dragon Age: Inquisition came out in 2014, Alistair was designed with the palest skin you can imagine, and blonde hair - specifically 0 out of 11. ZERO! He was so unrecognizable that fans at the time speculated who the hell he even was when BioWare promoted the game with screenshots and video clips including him. Because they did not clock him as Alistair.

This is all Alistair throughout the game series (I use this image a lot because the progressive change is so clear):

(His nose shape changes too, though it's not as noticeable from the front view.)

There are canonically confirmed characters of colour with about the same skin tone as Alistair in DAO. Why is that good enough for them, but not for him? Oops, those characters get whitewashed too. Because the DA fandom is racist as hell.

Some fans are so desperate to argue that the above change isn't that bad by doing things like showing edited screenshots of DAO, or claiming it's all just DAO's poor lighting, (note that the above image is of his head model outside of the game's lighting,) or claiming that he's just really tan. And it pisses me off, because what exactly do they get out of that argument? Why are they so desperate to cling to the idea that Alistair, their prince charming, cannot possibly be a brown man?

Meanwhile, the Dragon Age franchise as a whole is incredibly white. And even the characters that are unmistakably people of colour get ignored and/or whitewashed to death and back. So yes, I am passionate about defending Alistair as being brown. Especially because Alistair is specifically mixed, like me.

Now, I myself am whitepassing because I take after my white mother, but I have many family members who are sure as hell not. And I know exactly what it's like to have other kids ask questions like "is that your real dad" when getting picked up from school. Or learning that it's safe to get stopped by the RCMP with my mother driving the car but not my father. Or being ridiculed by white family members for never being white enough for their standards. So, when I read in the Dragon Age novel, The Calling, how Alistair's mother chose to give him up instead of raising him herself because she was terrified of how he would be treated as a mixed-race prince born out of wedlock, yeah, I got it. It was incredibly sad, but I got where she was coming from, as a character. What makes it even more sad is that Alistair was subsequently placed in the care of a white man who neglected him - specifically, the brother of King Maric's dead wife. This is again, something that a lot of mixed people can relate to. I think that kind of context is more important than him joking about how he's a shitty cook. (Again, he was raised by a negligent white man in Ferelden, of course he's never gotten to experience culinary delights.)

I've talked about the "ambiguous brown" trope found in Dragon Age before - being fantasy not an excuse for BioWare not to put in the effort when crafting their characters of colour to be more respectful and authentic racialized representation. Yes, the franchise has certainly improved over the years, but it still always feels like two steps forward, one step back. That said, it is no stronger an excuse for some fans to try and claim that just because BioWare pulled this trope, somehow any brown character is now invalidated and Actually White™. More whitewashing is not the answer. Effort is the answer - which is something that makes blogs like @creatingblackcharacters so valuable, actually!

[dalishious]

A list of benevolent spirit ideas

(* = canon)

Adaptation, Admiration, Adoration, Adventure*, Achievement, Aid, Allure, Amity, Amusement, Assurance

Beauty, Balance, Belief, Belonging, Benevolence*, Blessing, Bliss, Bloom, Bond, Bravery, Brilliance

Calm, Candor, Care, Chance, Change, Chaos*, Charity, Charm, Chivalry, Clarity, Command*, Comfort, Compassion*, Confidence, Contemplation, Constance, Control, Courage*, Creation, Cunning, Curiosity*

Daring, Decision, Delight, Deliverance, Demand, Determination*, Devotion*, Dignity, Discovery, Disruption*, Dream, Drive, Duty*

Empathy, Enduring, Esteem, Eulogy*, Excitement, Equality

Faith*, Fame, Fate, Favour, Finesse, Focus, Flourish, Fortune, Freedom

Generosity, Gentleness, Glee, Glory, Grace, Guard, Guidance, Guile

Harmony, Healing, Heroism, Honesty, Honour*, Hope*

Imagination, Inspiration, Instinct

Jokes, Joy, Judgement, Justice*

Kindness, Knowledge*

Leadership, Learning*, Legacy, Liberty, Life, Love*, Loyalty, Luck

Mayhem, Melody, Memory*, Mercy, Merit, Modesty, Mourning, Musing, Mystery

Navigation, Nourishment, Nurture

Obedience

Panache, Passion, Patience, Peace, Perseverance*, Persistence, Play, Pleasure, Pluck*, Power, Prestige, Purpose*, Prayer, Promise, Protection, Prudence

Query, Question, Quiet

Reason, Reassurance, Recollection, Reflection, Reminiscence, Repentance, Resistance, Resolve, Respect

Safety, Salvation, Satisfaction, Searching, Sharing, Shelter, Silence, Sincerity, Solace, Soothing, Strength, Sympathy

Temerity, Temperance, Tenacity, Tenderness, Thrill, Treasure, Triumph, Trust, Truth

Unity

Valor*, Value, Veneration, Venture, Verity, Victory

Wander, Wisdom*, Wish, Wonder, Worship

Yearning

Zeal, Zest

---

[Malevolent list]

[dalishious]

A list of malevolent spirit (demon) ideas

(* = canon)

Abuse, Aggression, Allure*, Angst, Anxiety, Apathy, Arrogance, Atrocity, Audacity*

Banality, Bedlam, Belligerence, Betrayal, Brutality

Callousness, Caress*, Chaos, Conceit, Confusion, Contempt, Control, Corruption, Craze, Cruelty, Cynicism

Death, Decay, Deceit, Defeat, Defiance, Denial, Depression, Desire*, Despair*, Despondence*, Detachment, Devious, Disappointment, Disease, Disgust, Disruption, Distress, Domination, Dread

Ego, Embarrassment, Enmity, Entropy, Envy*, Erasure, Esurience, Expiration

Failure, Fanaticism, Fear*, Feebleness, Ferocity, Filth, Flirtation, Foolishness, Forlorn, Forsake, Frailty, Fright, Frivolity, Frustration

Ignorance, Illness, Impudence, Impulse, Indolence, Infection, Injury, Insatiation, Insecurity, Intolerance, Isolation*

Gloom, Gluttony, Grave, Greed, Grief, Grime, Grudge Guilt

Hanker*, Harm, Hate, Hindrance, Hollow, Horror*, Hostility, Hubris, Humiliation, Hunger*, Hurt, Hybris*, Hysteria

Impatience

Jealousy, Jilt, Jinx

Lament, Languish, Laziness, Lethargy, Loathing, Loneliness, Loss, Lovelorn, Lust, Lying

Macabre, Malevolence, Malaise, Malice, Manipulation, Mayhem, Misery*, Menace, Mess, Mockery, Mourning

Naïveté, Necrosis, Neglect, Nemesis, Nervousness, Nihilism, Numbness

Obscurity, Obsession, Offence, Omen, Oppression, Ornery

Pain, Pandemonium, Passivity*, Perversion, Pessimism, Pillaging, Prejudice, Pride*

Rapacity*, Rage*, Regression, Rejection, Regret*, Remorse*, Renege, Repulsion, Revenge, Revolt, Rue, Ruin, Ruthlessness

Sadness, Scarcity, Scorn, Shame*, Sickness, Sloth*, Sorrow, Spite*, Stress, Strife, Suspicion

Tension, Terror*, Threat, Torment, Torpor*, Torture, Tragedy, Trauma, Treachery, Treasure*, Trickery, Tyranny*

Vanity, Venality, Vendetta, Vengeance*, Vexation, Vice, Vile, Violation, Violence, Virulence, Vulgarity

War, Waste, Weakness, Weariness, Wickedness, Wilting, Withering, Woe, Worry, Wrath

Yeverous

Zealotry

---

[Benevolent list]

[bikorarey]

Redemption comes from counter acting the wrong action that requires the redemption.

Thom Rainier led an assassination mission during a civil war that killed one noble family before he fled Orlais. After fleeing Orlais he was recruited to be a Grey Warden and when his mentor was killed, he took his name and went around Ferelden and the Free marches fighting Darkspawn and rescuing people. We meet him training farmers to fight Bandits that are harrassing them.

Rainier is redeemed before we even realize he's done something that requires redemption.

Cullen was directly and indirectly involved in the abuse, tranquilization, and murder of dozens of mages in Kirkwall. He is second in command to Knight Commander Meredith and believes in her convictions that all mages are weapons. He plainly says to Hawkes face (possibly a mage themselves) that Mages are not people. He goes along with on and off screen crimes against mages and doesn't change until Meredith makes a move to kill Hawke in the finale, regardless of Hawke's choice on who to support.

In Inquisition, he vehemently argues against recruiting the mages to seal the breach, contradicting the Inquisitor and other advisors at every positive mention of the mages in Haven. He claims to not be a member of the Templar order but pushes to recruit them despite the Lord Seeker telling you to fuck off in Val Royeaux.

He tells the Inquisitor about how templars become addicted to Lyrium and his character arc is fully revolving around his own relationship to taking lyrium for his templar abilities. His "good" ending is helping other templars break their lyrium addiction.

This is not redemption. He does not counteract his behavior from kirkwall. He does not aim to save mages from the abuses he and other templars inflicted on them. He wants the Inquisitor to leave them to their fate with Alexius. At no point does he aim to change how templars operate, just that they won't fall into addiction to a substance they willingly consume for power.

That is not redemption.

[ikarons]

by unpopular demand. from here. my official list of which dai characters should Not like cullen like that

varric's opinion should depend on whether hawke was pro-mage or pro-templar. pro-mage hawke's varric should also refuse to say anything negative about cullen until you have high approval, because he is also a prisoner here and what is he, an idiot?

cole should say, out loud, with his mouth, that he has compassion for cullen and understands his fears and etc. but any time theyre in a room together cole should immediately get, like, Spirit Freakout Weird, and then they need to be separated. because cole can't cope with the impressions hes getting of mages being kidnapped and harrowed and made tranquil and killed.

sera should hate him outright. are you kidding. her whole bit is she's anti-authoritarian and sets herself Against people who wield institutional power & who have the power and inclination to commit to actions with disproportionate effects on the marginalised and the vulnerable. and cullen's career trajectory has been templar -> knight captain in city where templars more or less run the show -> (acting) knight commander, same city -> commander of religious army. she should be Loud and Insensitive about it

vivienne should not be able to forget that he was knight captain in kirkwall during the escalation of violence against mages culminating in the chantry explosion and (botched?) annulment. she's a mage who created for herself through luck and skill and daring an incredibly precarious position of influence, she knows the templars probably resent her enormously; she's the leader of the loyalist mages; and how can she look at him without thinking of what he's been part of, and wondering what it will take for him to turn on her? and conversely, cullen might not be part of the templar order anymore, but he absolutely believes that the templars should, in some form, exist— he's spent two games as a Zealot. he should have feelings about basically the most politically prominent mage in the south making moves towards becoming divine. feelings about mages in "real" politics, not just circle politics. can anybody hear me. also vivienne should not ever say this out loud u should only be able to tell by comparing how she speaks to him with how she speaks to characters she feels actively warm to but in a vacuum it's not obvious and she should only be willing to tell You w/ high approval

dorian is a tevinter altus. he is a necromancer. per the orlesian chantry hes basically already a blood mage even though by his definition he is Not. cullen should hate him on principle — a product of a nation in which mages aren't just free but (supposedly universally) revered, in which mages keep slaves and practice blood magic, The Big Scary That The Orlesian Circles Rely On As Evidence Of What Happens When You Let Mages Be People. and conversely— dorian comes from tevinter! to him, a templar is the dog of the wealthy ruling class! and to be honest southern templars are not better, they just serve different masters... and he of all people should feel that a templar's ~power over mages~ is basically just a cultural construct. like. we have seen that when mages Genuinely fight back, templars start dropping immediately. nobody is more well-positioned to know this and disdain southern templars' skills and power than dorian, who did not grow up with the culturally ingrained fear and awe of them that southern circle mages did. THEY SHOULD GET INTO IT. and he should take many opportunities to say it also

i dont have a six. taking suggestions

[ikarons]

OH SOLAS WAS MY SIX. ok i feel like this one is obvious though right

[dalishious]

Mages Are Not Guns

Before I even read the actual contents of Rhiannon Bevan’s interview with David Gaider, I just knew there would be some bullshit. I’m too familiar with his brand of white liberalism by now not to expect it. And yet, somehow, it still caught me off guard to hear this part in particular:

Despite all of this, Gaider doesn’t regret having the mage and templar conflict put forward. “You can make lots of arguments as to how well we supported either side of that argument; however, we knew going in that there was an argument to be made about the mages and templars, freedom versus security,” he says. “I know people wanted to keep tying this to real-world arguments, but real people don't walk around and explode. “It feels dehumanizing to do it, but in some ways, the argument had more in common with gun control than the right to self-determination of the mages,” he continues.

As I said, I am familiar with this kind of disavowing from Gaider – he’s done the same thing many times before. The man loves to take credit when someone praises his work for nuance, but then retract everything the moment someone else questions anything about it. He has incredibly thin skin and only wants fans to count whatever is most convenient for him to say in the present. I don’t need a crystal ball to predict that if ever asked again, he’ll find another new way of denying anything of sociopolitical substance in the Dragon Age franchise he’s been a part of.

This particular example though, the claim that the Mage-Templar conflict is a metaphor for gun control? This is his flimsiest attempt to derail the actual messages pulled from the text yet. The interview speaks of Dragon Age II (DA2) specifically, so I will stick to confine my own sources against his statement to the game as well. Even still, it is easy enough to show just how pathetic a claim gun control is as metaphor, and worse yet, to insinuate that fans are simply delusional to see real-world arguments at work. If Gaider did not want the Mage-Templar conflict to be tied to real-world arguments, perhaps he should have, as the lead writer of DA2, kept the team from including observably robust real-world parallels.

Freedom vs. Security

Part of Gaider’s claim is that the Mage-Templar conflict is about “freedom versus security”. The immediate problem with this statement is that he is neglecting to include the context of, freedom for who and security for who? When people talk about freedom vs. security in real life, it is usually in reference to things like government surveillance and police presence. In such cases, there is an important difference in context that separates these real arguments and whatever the hell Gaider thinks he’s saying: the people in question are the same. In real life, it is the same group of people suffering from lack of freedom in favour their own so-called security. In Dragon Age, it is the mages that suffer from lack of freedom, for the sake of other people’s so-called security. This means it is not actually an argument of freedom vs. security—it is an argument of freedom vs. oppression. One group (non-mages) is solely benefiting in security through the oppression of another group (mages).

Some may attempt to justify it by saying that the Circles are in place to protect mages from outsiders, too. My rebuttal is quite simple: who teaches the average person to hate and fear mages in the first place? The very same Chantry that seeks to maintain control over their arsenal of mages! Of course they want to “protect” mages and non-mages from each other; it is a way of keeping the mages isolated and biddable.

Arguments in favour of security are of course, very often and easily used as a front for arguments in favour of oppression, don’t get me wrong. This is especially commonplace when colonial governments claim they are here to help, because they know better. But let us not help misconstrue these two connections further by contributing the problem, acting like they are actually the same thing.

Real-World Arguments

There are only two conclusions I can draw from Gaider saying that it is just the fans “wanting” to see real-world arguments, within the Mage-Templar conflict: Either he has forgotten the contents of a game he was the lead writer for, or he is desperate for fans to forget ourselves. Because you do not have to dig to find the real-world arguments already laying on the surface.

What is the Mage Underground, if not a real-world metaphor for escaping enslavement?

The Mage Underground is a network of people helping mages escape the Gallows into freedom. The quest introducing this faction is literally called “The Underground Railroad” – a clear reference to the real life Underground Railroad; the network that assisted Black people escape enslavement in the United States. As the real life railroad was mostly led by free and enslaved Black people with the help of abolitionists, the mage’s railroad is mostly led by mages with the help of sympathetic non-mages.

The Gallows itself was a former gateway for enslaved people when controlled by the Tevinter Imperium, and the Chantry even chose to keep the statues meant to intimidate the slaves. Cullen himself will draw a parallel to Kirkwall’s history of slavery and the current mages held captive in the Gallows. “The image of the poor, chained apprentice is a powerful one. And one the mages are more than willing to exploit,” he says, while the camera hovers over said statues.

What is the Tranquil Solution, if not a real-world metaphor for the “Final Solution”?

In the quest “Dissent”, Anders shares with Hawke that a templar named Ser Alrik has penned what he refers to as “The Tranquil Solution” – a plan to turn every mage Tranquil. “The Tranquil Solution” is a clear reference to “The Final Solution”; a euphemism used by Nazis to mean the genocidal murder of Jewish people. While Tranquility is not outright murder, the plan of turning every single mage Tranquil would qualify as an act of genocide as well. The definition of genocide does, after all, include causing serious bodily or mental harm with intent to destroy a whole group of people. The Tranquil are mages who are not just stripped of magic, but of all emotion and partial mental capacity. They are depicted as helpless servants to the Chantry. They are routinely raped and abused by Templars like Alrik, who outright alludes to this himself, saying when he makes a mage girl Tranquil, she will be forced to do whatever he wants.

Further complementing this allegory are the “Templar Death Squads” in the quest “A Noble Agenda”.

These death squads, described as hand-picked zealots to “purge mage-sympathizers”, are likely referencing the Einsatzgruppen; the Nazi Death Squads that held an integral role in the “Final Solution”.

What is forced sedation, if not a real-world metaphor for involuntary treatment?

During the quest “Best Served Cold,” Hawke has the opportunity to convince Cullen to be merciful on those who were part of the conspiracy to oust Meredith as Knight-Commander. Later, Cullen says that the mages have been “confined to their quarters and sedated”. Essentially, they are treated like detained patients against their will.

My own brother has been a victim of involuntary treatment, where he was kept in a psych ward for two months and drugged so heavily he was walking into walls. It is a very real contemporary occurrence just as much as in the past, especially for racialized populations who are diagnosed with “dangerous” conditions—bipolar disorder, in my brother’s case.

Just how conditions like bipolar disorder for example, are often misunderstood as walking around with a bomb inside, mages in Dragon Age are treated like they are an inherent hazard to everyone around them. Arguments in favour of imprisoning mages, or even outright murdering them all, most frequently come down to seeing them as weapons rather than people. When Cullen himself says this, it is unquestionably presented as a cruel, dehumanizing, immoral position to take. Being able to use magic does not make a person less of a person, just like having a disability does not make a person less of a person! No matter the scale of how impacting disabilities are, or magic is.

Gun Control

I wish I could tell Gaider that if he has to start a sentence with, “it feels dehumanising to do it,” perhaps the rest of that sentence should stop. Perhaps instead you should question why you actually believe it is ever a solid argument to dehumanize a person. Mages are not real, but their real-world parallels are. BioWare went out of its way to draw those parallels; the writers, including Gaider, made active choices to illustrate everything above and more. To be clear, I am not saying they shouldn’t have—I believe these choices add a distinct flavour to the world-building of Dragon Age that separates it from many other fantasy settings. And while the writing does not always land well, at least an attempt was made to say something impactful. I will always favour that over choosing to take the easy-way out by scrubbing your work of anything that could be interpretable as day I say, politically progressive.

Measures to prevent gun violence usually involve firearms laws to limit misuse. These laws are of course incapable of being 100% iron-clad, because there will always be outliers to any situation. However, it is proven to overall limit the amount of gun violence in countries with strict firearms laws compared to, well, the United States. (The US gun homicide rate is 26 times that of other high-income countries.)

What firearms laws do not do, is require anyone with a gun to be abducted from their family and locked up in a prison for the rest of their life. That is what the Chantry does to mages in Dragon Age, and they do not even have a choice in the matter. Mages are not guns. Mages are people who just happen to have magic, and it does not even take magic to cause mass harm, as proven time and again across the franchise and even specifically just in DA2. For example, in the quest “Blackpowder Courtesy” an angry elf is able to kill off an entire area of Lowtown with stolen Qunari poison.

The only characters who want to compare the Mage-Templar conflict to something like gun control, are the characters who are part of the actual problem of mage self-determination; the ones like Cullen who advocate against treating mages as people. By trying to say that this line of thinking is valid, Gaider is only showing that he has a complete lack of understanding of what makes the argument so villainous. He just sounds like certain fans of a show like The Boys, who unironically idolize fascist characters like Homelander. (Sidenote: I have never personally seen The Boys. I am just familiar with the main villain and how real-life fascists sympathize with him through internet osmosis.)

In a roleplaying sense, there is of course nothing wrong with having a characters side with the Templar Order. I am not advocating for treating roleplaying decisions as if they represent real life morals. However, this is a specific case where Gaider is not speaking in terms of in-universe; he is genuinely saying that the argument against mages is a virtuous one. Except it’s not! It is so unmistakeably not.

“You have a sword. Why aren't you killing someone right now?” —Bethany Hawke

---

SOURCES:

Codex entry: Kirkwall - The Gallows

Quest: “The Underground Railroad”

Quest: “Dissent”

Quest: “A Noble Agenda”

Quest: “Blackpowder Courtesy”

Dialogue: Cullen during and after completing the quest “Enemies Among Us”

Dialogue: Cullen after completing the quest “Best Served Cold”

[dalishious]

Every single time I finish the DA2 quest "A New Path" I'm struck by how much of a dumbass Keeper Marethari is. Every single time. I know the intention was to preach "oh, look how Merrill's blood magic has ruined everything" but like. Last time I fucking checked Merrill is not responsible for Marethari's actions?

Maybe if the Keeper had supported Merrill in the first place, instead of casting her away and then trying to coax her back into the clan that she was, at the same time, spreading lies to about how Merrill is dangerous and thus further socially isolating her... Maybe if the Keeper didn't treat Merrill like a baby who can't make her own decisions and just doesn't know any better whenever they disagree... Maybe if the Keeper didn't choose to become possessed because she didn't trust Merrill's ability to handle her own shit... Maybe then, things would be different!

Every single death that the story tries to blame Merrill for - Pol, Marethari, potentially the entire clan - is just other people being stupid and not trusting her. Despite the fact that through the entire game, Merrill harms zero (0) people using blood magic.

[recents]

there are some dots in the quest dissent that i cannot stop thinking about ever since i connected them. ser alrik made karl tranquil. anders is aware of this and explicitly thinking about this at the start of the quest, because he mentions it to hawke at the start of the quest. and then when anders finds ser alrik, he is walking in on him literally saying that he turns mages tranquil for the purpose of raping them.

like, this connection is never made explicitly in the text but i do think the implication is that karl was sexually abused after being made tranquil. i think this got missed especially in 2011 because ella is a young girl and karl is a middle aged man and, idk, heteronormativity, but rape is, at the end of the day, about power and regardless of this background character’s hypothetical sexual orientation it’s quite likely, indeed reflected in reality, that ser alrik cared less about the physical characteristics of his victim than the absolute power that their tranquility granted him over them.

and i do think ser alrik’s actual motives for proposing the tranquil solution, or specifically the fact ser alrik is a rapist, may be new information to anders about alrik specifically, or he probably would have mentioned it to hawke at the start of the quest when explaining why alrik is so bad as a templar. instead, anders sticks to the information he has, which is that alrik tortures mages to “push them into the arms of demons.” i’m sure the likelihood crossed his mind at some point before dissent. i’m sure this information, when it comes, is not exactly a surprise. he knows this happens all the time. he’s seen it before.

but as i said, what happened to karl is still haunting anders 3 years later when hawke joints him on the dissent quest. and when he walks in on ser alrik and ella, the focus in that moment is on ella, making sure she is safe, and ultimately getting derailed from that aim when justice turns on her. but in the back of his mind anders has to also be connecting these dots, right.

[housederiva]

Bee’s Personal Veilguard Amendments, a list of faults and flaws amended within Dragon Age’s final installment first begun on November 7th 2024 in no particular order:

The games title should never have been changed from Dread Wolf

Solas had a large following of elves post Trespasser that had been completely retconned during Veilguard. The Agents of Fen’harel should have been Solas’ first act of good faith towards Rook. These agents should have been used to activate crossroads and connect them to the lighthouse. Rope should’ve had the option to turn away to help if they did not trust solace and therefore the ages would turn to the Evanuris

Rooks who are not Dalish elves should not have access to Vaseline. Nor should non-drawf Rooks have access to Castless Brands

The trinkets left in Rook's room within the Lighthouse should have changed depending on the background and class combination. A Crow Rook has no business having a 'magical artifact final project' they had to finish to become an assassin

Specific Rook backgrounds should have been race locked. For example: Qunari should not have been allowed to be a Shadow Dragon or an Antivan Crow, Dwarfs should not have been able to be a Mourn Watcher or Veil Jumpers,

A Shadow Dragon Rook should have been an ex slave not the adoptive child of a shem of influence

Harding’s personal quest/arc should not have centered on isatunoll and the blood of titans. She is the representative of the Inquisition, her view and eyes could have been an excellent way to explore what has become of that organization in the last 10 years. Had player choice not been obliterated this would have been an excellent avenue to reflect different world states

Davrin should not have had Assan nor should the griffons have been brought back. The black man was reduced to his pet and many people made the decision at the end of the game based on saving Assan with him as an afterthought (source: some of you people have blatantly said so in the notes of my posts). His backstory and personal quests should have centered around the cure for the Blight which was important part of Inquisition and what Hawke was doing in Weisshaupt

Rook should not have been the de facto leader of the Veilguard, after it comes to light that Solas can and see everything that Rook does there should have been a wedge put between them and the party that needs to be bridged where there is information the rest of the companions know that Rook doesn’t until they have to. While Rook is the face of the Veilguard, Harding should have been in the hands. This would have helped the “We need to be one big happy found family to defeat the gods” plot the game was going for by route having their own steaks in it instead of them being a mediator and HR representative

Emmrich, while a fascinating character, should have been replaced with Kieran. Keiran’s entire childhood was spent within the confines of the Crossroad. He has the blood of Mythal and, depending on world states, has the soul of an arch demon. This connects to the spread of the Blight and Solas’ Shenanigans. While his existence is dependent on world states a reminder that so was Leliana’s and yet she was a central character in Inquisition while she could have died in Origins during the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest

Rook should not have met with the Inquisitor in Tevinter, a place filled with people who want the Inquisitor dead. As there is an Eluvian at Skyhold it would have made more sense for Rook and Harding to have gone through the crossroads and met the Inquisitor within Solas’ Rotunda. Again, the frescoes would have been an excellent way to honor the players previous world states. This is not to say the entirety of Skyhold should have been rendered. Rook should have been confined to the Rotunda with notes and intractable objects peppered through the three floors to be explored. This also would’ve been an excellent avenue for world building for people who have never played a Dragon Age game before

The Caretaker/Felassan’s spirit, while a fascinating character, should have remained a ferryman and a caretaker the Lighthouse. The specs/mods he offers should have been implemented by Sandal. A reminder that as of Trespasser, Sandal was within the Crossroads. Sandal also would have been the ideal avenue for Harding’s implemented background. As it is previously established he was found deep within the deep roads and is lyrium sensitive

Bellara, while an interesting character should have been replaced or introduced by Merrill, the established Eluvian Expert of the Dragon Age series. Not only would it make narrative sense for Merrill to be involved given her connection to Varric, it also would allow the player to know more about blood magic, an aspect of the series that is grossly overlooked and downplayed throughout the game (hello random chantry destroyed in a major city via venatori blood ritual that is never acknowledged outside that quest)

Bellara should have been a rogue and not a mage. Her background should have centered on the revelation of Fen’harel and who the pantheon actually are

Tash’s storyline should not have been centered on them being descendant of a dragon or whatever with new convoluted lore that’s never once brought up in any previous installment states. What is previously established and overlooked within Veilguard is the existence of saarebas. An interesting branch for their character instead of choosing to embrace their heritage or discard it would have been them choosing to embrace being a mage over a warrior and to not fear the magic that they have or to suppress it. This would also been a good anecdote to their orientation where in the real world a lot of of us nonbinary folks have to decide whether or not we push down and hide who we actually are because that’s the easier/safer path

The choice of what happens in the Well of Sorrows should have mattered. On one hand if you choose Morrigan to drink it she should succumb her mother’s will and be fundamentally different character than she is in the previous three instalments. On the other hand if it is the Inquisitor who drank out of it (especially an elven inquisitor) their influence as the inquisitor should have been diminished or altered as they are considered a liability in the same way Rook is

The aspect of Mythal encountered within the Crossroads should not be a shem. This is self-explanatory

The twist with Varric should not have been something that came off as lazy writing until the rug gets proverbially pulled out from under the player. There should be dialogue throughout the game such as when Rook and Co go to get Lucanis they say ‘I can’t wait to tell Varric about this’ in the underwater prison and Harding responds with a sucked in breath or a sad ‘he’d like that’

On that note the underwater prison where Lucanis is being held makes no fucking sense. While it’s a very cool place why would a Venatori stronghold be in the harbor of Treviso

The Quinari invasion of Treviso also makes no sense. Yes the country has no military strength but making them the antagonistic force in scantily clad armor reduces them to nothing more than cannon fodder and a savage attacker that needs to be annihilated. This could have been an opportunity to explore the political machinations of the Antivan Crows and Viago’s connection to his father (the king of Antiva)

The Antivan Crows should not have been rebranded as freedom fighters. These are ruthless power-hungry assassins, not a happy go lucky family. They buy and sell children and kill them as soon as they are no longer useful. It should be very clear that the only reason Crow Rook did not get killed after they botched a mission was because Viago has a soft spot for them

Regarding the previous point Jacobus should have been killed for he and his cousin’s failure, not rewarded and given his own house

Catarina should actually have been killed. The Illario portrayed in the Wig Maker Job was a much more fascinating character then the caricature given to us in the game. He should also not have access to blood magic and instead should have been manipulated by Zara

It should not have been an option at the end of Lucanis’ personal quest to spare his cousin. Either he kills him and becomes the First Talon or he renounces the title and hands it over to Viago

Rook should not have been able to walk through piles of the Blight and gain the status effect Blighted. Even with this mechanic still implemented in the game it should constitute as a death sentence and to be avoided

Fereldan should not have been reduced to one missable letter where it’s declared lost to the Blight that you can revert with power of friendship in a section of the world map. At the time Veilguard takes place depending on previous world states the Hero of Fereldan and/or the Wardens in Awakening are still very much alive

There is dialogue where Harding and Emmrich go for a weekend camping trip in Ferelden a place stated in the game as being decimated by the Blight, this should not have happened

Carver/Bethany should have been available as one of the Wardens met within the game. This would have been another opportunity for Varric’s death to be alluded to. See above regarding Leliana and the Urn of Sacred Ashes for world state concerns

Carver/Bethany should have been the bridge from Harding to Davrin as Carver/Bethany knew Varric

Isabella’s armor did not need to be like that and a Morrigan who did not drink from the Well of Sorrows should not have Mythal’s circlet

The Viper should have been an elf, and the ratio of Shadow Dragons that are shems should have been much lower

Tevinter is a city built upon slaves, they should be in the game. As should the Tranquil

Neve is a mage, she could’ve been the players avenue to learn more about the Circle and how it operates within Telvinter. To tie that into the Shadow Dragons and her her personal quest could’ve been involved tranquil being taken or sold from the circle and given to the Venatori

The Venatori should not have just been cannon fodder with no leader or organization especially during the quest where they’re throwing themselves at Elgar’nan’s feet. It makes no sense for this organization that despises elves and believes themselves better in every capacity to break so easily

Going back to the previous point the Blood of Arlathan quest should have involved Bellara’s clan instead of the Venatori. Not only because this would allow the players to actually see a Dalish clan, it would have tied that companion back into the main quest and make her more invested in the stakes the plot provides

All of the Veil Jumpers and Dalish provided in the game are portrayed as bumbling fools who die in every single trap laid out before them. I see this only serving as a mirror of developer’s view of the indigenous people of Canada

The Veil Jumpers themselves should have been a clan instead of a haphazardly thrown together group

The Lords of Fortune should not have been Disney thieves with morals. This would’ve provided an excellent clash and friction between Tash and Bellara involving stolen artifacts

Solas was a spirit of wisdom. There should’ve been points in the game where we saw Tevinter bees turning spirits against their purposes to give his revelation more emotional weight to players who did not care about him

Rook should’ve been allowed to destroy the Veil, and if not l then an Inquisitor who drank from the Well of Sorrows

(if you’ve read down to this point you have my permission to add your own points in the rbs. Note that I don’t have to agree with you nor you to I)

[pinkvbay]

I feel like being nice!!!

So here's some resources for getting the right skin colors for the dragon age characters that people have whitewashed through the years:

Isabela from Dragon Age is Black by Dalishious

FULL skin palette for Alistair by Dalishious

High quality Alistair headshot for colorpicking by Dalishious from this

High quality Zevran headshot for colorpicking by Dalishious from this

Fenris' skin color by Dalishious

High quality Fenris Images for colorpicking by Dalishious

High quality Merrill headshot for colorpicking by Dalishious

And just so people don't have the excuse of laziness, here's palettes i have made by colorpicking textures and models, feel free to use them:

Edit: Crows and Emmrich

My own dirty laundry: I have been guilty of whitewashing Merrill before, as I didn't know she was in DA:O so I used the DA2 render for colorpicking, from this I need everyone to learn that sometimes the whitewashing isn't done by malice but from a place of lack of knowledge.

[sunlight-shunlight]

i feel like the culture shock of solas waking up into a mortal-based society must be wild bc like

presumably, the pre-veil immortal elves didn't have very many Physical Children, bc... otherwise the population would've exploded and it would've been crazy. and it's not like they need kids either, in the pragmatic "i need someone to take over my business/take care of me when i'm old" type of way. for the most part, the only times they'd ever have kids is when they actually want to raise a child. even with all the wars and stuff they were getting into - on a purely pragmatic level, it's way better to get a spirit to turn into a fully grown elf that can be drafted immediately, rather than have a child who takes 20 years to grow into a soldier.

and also, solas is from the first few rounds of elves that even existed in physical form! they were born as fully fledged, if inexperienced and eccentric adults - i can only imagine the first few times they even saw a Physically Created Baby, it was such a novelty that they all just stood around going "waow. amazing. showstopping. incredible. unprecedented," and taking notes and politely clapping every time the baby so much as sneezes, ahaha. and they're immortal, so they'd probably be very very careful with their kids, and have a prolonged period of "adolescence" before they're considered full adults? if vallaslin were applied only when they're considered "of age", then who even knows WHEN that is for immortal elves?? 50 years old or something? their entire life cycle and society would be so alien.

and then, in modern thedas... there's like 30-50 feral unwanted orphans anywhere you look, rampant child labour and abuse, and the dalish putting on the very painful vallaslin at what would seem like a shockingly young age... probably extremely depressing by comparison.

also, solas would've just... never seen an old person physically at all??? like presumably he knows about them As A Concept from the fade, but, fhsdjfhdfdg. i think it would be like this:

someone's like "ahhh, my arthritis!! ha ha, you know how it is!"

and solas is like "ah yes. certainly. that's a normal thing. that i should know about. your... bones... hurt? is that it? yes?? phew. i'm getting such a good grade on acting like a mortal! which is normal to want and possible to achieve🥚👍"

[canticle-of-apotheosis]

The other thing is that…to solas and other Original Elves, purely physical elves are genuinely a new life form that is not tied to a preexisting spirit. So there may be this entire question of—are they real? Do they have spirits, despite a strictly physical form? And then the veil is created and the whole world goes offline so to speak, but the physical elves keep reproducing, even further divorced from the fade.

People like to act like solas is just a garden variety racist sometimes but he is dealing with emergent entities, and like…idk the equivalent of AI almost, a creature divorced from any basis for a soul and operating on pure algorithm. I think it’s valid for him to be skeptical.

It’s all the more wild that a friendly Inquisitor can truly be the one to convince him.

[sunlight-shunlight]

YEAH!! like the line about the world seeming tranquil to him is so interesting? i wish we had gotten more info on what arlathan was like, bc i'm so curious about what the lack of veil actually did in practice.

to me, i think all the pre-veil people had some inherent ~magic vibes sense~ that was a secondary mode of communication? their "soul" or spirit or whatever could show itself outside the physical form, when unrestricted by the veil. and then without that, to solas, the whole world seems like walking corpses, bc they don't have that signifier of life that he's used to seeing.

and then he wakes up as an elven mage, who has trouble shutting up about his opinions... during the mage/templar conflict, in a human-dominated society. in which he really should not yap, for his own safety haha. and presumably he gets attacked a few times by the dalish too, when he tried his terrible "hi i'm the dread wolf! i hate your entire culture and religion btw 🥚👍" approach to talk to them.

so his initial impression of people would be really negative! and like "wow they're mostly really dumb, and really violent, on top of seeming like lifeless husks. i just killed the last friend i had on thedas bc he was seemingly about to betray me?? for these pathetic creatures?? hate it here, i miss my home". and then if the inquisitor is too low approval to really make him develop enough personal connections, he continues in that mode largely unchecked fndhjsfgf.

also i think some of the "they're basically tranquil" is partially... self-justification. bc solas knows the world is going to end with the blights if left unchecked, and he'll HAVE to kill tons of people to reset it? so it's in his own best interests to try and keep his conscience clear by thinking of it as, "well, they're barely sentient! so this won't be too bad, at least! but there's no need to be cruel to them, so i'll be kind when i can". and he can still do his little inquisition tasks of helping refugees and whatnot to soothe his morals, while maintaining a level of detachment from them.

without that detachment, he'd REALLY start cracking up from guilt and have trouble staying on task, ahah. which he does, very easily... bc when the wisdom spirit dies, he straight up admits that he nearly quit the inquisition. which is always insane to me, bc that means... he was considering abandoning his orb, and presumably letting the whole world end? just bc he got sad? he is so poorly hinged 😭

[dragonagegallery]

Dragon Age: Origins - Daggers Pt 1

[atiya-nagrano]

Crow questions: So how does House Arainai get along with the other Crow houses? Are there any particular rivalries or alliances you see them having with any the other houses or with other families or businesses within Antiva? Do they have the reputation for taking specific types of jobs or any specific type of methodology or character to distinguish themselves from the other houses? And prior to what happens with Rinna, were there any parts of that group identity that Zevran felt particularly close to and defined by?

THANK YOU FOR THIS!! i feel as though you have asked me to perfectly execute a triple axel that i have been working on for years.

so when zevran is sold to house arainai, arainai is on top of the world. first talon, wealthy enough to buy as many children as they like. but i also think, w the context that house dellamorte (and hinted at w house valisti) give us that house arainai, at least to me, kind of comes off as nouveau riche. there ARE houses that build themselves out primarily as traditional family dynasties, and if they also participate in child trafficking, they're not loud abt it. house arainai rly publicly spends its wealth in that area, tho.

so i think they're undeniably influential — everyone has to be nice. but houses that put more stake in nobility are washing their hands after shaking them w arainai. their staunch allies are other talons who might operate similarly. i have no concrete proof of this, but i think cantori is one such ally. the cantori diamond, the presence of jacobus, the more visible opportunities for class mobility. these houses i think would be more inclined to double down on antivan nationalism. the lowest of the low has a duty to their country, and also antiva is made up of ordinary ppl just like you, etc.

and then it all depends on how ambitious a given talon is, and if they're smart abt it. talav isn't. when house arainai slips down to second talon, talav tries to assassinate the first talon. no good! not a huge amount of lore abt talav, but interesting that he's trying to get some legitimacy, imo, in participating in the azul contract, which 'gifts' house arainai a royal bastard (rinna). that feels rly different from buying children from brothels or shipwrecks.

then the reins pass to isidora, who is apparently just rly bad at her job, so bad that house arainai becomes a cuchillo. then eoman takes over.

i think eoman was gunning for grandmaster/talon for a while, and i also think he was rly smart abt it. he's the master who brings taliesen, rinna, and zevran together. he is undoubtedly the person arranging their contracts.

zevran's second ever mission was to kill a mage who sounded like she had some real political heft given she was traveling by carriage outside of the circle to an area v far away from another circle (that we know of), and she's not heavily guarded. setting aside the wretched consent dynamics, from a strictly practical standpoint, all that doesn't happen unless she's been granted a great deal of trust. maybe this is a bastien situation, idk.

i think killing a mage, esp an influential mage, is a risky contract to take. zevran says he kills her 'guard' — presumably a templar, right? which is a big deal. whatever the actual events of the assassination, the circle is none the wiser (and by extension the chantry)*, and everybody is super impressed. is this a contract that house dellamorte would have taken? or is it a contract taken by a house and a master who need to assert their daring and expertise? given that it's his second mission ever, if zevran had failed miserably — ah, well, he was a) just some elven orphan and b) he's the face of the fuck up.

AND YET. another interesting element here is that timeline-wise, we have two options. either zevran is sent out alone without rinna and taliesen deliberately or this takes place before they're officially working as a unit. i think this is the latter, which means he's a teenager, potentially a young one, and i think his declaration that he and taliesen weren't much of anything before rinna isn't quite right. he and taliesen are the only graduating survivors of their murder cohort. they both showed promise. while zevran would have been a convenient fall guy, i think he was also being actively groomed into being a power player, and eoman didn't think he'd actually fail. eoman gambles on zevran making him as a master look good, and house arainai impressive as a whole. it pays off.

(interjecting here to point out that it wasn't taliesen, whose strengths were more literal strengths, i.e. brute force, chosen for this contract. it was zevran, whose sexual appeal is the load bearing pillar of his strategy)

another significant contract zevran will tell you abt is when he was in a 'cell' of crows sent to assassinate a v dangerously and effectively ambitious prince of antiva. it's weird terminology. this story introduces the lore that particularly wealthy and influential antivans, like princes and kings, can inherit entire cells of crows. not houses! cells. i think it's grey warden treaty-ish in that these could be contracts that can be activated at any time. a certain number of crows regardless of house loyalties looped into this. idk. pure speculation.

anyway, house arainai is once more participating in an extremely high risk/high reward endeavor — if their royal patron loses, i think they lose, too. but it once more pays off. they're now interfacing w legitimized royalty, not merely unclaimed children.

eoman then has enough social capital to approach house valisti and do a favor for them — even as the grandmaster of a cuchillo only. in exchange for getting rid of rinna discreetly, house arainai once more becomes a talon. for a cuchillo house, i think that's significant, given that house valisti is descended from and run by merchant princes.

SO! from all this we can conclude that house arainai can be described as:

willing to take monumental risks (even zevran nabbing the grey warden contract feels connected to this)

wildly ambitious

maybe not characterized by quiet, deadly dignity/blood family but smth scrappier

for zevran, whose parents were marginalized, and whose childhood was not, like viago's or lucanis' or illario's, a childhood in a villa or palace or estate, i think house arainai rly does symbolize class mobility. he was nothing, and then, thru hard work (and a lot of him being used as a chess piece), he climbs to a place where suddenly, he's a real person.

the crows who are actually good enough to survive come to enjoy some of the benefits. in antiva, being a crow gets you respect. it gets you wealth. it gets you women . . . and men. or whatever it is you might fancy.

it makes sense to me that a house pulling primarily from rly impoverished and unstable environments would emphasize patriotism............and so i think zevran does fully buy into what he does for the crows being an expression of his love for his country.

and the expectations that his house had of him — and that his master had of him — clearly matter to him. he takes pride in assassination being smth that takes skill and dedication and dignity. restraint, even.

Leliana: We have many things in common, Zevran. Zevran: Other than our purity and beauty? Leliana: We both spent many years in places other than Ferelden. You are an assassin and I, a bard. Zevran: Then you were called upon to kill. Leliana: Often. I didn't like it, but I did it anyway. Zevran: You didn't like it? You didn't like the thrill of the hunt? Leliana: I suppose... I did like that. The hunt... not the killing. Zevran: The killing just signals the end of the hunt. Without it, the chase goes on. You killed your marks cleanly, I hope? Leliana: Whenever possible. Zevran: Good, when the prey is caught, it deserves a good death, a clean death. Perhaps you are right; we have much in common.

this is why, in the wake of rinna's death, when he and taliesen discover that rinna had not betrayed them after all, it's zevran who pushes to tell someone.

i . . . wanted to tell the crows what we had done, our mistake. taliesen convinced me not to. he said it would be a foolish waste. so we reported that rinna had died in the attempt. we needn’t have bothered. the crows knew what we had done. the master who disliked me told me so to my face. he said the crows knew . . . and they didn’t care. and one day my turn would come. (if you choose the dialogue option: why would he do that?) to rub it in my face, perhaps. that i was nothing. that she was nothing. you once asked why i wanted to leave the crows. in truth, what i wanted was to die. what better way than to throw myself at one of the fabled grey wardens? and . . . this happened. and here i am.

he rly believes the crows are still worth it and noble right up until the moment a master who dislikes him (ftr i don't think it's eoman) tells him that he and rinna are nothing. it explodes his whole understanding of the crows/the world and by extension who he is. he thought he'd made himself more than nothing but it turns out! he hadn't. worse, rinna wasn't nothing. rinna was supposed to be the ideal of a crow, and her 'betrayal' shakes him so badly bc it threatens his entire self of self. but she wasn't nothing. except she was to the ppl controlling their lives! i would leave the country to die, too — and i think it matters that he doesn't want to die in antiva, bc the patriotism lingers, right? he doesn't want to die on antivan earth bc he's lost that privilege. off to dog hell.

at the end of all this concentrated meta, i will finish by saying i think house nero and house arainai are in a cold war re: the territory of rialto, and that's fun bc it feels less like house nero is a dynasty house and more like they want to distinguish themselves by placing another house lower than them.

when teia first rose through the ranks, she hoped to find some camaraderie with her fellow elves, but bolivar [nero] had snubbed her as an overreaching street rat and giuli [arainai] wasn't in a position to make friends. (emphasis mine)

bc house nero's thing is pearls, it's funny to me if ppl signal their loyalties w pointed jewelry. house arainai wears gemstones ONLY. so maybe house arainai's non-crow business relationships are w jewelers — as well as guilds who are likely to come across vulnerable children who won't be missed.

*the crows are absolutely in bed w the circle and the chantry, and it's likely to me that the contract on this mage's life was drawn up by someone in the circle or the chantry, but clearly the ppl who weren't supposed to know stayed in the dark, which is the point

[mirufiyu]

The First Talon demands you to go to bed. 🚫 Do not repost

[stonesense]

i still don’t know why we can’t kill the guy in cole’s personal quest

[stonesense]

i’ve done it twice and both times when solas is like “we cannot let him kill that guy” and varric is like “yeah obviously no-one was thinking that” i’m there thinking that.

[stonesense]

dragon age got so scared about vengeance after da2 that if you say it’s fine to kill a guy who (accidentally??? or something??? NOT BETTER) starved a child to death everyone looks at you like you’re crazy