Thank the maker

A side blog dedicated to Dragon Age that still thinks Morrigan should've been gay. I draw things, sometimes, and follow back from @kaciania

[refrainee]

Keeper Deshanna Istimaethoriel Lavellan

[ikarons]

a thing about vivi that is always like. heartbreaking to me. that i feel is often overlooked in the fandom. is like... when she is supporting the circle system and arguing for reform over rebellion, when she's arguably conservative... she's Not arguing from being like. just too insulated from normal mage life to know how bad the circle system can be and Is. she's not pulling up the ladder behind her or arguing that everyone should just get good like her. she's arguing from essentially abject terror for the mage children, mage Tranquil, mages with no abilities that can be used to protect themselves or fight back, mages who are not ready and able to run off, become rebels and arm themselves, when inevitably the response to the rebellion from the chantry hits the weakest, most vulnerable, most Currently Still Easily Accessible circle mages the hardest. she doesn't think that mages should be in the torture basement forever because they deserve to suffer and suffering is what's best for them— she believes that if the circles fall, the people (the chantry, the templars, the nobility of every country under the orlesian chantry who rely on mage labour, the ordinary soldiers and civilians who have been raised to be Terrified Of Magic) will turn on her people. and they'll turn on her, no matter how well-behaved she's been! and When they do, she won't be able to protect the most vulnerable mages! she is trying to protect other mages the best way She knows how here!

she's The exemplary circle mage taking a permitted avenue to create a position of influence and Make something of herself, and it still isn't enough, and she's still forced to rely on wealthy and powerful patrons who don't fully see her as an equal person to them and can retract their patronage whenever they want, because a mage can Never be enough. and she knows it! probably better than anyone! she Knows she's always on the verge of losing everything she's built for herself! so yknow. yeah she's afraid, of templars and kings and queens and the chantry, of the Backlash the rebellion will provoke, and she's absolutely certain that the mage rebellion Can't Win, and when they are inevitably crushed, it will only be Worse For Everyone. that's not someone saying mages are Correctly placed under the templars' boots, that's someone saying If You Cause Trouble, All Our Most Vulnerable Will Be Killed. she's not entitled or disconnected from Normal Mages, she's terrified! & i think that often goes like. unacknowledged because. ok partly bc dai is constantly asking you not to sympathise with her and to instead be as suspicious of her as you can. but also because so much of her character is putting on a front and refusing to allow anyone to see her fear because so much of her influence comes from being able to control the narrative around her. you are falling for her bit!

anyway i do think even though it's obviously a real highlight of da that the characters have like firm opinions and beliefs that won't bend just to please the player it's kind of a heinous crime against me specifically that vivienne's perspective isn't allowed to evolve At All through questlines & the way the inquisitor can materially impact the political landscape esp wrt mages. given her everything

[lesbianwyllravengard]

I will always find it so absurd that Cassandra Pentaghast is supposedly "straight". she's literally called Lady Seeker

[juxhex]

"i sure hope no elven deity breaks free from their prison in the fade and starts wreaking havoc on thedas"

the nefarious ghilan'nain:

[godofliestreacheryandrebellion]

one of the things i really don't like about dai is that in order to do the companion's quests, you kind of need to be somewhat enthusiastic about it? in dao or da2 you could bitch about bringing Sten his sword, or helping Aveline with her romance but in dai you have to be fully onboard with Sera's pranks or else you block her quest entirely (my first playthrough i was trying to play a serious or shy inq so declined to prank the companions, not knowing that completely opted out of her entire questline)

i just think i should be allowed to follow Sera around & be either anxious or angry or something besides 100% on board with her pranks.

or it should opt out of that specific quest but not the entire questline. I should get to hear about the pranks in the same way i hear about Cole's attempts to help the staff. or better yet, she should prank my inq in retaliation & that opens the next quest in her story.

there's not enough opportunities in dai to engage with companions in a way that isn't entirely supportive or entirely negative - not wanting to prank the companions isn't equal to not wanting to bond with Sera.

to an extent this also applies to Leliana's questline, and to Dorian's questline.

an inq straight out of imprisonment opting not to advise against killing a traitor spy should not lock you out of Leliana's softening choices - in what world would the main suspect/prisoner of a rogue heretical military feel able to tell the spymaster (and one of their jailors) how to deal with her own spies? are they trying to draw suspicion onto themselves?

and why does the inq have to have an opinion on how Dorian interacts with his father when they know very little about that relationship/circumstances?

da2 in particular was very good at letting Hawke hand the reins over to the companions when needed, but all of the games tbh needed more opportunities for a neutral or quiet inq to have an impact on the companions - all of whose quests should probably be timed rather than friendship/rivalry unlockables. just force me into their quests too soon if need be & let my inq fumble through it bc the relationship was neutral.

[the-second-moon]

on the use of the word "okay" in thedas

So, "okay" is a word that doesn't appear much in DA dialogue through the first three installments, though it's become quite common by Veilguard.

Likely not an intentional evolution, but a symptom of the fact that the language used in DAV is generally more contemporary than the other installments. Still. Let's play in the space. Because it's not that no one uses "okay" before then. It's actually a relatively common Varric word -- he says it in both DA2 and DAI.

Obvious conclusion: "Okay" is dwarven slang.

(Corollary headcanon: Increased contact with the surface has spread dwarven slang more widely. Perhaps even helped by the popularity of Varric's books...)

Over my breakfast this morning I stared into space wondering what the origins of "OK" could be in the dwarven context. Orzammar is the obvious O. So... Orzammar Kingdom? Orzammar King?

Of course. "OK" is the seal that Orzammar's king uses to express that a document has his approval.

Don't worry everyone. It all makes sense now.

[dalek-thal]

"OK" being the Orzammar King's seal and now part of common parlance through the Merchant's Guild is now canon.

[2saul2baby]

HAWKE IS THE WORLDS WORST GIFT GIVER

AN INVENTORY

Fertility amulet for ur friend who loves to sleep around

sword that symbolizes tevinter superiority to a guy who was enslaved by tenvinter

a ring thats given to a keeper- to a person who's been exile from their clan and will never become the keeper they were trained to be all their life

an amulet that could get u executed to ur friend who presumably doesnt want to be executed

a book for a guy that cant fuckin read

A novelty shield that represents the namesake u get pissed every time somebody mentions

unbelievable how many shitty gifts they manage to find for their friends. ive never gotten somebody a gift that bad even once and i dont think im trying as hard as hawke is

[refrainee]

Sera we need to lock in

[reference]

[stealingpotatoes]

some doods of the inquisition-era dao gang

(commission info // tip jar!)

[mud4sludge-deactivated20230205]

what should i get at ihop

[mud4sludge-deactivated20230205]

alright.

[brennacedria]

Someone edit this into the DA2 conversation wheel

[swiftrunners]

you got it, boss

[tempesthawke]

a few years later....

[noblcgames]

[thewoundedcoast]

You've heard of Death of the Author, but Dragon Age writers have managed to invent Suicide of the Author. This is when the author says such deranged and provably false things about the text that they actively force us to dismiss either them or the text entirely.

[kirkwallguy]

trying to recreate hawke in dai's cc

[kirkwallguy]

come on

[stonesense]

you know how i’ve headcanoned the couslands being atypical andrastians and having old alamarri spirit-worshipping or at least spirit-appeasing traditions? is it fun at all to explain ranger cousland by saying they’re being followed around by castle cousland’s near equivalent of an avvar hold-beast

[stonesense]

wait this makes the wolf pet getting upgraded to a blighted wolf agonizing. yay

[stonesense]

alternately, an explanation for the ranger pet changing form in this narrative

morrigan: stop crying

cousland, in tears: the wolf that represents the surviving spirit of my ransacked home just died in my arms. i don’t have anything left

morrigan: i got you a giant spider as a replacement

cousland: what the fuck

morrigan: oh ’tis unthinkable i ever try to do something nice around here. could your dead wolf web people? could it? why are you crying harder

[largemandrill]

Imagine slaying your girlfriend’s mom (who can turn into a massive ancient dragon) so you can save her from a tormenting possession cycle and live a happy life with her and your son (also ancient dragon but for different reasons) only for your dumbass second cousin or whatever to revive her via amulet a year later. I would be so mad.

[jack-of-blades]

Wherever op is I hope they know that Jeff the killer is coming to Jeff to kill them has gripped my psyche so fiercely that I have said it nearly every day since the twelfth of November