Ylfa’s bottleneck

Grey | dirty thirties | they/them | multi-purpose fandom side blog

[queermania]

i think it’s okay if people are a little bit stupid (or oblivious) and need things spelled out for them but i also think media should stop catering to these people

[queermania]

for example if you need a story to explicitly tell you that adultery is bad otherwise you might get confused about whether or not people should cheat on their partners in real life, that’s fine. it doesn’t make you a bad or unworthy person. it does however mean that you should probably start watching nick jr instead of Ambiguous Situations: The Television Show

[burnerformybs]

Imagine the terror of being Aaron Bow. Crouched in the darkness. Stalking your prey. You're undetected. You line up for the perfect shot...And then the tallest, most hulked-out man you have ever seen in your life whips around and snatches your bolt out of the air. His eyes and those of his companions reflect the moonlight like cats as they turn to look at you. He shouts that "you're FUCKING DEAD" and starts charging straight towards you in the darkness. He does this all in a giant chunky turtleneck.

He was cozycore 2 minutes ago with a mug of tea and now he is fully the Predator chasing someone through the woods. In a turtleneck. It really jarred me to see that beastial reaction from Mitch because I am so used to him being the quiet, gentle one of the coterie. Amazing and quick choice by Murph

[burnerformybs]

...so after last episode it gets even better

This giant with sweater paws tears his turtleneck off, bounds after you on all fours, takes a crossbow bolt to the chest without even breaking stride and then rips. the. tree. out. from. under. you.

Darkness man got a lot of hehes and hawhaws for being a "superhero" all season but look who is actually the terrifying beastial creature people fear vampires for

[bioloyg]

I think my favorite instance of willful ignorance of established canon in Veilguard’s plot is how, just ten years prior, a blighted magister with a pseudo-archdemon uses the blight to provoke a fake Calling in all the Wardens and in the chaos that ensued got a Venatori cultist to convince them to do blood magic about it and bind themselves to demons to fight the old gods in one grand last stand.

One decade ago. Everyone on the Veilguard team was alive for that.

So. Fast forward to present where there’s two elven gods — one of whom is the most skilled at wielding the blight — and all that comes of that pre-established piece of canon is a fucking COMMENT from Lucanis using it as a jab in an argument with Davrin.

The wardens literally have blight in their veins. You mean to tell me Ghilan’nain couldn’t do aaaaanything to control that but fucking Corypheus could? The guy that had a religious panic attack when he got into the fade and saw neither the old gods nor the maker. Just an empty throne that was a reflection of all the vacant space between his ear holes where a brain should’ve been. That guy? He could, but not Ghilan’nain, the goddess of monsters and princess of The Blight?

This game is so stupid lmfao

[bioloyg]

And like, on top of that, this game acts like the Wardens are the last bastion of hope and Goodest Guys in Thedas when everything from the last game alone says: uh, no the fuck they are not. And not even because of the events at Adamant. Talk to Sera for five seconds, someone who actually LIKES the wardens, and she complains about how bogus it is when your shit gets taken by a lord to be given to wardens just because there might be a blight on the way, (but then you steal it back, so whatever).

And in veilguard there’s nooooooo fucking mention of that shit happening during the blight to end all blights even though we can discuss fucked supply chains in Minrathous and Treviso because of blockades. ONE mention of Adamant by Dorian, and then after that we behave as if the Wardens are perfect princess angels and the only one that’s bad is the First Warden — current and past, since the one from the Fourth Blight era got the griffons killed. Which, that is like the closest we get to having a moment where the complicated history of the Wardens is addressed in a way that has any weight — except it’s so wrapped up in Isseya’s creation of an upside down Weisshaupt that it never gets the attention it deserves. The only saving grace is that you can give the griffons to Arlathan because fuuUuuUuck the Wardens.

The most ends justify the means-ass organization — in! a world where Templars exist which is like the Thedas equivalent of an NYPD/LAPD in terms of their abuse of power and financial backing. Wardens are out there creating new crimes with negative oversight because the blight is scary and we need them? Except they can be controlled through the blight in their veins? But not in Veilguard even though Corypheus was, ostensibly, far less powerful than the gods on account of the fact that he had to be given a magical focus FROM ONE OF THE ELVEN GODS TO EVEN TEAR THE VEIL OPEN TO GET TO THE FADE HELLO????

Did nothing in the last game mean anything just because it was slightly to the south of where we are now?

[bioloyg]

I think my favorite instance of willful ignorance of established canon in Veilguard’s plot is how, just ten years prior, a blighted magister with a pseudo-archdemon uses the blight to provoke a fake Calling in all the Wardens and in the chaos that ensued got a Venatori cultist to convince them to do blood magic about it and bind themselves to demons to fight the old gods in one grand last stand.

One decade ago. Everyone on the Veilguard team was alive for that.

So. Fast forward to present where there’s two elven gods — one of whom is the most skilled at wielding the blight — and all that comes of that pre-established piece of canon is a fucking COMMENT from Lucanis using it as a jab in an argument with Davrin.

The wardens literally have blight in their veins. You mean to tell me Ghilan’nain couldn’t do aaaaanything to control that but fucking Corypheus could? The guy that had a religious panic attack when he got into the fade and saw neither the old gods nor the maker. Just an empty throne that was a reflection of all the vacant space between his ear holes where a brain should’ve been. That guy? He could, but not Ghilan’nain, the goddess of monsters and princess of The Blight?

This game is so stupid lmfao

[bioloyg]

love the idea that Zaeth understands Morse code but doesn’t know how to read or write lmao

[rookanis-de-riva]

Lucanis previously crushing on Viago and then falling in love with Rook is just the funniest canon-state to me. he’s experienced attraction twice (2x) in his life and both times were de Rivas

man didn’t 100% know what he wanted but by GOD was he preordering

[willgrahamscock]

any time I tell my mutual about the fic i'm 'writing' and they ask me where they can read it

[depsidase]

[mreullogy]

[whisperingsoup]

it exists to divide the working class. All labour is skilled labour. Yes including that one. Yes, including that one too.

Do you know what's unskilled labour? Owning capital. There's no labour involved, thus requires no skill. And you can tell because people can be born into owning capital.

[cybershock24601]

If I could actually draw well, just know I'd be drawing Teia and Illario busting down the door to Lucanis' study going "You two are having sex!" while Rook puts her book down and goes, "We are? Lucanis why didn't you tell me?" in the most deadpan sarcastic voice ever. Meanwhile Lucanis is lying down with his head in Rook's lap and not even making a token motion to reach for his weapons like he would before because the man is blissed the fuck out from Rook running her fingers through his hair with her free hand while she reads aloud from the official Mourn Watch guide to all 376 species of carnivorous beetles and how to identify them.

It's just very important to me that those two are incredibly domestic but also super weird at the same time. They're very much a "sex is great and all but have you had a quiet night talking with your lover about anything and everything before falling asleep in each other's arms" sort of couple.

[mohntilyet]

i promise i am not veering into caterina apologism i think lucanis and illario fans should unionise to kill her. but it is sooooo fun to me to think of how all her children and almost all her grandchildren are dead and all the terrible, abusive lessons she taught (presumably that she herself was taught by her own parents) were for nothing. it didn’t make them strong enough to survive in the crows. and then she becomes guardians to lucanis and illario and she carries the guilt and the cycle continues. the lessons just have to be even harder this time, and then it will stick. what it creates instead is a man who doesn’t want anyone to suffer as he did, and the spare who is convinced what happened to his family was inevitable. house dellamorte is so cooked

[antivancathedral]

My big secret is that I thought that your lover would be the one Solas tricks you into thinking is dead after Ghilan'nain is killed and when I found out it's Lucanis no matter what, that Rook screams and runs to Lucanis no matter what, I lost my damn mind and I've been riding that high ever since.

Let me be clear in that I think Rook loves all their companions deeply. Let me also be clear in that I am very biased. But there's something so raw in that moment, after Rook shouted for Neve/Bellara before Elgar'nan stole them away, after Rook shouted for Harding/Davrin after Ghilan'nain kills them.

Rook has lost two companions already, snatched from him in a blink and irretrievable. No bodies to bury or burn. They are completely lost. And there is something so raw and aching in the fact that it's Lucanis that Rook can run to. Lucanis's body they can touch, whose coldness they can feel, whose stillness.

I imagine that is when it all really felt terribly real, that Rook had lost people and wasn't getting them back. This is the moment where the price of victory sinks in as deep as a blade. It's Lucanis whose "death" drives that point home, Lucanis who briefly shifts into Varric to remind Rook about the loss that started it all.

Since I romanced Lucanis first, I assumed that the game would replace him with whoever you'd committed to. But to see that it's him no matter what, that the final resounding crash and culmination of all Rook's losses thus far ends with Lucanis?

Solas says "Did you think you'd win the day without some painful sacrifice?" while Rook gazes down at Lucanis. My god, there is so much love in that. I can't talk about the tender look on Lucanis's face when he ran to Rook when Ghilan'nain dropped them or I'll start biting my computer but my fucking god, there is so much love between them.

[crowinkwriting]

Spite being aggressively affectionate with Rook when Lucanis and Rook are finally together.

As in Spites like a needy cat. Stuff like constantly holding Rooks hand, wanting to give Rook constant affection, and wanting a lot of attention.

Also Spite getting some form of cute aggression towards Rook cause he doesn't know how to handle positive feelings.

Thank you for listening to my TED Talk.

[thesummerstorms]

I've seen a lot about Spite joining in Lucanis's anger at Solas for imprisoning Rook, which is always a treat.

I've been thinking though of how Spite would take the blood magic/mind manipulation but specifically though. We do get that fun line at the end game about "You. Hurt. Rook."

But especially when Rook first reveals the mind control to Lucanis? Especially a romanced Lucanis?

Mages using blood magic to warp your very nature is not only a real and intense source of danger for spirits, something they maybe understand even better than mortals, it is a trauma Spite has specifically endured.

Venatori Blood mages pulled Determination unwillingly through the Fade, imprisoned it in Lucanis, and for all Spite seems set in keeping its new name, that was a major source of trauma for it.

Now Pride is somehow also a blood mage and has used Blood Magic to entrap Rook and to alter their mind enough to make them fit into the locks of the Regret Prison. Literally trying to change their sense of self.

Rook, who Spite trusts more than any other human, even Lucanis, who Lucanis loves, who Spite loves in so much as an embodiment of Spite can love, and Pride has tried to hurt them and trap them and change them the way Spite was hurt and trapped and changed. No matter how confusing mortal emotions and pains and existence are that is something Spite can understand and dread/resent.

Solas is very lucky that Rook was returned to them by the time Spite and Lucanis saw him next is all I'm saying.

[sorchacahill]

It never fails to make me laugh when Lucanis basically turns into a union rep for the team. The man knows the value of hard work and that good and competent people are hard to come by and they should therefore be fairly compensated for that work.

[incorrectquotesfromthelighthouse]

Taash: Would you slap your best friend for a thousand gold? Davrin: I would slap Lucanis for free. Lucanis: [tearing up] I'm your best friend?

[notinkirkwall]

(banging my fists on the table) SPIRITS TURNING INTO DEMONS DON'T BECOME THEIR OPPOSITE, THEY BECOME AN AMPLIFICATION OF THEIR WORST.

WISDOM BECOMES PRIDE, JUSTICE BECOMES VENGEANCE, LOVE BECOMES OBSESSION, DETERMINATION BECOMES SPITE.

[flowersforthemachines]

I think we as a society don't focus enough on the fact that despite Davrin's and Lucanis's persistent exchanges of derogatory remarks, Lucanis still avoids the question when Davrin directly asks him if he'd take a contract on his life.

Davrin: Then tell me this, Lucanis. Suppose you had a contract to assassinate me. Would you take it? Lucanis: Depends. What did you do? Davrin: Nothing. Maybe I pissed off the wrong guy at a bar. Lucanis: That's trivial. It's beneath the Crows. Davrin: What if I stole the guy's money? Lucanis: Then he couldn't afford to pay us. Davrin: You're avoiding the question.

It's so interesting in comparison to how their banters start with Davrin insisting he will not hesitate to kill Lucanis if need be, while Lucanis never really threatens to take his life. He does antagonise Davrin about the Wardens not having long and dying of the Blight, but doesn't say he wants to hurt him. When pressed with the question of whether he would, Lucanis just doesn't answer. Which is very on point for him ー the core of the Dellamorte tragedy is that elephant in the room he'd let crush his entire life before he does anything about it. He doesn't talk about his feelings, has a difficult time expressing his own wants.

Which is a great lens to use while looking at this post-Blood of Arlathan banter:

Davrin: I can't believe we've got another Archdemon to deal with. Lucanis: This time will go better. Davrin: It has to. Lucanis: Do you think you'll... survive this one? Davrin: I don't know. Getting out of Weisshaupt alive might have been a fluke. Lucanis: It cannot be. Assan needs you. Lucanis: I wouldn't mind you sticking around, either. Davrin: You're not so bad, yourself.

Where he actually says he doesn't want Davrin to die. With his own mouth. Of course, he starts semi-unserious with the "oh well, Assan would be sad if you died, you see" but then bites the bullet to say what he truly feels. doyouunderstand