𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑 & 𝐋𝐎𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆.

hero of ferelden. written by cress.

[fuckblights]

how are there still active fucking dragon age blogs you guys

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the tabrises are jewish you cannot change my mind i dont care

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absolutely nothin funnier than the last post on a dead blog being ‘ok here’s a starter call!’ 

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posts a starter call at 3am because i lost my other one in a sea of badposts. zoinks.

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oathes 

sup

GREG.

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fucktemplars‌ !

“ —- Weell, it wouldn’t be a very fun story if you knew all the gritty details, would it? The novel paints a much prettier picture.  ”

When Hawke first heard tell of the great warden who defeated the Blight, she had assumed he was just another noble, or perhaps some stoic yet dashing knight. There was a chance her brother had met him, but Carver wrote sparingly, his letters sparse for details, and she had enough on her plate at the time, anyhow. The lofty title “Hero of Ferelden” could crush any undeserving man – her very own legend hardly compared, that much was obvious. Hawke was far from a household name ( and those who knew it may as well associate it with the destruction of a city, and counting. ) She bears no envy for him, however; to be placed upon a pedestal so high a king could not reach it was worth none of the fame it brings. Still, she had to admit, she was glad she was wrong in her initial presumptions. He was quite the character. 

“ What can I say? Shouting loudly across the battlefield is a time honoured tradition! And also a wonderful stress-reliever. You should try it out for yourself – all those titles and accolades you’ve picked up must cause their own special type of headaches.  ”  Her trademark sly smile graces her lips, but only for a moment. These days, she finds little reason or energy to keep up appearances. All the running, from templars and from those that would have her responsible for the events at Kirkwall, really put a damper on any semblance of sleep she might have managed. Hawke was tired.

          “ Tch                their own migraines, more like. ”

ADMITTEDLY, the thought was humorous in its own right: the reclusive, sorry excuse for a Commander of the Grey, sundering a half decade of silence and privacy, only to mark his return to the public eye with a not-so-hypothetical...shout. And, oh, how the idle gossip of the dog-lords and Chantry sisters would flourish yet again!  'Maker, that's him? The angry noodle?'  Yeah, yeah...tough shit. Historians tend to omit the 'pointy, yelly, skinny' constituent of the whole 'hero-who-ended-the-blight-and-killed-a-dragon' thing. That was probably reason enough to scream.

A pang of fierce hatred pierces his gut for even entertaining the concept for this long.

Then again, maybe yelling loudly enough would drown out that blighted call that never seems to ebb. He won't admit to thinking on it, though: not to her, at least. “ So, you came outta retirement to chat up the undead, ” it sounds far more accusatory than it truly is, but he doesn't soften his tone; he'd hardly know how, even if he wished to. Instead, he eyes her with a great deal of suspicion, lets a firm scowl settle along the fine lines of his face. “ And then decided it'd be fun to stick yer nose into this hot mess? ” He'd heard the words 'feckless' and 'Champion' in tandem, once. The sentiment: "what's wrong with you?" lingers lissomely on the tip of his tongue, replaced instead with a cold, staccato: “ ...Why. ”

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sb: so what are u rafiel: im a warden sb: no i mean whats in ur pants rafiel: vigilance.

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one small hc i have is that at some point after the blight, just a touch after the events of awakening, rafiel would have taken to actually learning sign language. i don’t think it would have been something he wasn’t aware of ( given that, you get all sorts in denerim’s alienage ), but probably after meeting the silent sisters, and then likely having mute, deaf, or HoH warden-recruits, he’d elect to become properly fluent.

[peelingmandarins]

anyway why is archery so fucking sexy

[insaneinspireddreamer]

long distance murder

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@fucktemplars!

          “ Yer friend's book didn't mention how bloody loud you are. ”

HE'D MET THE YOUNG ONE FIRST, funnily enough: when a hawke was just a bird, and not a mantle or an imputation or a death sentence. And truth be told, he'd never even read the thing. He'd seen the cover somewhere, gleaned the first page or so, but who was counting? Stories had a habit of circulating, especially regarding the oh-so-extraordinary, oh-so-accomplished Champion of Kirkwall ( or was it now the oh-so-hated, oh-so-damned...? ), and he wasn't fool enough to try to know someone without knowing them, let alone try to strain fact from fiction; it hardly mattered, in the end.

He tightens the clasp on his metal wrist, long since beleaguered by battle. The Western Approach was hardly home, although the silt and sand is familiar, the lack of Darkspawn almost inviting as it is foreign. “ Does yellin' at demons run in the family?  Or is there some kinda tactical advantage to having a bunch'a wraiths on our ass? ”

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okay so before i post a plotting call, i need to elucidate my inquisition verse because, as most things on this blog, it’s rather longwinded and elaborate. lol.

So this is a really big overhaul, and, well, foremost, the Warden isn’t really missing from the narrative in my canon because….Can’t Be Relevant If You’re Not Relevant! That said, I don’t want to make this a simple ‘swap one for the other’ thing; the primary Warden contact (Stroud, Loghain, Alistair, etc) will still be present.                * Alistair remaining as a Warden is compliant with my canon and my characterization, however I am willing to work out something different if someone is ardently against that being so.

The Warden would have necessarily put a stopper in his own research (to forestall the effects of the Calling, no less, but I think it’s a stretch that anyone would so willfully impart such to the Inquisitor, a stranger, and someone who isn’t a Warden) immediately upon learning that Orlesian Warden-Commander Clarel is allegedly taking strides to ‘end all Blights forever’ (Sounds A Wee Bit Familiar, Hrn….). Being so skeptical and endlessly private, Rafiel would confide in Alistair’s judgement (or keep his thoughts to himself, should the Warden contact be anyone else), and ultimately elect not to seek help from those outside the Wardens themselves with regard to the uprising malignity within their ranks just yet.

Upon learning that things were far worse than simply one ambitious, over-zealous commander, however, he would be more prone to accepting aid, especially upon hearing a false Calling. Learning from Hawke that the ancient Darkspawn ‘Corypheus’ is likely the one manipulating the call within the Wardens, he’d join in the cause——albeit with excruciating hesitance: from an outsider’s point of view, the Inquisition is a fledgling religious organization without much clout beyond themselves. Thus, the only place at which he’d outright lend himself to the Inquisitor and their forces is at Adamant Fortress.

THE RELEVANT BITS: —The Inquisitor can first meet him at the Western Approach Ritual Tower, where he’ll be with Hawke and the other Warden ally. He will not impart directly that he’s ~technically~ the Hero of Ferelden; he’ll address himself as Rafiel, whether or not your character would extrapolate from that who he is is your choice and I’ll defer to your insight. (It’d honestly be, like, quite easy to guess, given that Rafiel is an awful liar, his name would have gained some such renown, and if his name hadn’t, his foul mouth and constant cussing would probably tip anyone off lol).  —He’ll be at Adamant Fortress and I GUESS he’ll be in the FADE. AGAIN!               * While interrupting the ritual that the Wardens are performing, he’ll speak up and remark that they’re all acting like fools, putting a stain on the Warden reputation and sullying their principles. Non-possessed Wardens will recognize him here as the Hero of Ferelden, thus outing the not-well-kept-secret lol.               * He’ll ultimately be an option to leave in the Fade, and will voice his discontent for the other two options (citing that Hawke’s bloodline is necessary to stop Corypheus so “make it right”; and arguing that, as Warden-Commander, he has “more of a right to the Heroic Death” than Alistair, and all…haha….; more than that, he simply won’t let Alistair be left behind, so 🤷 --- or rather, not without a fight. He wouldn’t be able to be convinced by an Inquisitor, but... angst is always fun i guess). —If the Inquisitor leaves Hawke in the Fade and chooses to Exile the Wardens, uh…*rafiel vc* it’s cute that you think you have the right to do that…lol….He likely won’t argue for the Orlesian Wardens, but he’ll probably have some Words for the Inquisitor. —Like, I find it implausible that Rafiel would ever come back to Skyhold with the Inquisitor because of time constraints and the urgency of everything, but for convenience’s sake I’ll allow it; otherwise, threads that are more casual will just take place at a camp in the Western Approach, and so on.

[fuckblights]

extravagantliar.

i need to get on aedan’s account an d write w/ u or on solas’s because varric is just shit centra;

solas: the elves---- rafiel: i don’t CARE i ended a BLIGHT and i THREW MY BACK OUT!

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a few miscellaneous headcanons that won’t fit anywhere else on this egregiously longwinded blog.

—in many ways, the blight caused rafiel to re-evaluate most of his beliefs and perspectives, and even caused him to change how he holds himself. on paper, it’s easy to make his character growth seem quite linear, but it took a great deal of back-and-forth and arguing between parties (i say ‘parties’ but it was probably mostly just wynne telling him to grow up, and sten telling him to get his head out of his ass, lol) before he actually started to shape up and decided “FUCK! FUCK!!!!! OKAY! FINE! THE WORLD’S MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY STUPID PRIDE! FUCK ME, I GUESS!!!!!!”. so, yes, he was a huge spitfire in his youth, and there are doubtless a thousand stories about how aggressive and unruly the ‘hero of ferelden’ was, but he’s abandoned much of that as he’s grown older. —duncan had to drag him practically kicking and screaming to ostagar. and he said cruel things to duncan at every given opportunity; he harshly criticized the wardens, claimed that they were ‘stupid old bastards playing hero’ in a world that didn’t need them. and then duncan died. and alistair expressed so much survivor’s guilt, i don’t actually think rafiel understood how to handle him. duncan was frustrating because, no matter how much you yell at him or cuss him out, he only ever meets you with patience. it was maddening, but, in later years, rafiel makes duncan’s diligance a paradigm, and takes strides to train warden-recruits under the same model. (taking after duncan is hard, however. it’s been said that many a bow has been snapped between the warden commander’s hands in an act of boiling frustration toward especially obtuse rookies).  —rafiel swears like a sailor...not even partaking in a blight, killing a handful of arls, and stopping an archdemon could ever change that fact. it’s awful. he’s gotten a touch better at formalities, but he still comes off as disrespectful and crude to many. especially those of the court.  —above most things, the warden values others who are forthright about their principles and causes. even as a young man, rafiel was honest and blunt---his harshness was often unwarranted, and usually came off as frustration or rudeness, but generally speaking, it came from a place of desiring the truth, or seeing no reason to lie. he hates politics because it’s a game of words and deception. he likes simplicity, and in the same vein he detests that, in many ways, his story has become one that has been used to inspire people through mistruths, half-truths, or political hogwash.  —rafiel is competitive over the most minuscule of things honestly. even things he’s remarkably terrible at (drinking, swordfighting, jogging). he’s grown out of a bit of it, but if you know the right buttons to push, he WILL accept any challenge of his character. he’s just less of a poor sport now.

[fucktemplars]

is the crayola watercolour face paint intentional or are you just unaware that youre ugly

HAH jokes on you, i KNOW i’m ugly.