Fen'Harel @godofliestreacheryandrebellion - Tumblr Blog

Dragon Age Timeline

I like making timelines, it helps me feel out the world, so thought I'd share it

fyi its a doc published to the web, so it shouldnt open google docs directly (i dont think)

here's some snippets:

its colour coded to each installment, although it's currently (05/25) pending some updates for veilguard and leliana's song. I also plan to read both Asunder and Tevinter Nights so they haven't been added in yet either, but I plan to do it once I've read them.

#dragon age #dao #dragon age origins #da2 #dragon age 2 #dai #dragon age inquisition #datv #dragon age veilguard

flowersforthemachines

Useless Veilguard fact of the day: Day 448

The notes you can find in Arlathan Forest during the The Magic of the Ancients quest show its connection to Cyrian and Anaris, with Bellara even calling Cyrian by name if she's in the party when you collect the Ripped Page note.

After finishing the quest by repairing an artifact, Rook and the party will see that it holds a dead body inside.

If Bellara is in the party and Anaris has been defeated, Bellara will put together the pieces and explain this must have been the site of a ritual meant to help Anaris gain a physical body in this world.

You can find the transcript of the video, as well comments from all other companions, below the cut (except for Taash who doesn't have a comment for this scenario).

Check out the tag for more useless facts: #useless davg fact of the day!

cornunut

hawke: waste of a perfectly handsome elf :3

fenris:

ashalle-art

@/secretagentr asked for "Solas picking a flower" I hope you are alright with it not exactly being a flower but Elfroot, because I love the thought of the whole party just picking them up like crazy xD

rneliflua

"shipping and blorbofication are not inherently at odds with understanding a story's deep themes" and "some people can't grasp the themes of a story because they never learned how to engage with stories outside of the lens of shipping and blorbofication" are two statements that can coexist

vhen-harel

I have a question at the end of this post for all fellow Solas, spirits and Fade lovers. Was having a similar chat yesterday with a few other players which prompted me to see what others might think.

So, in the atonement ending we get Solas in a position where he's about to say something on the spirits and then the conversation gets cut off.

Solas: It is not just people. The spirits- Rook: Will be destroyed when you do this too. Won't they?

I get stuck on dialogue sometimes because this exchange makes it sound like all spirits will be destroyed, but we have precedent. Spirits survived the Veil going up, so it's highly likely many would survive Veilfall as well.

In-universe, Solas is the single most informed person alive on the subject of spirits. Emmrich wishes they had more time to discuss them, that he's surprised to hear how much the spirits respect the Dread Wolf. Across the games and supplementary material, Dragon Age repeatedly establishes the connection between Solas and spirits. He is called Spirit Speaker, Cole gives great insight into Solas' relationship with spirits, spirits fight alongside Solas willingly (Tevinter Nights), they respect him, trust him, call out to him for help.

We're also told that spirits were willing to help Solas minimize the damage of Veilfall numerous times. To me, that's a massive narrative beat (I've said it before, I believe Solas in this).

So if spirits were willing to help try and control things in Veilfall, the question is why?

And no, I don't believe Solas bound them - he only ever frees spirits and despises enslavement, nor do I believe he withheld information from them. Spirits may be simpler in some respects than mortals, and there might be that one memory showing him withholding info from the spirits, but they are still intelligent beings. They would be just as capable of grasping the risks of Veilfall as the people of Thedas. Many of them would remember the Veil going up in the first place and we know many want to be one with the world again. I'm certain many feel the loss of the connection.

If spirits willingly agreed to help mitigate the damage of Veilfall, then for me the implication is that at least some spirits also want the veil gone (I'm sure there are some spirits who don't trust the Dread Wolf). Some remember when the Fade was one with the world and long for it. Others may be scared of the constant threat of corruption (why spirits fled the breach in DAI), and some may be suffering. I think of his Wisdom friend specifically who got pulled through and bound and tormented - who cried to him in his dreams for help. As I posted before - how many cries of help has Solas heard over the course of time when the veil went up that would be a part of his obsession to tear the veil down?

That doesn't mean Veilfall would have been clean. But it suggests there are perspectives on the veil - particularly from spirits - that I'm curious in exploring. And considering Solas is the only character in Thedas most qualified to speak on the subject of spirits, I'm sad that the one conversation that seemed poised to address it gets cut short. And since this dialogue is only in the atonement ending, my assumption here is that players choosing this option, actually want to hear Solas out.

The spirits what Solas? WHAAAT?

I don’t think he was going to claim that spirits wouldn’t be harmed, or that none would be destroyed. Solas isn’t naive - he knows spirits will suffer, just as many people will, and he never denies that. But maybe he was about to argue that leaving the veil intact is causing ongoing harm to spirits, harm that most people in Thedas don't see because their treatment of spirits has become so normalized. Or maybe he was going to say that the spirits want this as much as he does and use them as a reason to do it (amongst other reasons).

What do some of you think he was going to say?

exia-1

I have a theory, and it is one I am building into my world-state for my da4 fic.

I believe the veil simplified spirits.

Spirits are an embodiment of an idea. A reflection of something in the physical world. Usually emotions: rage, anger, sadness, love, etc. But they can also be concepts: wisdom, compassion, justice, command, adventure.

Solas very clearly thinks of spirits as people. Fully fleshed out and formed in and of themselves. He says as much with his conversation with both the Inquisitor "and yet, because they do not have forms as we understand them..." and with Dorian with the "amorphous constricts of the fade" conversation. And yet he did not see the people of this world as people when he woke. Most people focus on his attitude of "we aren't people to you" - and rightly so!

But what does this mean for spirits? They are so much simpler than physical beings. Even with the veil up. And yet they are people and we aren't?

Sure, you can argue that this is a factor of him being an embodied spirit, and I'm sure there is part of that. He's no more free of bias than the rest of us.

But, take my hand, *why* are spirits - beings born to a world that is ever-changing - unchanging themselves? Why are they locked into a single expression, unable to alter their nature, so much so that they twist instead? How does that make sense? They should be as fluid and flexible as the world that births them.

I believe the veil has locked them in stasis. They are unable to shift as they should. Unable to bend and flow. Unable to alter their focus - their natures - at a whim. Spirits used to be more. So much more. And the veil took that from them as surely as it stole immortality from elves (and other things, but that isn't the subject of this post).

And this is possibly what he was going to say. "The spirits are trapped." He even said that before. Trapped in the fade? Yes. Trapped in their natures? Also yes.

And it is why the spirits will help. Minimizing the damage to the physical world is kind, and I do believe most spirits are kind. But also, an abrupt and violent come-down of the veil will harm them just as much. Akin to a tranquil being reawoken and suddenly having emotions again.

brambeag

my most favourite rogues

fadedapparition

things i really like about iron bull

bull evaluates the world through a framework that is easily-altered and based on very particular interpretations of reality. i’ve seen people criticize the character on the basis that his claims about his nation conflict with canon - that iron bull cheapens the qun as described by characters like sten or the arishok - but i think it’s more interesting if this is intentional. it's easy to read bull’s idiosyncratic, highly personalized understanding of the qun as a consequence of the fact that he is an extremely unreliable narrator.

the fact that ideas like “truth” or “reality” are mutable to bull makes it more interesting that his greatest fear is madness. his principles are built on sand, a cobbled-together collection of maxims either generated by the qun or invented by bull himself in an effort to limit internal inconsistencies in his worldview and keep himself sane. he is afraid of alterations to them because he recognizes how unsteady his foundational beliefs are and how easy it would be for him to collapse into a position where he is no longer able to evaluate what is real and what is not.

panoptic surveillance. there is a cop in bull’s head that cannot be killed because he has built his entire self around the cop. his interactions with vivienne touch on this idea, but don't follow it as far as i'd like. bull is traveling with a pseudo-tamassran, and this would have been a good opportunity to show how bull behaves when he believes he is being surveilled - her presence should provoke a clearer reversion to how he behaved in qun territory, when he’s not tailoring his behavior to be more palatable to southerners. all this is doubly good because of how heavily vivienne's story rests on the illusion of power as a potential basis for actual power.

his interactions with solas explore some really interesting ideas around capability. both bull and solas are proceeding from similar fundamental assumptions: both are sympathetic towards the global underclass and believe that the people who constitute it should live full, dignified, "happy" lives to whatever extent possible. bull's essentially using amartya sen's capability approach as applied to the idea of freedom: the practical achievability of freedom under feudalism is nil, so it is concretely less free than his own society, one with massive restrictions on speech and association that still guarantees the material well-being of its population. here, solas prioritizes the right to “think freely," partially because he believes mass political action is impossible if this right is not secure but also because he does actually believe that the freedom to strive, even in the face of inevitable failure, is more valuable than singlemindedly pursuing the universal freedom to live. this argument is the most interesting one they ever have with each other. “is essentialism… good?” obviously no. “should mages… rights?” yes duh. “can you construct a society that is equitable without protecting individual liberty? if the right to live/succeed/be "free" is not practically achievable, does it matter whether or not it is formally protected?" what da fuck keep talking

blackwall is so well written and, as is usually the case, his presence in a party with bull makes both characters better. if you make your living by violently enforcing the edicts of your state, is it necessary to learn to take joy in violence? if you are a man who takes joy in violence, must you outsource your moral decision-making to something else - a code, a commanding officer, a cause - in order to limit your range of potential action and avoid becoming a monster? is it too great a risk to make moral decisions independently if you like hurting people? both of these men chase causes that will grant a purpose to their violence, and they do so because they suspect exactly the same things about themselves.

the “real self” versus the “performance.” if you pretend to be someone convincingly enough that any external observer would believe you to be that person, have you become them? if you constantly speak and behave in a particular way, if your entire impact on the world is indistinguishable from the man you’re pretending to be, are you that man now? does the intentionality matter if the impacts are exactly the same? if you pretend to be a good person for long enough, are you good? bull tentatively tells us “yes,” but the path he takes to get there is circuitous and dependent on his quest decisions. what if the answer is “no?”

things i do not like about iron bull

the fact that weekes gets regularly sidetracked from these ideas and instead has bull make 97 consecutive dick jokes

dreamedge

We all need to talk about Cassandra’s little heartbroken “What?” when the Viddasala reveals Solas is the one behind everything.

frillyorlesiancakes-deactivated

OH GOD OKAY SO

A while back I wrote this which pretty much sums up my feelings about their friendship. So hearing Cass so surprised and so HURT about the reveal made me want to claw my face off.

She believes him capable of doing good things. She sees the sadness in him, that even other members of the Inquisition never really address. She defers to him on matters of the Fade and magic. They grow to respect one another’s opinions, even if they disagree. They respect each other. Cassandra’s respect is not easily won.

…..AND THEN SOLAS GOES AND FUCKS IT UP.

Cassandra is never going to trust him again. She’s going to look back at their conversations and think him a liar. She’s going to think that whatever good he had to say about her was insincere. She’s going to think of him as no better than Corypheus, because her morals are so staunch, because she’s so much for protecting the innocent. I think she’d be able to see his perspective, see the good he wants to do, but ultimately dismiss it because the methods he wants to use would be atrocious to her. HE’S going to be atrocious to her. I just know it.

But Solas, being Solas, would understand her anger, because he believes himself to be atrocious, too, utterly beyond any forgiveness and undeserving of her friendship. She’s one of the people who helped him see the world as real.

corseque

Did you know that the companion that Solas easily has the longest amount of banter with is Cassandra? I split the banter into separate audio files for easier listening, and I was shocked to find this out - he doesn’t talk the longest to Cole, he talks the longest with Cassandra. By two minutes. He talks with her twice as long as he talks to Dorian, with whom he speaks the least.

All Solas says to Cassandra is, over and over again, how much he respects and admires her faith, her courage, her willingness to accept hard truths. She (a great Seeker of Truth) humbly asked him (a homeless, powerless elven apostate) for knowledge and guidance and advice. They comforted each other when they were grieving; she went to him about her struggles with faith, not anyone else… oh, it just kills me how Cassandra will think of him now. This was one of my favorite friendships in the whole game. :’(

liaragaming

I’d honestly ship the two of them if Solavellan wasn’t a thing. I kinda ship them anyway. She goes to him with doubts about her faith, about her very soul.

I definitely head canon her as the angriest of the companions at Solas. I can only imagine how much she doubts the comfort he gave her, if any of it was real, if she can trust a single word he said. I imagine her pain as being very close to that of Lavellan’s. This was someone she trusted, someone she loved (platonic), someone she shared her deepest doubts and regrets with. And now what? How can she look back on it the same way?

corseque

Cassandra is also a Seeker of Truth, who was unable to see the truth in Solas, the God of Lies. I’ve been thinking about this more in the past couple weeks, and I had forgotten the detail that the only man Cassandra ever loved, the mage Regalyan, died at the Conclave. Her only lover died because of Solas giving Corypheus the orb. Her pain is definitely comparable to Lavellan’s.

Varric and Cassandra are both the characters who Solas had to spend time with and befriend in every worldstate, and it makes me wonder if, in DA4, Varric will be the voice of Inquisitors who want to convince and be peaceful with Solas, and Cassandra will represent Inquisitors who are vengeful and angry with Solas.

cherrydj-l

there's no way anyone believed them

postcardsofthedas

Dragon Age 2

elgar-nyan

(possible canon) The most intimate gesture of care/trust, or "kiss" between manifested spirits/ancient Elvhen is placing your forehead against another.

(This specifically is a mod; not canon. See original post by lostiel)

vhen-harel

"Bowing your head forward is likely a highly reverential gesture for this reason." <-OP

I love this concept and this is now canon to me. And perhaps why I have always found Solas' bow to the Inquisitor/Lavellan so emotional.

veilstrider

DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION (2014)

laurelsofhighever

A list of potential cures for the Calling, that we know about, that BioWare has apparently forgotten

Andraste's grace: it's not specified whether the flower the kennelmaster has you pick in the Korcari Wilds is Andraste's grace or if the game just needed a one-off asset and decided to reuse one they already had. However, in the dark future in DAI, Leliana is found to have unusual tolerance for the taint, and in DAO she talks about her mother pressing her laundry with dried Andraste's grace flowers, so it makes you wonder. Anyway, the flower stops Barkspawn becoming a ghoul and seems to make them immune to the taint from that point on.

Maric's longsword: he finds it in the Deep Roads and is suprised it isn't covered in the same Blight-rot as everything else - until, that is, he touches the sword to a patch of it and sees it wither away. Whether it's the dragonbone the sword is made of or the runes on the blade is difficult to say, though if it was just the dragonbone then it would make sense for that to be a more well-known property of the material (and would have been an interesting reason for why dragons were hunted to extinction). If Alistair carries it with him, doesit slow the progession of the taint through his body? Does he know its effects, and give it to the HoF to help keep them safer on their journey to find a permanent cure?

That obsidian dagger Duncan finds in The Calling: the dagger belonged to First Enchanter Remille - who also gave the expedition members brooches that accelerated the spread of the taint. iirc the both the dagger and the brooches are made by the Architect with Blight magic, which means the darkspawn magisters have more knowledge of how the Blight works than the Chantry attributes to them.

Whatever the fuck is going on with Avernus: he hasn't managed to cure himself yet, but he's managed to make it to 200 and the Warden can let him continue his experiments if they don't kill him - and he'd be a really useful resource if the Warden later wanted to send him other potential cures for testing.

Dragons: they have an ability to isolate the Blight in their bodies by forming crystaline cysts around the initial infection to stop it spreading. Useful if it can be more widely applied. Also, it's implied that Maric's reaver blood, which Calenhad gained by mixing his blood with a dragon's, is what somehow cured Fiona of the taint, kinda like a reverse STI, BUT in the Deep Roads they went through an area where the walls were coated in a pale, chalky substance suspiciously devoid of Blight-rot and she touched it, so I'm a bit suspicious of that.

Blood magic: makes sense since the taint is a problem that starts with infected blood. There are two major instances in DA canon where blood magic has been used to purge the taint from an object or being (both by elves btw). The first is Isseya using it to draw the taint out of a clutch of unhatched griffon eggs, which she says is only possible because the taint hasn't yet taken over the hatchlings' bodies to the same extent that it had with the adult griffons. The second instance is Merrill purging the Blighted eluvian in DA2. It's insane that Anders - who is a reluctant Warden and who possibly knows the HoF seeks a cure - isn't more excited about this. She literally removed the Blight from a fully tainted object. Since Isseya proved the same can be done with living tissue, it's probably the closest we've come to an actual cure, but since it also took years there's no telling if it could be a practicaly solution for all Wardens