Writer of Leliana/Inquistior

24 | Devotee of the Blessed Leliana | Writer (yet, what are words) | #1 BioWare Qun Hater | Likes and Follows come from main: restitutor-orbis | AO3: HeraldDivineHell

[herald-divine-hell]

About Me - BLOG ON HIATUS

TEMPORARILY HAVE MOVED BLOGS TO @OFNIGHTINGALESEYES

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Herald | 24 years old | he/him | Afghan-American | Rambler | (Likes and follows come from: restitutor-orbis) |

Hello, everyone! I'm Herald, though very close and dear friends-mutuals are allowed to call me Tim. This is my secondary blog that is entirely dedicated to all things Dragon Age, but is chiefly focused on the non-canonical ship of Inquisitor/Leliana. I love to talk about my OCs (both surrounding their individual canon, as well as shipping them with others!), and I absolutely adore Leliana. I love all the Dragon Age games, though the one that always will be the prize to my heart is Inquisition, and it is often the focus both on my writings and general discussions.

This is also a Dragon Age: the Veilguard positive zone. Although I do have complaints and criticisms about the game, I do very much enjoy the game, it's story, and the characters surrounding it. This is not to say anti-Veilguard blogs are not allowed to interact with my works or myself, but I will not entertain any form of veiled bigotry regarding characters such as Taash.

Furthermore, this is also a place where I will level my critiques on the Dragon Age series, it's worldbuilding, and the fandom at large. Chief among my criticism is the foundational orientalism and Islamophobia of the Qun and Qunari that is found in lore and exemplified in games like DAII. I've written numerous meta-analysis on the orientalism of the Qunari and the racism that surrounds both developers and fandom perspectives on them as a race, ideology, and community. I further am an avid reader on the history of the development of religion, theology, political organization, cultural developments, and gender studies in a wide-array of historical periods and groups, and much of my worldbuilding critique and fanfiction writing utilizes these lessons and teachings.

This is also an 18+ blog, as there will be mention and writings of NSFW activities. Please do not interact if you are beneath the age of 18. I will do my best to tag accordingly, but please be mindful of this reality.

AO3 | FFN (rarely used)

World States and OCs:

The Pyre of Dreamers

Nurraya Surana | Mage - Spirit Healer, Blood Mage | 💖 Leliana | Tag

Deianira Hawke | Mage - Blood Mage, Force Mage | 💖 Isabela/Meredith | Tag

Alexandra Trevelyan | Mage - Rift Mage, Blood Mage | 💖 Leliana | Inspirations: Alexander Hamilton, Justinian the Great, Mid-to-Late Byzantine Greece, the Italian Renaissance | Tag

**Esthwyn Trevelyan | Mage - Spellblade | 💖 Neve/Mythal | Tag

Important fanfiction set in In the Heart:

Eyes Sorrow-Blinded, in Darkness Unbroken - Masterpost | AO3 A rewrite of Inquisition surrounded by the question of what if Andraste had chosen the Inquisitor as her Herald, as well as what if Leliana was a romancable option in Inquisition. - In Progress

The Yuri Universe - all the main heroes like women (though Alexandra and potentially Adriana are bisexual). Both Eriena and Esthwyn are both lesbians. Also, some good old-fashioned gay divine possession.

The Hands That Cradle Your Soul is Bathed in Blood - A Prophet Reborn

*Mirnan Mahariel | Rogue - Archer, Ranger | 💖 Leliana/Amayian | Tag

*Ryialen Tabris | Warrior- Berserker, Champion | 💖 Alistair | Tag

Mairyn Hawke | Warrior - Berserker, Reaver | 💖 Isabela | Tag

Amayian Trevelyan | Mage - Arcane Warrior, Rift Mage | 💖 Leliana/Mirnan | Inspirations: 15-17th Ottoman and Safavid Empire, Violet Evergarden, Pashtun Culture, Islamic Culture, Iranic culture, Afghan Culture | Tag |

***Therena de Riva | Mage - Spellblade | 💖 Taash | Tag

Based on a reversal of the fandom trope where the Warden or Hawke replaces the player character as the Inquisitor in Inquisition, Amayian instead is first a companion to the Hero of Ferelden and is later made Inquisitor. Another aspect is that Amayian is Andraste's soul reborn, though I have still not decided if that remains a core part of his canon or relies in an alternate universe.

Noted Meta-Analysis

Leliana and the Inquisitor: Of the Rose of Faith and Love - A meta-analysis of the Inquisitor and Leliana's relationship both under a platonic and romantic lens

Dragon Age and the Illusion of Choice: A Meta-Analysis of the Type of Protagonists and Utilization of Themes in the Dragon Age Series

Andraste and the Absolution of A Warrior-Prophetess

The Qunari and the Muslim: An examination of BioWare's two decades long utilization of Islamophobia and orientalism that predates Dragon Age: the Veilguard

Notes:

**Indicates that the playthrough is currently in progress and future developments of their character will be made.

***Indicates that she serves the role, but other characters such as Amayian's children also exist and may be part of Veilguard's story.

[neves-trouble]

Lace 💛

[herald-divine-hell]

Guys there was some interesting things I noticed about In Hushed Whispers that I forgot to share a few days ago. Once I get back to my computer I’ll post it :3

[boarred]

Happy pridemonth

[herald-divine-hell]

Happy pride month to my bisexual pope ☺️❤️

[senorapintora]

Morrigan

my hot queen

[herald-divine-hell]

I am infinitely impressed by those who can write after work.

It’s been a taxing few weeks since I’ve started working full time, and it just such a struggle when I get off work. I have the desire to write, to play dragon age, but I’m so dead to the world.

[herald-divine-hell]

Some screenshots of Amayia in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

[herald-divine-hell]

Important Announcement

For a (most likely temporary) period, I'll be blogging from a whole new blog called @ofnightingaleseyes, where I hope a clean blog, and start, will get me more revamped into writing more Leliquisitor fanfic. I'm not certain this will be a permanent act, so it is why I'll be turning my About Me page on Herald-Divine-Hell to be notified with an "On Hiatus" part. Likely this period of time will last for a week or two.

Primarily, I wanted to do this to make it easier for me to interact with Dragon Age blogs, without going through the inevitable hassle that comes with having a side-blog (as this one is).

Again, I am not deleting, nor likely ceasing to operate, this blog. This is just an attempt to me to handle that vagueness that has unfortunately afflicted me thanks to long covid, and other mental health issues, that arose from this blog.

[herald-divine-hell]

Important Announcement

For a (most likely temporary) period, I'll be blogging from a whole new blog called @ofnightingaleseyes, where I hope a clean blog, and start, will get me more revamped into writing more Leliquisitor fanfic. I'm not certain this will be a permanent act, so it is why I'll be turning my About Me page on Herald-Divine-Hell to be notified with an "On Hiatus" part. Likely this period of time will last for a week or two.

Primarily, I wanted to do this to make it easier for me to interact with Dragon Age blogs, without going through the inevitable hassle that comes with having a side-blog (as this one is).

Again, I am not deleting, nor likely ceasing to operate, this blog. This is just an attempt to me to handle that vagueness that has unfortunately afflicted me thanks to long covid, and other mental health issues, that arose from this blog.

[herald-divine-hell]

Important Announcement

For a (most likely temporary) period, I'll be blogging from a whole new blog called @ofnightingaleseyes, where I hope a clean blog, and start, will get me more revamped into writing more Leliquisitor fanfic. I'm not certain this will be a permanent act, so it is why I'll be turning my About Me page on Herald-Divine-Hell to be notified with an "On Hiatus" part. Likely this period of time will last for a week or two.

Primarily, I wanted to do this to make it easier for me to interact with Dragon Age blogs, without going through the inevitable hassle that comes with having a side-blog (as this one is).

Again, I am not deleting, nor likely ceasing to operate, this blog. This is just an attempt to me to handle that vagueness that has unfortunately afflicted me thanks to long covid, and other mental health issues, that arose from this blog.

[herald-divine-hell]

Important Announcement

For a (most likely temporary) period, I'll be blogging from a whole new blog called @ofnightingaleseyes, where I hope a clean blog, and start, will get me more revamped into writing more Leliquisitor fanfic. I'm not certain this will be a permanent act, so it is why I'll be turning my About Me page on Herald-Divine-Hell to be notified with an "On Hiatus" part. Likely this period of time will last for a week or two.

Primarily, I wanted to do this to make it easier for me to interact with Dragon Age blogs, without going through the inevitable hassle that comes with having a side-blog (as this one is).

Again, I am not deleting, nor likely ceasing to operate, this blog. This is just an attempt to me to handle that vagueness that has unfortunately afflicted me thanks to long covid, and other mental health issues, that arose from this blog.

[herald-divine-hell]

The worse thing about seemingly being effective with long covid is that I feel like I simply cannot be a storyteller or a writing. The urge to write is there, but my words feel strangled and strained, and the thoughts of progressing more than just vague ideas just fizzles and falls flat.

[herald-divine-hell]

Leliana’s throat throbbed with a hummed melody. Her fingers ran along the shivering ridge of her spine, a summer river breaking through the snow and ice. Perhaps she did think too much. Perhaps she had regrets too stained to ever be cleaned, to ever be absolved. Perhaps she had taken her heart and shattered it, to trade it away to the world in tiny pieces. All she had ever wanted was to disappear, in the gardens of books and the forest of her lessons. All she wanted to do was to stop thinking, to cease the runaway stream of thoughts, of doubts and questions that she could never find the answers to. 

Her heart was a lute, and every pain was a string plucked, quivering. Morrigan had made her complaints clear, whenever Nurraya beseech they stop to help whomever was in need of helping. I imagine time as one caring enough to stop, she’d said. But whenever she did so, listening to their prayers, the painful melody halted, the sharply stroked strings eased into soothing vibrations from nimble, gentle fingers. All Nurraya had wanted was to walk in her meadows of dreams and stories, and forget about the world. Forget about the iron stare of the Templars, the ravaging hunger in others. All she wanted to do was be a mere shadow, listening in to the stories yet unspoken. She wished to be the stars, awaiting the coming night, to stare upon a world draped in a forgotten peace. Allow her to be the painter, and not the painted. And with Leliana…it felt as if she could do all of that, to forget herself utterly. 

And yet, she could be seen? In those blue eyes traced with hazel and faint flecks of green, like sunlight tracing its ribbons across a glittering lake. In Leliana’s gaze, that saw more of her than she could ever find in herself. She had been so sure, when they first met, about her heavenly dream that others thought her mad. Nurraya had wondered what that was like, to hold a conviction without a thimble of doubt to root at the foundations. Nurraya found herself enjoying being discovered by the Sister, painted in colors where once she had been a mere tracery sketch of blurred grey lines and smeared black. 

I'll always think about how doomed Nurraya is in the narrative.

[herald-divine-hell]

👤 Share a line that shows a character’s personality.

Since it was you after all, how can I not pick one that fits Amayian?

👤 Share a line that shows a character’s personality.

This piece comes from my Lies of P AU that I published called A Sin Born of Love is still Consummated in Greed. Cheating, again? Yes. I'm afraid I must. I always do struggle with writing Amayian since I tend to lean toward descriptive writing...and Amayian is quite not that emotionally forward, to be kind to him.

Eyes closed, she shook her head. "I'm afraid not." An eye lifted open to glance at the half boy and the half-puppet. Blank, dispassionate, imperturbable. A gaze that reflected the cold mirror of wintry frost entrapping the water of the lake beneath. But she once broke the crust before, had dived beneath the currents to find the hidden pearls in the sand. 

[herald-divine-hell]

🌹🗣

Thank you for the ask!

🌹 Share your most poetic line.

This one comes from a work-in-progress one-shot with the aftermath of Marjolaine's death in Origins in Amayian's world-state:

Face half-lost in shadow, the reflection staring back was a vestige sickly pale and gloom-eyed, lines that she had never seen before scratching the surface of her pale skin, and sunken caverns of purple-violet only marked with a dimmed, dulled, sapphire blue. The worn leather of the hilt pressed against her naked palm, with its scattered assortment of forgotten scars, and the short locks of her hair seemed to wind up into a high ponytail, and those lusterless blue eyes glimmered with a keen eagerness of an eagle, catching the fleeing mouse scuttling through the underbrush. Mocking lines scrunched at the corner of that ghost, a thin and sneering smile pinching the corner of her lips. We are no different then her, that shade lost in the dagger's steal whispered. And how we so longed for the praise of that, didn't we?

🗣 Share your favorite dialogue exchange.

I'm not very good when it comes to dialogue, but this one comes from a rather old fanfic I published a few years back called the Tittering Abyss. Cheating, I know, since it isn't technically a WIP, but rules are meant to be broken after all. 😎

Leliana crossed her arms, the urge to hold her abating with it, to feel something more than the gaping hollowness that threatened to take her to the abyss. Once there, Leliana would never be able to see light again, she knew.  “If I had allowed the scouts go out, they could had warn against the attack, Inquisitor. If I had went out with them...” Then what? A voice snarled at her. Then what would you do? She could had saved Haven, maybe at the cost of her life, but she would had been able to save them. Leliana knew she could. Something in Alexandra’s eyes flash, dangerous and burning. “You would be dead, alongside those at Haven that I had let died.” She pushed herself off her staff, though it seemed more effort than she would ever admit. But she planted herself firm, stood straight as a lance, a leader in command, though Leliana saw the concern. A mistake. But Alexandra continued, unopposed. A trait that Leliana truly did admire about Alexandra, and loathed at the same time. “We would have lost you.” Pain flashed with Alexandra’s eyes, and she bent low, pressing her forehead against the staff. “I could had lost you.” Her voice was no louder than a whisper...words that Leliana was not meant to hear; but within the silence of the Rookery, they rang like pattering raindrops.

[aphel1on]

top tier character when "what is wrong with them" requires an answer that begins with "How much time do you have"