imdragonagetrash @imdragonagetrash - Tumblr Blog

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fadesense

for the Viperquin Prompt Fest. 🧡 growing old together; enacting change

buriedknight

aging Cassandra has been living in my head for a while now, it is time to set her free

ashk00

Old sketches from past years

average-mako-enjoyer

Honestly love that the Templar Order at Kinloch used the newly knighted Cullen to deliver the death blow during Amell's/Surana's Harrowing. Especially since there are rumors that Cullen has a crush on them.

So ruthless and calculated! Love it.

viktopia

Robes of the Notorious Falcon. I ran around in these digs for a while. That was fun. Drawn in kind-of practice? For a potential hawke-off with a friend hahah. Yes I named my Hawke “Falcon”. It fit

westlywheatly-deactivated202512

two of wands

notebooks-and-laptops

Thinking about the initial trip from Haven to Skyhold and what we don't get to see in the cut scene...thinking about Blackwall pushing Sera over in the snow and her laughing so loudly. Thinking about Varric complaining every step of the way, but at night settling in their makeshift camps to tell stories to thr weary and the injured. Thinking about Cassandra and Cullen sticking close to the inquisitor, both with the memory of her ice cold skin fresh in their minds. Thinking about Dorian casting small heating spells. Thinking about the chargers helping carrying all the supplies they can. Thinking about a little girl who Bull carries on his shoulders when she gets tired but they can't afford to stop moving. Thinking about Viv checking in on the tranquil they have with them when few people remember them because they do not voice their complaints. Thinking about Solas, quiet and walking ahead, wondering at the strength of these people he thought so fragile and worthless. Thinking about scout Harding pressing forward to find easier paths for the company. Thinking about Leliana finding Josephine the warmest cloak and best shoes she can so she doesn't catch frostbite. Thinking of Cole deciding this is where he wants to stay as he looks upon all this compassion and hope and heartbreak and grief. Just. There's so much we didn't see. But I think about it. Constantly.

swevenfox

The Priestess

Commission done for a private client.

Flemeth rocks :)

mythalism

forever thinking about the role of ellipses when talk about each other. two normally eloquent people who suddenly cant finish a single sentence when the other is on their mind. not only do they share a cadence and rhythm to their speech but they share in the dissolution of it. the overwhelming-ness of their feelings for each other is conveyed through literal punctuation; always trailing off, an inability to focus

its giving "if i loved you less, i might be able to talk about it more"

evanhereonearth

Solas, outnumbered seven to one, overpowered by a lot more than that, betrayed by his best friend Mythal who bound him to her service and coerced him into leaving the Fade and coerced him into making a weapon that would make an entire people tranquil to stop the war she started AND ignored him when he said it would create *checks notes* a blight and made him do it anyway. Solas, facing seven blighted wannabe gods who turned on his best abusive friend Mythal when she finally stood up to them after CENTURIES of him begging her to do just that and starting a rebellion to free all their multitudes of slaves: *creates the veil, imprisons the blight and the Evanuris, and preserves all life in Thedas* World: FUCK THE DREAD WOLF, GOD OF TREACHERY AND LIES *worships the Evanuris and their dragon thralls*

Solas: zzzzzzzzzz (knocked out cold from saving the world for LITERALLY SEVERAL MILLENNIA MORE)

Tevinter: *razes what's left of Elvhenan, steals all their magic, enslaves the elven people for entire length of Solas's world-saving-induced coma*

Also Tevinter: *breaks into the fucking black city and brings out the blight*

Also also Tevinter: *uses so much blood magic that the veil ends up in tatters*

The Blight: >:)

World: fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck *throws everything they can at the blight, including--*checks notes again*--the blight

evanhereonearth

The Insidious Cycle of the Abuser Who Says They Love You: Mythal and Solas

Likely goes without saying, but Veilguard spoilers all under the jump.

I have been absolutely wrecked by the end scenes in Veilguard for weeks now, and I want to do a deep dive into Solas's relationship with Mythal and how it absolutely reeks of abuse. Long post incoming!

CW for heavy discussion of cycles of abuse, trauma response, and abuse tactics.

jack-of-blades

danniruthvan

"What was the point of ending Inquisition as they did- with the Inquisitor vowing to stop Solas one way or another- if the power to do so was ultimately passed off to a new protagonist?"

The DA games distinguish themselves from the Mass Effect series by having a new protagonist every time. That's not to say that they *could't* do a sequel with a prior protagonist in the lead, just that there's a precedent against it.

Building on the point above, it's clear that they wanted to make a game that was dependent on as few player decisions in the prior games as possible. They did the same thing with Mass Effect -- a trilogy and then a soft reboot. I think it just gets unwieldy after three games to keep carrying over player decisions and making them meaningful. It's a difficult decision, but I think it leads to a tighter game experience than if we had the Inquisitor and had to address all the key player decisions they made.

In terms of the story and not just the game design, the Inquisitor is still playing a meaningful part in the events of this game. They vowed to stop or save Solas and they've been working towards that goal via their greatest tool -- the Inquisition. Whether it was formally disbanded or subsumed into the Chantry, the Inquisitor's actions to work against Solas are what caused the inciting incident of Veilguard. The Inquisitor is the reason Varric and Harding are even there and (regardless of what they think) Rook is effectively an agent of the Inquisition. Don't forget that part of the Inquisitor's vow was to find people to work for them that Solas doesn't know. That's Rook and their gang.

"They're sending a detrimental message about the nature of disability and how it can effect your ability to be a hero [...] because it felt like a pretty flimsy/non-existent excuse."

I'm not sure where this is coming from. The Inquisitor's decision to not go North isn't about the loss of their arm.

The Inquisitor is not in the North initially because it's actually difficult to travel if you don't have an Elluvian and Varric and his team were already deployed in the area. It probably wasn't feasible for them to get there for the ritual.

The Inquisitor is still the leader of a large organization (whether that's an arm of the Chantry or an underground network of spies). Their ability to direct that organization would be hindered by them going out on particular missions, especially because Solas is able to be anywhere in Thedas thanks to the Elluvians. It's the same reason Leliana gives for why she's not out in the field in Inquisition.

Later, the Inquisitor explicitly tells Rook that they're not able to come to the North because of how bad the situation is in the South. Again, the Inquisitor is the leader of a network that is mostly spread out over Fereldan and Orlais. They're of more use in the South because of that.

kestrelsansjesses

The trouble is, you're trying to contextualize the Inquisitor's disability within the story, and not within the greater framework of 'what is the message this game is sending to disabled people.' And the message it is sending, whether intended or not, is 'once you become disabled, your time actively adventuring is done, but hey, at least you get to go play politics for a while.'

This is not a great message to be sending people. This is very much 'how do we talk about disability' 101 and it makes me frustrated and sad to see that a series I love so much is taking a stance that unfortunately is all too common in media- even fantasy media. In Mass Effect, Thane Krios straight up dies, so I suppose I'm thankful that we don't get that treatment, but "you don't get to go out there and finish what you started in the same way" is really not that much of an improvement. When you make a conscious decision to make a protagonist disabled, you have to be so, so careful about how you move forward with their story if it's intended that they'll appear again. And unfortunately, despite the fact that a lot of disabled people (including myself) called it, Dragon Age made the misstep we all feared. It is depressing and it is /exhausting/ to feel as though my worth as a person is dependent on what I can physically do. And again, do I think they sent this message on purpose? No, of course not. I don't think that's their intention at all. But intent versus what actually comes across is huge here, and this was not handled with the care and grace it deserved.

lavellun

solas' journey

blinding by florence + the machine (2009) // dragon age: inquisition (2014) // dragon age: the veilguard (2024)

merrinla

Lauren Kelly, Senior Character Artist at BioWare

The person to thank for Lucanis' face.

I created the face for Lucanis Dellamorte in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Responsible for the highres sculpt, bakes, textures, and wrinkle/tension maps. Blendshapes created by the talented Jill Harrington and EA Create team.

rosieofcorona

wed beneath no god’s eye

the-eldritch-it-gay

what’s with the venatori face veils

the-eldritch-it-gay

Maybe I'm just a sensitive niqabi but it feels weird to me. It feels weird how I look more similar to the Evil Slaver Blood Magic Cult Members than anything else in Dragon Age.

the-eldritch-it-gay

As a reminder, here's images of previous Venatori designs from the wiki. They've always been faceless, sure, but Why did they change it to something that looks like me.

baphometsss

I'm not trying to take away from the potential islamophobia in the design, but I personally didn't immediately think niqab when I saw it -- I actually thought religious and cult hoods. In particular the capirote which is worn by Catholics in Spain on Easter and was obviously appropriated by the KKK.

Obviously bioware doesn't have a great track record when it comes to this kind of thing so it's entirely possible that there was islamophobia in the intent. The problem is that veiling is used in so many religious movements and in cults (and the venatori is explicitly described as a cult of tevinter supremacists who endorse slavery--sound familiar?). So using it as a visual inspiration was always a risky move, one which I daresay they didn't give much thought

the-eldritch-it-gay

I mean, sure you could try to say that the inspiration is capirotes but like. Those look pretty different than what's in game. Like, what's in game looks much closer to this than what you shared. Non-pointy, slit for eyes, fits close to the head. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

baphometsss

My point was that veiling similar to niqabs is used in other religious and cult ceremonies (there's one I've seen that is p much identical to the niqab but I couldn't remember what it's called) and overall they should've been more careful with it. The pointy part was more evident in the helmets imo

antivan-surana

This isn't fandom wank. OP made a valid criticism of Bioware's choice. Bioware made an unfortunately racist and Islamaphobic choice by portraying Ventatori, a villainous blood cult, with cultural wear that most similarly resembles niqabs. Previous Venatori cultural touchstones were Roman and Roman gladiator wear. OP wasn't talking about the helmets, they specifically pointed out the face veils, which do not resemble face veils you're comparing to.

baphometsss

I tagged it as "dragon age wank" bc this is the tag I use for people following my blog for my other content, or just for general dragon age content, to blacklist. This isnt a fandom blog, after all, its my main blog. It's not personal.

Honestly I don't know why you're trying to start a fight with me on this. I'm literally agreeing with the sentiment of the post, and adding to it. Visual inspiration can come from multiple sources, and when it comes to religious veiling and headwear, they should've been more careful with the choices made.

Fwiw, the helmets are also reminiscent of samurai helmets too. Like I said, multiple sources. I'm also not the only one who noticed the similarities to KKK headgear either. None of this negates any islamophobia or racism, it just adds to the broader picture.

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