while reading your answer to the "solas created the blight" ask i immediately remembered that the inquisitor also gave corypheus an ironic punishment ("you wanted into the fade? FINE") and i think that's pretty cool bc i love those inq/solas parallels, i wonder if this is going to be added to the pile!
āironic punishmentā is totally the words I was searching for there, thankyou! maybe the TV Trope would be Ironic Hell? it also reminds me of myths in our world where the thing they thought they really wanted turns out to be shit/disastrous - like Midas and his touch which turns things into gold, who found he couldnāt eat or drink and when he touched his daughter she turned into a gold statue. and oh my god I didnāt even think of that. thatās genius!! so true.. wew I hope so. thatās whatās so gripping to me about Solasā plotline to me right? him and the Inquisitor are in some ways really quite similar figures. foils, reflections, so many parallels.. in my own Thedas theyāre almost like 2 sides of the same coin even (yes stfu MJ youāve said 1897 times before). past and present, the ancient world vs the modern.. they both desperately want to save their people and both are convinced and think their way of doing it is the only way. and if they were in the otherās position, theyād do the exact same thing as the other is doing. theyāve got no choice, on their current paths anyway (I do hope you can convince him otherwise). thatās why itās so tragic and compellingĀ (Ā“Ā°Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„ĻĀ°Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„Ģ„ļ½)
Everytime I remember Pharamond I rage a little. He didn't even have the chance to prove that he could actually control his emotions, and by extention, his magic! As you said, he even started controlling his feelings and with time would have stopped reacting extremely to everything (can you rlly blame him tho he was literally a prisoner in his own damn mind). As I understand, it's kinda like hearing an old song, you may not remember everything but the lyrics start coming back to you eventually.
Itās extra frustrating when the other characters act as if him struggling to control his emotions after having none for so long is a legitimate reason to not pursue further research on reversing it. And youāre right, he doesnāt even get the chance to improve! Like fuck, Iām pretty sure his reaction to being ordered tranquil again would be a reasonable response for anyone.
Rules: list 10 things an OC would have in their bag
@vir-ghilaniĀ kindly recommended this neat meme to me and I couldnāt help myself. thankyou for the recc, this was super fun to think about.
Tagging: @jarino, @softfallen,Ā @breezytealy, @kestrelsansjesses, @saltydrell, @assdromeda. no obligation to read this or do the meme of course. also tagging anyone who sees this and wants to do it, consider yourself indirectly tagged!
Not including her arms and armor, hereās the things Gryff typically carries with her into the field:
maintenance kit -Ā naturalĀ whetstone, oil, wax, polish, cloth rags, pads, etc.Ā a spartan and pragmatic assortment.Ā gotta maintain your arms and armor. a warriorās rule numero uno.
warhorn - made from halla antler and carved in the shape of a baying hound, long since sunbleached. belonged to her father, and his father before him. the family believe it may have been in their lineās possession since Brocair himself, but nobody knows for certain.
spyglass - also belonged to her father and grandfather, who made it. Antivan design. kept in a case made from halla leather.
grooming implements - curry comb, sponges, shedding blade, sweat scraper, dandy brush, body brush, grooming rag, hoof pick, small scissors, etc. take good care of your halla steed and heāll take good care of you.
pipe -Ā a very fine smoking pipe of Rivaini make is her most prized possession and probably the fanciest thing she owns. acquired at an Arlathvhen, through trading with the Rivaini clan her mother came from. smoking elfroot is the one guilty pleasure she permits herself.Ā
elfroot - in a series of small pouches she keeps a selection of elfroot preparations for basic healing purposes. one additional pouch contains the bitter mix she likes best to smoke.
current wood-carving project - whatever sheās working on at the time that's a suitable size for travel. for those long nights by the fire.
Favor of Clan LavellanĀ - a simple little token, ironbark inlaid with green and silver, warmed for a time in each clanmemberās hands. given to her by her clan before she left for the Conclave, so that sheād remember where she came from and who sheās fighting for. wears it close to her heart, in this way carrying her clan with her wherever she goes.
stone dog figurine - small rough-hewn model of a wolfhound or warhound. she keeps it wrapped in a square of red cloth cut from the sails of her aravel. its personal to her. reminds her of her duty and who she is.
Prayer for the Dead - should the worst come to pass. a short elven prayer written on a tiny piece of bark parchment, housed in a tiny metal container along with fragments of oak and cedar. given to her by the Keeper before she left for the Conclave. no longer believes in the Creators as gods in the exact same manner that she did before, but carries it still.
Blackwall: 2, Solas: 1 and 3, Sera: 3, Cole: 2, Bull: 1, Vivienne: 3 and 5, Varric: 2, Dorian: 1 and 5, Cassandra: 4 and 5 and wow that's a lot of questions but I missed Gryff tbh
omg ā„ā„ thankyou sm. me too tbh. sheās still my favorite of my children. I think maybe another run of DAI is due.
[msg refs this post]
cut for length.
Blackwall2. What did they choose to do with him and how did they feel about their choice? Were they guilty about leaving him in cell, if they choose to do so?
Blackwall joined the Inquisition and stayed until the Inquisitor could declare victory. Blackwall considered the Inquisitor a friend. Gryff strongarmed him out of prison using Inquisition resources and had him continue to fight as part of the Inquisition. ah, but his judgement specifics was a tough one. on one hand, she doesnāt care about what he did before she met him and things he did while outside the Inquisition. she doesnāt care about treason to a human kingdom, nor about the murder of nobles really. on the other, she values honesty and not being a coward, and more importantly, the betrayal of the loyal men under his command was unconscionable and indefensible to her - you protect your men, soldiers who trust you with their lives as their commander. to do otherwise goes against everything she believes in, sheād sooner die herself than betray her men. that was what she took most issue with really, over the general deception, lies or the murder of some people. if heād done that or a similar thing as part of the Inquisition, while he was under her command, she would have executed him without a second thought. she had respected him as a warrior and as a Warden, but her respect for him completely nosedived and evaporated on learning what transpired between him and his men.
the first time around I had her free him and reveal his identity, but in hindsight I think it makes more sense for her as a character to opt to send him to the Wardens to undergo the Joining for real after Coryās defeat. thank goodness for the Keep eh?
Solas1. Did your Inquisitor engage Solas academically with questions or were they uninterested in his experiences?3. If your inquisitor was told they were āunlike others of their raceā by Solas, how did they respond? Were they angry or grateful?Ā
1. not at first, because she mistrusted him from the outset. she also has little interest in intellectual matters outside of theories of war (and definitely not in the metaphysical), and did not appreciate Solasā criticisms of and comments about the Dalish. silly really, because they each looked down on the other for a time. it made for a bad combination initially - they had a strange, bitter and belligerent association for a time. the development into mutual respect, comrades-in-arms and eventual friends there is really interesting to me, maybe Iāll write about it to chart it out āon paperā someday.. it doesnāt follow the game exactly.
she came to accept that he was an expert on the Fade, the anchor and the sort of forces she was dealing with when it came to sealing the Breach. consequently, ever the pragmatist, she sought his counsel on those subjects and had him join her in the field as she journeyed around closing tears. eventually her Dalish desire and drive to recover and relearn as much of the past and their culture/history as possible got the better of her pride and distrust, and she would ask him about what heād seen in his travels through the Fade, about ancient elves, the ancient elven kingdom and what had been lost. then about other stuff, like spirits (her growing friendship with Cole helped springboard that one, she wanted to understand Cole better) and magic in general. and it went from there really. (I will say that I dooonāt headcanon or think of Solas and Gryff as having had a teacher/student or elder/child relationship, for me personally thatās an uncomfortable power dynamic. I think of them as two equals who just had different areas of knowledge and expertise, who learned from one another in a give and take sort of way. I think itās possible to pick someoneās brain/knowledge banks about a topic without that kind of dynamic being present.)
he did continue to frustrate her sometimes with his occasional bursts of intellectual and general superiority, tendency to longwindedness, and especially over their clashing ideas on how to help the elves. I tend to think that some of the arguments Solas has with Disapproval Inquisitor still occur in a manner of speaking between Solas and Gryff. you know, like DA:Iās main basegame plot spanned a whole year or so and a lot can happen in a year, and Solas content was not as extensive as some of the other companionsā were, particularly as a romance compared to the others. a game is inevitably constrained by length, resources, simplistic axes likeĀ āapprovalā andĀ ādisapprovalā, unrealistic mechanics like ātouch all these orbs for bonus approval pointsā, etc. real relationships between people are obviously a lot more complex. ah sorry.. these 2 just fascinate me so much, 2 very different individuals who both deeply love the People but have totally different ideas about how to help them.
3. he did tell her that, and she was angry. smh Solas. Gryff believes the Dalish made her who she is, that sheās no different from the rest of them and that Solas misjudged them. she loves and respects the Dalish. there are the new pieces of information regarding portions of elven history and the Evanuris, and she has her newfound.. atheism? secularism? (the main change is that she no longer believes in the Evanuris as gods the way she did before) and has disdain for aspects of the upper echelons of ancient elven culture (ex. the keeping of slaves by an elite upper class), but she is still proud to be Dalish. she feels there is plenty of value and worth in modern Dalish culture and (still practises and takes part in) their traditions, and in what they have reclaimed and made their own. she will always be Dalish and culturally Dalish.
Sera3. How did your Inquisitor respond to the truth of Seraās childhood (the cookie scene), if they received it? Did they empathize?
despite the differences and initial teething problems between Gryff and Sera, she received it. she did empathize and was angry at the notion of a human noble lying to a young elf and telling her that a baker hated her simply for being an elf. go figure. but she was initially a bit ? about what the hell they were doing on the roof with cookies, and doesnāt have a great interpersonal manner. Sera clarified that she was trying to say she liked it in the Inquisition, and share this with the Inquisitor. kinda āthats great and Iām glad, but this is a bit ?. I know! why are we yelling? because weāre friends now. oh okay. letās go get drunk. :)ā by Trespasser they are good friends.
Cole2. What did your Inquisitor think of Coleās ability to see into peopleās thoughts?
she thought it was unnatural, but quickly realized the strategic value of and advantages to be gained from the ability and indeed, of Coleās other abilities, both on and off the battlefield. later, she would come to love Cole as if he were a member of her clan.
Iron Bull1. Was your Inquisitor wary of Bull upon learning he was a spy?
yes, and she was wary anyway. it didnāt unsettle her though, and she understood where he was coming from and why - flip the script, and from a certain angle she was a bit of a spy for her own people for their own ends, among other races and cultures, at the Conclave. their early interactions were engaged on a level akin to two soldiers from opposing factions during a time when a temporary truce or ceasefire had been declared. I think they both recognized that. professionals.
Vivienne3. Did the feelings of your Inquisitor towards Vivienne change at all after completing her personal mission about Duke Bastian, if yes, in what way?5. How did your Inquisitor feel about Vivienne? Friends? Allies? Rivals?
3. Gryff got her the heart she requested. Gryff didnāt really know what to say when Bastian died, or in the aftermath, but she felt for her. this sad and unfortunate event showed a side of Vivienne Gryff had understandably not been privy to before.
5.Ā initially she did not really trust her, but Gryff doesnāt trust many people at all early on. early on they had a bit of disagreement for example about the Dalish and mages, the Circle etc. but I think this was not great writing on the writersā part regarding Vivienne here, as opposed to Vivienne herself. Vivienne is a formidable, compassionate, smart and wise woman of considerable ability and power. Gryff rejected the Game but appreciated Vivienneās insights and political acumen, for often Vivienne saw what Gryff could not. they were definitely allies, and perhaps something akin to friends by the end - I think Gryff developed great respect for Vivienne, in time. they have some different views on some topics, but this is not a bad thing at all.
Varric2. How did your Inquisitor feel about Varricās situation with Bianca? Who did they decide was right about what Bianca did?
Varric and Gryff are friends but she doesnāt really have opinions on his personal life. Varric tracked the red lyrium source. gryff thought Bianca was in the wrong with what she did, but at the time just shouted at them both to knock off the arguing.
Dorian1. How does your Inquisitor feel about Tevinter? Did Dorian change their feelings at all about the Imperium?5. Did your Inquisitor agree with Dorianās decision to return to Tevinter? How did they feel about his choice?
1. dislikes Tevinter. dislikes what it did to Arlathan, dislikes it for its continued slavery and subjugation of elves. Dorian showed her that some Tevinter mages (later, Magisters, even) are different (they became good friends), and it is now of course known that the fall of Arlathan was more complicated than Dalish lore suggested, but she still dislikes the Imperium. she hopes Dorian and his faction gut it and reform it and burn away all the rotting corruption. she wishes them every success.
5. [bit of repetitionĀ here sorry]Ā she wholeheartedly agrees with the need to reform the Imperium and remove the corruption, and with his desire to do so. she thinks thereās nobody better suited to doing so. she hopes he will succeed, and would render any aid sheās capable of giving, wolfhunt and clan-protecting duties permitting. she hopes heāll be safe, be careful and that heāll find success. she will miss him a lot though. they keep in touch via the sending crystal.
Cassandra4. Did your Inquisitor agree with Cassandraās vision for the Chantry? Did they choose her as Divine?5. Does your Inquisitor know all of her middle names?
4.Ā on balance Gryff doesnāt give a shit about the Chantry (dislikes it really) and didnāt really care about who the human grand clerics were favoring or not favoring to put on the sunburst throne, but is insightful and strategically-minded enough to realize that it was important to Cassandra, and, more importantly, that the belief structures of whoever ascended would most likely have far-ranging impacts on Thedas. by that point in the storyline she had been using her power and position as Inquisitor to help the People (Dalish and City alike) whenever, however and whereever possible. she supported Leliana for Divine because she agreed with the need for radical reform (specifically, Lelianaās ideas that all races are equal and that the Chantryās tenets should reflect that). she had no desire to see elves be Andrastian and join the Chantry per se (if they didnāt really want to be that is - in the cases where ones do thatās totally fine), but Lelianaās ideas for how the Chantry should be were doubtless going to improve the lot of elves in southern Thedas in general. she also disagrees with Circles and Templars, and didnt want to lose her friend Cassandra to the Chantry throne, l0l.
5.Ā yes. (ā„Ļā„ ) ~āŖ there is a great affection between the two women, and theyāll always be friends. in turn, Cassandra knows the fabled deeds of the Emerald Knight Brocair, from whom Gryffās name preserves her descent. its a love story for the ages tbh.
What happened to the Grey Wardens as a whole? Were they allowed to stay, or were they exiled? Why?
Niamh letās the Wardens stay, primarily because she believes that the order has invaluable knowledge and that the mistakes of terrified people should be punished needlessly. Getting under Solasās skin is just an enjoyable side benefit.
I cry because I finally get to see a lady krogan, the one tru superior wife, in this god damn series but I cry harder that she's rendered so poorly it looks like her head is jutting out a mile away from her body because these fucking animators are so god damn bad also how dare you for not letting me kiss her fuck u
