#blunders of thedas

[anneapocalypse]

No way in hell I am making this rebloggable lmao but one of the things I find the most frustrating about Anders Discourse™ is when people will say Anders Was Right and then totally refuse to engage with even the possibility that there was collateral damage in the Chantry explosion, insisting that the only people who could possibly have been killed or injured in the blast were Elthina and a handful of clerics who also deserved it, and any numbers Inquisition may have stated about the death toll are retcons meant to make Anders look bad.

When... you can see flaming debris raining down on the rest of the city. In the game. Lowtown is on fire. in the game. DA2 may not have given us numbers, but it's canon that there was collateral damage! You can see it! With your eyes!

But if you point this out, you're assumed to be an Anders Hater who is Anti Mage Rights and thinks Anders was unilaterally wrong.

When actually, I think that not only can you acknowledge the damage and still sympathize with Anders' actions in-universe, I think that any argument about the justification or necessity of his attack on the Chantry (including of course his many attempts at nonviolent or less violent resistance that preceded it, the failure of those attempts, the systematic dismantling of the Mage Underground over the course of years, Meredith's call for the Right of Anullment before the attack had occurred, the many ways in which the mages of Kirkwall had been so utterly beaten down and backed into a corner that there was no effective means of nonviolent resistance left to them!) should acknowledge the collateral damage to Kirkwall including the commoners and elves of Kirkwall, and should be interested in discussing what this means in the larger context of all that other stuff I said in the parentheses.

What do we gain from scrubbing this choice clean of undesirable consequences, from pretending that the path to freedom isn't messy, from pretending that the interests of marginalized people in this fantasy world don't ever come into conflict with one another? And what do we lose?

[anneapocalypse]

The arulin'holm choice is just one of those wild choices for Hawke to be making in the first place. On personal level, Hawke, a human, choosing to withhold a special elven tool from their elven friend sounds pretty terrible, and on a cultural level Hawke, a human, choosing to defy the wishes of Marethari, an elven leader, also doesn't look great. I don't think there's really any good optics for Hawke in that situation regardless of what you think personally is the right decision.

Because the truly out-there decision isn't what Hawke does in either case, it's Marethari feeling so strongly about denying Merrill the arulin'holm that she's willing to claim a loophole in Dalish custom by giving the artifact to a human instead of Merrill.

What's interesting about that to me is that the much more obvious route for Marethari would be to simply claim that Merrill has voluntarily left the clan and is thus no longer bound by its rules and traditions, therefore she can't invoke vir sulevanan in the first place and the whole point is moot.

But Marethari doesn't do that--because to do so would be to accept Merrill's departure, and Marethari doesn't want that. What she wants is for Merrill to come back and tell Marethari she was right all along. That's certainly the outcome that would flatter her pride the most, and I think Marethari is influenced by pride in this matter just as much as Merrill is.

But in treating Merrill as still a member of the clan, just one who's gone temporarily astray, Marethari has to acknowledge Merrill's right to vir sulevanan. Thus, when Merrill completes the task, Marethari is bound by Dalish custom to hand over the arulin'holm, and only then does she flout that custom by giving it to Hawke instead.

[anneapocalypse]

Anne's Sera Series: Exploring Sera's Character and Background

In honor of Sera Week, I thought it'd be fun to collect my Sera Series meta posts (thus far! more may be added later) in one convenient list here.

In these posts I explore what we know of Sera, based on in-game information and dialogue, as well as supplemental sources like World of Thedas, and what conclusions we might draw from what we're given. My goal isn't to push any specific headcanons or fan theories, but rather to look at Sera as a whole, well-rounded character and to better understand who she is, why she is the person she is, and how she fits into the world and interacts with those around her.

She Died, and I Hate Pride: On Sera's Inheritance

Didn't Go, Didn't Stay: Sera and the Alienage

You Miss, Then You Don't: On Sera's Archery Skills

Right to Their Faces: Sera's Romance Quest

[anneapocalypse]

I cannot help feeling like the tendency to see Inquisition!Leliana in stark contrast to Origins!Leliana has led to some people forgetting what... Leliana is actually like in Origins.

In fairness, as in all Dragon Age games some very revealing character moments happen in party banter which makes it easy to miss. But the gentle-hearted mystic who desires only to draw others unto the love of the Maker has never been all that Leliana is, and it's always been in direct conflict with the side of her that is not only adept at intrigue and yes, violence, but enjoys those things. This is the central conflict of her whole character, and it's not a trivial conflict, because there is not one simple answer to who Leliana truly is. She is both of these things. She is deeply religious and finds comfort in her faith, and thinks it should bring comfort to others as well. She's also prone to gossip and pettiness and all the qualities that helped her thrive as a bard.

There's this one particularly revealing piece of banter with Alistair if the Warden is in a romance with Morrigan:

Alistair: So have you heard? Morrigan and him are... you know. Leliana: Have you nothing better to do than to spread idle gossip? And besides, he can probably hear us both. You're not being very discreet. Alistair: No, look, he's not even paying attention. Leliana: Hmmm. maybe. You don't... think that he's serious about it, do you? The woman is a vile fiend. Alistair: Well, look here, now who's an idle gossip? Me-ow! Leliana: You're the one who started this, I might remind you. And I'm... well, I'm ending it!

I once had the especially entertaining experience of getting this banter, and minutes later hearing Leliana turn to Morrigan to give her the "It's so nice that you're together, isn't love wonderful?" line. But whether or not you have the pleasure of hearing them back to back, I think this dialogue make it pretty clear that while Leliana would like not to think of herself as a gossip, it takes very little prompting from Alistair to get her to slip back into that mean girl persona. And Alistair (who is more perceptive than he often gets credit for), calls her on it immediately, clearly embarrassing Leliana--who realizes that her mask has slipped.

I don't think it follows from this that Leliana necessarily hates Morrigan unilaterally. There's something much more complex going on between them, in my opinion, because they are such distinct opposites in upbringing and personality. Both Leliana's faith and her life of courtly intrigue are nonsense to Morrigan, who neither believes in the Maker nor has much patience for intricate social graces (at least, not yet). Meanwhile, I think Morrigan's outward self-possession and the sense of power she exudes is a source of both fascination and frustration for Leliana, who thinks she understands power, both social and divine--but finds in Morrigan a kind she cannot fully comprehend. (I also think you can definitely feel some sexual tension into their banter, especially the much-beloved banter about the velvet dress.) Ultimately, both of them are very concerned with power, but approach that concept very differently. And Leliana responds to this clash of ideals in a particular way because her own self-image is so conflicted.

As all great Dragon Age foils do, Leliana and Morrigan needle one another, push each other's buttons, challenge one another's sense of self, and in doing so reveal one another in their complexity and sometimes in their ugliness. It is perhaps easy to write this off as the tired trope of women being unable to get along with one another, or conversely to claim that they get along just fine and fandom has fabricated the tensions between them; I think to do either of those things diminishes a genuinely complex and sticky relationship that serves to reveal a lot about both characters.

[anneapocalypse]

On blood magic and the Inquisitor.

I think there is a lot to be said about how Inquisition handles the topic of blood magic, with regard to the Inquisitor and Hawke and the mage rebellion, and there are valid criticisms with regard to narrative framing and role-playing limitations.

However I also think that any discussion of blood magic in Inquisition and the available specializations for a mage Inquisitor is very incomplete without acknowledging that necromancy is considered blood magic in the south.

Tevinter, so far as we can tell from what we know, just straight up doesn't consider it blood magic (hence Dorian seeing no contradiction in practicing it while vocally opposing blood magic), and Nevarra seems to get away with not considering it blood magic, despite being nominally under the southern Chantry, for political reasons (and probably also geographic reasons). But anywhere south of that? Necromancy is blood magic. The first two games, set in Ferelden and Kirkwall, strongly associate animating corpses with blood magic. From the southern point of view, this is and has always been blood magic.

A necromancer Inquisitor is a blood mage. Mary Kirby agrees. Companions and advisors react accordingly. Here's a compilation if you're interested in seeing them all, but Josephine's reaction is especially telling. Keeping in mind that Josephine is a seasoned diplomat who is well-traveled, has a multicultural education, and understands the nuances of this situation better than most, she says this:

Outside Nevarra, most people think the Mortalitasi practice death rituals… and sacrifices…

To my ear, it's pretty clear what Josie means here. Because she is a diplomat, she is not coming right out and accusing the Inquisitor of being a blood mage, but let's be real, in this context what else could she possible mean by that ominous "and sacrifices..." She is making it clear to the Inquisitor that they are creating a PR nightmare for her, and goes on to say that she'll be keeping this as quiet as possible.

On the other end of the spectrum we have the reactions from Sera and Blackwall, the most common of your companions. Blackwell openly disapproves of the whole practice. Sera is clearly unnerved personally, but she also says:

It's scary to anyone smart enough to think for a second. You shouldn't be scary. You're the Inquisitor.

As someone who's vocal about the interests of little people, she's also pretty clearly trying to warn the Inquisitor that this is a practice that will alienate common people who are already frightened of magic generally.

From what I could find, it seems Cullen doesn't have a reaction to this specialization, which seems like a real dropped ball! I think that his reaction out of anyone could have really cemented how this practice is viewed in the south. (Edited to add: Cullen does have a line in a war table op where he says, "I can accept that necromancy is not blood magic," with seeming reluctance, but still strongly disapproves of the practice being used on fallen Inquisition soldiers.)

As for why there are no meaningful consequences for this, and why no one says the quiet part out loud, well, I think this comes back to the fact that everyone needs the Inquisitor whether they like them or not, and whatever shady shit they might be doing, not closing the rifts is undoubtedly worse. Not only that, the Inquisition has some major allies among northerners, so while it wouldn't do for the Inquisitor to be known as a blood mage in the south, it also wouldn't do to insult those allies by openly condemning necromancy.

In some ways, it is a shame that this aspect of the Inquisitor's character constrains other characters' reactions to them, to a degree. I think it would be fun to get more heated reactions from your companions for this specialization. But I can see why it's limited by the game's basic premise, as are many things, which is itself a whole other discussion beyond the scope of this post.

Anyway, the Inquisitor can be a blood mage, of a sort! Just a sort where nobody calls them that to their face.

[anneapocalypse]

"lol isn't it funny how there are hardly any dragons in the dragon age games! and how dragons are barely relevant to the story lol" Anyway isn't it funny how the true importance of dragons in Dragon Age has been such a slow-burn concept despite the final boss of the first game being a dragon? One of the most important recurring NPCs in the series transforms into a dragon and is associated with dragon imagery. The big repeated world-ravaging catastrophes are led by corrupted dragons. These dragons and said catastrophes are connected to at least three of the world's major religions. The current age was named the "Dragon Age" because of the resurgence of dragons after they were thought to be extinct. A daughter of the aforementioned recurring character is revealed to have been deliberately breeding dragons to bring them back, and tells us that "the blood of dragons is the blood of the world." A major character from ancient times finds the idea of all the old god dragons being killed really upsetting and hasn't told us why. We found out in the last game that dragons have an unusual resistance to that world-ravaging catastrophe. There are only a couple old god dragons left. Dragons aren't always in the foreground of the story, but they're always there, they've always been there, in the background or just offscreen, hiding, sleeping, deep under the surface, waiting.

[anneapocalypse]

An ask I received:

(Please publish this anonymously!) Why do you like Briala so much?

I just think she's neat!

I fell very deeply in love with Briala when I read The Masked Empire, and that's where her character truly shines; while I enjoy her role in Inquisition as well, I don't think you can truly get a feel for her character from the game alone. In Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts you are positioned as an outsider; the Inquisitor is not Orlesian, has only a rudimentary understanding of Orlesian politics and cultures, and the advisors offer a pretty bare-bones understanding of the events leading up to this point. In The Masked Empire you get a lot more Briala, from multiple points of view, but most importantly you get Briala's own point of view.

For more on why I find that whole story, and Briala personally, so compelling, I have a whole post on The Masked Empire.

But in a nutshell, I love fantasy politics, and I love a politically-savvy underdog who knows damn well the game is rigged against them, but learns the rules of the game masterfully anyway and uses every resource at their disposal so that when the opportunity comes, they might be able twist things to their advantage and seize some scrap of power. I love stories that grapple with the nature of power in complex ways and Briala's story is all about that. I like that there is no perfect ending for her in Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, and if you want to give her power in Orlais you have to grapple with some hard questions about what that power is worth and what it will cost her personally and everything that can go wrong. I like all the sticky questions surrounding her relationship to Celene and how that affects her relationship to the other elves she's trying to lead to revolution. I think her internal conflicts and the journey she goes on personally in TME is really compelling and heartbreaking. I think she's so interesting and compelling and messy and sympathetic and I love her.

Also I think she should have, at minimum, a cup of tea with Warden Tabris. :) (I think the idea of two city elves potentially becoming the first elven nobles in two neighboring nations is really neat, and they'd make good political allies.)

[anneapocalypse]

Re: Inquisition and its themes, I also think that people should listen real carefully to what Mother Giselle actually says and does, particularly in the scene right before "The Dawn Will Come."