The whole of In Hushed Whispers is very emotional - in particular I love having Solas and Blackwall together in this quest. It's partly to do with me just loving these two companions, but it's mostly that I love Solas and Blackwall recognizing in each other traumatized soldiers carrying secrets and shame - they are so reflective of each other. I enjoy their journey together and their banter quite a lot.
But this moment In Hushed Whispers - that look the two companions share, whoever they are, when it's time to lay down their life to ensure that the Inquisitor and Dorian can get back and undo it all - for me, having Blackwall and Solas exchange that look gives me chills. Two old soldiers who have done some things and who have seen some things - just communicating everything they need to in that one look. Two veterans choosing to do the only thing left to them in that moment, to defend the possibility of a different outcome. These two who made horrible choices that altered their lives, altered them - maybe this time their actions can make a change for the better. Two veterans choosing to die at each other's side for that chance.
I keep seeing people buying into the idea that the dalish are playing pretend at elven culture or “larping ancient Arlathan” and it’s pissing me off because:
1. Huge portions of Dalish culture have absolutely nothing to do with ancient Arlathan. They’re not trying to imitate ancient Arlathan, they’re researching ancient Arlathan and trying to reclaim the culture that was violently taken from them, but by the dragon age there’s been like 1800 years since the fall of Arlathan and thats important to them too. Their nomadic traditions, for example, are a refusal to live under human rule after the exalted march on the dales, it’s nothing to do with Arlathan. Their traditions are not an accurate recreation of ancient elvhenan because they’re not supposed to be. They’re not playing pretend at ancient Arlathan, they’re being modern dalish.
2. A lot of people seem to think the veil going up and the fall of Arlathan were the same event, but there was actually a period of nearly 2000 years between the two. 2000 years where the evanuris weren’t there and elves, who previously spent decades on simple conversations, were mortal and lived to like 80. 2000 years where most of their information was inaccessible and people died before even a fraction of history could be shared between them. This is when the truth of the evanuris was forgotten and they were established as benevolent creator gods. When the dalish were able to begin researching ancient Arlathan another 800 years later, pretty much all the information they’d have on ancient Arlathan (a period spanning probably 20,000 years at least) would have been from the tail end of this period. The dalish did not just pick up a book that mentioned the evanuris and start assuming. They researched the history and culture of late ancient Arlathan and got what is most likely a pretty decent picture of it. It’s just that late ancient Arlathan was itself 2000 years and a great catastrophe removed from the truth, and pretty much all the surviving historical sources were propaganda in favour of their ancestors oppressors, which is not the fault of anyone (except, you know, the oppressors in question). 2000 years will do that.
Solas has this attitude because he’s an immortal being who’s like, at least 20,000 years old and thats counting from when he took physical form. A period of 3800 years is nothing to him, it’s nap time. He can’t comprehend that thats an absolutely normal length of time for cultures to develop and change dramatically and understanding of ancient history to get warped.
Reminder that there is an elven servant in the Val Royeaux courtyard who stumbled upon the temple of Mythal in his youth, supposedly directs the Venatori there, and begins having dreams of a woman whispering to him in the night and calling herself Mythal. He later gains Mythal’s vallaslin if you return to the courtyard! I transcribed the audio below - I did my best to get them in the right order! It’s been a while so the line placement may not be 100% correct. A friend was interested in this, and I decided to share this here too in case it is of interest to anyone else.
Noble: Those men who came to speak to you at the manor. Who were they?
Servant: My brother and several of his friends. They asked about Ambassador Briala.
Noble: They didn’t think she was staying with me, surely.
Servant: No Sire, they asked when I last saw her. We were once friends, remember?
Noble: I’d forgotten that you knew Briala.
Servant: When I lived in the palace, prior to working for you. We’ve barely spoken since.
Noble: Oh, I wasn’t accusing you of anything. I know how elven servants can be.
—
Noble: How odd that more men show up at the manor to speak with you, you and not I.
Servant: I apologise sire. I had never met those men before.
Noble: And what did they need? Nothing unsavoury I hope.
Servant: I would never do anything to jeopardise your reputation, Sire.
Servant: They asked about ruins, something I found when I was a child. Rather strange they knew about it at all.
—
Noble: How is it you know anything about ruins?
Servant: You forget sire, before I became a servant at the palace, I was with one of the Dalish clans.
Noble: Ah, yes. I keep forgetting because you don’t have those ridiculous markings on your face.
Servant: I was too young. Long ago as it was, I remember the Arbor Wilds as if it were yesterday.
—
Servant: Sire. You should know those men approached me again.
Noble: Again? The last time they came to the manor, I told them to leave you be!
Servant: They came to me in the market. They claim I misdirected them, but I swear I didn’t.
Noble: No need to worry. I am your patron, not them. I won’t bow to Tevinter scum, that’s for certain.
—
Noble: You are worrying Madame with your shouting during the night. Not to mention the other servants.
Servant: I can’t help it, Sire. A woman comes to me in my dreams, and she whispers things.
Noble: You mustn’t say that. Not in public. People will think you’ll be taken by a demon.
Servant: She’s not a demon, Sire. She says her name is Mythal. But… I will be quiet. I promise.
"Crow diplomacy at its most hypothetical. Possibly signed in jest with one of the more rambunctious Divines. A price on the head of a false prophet, should one arise."
the antivan crows signing a politically legitimate contract with the pope to kill the antichrist should they arise is just about the funniest thing i've ever heard
(NOTE: This piece is a revised, 2nd edition of an old one, updated with information that has since been added to the lore. I will be deleting the outdated post to avoid confusion!)
The Antivan Crows, also known as the House of Crows, is a league of assassins from the northeast nation of, as their name suggests, Antiva. While their notoriety is especially high in their home country, the Crows are well-known across Thedas as brutally efficient killers. The bulk of their work is in Antiva, but they accept contracts all over the continent. Because of their reputation for adhering to agreements—something that should one fail to do makes one’s life forfeit as far as the Crows are concerned—they are an expensive but valuable investment.
To find the Crows anywhere from Ferelden to Seheron is not an unlikely sight. Nations at war send them to cut down leaders on opposing sides. Noble houses with grudges against each other send them to cut down family trees. And of course, politicians vying for power send them to cut down their competition. Whatever the reason, the Crows are never short on contracts. They are even willing to intervene in Circle politics.
While assassinations are the most common contract, and what the Crows are most known for, they’re also no strangers to thievery and spying. In Antiva City rests a giant, well-protected archive, housing of all their collected blackmail secrets, records of past contracts, recipes for their own special poisons, and other such valuables. The secrets in this archive are what keeps the Crows ruling Antiva from the shadows by controlling the nobility and merchant princes. That is, those that aren’t among their ranks.
At the very top of the power ladder is a council of Guildmasters made up of the eight most wealthy and powerful Crow Houses. The role of Guildmaster is most typically inherited down through a family, after successfully proving their skill by single-handedly killing a target with nothing but a ceremonial dagger. The Houses that are part of this council are known as Talons, ranked from one to eight, one being the most powerful. Talon has also been used interchangeably with Guildmaster when referring to the leader of one of these eight Houses.
Below the Talons are the lesser Houses, known as the Cuchillos. The Cuchillo leaders not Guildmasters but simply Masters, entitled as Lords, until their House may gain the rank of Talon. The ranks of these different houses can change with circumstance, gaining or losing power. House heads are also capable of taking over different houses by eliminating others, should they dare to be so ambitious. As such, despite being part of a larger organization, the Antivan Crows are always in competition with each other, and are not unknown to assassinate within their own ranks to get what they want.
The current Eight Talons are as followed:
Dellamorte
Balazar
Valisti
Kortez
De Riva
Nero
Cantori
Arainai
Other known Houses are:
Ferragani
D’Evaliste
Di Bastion
Members of the Antivan royal family and merchant prince dynasties routinely join the high-ranks of the Crows, either as a way to boost their social standing, or because they were forced into it. Assassinations are seen as part of everyday politics in Antiva, and how positions of power often change hands. Having strong ties with the Crows brings a noble family both leverage and security. They also have an arrangement referred to as The Azul Contract, in which bastard royal children are given a choice of either exile or joining the Crows – such as the case was with Viago de Riva. In return, the Antivan Crows all but run the nation. Even kings have come directly from the Crows.
While the Crows are mostly led by nobility, the bulk of their organization is made up of their recruits, though the word recruit makes it sound like there was a choice involved. The vast majority of recruits, referred to as compradi, are children between the ages of five and ten, bought as slaves or found on the streets alone. For example, Zevran Arainai was seven years old when he was bought by the Crows. Compradi are usually gathered in scores at a time, though only a few survive to become full-fledged assassins.
The Crows keep the children in poor, cramped quarters, and raise them in emotionally detached and torturous conditions, teaching them to know nothing else but murder, as Zevran puts it. They are allowed no personal items, and are encouraged not to make friends. Along with general training and education in Crow ciphers and Crow history, training of recruits includes pitting them against each other, tests of pain resistance and gauntlets, and challenges like locking them in an oubliette for weeks. All this leads most Antivan Crows immune to morality as much as they are to interrogation. It also breeds loyalty to the only life recruits know. Indeed, many Crows would sooner kill themselves than betray the guild.
It is very rare for a recruit to rise all the way to the top of the organization’s tiered leadership, but not unheard of. For example, Teia Cantori, climbed her way to the head of her house – but despite this, she is still regarded as an “overreaching street rat” by her noble peers.
The Crows favour recruiting elves, as they are widely regarded as beautiful and unthreatening; both advantageous impressions for an assassin. However, they take recruits from all races. Assassins are most typically rogues, but the Crows also train warriors and even mages, providing protection for their apostate assassins from the Chantry.
An experienced Assassin may gain the title of Master Assassin with time, putting them just below the leader of their House in terms of rank. Masters are capable of deciding their own contracts, and command groups of Assassins below them. Guildmasters decide which Master Assassins get which contracts based on the amount of the contract’s offer they bid to give to the guild, and their chances of success. Regularly, Assassins are not allowed to bid on contracts, and are instead assigned contracts or roles in larger ones by the Master Assassins that command them. The exception to this is when an Assassin is attempting to gain the rank of Master.
Save for rare exceptions of escape, Crows are Crows for life. The only way to leave them is to make them think you are dead, or find someone willing to protect you from them. Otherwise they will hunt you down and kill you for betraying the guild, and that is the better alternative: Anyone who angers the Crows and lives risks ending up in their own personal prison, the Velabanchel, to spend the rest of their days locked up and tortured.
Antivan Crows are often easily identifiable by those who recognize their unique tattoos – a tradition taken from the Rivaini. Some of these designs are sacred to the Crows, marking them as which house they belong to, while others are purely decorative. While some Crows display their tattoos with pride and intimidation, others prefer to keep them hidden.
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SOURCES
Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age II
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Codex Entry: Zevran Arainai (Dragon Age II)
Codex entry: Blackfeather Boots (Dragon Age II)
Codex entry: Finesse (Dragon Age II)
Codex Entry: The Crows and Queen Madrigal (Dragon Age: Inquisition)
Item Description: Gift of the Talons (Dragon Age: Inquisition)
Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights
Dragon Age: Last Flight
Dragon Age: The Silent Grove
Dragon Age: Deception
Dragon Age: The World of Thedas vol. 1
Dragon Age: The World of Thedas vol. 2
Dragon Age Promotional Wiki: Assassin
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Emmrich would absolutely ugly happy-cry the first time he holds his child. Forget dignity. Put that tiny rolypoly little thing anywhere near him and he's going to cry enough to end a drought half a continent away.
He will not be managing a coherent sentence for the next half hour.
Tag for @lavenderprose cuz I know you've got baby fever real bad. Suffer with me.
DA lore/story details for this particular baby under the cut:
Normally by DA lore, a baby born to a human and elf parent would be considered elf-blooded, and is visually identical to a human-- elven magic enables them to interbreed at all by suppressing the elven genome. This baby is an anomaly! Her mom is elven but not a mage. So in an extremely rare turn of events, it's Emmrich's magic that enabled them to conceive. I'm considering her "human-blooded", in that it's the human side that got suppressed in order to make her a viable embryo. She ends up being Emmrich's only biological child-- the odds of a successful human-blooded kid are exceptionally low, his wife has multiple miscarriages-- but they do adopt foundling children, so this baby doesn't end up being an only child. Both her parents were orphaned so the adoptions are really important to them both emotionally 🥺 this lil cutie was his first, though.
