Is Endras as serious as some of the other Shadow Dragons tend to be? Many of your drawings portray him as a pretty funny guy. I can't tell if that's your art style or his personality or both. What's his life like with the Shadows? Does he struggle to fit in, or is he down for the cause 100%? How long has he been an active Shadow agent?
thank you for this gift i have been laughing about this ever since i woke up so thank you. thank you very very much im so glad i have so thoroughly damaged his cool guy reputation
replies below because i have so much to say and you've given me an excuse to do so
is endras as serious as some of the other shadow dragons tend to be?
no and yes lol. he's usually friendly with a big snarky streak because he'd spent the better part of his life either hidden away with barely anyone to talk to, or surrounded by people who were fantasy racist to him. so joining the shadows was like wow! so many people who see me as a person!! fighting for cause i care about! queers!?!! and all that pent up desire to talk and socialise and be friends just came bursting out in the form of puns, sarcasm, and occasionally being a klutz.
but when it comes down to missions and tense situations, they can be just as serious as the other shadows, and the soldier part of them reveals itself.
what's his life like with the shadows? does he struggle to fit in, or is he down for the cause 100%?
best thing that's ever happened to him. he's down for the cause 1000%. he only struggled to fit in not because of anything that's been done to him by the shadows, but because he was learning for the first time how to open up to and form genuine relationships with people who cared about him and weren't out to get him in some way.
how long has he been an active shadow agent?
two to three years? it's hard to pin down since i haven't found an exact year for when the lucerni became the shadow dragons. either way, i pictured endras as someone who wasn't there from the start, but has still been a shadow long enough to not be considered new anymore.
That is an AMAZING photo of Travis on that "describe yourself" post. Have you posted the picture alone? I would love to reblog it, but I don't want the rest of that post along with it.
it’s not my photo, so no, but I reblogged it in this photoset, which is available for reblogging and has sources!
seriously tho that man needs to stop, i’m a goddamn lesbian AND YET.
For your positivity streak: Something I have always loved about TRC has always been the line “something more”. To me, it means searching for something more to live for, to be passionate about. But it’s also kind of a reminder to BE more. Be more kind, be more considerate, be more humble, just be something MORE than you are right now. It’s been my personal motto since reading the books to try to encourage more self growth. :)
oh my goSH.. yes!! i feel you so much!! i’ve toyed with the idea of a trc tattoo and “something more” is like.. My Favorite…. i’m so emo i love this line and i love this interpretation of it and !!!!
HI! OMG so I don't play overwatch but a LOT of the people I follow do and your art of little Jesse came up on my dash and your style of him looks EXACTLY LIKE MY OC and I just wanted to say I absolutely love it!!!
1) I know Endras uses He/they, but is there a pronoun you want me (or anyone) to stick to?
2) The Shadow Dragon origin story is pretty vague. Do you have any headcanons around the job that Endras was working that got the Venatori heat brought down on the Shadows enough for him to skip town with Varric?
3) Speaking of origins, do you use the built in "military orphan baby" background the Shadows gives Rook? I didn't even know that was part of the background until my second playthrough, so my Rook has a WILDLY different upbringing 😅
hello and welcome back!!! i have been travelling so this did not get answered sooner, but i've thoroughly enjoyed chewing on these questions. enclosed below are my long-ass answers
i know endras uses he/they, but is there a pronoun you want me (or anyone) to stick to?
not really! i use he/they pretty interchangeably for them. thank you for asking :>
do you have any headcanons around the job that endras was working that got the venatori heat brought down on the shadows enough for him to skip town with varric?
i think i saw someone float the idea that varric was the visiting dignitary that rook mercar was guarding lmao. i like it a lot and have incorporated it into my own canon (edit: on second thought that was canon all along i think. nice job past me). the base story doesn't really clarify what ‘investigating’ a slavery ring meant, especially when it took place in tevinter lol. given the rest of the details, my current idea is that it was a venatori one specifically, and that the investigation was primarily meant to gather information for the sake of a bigger operation, then rescue any slaves they came across before going back in later.
i hc rook believed that following the original plan, the mission would ‘fail’ because: either wherever they were supposed to be looking wasn’t deep enough and it seemed apparent that they were sure to return empty-handed, or because of something more dramatic, like catching wind of plans to move the slaves elsewhere (or worse, kill/sacrifice them) before they'd have time to get more shadows on the job.
rest of my hcs involve the series of events lol. would that i could draw it all. naturally, lots of venatori were killed, but there were also too many that weren't that saw his face. probably involved something like triggering explosions and dropping chandeliers, etc. hence the ‘wanton destruction of property’ charge.
speaking of origins, do you use the built in "military orphan baby" background the shadows gives rook?
yes i did, LOL. i was so astounded when further details of that came up in conversation. even more so when the codex mentioning legatus mercar came up. i personally really like working within the boundaries of canon, so that was a morsel that i was gnawing giggling kicking my feet over for days.
for endras, i hc charon mercar already had an older daughter of his own, but had recently lost a new child when he'd found endras on the battlefield (though endras doesn't know that). they have a difficult relationship but do care for each other. i have drawing plans for this.
this has been a deep point of discussion on the shadow dragon community lol. if you're interested in other mercar backstory takes i recommend taking a look (or not! lol no pressure)
I'm sure you get asked this a lot but... Do you do art/character commissions? (Also I love your rook)
no worries, yes i do do them! my commissions are temporarily closed at the moment, but i have plans to open them up very soon, maybe as early as next month. i will be making a post when that happens, thanks for asking :>
And i know it’s not TRC related, but after graduating college I had a hard time adjusting to being back home away from all my friends. I felt so isolated and I could feel myself slipping into some pretty dangerous thoughts. Something that took my mind off it and eventually became probably my favorite thing ever was the podcast The Adventure Zone. It’s fun, silly, and probably the best storytelling I’ve heard in a while. I always want to share this cause it makes me happy. I hope you like it too!
gasp!!!! bud!!! i adore the adventure zone!! early in the year, i was having some health stuff that left me rly weak and depressed, and i was spending like 95% of my time laying in the dark, and taz helped me through that So Much. it’s amazing that this wild, silly story helped us both so much in times that we were feeling isolated and yucky? i’m so grateful for it and i’m just so :’) that you had a similar experience!!! tysm for sharing this, bud!!! to everybody reading: pls go listen to taz, it’s the wackiest show to ever make me cry like a baby and it singlehandedly restored my faith in humanity and myself.
(psst i have a mcelroy sideblog that’s 99% taz. @mcelroyfamilyspaghetti!)
