Feb 4
The adventures of Inquisitor Maddox : Part 76
<<First | <Previous | Masterpost | AO3 vers | Tapas | Next>
The more I think about Avexis the sadder I get....
seen from Germany
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Indonesia
seen from Türkiye
seen from Russia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Australia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
seen from T1
seen from Pakistan
seen from China
seen from United States
The adventures of Inquisitor Maddox : Part 76
<<First | <Previous | Masterpost | AO3 vers | Tapas | Next>
The more I think about Avexis the sadder I get....
Round #1 — Match 11 of 104
Minaeve
“Minaeve has such a gentle presence in Haven/Skyhold. She feels like a real person caught up in all this”
vs. Cole
“Absolutely haunting little guy. 80% of his lines are insanely poetic; a fantastic example of some of the best writing in the series. His character adds complexity to already difficult questions regarding spirits, demons, and humans. He's a perfect companion for Inquisition, bringing evidence of Templar abuse to the forefront, muddled in with mage posession (even if the overarching narrative failed to fully engage with the mage-templar conflict). It doesn't get more Dragon Age than Cole.”
“Pointing him out but you still might not see him. Unless he wants you to.”
Who should advance?
Minaeve
Cole
sketch portraits of my favorite NPC ladies across all 3 DAs -
Briala and Celene (of course), Athenril, Erlina, Minaeve, Svarah Sun-Hair, and Cauthrien
Minaeve dragon age inquisition saying "I liked having the templars around to keep us safe" when 3 minutes ago she was like "people like me had nowhere to go, the templars would have killed us" love a girl with issues thats afraid of everything
due to narrative, lore, and magic system updates, I would like to congratulate elite employees Carver Hawke and Taash on their promotions to the illustrious Technically Mages But Lack the Talent to Actually Do Magic Department, where they join department head Minaeve in representing the spectrum of mage power in Thedas.
the lore tidbit that some mages are too weak to even light a candle has always been fascinating to me, but even including Minaeve, it wasn't really utilized.
With Minaeve, she already has the perfect back story to demonstrate how a lack of talent may affect someone. Like all Dalish clans, hers prized their mages - but unlike most, her clan took it to an extreme (mage supremacy, now not just in Tevinter). She showed promise by presenting as a mage early, but disappointed everyone with her weakness. Her lack of talent meant she was of no use to their clan, and sending her to another would embarrass the clan's reputation - so that's why she was cast out to "find her own way" (as in, die of exposure). An unfortunate and abnormal situation that she carries with her as an adult, informing her opinions on the goings-on of the mage-Templar war.
With Carver, the change is primarily because Hawke can't be a mage in MFDA2. I don't buy that a blatant apostate who kills a dozen+ people every time they set foot outside would be able to become the most important person in KIRKWALL of all places, and I think "Hawke spends half the game fighting tooth and nail to protect their mage sibling only to fail them spectacularly" is such a compelling story that it should be thee story. So Carver and Bethany are both mages, and which one of them is killed in the prologue is random - senseless, violent, unpredictable. Carver's resentment of his siblings is, as ever, rooted in feeling not good enough in comparison. He and Bethany have very different experiences and perspectives on being mages.
With Taash, being an adaari means they have the ability to tap into the power of their dragon-blooded heritage... which is magical power that comes from blood... so they are technically a blood mage - just one that's only capable of performing blood magic on themselves. It's a sort of "path of least resistance" situation; a qunari mage-child who lacks the talent to reach the Fade may still be able to reach within for power. They could do other things with that power, but adaari are so culturally important that fire-breathing is how it typically presents (mage children of all races love setting shit on fire); and by training it exclusively, they lose flexibility to learn other skills. A particularly powerful adaari may be able to perform blood-magic-like feats on others or access minor Fade magic, but generally they are only able to utilize the magical power of their own blood. In qunari culture (and by extension, Rivaini culture), adaari are adaari, not mages - so Taash doesn't think of themselves that way, nor does Shathann.
building up on that one post about Minaeve, I absolutely want for somebody to bring up how much that story doesn't hold.
now, it can't be my Lavellan because then Minaeve would just dismiss it as her being defensive of her people. but I can make it so Lavellan and Dalish, and maybe some elven - city and not - scouts are talking about Dalish stuff and Minaeve wanders by. and Lavellan tries to draw her in, because she recognises the accent and thinks maybe she would like to hear about her people. only for Minaeve to say that she doesn't consider herself one of the Dalish after what they did to her and tell how she was abandoned.
and then the Iron Bull, who was sitting nearby goes yeah, that story has more holes than a fereldan cheese and even I can see that with just the one eye. and then lists all the shit that doesn't make sense and all the stuff that doesn't add up.
and maybe while Minaeve is reeling, Lavellan kindly, reasonably, points out that hey, they have all those mages from various circles here in Haven and in Redcliffe too. there's bound to be some from Minaeve's old circle, right? ones who were already adults when she was brought in so have more. . . nuanced understanding of what happened. maybe. . . she should try asking them about that?
so Minaeve wanders off after that with a look that screams her world just got a major shake-up. and Dalish and Lavellan and all the others are looking at each other like we all know what likely happened but who is going to say it?
finally, some scout breaks the silence.
"they kidnapped her?"
"yeah"
"probably killed a bunch of her clan members and definitely killed her mother?"
"yeah."
Am I saying that the templars picked her up when she was very young and fed her a bunch of lies as to how she ended up in the Chantry? Maaaaaybe...
Other theories can be presented over at Patreon, society6, and redbubble if you are so inclined.
a few young scholars from tarasyl'an te'las