Rook as the Inquisitor (+ bonus Inquisitor as Rook)
I took the open tag invite from @fadetouchedlurker.
Could your Rook become the Inquisitor in any kind of AU. Or if not, why not? 🔷 What choices would your Rook make as Inquisitor? 🔷 Would your Inquisitor make a good Rook?
Dozer "Rook" Thorne
Thedas better hope that Dozer never accidentally stumbles into some time travel magic because no one wants a bull rampaging through the delicate diplomacy, studious resolve and diligent strategy that the Inquisition requires of it's leader.
Dozer is best suited to unobstructed chaos which is why he works well in the Veilguard time where everyone is just working together and setting aside differences for the most part. That allows him to just power his way though everything. Having to play in the lane of politics? He is not built for that.
He would give Josie so many panic attacks.
Rook's choices as Inquisitor:
He's choosing the Templars. He's a Grey Warden so he appreciates a military approach to any type of conflict and you would probably find him talking to Cullen a lot and having a drink with Bull and playing cards with Varric. And he's choosing to keep the Grey Wardens around to help. He hates darkspawn and he's super wary of magic. He is going nuts having the Anchor but he does his best.
He's going with keeping Celene in power, since he's not from Southern Thedas the politics of the Winter Palace don't matter to him and since she's doing an ok job as it is, he isn't interested in anything except getting her help.
And he's not going anywhere near the Well of Sorrows, Morrigan, its all yours. His head isn't on straight as it is, having voices within it will be worse for him (he can barely handle Solas' one voice).
As for Solas, with this AU I'm following the line of thought that Rook was at the conclave instead of Lavellan and not as a time travel AU.
So, he and Solas would not get along. Rook is too linear and way too black and white. Low Approval Solas is Dozer Solas. Him and Solas would just consistently butt heads. He'd leave Solas behind on almost every mission and always favour Vivienne or Dorian over him. He would go to him when need be on Fade related stuff, but the Fade is not his preferred topic of discussion. Rook is a dwarf - he prefers the solid ground of the earth.
As for romance, I don't think anyone in Inquisition would attract him. He'll sow his oats with whoever catches his eye and catches his in turn, but he's not falling in love during DAI.
And he's disbanding the Inquisition and vowing to stop Solas, even if it means death. Dozer existing during Inquisition is not good for Thedas, Dozer living and leading during events of Veilguard is a cocktail of events and people that help him to change his perspective on Solas and himself. Most notably, becoming close with Varric who is the father figure he never had, and falling in love with Bellara. There is no losing Varric in Inquisition and with no falling in love, there's not someone that he lets get close to him that would affect his choices in DAI.
Inquisitor as Rook - Saethre Lavellan
Inquisitor in place of Rook makes sense in regards to the continuation of Trespasser and so this is a far more plausible AU to me than Rook as Inquisitor to be honest. (I also don't generally like time travel AUs.)
This is the time that Saethre has been leading up to. But her in place of Rook? Well, seeing Solas kill Varric before her eyes would have messed her up somewhat, however I also think Solas seeing her might have messed him up just as much and I think we would have an alternate beginning than what we got in VG.
However, for this AU we will go with the events of VG as they are.
Solas is feeling a lot of guilt for using her blood, especially for keeping Varric's death from her - that guilt creates more tension between them. Especially knowing how desperate Solas is to get out, he still loves her, but this guilt and the knowledge of this path strain him further, and he becomes colder, (with bouts of yearning of course).
Yet Saethre, always ready to adapt and roll with the punches, sees this as an opportunity to get closer to Solas. She knows he's capable of betrayal; she's experienced it already from him and she's expecting it. So when the Varric reveal is made, she's pissed but not surprised, and she also can't blame him for the old prison switcheroo. Again, she's heartbroken that he would do this, but she understands why (it's also why she has no issue throwing Mythal at him, since he did that to her).
But this is Saethre - she's been in mind-bending situations in the Inquisition, so she's got experience to draw from. And she knows Solas. She's searched for him for years, gotten to know everything she could about him that she could find, sought out knowledge about ancient times.
Her fatal flaw, though? She’s split and unfocused. Her mind is with Southern Thedas and her friends. What’s happening - are they okay? She feels guilt for not being there to fight alongside them and help protect them. She is mourning Varric. And she’s concerned for Dorian, so saving Minrathous is a no-brainer for her - so Lucanis be damned. She barely knows Lucanis, but she’s been friends with Dorian for years.
Essentially, Saethre is putting her heart before her head. What served her well in the Inquisition - her head - is not being put to good use here. She doesn’t have enough time for all the companions’ quests; she is mentally split though she wouldn't admit it. Saethre fulfills the mirror of the Dread Inquisitor to the Dread Wolf a little too well, right down to not necessarily making the right decisions, but doing it all for the love of her people - it just so happens that her people includes Solas.
And she’s thinking about Solas - how to get through to him, how to save him, how to “change the Dread Wolf’s heart.” Still loving Solas is also her fatal flaw and what gets some of the companions killed. She’s anxious to reach that final end. She’s going to have a lot more regret to deal with on her own in the regret prison once she and Solas leave Thedas.
No, Saethre wouldn't be a good Rook in the as is game story. Saethre is best served playing in the shadows and leading Rook from a distance, through others such as Varric, Harding, Morrigan and Dorian - less chance of her own heart getting in the way.
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