something something andraste guide us @thechantofblight - Tumblr Blog

like, david gaider's stated justification for thedas' promiscuous mage stereotype is kind of laughably simplistic but also fascinatingly revealing, right. mages are outcasts, isolated outside of 'normal society,' and so not subject to the same cultural expectations regarding sexuality. which gets framed in his word of god comments and the few textual nods (like that one bit in the calling) as almost a freedom from the framework of (heterosexual) marriage for the purpose of childbearing as the ideal/only form of sexuality. they don't have to worry about passing down a family name (because they wouldn't get to raise a kid anyway and wouldn't have anything to give to them.)

but if we're honest about the power dynamics here, what it really is is that mages are excluded from having sexual relationships that are accepted and respected by society. you are watched at all hours and have to sneak off if you want to have sex in private. you cannot get married (not without permission that you'll never be granted). you should not have children, because they would be tainted from birth by the possibility of inheriting your magic. if you do have children, they will be taken from you.

all expressions of mage sexuality are sexually deviant, therefore all mages are conceived of as inherently sexually deviant, and furthermore mages as an outgroup can serve as a kind of dumping ground for members of the ingroup to blamelessly act out their own 'deviant' desires without it reflecting back on them. is it gay if you fuck a mage? he's not really a man like you are, is he? is it cheating if you fuck a mage? you could've been ensorcelled into it. they don't have morals and standards of behavior like us - we don't allow them to, of course, but they don't even try. so if you think about it it's not really possible to do anything wrong to them, is it?

ikarons

and if i said that the emasculation of the (mostly-male) templar order through being positioned as subservient to an all-female order of nonviolent chantry sisters in a setting in which men (and warrior men in particular) are otherwise expected to dominate the social hierarchy incentivises violence (including sexual violence) against the mages in their care, a class that is culturally seen as feminine and subservient through subjugation & the Only other kind of person a templar regularly sees, in order to reclaim dignity. which the non-violent order of chantry sisters is conditioned to disdain. which itself drives the need to reclaim dignity too. would that be something that made sense

ikarons

ok hang on that’s not all though . because as a few people have mentioned (and a core idea behind this post) the relationship between templars and chantry sisters is actually like…. A Bit Complicated

because chantry sisters are positioned as hierarchically Superior to templars… the templar order answers to and exists to protect the clergy, and the knight commander outranks (and is directly within the chain of command of) the grand cleric. but outside of the chantry, andrastian nations are usually patriarchal, and andrastian men culturally understand themselves as Above the woman around them (and furthermore, templars are Warriors, and in many andrastian nations (think: battling for the throne in ferelden, tourneys in orlais) the Warrior role is also held in esteem; by comparison, the clergy is explicitly nonviolent and at least theoretically preaches peace and compassion). so that creates some dissonance in the chantry, where that dynamic is flipped and the new dynamic is strictly enforced, which might create resentment… which might lead a templar (who is likely to be a man) to want to put chantry sisters in their place. except that they Can’t. because chantry sisters are untouchable and violence against them will not be forgiven by the chantry.

but nobody cares what happens to a mage. and mages are completely under the templars’ power.

and from that perspective it’s understandable that chantry sisters and templars don’t always get on— templars because chantry sisters are symbols of their emasculation, their frustrated entitlement, their impotence (#lyriumimpotence mentioned)… and chantry sisters because as *women who are *specifically taught to see violence as sometimes necessary but also terrible… well. maybe they don’t always (or even usually) sympathise with mages, but it would be hard to watch the way templars treat them and not wonder if that violence is actually intended for You.

& this is like. text a bit also. i don’t have game screenshots but here’s some ambient dialogue from DAI:

in conclusion.

ikarons

and of course violence against mages as a way to reclaim dignity and gendered pride creates the implication that it is a mage’s responsibility to support that dignity and that pride to begin with; that a templar’s violence can be defused by a mage who is Meek enough, Subservient enough, Solicitous enough to soothe that injured pride.

which makes it the mage’s fault when it doesn’t work.

merrinla

Untriggered lines during Harding's final fight with herself in the Deep Roads.

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Bellara: Harding! You can fight this! I know it! Davrin: Harding, don't! This isn't you! Fight it! Emmrich: Fight this, Harding! Return to us! If Lucanis forgave Illario Lucanis: Harding, listen to yourself! Does that anger sound like yours? If Lucanis imprisoned Illario Lucanis: The elves aren't here! Pick your target! Otherwise Lucanis: Harding! This isn't you! If Neve is Dock Town's inspiration Neve: Lace, stop! Fight this! I know you can! If Neve is Dock Town's protector Neve: Damn it, Lace! Fight it! And don't back down! Otherwise Neve: Lace, you're not yourself! Fight this! If Taash is romancing Harding Taash: Come back to me! Please! Lace! Otherwise Taash: Fight it! You are stronger than this! Harding: (Screams) Rook: Harding, please! Harding: Why? Did the elves stop when we begged? When the earth itself screamed?

crowinkwriting

Lucanis: My Rook.

Spite: OUR Rook.

queam

Hawke siblings

Serena Hawke

#👀#awooooga #dragon age 2 #carver has never been hotter fr

stonesense

Can you talk more about Harding just happening to be lucky that she joined a morally good group? Like the more I listen to Inquisition and Veilguard dialogue with her in them, I can’t help but think you’re onto something.

“Me? I’m no one. Lived near Redcliffe all my life. Herded sheep for my neighbor. When the Inquisition came through my village, I helped by telling them everything I knew about the area. Then I signed on. Wanted to see the world before it was swallowed up by… that thing out there.”

anyone can offer you a chance to see the world. adventure, beautiful foreign sights, respect for your skill, status when you go home, community and camaraderie among your fellow fighters. chances that you might never usually get as an ‘ordinary’ person, in this case living in a rural area as a (fantasy) minority. honestly for me the whole “get out there and see the world!” thing specifically evokes the real world evil of like, classic military recruitment rhetoric. it’s all a big adventure! never mind what you’ll be doing and who you’ll be doing it to.

and our first sight of harding is a confident smirk when she kills. (which we’re supposed to feel fine about and maybe think that she’s a #girlboss, because remember the mages and templars are Crazy, so killing them indiscriminately is fine. but let’s imagine dai is a serious game.) she obviously took very easily to violence in the inquisition’s name before she’d met any of the inquisition’s leaders, before the inquisition had a real direction, and before they had a simple-to-justify, no-longer-human enemy like corypheus. if she could be convinced to do all that by the inquisition’s scouts, then why not anyone else offering the same things? why not an inquisition that was actually, you know, an inquisition?

despite leading with wanting to see the world and not even mentioning any kind of moral motivation, harding definitely perceives herself as a good person and i don’t think she would go for anything that didn’t have a veneer of righteousness. she takes pride in the inquisition and what she believes to be its purpose. but any organisation can say they’re doing it for the good and order and stability of the world, right. any organisation can pass you that message through a recruiter who at least sounds like they believe it. and as a scout on the ground you’re so far from the war table that you will never really know why the people directing you are making their decisions. and you opt to kill whoever they tell you to kill anyway. even in some impossibly hypothetical world where those decisions are all just and measured and necessary, can it ever possibly be moral to just hand over your conscience like that? to kill blindly because those are your orders?

i feel like harding’s narrative veers so closely to real world recruitment rhetoric that i don’t just find it uninteresting to be like Yay It All Worked Out :), i find it Bad. this is not heroic when it happens in real life and i don’t think it should be heroic here. i know i’m in the genre where Pure And Honourable Warfare Of Our Innocent Boys And Girls Against Inhuman Monsters or Perhaps The Inherently Evil Foreign Horde of Baddies is virulently everywhere but i think that’s precisely why we should be aware and critical of it and thinking around it not just accepting it as fact you know

and harding would be a better character for this setting if we engaged with the blood on her hands. she is essentially a killer, it’s the first defining thing we see her do! she doesn’t have to be stuffed into a “cute wholesome moral compass we don’t have to take seriously” box just because the writers can’t even imagine a dwarf being taken seriously let alone a dwarf woman

queam

Queen Anora’s full armor from my last drawing

Based on Loghain’s armor here and Anora’s dress with the ferelden sigil on the chest

ayesopod

happy pride month

isatunolll

THE RANDY DOWAGER QUARTERLY: EXHIBITIONS.

INQUISITION EXPOSED.

An extra-thick annual edition of the suspect quarterly:

The Randy Dowager puts a bow on the year by gifting us the illustrated Inquisition Exposed, being a modern epic of love, betrayal, duty, breaches torn, breeches torn, a slip of fade-tongue, the eternal struggle between concerns mortal and passions mysterious.

Commissioned this piece of what the cover of The Randy Dowager would look like with Lanaya Lavellan on the cover!! Thank you @catebees!! It came out amazing!!!

gemsbokk

let's revolt together

mo-rs

Draggonaje

mercenarysexuality

Eeeee!

I commissioned @sadmages for some silly pictures with my fave Awakenings trio - Inara, Anders, and Nathaniel - based on some awkward family photos and they turned out AAAAAMAAAAAZING!!!!

I'm currently writing the fic that explains where Inara and Anders' relationship went wrong, and I have loads more Awakening content on my AO3.

I will also be making individual poses for each commission because I am very annoying. <3 Highly recommend the artist, they were a peach!

zazrichor

STEN • THE CHARIOT

two forces pulling in opposite direction • I had the pleasure of painting Sten with the tarot card The Chariot as inspiration for 2026's @dragonageannual ARCANA!