there can be no peace

#anders did nothing wrong • is this just a dorian fan blog? maybe • henry, he/they

[kirkwallguy]

ngl even if you take the mage-templar issues out of the equation i think living in a sewer full of refugees who are sick and starving knowing that there's a church in the rich part of town that's full of gold statues would be enough to make me start killing

[selfhealingmoments]

[nerd-elf]

Dragon Age Origins looks like a Scooby Doo episode lol

[eurodynamic]

GARRETT HAWKE Dragon Age II – Destiny Trailer (2010)

[sirguyofnothing]

listen to me boy. hawkebela for the lesbians

merrill is also there

[bankaizen-deactivated20250613]

MAKE ME CHOOSE MEME (x) nathaniel howe or solas

— requested by @ifans

“Even if I knew how, I would not possess the living. Such is an act for demons.”

“What if the person were willing? “

“Why would a mortal ever allow such a thing?”

“For life. For love. Perhaps together, you can do what they cannot do alone. If you gave instead of taking, I would consider you no demon.”

[azatas]

“Getting captured by a target seems a tad detrimental to one’s budding assassin career.” “Too bad for you, then.” “Yes, it’s true. Too bad for me.”

[notebooks-and-laptops]

I’ve worked out why Aveline just…doesn’t really do anything for me as a character in Dragon Age 2. And it’s not because she’s a shitty cop lady who persistently abuses her power (making rape accusations against guards go away, not letting Carver join the city guard etc.) It’s because she is the only character in Dragon Age 2 who doesn’t suffer any consequences for her actions. 

Every single other companion has an ‘oh shit’ moment. A moment when they realise that they’ve fucked up; that they did wrong, and now it’s going to bite them (or the people they care about) in the ass. But Aveline…never does. Aveline’s abuse of power crops up again and again in the narrative, but it’s background. And then, in act 3, we are introduced to a quest in which it seems like she is finally going to have this moment: there are rumours she is a corrupt guard Captain who is doing her job poorly. 

But then! The game makes you go interview her husband about this? And then is like HaHa actually she was good all along it was just this jealous rival who wanted her job and hates immigrants spreading these lies!

And it just…doesn’t thematically fit with literally anything going on in act 3, or indeed in the way each character is presented throughout the game. 

So when I say ‘Aveline is boring’ or ‘I don’t really like Aveline’ what I mean isn’t that she’s a bad person, all the Kirkwall crew are bad people and that’s an important part of their whole thing! What I mean is that the game never makes her - or indeed us the player - reflect on that in the same way it does for all the other characters. Her ‘questioning belief’ quests, never actually question any beliefs, and her actions never have consequences that she has to reckon with. 

[hawke-archive]

[sapphim]

the way that leandra starts to position hawke as replacement malcolm after malcolm's death. the way that leandra presses for hawke to be the provider and caretaker in his absence. the way in which leandra immediately jumps to blaming hawke for their siblings' death in the heat of the moment, even if she apologizes and regrets it later, I want to SHAKE her. girl that is ALSO your CHILD you are talking to. the way in which it's fine for hawke to risk life and limb in the deep roads but not the darling baby. and the way in which leandra was the favored golden child who could do no wrong even after eloping with an apostate! and then the thought that hawke was probably about the same age at malcolm's death as leandra and malcolm were when they ran away together to start a family. UGH. what a MESS. I am THINKING about them 😩

[saltlordofold]

‘Of all the Oaths we’d spoken, it felt the holiest.’

[grandpasauce]

The Reddit post took the links to the screen caps down already so I’m just gonna post them all cause IT LOOKS SO GOOD THO

[alltears]

dragon age twitter au? dragon age twitter au. DA2 EDITION

[sapphim]

Hey you know how when you're fighting your way to the gallows in the DA2 climax, the docks are completely empty except for a fight with a lone mage and some summoned demons? Well, here's a cut encounter with a guard defending a group of mages against the templars. It's not quite complete, but it's shockingly close.

Templar Commander: Step away, Guardsman. The knight-commander has issued her decree. Guard: You can't do this! My uncle's in the Circle! He's a good man, a servant of the Maker! Templar: If he is a mage, he is subject to the temptations of all mages. Mage: We won't let you slaughter us like sheep!

more dialogue under the cut

[if Aveline is in the party, Hawke sided with the mages]

Guard: Captain! They told us you were dead! Aveline: Wishful thinking. Stand your ground. The Circle will not fall today. Templar: To arms!

[if Aveline is in the party, Hawke sided with templars]

Aveline: What is going on here? You men have your orders! Guard: But Captain! Aveline: We have a greater responsibility. Do as you are commanded!

[if Hawke has sided with the mages]

Templar: It's the Champion! To arms, men! Guard: Run for your lives!

[if Hawke has sided with the templars]

Guard: It's the Champion! No!

Hawke: (You have your orders.) Aveline told you men to help the templars, and that's what you will do. Mage: Please! Don't do this! Guard: We swore to protect Kirkwall, even if we must fight the templars themselves.

Hawke: (Get out of our way.) Do not get involved. Run, and don't come back. Guard: I… I'm sorry. Mage: You think you're so valiant, killing us? Mage: Get on with it, then. Kill us! Do it!

Hawke: (Die with the mages.) Draw your sword if you intend to protect them. Guard: I will not let you do this!

[lines intended to play after the fight]

Guard: I… can't believe this is happening.

Templar: Thank you, Champion. Come, men. There is more to be done.

Guard: Thank the Maker you came when you did. Mage: We've got to get to the Gallows! Come on!

this is in the files as mcr310_confused_guard but that man sounds like he knows exactly what he's doing to me.

[mabaris]

inspired by this post by @villainanders

[stonesense]

oh i just realised i could play the orlesian warden-commander as an old man and it would be so funny. about to go on my calling early if these damn kids don’t shut up (but said in a french accent)

[stonesense]

all fun and games making this joke concept until i remember that recruiting these kids and making them the best grey wardens they can be probably WOULD be the last thing he gets to do before his calling and in this worldstate him actually going on his calling was probably why anders wasn’t safe in the wardens anymore

[stonesense]

concept workshopping: tired old french bastard incredibly jaded from a lifetime as a dalish elf grey warden in orlais of all fucking places who hasn’t talked to his clan in thirty years and knows his calling is coming and hasn’t got a friend in the world to show for it. the blight gets stopped without him or his colleagues lifting a finger, and it was some poor scrap of a dalish girl who had to die for it, isn’t that always the way. figures if he’s going to do anything in his final year it can be to keep safe the land that that dalish girl loved. takes the warden-commander job, not like anyone else in orlais is begging to go to that backwater. saves some idiot kids because he needs recruits quick. turns out they’re idiot kids sure and they’re stupid and angry and loud but they’ve got so so much good in them if only the world would see it. turns out maybe he can be proud of them if he’s not proud of anything else

[crossdressingdeath]

Apprentice mage: I'm terrible at spells. You're lucky you're so talented.

I always get the impression that Surana/Amell... isn't exactly popular in the Circle. They're unusually skilled. They're brimming with natural talent. They're the First Enchanter's personal apprentice. Even the Templars seem at least somewhat fond of them. We're repeatedly told that they're young to be called for their Harrowing and cleared it in record time, and while people are happy to see them still alive the next morning no one seems surprised. Surana/Amell is really, really good, especially for their age, and that clearly wins them a lot of respect from their fellow mages! But it's not going to win them a lot of friends. It doesn't help that the impression I get is that they keep to themself most of the time (most people outside the apprentice dorms recognize them as Irving's star apprentice rather than from a personal connection), but... their best friend is Jowan, and as much as he does seem to care for them he still ditches them the moment things get bad (and I do have things to say on that point, but that's not the point right now). And Jowan is in some ways all they've got; hell, depending on how you view their relationships with him and Irving it's easy to create a scenario where Surana/Amell is completely isolated in a way that's very difficult to match with the other origins, all of whom have people around them who clearly do love them with zero evidence of any potential ulterior motives.

This is getting away from me a bit. What I mean to say is, Surana/Amell's canonically ridiculous degree of natural talent and skill absolutely leads to comparisons. It's most notable with Jowan (not over how if a mage Warden is the one who executes him he'll admit during their last conversation that they were always so much better than him that he felt inferior and turned to blood magic in the desperate hope that it would make him stronger), but it shows up in places like this too. People compare themselves to Irving's star apprentice, and it doesn't tend to put them in the best light. The Warden is just... too good. They definitely seem to be the star of the Circle's apprentices! But they don't seem to have... any friends outside of Jowan. And that definitely adds something to their dynamic with the party later, when they do get all these friends and loved ones and all these close relationships that Surana/Amell more than any other potential Wardens might not have ever had before.