#AUDRIC..........

[bleaksqueak]

Happy Halloween 2024!! Sweet little Moth Witch blessings upon ye

[irenydraws]

💀 a home in life, a berth in death 💀

[andarateia]

All about Emmrich Volkarin from Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Will you be romancing this silver-haired, smartly attired necromancer?

[galedekarios]

down among the dead men

i finally finished reading sylvia feketekuty's short story in tevinter nights. sylvia feketekuty is also emmrich's writer in dragon age: the veilguard.

i wanted to compile what we learn about emmrich in sylvia's short story.

emmrich likes tea

"What happened then?" the older mage tilted a pot of tea encouragingly toward Audric.

his study is described in detail

Audric shook his head--he didn't feel like tea, particularly--while his eyes soaked in the room. He'd never been in a necromancer's study before. Ornately decorated skulls hung from hooks in the high, dark ceiling. One wall was made up of shelves with books and tiny labeled drawers. The other was fronted by tables full of bubbling flasks, scales, alembics, and tortured-looking glass. A smartly attired servant ground away with a pestle and mortar.

"Excellent question!" Emmrich swirled the tea in his mug, looking entirely too cheerful, Audric thought, for a man framed by so many racks of skulls.

the description of his study in down among the dead men is very, very reminiscent of his room in the lighthouse that bioware revealed a few days ago:

emmrich may have recreated the comforts of his study in nevarra within the lighthouse.

emmrich lets manfred mix tinctures

"Please, don't mind Manfred." The older mage refilled his own cup. "He'll finish mixing that tincture before you know it." Manfred, a clean-boned skeleton, held up a bowl. Audric read something helpful in the cant of its skull. The younger mage looked critical. "It needs half a cup more elfroot." The corpse pulled out one of the drawers on the side of the room, took out a withered root, and shook it inquiringly. "The royal elfroot, please." Manfred moaned and fumbled at more drawers.

emmrich compliments manfred's successes and is proud of him

"Yes! That's the one." The older mage beamed. "Very good indeed, Manfred!"

emmrich's appearance is described as well by audric

Audric dragged his gaze to the older Watcher across from him, with his silvered hair, tidy mustache, and long face full of concern. His expression reminded Audric of the Chantry scholars when they'd caught him reading by candlelight in the library. The good brothers and sisters had kindly tried to dissuade Audric from living in pages for so long he couldn't think straight in the morning.

i think they a phenomenal job bringing emmrich to life (no pun intended).

emmrich is quite informal, cares about putting someone else at ease, he treats audric as he would a living person, never forcing him to arrive at a conclusion or pressuring him

"Is there anything else you can recall about Lord Karn's funeral?" the mage asked gently. "No? I think... not much, sir. Another guard, she, well... Dellah even had to peel him off me, sir." The necromancer waved a hand. "Emmrich will do, please."

macabre sense of humour

"It's... sorry, it's a blur of screams, sir." "Some of it your own, I'd bet," the necromancer joked, but looked so sympathetic Audric relaxed by a degree.

he is indeed a professor/very scholarly

"Myra picked up the curved rib bone. One end was jagged from where Audric's boot had connected with Karn's rib cage. She handed it to Emmrich. "Excellent. Emmrich? This is your remit." "I'll have it ready before sunset." He sighed. "It would be faster if we'd managed to replace the librarian by now. The students have naturally left the books a mess."

this all fits so well with the blurb we were given about him not so long:

"Emmrich is as serious about his duty to protect innocents from the occult as he is about his studies and his interest in the mysteries of the fade."

don't leave the books in disorder, please.

emmrich is renowned to be good at what he does by other mourn watchers

"Myrna seemed content to leave things there, and took something out of a velvet purse. A rib bone. "Emmrich's prepared your trophy for us. His cathexis is very reliable." Audric felt the ground tilt downslope. "Madam?" "His magic." She tapped the rib bone. "This will now guide us to where Lord Karn's fled. Emmrich would join us, but he's been called to other matters."

i had to look up what cathexis means exactly and it's defined as follows:

In psychoanalysis, cathexis (or emotional investment) is defined as the process of allocation of mental or emotional energy to a person, object, or idea. [...] Cathexis comes to us by way of New Latin from the Greek word kathexis, meaning "holding."

myrna uses a skeleton to send a message to emmrich, presumably he might employ similar methods of communication if available

"Good." Myrna sent a mote of light into a nook in the wall. A moment later, a skeleton fell out, hissing and snapping. Myrna snagged it with a collar of green fire, tugged it like a leash. "Does that... hurt it?" Audric asked, more sympathetic to the shambling thing than he'd been a minute ago. "The sensations differ. With some of the dead, one must exert direct control." The skeleton subsided, making a strange whine. "A message," the Mourn Watcher told it. "Find Professor Emmrich Volkahrin. Tell him after some last business in the Winged Halls, we'll be joining him above without delay."

this description reminded me a bit of the brief glimpses we got of emmrich in the very first companion trailer:

emmrich appreciates punctuality & holding oneself to prior commitments

"You heard my message to Emmrich." She crooked a finger, gesturing to Audric. "We'll be expected. It won't be difficult to return from here. Audric looked around. "I can... I'm allowed to come back with you?" "Of course. Myrna lifted her skirts and stepped over a chunk of stone from the fight. "Emmrich will be put out if we don't show up for tea."

emmrich is incredibly kind when dealing with spirits and undead, no matter their rank or standing in life

"They were back in Emmrich's den. Audric had been astonished to see familiar tomes in a neat stack on the necromaner's desk. "Those... are those...?" "Yours, yes. From your home." Emmrich shook his head. "Forgive the liberty, guardsman. After you and Myrna left for the Necropolis, I had to search for a reason you might have returned so unexpectedly." "I believe we found it," Mysrna said, from where she was overseeing Emmrich's manservant transfer the contents of a bubbling beaker into a bowl. Emmrich handed the top book to Audric. It was a gazetteer of Nevarra City, stamped with a crowned skull surrounded by flowers. Audric flipped it open and read the blocky inscription. To our Son with Love. May you be Blessed in your Studied with the Chantry. "All this effort... for me? I'm just a guardsman, sir." Am? Was? Audric pushed doubt aside and held the gazetteer to his chest. He existed, knew what he loved, and that he had been loved, and that seemed enough in the moment. "The great leveler has no favourites." Emmrich smiled. "Neither does the Mourn Watch."

i found this reaction to myrna and audric quite interesting, and i'm not completely sure what to make of it yet:

"You are faced with a choice," Myrna said, coming over. "You have confronted your killer, and recognised your driving passion. You may rest now, guardsman." "Or?" "Or you may work under the auspices of a Watcher," Myrna said. "Under a modicum of magical control. To avoid anomie, the bond must be given freely." "To you, madam?" "If it's satisfactory." The guardsman ducked his head, and because that felt inadequate, knelt on a knee and held out a hand. Myrna, smiling slightly, took it. Emmrich coughed, looking away. "Please, let the poor fellow up. What position were you thinking?" "I thought it was obvious." Audric felt a slow excitement as he heard Myrna say: "We have a great need for someone to take charge of the library."

overall, i really liked this short story.

i loved how audric wasn't aware that he is, in fact, dead and has died a while ago. i loved how both emmrich and myrna didn't correct his assumption, but led him to the realisation. i love all the little insights we got into emmrich as a character, but also nevarra's culture, necromancy and the mourn watch.

it's definitely one of the best in the book. 🖤

[eonianshadow]

[starlightchaser]

First of two chibis from kiwiwilidn, itty bitty Audric (he/him) and Solas

[ritterdoodles]

Assorted sketches for the Dragalia 60 min art challenge weeklies on Twitter

[ailheim-art]

Audric and Parallel Zodiark for Dragalia's 6th anniversary

[satsuha]

individual images for my dragalia tribute video here!

[lonelymanslazarus]

It’s me! Daisy! Creator of Lonely-Man’s Lazarus! The upcoming web series!

You can watch the Mind Electric animation here! Hope you guys stay around!

[ndostairlyrium]

the reunion played very differently in my head

[strechanadi]

Mathieu Ganio, Audric Bezard

Le chant du compagnon errant

photo Yonathan Kellermann

[galedekarios]

emmrich & audric felhausen

i was a bit sad that it seemed that audric - from emmrich's tevinter nights short story 'down among the dead men' was not in the game when myrna was, but i found out that i was (to my great happiness) mistaken.

for those of you who haven't read 'down among the dead men', here is a short summary:

After Audric is attacked by Lord Penric Karn's possessed corpse while guarding his funeral procession, he is summoned by the Mortalitasi to help with their investigation into this premature possession. After Audric and Myrna, a Mourn Watcher, find out that Karn died in a mutually fatal duel with Duke Janus Van Markham, they head to the latter's tomb in the Grand Necropolis. Karn, possessed by a pride demon, forces them deeper into the lower reaches of the Necropolis, where the halls and chambers are not always in the same place at the same time. Down in the Necropolis, Audric learns that he's actually a spirit, as the "real" Audric died of the wounds sustained during the funeral. Myrna brought him to confront Karn, to help him find balance between anger and curiosity. When they find Karn again, Audric challenges him to a duel for killing him. Myrna destroys Karn when he breaks the rules of the duel. Having confronted his killer, Audric recognized his driving passion—that of curiosity—and is no longer unbalanced. Myrna then offers him the choice to work under the auspices of a Watcher. He accepts to work under Myrna, and is given charge of the library.

emmrich is quite instrumental bringing audric peace, showing his innate kindness several times over:

"They were back in Emmrich's den. Audric had been astonished to see familiar tomes in a neat stack on the necromaner's desk. "Those... are those...?" "Yours, yes. From your home." Emmrich shook his head. "Forgive the liberty, guardsman. After you and Myrna left for the Necropolis, I had to search for a reason you might have returned so unexpectedly." "I believe we found it," Myrna said, from where she was overseeing Emmrich's manservant transfer the contents of a bubbling beaker into a bowl. Emmrich handed the top book to Audric. It was a gazetteer of Nevarra City, stamped with a crowned skull surrounded by flowers. Audric flipped it open and read the blocky inscription. To our Son with Love. May you be Blessed in your Studied with the Chantry. "All this effort... for me? I'm just a guardsman, sir." Am? Was? Audric pushed doubt aside and held the gazetteer to his chest. He existed, knew what he loved, and that he had been loved, and that seemed enough in the moment. "The great leveler has no favourites." Emmrich smiled. "Neither does the Mourn Watch."

at the end, audric finds peace and accepts a position at the library:

"You are faced with a choice," Myrna said, coming over. "You have confronted your killer, and recognised your driving passion. You may rest now, guardsman." "Or?" "Or you may work under the auspices of a Watcher," Myrna said. "Under a modicum of magical control. To avoid anomie, the bond must be given freely." "To you, madam?" "If it's satisfactory." The guardsman ducked his head, and because that felt inadequate, knelt on a knee and held out a hand. Myrna, smiling slightly, took it. Emmrich coughed, looking away. "Please, let the poor fellow up. What position were you thinking?" "I thought it was obvious." Audric felt a slow excitement as he heard Myrna say: "We have a great need for someone to take charge of the library."

that's that for the book content and to learn who audric is and how closely he is tied to myrna, but also emmrich.

i was so happy to find this letter in the game, from audric to emmrich:

Library Letter Dear Professor Volkarin: It was nice to hear from you, sir. I have some sitles you wanted waiting in the library: Atlases of the Air by Tomlyn Van Markham, Signs of the Feaster of Fear by Lucia Audenfall, Six Cares for the Weary (Anonymous), and Folklore of the Chasinds by Brother Martin of the Chantry. Watcher Myrna and I also looked into the history of the Basalt Hypogeum. (The basalt was shopped from Rivain in 3:57 Black, and the hypogeum features the distinct design of legendary stonemason Othmar Gerdebrand.) I'm sorry that we haven't found anything that explain why it disappeared so suddenly from the Necropolis. Watcher says it's "a matter of strange obliquity." We'll write if we find anything else. Regards, Audric Felhausen, Librarian

but that's not all!

emmrich has this party banter with davrin that confused me for the longest time:

Emmrich: Thank you again for the carving, Davrin! It made the perfect gift. Davrin: You're welcome. Tell that librarian friend of yours to treasure it. Davrin: I don't normally do little statues with skulls for faces.

i didn't know then who this 'librarian friend' was supposed to be. but it turns out it's audric.

even after all this time, emmrich still cares for audric, so much so that he doesn't ask davrin to carve a statue for himself, or even myrna or vorgoth, but for audric.

i think it's a very sweet detail, highlighting his care for spirits and the undead, who he values as much as the living.

[dalishious]

Haven't seen anyone post about this yet... do we think this is Myrna and Audric from the Tevinter Nights story, "Down Among the Dead Men"? Seems possible!

[starlightchaser]

Got the first of my comms from @finchmarie for a Veilguard Pavellan smooch and please look at them 🥺 my beloveds are so cute

[bossuary]

possible Myrna and Audric????

bonus skellingtom: