#that and the inquisition game in general

[timethehobo]

I miss inquisition tbh. The game that started fantasy rpg for me.

[mythalism]

im sorry but shakespeare wishes he wrote "or maybe im the prideful one, imagining his broken heart so that i never have to face my folly: that i loved someone who made such terrible mistakes. that i might love him still" are you fucking KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!

[invinciblerodent]

This is going to be very ranty and disjointed, probably borderline incomprehensible post, but with the "return" of Dragon Age Discourse (and really, did it ever go anywhere?) and me repeatedly seeing the complaints and dismissals of DA:I as a "chosen one"-type of a narrative, I just.... I keep finding myself thinking about the relationship of truth and lies within the game.

Throughout the course of DA:I, the idea of a malleable, flexible personal identity, and a painful confrontation with an uncomfortable truth replacing a soothing falsehood, follows pretty much every character throughout their respective arcs.

There are some more obvious ones, Solas, Blackwall, The Iron Bull, their identities and deceptions (of both those around them and themselves) are clearly front and center in the stories told about them, but this theme of deception (both of the self- and the outside world) is clearly present in the stories of the others as well.

Like, for example, ones that come immediately to mind are stories like that of Cullen, who presents an image of a composed and disciplined military man, a commander- all to hide the desperate and traumatized addict that he sees himself as.

Dorian grappled with the expectations of presenting the image of the perfect heir to his father's legacy, the prideful scion of his house, his entire life (he even introduces himself as the result of "careful breeding", like one might speak about a prized horse)- all while knowing that his family would rather see him lobotomized and obedient, than anything even just resembling his vibrant and passionate self.

Cassandra calls herself a Seeker of Truth, and takes pride in that identity- only to learn that in reality, she has been made a liar, a keeper of secrets, without her knowledge or consent, and it is up to her to either uproot the entire organization and painfully cut out the abscess it is to build it back from the ground up into something respectable, or let the information she had revealed sit, and continue to fester.

And this theme continues and reframes itself in, among others, things like Sera's own inner conflict between her elven heritage and her human upbringing, or in Cole being caught in this unconscionable space in-between human and spirit, between person and concept, etc.

The Inquisitor isn't exempt from this either.

I feel like this is where the core of the many misunderstandings of this plot come from, why so many people continue to believe that Inquisition is a "chosen one" or "divinely appointed" type of story, because I think many might just... not realize, that the protagonist's identity is also malleable, and what they are told in the setup/first act of the game is not necessarily the truth.

The tale of the Inquisitor is the exact opposite of that of a "chosen one" story: it's an examination and reflection of the trope, in that it is the story of an assumption that all wrongly believe to be the truth, and thrust upon you, even if you protest. The very point is that no matter who you choose to say that you are, you will be known as the Herald of a prophet you don't even necessarily believe in, and then that belief will be proven wrong, leaving you to cope with either a devastating disappointment if you believed it, or a bitter kind of vindication if you didn't.

There's a moment just after Here Lies the Abyss (when you learn of the lie you've been fed your entire journey in the game) that I don't often see mentioned, but I think it's one of the most emotionally impactful character moments, if you are playing an Andrastian Inquisitor who had actually believed themselves chosen (which I realize is a rather unpopular pick, lol): it's when Ser Ruth, a Grey Warden, realizes what she had done and is horrified by her own deeds, and turns herself in asking to be tried for the murder of another of her order. As far as she is concerned, she had spilled blood for power, and regardless of whether she was acting of her own volition at the time, whether she had agency in the moment, is irrelevant to her: she seeks no absolution, but willingly submits to any punishment you see fit.

And only if you play as an Inquisitor who, through prior dialogue choices, had established themselves as a devout Andrastian, can you offer her forgiveness, for a deed that was objectively not her fault- not really.

You can, in Andraste's name, forgive her- even though you, at that point, know that you have no real right to do so. That you're not Andraste's Herald, that Andraste may or may not even exist, and that you can't grant anyone "divine forgiveness", because you, yourself, don't have a drop of divinity within you. You know that you were no more than an unlucky idiot who stumbled their way into meddling with forces beyond their ken.

You know you're a fraud. You know. The game forces you to realize, as it slowly drip-drip-drips the memories knocked loose by the blast back into your head, that what all have been telling you that you are up to this point, is false. And yet, you can still choose to keep up the lie, and tell this woman who stands in front of you with blood on her hands and tears in her eyes, that you, with authority you don't have, grant her forgiveness for a crime that wasn't hers to commit.

Because it's the right thing to do. Because to lie to Ser Ruth is far kinder than anything else you could possibly do to her, short of refusing to make a decision altogether.

There are any number of criticisms of this game that I can accept (I may or may not agree depending on what it is, but I'm from the school of thought that any interpretation can be equally valid as long as there's text that supports it, and no text that contradicts it), but I will always continue to uphold that the Inquisitor is absolutely not- and never was a "chosen one".

They're just as small, and sad, and lost, as all the other protagonists- the only difference is that they didn't need to fight for their mantle, because instead of a symbol of honor, it acted as a straitjacket.

[megthemariner]

OTP Vibes

I was tagged by the lovely @cursedhaglette & @sandetigerrr (+ @tevivinter a while ago!) and honestly I think I’m going to end up doing these for like. at least two of my canon couples. So expect more, I can’t help ittttt it’s too fun <3

for you are my fate - Solas + Eliana Lavellan

I genuinely don’t know who hasn’t been tagged on one of these yet, so consider this an open tag!! It’s a fun one

[art by me: full piece | my solavellan fic: Suledin | more of my solavellan art: halamshiral and solas’ sketchbook pages ]

[godofliestreacheryandrebellion]

I love Inquisition but my controversial take is that it's got the same disease as AC: Valhalla - there's too much to do and it sucks the joy out of the game.

[erme-maererme]

the thing is. aurora is not wrong at all about any of this, this one is probably some of the best monologue in the game, this "people are the most easily replenished of all resources" is the main theme of the game, you, the rogue trader, will in the end just be delivered to the voidship crypt and another will take your place and the voidship will continue its millenia old journey regardless. but then we just go back to aurora burning people's eyes out

[orphic-eluvian]

Not to be potentially controversial but does anyone else heavily dislike the PC voices for the inquisitor? Maybe I just have way too many hours in this game and I’ve heard the voices too much but they’re both annoying to me and don’t fit my inquisitor even remotely.

Since I have free will though I choose to headcanon Saoirse Ronan as my Lavellan’s voice claim, both because it fits nicely with the existing Dalish characters all being voiced by Irish people and also I could literally listen to her speak for hours. Love my queen Saoirse Ronan.

[gamerism]

Dragon Age: Inquisition - Sah'rel Lavellan

[talershan]

Oh hey! It's been a week since I posted part 2 of my series on the History of Queerness in Videogames! Well then here's part 3! In it we both cover queer representation in the 2010s and unfortunately have to go on a tangent about gamergate. There's so many good games of the 2010s, some even helped me process my own transness. It was a great decade for representation despite also having some bad ones too.

[a-gay-bloodmage]

i know this can't possibly be accurate to the wider fandom (like i know i have just curated tumblr to be highly specific), but the ONLY dai content i see on tumblr anymore is cass/adaar and it just makes me feel like after all these years of male adaar being forgotten about now its our time to be appreciated.....out of the way solavellans.........here comes a special boy...........

[tblsomedoodles]

Priorities are had lol.

i can't say i've played a lot of veilguard but here's some sillies for the beginning of it anyways. b/c, ngl, i kinda wanna see what exactly would happen if Solas took down the veil. But if he had actually killed Verric i would have quit then and there.

[deimcs]

honestly i miss the days when it was easy to NOT engage in fandom spaces, now i like one fanart on twitter and the algorithm suddenly thinks it's alright to regurgitate days and weeks worth of insane takes and rage baits

[bisexualalistairtheirin]

It's actually somewhat fun to read Veilguard criticism I agree with by someone who, midway through the post, drops that they think Inquisition was amazingly written, because I couldn't disagree with that notion more, and yet the failings of the next entry are just different enough that we can both agree it's bad out there.

[gargoylebones]

i haven’t finished playing dai yet but! i did draw sera :3 (may or may not have been inspired by the arcane art style)

[attractthecrows]

Revallen was born in Tillahnen to Keeper Dirennen and Saoirse, the Craftsmaster. He showed a talent for magic at an early age, which thrilled Dirennen, who began teaching the boy immediately. They quickly discovered that Revallen's mana runs very hot; Dirennen's first attempts to teach Revallen to use wood-magic resulted in fires. Dirennen thus pivoted his focus to instilling in his son a sense of discipline and self-control.

When he was 10 or so, Clan Tillahnen encountered a family of city elves fleeing the Starkhaven alienage. Moren, his wife Ivanna, and their daughter Ilithra were welcomed into the clan. Despite fighting at their first meeting, Revallen and Ilithra became fast friends. Revallen took it upon himself to teach her the ways of the Dalish, and Ilithra was fascinated by magic, despite having no talent for it herself.

(cut for length)

In his sixteenth year came the Blight. Tillahnen favored the coastal, marshy regions of Nevarra, and were thus largely out of range of the worst of it. But there were still threats; desperate refugees and heightened tensions made their encounters with humans riskier than ever, and a cave in their favorite territory concealed a connection to the Deep Roads. When a part of the horde began to threaten the Clan, Dirennen took action. Over the course of two frantic, painful days, he pushed Revallen through his training as First, carving his full-body vallaslin and impressing upon him the need to keep the Clan safe at any cost.

Before the wounds had even healed, Dirennen set out to meet the darkspawn. He baited them, drawing the stragglers back into the cave connecting the surface and the Deep Roads. When they were upon him, every last one of them, he used every ounce of his mana to collapse the cave entrance, sealing it with a tangle of ironwood trees that even fire could not clear. Revallen grieved, he screamed, he thrashed in fury - but as First, and as his father's son, he had no choice but to take up the mantle of Keeper.

Ilithra supported him wholeheartedly, rallying the hunters and easing the transition from one Keeper to the next. Together, they led the Clan north, out of range of even the most determined of straggling darkspawn. Revallen and Ilithra were married within the year, and a year from that, they had Nessiava. The clan was happy for a time, though in unfamiliar prairielands. However, their lives of peaceful plenty were short-lived. Post-Blight panic and the influx of refugees from the south overtaxed the land; both human settlements and the Dalish were forced into lean times as harvests failed and game dwindled.

The clan grew desperate, hungry, and panicked. Remembering the kindness of the Chantry sisters in the alienage of her youth, Ilithra volunteered to lead a band of her hunters to try and trade with one of the nearby human villages. At a loss for better ideas, Revallen agreed. She took 5 hunters with what supplies the clan could spare.

But the human farmers, desperate and hungry themselves, saw a band of Dalish hunters, panicked, and attacked. By the time they realized their mistake, Ilithra and 4 of her 5 hunters had been killed. The survivor, a youth that had yet to earn her vallaslin, fled, bringing news of the slaughter back to Tillahnen.

Revallen was inconsolable in his grief and rage. He became unable to sleep, insensate to all but the needs of his daughter. His First, a youth named Tathamen, conducted the funeral rites in his stead, directing the clan to give Revallen the space to grieve. After days of this, grief gave rise to guilt, and he became convinced that the clan must resent him for allowing the hunting party to approach the human settlement. He stole away in the night with Nessiava, bidding the trees to conceal his tracks, and abandoned the clan.

Eventually, he and Nessie arrived at Clan Lavellan.

Deshanna had met him before, both as a child and then later as Keeper, and was alarmed by his sudden appearance. But when she heard his tale of loss, she could not bring herself to turn him away. She had already decided to accept them when Aiona, her niece and Revallen's half-sister, begged her to let them stay, volunteering to house them in the halla-keeper's aravel. Deshanna agreed readily, taking Revallen as her First; as he needed no training, he would help her train her Second, and could spend the rest of his time focused on raising his daughter.

In safety with Lavellan, Revallen and Nessie grieved. They grew around their grief, and they found some happiness. Nessie grew up well, becoming very close with her aunt. When she showed some magical talent, Revallen began to teach her as Dirennen taught him. Her mana doesn't burn like her father's, and she took very well to the wood-magic Dirennen wielded with such ease. Unbeknownst to Revallen or Deshanna, she began to wander the Fade; a Dreamer with no one to teach her, but the protection of the spirits of her kin.

In the aftermath of the events at Kirkwall, clan Lavellan fell on hard times. The mage/templar war caused widespread chaos, threatening their safety and decimating the wilderness they depended on for survival. Revallen recognized in this chaos the same lurking danger that stole his wife and Tillahnen's best hunters. When the time came, Deshanna decided to send a party to gather information at the Conclave - originally a group of Lavellan's best hunters.

Revallen intervened, pulling Deshanna into the Keeper's aravel. He impressed upon her the absolute necessity of keeping the hunters with the clan, to ensure their survival. He told her of the deadly mistake he had made. When she would not be swayed, he insisted that he be sent to the Conclave, rather than depriving Lavellan of the hunters they depended on for food and security.

After some consideration, Deshanna relented, but she was unwilling to send him alone. The Lavellan delegation would be only three in number; Revallen, the First, and the sisters, Valovera and Orathari. Valovera was a consummate warrior, more interested in battle than the hunt, and Orathari was the craftmaster's apprentice, clever and quick-fingered.

Revallen did all he could to console and reassure his daughter, promising to return to her no matter what. Aiona promised to him that she would keep the girl safe. Nessie was unconvinced, but at barely 10 years old, she could do nothing to stop him. Both shed tears upon his departure.

The journey to Haven was challenging between the dangers of the war and desperate human bandits, and the bickering between Revallen and the sisters. Valovera was always volatile, picking fights as if for fun, and Orathari, while patient, felt obligated to defend her. But they arrived at the Conclave without injury.

Then, of course, Corypheus and the corrupted Wardens changed that. Revallen survived, barely, because he interrupted their ritual and was cast into the Fade. But the Temple of Sacred Ashes and all within were destroyed.

[sevenmothz]

The review embargo got lifted for Veilguard and, predictably, it’s a whole damn mess lmao.

You got people with legitimate complaints, people that were gonna hate the game no matter what because Reasons(TM) (also known as “It’s not Origins” lmao), grifters and tourists that are just fanning the flames because they’re so miserable that they can’t let anyone else be happy, people that enjoyed the game (and getting hate for it—or being called a shill/sellout), and fans being overly positive in reaction to the louder end of the anti-woke morons.

Anyway, friendly reminder that all reviews are just opinions from a variety of different people with their own biases, experiences, and perspectives. Ultimately, they don’t really matter bahaha. If you’re on the fence, just wait for gameplay videos to come out (no commentary ones are best) and see if it’s something you’re invested in or not.