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The more I think of Astarion's love-hate relationship with heroic characters, the more I think of this quote from The Last Unicorn:

And where were you twenty years ago? Ten years ago? Where were you when I was new? When I was one of those innocent young maidens you always come to? How dare you! How dare you come to me now, when I am this!

Now I'm unwell

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Chat I'm about to play Baldur's Gate 3 for the first time again after not playing it for over a year (and never making it past the beginning of Act 2) and I need to know:

1. Any tips?

2. Who should I romance? (So like, who was your favorite and who do you think has the best content)

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I don't think enough people talk about how a Lavellan who romanced Solas is literally an Andraste figure

Like not only is she the Herald of Andraste but she is Literally Andraste

She leads an army of the faithful against Tevinter with her God-Lover at her side the entire time, only for him to leave her in the end and turn his back on the world.

Solas is The Maker and Lavellan is Andraste.

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Mythal pulled Solas from the Fade.

Lavellan drew him away from it.

Mythal moved him to duty.

Lavellan moved him to desire.

Mythal shaped his path.

Lavellan disrupted it.

Mythal called him to war.

Lavellan called him to peace.

Mythal was his hurt.

Lavellan is his heart.

Mythal was his beginning.

Lavellan is his end.

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Does anybody remember an edit of Hawke with this super sad music and Varric's voice line from Inquisition where he says "I like heroes who try their damnedest even if they fail a lot"?

I love that edit and it gets me every time but I haven't seen it in forever and I'm trying to find it 😭

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Cameo I requested from the man, the myth, and the legend himself - Gareth David-Lloyd. Inspired by these beautiful memes (1 & 2) I've made. Happy Valentine's my beautiful moots and dreadrook nation.

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crying myself to sleep tonight nbd

When Rook is twenty-eight, and Emmrich fifty-four, Emmrich takes Rook's hand gently and tells her that they must fully consider what it means for him to be so much older. To attach herself to him, when he is so close to his own decline, is folly—

Rook looks at him directly, waiting until his downcast eyes meet hers.

"I'm a Grey Warden," Rook tells him. "I know how to make every year that I am given count."

When Rook is thirty-one, and Emmrich fifty-seven, as Emmrich presses a kiss against the back of Rook's bare shoulder, Rook admits in a small voice: "I have, at most, fifteen years left to live."

In the warm darkness of their bedroom, the quiet stretches like the last moment after a crystal has been struck, just before the world falls again into silence.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Emmrich vows.

When the bells peal, sunlight and thrown petals and grains and joyous laughter raining down on them in equal measure, when Emmrich clasps her hands and says I give you my heart and soul. I will honor and cherish you each and every day of our lives— his voice sounds exactly the same.

When Rook is thirty-seven, and Emmrich sixty-three, she finds him on the floor of his laboratory, overcome by weeping.

"I have it," Emmrich tells her. "I have it. The Blight will progress no further in you."

She rocks him on the floor for a full hour as he sobs with the heart-rending relief, clutching her as if afraid to ever let her go.

When Rook is forty-six, and Emmrich seventy-two, Emmrich claims that most of his smile lines are Rook's doing.

"And many of the worry ones, too," Rook teases gently, brushing her thumb over her favorite, the divot closest to his right eyebrow.

Decades of love settle over a person as tangibly as gravity: they are both radiant with it.

They watch the sun set together, as they have done hundreds of times, hand in hand. Emmrich waits until the last sliver of pink has left the clouds before he turns to Rook to speak.

"I have learned that my solution was flawed," Emmrich admits very quietly. "The Blight in you will be at bay only so long as I live."

The light of the first rising star is reflected in Emmrich's gleaming, tear filled eyes.

Rook raises their joined hands to her mouth, kissing the back of his.

"I am older than I ever thought I would live," Rook says tenderly. "This life is enough, love."

The words soften Emmrich's expression, but fail to touch the grief in his eyes.

"It is more than enough," Rook tells him, at fifty-two.

"You think I want to live in a world without you in it?" she tells him at fifty-six.

"I love you," she tells him, every day.

"Every word in every love poem ever written isn't enough to say just how much I love you."

Emmrich peers at her over his thick glasses, pausing in his reading of the book of sonnets.

"Should I stop, then?" Emmrich teases.

"No," Rook says, settling her head more comfortably in his lap.

He runs one knotted, shaking hand through her grey hair, presses a kiss to her forehead. Rook closes her eyes.

When Rook is fifty-seven, and Emmrich eight-three, he slips away in the night. She wakes, as always, with her hand in his. She lies quietly for a long time, her eyes bleakly dry, knowing that this time is the last.

Most deaths feel sudden, in the end.

And yet every griever knows: it is still possible, somehow, to survive the removal of a heart.

After Rook has stood for two hours at the funeral, crying mechanically and stopping just as suddenly, Manfred guides her away.

"It's time to sit down, Mother," Manfred tells her gently. "Would you like water? Tea?"

Even fifteen years after beginning his travels, Manfred still sounds so much like Emmrich. The place where her heart is meant to be aches. Rook lets him settle her in a chair, and bring her the blend of tea that he designed just for her.

"There are two more bequeathments to distribute from Father's will," Manfred tells her. "He wanted both to be delivered by my hand."

The first is an elegant leather-bound book, intricately tooled, with fine gilded additions. It's carved with both their favorite flowers, intertwined. Rook opens the cover with shaking hands.

The lines are labelled with a date, with a single sentence accompanying it, penned in Emmrich's fine hand. Each is a message to her. It began almost four years ago, but— the book is far too full. Every page is written in. Rook flips forward to find that Emmrich wrote a line for every day for the next three decades.

"He should have spared himself the pain of writing so much," Rook says. "The Blight will have me far sooner than that!"

Manfred silently hands her an envelope. On its front is written:

To my darling Rook.

Rook reads the letter. She stares at Manfred, uncomprehending.

Manfred embraces her, pressing his forehead to hers in his version of a kiss to the cheek.

"The Blight won't take you at all, Mother," Manfred says gently. "He transferred the spell to me eight months ago."

Through a veil of tears, Rook sees that every neat line in Emmrich's book ends the same way.

I love you.

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I'm Your Man by Mitski is Too perfect for Solavellan I can't keep seeing these edits 😭😭 (I need more expeditiously)

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I have this idea for a short EmmRook animatic to the Ozdust Duet from the Wicked movie but I'm not skilled enough to draw it anymore 😭😭 so instead I just play the song and hallucinate 💀

The idea is Rook is up late at night in the Lighthouse reading missives and reports and is Clearly stressed and exhausted. Emmrich sees them and silently offers his hand and a soft smile. Rook briefly looks surprised before they place their hand in Emmrich's, and he pulls them up and places a hand on their waist. Then basically for the rest of it they awkwardly slow dance a couple steps before they find their rhythm and sway together. And then they kiss 💚 right before the music gets too. Party. The music fades out as they kiss and Rook says "Thank you" against his lips.

Just a glimpse into my sick and twisted mind

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the edit at the bottom makes this perfect ☹️☹️

Just losing my mind at the implications that the companions have all been trying to help Rook grieve Varric, and Rook doesn’t know

Emmrich, wise and long-familiar with grief, being told by Neve and Harding what happened; understanding why sometimes he overhears Rook’s muffled voice in the Infirmary, talking to no one. He takes Rook to the Memorial Gardens and mentions he talks to his parents, thinking Rook might be comfortable with the same. Rook lights candles and rings bells but Emmrich watches, sorrowed, to see Rook still seems in deep denial.

Neve takes Rook to the Wall of Light; a Shadow Dragon Rook knows just what this means but any Rook can understand the solemnity, the power of remembrance. Neve reenergizes Brom’s light and looks to Rook, hoping Rook will mention wanting to make one for Varric. Rook is kind and comforting to Neve, but Neve is lost in wondering why Rook doesn’t take the chance to open up. She can’t figure it. Maybe Rook just can’t face it, not yet. Maybe Rook does something privately. She isn’t sure but it nags at her.

Davrin’s not big on talking about feelings. He’d rather just move on. But he sees the way Rook seems a little hollow sometimes, a little distant; he sees how Rook takes so quickly to Assan. “Hey Rook,” he says, and invites them to come with him and Assan to safe places in Arlathan, where the woods are clean and green and growing, where real sunlight dapples through the trees. Rook always seems to love these outings, seems lighter afterwards. But Davrin feels a little confused in that Rook never seems to realize the outings are mostly for them.

Taash is another person not big on feelings. But they know how much feelings can twist you up and mess with your head. When Lace tells them about Varric they feel badly for Rook, and think to how they feel when they’re struggling. Epic fights, dragon fights, drinks with the Lords. Taash is perfectly capable of doing all that on their own. But maybe bringing Rook along will help get them out of their head a little bit. Does it help? Taash isn’t sure.

Bellara’s double-versed in grief after what happens to Cyrian. Rook helped her through trying to reach him, and Bellara wonders, in her own pain, if she can help Rook a little bit too. Especially if Rook is elven, teaching Rook about the braziers and the challenges is another tool she can share about her or their people, another way that might help Rook with their grief. Neve’s told her that the Wall of Light didn’t seem to help Rook much, but maybe a different funeral tradition could help them instead. Rook helps her light the braziers and Bellara feels her heart lightening, though she wonders at Rook, who seems more moved by Bellara’s reactions than anything else.

Lucanis is nearly as allergic to dealing with feelings as Davrin is, but he immediately clocks how Neve and Harding are acting, and asks what happened before he joined them. They tell him about Varric and that they’re worried about Rook, that Rook seems to just be shoving those feelings down without dealing with them. Lucanis is no stranger to that, but while it’s fine for him, he doesn’t want to see someone who risked their life to save him share that struggle. He brings Rook to Caterina’s funeral planning to show Rook it’s okay to admit the loss and honor it. When that doesn’t seem to make a dent, he falls back to his standard - lavish meals, small gifts, coffee. He knows it would help him. He just wishes it helped Rook too.

Lace hurts the worst after losing Varric and Lace is where Solas’ magic comes the closest to faltering. Rook can see Lace is down, she’s quiet, she’s afraid after what happens with the gods escaping; but Solas’ magic holds and Rook can still never see quite why. Lace would love to sit over drinks one night and share stories about Varric, but she sees that Rook doesn’t seem ready, and she doesn’t want to push. Instead she writes letters to Ma, to the Inquisitor, to Cassandra, to Aveline, maybe even to Hawke. She writes out her stories with Varric’s old quill and she carries a bolt of Bianca with her. A dozen times she goes to talk to Rook about him, and when she tries Rook turns away or changes the subject. It hurts, but Lace knows she can’t make Rook talk about him, and she hopes in time it will get better.

This just absolutely crushes me the more I think about it 😭

Edit: Varric’s death is Rook’s personal companion quest every other single companion tries to help them with, and can’t 😭😭😭

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the more i think about veilguard the more i love it

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guys i'm itching for the davrin romance

Just imagine a Rook that's been flirting with Davrin, is starting to really like him, but now it's Weisshaupt, and it's the end, and Davrin says "give Assan a hug for me" and Rook gives him a desperate kiss. It's early, sure, but it's the last chance they'll ever have, so they kiss hard in front of literally everyone.

And then Davrin lives.

And they have to walk home past all those wardens and their own party. Just complete silence.

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WIP Wednesday !

Okay so. I. Thought about it. It is Wednesday. I wasn't tagged. Anyway-

Started that yesterday :

The clothes will make me cry I'm sure.

Not Dragon Age ; this is (left) an NPC and (right) my character from our dnd campaign. I can't stop drawing them, and they aren't even a thing 🫥 The toxic yuri is untoxifying and it's making me really scared. (Our DM encourages me too much in this lmao)

I'll tag some mutuals, feel free to ignore or post a little thing if that pleases you 🥰 Would love to see your wips but, really, no pressure.

I'm so sorry I'm so bad at tagging people it makes me scared everytime, if you don't want to be tagged just say so !

@sugar-peanut-cat @madluluwriting (I know you don't write much these times but this is your sign !!!) @ad-astra-per-studium @blackwall-my-tiny-husband @anora-mac-tired @toastghostisatoaster @palenecromaniac @ubiquitous26 @underthevenadahl @glitteringdust @silhalei @spinfins @nevarrantorte @davrinsleftpectoral @oxygenforthewicked

Also if you aren't tagged but want to do it, please do so !! ❤️

Have a nice day everyone ! (and happy pride !)

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Okay so this morning I finished DATV, and here are some of my thoughts! (My second time writing this because Tumblr didn't save my draft ToT)

Spoiler Free!!

For some background, I played as a cis female elf who is an Antivan Crow and a mage. I romanced Emmrich after hearing how absolutely lovely he is (I agree completely; I started replaying it already and I'm going to romance him again as a Mourn Watcher).

I really enjoyed the game! When I first came here to write this post I got pretty hard into what people were saying online and my thoughts on Bioware, but for the sake of my sanity, I will give a short summary.

I think the game delivered exactly what it needed to. It was fun, it was a good time. I was on the edge of my seat and I wanted to play more. The graphics are beautiful, the combat is challenging but not too challenging to where I was ever too frustrated to keep playing. I liked the characters, they were fun to talk to and I loved doing all of their quests.

I went online to see what other people were saying, and of course the game was getting a lot of hate. This wasn't surprising to me, but at first I was disheartened. But also, I had to realize that Inquisition and 2 both got a ton of hate after release. Now, those are beloved installments in the series! I think once the new release hate is over, the game will grow on people.

This doesn't mean I think it's enough to save Bioware from EA execution, I mean, I hope it is, but EA keeps mounting the pressure. Apparently, Veilguard has made only half of the sales EA projected. and expected. However, what I've seen everyone agree on, and what could be a potential saving grace, is that this is the most beautiful AAA game they've seen and played in years. And I completely agree. This game is stunning. I could just walk the streets and trails of these regions for hours and not get bored.

Anyway, to end the tangent, I thought the game was great! And I'm excited to replay it. Anddd I think, in time, more people will see it that way, too.

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I'm in the middle of my first playthrough of Veilguard (so no spoilers!!!) with my Rook being an Antivan Crow. When I was making her, I was really torn between making her a Crow or a Watcher. I'm glad I went with my heart and made her a Crow, because I've been enamored with the Crows and desperate to learn more since origins, but oh how I would have related to a Watcher Rook! Listening to the way the companions speak to Emmrich about his studies is incredibly relatable for me. I'm used to people not understanding what I do or chalking me up to some weirdo obsessed with the little grey aliens and UFOs. In my next playthrough, I plan to make Rook a Mourn Watcher to experience the difference for myself. I'm not sure how much it'll change anything (don't tell me!!) but I am excited. I really love Emmrich's character, more than I thought I would. I find many aspects of him relatable, and I really appreciate Bioware writing a character like him. For me, he's the most relatable character in the entire series. Oh how I love academic men 💚

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i need people who have played dragon age to talk to.... i can't keep going on about this lore that takes like months of gameplay to understand to people who haven't played it 😭😭

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yes bro i loveeee thinking about human behavior and physical traits in terms of evolution and reacting to environmental stimuli

Once you start thinking about humans as a species in a biome, it affects your entire way of looking at normal things.

The other day I referred to female morning joggers as an 'indicator species' in that if you see women jogging in the dark it means that the environment provides migration pathways (sidewalks, clear signs) and doesn't have any known predators of female morning joggers (guy with knife, bear, BigTruck, male morning joggers).

Though, I think that people consider framing humans as animals reacting to their environment as rude.