callme-becks

[callme-becks]

this is indecently pretty

my lovely friend @gefionne was gracious enough to let me draw some fanart of fen'harel!solas for her amazing (AND VERY DELICIOUS) fanfic, these hands, if not gods! (au! solavellan, smutty, WITH PLOT.) 100/10, would recommend time & time again. read it or i'll beat up vhenan please enjoy the fen'harel tiddies

[callme-becks]

The Dread Wolf Take You (Part 1)

~~Link to the complete 31 page comic here~~

"Imagine that, overlooking the god in your mids!"

May I present, my attempt at illustrating the last four pages of Tevinter Nights. 😁 (Also, the first time I'm posting art on here!)

As the whole thing was quite literally too long to post on tumblr, I uploaded the full version on a customized site made for reading webcomics (via ComicFury). Feel free to check out the link above if you like to read the rest! Also, if you're on mobile, there's a "Scroll View" option for easier navigation. :)

And, obviously, HUGE spoilers for those who haven't read Tevinter Nights!!

On a personal note though, I can't believe I actually finished it... As it had been a *very* long time since I drew (and finished) anything, let alone a 31 page comic and reading Tevinter Nights again finally sparked my motivation (and the courage to post it lol). So I want to thank Patrick Weekes for helping me overcome this massive art block and over two decades of Case Closed mangas for inspiring me how to draw an overly dramatic "exposing the imposter" moment. 😂 I tried my best to be as faithful to the book as possible and it took me forever, so... hope you like it! :D

[callme-becks]

People sure give Solas a lot of shit for killing* his former abuser and slave master. Mythal was a literal, canonical slave owner. She owned him and branded his face. I don’t care if she was ‘the nicest one’ she owned slaves, was complacent with slavery, and all slavers deserve death.

Imagine giving Fenris shit for killing Danarius.

**He didn’t actually kill her because the bitch is not capable of staying dead. That’s her thing. He’s like the 5th person to do it. You can literally kill Flemeth/Mythal as the HoF. Morrigan literally asks you to do it.

[callme-becks]

The Herald and the Wolf

In a time long past, enemies of the Inquisition were once brought before the Herald who, by the Maker’s will, cast judgement upon the unworthy.

Dreaming in Skyhold, one may behold an echo of a memory so striking, you swear you stood before the Inquisitor herself.

Post-Veilguard, Solavellan world state

[callme-becks]

mythal’s favorite

[callme-becks]

SPEAKING of the the art book this fuckign concept art of what looks like the crestwood scene has had me by the throat for longer than im willing to admit

bringing lavellan to this place to tell her you’re fen’harel while standing UNDER A GIANT STATUE OF YOYRSELF IM GOING INSAANNNNEE

[callme-becks]

Reblog to make it die faster

[callme-becks]

preach it, @dayntee

The absence of a sex scene in the Solavellan arc

I am not a fan of sex scenes in video games in general because it cringes me out most of the time. I still love a good romance when it brings nuance, subtlety and character development to the lore. Make it a star-crossed lovers story and I am fully on board.

Now. Sex scenes are a common climax in romance storytelling — almost inevitable, actually — and often such a waste of ressources, especially when it just tends to ingratiate players’ voyeurism and eclipses the opportunities to develop the lore in more original and subtle ways, as if watching characters having sex was the ultimate goal or necessarily the most satisfying one. Not always the case, alright, but countless studios feel the urge to tick that box.

It frustrates me a lot when it ends up like this. Isn’t there anything else to tell about those characters? Don’t they have other ways to connect, other moments to share as lovers? How reductive, how boring even.

That’s why I loved the Solavellan arc. Their romance is sweet, delicate and focuses on so many important aspects of a relationship. It’s rooted in the lore and brings so much to it, on going as well as in hindsight. There’s a lot to read between the lines. I have the strong feeling that a sex scene would have seriously spoiled those characters’ dynamic.

And don’t get me wrong, I reckon (and HC) they did have sex. I just couldn’t care less about seeing that bit of their relationship on screen. I didn’t need to. And I think the decision to leave it to the players’ imagination is one of the best that could be made here.

(And yes, it is theoretically possible to pair good writing with sex scenes. Most of the romance arcs are fine in Inquisition alone. I just haven’t found one where I don’t get bored past that point. 🤷🏻‍♀️)

[callme-becks]

I am so normal about these two....

The THIGH thing. Mythalenaste

[callme-becks]

The absence of a sex scene in the Solavellan arc

I am not a fan of sex scenes in video games in general because it cringes me out most of the time. I still love a good romance when it brings nuance, subtlety and character development to the lore. Make it a star-crossed lovers story and I am fully on board.

Now. Sex scenes are a common climax in romance storytelling — almost inevitable, actually — and often such a waste of ressources, especially when it just tends to ingratiate players’ voyeurism and eclipses the opportunities to develop the lore in more original and subtle ways, as if watching characters having sex was the ultimate goal or necessarily the most satisfying one. Not always the case, alright, but countless studios feel the urge to tick that box.

It frustrates me a lot when it ends up like this. Isn’t there anything else to tell about those characters? Don’t they have other ways to connect, other moments to share as lovers? How reductive, how boring even.

That’s why I loved the Solavellan arc. Their romance is sweet, delicate and focuses on so many important aspects of a relationship. It’s rooted in the lore and brings so much to it, on going as well as in hindsight. There’s a lot to read between the lines. I have the strong feeling that a sex scene would have seriously spoiled those characters’ dynamic.

And don’t get me wrong, I reckon (and HC) they did have sex. I just couldn’t care less about seeing that bit of their relationship on screen. I didn’t need to. And I think the decision to leave it to the players’ imagination is one of the best that could be made here.

(And yes, it is theoretically possible to pair good writing with sex scenes. Most of the romance arcs are fine in Inquisition alone. I just haven’t found one where I don’t get bored past that point. 🤷🏻‍♀️)

[callme-becks]

Cursed by the Past

[callme-becks]

I am so normal about these two....

The THIGH thing. Mythalenaste

[callme-becks]

someone pointed out to me that fenris and zevran are kind of similar, in terms of their history & upbringing, but their personalities are so different for some reason i see them as more dissimilar than alike. do you think they're more alike or different? and in their similarities where do you think they diverge in how they deal with their past traumas?

Hello anon! Thank you so much for asking me! 

I do feel that their pasts and upbringing are very similar. The way they choose to deal with their personal history and their drama are wildly different. 

Zevran was orphaned shortly after birth. He was raised in a brothel until the age of seven, until he was bought by the Crows. He didn’t join the Crows, he didn’t have a choice. If you bring Zevran with you to the Circle tower and into the Fade, you can see a taste of what his upbringing was like. An orphan, raised in a brothel, bought and sold, but Zevran wants to live as much as he wants to die so he tries to be ‘worthy’ of the Crows. Of the eighteen recruits that went through training with him, only two survived - Zevran, and Taliesen. 

Fenris was born to an elven slave in Tevinter, and had a sister. By all means, he could have even had a happy childhood. That was all taken from him when he participated in a ‘tournament’ to have his mother and sister freed. (”You said you didn’t ask for this, but that’s not true. You wanted it, you competed for it.”)The reason why he fought was lost to him, and anything that came before. He effectively orphaned himself. His master became his whole world and so Fenris tried to be worthy of him. There were likely many experiments, but only Fenris survived. 

Zevran throws himself at the Warden because it’s a chance to be free of the Crows. A chance to die and pretend that it’s not the outcome that he wanted. Unless you’re deep into a romance with Zevran, he never talks about what happened to him and how he feels about it. Any companion dialogue that tries to pry into his past and what he’s done is immediately shut down. With humor and jokes, because it’s easier to shift the topic and chuckle than it is to face it. He lies and laughs because he can barely process his own guilt and depression. It takes him so long to open up to the Warden. 

Fenris wears what’s been done to him like armor. Besides the fact that there’s hardly anyway to hide it - it’s literally embedded in the skin. No you can tell, just from the way he is and acts and how he’ll openly admit he was a slave. It’s noticeable in his idle animations, and the way he stands and runs. He is always looking left and right, over his shoulder. Shifting from foot to foot, slightly hunched over so he can reach his sword easier. He’s afraid. He doesn’t trust his freedom, he doesn’t trust Kirkwall, he barely trusts himself. The first time you meet him, he runs into that mansion shouting, “face me! Danarius!” As if he isn’t scared to death. 

Zevran doesn’t believe himself worthy of love and affection but Fenris craves it like water. Fenris risks everything to find Varania, to find his family. He probably knew, from the moment he first started thinking about finding her, about the risk of Danarius. He states it when he asks Hawke to come along - he believes it’s a trap. But he still goes. He’s spent so long running and lying to himself that he could take on Danarius by himself, but the only time he ever faces Danarius is to get to his family. This thing that he wants so badly betrays him, gives him up to the monster who tortured him, and unless Hawke talks him out of it, Fenris will kill Varania.

Taliesen was the only other recruit that survived with Zevran. They grew up together, trained together, went on missions together and were close friends. They were likely the only friends they had. Family. The two of them probably got each other through Crow training by support of each other. After a year of being free, of being with the Warden, Zevran faces his one and only friend from his horrible past. If the Warden has shown that Zevran is worth more than his guilt, than his regret, than his past, then Zevran will kill Taliesen.

Fenris fought for his freedom. Tooth and nail, he ran. Looking over his shoulder at every turn, not knowing whether or not the stranger on the street is a hunter or not. Every person is a risk, every connection a chain. 

Zevran fought for his freedom. He asked for an impossible task, because death is the only freedom he could see. Keeping a knife under his pillow, not knowing whether or not the Warden might kill him. By leaving the Crows, he passed his chain to the Warden. 

Hawke asks for nothing in return for Fenris’s friendship. They aren’t looking to use him as a bodyguard, a weapon, a mindless beast for their will. They ask him on every job, pay him coin, help him find the freedom he’s looking for. 

The Warden asks for nothing in return for Zevran’s friendship. They never order him to kill some helpless target, they give him a purpose and sense of will he never had. They ask him to train them, give him gifts, help him find the freedom he’s looking for. 

Both Zevran and Fenris initially walk away from the romance. Fenris is confronted by the fact that he isn’t whole and that the shackles of being a slave still rankle around his soul. 

Zevran tries to show affection but can’t put it into words, can’t admit that he is more than a Crow anymore.They taught him not to feel but now he is, and that makes him that orphan again, makes him vulnerable. 

Zevran laughs through his pain. Fenris wears it on his sleeve. Fenris is angry with what’s been done to him. Zevran is miserable with what he’s done. Fenris breaks bottles against walls, Zevran attempts to lose himself in pleasure. They both have found some sort of freedom but doesn’t know what it means or where to go from there. They want connections but fear them, want to be loved but are afraid of betrayal.

And when they’ve put distance between their past and those who held their chains? They both have dry wit, are extremely clever, flirt with ease and with charm, and are able to be themselves. Hawke and the Warden help them make peace with what’s been done to them and help them face the future. 

I find it interesting that they both use the same line when in a romance with the Warden and Hawke - “I am yours.” I think it must have stunned the Warden and Hawke at first. Especially knowing their history. But - they aren’t submitting themselves back into slavery. They give their feelings willingly because they want to, because Hawke and the Warden have earned it. 

They are both incredibly complex and layered characters. If they sat down and talked, I think they’d find they have a lot of common ground. 

[callme-becks]

yeah, so...is this the part where we...shake hands?

[callme-becks]

Back on my bullshit. The absolute glee I felt when the DA2 soundtrack hit.

Flemythal. My goddess. Step on me.

Give me this terrible city in HD, I am begging

[callme-becks]

[callme-becks]

Deep Blue is 30 years old and was capable of defeating chess grand champions. It could be housed in a single cabinet.

ChatGPT spans untold data centers devouring massive amounts of electricity and it got its ass whipped by an 8 bit gaming console from the 1970s.