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Stabbed through the heart 💔

if you haven’t felt sad about lucanis today may i offer you this

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Gorgeous

I think Spite is jealous? Demons need attention, too (U\ \-\ \U\)\

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Okay – but what if BG3 was really a Dragon Age game?

Hear me out...

Some story set up.

It’s been 10 years since Inquisition and Solas has been building a coalition – mostly this consists of former elven slaves that support his goals. These followers do not believe or understand that his goal of tearing down the veil means the end of the current world state.

Solas = the Emperor

Elgar’nan & Ghilinain = the Elder Brain

Wardens, Venatori, Antaam = The Dead 3 (or some combination of factions supporting either Solas or E&G)

Rook = Tav

Prologue

Still begins with us spoiling Solas’s ritual. It’s taken Varric and the Inquisitor 10 years to track him down and even then, it was a complete fluke that they figured out where this was going to happen and that Varric was close enough to get there in time. The ritual gets disrupted, everyone gets flung far and wide, and Solas is now in Rook’s head. No one remembers much of the immediate days leading up to disrupting the ritual.

Act 1

Rook & team have regrouped. Solas is in their head but they obviously don’t trust him. They’re in a fact finding phase to try to figure out where the rest of his coalition is located

Solas has been gathering forces for years. The first Act takes place mostly in Arlathan where the Veil Jumpers are a clan of Dalish Elves who have not bought into Fen’Harel’s propaganda and are trying to educate other elves and Fen’Harel loyalists about what his true goals really are. Unfortunately, they’re busy fighting off a rogue group of Antaam who have broken off from the Qun and are trying to conquer northern Thedas.

In Act 1 you’re mostly trying to convince the Veil Jumpers that you want to stop Solas, you offer to help with their Antaam problem if they use their Veil Jumping powers to help you gather info on both Solas & E&G’s motivations.

It’s still relatively quiet on the E&G side, your group doesn’t really understand the ramifications of what E&G being free mean to the world. They are pretty quiet during the first act – gathering strength and scoping out the current state of the world.

(What have they been up to in Act 1, you ask? A disinformation campaign! Elgar’nan has managed to convince the Tevinter Imperium that he is the Maker. The Magisters didn’t blacken the Golden City, instead, the Magisters made it to the Golden City to bask in the light of Elgar’nan. During this time, Fen’Harel and his followers attacked them, destroying the city and casting the Venatori back out into the world. Ghilinain is using her Blight powers to mess with the heads of the Wardens. A trick that was NOT unique to Corypheus)

Act 1 ends with a fight between the Veil Jumpers & the Antaam. (A qunari Rook can try to infiltrate the Antaam for more information!)

Unfortunately, the team finds out from the Veil Jumpers that E&G have released a Blight and that they started gathering strength in the Anderfels & Weisshaupt.

Saving the Veil Jumpers = Saving the Grove

Act 2

Instead of the Shadowlands and Moonrise, you’re dealing with a spreading blight emanating from Weisshaupt. The team has to fight through blighted land to get through the Anderfels.

It turns out that the Wardens taint allows them to be more easily controlled by E&G’s blight powers. The closer a Warden is to his calling, the more susceptible they have become.

HOWEVER, one thing the Warden’s have noticed is that any Warden that bond a griffen becomes more immune to the blight than others. Even older Warden’s who are starting to hear the calling are able to stave this off by bonding a griffen. It’s too bad all the griffen’s have been stolen… cue a rescue mission.

The team finds out that the Wardens are basically on the verge of civil war and that the blighted Wardens have taken over Weisshaupt. With the help of the more junior Wardens are who are able to resist the calling and those griffen riders, the team either secretly infiltrates Weisshaupt –OR– they can storm the fortress.

Act 2 still ends with an archdemon confrontation similar to what we saw at Weisshaupt in the game. The blighted Warden’s retreat and the regular Warden’s save the day.

During the fight, after Ghilinain’s Archdemon is slain, the team finds out that a Warden can injure E&G due to their Blight connection. Davrin, my man, your time has come. Ghilinain is now dead as well and the Blight starts to retreat because she was the main driver of it. The Warden’s regroup again.

The defeat of the First Warden and the blighted Wardens = the defeat of Kethric Thorne

Act 3

Where does this leave us going into Act 3 –

The Veil Jumpers have helped you discover more about E&G’s plan to blight the world.

You have Solas feeding you information into your mind that you can either trust or distrust but he tells you that in order to send E&G back behind the Veil you have to free him from his prison… blah blah.

With the help of the Inquisitor and one Dorian Pavos, the team realizes that the Venatori have taken over Minrathous as an E&G stronghold. E&G have not just been blighting the world. They’ve been busy (see above to what they’ve been up to).

Gortash = the Tevinter Imperium (bureaucratic evil) Orin = the warmongering Antaam (chaos for chaos’s sake)

The Antaam were pushed back at Arlathan, but they’re not gone. They are still rampaging through Northern Thedas causing trouble. (Side note: they’re not blighted or under Fen’Harel’s control. They’re just warmongering people.)

The group has to decide if they’re going to ignore the Antaam threat to focus on E&G or if they’re going deal with it (this is a fork that could have other ramifications story-wise). Cue the arrival of Isabella and the Lords of Fortune. Turns out these Pirates have a very real grudge against Qunari after their leader was abducted by the Arishok who started this splinter cell of Qunari against the Qun. Bum bum buuuuuuum!

Eventually the team make their way to Tevinter.

Act 3 is spent in Tevinter, gathering information, fortifying the team and coming up with a plan to confront E&G at the upper city – er, I mean the Archon’s palace. Solas manages to pull the whole team into the Fade with him, but when the team gets free, he rides your coattails out as well. Fine, whatever, you still have to defeat Elgar’nan who has taken over one country and looks to be gearing up to take his act on the road. He decides he LIKES the world the way it is with all his worshippers and has bought into his bullshit 100%. He is the Maker now.

Solas is even more offended by this turn of events, but he starts gathering his forces again. Well, at least you have an army to storm Tevinter with? He moves his groups through the Eluvians (this is why they were so hard to pin down by the Inquisitor and something that wasn't available to the team) to stage them for the final confrontation.

The team storms the palace. Solas’s followers swarm Elgar’nan’s archdemon and take him out. The main team focuses on Elgar’nan himself.

We can still have the final trickery of the show-down.

Conclusion

Ending 1: If the team DOES NOT FIGURE OUT THE CLUES ABOUT THE VEIL ISSUE or if they trust Solas, one possible ending could be that they kill Elgar’nan and the veil still comes down.

Ending 2: Solas gets killed before the team can kill Elgar’nan and so Elgar’nan is the only thing keeping the Veil in place. Unless of course, whoever drank from the Well back in Inquisition shows up! The essence of Mythal they hold can be enough to hold the Veil in place – either the Inquisitor or Morrigan must take the place of an Elven God.

Ending 3: The team kills Elgar’nan first and Solas is tied to the Veil

I am so very sorry for that ridiculous brain dump, but its something I have been mulling over for the last few days since I finished my first Veilguard run. There was so much potential there - but the ignoring of established lore, the watering down of cultures in order to "clean up" the game, the disappointing romances? I just had to "fix" it....

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Romancing Lucanis

Well, I did it. I tried so hard to not get spoiled, but even with the notes that the Lucanis romance was a little thin, I still committed. Some rambling thoughts below....

It's not just that this romance was thin... all the companions in Veilguard, except maybe Emmerich, felt that way to me. It's that it... doesn't matter? In Origins, DA2, and Inquisition - your romance partner had strong reactions to you. In TV, and particularly with this romance, it's just not there...? Until the end of the game and then it's like, "who cares if I'm in a relationship with this person because the game is over?" And, like, I know there is more to the game than the romances but for this particular gamer, they are pretty important to the grand scheme of the game! And coming off the heels of BG3 which just did so many fun and unique romances this feels like an EXTRA letdown? (My reblogs are pretty much just Gale lately) I wish I didn't feel this way... I'm not sure how much replay value this game has to me. When I think of the 1000's of hours I've sunk into this series between Origins, 2, and Inquisition I'm just sad.

PS - I mostly use tumblr to reblog and save other people's posts so if you stumble on this and disagree, be gentle.

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The Veilguard codex entry for an Inquisitor who romanced Blackwall/Thom Ranier I just want them to settle down in a little house with every wall painted a different color! (No carnations, though).

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Sweet Boy

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This explains so much!

Oh hey it's Wyll Ravengard and Gale Dekarios... although this isn't Baldurs Gate

(the 90s shaped a lot of my film tastes has this got me inspired to redraw scenes with Wyll and Gale in....you betcha your ass it has I just need to get iPad....too far)

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"After so long with Mystra, I have to say the pleasures of mortal love are much sweeter than I remember. Though perhaps that's simply because it's with you."

Gale x Shoko 🔮🌸

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Gale Kisses

I recently remembered that in the data files For Gale’s 6 new kisses, the devs added names/descriptions for each kiss variant (as noted in this post by @galedekarios from way back in November)

It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen anyone match the kisses up to their descriptions, so I thought I’d do that and and share with you all! Note: if your heart hasn’t melted enough from just seeing the kisses, reading some of the descriptions will surely do so…🥹

Main Game

♡ ~~~ “Chin up” ~~~ ♡

♡ ~~~ “Don’t tease me” ~~~ ♡

♡ ~~~ “Grateful” ~~~ ♡

Before the end battle

♡ ~~~ “Chin up” ~~~ ♡

♡ ~~~ “Carried away” ~~~ ♡

♡ ~~~ “Want to keep you forever” ~~~ ♡

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would you be willing to share some of your favorite gale/ bg3 fics?

Sure!

This is by no means an extensive list because I’m crap at bookmarking 🙈 but here are a few of my favourites (including lots of WIPs).

CANON UNIVERSE

What Should I Do But Tend by PouroverPaloma — if you want fluff/smut, and some Shakespeare quotes, this is for you!

First Light by absoluteTomfoolery — Amazing enemies-to-lovers story, incredible characterisation!

Hedgehog’s Dilemma by Evisser — If you fancy a Gale/Tav/Astarion triangle, this is for you (and the smut is *chef’s kiss*)

Unleash Me by Quitefascinating — This has not been updated in a long time, but what is there is excellent (especially if you’re into the idea of Gale jerking off and all-round amazing smut)

MODERN AU (without magic)

This Beauty That Pleases Too Well by PouroverPaloma (Academia AU) — A lovely story on navigating trauma and abuse and finding love in unexpected places

Teach Me Something New by The_Littlest_Raindrop (Academia AU) — The smutty bits are phenomenal

My Favourite Mistake by dangerwillrobinson (Academia AU) — Some more great smut!

It’s Called Freefall by @dismalzelenka (Academia AU) — If you’re looking for beautifully-written characters and a great love story, this is perfection

Saints of Slut Street by @dismalzelenka (Professor Gale/Sex Worker Tav AU) — See above! Again, this is a rollercoaster ride of smut, angst, humour, and plenty of DnD lore/characters

Professor Dekarios by @auroraesmeraldarose — The title says it all! If you’re dreaming of a perfect future with modern-day Gale and want to see him interact with everyday scenarios, she’s got you covered!

The Season by Linnetagain (Gale/Astarion figure skating AU) — I’m not really into Bloodweave but this is wonderfully written and so, so compelling

OTHER AUs (with magic)

Blank Slates on Blank Sheets by Alvilda_Ao3 (Blackstaff Academy Teenage AU) — The cutest enemies-to-lovers story!

Recommended Reading by SpellSparkler (Professor Gale/Bookstore-Bard Tav) — A sweet slow-burn romance!

The Difference by @senualothbrok (Isekai fic) — Angst, incredible character studies, plenty of feels, and all-round amazing writing (disclaimer: Gale has no magic in this AU but there are some supernatural/higher power elements)

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gale is the freakiest person in camp and nothing will convince me otherwise.

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I love Gale “of Waterdeep” Dekarios and I’m very proud of him for learning to temper his ambitions, but also, even in his best possible, professorial ending, the true Gale epilogue IS that Tav walks into his study 5 years post-game like, “Surprise! I was in the area for a [Tav class] conference so I thought I’d drop b— What are you doing?”

Gale, desk and chairs pushed back so he can kneel in the center of a massive and elaborate ritual circle, surrounded by shadow-burning candles and stranger arcane lights, a magically bound goat in one hand and a rune-carved knife in the other, freezes like a tressym caught with its paw in the fishbow.

“Nnnnnot taking the first steps toward lichdom just because Theresa in the Conjuration department said I wasn’t ‘wizard enough’ to pull it off?”

Tav: “For fuck’s sake, man.”

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