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It is imperative to me that Cullen and Dorian’s weird little chess bond remain platonic because it means that Cullen learned how to care about a mage in a way that wasn’t just him being horny. And that matters to me.

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Hey that VtM soundtrack album from 1999 that was completely unavailable for many years, aside from like two songs posted to youtube, is on bandcamp now and you can get it

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the love was there. it didnt change anything and it wasnt even thematically relevant and honestly it kinda got annoying to the point where i wished for hatred and malice instead and it ruined the whole thing for me

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Ashasiara and Alistair through the years because I am obsessed with them and always will be

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I am just so enamored with the idea of hof becoming Alistair's mistress even though it's not what either of them want.

There's something so heartbreaking and tragic about meeting your true love and then just not being able to be with them. Not the way you want to. You can have each other but not really. You want everyone to know how much you love them but you can't tell anyone. You want to love them like they deserve but this sad tattered devotion is all you can give and it's better than nothing and you cant bear to let go now.

I think about how when Alistair breaks up with you he mentions several times that he has to do it now or he'll never be able to. That the thought of you alone is too tempting. That even if you're not together anymore he won't LET you die in the archdemon fight if the ritual wasn't performed. No way he'd be able to stay away, he'd fold, he'd want you back and he'd take any piece he could get even if it makes both of you ache for more. For what you can never have.

It's soooo good man

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Rune and Alistair on their 40s for Veilguard

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re: my last post with all of ops comments:

hey so i’ve made myself crazy emo about the ear thing . look at this. … im trying to draw it in a way that u can tell there’s something . Wrong .. the way the front helix is just cut off instead of curving down .. uneven ending .. yeah . Yeah .

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I'm still not over the fact that the Wardens hunted Alistair, depending on world state, for weeks- months even!

I'm not gonna woobify him but just thinking about him chased after like a dog, living the life of a fugitive after what he has done for the Wardens. I have my own thoughts about the Wardens and how narrative and dialogue indicate they may have looked down on HoF and Alistair but that's a topic for another day.

I wonder why Alistair still remained faithful to the Wardens until the end- was it naivety or hope? Did he still believe the Wardens were not lost? After what he had seen?

But with a romanced Alistair, the fact he and HoF are looking for a cure, knowing that it would get them kicked out of the Wardens‐ what would that leave him? Was he willing to leave the cause to be with HoF? Did years gone by and the idolization crumble?

What was left of Alistair in DAI- what did he believe in?

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"After all these years, you are still a rare and wonderful thing to find amidst all this darkness."

Alistair Theirin and Warden Mahariel fighting the Blight during the events of DAV. She's devastated for all the shit happening in Thedas and still can't find a cure after so many years, leaning her to think after so many tries that there's only sacrifice and pain in her path.

Then, Alistair appears. "For you", he said. "My light in the darkness. My love. Ma vhenan. Aneth ara."

It was like the first time he gave that rose to her, so many years ago.

She can't talk.

Behind her mask only sees a blighted and corrupted face and body, so the effects of the blighted eluvian have left her with a more deteriorated and fast spread of the Blight in her.

Nevertheless, she started crying, and she remembered why she pushes forward. And by the gods, nothing would stand between them. Nor even their fate.

''Vir lath sa'vunin, lath araval ena.''

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I hope such universe exist...

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I will leave such an imprint on your heart that anyone you entertain after me will have to know me in order to understand you.

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Well-

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i happen to be quite fetching in a dress

no dress on my priv twt :) i feel insane

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does anyone else feel very strongly about their first dragon age romance? because i look at alistair and my brain is like. this is your first love. your high school sweetheart. you've been married for 15 years

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but it has to be a pretty dress

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David Gaider on Alistair, under a cut for length:

"Ah, Alistair. Depending on who you ask, he's the adorable woobie with the biggest heart or the irritating, over-used man-child. Yes, he is indeed all of those things. Good characters have flaws to go with their virtues. Ugly spots. That is literally their humanity. He was a bit of a bear to write, at the outset. James (Ohlen, the first creative director on DAO) had this idea he needed to be a grizzled Warden veteran - older, distrusting. Everyone hated him instantly. I call this the Carth Onasi Problem, and suggested to James that maybe I try something else. My observation says that the characters who are generally liked the most are the supportive ones. Enthusiastic. Funny? Sometimes, sure, but that's *not* required. I need to digress. See, at the time James had this (regrettable) period where he believed everything could be derived from a formula. He even sold this idea to the founders, Ray and Greg. Google 'BioWare formula'. Anyway, how this relates is because James thought the DAO cast needed a Minsc: a comedy character who would become super popular and, ideally, the icon of DA. "Isn't that Alistair?" you ask. "Arguable," I say, "but no." James had me to up a huge list of 'comedic archetypes' and I wrote some possible dialogue for each one. Then he had the team vote. The winning archetype? The Buffoon - like Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin. James was pleased. I was not. "The problem," I said, "is I don't find the Buffoon funny." 😅"

""But you're a professional." "Sure, I *can* write him... but comedy isn't science. I need to find him funny. If I write him, the only comedy I'll mine is where he makes fun of himself." James took that on board and then passed the character onto someone else. The result? Oghren. I rest my case. So back to the supportive character: that was my thought for a new Alistair. It was a special case, after all - the DAO PC was thrust into a terrible situation. They needed someone who had their back. A bud. A *likeable* bud. I was watching Buffy at the time, and my thoughts drifted towards Xander. Now, I know Joss Whedon is persona non grata these days, but this was 2006, OK? I was watching Buffy and thought, "man, Xander is such a wasted character" and considered how to fix him. Then I realized this might work for Alistair. Plus, I wanted to see if I could replicate the Whedon vocal patter. That was the new Alistair: a more useful and likeable yet equally dorky version of Xander. We had very strict rules in DA about language: no modern speech styles, colloquialisms, any words that came into use in our world after 1900 got severe side eye... but Alistair? Alistair got a blanket pass. Was it great that the lead writer's leading man got to break the rules? I guess not, but it's my opinion that you can break those kinds of rules - selectively, in small doses. Too much and you break the illusion. And it worked. Alistair was an instant hit. Not just with the team, but with the fans."

"Confession time? Yes, I knew Goldanna wasn't meant to be Alistair's mother. But neither was Fiona, originally. I think fans caught wind of some revisionism at work, and OK it's true. I had a more Arthurian idea for his birth but I stopped liking it... yet not soon enough to go back and make edits. Should I have just left it be, left Goldanna as his mother? Maybe. It was one of those writer things I just couldn't let go of and I probably could have used someone to sit me down and go "Gaider, please. Just stop." I still like Fiona, and where I took it. But I probably shouldn't have gone there. Casting Alistair was SUCH a chore. He required a weird mix of devilish charm, but with enough sincerity and adorkableness it didn't come off as smarmy. Every audition went full smarm... until Steve Valentine up and appeared out of nowhere. In the midst of a batch of audition files, there he was. We brought Steve in "just to try out", and he pulled it off. Even the "frog time" line, which (seriously) nobody else could. And when he got to the romantic lines, Steve's voice turned into pure butter without, again, sliding into "oh, he's slightly creepy". Both Caroline and I were sold. And he was so gloriously easy to write. It's a well I'd probably return to... a bit too often, maybe? Maric, then Anders in Awakening, and then Alistair kept popping up in future games and the comics because, yes, he was pretty much the breakout comedy character of DA. Which still makes me happy. 😁 CORRECTION: Goldanna was someone Alistair thought was his *sister*, and her mother his mother. Look, it was almost twenty years ago, OK? 😅 --- I actually had a whole scene written in DAI where Fiona tells him, but the requirements were so specific for them both to be in Skyhold and it seemed like it'd be relevant only to a small small sub-section of fans (and confusing to everyone else) so it was dropped. Rightfully so, I guess."

[source thread]

User: "The Buffy vibes were strong in DAO and I was very happy with that at the time. What I loved about DAO was the mix of dark themes entwined with bits of levity. That's how I like my angst. Dark, broody with a side of ha-has and y'all delivered in DAO for sure." David Gaider: "That's a me thing. I like going dark - really dark - and then pairing it with light, comedic moments. It provides peaks and valleys in the tone, and prevents either from becoming overwhelming. Hey if it worked for Shakespeare (alas, poor Yorrick), it can work for DA, right? 😉" [source]