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FINAL FANTASY XIV SHADOWBRINGERS + ENDWALKER SPOILERS

DRAGON AGE INQUISITION + VEILGUARD SPOILERS

SPOILERS

Do not interact with this post or watch it if you do not want to be spoiled for Final Fantasy 14 and Dragon Age.

I made a video compiling similarities between Solas DragonAge and Emet-Selch FinalFantasy because idk I just wanted to see the video proof with my own eyes. I was trying to figure out why one of them (Emet) had a much more satisfying plot and character ending to me, and what could be changed about Solas' story to make it more satisfying to me. And anyway, I stopped adding examples not because I ran out of even more similar lines, but because the video was going to be far longer than tumblr accepts as a video upload. I had not really gotten to the point of finding examples in Endwalker, this is mostly Shadowbringers and Inquisition. So I was only like halfway done. There is so much more than this. I didn't even get into the monster transformations or their very beautiful and noble best friends or their estrangement and reconciliation with a mother goddess who caused them great pain or the part where they both play emotionally intelligent therapist to their very irritated enemies or the romances or....

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The Holy Trinity

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Will Solas wear wigs?

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the ambassador 

based off of Idleness by John William Godward

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I'm going to say something controversial. I think there's something Veilguard does better than any other Dragon Age game. Namely: incorporating the companions into the plot.

Look, I love Origins as much as everyone. But to be frank: you could cut every companion except Alistair, Morrigan and Loghain and the plot could still work. Once you've finished the mission where you recruit a companion, there aren't other main quests that involve them in any way.

Oghren and Wynne could have stayed home after their recruitment missions for all the difference it would make to the main plot. Sten, Leliana and Zevran could vanish and nothing would change, because once they're on your team, they don't interact with the main plot at all. (There's the Temple of Sacred Ashes, I suppose - but even then, you'd be going on that quest whether Leliana and Wynne were there or not, and it's very telling that they can both die here and next to nothing in the rest of the game is impacted.)

Again: I love Origins. This doesn't detract from any of these characters being great, or from the story being great. It just means there's a layer of separation between the two. They're involved in the story, but they're not driving it, and you seldom get to see them have strong feelings about it.

DA2 is a huge step up. Your companions' personal stories are integral parts of the main plot. You can't do the Deep Roads expedition without witnessing Karl's death and its impact on Anders. You can't enter Act 2 without seeing Varric's brother betray him, or watching your sibling either die or begin a new path in life. Act 2's climax happens because of choices Isabela and Aveline have made. Act 3's endgame is all about Anders making one enormous decision. Even Fenris and Merrill, who have the fewest ties to the plot, have strong reasons to be invested in the Mage/Templar conflict.

And then Inquisition just... backslides. There are multiple companions you don't need to recruit at all, or can send away with zero alteration to the main plot. Your companions don't like Corypheus because he's bad, but no one - except maybe Varric - has any strong personal feelings about him. They have no personal stake in defeating him, not like Alistair has a personal stake in opposing Loghain, or Anders in opposing Meredith.

We go to the Winter Palace, and Vivienne is not made a part of that story. We have a whole subplot about the Wardens, and Blackwall only gets a couple of extra lines, if you even bring him. Their personal arcs could have been somehow impacted by these missions, and they're just... not. Sera is packed with internalised self-hatred that manifests as trying to distance herself from elven culture, to the point of sometimes lashing out at other elves. And despite all the missions you do where elven history features... Sera's growth past that flaw happens entirely offscreen between the base game and Trespasser?????

IMO, this is one of the biggest reasons why Corypheus is such a bland villain. He doesn't make anyone grow, except by starting a plot for them to be part of. He doesn't challenge them emotionally. No one is invested in him. Because no one interacts with the darn plot.

Veilguard, though? Veilguard keeps your companions interacting with the story the whole way through. The Treviso/Minrathous choice affects both Lucanis and Neve heavily, and impacts who they become for the rest of the game. These cities are personal to you, even if you're not a Crow or Shadow Dragon, because your companions love them.

The Siege of Weisshaupt is beyond personal to Davrin and Lucanis, both of whom are entrusted with major parts of the quest: trying to kill the archdemon and Ghilan'nain. Lucanis is affected by his failure to kill Ghilan'nain for ages afterward. Davrin is haunted by survivor's guilt; he should have died when he struck down the archdemon. He's alive. How can he live with that?

Whenever killing the gods becomes a possibility, Rook hands the lyrium dagger to Lucanis. When the squad go to fight the gods' dragons with the Wardens, Taash is the one to flush the first dragon out. When you infiltrate the Venatori, Neve tricks your way in, and everything that happens is especially weighty to Bellara, whose people have been abducted. On Tearstone Island, because of how Lucanis and Spite have grown, they strikes true.

Did you not hate Elgar'nan before that mission? Because you probably will after you watch him capture Bellara or Neve, and see his fellow god kill Harding or Davrin.

You know what's a great piece of writing? There's no reason Emmrich shouldn't have been an option to deal with the wards on Tearstone Island; he's one of the ideal options to take out more wards with the Veil Jumpers in the final mission. But you can't select him to do it. Because Emmrich has far less personal investment in the Elgar'nan battle than the other two. This is Neve's city. This is the monster who tries to call himself Bellara's god. The game makes sure the characters who take control of the Blight at the end are the ones with the greatest stakes in doing so.

One of your companions, not you, wrests command of the Blight from Elgar'nan. The final mission depends on how well you've come to know each companion's skills. They're just... always involved.

And they're invested, too. The companions all have serious personal reasons to hate the antagonists by the end. Lucanis and Neve have either seen their city burn, or know it happened at the cost of their friend's (and potential partner's) hometown. Davrin has seen his order devastated. These are Bellara's and Davrin's supposed gods, and instead of helping the elves reclaim their history and culture, they're trying to enslave the world. Harding learns that the Evanuris maimed and destroyed her Titan ancestors.

Emmrich and Taash have perhaps the smallest emotional tie - and sadly I do think Emmrich especially gets underutilized in the plot. But heck, Taash is still hella motivated by the way the gods are abusing dragons. And Emmrich is tied thematically to the main conflict. He's facing the question of immortality, while nigh-immortal beings are right in front of him, proving how that gift can be abused. The final choice of his personal arc is whether he's willing to embrace his personal, mortal attachments, at the cost of consequences that terrify him... you know, the same question that Solas faces at the end.

And don't even get me started on how everyone is emotionally tied to Solas. Harding and Neve watched him kill Varric in front of them. Everyone not dead or captured has to watch him drag Rook into the Fade. Just about every companion faces some kind of huge regret or failure at some point, in constant foreshadowing for Solas's prison of regret: both the literal one he sticks Rook in, and the mental one of his own making.

Veilguard has its problems, but it absolutely shines at keeping its characters involved and invested in the main story. It gives them things to do, it gives them reasons to care. For all the flaws this game has, this part is good writing.

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neve neve neve neve neve-

ᶦᵐ ˢᵒ ⁿᵒʳᵐᵃˡ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ʰᵉʳ ᶦ ˢʷᵉᵃʳ

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Dragon Age: Inquisition | The Elven Ruins

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Knight in shining armour

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You know who truly treated Solas as Wisdom? The Inquisitor.

Whether romanced or befriended.

Of course, I'm going to focus on Solavellan for this.

Inspired by this post (x)

You go to Solas to seek answers, advice, and knowledge. And he approves.

Such as in regards to his life, experiences in the Fade, and knowledge of spirits.

The approval dialogue plays out in a respectful, inquisitive, and knowledge-seeking way, especially in Haven.

Then you reach Skyhold, and you can ask for advice in regards to the Grey Wardens, Orlais, and Corypheus.

But what if find most interesting in perspective of Veilguard, you can knock him back down a peg when he becomes Pride (at least that's my interpretation) when discussing the Dalish

The full dialogue tree and credit can be found here (x)

Solas is finally not a leader of a rebellion, he is not even an adviser. His title is the Inquisition's Fade expert.

He had a lot of time on his hands, so much time he got to paint murals.

Do you know what's easier than lying? Not lying. He literally could just be the nerd that he was who had all the Inquisition's resources when it came to gaining knowledge through books and tomes the Inquisition acquired. And occasionally answer the Inquisitor's questions. He was so himself that he fell in love. Because he let himself believe the lie that he was just Solas.

He got to be just the source of wisdom. Just Solas.

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I'm still scratching my head over the second part. But I'm pretty sure "Lathallin! Ma banal'evanuris" is the the equivalent of Solas going, "Yo! False god!" 🤣

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When your own OC becomes your blorbo it is both glorious and torturous

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OP, I think you’re on to something.

"Fear is a very old, very strong feeling. It predates love, pride, compassion... every emotion save perhaps desire." Solas in DAI

Had a thought. I know a lot of people think Elgar'nan was a Tyranny Spirit before he got a body (not sure if that's actually confirmed anywhere or just implied) but I have another take. He reads to me more as Desire/Envy. He was the first of the firstborn; he watched the dwarves and humans and Wanted what they were and what they had. His love of control and power can also be read through a lens of Desire or Envy. He clearly Desires obedience and love and likely Envied the love that Evanuris like Mythal commanded much more easily than he did. And the thing that really sparked this idea is the way he speaks to Rook and the Veilguard in their heads. He offers them their Desires which he seems to know instinctively, without even being fully aware of their presence and who they are. He fully sounds like a Desire demon in that whole sequence. He doesn't crawl into their heads and say they should submit to him because he has Divine Right or that the natural way of things is for them to be subservient to him. He goes straight for the Desires before anything else, as if that's the thing that comes easiest to him and that he understands best.

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He’s so hard to draw😱I think Hawke would be quite surprised by Fenris’ new hairstyle.

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I’m genuinely baffled by how poorly this was handled. Don’t get me wrong—it might work in a Sunday morning children’s cartoon, but in Dragon Age? Seriously? The quickest way to undermine the narrative is by ridiculing its most tragic and complex elements, like Solas’s character.

A lot of things are starting to make sense now, such as Bellera’s random meta-commentary, which feels completely inconsistent with everything we know about Dalish Elves in the Dragon Age universe. Characters like Anaris and Solas, along with the rich lore of the elves, deserved so much better than this.

Me: Maybe I've been too harsh to John Epler.

*enter these (thankfully, cut!) lines by Anaris, written by Epler*:

Me: Nevermind...

(huge thanks to @corseque for uploading the Veilguard script!)

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davrin’s intro shot really is straight out of a romance movie. he comes jogging over a rise in the path and stands there on top of the hill, framed by sunlight, chest heaving, shirt open to his navel. if you look closely, I’m sure his hair is flowing in the breeze, too

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I wondered if anyone had requested this yet on Cameo and then remembered that I have money to exchange for goods and services