#& though that can DEFINITELY be said for a lot of HoF's but he would go out of his way to make it everyone's problem

[xfindingtrouble]

ellis as king would have been one of the worst things to ever happen to ferelden

[acourtofquestions]

I personally love all of SJM’s books, and have read TOG and ACOTAR (I’m on the second book of CC) but I’ve seen multiple anti-SJM posts on tumblr. I personally disagree with them, but what’s your opinion?

(One of the main things they argue is that Rhysand was abusive)

A very good question! Thanks for asking! I always love talking about fandom stuff & your posts are always a fav😊🫶 @romantasyreader28 (apology in advance for the delay & long ramble lol; it was a good question I had many thoughts on🤣)

I was actually pondering something similar within this note but separate for an updated reading post on Rowan from TOG (I’m reading HoF for the first time; & though I generally try not to pick “pro/anti” (as there’s always another side to the story) not gonna lie I was near “anti”-Rowan… until PT. 2… hence the more “pro”-Rowan upcoming post😂).

— So there are definitely a LOT of changing opinions depending on the point in the series.

As far as Rhysand goes:

I was on a rollercoaster with him at first too, the introductory chapters & UTM time period were concerning (assault is a big trigger for me; so having Feyre drink faerie wine, “marking” her with paint, & kissing her without consent was disturbing).

With that said, I did find his character generally easier to “like/not loathe” on first read in comparison to other “enemies to lovers”. I think this is because of a few reasons… The 1st being you know there is more going on beneath the surface. 2nd, the perspective it’s written in shows their draw to each-other & makes swaying the audience easier. 3rd the undercurrents to their banter & little clues to more within their interactions; such as him betting on HER; shows he believes in her & also something more. Finally, it is furthered by the already very dark setting, not to give excuse but to more easily explain the why which is NOT of malice. My biggest point is that he does not defend it, apologizes for it & it is not portrayed as “okay”.

He is not perfect, he can be read as hero or villain; he does NOT make the same mistake twice, he DOES apologize, he does TRY to be better. He creates a sanctuary specifically for women to escape abuse, he makes a lot of effort to give Feyre HER choices & empower her to make them. And the times we are shown his side it is much less morally murky.

I know there is a lot of anger around him hiding the risk of Feyre & Nyx; I don’t disagree it is wrong & confusing, but we do not get the full picture, clearly showing in the other perspectives. & The other being his threat to Nesta after she tells Feyre; which was wrong & he knows it. — There is a difference however between anger & action. — While many of these patterns could probably be deemed as abusive, they could also be deemed as acceptable/explainable. Which one is correct?

— Well, at the end of the day it’s fiction. Within a genre that very much struggles with this as a whole. & While there is something to be said for “real world” power within fictional escapes. It also comes with a different & messier set of non-existent rules; if we are to examine them all, quickly everything becomes problematic. & maybe that’s good to do, maybe not; it’s worth acknowledging; but in that acknowledge that it is fiction.

Meanwhile, writers are real people. So be wary of jumping toward conclusions on either side…

As far as SJM goes:

I don’t know & we’ve never met, I don’t know what she’s like, what she believes in, what she’s experienced. I doubt anyone would write a series with the intention to sway people into abusive relationships. & though intent is a good question to ask; I tend to lean similarly towards no.

There are times I think abuse is shown; whether intentional (as Arobynn and Celaena), or questionably (Tamlin & Feyre’s first kiss; a moment that bothered me as she is drunk, but I actually appreciate because it is shown how problematic they are later; point to it as a key warning, not “romantic fairytale” to aspire for).

I also think the Maasverse does take time to give survivors & “unspoken stories” a spotlight, that means a great deal (or at least it did to me) with characters like Gwyn being a large one.

It serves as an enjoyable escape from the world; one we know is fiction. A morality that can be more “fun” to debate & ponder, but still exists within fiction & opinion primarily over actual moral grounding.

For me: I love Rhysand (though I may not wish to marry him in the real world) I wish to have someone to hold my hair when I have nightmares & I loved watching him and Feyre fall in love in moments like that; I love the way SJM turns plots on their heads & think she does a great job with them.

Reading throne of glass as my next Maasverse series has been cathartic; I have thoroughly enjoyed many dynamics and actually praised them for flipping stereotypes on their heads & NOT being abusive.

So, while I think there are many sides and points to argue & at the end of the day is generally within fiction; I enjoy SJM’s writing & reading them. I generally don’t find it more problematic than other series. And prefer to enjoy fandoms, or move along if it doesn’t feed me healthily.

[vigilskeep]

sorry if you've gotten an ask like this before, but imagine your hawke and warden (any of your choice) got flipped, how do you think they would get along w the companions from the other game? and in general how would they do and feel in the position of the hof/champion, hypothetically?

i just love hearing about your characters ngl i really want to put them in situations

LOVE asks like this pls put my guys in situations

keir as the hero of ferelden... i guess not totally unreasonable, he did fight at ostagar, duncan could’ve picked him up (read: pried him away from his family with the right of conscription.) he’d get along with alistair well enough, though it might take him a minute to warm up to him for near-templar reasons. wouldn’t get along too well with leliana or wynne, and wynne would leave the party after he defiled the sacred ashes, leliana only staying via an intimidation check which is a thing you can do if she’s hardened iirc. fuck the chantry he’s gotta get them reaver powers. not much patience for oghren. would do well with sten, shale, zevran. would kill loghain, no doubt abt that. and honestly, i’ve said before that they maybe had a thing in lothering, keir would romance morrigan and do the dark ritual with her (suddenly just realised the hilarious implication that kieran’s name is loosely inspired by keir possibly in the normal worldstate as well). keir would be fairly bitter about the whole thing and abt the wardens, and his priority would still be finding his family and (if only by virtue of stopping the blight) keeping them safe. he would put alistair on the throne alone, not hardened

it’s harder to see how minerva would become the champion, but if she wasn’t the hero i guess she could end up as an apostate and maybe wind up in kirkwall fleeing the blight like everyone else. if she had the relationship hawke has w varric they’d get along like a house on fire, i’m trying to find a normal way to say she loves when people are obsessed with her AGHASJSKSKK. i cannot imagine her talking to sebastian. minerva and aveline in a room would not go well. she would rival fenris but like still a close important relationship but that means even more tension. friendship with anders but she wouldn’t distract the grand cleric for him even if she would support him in the end; she doesn’t act if she doesn’t know what’s going on and she doesn’t appreciate being asked to let alone what she sees as the attempted emotional blackmail. easily friends with isabela and definitely sleeps with her regardless of romance choice, that happens in dao anyway lmao. friends with merrill, would be such an interesting way to explore minerva’s growing confidence in blood magic. i’m honestly undecided on romance—isabela hits a lot of the same beats as zev’s and thus makes sense for her to go for, merrill would be incredible for her as dalish love interest for minerva makes me insane conceptually let alone a fellow blood mage, fenris would be kind of an unhinged choice for, you know, noted blood mage, but also it’s a different flavour on fen rivalmance because of the shared heritage and i know she’d be into him and like... the drama of it all... anyway minerva would love gaining power in kirkwall as the champion and would lean ambitious, maybe even try for viscount even if it was impossible because of who she is. and in the last straw would be mad at anders for going behind her back—significantly more mad than she is in the canon situation where she is generally highly supportive, actually, because she was right here anders we could have fucking talked abt this and planned ahead—but she’ll support him when it comes to it and she’d never let anyone lay a hand on him

[sweetmage]

SebastianxBethany -or- CarverxMerrill

Hi! Sorry for the late response! Well, late for me anyway, I guess it's still the same day😅

For Seb/Bethany... I don't actually ship this personally. I would try to answer the questions anyway for fun, but unfortunately I don't know Bethany very well/have never seen them together other than skimming their banters on the wiki so I don't think I can't add much😅No shame to them at all though, I have seen some of their banters and they definitely got some little thang going on!!! As for Merrill/Carver... I like them a lot 😌

when I started shipping it if I did: This was my first DA2 ship. I was sad when Carver left (and even sadder that he became a templar in my playthrough, like come on...), I wanted to see more of him and Merrill!!!!

my thoughts: I think they are very awkward and cute, love how flustered he gets around her. It's also really sweet to see the softer side of him.

What makes me happy about them: Same as above! Also height difference. They're also just very funny, I loved that she thought everything he said was an innuendo when he was being more wholesome than Hawke could ever hope to be when flirting with her. She also doesn't pick on him or antagonize him the way the other characters seem to!

What makes me sad about them: They get separated from each other no matter what (wardens, templars, or death), but I would imagine him becoming a templar in my playthrough kinda puts a huge wedge in things, I don't really see them coming back from that tbh 😅 Though perhaps there is something juicy in the heartbreak/betrayal of it ending in that way. And Warden Carver is a whole other can of worms...

things done in fanfic that annoys me: I have never read a fanfic about them. However, I do not like when any fic infantilizes Merrill or has a non-mage step in to save the day because she "doesn't know what she's doing" or whatever so I would dislike that here too.

things I look for in fanfic: I think I'd only prefer to read fluffy things about them, personally. Especially her worrying over a warden Carver, especially in a canon where one of her clanmates became the HoF so she'd have that personal experience to strengthen her concern for him. Not to mention the general issues with maintaining a relationship while being a warden, etc. I'd love to see them navigate that. I'm sure there's a million fics about that, I just don't read fics often so I'll have to look some other time😅

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I also ship Carver with an unnamed male warden I just mentioned offhand in a fic once and I ship Merrill with Isabela, my m!blood mage Hawke, sometimes with my dalish circle mage/blood mage El'la as a QPP. I also sometimes ship her in an OT3 with Tamlen (who survived) and my dalish warden Savil. I also love her having some sorta deep platonic thing going on with my canon Hawke and Anders post-canon. Same with her and Sebastian being deeply close besties. (Merrill is my favorite DA character so I think about her with everyone, she has such good chemistry with so many people)

My happily ever after for them: I think it might be asking a lot for them to ever have a normal, quiet life but I'd at least like them write to each other frequently and find times to meet whenever they can, even if only just to chat and steal a smooch for a few minutes as he's passing through.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: Carver as the little spoon is funny to me because he is so Large so I am kinda digging it. There is also something cute about the safety and security of being wrapped comfortably in her arms after many months away experiencing The Horrors. Not to mention post-nightmare too. He seems to take the whole Warden thing really well, but I can't imagine it isn't at least somewhat taxing.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Just catching up and sharing funny anecdotes, exchanging gifts perhaps. When they live such different lives that don't allow for much normalcy I could imagine it might be nice just to relax and enjoy each other's company peacefully for a while 💗

[tomtenadia]

Island Dreams - Chapter 6

* Insert greeting here according to your time zone.*

So, chapter 6 is here. A bit of development fro our two idiots. Hope you like it.

I have chapter 7 and 8 down but they need heavy editing. Also, last night I was inspired and I did manage to plot the skeleton of the story, so I know exactly where I am going. There should be 28 chapters and an epilogue.

Well, I hope, in the meantime that you will enjoy this one.

Spot the HoF references :)

---------

The next day Rowan was back at work. He opened on time as usual and a couple of tourists came into the shop but left quite quickly. Probably not impressed by the lack of tacky touristy stuff. He was working on re-organising a shelf when the door opened and he was not ready to see again the person who crossed the threshold. “Hey you.” The woman smiled at him tenderly. Rowan forgot how to breath. Aelin had her hair in a braid and a straw hat on her head. A nice colourful shirt and then his gaze trailed south. She was wearing shorts and the sight of her long tanned legs almost killed him. It looked like Aelin was ready to go on a tropical beach to suntan and relax all day. She was a goddess. And she was in front of him. Smiling. “Back at you.” He said, getting up slowly, not trusting his legs. He felt he could faint anytime at the sight. “I am here for my book.” A timid smile appeared on his lips then his legs finally moved and did manage to cover the few steps taking him to the counter. He grabbed the book and handed it to her. He hesitated for a moment, as if to try and have a conversation but then decide against. What was he going to say anyway?

“Have fun.” That was the safest comment he could make. “I bet you are dying to know how it finishes.” Aelin grabbed the book quite eagerly and held it to her chest “Hell yeah. The fake queen has lost her marbles and she deserves to die. Painfully if possible. And I can’t believe that the main couple got separated, they are at the opposite extremes of the continent and that bastard of trusted member of her court told her, her lover was dead. And the plot twist at the end?” Rowan laughed. Actually laughed and for Aelin it was the most beautiful sound she ever heard. The smile reached his eyes and he was even more stunning. “Be ready for a lot of angst though.” Aelin dismissed him with her hand “I eat angst for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” They were talking. Not about what happened but he did not care. “Have you read The cursed kingdom?” “Of course.” “Well, if I survived the angst of that book I can survive anything.” She explained. “I have a present for you.” Her book went on the floor and she began fumbling in her backpack, clearly looking for something. “Ah! Here it is.” In her hand there was a small rectangular packet wrapped in bookish paper. Rowan took it suspiciously and opened. At the sight of the gift a roaring laugh erupted from him. Such a genuine laugh that left Aelin stunned. That could not be the same person who told her she was nothing to him. “So now when you open the fridge you will think of me.” She explained, pointing at the tacky fridge magnet with Stornoway written on, now in his hands. He smiled and attached the magnet to his metal pen holder on his desk “I spend more time here than at my fridge. Now it will always be in front of me.” They were talking and laughing, it looked like somehow the fight they had was just a bad memory, but he could not forgive himself for what he said to her. How could he apologise for his behaviour? He was terrible at this kind of things. How was he going to explain the chaos that was his heart at the moment? Then he remembered about the dark haired guy and the book and sadness engulfed him. “I wanted to apologise.” She surprised him searching for his gaze. Her blue eyes met his and he could not look away. “I said horrible things.” She continued. Aelin placed the book on the counter and moved a step in his direction, closing the distance “I was having a bad day and I think I exploded and took it out on the wrong person.” Rowan moved a step closer to her as well “I said horrible things too. You were being nice and brought me coffee. It’s just that…” he paused. He was so bad at this “I am not good at communicating with people as you can see. You are not just a customer….” “Mo charaid” he heard her whisper and smiled. “You are learning…” he added. He extended his arm and took her hand in his “I’d love to try an be your friend.” With a swift motion he pulled her to him, to his chest and she felt amazing against him. She was shorter and her head fitted just under his chin. Her arms caught him off guard when they wrapped themselves around him. “I am a mess.” It was a whisper from her but he heard it “I am a mess. My life is going belly up and some days I feel like drowning.” She looked at him and for a moment he was speechless. There was so much pain and anguish in those beautiful blue eyes of hers. “I am lost…” She whispered never removing her gaze from him “…and I don’t know the way.” At those words, his heart ached. He hugged her tighter and hoped that his action would help. Maybe his actions would convey better his feelings. A hug was all he could give her just now, but he hoped it helped a little bit. “I am a bit of a mess too.” Finally he confessed to her. She was being honest to him. She deserved a bit of his honesty too. “A bit stuck, as my aunt would say.” She is stuck too. Aelin leaned back from the embrace and put a hand on his chest, near the heart “When you are ready.” His hand covered her on his heart “When we are both ready, we will tell each other our stories.” “We will help each other.” She added softly “And maybe we could find our way back together.” He nodded and felt lighter for a moment “Together then.” “To whatever end.” Said Aelin in a solemn tone. Rowan grinned “that’s cheesy. It sounds as if it came from an epic adventure where the main hero is ready to embark in a dangerous mission. Sitting on his horse, sword wielded high and he shouts that.” “I did read it in a book actually.” Commented Aelin, laughing at the scene he had painted. With a huff she pulled away from him and walked to a shelf, grabbed a book and when she returned she shoved it in his face “You even sell it.” Rowan grabbed the book from her hands and set it aside. He was definitely going to read it. “If you spoiler it, I’ll kill you with my own hands.” She stopped again right in front of him and looked up “To whatever end…” a faint smile painted her lips “It could be our motto.” He grabbed her hand and put it back on his heart “Sounds epic enough for the two of us.” They had made some progress but he could not stop thinking about the other guy. And he could not risk asking her. She had probably seen the note which meant she knew that he knew, but he decided to give her some space. Also, the two of them were just friends. But a pang of jealousy hit him nonetheless. Anger flooded in him at the thought that he might kiss her. Or worse. It was not his place to be so possessive but that nasty emotion had been festering in him since the day the stranger had come to buy the book for her. He pushed the bad thought away. Having her back and being her friend had to be enough for now. He could not give himself to her completely until he had dealt with his life and his issues. Then she looked past him and noticed the books on the floor and the empty shelf “were you rearranging books?” “Yeah, I was playing with history section. It needed a sprucing up.” He looked at her face lit up in joy. “Can I help you? I love rearranging books. Please? Pretty please?” There was no way he could resist her. Not when she pleaded with her radiant smile. He gave in. “Fine. come.” He moved away and all of a sudden he missed the contact with her hand. They both went to the shelf and Rowan started explaining her how he was planning to reshuffle the display. “We can put some of the best historical books on display on the table, to advertise them.” She grabbed a book about the neholitic settlements “Like this one. Or this one about the Iron Age house in Bosta.” She continued “It’s such a cool place.” “And how do you know about Bosta?” “I… I was there.” He saw her hesitate and wondered if she had been there with the other guy and hated the thought of the two of them together. It should have been him to take her to all these places. Take her to Callanish and make her smile with all the myths connected to the place. Go at night and have a picnic under the stars and the Milky Way. It should have been him. That was jealousy. Dark, horrible jealousy. “Did you like it?” Aelin nodded “But my favourite was Callanish…” she looked at him and thought about the book and his note “It was such a magical place.” “It is. I have to take you there at the Solstice.” The big smile painted on her face was so beautiful it hurt. “I… felt something when I was there.” She started trying not to feel like an idiot for what she was about to say, “I sat down with my back against one of the stones, inside the circle and the chambered cairn and I just felt something.” She chuckled “Gee, now I sound like a lunatic.” Rowan placed a hand on her shoulder “You don’t. I have felt things too. Can’t actually describe what, it’s not something you can put into words easily. Especially at the solstices. I always go there for both winter and summer solstice.” “Ever seen the shining one walking down the avenue on midsummer’s dawn?” Rowan shook his head “No, he/she is still eluding me.” “Well, wonder if this year is the year we’ll see him.” “And…” he stifled a chuckle “Where else have you been?” “I have seen Callanish VIII. The stones on Great Bernera.” “Oh, so you have been busy.” He joked, while emptying the shelves to try and concentrate and hide from her his true emotions. If only he had been nicer from the start… “A bit.” Aelin took a few copies of the book he had chosen for her about Callanish and arranged them nicely on the table in a very attractive display. She then grabbed a few other different books and piled them nicely to fill the table. At the end she took a step back and admired her masterpiece “I am a genius.” Her arms folded at her chest and a big grin on her face. Rowan looked up from his position and felt suddenly the desperate desire to kiss her “You have a high opinion of herself.” He mocked her, adoring the expression painted on her face, nose scrunched up. “Give me a week. I swear, you will finally start to sell these books. If I win, you buy me lunch. If you win, you can ask me one question about myself.” Aelin hoped he took the challenge. She wanted to say that if he won he would have to confess something about him, but after his reaction, she decided it wasn’t a good idea yet. “I just hope that you are ready for a mortgage because I’ll get the biggest lunch your aunt can cook and make you cry.” “Ha.” He shouted pointing a book at her “Maeve is my aunt, she will not make me pay.” “Whatever, I still get my free lunch.” Rowan stood and eyed her display and he had to admit that she was quite good “This is actually quite nice.” “Well, at least I know that now that my medical career has gone to shit, I can always become a bookseller.” She added sadly. “You are a doctor.” Rowan added stunned by that confession and by the realisation that apart from her name he knew nothing about her. “I was, am… I… it’s complicated at the moment.” and she gave him her back. Gently his hand touched her shoulder and Aelin turned to face him and Rowan noticed her eyes filling with tears. Withe the back of her hand she wiped her face and pretended to be strong. Although in reality it hurt. Sometimes so much that she could not breath. There was anger in her, so much anger, and despair. “I am fine.’ She sniffled “Don’t worry about it.” “Aelin…” his hand was about to caress her cheek but she grabbed his wrist and stopped the gesture “No. I don’t need your pity.” She grabbed quickly her backpack, book and hat “I should go. I wasted enough of your time already.” She turned and left the shop not looking at him. Rowan stood immobile with a book in his hands and stared at the spot where she had disappeared. And all of a sudden he knew what question he wanted to ask. He wanted to know more about this woman. Discover what horrendous things had happened in her life to bring her to tears that quickly. She was hurting. Badly. Then all of a sudden he thought of the perfect idea to bring a smile back to that gorgeous face of hers.

Aelin left the shop and took the road to get to Lews castle. She followed the path through the park and ended up at the marina and eventually crashed on a bench in a spot a bit far away from civilisation. She took her phone out and called Lysandra and her friend answered after a couple of rings. “Darling…” Lysandra’s voice sounded out of breath. Shit had she interrupted something? “I guess you finally have a day off.” “Uh-uh…” said her friend “It happens you know?” “Lys, are you with Aedion just now?” “A bit.” Aelin laughed “So, I guess his hands were good.” “You have noooooo idea.” Aelin smiled “Hey, have fun you two. I’ll call you tomorrow.” She paused “Just… don’t make an aunt yet.” She said her goodbye to Lysandra and stood and then went and leaned again the pier barrier and admired the sea and the marina. She needed to talk to Lysandra. She had to tell her her current situation and how she was torn between two men who were completely the opposite of each other. She liked them both. They were both interesting and fascinating people in their own respective way.

Shit. She was in such deep, unending shit.

[squeakedout]

ooo how about 1, 2, 3, 23, 24, 27, 28 for he protag asks? 👀

LET'S GOOOOO

1. What would your Warden generally think of your Hawke and your inquisitor?

oooooh man. Hera would think Athena is well meaning if not a little dumb. She'd also think she takes on too much responsibility for things that ultimately were out of her control/not her fault. They'd get along pretty well, I can see Hera developing a soft spot for her!

As for Circe, I think she'd KIND OF HAVE PETTY BEEF WITH HER FOR PUTTING ALISTAIR IN DANGER LMAOOOO. Like, NOT A LOT. BUT IT'S THERE. That aside, she'd probably relate to her quite a bit re: being suddenly responsible for major decisions and being tasked with saving the world. I think they'd probably banter a lot.

Speaking of banter, I have written banter for them as a fun little exercise!

2. What would your Hawke generally think of your warden and your Inquisitor?

Hawke has a lot of respect for Hera as the HOF, Especially since I have the personal canon that Hawke was at the actual battle of Ostagar with Carver and literally picked him up and started running when she realized shit was going sour. She'd have a lot of sympathy for her and what happened since she experienced part of it first hand.

Hawke thinks Circe's WAY TOO RELAXED ABOUT ALL OF THIS, which is HILARIOUS coming from Ms. Copes With Stressful Situations Through Humor. They don't get off on the best foot, but Athena trusts Varric's judgement and they warm up to each other eventually. I think part of it is that they're two people who are kind of similar but crucially different if that makes sense and that can lead to some issues!

3. What would your Inquisitor generally think of your warden and your Hawke?

I like to think Circe is pretty much the standard Yeah She's Cool And She Saved The World viewpoint until they properly meet. Though I do love the concept of her reading that vaguely threatening letter about keeping Alistair safe and being like "oh, she definitely will kill me in the dead of night if anything happens to this man. noted. I respect that."

As for Hawke, she and Circe actually don't get along initially! I think Circe would be jealous of how close Hawke and Varric are in a very childish way HAHA, pre-conclave Circe used to read romance novels in secret and she was a BIG fan of Swords And Shields and ends up befriending Varric after the initial AHHHHH wears off. Once they get to know each other a bit and open up to each other things change. Of course, then Here Lies The Abyss happens...

23. How old were each of your protagonists at the start of their respective games? Do you think their age affected the choices they made? Looking back would they have done any major action differently?

Hera: 20/21 - I think growing up in the circumstances she grew up in made her more used to making hard choices, but even then she really isn't a mature/old soul type. I think Hera starts the game off basically hardened and gets softened through the course of the story. In her initially play through, I had her kill Cauthrien, so I think in future play throughs I won't have her do that but in the current canon it is a big regret of hers because at that point she's only killing when it's absolutely necessary.

Athena: 20 - and OH GOD YEAH. I think everything with Bethany was one of Athena's greatest regrets to the point that it actively influenced the rest of my play through sdjfdjgjdfjgjfd. That being said, I don't think she'd handle it any differently, I think taking Bethany to the Deep Roads and having her become a Warden was/is an integral part of her story. Kind of kicks off a series of actions she feels directly responsible for and tries to atone for to the point of self destruction.

Circe: 27/28 - Circe starts off pretty purposely immature and unwilling to step up to the plate and evolves into someone who realizes that if she stays the way she is the consequences will affect more than just herself. I can't think of anything major she would do differently, but she would probably have been less antagonistic and childish when the Inquisition first started. (That being said I still play her like that in game because the character evolution is FUN FOR ME TO SEE)

24. How do each of your protagonists handle loss?

I do not need to separate this answer because it is the same for all of them: BADLY. NOT WELL. Hera would absolutely go on a revenge murder quest of some kind for anyone she loves, Athena will always think that she can save everyone and if she can't it is directly because of her own shortcomings, and Circe spins out into anger.

27. What would their fears on the graves in the fade during Here Lies The Abyss be?

oooof.

Hera: Losing her loved ones.

Athena: Being left alone.

Circe: Her legacy being used against her people/being forgotten as an individual.

28. What is their favourite location within their own game and what would be their favourite in each others?

Hera really liked Denerim, it being a big city and near the ocean. I like to think that as she got used to the surface she ended up really liking lakes/rivers/large bodies of water. In Kirkwall she'd probably like the Hanged Man, and in DAI she'd probably love the Storm Coast!

Athena's favorite place was, for obvious reasons, the Hanged Man! In DAO I...want to say pre-blight Lothering. DAI I think she'd love Skyhold.

Circe's fave place in DAI is Skyhold as a whole, though she does love any/all wooded and mountainous areas. In DAO she'd love the Brecilian Forest, in Kirkwall she'd definitely love the Hanged Man too HAHA

[darkestwolfx]

Up From the Depths P.2 - Re-Review #33

Look at that scenery! It gets me every time, I will be honest.

“This is Thunderbird One in immediate pursuit of The Mechanic.”

“I’ve got you Thunderbird One. Thunderbird Five is tracking you at a thousand metres and closing.”

“The TV-21... I haven’t seen it since I was a kid. It’s just as cool as I remember.”

“Please use caution, Scott. The Mechanic must be piloting remotely. That means he’s got nothing to lose.”

“Except Dad’s old plane he’s carrying.”

“Scott, there’s a safe area up ahead. You could knock out the TV-21 and bring down the plane with zero civilian causalities.”

“No way, Thunderbird Five. That plane belongs to us and I’m going to get i back in one piece.”

And that decision causes a load of problems - but had Scott not made that call, the episode would have been quite a bit shorter, and Scott probably wouldn’t have met Ned - and I wouldn’t have been able to write a fic about called ‘When Scott met Ned’, so I’ll go with it.

“Scott, when I designed the TV-21, you’re Dad wanted all the thrust I could give him. That booster is the most powerful I’ve ever built.”

“More powerful than Thunderbird One?”

“Well... yes.”

“Thunderbird One is going down!”

Grandma being able to give Scott those instructions makes a lot more sense now the whole series has aired. When we first saw this episode, I was a little bit like.. explanation please? (Because based on TOS Grandma; she didn’t seem the type to fly). But, it’s okay, they came through and gave it to us.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let the TV-21 out of my sight.”

We know you won’t John.

“Thunderbird Shadow moves fast and quiet. He won’t hear me coming.”

And another Kayo ‘I can totally manage a solo mission moment’. Yeah, remember one of the last ones? As in the nearly dying part (’Touch and Go’)? Clearly not. Is it just me, or is that getting a little bit repetitive and annoying now? I really found that Kayo had an attitude in this two-parter.

I for one, am very glad Grandma called in some assistance.

“Hello, Dear? Are you busy?”

“Never too busy for you, Mrs Tracy.”

“How would you like a second chance to get The Mechanic?”

“I’d enjoy it more than Parker likes complaining about the weather. Scotland, Parker.”

“Right haway, M’Lady. hOf hall the places to ‘ide hout ‘e picks the rainy hone.”

Parker, I’d like to claim that such might actually be me, down here n the South West coast. Hello, always rains down here... except it’s actually really nice right now. I claim it’s the lack of pollutants affecting the air quality and atmosphere. But’s that’s just one girl’s theory.

Look at his face, his poor little face. Thunderbird Four really is in a state though...

“What do you think?”

“I think we have a lot of work to do.”

Scott looks so sad, sat back at his dad’s desk, bless him. Knowing him he’s probably reliving the fact that he failed to get the TV-21 back. He’s always too hard on himself. Anyone else remember the events of ‘Recharge’? Virgil, come give him another talking to, please.

“I get that everybody loves the TV-21, but it’s just a plane.”

“It’s also a symbol of your Father’s determination. Ever since he was a boy, your Father dreamed he’d be the fastest pilot who ever flew.”

“So he and Brains built the TV-21?”

“It was beautiful! Dream come true!”

“Until The Hood crashed it.”

“But he didn’t crash his dream. Your Dad didn’t care about being fastest anymore. He only cared about being first. First on the scene when people need help. First to act when someone’s in trouble. And instead of one ship to do it all, he built five. The TV-21 was the beginning of International Rescue.”

“We need to get that plane back!”

That’s the spirit, Alan!

I’m loving all these scenes on Tracy Island in this episode just to say. Definitely another reason why it makes it into my favorites. It’s an episode which really succeeds in making the boys both human and heroes and I will endlessly love how well written this family was in this two-parter.

“What’s the situation, John?”

“The Mechanic’s craft has stopped over the GDF’s high security iridium vault. The GDF are responding now.”

Because we all know how well that will go down...

“All personnel have been evacuated, Colonel Casey. Except one.”

“Well get him out of there.”

“He said he won’t leave. He’s afraid of losing his job. Oh, and he told to say ‘Gladys won’t go either’.”

“What’s his name?”

I think we already know the answer.

“A crewman. Tedford. Ned Tedford.”

“Oh boy.”

Called it!

“No one’s stealing the world’ supply of iridium, Gladys. Not on our watch!”

That’s right everyone! It’s our favourite gold member of the Rescue Club! Ned Tedford and Gladys!

“Phew, Gladys. I thought we were in trouble there for a second.”

Yeah, Ned you kinda are... See I told you, never leave the GDF to handle things. I bet Colonel Casey is really regretting allowing Virgil to convince her to give Ned a “nice cozy desk job” with the GDF.

I love how Colonel Casey just says “there’s a worker inside” - she knew it was Ned, she could have told them it was Ned - it’s even more comical that she chooses not to.

“It’s never even been tested!”

“Brains, whatever it is, will it help us stop The Mechanic?”

“Conceivably.”

“Then we’ll take it!”

Good choice.

Maximum Max is a brilliant new development and one I think Alan really loves - it was like giving the kid more video games to play with. And it gave Scott a chain to go and rescue Ned! Hooray!

“It’s game time!”

Yeah it is! And just look at them go.

In my opinion, this goes down as Scott’s best ever entrance to a rescue.

“It’s International- Arrgh!”

*Has iridium thrown at him*.

Definitely the best entrance.

 “Keep your dirty hands off this iridium!”

“Ned Tedford?”

“Oh, it’s you! Sorry about that!”

I think that was meant to be Scott’s line. And the fact Scott can reognise Ned (when we know Colonel Casey didn’t give a name - well, that we heard), means he must have been told a lot by his brothers. Or, that’s the assumption I’ve always made.

“Why am I not surprised? I need you to climb into the airlock.”

“No way! I was told to watch this iridium. I won’t let it be stolen!”

“Uh... it’s already been stolen, Ned. You do realise you’re in space, right?”

I mean, I would hope the floatiness gave that away...

“Hmm... That does explain the floatiness.”

Or apparently not. I am proven wrong. Again.

“But it does not change anything! I’m not going anywhere without this vault!”

And there is another decision that sets the path of the episode. If they could have just rescued Ned and Gladys... I can’t help wondering if they would have stood a better chance at recovering the TV-21, or if it still wouldn’t have made a big enough difference.

“Alan, we’re gonna’ have to retrieve the iridium as well.”

“Scott, that isn’t the mission!”

“It wasn’t, but it is now.”

Always listen to your field commander, Alan, and today that is Scott, and he’s made the call. Whatever you and I may think of it.

The International Rescue theme played on bagpipes was absolutely wonderful!

“hIt’s been cloned! That’s hone hof the ‘ood’s hold tricks!”

“Where do you think he got it from?”

That is a new one... Another thing to add to the list of connections between The Mechanic and The Hood, because that implies a more long term connection than we might have first thought.

And all I have to say here, is poor hAlice! May she rest in peace.

“But it’s Dad’s plane!”

“I know, Alan, but it’s not Dad.”

That quote, will always get me.

Remember what The Mechanic said about taking what he wants? Yeah, well he very nearly took Thunderbird Three down with the TV-21.

“Sorry Dad.”

I think he would always have rather had his sons, than his old plane, sad as it is to have been so close.

“The TV-21 was so close!”

“Dad really loved that plane.”

“Ah, in the end the TV-21 was just a bunch of steel and rivets. Your Father would never have risked failing a mission just to save it. What he really loved was us. All of us. His family.” 

So, after all that, Thunderbird Four is fixed, and everyone has gathered together (even John) for a bit of well earned family time. Yep, there are hundreds of reasons to love these last two episodes.

[allisondraste]

Temperance 38/42

Pairing: Nathaniel Howe/ Female, Non-HoF Cousland

Story Summary: Nathaniel and Elissa were childhood friends, but time and distance tore them apart. In the aftermath of the Fifth Blight, and Ferelden’s Civil War, both Elissa and Nathaniel must attempt reconstruct their tattered lives. As a series of events lead them to be reunited, both are reminded of so many years ago when things were much simpler.

Chapter Summary:   Kirkwall is a bit of a shithole, isn't it? Nathaniel receives unhappy news from Ferelden.

Notes: I'm baaaaaaack (after what feels like forever of Not Finishing The Damn Chapter (tm), and I have the absolute actual final flashback chapter. From here on out everything is after 9:31 Dragon. It feels quite surreal.Thank you all for being patient and sticking with me! I've had a lot going on this month with an online class from HELL, conferences, presentations, and internship matching. Things are quieting down though, so hopefully the next chapters will be coming up much more quickly!

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

[AO3 LINK]

Kirkwall, 9:30 Dragon

Kirkwall was a bit of a shithole, at least that was the common thread if one listened to the Low Town locals talk for long enough.  The wealthy nobles and merchants perched in their High Town mansions, peering down upon those beneath them as if their city had not been built upon the backs of slaves.  Slavery had been abolished in the Free Marches for many years, and yet Kirkwall, with its countless weeping statues, could not escape from under the weight of its own history.

The city-state was not even making an obvious attempt to do so, with its legal and religious epicenters housed in a place fondly called “The Gallows.” It was ironic that such a place would be the seat of the Grand Cleric in the Free Marches, and astounding that the average people and peasants did not burn the exuberant, overly wealthy Chantry to the ground in frustration. They were certainly a devout lot, Nathaniel thought as he watched two Templars enter what was definitely a brothel. Completely incorruptible.  Shaking his head, he sighed and followed after them.

The Blooming Rose was large, lively, and bustling with people from different walks of life.  Templars— of course— merchants, city guards, common folk, and nobility sat at tables nursing drinks from large tankards.  Impassioned cries echoed from every corner, accompanied by other sounds that would have caused alarm anywhere but a brothel.  Fortunately, it did not smell quite as horrible as the last one Nathaniel had been in, not that he made a habit of going to brothels.  

He glanced around the room, scanning the patrons for signature red hair and rosy cheeks, still furious with himself that such a large, loud, clumsy man snuck away from him.  Of course, he wasn’t Ben’s keeper, and he was welcome to do what, or who, he pleased. Still, the boy was so naive and trusting that it was dangerous for him to roam a place like Kirkwall alone.  It would have been so easy to take advantage of him.

“Can I help you, young man,” shouted the thickest Kirkwall accent Nathaniel had ever heard.  He snapped his head to the direction of the voice, and to the smirking middle-aged woman with grey hair leaning against the bar.  The madam, he presumed. “You look like you have some coin burning a hole right through those pretty pockets of yours.”

Looking down and patting his mostly empty pockets, Nathaniel replied with a smirk of his own.  “My pockets are fine, my lady.”

The madam chuckled and approached him.  “Well then, what brings you to this fine establishment?”

“I am looking for a man.”

“We have plenty of men,” she answered, raising her eyebrows, “If that is what you fancy.”

“No,” he stated tersely, “I am looking for a friend of mine.  He’s large, red-headed, almost too friendly.”

“Ah.  Him.” She nodded. “He is currently with one of my girls.  You will have to wait.”

“Great.”

“If you need a way to pass the time, I’m sure I can find you some… entertainment.”  She smirked again and tilted her head at him, as if she were expecting him to change his mind.  

“I prefer not to pay.”  Nathaniel hadn’t slept with anyone at all in over a year.  There were a few drunken, meaningless nights after Erina left, nights he wished he could take back.  It was difficult to be interested in mimicking intimacy with strangers. He wanted— no, needed— something real, someone he cared about.  “It’s not for me.”

The madam blinked a few times before shrugging. Clearly she was not accustomed to disinterest. ”Suit yourself, doll.”

She walked away and Nathaniel moved to lean against the bar.  Ben would be down shortly, then they could head to Viscount’s Keep, complete their errand for Rodolphe, and leave this Maker forsaken city.  Just as he relaxed and eased his elbows down on the counter, a loud thud rang out from a far corner of the room, followed by several gasps as a hush fell over the place.  A man, a wealthy merchant by the looks of his doublet, lay prostrate on the ground, a smaller form standing above him, booted foot planted firmly on the small of his back.  

“What did I ever do to you, knife-ear,” the man yelped, his slur causing the figure to press down on his back with more force as they twirled a dagger skillfully in their fingers.  

“Nothing personal,” the figure answered. “My boss took care of some business for you, and you didn’t pay.  I’m here to make certain you do.”

“I’ll pay! I’ll pay!”  The man on the ground squirmed and cried.

“Add in an extra sovereign and I will forget you called me knife-ear, yes?”

“Fine,” he hissed, reaching into his pocket and setting a coin purse on the ground with a grunt of effort. “Take it all.”

The mercenary removed their foot from the man’s back, kneeling down to pick up the coin purse.  The merchant seized the opportunity to pick up a chair, intending to swing it at his unaware opponent. Nathaniel rushed forward and caught the chair before the blow landed against the mercenary’s back.  The merchant glared at him in disbelief, glancing around the room for support. When no one offered assistance, he huffed, released the chair and stormed out of the room.  

“I did not require assistance,” the mercenary remarked as Nathaniel set down the chair.

“You’re welcome,” he replied dryly, turning around, freezing as he did so, mouth falling open.  He thought he recognized the voice, but he’d shaken it off. There were many women with Antivan accents, of course.  However, looking down to see Erina’s beautiful features scowling up at him proved him wrong entirely. To his relief, she looked just as shocked as he was.

“Nathaniel,” she said his name as if it were an accusation, as if he weren’t supposed to be there.  She looked around the room. “What are you doing in a brothel? In Kirkwall?”

“I could ask you the same question,” he spat, unable to hide the raw emotions. “What happened to hiding in Ferelden?”

“It didn’t work out,” she answered, words clipped, heavy. “It’s a bad time to be in Ferelden.”

“Why? What happened?” Nathaniel clenched his fists at his side, fighting the urge to reach out and touch her arm.  

Erina snapped her gaze up to his abruptly, eyes widening as if she had just remembered something important.  Her brows pressed together and she offered him an apologetic expression he didn’t understand. “We need to talk.”

“All right.”

“In private,” she clarified, “You would not appreciate me if I told you in the middle of a whorehouse.”

“Very well, where to? I need to make sure Ben knows where to find me.”

“I have a room at the Hanged Man in Low Town.  There is a nosy dwarf next door, but he is polite enough to be discreet in his eavesdropping .”

Nathaniel nodded and headed back over to the bar, leaving a note for Ben with the bartender and paying him a few coppers to relay the message.  He then returned to Erina and followed her out of the brothel.

As they left, Nathaniel brushed shoulders with two dark haired women, sisters undoubtedly.  One scowled in annoyance and the other followed along behind her, a worried look on her face.

“Sister, is it really necessary to search the brothel?” The worried woman dipped her voice low as she said the last word.

“Completely necessary, Bethany,” remarked the annoyed woman, “Uncle Gamlen has locked us out of the house again. It is not safe for Mother to stand outside for hours in Low Town.”

“But don’t you know how to pick locks?”

“That is… beside the point.” The annoyed woman stormed ahead inside the building, the one named Bethany sighing as she entered and the door swung closed behind her.

Erina led Nathaniel through narrow alleyways and down the many steps that led to Low Town and the the rather popular tavern that was the Hanged Man.  As they entered the wood-paneled building, the warm glow from the fireplace and heavy smell of mead filling the room, he did his best to ignore his pounding heart, to pretend that seeing Erina was not difficult for him, awkward, uncomfortable. Nothing had changed since she had chosen to end their relationship.  He still loved Liss, the words from her letters burned into his mind even as they’d dissolved into ash. Still, he regretted how things ended with Erina, and he regretted even more that he had not been able to protect her from whatever happened in Ferelden.

Her room was small and modestly furnished, and looked to be barely lived in, as if she had only just arrived or as if she was rarely there at all.  She closed the door behind them and gestured for Nathaniel to sit in one of the wooden chairs by a small, round table. She sat in the other directly across from him.  The air between them was heavy and deathly silent. For a moment, he worried if she could hear his heartbeat as he could.

Nathaniel inhaled sharply and spoke.  “Are you going to tell me what is going on, or should I start guessing?”  She looked up at him and he smiled to show he was teasing.

Erina laughed quietly and shook her head.  “I actually intended to sit here and stare at you in painful silence.”

“Whatever you need, my lady.”

“I’ve missed you, Nate,” she said without a hint of embarrassment crossing her face. “There have been many times over the past— what is it, almost two years— when I wished I had stayed with you in Starkhaven.”

“I’ve missed you too,” he admitted, forcing his words past the lump in his throat.  “What happened in Ferelden, Erina?”

“Well,” she began with an empty, bitter  laugh, “My mother was killed before I even made it home.”

“The Crows?” Nathaniel, again, fought the urge to reach for her.

“That was my first thought, but no.  Just some human noble prick who believed he was entitled to my mother’s company.”  She cringed as the last word left her lips, but continued, “Apparently it isn’t uncommon for minor lords to take what and who they please from the Alienage.”

”I am so sorry.”

“Me too,” she answered tersely, “I wish that were the worst of the story.”

“What else happened?”

“My father and I did our best to go on without my mother.  I became somewhat of a protector for my family. I have two younger cousins, one in particular whose attitude gets her into trouble. Throw-bottles-at-the-arl’s-son trouble.”

Erina paused and shook her head. “Early in this year, she and my other cousin were arranged to be married to people from outside our alienage.  Everyone was excited, preparing flowers, they met their partners for the first time. I remember I was helping Shianni put on her dress, scolding her for complaining, when the humans showed up, Vaughan Kendells and his friends. They burst into our home, knocked my father unconscious, and demanded that Shianni and I, as well as several other women come with them.  We were to be ‘entertainment’ for their ‘party.’ ”

“That is repulsive,” Nathaniel spat, “I take it you refused?”

“I may have made a veiled threat or two,” she explained, her attempt to lighten the mood dampened by the sadness in her eyes.  “One of his men hit me in the head. I woke up later, locked in a room at the Arl’s estate with the other women they took. It is honestly a blur what happened after that.  I only remember that I somehow escaped and killed Vaughan before he could hurt Shianni.”

“You killed Vaughan Kendells,” Nathaniel remarked, surprised, “And you’re still alive?”

“I spent months imprisoned in Arl Urien’s basement.  It was the only way for the others to escape.”

“How did you get out?”

“That—“ Erina hesitated and looked about the room— “Is what I need to talk to you about.  While I was imprisoned, I began to notice a change in the guards. Men who previously wore the crest of the Kendells family began to wear a brown bear on their shields and breastplates. I recognized it right away, remembered you showing it to me when we were together.”

Nathaniel’s heart dropped to his stomach, and he leaned back in his chair.  “What? What happened?”

“I only know what I heard while I was in my cell, and what I have gathered since I was freed, but Grey Wardens contacted King Cailan regarding a threat of a Blight in the South.  He led the armies of Ferelden into battle along with the Wardens, but against Teyrn Loghain’s advice. He was killed in battle along with most of the Grey Wardens. Rumor has it that Loghain quit the battlefield with his own soldiers, abandoning Cailan and the Wardens.  He denied those claims, blamed the Grey Wardens and declared treason before proclaiming himself Anora’s regent. Your father was the first to pledge loyalty to him, and was granted the arling in Denerim ”

“That sounds like my father.” Nathaniel rolled his eyes, but then frowned. “For Teyrn Loghain to take such drastic measures, it must have been serious.”

“I am unsure what to believe,” Erina stated with a sigh, “As soon as I was released, it was quite obvious that there was a Blight.  There were darkspawn everywhere. I do not know if you have been to the docks, Nathaniel, but refugees from Ferelden have poured into Kirkwall steadily over the past year.”

“I wasn’t aware, no,” he answered, distracted by the rush of thoughts that filled his mind.  “You said you were released. Why? Who released you?”

“I do not know her name.  A young woman, a Grey Warden, and her companions.”  

Nathaniel flinched. “A traitor? And my father just let her stroll into the dungeon and release prisoners?”

Erina swallowed hard.  “He did not let her, Nathaniel. She killed him.”

“Of course,” he said through his teeth, “That is what traitors do, isn’t it? Kill people in their own homes.”

“I thought you hated your father.” She tilted her head at him, clearly confused by his reaction.

“That doesn’t mean he deserved to die,” he blurted, “And what of my sister and brother? Are they dead too?”

“I… do not know,” she answered with a shrug, “The last I heard out of Ferelden is that the Grey Warden who freed me went on to depose Loghain and stop the Blight.  They are calling her the Hero of Ferelden.”

“I thought Grey Wardens were supposed to be apolitical.”

“Not this one.  She helped Anora to reclaim her title, and in turn the Queen…” Erina trailed off.

“What?”

“The Hero of Ferelden is now the Arlessa of Amaranthine.”

Nathaniel stood up abruptly, causing his chair to scrape across the floor and the table to rattle at the movement. It made no sense.  Why would Queen Anora reward the woman who her father called traitor? Why would she grant her an arling of a man she murdered in his own home? Why must Nathaniel’s whole family suffer, at least whatever remained of his family? He’d fully intended to never return to Ferelden, but now he had no choice. As soon as word reached Starkhaven about the ruin of the Howe family, it would dishonor Rodolphe to have Nathaniel in his service. Even if the knight were to allow him to stay, he could not simply allow this injustice to go unaddressed. Perhaps there was more to the story than Erina was able to tell him.  He needed to see for himself and at the very least search for his siblings.

“I am sorry to be the bearer of such bad news,” Erina said softly, “I am worried that you will begin to remember me only for hurting you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he replied bluntly. He was too upset, too overwhelmed to be gentle with her.  “I am glad you told me.”

“What are you going to do now?”  She stood up as she spoke, pushing her chair in toward the table.

“I am returning to Ferelden.  As soon as possible.” His words were decisive, certain. “I need to send word to Rodolphe.  Do you have parchment and ink?”

Erina nodded and walked over to her nightstand, opening a drawer and pulling out the requested items, setting them down on the table without speaking.  He caught a glimpse of tears in her eyes and he wondered which of his words had caused them. He had barely conveyed sympathy for what had happened to her.  Andraste’s blood, he couldn’t think straight.  

Sitting back down, he pulled the parchment, inkpot, and quill over to him, and hastily scrawled out a message. He could feel Erina’s gaze burning into him as he wrote.

Ser Rodolphe,

I regret to inform you that I will no longer be continuing under your mentorship.  I have received word that my father has been murdered and my family’s reputation tarnished.  I do not wish to be a burden or mark on your name. I intend to return to Ferelden and set things right, at least in whatever way I am able.

I appreciate your guidance and hospitality over the years, and apologize for any inconvenience this causes you.

Sincerely,

Nathaniel

He folded the letter, sealed it in an envelope and wrote Rodolphe’s name on the front.  He would send it with Ben, and then head south, return home, perhaps even get his revenge on the Grey Warden who destroyed his family.  

He was drawn from his rumination by a light touch to his arm, bringing his eyes up to see Erina.  She had a worried look on her face, tears still in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said again, and Nathaniel turned to face her directly.

“You don’t have to apologize,” he assured her, more gently than before,  “I should be apologizing to you. It sounds like you’ve had a difficult couple of years.  I regret that I couldn’t have protected you from it all.”

“It was my choice to leave.” She smiled and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not your responsibility.”

“I regret that as well,” he said against his better judgement, reaching up to brush an errant strand of hair from her face.  He let his fingertips linger on her cheek before dropping his hand to his side.  

“Nathaniel,” Erina warned, voice low.

“I know.”  He cleared his throat and looked away from her, down at the wooden floorboards. He could not fall back into old habits of seeking comfort in her.  He was afraid, angry, and alone. He missed her, but it was still inappropriate. “I apologize.”

She nodded her thanks and leaned forward to take one of his hands in hers and squeeze it gently.  They shared a moment of silent recognition of everything they had together, and everything they lost.  She would always be special to him, despite all the damage done.  

“By the way,” he said, breaking the silence, “I will not only remember you for hurting me.  All you’ve ever done is try to help.”

“I am glad to hear it, truly.”

A knock rang out at the door suddenly, loud and impatient.  “Nate,” asked Ben’s voice, “Are you there? I got your note.”

Erina smiled mischievously and moved to open the door.   “Hello Ser Benedict,” she chirped playfully.

“I’m no Ser yet, but thank—” his initial bashful blush turned into confusion and surprise as he realized to whom he was speaking—”Ri?”

“The one and only.”

“I’ve missed you,” Ben said as he gathered her up into a hug, and then turned to look at Nathaniel, “Are you two…?”

Simultaneously, Erina and Nathaniel protested repeatedly, making certain that Ben understood that they were not together again.  After far too many innuendoes and suggestions, they both gave up, determined to allow him to think whatever he wished of them. It was only then that it dawned on Nathaniel that he would have to explain to the younger man that he was leaving.  He would not take the news well at all. Glancing at Erina for support before turning his attention to Ben, Nathaniel picked up the letter for Rodolphe and extended it to him.

“What’s this,” he asked as he took the envelope.

“A letter.”

“I know that much, but why are you giving it to me?”

“I need you to deliver it to Ser Rodolphe.”

Ben looked at Nathaniel curiously, frowning and furrowing his eyebrows.  “Are you not coming back to Starkhaven?”

“No,” Nathaniel said, attempting to hide the emotion behind the answer.

“Any particular reason?”

“I have to return to Ferelden.  It is a family matter.”

“I see.”  Ben’s answer was clipped and he clamped his mouth shut, jaw stiffening.

“I am sorry it is so abrupt, I—” Nathaniel was interrupted by Ben’s large arms wrapping around him, squeezing as tightly as he could.

“You have to do what you have to, Nate,” Ben remarked cheerfully as he released Nathaniel from the embrace, “I’d ask you to write to me, but considering your challenges with correspondence, I know better.”

“I will write to you as soon as I get things sorted,” Nathaniel said, seriously, “I promise.”

“You better, you arse.”

With one final glance and nod at Erina and Ben, he left the Hanged Man and headed for the docks.  For better or worse, he was returning to Ferelden. Perhaps he would be lucky enough to live to write to Ben, and to see him and Erina both in happier times.  Of course, he had no expectations, but he needed to hope. It was all he had left.

[thewriterlyowl]

More ToG thots...

From @nickjgoodsell

I can totally see where your coming from! One thing that I always didn’t like was how Chaol and Dorian took a huge backseat for Aedion and Rowan once they came into the picture. I thought that as they were the original characters, they’d get more than that. I also wasn’t a fan as to how SJM basically reduced Chaol the “bitter ex” of QoS

It’s funny how a lot of people who doesn’t enjoy the series anymore stop at EoS, which I can see too since the pacing of it is really different from the rest, plus it was so weird without Chaol. I can say though, his character gets major retribution in ToD! He is seriously revitalized as a character, I only wish they didn’t have to make a whole separate book for it

And SOOO much happens in KoA, but like I said, I’m cool with peoples opinions if they’re different and disagree! I’m just curious to see the other side of the argument and see their Point of view without passing judgment. I feel like not a lot of people can’t do that nowadays...

I don’t know what happened, but I’m pretty sure that while she was writing ACOTAR, or at least planning it, SJM’s love for Fae grew about ten sizes, because the entire thing was retooled so that Fae were the central thread of the story, even though there was no mention of them in the first book or the prequel. And with that came the demoting of Dorian and Chaol, because Dorian only had the vague “raw magic” that’s never explained (part of the reason I stopped liking this series as much is because the mythology and magic system was sparse and barely-explained) but wasn’t Fae or demi-Fae, and Chaol was just a boring, regular human (who I didn’t like, but even he deserved better than what he got).

Celaena and Chaol should have been mad at each other - from Chaol’s perspective she was playing with fire with her royal Fae bredrin and had abandoned them; from hers, he was still serving a king that had essentially enslaved whole races of people because “honour”. But they - or the characters they were - would have talked it out after the second or third argument, not squabbled and postured whenever they saw each other.

Around QoS/EoS, everything changed. QoS still sounded like the other books, but the structure is really confusing, because instead of following three-act structure (or any structure I can identify), it’s just a series of events that follow each other. It feels like fanfiction, not because it’s badly-written - even though this is where the style started getting too overblown and dramatic for my liking - but because it’s like when fanfic is just a bunch of scenes that seems written to get the characters from one place to another.

But EoS feels completely different. HoF ended feeling like we were morphing into a high fantasy series in a good way - the world was expanding, the lore was becoming more relevant, and we were introduced to different characters and their motivations. By the time it got to EoS, it felt like SJM had been reading lots of high fantasy a la GRRM, because the style started to match it. One of the opening chapters was Lorcan (or whomever, I don’t care) watching Elide (again, maybe, because I do not care), and deducing that despite how large her breasts are, he can smell that she’s still a virgin. Like. It’s so creepy.

I’m never going to finish the series, but I’m glad for people who like Chaol that he got better. Personally, I think the story definitely changed in a major way around book 4, and none too eloquently.

[aelinbitch-archive]

You've probably said this before but what's your favorite aspect of the TOG series? I've only read like ten pages of the first book lol

aaaaa thank u for asking!! this sort of leads into something i’ve been meaning to talk about for a while so i hope you’re prepared for An Essay No One Wanted By Me. anyway this is a two-part answer, read below:

1. Aelin. Celaena. The main bitch, whatever you wanna call her lol. Without her I probably wouldn’t have cared about the series at all and wouldn’t currently be trapped in ToG tumblr hell reluctantly stanning a racist and homophobic series, but unfortunately when I was like twelve years old or whatever and read the first book I literally imprinted on Celaena like a baby duckling. To the extent that she became, like, the default avatar for all my maladaptive daydreaming and If I Don’t Project On Her At All Times I Will Die. It’s not like she’s the only thing I like about the series (I loooove a lot of the other characters, especially the gals, and the writing can be really great and engaging and cinematic) but Aelin has always been the supermassive black hole at the center of it all for me. I wouldn’t know how to even begin untangling her character from my psyche at this point. It’s honestly a little disturbing. Anyway. 

2. Part two is a quality of the series that I feel was unprecedented in its strength in the first five books of the series (ToG-QoS plus the prequel novellas) and really really disappointingly weak in the last two books (EoS-KoA). Like I said above, Aelin has always been my main interest in tog so I read and enjoyed the last two anyway, but I definitely felt the loss of this - “this” being the detail and attention paid to all different types of relationships between characters, and how rich and unpredictable those relationships were as a result. 

That sounds like kind of a broad, vague thing, but what I mean is that (in my opinion) rarely are romances and friendships and rivalries explored with such nuance, complexity, drama, and realism in most YA as they are in ToG. I remember reading Cassandra Clare’s books (lmao.) as a pre teen and loving those as well, but totally being able to predict who was going to end up with who, and finding the character dynamics to be pretty cut and dry. 

In ToG that’s not the case at all. Like, you’ve got Celaena and Sam, a really complex example of enemies to lovers to….. Tragically Dead Boyfriend Whose Demise Fuels My Guilt and Self-Hatred For Seven More Books, Lysandra and Aelin, two girls pitted against each other by their abuser who team up a year later to unlearn their internalized misogyny and kill him, and Aelin and Chaol, who… how do I even describe the ups and downs (and downs. and more downs) of their relationship. 

And that’s just three pairs! Pull the names of two characters out of a hat and I can almost guarantee essays worth of material could be written about them. Arobynn and Aelin? Aelin and Nehemia? Chaol and Dorian, as much as I hate both of them and feel that their relationship as been widely mischaracterized? All fascinating!!! No two people in those first few books are just friends, or just lovers, or just enemies. It’s always more complex, there’s always a history or tension or competing agendas or viewpoints that Fuck Shit Up. 

And benefit of that is twofold: one, everything that happens between the characters just…. lands so well. The betrayals and triumphs and losses and victories of The Assassin’s Blade and Crown of Midnight and Queen of Shadows (especially TAB) are fucking heart-stopping. It’s great character-driven entertainment!! Gripping and engaging and vivid to the point of being painful. 

And two, there’s no way to predict where a relationship is going to go. Aelin and Lysandra teaming up in QoS instead of returning to their rivalry? Who would have thought! Ansel and Celaena’s summer fling (they were in love. fight me.) ending like That? Holy fuck. Nesryn and Chaol breaking up in ToD? Oh shit! I fell for it again! Rowan and Aelin ending up together after everyone swore they were brotp in HoF? Hell yeah! Chaolaena seeming like endgame and then ending forever, with Chaol and Aelin realizing that the rift between them that began in CoM was something that would never sufficiently heal? Unprecedented. Fucking badass for a YA book to curve everyone like that. Tween me was shook out of her mind. 

(Important to note, though, that the downside of this style was that SJM couldn’t tell where ~unpredictable relationships and characters~ ended and fridging began, and as a result, not one but two woc were killed off to make white characters sad and it sucked beyond belief). 

Aaaaaand then QoS, the peak of literature, turned into EoS, and SJM just… gave up on all of that. I remember the first time Dorian and Manon met, and I was like oh, okay. So they’re going to end up together. And I was right. I remember that on this site, before EoS came out, before Lorcan and Elide ever fucking MET, people predicted the existence of Elorcan!! And they were right!! Like how fucking boring? Everyone is just paired off into completely predictable heterosexual ships and those are now the only relationships we get to read about (with a few exceptions, like Aelin/Aedion, Aelin/Fenrys, etc.). 

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: my least favorite thing about Manorian is not that I find the relationship to be shitty (although I do, I really do). It’s that Dorian is suddenly the only character Manon gets to interact with in any meaningful way. 

Like, are you kidding?! I want to read about Manon and Elide, Manon and Asterin, Rowan and Lorcan, Aelin and Lysandra, Aelin and Nesyrn, even if it’s not romantically (although some of them, like Manon and Elide, absolutely should have been, and the fact that not only was that ship very thoroughly sunk, but also they didn’t even get to TALK after QoS, felt like a real slap in the face to gay fans, but I digress), because those pairings previously had hella complexity and drama. But we don’t get to. 

And this trend that’s so painfully present in the last two books Sucks for two reasons: one, every relationship that isn’t romantic (which were previously some of the most interesting ones) is abandoned so that more time can be made for The Hets™ and two, the relationships that are romantic, now the only ones left, are totally fucking boring and predictable!! If two characters are interacting at any point (if one is male and the other is female, of course) then you know for a fact that they’re not only love interests, but endgame. 

And that makes me not care even when there is drama between them. Elide giving Lorcan the cold-shoulder for three hundred pages, and Manon and Dorian arguing, and Aedion being cruel to Lysandra weren’t compelling narratives to me like they should have been, because the whole time I was just thinking “but it doesn’t matter. I know it’s still endgame. There are no stakes here whatsoever; it’s a done deal.” Whereas Chaol and Celaena’s devestating breakup in CoM felt like (and was) suuuuper Real. An all-in bet on the wrong person. Crazy shit. 

And not that I think two characters should never have a happy ending together (I really like rowaelin and nestaq and I would have loved malide!) but imagine how much cooler and subversive and entertaining it would have been if Elorcan, which seemed soooo totally cute and endgamey and borderline like fanfiction throughout all of EoS just ended forever right there and then on the beach, with Elide turning to Lorcan and saying “I hope you spend the rest of your miserable, immortal life suffering. I hope you spend it alone. I hope you live with regret and guilt in your heart and never find a way to endure it” - and BAM. She never speaks to him again. He’s dead to her. 

I mean, talk about shock value! (See, Sarah, you can have shock value without killing of a person of color to make a white character sad 🙃). And I totally get that relational twists like that alienate fans more than just going the expected route and having them kiss and make-up does (I mean, the ending of Chaolaena in QoS certainly did, Jesus Christ) but I, Bella aelinbitch, personally live for that shit, and isn’t it only fair that all media cater directly and specifically to me? Lmao. But seriously, I do think it’s objectively more interesting, and that it keeps readers on their toes (I was on my ASS in EoS and KoA. Like. I was flat on my back sinking into the Earth). 

And there are still sort of… glimmers of the old way she wrote in the first few books, but it just feels like a tease rather than something that’s really explored and indulged in the way it was before, and it just ends up being more frustrating (like what was the point of Manon and Dorian not getting married at the end of KoA if I would bet my life savings that in World of Tog it’ll be confirmed that they’re either married or still together) and sometimes downright problematic? Like to return to a previous example, I think all the drama between Aedion + Lysandra was a result of Sarah’s previous (good) instincts to shake stuff up and complicate the character dynamics, but it backfires because when they end up together, it’s not ever… worked out? Or addressed? If you create really intense drama between two people, then that needs to show up in their relationship, no matter how happy they end up together. It doesn’t just disappear.

And despite the fact that her understanding of that concept (that shit between two people doesn’t just disappear like magic) is one of my absolute favorite things about the first few books, Sarah even went as far as to use the last two books to retcon some of the original complexity away, which makes me want to rip out my hair!! Like Aelin at the end of KoA just going “Love you Chaol and Love you Dorian xoxoxoxoxox best friends forever!!!” instead of having, like, any type of mixed feelings about the way these boys treated her? I mean, come on! 100 pages earlier Chaol was openly saying she should die instead of Dorian! Why is everything just peachy-keen instead of fraught with tension!! (I know why. I know. It’s because she introduced way too many characters/POVs/storylines as the series went on and didn’t know what to do with them all besides sideline the nonromantic ones and pair off everyone else boy-girl boy-girl down the line). Or if it has to be peachy-keen, why is the peachy-keeness never critically examined as, perhaps, a repressive mechanism for Aelin to avoid dealing with painful truths from her past? Now that would be interesting. 

(My ideal World of ToG would be just a transcript of the characters’ therapy sessions where Aelin realizes that her insistence that “Chaol and Dorian Are Her Friends!” is actually a way to keep herself safe emotionally and that she has plenty of reasons to hate them, and Lysandra realizes she should divorce Aedion lmao).  

Anyway tldr: The variety, complexity, depth, and unpredictability of the relationships in Throne of Glass was simultaneously the most realistic (sometimes relationships of all kinds fall apart or veer off in unexpected directions and love is temporary and the boy you met in the first chapter isn’t actually your soulmate and it doesn’t mean he’s a villain) and the most gripping and dramatic (I would have been totally chill if maeve and erawan weren’t a thing and tog was just like a medieval soap opera, that’s how entertaining the character dynamics were) thing about the series, and to lose that in the last two books because of Heterosexuality (and introducing too many POVs and not knowing what to do with them all)…. kinda devastating. 

This ended up being waaaaaay more complaining than it was talking about what I loved, but the only reason it bothers me so much is because it used to be so good!!! So just imagine the inverse of all the frustration I just vomited into this ask and you’ll have a good idea of how much I loved the series when things weren’t this way.

[elliepassmore]

Tower of Dawn Review

5/5 stars Recommended for people who like: fantasy, magic, desert fantasy, multiple POVs, healers, Chaol Westfall, court intrigue, thriller I really like this one, but I will also readily admit that this is the creepiest book in the series. ToG had the creep/thriller aspect with the Ridderak and Cain, and CoM sort of touched on the side of thriller without actually diving in, but Tower goes further in than even ToG did. I like it, even the thriller aspect, but it’s definitely creepy. I can’t tell how I feel about Chaol for the first half of the book. He’s definitely still going strong on his end-of-QoS vibe, and he seems to have forgiven a lot of what he was angry about in that book, but he also still hasn’t let go of things—such as his loyalty and obedience—as much as he had in HoF. For starters, though, it’s nice to see Chaol return to being the kind of playful snappy he was in CoM, I’d forgotten how funny he could be. So, I really liked how jokey Chaol was in this one, and I liked his handling of the royal family, going so far as to scheme his way into a meeting with the khagan. I still felt that Chaol was a bit…condescending throughout the book, though he once again got better about it at the end of the book. I did really like being in Chaol’s head in this one, though. After reading this, I feel like he wasn’t really present in QoS as much as he was in the other books. Like, he was there and narrating, but he didn’t feel there. Seeing in his head in this one makes a lot of things suddenly make a lot more sense, and we even get an explanation for his previous blind obedience. Yes, admittedly, some of it was him being willfully ignorant, but more of it was him giving up certain privileges to knowledge in order to protect Dorian. Chaol’s journey with his injury was interesting. I’m not really a fan of how ableist he was being, but I can also acknowledge that shedding that ableism off was a crucial part of his journey and that we probably aren’t supposed to like it. Chaol needed to realize for himself that just because he couldn’t move his legs didn’t mean he was less than or couldn’t still contribute to the coming fight. His realization comes from the healing process, which has three different parts. One part is the physical healing that Yrene does to repair the damage to his spinal cord. Another part is the metaphysical/psychological healing that both he and Yrene have to participate in, and this is the part that really makes me understand him and how he sees things better. And then there’s the part that involves seeing things from the outside and realizing no one really looks down on him, and that his injury does not remove him from the prospect of fighting against Erawen. Chaol’s journey is a different version of Celaena’s story in HoF. They are both struggling with similar emotions, both wanting to be rid of them and ignore them, and both come to realize that ignoring them and being rid of their negative emotions and memories won’t solve anything. Same general arc, different people, different situation, different story, but a way to show many sides of the same issue. I love Nesryn’s side of things in this one. She’s a fun narrator, partly because she’s so excited to be in her home city, but also because she’s got a very relaxed vibe that none of the other characters really have. She’s worried and tense about certain things, but she definitely handles it better than a lot of the other characters in this series. Nesryn ends up with the rukhin riders and Sartaq for most of the book, and I would probably kill for a whole separate book just about the rukhin riders, Sartaq and Kadara, and Nesryn and Salkhi. Nesryn’s journey is one away from Adarlan. She loves the country, is willing to fight for it and the innocent people there, but spending time in the Southern Continent, exploring its reaches, has her slowly switching over. Nesryn’s main development in this one, I think, is deciding where she calls home. Regardless of where it is, she’s going to fight against Erawen, but I think a part of her needs that identity settled when we first come into this book, and her development centers around that. The world and culture there is so different from those seen in the rest of the book, and the prospect of people who live in mountain homes and ride the wind on the backs of giant birds is pretty awesome. Nesryn’s main goal is to find information to help defeat Erawen and to convince Sartaq to lend his aerial legions to the cause. Of course, things never really go to plan and Nesryn ends up venturing beyond the rukhin riders’ homes and seeing Stygian Spiders, which are called the khalankui in the Southern Continent, as well as visiting some thousand-year-old ruins, so a pretty wide range of places all in one go. It’s interesting to see a new land from the POV of someone who hails from that land. We didn’t really get to see that with Rowan and Wendlyn, since Rowan barely narrated that book, but Nesryn is one of the main narrators in this one, and she’s spent most of her life in Adarlan, so we get to see a mix of someone who loves that land, who sees it as her own, but is also an outsider and is still, to an extent, getting introduced to the land. I think it’s an interesting way to introduce a new land, and Maas sort of did it with Terrasen in EoS, except the group in that book didn’t stay long enough to really get as good a feel of the land as we do in this one. I also think it’s a nice break from either a character has lived in land forever and has exactly zero reason to give us exposition, or a character is 100% new to the land/situation. Yrene is a new character if you haven’t read Blade. A healer from the Torre Cesme, she takes no one’s shit, not even Chaol’s. Actually, since her mother was burned alive by Adarlanian soldiers when she was 11, that makes her particularly unwilling to put up with Chaol’s shit. She hates Adarlanians the same way Aedion does, the same way all those other children of fallen kingdoms do. But she’s a healer and so she helps Chaol with his injury and unwittingly gets dragged into things. Based on who the Big Bad is in this one, though, I wonder if she wouldn’t’ve been dragged into things anyway. Yrene’s journey is for herself and for the rest of the world. She’s ready to go to the northern continent and heal people injured in the fight against Erawen, but she still has that simmering rage in her that started when her mother died. Her internal journey and arc is about repairing the hole her mother’s death made and cooling that rage until she realizes no one group is ever homogenous in its beliefs and actions. She’s healing and realizing this as she heals Chaol, which requires research. Unfortunately, her research sparks the interest of the Big Bad in this story, and that’s when the external struggle begins. Yrene has to contend with healing Chaol, healing herself, hunting for answers, and being hunted herself. Yrene has a connection to nearly everyone in the story. She’s a healer from the Torre, she’s actively healing Chaol, but she’s also a friend of the royals who rule over the Southern Continent. Yrene wants to help as many people as possible, and yet she also befriends royals and ends up in court schemes. One of the princes, Kashin, has a romantic interest in her, though she turned him down, and is protective over her. One of the princesses, Hasar, is Yrene’s friend and asks her to occasionally spy for her. It’s a complicated situation, and it goes to show the delicate precipice Yrene balances on. Hasar is the eldest princess, second oldest of the royal kids, and a nasty piece of work. She’s fiercely protective of the ones that are hers and over her country, but that just means she’s ruthless and cunning in other areas. She has no issue manipulating Chaol, Yrene, Nesryn, and others to get what she wants. This manipulation even includes backing Chaol into a corner where he has to swear Aelin would never do anything like burn Ellwye’s coast…which Chaol being Chaol can’t answer with a definitive ‘she’d never.’ Other stuff includes her using Yrene as a spy or threatening to block the Narrow Sea between the continents to prevent passage. I can’t tell if I like her or not, but I appreciate her character. Maas does a good job of depicting her as someone who cares deeply and will do anything to protect those she cares about. As a plus, Hasar is an openly gay, main side character, which is definite improvement for these books re: representation (I know we had Emrys and Malakai, but neither were ‘main side characters,’ nor were they together as much as Hasar and her lover, Renia, are). Sartaq, a rukhin rider and one of the princes, is another main side character. He spends most of the book with Nesryn in the mountains. I liked his character, he had a healthy dose of protective, relaxed, and funny rolled into one. I also liked the concept of his family in the palace being different than his hearth-family, or the family he has with the riders, and that the latter is far more relaxed and less vicious than the other. Sartaq wants to fly north, wants to do the right thing, but he also doesn’t want to go into it blind, which is part of the reason they end up seeking the Stygian Spiders to begin with. He’s definitely one of my favorite side characters in this book. That being said, it’s also pretty obvious that he’s mostly around to serve as a new love interest for Nesryn and to introduce the world of the rukhin riders…which is fine, but it would’ve been nice if he’d had a little more of his own development in the book. Hafiza is the Healer on High for the Torre, and she’s essentially Yrene’s adoptive mother. She teaches Yrene and helps guide her, but she also loves Yrene and genuinely wants her to succeed and stay safe. Like a mother, she even expresses disappointment when she feels Yrene is going against something she feels would strengthen Yrene. She was another funny character with a pretty dry sense of humor that I can definitely appreciate. I can’t entirely remember, but I hope we get to see more of her in KoA. Other side characters include Shen, a guard who lost part of his arm and had to have it replaced and is one of Chaol’s catalysts that makes him realize that if his wheelchair is a prison, then it’s a self-imposed one. The Khagan is someone we don’t see a lot of but holds a shit ton of sway over everything. Arghun is one of the princes and definitely the worst of the siblings, and he has no qualms undermining Chaol, Nesryn, and even Yrene at every turn. Kashin, who has already been mentioned, is really the one who gets Yrene researching, as he thinks there are already Valg in the Southern Continent. Below Sartaq, he’s my favorite prince simply because he’s open to what Chaol and Nesryn are saying, and he remains respectful to Yrene despite her rejection of him. Duva, is the now-youngest princess and doesn’t get a lot of page-time, but seems sweet enough. And then there’s Falkan, a shapeshifter from the northern continent who lost 20 years of his life to the Stygian Spiders. If he sounds familiar, he should, Celaena met him in Blade as well. In terms of the romance in the book….umm. When a character like Yrene, who hates Adarlan and Adarlanians, is going to end up with a character like Chaol, who is not only Adarlanian but an Adarlanian lord and ex-Captain of the Guard, there needs to be more build-up. They’re cute and sweet together, but the two (??) months that they got to know each other were not enough to overcome all of that enough to start a romance, in my opinion. It probably would’ve been better for them to get together in KoA, following a similar timeline to Celaena and Chaol, or even Aelin and Rowan. I like them together, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think it should’ve happened in this book. Nesryn and Sartaq make more sense to me, especially since they had a more obvious chemistry between the two of them. They complement each other really well in terms of attitude and respect for one another’s abilities—it will never not be funny to me when Nesryn blocks Sartaq from doing something and he gives her ‘an incredulous face’ or whatever. Despite their chemistry and the fact they liked each other, even if not romantically, from the get-go, Nesryn suggested they survive the war first and then see what happens. Obviously they’re going to get together, but at least the pretense of waiting a little longer is there….even if this is the couple I wanted to see formalize it in this book. Overall, good plot, characters, and world-building. The romance leaves something to be desired, but I think the rest of what happens and is revealed in the book more than make up for it…especially what’s revealed. The heartbreaking end chapter I could’ve done without, mostly because I had to then wait a year for KoA, but whatever.

[bhaalble]

Alistair: A Defense, a Critique

I PROMISED AN ESSAY

I DELIVER AN ESSAY.

So here we go. What’s up Ferelden, its him, ya boi

So, let’s start off by clearly delineating some things that Alistair is, and more importantly, what he is not.

I think there’s a tendency with Alistair critical posts to treat the worst possible version of Alistair as the “real him”, which is more than a little unfair. Unhardened, kinda bitchy Alistair is a part of him, yes, but its a part of him that only arises when your Warden is continually a dick to him, and I think it’s fair to say that none of us are the best versions of ourselves when we’re constantly being treated like shit or ignored. Furthermore, this isn’t really something we do when we talk about the other characters. Zevran straight up tries to murder you if you don’t have his approval ratings high enough and somehow most people don’t see Zevran as inherently a backstabbing little shit.

So, let’s run down the list of common accusations and overturn them

Alistair is not stupid. He’s just…not. Morrigan jokes, yes, but Morrigan tends to see everyone as an idiot for not sharing her worldview, including your Warden. The one who jokes about Alistair being stupid more often than anyone is Alistair, but as we see time and time again, he’s rarely the most trustworthy source for his real complications.

Alistair may not be a scholar and can make some pretty boneheaded statements, yes, but he’s hardly alone in that department for the DA:O crew. His retorts show some real wit behind them at points. He can demonstrate great social awareness (e.g. catching on to the fact that the Grand Cleric sending him, an ex-templar, to interact with the Circle Mages was definitely an intentional slight). Furthermore, I’d like to point out that he managed to catch on to the Chantry’s bullshit all on his own, before he racked up dozens of counts of mage abuse (*cough* CULLEN *cough*). He still shows some effects of the templar’s training, (especially in his treatment of Jowan and Morrigan) but I’d argue that this is hardly a surprise. He’s been subjected to it 24/7 since he was a child. But he’s aware, and based on the other templars we meet throughout the game that on its own shows some serious introspection and critical thinking.

Alistair is not selfish. While he has his moments, I don’t think that’s really who he is, deep down. Take, for instance, his forgiveness of Arl Eamon. He hasn’t seen Eamon for years. The expected arc would be that he waits for Eamon to wake up, gets an apology, and then forgives him. But based on how he talks about him when you enter Redcliffe, its clear that he’s already forgiven Eamon, and is honestly more than a little ashamed of his behavior. Frankly, this is more selfless than even I would be: imagine being twelve, having lived your life as a street urchin because your adoptive father simply won’t treat you any different than he treats his paid employees, only to be sent away from the only home you’ve ever known because your presence embarrasses his wife. Frankly, I think Alistair would be justified in resenting Eamon for it, but it’s clear that he doesn’t. He calls him a good man from beginning to end.

Furthermore, I think what the Guardian says to Alistair is telling. He doesn’t just feel sad that Duncan is gone. He feels guilty. He, deep down, genuinely believes it should have been him. He wishes he could throw himself on the sword to save his mentor. Then there’s the ritual to consider. It takes some convincing (because of course it does) but with little fuss, Alistair will sleep with a woman he genuinely dislikes (which hoo boy does this make a consent conversation more than a little shaky) to conceive a child that he will never get to see. He, a bastard child cast away from his father, is essentially doing the same thing. All to ensure that he won’t risk his friends dying. Even an unhardened King Alistair casting off a non-human non-noble Warden, while it of course hurts, to me shows a sense of latent responsibility. He genuinely loves and cares about your HoF, but he has the sense that this matters more. That even though he never wanted this burden, he has to carry it as best he can.

What Alistair is is immature.

I want to draw a fine distinction here because I think we tend to use immature interchangeably with “selfish” and “stupid”, so it can sound like I’m contradicting myself. So, to explain myself: I use “immature” in the sense of a symptom, rather than a personality.

For an example of “immature as a personality”, look no further than Tony Stark in like, the first half hour of Iron Man (arguably Tony in the rest of the movies too but ashfagdkh follow me here)

Early Tony Stark is very much someone who is irrepressibly immature. He is capable of being an adult, but he chooses not to be, valuing his own desires above pretty much everyone else’s. He acts out simply because he knows no one will stop him, chases the shiniest, biggest toys he can get, and throws a fit when he doesn’t get his way. He treats other people’s time and needs with a flippant attitude, generally behaving like they are literally side characters who only matter so long as they help him get what he wants.

This isn’t to say there isn’t a reason Tony is the way he is (his relationship with his father being a big contributor), but what is important is that Tony is fully capable of being otherwise, knows it, and chooses not to. He revels in his shamelessness, believing that his immaturity is a sign of his intelligence. Everyone else acts like an adult because they have to, but Tony acts like a child because he is smart enough and rich enough to get away with it. Call it a sort of Capitalist Peter Pan syndrome.

By contrast, Alistair strikes me as immature as a symptom. First off, his age is important to factor in here. Alistair is 20 (my age, which is trippy as fuck). He is barely done being a teenager by the time you meet him.

There are further factors that have stunted Alistair’s emotional maturity, even for the average 20-year-old. He jokes about having been raised by Mabari, but its very clear there weren’t a lot of adult influences in his life at a young age. He mentions Isolde ensured that the castle wasn’t home to him long before he was sent to the Chantry. Imagine being under ten and feeling like you were unwanted by a person who has the power to make your life miserable in every imaginable way.

Then, once he was moved to the Chantry….well, if the Circle is any indication, the Chantry doesn’t exactly know how to accommodate children. Alistair made life a merry hell for the priests but it’s clear he wasn’t treated very well by them. Then straight into templar training. All of this while barely interacting with the outside world and shunned by his peers for his status as a bastard. Kids need to engage with other people in order to grow up effectively. With that in mind, it’s frankly stunning that Alistair has as much care for other people as he does.

The observation of Alistair’s immaturity is exactly groundbreaking either. Think about his dream in the Fade. We see Alistair at his most honest and vulnerable, fully convinced of the illusion. And it seems his greatest dream is to have the family he never got as a child, via his sister. Alistair behaves childlike to the point of parody in this dream. He pleads like a child and tries to entice the Warden to stay by begging his mom sister to make a special meal, his favorite. Hell, the whole “hardening” subplot is basically about the Warden forcing Alistair to let go of the childhood he never got to have and moving forward into adulthood.

His immaturity doesn’t just express itself in the obvious childlike behavior, however. Even though we tend to forget that Alistair is a junior member of the Wardens and is barely more experienced than the HoF in terms of actually fighting darkspawn, I think we can all agree that tossing the decisions on someone who’s barely past their Joining probably isn’t great behavior. Pretty much every comment he makes, about mages, blood magic, elves, even women, also read as the words of a man who simply does not have the world experience yet to really know how to engage with people who aren’t like him. It doesn’t mean these comments don’t….yanno, suck, but there is rarely any real malice behind them. Despite the hardships in Alistair’s life (of which there have been many, I grant), he has still been on the receiving end of certain privileges by virtue of being a man and being human non-mage, and it is clear he is still unlearning the prejudice inherent in that. His youth doesn’t excuse how hurtful or ignorant his comments can be, but its the unfortunate truth that, especially for those of us who grow up relatively privileged, being mindful of the Other is a learning process.

However, the main reason I view this immaturity as a symptom more than a personality is that I think Alistair has a genuine desire to grow past this. He acknowledges that he complains a lot, with an additional note that “and you haven’t been having an easy time of it either”. If you push back on his comments (or at least when the game gives you the chance to), he’ll usually apologize for it. And as I said, the hardening storyline to me indicates that Alistair is more than ready to grow up. He’s just still learning how to do it.

None of this, by the way, means that you have to love Alistair. Its more than easy to be annoyed by him, especially for a non-human and/or non-noble character. In the interest of full disclosure, it took me romancing Alistair to move past simply tolerating him. But I think its time for all of us to stop pretending Alistair is something he isn’t. He isn’t really a side character as much as he is a deuteragonist. More than any other companion (except, arguably, Morrigan), Alistair has a character arc that acts in response to your own characters. He grows and changes over the course of the narrative in a way that parallels how the story treats him, and if you create an Alistair that behaves like an asshole, well, you might want to take a look at how you’ve been treating him

to

[burwickdestination]

Do you have any advice when it comes to creating characters? How do you keep yourself from making character that all act/feel/look/ the same way? You have a lot of different characters for both Burwick and HoF and they seem different from one another.

I’m not the best at giving advice and tbh, I’ve just been creating characters for years and there’s no science behind how I do it. I want the characters to be different from each other so that there’s a reason for them to be different characters at all instead of just one, and I can’t stop my mind from constantly going ‘ooo this type of character would be fun to write’ so that’s kind of where it all begins. A conversation isn’t that fun to write if there are too many similarities between characters and the way they speak and act. I’ll try to tell you what I do, even though trying to dissect what I do feels kinda strange lol.

Focus on who that character is, where they come from, what their role is in the story and what they bring to said story.

James and Ivan are the two male ROs in the lineup so I wanted them to be different from each for different people’s tastes and for different experiences between the two. But I also did it because their differences can create and interesting dynamic between the two.

James at his core is a rough, not very serious person with strong principles and not great people skills (important; a flaw that can be made up for by another character, in this case possibly Veronika or the MC, thus creating a balance that serves the story and allows these characters to create a dynamic, thus solidifying their place in each other’s lives. That’s a minor example, though.) With his history, he came from a place of anger and lived in that for a while, and has settled into loneliness and exhaustion by the time you meet him in the story.

Ivan is an elegant and gentle person, with a strong sense of gothic aesthetic, and as a writer he has a certain way with words. With his history (I’ll point out is a bit similar to James in that they both grew up without their birth parents) he came from a place of loneliness and has settled into dissatisfaction and a somewhat of a depression when you meet him. Because of who they are at their core and what they’ve been through in life, they have their own voice. they can speak the same idea and yet convey it in an entirely different way (or even struggle to convey it at all) because of their use of language and their own understanding on the subject.

They also don’t like each other very much. This gives them a dynamic that can make interactions between them interesting (and fun to write) and allow readers to engage by speculating about why they don’t seem to get along terribly well.

Then there’s characters like Aryn and Veronika. I’ll say again, they’re the two female ROs in lineup and I wanted them to be different for all those reasons I said. But the dynamic is different, once again. Aryn is an energetic, funny, tomboyish person and Veronika is more mellow, more “girly”, but can still be a jokester. The girls’ and James’ personalities can clash in some parts and yet mesh really well in others, leading to them not being the same yet it’s clear to the reader not only that they are friends but why they are friends and hopefully making their interactions as friends fun to read.

I’m not sure how much you gleaned from that or if you really got what I was trying to say. I just wanted to share a little bit of my process in making these four characters who they are, so maybe you can understand where I was coming from when developing their characters. (I won’t talk about the secret 5th, he has his own dynamic that affects the entire story, I won’t give it away but I will tell you his personality in ways is similar to Ivan’s yet his morals, attitude, and way of speaking are wildly different)

I’ll be honest, though, I still struggle with the little stuff. Small mannerisms are what really make a character come to life and it can be really difficult to differentiate these between characters because they’re being written by one person who has their own mannerisms that’ll definitely leak into their writing. You need to be conscious of how many characters you make do That Quirky Thing With Their Hands or say That One Phrase or whatever. I’m not sure what advice to really give other than pay close attention to not only your own speech patterns and subtle physical mannerisms, but also other people’s. Taking inspiration from both real life and other media is a good thing; it helps you expand beyond your own mindset, so don’t be ashamed to do that.

[free-the-mages]

Dragon Age questions

!!!!!!!!!!! i was tagged by the lovely @bitchesofostwick (thank you so much!!!) and i’m not tagging anyone because i’m late to this (sorry, i didn’t do it immediately when i saw it and in my usual fashion i forgot for a few days. >_>) so i know basically everyone i would tag has already been tagged. but anyway, let’s get on with it!!

p.s. this’ll be long because i ramble. ❤️

01) favorite game of the series? i’d say inquisition, probably. i rather like the character creator and the open-world feel of it. i like the gameplay of it too. it also gets bonus points because it’s the only game i know how to mod even a little, which makes me happy because i can get characters that are 100% unique to me. :]

02) how did you discover Dragon Age? Shit, nearly a decade ago i remember finding this disc for a game called Dragon Age: Origins lying around one day. it was my brother’s and i can’t remember where he said he got it, but anyway it was damaged and wouldn’t play anyway. i didn’t give a rat’s ass about it tbh. my thoughts of it went no further. it wasn’t until about three years later that my brother bought it for the 360 and i saw him play a bit and then learned that there was a character creator and I FUCKING LIVED (AND STILL DO) for games with character creators. so my happy ass started playing!!!! (that was the very first version of my Tabris, Lark!) shortly after that i purchased it for PC and the rest is history!

03) how many times you’ve played the games? I’ve completed Origins only once. I’ve started a few playthroughs, but i’ve never gotten very far. :/ oh, and i also completed Awakening once. i’ve completed DA2 i believe twice. Again, i’ve started multiple playthroughs, just never finished them all. and basically the same for Inquisition, tbh. i’ve done one playthrough without Trespasser and one with. OR i might have just loaded up the finished save and played Trespasser when i bought it. xD in any case i’ve played each game through at least once.

04) favorite race to play as? i don’t really see it as favorites? in Inquisition i’ve technically created a couple characters for each race (except a dwarf. haven’t gotten around to making a dwarf quizzy yet) but most of them are just “throwaway” characters that i make to romance people because i want to try all the romances but i can’t make every character i create into like, a character character, that exists fully in my head and outside the game. so any characters you hear about from me are ones that have really stuck out to me in one way or another. anyway the only warden i ever made that mattered any was Lark, who is of course an elf. i like them all tbh! i was rather excited about being able to play a badass qunari chick, though! (even though my first character was a human. go figure.)

05) favorite class? mage!!!!! when first played Origins i made Lark a warrior. idk for sure why, but i think it was because i didn’t want a character in the Circle. i wanted a city elf. idk why i picked warrior over rogue though. my first Hawke was a warrior. again, idk why. my second Hawke was a mage, and I. FELL. IN. LOVE. i loved the fighting animations, i loved the spells, i just…. i loved. when i finally was able to play DAI (which was a few years after it was released) my first character was a mage. again, i loved it. however, when i went back to DAO at one point and tried being a mage i was not a fan of it. i didn’t like the way it played. BUT OVERALL my favorite is definitely mage. :]

06) do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time? the same. it might be sad and pitiful, but in-game decisions give me real-world feelings and anxiety so i just make the decisions that stay in my comfort zone. :] sometimes i’m brave and try different things, but for the most part i make the same decisions.

07) go-to adventuring group? Disclaimer: if applicable, i take my LI everywhere i go. :] i honestly try to take a variety of people because i want a balanced team as much as possible. i’m also a very casual player, so i don’t use the tactical camera or like, the behavior patterns or anything. i leave everything default. so i try to mix and match and come up with a team that i feel best compliments my character’s class/abilities or whatever, without me having to babysit them or really do any work in regards to that. that AND i like to hear the different banters tbh. when i’m picking my team sometimes i’ll stop and think, “omg, what is [character] and [character]’s relationship really like??? i never take them together so i don’t know!!” so i’ll expand my horizons and take groups of companions that i don’t normally take together. that being said, I LOVE ALL THE COMPANIONS ALL THE TIME SO I DON’T PLAY FAVORITES. :]

08) which of your characters did you put the most thought into? Probably Sydnie, because she was the first game character that really developed into an OC. the first one i really wanted to try writing for. my first Inquisitor. :] she was the first (game) character that, as i was playing, i really sat and thought, “what would this living being with a soul do when presented with this situation?” instead of just clicking whatever. xD anyway, ideas just came flying at me when i thought about her. overall i feel like she’s very underdeveloped still as far as character’s go, but i love her and i’ve been thinking a lot more about her lately. i’d really love to finish writing something for her eventually. xD

09) favorite romance? oh man, idk. tbh i’ve not finished all of the romances so a part of me wants to be like, “i can’t really answer this tbh”. Lark romanced Alistair, and it was cute and i love them. (i’ve toyed with the idea of writing some stuff for them and it’d be so cute if i could actually get my ass into gear.) i really liked Fenris’s romance (and DA2 was the only game that i played through more than one companion’s romance.) and Cullen is the only one i’ve completed a romance for in DAI, though i played most of Josie’s and i’m love. :] honestly i really do feel like there really isn’t an answer from me for this one. sorry! D:

10) have you read any of the comics/books? nope. i was thinking of maybe getting The Masked Empire but i haven’t fully decided yet. i unfortunately don’t read books much these days. (i’d rather be on my comp playing games or arting or maybe reading fic!!)

11) if you read them, which was your favorite book? n/a

12) favorite DLCs? i am so fucking ambivalent wtf. seriously, people. i’m coming to learn that there are few things i have an actual feelings on either way. -___- Trespasser is the only big DLC i own and i fucking hate it. it’s great and all but i kind of cried at the end so whatever. :] but honestly i really really like the Spoils of the Qunari DLC!!!!! the antaam-saar!!!!!! (i think i spelled it right idk i’m too lazy to check please forgive me) and the mount!!!!! good stuff. i own (i think) all of the DLC for DA2 and i like them all well enough. i also own all for DAO and i like them well enough. i’ve only ever played the DAO in-game DLC as well as Awakening (meaning no Leli’s Song, no Witch Hunt, etc.) i just never got around to it. anyway, really. not really playing favorites here either. xD

13) things that annoy you. not much tbh. i suppose it’s annoying that sometimes in some games i’m sitting here like, “okay, why did my character just say these words? that wasn’t what the words that i clicked on said. ?????????”

14) Orlais or Ferelden? Ferelden! because it’s more rustic and i like that. :3 also mabaris.

15) templars or mages? mages. though i do believe there’s an argument to be had about the treatment of both groups at the hands of the chantry. but still mages. :]

16) if you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one? obviously i intend to have and OC HOF, champion, and inquisitor all in one universe. i’ve had a hard time trying to figure out which characters i want to be canon and which aren’t. i’ve also toyed with the idea of having multiple world states that act as their own individual canons, but that’s a lot of work and like… lazy. :] for a while i just figured Lark was my canon warden no canon Hawke thus far and Sydnie my canon Inquisitor. but idk.

17) what did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc) UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM………………….. one of the mabaris in the first two games was named Charlemagne (i think my Hawke’s dogs are always Charlemagne) and i think Lark’s dog was… omg hold on i have it documented somewhere. *a few minutes later* Shawshank! Lark’s dog’s name is Shawshank.

18) have you installed any mods? yes because i’m garbage that is privileged enough to be a computer gamer and can install mods. i also really like having mods and making mods so yes. yes i install mods. :]

19) did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden? not particularly, though she didn’t mind having to leave the alienage. she’d be dead or worse if she’d stayed and also she would have attempted to run away long before shit hit the fan if she didn’t have her family to think about. she still cared for her family and she did feel some sadness over leaving them, but it was like her soul made a sigh of relief and a weight was lifted. she was truly happy to leave. becoming a Grey Warden was sort of like a not completely unpleasant side effect.

20) hawke’s personality? i don’t really have a Hawke atm but I generally tend to play blue Hawkes.

21) did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition? no and they should all thank the maker because every fucking one of ‘em would be in plaidweave and that’s that on that.

22) if your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change? ugh this is too much thinking for me. why are there so many questions?!??!?!!? anyway idk. i think Sydnie would change the way she let herself react to a really bad thing that happened in the circle. because she reacted the way she did, it completely changed who she was and it takes her a long time to get herself back. sorry it’s vague but that’s just how these things go sometimes. :] Lark doesn’t really live in the past, if that makes sense? she doesn’t dwell on things enough to regret. why change the past when you can own this day???? as a certain cheeky lesbian elf apparently says maybe. :3

23) do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon? kind of, but mostly small things, and generally only things that pertain directly to my character. also i like to switch things up when it comes to romances. :] i try to take the basics of the in-game romance arc and tailor it a bit more to what i envision. or just what i want. ;D so i guess that could maybe be considered off canon, though i don’t really see the romances as canon anyway.

24) are any of your character(s) based on someone? no. not intentionally, anyway. it would take me way too long to explain my thought processes when it comes to creating characters (and this bitch is already long enough at this point) so i won’t go into details. :] so basically no, i don’t ever really set out to base characters on people. maybe subconsciously it happens? idk.

25) who did you leave in the Fade? my first playthrough was the default world state so i sacrificed Stroud because of course i did. with the custom world state i have now i sacrificed Hawke. D: because you know i’m not sacrificing Alistair!!!! especially not after he said the stuff about Lark and them being together AND I COULDN’T TAKE THAT AWAY. also it wasn’t like it was MY Hawke, because i don’t have an actual OC Hawke it was quite easy to sacrifice her because i had no real attachment to her. anyway don’t fucking ask me who i’ll sacrifice when i finally get around to actually deciding on my canons and their world state because I DON’T KNOW AND I DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT. thank you. :]

26) favorite mount? i don’t use mounts much actually. i like hearing banter. that being said, i really like the way the qunari horse looks. i also like the harts and i don’t care what anyone else says i love their nails-on-chalkboard screech. fight me if you must but i said what i said. :]

THANKS SO MUCH TO ANYONE WHO READS THIS I APPRECIATE YOU LETTING ME WASTE YOUR TIME!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[ezatluba]

The Dog Park Is Bad, Actually

Dog parks may seem like great additions to the community, but they’re rife with problems — for you, and for your dog. Here’s what to know before you go.

By Sassafras Lowrey

Feb. 6, 2020

Every morning, rain, shine or snow, people stand around making conversation with strangers as their dogs chase, run and mingle. Ranging from elaborate fenced playgrounds and rolling fields to small inner-city runs, dog parks are among the fastest growing park amenities nationwide. The Trust for Public Land found that there has been a 40 percent increase in the development of dog parks since 2009.

The first dog park in the United States was the Ohlone Dog Park, which was founded by Martha Scott Benedict and Doris Richards in 1979 in Berkeley, Calif. Since then, dog parks have become standard amenities in developing city and suburban neighborhoods across the country, but are they actually good for dogs? Surprisingly, canine behavior experts aren’t so sure.

According to a 2018 survey conducted by the National Recreation and Park Association (N.R.P.A.), 91 percent of Americans believe dog parks provide benefits to their communities. This was especially true among millennials and Gen Xers, who overwhelmingly recognized dog parks as beneficial amenities. The study found that the top two reasons responders cited for supporting dog parks were that 60 percent thought that they gave dogs a safe space to exercise and roam freely, and 48 percent felt that dog parks were important because they allowed dogs to socialize.

Especially for urban dogs that don’t have backyards to exercise in, dog parks can sound like a great idea. There is nothing natural, however, about dogs that aren’t familiar with one another to be put in large groups and expected to play together. Many of us just accept the assumption that dog parks are good places to socialize a dog, but that may not be the case.

The socialization myth

Nick Hof, a certified professional dog trainer and chair of The Association of Professional Dog Trainers, explained that in terms of canine behavior, the term “socialization” isn’t just dogs interacting or “socializing” with other dogs, but rather, “the process of exposing young puppies under 20 weeks to new experiences.”

“This helps them have more confidence and adapt to new situations,” Mr. Hof said.

Though socialization is critical for the healthy development of puppies, the dog park is not where you want to bring your puppy to learn about appropriate interactions with other dogs, Mr. Hof added.

“Dog parks are not a safe place to socialize a puppy under 6-12 months old,” he continued. “During our puppy’s early months, they are more sensitive to experiences, so a rambunctious greeter at the park may be enough to cause our puppy to be uncertain of all dogs,” Mr. Hof explained.

The goal for socializing young puppies is to ensure they have only positive interactions, and to avoid any overwhelming or frightening interactions. Instead of taking puppies to a dog park for socialization, Mr. Hof encourages owners to attend puppy classes with their dog to meet age-appropriate playmates.

Socialization with older dogs is a bit more challenging, because in a behavioral sense, older dogs have already had all of their formative socialization experiences. Dog guardians generally mean well when they bring a shy dog to the dog park with the intention of giving that dog positive interactions with other dogs. Unfortunately, this can backfire; a dog who is nervous or uncomfortable is more likely to be easily overwhelmed in a park setting, which can lead to dog fights or a long-term fear of encountering other dogs. A park setting also allows dogs to pick up bad habits from one another, and is definitely not a place you want to bring a dog who is under-socialized.

Playground bullies

Although dogs are social animals and regularly engage in various forms of play, the artificial setup of a dog park can be challenging. Many people bring their dogs to the park to burn off excess energy, but these dogs often display over-aroused and rude behavior that can trigger issues between dogs. Dr. Heather B. Loenser, senior veterinary officer of the American Animal Hospital Associationcautioned that “unfortunately, just because an owner thinks their dog plays well with others, doesn’t mean they always do.”

Having your dog in a dog park requires trusting that everyone in the park is monitoring their dog, and is a good judge about whether their dog should be in the park in the first place. That’s a lot of trust to put in a stranger.

Unlike doggy day cares or play groups, most dog parks are public spaces that are not screened or supervised by canine professionals.

This can be an issue with fights between dogs that can lead to dogs learning inappropriate behaviors from other dogs. “Bad experiences can also ripple outward and cause our dogs to have issues or concerns outside of the dog park as well,” Mr. Hof said, adding that dogs at dog parks might pick up bad habits such as being pushy when greeting or engaging in play with other dogs. On other hand, dogs that are overwhelmed by the boisterousness of others may become withdrawn, skittish and nervous when meeting other dogs in and out of the dog park.

Injuries

One of the biggest dangers of dog parks is that they often don’t have separate play enclosures for large and small dogs, or when they do, owners can choose to disregard those spaces. Even without meaning to, a large dog can easily cause serious injury or even kill a smaller dog.

From minor scuffles to serious incidents, injuries are common at dog parks. Bite wounds are common, even from rough play. Even if the wound seems small, “seek veterinary care immediately,” Dr. Loenser advised.

Bites that occur in fights or during play often involve tearing under the skin, which can be complicated to heal, and may carry a greater risk of infection. Muscle strains and sprains from lunging and rough play are also common. “Anytime dogs quickly pivot on their back legs, they are also at risk for tearing the ligaments, specifically the cranial cruciate ligament in their knees,” Dr. Loenser said. These types of knee-and-ligament injuries often require expensive surgery and extensive healing and rehabilitation.

Diseases

Even clean and well maintained dog parks can pose health risks, in particular the spread of easily communicable diseases. One challenge of dog parks being unregulated public spaces is that while most post signs saying dogs should be vaccinated, no proof of vaccinations is actually required.

The American Animal Hospital Association advises owners who bring their pets to the park to have them vaccinated with the Bordetella vaccine, which prevents “kennel cough,” as well as distemper. You’ll also want to have your dog vaccinated against leptospirosis, as communal water bowls, puddles and other water features in dog parks can carry leptospira bacteria. All dogs should be vaccinated against rabies, and dogs that visit dog parks should be on flea and tick prevention as well as year-round heartworm prevention. Dogs that visit dog parks should also be vaccinated against canine influenza (dog flu) that can be transmitted through the air.

Dr. Loenser cautioned that although “currently, the influenza vaccines available cover for the strains that are most commonly seen, if new strains are introduced or mutate, these vaccines might not provide cross-protection.” If that were to occur, dogs that visited dog parks and had contact with a large number of dogs that might or might not be fully vaccinated would be at risk of getting sick.

Body language

Most dog owners aren’t skilled at reading their dog’s body language beyond a wagging tail, so warning signs that your dog is uncomfortable, unhappy or angry are often ignored. This leads to minor and major dog fights. Understanding canine body language is key to supporting your dog’s comfort and safety, and assessing if a playgroup at the dog park is going to be a good match.

“The dog park is not a place for you to let your dog run unsupervised while you socialize with other people,” Mr. Hof said. “Keep an eye on your dog and make sure that they are both being good and having a good time.” This means watching the actions and behaviors of your dog and the other dogs in the park. If things are getting too intense, that’s a good time to leave.

But what exactly should you be watching for? Dr. Loenser says that subtle signs of fear or aggression include “lip licking, yawning or panting when not hot.” Other signs of discomfort or a brewing issue include stiff bodies and erect tails. Keeping an eye out for these signs can give you the edge to intervene on your dog’s behalf before an interaction with another dog escalates.

Even dogs that appear to be playing well together may be at risk. “Healthy play between dogs should include small breaks or pauses,” Mr. Hof said. “If you are uncertain about if all dogs are happy, I recommend stopping the dog who may be too over-the-top and seeing what the other dog does. If the other dog tries to re-engage, it’s a good indicator that everything was okay. If the other dog runs off though, a break was a good idea.”

Any kind of behavior that involve one dog pinning another dog is also one to avoid. Barking, growling and other vocalization occasionally during play is normal, but frenzied barking is generally too much.

Dog park alternatives

On a good day, if the dog park you visit is large enough, it may physically tire out your dog. But the visit won’t actually provide your dog with the kind of enriching mental and emotional stimulation that dogs need. Dog parks, unfortunately, are often more about humans than they are about dogs.

As much as humans enjoy the chance to socialize with other like-minded animal lovers while our dogs play, it’s far safer and more fun for your dog to skip the dog park and spend that time engaging intentionally with you and their surroundings by going on walks, taking a training or general obedience class or even trying a new sport together. Ultimately you’re the only one who can determine if the risks outweigh the benefits of dog parks, but there is no shame in not surrendering your dog to what has become the quintessential urban dog experience: running with dozens of strangers in a small, smelly pen as people stand by, looking at their phones or gossiping. Make the time you have with your dog meaningful and enriching; after all, your dog wants to spend time with you, too.

[darkestwolfx]

Tunnels of Time - Re-Review #10

So... there’s a lot I want to say about re-watching this episode, and I have little time in which to type it so I will try not to miss anything out.

Firstly, we got a rescue straight of the bat - even if Gordon did nearly get knocked out by a rock!

This is definitely Parker’s ‘I’m not impressed face’.

I love how Gordon arrives on the flat bed lorry behind instead of a cool Thunderbird... that must have been an interesting drive for the lorry driver... Gordon probably talked his head off.

“Why are you here, Gordon?”

Yeah, it always starts well when the other person has no idea why you’re there, and suddenly you look like you could have been strangely stalking them or something... if Gordon already had his crush on Penelope at this point then that would have hurt. Personally though, I like to take the view that the real crush comes during this episode - it makes more sense story wise.

It’s strange seeing Penelope/Gordon dynamics emerging as well as in TOS they always angled her towards Scott. I think I like it though, and they’re kinda canon at the end. It was a well-developed relationship over the course of the episodes from what I remember too.

“You called me remember?”

“I didn’t send you any message.”

“Yes you did.”

Yeah, that’s just really awkward... let’s allow the tumbleweeds to blow through and just move swiftly on.

“Because you think I need someone to look after me?”

“hExactly!” “hI mean no, not at all, M’lady. You’re more than capable hof fending for yourself. See what you’ve done?”

“I thought you weren’t going in?”

“hExactly! Then you harrived. hI ‘ad a five hin six chance hof hit being hone hof the hothers.”

“There are only five of us.”

“I was including your Gran.”

I really would like to know why Parker desperately wanted it to be anyone but Gordon... I know implications were made in Ring Of Fire that Gordon thinks Lady P and Parker have the ‘easy job’, but I don’t think that would be enough to cause that... Interesting.

I love how Parker doesn’t offer to help with Gordon’s bags either.

“Why, exactly?”

Ur, because he can and he wants to and the power is going to his head? Honestly, do half the people in the world think they need better reasoning than that?

“Shame the way his blocked. Nothing’s getting through ‘ere.”

Well done, Parker. That’s jinx number 1.

“I’ll get some help. Stay there.”

“Where does ‘e think we’ll go?”

I really love the family dynamics in this episode and the relationship between Penelope and Gordon (which let’s be honest at this point was all about one upping each other), but I also really loved the comedic timing. Whilst Lady P and Gordon carried some of this from the above reason, I really loved how much of the humour Parker carried. He was always a great source of humour in TOS, but particularly in this episode, his timing, lines and actions were just amazing!

“hIf hI’m gonna die ‘ere, might has well get comfortable.”

And there’s jinx number 2.

I love how suspicious John was! You can’t fool these brothers, after all they’ve probably seen most tricks in the books on each other or other rescues.

Seriously this moment was golden. I love how the series (this one in particular) balanced out the worry, anger and individual issues of the boys.

“People are just for a lifetime; history is forever.”

“You rat-faced weasel!”

“Woah, Scott.”

Yeah... don’t go punching people... in uniform, at least.

And then Virgil appears once again with some calm and logic and a rescue plan! Sort of.

Because it was all going so well until the camera bit the dust.

“hIt could be some kind hof maze, meant to mess with hour brains.”

I love Parker’s little bit of poetry here - the timing was so point and the meter was - sorry, I won’t ramble too much about poetry at this point.

“He says it means... ah... point of no return.”

“hI reached that ha while hago.”

Best tag on ever.

I liked that though - my science teacher used to have ‘Point of no return’ written above his classroom door in Latin. It made me laugh that it took so many people ages to work out what it said when they could have just asked me as I used to Latin after school!

“We only have a few seconds left, so it’s now or never.”

But it’s actually okay Gordon, you’ve still got another two series.

Although, I doubt Virgil could have been certain that would work. I mean it gave them a way in, but there was no way to know exactly how Gordon would be able to respond to it. But, hey, have a bit of brotherly faith.

Rescue count: 14 It’s stacking up now! We’ve had more rescues than we have episodes at this point!

Right, well I will be back with the Re-Review series on Monday! My focus for the weekend is getting my next fic up!

P.S. Never leave your car keys inside an ancient tomb.