#Codex: Bond Theory

[farore05]

*carefully sets this on the table*

Codex: Bond Theory

(Omegaverse EmmRook)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/65978827/chapters/169995949

For decades Emmrich Volkarin had been the gold standard of what an alpha should be, composed in the face of instinct, unshakable under pressure. Across all four major universities in Thedas, he was one of only three alphas permitted to hold full tenure. Trusted to lecture in rooms thick with scent, to remain unmoved through every stage of designation flux. He had built a reputation on control. He had even written the definitive text on the subject. Instinct and Intellect: Navigating Designation with Dignity. It was still used in half of the academic circles from Starkhaven to the Free Marches.

So why, at his age, with all his accolades and experience, was this becoming so Maker-forsaken difficult?

Picture by the lovely @themournfulwatcher

[zaahvi]

dirthamen and ghilan'nain's intertwined history — a theory

edit: if you read this, please check out the post-veilguard update i gave here!

the relationship between dirthamen and ghilan'nain within the lore has always been unclear but incredibly fascinating to me, and after these past few months of being haunted by it i think i've finally figured it out!

in this *very* long post i'll be breaking down their connections and piecing together theories to make sense of their dynamic and history, investigating the more puzzling elements of dirthamen's lore, and exploring how this all ties into the evanuris' eventual betrayal of mythal. i've kept this theory free of veilguard spoilers so everyone is able to read it!

—————

the connections

the reason why dirthamen and ghilan'nain's dynamic is often overlooked is because most of the ties they have to each other can be easily missed or are sometimes misinterpreted. there is only ONE codex entry that explicitly mentions them together, and while that is already widely discussed, there are many smaller connections between them. so here is everything i've found!

the bear mural:

this mural in dai shows a white antlered figure embracing a green bear. to me, it looks like the bear is being protective of the figure (judging by the fact that they are reaching up to it). the art style looks elven and it's used in a few locations, such as the skyhold barn...

...aaand at calenhad's foothold in the hinterlands:

and well well well, that's dirthamen's statue seated just above it...

so this mural seems to depict dirthamen as the bear and ghilan'nain as the antlered figure, specifically how the dalish may depict them in their legends:

dirthamen's sacred animal was the bear (x), (source is a dalish elf, this info is not found anywhere in elvhen lore)

ghilan'nain had "snowy white hair" and became the first halla (x), (source is a dalish elf, this info is not found anywhere in elvhen lore)

it should be said, the amount of actual elvhen lore we have is very limited, so these could in fact be true and not just misinterpreted by the dalish. though they've been twisted, dalish legends came from somewhere, and especially in ghil's example it makes complete sense to portray her as a woman with antlers and white hair when her sacred animal has antlers and white fur. and while dirthamen is mentioned only with corvids in ancient elvhen lore, they are mentioned as seperate entities than him, so the bear could in fact be the representation of himself. in any case, i'm proceeding with the assumption that this mural is indeed supposed to portray them.

so, as the figure is reaching out to the bear herself, i'm ruling out any possibility of the bear being hostile towards her. it looks like the bear is protecting her, from what? or who? above them is the moon, perhaps it's an indication that mythal is watching, and/or that the bear is protecting or hiding the antlered lady away from her?

———

mosaics in the lost temple of dirthamen:

the design of dirthamen's temple is really fascinating. there's elven imagery scattered all throughout, but mosaics of himself are completely missing. there are, however, mosaics of two other elven gods...

there are five green mosaics of falon'din... and two red ones of ghilan'nain. next to one of ghil's there is also this:

falon'din being there makes sense given that he and dirthamen were "twin souls", which we're not entirely sure what that meant, but either way they had some sort of deep bond. ghilan'nain, however... and this specific mural... less so. this art in particular really reminds me of this description of the bas-reliefs from the horror of hormak:

"The halla were different, wrong. They had too many horns, for one, and a harder, more rounded look than normal. A look that was almost insectile. And the horns themselves were longer and ridged. Organic, somehow."

so, why would dirthamen have put her mosaics in his temple? clearly they had some sort of connection, close enough that he decided to honour her within his own place of worship. you don't just put some other god in your temple for no reason, you know?

on why dirthamen's mosaics are missing:

my best guess is that they were defaced/taken down afterwards, either by his own priests or by invaders. the codex entry for the lost temple mentions madness caused by the secrets they held...

"We will not have it, will not have it! The secrets are madness in our ears, but they are ours The Highest One cannot take them from us. Only Dirthamen, our Keeper, only he And if he does not take the secrets They are ours forever."

...and unless dismembering your high priest was a holy tradition to dirthamen then yeah, it doesn't seem like they were entirely sane. for whatever reason, in their madness, they could have torn down the mosaics.

though invaders seem more likely here, simply because they would have just... done a better job defacing mosaics if they truly wanted to. and to remove only dirthamen's mosaics, and not falon'din's or ghilan'nain's.

"They will come for us in the night Those who could steal the words from our lips And our god no longer rises to our defense."

this part of the codex implies that there were attacks on the temple by those who would steal the priests' secrets, and that dirthamen would defend them against these invaders. when he was locked away, he couldn't defend them anymore, and so these attackers could have easily gotten in. interesting... breaking in and removing his mosaics but not falon'din or ghilan'nain's would indicate a hostility towards dirthamen himself, but not the other gods...

———

the sinner:

by now we've all seen this widely discussed codex entry:

"His crime is high treason. He took on a form reserved for the gods and their chosen, and dared to fly in the shape of the divine. The sinner belongs to Dirthamen; he claims he took wings at the urging of Ghilan'nain, and begs protection from Mythal. She does not show him favor, and will let Elgar'nan judge him." For one moment there is an image of a shifting, shadowy mass with blazing eyes, whose form may be one or many. Then it fades.

so apparently "taking the shape of the divine" was a crime bad enough that it counts as high treason and mythal referred judgment to elgar'nan for it, which is REAL bad. this sinner claims ghilan'nain urged him to do it, but why? one would assume the sinner didn't survive elgar'nan's judgment, and if you really wanted someone dead there would be easier ways to kill them... so to me this reads as an attempt to sow discord, either between dirthamen's worshippers or to paint them as troublesome and dirthamen himself as irresponsible in the eyes of the other evanuris? at least that's my takeaway here.

———

the next few are going to be smaller hints that basically rely on subtler location design and stuff like that. i could just be picking at nothing but it's worth mentioning either way!

ghilan'nain's grove and the crow fens:

there are two inaccesible areas in the exalted plains for which you need to complete war table missions to access: ghilan'nain's grove, and citadelle du corbeau. ghil's grove specifically leads you to two other areas: the dead hand, and the crow fens.

the crow fens are interesting because of dirthamen's connection to crows and/or ravens, as written in his dalish legend and by two of the runes from his quest:

"The revealed symbols show what appears to be Dirthamen, the elven god of secrets, on the back of a large crow."

"The revealed symbols show two ravens. One grips a heart in its talons, the other a mirror."

seems like the ravens are fear (heart) and deceit (mirror) while the crow is... idk, just some Big Bird he has. i guess.

so a location named after one of dirthamen's favourite animals right next to ghilan'nain's grove — and let's also go back to that other unlockable area, citadelle du corbeau:

there he is again! the structure is elven, maybe the citadelle was once a place of worship dedicated to him? it's interesting that it's in such close proximity to ghilan'nain's grove, and what's also interesting is the massive statue of fen'harel watching over the entire area:

finally, the description of the quest Rifts in the Fens, which covers the fade rifts in the general ghilan'nain's grove area, says this...

"Active Fade rifts has been spotted in Montevelan Village, Dirthamen's Grove, and the Crow Fens."

seems like it was mistakenly left in, but it definitely implies that ghilan'nain's grove was originally named dirthamen's grove. alright...

———

elven pantheon codex entry placements:

also a smaller one that may mean nothing, but anyway. each of the elven god codexes are scattered through the exalted plains, with four of them being located in the ghilan'nain's grove/crow fens region. these are:

Dirthamen: Keeper of Secrets & Falon'din: Friend of the Dead, the Guide — both found within the dead hand puzzle area

Andruil: Goddess of the Hunt & Ghilan'nain: Mother of the Halla — both found within the crow fens area, on halla statues standing opposite each other

these two pairings found in the same zone is really interesting, especially that dirthamen's is in an area closer to ghilan'nain's grove and ghil's is in the crow fens. :)

———

mosaic placements in the temple of mythal:

most of the elven god codexes in the temple of mythal are scattered about, with the exception of three who are bunched up in the same room together:

elgar'nan, dirthamen, and ghilan'nain.... interesting bunch to put together considering there are no documented interactions between them so far, save for the sinner codex (and ghil & elg now i guess....) in addition, there's also two golden owl (usually representing falon'din) statues flanking dirthamen and a mosaic of fen'harel to the left of elgar'nan, but those don't grant any additional codex entries.

the reason i find these placements interesting is because of the placements of the falon'din and andruil murals in the temple. they're both on either side of the door to the inner sanctum and both of their codex entries mention mythal fighting them. it just seems very deliberate to me, so maybe this is too.

———

the varterral:

i've seen a few theories about the varterral being one of the creatures that ghilan'nain created - valid, by the way, since it does look like a mix of creatures and something she may create. however...

"...On the fourth day, Dirthamen heard them. He whispered into the mountains and the fallen trees of the forest gathered, shaping an immense and agile spider-like beast. It was the varterral. With lightning speed, vicious strikes, and venomous spit, it drove back the serpent. From then on, it was the guardian of the city and its people." — Codex entry: Varterral

here dirthamen is credited with the creation of the varterral. but it's worth noting that, 1. this is a dalish tale so it may have happened differently, and 2. it's not stated that he created the first varterral or anything, just that he made one. regardless, he made a creature, and an awfully ghil-flavoured one at that.

—————

theories on dirthamen & ghilan'nain's relationship

so what we know now is that they're placed next to each other a lot, there's a mural of them embracing, ghilan'nain was clearly important enough to dirthamen for him to put her mosiacs in his temple, and she may have turned against him later.

firstly, an idea: in ancient elvhenan, a lot of the population were enslaved to the evanuris, whether directly or indirectly through a noble that served them. we don't know if the nobles, or any of the chosen, also had vallaslin like the slaves did. but consider that ghilan'nain was once a normal elf; she became an evanuris later. so the two possibilities here are: 1. she was one of these nobles or chosen, or 2. she was a slave. either way the question remains: which god does someone who makes monsters serve?

the most likely suspects:

andruil: in dalish lore ghil is often mentioned as andruil's favourite, her beloved, a huntress who served her, etc. in the elvhen story of her ascension, it is andruil who approaches her with the offer of godhood. it's possible ghil was making monsters for andruil to hunt (she is specifically mentioned in the story as hunting them,) or perhaps andruil simply intervened when the monsters were getting out of hand first, and their relationship came later?

dirthamen: ghil was a scientist... she made monsters yes, but she conducted experiments and collected research (remember the taken shape?) — she gathered knowledge. that seems just like the kind of thing dirthamen would encourage and value: maybe that's why her mosaic is in his temple, and that's what the bear mural means — he was like a patron to her, she reached to him for assistance, and he granted it?

as for the servant/slave question, i personally think she was not a slave, just based on all she was able to do (she had free rein of all those thaigs, seemingly got subjects delivered to her, had that massive gemstone wall — basically, it's clear her experiments were funded) although i do think it would be super badass if she was a slave beforehand, as well as kinda tragic. like... she broke free of her bindings and became a goddess, but eventually turned into those who once oppressed her... sigh anyway

onto some ideas/possibilities:

ghil served andruil, and made monsters for her to hunt. the connection to dirthamen isn't clear.

ghil served dirthamen freely, and he supported her research. after she ascended, she turned on him for unknown reasons. her relationship with andruil began after ascension.

ghil served dirthamen, and he supported her research, but she did technically "belong" to him. after she ascended, she turned on him, perhaps as revenge? her relationship with andruil began after ascension.

ghil wasn't aligned with any god, and could have just been a noble with her own funds. she could have interacted with and formed relationships with multiple gods, as she wasn't bound to a single one.

i personally think number 2 is the most probable here. going from dirthamen -> andruil rather than andruil -> dirthamen makes more sense, considering that the ghilandruil mural from the missing was clearly drawn after ghil's ascension (since she has her headpiece) and also, from what we've seen of ghil so far, she seems very proud of her creations. why would she want them hunted? again, the bargain she made was to destroy her creations in exchange for godhood. it was a sacrifice.

finally, considering her resources it makes more sense for ghil to have been a servant rather than a slave. what remains now is the question: why would she have turned on dirthamen?

a reason for betrayal

between the missing mosaics in his temple, ghil convincing his followers to commit crimes, and the stabbed fade statue, you can probably tell by now that something's different about dirthamen. remember the fen'harel statue looking over the citadel? there are more potential connections to solas if you look close enough:

fen'harel statues in the lost temple:

dirthamen's mosaics in the elven mountain ruins (note: these are the only evanuris mosaics in the entire area, not counting the forgotten sanctuary):

mosaics in the forgotten sanctuary (on each wall: dirthamen - mythal - fen'harel - falon'din - dirthamen)

symbol of the two ravens in the forgotten sanctuary armoury

so what does this all mean? well u/eravas on reddit had a theory that these are hints that dirthamen could have potentially been helping solas and mythal with the rebellion. remember how morrigan said it was weird the temple of mythal had fen'harel statues? and the mountain ruins were a sanctuary, so why keep the mosaics? (there are also a few other hints eravas mentioned that i missed, but these are the most important!)

and remember how i said that attackers on the lost temple of dirthamen could have torn his mosaics down specifically and left the others? and i came to the conclusion that they must have had a grudge against dirthamen specifically. well, there is some other defaced imagery... in the form of these decapitated statues of mythal:

so, why would dirthamen have helped solas? i don't know, but we don't really have explicit answers as to why mythal helped him either. and then, why did solas trap dirthamen along with the others? well, there is one last thing...

the statue in the fade: the final piece of the puzzle

and now, the part that lives in my head rent free!

if kieran exists in your worldstate, then during the quest The Final Piece you will find him and flemeth in the fade, and above their meeting ground there is a massive statue of dirthamen with a blade in his back, with blood pouring out of the wound and his eyes:

alright so to be clear this takes place in the raw fade, not the "dreaming" fade; we know the fade usually reflects the dreamer, but know less about the "raw fade" when we aren't dreaming. it's complicated, but from the random statues and scattered memories we see in the fade during here lies the abyss, it's safe to assume that some of the aspects of the dreaming fade (such as it being ever-shifting and a reflection of the waking world) are also present in the raw fade. therefore, i'm guessing that this statue's presence here is mirroring something that happened in the waking world... so what is it?

i think there are two possibilites:

someone betrayed dirthamen, and this captures the moment of his betrayal

dirthamen betrayed mythal, and this statue is a "reflection" of this

while 1 is more of a direct mirror and is more likely, we don't have that much info about who could have done that to him. yeah, ghil maybe, but she was only stirring the pot and this seems more... severe. 2 is what i believe due to flemeth's deliberate choice to use that specific area as a meeting spot. also, if one of the other evanuris had betrayed dirthamen, well solas said they fought among each other all the time, so that would seem pretty insignificant. on the other hand... mythal was betrayed by what we assume was all of the other seven evanuris. why portray dirthamen specifically?

the betrayal of mythal

so now we have the idea of dirthamen helping solas and mythal, and we have the fact that solas trapped all seven remaining evanuris for their murder of mythal, which includes dirthamen.

that is the missing piece: dirthamen helped murder mythal, despite helping her and solas, and presumably sharing their goals. why? let me go back to something i said about the sinner codex...

this reads as an attempt to sow discord, either between dirthamen's worshippers or to paint them as troublesome and dirthamen himself as irresponsible in the eyes of the other evanuris

consider that ghilan'nain and dirthamen were close, and she was this young elf who had just gotten into the ranks of the gods, probably trying her hardest to fit in. consider that perhaps she stumbled upon her friend's - and now fellow god's - involvement in a rebellion against the gods. but she was the youngest of them. she could not just go to the other evanuris and say, "dirthamen is plotting against us", because she was so new to their group that they would just simply not believe her word over mythal and dirthamen's. so what else could she do to discredit his word? cause discord among his followers, maybe? to paint him as irresponsible, untrustworthy, and suspicious?

and maybe she succeeded. maybe the evanuris found out about the rebellion, and mythal and dirthamen's roles, or perhaps only mythal's? either way, it all ended up with them asking dirthamen to join them in their plot to murder mythal - if his involvement was revealed, perhaps he was threatened or promised to be spared if he helped. either way, the question is: why did he agree? did he change his mind and side with the evanuris? or did he do it for preservation reasons? to save himself, and all he'd acquired? honestly, i cannot imagine a god who gathers secrets and knowledge agreeing to throw away his life like that.

so there you have it. i think dirthamen betrayed mythal, and solas, with a much deeper cut than any of the other evanuris could have possibly delivered. and for that he was trapped alongside them, paying the price for his treachery.

the full narrative, summarised

to break down all my theorycrafting and brainstorming in a short summary:

dirthamen was ghilan'nain's patron, until she ascended to godhood and discovered his involvement in solas and mythal's rebellion. unable to simply tell the other gods, ghilan'nain began to sow discord in attempt to discredit dirthamen's word. when the evanuris eventually turned against mythal, dirthamen went along with them in order to preserve himself, and ultimately paid the price by being trapped in the fade alongside the others. the end!

—————

final note: companion parallels

i first touched on this briefly here but i have a small theory that part of bellara and davrin's characters will be to sort of act as parallels to the gods whose vallaslin they have. what i found curious about veilguard's early marketing was the focus on companions and how important they will be, and i specifically noted the multiple times the writers said that the companions were all deeply thought through and are significant to the plot. it's clear the companions were thoughtfully crafted in order to provide different perspectives and experiences, which is why i found it incredibly interesting that they decided on two dalish elf companions — in a game about elven gods terrorising the world, you'd think that one dalish elf and one city elf could provide more differing perspectives, but bioware specifically picked two dalish elves instead. it implies that, despite their similar upbringings, bellara and davrin may have completely differing opinions about the current threat, or about solas, or something else we don't know about yet. it was clearly a very deliberate decision, and with how important the vallaslin is to dalish elves, it has to mean something.

bellara is an elven lore nerd who loves exploring ancient ruins and uncovering secrets. dirthamen was an easy guess, and the design - although new and very unique - matched up to patterns on his inquisition vallaslin. as of sept 19, it has been confirmed her vallaslin is indeed dirthamen's.

davrin is a grey warden and a monster hunter. his vallaslin design was harder to figure out, at first i thought it was june's but the lines and layout really remind me more of ghilan'nain's.

the parallels are pretty clear. bellara is more similar to dirthamen, being interested in secrets and knowledge and such. whereas davrin and ghilan'nain are at odds: davrin being a grey warden monster hunter, ghil being a blighted monster maker. one similarity, and one anithesis, which makes them unique to each other. and for all the gods bioware could have picked, to choose dirthamen and ghilan'nain... well, ghil is of course one of our antagonists, but dirthamen has no direct connection to the plot...

........ or maybe he does? we'll have to find out :)

[blackjackkent]

A few fun codex bits before we head off to one more sidequest:

Bellara and Neve are now bonding over making fan theories about newspaper serials...

(A/N: I'm just saying - if it turns out I'm right that Varric is dead and we're Sixth Sense-ing it, this is a fun little easter egg. But even if I'm not, this is SUPER cute. I love their friendship so much.)

There are some copies of Neve's notes in the Shadow Dragons hideout, which appear to detail how she got involved with the Dragons initially:

[theredhoodedcryptid]

Alrighty, here's more notes from my Jason Gotham Knights playthrough. I'm not finished yet, but what I've found so far is interesting. Also here's the link to my other post about the Labyrinth which I'll be referencing.

Starting off with basic observations:

When Jason first encounters an Owl's nest he states "Hello? I'm selling owl scout cookies."

Jason can somewhat play the piano. We only encounter playable pianos in Gotham Knights whenever you're infiltrating either an Owl base or the Monarch Theater, regardless both are one time story plots, making the the ability to play them very limited. While I haven't tried this with Babs and Dick yet, Tim can't (or won't) play. He just takes his hand and swipes it down the keys, whereas Jason plays a small part of a song. I don't know which one though.

The cutscene where Jason and Tim are bonding and working on Jason's weapons. This one is pretty familiar, Jason's weapons are leaning a little to far on the dangerous side of non-lethal. When Tim brings this up Jason dismiss it, stating most of their enemies wear heavy armor so it's fine. To make his point, Tim gets in front of Jason when he goes to shoot at a practice dummy, stating that if he really believes they're safe then to shoot him. Now the major thing people will notice with this scene is that Jason hesitates for a moment (I think he's remembering something, perhaps Titan's Tower if that happened in this universe?) before pointing his weapon away. Another interesting thing I noticed in this scene is that after he points his weapon away, Jason goes as far as removing the clip and also removing the rubber bullets. It's possible he's just doing this so they can work on it, but I think Jason is going to these lengths to show to Tim he won't hurt him (again). It's clear from an earlier cutscene where Jason had a knife and he absentminded pointed it at Tim to make a point about the conversation , but Tim flinched back and Dick subtly intervened. Something along Titan's Tower happened here, but to what extent I have no clue.

So far during my League of Assassins stuff they've not ambushed Jason. If you've played or watched the game then you might remember The Court and the League sometimes set up little traps to attack you while you're patrolling. Sometimes it's a hostage, but mainly it's a few dead bodies of the local gangs and a trapped chest with a bomb. In my other play throughs I've encountered a lot of this from both sides, but Jason's a little different. The traps are still there from the League, but nothing happens. I open a chest and it doesn't go off, it's a normal chest. And it's clearly the LOA because you can see black smoke hanging around the scene, which indicates their presence. With Jason they just back off and only interact during the main storyline. Is this perhaps because he was in the League of Assassins after his little bath in the green jello? Or maybe I'm not far enough in the plot for the League to really start attacking me, or maybe I'm experiencing glitches. Whose to say, but I found it very interesting.

I was kinda disappointed with Harley's and Jason's interactions. I mean, Jason was pretty chill and civil around her which is totally fine, but I was hoping for a bit more backstory nods. We have a lot to assume about the Gotham Knights universe, so any little bit helps. But nothing really was mentioned between those two. Even stuff with Talia hasn't been very fruitful so far. If cutscenes don't show me anything I'll have to do a deep dive in the audio files, codex, wiki, and any written materiel about GK. I need to know these people's back stories!

(A small side note of how I had this whole theory written out on how Tim might have been apart of the family before Jason died based on a cutscene, but then I remembered that Bruce's audio files explicitly state otherwise. Also that'd make my Titan's Tower theory have to many holes.)

Now for my favorite part, The Labyrinth!

(This is where my previous post mentioned before comes into play)

Now, during my last few playthorughs I've been trying to map out the reason behind how certain hallucinations happen, whether it's truly random or if it depends on which direction you take in the labyrinth. I haven't cracked it yet, but I hope that after playing as Dick and Babs I'll figure it out. Right now this is just my observations.

Everything in general has stayed the same, except for the order of what happens. Here's how this time went: Turned right at the Spike room, turned left at the phonograph room, weird floating vision, (accidentally walked into some spikes and got sent to the beginning but it lead to the next room without backtracking), turned right at Bruce's Grave, turned left at the Table Room, Vision of Jason in an Owl mask, Turned right at the Pit Room, vision of Bruce and the ending sequence. I got a couple of things different then my last analysis for Jason, but I'm leaning more on the different paths direction then the randomized. We'll see though.

As for the things Fake!Bruce says, it's pretty much the same thing as he said to Tim, only in a slightly different order. The only thing that was different was in the Pit Room, where he says "You were the worst Robin, no better then a killer. Now you're just nothing."

Anywho, I'm not done with Jaybirds playthrough yet, so I'll add to this post if I find anything else.

[butterflydm]

Story missions and lore updates in DAV...

I think that the Dragon Age series might have my favorite lore that I've ever run across in a video game. It has so much depth and the history of it is just so palpable playing the games. From the very beginning, using the codex system as a way to give information that was very much biased in-game, never free-floating knowledge but always knowledge that was tied down to specific people in the specific cultures that they were writing in.

Even before we started getting some of the big historical revelations in this game, I've been blown away by getting to visit all these places that we've only gotten to hear about or meet the occasional companion from in the previous games. Actually seeing Treviso! Touring Minrathous! Spending time in Nevarra! And each of the environments feels so rich and like so much time and thought was spent on fleshing it out.

I've played some big side quests involving Mythal and Solas, and pushed forward with the next story mission, so there's some big-ish lore spoilers below.

We've gotten so much information that has exploded basically everyone's religion, but none of it actually contradicts the previous lore, because all of that was in-world beliefs that were written down by people in the game world. I love it!

The Tevinter Old Gods were really the dragons that the Evanuris had bound to themselves, and were able to whisper to the ancient Tevinter magisters because Solas didn't understand the nature of the bond between the dragons and their masters. So the Evanuris... were making an escape attempt. There were seven Tevinter magisters who breached the Golden City in an attempt to obey their old gods. The reason that the dragons told them to go there was because they were hoping it would free the Evanuris. But it failed. They released the Blight instead.

Theory: Andraste connected to a Spirit of Faith, and that's where she got all her ideas that she then went running with, and which eventually became the Chant of the Light that we have in the present day. Probably already been speculated before, I wouldn't be surprised! We know that spirits can give people these kinds of big revolutionary ideas (see: Anders).

It's really spirits all the way down, like turtles, it feels like. Spirits are so integral to everything. Spirits and the Titans (I might want to do my second Rook as a dwarf, because that would be a very different and interesting perspective than my elf Rook has, I think. Solas harmed the dwarven people in a very direct and clear way).

It sounds like humans also already existed. But then spirits used lyrium to forge bodies of their own, becoming the ancient elves, who then became truly mortal over the course of living in the world.

Also! Oh! Learning that Solas was originally a spirit really does give even more poignancy to his and Varric's disagreement over Cole, and whether Cole should become more 'human' or remain as a spirit. Solas regrets his choice. He doesn't want Cole to also regret it.

I did a quest for Harding and we learned that dwarves are essentially small pieces of the Titans -- what has survived of them. So when they say that they came from the Stone... they really did. It was neat. We went to a Kal-Sharok outpost and talked to Shaper Valta (who is now a very big statue). As soon as Harding mentioned Kal-Sharok, I was hoping it would mean Valta.

I did the next big quest and everyone is shook. Especially Darvin and Lucanis -- Lucanis feels like he failed and Darvin is feeling a bit of a loss of purpose, since he killed an Archdemon and didn't die.

Both Varric and Solas continue to be good advisors, I think -- Varric is good as a team adviser (morale and such) while Solas is a better war adviser. But I think both are useful for Rook. I really do love how their dynamic was brought forward and continued from DAI.

Next, we're trying to strengthen people's resolve and get our alliances strengthened as well. Kinda giving me a ME2 vibe with regards to that and I wonder if the endgame of this game will have a 'Suicide Mission' type of component, where different characters' survival depends on if you helped them keep their focus and how strong your alliance is with their faction.

Lucanis is making Rook work hard for that romance! One single flirt with Taash and Rook was being asked if they wanted sex! But I've flirted with Lucanis at basically every turn, and we have still not kissed. I feel like that "Let me in!" at the gates meme, lol. We might have to finish his personal quest before we can move forward with the romance.

I finished up the Solas side-quest and have learned the extent of his history and his regrets. Getting that nice long conversation with Morrigan was great, and I loved seeing all the memories. Solas did a lot of things that he now regrets, and yet he keeps trying over and over. His pride can't let him stop, I think, no matter how many mistakes he makes.

I talked with Mythal (the spirit-side) and was able to talk her into handing over her essence (I did restart the conversation once when I fucked it up; I admit that! But I really feel like my elven Rook should be able to convince her. It also sounds like having the essence might end up affecting how the endgame goes, and I want to see it, lol).

Next time around, I plan to tackle Lucanis's personal quest, and then move forward with Neve's story quest.

[heylittlebookthoughts]

Onyx Storm Spoilers - theories I like that I've heard others say, mostly from booktok.

He's calling her "love" to remind himself he's still capable of love. And/or that love is his grounding feeling. (This hurts, a lot, that poor man just wants to love and worship her and he's suffering and I hate it)

Papa Sorrengail's research wasn't on hatchlings, it was on the irids. (Makes sense with what we know now. However, why would they have spoken to him?)

The "it's yours now" isn't Tyrrendor. Tyrrendor is referred to as she, especially by Xaden. "It's" is his soul. People generally also think his soul is in the emerald in her ring. (Back and forth on this one. Like it, but how does one put a soul in a ring?) - (If true, then Bodhi isn't the new "brother", Bodhi will be stuck running Tyrrendor, and probably Garrick then who turned)

Sgaeyl broke the mating bond with Tairn. (Why Tairn is sleeping at the end. This makes sense cause if Xaden left with Sgaeyl, how else would he be able to stay away and Sgaeyl not be in pain after a few days/week.)

"Riders are only burned if they commit high treason or break the codex" Andarna saying "I will not let them burn you." So Violet did high treason or broke the codex most likely.

[indiscreettransexual]

in a dragon age omegaverse would spirit's have subgenders? Like, if lucanis has to deal with spites (or vice versa) heats/ruts what would that look like?

Got thinking about this because there's an emmrook fanfic where beta rook and lucanis become omegas because solas/spite are omegas (its great its called Codex: Bond Theory you should read it) but what happens if the person already has a subgender?

Do they go into heat And rut at the same time? Constant flip-flopping between wanting to be soft and submissive and wanting to be dominant and aggressive? Attempting typical alpha/omega behaviours like hunting or nesting but failing at both? Desperately wanting to take charge of a situation while also wanting to be taken care of? The identity crisis of it all

Even better if they just presented as their natural subgender too, they don't even have time to get used to their own body before it starts changing again.

[karnesada]

Ghilan'nain Lore

Codex pdf download: DAO DA2 DAI DAV

Dalish myths

mother of the halla - Ghilan'nain was captured by a "hunter", and prayed to Andruil for help. Andruil's hares bit through Ghilan'nain bonds, and Andruil turned her into the first halla so she could escape 

this is apocryphal and refuted in Veilguard - Ghilan'nain made the halla when she was young and first started experimenting with creating beasts gandalfs_alt's analysis of this story & fen'harel and the tree (pre-veilguard - i put it into text but it's all her work)

halla - The halla are not servants or pets, and Ghilan'nain was not soft. She was once a huntress of the people. 

the dales: a promise lost - warriors invoked the names of Elgar'nan and Mythal, and Andruil and Ghilan'nain, before a fight.

World tales

constellation equinor - a Tevinter constellation that they suspect was tied to Ghilan'nain (like the others suspected to be tied to the gods and fen'harel).

constellation eluvia - once thought to be a constellation of Razikale, and the constellation was the source of many superstitions involving the granting of wishes.

exploring the ossuary - in excavations, Calivan discerned this was a temple to Ghilan'nain. The tales of her creating woodland creatures is not superstition, but supported y the remains of unidentifiable animals in the holdings cells and cages.

lake calenhad - the Tevinters believed that the waters of Lake Calenhad were blessed by Razikale, god of mysteries, and that those who drank from them were granted special insights

the lost city of barindur - the priests of Razikale dreamed of dark omens.

the horror of hormak - an outfit of grey wardens stumble onto one of twelve ancient labs where ghilan'nain experimented with the blight.

Ancient legends

the ascension of ghilan'nain - (found in the Temple of Mythal) Andruil hunted Ghil's beasts for a year, at which point Andruil offers apotheosis, but only if Ghil destroys all of her monsters. Ghil complies, but spares the halla and the creatures of the deep sea at 'Pride's' urging.

ancient elven writing (dirthamen's sinner) - Ghilan’nain allegedly urged a “sinner” that belonged to Dirthamen to take wings, which was treason as it was considered a divine shape. 

this forms the substance of the theory that there’s a connection between Dirth and Ghil. much of this post is disproven by veilguard, although the mosaic pairings are interesting. this is a better read on this story imo, that Ghil's "urging" of the sinner was a manipulation to weaken Dirthamen's position with Elgar'nan (and by extension, Falon'din, who waged a civil war against Elgar'nan). this lines up with the constant Evanuris infighting Solas and the Veil Jumpers talk about so much. but in sum, aside from the mention of her in this codex (the mention itself is hearsay), there is no lore connection between Dirth and Ghil beyond the title of 'Evanuris'.

pantomime theater mask of ghilan'nain - "In narrative, she is the price and acceptance of purpose, and the becoming that allows no return. Betrayal and devotion became equals to her."

Solas' dialogue

Ghilan'nain is "brilliant, ambitious, and unconstrained" by morality. She was Andruil's servant "whose skill in making monsters earned her a promotion to the Evanuris."

The archdemons’ life force is bound to the evanuris as both power and protection. each archdemon is shaped by the whims and ego of its master. in a kinder world we’d never see what she did to her archdemon, but it’s bad enough that solas says “i only hope you kill it quickly.”

She may see the darkspawn as new subjects for her "modifications."

Primary sources (letters, dialogue (not from Solas), etc.)

solas' letter to ghilan'nain (Elvhenan-era) - Solas urges her to turn away from the Evanuris, but claims to understand that her brilliance with creating things makes her feel like a god - and that she's doing this for love of Andruil.

ghilan'nain's reply to solas (Elvhenan-era) - Ghilan’nain doesn’t care about the title of ‘god’ - she cares that they’ll give her magic beyond what she has so she can create new things. Though she declares this is not for Andruil, she notes that Andruil “supports me, always, in everything.”

elgar’nan’s handwritten account (Veilguard-era) - Elgar’nan considers allowing Ghilan’nain to experiment on Lusacan, to “move her from listlessness” after the death of Razikale.

note to elgar'nan (Veilguard-era) - Ghilan'nain refutes Elgar'nan's advice that she "spend time to mourn" Andruil. she also claims that she was not upset by the Venatori's blood sacrifice of a halla, but sees as a sort of justice Elgar'nan's killing of all the Venatori there (in reference to the Blood of Arlathan mission when Lusacan rises).

note on the nature of griffons - Ghilan'nain found griffons in the oldest parts of the forests, and questions their nature. She is vexed that they have an antipathy "towards what Fen'harel insists on calling 'the blight.'"

Modern studies (Veilguard analysis)

an improved blight (bellara) - the modern blight is crude and simple. Ghilan'nain describes her process of perfecting it after waking. Bellara theorizes that Ghilan'nain may not remember what she looks like, or that she grafted on extra bits to herself before getting blighted.

dragon-crossroads revenant (taash)- Ghilan'nain made changes to the revenant dragon through the glowing blight warts. Ghilan'nain's changes weren't killing the dragon, they were changing her. The dragon could breath fire, lightning, and cold.

elven gods and tevinter gods - Ghilan'nain (halla, navigation, monsters) = Razikale, Dragon of Mystery.

[guessimabasicnerdgirlnow]

Movie spoilers

I have an opinion I have kept since the first movie and it’s that I don’t want Spider-Man to show up. I love the Spider-Man’s Villains Without Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, okay?

I loved the small crossover with the MCU in the form of the post-credit scene and I think that’s enough crossover. I like specially that Eddie and V just sat there, learned the basics of there, got drunk, and probably won’t think much about it again

In Last Dance the portal that took them back home was very similar to the portals Knull created to send the xenophages out of Klyntar. I think it’s a weird choice since the whole multiverse trip is easily explained by MCU!Dr. Strange’s magic, both ways, and I can’t think of a reason in universe for Knull to be involved in it

What I think it could maybe be is a way to show that Knull can access other dimensions. Which could serve to have him show up in the MCU. I’m neutral on this possibility

I do want to see symbiotes in the MCU. I’d like for them to do their own lore in there, because I like seeing things done in different ways

But there’s the little piece that V released in the bar.

Which…. They left one in the MCU too, didn’t they??

I originally thought it was a spawn, and I did think the one in Sonyverse turned out to be Agony, but then my sister pointed out that there were two test tubes in Area 51, the one with the piece they got in the bar, and another with a purple piece that is the one Teddy bonded with. The whole cockroach theory does depend on it being a different one actually, right

So if the little piece is a piece of V and not a spawn, and if they left one in the MCU, my theory that the little piece will be the MCU symbiote and maybe originate the others if there are others still works except now it’s not “Venom Jr.” but V themself

And then if Knull can open portals to other dimensions this could be a reason for him to go to the MCU if that’s what they’re doing

Specially because, and this applies to Sonyverse too, if V is still alive, the codex still exists. Because it only stopped existing if one of them died. It’s just invisible because they were separated. Since V had a few temporary hosts since the codex was created in the first movie we know that it keeps existing even if they get another host

Idk. This has a lot of ifs. But while I don’t want Spider-Man in Sonyverse, I think a clone of Sonyverse!V in the MCU would be funny

[capitalwildcat]

Not usually a thing I do but you know what, gimmie a second.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, there are familiars and intelligent devices.

2. Shadowrun has digital beings called sprites that technomancers interact with.

In my mind, a digital familiar would function a bit like a combination of these three things. A companion, a being that shares your soul and life, and a living codex capable of assisting you with your tasks or even teaching you new "spells".

In theory, a person could program a familiar from the ground up.

It would start, of course, as an average AI. Something akin to a Shadowrun Agent program. Like building a skeleton or a physics engine, you would be programming the base of the familiar yourself - setting parameters that eventually help dictate its function and form. Of course, that isn't enough for it to be a true familiar. That requires imbuing the familiar with a piece of yourself (as in Nanoha) - for a digital familiar, this may look like inputting data, scripting nonsense code, directly patching in existing code from other programs. It's pure trial and error, but attempting to create a soul to bond with out of nothing is not an exact science.

Once the entity exists, you grant the program a piece of yourself in exchange for a cognizant, capable independent entity and ally.

Constructed familiars are like children - more likely to trust you right away, more likely to resemble you in some way. Still, you have to be extremely careful not to abuse their trust, and what they learn from you may not be what you intend them to learn.

The spark of soul that you share with them means that they are their own beings, and you must not forget it.

These beings are preferred by those of traditional schools, as they usually grow to be quite suited to a particular mage's style. Sometimes, they come to you Familiars of this nature are attracted to mages based upon common interest. They may learn of you through cookies in your browser history that were never cleared, images in your cache, hours logged in digitally purchased games, cellphone data, operation of music programs...

Being approached is an opportunity to enter into a pact willingly, or to gently (and cautiously if you know what's good for you) rebuff them.

Where constructed familiars begin their operation more like children, these contracted familiars are already imbued with their own sense of purpose and direction. They are not as quick to trust, but there is a benefit in allying with a being that has knowledge and skills beyond those you intended to cultivate. They are often more independent, searching up or creating processes and spells that benefit both them, and their chosen mage companion.

While these bonds often last just as long as those of a constructed familiar and their mage, there are plenty of cases where a mage or familiar decides to move on and form a new bond.

Contracted familiars may also choose to act in tandem - resulting in the potential for an extremely versatile array of supporters.

Others are.... not unlike a virus,

Not so much a child or an ally, but a force. An un-directed burst of digital intent. These beings are driven to consume everything in their path, and are far less likely to take a carefully offered piece of your soul than they are to sink their virtual fangs in and tear away whatever they can reach.

The preferred method of dealing with these beings is containment, or even destruction... yet rehabilitation is possible, and mages are stubborn.

A bond with a familiar of this type can grant immense stores of knowledge and power, as these creatures often consume vast amounts of data before mages are able to locate and tame them.

Some have even consumed other familiars, granting them capabilities far beyond that of a single constructed or contracted familiar. As a trade-off, these amalgams are usually even more difficult to manage since they contain conflicting emotions, intentions, and memories.

It is unclear whether these beings develop spontaneously, or if they are the results of failed or corrupted constructs. There are even theories that these beings are the remains of mages' digital consciousnesses, after their physical bodies have fallen and their familiars have lost form.

Few have successfully tamed or befriended such beings, and their nature often causes their core code to degrade at an accelerated rate. Not recommended for novice mages.

Digital “familiars” are all the rage in the near future. They can take any form, chat with you, manifest as lifelike holograms, and are capable of travelling between devices instantly. How you GET a “familiar” is never explained by those who have them.

[farore05]

EmmRook A/B/O fic chapter two!

Codex: Bond Theory

“Not my first omega awakening,” Bellara said breezily. “Though I will say, this whole possession-induced designation shift is new to me.”

“It is indeed a rare and fascinating phenomenon,” Emmrich said, his voice slipping into the calm cadence of academic inquiry. “We understand that designations have roots in emotional resonance and that spirits, by their very nature, are embodiments of emotion. But for an ancient Evanuris to possess a mind and induce a designation shift akin to spiritual influence?” He paused, thoughtful. “It raises the question of whether the ancient elves were, perhaps, more intrinsically aligned with spirits than we’ve previously assumed.”

Bellara looked at him sideways. “I’m surprised you’re not already halfway through writing a book about what Rook’s going through.”

“I’m not,” he said with a polite chuckle, “because I already wrote one. ‘Possession Phenomena and post-spiritual alteration in mortal physiology’”

That drew a genuine laugh from Bellara. “Of course you did.”

“It was, oh, twenty or so years ago. Co-written with a wonderful woman named Wynne. Brilliant mind. Terrible handwriting.”

⬇️Read the rest below ⬇️

https://archiveofourown.org/works/65978827/chapters/170616397

Digital Photography by @themournfulwatcher (I’m so sorry I’m using your beautiful talent for this abomination)

[awesomesaurous]

Hiya!! Your Maxlie art is absolutely adorable, and I love it when it’s on my dash!! You’re doin great :•)

And I’ve got a question: do you have any headcanons about Maxwell in the Constant interacting with the others? What about Charlie??

Other than that, have a great day!! You rock :•]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

For Maxwell in the Constant, I think at this point in the (loose) narrative, he still feels a little apart from the other survivors, but it's improving over time. I think he probably carries a lot of guilt, bitterness, and grief about everything that has happened, and he tries to hide that behind haughtiness and indifference. But I bet he's secretly glad to not be alone anymore. I think the others have largely forgiven him at this point. There's still some teasing (depending on the character), but I think for the most part they pity him.

I can interpret the "Charlie" part of the question two ways, so I'll answer both of them under the break (text wall incoming):

Charlie interacting with the survivors and/or Maxwell interacting with Charlie:

It's very difficult to know what Charlie's "deal" is. She, as well as everything having to do with Them and the greater powers at work in the Constant, have remained very vague, even after almost 10 years since the original Don't Starve was released. I imagine many victims have been on the throne before, variously tempted by the Codex Umbra and its powers, and then pulled into the Constant. I had a theory a while back that Wagstaff knew about the book and was trying to find it, but They decided William would be a better host and sort of nudged the hand of fate in his direction. I think the unique thing with Maxwell and Charlie is that this is the first time two people have been brought to the Constant at the same time - the dupe and the dupe's assistant. Maxwell dragged them both into this mess, and they both fell prey to different aspects of the Constant. Maxwell became the Puppet Master, on the Nightmare Throne, and Charlie became the Night Monster, bound to darkness. I think they were both subsumed by these forms, but Charlie more so. Their original personalities were suppressed by the dark forces surrounding them.

Since Maxwell was such a powerful wielder of the Codex, I think it granted him a lot of power as the ruling "King," which may have prevented Charlie in her Night Monster form from getting near him. I don't know if They were keeping the two separate, or if it no longer mattered, since they were both trapped now. I think Maxwell was aware of her, but possibly didn't have many chances to interact with her - whether because of the madness caused by her being the Night Monster or because Charlie was avoiding him on purpose (the sadder possibility). You know how in the "A New Reign" cinematic she's able to free Wilson from the throne? My thinking is that Maxwell's bonds were much stronger than Wilson's, otherwise she would have released him too. To not do so would be a level of spiteful that I don't think Charlie is. I hope not anyway.

Once Maxwell was deposed, now Charlie could take over, with the combined powers of the Night Monster and the Nightmare Throne. This, I think, has never happened in the Constant before, and I imagine it grants Charlie a unique level of control over the stuff happening there. We don't know the full scope of what she can do.

Charlie didn't bring any of the survivors into the Constant. Most of them are Maxwell's, and some of the others arrived by a freak chance. After being the Night Monster, where she was reduced to mindlessly attacking anyone who strayed too far from a light source, her personality is more stabilized as the Queen - though, like with Maxwell, it's the darker side of her nature. I think the original Charlie is still in there somewhere, but she's unreachable right now. Though there are little touches where she shines through - like the drop system, where she leaves presents of clothing for the survivors to find. I think this probably confuses the survivors, who aren't sure what to make of her. Most of them didn't know her in the real world, and the Queen version seems to keep her distance. I guess they have a cautious respect for her - with a healthy dose of fear.

I imagine Maxwell has willfully let himself be killed by the darkness more than once, in an attempt to make some contact with Charlie. In the game he calls her name every time. I think he feels an immense amount of remorse and regret for what happened, even more so in that he doesn't know how to fix it. I love drawing the pre-game stuff of the two of them being in love, but I don't see how Charlie couldn't be hurt and angry at Maxwell after they both get trapped. I'm hoping that she still cares about him, but in her current form I doubt she's very warm and fuzzy about anything.

The whole plot with Metheus and the "moon" or whatever the hell is going on there is also interesting. I think it'd be amazing if Charlie was playing some sort of long-term 4D chess game with all of the elements we've seen thus far. What if she has a plan to set everyone free? What if she knows of a viable way out that no one has been able to perceive before, because no one's been in her situation before? Maybe she's being just malicious enough to fool Them, just nice enough to reassure the survivors, and all while no one knows what her actual intentions are? God I hope so. I want there to be a good payoff to all of this, but I don't know how Klei would do it without ending the game. Possibly putting some other person on the throne in Charlie's place? I don't know. If it were up to me, there'd be a happy ending and a really touching reunion scene. But we'll see how it actually goes!

TL;DR: The survivors are accepting of Maxwell's redemption arc, Maxwell is guilt-ridden but he can't reach Charlie, the survivors can only guess at Charlie's intentions, and Charlie is keeping her motives a mystery for now.

[verbosebabbler]

To distract me from my recent finished gopher project and my sadness at it becoming instantly obsolete, I'm going to write about some classpect things.

The recent thing that got me was the acknowledgement in AdventureSimWest that Wanda is a Lord of Space. This feels obvious in her powers, her control over space, but it doesn't feel like she would be that classpect ideologically.

Like, in Homestuck proper, characters with supernatural powers aren't classified by those powers, but by their character. Vriska has cerulean mind control powers, but that doesn't make her, like, a Witch of Mind or something.

And Wanda ideologically feels so much like a void player. Her whole thing is obfuscation: she will not explain things, she abhors the orderliness and sense of the fastpass system, and she turns every place she is in into a maze.

This feels in contrast to her time as Wodin and the Wanderer, where they were in the soul consuming pursuit of knowledge. The flip, though, is still along the Light-Void duality, so it could either be an inversion, or a switch of a destruction class from destroying their aspect to destroying with their aspect.

The only space class I can maybe see her being would be a Thief of Space, with Wanda's tendency to use her knowledge of media properties that have yet to be made to create them ahead of time, stealing the creativity from under the companies. But that element doesn't feel as core to her character as her desire to hide or not reveal info.

Anyway, that's the main thing I wanted to talk about, but below the readmore I'll be rambling about the classpects of other characters because I can.

Just a fair warning, I'll probably talk more about aspects as I feel I have a grip on them better, while the divided takes on the classes in the community makes me feel like I would need to know more about this work's specific interpretation of at least the pairs and verbs to really be able to work with them.

Turner, the Intern, is who I will ramble about first. And to me, he seems like he would be a blood player. It's hard to articulate, but he feels driven by the bonds he made with people. When Wodin died, he pursued choices that he otherwise wouldn't have in remembrance of that bond. There's probably more to say, because I feel like there is some blood like aspects to how he befriended different members of the Eyedol crew and how his presence grounds the group, but yeah. He vibes Blood.

But there's a lot of character's I'm not sure about and I think the problem with me interpreting a lot of characters in Zampaniosim is most of them feel tethered to the Light-Void duo of Knowledge and Obfuscation.

Like, I had a theory in homestuck in that every universe has somewhere a Lord-Muse of Dual Aspects and that informs the kind of values, motifs, story things etcetera of that universe. And applying that here, it feels like there's a strong compulsion of Light-Void that permeates everything.

If I had to give this vague concept the classpects, I'd say it's permeated by a Muse of Light and a Lord of Void, the underlying compulsion and desire for knowledge vs the external forcing of obfuscation through censoring powers like Vik and Naga.

So characters like Camille and Ria who seem so invested in their own gathering of information are really pushing me to want to classpect them in that context. But canonically Ria is a Witch of Hope and Camille a Knight of Doom. Really, a lot of the lobotomy corps characters are hard to classify for me. Devona and Neville are perfec for their classpects, but that could be because I heard it explained clearly in the youtube let's play of South.

Other canon classpects from the Codex of Ruin are: Witherby Sylph of Hope, Yongki Mage of Mind, K Thief of Light (perfect assignment), Parker Thief of Space, Closer Witch of Breath, and CFO Waste of Blood. For some of these I maybe vaguely see, others I don't know enough on them to really counter. And then the CFO is a Waste, which feels like it should be super relevant.

Anyway, last characters I'll briefly classpect are Peewee's children.

Melon. My immediate vibe on it is Prince of Life. It feels like with his focus on the environment it wouldn't be like this, but often in pursuit of helping the environment he ends up destroying it (wonder what the emissions are like on those explosives, hmm?)

Rebel. Going to be weird to say, but he vibes Blood. His anger at Peewee feels very much rooted in the bond between them Peewee has shirked. But I think this might be my limited perspective on the guy; he doesn't seem to value his bond with his brothers. Maybe it's the slight Karkat vibes he gives off that's making me classpect him Blood, idk.

Rod feels, hmm. Maybe mind. I feel like I actually need to reread adventure sim west to get a better grip on this because he has the most potential of being deciphered for me given how much he's been in the story, but I can't really pull anything specific right now.

Yeah, Classpecting is not something I'm used to doing, despite my love of it. I'm usually reading other people's classpecting stuff. And being in a property actively using the homestuck classpect system makes me feel the need to know how the work is interpreting it for me to be able to utilize it for analysis more.

[nadas-dirthalen]

I really love this theory, because I think this makes sense for a young Solas and gives us MUCH reason for Elgar'nan plot to happen in Veilguard. Now, granted, I'm on my phone and don't have much to go on aside from gut feelings.

But I think it makes sense for Solas to have been Elgar'nan's "wolf." We see in a codex from the Emerald Graves that all elves in the time of even Halamshiral would have a wolf in this way: warriors paired with companions.

I feel as though this takes its cues from practices in Arlathan, but maybe in the sense that "Fen" has multiple translations — that it may be "wolf" as well as an expression or part of an idiom that translates more figuratively to "protector" or "guardian" or even "weapon."

With how Solas describes his younger self as always ready to fight, it makes sense that he was, in a sense, a weapon for Elgar'nan. Conscripted, in a sense, or even bound willingly. Maybe Solas was a bound spirit who signed up to do so, like Cole. Maybe that was why he was Solas, Pride, before Fen'harel — but I don't think he stayed a demon throughout.

This bond may have lasted until Elgar'nan betrayed Mythal, before her murder. To me, there has to have been something to spark a conflict before her murder. I don't think her murder happened from nowhere. I think Mythal defied Elgar'nan too openly.

Now to me this has serious undertones of domestic violence, the specifics of which would warrant a trigger warning, so I won't go into it. In my mind it is either this, or Elgar'nan standing by when Falon'din's bloodlust encroached upon Mythal's "domain" as Solas says in the temple of Mythal. (But the other gods bloodied Falon'din for this, says Solas, so I'm leaning toward Elgar'nan as prime culprit.)

I think this may have been the point at which Solas defected from Elgar'nan — or even that Mythal took him from Elgar'nan, but marked him with her own valasslin once he had corporeal, elven shape. Because that was how things were done. Mythal, for all her virtues, still upheld the status quo. I think she wanted a corporeal protector in a body, and that was how she knew to do it.

Also, it makes sense with Fen'harel meaning "wolf" and "demon" or "liar" or "deceiver." Not a demon wolf — not a literal demon the entire time — but a loyal follower who'd betrayed Elgar'nan, first in a long series of betrayals and deceptions.

I think Mythal's murder came after this. And I think that whatever was left of wisdom, or faith, in Solas — it cracked, breaking under that last injustice. And after that, betraying not just Elgar'nan, but ALL of them, was justified.

I feel like by this point, he realized that even picking "the good side" was futile. That the problem was not WHO had power, but THAT power exists that forces others into submission. And Mythal, being wife to Elgar'nan — fill in the blanks on that power imbalance.

But they'd all done it, hadn't they? Andruil and her sacrifices. Ghilan'nain's every monstrosity. Falon'din's desire to kill and kill forever.

I think Pride came out of a feeling that Solas knows better, that he has to be someone that knows better than to misuse power. Because if he isn't someone who knows better and he made the Veil anyway — if he isn't the objective authority on right and wrong, and his decision killed untold thousands, dooming all elvhen to mortality... That's unbearable.

The only way to cope is by being certain that he alone must be right.

So instead of being a bound demon, under the thumb of another... his purpose was twisted. Not to protect Mythal, but to protect everyone from power itself. To be the lone savior of the world because no one could possibly understand. His worldview, and the reason he is a demon, would shatter if they did.

I think this is how he can be Mythal's "old friend" and still at odds with her, choosing to take her power. I think this is why he knows how to remove valasslin — Mythal would have shown him — and scarred himself the first time, doing it to himself before anyone else.

Because wrenching himself away from Mythal was something that hurt. He'd willingly defected to her. But even that wasn't good enough, in the end, and he had to be out of her gaes in order to create the Veil without interference. After all, her power lived on, even after her death.

Maybe the scar was to commemorate her.

What if Solas was in service to Elgar'nan?

So, we have two elven gods freed - Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan. Ghil has been set up pretty well at this point. We have all the codexes and parts from Tevinter Nights providing glimpses into her nightmarish experiments. But we have next to nothing on Elgar'nan, other than the basic understand of him being the most vengeful of the gods (which in and of itself is admittedly bad, bad news for Solas).

I also think Solas and Ghilan'nain were a thing at one point and pissed off Andruil, which would only heighten the drama. And that got me thinking, from a narrative standpoint, wouldn't it just be fantastic if the two gods that are freed are the two Solas has the most personal connection to?

Popular fan theory is that Solas was in service to Mythal originally. But what if it was Elgar'nan instead? Solas says in his youth he was "Hot-blooded and cocky, always ready to fight." That sounds like someone more aligned with Elgar'nan's way of handling things.

Sure, we see Fen'Harel statues guarding Mythal statues (particularly in the Deep Roads), but if Mythal and Elgar'nan were husband and wife or at least putting on a unified front for the sake of appearances, that it would make sense for Elgar'nan to order his most trusted to guard her in certain cases.

There's also this codex:

"His crime is high treason. He took on a form reserved for the gods and their chosen, and dared to fly in the shape of the divine. The sinner belongs to Dirthamen; he claims he took wings at the urging of Ghilan'nain, and begs protection from Mythal. She does not show him favor, and will let Elgar'nan judge him."

There's some thoughts that this HE might be Solas. But Mythal didn't show him favor. He was left to Elgar'nan's judgement instead.

Now all of this flies in the face of Cole's "He did not want a body, but she asked him to come. He left a scar when he burned her off his face" which we also think is about Solas, but...

Maybe Elgar'nan's judgement was to put Solas in service to Mythal, so he had Mythal's vallaslin but he also answered to Elgar'nan? Though, I do think that would piss Mythal off. So maybe not.

But I like the thought of there being some personal ties between Solas and the two evanuris we're going to be dealing with. (And I like the thought of Solas' hotblooded and cocky ways originally aligning him with Elgar'nan and then him gradually coming to understand and respect Mythal more). Just throwing random thoughts out there! Probably not likely? But it's fun to think about!

[wykwryt]

ok things i know they have to preserve in the new game

the rougelike genre obv and with it the boons system (we straight up saw nova strike in there and dash, attack, special, and cast magick are still here as are status effects and basically just all of that stuff) edit 2: okay wait actually upon reevaluating casts and magick are not the same thing, cast is still a thing we just also have magick. so all the same stuff plus being a witch!!!!!!!!! i wonder what we can do with that... what buttons would we even press.... wait maybe it's more like a god gauge. yeah that'd make sense. maybe we don't quite get godly summons like zagreus did because we're a disciple of hecate but there's something else we can do as a result?????? gah too many theories.

some kind of home base with plot progression and stuff after death

probably a three tiered + bonus level design. i wonder if the bonus will operate differently than the temple, that’s totally a thing they could completely change

keepsakes????????????????????? there must be something like them but they’re such a zag thing to have what with his whole god of bonds and blood thing (god i fucking loved that i love this game so much)

i wonder about the mirror. i think mel in the myths is one of nyx’s kids although obv not here. i think a canon aspect of zag was always tied with hades but i don’t think that’s the case for mel. man that’s funny, he thought he was nyx’s kid but actually wasn’t and she’s not but actually is. idk ignore me i’m babbling. anyways the mirror. i hope nyx is there actually she seems like a good character to keep her role as it was. i really hope we see chaos too i love them. they also provided such a unique boon service, they must come back as is.

FISHING MINI GAME HELLO

oh hey what about the house upgrades? home base will need to be important enough to have that kind of customization make sense. at this point i’m thinking we’re simply going to be in the house of hades for all this. maybe we’re doing repairs again from the damage of whatever kidnapped hades (ha). or maybe they do get rid of this entirely? it’d be a loss of a whole way to spend currency though.

the codex. bet hecate gives it to her maybe. see this is the weird thing to be because it seems like she is to mel as achilles is to zag but unlike him she’s an important character to the main plot.

different weapons for different play styles. we saw her blades already what else? (please give her a sword swords are cool. i feel like her daggers will prolly operate a lil bit like the fists. fists and sword are my faves <3) something to strengthen the weapons too like the aspects (i hope there’s one like the shield of chaos that talks to you but that’s just me) edit 3: ok the trailer shows just the daggers and what seems like a magic staff. i'd say the magic staff could be comparable to the spear but the spear doesn't do magic. there's a lil thrust action but it's all obviously spells. realllly wondering how the magick works because there's way more than just an attack and special here, she's got so many spells. too little here to really tell but it looks like the big difference between the daggers and the staff is the daggers involve more mobile magic and attacks while the staff seems more stationary but with bigger magic effects not to mention all the area attacks. there's no way we can't do magic without the staff so maybe the spells in our inventory are different depending on what weapon we choose. so far the staff looks significantly more powerful than the daggers, i wonder how they'll balance this stuff out. and other weapons???? oh hey wait i bet the spells are dependent on the weapon aspects or whatever they'll be called in this game. yeah okay that seems like it lines up.

bosses. i know this is obvious but i’m giving it a bullet because now i’m wondering who they are. they wouldn’t be any of the underworld staff probably so. wait actually who are the enemies we’re fighting in the first place if not dad’s employees?? so much of this hinges on whether we’re actually in the underworld or not. if we’re dealing with kronos then maybe we’re fighting to go down deeper into tartarus rather than up and out? the game reveal still makes it look like we’re above ground though…

replayability!!! for the three dozenth time idk what to think about this because i have no idea what the story will be like. i repeat, family or fight? and what would keep mel continuously doing the dungeons past the end of the main plot the way zag does it as official head of security?

ayo wait can we have skelly back? please he has to, we need a practice dummy room and there’s no reason to invent a new character when he’s right there. yeah no way they’re gonna get rid of skelly.

speaking of iconic characters… eurydice? need a new iconic ashley barrett song (as well as both her and darren korb song?) yeah ok whatever songs there are they’ll probably be attributed to eurydice and orpheus in game even if the characters themselves aren’t in there. wonder if we’ll be able to buy and collect the soundtrack… OH MY GOD A NEW SOUNDTRACK HOLY SHIT. I MEAN THEY’LL PROBABLY KEEP SOME ICONIC SOUNDS LIKE WHAT WAS IN THE REVEAL TRAILER BUT HOT DAMN NEW MUSIC WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

bonds and something to forge them with. she may not be zag but nectar and the like must still be a thing. (heyyyy any romancable characters?? the dora shade looked interested)

ok the more i keep thinking about this and trying to discern the shape of the new game and add more bullets the more i just end up tracing the original so things that could be different? :

like previously stated, the mechanics of the final level (the temple of styx in the original) edit 4: ok it would be so sick if the bonus level is zagreus boss fight where they slowly bond and then eventually zagreus trusts her and they get along and then they keep doing the fights for fun like in the og after the main plot is over

something is probably going to replace keepsakes. idk how but it’s such a specific thing and very specifically relevant to zagreus’s characterization, this’ll prolly change

the currencies

special rooms like shops and characters. moros and dora’s rooms looked like these although who knows how they function. also the timed rooms and than rooms (very curious if he’ll show up what with the whole time and death thing being the big things in this game edit 1.5: ZAG THAN ROOM).

EDIT: CERBERUS PETS??? where would i be without giving cerberus pets every run? absolutely wild that petting him 10 times was a rare achievement, you guys suck at playing this game.

[rmg91]

Zoe Week; Day 5-ROTT

So I know we got given a free day considered ROTT was...what it was but I decided to still go with the prompt and it turned into more of a small rewrite than just a ‘Let’s slip Zoe into this scene’. Zoe is everyone’s braincell and we know it.

Also I tried writing a fight scene....I donno how well it turned out lol

AO3

~*~*~*~*~*~

“He WHAT?!”

Zoe stared at the assembled guardians, the kids, that had gone up against the demigods bent on restarting the world with that crazy plan to strip them of their powers, only for it to fail. Yes, they were alive. Yes, they had Nari, in spirit, but the Arcane Order had her body, had Douxie, and that was not okay for her! That stupid, self-sacrificing idiot! Of course he'd do something like that! But all it would do would buy them time and just what was going to happen when those power hungry beings found out?! It wasn't going to be good, that was for sure and now Zoe had to hatch a plan to try and save her idiot before something bad happened.

Ignoring the overlapping explanations and assurances they'd come up with a plan, Zoe marched her way out of the ex-throne room and down to what was becoming her studio. Shuffling around the various tomes and grimoires, she searched for the one she was certain had the spell she needed to find him, growling to herself when she couldn't. This is what she got for not sorting through all these yet. Finally, just when she'd been about to say 'fuck it' and do it without the book, she dug up the dusty purple codex of scrying and grinned in victory. Oh, she was finding that idiot of hers and then she was going to give him a piece of her mind once he was safe.

Coming back upstairs, the pinked haired witch flipped through the book, looking for the magic circle that would allow her to find Douxie. Ignoring everyone's voices, she quickly read through the directions, reminding herself how it worked and set to etching runes in the air with her wand. The symbols of power fell to the floor in sparking pink power, forming the necessary element for her spell. “Nari.” She called, “I'm gonna need Archie for a moment.”

The little nature spirit, inhabiting her partners body, let his familiar go from her hold as she finished the magic circle, sending the tomb to rest on the floor outside it. Sitting in the center, Archie crawled into her lap in dragon form, already having a feeling on what she was going to try to do. Normally she could sense Douxie's power, they'd known each other for so after all it was easy, but between distance and most likely being blocked, she couldn't without help. It would be easier if their magic was bonded, tied together for the rest of eternity and the ultimate sign of trust and love between magic users but...they weren't. Not for lack of wanting to but their lives had been pretty hectic and dangerous and bonding their magic came with lots of consequences as well as benefits. If one of them died...it would be the worse kind of hell on the other. And as much as they loved each other they hadn't wanted to have the other suffer so. But maybe, after all this, they'd change that.

“Uh..what are you gonna do?” Toby asked, standing near as he watched the pulsing pink runes.

“I'm going to track Douxie using the bond between him and Archie.” She explained, holding the dragon-cat gently, one hand scratching between his ears, “It should, in theory, help me find where the Order is holding him.” Then they would retrieve him and she was going to kick his ass for putting himself in danger, again.

Everyone took that as the queue to be quiet, to let her work, and Zoe breathed in deeply, letting her magic seep out and take shape. The circle glowed as she let herself fall into a trance, focusing on Archie, who was relaxed in her lap, his own magic open to letting hers in. She found the bond, a shining string of magic that was warm, comforting, powerful, reaching out beyond their little space in search of their missing wizard. She followed it as it swirled, twisting and turning through the space between, searching, searching, searching until-There! It sung brightly, tightening like a perfectly tuned guitar string and humming with life and she knew in that moment just where to find him.

Opening her eyes, a pink glow encompassing them, she grinned sharply. The Order didn't know what was coming to them.

~*~*~*~

The group entered the abandoned train tunnel, sans one Trollhunter, looking for any sign of the Order or Douxie. Zoe knew she had been harsh when she told Jim he needed to stay behind but she was not going to take back what she said. He was injured and therefore a liability and she wasn't going to let him kill himself or any of his friends if things were to go pear shaped. But hopefully they wouldn't and they'd be able to rescue Douxie with minimal trouble.

Her blue eyes roamed over the various crates and scaffolding, sensing him near but unable to see him. But she just knew he was here. Even as the group spread out and looked around old, crumbling crates and rusty metal drums, confused as to why they couldn't find anyone, Zoe was reaching out with her magic, searching for her wayward husband. Frowning down at the tracks, something just wasn't sitting right with her, she tried her best to see and think like Douxie would. There had to be something here she was missing...

She blinked, a thought coming suddenly and could it really be that easy?

Trotting up a staircase to get higher ground, she looked down at the tracks, shaking her head lightly because for some eon's old beings, Skrael and Bellroc really couldn't be original? “Their hiding in plain sight!” She shouted to assembled guardians, flicking her wand out and rearranging the train tracks, “They've made a giant sigil with the tracks!” The tracks moved, soon lighting up and dispelling the room around them, revealing a much darker room and three beings in the center.

She wasn't sure if they were aware they weren't alone anymore but it looked as if the demigods of ice and fire were taunting who they thought were Nari. She, or rather Douxie, was hovering in the air, held aloft by his hands in glowing magic and maybe, possibly keeping quiet as to continuing fooling the gods. But then, as they were staring confusedly as the Genius Seals, wondering why they weren't opening, he opened his big fat mouth.

“Abracadabra, Buttsnacks.”

Zoe groaned, because why had he said that?! But before the Order could do more than threaten him, she raised her wand high and cried, “Hey! Hands off!” She then sent a bolt of pink lighting down, just barely hitting Skreal, and then it was on!

Everyone jumped into action, firing and fighting the two remaining members of the Order. Zoe jumped down, joining the fray, firing spells and shields as she made way to Nari's body. She was put to a stop though as the icy wizard floated in front of her, brandishing his staff. Oh, if he wanted a fight, he was getting a fight. Ignoring Douxie's strained call of her name, the hedge-witch ducked a swing of the staff, dodging to the right and not giving in to Skreal's taunting. Hedge-witch or not, didn't mean she wasn't powerful and she wasn't about to let these bastards win.

Zoe fired spell after spell, wildly missing the floating god as he chuckled darkly at her. But that was okay, all part of the plan because when he least expect it she smirked and performed a round-house kick, planting her foot below his belt with a cry of “Rule Number Three!!”

As Skrael crumpled, she turned back to Douxie in Nari's body, running closer and hoping she could break the spell keeping him in the air. Fire had started to burn everywhere, the old wood catching easily to the spells Bellroc fired off but she ignored all that as she examined the magic around Douxie's wrists. She shushed him as he tried to talk to her, needing to concentrate on what she was doing, hopefully she wouldn't need Claire's help. Then a dark chuckle came from behind her.

“You won't break him free.” She turned to glare at Bellroc, their ever fluctuating voice grating on her nerves, “That magic is too powerful for even a full fledged wizard, let alone a little hedge-witch.” She growled as they laughed at her. And maybe she wouldn't be able to break it herself but if she could break this beings concentration... A wicked grin came to her face, feral as she remembered the chaos she'd wrecked at Killahead, and she began drawing runes behind her back.

“You're right...Guess I'll just have to make you break it.”

And with a flash of pink, twenty more Zoe's surrounded the demigod.

Crying out, Bellroc began to blast away her clones, easily poofing them from existence, which was fine as it was only meant as a distraction. The real Zoe dodged behind him, thankful for the rest of the crew keeping Skrael busy as she charged her magic. She'd only have one shot at this and she hoped it worked. It had been a while since she last did this. Bringing her now brightly flashing hands together, she drew them apart, a glowing, sparking, pink arrow held between them.

“Foolish girl! This won't defeat me!!” Bellroc cried with rage, dispelling the last of her clones.

“It's not meant to!” She yelled back before firing the arrow, sending a million volts through the wizard and causing them to spasm. And it was enough, for the spell holding Douxie up sputtered and died, dropping him to the floor. Zoe dived for his staggering form as Bellroc cried out again, pushing him out of the way of a blast of fire. Of course now she needed a plan to get them out of there...

Just as the fire god was approaching, already up from her attack and ready to end her life, a black portal formed beneath her and Douxie and they dropped away.

~*~*~*~

Zoe groaned as she was dropped onto the floor of Camelot, rolling onto her back. That had been...something. She really needed to practice that attack again, it took far too much out of her but at least now Douxie was safe. And Nari. She heard the rest of the guardians tumble in, shouts from their assembled allies rising and still she laid there, catching her breath.

“Zoe! Zoe, are you alright?!” She looked up at Douxie's voice, finding Nari's face above her looking at her with concern and they were needed to change back because this was just getting too weird. She watched him sag with relief, most likely due to her opening her eyes and he sighed, “You were nuclear, Love.”

“You better switch back before you kiss me, Casperan.” Was her only response.

Chuckling breathlessly, he nodded and she watched him hold out his hand for Nari to take, the goddess now crouching on her other side. A flash of magic and she was then being pulled into Douxie's lap, the wizard now back in his body. She let him nuzzle his face into her neck, still recovering from the adrenaline and almost overuse of her magic as they sat there, friends and allies all around.

“Thank you, Zoe.” Nari said softly, sitting primly in front of her, “You risked so much.”

“It's fine, Nari,” Zoe said, smiling at the forest child, “There was no way I was letting them keep your body and Douxie's mind.” Let alone risk the possibility of them forcing the two back into their proper bodies. Then they really would have been in trouble.

“So what do you do now?” She heard Claire ask because now they were back at square one. Keep Nari out of the grasp.

“I donno,” Zoe sighed, “But the important thing is the Order doesn't have Nari anymore.”

“That's not all they don't have..” The nature goddess smirked shyly before holding up the Genius Seals.

Zoe's eyes widen as cries went up around her, Douxie laughing in surprise, before she grinned wide and shark like. Oh, things were about to get interesting.

~*~*~*~*~*~

How the rest of the movie would play out from here I have no idea but there’s some choice Zouxie protecting each other/Nari/Archie so...there’s that. I hope you all enjoyed!