#The Fall of Arlathan

[psalacanthea]

hey how you doing I got possessed again y'all can blame That Fanart anyways any of y'all still care about my old modern solavellan fic and its sequel even in this year of our lady 2024?

[rosykims]

im a eurydice = solas truther btw and ill die for my beliefs

be so serious........ and lavellan as orpheus......

[lethalhoopla]

always want more chance to have Casual Intimacy Moments with romances in bioware games,,,

[felassan]

The Slightest Ones bard song:

Arlathan fell so deep onto the ocean floor

Dalish elven lore:

"It is said that the Tevinter magisters used their great destructive power to force the very ground to swallow Arlathan whole"

The Adventures of the Black Fox by Gaston Gerrault:

"The stories all agree that, at some point, the Black Fox disappeared: He and his fellow adventurers voyaged into the heart of the Arlathan forest seeking the sunken city of the elves and never returned"

Solas dialogue:

"Imagine [...] palaces floating among the clouds."

Codex entry: Vir Dirthara: Homecoming

"a city of glass spires so deeply blue they ache. The city's outskirts are wrapped in lakes of mist, and figures stroll along the pearly, glowing strips as if they walked on solid ground [...] other elves walk below a river churning along an invisible shoal in the air."

Tevinter tries to mimic some ancient elvhen magic and Minrathous has a floating castle.

Location in Dragon Age: The Veilguard -

Arlathan Crater: one, two, three

Definitions of "crater":

- a landform consisting of a hole or depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet - a bowl-shaped pit that is formed by a volcano, an explosion, or a meteorite impact

Was the city of Arlathan a floating city kept aloft by ancient elvhen magic in a way that was intrinsically dependent on the presence of the Fade, and when the Veil was erected, with that tie severed it crashed to the ground like an asteroid? Did the ground swallow it whole? When Solas created the Veil, in that reshaping of reality was it physically spacetime-displaced deep into the heart of the Fade? When he made the Veil, did it "fall" (warp) into the Deep Roads like the elven library found by Genitivi in Genitivi Dies in the End? Did it fall to the bottom of the ocean? Did it fall into the other ocean, the Fade (the "Waters of the Fade", "the sea of dreams", the "emerald waters", "vast oceans, containing not water, but memories")? The Fade sort've reflects reality and is shaped by dreams, so is The City [by this I mean The Golden/Black City] the Fade-mirror-image or echo of Arlathan as opposed to literally physically it? the wild and fun thing about Dragon Age is that more than one of these things could be true at once.

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

[notebooks-and-laptops]

There are so many of these so there may be a part two but for now I'm putting the first ones I thought of...please let me know your reasoning in the tags!

[kcwriter-blog]

I've been thinking about how we the players know so little about Solas compared to what the writers and developers know about him and how that affects the way he is written.

I mean we know he is an ancient elf. We know he was powerful enough and skilled enough to create the Veil. We know he and Mythal were friends. He doesn't seem to have liked Andruil and Falon'Din much. Skyhold belonged to him. He removed vallislin. He tried to free slaves. He had kind of an underground railroad thing going. He seems to have had a lot of money secreted away. He painted even back in Arlathan. A lot of statues seem to have been made of him. People in the Vir Dirthara knew he created the Veil but were surprised that he would do something like that. He seems to have always had an affinity for the Fade and spirits. He enjoyed whatever version of the Game nobles in Arlathan played. He was cocky and hot blooded, always spoiling for a fight. He is capable of love and friendship.

I think that's all and it really isn't much. Everything else anyone says about him is pure speculation. It makes meta fun but its easy to get too caught up in our own ideas.

We speculate about him based on things we learn from his personal quests and what we see in Trespasser but we don't know anything for sure. Was he a slave? Was he a spirit called out of the Fade by Mythal and given a body? Did he manifest a body like Cole? Was he just a normal elf born in a small village to the north? Was he a noble and privileged or did he work his way up? Did he join the fight against the Titans? Was he a genius who theorized that the waking world and Fade could be separated? Did he use untried magic because his back was against the wall and he couldn't think of any other way to save the world? Was he a friend of the Evanuris so they trusted him enough to fall into his trap? Was he one of them?

So many questions. The writers have tried to portray him sympathetically. They want us to empathize with him. And I have to ask myself why? He is one of the antagonists. Wouldn't it be easier to portray him as not having any redeeming qualities? And yet, he is basically described as the hero who lived long enough to become the villain.

I know his detractors believe he is a genocidal, racist maniac but that doesn’t track with everything we learn about him as high approval or romanced Inquisitors. It certainly isn’t born out by his statement that he is doing his best to minimize the damage.

He truly believes what he is doing is best for the world and is willing to break it and remake it. What does he know? But more importantly, what do the writers know? Fen' Harel has existed since Origins. Devs have always planned for him to make an appearance. That means the valleslin has always been a mark of slavery even if the Dalish didn't know. The Creators have always been horrible, slave owners even if the Dalish don't remember. Which means Solas has always been the rebel fighting for what he believes is right.

Why do the writers see him not so much as the villain (although Epler uses that word constantly - he is usually the only one though) as they do a somewhat noble person who keeps making mistakes? Why is he portrayed as just a sad man who can't see past his regret and guilt. What was he like? What changed him? What did he know about the Veil before he put it up?

I get that a lot of people don't like the idea of being tied to him in Veilguard but maybe the writers did that so we have no choice but to get to know him - the good and the bad. Maybe we finally get to know Solas the way the writers and developers know him. I'm looking forward to that.

[thekingofwinterblog]

You know what the most annoying thing about the Twists regarding the Elves in Inquisition was?

That all the twists, if taken on their own, would make for a really good story.

The reveals about Solas backstory and how him and his fellow God Kings rose, became decadent, warred with each other and fell, setting the stage for their transformation into the Old Gods is frankly speaking, some of the best lore that Dragon Age ever had, and lines up really well with how the world is structured while explaining how the Old Gods came to be, how the elves fell, and so on.

That the tevinter imperium when it conquered the nation of Arlathan was not the great imperial state lead by mighty mages their descendants liked to think they were, but instead a bunch of weaklings that needed years and years to take on one, measly city-state that had utterly obliterated itself in civil war.

There is so much great stuff here.

So where did it all go wrong?

The answer, is of course execution.

Inquisition overall is a great game... But man did it drop the ball so hard with the Elves that it's pretty much hard to believe that they will be able to tell a nuanced story about them in Dread Wolf.

Everything from the companions, to the world itself as the game presents , to retcons regarding mages that's there, not to tell a story about the elves, but to try and make the Templar vs mage conflict grey.

Starting with the companions, we have a great example of coming so, so close to greatness... and then falling right on it's face.

The game has two Elf companions, solas and Sera... and the contrast between them really illustrates the big picture with how incapable Inquisition is with trying to tell a nuanced picture with the elves.

Solas as a character is perfect. Love him or hate him, he is a fully fleshed out character with very clear, defined, understandable motives that makes sense to him.

And most importantly of all, his way of viewing the world is WRONG. The game acknowledges that he is wrong.

The entire story of where dragon age 4 is heading, is all about how the Dread wolf, for all his knowledge and intelligence and genuine virtues, is at the end of the day, a monster, who is willing to see the world burn to restore the Elves magic and immortality.

He is a racist, he is bigoted, and ultimately misguided. Despite all his development with the inquisitor, he does not manage to grow enough as a person that he manages to abandon his genocidal goals. And the game does not pretend othervise.

That is what makes the story of Solas rise to become the big villain of the sequel great.

There is no disconnect between the story, the characters, or the way the game wants us to view solas.

Solas is far, far more bigoted and close-minded than any of the dalish he so despises, and the game ultimately does not pretend othervise.

Which brings us to the opposite end of the elf spectrum with Sera.

Sera is a very disliked character by a lot of people, but by dalish and elf players/fans more than most.

Just like Solas, she is bigoted, racist, and ultimately misguided in her hatred of her fellow elves, whether they be city elves, or Dalish, or ancient elves.

And that frankly, would not be a problem if the game acknowledged that fact. If her character arc was about it, and either how she could not overcome her own issues, or actually managed to grow beyond them, she could have been a great character.

The problem is the fact that the game is not willing to handle this fact head on. Its not willing to come out and portray Sera as just as bigoted against her own kind as Solas is, and to treat this as a flaw.

Instead the game treats her as if her biggest flaw is that she's annoying, and not the fact that in a game that is in many ways about setting up the rise of the dread wolf, she is just as bad as Solas, just from a different origin point.

Sera should have been a mirror to Solas, both from a story point, as well as a thematic one, but unfortunately she is not.

Hell, she doesn't really overcome her racism either. The closest she comes to doing so, is basically burning out on hating the dalish and other elves in trespasser, not admitting she was actually wrong to hate them so much in the first place.

The game does not treat Sera's disdain for other elves and their culture as a problem, and it does not give a dalish inquisitor the option to tell her to go fuck herself on the topic that you are given with Solas if you really desire to do so.

You are given the option of kicking her out of the inquisition, but not actually stand up for the dalish or even city elves the way the player could against Morrigan's flemeth raised cruelty in origins, anders and Fenris obsessions with, and hatred for templars/mages in da2, or solas ideals in inquisition.

And thats a problem that really illustrates the bigger issue with the way Inquisition took what could have been a great story about the Elves and the reveals about their anceators, and frankly ruined it.

The dalish and city elvea were very thouroughly fleshed in both Origins, Awakening and DA2.

However, city elves largely managed to avoid being utterly destroyed by the narrative the way the Dalish were, for the simple reason that outside briala, we don't get much if any interaction with them at all, making them essentially a non show foe the game for the most part. They don't get a city elf inquisitor, and so we have no point of view to look at them from a pc perspective.

They got off much better than the dalish though.

Starting off with the arguably single worst thing in all of DAI is the retcon that Dalish clans, if there is more than two mages in a clan, sends off the third one alone in the wilderness to fend for themselves. This goes against absolutely everything that has ever been established about the Dalish, and worst of all, wasn't even an addition meant to demonize the dalish, instead being an addition to handwave away the obvious fact that the Dalish had a much better system than the human circles when it came to magic... Which in turn was made irrelevant by the fact the Avvar was later shown to have a much better and more effective solution to the possession question anyway.

It was, in essence, a pointless retcon, that overall only made the dalish look bad, and has now opened the door for the idea that most dalish clans acts like this, and will be portrayed so in future games.

Its bad, but unfortunately it was only the start.

The game goes out of its way to portray absolutely every single person who critices the dalish as having a point, that they brought on their own downfalls, even as they are being the most imperialistic, racist assholes imaginable, while the dalish inquisitor can only offer a token of defence for his people, a far cry from way origins allowed you to handle the same situation wheter your main ethnicity was ferelden, mage, city elf, dalish, casteless or dwarven noble.

But nowhere is it worse than the way the game handles the fall of the dales.

Now the actual lore you learn about it, is not bad. At all. I know some complain that the reveals that ameridan(and presumably other elves) worshipped both the creators and the maker, as well as the fact that the dalish unfortunately did have a bad relationahip with the rest of the world, in particular orlais, is bad storytelling, but i firmly disagree.

No the problem is the execution.

Ameridan is not wrong when he says that The Dales should not have distanced itself from the rest of the world, especially not in the face of a blight... But the Dales of his era were in turn not wrong when they argued that the Orlesians were little better than the imperium, and they would be completely right.

This is not a grey issue, its a grey and black issue.

Orlais was, and still is an evil, expansionist empire with 99% of its population living as serfs, that can be raped and beaten at will, little better than slaves.

The dales were the morally right side of the exalted march on the dales. No amount of new lore we learned in inquisition has changed that fact. We simply get the details fleshed out a bit more to add context.

Orlais was going to invade and enslave the elves anyway, as they proved through their actions against all their other, very much fellow Adrastian neighbors.

The problem is that you are not allowed to express this kind of point of view and stick to it like steel.

The characters you meet having the bigoted opinion that the dales ultimately brought on their own fate is NOT a bad thing in and out of itself... the problem is that you are not allowed to challenge that opinion the way you could challenge Lelliana's view of the dalish in origins, or the way you could tell both Anders and fenris to go fuck themselves on their extremist opinions all through da2, and ending that fuck you by killing them in the endgame.

And thats a real shame, because just looking at characters like cassandra's character development through Inquisition, you could easily have made a really compelling narrative put of a dalish inquisitor who stuck by his or her principles, and actually challenged the people they met's racist views on the dalish the way you could in origins, just with a more fleshed out and(unfortunately something way too many people just cannot emote to a character withouth) an actual voice to raise those arguments with.

I do genuinely like Inquisition, and i think it's overall a much better game than DA2... but man did they drop the ball with the elves so hard.

I feel so sorry for anyone who really got invested in the elves as their favorites factions, and i honestly don't think the elves will be handled particularly well in Dread wolf, especially as the only Dalish we are likely to see fleshed out will be the villains fighting for Solas.

[chevalierlogan]

—The Fall of Arlathan, as told by Gisharel, Keeper of the Ralaferin clan of the Dalish elves.

For a first post back on tumblr I figured I could share my two pages for @solamancyzine ! Thank you again for this beautiful project.

[an-established-butt-dent]

for the dragon age prompts post! concept art solas would look great in your style :)

~~~Dragon Age Art Prompts~~~

So much of his concept art is figuring out which hairstyle suits him, only to settle on a bold bald head.

So seeing that this is my take on the concept art I give you; Solas with hair! (I actually prefer the bald look on him tho ^^ but this was fun).

Somehow he immediately looks waaaay younger and this design actually reminds me of what Solas might have looked like during his time at Mythals court, before the fall of Arlathan.

So I give you a little bonus; aka hotheaded, war general Pride, I fought countless battles in ages lost to time Fen’Harel. (Fingers crossed we will see him in a flashback, put that on my DATV bingo card please!!!)

Thank you for your Prompt Anon! <3

[psalacanthea]

The Fall of Arlathan- Chapter 9

A big double-sized (12k words help) chapter of this Solavellan fic, the sequel to my old Schooling Pride. Yes, it exists. I need to actually put them in a series on AO3- i'll try to remember to do that later.

...

“Don’t turn this around on me,” Ellie scolded Solas, not wanting to hear a lecture about how she should keep being a sucker.

He smiled, chagrined, the edges of his eyes crinkling.  His gaze became uncomfortable, but his voice remained even as she glanced away awkwardly.  “If you insist.  But never forget that your kindness was my salvation.”

She brushed that off because she didn’t have the cope.  “Yeah, well…we’ve never had a fight like this before.  He’d cross lines, I’d draw a boundary clearly, and we’d move on.”  Ellie couldn’t find it in her to lie right now.  “And then he’d cross it again.  I just– I thought I was helping him.  He did get better in a lot of ways, but I got arrogant, Solas.  And– and he needed me.”

His denial was quiet, but firm.  “He does not need you. He is possessive.  Those are very different things.”

Ugh, of course he was going to make this entirely about Falon’din and excuse her completely.

Of course.

“No, I mean…I liked that he did,” she admitted firmly, staring at her hands.  “I encouraged it.  When I realized it I tried to wean him off of depending so much on me, but the damage was done.  It was just…from the moment– this is kind of too much to say.”

“I would rather you did,” Solas said quietly.

“I know.  That’s part of what makes it so hard.  I wish you had better boundaries around me,” she muttered.

His voice was low and calm.  “Better?  No.  My boundaries remain intact, very far from any landscape you have yet to wander across.  Explore as you like.”

“Pain,” she muttered, wishing he didn’t make it so easy to talk to him.  That he didn’t feel like a portent, a thing hovering over her ready to drag her back down to those old, painful depths.  “Ever since, Solas, you left…it was like my brain got fixated on people leaving me.  First it was you, then Sebastian, then Cass, a lot of other people…and my mom died like a month after Wren was born.”  She paused, steeled herself.  “He needed me.”  

Ellie exhaled roughly, trying to keep her voice under control, her body.  But it was hard, she could feel herself starting to get tense, trembling.  “He wasn’t going to–”  

Leave me.

She swallowed those words before they could trip up her tongue, her nerves already strained by stress.  Ellie steeled herself and continued.  “No matter what I did he kept coming back.  And I could help him, like I couldn’t...”

It was like bile in her throat, bitter and unwelcome.

“Ellana…”

She sniffed and wiped her eyes impatiently, hating the weakness.  “Tears are just tears, they don’t mean anything.  Listen…I unpacked this all a while ago; this isn’t new, Solas.  I have a really good therapist.  When I go.  It’s just…I figured, hey, I’m helping someone.  Even if it’s a coping thing, it’s not bad, right?”

“Does Falon’din know how you feel?”  Solas asked, smiling sadly at the disbelieving look she gave him.  “Yes, it sounds as if that would be unwise.”

“He hates you enough,” she said quietly.

[bookishmeow]

I'm not like the other Magisters.

WHAT DID YOU DO?! Elven gods. What were you doing? Why is Dirthamen bleeding? WHY DID YOU KILL MYTHAL? What was the war that had you become generals, then kings, then gods? Who were you fighting? Was it the titans? Or was it other elves? If so are they the forgotten ones or the old gods? WHAT WERE YOU DOING?

Solas be all "Ahh I missed court Intrigue" OH? Really sir? Really? What were you doing in court? Y'all ended up murdering each other.

Everything we've gotten, which isn't a lot, has been post Arlathan fall and some filtered basic explanations from Solas. We saw some fade library stuff, but everything was way too fragmented. We also know that their cities were connected via eluvians.

Everything else is just badly interrupted stories by the dalish. Dalish: "Ghilan'nain made beautiful creatures, like the halla!" Reality: "HORROR PITS OF DEATH" What are the other "horror pits of death" that the other gods probably have? What don't we know?! I NEED ANSWERS.

I just want to know what happened! I want to go to the golden/black city and learn the lore. I don't want any magic or to become a god, I just wanna know! I'm not like the other Magisters girls I swear. I'm different. LET ME IN!

[dreadfutures]

Blue's DA4 Screenshot Binge Pt. 2

Dragons

We see several dragons appear *repeatedly* throughout the trailer, as in the same dragons appear over and over again in different locations and different states of decay.

Wide Horns from the Vinyl (Golden City)

We see this dragon pretty clearly on the album cover. - it has grooves on its horns, red tinge to its body, and it first appears in the trailer in this place that has a tower whose top dome is of an architectural style i can't place - it doesn't exactly match the spires and domes we see in Arlathan Forest, Tevinter, Antiva....

It ambushes our heroes outside of a Blight-ridden cave, and next to the cart that it squashes, there is a wriggling tentacle mass that is holding a struggling person. It doesn't look particularly unhealthy here!

We also see it later, same horns, same grooves, same red tinge, but now it appears to have been corrupted. It looks furry, it looks like tentacles, tendrils, or flayed skin are falling from its throat and ribs, and red glow - similar to what we might think of as this very organic looking red lyriumy stuff throughout the trailers and concept art - covers its body.

We also see the reddish dragon with (maybe?) the same grooves on its horn, same general horn shape, cheek spikes, and it does not show the corruption on its nose, throat, or body.

Poor girl.

Hornless Blue Dead (?) Dragon

Then there is the hornless, almost petrified-looking, corrupted pustular blue-glowy dragon.

We see it facing off against some Wardens in their fancy winged helms and coordinated movements. It looks hairy, decayed, petrified, as if it's been dead and eaten up by something on the ocean floor idk.

It appears later with the later-corrupted red dragon.

During a Darkspawn siege. Literally. Look at those guys, so militant and efficient.

Halo Head - Headplate Dragon (Black City)

First seen on the vinyl. Halo Head at first seemed like just a halo, and mandibles.

After the last trailer we all felt certain that it is a representation of or connected to Elgar'nan, Halo Head, since it perfectly resembles his crown.

Interestingly, this dragon ALSO appears uncorrupted in a brightly lit place - this one clearly Arlathan, or elven ruins related to Arlathan:

Where we see that not only does it have a halo, and mandible horns, it also has another set of curling horns - and a headplate. You can see the headplate more clearly in silhouette.

This dragon doesn't have any other glowy bits, pustules, or other signs of corruption - and also, it DOESN'T have tentacles. what we thought was TENTACLE DRAGON in the last trailer is actually tentacles in the environment responding to it.

[nerdanel01]

Exquisite, Pt. II

Emmrich/Rook, teensy bit of Lucanis/Rook if you really squint 2k+ wc | SFW [Pt. I Here]

Emmrich had never considered himself to be a jealous man. He did not covet what others possessed, content with his lot and labors; envy had never come naturally to him.

And yet there he sat in the common room of the Lighthouse, seated in the chair with the clearest, unobstructed view of the kitchen, watching Agnes watch the Crow. 

It had been several weeks since he had left Nevarra behind, and the Mourn Watch with it. Weeks of Agnes being short and clipped with him, or outright ignoring him entirely. Try as he might to thaw the chill between them, nothing—not praise, nor flattery, nor thoughtful gestures—seemed to appease her. Any and all attempts he had made to spend time with her, or converse with her since they had returned to the Lighthouse together had failed, many of those efforts ending quite disastrously. Manfred, through the power of his sense of humor alone, had managed to develop a friendly rapport with her—but as for Emmrich, he suspected that Agnes would barely give him the time of day, if he asked. 

That on its own might have been tolerable; after all, given their cataclysmic falling out and the two year separation that had followed Agnes’ flight from the Mourn Watch, Emmrich had thought he would never see Agnes again in this life. Even if she hated him, at least now he had been blessed with the possibility (however remote) of repairing the rift between them. He did not think it would be easy, but he was glad to have the opportunity to try. 

But in the Mourn Watch, Agnes had always been closest to him— even during the period when Rolf Magnusson had been courting her. Emmrich had been her dearest companion, her confidant; he had become accustomed to that familiar place of privilege within her heart. No longer did she cherish him there. And unlike in the Mourn Watch, where she had made little effort at making other friends of her own, the comfort and ease and warmth with which she bore herself around the members of the Veilguard struck a startling contrast to the way she behaved around him. Watching her collaborate with Lace on their next moves, the fascination with which she listened to Bellara speak about her discoveries in Arlathan forest, all while she would hardly spare a glance for Emmrich himself… well. That stung, a little. 

The way she laughed and smiled and practically fawned over Lucanis… that more than stung, it smoldered painfully in his chest. 

Of course, there was no indication her relationship with him had gone beyond the bounds of friendship. But, Emmrich thought to himself—why wouldn’t it? She was lovely, cunning, capable; no doubt Lucanis saw that for himself just as well as Emmrich did. And he was possessed of that dark, enigmatic, Antivan charm—even across the room Emmrich fancied that he could practically hear Agnes’ heart palpitating every time Lucanis spoke in his native tongue, the same language of the operas Agnes had so loved. 

As if he were not sufficiently well-endowed with charm and allure: he was an excellent cook. 

Though Lucanis’ definition of ‘cooking’ clearly did not measure up to Agnes’. Three nights ago he had prepared dinner for the group. The pungent, mouth-watering smells of garlic and cheese had filled the Lighthouse, lulling everyone into a state of anticipation and rapture before the meal had even begun. But when at last it had been served, Agnes had just paused for a moment, looking at her plate, broken hearted. 

“Something the matter, Rook?” Lucanis has asked her, coolly. 

Agnes had opened her mouth, thought better off it, closed her mouth, and shook her head, no. It was not in the least bit convincing. Then she had picked up her fork, but before she had even touched it to her plate, she had dropped it back to the table, unable to hold her silence any longer. 

“How could you do this?” she had asked, sounding crushed. 

“Do what?”

And she had lifted her plate, tilting it towards Lucanis like an accusation. “You spent hours on this, and it must be incredible—it smells incredible, smells beautiful—only to just drop it onto the plate like slop for swine.”

Emmrich had to repress a grin. She was not wrong. But unlike Agnes, Emmrich had not expected the Nevarran custom of cooking—where food was as much a feast for the eyes as it was for the palate—to have held much sway in Antiva. 

The amusement and irritation were both plain in Neve’s tone when she interjected, “Fasta vass, Rook, you’re worried about what it looks like? It’s going to taste just the same.”

“It tastes heavenly,” Bellara added supportively, already twirling more of the pasta onto her fork. “Thanks, Lucanis.”

“It deserves better,” Agnes had muttered, half under her breath. 

“Fine,” Lucanis answered her, with an unbothered shrug. “If it bothers you so much, you can serve the meal next time I cook, jefa.”

By his tone, Emmrich gathered that the comment had been intended as a dig. But Agnes has only stood to reach across the table, extending her hand to Lucanis to shake on it. “Deal.”

And so now, there they were: Lucanis kneading eggs into flour for another fresh batch of pasta, with Agnes hovering around the kitchen island beside him, all questions and insatiable curiosity. Encouraged by her enthusiasm, Lucanis was teaching her how to form the dough into different pasta shapes: 

“And then you pinch here in the center, to make farfalle—”

“Oh!” Agnes exclaimed in delight. “Like little butterflies.”

Lucanis smiled at her, shrugged. “I always thought they looked more like bow ties, myself. Then there’s the conchiglie—shells—you just give the dough a little roll with your fingers, like that…”

“Can I try?”

… and despite his most valiant effort, Emmrich could not repress the slight twitch of his upper lip as he watched Agnes sidle closer, Lucanis peering instructively over her shoulder as her fingers worked the dough. 

Years ago, when she had left—when Agnes had fled the Mourn Watch and left him behind—Emmrich had hoped for her to be happy, to be loved in whatever life she built for herself after leaving Nevarra. 

Of course, when he had made that secret prayer, he had not expected to be present for it—to be forced to endure the exquisite torture of watching it happen before his very eyes. 

Yet there it was: Agnes’ eyes a little too keen for Emmrich’s liking as she watched Lucanis’ hands knead the dough into shapes, taking in the thickness of his scar-covered fingers, covered in handsome dark hairs—

“Emmrich! What’s that around your neck?”

Bellara’s voice startled him out of his forlorn musings. He blinked, then looked down, and lo—the delicate gold chain had slipped between the buttons of his shirt, the lazurite ring that hung upon it swinging like a pendulum. 

Hastily, he tucked it back beneath the fabric. “Oh, it’s nothing really.”

“It’s not nothing!” Bellara replied. “It is a very old and very pretty something, from the little peek I got of it. What is it? A family heirloom?”

It was nothing of the sort. But Emmrich did it feel inclined to explain exactly what it was, especially under present circumstances, and in present company. 

But, “Just show her, Volkarin,” Taash insisted. “She won’t give it up until you do.” The boredom in the treasure hunter’s voice did little to conceal the eagerness in her eyes; like Emmrich himself, Taash had a weakness for shiny things, and her own curiosity had been piqued. Across the table, even Davrin had glanced up from his carving to see what all the fuss was about. 

Emmrich felt himself beginning to sweat under his collar. 

Under the pretense of removing the chain, he unfastened the first few buttons of his shirt. Then, under Bellara’s eager gaze, he pulled the necklace out from beneath his shirt, cupping the heavy ring in his palm. 

“It is not an heirloom,” Emmrich said, as Bellara stood up to join him on the sofa for a better glimpse at it. “It was a gift.”

“Oh, wow, Emmrich, it’s gorgeous! Taash, come look!” Bellara enthused, beckoning the Lord of Fortune nearer before she turned back to the ring in Emmrich’s hand. It was truly a thing of beauty—the brilliant lazurite carved into the perfect facsimile of a scarab beetle, the aged patina on the gold lotus flowers of the setting only adding to its authenticity and charm. “But why aren’t you wearing it on your hand?” Bellara asked, all innocent curiosity. “You’ve still got a finger or two to spare.”

“I used to,” Emmrich answered, a certain melancholy weaving between the words. “I used to never take it off. Someone…” ‘Say it. Be honest, be brave.’ “Someone very beloved to me gave it to me, over ten years ago.”

Emmrich’s heart skipped a beat. In the kitchen, Agnes was no longer paying the slightest bit of attention to Lucanis, or the pasta. Her grey eyes—unreadable as they were—were fixed, adamantly, upon Emmrich himself. 

“So why not now?” Bellara asked, utterly unaware of the powder keg she was about to set off with her questioning. “What changed?”

Emmrich swallowed, choosing his words carefully. 

“I behaved very badly towards them. Hurt them terribly.” His left thumb worried at the base of his middle finger, where he’d worn the ornament for so many years after Agnes had first given it to him—it still felt strangely bare without it. “Pretty as the ring may be, I could not really endure the sight of it, after. The regret I felt for my actions, the guilt… it was profound.” He flashed Bellara a rueful grin. “But of course, by then it was too late to remedy my mistake.”

“So you wear it around your neck,” Bellara said, softly, practically swooning as she misinterpreted the gesture as romantic; “to keep it close to your heart.”

Emmrich felt his face burning, flushed with sudden embarrassment. “That’s—well, indeed, I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”

“And what’s the other way?” Davrin challenged, not bothering to look up from the wooden carving in his lap as he asked. 

“Master Emmrich is a masochist, Warden Davrin,” Manfred interjected, unhelpfully, from the corner of the room where was playing a dice game with Neve. “He wears the bauble thusly to punish himself.”

“Manfred!” Emmrich hissed. 

“Is he wrong?” Davrin replied, a slight tilt to his lips that suggested he was hiding a smirk. 

“…I would not have used such language myself,” Emmrich replied, his face flushed brighter red than ever, “but yes. I wear it to remind myself never to make the same mistake again.”

“That’s sad, Emmrich,” Bellara replied, eyes fixed on him as firmly as Agnes’, although Bellara’s look was more doleful than intent. “And silly. Whoever gave this to you, I’m sure they wouldn’t want you to be beating yourself up like that.”

Agnes’ eyes slid at last from his face, feigning rapt interest in the pasta dough on the island in front of her. Emmrich cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I would not be so certain of that.”

“You should wear it anyway,” Taash said, straightening from where she had stood behind the sofa, peering at the ring over Emmrich’s shoulder. “Towers Age, isn’t it? It is old, and finely wrought—finer than any of the other rings you wear.” With a raised eyebrow, Tassh added, “Besides, whatever you did, it’s not like hiding it away is going to bring that person back.”

Back in the kitchen, Agnes was back to helping Lucanis roll out little ears into the dough with her thumbs. If she was still listening, she gave no indication of it; she looked rather like she had lost interest (in the conversation; in Emmrich himself) completely. 

Taash was right. Fate may have thrust the two of them back together, but Agnes was not the woman she had been when she left. The two years apart had changed her: made her more confident, more crass, more affable—at least, to everyone but him—and stamped out, he suspected, whatever love she had once borne for him in her young heart. If indeed she had ever really loved him at all. 

“I suppose not,” Emmrich answered, softly. 

Nevertheless, he still tucked the ring back beneath his shirt.

[felassan]

New interview video from IGN: 'Dragon Age Cast & Crew Tell Us Who They're Going To Romance | Comic Con | 2024'

"Dragon Age fans rejoiced at Summer Games Fest when BioWare dropped the first official trailer of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The long awaited follow-up to Dragon Age: Inquisition will follow our protagonist Rook as they deal with the fallout of Solas’ attempts to tear down the veil. Fan favorites like Varric and Lace Harding–and hopefully Dorian Pavus if our host Kim Horcher has anything to say about it–will return along with a cast of new characters like the suave necromancer Emmrich and bubbly Veil Jumper Bellara. Joining IGN at Comic Con 2024 to talk about our return to the world of Thedar are Creative Director John Epler, Creative Performance Director Ashley Barlow, and the voice of Harding herself Ali Hillis. Together, they tease what to expect from the locations we’ve never visited before, including Rivain, Tevinter and Arlathan. We don’t quite get to learn how Solavellan players might get some closure with the Dreadwolf himself but we do have a lot of fun learning about what it’s like to bring all new characters to life. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is expected to release this fall."

[source]

New info in this video: Along with Antoine, Evka Ivo is also appearing in the game.

On Harding in DA:TV - "She really brings this veteran energy to the ensemble of the new companions, like this grounding voice of seeing something over the course of time, like a big weight to the team."

(tysm @himluv for sending me this link!)

[thedinanshiral]

Evanuris Who's who

This is just my personal and very intuitive interpretation of the Evanuris signature symbols. I base my take on recent art, general Evanuris lore and previous depictions of them, primarily mosaics from the Temple of Mythal in DAI. I know others have done this with nicer graphics but everything here is homemade and made with love -on my phone- so please bear with me..

First, from the trailer we got the first depiction of all these Evanuris symbols

Andruil and Ghilan'nain are explained here.

Elgar'nan: it's front and center, as he's the top authority among them. Also, shows up in the trailer mural, implied to be one of the future enemies in the story and he's elvhen God of Vengeance so i'd say if anyone's gonna show up to get even with Solas that'd be him.

June and Sylaise: Possibly the Evanuris we know the least about, and if Solas didn't comment on them at the Temple of Mythal in DAI i'd say they were ok-ish? Either siblings or married (or both, because mythology). Most people think the sun-like one is Elgar'nan as he's the sun in the elvhen pantheon but Sylaise is the Hearthkeeper and nothing else remotely references fire or heat. Her mosaic at the Temple of Mythal shows her wearing a crown of leafs, of which this "sun" could easily be a stylized version. As for June, God of the Craft, all i have is ..it looks like a helmet.

Falon'din and Dirthamen: as Guide of the dead Falon'din is represented in the mosaics as holding a shepard's staff so i assigned him the symbol closest to a staff. As for Dirthamen, as Keeper of Secrets he's depicted in mosaics covering his mouth with both hands. On this first picture, simple 2D, neither headpiece can be fully appreciated, but one could say the "staff" one fits in the empty space of the other one, and these two were said to be inseparable, twin souls, with a bond that trascended any labels, shadow and reflection of one another.

Now, onto the vinyl covers. The first one here is Arlathan pre-disaster. We see the city with all its spires watched over by a huge dragon that for completion's sake i assigned as Mythal; while she lived, the world was in order, more or less. There's also a mysterious tiny figure below, hooded and holding a staff that kinda looks like Elgar'nan's symbol; at first i thought it could be Fen'harel but it actually fits as Elgar'nan or one of his people, because it's still possible he's responsible for her death.

And now the best part, the alternative cover presents a much darker scenario, Arlathan falling. With the city crumbling down, a different, visibly aggressive/hostile dragon watching over it with horns that, yet again, resemble Elgar'nan's symbol, and hanging from the edge of its wings we see heads, each wearing an Evanuris headpiece. The mysterious hooded figure is gone here, the floating ground it stood on already gone.

Once i put the names i noticed this placement, where the lovers are across each other, and the twins are directly facing each other (as you would a mirror); i found it a bit curious because this only works if we go with my assigned correspondences.

Speaking of the twins, let's check this concept art for a bit. It depicts the party of heroes fighting off drakspawn while two dragons say hi in the background. But is it really two dragons? I see two heads ..but also only two wings. Could it be a double headed dragon?? Concidentally two Archdemons remain, and people have speculated what better way to fuck up Thedas than with two Blights at once? On top of Solas taking down the Veil and reshaping the fabric of reality, again. No such thing as a boring day in Thedas.

Important to note is the remaining Archdemons correspond to the Old Gods Razikale the dragon of Mystery, and Lusacan, dragon of Night. If you adhere to the theory that says the tevinter Old Gods are actually the Evanuris -i've wrote on this extensively-, one possibility is Razikale corresponds with Dirthamen (dragon of mystery? keeper of secrets? potato potahto, same thing) while Lusacan corresponds with Falon'din (dragon of night? guide of the dead? darkness all around). If we've been right about these equivalences then this piece of art would be showing indeed a two-headed dragon, the Twins. Their bond so strong, so transcendental, so inseparable they return to the world as one, for a recharged Blight.

The only tiny detail against this is that Razikale is referred to as a she, whereas the twins are presumed to be male, however i don't let this take from my fun because ancient elves were very particular and their perception of sex and gender must have been like nothing we can think of today.

[demifiendrsa]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Official Gameplay Reveal

Dragon Age: The Veilguard, formerly Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store in Fall 2024.

Title Logo

Key visual

Screenshots

Overview

About

From the storytellers at BioWare comes Dragon Age: The Veilguard, an all new single-player fantasy RPG experience. This bold, heroic adventure is built to deliver on what the series is best known for: rich storytelling, fantasy worldbuilding, companions & fellowship, and a world where you matter. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you’ll embark on a quest to face powerful Elven gods and stop the destruction they’re unleashing on the world. You are known as Rook, battling on the front lines alongside a compelling cast of companions with individual storylines and motivations. In true Dragon Age fashion, companions are central to the experience and as Rook, you must rise up, rally your crew and forge relationships to become the unexpected leader others believe in.

Story

Solas, the Dread Wolf and Elven Trickster god of legend, wants to tear down the Veil that separates Thedas from the world of demons, restoring his people’s immortality and glory—even at the cost of countless lives. But his ritual goes awry, and his worst fears are realized, as two of his most ancient and powerful adversaries are released. They seek only to finish what they started millennia ago – the complete and utter domination of our world. Rook’s journey to stop these two powerful deities will span across all of Thedas to bustling cities, lush tropics, boreal forests, fettered swamps and the deepest depths, but be wary of the evil forces along the way like the Dark Spawn, Venatori Cultists and Demons of the Fade.

Key Features

Fellowship – Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s brand new companions come alive with some of the most compelling individual storylines in Dragon Age history. Expansive and dynamic stories navigate love, loss and complex choices that will affect your relationships and the fate of each member of the Veilguard. New companions like the Veil Jumper Bellara, the necromancer Emmrich, and the private detective Neve, come from iconic factions in Dragon Age lore, possessing individual skill trees and specialized gear for advanced team progression. You’ll see familiar faces, too, such as the archer Lace Harding who returns to the series as a full time companion.

Choice and Consequences – Dragon Age: The Veilguard builds on the series’ deep role-playing roots, providing extraordinary storytelling and worldbuilding, deep personalities for each companion, meaningful choices and impactful cinematic moments. The bonds you create and the relationships you forge will be affected by your choices made throughout your journey.

A Crafted Experience – As a character-driven RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard delivers a crafted experience that pays homage to BioWare’s history of storytelling. The Lighthouse provides a central place where you can rest, learn more about the world through conversations, while the Crossroads allows you to traverse to separate explorable regions of the world with your companions. You’ll experience more of Thedas than ever before as your story unfolds across meticulously crafted biomes and beautiful regions including Rivain, Weisshaupt, Arlathan, Minrathous, the Deep Roads and more, each inviting you to delve deeper into the narrative and uncover the mysteries of the land.

Fluid, Customizable Combat – Immersive combat blends fluid moment-to-moment controls with tactical decision-making. Players can fully customize their experience to fit their playstyle with diverse skill trees among three different classes—Warrior, Mage, and Rogue—each with unique abilities and specializations. Choose two companions to join you on your quests and unleash powerful team combos that can change the tide of any battle. Make strategic choices and direct your allies to fight, heal or stay out of the fray with the newly-added ability wheel.

Be the Leader You Want to Be – Dragon Age: The Veilguard features a robust character creation system that allows you to be the leader you want to be with a vast range of customization. BioWare has created the most comprehensive character creator in Dragon Age yet to make this story truly your own