#Vow of Absolution

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Wrath and Glory: Vow of Absolution - Absolver Space Marine by Sam Manley

[lesbicastagna]

went down a rabbit hole of this subject.

Filippo Lippi, painter and carmelitan friar, and Lucrezia Buti, a nun, meet and fall in love while she poses as model for an altarpiece. Classic.

[guujikaroko]

A while ago, I rambled about how Wanderer is weirdly intimate with the Traveler, and now that Natlan has come out with new lore, it turns out it's even more insane than I previously thought.

He told Lumine to give him a new name.

A new name.

He told her to give him a n e w n a m e.

It was already a pretty big thing, but now? After Simulanka and Natlan lore? After discovering the power of names? What the fuck were you thinking, Don Sombrero?

A name can seal a person's fate. A name can give you a role to play in the world. And he gave this responsibility to Lumine.

I cannot possibly overstate this: Wanderer gave Lumine the reins of his fate. He judged her worthy of trust and readily accepted whatever role she'd give him.

And, if we go by the notion that "Wanderer" is his canon name, then... Then Lumine, the Traveler, chose a role similar to hers. She tied their fates together by name.

Can you two chill for a second. This is actually scary. I feel dizzy.

[batsyheere]

When thinking on timelines with DC and Danny Phantom, I always figure Dick Grayson and Danny Fenton being around the same age makes sense. Like, that 90-2000s tech and culture, the formation of the Justice League and the Meta Acts? It would make sense to have a time period with no basis for such things when it concerns Danny not reaching out to other heroes or for the Anti-Ecto Acts being slipped into law. And it wouldn't be weird for Batman not to hear about all the ghostly happening of Amity Park when he would primarily be focused on Gotham (and somewhat the League).

It feels like a good set up for Danny being a great mentor for others based off his own struggles as a teen vigilante with no preparation or proper support. He can finally reach out to other heroes, lend his own experiences and power to a fight even if he does decide to start retiring from the vigilante scene.

Then you have Dick Grayson trying to strike out on his own, form his own identity, and I feel like Danny would be weirdly intuitive? He immediately clocks Dick as a teen vigilante and is just there for him in the ways he always wished someone had been for him.

[finngualart]

lord, make me an instrument of your peace where there is hatred, let me sow love where there is injury, pardon where there is doubt, faith where there is despair, hope where there is darkness, light and where there is sadness, joy

[triaelf9]

Look, I'm just saying all the non-game DA rogues need to form an Oops All Rogues group and travel around Thedas fighting evil together XD

Some mixed media fun! Trying out some tone style things for a Future Project ^_-

[superbat-lmao]

Superbat but it’s Booth and Brennan from Bones™️.

Bruce is trapped in a situation where he genuinely believes he may die and writes Clark a letter that will later be read as the vows at their wedding.

Or there’s a supervillain that says they will only come out of the woodwork at Superman’s funeral so when he gets hurt on a mission they hold a public funeral for him. And Bruce isn’t told he’s alive until he catches the supervillain at the funeral by taking the dummy in Superman’s casket and hitting the villian, and Clark, with its detached plastic arm. Bruce being pissed that no one told him. That Clark didn’t tell him. But also, that for it to be believable, Batman had to grieve.

Maybe they spot scars on one of the kids’ backs and know they don’t want to talk about it so Bruce, unprompted, shares a deeply personal trauma in order to level the playing field and Clark follows suit.

Alfred is on trial for something he definitely did (kill joker?) but Bruce doesn’t want his father to go to prison so he creates plausible doubt that he committed the crime and testifies against Superman in court to that effect.

Going undercover with the circus and “rocking the trailer” as part of that cover.

The ideas are endless.

[beif0ngs]

oh look, you can actually pinpoint the second when her heart (along with her machine gun) rips in half—

[onaperduamedee]

Hey, WoT fandom, it's not bad writing; it's an adaptational choice you don't agree with

[rebel-hunk-enjoyer]

Watching A New Hope where I know there will be no Rebels references on Yavin IV but in order to match it up to all the Rebels references in Rogue One, I tell myself that none of the Ghost crew were in the command center or fighting the Death Star because they had to attend the emergency 'well the Empire might blow up this entire moon and all of us with it' Kalluzeb wedding.

[evancordelia]

I didn’t know how to say this in any way other than meme format

[applepixls]

"every time i go against impulse i lose. ... i'm wrong every time we're split cause he is the better one."

-skizz in his most recent phasmo vod ("we got scar back!" at 1:37:40)

[thegeminisage]

WWRD (What Would Rook Do?) Ask Meme: Questions From Other Dragon Age Games

Obviously, SPOILER WARNINGS for the other Dragon Age games/some expanded universe stuff.

DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS*

Would your Rook get along with your Warden?

What would your Rook's favorite location from Origins* be? Least favorite?

Who would your Rook's favorite character from Origins* be? Least favorite?

Which characters from Origins* would your Rook have a high approval with? Low approval?

Which character from Origins* would your Rook have romanced?

Would your Rook have agreed with what Loghain did at Ostagar?

Would your Rook have destroyed the Anvil of the Void?

Would your Rook have sided with the Dalish, or the werewolves?

What would your Rook's Fade dream look like?

What would your Rook have done about Connor?

What question would your Rook have been asked by the Guardian? How would they answer?

Would your Rook defile the Urn of Sacred Ashes? Why or why not?

Which two characters would Rook want to rescue them from Fort Drakon? Pick anyone from Origins* or Veilguard.

Who would your Rook have put on Ferelden's throne?

Would your Rook have allowed Morrigan to do the dark ritual? With who?

*You can include Awakening in these questions!

DRAGON AGE II

Would your Rook get along with your Hawke?

What would your Rook's favorite location from DA2 be? Least favorite?

Who would your Rook's favorite character from DA2 be? Least favorite?

Which characters from DA2 would your Rook have befriended? Rivaled with?

Which character from DA2 would your Rook have romanced?

Would your Rook have worked off their indentured servitude with the smugglers, or the mercenaries?

Would your Rook have taken Carver/Bethany into the Deep Roads? If yes, would they give Carver/Bethany to the Wardens?

Would your Rook have helped Merrill fix the eluvian?

Would your Rook have spared Bartrand? Would they have let Varric keep the idol?

Would your Rook have spared Varania?

Would your Rook have earned the respect of the Arishok? Would they have given Isabela to him?

What would your Rook have been tempted with in the Fade?

Who would the rebels have taken as a hostage to control your Rook in Best Served Cold? Pick anyone from DA2 or Veilguard.

Would your Rook have sided with the mages, or the templars?

Would your Rook agree with what Anders did? What would they have chosen for his fate?

DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION

Would your Rook get along with your Inquisitor?

What would your Rook's favorite location from Inquisition be? Least favorite?

Who would your Rook's favorite character from Inquisition be? Least favorite?

Which characters from Inquisition would your Rook have a high approval with? Low approval?

Which character from Inquisition would your Rook have romanced?

Pick any villain from Inquisition or Veilguard. How would your Rook sit in judgement of them?

Would your Rook have encouraged Cole to embrace his nature as a spirit, or to become more human?

Would your Rook spare the Chargers, or sacrifice them?

What would your Rook have done with Blackwall?

Who would your Rook have put on the Orlesian throne?

What would your Rook's Fearlings look like?

Who would your Rook have left behind in the Fade?

What would your Rook have done with the Wardens after Adamant?

Would your Rook have drink from the Well of Sorrows, or allow Morrigan to do it?

Who would your Rook have chosen as the next Divine?

BONUS QUESTIONS:

SOLDIER'S PEAK: Would your Rook side with Sophia, or Avernus? What would they do with Avernus?

WITCH HUNT: How would your Rook confront Morrigan at the end?

AWAKENING: Would your Rook spare the Architect?

AWAKENING: Would your Rook choose to defend Vigil's Keep, or Amaranthine?

ASUNDER: After finding out the truth about the Rite of Tranquility, would your Rook have voted for the Circles of Magi to separate from the Chantry?

ABSOLUTION: Would your Rook spare Hira? What about Rezaren?

ABSOLUTION: Would your Rook have freed the dragon below Nessum?

TRESPASSER: Would your Rook have disbanded the Inquisition, or transitioned it to a peacekeeping force under the new Divine?

VOWS & VENGEANCE: Would your Rook have taken the Eye of Kethisca while escaping Arcanist Hall, or would they have left it behind?

TEVINTER NIGHTS: Would your Rook have given Ambrose Forfex a quick death so they could make a safe getaway, or set demons loose on the party?

[DRAGON AGE MASTERPOST]

[quilleth]

Listening to vows and vengeance (yeah yeah I'm doing things backwards starting the game first xD) and nothing could have prepared me for Lucanis pretending to be a servant. But also the power of one man with big brown eyes and a soft voice to make you go "yep he's trustworthy" in like 2 seconds flat. I too would take him at his word if he just appeared and happened to know an awful lot about poison. I mean I'd want to know how he knows so much about poison, but it's also Antiva and that seems to be a pretty normal thing there.

And now I'm wondering if poison/ deadly gardens are a common thing there (and my fanfic brain is going "we can make them be :3")

[jon-sedai]

I really don’t think we should be treating morality as a linear thing in ASOIAF because what often happens is that we start to stray from the actual conversations that we need to be having regarding the depths of making a moral choice and even the circumstances involved. To try and blankly paint any one character as the “most morally good” isn’t really taking us anywhere. And it certainly isn’t helpful when people in this fandom want to try and prove that characters are “grey” but not moral (what does that even mean??) because they did one “bad” thing. If ASOIAF stans were to have their way, then:

Jon is not a morally good person because he threatened Gilly

Dany cannot be considered to be compassionate because she sanctioned torture against the wine seller’s daughters

Arya cant be good because she has killed people

and so on, and so on….

But this is such a draining, and oft times frustrating, conversation to have because you see just how shallow the above listed examples are? Readers are listing only singular instances across a narrative that spans thousand and thousands of pages, and there’s absolutely no context involved. Why did Jon threaten Gilly? Why did Dany resort to torture and at one point did she do it? Who did Arya kill and why? And why do those singular instances negate everything else in their arcs?

What usually happens when we have the 12847647282th unnecessary conversation about who is the “most good” character in ASOIAF is that we start getting blanket statements with no elaboration. And the only people ever considered are Ned, Brienne, and Davos, and sometimes the children like Shireen or Tommen. Mind you, Ned and Davos are not perfect or without their own faults either; much has been said about Ned’s abilities as a father and it’s implied that Davos was not entirely faithful to his wife. And based on her current arc, Brienne will surely have to make morally tough choices regarding oaths and knightly honor. Plus theres the irony of including literal children when they have not been put in situations where they actually have to make morally difficult choices and live with the consequences.

ASOIAF shows us that people who are capable of incredible kindness and compassion are also capable of doing unpleasant things.

Jon threatened Gilly….because he was trying to save another child whom he believed to be at risk of human sacrifice(!!) and was stuck between a rock and a hard place. But why does that singular instance negate the fact that his arc has been about him standing up for the “lesser than”? Why does that negate the fact that he stood up for Sam against a superior when there was nothing to gain for him? Why does it negate the fact that he went out of his way to equip Arya in a way that society would have deemed inappropriate? Why does it negate the fact that he dedicated the entirety of his time as Lord Commander to fight an institution that had upheld racism/xenophobia for millennia? Why should we filter out all those moments of kindness, compassion, and deep empathy that Jon has even without him thinking?

Dany sanctioned torture….but she was trying to solve the murder of an innocent victim AND this brought her no joy. But why does that negate the fact that when she gained unimaginable power, she could’ve high tailed to Westeros to use it to her benefit and become queen, but instead chose to stay in Essos where she has no personal responsibility just so she could fight the institutional evil that is slavery? Why does it negate Dany who went to personally treat plague victims at great risk to herself?

Arya has killed some….but it’s in self defense or in defense of others who are disenfranchised. But why does this negate that she is one of the few people in the series how goes out of her way to show kindness and friendship to those who are not as economically or politically advantaged as she is (e.g., Mycah)? Why does it negate that she took fellow slaves under her protection when she herself had little power to fight for her own survival at Harrenhall? Why does it negate that when she saw those caged soldiers whom she was angry with for their actions, instead of leaving them to die instead offered them the only kindness she could at the moment: a drink of water?

Trying to have arguments about morality but stripping everything down to ‘x character did y bad thing (regardless of context) and that’s why they can’t be good’ is, to be blunt, ridiculous. And it isn’t a particularly interesting way to engage with the text. Character journeys, especially well written ones, are rarely ever in a straight line. There’s amazing highs and terrible lows. GRRM gives us so many characters like Jon, Dany, Arya, Sansa, Ned, etc. who even in their lows, have gleams of compassion and exceptional kindness. It doesn’t do anyone any good to filter those moments out to make the books more digestible; and I’m being a little generous here, because so many readers have a very shallow level of engagement with the series and it shows in conversation. And we also shouldn’t pit these characters unfairly against those who have never been in similarly difficult situations that required them to make hard choices. Because when we do, we start to completely miss the point all together.

[dreams-of-the-dead]

Arthur is better than me I simply would not be able to repeat The Ancient Portal Opening Texts word for word with only a half second delay

My ass would "wait wait hold on" us straight into hell fr