#dead kings dlc

[hayzeydayzey]

graveyard clutter inspired by dead kings concept art ⚔️

[peridot-tears]

I know it's p much established that Arno says goodbye to Léon and leaves Franciade, but I'm gonna pretend that Léon eventually seeks Arno out in Paris after he becomes a Master Assassin, and Arno takes him in as his ward, the same François De La Serre did for him.

Only this time it doesn't end in Death and Vengeance. Arno eventually settles down and starts a biological family, but Léon will always have a place in the Dorian family and helps raise Arno's kids. And Léon, just like Arno, continues to try to bridge the gap between Templars and Assassins.

[susann-noir]

the hidden beauty of Unity 19/?

collab with @mogruith

[thatcrazycrowgirl]

Make Me Choose

@straight-into-the-animus asked: Athos’ Duel Shirt or Arno’s Master Assassin Robes

“And the Capitaine?” “He shall fall...for I am an Assassin.”

[yore-donatsu]

Just a dream 🩸🦇

[sho-sketches]

guys!! stop-💥with-💥the-💥💥genkick-💥per-💥💥💥💥💥💥

[icicleteeth]

I consume a lot of fallout new vegas and oblivion challenge and lore videos for a guy who has not beaten nor done the dlc for either of these because both installs for both of them (yes I bought both of them twice) got bricked from Modding Incompetence 😔

[emmanuelle-la-rosa]

Even nature can be depressed

[canonqueercharacters]

The canon queer character of the day is:

David King from Dead by Daylight, who is gay.

[leofrith]

kyra bait! this piece of media features a broken man being healed by the love of a precocious orphan child!!

[bisexualbaibe]

also sidenote but my dream dead by daylight killer is carrie. the survivor should be tommy or sue

[hayzeydayzey]

arnooooooooo

[peridot-tears]

That moment where Arno's in the catacombs and greets the paranoid man with a simple, "Citizen." So much sass in that one line. And it's weirdly grounding to hear him use that term? Throughout the game, you hear people calling each other that because...that was the newly-established norm. Nothing reminds me that Arno is living through this tumultuous time more than this one line when he, himself, uses this greeting like any other common person living through the Revolution.

[susann-noir]

I wish you were here

collab with @mogruith

[vigilskeep]

do you ever get the impression that cassandra had a bigger role in the game(s) but due to retcons and a cut dlc she was reduced to a seeker who likes romance novels? she showed up in kirkwall with a number of subordinates, clearly had authority and was someone important, but in inquisition she is just a companion who is also "right hand of the divine," whatever that means. i really feel like she was intended to be a more major character, probably an antagonist, but isn't.

i don’t think cassandra was ever intended to be an antagonist, except in the way she performs that role at the start of the framing device in da2. we’re supposed to identify with cassandra in da2 as she is slowly won over by the romance of hawke’s story. that’s not a character we’re intended to fear later. she also shows up at the end with beloved good-aligned companion leliana, which despite leliana’s behaviour during seb’s personal quest, would still feel like a baffling choice for an antagonist setup. the interrogation ends with both varric and cassandra wishing each other the maker’s protection during these grim times. we’re meant to feel like there’s a real problem cass is trying to deal with and needs help for

you’re right that the cut exalted march dlc is worth mentioning. it’s hard to say how which way that would have turned the narrative, but it seems hard to believe we’d end up with the divine’s death and the ensuing inquisition portrayed as they are now. cass wasn’t already canonised as a hand of the divine back then, was she? i don’t know if she would have been involved, especially as da2 specifically sets her up for the inquisition

but i think there’s a much simpler way to explain cassandra’s diminished character in dai: she suffers under the curse of the Gaider Woman

david gaider’s dao prequel novel, the stolen throne, introduces us to the textbook Gaider Woman. this is rowan guerrin, maric’s warrior fiancée, who you won’t remember from dao because after having cailan, she died of Dead Mother Disease. it’s a tough life out there in fiction. anyway, rowan is a warrior fighting for her country’s freedom, who immediately gets pulled into an absurd love square, struggles with her feminine side including putting on a dress to try to win her man over, and at the end of the novel, coming to the conclusion that her purpose is to provide a soft comfort to her king when the world becomes too much: “perhaps this was what queens did. perhaps they held their kings in the darkness, deep within their castles and allowed them that moment of weakness they could never show to anyone else. perhaps they gave strength to their kings, because everyone else only took it from them.” (she arrives at this directly after he murders his other girlfriend and she has to comfort him about it. yes, that’s as insane as it sounds. don’t read the stolen throne.)

anyway, the author of this book is the man who wrote cassandra, a fact which i guessed before i even looked it up. why is her violence never taken seriously as a threat or problem? why must she have a softer, more feminine side? why must the narrative constantly congratulate itself for giving you a Strong Woman? because the way cassandra is written is simply how david gaider feels about women. she’s a cookie cutter example of how he writes them, rowan’s far from the only other one

i think plain old misogyny is far closer at hand than retcons in creating the cassandra we ended up with. and also the changes in how dragon age wants to deal with the chantry, which is separated from the templars and not a credible threat in itself but a handful of bickering old women who cannot do anything effectively (You’ll Never Guess What Gender It’s Run By And What Gender The Templars Are)

[prince-kallisto]

Hassel and Baxcalibur Analysis

This has been bugging me for a while, and I won’t be surprised if there’s already a post like this. But Hassel’s eyes are so interesting! There are several shots that specifically zoom in on his eyes

His eyes are incredibly detailed compared to the average Pokémon eyes; the ombré effect is very stunning. Fiery, almost. It fits well with the background of his skills. Even though he’s a lovable, emotional art grandpa, there’s power that goes generations back. But I can’t help but notice his Baxcalibur, the leader of his team in the Elite Four battle.

The eye markings and color are remarkably similar! I don’t know if there’s a deeper significance or if it’s a design choice to connect these two together; but the eyes were the first sign of a deliberate connection between Hassel and Baxcalibur, and I find this rabbit hole to be quite interesting!

The TCG cards for the Baxcalibur line really stunned me, in the best way possible!

These cards are gorgeous! They’ve been outdoing themselves with the card art. I don’t know what these cards could be referencing, but they seem to be very abstract and artistic. Perhaps something else connect Baxcalibur and Hassel together?

What really intrigued me was Hassel’s connection to “royalty.”

His Friendship Quest reveals that he came from a long line of prestigious Dragon-type Trainers. He was supposed to be the next head of the family, but he ran away from this pre-chosen ‘destiny.’ He is the heir, so to speak.

In all of his battles, Hassel makes more references to royalty. He refers to himself as ‘a dragon,’ and later says that only a dragon deserves a throne. When he terastallizes his Baxcalibur in the E4 battle, he refers to the Tera Jewel as a ‘crown.’

Looking as Baxcalibur’s name, it is a reference to Excalibur, a legendary sword in Arthurian legend. It is said that the one who wields the sword will become the great king of Britain, which in the legends, was King Arthur. Seeing the deliberate connection between Baxcalibur and Hassel, it seems like Hassel was supposed to be this ‘King Arthur’ of his family. He was supposed to lead his family to greatness.

The Japanese name for Baxcalibur (Seglaive) also intrigued me. Seglaive seems to be derived from ‘glaive,’ a European polearm weapon. I thought I reached a dead end with this one, as I couldn’t find anything interesting with glaives. But then looking into it, the polearm subclass of weapons used to be fashioned from farming equipment. Looking at it, it really is a stick with a knife on the end. Due to this, it was the preferred weapon of farmers and in peasant rebellions. Hassel’s storyline is literally rebelling against his inheritance because it’s not his dream.

(Edit: I want to think this is a purposeful connection, because Baxcalibur’s back spines look nothing like a glaive or gladius xD maybe I’m on to something)

This last point may be a stretch (but when is it not when it comes to me haha) but Baxcalibur seems to be inspired by kaiju, strange beasts in Japanese media. Kaiju are often humanoid in shape and stand upright because a human needs to fit inside the kaiju costume. The first kaiju film is considered to be 1954’s Godzilla, directed by Ishirō Honda. Godzilla is known to be the King of the Monsters.

I think some sort of metaphor can come out of this, with Hassel’s family trying to force him into the role of the Dragon-type heir, as if the role was a kaiju costume.

Haha I went farther down the rabbit hole than I expected; this was initially supposed to be about the eyes! Seriously though, I’m a huge defender of how much love was put into this game, and it’s a shame that it was rushed. These characters have a lot of depth. I definitely stretched some points, but I think some of this still holds water. There’s a deliberate connection between Baxcalibur and Hassel, and I hope to see more of them in the upcoming DLCs! ^_^