#dragon age insights

[vaguely-concerned]

Merrill banters I am thinking about all the time always 24/7

merrill truly will incessantly worry she's stupid and missing the point all the time and then take you out with the most beautifully worded and compassionate breakdown of the thematic spine of DA2 you've ever heard. no actually daisy I think you're the only one getting the point here slowly but surely

especially this one, actually: (also why I could see how bioware would bring merrill into DA:D on solas' side, but also I really really don't want them to because her arc is just -- it's just incredible and I don't want them to mess with it lol)

'I don't think people are cleansed by fire'. people make mistakes and you have to believe in them anyway. yeah basically that's the thesis of dragon age huh

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

I'm not ready to shut up about Aveline and Carver--so, when you go see Aveline in Act 1, you can catch up with her a little bit and that's where this conversation can happen:

Aveline: "It's just one more change, though. The real end for me was Ostagar. What about you, Carver? You were there. Do you feel something similar?" Carver: No. Aveline: All right, then. Bit of a tit, your brother.

I wanted to see what she would say if Carver isn't in the party. Instead, she says this:

Aveline: Carver was there. I imagine he feels something similar. If he allows it.

......well, at least she didn't call him a tit?

[grapecaseschoices]

-- Varric to the Inquisitor

This conversation made me think of this:

[ffc1cb]

a little character exploration comic inspired by the champions of the just quest

[mako-designated-driver]

Day #3: A Magister's Needs

Dearest sister:

It's been an age since I've written, but I simply had to thank you! Your advice was perfect. Just a few gossips bought with gold and everyone in Minrathous thought Quirinus and I were the most dreadful rivals. It let us indulge our little love affair without his wretched family interfering, if only for a little while.

Quirinus himself sadly turned out to be less ideal. I caught him carrying on behind my back, with a soporati of all things. Can you imagine? There was nothing for it. During the quarrel, I threw boiling water at his face. Let his soporati kiss the scars better.

He's cowering in his mansion now, pretending he was hurt in a duel. No doubt he'll want revenge. Don't worry, dear sister. I took precautions. Don't tell anyone, but my master taught me a few secrets that should keep me safe. The ritual cost me the mansion's kitchen slave. Lenna, I think she was called? But I've enough power now to keep Quirinus from trying anything foolish. Kitchen slaves can be bought by the dozen at the market, so there's no harm in it.

I feel wonderful, dear sister. Won't you come for Wintersend this year? I'll have my new slave trained to make your favorite lemon cakes by then. It'll be perfect.

—Letter from Magister Delphine to her sister Aulia, 8:65 Blessed

[shift-shaping]

This is one of the crueler things Solas approves of. This results in Ser Ruth hanging out in the stocks to be made an example of before being sent to do hard labor. It's interesting to have a look at what judgements Solas and Vivienne agree on, because you'd expect them to be much rarer than they are. For example, another option they both Approve of is the decision to return a deceased Duchess Florianne's trade routes to whichever the reigning monarch is. I'm not even sure what that means, because I haven't gotten there yet and don't remember, but I assume they both approve because it brings some stability to the region.

Granted, there's really no good answer regarding Ser Ruth. Exile to the Deep Roads is I guess the best option, but that sucks too. I had Enaste refuse to judge her, but that didn't really feel in character either. Enaste usually goes for making use of someone she has to judge, i.e. sending Alexius to work with Leliana, Movran to annoy Tevinter, and recruiting Crassius Servus as an agent.

[sotc]

oh my god i finally did the landsmeet and is there anything hotter than sending zevran in as your champion to kill loghain when he's your LI. you know. the guy who contracted him in the first place to kill the warden. THAT'S WHAT IM TALKIN' ABOUT, it all comes full circle babey.

LOOK AT HIM DANCE. THAT IS A DANGEROUS AND DEXTEROUS MAN WHO KNOWS EXACTLY HOW TO SLIP HIS DAGGERS BETWEEN THAT PLATE ARMOR.

[crows-of-buckets]

You know, as much as people complain about the limiting RPG choices in Inquisiton, I think it lends itself well to the story of inquisiton.

In Origins and 2, your character is just. Someone. They aren't really any one of note until the end of the game. Any poor, shitty moral choices made by Hawke and the Hero are done away from prying eyes. Killing Leliana, selling Fenris, none of these really immoral choices are seen by those outside your companions.

Inquisiton however, is very VERY different in this regard. The Inquisitor constantly has eyes on them; from the moment they awoke in Haven, they were someone who had an image to uphold. They are kept in check by the fact that they aren't the only one making decisions. Cullen, Leliana, Morrigan, Cassandra, they all have some kind of pull with the Inquisiton. In some regard, they have to align with their advisors, lest they risk loosing their support. It's not the protagonist alone, like it was in Origins and 2, but is instead a protagonist being a figure head to an organization, and idea that is bigger than them

While there are somewhat shitty choices in Inquisiton, I can't think of any that really scream 'pure evil', like some of the choices in Origins and 2 do. And I think it makes sense in this game, just based on who your character has to be to fit the narrative. It makes sense why you can't really kill any of your companions for no good reason, since that would reflect very poorly on the inquisiton. And while I do agree that this can be annoying for people who really wanna roleplay an evil little guy, idk I think it fits the story of inquisiton best. Sure, they could have made it to where you can make the inquisiton feared instead of respected, a name whispered in terror instead of awe, but idk, I guess they needed the inquisiton to be seen as "good". Anyways, I still do wish there were more rp options but it's interesting

[ndostairlyrium]

This 2 companions party thing reminds me of Priority Rannoch if you're romancing Tali after you just dumped the other companion you're bringing along

Like, you're infiltrating this dangerous dreadnought with your current LI and your ex, then suddenly your ship's AI explains to them that you and Tali - with whom you're flirting *relentlessly* throughout the whole mission - went to bed together

Give me that level of drama and I'm gonna yell GOTY til the end of time

[invinciblerodent]

I don't want to go off on someone else's post, but I just read one that reminded me of how I'll be really, really interested in just how much of a range the Inquisitor's emotions will be able to have in Veilguard regarding Solas, especially outside of a romantic context.

Like I've never done a complete Solas romance playthrough, but the dynamic with an Inquisitor who used to care for him as a friend? Is just so fascinating to me.

Because, well, my Ray obviously wasn't in a romantic relationship with him. They weren't even particularly close, as far as friendships go- Ray enjoyed much more the company of raucous, down to earth, boots on the ground kinds of people, like Bull, or Sera, and Blackwall, and he always placed more regard on Dorian's opinion on matters of magic (for obvious reasons): so he and Solas, they more or less just shared a warm, cordial, collegial relationship. They weren't really in a "ride or die, it's you and me against the world" kind of friendship, but, Solas was responsible for keeping an eye on the Anchor, and yes, that meant that their relationship was important, and Ray trusted him fairly implicitly: he respected Solas, and that respect was -as far as he knew at the time- returned.

He even said to Solas after the Temple of Mythal (paraphrased of course), that he thinks that if you fail, the best you can do is shake yourself off, and try again, which is... pretty much exactly what Solas is trying to do now, only on a larger scale.

So, Ray feels not only blindsided, used, and betrayed by one he thought of as his friend (with enough grief to temper the feelings, but not enough to grant Solas the benefit of a doubt), but most importantly, he feels responsible for the events of Trespasser and beyond. He feels like his callous words (the ones that he had regretted for personal reasons many times over) may have been something of a catalyst for this large-scale destruction, and he finds that absolutely unacceptable.

On top of the personal betrayal of finding out that his pain was originally caused by the one who quelled it, that the main reason he even is the Inquisitor, this larger than life figure squeezed into a chokehold by his very mantle that he -by that time- kind of hates, is Solas...? Feeling very much personally responsible for letting the "pure, free-range insanity" of one he once called his friend, raze Thedas in search of a utopia that may or may not have even ever existed, all on top of finding out that he had been holding a snake in his bosom, that he had been deceived, lied to, used and discarded when he ceased to be useful?

Oh, my boy is fucking furious. And betrayed, and bitter, and insulted, and devastated, and following that conversation at the Eluvian, he would go as far as to say that he straight-up regrets not having run Solas through right then and there.

Ray doesn't believe, for one second, that Solas' plan could have any positive outcome. He's just a human, no magic, no true connection to spirits or personal stake in the "glory" of ancient Arlathan, not one to get misty-eyed over the distant past- he's just a shemlen who lives and dies by the sword, and though a romantic about the past, he isn't more concerned with old glory, or ancient magics, than he is concerned with the little people, and those alive right now.

My Ray can't, philosophically can't, conceptualize what great "good" could ever be worth the devastation that Solas would be willing to cause to the present, and he, as he is right now in my head, can't think of Solas as anything more than a duplicitous madman who -if the first round of words fail- he'd kill without much hesitation at all. (He'd feel like shit about it afterwards of course, but it wouldn't even be the first time he had made the decision to execute a mage too dangerous to continue drawing breath- that "honor" belongs to Livius Erimond.)

And I quite like how this parallels Solas' own guilt for even erecting the Veil in the first place. I think it all dovetails really nicely into how Ray undoing what he thinks of as his mistake would in turn stop Solas from undoing his own, and vice versa, and as the way things are right now, the both of them physically cannot both end up "winning" this.

I really like how there is no win-win ending, no compromise: if it can happen the way I'd like it to, one of them will, most likely, end up needing to die in order for the other to succeed in fixing what they view as their biggest mistake, and though Ray is technically a very small part of what Solas is thinking about, likely neither of them cherish the thought of needing to become the other's undoing.

If the game doesn't allow for that kind of... "friendly affection tainted by a fundamental and irreconcilable difference and impossibility of coexistence" type of relationship (you know, that one, in every piece of media ever lol), I might pivot on that and alter/simplify it a little bit, but I don't really want to do either plain rage and hatred, or plain sorrow and affection.

Because Ray is not Varric.

The Trevelyan family motto is "Modest in Temper, Bold in Deed" for a reason, and Ray embodies this down to his very core.

As I am thinking about it right now, for eight years, that rage and betrayal and sorrow had been simmering, and concentrating, quiet and restrained, in Ray's belly- and if and when the time and opportunity comes, he will not hesitate to do what he feels must be done, even if it's staining his hands with the blood of a friend.

Solas must be stopped at any cost, and the time for rational thought and words has long since given way to the time for blades. That thought has had time to crystallize in his mind, and if I'm given the opportunity, no matter what my Rook might wind up feeling, that will be his utmost priority.

[wardenkader]

“Please don’t get bored with me.”

[themournwatcher]

text transcript: "i get it, i get it. just so you know, if the king ever asks me to put on a dress and dance the Remigold, i'm drawing the line. darkspawn or no."

highlighted response: "way to take a stand, alistair"

okay given naoise's predisposition for being a little sarcastic bitch in his origin i feel like that would continue here in ostagar. now it's a defense mechanism

[bluerose5]

Nostalgia

"Tell me something about yourself."

Anders’s hands stopped in their tracks. Golden brown eyes glanced up at Garrett, curious about what brought on such a request.

He returned to healing Garrett's wound, brow furrowed as he concentrated on knitting the flesh together. Slowly but surely, the large gash on his arm started to seal closed.

"Like what?" Anders asked. "Have we not been getting to know each other all this time?"

"Well, we have," Garrett said, then added, "in a way. Even then, I feel like so much of you is still a mystery. The Grey Warden thing, I get. The apostate thing, I get. Even the whole merging with Justice thing, I get."

"But...?" Anders trailed off.

"But you don't tell me much about you." Garrett watched him closely, searching for any change in his expression. "I've seen you joke around with the others. Then, as soon as I walk into the room, you get all serious and quiet. You've told me plenty about the mages' plight, which is fine, but I just want to know more, you know?"

"Is that your way of telling me that I need to lighten up?" Anders questioned, head cocked to the side as he peered over at him.

Even after the wound was healed, Anders’s touch lingered on his arm.

Neither one of them tried to move away.

"If that's how you choose to take it." Garrett shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't mind being that guy that you can vent to about your frustrations. I'm glad that you trust me enough to share your concerns; but if I'm right about you —and something is telling me that I am— then there's more to you than you let on."

"Okay, and if there is?"

Garrett leaned in with a roguish grin, dark curls falling into warm, brown eyes.

Anders swallowed thickly.

His heart skipped a beat.

"Then I plan on finding out what."

"Heh," Anders laughed in an attempt to cover up how flustered he was. He dropped Garrett's arm as if his skin was on fire, taking a second to brush his hair back behind his ears. "What a tease you are, Garrett Hawke." After a slight pause, he glanced over at him. "What would you know of me?"

Garrett's grin softened into a smile.

"Oh, that's easy," he hummed. "Favorite color?"

"Red," Anders answered without skipping a beat.

Walking around the clinic, he started to straighten up, cleaning every surface as best as he could while taking inventory of his supplies.

"Really?"

"Yeah." For some reason, Anders felt the need to explain further. "It's a very versatile color. Bold and passionate, dangerous yet warm..."

"I'll have to keep that in mind."

Right.

"Anything else, or was this all just an excuse to find out what my favorite color is?"

Garrett snorted.

"I'm just getting started." He leaned his weight back onto his hands, kicking his legs out from the crate he was sitting on. "Tell me, when you're not out striving for mages' freedom, what do you do in your free time?" Garrett thought it over, then took a guess, not even giving Anders a chance to respond first. "Do you like to write?"

Anders wrinkled his nose.

"Not particularly."

"Seriously?" Garrett blinked owlishly at him. "Huh. Interesting."

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just that you're so good at it."

Wait, did that mean...

"Garrett Hawke," Anders said, "did you actually read my manifesto?"

"Perhaps." Garrett beamed at him, his eyes crinkled at the corners. "Does this mean you'll stop leaving copies all over my estate?"

"Maybe." With his back to Garrett, Anders clutched a pile of clean linens to his chest in an attempt to muffle the pounding of his heart. Anders wouldn't be surprised if Garrett could hear it from across the room. "Maybe I could leave other notes for you to find."

"Now, that's a challenge that I would gladly accept."

"Guess my Circle education is finally paying off," Anders joked. "As for hobbies, though." Anders sighed, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Oh, I don't know. Ever since I last escaped, I can't honestly remember when I've done anything for myself. Back then, I was with the Wardens. After I got away from them, all of my time here has been split between the clinic and the Mage Underground."

"When you're not with me, at least."

"True." He shrugged. "So, yeah. When I'm not playing cards with you lot at The Hanged Man, I don't do much. Pathetic, right?"

"No," Garrett huffed, glaring at him for making that jab at himself. "It means you're dedicated to what you do."

"That's one way of looking at it."

Humming in contemplation, Garrett sat there, deep in thought.

Eventually, he spoke up.

"Well, what would you like to do?"

"Excuse me?"

Garrett rolled his eyes, shaking his head at Anders with a fond smile.

"What would you like to do?" he repeated. "You and Justice?"

"Justice?"

"Is there an echo in here?" Garrett teased. "Yes, you and Justice. Say what you want. You may not 'hear' him, but he must have some kind of influence if you're both two halves of a whole."

"Such a huge simplification of our... arrangement."

"Yet you don't deny it. Come on," Garrett insisted. "The clinic is empty at the moment. I know for certain that today has been a quiet one for the Underground, so let's go have some fun. Alone. Together."

"What do you have in mind?" Anders asked, wary.

"Whatever you want."

Anders considered his options.

Setting the linens aside, the words came to him, unbidden.

"I'd like to go fishing."

At Garrett's surprised look, Anders grimaced.

"My father, he was always a stern man," he explained. A wistful sense of nostalgia settled deep into his bones. "But he was a proud father before my magic manifested."

Anders stared down at his hands, flexing them through the aches from years of healing and spellcasting.

"He used to take me to a lake not far outside of our village. We would take to the docks for hours. I would run around with fistfuls of worms and bugs for bait." Anders scoffed. "Every time I caught something, even if it was just trash, I would get so excited. I could have caught the smallest minnow, and he would brag about how strong I was."

And all it took to destroy that bond was fear.

Anders wouldn't linger on that, though.

"I mean, we don't have to fish, but perhaps we can take a walk down to the docks. Clear our heads a little?" Already, he could see the rhythmic motion of the waves, smell the tang of salt in the air. "Well, if you can sit still for that long."

Garrett chuckled.

Jumping down from his perch, he approached Anders’s position, hesitating before he took his hand into his own.

"For you, I'll try my best."

[sugarbubbleslove]

You know...I should have known that something massive would have happened to the Chantry in DA2 with the amount of killing that happens in there in Act 1 & 2.

Even elthina mentions that the Chantry needs a good cleansing 💀

[ganymedian]

Why I keep unconsciously choosing tank roles for every video game Ive played is a mystery I’ve yet to solve

[anakinh]

Just wanted to say for the record that, in the year of our lord 2021, I came up with a Legend of Zelda-inspired D&D one-shot where you had to pass three trials to escape the underworld. The final trial, the Trial of Wisdom, had you meet a princess in a tower guarded by a dragon, who begs you to slay the evil dragon and free her. The twist is that the princess in the tower was actually a disguise put in place by an evil sorceress, and the dragon was the actual princess, who had sealed away the sorceress and who was granted the form of a dragon so she could keep her locked away forever.

Anyway I’ve never been able to run the one-shot and now I never will be again. Even though I came up with it first. Thanks, Tears of the Kingdom.