#i love oghren

[tenojan-in-tevinter]

Honestly there's no one I'd rather be on a forced saving-the-world road trip with than the origins gang. Sorry kotor companions sorry bg3 companions but no one does it like the origins gang. They are a family they are insane they are not to be fucked with they never would have been friends if they were given a choice in the matter. The perfect road trip squad.

They consist of the best dog in thedas, the worlds most royal himbo, a demi-god shapeshifting witch, a bisexual assassin nun, a bisexual assassin orphan, a powerful spell-slinging grandma living on borrowed time (who is bffs with a spirit), a giant spy man who doesn't know how to function by himself, the worlds grossest dwarf, and a giant statue that has a life goal to kill all birds.

[biancadavri]

Do you get it? The way Orzammar ended up loathing Oghren because he was everything his home demanded him to be? Listen to me he's too violent and hot-blooded and reaches for the nearest weapon far too quickly to be allowed to live peacefully in a city still standing because of him and people like him listen. He's a hero and he's no use to anyone like this. Is it really a surpise that he's left behind by his family? And really, it's kind of sad watching him try everything in his power to get them back. He leaves and it's better this way for everyone and he doesn't even miss Orzammar (he does) and he settles into a different life until he doesn't and listen. Do you understand? He's so resentful. He's still clinging onto it all he knows he is and he can't do anything to stop I am gripping you by your shoulders right now do you get it? He joins the wardens he's no longer a dwarf he's a Grey Warden and he wants you to side with the Architect because maybe, maybe that'll help keeping the darkspawn away from Orzammar. Do you get what I'm saying. He doesn't want anything to do with Orzammar anymore. He wants his home to be safe so bad. Can I put whatever the hell was going on in that writers room on a petri dish.

[thechildofbhaalhasawoken]

When I was younger I used to draw and paint a lot, but it’s been 15 years easily by now. A week ago I drew something in a party game and lots of people said it was really good for a quick doodle.

This evening I picked up pencils and pens and drew something in a shitty note book. It felt good.

Dragon Age Origins crew:

Morrigan Alistair Sten

Leliana Wynne Zevran

Oghren Anora Loghain

[invinciblerodent]

These days I kind of can't stop thinking about how much I enjoyed the possibility of being from Orzammar in Origins, specifically because just being who you are put so much of the early game in a wholly different context.

Like, a dwarf from Orzammar has, by definition, lived literally under a rock their whole lives!! They've never left the underground, and yes, while that also makes their ignorance of surface squabbles (the mage issue, the Ferelden/Orlais conflict, everything with the city elves and the Dalish, etc.) make a lot of sense, it also comes with so many interesting new angles that I'm honestly so surprised still that I've never really seen it mentioned very often, if at all. (Even though we even get an explicit moment to reflect on it, when leaving with Oghren.)

In Origins, the moment a dwarf first steps out through the gates of Orzammar and begins the game, is a profoundly life-altering experience. Dare I say, even more so than it is for an elf or a human. Because stepping out, for the first time, they are entering an entirely new world, and for the first time, in front of them is a vast expanse of nothing but air.

The end of the prologue, it's not just a fundamental personal change that awaits you, it's also a displacement so complete, that it's absolutely dizzying to even think about.

That first time a dwarf feels the sun on their skin, they are made sun-touched, a surfacer: stripped not only from caste and kin, of identity, but also faith and memory, any favor their ancestors may have still held for them, and any possibility of ever returning, as far as they know. (Aeducan may even have a bitter little chuckle over the irony of how they could very well have just one day before shrugged off the concerns of their surface brethren completely, only to be made one of them now.)

Their whole lives, they had always been able to see the opposite wall of the cave, or at least to know for sure that it's there, along with the miles and miles of unchanging, crystal-littered rock stretching protectively over their heads-- now all of that is gone. There's nothing between them, and the infinite and ever-changing blue, grey, orange, black of the open sky they've never seen, and in the distance, there's no wall-- just glorious, humongous mounds and spires of rock jutting up into the belly of the sky, the likes of which they've only ever seen from the inside.

Orzammar, despite no sunlight ever penetrating that far, is always lit bright, and it's heated by the lava streams and pools below. A dwarf has never known anything colder or warmer, brighter or darker, never seen seasons change... the biting winds and the frequent rains in Ferelden are completely new to them, not to mention the terrifying cracks of thunder that sound like the very Stone over them cracking in two, the bright flashes of lightning illuminating the night for but a moment, or waking in the middle of the night to what sounds like countless fingers pat-pat-patting the tarp of their tent, or the fact that animals -which are varied and plentiful and wholly alien- sometimes just randomly fall into the sky, like the rumors say! They might know academically that with birds, that just sort of tends to happen, but they've never seen one take off!!

Hell, all of surface flora and fauna are completely new to them-- it's likely they've only ever seen a tree or a dog in a picture book. Flowers, they've likely only ever seen as an expensive and frivolous luxury few can afford to have for a while, and even then, they are by necessity brought in removed from their roots, dead, wilting, taken from their natural place... while here, blooms just spring up underfoot willy-nilly, not entirely unlike mushrooms at the home which is not theirs anymore.

And... there must be something organic, something comfortingly animal to the scent of hundreds of warm bodies crammed into a sealed hole in the ground-- which is just gone now. The air is fresh, clean... empty, cold, lonely. No smell of spilled ale, piss, and vomit, no thick scent of the combined breaths and bodies of all their people... no scent of belonging, the air that moves their lungs now is no longer that which has moved those of all they've ever known, and every breath washes more, and more, and more of who they once were from inside their very body.

Being on the surface, it's like being thrust into an alien world, with which all just expects you to be intimately familiar. What do you mean the grass, the bugs, the birds, the leaves are strange? What do you mean you've never eaten leaves from this plant, fruit from this tree, the flesh of this creature you've only ever heard about? They laugh when you avert your eyes from the sky and try not to think about falling into it, or when you startle at the feeling of falling water suddenly hitting your skin, as if that was somehow funny, charming.

The night, which you've never before seen fall, is a comfort from all that endless, boundless seeing- but after the Joining, not even that is a relief.

Because if you're a dwarven Warden, all the dreams you've had in your life have been nightmares.

So you cope. You learn, and adapt, and endure.

Strong and immutable, like the Stone from which you were rent.

[vlaakithstits]

To clarify: Which character here most deserves the hate they get from fans?

I gave 3 choices of the most hated characters from each game. (I know Cullen is from all of them but in Inquisition he's not nearly the side character he was in the first two games, so he counts for this poll.)

PLEASE don't start fights in my notifs I beg you, have a heart. It's all made up anyway.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

This. This. This entire conversation with Morrigan actually makes me want to sob. She and my Tabris always becomes close friends over the course of DAO; that, paired with the fact that my Tabris always romances Alistair, makes everything about this hurt so much more when you take DAO's ending into account.

Her confusion over why my Tabris didn't send her away. Why she didn't abandon her after they learned of Flemeth's plans. Why Tabris went out of her way to slay Flemeth and bring her the true grimoire. She asks Tabris why, and is baffled when the answer is, "I did it because I'm your friend," as if it's that simple.

The way Morrigan looks at the warden, the way her voice cracks when she says, "I want you to know that while I may not always prove... worthy... of your friendship, I will always value it."

She knows how this will end; Flemeth sent her with the wardens with the end goal of stopping the blight and obtaining the old god soul through the dark ritual. Morrigan knows that Alistair and Tabris are the only Grey Wardens here, and assuming they don't find more, one of them will have to die defeating the archdemon unless they agree to do the dark ritual.

With that context, her asking Alistair, "And what if a Grey Warden has forced to choose between the Warden he loved and ending the Blight? What should his choice be?" suddenly has so much subtext weaved through the words that I'm gonna start foaming at the mouth. She's practically telling Alistair that a warden has to die. She's scrutinizing his reaction to find any hint that suggests he would agree to the dark ritual in order to save himself and the woman he loves. And when he doesn't choose, she has her answer.

Morrigan made comments to Tabris about him, almost hopeful that their relationship was just a physical thing between them and not actually riddled with feelings... and then gives disapproval when Tabris says she loves him.

She doesn't want the warden to die; hell, she doesn't want Alistair to die, either; whether because she does actually care about him or because she knows it'll break her friend's heart if she loses him, or both!

Things would be so much easier if the only two Grey Wardens left to defeat the blight didn't fall in love, wouldn't they, Morrigan?

She knows that in the end, no matter the outcome, she will lose the woman she called sister and it's devastating.

Morrigan, who has never known true friendship. Who grew up isolated in the woods with an abusive mother and terrible implications for her future. Who discovered said mother planned to take over her body just as she did with her other daughters. Who doesn't understand kindness as it was rarely given to her without a catch. Who isolates herself from the others in camp. Who finally has a companion she cares about... and in the end, if her plan works and the dark ritual is completed, she'll end up pregnant and alone and wearing Tabris' resentment like a tender wound on her heart.

Or Tabris will reject the ritual, and will die to the archdemon.

Or her lover will.

I just- the dynamic between the warden, romanced Alistair, and Morrigan is so good and painful and rich that I'm gnawing on furniture as we speak.

[proffbon]

Local Dalish man becomes a PR disaster by being the hottest Warden-Commander in the arling

[biowho]

Wild to me that the Girlies™ can give Disaster Man Harry Du Bois so much grace and for Oghren they have none.

I stand by me saying that Oghren grew on me like penicillin on bread... he's had his character development it just happened off screen

[rosykims]

nothing is more sacred and healing than being a dragon age fan who doesnt hate a single companion in any of the titles. cannot recommend it enough honestly. its all neutral and up over here. i see the opinions and i permit them to pass over me and through me. and when they have gone past i will turn the inner eye to see its path. where the opinions have gone there will be nothing. only i will remain

[elvhendis]

Morrigan to Zevran: "You are a fool who spends way too much time on his hair"

Love me a well groomed KING

[andrewknightley]

i love that bull gives you disapproval when you ask him how he is feeling or tell him to talk about his feelings sfogsdfhifios sorry king im gonna still ask about it

[biancadavri]

You know a romanced Zevran visits the warden commander often and Sigrun probably pops outta nowhere like "Eyo boss, your boyfriend is here again" while holding some new Antivan romance novels

Loving the implication that Zevran would go looking for her before even letting the warden know he's there

[hubbaslubba]

da:o said men! you can be bisexual 🏳️‍🌈 as long! ☝️ as you are a misogynist 😊

[geopvnk]

warden bethany x sigrun and warden carver x nathaniel howe . is anybody out there can anybody hear me

[nohr-selphias]

something interesting that has been picking my brain is the attitudes towards child rearing / family life from Orzammar men. Like Oghren and Gorim both become surface dwarves, attempt to have some type of family life and fail in very similar fashion (ie. abadoning their wife/bm as soon as the opportunity to do so presents itself). Ik Oghren is controversial and even for arguments sake we can say he's just kind of a Shitty Guy, but the fact that former Warrior Caste Gorim is immediately willing and actively ready to move back to Orzammar when his & an Aeducan warden's honour has been restored is like. kinda crazy right? Even if Aeducan is like 'no, thats not my home anymore so i will not be returning' he's like 'aww thats a shame :( guess i'll go by myself'. GORIM YOU JUST TOLD ME SHEEPISHLY AT A MARKET STALL THAT YOU HAVE A WIFE AND CHILD ON THE WAY AND CAN NEVER GO BACK HELLO ???

[clavicuss-vile]

prev last post really trying to figure out which companions did the rescue mission from fort drakon. like zevran definitely went because you just got his man locked up like wtf but idk who else did.... lets go through the cast:

Morrigan: would, for ara's sake not alistair's, but i feel like she'd want a more sensible plan than "walk up to the door and figure it out as we go"

leliana: would, but would spend too much time deliberating and planning the most sensible way to do it, by which time zevran and the other have already walked out

oghren: probably being held back by someone else knowing he'll make the situation worse

sten: yeah would just walk out and go

lucas: would also 100% go but would definitely just get himself snatched by the templars on account of being a little useless without blood magic which you cant really just go and do in the middle of denerim so probably kept back by someone

na'ava: probably deliberating with leliana, anora, morrigan and kestrel the best way to get them back

kestrel: scheming with the girls how to get them out manipulatively rather than getting their hands dirty, but is also getting her armor on to go and get them by force if needed

cywren: bless him he would want to go and help but he would not stand a chance against a contingency of armed guards

nymanar: oh yeah. he'd go. he would want a better plan but given the time constraints marching over there is the best decision and he's not one to let armed humans take away one of his own

Okay yeah so Zevran and Nymanar would definitely be going together but I think Sten would also be leaving at the same time and they'd just go oh okay we're all going