#i think solas will be an antagonist without being the game's villain

[crossdressingdeath]

I think the game heavily hints that Dirthamen is one of the elven gods we're going to face, likely as an antagonist, in the fourth game. A lot of fan speculation about that game also suggests he will show up, based on promotional material.

I mean, definitely he should show up in DA4. But then, DAI should have been more about the mage rebellion and should not have decided to make the entirety of the most visible non-Christianity-allegory pantheon in the game evil slavers, so really who knows what Bioware is going to do.

My main issue is that what we hear of Dirthamen doesn't really feel like villain shit? Like, his codex entry is basically "He lost his brother :( but then he tamed some evil ravens and found his brother :)", with none of the Horrible Deeds that some of the other Evanuris have to be persuaded away from, and while things did go to shit at his temple that wasn't until after he was sealed away, so there's no evidence that he was involved in that. And if Cole's comment about Dirthamen's Wisdom being left "for us" really does suggest that he left it there specifically for the Inquisitor to find (which is the sense I get), that gives the impression that he might actually be on the heroes' side; I mean, if he knew that the Inquisitor would be there then he might have known about the whole thing with Solas, in which case he'd have a very good reason not to help the Inquisitor, since Solas intended to bring the Veil back down, which would free him, and "the god of secrets and knowledge" doesn't sound like a position that would lend itself to rash judgments based on personal grudges. Also there is that Veil-strengthening artifact in there, which might be entirely random but just feels incredibly weird given you'd think he'd have a very good reason to want the Veil as weak as possible.

What I really want in DA4 is for it to turn out that Dirthamen was keeping an eye on the events of DAI, presumably through those weird ravens with the red markings, and would have stepped in to help deal with Corypheus, except he couldn't because Solas locked him (and preferably a few other non-murdering-slavers Evanuris) away along with the ones who actually deserved punishment. It would solve the problem of the abrupt "Uhhhhh the Evanuris were all evil please stop feeling bad for the underdogs" retcon in DAI ("only some of them were evil but Solas tarred all of them with the same brush in a rash judgment without considering the perspectives that didn't fit his narrative" is at least better than that, and if Bioware must "both sides" every discussion in these games they could at least include one example where that actually might apply) and mean that we don't have to accept that the only "good" Evanuris is the one who hung out in a swamp being an abusive mother for who-knows-how-long while her people's homeland was destroyed and they were hunted by the Chantry! And might justify Solas killing his bestest friend 5ever who he destroyed his world to avenge, if she knew that not all the Evanuris were evil and kept him in the dark for her own ends. Also like. "god of secrets and knowledge" has a spymaster feel and I love spymaster characters, so. more please.

[thebookworm0001]

just gonna say there's a reason solas is described as an antagonist and not a villain in the new post

there's an important distinction there

and my dumbass is holding onto it

[demoiselledefortune]

Dragon Age Inquisition final play-through session!

So finished Trespasser

Overall that's a pretty amazing ending. I'm not sure if it's as interesting if you're not playing a Lavellan/romancing Solas; but it's densely packed with lores and things that'd make a replay (I mean I was spoiled enough to view Solas with hefty dose of suspicion from the start, and I did know he was an immortal of some kind from the beginning; and then got more spoilers as I progressed in the game -- but I expect there's still a whole lot of things to catch better now that I have full context). Trespasser is very well structured and paced overall, between the interludes in the gorgeous gardens of the Winter Palace (although I wish we had better to do in there that those silly and rather frustrating quests), and coursing through the Eluvian (which in itself is great, still allows a few fun sidequests; and lots of great lore drops). The political mess of a situation is a pretty logical follow up from the rest of Inquisition, and that the main choice in the end is deciding the future of the fate of the Inquisition in the political landscape is something I appreciate. I'd have liked if the end choices weren't quite as binary, but I guess that's simpler and ok, it's not like we have that many options. The Viddasala makes a decent minor villain; and of course the whole thing turns the whole Inquisition as an awesome set up to Solas as the kind top tier antagonist that I would put asides to my favourite video game villains. And hey, we even get a dragon fight! Except for once, we had an option of not killing her, which I took because I like getting an option not kill stuff (even though I of course slaughtered eagerly all 10 optional dragons the game provided before -- :3) which resulted in a pretty Hawk-esque fight by which I mean I ended up with all three of my companions down while I was running around trying to figure out how to manage to release the creature; which made for a very fun epic experience in a way that I seldom got from big boss fights in Inquisition apart from that. (I did solo fights due to companion death with Hawk on the first two dragon battles of DA2. Which ended up as good prep for the Arishok fight :3) The end game mechanic of your Mark running out of control, forcing you to release it at close interval was also a pretty great gameplay experience to make the last battles interesting and convey viscerally how dire this shit on your body is becoming...  and almost makes up for how shitty the focus mechanics were overall. That we don't get a third round of discussions with the Companions before the last time in the Eluvians was a bit disappointing though. I guess they kinda ran out of material to discussion. It's also a bit odd that they drop us off at the very end to be solo before meeting Solas without a last framing discussion. The way they did banter spots to trigger though was great. (and a huge improvement on the way banter worked in Inquisition). In term of roleplay my character was the most shaken by the reveal of the Evanuris as False Gods. I always saw her as someone with a huge mystical bend, although not necessarily something that affected her choices a whole lot (besides, say, the Well of Mythal) and someone who values genuineness a lot so that reveal turning out around false premises hit hard; and trying to rebuild a sense of identity and view of the world out of that is going to take her time. She's not even the sort of Dalish who is the most focused on the past (obviously it's important, because it's one of the baseline thing that the Dalish care about; but it's not her main focus compared to trying to work with people, building consensus and exchanging viewpoint. My Lavellan is a diplomat and a community organizer at heart.) The reveal from Solas in contrast was less shattering. She'd figure out that Solas had to be involved somehow with the Fen'Harel organization (from the Vallaslin bit, especially) but expecting him to actually be Fen'Harel was a bit too huge a leap to make on her own... yet something that fell into place when it came and the feeling of catharsis of finally knowing what the fuck was up with him stronger than the feeling of betrayal. In the end I think she had a sense that nothing he could turn out to be would surprise her. She was saddened, bitterly disappointed, horrified; but she never felt like the person she'd fallen in love with wasn't the person in front of her, and she's not giving up on him. She kept the Inquisition as the Divine's guard, of course she did. As I said after Solas left she was sure something bad was coming, and knowing more about exactly what that something bad was only cemented that. And of course, the Inquisition is what she has left, in term of something built up. She has too much emotionally invested in it to discard it when the foundation of her world believes are shaken this way. As far as the other characters go: - Vivienne wasn't the person my character ever got along the best with; and while the epilogue frames her as a big pain in the ass, I think Ireya actually approves of it... what she held the most against Vivienne was always that instead of building herself up as a leader by gathering support from like-minded mages, she'd tried to grasp it parasitically from others in power, and it seems she finally started to do otherwise. Perhaps it's not so bad either for the future of the mages for there to exist multiple competing models... (well it also could result in disaster but what can you do) - I don't have much to say about Blackwall, he was one of my least favourite character and probably mostly for shallow reasons (I never got over that he's such an unattractive character for a romanceable option). His story is interesting yet unsatisfying in term of story integration. My character does have a higher opinion of him than I do and she was happy to see him fulfilling his purpose in the Wardens under his true identity in a way that made him feel better. - Ireya never felt very close to Cullen, but she always respected and relied on him a lot; and is happy to see him continue to work in the Inquisition as well as continuing to work on helping out Templars. - In a way my character and Varric are very similar people (in term of being caretaker at heart) that nonetheless never properly connect (they work on a very different register and of course Varric's feeling of awe at the Herald even though he works at it is a barrier). Still a good friend. I do love seeing him becoming the Viscount of Kirkwall (and annoying poor Bran) which I'm sure will make him happier (he was so depressed during Inquisition). - She always kept a little bit wary and careful with Cole while still valuing him a whole lot, except towards the end, he ended up being the only source of input on Solas' outlook and she's going to miss that. She hopes he will be able to help, somehow. - Iron Bull always impressed me with his emotional intelligence and savviness. He was never someone to underestimate and also someone who brings a lot of things to a group which Ireya valued a lot. Keeping the Chargers alive is a very rewarding choice in term of what that means for Bull's outlook (as well as the Chargers themselves being around) even though I expect you'd only see the difference at the very ending. My character also ended up very invested in his relationship with Dorian, and delighted to see what it brings to the both of them. - It was a joy to realise that Sera has grown up a lot, and reacts with much more tact and sensitivity (in contrast to how she was right after the Temple of Mythal/Vallaslin removal in the main game) when my character felt very shaken about the Evanuris reveal; as well as touched to see they continued being very good friends with the offer of getting into the Friends of Jenny. Keep on being awesome, Sera! - My character started being a bit in awe of Lelianna (she was something of a Fifth Blight stories fangirl XD) but also distrusting her emotional turmoil. She feels very proud of having helped her find an emotional peace once more, and in that context her becoming the Divine is something she's glad of. - While she was sometimes infuriating, Cassandra was always someone whose honesty and willingness to criticise herself earned great respect from Ireya. She was also very fun to tease and someone to bond over being sappy sappy romantic. A very good friend, and I'm glad she's rebuilding the Seekers into something better. - Dorian wears his heart on his sleeve and was a great friend. His ending gives my character great hope for the future. - Josephine was probably Ireya's best friend in the Inquisition or at least the one she felt was the most of the same wavelength, and she's glad to see her fulfil her ambition for her family; but sad to see her go far away. I also really liked Josephine's outburst towards the end of Trespasser, I don't agree with all the points she makes in term of having doubts about the kind of organisation the Inquisition is becoming, yet having some kind of doubts about it is warranted and to have Josephine work her role as moral centre by being worried about it worked very well for me. Overall Inquisition is a bit... too spread out with a lot of things; but still a very entertaining experience as a game!

[dalishious]

Top 5 Dragon Age Villains

5. The Requisition Officer

Easily the clearest example of motivation in its purest form on this list, the Requisition Officer in DA:I’s only goal in life is to try and get the Inquisitor to waste crafting materials. And their ambition is so strong that they continue their plight even after the Inquisitor has finally caught on. Armed with the power of teleportation, the Requisition Officer is able to repeatedly barrage the Inquisitor at whatever camp they set or show up at. My biggest complaint is that they are too overpowered; it seems the only limitation they do have is that their teleportation is restricted to these camps. Should they ever break free from this, they would be truly unstoppable.

4. Meredith Stannard

Meredith is one of the more simplistic characters on this list, but the reason she’s on here is because unlike the other simplistic villains (i.e. Corypheus) things are a lot more personal with her. Why? Because it’s on a smaller scale. Corypheus wants to destroy the world because... Well, because he said so, stop asking questions. Meredith hates mages because she thinks they’re all dangerous and evil and deserve to be punished and killed. Pretty straight-forward evilness, but unlike Corypheus, her hatred has a focal point. And so for that reason, she is much easier to hate in return. She also goes full anime at the end and to this day it makes me die laughing every single time.

3. Celene Valmont

Celene’s best weapon is her ability to charm people (and some audiences...) into thinking she’s a hero, even to the point of successfully making everyone forget her act of genocide. Indeed, it seems her lies are so powerful she’s almost capable of convincing herself. But what really makes Celene worth this list, is being one of the few DA antagonists with actual, developed character. She is not just a cardboard villain, she is a person with personality, strengths and flaws, etc. (This is something shared with all the top three...)

2. Loghain Mac Tir

While Loghain will seem a lot more one-dimensional to players who haven’t read The Stolen Throne, (That is where more of his character comes from; in DA:O all you see is what is shown from the player’s perspective and the brief cutscenes) He is in fact a rather complex villain. A hero who slowly goes down that hole doing what he thinks at the time is right. All his actions, while acting as antagonistic towards the player, are done because of his (rightful) fear of Orlais reconquering Ferelden in a weakened stake. And this fear is on a very personal level for him. (The one inexcusable thing he does is his involvement with the enslavement of the alienage elves, which I think was his final act of spiralling out of control.)  What’s more, is that if Loghain is spared, he sets foot on a true redemption arc, never expecting full forgiveness but doing good things anyway, because it’s right, and takes full ownership of his wrongdoings.  The fact is, there’s only one antagonist who so much as measures up to him.

1. Solas

Without a doubt, the strongest and most well-developed antagonist the series has had so far. The fact that he first appears as an ally, and gives the player a chance to learn about who he is before even knowing he’s a villain made this work so well. (And the opportunity to romance him gives everything even more emotions™.) What also makes him so interesting is his struggling morality, yet refusal to stop his plans even after he comes to realize the world he wants to destroy actually matters. (Who’d’ve thought?) I for one really look forward to seeing how things will unfold with him in the next game.