#i'm i cool yet

[that-was-anticlimactic]

i feel like i’ve learned so much about ferrets, the human neck, and rabbit hutches while doing research for my gothic lit senior seminar project. hm.

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

[vaguely-concerned]

I understand and agree with a lot of the frustrations about the shortcomings of Inquisition as a story. but sometimes when I hear people complain about the chosen one narrative in it I do want to just be like... you know it's a deconstruction of the concept more than anything, right. the inquisitor isn't actually chosen by anything except stumbling into the wrong (right?) room at the right (wrong?) time because they like, heard a noise or whatever. or if you think they are chosen, as many do in-universe, that's something you have to take on faith, the maker-or-whoever moves in mysterious ways indeed-style. the Inquisitor isn't actually a Destined Chosen One, they're a Just Some Guy in a fancy hat, self-delusions of grandeur to taste as you'd prefer.

a running thread that goes through all of the personal quests of the companions is the concept of a comforting lie vs. an uncomfortable truth, upholding old corrupt structures vs. disrupting them, and the role of faith in navigating that. (blackwall the warden vs. thom rainier the liar and murderer. hissrad vs. the iron bull, or is that the other way around? cassandra and the seekers -- do we tell the truth about what we find, even if it means dismantling the old order of the world? and so on.) and your inquisitor IS at the same time a comforting lie (a necessary one, in dark times? the game seems to ask) and an uncomfortable truth (we are the result of random fickle chance, no protective hand is held over the universe, it's on us to make a better world because the maker sure as hell won't lift a divine finger to help anyone, should he against all odds exist). faith wielded for political power... where's the point that it crosses the line into ugliness? is it before it even begins? what's the alternative? will anyone listen to the truth, if you tell it?

interesting how you also get a mix of companion agency in this -- you have characters like dorian who ALWAYS choose one side of the comforting lie vs. uncomfortable truth dichotomy. he will always make up his own mind to go back to tevinter and try to dismantle the corruption of the old system no matter what you say, or how you try to influence him. meanwhile iron bull is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum -- so psychologically trapped and mangled, caught in an impossible spiritual catch-22, that his sense of identity is left entirely to you and your mercy. you cannot change dorian in any way that matters; you can be his friend or not, support him or not, but he is whole no matter what. you are given incredible and potentially destructive-to-him power over bull's soul. it's really cool (and heartbreaking) to think about.

this is a game about how history will eat you even while you're still alive, and shape you into whatever image it pleases to serve it, and for all your incredible power right now you are powerless in the face of the gravitational force of time -- of more than time, of History. you won't recognize yourself in what History will make of you, because you belong to it now. you don't belong to yourself anymore and you never will again. the further you were from what it needs from you to begin with, the more you will find yourself distorted in its funhouse mirror. (why hello there inquisitor ameridan, same hat!)

and to me this is so much the core of what Dragon Age is about right from the Origins days -- how and by whom history gets written, the inherent unreliable narration of it all. I hope you like stories, Inquisitor. You are one now.

I do think it's probably still the weakest of the games narratively, and it's hampered by its structure and bloated systems. but I also find it disingenous to say that there's nothing deeper or actually interesting going on with it, thematically. if you're willing to engage with it there is Some Real Shit going on under the high fantasy-tinted surface.

[rika-mortis]

Headcanon: Deep down they both want to be their fairy godparent/godkid again after losing them, but don't believe they deserve each other and feel like they aren't worthy to be their companion anymore

They both need counseling and therapy as a whole package

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The girls are here!!!

[magspeaches]

"Hey Soldier... who's your friend?"

If you've seen the High Rollers episodes where the BG3 main cast play a D&D one-shot, then this might be a familiar face. Gale as a Tiefling! He is everything to meeeee

[buttercupshands]

So.

Act 5, huh?

Oh, and that.

"You can start breakdown now."

Finished the game couple of days ago and had some thoughts I needed to process a little. Like. Yes.

So anyway I actually didn't plan this and just wanted to redraw some sprites to just make sure I understand how to draw Siffrin correctly (still working on that!)

What did I learn from this? How fun it it to draw on a canvas that literally doesn't let you draw with colors without some layer cheating when necessary. Never tried it.

The beans. Sleeping beans.

Basically what happens when you want to sleep AND draw. Draw characters sleeping on your behalf.

Doesn't help, but at least it's cute.

I have no idea what was going on in my mind as I drew this. Feels like a fever dream of 'I want to sleep' at 4 am and 'Hm...' of thinking random things

Also that phone craft sign. Still too funny to imagine. I had to.

[shimmershy]

Legend has it, an 'angel' who has seen the surface will descend from above and bring us freedom....

[failyaoi]

I have thoughts about them

[lazylittledragon]

first makeup test for orin!! don't look at the wig i couldn't be bothered to glue it down

[raycatzdraws]

ribbonwood

[buglaur]

my farmers profile 🥳

[bacchuschucklefuck]

pygmalion and galatea for aroace people

you should tell your friends what I look like, riz gukgak.

[agrebel18]

Nimona 🤝 Gwen Stacy: being Very Transgender/Not Cis to the point where you can’t separate it because it’s literally woven into their character arcs and even having trans flags surrounding them in some scenes yet some people only call it “coding” and “theories” purely because neither of them said “oh btw I’m transgender” on screen

[essektheylyss]

I'm just thinking about those family secrets and drama that people don't tell the kids about because kids can blurt things out in mixed company even with the best intentions, that you only learn when your mom says something offhand about "And that's why your cousin lived with us for a year," while you're helping in the kitchen at 11pm the night before a holiday and it recontextualizes a whole bunch of stuff from when you were nine and things didn't quite add up but also you were having a great time having sleepovers with your cousin, but also this context raises a LOT of other questions.

So in that regard, it is so funny to wonder like, how much Luc actually knows about Essek. Has he actually met him? I presume he has, but in that case, was he in disguise? Does Luc know him by an alias? Is Essek one of those family members who shows up to events very intermittently and no one really talks about? For that matter, how much does he know about Caleb's history?

I'm just imagining him hearing the "Shadowhand" comment in the Archive and not knowing who the fuck this geezer is talking about let alone why his godfather's being threatened until Aunt Jester says, "And he's going to hurt Essek," and putting a lot of things together that also raises more questions than it answers like

[maareyas]

Not as comprehensive design-wise as Silver was, but here's my take on a merhog Shadow ✨ Still some sort of half-alien experiment, but now his Chaos energy is just plain old nuclear radiation.

An aggressive merhog who haunts the remains of a deep sea research facility after an explosion wiped it out. He's the only one who can survive being in the exclusion zone, so it's been difficult for him to find new friends. (and food, but he's surviving off the radiation well enough)