#kirkwall chantry go boom

[morallygaywarden]

Anders: It's not like I try to blow things up, exactly. It just sort of happens. You've got to admit though, fire is fascinating.

[glowing-blue-feathermage]

Happy DADWC :) For Anders and the character of your choice "We're still friends, right?"

I have endless feelings about post chantry-boom fugitive times but also for Anders' friends realizing they should have done more for him. Here's some of that for Hawke & Anders. for @dadrunkwriting

Kirkwall was long behind them.  After several days, the smoke on the horizon had faded to white, and then blended into the distant clouds. After a week, the spine of a mountain chain stood between them and the city, and after a month, Anders could hardly remember what it had looked like at the end. Hawke didn’t say much. Anders hadn’t tried, really, to get him to talk, because he didn’t know what to say. He refused to apologize for what he’d done, and he had explained the lies, and there wasn’t anything else to talk about. And it didn’t feel like the right time for fond memories, or old tales, or plans for the future.  “You need to eat something.” Hawke’s voice broke through Anders’ shell, pulling him back into the moment. They were sitting across from one another, a small fire twinkling red and gold between them. A crackling log splitting apart with a hiss broke the short silence before Anders cleared his dry throat. “Not really hungry.” Hawke didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he held a tin plate out for him, bearing steaming squirrel meat and half an apple that Hawke had apparently sliced while Anders was miles away. The expression in Hawke’s eyes made Anders feel like refusing would actually cause him pain.  He took the plate, balancing it on his knee. He felt Hawke watching him, so he picked at the meat and ate a bite. A cool breeze ruffled the feathers on his black coat—the beautiful gift Hawke had been so pleased to give him a year past. Anders felt tears prick his eyes and he glanced up at Hawke suddenly, mouth dry. “We’re still friends, right?” he asked. It came out raspy. A croak. He flushed and looked down, hoping maybe Hawke would let it go. There was, indeed, a silence. Then, “Of course we’re friends, Anders. Why would you need to ask me that?” Anders looked up again, squinting over the fire. “Because I lied to you. I blew up the city you love.” He’d meant to sound sarcastic, but it came out flat. Because it was true. Hawke held his gaze for a moment before returning to his meal. He ate for a moment before shaking his head. “You did what you had to do,” he said. “Took your friends too long to see it. It’s me who should be asking you that question.” His words were so unexpected that Anders didn’t understand his meaning. “What question?” Hawke looked at him again, raising an eyebrow. “We’re still friends, right?”

[crossdressingdeath]

Leandra: We can go to Kirkwall. Daylen: What? Why would we go there? Bethany: There's a lot of Templars in Kirkwall, Mother... Leandra: I know that, but we still have family there—and an estate. Bethany: [sighs] Then we need to get to Gwaren and take ship.

Daylen and Bethany: Hey, if we go to Kirkwall we're going to be in active, pressing danger from Templars, you know, the people we've been running from our whole lives. Leandra: But the estate...

Going to Kirkwall is such a bad idea. Go literally anywhere else. You have two mages with you, do not go to Kirkwall. It is amazing to me that the first step on the path that ultimately leads to the Chantry boom and the mage rebellion is... Leandra deciding to put her (at the time) two mage children in danger because she had an estate in Kirkwall 25 years ago and thought going there was better than starting over somewhere with a lower Templar population.

[dragonagereversebang]

Light Untiring

Summary: Seeing the entirety of the Kirkwall Chantry explode was… it was certainly something. He couldn't tell how it made him feel, just that his stomach got queasy looking at it too long. What he did know was that Cullen needed him, regardless of their roles in the Order. That made him feel secure— to be needed. He had always wanted that.

Rating: E Artist: PoppyCocklin (@lets-get-brave) Author: k9rage (@calicostorms)

This pairing inspires such huge deep feelings and this piece absolutely delivers on that, from the sumptious art to the decadent writing. Post chantry boom is such a fraught time for these templars and Carver finds a way to help Cullen through the complicated feelings through touch and tenderness and some dearly needed healthy kink. But will he be able to show his superior how much he truly cares? Go indulge yourself in this delicious dynamic and give this piece some love!

[takiisieju]

Bucci Gang x Dragon Age crossover! Read my headcanons about this under cut :)

La Squadra's next!

I don't usually make fan art, so please don't follow unless you're interested in original art as well. Thank you!

Bruno's gang is based in Kirkwall, mainly working on controlling the city after the Big Boom.

Mista is a master archer and one of Varric's spies. He tells Varric the news about Kirkwall criminal world, and Varric sometimes tells him something in return. He calls his bow the Sex Bow.

Giorno is a half-elf rogue, originally born in the alienage. He didn't really fit in among the elves or the humans, and the gang is the only true family he ever had. He is particularly concerned about elves disappearing here and there, suspecting somebody in the city is selling them to Tevinter.

Abbacchio is a former templar. He went rogue long before the Boom, upon one of the mages he was fond of being unfaitly made Tranquil. Bruno found him silently dying on the street from lyrium withdrawal. He is battling his addiction since then with Bruno's support.

Bruno is undercover as a merchant. He is actually there to battle other criminal organisations for dominance. Then he gets the order to find Trish, and everything goes downhill from there.

Fugo is a tal-vashoth, forced into hiding so as not to be captured by either qunari or the templars. Bruno gave him shelter, but he still can only go out at night.

Narancia is a young surface dwarf. He was originally an errand boy for some lyrium smugglers and was captured by the gang. However, upon seeing just how young he is, Bruno offered him to stay with them.

Trish is a Chantry sister, abandoned at the Chantry as a young girl. She always wanted to leave this life, but was always convinced it's too dangerous outside. Since the Big Boom, she was transferred to Kirkwall into the makeshift new Chantry. One night, two men got into her room, both ordered to capture her. She confronted them boldly, and the men agreed not to bring her to her father, but to work together to protect her.

[v-arbellanaris]

🔥 anders

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

well...

i think... sometimes... i have ended up with a little bit more of a utilitarian take on anders than most (but not all) anders fans do? i mean, yes, the chantry boom happened because the circle was going to be annulled anyway, and yes, the mages were going to die anyway, and yes, if it was going to come to violence in any case, anders didn't really have a choice.

but. but. the idea that he did it with the intention of saving the kirkwall circle is what makes me go hmmmm sometimes. i've talked abt it with other people on here (u know who u are, i wont tag u in case u dont wanna get dragged into this) but anders repeatedly states that his ultimate goal here is the freedom of all mages, everywhere. and even with a romanced, pro-mage hawke, he's still unsure whether or not hawke would continue to side with him, or help him, or help the circle. so i actually kind of think that pushing the circle and the templars into open & violent conflict with each other - he tried to set it up so mages could still win either way. if the mages successfully defended the circle from the templars, it would serve as an inspiration to other circles to rise up. but i think he calculated and accepted the possibility that the kirkwall mages wouldn't successfully defend themselves from the templars. especially if he was convinced hawke wouldn't side with the mages. he considered and accepted that the circle would be annulled, for nothing. and it would serve as a warning to mages everywhere - you are not safe. i think he considered the potential loss of the kirkwall circle, weighed it against the potential freedom of every single mage in southern thedas, and decided it would be an acceptable loss. which is cutthroat, admittedly, but. well. justice is hard, as anders says.

[kittynomsdeplume]

No Safe Haven

Summary: Blackwall has arrived at Haven, looking for a chance to redeem himself with the Inquisition. There are so many more people than he expected, from all corners of Thedas, and discovery lurks around every corner. He ought to be more worried about his neck, but his thoughts are too pre-occupied with the striking and mysterious agent of the Inquisition that recruited him in the Hinterlands. Relationship: Blackwall/Hrafn Lavellan Rating: Teen+ Word Count: 9790

Preview: Blackwall prodded his booted toe through the snow, pushing aside the thick powder that had gathered along the low wall surrounding the Chantry. He did not search with any particular purpose, simply passing the time as he loitered in the afternoon sun, one ear tuned into the busy hubbub of the village.

Haven was not at all as he had expected. The remote mountain village brimmed with people from all walks of life. Soldiers and merchant, pilgrims and clergy — all brushing up against each other, living in packed quarters with no room to spare. Yet more people arrived every day.

He wondered how many of them had heard the Conclave explosion, as he had. He could not forget the boom of thunder that had reverberated over Redcliffe and beyond. Nor the flash of sickly green lightning that had briefly lit up the sky. At first the people around him in the Hinterlands had been alarmed and curious, but all too quickly the odd occurrence was buried under their daily concerns, and life carried on, as it always had.

Blackwall had not been able to quiet the unease within himself however. Perhaps it was a symptom of his circumstance — a life lived in fear, constantly looking over his shoulder for pursuers.

A week after the explosion, the driver of a passing caravan had relayed to him a story about the destruction of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. He claimed that rebel mages had caused the explosion and killed Divine Justinia; a dire escalation of the Kirkwall disaster. 

Blackwall had always considered himself a reasonably devout Andrastrian, but as the driver continued his increasingly wild tale — claiming that Andraste herself had appeared from the ashes to consume the heretic mages in holy fire and put down their rebellion — he could not help but feel a little dubious.

It was a doubt well-founded, for in the coming days, he encountered numerous refugees fleeing from mage and templar alike. Not to mention all manner of demons from the Fade, that were running rampant throughout the Hinterlands. It seemed the conflict had simply escalated, and where exactly was the Maker’s divine intervention amongst all of the chaos and destruction?

Blackwall bent down, his aimless combing of the snow having turned fruitful, as he spied a piece of wood sticking out of the pile. He turned the knobby chunk over in his hands, contemplating what he could craft from it as he took his knife from his belt.

He settled against the wall and began to whittle away at the wood, dividing his attention between that task and keeping an eye on the comings-and-goings at the Chantry; an occupation that he’d taken up several days in a row.

Continue reading at AO3

[kiivg]

Do you have any additional Wardens, Hawkes, and Inquisitor OCs? Or are the ones seen on your blog the sole iterations

.Kind of? 🤔. Imean my characters are linked with specific events that happen so changing them out would affect what I consider to be my world state; like Goddard Trevelyan is present in the Battle of Denerim and saves Andrastopher Cousland’s life, which makes sense because Goddard is serving penance in the Fereldan army, hence why he’s there. Whereas I feel like an Adaar wouldn’t have a place there, (re: Sten being the only Qunari in Ferelden apparently??) I mean Lavellan could be there as an original member of the Dalish clan in DAO assuming you kept them alive (I didn’t haha) or Cadash could be a Legion of the Dead member who helped with the battle and then left the order to remain topside.

.But then with Goddard, Andrastopher asks Anora to give him a secret boon (in return for saving his life) which in turn allows Goddard to ask for his freedom to return home to rule his bannorn, and then eventually become Inquisitor. Ofc I could just say some random person saved Andrastopher and maybe Goddard simply went home after serving penance and lived happily with his wife and children, and then had to endure crippling sadness knowing his youngest son died at the hands of the Inquisition, and never knowing his bastard son either, and then descending into madness knowing he had failed his child and swore to avenge him by turning against the Inquisition and possibly the Chantry and in turn losing his faith and driving House Trevelyan into the ground 👹💣💥. Or he could not go home, suffer the same knowledge, and avow to destroy the Fereldan monarchy for keeping him indebted and not being there to save his son.

.With Hawke he’s kind of interchangeable because his storyline is kind of pre-written as you’re always going to be Hawke the Eldest Sibling and certain events will always happen. But I do like Doherty more than Marcus (my previous Hawke) because I get to make his life sadder as he sides with the Templars to eradicate blood magic in the Kirkwall Circle and then offers to sacrifice himself in place of Anders (who he has already forced to flee) whereas Marcus always sided with the Templars to protect Templar!Carver. Personally I love siding with the mages and that would be a nicer ending for Doherty, but I need to side with the Templars for a specific ending 🥲.

.Still! My Hawke allows the HoF group to stay at their house (Leandra having recognised the giant son of the Couslands and knowing that they need to offer him safety and succour) whilst they’re in Lothering, and in turn Andrastopher warns them to flee whilst they can, as the dark spawn horde are advancing rapidly. This creates a kind of friendship that means Andrastopher is paramount in saving Hawke from the Seekers later as they attempt to recruit either of them for the job of Inquisitor.

.However!! I do want to make a new Warden Commander for the sake of padding out my hero count and also allowing Andrastopher to abandon the cause he detests (Grey Wardens) and also to focus solely on vengeance (Killing all Howes and stealing from the nobility who shunned him), which gives him a more stable relationship with Zevran in the end.

.But to get back to the original point of “other heroes” I do have not super developed other characters that could have been the hero. Like I have an Aeducan prince who helps the HoF team in the Deep Roads, after surviving on spider meat and mushrooms for months, and my Dalish HoF who is a transient elder who offers aide to all those in need (who leaves the clan pre-DAO). And I recently started playing a Cadash who hates the Chantry but is paramount on figuring out what happened at the conclave as some of his best friends were killed there (plus big boom?? He needs that kind of power in his arsenal) and maybe he gets a smooch along the way 😘. There are some I can’t have because they technically would die with the choices I make, like the Human/Elf mage in DAO will always be killed by Andrastopher in the circle quest, and the Dalish will also die as Andrastopher sides with the werewolves. And technically all the heroes you don’t choose do end up dying because either Duncan doesn’t show up to save them or they get killed in the Conclave explosion. Ofc that’s easily changeable like they didn’t contract the blight etc in DAO or they weren’t in the Temple when it exploded in DAI.

.TLDR: Yes but they’re all in the same world state and not technically HoFs/Hawkes/Inquis’ because I have a one track mind for this game!!!.

[thehungrycity]

WIP Storybible: Day 14

From @the-wip-project

Plot:

Write down snippets and ideas that connect to the notes you made about worldbuilding and character development.

Sara briefly attempts to get a standing army established in Kirkwall, but this is quickly shut down by Meredith exerting her power over Bethany. She then uses Bethany to force Sara to do a lot of her dirty work, just to show that she can. This indirectly leads to the Chantry boom.

There are rudimentary printing presses in Kirkwall that turn out early forms of newspaper. The Templars use this to spread fear about mages and worn people of the consequences for harbouring them.

No one goes swimming in Kirkwall harbour, and none but the poor fish there. It is far too polluted with toxic waste, heavy metals, and effluent.

There are public baths in Kirkwall, though it costs to visit them. They are like Roman baths, with steam rooms, cold pools, etc. But people wear bathing clothes.

There are pumps in the crossroads between insulae in Lowtown that pull up relatively clean water from cisterns under the city. Running water used to be piped directly into people's houses in Hightown, but many of the old houses have pipes that are breaking down and there isn't the skill or knowledge to repair them. The most noble houses try to keep at least one fountain running to help them look refined. The rest of the time, they source their water from the cisterns in Hightown.

There is some kind of Council drawn from the nobles that oversees the appointment of the Viscount. Hawke is automatically appointed to that Council upon becoming the Champion of Kirkwall. Meredith uses the hostages she has in the Circle to prevent a caucus from forming in the Council, and therefore the appointment of a replacement Viscount. There is basically shit all that anyone can do about it unless the want their relatives to be made Tranquil. Only Elthina can, and well... we know her opinion about that.

Anders talks to Sara about getting a cat. Sara expresses concern that her dog will eat it.

Merrill is a true romantic at heart, and sees Fenris/Hawke as a really romantic outcome for Fenris.

There are factions among the nobles that Sara has to try and court, including those who see different outcomes for Meredith/the Circle, and for the Viscountcy. Fenris wants her to use her marriageable status to help with this, and even suggests that she go ahead and get married to consolidate her position, but she is averse to it.

Sara is disinclined to have children, after her experience growing up. If she did, she wouldn't want to have more than one so that the same thing wouldn't happen to her child. Fenris secretly (even to himself) desires to have a child as a way of grounding his identity. Anders wants the ability to have a child because he is frustrated that it was taken away from him yet again without informed consent but, while he would love a child from Sara/Fenris, doesn't actually particularly care whether a child is of his blood or not.

None of this is plot. But it is something.

[ocean-in-my-rebel-soul]

Rian Hawke: Isabela 1, 5 and Fenris 4, 5 and Sibling 2, 3 💐

Thanks for asking! <3

Rian Hawke (they/he), warrior, purple personality. Romanced Fenris. Supported and spared Anders.

Isabela 1. Did Isabela return at the end of Act II? Was your Hawke angry if she did not return? Were they pleased if she did?

She did, and Rian was devastated that she even left. They were so angry! He definitely was like "you fucking opportunist coward" for a while, until he was able to talk it out with the Thedas equivalent of a therapist. They and Isabela weren't as close as they had been for a while, especially in the year after the Arishok battle. But they eventually reconciled and he was glad she *did* come back at all. It just,,, took a while.

5. Was your Hawke close with Isabela throughout the Acts of Kirkwall? Did they remain in contact with her?

They were pretty close. She admired his snarky bitchy but loyal side and they admired her carefree-ness. They did keep in touch, though it was pretty spotty, what with his going into hiding and her taking to the sea once more. But the letters they did ultimately receive were fond and caring. They grew able to be vulnerable alongside each other.

Fenris 4. How did your Hawke respond to the mutual resentment between Fenris and Anders? Did they intervene?

For a while Rian was convinced that if they could just lay down their mutual traumas, they could have bridged the gap between them. He did try to mediate, especially on times when the two of them couldn't stand each other to the point of outright threats, but eventually they were like "you're never going to get along so the only thing I can ask for is that you don't kill each other, I care about you both so much". Fenris and Anders grudgingly called a sort of truce, in that they were more civil, but they weren't anywhere near nice to each other. Rian just didn't want either of them hurt; Fenris was his lover and Anders his best friend. They were heartbroken that those two couldn't have seen the commonalities among them.

5. What motivated your Hawke to be either a friend or a rival to Fenris? Were they indifferent to him?

Rian is one of those collector of odd people, and Fenris was fascinating for so many reasons. They were attracted to him pretty early on, but weren't wanting to press anything, especially after hearing about Fen's backstory. He respected Fenris immensely. They became really great friends!

Bethany 2. How did Leandra and/or Carver’s death affect your Hawke’s relationship with Bethany?

After Carver's death, Bethany retreated into herself in a big way. She was still present, but it was hard to be around any of the family. She and Carver were thick as thieves and while she didn't blame Rian for anything, it was really hard to have one sibling but not two. Rian felt that they should have tried harder in fighting the ogre and if they had, Carver could have still lived. Neither he nor Bethany could help each other in their grief. Leandra's death was just a nail in the coffin; Bethany went to the Wardens in Act I and when Rian wrote to her, she couldn't help but blame him for not protecting Leandra in that scummy town. They have a very strained relationship. They do still love each other, but from a distance.

3. Due to Bethany being a mage, was your Hawke influenced by her when making the choice between mages and templars?

Rian grew up drinking respecting mages juice, so he doesn't feel particularly influenced by solely her. He is Anders' best friend, and willingly helped with the Chantry boom. They will always pick the mages over templars, much to Fenris' aggravation at times.

Hawke + Companions Asks

Ask about my Hawkes!

Rian Hawke (they/he), warrior, purple personality. Romanced Fenris. Supported and spared Anders.

Amalia Hawke (she/they), mage, purple personality. Romanced Isabela and Merrill (poly ship). Supported and spared Anders.

Garrett Hawke (he/him), mage, purple-red personality. Romanced Anders. Supported and spared Anders.

[glowing-blue-feathermage]

I posted 2,311 times in 2022

That's 2,311 more posts than 2021!

121 posts created (5%)

2,190 posts reblogged (95%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@justcallmecappy

@potatowitch

@tea42

@sulky-valkyrie

@barbex

I tagged 2,156 of my posts in 2022

Only 7% of my posts had no tags

#anders - 794 posts

#fenris - 375 posts

#dragon age - 324 posts

#fenders - 250 posts

#handers - 183 posts

#hawke - 158 posts

#dragon age 2 - 118 posts

#justice - 78 posts

#fenhawke - 65 posts

#😍😍😍 - 62 posts

Longest Tag: 117 characters

#it should not be forgotten that justice was part of anders for every one of those 7 years anders protested peacefully

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I've been thinking so much the last couple of days about Anders trying to give his pillow to Varric before the Chantry Boom. Anders thought he was going to die, was prepared for it and was making his peace. Offering this pillow to Varric was offering him a piece of himself, a memory, evidence that he was here once, a way to remember him. Varric just makes a face and rejects it and it makes me so sad to imagine Anders just left it there in the sewers, unwanted. He goes on to knowingly paint himself as a murderer, as a perpetual monster in many eyes, and does so probably thinking that no one will remember the mage who made it through years of abuse only to become a healer who for years sacrificed warmth, comfort, and material possessions to care for total strangers. And then went to die for total strangers so they have a chance to be free and equal and not have to live in fear like he has his whole life. I just want to crawl into this game, take his pillow for safekeeping, hug him, head into war at his side, and then give his pillow back when we find a safe harbor in the storm. I despair that I can't do this, so thank the Maker that Hawke can do it for me.

140 notes - Posted February 23, 2022

#4

Jos Lavellan, my Inquisitor, by GreyEnchanter!

145 notes - Posted July 5, 2022

#3

Writing fanfic based on video games is so much fun. You can be writing about the characters and the locations and then also go hang out with them and run around in the town you just wrote about and talk to that person that's in your fic.

219 notes - Posted May 19, 2022

#2

I just like thinking about what an actual badass Anders is.

1. He managed to escape on his own, with no conspirators, from a locked, heavily guarded prison not once, not twice, but seven times.

2. He survived on his own for sometimes months at a time outside the Circle with no experience of the world, no money, no possessions, and no practical survival skills, since there was no reason to teach these things to mages.

3. He had the mental fortitude to survive with his sanity AND his compassion for others intact after being held in solitary confinement for an entire year. He knew this punishment, paramount to torture, was on the table then and he STILL had the courage and determination to escape again.

4. He fought and killed Darkspawn on his own before the Warden found him.

5. He survived the Joining, which most do not. He became a Grey Warden and, by default, a Battlemage. He is a force to be reckoned with even before hosting a spirit of Justice and cited as an incredibly gifted spirit healer, which is a rare power.

6. He survives incredible hardship in Kirkwall on his own before he meets Hawke and friends. He deals with and overcomes poverty, starvation, the violent underbelly of Kirkwall, and the constant threat of templars.

7. Even when he knows that the Darktown Healer is no secret, he defies the templars and continues to run his clinic. He is willing to fight and kill for this sanctuary.

8. He inspires and is a vessel for a whole ass spirit of Justice. He can't be killed like a normal man can. He can be run through with a sword and simply pull it out and keep going.

9. He spends years actively defying people who want him dead or worse, instead of hiding, putting his life on the line for other mages.

10. He 👏🏻 is 👏🏻 still 👏🏻 compassionate 👏🏻 after 👏🏻 decades 👏🏻 of 👏🏻 abuse.

312 notes - Posted April 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I just. Feel really grateful for fanfiction. For everyone that writes it, everyone that reads it, everyone that shares their random feelings about characters and events and lore, or leaves a comment or a tag. What an amazing and intertwined community we live in, inspiring and being inspired by one another to create and consume things for no other reason than that it makes us happy.

1,470 notes - Posted May 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[crossdressingdeath]

The concept of Cassandra thinking the Chantry boom was a Warden operation is so funny in my main world state because Leliana would go to Tahel and ask "Hey was the Kirkwall Chantry exploding a Warden operation?" and Tahel would look at her and ask "Would I do something like that?" And Leliana would look into those eyes, and think about her long friendship with Tahel and how much she loves and trusts him, and she'd go "...The Kirkwall Chantry exploding might have been a Warden operation" but importantly would not pass that on to anyone else.

[lesetoilesfous]

Anders and ‘‘Murder’’ in Dragon Age

Ok so I’ve seen this a few times recently and want to break down my thoughts on it.

Anders is a murderer - this is true.*

(*Though there are some really great meta posts proving how by Dragon Age Canon he killed less than 100 people in the Chantry boom. I’m on mobile but if anyone wants to add that please do.)

Hawke is a murderer. Varric is a murderer. Isabela is a murderer. Fenris is a murderer. Aveline is a murderer. Merrill is a murderer. Sebastian is a murderer.

Guys you, you have a kill count. Hawke and their whole gang are a group of dangerous vigilantes who kill people according to their own personal moral judgements.

The difference between Anders’ Chantry Boom and the Kirkwall Crew’s merry decade of mass murder is that a) the Chantry Boom was the beginning of a Civil War b) That Civil War started, in part, to prevent a genocide

(Canonically, Meredith had called for the Rite of Annulment with no good reason. Canonically, she is going to enact it knowing the Circle mages are innocent. Canonically, the Gallows had over 800 innocent people inside including children and the elderly. Not to be utilitarian, but yes, I would kill 100 political and religious leaders in a corrupt, dictatorial, violent theocracy in order to save nearly a thousand innocent people.)

The third difference between Anders and Hawke and the gang’s multiple-hundreds head count is that you, the player, don’t do it. So you don’t excuse him the way you excuse yourself - despite the fact that Anders’ last ditch effort to save over 800 people after ten years of peaceful protest is infinitely more justifiable than Hawke’s slaughter of hundreds of refugees and gangs in a city that is canonically riddled with poverty, prejudice, unemployment and homelessness.

When I say Anders Was Right, I don’t mean, “he’s my favourite character so I’m turning a blind eye to his actions”. I mean, seriously, I think that what he did was the morally correct choice and a necessary one.

I don’t mean that Anders isn’t an asshole. He’s a huge asshole!!! He shouldn’t have lied to Hawke. He shouldn’t have manipulated them. He’s selfish, and ignorant, and often blind to the way his words and actions hurt other people. He can become self absorbed and arrogant. He demands disclosure of trauma, he’s short tempered, he leaps to conclusions, he hurts people’s feelings, he IS blinded to the causes and needs of other communities because of his single minded focus on mages and his own suffering. And a lot of his dialogue towards Fenris and Merrill (however cartoonishly exaggerated, but more on that anon) is unforgivably rude AT BEST.

I think Anders actions at the Chantry were correct and morally justifiable. Does that mean I think he’s perfect? Of course not! His flaws are what make him interesting!!!!

But even if all of this weren’t true - EVEN IF the rest of the gang didn’t canonically have a kill count as high as, or higher than, Anders’ first action in a civil war to prevent a genocide - EVEN in that case.

I also cannot condone Bioware’s conscious, deliberate, centrist, toxic, ableist caricature of a mentally ill, queer character and his fight for civil rights. I…don’t actually think we need a story right now that explains to us how, fundamentally, queer bipolar men are ‘unhinged’, violent and evil, simply for the fact of their resistance against state and religious abuse. Even when they’ve been tortured. Even when children are going to die.

We have this appalling, condescending, imperialistic idea that people - in reality and in fiction, are only allowed to violently resist violent oppression by the state and church if we find them palatable. If they step a toe outside of our personal comfort zones, (themselves constructed by the same imperialistic propaganda we’ve consumed since childhood) we immediately rescind that right - damning an individual for resisting, even if their life is on the line. Even if it concerns the death of children. This is not a moral choice. It’s a social bias.

As for Fenris and Merrill - I struggle to believe that a man who spent ten years providing free medical treatment to refugees, criminals and the homeless never met an elf or learned anything about discrimination against elves. I also struggle to understand how - despite the fact that the Circles are the only place in southern Thedas where elves are not segregated from humans, and where they can reach an equivalent position of authority to humans, somehow Circle mages are most often the mouthpieces for anti elven discrimination.

And by this of course I mean I don’t struggle at all. It’s very helpful for bombastic, oppressive governments like the USA, and all who support them, to set up a false dichotomy between marginalised communities. To peddle the lie that marginalised communities’ biggest threats are one another and not, say, the church or state actively enforcing violence against them. (The Chantry teaches that mages corrupted heaven. It also teaches that elves are inherently more sinful than humans because they are ‘born further from the Maker’s light’).

Once again, apart from the catastrophic failure in internal logic that results in these forced, cartoonish caricatures of Anders as a character - I also disagree with this because I fundamentally do not believe that we need a story about queer people and mentally ill people fighting people of colour but never daring to raise a finger to the people lobotomising them, r*ping them, killing them and driving them to s*icide. I don’t like that story because I don’t think it’s a good one - I don’t think it’s narratively interesting. I do think it’s morally corrupt. I think it’s toxic propaganda. I think it drives us apart.

There’s this incredibly condescending attitude among DA fans towards people who like Anders. The patronising, lazy assumption is that we saw a pretty blonde white man and didn’t engage with the narrative at all. This is rarely the case. We are also adults. We also played the game. We just came to a different conclusion.

[ladyherald]

IM DONE !!!!! I DID IT !!!!!!!!

(WHILE DOING HALF OF THE FIGHTS WITH MY DANG DRAWING TABLET BECAUSE MY MOUSE RAN OUT OF BATTERY AND I DID NOT DIE ONCE)

[s1ithers]

Ah, I didn’t know you were treating the oc challenge as a “send asks” thing, in that case:

“Fighting” and “above average” for Lisi?

ALSO kind of a dumb one but how do you pronounce her name? I’ve been saying it like “lisee” but I’m not sure that’s correct

yeah, like Lisa with an 'ee' sound instead of the a

Fighting. Skills or magic? A general description or perhaps a favourite spell? A special style or move? A situation where it was used?

from this list

2H warrior for life!

Canon sort of implies you and Carver join the Fereldan army as Blight recruits, but I had her enlist at 17 bc wanted her to be more proficient than she'd realistically get by training with her dad in the back yard, which was also pretty much Malcolm's reasoning. By that point they’re settling down in Lothering longterm and it’s clear she isn’t a mage, he’s training her hard to be his heir essentially as family protector, but he’s also still healthy and thinks they have time. so he hoped the army would teach her what his time with the mercenary company served him so well, the combat/survival skills as well as that discipline and the mental part of doing violence if necessary, yknow

& also to help with the household income, they're subsistence farmers in lothering right

she does really well, promoted to elite infantry to learn the longsword, almost gets married, she's an NCO by the time of the blight, so there’s 7-8 years where she's spending harvest and planting seasons in Lothering but otherwise has sort of a life outside the family bubble

which I like for her character development bc I think growing up, she has so much hatred for the templars & the chantry, she's radicalized on the issue that directly affects her, right, but it never really occurs to her to question the military as an institution and the feudal/monarchist system it upholds, or more broadly, yknow, examine the power structures that the chantry’s abuses are a facet of

Ostagar really shatters her world like, the mighty Fereldan army can crumble to dust. The king can fucking die. Loghain the national hero can leave her comrades to be slaughtered which is honestly a bigger blow.

Makes a nice thematic bookend to her story with the chantry boom, I think :3

Above-average. Does your OC excel in something? Do they have special features? How about in the opinion of others?

hm, most of her skill points are in combat and manipulation lol, she’s good at a few things but not really the Best of the Best. honestly I’d say the one thing she really truly has going for her is self-confidence to the point of grandiosity. just sheer readiness to play chicken with god

like you think about Hawke on that first night in Gamlen’s shitty apartment in the worst part of town, roof leaking, not a silver to the their name, whole family traumatized, refugees in a city that doesn’t want them, they’ve just found out templar influence in Kirkwall is even stronger than they feared, and she looks around and decides welp, i’m just going to have to become so rich and powerful not a soul in this patently hostile police state of a city will dare fuck with my sister :)

like that’s an insane response!! & it works for you bc you’re a video game character but that’s just not something someone who’s afraid of reality at all is going to think. I think by far the most fun way to characterize Hawke is to play that up to the max

[a-shakespearean-in-paris]

I'd love to see your take on Cullen's recovery arc as an alternative analysis! I feel like we're only ever presented with the two options of: "he needs to atone!" Or "he was a victim that needs protection!", neither of which I've ever fully agreed with. I think it's a result of the lack of attention given to his arc in DAI, which leaves a ton of room for interpretation, and results in people swaying towards either camp depending on how sympathetic they are towards him and his history.

I totally agree with this. 

The problem with the way Cullen is presented in DAI is that he’s presented in an unambiguously positive light, and as @tokutenshi pointed out in this post (which I do agree with) if your Hawke was hostile to him you don’t get some of his dialogue about questioning Meredith. Additionally if you side with the mages rather than the templars Cullen has some realizations about the Order that you’re not going to hear. It’s too little too late for a lot of people, though I would also argue with what tokutenshi said, he was severely traumatized after the Blight (if you take a female mage Warden in the tower during the Witch Hunt DLC you will get lines that indicate he is suffering from PTSD, notice the lines about him being “twitchy” and “jumpy”) Personally I think we can find a middle ground between Cullen being a victim of manipulation and indoctrination, someone who suffered after experiencing trauma, and someone who works hard in the moment to do some good, whether we can or should call it “atonement” or not. That being said, he does acknowledge in Inquisition that the war against Corypheus is his chance to atone, and he works overtime to the point where it’s commented upon by several characters including the Inquisitor how hard he works.  

By the time we meet Cullen in Inquisition a couple of years have passed since the chantry’s explosion. This is where I will be critical of the writing because I do think the game should have better established what exactly Cullen was doing in the time in between, though we get bits and clues from dialogue if you pay attention: He served as Kirkwall’s knight Commander after Meredith died, and he and presumably Aveline’s guard worked to basically repair the city, as Rylen says in Griffon Wing Keep that there was a lot of rubble, a lot of people without homes. Cassandra noticed Cullen’s work and recruited him to the Inquisition. (Also, keep in mind that the Inquisition was originally going to help quell the worst excess of the mage and templar fighting, restore order because the chantry lost control. Then the conclave happened, it went boom, and suddenly the Inquisition’s purpose became far greater than anyone would have expected. So Cullen as Cassandra’s choice of Commander makes total sense to me, considering he was a former templar and bringing him in basically acted as a symbol to any wayward templar, letting them know that there could be another way. But I digress on that part, haha.) 

I *think* some people are dissatisfied with Cullen’s “redemption” arc in DAI because we don’t really see him fall on the sword or beat himself up for his past. There’s also no moment where he like, faces a mage he maybe knew in Kirkwall or has to deal with the mages not trusting him. Obviously of course there is nuance there as well as Toku and I mentioned--he wasn’t allowed to heal as much as he should have before being shipped to Meredith. However, here’s an interesting bit of dialogue you can get if you pick the right options after Perseverance if you tell him he doesn’t need lyrium:

Quiz: The man you were. You can’t pretend like he never existed.

Cullen: Not even if I wanted to. But I’m here now. I can make that mean something.

Cullen knows he screwed up. What’s more, he doesn’t want to forget he screwed up. But he lives in the moment to make things right. Blackwall’s arc actually shows him falling on the sword and wanting to atone, versus with Cullen it’s implied he has come to terms with his screw ups off screen. He doesn’t continuously beat himself up, he does what he can for the Inquisition to the point where if the Quiz tells him to go back on lyrium for the better of his soldiers, he does, knowing it just may kill him. There is also limited dialogue that challenges his views which turns some people off, but I know for my Inquisitor she’s very much about the now and what they both can do in the now. I won’t blame anyone who wants to be able to challenge him more, but frankly I find the fact he doesn’t continuously fall on the sword or beat himself up interesting. 

All that being said, I do think of his arc as more of one of recovery versus redemption. And to be frank I’m kind of critical of the term “redemption” and what makes good redemption arcs or not. Someone having a “redemption arc” seems to imply that there’s only one road to the top of the mountain when maybe redemption is something you should always strive for? But as for the “recovery” arc: the chantry, IMO, purposely devoids both mages and templars of a personhood or life outside the order and Circle and treats them as objects. Many templar recruits are children and are basically indoctrinated to believe they serve the Maker and they are needed and that they do the Maker’s will. There’s an interesting bit of dialogue you can get if your character is a warrior and talks to Cullen about the templar spec, basically if the Quiz says “templars serve the Maker, I’d do the same.” Cullen basically replies, “uh, yeah, that’s not going to make you righteous, believe me,” implying this was the way he once indoctrinated to think, but he no longer believes it so. Templars are given lyrium for their abilities, but also to placate them, something Alistair says in DAO. 

After Kirkwall Cullen sees where the Order is going, gets an offer from Cassandra and decides that if he removes the “part that kept [him] chained,” he would find his own purpose again. (He says this is your Quiz makes him take lyrium.) In Inquisition we learn he always wanted to protect people. (Our local mind reader Cole says “some templars want to only protect, like Cullen” if you ask him about templars.) And as a kid living in rural nowhere Ferelden, he saw the templars as protectors. Why I interpret his arc as more about recovery than redemption all has to do with Perseverance and the way you as the player can handle it: You can either let him know he can start over, he can endure and one day find a life of his own away from duty and battle, or you can make him take it and thus let him remain indoctrinated to what the chantry taught him, that there is nothing outside of duty and battle. It comes down between a choice of “you are leashed to what the chantry made you till you die” to “you are more and you can recover and make your own life,” which he does do by Tresspasser, romance or not. At the end of the game if you keep him off lyrium he basically thanks the Inquisitor for giving him a chance, letting him know he could be more. Additionally, a lyrium free Cullen in Tresspasser speaks of meeting his siblings again, developing a relationship. If you make him take it forever he refuses to see them. 

I could also see the arc as one of faith, and finding it again. If you keep him off lyrium the prayer in the chantry he speaks is one of quiet reassurance and finding strength through his faith, but if you make him take it the prayer is “blessed are the peacekeepers” and it’s uttered desperately as if he is trying to believe it. He also mourns how far he fell. All this to say that I find it very interesting his writer focused his personal quest around the lyrium and what lyrium represents rather than say, him meeting a mage who lived in Kirkwall or something and him trying to atone to them.  

When I wrote my post about why Cullen gets so much fandom related wank I got a lot of different responses that echoed the same thing about Cullen’s arc not getting a lot of attention. I think there is a lot of good writing there with his personal quest,  but his writing doesn’t fill in every single gap---not to mention people are going to have vastly different experiences on how they played the games till Inquisition. And my examples of dialogue are things you may not get if you don’t pick the right options. And heck, some people only have played Inquisition. 

So, I think me calling his arc in Inquisition a recovery arc has partially been not me trying to justify why I like him, but analyze a differing way a character who has screwed up in the past is written. Blackwall’s arc is a true redemption arc IMO. Cullen’s isn’t so clear cut as a redemption arc, but at the end of the day it is truly about him finding his own purpose again, which leads me to lean more toward calling it a “recovery arc.”