#my favorite templar to hate

[saltyowlets]

Cullen in DAO sometimes gets stuck between presenting the perfect victim or a heinous villain when he isn't either.

No victim is perfect. How everyone deals with trauma is different but a majority is going to be ugly. There is no appeasing the masses, it's vicious and many times detrimental.

That is what Cullen was. He lashed out, fueled on anger and fear. It's understandable, but at the same time, it can still be inexcusable.

When I point out him being treated as the perfect victim, I don't just mean his representation of being a victim, I also mean excusing his words and actions as perfect responses. That the call for Annulment is a justified response.

It is not.

Both things can be true- Cullen is a victim, and he can be wrong. The abuse Cullen went through goes far beyond what we are seen and told. It is not a surprise he came out of it with delirium and mania. He is afraid, and he acts on fear- yet he can still be horribly wrong for calling for Annulment.

Victims can do bad things. Annulment is for the full-on massacure of the mages- many who are also victims to the same blood mages and demons. To call forth a death sentence to people who have lived their life in a cage- doomed to whatever outcome.

But here's the thing in which a few people tend to mistake about my own analysis of Cullen- I do not think it's out of character for him to call for it. Cullen was a young templar who suffered under the hands of blood mages and demons. All he knows is that fact.

I am not surprised he called for the Annulment. I don't blame him in that I see why someone would call for such a heinous rite. Yet I can still see he is wrong, that he shouldn't have demanded it in the first place.

I definitely understand the need to be defensive of his actions in part of how certain people like to villanize Cullen. But I think Cullen is a more interesting character when you are open to both loving and criticizing his character in the overall DA narrative.

[suntamer]

What began as a personal project of mine has spiraled into something way bigger and way more intense than I anticipated, so I figured I might offer it up to the Dragon Age fandom at large in case there was any interest in participating!

So, here's my idea for #VEILGUARD30:

Starting on October 1st and going day-by-day until right before Veilguard's launch on the 31st, this little event will begin! Whether you're inspired to write Dragon Age fic before the game's release or interested in developing your Rook, you're more than welcome to participate! And don't feel pressured to post every single day if that day's prompt doesn't appeal to you — this is meant to be engaged with to inspire you rather than bully you into writing every single day in October.

I posted this early to give everyone a running start, if they intend to participate or fish for curiosity and interest otherwise!

All sixty prompts are written down beneath the cut.

GENERAL WRITING PROMPTS.

Joining. Armor. Vhenadahl. Deep Roads. Bards. Carta. Dragon. Sovereigns. Potions. Orlais. Harrowing. Romance. Andraste. Campfire. Vallaslin. Lowtown. Mabari. Close Call. Elfroot. Demon or Spirit. Qunari. Templar. Halamshiral. Blood Magic. The Inquisition. Darkspawn. Dalish. Red Lyrium. Dreadwolf. The Veilguard.

ROOK DEVELOPMENT PROMPTS.

Name. Age. Race. Background. Class / Spec. Gender. Sexuality. Parentage. Siblings. Early Childhood. Adolescence. First Love. First Hate. Favorites. Injuries / Scars. Distinguishing Features Voice Type. Vices. Virtues. Homeland. Height / Build. Hair / Eye color. Personality. Aspirations. Fears. Hobbies. Views on Magic. Views on Elves.. Views on the Veilguard. Views on Solas.

[blackflash9]

No wonder why Connor is so emotionless: Imagine watching your mother dying in the burning down of your village and doing everything to help your people, only to get screwed over, deceived, manipulated and betrayed at every turn (with one of those people being your father, who deliberately hid the information of your mother's death so he could manipulate you to his side), with finally your people being expelled regardless by the people you thought you would help them (and finding out they don't give a shit about your platitude.)

My point: Fandom should stop hating Connor because he isn't Ezio.

The problem was never that Connor isn't Ezio. The problem is that we, as Western audiences, have been conditioned to reject characters who don’t conform to a familiar, Eurocentric mold of storytelling. Ezio is charming, charismatic, and effortlessly likable. He flirts. He jokes. He grows in ways that reflect our favorite power fantasies: freedom, control, and self-actualization. He’s the kind of hero we’ve been taught to root for, over and over again. He fits the mold.

Connor doesn’t.

Connor isn’t here to dazzle you. He doesn’t joke to put you at ease. He doesn’t flirt to win you over. He’s blunt. Angry. Grieving. And rightly so. His world is one of broken promises and stolen futures; he has no time or space for charm. He doesn’t perform vulnerability for our comfort. He is vulnerable, raw, young, and cracked open by the world, but never in a way that flatters the viewer’s ego.

Ask yourself: Would Connor have been more “acceptable” if he’d laughed more? If he'd made his trauma easier to swallow? If he'd flirted with Myriam or Ellen or softened his convictions for the sake of pacing?

That’s not a flaw in Connor. That’s a flaw in us.

We’ve been trained to celebrate protagonists who slot neatly into stories built on Western values of charisma, triumph, and emotional legibility. When a character refuses that mold, when he challenges us instead of charming us, we call him “boring.” Or “too serious.” Or “hard to like.”

But Connor is none of those things. Connor is essential.

Because where most protagonists in this series survive, Connor learns. He doesn’t blindly follow the Creed; he interrogates it. He studies the systems around him. He saw what gave the Templars their power, and why the Assassins keep losing ground. And even after betrayal, disillusionment, and unimaginable loss, he chooses to stay with the Assassins not because they’re flawless, but because their path is the right one.

He’s also the only Assassin to ever sincerely question whether reconciliation with the Templars is possible. He doesn’t just kill Haytham and move on; he listens. He hopes. He tries. That quiet dream of peace, followed by the heartbreaking realization that it cannot be, is unlike anything else we’ve seen in the series.

Connor isn’t just another blade in the dark. He’s the conscience of the Brotherhood.

Fandom didn’t reject him because he was poorly written. Fandom rejected him because he made injustice uncomfortable and because he refused to entertain us while doing it.

No, Connor isn’t Ezio. He was never meant to be. And that’s not just the point. That’s what makes him unforgettable.

[autumnbrambleagain]

Favourite caves of qud mods? I wanna dive in and fully mod my game

I don't have the energy to turn these into hyperlinks so you have to do the work of typing these names into the workshop and finding them, I apologize that I am not apologizing.

Hearthpyre and the Clever Girl Fork are obvious necessities. Starapple Valley and Regrowing Plants and Qud Fishing is on that list too for being able to make your own imprint on the world. With how the uh, story's themes go, I am even more feeling validated in my decision to spend most of the game building bases and farming and stuff.

Dynamic Background Color because I don't even remember what the game looks like without it anymore. I think I use the More Dots mod too.

Allography lets you add descriptions to things, including yourself, which is great.

1 Percent Loot Drops adds a ton of neat, very balanced items.

Cleaning Robots lets you have robots that clean fluids and I honestly just wish one in on EVERY settlement so they don't become giant messes after one visit. Indispensable mod.

Choose Your Fighter is good if you aren't a lunatic like me who just makes your own phenotypes and sprites and pets and dialogue for every character you play.

Jademouth is what I would argue to be the best, most diegetically natural town mod in the game. It adds very little to the world outside of itself, and adds a very much needed mid-game town with a fun quest and good characters. None of the writing feels out of place, it doesn't add encounters all over the map, it keeps to its own lane and does an great job of it.

Cryptogeology is an incredibly good quest which helps guide you to each town in the game naturally, has a ton of flavor, and a really decent reward. It feels like a natural part of the game.

Tealeaves adds a much-needed merchant to the Six Day Stilt who is also very well written and lets you get a chance at Newly Sentient Beings rep.

Issachari Evolved adds much needed variety to that faction.

Nightmare Treats gives you a lot more ways to reroll mutations, AND ways to gain mental stats. Eat them. It's safe. Nothing bad will happen.

Wired Child is a fun mid-late stage quest in Ezra that gets you a VERY nice weapon if you can manage it.

Return of the Arcwyrk. You need more enemies in your life. zzzap.

Knife Fights at Eddy's is mandatory, I'm sorry I don't make the rules.

A Specter is Haunting Qud adds some VERY nasty enemies and you deserve to be killed by them. Things should be scarier. Get scared. Basically Templar Hologram Wraith Knights but they're Eater ghosts. Fucked up! I won't tell you how to beat them figure it out yourself.

Village Finder because I hate the "go to each parasang and press + and then -" when looking for villages. Am I that dumb my character can't notice villages when walking through them.

Folk Scrap and Mundanity. Mandatory. Very flavorful.

Baboons of Babel adds much needed variety to baboon faction.

Judicators of Qud add a fun neat challenging robot who is kind of like if a leering stalker and a feral lah had a baby that wasn't the sum of its parts but something all its own.

Disjecta Membra's lore feels a little out of sync with 1.0, and it makes the game a giant mess. So basically, enemies can be infected, and when they die things get Interesting. It can cause huge problems and it's a fucking mess. It can make Call to Arms an unworkable disaster and Templar historical sites become unmanageable. I love it. I cannot play without it. It makes the game so much more challenging and stressful, especially in the early/midgame. The writing is fucking incredible even if its flavor doesn't line up exactly right anymore. Do not do this on your first playthrough but after your first playthrough install this and suffer with me forever. This might be my favorite new-content mod tbh.

Your Own Personal Relics is a neat adjustment to the Item Naming system which honestly I just wish-name things when I mod them to max anyway but it's neat.

Feline's Furnishings are good tiles.

Fluid Storage is great and the Klein Bottles are fantastic and putting 500 drams in their weightless moebius will never go wrong for you ever.

I think that should do you with the unimax's share of the mods I use!

Sidenote, Eule does a lot of mods that are Very Cool but also last time I used them they had a problem of all of them would spawn things in the jungle, so with all of them active every jungle screen would have like, their populations taken over by all the Argent Somethingorother and the Unseen Adversaries and the Arboreta Guys. None of them work with 1.0 anyway I don't think, and the mods ARE very high quality! But their spawn rates were extremely overpowering to the point where the jungle was basically just entirely made of those 3 factions and it was a Bit Much.

I'm also about to try out the Labyrinthine Trail and Xeototin Mechanical Somethingorother for the first time but I haven't done them yet so i have no comment.

Also Facial Equipment Diversity is neat too.

[thishumblehobbyist]

With some rumors of Rogal Dorns return still circulating I’m conflicted heavily. On the one hand I want him back cause he is my favorite primarch and the autistic Imperial Fists are my favorite legion overall. Stoic, steadfast, not personal in anyway but loyal and capable without being showboats or braggarts. But Dorn returning means bad things for everyone. If he stays lore accurate he would be disgusted with the imperium more so than the Lion or Girlyman are. He exiled his favorite son and his greatest warrior for even considering the faith in the emperor being a god. He hated superstition. He also loved the art and architecture of the old imperium so much he lamented having to sacrifice it for proper fortifications during the heresy.

The fuck is he gonna do if he returns a half broken primarch with one arm and having lost thousands of years. What did he do? Was he a prisoner? Is he the same Dorn? Has he found religion somehow? How will he react to the superstition that is all over his legion chapters.

What about the black templars? The most religious and zealous marines in the imperium. Would be even accept they are his? Would he be willing to set aside his formerly strict stance on religion and superstition for the good of humanity?

His brothers? The lion who for all Dorn knows failed to save Terra and spent all those years asleep after breaking his own world and now seems to have “magic powers” teleporting around like a demon.

The “averaging son”? The failure who arrived too late at Terra and even betrayed everyone by trying to make his empire? The man who broke the legions and seems to have seeded his own chapters replacing half of his brothers warriors with his own?

They are gonna have to change Dorn completely or commit to the bit and make Dorn a pissed off soldier who has now seen everything he and his sons fought against had become what he has to fight to protect.

[sweetmage]

#unfortunately all of that was tossed out in favor of a 'actually templars are oppressed too guys :(' plot in DAI so :/ <<< i hate this so much cause actually it could had been done well but its like. well who is oppressing the templars?? uhm?? who is making them take lyrium and teaching mage's babies to be templars since they are children? and everyone is like "hahah idk but we need to restore the chantry's power"

LITERALLY!!! You are so so correct!

I would not have minded (and actually would have enjoyed!) focusing on the plight of templars as well if a.) They didn't try to paint mages as being equally as bad in the process and b.) They did exactly what you said and tied it all back to the people up top who are responsible for many of the worst atrocities plaguing Thedas: The Chantry.

Unfortunately that remains one of my least favorite plot points in all of dragon age because of the complete 180 they did between 2 and Inquisition. This is not a "both sides" issue between the templars and the mages. Sure, one group is being kept controlled rationed drug addiction and brain washing since childhood (terrible!) but the other is literally being forcefully ripped from their parents and forced into a prison tower where they are constantly abused in every manner, made tranquil, have no privacy or free will, and can be completely eradicated at the whims of the Chantry. These are not at all the same.

PLUS They act like this is a Kirkwall specific issue. It's not! I've seen the Harrowing, I've seen the dungeons of Kinloch Hold, I've seen how willing they were to lock all the mages in with demons to save themselves, I've heard Anders talk about being locked in solitary confinement (which in our real world is considered a method of torture) and woken up by being beaten in the head, I've hears him say how mages would jump to their deaths to escape the tower. I've also seen the templars giddily hunt him (and break orders to do so) like he's an animal.

Do not send me back to Ferelden and try to pull this "actually the rebel mages that look suspiciously like Anders are bad and dangerous but the poor little templars :("

And don't even get me started on how the tranquil and their plight are relegated to like 2 conversations and not treated as much a big deal.

But yeah, we should build up this chantry organization regardless of race or whether or not you're a mage (and can I just say making you a noble mage who had a cushy time in the circle is bullshit? Lol).

Okay, sorry for going off but you're so correct and I have so many feelings about this topic asfjsdk

[seeker-ophelia]

HAPPY DRAGON AGE DAY

Conniving Crows, Wicked Watchers, Lustful Lords, Vivacious Veil Jumpers, Wild Wardens, and Shrewd Shadow Dragons!

Me: THANK YOU SO MUCH EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU FOR FILLING OUT MY SURVEY! You: Lady, what are you talking about? Me: A couple weeks ago you filled out my survey! You: Oh yeah, whatever happened with that?

Well, let me tell you, good internet people!

Dragon Age: The Veilguard in “One Word”:

If I had a nickel for every "Fun, but..." or "Pretty, but..." responses, I would have a lot of nickels. "Fun but not Dragon Age" was my personal favorite.

If you don't see your verbatim response here, that's because there was 650 of you. And I had to take some liberties with verbiage here.

What were your Overall Impressions of Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

What did you like the MOST about Veilguard?

What did you HATE about Veilguard?

Ho, nelly, you guys.

186 (>28%!) of you used the “Other” box to expand on your ideas (which is part of why this graph is so uhgly) but I appreciate every single one of you sharing your thoughts with me.

19 (2.9%) of you said something pertaining to “The Writing” even though that wasn’t an option

112 (17%!) of you mentioned (at least one of) the words: shallow, pale, child-locked, darkness, nuance, choice, conflict, empty, sanitized, or (my personal favourite) toothless.  

Some “Hated” Honorable Mentions:

“Neve’s Hat”

Fuck off her fascinator is fascinating

“Not Being able to Swim”

I read it before and I still laughed; this one is the real MVP

The Death of Varric

☹

The one person who said “Harding”

I will fight you

The TWO People who said “Too many puzzles”

Bitch is this Taash? How did you get access to this???

**Shout out to the people who pointed out I spelled DIALOGE wrong, yeah I know sorry I’m an idiot

If Veilguard were to have a DLC, which Companion Characters would you want to see return the most?

I find it SO interesting that I asked for 5, and there were 5 VERY CLEAR winners...

(Cole, Dorian, Fenris, Merrill, Zevran, by a veritable landslide; there’s over 100 votes between the lowest – Merrill (284), and the next highest – Cassandra (177))  

To those of you who can’t read: the HoF, Hawke, and the Inquisitor are NOT Companion Characters.

Also, to the one person who responded: “No one deserves to be dragged through that” I see you.

*I did not have time to collate the data supplied in “Other” but I think there’s a pretty obvious winner here

And now, if a “Keep” DLC were to be made, which choices do YOU think are the most important to have?

Before we jump into that, I would just like to say how little these answers differ; despite my open ended question a LOT of people wrote the same things.

Some of you, bless your little hearts, explained your choices like im a dumb bitch who hasn’t been living in the wiki and played each game 2/3/5 times. Like I would be doing this and not know what Orzammar or the Architect is.  Bless your little worm spirits you’re so adorable.

Every person who said “Inquisitors Class” followed it up with (weird I know sorry uwu im so weird im sorry) like… guys. You know…. You are ALLOWED to have OPINIONS. And you’re not weird there was like 6 of you. You're not alone.

To the EVERYTHING/ALL OF IT people; I see you.

Four people were brave enough to admit they couldn’t remember anything, and 55 people didn’t write ANYTHING.

Behold, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat:

Circle Fate: Fate of the Chantry Circles after DAI

DAI Wardens: Wardens exiled/accepted in DAI

Divine: Who you chose for the Divine (DAI)

Fade Fate: The Fate of the person you left in the fade in DAI

Mage/Templar: The outcome of the Mage/Templar conflict (not differentiated between Inquisition/2)

Southern Rulers: All three Rulers of Southern Thedas; Ferelden, Orlais, & Orzammar

The Well: Who Drank Mythal's Bathwater (dont kink shame me)

Any answer with less than 5 responses got taken out for brevity and are listed below:

(2) Nothing Cuz they destroyed the South, (1) ANYTHING!!!!!, (1) fuck you (bioware) for disregarding the entire lore of the first few games, (1) I think the most interesting things are the smaller stuff you don't expect to carry over.

(2) Andraste's Urn, (2) Avernus (research), (1) Awakening companions fates, (2) Calpernia's Fate, (3) Cass/Tranquility, (2) Clan Lavellan Status, (1) Cullen/Lyrium, (2) DA:O Dalish Clan, (1) DA2 Isabela, (2) DA2 Qunari Plot outcome, (1) Dagna (Magic School), (1) Danarius, (1) Disband/Keep Inquisition, (2) Faded for Her Result, (3) Hawke Siblings Fate, (2) Inquisition disbanded actual consequences, (1) Inquisition Support of Nevarra or Tevintrer (josephine war table quest), (4) Inquisitors Class, (1) Iron Bull, (1) Isabela, (1) Paragon of her Kind (Golems), (1) Prisoner at Ostagar, (1) Rule of 3, (1) Save/Stop Solas, (1) Sha-Brytol dwarves, (1) Shale, (4) Solas/Inky Approval, (1) Solassan Implications, (1) Solavellan Vallaslin, (1) Soldier's Peak, (2) Sten, (2) Zevran/Darker Crows.

To the one person, who commented: “I think the most interesting things are the smaller stuff you don't expect to carry over.” I see you. And I am percolating.

If the Devs/Anyone at BioWare happens to see this, the last question I asked was this:

If you could ask the Devs/Writers of Veliguard one thing, what would it be?

A lot of responses are focused on the lore. More are questioning the narrative & lore decisions & implications of VG. Some are begging for DLC. Some are flat out rude. One is a proposition. But there are a fair amount of people who want to ask you;

‘hope you're okay’

‘How are you holding up?’

‘I hope despite everything you know that your creation is loved and adored.’

‘THANK YOU!!!��

Intelligent fans know the development Hell VG went through to be born. They know corporate culture. They understand there's often more than meets the eye. Fans of Dragon Age know what heavenly good delicious golden content BioWare can make. And they're hungry for it. Take some well deserved rest, and then come back to the table with us, because we cannot wait for more.

A Sappy Little Note:

I have Zero online presence and really expected to get about 100 responses total, and I got 650 (*mind blown emoji*), I wasn’t even able to share it to reddit main (bc of the fvbjvks mods). Most of these responses are from YOU GUYS on good ol’ tumblr.com and Im so weepy about how you all got involved and shared your thoughts with me Thank You SO MUCH.

For those of you who messaged me about the DLC, you are not forgotten. Believe it or not, I have a plan. Watch your inboxes over the next couple days, because I’m going to be prickling your creative brains over the Holidays.

Once more, Thank You All, so so so much for participating. Bare your blade, remain vigilant, and keep an Eye out for The Agents.

[sewermageboy]

I think one thing that BG3 has really helped me consciously embrace is how shitty and rude and sometimes borderline evil characters can be, and that that doesn't take away my enjoyment of them. I don't need to moralize their actions or opinions, I don't need to ignore them. Astarion is a fucking asshole, he's racist, he's selfish, and yet he's one of my favorite characters of all time, partly because of how complex he is, and how much nuance he was given.

Like, retroactively, now that I'm back on my Dragon Age bullshit, I think I downplayed a lot of the negative aspects of Anders in the past, bc the debate around him is so heated, and there's almost that expectation of "if you like him that means you think he did nothing wrong ever" and "if you think he was wrong/cruel/whatever that means you must hate him."

But no. He's an absolute asshole to Fenris and Merrill, he's downright cruel in some of the comments he makes in party banter. Blowing up the Chantry stoked distrust and hostility towards mages across Thedas, and exacerbated the violence that came during the mage-templar war. And yet, it's understandable why he got to that point, why he felt it was the only thing he could do. He's cruel and obsessive, but he's also kind and selfless and loving, and that makes him so complex and multifaceted!

Anyway, the DA Fandom has this tendency to have everyone justify their enjoyment of a character according to both in-world and out-of-world politics, and BG3 with all its fucked up, flawed and lovable characters really helped me to consciously divorce myself from that.

[baudouinette]

Art log: old, unfinished projects… once again

Warning: long post, lots of yapping

another oldish project that I wanted to do in a KCD (Kingdom Come Deliverance) style. I have a very clear vision of the horse’s pose and his too, but… I can’t find a reference for it. (I might make it a palomino in this one btw!) Nowadays I’m leaving references behind for the most part, but for horses I’m not at that stage yet lol. // I also wanna draw him in joust in another art even if he can’t partake, just because I love the aesthetic of it 😅

The text is from the letter to Constance of France because I love that intro, but I’m still thinking of what to add next.

•The sword is the basic one I drafted over a year ago, looking at the one from the movie, looking at period-accurate references, then adding my favorite guard which is similar to the movie one but stylized to my imagination, and basing the grip on the movie too. There’s not really much to it, because there’s only so much you can do without straying from accuracy.*** But I always have to go back for measurements/dimensions for example, just to make sure. I still need to get used to drawing them effortlessly. I sometimes want to just change the guard a little (I like to make curved guards most of the time but I’m partial to straight ones too), or add stuff to it like little inscriptions or very few gems. Obv in the pommel I always add the cross, but on the other side I may add a fleur de Lis too sometimes. Especially with a ceremonial sword such as this one, he needs to be fully represented with his emblems.

***There are other “options” but they seem too simple for a king. But I do love them for knights. My OC Juliette/Julius will have a pretty plain sword for the most part, by the nature of the Order. Tho… she might acquire a bit of a nicer one along the way ;) (this is still super raw and quickly sketched so ignore the errors and goofiness. But I really like her and I think I hadn’t shared any concept or art of her yet)

I remember the first time I watched the movie and the swords were the first thing I (and I think everyone) noticed even tho I was a kid, and then talking about it in high school years w friends in a crusades groupchat like 🤓🤓😅😅😅 (some are actually ok? Funnily though, it’s some of the extra props. You’d think giving the King an accurate one would be priority)

•I have various versions for different stories (or not tied to stories at all) but in each I always give him two (“twins”): the battle-ready one and the ceremonial one. The ceremonial is technically battle ready too, but it’s got its own place and reserved for… you got it, ceremonies, and knighting, and imparting justice—hence why this particular one in the first image (name pending) has the inscription “Iudicium in Terra”, and why it’s so golden (more pure gold and expensive materials). Sometimes, I think of a heirloom sword for him too, that carries a lot of meaning. It was normal for royals to have more than one sword.

(art WIP) •The one from HCW says “Benedic et sanctifica hanc gladium cum tua serenissima pace et voluntate.” Baldwin calls this one Pais Sereine, and Sereine alone as a nickname for the battle-ready counterpart to set them apart. However, I'm not happy w the way it looks here, too similar to those exaggerated fake Templar swords that I hate. How did I draw something similar to something I hate? Makes no sense. I really should also design the Andalusi swords of the Al Jazirah family and guardsmen (bc Andalusi swords are so pretty and interesting!), as well as my concept for Saladin, etc etc.

I might buy Nomad Sculpt to sculpt all my “assets” for fun and for practice for my game dev journey. I’ve always had Blender but I need to work straight on a screen, so I’d rather work on iPad for sculpting, then for anything that needs rigging, hopping to Blender. I could make Baldwin’s “exact” sword from the movie but with accurate proportions and mod it into a game like Skyrim for funsies. I wanted to mod the mask into it too, and into Fallout for my ghoul-loving gang <3

And here’s another old concept:

JFK as King Arthur (in a non-fantasy way and w some accuracy lolol)

For Excalibur, this is just an interpretation with creative liberty in mind. The guard is supposed to have beast heads, like dragons or lions, so it’s fun to base it on Charlemagne’s for that. The pommel of Joyeuse (Charlemagne’s, although this sword is also legendary) is an Oakeshott type B or B1, supposedly the blade a slender Oakeshott type XII. Yes, this is more contemporary to his time, so I wouldn’t give him that blade, as I would for some of the crusaders n Baldwin. You can’t see the whole blade in the drawing so I’d leave it like that and not put much more thought into it. I could give him a late Roman-type spatha, but I’m also not sure, I can’t imagine Excalibur in that way for some reason, the blades are short and I imagine Excalibur a little more formidable (but I also don’t imagine that enormous, overcharged, super inscribed sword they always give him that makes no sense 💀). Although I did shorten the guard just a little to make it a bit more “accurate” and I should shorten the grip too. I might still change it into a spatha after all, if I continue it 😂😂

•I chose Romano-brit scale armor. I still had to add the pteruges (sturdy strips in the armor, typical of Greek and Roman). His shield would have a small religious icon. I in part use JFOliveras’ (who does give him a spatha) work as reference for many of my general historical works. Because he uses his references from real art from the eras, as do I. But he can sometimes help interpret many of the specific, hard to understand parts.

•I just… abandoned this because I didn’t like it, it wasn’t the vision I had, and now my skills are better over a year later. I thought of adapting it to a similar composition as the one above.

•For those not into JFK, the Camelot musical was his and Jackie’s favorite, and they played the record basically each night “before they drifted to sleep upon their cot”. And it’s also the name of their administration. Since it was more like a royal one than a presidential one. I always wanted to draw him as Arthur (and not Lancelot. Even tho his code name was Lancer.)

Speaking of sword names, I think El Cid’s la Tizona/tizón is pretty cool.

In the series Isabel they show the inscription to be “Ave Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum”. He had another one called Colada, for “cast steel”, but colada also means laundry in Spanish so I can’t shake that off 😂 Titionem would be cool as a sword name, buuuut I refuse any word that starts with “tit” LMAO or anything that can be joked about (“Taeda” could serve as a substitute tho). I thought of a Greek word too, then decided against it because it started with “dik”. A sword name that sounds like d1ck… yeah, no. 💀

⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️

////I had this post in my drafts (just added the newer art from HCW and of Juliette from Vide Cor Meum, and have other posts like this but they always remain there because I assume people don’t wanna read so much text (yapping, basically). A lot of times I cut out text from my posts and explanations because I’d rather people read a resumed version even if it doesn’t contain all info, specific terminology, or my full lore, than ppl seeing so much text and just not reading any of it, not even the beginning. ☝🏼🤓 but I know there are others who would. Would anyone also like to hear about other medieval weapons, siege weapons, languages, garments and armor, specifically chain mail (a hyperfixaton ⛓️), strategies, formations, diplomacy, instruments, music and dances, horses and horse riding and riding with ur legs and…? 🤓🤓🤓🤓 I will go bonkers even about super specific stuff like girdles/belts (I have a hyperfixation w them too 😂👉🏼👈🏼)

My brother is also a nerd (about everything) but since he’s done sword fighting for filmed media, I always make a point to ask his opinion about my swords and he’s like 🙂‍↕️👍🏼 , so we ballin’

Can’t wait to afford a real sword and duel him. Although he might lend me his Amazigh sword if he buys another one of those, he’s not happy with the current one, and we could try with that. Tho obviously I want to use western swords with western martial arts.⚔️⚔️⚔️

EDIT: oh!!! And I have this three way mirror that I was gonna use to paint a Christian triptych. But i may make one dedicated to phases of Baldwin’s life in medieval art style. I would include religious imagery too, but yeah more focused on him.

[ephemeralinstance]

Veilguard and character motivation

I really love all the Veilguard characters; I think a lot of the character writing in this game is fantastic. They're all well-rounded and well situated in the world. Neve is absolutely adorable and her romance is one of my favorites ever. With that said - the characters sometimes do feel a little flat compared to characters in some past games. But I actually think that's very little do with the characters themselves and more to do with the plot giving them little of real moral depth to care about or have opinions on. In past games, you had characters who felt deeply about complex and difficult issues in the world: Mages versus templars. The Chantry and faith. Blood magic and the plight of the elves. These things gave the characters real agendas outside of the main 'defeat the villain' plot, which made them feel more well-rounded. And it allowed for substantive, meaningful character conflict, both between the protagonist and the companions, and inter-companion. Solas and Bull arguing about the qun. Anders and Fenris about mages. Alistair leaving the party if you disagree with him on Loghain. Vivienne condescending to you about the Circle. These dynamics felt very real and meaningful.

The Veilguard companions aren't given any issues like that to care about, so in the end the only disagreements are about trivial things like what to take on a camping trip, which ends up seeming a bit infantilizing. It makes the otherwise strong character writing in the game feel much weaker. It's a pity because there is an obvious subject that could have been used to give the characters more moral depth - Solas and the Veil. Imagine if Bellara were someone who had been working with Solas. She joins forces with Rook&Co because the Evanuris must be defeated, but she's still committed to bringing down the Veil when it's all done. That uneasy collaboration, the tension, waiting for an inevitable parting of the ways. Can Rook change her mind? Or will she change Rook's mind? What happens if she and Rook fall in love? Or if Emmrich pursued the consequences of caring about spirits to their logical conclusion and started to think that Solas has a point. Will he conceal his change of heart? Will he try to change Rook's mind? Can he still be trusted? How will the other companions react when they hear what he has to say? Will they hate him and want him out, or will they waver in their conviction as well?

Or if Lucanis, having spent a year being imprisoned and tortured, decided it's wrong to leave Solas trapped alone in solitary confinement being psychologically tortured. Maybe he even thinks Solas' actions in escaping the prison were partially justified, because he remembers how he would have done anything to escape. How would the other characters react? Would they be angry, defensive? Would they listen?

Or if Neve had some views on abominations. Maybe she's actually seen it happen to fellow mages. Maybe she starts asking questions about whether taking the Veil down would end abominations. Will the other mages agree? Will they have alternative solutions to propose?

I guess they were afraid that if they allowed us to think about these things too many people would end up wanting to take down the Veil, but isn't that just an indication that this is a genuinely interesting moral issue that would have added depth to the game? Even if they weren't going to allow us to take it down in the end, I think it would have added a lot to the plot and particularly the characters if the game had given us a real issue like this to care about.

[thekingofwinterblog]

How to fix Halamshiral as a Zone

Inquisition is a flawed game.

I don't think there's anyone who is going to argue otherwise.

The only question is wheter you place it higher or lower than DA2.

One of the things I think it does better than DA2, is that it managed to give every place a soul, an identity of it's own, and at least a distinct, if not always amazing storyline.

The emerald graves doesnt have a very interesting plot, but it has some spectacular side quests, and atmosphere, inculding a haunted mansion, which might be my favorite possession based quest in all of DA because it shows much better than others just how dangerous untrained mages actually are to those around them.

The storm coast tells a story of what was once an important dwarven port, and shows how it fell and was repurposed over time.

The Hinterlands shows the aftereffects of the templar mage war, as well as solas stupid plan to give cory his orb, and the mage rebellion and an actually decent time travel story.

I could go on, but the point is, I usually have at least aomething nice to say about every single region.

All except one.

Halamshiral.

Halamshiral was the single worst part of all of Dragon Age Inquisition for me, and every single time I boot up this game, it's always the last thing i do before the temple of sacred ashes, despite how bizarre the game flows as a result.

And the reason is because i hate everything about it.

I hate it's unique attempt at side quests, i hate the characters involved, i hate the Orlesians who inhabit it, and i hate how this section tries to copy what worked so amazingly well with Orzammar and Denerim during the landsmeet section, and fails every single shot it lines up.

The ONLY good thing i have to say about this, is that it's at the very least relatively short.

So here's today's question. How to fix Halamshiral?

Let's begin with the three main players.

Celene, Gasparde, and Briala.

The big problem with every single option, is that they all suck.

Celene and Gasparde are both fucking awful people without any redeeming qualities, they have no charisma, and there is no prospect of the Empire reforming itself under either of them, the way Orzammar would under Bhelen.

Meanwhile, Briala is much, much better, but the problem is that we know exactly what is going to happen here if you support her.

Maybe today elves will have it better, but tomorrow, when Gasparde is gone, or celene turns on elves again as she always does all the progress will be repealed, and reversed, along with a few purged alienages.

Its an old story that's been told before in Dragon age.

In short, there is no reason at all to care about this overall plot. None whatsoever.

There were so many reasons to care about both Orzammar and Denerim in the same situation, and every single character involved had so much more charisma than either of these would be monarchs.

So let's fix that.

Starting with Celene, take the idea of her wanting to reform the empire, and actually take it to the next level.

Celene is genuine in wanting to reform the empire, and has already taken grand, successful steps to make the entire thing much better for everyone, even elves, giving them and serfs more rights, outlawing the practice of chevaliers having a tradition of killing unarmed city elves to graduate.

But the catch is, while she is genuinely making progress, she is doing so within the confines of the great game.

Celene has nonintention of changing the great game, no plans of wanting to remove this thing that holds Orlais back more than any other, this center stone of their nobility and it's culture.

Meanwhile, Gasparde is a different kind of reformer, one that takes the ideas he had of him claiming to hate the game, and actually doing something with it.

He is far less progressive, has no love for elves, is far more warlike than Celene ever was... But unlike Celene, his ideas of reform isn't going to act within the grand game.

He's going to break it.

Unlike canon gasparde, this gasparde is hated by every single noble family in the entire empire. His only support, and it's a strong one, is the army. The parts of the army that supports Gasparde, and they are a huge part, are loyal to him personally to the hilt.

And he hates them back. He hates the game, he hates the way it cripples the empire, and he wants to change things. Like Celene he plans to break the serfs free of their chains, for the good of the nation and it's power and economy if not for any progressive reasons.

And he'a going to start with Halamshiral.

For this Gasparde isn't merely positioning men to stage a coup... He's planning to kill EVERY SINGLE NOBLE in Halamshiral. Evety man, every woman, every child there.

He's going to reform this empire by wiping out it's cancerous nobility in one fell swoop, and install himself as supreme dictator to see his reforms through, and wiping out the entire Orlesian nobility that might have opposed him, french revolution style.

And thus the Inquisitor has a dilemma.

Unlike Orzammar, where only one side was a reformer, both of these Orlesians are... But you have to choose one.

Do you choose Celene? The more progressive candidate, who wants a more peaceful Orlais going forward? But who is not willing to get ridd of the grand game to do so, thus making it a permanent risk that all her reforms will be undone...

Or will you support Gasparde, and by doing so be complicit in destroying the entire nobility of Orlais, many of whom are not guilty of the shit that Celene and Gasparde here both hate so much? Gasparde is far less likely to create a peaceful Orlais going forward... But he will have obliterated the Grand Game for good and all, a prize that might be worth this Red Wedding style bloodbath.

Meanwhile there is Briala, the elven spy who has enough influence to allow, or prevent Gasparde's plans from going through.

Here there should be another moral dilemma, quite different from the base game.

Do you convince her to aid Gasparde, in exchange for the Elves getting a duchy of their own in Halamshiral? Do you then back her up with Inquisition forces and support, forcing Him to publicly announce her as such, and trust his own, twisted version of honor to actually stick to it going forward(Something he ultimately does), or do you throw her to the Wolves the moment things get rough?

Or alternatively, do you convince her to side with Celene, and bury the hatchet? And if so, on what terms? And similarly, if she actually wants to get something out of this, you actually need to back her up... Something you may, or may not choose to do.

And voila, here you have an actual story of intrigue, massive, lasting political changes as a result of the Herald's actions, and morally grey on grey choices.

Everything that Denerim and Orzammar had in spades.

Now moving on from the plot to the actual place.

Halamshiral has no soul.

It's a french villa on a mountaintop. Whoop de freaking do.

It has no interesting murals, unique art only found there, interesting geography, or anything really to make it stand out.

Compare it to Denerim and Orzammar, and the way they fleshed out the entire city's levels of power and criminal underworlds, and you see the difference.

Denerim is a very realistic, squat, squalid medieval city, with it's buildings built on top of every single bit of available space.

Orzammar is a full on high fantasy dwarf city lit up by a lake of lava.

Halamshiral is a villa presented as a city.

How do you fix that?

There is an artist here on Tumblr who pretty much showcased what Halamshiral could have been, if they had taken the idea of the Dalish(who were the original owners) taking inspiration from native americans(amongst others), and use that to build a truly spectacular city, which has long ago been paved over, but the structure is still there.

Make it a city on the water, like the aztex capital of Tenochtitlan, a marvel of canals and stone.

Make it this Venezia like city, with canals everywhere you look, and the entire city running on water. A marvel of Dalish city building, where they took something as simple as a couple of islands in a lake, and built the most beautiful city in the world.

And rather than just limit you to the palace, instead let you actually explore this city.

Expand the entire event from one night, to a week.

Let the Herald explore the city, meet the players, interact with the nobles, become friends with a few like you could with Ferelden's bans, which in turn makes the possibility of sacrificing them for the greater good hit so much harder.

Let you choose what fancy stuff to wear to the balls and meetings, rather than have this stupid motto of forcing you to wear one, pre determined outfit like this game had for some reason.

Let you discover the places where what little Elven Architecture and art still remains can be found, and talk with the elves who still live here, the descendants after the first elves the Orlesians enslaved.

Make the plotting of Gasparde and the positioning of troops be gradual, not instantly discovered and twarted.

And at the end, if you choose to back Gasparde, you mirror that scene from Dragon Age 2, where the Templars sail across the bay, and you either step aside and witness the bloodbath you just allowed to happen, or you fight them and be recognized by the nobility(most of which are horrible, horrible people) as a hero who just saved the day.

Have the venatori plot be to kill both Gasparde and Celene, rather than their involvement mostly be about handing the player the the easy knife for the knot of which monarch to pick without having to get your hands dirty.

Also have the entire group be gathered for once. Every inner member of the Inquisition just like at Denerim.

Each of whom have their own thoughts on the events.

Who supports who? What is the right thing to do? What is better for the inquisition? Are you staining your honor beyond repair if you back Gasparde? Does the Inquisitor maybe have a breakdown after witnessing what they just allowed to happen and they walk through the gardens or rooms filled with corpses? Maybe have the scene at the end with the love interest be about a moment of them truly comforting their lover in the aftermath of it all, understanding(or not) that as boss, it's your job to have to make the tough decisions. And now you have to live with them.

Or if you wanna go the other way, this could be one of the breaking points like Origins had. If you support Gasparde, Blackwall choses to tell you to get bent, and that he will die as benefits a knight. Defending the week, and calling you out on how you are just as bad as he ever was, a child killer who's going to run away from responsibility, to pretend you are some better person than what you actually are. You're a murder. Just like he was. You are just as responsible for the blood that's flowing as he was with that carriage back in the day.

It would have been a far more impressive reveal moment for his crimes, that's for sure.

Cole probably would be the one who would be second most upset, but wheter he leaves or ultimately stays should probably be depended on your other choices and your relationship with him prior to this, probably have his personal quest be the determinating factor of what he chooses to do.

And i could go on, but point is, this would be a return to Origins choices actually mattering. There were choices that could make or break a characters bond with you. Shale would not budge regarding Caridin, Leliana and wynne would stand against you if you choose to defile the urn, Sevran would choose to betray you for his old friend if he didn't like you enough, and of course the age old choices at the end of act 3 in da2, where you have to pick between templars and Mages, as well as anders fate, and chances are regardless of what you do, at least 1 person ends up dead.

If anyone reading this has any suggestions for how to further improve this storyline, feel free to share, but regardless, i think we can all agree that this is a vast improvement of what we actually got.

[solasfenheral]

i really hate to be yet another voice critiquing veilguard because I Do Like It but like. man. the thing that sticks in my craw is that this is the first time i've really gone 'the world feels a little smaller and more contained with a majority of these companions and their articulated world views' in a da game.

one of my favorite things about inquisition in particular is that it really feels as though characters come to both their banter and the plot itself with their own fully realized worldview which they're fully prepared to go to bat for. sure, it was a little frustrating to not be able to articulate arguments on their worldviews through inky at times, but the companions did so with one another.

bull and solas argue about the qun and personhood. blackwall and sera laugh at dirty jokes together. cole and vivienne are in a constant tug of war of cole trying to heal her pain, vivienne feeling dangerously raw and exposed in that pain and trying to pretend to herself she doesn't grow to care about him. dorian and sera go back and forth about the average person's fear of magic vs dorian's upbringing teaching him that it is a gift. vivienne and bull on control and presentation in a society that fears you will lose your grasp on the former. dorian and solas on slavery. cassandra and cole on faith and the legacy of the templars.

and in so many of these conversations, characters never DO reach a complete understanding of the other person. but you the player reach a holistic understanding of who they are often by who they struggle to understand and what ideologies they'll defend or refuse to examine or REEXAMINE.

and I just don't feel that from a majority of veilguard's banters. there's too great an imbalance imo between lighthearted banter centering on fleshing out a character's personal tastes and benign opinions when we have like. lore shattering plot events going on in the background.

[marimayscarlett]

Americans are going thru it today, is there any way you could bless us with sweet facts about Rammstein and Richard? Thanks for your help, I know I absolutely live for your detailed posts, they're my favorite ❤️❤️

Hi 👋

First of all, my heart goes out to all American citizens who hoped, voted and fought for a different outcome. We live in very surreal and scary times and I just wish you all lots of strength and calmness for your minds 🍀🤍

Now on to some other, hopefully uplifting/interesting enough things to get your mind of things - maybe not all sweet ones, since I grabbed them from the top of my head so to speak and searched for the sources afterward, yet I hope they provide a little bit of distraction:

tiny little fact I love: Richard is actually a proper country boy. Eventhough he was born in the city of Wittenberge, he lived up until he was 7 in the german countryside in the little village of Weisen, which according to Google has 997 inhabitants. "That was a beautiful childhood with alot of nature, cats and dogs and a big family with two siblings."

as the most memorable (or miserable) jobs he ever worked in, Richard listed the following: window cleaner (since he suffers from vertigo), making shoes and selling them, going through an apprentinceship for becoming a cook and cleaning for an old lady who had stuffed poodles in her apartment.

if he could timetravel, Richard would choose to visit the period of the Knights Templar, 11th century, since he feels rather drawn to this history era.

a little fact about Richard and the gifts he gets from fans to his door step I think about regularly with mixed feelings: "I myself got a rose on my doorstep every day for years. Sure, it's nice - you always have roses at home, but there are so many unpleasant feelings involved. For a while, someone always left cigarettes in my mailbox. My brother always had to smoke the first one!"

Richard took singing lessons with a coach who also worked with Mick Jagger. Said coach scolded Richard a lot due to him smoking right before class - in one interview Richard mentioned he was so intimidated by that coach that he was ready to call his parents to pick him up. But he went through with it and worked a lot on his voice, which became quite beneficial for his singing.

Apparently, the idea of the infamous Flake-stew during "Mein Teil" came from Richard, who then actually was less than enthusiastic for his own idea: "I had the idea of Flake being cooked in the pot, then I realized, the first time we actually did it onstage, that it was too convenient, just stupid or not even funny, whatever. So I said, ‘I hate it’. But by that time, the rest of them had done it and loved it…"

The band actually considered various names before they settled for 'Rammstein': Tempelprayers, Mutter (mother), Milch (milk), Erde (earth).

A well known fact or rather, legend, but I think about it a lot: Richard recorded the whistling for 'Engel' it true chaotic composer fashion, namely while he was taking a bath and was struck by creativity. The band apparently didn't manage to record a better version, so his version was used for the song.

some song recommendations by Richard - these were his favourites back in 2009: 'Hurt' by Nine Inch Nails, 'Baby I'm gonna leave you' by Led Zeppelin, 'Sin City' by AC/DC and 'Personal Jesus' by Depeche Mode 🎶

I hope this helped at least a tiny bit! Sending you all the good and cosy vibes you might need 🤲🏼

Have some cuddly R+ guys for emotional support:

Sources: Rockhard magazine wir.sehen.euch rammwiki Emigrate Kerrang rammwiki Rammstein

[queenrizzardnthelizardscissored]

finally wrote out what i hated about DATV lore [SPOILERS]

my problem isn't really the lore in particular. like any answer to the question of "who is andraste" or "what the blight is" would be unsatisfying. it's that its there at all and super heavily focused on. like, the thing i loved about Origins is that it's not really about the blight. it's about political turmoil and a traitor whose fear of cooperation ends up dooming the nation, and the origins reinforce this. City elf in particular has a just brutal intro that focuses entirely on the politics and inequality of the society, as well as the community that forms to help support them. The mage origin is equally brutal, with your friend being sentenced to lobotomization for basically no reason, and again your friendship (or perhaps betrayal) despite the fact that every hint of community is cracked down upon. The influence of andrastianism is omnipresent and heavily politicized. Every group but human noble faces persecution in some way, and even the human noble is sort of treated as dead the instant they join the wardens. their role is very narrow and departure from that role is fucked. What you fight in origins is, by and large, not the blight! you fight the dwarvhen nobility who are stuck in political gridlock even as things get worse, trying to reclaim their past glory. you fight the templars who are so blinded by fear and by their duty that they are willing to slaughter men women and children wholesale. you fight the retributive (maybe justified) cruelty of the dailish clan and their rightful fear of outsiders. you fight political corruption and graft and a leader who is willing to sell his OWN PEOPLE into slavery for what he claims is the good of all.

then in 2, you're just some refugee mercenary struggling to stay afloat in a foreign city, surrounding themselves with a support group that's also fucked up, trying to keep the city and their family (new and old) together. Yes, there's the bit about the red lyrium, but even then, meredith doesn't really go insane just because of it. It's because of the turmoil initially sparked by, well, a number of things; the blight, the qunari presence and subsequent invasion, an influx of refugees, and the mage crisis, which is a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts - the mages are performing blood magic out of desperation, so she restricts them more, so they get more desperate, so she restricts them more, and so on, not to mention the influence of religious extremism and fundamentalism. we get to see the radicalization of everyone in your party as the world seems to get more and more dark, as your family/group splinters, but is held together almost by the fact that they have nowhere else to go, that they need support. characters fight, make each other worse. they are also all individuals, all their own people, struggling against each other and against society. the crimes of individuals are both tied to political turmoil and trauma and also uniquely their own. The story is so tragic, and all the tragedy comes from PEOPLE. the insufficient evacuation before the blight, Loghain's abandonment on the field, then isabela's theft of the tome and the qunari fanaticism and fear of punishment that keeps them there, the fear of the unknown and the andrastian zealotry that stokes the flames of both qunari tensions and hatred against mages and the elvhen. We also see that there exist communities, that this hatred is not universal; anders provides free healing in his clinic and it is so beloved that the community bands together to protect him. it's also my favorite game in the series for the above reasons, the helplessness your character feels and the tragedy of their lives in general.

Inquisition starts to lose the plot, but i've always seen corypheus and the evil blight guys not so much as villains in their own right as much as a force that needs to be arrayed against, a la blight in DAO. there's scenes like the winter palace where rascism, classism, and xenophobia are major issues, in a horrific society that burns alienages and treats elvhen only slightly better than slaves. and thennnn they start to kind of go off the rails with weird lore stuff - but even then. even then. we have the tevinter mage driven mad by his son's terminal illness, willing to do anything, but also tinged by the cult of exceptionalism from his homeland, his belief that he is rightfully justified to do anything and everything because he and his people are superior. we have samson (who SHOULD HAVE BEEN CULLEN. Come on. it works so much better if the guy we've built up across 2 prior games as hating mages is the one to do it here) who is motivated not even purely by hatred of mages but by the way the chantry treats their templars, by the way they are thrown aside after and left to rot after they serve the purpose. there's the town councillor who sells her own people into slavery in an effort to keep the town afloat and people alive in the middle of a civil war that threatens their wellbeing. there's the mayor who floods a massive area and murders countless in an attempt to save more lives by preventing the spread of illness. None of these characters are super-gods, nor does all this 'deep lore' matters. what matters is the culture, the mores of the society, the zealotry and belief and disbelief.

what im trying to say i guess is that andrastianism is interesting not because of any objective reality/did the maker actually exist guys??? questions, but because of the cultural effects it has. like leilana thinking she's chosen in DAO, like the templars thinking they're performing a holy duty, like the oppression of other religions, like the multiple exalted marches and the schism between the southern and northern chantries, like the xenophobia in DA2, and, in something that i feel that inquisition underexplores, the sheer and utter fervor that convinces hundrds of thousands of people to join something called 'The Inqusition' under a person they believe is chosen by their god. The same thing is true for the dailish, especially given they've been opressed and fucked over, driven out of their lands. An interesting part about Solas in inquisition for me was his inability to understand cultural change and his fixed idea of what the world is: the valasslin as slave-markings stuff was really interesting to me because of the cultural connotations, how they changed from slave-markings to symbols of a people over time through reclamation and simple loss of knowledge, how they evolved, and then how Solas can only see their initial meaning without understnading that their cultural meanings and connotations have shifted, that they now symbolize freedom from humans and a distinct cultural tradition, an effort to maintain an identity even as the world punishes them for it. And of course there's the dwarven, living in the ruins of their past empire, constantly holding back the tide of the darkspawn thanklessly, while also getting wealthy off of the money provided by the fact they are the sole source of lyrium, and the qunari, with their quasi-fascist, fundamentalist society that is so utterly alien to almost every other character.

But in this game they ignore all that and focus entirely on the objective 'is this statement true' thing. it shouldn't have mattered for the stories in Dragon Age WHO the enavuris are, were they evil or not. It shouldn't have mattered that andraste is mythal. what should have mattered is political tensions, rascism, xenophobia, slavery, trying to build a better world even as hope seems dim. That's what I loved about DA2 - all the bright spots in kirkwall even as the world is fucked, like the literal lantern Anders lights for his free clinic, and in DAO and DAI it's much the same - your character is a bright spot, of sorts, trying to make the world better or acting as a source of hope. An ordinary person dealing with extraordinary things. But these extraordinary things themselves are not usually directly the magic or the blight or corypheus, those things are just the catalyst. They are forces arrayed against a fragile society, toppling the inbuilt power structures and straining value systems to their limits. Telling us that everything was the ancient elves all along is hackneyed and lame, but it's also useless (or it should be.) What does it matter what the elves were or who the maker was or if the golden city is actually what it is? what matters is that people think the maker is real and spirits were made by Him, the elves think the enavuris/creators were gods, the templars think mages and demons are dangerous, etc, etc.

And htis is where DAVs writing really falls apart. Lots of people have talked about this, so im going to keep it short. First and most obviously is rascism is gone from the world, basically. your character is an elf and yet despite the game taking place in the 'all elves are put into slavery' country, no one gives a shit. And then of course is the fact that no one gives a shit about these massive revelations, and are all easily believed, and that the dailish so easily turn on their gods. But beyond all these problems is a bigger one:

WE SHOULDNT HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH GODS.

this was a mistake first made in inquisition, but fucked up more and more in this game. This series has NEVER been about gods, never been about these things, which is for the better; there is SO MUCH FANTASY talking about gods and stuff. Here, though - oh actually this god is now evil and now we're dealing with two blights at once etc etc etc. Worse even than the fact that this ruins the entirety of the lore and the core conceit of dragon age as a deconstruction of fantasy tropes and a more grounded universe is the fact it ruins the power levels and the fact the interesting things of the previous games are gone. In DAO we spent a whole game trying to kill one archdemon, and it takes cooperation from the elvhen and dwarven and the mages and the actual nobility and banns of Ferelden, and then a character either DIES TRYING or is saved by a dubiously moral ritual, and EITHER WAY IS IMMORTALIZED IN HISTORY FOR IT in a massive tomb in weisshaupt. In this game? we kill TWO archdemons in one game and no one BLINKS. We fight elvhen gods, oh, just another day at the office. ALL OF THE SOUTH IS OBLITERATED and almost every character from the previous 3 games is dead? oh. yeah. that's normal dude. no one seems to even give a shit that that happened.

Solas is an interesting character on his own, but they should've made him useful and powerful in a different way. in trespasser, he has spies all over the place, a whole power network, and he's doing so subtly. he makes an effort to save people even as he tears the world apart. now, though? he's on his own and evil and immensely powerful. How does this tie in to any cultural aspects? how is he a personable evil that navigates cultures and societies and religions? he's just one dude out to fuck up/fix the world.

this was too long but i had to get it all out.

[transtevinters]

Inquisitor Q&A: Arwyn Lavellan

this was inspired by @bubblecat-co

the original list can be found here.

1. What nickname does Varric give your Inquisitor?

Varric calls him Songbird. Part of it is for his voice/his singing, and part of it is for his uncanny sense of danger. He’s always the first to know that something’s wrong, like a canary in a coal mine.

2.How does your inquisitor respond to being called "The Herald of Andraste?" Does their opinion change over time?

Oh, he hates it. He frequently reminds people (at least in the Inner Circle) that he is Dalish, always has been and always will be. His new title is something he only uses when he has to deal with Important Inquisition Things™️, and that’s mostly because Josephine asked him to.

3. Did a side quest or NPC interaction resonate with your Inquisitor? How did it make them feel, and why did it speak to them?

It’s the little ones that get to him the most. Helping refugees, freeing prisoners/slaves, stuff like that. It reminds him that he’s not doing this because he’s some Chosen One; he’s doing this because people are dying and he’s the only person in Thedas that holds the key to stopping it.

4. Did your Inquisitor leave any family behind before the Divine's Conclave? Do they keep in contact with them afterward?

He left his whole clan behind when he left for the Conclave, and fully intend on coming home as soon as possible. He stays in touch with them as much as he can, especially as the Inquisition grows and it’s becoming more and more clear that the Templars might target them. He brings his kid to Haven, too (which ended up being a good thing because he was right about the Templars😬).

5. What's one faction in Thedas your Inquisitor would want to align themselves with that wasn't an opportunity during Inquisition?

If they had been around at the time, he would’ve loved the Veil Jumpers. I think if he hadn’t been at the Conclave, he would’ve found his way to them eventually.

6. What's your favorite part of your Inquisitor's backstory/lore? Either something provided in-game or something you made up!

Before his magic appeared, he wanted to be a hunter as a kid. You can kind of see that he still wants to be one, too.

He’s my Rook’s dad! Elio is ~11 during the events of Inquisition.

Him and Dorian end up having 2 kids together: Daphne and Felix. They’re ~7-8 when The Veilguard takes place.

He has a cat. Her name is Andruil.

This was accidental, but part of the way I characterize him was heavily influenced by Lucy Grey Baird from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Miles Abernathy from Compound Fracture. I was re-reading both books when I started Inquisition so it kind of bled into the way I played him.

I have a habit of giving my character’s some kind of physical change during the events of the story/game. For Arwyn, he loses part of his vision in his right eye when Corypheus attacks Haven. He’s not really insecure about his eye or his scars. To him, it’s proof that he survived.

7. How does your Inquisitor's life change after the Exalted Council? How do they cope and recover?

It took him a little while to figure it out. Him and Dorian maintain their relationship, figure out how they’re handling the whole kids situation, and he helps Varric find Solas when he can. He still has to handle some diplomatic issues every so often, but it’s rare. He lives a fairly quiet life (for a former Inquisitor who’s secretly married to a Tevinter Magister), and he’d prefer to keep it that way.

But then somebody decided to become the Archon 🙄🙄. /j

8. If your Inquisitor had a "hot take" about something in Thedas, what would it be?

Probably not a hot take, but he definitely thinks the Chantry should not be as powerful as they are. Or at all.

9. If your Inquisitor had a tombstone during "Here Lies the Abyss," what would it say?

Failure. He is terrified at the possibility that what he does will not be enough. Failure means his friends and family could die, and he would never forgive himself for that. He’s afraid that he’s not enough; as a leader, as a father, as a partner, you name it. He has so many people counting on him, and he cannot afford to let them down.

10. What's one quest that gutted your Inquisitor? The one that would have them rethinking their life choices.

Failing the Protect Clan Lavellan Quest. He lost just about everyone he considered family because of a decision he made. He blamed himself for a long time.

Here Lies The Abyss was also not great for Arwyn. The Nightmare demon was working overtime to get that man spiraling. The only person who came close to having a worse time than him was Iron Bull.

11. Which goodbye is the hardest for your Inquisitor? What companion did they hate to lose?

Watching Dorian leave for Tevinter for good hurt Arwyn a lot more than he let on. He knew it would happen eventually, and they’re trying to make it work, but it hurt. And then throwing their kids into the mix? Yeah they had a rough go at it for a while. They figure it out, I promise.

Varric’s death in The Veilguard hurt too. They were good friends. The fact that he was killed by someone Arwyn once also considered a friend only made it worse.

12. Is there any character from past installments with which your Inquisitor would get along?

I have not played Origins or DA2 yet (scraping together the $ for a PC so i can though!) but I think he would’ve liked to get to know Merrill, but would’ve had a hard time understanding some of the choices she makes. He probably would’ve also gotten along with Alistair (he would’ve had a massive crush on him too lmao).

And if we’re counting The Veilguard, he would adore Bellara and Mae. He’d probably also get along with Tarquin. Taash would remind him a lot of Elio.

13. Is there any character from past installments your Inquisitor would consider a rival?

Pre-Inquisition Cullen “mages aren’t people” Rutherford would’ve probably been someone he would’ve punched in the face. (I promise, they get along fairly well in Inquisition. He recognizes Cullen is/is working on becoming a different person now and wants to help him be that person.)

And while i think they would have agreed on some things, finding out about/witnessing Anders’ plans to blow up the Chantry would’ve definitely soured any chance of a friendship between the two of them. And Anders’ racism wouldn’t have done him any favors.

14. How does your Inquisitor cope with such a significant leadership role? Did their opinions or personalities change during their two years of maintaining the Inquisition?

Cope? That man is hanging on by a thread most days. Being the First of his clan was more than enough; what do you mean they picked him to lead The Inquisition. There has to be someone more qualified for this than him! Anyone…? No? Well…shit.

15. What do you hope to see from your Inquisitor if they play a prominent role in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

While I wish the Inquisitor had more screen time in DATV, I think the role he plays in canon suits Arwyn perfectly. He may not have the same level of power and influence as he did back in the day, and he was enjoying his semi-retirement. But he’s done all of this once before. When all else fails, he can do it again.

(But after this, he is definitely retiring. For good this time. He’ll get Leliana to release an official Chantry statement if he has to; he’s done being The Herald.)

Idk if I’m supposed to tag anyone but if you want, pretend i did lol.

[apolloarting]

I CAN MAKE A FUNNY DRAGON AGE AU I JUST REALIZE THIS. I HAVE POWER AND I CAN SHOW LOVE TO MY TWO FAVORITE GAMING FRANCHISES.

- Omg Henry's home got destroyed by Qunari or Darkspawn.

- Henry (human Warrior - Champion maybe berserker) he might be a grey Warden though his protection of Hans wouldn't make sense unless he was also a warden. Maybe he's a templar, that could work really well actually. Anyways he kinda gives Hawke Vibes

- Hans (Human Rogue - (archer) ranger & maybe bard) is some noble like the Couslands and maybe is also a templar or warden. Or not.

- Bozhena is a witch of the wilds which i love her for.

- especially because of how elves are coded in the series Sam would either be an blooded or Just a city elf. Maybe sword or dagger. He gives me vibes that tells me he'd dislike mages.

- Zizka is a grey warden who just wants to stop the darkspawn but everyone hates the grey wardens 😭

- Dry devil is a human noble though i don't know who the others would be

- Kathrine as a elf is really cool to me especially since she blends in as servants

- brabant being Orlesian makes me laugh so much. Orlesian Chevalier or Bard

- Mabari Mutt