#surface dwarves

[thekingofwinterblog]

Varric Tethras - The Proud Dwarf

So it's not a big secret that the best companion Bioware ever created was Varric Tethras, the lovable rogue, crossbowman, author and handsome Viscount of Kirkwall.

There are ao many reasons to love Varric, but one I don't see much discussed, is the subtle, and contradictory relationship Varric has with his own race, the Dwarves of Thedas.

Varric makes it a point of always putting his seeming disdain for his own people out in the open, always making it clear how much he dislikes the traditional Dwarven culture, wqy of life and so on.

He describes Orzammar, one of the great wonders of the world as cramp tunnels filled with shit and body odor, he never fails to mention how much he hates the deep roads, and he often mocks dwarven pride at any opportunity with his usual wit and charm.

On the surface, Varric might seem like he has a lot in common with Sera and her racist views on all elvhen kind, but that really, really is not the case.

Because under that exterior of seeming disdain, is a man who both understands Dwarven Culture in all it's flaws, but also loves it and hates it in equal measures.

Varric has always made it clear how much he loved the Hanged man, and essentially made his room there his office, his real home away from the uber dwarfish merchant guild.

And do you know what he fills it with?

The dwarfiest architecture you can imagine. Varric has a dwarf table, a noble dwarf chair, dwarven artwork on the wall, and even a dwarven stone bed.

All expensive and traditional stuff which he would have had to had personally paid for to transport into this room out of his own pocket.

Varric for all his harsh words on the Dwarven people, WANTS to live in a home that looks utterly Dwarven.

The most obvious moment that puts Varric's love for his dwaf ancestry on full display is of course the act 2 quest from da2, where he and an insane(temporary lucid) Bartrand has a heart to heart where both puts their real feelings on the tragedy of their situation on display.

Varric chastises Bartrand for in his madness having thrown away every bit of his dwarven nobility and honor on a stupid trinket, and Bartrand ends up begging his brother not to let house Tethras fall with him, in this display of utter madness and dishonor.

The entire thing is a deeply tragic display where the two brothers show that deapite all their differences, they really did love each other deeply, as well as the fact they had a shared love of their ancestry as Orzammar Nobility.

Of course Varric almost never comes out and says it nearly this clearly anywhere else, as showcased in another side quest where you give him back the Tethras family signet ring that Bartrand had to pawn to finance the expedition.

He doesn't come out and say it, instead focusing on the bad aspects of Orzammar in this quest, but unless hawke is rivaling him when he gives him the quest, varric has a huge approval boost in response to getting his family ring back, showing the thing really did mean a lot to him, despite his disparaging it and Orzammar in said quest.

Later, in Inquisition, Varric never misses a chance to badmouth Orzammar and tradition, but he reacts with incredible sadness at the prospect of Orzammar one day possibly falling.

When Solas asks him about Dwarven literature, and whether there is a lot of Dwarven tricksters, varric gives a smartass remark summing it up as Dwarves tend to write how they want the world to be, while humans write how they think the world is, eith the latter being clearly superior.

It's a good scene, but it has a deeper meaning that ties into Varric's deeper views on Dwarven culture.

Varric knows how Dwarves write, because he has read Dwarven liturature, and understands it completely as both a dwarf, a reader, and a writer, and how it in turn differs from human literature.

For all his grumbling on dwarves in Orzammar being obsessed with their ancestors, he himself is the exact same way as shown in legacy when you find the original Tethras and gives him to the stone, able to shortly remember every bit of his own family lore on the spot and being moved to tears by the tragedy of it all.

Varric defends both surface dwarves and Orzammar dwarves against Solas accusation that they have given up against the darkspawn threat, though in his usual way, he makes it out like surface dwarves are clearly superior.

Varric genuinely loves and cares about so much of Dwarven culture and history, and he understands it deeply.

Which in turn also is the reason he genuinely hates so much about it.

Like all of the DA2 companions, Varric has something he is deeply, deeply obsessed with, something that drives him as a person, and motivates his actions through the entire story. The difference between him and everyone else, is that this obsession never reached a conclusion, because Varric doesn't get to actually face it, and confront it.

That obsession is, of course, the Dwarven Merchant Guild.

Varric HATES the Dwarven Merchant guild, and though he uses his regular humor to portray it, in this case it's actually the opposite of the way he will always be critical of the Dwarven people. Because Varric hates the guild far, far more than he ever pretends to hate Orzammar.

Varric always talks of how shitty the guild is, how it embodies the absolute worst parts of dwarven culture, and essentially how it ruined Bartrand from ever being able to function as anything other than a cutthroat businessman. He time, and time, and time again, refuses to interact with the guild, breaks the law hard to not have to participate, and all in all cold shoulders them and their cutthroat culture completely.

There is a very important, significant moment in act 3, that is incredibly easy to miss, but completely recontextualizes varric's entire motivation for wanting the deep roads expedition.

Varric talks about the real reason why Bartrand wanted to go through with the expedition, of how it represented the one chance he had to get AWAY from the guild forever, just by being rich enough he no longer had to deal with them anymore.

Varric portrays it as Bartrand's big wish and motivation, hut it's incredibly obvious if one pays attention that this was a wish the two brothers actually shared, a mutual desire in the world. Which in turn is one of the reasons why Varric is so incredibly angry at his brother when he goes off the deep end due to the idol and betrays them.

Him and Bartrand got into this venture to finally, once and for all get out of having to deal with the worst parts of surface Dwarf society, and here his brother seemingly willingly turned his back on all of that, showing the only thing he ever cared about was pure greed.

In other words, everything both he and Bartrand hated about the Merchant Guild.

Varric hates the Caste system. He hates the division between surface and "regular" dwarves, and he thinks Orzammar's nobility has a collective stick up it's ass. And yet despite all of that, he loves the Dwarves. He loves the idea of nobility and the ideals it is supposed to represent, he loves Dwarven architecture, their grand ability to make shit, and the incredible grit and romanticism about the Dwarves long, unending struggle against the darkspawn.

The only part of Dwarven society Varric has no love for, is the Merchant Guild. It is Orzammar's nobility without anything resembling virtues, nobles who lost their caste, and yet still enforces a brutal hierarchy of blood, and cares for no ideals, no honor, no cause, except for the clink of money.

Varric is such a deep character, and I really wish that in the future, we get to see this aspect of him fleshed out even more.

[biancadavri]

Oh don't get me wrong I'm sad we've been getting so little about the dwarven kingdoms as much as the next orzammar fan but hey! If you get really into surface dwarves and their lore you can get fuck-all about them too!

[apostacism]

maybe i should make an aeducan... it's the only way i can ever see myself restoring the anvil of the void

[mabaris]

also. tbh. a little disappointed it seems like taash is Also going to be from the qun, or at least a very recent defect. i was hoping we’d get to see more vashoth characters

[swordmaid]

random specific thought but i kinda like the idea of drow's skin glowing when they're in the underdark and the shade is based on whatever their undertone is... it's a subtle glow ofc they're not out there looking like led lamps but it gives them more of an ethereal vibe i think... also it's similar to those glow in the dark mushrooms you see in the underdark so it checks out lol

[circesoracle]

my thoughts and opinions on Harding's windows are normal😊I am not assuming the worst of Bioware😊there is surely a reasonable explanation for the windows being the way they are only after Harding moves into that room😊Bioware remembers that surface dwarves particularly those born on the surface are often not considered dwarves at all and that Harding specifically states she has no connection to dwarven culture😊I trust this and have normal opinions about what amounts to set dressing for visual interest😊she is not being racially profiled by the Fade🥰

[heniareth]

One if the problems I run in with dwarven people living exclusively underground (especially in settings like Dragon Age where going to the surface is equal to exile from the underground-dwelling community) is the problem of food. How do they grow it? Where do they grow it? And what do they grow? Dwarves allowed to access the surface may find inventive ways to use what precious farmable land they have, maybe construct elaborate vertical gardens with innovative irrigation and heating systems to feed a population known for eating a lot and eating well. But what of strictly subterranean dwarves? What do they eat apart from fungi maybe, and whatever edible beasts prowl the dark? Most importantly, where do they get carbs, vitamins and feed for lifestock from if they have no land and no light to grow crops?

[jemandthesingalongs]

doing some thinkin and while i still want to rp it out i think my warden alivah will preserve the anvil and just add that to the guilt pile alongside connor and everything ever in the alienage

[nohr-selphias]

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

[vigilskeep]

I think the “where’s your nobility” thing is less about varric’s opinions and more about trying to appeal to Bartrand’s emotions? Like Bartrand is definitely the “real dwarf” out of them and I think Varric would play to tht almost subconsciously bc he’s such a like. Manipulator. Not necessarily in a negative way but he always plays an angle even in his really vulnerable moments. So he’s like “what would make Bartrand regain his senses best in this moment?” And also a little bit throwing that in Bartrand’s face maybe like “all of your talk about dwarven nobility and honor and you’re still a piece of shit being haunted by evil rocks”. He does have such a tasty son of immigrants thing going on tho I want to eat it

yeah i can see that! i guess it’s just the way he says it, it definitely reads as an earnest appeal (whether because he means it or because he thinks it’s what will get through to bartrand) rather than like bitter “where’s your so-called honour” type of thing. and it’s startling to hear him say

i’m just always so interested in varric opinions of orzammar because he’s so strongly against it but he also has no memory of what it’s really like, all his knowledge is secondhand. it’s not about orzammar, it’s in reaction to how other people feel about orzammar. idk i still don’t feel like i fully understand varric’s takes and where they come from yet but i’m fascinated by them because i love orzammar and also opinions

[peppermintgrim]

*blows a kiss to my computer* this one's for you, Aldith Sereda Wilhelmine Aeducan, kinslayer & kingmaker

[justanotherdmdammit]

Me: Hm, I did not sleep last night due to a nasty headache. I will lie down now and have a restful night

My brain: Lets do some WORLDBUILDING! Go read about the potential long-term effects of HYPERGRAVITY on the human body and oxygen production in LIGHTLESS ENVIRONMENTS

Me, as always: YES SIR *googling the types of fumes produced by geothermal activity*

[amatres]

actually surana can't die anymore because i need her to be besties with sigrun so they can bond over being technically dead together and also so she can hang out with dagna to conduct questionable scientific studies together

[bhalspawn]

what's orzammar's water supply like