#this IS about lucanis and also solas and also astarion and and and

[seaglassmelody]

The popularity of “woman’s magic love saves man from horrible fate” in fandom sometimes concerns me lol…….

Especially when the man in question 1) created the life he lives on his own and 2) sometimes doesn’t even need or want to be “saved” from it

[jcniper-backup]

When you love a male character so much you're actually willing to read fic for them even tho you're a lesbian but 80% of the fics you open for him hit you with:

*pits women against each other*

*incorrectly labels him dom*

*correctly labels him Dom but makes him incredibly sexist*

*xyz is straight coded*

*only has like one woman in it and that woman is a flat one-note villain*

*never gets punished for any of his transgressions or confronted about flaws but the women do*

[doberbutts]

One of the really insidious ways black people in media get treated is that despite our stereotypes expanding outside of "thug" "slave" and "prostitute", we are still very limited on *what* we can be portrayed as.

It is no shock to me that the two black women in Veilguard, for instance, are either medium toned like myself or a nonhuman skin color (introduced as a woman). It doesn't escape my attention that the only black woman in Baldur's Gate list of companions is also a nonhuman skin color. Dark skinned black women are still considered too unattractive to include as potential romanceable candidates, as it *also* does not escape my attention that the darkest we've had was Vivienne who was simultaneously regarded as an incredibly unlikeable character by huge swaths of the fandom and also unavailable for romance.

But moreover- why can't the bubbley nerdy cute mage be a black woman? Why can't the shy but resourceful archer be a black woman? Why does the black woman have to be someone with their guard up, walls as high as a skyscraper, cynical and callous? Why can't the black woman be the warm and loving Wynne, or the somewhat naive yet devout Leliana? The stalwart and just Aveline? I know plenty of Isabelas, and Viviennes, and Neves, and Taashs, but I also know plenty who are Merrill, or Bellara*, or Harding, or Cassandra, and I even lived with a Sera for a while. Why can't she be Bethany or Morrigan?

The closest we had was Josephine, who again is still fairly light skinned, but at least she has a bit more flexibility. And she isn't a companion, so her screen time is fairly minimal if you're not taking the time to romance her.

*And I don't begrudge Bellara too much, as A: I adore her and B: I'm pretty sure she's our first visibly Asian companion which is a milestone in itself. My point is more that Bellara could be black with virtually no story change because I know plenty of bubbly chirpy friendly black women who have a deep love of their hobbies and interests, who are bisexual and even prefer women, with deep trauma in their pasts, and yet the choice to *not* do that speaks to a problem the media has in their depiction of black women that is far bigger than Bioware.

And it doesn't escape my attention that the men have this problem as well- Wyll and Davrin* are both regarded as boring by their respective fandoms due to the choice to play it safe and stick with the extremely good and upright and just knight character instead of giving them something more messy- Astarion and Lucanis could be black with, as said, little-to-no change in their storyline because I know-even have dated- pansexual former sex worker black men with intensely complicated feelings about sex and intimacy, and I've had plenty of ex-con soft yet dangerous men holding themselves at a distance to prevent themselves from hurting anyone as my friends and even extended family.

I know plenty of intensely nerdy and probably autistic black guys who will infodump gladly about their special interest to the point of it consuming them. I know plenty of black guys with martyr complexes who think they have to tear the world- and themselves- apart just to fix what is broken in this world. I know plenty of black guys who, despite their own inability to get their shit together, are like a port in a storm every time you talk to them. I know plenty of black guys who are extremely educated and well respected within their field, with gentle yet commanding demeanor. Any of these characters *could* be black, and yet they aren't, and the choice to do so is again far bigger than Bioware and Larian.

*Davrin, like Vivienne, being the darkest and first blatantly black male companion instead of potentially able to be ambiguously "of color" like Zevran, Fenris, and Dorian. Even more damning that they'd considered, like Sera, making Solas blatantly black in his concept art and instead chose to make him a pale egg.

As someone desperate for representation, it becomes quickly obvious as I take inventory of what roles black people are given that we still aren't considered as complex and nuanced and interesting. We're allowed to be more than we were before, but we still have a long way to go.

[fangatic]

*✧･ 2024 blorbo awards *✧･

my love and light @forget-me-maybe tagged me in this and it's so fun and who doesn't want to talk about the blorbos? + my own categories, just for fun.

i'd like to invite @lizziemajestic and @faetouchedfool and @kimberbohwrites to the ball! if you want to, of course. i could sit in a circle with all of you and scream about these characters all day.

blorbo of the year (+ villain of the year)

solas, dragon age: inquisition/veilguard. i know, i know. we're all shocked. my moots and irls all pray for the day i get over him so i can talk about literally anything else, send them art of anyone else, and act deranged about anyone else. since i picked up dragon age for the first time this summer, he has been on my mind to the point of psychotic obsession. love u pookie also he was right sorry world

bastard of the year

aradin beno jr., baldur's gate 3. oh brother this guy STINKS. he is perhaps my favourite wet, angry dog and he has been my first ever 5-minutes-of-screentime-and-never-left-my-mind. there is so much potential hiding behind those sad brown eyes in that angry pretty face. i especially enjoy him when he's being fucked by older men who don't give a shit about him (or do they?), kudos to @graysparrowao3.

aradin also brought me the beno babes, the sweetest group of equally feral people i have ever met and with whom @lizziemajestic and i have created a wonderful online space with. and of course he has brought me lizzie, who truly is the brightest star in my sky.

tear jerk(er) of the year

astarion ancunín, baldur's gate 3. yeah, yeah. fork found in kitchen. if i think about him too much or look at him for too long i start gagging on nothing and tearing up. solas may have won the battle this year, but astarion has won the war forever. he was the first fictional character i ever experienced this level of obsession with, and he singlehandedly caused me to pursue fandom spaces and got me back into writing fan fiction. my one true love i fear.

kiss of the year

solas' fade kiss, dragon age: inquisition. i actually screamed and almost threw up when i saw this. i think about it several times a day every single day. the head turn, the immediate open mouth, the shaking of the head like he just cannot help himself, the fact that they didn't bother to animate his hands correctly and yet still made sure to animate him making her grind on his thigh. i will never be over this or normal about it.

sex scene of the year

lucanis dellamorte, dragon age: veilguard. RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH lucanis was my first da:v romance and i've made several attempts at romancing the others, but i keep coming back. this scene was so beautiful and so sexy and full of so many delightful implications oh my GODDDDDDDAAAAAAMMMMMNNNNNNNN RAAAAAAAAAAH I'LL NEVER BE OKAY AGAIN

oc(s) of the year

inquisitor lavellan, dragon age: inquisition/veilguard. and theus. my moots know better than to ask me about theus bc i genuinely cannot stop once i start, so i won't. just know that he is my son and i love him. my inky will probably one of my favourite player characters of all time and i draw/think/write about her every fucking day bro.

[marybeatriceofmodena]

Spoilers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard under the cut (with a bit of criticism, nothing dramatic though)

I'm enjoying the game so far and all the lore reveals on Solas and the Elven gods (which are the best part of the game so far, hands down). I'm also liking the companions we're meeting so far (BELLARA <3), they're all very charming, but I think my one complaint is that... they're all too nice to each other? Not that there's anything wrong with that (I lied. Friends are USELESS IN MY PLANS FOR WORLD DOMINATION), but I'm really missing all the delicious little nuances the previous games had between the companions. Like, sure, players will tend to choose the "good" options for companions and make sure everyone gets along well, but you don't even get the option to, I don't know, set the can of gasoline on fire, or even get an occasion to even just put out the can of gasoline on fire.

Like, if Baldur's Gate 3 is anything to go by, players LOVE exploring tragedies, to the point there have been so many people who just replayed the game, again and again, just to see how different outcomes go. And I mean, I went in not expecting BG3 quality (as sad as it is say, because Dragon Age has been such a formative experience for me as a story). There's the nuance of Lae'zel and Shadowheart hating each other in part because of, yeah, racism, but also in part because they're much more like each other than they'd care to admit. There's the nuance of Astarion making fun of Wyll and dismissing him as an idealistic idiot, when you know it all stems from envy. There's the nuance of Karlach being hands down the most beloved person in camp, yes, but because all the companions see a little something of their own suffering in her, and see that despite it all, she decided to be kind. Like, yeah. They bicker. They argue. They might try to stab each other. But it makes them feel real, and it makes them becoming fire-forged friends all the more satisfying.

And maybe I'm just too early in the story for now, but it is... weird that everyone is just completely okay with Lucanis being possessed by a demon. Like, you'd think at least one companion would get a bit panicky about it (understandably so)? Like, maybe Neve feeling queasy around demons due to fears surrounding them/blood magic/insert tragic backstory element here? Hawke and Co. were maybe a bit too chill about Anders being a potential abomination, sure, but there was still tension there.

It ultimately feels like Mass Effect: Andromeda (except I'd argue the characters in DATV are actually interesting lol), where I just wish I had *something* to chew on lol. I'm not asking for a catfight, just something!

(There's also the fact that the Crows are way too nice as well but that's a topic for another day lmao)

[orlesianhennin]

I don’t think that when people say Lucanis will be/is the most popular companion they are being literal or that they’re referring to everyone in the wider playerbase… we are referring to the actual fandom/community in which case it is very much true. I don’t care that most players are straight men who aren’t going to romance him, I AM a tad resentful that a ridiculous majority of hardcore/invested fans give him the most attention. It’s just disheartening and something that happens with every fandom.

And no I am not attacking people who are interested in romancing him in the slightest and I don’t think expressing frustration at this trend (Alistair, Anders, Solas, Astarion) is anything more than that… just expressing frustration! Romance being a part of these games is great and I love that people are so engaged with them. But there’s more to the game and any future content might be catered specifically towards one or two characters more than anyone else.

And it’s disheartening, again, when people don’t also appreciate the other characters or pay them any mind or they’re totally ignored and forgotten or only talked about in relation to dialogue they have with the fandom darling. And it’s alienating to be a fan of multiple aspects of the story and to care about the writing generally and try to engage with all of the companions who are all unique and interesting, and to exist in a wider community that seemingly only cares about their Special Guy idk!!!

I’m really not trying to shit on anyone’s fun at all I just wish people would devote even half of their time in these spaces to appreciating the other characters who are equally lovingly crafted esp the women characters that’s all

[cheerysmores]

Introduction

Hello all! There are a whole lot more of you now so I thought I'd give a proper introduction. I go by Cheery and this is where I post about the pains joy of writing (BG3 & Dragon Age right now).

You can also find me at @cheerysmores on AO3 as well as Bluesky 🦋 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　

My OCs

BG3

Cirinna (Ciri) Aendryr-Dekarios: Fire Draconic Sorcerer🔥

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Phyrra Mercar: Elf, Shadow Dragon, Spell Blade🩷

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　

Fics

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

↳ Over the knife's edge: Lucanis x Crow Rook, angst, smut, hurt/comfort (I had a LOT of thoughts about his final romance scene and Spite biting people). Gift for @callmethebrightness. AO3 link ↳ Old regrets and new beginnings: Solas x Lavellan, a little Veilguard Solavellan prologue set the night before the events of the game. (Gift for @mumms-the-word) ↳ Unfinished business: Lucanis x Shadow Dragon Rook (Phyrra). Some thoughts on what would happen if a crow contract was taken out on Rook ↳ Yours. Mine. Ours: Lucanis x Rook (Phyrra) x Spite, shameless post game smut. AO3 link ↳ Between the bones: Lucanis x Emmrich. Two men who know nothing but death take some time in the Necropolis gardens to think about life. (Gift fic for @sorceresssundries) AO3 link

Dragon Age Inquisition

↳ Heavier than Sin: Cullen x Lavellan Inquisitor, angst, 18+, smut & angst, hurt/comfort. AO3 link ↳ You Will Come Back: Cullen x Lavellan Inquisitor, (Gift fic for @weaveandwood), 18+, smut (basically I had a lot of feelings about THIS particular scene). AO3 link

Baldur's Gate 3

Gale

↳ Stay: Gale x Fem Tav, Act 2 romance scene (non astral), Gale POV, 18+, smut & angst, hurt/comfort AO3 link ↳ Ardently: Gale x Fem Tav, (Kind of a part 2 to Stay but not necessary reading), Act 2 romance scene, Tav POV, 18+, smut & angst, hurt/comfort AO3 link ↳ Just as you are: Gale x Fem Tav, post-canon (pre-epilogue), hurt/comfort, fluff, Gale POV, Gale has chronic pain. (Now with artwork by @laserlope) AO3 link ↳ The definition of home: Gale x Fem (illithid) Tav, post-canon (pre-epilogue), emotional hurt/comfort, fluff, reassurance, Gale would still love you if you were a worm, Tav POV AKA I saw that Gale is still 100% on board with marrying Tav even if they become a mind flayer so THIS was born. AO3 link ↳ Another stolen moment: Gale x Fem Tav. Gift fic for @magspeaches! 3K of gratuitous face sitting. 18+ AO3 link ↳ Broken Horizons (11/20): Gale x Fem Tav (Ciri), post-canon, orb destabilises, ANGST, Major Character Death, heavy Tara feature, happy ending (I promise) 18+ Prologue The night before Day one Trance #1: Common ground Two months Trance #2: Wash me clean Eight months Trance #3: Choose me Twelve months Trance #4: Aendryr-Dekarios Twenty-five months Trance #5: The Meaning of Home

Astarion

↳ Shades of red: Ascended Astarion x Fem Tav, 18+, smut and angst, biting (whole lotta biting), blood, choking, Tav POV AO3 link ↳ Sunrise sunset: Bloodweave, some netherbrain fluff and feelings. Birthday gift for @unforgiving-girl AO3 link

Isobel x Aylin

↳ Moonlit quiet: Dame Aylin x Isobel Thorm, hurt/comfort/fluff, spoilers for Act 2, Isobel POV, Isobel and Aylin take some time for themselves following Ketheric's death AO3 link

[eastern-lights]

I've already compiled my thoughts on Dragon Age Inquisition and Baldur's Gate 3 and what I think DAI does better. Now that I've played through at least the first third of Veilguard, I have thoughts on how it compares.

(Spoilers for Veilguard up to the Hossberg encounter, but nothing major for the story, mostly companion dynamics)

Basically, while I do have my gripes with Veilguard (mostly concerning the tone), I was pleased to see that the writers doubled down on most of the things from Inquisition I considered to be superior to BG3, namely how well the protagonist fits in with the rest of the cast and the party dynamic.

Rook is fundamentally different from Tav. While Tav is a character created by you the player, Rook is a character created by the writers, customized and played by the player. The former approach offers much more options for customization and characterization, but it also means that Tav is at the same time everything and nothing. In order to give the player this kind of freedom, the world must react to Tav in a universal, and sometimes bland manner.

Because Tav has no set character, the reasons for people liking or disliking them must come from Tav's deeds within the story itself or be so generic as to be applicable to anyone. Why does Gale love you? Why does Shadowheart, or Astarion? Mostly because you stuck by them, you helped them and, in the case of the former, weren't a complete asshole. Which, as much as I love the romances in BG3, makes them a bit shallow at times.

DATV imposes limits on the player, but thanks to that, it is able to make Rook a true character within the story. There are a few key character traits that are true regardless of how you play them that are necessary for the story to make sense: Rook is a rebellious, unpredictable, compassionate and cunning.

The fact that Rook can't really be evil bothered a lot of people, but it really works for this narrative in my opinion. The fact that they are compassionate, chaotic and snarky makes their friendship with Varric seem deeper and more plausible - they are basically Varric junior. You can tell exactly what made Varric choose them.

It also allows the writers to work with the idea of Rook being Solas' mirror. If Rook's snarkiness and compassion makes them akin to Varric, then their cunning and disregard for authority makes them akin to Solas.

And it shows. I think everyone can agree that the interactions between Rook and Solas are some of the best in the game. You can clearly see that Solas sees himself in Rook, and this could never have been possible if Rook was a blank slate like Tav.

The party dynamic in DATV really is something else. Admittedly, I would have preferred to have more conflict between the companions, but no one can deny that their dynamic is deeply developed. You know exactly how they feel about each other. By the time you recruit everyone, you know how Lucanis feels about Neve's dietary habits ffs, and none of it feels like needless exposition. It just exists in the world.

It makes the group feel more lived in, like Rook isn't the centre of everything. I loved the fact that if you take Bellara along to recruit Emmrich, she is the one who takes the lead, and he greets her first and Rook is for a moment reduced to a sidekick. Bellara and Emmrich know each other, of course he's going to talk to her rather than some rando, who just happens to be the player character.

The fact that some of them fall in love with each other if you romance neither is just icing on the cake.

BG3 for all its virtues, lacks that. I legit have no idea how they really feel about each other, other than Lae'zel and Shart's conflict. What comments they make about one another are a one line affair, sometimes delivered, I am sad to say, with some of the least convincing voice acting known to man ("Oh no! Poor Astarion! He will not see the sun again!" and variations thereof are the greatest offenders, seriously, what happened there, I know these VAs can act better than this).

You never get the sense that these people care about one another, either positively or negatively. They can potentially all be Tav's friends, but they never feel like each other's.

While BG3 and DATV are fundamentally different in concept, they do not actually differ in quality that much. They both contain both award-worthy writing and immense cringe. I believe the reason one is currently regarded as better than the other has more to do with the current preference for player freedom over characterization of the cast as a whole.

Ultimately it is all about personal preference.

The fact that it's not BG3 does not make DATV a bad game, or a bad RPG.

[thatapostateboy]

for OCs, ships, prompts and askbox prompts, see below!

My inbox is always open, feel free to ask questions, send prompts, or just pester me about any of these! You can find my shared writing prompts here or I accept random requests.

You can find more info over on Carrds here

I also basically run a 'Everyone Exists' AU for all of my stuff - for example, all of the Dragon Age characters exist in Thedas together, so I also accept requests for their interactions together!

Baldur’s Gate 3:

Nel’Tavia Lienthel 'Nell' (Tav)/Wyll Ravengard/Astarion Ancunin

Malakai (Durge)/Shadowheart/Halsin

Malakai (Durge)/Gale Dekarios (this exists in the same canon as Kai’s relationship with Shad and Halsin, but Gale’s not part of the throuple)

Malakai (Durge)/Gortash (past)

Dragon Age: Origins:

Rowena 'Tab' Tabris/Alistair Theirin

Jennifer 'Jenni' Cousland/Zevran Arainai/Nathaniel Howe

Aedan Cousland/Leliana

Callum 'Cal' Surana/Morrigan

Brianna Amell/Bann Teagan

Lyna Mahariel/Tamlen

Thrina Aeuducan/Gorim Saelac

Dragon Age II:

Marie Hawke/Anders

Garrett Hawke/Isabela

Dragon Age: Inquisition:

Brenna Lavellan/Solas

Freya Trevelyan/Cullen Rutherford

Moss Lavellan/Dorian Pavus

Summer Lavellan/Blackwall

Dragon Age: The Veilguard:

Evanura 'Eva' (Rook) Mercar/Davrin/Lucanis Dellamorte

Magnus Thorne/Lace Harding

Dragon Age AU:

Alistair Theirin /Rowena Tabris/Jenni Cousland/Zevran Arainai

Rowena Tabris/Jenni Cousland

Rowena Tabris/Anders

Marie Hawke/Varric Tethras

Garrett Hawke/Sebastian Vael

Brenna Lavellan/Krem Aclassi

Greedfall:

Genevieve de Sardet/Kurt

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen:

Alicia ‘Ace’ (Arisen)/Mercedes Marten

Liam (Pawn)/Julien

Dragon’s Dogma II:

Ceridwen ‘Saber’ (Arisen)/Glyndwr

Sebastian (Pawn)/Captain Brant

Mass Effect:

Nora Shepard/Kaidan Alenko

Sam Ryder/Vetra Nyx

Scott Ryder/Gil Brodie

Anthony Ryder/Reyes Vidal

Mass Effect AU

Nora Shepard/Sam Ryder

Fallout:

Cora (Courier)/Benny

Natalie Powell (Sole Survivor)/Paladin Danse

Stardew Valley:

Farmer Jack/Penny

Farmer Daniel/Alex

Fable:

Princess Sophia (Hero of Brightwall)/Elliott

Skyrim:

Narah (Dragonborn)/Kaiden

Rowena (OC)/Vilkas

Choices: Stories You Play

(For the Choices deep dive, check out my secondary page https://indescribablechoices.tumblr.com/post/184653680920/mc-masterlist)

[professional-crybb]

hey, hi there, I changed my username

@whispering-depths » » » @nevarran-hahren

still me! just reflecting the ebb and flow of my monomanic hyperfixation from bg3 to dragon age

also feel like I should do an intro post since it's been awhile, soooo

I'm mik! 29 yo, librarian, cross-stitcher, hobby artist, she/they is cool. this is my fandom blog, non-fandomy things will be over at my personal blog (@queenofcarrotflowers-s). my likes and follows will come from there as well. I like to post about my ocs sometimes, usually art or screencaps. but mostly i reblog things.

I'm usually super inconsistent with remembering to tag things, but I am diligently using both the "#veilguard spoilers" and "#datv spoilers" tags on *anything* related to da4 for the foreseeable future. please blacklist those tags if you wish to avoid spoilers.

» non-exhaustive list of fandoms/interests you may see here:

dragon age

baldur's gate 3

disco elysium

stardew valley

dungeon meshi

dropout tv

the sims

beastars

blue eye samurai

» my ocs (general oc tag):

Dragon Age (canon world state)

warden shira tabris (dao): city elf duelist/assassin rogue, romanced alistair (prev zevran). (she/they)

hedy mae hawke (da2): human apostate force mage/spirit healer, purple hawke, romanced anders (prev isabela). (she/her)

inquisitor janne lavellan (dai): dalish hunter/champion warrior, romanced solas. (she/her)

lorna "rook" ingellvar (datv): dwarven reaper warrior of the mourn watch, romanced lucanis (prev taash). (they/them)

Baldur's Gate 3

sorcha agaric: foundling, raised by myconids. half-drow circle of spores druid (they/she) - completed my first playthough with sorcha as a dark urge romancing astarion, but in my revised version of their story she is not exactly that. if i ever replay with them, she will romance both shadowheart and halsin.

juno: "drow" dark urge way of shadows monk (redeemed), romanced astarion (prev lae'zel). (they/them) - playthrough complete (twice lol)

tiresia allseer: urchin/orphan, tiefling wild magic sorcerer, fears her own power after a traumatic childhood experience, romanced gale (prev astarion). (she/her) - playthrough in progress

artemisia silvershield: disgraced noble, human-turned-tiefling fiendish warlock, romanced minthara. (she/her) - multiplayer playthrough abandoned, plans to revisit for future evil run

DnD/TTRPGs

gwinnera "gwin" strongbrow - gen z hill dwarf wood sculptor and art school dropout, college of creation bard with a glorious pink beard and space buns. travels the country performing live chainsaw woodcarving routines with their girlfriend, a fire-eating tiefling bard. (she/they) - created for a modern-day setting "oops! all bards" DnD campaign

hazel hawkins - 89 yo wandering occultist/researcher/folk magic practitioner, increasingly batty, cool lesbian grandma to the party. was selectively mute as a child, now never shuts up. will try to play matchmaker. got yeeted by a giant eyeball monster in the campaign finale. (she/her) - created for a call of cthulhu campaign

» other links:

my art

etsy shop (I sell digital cross stitch patterns that I create!)

ao3

feel free to say hi or reach out to chit chat about any of the things i've mentioned! i don't bite, but i *am* bad at starting conversations myself

x

[thenevarranaccord]

I disagree completely about Tav. One of the things that made this so clear to me was playing BG3 at the same time as DAV.

Most of the core companions in BG3 are in the “a nobody with some skills,” category, similar to the DAO companions. Astarion and Karlach are runaway slaves. Wyll is a rogue warlock whose noble father disowned him. Shadowheart is noted as a talented healer but seen as entirely disposable by her cloister. Lae’zel is a young, low-ranking githyanki with big dreams. Gale is the only core companion who would actually qualify as “at the top of his field” at the start of the game, and he’s been rejected by his goddess and disgraced. To top it off, he also has probably the most embarrassing (for him) introduction of any companion.

The secondary BG3 companions are more famous and competent, but you have to earn their loyalty by saving nearly all of them, and there is a clear reason why they are not as close to this situation as you are and can’t go where you can go.

It’s very rare for Tav to be set up to look stupid or be the punchline of a joke so that the companions can look smart or cool. Some of the companions might make fun of Tav if they have low approval of Tav, but Veilguard has one companion in particular who seems to go into every conversation looking for a chance to get an MCU-style one-liner at anyone else’s expense, and several other companions will do it to Rook too occasionally.

I can’t think of a single time when Tav was forced to ask a stupid question about something that both Tav and I should already know, just so that the companions can show off how smart they are. For Rook, there are at least a dozen conversations where Rook’s only role is to say, “uh… what?” There are entire conversations with Bellara and Harding where that’s basically all Rook says while Bellara/Harding rambles to herself. Rook is so stupid that they don’t even know what an eluvian is after a year of tracking Solas. It’s not an optional dialogue you can pick; most of these are automatic lines. The game decided for me that my Rook does not know multiple things that I think he should already know.

Halsin does check in on Tav. I think Shadowheart does too. Even without the companions initiating these conversations, though, *you* can initiate conversations with virtually any companion about the Absolute and the Dream Guardian. Even when you have to initiate them yourself, these conversations still make Tav feel more like a real part of this group with real relationships with the companions.

Yes, Tav can be removed from the story entirely and the story will go on. But that’s also true of every companion. You can choose not to recruit a companion, you can drop their approval so low that they leave, you can kill them, or you can let them die and choose not to revive them. This may close off a few avenues for resolving the main quest, but resolving the main quest is still very much possible without any one of them. It’s possible without *all* of them. This is also true of the warden. I believe either Alistair or Loghain has to be a companion going into the last battle, but you don’t actually have to take them up to fight the archdemon with you. Hawke can go into the final battle without anyone except Varric. The Inquisitor doesn’t have as much freedom to kick all of their companions out of Skyhold—many of them have to stay, no matter what—but it IS possible to solo the main quests.

Stopping the Evanuris is not possible without the help of your companions. You are dead in the water without Bellara and Lucanis. It’s implied that you wouldn’t make it past the prologue without Neve. There are vital NPCs that you can only contact through Harding. You can’t do a solo run of Veilguard; the game simply doesn’t give you that option on main quests. Even if you choose to leave your party empty, the companions will still have important things that only they can do during major quests. The one time that one companion can die before the final battle, it’s a necessary death to stop the Evanuris.

Incidentally, I think Veilguard would have benefitted massively from an origins playthrough option. It would have made many of my complaints about Rook moot and also massively improved the game’s replay value.

Anyway, Tav has a number of points within the story where they get to shine all on their own, even if you don’t do a solo playthrough. Tav’s victories feel like Tav’s victories, even if it’s only right to acknowledge that Tav had help; Rook’s victories are all the Veilguard’s victories, except perhaps for escaping the regret prison.

What’s really jumping out at me on my second playthrough is that the writers of the first three games understood that your character was the main character. The Veilguard writers clearly thought that the main characters were their characters, the companions.

Every scene is about setting the companions up as cool or competent or sympathetic. Often, this is done at Rook’s expense. The companions get all the witty one-liners; Rook’s attempts at humor not only frequently fall flat, but are frequently called out for falling flat (even when they’re completely automatic and the player has no say in them).

The companions have all the knowledge and skills; Rook just brought them all together and gives them all pep talks so they can focus. I’m trying to edit out all of the comments where Rook is like “Um… what????” from my videos, and let me tell you, it takes WORK. There are A LOT of them. I can count on one hand the number of times when the Inquisitor or Hawke comes across as dumb, but it seems to be a built-in, unavoidable part of Rook’s character. I have not selected a single “purple” option in all of Act 1, and Rook is still coming across as the kid who tries to be the class clown to cover for the fact that he’s always confused. Rook’s role in most scenes is to say “Uhhh… what?” so that the companions look smart.

Rook is always the one offering sympathy and never the one getting it. No one actually comes to comfort you after Varric’s death. No one asks you how you’re feeling about having to lead the team now that Varric is gone. No one tries to reassure you or give you advice for dealing with the trickster god haunting your dreams. We’re told that Neve could keep Solas out of your head, but she never actually offers to do this for you. No one comforts a Shadow Dragon Rook when Minrathous is destroyed or a Grey Warden Rook when Weisshaupt is destroyed. Rook’s problems don’t matter. Only the problems of main characters matter.

Rook is a secondary character in their own story.

[crabs-with-sticks]

"If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to be compatible to that person?" FOR ALL. I love this question. It's so fascinating!

Questions be here

Oh boy!!! ALL OCs LETS FUCKIN GO

Electra: Not at all! I had a suspicion that Electra would probably romance Emmrich in game, but the bulk of her character was made before I really knew anything about the game (I was avoiding spoilers). I think the big and unexpected thing for Electra was her platonic political marriage with Lucanis! I didn't plan that at all but I love it so much.

I will say though, I do need to stop listening to fandom hype around certain romances, because I've done it twice now (Emmrich/Electra and Astarion/Madeline- Durge) and was like 'huh, didn't enjoy that as much as expected'. Like Electra in some ways had more chemistry with Davrin, and Maddy with Wyll, but I was blinded by the fandom hype rip (also to be fair, Wyll wasn't interested in Madeline lmao)

Mara Tabris (Zevmance): when I made Mara, I was expecting her to romance Zevran, but I honestly can't remember the extent of it. I think it was one of those things, where it went hand in hand. I'd already played Origins (with an Alistairmance Amell, which was okay but not my thing really) and I wanted to do a F!Tabris because I had heard good things about the origin, and I didn't want to romance Alistair. So I think Zevran was just the natural choice for her really. Like, I made her and was like 'oh yeah, obviously it'll be Zevran' and then had some planned arcs for her in the game.

Ghilara (Solasmance): okay, this one is kind of hard I guess, because Ghil came out of my first lavellan playthrough where I knew absolutely nothing about Dragon Age (like I didn't even know romancing people was a thing, and oh boy the excitement lil teenage Jacs had at finding out you could smooch Solas was great). So she is very much built off that original character but also has more solid backstory and character which is frequently designed to be as tragic as possible in regards to a Solasmance.

Slate (Galemance): Now I went into bg3 for the first time 'ohhh I'll decide who to romance as I play' which was a lie because lets be real, I knew it was gonna be a Gale romance. But I don't think Slate was particularly designed around romancing Gale, though parts of her story were added to fit into character arcs. And I think as a character, she isn't noticeably compatible with Gale, like she's a rough and tumble thief who was rejected by her parents for being a tiefling and has lived on the streets since she was like 9. She's a child murderer (its a long story, but she was escaping from slavery). And I think that element of not designing characters with LIs in mind is really fun! That it isn't always narratively perfect, character foils and such!