tea-with-manfred

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relapsed

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the joining ritual in a nutshell

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hello everyone i just found out that every other line in cailan’s greeting conversation with the warden where he talks about your identity is marked with a VO note abt how much of a politician he’s being and how much he does not actually gaf

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“I want a gamer gf so we can fuck while playing games ;)”

unfortunately the landsmeet requires all of my concentration. it is down to me to ensure the throne of ferelden passes into safe hands

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They're so funny.

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*sets blackwall loose in home depot* be free

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I'm curious since I see a lot of differing HCs in the fandom and I want to know which one (or ones) are the most common :]

If their relationship evolves to different stages, pick the one you like the best for them!

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I had been thinking about my Rook's backstory throughout my whole playthrough with him. Being a crypt baby and all... Got the idea for the last panel when I heard Emmrich say "They've got quite the collection!" about Vorgoth during a banter with Lucanis. The whole thing escalated a little... But 'twas nice to stretch my comic muscles!

(The backgrounds are traced from shots I took in-game. Took me 2h to get the right angles and all ahaa)

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The humans have always spoken about elves being inferior, but obviously this is their own stupidity talking.

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If Emmrich and Rook had their own tarot cards like in DAI

Emmrich’s card is Death. I wanted to depict the tenderness between them and the acceptance of the inevitable.

Kaelus’ card is the Ace of Pentacles. Here, I wanted to show that being an Antivan Crow is not a game or a thrill for Kaelus—it is an unavoidable duty, something he cannot simply walk away from.

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i Love that anders’ clinic delivers babies and treats STDs. thank you for calling planned parenthood of Kirkwall. we are one guy in the sewer. they’ve been trying to catch him for Years . for birth control inquiries, press 1. for hormone therapy, press 2

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They saved the world, but at what cost...

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It fascinates me that Alistair gets lumped in with the “Chantry Boys” in discussions about Dragon Age Archetypes because it’s just. Very untrue. But it’s an idea the text actually pushes you to connect with in a way I think is purposeful.

This guy introduces us to the lore of the Blight by asking if we want “the chantry version or the truth.” If we ask if they’re not the same thing he smirks and says with some attitude “they rarely are.”

He sums up his religious beliefs saying he’s “not especially” Andrastian, and that “believes in the Maker well enough.”

He’s actually LESS religious than Zevran, who describes himself as fully Andrastian with a regular prayer routine in optional conversation branches.

The things that people use to categorize Alistair’s supposed “Chantry Boy” boy status all have non-religious motivations.

For example, the big one, his virginity, is because 1. He’s nervous around women, which is the gender he finds most attractive 2. He’s actually the youngest Party Member, being freshly 20 years old. 3. And most importantly, he correlates sex with love and was brought up to see them as requiring the other and so feels uncomfortable having sex without what he sees as “true love.” And he just hasn’t been in love yet.

Another example would be his reaction to the Urn of Sacred Ashes. He reacts with wonder akin to Leliana where many others react with a contrasting blasee attitude. Even the Andrastian Zevran.

But you gotta read between the lines here. Zevran doesn’t hold remains as sacred. He’s an assassin. So his prophet’s body is in that urn. It’s a body. The least remarkable and most mundane, perhaps even the hardest to swallow, thing she could ever be to Zevran is a corpse. Kinda takes the wonder out of faith for an assassin if she dies and rests just like any one else.

But Alistair is fascinated, in awe. 1, probably because the Chantry he doubts so much now has some kinda proof that something they said was true, unlike what he previously believed. 2, Alistair is WAY more patriotic than he is religious and we gotta remember that the Fereldans pride themselves on Alamari heritage, and Andraste was probably the most powerful and influential Alamari person to ever live. 3, he’s actually a giant history buff. He info dumps history on you often, with the memorized readings of whatever question you ask. If asked about the King and Loghain before the betrayal at Ostagar, he shows respect for Loghain’s service in the War for Independance, and knowledge of his tactics. And when speaking about his time in training with the chantry as a child, he says the education was actually what he liked most. And a lot of his gifts are things like replica soldiers, Fereldan historical things, maps, (along with his interest in magical artifacts but that’s for another day.) etc. Given his patriotism and love of learning history, yeah, the Urn is a big deal to him.

I have more things I could say, but really, I just find Alistair to be one of the most misrepresented by fandom characters. His character has a TON of subtext that challenges you to look beyond what others represent him as and the low opinion he holds of himself.

The perception of him as Andrastian and devout is one pushed on him by people like Morrigan (and others to some degree) who fights Alistair more like a straw man representing society than she engages with him as himself. She sees him as a Templar even though he left the order specifically because they abused him And he fundamentally disagreed with their practices, The Harrowing specifically being what pushed him to fight to leave.

There are, textually, two ways to interpret Alistair. Through face value aesthetics and symbolism pointing to association with the Chantry and by observing other’s opinion of him. Or through actually listening to what he says and watching what he does.

And it’s just interesting to me that a lot of people get caught in the trap of what he represents aesthetically rather than who he is.

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~ chaosmakers ~ and avelin

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rook: why are the elven god's free and unleashing blight upon thedas? can they even be stopped? why are you inside my head, what is going on???

solas: