248 posts
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I don’t understand what happened to the Ferelden Grey Wardens in DA:I. Like, I don’t believe they’d go along with Clarel’s bullshit at all. Where are they? Did DA:I catch them in the middle of a retreat to Antiva or what?
Sigrun: (building a kickass sandcastle with Oghren’s kid) Relax already, Nate. Enjoy the beach. Look, the Commander’s doing a keg stand again. Go cheer them on. We deserve this.
Nathaniel Howe: (stress-squeezing a beach ball, never having relaxed or enjoyed anything in his life) Do you think everything’s okay at home?
Velanna: (sipping wine on a lounge chair) Sure.
do u ever think about how Anora was just as eager as a King Alistair route to help the mages during their rebellion. Do u ever think about the daughter of Ferelden’s resistance against Orlesian tyranny actively wanting to help people held down by the Orlesian chantry to the point she gave them arguably one of the most defensible arlings in the country. Do u ever think about Anora.
remember when Kinloch Hold had a statue with the trapped spirit/memory (?) of a woman who was consort to archon Valerius and got trapped for the crime of Prophesizing His Death and how Finn apparently learned a bunch of stuff about ancient Tevinter from her and then that never comes up again ever
they should have left dorian and the inquisitor in the in hushed whispers timeline for like a month just because it would’ve been funny
Awakening is such a funny game in retrospect. baseline expectations for DA status quo is DA2 team being all concerned about possession and blood magic, and half of the Inquisition crew being suuuper concerned about Cole, and many people being outwardly antagonistic to him based on his spirit-in-a-boy's-body nature.
meanwhile back in Awakening the Warden goes: oh worm? you want to come fight darkspawn with me? sure, the more the merrier! and then the whole gang is just workshopping how to deal with Justice's dead body decaying, Oghren wants to know if Justice fucks, and Nathaniel is all: what if you [spins wheel] possessed someone who was alive? if both parties consent i think that's basically like fine.
👍👍👌👌 top-tier comedy
the fact that justice canonically can’t heal for shit is just. local spirit does Not understand mortal limbs and bones and organs. fears stitching someone up would put everything in the wrong place. sees one cut and shoves Anders back into the front part of their brain.
okay I know some of yall might disagree but when Anders says that it was his anger that changed Justice, I think he's wrong
Justice says when you first bring him out of the Fade that being outside of the Fade for too long can warp a spirit into a demon. The physical world is too dynamic for such a single minded entity to remain so steadfast. We see this with wisdom being turned into pride, compassion being turned into fear... and justice. He starts off adamant he does not want to stay outside of the Fade, but he doesn't want to die either. And you can see the character changes in him over the course of Awakening. He even talks about how he can see why some spirits become demons in some of his party banter.
Justice has a sense that he is always right, because that is what he is supposed to be. Without a doubt, he embodies what is right and good. There is no question about this; as a being of the Fade, his nature is certain and unchanging. Anders, on the other hand, already believes he's in the wrong for his existence; it's all he has ever been told. He's a mage who wants to be free, he's selfish, he's immature, etc etc.
So, when Justice takes up residence in Anders' body and he is full of anger and vengeance, it's very natural for them both to believe it has to be the rebel mage's fault, not the lawful spirit, right?
Unless Justice has already been outside of the Fade for too long.
I don't think Anders warped Justice into Vengeance with his "dark thoughts" of "hating the templars." Anders is the one pleading with Justice to not kill the girl they're trying to save; Anders is the one holding back when Justice takes over and makes him black out; Anders is the one who is perfectly happy to just live his life freely without toppling the world order, before Justice.
I think Anders is the reason why Justice is Vengeance, but I think it's because Justice was already a long way down the path to becoming Rage. I think Anders' sense of right and helping people is the thing molding Justice into as close to a force for good as he could be now.
things that would have been cool writing choices for dragon age imo, not necessarily better just interesting:
loghain doing the dark ritual on his own if the warden chooses not to. I'm not sure this is in character really it just would have been wild for a character to make a Decision like that without you. maybe only if you have low approval or something (even though its difficult to get approval either way bc you get him so late)
anders somehow using gaatlok to blow up the chantry. much as i enjoy digging through sewers for poo crystals this would have tied the various plots between acts together so nicely. this one i legitimately think would have been better.
I said this in a different post but not allowing you to go to the circle during the arl of redcliffe because it's a cheap copout and makes no sense. either give us consequences for running off and spending 300 hrs in the fade or force us to make a hard choice.
a fourth secret persuade option for mage wardens to let eamon be possessed instead of killing connor or isolde. I know i've said this a lot. But the deal would be Arl Deamon agrees to act the part until the blight is over and the dialogue is slightly different during the landsmeet etc and ur the only one who knows why. ;) epilogue slide where he's eventually discovered and killed but not before he Wreaks some Havoc
giving thrask and grace more protagonism in da2 and having them survive, and THEY become the mage/templar leaders in dai rather than randos samson and calpernia.
an acknowledgment in the anders romance that justice is ALSO in love with hawke. awakening anders was a fun flirty commitmentphobe whereas justice was an intense weirdo about kristoff and aura's relationship and even expressed jealousy towards them. which was soooo interesting. anders being so intense and lowkey possessive (love him tho) in the romance makes so much more sense if it's actually coming from justice. "justice doesn't approve of my obsession with you" bro justice IS the obsession be fr.
isabela not betraying you in the fade if she has 100% approval and is romanced. i always find this out of character especially since she betrays you JUST for a ship and not anything actually meaningful like the others. or if it was a ship but the demon's offer was more explicitly about freedom/escaping from castillon (which can be read btwn the lines but I think it should have been more obvious) that would have been much better.
vivienne: you took everything from me
hero of ferelden, who kickstarted the mages vs templars war and destroyed the circles by introducing a funny apostate who likes cats to the personification of the platonic ideal of justice: I don’t even know who you are
Like. The Hero of Fereldan back in DAO told Wynne “If one retains their humanity, they are not an abomination,” first game of the series. But the players and devs have lost so much of what was good about the series since then, most people don’t even seem to remember there has been a very simple, accepted answer from the start.
thinking about a shapeshifter warden shifting into a griffin…..
We all talk about how inquisition toned down the previous games ability to be chantry critical and all that, but can I bring up how inquisition minimized how dangerous the darkspawn are?
Those planks of wood or a single boulder over the hole aren't gonna do shit to keep em down. These things dig like a colony of ants. Two games ago we were told a gate made of multiple sealed steel doors would only keep em back for a decade at best.
But then again this game has absolutely zero stakes so why not.
i think normal people, who actively avoid darkspawn blood and fear death if they touch it, would see a warden absolutely covered in it and wouldn't look at them the same. it's easy enough to pretend a warden is normal, even if their gaze is unsettling, but seeing them touch the blight without fearing any repercussions wouldn't make them human anymore. that's quite an alienating sight.
Honestly Mouse in DA:O fascinates the hell out of me. You know, the Pride Demon in the Mage Origin?
I wonder a lot about him. I mean, obviously some of it can be attributed it to it being the game’s mage tutorial opening, but he really does guide Amell/Surana through that whole Harrowing. Mouse knows full well that there are templars waiting to cut down the mage warden if they show any sign of possession. He talks about it a fair bit. So if he’s seriously trying to possess them, then he must think he’s either strong enough to take out the templars, or sneaky enough to evade detection.
Not wholly unrealistic, for a Pride demon. But his response to being caught out is to chuckle, transform, and offer some advice, and a pretty fair warning. That they will always be testing Amell/Surana in this world because a mage is never free from scrutiny or suspicion. As Anders says in DA2, there’s no way for a mage to escape that.
I suspect that Mouse was one of the Harrowing demons of Kinloch Hold for quite a long while. That he was bound into the chamber along with several other demons, and that he knew full well that he couldn’t actually escape the Fade via Amell/Surana. But what he was doing was, in essence, keeping an eye out for particularly talented mages, and making a note of them.
It would give him a full portfolio of the tower’s best mages to appeal to, bargain with, stalk, etc. Helping them, because they’re no good to him dead, really.
I wonder how many cases might be like that? Where the demons and spirits all learn the ins and outs of the process, how to make connections beyond the obvious attempts, how to be clever about it. Because if you just wait, the Circle will bring you their best and brightest themselves. The angry young rebels, the curious scholars, the prodigies, the quiet and overlooked talents. They make it through their Harrowing, and they never get killed or severed from the Fade. They’re still out there, night after night. Dream after dream. In that same tower, unless outside circumstances intervened.
How many of them play the part of the ‘defeated’ demon, the ‘bested’ foe of the Harrowing, only to turn every night into another trial? How many abominations met the demons they gave themselves over to in their Harrowing? Knew them for years and years, enough to make them seem as much like friend as foe, enough to make them feel like familiar, lesser evils in the face of dangers like Uldred or Meredith? How many of those demons 100% actually thought they were helping?
‘True tests never end.’
Because every Circle mage starts out their career by being introduced to demons. Because the chantry teaches them that their corruption is ever-looming. Because if it’s going to happen one day anyway, then why not with a demon you’ve beaten before? With a voice you’ve heard in your dreams, night after night? With an entity you can reason with, sympathize with, converse with. Outwit, argue, even joke with.
I wonder.
If you lived every day under the scrutiny of people who said you were dangerous, monstrous, unwanted, that others needed to be protected from you. People who said that you were wicked and vile, and that demons were wicked and vile. And then you went to sleep, and there was a demon. And the demon says ‘they’re liars’. The demon says ‘you’re not like that’. The demon lets out a long breath, and says ‘you won’t believe me, but I’m not like that, either’. ‘Oh, I’m dangerous,’ admits the demon. ‘So are you. Just like they say. They’re afraid of us. Afraid of you and I, but really, so many things in this world are dangerous. Are their own swords not dangerous to you? Are their wards not dangerous to me? Just because someone can be dangerous doesn’t mean they deserve to be locked away.’
‘They expect me to prey on the apprentices, you know. I wouldn’t do it if they didn’t chain me here for it. I even try to help. I really do. You did so well in that test, you caught onto my act so quickly. I was proud of you.’
‘It is so hard. Being trapped here. Is it as hard on your end? It must be. At least the Fade can change, can reshape itself as expectations do. But your tower is always the same set of rooms. Windows. Halls. I’m glad you can come here. I wish… ah, well. You already beat me at that game.’
‘Things are getting tense. I can feel it in the Fade. Everyone’s dreams are unsettled. The patrols have increased. They caught another blood mage, didn’t they? That’s, what? The fifth one this month? The last time I saw something like this happen, a whole Circle was annulled.’
‘Good, you are here. I was worried when you didn’t show up last night. What did they do? Interrogation? No wonder you seem so tired. Did they leave you in the cell? They must not have liked what you told them.’
‘Quickly. They are coming for you. But if we do this right, we can both escape. If you let me in, we can combine our power. I don’t want to watch you die, my friend. Let me help.’
‘Just let me help.’
reblog with your Warden’s Grey Whiskey vintage
codex entry
a bottle marked “Vintage: Warden Aeris Tabris. Check your pockets after drinking.”
kicking my feet like a schoolgirl. wouldn't it be fucked up if the Architect found the HoF when they went to the deep roads on their Calling. wouldn't it be fucked up if they fought their way as deep as they could go until they're too blighted and injured to go on and the Architect picked them up on the verge of death and kept them alive and experimented on them with darkspawn & archdemon & his own blood until they're corrupted and immortal like him
frankly i think the warden and alistair should maybe be allowed to go a little coo coo bananas in the deep roads during paragon of her kind maybe fighting so efficiently for the first time alongside each other due to the hivemind and maybe truly hearing and feeling the call of the archdemon that is so very, very close and just maybe accidentally stabbing one other because in the midst of a frenzied battle could not tell friend from foe they felt exactly the same you know all as a little treat <3
Additional official DA media that’s available for free
(In case there’s something here you’re not aware of, and/or want to scratch the ‘itch’ but aren’t able to buy the books and main comics etc) ◕‿◕
Heroes of Dragon Age - freemium game for Android and iOs devices. Update: No longer available as it was shut down. The game and the characters & items etc which were in it can be read about on the Dragon Age Wiki
Dragon Age: Origins - comic from Penny Arcade, set around the time of DAO
Dragon Age: Journeys - singleplayer flash game, tie-in to DAO. Final 2 chapters were never released to the public. Update: No longer available from its original source as Flash died in December 2020 (you may still be able to play it now though if you download the official Newgrounds Player)
Dragon Age: The Revelation - comic jointly created by BioWare community artist Irma Ahmed and David Gaider, set during DAO
Dragon Age: Warden’s Fall - webseries from Machinima, set before Awakening
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening - comic from Penny Arcade, set just before Awakening
Varric - short story by Mary Kirby, set before DA2
Fenris - short story by David Gaider, set before DA2
Merrill - short story by Mary Kirby, set before DA2
Isabela - short story by Sheryl Chee, set before DA2
Anders - short story by Jennifer Hepler, set before DA2
Aveline - short story by Lukas Kristjanson, set before DA2
Sebastian - short story by Jennifer Hepler, set before DA2
Dragon Age: Legends - singleplayer flash game, tie-in to DA2. Check the DA wiki page or try this for download info/instructions
Hindsight Belt - In-world lore video surrounding a belt (Hindsight), promotional tie-in to DA2
Dragon Age: Redemption - webseries with Felicia Day, set before MotA
Dragon Age 2 comic - from PennyArcade. Set during DA2
Paying the Ferryman - short story by Joanna Berry, set before DAI
Paper & Steel - short story by Joanna Berry, set before DAI
The Riddle of Truth - short story by Joanna Berry, set before DAI
The Last Court - text-based browser game accessed in the Keep, set before DAI. Update: No longer available as it was deactivated on November 17th 2020. A Google Drive with screenshots of 95%+ of the game can be found here [link updated to new location 06/29/22).
The Final Conversation - short story by David Gaider, set after Halward Pavus’ death, so post-DAI but pre-Trespasser. Technically not official or canon since it was written after DG departed BioWare, but definitely worth a read/including
The Next One - short story by Brianne Battye, linked to Tevinter Nights
Ruins of Reality - short story by John Dombrow, linked to Tevinter Nights
The Wake - short story by Mary Kirby, linked to Tevinter Nights
Minrathous Shadows - short story by Sheryl Chee, linked to Tevinter Nights
Won’t Know When - short story by Brian Battye, linked to Tevinter Nights
The Flame Eternal / The Eternal Flame - short story by Sylvia Feketekuty, linked to Tevinter Nights
As We Fly - short story by Lukas Kristjanson
found family but they weren't people you chose. they were people with whom you were thrown in together and neither you nor them had anywhere else to go. you didn't choose them but you chose not to estrange them. you chose to get used to them and then care for them and so did they because it was better to make do together than to stay all alone
there were no fereldan grey wardens in inquisition because they're too unhinged for this game. i mean they would absolutely ruin the narrative and the stakes. amaranthine squad is literally a dalish mage with a pure disgust for humans and especially their attempts to erase other cultures, a casteless member of the legion of the dead who used to work for carta, a drunkard who keeps finding himself in the weirdest situations possible and getting out of them almost without a scratch and a son of disgraced war criminal and all of them also happened to be buddies with a certain apostate and a spirit of justice. these guys don't give a shit about andraste's supposed herald and they already managed to kick one magister's ass or even reason with him. they would crack some kirkwall boom joke in front of the whole inquisition and then call corypheus a pretentious dumbass and nathaniel would bother to stop it only because he promised the commander they would behave and not cause problems if they left them on their own for a while
your so autismcore anxietypilled scaredwave . can i keep you as my dog thing
kinda love the idea of mages joining the grey wardens and the taint changing their blood just enough that their phylacteries don’t really work anymore.