bard-marian

[bard-marian]

the one bright light in kirkwall

[bard-marian]

does sebastian vael have like. money

[bard-marian]

You know Andraste's old mabari. He don't show up in the Chant. And if you ask those holy sisters, Well, they'll say Andraste can't Have had some big old smelly wardog. But all Ferelden knows it right: Our sweet Lady needed someone Who would warm her feet at night.

[bard-marian]

All mages love cats

[bard-marian]

[bard-marian]

watching varric pull this stupid scheme to get a cool entrance with hawke so he can scam them completely unaware he’s about to fall hook line and sinker for THEIR charms gets me every time. you fool. you absolute fool

[bard-marian]

Tom Mison as Anders

[bard-marian]

f!hawke and m!hawke are siblings. to me.

(commission info // kofi support!)

[bard-marian]

i dont think i will ever be over dragon age 2. like. bioware made an epic fantasy story about a chosen one having to save a country and stop the apocalypse and then they made the second installment of the series be about the sociopolitical climate in ONE city through the lens of a family of refugees fleeing from the war of the first game and just. made it about political tensions and class dynamics and the influences of living in a church-mandated state and the growing tension over an occupied piece of the city and political killings and interpersonal conflict and power and its story is ENTIRELY character-driven. it has easily the most iconic set of companion characters. the premise of living through a story told over the course of ten years and knowing from the start that something really bad will happen in the end was so fresh and exciting. the fact that the acts really built on top of each other andhow much the city changed over time. and the game was so mature in terms of the topic of fighting against oppression in so many ways (im usually generous and say that the short development time left some things a bit wanting), and as much as some people say that the game treats mages and templars as being equally bad, i don't think that that is actually true about the game and it very earnestly tries to grapple with some pretty complex political dynamics.

and then the game completely flopped financially and was almost universally hated for its queer themes and its sympathy for "terrorism" and a lot of the things that stemmed from basically having no production time at all and then the studio just made another epic fantasy story about a chosen one that has to save the world from the apocalypse

[bard-marian]

Do you think Andraste is a symbol of hope and liberation, or of oppression and control?

Is Andraste a symbol of hope and liberation, or of oppression and control? It's a question that's been gnawing at me. I mean, on one hand, you've got this figure, this beacon of light in the darkness, a rallying cry for the oppressed. She's a symbol of resistance, of the power of the people to rise up against their oppressors. She's a beacon of hope, a symbol of liberation.

But then, on the other hand, there's this darker side to it all. This idea that Andraste is a tool of control, a means of keeping the masses in line. That her teachings, her words, are used to justify all manner of atrocities, all in the name of 'the greater good'. That's oppression, isn't it? That's control.

And it's not just about the big picture, the societal implications. It's personal, too. How many people have felt trapped by the expectations placed on them by their faith in Andraste? How many have felt their hopes and dreams stifled, their identities erased, all in the name of adherence to a doctrine they may not even fully understand or agree with?

But then again, isn't that the nature of any symbol, any belief system? They're open to interpretation, to manipulation. They can be a source of hope and liberation for some, and a tool of oppression and control for others. It all depends on who's doing the interpreting, who's wielding the power.

So, is Andraste a symbol of hope and liberation, or of oppression and control? I guess the answer is... yes. She's both. And neither. She's a symbol, a figurehead, a construct. She's whatever we make of her. And that, I think, is the real crux of the matter. It's not about Andraste, not really. It's about us. It's about power, and how we choose to wield it. It's about hope, and what we're willing to do to keep it alive. It's about control, and whether we're willing to resist it, or to impose it on others.

Andraste is a mirror, reflecting back at us our own hopes and fears, our own strengths and weaknesses. She's a symbol of hope and liberation, yes. But she's also a symbol of oppression and control. And it's up to us, each of us, to decide what we see when we look in that mirror.

[bard-marian]

Hawke: You knew my grandparents? Elthina: I dedicated your mother into the Chantry. She was a beautiful baby. Your grandmother was a very proper lady, but she was beside herself that day. And your mother put a fist in my eye.

Suddenly I like Leandra a little bit more. I mean, who hasn't wanted to put a fist in Elthina's eye at some point during da2?

"Excuse me, Grand Cleric Elthina, a templar used your official seal to get away with kidnapping and murdering qunari." "Ah, well, the Maker will figure it out. The Chantry is a gentle mother who knows her children learn best when allowed to learn themselves."

"Hey, Elthina, the templars are abusing mages. They're forcing tranquility onto them for minor things, which is against the law, and it's only getting worse. Can't you do something?" "It's not my place to decide who is right, but the Maker will eventually."

"Damn it, Elthina, my mother and several other women were murdered by an actually dangerous blood mage because the templars and city guard couldn't be bothered to do their jobs!" "Ah, I'm sorry, that's so unfortunate. May your mother find a place at the Maker's side."

"ELTHINA the qunari beheaded the Viscount and now Meredith has taken complete control over Kirkwall and is looking for any excuse to annul the entire Circle with her Andraste complex, will you PLEASE do something to stop her before more people die??" "Hmmm, I see, but no. The Maker's time isn't man's time, we have no need to rush."

"Listen, you useless moron, you need to leave Kirkwall because shit's about to go down." "No, I will not leave. Who would hurt me? I'm Grand Cleric."

Even as a baby, Leandra knew this lady was an awful person. This is why you got blown up, Elthina.

[bard-marian]

More Dragon Age shitposting? More Dragon Age shitposting!!

[bard-marian]

the baby hawke btw if you even care

[bard-marian]

A really interesting article from EuroGamer talking about map making in fantasy, but specifically Dragon Age, was released yesterday.

I've found it really interesting to hear from map makers of games and fantasy but also Gaider talking about how the Thedas map was made. I will probably break this down later because I have a lot of thoughts.

I'll include the maps below the cut. These are photo copied maps that Gaider made to map out the history of Thedas. Strongly recommend reading the article to hear the thought process that he shared.

It was also shared that while he did these maps, the final map we're all so familiar with was done by an artist without his input. To quote:

Some things bother David Gaider about the Dragon Age 1 map, still, and they occurred when artists prettied his sketches without his involvement. "Oh," he said awkwardly when they were presented to him. "I didn't want it to look like this, exactly." He says they added a lot more rivers and mountains, and flipping between his sketches and the Dragon Age: Origins map, you can see some have moved around, or gained prominence, and places like Redcliffe have shifted. Apparently people would take to the BioWare forums after the game came out to complain about the map's geography. "And I'm like, 'You know what? You got a point,'" Gaider says. This is mostly anger at himself, though, for not doing more about it. Similarly, he wishes he'd been able to sit down with artists and work out what the rest of the continent you don't see in his sketches looked like, so they didn't have to have "the continent just keeps going..."-like messages at the edge of it. "But to where?" Gaider says.

[bard-marian]

harris hawks

[bard-marian]

These two mean everything to me

[bard-marian]

the point of no return