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sirladysketch · 3 years

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List of things I would like to see in DA4/ Rin’s DA4 Bingo Card

With the hype of the trailer, I figured now would be a good time to get all of my thoughts down as to what I’d like to see/what I would do if I was on the DA writer’s team. Now, I haven’t read the most recent comics and I’ve been out of deep fandom for a while, but the things below are based on a series of notes I took after finishing Trespasser for a fic that will never come to pass. Take that as you will, knowing that a lot of my focus is from a Solavellan POV.

Important world state aspects

If you choose to go with a non-mage character, I would love a side mission where you get to go visit the Avvar and join with a literal spirit guide to learn/understand magic for when the Veil falls

Lyrium is titan blood. People should not be ok with that, maybe. I’d like to see groups calling for an end to its sale and use, and anticipate the Carta has things to say about people trying to undermine their main source of income

Tranquil can be healed/reconnected to the Fade and magic. When the Veil falls, I think a lot of them will go mad, and the ones who survive will BE mad and there will be blood

UNLESS you take a diplomatic and practical approach and proactively work with the Avvar to heal them by giving them the spirit guide again (something I planned to have Remli, my Inquisitor, do for Helisma, with the help of Archivist Banon)

Since Tevinter is all about Necromancy, I predict that one of the main characters we meet is actually gonna be a walking corpse/puppeted. They might not be aware of it, but it’ll be up to you to deal with it

If you’re allowed to play as a Dalish elf, I would LOVE to go to an Arlathvhen meeting and look for Fen Harel agents. Specifically I would like to see Varric as an invited guest to document and listen to tales that he can write down and hash into his next bestseller

Pocket-space camps and the gates-- Solas controls the gates, but you KNOW that someone in Tevinter is gonna find a way to hack them. Bonus points/achievement if they say “I’m in”

Agents of Qunari are still going to be around, probably hunting Solas. Not sure if you’d work with or against them (I’d work against)

ENCHANTMENT! Sandal will have his day

It’s 2020, Bioware. Please let me pet the animals, the mounts, and love interests whenever I want

That said, I anticipate that some of the following things will happen, in this approximate order:

Initial “get to know the new main character” storyline will land us in Tevinter and we get to meet Varric somehow, who will probably bring us up to speed on how everyone’s doing-- the Chantry, the mages, the Inquisition (or remnants), what’s left of the Wardens, possibly even some new Dwarven factions, and a few nods to DLC groups (more on that later) Varric will not be romanceable and many tears will be shed because of it.

I’m guessing that there will be a point at which your main character will meet up with your Inquisitor and, if not join them, at least do some side missions together, probably along the lines of “find Solas.” If you didn’t leave Hawke in the Fade, they’ll be there, too.

About halfway or a third of the way through, you find Solas, or someone you know finds Solas. The Veil falls. I suspect this will entail one of the moons getting destroyed-- falling into the ocean, maybe?-- and the waters off the Storm Coast will settle.

That leads us to what I would call “things go apeshit.” I’m going to bullet them for fast scanning:

Seas are at rest, which means the dragon/lizard people on the other continent now have easy access to come over and invade

The mage vs templar battle will more or less be reskinned as elves vs everyone else-- I foresee a lot of alienages (and their trees) being destroyed in an effort to get rid of Fen Harel agents-- this might happen prior to the Veil collapse, and your actions to help or hinder the massacres will affect later story

Hawke (or whoever you left in the Fade in Inquisition) will appear once the Veil falls, probably in an hour of need during a pivotal battle. If it’s Hawke, don’t get your hopes up that they wanna help you, they’re just there for Varric

During the final battle, Varric’s Bianca will “die.” This is less about the weapon and more about him learning to move on; be happy for him

Ultimately I think we’ll meet up with Solas again with the Inquisitor at your side, and we’ll have two options: fight with him, or against him. This may even be a race-gated thing, where he’ll only ally himself with an elf or at least someone he deems elf-friendly. If you choose to unite with him, you lose your Tevinter allies and probably the Chantry allies too (fuck them anyway, lol)

If you choose to fight him, you’ll be faced with two scenarios-- inquisitor is like HELL YEAH and joins you in the fight, ultimately killing Solas. If your Inquisitor promised to help him, though, or ROMANCED him… they’re going to fight against you, and while Solas will not actively try to stop them, he will go into full out berserker, maybe even wolf form if/when you kill his Vhenan. In this scenario, we’d better get a tender “I’ll love you forever” moment or I will throw hands.

The only other wildcard I see coming into play here is Cole. If he left as a spirit to go be with Solas, I could see him coming to Solas’ side to fight with him. I would worry that being with Solas on his dark road could corrupt him, but he’s always known Solas for who and what he was, so I think he’ll be ok (unless you’re forced to kill him, and if you are how can you live with that save file on your conscience?)

Either way, the moment you’re done with Solas, you’re on the last third of the story, which I’m guessing involves Elvhen gods, Archdemons, and the undead (because Tevinter).

Honestly those are just initial thoughts that I can remember off the top of my head. I may add more to it as we get closer to actual reveal, but for now, I’m just gonna think about the fic that I’m never going to write.

#rin rambles about dragon age #Dragon Age #da4 thoughts #Man now I'm sad that I'll never finish By the Book #oh well

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crackinglamb · 4 years

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001 for dragon age?

Did you really want an essay? Cuz you’re gonna get one. I’ll stick with DA:I, since that’s the only one I’ve actually played. I have passing familiarity with the other two games, but not enough for details. And as always, it got really long while I was writing it out, so under a cut it goes.

Favorite character: Probably obvious. But it’s Solas. Love him or hate him, no one can deny that he’s a complex, intricately written character with lots of facets we have yet to see all of. Plus, he has a delicious voice and I’ll own that kink, no one can shame me.

Least Favorite character: *sigh* Vivienne. I wanted to like her, I really did. She’s a powerful, ambitious woman in her own right, a successful mage, an adept at the Game. She has strong motivations of her own, even if they’re written with a bit of a cliche. But that’s also part of her problem. She’s willfully blind to the suffering of her peers. She’s bought into the propaganda of the Circle and the Chantry. She’s like a political centrist and I find that distasteful.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Solas/Lavellan; Dorian/Iron Bull; Varric/Hawke; Krem/Maryden; and finally a headcannon one: Solas/Ghilan’nain. There are a wealth of layers to a relationship between them, and a bucketful of explanatory suppositions for why he is the way he is now.

Character I find most attractive: Do we really need to revisit the voice kink? Are you gonna make me spell it out? *snort* Of course it’s that damned Egg. No, I don’t sound too happy about it, do I?

Character I would marry: None of them. They are, every single one of them, a hot mess disaster that I would never tie my life to, even if marriage wasn’t a convenient religious construct.

Character I would be best friends with: Varric Tethras. That dwarf is bloody loyal to a fault and he deserves nice things and people who care about him just as much as he cares about everyone else.

A random thought: How did I get here? I wasn’t supposed to be here. I just wanted to write the aforementioned happy ever after for Varric. How did this happen?

An unpopular opinion: *nervous laugh* My bestie is gonna kill me, but...Cullen isn’t as changed as people tend to think he is. The overall arc of his ‘redemption’ falls flat imo. I mean, all we really get from him is recognition that he has an addiction, has seen some shit and his attempts to deal with those. He falls under ‘forgiveness doesn’t equal another chance’. For a man who has been through as much as he has, his worldview is still pretty narrow. Having been on the receiving end of someone like that irl, it simply doesn’t appeal in my fiction.

My Canon OTP: Hah! Solas/Lavellan. And not just because I’m writing about it to the exclusion of everything else right now. I think it’s also the most in-depth view of Solas as a character. His romance gets the most information about him by sheer numbers.

My Non-canon OTP: Varric/Hawke. Hands down. You cannot tell me that a man like Varric, over protective and loyal, would not lay down his life for Hawke and tap that ass while he was at it.

Most Badass Character: Leliana. That woman is terrifying and yet all I want to do is give her a hug and a mug of hot cocoa. She has the strengths of her convictions, the agility of her mind, she will fuck you up before you know what hit you and yet...she’s vulnerable under the surface. But she doesn’t allow that vulnerability to break her. Aside from a single instance, she never even lets anyone see it. She’s remade herself over and over. She probably could use a nap and a snuggle from her nugs.

Most Epic Villain: IMHO, DA:I doesn’t have a strong villain. It has a series of boss fights. The story isn’t finished, and the game is basically a placeholder in a franchise. It’s too soon to know whether or not Solas counts (I don’t think he does, though, and if he does, I will be extremely disappointed in the writing team).

Pairing I am not a fan of: Cassandra/Varric. I’ve yet to see it portrayed with proper application of enemies to lovers. The start of their relationship is frankly abusive. She holds him prisoner and repeatedly threatens his life in close quarters and she never makes amends for it in canon. Bad tempers that lead to interpersonal violence are not cute or romantic. I love Cass, I sincerely do. But I do not ever see that ship as doing anything more than sinking to the bottom of the Waking Sea.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Bianca Davri. There was so much hype. So much. And she was astoundingly underwhelming when we met her. Love is truly blind, because given the portrayal we got, I have no idea what the ever loving fuck Varric sees in her.

Favourite Friendship: Solas and Iron Bull. Now, this is assuming one saves the Chargers and Bull becomes Tal-Vashoth. They go from butting heads on every single blessed thing to playing mental chess to pass the time and prove several points to themselves and to us, the players. They learn so much from each other. I get the warm fuzzies. Runner up to this is Solas and Dorian. Two men who are frighteningly similar but can’t see it. Or won’t admit it, anyway. And again, they learn so much from each other.

Character I most identify with: Okay, it might be a cheap cop out, but the Inquisitor. I too am not getting paid enough to deal with the shit life throws at me while simultaneously being responsible for the well being of both myself and a person dependent on me. Granted, my little person isn’t all of Thedas, but I wouldn’t say that makes it any less important. And I too am canonically disabled by the end. It’s rough being a spoonie.

Character I wish I could be: Ack, I don’t think I’d want to be any of them. They all need therapy. Possible exception is Cole. I like to help, just as much as I like to be left to my own devices if no one needs me. Speaking in riddles? Unleashing a torrent of compassionate wrath and disappearing before anyone makes me bleed? Having a deeper connection to the world around me? Sure, I can get behind those. I’m a Gemini.

Thanks for the ask. You know I love it when you make me think.

#ask #fandom ask #dragon age

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wanderingnork · 3 years

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Any and/or all of the Inquisitor asks? If all is too many pick ur top 3? Please!

We’ll go with 4, 5, and 18!! For my Inquisitor Adaar. :3

4. What would her romance route look like?

First of all: unlike me, Kubide is very straight, so a male Inquisitor of any race can romance her.

Consider that she joins independently early on in Haven. She’s open and friendly, as long as the Inquisitor is generally accepting of other people and takes time to help people. She will very happily flirt on a superficial level, but mildly panic if the Inquisitor tries to take it any further. Any attention at all will say that yes, Kubide is interested, but the Inquisitor is the first person who’s expressed romantic affection to her. Ever.

Cut to Skyhold. Assuming the Inquisitor hasn’t proceeded with anyone else (which would break off her romance route), the next major hurdle is why they choose to lead. If the Inquisition is declared for faith, game over. She’ll shut down further attempts and, if pressed, explain that she’s displeased to find out that the Inquisition will support a religion that would exclude over half its own members from becoming clergy.

If the romance proceeds, though? Once she’s certain of the Inquisitor’s intentions, she’s IN. The romance will find her showing up unexpectedly in the Inquisitor’s room “to help you relax,” offering to go along on any trip out, and generally being a disaster in love.

Hurdle: “Demands of the Qun.” Sacrifice the Chargers, lose the romance. She’s out. Not only have you confirmed that you want to keep her personal worst nightmare on the team, you demonstrated willingness to sacrifice people who rely on and trust you in the name of politics.

Her personal quest is a bit tragic (and inspired by the Valo-Kas missions in canon). Her old mercenary company sends word that they need help—something has gone wrong and some of their members have been taken hostage by people indiscriminately afraid of Qunari, and they hope the Inquisitor can defuse the situation. The Inquisitor potentially can, but one or more of Kubide’s old friends may be killed in the process.

Nothing that happens here breaks off the romance (she doesn’t blame the Inquisitor), but the conversation afterwards is a hard one. No matter what, Kubide is obviously hurt over the reminder of how the world sees her and over the possible loss of friends. The conversation that ensues asks the Inquisitor to reassure her that he doesn’t see her like that, and that she’s really wanted and loved. (Dialogue tree differs if you’re playing an Adaar Inquisitor, obviously.)

Assuming you do that, your Inquisitor will eventually end up wearing half a dragon’s tooth, because I am complete trash for that gesture.

5. Would they fall for their canon romance as a companion?

YES. If the Inquisitor doesn’t romance her, Kubide will still end up with Solas. In banter, it starts with mutual irritation, moves through confused “I don’t know what to do with you,” and into “we’re a Thing now.” As Kubide takes on more responsibility, becomes more active in pursuing independent goals, and gets louder with her opinions (being in a position of enough power to do so), Solas starts paying more attention to her and can’t dismiss her anymore. She, meanwhile, ends up respecting him more when they finally start talking and he (begrudgingly) admits he was wrong about a thing or two. Also they’ve saved each other’s lives several times now, which counts for a lot.

18. Dragon?

DRAGON.

She would happily watch it from a distance and go on and on about how beautiful it is, but if you decide to fight it, she might put Bull to shame in terms of sheer hype. And if you’re romancing her, or she’s ended up with Solas, well...taarsidath-an halsasm, right? ;)

#nork rants #patron saints of blissful imperfection #nork rants about writing

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moonraccoon-exe · 6 years

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More thoughts about DA: I so far!

I said I’d do this like a week or two ago but lol. Have mercy on me ;u;

But yeh! Just a lot of random thoughts to share about my experience so far:

EPIC

SO FUCKING EPIC OH MY G O D THIS HAS TO BEO NE OF THE MOST EPIC STORIES I’VE PLAYED OR SEEN/READ, THIS IS JUST SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOL

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

*HYSTERICALLY SQUEAKING*

Honestly from beginning to the point I’m in, it’s so EPIC, like- the SUMMIT of epic!!

The story and the lore and the world are all so vast, so impossibly vast, it’s mindblowing. The writers of this are true masterminds and I must applaude all this work, they created a full whole new universe that’s real and breathes and lives. Holy. Fuck. It’s truly mindblowing and mesmerizing, I can’t even put it into words so I won’t even try.

Leliana and Cassandra, though? FUCK ME, THEY’RE GLORIOUS.

I’m SO in love with this game’s portrait of women, because there are SO MANY, and all in actual PRACTICAL and realistic armor! Like, no giant anime tiddies protected only on the nipple, it’s full armors not even shaped to make them look attractive or “like women”. And not just your companions; throughout the story, you find women enemies and allies in armor, it’s AMAZING.

I love Cassandra’s accent/voice color. I want her to fuck me. But DAMN me, I went with female elf in the end, after SO MUCH thinking about every choice (as in, gender, race, and class. I took SO LONG picking one of everything).

DO WE AGREE THAT COLE IS A MISUNDERSTOOD SOUL AND HE NEEDS PROTECC AND I LOVE HIM SO DEARLY AND SO MUCH HE JUST WANTS TO HELP DEAR COLE I LOVE YOU I’D TAKE A BULLET FOR YOU

Blackwall is charming? Like...I don’t know. I didn’t like him in a beginning but then he just. Went and spoke and FUCK HE’S CHARMING.

I really feel like praising more the lore and story-telling/writing but there’s just no putting it into words goddammit.

THE WHOLE SCENE OF THE ATTACK ON HAVEN AND THE ESCAPE TO SKYHOLD THOUGH?

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

E P I C

LIKE SOOOOOOOO EPIC THERE ARE NO WORDS ENOUGH TO DESCRIBE IT!!! BEST, MOST EXCITING, MOST EPIC CUTSCENE SO FAR AND ONE OF THE MOST EPIC I’VE SEEN LIKE HOLY SHIT, IT WAS GLORIOUSLY EPIC!!!!!! BEYOND WORDS! I STILL THINK ABOUT IT AND STILL GET ALL HYPED AND WORKED UP AND AKSLJDFAKGLJ

From the moment the attack starts I was like HOLY SHIT THIS IS SO COOL

Watching Cullen in action was GREAT, too! He gets so little screen time (in my opinion), like, he could have been given a bigger role, it’s sad to watch all his potential just standing there doing nothing. What I would give so he was a party member! But yeah, that’s why it was so cool to watch him act in that part.We’re used to Cassandra and Leliana by that point, so it was good to see Cullen in charge for once. Watch him give orders, raise the voice, command the army, GAWDS, IT STILL GIVES ME CHILLS

Surviving the whole thing was AMAZING, the thing with (I forgot the english word lkasjdlakdg) “bombing”/attacking the snow mountains to Mulan the whole thing and bury the bad guys in the avalanche was SO GLORIOUSLY EPIC.

And then Super Bad Guy appears and I was like ZOMG FUCK I AM GOING TO DIE AHA HSADJFAHDGJAD ZOMG THIS IS SO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

I couldn’t save the people of Haven, though! I saved...the lady in charge of the...the one table that requests random things. Lady in armor? Forogt her name. Also saved Adan, I’m SO happy he made it!!! But Minaeve died lmao aah :’( And I think I lost someone else, but not sure who.

AND THEN WHEN YOU DECIDE TO GO BACK AND GIVE TIME FOR THE PEOPLE TO ESCAPE??? OMG CULLEN BEING THE ADORABLE MATURE IDIOT THAT I LOVE AND ROLLING WITH IT AKLSJDADKLGJ

AND THAT WHOLE SCENE WITH CORIPHEUS

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

*EXPLODES INTO A THOUSAND SNOWFLAKES*

AKSLJF KAL GJAILSJF ALKJF ALKJGALDKGJADLGKJ

BADASS

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

*HYSTERICALLY SCREECHING*

IT WAS SO EPIC! SO SO DAMN EPIC OMG IT WAS SUPER COOL!!!

I wasn’t too scared of him, like, the design doesn’t look that scary. But he’s got a nice air of villain! And the way he grabs you and picks you up, and then when you fire the thing to cause the lastavalanche?

I WAS LIKE

ZOMG

HOW AM I GOING TO SURVIVE OH MY G O D NO WILL I JUST RUN!?!? PLS RUN LITTLE ELF YOU CAN DO IT I BELIEVE IN YOU

AND THEN YOU JUMP INTO THE GROUND AND YOU

YOU ACTUALLY M A K E IT

AHA SADHGAD

*FANGASMS*

AND THE WHOLE WALK THROUGH THE SNOW DESERT episode Prompto anyone I WAS LIKEK OMG YES THIS TROPE I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS ABOUT THE HERO SURVIVING, BUT NO ONE KNOWING, AND MAKING IT THROUGH A SNOW DESERT ALONE BARELY SURVIVING BUT KEEPING ON

AND THE TROPE DIDN’T FAIL THE “HERO COLLAPSES WHEN THEY SEE THEIR FRIENDS AND THEIR FRIENDS YELLL “THERE THEY ARE!!!” AND RUN TO GO PICK YOU UP AND THEN

FUCK

FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

LIKE THE LORE AND WORLD AND UNIVERSE WASN’T MY JAM ALREADY

THEY THROW THIS AT ME!?!?!??!!?!?

PERFECT

BRILLIANT

GENIUS

I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS ONE BIT, I HAVE A SAVE JUST TO REPLAY ALL THAT SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, THIS IS SO E X Q U I S I T E

And the best part personally is that it’s Cullen teddy bear who spots you aaah ;A; <3

And the next bit? When you wake up and the advisors are arguing. So you decide to chime in to try and ease it. But you have no idea what to say, so Mother Giselle comes in and starts singing?

And then Leliana joins?

And then Cassandra

And then CULLEN

AND THEN EVERYONE

AND EVERYONE IN CAMP GATHERS AROUND YOU AND SING THE MAIN THEME OF THE GAME AND YOU DISCOVER “OMG IT’S THE MAIN THEME OF THE TITLE SCREEN, OMG IT HAS LYRICS” AND THE WHOLE VISUALS LIKE AFTER THE TRAGEDY EVERYONE THAT SURVIVED GATHERING AROUND YOU AND SINGING AND SOLAS WATCHING IN ADMIRATION EVEN WHEN HE DOESN’T BELIEVE IN ANDRASTE/THE HUMAN RELIGION AND

GOOSEBUMPS

LITERAL GOOSEBUMPS AND CHILLS ALL OVER MY BODY, LIKE A DAMN BOLT, OM HY GOD THAT HAS TO BEO NE OF THE MOST IMPACTING SCENES SO FAR, IT JUST GIVES ME SO MUCH GOOSEBUMPS AND MAKES ME GO AKSLJF AKLGJADFLKA

*FANGASMS AGAIN*

OKAY BUT I FORGOT

THE WHOLE TIME TRAVEL THING WITH DORIAN!?!?!?!?

*sHRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK*

So I went mages instead of Templars. Because ya know, it felt better? Like, yes, I know mages have done bad things before, but templars are hunting for them like they’re “things” or beasts, so I felt that it was best to support mages instead of Templars.

Okay but sidenote; I thought Cullen was going to be upset at me, like MAD. Because, you know, he used to be a Templar, and he still is so in love with the Templars and always talks so nicely and excitedly about them, and tried to encourage you to go with Templars. So I chose Mages thinking he was going to rage at me.

And what did he do? “Oh well, yes, the mages are good, they may be able to help us close the rift. They’re good allies :)”

AND I LOSE IT

CULLEN. MY DEAR. MY LOVE. MY STUPID IDIOT, I LOVE YOU.

Seriously, I’m SO IN LOVE with how mature he is. That and his shyness are what convinced me to romance him. He took it so nicely, like, he doesn’t throw tantrums or argues; he knows what’s at risk, he wants the best to turn out of everything, and when things happen, he knows to just get over it and take it to his vantage and see it in a positive way and fUCK GODS HAVE MERCY ON ME, IT WAS GREAT

OKAY SO BACK TO TPOIC

MAGES

SO YOU GO TO THIS CASTLE and well I guess you know the whole thing already lmao, SO THAT TIME TRAVEL WITH DORIAN?

FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK IT WAS THE SECOND OR THIRD MOST EPIC THING IS WEAR TO THE HEAVENS DEAR LORDS AOVE IT WAS GLORIOUS!!!!!!!d

Exploring the castle alone with him wasamazing (gotta talk about orian ina sec). And when you learn you were transported a whole year into the future? I was like HAHAHAHAHAHAHA LOL TRY WAITING TEN (was definitely thinking about FFXV OTL these poor babies waited so much... :( ). I felt bad finding Cassandra and Varric poisoned/consumed by the lyrium, but when you find Leliana?

LIKE HOLY FUCK WHAT DID THEY DO TO HER ZOMG SHE AGED LIKE 90 YEARS IN JUST 1 IT WAS INCREDIBLE

AND THE WHOEL SCENE OF YOUR COMPANIONS DECIDING TO GIVE THEIR LIVES TO GIVE YOU TIME!?!?!?

SO EPIC. SO FUCKING EPIC GAWDS DAMN ME, ONEO F THE DEMONS CAME THROUGH THE DOOR WITH VARRIC’S CORPSES AND IT STILL HAUNTS ME

FROM AMONG EVERYONE THEY KILLED DEAR VARRICAND I DIE

AND THEN LELIANA...PROUDLY STANDING THERE, FEARLESS, BRAVE, SO BADASS AND SO COOL, SHOOTING ARROWS WHILE PRAYING AND GIVING YOU TIME

FUCK ME

I WANTED TO GO AFTER HER BUT I ALSO KNEW I DIDN’T HAVE TO FUCK UP BUT LIKE IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

EPIC

*sHRIEEEEEEEK*

*EXPLODES AGAIN*

AND DORIAN!?!?!?

FUCM KE M Y HEART HE’S ADORABLE AND I’M SO ABSURDLY IN LOVE WITH HIM

I had regretted making a female avatar int hemoment I learned Cassandra doesn’t romance female. But I moved on. But when I learned Dorian only romances male??? INSTANT REGRET.

DORIAN THAT FUCKING IDIOT, I’M SO IN LOVE WITH HIM. There’s somethingabout the “guy that loves himself so much, it’s narcissistic”, because they’re fun. And like, eh’s not selfish, just narcissistic. Loves himself, but is kind and supportive. He’s so intelligent, wise, he’s so kind, he’s lots of fun, damn me, he’s elegant, and he’s a MAGE. I LOVE MAGES.

I love his voice, too. All of him is GREAT and I love him. Sassy little shit that loves himself, GAWDS. I have to romance him someday!

Also loved the whole thing with Solas when he’s like “I just casually happen to know this huge abandoned castle nearby here, maybe it can be of use c:” Solas you adorable idiot. But honestly, watching the Inquisitor and Solas lead the way to Skyhold was PHENOMENAL and so beautiful. I’m in love with snowy scenarios so I truly loved it, and Skyhold? MAGNIFICENT. A PIECE OF ART. SO BEAUTIFUL SUCH A BREATHTAKING SIGHT AKLSDJFAKDLGJ ALKFJA

The game sort of tried to incline me to romance Solas multiple times, and I for sure will do that in a second playthrough, because GODS HE’S CUTE. I love how profoundly wise and mature he is. And he has an air of melancholy that sort of attracts me, not like “ooh sexy!” but like...I want to comfort him, and love him, and clean him. He feels like such a melancolic character. Even Cole says Solas is sor tof a “sad creature” or something. It breaks my heart when Solas says bye because he says it so sadly like omg no pls ;A;

I LOVED going into the dream with him. It was just natural to go and kiss him but I didn’t aksldjdagk, I wanted to romance CUllen so badly XD But it was amazing!! And the way he asks the next day if you enjoyed your dreams, it was so cute. Solas is such a good and nice friend!!

I loved his quest rescuing his spirit friend. I felt sad in the conversation afterwards because, as I didn’t romance him, he ended the conversation with “It means I respect you profoundly, Inquisitor. And that I’ve taken too much of your time already” and left I was like NO SOLAS DARLING PLS I SWEAR INA SECOND LIFE I WILL LOVE YOU AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

But yeh. Solas is amazing.

Also, Iron Bull and Dorian are flirting and I love it. There was a point, Dorian tried to argue with him about the Qunari attacking Tevinter and he was like “So would you prefer to see me ona leash?” to which Iron Bull replied “I’d take you out for dinner first”.

Omg Bull. Omg IRON BULL OMG THAT IS PRIVATE XD And today Dorian was like “Can you PLEASE be careful with that pointy thing and not direct it towards me?” and Bull was like “Lmao kkinky”, so Dorian was like “JESUS CHRIST, I meant your weapon!”

I WANT THEM TO FUCK. if I can’t fuck Dorian, then may the Bull fuck him for me DAMMIT

Josephine is adorable and so kind. I almost romanced her, too. Talked with her at the balcony and she was all gratitudde and joy ad shyness.

Also Vivienne? First time we meet her I was like OH MY GOD SHE’S SO BEAUTIFUL. OMG SHE’S GORGEOUS. SO FIRM, SO REGAL, SO MIPOSING, SO INDEPENDENT, SO BADASS.

Then at Haven when she’s finally off-mask I was like omg she’s bald AND SHE’S ROCKING THAT LOOK OMG SHE’S SO GOROUGES, LOOK AT TAHT SKIN COLOR, IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL, AND HER WHITE DRESS AND OMG I LOVE HER

And now it’s like “omg Vivienne cAN YOU PLEASE STOP! >:’(” because hahaha, BOY! She’s gorgeous and strong, but so difficult!! We just disagree morally. I’m all hero-like regarding “Everyone deserves peace/a chance/freedom, love and peace, do the right thing, spirits are friends” and Vivienne is all “WE NEED TO BE STRICT. LIKE IRON FIST STRICT. TELL THAT SPIRIT TO FUCK OFF. KILL THIS PERSON. FUCK THE MAGES” and like nooooooo!!! Vivienneeeeeeee, that’s not how you show mercy!!!!

I think she’s the only one I won’t be able to befriend...she’s disapproved of almost all that I’ve done... OTL

MORE NOTES

FIRST OF ALL

WHY THE FUCK CAN’T WE ROMANCE CULLENW ITH A MALE INQUISITOR!?!?!?! WHY. THE. FUCK

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

IT WOULD BE SO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE

Also WHY CAN’T WE ROMANCE LELIANA!?!?! THAT IS A PUNISHMENT FROM THE HELLS, SHE’S AMAZING. And gay.

Also WHY THE FUCK CAN’T WE ROMANCE CASSANDRA WITH A FEMALE!?!??!?! ;^;

Also, why can’t weromance Varric with ANYONE? Honesly, he’s one of my favorites! He’s so charming, outgoing, so lighthearted. He’s so understanding and mature. I love that he has the heart of an artist and dedicates to writing. I love how he doesn’t take things personally. I love his sensibility. Honestly, he probably would have been my option 1 of romance if only he was romanceable. I’m so upset he’s not an available option!

SPEAKING OF ROMANCE

I JUST ROMANCED CULLENT ODAY AND

HONESTLY I REGRET NOTHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

IT’S SO ABSURDLY ADORABLE, SUCH A VANILLA LOVE OMG IT WAS SO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The reason he was my first option was because of that first reaction you get at Haven. When he goes all excited talking about protecting the weak and innocent and saving the world then he is like “Haha, sorry, I ranted and you’re not here so to hear me talk :)”

And you go “But I like your enthusiasm”. I picked that because I REALLY thought his enthusiasm was nice.

And his reaction??? HIS REATION!?!?!?!?

Like...you look at him. And you think “Oh, it’sa pretty boy. Charming and outgoing. He’ll probably just laugh it off, your casual, stereotyped Romeo”.

But???

TURNS OUT HE’S A DORK.

A DORK MADE OF SHYNESS THAT GETS EASILY FLUSTERED AND HAS NO IDEA HOW TO TALK TO OTHERS

THIS

ABSOLUTE

IDIOT

AKSJDFA KLGJA SKLDJAGL KAJDGALKDJA LKSJDA

THAT IS WHAT GOT ME

IT JUST

GOT ME

IT GOT ME SO BAD, I WAS ISNTANTLY HOOKED AS SOON AS HE CAME OUT AS THIS SHY DORK.

BECAUSE HONSTLY

THAT IS SO CUTE

I HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR SHY, QUIET PEOPLE BECAUSE IT CAN BE SO CUTE AND CULLEN DIDN’T DISAPPOINT.

The way he just stared at my elf like .____. *brain death* zomg what do I do what do I say pls halp I’m lost and he just stuttered and went shy and looked away and PANICKED

AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HE’S SUCH AN IDIOT

I LOVE HIM

And all throughout the courting process with him, he’s all shyness and adorableness, I swear to the gods, I AM SO WEAK

I think at some point of the War Table, he’s staring at the Inquisitor? Like, before you are the Inquisitor. Because Leliana goes “So, you were telling us.........Cullen?”, and Cullen goes all “HM? OH- AH-...YES- AH...”and talks about something else, so like. Was he daydreaming OR was something in sight range, hm?

And then at Sky hold? That ADORABLE conversation when he’s staring and staring and tries to not say bye and right before you walk away he goes with what he has been containing about “You stayed behind, at Haven. You could have...” and then he swears it won’t happen again and he’s there for you AND I DIE, GIVE ME MY FAIRY TALE VANILLA LOVE, I LOVE IT.

And stuf stuff blah blah, AND WHEN YOU FINALLY ROMANCE HIM?

HONESTLY I’M JUST SO HAPPY BECAUSE HE’S THIS SHY STUTTERING IDIOT, YOU WOULD EXPECT HIM- LIKE YOU KNOW, strong warrior archetype, with the big armor, strong and badass, you would EXPECT him to be charmming, confident, utgoing, charming, flirty. But instead? Stuttering shy idiot that gets nervous. AND HONESTLY THAT MAKES ME FEEL SO HAPPYAND INLOVE WITH HIS CHARACTER GAWDS DAMN ME IT’S SO CUTE

So when you ask him to talk alone with him, is he confident now?

NAH MAN

He just stares away, gets nervous, and stutters” I-IT’S A NICE WEATHER, ISN’T IT? AHAH” like bruh. You nervous, anxious idiot PLS KISS ME ALREADY.

And that almost-kiss. IT WAS ADORABLE. And then the kiss-kiss. EVEN MORE ADORABLE. And they even give you soft piano music, aaaahhhh, I DIE ;A;

SO YEH. LOOKING FORWARDS TO MORE, BOTH ABOUT THE WHOLE STORY AND THE ROMANCE WITH CULLEN.

I could make the one quest...Wicked Hearts, something Eyes (I’M NOT PLAYING IT IN ENGLISH I’M SORRY), I think you go to a ball? But I have this habit of trying to complete as many sidequests as I can so you know. I’m taking long and doing it slow OTL

But enjoying it!!! And anyway, I spent too long writing this and now I feel guilty alksjdfkladjga

But yeh! My experience so far! C:

Thanks for reading!

#coontalks #about dragon age: inquisition #long post #i mean i put the keep reading there but #in case it won't work in mobile or something #i feel i'm forgetting something but hey #i always forget something aklsjd klajg

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derpcakes · 7 years

Text

Love spells and parallels and nobody having a good time: Sola and Grainne

(Pictured above: men with defined foreheads and the girls they want to get with)

I woke up the other morning and said to myself “You know what I haven’t done in a while? Nitpicked the narrative flaws of Fate/Zero. I should make a post.”

Actually that’s a lie—but I was doing some reading and got to thinking about the story of Diarmuid and Grainne, which led me to think about how it folds into the story of Fate/Zero. There are two things that Fate loves to do but also doesn’t do nearly as much as I’d like it to: explore the parallels between Masters and their Servants (and between the legends/history of the past and the current world), and explore the fact that the fantasy society of the mages is a messed up and terrible place. Also give its female characters like, actual individual storylines and general respect, but that’s usually more a Zero-specific gripe, which goodness knows I’ve made before and probably will not stop making until I’m 102 and made mostly of cybernetics. All this and more under the cut!

So, let’s begin by saying that Diarmuid and Grainne is a weird story. It’s a great story full of tragic twists and rollicking adventure and Dia pole-vaulting over Fionn’s head, but whenever people say stuff like “it’s the greatest romance ever told!” I side-eye them really hard. Like a lot of star-crossed lovers tales (eg Romeo and Juliet, which gets the same brand of hype), I get the sense it’s not actually meant to be A Love Story so much as a story where love in involved and makes an entertaining mess of everything. Mostly, for me, because… it starts out in kind of a gross and twisted place. Grainne is betrothed to Fionn, and really isn’t keen on this, so she starts looking for a way out. Her motivation is basically just “I don’t want to marry some old dude”, which is simultaneously a shallow reason and a perfectly reasonable one. In any case, she goes to the knights if the Fianna, Fionn’s squad of younger and generally hotter warriors, to ask one of them to help her escape. She sees Diarmuid, and because of the love spot, falls in love with him instantly.

(Pictured above: Desire(TM) )

Grainne says “Hey sugarlumps, you should take me away from here” and Diarmuid responds that, uh, he can’t do that—it would be horribly disloyal to Fionn. Grainne invokes his other duties that he’s loyal to as a knight, which include protecting helpless women, and also sticks a geis on him that means he has to obey her order to run away with her. So, caught in this awful double-bind, Diarmuid obeys and carts Grainne away, leading to Fionn getting pissed and starting a years-long epic chase. Eventually Fionn settles down and recognises their marriage, and it all looks dandy for a while, but then Fionn leaves Diarmuid to die in the forest which proves he was probably not actually 100% mellow and chill about the idea after all. Then Fionn and Grainne end up getting married anyway, which even most writers and historians now are like “??? okay” about.

Anyway, the point here is that in both retellings of the story I’ve read, in two different books by two different authors, there doesn’t seem to be much of a sense that Diarmuid and Grainne actually legitimately fell for each other. It’s sort of assumed that Diarmuid (eventually?) falls for her because she’s a beautiful princess and that’s just what you do, but Grainne is under the spell of the love spot (which took her over without her permission) and Diarmuid ran away with her because she put him under a geis (without his permission, obviously). It’s a weird and consent-less beginning to what ends up as a convoluted tragedy. Even in Fate/Zero’s flashback to Diarmuid’s legend, you see Grainne pushing forward to kiss him and Diarmuid just… kind of standing there with his eyes open.

It’s not particularly romantic, and neither does he look super pleased about fighting his former comrades in the rain (or bleeding to death in the forest, obviously). Plus, this facial expression is I assume what happens after the geis is placed:

Maybe he did fall in love with her--we do see them embrace--but Diarmuid Had A Bad Time is what that whole segment really tells us.

Obviously the Diarmuid/Grainne/Fionn debacle is mirrored in the Diarmuid/Sola/Kayneth debacle, deliberately and in a way that means all the characters (except Sola, as far as I remember) are vocally aware of it. Kayneth obviously sees that his fiancée has fallen for Diarmuid and goes on the warpath ranting “this is just like in the myth!!” and Diarmuid also sees this happening and goes “not this shit again”. Annoyingly, but unsurprisingly I guess, we don’t get much of Sola’s perspective on this. We see her power grab and her sadistic treatment of her fiancée, who she clearly doesn’t like very much, and we see that she has Maximum Lady Feelings for Diarmuid, but… is she also aware of the legend? Does she have some inkling that she’s under a spell? How does she feel about this?

If she’s a parallel to Grainne, I feel like it would be a really interesting place to explore the idea of power and control in two very different time periods, the biggest clincher being that not much has changed. Sola has been shipped off to marry some old dude just like Grainne was, and like Grainne Sola seeks a way out. Whether Grainne had her own political ambitions or anything like that isn’t really gone into, but frankly her asserting that she doesn’t want to be married off to some old dude is agency enough. Sola takes it a step further by clearly wanting magical power of her own, which has been denied to her in favour of her taking the role of magic babymaker for a highborn family. Like I’ve talked about before, this would also be a neat place to contrast her against Tohsaka Aoi, who has also been groomed and funnelled into that role but deals with it very differently to Sola, but that is the pipe-est of pipe dreams since the writing team, somehow, seems to have even less bother and respect for Aoi than they do for Sola.

(Pictured above: Diarmuid saying “not this shit again”)

Anyway, both Sola and Grainne are in these positions that they don’t want to be—their agency has been removed by their families and the societies they live in, and they say “ugh, I want out”… and then end up in this weird, weird situation with Diarmuid when his enchanted face enchants them. In claiming power over him and using him as a vessel for their Way Out, tragic as the ending of that may be, they’re asserting agency and power, but also they’re literally under a spell. A substantial part of why both these women were drawn to him is because of mind-altering magic. Given that they have such a lack of agency already, how would they feel about being manipulated like this?

Especially Sola, who again, should know of the legend? In some lucid faraway part of her brain is she like “wait… what if I’m under the spell of the love spot? Shit!” and she just rolls with it anyway? Or is she totally turned to mush by the enchantment? Which is… well, probably the more likely answer, given how she spends her last spoken lines (after she gets her arm cut off and is, you know, bleeding to death or whatever) shrieking about how she needs the Command Seals to be connected to Diarmuid.

So her brain is turned to mush by the love spot and her last-ditch grab for some control over her own life is derailed—is this played as a tragedy? No, it’s just kind of there, in fact Sola’s grisly damsel-in-distress ending is almost passed off like a “serves the silly girl right” moment, in sort of the same vein as the “slutty” girls being murdered first in slasher movies. Her death forms just one notch in the delightful bloodbath of the End of Team Lancer, and by the end it really doesn’t mean anything, nor does her crush on Diarmuid really mean anything except that it meant Diarmuid Had A Bad Time, Again. And shit, there are so many more layers they could have gone into with Diarmuid himself, who has turn by turn had his agency ripped away from him by this enchantment on his stupid gorgeous face and by the more physical oppression of the Command Seals which can, geis-like, literally force him to do anything his Master wants—but they don’t go into that, so it leaves Sola even more two-dimensional.

(Pictured above: Sola, seconds before being dismembered, but already well into being derailed)

Fate/Zero touches on the mage world and how lowkey but ever-presently messed up it is, but this mostly takes the form of Waver’s storyline and the conflict between Kariya and Tokiomi and the whole “honey I fed the kids to bugs” thing, leaving things like Sola’s dilemma as implication rather than anything else. This place is awful, guys! Kids are being chewed on by bugs, mages routinely put themselves through physical torment to achieve Greater Power, everything is so aggressively archaic they don’t even understand fax machines, and people are treated as objects willy-nilly. Sola is, like Waver, someone who seems to be contesting the structure of this bullshit Hogwarts society by trying to claw her way to a little bit of power and agency when she’s been tossed aside to be used as a tool for Actually Powerful, more important people.

But—whether because she’s not a Master or because she’s a woman or because they ran out of time because this series has 21 McFreaking characters in its core cast—Sola doesn’t get a narrative to mirror Waver’s, or even much of a narrative. She’s kind of mean, she has a crush on Diarmuid, she’s even meaner, then she dies horribly. We never really get inside her head or see her as a foil to the myth in her own right. And having modern characters that are foils to the myths is one of the most interesting things that Fate can do! The mirroring appears, but will the modern character follow the path of their parallel, or divert from it? Will they react differently to similar circumstances, creating all sorts of interesting dynamics? Sola’s almost more interesting in that she’s parallel to a character who she doesn’t actually summon or meet, which could lead her to either blindly make the same mistakes or veer off in a totally different direction.

(Pictured above: what could have been a terrible but narratively interesting duo)

And awful as it is, a story about a woman under a love spell who realises she’s under a love spell, which hey, maybe comes to represent the world’s mission to take away as much of her agency as possible? could be a super interesting story!! Heck, go really meta and have her and Diarmuid both acknowledge what a crappy bind they’re in and have them bond over that or something. Or have her viciously manipulate him because he’s one of the first people she’s had power over before, and though she’s in a constant inner battle with her Maximum Lady Feelings for him, have her embrace that and try to carve out her own glory.

Sola’s shown to be smart, manipulative and at least a little capable as a Master; even if it did end up as a tragedy because that’s what a Grail War does to most people, it still could have been fascinating to have this woman actively fighting against the forces of nature and society for a position of power. Does it make her sympathetic? Does it make her a deliciously awful Cersei Lannister kind of deal? Does it draw up the legend in a new context and have all sorts of fun with intertextuality? We don’t know, because it never happened. Alas.

#OLOX AND HER OPINIONS ARE BAAAACK #fate zero #oloxmeta

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