#also fuck arl eamon

[ndostairlyrium]

I was thinking at warden Alistair and the huge survivor guilt he may build up if Hawke is left in the Fade instead. Like, he already gave full command to a rookie back in the day, was taken advantage as a pawn when a ruler had to be chosen for Fereleden, he then failed to convince the wardens to act wisely rather than throwing themselves in the hands of a complete tool of a man. I think he'd feel like, worthless knowing that someone chose him over another person for just, another decision he couldn't make for himself - which is unfair considering that 1) he gave full command to a person that was more fit for the job 2) he was ready to sacrifice his wellbeing for the good of many 3) he was alone against a fucking army. And they were desperate to the point of sacrificing their own brothers for a suicide mission. A worthless one, to add insult to injury. Try to reason with that, alone, without backups.

The guy needs a vacation, really, and also a huge pat in the back because he's actually putting an effort rather than sitting in a corner crying about his bad luck. I mean, he would do that, but the next day he'll be standing and make a self deprecating joke about it as he pushes through.

#also the whole association with hof as a 'helper' or someone who was just there like #as if he was having tea and cakes #he's a walking bad luck charm #and oh my god do you remember darkspawn chronicles? he's written to be the biggest loser in history #I love him so much #also fuck arl eamon #you had one (1) job #the cheek the nerve the gall the audacity and the gumption #I'm rereading chapters today since I can't art and when I reread and revise my mind goes wild #wild as in there are many rat labyrinths in there and they don't have an exit #it's all rat toys and blorbo thoughts #also pasta #pasta is very important for me I can assign one type of pasta and one sauce for each character I know #oc and canon #ali who the fuck cares lmao #spritz is kicking in

[emmavakarian-theirin]

ISOLDE.

#oh the essay i could write on how much i DESPISE her #alistair started talking about her and all the hatred i had for her came back in force #and now i'm face to face with her and i'm starting to think it's morally and logically correct to sacrifice her #first for being a child neglecter and second for enabling all the chaos and death and destruction to redcliffe #all so she wouldn't disappoint her fereldan daddy who is ALSO a child neglecter but she's worse and i can't kill him tragically #but even fucking. about to enter the castle after saving the village after SEVERAL NIGHTS OF DEATH BECAUSE OF THIS #and she scoffs at alistairs mere presence?? bitch he was 8 when you saw him last and sent him away! EIGHT!! #fuck you and the noble you rode on #dragon age origins #and as for logically correct: if you leave the village at all before battle everyone (except teagan) is killed. EVERYONE. and that's 1 night #after several days of attacks! no one else is left!! but the demon is still alive in the castle and anything can happen #and it takes 1-2 days to get to the circle to get the mages. leaving for up to 4 days to get more help to *possibly* stop more deaths? #and it's clear arl eamons life takes priority over all else.... #so yeah time to kill a bitch i guess 💅

[potatoesandsunshine]

the fact that rowan guerrin (eamon's possible second child who is born if connor dies in redcliffe not eamon's dead sister the queen of ferelden) is then, like connor, revealed to be a mage and sent to the circle.......... there's something going on under the hood of this car it is making noises

#arl eamon one thing about you is you WILL have a mage child #also i fucking hate this guy (eamon) connor my boy i am so sorry you are literally just being ten or whatever #you don't know it yet but your dad sucks lmfao

[v-arbellanaris]

working on one of my dao fics atm and i'm actually SO obsessed over the obvious conflict brewing between the chantry and the wardens in dao & da2 (and a proper resolution to it ofc instead of just getting dai to bonk us over the head with "wardens evil because ~*blood magic*~")

like it is so SO fascinating to me. ok. with the exception of the dwarven origins (specifically because of the lack of chantry & standing of the wardens in orzammar which! could even be CONNECTED couldn't it, fuck!!!!) and the dalish elf origin, the way the wardens are introduced is so fascinating.

in the magi origin, the conflict between the grey wardens and the chantry is already there in duncan's very INTRODUCTION. from the get go, you're immediately alerted to the fact that greagoir is aggravated by duncan's presence, because duncan is recruiting mages for the grey wardens and he cannot deny duncan a recruit. duncan then conscript amell/surana right out from the circle, before they can be punished as per chantry law, and there's nothing greagoir can do about it. even when amell/surana returns to the tower during the events of broken circle, even once you've resolved the issues in the tower, greagoir does not just drag you back to the circle, despite you technically being an apostate because you are a grey warden before you are a mage.

in the city elf origin (i've only ever played f!tabris tho), duncan's the one who gives nelaros and soris the weapons they need to get the elves back from the castle. carrying those weapons is a crime -- presumably, then, supplying weapons to elves is also a crime. the chantry mother that attends tabris' wedding does absolutely NOTHING to stop vaughn (she lit even steps aside PHYSICALLY to allow him to approach the elves) but duncan, the commander of the grey wardens, straight up gives you a weapon and then conscripts you to get you out of being punished for killing a bunch of humans INCLUDING the arl's son. AND THERE'S NOTHING ANY OF THEM CAN DO ABOUT IT.

BUT... in the human noble origin, it's really emphasised how strong of a hold the chantry and andrastianism has on the couslands. as you're wandering about the castle, there's almost a whole segment that's just making it explicit that you were raised Very Andrastian, in the interactions with the chantry mother there. and duncan is painted in the worst light here, being willing to let cousland die in the castle if they dont agree to the conscription. when you get to ostagar and try talk to the king about it, duncan makes it clear you're a grey warden before you're a cousland and that's now a bad thing. you don't get vengeance for your family -- you can't, because your duty to the wardens trumps everything else. cousland has a lot to be bitter about when it comes to duncan. becoming a grey warden is framed in the worst possible way in the cousland origin -- the most strongest origin in terms of andrastian faith -- and i don't think that's a coincidence. that's SO fascinating to me.

then you get to ostagar and you're introduced to alistair, and his entire character background hinges on what is. ostensibly. a pissing contest between the chantry and the wardens over him -- the chantry, who got him from arl eamon, and put him through templar training vs the wardens who can legally just take him from them and there's nothing the chantry can do about it. he's literally an escaped templar and it's clear the chantry despises that as much as they would despise an escaped mage.

and this is all before ostagar!!!! like?!?!?!?! you can SEE the chantry and the wardens' power struggle, and the chantry is losing

#there's more points too but let me just get this out there bc this post is already long as it is #vee.txt #my da meta #vee rewrites da #anti chantry #the grey wardens

[daisymeade]

Problematic OC: Maeve Cousland 🥰

Criticizes the Chantry. Is also a Chantry apologist and literally banging the Divine.

Hangs out with commoners and acts like a rogueish Every Girlie. Literally a Royalist and Centrist.

Got the King's Bastard exiled and promptly started fucking the Queen.

Laughed in Arl Eamon's face at a party once.

Crowned Harrowmont because she didn't like Bhelen's vibes.

Looked at Gilmore (her brother's ex) and said. "You know, it's too bad you're not a woman."

[Ask me about one of my OCs and I’ll list out why they’re problematic]

#being a lesbian won't save you babygirl LOL #maeve cousland #asks

[sys-garden]

okay in trying to figure out the most interesting origins/love interests/other choices to do in dragon age to make the most interesting story. i got mage hawke/anders, solas/lavallen. but im stuck on origins... i know i want to romance alistair but i dont know which origin. Surana warden has the most conquences because elven mage just saved the world but the world hates both of those, can ask for circle independance, spices up anders back story a bit with one of his first friends (that he also didnt fuck) be a independant mage trying to make the world better, and gives more reasoning to leliana wanting to support mages and elves in inquistion. And it foreshadows more on mages and elves in the later games. But cousland has more direct connections with the main plot of origins since Loghain kills your family because they were gonna be a threat to him ruling through anora which is why he also tries to kill arl eamon. Plus the plot where you kill arl howe and then the redepmtion plot with nathaniel howe as a lot more impact as a cousland. plus it gives you a bit of a everyman perspective to start the game with and it makes the protag line up feel more unique because it was bothering me that both the warden and inky were gonna be elven mages and hawke was a human mage. If they all feel unique then the inconsistancy isnt a issue.

[sapphim]

oh so you're queer and were raised in a homophobic religion? but do you read uncomfortable abusive dynamics into sebastian's relationship with elthina and the chantry and project uncontrollably onto him???

#shitposting #sebastian vael shitposting hours apparently #hi I have insomnia and also elthina is a terrible person who I would strangle with my bare hands #elthina 🤝 arl eamon #god would that be a cursed fucking ship or what

[terendelev]

I was so disappointed after I spared Loghain because of his limited dialogue (also back then you had to use a mod to trigger his friendship dialogue because it was bugged) because all I wanted was Warden telling their Blight stories to him like imagine what could we had.

Warden: ...and I had to transform into a rat then wander around in the Fade to collect other shapes like a burning man and Golem can you believe it?

Loghain: Warden what the fuck are you talking about?

Warden: Just wait until I tell you how Arl Eamon snorted Andraste’s ashes.

#dao #da.o #da: origins #loghain mac tir #dragon age #dragon age origins #ALSO SORRY BUT #at least we should get some dialogue about the warden explaining #gray warden things to him like the calling #or the taint

[merrilldidnothingwrong]

Loghain Mac Tir

Well, it’s late, I’m tired, and I’ve been thinking about this for the past couple of days. So, here comes my analysis on Loghain’s words and actions through the events of Dragon Age Origins. Disclaimer 1: While I know the events of it, I have never personally read The Stolen Throne, so I will not be in-depth referencing it. Disclaim 2: I intend to try and be objective as possible, and look at Loghain in his entirety. I say as possible, because full disclosure, I don’t like Loghain. This will be going under a read more, because this is going to be long. Here we go. - Mod Alistair

To start with, Loghain loved Maric. Deeply, and truly. And he always wanted to do what he saw was best for Fereldan. In addition, Loghain suffered heavily at the hands of Orlais, and he saw how much Fereldens suffered from the Orlesians. It is part of what defines him as a person, and that trauma has clearly stayed with him throughout the rest of his life.

Let’s start with Ostagar. Now, in the arguments between Loghain and Cailan, they were both right, and they were both wrong. Loghain was right that it was foolish of Cailan to risk himself on the front lines. He was also right that the army assembled wasn’t enough to stop the Blight. On the other hand, Cailan was absolutely right that they needed to get as many allies as possible to stop the Blight, and he was right that they needed to trust the Grey Wardens. However. Cailan was hopelessly naive if he honestly thought that Orlais would behave just because a Blight was going on, especially when coming in to help with a Blight and then never leaving is one of their classic strategies for expanding their control. Loghain, in turn, was stubbornly fixated on the potential danger that the Orlesians posed, and couldn’t see the full threat of the Blight, in addition to being suspicious of the Grey Wardens. They both held a level of fault for that.

Now, here’s the fact: on some level, Loghain was right to call for a retreat. Between the tower being unexpectedly taken, which was leading to an ambush of darkspawn troops from behind, and the size of the horde, the good guys would’ve needed to find and kill the archdemon ASAP for them to have any chance. However. Loghain made no attempt to rescue his king, or to even send a messenger telling Cailan that he needed to get the hell out of there. That is both treason and regicide. Loghain knowingly left Cailan and hundreds of others to die, out of fear of a potential specter of an Orlesian invasion.

Now, let’s look at what he does after he takes control of Fereldan. Loghain’s right hand man is Arl Howe, who had already fucked things up for Fereldan by betraying the Couslands, and reducing the number of troops that the army had access to, by removing a large number of the Highever troops and all of the Amaranthine troops from the equation. Throughout the game, Howe does truly reprehensible shit, including imprisoning and torturing numerous innocents, plus other stuff. Any and everything that Howe does while he’s under Loghain’s command can be partially laid at Loghain’s feet. If Loghain knew what Howe was doing, he’s guilty of that. If he didn’t know, he’s guilty of letting Howe do whatever with free reign.

Loghain offered Uldred mage freedom if he convinced the mages to join him, indirectly causing the events of Broken Circle. I’m not saying he deliberately caused that, but Loghain should’ve known what the Templars would do if they got wind of what the mages were planning. In addition, Loghain captured Jowan, and pushed him to poison Arl Eamon. Now, Eamon is a fucking asshole, but let’s be clear, Loghain acted with the goal of taking out one of his principle political enemies, and tightening his control over Fereldan. Also, he was likely suspicious of Eamon just because Eamon married an Orlesian woman.

Loghain’s soldiers repeatedly act with belligerence and general dickishness, which speaks volumes of the people he gave power and allowed control. Just as a reminder, one of his envoys tried to force his way into Orzammar. Not to mention the civil war that Loghain caused.

Now, the alienage. Loghain knowingly sold Fereldan people into slavery to Tevinter slavers in return for money to fund his campaign. Were those people elves? Yes. Should that matter? No. Loghain claimed that everything he did was to protect Fereldan. I believe him. I also recognize that Loghain was a racist man who did not see the elves as part of Fereldan. The same elves who fight the darkspawn horde when Denerim is attacked. If instead of selling them into slavery, if Loghain had promised them greater rights and armed them, he could have had what he wanted. But no. Because he didn’t consider the elves to be equal to humans.

In conclusion, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And Loghain was never able to see beyond his own trauma and fears. There’s more to be talked about with the choice to make Loghain a Grey Warden, but that’s a whole other can of worms, and I’m too tired for it.

#dragon age #dao #dragon age origins #loghain mac tir #loghain critical #long post

[jellydishes]

The DA fandom is just fucking horrific when it comes to female characters. There's so much shit that male characters get a free pass for, and the ladies get dog piled on? The double standards are mind boggling! Wrt Bethany, I don't really like either path for her to be honest and I wish the Mages Collective had been an option as it would have allowed her to come into her own without the trauma of the Circle or the taint associated with being a Warden. What's your preferred path for her?

oh man anon, you've activated my trap card. asking me about lady characters AND bethany hawke? is it my birthday???

anyway this got into a huge tangent so i put it under the cut lol

okay so first off, i completely agree about how the fandom will treat female characters. naturally it's all about curating your own experience and following the people who inspire you and don't give you a migraine with their bad takes etc etc BUT,

take how the fandom treats anora, my personal pick for the throne in origins, as well as isabela, who is the heart of my heart, the star i set my feet to. anora is accused of quote unquote just generally being a bitch, with her worst quality often being cited as... being ambitious? wanting to be queen when the alternative is a completely untested person who doesn't even WANT to be king (and is absolutely set up to be a puppet king who will be manipulated by arl eamon), when she's spent her whole life training for the role? c'mon. C'MON.

and isabela is often and loudly jeered at for being open and unapologetic with her sex life, which is a whole other bucket of worms that makes me regret so very many things but comes back to sex shaming women (and also racism, obvs, that's quite the double whammy, i'm so sorry bela)

and as for bethany hawke? personally, i prefer the grey warden path for her. not because i think the grey wardens are so awesome etc etc, but because:

a) it's a damn sight better than being imprisoned in the circle, where abuse of all kind exists every single day and she was DEFINITELY lying about how good she had it in her letter and later in the game, because bethany as a character has been shown to sacrifice her own happiness for that of her friends and family and lying about the horrors of the circle would be included there

b) as a grey warden she would have the freedom (for the most part) to not be attacked and judged as a mage, and would be able to just BREATHE among the other grey wardens. they already know she's a mage and don't care? there's a group of people much larger than her friend group back in kirkwall who will protect her and help her grow, which brings me to my next part,

c) i LOVE the wardens for her precisely for the reason most everybody else doesn't, which is that she's pissed off and resentful in her letter to hawke. cause like. think about it. up until that point in the game, she's never really expressed being angry or opposed hawke in the slightest. similarly to my point above, she internalizes most of her negative emotions and bottles everything up until it's a five wine, but as a warden, the worst already happened and she's still here and kicking and getting to express herself???? so she decides, y'know? Fuck It. and tells her sibling off, And Good For Her

d) (also in the rp i have going with my partner off and on she Absolutely gets to explore being a baby bi and gets a crush on another lady warden named sehris but that's for another time y/y)

as for the mages collective, that's an option i've seen suggested only recently, but it's certainly an intriguing one! i haven't really even had the opportunity to put much thought into it, it bring that recent of a suggestion, but i am very much down for renegade bethany hawke helping other mages, her being a vocal part of the mage rebellion being another thing i yell about loud and often, but this post is way too long already lollll

#thank you for the ask and the opportunity to screech about women and bethany hawke in particular #ask tag #anon tag #Bethany Hawke #sexism #sex shaming #racism #Dragon Age

[ishouldgay]

Man fuck Arl Eamon, all my friends hate Arl Eamon. What a power hungry asshole. What a terrible father figure. What a just all around bad leader.

My dude you were given a royal bastard to watch over and you treated him like shit! You gave him away to the church when he was like 8 years old! What the hell were you thinking??? Like not only was that a stupid idea, because Alistair apparently already knew he was a royal bastard and thus could have been used super easily, but it also makes you just an asshole!!

God I wish dao let me call him out for being a shit father figure.

#alistair #dragon age origins #arl eamon

[emmavakarian-theirin]

just finished part 1 of the witcher season 3

was that entire last episode meant to be a shock? like at all??

#the witcher netflix spoilers (kinda? mostly in the tags but even that's not much?) #like i'm very bad at following along and felt confused throughout most of the episodes but that? really?? #although it doesn't help that i just don't like yennefer in any media and don't watch it for shipping lol #although every time ciri did A Thing i would mutter 'baby girl!! go baby girl!!' #and when her and geralt would hug!! or he'd hold her!!!! 🥺🥺🥺 #also geralt calling jaskier 'jask' fucking killed me lmao #also as a dragon age player & an arl eamon hater it was funny to hear his VA getting treated like an idiot by his king who was also an idiot #but yeah anyway the actual post itself was my main takeaway from the season so far like... i'm not waiting with anticipation for the rest

[panther-os]

Stg I always wind up coming up with at least one wild fucking family tree that makes no sense whatsoever at first glance no matter what fandom I'm in.

I decided to make my Cousland adopted.

His bio parents are Cailan and trans!Nate, I did fudge their ages, they were still teens and so is Breodan during Origins but none of them are Infants (TM).

Don't worry, Fiona's in there and she and Maric are listed as Alistair's parents, too, I just also added him being adopted by Eamon.

I also yoinked the headcanon that Loghain is Nate's bio dad. Also I do have to mentally rewrite Nate's recruitment cause he does know that Breodan is his.

This family tree isn't my most complex, that one belongs to the tf fandom.

The short version: Breodan was raised as a Cousland, his one dad is a MacTir raised as a Howe, and his other dad is a Theirin and a Guerrin. He has family ties to all five most influential families of Ferelden and if everyone who knew wasn't dead, missing, packed off to the free marches for the crimes of being queer and pregnant out of wedlock, or a gigantic raging fucking dick-tator or his lackey, he'd most likely have a much higher title than Arl of Amaranthine.

TL;DR: I do ridiculous things for fic I will never actually write and now my brain hurts.

#/incoherent noises/ #writer problems #dragon age #long post

[evilvarric666-archive]

My canon world state is a queen cousland (they bother all the nobles by being decent people who actually don’t think elves are lesser why do you think that would you like to explain your reasoning for that oh am I making you uncomfortable I’m so sorry but I’m not really anyway elves have better rights now so stop being racist thank you also mages aren’t inherently evil so shut the fuck up. Arl eamon go fuck yourself whatever your opinion is) and just.... the experience of playing awakening to inquisition is just like.... looking for a CRUMB of the consequences of that. Nobody acknowledges it in awakening (except anders who vaguely mentions it thank u). In da2 bodahn mentions it once saying “a grey warden Queen fancy that” as if the king is not also a grey warden, alistair calls the warden his “ball and chain” (rude) and that’s it and inquisition you get a mention in a codex, a vague allusion in the letter you get from the warden (which I understand can’t be too full of character but like... really?) and Stroud mentions it once... like hello I think the queen of fucking ferelden disappearing would have more consequences than one sentence from once guy. Like... one of the inquisition quests revolves around a countries leader being under threat from the big bad guy... you’d think there’d at least be a conversation about the queen of ferelden disappearing to wonder if that was a problem? Especially when she’s friends with your spymaster and she hasn’t heard from her (this was off topic I’m very sorry but there’s just not enough development for this choice. And I’m like??? Please I just want crumbs.... let my choices have consequences BioWare)

No! No consequences for you! Go sit in the corner & think about what you did (by which I mean "made in-game decisions that they didn't care about so much")

#the lack of long term consequences is often v frustrating to me #it honestly feels like the worldstate resets in-between games. which is to be expected to a degree. #given how big the world is and how many individual choices there are. but still. #(and yeah....that ball and chain joke. thanks bioware i hated it)

[dalishious]

did you know arl eamon’s father was in a same sex relationship with a man called connor!! and eamon also called him father too

Yeah I really liked the approach of taking a continuity error, and instead of floundering just decided “fuck it he had two dads.” Like, thank you for taking the obvious, simple route!

#fit for a queue #Anonymous #ask

[glamfellens]

Also back on the whole Anora thing; THEY DID HER SO DIRTY IN INQUISITION. My girl was beautiful and unique looking in origins and in inquisition they made her look like a peasant! Sorry I just have a lot of Anora feelings and had to get that off my chest. Oh and I don’t like Eamon either I feel like he basically bullies Alistair into taking the throne. Anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk.

you’re right and you should say it!!! they really did her dirty in inquistion... bioware you cannot tell me that anora would show up in a dress that 90% of the other fereldan npcs wear... they could’ve at least put her in one of the fancier dresses? the ones with the fur vests and the weird shoulder guards? sigh i totally agree with you about eamon!! he isnt awake for five minutes before he’s emotionally blackmailing alistair into taking the throne and its like?? i’ll kill you not even worried about it? i hate how he talks about anora too, the way he’s talking to the warden like “don’t trust her, i don’t know her but she has her own ambitions in taking the throne” like... fuck off man i have more reason to trust anora than i do to trust you eamon, the man who has done nothing but abuse and neglect alistair for his entire life right up until he’s the heir of the throne? arl eamon eat shit and die challenge 

#im so mad i hate eamon so fucking much man #magnussbaned #dragon age #this is why i keep alistair as a warden and keep anora on the throne