#dorian critical

[dragonageconfessions]

CONFESSION:

So Devera from the Denerim Arc in Dragon Age Origins always perplexed me when it came to her attitude about Tevinter and Dorian in DAI just outright annoyed me. I mean its freaking slavery!!!  But then in my World History class in College I realized the writers loosely based Tevinter slavery on the Ottoman Empire. And thinking about it made me see how the hierarchy was cruel because the lowest ranked slaves really had no chance.  It  still bothers me and its ALWAYS  going to annoy me but it made me understand Devera and Dorian a bit more. I just wished it had been explained better in the game.

Mod Note: Here are some links on the subject for anyone interested

#Dragon Age Confessions #Dragon Age Origins #Dragon Age Inquisition #Dorian Critical

[v-arbellanaris]

irt the sera discussion from yesterday I would like to add that she's also dismissive of city elven culture—it just doesn't come up as much bc inquisition does its very best to ignore city elves' existence. the most memorable example for me is a quote from her WOT entry—"stupid tree. didn't go, didn't stay" or something like that. You're definitely right, her whole deal is just internalized racism, it's not strictly prejudice against the dalish like some people claim lol. (I believe anneapocalypse has a meta on this exact subject actually) very frustrating that there's barely a hint of growing out of it though—if it were some other flaw, maybe id be fine with it (I do love when characters get worse.), but given that it's a white writer writing internalized racism. well. but that's a subject that's been meta'd to death by better writers than I.

yeah, i love @anneapocalypse's sera meta, it was very compelling to think about!!! and idk! unfortunately, i DO know people irl who are like this (and don't seem to be getting any better about it). again, on its own, i think there's a lot of value to sera's story, even if it's not my story - the problem comes when we look at specific details in sera's writing and how her writing fits into the overall portrayal of elves - and dalish cultures, as well as city elves which as you've pointed out are almost entirely erased in dai which is truly horrific when you are directly dealing with the aftermath of the slaughter of thousands of elves in WEWH.

from that perspective, coupled with how minimal sera's growth is (especially if you're a lavellan that didn't romance her but had to deal with her internalised racism with no way to call it out as the PC without resorting to ableist insults) (and i use minimal here not to discount that her growth exists but how tiny it is compared to what we have to face in-game in terms of her internalised racism, and how most of her growth is shoved into codex entries or into trespasser and even then it's a couple of throwaway lines, at best)... it starts to feel a lot less like a well-intentioned portrayal of internalised racism, with some hits and misses, with the intention of resolution and self-love being the outcome.

and again, what IS IT with bioware and having their white characters dealing with fantasy racism??? like, i'm sorry, but sera is literally white. there's a black woman IN GAME and no one even ACKNOWLEDGES that racism/colourism towards her exists except for one tiny banter with cole for a SPLIT SECOND... and vivienne, a black woman growing up in a heavily andrastian-influenced circle of magi with chantry values... literally has no character arc... even though she's a black woman supporting incarceration of her own people... but the white elf's got an entire arc about internalised racism???????????????? what is the narrative reasoning behind this???

AND ANOTHER THING! the issues with sera are also an issue present with a lot of the other characters in dai - you discuss slavery once with dorian, where he gets defensive of it, and even as a lavellan romancing him, it never gets brought up again until bloody tevinter nights, which isn't even in-game material. you can't argue with cassandra to disseminate the cure for tranquility or get to change her mind on ANYTHING; you can't argue with cullen about mages; you can't argue with vivienne about the circles (not with actual logical arguments with any kind of nuance, which is a limitation OF THE GAME when they can give vivienne lines of nuance for her arguments for why the circle should exist); you can't argue with varric's centricism, etc, etc. even if you do get to confront them, it's one or two lines that are then mysteriously never touched on again in game. in da:o and da2, they didn't do this well either, but at least they had leliana come up to an elven warden after they correct her to apologise - there's clearly an acknowledgement of where she went wrong, and an intention to be better, etc, which is SUCH a fascinating writing direction. you don't have that in... any of the other games. none of the characters are allowed to be wrong, unless they're pushing for justice or equality or freedom in which case they will do something evil (like slavery or mass murder) to make you doubt the validity of their argument. instead they're representations of a specific stance and you're expected to just accept what they say as fact - which is incredibly ironic for a game that hides most of it's deep lore via conflicting codex entries for a sense of realism when it comes to reporting real life events.

it's incredibly exhausting.

#asks #bioware critical #sera critical #dai critical #dao critical #da2 critical #dorian critical #vivienne critical #cullen critical #cassandra critical #varric critical #fuckin hell we're going all out on this one. this is touching a LOT of different things and meandered off the main topic slightly but #[shakes bioware writing] HIRE MORE PEOPLE OF COLOUR. HIRE SENSITIVITY READERS. HIRE LITERALLY ANYONE OTHER THAN THE SAME 3 WHITE CENTRISTS.

[ghoulfriendfangs]

If you guys thought Dorian on instagram was bad

Why are they being so clingy and desperate on TikTok?

why are they “🥺”?

#pwease mistewe obama pwease download our game we pwomise to be good #the arcana #Dorian #dorian era #dorian critical #nix hydra critical

[the-iron-orchid]

Honestly? The Dorian hullabaloo is not some new emergent crisis tearing the Arcana fandom apart, because for the two years I've been in this fandom, NH primarily gave us disappointment. We haven't been waiting on whatever dry-ass crumbs the IP owners deign to give us, we've just been making our own fun.

The fandom doesn't die just because the IP owners are bad at this.

The characters and the world drew us here, so play with them! Find a comfortable corner of the fandom with like-minded people and make what you want to see - especially if you are queer and trans. Take the reins! Make the fluffiest/horniest/funniest shit ever, with love in your heart that Dorian will never have. Free yourself from waiting for them to give you a content fix that will inevitably disappoint.

And if you feel like you don't yet have the skill level to create - everyone starts somewhere. Why not leverage your interest to build up your skills? (That's how I got into rendering, after all - the driving need to see a video game man naked. 😂) Hell, you participate just by interacting with fan creators - we inspire each other all the time, and that's what keeps the fan content flowing!

#fandom #dorian critical #nh critical

[republictrooper]

Honestly a version of DAI where Calpernia replaced Dorian as the inner circle Tevinter rebel mage character and Blackwall or Varric were the designated Gay romance would have been 1000% better

Like, first it gives us a Tevinter Rebel who has a coherent ideology and stake in reforming Tevinter society that makes sense and doesn’t apparently deliberately leave out the most oppressed class in Tevinter (until being retconned back into said ideology in a short story written years later).

Second, It makes sure the gay romance is not a cliched after-school special version of being gay that both essentially introduces virulent homophobia into a setting that was supposed to be better about it AND makes it uncomfortably easy and even narratively encouraged to make the victim reconcile with said virulent homophobe without truly holding him to account for trying to put his son into extreme conversion therapy.

Plus it gives a little something for the bear lovers.

#dragon age inquisition #dorian critical #calpernia #bioware critical #dragon age #homophobia cw #conversion therapy cw

[ravelqueen]

In nicer news: i do like the dynamics of the campaign 3 group till now! Already sad about Robbie leaving in like 10 episodes bc he's so good! Will be interesting how Travis characters will jibe with them.

Obviously Laudna is an actual star, everything about her is delightful, I'm Ashton reacting to Patr in every Laudna scene and her relationship with Imogen is 🤌🤌 the sapphic yearning we all deserve.

Imogen is probably the most intriguing of them this early I JUST WANT HER TO BE OK (and kiss laudna but yk)

I like the vibe of Ashtons sarcasm a lot more than i enjoyed it from molly idk why but Tal is doing lil punk so well

Orym is a sweetheart and I'm torn between going back to EXU to get more of the Orym/Fearne/ Dorian backstory and enjoying the dynamics so much i kind of don't want to downgrade to no rest of cast 😅😅

Fearne is particularly fascinating for me there, bc Ashley plays her so strange and otherworldly and full of whimsy her devotion to Orym has me 👁👁

F.C.G. is such an interesting pivot for Sam being super wholesome but I'm sure the Sam Riegel Truck will hit earlier than later.

In general they aren't replacing the M9 anytime soon in my heart but there is a very sweet innocence to them (Do none of you crime??) that is refreshing

#critical role #hells bells #i think that's going to be their name? #orym #dorian critical #imogen temult #laudna #fresh cut grass #ashton cr #fearne calloway

[dgcatanisiri]

Dorian has no business being in the final disbanding shot when he is only "part" of the Inquisition by way of being forced into it because they hardwired the wrong damn mage as the mandatory party balance figure.

And he ABSOLUTELY has no business appearing in the damn epilogue slides - If I didn't invite him into the Inquisition, why would I CARE about his damn Lucerni centrists?

Yeah, I'm not about to expect much out of the Lucerni or their attempts to "fix" Tevinter. I damn well believe that they're gonna be treated as "the right solution" over bloody violent rebellion, but you know what? The Magisterium as a whole is a corrupt and violent institution that doesn't deserve saving.

If the option is there to go with an uprising that will not distinguish between the "good" and the "bad" Magisters, so willing to tear down Dorian and Maevaris... Frankly, All Magisters Are Bastards, and I'll have no problems siding with the revolution, not the "good" Magisters.

#dg plays dragon age #dg gets pissed #dorian critical #anti dorian pavus #anti lucerni

[floweroflaurelin]

How do you want to do this?

—

Goodbye, Faithful Caregiver.

#critical role #fcg critical role #cr fcg #bells hells #critical role fanart #critical role campaign 3 #cr3 #bells hells fanart #critical role art #cr fanart #otohan thull #fresh cut grass #floweroflaurelin art #ashton greymoore #fearne calloway #dorian storm #orym of the air ashari #cr frida #imogen temult #laudna #chetney pock o'pea #sam riegel #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #rip fcg #AHHHHHHHH #SOBBING AND SCREAMING #this took SO LONG but I had to get these feelings out #four days on a single project I need you to understand how unprecedented this is for me #sam riegel WHY do you keep making me CRY

[bixbiboom]

And we catch up with the Crown Keepers…

#opal #dariax zaveon #fy'ra rai #morrighan ferus #dorian storm #critical role #cr spoilers #exandria unlimited #the crown keepers

[oddthesungod]

I think Dorian would enjoy a beach day 💙

#critical role #dorian storm #critical role fanart #cr3 #bells hells #critical doodles #just a relaxing day at the beach #no world shattering events happening no sir not at all <333

[teaweltzer]

Couldn't resist drawing Dorian in Robbie's bday pose

#myart #critical role #critical role fanart #dorian storm #bells hells #crown keepers #robbie daymond

[its-your-mind]

Bells Hells as textposts 2/???

#critical role #bells hells #cr3 #c3 #cr shitpost #cr textposts #ashton greymoore #chetney pock o'pea #dorym #dorian storm #orym of the air ashari #laudna #imodna #imogen temult #fcg #deanna leimert

[wrenfeathers]

celebrating our favorite blue boy's return to the table!

#dorian storm #critical role #critical role fanart #campaign 3 #bells hells #cr3 #cr3 spoilers #episode 91-92 hit me like a semi-truck and i havent recovered #pray for me when episode 93 drops #dorym

[ghoulfriendfangs]

Volta lookin a bit different

#but seriously that sucks for whoever the Volta cosplayer is #idk if that’s the same cosplayer just cosplaying Nadia #or if they used someone entirely different and left them in the dust #the arcana #dorian critical #dorian #nix hydra critical #nix hydra

[calenthee]

all together! so fun seeing them as a set

#my art #drawing #critical role #crit role #cr fanart. cr fan art #critical role fanart #CR #campaign 3 #c3 #cr3 #critical role campaign 3 #crc3 #crit role campaign 3 #cr chetney #cr laudna #cr orym #cr dorian #cr imogen #cr fcg #cr ashton #cr fearne

[republictrooper]

Honestly though, fuck Dorian Pavus and his “Slavery is fine, stop whining at me about it, inquisitor” ass. I dont care if they made him get better about that off-screen in the books. He’s not a revolutionary.

If we’re gonna overthrow the old order in Tevinter in DA:D, let me team up with Calpernia. There’s a girl who knows what revolution is all about.

#dragon age #dragon age dreadwolf #calpernia #dorian critical