#i hate that the tl;dr of it all is just 'fenris being fenris' but. i am a simple woman

[shivunin]

Hi, I just wondered what your favourite part of the Fenhawke romance was? Like, a scene/moment that really made you fall more in love with him? I love your writing so much!!

Oh, that is very kind of you to say! 💗I'm glad you enjoy the things I've written. I've really been enjoying writing for this ship, especially the past few months c:

As for your question...

Man, that's tough. I have a hard time picking one thing---I mean, *gestures to all the fic* you know? But I can narrow it down to a couple of scenes/elements:

The fact that a romanced Fenris still calls you "my friend" even after the act 2 romance scene. This is just...the bedrock of their relationship to me. Yes, that night went very poorly (understatement, I know), but at the core they are friends and he trusts Hawke in a way he's likely never had the cause or opportunity to trust someone before. I believe he never stopped loving Hawke, and it was a matter of laying those feelings out and understanding them one at a time. Romantic love not replacing platonic love or eclipsing it, but building or twining together is just... *chef's kiss* that's the good stuff.

The moment during the romance conversation in Act 3 when you can see Fenris go from hoping (painfully hoping!) that there is still some way he and Hawke can be together to actually believing it will happen. There is a shift in his body language that I could watch (and...have) over and over.

The element of choice? This is not going to be coherent, but the fact that he is learning for the first time what it means to have options and preferences, and he spends a lot of time exploring and understanding himself...and after all of that, the thing he keeps coming back to is Hawke. I think it's gorgeous. A song with refrains of pain or fear and choruses of decision and hope. He's loyal to a fault, in many ways, but understanding how much of himself exists to share and then still choosing to share it is just...man. I said this wasn't going to be coherent lol, so there you are. "If there is a future to be had..." like he doubts its existence but he's willing to chance it for Hawke. Man.

But, honestly? I've played DA2 a lot of times and never romanced another character, even though I've played through multiple romance storylines in each of the other games. I can't shake the Fenris romance. Every time I open a new playthrough, I tell myself that this is the time I'm going to romance Isabela, and every time Fenris rips that dude's heart out and I just......alright, yeah. Okay. Here we go again.

#and okay yeah one more thing actually #when he is like 🥺 at hawke after he kills danarius and hawke says he isn't alone #i know people joke about it but it's about the capacity for immense violence and aching tenderness #the parallel of meeting him when he rips some guy's heart out and him being finally free to make a life for himself after the same #it's about the cycles. the repeating story #and now he is truly not hunted anymore and he can make some kind of home #could i pull this into a more coherent analysis? probably yes #but here it is nonetheless #i *do* love him actually. he is just so very himself. unbending and harsh as it is sometimes he is always himself #long post #da2 #fenris #ask response #goodness this wound up longer than i'd expected #thank you for giving me an excuse to ramble anon 💗 #i hate that the tl;dr of it all is just 'fenris being fenris' but. i am a simple woman

[mattressdemon]

bitching about narrative design in bioware games part 2

to summarize part 1 quickly, i bitched a bit about how bioware wrote some characters and designed some parts of the narrative of baldurs gate 1 and 2. they killed the only black woman in the og bg games for a (supposedly) white man’s pain (minsc) and then offered a replacement in the form of a white woman (aerie).

while complaining about bg1 and 2 could stand all on its own, the reason i wanted to talk about those things in particular is to highlight the way bioware writes and designs characters and stories in their later titles, like mass effect, but especially dragon age. i do particularly pick on the writing of david gaider and lukas kristjanson and a little bit on patrick weekes, but this is not meant to be a personal jab at any of them or say anything about their character or beliefs.

overall i think a lot of the way bioware frames certain characters and manipulates the dialogue of certain characters is really more questionable than allowing for actual critical thought. the best examples of my issues with this are cullen, aveline, fenris, dorian and sera. also a special shout out for jacob from mass effect. you might notice that ive now named four characters that lukas kristjanson wrote for; minsc, aveline, sera, and jacob. that doesnt mean i dislike how he writes all of his characters: i actually really enjoy carver and joker, for example.

my issues with the way he wrote these characters directly relates to over-utilization of stereotypes, writing dialogue that sometimes sounds bizarrely out of character, and combine both of those with poor levels of representation in all of the bioware titles.

aveline, while a very enjoyable character (imho) says things that i think directly contrast how she actually thinks and feels in game. she makes many degrading and insulting comments directly at isabela (who was confirmed as a black woman by gaider) about her sexuality and i feel like its honestly really uncharacteristic of her, given how often she finds herself agreeing with a pro-mage hawke throughout the story and how strongly she feels about the real protection and care of people. this is an issue for multiple reasons:

1. isabela is only one of two black female companions in the dragon age franchise, and she does not even have black facial features (she looks pretty european to me, leaving vivienne as the only black woman in the series with black facial features). contrast that to 12 white female companions throughout dragon age including DLCS, and three white female temporary companions (not including merrill, as i already counted her).

2. isabela is expressive and open with her sexuality in a way only one other female character is, and morrigan isn’t even near to the degree that isabela is. also, isabela is bisexual, and the narrative plays hard against characters that are bisexual/pansexual and simultaneously considered slutty (they have one each game! zevran, isabela, iron bull).

3. isabela is a swashbuckler/rogue with a spotty history irt loyalty, again reinforcing stereotypes of characters that are bisexual or bipoc being untrustworthy or of dubious morality.

and none of this would have mattered if there were more black and bisexual/pansexual characters in the series. weekes’ comment about not wanting to make solas black and bisexual because he didnt want to fall into a stereotype? null and void if there were more black and/or bisexual characters in the franchise. representation matters.

i love fenris too! and you know what i hate? people writing GOTCHA dialogue that doesnt even fit a character just to push a devils advocate agenda.

the conversation in question is between fenris and anders in act 2.

fenris: there, your magic would be a mark of honor. apprenticed to the right magister, you would do well.

anders: so they all do those things?

fenris: just the ones who don’t complain about how powerless and persecuted they are.

“just the ones who dont complain about how powerless and persecuted they are” shut the fuck up. why would this come out of fenris’ mouth at all, ever? bruh gaider wrote his storyline, he knows this doesnt make sense. he has to. doesnt he???

and i feel like da2, but especially inquisition, does this a lot. they shove a lot of dialogue into the game that kinda gives you a GOTCHA sorta vibe, like they’re just tryin to snag the inquisitor on bs.

this happens with dorian in inquisition too. if you play a dalish elf inquisitor, theres an entire conversation with him about slavery in tevinter. while the game spends the entire narrative effectively shitting on a dalish inquisitor for being proud of their dalish culture and heritage, dorian is often praised by the narrative for being nationalistic and proud of tevinter’s culture and history. in the conversation, it feels more like dorian is talking at the inquisitor rather than having a thoughtful and engaging discussion about slavery and why his perspective on it might be different. i dont have screencaps off hand atm, but it’s right there in the game, if you have a copy, go play it.

in contrast, in dragon age origins, you can have a conversation with leliana with a dalish warden wherein she says some hurtful things about dalish elves, things that are typically associated with real life stereotypes about indigenous people, like them being “savage” “brutish” or “lazy”. and by the end of the conversation, no matter what you say or do, she apologizes. she says she was wrong to say those things, and she’s sorry, and she won’t do it again. that’s an effective dialogue about serious issues in a video game!!!! not whatever bullshit that dorian conversation was.

and last but not least: sera and jacob. sera is a great character, and yet, she is the only companion who you can actively dismiss / rudely ask her to leave the inquisition throughout the entire game and in every single conversation. the narrative frames this 20 year old (she is YOUNG!!!! who ISNT annoying sometimes when they’re young???) lesbian as an irritant, and most people walk away from inquisition disliking sera. consistently ppl shit on sera throughout the game, and the narrative itself likes to make her an enemy to the inquisitor, make it feel/seem wrong that she constantly questions authority, when so many other characters are shown in a positive light for doing and saying the exact same shit she does. this is part of a larger issue bioware has in general with writing elven women in dragon age (see also the framing of merrill in da2 and velanna in the expansion for origins, awakening).

do i even have to start on jacob? black man with a heart of gold and a deadbeat, creepy, abusive father? then he “cheats” on shepard in mass effect 3 and the narrative gives you the option to punch him? he didn’t even know if shepard was going to be released from custody!!! he knew the reapers were coming and he didn’t know if he would ever see her again!!!! of course some people will feel his actions were a betrayal, but its all ignorant of the circumstances he was in. its not no two years thought dead thing that everyone is okay with excusing (virmire romance), but it’s certainly fucking close.

tl;dr: i hate how bioware frames characters and designs narratives sometimes. if someone ever reads this that works at bioware: please hire more bipoc and queer designers.

#aveline critical #fenris critical #dorian critical #bioware critical #notes #sunni

[felassan]

hey! just curious if you know - do the blue wraith graphic novels create a “canon” world-state (ie. they mention the hero, champion, inquisitor or their choices) or do they leave that mostly vauge? i know some of the earlier comics had alistair in them - but in my origins he died so i just didn’t feel like reading them because i felt like it conflicted with that lol

Hello! This became a bit long so I put it under a cut.

So in a general sense: the first 2 novels are an integral part of all canon. Because they’re set before the events of DAO, they’re a part of the world’s history/backstory in all possible worldstates. The same is the case for Last Flight, as it’s set way back in history, so these 3 are like prequels.

Then more broadly speaking, all of the rest of the novels (including TN) and the Dark Horse comics are canon material, in the sense that they follow the ‘novels and comics worldstate’ that BioWare chose to set them in, or chose to have them set in. (The ‘novels and comics worldstate’ is technically a different thing to the in-game ‘default choices worldstate’. The ‘default choices worldstate’ is the one you get if you don’t import saves in earlier games or don’t use the Keep in DAI. The ‘default’ settings were kept as basic/minimal as possible for the purpose of simplicity/accessibility, because the devs didn’t want new players being confused by those returning characters that are optional/quantum who they had never met before, or by complex ongoing plots that they had no existing investment in the resolution of. It’s designed to be as clean a slate as possible. So in that world, the HoF died stopping the Blight, Kieran doesn’t exist in any form, etc. The ‘default’ worldstate doesn’t affect anything outside of it, so it doesn’t affect the ‘novels and comics worldstate’ or custom player worldstates.)

Back to the ‘novels and comics worldstate’: DG has said that for the non-prequel novels and comics, if a player’s choices line up with the events in those stories, those events unfolded as-shown and future games will reflect this. He then explained that if a player’s choices don’t line up, then the events unfolded in a different way somehow or simply didn’t at all in some cases. As an example, it’s easy enough to imagine Warden Alistair embarking on the same quest/plotline to find his father as King Alistair does in the comics, just as a Warden instead of a reigning monarch. Or in Asunder, if the HoF never recruited certain partymembers during the Blight, to imagine them still showing up somehow and just omitting the parts where they referenced meeting and/or being with the HoF (kinda like Garrus showing up to be recruited anyway in ME2 even if you didn’t recruit him in ME1). 

For the ‘Inquisition-era’ comics specifically (I think of these as the ones written by Greg Rucka, so Magekiller, and the ones written by Christina Weir & Nunzio DeFilippis, so Knight Errant, Deception, Blue Wraith and the upcoming Dark Fortress), it feels like the same ‘novels and comics worldstate’ as the earlier-era comics, as in them Alistair is King*. In terms of your question there are a few specific things, but it’s left mostly vague and they don’t like name/gender/class or mention the race or LIs of the PCs or anything. A few choices are depicted though - for example (hope these aren’t too much of a spoiler, trying to balance answering with not spoiling comic storybeats!), some of the optional Inquisition partymembers either make an appearance in an Inquisition-related context or from a particular detail in the comics clearly exist as Inquisition members, so the Inquisitor in this worldstate obviously chose to recruit [X] and [Y] and then to not send them away/kill them etc. Off the top of my head there’s also a place where one outcome of a minor DAI sidequest-type thing (like ‘war table operation & generic NPC models’-minor) is assumed, so the Inquisitor in this worldstate obviously chose to pursue that particular outcome of that sidequest. Also an optional DA2 partymember shows up (other than Fenris himself I mean), so Hawke probably chose to recruit them in this world.

Since Blue Wraith specifically focuses a lot on Fenris, by necessity in the ‘novels and comics worldstate’ Hawke clearly recruited and then didn’t kill Fenris. Fenris in these comics could have been both unromanced or romanced however, as while he’s not written specifically as if he and Hawke were together, he’s written without any reference to romance, so either scenario is feasible. Friendship/Rivalry also feels like it could be either or. As for the events in Kirkwall in DA2, they’re not specifically referenced. For the big one - the mages vs Templars choice - although Fenris is written as if he fought in defense of the mages with Hawke and friends at the end of the game, the story is still designed to work if Hawke sided with the templars too. iirc the comic writers found that writing Fenris in a Templar-siding Hawke worldstate would make his comic role not work for people who sided with the mages, whereas writing him in a sort-of mage-siding-Hawke worldstate allowed both paths to hold up:

We never reference what specifically happened in Kirkwall. But his interactions with mages are not characterized by wanting them all dead. This is a Fenris who hates the [Tevinter] mageocracy and is wary of those who seek too much power via magic. And he loathes slavers and has been killing them. So if your Fenris sided with mages, he will fit here. If your Fenris sided with Templars, he’ll still work - but his rage is focused on slavers to allow both versions to work. We found that writing him as if he sided with the Templars would break anyone’s Fenris who didn’t, but writing him this way allowed both paths to work. At least, that was our plan - you’ll decide if we pulled it off to your satisfaction. [source]

So tl;dr you may not feel like reading them if in your DA2 Fenris died, as that scenario is contradicted by the comics, is what I’d say. Other than that and the things described in this post they don’t mention or specify the HoF, Champion, Inquisitor and they mostly don’t mention or specify their choices. I feel like it’s been left mostly vague, and as vague as it can be. ymmv in terms of execution, I like it a lot but acknowledge it’s something subjective.

Basically, the DA comics are considered canon as far as they match up with an individual player’s worldstate. In Queen Anora universes, the events unfold similarly yet tweaked a bit in such a way as to allow for Queen Anora. And if “[x] dead char” turns up in a comic, we can safely assume that the events unfold in a similar way sans said character or not at all, fit- and Word of God-source depending. (I personally tend to assume in the dead char scenarios that the events unfolded anyway in a similar manner rather than not at all, despite what DG said that time, as it’s what makes most sense to me in terms of making the parts of the world ‘line up’ in my mind).

Btw, if you’re interested in reading Blue Wraith, I recommend to check out Magekiller, Knight Errant and Deception first if you feel inclined, as there’s an overarching story in this set of comics that’s kind of like one bigger serialized tale that develops throughout.

Hope this ramble helps some and doesn’t make it worse somehow lol :)

[* Alistair’s role in the ‘Inquisition-era’ comics is minor for the record, in case the idea of them being King Alistair-centric would put you off them, they’re not King Alistair-focused at all]

#dragon age #bioware #alistair theirin #fav warden #mj replies #video games #thomrain1er #garrus vakarian #best boy #long post #longpost #fenris #the Fenaissance

[luxuriantegg]

POV: you're watching Loki episode 5. Loki and Sylvie share a blanket, and then five minutes later sylvie’s like “we’re the same :)” which comes after them holding hands to cause a Nexus event, Mobius implying they're in love, and Loki appearing to want to confess some sort of adoration for her before being pruned,,, and so far, it seems the showrunners/writers are on board w/ calling it a love story,,,,,,,,,,

let’s dive a bit into this ship.

(note: i'm not going to tag this as "syl//ki," and i will not put any ship in the body text without the "//", but tumblr may take the "syl//ki" out of "anti syl//ki" and put it in the ship tag. that's out of my hands. you need to block "anti syl//ki" if you don't want to see that.)

when it comes to defending or being anti syl//ki, I think a lot of people sort of missed the memo on or forgot about the fact that Loki is a frost giant. I have looked on both Twitter and Tumblr and literally have not seen a single person talk about it in the selfcest debate so far. I've probably missed something. So if you have seen this argument, well, here it is again!

so, syl//ki defenders will say,

It’s not selfcest because they are genetically different. They might have different parents since they were adopted by the Asgardians.

If they were genetically similar, then they would also be genetically similar to Boastful Loki and Alligator Loki.

First of all. Loki’s last name is Laufeyson. Sylvie’s last name is Laufeydottir. Due to the naming conventions used here, both can be assumed to be children of Laufey. I realize we haven’t seen Sylvie’s Laufey, but who’s to say they look any different than the one we saw in Thor? Furthermore, there’s nothing to suggest that they weren’t adopted by the same exact couple (i.e., Odin and Frigga or some variation), and if you’re not ok with Thor and Loki, you probably should consider this. Probably. We'll really just have to see what happens if they develop Sylvie further. Who knows, they might get cold feet in the last episode and actually make her Enchantress (Sylvie Lushton) proper.

The second point really pisses me off not just as someone who loves Norse mythology but also just. The race card. Does no one remember the fact that Loki is actually supposed to be blue? He’s not genetically white. There is nothing in his genes that command him to be white. That is a disguise (originally put on him by Odin if I’m not mistaken? feel free to check me on that).

Loki could literally be any gender and/or any color he wants to be. Hell, we've seen him shapeshift into Steve Rogers briefly and Odin presumably for a good while. Really, it's hard to pass judgement on the relationships that the other Lokis have to their respective timelines. We can only make assumptions based on the evidence we have. (but also have fun with headcanons of course)

(also the funny part about bringing up Boastful Loki is ,, everyone is always like “well, are you trying to tell me that our Loki has the same genes as Boastful/Hammer Loki? 🙄🙄🙄” and like, they won’t come out and just say one is white and one is black like,,, :) they’re trying so hard not to sound racist it’s hilarious. AND THEN TO PUT ALLIGATOR LOKI IN THE SAME CATEGORY. LAUGHABLE. str8 up.)

But concerning the alligator, in Norse mythology, frost giants can have kids that are really just. Out there. Jormungand is a snake that can wrap itself around the world, Fenris is a gargantuan wolf, and Hel is a half dead child. Those are just Loki’s kids (note: in the mythology. they also exist in the comics as his children, but I am also aware that Fenris and Hela are not his children in the MCU and trust me, that peeves me a lot). I’m sure there’s more examples though. So like. Potentially????? Yeah, Loki Prime could be genetically similar to Alligator Loki.

Furthermore, according to this Gizmodo article, Alligator Loki is a Loki (2021) creation, and they admit to playing with the idea that Alligator Loki may not even be a Loki. So take that how you will.

So my verdict is that Loki and Sylvie are the same person with different looks, possibly some difference in genetics, depending on the mother.

(note: Loki is marked in his file as genderfluid, technically we cannot know what he was assigned at birth. we only know his pronouns. he could be AFAB. Sylvie may be AMAB.)

I don’t ship lok//ius, and I don’t care if Loki gets with a girl (I actually really like Loki and Darcy) so don’t come at me with the biphobia excuse that’s running around. I will say that yes, I would adore seeing Loki in an mlm or wlw relationship. Yes, it is really cliché to have the two opposite gender-presenting leads get together. Yes, I want to see Loki and Sylvie as friends/family. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m just here to ask if this is selfcest or not.

So yes, Syl//ki really does appear to be a selfcest ship and like, if you’re willing to own that, own it. It looks like that’s how the show’s going so far so,, uh,,, enjoy it if that’s something you want to do I guess. I’m ,, probably not going to though. But congrats on the canon! If it is!

I’m not asking you to stop shipping it, if you do. I'm not even asking you to ship with caution. Overall, I just hope I made you think a little more about it and maybe get a discussion going that doesn't revolve around the same arguments we've heard for the past three weeks.

Because like, it's not hurting anyone to ship it, and if you send hate speech to any shippers or the showrunners, literally what is wrong with you???? there are civil ways to discourse, my lord.

Personally, if I had to ship it, I would only do so as a self-love metaphor, and I think that's as far as I would take it. As it currently stands, it's on the same level of Oncest, so like. it's weird but honestly it doesn't hurt anyone. (and if you don't know what Oncest is, give this video by Sarah Z a watch.) Really it all just amounts to this test from Buzzfeed that you've probably seen in fandom memes before. So you can use that as your squick-o-meter when it comes to this ship.

I will end this by saying I am not pro-ship. Inc//est and pedo//philia have no place in fandom and thinking these are okay could lead to harmful thinking in real life, especially with regards to children in fandom.

Selfcest is not technically on the same level as inc//est, and yes, I know, in the words of the great Buzzfeed Unsolved team, "anytime you have to say technically that's not great" but I really mean it here. We can still say technically here.

TL;DR: yeah syl//ki is more than likely selfcest. don't send hate to people who ship it tho (this includes the showrunners).

#antisylki #loki spoilers #tw selfcest #ALSO IF REY//LOS DONT SHUT UP ABOUT HOW SIMILAR THE SHIPS ARE I WILL GO FERAL #i was already a little peeved with the boastful loki discourse but they just pushed me over the edge #AND WHERE IS SYLVIE'S POSTMAN #am i the only one who remembers that #also you might think im waffling but im really just trying to cover all my bases

[sasskarian]

I know you're not exactly a DA blog anymore... But... I just finished DA2 for the very first time and, and. I got myself Inquisition with all DLCs. I need to know what happens. I want the poor baby Cullen to be happy :(

Nonnie, I am still at my heart very much a DA blog (and Mass Effect; I just tend to smear new obsessions everywhere. Like finger painting). I curate my experience as much as I can due to the fandom being shit, but my love for DA is strong and steady. 

The best thing I can say is, play through the game and DLCs. (Tho suggested order is Jaws > Descent > Trespasser) I promise you, Cullen has the option of being happy. I wouldn’t write about it if I didn’t see those paths, and at least some of them are canon. 

I know what you mean, tho. Cullen is, to some of my friends’ dismay, near and dear to my heart. He’s my canon quiz’s romance, for many reasons. The truth is, I struggle with the fandoms’ interpretations of him and was just talking about this with my DA/FO/ME bestie @asaara-writes the other day. I think a lot of Cullen’s trauma is easily missed or overlooked in favor of louder plots (like Fenris’s, who doesn’t get hated on nearly so much for his hatred and distrust of mages, or Anders who hates Templars and is lauded for it. If I see another ANDERS WAS RIGHT banner, I’m gonna overclock somebody’s capacitors)

(Pardon me, I’ll throw this under a cut because wall of text, but I have some got-damn Opinions on Cullen and how the fandom treats him)

But for me, I’m neither in the “Cullen is poor bab who never did anything wrong uwu” or the “Cullen is a horrible bastard and should be set afire” camp. I walk a more moderate line, and here’s why:

I have a Cullen. 

My fiance, he’s... so much like Cullen that it breaks my heart. Military vet, disillusioned with his desire to do good in the world and the realities of corruption and power abuse. Substance abuse issues, and recovery from addiction. Said some bad things/had bad opinions when he was younger due to abuse by certain groups of people, and has since reformed and is trying to continue changing. Abuse survivor. Blood on his hands from his career. Trying his best to find his way in a world that he doesn’t understand. So I see the similarities, and I live with the reality of what that kind of history and life is like. 

Cullen was a fresh-faced 18 year old in the Kinloch Circle (however old his in-game image looks, he was canon 18-20). Which, by canon, was one of the less problematic, more lenient Circles (though you have to have Mage origin to find that stuff out). I don’t think he’d been a Templar long at that point. And he joined the Templars out of a desire to do good in the world. His examples of Templar behavior were those stationed in a small village, who had more leniency and less lawkeeping duties. Honnleath was tiny, and quiet. I’m going on assumption here, on my own history of small towns vs larger cities, that there wasn’t much evidence of power hunger and abuse an eight year old would notice.

Note that he remains kind and even remorseful at some of his duties (for instance, having to attend Harrowings) even under a hateful man like Greagoir.

When Uldred takes over the Circle and kills everyone, Cullen is the last left. He watches possessed mages and demons run wild in his home, killing and torturing his friends. If you’re a mage origin, he talks about how the demons used his feelings and affection for you, inappropriate though they were, to torment him. It’s implied through dialogue that at least some of those demons sexually abused him. 

Yes, in his panic and fresh trauma, he begs the Warden to kill any mages found left in the Circle. I wonder why. Tumblr at large acts like the only way for PTSD and trauma to be exhibited is through cowering and nightmares, but it’s well known among people who have PTSD (including myself) that outrage, hair trigger tempers, and anger issues are as common as crying jags and insomnia. 

After the resolution of Broken Circle, Cullen is reassigned to Kirkwall. Arguably, this is the worst possible Circle he could have been sent to in the entirety of the goddamn world. Not only is Kirkwall famous for increased blood mage activity (both due to history and also due to Templar behavior), which is one of his trauma-groups, but Meredith hates mages, and rules over them with an iron fist. She is fucking crazy, and whether her past makes her a sympathetic villain or not (ymmv), she downright encouraged the abuse of mages and as she loses her mind, we see her start accusing everyone of blood magic. 

Canon states that there are Templars in Kirkwall who sexually abuse mages, who torture them, and who kill them at will, and these are never dealt with. Meredith has no desire to change the way the Gallows is run, and it’s said or implied that before her reign as the overseer, the Gallows-- while still not great-- was not this bad. 

So, freshly traumatized and young Templar is sent to the worst possible place in Thedas, under the command of a crazed mage hater, surrounded by the very thing that will trigger him nigh constantly. I see a lot of the fandom say “well why didn’t he quit/leave?” And I wonder if those fans understand what indoctrination can do. Specifically, military indoctrination. You’re told that the ranks are your home, your family, the only ones who can or will ever understand you. You’re told this for so long that it becomes a life raft. It becomes your world truth. That’s the nature of emotional abuse that fosters codependency: it literally reshapes your world. 

Added to that, Templars are controlled by the Chantry through lyrium, an addictive drug that quitting is difficult and surviving the withdrawal of is often fatal. (that’s another rant entirely that can be summed up as tl;dr fuck the fucking Chantry)

The Templars were the only thing he knew. After that kind of soul-shaking trauma, do you leave behind everything you ever knew? (Remember, he was 13 when he joined into this kind of brainwashing.) No. You cleave to what you can, to what keeps you getting through the day. 

Cullen spent a further ten years in Kirkwall, watching the city fall apart under Qunari, blood magic, and Meredith’s increasing insanity. There was no reprieve for his PTSD: everywhere he turned, there was Something. And yet, we hear in Inquisition (depending on player choices, ofc) Samson say that Cullen tried to continue to be kind. He didn’t abuse mages, he tried to protect them where and how he could. 

[Samson: He arrived after the trouble at the ferelden circle. Cullen jumped at his shadow in those days, always on the watch for abominations and demons. Did right by the mages, though, never played rough with them. Not like Meredith.]

Was it limited? Yes. Was it hampered by circumstance? Yes. Should he have tried harder? Yes. 

But he still tried. 

Does he say regrettable things? Yes. Does he regret those things later? Yes. 

I had a friend, who I am no longer friends with for various reasons, tell me that “If Cullen was a good person, he wouldn’t need a redemption arc.” And... no, No, that’s not how redemption arcs work. Everyone does problematic things. Everyone who grows up brainwashed has to unlearn shit, and atone for shit. 

Cullen still struggles with mages. He still has a deep fear of them. Partly this is the Templar in him talking, partly this is trauma. And, here’s where we break from canon and go deep into psychology land: I think partly because he’s projecting. Cullen cannot imagine forgiveness for what he’s done. I wonder if part of him fears mages because he expects-- perhaps even some part of him desires-- retribution from them for his actions and past. 

And there’s things that have been retconned or that were misleading in previous games. For example, the rumor that Cullen escaped after Broken Circle and went on a mage murdering spree. That was nothing but a rumor, but the fandom levies it against him as if it happened.

But if Cullen “hated” mages, you wouldn’t be able to romance him as a mage. And honestly, that mage romance in DAI? Is one of the sweetest, most tender things I’ve seen in DA. As a mage, you can choose to help him past his fears, help him with his lyrium addiction. Help him grow as a person, and watch as he becomes a better person. As he learns that mages are more than their magic, and that Templars are so often wrong and awful in their treatment of them. 

I find Cullen to be well written. And believable as hell. The portrayal of him-- from the mood swings, to the trauma, to the shaky but steadying growth-- feels real, and I can back that up with my fiance’s own similar path. 

So. To wrap up because hoooooo, Opinions, play through the game. There’s a lot of gems there. <3 

#cullen rutherford #fandom critical #dragon age #anti-cullen #cullen critical #i have a lot of Opinions on this #also no i'm not taking opinions on this #my real life experience applied to fandom is more important to me than being yelled at for liking a character i find relatable af #Anonymous #food for thought #food for thot

[laraslandlockedblues]

I have something I’ve been thinking about, especially now that I’m back over on Twitter (admittedly with a new account than I’d had before) and have been trying to reconcile how I utilize different platforms and why.

Long rambles so I’ll be sure to tag this long post and put under a read more.

TL;DR - I essentially traumatized myself for a political group doing research after the 2016 election, and while I thought I could handle it I found out I could not. I walked away from politics and at the same time discovered that fandom/fanfic writing was alive and well and I lost myself into writing for DA. I literally did actively avoid politics through tumblr and fandom because it was what I needed to heal. It’s why I’ve been such a shitty ally, and while I know that doesn’t excuse my inaction and silence, it hopefully explains why I hid behind privilege and often didn’t speak up. However, moving forward, that will be different.

I can no longer stay silent.

Almost four years ago, after crying my eyes out on election night, I became part of a group that was trying to decide what the fuck we could do moving forward. We all took up roles and duties we were suited for, and at the start mine was to delve into research. I was good at it, and at the time I assured them that I was able to read things that could make your skin crawl and walk away unscathed. It was a skill we needed.

And so, I set to work. I dove into the world of pro-Trumpers, the alt-right, the radicalization of young white men through the internet, and I worked on learning. I would spend my days reading reddit, 4chan, wherever I could find them gathering and sharing their ideas and plans. I took notes. I studied their lexicon and wrote it down. I figured out how they dog whistled and what terms they used around “normies” to try to bring them into the alt-right. I studied how they were trying to “red pill” people. I studied the way they actively were trying to push the Overton Window so that their ideas could be enacted further down the road.

For weeks this was all I did.

At first I was fueled by my rage and disbelief at the election, and I was hopeful we could figure it out soon and overcome. As time went on, though, I lost that hope. I couldn’t walk away from the research unscathed. I carried it around with me, crying over what I was reading, what I was discovering. The depths of hatred in people shook me to my core, as well as the realization that I had been blind to it and even a part of it at one point. 

I was raised by conservatives who admire Ayn Rand, after all. It took me living out on my own and speaking to people from all walks of life that I finally began to shed both religion and my formerly held political views. Two of my closest friends are the children of illegal immigrants. They were the first of their families to graduate from college. Going to their graduation party (as well as others for their families) changed my whole world. Being the only white, English speaker in a room was exactly the kind of experience a lot of people in our country need to have.

And now I was having to research people who actively hated some of the best people I’ve ever met, and also actively worked to never be in the sort of situations I had found had changed me so completely as a person.

I gave up. I sank into such a deep depression I took to drinking more, drinking so that I could sleep instead of staying up until 5am, until I had to go seek a counselor. I was in a red state, in military healthcare, and my counselor only saw the symptoms and side effects of my depression, not the cause. I didn’t feel safe telling her that I was thoroughly depressed because of what I saw happening to my country. Because of the election.

So instead I was treated as an alcoholic, as if that was not a symptom and was in fact the main cause (don’t @ me, I know it makes it worse. But it was not the cause.)

Then I discovered Mass Effect for the first time. And I replayed Dragon Age. I fell in love with Garrus and once more with Alistair and Fenris and Cullen. Late at night, a little tipsy and wishing Garrus had had more of a romance, I googled him and discovered Ao3. And I began devouring fic. And then I had an idea for my own (Goose Bumps).

The rest is well-documented history, here.

I sought refuge in fandom and fanfic. I sought refuge in telling stories. I admittedly used some problematic tropes when I first started out, so enthralled by just finally *writing* again that I didn’t pay attention to how I was consuming the media. I hadn’t written in so long, having hit writer’s block with a mystery I’d been working on (inspired by the “sundown” town I had to visit in-laws in in Illinois), and the act of just writing anything was so liberating for me I gave little thought to anything else.

Never mind the fact that my first real interaction with someone in fandom led to me being manipulated, gaslit, and abused. We’ll gloss over that part.

But these things all compiled into a me who was no longer vocal when I saw things that were more than just concerning and needed to be addressed. I ignored things that made me angry. I saw mutuals sharing important political messages and my heart would start racing and I would log out for the day. I couldn’t see the content without having an adverse reaction to it. I also didn’t want to make myself a target by saying anything - after all, I had written fics and been targeted by an abuser simply for that. What sort of reaction would I get if I helped to call out problematic art and artists?

I was frozen by fear.

I let myself be silent. I let myself take refuge in my privilege as a white cis woman. I let myself only write and block anyone who was racist/sexist/ableist/terfs/you name it. I blocked and moved on.

Because I could.

I had that luxury.

I am no longer frozen by my fear. I am now emboldened by it. I understand wanting to seek refuge in fandom. I do. If moving forward me being political here on this platform causes you distress and you have to unfollow me, trust me.

I get it.

But I can no longer allow my silence to enable those who seek to cause harm. I can no longer stay silent in the face of what is happening in the world, in my country, in my backyard - in my fandom.

This is not in response to anything more than my determination to be better than I was. For three years I’ve allowed myself to seek shelter, while not allowing others the same decency or courtesy by creating a safe space free of racism or other harmful ideologies. I’m not the only one who deserves to seek shelter in fandom. White women are not the only ones who deserve to seek shelter in fandom.

If those statements seem radical or uncomfortable to you, feel free to show yourself the door.

This is not an attempt to explain away my past (in)actions. I don’t need pats on the back. I don’t need reaffirmation. These thoughts have just been circling in my head now that I’ve finally reconnected with that group and have been politically active on Twitter and my personal Facebook again. This blog is still mostly fandom and shitposts. But I also want to be better in how I participate here, instead of keeping it just to my Twitter.

Racists, TERFs, homophobes, sexists, fascists (yes, you’re a fascist if you’re “anti-antifa” get fucked), nazis, etc - none of your like are welcome here. My art is not for you.

#long post #personal #needed to ramble this out of my system #tw racism #tw alt-right #i'm determined to be better #and i will no longer be silent #this is not an excuse #i just needed to conquer my own trauma and now even if it still causes me distress #i have to act #tw: alcholism #tw: alchohol mention #forgot those two

[antiqua-lugar]

Why Hawke's LIs excuses for not being in DA:I were complete bullshit

Premise: I already think that Hawke feeling guilty for whatever happened with Corypheus is complete bullshit. Hawke had no fucking agency in Legacy. They had no choice to do anything. They were tricked into everything. If they had to feel guilty about anything, they would have felt guilty about THE ENDING OF DA2.

But apparently the Mage/Templar civil war is not a thing in DA:I. Because why would it be? Nevertheless I am trying to approach this as if Hawke feeling guilty for Corypheus is not the issue here. ISABELA’S EXCUSE : SHE DOESN’T BELIEVE IN BEING TIED DOWN I am adressing Isabela first because her excuse is COMPLETELY STUPID. It’s so stupid that it goes against EVERYTHING IN HER ROMANCE IN THE FIRST GAME AND EVERYTHING IN DA:I INQUISITION ITSELF. Not only Isabela deciding to stand WITH Hawke and friends against EVERYTHING is THE FUCKING POINT OF HER CHARACTER ARC IN THE FIRST PLACE, LET ALONE HER ROMANCE but SHE JOINS THE FUCKING INQUISITION AS AN AGENT. AND YET SHE’D RATHER DO STUFF FOR THE INQUISITON AND “HAVE FUN” THAN GO WITH THE LOVE OF HER LIFE ON A SUICIDAL MISSION? FENRIS’S EXCUSE: HE WOULD HAVE DIED TO PROTECT HAWKE This is only slightly less stupid than Isabela’s, because the game hints that Fenris was going to come anyway but Hawke run off into the night. Because Corypheus is their responsibility, blah blah blah. Guys, I don’t know about you, but I think that any love interest would have put themselves before Hawke. And viceversa, Like, this is not a Fenris’ specific issue. LIKE, NO SHIT, ALSO HOW IS THIS NEW INFORMATION? HAVE YOU SLEPT THROUGH YOUR OWN GAME, HAWKE? WE NEARLY DIED WITH EVERYONE THOUSAND OF TIMES. AND THOSE TWO IDIOTS ARE HUNTING DOWN TEVINTER SLAVERS ALONE. It’s not like they retired to the country side to rise goats, they still risk their lives daily.  Also, Fenris is not the one claiming that he would drown them in blood to keep them safe. Fenris is the one who really wants Hawke to stop doing dangerous stuff because one day Hawke will get killed, then sighs and tags along anyway. Also Fenris’ entire character arc is about him growing as his own person and he hates when people pity him or don’t let him have agency. So Hawke running off in the night is even more dumb. And Fenris would have expected that and tagged along anyway. MERRIL/SEBASTIAN’S EXCUSE: THEY HAD BETTER THINGS TO DO Both excuses are sort of good because they both hinge on the fact that Merrill and Sebastian feel like they are responsible for other people and so on, which ties with their arc in DA2. (UNLESS SEBASTIAN IS A PRIEST, THEN HE HAS FUCKING NOTHING TO DO). BUT IF THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE WENT ON A SUICIDAL MISSION, WOULD YOU GO “SURE THING HONEY,  SEE YOU WHEN YOU COME BACK, HOPE YOU DON’T DIE” ?! EITHER THIS MISSION IS SO FUCKING DANGEROUS THAT HAWKE LEAVES FENRIS FOR IT OR IT’S NOT DANGEROUS SO SEBASTIAN AND MERRILL DON’T FEEL THE NEED TO TAG ALONG ANDER’S EXCUSE: HE WAS ALREADY POSSESSED ONCE First off, I am in awe of how much the writers really wanted to pretend the whole Mage/Templar thing never happened. Because THE IDEA OF THE INQUISITION AROUND ANDERS WOULD HAVE WORRIED ME MORE THAN CORYPHEUS. WHAT IF CULLEN WANTS TO IMPRISON HIM AND THE HERALD OF ANDRASTE APPROVES? Second, CAN’T HE JUST STAY AT SKYHOLD? Sure, maybe Mister “I would drown us both in blood to keep you safe” agrees with Hawke that it would be better for him to NOT run into Corypheus and crazy Grey Warden bullshit again BUT HAWKE GOES TO SKYHOLD FIRST. AND THEN FUCKS AROUND SOME MORE. AND ONLY THEN THEY AGREE TO TAKE ON THE WARDENS. Are you telling me that Mister “I would kill for you” cannot just put on a fake beard and chill at Skyhold for a bit?! TL;DR ALL THOSE EXCUSES ARE STUPID AND HAWKE’S CAMEO WAS INCREDIBLY CONTRIVED.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #da:i critical #merrill #isabela #sebastian #anders #fenris #hawke #it was all so dumb #antiqua rants

[bookofmirth]

I don't care what anyone says, I'm taking rowan's vision as canon!!! Aelin and Rowan are going to have the big, happy family neither of them got to have when they were young!!! Too bad we never get officially meet them though. I wanna know their names and personalities!!

Me too! I really want to know their names because if I write fic, I hate coming up with names!!! But real talk, it’s like what Maeve saw, right? That they would have 1,000 years together? So basically this is just another vision about them that is #confirmed. A huge, happy family. According to the book, the birth order goes girl, boy, boy, girl, baby mystery.

Whoops, headcanon incoming!!!

Papa Rowan freaking dotes on his daughters. They are so sassy and he’s constantly surprised by the observations that come out of their mouths.

The kids all have equal time training, learning arts and sciences, and learning government/diplomacy. Even though the eldest daughter will inherit the title and the rule of Terrasen, all of them need to be prepared.

Aelin doesn’t want her eldest daughter to feel the weight of the crown in the same way she did. The way that held her down and felt like shackles.

Aelin has a special bond with her eldest daughter because Aelin never thought she would live long enough to have children, to be worried that her fate might end up on someone else’s shoulders.

One day while they are talking, she rests her cheek on Aelin’s head and reassures her that it will be ok.

Aelin is completely taken aback. She hadn’t realized that her fear was so transparent.

Uncle Fenrys.

Lorcan is pretty uncomfortable around any kids that aren’t his own, which they have a lot of fun with.

Like, they tell knock-knock jokes and he doesn’t get it. Which is so much better than if he had played along, somehow.

Their eldest son is quite serious and thoughtful, and looks up to Aedion in the same way that Aedion used to look up to Rowan.

Which Aelin notices and never lets Aedion live down.

It becomes even rarer for someone to have any significant amount of power, since the gods are gone.

So when their youngest daughter shows signs of having power similar to pre-KoA Aelin, they worry.

What if it means that the gods are back? 

Cue the quest to find answers: tl;dr, it’s fine. They just have to keep an eye on the library because it’s very flammable.

Aelin feels like this is payback for all the grief she put her parents through when she couldn’t control her own powers.

Their third child, a son, turns out to be a prodigy on the piano.

He falls in love with a dashing orchestra conductor and they live a bohemian artist lifestyle.

Rowan and Aelin are run ragged every single day of their lives with some drama. Some injury or jealousy or triumph.

The exhaustion is completely different from when they were at war, though.

Then, it was dread that weighed them down.

Now, they are exhausted from just… being so full. Full of love and happiness and laughter. Even the times when their children argue, they know they will laugh about it together later. So they just look at one another, exchange a Look, and deal with the next feud.

#rowaelin #tog #rowaelin headcanon #tog headcanon #koa spoilers #kingdom of ash spoilers #ask #anon

[theharellan]

unpopular opinion: how the majority of fandom handles solas breaking up with the lavellan 'quiz especially when they make other characters bash him for it, is pretty shit

very old unpopular opinion meme | not accepting | strongly agree

@hopewrought​

the way a large part of the fandom handles the solas break-up is rly telling about some of the problems with the dragon age fandom and honestly fandom at large.

it happens with every character who breaks up with you, even temporarily. fenris sometimes gets hate for leaving hawke after they sleep together in act 2, even if his reasons for leaving are clearly triggered by the trauma of being a slave his whole life. he’s not allowed to have his own journey or problems if they inconvenience the player, even if that journey brings him back to hawke (presuming hawke doesn’t end up romancing someone else after that).

there are similarities with solas. he has priorities in his life greater than his feelings for lavellan, and he chose them over lavellan. this would be unacceptable for some people even if solas’s plans were benign in nature

the break-up itself is messy, but it was necessary. weekes confirmed that solas brought the inquisitor to crestwood to tell them he was fen’harel, lay everything on the table, and then he realised he couldn’t do it. ending it at that point was the right and mature option, even if it sucked and hurt both parties. breaking up sucks, especially when you know the other person has strong feelings for you, but if you can’t return those feelings for whatever reason. not to drag blackwall, bless him, but him just leaving a romanced inquisitor to go turn himself in and die was the wrong way to handle the situation.

any lavellan has a right to be devastated, to be angry, but the way i’ve seen that anger expressed in fanart/fanfic tips the scale from “valid ways to feel after a break-up” to “abusive ex-girlfriend who solas was lucky to get away from when he did”

hitting your ex for the crime of breaking up with you is abuse. that solas is read as a man doesn’t change that, and it’s a misogynist double standard to downplay female-on-male abuse. i’ve lost my humour about a lot of solas-related things (egg jokes) and i’ll admit that and let other ppl have their fun, but even joking about hitting solas for breaking up with you/lavellan is an unfunny and hurtful joke. and honestly, if i had ever seen this behaviour depicted as wrong or unhealthy, i could get behind it, but it’s always set up as lavellan getting back at someone who deserved it for breaking up with them. which i really want to emphasise, because the majority of these types of scenes play out before the end of inquisition.

the last trope you mentioned, bringing in other characters to bash him while lavellan is sad in the bg, isn’t usually quite as abusive, but it’s still a distortion of most of inquisition’s characters. the characters of inquisition are adults who suddenly turn into like a middle school clique when the solavellan break-up happens. all of them who comment don’t choose a side, probably because the majority of them are age 30+ (cole and sera being the exceptions) and are aware relationships don’t always work out.

dorian and cole seem to be the ones most often used as some kind of weapon to make solas feel worse. dorian may very well platonically love the inquisitor, but having him be more upset about solas hurting lavellan at a point where he knows solas plans to unravel the veil and put dorian’s whole world at risk? a world where dorian has a life, goals, and potentially even a committed relationship of his own? it’s bad and reeks of the “gay best friend” trope dorian is so often hit with, to put lavellan’s feelings above him own even when so much more is at stake.

as for cole, cole canonically is sympathetic to both lavellan and solas. he reaches out and tries to understand, and continues to defend solas even to the end of trespasser, literally being the only one to approve if you decide you want to save him. cole angrily confronting solas b/c he hurt lavellan isn’t ic for him because, again, he’s got a pretty good grasp on the complicated emotions at play here. depending on the inquisitor, he’s potentially closer with solas than them, and arguably solas is closer to cole than he is the inquisitor. cole certainly knows a lot more about him. depicting cole as suddenly callous as a way to punish solas is just bad writing that ignores characterisation to benefit the PC.

this got very long, but i expected it would, so tl;dr the bad ways ppl represent the aftermath of the solavellan relationship say more about them than solas or any other canon. and speaking as someone who has had to break up with people before, it’s honestly uncomfortable to see.

#abuse tw #hopewrought #( asks ) #( fandom critical ) #( ooc ) #( unpopular opinions ) #[ anyway ]

[thenugking]

I agree with all of your unpopular opinions (especially the Cullen stuff fuck that guy) except I cannot for the life of me understand Anders/Fenris. I know you think the slaver thing was OOC (I agree), but do you have any more insight to the appeal or to how/why it could work. I have never had someone give me a response I found reasonable, so I'm curious.

I mean firstly, if you just go off their interactions in the game then no, it wouldn’t work. DA2 keeps them being antagonistic to each other the whole game but imo, that was an incredibly missed opportunity. Like. They’re in the same friend group and regularly fighting together and saving each other’s lives for seven years. I feel like there really should have been some development in that time, that at some point, they should have actually talked about their issues and come to understand each other a little better, and maybe could start becoming friends.

Sure, it doesn’t happen in the game, but I mean, DA2 was rushed, Anders’ writer hated him and kept trying to villainise him and act as though his problems weren’t serious, the game is really just Varric telling a story and missing out who knows what. There are plenty of reasons to ignore “anders and fenris dislike each other and have no interest in ever understanding each other, the end” in favour of “if anders and fenris actually tried to get along, they could realise they’re more similar than they thought and start becoming friends.

Anders and Fenris are more similar people than they first appear. They’ve both fled a life of oppression and abuse and want to fight against that. They start out angry for their fellow mages/slaves but just trying to keep themselves safe, before moving on to actively fighting for mages and slaves (Anders makes the jump when Justice possesses him, while Fenris has started hunting down slavers in Inquisition). They’re both still clearly hurting from everything they’ve been through, and what they’re still going through now, and instead of antagonising each other for it, I want them to realise that and start helping each other. 

The reasons they dislike each other are that Fenris hates mages because he was abused by mages and came from a place where they were oppressors, making him cynical of the abuse mages face in the rest of Thedas and dismissive of Anders’ oppression. Meanwhile, Anders grew up surrounded by the plight of mages and (particularly after merging with Justice) is too single-minded to realise other groups suffer too, making him dismissive of Fenris’ oppression. And while they’re both wrong, and these are character flaws, it’s understandable that they feel this way. 

But people can grow and become less flawed and in the course of seven years, should at least once genuinely consider the other person’s point of view, and if it’s understandable, could maybe start to understand it. They both care about oppression, so I want to see them start to care about each other’s oppression, to be furious about what each other have had to suffer, to protect each other from templars and slavers because nobody should have to go through that, to fight for each other. 

I want to see them recognise signs of trauma in each other, and help get each other out of a situation that might trigger them because they know how unpleasant that is, and share coping strategies with each other, and talk to each other about what they’ve been through because it’s good to talk about it with someone who can understand. I want Anders and Fenris to grow, and to help each other grow, and not let their traumas stop them becoming friends.

If that happens, there’s respect and admiration and understanding and the ability to confide in each other there, and that’s what I like to imagine a romantic relationship being built on. And I love that relationship. They’re both snarky people and would likely keep snarking at each other, though less antagonistically, and I love ships like that, ships that fight at first and gradually the fighting turns to affectionate teasing. And there’s A Trope for fenders where fenris stops calling Anders “mage” angrily and starts doing it affectionately, which I really enjoy. 

There’s the fact that Fenris has been hurt by magic, and Anders uses his magic to heal people, and Anders’ healing Fenris means Fenris can experience magic helping him for the first time in his life. Plus Anders can probably do something to help with Fenris’ chronic pain. (There’s my favourite crackfic fodder, which is the fact that Fenris has lyrium in his skin and Justice is possessing Anders and Justice talks in Awakening about how lyrium sings to him and his lyrium ring is the most precious thing in the world, and all this makes Anders want to lick Fenris.)

So yeah, that is why I ship Fenders, and while you may not personally find the relationship stuff in the last couple of paragraphs appealing, I hope I’ve helped you understand how the ship (and the friendship) could work. 

Tl;dr Anders and Fenris are similar people, underneath their individual traumas, and if their DA2 relationship had been explored more deeply, they could have come to understand and respect each other, and help each other with their traumas.

#anders #fenris #fenders #dragon age #dragon age 2 #asks post #asks about dragon age #long post #da spoilers #abuse cw #institutionalised abuse cw #slavery cw #Anonymous

[invinciblerodent]

Cullen is triggering for me personally because he reminds me of this guy who stalked me and then convinced a portion of my friend group that he was actually a shy, good person when he still had some major issues. It's probably nonsensical but I can't help but think of him when I see Cullen; I played a female mage Warden and they both have curly, blonde hair. So I would really rather not have him in DA4. But death threats?? Death threats over a fictional character?? That's...oh man. Not good!

I’m sorry that happened to you. That person is/was utter garbage, and you didn’t deserve any of that happening to you. But, if you’ll allow me to expand on this a little bit, now that you’ve reminded me…

My homeroom teacher in primary school had a mantra that she said every time she was criticizing or scolding us for something, as a group, and it went like (in rough translation) “Whose shirt it is not, needs not put it on”. Meaning that if it doesn’t apply to you, if you aren’t the one responsible, the following is not directed at you, and you shouldn’t feel bad or like you’re targeted as well. She said that every single time, and to this day, even 15+ years later, it’s so ingrained in my head that it is my automatic response to messages such as yours.

You needn’t explain yourself. It’s perfectly okay. You can dislike something or be triggered by something, and you don’t owe me or anyone else a reason why. You don’t have to have an explanation ready, and I -and I’m pretty sure most other, decent people- never intend for you to have to unfold your whole life story and show us all your scars, just for us to believe you when you say that something is not for you. :)

(EDIT: of course, some contextual cues are to be taken into account, like if the reasons for one’s dislike are homophobic, sexist or racist [coughLIAMcough] then they should be examined, but those people are generally very defensive over it and raise points and flaws they themselves usually excuse on straight, white male characters… but that’s beside the point. Consider this a “some restrictions apply” asterisk.)

…. but yeah, I was talking mostly about how odd I found that more than a thousand people at this point would get so upset that they would scream bloody murder in the tags and immediately jump to conclusions and blame the developers, but still not upset enough to even try to check if their outrage is justified. That, that is the kind of person that I think only WANTS to be mad. And that coupled with a loose treatment of violent threats (and frankly very much entitled and biased expectations)… that’s the kind of person that makes my eyes roll so far back into my skull that I can pretty much see the wall behind me.

… And now that I’m at it, even without fact-checking it’s pretty much obvious that Cullen’s chances of returning as anything more than a character barely mentioned in conversation are very slim. (Please allow me this, I KNOW I have said this before but as long as these attitudes continue to prevail I’ll continue to repeat myself even if it makes me want to tear my hair out.)

I don’t remember the quote exactly, but I bring this up often: I THINK it was Laidlaw who once said that with returning characters, they try their best to eliminate uncertainties. Like, he said that if you didn’t complete Cole’s personal quest in Inquisition, then he won’t show up in Trespasser, because they would rather reward the players for the things they HAVE done, than to waste their time on content they don’t care about, and if a character has a chance to be dead, they would rather focus their efforts and resources on making content the majority of their players are likely to see. There are exceptions of course, such as Leliana, but most of the time, when a character has a chance to be dead, they are assumed dead in the main plot.

Since Leliana has a chance to be dead only if she was in the Warden’s party while they defiled the Urn of Sacred Ashes (and lbr the kind of person who would roll with Leliana is, imo, usually not ALSO the kind of person who would defile the Urn for personal gain), she had a good chance to return. But in Inquisition, Cullen’s main personal story arc revolved around the Big Choice that eventually decided whether he lived or died. And, fandom-wide consensus aside, if a choice HAS to be made knowingly, by every player, it’s only reasonable to assume a bigger division. Maybe not 50-50%, but I’m SURE that the number of those who kept Cullen on lyrium is greater than that of those who ended up having to kill Leliana in Origins, and didn’t roll back to a previous save to avoid it.

This is why I’m almost 100% certain that Dorian is going to return (there is no opportunity for him to die in the main narrative, and regardless of player choices, whether he was romanced or not even recruited, he IS invariably in Tevinter by the end). Same reason why I would be surprised if any of the DA2 characters or Zevran showed up, like people seem to want.

I mean. I’d like to see him return as much as the next person, but Zevran has the chance to die(?) both in his personal quest in Origins (depending on his approval which is more difficult to correct than just rolling back and choosing a different party member to come with you) and in a war table mission, and there is not even a tile in the Keep to confirm whether he survived Inquisition. Depending on whether people have even read all the mission statements AND made the correct choices, his chances of being alive or dead(?) are now close to 50-50%. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the writers don’t really have anything else planned for him at this point.

And largely the same goes for everyone in DA2. Popular choices seem to be Fenris and Anders- there is a touch more uncertainty with Fenris since he has the chance to be in Tevinter as a slave, hiding, or killed by Hawke’s hand, but Anders (and Bull)… his death was based on ONE dialogue choice (that is deemed canon in the default worldstate), and Bull’s is decided by a choice that wasn’t prompted AS a life or death decision, but rather as a choice that’s as close to being gray as they get.

(Not to mention I have seen people wanting Alistair back, and to be frank I just do not know how many skins they still want to pull off that poor boy. He has had his fair share of near-death experiences, not to mention that 1.) in the default worldstate he’s king and even in Inquisition they seemed to be just about done with king!Alistair, and 2.) if he’s a warden his chances of being dead are about as close to 50-50% as one can get. He can be 1.) a despondent king, 2.) ten years dead, 3.) a living Warden that’s either a senior warden in Weisshaupt or exiled from Orlais and Maker knows where, 4.) two years dead, or 5.) a civilian who could have died in the Kirkwall uprising. If a character has a chance to be five different things, three of which involve them being dead, I don’t think they’re likely to be a major character.)

tl;dr, I wouldn’t worry about Cullen being back. I like the guy just fine, got no real problems with him, but his story has been rounded off pretty nicely, pretty cleanly, and there is logically little to no reason for him to return in DA4. Which is all the more reason why those people crying bloody murder over an obviously phony rumor putting him IN THE SPOTLIGHT of a game about which we can only reliably know that it’s going to exist sometime in the future… I feel like they’re little more than a stampede with Blinkers of Hate on, neighing their unfounded displeasure at the moon for no reason whatsoever.

Now, Scout Harding, I want back. She has enormous potential, as does Charter and Maevaris, both of whom would make EXCELLENT additions to the squad (a sapphic elven rogue and a transgender woman of immense magical AND political power, sign me tf UP). Sutherland is almost certain to make a cameo if he survived, too. But Cullen, Zevran, and Fenris, I feel like their chapters in the story are finished already.

now if there was a chance for Solas not to be back, that would be ideal. would save everyone a helluva lot of headaches.

Cheers.

#I would tell y'all to please spread this sentiment just to calm people but tbh #I'm not comfortable asking that #so if you read it to the end and agree with the points i've raised please the next time you're asked #just try to explain why it's very unlikely? #let's all keep calm until more info comes out #and now if you'll excuse me I'll be repeatedly refreshing Steam #because Dream Daddy is coming out later today and I'm practically vibrating with excitement #I want to romance all of those dads #fingers crossed that the straight people playing this will laugh WITH us and not AT us #i would hate for this game to turn into a joke #it seems so lovingly made #(also please @gamegrumps get to work on the sequel) #(please next time let me be a single mom dating sexy CEOs in pencil skirts) #Anonymous #long post

[wastelandtrashcan]

Inquisition is definitely my favorite dragon age game, but there are a load of things I prefer about DA2. 

anyway under the cut is like a full evalution so if you want to read a nerds ramblings, go for it but the tl;dr is basically Inquisition feels more like an RPG to me and while there are some things I like better about 2, they probably fit better in 2.

So I have a lot to say about this and I figure a lot of people won’t care, so I put it under a read more. Also feel free to talk to me, I’d love to hear your opinions.

Now there isn’t much that I prefer in DA:I over DA2, but what I do really makes the cut as one of my favorite DA games and one of my top games. Those things are really simple: story (plot) and characters.

While DA2 some neat characters, I feel a lot more for the DA:I characters. They’re very dynamic and fun, plus there’s a lot more (companion wise). In DA2 I liked Anders, Isabela, and Varric. Granted, I didn’t recruit Fenris but I heard he was a great character also. The others simply annoyed me. While in Inquisition, I loved all the companions. Especially Sera, Dorian, and Cole. Sera and Dorian are really fun characters that I enjoyed talking to. Bull was also a fun character, but in a different way than the other two. Cole was just a sweetheart and impossible for me not to love. Cassandra was badass, and she was like Aveline, except way better. She has this very hard demeanor, but is very sweet and loveable (I may also be biased bc I fell in love with Cassandra at hfirst sight in DA2). Varric is still... Varric.. and Vivian is... well I don’t know how to describe how I feel about her. My least liked is Blackwall, and I mean I still like him. I didn’t really use him in my party or even got to know him, but he was still likeable.

Inquisition also has a way better story. It grasped my heart and I was excited to continue. The cutscenes were also amazing and dynamic which was just icing on the cake to how much I love this game. 

The last major thing I liked about Inquisition is the dungeons and just overall world. In DA2 you enter the same dungeon just from a different entrance over and over again. Seeing the same scenery just gets old and feel claustrophobic. Now I understand the devs may have wanted you to feel claustrophobic since the characters felt that way (or it was unintended side effect), but seriously it was so annoying. The graphics for the dungeon were also very flat. In Inquisition there’s not as many dungeons, but to compare they’re more like dungeons in Skyrim. 

Now for the less major details/tweaks that I liked better in Inquisition.

you don’t have to increase attributes (thank god that gave me anxiety)

you can jump

there’s no level lock for abilities, so you can fill an ability tree completely instead of have 5 with various abilities you don’t want to focus on

recover mana/stamina over time is a lot better (I can’t remember exactly how it was in da2, but I remember it could deplete easily)

no tactics slots to unlock

did i mention you can jump?

the tactical view is nifty 

honestly? the music

the ability tress are just nicer and the specialization 

fucking knight enchantor

seriously though knight enchantor is op as fuck

you can fucking jump i jumped so much in this game it was amazing

also mounts

its open world

the world is fucking huge

So let’s move on to what I like more about DA2, this’ll be in a bulleted list since there’s not anythingI have to describe

the combat (holy shit this is a big one, the combat was much better I think in 2. it was more fast-paced and crisp)

you can see your relationship status with your companions (so you can know if they fucking hate you)

the friend/rival abilities (this was really cool)

the storyline wasn’t as straightforward (there were twists that surprised you, like holy fuck Anders im still hurt)

 the look?? like its boxy and crisp and idk how to explain it. though this look probably wouldn’t fit for DA:I, i really like it

the way subtitles were. ambiance subtitles were just over peoples heads so if they’re on top they’re not constantly being interrupted by other people. though I did prefer in inquisition the companion banter was on the top and the speech bubble next to who was speaking

Honestly I thought the list for 2 would be longer, but basically the things I like about 2 probably only work for 2 and probably wouldn’t have fit with Inquisition. Everything with Inquisition makes it feel more like a true open world RPG, and 2 wasn’t exactly that. A RPG, sure.  But it wasn’t open world and the feel of the two games are much different. It’s hard to decribe, but i’m tired and typed to much for a small thing not many people are gonna rad

#dragon age #dragon age 2 #dragon age inquisition #da2 #da:i #da

[bookofmirth]

What do you think about the idea that a/elin is a classic case of someone with narcissistic personality disorder, not to mention one who sl*tshames people? or that other characters and their arcs are sacrificed/go ooc to make her seem better and therefore more likable?

I’d say that there are a ton of people who don’t like her (in canon and the fandom), and so I have no idea what you mean when you say that the plot or other characters serve to make her likeable. She’s clearly not easily likeable, or else she would be sweet and simpering and always “nice”.

Also Aelin is… the main character…. so yeah, page time gets sacrificed…. for the main character….. She’s on all the covers, so I’m not sure what you expected there. But I’m still not sure how you could argue that other characters’ plots are sacrificed, since beginning with HoF, a huge amount of page time is devoted to Lorcan, Manon, Elide, Nesryn, Dorian, etc. Plus like. An entire book. For Chaol.

The one exception to this that I will concede is Nehemia. I’ve always thought that was bullshit, and I always will. Nothing will convince me otherwise. It was a cheap trick, but that was wayyyy early in the series, and we’ve seen since that sjm has improved in terms of diversity and respecting marginalized narratives.

The thing about the way other characters serve Aelin - she earns it. They don’t follow her because she’s pretty and nice and sweet and easy to get along with. They don’t follow her because she has cowed them into submission or abused them into thinking it’s the only way. Aedion, Lysandra, Rowan, Elide, Fenrys, etc. follow Aelin because they see how much she is willing to sacrifice for what she believes in.

Ansel came to Aelin’s aid because of that extra minute Aelin gave her before shooting that arrow. Fenrys and Rowan follow her because they see another possibility, not following someone just because of sheer power (Maeve), but because of something you believe in. Elide follows Aelin because of her mother’s sacrifice. Dorian follows her because he saw a girl who could still dream, even in the bowels of the enemy. And Lorcan still can’t stand her, nor can Darrow, so again, where is this idea coming from that she is likeable or better?

Re: slutshaming, I’m assuming you mean Lysandra? Like from when they were Not Friends? And Aelin was like 16 and petty and didn’t understand the reality of Lysandra’s situation? See, the thing about this is that Aelin… grew and learned. She didn’t hold on to a grudge, because she was capable of seeing how wrong she was about Lysandra. Every time I write a fic, I write their friendship because I adore it as an example of our knee-jerk reaction to hate other women, ya know, that internalized misogyny, that Aelin and Lysandra learned to outgrow.

And I’m sorry, but if you can’t read a book when a character does one thing wrong, I’m really not sure what you read. Ever.

Re: narcissistic personality disorder, let’s not try to diagnose a fictional character with a real disorder unless we are professionals, yeah? My degrees have nothing to do with psychology, so I’m not going to sit here and pretend that’s something I can speak on (and I suspect you can’t either). And yeah no, wikipedia is not a sufficient source. Sorry.

tl;dr It is possible to like someone despite their flaws. If it weren’t, we’d all be screwed because we’re all flawed af. I don’t think Aelin is perfect, tons of people don’t think that Aelin is perfect. Being a fan doesn’t mean turning off critical thinking. If anything, that gets amped up. So there’s no real reason to think that someone in a fandom doesn’t see the problems inherent within canon, whatever they may be.

#aelin #throne of glass #sarah j maas #ask #anon #assuming u're anti... #you don't need to come in my inbox censoring her name