#save felassan

[kirstinetheartist]

Finally got the bark-eater's nose right 🌿

#felassan #save felassan #dragon age #dragon age the masked empire #the masked empire #da4 #dragon age dreadwolf #dreadwolf #agents of fen'harel #arlathan #fen'harel #solas #elf #elves #vallaslin #art #artist #painting #portrait #my art #bioware #dai #dragon age inquisition

[pikapeppa]

Felassan opened his eyes. “My name, among our people, means ‘slow arrow.’ It comes from a story in which the god Fen’Harel was asked by a village to kill a great beast. He came to the beast at dawn, and saw its strength, and knew it would slay him if he fought it. So instead, he shot an arrow up into the sky. The villagers asked Fen’Harel how he would save them, and he said to them, ‘When did I say that I would save you?’ And he left, and the great beast came into the village that night and killed the warriors, and the women, and the elders. It came to the children and opened its great maw, but then the arrow that Fen’Harel had loosed fell from the sky into the great beast’s mouth, and killed it.

The children of the village wept for their parents and elders, but still they made an offering to Fen’Harel of thanks, for he had done what the villagers had asked. He had killed the beast, with his cunning, and a slow arrow that the beast never noticed.”

Briala thought about the story for a moment. Her teacher would disapprove if she jumped to conclusions. “Fen’Harel the trickster, never truly on anyone’s side.”

“Fen’Harel was a sneaky bastard that way, according to the old stories,” Felassan said.

“And you are the slow arrow?”

Felassan smiled. “I hope so.”

-- The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes

***********

A portrait of Felassan by the sweet and wonderful @hansaera, who makes the most wonderful art! 🥰 It's going to be so great to see Felassan alive and well in Dreadwolf when he most definitely will show up [she said whilst applying clown makeup]

#felassan #save felassan #listen all i'm saying is that if he doesn't survive in canon then I'll make him survive myself #dragon age #dragon age: the masked empire #the masked empire

[lark-of-mirkwood]

I'm like Pandora's box, if you ask me about Dragon Age, I will never shut up

#You should be prepared #I'm gonna cry #Laugh #And I'm gonna defend Solas with all the energy I have #Which isn't much so you see that I would give my last energy for him #Also protect the Antivan Crows at all costs #Zevran and Lucanis specifically #let's not forget Felassan #SAVE FELASSAN #This is also on my Twitter

[mogwaei]

Felassan

*spins🌿*

#felassan #dragon age #masked empire #dai #bioware #i bet he spins twigs like fidget spinners #also pls don't tag as save felassan...is that too much to ask #art request from bird app #mogwaei arts

[blind-alchemists]

the tale of the slow arrow Felassan tells Briala could be an analogy to Solas creating the Veil

#dragon age #dragon age meta #dunno if someone said this already #the monster being the Blight - the slow arrow being a Veil - the adults being the Evanuris #and the children are the slaves / the elves who remained #tbh the monster could also be the Evanuris greed / obsession with power and the Blight acts as a catalyst for that #or a metaphor / symbol #like the monster in the story is a metaphor for a threat/danger #the ending is open to interpretation because Solas meant to save the children but the Veil had unforseen consequences and so on #and I suppose if your gods are suddenly imprisoned (or your family dead) that's bound to result in trauma #well another theory of mine is that the tale refers to Imshael (as the monster) and Felassan (as the arrow - true to his name) #because what happens with Mihris' Clan does resemble the story #and Imshael and Felassan DO know each other

[felassan]

Red lyrium idol detail from the Dreadwolf dice set.

The angular, geometric style of the wolf head makes it all pointy and triangular. Less furry wolf, more the suggestion of scales or of a reptilian-type aspect (especially with the way the head is half bisected down the middle). The ears look less like ears and more like horns, especially with the dividing line separating them from the head itself. this reminds me of the half dragon/half wolf or dragon-wolf design on these dev t-shirts -

and the creature as described in Tevinter Nights -

But here, unfinished, was the outline of a beast that stood over both dragon and sword. This was not the battle, or the victory. This was after. And the beast was not a dragon. The outline alone might have allowed that assumption, but now, filling with black and red, it was something other. The creature was reptilian, but also canine. The snout was blunted and toothy, but edges came to a point in houndlike ears. As the mass of plaster filled the shape, it began to rise, revealing scales and tail, and paws with talons. It looked like two figures painted on either side of a pane of glass, then viewed together, their forms confused. A wolf that had absorbed a dragon, and now stood crooked over all.

in relation to this Skyhold rotunda mural -

The Dread Wolf is depicted with red eyes this time. Sometimes he's shown with red eyes (below), other times with blue.

Some other by-now very familiar imagery and motifs also return, like the figure with the staff from the Dread Wolf Rises Teaser trailer (Solas), the arrow/arrowhead-shape & outward rayed lines depicting the moment of Impact when he Did The Thing, those triangles that crop up when something Veily/Fadey/magicky is happening in a mural, the general gold and black color scheme (Golden City/Black City), and the alternating gold and black 'dotted line'-pattern that probably represents the Veil as a barrier between the Fade and the mundane world:

(👀 Shoutout to the 'arrow' shape, that depiction of the Dread Wolf always reminds me of the story of the Slow Arrow, that Felassan told Briala -)

"The god Fen'Harel was asked by a village to kill a great beast. He came to the beast at dawn, and saw its strength, and knew it would slay him if he fought it. So instead, he shot an arrow up into the sky. The villagers asked Fen'Harel how he would save them, and he said to them, 'When did I say that I would save you?' And he left, and the great beast came into the village that night and killed the warriors, and the women, and the elders. It came to the children and opened its great maw, but then the arrow that Fen'Harel had loosed fell from the sky into the great beast's mouth, and killed it. The children of the village wept for their parents and elders, but still they made an offering to Fen'Harel of thanks, for he had done what the villagers had asked. He had killed the beast, with his cunning, and a slow arrow that the beast never noticed."

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #solas #video games #long post #longpost #Felassan #Best Elf

[kaija-rayne-author]

Everyone be like 'Solas tore off my Inquisitor's arm!' Butt hurt butt hurt

Conveniently forgetting/ignoring that it was to save the Inquisitor's life, but go off, I guess.

The more I marinate in this fandom about this character, the more I'm convinced people don't like him because of his accurate and realistic Neurodivergent coding.

Pretty much every accusation people like to saddle the character with, I can or have debunked based on actual events in the games and books.

As far as I can see, he's never actually lied to anyone. He talks around issues and he's skilled at deflection, but that isn't lying. People love to screech about him lying. Lie = intentionally making a false statement.

No proof that Solas actually killed Felassan... MURDERER! (There legit isn't any actual proof that I can find. It's a masterful example of manipulating people's expectations from the author, but unless I missed something, and I doubt I did, there's no confirmation anywhere.) Which means that everyone accusing Solas of that murder are very possibly wrong. And that's most Dragon Age fans, FWIW.

Want to know how autistic/ADHD people are treated? Especially when we don't show stereotypical markers of what people think autistic/ADHD people are like?

Points at Solas.

He's an anti hero, people saddle him with 'villain'

He's honorable, people say he's a traitor

It goes on and on.

That character could save the world and people would still find a way to blame him for it.

His entire existence as a fictional character is surrounded by so much anti-neurodivergent hatred that its kinda gross, tbh.

#dragon age series #dragon age #solas #dragon age inquisition #solavellan #solas dai #solavellan hell #dragon age confessions

[dalishious]

Running Commentary: The Masked Empire Ch 13 & 14

TL;DR: Gaspard finds Mihris still alive, and they agree to work together to catch up to Celene's party, with Mihris desiring revenge against Michel. Briala decides Celene isn't to blame for the genocide she committed, If You Really Think About It™. Weekes is a blood quantum supporter, apparently.

—————

Well folks, we're 5 chapters + an epilogue away from finishing this shit, and I kinda wanna try to burn my way through the rest of it while I have the drive to do so. My goal is to do at least one chapter each night. We'll see how that goes lol.

Anyway, let's get to it...

Celene, Briala, Michel, and Felassan find the nearest eluvian in an ancient elven burial chamber, but decide to get some rest before venturing into it.

Something of note: I wonder if the pools described here are of the same nature as the vir'abelasan? Celene assumes they are bathing tubs, but describes an uneasy feeling about them: "Whether it was the runes etched into the metal or the hard angles and corners, something in the shape of it said that this was not meant for her." It's nothing important though, as the pool is empty. Just a thought.

Meanwhile, Gaspard is on Celene's trail, though he is slowed by the sylvans with the help of his employed apostate, Lienne. Remache is nervous about working with the mage, but Gaspard eases his fears by promising to kill Lienne if necessary.

Eventually they come to the Dalish camp, or rather, what's left of it. All the elves have been killed, save for one: Mihris. Mihris explains what happened to the camp, and also that she made a deal with Imshael to be able to track down Michel, who she wants to kill in revenge for the destruction of her clan.

I think it's interesting that Mihris blames Michel for the death of her clan, and not Imshael. Because she does not see the demon as capable of full sentience, perhaps? It could be interpreted as insight on Dalish perspectives on spirits/demons, if this is what Mihris was taught. Comparing it to what is written about Dalish beliefs in spirits in WoTv1, it does add up. Don't get me wrong, I think Michel absolutely shares responsibility, because he was the one that freed the demon--just like if someone were to assist in a murder, you'd still hold them accountable for that assistance--but ultimately the deaths were at Imshael's hand.

The next morning, Briala reflects on Celene's mass murder, and has fully accepted that she is to blame more than Celene, because... *checks notes* right, because she wasn't there to stop Celene from doing it.

What had happened at Halamshiral was a still-painful ache, but the elves had rebelled. Celene had done what she had to do. Had Briala been there, she might have been able to turn Celene to a different course, but Briala herself was the one who had left.

Jesus fucking christ, Weekes. Like, I'm all for fucked up relationships if they are fully intentional and acknowledged to be just that, because juicy drama and all... but this does not feel like such a case. Especially when taking the fact that the player can actually put these two back together in DA:I and they are celebrated as a happy couple. And so all it does is gives me the creepy crawlies, reading this.

Anyway. Celene's magic ruby unlocks the eluvian, and they venture forth. Immediately, it's described that for elves, the Crossroads (though it's not called that in this book) feels like a wonderfully magical place that loves their very presence, while humans find it revolting and fatiguing. Felassan explains that this is because the land was made for elves, which Celene... and Michel... aren't.

Excen't Michel IS an elf. At least, just as much an elf as he is human! So basically Weekes just stumbled ass first into a fucking blood quantum argument, considering that elves are a metaphor for Indigenous peoples, in support of the idea that you are somehow less of a person if you are mixed.

ANYWAY. Felassan takes the opportunity of he and Briala being able to travel much faster through the Crossroads to plant the seed that Celene will not honour the deal she made to free the elves. Briala at this point still defends Celene, though. While Felassan and Briala talk, so do Celene and Michel. Michel asks if Briala can truly be trusted to follow Celene's needs.

“This wretched place makes my eyes ache, Majesty, but for her, it is the dream of elven greatness come to life. Do you expect her to come out of this land and put her servant’s mask back on?” “I do.” Celene spoke with confidence, but she squinted up ahead all the same to where Briala and Felassan walked far ahead. “Bria has helped me play the Game for years, Michel. I doubt that an enchanted path will change that.”

This scene to me is the first sign that Celene does not, in fact, have the heart to keep her promise to Briala, because at the end of the day, because she doesn't think she'll have to. She believes that no matter what, Briala will always be there to serve her.

Discussions come to a halt when the group face walking corpses. Michel takes the lead, and is able to defeat them, but by the time he does so, Gaspard's party has caught up to them. A fight ensues, but with all the magical casting from Mihris and Felassan, more walking corpses awake.

#dragon age #the masked empire #tme commentary

[elenathrais]

Nothing Left To Love

The People were all he had ever known, all he had ever wanted to know. The shemlen were there, on the fringes of his world—barbarians scrounging out a living from the dirt while the Elvhen built their way across the land and towards the sky. He is one of them, but not one of them. Always on the outside, prowling. He is their hubris given physical form.

Fen’Harel had always been alone, really. But he has never felt so alone as he does now.

He tells himself it is the loss of his focus. A failure, on top of a failure, on top of a failure. But he knows, deep down, that this is not the truth of it. The agents know better than to comment. Felassan might have said something, once. He was always the one to speak his mind, a trait Fen’Harel had valued once.

Another regret. Another sorrow. He had not listened. Solas was an apt name indeed.

Abelas does not comment. He knows of as much of sorrow as his name implies. But he can see the disapproving look on his face whenever Fen’Harel slips away to sleep early. There is no way he could know, and yet he does somehow. Perhaps he saw too much at the Vir’Abelasan. It is no matter.

It will not change anything.

There is no cause for concern.

Most nights he spends calling to his people, reaching out through dreams to bid them come to him. But there are some nights instead when he goes to her. He stalks the edge of her dreams, careful not to ruffle her conscious mind and stir her into wakefulness.

Somehow, despite all that has happened and all that continues to happen, most of her dreams are bright, happy things. She draws spirits of joy to her like a flame in the darkness. He watches, fascinated, as scenes of life from her world play out. He cannot tell if what she dreams of is true to her life before Thedas or if what she sees is fantastical.

Sometimes she races across great stretches of black road that ribbons through rolling hills, bundled into a metal carriage that glides along faster than anything drawn by a horse. Other times she is simply sitting in what he assumes is a cafe of sorts. She talks happily with friends long lost to her, while other patrons nearby stare intently into glowing mirrors.

Sometimes she dreams of Solas.

It is not really him. He stays well back, even if the temptation to reveal himself is strong enough that he wakes with a deep ache in his chest. Instead, he allows different shades to take his form, always taking note of the spirits that are called to stand in.

Fear comes when she dreams that he is out in the world, hurting. Wisdom is called when she feels lost and in need of guidance. Compassion is there when she requires comfort, delivered in a soothing echo of his voice.

It is when desire arrives that his interest is truly piqued. The feeling of longing coming from her is so strong it pulses through the fade and brushes against him as a physical touch. In dreams, she speaks of things never said in the waking world and he listens in hungrily. The guilt eats away at him. This is no longer pertinent information. He does not need to know this about her to further his plans.

Once he would not have cared. He would have been amused to find that a human entertained thoughts of him. Of course. Why wouldn’t she? Was he not desirable? Was he not given a strong and beautiful form? Besides, a shem was not one of the People. She did not deserve such privacy. He would have stepped in, given her pleasure she so clearly wanted and taken some of his own with no thought whatsoever.

But he did care. She was real to him now, as real as anything he had ever known. He had fought beside this woman, bled beside her. He had watched as she nearly killed herself to save his friend—a friend many others would have considered nothing more than a thing, a demon. Something to be feared, and reviled. Something less important than even the lowest living creature.

He had nearly taken her then. In the heat of the moment, when he was overwhelmed by the need to rend the mages who had tormented his friend limb from limb, she had touched his arm—ever so gently—and his lust for revenge had shifted wholly into lust for her. He would have pinned her to the ground in full view of her companions. He would have made real every curse ever called out by the superstitious lot his People had devolved into.

Solas always wakes up before he can see how her more lustful dreams end. She is no mage to fear possession, and even though her dreams are more solid than the average person thanks to his anchor, he knows that Desire could not take her. Would not. Every demon or spirit around Terasyl’an Te’las knows better than to try something like that in a place marked by the Dread Wolf. They especially know better than to go near her.

He would see her soon, in the flesh. Her dreams of him had increased as the talks at the Winter Palace drew near. Solas found himself eager to see her, and nervous at the same time. He had been watching as the Mark began to wake her from dreams. Demons of Pain and Fear flocked to her more and more, but she was willful. Stubborn. Breathtaking. As always.

She has taken on a lover, but he knows she has not told him about the pain. He sees her play the conversation out over and over again, always displeased with the result. It galls him to see the Commander’s face—even a facsimile of it—looking back at her with love and concern. Standing close to her, holding her in his arms. Where I should be, he thinks. Where he sometimes is, when her dreams shift back to him.

He wonders at times if things would have been different if her ears were not quite so round. If his agents hadn’t led Corypheus to the orb. If she had been born in Arlathan. If he had been born in her world.

Could they have been together? Would she have loved him then? Could she love him now?

Did it matter?

He had chosen his path, decided he would right his wrongs. He must do this alone. He must die alone. Surely, it was the only way.

Surely.

But he had been wrong before. Many times. Perhaps Pride was leaning back towards Wisdom. Perhaps the path forward did not have to lead him back into the darkness.

Solas steps through the Eluvian, readying himself to see her—truly see her—for the first time in two years. For her to see him.

In another life… he thinks, before the sorrow of the reality sinks in once more.

He could have loved her. He does love her. But the path has been laid before them. The path that he must walk. In another life they might have come together, and changed the world. But they do not have another life. There is only this one. And soon, hers must end.

His only solace is that after so long a life, he will follow shortly after.

Fen'Harel barely acknowledges the saarebas as she speaks. He only has eyes for her as she picks her way warily through the frozen forms of his Qunari attackers. He takes a deep breath when he sees her stumble forward, crying out in pain.

Solas places wards around the Anchor, knowing they will not hold for long.

“That should give us more time. I suspect you have questions.”

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this Solas, you may also enjoy my fic Everything Is Alright on A03 - a 90+ chapter monstrosity full of Solas a n g s t.

#ao3 fanfic #cross posted on ao3 #dragon age fanfiction #solas dragon age #dragon age inquisition #my fanfiction #modern girl in thedas

[anneapocalypse]

The Masked Empire

Content Warnings: Imperialism, violence, fantasy racism, fantasy class politics, mention of sexual violence.

"I distrust her because she has successfully ruled an empire. No one who does that cedes power. Even if they are wise. Even if it is for the best, in the long run. Even if failing to do so will destroy everything."

–Felassan

The Masked Empire is the fourth novel in the Dragon Age series and the first one not written by David Gaider. It was written by Patrick Weekes and published in 2014 prior to the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

As far as I knew going in, The Masked Empire was primarily about Empress Celene of Orlais and the complex machinations of the Orlesian nobility known as "the Game." I was doubtful about my ability to relate to or be invested in Orlesian politics in general or Celene's point of view in specific, so while I still wanted to read this story, I wasn't sure how much I'd get into it.

So imagine my surprise when this one turned out to be my favorite of the Dragon Age novels.

The Masked Empire is about Orlesian politics, the struggle of elves living in a human empire, love, betrayal, heartbreak, and injustice.

But most of all, it is a story about the nature of power.

Anyone who has played Dragon Age: Inquisition knows that the characters and events of The Masked Empire are deeply tied up with the events of the main quest "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts" and the player choices involved. For the purposes of this entry, though, I really want talk about the book as its own story, and save "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts" for discussion as a part of the game.

We will be talking at length about themes in this story, but first I want to tackle the major characters individually and why I find them so compelling.

Celene: The Empress

"Sitting on my throne, I see every city in the empire. If I must burn one to save the rest, I will weep, but I will light the torch!"

As I said above, Empress Celene was not a character I expected to find so compelling. I think she would be less so if hers was the only perspective. But set against Briala, Gaspard, and Michel, the contrast is often… revealing.

The opening chapter is probably the most flattering toward Celene, as we get to see her fully in her element: playing the Game with aplomb, while also advocating for elf rights in areas such as higher education. We learn that she has bard training, and recognizes Leliana as a bard simply from the way she moves. We learn that Celene Valmont did not simply inherit the throne, but had to compete for the approval of the Council of Heralds against "countless rivals," most notably her cousin Gaspard de Chalons.

We see Celene at a banquet when Grand Duke Gaspard attempts to humiliate Bann Teagan Guerrin, visiting ambassador from Ferelden. Teagan is clearly not well versed in the Game, yet Celene respects him for his quick wit, and by responding with her own good humor and quick thinking, she manages both to salvage relations with Ferelden and to embarrass Gaspard.

The early chapters soon introduce us to Celene's relationship with Briala, her elven handmaiden, spymaster, and lover.

There is an important scene in Chapter 2 in which Celene wakes in the morning with Briala still asleep beside her. We get a description of Briala's appearance through Celene's eyes, including a reflection on how Celene saw Briala when they were children versus how she sees her now, as her lover. Briala's skin is described as "sun-touched" and darker than Celene's, and this is strongly contextualized by an association of darker skin with being outdoors (and thus, labor-class). It is fairly obvious how much colorism exists in Orlesian society, not just from this passage but from other context clues in the story. (It is mentioned that palace servants wear white make-up under their signature half-face masks.) But what really jumps out to me is this: "Briala tried to ignore it, but Celene knew that she was quietly ashamed of it."

I could have missed it, but I don't think this ever comes up from Briala's point of view. By contrast, Briala does remember wanting to cover her ears as a child, and her mother's urging her to be proud of who she is. But I don't believe she ever mentions shame, past or present, for the color of her skin, and if we have only Celene's word on this, that gives me reason to doubt it. Especially in light of the memory that Celene, as a child, thought of Briala's brown hair as ugly, a "shadow of Celene's spun-gold locks." Though Celene now sees Briala as beautiful, desirable, it would be hard to argue that some societal prejudice does not linger in the way she views her.

Something else important surfaces in the same scene. From Celene's perspective, Briala is "a friend who could be trusted, who wasn't a competitor in the Game."

And strictly speaking, there's some truth in this: Briala is not a competitor with Celene. She's not a rival for the throne or a noble with a vested interest in undermining her. But to assume that Briala is not a player of the Game—that, to me, reveals a blind spot in Celene's thinking.

Briala is not a contender for the throne, but she is absolutely playing the Game. More on that later.

So right away, we are shown Celene's unconscious assumptions about the woman she loves, which reflect the biases she carries into every facet of her life.

I also think it says so much about Celene that she sees a like-minded woman in Andraste herself, thinking about the political savvy she believes the Bride of the Maker must have had to win her own war.

Celene is a woman accustomed to being the center of her world, and we will see that as a theme in all of her interactions.

I knew that the burning of Halamshiral was coming, via fandom osmosis, and I was sort of expecting it to be a climactic event that forces a choice from Briala, but nope! It happens in Chapter 6. Following the murder of an elf and an uprising from the slums, Celene agrees to let Briala quietly assassinate the noble responsible for the murder to appease the elves and end the rebellion. But after Gaspard publicly humiliates her, Celene then goes back on her word and marches troops to Halamshiral to crush the rebellion with brutal force in order to maintain her own power.

This is a critical character moment for Celene, and it is also important, I think, that it happens not very far into the story. Celene crushing the elven rebellion is not a shocking twist that calls Celene's prior benevolence into question, but the inciting incident that shows us in stark clarity who Celene is and what she is willing to do when she considers it necessarily. The story as it follows builds on that foundation.

And the thing is, Celene does feel some remorse for what she does. One of the complicated but honest things about this story is that Celene does have real feelings for Briala. In her own way, she probably does love her—in that Briala is valuable for her, someone she would like to keep close, someone that she would enjoy making happy. She has pushed for greater rights for elves in Orlais specifically to make Briala happy. She has even avoided marriage to keep from losing their relationship, despite the fact that being unmarried and heirless will eventually threaten the stability of her rule.

It's just that at the end of the day, Celene's feelings for Briala are not enough to put Briala's needs and desires ahead of her own need and desire to maintain power.

There's a scene later on that's sort of heartbreaking to me in which Briala and Celene have somewhat hashed out their feelings about Halamshiral and now Celene is trying to win Briala back, making promises to her that it should be obvious to us by now that she either won't or can't keep. I don't think Celene is intentionally lying here—in fact, I doubt she is, given what we've seen of her blind spots and the gaps in her self-awareness.

Celene tries to show Briala that she sees the elves as her people too. "Your people deserve better," she says, mirroring what she said earlier about a village of humans ravaged by the civil war. "They are Orlesian. They are mine. As you are mine." And yet, for whatever good intentions she may have, there is I think a chilling double entendre to those words.

And that prompts us to ask: does Celene even understand the difference between love and possession? If the elves of Orlais are "her people," does that make them people she cares about, or an asset to employ, or simply another thing she wishes to keep?

As the plot progresses, we see Celene looking for ways to use elves and elven artifacts to her advantage. She's willing to make a bargain with the Dalish to keep her throne. (Good luck with that, Celene.) And it honestly feels a little sinister, after everything we've seen, how eager Celene is to use the Eluvian network to secure her empire—with absolutely no thought to whether those artifacts rightfully belong to the elves. Nor would that ever occur to her. Because to Celene, all of Orlais, everything and everyone within it, belongs to her. So long as she can maintain her rule.

"Without you, your Empress would have been no friend to the elves. Even her rival Gaspard could see that."

–Felassan

That Celene doesn't truly care about the elves for their own sake is not particularly a revelation. But the personal stakes of the story are Celene and Briala's relationship and so on that level, the sting comes from what Celene has done to Briala personally.

First, Briala puts two and two together and realizes that Celene, and not her mentor Lady Mantillon, was responsible for the murder of her family nearly twenty years ago, just before their romantic relationship began.

Second, during a fight with a varterral in one of the underground chambers, Briala sees Celene risk her life to defend her champion Ser Michel, but then fail to do the same for Briala. This is one instance where it's really important that we get both Briala and Celene's point of view on the same moment. Briala sees an instance where the woman she loves failed to come to her aid; Celene sees a moment when the woman she loved was in danger and she was "unable to help." She doesn't consciously decide not to help Briala; it never even occurs to her that she could put herself in harm's way to defend her love. And in fact I think the only reason she does it for Michel is that she knows she can't defeat Gaspard in a duel herself. She needs him. Celene is so accustomed to being the most important person in the Empire that the idea of actually risking her life for someone else just because would never cross her mind.

I have talked about Celene's sort of blithe sense of ownership over everything she touches, but there's a nuance even to that, for when Briala finally leaves her, Celene lets her go. She neither lashes out with words nor with violence, saying instead, "I will take joy in my love finding her people, even as my breast aches with every heartbeat I live without you."

Perhaps even this is part of the Game, a last gambit in hopes that Briala might later change her mind. I also don't rule out that Celene is speaking how she truly feels here. Nor do I think that absolves her.

Ultimately I think that no character's point of view is more damning to Celene than Celene's own. And it's not because she's flatly, obviously evil or malicious. It's because of how well Celene is crafted as an unreliable narrator—blinded by her own self-centeredness and betrayed to the reader by her own internal narrative.

Gaspard: The Grand Duke

"Honor does not preclude tactics, and glory is not won through foolishness."

–Chevalier axiom

Like Celene, Gaspard surprised me in how much I enjoyed him. It's not that he's necessarily sympathetic, but that like Celene, the details of his motivations and perspective make him so interesting.

Initially, we may be led to believe that Celene easily has the upper hand on Gaspard, and that he will be merely some power-hungry buffoon for her to defeat—and boy, is that not what we get at all. In the opening sequence, we see Celene embarrass Gaspard and thwart his attempt to insult and humiliate the Fereldan ambassador. But Gaspard hits back and much harder and cleverer than we might expect. Though the Grand Duke has little love for the Game, he knows how to play to get what he wants, and he's also tactically smart, something I can respect in an antagonist. In fact, before he makes his move to overthrow Celene, he asks her to marry him, offering her the chance to resolve their rivalry without bloodshed. (And there is a bitter irony in the fact that, had Celene not been romantically involved with Briala, she might have accepted, and the rest of this story would not have happened.)

When Celene refuses, Gaspard manipulates her, through public ridicule, into marching on Halamshiral and crushing the rebellion in order to quell the rumors that she is soft on elves. Once he's lured her there, Gaspard attacks with all the forces loyal to him, an assault Celene's exhausted troops cannot repel.

I mentioned that Celene is trained as a bard, and it's clear from her fighting style that we're meant to see her as a rogue. Gaspard by contrast is a warrior, and specifically a chevalier, and this contrast between them extends to more than just the weapons they wield. Gaspard's ardent adherence to the chevaliers' code of honor is one of the most interesting things about him. While he's quite determined to seize the throne, he staunchly refuses to act dishonorably by breaking his code, which makes him so much more compelling to me than a villain who will do anything for power.

This also makes both Gaspard and Celene characters with internal conflict in their motivations: the drive to hold and maintain power set against, for Celene, her feelings for Briala, and for Gaspard, his code of honor. That Gaspard never breaks his code, while Celene is willing to compromise Briala, says a lot about both of them. It also doesn't make Gaspard a better person than Celene, just one with different motivations.

Gaspard also gets a great sort of mini-foil in Duke Remache, a nobleman loyal to him who grows impatient with Gaspard's adherence to the chevalier code. They play off one another in such interesting ways, such as when Remache insinuates that he'll torture a prisoner for information as soon as Gaspard is out of earshot to avoid implicating him, and Gaspard sternly reproaches him:

"I understand that you don't think much of the chevaliers' code, but I will not violate the spirit of it to obey the letter. I will not torture him. I will not leave so that you may do so. If you lay a hand upon my prisoner, I will defend him with my life. Or, as is more likely, with yours."

This little tension culminates when Remache repeatedly attempts to break the temporary truce Gaspard and Celene have agreed to, and Gaspard executes him for it.

Gaspard and Michel also play off each other in interesting ways, as they are both chevaliers, and though on opposing sides of the conflict, they adhere to the same code. One of my very favorite moments is when Michel asks whether Gaspard expects him to switch sides over his misgivings about Celene and Briala's relationship, and Gaspard replies without hesitation, "I'd kill you here and now if you did."

In the end, Gaspard chooses not to expose Michel's secrets to the Academie, telling him, "You beat me in a fair fight. You held to your honor even when it cost you everything. You're the damned model for a chevalier, no matter what blood runs in your veins."

This doesn't mean that Gaspard is some kind of friend to elves or to commoners; it's quite clear in other ways that he is not. He simply respects Michel for living up to their shared code.

After a certain point, we might ask ourselves if Gaspard is really the villain of this story; the better question might be whether Celene and Gaspard aren't both the villains.

Michel: The Champion

"If the chevaliers wish to strip my name from the rolls and kill me, that is their right. But they will not take my honor. And I will not stand to have it insulted."

Michel de Chevin is kind of a unique study in power in this story, as he has risen to his high status as the Empress's champion by deceit. Not only is he a commoner, he is the son of an elven mother. A patron who believed in Michel's talent provided him with forged documents identifying him as belonging to the line of Chevin, which though dead, would still make him eligible for entry into the Academie.

Orlesian chevaliers can only come from noble houses. This is significant because it is a limitation on upward mobility. In theory, a commoner may be elevated to nobility by performing some act of heroism, like Loghain Mac Tir of Ferelden, or the Paragons of dwarven fame. That the reputed greatest knights of Orlais must already be of noble blood seems like a very deliberate statement and limits upward mobility in Orlais even more than it's already limited under feudal monarchy.

In spite of his deceit, Michel believes in the chevaliers' code, and he holds to it, even when his secret is exposed. I really enjoy that he earns Gaspard's respect in that regard. I have to throw Michel some respect too for resisting demonic temptation, which we've seen in other stories in this universe is no easy thing. I also think it's admirable that once disgraced before Celene, he finds new purpose in hunting the demon his actions set loose upon the world.

But there is a tragedy to Michel's story too, in that the life he's pursued has demanded he turn his back on his origins completely—and not only by hiding that he is elf-blooded and common. It is something of an unofficial rite of passage in the chevaliers to enact violence upon elves in the city slums; abuses of power are a matter of course for Orlais's most esteemed knights. (We heard stories of other such abuses back in Origins as well, from the Orlesian merchant Liselle.) Honorable though he may be, Michel's social climb, like the power wielded by his fellow knights, is paid for in blood.

Briala: The Elf

She was tired of being the good city elf who patiently struggled to learn the wisdom of her elders.

Oh, Briala. Full disclosure: I love Briala. She is my favorite character in this book, my favorite character in any of these books, and probably one of my favorite characters in Dragon Age canon, so I will be speaking of her unapologetically with a lot of love. Celene and Gaspard are very interesting to me, I have some sympathy for Michel, and I'm intrigued by Felassan, but it's Briala I'm rooting for.

Briala is Celene's elven handmaiden, spymaster, and lover. She has served Celene since they were both children, and they have been together since Celene took the throne nearly twenty years ago.

The first thing I think is really important to understand about Briala is the same thing I said in the Celene section: Briala may not be a noble but she is absolutely playing the Game, in her own way and from her own position. In fact it is not immediately clear how much Briala's relationship with Celene is itself a part of the Game, though it does become clear later that her feelings for Celene are genuine.

Even so, Briala clearly knows how to play to Celene's feelings for her in order to advance the rights of her people. She knows what buttons to push when Celene is resistant to more radical change:

"A lord for the death of an elf? I… damn this thing." With a quick jerk, Celene tore the mask from her face. Her face was flushed beneath, her eyes red from another night of little sleep. "Shall I declare the elves equal citizens before the Maker and the throne as well, while I'm at it?"

"Why not?" Briala took off her own mask, stealing a quick moment to steady herself. "Unless you don't believe that, and I'm just a jumped-up kitchen slut you haven't tired of yet."

Briala's arc in this story is a series of awakenings, a process of coming into her own power and choosing her own path through which to fight for her people.

Briala is in the terrible position of being in a deeply imbalanced relationship which nonetheless affords her a level of influence that she simply could not have any other way. It hurts to see Briala struggling to rationalize Celene's actions to herself after Halamshiral—but what stings even more is that even after that brutal act, Celene is still probably a better option for the elves of Orlais than Gaspard, especially with Briala at her ear. It's not just that Briala has real feelings for Celene; it's that if Briala leaves her, she gives up what power she had. Her romantic entanglement with Celene is inextricably tied up with her efforts to help her people.

Meanwhile, Briala has been meeting for years with Felassan, an elf who presents himself as Dalish and acts as a sort of intermediary for Briala, sharing information and elven lore with her while she brings him useful intel in return. It is Felassan, in fact, who convinces Briala following the death of her parents that she can do more good for her people at Celene's side than by joining the Dalish.

And again, bitter as it may taste, that's probably true.

In this story, Briala finally meets a Dalish clan directly, and has to suffer the rude awakening of realizing that the Dalish, at least this clan, do not care about city elves, whom they barely consider elves at all. They certainly don't consider Briala one their own. This should come as little surprise to those of us who've met the Dalish and heard their opinions of outsiders (thoygh there are of course exceptions, as every clan is different). It is particularly hard for Briala to swallow, however, because she's considered herself all these years to be fighting for all elves—Dalish elves, city elves, palace servants, all whose lives she could effect for the better.

Thinking to find allies among the Dalish, Briala instead finds herself alone. And perhaps it is no surprise that she then begins to rationalize Celene's actions, and by extension to justify returning to her side and reclaiming what little bit of power she had there. "Celene is different," Briala tries to tell Felassan, and herself, and by this point it feels like she already knows that's not true.

But if she leaves Celene for good, where is she supposed to go? How is she supposed to continue the fight for her people without the ear of the Empress and with no allies? Returning to this story weeks after finishing the book, this part gets to me all over again, how alone and disempowered and trapped Briala must feel. I feel for her so much.

But this is not the end of Briala's story.

The tipping point, I think, is twofold. First, Briala asks Gaspard about the ring given him by Lady Mantillon "the first time I impressed her in the Game," the same kind of ring Celene wears, and given by the same hand. When Celene says that Lady Mantillon gave her the ring out of sympathy for her parents' death, Briala knows this must be a lie.

It was a bittersweet story. In another life, it might even have been true.

She puts the pieces together that the murder of her parents along with the rest of Celene's servants was not on the order of Celene's mentor, but of Celene herself, proving herself willing to do what was necessary to claim power.

With that epiphany Briala accepts what we've known since Hamashiral and what deep down I think Briala has known too: Celene will never put Briala's needs above her own power. For Celene, loving Briala, whatever that means to her, is not incompatible with murdering her family and then lying to her about it for twenty years. This is confirmed for Briala in the present, when Celene fails to defend her in battle after doing just that for her champion.

This alone might have been enough to turn Briala from Celene. But it would still leave her disempowered and alone—if not for her second revelation, the Eluvian network.

With these artifacts, hidden underground for over a thousand years and still partially functional, Briala realizes she has uncovered a powerful piece of elven history, one made for her people. And even as Celene and her fellow humans have been struggling to travel the paths between the mirrors, Celene has been talking of claiming them for the Empire, using them to move troops and spies quickly to secure their lands—and her own power.

So Briala, cunning elf that she is, interrupts the duel between Gaspard and Michel by calling upon the favor Michel owes her for keeping his secret. She does not fully sabotage Celene but leaves her in a stalemate with her rival. She activates the Eluvian network and sets her own secret passphrase, locking the others out. At last, she has a power they do not have and cannot control.

Like the trickster god Fen'Harel in the stories Felassan has told her, she outmaneuvers both of them.

I love all the characters at the center of this story, but I love Briala's arc the most. It's the story of Briala working her way out of a troubled and complicated relationship and a painful predicament, and finally claiming power for herself to wield for the good of her people.

Felassan: The Spy

"We were everyone. There were no humans, no dwarves, no race but the elves. Every atrocity you seek to avenge for your broken people in their alienages, elven nobles committed upon elven servants."

All told, we probably learn the least about Felassan among the major characters of this story, but he is nonetheless a vital character. He's an elf who presents himself to Briala as Dalish, and meets with her secretly for many years to exchange information.

Right away, I didn't trust Felassan, and suspected him of using Briala for his own ends. I was especially suspicious that he seemed so reluctant to teach Briala all about the elven gods. So by the time Briala asks him, "Are you even Dalish?" I already suspected he wasn't what he said. His knowledge of the somniari seemed like a particularly big clue, and my working theory was that he was a Tevinter spy. (I have now wikied him and spoiled myself, so I know that to be untrue, and the answer was well-hidden in plain sight right here in the text—but we'll get to that when I talk about Inquisition probably.)

The most important thing about Felassan, to me, is that while he clearly has some kind of ulterior motive, he also has come to care about Briala and support her genuinely. He goes so far as to prevent her from telling him the Eluvian passphrase so that it can't be extracted from him by his unseen master, and this ends up costing him his life—which he seems to have known it would.

Felassan sacrifices himself for Briala to give her a chance, to give her the power she needs, and that's significant because it's something we know Celene would never do.

In the end, Felassan is a true friend to Briala, and though it is a fitting culmination for his character, I am sorry he's gone.

Sidenote on Briala and Celene

As this book is noteworthy for prominently featuring an F/F pairing, it probably also needs to be noted when recommending it that this is not a story about a happy healthy conflict-free F/F ship. If that's what you're after, this isn't it.

That said, I don't feel that makes it objectively a bad story, for a couple of reasons.

First, hell, they both live, which is more than can be said for the minor M/M ship in The Calling. Then, too, whether they're together or not, the sexuality of the two characters is never in question; they are unambiguously, canonically both attracted to women.

Furthermore, pretty much all the central ships in the Dragon Age novels involve some kind of power imbalance, and most of them don't end happily at that. The Stolen Throne's Good King Maric stabs his elven lover Katriel to death after learning she's a spy. In The Calling, Maric and Fiona's brief affair results in a child they both choose to give up to prevent him from learning about his heritage or rivaling Cailan for the throne. Asunder's Rhys and Evangeline are a mage and a templar in the early days of the mage rebellion, and they're the ones that get a happy ending! Dragon Age doesn't really do a lot of those. Not all of the playable romances in the games even end happily, and even for the ones that do there is sometimes a catch. (Remember how if you romance Alistair, the only way you both get to live is if you talk him into doing a dark magic sex ritual with someone he hates?)

So yeah, given the choice between having no queer characters or relationships, and having those characters and relationships exist in the context of the universe even if their stories are not always happy, I choose the latter. Dragon Age is dark fantasy, and for my own part I appreciate seeing an F/F couple featured so centrally in one of its stories and allowed the same level of drama and angst as everyone else!

Also I'll take a Briala/Celene over a Maric/Katriel any day, thank you.

The Nature of Power

I could probably go on working through the cast of increasingly minor characters—Mihris, the Dalish mage who allows herself to be possessed in exchange for a chance at avenging her clan; Lienne de Montsimmard, the mage of noble birth whose family have kept her out of the Circle and her magic hidden—because you'd be hard-pressed to find any character in this story who doesn't have something to show us about the nature of power. But this entry is quite long already, and I want to talk about our central theme: the nature of power and those who wield it.

Of central import in The Masked Empire is of course the relationship between Celene and Briala. They have a romantic and sexual relationship that is kind of inevitably entangled with their working relationship. So, based on basically everything in those last two sentences, there is no way for this relationship to be equitable in terms of power. Let's just get that out of the way first. Celene is the reigning monarch and Briala is her servant, which would already put them at a power imbalance if Briala weren't also an elf. I'm stating that up front because it's integral not just to the relationship but to the story, and the narrative never tries to pretend otherwise.

And I want to talk about the position of elves in Orlesian society too for a minute, because if we're going to talk about power and oppression I think it's important that we establish the actual nature of that dynamic. I also feel the need to restate that I don't think elves map precisely onto any one real-life group. Dragon Age draws from real life and history, absolutely, but is not trying to replicate it with perfect one-to-one parallels.

I think this is particularly important to establish because of the increasing evidence that elves are different from other humanoid races in Thedas in ways that are not just physiological and cultural. There is something about elves that is fundamentally, and possibly magically, distinct. We already know that the ancient elves were said to be immortal before contact with humans, something we've never been told about dwarves or qunari. There may be more to it than that, or that may not be the whole truth, but it is a piece of lore unique to elves. There's also the fact that there are no half-elves in this universe; elves do not pass on elf traits to their offspring when procreating with humans, dwarves, etc. This is further confirmed by the fact the Michel de Chevin, despite having an elven mother, experiences the Eluvian path as a human and not as an elf would. It's not simply a matter of "half-elves look human," it's that half-elves don't exist; the children of elves and humans are human. You can't be half-elf in this universe in the way you could be, for example, half-Nevarran or half-Fereldan or half-Rivaini. (Or even half-dwarf—I think that's confirmed as being a thing by Word of God, though you know how much I hate Word of God. and it would be cool to actually see half-dwarves and half-qunari from time to time just to confirm that they exist.) There are so many bits of canon hinting at something different about elves that it seems probable to me we're going to get a reveal about the true origins of elves at some point. And knowing the Dragon Age series, it's probably not going to be precisely what anyone (in-universe or out) expects. It's kind of a theme with this series by now that no one knows as much about magic or history as they think they do.

Anyway. For now, let us just say there's a fine line I'm trying to walk here, and my reading is just my reading and I may stumble on either side of that line, but I think I have something to say about it, so here we go.

I'm pretty sure that elves basically aren't considered citizens in Orlais and Ferelden, and possibly other Andrastian nations though I'm hesitant to make statements about the countries we've seen less of since we know their cultures can differ substantially. Elves are not considered equal before the crown, and we know from other canon sources that the Chantry doesn't really consider them equal in the eyes of the Maker either, as elves and dwarves are seen to have strayed even further from the Maker than humans. Here in Orlais, there is very much a sense that this is a human empire and elves are just living in it; they are treated as foreigners in the place they were born and have lived their whole lives. The law basically doesn't protect elves, whether in the letter or in the spirit, as humans (but especially the nobility) can pretty much murder them with impunity, and do.

This, by the way, is another reason why the Denerim alienage being made a part of the bannorn in Ferelden is a huge deal, even with the backlash: it's an explicit and structural acknowledgment that elves are a part of this society and should have a voice in it. And the backlash from the human nobility comes because many are angry that an elf has been elevated to their status, not just because they don't personally like elves, but because they see elves as outsiders, foreigners, who can be permitted to live on the fringes of what they see as their society but shouldn't be allowed power in it.

And I do feel like giving Dragon Age some credit for the fact that they've managed to demonstrate with increasing success that the oppression of elves in human societies is structural and systemic and not just personal prejudices held by obviously "bad" characters. It demonstrates a certain understanding of how power and oppression actually work. And while, again, nothing in these games is a one-to-one allegory for real world groups and events, thematically the series does have some things to say about the nature of power.

This is also why, when we're talking meta about which in-game decisions are best for the elves, I'm less concerned with which humans are being nice to elves personally, and much more concerned with which changes give elves structural power in these societies, especially the kind of power that can't just be yanked away when a human decides they don't feel like being nice to elves anymore. To put a finer point on it, and we'll get more into this when I talk about "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts": I care less how Celene and Gaspard personally feel about elves, and more about what outcomes are more likely to grant elves a long-term increase in structural power. But again, that's another discussion for another entry.

So let's talk about the paradox of holding power.

The throne looks omnipotent from afar, but it is not as it seems. Take the throne to act, and the throne acts upon you.

No matter how bright the rays of any Sun King, no man rules alone. A King can't build roads alone, can't enforce laws alone, can't defend the nation or himself alone. The power of a King is not to act, but to get others to act on his behalf, using the treasure in his vaults. The King needs an army and someone to run it, treasure and someone to collect it, law and someone to enforce it. The individuals needed to make these things happen are the King's keys to power.

CGP Grey's "Rules for Rulers" is such a useful primer for this discussion that I'm embedding it here:

All the changes you wish to make are but thoughts in your head if the keys will not follow your commands. ...Sway them to your side, and the power to rule is yours, but never forget: displease them and they will replace you.

—CGP Grey

The above quote is basically the entire premise of The Masked Empire.

Another caveat, because we have to have a lot of those in this entry: none of what I am about to say here is meant to be a defense of any character's actions, or an argument that they had no choice. All characters in this story have choices; all of those choices are made within the context of certain power dynamics and will have certain consequences. I intend to mount no defense, only to contextualize those choices.

Celene's twenty-year reign has been marked by a push for culture, diplomacy, and peace. She has worked to improve Orlesian relations with Ferelden and other neighboring countries, and within her own nation she has worked to elevate academics and the arts. In addition, under Briala's influence, Celene has pushed to improve the position of elves in Orlesian society in small ways. The book's opening scene features Celene at the prestigious University of Orlais arguing for the admittance of commoners of merit, including elves. Celene has become known for this sort of thing—and in certain quarters, it has made her unpopular.

And as Empress, being unpopular among the nobility matters. A crucial point here is that the power of a monarch is not absolute. The monarch rules at the pleasure of their key supporters: in this case, the nobility and the military. This becomes Celene's paradox: if she pushes elven advancement too far, the nobility will turn against her and replace her with someone who better represents their interests, and who will likely undo any progress she's made. Displease enough of the keys to power, and they may decide to replace you—which is exactly the plot of this story. Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons, Celene's cousin and sometime rival for the throne, decides to make a push to depose Celene and seize power.

Why now, though? Celene has ruled Orlais for nearly twenty years. Surely Gaspard has had opportunities to get rid of her before now. But an opportunity to eliminate the current ruler is not the same thing as an opportunity to gain, and more importantly to hold that power for oneself. Without the support of the nobility and of the army, Gaspard will not sit on the throne for long before he too is replaced. He chooses this moment to act because the perception of Celene as being "soft on elves" has alienated a portion of her keys to power, and the unrest caused by the mage rebellion has tipped the balance so that a critical mass of those keys are willing to risk the instability of a coup in exchange for the potential rewards.

Circumstances have coalesced to create the right conditions for a successful coup. Gaspard does not have all of the nobility on his side, or all of the chevaliers, or all of the army. But he has enough to make it worth trying.

Anne, you might be saying, I know you said you weren't here to defend Celene but it sure sounds like you're saying that she didn't have a choice and she just couldn't help the elves anymore and it wasn't her fault.

And nah, not really. What Celene did to Halamshiral is still terrible and I'm not interesting in defending that. I'm not here to defend Celene, or Gaspard for that matter. On the contrary! Remember what we said above about oppression being structural?

I'm here to condemn the entire structure of feudal monarchy! Hooray!

(I really wanted to have like, an animated blingee of Bann Teagan dancing like a fool in the Arl of Redcliffe's castle with sparkly text that says "There is no such thing as a benevolent monarchy!" just to set the tone I'm going for here, but I was too lazy to actually make one so you'll just have to imagine it.)

Seriously though: there is no such thing as a benevolent monarchy. Nope, not even if your Warden and/or Good Guy Alistair are at the top of it. Sorry.

The big thing here is that feudal monarchy (like, if we're being honest, most sociopolitical power structures) is a pyramid, and you only maintain power at the top by making sure the people below you stay there, and you do that by making sure that somebody stays below them. Try to raise up somebody from the bottom, and those in the middle will raise up someone to replace you.

There is no such thing as a benevolent monarchy. Not under feudalism and not ever. There is never going to be a "good" ruler of the Orlesian Empire. Power that concentrated can only be maintained in blood.

And you know, what I like about The Masked Empire is how, more than any of the preceding novels, it doesn't bullshit around the way common people suffer and die for the games the nobles play for power. This story is brutal at times, but it is honest, far more honest than, for example, The Stolen Throne with its tale of the sexy sad King Maric and his triumph over the oppressive monarchy of Orlais—to be contrasted with the good monarchy of Calenhad's bloodline, which is good because Maric is sad, and doesn't really want the responsibilities of ruling and deciding who lives and who dies, and who likes elves so that makes him a good king, even if he never actually does anything about the conditions in the alienages or the social status of elves in Ferelden and you see why I said earlier that a ruler's personal feelings about elves don't really matter to me as much as the actual structural change they do or do not enact?

Anyway, don't get hung up on the difference between Maric and Celene as individuals; I'm making a point here and that point is that this book has something to say about the nature of power and monarchy that The Stolen Throne is only able to dance around, because The Stolen Throne at its core is about upholding the myth of the benevolent liberator-king, while The Masked Empire unmasks the monarchy and shows it to us for what it is: a violent power structure upheld with the blood of the disempowered.

And I understand that not everyone wants this kind of "realism" in their fantasy media. I begrudge no one for saying "Okay but I already know that social hierarchies are inherently violent and I don't need that in my escapist fiction and if I want a narrative that skips to the part where a Good Hero fixes everything and the oppressed people triumph without all the violence and misery, I should be able to enjoy that." You're right. You should. I don't think Dragon Age is that universe, or that it was ever trying to be that universe, but if that is what you are looking for, that's fine.

Personally, this is where I'm coming at this from: if a story is going to use monarchy and feudalism as an integral part of its setting, I would prefer a story that actually says something about the nature of power in that setting to a story about how Monarchy Is Good Actually as long as the monarch is blonde and sexy and makes a sad face when bad things happen.

I mean for crying out loud, in Origins King Cailan will ask a city elf how it is in the alienage, and they can tell him that they killed a noble for raping their cousin, and Cailan's like, "What?!" and then Duncan tells him there are things happening in Denerim that he should be aware of, and then the subject is dropped completely and Cailan flips right back to exuberant excitement about the glorious battle awaiting him. Because the game doesn't want you to think that Cailan is a bad guy—naive, sure, and unprepared for the threat of a true Blight, but not bad. If the game acknowledges outright that Cailan must know what goes on in the alienages and how nobles abuse elves and commoners and he does nothing about it, then Cailan becomes unsympathetic. So instead, the narrative just kind of suggests ignorance, which doesn't actually make him a better ruler.

And lest someone say that Cailan isn't meant to be sympathetic, there's a whole cutscene in the Return to Ostagar DLC in which you find Cailan's body defiled by the darkspawn and the Warden stares up at him sorrowfully and you see flashbacks to the one time you met him and his death. Which is almost comical if you're playing anything but a human noble, because like, I don't know this man! I wasn't even present for his death! And my point here is not to nitpick a ten-year-old DLC. I just want to make the point how Origins, and its tie-in media, in many ways pushes the fantasy archetype of the Good King, even if in small ways it also tries to subvert that idea.

The Masked Empire is openly much less romantic about monarchy, which makes for a more complex story, and I respect that.

So we've talked about power and the powerful—let's talk about the difficulties of the disempowered trying to gain power for themselves.

Briala's predicament is that her relationship with Celene actually kind of sucks when you think about it for more than a minute, but if she gives up that relationship, she also gives up what power she has to influence her to improve the lot of elves in the Empire. Her journey is ultimately away from that relationship and toward finding some way to empower herself. It's a journey with some painful disillusionment along the way, but ultimately a journey toward hope and freedom.

The Dalish elves are also important to this story, because they have made their own trade-off. The Dalish enjoy what freedom they have because they shun all outsiders, including other elves. If the Dalish decided that the city elves were also their people, and that they needed to do something about that, like invade the cities to liberate the alienages, they would be wiped out and they know it. If the Dalish mages demonstrated their power in human cities, the templars would hunt down every Dalish mage and at best haul them off to the Circle, much more likely have them killed or made Tranquil. The exclusionism of the Dalish is hurtful to Briala and for very understandable reasons. But it is the price the Dalish have chosen to pay for what freedom they have.

I think it can be a somewhat distressing revelation to fans, as it is to Briala, to realize that ancient Elvhenan was an empire and not a utopia, and that power dynamics existed in that empire that were not so different from the power dynamics of the present empires. Felassan makes this very explicit in his conversation with Briala. "We were the nobles," Briala says, as the understanding begins to dawn on her, but Felassan corrects her: "We were everyone. There were no humans, no dwarves, no race but the elves. Every atrocity you seek to avenge for your broken people in their alienages, elven nobles committed upon elven servants." And this prefaces his warning Briala about Celene, including the quote that is the epigraph to this entire essay.

As a sidenote I would like to add that I think it would be very strange to read this as somehow justifying, or as an attempt to justify, the oppression of elves in the present. (People do sometimes try to make similar arguments about oppressed groups in the real world. And those people are wrong.) Elvhenan is so far removed from present-day elves that they can't even be argued to have indirectly benefited from it in any way, and it in no way justifies their treatment at the hands of humans in the present. All this revelation about Elvhenan tells us is that power dynamics also existed in ancient times, that the Elvhenan was not perfect, that the Elvhen also Lived In A Society. Felassan himself brings this up not to justify the empire's treatment of elves in the present but to make a point about the nature of power—to warn Briala against believing that the very system that keeps them oppressed can free them.

Because there is no such thing as a benevolent empire.

At no point is the lesson Briala takes from this that her goal of helping her people in the present is pointless or wrong, nor was that Felassan's intent. This is very explicit in the text, by the way:

Briala swallowed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Your empress," he said. "You trust her. You believe she will free your people."

"I do," Briala said without hesitation.

"Then who's going to scrub the floors?" Felassan asked, and smiled.

"You distrust her because she is human."

"No." Felassan paused. "Well, all right, yes, but more than that, I distrust her because she has successfully ruled an empire. No one who does that cedes power. Even if they are wise. Even if it is for the best, in the long run. Even if failing to do so will destroy everything."

There it is! That's the theme! This is not a gotcha. This is not Felassan telling Briala to stop fighting, or that her fight is wrong or pointless, because he explicitly allows her to take control of the Eluvian network to empower her continued fight at the cost of his own life. This is Felassan warning Briala about the nature of power and power structures, warning her that empire can never be benevolent and that the past does not hold all of the answers—that the only way is forward.

Briala's story—and this is, ultimately, Briala's story—is about empowering herself, both for her own sake and so that she, in turn, can empower her people. It's about love and heartbreak, betrayal and friendship, painful revelations and difficult choices. It's about letting go of a mythical utopian past that may never have existed as one has imagined, while reclaiming a tangible piece of one's heritage and seeking a better future.

I think it's a thoughtful, powerful, moving story, and I loved it.

Things not necessarily relevant to the larger thematic discussion of this entry but which I thought were interesting or noteworthy.

Tea is a thing in this universe, though from the way Celene's morning brew is described, it's unclear if it's tea-tea or simply an infusion of spices.

The doublet is still in fashion for the nobility; Ser Michel wears one to a formal occasion. I bring this up because while there has been a notable push since Origins to kind of modernize a lot of the fashion in Dragon Age, we still see a more medieval silhouette particularly among the upper class, which makes sense. (I'd love to see someone who knows a lot more about historical fashion than me do a whole analysis of the evolution of fashion over the course of the Dragon Age games, both in the watsonian sense of how trends progress in-universe and in the meta sense of how the series seems to have tried to modernize its aesthetic to be more appealing to a mainstream audience. But Inquisition Skinny Pants will have to be another post!

"Flat-ear" is a pejorative used by the Dalish for elf-blooded humans as well as for city elves.

Dalish clans have grown apart culturally due to their isolation from one another, meaning that practices and traditions can vary greatly from clan to clan, and no one clan can be seen as representing all Dalish elves. (This could be inferred before, but it's made explicit in this book.)

This Dalish clan, in particular, eats foods made of wheat, which means they must have some kind of trade contact with outsiders. Nomads don't grow crops.

This book devotes a whole paragraph to the fact that the steps down into the ancient elven burial chamber are unusually large even for humans, and Felassan jokes that maybe elves used to be taller. 

Crosspost. Originally posted on dreamwidth on 07/14/20.

#the masked empire #anne does dragon age #blunders of thedas

[kirstinetheartist]

Not sure if this counts as a WIP Wednesday or more of a “I am giving up on this piece” Wednesday TT~TT I just cannot, for the life of me, get Felassan’s face to do what I want it to, and the background was originally supposed to be a cool grey cave but then I lit it wrong when I drew the figures first--I just goofed all around.

Back to the drawing board on this one, folks xP Melly and Felly will hang out another day.

#dragon age #felavellan #felassan #dragon age inquisition #wip wednesday #wip #art #artist #dai #mellan #mellan lavellan #lavellan #save felassan #bioware #elf #elves #the masked empire #my art

[pikapeppa]

The Love That Grows From Violence

When @hansaera opened comms again, I HAD to get Felassan and Tamaris Lavellan in her divine style. My babes are just having fun and being in love before Solas comes back to ruin everything in Dreadwolf 😭 she said, whilst still being a complete simp for Solas 😂😍

You can read about Felassan and Tamaris's post-Inquisition adventures here on AO3! And you can get a beautiful comm of your own from HanSaera here!

#felassan #save felassan #felassan/lavellan #felassan x lavellan #dragon age #da:i #da: inquisition #dragon age: the masked empire #the masked empire

[rosella-writes]

My Gifts for the Arlathan 2022 Exchange

I received so much WEALTH this year during this @arlathanxchange! I waited for reveals so I could properly tag the creators and I'm so glad I did. Here they are in reverse-chronological order, because that's how I'm scrolling through my gifts tab:

Faerie-Stories Not for the Faint of Heart, by @hezjena is a beautiful, sumptuous examination of Flemeth of Highever tucked away in her tower, locked up by a jealous husband, who finds freedom not in the sword locked up with her like some useless treasure, but in a spirit who needs her help. Together, Flemeth and Mythal escape. The description of Flemeth's growing malaise and Mythal's threatening nature will haunt me from here on out.

Comrades in Arms, Brothers in Broken Chains, by @dreadfutures is a gorgeous piece about Felassan standing up to Geldauran during the early days of Fen'Harel's rebellion. Felassan makes a case for those who choose to keep their vallaslin, and in so doing exposes himself as the Hope of Fen'Harel. Felassan's dialogue is just perfect, and Solas at the very end tugged on my heart-strings so hard. "Are you here, my Hope?" will live on in my mind forever.

No Punches Left to Roll With, by @dreadfutures is a delicious, beautiful examination of Lace Harding falling for Charter as they fulfil Inquisition business. Harding's inner voice is perfect, Charter is stunning (pls kiss me omg Charter I love you), and their building friendship in this pre-relationship piece is just so tense and fun. I loved the insight into the inner workings of the Inquisition (and of Virelan!!! a sneak peek at my girl!) and how these two may have worked together.

oh the river, it's running free (oh the joy it brings to me), by @darethshirl is a (romantic? platonic? you decide) examination of Andraste and Shartan's relationship. I'm stunned by the beautiful inner voice Andraste has, and Shartan's comfort with her paired with his awe and admiration for her as they spend a moment together in meditation, suspended in time. This fic made me wish that nothing bad ever happened to either of them, and that their beautiful partnership, whether friendship or romance, could have continued in happiness forever.

mala suledin nadas, by @melisusthewee (you tricksy beastie) explores what happens when a certain Quinn Trevelyan, whom I love dearly, gets riddled with red lyrium projectiles and needs to be saved from Blighted dreams by the Dread Wolf. Quinn is clever and quick but not quite quick enough, Blackwall is a pure, dear delight, Sera is a griping mess of concern hidden behind blustering anger, and Solas is quiet, Solas is determined, Solas is loving and I will never, ever recover from just how tender and committed he can be, even in all his stern disapproval.

All of my presents have moved me to tears and more, and I count myself so lucky to have received them. They were an honour and pleasure to read and I can't recommend them enough.

#rosella's recs #dragon age #melisusthewee #dreadfutures #darethshirl #hezjena #fanfiction #dragon age fanfic #quintessentially quinn #flemeth #flemythal #mythal #agent charter #scout harding #lace harding #felassan #felassan x solas #solas x felassan #solas #gift fic #andraste #shartan #andraste x shartan

[dreadfutures]

Prompt Archive

I’m changing up my prompt page for DADWC but I will be switching it back to this eventually, so this is just a record for myself.

Please copy + paste the whole prompt in the ask, so I know exactly what to deliver on. :) And feel free to elaborate/specify/expand/come up with your own!

Please either specify a specific AU, or a specific pairing, when you send me prompts! I will also always welcome poetry or song lyrics, as long as there’s a character/pairing. And check the bottom of the list to see what has been filled. 

-:-:-

AUs:

Bloodied & Broken

Ixchel is 27, it’s her second life/”fix-it”/”redo” of DAI. She is angry, tired, depressed, and determined not to let any of that stop her from saving the world--by convincing Solas that this life is worth living, and this world, worth saving. (Spoiler: she does.)

Prompts end up being either part of future fic events, or stolen moments from the fic that just weren’t included. :)

SubAU: “one wild and precious life” - in the distant future after Bloodied&Broken is done, Solas is in uthenera, Ixchel has a romance with Sebastian Vael, who is a widower as well.

Elvhenan

**anything and everything magic, Elvhen, empires, and spooktacular  eldritch horrorness**

Because of time travel shenanigans, young!Ixchel at the Conclave is replaced by resurrected!Ixchel, but some kind of melding happens in the interim, where she gets some of older Ixchel's memories or at least feelings. Young!Ixchel pops up into pre-Arlathan Elvhenan. She has the Anchor, but there is no Veil. She has vallaslin, but not mind-controlling type (no lyrium in it).

Everything about this AU is based around prompts so send them away!

Shadows in the Sun (young!timeline)

My (tentative?) DA4 canon: Inquisitor Ixchel, in her early 20s, is running across Thedas in search of ways to stop Fen’Harel or convince her old friend to change his ways. Kieran, her childhood friend (they’re roughly the same age), appears on one of her lonesome journeys...and asks her for help. His mother (who drank the Well) has gone missing, and he needs Ixchel’s help finding her.

-:-:-

Pairings

Bloodied & Broken:

Romantic

Solas x Ixchel Lavellan (#broken mirrors)

Morrigan x Halevune Mahariel (#old blood older still)

Ixchel Lavellan x Sebastian (widow/widoer, political marriage au, a love of equals and integrity) (#one wild and precious life)

Garrett Hawke x Fenris  (I don’t have a lot in mind for these two except that their relationship is inspired by Batman 2022 Batman/Catwoman)

Platonic

Ixchel Lavellan & Cassandra Pentaghast

Ixchel Lavellan & Dorian Pavus

Ixchel Lavellan & Vivienne

Ixchel Lavellan & Solas

Ixchel Lavellan & Halevune Mahariel

Ixchel Lavellan & Morrigan

Ixchel Lavellan & Gethrael (a friend’s OC, a Dalish Spirit Healer and Keeper)

Ixchel Lavellan & Syrillon (a friend’s OC, a Dalish elf who now works as a bodyguard for an Antivan prince)

Ixchel Lavellan & Briala (wary allies and revolutionaries)

Morrigan & Kieran (#old blood older still)

Halevune Mahariel & Kieran (#old blood older still)

Send me obscure DA OCs... I probably have some plans for them as Inquisition agents or something.

Elvhenan:

Romantic

Dirthamen x Ixchel Lavellan ( #sunbird)

Platonic

Ixchel Lavellan & Solas/Fen’Harel

Ixchel Lavellan & Glory (Rivalry)

Ixchel Lavellan & Hope(aka Felassan)

Ixchel Lavellan & Andruil (Enemies)

Ixchel Lavellan & Deceit (Protege & Mentor)

Dirthamen & Solas

Any ancient elf NPC is fair game!

Shadows in the Sun:

Romantic

Ixchel Lavellan x Jester (Leliana’s Agent)

Ixchel Lavellan x Kieran (#shadows in the sun, chaste)

Platonic

Ixchel Lavellan & Cassandra Pentaghast

Ixchel Lavellan & Dorian Pavus

Ixchel Lavellan & Solas (Solavellan Hell)

Ixchel Lavellan & Morrigan (Daughter & Mother found family ish)

Ixchel Lavellan & Kieran (friends)

Ixchel Lavellan & Lace Harding

Ixchel Lavellan & Charter

Ixchel Lavellan & Varric

Send me obscure DA OCs... I probably have some plans for them as Inquisition agents or something.

-:-:-

Prompt Lists

Please copy + paste the whole prompt in the ask, so I know exactly what to deliver on. :) And feel free to elaborate/specify/expand/come up with your own! Please either specify a specific AU, or a specific pairing!

I always accept lines of poetry, song lyrics, or prompts that aren’t listed below.

Emotional Intimacy and Pillowtalk

Kiss Prompts

Eerie Vague Prompts - Autumn

Eerie Vague Prompts

Subtle Smut Prompts

FLUFFUARY 2022

14DaysDALovers 2022

The Fall 2003 Prompts

Scarlet Pimpernel 1982 Prompts

The Language of Thorns

Circe Prompts

Untranslatable Words

Smut Dialogue

Couple Things

Miscellaneous Dialogue Prompts

Nonsexual Acts of Intimacy

Dragon Age Specific Dialogue Prompts

Trope Bingo

Touching

50 Kisses

Quotes about Death

Linkin Park Lyrics

Prompts with Children

Sensory Prompts

Short and Angsty Prompts

Touches

Midnight Mass Prompts

Winter Holiday Themed Prompts

Strange Philosophies Prompts

-:-:-

Filled Prompts

General Ixchel Lavellan:

“the eye, alone in its socket, doesn't even know there's another one, just like it, an inch away, just as hungry, as empty”

Morrigan, Mahariel (+ Kieran) (#old blood older still)

"they spooned all night and finally felt cared for"

"Taking a bath together"

"Shivering in a place where the Veil is thin"

"Can I open my eyes yet?"

“Promise. Promise me you’ll stay.”

“pulling one toward the other”

"Everybody has a face that they hold inside”

‘I did it selfishly, in bitter heart, and I would bear the consequence.’

‘death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.’

Lavellan/Dirthamen (Arlathan, #sunbird):

One character playing with the other’s hair

"No one has a heart of stone."

death is the only god who comes when called

"Do you feel at peace?"

“Did you dress up just for me?”

“I’m alive. I can tell because of the pain.”

"You pick up every rose in sight but all the roses die; I'd rather keep them alive, roots grow slowly"

Solavellan (#broken mirrors)

One character washing another's hair

"Everything here feels wrong. The Veil…is far too thin."

One character adjusting the other’s jewelry/neck tie/ etc

“I sleep better when you’re around”

“tasting their smile”

One falling asleep with their head in the other’s lap.

Cassandra, Lavellan:

"Braiding the other's hair"

"A mentor/mentee moment"

“If it bleeds, it can be killed.” “Well, it doesn’t.”

Lavellan, Briala:

"You said you trusted me. What changed?"

Lavellan, Vivienne:

"One falling asleep with their head in the other’s lap."

Lavellan, Dorian:

"Strikhedonia - The pleasure of being able to say “to hell with it”."

"Druxy - Something which looks good on the outside, but is actually rotten inside.”

young!Lavellan, Kieran (#shadows in the sun)

“Brontide - The low rumbling of distant thunder.”

“Cafuné (Brazilian Portueguese): The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair”

hide and seek, + morrigan

"Cafuné (Brazilian Portueguese): The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair"

Ixchel Lavellan, Gethrael:

hugging each other

"everyone gets their wings clipped at some point"

Lavellan, Felassan (Arlathan):

playing with the other’s hair

Lavellan, Fen’Harel (Arlathan):

“cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once”

Lavellan, Glory (Arlathan):

"Dueling with swords, and slowly cutting off bits of the enemy’s clothes."

Ixchel Lavellan/Sebastian Vael (#one wild and precious life)

“delaying death is one of my hobbies”

“I have never known such a wondrous thing in all my life as you”

Lace Harding:

petrichor - The smell of dry rain on the ground

Solas (Pride) & Dirthamen:

Ozymandias: "Nothing beside remains. Round the decay / Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare / The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Solas (Pride) &(and / ) Felassan:

“The birds in his belly crave greener pastures!”

‘that’s the worst prophecy I’ve ever heard.

Misc. Prompts Previously Accepted:

Check here.

And here.

Fluffuary2022

14DaysofDALovers

#prompts #dadwc prompts #personal

[felassan]

Ten characters, ten fandoms, ten tags!

a tagmeme, under a cut to save dash-space~

I was tagged by @siriskulksnerding to do this lil pick-ur-favs tagmeme! thanku. I am slightly cheating :'> bc I'm doing it as one lady and one dude from 5 things.

Cassandra Pentaghast, Felassan (Dragon Age)

Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Garrus Vakarian (Mass Effect)

Michonne Grimes, Daryl Dixon (The Walking Dead)

Mikasa Ackerman, Jean Kirstein (Attack on Titan)

Leah, Shane (Stardew Valley)

I'd like to 'tag' anyone who sees this and wants to do it! if you do it, pls tag me so I can check out your post ^^

#thanku! this was fun #havent done one of these in a while #mj does a meme #siriskulksnerding

[weptfreedom-aa]

worldstate & choices (you are here) | companions (tbc)

ORIGINS.

worldstate adaptable. I default to single warden Alistair (alt: Ashera Mahariel)

DA2.

worldstate adaptable, with the exception of clan Sabrae’s survival.

THE MASKED EMPIRE.

Felassan survives.

INQUISITION.

PROLOGUE.

Alanari is not sent to the conclave by their clan. Instead, they leave the newly-established elven community in Ostagar (a refugee camp, honestly, after being driven from the Hinterlands) to watch the proceedings on their own.

THE WRATH OF HEAVEN.

denies being chosen by Andraste

takes mountain path

IN HUSHED WHISPERS. 

mages allied.

HERE LIES THE ABYSS.

Stroud sacrifices himself in distracting the Nightmare.

Alistair Theirin assumes command of the surviving Wardens. They ARE NOT kicked out of Orlais; the Inquisition does not have that authority.

WICKED EYES AND WICKED HEARTS. 

Briala reaches out to the Inquisition after its relocation to Skyhold to gauge its response

Florianne is killed 

Celene and Gaspard are blackmailed more thoroughly with Briala’s help in exchange for a promise to aid her cause

many of her agents also receive combat training through the Inquisition

WHAT PRIDE HAD WROUGHT.

the temple traditions are respected; moreover, Alanari pleads with the sentinels in the beginning to stop attacking (they desperately do not want to fight them)

Alanari accepts Abelas’ terms for an alliance. they go out of their way to aid in the fight against red templars within the temple

Alanari drinks, in spite of Felassan’s desperate objections

the temple later seals itself. Alanari pretends surprise. 

JAWS OF HAKKON

reveals Ameridan’s true identity

supports clan Ghilain in pushing for reparations

TRESPASSER

detains Qunari agent

does not fight spirit agents

frees Ataashi

does not commit to saving or stopping Solas

declares their intention to dissolve the Inquisition, but disappears soon after.

Leaderless, it is subsumed into the Orlesian Chantry.

#worldstate. #saved. #queue.