#the arishok

[venvellan]

da2's arishok is a good villain. if you have a fundamental understanding of the qun and listen to his thought process, the things he does makes sense. he uses the qun to justify slaughtering kirkwall's people, which is utterly inexcusable and what makes him a villain, but his character is complex enough to make dealing with him that much more thought provoking. he sends agents to kill petrice because she was killing his people, he doesn't give up the elves because they committed their lives to the qun, no matter how recently they converted, and he refuses to leave without the tome (and isabela) because his idea of justice hasn't been done. his logic makes sense, generally, though it is wrong on more than one occasion. he isn't moral, but he is methodical.

i feel this way about solas, too. i like da2's arishok for the same reasons that initially draw people to solas, i think. when we meet them, i find them interesting and educational to talk to, someone worthy of respect, and someone very honorable in their own way. similarly, many of my issues with solas compare with flaws in the qun/the arishok.

solas asserts that all of his beliefs are correct, and we're never allowed to challenge him on any of it. if he has high enough approval, he'll approach you to go, "yknow, i thought you were all [insert prejudice or stereotype] but YOU showed me that some of you guys are actually okay," which is NOT what it looks like for someone's beliefs to be challenged.

brief aside, i want to be fair in that we don't get this opportunity with many of the companions, and it's not even an inquisition specific issue. the dialogue format is agree, joke, be mean, and it's flawed, but it works in the majority of interactions. we don't really get to engage in nuanced discussions with characters, but there are positives and negatives to the system overall. it is possible to challenge and shape a character within this dialogue system (i.e., garrus vakarian) but in dragon age that really only comes in the form of harden/unharden. it was a little more doable with origins' system, but it really hasn't been a huge part of any dragon age game. most characters' beliefs remain largely unchanged by you regardless of how you play.

solas also possesses a strong sense of duty and purpose, though what duty he has, what his true goals are, he keeps hidden as long as he can. the most damning comparison though, to me, is how willing he is to destroy the world and bring back "his people," while the qunari fight to conquer the world and homogenize society into "their people."

in any case, with both him and the arishok, you can see the wheels turning in their heads. you can see why they do what they do, even if it's wholly immoral. it makes their threat a lot more personal, a lot scarier, psychologically, that a "normal" person, who doesn't want to cause suffering, can hold such specific beliefs and such strong conviction that knowing that they'll hurt people doesn't give them any pause. the root of their motivation is understandable. solas wants to right his wrongs, at his core. the arishok implicitly believes that the qun is safer, better for its people than life outside the qun. we can see that they're taking it too far, but they don't care. it makes them good villains.

"i am not corypheus, i take no joy in this." sure, which is a very similar sentiment, emotionally, to the qunari sense of duty. you can say you don't enjoy it all you want, you're still committing genocide. you can hate the qunari all you want, but you fight with their ferocity, their unshakeable faith in their own cause. their need to "do what's right," no matter who's caught in the wake.

i understand why people like solas, i go back and forth on it myself, but i don't think he's all that different from the arishok in method and motivation. they're each thrust into a world so different from what they believe is "right" that they demand it change around them. if we had to kill the old arishok, then if solas refuses to give up, he will have to die. he doesn't get to do genocide just because he's romanceable. he's a good character, he's a good villain, but he's not a good guy, and unless he stops before he does any real harm (which he will not do), he should share the arishok's fate.

#ive had a hard time trying to put words to the way i feel about solas #but this does it #solas is a good character and quite likeable for lots of reasons #especially in inquisition's main story #but end of the day hes not a good fuckin dude #also please engage with this it took me like three hours #da discourse #cw: genocide #dragon age #dragon age 2 #dragon age inquisition #da2 #dai #the arishok #solas #fen'harel

[bluerose5]

Yes, yes, the Warden and the Inquisitor can be called kadan by their respective Qunari companions, but are they basalit-an though?!

#dragon age #dragon age 2 #da2 #the arishok #hawke #dragon age sten #the iron bull #bluerose shitposts #true love is being deemed a rival worthy of the arishok's respect

[zevrans]

(added Meredith/Orsino just for the sake of there being more options dont @ me 😭)

elaborate in tags why and how would u imagine their romance go 😳

#polls #tumblr polls #video games #dragon age #dragon age 2 #da2 #varric #varric tethras #the arishok #aveline vallen #i'm making this solely just I could vote myself for Varricvcjcjv 🥺🙈 #forever bitter over him not being romanceable in da2/dai idc 🥲🥲🥲 #but also i'd smash the arishok instantly if possible i dont care what anyone says qunaris are hot asf in da2 😫😫😫

[illusivesoul]

Big bara titties are better than any therapy.

#dragon age #dragon age memes #dragon age meme #the iron bull #blackwall #illusivedits #illusivesouledits #the arishok #qunari #thom rainier #gaming memes #gaming meme #da meme #da memes #get a comforting bossom to cry on

[dirtybiowareconfessions]

Confession: I would let the Arishok or Sten stick it my ass bone dry.

#the arishok #sten #dragon age #dragon age 2 #dragon age origins #bioware #dirty confessions #dirty confession #don't do that though #there's always time for lube

[felassanis]

The Arishok fight is unironically one of my favourite moments in DA2 as a Mage Hawke because I can full on imagine Varric sat there with Cassandra as she is interrogating him when the subject of the battle comes up. Varric starts sweating pinballs and has Vietnam flashbacks to Hawke screaming bloody murder and running in circles as this hulking Qunari comes barreling towards her at full speed. The whole crowd and their party just stood there watching as she is yelling wildly and shimmying left and right against a pillar trying to get past the Arishok.

But he makes it out to be this legendary 'romantic' duel anyway because he as much as he loves Hawke that fight was dogshit and a taint on their image.

#da2 #hawke #varric tethras #dragon age 2 #the arishok #arishok #dragon age

[hollyand-writes]

Last Line Challenge

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like). 

I was tagged by @quatredraws – thanks for tagging me, and it was wonderful to see your art coming along so nicely in the post you tagged me in! ❤️

Anyway, I will indeed share the last line I wrote because it's suitably cryptic and non-specific LOL:

‘The Arishok did warn that you might be chatty,’ he said at last.

Nothing to do with the fic snippet or pairing I shared earlier LOL

No pressure or obligation to do this, but I tag: @pinkfadespirit, @amarmeme, @faux-fires, @hechizero-emplumado, @un-shit-yourself, @sulky-valkyrie, @dismalzelenka, @storybookhawke and anyone else who wants to do this! ❤️

#arishok #the arishok #not that the arishok is speaking in this instance but he's in this particular fic LOL #thanks for tagging me! #hollyand writes #WIPs #works in progress #sorry for tagging some of you again #don't feel you have to do anything i tag you in <3 #tag meme

[cyngharris]

Drew Sten after my most recent origins replay. He deserves more love.

[ID: A digital drawing of Sten from Dragon Age: Origins. He is standing ready with Asala, his sword, held in front of him. He is wearing simple clothing with leather wraps and metal pauldrons. The background is white with a brown stripe across it. End ID.]

#dragon age origins #dragon age #sten #sten dragon age #the arishok #qunari #Illustration #cyngharris

[mightymizora]

... no, no, don't stop with some tags. Talk to us about the Arishok.

Oh anon it’s 1am and I am deliriously tired but I got this and I keep thinking about hiiiim

(So quick deviation to say that, in a very rare move for me, I deviate from canon significantly in my DA2 state. Which I think is fair since it’s all from Varric’s, perspective. So in mine, the Hawke twins were not Bethany and Carver, but Bethany and Charity who are very similar in looks. All make it to Kirkwall, the victories of “Hawke” until the Qunari leave are those of both twins, but Bethany is left holding it together when the real Charity absconds with The Arishok, betraying Isabela. She takes on her name and “kills” the mage she was)

There’s just something so!!! About the Arishok. The devotion to an ideal that is actually out of step with the real demands of the Qun, the pride and need to not fail overtaking the reality that he already has. He should know that when he leaves Kirkwall to return that he is already doomed to exile. Perhaps he does know. Perhaps the limbo he subjects himself to is because he knows, he knows.

And then there is Hawke, who is basalit an, even though they are crass and unserious, they still take him seriously, meet him as he is and find reverence, they ask him questions and they want to know. They betray their friends for him. Is this what they are? Is this their price. They pledge themselves to return to par vollen with him, and then further pledge themselves in to exile. For what? A broken tal vashoth with no name except the one she finds him? A body with no blade, a man with no soul?

He calls himself Kata, the end, death. They call him Kadan.

#the Arishok #da2 #listen I will always talk about HIM

[impossibletragedykitten]

Replaying DA2 - and if you know, you know.

#dragon age #dragon age 2 #the arishok #run away #that one fight #damnit isabella #hawke #rpg #bioware

[jjthebunbun]

🔞Cocktober Day 25: Harness//The Arishok (Dragon Age 2)🔞

💀 Full Piece 💀

#for the demons #my art #art #the arishok #arishok #dragon age #dragon age 2 #dragon age fanart #fanart #qunari #inktober #drawtpber #da2 #video games

[raeofalbion]

Also, I played DA2 finally and...uh...

I get it now. I really get it.

#dragon age #the Arishok #I romanced Fenris which makes me 3 for 3 in terms of romancing elves #but oh boy were Hawke and I eyeing up the Arishok #top five characters that made me wonder how ace I am moments

[bluerose5]

During the events from Demands of the Qun.

Hawke, staring at the Arishok, about to duel while the whole city is burning around them: Listen, listen, listen... I can take him!

Aveline: In a fight, right?

Hawke: 👀

Aveline: In a fight. Right?!

#dragon age #dragon age 2 #da2 #marian hawke #garrett hawke #the arishok #bluerose rambles #bluerose shitposts

[zevrans]

you know the drill 👀

#polls #tumblr polls #dragon age #dao #da2 #dragon age origins #dragon age 2 #sten #the arishok #sorry not sorry actually 😂 btw i havent played inquisition so i cant add ironbull if there's something similar #with him because i dont want to catch anymore spoilers 🙈

[illusivesoul]

"If you made a bargain for the Tal-Vashoth, that debt for their lives will be honored"

#the arishok #arishok #qunari #dragon age #dragon age 2 #par vollen #dragon age screenshots #seheron #the qun #dragon age screenshot #daedit #daedits #dragonageedits #dragonageedit #dragon age edit #illusivedits #illusivesouled #illusivesouledits #da2 #da #da 2 #hawke #da2 hawke

[dirtybiowareconfessions]

Confession: I think it's time for my annual Arishok confession: I want to be his personal fucktoy. I want to sit between his feet at the base of his throne and work his cock with my mouth while he delegates to his men. I want him to fuck me while he's meeting with Kirkwall leadership, watch them struggle to hide how flustered and turned on they are while I scream loud enough for all of Lowtown to hear. I want to straddle his lap and suck his fingers like a good, obedient pet. God, just imagining that voice calling me a good boy gets me hard.

#the arishok #dragon age #dragon age 2 #bioware #dirty confessions #dirty confession