being a bad liar + unable to let people be incorrect about things = a very unsubtle man

now this is talent

Please don't imagine Solas succeeding in his task and having to bury the only woman he ever loved with his own hands.

Don't imagine him building a temple devoted to Lavellan over her tomb, filling it with murals depicting her deeds and devotion to her people. Please don't think about how he would make this temple the most awe inspiring building in the whole of new Arlathan, putting everything else to shame.

Oh and don't you dare think about how he would include every member of the inquisition in this temple's gravesite. Please, don't imagine him making sure that every single one of them had their own resting place inside this building, along with their stories painted on the walls with intricate detail because he refuses to let them rot in obscurity and all alone.

Spare yourself, don't imagine him dedicating his life to this project to bring honor to his dead lover and his dead friends, and once it is done, years later, he ends up in the final tomb because he ended himself over the crushing guilt that's eating him alive from the inside out.

Don't do that. That would be torture.

Reblog this last

Reblog this first

One thing I enjoyed about Dragon Age: Absolution is the way it shows how being brought up within a specific culture can passively affect your outlook without you assuming it will.

Our villain, Rezaren, believes that he sees Miriam and Neb as his siblings, despite very obviously seeing them as slaves. The pervasive culture he's been brought up in assumes ownership; and so he continuously views Miriam and Neb in that lens despite the fact that he thinks he's not (better posts than this one have been made talking about this but specifically such things as: does not believe they have the right to say 'no', believing he can do whatever he wants with Nebs body/soul without consequence, wanting to take Miriam back as a tool to fulfil his dream etc.)

But Hira, who was brought up in Tevinter, left due to the Venatori and joined the inquisition is ALSO deeply affected by the culture of Tevinter and how it views elves. Hira is willing to bargain the freedom of a woman she loves, and there's something about ownership there. We don't know much about Hiras family and whether they participated in slavery, but I would argue that Hira's ability to rationalize her actions stems directly from an unconscious bias about slavery and elves.

And I think that's really interesting. It takes a lot of time and energy to break our unconscious biases. Love isn't always enough, even if the people experiencing that love (platonic, romantic like Hira or familial like Rezaren) believe that it should be, or that they're not participating in these wider cultures.

I hope we get an arch for Hira where she realises this, and grows (although not necessarily for end game Hira/Miriam I think Hira has gone too far), or a Tevinter character in DA:A that is desperately trying to put in the work to change these biases and recognsie them as a sort of counterpoint/flipside. But in this show, I enjoyed that the two Tevinter characters, despite their supposed love for Miriam, couldn't break free of the unconscious biases and culture they were raised in.

People in the notes implying Dorian is except from this because he is gay, you are missing the point (and also missing the fact that Hira is gay as well, seriously, she is also othered guys and gay men aren't magically more marginalised than gay women but I digress)

Dorian is not except from this. He is very much part of this culture to the point that he will DEFEND SLAVERY IN DIALOGUE AND IF YOU CALL HIM OUT HE GIVES YOU DISAPPROVAL.

Dorian has the potential to grow. I believe he truly does in inquisition and will continue to do so for years to come. I think Dorian will examine his prejudices and put in the hard work at identifying and then dismantling the culture that allows those thoughts. BUT he is still from Tevinter and still embroiled in this regardless of if he romanced Lavellan or is with Bull or is gay.

THIS!!!

We see a sliver of Dorian's growth in a story from Tevinter Nights in which he's explicitly mentioned to no longer own slaves but pays his servants for their services. When questioned on this, he says he was influenced by a friend he met down South.

As much as we love characters with untarnished moral compasses, gimme ones who fail, and then learn from their peers or betters, and redeem themselves to do or be better!

They keep following me... And I don't understand why... I'm borderline a potted ficus!

Shahnoza Lavellan meeting Corypheus for the first time after he just began obliterating Haven with the Red Templars

I drew it

Embroidering Dorian’s character card!

there is something so darkly comical about tumblr potentially outliving twitter

tumblr, which is held together with duct tape and madness, run by three raccoons in blood stained Yahoo! hats and a handful of crabs, its only discernible source of income the sale of shoelaces from an inside joke so inside no one knows the original source anymore and fake blue checkmarks... that website still lives on

truly the cockroach of social media and I love it for that

I never thought I'd see this glorious day! But, I'm here for it!!

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)