May The Dreadwolf Take You

At my most bitter, it genuinely feels like they just did not Know how to write the elves in a way that wouldn't invite discourse (i.e, they didn't know how to write their struggle compassionately. or they didn't want to.) So when they realized that they were getting highly criticized for increasingly treating them like disposable punching bags, they decided to just write them as little as possible. Which feels like the height of incompetency to me, but that's where we're at.

Like how (at least it feels to me) they took out the Chantry from the story entirely when they got criticized for (in Inquisition) constantly giving the Chantry a pass for their genuinely evil history. They'd rather not write it at all than criticize it.

I want to believe that there were writers on staff who genuinely cared about these things, but they either left in development or lost influence on the final product to people who only cared about getting better optics.

let me share with you this post i reblogged a few days ago that has stayed with me ever since

Early Minrathous

I liked the idea of being able to see the colossal bones of the previous magical elven empire. By Matt Rhodes

Dragon Age Veilguard, doodles 4

Things Tranquility does:

Cuts you off from the Fade

Prevents you from doing magic

Sunders you from your emotions

Things Tranquility does not do:

Affect your intelligence

Render you incapable of reasoning

Turn you into a subservient, mindless drone

Cause lapses in judgement

Get rid of your morals and beliefs

Cleanse you of opinions, prejudice, or preconceptions

Make you immune to posession

Make you less of a person

“I cannot kill the blight, but I can help to soothe its anger. I will go and seek atonement”

Print

I don't care if you're neuron divergent and also 3 days old I need you to go to fucking War

Two big differences between Mythal and Solas is that Solas regrets all the terrible things he's done. That is, in fact, a major plot point and theme. He shows remorse and at his core he wants to fix his mistakes. Mythal, or at least the fragment you can speak to, doesn't regret her actions at all. If you call her on the blight being her fault she attacks you. She doesn't accept responsibility. Solas does. That doesn't erase the guilt or culpability, but it does make me respect him more than I do her.

The second difference is that Solas rejects the notion that he's a god. Mythal doesn't. Again, if you ask her to help you against the other Evanuris and state that the people don't need gods she gets angry and attacks you. Maybe it's just the anarchist in me, but I've got a lot more respect for someone who rejects worship and fights tyranny than I do the tyrant being fought. Because that is what she was, as much as any of the others. A benevolent dictator and slave owner is still a dictator and a slave owner.

Now, if I'm putting my character analysis hat on for Mythal *specifically* I'd say that it's possible she reacts like this because she does feel guilt. I know, that does contradict what I just said. But I do think it's possible that her anger and violent reaction is a defense mechanism and a shield against being confronted with the truth of the damage she caused. Admitting that you're wrong is one of the hardest things a person can do, even without having had centuries of worship heaped on you and going to your head. So when someone you see as lesser calls you out to your face? That's a hard pill to swallow. Again though. Solas does swallow it. Solas takes blame. Heaps it upon himself until it defines everything he does (which is another problem in itself but We Don't Have Time For That Right Now). Mythal, by contrast, rejects it. Right until she absolves Solas of his duty, and finally takes some responsibility herself.

Sorry, but I accidentally checked what Solas has been saying about spirits and demons and broke my heart.

Something I didn't realise the first time I watched it – and that made me feel much better about the whole thing – is that it's actually Solas who kisses Lavellan, not the other way around!

I slowed this down so you can better see that she stops before kissing him and it's him that closes the distance.

And it's hard to see because of the classic Bioware bad camera framing and all the black archdemon gunk on his mouth, but he is actively moving his lips as he kisses her and leans in.

I'm feeling insane about them and I need to get the flycam mod immediately.

Just realized one of the rituals in The Temple of Mythal has Fen’Harel statues all over it. and it’s the most complicated one.

Solas, you ass. That gate trips me up every time. It’s the only puzzle I can never complete on the first run.