Latest Posts by cutelibrariangf - Page 2

It's me ya boi

Anyway can we talk about how many parallels there are towards death and the strong themes of cheating death present in the DA games?

DAO: Cousland cheats death the first time by escaping their castle or whatever. Don't remember the other back stories but I know they also evade consequences or death. THEN you evade death AGAIN when you become a Warden. Then once more at the betrayal, when you get saved by Morgan and Flemeth. Then if you complete the dark ritual you manage to slay and survive the Archdemon. THE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS the entire point of being a Warden is to die. To slay dark spawns until you get killed or go insane -in which case you die anyway- Your whole premise is to be an honorable sacrifice, to die and take as many dark spawn as you can with you so that no one else has to. By surviving over and over again you're not only forsaking your purpose but spiting the wardens that came before you. How dare YOU be the one to survive? How dare you cheat your death over and over and over again? What about you makes you so special? More important than the other wardens? How fucking dare you?

Da2: So first Hawke survives the hordes of dark spawn in Fereldan, they survive the ogre attack in place of their sibling, then the trip to Kirkwall and then the entry into Kirkwall. How many died during those events, how many different times did Hawke cheat death in those instances? Hundreds of times, definitely. One wrong move and Hawke would've been killed, but they weren't. How lucky. Then in the deep roads, Hawke can lose their OTHER sibling to the taint. Then they lose their mother. What was all that surviving for if they were just going to lose all of their family, be left in this world without the people Hawke had worked so hard to save and to care for? Champion of Kirkwall, what a heavy title to bear with all the deaths of people Hawke couldn't save. They cheat death once more at the end, against Meredith.

DAI: Inky is sent to the chantry, and it blows up. You should've died but you didn't, instead you're given a key to close the rift and a woman saves you. Then you are found, imprisoned for terrorism. You should've been executed, good thing you have that key. Good thing you were the one to try and save Justinia, right? Good thing it was you who survived and not the thousands of others. Then comes the reinstitution of the Inquisition, a portion of the chantry long since dead -for good reason- that rises up from the ashes with you. Then in that one mission you get sent forward in time, in which everyone dies for you to get you to fix the disastrous consequences of you NOT defeating Corypheus. There are more moments but fast forwarding to the dragon secret and defeating Corypheus. You should not have been able to get that secret, but you did, the same way that key imbedded in your hand/arm. By all means, you were always meant to be dead. There was nothing special about Inky, there was no reason they should have survived any of what happened to them but they did. And that can be viewed as either happy, bittersweet, or outright tragic. Then, at the very end, the one thing that made you special, the key, has to be CUT OFF because it is killing you. You should have died but good thing Solas is there to take your arm, to help you cheat death again -which is a great parallel to how he helped you in the very beginning-

I stand by the idea that Dragon Age is a tragedy. The MC, whether that's Warden, or Hawke, or Inky has to give up EVERYTHING, their families, their lives, everything, to be forced into positions of power and save the world. And whether their willing or not, it doesn't matter because they will be forced into that position. Forced to be Hero of Fereldan, Champion of Kirkwall, or Inquisitor. You will be robbed of everything and forged into what people need you to be. That's the consequence of cheating death and being at the right place at the right time. But it's a good thing youre special, huh?

And you know the thing about being a Main Character is that you will cheat death over and over and over again, and the only consequence is that someone is going to be there to take your place, someone is going to die for you, eventually. There's nothing you can do about it except watch your life be taken away from you and watch all the people you love and care for die.

Okay but I'm forgiving the themes and narrative for being all over the place because that's exactly the point of the game! Despite the game being about Hawke doing their thing in Kirkwall and suffering the consequences; the story is being told from the pov of Varric -who is an unreliable narrator which I think is an amazing device to use to cover up plot holes or missing content. Because if you find something is lacking in the story, "it's because Varrics telling the story and driving the narrative" yk? But anyways yeah, love DA2, there are so many things wrong with DAI in the story that can't be excused because there's nothing to cover up or fill the plot holes with yk?

i dont think i will ever be over dragon age 2. like. bioware made an epic fantasy story about a chosen one having to save a country and stop the apocalypse and then they made the second installment of the series be about the sociopolitical climate in ONE city through the lens of a family of refugees fleeing from the war of the first game and just. made it about political tensions and class dynamics and the influences of living in a church-mandated state and the growing tension over an occupied piece of the city and political killings and interpersonal conflict and power and its story is ENTIRELY character-driven. it has easily the most iconic set of companion characters. the premise of living through a story told over the course of ten years and knowing from the start that something really bad will happen in the end was so fresh and exciting. the fact that the acts really built on top of each other andhow much the city changed over time. and the game was so mature in terms of the topic of fighting against oppression in so many ways (im usually generous and say that the short development time left some things a bit wanting), and as much as some people say that the game treats mages and templars as being equally bad, i don't think that that is actually true about the game and it very earnestly tries to grapple with some pretty complex political dynamics.

and then the game completely flopped financially and was almost universally hated for its queer themes and its sympathy for "terrorism" and a lot of the things that stemmed from basically having no production time at all and then the studio just made another epic fantasy story about a chosen one that has to save the world from the apocalypse

Bruh imagine being an elvish inquisitor like-

You get sent from your home to spy on some religious get-together, you survive a nuclear blast then get accused of terrorism and it makes sense cuz your dalish and aren't andrastian but you didn't do it, then you close a literal hole in the sky, saving the world, and then become the leader of a religious semi-rebellion and literally become the chosen of some god you don't believe just so, down the line, you learn that your whole religion was based on slavery and your super cool religious tattoo is actually slave markings and your mage bestie? he's actually the bad god from your religion and is immortal cuz he sleeps a lot.

Wild.

Ayo bitches, it's angst time

Okay so I just played through Here Lies the Abyss and now I have headcanons about what Lavellan sees in the nightmare realm because even though I completed it with my Trevelyan Inky, I am apparently in love with my Elf Mage

Angst below the line. Look at how enticing it is. You want to hurt dont you >:)

I don't think Lavellan sees spiders, that's absolutely ridiculous. They lived in the woods ffs. I think they see other Dalish.

Some of the Dalish are random elves, they scream and yell at Lavellan that they've betrayed their own kind and once Lavellan starts fighting back, they claim that Lavellan is no better than the shems -even though I know "shems" is city elf slang- that hunt and kill the Dalish.

Some of the fears stole the faces of Lavellan's clan members: these fears beg Inky to come home, to stop fighting, that all will be forgiven if Lavellan just puts down their weapon. Other's however scream at inky, calling them insane, a murderer, a betrayer. Either way, Inky Lavellan has to kill their own clan members, and you bet that these deaths are dramatic throwing Lavellan into a state of mental distress.

At the end, Lavellan doesn't immediately see the nightmare demon, they see the Keeper. The Nightmare Keeper does all she can to convince Lavellan to stay, convince Lavellan to give up their bad memories, that Lavellan is a disappointment to their clan, that Lavellan betrayed them and it is the party's job to bring Inky to reality and realize that as terrifying as their clan turning against them or hating them is, that this isn't real. Kind of like a reverse DAO mission.

In the end, the Nightmare reveals itself and all goes as normal: except now Inky Lavellan is sufficiently more traumatized <3

The only reason Krem wasn't a LI is because BioWare is a fucking coward >:(

I was robbed of a t4t romance and my only consolation is fanfiction :,(

I dont know if anyone caught this and I really hope people see this but I have come to a realization:

"Solas" in Dalish quite literally translates to pride, further more there are common phrases within the Dalish language that speak of pride ruining everything and blah blah blah here's my source.

What I find funny is that Fen'Harel/Solas shows up and is like "YEaH iTs ME, YOuRE LocaL ELVen ApOSTAte PrIDe" and if your playing a Dalish inky they don't question it or mention it, it's even funnier if your a Dalish Mage because then you're the First of your clan and you're supposed to know this shit. Like they're literally like "Suspicious amount of Fade knowledge, weird ass name, able to drag me into the Fade... Yeah isn't shady at all lemme continue to trust this guy."

Furthermore, Solas' fear is dying alone and the Dalish sayings are quite literally "Dirth ma, harellan. Ma banal enasalin. Mar solas ena mar din." Which roughly means: "Your pride is responsible for everything that has gone wrong; you will die alone." And there's another one thats: "Dirth ma banal. Mar solas ena mar din" which means "You have learned nothing. Your pride be your downfall." The wiki also says that these are common Dalish phrases so...

This likely means that Solas is probably super self aware and we, the fandom, can take this a bajillion ways. One way is that past Fen'Harel was often told that he was prideful and that it would lead to his misfortune and so in DAI he brands himself by his shortcoming to stick it in the faces of his fellow mages but fast forward to DAD, pride will be Solas' downfall and the DAD protagonist will leave him to die alone and pondering what would of happened if he wasn't so arrogant because he wouldn't have lost his friends, his lover (if romanced), or his future.

Okay but because I am the bisexual disaster that I am...

Morrigan from DA:O has a motherfucking chokehold on me. Like istg shes super hot, she's intelligent, and by the end of the game she turns into a MILF!?

I looked at her for the first time and fell in love, I swear. How dare my bisexual heart have a crush on a straight woman >:(

Same goes for Varric too, I am in love with that man (or maybe it's his chest hair) I know I'm always going to be second to Bianca and I don't care :,(

Okay so I started the DA series and played through DA:O, gave up on DA:2 (because why was it so hard? why did it get so hard? idek but whatever) and started on DA:I

AND HOLY SHIT IT'S SO GOOD

I LOVE THIS GAME, THIS FANDOM, DA:I IS SO BEAUTIFUL (and finally balanced too, the abilities in DA:O either sucked or were super OP)

I AM SO HAPPY I STUMBLED ACROSS THIS GAME

IT MAKES ME WISH I COULD DRAW I LOVE IT SM

YALL ARE GREAT, REAlLY :)

"How do you have so much energy all the time ???"

I don't, I'm constantly tired but I'm also being the class clown because I have abandonment issues and adhd

Tell me why Tumblr keeps showing me the reblog/repost button and is trying to SEDUCE me into tapping on it like, "Tap for a little surprise~" LIKE NO? EXCUSE ME?

I do not come to Tumblr for quality content. I come here for chaos and fandom smut >:( And I ain't about to expose myself on my blog like that :/

Self care is looking like a wet rat after 4 hours in the bath listening to nothing but whatever Spotify Shuffle decides for you because work sucks and life sucks and you're trying your best but your best isn't good enough so after 4 hours you get a call from your concerned friend cuz you're not mentally stable.

Except its a face time call so now you are facing your friend with your hair dripping wet, your eyes red -not from crying but because, like a child, you tried opening your eyes under water despite having put soap, bath salts, and a bath bomb in your bath- and shaking because its been four hours and your bath is cold now.

Your friend asks if you are okay because you haven't answered any of their texts and, as said previously, you aren't very mentally stable. You smile and say yes, you voice all weird and garbled because you got water in your phone's microphone, so you opt for giving them a thumbs up only to realize your hand is all wrinkly and pruny like a 114 year old great grandma.

And after your friend is content witnessing your evolution into an ancient being with fragile bones and saggy skin that shouldn't really have any business being here in this mortal plane, you spend another thirty minutes in your cold bath, listening to music you have never heard before.

THAT is self care.

Okay, idea. Well, question.

Humans are known for repetitive behavior. Throughout history we see themes that persist to modern day. But my question has to do with objects that look like they glow, like.

A light hits something and it looks like it glows and we think "Oh this is a quest object" or "This guys gonna send me on a quest to get exactly 342 radishes" and shi like that but, like, what did people think in the olden days?

Were they walking around thinking "Yeah thats how lighteth w'rks" or were they like "Ah yes, this guys gonna sendeth me on a quest to collecteth exactly 342 radishes! ha! what excit'ment!" and they chortle along their way.

How did video game logic work without video games?