Monolorialet - Moonlit

The Dread Wolf's Eyes

forever thinking about the role of ellipses when talk about each other. two normally eloquent people who suddenly cant finish a single sentence when the other is on their mind. not only do they share a cadence and rhythm to their speech but they share in the dissolution of it. the overwhelming-ness of their feelings for each other is conveyed through literal punctuation; always trailing off, an inability to focus

its giving "if i loved you less, i might be able to talk about it more"

Weisshaupt mission was insane I still think about it ghghghhg

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

I think a common misunderstanding towards Solavellans (or Solas enjoyers in general) is that they like this purified fanon version of him as this poor innocent guy who did the things he did by accident and shouldn’t be held responsible for any of it.

No. His appeal lies in him as a metaphor for all the ways you can be broken and bent and twisted that your reality becomes as twisted as you. The line between love and manipulation, and how faint it can become under the right circumstances. How easy it can be for a victim to turn into a perpetrator. The themes of duty and regret, social identity and the nuances of perspective when it comes to morality. Discussion of how much intentions and external influence actually matter when it comes to one’s actions. And, my personal favorite, the question of how far can you go and still remain redeemable.

Most Solas enjoyers I have seen and interacted with like him because of this, not in spite of it. There are plenty of very hot less morally confusing characters to love in this series, all with their own lovable traits. And sure, some people might try to water down his character, but that’s a minority in my experience.

cadash being able to dream because of the anchor, not knowing how to dream, even, and solas, visiting her in these dreams in harmless forms to see what it is exactly she will dream about--- an experiment of sorts. what will a dwarf conjure up in their sleeping hours when they can? where will they go?

and then he is confronted with the fact that among the visages of the people she has met so far, he is in every one of them. that, more often than not, her dreams are simply images of his eyes while he looks to the sky, or the way his ears catch the sunlight on the plain, or the movement of his hands when casting a spell, all surrounded by echoes of his words, his voice poignant and precise. beautiful recreations of moments stolen when he wasnt paying attention, each one more reverent than the last. a creature that has discovered escaping to the Fade in their sleep for the first time, having the opportunity to explore its rich environments and histories, and yet she is content merely to bask in the memories of him.

The Formless One is the best boss fight ever put in dragon age, not because of the fight itself (it's actually annoying as hell) but for the fact that the damn thing sends you hate mail after you beat it. That's fucking hilarious.

This is much better than the final version too. It goes more into why Solas is even doing this and Rook feels less like a bus driver.

I drew Fen'Harel from Dragon Age: Inquisition. I referenced a mural from the game, specifically the scene where the Elves are freed from their Vallaslin.

Sometimes it seems to me that after the game they wanted to show villain stand-ups. I don't know how else to explain these.

Elgar'nan?

That did not go as planned. I had such high hopes. I would lay the blame at Fen'Harel's feet. As usual. His plans never work out, so he insists on no one else's plans working out. He wouldn't even leave my designs for my temple alone. Structurally unsound, he said. "What's holding up the top fifty floors?" Magic. Obviously. "What if someone falls off?" (Groans) I don't care, Solas. Elves can fly. "What do you mean, elves can't fly?" The Venatori were also disappointing, I have to say. Ten percent dogma, ninety percent chanting, zero percent execution. Excellent footwear, though. I swiped this fur-lined slouchy boot for slumping around the kitchen. So cozy. No. Ghilan'nain's not to blame. She's still torn up about Andruil. I know it's been a thousand years, but that's eternal love for you. Touching, really. I'd shed a tear, but the plumbing's been blight-clogged for centuries.