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After seeing post like this 👇

And this gem 👇

As well as countless of others from the AI generator community. Just talking about how "inaccessible art" is, I decided why not show how wrong these guys are while also helping anyone who actually wants to learn.

Here is the first one ART TEACHERS! There are plenty online and in places like youtube.

📺Here is my list:

Proko (Free)

Marc Brunet (Free but he does have other classes for a cheap price. Use to work for Blizzard)

Aaron Rutten (free)

BoroCG (free)

Jesse J. Jones (free, talks about animating)

Jesus Conde (free)

Mohammed Agbadi (free, he gives some advice in some videos and talks about art)

Ross Draws (free, he does have other classes for a good price)

SamDoesArts (free, gives good advice and critiques)

Drawfee Show (free, they do give some good advice and great inspiration)

The Art of Aaron Blaise ( useful tips for digital art and animation. Was an animator for Disney)

Bobby Chiu ( useful tips and interviews with artist who are in the industry or making a living as artist)

Second part BOOKS, I have collected some books that have helped me and might help others.

📚Here is my list:

The "how to draw manga" series produced by Graphic-sha. These are for manga artist but they give great advice and information.

"Creating characters with personality" by Tom Bancroft. A great book that can help not just people who draw cartoons but also realistic ones. As it helps you with facial ques and how to make a character interesting.

"Albinus on anatomy" by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Coyle. Great book to help someone learn basic anatomy.

"Artistic Anatomy" by Dr. Paul Richer and Robert Beverly Hale. A good book if you want to go further in-depth with anatomy.

"Directing the story" by Francis Glebas. A good book if you want to Story board or make comics.

"Animal Anatomy for Artists" by Eliot Goldfinger. A good book for if you want to draw animals or creatures.

"Constructive Anatomy: with almost 500 illustrations" by George B. Bridgman. A great book to help you block out shadows in your figures and see them in a more 3 diamantine way.

"Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and expand" by Burne Hogarth. A book that shows how to block out shapes and easily understand what you are looking out. When it comes to human subjects.

"An Atlas of animal anatomy for artist" by W. Ellenberger and H. Dittrich and H. Baum. This is another good one for people who want to draw animals or creatures.

Etherington Brothers, they make books and have a free blog with art tips.

As for Supplies, I recommend starting out cheap, buying Pencils and art paper at dollar tree or 5 below. For digital art, I recommend not starting with a screen art drawing tablet as they are more expensive.

For the Best art Tablet I recommend either Xp-pen, Bamboo or Huion. Some can range from about 40$ to the thousands.

💻As for art programs here is a list of Free to pay.

Clip Studio paint ( you can choose to pay once or sub and get updates)

Procreate ( pay once for $9.99)

Blender (for 3D modules/sculpting, ect Free)

PaintTool SAI (pay but has a 31 day free trail)

Krita (Free)

mypaint (free)

FireAlpaca (free)

Libresprite (free, for pixel art)

Those are the ones I can recall.

So do with this information as you will but as you can tell there are ways to learn how to become an artist, without breaking the bank. The only thing that might be stopping YOU from using any of these things, is YOU.

I have made time to learn to draw and many artist have too. Either in-between working two jobs or taking care of your family and a job or regular school and chores. YOU just have to take the time or use some time management, it really doesn't take long to practice for like an hour or less. YOU also don't have to do it every day, just once or three times a week is fine.

EXCUSE ME???

We see most of the LIs...I doubt its Saafa with shit ton of make up...

Is it the female version od hooded person??

Like.

DAtV is an absolutely beautiful game in terms of graphics. Stunningly so. Even for the time it came out, DA2 had bad graphics.

DAtV has multiple interesting maps; even those without a lot of content are still varied and again, quite beautiful. DA2 reuses all it's dungeon maps without shame.

DAtV allows you to create a Rook with a unique backstory, race and appearance. DA2 you have to be human and you'll always have the same backstory.

HOWEVER DAtV doesn't give Rook a lot of real choices or personality options. Rook acts the same basically no matter how you play them. Hawke has three main personalities and when the game doesn't let you pick dialogue it will make Hawke speak in whatever of these three you most commonly pick.

DA2 is a game about systematic injustices, power and how you deal with both. DAtV scrubbed all systematic injustices from Thedas and made all that stuff background at best, completely ignored and forgotten at worst.

DA2 is full of companions who can be genuinely antagonistic with the player; they even have a rivalry system to account for the fact. A lot of cut scenes can end with you shouting or being mean to each other. DAtV everyone is nice and speaks in therapy speak. There's no real way to lose approval or to get mad at your companions.

DA2 has companions who hate one another; they're antagonistic if you bring them out and they are just mean a lot of the time. The closest DATV gets to this is Taash and Emmrich and rook 'solves' their fight super easily and then they get along great. Also, the reason they're arguing is just Taash finds Emmrich creepy not you know. A big political difference in opinion.

DA2 gives Hawke the chance to pick 'evil' options. You, personally, can kill your companions and you can also just be a dick. DAtV forces you to play as a hero all the way down to the heroic pre-written backstory.

There's I'm sure more contrasts. But I think what it comes down to is that DAtV prioritised being a 'good' game in terms of things like graphics, maps and had a more sanitised version of Thedas so 'everyone' could enjoy it. Whereas DA2 dropped the graphics and maps almost completely so it could focus on conflict, politics and interpersonal relationships.

DA2 deconstructs the Randian special hero, while Veilguard accidentally reinforces it.

DA2: “You’re a broke refugee with a dead sibling and a demon problem. Congrats, you’re the protagonist now.”

Veilguard: “You are the handpicked bestie of every elite faction across Thedas. Would you like a latte with your world-saving?”

Hawke can’t stop the Qunari, the mage war, or their own family being torn apart. Even your companions might bail or throw hands if you mess up. It’s messy, personal, tragic.

The whole crew of misfits in DA2 are embedded in the poverty of Kirkwall and this includes Hawke even after she gets the mansion back. They're all marginalized in some way that affects them deeply: illegal refugees, escaped slaves, house squatters, kicked out of clan, thieves, orphans, bastards, mages, even the cop one struggles running the city guard because the system is rotten.

And Hawke's position improving only results in MORE responsibilities and impossible tasks on their plate.

Meanwhile, Veilguard’s crew are prestige LinkedIn connections in snazzy outfits. Everyone’s trauma gets filed under ‘personal growth’ (that Rook is still responsible for), and solving millennia of slavery is just a matter of electing the right upper-class reformer. (*✧ᗜ✧)⊃━━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

And so on. Do I need to reiterate all the ways in which Veilguard plays the Special Individuals Are the Only Real Ones That Matter?

DA2: You tried your best, it wasn't enough, and history steamrolled you anyway.

Following the release of Bioware's official player choice stats, I'm curious to see how the Tumblr fandom measures up. This Google Form contains all the questions from the official stat graphics, as well as a few that were not included that I'm personally curious about.

This form contains major endgame spoilers. Do not click the link until you've finished the game.

Please only fill it out once per Rook, but if you have multiple Rooks feel free to fill it out for each of them! Live stats will be available for you to view once you've submitted the form. This form does not collect your email address. I will release a breakdown of the final results on my blog at a later date!

A note on the [former] Arishok's - potentially Stenishok's - current whereabouts and activities.

A nod to how Dalish clans can be quite different from each other in some ways. it's neat to hear an example of the way in which the specific details of one of the tales from Dalish lore differs from clan to clan. I would read an entire volume of World of Thedas's worth on this topic alone hh :D

Neve hears the swell of the Docktown sea when she's in the Lighthouse, the sound of the home she loves so dearly 🥺 Neve Gallus I love you

This Crow mask from concept art made it in! I wish this existed as a helmet for Rook, as it slaps ^^

same

I lost Harding in my story (second team leader), so this hurts so bad (which is to say, real good). (˚ಥ﹏ಥ)ง..

where Orzammar has Shapers of Memories, Kal-Sharok has Stewards of Memories.

Ostagar mabari bois reference 🥺 Ostagar here could feasibly have been descended from Dog, the HoF's mabari specifically. during the time of Awakening, Dog was said to have fathered a few litters of puppies.

'Ghilan'nain stamps her notes with a stylized halla head' continues.

Archive Spirits sound like Dragon Age's answer to VIs in Mass Effect, like Avina (versus the AIs). Only seven in the elven lore Bellara knows at the point in time of writing this Codex - did Mythal never feel the need to have an Archive Spirit, did the knowledge of Mythal's simply never come down through time, or did the remaining Evanuris only make Archive Spirits after Mythal had been struck down?

Stories such as ones about the elves in The Last Court 👁️..

for obvious reasons I just think the naming of "Elgar'nan's Pride" is curious...

Calling the moon and the sun to him like doves in this Codex was a neat bit of foreshadowing of the eclipse that happens at his hand during the endgame. quelling an unquiet earth - striking down the Titans and building the elven empire, like here.

Ghil has her halla head symbol to stamp, June has his own mark. I'm super curious to know what form June's takes. The single lyrium crystal split in two to 'join' the two June eluvians remains me a lot of Quantum Entanglement Communicators in Mass Effect hhh.. "When a pair of quantum-entangled particles is separated, a change to one particle will affect the other instantaneously, wherever it lies in the universe. QECs exploit this effect to transmit binary data any distance. Two pairs of entangled particles are necessary for transmission and reception." it's like that, but Dragon Age.

This reminded me of Codex: Raising the Sonallium.

1) In Thedas astronomy, some of the constellations are theorized or interpreted inworld as representing the Evanuris, like Solium and Elgar'nan, and Tenebrium and Falon'Din. Draconis is a very interesting one - there is speculation in the world that Draconis represented "an unknown eighth Old God stricken from historical record". As we now know, the Tevinter 'Old Gods' are linked to the Evanuris as their dragons/Archdemons. and here we have a possible mention of an 'eighth Evanuris' [on top of the 9 minus 2, Mythal and Fen'Harel] [[I know this codex doesn't say this being was one of them specifically, but for the sake of simplicity I'll just say it]] whose name has also mysteriously been struck out.. 👁️👁️ 2) Theory time. Falon'Din and Dirthamen were each soul fragments of what was originally the same spirit soul/being. Morrigan mentions them as being only one such case of this. the entity "The Healer" here is described as being linked to Sylaise. and in Dalish lore, Sylaise showed them how to heal, how to use herbs and magic for healing purposes. in Dalish lore the Vir Atish'an, the Way of Peace, involves learning Sylaise's wisdom, learning the arts of the healer and the mender. What if this 'eighth Evanuris' was the twin to Sylaise in the way Dirthamen was to Falon'Din? then maybe the healing stuff of 'Sylaise 2' "The Healer" came to be remembered as being associated with 'Sylaise 1' "The Surviving Sylaise" (since originally they were the same being after all, there could have been some shared traits or domains maybe)?

◕‿◕ This whole codex entry was super cool and felt kind of meta, it reminded me of how over the years in the fandom people have debated which one is which and tried to line the two sets up hh.

Beyond Thedas. (remembering the new stuff about the Devouring Storm from across the sea too)

These empty settlements made of crystal and obsidian.. that's suuuch a distinctive image and idea. there's something in that, but what?

maybe it's a volcanic land? interestingly volcanic soil can be very fertile, so in different parts of the same 'volanic land' you could feasibly have (especially in a fantasy world anyways, I'm just babbling for fun here, pls don't take the shit 'geology' etc in this post too seriously lol, ik it probably doesnt make actual real sense) areas of bare volcanic rock/glass next to or not far from areas of rich green lush vegetation growth growing from volcanic soil.. maybe the various sailor expeditions to Amaranth with their conflicting reports of it simply landed in different environs of the same 'volcanic place'? that could account for the differing accounts of what Amaranth is like.

There is this picture from the DA:TV artbook that the crystal and obsidian line really reminds me of -

Caption: "A version of the deserts of Nevarra. In this case, trying something with very high contrast: white ash and sharp black obsidian."

but this is apparently a depiction of Nevarra.

a volcanic land.. the Devouring Storm as a cloud of ash or pyroclastic flow? poison fruit, a poison cloud.. something something.. or the differing reports of the land could simply be separated by time instead of place, and something bad happened like an eruption? or could crystal and obsidian both be formed in the great heat of dragonfire? maybe there's dragons in the mix there somehow right, it's "Dragon Age" (there's always a dragon..) and the Qunari made the adaari using dragon blood to help see and fight "the ancient enemy".. something something.. I think there's more to the DS than simply a natural phenomena tho, as it's framed as an ancient enemy (or the tool of such) of the Qunari, something that was being fought, as having devouring anti-magic/magic-nullifying properties and being very cold [or at least that associated mysterious substance stuff is], but it's fun to think about :)

In The Calling, Duncan found a box in a Circle Tower which contained a strange-looking dagger made of obsidian, and there was something kinda weird about it. I read back some of the descriptions of it and something that struck me:

He handed Fiona’s staff to her and passed the black-bladed dagger to Duncan. The moment Duncan touched it, he felt a strange pulsing deep within the metal. It was cold and strangely . . . off. Yet it had never felt like this before. What could be happening to it?

here his dagger is cold and off. Compare DA:TV codex entry "Mystery Substance" (MS is connected to the DS): "It is cold, for one; ice forms on the vial's sides, even in the warmth of the afternoon sun."

and

“I was hoping!” Duncan raced as fast as he could, intending to stab the man before he could manage another spell. He leaped into the air, his dagger poised for the strike, but it was too late. Remille raised his other hand and a jet of dark shadow poured forth from it. It struck Duncan in the chest and propelled him backwards. He crashed to the ground well away from the mage, screaming in pain as the shadows spread over him like a blanket. It felt like a million ants crawling over his skin, each one biting and tearing away a piece of flesh. He flailed and swatted at the blackness with his free hand, but it was insubstantial. Like a ghost, his hand simply passed through it even though he could feel it consuming him. Desperate, he stabbed at the shadow with his dagger. Better to carve off his own flesh than be eaten whole by this magic. To his surprise, he didn’t stab himself. The moment the blade so much as touched the shadows, they recoiled from it. He began pressing the blade with frenzied haste against his body wherever the darkness touched him, and each time it retreated. Within moments he had escaped, backing against a wall and breathing rapidly. Terror raced through him as he stared at the inky black pool that lay just a foot from him, now sizzling. That could have been me, he thought. He was covered in sweat. The leather armor on his legs was torn up, the skin beneath it covered in slick blood, but he was whole. The dagger almost pulsated now. 

and here, magic spell-cast shadows recoil and retreat from the dagger, and it begins to pulsate. compare "Yet there is more to it than a simple chill. I cast several spells on the substance to ascertain its nature (once I removed it from Atrahel's possession; an easy task with one as dull as he) but the magic simply vanished as if consumed. When brought near any active magical ward, unless said ward had been cast with tremendous power, it sputtered and disappeared. A magic that devours all others would be a powerful weapon. If I could channel and master that energy". the MS also fills Atrahel with vim and vigor, where Duncan's dagger prevented him from being affected by the Calling and protected him from Blight corruption.. idk it could totally be nothing at all but it's interesting that some tales of a land across the sea recount obsidian structures, the DS is connected to across the sea stuff, the MS is connected to the DS, the MS is cold and anti-magic/consumes magic, and then you have Duncan's weird obsidian dagger which is cold and anti-magic. could totally be nothing, coincidence or bc [iirc] Duncan's dagger was enchanted and was made of the magic that the Architect taught Remille tho hh.. this post is word salad atp, not even a theory. 💀

This Memento describes that if the human nations call another Exalted March on the elves, Antiva/The Crows will not stand idly by while it happens this time.

Pertaining to the First Days of.. the First Elves...? as they walked for the first time on physical legs and breathed in air into lungs for the first time, maybe struggling to process / attune to their new form of being (flesh bodies rather than spirits)?

pertaining to the final days of Elvhenan? the Evanuris wronged the Titans before the formation of the Veil. the Titans' anger/severed dreams became the Blight, a growing thing that has been used as a weapon (e.g. Ghil) and can bring down gods, and it found frightened elves in their flesh bodies? 🤔

"Pillars" is cool phrasing for this set of Mementos because of the Titans as the Pillars of the Earth stuff :)

House Saelac (of Gorim Saelac fame) had a presence in or association with Kal-Sharok too, at one point.

I'm obsessed by the fact that for centuries Kal-Sharok sent spies out into the world above (and also to Orzammar too it sounds like?) to keep an eye on what was going on, and all that time the people they spoke to never knew from where they came.

Any connection to Codex Entry: Memories of a Duet? [ctrl-f "duet"]

The Fen'Harel art on this one says that this is to do with Solas. his failure in DA:I - the Orb of Fen'Harel lying broken into shards at the end after Corypheus was defeated, its power gone forever. misplaced trust, betrayal.. a whole new set of painful regrets start burning, added to the already large pyre.

Also Solas-related from its art. Sounds like one of his frescoes that he paints right? which god? the phrasing there could be interpreted as 'the god being painted' or 'the god doing the painting' both imo.

If the other two "Remnant" ones are Solas-related chances are this one is as well. a token or statuette of Mythal in dragon-aspect, well-handled by Solas ig q.q death is a parting and all that.

((this post is just a bunch of random stuff/assorted lil things and thoughts from as I was leafing through my screenshots folder lately, dumped together into one post so as not to spam.))

Maybe Morrigan wrote this Codex entry? in Witch Hunt she said "Many fear change, and will fight it with every fibre of their being. But sometimes change is what they need most. Sometimes, change is what sets them free", and she is associated with grimoires, has been in the Crossroads before, etc. this note seems to explain why in DA:TV [iirc] the Crossroads no longer looks different for elves compared to how it looks for the other lineages. "an eluvian has two faces" - as an aside, this phrase or idea makes me think so much of Falon'Din and Dirthamen and their situation.. twin souls (or rather twin soul-fragments), a shadow and a reflection, parts of the same whole. like the Roman god Janus (and other deities with this trait), depicted as having two faces, in his case one which can see into the past and one which can see into the future.

Spirits/Demons of Rapacity are a new (to us) thing. maybe they are a Hunger demon or a type of Hunger demon, like how Audacity was a Pride demon? eating, consuming. but rapacity can also be the quality of covetous avarice (wealth etc), so maybe Desire? or maybe it's simply its own thing/aspect, or embodies something else (entirely possible, it sounds like the southern Thedosian way of conceptualising demons is academically out of date/old-fashioned in-world).

Envy, of course. for me this note also implies the existence of Frustration demons.

Misery is also new. maybe Despair/a type of Despair demon? or again simply its own thing.

Despair is known. Shame interested me as it reminded me a lot of the Marquis of Serault's great-grandfather, the Shame of Serault (Dragon Age: The Last Court you will always be famous). he became an abomination. he was known as the Shame because his actions brought shame on the marquisate, but what if also the demon that possessed him was.. Shame? new headcanon just dropped. yes. I love it (๑*ᗜ*) Horror also interested me. like as in a Gibbering horror, an Arcane horror, or simply the aspect/quality of Horror, which is totally something you can feel?

Some more new ones - Chaos, Disorder, Disruption spirits/demons.

Saravarin, a (likely) agent of the Dread Wolf's rebellion, who seems to use they/them pronouns. :)

The first time I noticed the broken remains of Bianca on Varric's bedside in the infirmary, I was so sad. a tale ended.

A dwarf named Kevan Brubock invented flushing toilets!!

This scene seems to depict all of the Talons arranged up there on stage behind Illario (First, or rather representing that here at the moment), as along with Illario there's Teia (Seventh) and Viago (Fifth), but there's one model too many, since Illario is representing House Dellamorte here. that aside, neat to see that along with Teia, two of the other current Talons as of this timepoint seem to be elves. (in TN there was Giuli and Bolivar) Could the elf second from the left be Bolivar Nero? ^^ he survived TN. In TN he was described as having a long shock of white hair and wearing a suit trimmed in bear fur. that character model has long pale hair and putting them in that armor gives the impression of a fur or feather trim!

It was cool to see the new statue/asset of Mythal, and its inspirations that it has from this one found in DA:I.

Not just the appearance of the nervous system, they got a whole lil brain under there.

The Viper/Ashur is the youngest son of Corimer Vesperian, Imperial/Black Divine Aequitas II. (Corimer is such a cool name btw). below is an excerpt from the gamefiles in addition to this, game files seeming to confirm the in-world rumor:

This wall art shows Solas leaving through the eluvian at the end of Trespasser, having frozen the Qunari to stone. :')

I just thought this note/lore on Chasind beliefs and cultural practises was really neat. so in Chasind culture there is a god or other venerated figure known as the Owl-mother, She of Spring and Tide. they're known to personify the seasons as female warriors, maybe Owl-mother is the personification of Spring?

This note seems to hint at (the often fan-theorized) idea that there is some connection between the Forgotten Ones and the Forbidden Ones. (see also the Band of Three - a connection between them has been theorized by people in-world as well). on that subject,

This note is found in the chamber where Rook fights the Formless One. at this point the Formless One is in the form of a dragon (possessed dragon corpse). the "this form" therefore is dragon form. maybe the "old rivals" Formless is talking about here are the Evanuris, who the Forgotten Ones warred with, and whom the Forbidden Ones were exiled by? (btw, "For abandoning the People in their time of greatest need, for casting aside form to flee to where the Earth could not reach" makes it sound like the Evanuris exiled the Forbidden Ones during the time of the Evanuris' war against the Titans for the crime of.. not helping in the war with the Titans, and running away from it somewhere where the Titan's wrath and fury could not harm them.)

due to this, this note reminds me a lot of Ancient Elven Writing from DA:I -

"His crime is high treason. He took on a form reserved for the gods and their chosen, and dared to fly in the shape of the divine. The sinner belongs to Dirthamen; he claims he took wings at the urging of Ghilan'nain, and begs protection from Mythal. She does not show him favor, and will let Elgar'nan judge him." For one moment there is an image of a shifting, shadowy mass with blazing eyes, whose form may be one or many. Then it fades.

Here, the Evanuris forbade the divine form of dragon to a "sinner", who is hinted here by the bottom text to have had a shifting form which could have been one or many. (sounds like Formless). so the Formless One was maybe originally a slave or follower of Dirthamen's. if the other Forbidden / Forgotten Ones, or some of them, were also originally slaves or followers of the Evanuris (I wonder which?), no wonder they ended up warring with them. Geldauran for example wrote "I am Geldauran, and I refuse those who would exert will upon me." in reference to the Evanuris.

The floating items in the Regret prison in the endgame each individually representing a member of Rook's team was so [falls to knees crying.png]. oughh. masterful. this was a really neat art/design choice. :> it also made me think about my Rook and what items I would use to represent them in a similar fashion, like as a fun thought exercize.

Maybe.. the titanic claws of the Dread Wolf's wolf form? :)

This codex is found in the Heights of Athim. I was right :D

The spirit-fish in the Lighthouse Meditation room were summoned by someone and apparently require feeding, Shepard's cabin fish-style :). Maybe this argument was between Solas and Felassan?

The Lighthouse was the heart of the rebellion. interesting interpretation of the imagery there with the suggestion of its light being the light of his divinity.

At some point Keeper Hawen from DA:I stumbled through an eluvian into the Crossroads. I wonder if the bright light he saw on an island in the distance was the light of the Lighthouse.

they knew the halls would be kept by the Caretaker. could this codex have been written by Felassan?

This codex is found on the piano thing in the music room in the Lighthouse. the associated art is of Mythal. the expert hand and memories are Solas/Solas', no? and the other person in the duet, the beloved memory is Mythal/of Mythal[?] this codex put me in the mind of Codex: Birds of Fancy from Trespasser. not saying that I think the "Birds" were Solas and Mythal btw, just that it reminded me of it (fluid ancient elven memory etc).

like as in these lance-beam-looking things? from the in-game light puzzles?

For this one I just wanna say I loved this codex entry, this is how folklore and regional variations of stuff like that can work in our world too, really neat :)

Also known as: this shit makes me feel insane.

TW mentions of sexual assault, talk of trauma and genocide, and the threat of further genocide

I really liked prev's commentary on Bellara, and the way she assigns herself personal, individual culpability and blame. And on the one hand, it not an unreasonable outcome that a character would be dealing with feelings of guilt as they grapple with complex subjects revealed in DATV, but on the other hand, it does stick out as kind of odd when you play a game that has, for whatever reason, largely ignored the wider systemic implications of these events.

I feel like there's something to be said about how people often are able to grasp concepts like violence, racism, misogyny, etc on an individual basis of behavior and thought -- the person flings a racial slur, calls a woman a bitch, attacks them for being trans -- but often fail to grasp the larger, more complex institutional forces of these hierarchies of domination and oppression that tend to permeate the power structures of social systems.

For example, when we talk about racism, we have to understand that racism is not just an individual flinging racial slurs at someone (such as Jacob calling Garrus a “cuttlebone” or Tali experiencing being called a “suit-rat” in the Mass Effect series) (or elves being called "knife-ear" or "rabbit" in the Dragon Age series), although racial slurs can be a component of racism. Nor is it a binary: it is not simply a matter of flipping a switch between ‘racist’ and ‘not racist.’

Unfortunately, many stories across many forms of media do take a more simplistic approach to the portrayal of racism, where we see the equalization of ‘racism’ with an individual who is overtly a terrible person who says terrible things about other people, and it’s implicitly understood that this person is “bad.” While it can be an effective narrative shortcut, as a superficial surface engagement with the concept, it lacks nuance.

More broadly speaking, racism is also a behavior an individual may partake in that justifies an enshrined race hierarchy. The enshrined race hierarchy is what we refer to as systemic racism – ie racism built into the society social structure, the systems we live and function within. It is entrenched, deeply so, built into the structures of a society in a way that permeates at every level of said society. With this said, it needs to be stated that while distinctions are made between racism at the individual actor level vs the wider systemic level, there really isn't a difference between racism and systemic racism: one needs the other to perpetuate itself.

I've been reflecting on this and I actually remember a conversation between Bellara and Davrin where it's Davrin who has a line or two about how careful he wants to be with releasing certain information, and how he's worried about how the elves will be treated. It's such an oblique reference, and unless you have the depth of background from playing the previous three games and potentially reading all of the tertiary media, it's not a comment that I feel the game really gives space for the depth of the gravity of that anxiety. I'm grateful that Davrin said something about it in this game; thank you, John Dombrow, who wrote the Genophage Cure Arc of Mass Effect 3 and who collaborated with Trick Weekes as the writer for Mordin Solus, for giving your Dalish Warden character lines that resonate a little deeper with the storyworld.

Meanwhile... I'm kinda like.. shook re: Bellara because I remember the Game Informer spread that was like 10 pages of Bellara, Epler's character, and within it he said something about how Bellara and Solas are both tragic, but unlike Solas who "wallows" (wat) in his suffering, Bellara is "actually doing something about it." The extracted quote, courtesy of Northgalis on Twitter:

And maybe I'm a stupid nobody but like. This straight up isn't even true. Bellara's entire personal story arc is about her wallowing in sorrow, guilt, and regret. Meanwhile, Solas is... actually doing things. That's actually his whole thing in The Masked Empire, in DAI, in Trespasser, in Tevinter Nights, and even to some degree in DATV, as much as the characters in the game try to convince us he's not.

The dissonance is crazy.

I have to plug a really fantastic post from @mythalism [LINK] regarding the way Solas is tied to the narrative. I won't paste the whle thing here (please go read it!!) but I will extract and paraphrase the salient point I really wanted to pull into here:

Solas is quite literally tied to the narrative of dragon age and the destiny of thedas in a way that very, very few dragon age characters actually are, and because of this, he's actually inextricable from the plot of not just Veilguard and Inquisition, but from the entire Dragon Age series. We know he was seeded into the story as part of the uberplot from Origin's development (see above-linked interview with Gaider.) We know that he is baked into the entire storyworld of Thedas, and without him the stories we have in this world would not exist.

And a key component of this character is that he does care about people. He cares enough to a wage a Rebellion for thousands of years. He cares enough to risk everything for The People. This is a man who sees the depth of suffering and injustice inflicted on this world and decides to do something about it (remember, he is walliowing) and makes a plan to make amends for his mistakes (he is wallowing) and to also enact a revolutionary change on the world that would fundamentally shake the foundations of the world and radically disrupt the systems of power which are in place. But we get told that revolution is bad because people die, and this is why Solas has to be stopped. The gall of this is that Solas being stopped does not stop the widespread, systemic violence being enacted throughout this storyworld. And in fact it has the capacity to deepen the divide and heighten the hierarchies which are enshrined by these systems of violence.

I shouldn't be shocked because this happens time and time again, but it was really astonishing to see the creative director of this series come in and say that they had to work to make the character whose motives are literally rooted in the systems of violence that materially and deeply harm the lives of his people be less sympathetic.

This is AAA. This is Hollywood. This is Corporate Creativity. You can't just endorse revolution and radical change. :O

solas could've avoided this whole mess and probably had enough free time to take lavellan on a nice little date if he just took up archdemon hunting instead of all the rituals and the other dastardly deeds

lucanis won't romance rook if they go to minrathous but will romance neve because despite saying he's cool, he's not cool

everyone's nice and no one has slaves or anything because *checks forearm* the blight

all your companions get along with you and each other because also the blight

even though he's like, really manipulative and uses people all the time, solas accumulated but then gave up an entire army's worth of spies and agents because he decided he wasn't ready for a management position

red lyrium isn't really around because—and you are not gonna believe this—the blight

solas just lies. all the time, outright, to everyone. so I guess he was actually only super careful to not ever actively lie in Inquisition as like a fun little challenge to himself

tying the veil to his life force (you know, the guy who couldn't even take down an archdemon on his own and actually just got his ass beat so is not in great shape in the best ending) fully repaired the veil! \o/ don't ask how you wouldn't understand it it's not a big—

everyone near minrathous is cured of the blight! but @ everyone else you may be entitled to compensation 🥀

the only ritual solas has ever gotten or will ever get right is cleansing the idol into the ritual dagger. good thing too bc it was way more dangerous than this one. other than that, wrong about everything ever

elven magic is like not that big a deal, dude

the griffons are, unfortunately, long-term fucked

the elves don't see the crossroads differently anymore because uh.. because....... war

spite does not get involved in rookanis sexytimes. so perhaps him spreading his wings was actually just in preparation to leave bc ew they're kissing gross

Tevinter is the heart of slavery in Thedas. This lore has been established in every game, novel, comic, and other extended material in the Dragon Age franchise to date that so much as mentions the nation. But in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, when we are finally able to actually visit this location for the first time… this rampant slavery we’ve heard so much about is nowhere to be found. It’s talked about here and there; Neve mentions The Viper has a history of freeing slaves, as does Rook themselves if they choose the Shadow Dragon faction as their origin, for example. But walking down the streets of Minrathous, you’d never know. Because Dragon Age: The Veilguard, for all its enjoyment otherwise, has one glaring issue: It’s too clean.