Art Blog

Thank you @fadetouchedlurker @haezelnut @exia-1 @daylinlavellan!

I'm going to give a little sneak peak of the fic I'm writing for @darkchocola who won my little writing giveaway.

This time, a clear emotion spread across Solas' face. Casssandra had hit a nerve, and she didn’t know whether to celebrate this small victory or fear it and his reaction to it. But as Cassandra stared at him, standing defiant and trying her best to keep to the plan, she saw what it was there beneath his stoic mask. Grief. Solas looked away from her then, only for a moment, his jaw tightening faintly before he spoke again. “Happy?” he responded, his voice taking a dangerous dip as he turned his now-hardened violent eyes on her - eyes that had only moments before been filled with pain. “Do not presume what I should or should not feel. I did what was necessary. Yes, it was cruel, I will not deny that, but everything I have done is to ensure she is safe. Whether that is from this world or from me. And because...” He paused as Cassandra noted another shift in his eyes, as though he were seeing into a distant future she herself couldn't. “... someone like her would have been greatly needed,” he continued, almost wistfully, “in the world that I will restore.”

I've really been enjoying writing this and the will of its own it seems to have - writing Aina has been inspiring.

em dash

“not x, not y, but z”

short sentence stacking as a stylistic choice

none of these belong to ai. these are all what human writers have been writing since day one, way before ai was invented. ai was trained to mimic how human writers write — so em dash, not x not y but z and short sentence stacking would never have been used by ai at all if ai hadn’t learned and mimicked them from human writers.

no, you are not “fighting against ai” by accusing every work that has em dash, not x not y but z or short sentence stacking in it as ai-generated, you are helping ai harm the writing community by engaging in witch hunt and scaring human writers away from creating/sharing their works for fear of being wrongly accused of using ai.

Thank you @daylinlavellan and @crimsonphantasmagoria for the tags!

So DA Kiss week has been consuming me. I made a piece for the prompt 'beach' which subsequently inspired fanfic which I will use for the prompt 'mourning' as a companion piece. This thing has become a beast very unintentionally. First time trying to write anything properly spicy! Ahhhh! 😵‍💫

Thank you lovelies: @celesenova @exia-1 @dirthera15 for the tags. I'm gonna go ahead and follow how exia did it cause I couldn't get that chart working for me how I wanted. 😂

Blue: affection/positivity | Orange: it's complicated | Red: dislike | Purple: love

Advisors

Cullen - Saethre is never entirely comfortable around Cullen. She likes him, has empathy for him and his struggles, trusts his military/battle counsel - but she essentially trusts Cullen because Cassandra trusts Cullen. Once he learns who Solas is and that Saethre wants to find a way to get through to Solas vs destroy him - that's where their relationship essentially stops (agree to disagree) - they do not see eye to eye on that at all. But she supports Cullen helping other templars get free from their addiction.

Josephine - Saethre and Josie become close. When Solas describes Josephine as a bastion of kindness in VG, that's exactly how Saethre would describe Josie. She finds reflections of herself in Josie - that preference for a diplomatic route, being an ambassador for your people, always trying to remember that lives aren't currency and knowing everything she can about everything. This image from the art book can speak for me.

Into the events of VG, Josie and Saethre continue working together, Saethre relies heavily on her and Josie is so committed - they are a tight partnership and play up their roles quite a lot in the years leading up to VG.

Leliana - No matter how Saethre might try she can't really get close to Leliana, and after awhile she stops as it's probably for the best. They are very good colleagues and work well together, but once Leliana becomes Divine it's a bit of a relief. She doesn't care to work with Leliana any longer than she has to and part of her dismantling the Inquisition is to get out from under the former spymaster's ever seeing eye. Their relationship is strained somewhat by then anyway, especially on Saethre’s end, because Leliana’s failure to uncover anything about Solas feels like a personal disappointment. For someone as hypervigilant and control-driven as Saethre, that failure confirms that she can only trust herself to lead the search and their spy efforts. It's not Leliana's fault, Saethre is a just a bit driven.

Morrigan - Morrigan is not someone Saethre ever expected to become friends with, but over time they develop a begrudging respect and eventually friendship. At first, Saethre is wary and weary of Morrigan's attitude around elven history and ancient magic, but she also recognizes something familiar in her hunger for that knowledge and power - a need for control, especially after witnessing the encounter with Flemeth and Keiran. The years leading up to Veilguard is where their friendship develops. It's Morrigan who tells her what she knows of Solas and Mythal after Saethre gets the statuette, it's Morrigan that Saethre confides that the anchor wasn't fully removed from her and Morrigan confides in Saethre her own fears of possession. What essentially connects them is their shared experience of living in the shadow of ancient powers while fighting to reclaim agency over their own lives.

Companions

Cassandra - This is a love of sisterhood that Saethre has for Cassandra. Saethre and Cassandra’s friendship is rocky at first. Saethre keeps tight-lipped around her, but over time, they learn to trust each other deeply. If Josephine wins Saethre over with kindness and open-mindedness, Cassandra wins her over with dedication, commitment, and faith. Saethre does not share Cassandra’s beliefs and she wants the Chantry kept far away from her, but she understands Cassandra’s struggle to keep going, to do the right thing, and to find what the right thing is in a world full of darkness - and she admires her faith, relies on it herself in her darkest moments. Cassandra is a fighter like Saethre and they become battle maidens, sisters-in-arms. Each knows the other will have her back. When Saethre hears Cassandra’s sword being unsheathed in battle, she feels emboldened and ready to fight.

Blackwall - If Cassandra is Saethre’s sister-in-arms, then Blackwall is her brother-in-arms - the brother she never had. She takes to him easily, his humour wins her over. Which makes his betrayal cut deeply and strains their bond for a time. Still, Saethre sees the good man beneath the lies and recognizes someone trying to make things right. Her own hands are not clean, and she understands what it means to be a killer, so she can't deny him the atonement he's looking for. After Corypheus is defeated, she gives him what he asks for and sends him to the Grey Wardens, even knowing he may not survive the Joining and even knowing a romance is beginning between him and Josephine. It pains her, and they say their goodbyes just in case. When he survives, their bond becomes something like family, strengthened further by his relationship with Josephine and his place among the people Saethre loves.

Solas - It doesn’t take long for Saethre to be drawn to Solas. He is someone who knows things, and she is someone who needs to know things. She’s intrigued by his experience, his perspective, and the way he views the world. He can be abrasive, rude, but Saethre’s dealt with worse. She’s been in love before, but what she develops with Solas is deeper, the kind of love that digs into the bones for he speaks to her mind and her soul. For someone who needs control, he makes her feel safe enough to loosen her grip. She’s so ready to build a life with him, which is why his sudden ending of their relationship shatters her. Solas values truth so much, yet he keeps the most important truths from her, and she can’t understand that contradiction until she learns who he really is. For a time, she believes she’s moved on but seeing him again forces her to face what’s always been there - she still loves him. Subsequent shared dreams with him hovering, his presence both a balm and a challenge confirm for her his shaky resolve - so she's damned if she's going to let him destroy himself, and others, in the process.

Cole - Saethre loves Cole, though it’s hard to define what that love is. He soothes her, sparks her curiosity, and brings out a deep protectiveness in her. Because Cole is more spirit than person, he can’t offer the same kind of friendship she has with Cassandra or Blackwall, but Saethre understands that he doesn’t need to. What grows between them is its own kind of closeness, built on accepting him fully for what he is. For someone with Saethre’s need for control, Cole should unsettle her more than anyone, instead, the opposite happens. If Solas makes her feel safe enough to loosen her grip, Cole makes her feel like she isn’t responsible for everything. They become close in the only way one can with a strange, gentle spirit who sees too much and means only to help.

Varric - Saethre is never fully sure whether Varric’s commitment to hunting down Solas comes from their friendship, or from him seeing her as some kind of holy figure. She notices that he never gives her a nickname, even though they seem to come easily to him for almost everyone else. There’s a strong connection between them, and certainly a friendship - Saethre makes good use of the house Varric gifts her, holding many strategic meetings there, but she’s never fully comfortable with the title of Comtesse. That’s part of what complicates it. At first, Varric’s gifts feel like his way of helping her, but when she looks back, she wonders if it was him continuing to subconsciously place her in this elevated position. In the beginning of the Inquisition, Varric is one of the first people Saethre feels comfortable with and they seem to grow close quickly. But as the divine symbol around her becomes harder to escape, a certain distance forms between them - it grows after Hawke is lost to the Fade. His death leaves a stain on her heart, but once the grief settles, she realizes she isn’t entirely surprised by his decision.

Dorian - Very good friends - the sending stones are put to frequent use. Being thrown forward through time into the worst possible future creates a quick bond between them - they’re the only two people who shared that experience. Their friendship becomes strained after Trespasser, when Dorian can’t understand why Saethre still wants to anything to do with Solas. They say harsh things, and for a while, the sending stones go quiet. Eventually, though, one hums again, and Saethre knows exactly who’s on the other end. They rebuild their friendship from there. Dorian remains protective of her, but ultimately, he’s with her all the way. Alongside Josie and Morrigan, he's pulling strings behind the scenes during Veilguard to help her. Still, he’s the one person Saethre can’t bring herself to tell the full truth - that if given the chance, she’d leave Thedas behind to be with Solas. For some reason, Dorian’s opinion is the one she values most but fears most.

Vivienne - Saethre’s relationship with Vivienne isn’t exactly friendship, but it’s built on deep respect and each won't hesitate to do a favour for each other - and call on those favours. She’s never fully sure if she can trust her, but she respects Vivienne’s intelligence, discipline, and the choices she’s had to make to survive. For Saethre, leadership has always been tied to the owl’s lesson - watch carefully and look past the masks people wear. Vivienne is one of the few people Saethre can’t fully read. She wonders if Vivienne is being honest with herself, or if the woman she presents to the world is a carefully maintained mask. Still, Saethre can’t deny that Vivienne inspires her in a strange and unexpected way and she has an affection for Vivienne she can't ever quite explain.

Iron Bull - They get along well - not great friends but they hold genuine warmth for each other. She respects him as a leader, respects his strategic insight, but their relationship always has a slightly contractual edge to it. They joke that if Bull ever needs a reference, she’ll give him a glowing one. She does try to steal Krem away from him during her pursuit of Solas, after seeing his quality during the side missions he takes on for her. But Krem is loyal, and Saethre understands that - if anything, it makes her respect Bull more for the loyalty he inspires in his people.

Sera - Saethre and Sera have the vibe of orphaned siblings, with Saethre taking on the role of big sister and reluctant mother. She puts Sera in her place when needed, but she also enjoys the fun Sera brings out in her. Sera can annoy the hell out of her one minute and make her burst out laughing the next. At first, getting to know each other is awkward, Saethre wouldn’t have thought much of it if Sera had left in those early days. Over time, though, they settle into their odd sibling dynamic - always on the edge of irritating each other, but with a current of grudging affection underneath it.

But what always gets me is the scale of the decisions and judgments they’re forced to make and the horrifying consequences. Choose the mages or the templars, and one of those groups is left to suffer in horrific ways - torment, torture, death, madness, mutilation. Thousands are left to violence inflicted on them, force-fed blight. Then there are the consequences that ripple out from those choices too - villages enslaved, people forced into manual labour, innocent people killed, ordinary lives ruined because of decisions made from a war table by the Inquisitor.

Those are the choices the Inquisitor has to live with. Every time they look into the eyes of a blighted templar or a blighted mage before cutting them down, they’re killing someone they left to their fate. Someone who might have been saved, if the Inquisitor had chosen differently.

What does Solas say? "Sometimes terrible choices are all that remain."

And imagine the people who’d hate them for that.

Then the Inquisitor has to sit in judgment on a throne and decide the fate of individuals. And in the words of Josie, lives should never be used as currency. But in war - in a supernatural war - they are and the Inquisitor can use them as such. Do you use those lives for your own needs? Do you cut them down in vengeance, or give them a punishment that fits the crime?

And better yet - what if they’re good at the Game?

My own Inquisitor chooses Briala. It’s one of the few moments in the story where I let my Dalish Inquisitor make a selfish decision, one that’s meant to benefit her people. But that decision results in the death of the Empress, and while that isn’t what she wanted, it happened, and now that's another person's blood that stains her hands.

So now you have an Inquisitor who isn’t just making battlefield decisions. They’re wheeling and dealing in secrets, spying, blackmailing, and exchanging information through the shadows. Whether they love the Game or hate it doesn’t really matter - they still sought out the secrets and manipulated powerful people - they pulled the strings of a massive political and military dynasty.

The War Table missions throw in even more consequences depending on what choices you make in succession. Maybe they don't feel as tense as we only read of the consequences, we don't see them with our own eyes. There are a series of Grey Warden missions that if you choose poorly, can push them almost to extinction. And how many agents and assassins did the Inquisitor have at their fingertips to deploy at will? It continued on even past Trespasser - that pesky Inquisitor, getting involved in Nevarran business - who do they thing they are?

And whether you have an Inquisitor who revels in the role or rejects it, the Inquisitor still enacted judgment. They still made those choices and caused irrevocable harm to other people. They were always destroying a world that belonged to someone else. They were always making people living comfortably, very uncomfortable. Solas has dialogue in Veilguard about how his own rebellion made comfortable people, uncomfortable - it would seem if anyone knows what the Inquisitor faces best, it's him.

I imagine some people being delighted to see the great Eye and Sword emblem of the Inquisitor marching into town - while others feared it, or hated it.

And what will the propaganda say about our beloved Inquisitor two hundred years from now, especially considering what was erased about Ameridan? Considering how history changed the tales of the Fen'Harel - the Dread Wolf?

Dorian seemed almost downright prophetic when he said Magister Pavus couldn’t come to Skyhold and be seen with the “dread Inquisitor.” Imagine a servant in that inn, working quietly in the back, overhearing this conversation. They catch that one title - the dread Inquisitor - and whisper it to someone else. Then that person whispers it to someone else, and before you know it:

The Dread Inquisitor, indeed.

So, how does all this weigh on a person?

How do you choose between who to save? How do you deal with the consequences of those decisions when someone had to choose but choosing meant people were still going to die regardless? You can only hope that the choice you made had the best outcome with the least amount of blood on your hands but in the end you will never know. Sometimes you are forced to make horrible decisions because to make none at all would doom the whole world. Even when you are drowning in guilt you must persevere, to keep marching forward in spite of it all because the people need you, even if they hate you. And you will carry every single death, every single horrible decision with you for the rest of your life because forgetting what you've done is unacceptable.

Taking Celese's idea and doing an actual breakdown of the relationships because it's complicated

Lore for the lore-hungry below:

Live now!

Shadow Dragon Week run by @shadow-dragon-week, now with bingo card! July 5 - July 11, 2026

Dragon Age Reverse Big Bang sign ups! Run by @dareversebigbang. Sign ups end by July 31, 2026.

Upcoming:

FenHawk Week run by @fenhawke-week, July 17 - July 24, 2026.

Dragon Age Nostalgia Month, run by @dragonagenostalgiamonth, Aug 1 - Aug 31, 2026 Just the prompts.

Dragon Age Kiss Week, run by @dragonagekissweek, Aug 1 - Aug 7, 2026

Queer Solas x Inquisitor week, run by @queersolasweek, Aug 16 - Aug 22, 2026.

Rookfest run by @rookfest, Nov 1 - Nov 7, 2026

Completed Events

Dragon Age Hero Week: Hawk Edition run by @daheroweek, April 12 - April 18, 2026

for @for-the-love-of-treviso

Absolutely stunning, you always paint him so beautifully! 🥹

I just created a side blog @dragonageevents. Designed to help track all these wonderful event weeks we have. There are a lot of them going on, which is awesome! But its all run by individual blogs, and there is no real way to know what is happening on any given week. So!

Can you pretty please tag me, @exia-1 , or this new side blog @dragonageevents. With anything you know is happening/going on? I'd love to set it up as a sort of resource for the community.

Tagged by @ashillayn, thank you for thinking of me! Plans for DA Kiss Week have snowballed badly. Pray for me.