rebranding from ghil-dirthalen to @nadasdirthalen bc I donât want people to confuse me with the Other Person who uses that name in dragon age spaces lmfao (I was chronically offline and blissfully didnât know of this individual)
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im watching critiques of veilguard bc im in a Mood and someone just played the clip of that line from Flemeth in DA2 where she says:
"We stand upon the precipice of change. The world fears the inevitable plummet into the abyss. Watch for that moment⌠and when it comes, do not hesitate to leap. It is only when you fall that you learn whether you can fly."
and now im remembering the fact that I thought because of that line about the abyss, the quest Here Lies the Abyss in Inquisition was about Hawke and how if you chose Hawke then they would be fine because Mythal said that to Hawke
I am genuinely
so
fucking angry
that that NEVER came to fruition and meant NOTHING in the 4th game.
i keep rotating it in my mind that the veilguard Conceptualization of slavery is like
slavery is bad, and therefore, the majority of the population knows this, and is against it! and slavers are extremely obviously and exaggeratedly evil, and will be using their slaves as human furniture, so you know that it's just needless cruelty for the sake of it. and this is all in the context of the Redeemable Democratically Reformable Empire, where the average people at the bread markets (we are not going to question who bakes the bread or harvests the wheat or grinds the flour) are nice. so therefore slavery is not actually intrinsically tied to the economy, it's just this evil act that people do purely bc they are villains.
however. if you blood magic bind solas and use him as a sort of forcible battery to hold up the veil.... that's fine, bc it is actually for the greater good to support the continued existence of the bread markets. even though this should actually be considered as enslavement or forced captivity. which is even sadder if you consider that he was the most anti-slavery character in the games up to that point.
so then the conclusion incoherently becomes like... slavery is actually ok, as long as it can be justified as being in other people's benefit(?) and the person being held against their will is Problematic and Not Nice To You(?). putting my head in my hands and lying down on the floor and rolling myself down the street like a tumbleweed.
i keep rotating it in my mind that the veilguard Conceptualization of slavery is like
slavery is bad, and therefore, the majority of the population knows this, and is against it! and slavers are extremely obviously and exaggeratedly evil, and will be using their slaves as human furniture, so you know that it's just needless cruelty for the sake of it. and this is all in the context of the Redeemable Democratically Reformable Empire, where the average people at the bread markets (we are not going to question who bakes the bread or harvests the wheat or grinds the flour) are nice. so therefore slavery is not actually intrinsically tied to the economy, it's just this evil act that people do purely bc they are villains.
however. if you blood magic bind solas and use him as a sort of forcible battery to hold up the veil.... that's fine, bc it is actually for the greater good to support the continued existence of the bread markets. even though this should actually be considered as enslavement or forced captivity. which is even sadder if you consider that he was the most anti-slavery character in the games up to that point.
so then the conclusion incoherently becomes like... slavery is actually ok, as long as it can be justified as being in other people's benefit(?) and the person being held against their will is Problematic and Not Nice To You(?). putting my head in my hands and lying down on the floor and rolling myself down the street like a tumbleweed.
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@ghil-dirthalen it is a very long post already so i can't peer review your tags, but they're so good. thank you for the ted talk đ
it drives me crazy bc... it wouldn't actually be hard to make vg ~escapist~ and upbeat if they really wanted to! they have this cheesy, feel-good unrealistic empire, which is democratically reformable, and a majority of the people are totally not racist and hate slavery. why couldn't they have an equally cheesy, sanitized version of a rebellion, that's completely ethical and pure in ideology, and wins the entire population's hearts bc they're so moral?
it's just wild to me that people argue that this is ~optimistic queer escapism~. it's not escapism if you identify more with the oppressed people in this narrative! it's only escapism if you identify with the comfortable upper class who are Benevolently Providing Rights.
it's wild bc by most standards of fiction tastes/things i'm creatively interested in making, i'm actually quite wimpy and soft? i don't really like tragedies or very grimdark stuff, bc i feel like i need a bit of morale boost at times, ahaha. if it doesn't have a semi-upbeat ending i get Sad. and i can feel that way by reading the news anytime, so i do try to avoid that currently.
but ohhhh my god. the Escapismâ˘ď¸ in veilguard was like. fascinatingly fucked up, so i can't look away from it. vividly detailed and unsettling self-portrait of canadian liberals. i was trying to figure out what the thought process could be, behind taking a well known, popular, semi-dark fantasy setting and turning it cozy. and i think it's something like this:
to begin with, the real world is very stressful and scary, for almost everyone who's not a billionaire at the moment.
for someone who's not very historically/politically aware and not reading about the reasons behind events or possible outcomes afterwards, or doing anything in their own community, this feels powerless and incomprehensible. why IS anyone voting for trump? he's literally orange and evil? ice agents are basically orcs, what kind of person could ever do horrible things like that? how could people deny vaccines or end up in conspiracy theories?? the republicans did WHAT? it's literally illegal!!! how did they do something when it's illegal?? why are people racist - that's literally wrong and bad, and bad people do that?? how many bad people ARE there in the world? etc.
therefore, any piece of fiction that deals with similar topics (authoritarian governments, bigotry, class differences, oppression, war, etc) is inherently reminiscent of the real world. but since the real world is incomprehensible and scary, the fiction becomes so as well.
i, personally, might find it cool and refreshing to play as a (pre-white guilt retcons) elf in dragon age, and get my character to succeed while fending off fantasy racism - in a way that's semi-realistic, but detached enough from reality that it's not viscerally upsetting to me as a person. but to someone who finds the very Concept of racism incomprehensible and scary, that's not the case! same goes for anything - fighting an oppressive government, playing as a scrappy underdog character who doesn't have a silver spoon in their mouth, having other types of bigotry in fiction, etc.
so to them, even the idea of experiencing a fictionalized version of these problems is unsettling - bc they have no idea how these problems are solved, or what factors create them. so the idea of struggling against them for a purpose, and feeling vindicated and enjoying that in a fictional context, is incomprehensible. from their perspective, even depicting these topics as antagonistic forces becomes endorsement. oh my god, you WANT to see elves getting called slurs? are you a racist?? you WANT to see authoritarian governments and a rigid class system? are you some kind of conservative who hates poor people? etc.
and, meanwhile the real world gets more and more upsetting. so the outlet they have is creating escapism within the fictional setting, by fixing it. without anything scary or violent or gross happening, bc there's too much scary and violent and gross stuff already in the real world. the setting just Gets Better and Becomes Nicer, somehow. and now the fictional setting no longer upsets them, and everything seems fine!
people are nice! they vote for good candidates! democracy works! they're getting over the racism - and only REALLY bad people are racist, so you know exactly who they are, and there aren't that many of them. phew! what a relief! tyranny rarely has willing followers. only Bad People go to prison, forever.
and anyone criticizing any element of this, must, of course, be a racist or a conservative, or perhaps a russian bot, bc who else would want to see such terrible things depicted? better block any critics and start up a panel on writing about imperialism :)
i also wanted to add one final element of the Escapismâ˘ď¸ in veilguard. it is not escapism in "society is good and people are nice and things are calm!" type of way. nor is it escapism in a "things start out bad, but through perseverance and empathy, people make it better and find solutions!" type of way. these are fantasies of either living in a better world, or being able to seize control and create a better world, in a way that most people can't achieve in their normal lives.
in my opinion, veilguard's escapism is that of escaping responsibility, stress, or discomfort from world events, even as they have a terrible impact on other people.
for a comparison, let's look at the previous 3 games.
in dao, you are in the middle of the fereldan blight, and everywhere you go, you see people who've been displaced or affected by it. you have the option to interact with them in different ways; some are bandits out of desperation, some are asking you for money, some will give you quests that you can accept or decline to help them. either way, it's inescapable. you have to see these people and interact with them, and know that this is the effect that the blight and the civil war are having on the people.
in da2, it's similar - despite the 5th blight being remarkably short, localized, and well managed, you STILL have to reckon with the enormous social impact it has. fereldan refugees flood into kirkwall and get treated terribly, hawke themselves loses a sibling in lothering, etc.
in dai, again, you cannot miss the impact that the rifts and fighting are having on the population. as much as we joke about the hinterlands being an endless well of quests, i think it's actually really interesting that you can spend so much time just doing stuff like getting food and blankets for refugees, and speaking to npcs like mother giselle, who will constantly tell you about what effect the chaos is having on the average person trying to live their life in thedas.
the effect of this, imo, is multiple things. firstly, it makes the setting feel "real" outside of the scope of your party. you might be 4 heavily armed lethal freaks roaming the countryside, but for the most part, people in the setting are just... average, and a whole societal fabric exists outside of you and your world-saving quest. secondly, it creates a sense of empathy and responsibility towards the world that your character inhabits.
you see the effect that these huge events are having, on people that are completely helpless to stop them, or even your own pc. and then, you're given the ability to actually affect the events, in the way a random farmer or chantry sister or blacksmith or whatever can't. and then you're asked "what do you do with this power, and what responsibility do you feel towards the broader society that your character exists in?". and the answer can be "my character is going to be really niceys and feed and clothe every struggling refugee they see!" or it can be "my character seizes power for their own ends and never lets go!" or something in between, which is neat! dragon age has never been a "cozy" style escapism where the world is already in a calm and peaceful state, but escapism as a power fantasy of "what if i HAD the ability to help people and make the world a better place" has always been a strong thread running through it, if you want to play that way. you have the option to play your character as power hungry or callous, or as a real softie - for instance, in dai, despite the destruction of haven being a fixed event, they can have different feelings about it. they can be blase and unaffected, or they can feel guilty and upset and wish they'd done something more to prevent it.
in veilguard, let's look at the fucking lighthouse lmao.
the lighthouse was originally built as solas' safehouse/hub for his rebellion. it held hundreds of freed slaves and rebel agents at the very least, and is linked to the eluvian network running across thedas - thus, it must have been used to move people away from danger, send aid to places that need it, offer shelter to the displaced, etc. neat!
in veilguard, you see the Most catastrophic world situation so far, affecting most of southern thedas. there are two concurrent blights, the venatori, and the antaam, all running around at once, and the offscreen letters paint a terrible picture of entire countries being blighted and decimated in numbers, with only small numbers of survivors collecting in individual cities.
you.... never actually see a single refugee fleeing north, let alone have any quests to interact with them. watsonianly, this implies a truly horrific death toll, to the point where people can't even escape - but more likely, the writers just didn't think about it <3 yay <3 they're sooo antifascist <3
you also never have the option to use your eluvian network or the lighthouse to help people with any of this - your companions WILL take a nice little camping trip to ferelden, as it's being overrun by darkspawn and major cities are being destroyed! but they won't take any humanitarian aid, or help people escape through the eluvians, or anything like that. they're having fun! they need that camping trip for stress relief. saving the world needs self care too <3 rip to the dying fereldan population, but it's not about them <3
the two blights and offscreen mass deaths never like, inconvenience you. it doesn't affect starbucks your ability to find coffee or nice food ingredients. it doesn't create a mass influx of refugees. it doesn't ever create a situation where your character might feel guilt. it's sad what's happening, but it's not YOUR fault (even though it sort of is, bc rook allowed this to happen by interfering with solas and then locking him into a jail). and since it's not your fault, you don't have any responsibility to try and do anything about it. and that's optimistic! bc what REALLY matters most in times of unrest and chaos and horrible violence, is that you, personally, can go to the market and buy bread and take naps.
and that's what escapism is, as written by weekes and epler. terrible things are happening to other people, but luckily, they aren't you, and you don't know them personally! so you're still fine. and that's what matters.
also people can be in eternal torture confinement, but they were literally mean a few times. so it's deserved and no one ever worries about it, bc omelas is a utopia...
i will add this banter here bc i really didn't have to write all that. it was just literally in the game. rip to all those people dying of blight in ferelden who could be rescued with the eluvians and sheltered in the lighthouse, but, have you considered: stealing solas' house and then renting it out as an expensive airbnb đ
I remember that Trick Weekes once expressed something like "Solas is a mirror to the player character and the player shapes Solas based on the protagonist they play." (my memory is really muddled here, so please correct me if I am wrong.) I have always had a strong, uneasy intuition about this writing philosophy since thenâYes, it appears to highly respect player agency, as an NPC's arc dynamically changed by player actions can provide feedback and satisfaction, and the depth of their characterization seems to be reflected in this high malleability. However, the fatal blind spot of this philosophy is that when a characterâs many âfacesâ are built entirely around player-dependent variables or projections, the characterâs core identity will eventually start to fracture. There are always some values ââand personality development directions that are simply incompatible. The divergence between the character's different facets in different subsequent timelines can gradually lead to the fragmentation of their ostensibly unified psychological core, making them contradictory and ultimately incoherent. The consequence of this is not necessarily "depth" but narrative failure.
The Solas of DAI, in both the high-approval and low-approval paths, still possessed a relatively stable core: he pitied the suffering of modern Thedosians, affirmed their spirit of resistance, actively thwarted the Qunari's plan of eliminating the leaders of Southern Thedas, and even spared an Inquisitor he mutually despised to avoid unnecessary suffering for the south. He held complex emotions towards modern elves, tinged with sympathy, sorrow, indignation, and disappointment, and his stated motivation was ultimately to restore his people (whoever they are) and the world of elves. His perception of modern Thedas was not entirely dictated by the quality of his relationship with the Inquisitor; his on-going interactions with the modern world continuously modified his views and forced him to re-evaluate his own understanding in many subjects. His journey in Inquisition lasts at most only less than two years, and there had already been several significant changes in his assessment of the world and the peoples in it.
However, Solas's character arc was incomplete in DAI, as his interaction with modern Thedas had not concluded, nor was it completeâthe final missing puzzle piece was his current interaction and communication with the people he considered "my people." If the sequel had continued the narrative of the organized group of Fen'harel's agents, it would have forced Solas to directly confront his relationship with modern elves once more. His self-perception, his possible character growth, would have been revealed in his reactions and conclusionsâwhether he saw himself as a herald, an illuminator, a protector, or even a gadfly to his people (or a segment of them), or whether he believed his people (or a segment of them) lacked agency and that he had the right to choose for them, or even the worst case: that he had genuinely fallen to become like his own enemies. All of this needed to be revealed through his interactions with his people, especially the newly organized modern elves. This interaction was thoroughly set up in the Trespasser DLC, in Tevinter Nights, and even in Joplin, and it was the crucial step in completing his arc and revealing his true nature. The issue of whether his cognition and actions are unified was still set to be revealed in his communication with the collective of modern elven revolutionaries/spiritual successors: was he a hero, albeit a misguided one, belonging to the mortal sphere (a "non-god" whose knowledge and capacity are limited), or a self-proclaimed god, a coward, or even a hypocritical tyrant? And we must account for the time span of this interaction and communication. Given the cost constraints of a DAI sequel, let's be realistic, these completely opposite character directions are nearly impossible to happen compatibly within the same game; of the two opposing interpretations and predictions of Solases in the fandom, only one could ultimately be closer to the "real" one. I absolutely do not believe that the "Solas is a mirror to the player character" approach is good writing for the sequel to DAI, at the conclusion of his personal journey.
Yet, Veilguard did not bridge this gap; it violently cut all the established narrative threads. His peopleâno matter the combination of spirits, ancient elves, or modern elvesâwere completely wiped out in the story. He failed to have any communication with his people building upon the foundation of DAI, and his motivation has been completely rewritten. (This certainly avoids the dilemma of choosing between the two character directions mentioned earlier, as Veilguard seems to want to cater to all, "yes we want both his fans and his antis".) The result is that this Solas is not any version of Solas extrapolated from an understanding of DAI, but a completely new, unfamiliar character with the same name from a different timeline. This Solas acts as if he never experienced even a minute of the DAI storyline, and is not even a low-approval version, because even that version of Solas would have to process the new insights gained from nearly a decade of working with his own agents, even if those insights were all negative.
just thinking about the way Veilguard had Emmrich and Davrin state, in a way that brokers no argument, that the Darkspawn are NOT PEOPLE and thatâs the only time itâs ever brought up asdsfjdsjkfÂ
can we talk about the fact that the consecutive reveals that both the darkspawn and the demons/spirits, both of the mindless hordes of Always Pure Evil enemies that we can kill without a second thought, are PEOPLE is such a compelling earth shattering revelation that happens in the series leading up to veilguard
followed by the setup of an antagonist that can potentially wilfully refuse to acknowledge the personhood of the people of thedas, when every measure of what marks someone as a Person with a capital P by the standards of the society theyâre from(spirit, mage, elf) marks someone as less than a person in the current world of thedas
that so clearly holds the mirror up to our own cruelty when the inquisitor responds to "it was like waking to a world of tranquil" with "we're not even people to you" betraying that our own hero does not view the tranquil as people
when the first spirits were born of the dreams of the dwarves but we read codex entries from ancient elvhenan that say "we hunt the pillars of the earth and their WITLESS SOULLESS DRONES"
the "mages are not people and should not be treated as such" the way they qunari refer to everyone outside of the qun as Bas - literally THING the way the chantry compares kissing an elf to kissing a dog ect ect and forever
When we speak to the architect when we meet justice when we meet cole when we meet maddox when we meet countless other characters from groups that get so utterly dehumanised by either theodesian society or some magical contrivance that exists as a metaphor for such
when the story beats you over the head with THEY'RE PEOPLE THEY'RE PEOPLE THE TERROR IN THE NIGHT IS A PERSON THE MINDLESS ZOMBIE HOARDS ARE PEOPLE THE PERSON ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BATTLEFIELD IS JUST AS MUCH A PERSON AS YOU AND YOUR ENEMY THAT DOES NOT SEE YOU AS A PERSON IS A PERSON
and the conclusion that we come to about that is actually
don't worry about it kitten <3
what was the point of it? this is a story about how efortlessly we can be persuaded to dehumanise others...
... unequivocally in favor of the dehumanisation?Â
or at the very least of the opinion that thereâs no point in doing anything about it?
The thing that feels genuinely very dark about the Veilguard endings is that ultimately they all amount to Rook using Solas as a power source for the Veil, like he's just an object instead of a person. One reason this is so dark is because Solas is a former spirit, and what Rook does to him is exactly the same thing mages throughout Thedas are constantly doing to spirits - binding them to use for magic.
In Inquisition, Solas frequently expresses distress about how the personhood of spirits is commonly denied throughout Thedas: he literally tells us that binding spirits is 'abuse.' We know that this is a major part of his motivation for wanting to take down the Veil. But in the end not only is no one willing to even listen to his concerns about the spirits, they turn around and do the exact same thing to him, binding him just like a spirit.
Even the atonement ending is not really much better in this regard. In Inquisition, Cole says of bindings that 'It isn't abuse if I ask' and Solas himself says 'Not always true.' Binding him in this way is still a dark thing to do even if Rook uses his guilt and shame to convince him to do it voluntarily. We are left with the final message that the abuse of spirits will continue indefinitely and now it's all founded on the very same dehumanizing treatment directed toward Solas himself.
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If there's one thing that continues to infuriate me about DAV it's the lore related to the old gods and dragons in the game. Significant chunks of it make no sense and make the setting worse all around. A lot of it seems to stem from some kind of desire to streamline the lore. So here's a list of all the issues I have with the Old God lore in DAV:
1. The Old Gods are high dragons
So this is the first mistake they made. Turning the Old Gods into high dragons. In the comic books we were introduced to the concept of great dragons and how they were extra powerful and connected to dreamer magic. In the previous games there were several codex entries that hinted that the Old Gods were supposed to be great dragons rather than high dragons.
The Old Gods were like unto dragons, as the first human kings were like unto ordinary men. So it is written in the Tome of Koslun.
-Sten, Those Who Speak
Codex entries: The Old Gods; Dumat, the Dragon of Silence; Dragon Cults, Drake's fall
2. The Old Gods are all female
Now this issue stems from the whole let's make the Old Gods into high dragons part. If they had confirmed that the Old Gods were great dragons they could have side stepped the whole "all high dragons are female" lore by saying that it doesn't apply to great dragons. Instead we get to hear the most contrived reasons for why Elgar'nan calls Lusacan by male pronouns. You could also think that hmm maybe the pronouns are supposed to refer to the soul of the Evanuris inside the dragon, yeah, except they fucked up that part too. Prior to DAV the only Old God confirmed to be female was Razikale and Toth and Andoral were left ambiguous, the rest were male. This meant that if we were to assign Razikale, Toth, and Andoral to Ghil, Sylaise, and Andruil they would match. Now what did they do in DAV:
For some insane reason they keep referring to Toth with male pronouns when they've decided that the Old Gods are high dragons and all high dragons are female and there are no references anywhere to Toth's gender before this. Now, no matter how you assign the Old Gods to the Evanuris you're left with a situation where one Old God and one Elven god are both referred to as a "he" even though the elf and lizard are both female. And you can't even blame this with in game lore of "ooh the 'vints were dumb and couldn't figure out dragon anatomy" when they've been shown to have advanced understanding of dragon anatomy and the grey wardens literally have access to their corpses. The lady of the forest from Origins also refers to Urthemiel as a "he", so it's not a 'vint thing.
And then there's also this blast from the past:
Ben Gelinas was in charge of the World of Thedas books, so Bioware could've changed the gender of the Old Gods for those books too if they had wanted to, unless the gender of the Old Gods was supposed to be some kind of secret and gotcha trick.
3. Disconnecting the dragons from the "sun"
DAV is a game that can't handle a metaphor to save its life which is why we get to hear Elgar'nan going on about the literal sun and night when in the past lore it was implied that the sun was a dragon/dragons in general.
Here we see a bunch of elves imprisoning a dragon with what looks like to be lyrium. (Also you're telling me that there were murals like these in the middle of Minrathous for the past few thousand years while everyone was wondering why the Old Gods are underground, like really.)
Here's what old codex entries said about the sun and elves:
Codex entry: Elgar'nan: God of Vengeance & Codex entry: Mythal: the Great Protector
In both cases the sun is trapped in what sounds like a prison made out of lyrium. The Old God prisons were right next to Titans or huge lyrium deposits based on WoT books, as there was a prison near the Heidrun Thaig where the DAI Titan is, and Note: Ancient Warden Logbook, which says that the wardens broke into what looked like a Thaig when they were trying to dig up an old god.
4. The Old God prison in the western approach
In DAI if you go to the western approach and the mine there you can find the above mentioned note that mentions that there's an Old God prison right under your feet:
Solas also comments: "Someone was digging for things that should have been left undisturbed."
In Asunder Cole comments how he can hear the calling and iirc he was close to the western approach in the following passage:
"And worse, there was the music. He didn't know what it was, but it seemed to come from far, far off. It called to him, but not in a pleasant way-it had an urgency that sped his heart and made his blood burn. The dark creatures, the lurkers, they listened to it. He didn't know how he knew that, but he could feel them out there, craning their necks, raising taloned hands towards that call."
Asunder, ch: 9
But in general there's nowhere said that the prison is empty and pretty much all other blights have started far away from Orlais. So given the fact that this prison still seems to be functional and the archdemon there is referred to as a he it would make sense that this is where Lusacan is imprisoned, right? Now where did Elgar'nan awaken Lusacan? Arlathan forest, on the other side of the freaking map.
5. Erasure of the "dragons used to rule the skies" lore
This is something that is probably only familiar to those who have read the early comics, but Yavana, one of Flemeth's daughters says the following:
"The blood of dragons is the blood of the world."
-Yavana, the silent grove
Your heart beats with the old blood, as well. Where do you think it comes from? It sings of a time when dragons ruled the skies. A time before the veil, before the mysteries were forgotten. Can you hear it?
-Yavana, the silent grove
Yet this whole aspect of the lore seems to have been completely removed from both the game and the art book. In the art book iirc there's one picture with unicorns and dragons flying in the skies but otherwise nothing.
As was shown in the part where Elgar'nan imprisoned the sun he might have been the one responsible for fighting against dragons. The Chant of Light also features the following:
"Until, at last, some of the firstborn said:
"Our Father has abandoned us for these lesser things.
We have power over heaven.
Let us rule over earth as well
And become greater gods than our Father."
The firstborn are the elves and the earth is most likely the Titans so, who is the Father here? Elgar'nan's father is said to be the sun, which might be the dragons. The implication here is that they first defeated the dragons and then the Titans. Yet again, this potential war and dragons ruling the skies are not referred to anywhere. Great dragon blood in the comics was said to grant dreamer abilities.
6. Tying the Evanuris's immortality to the dragons is dumb
So, the Evanuris are invulnerable to death as the dragons give them the body hopping ability and the lyrium murder knife is only needed to get past their protective spells. Well, guess who is not limited by such trivialities? Corypheus. Our dear ancient magister didn't need his pet dragon to body hop, instead he nerfed his body hopping ability by binding the red lyrium dragon. Rook's tactic of first killing Ghil's dragon and then stabbing her who knows how long later with the dagger wouldn't have worked on Cory as he would have recovered from having to reabsorb his power from his dragon and then he would have simply body hopped to the nearest blighted being if he was stabbed to death. Thus the Evanuris have worse immortality than Corypheus does, since they can't body hop without the dragons.
As stated in DAI about Cory's abilities:
Kill it, and his ability to jump to other bodies is disrupted for a time. He can be killed. -Inquisitor
Kill the dragon, and his ability to leap into other bodies is disrupted. He can be slain. -Morrigan
And straight from the horse's mouth:
In short Cory is king and the Evanuris are a bunch of losers and the blight likes to play favorites.
Also, we're in Tevinter and didn't get any proper codex entries about the Old Gods, like wtf.
Posted earlier that I was compiling a list of lore/story threads that have been dropped with DATV's handling of Southern Thedas. The sheer number of things means that I've made this into two parts - this one focusing on all the story threads that have been effectively dropped.
Spoilers for the game ahead, of course.
If you've played the game then you'll know that Southern Thedas - everything from the past three games - was basically swept away by the blight.
A double blight should have catastrophic consequences for the entirety of Thedas, I donât deny that, itâs nothing short of a mass extinction event â the absolute worst case scenario for all of Thedas.
However, waving away the fact that Southern Thedas - specifically every area you ever traveled to and interacted with in previous games â is gone, devastated by the blight, in a codex entry and line of dialogue makes it abundantly clear that BioWare is attempting to clean the slate so that they can move forwards with the game series with no ties to the previous ones.
The Warden, Hawke, and the Inquisitor effectively accomplished nothing.
As I put it in another post: I never expected them to consider every decision in game outside of the three options they gave us, but I certainly didnât expect them to go scorched earth on the possibility of ever seeing the results of those decisions either.
How the lore has been handled in this game, summarized to âthe elves did itâ and âthereâs been a shadowy organization in the shadows pulling the strings on everythingâ is absolutely devastating to the franchise.
The lack of care with which this was treated just bleeds, âThere, weâve answered all questions and finished with this era of Thedas. Moving on now.â At the same time, this destruction absolutely obliterated whatever story threads remained from the first three games.
Could BioWare bring these threads back? Yes, I suppose. But it doesn't change that it was so carelessly thrown aside in the first place.
If they didn't want people to care about their decisions and the impact they made on the world, perhaps they shouldn't have made that a feature of all the previous games.
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Story Threads/ Plot Points that were dropped:
Limited my points to what was in the Dragon Age Keep and what points were brought up frequently in codex entries, conversations, etc...
Edit: I never expected all of these points to be answered in DATV - this is just a list of what was effectively brushed to the side through very bad handling of lore and story.
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Dragon Age: Origins
What is the line of succession in Ferelden?
Things are looking very grim for Ferelden's succession and the Theirin/MacTir line if nothing is done. And nothing was done. The entire plot of DAO literally culminated in resolving this issue, yet no one seems to have learnt a thing from it?
- Anora ruling alone is unmarried with no heir
- Alistair ruling alone is unmarried with no heir
- Ruling together they have no heir
- Alistair and a Cousland Queen have no heir
- Anora and a Cousland King-Consort have no heir
The only potential candidate that can fit into several of those world states is Kieran.
Fergus Cousland, according to lore, is the second closest to the throne that is confirmed to be alive in DAI - potentially the brother in-law to the King/Queen of Ferelden.
Ferelden's succession with Alistair as King hinges on whether or not the Warden was able to cure the blight. Alternatively, it is hinted that he may be more resistant since he has dragon blood in him from Calenhad.
The potential implications of Kieran being the bastard son of the King of Ferelden.
Kieran being used as a political pawn to depose Anora using the Theirin bloodline.
DAI took away whatever destiny Kieran had with the Old God soul â that didnât mean that BioWare had to take away everything else too. Regardless, it doesn't matter. Denerim and Redcliffe have fallen to the Blight - it's unlikely that any of this will ever be brought up again.
2. Did the Warden find a cure?
Unknown. Irrelevant.
Ferelden ended up blighted. Denerim fell. If Ferelden rises from the ashes, it will be without any sign of their influence. Any mention of them will likely be their title alone - no mention of their accomplishments.
3. General Questions about the Landsmeet
What happened to Anora if Alistair is named King? Who rules the teyrnir of Gwaren following the blight?
What happens to Alistair if he's exiled? We know Teagan finds him in DA2 but what happens after?
If Leliana becomes divine does that mean that Connor Guerrin is potentially an heir to Redcliffe?
4. Companion Plot Threads
Morrigan's sisters - the many daughters of Flemeth.
Shale's quest to reverse the process of becoming a golem.
Whatever the hell Nathaniel Howe was going on about when you run into him in DA2 in the blighted thaig.
What, if anything, Avernus leaned from spending a literal age or two studying blighted blood.
5. Zevran's Crusade against the Crows
RIP Zevran's one-man crusade against the Crows and their child slavery ring.
DATV messed up immensely by portraying the Crows as more of a âfound familyâ rather than the horrifically abusive organization it was set up to be.
The very same organization that preys on the weak and disenfranchised - honing them to be tools for the nobles/powerful of Thedas - are now the heroic freedom fighters of Antiva.
The literal decade he spent hunting down the Crows and their leaders is up in flames. No mention in DATV whatsoever.
Wasted a perfectly good opportunity to have a schism in the Crows, with Zevran at the helm of kicking out the antaam, taking in Crows who are are sick of what's happening.
6. The Dwarves of Orzammar
The impact of Bhelen/Harrowmont's reign - ruthless progression verses strict traditionalism
The rumours of an uprising of the casteless dwarves in DAI
Will we ever hear of noble House Brosca or Queen/Lady Rica? Nope.
Will we ever hear of the son that Aeducan can have with Mardy? Nope. (RIP Duncan Jnr - I still love you)
The Anvil of the Void and potential links it may have to the Titans.
If Branka lives what happened to her?
No more fine goods direct from Orzammar
The entire caste system has been simplified by Harding in DATV to effectively be: 'surface dwarves' and 'deep roads' dwarves.
7. The Magisters Sidereal / Awakened Darkspawn
According to a codex in the Descent: one went mad, consumed another, and the final magister fled into the Deep Roads.
Corypheous + Codex Magister + the Architect (most likely) = 4/5 magisters remaining? Possibly?
Reminder that it's hinted that there's an eighth Old God that was struck from the records of Tevinter.
The Architect and his Awakened Darkspawn.
No, it was all the elves. They're all dead now anyway. Thanks BioWare.
8. The Guardian and the Urn of Sacred Ashes
"Where did you come from, where did you go? Nobody in Thedas will ever knowwwww."
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Dragon Age 2
Dragon Age 2 was pretty self-contained, with most things being tied up in Trespasser or DAI. The worst of the plot points abandoned relate to the companions in the game and the lack of closure/answers about them.
General Questions:
Kirkwalls, apparently, endless line of 'provisional' viscounts and constant political instability since Varric ran off to go after Solas.
According to DA: Absolution the Red Templars are still in Kirkwall...yet the show is set after Trespasser - when Varric is viscount? When he mentions that they threw a parade when getting Meredith out of the Gallows?
Aveline, Varric, Merrill and whoever remains of the Kirkwall crew apparently just allowing red templars take over the Gallows?
What happened to Petrice if she lived?
What happened to Feynriel if he went to Tevinter?
If Hawke lives following DAI - where are they?
I have a whole list of lore that's also been brushed over: the Sundermount, Corypheous, the Band of Three etc... I decided to put them in Part 2 since I feel they fit in more with 'lore obliterated' rather than 'abandoned plot points'.
2. Companions
Merrill's Eluvian:
Merrill spent years fixing an eluvian with a piece of string, a potato, and some gum - managing to actually do it.
And it meant nothing.
Eluvians are now a fast travel hub - all mysticism and awe at this marvel of magic are completely gone. Whatever sacrifices Merrill went through to save her sliver of elven history is meaningless.
Imagine if Merrill's eluvian aided in the fight against Solas - if having it intact gave you an advantage against him. Imagine Merrill weeping as Bellara fixes every other single eluvian in ten seconds with her magical omnitool.
Fenris and Slavery in Tevinter:
DATV utterly trivializing slavery in Tevinter is abominable.
Disregarding everything Fenris went through, everything he ever fought for, and making it something barely touched upon in DATV is insanity.
You wouldn't know there was slavery in Tevinter if the Shadow Dragons didn't drop a line or two about it.
Fenris' entire story of going to help free the slaves is diminished because no one wanted to show the ugly, dark side of Tevinter in DATV.
DATV has retroactively made this choice for him to be so unfulfilling.
Where is Anders?
What happened with Sebastian's crusade against Anders? Was he ever captured? Was he executed? Are you telling me that no templars ever pursued this man fanatically after what happened in Kirkwall?
Does his fate vary if Hawke was friends/romanced him?
Varric appointing a new Viscountâs Keep healer called âBandersâ who just happens to sleep in the same room as Hawke and their children call him âdaddyâ lmao
Does his fate vary according to who is Divine? Vivienne hunts him down, Cassandra puts him on trial, while Leliana pardons him?
How does he react to Leliana abolishing the Circles? How much does he weep when the rebellion fails and the mages are destroyed? This man instigated the starting event for DAI and drove most of DA2's major plot and he's just...gone.
The Hawke Siblings:
From DAI we know that Warden Bethany/Carver are safe, but what happened to them if they're in the Circle?
Give us Knight-Commander Carver and First Enchanter Bethany Hawke, you cowards! Have them dismantle the Gallows and be the shining examples of human decency we know they are.
What happens to them after DAI and the Mage/Templar War is concluded? In a world that can embrace or reject them - how do they find their place?
Varric
Trespasser gave him a satisfying conclusion - he's viscount, he's in his shit hole of a city, he's surrounded by the people that he loves and cares about. He has the chance to truly build up Kirkwall after all the shit its gone through.
It just feels so bitter, so meaningless, that they gave him the end that they did in DATV. Varric should never have been the one to go after Solas - the only reason it was him was because he's a popular character in the franchise and was used to draw interest.
Why not Cole?! Who was literally mentioned in Trespasser as being on hand to help his friends - who has the ability to get through to Solas in a way no one else could?
No proper send off - no acknowledgement from those who loved him as to his fate...Varric was reduced to a marketing gimmick to draw people in who wanted to see if he died or not.
Isabela
Isabela's story was brought to a close in DAI - she became an admiral, got a fancy hat, helped the Inquisition, and kept in contact with those she loved/Hawke if defended from the arishok.
Imagine bringing her back in a terrible outfit, having the most sex/gender positive character misgender another person, and making her part of the group that steals cultural artifacts from others.
The tomb of Koslun and Aveline would like a word with you?!
The entire Lords of Fortune group is also extremely bland? No commentary on the ethics/effects of colonialism/cultural appropriation - because confrontational topics/ideas are not allowed in this game. Just like topics of slavery/indoctrination.
Her entire character just seems to have regressed from DA2. Why bother having her cameo in the game if she's not going to meaningfully contribute/comment on whats happening?
Edit - Thanks to bunnyiscthulhu for reminding me that Isabela's mother sold her into marriage...yet she does nothing when Taash's mother is outright forcing them into a life they don't want. Isabela, who believed that everybody should be free - that no one should be forced into a life they don't want, just...lets it happen to another person?
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Dragon Age: Inquisition
What's going to happen to the Red Lyrium that's popped up across all of Thedas?
Ferelden, Orlais, Kirkwall - all areas are reported to have red lyrium on the surface.
What happens to the Red Lyrium in Suledin?
DAI speaks about how they can never stop the spread of red lyrium, only slow it â animals, insects, organisms - whatever life is in the ground is all susceptible to becoming blighted by red lyrium.
Suledin Keep in particular was utterly devastated by the Red Templars - what happens to life there?
2. What happened to Corypheous' Inner Circle?
What happened to Samson? How long did he live *if* heâs given the chance to help Cullen? Can something good come from his cooperation?
What happened to Calpernia?
Looking at previous concept art for DATV she was a companion - freeing slaves, gossiping about Samson & Corypheous. Just...what a waste. Any potential insight we could have gotten into Corypheous is gone.
3. The Mage / Templar War:
How does the world vary if you conscripted vs allied with either?
How do the remnants of what faction was not chosen fit into this new world?
How does the world deal with abominations and weird magic shit now? Is an alternative to the Order made if it's wiped out in DAI?
How is Cullen's templar clinic doing? If the templars still exist, how is Divine Victoria changing/adapting the Order to better support mages/templars?
4. Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts:
How do Orlesian politics reflect who was made ruler?
Is Gaspard looking to expand into Ferelden once more? Are the elves being brutalized under his rule like they were by his chevaliers? Does he do away with the grand game like he threatened in DAI?
How does this differ if Briala has collared him? How do his supporters feel that Briala has his balls in a vice?
Do Celene and Briala stay together? Do things improve for the elves and for the culture of Orlais at large?
Do improvements for the elves mean that Solas' arguments to his elven agents are less persuasive?
If Florianne is alive what the hell is going to happen to her? How quickly does she fall on her blade after being forced to wear flat shoes for the rest of her life?
How quickly does shit fall apart if you get all three to cooperate lmao
Friendly reminder that DATV sets up that all of Orlais, except for the Winter Palace has been overrun by the Blight - and that a coup from the Venatori is inevitable, likely resulting in any ruler dying.
5. What is the line of succession in Orlais?!
Why does every noble family in Thedas have no contingency plans for if their head of government dies?!
Part of why we needed to resolve the leadership problem in DAI was because there was no clear, direct heir if Celene died!
Celene has no heir
Gaspard has no heir
Florianne planned to frame Gaspard, murdering Celene herself, leaving no clear heir to the throne - Orlais was already in a civil war, the council of heralds/nobles would have all campaigned in their own interests...that was why this was so important!
Orlais shortsightedness and pride in their nation being the greatest in Thedas led to them almost falling in a single night!
6. Here Lies the Abyss:
What are the ramifications of having the Warden's exiled verses remaining in the south?
Trespasser literally states that there's a schism in the Order because some Warden's believe they should touch grass more often and not listen to some bloke up in Weisshaupt for what they do down in the south.
Perfect opportunity to have the wardens remaining in the south mean something! Greater numbers in the south means that there's a greater chance of holding against the blight - while greater numbers in the north can effect if Antiva/Tevinter end up blighted in the first attack!
How does public perception towards the Wardens/King of Ferelden change when they learn they were exiled for committing human sacrifice to demons?!
Give us a warden coup and First Warden Alistair / Blackwall, you cowards!
7. The Well of Sorrows:
What was the point of drinking Mythal's bathwater?!
It's been set up as something that changes you. Bound to Mythal forever?!
Retroactively, Solas feels like he's going mental about nothing! One of the few times he ever breaks - he begs you not to - and...for what? Nothing.
DATV does not acknowledge that in the slightest. Such a waste and disappointment of what was made out to be an impactful decision in DAI.
Imagine if the Inquisitor drinking from the well made us forced to fight against them during the fight with Solas - imagine if Solas, in a world state who hated the Inquisitor, used them as a puppet! Just like the envy demon in DAI - and no one notices until its too late.
Imagine Mythal herself, wanting Solas to go through with his plan - (or one of the other evanuris) using an Inquisitor/Lavellan he loved as a puppet - imagine the horror he feels as another one of his friends is reduced to nothing more than a mindless slave of the evanuris once more.
Imagine the devastation as he watches Lavellan lose all sense of self - perhaps swaying him to, maybe, not go through with his plan?! Imagine having Cole come back to help save the Inquisitor - or Solas begging Rook to save them.
8. DLC Implications:
What happens if Hakkon is not slain? What happens to Southern Ferelden and the Avaar?
How does the rest of Thedas react to the truth of what happened at Red Crossing and the Dales? How do they react to learning that Inquisitor Ameridan - First Inquisitor and leader of the Seekers - was a dalish, elven mage?
What happens if you do not save the mines in the Descent DLC? How badly is Orzammars economy crippled? There are already rumours of riots occurring within Orzammar - it this enough to push the caste system over the edge?
9. Elven Uprising and the War with the Qun:
The elven uprising that was implied to be occuring all over Thedas as a result of years of oppression, systematic abuse, and Solasâ influence? What happened to it?
Where are the agents of fen'harel?!
It was set up that Solas was planning to use this rebellion as a smokescreen for his plans - the elves, all rebelling for good reason, rallying to his cause while Solas planned to restore the world that once was. The rest of Thedas would only see an elven uprising, not knowing the true face behind it until it was too late!
The war between Tevinter and the Qun?!
Everyone conveniently forgetting that the Qun literally attempted to assassinate every noble family in Thedas? Why was there no exalted march because of this? This should have destroyed any accord between the chantry and the qun.
There would absolutely be blood for this â Tevinter could have attacked the Qun and all of Southern Thedas would have applauded - no one would have differentiated between extremist qunari and the normal qun, especially not after Kirkwall.
The implication at the end of Trespasser that we could convince Solas to abandon his plans? Him saying that he welcomed giving us the chance?!
The difference that the Inquisitors friendship, love, or hatred could have in either convincing Solas to take another path or damning him to go ahaead with his plan, no matter the cost?
Have our decisions in previous games matter! How we treated the elves - if we worked to better their lives or 'put them in their place' - can be used to convince him that the world can change! Have the ripple effects of these decisions be seen when the elven gods return, blighted - does the world turn against the elves, hardening Solas, or does the world defend the elves from those who would blame them?
Why was Sandal in the Crossroads?! Where is Bodahn?!
10. Divine Victoria!
How does the world of Thedas change with Leliana, Cassandra, or Vivienne at the head of the chantry?
How does Tevinter react to having a mage divine?!
Do relations change between both nations because of this?
Leliana allowing elves, dwarves, and even qunari to join the Chantry! Leliana also allowing members of the chantry to get married if she's romanced by the warden.
What happened to the Seekers? Are they being rebuilt?
Does the chantry inform the masses, the rest of the mages, that they can CURE tranquility?!
If either Leliana or Cassandra was romanced - what are the implications that may have on the chantry?
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No wonder the writers insisted that none of the past choices would have an impact on Veilguard - they literally went scorched earth on everything we ever did.
Ferelden is blighted - any legacy of the warden is gone.
Kirkwall is destroyed - any impact Hawke had is gone.
The hard won peace/order of the Inquisition was rendered meaningless since every single place that you went to and helped is now destroyed by the blight.
Orlais' ruler will likely be assassinated by the venatori who are plotting a coup with the nobles - making whomever you chose obsolete.
AND IT WAS ALL THE WORK OF THE MAGICAL ILLUMINATI FROM ACROSS THE SEA???
this is why i sort of avoid bsky bc like. what do you mean. is it that imperative to pick on people's exact tone and wording to... imply they're stupid and don't know what fanfiction is, bc they're being mildly negative about something? lmao?
actually i'll be even more of a bitch and turn the reblogs on:
explain Quickly, why anyone concerned about racism must be both a Mansplainerâ˘ď¸ and a Fake Fanâ˘ď¸ who doesn't understand the amazing (very racist) lore :)
I know they were planning it since forever and it was already heavily implied in DAI but I dislike the whole reveal about the blight and how elves came to exist.
So you're telling me there's this whole specie of people who... Technically "shouldn't" exist? Whose literal existence is the reason why the Blight exist? That's the whole thing?
Alright, elves came from spirit, I don't mind, cool I guess. But them making bodies for themselves and hurting the Titans in the process is what started the war between them, ultimately escalating into the Titans being made tranquil by Solas and Mythal, resulting in their dreams becoming the Blight.
Not to mention all the implication in the Chant of Light.
It's just so fucked up to me, and like, not in a good way/interesting way, more like in a "why would they write it that way".
i hope you don't mind me adding onto this, bc i was thinking about this a bit and wrote a very long ted talk :')
so, the elves are first introduced in dao as a very clear jewish/roma/indigenous sort of allegory, in how they're legally considered lesser, blamed for any societal problems, forced off their ancestral lands and into desperate poverty and segregation, and are hunted by the Fantasy Church for practicing their culture. this was clear both just from playing the game, and the writers' own out of universe statements about their historical inspirations. the dragon age elves are relatable to tons of people, bc as ham-fisted as it's sometimes written, i think anyone of a minority ethnicity/religion, or a history of colonization, will find it resonant to their own experience and feel a sense of sympathy with them.
then, they bring in the ancient elf empire stuff - which kind of starts to break this allegory, because now it's like... ok, this very oppressed group USED to be super powerful, decadent, really cruel, and ~as bad~ as the worst empire currently around. and actually, they were SO powerful and full of hubris, that they caused their own problems and oppression! which is kind of a difficult message to put across, bc it's unpleasantly similar to irl arguments for colonization and slavery - basically saying "oh well, their culture was really fucked up to begin with, so it wasn't even the colonizers' fault for the terrible state they're in now (after the colonizers invaded and plundered them)"
i personally think the ancient elf stuff can work ok, with a sort of caveat - there is also the sort of irl toxic historical nostalgia where people try to argue that past cultures were super peaceful and perfect and enlightened. when really, it was never perfect, and trying to idealize any historical period will only backfire. so that can kind of work as an analogy for the ancient elf stuff. but it REQUIRES there to be development for the modern elves, and for them to have differing opinions on their own past - some can be full blown elf nationalists who are pining for the Old Days without understanding them very well, others are more ambivalent, others are fully rejecting it, others are into the art and culture but not the militarism, etc. this is my personal opinion, probably others would find the entire ancient elf concept more or less irritating based on their own cultural viewpoint.
but THEN, they don't do that at all. they actually sideline the modern elves entirely, so they have very little opinion or reaction to their past, and no distinct modern culture either. and it goes even further with the Ancient Sins. not only were the elves super powerful, they also caused every problem in thedas. and they were literally born from forcibly stealing blood out of other creatures. which to me is honestly like... an insane sort of conspiracy theory style racism, where a marginalized group is framed as evil and unnatural just for existing? except they made that Literally True within the setting. so the conclusion is... elves aren't just a group of people who look slightly different and have a unique culture/religion that is frowned upon. they ARE unnatural and caused problems just by existing, so it would have been better for them to not have existed in thedas? the elven gods ARE all evil and it's better if the elves become andrastians or atheists instead? tevinter empire ideological win? đ
and then there's really silly stuff like bellara apologizing to harding for her ancestors attacking the titans... when bellara has no rights anywhere in thedas. she is a dalish apostate, in a world where apostates get killed or imprisoned, nobility hunt dalish elves for sport, and there's an entire city elf origin showing how poorly elven women specifically are treated. and harding is... a surface dwarf who was just chilling and living on a farm before dai, haha. in what way is bellara or any other elf benefiting from the titans being harmed? no one explains this, and no one actually makes an attempt to fix the titans either, so it kind of comes off as... empty guilt tripping with no actual goal of reparations.
which is exactly how many white people act irl when doing a sort of hollow signaling of acting guilty to Be A Good Person, but not wanting to actually change their behaviour to help anybody. so it's very goofy that they haphazardly put that plot line onto bellara, the asian looking elf who logically has zero social standing anywhere in thedas. and then harding herself doesn't do anything much for the titans either? what exactly is the end goal of this apology? makes no sense. doesn't compel me.
this is a very strange understanding of colonialism, which seems like it's not based on "this person is benefiting from oppression or stolen resources" but "my 5000 year old ancestor may have killed your 5000 year old ancestor :( i'm so sorry :(" haha. which is not the point of why people care about inequality - if you go far back enough in history, probably everyone's ancestor has killed someone else's. who cares. the problem is when that violence or theft has measurably benefited one group over another, to the point where even their descendants now are still privileged from their ancestors' crimes.
which the elves are not! they're in shambles! objectively speaking, they have no resources, no unified leadership, no place of safety at all, their culture nearly got eradicated multiple times. but the writers somehow want to position them as both victims of oppression who are facing hardship all over thedas... as well as having Evil Deitiesâ˘ď¸, whom they have to disavow to be Good Peopleâ˘ď¸. and also their current oppression was kind of their fault for toppling their own society to begin with. and their ancestors only existed by stealing blood, and invented the blight, which threatens everyone. and the modern elves get nearly zero content beyond that. so... what is the conclusion there besides either incoherence, or an uncharitable "this culture was actually bad from the very start, and has contributed nothing to thedas except blight and evils?"
meanwhile no one mentions the chantry or tevinter's various atrocities much, so it comes off even worse. no one worry about the crimes of the fantasy roman empire or fantasy catholic church! make sure to emphasize the crimes of the very small marginalized culture, with the outlawed religion, instead đ
yeah i agree! i was honestly hoping vg would add some ~grey morality~ in there, for once, bc otherwise it was SO awkward to just... pin literally every crime in thedas onto the elves? like framing them as first the most oppressed group, and then responsible for Original Sin Itself, just by existing, is kind of sad, and has terrible implications.
it was already set up that the dwarves themselves erased the titans from their own histories. and how their "hivemind" actually worked is unclear - if they all liked it, surely they'd have tried to remember it? and there were hints that the idea of "exiling" people from the stone was very old, and the casteless in dragon age are a remnant of a really ancient idea, which must have actually HAD a physical effect beyond social ostracization when they were still a hivemind - similar to how the vallaslin are just cultural to the dalish, but had an actual magic effect on the ancient elves.
so i figured they'd go with like... there was a pro-titan and anti-titan civil war situation already happening with the dwarves, and so the elves, naturally, sided with the anti-titan faction. they could've EASILY even spun it to other elves as a moral argument of "ohh, the titans are oppressing these poor little flesh people :( we can help them if we take bodies :) and also then they give us lyrium afterwards :) :)" which is still a very standard colonial method! and makes sense as a "this was a slippery slope, and they became powerhungry and violent over time", but adds more nuance, and gives the dwarves something to do in the narrative.
like what actually happened to the dwarves after the elves won against the titans? were they trading with the elves? were they pissed off and fighting them as retaliation? did they mean to hurt the titans that badly, or did they not realize it would have a permanent effect? was it the war, or the veil, that had the major effect on the titans? there had to be tons of time in between the titans getting killed/tranquilized and the veil going up, so... they had to have some kind of interaction between the elves and dwarves? why does june have such a geometric and dwarven vibe to his mosaics? was there disagreement on whether to remove the titans from the memories or not? why did they decide to do that? etc.
but instead they just kind of made it very one-note, removed the interesting mysteries from the dwarven side of the history, and made the implication like "yeah, we DID actually make this very oppressed jewish/indigenous/roma inspired group. and they are responsible for inventing the Monstrous Plagues Upon The Land, and they literally stole blood from others and their existence is unnatural, and their gods are evil <3" which i did not care for đ
I'm gonna make it worse. I'm struggling to believe the writers could have been this offensive accidentally. They made the Blood Libel a fact in universe. They made the religion of the Native RomaJews explicitly a deception when the Christianity stand in has escaped that treatment. In doing so, they evoked the conspiracy theory of the Cabal- a sinister order of Jewish wizards who secretly control the world.
And you know the wells? It was said that Jewish and Roma people poisoned wells during the Black Death, and that's what caused it. Roma are still blamed for spreading disease in this day and age- it impacted how communities were dealt with during Covid-19 lockdowns. So while most people probably don't know this one, it's not some misty remnant of the past. Making the people with a close bond with their noteworthy animals which pull their extremely obvious caravans; who are portrayed early as having bared midriffs and also have spiritual markings (not common these days but not from nowhere) be responsible for a plague by simply EXISTING?!
CHOICES WERE MADE.
(There are blood stealing lizard people?! THERE ARE BLOOD STEALING LIZARD PEOPLE. That is... CHOICES. Just. Siiiiigh.)
After Trespasser, I didn't have much hope that they'd turn this bus around. But somehow it's worse than I thought it would be.
You know what, I got something else to say. In DAO and DA2, "mages are too powerful to be allowed to just exist" was framed as in universe propaganda "justifying" their enslavement. By DAI, this wasn't framed the same way. It's very easy to buy into the sentiment as factual.
And in Veilguard they are doubling down on the sentiment that it is possible to DESERVE oppression.
It's not. Not ever.
And also, belief that people have powers beyond "normal" people is a thing in real life as well. Gypsy curses. Superpredators. "Women-and-or-Black-people don't feel pain". These are real beliefs people profess which are still used as justification for real world oppression. Hell, I'm having a dawning realization about the arguments against trans people in sports. It's the same old story.
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this whole idea in both the fandom and the games themselves that being a people attached to their past & a lost civilization is a failing whereas a celebration of the present is something to strive for wrt elven & dwarven culture is something that reads as fundamentally western & liberal to me.
I do think one of the things that made me saddest about Veilguard was the sheer lack of continuity. And I'm not even talking about worldstates.
Where are the Varterral? Why is Arlathan forest guarded by magical robots instead?
Where are the merchant princes of Antiva? You know, the people who really run Antiva? Not the king, not the Crows?
Why does the Lighthouse exist? Wasn't it implied in the last game that Skyhold was Solasâs fortress? The place where the sky is held back?
Why was Emmrich never a member of a Circle? Why have we forgotten that Nevarra had Circles (although presumably those who managed to become Mortalitasi had much greater freedom than mages elsewhere, they would presumably also all be Harrowed mages from the Circles in Nevarra originally)? Why have we forgotten that Cumberland was home to the College of Enchanters?
Where is the Felicisima Armada? That Isabela was part of? Why does the timeline of Taash's storyline and their mother's work with the Lords clash completely with the Kirkwall timeline?
What do you mean, the Titans are done? Then what was going on with the Titan in the Descent? The one that woke up and started moving around and got soothed by reconnecting itself with Valta? It seems like that Titan was very much alive and well, where are the others? Given that lyrium is alive and the Titan's blood, I can only assume that anyplace where you have actively growing lyrium, you have a living Titan? Why can't the dwarves reconnect with them?
A lot of these are little things...but they all add up. This, combined with the fact that quite a lot of the characters don't seem particularly integrated into the world of Thedas either...
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