#alhorn

dual inquisitors, both with intertwined backstories from pre-inquisition

alhorn, a guard-turned-wanderer after he is injured in a magical battle

diri, the first to the keeper of clan lavellan and the inquisitor.

they start off at odds, blind to the connection between them, but as the story progresses they realise. it was diri who injured alhorn all those years ago.

the realisation brings them closer, and brings alhorn into an advisor’s role with the aid of sera.

diri grows very close with solas, and alhorn with dorian.

in the final battle with corypheus, diri perishes. alhorn, with the magical link between them, is able to close the breach with his fledgling mark.

the two years between inquisition and trespasser is hard; alhorn becomes the inquisitor, and thedas questions his capabilities.

come the exalted council, solas hangs over them all, and delivers the bombshell at their final moments together: diri is still alive, but trapped in the fade. he releases her, a representation of what tearing down the veil will do.

alhorn, stricken with rage and exhaustion, lets him go. inquisitors alhorn and diri lavellan vow to stop him.

there is art to go for both of them! the talented @adaar-i did a tarot of diri’s passing, done in the style of ophelia. you can view it here. there is also the lovely bust of alhorn, viewable here, done by @daikimine !

thank you to the lovely @dokimakura for tagging me! this is eons late, i know, im just combing through all those ask memes from months ago when i took a break. please enjoy, this is about my alhorn lavellan, part of dual inquisitors au. you can read his full story here.

the surname “alhorn” typically is derived to mean “layer” in terms of brick or concrete. while this can’t be translated to the dragon age universe, it represents alhorn’s status in da:i as a foundation, like brick or concrete would play in the construction of a building -- in this instance, we refer to the construction of both the inquisition and the inquisitor, dir’khlain lavellan.

alhorn renounces his “lavellan” title for a time, when he leaves the clan in 9:27 dragon. a brain injury changes his demeanour, meaning he can no longer serve in the capacity of a keeper’s guard nor in the clan. judged by the keeper, he becomes a danger. being that they trade with humans, his unpredictable and sometimes highly aloof nature made him dangerous when interacting with the shem, for his clan and for himself. the keeper plans to cast him to an alienage, but the night prior to his departure, he disappears -- in doing so, just becomes the wanderer, alhorn.

even though it was dir’khlain who injured him (and the keeper) with a spell gone wrong, it was not her who was cast out. alhorn resents this for a time, even more so when he discovers she became the keeper’s first. he’s faced with this resentment tenfold when he comes face to face with dir’khlain again, now diri, in 9:41 dragon when she is accused of murdering the divine.

having a brain injury can be complicated, and while alhorn received treatment from clan lavellan for the accident, he never is fully healed. he experiences vacant episodes (petit mal), sometimes minor grand mal seizures, slurred speech, aphasia and often loses his train of thought. these symptoms come and go in severity, but noticeably enter a pattern when he becomes apart of the inquisition. they trace this to diri, in fact, with a particularly severe episode revealing he is magically linked to her.

diri receives the mark in the first confrontation with corypheus, but she dies in the final battle to the villain’s blade. the magical link severs between them as she passes into the fade -- a mage, after all -- but also awakens the mark’s magic within alhorn. he is not a mage, but he received an inkling of the mark’s power, enough for him to seal the rift and corypheus in it, to conclude the final battle. following her death, the mark grows on alhorn’s hands, and he takes up the mantle of inquisitor.

Trouble’s brother, alhorn

!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK <3 you send me asks a lot leia ur very kind and im definitely so so thankful

alhorn/dorian: prompt #1 “i’ll never forget you”

this is 110% an au but it revolves around there being two inquisitors. diri lavellan with the strongest anchor who takes up the inquisitor premise, and alhorn lavellan with only a shred of her power. he serves as an advisor.

---

The Breach growls, a deep sort of predatory hunger that rattles even the stale air of the battlefield. It consumes still, stealing piece after piece from the earth and from Alhorn’s worn heart strings. Dorian is clutching his arm, not-quite-pleading, but it makes everything ache unbearably all the same.

“I have to do this,” he murmurs again, chest heavy. “There’s no other way.”

Dorian just looks him up and down, eyes shining, with the unnatural green hue of the Breach dancing on his gaze. “You’ll die,” he says.

The Anchor is only a tingle on his palm, a reflection of energy but it stirs all the same at the portal which grows above their heads. It’s no matter Corypheus that is defeated, it seems the true evil was in plain sight all along. Which Diri paid the price for, her prone form taken by the Breach, weakened by the battle and the churning of the unnatural magic blending with her own. An explosion, a cry, a flurry of blonde hair, and -

“I know.” He pulls Dorian in, setting their foreheads together with all the willpower he can muster: I love you. “but it means you’ll be safe. The rest of the Inquisition. Thedas.” He chuckles, he has to, else the dread sets in the more the Breach consumes the ground. “For the greater good, right?”

“For the greater good,” echoes Dorian. Then, louder, “For the greater good,” he spits, pulling away to exclaim up at the sky. The green casts their shadows long on the disintegrating ground. “is bullshit! What about the greater us, the greater me! I had everything - I had - the Inquisition. Friends. Real, actual friends.” There are his eyes again, meeting Alhorn’s again, brown this time with his back turned to the Breach. “You.”

Of course: the fleeting glances, playful flirting, accidental touches. The chess games which dragged on too long, until the sun was setting and how wonderful he looked, bathed in yellow and orange. The battles, a sword and a staff, back to back. Ever trusting. Made for each other, Diri would tease and he’d shove her playfully until they were both giggling about new love.

Lost love.

“And for that I’m sorry.” Alhorn lets his feet carry him closer to Dorian and the Breach, where cracks form on the ground. He can feel the Breach pulling at him, beckoning his arm into the sky, to end this once and for all. “I am.”

Dorian swears, something Tevinter, then embraces him. It’s rough, desperate, emotional, needing. It threatens to pull his heart from his chest. “I know you are, you stupid, stupid idiot.” 

And then the ground shudders, the Breach growls low: it is time. Time for this to end, finally, and time to avenge. Dorian lets him go, sensing it too. It’s only desperation reflected in his eyes when their gazes meet for the last time.

“I shall never forget you,” he declares, and it may be the magic of the Breach, but it’s magically charged; a promise thrown onto his skin, mapped out between his veins and seared onto his art. It hurts.

It hurts worse when he goes, disappearing over the edge of the cliff, to safety and to freedom. Where hopefully the rest of the Inquisition will be, will continue to be, saved by their Inquisitor and her most trusted advisor.

Damn it all, how the tables turn. Looking up at the Breach, seeing Diri’s face as the green took her, the agonised screams of his comrades - his friends. It all hurts. Everything hurts.

Yet, it’s agonising when his arm lurches painfully towards the Breach. It’s all he can do to give in. Magic has never touched him before, not before Dorian, but it flows naturally from his fingers now. It’s an enchanting mix of green and black which challenges the Breach’s hunger, a pain he cannot describe that pulls the life from his heart and the colour from his soul. 

alhorn lavellan // aesthetic

he’s literally a heart of gold, the aesthetic is yellow, im weak for yellow and for kind inquisitors. i also like to twist canon: he was ousted from clan lavellan a few months prior to the conclave, became a wanderer, a thirst for knowledge and adventure, not the novelties of dalish life.

being imprisoned in an alienage didn’t work either, to be confined to the walls he’d learn by feel alone within a week. he needed to be exploring his own whims, not the keeper’s, or the first’s. his own destiny.

becoming inquisitor is his chance to shape others’ destines, too. and he loves it, the great responsibility, dishing out orders and not receiving them. dorian loves that about him, he loves that dorian loves him. they fool around. at skyhold, in tevinter. alhorn shares his adventures with him, dorian shares in return.

…