#darethshirl

ITS OK THANK U FOR PLAYING

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22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I said politics before, so I will point to another related thing I love that I think gets neglected and that's the lives of ordinary people. I wrote about this a bit in my post on why The Hinterlands are Good Actually and a big reason I think they're good is the insights they offer into the lives of commoners and how those lives have been disrupted.

This is of course directly related to politics. 😉 I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if you want to understand politics, fantasy or real world, one thing that's crucial to understand is the most people are primarily concerned with the material wellbeing of themselves and their immediate loved ones. If you understand this, you will understand why common people are doing what they are doing and what actions will sway public opinion. Pointing out that people are upset about having their houses burned down and their crops destroyed is not vilifying the mages for rebelling against very legitimate injustices. But it needs to be acknowledged that the Fereldan farmer is probably most concerned about her crops at this particular moment, and if you, the protagonist, would like to sway her opinion about the mage rebellion, you might want to do something to help her family survive the winter first. Welcome to politics. What the nobility are doing matters, but what the common people are dealing with also very much matters.

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Basically every "this companion character doesn't grow or change!" complaint coming from someone who did not exhaust their dialogue tree and never took them anywhere. Yeah, you are gonna get a pretty shallow view of a character if you don't interact with them, boss, Idk what to tell you. I'm sorry if people are mad that character development happens in party banter but that has been a Feature of this series since the first and it's probably not going anywhere.

Moreover, 99% of the time when I hear this complaint, the character actually does grow and does change, they just a) don't do it in the specific way someone wanted, and b) the player character didn't get the opportunity to personally browbeat them into changing and then be praised for how right and correct they were the whole time.

[necro elysium (yuck!!): the director's cut] okay, i am so, so thrilled you asked about the sword fight. in my initial post, i talk a bit about why joy and rigour become very present here. but justice, also, partially because we want the cristabel skills to start jumping out because mercymorn is actively drawing on cristabel's skills (swordfighting), but i also do really love the connection you've drawn between justice & drama (a skill augustine probably has in spades). when concocting mercy's skillset for the purposes of this story, i did think a little abt direct analogues to harry. i think it's really intriguing and relevant to think about what it means if mercy (or cristabel)'s drama or sense of gravitas comes from a place of "justice"! one of the reasons i gravitated towards that word was not just because of the rigidity or principles (however fussy) that seemed present in both characters, but a sense of righteous and self-justification.

ALSO KITTIES!!! I'M JEALOUS!! 🥰

I received so much WEALTH this year during this @arlathanxchange! I waited for reveals so I could properly tag the creators and I'm so glad I did. Here they are in reverse-chronological order, because that's how I'm scrolling through my gifts tab:

Faerie-Stories Not for the Faint of Heart, by @hezjena is a beautiful, sumptuous examination of Flemeth of Highever tucked away in her tower, locked up by a jealous husband, who finds freedom not in the sword locked up with her like some useless treasure, but in a spirit who needs her help. Together, Flemeth and Mythal escape. The description of Flemeth's growing malaise and Mythal's threatening nature will haunt me from here on out.

Comrades in Arms, Brothers in Broken Chains, by @dreadfutures is a gorgeous piece about Felassan standing up to Geldauran during the early days of Fen'Harel's rebellion. Felassan makes a case for those who choose to keep their vallaslin, and in so doing exposes himself as the Hope of Fen'Harel. Felassan's dialogue is just perfect, and Solas at the very end tugged on my heart-strings so hard. "Are you here, my Hope?" will live on in my mind forever.

No Punches Left to Roll With, by @dreadfutures is a delicious, beautiful examination of Lace Harding falling for Charter as they fulfil Inquisition business. Harding's inner voice is perfect, Charter is stunning (pls kiss me omg Charter I love you), and their building friendship in this pre-relationship piece is just so tense and fun. I loved the insight into the inner workings of the Inquisition (and of Virelan!!! a sneak peek at my girl!) and how these two may have worked together.

oh the river, it's running free (oh the joy it brings to me), by @darethshirl is a (romantic? platonic? you decide) examination of Andraste and Shartan's relationship. I'm stunned by the beautiful inner voice Andraste has, and Shartan's comfort with her paired with his awe and admiration for her as they spend a moment together in meditation, suspended in time. This fic made me wish that nothing bad ever happened to either of them, and that their beautiful partnership, whether friendship or romance, could have continued in happiness forever.

mala suledin nadas, by @melisusthewee (you tricksy beastie) explores what happens when a certain Quinn Trevelyan, whom I love dearly, gets riddled with red lyrium projectiles and needs to be saved from Blighted dreams by the Dread Wolf. Quinn is clever and quick but not quite quick enough, Blackwall is a pure, dear delight, Sera is a griping mess of concern hidden behind blustering anger, and Solas is quiet, Solas is determined, Solas is loving and I will never, ever recover from just how tender and committed he can be, even in all his stern disapproval.

I think you're referring to the Tevinter Nights post, yeah?

Pardon me if I'm mistaken! But my understanding is that spirit!Cole did not possess human!Cole. He hasn't possessed anyone--he took corporeal form on his own after he crossed the Veil.

He has this banter about it with Dorian:

Dorian: You're not possessing a human body, Cole? You... actually look like that? Cole: Yes. Dorian: But a spirit's true form is always monstrous, or at least unnatural. Cole: The world doesn't make sense to them. It's too real. That's why they look wrong. Dorian: And... this is how you want to look? Cole: I want to help. Looking doesn't matter.

And there's also this piece of banter with Solas after "All New, Faded for Her":

Cole: Is there a way to save more spirits, Solas? Solas: Not until the Veil is healed. The rifts draw spirits through, and the shock makes demons of them. Cole: Pushing through makes you be yourself. You can hold onto the you. Cole: Being pulled through means you don't have enough you. You become what batters you, bruises your being. Solas: Yes, exactly. Deliberately crossing the Veil requires that a spirit form will, personality. Solas: That concept of self gives a spirit the chance to maintain its nature.

This does seem to me to imply that Cole "pushed through," i.e. came across intentionally--because of human!Cole's suffering, for sure, but still of his own volition.

As he says in Asunder, "I came through to help… and I couldn't. So I became him." But not by possessing him, because human!Cole is definitely dead--"They forgot about him. He starved to death"--and while a spirit can keep a mortal from dying, it doesn't seem like they can stop the decay of a body once the person has actually died.

His becoming "stuck" seems to be a result of him becoming more human as a result of embodying Cole, because if he becomes more spirit in Inquisition, he is able to return to the Fade.

What are 2-5 already published fiction books you think you want to read in 2023? I've answered this here, but I thought I would list a couple more books I'm keen on hopefully reading! 1. **Red Rising** by Pierce Brown because @venatohru keeps recommending it to me 👀 (if it is not already apparent, I am very susceptible to recs! 2. **The Priory of the Orange Tree** by Samantha Shannon because I got it as a gift in the Yuletide Book Swap a couple of years ago and it looks like it'd be right up my alley but I haven't gotten around to it yet due to my reading brain being offline these last couple of years!

5. What 2023 new releases are you most looking forward to? Is this the part where I confess I have absolutely no idea what is coming out this year (not even just in books, just in general, I am not a very future-oriented person 😭) So, I'm gonna turn this around back to the class and ask if you all have any recommendations for me! 4. Do you plan to read any genres you haven't read much before?