#harrowmont

Mahariel and Surana: Okay, follow me on this one. Surana looks at Mahariel with some unbelievable fear ad trepidation because Circle education of Dalish is probably "CRAZY BARBARIANS RULED BY EVIL MAGES" but slowly the little mage warms up to the strange, taciturn elf who they've fallen in with. Mahariel, who initially looks at Surana like one might look at a strange beetle, slowly grows to accept that this elf is not going to infect them with Andraste worship, and they slowly begins to bond.

Surana hears that if they'd been born to the Dalish they would have been adored, loved, even respected, with no Templars breathing down their neck and they cry. Mahariel is no story-teller, but he's more than eager to tell the little mage all he remembers of his people, and watch their eyes shine with fascination and genuine care for his people's stories. Not the cold entitlement tot heir knowledge of the human scholar, but something born of love.

Mahariel calls them "lethalin/lethallan" quietly after a battle, and Surana never comments on it, but it makes them feel warm inside. Surana flashes with indignant anger when someone calls Mahariel a barbarian and Mahariel bristles with cold fury when someone treats Surana as a monster for their magic.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, they're still two very different people with very different beliefs, but they see each other. They know each other. And more than any of that, they trust each other. And that's more than either could have expected when they left their homes for the big, wide world around them.

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Tabris and Cousland: Oh God. The hostility. The fear. The DISTRUST between these two, specifically from Tabris, as the City Elf watches this human noble like a hawk for the merest flash of similarity between them and the monster who hurt their loved ones. Tabris' hate sliding off Cousland who is more or less in complete shock from having their entire life be ripped to bloody shreds around them.

Things don't boil over until the story of the Cousland massacre comes out, and Tabris remarks that the Cousland servants ought to have taken the opportunity for their pound of flesh, and Cousland explodes in fury, yelling that the servants were slaughtered too, that their father treated those who worked for him like family, that they have no right to speak ill of their dead loved ones.

Things are cool and distant after that, Tabris angry to cover their shame and Cousland much the same. A quiet olive branch is offered. Maybe it's some share of food by campfire light, or the patching of wounds after battle, but it's... something. Something that lets air into the room. something that lets them actually TALK.

They'll never admit to being friends. They're not even sure if they are or not. But Cousland swears to do all they can to improve the lot of the elves under their family's rule when this is over. Tabris... trusts them. Maybe even likes them. It's a quiet thing, but one built of solid foundation.

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Brosca and Aeducan: Just like Tabris and Mahariel but thousands of times worse. The sheer levels of generational hostility there, could it ever be overcome? Literal royalty and the lowest of the low. Brosca taking every opportunity to mock Aeducan, to remind them that they're the same station now you royal cunt, and Aeducan torn between indignation that this casteless DARES to insult them and the cold certainty that they DESERVE this that Trian's death is THEIR fault and maybe they should have let the Darkspawn kill them.

Maybe Brosca gets bored, or maybe one of them saves the other in combat, and they start to cool down. They're not at each other's throats anymore, at least. Cordial, eating meals together. It's not friendship, not really, but it's something to stand on. they are the same rank now, after all. Maybe they should start acting like it, eh?

Orzammar brings it all back in the worst possible way. "He's a liar and a kinslayer!" "He's the father of my sister's child!" There might actually be blood until Oghren arrives and tells them a Paragon would be more useful than a King. And in the Deep Roads, knee deep in the dead and the Broodmother's blood they cry and hold each other because it's us. It's always been us..

Harrowmont seems kinder/more honorable/is less likely to have everyone killed in a despotic plot. But not only do the epilogue slides indicate he ends up being ineffective to the point of damaging Orzammar, he's also entrenched in the Dwarven cast system. He has zero compunctions about spending the lives of the lower castes/doesn't see them or as anyone from the surface as fully being people. Depending on what resources you leave him, he either further empowers the nobility at the cost of everyone else and starts a war with Fereldan, or he is so politically weak he only manages to further isolate Orzammar before dying and leaving another succession crisis. He refuses to help Fereldan in any meaningful way in either case.

Bhelen is a fucking asshole, a kin-slayer, a tyrant, a scheming despot eroding anyone's ability to check his personal power. He takes out the entire nobility's power so he is the absolute authority. He will feed whoever he wants to the Anvil if it's left intact, with no pretensions of trials or criminality. But he actually does actually reduce restrictions on the non-noble castes, even letting the casteless arm themselves. Orzammar holds out better in matters other than internal politics if he's made king, reclaiming more of the deep roads and proving ready allies to Fereldan. Yet you never know how far he will go.

So which flavor of asshole are you picking?

Either human ruler in Orlais is an asshole who will shed non-human blood to preserve their own political power. At most you have the narrow divide of 'this one is a glory hound imperial expansionist who will probably drag Orlais and Fereldan back to war' versus 'this one made a play for Fereldan by offering marriage to their cheater dead king but will probably not start a war'.

Briala is an interesting complication, but if you pick the former she loses a lot of her power to check Gaspard when the Inquisition ends or is absorbed into the Orlesian Chantry; in the latter, her complicated feelings for a lover (who slaughter her family and people for politics) are going to limit her effectiveness as a check on said lover's power.

So which asshole are you choosing?

The Landsmeet seems like the least complicated of the choices. The fandom is still pretty damn divided.

On the one hand, you have the lovable companion character who has absolutely zero training in statecraft and previously was so adverse to leadership he dumped all of it on the newly inducted trainee he had known for a few days. Who seems to have a kind heart but absolutely no sense of direction.

On the other you have a woman who has been more or less raised to the throne, including explicit training in statecraft, does have the practical political and governing experience, but comes off as cold/calculating/personally ambitious. Who still deeply loves and defends her war criminal father, tries to protect the legacy he destroyed himself by mass murder/assassination/ selling elves into slavery.

As for the future of those two rulers... I know a lot of people headcanon that because Maric was able to get Fiona pregnant, Alistair also has magical Theirin blood and will have children with their Warden. I personally don't see any reason Anora and Cailan's conception issues couldn't have been Cailan's issue or why she wouldn't eventually go for a political remarriage; I have her in a political alliance with the older Cousland brother with two daughters.

But as canon actually stands neither can or will have children, due to Warden's blighted blood, biology, or inclination. As someone said recently in a post I saw but didn't save, either way Fereldan is looking at another succession crisis within the century.

Knowing that, who do you choose?

While gnawing at the bars of my enclosure waiting for Dragon Age Veilguard, I've cooked up backstories for two Rooks. Each has a compelling hook into at least one previous game while being their own person. And I am equally interested in playing both, but only one can be my first.

I've posted about Rook #1 several times, but recently cooked up a 2nd Rook. Longer summaries:

City elf Grey Warden. She grew up in the Denerim Alienage (and may or may not be the little girl that Tabris tells the story of a heroic elf to before the wedding). Developed a massive case of hero worship for the Hero of Ferelden. Eventually makes it to the Grey Wardens and survives her joining. The reality is a little different than her idealization, and the Anti-Tabris faction in the Wardens aren't fans of hers. I like the idea of having to step out of her hero's shadow a LOT. It also helps offer a bit of closure/postscript to the Hero of Ferelden's story.