I intended to conquer, to tear down, this language

Because the legendary Warden Ane'lun Mahariel also fell in love with an Antivan Crow assassin (Zevran). Ane'lun spared the life of an assassin sent to kill him, gave Zevran a chance, and grew to completely trust Zevran. They end up beautiful and very deadly husbands, and Ane'lun dedicates his life to making sure the Crows never get their hands on Zevran again.

A huge point in the fight in the WIP not in the snippet I shared related to shit about choice, which is a huge point of contention between Davrin and Patlani. Davrin asks Patlani they sleep at night and if the innocent blood on their hands bothers them:

“Should it? If it did it wouldn’t matter,” Patlani said, finally setting down the wooden figurine, their eyes turned back to Davrin, “Not everyone was gifted a noble purpose on a silver platter,” “A silver platter?” Davrin couldn’t hold back the anger in his voice, “Being a Warden isn’t something you just waltz into, it’s a serious commitment, a lifelong commitment to fighting the darkness in the world. Wardens have sacrificed their lives defending the world from the Blight, I chose to risk my life for this purpose,” “Must be nice, having a choice,” Patlani scoffed. “Every time you kill someone, you choose to do it,”

And yet! Ane'lun, a Grey Warden who Davrin looks up to, did not choose to be a Grey Warden, really. When Ane'lun was infected with the Blight by that eluvian and Tamlen died, Ane'lun wanted to just let himself succumb to the sickness rather than trust Duncan and join what he viewed as some crazy shem cult. Duncan invoked the Right of Conscription, and Ane'lun was incredibly reluctant to go with him and dragged his feet about it. If Duncan hadn't used the Right of Conscription and Ane'lun hadn't been actively dying, he would have never willingly chose a life being a Grey Warden. Which obviously is not part of the legends Davrin heard, and it's just a fun extra detail.

Also, going back to the fact that Davrin is Not Happy when he realizes Patlani's skill is due to them being an Antivan Crow. Part of the reason Ane'lun was so deadly with a bow comes from things Zevran taught him. Mechanically during the DA:O, Ane'lun learns the assassin specialization from Zevran and it contributed to the insane amount of damage he was able to do. Davrin was absolutely correct in drawing a parallel between Ane'lun's legendary skill and Patlani's skills, but he doesn't know that.

(Plus there are some similarities between Zevran and Patlani. Bought as a child, trained to be a killer, takes on a mission at one point hoping it kills them.)

It's so fun. Davrin and Patlani grow past the initial hatred and end up an amazing battle couple that deeply love and trust each other. Davrin thinks of Ane'lun when he first sees Patlani with their bow. Completely unaware of the love story behind Elane'lunalen's legend, unaware that he's about to end up loving a Crow, the same way Ane'lun did.

Truly I remember when first playing with Patlani in Veilguard and romancing Davrin I'm like. Damn, playing a Crow and romancing a Warden. Call that a reverse Hero of Ferelden.

Anyways thank u for coming to my TED Talk. If you want to know more about all the crazy shit I had written for Patlani (and Zea) in Veilguard, be warned there's a lot of it.