Careening off into the fandom distance...

Zevran: The Warden has been taken out, yes.

Loghain: You have my grat-

Zevran: It was a great restaurant.

Zevran: We had a romantic candlelit dinner.

However the drunk guys are also drinking, and eventually she can't afford to buy another pitcher for the table so she can't keep up the ever-full beer glass trick. At this point she has to resort to setting up the pool trick shot that she's never seen anyone but her boyfriend pull off, and says she'll leave with whoever manages the shot first.

If you can, please donate to the gofundme she and her husband have set up for a life saving surgery for their rescue greyhound, Xena. If you are unable to donate, please share.

Gen and her family are in need of help, as the link will explain in more detail. I know they will be grateful for anything that others can provide, even word of mouth, sharing the link on other platforms and so on.

You see me as I am, and do not find me wanting. 🔮✨

You don't want to make art.

"You are beautiful when you do beautiful things."

"The present tense of regret is indecision."

"We understand so much, but the sky behind those lights-- mostly void, partially stars-- that sky reminds us we don't understand even more."

"Be proud of your place in the Cosmos. It is small and yet it is."

"Believe in yourself. You are an ancient, absent god, discussed only rarely by literary scholars. So if you don't believe, no one will."

"Death is only the end if you assume the story is about you."

“Whisper a dangerous secret to someone you care about. Now they have the power to destroy you, but they won’t. That’s what love is.”

"Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not. We never are. But that’s not the right question. The question is are we living a life that is worth the harm?"

"When we talk about teenagers, we adults often talk with an air of scorn, of expectation for disappointment. And this can make people who are presently teenagers feel very defensive. But what everyone should understand is that none of us are talking to the teenagers that exist now, but talking back to the teenager we ourselves once were – all stupid mistakes and lack of fear, and bodies that hadn’t yet begun to slump into a lasting nothing. Any teenager who exists now is incidental to the potent mix of nostalgia and shame with which we speak to our younger selves."

"We are not history yet. We are happening now. How miraculous is that?"

"Wednesday has been cancelled due to a scheduling error."

"We have nothing to fear except ourselves. We are unholy, awful people."

"A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A basilisk."

"There's nothing under your bed. There's nothing in your closet. Nothing waits in every darkness. Nothing is the most terrifying thing of all."

"The night sky is ten miles wide, eight miles deep, and floats three miles up. Its favourite food is grape jelly. It wants to be a drummer."

"Look to the sky. You will not find answers there, but you will certainly see what everyone is screaming about."

"Ignorance might not actually be bliss, but it is certainly less work."

"And now, a special report. Crocodiles: Can they eat your children? *YES.*"

"Lie down and look up at the ceiling and breathe with those curiously fragile lungs of yours and remind yourself: Don’t worry. Don’t worry. All is as it was meant to be. It was meant to be lonely and terrifying and unfair and fleeting. Don’t worry."

"As long as I’m reminding myself things, I’m a good person, worthy of love – both from myself and others."

"Guns don't kill people! It's impossible to be killed by a gun. We are all invincible to bullets and it's a miracle!"

"Everything is exciting! Particularly existence. Existence is the most thrilling fact of all."

"There is a monster under your bed. A monster at your window. A monster any place you imagine one. You project your monsters on the world."

"You miss 100% of the bank robberies you don't commit."

"I like my coffee like I like my nights. Dark, endless, and impossible to sleep through. "

"A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome to Night Vale."

"And now, the weather."

I discovered this podcast at the beginning of high school, and let me tell you, it rewired my synapses.

Not only was it my first experience with positive LGBT representation, it was the show I clung to when everything else went to shit. Whatever was going on in my life, I knew I had this show in my corner, making me laugh, making me cry, making me feel okay about my place in the universe.

Right at the start of the movie, the ocean presents Moana with a pretty shell. The tide even pushes the shell closer to her, to let her know she can have it.

Then, after she notices the baby turtle being attacked by birds, the ocean starts slowly pulling the shell away.

This is a test. One that the ocean's probably repeated for a lot of children. There is a pretty treasure in front of Moana but there is also a baby turtle in danger. If Moana saves the turtle, she'll lose the treasure. The ocean is asking her to make a sacrifice of something alluring, something she wants, to help someone she doesn't know.

It needs to know that she'll have the strength of character to resist the allure of Te Fiti's Heart.

That she won't just be the latest in a long line of thieves coveting the Heart for themselves, but will instead put people over treasure. Even the ultimate treasure.

This is also a test of her empathy towards a creature that she doesn't know and that doesn't look like her. A living thing she cannot possibly relate to or understand but can see is in distress.

Because that empathy is what will be required to see beyond the fire and rage of Te Ka to the wounded and victimized person underneath.

Finally, the ocean tests her courage and her willingness to embrace it. This is pretty straightforward. Her journey will require her to venture out beyond the known limits of her society and trust herself to the waves, and so the ocean tests her to see if she is willing to trust and work with it.

This, right here, is basically the "Close your eyes and fall backwards, and I'll catch you," exercise. Moana chases the shells out across the seabed and trusts the ocean not to betray her. And even when the ocean itself rises up to approach her....

She greets it with curiosity and acceptance.

And so earns the Heart of Te Fiti and her role as the chosen one. In a rarity for Chosen One narratives, the choosing process is depicted right there onscreen. Moana is selected because she demonstrates all the characteristics that the ocean needs for a person to fill this role.

It isn't about whether or not Moana is the One. It's about whether or not Moana can be.

There's just one major obstacle.

The chief obstacle of Moana's journey isn't the monsters or the perils or learning how to surf. The chief obstacle that Moana faces is the condescension and disrespect of her "betters".

Her dad tries to tell her what to do and how to think, and every time she tries to tell him about what she's discovered and what has to be done, he shouts her down. Maui stubbornly belittles and disregards her. Even Tamatoa dumps her in this bone cage so he can ignore her and focus on what really matters: Maui.

Moana's struggle is one of having her voice heard over the booming men around her. The only people she really has in her corner are the ocean, her grandmother....

...and, when it really counts, her mother.

Women helping women, seeing and hearing them even when the men around them shout over them. Measures of kindness and understanding that Moana in turn will pay forward to the "monster" Te Ka.

What's also interesting about Moana's journey is that it would be easy for her to sustain a Flat Character Arc. In the Flat Character Arc, the protagonist is static and unchanging; They change and develop other characters through coming into contact with them.

Consider Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

But despite that initial trial demonstrating Moana to have all the needed characteristics of the person who could complete this journey, there is one thing the ocean couldn't test for: the psychological effects of being constantly told that you're wrong.

Moana spends her whole life being constantly told that the things she wants are wrong. Her ideas are bad. She should just do things the way they're done. She should have these values and carry herself this way.

Consequently, Moana has some insecurities about her own voice.

The start of her journey almost doesn't happen because after a lifetime of being browbeaten for her ideas, Moana gives up and, for a time, allows herself to be moved.

It is, ironically, Chief Tui who gives her the kick in the ass she needs to break away from his way of thinking again.

With the encroaching corruption, the fishermen aren't able to catch any fish and Moana suggests fishing beyond the reef. This is a salient argument within the boundaries of the box Tui has defined for her. She is actually trying to fill the role that was defined for her and it still isn't good enough.

Because of his trauma, Tui is so scared of Moana's way of thinking that he becomes verbally and physically violent with her, and so inadvertently chases her straight back to the water. Because even when she's doing what she's supposed to do, her voice is not valued.

But even so, all of this has an effect on a person. Moana has a chip on her shoulder, an insecurity she tries not to show.

Her first instinct when she fails is to give up. To accept that her ideas are wrong, that she's wrong, rather than that the task is simply hard. Because that's what a lifetime of being told you're wrong does to a person.

This is Moana's personal flaw, the lie that she doesn't necessarily believe but fears to be true: That, deep down, she is wrong, and everyone who ever silenced her was right.

She's only able to speak authoritatively about her ideas when she has the backing of her grandmother and the ocean behind her.

She's bold, she's empathetic, she's all the things she was supposed to be. But when push comes to shove, she just doesn't have the confidence to see it through.

And when push comes to shove....

Maui blames Moana for this moment. Moana does too.

But this is Maui's fault. Moana had an idea. A good idea, one that ultimately ends up vindicated when it works the next time they try to pass through here.

But instead of listening to her, instead of hearing her out, Maui fights her. He turns his back to Te Ka so he can shout Moana down, so he can tell her she's wrong, and even tries to wrestle control of the boat away from her.

He isn't doing his job, isn't keeping his eyes on his opponent, isn't fighting Te Ka, because he's too busy fighting Moana instead.

And, in the aftermath, Maui steamrolls right over Moana with his own insecurities. Maui rips the Lie that he fears straight out of his own heart and uses it as a cudgel to bash Moana right in her own Lie.

Like Chief Tui, Maui is hurting and afraid, and he lashes out at Moana who has no recourse but to take it. That puts her right back where she was on Motunui with Chief Tui, except this time the setback has already been had.

This was never meant to be a test. It wasn't part of the selection process. But this ends up being Moana's final test. When Moana gives back the Heart of Te Fiti to the ocean, it lets her. It doesn't try to give it back to her like those times it kept putting her on the boat.

If Moana is ready to give up, then the ocean will let her give up. Again, it's not about whether she is the One. It's about whether she can be. And if she can't find the confidence to keep going, then she can't be the One.

When Moana asks it, the ocean takes back the Heart.

But it doesn't take it far.

Nor does the ocean give the Heart back when Moana self-actualizes. It makes her earn it back by braving its depths. That, right here in this moment, ends up being Moana's impromptu final test.

If she is to be the person the ocean needs, she has to believe in herself enough to reach for it.

She needs the strength to listen to herself and to believe that her ideas are right. And, with both her education of her people's history and the endless support of her grandmother by her side, Moana is able to cross that final hurdle.

Even though she passed all those tests in her childhood, it's only in this moment that she becomes the person the ocean needs her to be. The person that Te Fiti needs her to be.

davrin reaches for you, he and assan bring things down from great heights. he grounds you, opening the way, taking down obstacles in both your paths. his inner harmony is what guides the way in helping those he loves most

lace moves aside the obstacles, breaks down walls, lifts you up, tackles the immoveable and is your sure, steady rock. it doesn't come naturally to her, at first - until it does

taash ignites something in you. they'll blast through anything to find you, create a flame that burns bright, their light illuminates the way. this is what they were made for

lucanis needs help, at first. he doesn't know how to approach this, how to help you. but spite does - he builds bridges. he pulls from the fade and fills the gaps, and together they give you something solid to help you cross the chasm

emmrich soothes. he placates and soothes and talks with tenderness and kindness, he uses his words and his vast breadth of knowledge to display his love for you

neve untangles the delicate threads that hold you bound. she makes you feel solid when needed, she makes you melt otherwise. if there's an answer out there, she'll find it

This has been a long time in the works and I'm so glad to finally have this posted. Some talented people on discord and Bluesky have been doing some HARD work and decoding the languages in both Veilguard and the series in general. While I've working on cleaning up the scripts where I could, a lot of credit for this work belongs to:

Blishtar on Bluesky

Kiranox on Bluesky

Ginkys on Bluesky

@calwyne

@vabonesyart

Ghil Dirthalen on Bluesky

Pundromeda on Bluesky

Jay on Bluesky

Bomble

Languages they've managed to decode + fonts! If you want to check out the entire thread posted by Ghil Dirthalen (Caitie) here is the Bluesky link!

Here is the link to the script pdf that they have shared!

Some of these alphabets are incomplete! But they may be updated in the future. To which I will make sure to do so then! There will be additional posts sharing all of the things that have been translated.

With all that said! Here are the alphabets!

Ancient Elven/Elven

A note about this that Caitie mentions, while the alphabet works for datv and there is some cross correlation with dai elven script, it seems that dai has some extra rules. It is unclear if the dai script is still canon. Eitherway Caitie and the others have made a font! Link below.

Elven Font datv + dai | Bluesky Thread Link

Complete Elven Alphabet from datv, with notes on the difference from dai elven script, where it used a character to indicate when a letter was doubled underneath. datv elven does not share this trait.

Ancient Tevene/Tevene

The script for ancient tevene and modern tevene are the same as far as we can tell. I am uncertain if like elven and dwarven if its changed from dai.

Tevene script, left is the collection from in-game images, right I cleaned up to make it a little easier to read.