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Here’s my chapter by chapter analysis of The Masked Empire. Technically spoilers but also not at all.

Ch 1: I’d be floored by the gift of Moira’s sword to Teagan if it wasn’t, you know, completely in character for Gaspard to be a right bastard. I did enjoy the insight into the daily lives of people in the palace however. It gives Orlais more life.

Ch 2: Some tableaus of our protagonists: Celene’s morning tea with Briala, Gaspard planning treason, Michel walking into a setup

Ch 3: SWEET HOME ALA-FUCKING-BAMA??

Ch 4: Now add a heaping shitload of fantasy racism.

Ch 5: So you’re just gonna bring up a character you mentioned in one scene fifty pages ago and expect me to remember what happened? Especially one that is going to be as important as this? I suppose the original intent was to suggest that the strife of the elves was occurring as the same time as lavish events in Val Royeaux, but I’m not sure I would’ve chosen to do it that way.

Ch 6: I… hoo boy. theres nothing funny to say here.

Ch 7: So all of Celene’s tact comes from Briala. Expected. The big question is how the hell she didn’t see that coming? I found the interaction between Briala and Gaspard to be very well written though. So much characterization packed in there.

Ch 8: *DAO random encounter sword sound*

Ch 9: For a book that very clearly shows that Celene doesn’t care about the elves without Briala’s influence, it sure goes out of its way to make it look like she believes she does

Ch 10: Two and a Half Elves – Felassan doesn’t even need magic to absolutely char Michel with that burn ft. Queen Gaslight lives up to her name

Ch 11: Mom, Bioware is once again doing the thing they do with the Dalish where they imply Dalish suspicion is arrogance rather than survival mechanism and blame the violence that befalls them on their hostility even though they have every reason to be wary.

Ch 12: AHEM… Choice.. spirit. And whatever the fuck Felassan is

Ch 13: Sylvans are a Pain in the Ass Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Ch 14: Well one thing’s for sure: He’s Michel de Chevin

Ch 15: Gaspard is awful, but he’s right about one thing and one thing only. Celene lives in a false reality where she can burn down a city and still have the trust of the Elves. Just because Briala has affection for her, does not mean that any other Elf can be swayed like that.

Ch 16: That Gaspard will go more out of his way than Celene to protect Briala is… oof.

Ch 17: UGH the FOreshadowing! The conclusion?! tHE threads all coming together?!!

Epilogue: solas you bitch

tl;dr: This book covers the beginning of the War of the Lions that the Inquisitor ends in Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. Through Briala’s influence, Celene begins to take actions that benefit some elves which doesn’t endear her to the nobility. Gaspard uses this to his advantage to imply that she is treating the elves too kindly, and Celene burns down a slum in Halamshiral to prove him wrong. Expecting this move, Gaspard takes his first military move against Celene, destroying the army she led to burn down the city and causing her to flee. The remainder of the book is about Gaspard chasing her down through the Dales and later the Eluvian network in his bid for the crown. There’s much lore on Orlesian nobility/politics and the Dalish present throughout the novel.

Thoughts: I’ve actually been really looking forward to reading this one, and I must say that it’s my favorite of the novels so far. I didn’t particularly enjoy the style of writing in the first two books personally, and I felt the change worked really well with the plot and subject matter (They’re by two different authors, so I’d expect this). I enjoyed the prose much more, and it was a very nice look into the lives of Orlesians that the games haven’t been able to explore in depth.

That being said, the way time flowed and perspective changed was a bit hard to follow. I found myself having to refer back to scenes because they jumped around so much. There were a lot of characters to keep track of, and even though they all came together in the end, the beginning was confusing.

Moving to the characters however, Celene doesn’t even thinks what she does is wrong, and for all her talk of ‘this was the only way,’ it was also the most obvious one. It caused all of the proceeding events and for what? To prove a point? That she doesn’t actually care about the elves? Infuriating. I actually found the relationship between Briala and Gaspard to be the most compelling in the whole book personally. He sees her as less than him for being elven, but also sees her as a clever and dangerous player of the game. It’s in stark contrast to how Celene believes she supports the elves at large while also thinking that Briala can’t figure out how Celene screws her over. I wish that had carried over into the game.

I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of all my thoughts on this one because I have so much to say, but this shall suffice for now.

ellemany

Multiple ways of express love (Based on Valorant's Agents Countries)

It is Valentines Day After All!

Hey hey hey! Here I came with one of that big posts for celebrating the day of love. Actually... For some people are the day of love. In Brazil, we celebrate the Valentines Day in June 12. Someone change the date for moving economy in the month. In other countries, the date changes too for several reasons. I find this so interest! I love to see different cultures meeting.

Fortunately, my favorite game of the time have this aspect. Different people from divers countries together! Oh, so many possibilities!

So, for celebrating all ways of love, i compiled some forms of saying "I love you" in Valorant's Agents native languages.

Chibi Agents for your soul

I made an effort to go beyond the google translator. So i research for videos and sites where i could learn something more. I tried to add some compliments, trivia and, of course, my own comments.

Knowing that, i'm just showing some perspective that i found on internet. If i said anything that doesn't match with reality, feel free to correct me ok? I will add the links where i get most of things :D

Also, i really suggest you to check out the sites and videos. I didn't add everything that is there and somethings are really interesting.

Ok ok, let's talk about love baby!