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dalishious · 1 year

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Catching up with Thedas

We’re getting another time-skip between Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC and Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Here’s a summary of things that have happened in the supplementary material leading up to this. Obviously, major spoiler warning for everything discussed here.

If this summary intrigues you, I would definitely suggest checking out the full stories for yourself. They’re all great—especially the comics. The characters in the comics are so good and that’s not something you get to appreciate just in summaries.

Major takeaways:

The Venatori are still active, especially in Tevinter, where a woman named Aelia (who is now imprisoned by the templars) took over after Corypheus was defeated and attempted to raise a powerful demon buried under Minrathous. The demon is still resting there, and the remains of the Venatori are still about. Although, the Antivan Crows have been hired to assassinate Venatori agents, and are picking them off one by one

The Qunari are invading the north again, and the following cities have been taken over: Ventus (Tevinter), Carastes (Tevinter), Neromenian (Tevinter), and Treviso (Antiva). They plan to move further into Rivain. However, the Antaam are on thin ice with the rest of the Qun, having acted against orders in the city of Ventus – suggesting there may be fracturing of leadership. This is further implied through the Ben-Hassrath declaring neutrality on the war with Tevinter. At the same time, the Qunari are also searching elven ruins trying to gather information about the Dread Wolf

There is a group of elves known as the Agents of Fen’Harel infiltrated all over Thedas and stirring up shit, including fanning the flames of war between Tevinter and the Qunari

The red lyrium idol has been everywhere, man… It was taken out of Meredith’s statue by the Carta, somehow wound up Tevinter, possessed by House Qintara, where it was traded it for information to House Danarius, where it was then stolen by Cedric Marquette, who gave it to Tractus Danarius, who brought it to Nevarra hoping Mortalitasi would help unlock it, where it was then taken back to Tevinter, only to somehow end up in Solas’s hands

Speaking of red lyrium, guess who is also still active? The red templars. And they are serving none other than an awakened but still crystalized Meredith Stannard in Kirkwall, who is known as “The Crimson Knight” by her followers

All Grey Wardens have been summoned to Weisshaupt for reasons unknown

The Grey Wardens have uncovered the remains of a dwarven thaig called Hormok, where beneath it they found elven ruins with signs it was a place of worship for Ghilan’nain. In these elven ruins, they find a magic pool that turns creatures into spliced-up monsters with parts of different beings melded together. While the wardens destroy this place, there are still eleven others out there somewhere

The Arlathan Forest has come alive with magic, changing place and time within it

Solas is in possession of an elven artifact called “the crucious stone”, with unknown powers

Dragon Age: Knight Errant (9:44)

Vaea is an elven squire to wandering knight Ser Aaron Hawthorne. She is recruited by Charter to rescue Tessa Forsythia and Marius (from the Magekiller comics) from where they were caught on their mission. They were sent by the Inquisition to infiltrate Starkhaven’s palace and steal a book with research on red lyrium in Sebastian Vael’s possession. Vaea successfully rescues them and then steals the book herself, but not without a fight with Cedric Marquette, an Orlesian scholar who is also after the book on behalf of the lingering Venatori. It’s found out from the book that the Venatori may already be in possession of red lyrium, and Vaea offers to go to Tevinter to investigate. Aaron agrees to join her, aware and supportive of her work for the Inquisition.

Dragon Age: Deception (9:44)

Olivia Pryde is a con artist working in Ventus, Tevinter. The city is under high tension because of an imminent Qunari invasion. She pretends to be a Magister investigating Calix Qintara, the son of a reclusive fellow Magister, until it’s discovered that Calix is also a con artist. They try to outdo one another in a con contest against sister and brother, Francesca and Florian Invidus, but both are revealed as liars. In their fleeing, they run into Ser Aaron Hawthorne, who coaxes them into helping with his and Vaea’s mission. Vaea’s goal is to steal the red lyrium that was taken from Kirkwall supposedly held in the Qintara estate. Also ending up as part of their plan is a deal with two Antivan Crows, (later revealed in Tevinter Nights to be Teia Cantori and Viago De Riva). While the Crows create a distraction—though one that ends up with the death of Florian—Olivia and Calix con their way into getting floor plans of the Qintara estate, which Vaea uses to successfully break in. Unfortunately for everyone, Francesca pushes her way through and demands to speak to Magister Qintara to reveal Calix has been posing as his son, only to find out that Magister Qintara has been dead for years, and his former elven slave Gaius has been posing as him in order to collect valuable information to pass on to the Agents of Fen’Harel. Vaea discovers that the vault that was supposed to contain the red lyrium is empty, having already been sold to House Danarius. At the exact same time, the Qunari attack the city of Ventus, throwing their mission into a very time sensitive window to escape. Olivia sacrifices herself in order for Vaea, Aaron, Calix, and Francesca to flee the city.

Dragon Age: Blue Wraith (9:45)

Outside Carastes, which has been overrun by Qunari, Cedric Marquette flees from a chasing squad of them with a strange sarcophagus-like device in his possession that he is taking to Magister Nenealeus, who trains slaves into perrepatae; mage-killers. (He was the Magister who trained Marius.) Also chasing after Cedric is Vaea and her crew, hoping he will lead them to Castellum Tenebris, home of House Danarius, where they want to recover the red lyrium. Francesca leaves the group, and Vaea decides to chase after her to convince her to stay with them. Francesca is told by a family friend that her father was taken by the mysterious Blue Wraith (AKA Fenris). She decides to pursue Fenris and rescue her father in an attempt to prove her worth to him, with Vaea tagging along. They find Fenris, but it turns out he did not in fact take Francesca’s father, but rather her father is working with Magister Nenealeus. Inside the Nenealeus’s estate, they discover it has been overrun by Qunari, and overhear an enslaved elf tell the Qunari that the Magisters plan on using an elven sarcophagus artifact to infuse an elven perrepatae with lyrium. Fenris flips out and attacks, recognizing that they have restored the means of which he was experimented on. Meanwhile, Aaron and co. track Cedric down to his meeting with Nenealeus, and the Magister, realizing they are being watched, uses the sarcophagus on a human slave. The slave goes crazy and attacks Aaron’s party, before exploding. With Aaron’s party as well as the Qunari in pursuit of Nenealeus, Cedric, and Francesca’s father, they launch several more human explosives to escape, but Francesca “rescues” her father. He is furious at her for this, and attacks, forcing Francesca to kill him. Calix realizes he’s not cut out for such death and destruction, and departs from the group. Fenris joins them, and together Vaea, Aaron, Francesca, Tessa, Marius, and Fenris head for Castellum Tenebris.

Dragon Age: Dark Fortress (9:45)

Tractus Danarius, bastard son of Magister Danarius, welcomes Nenealeus and Cedric to Castellum Tenebris, which sits on the outskirts of Neromenian. Nenealeus reveals his plan to infuse the elven perrepatae, Shirallas, with red lyrium, believing he will be so powerful as to drive out the Qunari and then expand Tevinter’s control of Thedas back to the glory days of the empire. Vaea and Fenris capture and interrogate Tractus while the others act as lookout, and gather the information needed. Fenris wants to kill Tractus, but Vaea convinces him not to, as they need to get out of Neromenian ASAP since the Qunari picked the perfect time to invade. The Qunari find Tractus still tied up and he tells them about the ritual as well, so they prepare to go to Castellum Tenebris too. Vaea manages to sneak into the castle and then lets in the others through a secret passage. At the end of the tunnel they find a chained up high dragon. Vaea and Fenris attempt to flee the dragon while Aaron, Francesca, Tessa and Marius fight off the Venatori, while the Qunari attempt to break in through the front gate. While all this is going on, Nenealeus completes the ritual on Shirallas, infusing him with red lyrium. Fenris makes a deal with the Qunari to join forces against the Venatori. Marius and Vaea are able to take out Nenealeus, and Fenris and Aaron are able to defeat Shirallas, with the help of Cedric who switches sides at the last minute and reveals his weakness. This comes at the cost of Aaron’s life, though. Tractus gets away, and forces Cedric to hand over the red lyrium idol he stole. Solas watches this from an eluvian.

Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights (post-9:44, exact times unknown)

[RELATED POST – Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights Review]

(For more information on Tevinter Nights, I recommend checking out my review linked above.)

Three Trees to Midnight

After the Qunari took over the city of Ventus, they sent the healthy men into work camps on the outskirts of the Arlathan Forest, put to work cutting down trees. Myrion is one such worker, but is secretly a mage. He is chained up to an elf named Strife and immediately calls him a “filthy knife-ear” three times in the same paragraph, insulted to be paired with him. (He continues to do so the entire story, by the way.) They get in trouble for fighting. Strife is revealed to be an undercover Dalish, (though originally from Starkhaven). He was sent to rescue another Dalish elf named Thantiel who uncovered the Qunari invasion plans, though Thantiel was poisoned with an overdose of qamek, irreversibly turning him into a mindless labourer as well. Strife uncovers the plans and he and Myrion escape into the Arlathan Forest, after Myrion uses his magic to help them get away. In the forest they meet up with Irelin, a shapeshifting member of Strife’s clan, who takes off to spread word to other Dalish Clans of the Qunari plans to move into Rivain. The Qunari are also tracking the two escapees, and when the lead Qunari catches up to them, they take him out with the power of teamwork. When the rest of the Qunari catch up, the Huntsmaster reveals himself to actually be Saarbrak of the Ben-Hassrath, sent to investigate the Antaam working against the Qun’s orders in Ventus. Saarbrak kills the lead Qunari and lets the escaped prisoners go. They free themselves from the chains tying them together, and Strife leaves with Irelin, who came back for him.

Down Among the Dead Men

Audric Felhausen, a new member of the Funeral Guard, is recruited by the Mortalitasi’s Mourn Watch, (an elite fraternity among the Mortalitasi that act as guardians of the Grand Necropolis,) to track down and find the pre-maturely possessed corpse of nobleman Penrick Karn in the Grand Necropolis. Karn is after Duke Janus Van Markham, who also died in the mutually-fatal duel Karn perished from. Audric and Mourn Watcher Myrna head into the tombs after Karn. In their exploration, Audric comes to realize that the human Audric was killed at Karn’s funeral, and is actually a spirit possessing Audric’s body. Myrna hoped that taking Audric with her would help settle him into peace. In the end, Audric challenges Karn to a duel, but when Karn breaks the rules of the duel, Myrna rids the body of the spirit of Pride within it. Back in the Mourn Watch headquarters, Audric is offered a position in their library.

The Horror of Hormak

I actually already wrote out a long summary of this story here: [LINK]

Callback

(I’ll be honest: I only skimmed this one. It’s boring as fuck and I told myself I’d never read it again the first time I slogged through it, but here we are… So if I missed something actually important, my apologies. But I doubt it.)

Sutherland and Company, as well as a bunch of other NPCs from Skyhold, return to the Skyhold fortress to investigate why the remaining caretakers have gone silent. They end up fighting a demon of Regret, formed out of the plaster of Solas’s murals. They send the spirit back to the Fade, and leave Skyhold abandoned.

Luck in the Gardens

This story is told in the form of “Hollix” (an alias), the Lord of Fortune protagonist who is a master of disguise, recounting it at a tavern in Dairsmuid. Hollix tells a story about how they were hired by Dorian Pavus and Maevaris Tilani to hunt down a monster that was terrorizing Minrathous, called the Cekorax. The monster was first encountered by the Venatori, who were searching for an old cave under the city. It steals the heads of its victims and makes them part of it. They are able to destroy the Cekorax with the help of Dorian and a little girl named Mizzy.

Hunger

On their way to Weisshaupt, the dwarven woman Evka Ivo from Orzammar and elven man Antoine from Orlais, both Grey Wardens, stop in a small Anderfells village called Eichweill. They come to find out that people are disappearing in the village. The two come to uncover that it is werewolves responsible for the disappearances. The son of a noble named Renke starved in the woods and attracted a hunger demon, turning him into the first werewolf. Evka and Antoine hunt Renke down and fight him, and Antoine ends up getting bitten himself. However, they set a successful trap back at the village and kill Renke, believing Antoine and the others affected are now safe from the curse with its source defeated, and the demon banished.

Murder by Death Mages

Lord Henrik, a Mortalitasi, tips off the Inquisition that there is a plot to assassinate a noble in Nevarra. Sidony (from Dragon Age Inquisition’s multiplayer) is sent by the Inquisition to stop this, as she was raised by Henrik. She goes to meet Antonia, another Mortalitasi mage and friend of Henrik, who invites Sidony to attend a party hosted by a noble named Nicolas Reinhardt, where she will be able to meet with a man named Cyrros. Cyrros is an elf who has everyone in debt to him by knowing the secrets of every noble in the city, and Antonia suggests he will be able to help Sidony discover the assassin. Sidony recruits Cyrros as a partner in her investigation, after he says he believes it’s a Mortalitasi responsible. They find Reinhardt’s dead wife, and Cyrros attacks Sidony. She wakes up and overhears Nicolas Reinhardt reveal that he hired Cyrros to assassinate his political rivals and blame it on the Mortalitasi, but now thinks Cyrros killed his wife, which Cyrros denies. Sidony raises the corpse of Reinhardt’s wife and commands it to attack them both, killing Reinhardt and Cyrros. Sidony believes everything to be over, and goes to Henrik’s funeral, where she meets Antonia again. Antonia spills that she was the one who killed Henrick and Reinhardt’s wife, and traps Sidony in the tomb. Sidony somehow escapes though and goes after Antonia, planning to kill her.

The Streets of Minrathous

Neve Gallus is a private investigator hired by Otho Calla to uncover if Quentin Calla (his nephew) has fallen back in with the remains of the Venatori. Neve follows Quentin and witnesses his fatal stabbing by a figure in a bronze mask. The next day, Neve is told by Knight-Templar Rana Savas that another suspected Venatori was murdered the same night, named Lady Varantus. Neve is invited into the Templar investigation, up until the Varantus family request it closed to avoid bad press. Neve then meets a mysterious man who tells her the murderer, named Aelia, is after a set of clay discs held by Venatori agents, and gives her one of these discs. Aelia ends up attacking Neve for the disc—or rather, the “seal” as she calls it, and leaves Neve for dead. Neve saves herself though, and meets the mysterious man again, who is really a man named Flavian Bataris. Flavian reveals that there is an extremely powerful demon sealed beneath the city of Minrathous, and Corypheus planned on releasing it to destroy the city and build the centre of his new empire over it. The plan fell to the wayside when Corypheus was defeated, up until Aelia took over the remains of the cult, and now plans on summoning the demon herself. Neve informs Knight-Templar Savas of this plan, but storms out in frustration over the Order’s lack of willingness to do anything about it. Neve then heads into the Catacombs where Flavian told her the ritual would be held, and tries to stop it. At first she is unsuccessful on her own, but then three templars, including Savas, show up to back her up. They defeat the Venatori and arrest Aelia.

The Wigmaker Job

In Vyrantium, Ambrose Forfex, a successful wigmaker, is told by Crispin Kavlo and Felicia Erimond that he should cancel his wig show because The Antivan Crows have been assassinating Venatori agents. Ambrose decides to put on the show anyway. Sure enough, Lucanis Dellamorte and his cousin Illario Dellamorte prepare to infiltrate the party. There is a bit of tension between them, because Illario wants to become the next head of the House after their grandmother Caterina steps down, but people talk about how Lucanis should take that position, despite him having no desire to do so. They are interrupted by someone poorly trying to listen in on their conversation, and kill the eavesdropper. In his pocket, they find a letter sighed ‘A’, believing him to be sent by Ambrose. After sneaking into the party in the courtyard, Illario distracts a guard with his charm in order for Lucanis to get the keys to the place. They regroup after Lucanis kills the other guards inside. They find an enslaved elf girl, but Lucanis refuses to kill her, and she is all too happy that they are there to kill Ambrose, so they let her go. In Ambrose’s work room, they uncover the secret to his perfect wigs: He feeds his slaves red lyrium to create red-lyrium infused hair. Lucanis destroys the elven artifact Ambrose keeps in his workshop to prevent the veil from tearing, and while the party is erupted with demons. Illario leads the slaves of the estate that are able to escape to safety and freedom, while Lucanis confronts Ambrose. Ambrose shovels his magic wig hair into his mouth and becomes an abomination, but Lucanis still successfully kills him. The following day, Crispin and Felicia visit Magister Zara Renata and inform her that Ambrose is dead. Crispin says Zara will likely soon be a target herself, to which she responds that she has plans to take down Lucanis.

Genitivi Dies in the End

This story is impossible to make a summary of, because it’s told in the form of Philliam writing down what happened but full of fabrication, making it unclear what is real and what is fake. So nothing really matters. The only known fact is Rasaan, (a Qunari tamassran introduced in the Those Who Speak comics,) is leading a search for elven ruins trying to find information on the Dread Wolf. That’s really all that matters, I promise.

Herold Had the Plan

Dwarf Bharv and elf Elim, two Lords of Fortune, were after an amulet held at the Grand Tourney. Their friend Herold already died, and now they are on the run from Starkhaven guardsmen, along with their hired help, Panzstott. It turns out Panzstott is the real reason they guards are after them, as he stole the precious Celebrant sword, supposed to be given to the winner of the Tourney. He is working for a woman named Lady Lucie, who promises that she will help Panzstott find his sister, who left to become a Grey Warden and has never been heard of since. Lucie believes the Celebrant belongs to her, because her dead husband was the last Champion. A fight between everyone and the guards ensues, where Elim and Bharv are mortally wounded—however, it turns out the amulet has magic healing powers, and saves Bharv’s life. He heads to the pre-arranged meeting spot and gives the amulet to Vaea (from the Knight Errant-onward comics.)

An Old Crow's Old Tricks

After a group of Tevinter soldiers led by Magister Bicklius attack the Dalish clan Oranavra, the remaining clan members reach out to make a contract with the Antivan Crows to kill the soldiers. Lessef, an elderly Crow but still deadly, fulfills the contract, killing the soldiers one by one. In the end, she stands off with Bicklius, and in addition to killing him, steals back a precious halla statue he stole from the clan. Lessef then runs to her getaway boat yelling in Qunlat so that the soldiers she let chase her believe the attack was from the Qunari. Her partner Tainsley sails them away, happy that his uncle’s clan will get their halla statue back.

Eight Little Talons 🖤

All Eight Talons (the leaders of the most powerful Crow branches) are called to a meeting at the Verdant Isle of Lago di Novo by First Talon Caterina Dellamorte, to discuss the impending Qunari invasion of Antiva. Fifth Talon Viago De Riva is the last to arrive, where he meets Seventh Talon Andarateia “Teia” Cantori, (both of whom were first introduced in the Deception comics.) At their first meal together, the group argue while Third Talon Lera Valisti is notably absent. Viago and Teia are sent to investigate where Lera is, and find her dead, with her body displayed mimicking an infamous Crow murder of the past. The finger-pointing starts immediately and Caterina puts Verdant Isle on lockdown, forbidding anyone from leaving. This especially pisses off Sixth Talon Bolivar Nero. The next morning, they find all the servants have been murdered. Eighth Talon Giuli Arainai was also murdered the same night. Both again, in the style of famous Crow events. Caterina orders Viago and Second Talon Dante Balazar confined to their quarters, as they are the number one suspects. Teia ignores the rule about no visitors and breaks into Viago’s room anyway, where the two come up with a plan to coax the truth out of Dante, with a mixture of Teia’s natural silver tongue and a truth poison of Viago’s making. They are able to confirm Dante is not the killer. That evening, Teia and Fourth Talon Emil Kortez find Dante dead, while at the same time, Viago is attacked by a poisonous snake hidden in his clothing. Before he perishes, Teia returns to his room and finds anti-venom among Viago’s many alchemical vials. They figure out the killer is Emil, and upon confronting him, Catrina takes him out with her cane. Before Emil dies, he reveals he was contacted by the Qunari, and made an agreement with them that if he could destroy the Crows, they would invade peacefully and Antivans could keep their way of life, without submitting to the Qun. The remaining Crows then all stab Emil to death. With the killer dealt with, Catrina, Viago and Teia all make a plan, and send written orders to the head of each House, (the heirs, in the case of those now dead.)

Half up Front

Vadis, runaway daughter of a Magister, and Irian Cestes, former elven servant, are thieves for hire working in Minrathous. They are hired by a mysterious elven woman to steal back an artifact known as Dumat's Folly, which is said to be a piece of the Black City, from the Archon’s palace. They discover that the artefact has been stolen by the Qunari, and are able to track the thieves to Kont-aar in Rivain using blood magic. The two travel to Kont-aar and sneak onto a dreadnaught holding a ton of magic objects the Qunari are studying. But the whole thing turns out to be a set-up by the mysterious elf. She reveals several things in her villainous gloating: That she works for the Dread Wolf, that she has possession of the real Dumat’s Folly, and that the “Dumat’s Folly” that Vadis found on the dreadnaught is actually a magic bomb soon to explode. Her goal is to implicate a Tevinter mage in the destruction of Kont-aar. Vadis and Irian overpower the elf, but the elf bites down on a poison pill hidden in her mouth and dies. Vadis blows the dreadnaught out to sea using wind magic, and she and Irian escape on a lifeboat just in time to avoid the giant explosion. Back on shore, they are interrogated by Ben-Hassrath agent Gatt (from Dragon Age Inquisition), who shares that they were tricked into stealing the artifact in the first place by an Agent of Fen’Harel among their ranks. Gatt says that the Ben-Hassrath will remain officially neutral on the invasion. Gatt suggests they go to Kirkwall, but Vadis and Irian decide to go to Val Royeaux for a vacation instead.

The Dread Wolf Take You

Charter (from Dragon Age Inquisition) attends a meeting with some of the best spies across Thedas at a place called the Teahouse in Hunter Fell, Nevarra. At the table is a dwarf from the Carta, an Orlesian bard, a Mortalitasi mage, and a mysterious Executor from across the sea. She says she invited someone from Tevinter and the Ben-Hassrath, but they both declined. First, the dwarf tells a tale about how he and his crew used a special solvent that softens lyrium, allowing them to extract the red lyrium idol from Meredith’s statue in Kirkwall. At the meeting location a man from House Qintara (from the Deception comics) shows up and takes the idol. Also at the meeting were former templars looking for the solvent that softens red lyrium, but they were all killed in their sleep by the Dread Wolf. The Mortalitasi speaks next, about how a man from House Danarius, (that being Tractus from the Dark Fortress comics), brought the idol to her group of mages, asking for help unlocking it. They do so in a ritual, but it draws the attention of the Dread Wolf, who is angered by them using his idol to “vandalize the sea of dreams”. One of the Mortalitasi mages fled with the idol leaving the rest to die, but the speaker managed to escape with her life. Finally the Orlesian bard speaks of how the idol wound up in auction house in Llomerryn, where the Dread Wolf himself took possession of it. By this time though, Charter has come to realize that the Orlesian Bard is actually Solas in disguise, and asks for her life. Solas kills the other attendees, but spares Charter. She tells him he doesn’t have to do this, but Solas insists he does, before leaving.

Dragon Age: Absolution (post-9:44, exact time unknown)

Elven rogue Miriam and Orlesian human warrior Roland, a couple of mercenaries, are recruited by Fairbanks (DA:I) to join his group, who are tasked by the remains of the Inquisition to steal a magic artifact known as the Circulum Infinitus from the Summer Palace of Nessum in Tevinter. The group also consists of the dwarf warrior Lacklon, the tal-vashoth mage Qwydion, and lastly human mage Hira, who Miriam has a romantic history with. Miriam and her deceased twin brother Neb were formerly enslaved by the man now studying the Circulum, Rezaren Ammosine. She is reluctant to return to Nessum, but Hira convinces her to help. Their heist does not go as planned however, and Hira is captured while Miriam is gravely wounded, but the others scoop her up and flee. Rezaren uses blood magic to contact Miriam in her dreams and tries to convince her to return to him so they can be like his idea of a family, but she refuses. It’s also revealed through flashbacks that Miriam was forced to kill Neb when Rezaren’s mother put a demon inside him to prevent Rezaren from failing his Harrowing, except Rezaren used blood magic to bind a spirit to his body that he now controls. Rezaren’s hope is to use the Circulum to bring Neb back to life for real. Miriam and the rest of the gang stage a rescue mission for Hira, but when they regroup back at their base, it’s revealed that Hira was planning on betraying them to “The Crimson Knight”. Rezaren chases after them, and manages to begin the blood ritual to try and bring Neb back. Neb’s spirit destroys his body rather than return though, and Miriam is able to kill Rezaren. She then asks Hira to choose their relationship over her quest to destroy the Tevinter Imperium, which Hira refuses, and flees with the Circulum, intending to bring it to none other than an alive once more Meredith Stannard from DA:2. Meredith is leading what remains of the red templars. Miriam and her friends vow to chase after Hira and stop her.

Dragon Age: The Missing (post-9:44, exact time unknown)

Varric Tethras and Lace Harding are tasked by Charter to try and track down Solas, all the while stalked by a mysterious figure in Venatori Assassin clothes. Their adventure first takes them to the Deep Roads under Marnas Pell in Tevinter, where they encounter two Grey Wardens, Evka Ivo and Antoine (from the Tevinter Nights story, Hunger). They find an abandoned hideout with an invitation to the home of Lady Crysanthus in Vyrantium, where they investigate next. When they arrive in Vyrantium though, they find it under siege by the Qunari. This doesn’t stop them from breaking into Lady Crysanthus’s estate though, where they meet the Antivan Crows Viago De Riva and Teia Cantori (from the Tevinter Nights story, Eight Little Talons). Viago and Teia were there to kill Lady Crysanthus, but Solas beat them to it by turning her to stone. They discover evidence that Crysanthus was working for the Venatori, who are after an elven artifact called “the crucious stone” located in the Arlathan Forest. Viago and Teia share that the Crows are working against the Venatori, before they all part ways. In the Arlathan Forest, Varric and Harding encounter a group of “Veil Jumpers”, led by Strife (from the Tevinter Nights story, Three Trees to Midnight). The Arlathan Forest has turned into a place of chaotic magic, where space and time mix and mingle in strange ways. The Veil Jumpers help Varric and Harding get to the temple where the crucious stone is said to be located. Within the temple though, they only find a note left by Solas asking them to stop interfering with his plans – Solas now has the stone. Varric and Harding next travel with Minrathous to meet private investigator, Neve Gallus (from the Tevinter Nights story, The Streets of Minrathous). Neve says that Solas has been busy in Minrathous, attacking Venatori, stealing their artifacts, and freeing their elven slaves, who in turn are rising up in his name. Neve shares that there is a group called the Shadow Dragons that helps those who have escaped slavery as a lead about the elven rebels. They find an elf that Solas freed, who shares that there’s a meeting of escaped slaves planned that night at the docks, but Varric and Harding piece together that the Venatori know about the meeting and will attack. They decide to give up chasing Solas in order to help the elves. Varric realizes that there’s no way they will catch Solas at this point, because he knows them too well – so he says they need new help.

Short Stories

Minrathous Shadows (post-9:44, exact time unknown)

A templar named Tarquin plays a card game with a magister, and confronts her on being a Venatori cultist. It’s revealed that Tarquin and the deal are part of a group called “the Viper”?

Ruins of Reality (post-9:44, exact time unknown)

Strife and Irelin (from Tevinter Nights) are lost in the Arlathan Forest, as the forest has come alive with magic, changing and shifting to the point where Strife’s map is no longer reliable, nor is the passage of time. Strife carries an ancestral journal from the Morlyn that began rewriting itself. They find copies of themselves—Irelin says either a mirage or an echo—running around. Irelin turns into a bird to snatch a crystal halla figurine off a statue they find, and the spell ends for a time.

The Wake (post-9:44, exact time unknown)

Viago de Riva, Illario Dellamorte, and Teia Cantori (from Tevinter Nights) all attend an Antivan Crow funeral, implied to be Lucanis’s from Illario’s drunken story-telling about the two as children and him saying “I was always right behind him, you know? Now there’s nobody for me to follow.”

Won't Know When (post-9:44, exact time unknown)

Evka Ivo and Antoine (from Tevinter Nights) fight off a darkspawn horde so a group of miners can escape. They ponder the dangerous nature of being Grey Wardens, before Antoine asks Evka to marry him, and Evka says yes.

As We Fly (post-9:44, exact time unknown)

Neri de Acutis and his sister Noa are old Antivan Crows fighting the Qunari occupation of Treviso.

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#dragon age #da lore #meta

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broodwolf221 · 17 days

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fic rec list!

been seeing a lot of these today and it got me thinking about making my own :o tumblr urls added whenever possible if you happen to know an author's tumblr url that didn't get listed, pls rb this and @ them! i'm not trying to keep my recs or praise any kind of secret from them :')

keep your hands on me by LathboraViran (cullen/solas; rated E; no archive warnings apply)

author summary: Cullen is bad at card games, and Varric doesn't always play for coin. The cost of a lost game of Diamondback? Cullen has to kiss Solas. It goes both better and worse than he had expected.

my notes: i really loved this - both cullen and solas are written incredibly well. it's hot, nuanced, and feels so true to both of them and how they could come together meaningfully

With the Tide by desiredemon (jazzmckay) ( @jazzmckay ) (fenris/m!hawke; rated T; no archive warnings apply)

author summary: In the wake of their final fight for Kirkwall, Hawke and his friends escape the city together. They've been through an ordeal, the future is uncertain, and emotions are still running high--in the aftermath, the dust settles.

my notes: jazz is an extraordinary writer and they managed to get everyone's voices down so, so well. this is a compelling look at what happens after the events of da2, with all the inherent complexity intact

Power, Intrigue, Danger, and Sex by Hezjena (andruil/fen'harel/ghilan'nain; rated E; no archive warnings apply)

author summary: When Solas later recalled the evening, he liked to imagine it was the result of careful manipulation, a triumph of his skilled diplomacy and a delicious trickery where he allowed himself to be underestimated… rather than the result of too much ice wine and morbid curiosity. *** That time Solas accidentally-on-purpose has a threesome with Andruil and Ghilan’nain in Ancient Elvhenan.

my notes: okay, i am head over heels with how everyone is written here. solas' characterization is perfect, and both andruil and ghilan'nain are utterly fascinating - as individuals, in their dynamic with each other, and in the way they interact with solas in this. it's hot and messy, mind the tags, and a wonderful examination of arlathan's culture

let me wrap my teeth around the world by wizardlover ( @wizardfvcker ) (solas/varric; rated E; no archive warnings apply)

author summary: “Aren’t we friends, Solas?”

This seems to startle him enough that he turns to look at Varric. In the dimness of the tent his eyes reflect the light from the fire outside, like a wild animal.

“I would call us that, yes."

“Then won’t you share whatever burden is pressing you down with me? That’s what friends are for, you know.”

“Not this one." Varric sighs.

“Come on, Chuckles. I’ll get back out there and get the Inquisitor to spill it, but it seems like a waste when I’m already here.”

Solas is quiet for a long moment—he has shifted around again, so Varric can only see the rise and fall of his back as he breathes, carefully controlled.

“I am… compromised,” he says. Varric waits. “That damned plant, combined with an errant spell—I have… urges. And I can’t—it is—” He cuts himself off, frustrated, and isn’t that a wonder, Solas out of words? And then,

“Urges?” Varric stifles a laugh. “Do you mean—”

“You know what I mean, dwarf,” Solas hisses, and Varric realizes that his neck is red and the tips of his ears have gone pink, and that the air in the tent is warm and stuffy and a little heady, all of a sudden. He clears his throat.

my notes: i am, of course, always so thirsty for solas/varric content - the world needs more of it - but also this particular fic is delightful. i love the writing, particularly the way varric describes solas' behavior and staring - i've come back to read this multiple times because it's just... really, really good. also hot!

The Switch by playwithdinos ( @playwithdinos / @dinoswrites ) (f!lavellan/solas; rated E; creator chose not to use archive warnings)

author summary: Lavellan usually lets Solas take charge when they're alone, but she's back from slaying the Fereldan Frostback and she's not in the mood to bow to anyone.

Fill for this kink meme prompt: http://dragonage-kink.livejournal.com/13696.html?thread=53207680

my notes: love this one soooo much - lavellan is fascinating here and the way she takes charge is delightful, i particularly enjoyed how it began so much earlier than in the bedroom - and solas is written so well, love his characterization here. it's very hot and another i've definitely come back to

That Time of the Month by bluebeholder ( @wanderingnork ) (f!adaar/solas; rated E; no archive warnings apply)

author summary: Kubide gets her period. Solas offers a suggestion for how they might have some fun.

They're going to have to burn the sheets when they're done.

my notes: love this one so much - every line is just rife with characterization and depth, absolutely love the way kubide conducts herself and her reactions throughout, the physical descriptions are wonderfully done, and overall it's super hot and makes their feelings for each other incredibly clear.

In the Blue Morning by rosieofcorona ( @rosieofcorona ) (f!lavellan/solas; rated G; author chose not to use archive warnings)

author summary: He wants to stay like this forever, wants the sun to forget to rise, wants the castle to sleep and sleep in an endless dream.

But the light keeps coming, every moment. The castle will wake, and they will see.

And this will cost them, in the end.

my notes: this was such a delight when i first read it, and still such a delight when i just reread it now ;o; the way everything is described is really beautiful, and the balance between them, the juicy foreshadowing, everything, it's so good. a soft moment that acknowledges what is to come

Master and Apprentice by ar_lath_vhenan ( @arlathvhenan ) (f!lavellan/solas; rated T; no archive warnings apply)

author summary: He was playing with her then, just as she had played with him only moments ago. He’d seen through her thinly veiled flirtations—her shameless assault on his composure—and finally settled on a counter offensive now that he possessed the upper hand. The tricky bastard. — In which Solas teaches Lavellan to paint

my notes: i really, really enjoy this fic - the intimacy alongside the uncertainty is wonderfully complex, and the descriptive language for how they manuever around/with each other has never failed to impress me. love this lavellan too <3

#fic recs #dragon age fic recs #i have more i could add but this post is already quite long lmao #might do this again tho! it was nice revisiting fic i rly enjoyed :')

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crapet-illu · 6 months

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I redrawn a painting that appears in the Dragon Age comic book « The Missing » I love them ! Are they Evanuris ? Andruil and Ghilan’nain ??

#dragon age #dragon age fanart #dragon age theories #evanuris #andruil #ghilan’nain #The missing

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hardwitchhologram · 1 year

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I cant stop thinking about that mural from the new Dragon Age comic, The Missing #3, so I had draw it. It’s so exciting to actually see another evanuris not in shadow or busted statue form! I think it’s Andruil and Ghilan’nain.

I wonder who painted it? Probably the resident mural painter, Solas.

#spoilers dragon age #dragon age dreadwolf #andruil #evanuris

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lairofdragonagelore · 1 year

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Arbor Wilds: Temple of Mythal in detail

The Temple of Mythal was a place of justice, where petitioners walked religious rites of passage in order to have their pleas for justice heard by Mythal. According to some, it is also the site of some mysterious religious artefact called the vir'abelasan.

This post is similar to Arbor Wilds: Temple of Mythal - Part 4, but it is not analysed within the context of the main quest. This is a more detailed exploration and analysis of the chambers.

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Petitioning Chamber

The ground mosaic in the petitioning chamber is the standard one used in most elvhen ruins. What I always highlight in it is the asterisk symbol that we have seen in elvhen murals to represent orbs or titan’s heart. It is inside a structure of circles and triangles that may suggest a sun inside a double circle. At the corner, we find a figure which outline looks like the shape of Dragon Mythal’s frame doors.

It’s very interesting that the brazier in most of the rooms of the temple are placed on the very centre of this mosaic, on the “asterisk” symbol. Similar detail happens in some elven murals, where the braziers of Veilfire are placed on the circles with the asterisk symbol on it. When there is no brazier or fire, the idea is to place a person on the asterisk symbol which gathers all the focus of the room, as it seems to work in the petitioning chamber or in the Fen’Harel rooms along the Temple.

The entrance of the chamber shows a disposition of statues and mosaics.

Mythal statues everywhere doesn’t seem odd considering this is her temple; she is the entity that will impart justice in this chamber [or her high priest]. What is curious are the details around the chamber:

There are unique banners hanging from the sides of this chamber. I didn’t see them before in game. Probably this is related to Mythal or Elvhenan symbology. It’s a flower of many petals, and many many dots to a side. The other side of the flower seems to have just lines. Once more, Flowering Imago from Ancient Elven codices; Vir Dirthara comes to mind, the idea of several wills [dots] feeding flower.

At the sides of the platform where Abelas speaks there are two mosaics: Falon’Din’s and June’s.

This is very curious. They are not central, so it’s hard to see them when you have just stepped into this chamber, but they are more easy to see as you approach the main platform.

There are two small stages aside the main platform, with a long brown rug decorated with spherical trees. Each stage is closer to one of the mosaics. Imparting justice in this place may have had results that would lead to Falon’Din’s path or June’s. A path or judgement to Death (?), or one of… reuse? to be crafted anew? June is a mystery so far. We know he is related to the art of crafting in some ways, but we also know it’s not exactly in the ways Dalish think so.

On the other hand, giving followers to Falon’Din in judgements seems to be a terrible idea if we take into account what Solas told us in Part 2. But this temple may have been worked in this way before that event. Things may have been different until Falon’Din killed some of Mythal’s servants.

Each of these mosaics is beside a door. I think it seems reasonable to assume that those that were judged in a way or another, got a result that was associated with Falon’Din’s field [I suppose related to death] would leave the chamber through that door. In game, it’s blocked and goes nowhere if you cross it with fly-camera.

Now, the door beside June’s mosaic leads us to the Inner Sactum. Is this mosaic a representation of what June crafted in this Temple? Did June build the Vir’abelasan? Or this journey along Inner Sanctum grants a transformation of the persona that seems like a being “crafted” anew?

Remember that in the Courtyard, June and Sylase were in the entryways of the ritual-puzzles, giving the impression that this was a “sign” of their work, those mosaics were there to denote they were the ones responsible of crafting them. Maybe the same can be applied here. Even though it’s a bit more obscure since the opposite wall displays Falon’Din’s mosaic. All these questions and assumptions seem to be too much for my taste. There is so little we can use to infer with some degree of certainty.

The mural paintings of elves riding towards a battle can’t be overlooked [these murals are analysed a bit in Nation Art: Elvhen]. They are everywhere in this chamber and in the last part of the temple. It could represent the battle against the different Evanuris, probably using troops made of their own followers, but also it seems to be related to the battle for rebellion, since it has appeared in the ancient Crypts in a small chamber with sitting Fen’Harel statues. It could also be related to the battle against the Titans. It’s hard to know because the game has never ever gave us a lead to how understand that painting.

There are two ways to enter the Inner Sanctum: Forced [red line in the map] or Allowed [blue line in the map]. When we are allowed to enter, you have to follow an Elvhen Guide who grants you access to a unique chamber that, otherwise, you wouldn’t see [where most of the codices of the Temple of Mythal are placed]. The Guide opens secret doors and makes us avoid the combat against the red templars. Some rooms are separated just by a fence, which allows us to see what’s going on at the other side of the chamber. The Forced path is the one less rich in terms of details. It’s mostly rooms with minimal decoration and sentinel fighters.

Allowed Path [Blue]

Chamber M

The name of the rooms refer to the map of the beginning of this post.

The immediate chamber we are introduced, as we follow the Guide, is a small room with a golden statue and mosaic of Mythal. Here is where we can trigger the codex “The Judgment of Mythal” analysed in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal. [Note on the asterisk symbol of the ground mosaic: Mythal statue is placed on the asterisk. There is another asterisk without anything on it.]

In front of the mosaic there is a rug with a pattern that looks like stars. I guess it may be used by the followers to sit and pray in front of her mosaic. The statue has the detail to be named “Statue of Mythal”, so there is no way we can question this.

Chamber D

We continue towards the Chamber D using a corridor. From afar we see that at the end of the next room there is a Mosaic of Dirthamen.

We reach to a unique chamber that we can’t have access to if we antagonise Abelas.

Here, there are four mosaics that trigger some codices, and a rune, on a wall that the screenshot does not show, because it is opposite to Dirthamen’s mosaic. [Note on the asterisk symbol of the ground mosaic: there is a brazier on it]

The mosaics are Elgar’nan’s, which triggers “Song to Elgar'nan”; Ghilan’nain’s, which triggers “The Ascension of Ghilan'nain”; Dirthamen’s, which triggers the very suspicious and unreliable “Twins in Shadow” [I would love to hear a dev to tell us that this codex here is a mistake. What is this scholar doing here? Abelas and his sentinels would have never allowed a human to do anything to their gods’ mosaics. The author of this codex, a contemporaneous scholar, makes no sense to be found on this mosaic. This is painful to me]. Fen’Harel’s mosaic does not trigger anything.

The rune on the opposite wall triggers “Unreadable Elven Writing”. This same codex can be found in the Ancient Crypts if we skip the rituals to enter the Temple, but since we are following the path of the Guide, it’s obvious that we solved the rituals and didn’t explored the Crypts. This means that the devs considered this codex so important for the player that they made sure they would read it no matter what path you follow.

It’s curious that in Inner Sanctum, we cannot find any mosaic of Andruil. The only reference to her is this rune [there are also the owl statues that could be her messengers, or the hart statues, but both animals are not unequivocal representation of her]. This rune speaks about the construction of a weapon, a golden spear, which use will be catastrophic. [For more details, Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal] I think there is more meaning for this to appear as a rune and not as a mosaic. The lack of an explicit mosaic of Andruil seems to speak of an enmity with Mythal. At the same time, a veilfire rune, which preserves memories and information much better than a mosaic which can fall apart over time, may imply that the people writing this wanted the message to exist even despite the worse conditions. However, Andruil has a place in Mythal’s temple: outside, in the ritual garden, inside a room that looked like a golden cage. One for her, another for Falon’Din [maybe the most problematic Evanuris for Mythal?].

Each of the mosaics have a rug in front of them. Since this chamber follows the room M, focused only on Mythal, and it’s protected by the activation of the secret paths by the Guide, one could suspect this is a room where Mythal’s allies are represented.

Fen’Harel has always been a good friend of Mythal. There are many proofs from Solas, defending her memory, but the most important one for me is Flemeth in the last seconds of the game, calling him Old Friend. Fen’Harel has always been her friend, and Fen’Harel has always respected Mythal, considering her the best of all the Evanuris.

Elgar’nan may not have been a friend, but his trust in her is undeniable. He gave Mythal the ability to impart justice so his fury would not go out of control for every argument [codex: The Judgment of Mythal]. He also trusted her wisdom when Falon’Din tried to start a war against him [codex: Duel of a Hundred Years].

There is no information about the relationship between Mythal and Ghilan’nain, but given the fact that there are two mosaics of allies in this room one can suspect that she belongs to allies too. Or at least, she was an ally in the beginning.

We know there is a relationship between Dirthamen and Ghilan’nain [Red mosaic of Ghilan’nain in The Lost Temple of Dirthamen, and her involvement in suggesting one of the servants of Dirthamen to take Divine shape, codex: Ancient Elven Writing in the Ancient Crypts of Temple of Mythal ] that may have been extended to Mythal, whoever of them had a deeper link with her.

I suppose Dirthamen had a relationship with Mythal since in Flemeth’s Fade we see a statue that the game has unreliably suggested to represent Dirthamen, stabbed and bleeding. But due to his duality nature with Falon’Din, it could be him, being bled as Solas told us that Mythal had to do with the rest of the Evanuris to stop Falon’Din. It’s always a problem to understand anything with those two involved.

I suppose that the Veilfire rune present in this room, in this particular context, can be interpreted as a Warning for the supposed allies of Mythal. After all, the rune speaks of a terrible weapon made by Andruil.

F’H Room

[Note on the asterisk symbol of the ground mosaic: there is a brazier on it]

The next room has two sitting Fen’Harel statues and a rug in between. It’s not clear if this is a place to pray for him since the rug is in front of a wall without a mosaic [of we follow the pattern in most rooms], but it could also be prayed at the statues, I guess. There are some broken funerary lids in the southern corner of this room.

Sy Room

Next room is Sylaise’s. [Note on the asterisk symbol of the ground mosaic: there is a brazier on it].

She has one full room for her in Mythal’s Temple. This is very curious to me. There is a mosaic of her that triggers the “Song to Sylaise”, which is the only real codex we have about her non-based on Dalish legends. In front of it there is a rug to pray in front of her, and two elven hart statues, which are rare objects to find here. We know little about the true Sylaise [the one which is not based on Dalish Tales], and so far I know, we connect the hart symbol with Andruil or Ghilan’nain. That these harts are positioned as guardians around her mosaic, may have similar meaning to those located around Dirthamen’s mosaic? Is the Hart a shared favoured animal between Sylaise and Andruil? Or this is a symbol to show that Andruil and Sylaise were allies? If that were case, would Mythal allow a single room for praying to her? Tons of questions, none answer.

Corridor with Archers

The Allowed path lets us explore a broad over-flood corridor. There are no mosaics here, but only two archers that point nothing. Similar configuration was found in The Lost Temple of Dirthamen - Part 2, in the Path of Secrets.

I’m not sure if this could be understood as something related to Andruil or The People. There is no much to conclude here.

Room 3

This is the room where both path, Forced [red] and Allowed [blue], gather once more.

From the corridor with Archers, we open a sealed door and have access to this room where we see a stair with a painting of the black dragon [Nation Art: Elvhen] on the walls heading up, inviting the walker to go upstairs. I suppose this will imply a meaning of ascension [we are getting close to the Vir’abelasan], while on the ground level’s wall we see the “zombie” elves.

The stair rails are decorate with many small Mythal statues. There are no imposing statues of her outside the petitioning chamber and the M room. And even in those rooms the statues are rather medium.

F’H Golden Halla

At the top of the stairs we find what I called “F’H Golden Halla”

[Note on the asterisk symbol of the ground mosaic: the place is free for the person who would contemplate the hidden room could stand on it.]

Howling Fen’Harel statues guard a secret room where there is only a golden halla painting [Nation Art: Elvhen] and some minor loot. This small room can’t be seen by those who forced their entrance, since it’s our Guide who opens it. It seems to be a secret messenger to those who are friend to Mythal.

Or maybe this whole configuration means that Fen’Harel [Howling wolf] is guarding “the people” [represented in the Golden Halla, a Halla that is valuable because it’s golden like all the golden statues and mosaics in the temple that only represent Evanuris].

It could also mean a small tribute to Fen’Harel’s work: if the halla represents The People, Fen’Harel statues at the sides of what looks like a small, humble chapel would suggest that the real entity that should be worshipped is The People? So many holes in the many, many elvhen symbols we have in the game.

The Halla faces, bellow and across the room, directly to the ascending dragon. Both images are very well framed in the configuration of the room. Not sure if it means anything, but it’s a detail that stands out if you spin in this place.

Rooms 4

In this part, we see the last fighters of the elvhen, killing Red Templars. There are more mural paintings of the battle elves and the dragon from the room 3. If we see the connotation, it is as if this dragon were guiding the zombie elves from the previous room, at the ground level, into battle: now they became these elves that fight guided by the dragon. It’s hard to know when these murals were done, if they were always part of the Temple since the construction of it or were decorations made after, during the last times of the Evanuris. If we could know this, it would allow us to develop many different interpretations.

By walking past a small figure of Mythal, we leave the room heading into the garden where we find the Vir’abelasan.

Once more, Mythal appears in non-imposing sizes. She is always small, decorative, while what’s truly imposing and overwhelming is the mural of the battle.

Forced Path [Red]

The only two rooms we don’t see if we go through the Allowed path are Mu Room and Room 2

Mu Room

The only particularity that this room has is that it has four mural paintings: two standing elves on a side and two in fighting position with a shield, on the opposite wall.

It also has a small decorative pool.

From here we can see the superior rooms: Room 2 and 4.

One would suspect these murals are as old as the temple, and were intended to be part of it, simply because the walls where they are painted on are not “old golden”. It seems to be meant that these drawings would be part of these walls from the construction of the temple. They do not look like “graffiti”.

Room 2

This room has nothing to add. It has a squared pool too, less pretty than the one below.

These three rooms [Mu Room, Room 2, and 4], can be seen at the same time since they are placed in the same space but at different levels. [Note on the asterisk symbol of the ground mosaic: none of these rooms have this ground mosaic.]

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vigilskeep · 7 months

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immediately ignoring my own post and not giving my warden sylaise’s vallaslin

#well. idk. many thoughts #i have a lot of narrative stuff on what i could do with ghilan’nain is the thing #and lahni doesn’t strike me as SUPER sylaise-y by nature although i could justify it

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brekkie-e · 9 months

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I love your inquisitor so much! May I ask what happened to her left ear though?

Great question, I would love to tell you. (Also I’m sorry this took 10 years to answer. I really wanted provide visuals because this was already a topic I had planned to post about, and unfortunately I’ve been in a complete art block since January ish.) There is a TLDR at the end if needed.

To understand what happened to my darling little Nira’s ear a few things about her family need to be explained. Now, Nira is Dalish™️. But her mother was not born so. She grew up in Antiva city, and only joined the clan when she was about 19/20. Eloped with a dashing craftsmen, it was very romantic. She left family behind in the city, and Nira grew up visiting them on a semi-regular basis. My personal clan Lavellan is a really large one that has kind of commercialized itself to survive. They’ve found success setting up outside human residential areas and putting on shows and fairs where they sell “novelty” items as a way to make ends meet. So it wasn’t uncommon for them to be in the vicinity of the city, and it afforded them unusual freedom in trading with it’s inhabitants.

Nira also had a few cousin’s that lived in the city. And despite the exorbitant amount of siblings I have given this character, her dearest friends during her childhood were her cousins, Tara and Islene. Fraternal twins. And being girls from the mother’s side of the family, still descendent from the Ghilan’nain priestess who received the magical bloodline trait. Due to this, Islene was born a mage like most women in her family. (Luckily the city elf side had for the most part been able to keep this under the radar of templars.)

Much of Ama’nira’s story is defined by this trio and their overall narrative.

For all that Nira was allowed to visit her cousins in her childhood, most of the time was spent almost exclusively with the clan because the Keeper and her mother did not want to tempt fate by letting a young child gifted with magic run amok in the city without intense supervision. Also she was notoriously fussy as a child due to sensory needs and having pretty strong preferences about food and things like that. Her mom even early on liked to keep a close watch over her because of this. But after a few years of begging, Nira was finally allowed to spend the night at her aunt and uncle’s house during a visit when she was about seven.

Everything started out okay, normal fun childhood sleepover type stuff. Nira was sent with some hearth cakes to bring for dessert. They played cards as a family. It was a lovely evening.

But as bed time drew near things started to veer off course. The girls were tucked in and put to sleep like normal. But shortly after the parents went to bed, Tara popped her head up and said they should go to the vhenadahl. “Maybe it will work if all three of us try it, and not just two.”

Nira had no idea what they were on about, but she was excited to be included as her sisters often left her out (they were much older than her.) So the little group make their way out of the house and down to the alienage center where the tree of the people is. The girls explain to Nira that according to legend, a spirit of Love lives in the tree and if someone manages to run around the it 3 times while only one moon is covered by a cloud and the other isn’t, the spirit will bless them. They tell her how they’ve tried and tried a thousand times, but no matter what they do they can’t get it to appear.

Naturally, the girls start giving it their all. They run around the tree dozens of times, tripping more than once because they were staring up at the moon while doing so. Giggling and squealing as they ran into eachother. This was not an uncommon thing for children to attempt in the alienage, so at this point most people tended to ignore them. It was basically a childhood rite.

However, most children that tried this weren’t also mages. Now, seeing as how there never was a spirit in the tree to begin with, luckily no demon summoning happened. That didn’t stop Tara from suggesting her two mage friends should try to “touch the fade” so it knew they were there. So for a few laps, Nira and Islene ran with their arms in the air, reaching out with their magic in whatever way they could to see if they could do what Tara was saying. As they had no idea what “touching” the fade even meant. Of course, this was a very ill advised thing to do, but they’re babies. And babies do dumb things.

No spirits were there to listen, but Templars on city watch were and arrived at the scene shortly after. The magical night that the girls were having crashed down around them as they turned to see the knights. Tara, being the scrappier one of the bunch, shouted at them to run. And they did. But Nira tripped on one of the cobblestones, and was nearly over taken. Islene seeing this turned back for her cousin and pulled her off the ground, pushing her forward. In the process, she was grabbed instead. Nira ran with everything she had.

The templars upon realizing that a frenzied, terrified, and untrained mage was fleeing into the city, and they were about to lose her made the call to attempt to “neutralize” her as a last ditch effort to ensure she could not become an abomination before they found her again. So arrows were loosed as she ran, and one pierced right through her ear. Nira, in a state of complete panic and terror, grabbed it and ripped it off- causing the missing chunk that she bears to this day.

Tara was able to make it home without being caught and in a state of shock explained to her parents what had happened. Her father left immediately to try and get Islene back from the Templars, but was beaten terribly and returned home empty handed. They ran to the clan and told them of what happened as soon as possible, and search parties were sent out for Ama’nira whilst also packing for an emergency move because they did not want the Templars to turn on the clan in their hunt for the young girl. They were forced to leave before finding her.

Nira meanwhile ran blindly through the city, stopping only when there was nowhere left to run. Which happened to be the docks. She found a barrel underneath a pier and hid in it for two days in a state of complete shock, not even noticing how much time went by. When her senses eventually came back to her, she managed to sneak her way around the city before hitchhiking in the back of a wagon and sneaking out the gates. She was too terrified to go back to the alienage as that was where it all happened. Unfortunately, the poor thing had no idea how to actually get to where the clan had camped, and to begin with they weren’t there anymore. So when she eventually saw some woods, she jumped out of the wagon and started wandering. In a complete stroke of luck, one of her brothers who had not given up the search had been heading back to the city and was able to find her and bring her home.

To wrap this up, the event left Nira deeply traumatized and she would continue to struggle with using magic for many years afterwards. She only truly is able to break through her barriers with it once befriending Dorian. It left Islene in the circle, and she is made tranquil only a few years after. And it would lead Tara to grow up in what would quickly become a broken home, her mother leaving to prevent the templars from discovering her magic and her father descending into alcoholism to cope with what had become of his family. Few people foster as much hatred towards Templars as Tara, she blames them for everything bad that’s ever happened to her and her loved ones.

Nira and Tara actually start Inquisition as a pair, with Tara becoming her pseudo enforcer during the course of the game. When Ama’nira was chosen by her keeper to attend the Conclave, a decision aimed at allowing Nira to find closure and give her the opportunity to grow outside of her mother’s influence, Tara decided to go with her as a guide/protection. The pair hoped to find Islene at the Temple and discover what had happened to her.

TLDR: Her ear was injured during an altercation with templars in her childhood where cousin was taken to the Antivan Circle. It is the foundational event that ties Nira’s story with her cousins which is very important to the overall arc of my canon Inquisition plot.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #Lavellan #inquisitor Lavellan #oc: ama’nira #dai #mage rights #brekkie asks #also thank you thank you thank you for asking this #when i saw it (which was admittedly much later than you asked) I was giddy #this one of my favorite bits of her story #Tara and Islene and her have me on my knees #their theme song is carried me with you by Brandi Carlile #dalish #dragon age elves #oc: Tara #oc: Islene #i am so sorry for how long this got i am not a succinct person

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