If DA4 set in Tevinter doesn't have banger intricate sexy robes like the one Anders had in DAA what's even the point??

so we were talking recently about how solas is much better at keeping his secrets than the other characters, and we know bull is one of the most perceptive characters. you've travelled with bull & solas much more than i have, so im curious about your thoughts: do you think bull had any idea? he's able to weed out qunari agents, but do you think he noticed solas'? how do you think bull feels about it, post-trespasser?

rubs my little hands together ty for this, im gonna have funnnn

bull 100% knew something was up. these two bits of banter really seal it for me:

Iron Bull: You've got an odd style, Solas. Your spells are a bit different from the Circle mages or the Vints.

Solas: That comes from being self-taught.

Solas: I discovered most magic on my own, or learned it from my journeys in the Fade.

Iron Bull: I've seen self-taught warriors. Even the good ones have something awkward in their style, something that clunks.

Iron Bull: I don't get that from you. Maybe magic is different.

Solas: Or without magical training, you cannot notice the parts of my magic that "clunk".

Iron Bull: You're not as flashy as most mages, Solas.

Iron Bull: The Tevinter mages I fought in Seheron tried to scare us with what they could do.

Iron Bull: Dorian looks like he's waiting for applause after every spell.

Iron Bull: Vivienne has this little swagger, like she knows she's the most dangerous thing in the room.

Iron Bull: Not the quiet elven mage, though. No frills. Nothing to give you away. Half our targets never even see you coming.

Solas: I shall take that as a compliment.

Iron Bull: If you like.

first, bull does know magic - he gives solas an out, "maybe magic is different," but I think it's just that: an out. one of his first comments is about how cullen is putting his templar training to good use, helping the inquisition soldiers defend against magic, just like bull himself was taught to. he's fought countless mages. solas is dissembling and bull lets him, but I don't buy for a second that he's genuinely fooled

and then the flashy comment. "not the quiet elven mage." bull is so observant... arguably moreso than solas:

Solas: Hmm.

Iron Bull: Something wrong?

Solas: A man in the last village. Something in his manner troubles me.

Iron Bull: The baker with the squint and the red nose? Yeah, spy. Probably Venatori.

Solas: Why do you say that?

Iron Bull: He watched all of us. A normal guy would focus on you, because staff, or me, because horns.

Iron Bull: He had a dagger up his sleeve, which no baker needs, and the knot on his apron was tied Tevinter style.

Iron Bull: I sent a message to Red. She'll investigate.

Solas: You are more observant than you appear.

Iron Bull: The good spies usually are.

so a) he notices everything weird about solas, everything that doesn't match up, and b) he doesn't show what he knows. that's his training coming into play.

I don't think he really knew who or what solas was, though. my suspicion is that he knew solas had his own agenda from the beginning, and like most everyone, knew that solas was keeping his own past a big, deeply-guarded secret. but bull isn't the type to ask direct questions in order to learn, so I think that when he's talking to solas about these things, he's watching him, too. noting the subtle shifts that solas tries to hide or isn't even aware of. hell, bull would learn something from solas having no change of expression or tone, forcibly even and level - because at that point, it's artificial.

so i think throughout the game as they travel, bull is slowly but steadily realizing how much more there is to solas' story. at the same time, he knows that no one is quite as good at keeping secrets as he is, so he wouldn't want to... ask anything too direct, yknow? everything is dancing around the edges of the truth and seeing what comes up, and that is information, usually information the other person didn't mean to give away

varric does this too imo, but not to the extent or with the skill that bull does, nor with the ability to hide everything he knows so, so well.

overall, i think bull was always watching solas. bull's really thrown in with the inquisition, particularly if he becomes tal-vashoth - because at that point, he doesn't really have anywhere to return to (which is tragic). so outside of the advisors and the inquisitor, i think bull is actually one of the inquisition's most steadfast members. but throughout the game, solas does help. a lot. which bull sees, too. hell, solas helps him after he becomes tal-vashoth, it's a really fun banter arc.

bull is suspicious, wary, and watchful, but throughout the main game, solas hasn't done anything overtly hostile or counter to the inquisition's purpose. and ultimately, solas is sorta necessary - he's the only one who can help the inquisitor with the anchor.

as for solas' agents? i'm not sure... but i'm also not sure how many of them there are. if there were a fair number, i think bull would have picked up on it over time, particularly because he tends to hit on the servants more - like, he'd notice them as individuals if for no other reason than his own interest, but also his training comes into play here. but if there were only a few? i think they could've slipped under his radar, particularly because the inquisition grows so quickly that even bull would end up hard-pressed to stay familiar with every single face in the inquisition.

even wrt the qunari agents, it's because he noticed a change in the duty roster and followed up on that, not because he saw them and just Knew from their behavior. he might've been able to suss them out that way had they crossed paths, but crossing paths wasn't guaranteed - at least, not until they tried to kill him. and frankly, i don't think solas would be that sloppy. his agents probably are deeply embedded in the inquisition because so is he. he would know when to have them come in and how they could blend in, even become functioning members of the inquisition, particularly because the inquisition's goals are not directly counter to solas' goals.

post-trespasser? i've written this and in my fic, bull really wasn't surprised at all. i think he would've been if solas got outed as fen'harel/the dread wolf mid-game, but the events of trespasser shed so much light on the reality of the situation, and i don't think bull would've traveled that whole path and not begun to reach that conclusion. solas disappeared for two years ago after fighting corypheus, and now they're mysteriously drawn into an eluvian - elven magic - and pulled through an intricate web of information that exposes the qunari plot?

yeah, i think bull had an inkling solas was behind it at or near the start of their journey through the eluvians.

and there's more, like solas' constant, intense hatred of the qun stripping people of choice - but then, there's a bit of truth in people hating others the most for things they hate about themselves. and bull would know about that, of course. solas does the same thing to blackwall when he's revealed as thom, an ironic judgement considering his own lies, but he hates that he has to lie.

i think for bull, post-trespasser he'd feel... not happy about the situation of course, but sort of satisfied. the pieces finally fell into place, all of them.

Image credits: David Gaider [source link below]

Article: 'Who is qualified to make a world? In search of the magic of maps'

"You're travelling with your imagination..."

An extensive feature article about maps, map creation and world-building. It refers to David Gaider and the team's early world-building and early-days process of creating the universe that would become Dragon Age. It includes this early series of original sketches of the map of Thedas through time that Gaider drew when the world was being created.

Excerpts under the cut (due to length):

"Dragon Age. That's the game Gaider was working on - or rather, it was the world he would dream up. Ideas had been swirling about what Dragon Age would be for a few months. The team knew it would be like D&D but would not be actual D&D, because BioWare was sick of licensed games at the time. They knew they were going for Tolkien rather than Conan or Diablo. "We definitely had at least some idea of the kind of RPG this was going to be," Gaider tells me when in a video call. But BioWare didn't have a world. One day, Gaider was handed a historical atlas of Europe and tasked with going away and coming up with a fantasy world for players to explore. And almost immediately, he sketched a map." - "What is it about a map that gives it magical powers to bind us and pull us in? I wanted to know more, and through talking to David Gaider and learning about his creation of the map for Dragon Age, I hoped I might find out." - "In fact, he corrects me, "I sketched a lot of maps." But they were the same map, replicated over and over, because in order for a world to make sense to Gaider, it needed history. "I drew this coastline and then made a bunch of photocopies of it," he says, "and did this series of sketches, like, 'Okay in this era, this is where people lived and where they migrated and created different cultures,' and those cultures changed over time as they got conquered. Much like the book of European maps I had, I was doing it in eras and forming an idea in my mind about how these groups all mingled together. David Gaider was kind enough to share his original sketches of the Dragon Age world with me, and in them, you can see an emerging flow of history. You can see the spread of the Tevinter Empire as the race of Men lands in the north and then begins to spread out. You can see, in the earliest images, there's still a kingdom of Elves in the forest of Arlathan, nearby. Then, they are forced out by the growing Tevinter Empire, south to the Dales, where we encounter them in the Dragon Age games, subjugated to being a kind of slave race. Tribes give way to kingdoms, and names we're familiar with begin to appear." - Caption on the sketches: "David Gaider's original sketches of the Dragon Age world. Wherever you see a name typed in, it's because it was changed by EA's in-house sensitivity team, which cross-checked place names with real-world names in case there was a clash. The area of Antiva, for example, used to be called Calabria, but Calabria is the name of a region in southern Italy. "Well, if you do something with the Calabrians that real Calabrians don't like, they might get upset," the sensitivity department at EA told Gaider. "So I was like, 'Oh fine, I'll change it,'" he says." - ""My feeling on history when it comes to worlds," Gaider says, "is that you need to have a lot of it." Without it, he says a world will feel like a facade. "Sometimes you'll see worlds where they've made only what is needed for their current story, and it's like an old Western set: it feels right, it looks right, but then you slowly get a sense of, 'Oh, there's nothing behind those doors.' Before he sat down to draw, Gaider already knew some of the geographical elements he wanted. He knew he wanted a topsy-turvy 'South was cold and North was hot' idea for the continent, to play with people's expectations, and he knew he wanted a large waterway - that he likens to the Mediterranean - carving its way far inland. Today, we know this as the Waking Sea, and it's an incredibly important feature in the Dragon Age games. Gaider also knew he wanted islands far up in the north, from which an unknown race could invade. "I knew that I wanted an 'other' race that would come along," he says, "which ended up being the Qunari." Gaider also knew he wanted untouched areas for adventure, like forests and mountains, just in case the game would need them. "I didn't want every place to be so civilised that when it came time for 'we need ruins' or 'we need massive wilderness', we've got nowhere to go because I've civilised the entire thing," he says."

"Because remember, the team didn't yet know where the game they were making would be set. That's why so much of the continent you see in the sketches is as yet unused in Dragon Age games - the series hasn't needed all of it by this point. Continents are vast, after all, and realising them in 3D for players to explore is a mighty task. "I guess in my head," Gaider says, "we would be probably either on the north of Ferelden, on what became the Free Marches, or maybe off in the west more towards the Tirashan Forest or the Hunterhorns. That was a very wild area and I was like, 'That's a good place for an adventure to be.' Atlas at hand, photocopies in front of him, Gaider set about his work of growing a game world from a bunch of maps, and with not a small amount of trepidation. There was a lot riding on the world after all; it was a far cry from the worlds he'd created and freely abandoned as a teenager. "This is going to form the foundation, ideally, for a lot of games," he says, "and a lot of people are going to do work [on it]. And the trepidation is like, 'I don't know what I'm doing.' I'm essentially the equivalent of a 13-year-old just going, 'La la la, I'm going to call this Ferelden!'" - "Some things bother David Gaider about the Dragon Age 1 map, still, and they occurred when artists prettied his sketches without his involvement. "Oh," he said awkwardly when they were presented to him. "I didn't want it to look like this, exactly." He says they added a lot more rivers and mountains, and flipping between his sketches and the Dragon Age: Origins map, you can see some have moved around, or gained prominence, and places like Redcliffe have shifted. Apparently people would take to the BioWare forums after the game came out to complain about the map's geography. "And I'm like, 'You know what? You got a point,'" Gaider says. This is mostly anger at himself, though, for not doing more about it. Similarly, he wishes he'd been able to sit down with artists and work out what the rest of the continent you don't see in his sketches looked like, so they didn't have to have "the continent just keeps going..."-like messages at the edge of it. "But to where?" Gaider says. But it speaks to something he's noticed in his decades working in games about artists and writers. "They really speak two different languages," he tells me. They process things differently and they tend to care about different things. There were reams of history and lore written in a "world bible" for the Dragon Age team, but getting artists to read it was another matter. They wanted clear visual cues, not piles of backstory. Dragon Age: Origins eventually found its setting in Ferelden, the kingdom in the bottom right bulge of the sketches, so it left a huge portion of the sketched world unused, which the team presumed no one would ever see. "We thought that was going to be the only one," he says of Dragon Age: Origins. "That's why when you get to the end of Origins, there's so many epilogues that cast off far into the future, which, if we'd known that we were going to keep going and keep going with history, we wouldn't have said, 'Oh, in fifty and one hundred years, this is going to happen.' I think we would have played our cards a little closer to our chest. EA apparently found the game very old-fashioned and thought no one wanted turn-based role-playing games like that any more, which of course now seems ridiculous given the success of Baldur's Gate 3. "Baldur's Gate just goes to show how wrong people are when it comes to industry wisdom," Gaider says."

-

"Nevertheless, when Dragon Age 2 eventually was green-lit, the scope of it, and the focus of it, would completely change. With it, BioWare and EA would push towards a console RPG experience that stopped and started less, and had more action-packed combat. And EA only gave BioWare 18 months to make it, so BioWare decided to make a much smaller, more tightly focused game. It seemed like a good idea at the time. "People at BioWare convinced themselves that the fans would be okay - it'll be fine if it's a smaller game," Gaider says. "And I don't know why we thought that was the case, but for a moment there in time, we were like, 'Yeah, sure, it'll be fine.'" As for the mapping, a tighter focus meant centering on one place rather than a whole region, so the city of Kirkwall on the Waking Sea became the heart of the game, and BioWare developed a time-jumping idea for the game so you could see it at various different points in your character's lifetime, which I still think is really neat. And because there wasn't a large region to explore, the game didn't need a sprawling map, so BioWare turned the map on its side to give Kirkwall some height and majesty instead. It wasn't particularly memorable, but it looked nice. The game didn't go down well. "Its highs were really high, and its lows were really low," Gaider says now. "It was very unpolished. If it even got six months more polish, I think the reception would have been a lot different." More importantly, it meant everything would need to change again for Dragon Age 3." - "In Dragon Age: Inquisition, the third game in the series, the map plays a starring role. It's built into the game world specifically so you and your Inquisition advisors can gather around it and push pieces about as you choose where to go next. Thematically, this fits neatly with the theme of running an organisation like the Inquisition, but the map was also required to cover a lot of ground. One thing BioWare knew the moment it started making the game was that it needed to be bigger than DA2. This time, the game would spread across areas of Ferelden we hadn't been to as well as some we had; up to Kirkwall and into surrounding Free Marches, and then west to the city of Orlais and onwards until it reached past the Waking Sea and arid desert land. But the sense of scale was an illusion. Dragon Age: Inquisition wasn't a continuous, open world, but a fragmented one, made up of a few open-world-like zones, some small parts of cities, and many 'you can't actually explore there, but you can read about it' text-window interactions. Again, this was Gaider's idea, to give the game "a feeling of breadth" without needing the art department to render it all in 3D. By the time Inquisition came out in 2014, the world of Thedas - the name an amalgamation of "the" and "Dragon Age Setting" by the way - had been reinterpreted for three games and touched by many pairs of hands. Gaider's writing team had plugged the holes he, as a single writer, couldn't fill, and the art team had shown us what the world looked like. There was even, fittingly, a Dragon Age encyclopaedia released, compiling the teetering piles of lore and backstory, and maps and imagery that BioWare created for it. People were now joining the team who were already fans of the series. This was no longer an imaginary world; Thedas felt real. And perhaps it no longer needed Gaider to steer it."

- "So Gaider left BioWare in 2016, having worked there for 17 years, most of it spent on Dragon Age. Really, he'd had enough of wizards and demons, and Anthem wasn't the tonic he sought. Eventually, he'd move all the way from Canada to Australia for a fresh start, where he'd start Summerfall Studios and make a role-playing musical called Stray Gods, which was released last year. That game, incidentally, only featured a small map for travelling between city locations. Today, he awaits the arrival of a new Dragon Age game - Dragon Age: Dreadwolf - like the rest of us, having had no direct input. It's an anxious wait, as you can imagine. "I was Mr Dragon Age for ten years," he says, "so there is a certain amount of attachment. I'm not sure how I will feel when Dragon Age 4 comes out. I have a hard time believing that if I play it, I won't spend a lot of the time second guessing any choices I see, like, 'Oh, hmm, I wouldn't have done that.' What if they bring back some characters that I wrote? They're going to Tevinter so what if Dorian's there? Gah! I don't know; I am of two minds as to whether or not I will even play it." "It makes me wonder about these people who create worlds, who draw them into existence - whether that's in a preliminary sketch or a lavish piece of artwork - and whether there's always a point where success comes with the consequence of ceding control. Had Gaider kept the world of Dragon Age to himself, a photocopied map, folded and stuffed in a back pocket, we'd never have played it. And had millions of people not played and enjoyed it, I wouldn't be writing about it now and have that feeling when I look at an image of one of Gaider's photocopies, that I'm in the presence of something special, something powerful. But it's no longer Gaider's map, and no longer Gaider's world. It's all of ours."" - "For Gaider, maps are snapshots of history, photocopied slideshows explaining how places came to be. And of course they are, because he was thinking about Dragon Age when he started in on maps, which meant that he was thinking about geography, sure, but also the passing of time, and the way the latter affects the former."

[source and full article]

On the actual significance of the "Grand Game"

In the three Dragon Age games thus far we have seen Orlesians from three perspectives. In Origins we get the Fereldan view, Orlesians Are Evil, this from a nation occupied and oppressed by the empire and not yet over it. In DA2 we get the Marcher view, or you could call it specifically the Tethras view, Orlesians Are Stupid, a view no doubt cultivated by the fact that the only Orlesians you meet in Kirkwall are rich expats wealthy enough to have a second home in the Free Marches but not important enough to actually need to be in Orlais. And in Inquisition we get I think the closest thing to the Orlesian view of Orlais, which is: we're very powerful and you should want to have us on your side; please ignore all the chaos and civil war and how expendable we consider the lower classes.

Throughout all of this I think it is worth noting that the only people who think Orlesians are so subtle and clever are Orlesians, and mostly it's just the nobles and their hangers-on who think that about themselves. We're introduced to the concept of the Grand Game through Leliana, who romanticizes the whole thing due to her life as a bard. Varric by contrast has very little in the way of romantic notions about Orlesian nobles and mostly portrays them as comical buffoons, from Emile de Launcet to Duke Prosper de Montfort; not one of Varric's Orlesian characters is ever meant to be taken seriously by the audience. In Inquisition, a lot of hay is made about the Game and the need for favor and so forth but it pretty much all boils down to "Nobles have money and troops. We need those. Make them like you."

To me, the interesting thing about the Game is not that it's actually deeply complex or intricate, but how central it is to Orlesian identity. Of course there are intricacies to court politics, but most of it comes down to knowing whose interests and connections lie where, and how those interests may be successfully manipulated. That's not "Orlesian politics," that's just politics, and it's not meaningfully different from politics elsewhere. What sets the Orlesian aristocracy apart from Ferelden, when you look past the cultural trappings and the aesthetics, is mainly that Orlais has much stronger barriers to upward mobility in place (freeholds, or land owned by commoners, are practically unheard of in Orlais, whereas the freehold is the backbone of Fereldan culture).

But where I think the cultural significance of the Game truly matters to Orlesians is in the way it's meant to set them apart as the Good Empire. The empire that is cultured, sophisticated, civilized--you know, not like that other, bad empire up north, the one with the blood magic and the legal slavery. Please pay no attention to the blood-soaked floors of the servants' quarters (or the illegal slave trade that flourished in occupied Ferelden and behind closed doors of remote estates). We negotiate power with subtle words and gestures, and definitely don't sustain it with the blood of the powerless just like the magisters do, but without the magic. It's the magic part that makes blood magic bad, not the murder part. (This is a big part of why I love The Masked Empire, so much, as it really has so much to say about the nature of power and empire and who truly suffers for the games the nobles play, but it's also why what we see in the servants' quarters in "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts" is so important.)

And this all ties into Orlais as the seat of the southern Chantry as well, sitting in opposition to Tevinter politically, culturally, religiously, all of which are inexorably intertwined.

Okay I’m just going to say it: I always found the take that “Fenris and Anders’ relationship is wasted potential” kind of irritating. At least in the way most people mean when they say it: Anders and Fenris never found common ground, and that is a waste of potential

I do agree that there are some writing let-downs in their relationship, I just don't agree that the fact that they never reach a common ground is part of it.

It is true that Fenris and Anders have more in common than differences, their trauma is ultimately based in the same thing: being held and tormented against their will by an oppressive system. If you pay attention, the narrative, the characters, and Fenris and Anders themselves are aware of this. Here's a little snippet of it shown in this Legacy dialogue

The game knows they're alike. It's not that they can't see there's common ground between them. They can. The problem is: Fenris is healing, and Anders is not

I'm going to show you more banter screenshots now

Specifically of Fenris and Anders' banter with Varric, in acts 2 and 3

Just bear with me, we'll start with Fenris

Fenris and Varric in act 2

Fenris and Varric in act 3

Now Anders

Anders and Varric in act 2

Anders and Varric in act 3

There are more banters that illustrate this point but I think these four are the strongest and also I would like to go to sleep at some point tonight.

Fenris is healing from his past, if you look at his banters as a whole, you can see across all characters he gets more open, humorous, and talkative throughout all acts. Anders does the exact opposite. Anders gets more closed off, cold, and in act 3 you'll notice he rarely speaks before being spoken to unless he's following up on a previous conversation.

It makes sense, to me at least, why they never become friends. It isn't because Anders is a mage, Bethany is a mage, anti-circle, and Fenris loves her. Don't believe me? Look on the wiki or search "Bethany" on my blog and you'll find some of their interactions. They're adorable.

It's because Anders is getting worse and Fenris is getting better. That's why all their conversations are just an exhausting loop and why they never seem to connect. To me, that is the story being told here. It was never about them finding a common ground, it was about paralleling two people and one who heals from their past, and one who does not. Making them on opposite sides of the mage/templar debate is meant to emphasize this.

I do want to state that I have mixed feelings about this. While I think it's a neat idea, it does also feed the "You were hurt by a system but now your hate for it consumes you" trope which I am. Not a fan of. You can also talk about how the world itself plays into this in that Fenris can escape from Tevinter but Anders can't escape from being a mage. That's all a retrospective for another day, I'm just talking about the intent behind the relationship here.

Basically what I’m trying to say is: A story may not go in the direction you want it to but that does not make the story bad, it just makes it the story you didn’t want. That is fine, but I take some issue when people treat it as an actual fault of the story rather than a matter of taste.

Like I said, there are plenty of actual writing issues in Dragon Age 2, and I do think that there are some wasted opportunities in Fenris and Anders' relationship. My biggest problem is that it doesn't go far enough. We see Anders spiral until he hits full rock bottom and destroys the Chantry. We see Fenris... go play some cards with his buddies. I think it would've been more effective if Fenris got a little farther in his healing, namely his relationship with magic. I've said that I don't think Fenris would ever fully trust magic and I don't, but it would've been neat to at least see more progress made than is actually made in the game. This I think is the consequence of Dragon Age 2 being a first draft like David Gaider said, I think if they had more time, they could've pushed this further and made it more interesting, but I do genuinely like what's there like I genuinely like the entirity of Dragon Age 2.

Anyway, that's why in my opinion, Anders and Fenris never finding a common ground isn't a problem from a narrative perspective.

Time to be sad about the end of DAI. ...And by the end of DAI, I really mean the period between DAI and Trespasser, as clarified by the codex entries we get re the companions at the start of Trespasser.

The thing with the two year gap is that... it seems like eventually the entire inner circle (other than the advisors) left. Some of them it's a little unclear (Sera doesn't have a "The Last Few Years" codex entry, and while she's pleased to see everyone they all were gone, so it doesn't mean she was away from Skyhold, but if romanced her journal does say it's "been too long" since she's seen Quiz) and a lot of them seem to have been leaving temporarily, but... yeah, looks like the entire inner circle got to go off and do their own thing, while I get the impression Quiz was still stuck in Skyhold. Varric's in Kirkwall, Vivienne's dealing with the Circles (or Divine), Cassandra is hunting down Seekers or looking for Fade rifts depending on whether or not you told her to reform the Seekers (or Divine), Cole seems to be being sent on assignments with the scouts, Bull's off with the Chargers (if he's Ben-Hassrath it's a little unclear whether or not he left Skyhold, but if he's Ben-Hassrath he doesn't really count as a friend all things considered and if he did stay that would honestly make everything worse in the long run), Blackwall's either reconnecting with his men or doing Warden shit (or I believe in Warden custody if either you made him keep up the lie or didn't do his personal quest), Dorian's in Tevinter (although if romanced he's the only one with a clear timeline, since he specifically says he's been gone a month), and Solas obviously isn't around anymore.

I just... I can't help thinking about Quiz, cut off from all their friends and their lover, getting letters from all their friends about how they're getting on with their lives now that Corypheus is dealt with, and they're dying and it's been two years and they're still stuck in Skyhold. It would be so isolating, getting all these letters from people who are clearly enjoying their lives post-Corypheus when Quiz is still in that castle in the Frostbacks. Trespasser gets down to business pretty fast, so the game doesn't really dwell on what things were like during the period between the end of DAI and the start of Trespasser (some of it would presumably canonically be taken up with doing many side quests, but not all of it), but... I don't know. It just must have been lonely, especially if your Quiz doesn't get on super well with some or all of the advisors.

A closer examination of Fenris and Anders' party banter

There's two particular Anders-Fenris party banter that gets pointed out a lot as them being antagonistic to each other, but upon second readings, they both can seem like genuine attempts at connection:

Fenris: Is there something you want, Anders? Anders: You really don't have the temperament for a slave. Fenris: Is that a compliment or an insult? Anders: I'm just wondering how your master didn't kill you. Fenris: How have the templars not killed you? Anders: I'm charming.

Here, it almost seems like Anders is saying, "You rebelled against your oppressors too, huh? I had to survive by being charming. I just wonder how you did it." It was a moment of acknowledgement and recognition, that Fenris, too, rebelled against the ones who had power over him and survived, just like Anders did.

Fenris: You should have lived in Tevinter. You'd be happier there. Anders: You're probably right. Fenris: There, your magic would be a mark of honor. Apprenticed to the right Magister, you would do well. Anders: Is there a down side? Fenris: Only if you're bothered by owning a few slaves and performing the occasional blood ritual. Anders: So they all do those things? Fenris: Just the ones who don't complain about how powerless and persecuted they are.

And in this banter, it's almost as if Fenris is saying, "No, you aren't like the mages and magisters I met in Tevinter. You're different." All the 'normal' practices of Tevinter like blood rituals and owning slaves ... Fenris knows that Anders would never do that. I'm tempted to even say it was almost a compliment -- Fenris acknowledges Anders' talents as a mage, but also recognizes that Anders has no desire to social-climb, and that is what differentiates Anders from the power-hungry magisters of Tevinter.

Their banter looks like vicious sniping on the surface, but on closer inspection, they really were just a hair's breadth away from making a connection.

This banter from the 'Legacy' DLC drives me insane because it was literally right there. We were so close to a breakthrough.

Anders: When I left the Wardens, I swore I'd never spend another minute in the Deep Roads. Fenris: "Left" sounds like it was a mutual arrangement. Anders: Fine. I ran away. What's it to you? Fenris: Ran away from the Circle, ran away from the Wardens... it sounds like a habit.

(If Hawke is in a romance with Fenris)

Anders: Running away from your family, straight to Danarius. Running away from Danarius, straight to Hawke. Maybe we're more alike than you think.

(Otherwise)

Anders: And you ran away from Danarius. Maybe we're more alike than you think.

(if Varric is in the party)

Varric: I've always said so.

If only BioWare's writing had allowed them to explore that common ground and be allies, even friends. They understand each other on a level the other companions couldn't. They recognize themselves in each other, they could have supported one another because both of them know exactly what it means to be constantly on the run, looking for escape, looking for a place to belong to. Not to mention it would have been such a compelling development to their relationship!

But no, for the sake of forced grey morality, where both sides needed to be portrayed as equally good and bad, BioWare needed to use Anders and Fenris as mouthpieces for opposing sides so they couldn't allow the relationship to ever evolve past arguing with each other, despite seven years of companionship and proximity.

My thoughts/headcanons about the different styles of magic across Thedas. I'm skipping avvar and elvhenan because... idk i don't feel like it (we also can't really comprehend the extent of elvhen magic yet. perhaps we never will.):

SOUTHERN CIRCLES: perhaps the one we've been most familiar with until now. Solas criticises Vivienne on a few counts with regards to her magic and I think this sums it up: "Your rigorous training lays a solid foundation, true. It also creates boundaries, limits, where none need exist." I think that's indicative of the Southern approach to magic in general. The Chantry needs to keep its mages under a tight leash, but it also has a vested interest in training them to be useful, especially in a military capacity. Within the Circles there is some room for experimentation and advancement, but it's always limited by fear and the harsh regulations imposed on their use of magic.

Therefore I think Southern Circle magic tends towards the practical, the utilitarian, somewhat of an inflexible, blunt approach. They likely favour elemental magic, though spirit healing seems to be reluctantly tolerated for its sheer usefulness. There's some variety, though, such as the Kirkwall Circle favouring Force Magic.

TEVINTER: obviously Tevinter mages enjoy a great deal more freedom in terms of magic, and can freely experiment and push the limits, in fact they're incentivised to do so. Leaving aside blood magic for now, magic is an intrinsic part of Tevinter culture, and Circles are regarded as prestigious academies-- I think magic there is viewed as an art, a science. Obviously from a banter between Solas and Dorian we know that Tevinter stole techniques from the ancient elves. There are likely some similarities although obviously Tevinter magic has evolved since then.

Imo Tevinter magic is about precision, skillfulness, refinement, elegance, subtlety. There's almost a certain poetry to it, though it is also showy, ostentatious. They appreciate magic for magic's sake, not just as a tool. I talked in a different post about how I don't like Necromancy for Dorian and I wish he'd had a specialisation that showcased an aspect of Tevene magic other than blood magic- like I said I think this could have been glyph-based magic, which is showy but also might require skill and dexterity.

DALISH: The Dalish mages we've met have been very capable and well-trained, so I think it's unfair to say their magic is inferior to anyone else's. I think it's simply different. Since they live so closely with nature I tend to think they have an intuitive, instinctual approach to magic, almost a natural ease. To Dalish mages, magic is like breathing, though there is a lot of study that goes into it as well.

Obviously we have direct examples of Keeper magic in both Velanna and Merrill, so apart from the typical thornblades-type spells I'd also say they favour primal magic (lightning, stonefist/petrify etc)- based somewhat on the fact that Merrill doesn't have access to the elemental tree in da2. Not that I don't think they can summon fire, but I think they view fire magic differently. This is my headcanon/inference but, like healers, Keepers follow Sylaise's Vir Atish'an, the way of peace. Sylaise represents healing, but also fire. For someone who lives in a forest, fire is useful, but can be destructive if it gets out of control. I believe they don't view fire as an offensive tool primarily, but as something healing.

QUNARI: again, Qunari magic is severely limited, even more so than in Southern Circles. I think the Qunari view their mages as basically walking rocket launchers, but magic is their blind spot. They're terrified of it, so they'll never get the most out of its possibilities. I mean, their mages can't even talk to each other, so what chance is there of exchanging ideas and advancing? This might be the reason why they haven't totally crushed Tevinter tbh. It does seem that Qunari/Vashoth likely make naturally powerful mages, it's just that their magic is unrefined, brutal, basic but destructive. I imagine they favour the most basic elemental or primal magic, hardly venturing into any other schools at all. The Saarebas seem to have lightning abilities in-game, which fits a society which is technologically advanced but limited when it comes to magic.

NEVARRA: so obviously we've got the Mortalitasi. Tbh I'm not as interested in the Mortalitasi as I could be, I think necromancy just doesn't appeal to me in terms of vibes lol. But anyway, it's clear that magic in Nevarra has a ritualistic importance, it's dark and secretive, subtle, and even though it can be used offensively that seems to be a secondary purpose. I think, like in Tevinter, magic is likely an intellectual or a scientific pursuit, but here it also has a religious significance. Obviously they favour spirit magic and necromancy. Unlike Rivain and the Avvar, though, they seem to view spirits as tools/slaves- in Tevinter Nights we see a Mortalitasi using a wisp to stir her tea for example.

RIVAIN: ugh my faves. There's a good chance we'll get to see this in the next game and I couldn't be more excited. We know that the women are trained as Seers and commune with spirits. The Circles there are really just a front to appease the Chantry, while the unique brand of Rivaini magic is a natural facet of life. I think it's probably witchy, obviously spiritual, intuitive, likely also ritualistic. Obviously a lot of it is spirit magic, probably spirit healing, but I like to think they also use Entropy magic (my beloved) because the idea of curses just kind of fits the witchy vibes of it all. Since their culture is so entwined with the sea, storm magic also might make sense.

(You might already have talked about that, so sorry if you have, but if not :) are there NPC from each da games you would have like to have/thought they would work great as main companion ?

an interesting question!!

so first of all—justice for my girl Fiona.

with that out of the way... so, I think that companions have a couple of very important functions they're meant to fill, first and foremost being that the position they occupy in the world should grant them a unique perspective that they are meant to share with the player. they're tools for elaborating upon the setting and its controversies in a personable manner.

so one perspective I think that has been sorely lacking throughout the entire series is that of someone who has been raised primarily in the alienage and can act as the game's stand-in for alienage culture. like!! it's a major culture in the setting, where are they!! we don't even set foot in an alienage in Inquisition. are we too important for that!! so anyway on that basis I think that Shianni, Feynriel, and Briala are all interesting characters who could and should have had a lot more to say.

(I've also gone on record several times that Nelaros would have made the perfect warden recruit if only he hadn't bit it while kicking in noble heads so, you know, if he's available... justice for my boy Nelaros)

we've had an enslaved and elven perspective on Tevinter from Fenris and an upperclass mage perspective from Dorian. I think the perspective Krem supplies would make an interesting addition to that. he'd be a great companion. justice for my boy Krem. lemme smash.

I am so fucking tired of Varric's ~oooooo im not like the other dwarves~ perspective going unopposed for two games in a row and counting. well we've had a warrior caste perspective from Oghren and a casteless perspective Sigrun from dust town, and Varric is deeply enmeshed with the merchant's guild and carta whether he'd like to be or not. our options are pretty thin on the ground here, but hey! Lace Harding is a surfacer who isn't deeply embedded in and embittered by what one thinks of as typical surface culture. what's her life been like? (lemme smash.) (also justice for my girl Sigrun, I love her so much, where did she go.)

and look if we do need a look in on the templars from an inside perspective... I'm just throwing this out there, Raleigh Samson, in either 2 or Inq. now there is a man who has seen a lot of shit.

you know what is notably so absent I can't even scrape together a suggestion for a companion? the fucking, Vashoth?? like can we get a hot mercenary in here who is not actually a spy for the Ben-Hassrath or am I going to have to do everything around here myself!! justice for my girl Shokrakar. 😤

Did you know that there are whipping posts in the Kirkwall Gallows?

They’re rather easy for players to miss. You can see them in the background during The Last Straw (Act 3), and as early as Act 1 (and continuing into Act 2), Circle mages can be heard complaining, “Don’t talk to me. The templars will give me thirty lashes if they see me speaking to a civilian.” During the quest A Noble Agenda (Act 3), a woman reports seeing a mage cousin “whipped, half-starving” while pleading for mercy from a literal “death squad.”

In-universe, however, the whippings in the Gallows appear to be common knowledge. During Repentance (Act 2), we can see a whipping post (the exact same model observed in the Gallows later on) being used for sexual roleplay in the Harimann Estate in Hightown.

Lord Harimann: Now, you be the naughty apprentice, and I’ll be the Templar torturer.

It’s Played For Laughs here of course, but it really says something that citizens of Kirkwall know about Templar abuses in the Gallows and just how awful conditions are there — including the use of whipping posts. This isn’t even the only instance in the game of random NPCs referring to the severity of the repression and the rampant cruelty.

For example…

During The Destruction of Lothering (Prologue):

Hawke: I heard someone call this fortress the Gallows. Is it a prison?

Guardsman Wright: Used to be, back in the Imperial days. They kept slaves here until the rebellion. Now the templars run it and use it to lock up their mages. Guess not much has changed.

Outside Lirene’s shop, during Tranquility (Act 1):

Refugee: Hey! We heard you in there. Asking about the healer. We know what happens to mages in this town. And it ain't gonna happen to him.

Speaking to the sister of a Templar during Enemies Among Us (Act 1):

Macha: Keran was always so devout, so idealistic. He was so proud when the templars accepted him. I pleaded with him not to join the Order, but he wouldn't listen. You hear dark rumors about the templars and Knight-Commander Meredith. And now my brother is gone.

Hawke: (“Are templars so bad here?”) In Lothering, some templars died protecting villagers. I never heard any dark rumors.

Macha: And those are the stories my Keran adored. But it is not like that here, serah. There is a growing darkness in the order. They prowl the streets in packs. Hunting. And now, they say their duties put them above us, that they have the right to... take people from their homes. It is frightening.

Hawke: (“Tell me about Meredith”) What do people say about Knight-Commander Meredith?

Macha: Oh, she has many admirers. They laud the service she does in keeping the mages in check. But others say she is terribly fierce and utterly without pity. That she sees demons everywhere. It is dangerous even to whisper such things.

During Wayward Son (Act 1):

Feynriel: Look, I know it's different in other kingdoms, but here... no one helps Circle mages. Anything the templars don't like, you get the brand.

During Underground Railroad (Act 2):

Hawke: Helping apostates is dangerous. If the templars caught you...

Mistress Selby: One of my sisters is a mage. A gentle child, so generous. She was made Tranquil last year. Templars claimed she was a danger. Now... it's like she's not there. That shouldn't be forced on anyone.

In Sundermount (Act 3), if Feynriel escapes to Tevinter:

Arianni: I hear the templars have grown more abusive of the mages in Kirkwall. I'm glad Feynriel is no longer subject to their whims.

By the Docks, any Act:

Unnamed Woman: I feel sorry for the mages sometimes, you know? What a terrible thing, to be used by everyone.

Knight-Captain Cullen even admits that the common folk suspect them and have become hostile towards the Templars. There’s this exchange in Act 1:

Hawke: The templars defend us all.

Cullen: That's a surprisingly unpopular viewpoint. It used to be that templars were welcomed wherever they went—for defending people from dark magics. Now the townsfolk are as likely to slam their doors as offer us a bed. The image of the poor, chained apprentice is a powerful one. And one the mages are more than willing to exploit.

Then there’s the codex for the Mage Underground (available in Dissent, Act 2), written by Cullen:

Every Circle in Thedas suffers from individual mages who rebel and attempt to flee… Until now, I have never served anywhere that the populace does not fully cooperate in hunting these rebels. Here in Kirkwall, citizens actually help rebel mages escape.

In World of Thedas vol. 2 (p. 173), from a note dated 9:25 (set between Acts 2-3) from a mage of the Hossberg Circle in the far away Anderfels: 

I have heard that in the Kirkwall Gallows, mages are locked in their cells with barely room to stretch, let alone exercise.  I can promise you that any mage of the Anderfels would be stark raving mad after a week of such treatment... No wonder Kirkwall has such trouble with blood mages.

Even relative newcomers recognize the situation right away. For example, when speaking to Grand Cleric Elthina in the Chantry (Act 1):

Hawke: Why are Circle mages here kept in a Tevinter prison?

Elthina: Ah. So soon you take an interest in our problems. The short answer is, it was a building. A large one. Should it have sat empty? The Chantry found a use for what was once a horror. It is the nature of men to move on and forget the past. Even your Blight will be a distant memory in our lifetimes.

Isabela: “Once a horror?” Yes, I'm sure it's filled with flowers and sunshine and happiness now.

Even Fenris, who supports Meredith’s policies, immediately notices (first entry into the Gallows, Act 1 or 2):

Fenris: I've... heard about the Circle of Magi outside of the Imperium, but I've never been in one. This seems more like a prison. I wonder if it's more effective than the Circle I know.

Given all this, it’s hard to believe that the people in power in Kirkwall don’t know (or at the very least suspect) what’s going on — more likely, they simply just don’t care.

Or perhaps they think it’s acceptable. As Cassandra says of the Seekers of Truth in Inquisition, “We knew what was happening at Kirkwall, where the mage rebellion began. We looked into reports of Knight-Commander Meredith’s harsh treatment of her charges years earlier. But we found so many shocking cases of magical corruption, it was decided her actions were justified.”

Fanfic Writer Questions

I was tagged in this by both @dreadfutures and @blarrghe ! I did this once a few years ago, so it's interesting to see what's changed since then.

Tagging forward: @theluckywizard @greypetrel @darethshirl @natliecole @if-not-now-tell-me-when @madame-fear

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 35, though I believe 5 of them are artwork only for exchanges and not actually fics.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 87, 413 words

3. What fandoms do you write for? In my AO3 era: Hockey RPF; Dragon Age; La Sociedad de la Nieve/Society of the Snow Pre-AO3 (the ff.net/LJ era): Digimon Adventure, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Beatles RPF, a little bit of DC/Marvel

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. The Tang of Liquor On His Tongue (Dragon Age) 2. The Dreamer Sets the Rules (Dragon Age) 3. mala suledin nadas (Dragon Age) 4. Smut Challenge 2: War Table Boogaloo (Dragon Age) 5. Mañana (LSDLN/SotS)

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! Or at least I try to! There have been a couple of times where I've gotten overwhelmed or have been busy and fallen behind. But I try really hard to reply to every single comment I get.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? That's hard to pick. I think that a lot of my fic endings lean more towards catharsis than raw angst. Perhaps "Lathbora Viran" is the angstiest ending because it concludes a trilogy of fics about Solas' spirit friend Wisdom and ends with the implication that Wisdom became corrupted into the Regret demon that appears in Skyhold in "Tevinter Nights".

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Any of my romantic fics, I guess? If I had to pick one then I would probably say "Nothing Else Than What is Now" which was the extremely long one shot that led to all my Quinn Trevelyan/Horatio Morris nonsense. It originally wasn't supposed to have a happy ending, but about midway through writing it I changed my mind and even though OC / OC is extremely niche in just about any fandom, I'm still glad I did it.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not yet. We'll see if that changes now that I've mentioned I've written LSDLN fic.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yep. 2 out of my top 5 fics are smut, and 2 more out of the top 5 have implied sex. I suppose that says I must be good at it. I don't really know what kind of smut I write since every smutfic I've written has been either a challenge or a prompt fill or a gift. I think I'm an example of that meme of "the 2000 word blow job is an important piece of character development". I really lean into tricking you into having emotions and feelings and getting introspective inside characters' heads while they're naked and getting down dirty. Come for the smut, stay for the emotional feelings!

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I did when I was younger, but haven't really vibed with it much in recent years. In terms of published fic, maybe the Harry Potter/Beatles crossover drabble I wrote based on a piece of artwork that an old friend of mine had done. I still have the fic, but the artwork has sadly been lost to the ethers of the internet. But the idea was that the Beatles didn't really break up in 1970, they just took on a different career.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not to my knowledge. But I have taken to granting permission in my author's notes of new fics for anyone who might want to translate them into other languages.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, actually! Some of my very first fanfics were co-written with a friend of mine. We never published them, but it was just fun to write little stories together.

14. What's your all time favourite ship? Even though I've never written any fanfic for it, I am 100% pure unleaded Chrobin trash. They are my OTP and I am probably due for a replay of Fire Emblem Awakening for it again. "YOU ARE THE WIND AT MY BACK AND THE SWORD AT MY SIDE."

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? One of the very first fics I ever started writing for the Dragon Age fandom was an Alistair/Cousland piece that looked at the period of time between the Warden's disappearance and their (hopefully) eventual return. It was meant to be 10 chapters, with each chapter split between a section in the past that looked at their romance over time and a section that took place in the more immediate present as Alistair navigated the events of DAI. I still have the document sitting on my laptop as well as backed up in my google drive, but I only ever finished the first chapter and even though I go back to it sometimes and make notes, I've not worked on it with any serious attention in years (I started this fic not too long after the Trespasser DLC was released) and at this point I doubt it will ever be in a publishable state let alone finished.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm really good at dialogue! I'm very good at conveying personalities and speech patterns in written dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Blowjobs

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? For me, I think it depends on the amount of dialogue that is being spoken in another language and whether or not it's something the character whose POV is being written would understand.

With fantasy settings like Dragon Age, most of my fics are written from the POV of one of the game protagonists which are all human in my world state. So they wouldn't understand things like Qunlat or Elvhen, but also as those conlangs are incomplete languages, I will usually just refer to dialogue as being spoken in a language that the POV character doesn't understand. In a few fics where I've written from Solas' POV, I have used things like italics or sometimes <<special dialogue brackets>> to denote that this speech is being spoken between two characters in another language. Since the languages are fictional but the story is being told in English, it makes sense that the "author" translates in a similar logic to how Tolkien's books are "translated" for us to read.

With stories and settings that are more grounded in reality, I'll use other languages where appropriate. Usually this is in the form of nicknames or titles or expressions that I feel can't really convey the same tone or idea if they were translated into English. I've been very fortunate to find several new friends in the LSDLN fandom who have taught me a lot about monickers and nicknames and phrases in different regional dialects of Spanish.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically it was Digimon Adventure - baby's first Mary-Sue fic

20. Favourite fic you've written? It's a tie between "In the Long Hours of the Night" and "The Many Faces of Wisdom". With the former, this was the fic where I first felt like I finally got Quinn Trevelyan. It was the fic where he emerged as a more formed and complete character and I'm still proud of it. With the latter, it was an experimental idea that toyed with a rather ambiguously-defined relationship between Solas and the Inquisitor. It also was the first time I played around with writing Fade scenes and spirits and you can see a lot of the building blocks that I would eventually revisit and explore more as I fleshed out my own lore. It's also the one fic where I started with a very specific image in my mind and that I would really love to commission art for one day.

Blank Form Under the Cut

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?

For the opinions meme - how about Varric, Krem, Zevran and Sten?

WOOOOH it's a lot! Thank you ask some more. 👀

SOOOO let's spill some tea, shall we. *crack knuckles*

Varric:

First impression: "Omg that's some chest hair." Of course. Nah it was like at first sight even without those, give me an unreliable sarcastic narrator and I'll be content.

Impression now: After reading some analyses and writing him... I still like him a lot as a character, but it's true that he's for sticking with the status quo and is terrified of changes, BUT he changes his mind if you push him enough (a lot), so that's ok. Leave Bianca dude seriously I'm suffering for your sake.

Favorite moment: The fake solo EPIC fight at Bartrand's. Iconic, you go man. Also, the descriptions on ships in Hard in Hightown without a hint of research. He just doesn't care and it works and it's a best seller. You go, Varric.

Idea for a story: I don't think anything about him will ever top the fic "Ask Varric" but I'd love to be proven wrong of course. (It's the fic I read when I'm sad it just sparks joy). I'd just love to see him coping with a Spirit Cole and learning that it's not the end of the world, he's still him. Alas I tend to focus more on my OCs. Maybe I'll try it one day or another, but it's not that day (and if you are reading this and find it a good prompt, be my guest, write it and please tag me)

Unpopular opinion: A centrist character that doesn't want change is actually a good counterpoint for Hawke.

Favorite relationship: *looks at DadWolf AU* AH-EHM. No, joking, I love a good fic that ships him with Cassandra.

Favorite headcanon: Bisexual in the closet, clearly had a one-night with Solas when they both got drunk I read the comic panels and listen LISTEN no homo bro

Krem:

First impression: I think I thought he looked very cool and had a very nice voice, I liked how professional he was and the dynamics of the Chargers from the start, the more he spoke the more I liked him.

Impression now: As above, I can't say much on how it was written but I like him very much as a character, I wish we saw more of him in game and that he was a romanceable option but alas

Favorite moment: I live for his dynamic with Bull they're just... The ultimate found family and they melt my little dark heart.

Idea for a story: Oh damn... Anything exploring his character more, honestly. I will be honest and say I'm not really shipping him with Maryden (I don't like Maryden much...?). Maybe something having him and Dorian in the same room. Add Fenris for the perfect Tevinter reunion and just dig in the chaos. Hateful Eight style. (Sorry Dor I don't think you're surviving this in one piece)

Unpopular opinion: Is there an unpopular opinion about Krem? No, I think my opinion on him are pretty average.

Favorite relationship: Chargers the ultimate Found Family all the way. With Bull, as in platonic. Or you know what. He makes plushies. Josie plays with them. KremxJosephine??? (it's farfetched and I really thought of it right now and with a beer in my belly. But...)

Zevran:

First impression: "Dude who gave you the assassin licence, Elmo?" No listen Zevran is the epitome of the character I like most. Cocky, histrionic, there for show, very charismatic. I was there and I liked him from the start.

Impression now: Same as above, it didn't change much. I only love him more after knowing all of it, he deserves all the love and praise he can get and some more.

Favorite moment: His recruitment is honestly an iconic epic fail come on what's there not to love. But also his banter with Alistair.

Idea for a story: I will write it sooner or later: Zevran and the Warden making spritz in the camp with what they could find/distill themselves. Listen, Antiva is Venezia, hence it's a SHAME that one of his gifts is not a glass of Spritz (the most typical cocktail from the... City or region I won't say or Ali will beat me with a newspaper if I get it wrong). In my mind the Dalish can and will distill alcohol with everything, as good old south mediterranean old people, the Arlathvens are basically a big reunion to share drinks. I will sooner or later write Alyra missing some good homemade liquor, him missing spritz, and the pair combining forces to recreate something with the resources they have. Raiding a tavern, Alyra distracts the host and Zevran slips behind the counter and steals Aperol.

Unpopular opinion: Not really an unpopular opinion but he's Italian not Spanish. The name also sounds from Veneto, if you read it with the accent on the a. Zevràn. It's me being picky, tho, I really don't have ANYTHING against people portraying him as Spanish and using Spanish for Antivan! I saw some very nice iterations. I don't think I have opinions about him that are really unpopular tho.

Favorite relationship: I'm a sucker for a good Zevalistair fic. I said it.

Favorite headcanon: Even in a platonic relationship, he still checks in regularly with his friends from the Blight. They all have a discount.

Sten:

First impression: I was pretty cold about him? Like ok, I'll free him just to piss the Nun off, but meh it sounds like a character I don't really like, too much a boring Paladin for me, meh.

Impression now: He likes cookies and he approves when you disagree with him? OMG I STAN *badum tsssss* Jokes beside, I think he's kind of… A missed chance? He's an interesting character and believe me I generally find his kind of character extremely boring, but… He doesn't have as much insight as the others have, it would have been nice to see more, have some more cut scenes with him or a more complex personal quest that wasn't just a "find the missing object".

Favorite moment: The cookie admission.

Idea for a story: Him and the Warden meeting again, with him as the Arishok. A good old reunion.

Unpopular opinion: I think the real missed chance in romancing a Qunari is not him but the Arishok in DA2 and I will die on this hill.

Favorite relationship: He and the Warden. Or with Morrigan.

Favorite headcanon: He didn't use "Kadan" for nothing, he sincerely had feels for the Warden.

All elfy headcanon stuff

I really love thinking about Ancient Elves and how the status quo used to be and how the Solas we know fits into that because Goddamn, at some point he must've been fine with slavery and then slowly had his character arc give him the realisation of that they are people and deserve the same privileges that he has.

There's so many codex's and other stuff basically showing Solas as Mythal's right hand man, little side kick, whatever. He had that privilege even when he was her slave with her vallaslin on his face and there was something that happened that made him argue with her, made him say no, I don't want to be bound to you and come up with a spell that would erase those markings and by extension that visible bond.

Mythal works within these same border and I wonder if she bought her own shit? As in she saw the vallaslin as a good thing, herself as a good person, like why would Solas not want this? He's rejecting me personally. Because if she WASN'T delusional and understood that people, slaves, were people and didn't deserve this, then it uncovers a whole other issue of why the fuck would Solas remain friends with her unless it was for protection.

I feel like it was a friendship of personal gain: Solas stuck with Mythal because I doubt at the start of his own freedom he had any standing without her. He needed her, I bet the man fawned for a millennia to get her to give a shit about him as a friend and even then "friend".

Mythal's been in this game too long to have actual friends and not have contingency plans to backstab them if need be, I guarantee she has fucked him over at some point. Which probably drove home to Solas that he truly could not trust her and that formed a big part of his character in Inquisition-- "Lean on your friends, Solas. Forgive me, Inquisitor. I have learned not to do that."

He's like a paranoid batman, imagine rich people in Orlais combined with the Magisters from Tevinter, all that pride and snobbery, all those slaves and Solas cannot trust even the slaves he has freed because freeing them mentally is not so cut and dry, we see that in DA2. Stockholm syndrome at its finest, slaves thinking their masters care and even then there can be so much fear.

And that leans straight to Solas having his followers kill themselves rather than be taken and questioned. Ruthless yes, but's he had to be to get the title, to get the standing, to get the power to free slaves and now to undo his previous mistake. He cannot afford to not be ruthless.

All this came from me seeing that mural of Fen'Harel taking the vallaslin off slaves and freeing them--

The still slaves on the left are bald, the freed ones on the right now have hair so I feel like having no hair isn't the best fashion trend (like I previously thought) it's dehumanising for one but also no personal upkeep, it can't look untidy, they can't stand out in any way if they all look the same, dress the same, same hair cut, same vallaslin.

Complete depersonalisation and I love LOVE that Solas shaved his head and uses magic to keep himself that way. To show he used to be one of them and yet now he's more. To have that pride in himself, I look like a slave but I'm not, I am more and have always been, look at me and know your worth!

Again, I just wish to know what pushed him to that realisation. Was it a big dramatic thing or was it a slow learning process over time to see that both he and the slaves around him mattered.

No point to this post, I'm rambling.

Actually, there should be a fic where therapy is all the rage for players of the Game in Orlais. On the theme of TV therapists, you know?

The worldbuilding checks out, to me: the idea of a secret-keeper to whom you can say anything at all feels very Orlesian. This profession would never last somewhere like Tevinter—too much mind control available—but Orlais has just the right amount of drama and cloak and dagger bullshit and paper thin respectability.

It's an old profession. The very rich can afford to employ someone to sit, and listen, and not tell. And now in this new age those professionals are also attempting to develop their skills with therapeutic frameworks (with mixed efficacy, a lot of bias, and dubious science, as is traditional). They have a guild now, with its own politics and professional standards, like renaissance wool-workers or something. This means they're no longer tied to individual houses, which means their loyalties are a lot more suspect.

They're not called therapists though. Too pedestrian. Too mundane. Since the chantry, despite seeming based on the catholic church, doesn't appear to have them, we can call them Confessors. Madame Confesseur? Is that the term?

Anyway they don't treat people who actually need therapy unless they happen to also need somewhere to put 10 royals for every hour of service. It's a mostly ineffectual profession, except when you get a confessor who is also in the fortunate position to be employed by someone with an actual problem that cannot, you know, be mistaken for demons. But the socially shy cousin of your local aristocrat is well taken-care of, I guess.

It just tickles me to have an entire profession dedicated to helping rich tits talk through things they cannot share with others, charging a lot for it, and then... selectively sharing it with others, because this is Orlais. Maybe there's an extra layer of convolution here: what the confessor tells the increasingly powerful guild as dues vs what the confessor keeps to themself vs what the confessor shares openly. You'd have to be very good at picking and choosing the secrets you shared—don't want to end up dead, but want to be able to profit from the fall out. A popular profession for wayward younger children, I think: people familiar with the Game but without means of their own.

But tozette, you say, why would someone actually use one of these professionals if they're so obviously corrupt?

It's fashionable. It's very tempting to rich and romantic Orlesians to act like they're carrying burdens so heavy that they must set them down at the feet of someone who can never tell. The air of mystery. The shroud of secrecy. (Often, I imagine, it really is just wine and a conversation about the opera; there aren't that many earthshaking secrets in Orlais.)

Leliana loves them, and she has also never told one a single real secret. She likes to lie to them and see where, exactly, in high society her carefully-confessed lies crop up later. It helps her keep track of the far-reaching endless tapestry that is the Great Game.

Comparing and Contrasting Recipes From the Cookbook to Previous Mentions: The Differences, Similarities, and My Thoughts

A full list of recipes that have been previously mentioned in the series, coupled with my thoughts on the cookbooks working recipe in comparison.

I find interest in the fact that the working recipes have little to no grounding in lore as they are often in contradiction to the lore blurbs that accompany them or are in direct contradiction of in game recipes in instances that don't seem apparent as to why they made the ingredient change. Fluffy Mackerel Pudding being the exception to this.

But I broke this into 4 sections:

Previous Dishes Recipes and Their Differences

Drink Recipes

Lore Differences, General Notes

Short Summary of Opinion

Going to put all of this under the cut as it is super long.

Previous Recipes and Their Differences

Antivan Gnocchi This one was a curious one, as the dish was only recently introduced into Thedas in Tevinter Nights. I enjoyed the lore blurb for this recipe as it really anchored in some food and cultural facts you only hear in the anthology. However, the lore blurb describes the gnocchi as dressed with leeks and cheese sauce but then the working recipe... distinctly lacks any leeks and instead goes for a rather basic pine nut pesto sauce. Which puzzles me why they didn't just simply describe that rather than what is in the lore blurb.

Eggs à la Val Foret Originally mentioned in a note in Trespasser. It is described in the cookbook to have tons of cream and in the original note to have a cream sauce. However, the working recipe does not follow that criteria, using hollandaise sauce and giving this recipe a form of eggs Benedict, leaving the first case for why the recipes in the cookbook are likely not adhering to canon.

Black Lichen Bread This one I almost didn't include as the specification of black lichen has never been mentioned before in canon. However, we do know that in Origins we have mentions in Orzammar of lichen bread and in the lore blurb it specifies "this is lichen bread not bark bread" so I'm running with that. My thoughts on this particular recipe is the fact that instead of using a grain that would give a brown colour and mixing something like black seasame of gel food colouring to achieve the dark colour and instead used activated charcoal. Which shouldn't be anyone's first choice due to the known risks of consuming activated charcoal. Which is a whole post in and of itself that I went into here.

Dwarven Plum Jam The plum jam was first mentioned in Origins and has been remarked on multiple times since. There isn't really anything to contradict here in terms of the lore blurb, the working recipe throws me, because this recipe is not meant for long term storage outside of the refrigerator. Which is arguably not made clear enough as the final step says "The plum jam will keep for up to 6 months sealed in a cool place. Refrigerate after opening." Which contradicts the last line of the previous step "Store the jars in the refrigerator." As minor as they seem, these are pretty big distinctions. A cool place does not necessarily mean you keep it in the fridge, and this has to be kept in the fridge. The recipe doesn't call for any sugar so there is nothing actually preserving this for long term storage outside of it. So, it really isn't stressed at all and the wordage is conflicting. I would have adapted this for a smaller batch because 4-5 - 14oz jars in your fridge of the same thing take up a lot of space if you aren't giving them away. Additionally, I'd use allspice instead of cinnamon and vanilla extract. If you bloom the allspice before putting it in the plum reduction you get a much larger depth of flavor and you get the notes of vanilla and other things with it.

Fish Chowder First mentioned by Zevran in Origins while speaking of Antiva, the lore blurb carries the same theme. Speaking of how it is a dish that will bring you to Antiva city. There isn't much to speak of in terms of pre-established ingredients, however I find that the working recipe is a bit rich for a dish to be served to folks between a tannery and the coast. Which is a theme I have noticed in general with recipes of the poor or lower class. Instead of using them as simple, low-effort, and sort of beginner recipes they seem to evolve into one of the more complex. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I would have preferred they took advantage of more humble recipes from lore as such things and add additional notes of possible things they could include to "elevate" the recipe as it is called.

Fish in Salt Crust This is Avvar in origin and first mentioned in the DLC Jaws of Hakkon. The lore blurb and in-game description say that this is made by wrapping the fish in pungent leaves and cooked on banked coals. However where the in-game description specifies that the fish and leaves are wrapped in clay, the cookbook's lore blurb replaces that with salt. To be honest when I heard it was wrapped in pungent leaves and clay/salt, I was thinking something akin to banana leaves or something of the sort. The working recipe however uses thyme and rosemary, herbs. Which is an understandable and accessible swap, however the conversion of clay to a salt crust confuses me as there are casserole dishes, terracotta dishes, and other cookware means to replicate the "clay" wrapping while cooking in an oven. Especially considering the recipe calls for 4.5-6.5 lbs (2.04-2.95 kg) of salt I think a cookware swap would have been more economical. That said I do love a good salt crusted fish.

Fish Pocket Though referred to as fish wraps by The Iron Bull in DAI, these are the same dish. The lore blurb says that they learned this recipe from the Bull's Chargers. Which would imply the working recipe is roughly the same. However in the game Bull describes it as fish wrapped in thin bread. The working recipe has these more akin to a hand pie or pasty, wrapping the store-bought salmon filet in pizza dough with minimal seasoning of salt, parsley, pepper, shallot, and egg.

Fluffy Mackerel Pudding This recipe first debuted in Origins thanks to Mary Kirby and Sheryl Chee. It is in reference to the original weight watcher recipe and also the secondary example as to why the recipes likely aren't canon outside of the lore blurbs. The recipe in-game and the cookbook lore blurb calls for celery, eggs, mackerel and onion. The in game recipe also calls for Antivan pepper (Thedas replacement for cayenne), green pepper, mustard, salt, mace, cardamom seed and specifies the mackerel is to be poached. The working recipe calls for potatoes, smoked mackerel, butter, eggs, black pepper, and ground nutmeg. An entirely different dish for obvious reasons, as this dish was a play on a weight watchers recipe.

Found Cake First introduced in Origins and described very little aside from how it had likely seen better days as well as having mabari spittle on it. Something the lore blurb of the cookbook references. A new aspect of this cake coming from the cookbook is that it is a chocolate cream variety topped with white frosting and strawberries. Much like the item icon in Origins, though it should be noted the item icon is also shared with the sugar cake. As far as the working recipe, it's simple and sounds delicious.

Goat Custard This one is technically introduced in Inquisition, however it is not a desert custard but a savory one. It's actually not a custard at all but a broiled goat head. So, a very big switch up! I do enjoy this recipe as a whole though, from the wonderful short lore blurb to the rather simple recipe.

The Hanged Man's Mystery Meat Stew Previously only mentioned on a loading screen of DA2, this stew in the lore blurb is kept the same. A mysterious meat stew made every day, but not knowing what exact type of meat you might be eating. Personally, I find the working recipe in the cookbook too elaborate for a tavern that is known for its ill-reputable clientele and is described as smelling of sour ale, vomit, and desperation. The working recipe calls for olive oil, onion, garlic, pancetta, ground pork, tomato paste, dry red wine, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, canned corn, red bell pepper, chili pepper, bay leaves, allspice berries, clove, salt, pepper, paprika, caraway, oregano, sugar, lemon, and parsley for garnish.

Heath Cakes Another recipe that debuted in the World of Thedas Volume 2 under 'The Whole Nug' section on page 295. It also notes that it is traditionally made with halla butter but can be substituted with goat or cow butter, same as in World of Thedas. Hearth cakes are noted to be "common Dalish fare".

Lamb and Pea Stew This was a stew first mentioned in Origins and has been jokingly referred to since, even in the cookbook. Alistair's version of this dish is a uniform grey colour that leaves Leliana unable to discern that there was even lamb in the stew. Though the cookbook calls this King Alistair's Lamb and Pea Stew, it is clear in the lore blurb that Alistair's opinions on Fereldan cooking is incorrect save for throwing it in a large pot. Overall the working recipe is fairly basic; potatoes, oil, onions, ground lamb, tomato paste, beef stock, canned peas and carrots, pepper, paprika, butter, cream, nutmeg, cheese, and thyme. However instead of a stew, this working recipe instructs you in what would better be described as a casserole. Which isn't the first time that the cookbook deviates so strongly from the dish name or even lore description.

Llomerryn red Mentioned in the recipe for Merrill's Blood Soup and is another recipe that debuted in the World of Thedas Volume 2 under 'The Whole Nug' section on page 286.

Nug Pancakes A dish first mentioned in Origins along with the famed nug-gets. A recipe, unfortunately only referenced in the cookbook. Over all the gist of these is the same and the working recipe itself takes on a more developed and savory path than one would expect for something deemed to be a child's favorite. And by that I simply mean it is a high effort meal that I couldn't really see being served regularly outside of Orzammar's upper castes of nobles, royals, and warriors. As in Orzammar such spices as sugar, coriander, cumin, spicy hungarian paprika, chili powder, and the like would all be expensive surface imports.

Peasant Bread Originally shown in the novel Masked Empire as Michel de Chalon watches the Dalish make it for their midday meal and reminds him of his mother making it. Like the novel, the lore in the cookbook keeps the basic ingredients the same, a simple recipe of wheat, salt, and grease. The difference between the novel and cookbook lore is their chosen topping, Michel's mother would top his slice with sugar and the cookbook suggests butter and jam. The working recipe however, calls for an alternative of active dry yeast, flour, sugar, milk, egg yolks, and butter.

Pickled Eggs Another recipe that debuted in the World of Thedas Volume 2 under 'The Whole Nug' section on page 285. It is also noted to be a popular Fereldan tavern food and cure all. The difference in tone between the two recipes is 'The Whole Nug' is written by an Orlesian and views the recipe with distaste, and the cookbook's narrator is Fereldan and speaks with a fondness. The recipe itself differs in that the World of Thedas calls for sugar, salt, vinegar, water, and boiled and peeled eggs while the cookbook - which notes it is providing a base recipe that you can customize - lists onion, bay leaf, allspice berries, cloves, mustard seed, peppercorns, dried chili pepper, caraway, water, sugar, salt, white wine vinegar, and eggs. It also suggest alternative herbs and spices such as rosemary, tarragon, dill, thyme, and curry or to include aromatics like beets, bell peppers, squash, and garlic. Overall, this is one of my favorite working recipes for how its formatted and how it encourages more openly with trying different seasonings. Though, I think the World of Thedas recipe is better as a "base" to build from. So if you do want to experiment, I think reducing to those basic 5 ingredients and building from there is the best way to go about it.

Roasted Cave Beetles Previously mentioned in the Dragon Age Tabletop RPG (TTRPG) in the Buried Pasts adventure, the dwarves eat the beetles in the shell after roasting them.

Roasted Wyvern This is an Orlesian and Avvar favored meal item, mentioned in Da2 and in World of Thedas Vol. 2. There really wasn't much description on the method of roasting, seasoning or anything. So there really was a lot of room to play with this. One thing I found curious was that they use turkey legs in the working recipe for wyvern meat. It is an interesting choice and one likely made due to the size of a turkey leg, as you can't necessarily make turkey steaks like the wyvern steak mentioned in the Rusted Horn.

Sera's Yummy Corn Another recipe that debuted in the World of Thedas Volume 2 under 'The Whole Nug' section on page 295. It was written in her hand and displayed as if it was slipped in. Like in the lore burb of the cookbook, it is specified that the corn used has to be yellow and "not that weirdly checkered stuff". That it needed to be "cake-hot, not forge-hot" and it required no pot or wrap, simply "steal-heat-peel". However, in contrast to both of those, the working recipe of the cookbook makes what would be a humble and delicious snack a little more. Introducing herb butter composed of parsley, chives, clove, red onion, butter, ground mustard, and has you boil the corn (it suggests pre-cooked?) in milk and sugar, before you grill or broil it and top it with chili pepper rings.

Smoked Ham from the Anderfels There really isn't much to say about this famous gag in Dragon Age. First mentioned in the dlc Mark of the Assassin, we get the first idea of what exactly is on this ham in the cookbook lore book. It comes with different glazes, Devon's favorite being a glaze composed of apples and apricots.

Starkhaven Fish and Egg Pie Originally mentioned in Dragon Age 2 and later in Dragon Age Inquisition, this dish is spoken to be both Sebastain Vael and Samson's favorite dish. It is a recipe that appeared in the World of Thedas Volume 2 under 'The Whole Nug' section on page 283. The working recipe in the cookbook vs The Whole Nug differs a fair bit. To start, the amount of ingredients between the two, the cookbook having 23 and The Whole Nug having 15. I couldn't really compare the two in which I would prefer, but I do have a leaning towards The Whole Nug due to it being more adaptable as well as being intentionally anchored in-world.

Stuffed Vine Leaves These were first depicted in the comic Deception, where they are in a tavern in Tevinter and in the background you see someone eating what looks like dolmas or stuffed grape leaves.

Sugar Cake Another Origins item, this cake is described as being a simple pound cake dressed in strawberries and sugar-cream icing. However, the lore blurb and the working recipe directly contradict this. The lore blurb describes it as a humble mixture of butter, sugar, and almonds. Then, directly references a line from the origins item description about how it is "the perfect pick-me-up after a long day of travel." They seemed to have given the cream icing and the strawberries to the aforementioned found cake and turned this into a simple pound cake with almond topping. Which works well enough, however I think if they swapped the names on the two recipes they would make more sense. The working recipe calls for such little sugar, I didn't quite get as much sweetness as one would expect from such a cake.

Turnip and Mutton Pie Previously mentioned in Inquisition on the Rusted Horn's menu in Crestwood, this is another recipe with more play for the cookbook as the game only offers the detail that such a dish is worth 3 coppers. The lore blurb in the cookbook makes it sound like a humble and filling dish as well as describing it as a double crusted pot pie versus just a top crust. Which is what the working recipe gives you. Which isn't surprising and is of little consequence one way or the other, especially considering that the working recipe is for an 11-inch (27.94cm) pie.

Drink Recipes

All of my opinions on the alcoholic drinks is that they should have had a mocktail version, and if not all a good chunk of them would have worked well as mocktails.

Another opinion of mine that you will see pretty regularly is that most of these drinks have listed ingredients in lore and are usually remarked on in the lore blurbs. But the working recipes are so far removed it is rather jarring. Which circles back to my previous opinion of the fact they could have made these mocktails.

Antivan Sip-Sip Introduced in Inquisition, there is no official ingredient list for this one. Simply this description: "Careful, this one's mean. Attic-raised mean. Popular among highborn who wish to seem dangerous, but more at home grasped by the neck by those who actually are." A description that is vaguely referenced in the lore blurb. As far as the working recipe goes, it's simple coconut rum, Jägermeister, and pineapple juice. Honestly, it could be a mocktail but I don't think it's really a missed opportunity here that it wasn't unlike some of the others.

Chasind Sack Mead Described in Origins as "A brutishly strong honey liquor, reminiscent of warm summer days, apple blossoms on the wind with an unexpected aftertaste of father going off to war, never to return. Bitter, to say the least." The lore blurb makes another poetic description in the same vein where it is more akin to the changing of the seasons; "First, there's a near-overwhelming rush of honey, tinged with the sour-sweetness of apple blossoms, that fills the mouth with all the bright warmth of a summer's day. But as the initial sweetness fades, there comes an unexpected bitterness, reminiscent of the slow decay into fall, then winter." They're both distinct and evoke a certain flavour profile to the mind. Now I likely won't be making this at any time, so I cannot speak to how well the working recipe captures that flavour. But the ingredients it lists vaguely evoke the potential of it in theory of what I know for these ingredients. It calls for apple juice (unfiltered), pure culture brewer's yeast, water, honey, St. John's wort, meadowsweet, verbena, and kieselsol.

Dragon Piss This one is interesting because while it has this description in Origins: "The name is probably figurative, but no one knows for sure." It actually has its first draft of a recipe from a twitch stream where the recipe is "1oz light rum, 1 oz dark rum, fill with iced tea". The cookbook recipe is a far departure from that, as it calls for raspberry brandy, sparkling wine, and blue curaçao liqueur; as well as lighting it on fire. The main spectacle of this drink is that it is lit on fire. I think the twitch recipe is a good foundation of a mocktail as well as sticks more visually to the name. Could have been a mocktail.

The Emerald Valley This cocktail from Inquisition is a recipe from The Gilded Horn like many on this list. But for this drink, it calls for: a spirit distilled by Chantery sisters in Lydes from over seventy herbs and flowers, topped with egg-white foam and dusted with nutmeg. A rather specific spirit to say the least. So much so the lore blurb for this drink is only two sentences long and focuses on that. Meanwhile the working recipe calls for ice cubes, bourbon, herb liqueur, simple syrup, heavy whipping cream, egg yolk, and freshly grated nutmeg. The only overlap between the two is the nutmeg dusting. I do wonder why they went with bourbon and made what is in essence eggnog with less spices. The shift from egg-white foam topper to what seems like would have been a good herb infused liqueur or an herbal simple syrup and making it akin to a mule or mojito. If they really wanted to keep with the strong herbal taste a St. Germain would have been a good base to build off of. Could have been a mocktail.

The Golden Nug From Inquisition, this recipe from The Gilded Horn calls for effervescent (fizzy) white Seleney wine, dash of West Hill Brandy, and a splash of pomegranate juice, muddled with raspberries and a sprig of royal elfroot. The lore blurb also specifies all this but the royal elfroot and describes the drink of having a pinkish hue. The working recipe however calls for ice cubes, grapefruit juice, gin, tonic water, and rosemary for garnish. A departure from the fizzy white wine and brandy combo with pomegranate and raspberries. If they were going to keep it alcoholic, I think a better swap would have to keep everything but swap the white wine for tonic water and making this a brandy and tonic based cocktail with pomegranate and raspberries vs a grapefruit gin and tonic and still achieve a soft pink look. Could have been a mocktail.

The Hissing Drake In-game recipe from The Gilded Horn which includes: cinnamon-infused whiskey, dark Llomerryn rum, Hirol's Lava Burst. Two of those three recipes are pretty easy to find here, and the Hirol's Lava Burst which "tastes of burning" would have been replaced with a high-proof alcohol and/or mixing in hot sauce or garnishes with spice - as it does in the working recipe. However the working recipe amounts to a bloody mary, having: Lemon juice, salt, vodka, tomato juice, tabasco, worcestershire sauce, pepper, sea salt, celery rib, pickle, spiced jerky. Coupling the working recipe with the lore blurb, it feels a little weird to have a drinking contest with bloody marys. But, people can and do have weird choices for drinking contests. Could have been a mocktail.

Hot Chocolate Bull's personal mission in Inquisition, making cocoa with Orlesian guimauves. Overall the working recipe is fine, it is a simple cup of cocoa and they even direct you on how to whip your own whipped cream.

Lichen Ale First mentioned in Origins, this ale is known to be toxic to everyone who drinks it but non-dwarves especially. Something the lore blurb stresses heavily while noting that they made changes to remove the risk and fear of poisoning. Overall, a pretty straight-forward and fun piece. Just looking at the recipe and the things with substitutes I deem it: Could have been a mocktail. Especially because it could have been fun to have recipes for making your own Kahlùa.

Rivaini Tea Blend First introduced in The Masked Empire novel as a favored tea of Empress Celene, its listed ingredients were cinnamon, ginger, and clove. However the lore blurb for this recipe creates a whole new mixture of peppermint, lemon verbena, oregano, and licorice root, then cites the blend as the one that Celene drinks to alleviate her headaches. I'm not too sure why the change in that, but it is noteworthy. The working recipe itself calls for: peppermint, lemon verbena, oregano (flowers and leaves), mixed edible flowers (elderflower, mallow, and marigold), licorice root, vanilla bean, black tea, and honey. Overall it is a good and tasty mix, but one I would not be taking for headaches. If we followed Celene's reasoning for it - an aid for headaches, a better bet would actually be the original recipe as ginger and clove can help with headaches and migraines. Peppermint can as well, but the addition of the various floral notes as well as black tea and vanilla bean wouldn't. Not that the cookbook is necessarily providing the recipe for that purpose.

Lore and General Notes

In the recipe for nug pancakes, it notes that the taste of nug meat is akin to that of pork and rabbit, which is different from the pork and hare approximation from Origins.

The Jade Ham we see as a weapon in Inquisition is a smoked ham from the Anderfels with a specific glaze.

We've heard very little of Anderfels agriculture and animal husbandry prior to the cookbook. Save that they have apples that are small and bitter and largely import dried fruits. The cookbook introduces the fact that pig farming does profoundly well in the Anderfels, resulting in bigger pigs and by extension hams.

The cookbook introduces for the first time the existence of international connoisseurs as well as sharing just how widespread the use of goat milk is, seemingly more prevalent than cattle.

Chasind Sack Mead recipe mentions Chasind Wildwine, an ale that was originally only mentioned in the TTRPG and is made from a specific type of grain native to Ferelden called ryott.

Short Summary of Opinion

Overall my general opinion on the cookbook is that the lore elements are fun and I enjoy the references and nods to the series. The photos are very campy and fun, and doesn't take itself too seriously and also builds on nods towards the series through merch references. I feel like the cookbook is a solid 5/10 and I'm not really disappointed in it. It was more than what I expected and had the thing I was most excited and hopeful for: food and culture lore.

But I'm sure if you've read this far, my main issue with this cookbook, and something that is wholly a personal preference from my own work in this area as well as an opinion built from my other game/franchise cookbooks like World of Warcraft, Dnd, Critical Role, and Elder Scrolls being some of my favorites.

But I find the disconnect in the recipe description, recipe name, and lore blurbs from the actual working recipes a sizable detractor. I personally am not a fan of it simply telling you to get store bought ingredients - like the hollandaise sauce which is a simple recipe - instead of providing that recipe and suggesting the store bought as an alternative. A preference that comes from my own dietary restrictions meaning half of the "just buy store bought" requires me to look up a separate recipe elsewhere. Leading the book to feel a touch incomplete.

I also stated before in the drink section just how much it doesn't sit well that there aren't any mocktails and your only non-alcoholic options are tea and hot cocoa. I think they could have really explored that more and developed some really fun and inclusive drinks for those who don't/can't drink alcohol.

I also noticed, that this publisher who does a majority of game franchises or just media franchise cookbooks, is that they didn't have one of my favorite things about the Elder Scrolls cookbook, which was the Dietary Considerations chart. It was in the back of the cookbook and the chart had every recipe that fell in one or multiples of the following categories:

Vegetarian

Vegan

Gluten-free

Easily made vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free with simple alterations

The fact that the Dragon Age cookbook didn't have this was disappointing to say the least and makes this rather inaccessible for people with such needs. I also have just a general distaste for the fact that all but 2 of the 9 drink recipes were alcoholic. That there was no attempt to offer mocktails, which not only feels like a missed opportunity but also just a limiting one on accessibility when it's pretty clear that working recipes are not mirrors to their in universe counterparts.

A big thing for me in modern cookbooks is accessibility, from difficulty, to ability to add alterations, and actually putting efforts into non-alcoholic drinks that aren't just hot chocolate or a tea blend (though I do like that they did a tea blend.)

This book is definitely more for a fan who wants to look into a fun recipe every now and then but mostly was there for the lore blurbs and just the sort of fan service of it.

happy dadwc friday! sending you “letters between two of your OC’s companions about them” for Kallian 👀

hi, thank you!! ^^ @dadrunkwriting

rated t. 517 words. alistair writes to zevran before he and kallian set off to tevinter. this is... some vague idea i have for the future, and it becomes less dysfunctional, i swear 😂

◌ ◌ ◌

Zevran,

It was surprisingly difficult to find some vellum and ink without somebody insisting on scribing for me, so even though I'm sure you'll be annoyed this isn't in some hard-to-crack code... appreciate that I'm being as sneaky as I can be.

Kallian is on her way to meet with you. I pray that Isabela reaches you with this letter before then. I also pray that she doesn't read this herself, and would like to remind her that I am in contact with her friend the Champion, who would... be disappointed, I'm sure. I suppose I can't think of a good threat, but Isabela, I will pay you if you stop reading right now.

Look after her. Kallian. Not in a fight, Maker knows it'll be the other way around there. But all this sneaking and spying and hiding you're going to do... you're the expert. So I'll be holding you accountable for anything that goes wrong, and praying that I won't need to. Just... get her out of there, will you? And be careful yourself. Tevinter isn't kind to elves, and I think Ferelden would resent me going to war.

I've thought a lot about whether I should be writing this letter. I think she might actually murder me if she knew. But I'm not entirely going behind her back? I floated the idea past her. She... I don't know, she's too focused on me. She thinks I don't mean it, but I do.

You know what, just show her this letter when the time arrives. Kall, please don't hate me.

This is all over the place.

Right. Here goes.

Right now.

I am running out of space.

Maybe I want to.

Anyway.

I truly hate to tell you this, but I trust you'll do right by her, if not me.

We cannot spend as much time together as we wish to, not now, not yet. Each time she visits the Palace feels more and more fleeting, and I fear it is my fault. It's... difficult to fit everything in. Weeks worth of a relationship; months; a year; all in one day, or a week if we're incredibly lucky. It's hard.

You two have always been close. There was a time, back then, when I thought she would choose you. When she didn't... forgive me, Zev, but I always knew that hurt you. The way you looked at her never changed. The way she looked at you did change... but I don't know. She still looks at other people differently.

Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. That certainly wouldn't be anything new.

All I wanted to say was... you have my blessing. When I see her again, we won't speak of it. If you're there too, well... let's cross that bridge when we come to it.

Kallian, I love you. Sorry if this made things awkward between you. Just imagine how awkward it would be if I was there too! Ha ha!

Take care of each other. I want to see no new scars when you return, on either of you.

With love,

Alistair