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anneapocalypse · 2 years

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The Masked Empire

Content Warnings: Imperialism, violence, fantasy racism, fantasy class politics, mention of sexual violence.

"I distrust her because she has successfully ruled an empire. No one who does that cedes power. Even if they are wise. Even if it is for the best, in the long run. Even if failing to do so will destroy everything."

–Felassan

The Masked Empire is the fourth novel in the Dragon Age series and the first one not written by David Gaider. It was written by Patrick Weekes and published in 2014 prior to the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

As far as I knew going in, The Masked Empire was primarily about Empress Celene of Orlais and the complex machinations of the Orlesian nobility known as "the Game." I was doubtful about my ability to relate to or be invested in Orlesian politics in general or Celene's point of view in specific, so while I still wanted to read this story, I wasn't sure how much I'd get into it.

So imagine my surprise when this one turned out to be my favorite of the Dragon Age novels.

The Masked Empire is about Orlesian politics, the struggle of elves living in a human empire, love, betrayal, heartbreak, and injustice.

But most of all, it is a story about the nature of power.

Anyone who has played Dragon Age: Inquisition knows that the characters and events of The Masked Empire are deeply tied up with the events of the main quest "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts" and the player choices involved. For the purposes of this entry, though, I really want talk about the book as its own story, and save "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts" for discussion as a part of the game.

We will be talking at length about themes in this story, but first I want to tackle the major characters individually and why I find them so compelling.

Celene: The Empress

"Sitting on my throne, I see every city in the empire. If I must burn one to save the rest, I will weep, but I will light the torch!"

As I said above, Empress Celene was not a character I expected to find so compelling. I think she would be less so if hers was the only perspective. But set against Briala, Gaspard, and Michel, the contrast is often… revealing.

The opening chapter is probably the most flattering toward Celene, as we get to see her fully in her element: playing the Game with aplomb, while also advocating for elf rights in areas such as higher education. We learn that she has bard training, and recognizes Leliana as a bard simply from the way she moves. We learn that Celene Valmont did not simply inherit the throne, but had to compete for the approval of the Council of Heralds against "countless rivals," most notably her cousin Gaspard de Chalons.

We see Celene at a banquet when Grand Duke Gaspard attempts to humiliate Bann Teagan Guerrin, visiting ambassador from Ferelden. Teagan is clearly not well versed in the Game, yet Celene respects him for his quick wit, and by responding with her own good humor and quick thinking, she manages both to salvage relations with Ferelden and to embarrass Gaspard.

The early chapters soon introduce us to Celene's relationship with Briala, her elven handmaiden, spymaster, and lover.

There is an important scene in Chapter 2 in which Celene wakes in the morning with Briala still asleep beside her. We get a description of Briala's appearance through Celene's eyes, including a reflection on how Celene saw Briala when they were children versus how she sees her now, as her lover. Briala's skin is described as "sun-touched" and darker than Celene's, and this is strongly contextualized by an association of darker skin with being outdoors (and thus, labor-class). It is fairly obvious how much colorism exists in Orlesian society, not just from this passage but from other context clues in the story. (It is mentioned that palace servants wear white make-up under their signature half-face masks.) But what really jumps out to me is this: "Briala tried to ignore it, but Celene knew that she was quietly ashamed of it."

I could have missed it, but I don't think this ever comes up from Briala's point of view. By contrast, Briala does remember wanting to cover her ears as a child, and her mother's urging her to be proud of who she is. But I don't believe she ever mentions shame, past or present, for the color of her skin, and if we have only Celene's word on this, that gives me reason to doubt it. Especially in light of the memory that Celene, as a child, thought of Briala's brown hair as ugly, a "shadow of Celene's spun-gold locks." Though Celene now sees Briala as beautiful, desirable, it would be hard to argue that some societal prejudice does not linger in the way she views her.

Something else important surfaces in the same scene. From Celene's perspective, Briala is "a friend who could be trusted, who wasn't a competitor in the Game."

And strictly speaking, there's some truth in this: Briala is not a competitor with Celene. She's not a rival for the throne or a noble with a vested interest in undermining her. But to assume that Briala is not a player of the Game—that, to me, reveals a blind spot in Celene's thinking.

Briala is not a contender for the throne, but she is absolutely playing the Game. More on that later.

So right away, we are shown Celene's unconscious assumptions about the woman she loves, which reflect the biases she carries into every facet of her life.

I also think it says so much about Celene that she sees a like-minded woman in Andraste herself, thinking about the political savvy she believes the Bride of the Maker must have had to win her own war.

Celene is a woman accustomed to being the center of her world, and we will see that as a theme in all of her interactions.

I knew that the burning of Halamshiral was coming, via fandom osmosis, and I was sort of expecting it to be a climactic event that forces a choice from Briala, but nope! It happens in Chapter 6. Following the murder of an elf and an uprising from the slums, Celene agrees to let Briala quietly assassinate the noble responsible for the murder to appease the elves and end the rebellion. But after Gaspard publicly humiliates her, Celene then goes back on her word and marches troops to Halamshiral to crush the rebellion with brutal force in order to maintain her own power.

This is a critical character moment for Celene, and it is also important, I think, that it happens not very far into the story. Celene crushing the elven rebellion is not a shocking twist that calls Celene's prior benevolence into question, but the inciting incident that shows us in stark clarity who Celene is and what she is willing to do when she considers it necessarily. The story as it follows builds on that foundation.

And the thing is, Celene does feel some remorse for what she does. One of the complicated but honest things about this story is that Celene does have real feelings for Briala. In her own way, she probably does love her—in that Briala is valuable for her, someone she would like to keep close, someone that she would enjoy making happy. She has pushed for greater rights for elves in Orlais specifically to make Briala happy. She has even avoided marriage to keep from losing their relationship, despite the fact that being unmarried and heirless will eventually threaten the stability of her rule.

It's just that at the end of the day, Celene's feelings for Briala are not enough to put Briala's needs and desires ahead of her own need and desire to maintain power.

There's a scene later on that's sort of heartbreaking to me in which Briala and Celene have somewhat hashed out their feelings about Halamshiral and now Celene is trying to win Briala back, making promises to her that it should be obvious to us by now that she either won't or can't keep. I don't think Celene is intentionally lying here—in fact, I doubt she is, given what we've seen of her blind spots and the gaps in her self-awareness.

Celene tries to show Briala that she sees the elves as her people too. "Your people deserve better," she says, mirroring what she said earlier about a village of humans ravaged by the civil war. "They are Orlesian. They are mine. As you are mine." And yet, for whatever good intentions she may have, there is I think a chilling double entendre to those words.

And that prompts us to ask: does Celene even understand the difference between love and possession? If the elves of Orlais are "her people," does that make them people she cares about, or an asset to employ, or simply another thing she wishes to keep?

As the plot progresses, we see Celene looking for ways to use elves and elven artifacts to her advantage. She's willing to make a bargain with the Dalish to keep her throne. (Good luck with that, Celene.) And it honestly feels a little sinister, after everything we've seen, how eager Celene is to use the Eluvian network to secure her empire—with absolutely no thought to whether those artifacts rightfully belong to the elves. Nor would that ever occur to her. Because to Celene, all of Orlais, everything and everyone within it, belongs to her. So long as she can maintain her rule.

"Without you, your Empress would have been no friend to the elves. Even her rival Gaspard could see that."

–Felassan

That Celene doesn't truly care about the elves for their own sake is not particularly a revelation. But the personal stakes of the story are Celene and Briala's relationship and so on that level, the sting comes from what Celene has done to Briala personally.

First, Briala puts two and two together and realizes that Celene, and not her mentor Lady Mantillon, was responsible for the murder of her family nearly twenty years ago, just before their romantic relationship began.

Second, during a fight with a varterral in one of the underground chambers, Briala sees Celene risk her life to defend her champion Ser Michel, but then fail to do the same for Briala. This is one instance where it's really important that we get both Briala and Celene's point of view on the same moment. Briala sees an instance where the woman she loves failed to come to her aid; Celene sees a moment when the woman she loved was in danger and she was "unable to help." She doesn't consciously decide not to help Briala; it never even occurs to her that she could put herself in harm's way to defend her love. And in fact I think the only reason she does it for Michel is that she knows she can't defeat Gaspard in a duel herself. She needs him. Celene is so accustomed to being the most important person in the Empire that the idea of actually risking her life for someone else just because would never cross her mind.

I have talked about Celene's sort of blithe sense of ownership over everything she touches, but there's a nuance even to that, for when Briala finally leaves her, Celene lets her go. She neither lashes out with words nor with violence, saying instead, "I will take joy in my love finding her people, even as my breast aches with every heartbeat I live without you."

Perhaps even this is part of the Game, a last gambit in hopes that Briala might later change her mind. I also don't rule out that Celene is speaking how she truly feels here. Nor do I think that absolves her.

Ultimately I think that no character's point of view is more damning to Celene than Celene's own. And it's not because she's flatly, obviously evil or malicious. It's because of how well Celene is crafted as an unreliable narrator—blinded by her own self-centeredness and betrayed to the reader by her own internal narrative.

Gaspard: The Grand Duke

"Honor does not preclude tactics, and glory is not won through foolishness."

–Chevalier axiom

Like Celene, Gaspard surprised me in how much I enjoyed him. It's not that he's necessarily sympathetic, but that like Celene, the details of his motivations and perspective make him so interesting.

Initially, we may be led to believe that Celene easily has the upper hand on Gaspard, and that he will be merely some power-hungry buffoon for her to defeat—and boy, is that not what we get at all. In the opening sequence, we see Celene embarrass Gaspard and thwart his attempt to insult and humiliate the Fereldan ambassador. But Gaspard hits back and much harder and cleverer than we might expect. Though the Grand Duke has little love for the Game, he knows how to play to get what he wants, and he's also tactically smart, something I can respect in an antagonist. In fact, before he makes his move to overthrow Celene, he asks her to marry him, offering her the chance to resolve their rivalry without bloodshed. (And there is a bitter irony in the fact that, had Celene not been romantically involved with Briala, she might have accepted, and the rest of this story would not have happened.)

When Celene refuses, Gaspard manipulates her, through public ridicule, into marching on Halamshiral and crushing the rebellion in order to quell the rumors that she is soft on elves. Once he's lured her there, Gaspard attacks with all the forces loyal to him, an assault Celene's exhausted troops cannot repel.

I mentioned that Celene is trained as a bard, and it's clear from her fighting style that we're meant to see her as a rogue. Gaspard by contrast is a warrior, and specifically a chevalier, and this contrast between them extends to more than just the weapons they wield. Gaspard's ardent adherence to the chevaliers' code of honor is one of the most interesting things about him. While he's quite determined to seize the throne, he staunchly refuses to act dishonorably by breaking his code, which makes him so much more compelling to me than a villain who will do anything for power.

This also makes both Gaspard and Celene characters with internal conflict in their motivations: the drive to hold and maintain power set against, for Celene, her feelings for Briala, and for Gaspard, his code of honor. That Gaspard never breaks his code, while Celene is willing to compromise Briala, says a lot about both of them. It also doesn't make Gaspard a better person than Celene, just one with different motivations.

Gaspard also gets a great sort of mini-foil in Duke Remache, a nobleman loyal to him who grows impatient with Gaspard's adherence to the chevalier code. They play off one another in such interesting ways, such as when Remache insinuates that he'll torture a prisoner for information as soon as Gaspard is out of earshot to avoid implicating him, and Gaspard sternly reproaches him:

"I understand that you don't think much of the chevaliers' code, but I will not violate the spirit of it to obey the letter. I will not torture him. I will not leave so that you may do so. If you lay a hand upon my prisoner, I will defend him with my life. Or, as is more likely, with yours."

This little tension culminates when Remache repeatedly attempts to break the temporary truce Gaspard and Celene have agreed to, and Gaspard executes him for it.

Gaspard and Michel also play off each other in interesting ways, as they are both chevaliers, and though on opposing sides of the conflict, they adhere to the same code. One of my very favorite moments is when Michel asks whether Gaspard expects him to switch sides over his misgivings about Celene and Briala's relationship, and Gaspard replies without hesitation, "I'd kill you here and now if you did."

In the end, Gaspard chooses not to expose Michel's secrets to the Academie, telling him, "You beat me in a fair fight. You held to your honor even when it cost you everything. You're the damned model for a chevalier, no matter what blood runs in your veins."

This doesn't mean that Gaspard is some kind of friend to elves or to commoners; it's quite clear in other ways that he is not. He simply respects Michel for living up to their shared code.

After a certain point, we might ask ourselves if Gaspard is really the villain of this story; the better question might be whether Celene and Gaspard aren't both the villains.

Michel: The Champion

"If the chevaliers wish to strip my name from the rolls and kill me, that is their right. But they will not take my honor. And I will not stand to have it insulted."

Michel de Chevin is kind of a unique study in power in this story, as he has risen to his high status as the Empress's champion by deceit. Not only is he a commoner, he is the son of an elven mother. A patron who believed in Michel's talent provided him with forged documents identifying him as belonging to the line of Chevin, which though dead, would still make him eligible for entry into the Academie.

Orlesian chevaliers can only come from noble houses. This is significant because it is a limitation on upward mobility. In theory, a commoner may be elevated to nobility by performing some act of heroism, like Loghain Mac Tir of Ferelden, or the Paragons of dwarven fame. That the reputed greatest knights of Orlais must already be of noble blood seems like a very deliberate statement and limits upward mobility in Orlais even more than it's already limited under feudal monarchy.

In spite of his deceit, Michel believes in the chevaliers' code, and he holds to it, even when his secret is exposed. I really enjoy that he earns Gaspard's respect in that regard. I have to throw Michel some respect too for resisting demonic temptation, which we've seen in other stories in this universe is no easy thing. I also think it's admirable that once disgraced before Celene, he finds new purpose in hunting the demon his actions set loose upon the world.

But there is a tragedy to Michel's story too, in that the life he's pursued has demanded he turn his back on his origins completely—and not only by hiding that he is elf-blooded and common. It is something of an unofficial rite of passage in the chevaliers to enact violence upon elves in the city slums; abuses of power are a matter of course for Orlais's most esteemed knights. (We heard stories of other such abuses back in Origins as well, from the Orlesian merchant Liselle.) Honorable though he may be, Michel's social climb, like the power wielded by his fellow knights, is paid for in blood.

Briala: The Elf

She was tired of being the good city elf who patiently struggled to learn the wisdom of her elders.

Oh, Briala. Full disclosure: I love Briala. She is my favorite character in this book, my favorite character in any of these books, and probably one of my favorite characters in Dragon Age canon, so I will be speaking of her unapologetically with a lot of love. Celene and Gaspard are very interesting to me, I have some sympathy for Michel, and I'm intrigued by Felassan, but it's Briala I'm rooting for.

Briala is Celene's elven handmaiden, spymaster, and lover. She has served Celene since they were both children, and they have been together since Celene took the throne nearly twenty years ago.

The first thing I think is really important to understand about Briala is the same thing I said in the Celene section: Briala may not be a noble but she is absolutely playing the Game, in her own way and from her own position. In fact it is not immediately clear how much Briala's relationship with Celene is itself a part of the Game, though it does become clear later that her feelings for Celene are genuine.

Even so, Briala clearly knows how to play to Celene's feelings for her in order to advance the rights of her people. She knows what buttons to push when Celene is resistant to more radical change:

"A lord for the death of an elf? I… damn this thing." With a quick jerk, Celene tore the mask from her face. Her face was flushed beneath, her eyes red from another night of little sleep. "Shall I declare the elves equal citizens before the Maker and the throne as well, while I'm at it?"

"Why not?" Briala took off her own mask, stealing a quick moment to steady herself. "Unless you don't believe that, and I'm just a jumped-up kitchen slut you haven't tired of yet."

Briala's arc in this story is a series of awakenings, a process of coming into her own power and choosing her own path through which to fight for her people.

Briala is in the terrible position of being in a deeply imbalanced relationship which nonetheless affords her a level of influence that she simply could not have any other way. It hurts to see Briala struggling to rationalize Celene's actions to herself after Halamshiral—but what stings even more is that even after that brutal act, Celene is still probably a better option for the elves of Orlais than Gaspard, especially with Briala at her ear. It's not just that Briala has real feelings for Celene; it's that if Briala leaves her, she gives up what power she had. Her romantic entanglement with Celene is inextricably tied up with her efforts to help her people.

Meanwhile, Briala has been meeting for years with Felassan, an elf who presents himself as Dalish and acts as a sort of intermediary for Briala, sharing information and elven lore with her while she brings him useful intel in return. It is Felassan, in fact, who convinces Briala following the death of her parents that she can do more good for her people at Celene's side than by joining the Dalish.

And again, bitter as it may taste, that's probably true.

In this story, Briala finally meets a Dalish clan directly, and has to suffer the rude awakening of realizing that the Dalish, at least this clan, do not care about city elves, whom they barely consider elves at all. They certainly don't consider Briala one their own. This should come as little surprise to those of us who've met the Dalish and heard their opinions of outsiders (thoygh there are of course exceptions, as every clan is different). It is particularly hard for Briala to swallow, however, because she's considered herself all these years to be fighting for all elves—Dalish elves, city elves, palace servants, all whose lives she could effect for the better.

Thinking to find allies among the Dalish, Briala instead finds herself alone. And perhaps it is no surprise that she then begins to rationalize Celene's actions, and by extension to justify returning to her side and reclaiming what little bit of power she had there. "Celene is different," Briala tries to tell Felassan, and herself, and by this point it feels like she already knows that's not true.

But if she leaves Celene for good, where is she supposed to go? How is she supposed to continue the fight for her people without the ear of the Empress and with no allies? Returning to this story weeks after finishing the book, this part gets to me all over again, how alone and disempowered and trapped Briala must feel. I feel for her so much.

But this is not the end of Briala's story.

The tipping point, I think, is twofold. First, Briala asks Gaspard about the ring given him by Lady Mantillon "the first time I impressed her in the Game," the same kind of ring Celene wears, and given by the same hand. When Celene says that Lady Mantillon gave her the ring out of sympathy for her parents' death, Briala knows this must be a lie.

It was a bittersweet story. In another life, it might even have been true.

She puts the pieces together that the murder of her parents along with the rest of Celene's servants was not on the order of Celene's mentor, but of Celene herself, proving herself willing to do what was necessary to claim power.

With that epiphany Briala accepts what we've known since Hamashiral and what deep down I think Briala has known too: Celene will never put Briala's needs above her own power. For Celene, loving Briala, whatever that means to her, is not incompatible with murdering her family and then lying to her about it for twenty years. This is confirmed for Briala in the present, when Celene fails to defend her in battle after doing just that for her champion.

This alone might have been enough to turn Briala from Celene. But it would still leave her disempowered and alone—if not for her second revelation, the Eluvian network.

With these artifacts, hidden underground for over a thousand years and still partially functional, Briala realizes she has uncovered a powerful piece of elven history, one made for her people. And even as Celene and her fellow humans have been struggling to travel the paths between the mirrors, Celene has been talking of claiming them for the Empire, using them to move troops and spies quickly to secure their lands—and her own power.

So Briala, cunning elf that she is, interrupts the duel between Gaspard and Michel by calling upon the favor Michel owes her for keeping his secret. She does not fully sabotage Celene but leaves her in a stalemate with her rival. She activates the Eluvian network and sets her own secret passphrase, locking the others out. At last, she has a power they do not have and cannot control.

Like the trickster god Fen'Harel in the stories Felassan has told her, she outmaneuvers both of them.

I love all the characters at the center of this story, but I love Briala's arc the most. It's the story of Briala working her way out of a troubled and complicated relationship and a painful predicament, and finally claiming power for herself to wield for the good of her people.

Felassan: The Spy

"We were everyone. There were no humans, no dwarves, no race but the elves. Every atrocity you seek to avenge for your broken people in their alienages, elven nobles committed upon elven servants."

All told, we probably learn the least about Felassan among the major characters of this story, but he is nonetheless a vital character. He's an elf who presents himself to Briala as Dalish, and meets with her secretly for many years to exchange information.

Right away, I didn't trust Felassan, and suspected him of using Briala for his own ends. I was especially suspicious that he seemed so reluctant to teach Briala all about the elven gods. So by the time Briala asks him, "Are you even Dalish?" I already suspected he wasn't what he said. His knowledge of the somniari seemed like a particularly big clue, and my working theory was that he was a Tevinter spy. (I have now wikied him and spoiled myself, so I know that to be untrue, and the answer was well-hidden in plain sight right here in the text—but we'll get to that when I talk about Inquisition probably.)

The most important thing about Felassan, to me, is that while he clearly has some kind of ulterior motive, he also has come to care about Briala and support her genuinely. He goes so far as to prevent her from telling him the Eluvian passphrase so that it can't be extracted from him by his unseen master, and this ends up costing him his life—which he seems to have known it would.

Felassan sacrifices himself for Briala to give her a chance, to give her the power she needs, and that's significant because it's something we know Celene would never do.

In the end, Felassan is a true friend to Briala, and though it is a fitting culmination for his character, I am sorry he's gone.

Sidenote on Briala and Celene

As this book is noteworthy for prominently featuring an F/F pairing, it probably also needs to be noted when recommending it that this is not a story about a happy healthy conflict-free F/F ship. If that's what you're after, this isn't it.

That said, I don't feel that makes it objectively a bad story, for a couple of reasons.

First, hell, they both live, which is more than can be said for the minor M/M ship in The Calling. Then, too, whether they're together or not, the sexuality of the two characters is never in question; they are unambiguously, canonically both attracted to women.

Furthermore, pretty much all the central ships in the Dragon Age novels involve some kind of power imbalance, and most of them don't end happily at that. The Stolen Throne's Good King Maric stabs his elven lover Katriel to death after learning she's a spy. In The Calling, Maric and Fiona's brief affair results in a child they both choose to give up to prevent him from learning about his heritage or rivaling Cailan for the throne. Asunder's Rhys and Evangeline are a mage and a templar in the early days of the mage rebellion, and they're the ones that get a happy ending! Dragon Age doesn't really do a lot of those. Not all of the playable romances in the games even end happily, and even for the ones that do there is sometimes a catch. (Remember how if you romance Alistair, the only way you both get to live is if you talk him into doing a dark magic sex ritual with someone he hates?)

So yeah, given the choice between having no queer characters or relationships, and having those characters and relationships exist in the context of the universe even if their stories are not always happy, I choose the latter. Dragon Age is dark fantasy, and for my own part I appreciate seeing an F/F couple featured so centrally in one of its stories and allowed the same level of drama and angst as everyone else!

Also I'll take a Briala/Celene over a Maric/Katriel any day, thank you.

The Nature of Power

I could probably go on working through the cast of increasingly minor characters—Mihris, the Dalish mage who allows herself to be possessed in exchange for a chance at avenging her clan; Lienne de Montsimmard, the mage of noble birth whose family have kept her out of the Circle and her magic hidden—because you'd be hard-pressed to find any character in this story who doesn't have something to show us about the nature of power. But this entry is quite long already, and I want to talk about our central theme: the nature of power and those who wield it.

Of central import in The Masked Empire is of course the relationship between Celene and Briala. They have a romantic and sexual relationship that is kind of inevitably entangled with their working relationship. So, based on basically everything in those last two sentences, there is no way for this relationship to be equitable in terms of power. Let's just get that out of the way first. Celene is the reigning monarch and Briala is her servant, which would already put them at a power imbalance if Briala weren't also an elf. I'm stating that up front because it's integral not just to the relationship but to the story, and the narrative never tries to pretend otherwise.

And I want to talk about the position of elves in Orlesian society too for a minute, because if we're going to talk about power and oppression I think it's important that we establish the actual nature of that dynamic. I also feel the need to restate that I don't think elves map precisely onto any one real-life group. Dragon Age draws from real life and history, absolutely, but is not trying to replicate it with perfect one-to-one parallels.

I think this is particularly important to establish because of the increasing evidence that elves are different from other humanoid races in Thedas in ways that are not just physiological and cultural. There is something about elves that is fundamentally, and possibly magically, distinct. We already know that the ancient elves were said to be immortal before contact with humans, something we've never been told about dwarves or qunari. There may be more to it than that, or that may not be the whole truth, but it is a piece of lore unique to elves. There's also the fact that there are no half-elves in this universe; elves do not pass on elf traits to their offspring when procreating with humans, dwarves, etc. This is further confirmed by the fact the Michel de Chevin, despite having an elven mother, experiences the Eluvian path as a human and not as an elf would. It's not simply a matter of "half-elves look human," it's that half-elves don't exist; the children of elves and humans are human. You can't be half-elf in this universe in the way you could be, for example, half-Nevarran or half-Fereldan or half-Rivaini. (Or even half-dwarf—I think that's confirmed as being a thing by Word of God, though you know how much I hate Word of God. and it would be cool to actually see half-dwarves and half-qunari from time to time just to confirm that they exist.) There are so many bits of canon hinting at something different about elves that it seems probable to me we're going to get a reveal about the true origins of elves at some point. And knowing the Dragon Age series, it's probably not going to be precisely what anyone (in-universe or out) expects. It's kind of a theme with this series by now that no one knows as much about magic or history as they think they do.

Anyway. For now, let us just say there's a fine line I'm trying to walk here, and my reading is just my reading and I may stumble on either side of that line, but I think I have something to say about it, so here we go.

I'm pretty sure that elves basically aren't considered citizens in Orlais and Ferelden, and possibly other Andrastian nations though I'm hesitant to make statements about the countries we've seen less of since we know their cultures can differ substantially. Elves are not considered equal before the crown, and we know from other canon sources that the Chantry doesn't really consider them equal in the eyes of the Maker either, as elves and dwarves are seen to have strayed even further from the Maker than humans. Here in Orlais, there is very much a sense that this is a human empire and elves are just living in it; they are treated as foreigners in the place they were born and have lived their whole lives. The law basically doesn't protect elves, whether in the letter or in the spirit, as humans (but especially the nobility) can pretty much murder them with impunity, and do.

This, by the way, is another reason why the Denerim alienage being made a part of the bannorn in Ferelden is a huge deal, even with the backlash: it's an explicit and structural acknowledgment that elves are a part of this society and should have a voice in it. And the backlash from the human nobility comes because many are angry that an elf has been elevated to their status, not just because they don't personally like elves, but because they see elves as outsiders, foreigners, who can be permitted to live on the fringes of what they see as their society but shouldn't be allowed power in it.

And I do feel like giving Dragon Age some credit for the fact that they've managed to demonstrate with increasing success that the oppression of elves in human societies is structural and systemic and not just personal prejudices held by obviously "bad" characters. It demonstrates a certain understanding of how power and oppression actually work. And while, again, nothing in these games is a one-to-one allegory for real world groups and events, thematically the series does have some things to say about the nature of power.

This is also why, when we're talking meta about which in-game decisions are best for the elves, I'm less concerned with which humans are being nice to elves personally, and much more concerned with which changes give elves structural power in these societies, especially the kind of power that can't just be yanked away when a human decides they don't feel like being nice to elves anymore. To put a finer point on it, and we'll get more into this when I talk about "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts": I care less how Celene and Gaspard personally feel about elves, and more about what outcomes are more likely to grant elves a long-term increase in structural power. But again, that's another discussion for another entry.

So let's talk about the paradox of holding power.

The throne looks omnipotent from afar, but it is not as it seems. Take the throne to act, and the throne acts upon you.

No matter how bright the rays of any Sun King, no man rules alone. A King can't build roads alone, can't enforce laws alone, can't defend the nation or himself alone. The power of a King is not to act, but to get others to act on his behalf, using the treasure in his vaults. The King needs an army and someone to run it, treasure and someone to collect it, law and someone to enforce it. The individuals needed to make these things happen are the King's keys to power.

CGP Grey's "Rules for Rulers" is such a useful primer for this discussion that I'm embedding it here:

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All the changes you wish to make are but thoughts in your head if the keys will not follow your commands. ...Sway them to your side, and the power to rule is yours, but never forget: displease them and they will replace you.

—CGP Grey

The above quote is basically the entire premise of The Masked Empire.

Another caveat, because we have to have a lot of those in this entry: none of what I am about to say here is meant to be a defense of any character's actions, or an argument that they had no choice. All characters in this story have choices; all of those choices are made within the context of certain power dynamics and will have certain consequences. I intend to mount no defense, only to contextualize those choices.

Celene's twenty-year reign has been marked by a push for culture, diplomacy, and peace. She has worked to improve Orlesian relations with Ferelden and other neighboring countries, and within her own nation she has worked to elevate academics and the arts. In addition, under Briala's influence, Celene has pushed to improve the position of elves in Orlesian society in small ways. The book's opening scene features Celene at the prestigious University of Orlais arguing for the admittance of commoners of merit, including elves. Celene has become known for this sort of thing—and in certain quarters, it has made her unpopular.

And as Empress, being unpopular among the nobility matters. A crucial point here is that the power of a monarch is not absolute. The monarch rules at the pleasure of their key supporters: in this case, the nobility and the military. This becomes Celene's paradox: if she pushes elven advancement too far, the nobility will turn against her and replace her with someone who better represents their interests, and who will likely undo any progress she's made. Displease enough of the keys to power, and they may decide to replace you—which is exactly the plot of this story. Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons, Celene's cousin and sometime rival for the throne, decides to make a push to depose Celene and seize power.

Why now, though? Celene has ruled Orlais for nearly twenty years. Surely Gaspard has had opportunities to get rid of her before now. But an opportunity to eliminate the current ruler is not the same thing as an opportunity to gain, and more importantly to hold that power for oneself. Without the support of the nobility and of the army, Gaspard will not sit on the throne for long before he too is replaced. He chooses this moment to act because the perception of Celene as being "soft on elves" has alienated a portion of her keys to power, and the unrest caused by the mage rebellion has tipped the balance so that a critical mass of those keys are willing to risk the instability of a coup in exchange for the potential rewards.

Circumstances have coalesced to create the right conditions for a successful coup. Gaspard does not have all of the nobility on his side, or all of the chevaliers, or all of the army. But he has enough to make it worth trying.

Anne, you might be saying, I know you said you weren't here to defend Celene but it sure sounds like you're saying that she didn't have a choice and she just couldn't help the elves anymore and it wasn't her fault.

And nah, not really. What Celene did to Halamshiral is still terrible and I'm not interesting in defending that. I'm not here to defend Celene, or Gaspard for that matter. On the contrary! Remember what we said above about oppression being structural?

I'm here to condemn the entire structure of feudal monarchy! Hooray!

(I really wanted to have like, an animated blingee of Bann Teagan dancing like a fool in the Arl of Redcliffe's castle with sparkly text that says "There is no such thing as a benevolent monarchy!" just to set the tone I'm going for here, but I was too lazy to actually make one so you'll just have to imagine it.)

Seriously though: there is no such thing as a benevolent monarchy. Nope, not even if your Warden and/or Good Guy Alistair are at the top of it. Sorry.

The big thing here is that feudal monarchy (like, if we're being honest, most sociopolitical power structures) is a pyramid, and you only maintain power at the top by making sure the people below you stay there, and you do that by making sure that somebody stays below them. Try to raise up somebody from the bottom, and those in the middle will raise up someone to replace you.

There is no such thing as a benevolent monarchy. Not under feudalism and not ever. There is never going to be a "good" ruler of the Orlesian Empire. Power that concentrated can only be maintained in blood.

And you know, what I like about The Masked Empire is how, more than any of the preceding novels, it doesn't bullshit around the way common people suffer and die for the games the nobles play for power. This story is brutal at times, but it is honest, far more honest than, for example, The Stolen Throne with its tale of the sexy sad King Maric and his triumph over the oppressive monarchy of Orlais—to be contrasted with the good monarchy of Calenhad's bloodline, which is good because Maric is sad, and doesn't really want the responsibilities of ruling and deciding who lives and who dies, and who likes elves so that makes him a good king, even if he never actually does anything about the conditions in the alienages or the social status of elves in Ferelden and you see why I said earlier that a ruler's personal feelings about elves don't really matter to me as much as the actual structural change they do or do not enact?

Anyway, don't get hung up on the difference between Maric and Celene as individuals; I'm making a point here and that point is that this book has something to say about the nature of power and monarchy that The Stolen Throne is only able to dance around, because The Stolen Throne at its core is about upholding the myth of the benevolent liberator-king, while The Masked Empire unmasks the monarchy and shows it to us for what it is: a violent power structure upheld with the blood of the disempowered.

And I understand that not everyone wants this kind of "realism" in their fantasy media. I begrudge no one for saying "Okay but I already know that social hierarchies are inherently violent and I don't need that in my escapist fiction and if I want a narrative that skips to the part where a Good Hero fixes everything and the oppressed people triumph without all the violence and misery, I should be able to enjoy that." You're right. You should. I don't think Dragon Age is that universe, or that it was ever trying to be that universe, but if that is what you are looking for, that's fine.

Personally, this is where I'm coming at this from: if a story is going to use monarchy and feudalism as an integral part of its setting, I would prefer a story that actually says something about the nature of power in that setting to a story about how Monarchy Is Good Actually as long as the monarch is blonde and sexy and makes a sad face when bad things happen.

I mean for crying out loud, in Origins King Cailan will ask a city elf how it is in the alienage, and they can tell him that they killed a noble for raping their cousin, and Cailan's like, "What?!" and then Duncan tells him there are things happening in Denerim that he should be aware of, and then the subject is dropped completely and Cailan flips right back to exuberant excitement about the glorious battle awaiting him. Because the game doesn't want you to think that Cailan is a bad guy—naive, sure, and unprepared for the threat of a true Blight, but not bad. If the game acknowledges outright that Cailan must know what goes on in the alienages and how nobles abuse elves and commoners and he does nothing about it, then Cailan becomes unsympathetic. So instead, the narrative just kind of suggests ignorance, which doesn't actually make him a better ruler.

And lest someone say that Cailan isn't meant to be sympathetic, there's a whole cutscene in the Return to Ostagar DLC in which you find Cailan's body defiled by the darkspawn and the Warden stares up at him sorrowfully and you see flashbacks to the one time you met him and his death. Which is almost comical if you're playing anything but a human noble, because like, I don't know this man! I wasn't even present for his death! And my point here is not to nitpick a ten-year-old DLC. I just want to make the point how Origins, and its tie-in media, in many ways pushes the fantasy archetype of the Good King, even if in small ways it also tries to subvert that idea.

The Masked Empire is openly much less romantic about monarchy, which makes for a more complex story, and I respect that.

So we've talked about power and the powerful—let's talk about the difficulties of the disempowered trying to gain power for themselves.

Briala's predicament is that her relationship with Celene actually kind of sucks when you think about it for more than a minute, but if she gives up that relationship, she also gives up what power she has to influence her to improve the lot of elves in the Empire. Her journey is ultimately away from that relationship and toward finding some way to empower herself. It's a journey with some painful disillusionment along the way, but ultimately a journey toward hope and freedom.

The Dalish elves are also important to this story, because they have made their own trade-off. The Dalish enjoy what freedom they have because they shun all outsiders, including other elves. If the Dalish decided that the city elves were also their people, and that they needed to do something about that, like invade the cities to liberate the alienages, they would be wiped out and they know it. If the Dalish mages demonstrated their power in human cities, the templars would hunt down every Dalish mage and at best haul them off to the Circle, much more likely have them killed or made Tranquil. The exclusionism of the Dalish is hurtful to Briala and for very understandable reasons. But it is the price the Dalish have chosen to pay for what freedom they have.

I think it can be a somewhat distressing revelation to fans, as it is to Briala, to realize that ancient Elvhenan was an empire and not a utopia, and that power dynamics existed in that empire that were not so different from the power dynamics of the present empires. Felassan makes this very explicit in his conversation with Briala. "We were the nobles," Briala says, as the understanding begins to dawn on her, but Felassan corrects her: "We were everyone. There were no humans, no dwarves, no race but the elves. Every atrocity you seek to avenge for your broken people in their alienages, elven nobles committed upon elven servants." And this prefaces his warning Briala about Celene, including the quote that is the epigraph to this entire essay.

As a sidenote I would like to add that I think it would be very strange to read this as somehow justifying, or as an attempt to justify, the oppression of elves in the present. (People do sometimes try to make similar arguments about oppressed groups in the real world. And those people are wrong.) Elvhenan is so far removed from present-day elves that they can't even be argued to have indirectly benefited from it in any way, and it in no way justifies their treatment at the hands of humans in the present. All this revelation about Elvhenan tells us is that power dynamics also existed in ancient times, that the Elvhenan was not perfect, that the Elvhen also Lived In A Society. Felassan himself brings this up not to justify the empire's treatment of elves in the present but to make a point about the nature of power—to warn Briala against believing that the very system that keeps them oppressed can free them.

Because there is no such thing as a benevolent empire.

At no point is the lesson Briala takes from this that her goal of helping her people in the present is pointless or wrong, nor was that Felassan's intent. This is very explicit in the text, by the way:

Briala swallowed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Your empress," he said. "You trust her. You believe she will free your people."

"I do," Briala said without hesitation.

"Then who's going to scrub the floors?" Felassan asked, and smiled.

"You distrust her because she is human."

"No." Felassan paused. "Well, all right, yes, but more than that, I distrust her because she has successfully ruled an empire. No one who does that cedes power. Even if they are wise. Even if it is for the best, in the long run. Even if failing to do so will destroy everything."

There it is! That's the theme! This is not a gotcha. This is not Felassan telling Briala to stop fighting, or that her fight is wrong or pointless, because he explicitly allows her to take control of the Eluvian network to empower her continued fight at the cost of his own life. This is Felassan warning Briala about the nature of power and power structures, warning her that empire can never be benevolent and that the past does not hold all of the answers—that the only way is forward.

Briala's story—and this is, ultimately, Briala's story—is about empowering herself, both for her own sake and so that she, in turn, can empower her people. It's about love and heartbreak, betrayal and friendship, painful revelations and difficult choices. It's about letting go of a mythical utopian past that may never have existed as one has imagined, while reclaiming a tangible piece of one's heritage and seeking a better future.

I think it's a thoughtful, powerful, moving story, and I loved it.

Things not necessarily relevant to the larger thematic discussion of this entry but which I thought were interesting or noteworthy.

Tea is a thing in this universe, though from the way Celene's morning brew is described, it's unclear if it's tea-tea or simply an infusion of spices.

The doublet is still in fashion for the nobility; Ser Michel wears one to a formal occasion. I bring this up because while there has been a notable push since Origins to kind of modernize a lot of the fashion in Dragon Age, we still see a more medieval silhouette particularly among the upper class, which makes sense. (I'd love to see someone who knows a lot more about historical fashion than me do a whole analysis of the evolution of fashion over the course of the Dragon Age games, both in the watsonian sense of how trends progress in-universe and in the meta sense of how the series seems to have tried to modernize its aesthetic to be more appealing to a mainstream audience. But Inquisition Skinny Pants will have to be another post!

"Flat-ear" is a pejorative used by the Dalish for elf-blooded humans as well as for city elves.

Dalish clans have grown apart culturally due to their isolation from one another, meaning that practices and traditions can vary greatly from clan to clan, and no one clan can be seen as representing all Dalish elves. (This could be inferred before, but it's made explicit in this book.)

This Dalish clan, in particular, eats foods made of wheat, which means they must have some kind of trade contact with outsiders. Nomads don't grow crops.

This book devotes a whole paragraph to the fact that the steps down into the ancient elven burial chamber are unusually large even for humans, and Felassan jokes that maybe elves used to be taller.

Crosspost. Originally posted on dreamwidth on 07/14/20.

#the masked empire #anne does dragon age #blunders of thedas

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etoilebinaire · 1 year

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okay here's one for your DA OCs and the canonical LIs dfkgjsg how about Taylor + Alistair, Evanna + Isabela, aaaand Rasha + Sera?

Sierra!!! Thank you for the ask ❤ It was so much fun to think about and I wrote more about my own considerations while playing rather than from their character perspective maybe but still it was a lot of fun!! It got long so I'll put it under a readmore sdjdsj

Taylor + Alistair Okay so when I first played DAO the friend who recommended it to me was obsessed with Alistair so I was like 80% sure Id romance him on her recommendation. But then Leliana barged in and I was like wow pretty girl so then I was sure Id romance her. But then Zevran happened. Listen. He swept Taylor off her feet as much as he swept me. Taylor probably would fit just as good if not better with someone else but,, how can I resist.

SO specifically Alistair: I think Taylor was subconsciously still very wary of humans. The timing wasn’t the best, with a human man ruining her entire familys life just before a human man ripped her away from said family and putting her in a position with the mostly human grey wardens. Yes Alistair is half elven and very kind and they became friends instantly and that’s why Taylor didn’t have a nervous breakdown at Ostagar, but trauma is trauma and I don’t think Taylor could help not fully opening up to Alistair at first, even if she didn’t realize it. And I also think Taylor doesn’t consider herself an option for affection? No actually, that’s not true, she does know that she’s lovable etc but it doesn’t immediately occur to her that she’s lovable in the romantic sense. She also worked hard as a teen to not be considered an option. Someone having a crush or potential interest is so foreign to her, someone would have to be very blunt about it for it to click.

Instead, she and Alistair in my canon are very very close but more in the best friend sibling-y sense.

However, while it isn’t in my canon, I do think Taylor and Alistair could have been adorable together. Their personalities complement each other pretty well and they’d be even more grossly mushy if they were together romantically. It would definitely also change my outcome of DAO; Alistair would have absolutely not become king, and Kieran would have two moms and a dad. Thank you.

Evanna + Isabela Again, truly an option I considered in DA2. Lets go over my considerations real quick. The same friend that loved Alistair a lot also loved Fenris a lot, so instead of being sure Id romance him (like I thought with Alistair), now I was sure I wasn’t going to. Idk why. I love Fenris truly. My personal fav candidate was Anders cause I love him and that’s Taylors son, you know. But he was so annoying in da2 god bles he reminded me of one of my irl friends so much and me and my irl friend have a very good gay-bi alliance going on so that’s what I did with Evanna and Anders but then in reverse. It doesn’t have to make sense it makes sense in my head, and so Evanna was officially a lesbian. Merrill is absolutely endearing and the best and I think she understands more than anyone how Evanna struggles with relating to people.

That being said, Isabela and Evanna would be amazing together, but would also wreck Kirkwall even more than it already is wrecked. They would be unstoppable. They are the true mean bi and meaner lesbian couple that is met with awe anywhere they go. However, Evanna would not push Isabela to not be afraid of being loved anymore. Evanna isn’t that socially gifted and she wouldn’t say the right things at the right time and I just don’t think that would be right for a romantic relationship with Isabela. Evanna cares about Isabela, obviously, but I don’t think she’s got enough empathy to understand what she’s going through.

Rasha + Sera Ok so for Rasha, her being a vashoth already limited some options. The same friend who really likes Alistair and Fenris obviously also likes Cullen (Im joking. But she does.) and I wouldn’t consider him an option for Rasha even if she was an option for him. I knew in advance but was really sad that Cass wasn’t an option. Rash was being friendly galpalls (read: flirting) with Josie when the chargers mission happened and then Rasha could be a bit nicer to Bull and the rest is history. For Sera.. I don’t think she and Rasha would really match? Rasha likes and even trusts Sera (which is a huge deal for her) but I don’t think she trusts her enough to let her pull her out of her shell. Like, Rasha takes things very seriously in the inquisition and goes along with the pranks etc. cause Sera is right and things shouldn’t be serious all the time, but Rasha is very good at compartmentalizing that. I also think that Sera would get too nervous about Rasha being as paranoid as she is. Although I do agree they’d be very cute together, I don’t think they’d match.

#thank you sierra!!! 🧡#im slowly replaying dao so I Have Thoughts about Taylor sjjdss #I really need to replay da2 and dai but idk if thats going to happen soon. so maybe the answers will change a bit after another playthrough #my character tags are all SO empty. I never talk about my girls :( but memes like these are very good to start and think about them!!#so thank you again ^^#Taylor Tabris #Evanna Hawke #Rasha Adaar

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geshertzarmeod · 3 years

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In Other Lands Character Arcs

(Spoilers Abound)

I’m thinking about how the character arcs of all three main characters from In Other Lands center largely on moving away from what their families expected of them, even as each of them doesn’t necessarily think moving away from that is possible. And how it’s their relationships with each other that help them move in the directions they actually want to move in, and believe in their abilities to forge their own paths and lead fulfilling lives. Even if it’s not what their parents or home communities think a fulfilling life entails. This culminates in their refusal (along with Golden) at the end of the book, to let anyone else influence them when it comes to deciding where to be stationed. They’re ready to choose their own paths, together.

There’s something deeply appealing to me about this as a queer person, even as queerness (as defined by orientation or gender) is not actually a central factor in the shifting of each character’s relationship with their families. Actually, the character who comes closest to that is Serene, who is presumedly straight, but whose pushback against the rigid gendered expectations of her society so challenge her community that she and Golden are essentially banished at least for a time. This is only tangentially queer, I’d say, because she does this not for herself, as she seems to proudly fit & identify with elven womanhood, but recognizes the false limiting of manhood within her society and fights fiercely for Luke, Elliot, and eventually Golden, who I’d say is GNC for sure. For Luke, it’s not his being gay but his being monogamous and waiting longer than they expected (though he’s like, still 17!!! that’s still young!!!) to become sexually or romantically active that is off-putting to his family. For Elliot, his father is shocked not to see him with a man, but to see him happy (cue my tears).

I was just thinking this after reading Girl, Serpent, Thorn especially, but I really love when queer books parallel queer narratives of shame and struggle and difference and growing pains, with queer characters, but about issues unrelated to their being queer (especially when they’re about magical/fantasy elements). Then we get to relate to queer characters and see them process a lot of the feelings we have experienced, but also get to see them be loved and value and supported unconditionally in their queerness. Anyway, for an individual analysis:

Luke Sunborn

First, because I know a lot of people might not have read it, I’m going to quote Luke’s perspective from Wings In The Morning:

There were reasons Luke hadn’t kissed anybody. The Sunborns, as a family, loved life and loved love, and treated it as a game. It was fine for them: it worked for them.

Luke had always known that a riot of brightness and different loves and leaving someone laughing was beyond him. He wanted kindness and steadiness: he did not want someone who would leave. He wanted love that would last. (location 2527 in my kindle book, I can’t tell what page)

Luke, the Sunborn champion, expected to excel in battle, and love (read: have sex) freely and easily and non-monogamously, becoming an avid reader because of Elliot - something his father is shocked by and a little ashamed of. Learning Elvish because of both of them. Breaking border camp rules, threatening superior officers, to protect Elliot, and to support Serene, even as he continually complains about it and, on paper, would always argue that those choices are Not Okay and Very Bad. Luke, whose bashful shyness around his crushes, whose concern over his first kiss, whose choice of Elliot as a partner, is incomprehensible to his family, snapping, “I don’t want anyone else,” at the elves. He’s chosen Elliot, even as Elliot still doesn’t at all believe it at that point, and he’s happy with that decision. Elliot’s his choice, and only Elliot. Notorious Sunborn sexual voracity be damned.

Luke’s journey is also largely about him working through his external, and later internalized, biases against magical creatures. It’s pretty clearly an analog to xenophobia, and Luke expresses more disgust, disdain, or fear, the more different a culture is from the one he grew up in. This obviously becomes internalized against himself, when he realizes he is half-harpy. He literally represses his wings from coming out, he sees harpies as monsters and includes himself within this. It’s awful, and it’s sad, and it’s a mixture of Elliot’s meticulous research and adamant arguments that harpies are people, and that Luke isn’t a monster at all (and neither are harpies and other non-human creatures), and Serene’s calm acceptance of him, that helps him move through this.

This xenophobia, although clearly ingrained since childhood, don’t seem to be coming primarily from his family (certainly not from his mother) but from the culture of the borderguard in general. To me, it is implied that his father might at least casually buy into a lot of this, although he would never extend it to his son. It also is an interesting dynamic as related to the other two’s relationships with family, because Luke coming to love and accept himself, and to open his mind about non-human creatures, is actually him coming closer to his mother, rather than moving away. In my view, a part of why he bought in so clearly to this prejudice coming from the general bordercamp culture is because he was pushing away from his parents in the first place - he saw his parents being so wild and free in a way he knew he could never be that he pushed himself into the opposite side, into “reason” and restraint and conservatism. What he needed to learn was how to hold his more “traditional” wants and needs (although like, he’s kind of wrong about that. Elliott Schafer is not the traditional kind quiet love he’s imagining, and he didn’t want that anyway) while still celebrating all of the different approaches and cultures and loves out there, and that’s what he’s learning alongside Elliot and Serene. And he does this partially because Elliot’s love for him as a half-harpy is, according to his previous beliefs, just as wild and out there as his mother’s affair with his biological father, or all of Elliot’s flirting with various magical creatures. And as he accepts Elliot’s love, he accepts that too.

Serene-Heart-In-The-Chaos-of-Battle

From the first moment we meet Serene we know she ran away from home to join the border camp. She’s chosen to join the humans, to fight alongside men, to learn about the borderlands from a human perspective and use that to create an alliance and to create peace. She enters a world where she is looked down on, where she is sexualized and punished for trying to swim shirtless, and has to fight hard to take the classes she wants and have the opportunity to prove herself as she wishes. Instead of deciding her parents and community were right and going back to the elves, she digs her heels in and with Elliot and Luke’s help, fights back, fights to excel at the border camp and make things different and better, and prove her detractors wrong.

Not only that, but she learns to respect men in a way she was not raised to do, learns to treat men as equals and partners, always defending both Elliot and Luke when her community disrespects them. This prepares her for her relationship with Golden (although Elliot still helps her along a lot, especially with their written correspondence) and ends in her and Golden essentially eloping after Golden ran away to fight alongside her. It’s also important that she accepts Golden fighting alongside her. That was not at all a given, especially as even towards the middle of the book, she seems to be thinking of human men as capable of fighting and strength and other “womanly” qualities, but not necessarily believing the same of elven men. She’s chosen a nontraditional path and a GNC partner in Golden, and for the time being, her closest family is not her blood but her beautiful boyfriend, her swordsister, and her loved and loving best friend Elliot.

Elliot Schafer

Last but the opposite of least is Elliot. What Elliot learned from his family is that he will come to nothing, that he will be forgotten, and that he will not be loved. I am so angry on this child’s behalf, for the ways he was neglected not only by his parents but by everyone before Serene. The ways his father had no interest in him because all he wanted was Elliot’s mother back (and I love Elliot’s observation that even if his mother did come back, his father wouldn’t know what to do, and would not be happy). The way his teacher literally accepted a small bribe to just...... leave him at the entrance to the borderlands, and none of the students cared. The way his mother not only left when he was a child but knew who he was the second she saw or even heard about him at the bordercamp, and never bothered to tell him, or show any interest in him whatsoever.Elliot has been taught, over and over again, that he is unwanted and uncared for. That he has to go it alone, and fill his own needs.

Elliot learns to respect Commander Woodsinger and to know that while she doesn’t necessarily love him, she knows him, and appreciates who and what he is, and sees value and strength in it. She, unlike his previous teachers and school professionals, understands him, and likes him, and values him. She’s not warm, but she’s a positive presence in his life, and part of him learning to believe he has value just as he is, and not just because he spitefully decided it to go against what everyone else has told him, but because it’s actually true.

He didn’t want his parents and his peers and the adults who have let him down to be right about this, so he does dream of being loved back. But he shows himself fully prepared to be the one who loves more in relationships, especially with Serene. He’s ready, at first, to take all she’ll give him, and revel in each part of it, even if it doesn’t match up to his love for her. It’s not until the moment he turns down Serene’s final advance (when she’s clearly settling for him) that he realizes how much he wants to be chosen first. And he believes that’s possible, and worth waiting for (and that in the meantime, he will help Serene up and help her find what she truly wants too).

Elliot knows Serene loves him. She shows him he deserves love, and in his devotion to her, Elliot begins to excel and challenge himself and learn to see his brand of obnoxiousness as something that might not be everyone’s taste but isn’t inherently bad. He trusts Serene to love him, at least as a friend, but he doesn’t trust that Luke will, because Luke reminds him of all of the kids who hurt him in the past.

And that’s why the slowest arc of this whole book is probably Elliot realizing that Luke.... actually likes him. Actually wants to be around him, and enjoys his presence, and even like-likes him - loves him even. It just can’t compute for him. And so we get basically an unreliable narration for most of the book regarding Luke. Elliot’s “aha” moment about Luke rewrites years of his life, shifting his understanding of so much of their lives together. And it solidifies Elliot’s discovery that he can be loved exactly as he is, obnoxious and annoying and all. He’s found people who love him for it, and they’ve chosen him, and they’re going to stick around.

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theredhairedmonkey · 4 years

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What do you think will happen in "Through the Moon"?

Hmm, I’ve changed my mind a couple times as to what I think will happen, but I’ll let you know what I’m thinking right now, anon:

Since this story takes place in the Moon Nexus (and involves some kind of invitation for a ritual there), I imagine that some time must have taken place since the Battle of the Storm Spire. Just throwing out a number, I’ll guess that something like a year to 18 months have passed, which gives the trio enough time to change and adjust to the new peace they helped create.

So, some background on each of them before we dive into “Through the Moon.” All three are now living in Katolis.

Ezran is having a tough time, as he now has the most responsibilities of the three of them (oh, how the tables have turned). It turns out that Opeli’s “peace will require just as much strength as war” was not a joke. The battle to save Zym might have led to peace with the elves and dragons, but it has upended the entire world order. Katolis now has closer ties with the elves (the Sunfire elves in particular) and the Dragon King Azymondias than it does with several of the Human Kingdoms (particularly Neoloandia, which has cut off ties to Duren and Katolis after Prince Kasef’s death).

The battle also shifted the balance of power; Katolis lost much of its army, while Duren, which suffered the fewest casualties, is now the strongest Human Kingdom and breadbasket for the Pentarchy. While Queen Aanya means well, King Ezran has been encouraged to allow General Amaya to rebuild the Katolian army. Additionally, racism against elves and dragons is a hard beast to overcome, and Ezran has been struggling with certain voices in his court that are urging him to take an aggressive stance against Xadia. Keeping these people pacified has been a challenge…especially now that Rayla is living in the capital as a permanent guest.

In spite of his age, Ezran is pretty much on top of this all—Corvus once commented that he had shown more “courage, strength, and grace than most leaders show in a lifetime,” and I think that will shine through here. He might not be the most learned or most well-informed person in the room, but he knows when to rely on experts and when to rely on his sense of right and wrong.

So, “Through the Moon” might show a little bit of that–how Ezran has begun to fill his father’s shoes (as well as make his own), how well he’s adjusted to being a ruler during peacetime, and how much he still has to grow.

Callum is a prince reborn. In just a few months after the battle, he quickly mastered Sky Magic in its entirety, even coming up with several new techniques along the way. He has also learned quite a bit about the other Primal Sources and their respective Arcana. Callum is also within striking distance of finally understanding the Moon Arcanum (more on that later).

He’s trying to help Ezran as best he can, but this “awkward step-prince” always had trouble succeeding at his princely duties, and that extends to administrative and political matters. He’s no Viren, and neither his personality nor his Sky Magic provides much help at court. His abilities are more physical than the creative, complex spells that Viren often does.

Instead, Callum finds that he’s most helpful outside and beyond the walls of the castle—this is, after all, where the sky is, and where Callum is at his strongest. He’s often flying to other towns, and helps the common people with building roads, constructing dams, clearing out fields for farmland, irrigation, and the like.

The people who knew him before are quite surprised by this change. He used to be this bookish artist boy who could barely hold up a sword, wearing a signature red scarf and blue jacket. Now, he’s a strong, confident mage, sporting sleeveless shirts that reveal elaborate runes on his arms. He can fly and is therefore more physically capable than any ordinary human in the kingdom. Many less tolerant people are also put off by how protective he is over his new elven, um, “friend” Rayla.

Now, on to Rayla. Hoo boy…

Here’s what we first hear about her—Only Rayla is still restless

At first, I was wondering why she was refusing to believe Viren is dead, when it seems everyone else is ready to move on. And then I remembered this scene:

Viren: “I’ll return for you soon. It will be a pleasure to add one more Moonshadow elf to my collection”

Both her terrified expression and her registering what Viren is saying help explain why she’s so restless—whatever was in that bag must contain something related to other Moonshadow elves (either their remnants or their essence).

Then, when talking to Callum about what he saw in his spell, she’ll start to put two and two together. Even if he didn’t understand what he was seeing, he must have seen Lain and Tiadrin get coined by Viren.

Rayla doesn’t know if they’re dead or not, but she realizes she needs to find that bag. Maybe they can be revived, maybe they can’t. But the pain of not knowing is overwhelming.

She’s also probably fearful of the man himself. While she’s been overpowered before, she’s never been so helpless as she was before Viren. His “I’ll return for you soon” line stays with her, and not being able to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that this monster is gone will haunt her.

And to make matters worse, no one has been able to find Viren’s remains. Most assume his body was just lost, perhaps in a ravine somewhere. But Rayla needs to find his bag of coins. Combine that with the sheer terror she expresses in the scene above, she probably doesn’t fully believe that something like a fall could kill someone like Viren. And part of her hopes that’s the case; if she’s right, there’s a chance she can find her parents’ coins (and whoever else) and either revive them or, at worst, make peace with the fact that they are gone for good because the uncertainty is just that painful.

Without knowing for sure whether Viren, her parents or Runaan are gone, she’s lost. At least Callum, who tragically lost his parents, knows they are gone. There is a bit of solace in the finality of accepting your loved one’s passing. Rayla, on the other hand, is trapped between hope and fear. Hope that they may be alive, fear that she’ll never know.

Callum will pick up on the fact that something’s wrong, and Rayla will likewise let him in. She knows now that she’s safe around him. She can be vulnerable and scared and raw around Callum, because he will never think less of her, never judge her, and never love her any less.

And this is just something she will absolutely adore about him. Even though he’s incapable of giving her closure (even as a mage, he can’t just bring them back or give her an answer), he’ll always try to make her feel better, even if only by a little bit and for a short while.

Nevertheless, the three of them are called to an ancient ritual at the Moon Nexus. I’m guessing that, since there’s peace with Xadia, Lujanne either invites the trio back, or reveals the Moon Nexus to the Human world. In either case, there’s an invitation for Ezran, Callum, and Rayla to come back and take part in this ritual.

At some point, either by accidentally overhearing something or just from Lujanne explaining the ritual, she learns that the lake is a portal between life or death.

This is her chance, she thinks. This portal contains the answers to all the questions she’s been craving. The questions that have been eating away at her that no amount of “Big Feelings Time” has been able to ease.

Part of it is to see once and for all if Viren is dead, but the main reason is that she wants closure. She wants to know whether she needs to save her parents and Runaan or mourn for them. At least then, in either case, she can move on.

But the portal is unstable, and the ancient Moonshadow Elves who destroyed it never intended for it to be reopened. It seems as though Rayla will have to risk life and limb (and maybe not just her life and limb) to reopen the portal. I’d wager that, in the midst of the ceremony, she’ll jump right into the lake because, let’s face it, jumping into certain danger is something she’s used to at this point.

And speaking of things certain characters are used to, Callum will for sure have another episode of “here I go doing something reckless to protect Rayla,” and follow her.

As a quick side note, if there’s a time for Callum to unlock the Moon Arcanum, it’s here. He’s already worked through his understanding of reality and appearance well enough to apply it when facing Sol Regem. He’s also cast his first Moon spell, and hence knows how it “feels” to do Moon magic. Just as with the Sky Arcanum, Callum’s got all the details he needs “swirling in his head,” and just needs a way to bring it all together.

But, for Rayla, this is very much an introspective journey– Will Rayla’s quest to uncover the secrets of the dead put her living friends in mortal danger?

I am very skeptical that we’ll learn Viren is alive before S4. That is such a huge reveal to occur before we even see the trio on screen! And to a lesser extent, I have a hard time imagining how S4 could start off with Rayla knowing that her parents and Runaan are indeed alive.

Instead, I imagine “Through the Moon” to be more of an introspective look into Rayla—How does she see the world? How does she see herself? What’s bothering her, and what does she do to overcome her internal strife?

This would honestly be a breath of fresh air—while S3 does a good job shining a light on Rayla, it’s mostly from Callum’s perspective (he notices her sobbing and goes to comfort her; he observes and comments how she’s a hero; he helps her work through her feelings about her parents).

This graphic novel is a great way to focus on Rayla’s perspective instead. Her journey at the end of S3 left us with a bit of a “now what”? So, this book might be a good way to begin answering that.

#rayla #through the moon #tdp speculation #thanks for asking #the dragon prince #tdp #runaan #tiadrin #lain #callum #ezran #viren #zym #moonshadow elves #lujanne #tdp graphic novel

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rudyred34 · 6 years

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A Rockfall, and A Roc Falls

I wrote a short(ish) fic inspired by the latter half of my DnD group’s adventure on Sunday, as told from the perspective of my human fighter, Eddie. I tried to write it so it’d make sense even if people weren’t up-to-date with the campaign, but who knows if I succeeded!

Eddie had never seen trees this large before. Even in the elven lands of Old Avalon, where some trees predated even the longest-lived elf’s memory and entire communities were built in their sprawling crowns, none matched the sheer vertical magnitude of the silent, red giants between which Eddie and his fellow members of the Ebon Sparrow company now flew. They were so tall, their tops scraped the bellies of the clouds, and their fragrant needles sprinkled the captured moisture on everything below them - including Eddie, who blinked the water from his gray eyes and shook it from his leather-gloved hands to keep his grip on the reins of his avian mount from getting slippery.

“Fascinating,” murmured the gnome Cibook, who sat quietly in the makeshift safety harness Eddie had fashioned. Cibook looked up at his riding companion, and his springy black curls tickled Eddie’s chin. “See there - these trees have the gold veins, too.”

Indeed, each of the arboreal behemoths had a single golden vein running up the length of their grooved trunks, glinting dully in the filtered daylight. “They haven’t attacked us yet, though,” Eddie replied, whispering as if he feared the trees would overhear him. He scanned the branches all around them with a wary eye.

“Yet.”

Ahead and to the left, Graeme gestured from atop his own giant albatross, then pointed to a spot on the fern-covered ground far below; the rest of the party followed his lead and descended in careful spirals. As they got lower, Eddie finally spotted what had caught Graeme’s attention: one of the perytons they had tussled with above the trees a short while ago, wounded but not yet dead, cowering beneath the root structure of a fallen tree. They landed a safe distance away - even when injured, the creature could inflict real damage with its sharp antlers and talons. Still, its remarkable feathers, which could change color to blend in with its surroundings, were too intriguing to pass up. Cibook had informed everyone that the Old Avalonian perytons didn’t have this ability; was this a trait natural to New Avalonian perytons, or did someone - or something - magically endow them with it?

The peryton bleated mournfully, blood trickling from its deerlike snout, and it struggled to move on limbs shattered by its fall through the canopy. Aura’s sticky webbing, the reason for its fall, still clung to its wings. Its feathers shimmered between green, brown, brick red, and a slate gray; its injuries apparently had disrupted its camouflaging ability.

Eddie helped Cibook out of his safety harness while Graeme, his hair glinting like the gold in the trees, drew one of his short swords and gestured for everyone else to stay back. His mouth set in a grim line beneath his thin mustache, he never took his eyes from his quarry as he approached it. Despite himself, Eddie felt a bit sorry for the creature - for all its fearsome appearance and its aggressive, predatory nature, there was an intelligence behind its eyes. It was hurting, and it was afraid. Graeme was simply ending its suffering at this point, Eddie reasoned, but still he looked away from the tableau unfolding before him.

As Eddie glanced around at the plumelike ferns and the massive trees - at anything besides the doomed peryton - he noticed something… odd. He rubbed his eyes, but it was still there: a sort of shimmer in the air, like over a campfire. Squinting, Eddie struggled to comprehend what, exactly, he was seeing. A trick of the light filtered through the trees? Too late, the disparate pieces fell into place: a massive yellow eye, legs the size of small trees, and a gigantic, fearsome beak.

“RUN!” Cibook squealed, having also spotted the gargantuan bird. Eddie had already grabbed the gnome by his arm and hauled him atop their albatross. He plopped Cibook roughly on the saddle in front of him - no time to futz with the safety harness - and spurred the great white bird into flight, one hand on the reins and one hand holding Cibook in place.

As they surged upwards, Cibook began to mutter and make arcane gestures with his hands - then he swore, whatever spell he cast having no effect on the bird that was pursuing them with thunderous steps. “It’s a roc!” he said.

“Looks like a bird to me,” Eddie said, stealing a glance behind him; the rest of the Ebon Sparrows had also taken off, though Graeme was straggling behind the rest. Valiantly, Sir Andrew Wick peeled off from the group in an attempt to draw the bird away, but it remained focused on its easiest prey.

“No, a roc with a C!” Cibook said. “Giant bird? Likes snacking on elephants? But it shouldn’t have those camouflage feathers, either!”

“The nerve of it!” Eddie snarked as he barely avoided a broken-off bough. He could tell that their albatross wanted to climb above the canopy to the open skies, but he forced it to stay low and weave between the giant trunks. Down here, he figured, the roc wouldn’t be able to utilize its full wingspan. Hopefully that would slow it down - perhaps keep it completely grounded. He glanced over his shoulder again, and his hopes were promptly dashed.

The roc was now launching itself from trunk to trunk like a crossbow bolt, its talons gouging deep gashes in the reddish bark, its wings kept close to the body. With this unusual method it was gaining on the group with astonishing speed. Perhaps sensing that it hand the advantage, it let out a screech that shook the canopy and rattled Eddie’s sternum. His ears ringing, he nearly crashed into another tree as he wiped more water from his face. Ahead he saw the trees thin out and stop altogether - but beyond that he saw a dark smudge in the ochre-colored ground: a slot canyon, almost certainly too small for the roc to fit.

“Follow me!” Eddie shouted to his companions, pointing at the clearing ahead.

“Are you crazy?” Sir Andrew, who had circled back to join the rest, shouted back from Eddie’s right, his voice slightly muffled by his steel helmet. “We’ll die! We need to go deeper into the woods, not out of them!”

“Trust me!” Eddie urged his albatross even faster, cutting as closely to obstacles as he dared in order to conserve speed. He’d ridden a flying mount only a few times before, when a neighboring noble family in Old Avalon wanted to show off their newly acquired hippogriffs. That limited experience, however, was invaluable with the extra weight of Cibook to contend with.

They burst from the shadows of the forest into the clearing, and Eddie was momentarily dazzled by the relative brightness. Regaining his senses, he dove down into the slot canyon. Now he was forced to slow down; there was no way to navigate the tight turns and jutting spires at full speed. The hazardous terrain also prevented him from checking in on his companions behind him - so when he heard the sickening wet snap, the subsequent yells, and the loud grinding and rumbling that followed, he was unable to turn and see precisely what had happened.

Clinging tightly to the albatross’s white neck feathers, Cibook hazarded a peek in his stead. “Oh dear!” he said. “It - it’s still coming! It’s forcing itself through!”

Eddie let out a string of incredulous invectives. This damn bird’s single-minded desire to kill them went way beyond the normal behavior of a predator! He was so baffled and infuriated by its persistence that he couldn’t help but turn and see for himself - and suddenly there was a jerk, a twist, and he was freefalling through the air.

Years of martial training kicked in, and Eddie managed to safely tumble as he hit the ground, mitigating most of the force of his fall. Winded and sore, he scrambled to his feet and tried to get his bearings. He was merely ten feet or so from the other end of the slot canyon, where the ground fell away in a sheer cliff to a green valley below. His companions soared by overhead - Aura on her bird, Sir Andrew on his, and Graeme dangling perilously from a rope tied to Sir Andrew’s saddle; the albatross, despite its great strength, struggled to remain aloft with the weight of two men. Behind them, the grinding sound grew ever louder, and Eddie saw the roc using its powerful legs and shoulders to shove its way towards them, toppling sandstone spires before it, heedless of the melon-sized rocks that it knocked free in its passage. In just a matter of seconds it would be atop him. It fixed its enormous, unblinking yellow eyes upon him and screamed once again.

A few feet away from Eddie, Cibook lay on the ground and moaned, bruised and bleeding, knocked senseless by the fall. His albatross limped about not far from that, having apparently caught itself on a spire. Eddie had no idea if it was still capable of flight, even without passengers. He glanced behind him at the cliff - no, it was far too high for him to survive the fall. Frantically, he looked around for someplace - anyplace - that he might be able to hide. But there was nothing but smooth sandstone.

“Here! Over here!” came a musical voice behind him; Aura had circled around and swooped low by the edge of the cliff, and she held out her brown hand for Eddie to grab.

Eddie looked once again at Sir Andrew’s bird struggling to fly. It was doubtful that Aura’s mount could carry three people, even if one of those people were as small as Cibook. Before he was even fully aware of what he’d decided, he acted: scooping up the still-dazed gnome, Eddie handed him to Aura and said, “GO!”

Confusion flashed through Aura’s jewel-like eyes for only a moment; then they hardened in grim understanding. As she wheeled her albatross up to safety, Eddie drew his rapier and dagger, holding them lightly in his hands as he turned to face the roc that loomed over him. His heart thudded in his ears, almost drowning out the cacophony of cracking rock. “All right, then,” he murmured to himself. “Just remember your footwork.” Briefly he wished that he wore heavy plate armor, like Sir Andrew - but that wouldn’t actually stop the beast’s blows, and would only slow him down. Maybe if he could avoid the worst of its attacks for just long enough, he’d find a way to slip behind it and escape…

The roc didn’t even bother coming to a stop before it attacked, lashing out with its cruelly hooked beak. Eddie dodged to the side, but he’d misjudged how long its neck was, and it still managed to catch his arm, tearing a deep gash into his forearm and nearly dislocating his shoulder with the force from the blow. Biting back a scream, Eddie regained his stance just in time to see the roc kick with its massive talons - and then he saw nothing.

With a frantic gasp, Eddie bolted upright. The headache followed shortly after - and the full-body ache shortly after that. He groaned and doubled over, his face buried in his hands. He’d had bad hangovers before, but nothing like this - he felt like he’d been trampled by a stampeding cattle herd. What had he been doing…?

“Are you all right?” came a concerned female voice with a light Elvish accent. Eddie froze, his face still in his hands. Oh shit. He didn’t remember picking anyone up at… where even had he gone last night? His brain was still a confused jumble of nightmarish images. Then a cool, pine-scented breeze rustled his loosely curled hair, and he suddenly remembered: he wasn’t at the family manor, nor at his favorite tavern, nor at the Academy. He wasn’t in Old Avalon at all.

He looked up, squinting in the sunlight. Aura and Cibook knelt on either side of him, having apparently just performed some healing magic to revive him; Sir Andrew, his helmet removed to reveal tumbling walnut-brown locks and a kindly expression, held Eddie’s rapier and dagger as carefully as one might hold a friend’s infant daughter. Graeme stood a little ways away, examining his bowstring and pretending not to care. Eddie glanced down at his arm to see that, while his woolen coat and linen shirt were still torn open at the sleeve and crusted with blood, the skin beneath was now knitted together with a coral-pink scar that ran from wrist to elbow. He rubbed his face to banish the last of his confusion and found that it was covered in reddish dust. “What happened?” he croaked, looking around.

Next to where he sat, the slot canyon had completely collapsed, and there was now an impenetrable wall of shattered and fallen rock. A small bit at the bottom had been dug out - presumably by Sir Andrew, Graeme, Aura, and Cibook - and within the rockfall Eddie could just barely make out the massive head of the roc, its feathers now dull and grayish. Its yellow eye was clouded over in death.

From above, a jovial voice drifted down. “You’re welcome!” Atop the rockfall stood several figures clad in the familiar saffron robes of the Golden Lotus company. They waved down at the bedraggled group, clearly savoring the moment of victory. No doubt they’d use this incident to ask for a “favor” in repayment later.

Graeme glowered and refused to even acknowledge the Golden Lotus, while Sir Andrew smiled thinly at them. Wincing at his still-sore shoulder, Eddie raised a hand and called out, “You know, for right twats, you’re not so bad!” He’d worry about party politics, and why the Golden Lotus were even there, at a later time. Right now he just needed a drink.

#fic #fiction #dnd #dungeons and dragons #original fiction #roc #peryton #campaign #eddie #Edwyn Maxwell Lawrence Deforest Secheverell

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