That's similar to how my Amell, Mercy, saw him at first. She was kinda timid and complacent in the Circle, and generally a goody two shoes. But being used by Irving and learning that Jowan actually was using blood magic hardened her a bit. When she's finally dragged back to the Circle and finds it in chaos, she's had a lot of character development. She's a total badass in the "Beware the nice/quiet ones" way. She gets a little flustered when he confesses, especially since her sassy elf husband, Zev, is with her. She leaves Cullen with a lot of pity. She'd like to stay and help more, but she has larger concerns. Mercy and Cullen never meet again, but if they met in the afterlife, Mercy would be so proud of how far Cullen managed to come after falling so far. She is really big on redemption, forgiveness, and compassion (if her name didn't give that away xD). I think Cullen (once his character arc in his romance with my mage!Lavellan is complete) holds her in a special place in his heart because she was everything he wanted to be: compassionate, fair, a protector of those less fortunate, and dutiful to the last.
Lis spent her early days in the Circle trying to get out, until her teachers stuck her with Jowan (because she was talented and rebelious, he was mediocre at best but a loyalist) and they got together like superglue and the fingers of the unwary. She ended up growing to tolerate the Circle and learned how to play by its rules after her talent made her study under Irving, but is still as confrontational as you can be without getting Tranquil'ed, and generally very sure of who she is. She's also so focused on her studies (so that she can get out of the Circle by merit) that the only people that still talk to her are Jowan, her teachers, and Cullen. She also hates current Circle politics with a passion, so she obviously kept Jowan's secret because she couldn't stand the idea of losing her only friend - as I said, she talked to cullen occasionally when she was staying past curfew to study and he was on night patrol, but it was a somewhat superficial relationship because of all the other stuff around it. After the whole mess she is absolutely pants-shittingly terrified that, without Duncan to protect her, Greagoir will drag her ass to the gallows and she really really doesn't want to leave Alistair on his own to deal with the Blight, can't stand the idea of not doing her duty to the Wardens and to Ferelden because she's REALLY INTO the Wardens (and Alistair), like, they really gave her a purpose and appreciated her talent to fuck shit up with magic because of its practical applications instead of trying to contain it to the theory, so she avoids going anywhere NEAR Lake Calenhad until it becomes absolutely impossible to avoid Redcliffe and the Circle (because blood magic: not cool. killing kids: also not cool). Seeing the Circle in that condition like, literally breaks something in her. She didn't like it, but she lived more than half her life there, knew so many people that were killed or became abominations that it's just... despair, all the way. She can't stop thinking that if she were there, if she had'nt spent the good part of the year running away from the Circle, she could have prevented all that, she could have avoided that. More than anything, it's those deaths she carries for the rest of her life, yknow? the ones in the Circle and in Redcliffe. If she had been better she could have prevented it, and not in the stronger or more powerful but... just. better. And Cullen is the cherry on the shit sundae because he was... he was pure, in a way? like, she still remembered him as... nice. he was a good, smart person who disliked cruelty and saw mages as people inherently deserving of respect, and seeing him broken, hearing what happened... she felt sick. she didn't even register his confession over, like, her stomach dropping that his feelings were used against him, yknow? her reaction to him liking her was lost in the shittyness of the situation, her anger at uldred for doing that to a good person and to the innocents slaughtered and possessed against their will, it was all fueling this white-hot blinding searing anger that he dared do it, that they all dared to touch these people, to violate these people like that. she was furious, she was upset, she felt guilty and she was just so sorry for everything. she minced uldred and didn't know what to do after that, how to fix things, so she just steps out of the door after she makes sure irving and the other survivors will be taken care of, screams her throat raw, has a good cry, and tries to focus on the archdemon. I want to think she ends up seeing Cullen again after Inquisition in an official event or something, because she is with alistair whenever she can and he is miserable in official affairs without her. But she'd be just like your warden, so proud of everything he overcame and so happy for him, that he's happy with Idrilla, so glad that what she allowed to happen didn't break him forever, that he's still good. She'd finally be able to apologize, and he'd be able to apologize too like he said he wanted, they'd get some closure and lift a lot of weight off their shoulders.
@ witchknights Ugh, the Broken Circle is such a shit show for a mage warden. I love it. For Mercy, she was a bit of a loyalist at the beginning. She was timid and quiet and mostly just tried to stay unnoticed. Which was hard when you're talented enough to become the First Enchanter's apprentice. Irving liked Mercy, probably too much. She was talented and she was a good peacekeeper. Greigor liked her because she never made much of a fuss and Irving could use her to calm him down in their constant fights. She and Jowan were mostly friends of circumstance, and when he told her what he was planning, she went straight to Irving. And then Irving told her to go through with it anyway. Irving had always used Mercy in his struggles against the templars, but this was the first time it was really obvious that she was just a pawn in his game. And that hurt. Then when shit went down with Jowan, her whole life came crashing down. Her mentor and her friend had betrayed her. Lilly was dragged off even though she was ignorant and renounced Jowan once he showed his blood magic. So Mercy resolved that she'd wouldn't let something like this happen again. If she kept quiet and out of the way, then the games of the powerful would only hurt the innocent. Sort of like Lis, Mercy was dragged there kicking and screaming (at least internally). Mercy is part of my dual-verse universe, and her co-leader, Sierra Cousland, is super hard-headed and directive and didn't let Mercy stay with Isolde and Connor like she wanted too. Thankfully, this was closer to the end than the beginning of their journey, so Mercy had already accomplished a lot and had grown into a talented spirit healer and had mastered the art of the arcane warrior. But still, seeing so many dead and turned ripped out her heart. Cullen hurt the worst because he was always kind to her, and even though he had a crush on her, he never acted on it. He never put her in that position, which is not something that could be said for a lot of templars. So when he's demanding to kill all the mages... Ugh. The only person left in the godforsaken circle who she could think of fondly now wants to slaughter everyone like her. And she gets why. She doesn't really hold it against him, just feels terrible that they chose him to torture. But if there's one thing Mercy can do, it's harness righteous anger and kick ass. She's kinda like Michael Carpenter from the Dresden Files, if Michael Carpenter was a tall black woman with a smol, sassy elf husband.
Well, I managed to get through all the major questlines, completed what I think is all the companion quests except for Oghren's cause I don't like him too much, get Morrigan and Zevran to save my naked self from jail, and cheated up some warden armor (Meirit finally has comfortable and practical armor!). Now I just need to get through the Soldier's Peak quest, upgrade my knife (I love my elvy knife but it is low tier and I want better and rune-equippable), and then I guess I will do more freaking politics. So glad I left Orzammar for last.
Also, why is there no option to go up to whoever you pick as King and very sword-ily explain that if you're ever given a reason to doubt that you made the right call then royalty is not harder to replace than anyone else? You made me make a decision on who to support without hearing anything but their propaganda, bioware, give me this at least.
I figure a lot of people here who are playing Inquisition follow me already, but in case you don't, I made a mod for the formal uniform.
The DAImodder tumblr is a really great resource for finding good mods, so you don't have to dig through Nexus's horrible interface.
Yeah, I've been poking around there! In particular I'm gonna be looking through cosmetic mods because no, my inquisitor does not have straight hair, why are there like 20 different ways to be bald and no non-straight hair options. Though if there's anything that makes the controls change less jarring I'll use those as well.
hey, i don't even go to this school, but would anyone want a DA:I calender? i got it for my friend for christmas but someone else gave her the same one, and it's too late to send it back to the seller...
*SCREAMS LOUDLY* I just finished my first playthrough of DA:I and I just aaaaaaah what a good game I was playing as a character who wasn't overly nosy and so I didn't get a whole lot of information beyond what was shoved in your face (I like playing as characters I already have and just insert them into the game, and this one was so much fun the game lets you roleplay so fantastically aaaaaah), and I was sorta trying to get through the game asap so I missed a lot of missions but still Damn, that was an experience :'D I have so many feeeeeeels about all of the companions, just. I wanna hug all of them I've played through most of DA:O as well, but don't own DA2, sadly. I want to though if only for more Varric I just... I have so many feels about this game, man. And the characters, and especially their relationships with my Inquisitor. Most of the feels are good... except for FUCKING BLACKWALL (this probably doesn't need to be put in a spoiler but I will put it there anyways) Spoiler: Blackwall romance Okay so I was playing as a Qunari warrior named Zef, and she has Very Specific needs when it comes to relationships which eliminated all but Cullen, Cassandra, and Blackwall. But Cullen and Cassandra can't be romanced by a female Qunari without mods and I'm too lazy to find mods SO I went with Blackwall as a last resort. And it was kinda cute and all, with them both being sadface about not being able to adequately protect people, and like... at first I thought his big bad secret was that he wasn't really a Warden, he was friends/lovers with one, and the Warden died and Blackwall couldn't save them. But then. BUT THEN. Fucking Revelations rolls around and it turns out that, no, he's just a guy who lied and got his men into trouble over that lie and also killed children because of that lie. Two things about Zef: 1.) Trust is Very Important to her, and so she takes it especially hard when people break her trust 2.) She has a major soft spot for kids. (In the game, Sera and Cole are basically her adopted children, no one can convince me otherwise) SO THAT RELATIONSHIP WAS THOROUGHLY RUINED. And like... god, I don't think I've ever gotten so upset over something a video game character did. I mean I gotta hand it to Bioware for making a not-cliche secret, but god DAMN I felt personally betrayed at that. And also it hurt way more than it should to make two fictional characters break up. *sits in feels corner* SO NOW I'm gonna re-play the game as a much nosier character, Nayeli the mage elf. Imma romance the egg Solas for more infos because I am now thoroughly intrigued after seeing the ending of the game. that ended up being ramblier than I expected I'm sorry I'm just excited I finally finished this giant-ass game
In case anyone's missed it, I'm liveblogging questionable DA fanfic choices. This started as a search for Cole/Dorian slash (dont kinkshame me) and ended up being a bit of an amazing ride of fic reviewing.
I THOUGHT I SHOULD UPDATE YOU GUYS ON MY OCS NOW THAT WE HAVE A BUNCHA MODS Spoiler: BEHOLD my warden!!! i passed her through the BE too so she looks a bit different than the others??? idk if it worked bc i have a thing for lips. and now i dont know what hair to use with her?? they're all cute and i already have a lot of screenshots of her with the straight side plled hair and i wanted to have her wear the curls because she canonically curls her hair but. it clips so much. the short curls are adooooooooooorable but Nellas has the even-shorter version of them now instead of the braid. tho i'm unsure if i'll keep it BUT SHE JUST LOOKS SO CUTE Spoiler: Lis Spoiler: Nellas i think everyone has seen Idrilla and her freckles??? tho i'm getting kind of frustrated because they aren't that evident in the distance.
I just got to Skyhold and am very disappointed that there's not as much Dalish decor as there is for other countries. There's drapes and stuff, but I rather want a Dalish-style bed or throne. Or a Spoils of the Dalish/Spoils of the Elvhen DLC. Decorate the fortress all elf-royalty-y and make Solas very uncomfortable.
Considering the Dalish don't have permanent settlements and live out of wheeled caravans, their bedding and decor might not be much to look at. Would've been nice to see, though - we got Chasind and Avvar stuff, for pity's sake.
Then something styled after the elven ruins in the game, maybe? There could be a throne that looked like a giant tree or something!
Yeees. A Fen'harel statue facing away from Skyhold! It'd be following Dalish tradition, but it could ALSO BE symbolic of Solas keeping an eye out for danger (if the inquisitor has a good relationship with him)
