- Yeah, Krem is the first in-game trans character in... at least in a DA game, but maybe in the entire Bioware catalogue? He is very much a he.
- And for party comp I think you want at least one of each, and usually to double up on mages. That will let you smash shit/pick locks/light veilfire.
- Fitting with how annoying Orlais is, it's also where you recruit the two absolute worst party members. I can guarantee you will hate Sera more with every word she speaks. Vivienne is also awful.
- We get to see some of the legendarily awful armour in this update. Whatever the fuck Sera is wearing and Blackwall's 'please follow the lines to ensure I get stabbed right in the subclavian artery or the solar plexus with every stab at my torso' titty shield. Krem's gear looks quite reasonable by this game's standards though my boy needs a gorget. His neck's awfully vulnerable there.
Now, we can tell her to bugger off, and really, every part of me is suggesting we do so, but since this is a first-time play-through I'm loath to miss out on any content, so we bring her aboard.
(I genuinely despise Sera for both what you've already noticed plus the aforementioned "Canadian liberals writing indigenous issues" thing which makes her whole deal have extremely sinister undertones once you realise what's her politics translate to taken in the conext of real life.)
Edit: (Vivienne is also a trashfire but I don't hate her as much because she isn't the devs doing some mild crime against humanity apologism directly at me as an individual. I fucking hate Sera SO MUCH u guys)
Edit2: because that's what I need in my game, someone just going "you know what hasn't had a fare shake in the marketplace of ideas? ASSIMILATIONISM AND IDEOLOGY OF THE GODDAMN FUCKING RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS)
Edit3: she has no redeeming features as a character and I'll never forgive them for making her the lesbian character. I feel like they were trying to piss me off personally. NO GAY BONUS. NO STARS. MALUS POINTS FOR THIS ONE BIOWARE. -1/10 CHARACTER.
Edit4: like I'm genuinely eternally mad because the genocide they're having her carry water for is (daily reminder) self admitted by Canada to still be ongoing. They did genocide apologetics for the fucking genocide that was happening around them at the time.
Not being Canadian or First Nations, I hadn't noticed that specifically; I hated Sera because she was a racist fascist apologist piece of shit, but I hadn't connected the dots that as a good Christian Andrastrian girl who hates First Nations people elves and despises her cultural heritage cultural heritage she was also a billboard that basically said 'bUt WhAt'S sO BaD aBoUt ReSiDeNtIaL ScHoOlS?'
EDIT: Like, speaking as an English guy, you don't have to like your cultural heritage, to be clear, but it's part of a greater pattern that makes Sera look worse and worse.
Most of my exposure to this Dragon Age game comes from fanfiction. But reading your posts about Solas is making a dozen little wires link up in my brain, connecting Solas to Duane Adelier in the webcomic Unsounded. Unsounded is also a "misery porn" setting, so the idea of a more-Solas-like Duane is reeeeeally breaking my brain.
Solas, with regards to his divisiveness is, I firmly maintain, a brilliantly written character, so long as you keep in mind that he's deliberately written so as to give the impression of having an INT score near maximum and a WIS score near minimum. Simultaneously the smartest guy on the planet and a total moron. At first glance intellectual, then the more you learn about him the more you want to slap him and explain the problems with his line of thought slowly using small words and speaking loudly, but, I am positive, this is deliberate.
I think Bioware discovered whatever effect they use for wet lighting and went buck wild in DAI, yeah. Cullen got commented on but almost everyone looks like they're coated in sweat or oil.
Back at Haven, we have another round of conversations with our party members, starting with Cassandra.
She reveals that she is, effectively, Nevarran royalty (albeit far down in the line of succession), and that the Pentaghasts were famous as dragon slayers (I wonder if their name is based on the word "Pentecost," which comes from the Greek word for "fiftieth," since it's a Christian holiday celebrated fifty days after Easter).
"Wow, that's a lot of people you have to murder! I played Crusader Kings 3, I know how this works."
Cassandra wanted to get away from that life, saying that her brother Anthony was the only thing keeping her in Nevarra, and once he was gone, so was she. She goes on to explain the role of "Mortalitasi," or "Death Mages" in Nevarran culture, which isn't as cool as it sounds. Basically, the Nevarrans don't cremate their dead, but bury them in elaborate crypts tended by the Mortalitasi.
She then recounts how she saved the life of the Divine from a conspiracy led by a Templar knight-commander, and thus became the "Right Hand of the Divine." No word on if there's a Left Hand of the Divine.
We try talking to Cullen, but he doesn't have anything particularly interesting to say.
"Another day volunteering in the Chantry. Everyone keeps asking me if they can fuck the statue of Andraste. Buddy, they won't even let me fuck it."
Then we try talking to (ugh) Sera, but her rambling, incoherent tone and "U WOT M8" accent start to grate on me soon after. And does anyone else think that she looks like a blonde and female Ringo Starr, or is it just me?
If you select this option, Silevil will break the fourth wall and get the hell out of there.
We can ask Varric about what happened to the Dragon Age 2 party members and other characters, and he says that:
- Anders fled Kirkwall with the mages, staying with them for a while, but Varric doesn't know where he is now
- We can point out that First Enchanter Orsino turning into a Harvester made no sense, which I think might a bit of self-deprecation on BioWare's part, because that fight *did* make no sense
- The Qunari disavowed the Arishok's actions, saying that they would never speak of it again
- Merrill decided to look after the elves left homeless by the fighting
- Fenris is still hunting down Tevinter slavers coming to prey on the refugees
- Isabela went back to the Raiders, and is now calling herself an admiral
- Sebastian went back to Starkhaven
- Bethany is in the Free Marches somewhere, helping survivors from the Kirkwall Circle
- Aveline is still guard-captain
We then talk to Vivienne, who can tell that Silevil was clearly not trained in a Circle, and asks how we became so skilled in the arcane arts. She tells her that the Dalish have their own traditions of magic, and Vivienne says that she's heard of such things, "but it's all third-hand."
I'll remember that last part for later, just in case she decided to start lecturing us on our culture.
Just like my own character, some part of my brain kept insisting that Vivienne resembled someone I'd seen before, but it took me a while to realise who it was. Then it hit me...she's the woman in the music video for Rammstein's "Deutschland":
It soon becomes obvious that Vivienne is very pro-Circle, and her greatest desire is to get everything back to the way it was before this whole war broke out.
All right, enough faffing around, time to get back to the story. We can choose to make contact with either the mages or the Templars, and we go for the mages because...fuck the Templars. To do so, we head to Redcliffe village, which looks every different from how it did in Origins.
Something's not right, however. There's a Rift outside the entrance that can seemingly alter the flow of time. To make matters worse, when go to meet with Fiona, she acts like she never spoke to us. Then this guy shows up:
It turns out the rebel mages have made an alliance with Tevinter, represented by Magister Alexius here. And that outfit...oooph. I think BioWare was trying to suggest devil's horns with that hood of his, but instead it makes me wonder if he's trying to dress up as a rooster for Halloween.
Alexius acts incredibly smug and condescending, and says that he and his fellow Tevinters saved the rebel mages from an attack by the Templars. His son, Felix, is ill with an unnamed sickness, and during a conversation he slips us a note, telling us that we should go the Chantry, as we are in danger.
Once we reach the Chantry, we meet this fellow:
"Heeeere we are, born to be kings, we're the princes of the universe..."
This is Dorian Pavus, a Tevinter mage and our next party member. Something about him gives me strong Freddie Mercury vibes.
After we help him close another Fade Rift, Dorian explains that Alexius was once his mentor. Somehow, he managed to reach Redcliffe before we did by manipulating time, which is supposed to be impossible according to the rules of magic in Thedas. Then again, teleportation is also supposed to be impossible, and that didn't stop enemy mages in Dragon Age 2 from teleporting all over the place.
Felix shows up and says that his father has joined a cult of Tevinter supremacists called the "Venatori." Whatever they're trying to do, we need to stop them. The problem is that they've occupied Redcliffe castle, which won't be an easy place to assault. Fortunately, Dorian is willing to help us in that matter. Once we confront Alexius in the castle, there's some back-and-forth between him and our character, until Alexius finally drops his mask and starts talking about his new patron, called "The Elder One." Then Dorian walks in and chastises him for living down to every terrible stereotype of Tevinter magisters.
We learn that Felix is dying of his illness, and that this "Elder One" promised a way to cure him. Alexius then orders his Venatori to sieze us, but his men are cut down from the shadows by our men. In a moment of desperation, Alexius uses some kind of magic to rip open a hole in the space/time continuum.
Yes, that is the head of Silevil's staff intruding into the shot. Someone fire the director of photography.
Then we find ourselves in the castle dungeons, having been thrown some distance into the future. There are huge pieces of red lyrium everywhere, and Dorian suspects that what we're seeing is the outcome should we fail in stopping this "Elder One." In short, demons are everywhere, everything sucks, and the only thing left to do call is call in an Exterminatus. Except we don't have that.
We find our party members in places through the dungeon, but they're...not doing so well, as they're all suffering from red lyrium poisoning.
I must admit, this whole segment is wonderfully atmospheric. One thing I've noticed with Inquisition is that, tonally, it's quite distinct from the first two Dragon Age games. Origins had the basic BioWare plot, and was set in a very typical fantasy world, but the writers kept drenching it in grimdark buffoonery in a way that felt juvenile and shallow. DA2 went full grimdark, where everything is shit and everyone is an asshole, and it was positively exhausting. Inquisition is, well, it's not exactly what I'd call Noblebright or anything like that, but the darker moments feel like they're in contrast to the everything else, rather than the norm. As someone who's thoroughly tired of grimdark fantasy that's trying way too hard to be taken seriously, it's quite refreshing.
As we explore the ruined castle, we find Leliana in the torture chamber, and she's REALLY not doing well:
It turns out that Alexius' son Felix was travelling in a caravan that was attacked by darkspawn, and he's slowly dying of the taint. Alexius has been harvesting flesh and blood from Leliana in the hopes of curing him, to no avail.
We find Alexius in the throne room, where his son, judging by his appearance, has already become a ghoul. He despairs over the situation, realising that he's effectively doomed the world. It seems that we won't have to fight him after all...right up until Leliana slits his son's throat, at which point Alexius attacks us.
This boss battle was much easier than I expected. It's basically four against one, save for a couple of moments where new Fade rifts appear, but those are easily dealth with.
Once he's dead, Dorian says that he can use his amulet to send us back to our own timeline, but the spell will take time to cast, and the Elder One's minions are about to break down the door. Leliana and our party members nobly sacrifice themselves for the cause, giving their lives so that Dorian and Silevil can escape the dark future.
Back in the proper timeline, we take Alexius into custody, but we have little time to celebrate, as Queen Anora bursts into the throne room and starts bitching at us about how the mages' actions have threatened her people, and that she is rescinding her offer of sanctuary. Naturally, Anora would be replaced by Alistair if he were made king, but he became wandering drunk, so who knows where he's gotten to in the meantime.
Whatever you say, Queen Jerkface.
So now we must decide what to do with the mages. We can either bring them into the Inquisition as full allies to our cause, and essentially conscript them as prisoners. We take them as allies, and we get a barrage of approval changes:
From the Dragon Age Wiki:
Solas Greatly Approves
Blackwall Approves
Varric Approves/Disapproves (only if he's in the active party. Approves if Hawke sided with mages in Dragon Age II, Disapproves if Hawke sided with templars)
Iron Bull Disapproves
Cassandra Greatly Disapproves
Sera Greatly Disapproves
Cole Greatly Approves (occurs regardless if recruited or not; will not be stated in-game)
Dorian Greatly Approve
Now we can have Dorian join our party full-time, and I have to admit I rather like this character. He has a certain smugness, but he's never too smarmy or overly condescending, and it's quite clear that it's really just an act that he's putting on. His surname "Pavus" means "peacock" in Latin, which rather sums up his personality.
You may have noticed that Vivienne's name didn't appear in the above list. Well, if you talk to her afterwards, she's not happy at all that we've brought in a bunch of mages who aren't under the control of a Circle. She says that abominations are inevitable, and when we point out that the Dalish manage to do alright without Circle system, she says this:
Remember what I said earlier about how everything she's heard about the Dalish came from "third-hand" sources. Well...
This scene is crying out for a dialogue where Silevil tells her something like, "Hmm, yes, I remember you spending a great deal of time with the Dalish, learning our ways...oh wait, you never did, STFU."
Granted, we haven't seen much of how the Dalish save from the Dalish origin in the first game, but what little we did see seemed a lot better than how Circle mages lived. And to be frank...the Circles are awful. Any child who displays any hint of magic is dragged off by the religious authorities and sent to what is, effectively a prison at worst and an oppressive boarding school at best, where they are constantly surrounded by heavily-armed fanatics who have carte blanche to kill them all should they get a bit too uppity. I don't know if it's ever suggested in-game, but it sounds like Vivienne's experience with the Circle was far different from that of someone in a place like, say, Kirkwall. In other words, she's an extremely-privileged individual passing judgement on very non-privileged people.
After this, things get a bit complicated. I've tried to avoid spoilers or reading guides, but I do know that the next story quest, "In Your Heart Shall Burn," is a point of no-return for many other quests, so I want to get as much done before that. There are few areas we can explore: The Storm Coast, the Fallow Mire, and the Forbidden Oasis, but a lot of the quests there are super basic and not really worth recounting.
- You still haven't corrected Krem's pronouns. Please go back and do that.
- Vivienne sucks and is awful.
- Sera remains The Worst.
- I am like 95% sure Pentaghast is 'Five Ghosts', possibly as a reference to the whole necromancy things. Nevarra is not!Egypt/Greece as far as I can tell.
- As you know Cole exists, it's pretty funny that you get an opinion change with him here; you literally can't recruit him yet on the mage path.
- Dorian is remarkably fun and one of the few companions who is both relatively pleasant to interact with and also relatively grounded in the reality of Thedas, in ways both pleasant and not.
- Today's bad armour assessment: the Tevene mages actually have relatively reasonable armour. The hood is fucking ridiculous, the weird armour hip skirt protector things are dumb, and the use of leather instead of cloth as an underlayer is bad (remember that these dudes are from the not!Ottoman Empire/India/ERE in the tropics, and so a full-body layer of leather is going to have them like that dude from George of the Jungle), but by DAI standards it looks relatively reliable. Can't really go wrong with a chainmail - or in this case scalemail - shirt.
Remember what I said earlier about how everything she's heard about the Dalish came from "third-hand" sources. Well...
This scene is crying out for a dialogue where Silevil tells her something like, "Hmm, yes, I remember you spending a great deal of time with the Dalish, learning our ways...oh wait, you never did, STFU."
Granted, we haven't seen much of how the Dalish save from the Dalish origin in the first game, but what little we did see seemed a lot better than how Circle mages lived. And to be frank...the Circles are awful. Any child who displays any hint of magic is dragged off by the religious authorities and sent to what is, effectively a prison at worst and an oppressive boarding school at best, where they are constantly surrounded by heavily-armed fanatics who have carte blanche to kill them all should they get a bit too uppity. I don't know if it's ever suggested in-game, but it sounds like Vivienne's experience with the Circle was far different from that of someone in a place like, say, Kirkwall. In other words, she's an extremely-privileged individual passing judgement on very non-privileged people.
This part is particularly bad because it's also a pretty blatant retcon from the way the Dalish attitude towards magic was depicted in the previous games. Before Inquisition, every indication was that the Dalish valued their mages extremely highly, both for practical reasons and because it's a very important part of their cultural heritage, but there were almost never enough mages to go around. But now the series is trying to push the idea that the Dalish abandon children with magic, probably because they realized that having a viable alternative to the circles made it obvious that the templars are counterproductive and pointlessly cruel, so they had to make the Dalish look worse. Sometimes it feels like Bioware has never written institutional oppression that they didn't try to bothsides.
This part is particularly bad because it's also a pretty blatant retcon from the way the Dalish attitude towards magic was depicted in the previous games. Before Inquisition, every indication was that the Dalish valued their mages extremely highly, both for practical reasons and because it's a very important part of their cultural heritage, but there were almost never enough mages to go around. But now the series is trying to push the idea that the Dalish abandon children with magic, probably because they realized that having a viable alternative to the circles made it obvious that the templars are counterproductive and pointlessly cruel, so they had to make the Dalish look worse. Sometimes it feels like Bioware has never written institutional oppression that they didn't try to bothsides.
Well, Victoria 3 comes out tomorrow, so updates might be a bit slower coming. In the meantime, I was bored, so I decided to recreate my Inquisitor in The Sims 4:
"Who the fuck is screaming "LOG OFF" at my house. Show yourself, coward. I will never log off."
Part 6: I Regret To Inform You That Sera is Still Terrible
So, taking a little break from playing Victoria 3 to continue with this Let's Play. I'm sure Sweden can manage its economy without me for a bit.
We have a little chat with Dorian, who gives us some background details on how politics work in Tevinter. Basically, the most powerful group is the Magisterium (which oh-so-conveniently happens to be made of mages), who are the upper house of the Imperial Senate, and the only ones with real power in the Imperium. The Magisterium is split between the Circles of Magi, the Chantry, and the major families (all of whom are mages).
Dorian is familiar with Crusader Kings, evidently.
He goes on to complain how people outside the Imperium use the phrase "mage" and "magister" interchangeably. Dorian is an "altus" (meaning "tall" or "high" in Latin), who are members of the upper class, and who claim descent from the Dreamers, the first prophets of the Old Gods. If you're a mage but not a magister or an altus, then your "laetan" or lower class. If you're not a mage at all, then you're part of the "soporati" (I'm guessing BioWare derived this from Latin "soporatus" meaning "sleeping," that is, someone with no dream connection to the Fade). And beneath all of those are the slaves.
Dorian points out that the Imperium likes to maintain the idea that anyone could become a mage, thus mollifying the lower classes with the illusion of social mobility, like the old Horatio Alger myth of pulling yourself by your own bootstraps. However, even if a member of the lower class turned out to be a mage, they'd likely be considered a "quaestor" (literally "seeker" in Latin, but also a title used in Ancient Rome), who get saddled with boring administrative duties.
On the subject of blood magic, he explains that there's no real harm in using your own blood or that of a willing participant. The problem is that this can only get one so far in one's magical pursuits, hence the sacrifices and demon summoning. That's not officially sanctioned, of course, but real blood magic is needed to get a leg up on one's political opponents, and thus it's safe to assume that any mage of importance is doing it in secret. The Templars might prosecute such individuals, but they've been rendered largely impotent, so all they can do is go after those without political allies.
As for the matter of slaves, he admits that he never really thought about that much, and he doesn't see much difference between slavery and the grinding poverty of places like the elven alienages.
Then we try talking to Sera, because I haven't had my daily fill of irritation yet. When the matter of elves comes up, she says that most are "too elfy" and whines about them "digging up old debts," calling it "all fancy dress, not history."
Sera is, essentially, a mankurt. The term comes from a novel by Kyrgyz author Chinghiz Aitmatov called The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years. In this story, a mankurt was a prisoner of war whose captors would wrap their heads in wet camel skin and then leave them out in the hot sun. The camel skin would contract as it dried, squeezing their heads and causing irreperable brain damage, turning them into obedient slaves who had forgotten who they were. The word later came to refer to Central Asian peoples who forgotten their culture and traditions and embraced Russification.
I should also point out that the idea that a culture "isn't real," or that it is some kind of recent invention, is frequently used in the real world to justify openly racist and imperialist policies. Hell, just look at what Russia has been saying about Ukraine: "Ukraine isn't a real country! It was just made up the Polish-Lithuanian Common. No, wait, it was actually created by Austria-Hungary! Ukrainian isn't a real language, just a funny dialect of Russian!" And so on and so on. Now, I won't condemn BioWare for creating a character with terrible views, but the problem is that the game doesn't seem to let you push back against them. When a game gives a character a platform to espouse their views, and then refuses to challenge it in any way, then doesn't that sort of suggest that the writers want that character to be seen as correct?
Which gets back to my earlier point: in Dragon Age, human cultures are flawed but redeemable (Dorian all but says this about Tevinter), but non-human cultures are complete shitshows, and if you're a non-human you're best bet is to abandon your culture at the first opportunity.
To emphasise this point, when we talk to Solas, he describes the Dalish as engaging in a "fumbling attempt to recreate a forgotten land." When we suggest that he share what he's learned with the Dalish, he scoffs at the idea, saying that they would just mock the "flat-ear" and go back to their ruins.
Now, I've been avoiding spoilers thus far, but how do much do you want to bet that Sera and Solas will be proven 100% correct in their assertions? I can just FEEL it in my bones.
There are two more areas we can explore: The Fallow Mire and The Forbidden Oasis. There's nothing really worth recounting here, as much of it just kill and fetch quests, but in the Fallow Mire there's an Avvar tribesman calling himself the "Hand of Korth" who's got a bee in his bonnet about the Inquisition. So naturally, we storm his castle and kill him.
The Forbidden Oasis is a desert, and there's not a whole lot that's interesting here except for Par'as Cavern. Throughout the game, you'll come across these skulls mounted on pillars called Ocularum. You can look through them and uncover these shards, which are then used to unlock doors within Par'as Cavern, and those in turn will give you various bonuses to things like elemental resistance.
When we return, we have a talk with Iron Bull. Much like the conversation with Dorian, it's more or less an infodump on Qunari history. One of the more, um...interesting...aspects of their culture is that they generally don't have sex with each other out of love or desire. Rather, there are "Tamassrans" who provide sexual services, which is treated like going to the healer for some minor ailment.
So now it's time to begin the next major story quest, "In Your Heart Shall Burn." It starts out with the Inquisition and allies marching forth to close the Breach...which we do:
Well THAT was anticlimactic. Guess the game's over now...
Ahh...fuck.
Haven comes under attack by Templars, but not just any Templars. These are Red Templars, whose bodies have corrupted by Red Lyrium. During the assault, a man named Cole starts banging on the door, asking to be let in. Cole is another future party member, whom we would have recruited earlier had we sided with the Templars.
For whatever reason, something about Cole's appearance just screams "90's grunge band":
What follows is a large battle against several waves of Red Templars. Your goal is to gain control of a pair of trebuchets, which we plan to use to cause an avalanche that will bury our attackers. Your triumph is short lived, however, as a dragon swoops down and destroys one of the trebuchets.
What follows next is a bit of a pain: there are number of NPCs that you can rescue: Harritt, Seggrit, Flissa, Adan, Minaeve, and Threnn, and they WILL die if you take too long or rescue them in the wrong order. It took me a few reloads to find the optimal route, but I find that the best order is to start with Seggrit, then Threnn, followed by Adan, Minaeve, and Flissa.
Back in the Chantry, Cullen informs us that Haven is overrun, and that we need to get the hell out of Dodge. We can't fend off the attacking army, but we can use the remaining trebuchet to cause another avalanche, buying us more time. Chancellor Roderick, now badly wounded, informs us that there is a secret path to safety, so all we have to do is fire the trebuchet while everyone else flees. There's another long fight where we have to aim the remaining trebuchet while fending off waves of Red Templars, and then we're finally introduced to the "Elder One":
It turns out that the antagonist of this game, and the one responsible for the Breach, is Corypheus, who was introduced in the Legacy DLC for Dragon Age 2. I never played that piece of content (because why would I pay to play more Dragon Age 2?), but the gist of his story is that Corypheus was one of the Tevinter magisters who tried to enter the Golden City, thus making him one of the original darkspawn. Of course, he says that the city was corrupted before he arrived, and that "the throne of the gods was empty." This contradicts the Chantry's official version of events, but then again, Corypheus isn't exactly a reliable source.
And to make matters worse, Corypheus apparently has a friggin' arch-demon under his control.
Fun fact: the world "corypheus" comes from Greek koruphaîos, which originally meant the leader of the dramatic chorus in Ancient Greek drama.
He's here for the "anchor," that is, the mark on Silevil's hand, and he tries to remove using a strange magical orb. But it turns out that the "anchor" is permanent, so he simply settles for killing us. Before he can do that, however, Silevil fires the remaining trebuchet, triggering an avalanche and allowing her to escape in the ensuing chaos.
We then cut to our character walking through a snowy passage, and the game suddenly grants us the "Mark of the Rift" ability. This uses something called "Focus," which is built up whenever your party members deal damage to enemies or performs cross-class combos. Once you've built up enough Focus, you can unleash powerful abilities, so they're sort of like Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy, only they're charged by doing damage instead of taking it.
Then we cut to campfire scene, where we have a conversation with Mother Giselle about the recent events, and we can offer several opinions on the matter.
"Have you considered any other monotheistic religion, Giselle? Zoroastrianism, perhaps?"
(Also, I want to mention that while Giselle's voice actress does a fine job with her role, her voice is a bit...phlegmy. I can't really blame her for this, though, given how much I struggle with controlling mouth noises while recording).
And then...the singing starts.
Everyone in the camp begins singing "The Dawn Will Come." It's a little hokey, but I'll gladly take moments of authentic sincerity like this over the irony-drenched cynicism that pervades this series.
Sadly, Silevil does not know this human song, so she performs a traditional Dalish tune:
"The human came across the sea
He brought us pain, and misery.
He killed our tribes, he killed our creed
He took our game for his own need..."
That night, Solas tells us that the orb Corypheus was wielding was actually elven in origin, and Silevil points out that we ought to keep this quiet, since people will no doubt use this information to blame elves for everything that's happened.
The Inquisition is down, but not out, and we come to a new base of operations: a mountain fortress named Skyhold. There's a lengthy cutscene of everyone settling in, and then our character is declared to be the head of the Inquisition, and given a fancy sword to go along with the title.
"I name this blade 'Shemslayer.' Don't worry, it's purely symbolic."
We're given our next main objective: Leliana says that, in the dark future we witnessed, the Orlesian empress Celene had been assassinated, so it stands to reason that Corypheus is planning to do just that. Varric strolls into the hall, and says that he has an "old friend" who crossed paths with Corypheus before, and that he might be able to help us.
No...please...Jesus Christ...NO...
We talk with Josephine, who informs us that, if we're going to thwart this plot against Celene's life, we're going to have get involved with Orlesian court politics.
And worse, the assassin will likely be hiding amongst the guests at a grand masqeruade ball. This...this isn't going to be very pleasant, is it?
We have another talk with Solas, and ask him about his studies of the Fade. He agrees, but he says that we'll have to talk "somewhere more interesting." BOW-CHICKA-WOW-WOW
No, not like that, you pervs.
We find ourselves back in Haven, and Solas goes over his studies of the Breach and the anchor, and how he could find no answers in the Fade or the waking world until we showed up and solved it all with a gesture.
That's not creepy at all, Solas.
It then turns out that this whole conversation has been taking place in a dream. Yep, not creepy at all.
Now with all that out of the way, time for the real important stuff...like picking our clothes! By default, the Inquisitor wears this ugly beige outfit, but there are some more colourful options we can choose:
This outfit gives off strong "British Foot Guards" vibes. As it's based heavily on France, maybe we'll wear this to Orlais as a calculated insult.
- Not sure if you missed it but there's a note in... the Hinterlands, maybe Redcliffe, that tells you the ocularum are made from Tranquil skulls by the Venatori. The codex entry is definitely worth a read.
- I always hate the 'ooh the Dalish's recreation of the culture they think might have existed in Elvhenan means they're all just fake people' thing. Like, regardless of accuracy it's a living culture. People live in it and follow it, even if it's all 'made up' so is all fuckin' culture. The prevalence of it makes it feel very much like it's an authorial position not an in-universe one.
- Yeah, Dorian is from a slavekeeping culture and has some, uh, not great stances on it; he's still better than all the other slavekeepers you're surrounded with. Like Cassandra. And Cullen. And the entire Southern Chantry. Any Templars you run into. A bunch of Orlesians. The list goes on.
I never finished the game and don't remember it too well, but as far as I call he generally likes it when you question existing viewpoints and perspectives. Provided they're ones he disagrees with, otherwise he hates it. Basically he likes it when you demonstrate big-brain thoughts to confirm his held opinions.
But Akuz, didn't you like it when she talks about how she stands for the poor but categorically opposes any kind of organisation to change society? Gotta deal with those bad apples Akuz, but no taking wealth away, you know the poor would only ruin everything.
All right, enough faffing around, time to get back to the story. We can choose to make contact with either the mages or the Templars, and we go for the mages because...fuck the Templars.
But have you considered that both sides are wrong and you should adopt a nice healthy central position? Surely we can compromise between the abusive raping lobotomising slavers and their victims?
I don't know if it's ever suggested in-game, but it sounds like Vivienne's experience with the Circle was far different from that of someone in a place like, say, Kirkwall. In other words, she's an extremely-privileged individual passing judgement on very non-privileged people.
Don't believe it's explicit exactly, but she basically went to the One Good Circle that exists, and was also noble and posh, and also a close personal friend of the Templar in charge.
No...please...Jesus Christ...NO...
