Anonymous Said: Who Are Your Favorite Three Companions To Take Along With You From Each DA Game?

Situation: Solas tears down the Veil, elves across Thedas slowly gain their magic and immortality. Guess who would not like that development.

also this in an excuse to draw a long-haired fenris helping refugees or escaped slaves

bonus

I feel as though this is very important

I think the problem is that on both sides of fandom, the concept of a “redemption arc” has gotten twisted to a point where it’s basically meaningless.

See, a lot of the time when the woobifiers say they want a “redemption arc” for their fave, they don’t mean that they want that character to have to face the awfulness of what they’ve done or put any actual effort into changing or face any real consequences. They basically mean that they want the good guys to realize to realize their fave wasn’t so bad all along and have them hug it all out or something, with maybe a token nod to the villain feeling regret, but nothing that really holds them accountable.

So of course if you’re thinking of “redemption” that way, you’re going to have people on the other side saying “This character doesn’t deserve redemption! They’ve done awful things!” Because yeah, they don’t deserve unconditional forgiveness and support from the heroes. They don’t deserve to have the slate magically wiped clean as if all the bad things they did never happened. But that was never supposed to be what a redemption arc was about. Real redemption is long and messy and hard, and it takes a really good writer to pull a proper redemption off. But when it is done right, it’s not about letting the villain off the hook - it’s exactly the opposite.

...I found the “girl falls into middle earth” fic I wrote when I was 11

I love anything and everything like this

Game of Thrones + Troubled birds Part 2 (Part 1)

nona the ninth will always be one of the most beautiful and most painful books in the world to me because. it is about love in its every possible form. it's about the love you have for someone who takes care of you and the love you have for those you care for. it's about loving someone after seeing all their rough edges and ugly sides and choosing to love someone even if it hurts and even if you know it might doom you. it's about not choosing to love someone, but loving them anyway because sometimes it's not up to you to choose. it's about loving the dogs on the street and the stranger you met at the park and the child that never speaks to anyone in class. it's about loving the creases in someone's face when they laugh and the way their hips sway and how they can't stand still. it's about your love for the sea and the pang of grief at the tought that it is being poisoned. it's about the immense pain that comes with the loss of someone you loved. it's about bearing that loss, it's about letting that cut burn because its presence means that there was love. and that cannot be taken away. you have loved, you have been loved, and you always will. and the fact that it hurts and it ends doesn't erase the fact that at the end of the day, it's always love at the core of it all. in its every form and expression, by turning into rage, or kindness, or utterly destructive force, it all starts and ends in love. you can't remove that. you can't take loved away.

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Pros to having the wildemount gays all live together: 

Gardening buddies

Empire sibs collectively dying from queer exposure

wlw mlm solidarity

xhorhass gays get to welcome empire sibs home after a long workday and honestly, i think we all need this

collective couch snuggles probably.

THERE ARE LIKE TEN CATS AND DOGS COMBINED HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS CONSEPT I’M-

Cons:

There are none.

Everything is as it should be. UwU<3

Super-quick guide to reading the Vorkosigan Saga in order

We’re gonna call this the first of many, many “why you should be reading the Vorkosigan saga” posts I’ll be making. For any new initiates, the Vorkosigan Saga is a series of sci-fi novels by Lois McMaster Bujold. While they can be broadly classified as “space opera”, they also take pretty significant detours into the political thriller, romantic comedy, horror, speculative fiction, mystery, and military drama genres. It’s very much hard sci-fi, with remarkably deep thought given to world-building and technology (like BSG, this is a universe where humanity is the only race, and so all the monsters are of our own making), but it doesn’t use its rich setting as an excuse to skimp on the incredibly deep characterization or ruthlessly clever plotting. Oh man, let me tell you, the characterization in these stories is absolutely fearless. Some of what Bujold puts her main characters through is the equivalent of taking away all of Tony Stark’s money and technology and resources halfway through Iron Man and, instead of having him angst until things get back to normal, taking that opportunity to use the logical shifts in characterization as a means to explore a new type of superhero story. Gah. 

Also remarkably for sci-fi, the main characters are rarely your typical square-jawed heroes–I mean, the leading man for the majority of this action-adventure series (despite what some of the truly awful cover art would have you believe) is all of four-foot-nine with brittle bones. 

Okay. I’ll gush more later, but for now: where to get started? After all, there are 15 novels and 4 novellas, and chances are most bookstores will have various compilation volumes that collect stories together based more on theme or publication date than on chronological order. While you can make your way through in any order you please–Bujold took pains to ensure that a new reader could jump in anywhere–the careful progression of characterization lends itself best to a chronological approach. Oh, and I should mention that this isn’t one of those series where the quality declines sharply over time–the latest books are some of my favourites in the entire series.

Here’s a recommended reading order, based on the internal chronology:

1. Shards of Honor (also published in the omnibus “Cordelia’s Honor”)

2. Barrayar (also published in the omnibus “Cordelia’s Honor”)

These first two books are essentially one self-contained story. The writing’s a little shakier than a lot of what follows, IMO, but the second half of Barrayar is some of my favourite stuff in the entire series, and Cordelia is absolutely marvellous.

3. The Warrior’s Apprentice (also published in the omnibus “Young Miles”)

There’s a fairly significant time gap between this book and the first two, and a different protagonist, so you can think of this one as a second jumping-off point for the series–I started with this one and eventually worked my way back to the first two without any trouble following. It all boils down to whether you want to know more about the past than the main character does–either way, it’s a fantastic read and remains one of my favourite books in the series.

4. “Mountains of Mourning” novella (also published in the omnibus “Young Miles”)

5. The Vor Game (also published in the omnibus “Young Miles”)

6. Cetaganda (also published in the omnibus “Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem”)

7. “Labyrinth” novella (also published in the omnibus “Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem”, as well as “Miles, Mutants, and Microbes”, for some reason)

8. “Borders of Infinity” novella (also published in the omnibus “Miles Errant”)

I frickin’ love this story okay.

9. Brothers in Arms (also published in the omnibus “Miles Errant”)

10. Mirror Dance (also published in the omnibus “Miles Errant”)

11. Memory (I think this one was only ever published as a standalone)

One of my all-time favourite novels, period.

12. Komarr (also published in the omnibus “Miles in Love”)

13. A Civil Campaign (also published in the omnibus “Miles in Love”)

If the incredibly dark books mid-series start getting you down, let me assure you that this one is frequently laugh-until-you-cry funny.

14. “Winterfair Gifts” novella (also published in the omnibus “Miles in Love”)

15. Diplomatic Immunity (also published in the omnibus “Miles, Mutants, and Microbes”)

16. Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance

Latest book to be published, haven’t read it yet, heard good things!

17. Cryoburn

There are also two novels which influence the main plotline a little more obliquely and are more background reading than anything else, and that's Falling Free (takes place long before the main series, should probably be read before Diplomatic Immunity) and Ethan of Athos (essentially a side-plot taking place approximately between Cetaganda and “Labyrinth”).

Phew. Okay. There you go. Have fun! If you want to try before you buy, even the smallish libraries I’ve been to will generally have the omnibus editions on the shelves. If you really can’t find these books anywhere, drop me an ask and I’ll see if I can help out.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story + wolfpupy 

tbh nothing is weirder to me than manly grimdark dudebro lord of the rings bc it’s just??? the epitome of light and love to me???? no narrative embodies hope and gentleness and healing like lotr does why must you insist on talking to me about badass aragorn vs. useless frodo. that’s not the point brad

mass effect mom headcanons

Ashley: “I’m calling the principal” when you tell her your teacher embarrassed you. Made you take karate until you broke your wrist. Gives bear hugs and reads you bedtime stories until you complain you're too old. Has a picture of you as her phone background. Wants to speak to the manager.

Liara: Definitely the leaves notes in your lunchbox with pintrest quotes and kisses you on the forehead in front of all your friends. Bought you “Baby’s first archaeology set″ and liked playing with it just as much as you did. Always making you try her new quinoa recipes. Always up to date on the Tea™ “I think you need to take some time to meditate”

Samantha: Goes to the pet fair 'just to look' but comes back with 3 dogs and a hamster. Sends you funny pictures of them while you're at school. Only has a minivan ironically and never lets you win at checkers. "I'm totally a cool mum"

Miranda: Privately interviews all of your friends (she means the best). Gets your prom outfit professionally tailored. Her relationship advice is always “dump them”. 100% waited for you in the living room sipping wine when you tried to sneak back in after curfew.

Jack: “You’re not allowed to fucking swear” KNOWS for a fact you're better than everyone else’s stupid kids, but sometimes gets a little too competitive (translation: banned from PTA for the next 6 weeks) Shovel talks everyone you bring home. Probably cried after she dropped you off for your first day of school. It can be hard when your mom just loves you so much.

Chakwas: Argues with your school nurse when they won't give you an Advil. She gets more excited about action movies than you. All she had to do was glare at those kids who were bothering you and you never saw them again. Generally laid back because she trusts you, but its hard not to notice her rolling her eyes when you do something against her advice.