Tevinter Nights - Spoiler Thread

Brianne Battye 🦇 @bbattye
Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights is out there! Thanks to everyone who worked on it and to those reading.
Are you ready for some new adventures in Thedas?

Who were they and what was their orientation/identities?

Horror of Hormak is...I just hope we don't visit a similar place in DA4.

But the lore elements in it are super interesting. Also, is it Hormak or Hormok? And a Dwarven Thaig build with a secret door that leads to deeper elven ruins. Horrors have probably been happening there long before the Thaig was lost to the darkspawns. And why haven't these things been seen before, kinda feel like it got active recently.

So many questions...

A better image of the Thedas Map...

Jackdaw 🐦 🇬🇧 ➡️ 🇺🇸 @jackdawjournal
The (US) physical copy of Tevinter Nights comes with this stunning map! 😍🏰 #TevinterNights

😁 To each their own; after reading the short story I was all raring to go find the other horror factories and do some exterminating. It left me eager to find out what other monstrosities lie in wait, buried under the lands ravaged by the earlier blights. 

According the story Hormok was the name of the ancient dwarven thaig. Given that the events took place in caves that were strongly implied to have belonged to Ghilan'nain, Hormak (as the word is written in the title) could be the elven thaig's name, the two thaigs sharing similar names due to their close proximity. Then again languages change over time: either one could be the original version, be it a dwarven or elvish word. Or maybe it's a case of Roma vs Rome: the other is the "original" and the other the translated version of a name. It could also be the name of the unnamed mountain under which the thaig is located. 🤔 

EDIT: After having given it some more thought, I wonder if warden Friedl who in the story chose to tear out her eyes (and ultimately killed herself) did so not because the horrors she had seen, but because the dubious grey liquid she'd swallowed had already done something to them⁉️

Perhaps like the creature in the Garden story, the Veil could have protected the world from them but with Solas beginning his plan these places and things are gaining access to our world.

Thank you for the extensive list.
And yeah that was great how Sylvia confirmed Hollix was genderfluid. She seems really good for the LGBT+ community, between writing the bisexual Liara in ME3 and Josephine in DAI who is bi but she also stated that seeing her as ace or demi are valid interpretations.
A little sad that none of them are explicitly Ace/Demi, leaving the only explicit character as still Brin from Anthem, but I guess that might be harder to portray in a short story than other orientations. As for Vaea, well so far it's a maybe since Nunzio and Christina haven't written her as interested in anything yet but it could change. I'm hoping it doesn't.

So this is a bit of a dry run for the inevitable 'what did you do in DA 4' thread where I just sort of dive through areas and just make my posts without reading anything else until after I get through with it and then I may go back and read other thoughts or just participate in the thread from there.

Anyways also I am basically going to be doing mini reviews of all the stories as I go through them so I may have a lot to say...

Three Trees to Midnight: Boy did they start off this collection with a real banger of a story. There was a lot going on in it and I really liked it. The ending legitimatley gave me chills. I mean the messaging might be a little blunt in this case...but then I suspect that there is going to be a lot of blunt writing in these stories given how short they are. Myrion and Strife are already two well liked characters for me and I would hope to see them in DA 4 at least as quest givers though Strife has companion potential. When Myrion pointed out that the Bas-taard taught them how to work together coupled with the reveal that the Huntmaster was actually a Ben-Hasraath and he chose to kill Bas-taar and let the Bas go unharmed gave me mega chills.

It was the latter which provides my first tie in for DA 4: Throughout the story they made multiple references to...well apparently there is actually infighting within the Qun. Which A. is interesting and B. is confusing. Its interesting because you'd almost expect any large organization to have that kind of in fighting so the Qunari shouldn't be an exception and you'd even almost expect it given the ridgid nature of the Qun. What is confusing though is the...I suppose the severity of it. Since it was seemingly referenced that the Antaam has gone rogue and started this war without the approval of the other two castes...leaving the invasion in a state of confusion...it provides two interesting points. The Qunari has always been, at least, portrayed as being fairly monolothic, they move as one and are one. And while rivalries would be expected I find it hard to belive that the Antaam...especially one led by Stennishock...would just up and randomly decide to invade. Though this does provide a lot of hyper juicy material for DA 4.

So lets see what else can I remember...

The whole Qamek thing is always one of the more fascinating elements of DA actually and this is the first time we get to see it 'on screen' as it were. And its something that I think is one of the most horrible all invasive elements of the Qun...except as the novel points out we do it to mages through Tranquility...at which point I shift uncomfortable like and gulp a bit.

Its going to be interesting Irelin and Strife never revealed who they are working for. Given some of the reveals and where Irelin apparently went I'd almost wager the Inquisition but given Elves and Dalish and everything else....well maybe I am projecting too much and they are just Dalish. But Irelin's shapeshifting is great. OH and as an aside I loved Pat Weeke's description of magic in this.

And then finally the Qunari are already talking about invading Rivain. I mean starting it off by the invasion of Ventus was bold...but just how much of the world will be conquered by the time we get to DA 4?

Down Among the Dead Men: Not nearly as strong and a bit of a clunker when compared to Three Trees. Granted the 'Sixth Sense' style reveal was a nice touch but not really enough to save it from being boring. Though it was interesting to see just how much Nevera used the dead and I feel slightly confused...I thought Mortalitasi was just a segment of Neverran society and not the whole thing but now we find out that every Neverran mage is a Mortaltassi and there is a cabal called the 'mourn watch' *scratches head*

Though I did realize when thinking about it that there is some interesting ramifications for DA 4 with the guardsman being so...lively. Reminded me of Cole upon reflection which then reminded me of some of the fan theories I read in the Theory Center which then makes me wonder if they are building to that kind of a reveal...or am I reaching again?

To be honest, I still felt shortchanged when it came to the number of LGBTQ+ characters. There need to be more stories that are not hetero normative and are queer centric. Single character story insertion simply isn't enough.

If the invasion was by the Antaam alone, I wonder if the note from the Triumvirate we saw in Trespasser was true. The fact it was intercepted by the Viddasala and crumpled up tossed in a corner made me think it was back them, and now there is this.
Or maybe the Antaam have allies among the two branches like the Viddasala from Trespasser or in Blue Wraith operating on their own, since that story shows internal division.

It would be interesting if this led to a Qunari reformation movement, I mean it seems like all the other nations/ organizations are going through that.