Dragon Age: Dark Fortress (Comic)

*Remembers half hour per Inky deciding which outfit looked the best*

😂 Watch me be pretty, baldy. And know your life was wasted.

Actually this is why I found it hard to believe Fenris would be so bitter if Hawke took a bit of time out to deal with something that was important to them before getting back together again. I put my romantic life on hold for him for 3 years for goodness sake. Come on Fenris, cut her some slack won't you?

Of course, that wasn't the reason given for them being apart in DAI but the rather odd one that Hawke was afraid that Fenris would end up dying for them, as opposed to ending up dying trying to rescue slaves from slavers without them. Plus we spent six years dicing with death together, including that showdown at the end of DA2, where in my case we fought with the mages in face of terrible odds. I don't care how either the Devs or Nunzio try to rationalise this; it just didn't make sense.

It wasn't so much the fact that Fenris wasn't there but the reason for it. I don't understand why the situation for romanced Isabella could be presented so positively with Hawke having no doubt they would be together again, and after all she could hardly take her ship into hiding along with Hawke. Ditto Merrill and Anders. The explanation for their absence made sense. Merrill was helping the elves and Hawke was afraid to bring Anders into close proximity to Corypheus again. So why couldn't they come up with a better reason to leave Fenris behind than simply "I was afraid he might get himself killed defending me"? That is what has always bugged me about it. Not that he wasn't there but the reason they gave for it was so lame.

So, narratively, what is the benefit of Tevinter sucking right now?

Large swaths of Tevinter being unreachable and unexplorable due to enemy troops? Reduced what they're going to allow us to see of what is a massive country.

Isabella being more on the table? If sea travel is a thing, since we'll need someone we can trust to get us through war torn eastern waters.

The war makes lyrium way more expensive? So more idiots turn to the red stuff growing all over the place?

Tevinter in a weaker position so the T vs Q decision makes more sense? T wouldn't make a deal with PC unless they're desperate, but they also honestly look like the weakest militarily right now. So if we need numbers to fight the.... actually, I dunno what army Solas has, an army of disenfranchised city elves doesn't actually sound that impressive. Unless he drops the veil and they all get magic, but then everyone gets magic so that doesn't change the field in their favor exactly.

Why does Bioware want Tevinter to suck more at this war, when there could just be a backdrop of war in the east that diverts their leaders and forces enough without losing half the country? They seem to want the war to reach Minrathous gates level of bad?

Ps maybe Solas can only view the idle through the mirror. The only time we've seen it, he's been tracking this elven relic

Possibly there is going to be somewhere we need to get to behind enemy lines. A large group would not be able to accomplish this; it will need just a small, crack team who are prepared to take the risk and achieve a successful outcome. Likely destination: Arlathan Forest

The current state of Tevinter could well necessitate a floating base of operations. No point in having a fixed based on land that is likely to be overrun by Qunari at any time. Mind you, that would ignore the fact that the Qun have an impressive navy too and the only way Isabella could reach the Nocen Sea is round via the northern passage and then through the Ventosus Straits. With the Antaam holding both Seheron and Qarinus/Ventus, it would be easy enough for them to blockade this stretch of water. Still, may be Isabella got trapped the wrong side of the blockade in the Nocen Sea, which is why she would feel she has nothing to lose in helping the PC.

I can definitely see the writers using this one in some way. It would seem the Venatori must have some sort of red lyrium farm somewhere if they have so much of the stuff that one of their members could use it for totally frivolous non military purposes. However, I wonder if the supply of ordinary lyrium could be part of a plot we get involved in and that is why we end up in Kal-Sharok. Think about it, according to what we have been told, the Ambassadoria ensure the supply of lyrium to Tevinter but they are linked to Orzammar, who were apparently unaware that Kal-Sharok had survived until they were "rediscovered" during the Dragon Age. This is again one of those instances of ignorance that seems hard to swallow. Kal-Sharok are much nearer to Tevinter, so even if they lost contact with Orzammar, why didn't they maintain contact with Tevinter? However, if that was the case, why didn't word get out about their continued existence? Hopefully we will get some answers next game. One way or another, whether it is connected with the supply of ordinary lyrium or how to cleanse the world of the red stuff, or something else entirely, I think we are going to go to Kal-Sharok.

I really can't think where they are going to go with this or why Tevinter had to make such a pathetic defense of the eastern side of the Imperium. Even if Minrathous was ignoring the situation, the east would have its own regional government and military forces. It is one thing having such forces overwhelmed without backing from the capital but from what we have seen in the comics they didn't even do that much. Qarinus fell in a matter of hours. Back in 9:11 it never fell at all and the (fully unified) Qunari forces suffered a humiliating defeat. I know Trespasser said Tevinter was weakened by infighting in the Magisterium but I find it hard to swallow that no defense was mounted at all. They knew an attack was imminent; people were trying to get passage out of Qarinus as a result, yet Dorian, who is a Magister and this was his home city so he had authority there, spent his time hanging out in a bar with Inquisition Agents instead of organising the city defenses, etc.

I don't find the rapid fall of eastern Tevinter very convincing and if the idea is to quickly bring the Antaam to the gate of Minrathous for plot purposes then they clearly decided to sacrifice realism for convenience. Actually, this wouldn't require the fall of the eastern seaboard but simply drawing off enough of the defenses to the east and then besieging Minrathous by land and sea. That would be easy enough bearing in mind the city is on an island reached by a single causeway. I seem to recall the Qun did this back in the Steel/Storm Age without success, since Minrathous has never fallen to an enemy force. Of course, back then the Qun took everyone by surprise, which is how they made inroads so quickly across the north. This time round, Tevinter has been keeping them under constant surveillance, so there was absolutely no excuse for what happened with Qarinus.

I don't know why they saw fit to introduce this new threat concerning eluvians, particularly as for a Dreamer it should be unnecessary. Does this indicate that may be whatever Solas is up to with his ritual has blocked his connection with the Fade in some way? Remember how he said that was why he didn't use blood magic personally? So may be his ritual involves blood magic or some other magic that weakens your connection with the Fade; void magic perhaps? He did say to a romanced Lavellan that he did not want her to see what he must become (to achieve his aim). Or possibly he has become separated from his alter ego, the Dread Wolf, which is the aspect of him that prowls the Fade. Anyway, if he now has to rely on eluvians rather than the Fade to see what is going on in the world, that is a weakness he didn't have before that we could exploit. I must admit I wonder if confronting the Dread Wolf in the Fade and defeating it, will have something to do with how we ultimately either redeem or kill Solas.

 what if the flying boat is run by Isabella and this brings her in but also helps us avoid all the Qunari Army again. 

But in the aiiiiiir

Melissa Sercia @fluidghost
I had a blast talking with Christina Weir and @ndefilippis on @spoiler_country about their new comic book Dragon Age: Dark Fortress! Check it out! @darkhorsecomics @bioware #DragonAge #comics #podcast

scpod.net/nunzio-defilippis-and-christina-weir-talk-dragon-age-dark-fortress/

About a year, but Dark Fortress as far as they know is the last DA comic they’re doing. At least until after DA4.