Arbiter Blackthorn

Arbiter will be fine, or Blackthorn. No, it's not a reference to the veins. No, they don't hurt. Yes, that's blood on my masque. Canon in voice.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

Chasing someone's undead great-uncle across fields under the full moon, wondering how a wights shamble so fucking fast. #JustHoundThings

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@PetraKore @tmidander @reddrakonmo @illiciture Yeah, It does come up once, in the puzzle with the machine that needs 3 crystals fixed. At least one of the notes about communicating with a being across the veil was definitely written by Cyrian and Bel will notice it if she's there. (if she's not, it's not brought up)

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@teturelira_ @evansketchbook I love very much, too, that the SD leadership is 3?/4 some permutation of LGBTQ+. Maybe 4/4, but snake pope is mysterious and I can't tell if he an Tarquin are together or just such close colleagues that they're effectively an old married couple.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@lavendermissed @ilariodelamorte I feel like some of it was anger that he'd half-assed it by outsourcing Lucanis' murder to someone who didn't want him dead and then lacked the ruthlessness to actually kill her. Also subordinating himself, a crow, to the venatori, but partly that he'd half-assed his plan.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@wildheartthe2nd @ilariodelamorte I honestly got the sense her anger was at least partially about Illario outsourcing Lucanis' murder to some vint cultist who liked literal names rather than try to kill Lucanis himself. Then Illario lacked the guts to kill HER. She beat better standards into him than that!

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@ilariodelamorte I got more of an impression she was more irritated that the one who tried to kill the other had messed up and failed by outsourcing the job to some vint cultist. Also that he'd then been insufficiently ruthless to then kill her. It's not Illario's actions, it's that he bungled it

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@NapoleonTheLast @lauramontilyet *Internal sigh* Well at least she's great to hang with.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@CdSoundtrack It's poetry :P

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@Bishie_Legolas @CerberusXt I was going to joke about maybe him having surprisingly good tailoring skills, but then I remembered that he probably considers that skillset femme specific and real men are partly blinded by badly placed and fraying eyeholes. So yeah, surprising and mysterious.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@Kevonixs @emmrichsrook He's happy with his choice, accepting it's cost. Being a parent is its own kind of living beyond your mortal span and Manfred is going to take his dad's love and lessons with him always through whatever his existence ends up being.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@AvoidantCrab @aelathehntress She's the one who got to tell him once and for all that he's only ever been a schoolyard bully with a particularly large stick. This moment is canonically hers IMO. Neve's awesome but she's gotten to do lots of sticking up for her city elsewhen in the story.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@aelathehntress She, who's been grappling with identity and what's worth keeping in light of the truth about the past she's spent her life trying to rediscover.
She's the one who gets to turn the power back on him and refute his ever being anything more than the bully with the biggest stick. <3

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@MINRATHOU That's quite a chin and jawline.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@thomrainiers_ Competent ruler, reasonable to the extent of agreeing her dad's way out of line. Very understandably doesn't want him killed but still works with you if you do kill him. Other option doesn't want it and is a great asset to the Grey Wardens/will be with more experience/confidence.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@NykaraNizri @n7roxx @trevelyanssong Great character, Solas. Has some ill-thought-out plans that blow up really badly. Doesn't seem to have any line he won't cross in pursuit of what he "knows" to be best (and he always knows best, he needs it like nothing else). Has benevolent-ish intentions. Never stops lying.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@XanzerXIII @n7roxx @trevelyanssong So stupid. News flash: People generally opposed to each other's goals can and maybe even often will agree on some issues.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@nulnsnow @technicalgator @oreganofittonia Taint doesn't kill wardens, they sought death to avoid the calling eventually overwhelming their minds and enslaving them. Taint/blight itself has been seen to actually keep them alive far beyond their untainted lifespan, if we look at Larius from Legacy as a specific example.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@ninais0nline @oreganofittonia The big alteration, the calling ending, is in the main storyline, to be fair. You're killing the entities who've been established to be the source of it (and always were). After Elg and Lusacan are dead, there's no more calling. Only the new sound is established in a side quest.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@AustriaAnime @DatFishe @mellowgloom @oreganofittonia The entities who were confirmed to be responsible for the calling (and exercising some at-least-strategic control of the blight) are now all dead. It follows that the calling is no longer there. Antoine and Evka's quest set up there being this "something else" that is now there.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@NanuuAranda @oreganofittonia They disproved a specific element of the doctrine. That structure in the fade was never where the maker lived and the darkspawn and blight don't have anything to do with him. That doesn't say anything one way or another about his existence or divinity or Andraste's story/history.

[Arbiter Blackthorn @MalhoundMalcolm]

@YokoSun92 @garbud15 @oreganofittonia The archdemons and evanuris they're connected to are all dead and they were the sources of the calling (gods speaking through their dragons to try and get the magisters sidereal and then the darkspawn to free them from the prison known as the golden/black city). So calling's gone